-Athena's POV-

I swung into my room through my window and landed directly on my bed. I peeled off my Nightingale costume and laid on my bed. The blood of the man I had just killed coated my neck and a bit of my face. He had given me something important to base my research on now: the lover of the Boss. I ended his family-ending life with a single bullet. Don Bullhorn ran his casino based upon the customers who bought the drugs he got from the Black Sharks, Sharkies. The Sharkies were highly addictive and often left the young people who took them almost mentally insane. Sharkies caused wild hallucinations and had a very low rate of bad trips. But, the tiny black pills would also pump many dangerous chemicals into their blood streams, sometimes causing heart attacks.

He deserved to die for all the lives he had ruined for just a quick buck. Nightwing was wrong, he always is. The only way to take someone out was to assassinate them, not put them in some jail that they could easily break out of. This Joker guy, he was worse than all the other guys I had killed and he was running around free. Batman had failed to kill him and instead put him in some asylum which he had broken out of. They were doing everything wrong. I scoffed and closed my eyes.

In the morning, I took a shower and rinsed myself of the blood I had slept in. When I had approached Mr. Bullhorn, his bodyguard had gotten a hit in on my lip and I hadn't noticed that it was split. The blood had dried but the cut was still obvious. I was kind of anxious to train with the boys, because I had realized I had more in common with them. The Wayne family seems to be those people who think they're better than everyone else and they had never had gone through anything tough. But, after I left the cave last night, I left the party and hacked into the Batcomputer. The files I had found proved me wrong about Bruce, Tim, and Dick. I wondered why they all talked about the Joker with much more seriousness than any other villian. The second Robin, Jason Todd, he had been beaten with a crowbar and blown sky high by the Joker. There also was the incident of Barbara Gordon, or Batgirl, where the Joker shot her in the spine and paralyzed her. This Joker guy had caused so much pain in the Batfamily. I had studied up on every person who had worked with Batman, since it was all on his computer. I knew that Bruce Wayne had trained with the League of Assassins before I was even born. I knew everything about every person who was ever put into the Batcomputer, including their butler. I had gone through a lot, and so had the Waynes.

I hacked into the security systems of Wayne Manor and quickly climbed the fence. I darted through the garden, taking cover behind a shrub shaped like a giraffe from sleep pellets. I climbed on top of the house and slid down the chimney. When I landed, I realized I was covered in soot. Cursing, I sprinted to the bathroom and cleaned myself off. I almost smashed into Alfred Pennyworth when I came out. Our faces mirrored each other's shock.

"Ms. Smith? How did you get in?" Alfred said, his eyebrows scrunching in alert. I laughed and patted his back.

"I'm good at what I do, and what I do is break into people's houses," I smirked. I guess no one told Pennyworth that I was a part of the Bat Brat club. Alfred dashed down the hallway, probably to alert Mr. Wayne of the intruder.

I passed a cracked door as I walked down the hallway. Ducking my head in, I peeked at the room. It was a huge bedroom with a huge bed against the window. I saw a black and blue suit and instantly knew who's room it was. Grayson snored and flipped around as he slept. I giggled quietly and he shot up out of his bed, meeting my eyes in the darkness. It was about four thirty, so the sun hadn't quite come up yet. He glared at me and slowly stood up.

"Get out," he growled, grabbing his little sticks. I smirked and pulled out my two swords. I saw a smirk form on his face as he pounced at me. I jumped over him and slashed his back. He was only wearing his grey boxers, so the cut was very easy. He cried out and landed on the floor.

"Sorry, Grayson," I forced my tone to sound more empathetic instead of the cockiness I wanted to use. I kneeled down beside him, but he shooed me away with his hand. I put my swords back and slung him over my back.

I walked through the house and to the old looking clock. I scanned the clock for fingerprints and followed the prints to the right time. The clock slid past and opened up to a long, dark staircase. I ran down the stairs and ended up back in the cave.

