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"Sorry I couldn't make it, Donna," Artemis's voice over the phone was apologetic. "My mom needed some help with the women's shelter. Things tend to get rough in the winter months without warning, and Gotham has a habit of making things even worse than normal."

On the other end of the line Donna gave a small smile, deftly navigating the light crowd as she walked down the sidewalk. "Don't worry about it. Besides, I suppose it is a bit early for you to be looking at colleges."

A snort. "Try telling my mom that. At least the shindig you were going to offered free food. For me, I just find a bunch of pamphlets dumped onto my bed. Let me tell you, nothing kills my mood quite like looking at Federal Student Loan policies."

"Well, good news, you don't have to worry about that at all. We have a fund. It was set up by Jac-" Donna stopped herself before she could finish.

Artemis paused for a moment, but then sighed. "Ah, of course he did… I need to go, I'll talk to you later."

"...Right, later." Donna ended the call, and took in a deep breath of crisp winter air. A flicker of memory came to her, a quiet moment in the bioship after a mission. There's people to look after, huh?

"Shame that your friend couldn't make it." The voice brought Donna out of her thoughts, causing her to look to the side. Walking next to her was her friend Sally, the other highschooler's hands behind her head in a lackadaisical fashion. Her dark skin was contrasted by the light coat she wore, as she gave Donna the side eye. "I really wanted to meet this penpal of yours. I've heard Gotham girls are hardcore."

The two of them were walking down the street in lower Manhattan, bundled up to ward off the mid-winter chill. It was made worse by how night had fallen a few hours ago, but not so bad that the two were shivering. This was helped by how they had built up some warmth at the gala they had just left. Well, 'gala' was a bit strong, it was more a social event for prospective students looking to go to NYU. Donna and Sally were pretty much set on the university at this point, so the two had made a day of coming into the city and seeing what it had to offer.

Donna shrugged. "Normally I'd say that's just a stereotype… but Artemis kinda fits it. Still, I'm sure you'll run into her at some point, she's just been really busy lately."

Sally dropped her hands to her side, looking at Donna fully. "To be honest, part of me is surprised that you could make it. You've also been damn busy for the past couple of months. And it's gotten even worse lately."

Donna shifted a little, looking away. "Yeah, I've got a lot going on in my personal life. Trying to get things settled with the foster system and spending time with my family in Virginia is time consuming." It… wasn't exactly a lie, but Donna couldn't help feeling a little bad about misleading her friend. A fair amount of her time as of late had been picking up the slack on managing the Titans. Even with Kaldur doing his best and bringing in help, he had a tendency to over-focus. So Donna often found herself stepping up to help point the team in the right direction. It was like herding a group of superpowered cats, at times.

"Hey, I'm not blaming you," Sally insisted. "It's so great that you got to find your old family. It's just… we haven't been able to hang out that much." She sounded a little down for a moment before she perked up and shook her head. "Ah, whatever! In a couple of months this'll all be sorted and we'll be in college. Then the real fun can start!"

Donna smiled, the other girl's enthusiasm infectious. "You bet. Classes and professors are bound to be more interesting at NYU compared to what we've got at high school."

"Ugh, how is that the first thing you think of? Nuh uh, I'm talkin' about staying up as long as we want, going to all the parties, ditching boring classes to hang out with the cool kids, boys…."

Donna's smile fell a little bit as her friend rattled off the college hijinks she had planned. She wasn't uninterested, exactly. She'd probably do all those things at least once for the experience (and because Sally was bound to drag her along). It just wasn't nearly as exciting for the superheroine. What Donna really wanted was just a place to feel comfortable in. And while college was bound to be an improvement over her current living situation… there was already a place where she had it. Or at least, used to.

As she had more times than she'd like to admit, Donna found herself looking up at the night sky, the city's light pollution doing nothing to prevent her from seeing the stars above. It had been about 2 months at this point and still no sign of Kori and Jacob. She supposed it was a bit silly of her to think that they could navigate their way back to Earth so quickly, but she had still hoped. Managing the team without the two of them was hard enough, but for all of only knowing them for a few months herself, Donna hadn't expected how much of a hole them disappearing would leave in her.

