5

"Finally!" Barbara cried, when Bruce told her she was joining the team. Just as Dick predicted, it was only a few months after she had become a member of the BatFamily. "Guess that's what the Zeta-Tube is for." Bruce looked surprised.
"How did...how did you know what those are?" He asked carefully. Dick interrupted.
"You didn't install the extra firewalls did you?"

"No. I didn't think it was possible to hack the BatComputer." Barbara and Dick both burst out laughing. "What?"
"She hacked the BatComputer." Dick explained, just as Barbara said:

"I hacked the BatComputer." Which just made the fourteen year olds both laugh harder. Bruce was speechless.



When Dick zapped them both into Mount Justice, Barbara kept a straight face. Until a orange haired boy in a blue t-shirt over a white long sleeved shirt and black pants literally sped in.
"Well, hey there, beautiful." He grinned. Dick shot him a glare worthy of Batman, although he wasn't sure why this comment bothered him. Kid Flash always flirted with girls.
"I'm Batgirl." Barbara introduced herself.
"Guessed you were one of the Bats, with the dark clothes and sunglasses. And the whole, not telling us you're secret identity. Although I already know. Thanks to Rob, here." Dick punched his shoulder.

After Dick had tried - and failed, Barbara had introduced herself - to introduce Barbara to the rest of the Team, Martian Manhunter called the whole team to the training room for a-
"Failure exercise?" Barbara asked Dick as he led her into the training room.
"You're not going to like it." He said sadly.


"The League is Dead. You are Earth's last hope." Red Tornado's crackling voice said over the speaker in Mount Justice. Barbara fell to the floor. As cold as Bruce could be, he had looked after her. And Dick more so. For several minutes, all the Team could do was sob quietly over the death of their mentors. Until Dick stood up.

"We're not going to sit in silence. We're going to find out what we're up against. Now, who's in?" Everyone stood up, with several yells of 'Yeah' and 'Vengeance!' (Guess living with Bruce did that to you after a couple of years), punching the air. Barbara typed away at the computer.

"It's some sort of alien invasion! A freaking invasion! Look at those tanks!" She said, pointing at the screen. "We need to get people into shelters." Barbara looked at Dick. "I volunteer Robin to lead." Dick was about to protest, when Kaldur nodded.

"I agree. Robin works best under pressure." Dick looked around, before stepping onto the holographic floor.
"Ok. Let's see. Batgirl, where's the mothership? If we can destroy it, we might stand a chance." Barbara clicked through the mainframe.
"Smallville. But there's something else. Without the Mothership, the tanks have no power source."

"Ok. AquaLad, Artemis, SuperBoy, you're Alpha. Miss Martian, Batgirl and Kid Flash, you're with me on Beta. Miss M, can you get the bio-ship in the air? We have to get to the Hall of Justice. There might be survivors, and there's probably military there. We need to get them out to protect the cities."


The Team sat in the ship, going over plans.
[Mind link up.] M'gann said.
[Everyone remember the plan?] Dick asked, and was answered by several agreements.
[We need to get in, and out. If you can, Batgirl, try and get a reading on the beams of the tanks. Just don't die, ok?]

[Yet.] Barbara said.

Their predictions were correct, there was indeed military in the hall. And a survivor. Martian Manhunter. M'Gann threw her arms around him.

"Uncle J'onn!" She yelled. Suddenly, there was a rumble. Barbara checked her holo-wrist.
"Three aircrafts, hostile, approaching."
"Can we get General Eiling and his troops inside?" Dick asked. Martian Manhunter stood up.
"I...I can get them in. But you must hold off the tanks. Not even I can density shift through them." Everyone nodded, moving outside.
"Please, get to Martian Manhunter! He will get you to safety!" Kaldur yelled.

"First wave approaching." Barbara said, taking defensive position. Artemis loaded her bow, and aimed it towards one of the ships.

"EMP." She said, releasing it. The arrow hit the ship, but in a last defence, a beam hit Artemis.

"Artemis!" Wally yelled. Dick stood by the door, tapping his chin.

"Why only take one of us out, one at a time?" Barbara slapped him.
"While you stand there doing the math, one of our teammates has just died!" She yelled. "Second wave approaching!" Dick pulled her under an alcove. "What are you doing?"

"We're powerless against the tanks. We have to get everyone inside." He motioned for everyone to join him. Manhunter pushed in the last soldier.

"Now, come inside." He said, pushing everyone into the zeta-tube, one by one. Soon, it was just Kaldur and Manhunter outside. A tank repositioned it's cannon.

