Birds of Prey

Disclaimer: I do not own DC, Marvel, or any other characters outside of OCs.

Chapter One: Initiation

Neo Gotham City – December 31, 12:00 EDT

New Year's Eve in one of America's biggest – and in the opinion of many, the most crime infested – city in the country was both an occasion of great celebration and fear. Neo Gotham was well on its way to being prepared for the greatest party in history, until next year, that is. They had everything from the bright lights and street wide festivals to the traditional countdown ball that would welcome the New Year. Spider-Girl still argued that New York threw better parties. But every year around this time, some psychotic supervillain would make a New Year Revolution to break their old record for the most kills in a single night, meaning more security need to included annually. And, unfortunately, this year was no exception.

Neo Gotham's Financial District was the center of commerce in the city and Wayne-Powers Enterprises was Neo Gotham's largest business franchise. It seemed like another semi-normal afternoon, ignoring the regular street thugs hanging around the corner, when the glass doors of the corporate building were inexplicably shattered in a blaze of emerald fire. There was instantaneous panic as everyone either ducked for cover or high-tailed it out of the building; some even jumped out of the bathroom windows.

Emerging from the sifting smoke, charred rubble, and menacing-green flames was a man whose skin glowed a neon shade of green and was completely transparent, displaying his mutilated skeleton. His attire consisted of a black and copper hazmat suit with a glass dome over his head, leaving only his emerald flaming hands exposed. (Derek Powers – Blight)

Everyone recognized Blight – arch-enemy of Gotham's greatest hero and a living nuclear reactor. Some of the smart ones had already turned and ran legs at the first glimpse of the glowing skeleton. But some workers were too terrified to move, one of which included the new intern working at the front desk. Blight stepped up to the whimpering woman, looking ghoulishly smug as he leaned over the desk – his hands hissed against the wooden surface

"Excuse me, miss," said Blight politely, his voice a rackle. "I have an appointment with Mr. Wayne that is long overdue." The woman continued to wimper and fell out of her seat when Blight leaned closer. "I don't believe you heard me. I want Bruce Wayne NOW!"

"You want Wayne, make an appointment, Powers."

The nuclear skeleton turned on his heels, just barely catching a glimpse of the red and black bat-shaped boomerang before it scratched his protective dome. The batarang hadn't caused any damage to Blight other than scratching the glass, but the sudden assault caught Powers by surprise and knocked him backward over the desk; the intern quickly fled, screaming at the top of her lungs. Blight glowered dangerously as he pulled up himself up, using the desk for support; the wood charred at his touch.

Unsurprisingly, the man he despised more than Wayne was standing at the shattered entrance with his arms crossed and that same irritating grin on his cowl. His suit completely black with the exception of the scarlet-red bat insignia on his chest, the visible fins on his wrists, the pointed ears on his cowl, and the silver belt strapped around his waist. (Terrance McGinnis – Batman)

"You really don't know when to pack it, do ya, Powers," said Batman smirked confidently. "I mean, sure it took you over forty years to buy out Wayne Enterprises and end up losing it a year later in front of a global audience. But seriously, turning into a walking nuclear bomb isn't going to get you anything."

"Oh, I'll get my company back, don't you worry about that," said Blight, forming a ball of nuclear energy in his right hand. "First I'm gonna take care of you, and then I'm going to take care of Wayne. I'll kill two birds with one stone, Batman."

But before Blight had the chance to lob the energy bomb, he was thrown forward by a large weight dropping on his back. Powers smacked head-first into the desk, slightly cracking his protective dome, and the weight was lifted off his shoulders followed by the distinctive sound of flapping cloth. Blight lifted himself quick enough to see the Batman's annoying partner expertly flip through the air and land gracefully at her mentor's side. And the worst of it is, it wasn't that Spoiler brat anymore.

