Author's Note:

Hi everyone! So here's the update!

This one is like longer than usual, so I hope that it makes up for the super short one last week.

I seriously don't know what else to say...

If there's any questions or comments or other things, just type it in the reviews!

OH! And if you just absolutely LOVE my writing (lol I hope you do), then please go check out 'We'll Laugh About This Someday'. If you do decide to go and read it, then THANK YOU SO MUCH!

DISCLAIMER: *SIGH* *STARTS WHISTLING THE BLUES*

To Save A Life

Dick

When the realization hit him in the head like a freight train, his eyes flew wide open.

Katherine Summers. Katherine Summers. Katherine Summers. Katherine Summers.

He repeated the name over and over in his head. That's why he finally recognized the face, the name.

But to refresh his memories, he threw the almost eaten carton of ice cream to the side and pulled himself up to the monitor's control panel. Typing the name Katherine Summers into the HOJ's database, the one hit that came up almost surprised him; Katherine Summers's JFBI file.

Selecting the file, a restriction warning appeared.

FILE: SECURE: CODE 671A8355ILS : PASSWORD: _

Nightwing narrowed his eyes, the only person who has the authority to place 'codes' on the HOJ's database was Batman.

He type his first attempt:

FILE: SECURE: CODE 671A8355ILS : PASSWORD: 62610:47

Dick knew that all of Bruce's codes were set to 'five tries' and deletes the file. According to the code's number, he was right. He had to choose wisely.

Why this certain number? Its because 6/26 was the date Bruce's parents had died in Crime Alley. Why 10:74? Because that was the exact time of their murder.

FILE: SECURE: CODE 671A8355ILS : PASSWORD: ******** ACCEPTED

Nightwing's smirk crawled onto his lips. He still had a touch of talent in guessing, he didn't always rely on hacking; the rest of the team seemed to think otherwise.

The file opened revealing all the information on the Katherine Summers who he had come to know when she was still alive.

FILE: CODE 62985I38WLP : KATHERINE SUMMERS

FILE: CODE 62985I38WLP : HEIGHT 5'4"

FILE: CODE 62985I38WLP : AGE 17

FILE: CODE 62985I38WLP : DOB 2/11/97

FILE: CODE 62985I38WLP : DOD 7/13/14

FILE: CODE 62985I38WLP : JFBI AGENT #5

FILE: CODE 62985I38WLP : JLA STAT B:21

FILE: CODE 62985I38WLP : CORE BETA S

The list could have gone on forever, but there was an end.

Richard Grayson knew who this girl was. He was afraid to admit it, but he was never afraid. Though if he accepted the fact that she is the Katherine Summers that he has known from his Robin days, that would mean questions that he may not like the answers to. Especially since he believes that his mentor has been lying to him; it may not have been for very long, but he was still lying.

In deep thought reading her entire JFBI file, he heard the distant sound of light footsteps coming down the hallway towards the monitor rooms.

Getting up, he walked to the open door and into the hallway spotting Red Arrow with a grim face with a little weight in his heels.

Holding back the urge to raise an eyebrow at his teammate, he confronted the archer, "Roy." Dick stated expectantly not wanting anything but answers.

Roy took a huge breath with a dramatic exhale. "What, Dickie Boy?" he stopped trudging along when Nightwing stood in his way blocking his path.

Dick swore he could feel his eye twitch at the name he was just called. He hated nick names, he knew that telling his Beta squad his civilian name would be a huge cause of uprising.

Well, he knew he was right by the outcome.

"Don't ever call me that." Nightwing gave Red Arrow his inherited Batglare.

He felt a sense of pride as Roy shriveled back.

"Where's Scarlet?" he cut to the chase, this was important, "I need to know where she is."

Harper looked down, "Look, I don't know, she was headed towards the west wing."

Remembering the slight technical difficulties some 'professional' hacker was causing on the HOJ's database, he once again put two and two together. If he could punch himself for making so many rookie mistakes, he would hit himself hard.

The person on the other side of the Firewall trying to hack their way into the database was Katherine. He didn't give her access to the HOJ's data, so the only way to gain the intel, whatever intel she needed, was to try surpass the master of all hackers.

He knew that she could work on her skills slightly, but she was as close as anyone got to giving him a sweat.

"I'll contact you later, Roy. I need to go." With that, Dick left sprinting towards the west wing.

…

Doors flew past as he ran with long strides. He saw Katherine walking as slow as Roy was but in the total opposite direction.

"Scarlet!" He yelled out slowing down his pace.

A groan escaped Katherine's throat as she turned around, "What the fuck, Red A-" She saw him standing before her.

She quickly bit her lower lip, "Oh… Sorry Nightwing, I thought you were Red Arrow."

Grayson wasn't about to change the topic or let her drift, "Katherine Summers." He flatly stated.

