A/N: *is let into a cold grey room with a computer. Readers see that the unfortunate author (that they most likely hate now) is wearing an orange jumpsuit. Uh-oh*

Hi Guys... yup, commish caught me and I have been classed as mentally unstable so I get to stay in Arkham Asylum! That's why I haven't updated in forever but, what can you do?

Also I just want to know something, would you guys mind me doing a little one-shot series of little moments for the team now they have the 3 girls? Would anyone actually read it?

Also I really hate how they did the Reach thing (poor Jaime and WALLY! Why?!) So this is now an AU from this point! If anyone wants to see certain villains appear then I shall try and slip them in but you need to review for that to happen!

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice... :'(

MOUNT JUSTICE

21 FEBRUARY 2015

19:15 EDT

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The silence seemed to stretch forever. Three random girls invade the cave, one of them hugs Nightwing and Robin, and then they say they are joining the Team?! If the mind link was up it would be screaming: ARE THESE PEOPLE CRAZY?!

As it was the Team was left baffled and the three birds looked around, apparently very pleased about the effect they had.

Robin was the first to catch on to what they had actually said and turned to the black haired girl with an easy excitement that he was very good at hiding.

"Sooo…." He drawled with his masked eyes matching hers. "You and your friends want to join the team?"

Swallow and Starling had never personally meet Robin or Nightwing, or anyone from Gotham apart from Swift, and they were secretly in awe of the two figures that often appeared in Swift's stories. They tried to appear casual as they listened into their conversation.

"Well Bird Brain seeing as you're here I guess it would be better if we just left. Insanity is apparently contagious after all!"

They both turned their faces towards Nightwing who looked at them with apprehension.

"Why are you two looking at me like that?"

"I guess that explains it" murmured Robin as he looked at his older brother.

"Explains what?" he asked nervously. His eyes were narrowed in suspicion.

"You've spent too much time with the Joker mate. He's finally got to you" Sophie explained in mock-sympathy. Nightwing jut grimaced at them before turning to the eavesdropping team and birds.

"So do you two know our identities?" he asked cautiously. He did not need their identities getting out while Batman was off world.

"No, Swift was adamant about keeping identities secret. Besides when Batman told us about the team, the league agreed it would be better if we kept our identities secret too" explained Starling while Swallow tried to look apologetic.

"Wait, wait, wait!" exclaimed Beast Boy, waving his arms as he bounded up to them.

"You barge into our home, tell us you're joining the team, insult Nightwing ("like that's never happened before" murmured Swift), and refuse to tell us who the heck you are?!"

He was mainly glaring at Starling as he said this but after his rant he was moving his suspicious glare to all three of the girls. Robin noticed his glare on Swift and moved slightly in front of her.

"Beast Boy" Nightwing started with clear warning in his voice "Swift is a dear friend to both Robin and I. Her teammates have proven themselves to the entire Justice League, plus Batman commissioned their team himself. Robin and I can't tell you our identities and you trust us! Why should they be any different?"

Beast Boy looked quite sheepish as he now learned he had doubted BATMAN's new team!

"Err... N-noted?" he stuttered out after getting a glare from Robin. Suddenly he seemed to realize that he was still in front of Swift and hastily stood back. The team observed all of this. No-one could ever remember a time when Robin's composure had slipped like this.

Swift didn't seem to notice though and she just turned to Starling as she began to address Beast Boy.

"I like you kid" she stated with a smug grin before continuing "you remind me of when I was young and stupid". Miss Martian seemed to take offence as that was her little 'brother' that was being insulted. Beast Boy just looked at her with his mouth hanging open. Finally he managed to splutter out:

"Y-You're younger than me!"

"So you're not denying you're stupid?"

Starling's smirk was more pronounced and the purple lipstick did nothing to hide it. Beast Boy was glaring at her now, it probably didn't help that Swift and Swallow were laughing at him. Nightwing looked at Swift with a warning in his eyes and she immediately stopped laughing and glared at Starling and Swallow. They saw her glare and immediately stopped.

Swift stepped forward towards Beast Boy with, what she hoped was an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry about that Beast Boy. Starling doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut sometimes" she grinned at him, letting embarrassment shine through. Miss Martian took that opportunity to establish the mind link between the member of the team (excluding Robin and Nightwing of course).

'Well I certainly like her more than Starling at the moment' she said as she surveyed the black haired girl who stood in front of her brother.

