Downtown Gotham

The Batmobile weaved through the mild traffic. Dark buildings of varying heights flashed past the girls as they flew via jetpacks through the odd dark red sky. Cool air whipped by as they kept pace with the speedy car.

"I'm glad we're working with him on this," Alex said loudly, eyes focused ahead.

"Yeah!" Sam replied, long hair whipping behind her. "I get the feeling he's been through as much as we have. Maybe more."

Clover gave a slight nod. "And he's seriously hot. Loaded..."

Sam's eyes met Clover's briefly. "And a genius! And a lone wolf vigilante..." Sam added.

Both girls' eyes sparked dreamily.

"Guys!" Alex called out, catching their attention and pointing below. "I totally agree. But we're here!"

The Batmobile was parked in a lot, and Batman was already approaching a huge, squat grey two-story building from the side, out of the glare of the streetlights. The girls landed behind him and shut off their jetpacks. After a short walk, Batman fired his Batarang grappling hook vertically and retracted himself up to land high above on the roof. The spies reignited their jetpacks, then flew up to join him.

Once they reached the skylight, Sam brought out her Laser Lipstick, while Batman pulled out a bat-shaped device and a yellow cylinder from his belt. Batman smiled and arched a cowl-covered brow. Sam grinned sheepishly and returned her gadget to her pack.

"After you," she said, hands held before her, and watched attentively.

Batman nodded, attached the bat-shaped device to the glass by suction, then pressed the top of the yellow cylinder to ignite a laser and cut a large hole in the glass. He lifted the glass with the powerful suction of the bat-shaped device and placed it on the rooftop by his feet. He pressed a button on the device, the suction stopped, and he stashed the gadget.

"Nice," Clover remarked.

Batman motioned for the girls to go through first. Jetpacks ablaze, they each moved through the skylight into the building. Batman shot a Batarang grappling hook into the rooftop near the skylight, then leapt through the hole. The rope attached to the Batarang held firmly as he lowered himself to the floor. He pressed a button on a cylinder attached to his belt, then looked to the others.

"Electronic signal scrambler," he explained. Now we're invisible to security cameras."

The girls looked at him in admiration. He then pressed the button on his grappling device, and the Batarang embedded in the rooftop popped out. The rope retracted, and the Batarang returned to the base of his device. Batman took point and moved through the large white-walled atrium. Office doors peppered a wall nested under a second-floor walkway with a glass protective barrier.

The girls followed closely as they made their way past tall pillars and a few orange-red cubicles. The quartet emerged in a mid-sized circular front lobby. There were a few couches and coffee tables, and a wide front desk, manned by a grizzled security guard with a beard. His partner was a younger, taller man with arched brows. The latter observed monitors on his desktop console, then typed a bit. Batman and the spies backtracked to be sure they were out of range of the guards' sight and hearing.

"We need to get to the hallway near that desk," Batman said. "There's no cover to sneak past them. Plus we don't know if they're with Owlman."

Sam gave him an intense look. "And we don't want to risk a scene so Owlman can escape."

She pulled out her compact and glanced at her teammates.

"How about some disguises?" she asked.

Batman looked curiously at Sam, and the spies tapped fingers to their compacts. Three bright lights covered each, accompanied by a quiet musical sound effect. Sam's green catsuit was now a large white lab coat, black slacks, and matching shoes. Her hair was in a bun, hidden under a hat, and she sported a large orange moustache. Alex and Clover wore dark blue security outfits identical to the guards', their hair mostly tucked beneath their hats as well.

"The classic stache," Clover said, stifling a chuckle.

Alex grinned and Sam worked to keep a straight face, then composed herself.

"Impressive," Batman said, looking to each of them as a ghost of a smile passed over his stoic features. "I'll slip by when they're occupied. Try to join me after."

"You got it," Sam said in a lower tone, attempting to mimic a man's voice.

She walked across the tiled floor towards the hall opposite them, raising her hand in greeting to the security guards. Clover and Alex emerged into the room soon after, causing the older guard to look at them suspiciously. The girls neared the hallway entrance Sam had gone through when the man waved them over. They nodded in greeting to the guards and joined them in front of their desk.

"Haven't seen you before. New?" asked the older guard.

"Yup. You can tell, huh?" Clover said, amiably.

Batman, noting that the spies blocked the view of the lobby, left his cover and crossed the room quickly and silently. The older guard blinked and tilted his head slightly, but Clover simultaneously moved subtly to obscure his view of the hero.

"Good to meet you," the younger guard said, eyeing Clover and Alex with interest.

"Likewise. We're going to check on things down here," Alex replied, angling her head towards the hall entrance ahead of her.

The older guard hesitated, then nodded. Alex started to walk off, and Clover gave the men a spry two finger salute.

"Let's keep alert," Clover said, "I heard some villains might pop up tonight." Clover started to walk off, then turned with a thoughtful look. "But if they do, let's hope Batman does too."

She followed Alex down the hall and the guards looked to each other in consideration.

After passing through a spacious doorway a ways off from the lobby, Batman edged forward and looked to the right down a long hall, spotting faint red lights hovering in the lower-lit distance.

"Someone beat us here. Something's there. Likely drones, protecting something," he said quietly. "Don't rush in yet. We need a plan," he cautioned.

He looked to them warily, curious if they would listen, or run off on their own like some of his allies in past situations.

The three of them used their X-Powders to revert to their spy outfits.

"We'll use these," Sam said, and held out a lavender tube of lipstick.

Clover and Alex had theirs out as well. Batman narrowed his eyes slightly, a Batarang gripped firmly in each hand.

"I take it they're not just for beauty care," he said wryly. "I'll aim low. You aim high."

