Ladies and Gentlemen, I am alive and I have brought a gift. Here is the latest chapter for the story that I was asked repeatedly to bring to you, which I am grateful cause you guys kept me going and driven to finish. Life and work have been insane so I haven't had as much time as I wish to put towards this but here it is finally. Before I get to that I just want to answer reviews...
LordSoundwave: Me too! I can't wait to get to those chapters cause I already started planning and I like what I have so far for those. Some great plot points are in the future for those chapters.
Magnouce Elie: Here is the update you've been asking for.
Batrenz: I agree with Nathan and Barbara all the way LOL and more girl trouble on the way
Diabolos Aides: Thanks for reading the chapter.
YOUNG JUSTICE
ME?... DATING BARBARA?... FORGET ABOUT IT
GOTHAM CITY
SEPTEMBER 04, 12:16 EST
Jim Gordon sat at a table in the corner of his daughter's favorite diner. He had just finished for the day and decided to take his daughter out and spend some quality time with her.
Jim was slowly sipping on his coffee when his daughter's voice startled him.
"Hey dad!" Barbara greeted.
"Sweetheart," Jim greeted, slyly trying to brush the little bit of coffee off his shirt, "I didn't see you enter."
Before Barbara could reply a waiter came over to take their order. They both ordered their food and Barbara watched as the waiter walked towards the back, before turning back to her dad.
"So how was work?" Barbara asked, resuming their conversation.
"A lot more tiring since the Bat Family isn't around to field some of the calls." Jim answered while massaging his temples with his fingers, "How's the dating going?" Jim asked, paying extra attention to his daughter's expression and how she answered him, looking for any of her signature tells on how she is feeling.
"It's going well. It's still kinda weird dating my best friend, but I think we can make it work," she answered her father with a smile that grew as she spoke and thought about it.
Jim casually sipped his coffee while she answered so that she couldn't see his own smile forming on his lips. Sure Barbara has tried dating other guys, but none of them could act normally around "The Commish of Gotham City" but Nathan was unique in that he acted normally around him and wasn't phased by his presence, even when he first became friends with his daughter and met him for the first time.
The waiter returned to the table with their order, but as soon as Jim and Barbara went to start eating Jim got a call on his work phone. Father and daughter shared a look and then Jim sighed as he answered and brought the phone to his ear.
Barbara watched as her dad tried to talk low to avoid any eavesdroppers from nearby tables and watched as the expression on his face changed for the worse with every second.
"I'm sorry Barb," Jim started, "but I have to go… break-in at the Gotham Art Gallery." he stated.
Barbara could tell by the way he ended the sentence that something more was happening, so when her father stood to leave, she stood too.
"Barbara, what are you doing?" Jim asked, crossing his arms and giving his daughter a quizzical stare.
"Going with you. You want us to have some more time together, this is how we're doing it tonight."
"No" came her firm answer from her father.
"Why? It's a break-in which means the bad guys are gone and it's not like its a murder. Plus the place is already swarming with cops." she argued back, giving her father her own stern reply.
"Barbara… I'd rather you stay and eat then go home," Jim sighed. Dropping the money on the table for both meals.
Barbara's stern face never faulted, so she quickly bent over and grabbed her fork, took a bite of food and stared back, "Done. Now can we go?" she asked.
Jim sighed again, this time in defeat, "Fine, come on."
GOTHAM ART GALLERY
SEPTEMBER 04, 13:14 EST
Barbara and her father enjoyed a quiet ride in his car over to the Gotham Art Gallery. Once they started to get closer however, their quiet drive turned into one drowned in police sirens. As they rounded the corner and approached the Gotham Art Gallery they saw all the parked GCPD squad cars with sirens blaring.
"Barbara," her father stated sternly, as he parked his car, "I want you to stay close to me at all times when we are in there. I need to know you're ok while I do my job"
"Sure thing pops" Barbara stated, with a smile on her face, that he knew all too well.
Jim just gave her a look that showed he didn't believe her and just nodded and the two made their way out of the vehicle and into the gallery to start the investigation.
Once through the front door, Barbara and her father stopped, and she watched all the police at work dusting for prints, inspecting the crime scene, and taking pictures. As they watched, a woman, who Barbara knew as a detective, approached them giving a nod and smile to Barbara before addressing her father.
"Commissioner," the woman addressed.
"Detective Yin," Gordon acknowledged, "What have you got for me?" he asked.
Barbara took this time to wander away from her father and start her own little investigation, which mostly consisted of eavesdropping on the conversations around her. She walked over to the open stand that once held the stolen cat, while listening to her father talk to Detective Yin.
"Millions of dollars in art and valuables skipped over for a jeweled cat," Yin explained, "This heist has all the earmarks of Catwoman, but…"
"But?" Commissioner asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The second point of entry," Yin answered, shining her flashflight in that direction.
"We know who it is?" Gordon asked.
"As of right now… no we don't," responded Yin, who looked at several of the cops.
Barbara turned her attention to the other policemen, and listened to what they were mumbling, and what they were mumbling made her mind spin.
"Pretty sure it's Red Robin," one cop whispered.
"Yeah," agreed another, "He already teamed up with her once."
"He probably needs money and that's why he switched sides," whispered another.
