10:45 PM

"We're ready, Axis. Do you copy?"

Axis swallowed, holding the phone to his ear in the darkness of his office. Luna was waiting before the window overlooking the lake, her back to him, ready for the consent to go.

"Roger that," he finally replied, his voice dark.

He set the phone down at his desk, and Luna pulled on her mask. He didn't watch her as she loaded her gun. She always used only a single bullet, because she held a standard of needing just one bullet per target.

"Goodnight, Axis," she spoke before leaving the room.

He stared at his hands, seeing his own suit waiting in the open closet to his right. He would be bringing up the rear, and would suit up once he received the signal.

His mind was numb. There was no time left for feeling, not tonight.

Sighing, he stood up and walked to his computer. He began to activate the programs which controlled the mission. All systems were go.

But Axis had failed to see that Luna had loaded two bullets into her gun, this time.

11:01 PM

Terry returned to my apartment, in his suit, entering through my window to check on me. He held a teddy bear, which he had bought for me on the way back to the cave earlier.

I was fast asleep, my laptop open on the bedside table. Moving cautiously, not wanting to wake me, he walked over to the bed. Removing his cowl, he bent to gingerly kiss my forehead.

"I love you," he whispered, placing the bear in my arms.

He walked back to the window, stepped up, and with one final look at me, he pulled on his cowl and flew away.

11:26 PM

Batman stroked his chin as he stared at the computer screen inside of his jet. Months back, he had planted two security cameras near the warehouse where we had fought the Jokerz. He had hoped to learn that there was, in fact, jewelry smuggling taking place, but each time he had checked it, no activity showed. It seemed to be abandoned since that night. He had even gone there undercover in street clothes, once, to make sure the feed was working. But never had anything showed…until now.

A message appeared in the lower right-hand corner of his screen, and he pulled up the shot: a ground-level view of the warehouse. An unmarked truck was driving up, and armed individuals poured out, some of them carrying crates.

Batman frowned. This was what he had been waiting for.

He quickly flew in the direction of Old Gotham.

11:33 PM

I stirred in my sleep, slowly waking up. I rubbed my eyes. They were tender from crying.

It took a moment for the events at school to come back to me, but when they did, I remembered crying myself to sleep as soon as I got home. I blinked, feeling the softness in my arms. A polar bear plushie.

Terry…

Something had distinctly woken me up. I glanced around the room, suddenly feeling anxious. I looked at my bedside table. The laptop - I hadn't gotten it out of my bag nor opened it, so why was it sitting there? I may have been dazed earlier, but I would have remembered using my computer. My desktop was active, untouched by the screen-saver, meaning someone had used it recently.

I frowned, rubbing my head. I felt groggy from crying and sleeping for hours, but I had to figure out what was going on. I got up and left my room, moving with caution. I checked every room in the apartment, but I was alone. Alicia had said earlier not to expect her back until much later. I returned to my room, then quickly shut my laptop off, to be safe.

I stood for a moment in the middle of the floor, nervously touching the arrowhead around my neck. I whipped out my phone, quickly opening the radar to see where Terry was.

His signal flashed near Old Gotham. I frowned, zooming in.

He was at the warehouse where we had fought the Jokerz months in the past…

An uneasy feeling churned in my stomach.

I quickly grabbed my suit from my closet and changed.

12:13 AM

Batman left his jet a few buildings away from the warehouse, then ejected himself and flew to a nearby roof where he could see the action.

Frowning, he was surprised to see that the area was now empty - no cars, no signs of activity. Had they gone already? He glided over to the warehouse roof, planning to peer in through the portion of glass ceiling.

"Do you see anything?" asked Bruce in his ear.

"Not so far," he replied, crouching to look over the edge of the roof onto the street.

The moment his back was turned, something suddenly crashed into him from behind. He crumpled in pain, then whirled around to see Batgirl…or so he initially thought. Everything about her suit was the same, except for the emblem on her chest. It was metallic blue - and angel wings, instead of a bat logo.

She smiled.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Batman…or should I say, Terry McGinnis."

Batman froze. She knew his identity.

She smiled again, then took advantage of his alarm to strike. He quickly blocked her lunge, and tried to wrestle her to the ground. But she kicked him, then elbowed him in the stomach.

Batman stumbled backwards, then hurled a punch at her jaw. She went spinning to the ground, rubbing her cheek with a muttered curse.

But she was soon grinning again.

"They were right. You are strong. I see why you've managed to survive for so long," her eyes narrowed. "Too bad I'm ending that tonight."

12:37 AM

I quickly found Terry's parked jet, and left mine hovering beside it. As I flew toward the warehouse, I could already see him on the roof, fighting a suited foe.

I landed yards away from them, unnoticed, until Batman crushed the villain into a brick wall. Now able to see them clearly, I couldn't help but gasp.

She looks so much like…me?

Instantly, I remembered the dream I had so many months back, before I had even become Batgirl…

I didn't know how to react for a few seconds, until she caught site of me. With a hard shove, she had pushed Batman off of her, now glaring at me.

"Ah, so she's finally arrived," she greeted sarcastically, stepping over Batman's back to stride up to me. "So we meet again, Max."

My first instinct was to attack her before she could make another move, and I flung a kick. She caught my leg, though, and swung me into an air duct. I grimaced, holding my throbbing head.

"Why, don't you remember me, Max? I'm offended," she snickered, but was suddenly jumped by Batman.