'Well you have to admit, Angel Fish, the girl's got a sharp tongue. That could be useful to her if she can think quickly' answered La'gaan. This well thought out answer got many stares seeing as La'gaan and logic don't seem to be in a good relationship.

'Batgirl; Robin and Nightwing seem to know Swift quite well, do you know her too?' asked Wonder Girl, turning to look at her red haired friend.

'No, I've never seen her before. I didn't even know Robin had a female friend besides those on the team' she mused back.

While this was going on they forgot to conceal the fact they were holding a psychic conversation, something Robin and Nightwing picked up after the first sentence was said.

"Well if they don't want to talk to us about us why don't we take you girls on a tour, sound good?" Nightwing whispered to the three girls in front of him. Starling shrugged while Swift and Swallow nodded enthusiastically.

With that they disappeared and it would take the others five minutes to realize they weren't there anymore.

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GOTHAM CITY

23RD FEBRUARY

20:34 EDT

TEAM DYNAMIC

It was dark night in Gotham when Tim came to see her. Of course, when isn't it a dark night in Gotham?

Tim had wanted to meet her to explain the dynamic of the team. Sophie would then pass the information onto Ellie and Lydia, they would ignore it, continue antagonizing and frustrating anyone they could, get in trouble, then Sophie would have to bail them out and yell at them for not listening to her in the first place.

When Tim climbed through her window he was dressed in jeans and Jason's old leather jacket. He had admitted to Sophie that he had used to envy the older boy. He had wished that he could speak his mind like Jason could, not caring about what people thought of him.

He also had a black rucksack flung over his shoulder.

"What, no Batman pyjamas this time?" he teased as he flopped down on a chair beside her bed.

"I personally think The Flash is incredibly dashing"

Tim started sniggering as she pulled a heroic pose with one arm in the air and a leg bent with her foot resting on the end of her bed. She joined him in laughing as they remembered the stories that Nightwing had told them about 'The many fails of Kid Flash'. Apparently the poor doofus kept running into walls for no reason what so ever. And he wasn't even using his super speed in half of them!

"Sooo... Team dynamics?" questioned Sophie as she rearranged herself so that she was sitting comfortably and still facing Tim, finally getting to the subject of tonight's visit.

"Right" he replied and pulled out many brown files from his bag. He handed her the first one.

"Superboy is the only founding member left on the team apart from Nightwing. Miss Martian doesn't count as she wasn't part of Superboy's rescue, she joined later. Superboy is fiercely protective of his friends who he views as family. He's sort of like an older brother who is actually the youngest if that makes sense. He does have a slight anger problem but it's not as bad as it used to be. His powers are invulnerability, super strength, infer-red vision and super hearing. He can also clear long distances in a single jump. He used to date Miss M but for some reason they broke up" he trailed away thoughtfully, a frown on his face, his blue eyes narrowing in confusion.

"Oi detective! You can work out the case of Superboy's love life after you've explained this all to me"

"Right. Well, Miss M joined the team shortly after it was formed. She's a Martian but has been on Earth long enough to know most of our customs and how Earth is different from Mars, something she struggled with before apparently. She's sort of like a mother to the group, with how much she babies us and bakes. She's also really powerful and can keep a secret like no-one else"

"Sounds like someone Ellie would get along with" Sophie snorted with obvious sarcasm. Despite Bird Rule number 1 (do not keep secrets from the team) Ellie was still not willing to part from her secrets.

"Well let's keep those two away from each other. You already know all about Batgirl and Nightwing so I don't need to tell you about them. Mal is our communication leader; he keeps us up to date while we're in the field. You know, re-enforcements, changed positions... things like that"

"His girlfriend Karen is Bumble Bee. She can fire high electricity volts at her target using her 'stingers' and she can also shrinks her size while in that suit of hers. She's a relatively new member. If we were grading it like a high school I'd put her in sophomore or junior year."

Sophie nodded to show her understanding; so far the Team was really starting to look quite formidable.

"The last of the 'sophomores' is Lagoon Boy. He's an Atlantian with a hot temper. He also gets really protective over Miss M and gets really jealous about her old relationship with Superboy. He can enlarge his strength and size sort of like a puffer fish and can breathe underwater. While he sometimes lets his mouth out of control you can rely on him to pull his own weight in a fight."

