Disclaimer: The usual. I don't own Young Justice, Batman, or Catwoman. I only own my character, Angel. The others belong to their respective creators and franchises.

Note: Rated M for a reason. No smut (yet, but seriously Robin's underaged) but a lot of gore, violence, strong language and suggestive themes.

Prologue

South Side of Gotham City. 12:00 am

I laid in suffocating darkness. I couldn't feel or hear anything, lying in limbo. Then maniacal laughter echoed and my parents screamed.

Darkness still blinded me but I heard a voice, a woman's, my mother's.

"Don't touch him you bastard!"

Then I felt my arms and back burning. I wanted to scream but I choked instead. Insane laughter echoed once more and I heard a voice in my head.

Run.

I ran and ran into the impenetrable darkness; unable to see where I was going but only able to keep moving. Gunshots fired. Somehow, I knew my parents were dead.

An explosion boomed and white light blinded me.

Numbers, letters, and shapes flashed before my eyes. It seemed pointless nonsense but I sensed a purpose to this parade of characters and symbols.

My arms and back was on fire, my body couldn't move, and I couldn't breathe. All I saw were endless numbers and letters and equations. Madness threatened to take me.

"Ahhhh!"

I woke with a jolt, gasping for air and covered in sweat. Moonlight poured into my otherwise pitch black room though a window to me right facing east. A small dark shape, before curled in blissful sleep, stirred and a sleek head with oversized ears and amber eyes looked groggily at me

Aroaw

"I'm okay, Terry," I whispered to my cat. Terry stretched her limbs and yawned. I lied back on my bed, trying to catch my breath. This was the third nightmare this week, the seventh this month. I always had nightmares, it was the same one time and time again, but on my twelfth birthday they became more frequent. My psychologist suggested that the onset of puberty was causing my nightmares to worsen, or some other psyche stuff. But now, on my thirteenth year, a new detail came up. The laughter.

My stomach growled and wouldn't let me get some sleep. I looked and my alarm clock and saw that it was twelve o' five am. Another strange detail of my mind. Assuming that I didn't have a late night and went to sleep on time, I always woke from my nightmare around midnight.

My stomach roared, scaring even Terry, who wasn't easily frightened.

"Wanna midnight snack," I asked my cat.

Raow. That was my answer. I crept out of my twin bed onto the wooden floor. Clad in only boxers and a black T-shirt, I tiptoed across the hallway, not wanting to wake anyone up.

I crawled down the stairs, wincing at every creak and squeak the floorboards made. Terry trotted down with easy grace. I took the left doorway in our living room and stepped into the kitchen. I flicked the switch and light filled the canary-colored room.

I opened the fridge door and pondered at my choices. An apple? An orange? Ham? Milk? I opened the door to the freezer and saw a satisfying option. Cookies & cream ice cream.

Araow.

I looked down and saw Terry on the floor with a Siamese cat and an orange tabby, Sarah and Sean respectively. They looked at me, eyes big and pleading.

"Alright, you guys can have some," I whispered. I grabbed three small ceramic bowls and added a scoop of ice cream in each one. I set all three on the floor, the cats stepping forward and licking the frozen treat. I grabbed a spoon and scooped bits of the crunchy and creamy sweetness into my mouth, straight from the carton.

Then the cats meowed and I froze. I heard footsteps beyond the kitchen. I leaned against the wall hiding from the possible intruder. I saw a figure in the doorway.

"It's me, Angel," Selina called and I relaxed. I stepped to the center and saw a calm Selina with a warm smile. She was dressed in a lime green bathrobe with her short dark hair in a mess.

"I got up to see if you had another rough night. You weren't in bed?"

"Sorry, had to get a midnight snack."

"You don't have to apologize," she comforted. "Any left for me, she said gesturing to the ice cream.

"Dig in," I answered and she grabbed a spoon and joined me in a comforting midnight feeding. It was minutes before Selina spoke.

"Same Dream?"

"Yup."

"Anything new?"

"Nope." I looked down on my arms. The forearms and the back of my hands were covered in burn marks, similar ones covering most of my back, all scars on my otherwise perfect tan skin. All reminders of a disaster I can't even recall fully.

