-Athena's POV-

I stood, frozen. Dick stared into Barbara's face blankly until turning around and remembering that I existed. He grabbed her hand and led her over to me. My fingers instinctively glided down my thigh to rest on my dagger. Even if this Barbara person saw me kissing Grayson, I wanted her to know that fighting and caring for myself comes before anything else.

"This is the newest member of the Bat Family. Nightingale, Batgirl. Batgirl, Nightingale," Dick smiled at me as the girl stuck her hand out for me to shake.

"Nice to meet you, Nightingale. I'm Batgirl, or Barbara Gordon." The girl shook my hand softly. I was surprised by how weak her grip was. How is she considered Batgirl when she's that weak? I wouldn't choose her to represent the female side of the Bat, just saying, I thought. "Is this the same Nightingale that showed up in Gotham right before I left?"

"Mhm. Not actually evil, believe it or not," Dick said, "her name is Victoria Smith." They seemed to talk like I wasn't even there, so I turned around and began to walk towards the door.

"Hey! Wait!" Dick called, his fingers reaching for my arm. Already knowing his habit of doing that, I dodged and walked past the two. "Where are you going?"

I snapped around, trying to keep my face as neutral as possible. Grayson seemed shocked by my face. "Out." I zipped out of the house before Dick could protest. I mentally prepared myself for him to run outside and start bickering to me about how I "couldn't leave without backup" and how "team is important". But, he never did. I looked at the door and he never came out. Shrugging it off, I strolled to the entrance gate and climbed out.

My new target was a couple of gang members. Nothing special, just a group of bad people. It was pretty late in the night -- maybe two or three in the morning. According to my computer, the three members I was after were all in the same place. They were in some building in the heart of the city.

I quickly scaled the building and climbed onto the loft above the meeting room they gathered in. To my surprise, there were way more than three people inside. About nine people sat at the table. The three people I was tracking were there too of course, but so were many other people. Instead of just killing Roger Fethero, Scarlet Geotie, and Henry Cox -- the three I was originally after -- I decided to stay and listen.

"I hear that that Nightingale chick is hunting all of you," one man on the opposite side of the table said, "she causing major dents in your income?"

Henry nodded. "The girl has killed a large portion of the Black Sharks already! She stopped for a couple of weeks, but we can't be too cautious. The Boss isn't even doing anything about her!" I smirked to myself.

"So, what do you want from us?" Another man, a big man, asked. He turned to the three. Henry was the wimpiest, Roger was pretty tough-looking, and Scarlet looked like she was straight out of the army. She was definitely the leader of the three.

"Well, first off, more members to replace the fallen ones was on top of the Boss's list," Scarlet said, "and then we need some of your territories to set up our drug labs. Sharkies aren't getting made quick enough."

"Ha!" One side laughed. "The Angels of Death have worked too hard to give up our property in Gotham." The two representatives of his gang sat beside him. They nodded in agreement.

"Street Demonz will give some recruits, but you're stupid if you think any of us will get rid of any territory within Gotham. It's hard to get and hard to manage." That gang all agreed.

"The Boss said he will target you personally if you fail to comply," Roger growled. Everyone went silent in fear."So I suggest this: Angels give up their land by the Harbor. Street Demonz give us recruits. Reapers give us their land on the border between Gotham and Bludhaven. And the Monster Men give us assassins to get Nightingale."

"What!? We can't do that!" Almost all the gathered gangs shouted. The three Black Sharks sat back and gave them a look that shut them all up. They must of remembered how powerful the Boss is.

"Good? Now, we have territories to set up," Scarlet snapped her fingers and sat up. I tossed a grenade onto the table before anyone could leave. "Huh?"

"BOMB!!" Henry shouted. Everyone got up and shoved through the door just as the grenade exploded. It claimed a few representatives of the Street Demonz as well as the Angels of Death. The Monster Men got out quickly, since they just made huge holes in the wall. I thinned the crowd by tugging out my pistols and firing. The Reapers were the first to go down and then the Angels. The Demonz hid behind the Monster Men, but were crushed when their bodies were shot dead.

"It's Nightingale!" Roger managed to say before I slashed his throat with my knife as I jumped down from the loft. A couple of the giant Monsters charged, but I punched them directly in the obvious pressure points they had. One was easily killed with a hit under the ear, the other was destroyed when I rammed my foot into his shoulder.

