THE FIRST TWO WEEKS WERE ROUGH FOR DAPHNE.

Fighting crime all night, which involved actually people not the already dead skeletons in the Underworld; meaning she had to be careful will her attacks, and then getting up at 4am to train, left her feeling exhausted. On a good day she only got 4 hours of sleep.

But by week 4, she grew accustomed. As she stood in front of her bathroom sink, she took notice in the heavy bags below her eyes and the pasty color of her skin. She looked sick.

Artemis and Apollo had both taken notice to this and decided that it was best that Daphne have a rest day each week to rebuild her strength.

And thankfully, it was her rest day.

It was currently 4am and the sky was still dark, only the dim lights of the city flashing through the darkened clouds.

Daphne carefully wrapped her wounded arm, cleaning the stained blood from her forearm and her side. She disposed of the bloody clothing and bandages before plopping down onto her bed.

Her damp hair made a marking in her satin sheets, she was simply too tired to dry her hair after her shower.

She rotated her body so that she was laying on her right side, her head away from what would soon be sun filled windows, and she rested her head on the pillow behind her; her arms wrapping around it for comfort as she drifted off to sleep.

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NIGHTWING'S POV

The Bat cave was dim and darkened by the lack of light from the early morning sky. The young vigilante listened to splashing of the waterfall at the vehicle enter of the cave as he scrolled through the super computer.

A solid white coffee mug rested in his gloved hand as he sipped the dark liquid. He eyes quickly glanced against each new video footage as it displays across the screen.

"You look like an old man sitting there." A young voice says from the top of the stairs.

Nightwing turns his gaze through the corner of his left eye, but he already knew who was there.

"What are you doing up Damian? Aren't you like 10?"

"I'm 12. And what does that have to do with me being up?" The young boy asked as he made his way over to the super computer

He was dressed in a color: red, green and yellow, costume. Better known to the streets as the Robin.

"I don't know. Don't kids sleep in late?"

"Not me. What are looking at? That new vignette?"

"Yeah. I want to know who he is. And where he came from."

"Hmmmm...where was he first seen?"

"About 3 or 4 weeks ago, a few blocks from the Gotham theater."

As Nightwing pulls the street cam into view, he zooms in on the cloaked figure lurking the shadows just before the theater. He notes the outline of the hood, which completely covers the vigilantes face.

"Zoom in on the outfit." Damian commands

Nightwing looks to the boy before rolling his eyes and compiling with his request.

"Watch as he takes off."

As the two watch impatiently, the cloak of the masked vigilante shifts revealing the exposed skin underneath.

"Holy shit that's a woman." Damian curses

Nightwing looks at him sternly before turning back to the screen.

"Okay, so it's a girl. She oblivious got smarter, because her current costume doesn't look like this."

Nightwing then pulled a cam feed from earlier last night, showing the same vigilante in a completely black leather suit, her armor on top and her cloak attached with metal straps and a solid face mask covering everything below her eyes.

"How did you not realize this was a woman, you can see the outline of her boobs you moron." Damian shames

"Hey! I wasn't looking! I was kinda busy fighting Deadshot okay!"

Damian simply rolled his eyes

"You never talked to her?"

"No! After every fight she was gone!"

"Okay, zoom in on the armor, it look's special made." The new Robin suggested

Nightwing complied and zoomed in, and together they sketched the detailing of the gold and sliver armor.

"I've seen this design somewhere. But where?" Nightwing asked as he paced the area of the computer.

"What are you two doing in here?." A voice from below asked

The two boys stopped as the tall figure made its way up the stairs.

"Father." Damian replied sharply

The Batman stood before them, his cowl covering his facial expression.

"There is a new vigilante in town. The streets are calling her Nightshade." Nightwing informs

"So I've heard. What's the story behind this Nightshade?"

"We have no clue. She showed up out of no where and the only identifiable piece on her is her armor."

Damian then hands his father the outline sketch of the armor design and then points to the screen where multiple pictures of Nightshade were in view on the screen.

Batman knew instantly whose armor this was, but it was impossible. Considering that Diana had been with him at least two of the times stamped in these photos.

He set the sketch down on the table beside the keyboard and turned to the boys.

"I'll find out tonight who Nightshade is."

Although he already had a pretty good guess.

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As Daphne jumped from rooftop to rooftop, she kept a close eye on the city below her. She kept her head tilted in a downward angle as she ran; she had learned quickly this was the best way to pick up conversation happening in the streets below her.

There were a few times this habit proved useful in finding a criminal, but it was mainly to listen in on normal conversations. It was Daphne's way of learning of American society function and progressed. And it proved to be the quickest way to adapt and blend into crowds.

