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Chapter Text

Prologue;

Knightowl and Sparrow were first seen way back when riding on horseback was still a common method of travel. Knightowl wore a cowboy hat as he raced through his hometown, present day New York City, chasing after dangerous bandits. After a few months, he got a whip-wielding sidekick who called himself Sparrow. As the years went by, Knightowl and Sparrow seemed to remain the same. Of course, they each wore a mask that covered their whole face and not a bit of skin was shown through their suits, which made it difficult to see any change that may have happened. But no matter how much time had passed, and no matter how many times someone tried to kill one or both of the heroes, Knightowl was always seen every few days with Sparrow commonly by his side.

People started to speculate that Knightowl and Sparrow were immortal. When anyone got the rare opportunity to ask them if the rumors were true, Knightowl would dismiss the question, but he eventually admitted that yes; he and Sparrow were both immortal. Every few decades, their suits would be altered a bit, and people dismissed it as just wanting a change every now and then.

Although no one really knew how the next assumption was made: people shared the assumption that Sparrow was, yes immortal, but also a teenager. Maybe it was his size, or maybe his mannerisms. Either way, hardly anyone questioned it when Sparrow wasn’t seen for months, or even years. Whenever this happened, people assumed that he was taking a break and enjoying life as a teenager.

However, there was one significant detail that only Knightowl, Sparrow, and their closest friends knew. Knightowl and Sparrow were not immortal at all. Instead, Sparrow would put on the Knightowl suit when their Knightowl passed away. The new Knightowl would act as though he was the exact same person and eventually find a new Sparrow. Once technological advances allowed it, Knightowl and Sparrow even wore voice modulators to make themselves sound like the past Knightowls and Sparrows.

__________

Generations after the first sighting, in the streets of New York;

“Hey, Knightowl! Where’s your little Sparrow?” a henchman taunted. That little comment earned him a punch square in his clown-painted face from the armored hero. However, that didn’t convince the other henchmen not to follow their friend’s example.

“Yeah, we haven’t seen the kid in quite a while, have we?” another one said as he threw a punch at Knightowl. Knightowl caught the fist easily and angrily threw the criminal across the alley. The henchmen didn’t seem swayed, however, and kept the taunts coming as they lunged at the hero.

“Did someone finally manage to kill the immortal sidekick?”

“Or did he get sick of being in your shadow and leave?”

“Come to think of it, the last time anyone saw Sparrow is when you got caught in that collapsing building. Did little boy Sparrow get scared? Did he run away?”

Infuriated, Knightowl punched that last henchman hard enough that his friends could hear a cracking sound from his jaw bone. The others finally shut up, but they didn’t stop fighting. The 1-v-5 fight lasted a good few minutes, but it ended the same way the rest of Knightowl’s battles did; with the criminals tied up and propped against a wall.

“Now,” Knightowl spoke through his voice modulator, which made his voice sound deeper than it was, once all the men were restrained, “where’s Jester? You don’t usually stray too far from him.”

“Aw, come on big guy,” a henchman responded, “we were just looking for some fun. Jester didn’t need us tonight.” 

“I highly doubt that,” Knightowl responded. “He’s using you as a distraction. What does he have planned?”

“What’s the rush?” the same henchman asked menacingly. “You still have a few days.”

“A few days until what?!” Knighowl yelled.

In response, the henchman let out an unhinged, psychotic laugh. “Oh, Jester has big plans! I can’t wait to see your face when he carries them out!” Another psychotic laugh.

Knightowl landed a swift kick to the henchman’s face, however, that didn’t stop him from laughing. It was honestly a bit chilling, even to Knightowl.

“The police will be here soon,” Knightowl told the men as he turned to leave. “Sit tight till then.” He could still hear the laughing until he had walked a little over a block away.

“Don’t hate me for saying this; ” a male voice said over Knightowl’s earpiece.

“What is it, Sam?” Knightowl asked, secretly dreading the answer.

“You need a Sparrow.”

