The rest of the night was rather uneventful. It was no trouble at all for the three of them to find and round up Ivy and Selina, although they were all silently glad that the Siren trio wasn't complete.

Robin had noticed that Nightwing was overly playful—engaging Robin in sparring matches, pitching unnecessary gas pellets in his path. The older hero had even pushed Robin off a couple buildings, only to toss him a grapple line or a birdarang for handhold. Of course, it was almost required that Robin return the favor, but each time he did, Nightwing's laughter echoed through the slums, and he used his training to land right back next to him, ruffling Robin's hair. It wasn't the taunting cackle that used to precede him in battle either. (The one Tim had tried to mimic for weeks until he realized it wasn't working.) It was a real, full laugh, the kind that usually irked Batman, but nothing was said.

The Dynamic Duo had wordlessly agreed that any distraction for the man was welcome, even if it alerted criminals to their location. It had been too long for them.

Ever since Wally's death, they had seen less and less of Richard. Nightwing had pulled back from the Team, and Mal Duncan had been dealing out more of the team assignments and missions. The hero was more and more active in Blüdhaven, the city where crime had fled after Batman had cleansed it from Gotham. Even as a civilian, Richard Grayson had thrown himself into his work, moving fast through his course load at Gotham University. He was on track to graduate early with his undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice and then join the force as a police officer.

When they got back to the Cave, and the masks had come off, Tim found himself staring at his older brother. Although the teasing grin was doing wonders to hide it, there were deep circles under his eyes. He had frown lines as deep as trenches digging into his face. He was more like Batman in the emotional department than he ever had been, a path Tim had never thought his brother would go down.

"Are you staying overnight?" he blurted.

A blush crept up his neck as Tim realized how out-of-the-blue that was. Dick focused on him, his face impassive, before turning to Bruce.

Without missing a beat or glancing up from his computer screen, the man announced, "You're welcome to, of course. I'll have Alfred prepare your room."

"Then sure. Saves me some time—those Zeta tubes take forever."

Tim chuckled at the joke. It was stupid, but it was Dick. And even though saying such things were forbidden in Wayne Manor, he had missed having his brother.

Richard felt bad, leaving so early in the morning, when Tim had asked for him to stay. But he had to get back to his apartment to check what his AI Gretchen had picked up in Blüdhaven while he was gone before heading to class. Sure, his class was only at eight, and it was five in the morning now, and the Zeta tubes could get him to the Nightwatch in seconds, but he had no idea what Gretchen could have picked up.

Or, the dream world could have shattered. He sighed. One night with his family was fun, and it helped him get his mind off of things, but he had responsibilities. He couldn't allow himself to fail now, not when he was almost to his goal of taking down crime on both sides. Dick Grayson, detective, by day, and Nightwing, vigilante, by night. He could get people locked up and actually have them stay there.

But this meant sacrificing a bit of quality time with his younger brother. And deep in the back of his mind, he wondered if it was worth it.

Especially when you never knew if this would be the last time.

Zatanna was at the Watchtower when the alert came through. The deep space sensors had been picking up a ship just outside the solar system, but it wasn't labelled a threat because it had been on course for the space station just a few light-years away.

But now, as she checked it, it wasn't moving. Whoever it was had stopped the engines. Whether that was on purpose or on accident, she had no idea.

There was another blip on the screen. Something that was moving fast. Too fast to be a comet or some sort of spacial debris. As it got closer, the computer could get a better reading. A small spacecraft, headed on a collision course with Earth.

The magician blanched. What was policy again?

With a snap of her fingers, she began opening a communication channel to the shuttle. "This is Zatanna from Earth. Please state your business in this solar system."

Her brain erupted in cheers. Not bad for a first time!

There was no response, so she repeated the message on different frequencies. That also proved fruitless. The proverbial static.

Zatanna opened up a com on all Justice League frequencies, and a call-out alert on the Team's. "Zatanna to all League members," she announced. "We have an unidentified spacecraft headed for Earth. Requesting League response."

Immediately, faces from her team flooded the screen, all questioning. She held up her hand for silence, noticing briefly that Nightwing, in the corner, had civilian clothes on with his mask.

She explained to them in as much detail as she could about the large spaceship that was still motionless at the edge of the solar system before launching into her theory about the emergency pod.

"I believe someone escaped the ship, and they are headed this way. At the rate they're going, they'll crash right into Earth."

Batman spoke up. "Green Lantern, do you recognize the make of either ship?"