She had picked up some interesting pieces of information from the streets. Such as the Justice League.

Daphne had known right away with the description given to a superhero called 'Wonder Woman', that it was her sister.

However, Daphne wasn't ready to reunite with her older twin.

In her time spent away from Diana, Daphne had improved rapidly. Not only in fighting, but in learning in general. She was discovering herself for the first time in her life. She was no longer in Diana's shadow.

Instead she was lurking in Gotham's shadows, which seemed fitting. She sat perched over a ledge that overlooked the entire east end of the city, watching the busy traffic and busy people below her.

Daphne was trying to draw out one person in particular. The Batman. Daphne had learned of this masked hero within her first night of patrol, and was immediately intrigued. The stories of the criminals he has caught, but more importantly to her how he caught them, drew her into the Dark Prince.

She had seen other masked hero throughout the city, such as the infamous Nightwing; who had referred to her has a 'dude' during her previous battle with Deadshot.

But Daphne wanted the Batman. She wanted to meet him in the flesh and see if he lived up to the legend. But also because she had a sneaking suspicion, she knew who he was.

Daphne had spent her first few days in Gothman simply gathering intel, which Apollo argued was a complete waste of time. And to calm the child like god, Daphne accepted a challenge: to match identities to 3 different superhero's.

The first was Superman, and it was a lot easier than you would think it would be to figure out he was actually Clark Kent. It had actual taken Daphne longer to figure out how to work the computer, rather than attempting to identify the superhuman.

The next was the Flash, the fastest man on Earth. He was a little harder to uncover, but after some digging through older news articles and cross references with crazy phenomenons; it became very clear the man behind the mask was Barry Allen.

And lastly was the Bat himself. This took Daphne a lot longer than the other two. The Bat was good about covering his tracks, whipping or destroying any camera that might capture him speaking, so Daphne had to try a different approach. She spent hours going through Gotham's phone books and other citizen list; matching up anyone who could possibly match the description for the Bat.

And when she finally figured it out, or believed that she had, it made sense to her. The Batman being-

"This is typically my spot" A deep and low voice called from behind her

Daphne smiled as she turned her head slightly to the left.

"My apologies. I've never seen anyone occupy it."

Daphne then turns to face the figure, revealing the one and only Batman. She was smiling, and thankfully her mask was covering it.

"You are new to Gotham. Rumor has it you're not from here."

Daphne crossed her arms around her chest, standing with her weight on her back right foot. She stood smirking, however the Bat couldn't tell; he could barely see her eyes.

"The rumors would be right. But I've found that few tend to actually be from Gotham; all but you of course."

Daphne watched as the tip of his mouth twitched to a slight smirk before going back to the harden line.

"Oh?"

Batman took a step forward and Daphne did the same. She looked slightly up to the man and he narrowed his hidden eyes at her.

"I know you know who I am. You work very closely with my sister, and I know you would be able to distinct my armor from the typical vigilante."

His gazed softened slightly as Daphne turned her gaze back towards the city.

"Does your sister know you're here?"

"No. And I would like to keep it that way." She stated as she turned her attention back towards him

He simply remained silent, turning his gaze to look at the glowing city.

"You speak very well for an Amazonian. Diana still speaks in a formal tone."

"She was never an easy adapter. She holds to much pride for that." Daphne chuckled

They both turned and looked to each other, and then Daphne turned to check their surroundings before removing her mask and hood.

Batman watched intriguingly as she did so, curious.

The Bat studied her carefully, she had the same tan skin and high cheekbones as her sister. But she had magical forest green eyes and dark brown hair, and a small trace of freckles across her nose and cheeks that Diana didn't have.

"Why would you reveal yourself to me?"

"A symbol of trust. You work with my sister, and I know my sister. If she deems you worthy, I know I can trust you."

He nods before looking out towards the city.

"What are you doing in Gotham?"

Daphne bit the inside of her cheek lightly, keeping a strong stance.

"Training."

The Bat then turned to her, waiting for her to elaborate. When she doesn't, he slightly tilts his head.

"No details? What happened to 'trust'?"

"I trust you with my identity, not my secrets. Unlike you, the two are not the same for me."

He gives a small smirk, but his cowl hid the rest of his expression.

"And how would you know that?"

"Because there are no technological traces of you. Unlike Superman and Flash who we're incredibly easy to uncover."

This catches his attention.

"Uncover?"

"There identities. Who they truly are." Daphne stated as she continued to survey the area around her

The Bat remained silent and after a few moments Daphne speaks once more.

"Eventually I was able to form a pretty good guess as to who the infamous Dark Knight is."