Tim looked to her to see if she understood this. His navy eyes pleaded to her to understand what he was trying to warn her about with La'gaan.

"Don't let Lydia or Ellie get into their verbal sparring around him, right?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Relief seemed to glow in his eyes as she caught on to the main problem.

"Soo, freshmen?"

"Right Freshman. Well for starters there's Beast Boy. Beast Boy has the ability to shape-shift into any animal he has seen and has contact with. This extends to extraterrestrial animal life. While in an animal's form, he gains its strength, agility, and modes of movement, such as speed and flight. He also considers Miss M an older sister seeing as it was a blood transfusion from her that saved his life and gave him his powers"

"Wondergirl is next. She has the powers of flight, invulnerability, super strength and reflexes. She is also a skilled hand to hand combatant and she is being trained by Wonder Woman. Like her mentor she uses a lasso and bracelets that can deflect bullets. She has quite a bubbly personality and she wants to befriend everyone on the Team"

"Last Freshman is Blue Beetle. Not much is known about him apart that his armor comes from The Scarab- a form of weapon the original Blue Beetle was working on. We don't know all its limits but we do know it's powerful. As for his personality he seems nice enough. He's still a bit rusty to this hero gig so lay off him for a while. For a reason we're not sure about he also has the habit of talking to himself. Also he's bilingual, second language as Spanish so you should get along with him just fine"

Sophie seemed to brighten at that news. Someone else that could speak Spanish! Brilliant. She flashed a smile in Tim's direction to show that she was pleased and that she understood what he had told her. He returned the smile but something about it seemed strange.

"What's the matter Tim?" she asked, shoving the files aside as she got up to sit near her friend.

His shoulders seemed to slump as he realized she hadn't been fooled. For some reason he was incapable of holding up a convincing act around her now.

"Is it your Dad again?"

He turned to stare at the bright green eyes that were dulled in concern. It would be alright if he told her, he could trust her with this.

"He's trying to be nice to me" At her shocked look he hastily continued.

"Not that that's bad or anything it's just. Since he woke up a few weeks ago he's been trying to get me to open up, he wants us to be some sort of family, now that Mum's died" he trailed staring down at his folded hands.

Two years ago Tim's mum had died, the shock put Tim's dad into a coma that he had only just woken up from. Tim had been living at Wayne manor which made his Robin duties easier. Sure it was easy to sneak out of a house where your parents didn't know you existed but it still made things easier. That place had become a better home than his old house ever was to Tim. But now his father was back and while that made Tim happy, his father's attitude change had thrown Tim's world of balance for a bit.

Sophie was stumped at this. How was she supposed to make her friend feel better after this? How was she supposed to reassure him that he would still be able to be Robin? Because that could only be what Tim's main worries boiled down to. How would he be able to keep Robin a secret?

"Who cannot understand your silence, cannot understand your words" she whispered into the air.

Tim snorted in bitter amusement.

"Since when did you become Tolkien?" he asked turning to look at his friend. She turned to him with a wistful expression on her face.

"Just think about the words Bird Boy" she whispered to him before getting up again to go grab something for Tim to eat on his way back home. When she re-entered her room Tim was sitting on the sill of the open window staring at Gotham's skyline. She handed him a couple of sandwiches before looking out at the city with him.

"Thanks Soph" he whispered, his shades now blocking his blue eyes. With a peaceful smile he jumped off her window, swing from roof to roof as he contemplated her words.

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MOUNT JUSTICE

24TH FEBRUARY

10:30 EDT

FIRST MISSION

When the zeta tube called out the three birds names all attention turned to them. The team looked like they were just about to start a mission debrief when the girls joined them.

"We're not late, are we Nightwing?" Swift asked as her masked eyes surveyed the room.

"No but you were very close" he told her as a smirk appeared on his face at the sight of her and her team. The reason they were late in the first place was because Swift had to tell Starling and Swallow what Robin had told her yesterday. Now they were most likely going to get into a verbal argument Lagoon Boy as soon as they could.

Nightwing stopped smirking as he surveyed the gathered heroes before turning to bring up various holo-screens. After typing something in a picture of a man in an orange and black bug suit appeared behind him.

"We've received word that Firefly has escaped Arkham Asylum and is on the loose. He's a dangerous pyro-technician so be careful. Robin, Swift, Superboy you'll be Alpha. I'm sending you on this mission. Robin you're squad leader, take the super cycle."

