Author's Notes:

Hi guys! Sorry I didn't update on this story sooner, I had writer's block with this chapter and the whole story itself. I managed to get it figured out, though, with what I wanted to cover in this chapter and what I want to cover in the story's future (which will be revealed later). Without any further ado, here's the official Chapter 3 of the story...

Terry had gone back to the main computer room to continue researching the team members after Aquagirl left him and his sister in the tank room, but Coba remained to keep an eye on the draining water's progress. This has been a fairly exciting day, she thought with a grimly. The gentle sound of a person walking silently—almost silently, that is—into the room greeted her abnormally sensitive eardrums. "I'm guessing you heard about what happened earlier, Superman?" she inquired the newcomer.

Superman was caught off guard by the girl's knowledge that it was him coming in, but hid his surprise before he sat a few feet away from her on the edge of the room's upper level. "Yeah, that's right," he said solemnly. "Why didn't you—"

"—let Terry figure it out on his own?" Coba slapped herself in the forehead for the umpteenth time that day. "Sorry."

"That's okay," the old hero reassured her.

Coba grinned a little before she started to talk again. "To answer your question, I knew he wouldn't have figured it out by himself before it was too late for Aquagirl. I let him think on his own—more and more each day, in fact, so he can do everything without my help—but I still have to take over when it comes to these situations."

"And he takes over when it comes to fighting, correct?"

"Exactly. I'm getting better at fighting on my own, though."

"That's good." Kal-El became grim, but in a way that was not intimidating. "There are some questions I asked earlier that you haven't yet answered," he said gently. "Are you ready to answer them?"

The girl became grim as well, remembering the hero's earlier questions. "Yeah," she replied solemnly. "I actually did train in the field with Terry during the first few weeks we had become Batman and Batgirl, but I stopped after an incident in which Inque got into the Batcave. I had to put the cowl back on six months later to save Terry from Inque, but I was captured instead of him and nearly killed in the process, resulting in a broken foot. I officially returned as Batgirl two months after that.

"To answer your other question: after my father—also Terry's father—was killed, the only other living person in Gotham who was related to me was Bruce Wayne. How I'm related to him, I don't know. But after Dad died, Terry had to live with his mother, who had hated me for being the result of an affair and for having a crippled leg. We started to get along better after she had to watch me a few times while my foot healed, but I don't see her truly accepting me any time soon."

Superman became very sympathetic towards Brooklyn. "I'm sorry that happened, Miss Coba," he said solemnly.

Coba became suspicious of the Man of Steel when he called her 'Miss', knowing from what Bruce had told her that he never calls a fellow vigilante by their social status, but she masterfully hid her suspiscion. "Don't be," she said gravely. "You had nothing to do with it." She turned her attention to the water's progress, then stood up. "Terry," she said into her com-link, "the water's drained. I'll meet you down there." She turned to Superman. "You might want to see this, too."

Kent nodded as he stood up. "I do, actually."

It had taken a full thirty minutes after Coba rescued Marina for the water to be completely drained out of the tank room. Batgirl and Superman walked down to the tank's computer and waited until Batman came in. Terry was a bit surprised to see the old hero in the room, but reminded himself that Superman was pretty much the leader of the League. The boy turned to Coba. "You going to run the diagnostic check?" he inquired a bit irratically.

"Last I checked, it's your turn to do that," Brooklyn shot back, a playful grin on her face.

Terry rolled his eyes. "Alright, you win," he sighed in defeat. He typed in a few keys on the keyboard. After a few seconds of waiting, a key flashed red twice, each time with a small beep. Exchanging glances with Coba, Terry looked under the keyboard briefly before pulling something out. "There's the problem," he muttered. He held it up for his companions to see. "This micro-controller's burned out," he announced urgently. "It's circuits are infused."

