(*Fifteen Minutes Ago*)

When the Martian made it past the detention doors, Batman was waiting for him, looking grim as ever. "Manhunter," he intoned emotionlessly. J'onn J'onzz nodded cordially. "Batman. I have come as requested."

"Good." Batman reached into a compartment in his belt and pulled out a small piece of paper- a picture. He handed it to J'onn J'onzz. "I need you to become the girl in this photograph. Down to the smallest imperfections. It needs to be seamless." J'onn J'onzz frowned slightly and handed the picture back. "It can be done...but why, if I may ask?"

"You may not. You owe me a favor, I'm cashing it in. Questions weren't part of the deal."

J'onn J'onzz's frown deepened, but he said nothing else. His form began to shrink and flatten. His green skin paled to blue, then white. Long black hair grew from his head and around his eyes. Feminine curves appeared on his body, the roundness of breast and hip. His onyx eyes lightened until they were a pale grey blue, identical to Robin's.

In seconds, J'onn J'onzz the Martian Man Hunter had shifted into a fifteen year old girl. He was Wren, right down to the silvery scars that marked her thin neck and the T shaped pucker of skin at the base of her skull where the scrambler had been implanted. Her uniform was as it was in the picture, ripped and stained from fighting. "Is this sufficient?" He/she asked. Batman nodded and produced a pair of handcuffs. "Yes. Now stick your hands out and follow me. Act like a prisoner. And no matter what happens, don't respond to anyone or anything."

(*Two Hours Ago*)

"Meghan, please," Starfire pleaded, reaching forward to grab the young Martian girl's hand before she could fly away. The both of them floated about two feet above Jump City Bay, in the shadow of Titan Tower. The roiling water leaped at their feet and the gentle breeze pulled at their hair, muffling their whispered words. "As one Extraterrestrial to another, I'm begging you." Miss Martian grimaced and shuffled her feet, the reflex looking strange in midair. "Listen, Kori. I would love to help you, I swear. But Conner and Batman made themselves very clear...we can't talk to him at all."

"You saw what happened in Metropolis. If I can convince Robin to talk to us, we can avoid that happening again." Starfire argued. Meghan huffed and brushed her choppy hair out of her eyes. "We don't know that the Kryptonite caused that. And what makes you think he'll talk to you, anyways? Because you'll bat your eyes at him and toss your hips? If Superman couldn't get anything out of him..." Starfire rolled her own emerald orbs. "What else could have caused it? And Superman is just that- a Man." Meghan smirked, then crossed her arms over her chest and shivered, crestfallen. "All those poor people in Metropolis...dead, just like that." Her green face was twisted with sadness. Starfire drifted closer and put a hand on her arm. "That's why you have to help me. I need you."

Meghan chewed on her bottom lip, closing her eyes. She sighed, then opened them wearily. "Alright, Kori, I'll do it. Connor is going to kill me, but..." She reached into her pocket and handed a thin slip of paper to Starfire, who took it eagerly. "This is the code for the detention area?" Meghan nodded. "Yes, but it changes every day. I got Kid Flash to give me today's number- 21100293- but the numbers in the sequence add one in order, so tomorrow it'll be 3110029, and after that it'll be 32100293, and...Yeah." she elaborated, pointing at the paper. "Easy enough to remember."
Starfire moved to hug her tightly, beaming. "Thank you, Meghan."
"Good luck, Kori."

(*Six Hours Ago*)

"You lying little bitch," The Joker snarled, shaking blood from his hand. He had hit the girl in the face so many times, his knuckles were beginning to ache. He doubted she even felt it- only the brightly colored cord tied loosely around her neck was keeping her standing on the stool. Spurts of sticky crimson fell from the huge chunks ripped out of her legs. Two of her toes were hanging by a thread, and the pearly glimmer of bones and jellyfish colored tendons were showing through her ankles. Her body was a mess of black and blue blots that throbbed as he watched, and her broken jaw hung awkwardly on her swollen face. Her stomach was riddled with shallow stab wounds, inflicted with a screwdriver.

"I've officially lost my damn patience with you. You see that!?" He yelled, gesturing wildly at the crummy tv set flickering in the corner. The image on the fuzzy screen showed Downtown Metropolis, and more specifically the two smoking buildings in the center of it. The skyscrapers were shrouded in a poisonous looking haze, and they appeared to be rotting, disintegrating and sinking slowly into the concrete. "I think we both know what did that. Now you tell me who, where, and why, or you swing!"
Harley skipped around in a circle behind her, singing at the top of her lungs and looping the cord tighter. "Twist, Spin, Swing, and Choke!- Better hope your neck don't broke!"

Wren whimpered quietly and wobbled on her perch, somehow finding the strength to shake her head. "D-don't...kn-know..." The Joker's eyes flashed murderously, and in the half light, he looked more insane than ever. "FINE!" He stamped over to her, shoved Harley out of the way, and kicked the stool out from under Wren. Her gasp when she dropped quickly turned into a choked gurgle as she swung from her neck inches from the floor, and her face turned a delicate shade of blue.

(*Eight Hours Ago*)

The very sky seemed to tear and ripple as two figures moving faster than the speed of sound flew through the air, headed for Metropolis. Superman and Wonder Woman pushed both pushed the limits of their speed, racing to the city as though all of Hades were on their tail, two blue and red streaks in the atmosphere.

