Bold Italics= Flashback

Italics=author's note/final notes

Nightwing & Starling 1

The Thief Odile

School was something Mar'i had grown to tolerate. Just like any child, Mar'i did not like school, but she tolerated the horrible place because her father asked her to. It wasn't as hard as a transition as it could have been she had Kevin and the other dance studio children to help and Gotham Prep didn't seem all that bad. That didn't mean that children didn't talk. It wasn't as bad in the elementary section, but the high school and middle school seemed to be hung up on Bruce Wayne's granddaughter attending their school.

"Mini Grayson!" A voice called out to here. It was of course Damian who continued to call her that horrible nickname. "Alfred is here to get us. Let's go." He ordered. Mary sighed, it seemed that her dad had told him to watch out for her in school, not that she minded, but still she could take care of herself.

"I'm coming, Damian. Do you have to scream at me every day when it's time to go home?" Damian only gave her a look that she easily read as 'Are you stupid?' and sighed. Damian and her got along just fine, but even she sometimes needed a break from his Damianness.

"Damian, can you help me with my english homework?" Mary asked as she got into the car. She was careful not to show anything in the skirt she was wearing on Tamaran people didn't care about that, but on earth when lady's wear a skirt they have to keep their legs closed. Mar'i really didn't understand why, seemed like a foolish notion to her.

"Fine, what do you need help on?" See they got along fine, if she needed anything he would help her and vice versa, but one wouldn't say they were close...Yet.

"Diagraming sentences." Mar'i answered. "I told my teacher I've never done anything like that, but she said I was lying and she refused to help me. She doesn't believe me when I say English isn't my first language." Damian snorted.

"Well, you do speak it perfectly. Sucks for you then. English isn't my first language either, but I still do fine in the class. What do you have in the class a 'B'?" Mar'i glared at the older boy.

"Yeah, but you had tutors to teach you all the technical stuff about English. My mother only taught me to speak it properly, so of course I'm going to stink at it." Mary said pointing a finger in his face. "Plus, at least you lived on planet. Tamaranian is so much more different than english, a lot of english words, english words I need to know for class, don't exist in the tamaranian language, so excuse me for not doing as well as I could be doing in the class!"

"Geez, sorry." Damian apologized though not sincerely. "I didn't know you were that touchy about it."

Mar'i sighed. "I didn't mean to blow up at you like that. I'm just frustrated. All the other subjects come easy because they're mostly the same as on Tamaran. The math is the same, so is the science. History is different, but that's just memorization, and I've read enough books to know most of the history anyway, but english continues to serve as my weak point.

Damian clicked his tongue, "Tt, Fine. Tiny Grayson, I will help you on whatever you need to know about the subject of english. Have you told your father about you struggling in class."

"I still have a decent grade so he doesn't ask questions besides, He's busy with work as it is. Gotham is very different from Blüdhaven." Mar'i said looking out of the car window.

"Okay, so I won't tell him. You know I think you're the only one of us to ever get a 'B' in any subject." Damian said with a smirk. She turned back to him and glared again.

"Shut up. You sound so stupid. You know Cassandra didn't even go to school, she had private tutors. Stop trying to make me mad and help me with the friggin english homework." With that Mar'i threw the english book hard into the boy's lap which he of course caught. Then something happened that Alfred himself knew happened very rarely, Damian Wayne laughed. A real laugh, not one of his condescending laughs, but a laugh like he truly thought something was funny. Looking back into the mirror Alfred found out what it was. It seemed that outside of her domino mask Miss Mary wasn't all that menacing looking. In fact the look of anger she was currently giving the young master was quite cute. Yes, this warrior princess who could probably kill a person given the chance and lack of morals was cute. She still had a slight baby face that she would most likely grow out of by the time she turned 11 and dimples that her father had when he was young. All in all, she was almost too cute to believe that she swung around roof tops at night, she looked too innocent to be the type, though she tried to act scary. The moment the girl puts on a domino mask it was like a switch, she could be as intimidating as her father, and all the others. Mary definitely had the idea of secret identity mastered. To the public eye, Mary Grayson and Starling were completely different people.

"Hey, Riri," Kevin greeted happily. "You actually made it to practice on time. I'm so proud." He hugged the girl

"Oh whatever. Has Ms. Michelle finished our routine?" Mary asked not bothering to escape from the boy's embrace.

"Yeah she has, teaching us the rest of it tonight. Are you sure you want to do this, I mean this is a hip hop piece. I thought you would stick to Ballet and lyrical."

"I needed a break from the norm, besides wants us to broaden our horizon." Mary pushed the boy off her her finally, He had always been clingy like that, Mary didn't mind because honestly she was clingy like that too, but Kevin was worse. When the time came to it though, Mary could hug a person to death. Jason swears she gets it from her father.

Kevin frowned, "Ms. Michelle said I couldn't teach you! Can you believe that! She trust me to teach you ballet, but I can't teach you hip hop." Kevin complained.

"It can't be that bad." Mary said looking on the brighter outlook. "Who's teaching one of the paid teachers or a student."

Kevin sighed, "I don't know. I hope a teacher though, because all of the older girls hate me."

"That we do." Agreed the girl that walked in. She had short black hair in a bob cut, and wore a black swan necklace around her neck.

"Kitty?" Kevin asked almost outraged. "You can't be teaching us. You haven't even been dancing that long!"