"Put me down," Dick whispered, struggling to get out of my grip. I was applying pressure to his legs so he couldn't move that much. I tossed him on the chair that sat at the computer. He groaned and stood up.

"I'm sorry I cut you, but you came at me. Here, I'll stitch you up," I looked around for a first aids kit and found it quickly, walking over to the boy who struggled to stand up. I shoved his face into the chair and kneeled in front of him, his back facing me.

"Don't touch me!" He exclaimed. I ignored him, dumping alcohol on his wound. He flinched and groaned again. I sewed up his cut as fast as I could and dumped more alcohol on it. I kicked the chair away and leaned against the computer.

"You're welcome," I teased, cleaning the blood off of my fingers. He glared and stood up, wrapping gauze around his torso. The cave was empty, just us two, and the tention was high. He had flirted with me before and now he hated me. "One moment you're trying to kiss me and the next you try to attack me. Is that how teammates act?" I laughed. He turned around and gained the distance that was between us.

"No, usually my teammates aren't assholes who break into my house and watch me sleep. And I didn't try to kiss you, we were dancing," he said, "the only reason I am still in this room with you is because I don't trust you enough to leave you alone in the Batcave." I narrowed my eyes and shoved him away from my face. He stumbled back and got his balance again. When his eyes met mine, we both ran forward.

He threw the first punch, but I dodged and kicked him in the side of his head. He swung again, but I ducked and reached for his legs. He did a backflip and ran forward again. He kicked with his leg, which I dodged, but his knuckles hit me on my cheek where I already had a fading bruise. I fell on the ground and he stopped, offering me a hand. I pulled him down next to me and crawled on top of him, punching him over and over in the face. He caught my wrist after my sixth punch and made me punch myself in the lip. I bit his finger and head butted him.

"Are we interrupting something?" Dick and I both looked towards the door. Tim and Bruce were staring at us, a smirk plastered on Tim's young face. I was surprised I hadn't heard them come in.

"If you consider me kicking Grayson's ass, then yes, you are," I stood up off of Dick and walked towards Tim. He looked at my lip. I licked it and realized it was split more than it already was. Hopefully I don't need stitches, I thought.

"You sure were ahead in that fight. It looked like you were letting her win, Dick," Tim laughed. Dick walked past us to the exit of the cave, shoving me with his shoulder. I smirked and watched as he left the cave, shame obviously forcing him to leave.

"Someone's grumpy," I commented, following Bruce to a training ring underneath his car platform. There was a huge circle of mats with a metal gate around it. There were several hallway-looking pathways with obstacles set up.

"He's just mad. No one beats him in a fight." Tim stood beside me. Both of the guys were wearing tanktops and sweatpants, casual stuff. I had arrived in full costume, including my mask, which I realized was pointless. But, I wore it anyway.

"I want to test your hand-to-hand combat skills," Bruce said. He stepped in the ring, motioning for me to follow. I smiled and raised my fists. He charged at me, causing me to flip over his back and land behind him. I kicked him in his back. Bruce fell over and I grabbed his arms and pinned him to floor. He rolled over and then I was under him. He punched for my face, but I jerked my neck to the side and smashed my forehead against his nose. He fell backwards and I jumped up in the air, landing knees first on his gut. He coughed out and grabbed my hair. He stood up, hair in hand, and raised me in the air. I spun around and kicked his side, causing him to drop me. I ran over to where he fell. He swiped at my legs, but I knew it was coming and hopped over his leg. I punched his face and pressed my foot against his neck. I held both of his arms down with my hands and one of my knees, but he was stronger than me. He easily pushed me off and we were both standing in front of each other. He swung at me and kicked, but I blocked and dodged everytime. He threw a punch, so I grabbed his wrist and tossed him over my shoulder. He crashed against the metal gate.