"I still can't remember anything," I said after a while, my voice turning monotonous. "I can't remember anything before that day I woke up. I don't know where I used to live, who I was. Even after all these nightmares, I can't remember my parents' faces, or who they were. All I know is that their dead." My voice began to tremble and tears blurred my vision. A very rare break in my otherwise tough and playful demeanor.

Selina put her hand on my back and rubbed in circles.

"There, there," she cooed. "It'll all come back some day. Just give it some time. Wanna hug?" I embraced her and shook in her arms. Warmth filled me and she purred sweet nothings to me. I looked up and gazed into her green eyes, seeing love, strength and comfort in them.

"You know no matter what happens you'll always have me, right Angel?"

"Y-Yes." Silence followed and we broke apart, comforted and secure. I reached into my shirt and pull out a gold chain. Hanging on it was a cross of gold bars the size of a house key. I felt it with my fingertips and looked at Seline.

"This was the only thing I have from my life before," I said. Selina nodded, already familiar with this fact.

On the front was a single word. Angel.

"Selina. Do you think my parents would be proud? Of who I am?" I'm always afraid my past would come back to haunt me.

"Of course they would," Selina answered and we smiled at each other lovingly until we heard the crash of broken glass.

From there we acted on conditioned reflex. We both grabbed kitchen knives, I grabbed a bread knife, Selina held a steak knife ready. She turned off the light and darkness filled the room. Even the cats fell silent, sensing that danger was near. Our eyes grew accustomed to the darkness and we looked at each other. Selina gave a nod and I felt my way to the bathroom door on the other side of the room while Selina pressed herself against the wall near the doorway leading to the living room. The plan was that I get into the bathroom, which had a second door leading to the living room, and wait until she acted. A classic pincer move.

I opened the door to the living room an inch and saw the intruders. Two men, early thirties and in tip-top shape it looked. Caucasian it seemed and each carried a flashlight. A revolver hung and the waist of both men.

"You sure they're here," one asked.

"Have to be. We haven't seen them leave all night." These were not burglars, it seemed.

"You check upstairs. I'll stand guard," the second one said. They didn't make any effort to stay quiet and were obviously inexperienced.

"Why do I have to go upstairs," the first intruder whined.

"Cause I'm in charge." The reluctant intruder took cautious steps up. One, two, three, four. Then all hell broke loose.

Ahhhh! Man #2 was fighting off Selina, who was on his back and had already cut his arm, blood dripping on the floor. Man #1 reached for his gun and I made my move. I threw my knife which banged against the wall, narrowly missing his nose. It wasn't supposed to hit him.

While the blade flew across the room, I ran and vaulted over the stairwell. Right as Man#1 turned to face me, with excellent timing, I punched him in the face. As he clapped his hands on his face, I took a kick at my real target. His groin. Hey, when your life is at stake, you can't worry over fighting clean. He kneeled over and I grabbed his gun, finishing by pushing him down the stairs. Poor bastard lay on the floor curled up and gasping.

Selina gouged her foe's eyes and grabbed his gun, aiming at the Intruders.

"Hands over your head where I can see them," she ordered. After a few groans, the men obeyed with the stiffness of injury.

"Who sent you," she demanded."It's obvious you've been watching us. Who sent you?" I felt dread creep into my blood. Have they been watching everything we've been doing? How long? Was our secret compromised?

"Screw you, bitch," Man #2 cursed.

"Tell me or I shoot," Selina said. She didn't like to kill people, even if they were criminals. But you had to do what you had to do.

"You don't have the guts," Man #2 said cockily. Man #1 looked very afraid at the lack of control they had in the situation. Selina had a wicked smile on her lips, always a bad thing if you challenged her. She aimed at the ground and fired. The bullet narrowly missed the skeptic's foot, causing him to curse. She didn't like to kill but they didn't know that.

"Play me," Selina challenged.

"Crazy bitch," Man #2 growled. "Alright, someone did send us. They want the kid alive. And you dead if possible." I gasped, a breath stuck in my throat. The man turned to me and smirked.

"Got a message for ya'. Catwoman can't protect you forever." My blood chilled and my spine tingled. It was Selina who acted next.

"I don't want to see your faces here in Gotham ever again. If you do, you both die. Slowly." Her voice was cold and venomous.