"Not ballet anyway," Kitty corrected "I've been dancing hip hop for years."

Kevin glared at the girl while Mary only smiled and nodded.

"You know, Michelle was really pushing us to try hip hop, why is that what's the deal?" Kevin asked with narrowed eyes something was off he could feel it.

"You caught me." Kitty held up her hands in surrender. "Michelle wants you two to join The Revolutionaries." Kevin gapped at the girl with mouth wide open.

"Us, join The Revolutionaries?" Mary asked "I thought that only kids 14 and older can join, and I am no where near to that."

"We want to make an exception for the two of you. You two have been dominating competitions lately, and we think that we should reward you for that."

"But we're lyrical and ballet dancers, for all you know we might not even be good enough for The Revolutionaries, I mean has The Revolutionaries have never not gotten first place?" Kevin asked. Kitty paused before answering.

"We want to believe that you two deserve this, but like everyone else you have to make your way onto our team. If you place at the competition with this routine we'll let the both of you onto the revolutionaries a whole 4 years early, 5 for you Mary. Don't make us regret giving you this chance. So are you both in, or not?"

Kevin and Mary looked at each other for a moment a silent conversation passing between them, Kevin looked a little skeptical while Mary gave a look of excitement at the area they could cover. Eventually Mary smiled her way into getting Kevin to sigh and agree.

"We'll do it." He said evenly. "Riri believes that this is a good chance and even if we don't make it, we should at least try. I'm comfortable where I am, but Mary's the boss." He shrugged his shoulders. "So what's this routine that's going to get to get us into The Revolutionaries?"

Kitty smiled, "Have you ever seen the Addams Family?"

Kevin nodded an a now interested yes, while Mary gave a confused look

"What's the Addams Family?" Kitty gave Kevin a questioning look while He just returned it.

"Doesn't matter, Riri. We'll watch it later. She's not really from this country, Kitty. She won't understand any pop culture references unless they've already been shown to her."

Mary frowned, "I do know some." She claimed. "I saw those Hungry Games movies."

Kitty stifled a laugh while Kevin corrected her, "Hunger Games, Riri."

"Okay, first thing on our list is to watch the Addams Family, you should watch it in order to play the part well, for now though I'm going to teach you the routine." Kitty announced. "Okay first off this is going to be really creepy feeling so you have to-"

"Alright, great you two. If you don't get first place Then the freaking competition is rigged. You guys pick up routines faster than most people I've danced with." Kitty praised.

"Thank you." Kevin and Mary answered in unison. Mary was being held up in Kevin's arm and quickly tapped his shoulder to let her down, which he did very gently.

"You guys were made for hip hop, you sure you don't want to do it full time?" Kitty asked jokingly. Kevin made a slightly disgusted face while Mary laughed. He liked hip hop but ballet was his first love. "Joking, Kev. Anyway the next part is where your acrobatics come into play. Mary, you're-" A phone ringing cut her off.

Kevin turned and glared at his partner.

"It's not mine!" Mary shouted in her own defense.

"It's mine," Kitty said, "Give me a minute." Kitty walked over to her bag and pulled out her phone and answered in english, then quickly switched to Russian.

To bad for Kitty, both children in the room spoke Russian, Mary for obvious reasons and Kevin because his mother spoke it. Sadly, she didn't realize from the worried faces on both children that they understood her phone conversation.

"Sorry kiddies," Kitty said with a forced smile. "Duty calls. I'll teach you the rest tomorrow. For now you guys can go home, but be here on time tomorrow."

"Yeah, we'll be here." Mary and Kevin turned to each other again, and both had the same idea floating in their heads as Kitty walked out.

"So, we're following her, right?" Kevin confirmed.

Mary gave him an unsure look, "I don't know, Kevin. It sounds kind of dangerous. May be we shouldn't go at all." That was a lie Mary was going, but not with a civilian.

"It's either you come with me or I go alone, Riri, your choice." Definitely not an option. The phone call sounded serious… almost the kind of serious her family took care of during the night.

"Kevin, are you sure. I really don't think we should go."

"Like I said, I'm going with or without you, Riri. I want to see who made our Katya leave out of here like a bat out of hell. You coming?"

Mary sighed, "Fine, let's go." It was in her job description to go, but bringing a civilian? Mary was going to lose all sorts of points. Boy, he father would pitch a fit if he ever found out, twice goes for Bruce.

They followed Kitty out of the Conservatory, and all over Gotham till they got to the east end, close to crime alley.

"Kevin, maybe we should go back now. Your dad will be there to pick us up soon." Mary said trying to convince the older boy to leave.

"Already got it covered." He answered with his signature smirk, "Oh lovely, Riri, I already called him and told him we'd be out a little late. He said not to worry because he had some more work anyway."

"Kevin, I'm seriously not okay with you-"

"Look she's going into that bar!" Kevin ran after the girl but stopped round the corner so not to be spotted. Kitty talked to man at the door before he let her in.

"How are we going to get in there, Kev. It's not like they're going to let a nine and ten year old into a bar."

"We don't need to get in through the front door." Kevin answer easily. "Thank, God. This is Gotham and in the city there are bound to be fire escapes." Kevin ran round back of the bar and to no ones surprise there was a fire escape, and at the top of the building was a conveniently broken window.

"Mary, I'm going to boost you up like we did it that one jazz routine, remember?" Kevin said looking at the tall fire escape.