Hal Jordan glanced off screen as he replied, "The larger one is a Gordanian transport vessel. The smaller ship resembles a Voorlian racer, but the readings are wrong. Both are from the Vega system, but they shouldn't be this far out of their solar system."

"We will assume they are hostile. Zatanna, stay at the Watchtower and monitor both ships. Batgirl, Red Tornado, Martian Manhunter meet her there. Keep us posted on any changes and set up Watchtower defense in case of attack from the Gordanian vessel."

The readings suddenly spiked. "They've just increased speed," Zatanna reported, her voice awestruck. "This is crazy. They're going to crash for sure now."

"Where and when?"

She tapped on a few keys to find the information being asked of her. "ETA in eight minutes. They should be landing…a few miles out of Happy Harbor. Looks like it could be in the water. Lucky."

"Send the coordinates. Miss Martian, Superboy, Beast Boy and I are close," Nightwing interjected.

"Will do." Zatanna nodded.

Batman spoke, "Superman and I are on our way from Metropolis."

"Rendezvous when you can. Keep us posted Zee. Nightwing out."

"The rest of Justice League and Team should remain on high alert. Get to either the Watchtower or Cave in case of emergency."

Noises of assent were heard as one by one, the heroes signed off. Behind the magician, the Zeta tubes started whirring, announcing heroes as they entered.

Zatanna sighed, eyeing the large blips on the screen, the ships that were invading their solar system. I guess I'm not going to work tonight.

As soon as he powered down his wrist computer, Nightwing peeled off his mask and made his way from the alley back into the café where his friends were waiting.

"We have to go," he ordered them.

Megan and Connor exchanged glances before pulling themselves to their feet. Garfield followed suit, excitedly playing with the ring on his left hand. Richard slapped money down on the table to pay for their drinks.

"What did Zatanna say, Dick?" Megan murmured in his ear.

"Emergency. Big. I'll tell you in the car."

The foursome sped to his car and strapped themselves in, Richard taking driver's seat. "Suit up guys. There's an alien craft headed for Earth."

"What kind?" M'gann asked as she shifted into her Miss Martian outfit and retained her Martian skin color. Next to her, Gar was slipping off the ring, a specially designed holo-ring that allowed him to blend into society. Removing it revealed his green skin, fangs, fur and tail. In the front seat, Connor pulled off his sweatshirt.

"There's a Gordanian vessel just outside the solar system. The one that's crashing down Hal recognized as a variation on a Voorlian craft."

"I don't understand. Those are from the Vega system. Why would they be here?" Megan questioned.

"That's what we're going to find out."

The earth suddenly shook around them. The car rumbled around them, as the shock wave passed them. Nightwing grunted as he had to fight to stay in his lane. "Shit."

But then a second explosion rocked the terrain around them, this time louder and with more force. Nightwing pressed the brakes hard, pulling the group forward with inertia. The foursome took a breath in sync and looked out the windows.

Bolts of scarlet spread across the sky, crackling with power.

"What the hell is that?"

A bolt hit the car, spreading across the frame. "Nobody touch anything metal!" Nightwing ordered, removing his hands from the wheel, just as sparks of red danced across it.

"That's not metal," Connor commented.

The vehicle's systems suddenly shut off, and they looked at each other. Remaining silent, they waited until there was no evidence of the crimson electricity.

"I suppose that's as close as we're getting. Let's go."

The heroes got out of the car, racing toward where the blast originated from, the water. Beast Boy shifted into a large cat, outrunning the others. M'gann flew upwards, grabbing Nightwing's arms to tow him along. Connor just ran.

Out in the bay, there was a large, triangular spacecraft with its nose straight down. Half of the ship was out of the water. Nightwing guessed it was impaled into the seabed below. The water wasn't that deep this close to the shore.

He brought up his wrist computer. "The signature matches the signal received by the Watchtower."

"Were you expecting a different rogue spacecraft to crash land into Happy Harbor?" Connor muttered.

Ignoring him, Nightwing continued scanning. "There are traces of xenothium! Holy—that stuffs hard to come by, anywhere in the universe. It's highly unstable—"

A noise on the beach startled the team. They all turned, striking battle positions. Nightwing's sticks twirled in his hands.

A figure was dragging themselves out of the water into the sand. The alien seemed humanoid. Her red hair was long and clung to her wet body. Her clothing was black and leatherlike. It clung to her well defined curves, hiding her skin. Even her hands were covered with gloves. A cough shook her body, but she remained clutching the parcel in her hands.

