S T A R C I T Y
September 22, 09:45 PDT

It was common knowledge, to anyone she knew, that Reese was distrusting in most people. Maybe it was the fact that she'd spent almost an entire year on the streets of Star City before being taken in by Roy and Oliver, or the fact that she just found most people incompetent.

Whatever the reason, once the adoption papers had been signed by one Oliver Jonas Queen, and once the ten-year-old Reese had stated, in no uncertain terms, that she would not be attending school, the homeschooling had begun.

Dinah was her primary teacher. And so, here the two were, almost three years later, in one of Star City's parks, coincidentally the same one where Reese had first shown Dick the golden arrowheads she had gotten from Kent Nelson, about a month ago now.

"Okay," Dinah began as she sat across from Reese at a cement picnic table near the center of the park, different books spread out between them. "What did I say today's subject matter was?"

"History of the Justice Society," Reese answered simply, and Dinah gave her protege a nod.

"Good," she said, before clasping her fingers together over the table. "Now, tell me what you know,"

"Dinah," Reese began. "Why do we have to do this? It's bad enough that Captain Atom's our teacher on covert ops. I don't need to know about the first team of superheroes when I can very well just go and ask Jay Garrick about it,"

Jay Garrick, also known as the very first Flash, had been a founding member of the Justice League's predecessor, along with Dr. Fate, Alan Scott's Green Lantern, and a few others.

Dinah gave the young brunette a slightly disapproving look before she gave an answer.

"I'll admit," the older blonde woman began. "It isn't exactly my cup of tea either, but you know, Reese, you're going to have to learn about it sometime,"

"I'll go and ask Jay about it," she answered simply. "In Central City,"

Dinah stared at Reese for a moment, before her eyes widened, and she gave the brunette a sly grin that instantly made Reese suspicious.

"Are you sure you're upset about learning about the Justice Society?" Dinah asked. "Or is it because a certain Boy Wonder is starting the school year all the way in Gotham City, and you're still being homeschooled on the opposite coast?"

"What?" Reese asked, genuinely confused, though the tell-tale red blush to her face told a different story. "No. I mean, why would I care that Artemis is starting at Gotham Academy, and Dick's the only other one on the Team who knows who she really is, but he can't tell anyone because he promised me he wouldn't and Artemis doesn't even know that he's Robin and--"

At this point, Reese had begun to ramble as her thoughts started to get away from her, but Dinah managed to stop her babbling by placing her hand on top of Reese's twitching fingers.

"Baby bird," Dinah began. "Slow down. What do you mean, Dick's the only other one who knows who Artemis really is?"

When she realized what she had just revealed, Reese looked down at her lap, taking her hands out from underneath Dinah's and wringing her fingers together.

"Uh..." she started. "Well, I may or may not, have asked Dick to run a background check on Artemis after she first joined the Team,"

"Reese--" Quickly, the brunette cut Dinah off.

"I know!" she said hurriedly, saying her next words all in one breath. "I know it was wrong because everyone deserves their secrets, but it was after Dad first introduced us, and then I was worried that he was replacing me, and--"

Again, Reese had begun to ramble, and again, Dinah was the one to cut her off as a cool September breeze blew through the nearby oak tree whose leaves were just starting to change color, only this time, her words weren't spoken with disapproval, but with pride.

"You just said 'Dad'," Dinah said, and Reese glanced up.

"Huh?" she asked, and after a moment, Dinah continued.

"Oliver," she said simply. "You referred to him as Dad. You've never done that before,"

"I haven't?" Reese echoed, before shrugging. "Hmm, well I guess now would be as good a time as any to start, considering my biological father was a scientist who thought it'd be a good idea to mess around with something in my DNA that gave me superpowers,"

Again, Dinah looked a bit shaken, but Reese brushed it off.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter," she told Dinah quickly. "I mean, it's not like my parents would be able to tell me exactly why they thought messing with my genes would be a good idea unless you have an ouija board lying around somewhere that I don't know about,"

"Reese," Dinah began again, her eyes turning softer, and a bit more understanding. "I can't say that I know exactly what you're going through, because I don't, but I want you to know that I'm here for you. We all are. Me, Oliver, Dick, if you need anyone to talk to about this--"

"Dick already knows," Reese interrupted, and Dinah gave a small smile.

"I assume he was the first person you told?" the older woman asked, and Reese gave a tiny nod, before she glanced down, where her golden arrowhead hung on a chain.

Gently, Reese pulled the long necklace over her head, setting the arrowhead on the table before the end popped open, revealing a new note that she actually hadn't read yet.

As much as she enjoyed "passing notes" with Dick when they weren't able to see each other, Reese had to admit that using the paper had begun to get a little bit cumbersome.

Yeah, these two artifacts were thousands of years old and had been used for centuries before Kent Nelson gave them to Reese at the Tower of Fate, but now, they were in the twenty-first century, and as such, not many people sent letters anymore.

Whatcha doin'? The note read, and Reese glanced upward, only to see that Dinah had walked away from where the two of them were sitting, instead opting to move over to a nearby soft pretzel cart, where she began to speak to the vendor.

Nothing much, Reese wrote quickly, taking out the small ballpoint pen that she had begun to carry around and beginning to scratch out a message. Aren't you in school right now?

Lunch break, Dick answered. Hey, did you know Artemis was going to Gotham Academy now?

At this, Reese couldn't help but roll her eyes. She wanted to like Artemis, truly she did, and for a while, the blonde had begun to prove herself within the team.

But...she was in no way sure of what it was, but Reese had a bad feeling. She couldn't help but think that Artemis was somehow going to mess up their rhythm, so to speak.

For years, it had been her, Roy, Wally, Kaldur, and Dick. Reese had to admit, she didn't spend as much time with Kid Flash or Aqualad outside of the Team as she probably should, but he and Dick hung out regularly, so that was something.

And maybe it was because it seemed like Green Arrow had replaced Speedy with Artemis almost immediately after Roy went solo, but at the moment, Reese really wished she was in Gotham. Dick could obviously take care of himself, I mean, hello, he was the protege of the Batman for crying out loud, but still...

Yes, she wrote back finally. I knew. Boy Wonder, you were the one who told me.

Oh, right, Dick's next note admitted. I forgot. So, what are you up to, pretty bird?

Even though he wasn't able to see her across the 2, 981.1 miles it was between Gotham City and Star City, Reese, though she was by now far used to the affectionate nickname, blushed.

Dinah's schooling me on the Justice Society, she answered the Boy Wonder. We're also about to eat pretzels. Kinda wish I was in Gotham though.

Why? Dick asked as Dinah sat down across from Reese again, sliding a salted pretzel in a small paper wrapping to her side of the table, along with a small cup of nacho cheese. Rhysalin, you've always said you hated interacting with civilians.