With most people Donna felt that she was only ever showing half of herself. Her friends at school and her adoptive family only knew about the mundane part of her life, and most of her team had home lives pretty different from hers. Even Diana viewed her mostly as a fellow Amazon, something Donna did appreciate but also meant the older woman had trouble connecting with her non-superhero life. Donna had simply figured that this was how things were for superheros, that she would have two lives that wouldn't intersect. But then she met those two, and saw something different.

Jacob never seemed to have a problem with the different aspects of his life. The man could switch from playing video games, to inventing new things, to fighting an army of monsters without breaking stride. It didn't feel like he was different people during these moments, rather he was just bringing different parts of himself forward. And for Kori it was simply a non-issue; she was who she was no matter what situation she was in, and the world just seemed to bend around her. Her constant joy and enthusiasm made it so that she could just make space for herself anywhere.

And as a result, Donna just felt… comfortable around them. Like she wasn't split between two lives, she was just… her. It was something she had never had before, and now she felt like she was floundering a bit now that it was gone. Artemis was turning out to be a great friend, but as was just proven the younger girl often had her own things to deal with. And it felt almost selfish to burden someone else with her particular problem. After all, it wasn't like she was the only one missing them.

Unbidden, Donna thought back to the final message Jacob had left her, along with the messages that had shown up for each of the team. "Donna, at this point you know more than I do about who you are, so there's no point going into all that nonsense I remember. But, it's still worth saying: who you are is an amazing person that cares about those around her and will fight to keep them safe. No matter where you end up, that place will be better off for you being there. You'll find where you belong, I know it."

Donna forced herself to look back down at the street. I thought I already had.

The pair reached the bus stop just as Sally finished rattling off her list, and Donna could see the bus that would take them to Port Authority pulling in. As they got in line to board though, Donna's phone rang, causing her to pull it out… and frowned at the caller ID. She turned away from Sally and answered "Yes?"

"Ms. Troy, we apologize for the intrusion," The synthetic voice of Calculus responded. "But there is an incident that you should be made aware of. A few minutes ago a prison vehicle was attacked by a magic wielding individual-"

Donna cut them off. "Look, this is my first break in weeks. Can't someone else handle this?"

"Normally, we would respect your wish to not have hero work intrude on your personal life, but in this case-"

A scream suddenly grabbed Donna's attention, and her head snapped around to the nearby intersection. Rumbling from around the corner were several enormous lizard creatures, larger than cars and covered in mottled dark green and black scales. They were akin to iguanas crossed with dinosaurs, with massive maws full of sharp teeth and rampaging around on all fours. She caught a brief glimpse of someone on one of their backs, but most of her attention was drawn the the cars being trampled underfoot as they turned in her direction.

While staring at this she managed to catch the end of Calculus's sentence. "-it seems that the work will intrude regardless of what you want."

It was at this point that everyone around them had also noticed the approaching lizard hoard and started to panic, screaming and running away. Donna noticed Sally trying to avoid being trampled, eyes wide as she looked at the creatures. "Oh shit, an actual monster attack?! We have to-" She cut herself off, and Donna looked to see what her friend had noticed. The bus had emptied out all save for one person, a woman in a wheelchair that had been knocked over in the rush. She was struggling to get herself out of the bus, but there was no one to help her.

Sally only hesitated for a moment before she looked back at Donna. "I'm going to get her off the bus, get out of here I'll be right behind you!" With that she turned and bolted into the bus.

Donna blinked in surprise, but she didn't have long to think about her friend's sudden heroism, as a guttural roar reminded her that those creatures were getting closer. At a quick glance she could tell that Sally wouldn't get the woman off the bus before the leading lizard reached it, and even if Donna helped there were still all of the other civilians.

Donna let out a sharp breath, doffing her jacket and tossing it on to the nearby bench. She ignored the cold and strode into the middle of the street. The leading monster noticed her, as she was the one person not fleeing, and shifted direction to charge at her. Donna didn't change her stride, barely noticing as her dark clothes and hair shifted to a star-studded midnight. As the creature got close, her hand balled into a fist.

"This was supposed to be my DAY OFF!"

She reared her fist back and punched downward as the creature started to open its mouth, catching it on the top of its head. There was a deafening crash as the impact drove the thing's head into the asphalt hard enough to shatter it. The beast twitched a few times before it went still.