Scarlet, Henry, and the last Monster Man tried to make a break for it. I shot a bullet straight into the back of the Monster's head and tackled Scarlet down. She scratched me across the eye and cheek with her nails. I snapped her wrist and stabbed her in the chest. When I got up, the shrimp -- Henry -- had escaped. I punched the floor and lit fire to the bodies before escaping myself.

"Look! It's Nightingale!" A news reporter from below me got my attention. I grappled down to land in front of the camera. "Nightingale! Nightingale!" The reporter shouted.

"Hello," I awkwardly responded, catching my breath.

"Can I ask what happened up there?" She shoved a microphone into my face.

"Well, a group of thugs set up a bomb. In my attempt to catch them, they got into a malicious fight with each other over who would get the credit and then the bomb went off and the fire claimed their lives," I tried to sound as sincere as possible, "I barely got out."

"Where did you come from?"

"I can't tell you that, or my identity wouldn't be secret," I laughed.

"Oh yes, right. Is it true that you and the other teen hero, Nightwing, are together?"

"So that is the rumor that has been going around."

"Yes, can you confirm?" I thought about what had happened at the Manor when Batgirl arrived. He ignored me and went for her...couldn't quite confirm.

"I gotta go," I grappled away. It was around five in the morning at that time. I got back to Wayne Manor just to zeta-tube to the Watchtower.

It was dead when I arrived. The only person I saw when I entered was Martian Manhunter. He was on Watchtower duty. I headed to the Team section of the tower. When the doors slid open, I saw Arsenal.

"Oh, hey," he said, wiping his head with a towel. I sat down at the computers, but he came towards me. I mentally rolled my eyes as he leaned on my shoulder. "What're you doing?"

"Work. You should be doing some too." I wanted to pretend he wasn't there, but his strong smell convinced me otherwise.

"I was until you got here."

"You can still train with me here."

"No, you would distract me," he smirked, "can't have someone like you on the sidelines, unless you want to be my cheerleader." I angrily sighed through my nose and stood up. He fell on the floor from my unexpected rise.

Roy Harper was a playboy. He loved girls. I never paid attention to all the times he flirted with me because I was always with other people. But now I had deal with his little crush by myself. He was a read headed boy who was coached by another playboy, Oliver Queen. Harper and Queen had the same situation going as Wayne and Grayson.

"Let's train together then. Get in the ring," I ordered. He smirked and raised an eyebrow. Ugh, I guess the only way to get him away from me is to give him what he wants. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. He followed me into the ring. Once safely inside the training area, I kicked him away onto the ground. He looked up at me.

"What the hell!?" He shouted, standing. I ran towards him and swung a punch, but he blocked me. I kicked his feet out from below him. I laughed as he landed on the ground again. "Oh, you think this is funny?"

"Very," I teased. He stood up.

"Well, now I won't take it easy on you." Roy ran at me, but I tossed him over my shoulder. The one-sided fight went on for about another hour before Roy gave up. We finished just when Kaldur and Conner came in.

"What were you two doing?" Kaldur asked, observing how sweaty Roy was and how unphased I was. I looked at Roy. We both burst out laughing.

"I got my ass kicked by Nightingale."

After everyone arrived, Kaldur split up our team. I was with Roy, M'gann, Dick, and Donna. As we got ready to leave, Barbara walked in.

"Oh my god! Batgirl!" Cassie screamed, hugging Barbara. Tim smiled and waved. As Barbara began saying hello, the other female members started to crowd around her. They all hugged. I stood awkwardly beside them.

"We should have girls night tonight!" M'gann suggested. Everyone agreed loudly as the boy members stood off to the side.

"You should come, Nightingale." Artemis grabbed my arm and pulled me into the circle. I smiled fakely and swore my agreement.

"How about we go shopping!" Cassie said.

"Nah, I hate shopping." Finally, another girl who wasn't crazy. I was really starting to like Artemis.

"Drinks?"

"Most of the group is too young."

"How about bowling?" Barbara suggested.

"Sounds good," everyone agreed. I was so lost during that conversation, so I just memorized what all the times and locations were.

Our group left on our mission. During the whole thing, Roy was flirting with me and Dick seemed to be ignoring me. I ignored them both and got my part of the mission done in about two hours. The missions had been pretty lame since Wally was rescued.

"Vic," Grayson pulled me aside as I was getting ready to go back home, "what's wrong? You've been blowing me off for Roy all day."

"I trained with Harper this morning and you have been really focused since then." I wasn't technically lying. I was just leaving Dick alone because he was leaving me alone.

"Oh, well, how about we continue yesterday?" Continue what? You being all over Barbara?