At his words, Reese scoffed out loud, because no, she had never said exactly that. Before she was able to write a note back, Dinah spoke again.

"What'd Dick do now?" she asked, tearing off a small piece of pretzel before she ate it, and Reese sighed.

"He said I hate interacting with civilians," she answered, and Dinah raised an eyebrow.

"Do you?" she asked, and Reese threw her hands out to either side.

"No!" she exclaimed. "That's just it. I don't hate interacting with civilians, it's just...I think if I were to have civilian friends, which you know, I don't, I think my work as Silverbird would eventually just dissolve the friendship as a whole,"

Reese, if she were being honest with herself, at one point, did want to attend you know, a normal school, have normal friends, but she had eventually withdrawn from it, after an incident in Star City had stopped her from ever fully trusting a civilian her age again.

That wasn't her being cynical, it was her being honest.

About a year ago, around Halloween, Green Arrow, Speedy, and Silverbird had been patrolling as usual, when an alert of a robbery-in-progress had caused Oliver, Roy, and Reese to separate from each other.

Her adoptive father and brother had gone to deal with the altercation, while Reese had continued on with the patrol. Roy hadn't been happy about that but eventually conceded when Reese promised him a movie night once they were done.

Just as she was finishing, Silverbird had caught the sound of someone screaming, and had discovered a girl about her age being cornered by an older man in an alley.

Now, Star City may not be as bad as Gotham in terms of the city's crime rate, but walking around the Glades at night was not something that was recommended for most people.

So, Reese stepped in, and shot a smokescreen arrow towards the man, causing him to cough and use his hand to wave away the cloud.

Before he had fully regained his bearings, Silverbird decked the perp with a right hook that made him fall to the ground with a grunt, out cold.

Or at least, Reese thought he had been unconscious. When she went to see if the girl the man had been cornering was okay, the "victim's" entire demeanor changed, and Silverbird suddenly found herself being yanked backward and onto the ground.

Her head snapped against the concrete, giving her a small concussion, and as her blackening gaze cleared, Reese found herself staring up at the man she had just knocked out, now obviously awake, smirking as he cracked his knuckles.

"Wow, Dad," the other girl scoffed. "You were right, the heroes in this city are gullible,"

"We're not gullible if we think we're saving someone's life," Silverbird cut in, clenching her jaw as the other girl took a baseball out from behind her, swinging it around a bit.

"As you can see, little birdie," the girl's father sneered. "No one needs their life saved at the moment. Except, you know, maybe you,"

Then, he took a switchblade out of his jacket pocket, but before he was able to slice or stab her with it, Reese threw her foot up, catching the man right in the crotch and causing to him to let out a gasp of pain, falling to his knees on the ground.

Silverbird used her hands to flip herself up to her feet and faced the father-daughter duo head-on. It seemed her cheap shot to the other girl's dad hadn't taken him out of the fight, only made him angrier.

"Get her!" the man shouted as he hunched over on the ground, his face a blazing thunderhead of anger mixed with pain, and the man's daughter sprinted forward, hefting her bat up in the air.

But, due to the way that Reese was almost able to see an opponent's next attack coming, she spun, throwing her foot out in a wide arc. Her heel hit the girl's wrist, and there was a sharp 'crack', before the girl let out a cry, dropping her bat as she used her other hand to encircle her injured wrist, holding it gingerly.

Then, Silverbird reached up, tapping her commlink and patching her through to Speedy and Green Arrow.

"Silverbird!" Oliver spoke first. "Where are you?" Before Reese was able to answer, the girl's father finally stood to his feet, his mouth twisting into a scowl enough to rival Roy's whenever he and Ollie got into an argument.

"A little preoccupied," Silverbird said slowly, keeping her eyes firmly on the man in front of her should he make a move. "I can handle it,"

"Where are you?" Green Arrow repeated, his voice now turning concerned, but the girl's father suddenly threw his fist towards Silverbird, and she needed to dodge, keeping her from answering Oliver.

"In the Glades," Reese said finally, hopping onto a nearby dumpster, and therefore giving herself a somewhat higher vantage point. "An alley off the corner of Hickory Street,"

"We're on our way," Roy said. "Just hold on a bit longer, Silverbird,"

"Oh, please," Reese scoffed into her commlink, leaning back a few inches when the father swung his switchblade towards her face. "I can do this all night,"

Needless to say, she had been able to hold her own in that little skirmish, even though the girl's father was at least twice Reese's size, and probably 200 pounds soaking wet of pure muscle.

Now, back in the present day with Dinah, Reese turned back to Oliver's girlfriend, speaking again about the fact that she didn't trust civilians, not that she disliked them.

"Do you remember Halloween last year?" she began, and Dinah raised an eyebrow. During the altercation in the alley, Black Canary had been absent, simply because she had needed to deal with Justice League business elsewhere.

"What does that have to do with the fact of you not trusting civilians?" she asked finally, and Reese sighed.

"That night..." she began slowly. "In the alley, that's when I started to doubt the credibility of so-called normal people,"

"Reese--" Dinah's voice was soft, but Reese recognized it as her 'psychiatrist voice', the one she used whenever she needed information, and that was made Reese cut her off.

"No, here me out," the brunette began. "For the last three years, I have done my best to be a good hero. Working with Batman, and Robin, and the League, that's what I'm good at. Now, after the alley, I don't hang out with normal people because they don't understand. That night, I thought I was rescuing someone and that act benched me for two weeks because I didn't realize that that girl and her father were trying to lure one of us into a trap,"

"Baby bird, you can't blame yourself for that," Dinah spoke calmly. "You couldn't have known it was a trap. Roy or Ollie could've been the ones to answer that call, you can't doubt your skills as a hero because you made one mistake,"

"Sure I can," Reese said simply, ignoring the subsequent shocked look on Dinah's face as the twelve-year-old girl ripped off a piece of her uneaten pretzel and tossed it to a hungry-looking pigeon that was nearby. "I'm surrounded by all these amazing heroes every day. Batman, Robin, Flash, Green Arrow, you. How am I supposed to amount to anything if all that happens is me messing up while answering a fake distress call? What kind of hero can I be if I can't even save one person?"

"Okay," Dinah's voice suddenly turned sharp, and the edge to it made Reese snap her head upward. "Stop. You are an amazing hero, Reese, and you can't let anyone tell you otherwise. You and Robin, you're partners, a force to be reckoned with. I don't care what anyone says about Batman and Robin being the Dynamic Duo. Bruce may have created that moniker, but you and Dick define it. Silverbird, whether you're with Robin or by yourself, with Red Arrow, or Green Arrow, or anyone, you're a hero all on your own. Everyone makes mistakes, nobody's perfect, not even Superman,"

"Especially Superman," Reese muttered under her breath before looking towards Dinah again. "The Man of Steel's a jerk. Conner's basically his son, and he won't even give him the time of day,"

"He's working on it," Dinah began, and Reese crossed her arms over her chest, raising an eyebrow.