"Who are you?" he gruffly demanded as he held her pinned to the ground, an arm twisted behind her back.

"That won't matter once you're dead," she grunted before activating some sort of radiation from her suit. Batman was forced to release her, and she stood tall over him. She turned to look at me, and I threw a batarang.

Amazingly, she deflected it with a swipe of her hand. Clenching my fists, I rocketed into the air, planning to make a swoop dive attack. From her belt, she flung a cord which wrapped around my ankles, bringing me crashing to the rooftop.

Batman was recovering now, and stood again, throwing another punch. She caught his fist, then landed her own jab into his stomach. As he fell back, he intentionally kicked up his feet, turning the rocket boots onto her. She was sent flying backwards, and straight into my grasp.

I held my arms firmly around her waist and flipped her onto the rooftop's edge. We struggled to pin each other, and she finally won the battle, now gripping my neck, my upper body suspended over the ground - some four stories below.

I was choking for air, desperately scraping at her clenched hands. Before I could lose consciousness, though, she let go with a yell. Batman had yanked her back with his own lasso.

I rolled over, leaning over the edge of the roof, my hands pressed onto the low wall as I coughed up blood. Her knee had pushed hard into my ribs when we fought, and I was sure something had broken.

I was exhausted, barely able to lift myself back up to see what was going on behind me.

But when I did manage to turn, my blood froze at what I saw.

Batman had just been pinned against the tall air duct by what seemed to be batarangs which she pitched, one at a time. His retractable wings were stuck to the metal, leaving him unable to move. He struggled to break free, but the batarangs held firm.

With an arm wrapped around my side, crouching with blood dripping from my lip, I watched in horror as she pulled a gun from her belt.

"Finally," she muttered before pointing it at him.

All at once forgetting my pain and fatigue, I rose and sprinted into the gun's trajectory. Time seemed to halt for a moment, and we moved in slow motion. Terry managed to pull himself free, I arrived directly in front of him, and a bullet fired.

When time caught up again, I was standing with palms pressed into the air duct on either side of Terry's shoulders to brace myself, and I felt a burning pain in my lower back.

"Max!"

My hands slid down, arms dropping to my sides. Terry quickly caught me in his arms.

Luna stood grinning as she watched him kneel with me when my knees buckled.

"Mission accomplished."

Terry pulled off my mask, smoothing my hair out of my face.

"Max, talk to me, you're okay, you're okay," he spoke to console me, but more-so as a plea than anything else. He swallowed, feeling his eyes welling with tears.

I barely heard his voice. I felt as though my strength was being sapped out of my body, and I was bleeding profusely.

Struggling to breathe and speak, I saw Terry's face in the midst of the oncoming darkness.

I had to tell him.

"Ter…ry…I…lo…ve--"

I blacked out, my body going limp in his arms.

Terry stared in stunned disbelief, watching my eyes close, my hair blowing slightly in the gentle night breeze.

Luna laughed.

"Well, sorry to leave you two, it's been fun," she mocked wickedly.

Terry's cheeks were wet with tears, and his fiery gaze slowly met her smirking face. Gently laying me down, his fingers pulled into fists as he flew toward her with a raging shout.

The sneer was wiped from her face as she was pounded into a wall of concrete. She lay stunned for a moment, then quickly pressed a button on her belt. A sequence of explosions erupted on the inside of the warehouse, then on the rooftop.

Before Terry could even return to me, he was knocked unconscious by the shockwave of the blasts. The building glowed in flames, and black smoke billowed into the starry night sky.

1:26 AM

He sat silently behind his large, oak desk. The letters "G.A.A." were engraved on the front in bold lettering.

He was anxiously waiting for the call. He tried not to worry. It had all been planned painstakingly, down to the very last detail. If all had gone well, she would soon be a Guardian Angel agent and no longer a threat to their underworld organization - as Batgirl. He knew he shouldn't be so concerned…if only it weren't for Luna's unpredictability. He was well aware of her tendency to sabotage missions. She just wasn't trustworthy, yet still, she knew too much to let her go.

He pulled his hands over his face, his closely cropped, brown hair. It all came back to blackmail and intelligence, in the end. It was what had gotten him caught up in the agency, after all.

The phone rang.

He stared at it for a moment, then slowly reached out to pick up. He held it to his ear without speaking for a few seconds.

"Yes."

"She's here."

He felt a wave of relief. It was successful.

"Good."

"Sir," hesitated the young man on the other line, "she's…she's in the hospital ward. She's been shot."

His heart took a pause. He swallowed.

"How bad is it?"

"Critical."

His face fell, and he rubbed his jaw with a slightly shaking hand.

"And Batman?" he asked, finding his voice.

The agent didn't answer immediately.

"Alive. His suit protected him from the blast."

Then only half of the mission had been completed, but the most important objective had been fulfilled.

He stared at the desktop. "That's all, Axis. Send Luna to Zeke's office for debriefing."

"Yes, sir."

"And Axis,"

"Sir?"

He stroked his chin, staring at the picture of a smiling young Maxine Gibson on his desk.

"She's going to live."

END

If you are interested in finding out what happens next, please feel free to read the rest of the story in the one-shot Crashed Interlude and the sequel Guardian Angel: The Return, which can both be found under my profile. Also, there is a blog for the story which contains extras such as songfics, deleted scenes, cast video/pictures, fan-art and other extras regarding the story. Feel free to check it out: guardianangelstory. b l o g s p o t . c o m (without the spaces).

Thank you!