The sudden stop of the lead monster caused the other four to skid to a stop, growling and hissing at her as they took in the new threat. Now that they were closer, Donna got a better look at the man riding the one in the rear. He was dressed in blue and black robes, wearing a sort of headdress with a band of gold around it. It was difficult to place the man's age, as while his face was youthful the disdainful sneer made him look much older. "Oh, what stands in the way of Felix Faust now?" He said. "First those mechanical contraptions steal away my target, now I am confronted… with… " He trailed off as he peered at Donna, his eyes narrowing. "Just, what are you?"

Donna stared back with a flat expression. "Already done with this conversation."

"Hmp. What a coincidence, so I am." He pointed towards her. "Get rid of her."

The three massive creatures the mage wasn't riding surged forward and Donna moved in kind, wanting to keep their attention on her. She slid underneath the first one as it tried to bite her, bracing against the ground and kicking upwards to send it flying into the air. She uppercut a second one as she flew into the air after the first, grabbing it by the tail as it started to drop. She then spun, using the beast in her grasp as a living flail to smash it into the third one. Those two went still, and Donna leapt off to focus on the one just getting to its feet.

While most of her attention was on pumpling the giant lizard into the ground, Donna still managed to hear the mage belt out a curse. "Damnation, I go through all the trouble of summoning these from the Aztec Underworld and this is all I have to show for it? Fine! I had hoped not to call on this favor, but when needs must…" The man cast up a hand holding a small statuette, the object starting to glow and he began to chant. Donna couldn't understand him (also the reptilian growling wasn't helping), but she managed to catch the final word as she smashed the last beast into the ground. "Tzitzimimeh!"

Donna both saw and felt the ripple in the night sky above her, and she turned her eyes upward the stars suddenly brightened and the blackness started to… part. Like a curtain being pulled aside, she saw the night pull away to let a massive skeletal hand through, adorned in golden rings. Just past the hand she could see part of a bare skull wearing a mesoamerican headdress, empty sockets blazing with baleful light.

Donna felt a sort of tension deep in her being, like a thread connected to her core was being tugged hesitation she flew up into the sky, reaching her hand out and clenched-

The motion of the giant skeleton jerked to a stop, as if the curtain it had been brushing past had suddenly turned stiff and unyielding. More than that, it actually started pushing it back into the in-between space. There was a great rattle and hiss as the thing tried to push past the closing gate, and its gaze swept across the area. And promptly froze when it spotted Donna.

The thing stared at Donna. Donna stared back.

The burning sockets of the skeletal horror blinked.

"...Don't make me come up there." Donna muttered.

The creature flinched and pulled back entirely, disappearing back into the void and letting the heavens reassert itself. Moments later the night sky above was back to normal.

Faust was, understandably, bewildered. "What?! What just happened?! How did you-?!" He cut himself off as he looked around wildly for Donna, but against the backdrop of the night he couldn't see her. Just like he couldn't see her move until she was right behind him, turning just in time for her fist to connect with his jaw.

She had held back considerably (so as to not kill him), but the blow was more than enough to send the mage sprawling off his mount and onto the asphalt unconscious. A few more quick blows later and his mount was likewise laid out. Donna swept her gaze over the area, but every threat she could see had been taken care of. She let out a breath and drifted back to the bench, picking up her phone. "Alright, I took care of it." She said into the receiver.

"Thank you, and again we apologize for not containing this sooner." Calculus said. "Authorities should be there in under a minute to clean up the scene."

The call ended, and Donna pinched the bridge of her nose. She held it for a moment before she looked up and checked the bus. It was empty now, no sign of Sally or the woman she helped. Must have gotten away. I never knew Sally had it in her, she thought. Though I will have to figure out where she went, and explain where I was. Donna turned to pick her jacket up off the bench-

And stopped short as she found Sally standing right behind her, apparently having come back right at that moment. The other girl's eyes were wide as she stared at her. "Oh my god," Sally uttered, eyes darting up and down Donna's stary form. "Oh my god, it's really you. You're Troia!"

Donna froze for a second, trying to figure out what to say. "I, uh, this isn't what it looks like." She probably should have taken longer than a second.

Sally's eyebrows knit together. "Really? Because it looks like you're partially made of the night sky and we're juggling giant monsters around like Wonder Woman. I'm pretty sure you're Troia."