"Hardly," she added, and Dinah gave a conceding shrug, admitting that, yes, Reese had a point.

Reese didn't mean to sound so...ungrateful about her work as Silverbird, but in her experience, dealing with civilians had never ended well.

At least, not for her.

➵➵➵

That night, and because of a stupid three-hour time difference where she was almost late, Silverbird found herself, once again, in Gotham City, sitting on the fire escape above the hidden Zeta tube, which was stashed in an abandoned phone booth.

Reese was sitting on one of the metal stairs, lost in thought. She had actually wanted to go to the cave instead since tonight was the same night she and Aqualad had planned on telling Red Tornado about the possibility of a mole within their team, but Kaldur had said he was able to do it on his own, so here Reese was, in Gotham, wishing she was able to tell the person she trusted most about the mole.

But, Red Arrow had been right in Taipei. Not that there was any possible or conceivable way that Dick would betray them to the enemy, but it was safer for Robin to believe everything was normal.

Or, at least, Reese was hoping that was the case. God, she hated lying to him.

She was so lost in thought, that Silverbird didn't hear the subtle rustling of a certain Boy Wonder's cape until Robin himself was already sitting down next to her on the small stair, looking a bit concerned as he gazed at her.

"You okay, pretty bird?" Dick began. "You normally hear me coming long before I jump off the roof. You also don't really look like you're feeling the aster,"

"I'm fine," Reese answered simply, leaning her head against the side of the building the fire escape was connected to. "Just...thinking,"

"That must be hard," Robin chuckled but winced when Silverbird's hand flew out and slapped his chest. "Ow! Geez, sorry,"

When Reese didn't look away from where she was staring out into relative space, Dick's face turned serious again.

"Hey," he said softly, reaching over and setting one gloved hand on top of hers. "Rhysalin, what's wrong? It's not GA again, is it?"

"What?" Reese asked, genuinely confused, and she finally turned to look at the black-haired boy next to her. "No. No, it's not Arrow. It's me,"

"It's...you?" Robin asked, and Silverbird sighed before she elaborated.

"What would you do if you had a secret, really wanted to tell someone about it, but didn't want to ruin potentially everything by telling that person said secret?"

There was a sharp clatter as Dick almost tumbled down the fire escape, and Reese glanced over at him, a bit confused.

"Are you okay?" she asked, eyes narrowed in concern, and Robin quickly popped back up to his feet again, brushing himself off, even though he really didn't have any dust on him.

"Dandy," he answered quickly, almost too quickly, and that was what made Reese a little bit suspicious. "I mean, uh, what?"

Silverbird opened her mouth to repeat herself, fully intending on telling Robin the information from Sportsmaster, when suddenly, she caught sight of someone else entering the alley.

Artemis.

The blonde girl glanced down either side of the alley for a moment, seemingly seeing if anyone was following her, and as such, Dick used her distracted mind as an opportunity to jump off the fire escape, landing in the shadows of the phone booth.

"Artemis?" he asked, his voice taking on a mocked-shocked tone that caused Reese to roll her eyes. That boy was not subtle.

"Robin!" Artemis exclaimed, startled. "I...uh..." She began to stutter, and this was also when Reese jumped off the fire escape herself, landing beside the Boy Wonder with little more than a rustle of gravel.

"How random," Robin continued. "That you're in Gotham City! Instead of Star City, where your uncle--Green Arrow--lives?"

Artemis, looking remarkably similar to a deer cornered by a pair of headlights, began to stutter out an explanation as to why exactly she wasn't in Star City.

"I'm--uh--here to see my cousin!" the blonde exclaimed finally, and Silverbird noticed that, when she needed to be, Artemis wasn't a very good liar. "She was in the state spelling bee! Here...in Gotham...City!"

"C-O-O-L," Dick spelled out. "Did she W-I-N?"

"N-O," Artemis responded, and Robin's mask lenses quirked.

"D-R-A-G,"

This time, Reese cut in, rolling her eyes. "Are you two D-O-N-E?" she asked, and Artemis blinked for a second before gesturing the phone booth.

"Yeah," she agreed, jerking a thumb towards the door. "Let's just go to the cave,"

"Ladies first," Robin bowed at his waist, swinging an arm out in some sort of grand gesture, but needless to say, Artemis was not amused.

"Your town," she retorted, putting her hands on her hips. "You go," Dick shrugged, but stepped inside the phone booth anyway, shutting the door behind him.

Recognized Robin B-0-1

"You know," Reese began, making Artemis pause as she went to step inside the phone booth herself after Robin had disappeared within the golden glow of the Zeta tube. "You're a really bad liar,"

Artemis just gave Silverbird a dirty look before she stepped into the phone booth herself, the computer instantly recognizing her.

Recognized Artemis B-0-8

As soon as the particles from Artemis's own teleportation dissipated, Reese finally stepped into the phone booth herself.

Luckily, the coordinates were still locked in on Mount Justice, so it wasn't like she'd be sent to some random location. That wouldn't be good.

Recognized Silverbird B-0-3

As it were, the first thing that Reese noticed when she appeared in the cave was a massive fireball flying straight towards her head.

Luckily, she managed to hit the ground a millisecond before she would've been burned alive, and the fireball only singed the very end of her braid.

Through the choking gray smoke that filtered throughout the entire cave, Silverbird saw Artemis and Robin hopping around, with Artemis shooting arrows blindly through the smoke, and Dick throwing birdarangs.

Whenever the birdarangs would hit something, Reese heard a sort-of metallic-sounding 'clank', and that was what made her suspicious.

You know, aside from the fact that the Team's supposedly "secret headquarters" had quite literally, just been compromised. Did this have something to do with the mole? Did one of Silverbird's teammates finally decide to betray them all?

"Get down!" Reese heard Robin's shout a split-second before Dick absolutely body-slammed her to the ground, just as another fireball hit the wall right where Reese's head had been just a moment before.

"Who are we fighting?" Artemis shouted as Robin pulled Silverbird to her feet.

"Don't know," he began, before glancing towards Reese. "Can you see anything?"

But, Silverbird was only able to shake her head, multi-tasking as she too began shooting arrows towards the cave's intruders. She was only just able to see the faint outlines of two figures as they made their way towards her, Dick, and Artemis.

"We're sitting ducks by these tubes," Robin continued. "Head for the exit!"

The three of them made a break for it, ducking under a stream of fire that flew their way, but, just as they entered the adjoining corridor, a wave of water cut off their escape route.

"Or not," Reese heard Dick mutter, a split-second before the wave slammed into the three of them, throwing them against the opposite wall.

Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the wave receded, and Silverbird didn't waste any time as she began to run again, dodging another fireball and spinning around to see that the flaming balls of misery were coming from a higher ledge.

She opened her mouth and let loose a Canary Cry, the hypersonic soundwave buying them seconds of precious time as the fireballs ceased.

Though, as she, Robin, and Artemis entered the hallway again, the next fireball that hit the floor turned into a fire tornado and began to chase them down the corridor.

Luckily, they managed to put some distance between them and the fire-tornado by going into Mount Justice's training room, and Dick instantly tapped the commlink that was situated in his ear.

"Robin to Team!" he cried. "Come in, Aqualad!"

"KF!" Reese shouted, trying to patch herself through to Wally, but unfortunately, all she got was static. Then, as if things couldn't possibly get worse, the door to the training blew open, and Silverbird, Robin, and Artemis were all thrown forward.

But, considering there was no way they'd be able to stop without ending up dead, Reese, now blown-dry after the heat from the fire tornado dried her clothes, started running again.

Hanging a sharp left, she, Dick, and Artemis ended up in the locker room, and Robin tapped his commlink again.

"Robin to Batcave!" Dick began as they entered the open showers. "Override RG-04! Cave calling Justice League! HOJ/Watchtower! B-Zero-One! Priority Red!"

As the three of them turned on the faucets, hoping to combat the aggressive flames coming their way, an itch began in the back of Reese's brain, and she had the sinking feeling that they were forgetting about something.

"Boy Wonder," she began as Dick began to mutter about the communications being blocked. "Don't you feel like we're forgetting something?"

"Maybe," Robin said quietly, before shrugging. "At least the water's helping,"

But, Silverbird froze, as she suddenly heard the pipes within the walls of the showers begin to creak and groan, small tiles beginning to fall off as every faucet and showerhead sprayed water everywhere.

"Or not," Robin muttered again as the water quickly overtook them. Luckily, though she was almost deathly terrified of fire, Reese was fine in the water, being a proficient swimmer.

Before the water fully took the three of them over, Silverbird took a deep breath and joined Robin and Artemis underwater as Dick swam over to the wall, placing a birdarang against the tiles.

For a moment, the dots on the birdarang blinked, before the wall exploded outward, letting the water out into the adjoining hallway, along with Dick, Reese, and Artemis.

As soon as the water around her had dissipated, Reese coughed, trying to get the little water that she had swallowed out of her lungs.

As if you couldn't tell, so far her day had been going great.

But, they couldn't stop moving, lest they want whoever had attacked the cave to capture them, so the three remaining heroes made their way into Mount Justice's kitchen.

"We need to get lost," Robin said firmly, and Silverbird flicked her eyes wildly around the room before they landed on the ventilation shaft that was above the oven.

"The air vents!" she exclaimed.

"Good!" Dick responded. "Go!" But, as Artemis ran across the common room, Reese noticed that Robin hung back, and he instead turned to face the keypad that was connected to the wall.

"What are you doing?" she asked as Dick pulled up his holo-glove, glancing around to make sure the cave's intruders weren't nearby.

"Downloading the cave's blueprints," he answered quickly. "Could come in--" Robin cut himself off as the sound of clanking footsteps came closer, and Dick quickly grabbed Reese's hand, dragging her over to the vent and pushing her up in front of him.

While in the remarkably large vent, Robin pulled up his holo-glove again, on which he held the cave's blueprints, which essentially served as a map.

"Go left," the Boy Wonder said quickly, and Artemis, who was in front of Reese, did so quickly when suddenly, Silvebird heard something come from behind Robin.

"Go in front of me," Reese said sharply over her shoulder, and Robin's mask lenses narrowed.

"What?" he asked, sounding confused. "Why?"

"Just do it," Still looking a bit confused, Dick crawled between Reese and the wall, before going in between her and Artemis again.

Then, Reese listened for what she heard, before going onto her back and kicking Robin forward, causing the Boy Wonder to let out a surprised shout.

Silverbird rolled onto her stomach again, leaping around the corner into the adjoining vent just as a burst of heat and fire came up the tunnel/vent they had just been in, and the flames licked up the sides of Reese's legs.

She could feel the flames burning through her pants, so she hit her shins against the sides of the vent, effectively putting out the flames, though she was still able to see some burns on her skin.

"Are you crazy?" Robin cried out, his voice echoing in the vent as he peered down at Reese, and the brunette gave a small smile.

"I saved your life didn't I?" she asked, but Dick didn't seem amused, a muscle in his jaw beginning to twitch, which Reese knew only happened when he was really pissed off. "Sorry,"

Reese turned over onto her stomach, but unintentionally let out a small whimper as the bottom part of her legs moved against the inside of the vents. Maybe her burns were worse than she thought.

"You okay?" This time, Dick's voice was softer than when he had been yelling at her, and when Reese glanced at him, his eyes were creased in worry.

"I'm fine," she answered, before glancing over Dick's shoulder at Artemis, who looked concerned as well. "Really,"

Robin still looked unconvinced, but it wasn't like the three of them could stay in one place for very long, so Dick relented and turned back to Artemis.

"Take the first right," he huffed as the three began to move again. "There should be a vent cover right in front of you,"

Sure enough, there was, and the three of them dropped down into another tunnel.

But, as soon as Reese's boots touched the upper walkway of the cave's generator room, the nerve endings in her legs suddenly felt like they were actually on fire, and she whimpered again.

Robin stared at her worriedly again, before glancing at Artemis. "This way," he said firmly, before running down the nearby stairwell.

They had rounded a corner and were running parallel to a side wall, when one of the intruders, a feminine figure engulfed in a cloud of fire, dropped down from the ceiling.

The figure looked around for a moment before she extended her hands up in the air, and more smoke began to spread through the room, bringing with it a wave of heat that prompted Silverbird, Robin, and Artemis to jump off the walkway they were on, eventually landing on the ground level.

Well, Dick and Artemis jumped down. Before she was able to move, Dick had already wrapped his arm around Reese's waist, holding her as he jumped down himself.

"You're injured," he said simply when Reese looked to him for an explanation. "We don't need it getting worse,"

That was logical, so Reese accepted that as Dick's answer. But, what she then noticed was the bar on one of the generators had a red meter that was quickly overtaking the green, and Reese grimaced as the glass casing began to crack.

"That's not good," Robin said matter-of-factly as the three of them began running again, steam coming out of nearby pipes as the pressure exceeded the accepted parameters.

As they did so, the pyrokinetic threw more fireballs at them, and because of her injured shins, Silverbird was able to feel the flames beginning to lick at her feet again.

Eventually, she, Robin, and Artemis ducked behind a nearby boiler, and despite the perilous danger they were all in, Reese sat down on the ground, lightly peeling away the remnants of her pants' burned-off hem, revealing several ugly-looking red burns around her ankles and up her calves.