"They need you more than they need me." Kaldur said, shoving in Manhunter, just as he was disintegrated.

Dick and Barbara stood under the curve of Batman's sculpture's arm.

"Robin, we're going to have to destroy the core."

"I know. But there's no way the others would let us do it ourselves."
"We lie about our lives everyday. This'll be no different."

In the bio-ship, as the Team was heading to Smallville, and mourning the deaths of Artemis and Kaldur, Dick showed everyone the results.

"So they're not dead! They're just inside the MotherShip!" Wally cried triumphantly.

"Robin, I'm getting reports of people losing hope in Gotham and Happy Harbour shelters." Barbara said. "We need to send out a message."
"How long can you hold the broadcast for?" He asked. Barbara smirked.

"Please, I was hacking broadcasts since I was ten. They have no firewalls!"

"Ok, 3, 2, 1, Go!" Barbara said, holding up a camera.
"We are the protege's of the Justice League. Now, as you are probably aware, Earth is under attack. We are fighting this threat. We will be victorious." Robin said. "I'm just a average boy. Who had a voice. Who wanted to make a difference. I have no powers. Now is the time to use that voice. Stand up for what is ours. We will win. We will rebuild, and we will survive. We will thrive!"


"Miss Martian, ManHunter, you go in and take out as much security as you can. Superboy, you're the distraction. KF, you stay here and wait for heroes. Batgirl and I will find the hostages." Dick ordered, moving into the shadows. Barbara followed, and together, they ran off, waiting for M'gann signal.


"Ok, you know the plan. Get in, get to the core." Dick said, as he and Barbara ran through the corridors, bags of EMP grenades and batons in hand.

"Duh, I know. Any-Look out!" A cannon snuck behind Dick. As it was charging, it collapsed to the floor, revealing M'gann and J'onn.
"Come on."

"Where are the hostages?" M'gann asked. Manhunter gave Barbara and Dick a look that meant he knew their plan all along.
"M'gann, there are no hostages." Man hunter said.
"What?"
"It's true. You guys need to get out here while Batgirl and I take out the ship." Then Dick and Barbara both did their disappearing trick.

Barbara slid open the door to the core.
"Explosives?" She asked, and Dick handed them to her. "We're going to have to plant them inside it. One of us is going to have to jump. It'll explode instantly."
"I'll do it." Dick volunteered.
"No, I will."
"No, I-mmph?" Barbara pressed her lips against his, and moves her hand to his neck, and hit a pressure point, knocking him out. She tried to open the door. It was locked.
"I'm so sorry, Dick." She whispered, as she propped him on the wall.
Barbara attached the explosives to her chest, and jumped off the ledge. "I love you."

"Guh!" Barbara screamed, sitting up. For a few seconds, darkness surrounded her. Then she opened her eyes. Around her, all her teammates are sitting up too, gripping their chests and necks, panting. "Artemis? Kaldur? You- Robin! Ohmigodrobinimsosorryididntmeanitandihadtosqveyiuqnd-"
"Batgirl, sit down." Bruce ordered. Barbara obeyed. "What you just experience was an induced reality. Thanks to Martian Manhunter. It's used to prepare you all for a failure mission." Dick cut in.
"It's the same thing every time. M'Hamm overloads, and Manhunter has to get in. But his mind is all fuzzing, and he can't get us out until he kills M'gann. If he didn't, we'd be stuck like vegetables. Having you there, it just makes it...harder to deal with." Barbara gasped.
"And we agreed to this?"
"Before the reality came into focus, you lost about ten minutes of your memory."

Barbara's POV
I was staying in the mountain overnight. But I couldn't sleep. I kept on replaying the scene where I knocked out Dick.
I decided to go to the gym and tire myself out. Twenty minutes later, Dick walked in.
"Why are you up so late?" He asked.
"I could ask the same, Robin." I replied,  pausing my push-ups, standing up, then motioning for him to follow me on to a couch in the common room.
"Couldn't sleep. I can't get-"
"The last scene out of my head." I finished.
"Batgirl, when you kissed me...did you mean it or did you just want to sacrifice yourself?" I stopped then.
"I...I don't know. It was a dream."
"It wasn't to me." Dick whispered.
"Robin...maybe we should talk about this when we're ourselves." I suggested.
"Tomorrow, then?"
"Tomorrow." I agreed. As I stood up to go to bed, I couldn't resist giving him a light peck on the cheek.

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