NOTE: TMC=The Midnight Crew
It was three days since the apprehension of the iron-grey guy, and he was given a temporary residence in an escape-proof room in the abandoned factory (or rather,a holding cell).
Nightwing and the Robins had tried to get information out of this guy, but all they got was 'You're making a mistake. We're on the same team here." And he said nothing else that was useful, just a bunch of complaints paired with a smug smile.
"Why don't you wipe that hideous smile off your face, huh? Why're you smiling?" Robin growled at him, clearly annoyed.
The iron-grey guy just grinned at him, further pissing off Damian. Before he could punch the smile off of the captive's face, Red Robin came in and threw a deli sandwich (wrapped in plastic wrap)at the captive.
"Dinner's served. You know, you're gonna stay here for a while if you don't tell us something."
The captive smiled at Red Robin, before saying a single word. "TMC. Sevanna Wayne."
Red Robin just nodded curtly, grabbing Robin and dragging him out of the captive's room.
Robin swatted the older boy's hand off of him, before hissing at him. "I bet Sevanna's a criminal with them."
"He told us about his organization. I just have to do some digging about what the TMC could mean."
"Okay then. Do your thing." Robin just grunted, before Batman and Nightwing came in.
Tim quickly told them about what the captive had just said, and immediately the whole family was more tense.
Batman was more on nerve ever since the incident with the silver-bike lady, and Nightwing was busy trying to get some more information as to whom it may be. Bruce shrugged off the weird feeling that the silver-bike lady was someone he knew, and helped out with Nightwing.
Now they were to go onto patrol, and Dick was to guard the prisoner. "Everyone suit up." Bruce said.
"Nightwing, did you get anything on that other lady?"
"No." He said, taking his position next to the room, peeking in and watching the captive eat the sandwich.
The silver-bike lady was clearly trained by someone with extreme skills or trained with a similar elite organization. But they had next to nothing on her other than a muffled voice that was unidentifiable, even if Bruce kept insisting that it was someone they knew.
The others left, leaving Nightwing alone, staring annoyedly at the captive, who was making goofy faces at him.
**************************************************
It was past midnight, when Nightwing suddenly heard a noise. Footsteps.
Immediately he pulled out his escrima sticks, ready to combat anyone in the shadows.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" Nightwing shouted into the darkness. He heard a creak beside him and suddenly, the captive in the other room was gone.
"What the-" He was cut off by being knocked to the ground with a brute force, his escrima sticks clattering away from his hands.
"Oh! Sorry there, I didn't see ya!" A muffled, cheery voice came through the silver helmet that was now inches from his face. She jumped off of him, grabbing his weapon and pocketing it, before giving him a hand.
It was the silver-bike lady.
"You-" Nightwing started, but he couldn't finish the sentence. "You beat up Batman."
"Didn't want to, but when it comes to my team, I'll do anything." She said, sitting down in a nearby chair. "Now, I'm here to retrieve my comrade, which has already been done, and to explain myself. And my team."
She gestured to the other chair in front of her. Nightwing cautiously sat down, unsure of what else to do.
"I won't bite, Grayson."
He was taken aback. How did this woman know his name? He cleared his throat to correct her, but the sweat on his forehead clearly told the woman otherwise. Stupid body.
"How did you-"
"I've known for a long time. The superhero crew is actually the Wayne family. It's not that hard to put the two and two together. I'm closer to you than you thought."
So Bruce was right.
Dick looked at the woman, at her fit form and at the silver outfit she wore that seemingly shone under the stray beams of moonlight. She could so easily be a dangerous woman, and she just became even more deadly because of the fact that she knew their identities.
"Okay, I come under a white flag, okay? We're the exact opposite of criminals, me and my crew. We're the Midnight Crew. TMC. I think Andre told you?"
Immediately Dick gasped. He knew about the Midnight Crew- they were an elite division of CIA Special OPS. So that explained the hi-tech teammates and freaking awesome fighting skills. And they had held one of them captive.
"Whoa- prove it."
The lady flashed her badge, long enough for him to see it was authentic, but not enough for him to read the name on it.