They were second-degree, at least. Her legs, though Reese knew they weren't felt like they actually were on fire, and she didn't know how much longer she'd be able to keep moving.

"Those look really bad," Reese glanced upward as Artemis spoke, and despite the pain that her lower half was in, Reese gave her friend a small smile.

"Gee, I hadn't noticed," she retorted. Meanwhile, Robin had pulled up his holo-glove and was looking at the blueprints again.

"I know the other access tunnel is here somewhere," he muttered, half to himself, and Silverbird glanced to the side as Artemis pulled up the tunnel's grate.

"You mean this one?" the blonde asked, and Reese sighed, realizing that she'd have to get moving again.

"Come on, pretty bird," Dick said softly, reaching down and helping Reese stand up. "Let's get you up,"

"Leave me here," Reese whispered through gritted teeth as she began to walk, Dick's arm supporting almost her entire weight. "I'll just slow you and Artemis down,"

"No," The sheer tone of finality that was in Dick's voice when he answered her almost made Reese pause. "I'm not leaving you behind,"

Before the brunette was able to respond to that, Robin had placed one of his birdarangs against the boiler, grabbed Silverbird again, and the two made their way into the tunnel just as the boiler exploded, cutting off the pyrokinetic before she was able to reach them.

Dick entered the tunnel first, then stood right underneath the hole and stared up at Reese, his jaw set.

"Jump down," he said firmly. "I'll catch you," Though Reese was more than a little bit skeptical, it wasn't like she had many other options, and sighed heavily before she stepped down through the hole, waiting for the inevitable crash against the ground.

It never came.

Instead, she felt one of Robin's arms lock under her knees, while the other went to support her back. Instantly, just to make sure she herself didn't fall, Reese locked her arms around Dick's neck, and for a moment, the two of them just stared at each other, before finally, Robin spoke.

"You're really light,"

Silverbird scowled at him. "Did you think I wouldn't be?" she asked and heard Artemis snicker as Robin's face turned bright red.

"W-What?" he stammered out, scrambling for an excuse. "No! It's just...just hold on a minute!"

Then, after Dick had set Reese down gently, making sure her burns weren't aggravated any more than they already were, Robin scuttled over to a nearby control box, where he used a batarang to knock the covering off.

Robin then plugged his holo-glove into one of the ports, before making his fingers practically fly across the holo-screen that consequently appeared.

"Locking down the cave's motion and heat sensors to prevent the enemy from tracking us," Dick explained, but Artemis still seemed skeptical.

"And I ask again," the blonde began. "Who is the enemy?"

"Let's find out," Robin responded, this time pulling up prior footage of the cave's security system. "There!" Dick exclaimed as one camera square enlarged enough so that it filled the whole screen.

Within the screen, Reese was able to see M'gann, Conner, and Wally, along with Sphere, within the garage portion of the cave. The speedster, for some reason, was working on Conner's bike as Kaldur walked up to them.

"Torque wrench," Wally muttered, and after M'gann had levitated the tool to him, Kaldur began to speak.

"I have been meaning to ask," Aqualad began slowly. "Any problems juggling schoolwork with your responsibilities here?"

"Nope," Superboy answered simply as Wally smirked.

"Juggling's just one of my many talents. Socket wrench,"

"Daily cheerleading practice has presented a challenge," M'gann began slowly, before holding her hands up. "Oh, but my first loyalty is always to the Team. This team," Miss M quickly clarified. "Not the Bumblebees,"

Reese knew what Kaldur was doing. He was trying to fish for information (no pun intended), and try to see if any of their teammates were actually capable of betraying them.

She didn't think he was doing a very good job of being subtle about it, though. That notion became further clear at Aqualad's next probe.

"Artemis starts school today," he said slowly. "Do you think she will have trouble maintaining her loyalties?"

If Silverbird was alone at the moment, without Robin and Artemis in the vents with her, she would've face-palmed.

Subtle Kaldur'ahm was not.

Over Robin's shoulder, Reese was able to see the way Artemis's eyes narrowed, but Reese avoided her gaze when the blonde turned to look at her, as Wally, on the footage, stood up from his spot at Conner's bike.

"Nah," KF began. "She'll manage alright. I mean, how much more hostile and annoying--"

Whatever Wally had been going to say next was abruptly cut off as the cave's hangar door exploded, throwing everyone forward and killing the camera.

"What happened?" Artemis asked as the security feed turned to static.

"The explosion took out the camera," Robin explained quickly. "I'll find another angle,"

But, no matter how hard Dick tried, each camera feed turned to static, signifying that their Team, no matter their powers or skills, had been beaten.

"That's it," Robin muttered finally. "All four are dead," When he noticed the way that Reese and Artemis were staring at him though, Dick quickly backtracked. "The cameras," he stammered out. "I meant the cameras. I'm sure the others are okay. Just give me a sec to find out the fastest route to the hangar,"

Silverbird hoped her friends were alright, that they were alive because frankly, she didn't want to think of the alternative. Slowly, Reese lowered herself down so she sat next to Artemis, as the blonde began to rant a bit.

"Yeah," Artemis began as Reese leaned her head back against the pipes than ran down the length of the tunnel. "They're fine. They've all got superpowers. They can handle anything,"

"Silverbird has superpowers," Robin explained, but the brunette sighed heavily as dots began to swim in front of her eyes.

"I don't think I'm going to be screaming at anyone any time soon, Boy Wonder," she said slowly, slightly curling up against the pipes on the wall. "I feel like someone just punched me with the flu,"

Mask lenses narrowing, Robin crawled across the tunnel before taking off his glove and laying the back of his hand against her forehead.

"Rhysalin, you're burning up," Dick said softly, but Reese only curled in on herself again. She didn't get sick often, but when she did, she got hit hard.

This time, though, she didn't think this was purely an illness. Then, as Robin reached towards her leg, and purely on reflex, Silverbird kicked her foot out, making the Boy Wonder jerk back a few inches, before Dick held up his hands.

"It's okay," he said slowly, as Artemis looked on, biting her lip in concern. "Pretty bird, I'm not going to touch it. I promise, I just want to look,"

Carefully, Robin reached down again, gingerly taking the charred and ripped hem of Silverbird's pants and moving the leather-like material out of the way so he'd be able to see her burns from earlier.

When Reese heard Dick hiss out a breath from between his teeth, she knew that her wounds weren't pretty. Not that they were going to be anyway, but still...

"How bad is it?" she whispered, making Robin look up at her. For a moment, he and Artemis exchanged a glance, before Dick turned back to Reese.

"Not too bad," he said, but Reese knew that he wasn't telling her the truth.

"Don't lie to me, Boy Wonder," she told him. "Please?"

Dick sighed. "They could be better,"

"Perfect," Reese muttered before the three of them entered the cave's library

"There should be a secret passage behind one of these bookcases," Robin began, and Artemis scoffed.