Barbara couldn't believe what she was hearing and it took all her willpower to not lash out at these cops. She decided to check out Catwoman's mystery partner's entrance to see if she could find anything and knelt down to check out the busted door.
"Barbara," her father called, "it's time to go."
Barbara was knelt down over the busted door taking a closer look, but since she couldn't find anything that could point to Catwoman's partner she agreed and she and her father left the crime scene. As she left however, she took out her phone and sent a few texts to Nathan about what she heard about Red Robin.
BIALYA
SEPTEMBER 04, 12:02 EEST
Red Robin groaned as he walked along the desert of…
"Wait, where am I?" he asked, unable to remember why he was… wherever he was.
He went to pull up his holoscreen from his wristband, when the sound of an engine and dust coming from his right appeared. He crouched immediately down behind some rocks and watched as a Humvee drove by with armed soldiers.
"Bialyans?" Red Robin voiced his question, "In America?" he asked himself before pulling out his holoscreen and checking GPS and his eyes widened some, "Nope makes sense Bialyans in Bialya, but what am I doing in Bialya?" he asked himself.
"Wait in September? What happened to March?" he asked, realizing the date, "This has to be one of those Batman training missions" he said, mauling over this new train of thought, "Makes sense, situational survival?" he continued to think aloud.
"Better radio Batman," Red Robin rationalized since he couldn't remember his mission parameters. Once he put a hand to his ear though, he had a flashback take over in his mind.
"Maintain radio silence at all times," Batman ordered him in some kind of mission briefing that he couldn't fully remember.
"Orrrr not," he said putting his hand back down, "Definitely one of those 'Batman New Sidekick Training' missions though definitely," he spoke before seeing something else catch his eye on his holoscreen.
"Texts from Barbara?" he asked himself before looking at them. What he read made him raise an eyebrow.
"I don't work with Catwoman!" He said out loud to no one in particular, defending himself.
"Also what does she mean by date, this has to be a test. Batman is trying too hard to distract me from what matters, also note to self, maintain a better poker face around Batman. How did he even know I was starting to fall for her?" he mumbled to himself before glancing at his holoscreen one more time and locating a tracker that he had placed a couple clicks from his position.
"Guess that's base?" he asked himself, "Have to make it back to base from behind enemy lines," he groaned before turning off his holoscreen and starting his trek back to the marked location.
GOTHAM MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
SEPTEMBER 04, 16:02 EST
Boots landed on a roof of a nearby building next to the Gotham Museum of Natural History. Batgirl had did some research of her own once her dad told her what was stolen and found out the jewel was one of a pair and that the other jewel was on loan to the Gotham Museum of Natural History so she decided to stake it out because she knew Catwoman and possibly this mystery partner would show to take this one to go with it.
She also found out that the two together, according to legend, would allow someone to have the power of a god, which she decided was obviously a bad thing for two villains of Gotham City to have even if it was just a legend.
Batgirl, taking a calming breath, used one of her old version batarangs, that she got from GCPD evidence lock up, tied to a rope and grappled across the street to the museum and landed on the roof.
Once she got there, she found a hatch on the roof, and it just so happened that the hatch had a view of the exhibit where the jewel was being displayed. She then attached her batarang to a nearby ledge and had her rope coiled and set up near the edge so she could easily use it to enter the room once she wanted to make her presence known to the villains she was sure would show up.
As she watched and waited, she checked her phone and was sad and frustrated to see she had no texts from Nathan. Though she couldn't stay like that for long because as she looked down the hatch, she watched as Catwoman did some flips and pulled out an object she couldn't quite make out and quickly replaced where the jewel stood with the object she had, which she now saw to be a small little cat statue.
She then watched as Catwoman flipped back and stood in front of The Penguin with the statue.
"Phenomenal," The Penguin growled, "You know according to Egyptian legend, the cat goddess enabled old Rah here to harness the power of the sun," he explained as he reached out for the statue in Catwoman's outstretched hand, which quickly retreated from Penguin's grasp.
"How nice for them," she stated uninterested, "And where is my kitty cutie cakes?" Catwoman asked, leaning closer to Penguin. Barbara had to stop her childish action of vomiting at the site of the two.
Penguin then took his top hat off, revealing the stolen cat jewel, "such a shame to break up the set." he stated, getting ready to make the agreed upon exchange with Catwoman.
Batgirl decided that now would be a good time to make her presence known and see if she couldn't get the two to possibly turn against each other or get lucky and catch the two villains for GCPD to take into custody.
Batgirl took out one of her batarangs, and while holding her breath took aim at Penguin's umbrella and let it fly, as soon as the batarang had left her hand she kicked the rope, so that it fell down to the floor and quickly slid down it to the floor gaining the two villains attention.
"Batgirl," Catwoman sighed, "Where's your boyfriend? I enjoy tangoing with him," she asked in her usual sultry voice.
"Ugh, he's not my…" but she was interrupted by Catmwoman's smirking face.
"Whatever you say baby bird."
"Umm who's this?" The Penguin asked, but the two women were just staring at each other. Batgirl had on her best bat-glare, while Catwoman had a small smile.
