AN: Well, as per requests there is some action here- and because of that this chapter is double the length of the other chapters-

I hope you enjoy it!

Blue Bird: Chapter 17

Arsenal lead the way through the system of air vents; all seven of the remaining time travellers were silent. Then Ravager gasped, an idea coming to her.

"Take a left."

Arsenal stopped, and Tigress promptly crashed into him, as he twisted around to look at the former assassin; "What?"

"If we're going to sneak around hiding, the least we could do is give the team a little light, y'know so they can tell who they're hitting?"

Arsenal shrugged; "Fair enough, I think." He looked from Red Hood to Nightwing; "What do you guys think?"

Nightwing nodded; "There's nothing in the history books to say we can't."

Red Hood forced out a laugh, "Dear God, you sound like Impulse. As for me, anything works so long as I don't have to stare at Patchey's butt for much longer."

"What's wrong with my butt?" Ravager asked, driving her foot back into the front of Hood's helmet.

"Where to start..." he muttered.

"How about, 'it's not Nightwing's'?" Batgirl suggested.

There was a smattering of laughter and the group moved on, once again in silence. Occasionally taking lefts and rights until Nightwing called out for them to stop, and kicked downwards; jumping down into the generator room, which was in total darkness.

Tigress sighed heavily through her nose and Starfire raised her fist, illuminating the room with green light.

Ravager, Red Hood, Batgirl and Nightwing all pulled flashlights from their utility belts and turned them on. Nightwing threw his to Tigress, who caught it, looking surprised- "What's this for?"

"Light." Nightwing replied dryly, "Since you don't have any particular skill in electronics you're gonna have to stand there and hold that until the wiring's fixed."

He walked off down an isle of computer consoles, with Batgirl in hot pursuit; Tigress looked from Starfire, to Arsenal, then to Ravager- her eyes barely lingering on Red Hood, who had also taken off after his brother.

"Is he always that snarky?"

All three managed to pull of shrugging in unison. Tigress frowned- "Okay, so your friend, ex and teacher- and you don't know all that much about him?"

"Nightwing and I haven't spoken properly in some time." Starfire admitted, "He has... changed."

Arsenal shrugged again; "Didn't meet him 'til he was already Nightwing, and let's just say we weren't exactly friends."

The two exchanged glances and walked, more slowly, away- leaving Tigress and Ravager alone with two flashlights.

Tigress swung hers so it was shining in Ravager's face, the younger woman winced slightly at the sudden light.

"And you?"

Ravager's eyebrows, beneath her cowl, rose. "Between you and me, Artemis? Nightwing doesn't share- everything he has done for me, training me, giving me a spot on the team, all that stuff- it's all been some clever way to get back at my dad for what happened with, well, everything."

Tigress' hard expression softened slightly; "Pawn in the game?"

"More like a- how does the phrase go? 'A good soldier'." Ravager replied, setting off down the same passage as everyone else. "Now shut up and come on; or dear, sweet older brother Grant is gonna be making a meal of your young self before we get the lights on."

Tigress snorted in disbelief and followed.

Elsewhere in the cave the team had left the holding area and had reassembled in the biggest area they had, the training room.

It seemed a very long time since Nightwing had first dashed through, and fought Batman to a tie where they were currently standing.

"What do we do?" Artemis asked, looking to Kaldur in the dim light of a flashlight Robin had handed her from his utility belt.

The boy wonder himself was crouched by everyone's knees, holoscreen open; desperately trying to reinstate any sort of communication with the League, or the time travellers in the hangar. He paused in his typing when everyone fell silent, and glanced upwards- only to find everyone staring at him.

"What?" He frowned.

"Well, you have been to the future." Wally pointed out. "If anyone would know what's going on it would be you."

"I was ten years in the future." Robin replied, "Not the place you wanna be if you're trying to find out about the here and now."

"That girl, Ravager, said she was on bird-sitting duty." Artemis said, "Didn't you guys, I dunno, talk?"

"We played twenty questions." Robin replied dryly, "Her family life didn't come up beyond her implying that her father was an asshole."

"You're a detective." Superboy said, "Work it out."

"Using what?" Robin asked, "I've got no intel, no info. I can't do the equation unless I've got all the variables."

"You have what they said." M'Gann said; "The future version of Roy? He mentioned 'Rose's evil older brother'. Well, he could either be referring to Starfire or Ravager- as he was using a woman's name."

"Not necessarily." Wally said, "He could have been talking about someone who wasn't there with us."

"No, he was talking about Rose 'Ravager' Wilson. Also known as Patchey, Thorn Face, Cyclops, That Psycho and That Bitch." Robin deadpanned.

Everyone glanced down at him again, and Artemis' eyebrows rose; "Well, you clearly know her well."

Robin smirked; "No, she tried to offload 'bird sitting duty' onto just about anyone she could manage; including the future yous, Booster Gold, some guy named Static and a future generation of Robins; one of whom is better known as 'Swan Queen'."