I didn't even know Sally paid attention to superheroes, Donna thought blearily before her shoulders sagged in defeat. "Yeah… it's me," She said. Donna didn't have it in her to try to spin some elaborate lie. Besides, maybe… maybe it was for the best that Sally knew. "Look, Sally, I didn't want this to-"

"Oh my god you know my name!" Sally interrupted, looking around. "This is so cool! Where did Donna run off to? She's going to be kicking herself for missing this!"

Donna opened her mouth… and closed it. She looked down at her sparkling clothes, and then back up at Sally before saying… no, still didn't know how to respond to that. Her bewilderment at her friend's imperceptiveness was so great that the starry fields disappeared from her clothes and hair after a few moments. "Uh, Sally… it's me. I'm-"

The young woman turned back around, gaze going vacant for a moment before she blinked. "Donna, there you are! You won't believe- wait." She looked around again. "Where did Troia go? I swear, I was just talking to her a second ago!"

"...What? But- I- you-"

"Honestly Donna, how did you lose your coat? You must be freezing." Sally picked up Donna's coat and handed it to her before taking her hand. "Come on, we're going to have to hoof it to the next bus stop if we want to catch the last one back to Jersey. And I have so much to post on social media on the way!"

Stunned as she was, Donna was powerless to resist as her friend towed her along in her wake. Sally is not this stupid, the still functioning part of Donna's brain thought, remembering that moment of vacantness when the other girl saw her. Something else is going on. Could it be…

Nyx was a goddess of the Night, but beyond that not much was known about her. Whether intentional or not, this resulted in the primordial deity having a second purview: Mystery. Donna had never really delved into the specifics of her abilities, as they had a tendency to just manifest on their own. But now she found herself wondering… was there a reason no one had ever recognized she was a hero before?

Donna sighed, and found herself looking back up at the night sky. Please come back soon.

Despite what others might think, Komand'r was capable of patience. As a rule she preferred action to inaction and despised indolence, but she acknowledged that sometimes the best thing to do was wait for an opportunity to present itself. And in those cases, she would wait as a huntress does, observing until the moment was right to strike. So, she could be patient. Under the right conditions.

Her current conditions, unfortunately, were not that.

The woman held in a sigh as she wandered through Noah's lab for the 5th time, looking for anything to hold her interest. Months spent on this planet and there was nothing for her to actually do. Her way off world was coming, according to Noah, but there was no way for her to speed that along. And her sister had apparently gone to ground ever since her own arrival. The woman barely showed her face outside of a few brief public appearances with that gray, shifting wretch before vanishing again. Noah said they didn't even have evidence that she had assisted any of the local peacekeepers since that day.

Something about that… bothered Komand'r. For Koriand'r to be absent from her self-appointed duty was unlike her. She had no reason to suspect that Komand'r was alive and on Earth, and even if she did the girl had never been capable of any kind of subtlety. Something was going on with her dear sister, and Komand'r had to find out what if she wanted to give her sibling what she truly deserved.

But, on this foreign world, she couldn't do that herself. She needed the aid of the one human she could stand to be around (and only sometime at that). And said human was busy talking with the rest of those Light wastrels. "So, that covers our gains for this month." Noah said, sitting at a desk with several monitors facing him. Each one had the silhouette of one of his conspirators on them. An entirely foolish theatric in Komand'r's opinion, as everyone knew each other. "Unless our latest contractor has yielded results I'm not aware of?"

"Unfortunately, Faust was unable to acquire the prisoner before he was captured." Ra's said. "It would seem that while he slipped past the initial response, one of the Titans happened to be in the area. Professor Ivo is out of our reach."

Savage grumbled. "The setbacks the Titans are causing us are starting to be irksome. We already missed our original operation date due to their appearance, and we've made no headway in neutralizing them."

"Patience," Ra's replied. "The League has been operating for years, giving us plenty of information about them. The Titans have only existed for a few months. It will take some time-"

"Time we don't have." Noah interrupted. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but that group of AI's that showed up after D.C. is working for Machina. Probably have been for some time…"

Komand'r's attention faded again as the man went into details about some artificial intelligences that had aligned themselves with the local authority. A primitive world this Earth may be, but it was a particularly chaotic one. AI, random extraordinary abilities, more kinds of Spiritcraft than she thought possible, inexplicably technology… she would have to take more care the next time she came to conquer this world. I suppose familiarizing myself with some of this technology is better than doing nothing, she thought, changing direction.