"Okay then. You're not lying. Then- since you know who we are etc- what does the TMC have to do with my sister? Is she a fugitive?" Dick sounded a little sad when he said the last part.
The silver-bike lady just laughed. "You think so lowly of your sister, now, don't you?"
Suddenly it struck Dick that the voice indeed was familiar, and a strange sense filled his body. He tilted his head, studying her just a bit longer, before his eyes went wide.
"No way-"
The silver-bike lady took off her helmet, and there she was. Sevanna Wayne, with a smirk on her face, a purple bruise on her cheek and a cut over her top lip from her fight with Batman, her hair pulled into a sleek braid.
His goddamn alcoholic sister was the silver-bike lady.
"You figured it out before I showed you, good for you." Sevanna simply said, setting down her helmet, noting the shock on his face.
Dick's mind was swirling with emotions and clouded with questions. How long was she this lady? Who taught her how to fight? How'd she get into the CIA, nevertheless into the TMC?
"You have every right to be angry..." Sevanna trailed off, looking at the ground.
"I don't know, what are you supposed to feel after you find out the family disappointment is actually a freaking super spy with the goddamned TMC and knows about our alter-egos?" Dick snapped at her, before immediately softening.
"I have no clue how hard this must've been on you." He said, remembering Jason's harsh words and the way she was kicked out onto the streets, the things they said about her behind her back, and suddenly guilt crashed down onto him like a monster truck ramming into a five-year old.
"Yeah, it wasn't the easiest. I kept this life from you guys for the same reason you kept your other life from me." Sevy gave him a soft smile. "But I had my team to get me through, and well, I had a hope that one day, you'd see the real me. And I guess that day came faster than I thought."
She sighed, looking at her shoes. "I'm sorry. I ruined your lives."
Nightwing suddenly pulled her into a hug, before pulling away, full realization settling into him. He looked at her, a giddy grin on his face as he stared into her electric-blue eyes and felt immense pride.
"You're brilliant. I knew you were something more! You fooled a family of the world's greatest detectives into thinking you were something lesser than who you really are, and you think you have to apologize for your skills?" He said, laughing slightly. "And you didn't ruin our lives, silly. You just made it a thousand times better!"
Sevanna gave her brother a genuine smile.
"Wait a minute- that means that, oh my god, that you-"
"Got sucker-punched in the face by my own father after I tried to knock him out. Yeah. Not the best." she laughed, giving him his escrima sticks back. "I'll answer some questions, 'cause I can tell you're bubbling with them right now."
"Does anyone else know about our identities?"
"The team found out by themselves a while ago. I don't lead a bunch of idiots."
"WAIT YOU LEAD THEM????" Nightwing shouted.
"-yeah" Sevanna cocked her head. "I joined the CIA in DC, and trained for TMC then for the next few months, and then I did several successful elite missions in the UK and blam, I was promoted to leader of the TMC. We've got our own little HQ and our own division, and yeah, they're my home away from home."
"So you weren't a druggie." Relief washed over him." Thank god."
"Actually, it is nearly impossible for me to get drunk off of less than two gallons of alcohol, and I catch druggies to get the big fish up in the chain, so boom, there are some fun facts for ya."
"Are you gonna tell Bruce? And the others?"
Sevanna went silent for a few minutes. "Probably. I'm planning on getting the TMC to team up with you, and I'm gonna have to tell him later on."
"Okay, that'd be cool. And what about your other brothers? Are you planning to sneak up on them and scare the crap out of them and then tell them?" Dick chuckled.
"I scared the crap out of you?"
"That's not what I- you little punk." He ruffled her hair, and she smiled at him, before it slowly turned into a frown.
"I mean, it's not like Damian would listen to me. And Jason- oh he's another story. Tim, I could tell and spare him a bunch of stress. I just- I don't know." She dropped her head into her hands.
Dick felt even more guilt and pity at how they treated their sister, and rested a hand on her shoulder. "They'll be amazed. Blown away. You have to tell them."
