A/N- Super Happy Fun Time... Go.
I'm sorry for the late update, but Supernatural has recently been added to Netflix's instant watch. I've been too busy watching my boys kick ghost ass to type anything. Sorry. *shrugs*
Also, there was a misspelled word on the previous chapter. I fixed it.
And: The Movie quote from the last chapter was from Mission Impossible. Watch the movies, they're great.
Enjoy the chapter. I guarantee that they won't all be this long in the future. Also, notice that there will be six chapters instead of five.
Ask No Questions
2/6
Batgirl
Batgirl wasn't happy. Who would be after waiting an hour in the shadows of a research facility in the dead of night?
Dick's team was late, and it was starting to grate against her nerves. Her mind had already stared to drift from focused to 'spacey' because of it. Accompanying the spacey nature of her mind was constant flow of the team's possible delays. The ideas ranged everywhere from their ship being out of gas to there being no mission at all, and it was all just Dick's twisted idea of a joke. She knew she was being unrealistic with a few of them, but she wasn't one of the people blessed with the virtue of patience.
A twitchy feeling rushed through her, and the previous excitement she got from knowing a mission was happening was running dry. Which was bad for her, because that feeling was the best. Adrenaline preparing to flood her body, muscles tensing, preparing for the advanced gymnastics she was about to do, and don't even get her started on the giddy feeling she got from jumping off a roof. She looked forward to that, and the team's slow-poking-around had all but stabbed and buried that feeling in a deep bit. Leaving her with nerves and a bad attitude.
On their own accord, her feet started moving. Her footsteps were silent against the pavement of Johnson Labs' parking lot as she started pacing in the darkness. As mad as she was she wasn't about to compromise her position. Not that there was anybody out and about the creepy laboratory.
Her entire form was completely encased by shadows due to the multistory lab behind her, and she blended into it almost perfectly. For a massive city, Gotham had little light pollution and it made her job that much easier. Well, it would have made it easier if her partner in crime would have the decency to be on time.
Not that there was a set time of course, but that didn't make her any less annoyed with the boy wonder. She had half a mind to forget about the team and do the mission herself, but her instincts told her to wait. Her gut was pretty insistent on her staying put, and the last time she ignored her instinct ended with a trip to the hospital and countless stitches. It was lucky that she didn't die on that particular night, or the her dad didn't find out about her unorthodox extra-curricular activities.
So, she waited. She still wasn't happy about it, and she did so under protest. But she stayed put, and stayed quiet. The light breeze in the air was making the showing portion of her red hair a mess, which wasn't helping her stay calm and collected, but she grit her teeth and dealt with it.
It also didn't help that she was about to freeze to death. After all, it wasn't exactly a warm night in Gotham City. If she hadn't been wearing her suit, she would have been a bat flavored popsicle already. That could put a damper on anyone's happiness level.
If it started snowing, she was going to kill Dick five times over.
"Where are you?" She growled quietly, and her eyes briefly shot towards the sky hoping to see any sign of the team's ship. However, there wasn't a trace of anything other than a plastic bag being thrown around by the wind. She was ready to give up on them, and then she heard it. A humming sound. It was faint, but could clearly be heard over the sirens and background noise that Gotham constantly gave off, and as she soon noticed, it was getting louder. Not louder, but closer.
As quickly and as quietly as she could, Batgirl ran to the side of the research facility, and pressed herself as close to the bricks as she could manage. Her back squished against the building. It squished.
"Eeeww."
Hopefully the mystery substance wouldn't leave grime and slime all down her back. That was all she needed, to get her suit filthy. Kevlar, despite popular belief, was not easy to clean. It was already hard enough to stay out of the sights of a thing she couldn't see, along with staying in the blind spots of the countless security cameras. Now she had to worry about if she had a stain remover pen in her utility belt. Her day was going just freakin' peachy.
Clearing her thoughts again, Batgirl held her breath as she focused on the humming. It suddenly turned into a dull roar and as the sound went over her causing a brief gust of wind ruffle the edges of her cape. Hopefully, it was Dick and his team, because if it wasn't, thinks had just been made much more difficult.
A brief smile graced her lips as she thought about the possibilities of it not being the team. Violence was a good way to relive one's anger, and either way, whoever was on the roof was in her playing in her sandbox now.
Taking her grappling gun out of her utility belt, she fired at the edge of the roof, and began to scale the building. On a normal day, she would just retract the cord and zip directly to the top. Effectively passing 'Go' and collecting her two hundred dollars, but it was far from a normal day. She wanted to stretch her legs, and there was nothing better than a short hike up a seven story building to get a girl's blood pumping. Plus, it was a nice challenge for her due to the buildings security cameras, and because the mystery substance was on her shoes, making them slick. Slippery shoes weren't exactly climber friendly, but that didn't stop her. She was slower than she would have liked, but at least she was going. She would like to see Bette Kane do that!
Barbara was nearing the top of the building when she made her mistake. She hadn't counted on one of the bricks being loose. Why would she? The entire place was decked out with top the line security. Couldn't they spare a few dollars to fix up the bricks?