Batgirl snapped out of her stare and looked at Penguin, "If it's souvenirs you want, try the gift shop," Batgirl quipped at him, a smirk on her face and hand on her hip.
Penguin growled as he and Catwoman put their respective statues down next to each other behind them, putting their deal on pause to join together and fight the newest bat hero. Penguin charged, while Catwoman leapt into the air.
Batgirl rolled out of the way of Catwoman's kick, then rushed toward Penguin and leapt into the air on top of Penguin and then used him to give herself a little more power to push herself toward the now unprotected jewels.
As she reached out for one, a whip cracked near her hand, causing her to pull back and turn her attention to the two villains again. She saw Catwoman go to use her whip again and this time rolled toward the two villains dodging the whip attack as she did so.
When she popped back up to her feet, she was between the two villains. She saw Catwoman move first, and raised her arm to try and block her attack, but took a swipe to the face, but then in turn landed a punch to Catwoman's stomach, causing the villain to back off a bit. Batgirl then turned towards Penguin and brought her fist down on top of his head, scrunching his top hat and causing it to fall over his eyes.
As Penguin tried to lift his hat off so he could see, Batgirl leapt and kicked off Penguin's shoulder, causing the villain to stumble back and lose his balance on a coffin behind him and fall in. Batgirl turned mid air to focus on Catwoman, but Catwoman had already pulled her whip out and Batgirl felt it wrap around her foot and then next thing she knew, she was flying across the museum and hit hard into a row of sarcophagi. Batgirl laid there on her back, and couldn't do anything as her vision went dark and she lost consciousness.
Batgirl came to at the sound of something being clasped to her wrist. It took all of her strength to lift her head and she saw The Penguin laughing as he walked away from her and a downed Catwoman. She then noticed that the thing she heard being clasped on her wrist was some high tech handcuff and saw that she was cuffed to Catwoman.
"I'll just hang onto the key, and the jewels," The Penguin laughed, then knocked over a statue that sounded the alarm system throughout the museum.
Batgirl and Catwoman made to get up and chase after The Penguin, who now stood in the hallway before the room. As they rushed toward him, a metal security gate slammed into the ground between them and their common enemy, locking them in the exhibit as The Penguin laughed and left them there.
"Ugh," sighed Batgirl frustratingly, "Now what?" she asked herself out loud.
"Relax," Catwoman answered, lifting out a lockpick from her boot.
Catwoman started to tamper with the cuff that was strapped to her arm, but once she started tampering with it, red numbers appeared and started to beep as they counted down.
"Umm that doesn't make me want to relax," Batgirl chided the feline criminal, as she watched the numbers tick down from twenty. Catwoman continued to fumble with unlocking her cuff, but found it more difficult than it should be to unlock these cuffs, until she realized something. With one second left on the timer, she removed her lockpick and the timer stopped, allowing Batgirl and Catwoman to let out a sigh.
"Tamper proof," Catwoman explained, as she placed her lockpick back in her boot.
"Looks like you're stuck with me," Batgirl smirked at the older feline, "we need the key."
Catwoman smirked at the younger teen, "Sounds like it's your turn to partner up with me."
"Ugh," Batgirl groaned, "this isn't how it was supposed to go," she sighed as she face palmed and then ran her free hand down her face, "fine, let's go before the cops show up."
Just then they heard police sirens from outside. Catwoman and Batgirl ran to the center of the room and Batgirl and Catwoman used Batgirl's rope that she still had dangling there and coordinated their climb out of the museum and back to the roof.
"This way," Catwoman ordered, and started toward the fire escape and Batgirl had no choice, thanks to the cuffs, but to follow.
Once down to the ground, Batgirl looked at Catwoman, "Now what?" she asked, the sirens getting louder.
Catwoman just pulled out a device from her belt and hit a button and a motorcycle rolled up beside her.
"Ok," Batgirl said and Catwoman got on first to drive, with Batgirl seated behind her, begrudgingly putting her arms around Catwoman, so that Catwoman could reach the handlebars and throttle.
Catwoman then revved the bike and sped off, being careful to go in the opposite direction of the police so that she didn't ruin Batgirl's image before she could even make one.
BIALYA
SEPTEMBER 04, 13;43 EEST
Red Robin stood in the middle of a desert valley, but surrounding him was a Bialyan foot patrol that popped out from the sand and surrounded him, all with guns pointed at him.
"Guess Bats decided the training wheels were off for this one" he stated as he instinctually shifted into a battle position.
Red Robin roamed his eyes over the six man squad that had him surrounded before jumping into action.
Red Robin immediately dropped a smoke pellet and then leaped into the air and landed outside the smoked area, where the six combatants were obscured. Red Robin then pulled out his retractable bo staff. As he spotted his first target, he heard some yells coming from the smoke as he figured friendly fire was happening in the smoke.
He rushed his target and with three quick strikes, one to the knees to bring his target down to the ground and two quick strikes to the head, knocked out the first guy, and entered the smoke filled area that was starting to shrink due to the smoke dissipating.
Red Robin searched for his next target and found a Bialyan that was looking in the wrong direction, but before he could charge, another soldier entered the area and aimed his gun at Red Robin.