With a nervous nod to Nightwing, Robin led Swift and Superboy to the basement to board the Super cycle.

Once they were out of sight, Nightwing pulled up another picture. This one was of a man who was very familiar with many of the different heroes. Especially Starling. The man on screen was a tall, broadly built, bald man.

Lex Luthor.

Starling's brown eyes widened slightly at the sight of him but managed to reign in her shock so that nobody but Swallow had noticed.

"We had an anonymous tip off that Lex Luthor is expecting a special shipment of some sort of chemical. Beta squad will do a covert recon mission to identify what this thing is and what threat it poses. Beast Boy, Starling, Wondergirl, and Batgirl you're Beta squad. Take the zeta tubes, Batgirl you're squad leader."

With a frown in Nightwings direction Starling headed off after her three teammates.

"Finally Miss M, Bumble Bee, Swallow and Blue, your mission is also a recon mission." Here he pulled up a screen with a school showing many different coloured signatures all through it.

"Since we discovered the fact that the light now has a partner the Justice League has been trying to find as many leads as possible. This is one of those leads. Investigate but avoid confrontation at all costs. Prep the bio-ship; you're off to Dakota City"

With those words they all took off towards the bio ship apart from Blue and Swallow who decided to leg it there instead.

Alpha squad mission...

GOTHAM CITY

24th FEBRUARY

22:54 EDT

ALPHA SQUAD

When Robin, Swift and Superboy touched down just outside the famous asylum, Robin immediately told them to leave the talking to him as the guards would be more accommodating towards a familiar face. As they approached the tall gothic building Swift barely repressed a shudder. Her mother had once told her what it was like in there, behind the locked door to the padded cells, with that creepy old man staring at you; 'trying' to help you when you didn't need it. Needless to say that she still had nightmares about that place even though she had never been incarcerated there.

Robin had left them outside as he went to talk with the guards who had been monitoring Firefly. That left Superboy and Swift outside with no-one but themselves for company in the shadow of Hell on Earth.

'Great idea Robin' she thought as she eyed the gatekeepers from a safe-ish distance. 'Leave the newbie with the boy of steel that she doesn't even know!'

But not knowing Superboy didn't seem to be the right way to go about earning her new teammates trust. As she was wracking her brains for something to say, Superboy turned to look at her.

"How do you know Robin?" he asked with his blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. Superboy's eyes were sky blue fitting to the 'boy of steel' and they were narrowed at her with plain distrust. Realizing that she hadn't answered the question she quickly thought up an answer.

"We met on a patrol and hit it off from there" she smirked thinking of their actual meeting. Did handcuffing a hero to a pole with his own handcuffs count as 'hitting it off'?

" Robin's been my best friend for a very long time and he's told me a lot about this team so I'm honoured to be a part of it" she answered keeping her masked eyes on his blue ones. This answer seemed acceptable to him as he nodded before turning to look at the gates again.

The next few minutes passed in relative silence until Robin came back out towards them. All three of them started walking back towards the supercycle as Robin filled them in on what he had found out.

"Firefly had been acting strange according to the guards that usually patrol the corridor where his cell is. He was reported to be mumbling in his sleep about a giant light splitting the sky in two. The doctors wrote those off as dreams but even when he was awake he was staring at lights a lot"

He scowled as he climbed into the seats of the supercycle throwing a cautious look at Swift as she sat down beside him. Quickly she activated her holo-screens as Robin set up his video link to Mal.

"Mal has there been any unusual astronomical reports lately? Like unusually bright solar flares or something like that?"

Mal looked confused as he looked it up, frown as he shook his head in the negative.

"No, sorry Robin but there hasn't been anything like that at all."

Trying not to show his frustration, he quickly thanked Mal and turned back towards Swift. While he had held his conversation with Mal, she had been scanning for high density radiation, heat or light flares. So far she had hit nil on light and heat but there was a strong radiation spike near the docks, an unusual place for a radiation flare to happen. With a nod towards Superboy they were off towards the docks.

The supercycle hovered over a rundown apartment block about a mile from the docks while the three teens descended onto the roof top. After all three of them were safely on the ground, the supercycle landed and transformed back into a sphere. With a silent nod, all of them started off towards the site where the radiation spike was coming from.