"I'm nothing compared to them, Dickie. They're freaking warriors and are geniuses. I'm just, Sevy Wayne, the scandalous daughter of a billionaire. And even if that changes, then that was who I was before, and they aren't bound to forget or forgive that."
"Are you kidding? Pftt, they'll forgive it, that's for sure. You're gonna tell them, okay, when they come back tonight."
"So you don't get blamed for losing your prisoner?"
"Brat." Nightwing poked her in the face. "You know, you nearly broke Bruce's nose. That's something none of us have been able to do."
"I am phenomenally sorry for that. I just, saw red when I saw him going after my comrade. I- I get pretty scary when I'm pissed."
"Well, that was cleared up."
Another silence followed, before Sevanna put on her helmet again.
"Wait you can't-"
"I'm not. If I'm gonna tell them, then I'll start from the top and add pinches of dramatic flair."
"Of course you are. I'm gonna help."
"Fine by me."
*******************************************************************
The rest of the Batfamily came back into the factory again, only to find an empty cell and Nightwing standing at the edge of the room, a blank look on his face.
"WHAT THE HELL, NIGHTWING?" Robin shouted angrily. "You l-let him out?!"
Batman was equally pissed, but was silent. "Why would you do that?" Batman seethed.
Suddenly, another voice came in through the shadows. "I made him."
Their jaws dropped as the silver-bike lady stepped into the light from right behind Dick, holding her scythes. "I get pretty angry when you lock up my comrade."
"Who are you?" Batman said, and the atmosphere immediately went tense. The two Robins took their place, standing slightly behind Batman, ready to fight.
"Someone decently close to you Waynes."
"What do you mean?" Batman said, and she laughed. Nightwing went off to the side, and she put away her scythes.
"Cut the crap, Bruce."
Okay, so she clearly knows. Bruce thought, grabbing hold of a Batarang, before throwing it at her neck.
"No!" Dick shouted, surprised at his father's bold move.
But her neck wasn't cut off, oh no. Instead the Batarang was caught in her gloved hand, before she tossed it away with a chuckle.
"No violence. I come here under a white flag. I have already retrieved and delivered my comrade, so I have no reason to fight you. And nor am I a criminal."
"Then what are you?" Ventured Red Robin bravely. He was, in fact, quite terrified of the silver-bike lady's skills. Robin respected her- she was an elite fighter, just like him- but he still kept his distance.
"The leader of the Midnight Crew. The TMC. An elite division of CIA Special OPs, specializing in undercover takedowns of terrorists and other criminals. We're completely under the radar- or at least, our identities are." she flashed her badge.
Bruce's eyes widened. He and his boys had held a CIA agent prisoner.
"Don't worry, I'm not planning on charging you vigilantes. But if you want to team up with us, then that'd be great. It seems we both got the memo about the gold-codes, and we both have skills the other could use."
"Yeah." Robin nodded respectfully.
The bike lady tossed a small device onto the ground and immediately a hologram popped up with information on it, a wondrous blue web of info that was so intricate yet so simple- and so vital to their missions.
"Cheng Li, the Viper, had recently stolen a nuclear football, which we found out- he wants to use to nuke a few major cities, starting with Gotham. Now, since our paths have crossed, it'd be great if we teamed up, shared knowledge and collectively took down this guy for the good of Gotham ." The bike lady said.
Bruce thought for a while, before nodding. "Okay, we're in."
The lady told them a few more details and started wrapping it up, when suddenly Robin blurted out something.
"What does all this have to do with Sevanna Wayne? Is she a fugitive? A gold-code thief? Is she gonna nuke our city?"
Bruce hung his head slightly, pain striking through his heart, unwilling to make the effort to stop Robin.
"Actually, no, she's the opposite." The silver-bike lady said, nodding towards Nightwing, who had a strange giddy look in his eyes that he quickly masked with blankness.
"What does my daughter have to do with all of this, then?" Batman demanded her firmly, unable to stay silent any longer. "Tell me straight-forward, what her involvement is in all of this. I need to know!"
"She's the leader of the Midnight Crew." The silver bike lady chuckled.