Batman's newest sidekick appeared to be closer to his age based side-by-side comparison. Her costume closely resembled the Dark Knight's costume including the full-black body, the finned wrists, and the pointy-eared cowl. The only distinctions shared between them was the yellow-rimmed bat insignia on her chest, the darkened eyes, the addition of a cape, and the symbolic stitches around the mouth of her mask. (Cassandra Cain-Wayne – Batgirl)

"Oh…and Batgirl," said Blight. "Typical. Always sending the girl scouts to do your dirty work, Batman."

"Whatever…you are planning…is ogre, Blight," said Batgirl slowly.

"Over," Batman corrected. Batgirl flinched at her mistake. "Whatever he is planning is over, Batgirl."

"Uh…right," said Batgirl.

"Oh, this is rich!" said Blight, laughing loudly. Batgirl groaned embarrassingly. "I heard rumors that your new sidekick was a little slow, but I didn't think she was mentally retarded! You really know how to pick 'em, Bats!"

Batgirl narrowed her darkened eyes and stepped forward to thrash him, but was quickly pulled back when her mentor tugged at her cape. The move was just in time as Blight tossed the nuclear sphere at the area where she was previously standing. His first attempt failed, Blight filled his hands with over a dozen energy bombs and lobbed them at the Dynamic Duo. The Dark Knights quickly punched their fists to the high ceiling, releasing hidden the grappling mechanisms in their suits. Once the claws latched on the ceiling, Batman and Batgirl quickly tugged back and were propelled upwards, barely dodging the emerald grenades at the last second

With a grunt of annoyance, Blight opened his fists, created more energy orbs, and started hurling them in the general area of the Dynamic Duo. The Bats were fortunate to dodge the blasts in midair before releasing the grappling lines, dropping down behind the low wall on the second floor while Blight continued to vault them with energy bombs. The stone wall was already cracking under the pressure of Blight's attack, but despite that, Batman didn't appear the slightest bit worried as he started digging through his utility belt.

"Sorry we had to put the trip on hold, Cass," Batman apologized, shrugging in his partner's direction. "I know how important today is for you. Spoiler's been waiting for this for a while now."

"It is…all right," Batgirl said slowly, flinching when another bomb exploded over their heads. "But…I would like…to harry this…up."

"Hurry, Cass," Batman corrected. "The word you're looking for is hurry."

"That, too," said Batgirl

Snickering under his breath, Batman finally found what he was looking for and pulled out a handful of silver-plated pellets. He waited for a moment when Blight appeared to be slowing down, holding his breath until the explosions finally stopped. He peeked over the wall, spotting Blight, who was looking around. He seemed to think that Batman and Batgirl had taken shelter somewhere else. Perfect.

"Hey, Glowface, think fast!" Batman shouted, tossing the capsules.

Blight turned and stared at the small pellets, raising his hand to burn them, but was too late. The capsules snapped against his hands and, in the blink of an eyes, had flash frozen his hands. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be a problem; he could just increase his body temperature and melt the ice off. But he never had the chance to before Batgirl glided down from the second floor, smashing his helmet under her foot.

Star City –December 31, 9:01 PDT

Star City wasn't as bad as Gotham or Bludhaven, but it was a place where villains would go when they wanted to get away from Batman or Spoiler. And even though they no longer had to fear the wrath of the Bat Family, they had a new adversary to deal with. One who was learning from example had tried to make a flashy entrance in Star City's Tinder-Smith Garden Arena, home of the Star City Mercenaries. It had only been moments earlier when the stadium was crowded by rambunctious hockey fans looked to see some senseless violence until the match was interrupted by an explosion of purple.

Most of the crowd that had run away followed the trail up to the rafters, where they could only see a flicker of purple flames illuminated in the shadows. The attacker jumped down and stomped into the center of the hockey rink, cracking the ice and throwing some of the players off their feet. He was a hulking man in what appeared to be a black and white containment suit where the only thing visible was his deteriorated skull, which was coated in purple-colored flames. (Joseph Martin – Atomic Skull)

The Atomic Skull reached out to one of the hockey players that had been petrified by his entrance and wrapped his hand around the man's face. It only took a matter of seconds before the player was reduced to a pile of ash. At that point, anyone who had stuck around had certainly made a dash for the exit now. The Atomic Skull leered at the fading crowd and raised his hand, ready to wipe them out in a single sweep, when two arrows stabbed the front of his containment suit. He looked down and staggered back when the arrows suddenly exploded in his face.