Knightowl clenched his fist. “What do you want me to do? Go to an orphanage and say ‘Give me the most pure-hearted boy you have. Don’t worry, I’m only going to have him fight some of the world’s most dangerous criminals’? Or should I hit up some high school football team? Pick up a newsie boy from off the street? It’s hard to find a boy that will be willing to secretly risk his life for the city and also be able to keep up the legacy of Knightowl and Sparrow!”

“Okay, okay, I hear you,” Sam said in an attempt to calm his friend down. “I’m just saying; apparently people are starting to get suspicious about Sparrow’s absence. If you do want to keep up the legacy so bad, you gotta find a boy soon. Maybe Camilla knows a boy that would be willing to help?”

“I didn’t think you’d want me to include your daughter in vigilantism.”

“I don’t” Sam clarified, “If she were to do anything it would be exactly what I’m doing; sitting safely behind a computer, a very advanced one at that. But she knows that you’re Knightowl and she wants to help out. Finding a Sparrow would be a good way for her to-”

“Wait, she knows?!” Knightowl interrupted Sam.

There was silence for a couple seconds before Sam finally admitted “Yes. And she has for a while now. But you didn't know that she knew, so she is good at keeping secrets.”

“Sam!” Knighowl scolded.

“I don’t keep secrets from my daughter, Doug,” Sam stated plainly.

“I’m coming up on the Owl-Mobile. We’ll talk about this when I get ba- You have got to be kidding me.”

“What? What happened?”

“The Owl-Mobile! Three of its wheels are gone!” There was a brief moment of silence before Sam burst out laughing. “I’m glad you find it humorous!”

“You’ve got to admit, Doug, that takes balls! Who is crazy enough to steal tires from the Owl-Mobile ?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.” Knightowl looked around, there wasn’t a single human being in sight. Figuring that the vandalist would be back for the fourth, Knightowl stepped into the shadows and waited.

It wasn’t long before footsteps were heard and the vandalist came into view, tire iron in hand.

“I hear footsteps. Can you see him?” Sam asked.

“It’s a girl,” Knightowl responded. He couldn’t decide whether he was angry, confused, or impressed. “She looks about Cami’s age.”

Hearing his voice, the girl froze. She quickly turned in his direction, causing her long, raven-colored, knotted hair to fly through the air. In an act of slight panic, she attempted to hide the tire iron behind her back. Knightowl stepped out of the shadows and walked right up to her with crossed arms. 

“Where are my tires?” he asked. The girl opened her mouth to respond, but Knightowl stopped her. “Don’t say you didn’t take them. You’re the only one around and you have a tire iron. It’s been a long night, let’s not make this any harder than it has to be.”

The girl responded by swinging the tire iron into his abdomen, which Knightowl barely felt because of the thick armor surrounding his body, and started to run off. Although it wasn’t visible, Knightowl rolled his eyes before running after her.

“Wait, are you chasing her?” Sam asked in shock.

“Well, she’s running,” Knightowl responded.

“You said you think she’s Camilla’s age! She’s barely a teenager! Of course she’s running, she’s probably terrified!”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to treat her like one of Jester’s henchmen. I’m only going to have her give me back my tires. Damn, she’s fast.”

The girl turned into a separate alley, only to find that it was blocked by a six-foot tall metal fence. Instead of stopping, she jumped onto the fence and started climbing. She made it to the top, but before she could throw herself to the other side, Knightowl grabbed her by the back of her shirt collar and pulled her back. Once she was back on the ground, he let go of her shirt and firmly but gently held onto her arm. Refusing to give up, the girl glared as she tried in vain to wrestle herself out of his grip.

“Good news, she doesn’t look scared. But she does look like she hates me,” Knightowl spoke. She briefly looked at him as though he was crazy before continuing to try to free herself.

“I don’t blame her,” Sam responded into Knightowl’s ear.

“Let’s try this again,” Knightowl said, ignoring Sam. “Where are my tires?”

No answer, just more struggling. Knightowl watched as the girl hit and kicked at his hand, trying to pull her arm free.

“Ok, your determination is pretty impressive,” Knightowl admitted. The girl just rolled her eyes as she continued her fight. Only then did Kightowl notice that she was dangerously thin. “When’s the last time you’ve eaten?” He asked in concern. Again, he got no answer.