"I underestimated you," he weezed, standing to his feet again. I thought that was another challenge, so I did several front handsprings and kicked him into the wall again. He tried to grab me, but I grabbed his wrist and grabbed my dagger out of instinct, pressing it against the skin on his neck. "Victoria! Stop!" He shouted. I realized what I was doing and pulled the knife away, offering a hand. "Well, obviously you are skilled. So, I won't have to train you in that area."

"Yeah, obviously," I mocked, flipping out of the ring. Bruce followed, adjusting the settings on one of the hallways. Holograms appeared and then went completely solid, forming a difficult looking obstacle course. well, difficult for a normal person.

"Do this obstacle course. You will be timed," Bruce unlocked the door and pushed me in. I looked at the course and smirked. I knew the whole think wasn't real, and was more of a hallucination, but I wanted to do it anyway. I dived into the huge lake in front of me and swam across, ending up on a jungle-like terrain. I grabbed a vine and climbed my way to the top, looking over the trees. There was a huge finish sign in the distance. I jumped from vine to vine and reached a new section that was filled with animals. A tiger lunged at me, but I just jumped over it and continued to run. I came across a huge cliff that I assumed I had to climb. To save time, I pulled off one of the vines that I had accidently broken off when I was swinging and tied a rock around it. I tossed the rock up and it caught in between the cracks of another one. I climbed the rocks and noticed a specific rock — whoever who was given the course would've been forced to grab it. I noticed also how it looked slightly different from the other rocks and no doubt would make you fall. I reached the top of the cliff and did a cartwheel through the finish line. I was now at the end of the hallway and all the holographs were gone. The door swung open and I walked out, anxious to know how I did.

"New record." Mr. Wayne said calmly, showing me the computer he had timed it on. The record before me was three minutes and fifty three minutes, but my time was two minutes and two seconds. The person who had the old record was none other than Dick Grayson. I smirked and crossed my arms, catching my breath.

"You beat Dick!" Tim said in surprise, staring at the screen as if he didn't believe it. I watched the video of me doing the course compared to Dick. Unlike me, he had climbed and jumped from tree to tree instead of using the vines. He also stopped to fight the animal that attacked him, which was a bear in his scene, and he also climbed the rocks. He fell, but only a few feet down. Everyone else I had seen do it on the screen usually fell all the way to the bottom.

"Next course," Bruce ordered, setting another one up. This one was set in the city in which I had to retrieve a stolen diamond from the hands of trained villians. It was kind of like playing a video game, I had to avoid getting spotted, I had to fight the villians, and I had to dodge smoke pellets and bullets. When I came out, I had broken Dick's high score again. Bruce had me do six different courses, all testing different survival skills and reactions to different situations. Each time I was done, I would come out on top with the quickest time. Dick held most of them except for three. Jason held the record for a situation where I had to take a bomb from the bad guy before it blew up, but I ended up beating it. Tim had the high score on a computer hacking course, but I also blew through that one. Barbara held the record on a detective situtation, but I beat her too. I didn't know Barbara was, but she had gone down.

After I finished all the courses, Bruce decided to do something else. He put me through many excerises, like climbing a cargo net or fighting him while keeping my balance on a peg. It wasn't really training, more of testing my abilities until we all got tired. I got to spare with Tim for a while, but I always won. It was still fun, though. When night came, Bruce had gotten word of a jewerly store robbery and we all transformed into our normal crime fighting forms.

"Are you coming, Dick?" Robin asked when Nightwing came into the Batcave in his costume. He glanced at me and shook his head. "What about you, Vic?" A nickname. I hadn't had a nickname since my parents were killed. I hadn't really had any friends since my parents died.

"Yeah, it sounds fun," the Dynamic Duo hopped in the Batmobile and I noticed it only had two seats. "I'll take this motorcycle," I said, smirking. I knew it was Nightwing's. He glared and yelled protests, but we all drove off before we could pay attention to what he was saying.

We stopped in front of a huge jewerly store. Police stood outside of the building, their guns aimed at the building. The place was covered in green vines and plants that grew all over it. "Oh thank god you're here, Batman and Robin and- who's she?" A man with grayish red hair, a mustache, and glasses approached us. I smiled and winked.