"I'm not really a hockey fan myself, but aren't you going a little overboard?"

The Atomic Skull growled, turning his empty eye sockets to the top of the stands. A woman with golden-blond hair tied into a low ponytail grinned at the supervillain like he was some mildly entertaining program. Her costume consisted of a moss-green V-line mask, a moss-green midriff shirt with a lime-green arrow on the front, elbow-length fingerless gloves, a band on her right arms, and moss-green pants with lime-green lining. She also had black pads on her knees, black combats boots, and a pouch strapped to her left thigh. As an archer, she naturally carried a green compact bow with a quiver of arrows stocked. (Serah Grayson – Artemis)

Standing next to her was the archer's young protégée. Her costume was roughly much simpler than her mentor's: a scarlet-red body suit with golden bands on her forearms and knees, the traditional golden arrow insignia on her chest, and a golden cape with a hood thrown over her head. She wore a black domino mask over her eyes and a small strand of golden hair poked out. Like her teacher, she carried a red compact bow and a quiver of arrow beneath her cape. (Mia Dearden-Grayson – Speedy)

"Finally," said Atomic Skull thankfully, igniting his hands. "I was wondering what a guy had to do to get a little attention around here."

"If you wanted our attention, maybe you should invest on our own Arrow Signal." Speedy suggested, jumping to side as the Atomic Skull threw a blast of energy. "That would be so cool. We could be like Batman."

"If Batman has one, there is no way in hell we're getting a signal." Artemis said finally, earning a depressive moan from her protégée. The green archer quickly equipped her bow with two arrows, firing them at the flame-headed villain. "Besides, a search light in the sky isn't exactly the most discreet way to catch villains."

"But it's still cool." Speedy argued, firing an arrow from behind the seats.

The green archer rolled her eyes as she ducked a violet fireball – sometimes there was just no arguing with the logic on a hero-worshipping eleven year old girl. Pulling another trick arrow from her quiver, Artemis rolled into view, releasing the drawstring when she thought the Atomic Skull wasn't looking. But the Atomic Skull quickly caught sight of her out of the corner of his nonexistent eyes and turned to incinerate the arrow with a blast of energy. The Atomic Skull formed handful of purple orbs in his hands and threw them to the air, letting them fall at random. Artemis and Speedy scrambled for safety as the nuclear blasts exploded around them.

A moment of silence passed. Clouds of purple smoke polluted the air. The Atomic Skull looked around for a moment, considering the possibility that he might had succeeded in killing the Emerald Archer and her protégée. His skull twisted into a menacing grin. His smirk was quickly wiped away at the sound of a drawstring puncturing the silence.

He turned and spotted the twin archers standing at the bottom of the stands, their arrows drawn and set. The Atomic Skull raised his hands and called more energy into his palms, but Artemis and Speedy had already released their hands and watched their arrows fly true. The Atomic Skull was promptly knocked unconscious by the two metal studded arrows hitting his forehead, sliding across the ice and throwing him into the goal post – the buzzer blared.

"I always thought he was a bit soft in the head," Artemis joked, closing her bow and stuffing it in her quiver.

"Ok, we beat the bad guy," said Speedy excitedly, clasping her hands and turning to her mentor pleadingly. "Can we go now, please?"

"What's the hurry, Speedy?" Artemis laughed.

"You know why," said Speedy, practically bouncing on her feet. "I've been waiting for this moment since I first became a superhero. It's finally my time to shine."

Los Angeles – December 31, 9:02 PDT

Los Angeles, home of swimming pools, movies stars, fame, fortune, and the occasional mutant vs. mutant fighting. While everyone in town went about making moves and dancing on sidewalks, they remained ignorant to what was happening up at the famous Hollywood sign. There was a brief flash of light before someone was shot through "O" and plowed a ten foot trail in the dirt.