"I really need to get ready for this lady's night thing," I put my hand in front of my lips as Grayson swooped in, "sorry."

When I got home, I just put on a t-shirt and jeans and was prepared to leave, until I looked into the mirror. Six red scratches were still on my face. I gasped, realizing I forgot to cover them up. That meant...I had them all day! I grabbed my special makeup and layered it on the red scratches that were over my eyelid and cheek. I put the makeup on the other scars that were starting to come through again. When I was satisfied, I hopped on my motorcycle and headed over to the bowling alley.

The girls had been gathered around a table, happily chatting and laughing like old friends would. I tied on my bowling shoes and approached the girls. They went quiet and stared up at me. I felt kind of embarrassed and looked back. I never really liked social situations unless they were with equals or benefit me. Back in my League of Assassin days, I enjoyed talking with master assassins who were much older than me so I could learn more than my competitors.

"Come sit by me," Artemis dragged me beside her, "I'm glad you could come."

"Tim talks about you all the time. But, he never revealed your identity." Cassie flashed me a toothy smile and flipped her blond ponytail to her shoulder.

"Yeah, what is your name? It's a tradition for all the girls to know who we all are," Donna sassed, pouting her lips. I was somehow getting the feeling she didn't like me.

"How about I tell you mine, if you tell me yours." I already knew their names, but by forming this bond, I would gain their trust.

It was silent for a few moments.

"Cassie Sandsmark, Wonder Girl." A bright and genuine grin stretched across the youngest girl at the table's face. Who ever thought the fourteen year old Wonder Girl was more mature than the nineteen year old one?

"Artemis Crock, Tigress."

"M'gann M'orzz, Miss Martian."

"Raquel Ervin, Rocket."

"Barbara Gordon, Batgirl. But, you probably already know that." She smirked.

"Karen Beecher, Bumblebee."

"Zatanna Zatara, Zatanna."

"Fine, Donna Troy. Wonder Girl," Donna rolled her eyes and sighed loudly.

"Victoria Smith, Nightingale. Nice to meet you."

After a couple of rounds of bowling -- rounds that M'gann almost always won -- I decided to put the girls' trust to the test. I put a bugged microphone under the table where each of the girls were sitting. I excused myself to the bathroom and opened my computer.

"So, what do we think of Vic?" Karen addressed the group. Everyone was quiet in thought.

"I think she's nice and really good as Nightingale," Cassie said, "and she revealed who she was, so we can obviously trust her."

"Don't trust people so quickly, Cass." Donna quickly made sure to make me sound bad.

"I think we can. If she wanted to hurt any of us, she would've," Artemis said, "and she saved Wally. Why would she do that -- for all of us -- if we couldn't trust her?"

"I agree," stated Raquel with Zatanna agreeing.

"Why are you being so quiet, M'gann?" Barbara asked, observing the girl who was obviously shying away from the conversation.

"I don- I don't know. When I'm around her, I get a really bad feeling in my head...I don't know, I don't have any reason not to trust her, but it's just that feeling that tells me the opposite," M'gann spoke softly. I punched the wall in anger as I listened. How can she fucking say that about me when I haven't even talked to her othan than for her to move out of my goddamn way!? I thought.

"She's the telepath, what does that mean? She has a bad feeling about this girl and so do I," Donna commented.

"You just don't like her because you're still salty about your break up with Dick," Zatanna mumbled into her cup, "which was like seven years ago."

"What?" Donna growled.

"Calm down, calm down."

"Some of us handle breakups with Nightwing better than others," Zatanna said, probably smirking cockily. I went back and sat down, thinking about what the girls said. How many of the people at that table were Grayson's exes? I suddenly felt even more out of place than before.

The alley cleared out after midnight. The first to leave was Donna and Cassie around ten, then Karen and Raquel a half an hour later, then Zatanna and M'gann at eleven, and finally Barbara. I sat at my table in silence thinking back on the last group of friends I had, the last love I had.

~~~~~~~~~~Long enough? Lol. I had a mini heart attack during this because I was typing and had the chapter almost done when I accidently erased the whole thing. After going on wattpad on my tablet, I managed to find the "restore" button, but it only restored about half of the chapter. Still better than nothing, though! Anyway, it took forever to update and I'm sorry. Yes, this chapter will start with another memory like the last chapter because I felt this was long enough for one chapter. I'll TRY to update another chapter within this week? Yeah....sounds durable. Don't forget to vote, comment, and follow if you aren't already!~~~~~~~