Red Robin acted quickly and threw a birdarang at the gun in the man's hand and disarmed him, but in doing so caused the soldier he initially spotted to turn his way, but Red Robin was already rushing his direction and just before the soldier squeezed the trigger to launch a spray of bullets, Red Robin had leapt into the air and as he twisted over the man brought his bo staff across the back of his neck and shoulders, forcing him forward towards the first man and making him collapse in temporary paralysis. Red Robin quickly rolled as he landed and used the time to pull out a set of bolo's and threw them at the unarmed man, quickly tying him up and causing him to fall.
Red Robin remembered his training, and while someone is down they may not be out, especially with allies around, followed up the bolos with a swift strike to the head with his fist. Red Robin noticed the smoke was almost cleared at this point, he saw that one of the soldiers was down on the ground holding his leg where he must have been shot by one of his comrades. Sweeping his gaze he found the last two back to back about 40 feet away doing a slow circle looking for him. Committing their location to memory, he took out a pellet full of knockout gas and threw it at the pair, and jumped back further to avoid getting caught in any cross breeze.
Red Robin's smoke finished dissipating leaving the downed Bialyan soldiers unobscured. Red Robin made to turn around to continue on his way towards home base, but when he turned he let out a frustrating sigh.
"You have got to be kidding me," he groaned.
Rolling up to his position along the desert valley was a Bialyan tank with its commander visible from the top hatch, pointing at Red Robin and yelling to his crew inside. As the commander yelled, the main gun of the tank shifted to aim at Red Robin, as did the frontal machine gun, but before they could fire, a scream was heard that pierced the valley, and before anyone could really react, Red Robin saw what looked like a teenager fall from the sky and slam into the turret of the tank, causing it to explode, blowing Red Robin back and engulfing him a swarm of sand.
As the sand settled, Red Robin stood back up and got his bearings straight and emerging from the flaming debris of what used to be a Bialyan Republic tank, was a teenager, a little older than him, wearing no shirt and tattered jeans.
Red Robin wasn't sure if he should thank this teen, or get ready for a fight, but his question was quickly answered when the unknown teen lunged at him, letting loose another battle cry as he did so.
Red Robin rolled to the side to miss the lunging teen, who slammed into the spot where Red Robin used to be, causing an explosion of sand that shook the valley.
Red Robin quickly got to his feet after rolling and let loose two birdarangs that hit true, but deflected off the teen with no effect.
"Of course they don't work," he groaned as he lept straight up to dodge the charging team again and this time pushed off the teen's back with his hand to put some extra distance between himself and his foe.
When he landed this time, he was crouched and again let loose two more birdarangs. The teen caught the first disc, and the second skipped off him again and headed towards the valley mountain side.
Red Robin watched with narrowed, calculating eyes as the teen crushed his disc, only for it to explode in his hand forcing the teen off balance slightly, pushing him back. The second disc hit the mountain side and exploded, sending rocks tumbling down the cliff.
Red Robin took this opportunity to put some distance between him and the hulking goliath of a teen and made his way around a dune and into some rock structures, to make his leave.
As he left, he heard another battle cry from teen, and saw as the teen leapt through the air in a different direction to who knows where, which was fine with Red Robin, as he continued to push his way to his objective.
GOTHAM DOCKS
SEPTEMBER 04 18:22 EST
Catwoman and Batgirl stood outside of the hideout Penguin was currently using. Penguin's hideout was located on an abandoned and rusted ship next to a lighthouse that had also been abandoned by the city. Batgirl had a small pair of binoculars she was using to scope out The Penguin's hideout, while Catwoman was perched next to her on a giant piece of steel pipe.
"So Batgirl, if it's not Red Robin, who's the lucky boy?" Catwoman asked with her patented sultry voice.
"No one," Batgirl replied, though it took her several seconds to think of her answer, which was all Catwoman needed. Batgirl didn't even look in her direction when she answered, she kept her vision through the binoculars, continuing to try and do her job.
"That's not what a little birdy told me," Catwoman replied, this time getting the teen heroine's attention.
"Oh really?" she asked sternly, before abandoning her cover and she and Catwoman, still cuffed, entered Penguin's ship. Catwoman led her to a door that she moved aside and inside was a room that Batgirl could easily tell was used a lot by Penguin.
"Yes really," Catwoman spoke as the two looked around, striking up their previous conversation again.
"Who?" Batgirl asked, looking over her shoulder, while trying to flip through a book she found, but seeing nothing important put it back down and focused on the older woman.
"About your age, wears a black and red costume with a not so pointy eared cowl," she casually described, flipping through a book of her own.
"He's spying on me!" she shot back before she could stop herself.
"Don't know," casually remarked Catwoman, "but I can see why you have a boyfriend. You're a pretty nice catch."
"Why are we even talking about this?" Batgirl asked. Catwoman could tell even with Batgirl's cowl there was an eyebrow raised behind it.
"What else are we gonna talk about?" the feline fatale asked.
"Oh I don't know," Batgirl started hand going on her hip, "how 'bout Penguin wanting to blow up Gotham?"
"Eh, doesn't really spike an interest," Catwoman shrugged her shoulders.
Batgirl turned away and found a metal door that was ajar slightly and had scuff marks on the floor indicating that the door was used frequently, so she walked over and pried it open further.