When the dust had cleared away, the person was actually revealed to be a teenage girl with short dark-hair, steadily picking herself up with a soft groan. It was almost difficult to tell who she was due to was due to her costume: a yellow hazmat suit with black outlines forming a radioactive symbol on her chest and yellow helmet with a glass visor. (Jennifer Takeda – Hazmat)

Hazmat shook her head clear of any dizziness, quickly turning her attention to the two heroes standing at the top of the "W" with her eyes narrowed. The first of them was a grizzly-looking man with unnaturally pointed teeth and very hairy arms. His costume was all bright-yellow with blue stripes on his shoulders and side, and a red "X" on the left side of his chest. He also wore navy-blue boots and gloves, a golden-yellow belt, and a bright-yellow mask with navy-blue devil curls over the eyes. (James Howlett/Logan – Wolverine)

But while the yellow wild man shared a look of concern for the radioactive girl, his partner didn't share the sentiment. His costume was roughly close to that of Wolverine; only the color scheme was revered for a dirt-brown and copper tone. Another difference between them was that Wolverine had three metal claws ripping from his knuckles and he only had two bone claws coming out from his knuckles and one from his wrist (Akihiro – Daken)

"Hey, go easy on her," said Wolverine, waving his claws to his partner. "She's just a kid."

"She's in the way!" Daken growled. "If we didn't have a little side trip for this stupid brat, we would already be there!"

"Ya need to control that temper of yours, bub," said Wolverine, looking very surprised at himself. "Wow, did I just say that?"

"Look out!"

Daken ducked away in time, but Wolverine was blasted off the sign by a green beam of radioactive energy to the chest. With the big man temporarily disabled, Hazmat turned her sights on Daken and threw out her hands, shooting radioactive beams from her palms. Daken dodged to the right to avoid the first shot, flipped backwards to avoid the second, and simply ducked down from the third aimed for his head. This kid didn't even know how to use her powers properly. That just ticked him off. After avoiding a fourth blast aimed for his feet, Daken made a dash for the teenage mutant, his claws digging into the dig along the way.

Hazmat seemed to panic and flailed her hands randomly, hoping to get a lucky shot. But Daken was able to effortlessly dive between two radioactive rays and find a clear path to the young mutant. Daken slahed upwards when she was within his range of attack and ripped a large hole in her suit and helmet. Hazmat fell backward, slamming her head into a large rock that knocked her unconscious.

Even with his prey defeated and unconscious, Daken wasn't nearly satisfied with how the fight had ended. This bitch had interrupted a very important day and she was going to pay for it dearly. Daken growled softly and stabbed his bone claws toward for Hazmat's jugular vein, only just barely intercepted by Wolverine's metallic ones.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, bub?" Wolverine leered, pushing his partner way. "That's not the way the JLB handles their problems. We don't kill unless we have no other choice. She's not evil, just a little misguided little girl."

"Whatever," said Daken, retracting his claws. "You've gotten soft in your old age."

"Maybe I have," said Wolverine as he gently lifted Hazmat into his arms. "But that's the difference between me and the monsters I fight."

"Whatever, let's just go." Daken scowled. "We've got something more important to deal with."

Central City – December 31, 11:03 CDT

Like the hero of the town, there was always something exciting happen in Central City. This time the site of interest was the famous Central City Flash Museum, an lond standing shrine to the legacy of the Flash that dated back to the time of Jay Garrick to the current exploits of the two Flashes. It was an average visit to the Flash Museum until the monument honoring the original Impulse was blasted through the roof and smashed into the street, causing many cars to swerve off course.

The throngs of people were seen fleeing the building as quickly as they could, some making a break for it through the hole in the wall. And the man responsible for ruining this monument to the city's greatest heroes continued his marched through her the Rogue's Gallery, disintegrating the costumes of the original rogues. He wore starry suit with golden lining on his sides, around his face, and wore matching golden boots. (Benjamin Krullen – Reactron)

Reactron pressed his hands against the gilded statue of Jay Garrick, watching with glee as the monument literallaly slipped through his fingers. Reactron moved on to the next statue, a statue of Barry Allan, when he was suddenly knocking off his feet by two blurs, one red and yellow, and the other red and white. As Reactron shuffled to his feet, the twin blurs were already circling around him in typical whirlwind fashion.