“Hold on,” he said. He walked back to the Owl-Mobile, taking her with him. He gently tossed the girl into the shotgun seat and closed the door, locking her inside. “Stay,” he jokingly commanded.

Seemingly more infuriated than earlier, the girl started to repeatedly throw her body against the car window, attempting to break it.

“Don’t do that,” Knightowl said. “That window isn’t going to break. You’re just going to hurt yourself.”

“Why is she trying to break a window?” Sam asked.

“I locked her in the Owl-Mobile,” Knightowl answered.

“WHAT!? You can’t just lock a teenager in your car, Doug!”

“I’m not in there with her,” Knightowl defended.

“It still doesn’t look good!”

“Don’t worry, it’s not hot outside and she’ll only be in there for a few minutes.” Knightowl lightly knocked on the car window before Sam could protest more. “I’m going to a nearby burger joint,” he told the girl. “What would you like from there?” The girl once again threw her shoulder against the window. “I’ll get you a classic burger with fries.” Knightowl stepped away for a second before coming back to ask “Do you want a milkshake?” At this point, the girl started to look around inside the car for something that would help her escape. “I might get you a milkshake.” With that, Knightowl left to get the food.

__________

Keeping to his word, Knightowl was only gone for a few minutes. When he came back, the girl was no longer trying to break the window. Instead, she just sat in the car with her arms crossed.

“Seems like all the fight’s left her,” Knightowl mumbled.

He opened the door and stepped into the vehicle. As soon as he was inside, the girl shuffled so that she was sitting as far away from him as possible. She was still glaring daggers at him. Knightowl calmly reached into the paper bag, pulled out a hamburger, unwrapped it, and placed it in between himself and the girl. He made sure that the sandwich was a little closer to the girl than it was to him. He gestured to the sandwich, offering it to the girl.

“Did you drug it or something?” she asked.

“It talks!” Knightowl pho-celebrated, earning a scoff from the girl. “No, it’s safe. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Well, forgive me for getting the wrong idea after you locked me in your car, ” she bit back.

“She has a point,” Sam said.

Knightowl turned off his earpiece.

“There’s nothing in the burger except for normal burger ingredients. And whatever else fast food joints put in their food,” he told the girl.

After a couple seconds of silence, the girl hesitantly picked up the burger. She took off the top bun and after deciding that there was nothing suspicious in the sandwich, she put it back together and took a bite.

As she ate, Knightowl watched the night sky through the windshield. Neither one of them spoke until she was nearly done with her burger.

“So, what’s your name?” Knightowl asked. The girl didn’t answer. Instead, she just finished the burger.

Seeing that she was done eating, Knightowl pulled out a vanilla milkshake and placed it where he originally put the burger. However, as the girl reached for it, he pulled it back.

“No name, no milkshake,” he stated, causing the girl to once again glare at him.

“Barbara,” she snapped as she snatched the milkshake out of his hand.

“Okay Barbara. How about a last name?”

“Don’t have one,” she gripped as she drank the treat.

“Where are your parents?”

“You tell me.”

“Legal guardians?”

“The last couple I was with didn’t notice when I ran off.”

There was a moment of silence before Knightowl spoke again.

“I ran the fingerprints you left on the tire iron,” he said.

“How?” she asked in slight disbelief.

“I have really good technology,” was Knighowl’s only explanation. “Anyway, you didn’t come up in the system. You haven’t been arrested before. Why would you risk getting a criminal record now? It could really mess up your life.”

Barbara scoffed. “What life?”

Knightowl sighed. “I’m not going to press charges,” he said. “You still have a chance at a good life.” Another scoff from Barbara. “I have a friend who can take you in.”

“No.”

Although it didn’t show under his mask, Knightowl was shocked that Barbara would flat-out refuse his offer.

“He’s pretty well off,” he said.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“It’s Douglas Keynes.”

“The millionaire? Doesn’t he make weapons for the military?”

“Technology for Secret Service,” Knightowl corrected.

“Doesn’t matter, I’m not going. And if you take me there, I won’t be staying.”