Mary nodded and prepared herself. In reality she didn't need Kevin's help to reach the fire escape, but she couldn't tell him that. As if she were a cheerleader Kevin boosted her up far enough to climb up onto the fire escape so she could drop the ladder down for him.

They smartly climbed to the top window in silence for fear of being caught. Mary reached into the window, unlock it and they both climbed inside.

"Alright this is the part that gets interesting-." There was a sharp pain to the back of his neck, and Kevin fell to the ground out cold.

"Sorry, Kev. It was the only way." Mary said looking down at the boy with sad eyes. She didn't want to knock him out, really, but he had forced her hand when he didn't chicken out from the adventure as she had planned.

Looking around Mary took notice of her surroundings. The room seemed to be used only as storage meaning she only needed to hide Kevin. He wouldn't be waking until long after all of this was over and she would just tell him he passed out after practice and it was all a dream. Tip toeing around the boy's fallen form Mary crept out of the room and down the stairs. Kitty was on the third floor, that's what the large Russian man at the door had told her. Kevin couldn't have heard that but Mary with her superior hearing could.

Mary only needed to get close to hear whatever specifics were going on because from the phone call she just about knew what was going on. Thank god for Tamaranian super hearing right

"Hello? What do you want, Dimka?" Kitty asked as soon as she answered the phone.

"You know what I want, Katya." The man answered.

"Don't call me, Katya." she growled quietly before looking back at the two children behind her offering a small smile. "I am teaching a class. Make this quick, Dmitri."

"The heist needs to be done tomorrow night. I've got a buyer. You can do it, yes?"

Kitty sighed, "Dimka, I don't know..."

"Katya, Katya, poor young little Katya. As your older brother, I work hard to put you in the best schools and pay for your dreams such as that dance school you love so much. I only want this tiny favor from you, Katya. You're very talented at what you do, Katya. I'm only using this talent to get what I need done."

"You want me to commit a felony so you can get a little cash." Kitty said unsure.

"No." He said a little outraged at the idea. "I want you to commit a felony for a lot of cash. Come by the bar, we'll discuss details then."

"I'm busy at the moment." Kitty mentioned again.

"I don't give a shit. Get here or your little dance school is getting treated to my favorite cocktail, Understand?" Kitty willed herself into staying neutral in her face.

"I'm coming, I'll be there in half an hour."

"Good." And Dmitri hung up. Kitty put on her best fake smile and turned back to Mary and Kevin.

"I've got to go. We'll finish this tomorrow." and like that Kitty took out of the room like a bat out off hell.

The climb down the stairs was much easier now that she didn't have Kevin with her. Don't get her wrong because of his years of ballet he was much better at stealth than a lot of super heroes, but she needed him to at least on par with someone in her family. Mary was sure getting this information would score her some points with Jason. He had been complaining that some new Russian guys were trying to get on his turf, now Mary could get him some more info. After all, She was entitled to help the man who taught her. Not only that, but this could be the answer to the passed cat burglaries the last couple of weeks, ones that Catwoman claimed not to have a hand in. To be fair, they hadn't really had the time to deal with these simple thefts. Bigger fish to fry and all, but Mary wished they could stop all sorts of crime no matter how petty.

Mary was about to check to see a way to see into the room when she had heard voices coming from down the hall. With no place else to run Mary hid in the room closest to her, and dived behind the desk hoping that they wouldn't find. This was a lame hiding place, but until she was sure what exactly she was dealing with it would have to do. Luckily the knock on the door wasn't for the room she was in, but the room next door. She heard muffled voices speaking in Russian until she had heard a voice she knew.

Kitty!

Mary had lucked out and choose the room adjacent to the room Kitty was now meeting her Russian mob contact. How did Kitty even get in this situation, anyhow? From the sound of the earlier phone conversation it was obvious she was Russian, but that didn't mean she was apart of the mob. Mary could hear the conversation leave the pleasantries and enter serious discussion. She had to see what was going on in there. Looking around the room she spotted her savior, a vent. One of the first things Jason taught her, A vent is a bat's best friend. They are perfect for escape routes, not to mention entrance into a place where you probably won't find security. But in this case Mary couldn't use it for access into the other the room, not that she wanted to go in there. Were she caught that close Mary would be dead, but even if she wanted to use the vent it was too small for her to fit through. She could still use it to gage the situation still. Pulling out a long but thin cord with a small screen from her pocket, Mary began to fish the cord through the vent. The cord had a small camera attached to end so Mary could see who exactly was making Kitty do something illegal. Finally Mary had found the room, and with it she could see a clear shot of everyone but the head honcho sitting at his desk back turned to the vent.

"So this information from Ferris is perfect. We'd have Langley eating out of the palm of our hands." Said a brute.

"No, we won't." Kitty clarified. "I'm stealing the info so you can sell it. Let me guess, Dimka, you are not that ambitious?"

Dimitri or the man sitting at the desk, chuckled. "Ever correct, my sister. Out of the two of us you have always been the better thief. We could sell this information to the highest bidder, and set our place in the big leagues here in Gotham." Sister? That explained why Kitty would steal stuff for this man. At least she wasn't a lover convinced this man loved her and wasn't using her. "The file will be at it's most vulnerable tomorrow night, you'll go then. Are we clear, Katya?"