Reactron scowled underneath his mask. He didn't need to see them to know who was ruing his fun day at the museum. The first was a young man where a full-body red suit with yellow lightning bolts on his wrists and waist, the bright-yellow knee-length boots, and the white marker on his chest with the symbolic lightning bolt. (Bartholomew Allan II – Flash)

His young partner in crime-fighting was a little girl with vibrant-red hair tied into two long pigtails by lightning bolt hairclips. Her costume was a lot more complicated than her mentors: a red strip running down the center and the inside of her legs, white segments covering her sides, arms, and the outside of the legs, and a lightning bolt pattern separating the two colors. She also wore scarlet-red boots, matching fingerless gloves with straps, and a scarlet-red mask with yellow lenses built-in over her eyes (Iris West II – Impulse)

As the speeding partners circled endlessly around their nemesis, Reactron attempted to blast them with the radioactive beam emitting from his hands, but they were moving too fast for him to land a proper hit.

"I don't get this guy's problem is," said Flash, ducking another radioactive blast. "He's not even one of our villains. Come to think of it, shouldn't he be getting his butt kicked by Superman or Superwoman right about now?"

"Who cares?" Impulse shouted, jumping a blast aimed for her feet. "Let's get this over with quick before we're late!"

"If you feel that strongly, go for it, kid," said Flash gentlemanly.

With a gleeful smile on her face, Impulse circled around Reactron until she was directly behind him and curved around. Reactron was too focused on the scarlet speedster whizzing around him that he failed to notice Impusle sliding across the polished floor until she crashed into the back of his legs. Reactron fell on his back from Impulse's kindergarten tactics as the she kick-flipped back to her feet. Reactron started to push himself back up by his elbows, but was quickly knocked out by a shiny yellow boot to the face.

"Nice work, kid," said Flash complimented

"Can we go now? Can we go now?" said Impulse hyperactively. She was practically bouncing in her mentor's chest. "Please? Please? Please? Can we go now? Please? Can we? Can we? Can we? Please?"

"Whoa, whoa, settle down there, squirt," said Flash, chuckling as he pried her off. "We have plenty of time to get there after we drop the walking nightlight off at the police station."

"But I wanna go there now!" Impulse whined childishly. "I've been waiting for this moment my whole life!"

"You only just heard about it last week," said Flash.

"I've been waiting for this moment for a whole week!" said Impulse quickly. "It's finally here! Today's the day!"

Metropolis – December 31, 14:00 EDT

Metropolis, a famous city for many things including the home of the world famous Superman and his arch-enemy, Alexander Luthor. It is also the site of the start of the Apokoliptian invasion headed by Darkseid that eventually led to the disbanding of the original Justice League. But after decade of rebuilding homes and restoring morality, Metropolis could proudly say it was the home of the Justice League Beyond's Earth headquarters: The Metrotower.

Settled in the center of the city, the Metrotower stood stories above the Daily Planet building, though Batman always felt it was a little much for such a small group. A small park for tourists was located behind the tower, two fountains were settled into the front on either side of the entrance, and placed directly at the base of the tower was a set of bronze statue dedicated the founders of the original Justice League from Aquaman to the Martian Manhunter.

Batgirl was wide-eyed at the very height of the Metrotower. She had been to many cities and seen many things in her seven years of solitary travels, but never had she seen a more impressive structure. Speedy occupied herself studying the statue of the original founders, feelingrather disappointed that a Green Arrow statue hadn't been erected. Daken just stood next to Wolverine as Batman and Artemis wrangled in their starry-eyed protégées.

"You worked hard to get here," said Batman, placing a hand on Batgirl's shoulder.

"Welcome to the Metrotower, kids," said Wolverine.