Red Robin just looked at her with contempt in his eyes. "You said that you were the leader of the TMC."
The silver-bike lady tilted her head. "Precisely."
She slipped off her helmet, a soft smile on her rosy lips.
Bruce choked on air, and Robin's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. Red Robin just gaped at her. Sevanna just rubbed the back of her neck, chuckling sheepishly, the purplish bruise on her cheek prominent against the moonlight.
"Sorry for the beat up three days ago..." She murmured, looking at the floor.
"WHAT?!" Robin shouted. "No, you're lying! There's no way you fought like that!" Damian went up to her, angry, poking a finger in her chest. "You're lying to us again!"
All of a sudden, Damian was on the floor, his katanas out of reach, the older girl's finger booping his nose.
How did she disarm him so quickly? Even Batman was surprised. It took a lot to even get a punch at Damian- he was a fierce fighter- so the fact that she had practically laid him down and disarmed him in practically a millisecond was a feat unto itself.
"Believe me now little brother?" She helped him up again, the Robin frozen with shock. Bruce swallowed back his own shock, before finally realizing it.
Sevanna Wayne had put up the world's greatest act that fooled him. Completely fooled him. She wasn't some clueless trust-fund kid. She knew practically everything. She was a fighter, a great actor, a freaking genius. He started putting the pieces of the puzzle together. She must've joined and trained in DC, and was fooling them ever since for the past three years. He looked at his daughter with immense amounts of respect, feeling his heart swell with a feeling he couldn't describe. A mix of guilt and relief, and pride, and shame and something else.
He looked at his daughter who wouldn't dare meet his eyes. Her cheeks were dusted with red and she was looking at the ground, attempting to explain herself, speaking rapidly.
"I had to stay undercover here, and that's why I had to, y'know, put up that facade and make sure it never budged and make sure that none of you ever found out and to keep you guys safe for the exact same reason you guys kept all this vigilante stuff from me. I didn't want to put all of you in danger after all the other stress I put you through because of my time in Russia where I was chased by some corrupt politicians who looked like a team of communist overweight teletubbies and the time in London where I was hunted down by a mob boss and I'm really dangerous and there are a lot of people out to get the silver-bike lady that took down their crime operations- and I understand completely if you want nothing to do with me because I still am a disappointment and a family disgrace and a waste of time and space and energy and money and I lied and kept huge secrets and, and-"
Before she could finish her rant, the Dark Knight had crushed her in a hug, immediately shutting her up.
Sevy stiffened, not used to being hugged or getting any affection from her family, surprise written all over her face. A few seconds later she finally melted into it, clinging onto her father like a lifeline.
"You're brilliant." Bruce murmured, holding her close. "You had us all fooled."
"That was the point."
Bruce pulled away with a huge grin on his face. He looked into his daughter's electric blue eyes, which seemed foreign to him- usually they were glazed over with the influence of alcohol, but now they were bright with something in them- a mix of hot-headedness paired with something calm and calculating yet fierce at the same time. He then noticed the purple bruise and immediately felt guilt unfurl in his chest.
"I punched my daughter in the face." He mused.
"I tried to knock you out too, so no hard feelings?" Sevy laughed, touching her bruise gently.
Suddenly she was knocked over by Red Robin, who had immediately gone in for a hug. "I knew it! I knew it! You're actually a genius! I knew you were something more! I can't believe you, you freaking madman!" Tim punched her, before hugging her.
"You're gonna squeeze the life out me and I'll become useless again." Sevy teased him, and he pulled away, regaining his usually calm composure and standing in front of his older sister, pride in his chest. Nightwing was watching the scene happily, before he noticed Robin, who was still shocked.
"Hey, you're more shell-shocked than the others. You okay?" Dick asked the youngest Wayne, who shrugged off his hand.
"We should get back home. It's nearly daybreak." He said, and the others nodded. Sevy just felt her heart drop just a little bit at Damian's behavior, but she pushed away the feeling as soon as Bruce ruffled her hair.
"You are going to tell us everything."
"I'll lose my voice if I attempt to."