Batgirl quickly pulled out a flashlight and clicked it on and knew immediately she found what they were looking for. In the little space she uncovered was nothing but texts on Egypt and Egypt mythos. She grabbed the nearest book and flipped through it and quickly found something.
"This book," Batgirl started, as Catwoman looked over the teens shoulder, "It says that if the two jewels are aligned properly you can harness the power of the sun."
"So Penguin's looking to reduce his utility bill?" asked Catwoman sarcastically.
"Somehow I don't think that's it," Batgirl answered just as sarcastic.
Just then a loud explosion was heard and it caused the two to lose their balance. Catwoman managed to quickly gain her back, and helped Batgirl do the same.
"What was that?" Catwoman asked.
"Whatever it was. It can't be good." replied a worried Batgirl.
BIALYA
SEPTEMBER 04, 19:12 EEST
Red Robin, as he approached the objective on his holoscreen, heard shots being fired and immediately crouched and made his way to the top of the sand dune and looked down to see his partner, Robin being fired upon by Bialyan soldiers.
As he made his way to help his friend, who he was surprised to see in one of Batman's training exercises. He was surprised even more when Kid Flash appeared and took all the guns of the soldiers leaving them unarmed. Kid Flash started to mop up the soldiers, and Red Robin decided to rush in and assist.
Finding two soldiers with their backs turned toward him and facing Kid Flash and Robin, he leapt from the sand dune where he was hiding and soared through the air above the soldiers, as he passed over them he grabbed their helmets and smashed their heads together.
His move didn't totally knock them out like it would have if it were Batman doing it, but it forced them off balance and disoriented enough for him to spin in the air and land, and pull out his collapsible bo staff once again and make quick work of the two.
After he took his two down, he saw one soldier who was running get taken down by an arrow that launched its own mini bolas and two soldiers get taken down by what appeared to be telekinesis.
This is the weirdest Batman training mission ever he thought as a teenaged female version of Martian Manhunter hovered in mid air, along with a female teenaged version of Green Arrow.
"Red Robin! KF!" Robin hollered towards his two friends, who approached him and the three exchanged fist bumps, "Man it's good to see familiar faces."
"Hey Rob. Memory loss?" Kid Flash asked.
"Wait, memory loss?" Red Robin asked, as the idea of memory loss didn't even occur to him, "I thought I was in some kind of training mission from Bats." he explained to his partner mostly.
"Not so much," Robin answered in his signature sing song voice.
"So six months of memory loss?" Red Robin asked his two friends.
"Yup," answered Robin, "Let's hogtie these creeps and compare notes."
GOTHAM DOCKS
SEPTEMBER 04 19:13 EST
Batgirl and Catwoman made their way to the lighthouse. "Any ideas on how to get up?" asked Batgirl looking at Catwoman.
"Unless you got a grappling hook hidden on you I think we take the stairs, my whip isn't infinite you know," purred Catwoman in response.
Just as the two were making their way to the door, Barbara's phone went off. She quickly reached into her pouch, expecting a call from Nathan, but saw it was her father instead. She made a shushing motion with her finger to Catwoman and answered the phone. "Hey Dad, what's up?" she tried to answer as nonchalantly as possible.
"Barbara? Are you home? Penguin just blew up a statue outside the police station, and I wanted to check up on you, and make sure you weren't caught up in that mess, trying to visit me or anything." asked Gordon worriedly.
"No worries, Pops I'm home and safe, just watching a nature documentary on birds" answered Barbara trying to keep as much distance between her and Catwoman as possible considering they were still chained together.
"Ok Barb, I'm going to be running late due to this, I have some money in the Emergency Jar so you can order something since you really didn't get to eat earlier." said her father, though he was trying to sound calm, Barbara could hear the worry and stress in his voice, though the worry was starting to fade, which made her feel a bit guilty knowing what she was about to do.
"Thanks Pops, I'll try to save some for you, don't worry I won't stay up waiting, just make sure you're safe" Barbara said sincerely to her dad.
"I'll do my best Barb, stay safe" finished Gordon as he disconnected the call.
"Out past your curfew?" Catwoman questioned.
"So the stairs it is" replied Barbara brushing off the question as she pulled Catwoman towards the door.
They both made their way quietly up the stairs listening for any sign of the Penguin as they made their ascent both in professional mode. When they finally made their way to the top, Catwoman listened at the door, gave the all clear sign and they slowly opened the door checking to see if the coast was clear. The door led out to a landing about 20 feet below the area where the beacon was housed. They checked the surrounding area, and saw that the only way up was an elevator. "I don't think we want to announce our arrival, we will need to find another way up." whispered Batgirl.
"This my whip can handle" as she pulled it out and flipped it out to wrap around the railing above them. "You still have your rock on a rope?" Catwoman quipped.
"It's called a batarang" as she pulled out the rope and batarang and threw it up next to Catwoman's whip and they both started making their way to the top of the lighthouse.
Once they made it to the top, they were able to peer over the edge and see The Penguin fiddling with a console while the two jewels sat on the Lighthouse Beacon. "We are going to need to move fast unless we want to have front row seats to a lethal light show." Catwoman said.
Batgirl nodded and finished climbing over the railing and threw a batarang at the window shattering it, as her and Catwoman ran into the Lighthouse proper.
