-Athena's POV-

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Roy asked, staring at me. That stare had been showing up more often since I came back to Gotham. I hated it. It was a look that had been on everyone's face. It was an unsure and concerned look. I hated that everyone was now unsure if I could handle myself.

Although I was slightly angry, I decided to let it go. "Are you? Last time we trained together I remembered a sparring session that didn't go in your favor," I winked as Roy unlocked his training warehouse.

"I've been training hard these past few months," Roy let the mood get playful, "I think I can beat you."

"Well, then let's go." I walked in and glanced around. Roy had redecorated. I pulled off the bow and quiver him and Artemis had given me for my nineteenth birthday. Thinking back to that awful birthday party, I was happy that my twenty first birthday was almost six months away.

I stood in front of a target and lined up my shot. Drawing back, a fired one of my special arrows. It hit right on the edge of the bulls eye. Roy chuckled and grabbed his bow. He closed his eyes and fired. His arrow struck dead center.

I crossed my arms. "Show off."

Roy strode over to me and grabbed my bow from me. "You would think that the League of Assassins would teach their students archery," he glanced over his shoulder and fired an arrow, "guess not."

I followed as the arrow twisted through the air. Once again, it hit dead center. The arrows were side by side. I ripped his bow away from him and notched an arrow. "They did teach me. I'm just out of practice," I said. I let an arrow go. It went through the air and straight through Roy's arrow. "See?"

"Beginner's luck," Roy stood behind me and wrapped his arms around mine, "like this." He slowly raised my arms and guided my hands. Achingly steady, Roy pulled the arrow back, his fingers locked around mine.

I had never felt anything for Roy before. I had known that he had liked me, that was obvious. But, no matter how much he did, I had never felt myself love him. Now that Dick refused to even talk to me, Roy's romantic actions went from platonic to heart felt. A deep, warm feeling spread from my toes to my fingers. I turned to look at Roy just as he let the arrow go. He watched the arrow zip through the air before looking down at me. We met eyes.

I leaned forward, stepping up a little on my toes. Before anything could happen, a knock on the door turned our attentions away. Roy walked away from my embrace to go check the door. With him gone, I shivered. I hadn't been held in someone's arms in so long. What had I become?

Roy unlocked the door and let someone in. I instinctively clutched my bow. Donna stood beside Roy. She tossed her black hair over her shoulder and gasped when she saw me. I expected her to be as hateful as she was before. Instead, she ran forward and picked me up.

Wonder Girl was strong. I already knew that. But, I had never been hugged by her. That was when she was really strong. Donna hugged me closed to her chest, burying my face into her hair. She enveloped me in her grasp. It was so strange. I expected her to hate me. Just like Dick. But, she just hugged me.

After several moments of awkwardness, Donna let me down. She smiled softly. "I'm just glad you're alright. Roy described you as so much worse," She said, studying me. I laid my bow down. I studied her back, skeptically.

"Well, last time I saw him, I was in a pretty bad state," I replied. Roy nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Yes. Well, I'm glad you built your body back up. And that you got some training in with the worst archer in Starling City," Donna teased, tossing a glance at Roy over her shoulder.

He chuckled and blushed. "Says the worst Wonder Girl." He smiled and stepped forward. Donna grabbed his arm, pulling him towards her.

What happened next surprised even me.

Donna pressed her lips to Roy's. The two kissed and I knew it wasn't for the first time. But, how long had it been going on? I didn't know Roy even liked her. However, things change when you're gone for twenty months.

They laughed and broke away from each other. I looked away, suddenly embarrassed. "I should be going." My voice came out a little harsher than I had wanted it to. Roy picked up on it.

"No, you don't have to," He said, reaching for my arm. I backed up and slung my bow over my shoulder.

"I promised I would meet Aqualad for a swim before the sun went down. Bye," I quickly made my way out.

I knew Roy was just being nice to me. But, to see him so happy...it made me realize just how little I meant to everyone. I wasn't so stupid to think that everyone would stop what they were doing because of me. But, part of me wished that someone -- someone like Roy who claimed they loved me so much -- would've at least paused.

It was a selfish thought.

I made my way to the Gotham coast. Just as I expected, Aqualad was laying in the sand. I came up behind him, tackling him down.

His body went rigid and he gripped my arms, flinging me under him. He hovered above me until he realized who I was. His pale blue eyes fell on my face before he allowed me to stand.

"Bad idea?" I joked, stepping towards the ocean. The water gently washed over my toes. Kaldur stood beside me, watching me watch the water.

"I'm glad you came, Water Lily," Kaldur mumbled, grabbing my hand. He ran his fingers over my scarred knuckles, his fingers finding the brand on my hand.

"Can you show me something amazing?" I asked, letting Kaldur's fingertips slowly trace each swirl of my newest tattoo.

He let his fingers still and he met my eyes. With a nod, he tugged me behind him to the water. We waded in. Before the bottom dropped off, Kaldur stopped us. He pulled a breather out of his pocket and slowly put it in my mouth. I made sure it worked and he dove under the waves, me going after him.

I clicked on my mask as Aqualad led me through. Realizing I couldn't quite keep up, he grabbed my wrist and sped ahead.

"You will be able to breathe soon," Aqualad said, his voice barely carrying through underwater. I nodded my understanding and let him pull me. I watched as fish and shells flew past. The sun was going down, but there was still wisps of light shining through the water.

Aqualad started to slow as he lead us through a series of rocky tunnels. He tucked me under his arm and swam super fast. We shimmied through a tight squeeze of black rock before we made our way into a cave.

The cave opened up. Around us was completely rocky, shielding us from the shores. We had to tread water to stay afloat, but I didn't mind.

