Robin's POV

     I walked in my old home to find two teenage girls and a teenage guy talking to Bruce. They were about a year or two younger than most of my team (around 14 to 16, I would say), but they were in Wayne Manor, talking to Catrina and Bruce like old friends. Catrina is a dark brown-haired girl with brilliant green eyes. She wears a uniform like her mom, Selina, and is the same age as the oldest of the strange teens. She is my adopted sister because her father adopted me. Alfred came over to us.

     "Master Richard." I nodded, and Starfire jabbed me in the ribs.

     "Hey, Alfred." I said, rubbing my ribs and glaring ruefully at Star. She only smiled innocently at me. I give up glaring at her and continue staring incomprehensively at the teenagers.

     "Hey, Dick, Starfire, Raven, Garfield, and Cyborg. These people are: Ashley (pointing at the blonde with blue-green eyes), Jordan (Pointing at the brunette with green eyes), and Alex (pointing to the light brown-haired boy with hazel eyes). They're the proprietors of Michelle's Alliance. They just stopped by for a visit." Bruce said.

     "Dude, call me BB, or at least Beast Boy." BB said.

     "Or grass stain!" Cyborg added.

     "Or annoying green problem." Raven jibed.

     "Hey!" BB said indignantly. I silenced them all with one look and turned back to Bruce. I studied the teenagers. Michelle's Alliance? A.K.A. Heroes Union? They were a bit young to have created that.

     "You can call me Jo or whatever." said Jordan.

     "Them? Michelle's Alliance?" I asked, determined not to drop the subject until I got answers.

     "Yes. Ashley's full title is Ashley Michelle, Em-"

      "Empowerer of Heroes!" Ashley interrupted quickly, glaring at Bruce. Okaaaay.

Ashley's POV

     "I don't want them to know yet, Bruce! Namely Robin!" I whispered. "You almost gave me away!" I was interrupted from further chastisement of the Dark Knight by Starfire hugging me, which would have broken my ribs had I been a normal human.

     "You are a friend of Bruce's, so you are a friend of mine, friend Ashley!" I hugged her back awkwardly, since my arms were kind of pinned to my sides by her alien strength.

     "I'm glad I'm your friend, but can you release me before you crush me?" I asked hopefully. She let me go. I sighed inwardly and rubbed my aching arms. Robin looked amused. Maybe Starfire could help me convince Robin, and I guess she had just sensed exactly who I was by the look of recognition that had just dawned on her face.

     "You are-" I shushed her quickly.

     I spoke to her using telepathy. <Ssh, I am the Empress of Tawaii, but it's a secret right now. I want Robin to trust me because of who I am, not because of my title,> I explained.

     <Oh,> Star said through the telepathy link. She smiled. She noticed Robin was looking suspicious, so she went over and hugged his arm.

     "Oh, Robin! Let us see if Bruce has his cave of bats." [Batcave, folks. Don't hate on her accent. :)]

     "Umm..." He said as she dragged him off with the rest of the team to look at the Batcave. I giggled and winked at Jordan and Alex. We followed. Jordan struck up a conversation with BB and Cyborg while Alex talked to Raven and Catrina. I chatted with Starfire and Robin, with frequent inputs from Bruce. Selena waved as we walked by her, engrossed in the papers in her hand. William trudged along behind her, puffing as he pulled a cart laden with more paperwork. I was suprised he wasn't in his room, doing whatever he does (I'm pretty sure he invents all kinds of gadgets). He ignored us. He wasn't really team material, but he was part of the Alliance by birth. He was actually pretty brilliant and social, but he just preferred working by himself.

     "Ashley, Jordan, Alex, Catrina, and Mary came down here to upgrade it again. Pretty cool, isn't it?" Bruce said to Robin. I beamed at Robin. Starfire smiled back, but Robin barely twitched the corner of his mouth, and gave his more grudging smile. He had been trained not to show emotion, so it was hard for him to do so. I watched Robin study the Tawaiian technology.

Robin's POV

     The technology was amazing. It was the most advanced I've ever seen. The walls, floors, ceiling... even the defense system had been upgraded. Bruce had an amazing defense system. It was advanced by about 25-50 years. This equipment looked advanced far beyond that.

     "How advanced is the stuff?" I asked Bruce, staring in awe at a machine that I guessed was a generator. Not one sound came from it. "Ask Jordan, Alex, or Ashley." Bruce suggested. I looked to Ashley, as she was the closest.

     "What you're looking at is the defense system monitor. It monitors and maintains the entire system. This technology is beyond humans by a few... thousand? Something like that." Ashley answered. She glanced at Jordan, who was counting on her fingers. She held up all ten. "Yep. A few thousand. What, do you like it?" She raised an eyebrow.

     "Yeah," I said weakly. The equiment was definitely advanced. If just one machine this size could control all of the defense system while one that size today would only control a small part of the system. There were two holographs by the wall [holographs are projected from a small machine; they are not projected onto a wall.] Each was a map of Earth. The only differences were the titles ('Heroes' and 'Villains') and the placement of the red dots. They showed the location of all the people of their category. I touched the U.S. region, and it zoomed in on a labeled map of the United States, borders included. I jumped back when a female machine voice said in my head, <Welcome, Robin.> I touched New York hesitantly, and then touched Gotham City. It had a full, up-to-date map of Gotham City, including restaurants, houses, public buildings, and even the heroes' and villains' hideouts. I tapped the green dot labeled 'Robin'. There were a bunch of purple dots clustered behind it. It had a full map of Wayne Manor. <You are here,> said the machine voice. I touched camera mode, and it accessed a surveillance camera positioned in the Batcave. I noticed there was a starchart as well. I was kind of freaked out already, so I just backed away from it. My dot turned green again. <Until you require my service again, Robin.>

Ashley's POV

       Poor Robin was creeped out. At least he didn't notice 'Tawaii' and 'Turlia' on there. I watched him turn on his tracker detector on his communicator. It scanned him and came up negative. His emotions were roiling. It was starting to overwhelm me, so I blocked them off. I'll explain why I can do all this stuff. I am, as you probably know, a Nabican tigress, meaning I can do a lot. We all share most of these abilities: Temperatures don't bother me, most normal weapons can't hurt me, and I can sense emotions and thoughts. I am telepathic, morph, and can understand animals. I can reconstruct anything that has been destroyed and build 'mega-weapons'. I have a lot of other powers, as well, but I've already spent too much time. But I still have emotions, and as a lot of people understand, emotions can kill you. Sometimes, they go out of control, and I get possessed by Bloodwrath. But, enough. I must do my duties.

     Speaking of which, Jordan, Alex, and I have to check on the residents of Base 1, the main building of the Alliance. I walked forward and spoke quietly to Robin.

     "We have to leave soon. Do you accept my offer?" His mask narrowed as he regarded me suspiciously.

     "What offer?"

      "To join the Alliance. Do you accept?" I repeated.

     "I have to think about it." He didn't trust me. Yet. But he will... sometime.

     "All right." I backed off, grabbing Jordan's and Alex's hands as I did. "Goodbye. I give you a week. I will visit you. Do not doubt that I will find you." I smiled,  released Jordan and Alex's hands for a moment, and we all waved goodbye. We linked hands again and teleported to Base 3 for a quick council and a rest in our true forms. This will take some time. I'm all for it.

Jordan's POV

Well, this should be fun. First, I get to watch Robin's week play out up until he decides. I put on my headphones and played my music, but when we visited Bruce, Ashley made me turn off my music and talk to BB and Cyborg. I only did it because she needed me to. I don't like talking to humans, they secretly scare me but I've never told anyone. I'm much like William. I prefer to work alone or with my very close friends. I don't really know how to carry a conversation well because I'm always alone or in Turlia or Tawaii.(Turlia is another country in a different place, like Tawaii. I am the Empress and we work very closely with Tawaii, mainly Nabica, due to the strong friendship Ashley and I have.) I also get confused and flustered so I trip over my words or even actually trip (I'm very clumsy). But... I'm going to have to do a lot of talking to the Titans. So let's see how this turns out.

Robin's POV

      They disappeared. I'm a little angry and seriously confused. A week? I don't take deals. I make deals. I didn't really have a choice. Who is she? She'll find me, there's no doubt about that. But she probably won't get the answer she wants. She didn't tell me anything about it. I suddenly felt an extra weight in my pocket. I pulled it out, puzzled. It was a communicator with a "MA" on it. I opened it. It turned on. A note popped onto the screen:

Dear Robin,

      This letter contains a map of Base 1, complete with directions and information. This communicator is yours now. Michelle's Alliance welcomes you with open arms. I know you have trouble trusting people. I understand. You have a team to protect. I won't make you my apprentice, make you wear a uniform (those are Cat's department, for certain teams in the facility), and I won't inject you with trackers, either. All I ask is that you hear me out. I created Michelle's Alliance/Heroes Union to wipe out villains. As you know, a group works better than one. An army works better. It's not mandatory, you get the supplies you need, Starfire gets protected (I will be her Sponsor), and you will be able to easily get someone to watch Jump City when you're away. Please consider my offer.

                           Sincerely, Ashley Michelle

      Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea, but it still seems extremely suspicious. I can't give in right away. Can I trust someone I hardly know? I've done that before, with terrible consequences. I breathed in and out slowly, and contacted Jordan, since she looked like she might know something. The sight that greeted me nearly made me drop the communicator.