The Penguin turned towards the noise and said "Well, Well look what the cat dragged in" while looking smug.
Batgirl yelled "It's over Penguin, hand over the key".
"Say bye bye Birdie" added Catwoman as they moved closer to Penguin and prepared to engage.
"Not one step further, or Gotham's Children Hospital is rubble! I possess the power of Rah, I Penguin will be the pharaoh of Gotham" yelled the Penguin as he pulled down the lever, starting the powering process to the jewels again.
BIALYA
SEPTEMBER 04, 19:45 EEST
"So we're a team?" Kid Flash asked, as he, Robin, Red Robin and the blonde girl that Red Robin had learned was named Artemis, listened to "Miss Martian" who apparently was the niece of Martian Manhunter, as she filled them in on what she was able to remember and figure out.
"The five of us and Superboy," Miss Martian explained.
"Then this must be his!" Robin exclaimed, producing part of a t-shirt that had a red Superman S shield on it.
"Yes!" answered Miss Martian excitedly, "Did you see him?" she asked.
"I think we did," answered Artemis, looking at Kid Flash, who was rubbing his chin in thought.
"Feral boy?" Kid Flash asked, getting Red Robin to chuckle at the name a little bit.
"Yeah I ran into him as well," Red Robin echoed, "Don't really want to run into him again either," Red Robin continued, "Dude's got some serious power levels."
"Some teammate," Kid Flash spoke again, "He attacked us."
"He didn't know who we are," Artemis explained to him, defending the raging teen's actions, "I don't know who we are," she continued.
"I remember Batman ordering radio silence," Robin chimed in, "Our team must work for him." he explained, getting a nod from Red Robin.
"How do you know we don't work for my mentor?" Kid Flash said, pointing and touching his symbol on his chest, which somehow reverted the dark, stealth colored costume he had on to his normal yellow and red.
"Whoa!" both Kid Flash and Red Robin said at the same time, amused at what just happened, "This is so cool!" Kid Flash explained hitting his logo more, to switch color schemes.
The others tried to copy him by touching their logos, but nothing happened.
"We look ridiculous," Artemis groaned, hands on her hips, "Quit touching yourself!" she shouted at Kid Flash, who continued to tap his logo, changing colors every two seconds. Red Robin also chuckled at Artemis' comment.
Artemis scoffed at the two of them, "We need our memories back." she continued, this time in a somber voice.
"Your memories" Red Robin heard Miss Martian say before experiencing a very weird out of body experience. He wanted to describe it as floating though he didn't move at all. As if between blinks he was first in the desert surrounded by sand and now he was in a what can only be described as a 70's drug trip with floating mirrors showing flashes of what he could only guess as being scenes from Miss Martian's life.
"I've brought you into my mind to share what I've remembered so far," Miss Martian spoke, though her voice sounded as if it echoed from every direction.
Just then she appeared in front of the other superheroes, first in a white light silhouette of herself which formed into her original look.
"But I need your help," she went on to explain to them, "Together our broken minds can form a whole, if you open your minds to mine," she explained calmly to them.
"You want to paw through our private thoughts?" Artemis asked, taking a defensive step back away from the Martian.
Miss Martian quickly put her hands up in a defensive posture, "I have no wish to intrude," but before she could continue she was interrupted by Robin.
"You need to hack our minds to grok what happened to us," he stated matter of factly, hands on his hips, "Got it. Go." he said, ready for what Miss Martian wanted to do.
"My brain is all yours," Kid Flash chimed in, "Try not to let its brilliance overwhelm you."
Red Robin scoffed, "Or underwhelm you."
"Hey," Robin chimed in with a questioning voice, "Why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" he asked.
Artemis seemed to fall in line with the plan after everyone else seemed ok with it, "Last six months only, and only what you need." she blatantly told Miss Martian.
Miss Martian nodded and Red Robin closed his eyes to let her probe to get the information she needed. He felt a pull and then a rush of memories came pouring back.
"The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan desert. Spectral analysis revealed elements non-terrestrial in origin. Find out what happened at that site, what landed there. Bialya is a rogue state ruled by Queen Bee, and not a member of The League's UN Charter. All communications are subject to interception. Maintain radio silence at all times. You'll land in Kourak, on Bialya's border, two clicks from the hot zone," Batman briefed them on the mission plan.
Red Robin then saw them unloading equipment from Miss Martian's bioship,."
"All clear," came Robin's voice.
Then he saw himself, along with Artemis and Robin sneaking up on the hot zone and looking down at a camp site from one of the cliffs that overlooked the camp.
"The Bialyan's control the site," Artemis whispered.
"Set up here" came from a voice that Red Robin wasn't sure of. As he saw Superboy carrying a machine on his back from the bioship. He then watched as Superboy turned a dial and the machine activated.
"We'll be up and running in no time," Robin spoke now, as he took the controls of the machine Superboy just activated.
"Jackpot!" Kid Flash exclaimed excitedly, "The site's lousy with zeta beam radiation."
"Detecting non-terrestrial trace elements from the tent." Robin informed the team.
"I'll check it out in camouflage mode." Miss Martian offered.
"Good idea. Go." ordered their leader.