She was taken back, "What?"

Dick continued with a flat expression and face, "Katherine Summers. That's you, why didn't you tell me? I thought you were dead? Where were you for the past few weeks?"

He saw her swallow the lump in her throat. She was totally and utterly speechless and he could tell by her distraught facial expression. She was totally not traught.

"Why can't my civilian "secret" name stay a "secret"?!" she angrily retorted back to the stolid non-meta human.

"First Red, and now you?!" She flung her arms up into the air before letting it fall back to her sides with hands in fists. "FUCK! What the hell is wrong with this world?!" she rubbed her forehead intensely, looking down with her eyes closed.

Nightwing had to remind himself that Roy and Katherine was a 'thing' when she was still 'alive'. He always remembers her in his lap or coming to League only meetings, consisting of the JLA's Beta Core.

She was after all, one of them, he guessed…

Grayson continued looking down at her. Roy let her slip between his fingers.

He cringed at the thought of the – maybe – former couple, it was probably because of jealousy, but he'd much rather prefer thinking of it as a huge age difference. Roy was twenty-one and she was seventeen. He felt that at the young age they were currently at, four full years was quite a bit. He was only a year older, that'd be a little better…

Dick had to clench his fists till the kelvar gauntlets were pinching his flesh.

"Give me that drive of yours." He held out an expectant hand.

She looked up exasperated, "What…?"

"Hand me the drive you used to hack into the HOJ's database." He extended his arm out a little more to indicate where she should place the item.

She sighed, pulling the necklace off her neck, she handed it to him. At first, he didn't know what it was, he looked at the piece of jewelry in his hand and saw that there was a small drive at the end.

He held back the surprised look on his face when he saw what kind of drive it was. This model, though similar to the one created by Wayne Tech, but the difference is the fact that it's still just idea based, there's really no actual model created. It's still a rough draft. He looked at it closer, the brand was some sort of fruit, an apple perhaps? There was no software technology or company that addresses itself by that name, logo, or code that was on the drive.

He knew one thing's for sure, there's nothing like this open to the public currently.

There's nothing like it on this world.

"Thank you." His response was flat and monotone, there was no feeling behind it.

Luckily, his arm hologram's universal jack could indeed hold Katherine's drive. He downloaded the HOJ's database on it so she could gain access.

It took a few seconds in silence before he pulled the drive out of the jack and the hologram disappeared.

"Here," he handed the unknown piece of technology back to her, "I granted you access to the HOJ. The Zeta tubes are in the east wing section 128."

He watched Katherine secure the necklace around her neck.

"Yeah, thanks, I guess…"
Nightwing stood there looking down at her, he needed to ask her, no, demand her to tell him why she was here.

He opened his mouth, and she looked up at him, "I-"

"NIGHTWING! Code red in Central City!"

Wally had ran up to them screaming at the top of his lungs. Dick restrained himself from hitting the yellow speedster.

"We need to get there immediately! The Zeta tubes are down so the rest of the League is STUCK IN THE FREAKING WATCH TOWER!"

Nightwing saw the horror struck look on Katherine's face. He brushed it off however.

"Kid, slow yourself down. Who's actually at the scene?" Nightwing started to stride towards the HOJ's public exit.

"Flash, Blue Beetle, Impulse, and Me until a few seconds ago. I'm not sure where the rest of the Beta League is, but they're probably either stuck in the Watch Tower also, or out on their international assignments."

They had made their way out of the Hall Of Justice and into the bustling streets of Washington D.C. Thankfully, Central city was in New York, only a short run for the speedsters.

Katherine

Katherine let out along string of profanity in her head. Yup, she has not swore this much in years.

She was expected to run. Run all the way to Central City where she'll have to witness Barry's death. She couldn't prevent it, she couldn't even try to prevent it. She could not create a time paradox.

"Ok, since you're not built for super strength as we all know, you and Scarlet will run to Central and we'll meet you two there. Red and I," he gestured to the archer who somehow appeared behind them, "will take the Batwing there. I have already contacted the jet, its on its way now."

Katherine could not believe what was happening. If only she could have asked Dick where the Zeta tubes were instead of trying to hack into the HOJ's database, she would be back at the Manor and doing her research and all this happening in Central City would be left to the Flash, Blue Beetle, Impulse, Nightwing, and Kid. She wouldn't have been expected to run all the way to Central.

But then she reminded herself that if she just hadn't injected herself with the AP, she might not have been here at all.

"Fine, but that jet better haul ass, we're going to need the backup." With Wally's last words, Dick and Roy turned and started to run towards the Batwing that had just landed near by.

"Katherine, are you ready for the race?" she could tell that he was trying to turn a negative situation into a positive one, but honestly, he really couldn't. She knows what is going to happen, she knows she can't control her powers, she is totally not feeling the aster.