"Crystal." Kitty said through her teeth as if she wished she could say something a little less that respectable to her brother. "I'll have it done, but this is the last time, Dmitri! I have worked too hard to be caught up in this life now! Not when I've worked so hard to leave it!"

Mary couldn't see the man's facial expression, but did see the wave of his hand, "Please, Katya. You do not just runaway from what you were born into. Accept your fate, Katya, The sooner the better. For you and your little dance studio." Mary probably palled at the same time as Kitty. He planned to use the studio against her. How low, but then again what did Mary expect from an up and coming mob boss in Gotham. "This will get us at the top of the map with Joker, Two-Face, and the others, now that we've taken care of that Red Hood."

...Wait, what?

And as she thought the words, A soft beeping came from her pocket. Crap! That was the emergency signal most likely coming from Jason. How the hell did these guys get the drop on him anyway, and why didn't he activate the signal earlier? Jason could be so hard to deal with sometimes. Mary cursed herself trying to stop the beeping, while hoping none in the other room could hear it.

"Quiet! What the hell is that sound?" Oh big crap! Mary silenced the emergency signal, and quickly pulled the the cord from the vent. She had about 4.3 seconds at the most to get the hell out of there, but going down the window they would see her and surely give chase. 2.6 seconds. Under the desk? No, they would find her and kill her in a heart beat. .5 seconds. Time was up, and the Group of men lead by Dmitri entered the room to find it empty.

"Check everywhere!" He barked orders at his men. They checked the mostly empty room but found nothing, still Dmitri was suspicious. He checked out the window and found no one on the ground below, nor anyone climbing the building up. To the sides he only found windows. Content that there was probably nothing there to begin with Dmitri ordered his men back to their post, not so much as sparing a glance into the room. It wouldn't have helped anyway as Mary wasn't in the room. The floor above a window Air conditioning unit stuck in it, and on top of that out of sight was the young Mary who peered out making sure the coast was clear before moving on. She needed to get to Jason, fast. Retrieving Kevin from the room they had broken into earlier, Mary put him in a cab before waking him up telling him that she was sending him back to the studio, and that she'll see him tomorrow. Of course, he protested, but his only answer was a car door slammed in his face. Putting on her Starling uniform in record time, she quickly informed everyone that she was on her way to Jason, and would meet up with the rest of them soon.

Jason cursed as he heard a loud thump coming from upstairs. He really wished those Russian Wannabes hadn't taken his arsenal away from him or else he would have just sent for one of the other to come and get him. They probably thought he was dying, since it was the emergency signal, but in reality he just didn't have another way of contacting them. He couldn't move or risked puncturing a lung, again, then he would be out for at least another month, and he was not about to go through being benched so soon again.

"Hood?" The women who saved him said looking up at the ceiling at the noise.

"Don't worry about it," He said to comfort her, "I'm sure it's just a friend of mine knocking out one of your daughters." The woman turned to him with scared eyes. "That's a good thing! They probably don't want to be seen here aiding me. They won't hurt you're daughters, they probably just used knock-out gas." The woman still regarded him cautiously. He sighed. This woman really saved his ass. Rosario as he later came to find out her name, is an Afro-Latina, shop owner in the east of gotham. Compared to other stores she had it really good and made a decent amount of money, not to mention she was under the Red hood's protection.

"Mom!" One of Rosario's daughters came running in, Lina he believed her name was. "The girls, they were-" With the sound of gas being released around Lina she fell to the ground, and stepping around her was the young, Starling. Purple and black costume similar to the one Nightwing wore, but fitted more for a feminine body. Her long black hair was braided coming around her shoulder and hanging there.

Starling surveyed the room quickly before fixing her domino masked gaze at Red Hood. "What the heck, Hood! I thought you had been captured or worse!" Jason almost laughed but the pain in his chest stopped.

"I'm just seriously injured is all." Jason assured. "Now can you take me to the clinic I think I may have broken a rib."

Mary lightly put her hand on his chest causing him to wince. "Maybe a lot more than a rib. Where's your car? I can drive you back."

"Around the corner, you should be able to find it." Hood said as he stood up leaning against the young girl, who could surprisingly hold his weight.

"Wait, Hood! What about my daughters-"

"They'll be fine." Starling cut her off. "They should all wake up within the hour."

"And what about those-" Rosario never to to finish her question as Red Hood sprayed the knock-out gas in her face causing her to fall to the ground.

"Thanks for the help, Rosario. We'll be in contact." Then the two vigilantes left.

Rosario woke up to all four of her daughters standing above her, only waking up minutes before her asking what happened. The eldest Lina kept quiet for good reason, and Rosario simply said that the dinner she had made them must have been bad. A lie, but ignorance is just another form of safety. The Hood though he protected her store she knew him to be dangerous, a criminal. So why was he working with Nightwing's sidekick? Rosario stopped herself. Best not to think too hard on these things before she figures something out that could get her killed.

"Okay, explain to me why you took a civilian into the HQ for the new Russian mobsters?" Nightwing asked his daughter.

"Well, really I didn't take him, he brought me." She clarified. Nightwing frowned and Starling winced. Not a good sign.

"I don't care who suggested to go along it was dangerous to bring him there, Starling! Our job is to protect the lives of innocents not endanger them."