The radiation was coming from an old fishing warehouse close to the water line. Piled up wooden crates littered the outside area. Robin quickly noted the old iron fire-escape that lead up to the top of the building. The brown paint was scratched and peeling, with colourful graffiti of Batman and Robin on the sides.

"Almost seems like a warning, doesn't it?" whispered Swift under her breath to Robin. Superboy's hearing picked it up though but he decided not to ask.

Robin didn't respond; he was sweeping the area with his heat sensor binoculars. He could see a glowing humanoid figure, bending over a collection of objects. Firefly must be searching for something in those boxes.

Quickly telling the other two, he laid out the bases of his plan. Hopefully no-one would get hurt.

With Beta Squad...

METROPOLIS

24th FEBRUARY

22:54 EDT

BETA SQUAD

'I'm going to kill that blue birded freak of a team leader' was what was mainly running through Starling's mind as the familiar hum of the zeta tubes stirred into life. Of all the missions she got sent on it had to be this one! Why couldn't Swallow have done this? She was from Metropolis too!

The zeta tube for Metropolis was located in a back alleyway behind the Daily Planet newspaper building. This had originally come as a surprise to Starling and Swallow but now they knew all the quick roads to get there so they were all alright. The dingy back alleyway was certainly inconspicuous enough; with rubbish spilling from the dumpsters and shadows cast from skyscrapers concealing much of the long grey back way. Not many people would search for something mysterious here.

Batgirl had activated her wrist computer to try and find the fastest way to the docks while Beast Boy and Wonder Girl hovered around her shoulder. Rolling her eyes at the three, Starling activated her grapple hook and took off to the nearest rooftop. Luckily Beast Boy noticed what she was doing and quickly alerted the other two. When all three of them had made it to the roof they saw an outline of Starling's form, moving quickly across roof tops.

Beast Boy transformed into a large falcon and sped off after her, Wonder Girl close behind; leaving Batgirl to follow on the roofs, employing her grapple when necessary but otherwise flying alongside her teammates.

Starling was just about to jump onto another roof top when Beast Boy flew right in front of her causing her to skid to a stop just as he transformed back into a human. He was glaring at her, so were the others.

She levelled him with her own glare, burning brown into glaring green.

"What?" she snapped annoyed that they had stopped.

"You just took off, that's what" he snapped back. Wonder Girl dropped down next to him with her hands on her hips.

"Well last I checked we were told to go to the docks. That's where I'm going and if we don't get going soon, we might miss that shipment" she said coolly. She was after all, just following her orders.

"How do you know this is the way to the docks?" asked Batgirl with suspicion in her voice. They wouldn't trust her just off the bat after all.

"This isn't the only way to get to the docks" she replied in a mocking tone. "This just happens to be the fastest way. As for how I knew that, I'm from Metropolis"

With that last remark she pushed Beast Boy out of the way and took off back over the roofs, leaving them no choice but to follow her.

With Gamma Squad...

DAKOTA CITY

24th FEBRUARY

22:54 EDT

GAMMA SQUAD

"Sooo, you're Blue Beetle, huh?"

"Um... yeah, that's me"

After this stimulating conversation, the bio-ship was in silence again. Swallow was still staring at Blue who was starting to get really creeped out. Not that he disliked the new girl... but not being able to see her eyes was still really creepy.

"Did you know in every awkward silence, a gay baby is born?" she asked him with a bright smile on her face.

Yup, definitely creepy.

She was obviously expecting an answer. Throwing a bewildered look towards a giggling Bumble Bee, he turned back towards her.

"No I can't say that I did" he replied with a sigh. He really hoped this girl wasn't completely insane, that would kinda suck.

Running mental scan on human girl now

Taken off guard for a second he didn't fully realize what the Scarab had said.

"No don't do that!" he yelled at it, only just realizing that he had yelled out loud when everyone turned to look at him. Even Swallow had tilted her head at his outburst. Great now the possibly crazy person thought he was crazy too.

It surprised him then when she gave him a sunny smile, saying: "annoying isn't it? When the voices in your head argue with your imaginary friend!"

She knows. Protocol dictates action, Elimination is required.

GOTHAM CITY

24th FEBRUARY

23:10 EDT

ALPHA SQUAD

A shadow crept across the warehouse wall, but Firefly didn't notice. He had finally succeeded in open the crate. And there it was! Pure beauty of an incredible degree, with so much intricate detail it hurt his eyes to look upon it. Such beauty...