"Be careful" Superboy said, looking directly at Red Robin.
"And maintain telepathic contact," ordered Aqualad.
"I will Aqualad." Miss Martian answered their leader.
Right after Miss Martian spoke, the connection broke and the whole team took in a breath and all of them at once in concern spoke the name of their leader, "Aqualad!"
"Where is he?" Robin asked, followed by another question, "What happened next?"
"I don't know," Miss Martian frantically answered, "That's the last thing I - we remember."
"Eh, we landed twenty-four hours ago." Kid Flash spoke, scratching the back of his head, while Artemis was looking off into space away from him, with an annoyed look as far as Red Robin could tell.
"If Kaldur's been wandering the desert that long, well, that's not good for a guy with gills." Kid Flash explained to the rest of the group.
"Now that we know to look for him," Red Robin spoke, pulling up his holoscreen with the GPS marking he and Robin had, "He's close!" Red Robin exclaimed at the good news, "but he's not moving," he said in a more somber voice.
"KF," Red Robin called to the teen speedster, "Grab some cloth from the bio-ship. Got an idea once we get to Aqualad, since he's probably not gonna be in good condition."
Kid Flash's face lit up, catching onto Red Robin's idea and nodded quickly before taking off and reappearing in less than seconds. Once he was back the team followed Robin and Red Robin to Aqualad's location.
The group of teens, led by Robin and Red Robin's GPS coordinates, made it to Aqualad's location. Once they found him, Miss Martian raced forwards kneeling next to him propping his head up with her hand. As she did so and the rest of the group arrived, Aqualad was mumbling at first Red Robin thought nonsense but upon listening closely he recognized it as Atlantean.
"I can't restore his memories in this condition," Miss Martian broke the bad news to the group.
"Can you call the Bio-Ship?" Red Robin asked, "He needs rehydrated like yesterday."
"It's out of range," Miss Martian informed the teen, breaking yet more bad news, "but you can get him there fast." she spoke, looking towards Kid Flash.
"He's too heavy," Kid Flash sighed, "and I'm too low on fuel," Kid Flash then pointed to Artemis, who was standing next to him, "Right now I couldn't carry her."
"Ugh" Artemis said, annoyed at KF's joke, swatting his hand out of the way, "Why don't you just levitate him back?" she asked the Martian.
Miss Martian cautiously laid Aqualad's head back on the sand from her lap and stood up to address her female teammate, "I can't. I have to find Superboy," she stated, "Six months ago he didn't exist, he has no memories, just animal impulse… I'm the only one that can help him."
"But Miss Martian…" Red Robin began, but was interrupted by Kid Flash who finished his sentence for him.
"Superboy is indestructible, just as those tanks," he said, pointing back over his shoulder, "It's Aqualad that needs your help now."
"No!" Miss Martian yelled out after clutching her head, "Superboy's in pain!" she yelled, her voice full of hurt as she took off to go get their missing team member.
"We still don't know what erased our memories!" Robin yelled out to the quickly retreating figure of Miss Martian.
"It could happen again!" Red Robin yelled out to warn her before she got out of ear shot.
"So how do we carry him back?" Artemis asked the group of teen heroes.
"This is why I asked for that cloth," Red Robin stated, looking at Kid Flash who handed him the material, which he then quickly laid out by Aqualad and was glad the cloth was long enough.
"I need your bo-staff," Red Robin said to his partner as he pulled out his and together they made a quickly done up stretcher to carry him back to the ship.
GOTHAM DOCKS
SEPTEMBER 04 19:22 EST
The Jewels began to glow, starting the process of the sun's destructive power, however Catwoman acting fast, used her whip to grab hold of the cat statue, and in the process knocked over the bird statue, which then fired the beam of light straight into the air, destroying the roof of the lighthouse and bringing it down on top of the three vying for the statues.
Once the smoke cleared Catwoman along with Batgirl were able to stand back up on their feet and then made their way over to an unconscious Penguin. Batgirl lifted off his top hat and grabbed the keys, using them to unlock her cuff then handing them to Catwoman.
Batgirl, while Catwoman uncuffed herself, pulled out a set of police handcuffs she "borrowed" from GCPD and used them to cuff Penguin, who was still unconscious and grabbed the two statues that laid on the ground next to him.
Batgirl turned to Catwoman holding both jewels, only to see Catwoman's whip lasso around her ankle and pull back on her whip, making Batgirl fall backwards.
As Batgirl fell backwards, she instinctively threw the jewels up in the air to free her hands to catch herself. Once she stopped herself from falling, she looked up only to see Catwoman somersaulting across her and catching the jewels before they hit the ground. Batgirl then leaned her head back to see Catwoman land and roll right off the edge of the lighthouse.
Batgirl rushed to the railing only to see Catwoman using her claws against the side of the lighthouse to slow her momentum and land safely on the ground next to her motorcycle, "See you later kid!" Catwoman called back wavering her hand, before taking off
"Well at least I capt - " she stated to herself as she turned around to find her cuffs laying on the ground where Penguin used to be.
"Dammit, way to go Barb" she mumbled to herself, before making her own leave, down the steps of the lighthouse.