"I tried to talk him out of going, I swear, but he said that if I didn't go with him he would go alone! He could have been killed if he went alone, so I went with him and put him out of commision when things got too dangerous. Plus, I planned on going anyway, I think I got a lead on those thefts that have been happening the past few weeks." Starling stared at her father. She didn't like it when they butted heads like this. It didn't happen often, only usually when she did something unconventional. Which was a lot.

Nightwing sighed. Truly, that was the best thing that could have been done in that situation, though she could have knocked him out before they got to that point, he can't really be mad, besides they have work that needed to be done.

"So what did you find?" Nightwing asked turning back to the computer in the bat bunker.

"Well, the thefts and that new Russian mob that's been bothering Jason are connected, and the thief pulling these heist is one of the dancers at my dance studio." Nightwing turned to her eyebrow raised. "I know, that's the same face I made. She's been stealing from the Gotham elite and museums and giving to the mob to sell among the the underworld. Over the past few months they have really climbed up in the underworld. They've been trying to steal territory from Jason, as well. They're the reason he's had a bunch of broken ribs."

Nightwing thought over what Starling had just told him, "I hate new and upcoming crooks. They think that they can take out the A-listers and move up in the underworld, very annoying, especially when they try to kill a hero. So what are they trying to steal now?"

"According the the conversation I just heard, information, but I think it's something big." Nightwing raised an eyebrow.

"What makes you say that?"

"They said and I quote, 'Langley will be eating out of the palms of our hands'. Langley is a common nickname for the CIA. What do they have that will get them a get out of jail free card with the CIA?"

"Good question, but honestly none of our business." Starling frowned. "Don't give me that look. I'm curious as well, but honestly the closer we get to CIA information the more we overstep our bounds as vigilantes. We need to get this information back to the CIA." Nightwing started typing on the computer pulling up a file on his CIA informant. A picture of a redheaded woman with blue eyes. Starling's father certainly has a type. The name on the computer read Evelyn Dracson.

In good judgment Starling didn't not comment on the woman's appearance instead returning the focus to the theft taking place tomorrow. "They plan on taking the info tomorrow."

"We can take them down then, Blackgate sure is going to be full of Russians."

"Wait, the girl performing the thefts, she's under coercion. Isn't there something we can do about that?" Starling asked. She liked Kitty, she really did.

Nightwing turned to her and patted her shoulder, "She made her choice she she decided to help the mob out. She could have left at anytime, Starling. If she commits the crime and she gets caught by the police there is nothing we can do. We'll have to take her down."

"But it isn't black and white like that!" Starling protested. Kitty was a good person, but her brother wasn't. It wasn't her fault.

"You're right, but even still." Nightwing paused. "I can't tell you how many times I have dealt with this situation, someone I liked, or even loved turns out to be involved with some sort of criminal activity. I had to go through it with a multitude of friends, girlfriends, and family." Though he left it unsaid it was clear who he was talking about, Jason, but Jason wasn't the only one who had strayed from the path, Cassandra had, so has Damian. Tim's time was probably coming. But what does one do in this situation? Betray that loved one and turn them in? Turn a blind eye? Reform them? Starling didn't know, but she did know one thing Kitty didn't deserve prison. She was just born into the wrong situations. Nightwing sighed, "Listen, I'll let you make the decision as to what happens to the girl. Each of us has had to make that choice time and time again. Heck, Bruce still makes that choice with Selina everytime she tries to steal something. You have to learn this lesson for yourself, it's not something I can teach you. You have until she's in police custody to make your choice, alright?"

"Alright." 24 hours to let a theft go free, or but her behind bars. When said like that the choice sounds easy, but when so much is at stake was it really that?

Three in the morning most of Gotham even the criminals were asleep. Even the vigilantes were doing they're last rounds of patrol before heading in for the night, and on her couch in her apartment sleeping was Kitty Collier, real name Katya Rasputin. Russian born thief of the up and coming Russian mob. Though she was very reluctant. Coming to Gotham for a fresh start she thought she could leave her family business by moving in one of the busiest cities in the world, no one would notice a school aged girl trying to keep her head down, but still her brother had found her. Using her dance studio as leverage he has been making do petty thefts and selling them at auctions to Gothams A and B list criminals. Thefts go from Jewels to weapons to information. Started activity 3 years ago at age 13. Thief Alias: Odile, The Black Swan.

That's what her file read. It seemed that Catwoman had run into this girl a couple of times, but did not deem her a threat in order to stop her. Her file was made from these encounters and the very little she told Selina during their encounters. The girl was about 13/14 when she had meet the Catwoman, but still she remembered her none the less. Kitty remembered being quite frightened by the older woman. She apparently didn't like people on her turf, understandable but still frightening. Starling had asked Catwoman about the girl, who did say she remembered her and agreed with Starling's sentiment that she didn't really deserve Blackgate. She could take care of herself there, but they both didn't want the teen to end up there. But what could Starling do? If Kitty does the heist, She has to bring her down. Oh, what to do what to do. If only the sleeping Kitty knew the amount of stress she was bringing the young girl.

Kitty's breathing became softer as she started to wake up. She quickly jolted up from her place on the couch and stared out onto the fire escape. "I know you're there, come out." She ordered.

"You're good." A voice floated into the room, "but not that good." As the lights turned on it was revealed that Starling, the origin of the voice, was not on the fire escape, but sitting on the kitchen counter eating some of her yogurt.

"Hey!"