The shadow creeps slowly around the crates and tries to get to a good angle, to see what was in the old wooden crate. What could be there? Firefly was distracted enough by the item in the box, she could send the signal safely now. Raising a gloved hand to her ear, the girl in the shadows sent a message to her friends outside.

'Target is distracted, come and join the party'

The message was simple and efficient. It only took roughly two minutes before her friends decided to join in. Of course being who they were, they had to arrive with a bang.

'Yup, way to be inconspicuous guys' Swift thought as she watched Superboy punch a hole through the concrete wall of the warehouse.

Firefly whirled around, firing a laser out of his wrist towards the intruder. Superboy ducked out of the way to avoid the beam, Robin rolling along the floor to avoid the fire as well.

"Well well, Boy Blunder the Bat sent you out alone tonight?" Firefly asked as he saw Robin stand up by the wall. Before he could answer however Firefly turned towards Superboy.

"Didn't think Batman trusted the Boy Scout as far as he could throw him. Let alone letting his brat come here"

Sky blue eyes narrowed at the slight on both himself and his mentor. Out of his eye he could see Swift stealthily climb down from her vantage point, to behind Firefly.

"Well that's where you're wrong Bug Boy, now you can go back to Arkham Asylum" with those words Swift took her queue and threw a handful of ice pellets from her utility belt towards Firefly. However before they made contact he whirled around, firing another laser beam towards the pellets causing a mini steam explosion to happen.

As the thick steam evaporated Firefly let out a bark of laughter as he laid his eyes on Swift for the first time. Masked eyes narrowed dangerously towards the laughing villain.

"Well Bird Boy I didn't expect this. I thought Catwoman's daughter was your girlfriend, not some other chick" with that remark he fired yet another beam towards Swift, following her as she ran for cover. Superboy ran at Firefly attempting to punch him but he took off the ground with the use of his jetpack. He hovered in the air, surveying a tensed up Robin and an angry Superboy for a moment before aiming his laser at the rafters and observation decks.

A moment before it happened Robin seemed to flicker slightly before planks, steel girders, and platforms began raining down on both him and his comrade. Superboy ran towards him to try and cover him but they were separated as an entire gangplank landed between them.

METROPOLIS

24th FEBRUARY

23:10 EDT

BETA SQUAD

Beta squad had finally arrived at the docks. The salty air and the smell of pollution wafted up from the river, along with the fumes of rotting fish. Beast Boy had transformed into a fly to eavesdrop into conversations to try and find what shipment they were looking for. Batgirl, Starling, and Wondergirl were still all up on the roofs of the warehouses; each of them on a different one, each of them surveying the different people to try and find a clue. Suddenly Wondergirl's voice rang through their com. Links, telling them they way to go.

She had seen Lex Luthor and his assistant Mercy and was sending co-ordinates so they could follow. Beast Boy found them quickly and began to listen in as the girls found the ship and started trying to extract a sample of the mysterious shipment.

This was easier said than done, as the ship was easily the largest there, painted a grim grey with the green LexCorp logo painted on the side. There were so many people rushing around the ship, unloading many ordinary crates and metal barrels.

"We need to secure a bit of the contents of those containers to analyze" Batgirl ordered over the link. With those orders, Starling slipped down into an alleyway below her perch and started to sneak towards the docking area. Batgirl observed her for a while, seeing how she moved along the alleys and shadows of the warehouses with practised ease. The she turned her focus to Wondergirl who had just slipped in to the warehouse where all the containers were being stored in. The place Lex Luthor and his assistant had also just entered.

With that in mind, Batgirl took off towards there, agreeing in her mind that Cassie would need more help than the new girl. Beast Boy on the other hand was listening into something he thought was definitely worth remembering.

"If I asked you to keep an eye on my dear niece I expect you to do so" Lex was saying as he surveyed the crates and his workers.

"She may be family but that does not mean she may not cause problems for me in the future" he almost seemed to be talking to himself as he said this. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Batgirl gesture to Wondergirl and both of them leaving the warehouse as a small explosion could be heard outside.

"What on earth?" Lex murmured as he and Mercy hurried back outside to see what the commotion was about. Beast Boy took that as a signal to leave and meet up with the others. Quickly flying back towards the top of the warehouse he saw Batgirl, Wondergirl, and Starling standing there waiting for him. Starling, he saw, had a small container in her hand while Batgirl and Wondergirl both had their blue eyes narrowed at her; Wondergirl seemed to be restraining herself from yelling.