Apparently not. She thought bitterly as the sound of a brick clacking against the others under her foot filled the air. Time seem to freeze as she waited for something to happen, and to her relief, nothing did. She let a breath she didn't know she was holding and resumed her climb. She hadn't even gone a foot before she felt her line jolt, making her clench it tightly in her hands.
Someone had heard her, and was pulling her up.
Robin
"So, who where you talking to?" Kid Flash asked for the sixth time. Robin had no idea what would make the speedster think that he would answer. He had been asking the same question over and over again since they started their flight to Gotham, and Robin was almost ready to send his best friend flying out the window of the bioship with one well aimed kick to the torso.
"You can tell me, dude!" Wally whined and out of the corner of his eye he saw Artemis grit her teeth. He wasn't the only one who was annoyed with KF's antics.
"Rob-"
"It's none of your business!" He finally snapped, earning raised eyebrows from the rest of the team. They had never seen him lose his cool that quickly before.
He shrugged off their stares and slumped in his seat. Now, he would have Wally asking him questions, the team wondering if something was wrong, and he would have to put up with them being extra friendly with him for the entire mission. He was so not whelmed.
Something about this mission was putting him more on edge the closer they got to it, and it wasn't because of their horrendous track record in the dark city. His issue was that they had already been to Gotham. It could have just been a coincidence that they were returning to Gotham for the fourth time as a team, but he didn't think so. After all, it wasn't like they had been back to any other previous mission spots.
There was their first time when they chased everyone's favorite android into Gotham's most prestigious academy, which was kind of fun. The headmaster's face was priceless when he saw the damage done to his school. That was quickly followed by the disastrous mission with Clayface. After that, of course, there was the arms deal where they got the crap beat out of them, and now dangerous technology being stolen? Something big was going down, but he didn't have the slightest clue of what it could be. Whatever it was, Gotham was in the middle of it. Eye of the storm, but what storm? More importantly, when would it hit?
"We're landing." Miss M said, breaking the awkward silence. Her ever so cheerful voice helped cut the tension in the air, but not by much. Nobody said a word as M'gann carefully manevured her ship onto the roof of the lab. Maybe it was pre-mission nerves, but whatever it was, it needed to end quickly. If they wanted to do well, they needed clear heads. They weren't failing again. Especially not in his city.
"Miss Martian, link us up." Aqualad ordered, and simultaneously the team got out of their seats and made for the exit. The familiar sensation of the link stirred around the edges of Robin's mental shields, and with reluctance, he lowered it for the Martian. After being mind zapped by Cadmus multiple times, Batman had made mind conditioning a must. It took forever to get his shields back up after the link was over. The things he did for his team...
"Everyone ready?" Aqualad's voice sounded in his mind. His voice's normally friendly tone took on the familiar serious one that Aqualad always used when he issued orders. The defiant side of Robin caused him to hate that tone. He had never been good at doing what he was told.
"You bet, Kaldur!" Wally said through the mental link. Robin personally thought it was so he could hear his own voice, but that didn't mean he held it against him. That stupid red head was his best friend.
Robin rolled his eyes, and he jumped out of the bioship before anyone could process that he was leaving.
The boy wonder silently landed on the tar covered roof, and instantly moved to the shadows out of habit. He watched patiently as each of the members of his team climbed out of the ship, and he almost had to physically stop his foot from tapping in impatience. Sometimes he swore that his team was slower than Christmas when it came to- Clang!
Robin froze, and his eyes widened. His relaxed standing position instantly shifted into a tense one, and his hand crept to his the pouch were he kept his birdarangs.
Where had that come from?
He knew for a fact that his team hadn't made the sound. He had been watching them like a hawk, and Robin was way to good at what he did for him to make it. Whatever it was, the thing kind of sounded like a grappling gun hook attaching to something. He was very familiar with that particular sound having made it thousands of times.
"Robin!" Aqualad hissed, reminding him that there were still five other people on the roof with him.
"Shhh." He silenced Aqualad, and put a finger to his lips.
"What's going on?" Kaldur asked through the mind link. He was following Robin's lead, and the thought of it made him smile.
"I heard something."
"What?" KF asked, and he started edging closer to Robin. It was like if he got closer to the boy wonder, he would magically hear the sound too.
"If I knew what do you think I'd be standing here trying to guess what it was?" He shot back in an heart beat. The rest of the team were forgotten as they slipped into their familiar banter.
"How was I supposed to know that's what you were doing. It's not like I can read your thoughts!" Wally yelled, and Robin shot him a look that clearly said 'You're an idiot.'
"Would you care to rethink that sentence, Flash Boy?"
"I don't see... Oh... Shut up."
"That's enough!" Aqualad barked, "We need to focus on the mission. Robin, are you sure it's important?"
"It sounded like a grappling gun, and I'm telling you-"
CLACK!
"Please tell me you guys heard that to."