Batgirl gently took it from her half-brother and was about to study it herself when Superman took it from her. Ignoring the girl's confused look, the Man of Steel briefly studied the micro-controller. His eyes narrowed angrily. "Sabotage," he growled. Without warning, his powerful right hand smashed the small device. "This confirms it: there's a traitor among us."

McGinnis's eyes widened with shock. He could not believe that one of his idols would betray their own team mates. Coba, however, was not surprised—

—nor did she believe Kent's words were true.

~!~

Thirty minutes later, the two teenagers were in the Batmobile, flying around the JLU tower. "They've got us out on flyby patrol," Terry stated into his com-link. "I think they just wanted us out of their clubhouse, not that I mind getting away from the place, nobody wants us there, especially me."

"Nobody?" Wayne's gruff voice responded a bit suspiciously.

Terry thought for a brief second. "Well, maybe Aquagirl." He grinned grimly. "But we had to save her life to win her over." He noticed a slight Batglare come from Coba. "Alright, Coba did the life-saving."

"That's one way to make friends," Bruce said with a smirk. "Did you figure out what's happening over there?"

"Well, there's definitely something strange going on," Coba told Batman once they were in the Batmobile.

"Yeah, a traitor," Terry stated matter-of-factually.

"No, that's not what it is at all," Coba stated solemnly.

"Then, what is it?" Bruce inquired, keeping his voice calm to keep from getting the sensitive girl to lose her composure.

Batgirl shrugged gravely. "I don't know for sure, but I feel Superman has something to do with it."

The new Batman, still not quite as mindful of his sibling's feelings, completely lost his nerve. "Don't you have any idea how absurd that is?!" he snapped. "Superman's the one who brought us here!"

"I know," Coba said grimly, "but he seemed too certain about it from the start. Not only that, he called me by my social status when I was talking to him earlier."

"Which he never does unless in public," Bruce's voice added.

"He even took the micro-controller from my hands before I could get a good look at it," Coba continued. "He knows I would've told him what all I noticed about it, yet I can't help but feel he's trying to cover something up."

"Superman can not be the traitor!" Terry yelled.

"I didn't say he was," Coba said as calmly as she could, although her blood was starting to boil at her brother's increasing hostility. "I was saying that he likely has to do with something that's about to get bigger."

Terry scoffed. "What's that supposed to mean, genius?"

"Like I told you before, I'm not sure!" Coba exploded.

"You get these feelings and you don't understand what they're saying? What kind of psychic are you, anyway?"

Brooklyn could tell Bruce was about to reprimand them—primarily Terry—for arguing when the screen in the Batmobile lit up and beeped several times. "Hold on," Terry said urgently. "Something's coming in on the JLU frequency." He and Batgirl watched the screen point out where the alarm came from: Metropolis. Without another moment to waste, McGinnis steered the vehicle towards the city.

While Batman was piloting the hover car, Coba sat in the back seat, lost in her own thoughts. Terry's right: I'm somewhat psychic, yet I don't understand what my feelings or visions say. Does this mean I'm a bad psychic? That I'm not meant to be hero? She stopped her thoughts in their tracks before she would have given in to tears of confusion. No, it doesn't mean any of that. I'm not completely psychic, but that doesn't make me a bad one. I use my abilities for good, and, according to society, that means I'm something of a hero. She blinked in surprise. Wow, I just gave myself a pep talk that I should have written down for future reference!

Unbeknownst to both Bats and their mentor, someone had been overhearing their conversation by using the JLU frequency.

Author's Notes:

Yep, more tension between Terry and Coba. Can't they get along and stay that way for at least three stories? Yeah, if I wanted them to.

The character poll I made during the previous story, Batgirl of the Future: Eyewitness of the Past, is still up on my profile page if you would like to vote for your fave character(s) from the BOTF saga (yeah, it's not based on one particular story-line in the saga).

Please leave a review in the box below so I can get and stay motivated to write this: for me, it usually takes more than self-motivation to get something done. See ya next chapter!