"You got ten seconds to get out of this house or I shoot you both. Nine…." The men needed no further encouragement. They left with a rush, a trail of blood and fear following them.

Selina dropped the gun and sat down on the sofa. Her face was blank and deep in thought. After a moment, I broke the silence.

"What are we going to do? We're not safe here anymore." Silence followed then Selina spoke.

"I need to call in a favor from an old friend." This really was serious. Selina had a lot of connections, many of which were not legal.

"Who," I asked. Silence droned before Selina answered.

"Batman."

88888

Chapter 1: The Arrival

Amazon Rainforest, Brazil 4:24 pm

The place was both Eden and Hell. It had a feral beauty to it. The ancient trees towered over ribbons of river and insignificant animals and people. Yet the forest, usually filled with the calls, cries, and buzzing of insects, birds, and animals, was strangely silent.

That is, except for the cries of panicked loggers and the screech and grinding of destroyed machinery.

I really should be a poet, I thought to myself. But now's not the time for an artist like myself.

Disaster strikes the world again. Poison Ivy heard that loggers were clearing and being the green girl that she is, pun very well intended, she decided to save the plants by killing the bad loggers. Isn't it nice that someone's watching out for the defenseless trees? Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of saving the planet and all, recycle, go green. I just think you can do this all without killing people.

So here's the down low. Firstly, Miss Ivy can control plants so now vines are overrunning the foresting, growing on machines, coiling around people, suffocating them and tossing them. That's bad enough.

But Ivy is also an expert on botany and genetic manipulation. She has a tendency to create vicious animal-plant hybrids. Super, huh?

"Yah!" That was one of the workers. He's currently being mauled by some half-vine half-sabertooth fuck thing. I'm not kidding about the teeth; those things had to be a foot long, at least!

"Robin, get that will you," Kaldur ordered. I was only too happy to do so. I gave my signature, echoing creepy laugh that unnerves everyone. Toothy here was no exception. Poor thing was confused. Couldn't keep up with me.

I jumped down a ways from the thing.

"Hey Ugly, want a Robin burger," I taunted. So glad KF wasn't there. I'd here no end to Red Robin jokes. Either way, that got Toothy's attention.

Roar! The beast left his victim and ran at me perfect. I waited before the creature was far enough from the man before I made my move. The creature opened its deadly mouth wide. Perfect. I tossed a grenade into its maw. I shoot a grappling at a high branch and reeled myself to safety. The creature clawed at the trunk before having an "Oh shit" look on its face. Then…. Boom! Green hybrid guts sprayed everywhere, even to me.

Awesome! Now to deal with the dozens of other plant monsters Ivy created. I joined with the others to a rather hectic yet very normal (by my standards) scene.

Kaldur was engaged with a gorilla type thing, Artemis was shooting some buggy creatures, and Megan teamed with Wally against some vine/octopus hybrid. But Supey took the cake.

His creature looked like a freakin' mammoth, I kid you not. Only it had four bone tusks and two coiling trunks. The thing had to be the size of a tank. Figures Supey would take the hard one. Choices, choices, choices.

"Robin," KF called. "Need a little help here." He had a tentacle/tendril wrapped around him and the thing had a sick sense of humor because it was pounding him into the ground.

"Thought you were the fastest kid on Earth," I goaded. KF evidently didn't find this funny.

"I'm being pummeled by a freaking plant and you joke about it," he shouted. Fun time's over. I took out my bo-staff and used it to vault over creature's tentacles in a neat somersault. Midair, I let loose some grenades which exploded on the grasping tentacles, severing some and burning many. The thing let out a shrill cry that sounded like something out of an alien movie.

I landed on the head, between two red eyes. I planted a bomb and shot into the trees. Three, two, one.

Boom! Green guts splattered everywhere. I had been safe up in the trees and Megan surrounded herself in a force field bubble, so we were spared the mess. Couldn't saw the same for Wally.

"Nice look," I joked, only to get a face full of guts. Wally had a content look on his face.

"Could say the same about you," he rebutted. I felt my face burn.

"No fair! You threw that at me."

"Will you guys shut up," Artemis interrupted. "We got better things to do." She took out the last of the bugs. Kaldur sliced a plant panther in half with his water blades. Superboy threw the mammoth thing into a tree, which fell on it and cracked its skull. Green brains spilled out.

