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SHADOWCAT'S POV
I wait for all of them to get on before I do, but a scream causes me to run inside the bio-ship, my eyes wide and my hands reaching for my weapons.
Jake is hiding behind Conner and Alex is backing away wide eyed, though I don't know why until I move closer.
"What the-" My eyes widen as a bug like creature clicks his tongue at me.
"Forager does not wish to fight an assassin, but Forager will if Forager must." It says, causing me to look to the others, who didn't seem nearly as alarmed.
He is with them. I roll my eyes and take off my balaclava and cloak, tossing them in the corner, "I'm not an assassin."
"Are you sure, Miss Cat, you were very convincing." The girl with powers that I don't know says again, causing me to shake my head.
"We need to get out of here." I look to this Forager person before I add, "Think you can do that?"
"Forager likes the Cat," Forager says making clicking sounds at me, "To the point."
"Cat," Artemis tries to stop me as I walk to the window, but I move past her.
"We've got to get out alive, Artemis. Before I worry about anything else." I mutter I look at Deathstroke and Lady Shiva watching as we take off.
I put my hand on the wall to steady myself, my eyes still on Deathstroke's even though he can't see me.
"How did you know that would work?" Conner questions from his seat.
"I didn't." I admit as we camouflage the bio-ship.
"That's your ex?" I hear Black Lightning whisper to Nightwing.
"His ex with amazing hearing," I say without turning around, closing my eyes as images of the Shadows plague my mind.
I knew they would be worse after I was forced to see Ra's al Ghul again, but seeing the Shadows in action like that...
M'gann helped me with suppressing the nightmares and me slipping back into the state where I forget everyone and try to hurt them, but she can't take away every memory of me with the Shadows. And now more than ever I am reminded of my time with them.
We can't see Santa Prisca anymore when I open my eyes, and I finally turn. My eyes lock onto Nightwing's as if they were drawn to each other.
"Jake, take Lily and Alex to the Medicine bay, please." I ask, my eyes leaving Nightwing's briefly to watch the three look at each other before Jake nods and goes to where Artemis points to.
When they are gone, my gaze falls back to Nightwing.
I don't give him a warning before I push him back, "Are you serious?!" I all but shout at him.
He loses his balance slightly, but stands up straight again, taking the blow without planning on fighting back. And that angers me even more.
The girl gets up and goes to stop me, "Don't hurt him!" She shouts at me, only for Artemis to grab her.
"She won't, but trust me, you do not want to get in between those two." Artemis mutters as she watches us warily.
"You aren't going to say anything?" I ask him, my eyes still on him before I kick him square in the chest.
He stumbles back at that, but we both know I'm not trying to actually hurt him, I'm using moves that wouldn't just so I can get my anger out.
"Lady-" Prince Brion says, heating up slightly.
"Brion, stand down!" Nightwing orders, not looking away from me.
"Oh yeah, that's definitely his ex," I here Black Lightning mutter to no one in particular.
"What is wrong with you?!" I shout again as I step closer to him, "Did you hit your head or something? Because you decided it would be a good idea to go to Ra's al Ghul for help." Anger slips through my words like venom as he final gets angry right back, his eyebrows drawing together.
"I didn't go to him for help! Princeling over there got him, Halo and Forager kidnapped," He jabs his chin towards Brion, "We had to do a recon to save them." He shouts back, upset I would even think he did go to Ra's al Ghul for help.
"Then you should have called me!" I say exasperated, throwing my hands in the air, "Instead, you decided to just throw caution to the window and attack the League of Shadows!"
"I couldn't call you," He spites back, "You've been gone for a year! And we had to get Tara back. It was a risk, but it worked out." He says as he crosses his arms over his chest.
"And what would have happened if I hadn't come?" I ask as I cross my arms, mimicking his stance. "Then what?"
"Who called you?" He asks suddenly, "How did you even know?"
"You are such a idiot," I mutter shaking my head before I say, "You don't get it? You should have been the one to call and tell me about Ra's al Ghul." I look to Artemis, "Or you," then I look to Conner, "Or you." My eyes find Nightwing again, "But it wasn't."
"Who then?" Conner asks, finally taking a step forward. "How did you know we went to Infinity Island?"
"Ra's al Ghul." I say, spiting the word as if it were burning me, "Ra's al Ghul told me. He told me all about your little trip."
Their eyes widen at that, Nightwing trying to hide his surprise as I narrow my eyes on him.
"I didn't-"
"Save it." I glare, "I expected you to tell me if something like that ever happened. You or one of our friends. Never him."
"Cat-"
"If I may," Halo says, and I finally know her name thanks to Nightwing saying she was kidnapped.