"And they all shared their nicknames for her with you?" Wally asked.

"Actually it kinda... slipped out with most of them." Robin cracked a smile, "But back to the important stuff, we have no power to anything-"

At that moment the lights flickered on, and Robin swiftly amended his statement; "Except the lights apparently."

Kaldur looked to M'Gann and she nodded, putting a hand to her temple; Everyone online?

There was a general murmur of assent, and several psychic yelps of surprise as Miss Martian's telepathic link connected the minds of the time travellers in the generator room.

'Did it work?' Nightwing's telepathic voice asked.

'If, by that, you mean 'are the lights back on' then yeah, it worked.' Artemis replied.

'Good' Even telepathically, Tigress sounded irritated, 'I was almost starting to lose all feeling in my arms.'

Ravager psychically snorted with amusement.

'We need to know, guys.' Robin cut in, 'Who are we fighting?'

'We can't give you a name.' Nightwing replied quickly, 'You need to find out from him. Just be ready to work as a team, fight smart and try not to get him killed- that just smashes open a whole new kettle of fish that you really don't want to open.'

'Why would we kill him?' Artemis asked, 'We're supposed to be the good guys.'

'It's not so much that you'd kill him...' Batgirl said, trailing off, unsure of how to continue.

'It's more that he's thick enough to get himself killed.' Red Hood finished, 'And like Golden Boy said, the backlash from that would be astronomical.'

'Big word's Jay Bird.' Ravager mocked, 'You sure you know what they mean?'

'She gets more pissy when she's nervous.' Arsenal informed the team, 'Bring on the snark.'

It was at that moment that footsteps sounded down one of the still dark corridors, and suddenly the team was on edge, falling into battle stances and tensing, ready for an attack.

'Is that one of you?' M'Gann asked.

The future team members all replied in the negative- 'We're in the vents.' Starfire said, 'Nightwing is just finishing reinstating the lights.'

'No need.' Robin replied, 'We see him.'

The footsteps stopped, the owner's feet the only part of him that was visible, then the light's flickered on and the team saw him.

A broad chested man in black and silver body armour that seemed almost too familiar. Silver armour ran across his arms and shoulders in scales; a belt of ammunition crossed his chest and, alongside the pistols resting on his hips, he had a sword strapped to his back.

The top half of his face was hidden by a silver cowl- his mouth, visible beneath it, was set in a feral grin.

It was easy to see where Ravager had gotten the inspiration for her costume.

The resemblance to her evil older brother was uncanny.

As the young man stood there Artemis psychically snorted- 'Cyclops, this is your elder brother?'

'Not all of us can have a fully badass family, Sporty.' Ravager snapped- 'My family happens to have two losers in it- but that might just be because my family is bigger and more evil than yours.'

Artemis was clearly coming up with a retort, but their intruder was moving and she lost her chance as everyone tensed even more- ready for fight.

But he didn't attack.

He drew his sword, and paced around the team, dragging the blade behind him- it's point slithered across the floor with a metallic hiss.

"Y'know, I don't get it." He said- his voice was good natured but with a hard, sarcastic edge to it- "When my employer saw you guys at that facility, there were two more of you."

"Well, he was clearly mistaken." Aqualad said, by way of reply, "As you can see, there are only the six of us."

"Hmm, I looked at the footage, there was definitely another chick and another guy." the intruder smirked and stopped pacing- "You arrested the chick because she was dressed like Deathstroke."

Artemis notched an arrow- "Would you like to imitate her? I'm sure I could take out one of your eyes-"

"Y'know, if you ask real nice." Wally put in with a smirk, "Mr Fishscales."

"That would be Ravager, to you, Flash Boy." The guy said, "And, honestly? I don't care if I got your name wrong- because I know you're gonna correct me on it. I'm here to kill you. End of."

"And I don't suppose asking you nicely to get the hell out of our house is gonna dissuade you, is it?" Robin said, drawing a pair of eskrima sticks as he spoke.

"Not a chance." The Not-Ravager said, "Glad to know one of you gets it."

Faster than most of the team could blink, he launched at them, and the teenagers scattered. Wally circled around their attacker's back, scooping up Artemis bridal style as Not-Ravager brought his sword down on Kaldur, who barely had time to summon a shield with his water-bearers.

'There is no way a normal person could move that fast.' Artemis said, via the mental link.

'Uh, Artemis, we're six teenage superheroes, four of us have powers and two of us are extraterrestrial in origin. Our lives don't revolve around 'normal'.' Robin retorted from his perch in the rafters.

'Does anyone actually have a plan?' Wally asked, 'Or are we just trying to tire him out?'

'That'll never work.'

Nightwing's reentering the conversation barely registered except for a snort from the team archer.

'Decided to help us out then? I guess it's easy to disregard a fight when your life and your friends aren't on the line.'