This received a chuckle from the Bat and as she covered herself once more with her hood and mask, Batman found himself inching closer.

"Oh, and who am I?"

Daphne smirked as she leaned in closer, the only thing keep her breath from hitting his exposed cheeks was her mask.

"I'm sure Bruce Wayne is just your day name."

This caught him off guard. And Daphne knew that too. He took a slight step back and looked at the Amazonian princess with the ever so slight look of shock, and if she wasn't looking for it Daphne would have never seen it.

"But do not worry, I vow to not share that information with anyone."

But before Bruce can respond, a bomb goes off on the docks not far from them.

Daphne quickly snaps her head towards the docks, before slightly turning to the Bat; who nods quickly. Together they take off towards the explosion.

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As the Nightshade and Batman make there way onto the burning dock, they split off in two directions. Daphne watches as he makes his way forward before slipping underneath the dock itself.

'Why attack an abandoned dock?' She thought as she listened for the Bats steps across the wooden planks.

She used the small pieces of metal she kept in her side pouch to keep herself centered underneath before slowly making her way to the end.

"Ah, the Bats back in town. What a surprise. Get tired out the intergalactic ass kickings you we're getting?" Deadshot jests

Daphne remained still as she listened, her arms and legs tightened as she attempted to keep herself stable underneath the dock.

"Heard you were stirring trouble Deadshot, and I'm here to put an end to it."

Daphne takes the opportunity to quickly make her way to the end of the deck, she fastens her arms and legs and prepares to swing over.

"Ha! I thought you'd left the new beauty for that." Deadshot said with an harden tone

"New beauty? You flatter me Deadshot." Nightshade said as she jumped up behind him, startling him enough that as he tries a step, he falls just in front of the Batman.

He lets out a low groan before chuckling and rolling over on his back.

"Ah there she is! I was wondering when you were going to show. You're much more amusing than this egomaniac." He said gesturing his head upwards at Batman

Nightshade let's out a chuckle before jumping down beside him.

"So I've heard." She said with a wink towards the Bat.

She couldn't see it, but she knew he rolled his eyes under the mask.

"You can't tell me you honestly prefer his company?" Deadshot flirts from below

"I have no clue. But I can tell it's already better than yours."

"Well, that's too bad. Here I was hoping we could be friends."

Daphne took a quick glance around. No hostsges, no weapons other than the guns strapped on Deadshot.

'What does he want?'

"My friends don't set off bombs randomly." Daphne sassed, hoping to keep him entertained

"Oh that's too bad. We would have made excellent friends." Deadshot flirts

"Enough Deadshot." The Batman says as he puts his foot down on Deadshots chest.

"Easy Bats. Jealously not a good look on you."

The Bat simply huffed silently.

"What is it you want Deadshot." Batman pressed

"What makes you think I want something?" Deadshot smugly replies

"You wouldn't have set off a bomb in a non lethal area if you were after anything other than our attention." Daphne deuces

"Ah she's smart too. I bet you have a rocking bod-"

Deadshots vulgar comment is cut off by Batman picking him up and hold him by the collar of his suit.

"You have one minute to start talking before I take you to Arkham Asylum."

"Okay okay geez! I was hired by some new guy, he's not from around here. Claimed to have a way to end you once and for all."

Batman simply stares at him, and Daphne narrows her gaze at Deadshot.

"But he's gone nuts! He's got Bane and Penguin working together on some top secret project. I overheard the stuff they were talking about, some type of acid and something about Ace Chemicals."

Daphne had heard briefly about Bane and the Penguin, the streets made them out to be lowly criminals; not as important as the Joker. Ace Chemicals however, Daphne had heard lots about. That plant seemed to be where everything evil in Gothman was created, and she couldn't help but wonder why they didn't just destroy it.

Batman turned to Nightshade as he released Deadshot.

"Ace Chemicals is a toxic chemical plant-"

"So I've heard. A lot has been created in that hellhole. What the move Bats?"

"First we find out more information. Who is this employee of yours and where can I find him?"

Deadshot looks at him for a while before responding.

"I've never met the man, no one has. His recruiter goes by Saber, and he changes the meeting locations. Rumor has it that he used to work security for Luther."

Nightshade turns to Deadshot with a small smile.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah sweetheart. He doesn't like Bats." Deadshot says turning his head to Batman.

"We'll remember that."

She then turned to said Bat and gave a light smile.

"So, Gotham has its Bat back, you ready?"

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Authors Note:

HI LOVELYS! I'm back. I'm so sorry for the long wait, a lot has happened! Check out my profile for a new update.

I would also like to dedicate this chapter to GWilden2023 who has patiently waited for this chapter.