"No," Nightwing says shooting her a look.
Halo frowns but doesn't say anything, her eyes on me.
"Forager finds this fascinating," Forager clicking a happily from his chair.
Alex picks this moment to walk back in, "Everything good?" He says, his eyes going from Nightwing to me. Likewise, Nightwing is doing the same.
"I told you to go-"
"We can still hear you," He deadpans.
"Whatever," I mutter before I turn my glare back to Nightwing, "So, are you going to try to even defend yourself or-"
"I don't have to defend myself to you, Brooklyn." He scoffs, "You-"
I push him again, "You all could have died!"
"If I may-" Halo tried again, worry in her tone.
Artemis steps closer to us, "Halo no."
"We didn't," Nightwing defends and I move to push him again.
"If I-"
"Halo, stand down," Nightwing says as he stands back up, ready for me to push him again, only for Artemis to move in the way and push me back, trying to break us apart.
I wince as my shoulder takes the aftermath and Halo finally steps in between us.
"She is hurt!" Halo exclaims as she looks at me.
Artemis and Nightwing get dangerously still as they look to me, but I only look at Halo as I glare and say, "Snitch."
Everyone goes quiet for a few moments, the tension in the air doubling before Brion looks to Nightwing, "No wonder your fence had problems," He remarks.
Nightwing shoots him a glare, "Not helping, Brion," He grits out before his eyes fall back to me.
Alex comes to my side, placing a hand on my shoulder to make sure I'm okay.
I don't need to see Nightwing's eyes to know he is watching that movement.
I push him off, "I'm fine." I mutter holding my shoulder slightly.
I'm not. It hurts and the only reason I've been fine up to this point was adrenaline.
My stomach and back sting too, having cuts they can't see edged across them. Ra's al Ghul took his time making sure I would still be able to fight but be in pain while doing it.
"You said Ra's al Ghul called you," Artemis mutters, her eyes on mine as her face falls. "He summoned you. And you met him in person."
I don't say anything to try to hide it. She already knows, I can't just lie. She knows how the Shadows work, she would call me on any lie I could tell.
"He wouldn't have let you go without being punished..." Conner's voice is full of concern as he picks up where she left off, "We broke the deal and you had to pay for it." He frowns, his eyes scanning me,"Cat, why-"
"It was either that or owing him, and I wasn't going to owe that demon anything." I defend before I force myself to roll my shoulder, keeping a wince in as I say, "I'm fine, see?"
Besides. The worst part was not being able to fight back. Being forced to stay still while he worked. I blink away the memory. I force it back because I need to stay present right now.
"No you aren't." Nightwing says, surprising me as he scans my body for any other injuries.
"I can help," Halo says, stepping to me, suddenly glowing a violet color.
My eyes widen and I step back in surprise, "Woah, I-"
"It's okay," Artemis reassures me, causing me to relax slightly as Halo smiles at me, her eyes all black aside from the violet irises.
She holds out a hand to me before I glow violet and feel a tingling feeling spread over the cuts and bruises, and my shoulder Ra's al Ghul dislocated.
When I realized he had summoned me, I took Alex with me and left Jake with Lily. I didn't want any of them to go with me, but I knew Jake wouldn't have let me go alone.
When I got their Sensei and Ubu greeted me before Ra's al Ghul meet me.
Being back there was like a slap to the face, a bucket of cold water being poured over my head. It sucked.
And when I heard why he wanted to see me, my heart had nearly stopped.
Halo stops glowing, and I feel a lot better, nodding at her appreciatively as I roll my shoulder a few times. I had to pop it back in myself, and that was probably the injury that hurt the most.
"Okay," Artemis says, her hands on her hips, "Got that out of your system?"
I look back to Nightwing before I take a seat and lean my head back, closing my eyes, "For now." My eyes snap up a few moments later as I look back to him, "Actually no-"
"Actually, I think that's good," Jake says coming back with Lily, her holding his hand.
I glare at him, but he takes a seat next to me. Everyone follows suit, sitting down.
Tara sneaks glances at me, causing me to narrow my eyes at her before I turn to the front.
"So, you and Nightwing were involved?" Brion asks, shooting Nightwing a mischievous grin and he shoots him a 'shut up or I will kill you' look.
"You and Halo are involved?" I ask instead, crossing my arms as I look between the two. Brion looks surprised at the observation given I've only been with them for an hour.
Halo blushes as Brion does before he says, "Yes, as a matter of fact. Tara, this is my girlfriend." He says introducing his sister to Halo, who both seem excited about that fact.
"Wait, Nightwing and the Cat are..." Forager cuts in looking between each of us before he says, "life mates?"