"The JLB's planetary station." Artemis informed. "And our second base of operations, next to the Watchtower."

"Will we…get a chance…to see…the uh…wat…wat…," said Batgirl, struggling."

"Don't push yourself, Batgirl," said Batman comfortingly. "Sorry, but you guys aren't ready to see the Watchtower just yet. Even the new members have to wait before they're allowed access A little lesson we learned from past member who betrayed the league's trust. But don't worry, I promise I'll personally give you guys a tour of the Watchtower…when you're ready."

"Sounds like a rip-off if I ever heard one," said Daken.

"Just be grateful that we even let you into the Metrotower," said Wolverine, scolded his partner. "A lot of people have been trying to join the Justice League Beyond. We don't just invite anyone in our little group. We only take the best."

"Like that Shock kid or that Spoiler brat?" Daken snickered. Before he even realized what happened, Daken felt a pressure in his left shoulder and started to seize up. "What…the…hell…?"

"Spoiler…is good…hero," said Batgirl, glaring menacingly. She had her fingers jabbed into Daken's shoulder, pressing down hard on his pressure point. "Take…it…back."

"Easy there, Batgirl," Batman reprimanded, pulling his protégée's hand away. "You don't need to stoop to his level."

"I am…sorry," said Batgirl earnestly. "He made me…angry."

"Yeah, well, he does that to a lot of people," said Batman. Daken huffed indigently. "Just ignore him."

"Things are already getting heavy and we haven't even walked through the doors yet," said Artemis. "It's a good thing I've got a sidekick that knows when to behave."

"I kinda expected Impulse to make it worse," said Speedy. "Speaking of which, where is…"

"OUT OF THE WAY!"

The heroes turned and quickly jumped out of the way as a red and white blur flew past them, stopping only when it had successfully flipped into the fountain and disappeared in the shallow water. Just as the Flash arrived, Impulse surfaced and splashed her way to the edge. She giggled bashfully, scratching her head embarrassingly under all the stares of her superhero buddies.

"Still have to work on the breaks," said Impulse jokingly.

"Well, that's one way to make and entrance," Flash chortled. He plucked his sidekick out of the water and dried her off with a quick vibration. "We're not late, are we? Impulse was throwing a fit back at Central City."

"I was not!" Impulse pouted, trying to squirm out of her mentor's hands.

"No, we were just about to go inside," said Artemis, pulling her partner to the entrance. Batman, Wolverine, and Flash gathered their own sidekicks and stood at the entryway of the Justice League Beyond's headquarters. "This is it, kids." Daken grunted at the commented. "And over-arrogant, self-absorbed pricks. You're first official day as junior members of the Justice League Beyond. Ya ready for this?"

"Born ready." Speedy smiled confidently.

And there is the first chapter of the Birds of Prey story, successfully introducing the main characters to the plot. I know it seems like a complete copy of the YJ, but it will change from here on out. I have many plans involved including detailed histories on the characters, the Justice League Beyond, New Avengers and Titans. I hope that by using the new writing styles I have learned while I was away will only make things better.

And to start off with the new changes, below is the first of many Profile Cards that will be introduced at every chapter, starting with the most hardcore of the Birds, Batgirl.

Birds of Prey Profile

Name: Batgirl
Real Name: Cassandra Cain-Wayne
Aliases: One Who is All, The Nothing
Designation: B01
Age: 17
Relatives: David Cain (Father), Lady Shiva (Mother), Bruce Wayne (Adopted father), Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake (Adopted brothers) Mentor/Partner(s): David Cain (Former), Batman, Spoiler
Affiliation(s): League of Assassins (Former), Bat Family, Birds of Prey
Occupation: Assassin (Former)
Powers/Abilities:
- Peak Human Conditioning
- Master Martial Artist
- Master Assassin Training
- Advance Body Reading Ability
- Resistant to most toxins
Notes:
- Overly Severe Dyslexia
- Most experienced
- Guilt-ridden History
- Unusually Large Appetite
- Emotionally Unstable