"Call me Nightingale," I said, looking around at everyone. The cops had glanced over at me with curiosity, but they all looked back at the building. Whoever was inside, the police was waiting for them to come out.

"Do you know who the robbers are, Gordon?" Batman asked. The man shrugged.

"I'm guessing Ivy because of the plants," Gordon stated, squishing a tiny vine that was extending out towards his foot. Tim pulled up security footage on a wrist computer identical to mine. I looked at it and watched as three women stood inside the jewerly store, basking in the diamonds.

"It's the Gotham Sirens. Telling by the security cameras, Harley, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy are all inside just drooling over those jewels," Tim explained, "we could send Nightingale in through the roof, since they don't know her, to distract them. When she gives us conformation from inside, Batman and I could come in while Nightingale is fighting and take the girls." Everyone nodded on the plan. I grappled to a nearby building and used a zipline to quietly land on the roof of the jewerly store. I climbed through an open vent, like in Nightwing's apartment, and dropped down inside the store. The three girls snapped their attention to me.

"Who's she?" The woman in a tight red and black suit spoke up first, pointing at me with the handle of her massive mallet. The other woman beside her wore a black suit with goggles and little cat ears on her head. The final girl had clothes that were made of leaves and she had long red hair. I looked around at all of them, a grin forming on my face.

"I'm the Nightingale and I've come to sing," I smirked, tossing several throwing knives at the girl in the red and black. I hit her in the leg and pinned her body against the wall.

"Oh, you're gonna be sorry you did that!" Her annoying, childish sounding voice screamed out as she tore her clothes from the knives and pulled the knife out of her leg. The girl with the leaves, Poison Ivy, made several roots wrap around me like ropes. I pulled the dagger from my thigh and cut through them, dropping down. Catwoman jumped at me, but I met her face with my foot. She flew back and landed on a glass case. The girl in the red, Harley I was guessing, swung her hammer at me. I ducked and tripped her, kicking her where the knife had sliced. She howled in pain. More plants came after me, so I pulled out my katanas and sliced them away from me.

"Now!" I shouted into my com, running towards Catwoman. She reached out and sliced my face with her claws, but I caught her wrist and threw her down. My cheek stung with the scratches she made, but I ignored it and punched her in the face, knocking her out. When I looked up, I saw as Robin kicked Harley down and handcuffed her. Batman threw several Bat-shaped boomerangs that exploded and blew up the plants that Ivy had sent towards him. He then kicked Poison Ivy and handcuffed her as well. I lifted Catwoman up over my shoulder, since I had no cuffs, and followed the two outside with their villians. I recieved a glare from Batman. I thought I did a good job.

"We did it!" Tim said, giving me a high five. I laughed and nodded as the two got back into their car. I got on the bike and followed behind them back to the cave.

When we got inside, Batman was still not talking to me. I hadn't done anything wrong! "What's wrong with him?" I asked Tim, putting an icepack to my stinging cheek. The other guys had cuts, but not as bloody as mine.

"He has a thing with Catwoman and I'm guessing he doesn't like that you kicked her ass," Tim whispered, removing his mask. I looked at Batman as he sat at his computer, researching what the Sirens were doing. I shook my head. "Hey, I'm hungry. Let's go get dinner." I nodded and we both left the cave and headed to the kitchen. My stomach was growling but I hadn't noticed. I had something else on my mind.

~~~~Yay! A looonnnggg chapter! I don't like this one as much, but it's long and it shows Nightingale and Nightwing's relationship right now very well. Nightingale is cockey and thinks she's better than everyone else (kind of like Damian Wayne XD ) and Nightwing earned his place to be better, so of course he hates when this random chick he doesn't even know shows up and is really god, maybe better than him. But, Tim likes Athena, I MEAN VICTORIA, and I think that also bothers Dick because everyone trusts her except him.~~~~~