"Sorry!" Starling put down the yogurt. "I saw the yogurt in the fridge, and I had to take some! I love yogurt!" She chirped. Kitty eyed the masked girl anxiously. Was she for real?

"You're one of those bats, aren't you? What are you, Nightwing Girl? Night Chick?"

"Starling! It's Starling Is that really so hard! I mean everywhere I go, it's always, 'Are you the new Batgirl?'" Starling's braid swung behind her back as she jumped off the counter and onto the floor. "I mean do they not see the nightwing symbol? Maybe I should have called myself Night-Girl or something or the other, at least they would get my name right in the papers. Well, it could be worse I could be Red Robin. People are still confusing him for Dr. Midnight. He's the smartest guy I know, but comes up with the least creative names ever and a horrible costume. Well, then again he works with Batman, I mean The Batcave, The Batmobile, The batcomputer, The batplane. Don't even get me started with him, I swear to god if we'd let him he would name his utility belt the Bat Belt. He almost did, I'm not joking. The man can intimidate Superman himself, but he is so corny you could almost die from the sheer embarrassment alone. This one time I was working with him and Robin, and it turns out he has a-"

"Umm, I would love to hear more about our Dark Knight's quirks, but what is a bat doing in my house?" Kitty asked. The girl's mouth ran a mile a minute.

"I came to talk to you, of course." Starling answered curtly. "I came to find out what a good girl like you is doing working for the mob." Kitty froze. "Didn't you really think I didn't know? I mean Why else would I be here?" She asked rhetorically. "Also try to keep your body language under control. I'm reading you like an open book." She pointed out. "You keep bouncing your leg, you're nervous, but not just because i'm here and you're a thief. I'm guessing it's stress from the heist you have planned tomorrow. Yes, I know about that, as well. You plan on giving the Russian mob government secrets to sell to other more powerful criminals for a quick buck, but you don't want to do it." Kitty turned to Starling in surprise. "I can tell. You're a good person, Kathrine. You don't have to do this."

Kitty shook her head, "No, the studio. They'll attack the studio if I don't do it."

"The studio is under my protection. Nothing will happen to it, so you can choose without any other force causing you to choose their side. Will you not give the information, or will you give it to them causing all sorts of damage?"

"But he's my brother..." Kitty started. "This has been my family business for years."

"But it doesn't have to be yours. You can make your own choices now, Kitty, but realize if you do continue with the heist I will be forced to take you down. Are we clear?" Starling asked.

"I understand." The phone rang causing Kitty to turn her head upon answering it and telling the person to hold she looked back up to find Starling gone. "I hope I make the right decision." From the roof tops Starling hoped she would as well.

The next day, unsurprisingly, Kitty did not show up for practice leaving Kevin and Mary to practice the bit they had learned from the day before.

"Real talk, Riri, what the hell happened yesterday when I passed out?" He asked.

Mary shrugged. "When we got into the building you hit your head. You passed out I carried you out and took you to a cab, remember." Mary said calmly lying to her best friend smoothly. She didn't like doing it, but it needed to be done.

"I remember that, but why did you push my into a taxi and order me home? That was a little weird, I mean you didn't get into the taxi with me, like you wanted to stay in on the east end. Also, how do you know your way around Gotham's east end. You just moved here like a year ago, and Your grandad is Bruce Wayne, you shouldn't even need to touch that side of Gotham let alone run around like you knew it better than your own home." He was almost too good, but luckily a little truth mixed in with a lie should do the trick.

"Actually, Bruce takes some of us to place his parents died each year." This was a lie, but honestly what Gothamite didn't know the tragic tale of Bruce Wayne who lost his parents at such a young age. Bruce preferred to be by himself when he visited the place where his parents died, and leave a pair of roses. She had only been there once when she had asked Bruce around the time she first got to Gotham why they did what they did. He had explained to her the story behind what created Batman, and how Batman inadvertently helped mold the rest of them. It was in that moment that Mary truly felt like Bruce was family to her. He had been nice to her, but kept a safe distant from the new addition. "Plus my Uncle Jason had called he knew I had snuck out and came to get me. Talk about major trouble, I've been grounded for a month."

Kevin gave the girl a skeptical look, "That sounds, pretty plausible, but then again so do all your other excuses. You're hiding something from me, Riri. I'll find out what it is eventually." Mary paled because honestly he just might. "Don't worry though I'll wait until you tell me. Whatever it is though I hope it's important enough to keep from the people you care about." If it wasn't you would know by now, Mary thought, you would be the first person I tell.

Before Mary could answer him back with another lie her phone rang.

"Just go." Kevin told her, "Family emergency, or whatever. I get just go." It broke Mary's heart, but she smiled a grateful smile at him before she sped away. It was a shame that her leaving with lame excuses had become such a norm that Kevin didn't even ask for an explanation anymore. Either way, she couldn't think about that right now because Mary's life had to be put on hold while Starling came out to play.

Kitty Collier had made her decision. She had chosen her brother, after all he would choose her, right? Stealing the info from the computer in the Ferris building wouldn't be that hard. Security would always be a pain in the ass but she had scored the CEO's passcard so the odds of not getting caught were in her favor, or they would have been if Starling's promise wasn't looming over her.

"But realize, if you do continue with the heist I will be forced to take you down. Are we clear?" Starling asked.