My eyes widen at that and Artemis covers up a laugh with a cough, Jake snickering as well. Conner looks amused, watching to see what we will do.
"We aren't mates," I get out before Nightwing, who still looked like he was too embarrassed and shocked to believe this was actually happening.
"Oh," Forager frowns before he smiles again, "Companions?"
This time Black Lightning starts laughing.
"No, Forager, we are exes." Nightwing says finally, and hearing it come out of his mouth hurt more than I thought it would.
I cover though as I look to Forager for his reaction.
"Forager is confused. Forager does not understand." He clicks, leaning his head to the side.
"You and me both," Artemis comments, earning glares from both Nightwing and I.
"Exes means that we used to be er-involved. Like how Halo and Brion are now." Nightwing supplies, with more patience than I thought he would have.
Halo gasps at this, "Are Brion and I going to be exes?!"
Nightwing groans and rubs a hand over his face at this.
"No, you two will be fine." I reassure her though I don't know for sure. I thought the same thing about us.
But I do know it's my fault. I'm the one to blame for this, and while I tried to give him space, I couldn't ignore him having a death wish and trying to face the League of Shadows.
Lily looks to me before leaving Jake, Bio-ship making her a seat next to me for her to sit down. She takes my hand and looks back at Forager, her wide eyes taking all of this in.
"So..." Conner says watching us, "Mind telling us who your friends are?"
He isn't asking about why I left. Smart, he knows that will probably end in a fight between Dick and I again.
"You know Jake," I say causing Jake to wave, before I say, "The airhead is Alex and this is Lily." I supply before I add, "They are all metas."
"What?" Artemis asks, her eyes wide as she looks at Jake, "You are a meta?"
"Afraid so," Jake says with a shrug, "Cat helped me figure out how to control it."
"And what exactly are your powers?" Black Lightning asks.
Jake and I smirk at that as we share a look before looking to Alex.
Alex frowns and shakes his head, "No, not again-"
Jake's eyes glow white as he says, "Stop talking."
Alex suddenly shuts his mouth, his eyes glassing over a bit.
"What should we make him do?" Jake asks looking at me.
"Ballet dance," I grin.
Jake grins back before he gives the command and Alex springs to life, turning and leaping like a very poorly trained ballerina.
Lily smiles as she watches him, the others looking wide-eyed.
"That's good," I say after a few moments and Jake releases him, his eyes turning back to the normal color.
Alex pants and glares at us, "Why don't you ever control Cat?"
"I don't have a death wish." Jake says as if Alex were stupid.
He is if thinks trying to mind control me is a good idea. Last time someone tried that, it was Ra's al Ghul, and look where that landed him.
"So you are like a Siren," Black Lightning asks, "That's useful."
"It has its limits," Jake shrugs, "But yeah."
Everyone's eyes go to Alex who just smiles, "Sorry, no demo, I just am slightly superhuman."
At that, their gaze falls to Lily.
It's hard to ignore the fact that she is so young. She was the youngest that I found when trying to get meta trafficking to stop.
She looks to me at the sudden attention and I nod, "Show em."
She looks back to them, before disappearing into blackness, becoming a shadow. A moment later, she is gone and has the others looking around for her in confusion.
When she reappears, she does so next to Forager, smiling up at him.
"Forager found her!" Forager clicks excitedly, going to touch her, but she disappears again.
It takes me a moment to find her, but when I do, she is next to Nightwing.
She studies him for a moment, his eyes softening as he looks down at her, and I feel my chest tighten. She points to his chest, the bird symbol.
Nightwing looks at her in confusion before I say, "She is from Gotham. She probably recognizes the symbol."
She looks up briefly at that before moving to look at Superboy, and finally Artemis.
She saw what Brion could do with a little lava when she was in my shadow, so she makes sure to stay away from him.
She stops at Artemis, and Artemis practically melts before Lily disappears again and reappears next to me.
"Very cool," Conner says causing her to smile, but I know that just opened more question for them.
Like why the heck would I bring her along, and who she is.
Artemis shakes her head in disbelief, "Unbelievable." She says causing me to frown in confusion before she nods to Nightwing and I and says, "You two both started new teams as a coping mechanism."
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A/N:
i loveeeeee this chapter and the next few ones. i am so happy brooke is back, idk if y'all missed her as much as i did but i missed her a lot and thought her entrance in this book with deathstroke was so badass
and i love the comments the new members are making, it's so funnyyyyy
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who are you hoping to see brooke reunite with soon?
opinions on brooke's little team and the people on it?
favorite part in this chapter?
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thanks for reading, don't forget to vote & comment !!
xoxo, author