"Superboy, can you find the source?" Aqualad's question was met with a slow nod, and Superboy's movements were almost mechanical as he approached the edge of the building. Irritation flowed through the mind link, and it took Robin a second to realize that it was coming off Connor. He must have not liked what he found.
The boy of steel bent over and examined something on the ledge. With one quick pull part of the wall came free, along with the silver flash of the hook of a grappling gun. Batgirl's grappling gun. The shiny silver hook had a smiley face sticker stuck to the side. It was Babs'. He knew that, because he had been the one to put the sticker there with super glue. He had originally covered the entire thing, but she managed to scrape them off. Except for that one.
To say he was relieved would be an understatement, but at the same time he could barely contain the panic attack that scratched and moved under his skin. He hadn't told his team that there was another hero coming. He was going to burn that bridge when he came to it. The bridge had come, but Robin still found himself stuck standing in the middle of it.
Before he could tell the clone to stop, Connor starting pulling the line, and due to his strength, it wouldn't be long until he reached the end. The mental countdown started in his head as he calculated the length of the line and the speed at which it was being pulled. He had seconds left.
With on final pull the end came up, and where he expect to see his friend was nothing. Just the gun end of the line, swinging back and forth in Superboy's giant hands.
"I don't-"
"Hiya guys!" A cheerful voice called out, and Robin spun around to see Batgirl with her ever present yellow utility belt, wavy red hair, and mega-wat smile beaming at them. Her dark purple uniform barely stood out against the Gotham night, and despite her position on the edge of the roof, she looked perfectly relaxed. Her posture said, 'I'm cool enough to make something dangerous seem like skipping through daisies.' "I was beginning to think I'd have to do this mission without you." A smirk replaced her smile as she took in each member of the team. No one replied, but Robin knew exactly what kind of chaos Batgirl's arrival caused. The kind of chaos that was giving him a headache through the mind link. Why did everyone think yelling would solve anything?
"Who is she?"
"How are we supposed to know, Kid Idiot!"
"Hush up, Blondie!"
"How about you come over here and make me!"
"Quiet! Kid, Artemis, we have more pressing matters at hand." Aqualad yelled, "We need to find out this girl's identity, and your bickering isn't helping."
"She started it."
"Kid! Focus!"
"Why don't you just ask her who she is?" Superboy asked. His voice was quiet and it didn't sound like the stoic clone they knew and loved. He sounded tired to Robin, and it wasn't like he could blame him. The fighting was getting repetitive. Not to mention old. All the flirting was driving him insane.
"Fine," Artemis said and she pulled an arrow out of its quiver, setting it up in the blink of an eye, "Who are you?" She snarled, and Robin tensed at her tone and at the arrow that was currently aimed between his friend's eyes. He knew that was a mistake, because something told him Miss M was looking at him again. Good job, Grayson, now you've done it. Miss M knew he was connected. It was only a matter of time...
"Woah, chill out! I'm here to help." Batgirl's hands shot up in the universal surrender gesture.
"That doesn't answer her question." Aqualad said. His voice was slow and deep. It was a warning that he was about to go into smack-down mode.
"Help me out here, Robin."
"I... I..." Robin was at a loss for words. He wanted to break it to his team gently, but he never got around to it. Now it was too late. The team were going to have a hard time trusting him after this. He was already withholding his name and his history. Batgirl would be the last straw.
"You know her." It wasn't a question. M'gann had figured it out. Each of those questioning looks he had been receiving were her trying to figure him out, and unluckily for him, she wasn't as naive she appeared.
"You didn't tell them!" The sudden outcry made him flinch.
"I was getting around to it!"
"Getting around to it?"
"I'm sorry, but who are you?" KF's question stopped them cold. How was he supposed to tell them that he had invited another junior hero to the party, or that he had been secretly keeping her in the loop for weeks? Trying to keep his whole plan from Batman was hard enough, but he hadn't been focusing on the bigger picture. He was betraying the people who were supposed to have his back, even though he trusted Batgirl like a crime fighting older sister. He screwed up, and he and he had no idea how to fix it. Robin was so not feeling the aster.
'Quit complaining, you have work to do.' He told himself, hoping that the rest of the team hadn't heard it.
"Guys, this is my friend, Batgirl."
A/N- That my friends is the update. I hoped you liked it. It had some team, some Robin, and a dash of Batgirl. C: I wasn't to happy with this one, all the fun stuff happens in the next chapter and this was kind of boring. It was hard to write, and not very fun. D:
I hate that my updates are slow, but inspiration for this comes and goes. I had half of it done the day I posted the first chapter, and from there everything got spacey. Sorry everybody.
Leave me a review. I use them to feed my idea gnome, and guess what... He's hungry...
Oh and shout outs to: Unleash The Shadow, EmberLee31, Rhia-of-Themyscira, and Lillianna Rider. They've read the first story, and I love them in the non-creeper way for it. Also thanks to maristhesealatin (Thesea) and Robyn S. Mockingbird, because they amuse me.