Kitty had a sinking feeling that the young vigilante would keep her promise, and that it wouldn't only be the young girl coming to take her in. Starling would bring Nightwing, or worse Batman. He wouldn't have any mercy for her, after what her brother did to the Red Hood, he wouldn't hold back on his petty thief of a sister. Kitty was scared and rightfully so, but she still needed to do this if not for her, then for her brother's love.

"But he's my brother..." Kitty started. "This has been my family business for years."

"But it doesn't have to be your's. You can make your own choices now, Kitty."

Of course now of all time's Starling's words would ring through her ears, right as she was about to download the information for Dmitri. Kitty took a deep breath and began downloading the information. It was now or never.

Up in the rafters hiding in the shadows was one of Gotham's best, Nightwing, and at his side the ever faithful, Starling. They had quietly watched as the girl snuck into the building and made her way to steal the information. Nightwing pulled out a Wing-Ding ready to stop the girl from taking the download.

"Wait." Starling stopped him. "You said I have till she is in custody to make my choice whether to help or not, right?" She asked her mentor.

"Yes, I did, but I thought you talk to the girl last night?" Nightwing asked not taking his eyes away from the young thief below them.

"I did, just give me all my time." Starling answered cryptically. "I want to see what she does once she has the information." she clarified. Nightwing nodded understandingly and watched with his young protégé as the young girl finished the download and snuck off into the night.

"Come on." Starling urged, "We're about to take care of the thief Odile, and the Russian mob in one swoop. Jason will thank us later." Nightwing grinned at the prospect. This would do a lot of good to Gotham, and stop Jason from getting whatever aspect of revenge he had in mind for them.

"Let's go." Nightwing agreed, and as quietly as they arrived they left without so much a trace that they were even there.

"Katya, Katya!" Dmitri greeted his sister with a grin and a hug. "I knew you could do it! See I never lost faith in my oh-so-talented sister."

"I got the info, no issue. Dimka, is this really alright? After this you won't threaten the dance studio anymore, right?" Kitty asked. Looking at her brother with hopeful eyes. She was still in his embrace. It felt good to have her brother on the same page finally.

"Of course, my sister! It's good to have you back. Now with this we can truly become Gotham's worse." Dmitri held out his hand in order to retrieve the drive, but Kitty just stared at him.

"What do you mean, good to have me back, Dmitri!" Kitty almost yelled outraged.

"I thought I was going to have to disown you with the way you were acting, Katya. Trying to reform, and all of this normal life nonsense. I had hoped this would pull you out of that faze."

"Faze?" Kitty echoed. "Disown me? What are you talking about?" Kitty asked voice rising with each word

"Stop it, Katya, this is our fate. Whether you like it or not you are a thief. You had been acting so, so cantankerous I had no idea what to do with you. I was going disown you, but our uncle in Russia stopped me saying it was probably just a faze, and our father went through the same thing when he was your age. I'm glad with a slight push you're out of it now, and we can be a family again."

"Disown me?" Kitty echoed again. She sounded like a broken record mind unable to process "Disown me! How dare you!" Kitty slapped her brother right in the face. "I would do anything for you, Dimka! We are blood, and blood does not give up on blood like that. You Zmey! You serpant! You snake! You don't do that to family, even after I left I would have run back to you at a moments notice because I love you, Dmitri. Disown me? No, how about I disown your treacherous ass. I got this information to prove I still love you, Dmitri, even after everything, yet you stand there and tell me you were about to disown me. You terrible, Dmitri. I knew that yet instead of doing something I ran, now I won't let you hurt anyone else, not with the information I got for you." Kitty put the drive on the ground and stomped on it breaking it into little pieces. "If you want the information so bad, go and get it yourself. I'm done with you, Dmitri."

"Couldn't have said it any better myself." A deep voice said. Looking around they finally found the voice's owner to be none other than Gotham Vigilante, Nightwing, and behind him waving at the girl was Starling with a big smile on her face.

"As true to my promise, we're bringing you down, Kitty." Starling announced. "You and this whole organization."

Dmitri turned to his sister, "You brought them here!"

"Hell no! I'm not a betraying bastard like you!" She screamed back. "Go ahead, Starling. I can see now you were right, and I've made my choice. Goodbye, Dmitri, if you every truly need something I'm only a call away." She could never fully turn her back on him. Dmitri was family, and while he maybe ready to leave her behind she could never do the same to him.

"Katya!" He screamed as she walked away. "Katya! Get back here! Don't walk away from me! Katya! Katya!" He screamed in vain as she was gone.

Starling tapped his shoulder politely breaking him from his screaming fit. "So, sir, how are we going to do this? Easy way or hard way?" she asked.

Dmitri pulled out his gun and aimed it at Starling's forehead, "You little bitch!"

Starling sighed, "Hard way it is then." And she promptly kicked him where the sun don't shine, and as he fell to his knees writhing in pain she punched him in the face knocking the hysterical Russian out. "They always choose the hard way don't they, Nightwing?"

"That they do." He agreed and together they proceeded to take out the trash.

"Hello, Hello, Hello again!" Starling chirped. Kitty was surprised how the girl ended up sitting on the edge of the roof before her after she had just saw the girl taking down her brother's mob.

"Starling!" Kitty said in surprise, "What happened to Dmitri?" She asked. She would be lying if she said she wasn't worried about him.

Starling frowned, "He's in police custody. He's looking at a lot of years in Black Gate, Kitty."

"I know." She said. Silence followed before Starling broke it.

