I have a good excuse for this long break in between the chapter postings…. No, really I do. It's… Ummmm…. Well you see what happened was…. Hmmmm… Well, as it turns out I don't have a good reason. But the reasons I'm going to go with are: 1. I don't have Word on my new laptop yet and thus couldn't work on the next chapter. 2. I'm a slacker. 3. I have very little inspiration anymore for this story (But it will be finished…. Eventually). 4. I hate typing on the desktop computer I am currently using. 5. I forgot about the story. 6. School is out so I'm not on the computer as much. (Do I need to go on? I'm sure I could come up with more if necessary. I am excellent at pulling things out of my butt (Say nothing about that last thing, La Belle Rose Noire. I know what you are thinking)) Well anyways it's 2 in the morning so I am rambling. And some of the chapter may ramble a bit too because of the time and my lack of sleep. But who needs that stuff anyways. ON TO THE CHAPTER!

Chapter 21

That night, I was flying to Gotham (in falcon form, for that boost of extra speed) to meet Batman. When I got to the top of Wayne Tower I turned back into a human while I was still in the air, flipped and landed lightly on my feet. I put my hand up to my face to make sure that my mask hadn't moved from its place. Just that flimsy little piece of fabric was the only thing that was keeping my identity a secret.

"Right on time I see," Batman said as he melted out of the shadows. Robin appeared behind him with a mischievous looking grin on his face.

"No point in being late, now is there?" I said quirking an unseen eyebrow.

"I believe that you are ready to meet the rest of the team," Batman said bluntly. "You proved that you can work well under pressure and can work with other hero's assistance. I believe you would be a valuable addition to the Young Justice team."

I was absolutely dancing on the inside but had to keep my composure while in front of Batman. "When do I meet them?"

"In 5 days' time, meet me back here at midnight. I will take you to meet them."

"5 days. I'll be here," I told him with a nod. Down, far below, in the streets of Gotham I heard sirens wailing and glanced over the ledge and saw police lights flashing. When I turned back around to face Batman, he was gone. And Robin along with him.

:3( )~~

It was Saturday now, 4 days after my meeting with Batman and it was the day of the prom. I was ready to go. I had my hair done, my nails polished and my Shift costume hidden under my skirt. I was ready for anything. My dress was simple, red, and tight at the top with straps that crossed in the back and a full skirt that has tacked up in rows so that it hung like Belle's from Beauty and the Beast.

Wally picked up Jade and myself and drove us to the hotel in Gotham where our prom was being held. Life was pretty good. I had a date to prom, who also happened to be a super hero (not that he knew that I knew that but part of the fun is knowing that I know that he doesn't know that I know, you know?), an awesome dress that I could hide things in (it's a good thing they didn't search me when I got there because the number of knifes and various other weapons that I really hope I didn't end up needing would have gotten me kick out of the prom, made it so I couldn't walk at graduation, I would have been suspended and not to mention the fact that they would have found the Shift uniform then Batman would've had to kill me, well no literally seeing as Bats has this thing against killing but whatever, you get the picture. And I had my best friend hooked on the other arm of our date. I repeat; life was good.

But seeing as this is my life, it can't stay good can it?

It all happened after dinner, while I was dancing with Wally. We were dancing to a song that no one that dances as white as we do should have been dancing to, when we heard screams coming from outside the ballroom. I looked over and saw people running out of the hallway and into the spacious room we were in. Behind them I could see the flickering lights of fire. My first thought is to find Jade and figure out why she has lit our one and only prom on fire, when she materialized beside me.

I gave her a questioning look but she just raised her hands in surrender. "Don't look at me. I know better than to play with matches." Yeah, because it was matches that I though started this, but I knew what she meant. Then I heard the scream.

My head whipped around just in time to see a boy step out of the flames. On normal occasions (because I know all about those…) when I see someone come out of fire they aren't walking, they are running and they tend to be on fire too. But this boy who looked to be 20 was untouched by the flames devouring everything around him.

I realized Jade and I weren't reacting like the other people around us so I turned to grab on to Wally's jacket sleeve but he wasn't there. Hmm, quick thinking on his part…. I figured he was already clad in his Kid Flash costume and figuring out how to stop the fiery freak.

Jade leaned over and said without moving her lips, "Our options are making a beeline for the bathroom or changing under a table. The latter doesn't seem like the greatest idea so let's book it."

I slipped my four inch heels off before we dashed to the empty bathrooms, blending in with the people that were running around. The music had stopped but the sound of panicking people had replaced it. We quickly changed clothes and set up our dresses in stalls in such a way that it looked like the stall was occupied if any one checked for feet under the door. With our masks on we headed for the door.

We snuck out of the door just in time to see the wall blown out of the side of the hotel. In the dust stood a tall blonde woman with purple coloring the tips of her long hair. She wore all black and a cloak, the hood off so her hair could flow. The hole was on the opposite side as the fire and people in all black clothing with black cloaks and hoods pulled low over their faces were filling the two ends of the hall way. The only relief from the sea of black was two people in white. A boy and a girl with black hair each carrying a razor sharp sabre. I immediately recognized them as The Ghost Twins.

Jade manipulated the air around her and she lifted into the air. "I'll take care of the fire first. See what you can do about the blonde chick." And with that she was gone.

I focused my attention towards the woman. She merely stood there in the hole she created. A silent challenge to anyone that dared take her on. A challenge that I happily accepted. I shifted into a three and a half ton rhino, lowered my head till my razor sharp horns were level with her chest and charged.

When I was about ten yards away, she put up her hands to protect her face then threw them away from her body. The explosion pushed me back, my feet making gouges in the floor as I tried to hold my ground. That was unexpected. I looked around to see what the damage was on the building. There force of the explosion hadn't affected the room in the slightest. Not an explosion then? If I couldn't get close then I couldn't do anything with her.