QURAC
SEPTEMBER 05, 02:32 EEST
The group of teens had made it back to the Bio-Ship. Robin, Red Robin and Kid Flash were preparing the ship to depart once their other two team members arrived, while Artemis checked on Aqualad.
"Hey everybody!" Miss Martian shouted in everyone's head, "I got Superboy. He's back to normal and we're on our way."
"Who are you? And how did you get inside my head?" spoke a frantic Aqualad who shot up from where they had him laying down on the Bio-ship. Artemis quickly went over to calm Aqualad down.
"Hello Megan, Aqualad's memories. I knew I forgot something."
"Aww man, me too," sounded off Kid Flash, "I didn't get a souvenir from our mission."
"Don't worry. Got the souvenir thing covered" assured MIss Martian.
Red Robin sat in his normal seat in the Bio-Ship just waiting for Miss Martian and Superboy to make it back so they could leave. He took out his phone to pass the time and realized the texts he got from Barbara during his 'training mission' were actually real and face palmed.
He quickly opened up her thread and he started to reply, when he remembered where he was and deleted the text. 'I can only lie my way out of international texting fees once before Mom and Dad start to get suspicious. I'll have to wait till I'm back in America before I can respond.' Nathan thought to himself, upset that he would have to make Barbara wait longer.
GOTHAM CITY
SEPTEMBER 04 22:39 EST
Batman stood on the rooftop of Wayne Tech stoic as usual when he heard someone land behind him. He never turned to look at the person, just kept looking out into the city of Gotham. The person walked up beside the Caped Crusader and held out their gloved hand, the statue of Rah making its presence known to the World's Greatest Detective.
"There were two," he stated, still stoic and looking out into the city.
"You see what they can do together in one place," Catwoman remarked as the two's gaze shifted to the statue that was destroyed outside GCPD, "Besides," Catwoman purred, "Consider it payment for watching your latest admirer."
Batman raised an eyebrow and shifted his eyes to her.
"I assume she's not official with the equipment she has, so why haven't you told her to get lost?"
"I want to," Batman stated, "but it's not my call," he finished stating.
Catwoman just raised an eyebrow at him, lips slightly parted in shock.
"I'm letting the student have a chance to become the teacher," he stated, though Catwoman could tell that Batman really wanted to just tell this Batgirl to 'go home'.
"Then we'll see," Batman stated, finally grabbing the Rah statue and grappling away, leaving Catwoman to watch him depart before she did so herself.
GOTHAM CITY
September 04 22:39 EST
Batgirl watched atop GCPD the cops work on clearing the statue Penguin had destroyed with his Egyptian artifacts. She was glad that she and Catwoman were able to stop Penguin from destroying the city, but upset that both The Penguin and Catwoman escaped from her, though for her first time in tangoing with two of Gotham's elite criminals she thought she did rather well.
"Figured I'd find you here," spoke a familiar voice to her.
Batgirl looked behind her to find Red Robin land a few feet away from her.
"Figured you'd find me sooner," Batgirl smirked.
"Thought you'd be scouring Gotham for your next big score after Penguin," answered Red Robin, a small smirk of his own.
"Yeah that was pretty awesome. Even made the news," Batgirl spoke proudly.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure Catwoman did most of the work," Red Robin joked back, earning a glare.
"Funny," Batgirl mumbled, trying to keep an angry tone to her voice, but wore a smile at the end, "Like it was any different for your first big mission?"
"Look, if you are going to do this," Red Robin started, but paused to let out a somewhat frustrating sigh of defeat, "I can't have it on my conscience letting you continue without trying to help, since you're obviously not gonna quit."
Batgirl wore a shocked expression for a couple seconds before focusing again, "What's with the change of heart?" she asked curiously.
"The last mission I was on showed me how easy it is to lose people," Red Robin stated, pulling his grapple gun out and getting ready to leave, "And with Batman, Robin and I having duties outside of Gotham it would be nice to have someone to have the city's back when we're off taking care of other responsibilities."
Red Robin then reached behind his back and without saying a word, threw something towards Batgirl, who reacted quickly and caught what he threw. Looking down at what was now in her hands she smiled. Red Robin had given her a new utility belt.
"Uh - thanks," Batgirl stammered out.
"You'll need this too," Red Robin spoke, regaining Batgirl's attention. When he saw that he had her attention again, he kicked over a square container that slid across the rooftop and came to a stop under Batgirl's foot.
Batgirl knelt down and opened it and a smile grew on her face. She reached into the container and pulled out a batarang, one that was currently used by The Batman himself and his sidekicks, and not the second rate ones she would use from GCPD lockup.
"There's more than that in there," Red Robin stated, "This is some of the common tech and gadgets we currently use. Everything you need to modernize yourself is in there. You can load up your belt however you prefer for missions."
"Thank you," Batgirl said, looking up to thank Red Robin only to find him not there anymore.
Well there's the chapter and hope you guys enjoyed it. Keep sending me those reviews to let me know how you're enjoying it and any ideas you guys have that you want me to try and work in. I can't promise anything but if I can add it in I'll give it a shot. Any situations you would like to see Barbara and Nathan work through or whatever, or you can PM me those ideas instead too.
Anyway, hope you enjoy and keep checking for the next chapter. Hopefully the gap between this chapter and the next will be shorter.