Starling noticed Beast boy nodded and quickly fled across the roofs the way they had came, leaving them again with no choice but to follow her.

DAKOTA CITY

24th FEBRUARY

23:10 EDT

GAMMA SQUAD

Thankfully Blue Beetle seemed to get himself back under control before the Scarab blasted the poor girl. Now they were in Dakota City, home of Captain Marvel. They landed near the city High School, the place they were told to investigate. After putting the bio-ship into camouflage mode they all stared at the school. It looked like a normal school; cream coloured, two stories high, flag pole out at the front with a wide sports field at the back.

"Anyone else wondering what the light could want with a school?" asked Bumblebee looking around at her squad mates. They all looked just as confused as she did, apart from the new blonde girl who was staring at the school with great dislike.

"Because all teachers are secretly super-villains that kidnap children and brainwash them with useless facts and boring numbers, causing their brains to rot and leak out their eyes and ears" she explained in a deadpan voice causing then to have to stuff their fists into their mouths to prevent themselves from laughing.

"Um whatever you say girl" chimed Bumblebee as she got over her strange new teammate.

'If she's like this all the time then I doubt I will ever stop laughing' she thought as she reflected on the few words she had heard the girl speak.

"Anyway we're supposed to be investigating the school. Blue, can you do a scan of the building please?" asked Miss Martian after sweeping the school over in her mind. There was nobody there at the present moment.

With a nod Blue Beetle's eyes briefly flared orange, letting him see many different coloured trails leading in and around the building.

"Yes there are all sorts of trails all over this place but they all seem to have three places in common. The cafeteria, the roof, and what I think is the principal's office" he explained turning his head to try and see the different path ways better.

"I can check out the cafeteria, Bumblebee you check out the rooftop, and Blue; you and Swallow can check out the principal's office" instructed Miss Martian flying off and phasing through the wall and into the building. Bumblebee took off towards the roof leaving Blue Beetle and Swallow on the ground. As they ran towards the buildings door Blue heard Swallow let out a groan.

"Even when I'm on a mission I get sent to the Principal's office" she complained as she followed him and proceeded to shove him out the way to disable to alarm and to pick the lock on the door. Thank you Black Canary.

Swinging the door open she allowed Blue Beetle to lead the way to the office as he was the only one who knew where it was. As they passed a classroom with the door open she got a really strange feeling but she didn't have time to dwell on it as she had to hurry to follow Blue Beetle.

Before long they were outside the office's plain wooden door with the clear window pane showing the dark empty office inside.

"School's are soo creepy in the dark" she murmured to her teammate as he pushed open the door. Humming his agreement he turned to where the main trails were leading him. A filing cabinet.

Sliding the drawing open with a click he noticed that six of the files were glowing, each with a different colour. Extracting those files, he shut off his scanning vision to see which files he had taken out. Four girls and two boys. All with average grades, not much stood out on the files apart from the amounts of detentions these six had gotten. So why did they glow?

"Swallow, are you able to copy these files to your computer?" he asked her, holding out the files for her to see.

"Sure I can, do you even need to ask?" she teased scanning the files and saving the data to her computer.

"All right let's get the others and go"

GOTHAM CITY

24th FEBRUARY

23:45 EDT

ALPHA SQUAD

She watched the roof fall down on her friends. She watched as Superboy failed to protect her dearest friend. She watched as their screams were muffled and snuffed out completely. The she turned her hidden eyes towards the man that caused it. And she attacked.

First she threw smoke pellets, then ice pellets, then explosive pellets. None of them reached the Bug above her. Instead they were cut down by his orange laser beams, releasing steam and smoke and hiding her from him.

As he could no longer see the last hero he let his lasers fire everywhere, cutting through the smoke like butter until he finally heard a cry. She had been hit after dodging the rest one had actually hit her. Now her leg was bleeding and burnt, a deep gash preventing her from walking, from escaping. This wasn't a part of the plan.

She hauled herself to the wall as Firefly hovered closer to her, just above her looking down at her and chuckling to himself.