All three girls nodded, and Batman whipped around the corner, running in a low crouch. A small group of drones became visible as he approached swiftly, firing laser blasts. Weaving through their fire, he let Batarangs fly with perfect accuracy into the two lowest drones, causing them to explode.

The spies flew via their jetpacks, lipstick tubes aimed forward while avoiding their ranged attacks. Each of the girls lasered a drone to stop them, then cut off their packs and landed. The black drones lay on the floor in a pile of wreckage, emitting electricity. Sam looked at one of the machines with a troubled frown.

"That's the same emblem as the one on that owl guy's outfit," she noted to the others.

"Precisely," replied Batman, and looked at her. "He tried to stall us, but we're going to stop whatever he has planned."

Batman walked to the drone pile, then flourished a yellow tube from his belt. He pressed a button on the mini-extinguisher to shoot out a small, yet effective foam spray to douse the growing fire, then approached the double doors behind it.

"Right on," Alex said cheerfully and started to follow him. She noticed Sam had a pleased look and was gazing into space. Clover, meanwhile, shot a nonplussed look at Sam.

"He said 'precisely' to me," Sam said with a sigh.

Clover waved a hand in front of Sam's face, getting her attention.

"Hellooo," the red-clad spy said musically, hands on her hips. "Remember Dean? I'm the only one here not dating someone currently."

Batman, wearing a neutral expression, put a finger to his lips and gestured for them to join him. Clover gave an amused look to Sam, saluted Batman, then dashed over to him in a blur. Sam shook her head slightly, then joined them.

An electronic keypad was set into the wall beside sturdy grey windowless doors.

"I've got just the thing," Clover whispered, and snapped her fingers.

She opened her backpack and pulled out her pink Multifunction Charm Bracelet. She put it on, and pressed a red button. A small rod extended from it into the narrow slot in the metal plate on the wall-mounted device.

A light electronic beep rang out, and the doors unlocked and opened automatically. Batman nodded at her, and Clover grinned in return. He crossed the doorway threshold, followed by Alex. Sam squinted at the still-grinning Clover, clamped a hand on her forearm, then pulled her through.

The group silently moved into the circular testing area, surrounded by computer workstations with black office chairs. In the center of the room was a tall four-sided metal tower, possibly an experimental power source, brimming with energy in the dimly-lit room.

Clover warily glanced at it, then resumed watching behind Batman and the spies as they advanced.

"So you've followed me even here, Batman," a deep voice called out.

"Owlman, show yourself!" Batman bellowed.

A pair of arrows whizzed from above a workstation, fired by a blue-clad man in a mask. Batman and the spies scattered and dived clear, but the arrows contained explosives that flung the heroes through the air. Batman somersaulted and managed to land on his feet.

Sam, flying headfirst, hit the floor with her hands, then flipped to land in a crouch. Clover and Alex tucked and rolled into safe landings as well. The attacker already had another arrow ready.

"Red, yellow, and green. Who are you supposed to be? The Traffic Light Girls?" quipped the archer.

The spies glanced at each other in surprise, then back to the man.

"That's-- actually a pretty good burn," Clover admitted with a focused look.

She moved subtly in tandem with Alex as she spoke to try and flank him. The man noted their movement with a smirk.

"Blue Bowman," Batman growled. He tossed a Batarang, but Bowman's arrow flew straight into it.

Alex shot her Bungee Belt to try to ensnare the archer, but he backflipped out of range, grabbed the metal cable, and yanked her forward. She flipped forward with a squeal of exertion, and her heeled boot crashed down where he'd been a second before.

"Whoa! Feisty!" Bowman shouted. "A little help now!"

A man in a red outfit with black gloves and boots, a red cowl, and a black cylindrical firearm appeared out of thin air in a crouch directly before Batman. He shot a large white bolt of energy into Batman's chest, and the hero groaned and fell to the floor, unmoving.

"Batman!" Sam cried, her Laser Lipstick aimed at the new villain's weapon.

But the man vanished again. Sam moved ahead cautiously, and briefly noticed Clover and Alex dodging blade-tipped arrows while they tried to close in on Bowman.

A muscular arm wrapped around her neck, and the red-clad man pointed his blaster at the side of her head with a smile.

"Gotcha, girlie," he said. "You two! Put your hands up!" he directed to the others.

Clover landed a kick that stunned Bowman, and Alex managed to palm strike him from behind, though he blocked it with his quiver. Both spies stopped and turned to see Sam's predicament, then raised their hands slightly with looks of dismay. Bowman supported himself heavily with his hands on a desk.

"Okay! Don't hurt her," Alex cried out frantically.

"I'm sorry, guys," Sam said somberly.

The doors parted and a gigantic figure shrouded in shadow walked in. He emerged into the light; a gorilla with shaggy black fur, carrying a thick cable. A scowl of contempt was etched on his face.

"Another one?" mused a stunned Clover. "And this one's-"

"The brains of this operation, human," he interjected, then looked to Batman in distaste. "I should've been the one to defeat Batman. No matter."

He grabbed Batman by the cape, pulled him to the generator in the room's center, then slammed him into it with a ferocious impact, causing the hero to grunt in pain. The spies winced in sympathy, hands moving forward reflexively in surprise.

"Hurry!" the ape called to the others, then quickly wrapped the cable around the metal tower, poised to tighten it completely.

The red-clad man blasted Sam, then the other spies, and all three cried out in shock. Bowman, the man in red, and the gorilla set the spies down in sitting positions against each of the other sides of the tower. The gorilla pulled the cable up and secured it with a click, then tapped the keypad on the terminal of the tower. It hummed ominously with increasing energy.

A/N: Once again, thanks for your support. Hope it's not a problem updating so often. If you enjoy, please feel free to vote and comment.