She could feel her forehead crease.

"Listen, Kid," she conjured an apologetic confession smile, "I can't control my speed." she bit her lower lip in habit.

"I-… Wh-… Do-do…" Katherine held her apologetic confession smile on her face. "ARRRRGGGHHHHH!" Wally was probably going to explode, so she took a step back.

He took a few breaths and calmed himself down, "Its ok. its ok… I'll just…" he thought for a few award moments. "I'll just give you a reallyquickpointerbecausewereallyneedtogetdowntoCentralCitylikerightnow."

In the background, the Batwing took off. They both turned to look at the jet.

Katherine had to think fast, if there was even a sliver of hope that Barry's future could be changed, it'd rest on her decision.

"You know what, I'll figure something out, just get your ass there!" she had to scream in his face, she wasn't sure if he was mentally there.

"Ye-yeah… Ok. I'm gone." With that, he sped away in a blur of yellow and red.

"Good luck, Wally." It was a confession from the heart to someone who really needed it. More than she did.

'Ok Katherine. You need to at least be able to prove to everyone else that you could get there. Save some bystanders, do crowd control, things like that will go unnoticed by society, necessarily. But don't let another person, no hero, know that you're lying to them. At least Wally was in shock, so the information probably didn't sink in thoroughly.'

She took deep breaths before trying to summon that inner energy. She couldn't tell if her powers was from the Speedforce or just because the AP altered her genetics and physiology.

Either way, she had to prove to not just herself, but her teammates that she could get the job done even if she was shoved into the hero business on Batman's – and maybe partially her – own terms.

'C'mon Kat, you need to do this.'

She clenched her fists and she could feel the dust around her start to swirl as she closed her eyes and dug deep into her own mind.

She could feel the energy rush through her, she knew she had to dig just slightly deeper…

'Now'

Her eyes flew open and she moved her legs as fast as they could. Everything flew by in blurs of different colors. The world seemed to be ten times slower than the speed she was moving.

The feeling of actually being able to control her powers was unbelievably… whelming…

She didn't know she was in Central City until the familiar Central City's paper press came into view. She ran straight to where the terror was.

She forced herself to stop before running straight into a huge crack in the ground.

"Oh shit!" she was almost hanging off the edge of the crack, she saw rocks fall from the edge and tumble down into the fault.

'What the hell happened here?'

This was not how Barry died in the comics, something was wrong.

This time, it didn't take Katherine very long to summon the energy that was rapidly moving around her veins. She sped down the fault and saw Impulse on his knees, hands to his face, back shaking violently.

Looking around, she noticed the amount of damaged that was caused in such a short period of time. The fault in the ground seemed to go on forever.

Bart was on the other side of the crack so Katherine took a few steps back and tried to leap over it. Barely making it across, she hung off the edge of the fault clawing at the edge trying to pull herself up and over.

'Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid… I am NOT going to die like this.'

Katherine swung her legs over the edge and rolled over to safety, her breathing was labored not because of how much energy it took to run to Central City, jump over the ledge, and pull herself up, but because she was so close to death, Katherine could taste it.

"Impulse!" As soon as she recovered, she quickly got up and ran over to the brown haired boy sitting at the ledge crying.

"What happened?" She knew that he didn't know her, but he still didn't look up at the unfamiliar voice.

"Flash and Kid Flash…" he managed to speak between silent sobs.

Katherine wasn't very good at comforting younger kids, especially since she wasn't comforted when she was young, but she'd have to try.

Slowly bending down, she laid a gentle hand on his back, "What happened?"

"I wasn't fast enough, that's what happened!" he looked up at her with tear struck eyes, dirt covering his face, and a tattered uniform with glass broken goggles.

Katherine's lips formed a straight line.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Wally wasn't supposed to die, only Barry. He has to be still alive.

"Did they fall down the fault?"

"Yes."

"What happened to the attacker?"

"Th-they left…"

'They? How many "things" could cause such a rackous?'

"Where's Blue Beetle, Nightwing, and Red Arrow?" this time, a flood of concern laced her voice.

"They were knocked out in battle, I pulled them into the Batwing."

"Okay…"

Katherine knew that she had to at least try and look for Wally.

"I'll be back, I'm going down. Stay close, I may need assistance."

This time, Bart got up quickly.

"What?!"

"I'm going down." Katherine stated so matter of fact-ly, she brushed his concern off.

"I don't even know you but you're still going to go down and look for them?!" He got to his feet.

"Yes, you don't know me," she pulled off her cape and laid it on the side, "But the two speedsters down there do, one's my teammate and the other saved my ass. Now let me go down before its too late."

With that, she jumped into the fault.

But a thought of hesitation did cross her mind.

'What the hell am I doing?'