Chapter Eight
Of Heroes Ascendant
The doorbell rang and Barbara heard her father answer it as she finished her essay. A moment later, her father's voice sounded.
"Babs? It's Kara."
"One moment!" Barbara shouted, grabbing her bag and stuffing her work and textbooks into it. Slinging it over her shoulder, she grabbed her helmet from the book-case and clattered down the stairs. Dropping her bag, she accepted the leather jacket her father was holding for her and shrugged it on. Picking her bag up again, she gave her dad a kiss and walked out to where Kara was waiting on her bike.
"Ready?"
Barbara grinned as she tightened the straps of her bag, then settled onto the pillion, holding onto Kara tightly. The bike roared into life and Kara expertly drove off, giving Gordon a quick salute as he smiled after them.
"Looking forwards to this?"
"My adult outfit? Yeah." Barbara grinned. "Thanks for vouching for me."
"If I didn't think you were ready, I wouldn't have supported you." Kara said as she wove through the traffic. "You'll make a great partner."
"I've had lots of training." Barbara replied. "Until I saw Dick do his stuff, I thought I was an excellent gymnast. I mean, I'd won medals, and yet he made me look like a disabled granny!"
"He admitted that you've improved over the last few months." Kara laughed. "He didn't like saying so, but he admitted it. He still says he's better, though."
"He is." Barbara admitted. "I've learned loads from him."
The two of them rode in silence for a while, then Barbara spoke again.
"Kara, may I ask a question?"
"Go ahead."
"Why do we only fight in the blue ring? I go against Batman in several training areas, same with Robin, but you and Clark I only meet in the blue ring. Why?"
"You'll find out tonight." Kara said. "Once you have your new suit."
x
"Wow." Barbara breathed, looking at her reflection in the mirror. Turning, she looked at how the cloak flowed with her movements. From behind her, Kara laughed.
"I spent ages looking at myself at first, too. You like the icon?"
Barbara nodded. "It's cool. I love the black bodysuit, and the plates just work."
"You'll need them." Kara said soberly. "They're bulletproof, although it'll still hurt if you get hit. Come on, I'll walk you through the gadgets, then we'll meet the others."
x
Barbara stopped so suddenly that Kara almost tripped over her. Looking up, she smiled wheh she saw what had halted her in her tracks, Nightwing lazily gliding round the stalactites, wings retracted.
"Wha... he... how..?"
"You've stopped using complete sentences." Nightwing teased as he glided down, coming to a halt a few inches above the ground. Barbara blinked a few times, then shook herself.
"You were flying." she said, almost accusingly and Clark laughed.
"Yep. I can fly. So can Kara. You're one of us now, so you should know, she's really my cousin, not Dick's, and we're both aliens. Bruce isn't, he's human, so's Dick."
"You're kidding." Barbara stated. "You and Bruce are twins. How can you be alien while he's human? I don't buy it."
"You should." Bruce said from one side. "My parents adopted him on the same day I was born, they found him in a rocket ship. They raised us as brothers. We didn't realise we weren't blood-related until we hit our teens and a recording device in the rocket-ship activated. Didn't matter, we're brothers and nothing can change that."
"The rocket ship?" Kara asked quietly and both Bruce and Clark grinned.
"The basis of the superior tech made by WayneTech." Clark replied. "Our dad reverse-engineered the tech in the craft. We've started to do the same. That's how we made the first Javelin."
"And how they found me." Kara interjected. "Clark flew the Javelin to Krypton to test the drive systems. He and a friend found my pod and brought me back to Earth with them. They saved my life, gave me a new one."
"Robin?" Barbara aked and the answer sounded.
"Bruce studied for a while with my parents, they asked him to be there for me. After my parents were murdered by an extortioner, Bruce took me in and helped me get justice. Hey, nice outfit."
Barbara nodded, her head reeling with what she had learned and Bruce grinned.
"Come on, time for you to learn about our allies. You may be working alongside them at some point. And you need to learn about the villains, some of them are very difficult to go up against. Clark, once I get her set up, we need to check out something odd I discovered."
x
Barbara watched as a new file opened on the screen, a black man in his early thirties wearing a suit of powered armour and carrying a long sledgehammer. Scanning the text, she moved onto the next file, ignoring the noises behind her until she heard Robin's exclamation of disgust. Spinning round, she blinked at the sight of the head that Clark was placing onto a work bench. Standing up, she walked towards it, then almost fell over in shock when it opened it's eyes.
"What happened to the real Lucius Fox?" Batman demanded and the head looked at him.
"The original is in storage."
"What is that?" Barbara whispered to Robin, who glanced at her before returning his gaze to the head.
"That is a robot." he said quietly. "Batman realised something was wrong and visited WayneTech's newest factory. When the entire workforce turned out to be robots, they grabbed this robot's head and came here to examine it."
"Eeeew." Barbara whispered, then she frowned. "We can't make robots like that. Where's it from?"
Before she could get an answer, both Clark and Kara grabbed at their heads and staggered. Barbara caught Kara while Dick supported Clark.
"Clark? Kara?"