Nightwing found himself wondering how she had survived. They had barely survived against the sparks in the car, and they were a half mile from the crash site. She had been inside the now-mangled craft, and here she was. Injured, it seemed, but alive and conscious.

He took the initiative, creeping closer to the woman, stealthily. He placed both of his eskrima sticks in his right hand, holding them behind his back. His left hand was raised, to say "We come in peace."

"Hello," he called out, and her head snapped up, revealing another alien trait—her eyes. They were a bright, abnormal green that glowed. Her face was framed by a silver metal section that seemed to be a piece of jewelry. "I am Nightwing, from Earth."

She growled, before groaning. She brought herself into a defensive crouch.

He crept closer, slowly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Nightwing," Connor called behind him, asking a question with the tone of his voice. That alerted the alien to their prescense, and she scampered backwards, her face cringing in an expression of pain. He noticed a superficial cut along her chin as it bled on her neck, the only visible wound. The black suit kept everything else covered.

"It's alright, Superboy. She's injured," he replied, keeping his voice low. "Come on, I won't hurt you. Let me help you."

"X'hal," she murmured. "Gletchurr tur de lenz'a kria." Her bright emerald eyes stared into his mask, but she made no move as he edged closer.

With surprising speed and strength, the woman lurched forward, grabbing at him. Nightwing yelped, falling on his back—how graceful—before he was cut off by something pressing on his lips.

Her lips. They were wet, immobile, and pressing into his.

Then she released him, only to uppercut at the fast-approaching Kryptonian with a force that sent him into the bay towards her ship. M'gann began flying towards her, Beast Boy in tow, but green beams of light erupted from the woman's eyes toward them.

"If you do not wish to be destroyed, you will leave me alone," the fiery alien being decreed calmly, but with a deep hostility.

Nightwing blanched. She could speak English? What the hell? Why hadn't she started with that? What was with that kiss?

She retreated to pick up the parcel, and with a flash of green light, she blasted into the air.

Nightwing touched his earpiece. "Batman?"

"Nightwing," his mentor replied immediately. "We are almost to your location."

Connor, drenched from his time in the harbor, walked up to Nightwing, an expectant look on his face.

"Well, we've got a spaceship here. But the alien driver is gone. You're not going to believe this."

Koriand'r landed a few miles inland from where she had taken off. They could be back at any moment, and she needed to be ready. She was on a hunt.

She squinted at a sign. For a second, her brain could not bring forth the meaning, and she worried the language transfer had not been completed. The man with the Kryptonian symbol on his chest had come up too fast, and she had not been able to spend as much time engaging in lip contact as she would have liked. But then the words seemed to focus, and relief flooded through her.

Supermarket. A large retail market that sells food and other household goods and that is usually operated on a self-service basis.

Good. There had been no problem with the linguistic allocation. She was just exhausted. And injured, she added, as her ankle gave out a bit. She had not seen the sun in so long, and the rays of sun here were extraordinary—the yellow star was absolutely refreshing. But the black prison leathers were hindering her rate of absorption, and she could not waste time focusing solely on recharging. Unfortunately, that also meant there was no time for the healing sleep she so desperately needed. The Gordanians would be able to repair their ship soon, and she had to be ready.

The supermarket seemed to be a perfect place to start.

Koriand'r clutched her parcel, filled with only items she owned, tightly to her chest and walked into the shop.

"I am looking for sustenance," she announced to the man in the smock. He looked her up and down, lingering too long on her grebnacks, before going back to looking at a fragile piece of wood. Paper, her brain supplied. A stack of paper bound together. Book.

"Look around, buttercup," he sighed, irritated. "It's all over the place."

She frowned but turned away from him. Her brain supplied her with the definition of buttercup as being any of numerous plants of the genus Ranunculus, having glossy yellow flowers and deeply cut leaves, but the man seemed to have been referring to her, and she was not a type of wildlife. She shrugged it off, holding back a groan of pain at the action.

She was confused by the edible materials on this planet. They seemed to enjoy food that had already been cooked. Of course, she knew of other planets that packaged their food as well, but it just made the decision on what to eat that much more difficult. In the end, Koriand'r just grabbed some items and placed them in her mouth.

The food was not bad. Once you got past the outer shell, it was delicious. Koriand'r ripped open packages and threw it in her mouth. She had not been able to eat this much in years.

"Oh, X'hal," she murmured to herself after a particularly enjoyable piece of meat.

"Well," a voice behind her said, "You and I seem to share a passion for beef sticks."