"Time to clip your wings little bird. Shame Robin couldn't have been this easily defeated" but as he charged up his lasers for a lethal shot, a roar sounded from the pile of rubble and debris as Superboy jumped out of it and slammed headfirst into Firefly sending them both crashing into the opposite wall. As they fall Superboy grabs hold of his arms and turns them so Firefly will land face first into the floor. Quickly jumping up, an electrolyzed net fell from the shadows of the large pile of crates and Robin jumped down soon afterwards.

The Robin hologram was seen flickering in the wreckage before it finally died. Handcuffing Firefly's hands and feet to one of the support beams, he took away the jetpack and the lasers before running over to Swift.

"Where in the plan did it mention me getting my leg cut open and burned?" She asked as soon as he got near to her. He just shook his head and started bandaging her leg up, trying to stop the bleeding.

MOUNT JUSTICE

24th FEBRUARY

00:00 EDT

REPORT TO NIGHTWING

Gamma squad was the first to arrive back. All four of them quickly lined up in front of Nightwing to give him their report.

"When we investigated the high school Blue Beetle found traces of some form of energy all around the school. We split up and went to the three places the different energies had congregated: the cafeteria, the roof, and the principal's office. These three places suggest that the ones giving off these energies were in fact students, a suspicion that we think is confirmed by what Blue Beetle and Swallow found" here Miss Martian stopped to allow Swallow to bring up the files she and Blue Beetle had found.

"These six pupil files had energy all around them suggesting that either these six were the ones leaving the energy trails behind or they are being targeted by the people who did leave the energy. All of them have at least one class together, and also they had all mysteriously missed a month of school for 'un-explained' circumstances"

"Thank you Miss M. Well done all of you, go get some rest until the others turn up" Nightwing Instructed as he turned to look at the files. The four started mingling around, Miss M went into the kitchen to prepare a few midnight snacks for everyone.

After a few minutes the Zeta Beam whirled into life.

"RECOGNAIZED: BATGIRL B16 Beast Boy B19 WONDERGIRL B21 STARLING B27"

Swallow quickly left the kitchen and ran out to see how her friend managed on her mission. What she saw was Starling standing off to one side while the rest of her team glared daggers at her. Starling was also handing something over to Nightwing but Swallow couldn't see exactly what it was.

"So then she decided to blow up the loading bay on the boat so that the unloading would be delayed and she could steal some of the shipment. Endangering the lives of civilians, and if she had waited and decided not to be a show off then I could have grabbed some from the warehouse" Wondergirl yelled at Starling.

With a sigh Swallow intervened.

"Listen Barbie, all the things that are delivered to LexCorp are immediately catalogued as soon as they pass the warehouse doors. That's why the only way it was possible to steal any undetected is to take it during transport. The way that Starling did. You can't have a go at her because of your own lack of intelligence gathering and common sense" she stated, shrugging at the end of her explanation.

Wondergirl's face was slowly becoming red.

"Listen her you-"but Beast Boy cut across her, eager to tell Nightwing what he had overheard.

"Nightwing when I was spying on old Baldy I heard something ("that's something one tends to do when eavesdropping" murmured Starling) apparently he has a niece that he wants an eye kept on. Apparently he thinks she might cause problems for him in the future" he exclaimed, jumping up and down slightly. Nobody but Swallow noticed the widening of Starling's eyes, nor the clenching of her fists.

"Until it is made clear he intends to do something to her, nobody on this team is to try and engage Lydia Luthor in a conversation about her uncle is that understood?" Nightwing ordered. He knew that keeping Lydia's secret for as long as possible was crucial.

Obviously taken aback by Nightwing's harsher tone the others nodded quickly and kept their questions to themselves. After about five minutes of tense silence the cave announced the arrival of Swift, Superboy, and Robin. Compared to the rest of them, they looked terrible.

Superboy was covered in dust and his shirt had gotten ripped in places, Swift was limping with a bloody bandage on one leg, leaning on Robin for support. Robin looked fine if a little worried.

"Firefly is back in Arkham Asylum and the treasure he tried to steal is now safely being carted off to the museum" reported Robin.

"Good, well done all of you. Rest up now, for most of you its school tomorrow"

And with the mighty groan from the teenagers Nightwing Lifted up Swift into his arms and accompanied Robin to the teleporter tubes, and back home

A/N: DONE! Finally, sorry for taking forever on this chapter but it's the longest one yet! Anyway please review and please tell me whether you would read a one-shot series for this story. I have so many ideas! Thanks for still putting up with me!