Noah's base of operations, if you could call it that, was a hollowed out apartment building at the edge of town. It was purposely shabby on the outside, but in Komand'r's opinion the inside could use some work as well. Everything was either bare rooms with simple furniture or labs and workshops full of devices and machines scattered haphazardly. And the less said about the basement 'guts', the better.

An eminently practical location, but actually living there was starting to drive her mad with sheer boredom and drabness. She wandered down the rows of shelves and benches, looking for anything that might pique her interest. She eventually came across a workbench that was somewhat more clear than the others, with a number of odd devices on it.

"This Silver has exploded into the electronics manufacturing and data services markets." Luthor said. "While they are keeping the best tech for themselves, they are already creating simple circuit boards at prices far below market value. Their goal appears to be more market saturation rather than market dominance, per se. They clearly have been planning this for some time."

"There is more." The Brain added. "We have thus far been unable to penetrate their systems, but our study of Machina's abilities indicates a similar source: magic. Like him, these machines use arcane energies. It stands to reason then that these technical designs of theirs are not just simple circuitry. It is spellwork."

"Spellwork? For what exactly?"

There was an expectant pause. Then the voice of a high pitched boy spoke up. "How would I know? All those new fangled computers are so… organized." The boy shuddered audibly

"Regardless, this represents a serious threat to our operations." Luthor continued. "If their computational power is what it seems, they could comprise all but our most private networks."

"They won't, actually," Noah spoke up. "Because I've been preparing for something like this."

He paused when a noise grabbed his attention. Specifically, The sound of Komand'r flicking the switch on a cylindrical object, and a beam of reddish energy shooting out of it. The beam warbled in the air for a few moments before it sputtered and died. Komand'r shrugged and dropped it back down with a clunk.

Noah scowled, but returned his attention back to the conference call. "As I was saying, I have made extensive study of Machina and his abilities, and I believe these AI follow similar principles. While their abilities are quite potent, they have their blindspots. With the help of our foreign friends I've discovered that the quantum waveform oscillations that Machina uses can be modified to hide information in a dimensional sublayer. So long as we keep ahead of their algorithms, they will never find us digitally, even with magic."

"But such a thing would require all of our networks to be using this mechanism." The Brain pointed out. "Any point of conventional technology would be a point the Silver could exploit, making all this useless."

Komand'r picked up the next item on the bench, a strange folded up contraption. She turned it over in her hands a few times before, following a hunch, she tossed it on the ground. Sure enough, it unfolded as it hit the floor, and a small field of rippling static filled the area around it. Komand'r tossed the next item on the bench into the field, and it was suspended in the air on contact, making a loud hum.

Noah ignored her, responding to the Brain."Yes. It would take an entire network of waveform oscillators installed at key points on the internet backbone, splicing enough data to form a stable dimensional layer that only certain people would have access to. An Undernet, if you would." A smug smile formed on his face. "Which I made. You're welcome."

Ra's hummed. "You have created a secret communication system, hiding in plain sight. Impressive."

"Quite. With this not only do we have a new way to hide our communications from prying eyes, it opens whole new avenues of opportunities. Subnetworks can be opened up to those willing to pay, and we will have full access to whatever's inside of them. I might even be able to alter data on the internet in transit en masse without anyone noticing, once I get the protocols down."

Komand'r picked up another object in the line, a metal sphere made out of several interlocking plates. She turned it over in her hand for a moment before it started to vibrate. She had only a moment of confusion before the sphere jumped out of her hands and unfolded, more plates appearing until it expanded until it eclipsed her. The next moment the thing shot forward and engulfed her, Komand'r letting out a yell before everything was plunged into darkness.

There was an instant the woman was trapped in stifling blackness before violet light blossomed. Her hands and eyes glowed with power before she screamed and let out a torrent of energy, smashing into the metal shell around her. It held for a second or two before the device shattered apart, shards flying everywhere. She breathed heavily for a few moments, her body smoking slightly.

Noah hadn't even turned around, though Komand'r heard the Brain speak up over the speaker. "Calculator, is everything alright? There's a lot of noise on your end."