Now it was just us and Ivy.

"We got you surrounded, Poison Ivy," Kaldur said. "Surrender now and come quietly." A stare down went on between Kaldur and Ivy. She had a smirk on her face. Never a good thing with villains.

"Alright, I'll give," She said. What? I wasn't the only one surprised. She held out her hands in a compliant manner.

"Take me away boys."

"That was too easy," I commented when we were flying back to Mt Justice.

"What, not happy we got the bad guy this time," Wally joked.

"No seriously, she didn't put up as much as a fight as we expected."

"Oh, so those plant things were a walk in the park?"

"That's not what I meant. Yeah that was hard, but she had a look on her, like she wanted to get captured," I said.

"Rob, you're just being paranoid," Artemis responded. Wait, they're actually agreeing on something?

"Do you seriously think Ivy planned all this," Wally joined.

Honestly, call me crazy but I have the weirdest feeling that something big is taking place. Something sinister. But I didn't voice my thoughts.

"In coming call from Mt Justice," Megan quipped.

"On screen," Kaldur commanded. Batman's face appeared on the screen in front of us.

"How was the mission," Batman questioned, never one to mince words.

"Poison Ivy has been taken in by local authorizes. Many workers were injured but no casualties," Kaldur reported.

"Good," Batman commented. "When you guys get back to Mt Justice, I have a serious matter to discuss with you. Batman out" With that, the video feed was dead and screen turned blank.

"What do you think it is," Wally asked.

"I don't know," I answered.

We continued to fly to our destination. When we arrived, Megan landed her ship in the hangar. As we exited, we saw Batman standing with a strange woman and a kid. The kid was nothing special, maybe my age, with tan skin and dark brown hair. He was dressed in civilian clothing, a black T-shirt with khaki cargo shorts, sandals, and a green military jacket. The only thing that stood out was the fact that he held a bullwhip in his hand. The woman on the other hand was something different. She had a skin-tight black leather suit that hugged her figure. She had a black mask that covered her entire head save her eyes and face. Her identity was kept secret by green goggles and her mask was topped with two horn-like protrusions at the top. She wore black leather thigh-length boots and completed her costume with a similar bullwhip. She seriously looks like a superhero gone dominatrix.

Wally wolf-whistled and whispered "Nice costume" to me. Did his 'nads ever take a break? The woman didn't seem the slight bit offended, in fact, she gave a coy smile back. The boy, however, looked like he was going to strangle Wally. It was Batman who acted next.

"Team, I'd like to introduce you to a colleague of mine," he started. Then it all hit me.

"That's Catwoman," I cried out. The Feline Felon, the Mistress of Malevolence, the Princess of Plunder. The most wanted thief in Gotham City. What the hell was she doing here?

"I see my reputation precedes me," Catwoman said with a smile.

"She's here on Justice League business," Batman said to her defense.

"What could a criminal like her want," I shouted.

"She wants protection," Batman answered. Silence fell. Did we hear right?

"Not for her specifically," Batman specified. "She wants us to watch her son. We have to keep identities safe but for now we know him as Angel Estrada," he continued gesturing to the boy. Angel, which seemed to be his cover, looked at me judgingly.

"I'm not sure about this, Cat," he said.

"Not now," Catwoman answered.

"Seriously, not even five minutes and we're already getting the third degree," he fought. Suddenly I felt like an ass. But that was nothing compared to the other bombshell.

"While Angel's living here, he'll attend local school and take part in your training sessions. And be a part of your missions," Batman said next. Silence followed. A new team member already? Seriously? Wally broke the silence next.

"So what are we gonna call you? Catboy," he joked.

"Ha ha, so funny," Angel remarked sarcastically. "Like I haven't heard that one before."

Then he had the most wicked smile. He jumped up in the air, did a somersault, and landed in front of us. With a move we barely saw, he lashed out his whip and wound it around Wally's feet. With a jerk, he tripped Wally, who landed on his butt, hard. Obviously this guy was for real.

"No, just call me Jaguar from now on," Angel smirked.

Fun Fact time: If Young Justice Wiki is at all reliable (it has a cited source, just for you know), Robin doesn't have a planned love interest for the time being. Writers everywhere, take out your pens. It's time for a little literary license.