"Seriously?" the blonde asked, sounding incredulous. "Cliche, much?"

Despite the fact that her legs were metaphorically on fire, Reese was still coherent enough to add her own two-cents to the conversation.

"You should see the Batcave," the brunette whispered before suddenly, the sound of clanking reached her ears, and she hissed at Artemis and Robin to 'be quiet'. "Someone's coming,"

Quickly, the three of them hid behind a nearby bookcase, and Reese wiped the back of her hand against her forehead, only for it come away glistening with sweat droplets.

Ignoring the way Robin was staring at her, Reese looked over her shoulder through the shelves of the bookcase, in time to see a tall figure walking towards them.

"Artemis, Silverbird, Robin," a somewhat familiar voice began, and Reese recognized it as Red Tornado's, but that didn't even make any sense.

Tornado had monitor duty on the Watchtower tonight, filling in for Green Arrow since Ollie and Dinah were on a date, and considering the Zeta tubes were basically offline, things weren't adding up.

"It's Red Tornado!" Artemis exclaimed, rounding the side of the bookcase, but Reese's eyes widened, and she tackled Artemis, rolling both of them underneath a nearby table.

"Yes on the Red," she began, gritting her teeth as her calves scraped against the rough carpet. "No on the Tornado,"

Just as they were about to exit the library, the female android, the one who controlled fire, rounded the corner, and despite the perilous situation, Reese froze.

Only when Robin yanked her to the side mere seconds before flames exploded throughout the room did Silverbird jerk from her fear-induced stupor, just as Dick dragged her up on top of the bookshelves.

"Who--What are they?" Artemis exclaimed as the library's sprinkler system turned on to combat the female android's flames.

Eventually, after Robin had pulled on the spine of The Mysteries of Udolpho, the secret passage opened, just as some bookcases fell towards them.

"Did either of you know Tornado had siblings?" Artemis shouted as the three of them, albeit slowly because of Reese's burns, made their way through the passage.

"No," Robin answered simply.

They eventually got to the end of the hallway, and Dick went to turn left, but Artemis latched a hand around his wrist, stopping the Boy Wonder in his tracks.

"So, now what?" the blonde asked. "Red Tornado is one of the powerhouses of the League. How are we supposed to take down two of him?"

"They do seem pretty user-unfriendly," Dick said, almost jokingly, but Artemis was most definitely not amused.

"Don't joke," she sneered. "They--"

Suddenly, the voice of the male 'Red' came over the intercom. "Attention Robin. Attention Silverbird. Attention Artemis. You have exactly ten minutes to the surrender or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished,"

➵➵➵

"Eight minutes,"

Because there was no way that Reese was going to let those Red Robots end up killing her friends and teammates, she had, reluctantly, convinced Robin and Artemis to not leave her behind, even though the burns on her legs were obviously getting worse.

"We can access the hangar from here," Robin spoke up, just as a roaring sound signified the arrival of a massive tidal wave. "Or not," Dick muttered, and Artemis sent him a dirty look.

"Would you please stop saying that?" she asked, but before they could get very far, likely due to the fact that Reese was slowing them down, the brunette figure, the wave slammed into their backs, throwing all three forward.

The fact that all of the water was salt water was most definitely not helping her burns feel any better. It felt like a thousand pins and needles were stabbing into her ankles and calves all at the same time.

She was also metaphorically kicking herself at the moment. The one day she forgot to stash a rebreather in her utility pouches is the day she almost drowns.

Her month so far, had been going great. First, the team gets sent to Bialya and loses six months of their lives, then she goes to Taipei with Roy, and Sportsmaster tells her and Kaldur there's a mole on the Team. Then she went undercover to Belle Reve and had to reveal her secret identity to a woman who actually controlled fire.

Reese officially hated September.

Robin, who had been swimming in front of her, handed Reese his own rebreather, and the two of them, plus Artemis, started to swim towards the end of the hallway.

But, before they were able to reach the doorway, the male robot, i.e. the one who could control water, hence the tidal wave, rocketed forward through the flooded hallway and locked his massive hand around Reese's ankle, sending a burst of white-hot pain shooting up her leg.

Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, the robot yanked Reese backward, out of Dick's grip and back the way they had come.

Since sound moved almost five times faster underwater than it did in the air, Reese opened her mouth and tried to scream, to see if, somehow, the Canary Cry would disorient the robot.

Alas, that didn't work, because the android's hand flashed out at a speed that was almost too fast for Silverbird to comprehend, and grabbed her neck, cutting off the beginnings of the sonic scream, and then he started to squeeze.

If the fact that she was underwater, and therefore already without oxygen wasn't bad enough, now Reese was getting asphyxiated by a robot.

But, before she was able to go fully unconscious, Robin, who along with Artemis, had been staring in shock at what was going on in front of him, suddenly burst into action, swimming forward and grabbing one of Silverbird's own arrows, which had fallen out of her quiver when the three of them had been hit with the tidal wave.

Dick took the arrow, spun it so the arrowhead was pointing downward, and jabbed it dead-center into the android's eye, finally prompting the man-like robot to let go of Reese's throat.

As soon as she, Robin, and Artemis surfaced within the flooded hangar, Silverbird coughed, trying to expel the water that she had swallowed, but needed to dive down again when the pyrokinetic android shot a fireball at her.

From what Reese was able to see in the split-second she was above water, she saw two main things. One, M'gann and Kaldur were currently trapped inside a cage made of fire, while Wally and Conner seemed to be stuck in some sort of crudely-shaped metal.

"You guys okay?" Robin whispered to Wally and Conner as he, Reese, and Artemis resurfaced next to their pseudo-cages.

"Forget us!" Conner shouted, before turning to the higher floor. "Help M'gann!"

"Aqualad!" Artemis called up to their Atlantean friend. "Is she--"

"She is unconscious," Kaldur said slowly, and Reese was able to see the sweat dripping off his forehead. "I fear she--we cannot survive that much longer,"

The female-like android appeared again, and once again, Silverbird, Robin, and Artemis had to dive down beneath the waterline.

Reese was also able to feel her strength slowly slipping away. Frankly, she was surprised she had lasted this long. If her legs getting burned hadn't been what was sapping her energy, running around for the last forty-five minutes definitely would.

That was why, as hard as she could, Reese was barely able to pull herself up onto the steps after she, Dick, and Artemis surfaced again.

She coughed, expelling more water from her lungs, as both of the androids cornered the three of them on either side of the stairwell.

What Silverbird really wanted to do was curl up and sleep forever, but Robin grabbing her arm and dragging her behind him into the water kind of dashed that dream.

Dick pushed his rebreather against Reese's mouth, and the two of them, plus Artemis, swam further down in the flooded hangar, eventually making their way to a nearby grate.

Robin pulled the grate cover off, tossing it to the side through the water, and the three of them swam through the vent, eventually making their way to an open spot of air.

Climbing out of the water, Reese flopped herself down on the floor of the vent, ignoring the way her legs felt like they were about to fall off.

She also might have blacked out for a second or two, because when Reese opened her eyes, it was to find both Dick and Artemis staring down at her worriedly.

"You need medical attention, like, now," Robin said, and Artemis gave him a surprised look.

"Don't you have any sort of bandages in your utility belt?" she asked, but Dick only shook his head.

"None that are dry," he clarified before the male robot's voice came over the intercom again.

"Six minutes,"

"What about your cape?" Artemis asked again, and Robin raised an eyebrow. Somehow, in all the commotion, the Boy Wonder hadn't lost his cape.

Robin pinched a section of his cape between two fingers, stared at it for a moment before his eyes widened, and he quickly unclipped the large piece of fabric from where it connected to the rest of his costume.

He snapped the fabric through the vent, trying to get as much water off the cape as possible. Then, Dick tore it in two.

Carefully, Robin lifted Reese's leg a few inches in the air, biting his lip as he tried to wrap the newly torn strip of fabric around the burn without aggravating it.

At this point, Reese most definitely had a fever, and the burns on her legs were probably going to get infected no matter what Dick tried to do.

Where the hell was the Justice League? Where the hell was Batman?

"What do we do now?" Artemis asked, and Robin glanced up at her as Silverbird shuddered, curling in on herself in an effort, Dick figured, to conserve body heat.

Reese was getting worse...and he didn't know what he could do to help her.

"We save them," Robin said finally. "That's how it works,"

"Maybe that's how it's supposed to work," Artemis retorted. "But those robots just took out our five super-powered friends,"

For a moment, Robin avoided the blonde's gaze, instead opting to look down at Silverbird's limp form. She was still breathing, that much he was sure of, but the area of her legs from where the female robot had burned them earlier were swollen, ugly and red, a sure sign of infection.

Reese was like this because of him. He was the one she had knocked out of the way in the vents, and she was the one who got burned because of it.

What kind of person was he if he let the girl he loved die because of something he did?

There. He said it. Well...thought it, but what difference did it make? Dick Grayson was in love with Rhysalin Queen.

And no one even knew about it. Wally probably thought he did, the speedster kept teasing him about it, but Dick had never specifically told him, and he wasn't planning on it anytime soon.

"Robin?" Artemis's voice drew the Boy Wonder from his thoughts, and he glanced towards the blonde, only to see her staring at him with a rather expectant look on her face.

"Hmm?" he asked, and Artemis sighed.

"What are we supposed to do?" the archer questioned. "How are we supposed to beat two robots who have almost the exact same powers as Red Tornado when almost everyone else is out of the game?"

"You seem distraught," Robin mused, and Artemis finally lost it.

"Distraught?" she echoed. "M'gann is dying! Reese is dying! The two of us have no powers, and I'm down to my last arrow! Of course, I'm distraught!"

"Well, get traught," Dick retorted, jaw clenching. "Or get dead,"

"How can you be so calm?" Artemis asked as the two of them began to make their way through the vent, carrying Reese between them, careful her legs didn't knock against the sides.

"Practice," Robin answered simply. "I've been doing this since I was nine,"

"What good is that now?" Artemis questioned. "What chance do we have against unrelenting machines?"

At that moment, a metaphorical lightbulb went off inside Dick's head, and he froze.

"Duh!" he exclaimed suddenly, mentally hitting himself for not seeing the connection sooner. "They're machines! And one electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine within range,"

"Great!" Artemis exclaimed before she scowled at him again. "Except you better have an EMP emitter in your utility belt, because I know I don't have one in my quiver,"

"I'm fresh out," Robin apologized. "But, I'm betting we can make one. What do you say, KF?" he asked, tapping his commlink. "Doable?"

"Totally doable," Wally responded, talking through the birdarang that Dick had lodged in the metal he was trapped in. "You know, if you had more time,"

"Five minutes,"

➳➳➳

"Med Lab," Wally directed them first, and Dick mentally praised the speedster. "You'll need the X-Ray machine,"

As the Boy Wonder did that, Artemis had carried an unconscious Reese over to one of the empty beds, set the girl down, and reached beneath the bed, pulling out a tray of various gauze, painkillers, and antibiotics.

Reese's head felt like someone was squeezing it with a vise, and she'd be surprised if her legs, at this point weren't actually on fire.

"What happened?" she whispered, but Artemis only shushed her, much like the blonde had done with Kaldur when he was dehydrated in Bialya.

"Robin's making an EMP emitter," the blonde exclaimed, quickly using a small cloth soaked in some type of antibacterial to wipe the area around Reese's burns.

As the soft fabric touched her skin, Silverbird gritted her teeth, bunching the papery covering of the medical bed in her fists.

"Sorry," Artemis said quickly, looking genuinely apologetic as she took out a roll of gauze and slowly began to wrap up Reese's calves. "But, using Robin's cape as a makeshift bandage wasn't working very well anymore,"

"You used Robin's cape?" Reese echoed, eyes narrowing. Maybe she had been unconscious longer than she thought.

Artemis nodded. "Yep, considering we couldn't very well use soaking wet bandages without making your burns worse, Boy Wonder over here ripped up his cape and used that instead,"

Reaching up, Reese pulled off her domino mask and set it aside. She, quite frankly, didn't care anymore if the "Reds" saw her without it, she was too tired to care at the moment.

"I didn't tell him," the brunette whispered after a moment, causing Artemis to look over at her, a bit confused until Reese elaborated, that is. "Kaldur, I mean. I didn't tell him about you,"

Though Artemis didn't say anything, Reese could see that she was grateful, and the brunette gave her friend a small smile.

"A ripple effect," Robin's sudden exclamation made both Silverbird and Artemis glance over at the thirteen-year-old, just as he took a large cylinder out of the med lab's x-ray machine. "Like dropping a stone in a pond,"

Through her commlink, Reese heard Wally's voice come through. "A stone with ten to the twelfth power wattage,"

"So, I'll have to hook it up to the cave's main generator," Robin realized, and that was when Reese finally spoke up.

"And that is...where exactly?" she asked, but when she saw the way Dick's face suddenly dropped, Reese had a feeling she already knew.

"Can you walk?" Robin asked, and Silverbird nodded.

"I should be okay," she answered, but when Dick sent her a dubious glance, Reese sighed. "Boy Wonder, I promise. Artemis should be the team medic, she's so good,"

Though Robin still looked a bit skeptical, they were running out of time to save the others, so he had to concede, and as such, the three of them climbed through the vents again, exiting them on the walkway that opened up right into the cave's hangar.