"I... I'm alright, I think. Something... called me." Clark said, his voice shaky.
"Me too." Kara whispered. "It was... that way. In pain."
Batman frowned. "Kara, in the Batwing. You're guiding me there. Clark, stay here and examine our... visitor. Find out what you can."
"Batwing?" Barbara asked and Clark nodded.
"We finished building it a few days ago. Me, Dick and Kara, mainly. Bruce was working on something else as well. He hasn't told me what, though. He really likes his secrets. I think it amuses him to see our reactions when he shows us."
x
"There's Kryptonian tech in this thing." Clark said. "Looks recent, but it's controlled by something else. Guess whoever built this wanted to take advantage of it, but didn't trust it. Interesting. That looks like something Green Lantern showed me, but he said that species was extinct. This is definitely an alien construct."
The main console beeped and Barbara activated it.
"Batgirl here."
"We have information." Batman said. "They're called the Joining, their mode used to be to strip tech from worlds and move on, now they seize all data as well. They hit Mars several thousand years ago, we didn't have enough tech to attract their attention back then. They've obviously decided Earth is advanced enough to target."
"Nightwing says that the... Joining use Kryptonian tech." Barbara said. "As well as stuff he recognises from a briefing the Green Lantern gave him."
"Get Nightwing and Robin here." Batman said. "We need to alert all the heroes to the threat."
x
"Lois Lane..." the groggy voice said.
"Ms Lane, Nightwing here." Clark said. "I need to speak with Wonder Woman regarding a planetary emergency, but I don't have her number."
"Hang on." Lois said, sounding more awake. "I'll get her."
Bumps and steps sounded and a moment later, a new voice sounded.
"Diana here. Nightwing?"
"Batman wants to know if the eclipse has occurred."
"Yesterday." Diana said. "Why?"
"Because we've been invaded. Robotic infiltrators. We're contacting all the heroes we have links with, giving them the heads-up. You may wish to do the same. If you have an e-mail address, I'll send over a precis of the data."
"Nightwing!" Robin shouted. "Batman just contacted me. SETI have just detected something big headed for earth, and it's decelerating!"
x
The Batwing landed and Batman leaped out of the cockpit. As he dropped to the ground, Batwoman flew past him and touched down by Clark.
"Status?"
"We've almost finished contacting the heroes on the list," Barbara said, "We've only got a...Alien!"
"It's alright." Batman said, motioning to the green humanoid that had floated down beside him. "He's on our side. He was the telepath who was contacting Clark and Kara. J'ohnn Jonz, codename Martian Manhunter. He has an update for us."
"As I told Batman, they're an ancient race called the Joining." J'ohnn said. "Organic shapeshifters and machines bonded on a cellular level, a hive mind. There are not many of them, their hive mind destabilises if it gets too large, but they use technology to stabilise and enhance themselves."
"How many?" Clark asked.
"Barely two million, most of whom have integrated themselves into their craft." came the reply. "They use robotic scouts to gain information on their target, then they move in and take what they want."
"How does the hive mind aspect work?" Batman demanded.
"Their lives revolve round their Queen, the only one of them capable of producing offspring. They have a Prime Queen and several reserve Queens in stasis, in case anything happens to their Prime."
"We need to destroy as many of them as possible and take out the Queen." Batman said. "It will be tricky. And public, we can't go back to the status quo afterwards. And it means we need to make some changes to our roster. Clark, Kara, with me."
Barbara watched them go. "I wonder what he's doing?"
x
"So, what did you want?" Clark asked and Bruce sighed.
"This threat, we cannot take down just from the shadows. Not like Mr Freeze, the Joker or any of the others. We need raw power and skill. And there aren't many heroes out there who can reach the level you two can."
"So that means..?" Kara prompted.
"So we need two new heroes who can work in the day." Bruce said. "Robin and Batgirl can take your current mantles as you take new ones. Here, I've been working on these since we met Wonder Woman and I realised that I was holding you two back."
Bruce opened a tall cabinet and Clark and Kara's eyes widened at the contents.
"You'll need new code-names too. Something inspiring. And since the crest of the House of El looks like an S, I had a few ideas..."
x
"Wow!"
Robin's head snapped round at Barbara's gasp and his eyes widened as he saw the two figures flanking Batman. Both were clad in black bodystockings with silver knee-high boots, gauntlets, belts and capes. On their chests were an icon he had seen somewhere else, a silver S encased in a five-sided shield. On their heads, they wore headpieces that left their hair unrestrained, but which supported visors and sidepieces that met under their chins.
"Clark? Kara?"
Clark grinned. "That's Superman and Supergirl, Nightwing."
For a moment, Robin stared at him blankly, then he inhaled. "Me? The new Nightwing?"
Clark nodded. "I know you'll do fine, if you accept."
"Babs," Kara said softly. "Will you take over as Batwoman? I know it's sudden, but..."
Barbara nodded, unable to speak and Kara smiled at her. "Thank you."
"Your new outfits are in the cabinets I told you not to open." Batman said. "Go on, open them now, get changed and get back here. I need to contact Wonder Woman again. And Barbara, sorry your position as Batgirl was so short."