I dropped Kaldur's hand and swam forward. The cave opened up to the perfect view of the empty ocean. The sun had gone down, casting the sky in a pinkish red shade. The water reflected it, each ripple a deep orange.

I smiled and watched it. It was so peaceful. Everything was. Kaldur swam beside me, enjoying the sunset. He wrapped his arm around me, his body heating the water around me.

"This is so beautiful, Kaldur," I said, letting the water rock me softly back and forth.

"I found it when you were gone. It reminded me of you," he held me up, allowing me to let my muscles relax.

I don't know how long we stayed there. The whole scene was so gorgeous and calm, time seemed to stop. But, all good things must come to an end.

I barely even swam as we made our way back. It was dark and we both needed to get home. When we got to shore, we didn't speak. He just patted my shoulder, stared at me, and then dove back down.

I quickly went back to my old safe house. I took a deep breath and looked over to the mirror. I gently moved it out of place and ran my hand over the wall until I felt the slight indent. I opened the compartment cautiously. All my most precious items were still tucked inside, including the small USB. I shrugged and closed it, dragging my mirror back into place.

I sat down at my computer and did some research.

Black Mask had lots of cargo and lots of money. He wasn't a new villain by any means, but he was slowly moving up the ranks. It was the craziest thing. It was like Batman couldn't touch him.

The guy had a messed up face. And that's coming from me. He looked like he was wearing a plastic Halloween mask, but it was his actual face. His entire head was a skull, barren of skin or muscle. It was dark grey, except he still had eyes and a mouth. It was the weirdest thing. No wonder he had such a bad temper, he had no actual face.

I kept looking over his history, finding out why he had been the one to rise to the top. Black Mask had spent his entire life in the drug smuggling business. He was now the top smuggler. If he had been in Gotham for so long, I wondered if Bruce had any contact with him.

Quickly retrieving the files from the Bat computer, I searched through until I found a very recent mission report. Skimming it, I was shocked. Bruce and Dick had gone out on mission and ran into Amazo, but it was someone else's property. A few nights later, they found a crate of Kryptonite that led them to Red Hood. Bruce deduced that the Kryptonite had been stolen by Red Hood from Black Mask. But, all Red Hood wanted was, and I quote, "the lay of the land."

So, there was a connection between Red Hood and Black Mask. I had become more and more interested in Red Hood, but he had been on my back burner since I first showed up.

I grabbed all my gear and hit the skies. I was going to go to Black Mask headquarters to inspect his cooperation. I needed to see why he had attracted Red Hood.

Grappling quickly, I stood on the building across from Black Mask and watched through binoculars. He was sitting at a desk, yelling at some assistant. I looked over my shoulder to see the Bat signal in the sky. It was a hope beacon, even encouraging me to succeed. I also managed to just catch the familiar body of Nightwing.

I hadn't seen Nightwing out on patrol since before I left. I almost didn't recognize him at first.The usual bright blue emblem was now blood red, making him seem more intimidating. I smirked. I liked the red -- it was more favorite color -- but it didn't belong on Dick. He was blue through and through.

I ducked underneath the lip of the building, making sure Red Nightwing wouldn't see me. Luckily, he didn't. He swung right passed me.

I watched Black Mask for a little longer before something caught my eye. I saw a white truck driving at top speeds, swerving in and out of Gotham traffic. Beside the truck, a black motorcycle kept pace.

I grappled down and swung alongside the chase. Eventually, the rider chased the truck off the main rode and into a desolate street. The truck stopped as the rider got off. The closer I got, I recognized him. The red helmet gave it away.

Red Hood got off his bike as the truck drivers started to shoot at him. He dodged out of the way and took cover. The truck drivers kept shooting at the corner Red Hood hid behind as if it would magically shoot him.

Finally, the guns clicked, signally the end of their ammo. Red Hood smirked, running out from behind his corner. He shot the two drivers in the chest and flipped up, landing perfectly.

I swung down, clapping slowly as he landed. Red Hood snapped around to see me.

"Man, another one?!" He shouted, firing a gun at me.

I was shocked by the gesture. But, I wasn't without my tricks. I moved out of the way and grabbed my two favorite pistols.

"It has been too long my friends," I whispered to my guns, feeling the heaviness of real bullets in their barrels. I did a combat roll and sprung up, shooting the helmet on Red Hood. The bullets bounced right off.

He fired back and soon we were both just shooting and dodging. He rolled behind the white van, taking cover. I quickly reloaded before he reappeared.

He climbed on top of the van and jumped off, flipping mid air. A bullet lodged itself into my left bicep. I clenched my teeth and side stepped, firing a bullet into his chest. His armor blocked it, but the force made him stumble.

I used the few couple of seconds to take a glance at my arm. My tight, black Nomex concealed the blood, but I could feel the sting, barely.

Red Hood climbed into the van and with a parting wave, drove away. I let him go, but only to inspect his bike.

His bike was high tech. It wasn't just some normal Harley Davidson. It was a fast bike, upgraded for speed and durability. I tampered with it. It would cost money to have a bike like that. But, I knew Red Hood could afford it. He was the newest rival for Black Mask.

When I first saw Red Hood, he had claimed that he was going to run the drug trade. The guy had money. He had to be staying in Gotham. There was no way that he could just show up here, do his business here, make his money here, and not live in Gotham. With that idea, finding Red Hood was going to be easy.

Red Hood was like the new shiny toy. I wanted to find out more about him, but he wasn't that important. I had other things to do. I would enjoy watching and waiting for the Red Hood to become a problem, but for now, he would just remain as the guy to cheer on.

~~~~~~~~~~~Is it creepy to go on a mutual friend's facebook page, look through their friends for your crush, find his last name, all just to search up his instagram? Is that creepy? STALKER ALERT!!!! Lol!!~~~~~~~~