Just as the city line was coming into view, and the very first buildings were visible, a huge boom, loud enough to shatter eardrums and car windows, shuddered through the air. The Downtown area was engulfed in a green cloud, and the echo from the boom was replaced by the piercing shriek of thousands of panes of glass and steel beams breaking and shattering as two of the tallest buildings began to sink like sticks in quicksand. Lines of green rot and decay crawled up the sides. The metallic screams were replaced by human ones- the howls of people watching in horror, and the howls of people trapped inside, slowly being crushed to death.

"NO!" Superman roared, like a clap of thunder. He took off towards the buildings, a rocket of determination and fury, but the closer he got, the slower he became. The green cloud was spreading, and when he was about a half mile out from it, Superman faltered and suddenly dipped, nearly falling out of the sky and groaning in agony. "CLARK!" Before he hit the ground, Wonder Woman swooped and caught him, hauling him away.

(*Twelve Hours Ago*)

"The phone is ringing, the phone is RIIII-nging-hello?" The Flash reclined back in his chair, holding the blinking communicator up to his ear. The number was unrecognized, as was the voice that came through the speaker. It was vaguely female, but it was clearly being disguised.

"'The Girl Terror is being held by the Joker at the abandoned Westchester Apartments, but Scarecrow is coming for her in less than a day. He'll move her to the dockside warehouses."'

"Wait a minute...who is this? How do you know that?"

"Also, two buildings are going to be bombed in Metropolis. You will be too late to save anyone."

The dial tone stopped him from asking any more pointless questions.

(*Five Days Ago*)

Deep in the slimy, dripping underground, the young woman grinned to herself in the dark. Things were finally falling into place. Slade's apprentices were set to steal the Kryptonite, and her pawn was sure to be in place to intercept them. The Joker wouldn't let her down, and another quick call to the Justice Leauge would insure that after the rock was stolen, they would be definitely be caught. It gave her pleasant chills to imagine what would happen to them then.
After that...It was just a matter of swooping in and stealing it for herself amid the chaos. And after that...pure, frigid revenge. For everyone. Wren would pay, Robin, Slade, the Titans, the Leauge...
Everyone.

(*Two Weeks Ago*)

Kon El kneeled silently in front of the gravestone in the blistering wind. He wore his civilian clothes, and in his hand was a small bundle of orange hued flowers. The stems were crushed to a green pulp in his fist, oozing slowly between his fingers.
His eyes were red and his expression was a thunderstorm, but he didn't cry. He gently lay the crumpled flowers in the holder and stood up, barely breathing. Before he turned around, a bird fluttered down and perched itself on the stone- a Robin Redbreast. It tilted its head and chirped softly at him, then began to preen itself.

Kon El's eyes burned, and moving faster than the speed of light, he back handed the bird away from the grave. It let out a shrill keen and slammed into a tree, deathly silent as it dropped to the ground. Its little bones splintered with the sound of breaking toothpicks.

(*Three Months Ago*)

"WE'RE SORRY! Master, please, we...WE'RE SORRY!"

The metal walls of the compound were thick, but the sound never failed to penetrate through. Robin sat deathly still in the middle of his bed, hugging his knees loosely and picking his fingernail to a bloody stump. Listening, and hating himself for listening, he felt like the most miserable person on earth.

"MASTER, PLEASE! PLEASE!"

They'd known this was coming, Wren and him. As they watched Super boy tear through one of Slade's major factories mere hours ago, they'd known what it would mean. But it never got any easier to go through. They had waited in sick anxiety for over thirty minutes, but finally the call had come. It had been for Wren first this time. He would get it later, but right then he could only think about her.

Robin closed his eyes as his sister's pained sobs reached his ears. He felt the pain she was going through as much as if it were him pinned and assaulted. He heard the bed slamming against the wall, and he wanted to throw up.

"M-master...p-please...unnnngh...No...nooo...uhn...uhhn..."

When she started to moan and whimper, Robin leaned over the side of the bed and vomited everything in his stomach.

«»

Later, paralyzed from the waist down, sitting in a small puddle of his own blood, and shaking uncontrollably, two faces swam repeatedly in front of Robin's eyes- Slade, and Super Boy.

Super Boy. This was his fault. It was his fault Wren wouldn't stop crying. His fault.

(*Two Years Ago*)

No one was going to take her brother away from her.

Wren cupped her hand around the barrel of her greased pistol to muffle the sound it made when she cocked it. The bullet settled into the chamber with a satisfying clunk.

Her mouth twisted into a fearful sneer when she recalled her so-called friend's words. "Wren...we're all we have, right? Me you and...Robin. I...I think I'm going to ask him tonight." She was going to ask Robin to be her...No. No.

Robin was hers...Her brother. Robin was all SHE had. No one else. And she was going to keep it that way. They always protected each other from the world- and that was how she justified what she was about to do. Robin would understand. Slade would be proud and impressed, and might even make them senior apprentices in her place. And Wren would get to keep her brother to herself. Everybody would win.

Wren turned away from her hand and shifted closer to her sleeping 'friend', uncrossing her legs. The moonlight coming in through the tiny window in the senior apprentice's room illuminated the girl's thick blonde hair. Blonde was now the color of evil, in Wren's mind. She pressed the muzzle of her gun into the small of the girl's back, stone cold and emotionless.

She pulled the trigger.