"It's nothing, just a little annoyance I have to get to." Noah said. "In any case, I believe that wraps things up. I'll send you all the access codes to the Undernet when the final preparations are made."

The screens flickered off, and Noah's shoulders slumped. Without turning, he said "Could you… just not… for five minutes?!"

Komand'r scoffed, brushing off bits of debris. "You should have these things labeled."

"I don't have to label them, I know what they are!" He swirled around in his chair to glare at her. "Maybe if someone didn't go poking at highly experimental equipment they knew nothing about, we wouldn't have any problems at all. Oh what a world that would be."

As the man gestured, Komand'r's eyes tracked his right arm, which was still covered in blue and black patterns before ending in clawed fingers. The arm hadn't changed back since that day she nearly killed him. Noah didn't talk about it, but she suspected that he couldn't change it back for whatever reason. "It would be a world I am not allowed to do anything in, much like our current one. So I must find some way to pass the time."

"So sorry I don't have anything you can punch, princess. It must be very frustrating for you." He said flatly. "Say, if I make a mannequin with your sister's face painted on it for you to beat on, will that make you stop trashing my lab? Or am I going to have to do something drastic?"

Komand'r laughed. "Oh I would almost love to see what 'drastic' thing you have in mind." She said, staring him in the face with a smirk while she casually pushed a random object off the workbench, letting it clatter to the floor. "So tell me, what-"

She was cut off as a sudden spirts of water hit her in the face. She sputtered and blinked before looking to the side, seeing that a small flying drone was near her head holding a… spray bottle? "Did…" She turn back to Noah, unsure if the emotion she was feeling was rage or bewilderment. "Did you just spray me?!"

"I figured a more basic approach would work better with you." The man said blandly, though Komand'r could see him fighting to keep the grin off his face.

No, it was definitely rage. Komand'r became incandescent as she marched towards the little man. "I am going to boil your insides and use your carcass as a flag, you insufferable vermin!" She screamed, her hands radiating with power.

"Fine, go ahead! I'll blow up this entire base!" He yelled back, every screen around them flashing red with warnings. "I don't even care if it means I don't have to spend another second dealing with your bullshit!"

There were several long seconds as the two glared at each other, red and violet lights playing off each other's faces. Just as suddenly as it started though, the standoff was broken by a beeping sound. The two turned to see one off the console on the far side of the lab blinking with a red light and the attached monitor came to life with data. "Oh, looks like we've finally picked something up," Noah said mildly, walking away from her as if they hadn't been at each other's throat a second ago.

Komand'r resisted the urge to roll her eyes and followed behind him. "Finally. I assume this is what you meant by 'final preparations'?"

"Yep," His hands flew across the keyboard, pulling up data streams and executing commands. "With the Undernet fully expanded it was bound to pick up the next signal from our approaching friends, and I needed to get their signal isolated from the network before we had any of the Light poking around in it." A few more commands on the computer and the display changed, showing a waveform followed by some readouts. "Hmm, looks like they've noticed that we've noticed. How to handle this…"

"Simple. You confront them." Before he could react, Komand'r reached out and tapped several keys quickly, initiating a connection with the signal. She may not have Noah's technical skill, but she was far from ignorant as to how such things worked. Besides, she had to plenty of time to pick up a few things during her stay here.

"Hey!" The man said, and reached out to cancel the command, but Komand'r snatched his wrist and held it still.

When he looked at her, the Tamaranian's eyes bored into his. "No more of these little shadow games. Show me you have what it takes to get me back to the stars."

The man stared. Then, he pulled his wrist back and let out a soft snort. "You can't just go around things like that to men," he muttered, but he let the connection go through.

A window opened up on screen, and the two were greeted with the video image of an alien command bridge, every surface made of smooth organic curves and soft green and blue colors. The humanoid alien in the center of the image was in a simple bodysuit that wrapped around their head but left their face exposed, which was flat and pale green. The expression of surprise was easy enough to read though.

The alien said something in a language Komand'r didn't know. And yet, Noah seemed to understand it just fine. "Oh don't worry about that. Let's just say a little bird told me," he said, a hand coming up to scratch his neck. "No, the important thing here is that you are looking for something."

A wicked grin split Noah's face. "And I believe we can help each other get what we want."

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A/N: This fic's update scheduled is brought to you by being over 30 on week nights and mild carpel tunnel. blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarg.