Night's Shadow || Dick Grayson x Ariana Wayne

Chapter 5

Bruce ended up finding out about Annabeth being trained. Dick and Ari were initially punished by being grounded but Sayeh was able to talk him out of it. After that it became another family bonding activity. However Beth wasn't permitted to join the others on patrol. The compromise was one that she didn't mind. It gave her time to curl up and read or work on homework.

Shortly after this arrangement started, Ariana sought out her younger sister for advice. "I don't want to be Batgirl anymore. I love Father but I don't wish to be his little mini-bat or whatever anymore. The problem is that I haven't got any idea what to re-brand myself as."

"You should be Mom's sidekick then. Can use your wings and be something like Blackbird." For being only eight years old, Beth had proven herself to be quite intelligent and wise. She and Ariana went back and forth with various names before a name stuck; Shadow Hawk.

It was decided that what better way to emerge from her father's shadow than the day the sidekicks would begin their journey to join the Justice League. That day was the fourth of July.

Unfortunately several ice villains decided to launch attacks on various cities in order to get the attention of the heroes who resided there. Mr Freeze attacked Gotham, Icicle Jr went after Star City, Pearl Harbor was attacked by Killer Frost, and Captain Cold was messing about with Central City. The heroes and their sidekicks quickly apprehended the villains before heading to the Hall of Justice in DC.

Batman, Green Arrow, and Aquaman waited with their proteges for Flash and Kid Flash. As they waited groups of fans and a few reporters arrived to try and get interviews, pictures and maybe some autographs.

Finally two colored streaks appeared. "Oh man! I knew we'd be the last ones here." Kid Flash exclaimed as the two speedsters joined the others. The group then made their way to the Hall and entered inside to the public area. "Have all four sidekicks ever been in one place in one time?" Kid Flash inquired? Speedy told him not to refer to them as sidekicks after today. To which Kid Flash commented that he was overwhelmed.

Robin sighed and looked at his friend. "You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed. Why isn't anyone just whelmed?" The group stopped in front of the eight League founder statues and the lenses of his mask widened. "Oh. Maybe that's why."

"You're late," Ebon Angel said as she walked towards the group with her protege in tow.

The young girl looked up at Ebon Angel then to the others. "Fastest doesn't mean on time apparently."

Kid Flash elbowed his friend. "Hey Rob, who's the babe? Haven't seen her before." He couldn't see her eyes, but that didn't matter.

"That's Shadow Hawk, formerly known as Batgirl." Robin shrugged and looked over as the door that led to the inner sanctum opened up.

Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado walked through the doors and greeted the youngsters. "Robin, Shadow Hawk, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, welcome." Martian Manhunter greeted then turned, motioning for the group to follow. "You now have full access to the gym, our fully stocked galley, and of course our library."

The mentors walked ahead to speak briefly then Batman turned to look at the sidekicks. "A quick debrief to discuss four ice villains attacking on the same day. We won't be long."

As he finished speaking the Zeta tube scanner activated. "Recognized: Batman 02, Ebon Angel 03, Aquaman 07, Flash 05,Green Arrow 09, Martian Manhunter 08, Red Tornado 17." Speedy immediately launched into a tirade about not being able to fully join the League as he'd been led to believe. He wanted to access the real HQ, the Watchtower. Green Arrow gave Batman an apologetic grin and apologized for telling Speedy about it. After being declined, Speedy stormed off.

"You're still sticking around right babe?" Kid Flash inquired and walked over to Shadow Hawk.

"Feel free to ignore Kid Mouth, he flirts with anything female." Robin commented with a smirk.

"Dude!" His friend responded and looked to Shadow.

Shadow simply rolled her eyes behind her mask then looked to Kid Flash and nodded. "For the time being. I must admit that meeting all of you has been fairly whelming."

The lenses of Robin's mask widened with delight. "Finally someone's whelmed!"

"Great, there's two of you." KF groaned and then wagged his eyebrows at Shadow with a flirty grin. "Still hot though babe!" He moved to wrap an arm around her shoulder which had Robin tensing up slightly. It eased when she slipped away and went to go stand beside Robin and Aqualad.

Superman appeared on the giant computer screen and altered the League to an explosion and fire at Project Cadmus. Batman spoke about his suspicions regarding Cadmus, but before he could say anything more Zatara popped up sending out an all-call to every League member. A plot was underway to blot out the sun and a full League response was requested. Superman said the fire was a small one and under control by the fire department. Batman then put out a call to the entire League saying for them to all rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates. He turn turned his attention to the youngsters. "You four are to stay put!"

The League members then left to take care of their mission. Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin started complaining about being treated like kids or even worse, like sidekicks. Meanwhile Shadow went to the computer to pull up information on Project Cadmus. She had to hack through the security, but seeing as how it was the same system as the Batcave, it wasn't that hard. "So, what is Project Cadmus anyway?" Aqualad inquired.

"Don't know but I can-"

Cutting Robin off Shadow spoke up. "It looks like Cadmus is a genetics lab here in DC."

"Well if Batman's suspicious, maybe we should go investigate."

The four spent a few minutes talking before deciding that they'd solve the League's case before they did. It would be poetic justice if they managed to do so. A smirk appeared on Shadow's face. "Count me in. I'm ready to get back out there."

"If you're going then I definitely am behind you." Kid Flash was far too excited for this. Aqualad admitted that he too was excited and eager to prove that he was ready. Robin voiced his agreement and the group headed out to make their way to Cadmus.