'Low blow, Artemis.' Nightwing's 'voice' had suddenly gone very cold- 'As it so happens my life is on the line. I just thought I'd let you fight your own fights. Remembering- of course- that you all hate it when the League runs interference and that whole time-stream snafu.'

There was mental silence for a few seconds, while Superboy roared and smashed into Not-Ravager side on.

'What do you suggest?' Kaldur asked.

'Work as a team. A unit.' Nightwing said- 'Attack on all fronts. He's faster, stronger, more hard waring- but I'd like to see him take on all six of you at once.'

'Your wish is their command.' Tigress said- 'Hop to it juniors! Nightwing said fight like a team.'

Wally circled around the team's attacker, as Robin dropped from the ceiling- landing squarely on the older man's head- the team was now arranged in a circle around Not-Ravager, and he grinned.

"What are you so happy about Fishscales?" Artemis snarled; levelling an arrow of the pointy variety at him.

"You're better than I thought." He smirked, "That's good, I always like a challenge."

He charged again, and before any of them could react, sliced through Artemis' bow like it was paper and landed a blow square to her shoulder- the harsh pop, followed by a cry of pain told them that it was dislocated-

"Artemis!" Wally was moving again, slamming into the guy just as Superboy had done, and with the same effect- Wally skidded backwards, still on his feet, but staggering- clutching a wound to his shoulder from a small dagger that had materialised in Not-Ravager's hand.

He paused, waiting for the others to get in position, groping for an insult in his suddenly empty arsenal.

"Is that all you got, you walking paperclip?"

Robin, from somewhere on Wally's left, gave the speedster a very odd look.

'Walking paperclip?' Nightwing mentally asked, 'Dude, that was lame even by your standards.'

'Well excuse him.' Ravager butted in, 'Not all of us can be king of the quips.'

'Holy burn Batman!' Arsenal interjected, and the present team tuned them out- focusing instead on Not-Ravager.

'Any ideas?' Wally asked.

'See if he likes the sound of his own voice.' Robin advised, 'It's been known to happen.'

Wally took point, setting his customary smirk in place- "So, 'Ravager' huh? Where'd you get that- a can of toilet cleaner?"

Not-Ravager growled, and swung his sword in a wide arc, narrowly missing the speedster's head as he doubled around for another blow. Catching the attacker head-on as he jeered; "Is that all you got? Dude, you fight like a girl."

"I'm sure you won't mind if I take that as a compliment." Not-Ravager replied, "Every girl I've ever met has been a very keen fighter."

"What girls have you been dating?" Wally smirked; "Doesn't sound too fun if they're beating the snot outta you."

"He does actually have a point KF." Robin said, rolling behind Not-Ravager and landing a kick to the back of his knees; "I mean- not including the superpowered ladies we know- there's Black Canary, Artemis, Ra- One-Eye, Catwoman-"

"Dude, you know Catwoman- the rest of us don't really wanna."

"And you don't know that 'One-Eye' has no powers. M'Gann put in, using a wave of psychic energy to blast their attacker into a corner- "She might just be good a hiding them."

"Doesn't change the fact that she's badass." Robin pointed out-

'I'm only as badass as my mentor bird boy.' Ravager said via the mental link.

'Why thank you Miss Wilson, I'm flattered that you have such a high opinion of me.' Nightwing said.

'I think she was talking about her Dad, 'Wing.' Batgirl said-

Tigress interrupted; 'Focus! We need to find a way to take him down once and for all.'

'Wear him down.' Ravager said, 'Keep him dancing until he tires out, then deliver the final blow.'

'How long will that take?' Superboy asked.

'Five to ten minutes, maybe less.' Nightwing informed them- 'If I remember correctly.'

'I'm gonna go with 'less'.' Wally said, skidding to a halt beside the downed Artemis. He looked at her; 'You okay, Harpy?'

'Peachy.'

Sure enough, Not-Ravager was already staggering, but clearly wasn't done. With a surprisingly loud roar he crashed, side on, into M'Gann, who- rather than phasing through the wall she was aimed at, crashed straight in to it, knocking a sizable hole in it with the telekinetic shield she had created around herself on impact.

Superboy was next to go- managing to maintain his temper, the clone charged, but Not-Ravager was ready for him.

The intruder side-stepped, landed a square punch to the kryptonian's side, and used his momentum to flip him into and through another wall.

'Superboy?'

'I've got him.' M'Gann said- in response to the general outcry- 'He's unconscious- I'll try to wake him so we can rejoin you.'

'Meanwhile there's the problem of Captain Paperclip.' Robin said, dodging a punch from Not-Ravager and returning in kind- sending the attacker skidding backwards towards Kaldur.

Kaldur sidestepped and used his water bearers to form a hammer; which he used to send Not-Ravager staggering towards Kid Flash, who drew back a fist punched him back into a corridor and out of sight.

'We should pursue.' Kaldur said.

'Not to second guess your leadership skills or anything, Fish Boy,' Even psychically they could hear the snark in Red Hood's voice- 'But there really isn't any point. He's already gone.'