Koriand'r whirled around on her heel, dropping the food, but clenching her parcel tighter. Instinctively, she lowered herself into a catlike battle stance, ignoring the stabs of pain that shot through her body as she did so.

It was the man from before, the one she had received English from. He was interesting. He knew more than one language, something she admired in life forms that did not have her abilities.

"I believed I had made myself clear," she announced plainly.

"I guess I'm just a bad listener," he reasoned.

"I do not wish you to be destroyed."

"I don't think that's going to happen. You see, my friend here," he guestured behind him, where the man she had thrown into the lake was standing. "He's part Kryptonian, and he's not very fond of baths. Not to mention the shapeshifter and the Martian behind you."

Koriand'r's eyes widened. The Warlords of Okaara would be disappointed in how she let her guard down. On instinct, she summoned her green energy into her hands.

And screeched in pain. She clamped down on it before she could show more weakness, but she still sunk to her knees. Her breath came in great heaves. The inhibitor gloves. Just another gift from the Gordanians. The crash land had been enough to shatter the mask that had prevented her from creating eyebeams, but gloves had remained latched to her wrists.

Nightwing froze. He had seen the electric current run through her body. That didn't make sense. He glanced down, to where her food was laying on the ground. She hadn't stormed through town, trying to kill everyone. She had landed alone in that ship, travelling away from the larger transport vessel only to raid the local supermarket.

Then she snapped her head up, eyes glowing with a dangerous emerald light.

With a feral battle cry, she shot an eyebeam at his chest, sending Nightwing flying back into Connor, who knocked over a rack of chocolates. As he pulled himself up, his earpiece beeped, and he ignored it. The Justice League's need for a report could wait.

Beast Boy shifted into a monkey, dodging the eyebeam, before launching at her. He landed a punch to her face, and wound up to throw another one, but she caught his fist in her hand.

"Woah!" yelled the shifter as he was thrown with incredible force into the freezer section.

M'gann tossed a shelf of baked goods at the alien, who swatted it away with a casual flick of her hand. Eyebeams surged towards her, but M'gann dodged them easily. By this time, the other three heroes had time to recover. Realizing she was surrounded again, Koriand'r growled.

Then she burst through the ceiling in a flash of green light.

She landed on the roof, stumbling as she did so. X'hal, she was sore. Her ankle cracked painfully, and the redheaded alien moaned. It seemed she had only provided a quick solution, as an eagle soared out of the hole she had created, followed by a Martian and Kryptonian. Lastly was the man with the blue bird on his chest.

She just had to escape them, but she didn't have the energy. They were going to be in danger, and it was all her fault. Koriand'r frowned. If only the spacecraft had not malfunctioned, she could've brought the Gordanians away from this planet and these people.

Something flashed in the sunlight, and her head snapped to the side.

Nightwing watched as she looked around, trying to find the source of the batarang, while a cut sprouted on her cheek.

The crimson blood matched her bright hair.

He sprung forward, between his teammates and the alien. "Wait!" he called out, making eye contact with Batman, who landed next to him, Superman on the other side. Batman nodded, waiting for him to continue.

Instead, he faced the alien.

Her eyes had dimmed, and they portrayed a sense of confusion. Nightwing suddenly had a thought, that no one had helped her out before.

"Why will I be destroyed if we don't leave you alone?"

She blinked at him, taking a hesitant step back, only to hiss in pain. The ankle must be injured. Her jaw tightened. "They will come to this planet for my reacquisition."

"You're their prisoner," Batman clarified.

"Prisoner?" she spat. "I am no prisoner." Nightwing could tell that was a source of prize for the warrior alien. Her voice was lower, more defeated, when she continued. "I am, as you say, a prize. The Gordanians were on their way to return me to the Citadel to live out my days as their servant."

"What is the Citadel?" Superman asked.

A bitter smile coated her features, and they all knew. Not nice.

Suddenly, everyone's coms went off. "Zatanna to the League. I have bad news, and I have bad news."

A/N: Hey guys! Chapter two is here! I'm really enjoying this story. I have so many ideas! Unfortunately that means I'm really neglecting When Lightning Strikes…which I kind of vowed to finish haha.

Don't forget to review ladies and gents! I'd love to hear feedback, even if you want to criticize. Actually, I'd probably enjoy that. I'm thinking of taking this story out of the crossover section since it's not technically a crossover, it's just character stealing. It might get me more reads & reviews. I'd still like to know—which TT characters do you want to see in the YJ universe?

Let me know what you think!

Cheers,
Liv