I looked over to see how Tempest was fairing with the fire. The flames were gone for the most part and she had cleared away most of the smoke. She had yet to begin the deadly tango with the guy that had set the fire and emerged from its depths. "Tempest!" I shouted to her in a gruff rhino like voice. "Swap!" She nodded and shot over to the woman I hadn't been able to get close to while I turned to charge the guy she had been dealing with.

Right before I would have rammed into Mr. Fire Boy pushed back his sleeve and revealed a mechanism that he aimed at my head. I shrunk down a goat form just in time to roll under a tongue of flame, pop back up to my feet and ram the guy right in the gut. Had I have stayed as a giant lumbering mammal I would have gotten a face full of fire. He landed on his back and hit his head on the marbled floor. The force had knocked his hood back and revealed the face of someone too stunned to move. I glanced up to see how Tempest was fairing as I switched back to human form. She was holding one of the fancy chairs the hotel had provided for our prom and had the lady's hands pinned to the wall with it, preventing her from creating any more explosions. As I tied up the guy I had knocked back with his hands and feet in a bundle behind his back he looked at me and groggily said "You're pretty tough for a chick." I glanced at him as a secured the last knot and said "Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you."

I looked around to see where Wal- Kid Flash had ended up. I spotted him over with the Ghost Twins. He was running circles around them… literally. The Twins were slashing wildly at thin air but never made contact with the speedster.

There seemed to be some unspoken order to the other people in black hoods to not attack without receiving orders first. I could see them fidgeting, waiting impatiently for the order that would make all hell break loose.

Tempest had her villain pretty well covered so I slipped over to Kid Flash and threw a smoke pellet that Robin had included in my suit at the feet of the Twins. Dark smoke spouted out of the capsule and engulfed the boy and girl, blinding them to the world around them.

That's when I heard the cackle.

The smoke cleared just in time for me to see Robin dropping down from who knows where, to land upside down with a hand on each of the Ghost Twins heads, knocking them together then flipping of to land on his feet in front of them.

"It's about time you showed up!" I shouted as he slammed his foot into the boys chest.

"I'm here now, what more do you want?"

"Timeliness would have been good," Kid Flash said, skidding to a stop.

"We can't all be as fast as you are KF," Robin said, he had pulled out his eskrima sticks and was going sword vs. sticks. "Can we get back to the matter at hand?"

:3( )~

"Should we call in the back up now?" Luke asked Lilly as Kid Flash ran around them.

"Don't be ridiculous. It's just Flash Jr. I think we can take him," Lilly sneered at her twin. Then they're eye sight filled with smoke and something smacked their heads together. They heard a soft thump of someone landing in front of them. Luke was knocked back with a back kick to his chest and Lilly raised her sword to block the batons that were swinging toward her head. Oh. It was Robin, Mr. Boy Wonder himself. Joy.

These freaken little heroes seem to be coming out of the wood work. There was Robin and Kid Flash from the mini Justice League, then Tempest, the solo act and then someone new. Why can't the kiddies just stay home with their mommies?

Robin blocked the slash coming down toward his head with both the sticks crossed above his head. Lilly pushed harder with her sword making Robin focus all of his attention into preventing the blade from coming crashing down on his head, and kicked him in his unprotected chest. Kid Flash zoomed behind him and caught him before he crashed into the floor and propelled him back towards the fight.

Luke had begun fighting against Shift, who was dive bombing him as a miniature dragon, spouting little bursts of flame at him with every pass. His eyebrows had been singed off and little bits of his white shirt had sizzling holes in them. Get it together, Brother. We don't have time to waste. There were not supposed to be heroes here this soon. they were supposed to have had more time to gather hostages before anyone showed up to stop them but Kid Flash had shown up right after Nova blew out the wall. Now their plans had been compromised and it would be yet another failed mission. Arson and Nova had already been taken out and none of the others had come forward to help the sniveling cowards. Not even Bem or Black Hole or whatever she called herself had tried to save her "aunt". They would come to regret that decision though, regret it indeed.

Lilly was so deep in thought that she hadn't realized that Robin had ran past her and towards her brother instead of coming back to fight her. She was slammed out of her thoughts and back into reality when she felt razor sharp claws rake down her back, sinking deep into her flesh. She let out an ear piercing scream and arced her body backwards before collapsing onto the floor from pain. She could feel the warmth spreading from the slashes on her back as the blood pooled around her.

Luke turned when he heard his twin scream and turned away from Robin, who had switched with Shift when the bird boy had come hurdling towards him. He ran to his sister's side and placed her head in his lap. Robin, Kid Flash and Shift had all stopped attacking him after Lilly had screamed. Shift hadn't changed from the black panther that had done this to his twin. Barely controlling his rage he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket watch he yanked the chain out of it like one might when taking the pin out a grenade and hurled it at the velvet paws of the panther. In the confusion of the explosion Luke gathered Lilly into his arms and ran for the hole in the wall, leading to the night air where a helicopter was waiting, leaped in and took off without a backwards glance at all the people he was leaving behind. The only thing that mattered was getting her to safety.

AND THEN AN ATOMIC BOMB WENT OFF AND EVERY BODY DIES! BUT NOT SHIFT BECAUSE SHE TURNED INTO A COCKROACH AND SURVIVED. BUT WHEN SHE TURNED BACK INTO A HUMAN SHE WAS SO LONELY THAT SHE KILLED HERSELF. NOW EVERY BODY IS DEAD.

Ok just kidding. But there you go chapter 21 after what? Three months? Eh, who's counting? I'm sorry it took so long to update and for stopping it so suddenly. But whatever. Can you tell how much i care? But it will be finished eventually.