"Okay," Robin began, tapping his commlink again once they were in position. "Cue the distraction,"

"Hey!" Wally suddenly shouted, turning towards where the two robots were standing by the fire-cage holding Kaldur and M'gann. "Red Tomato! Who's your girlfriend, Red Onion?"

"Yeah!" Conner agreed. "And by the way, worst deathtrap ever! We can escape anytime we want!"

"I can vibrate my molecules outta here before your binary brains can count to two!"

While Conner and Wally continue to both distract and aggravate the two red robots, Dick, Reese, and Artemis scurried quickly to the other side of the corridor.

"Cover us," Robin said quickly over his shoulder to Artemis, before giving a nod to Silverbird, who used one of her finally grappling arrows to shoot a line across to the main generator.

Artemis drew back her own bowstring and stood ready while Reese and Dick quickly landed on the edge of the generator.

Robin took the newly-made EMP emitter and pushed it into a section on the generator, before plugging his holo-glove into it.

"Rerouting power now," he whispered. But, when nothing happened, Reese raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, Boy Wonder?" she said softly. "Nothing's happening,"

"That's because it isn't working," Dick responded. "The circuit's incomplete. We need something conductible. A piece of metal or--"

"What about this?" Reese held up the arrowhead that Kent Nelson had given her, and for a moment, Dick just stared.

"You're sure?" he asked, and Reese shrugged.

"Gold's a good conductor, isn't it?" she asked, and Robin nodded.

"Well, yeah. But, I don't think--"

"Look out!" Artemis's voice came a second too late, as the massive tidal wave was already rising in front of Dick and Reese.

Before either of them could move, out of the way or otherwise, the surging water had already hit the small generator where they were standing.

The wave knocked Robin and Silverbird off in one fell swoop, and as soon as she hit the water, Reese blacked out.

➳➳➳

When Reese woke up, it was to find, once again, both Robin and Artemis looking down at her. The twelve-year-old coughed, feeling water coming up from her lungs, and she turned over, as water also dripped down from her hair.

"I no longer like swimming," she muttered, and Reese heard Artemis let out a small laugh, before Reese made herself flop face-down on the platform, wanting to sleep for a long, long time.

Eventually, once she and Robin, plus M'gann and Kaldur, had regained their strength, the four of them, plus Artemis walked down to the ground floor, where Wally and Conner were still trapped within the metal.

"I figured my only shot was to 'surrender'," Robin began. "Pretend to drown before I actually did. Blacked out, though,"

Reese suddenly elbowed Dick in the ribs, making the Boy Wonder flinch and rub the spot where Reese had jabbed at him.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. "What was that for?"

"Next time," Reese clarified. "Tell me when you plan on pretending to die,"

"Sorry," Robin muttered quickly, before glancing down at where the bandages that Artemis had used in the med bay were now properly soaked.

"I need to change the gauze," Silverbird said quietly, shaking her foot out. "Obviously. But, I don't really feel like I'm about to die anymore,"

"Your fever probably broke," Dick said quietly, before waving a hand. "I'm guessing because we took an unplanned swim,"

"Yeah," Reese agreed, crossing her arms. "I'm sure,"

Artemis, who was holding an industrial-strength laser cutter, was standing over by Wally and Conner, and it seemed the speedster's patience had finally run out.

Not that he had much, to begin with.

"Will you stop playing with that thing and cut us free already?" the redhead exclaimed, but Artemis only sent KF a dry look.

"It's not working, genius!" she retorted. "The EMP shut down all machines, remember?"

"All machines present at the time," Red Tornado said as he flew into the hangar, landing on the ground beside Wally and Conner. "What has occurred?"

"A little visit from your...family," Robin said, glancing slightly over his shoulder at where the two other red robots lay.

"Your extremely nasty family," Artemis added, and Reese had a feeling that if Red Tornado was able to have facial expressions, he would've looked confused.

"I was not aware I had relations," the robot said stoically, before walking over to the two robots.

"Where have you been?" Conner asked, and this time, Reese was the one who answered.

"You had monitor duty on the Watchtower, right?" she asked, and Red Tornado nodded.

"When it became clear that cave communications were down, I attempted to investigate. But, your Zeta tubes were also non-functional. I transported to Providence, and proceeded here,"

Sphere, the sentient alien ball that Conner had gotten in Bialya, suddenly hummed, before hopping out of the divot it had been stuck in within the wall.

When Artemis's laser cutter suddenly turned on as well, sending a burst of light at Wally's feet, a thought shot through Reese's head and her eyes widened.

"The pulse has worn off!" she exclaimed, in unison with Robin and Kid Flash, just as Red Tornado lightly touched the tip of his metal finger against that of the female robot's.

The female robot's eyes glowed red for a moment, along with Red Tornado's, before Tornado flew up into the air and used his powers, making two tornados appear.

When Silverbird suddenly couldn't breathe, she realized what their "den mother" was doing. He was sucking the oxygen from the room. Making it so the Team couldn't breathe.

Everything blackened in Reese's vision, and as she fell towards the floor, only one thought ran through her mind...Did this mean that Red Tornado had been the mole?

➳➳➳

Reese decided that she officially hated being knocked unconscious, due to asphyxiation or otherwise.

When her eyes blinked open, it was to find both Green Arrow and Black Canary looking down at her, Oliver and Dinah's eyes creased in worry.

As soon as she realized what was happening, Reese had thrown her arms around her adoptive father's waist.

Then, after GA had sent a meaningful look towards Barry, the Flash raced off, coming back two seconds later with another tray of medical supplies.

"Sweetheart," Oliver began quietly, peeling off the gauze that Artemis had used earlier and beginning to disinfect Reese's burns again. "What happened?"

"The Reds happened!" Artemis suddenly exclaimed after Superman had asked her the same thing. "Tornado and his--wait, where are they?"

"Gone, Robin answered simply, turning around from where he had been standing with Batman. "All three of them. Gone."

-----

God, my brain hurts since this 10, 439-word chapter took me a solid WEEK to write, but we're making progress. Dick admitted his love for Reese to himself, even though we still have twelve chapters before I'm putting them together because I'm just evil like that.

There was also that whole mini conversation Reese had with M'gann and Artemis in DENIAL where she said that Oliver wouldn't let her date anyone until she was thirteen, so...everything ties together.

Also, I realized that Dick and Reese communicating through small pieces of paper would potentially take a long time, so I have a plan to fix that, and it will happen in REVELATION, which is the next time we see Dr. Fate.

One more thing, I'm changing Reese's voice actress to Nina Dobrev, because duh, Bulgarian. Also, Nina was the original face-claim I had for Reese back when I was writing Always & Forever.

Next Up: Alpha Male (Get ready for some Disalyn angst, my loves)

Thanks to @LovesickHeroReader for the ship name!

~Matia~