"What are you going to do now?" She asked. Secretly she had hoped Kitty would stay and continue to be a member of the dance studio.

"I don't know, but I know I can't stay here." She said looking at the night sky. No stars, she noticed. You could never see stars in Gotham. The city was too bright. Kitty never realized how much she had missed them since she had moved here.

"What? Why?" Starling whined. "I like you. You should stay!" Starling answered honestly. Kitty chuckled.

"You act very old for your age, but you have to be about nine. I catch a glimpse of that age, but then it goes away like it's too scared to come out. I meet another little girl like that. She has the air of a princess, and is beautiful like a star. You remind me of her, actually. My only regret is that I will have to leave her and everyone else. I won't be able to see them grow as dancers. I won't be able to see that girl perform the dance I choreographed. I never even finished teaching her the dance." Kitty looked at starling. "I have to go because my brother will most likely send people after me. He may be in jail, but he still has connection. My best bet is to get out of the country. Paris, is a thief's favorite place I hear."

"Do you need anything?" Starling asked truly concerned. "Plane tickets, money, new identity, I can get it for you." Kitty laughed.

"No, thank you. You have helped me more than you ever know. I need to do this on my own now. Goodbye, Starling, and again thank you." Kitty jumped from rooftop to rooftop away from the young vigilante, and Starling watched till the girl was out her horizon.

"Do you think I did the right thing, daddy?" Starling asked as Nightwing came into view.

"I think so, you helped everyone you could, and stopped a mob from gaining power in Gotham. You've done good work, Starshine."

"What about, Kitty. She has to start all over now. She can't stay here with the people who truly care about her."

"People come and go, Starling. Kitty just happen to be one of those people. Now she is going to find a place on her own and find new people who care about, and she will be fine. She's strong, she'll bounce back in no time." Nightwing said.

Starling hugged Nightwing and looked up at him, "You really think so?"

"I know so." He assured with a smile.

"Great." Starling released him from the hug before diving off the side of the building, " Then, last person to the Bat bunker is a rotten egg!" She sang. NIghtwing dived after her. Sometimes you have days where nobody gets hurt, and he was glad today was one of them.

The next day when Mary had gotten to dance practice everyone was crowded into Ms. Michelle's office, all reading a parchment over her shoulder. Ms. Michelle had tears in her eyes, as did some of the older dancers.

"Mary." Someone whispered her name. It was Kevin. "Over here." He beckoned her into the corner. He didn't look all to happy infact he looked rather upset.

"What's going on?" Mary asked. "I thought we had dance practice? Why are we all in here?" Mary whispered.

" just got a letter on her desk from Kitty. It says she's not coming back ever." Kevin informed. So, Kitty did say goodbye at least in some form to the people at the dance studio.

"Really!?" Mary asked feigning to be shocked. "What happened? Does it say why she left?"

Kevin shook his head, "Not really, just says it wasn't safe for her to stay with us, and that she needs to strike out on her own. She did say something about the two of us though."

"What did she say?" After hearing what Kitty had to say last night, she was curious as to what she would address to her.

"That I need to keep my head from getting too big, and that you, Mary, will be the brightest star that Michelle Bissonette's Dance has ever had. That's some complement, Riri. She's only really meet you once, I wonder what you did made her remember you so much?" Kevin mused. Mary to wondered if Kitty had figured out her secret identity, but the brushed off the thought. If she did know, then Mary doubt she would tell. Kitty was a good person, and where ever she is now she's going to be doing something good. That Mary was sure of.

Final thoughts:

FInal word count:9,359(still a WTF)

I know it took me a while to write this. Honestly, i wrote this all together in about 2 days but those days were spaced out. I only planned to take a week off, but then my mom dropped the ball that I was going to orlando for a vacation with my cousins. There was internet but it was incredible slow I didn't want to risk the chance of writing all of that and something go wrong and it doesn't post. Also, Thanks to Victory Goddess for her review. No, really thank you, last chapter was probably my worst view wise, but your review helped me get past that.

Also I noticed that while doing research that the new 52 has everyone's ages screwed up, So, I do have a list of everyone's ages and birthday's along with Zodiac signs. Damian actually doesn't have a canon birthday as of yet, so I gave him one. Mary's is in December! She seemed like a winter baby to me. These ages are the starting ages for everyone from the beginning of the story.

Bruce: Age(42) Pisces, Feb 19

Barbara: age(29) Aquarius, Feb 18

Selina: Age(39, not that she admits it) Aquarius, Feb 2

Dick: Age(26, making him 18 when Mary was conceived) Aries, March 21(He's a spring baby remember!)

Jason: Age(20, yes canonically Jason is about 6 years younger than Dick) Leo, Aug 2

Cassandra: Age(19, I liked her better younger than Jason, I believe that she is actually older than him) Aquarius, Jan 26

Stephanie: Age(18) Leo, Aug 18

Tim: Age(17) Cancer, July 19(Jason, Steph, and Tim are summer babies)

Damian:Age(10) Aries, April 15

Mar'i: Age(8) Sagittarius, Dec 10

Alfred: Age( infinity) he doesn't age, He is immortal

Now all of these birthdays are canon except for Damian and Mar'i. Time has skipped since these ages, they are about a year to two years older, actually by next chapter it will be two years. I hoped these helped finding these and doing the math for the ages took a full night of me not writing.

Next chapter: Night of Owls