“Would you rather live on the street?” Knightowl asked, trying and failing not to get frustrated.

“It makes no difference.”

“How?! With him, you will have a roof over your head and plenty of food!”

“I’ll be a charity case!” Barbara argued back. “No one actually cares for a child that isn’t theirs!”

“ He will!”

“How do you know?!”

“I trust him!”

“And I should ? Just because you do?!”

There was a moment of tense silence as both parties stared each other down. Suddenly, Knightowl angrily unlocked the car and stepped out of the vehicle. He marched over to the other side and opened Barbara’s door.

“Let’s get those tires back on,” he commanded. Barbara looked up at him in slight shock for a second before getting out of the car and complying.

Neither one of them spoke as they began to put the tires back into their places. But halfway through reattaching one tire, Knightowl stopped. He got off the ground, walked to the other side of the car where Barbara was reattaching another tire, and stood behind her. Barbara noticed and turned to him.

“What?” she asked, irritated. She then saw that his back was towards her and he was in a fighting stance.

Barbara’s heart dropped as leaned around him to see what he was looking at. About fifteen feet away from them were at least a dozen men, each one holding a club, knife, or some sort of other weapon. None of them were wearing outfits or makeup that would associate them with one of New York’s big-time crooks, they just looked like common tugs. But there were a lot of them. Barbara tightly gripped her tire iron as she slowly stood up, pressing her back to the car.

“I suggest you all move on,” Knightowl warned them.

“No can do,” one big guy with a bat replied. “Jester said that anyone who can capture Knightowl gets all the riches from the biggest bank in the city.” He tilted his head to look around Knightowl. “I’m sure there will also be a reward for bringing back Sparrow’s girlfriend.” Barbara actually gagged at that comment.

All the men were grinning as they readied their weapons and started creeping towards the hero. Knightowl turned his head to look at Barbara behind him.

“You need to get out of here,” he told her. “Go!”

Barbara turned and started running. A few men were able to run and stop in front of her, but she easily avoided them by sliding in between the legs of one of them. She saw an alleyway next to a one-story building and wasted no time running towards it. She could hear the thugs chasing after her, but she already had a plan on how to get away. Once she was in the alleyway, Barbara leapt on top of the dumpster against the wall of the short building, jumped to grab some pipes attached to the same outside wall, and vaulted herself onto the roof. She landed on her side with a grunt and rolled to a stop.

Barbara laid there for a few seconds, catching her breath and listening to the sound of the thugs falling into the dumpster in a failed attempt to follow her. She heard them decide that she wasn’t worth it and make their way back to the battle with Knightowl. Barbara stood up, but before she started moving further from the battle, curiosity got the best of her and she looked back to where Knightowl was fighting the men.

From her distance, she could see Knightowl was holding his own. But she could also tell that the number of enemies would eventually overwhelm him. He’s a skilled and strong fighter, but he was surrounded.

“He’ll be fine,” Barbara mumbled to herself. She once again turned to leave but her feet refused to move. She looked down and saw the tire iron still in her hand. Her hand refused to drop the makeshift weapon and her feet still wouldn’t move away from the battle. “Dammit,” she groaned. After weighing her options, she mumbled “It’s not like anyone will miss me if I die today anyway.” With that, she turned back around and ran back towards the battle.

As the thugs swung at him, Kightowl’s armor took the brunt of the force, allowing him to fight back with minimal distraction. However, no matter how much he punched and kicked and spun around, plenty of men were able to hide in his blind spot and land a few swings, so much so that a few of them had accidentally found some weak points of his armor. One man was able to leap onto Knightowl from behind and wrap an arm around his neck. Knightowl’s armor protected him from choking, but he was struggling to shake the man off.

The man held fast to Knightowl. He grinned wildly, thinking he’d won, … until he felt the strength of a tire iron swing into his lower spine. The man let out a cry of pain and let go of Knightowl. As soon as the man fell to the ground, Barbara landed another hit on the top of his head, knocking him out cold. This caught the attention of the other thugs, making Barbara a target once again.

A large man swung his bat, hitting Barbara in the stomach. Barbara was knocked to the ground, grasping her stomach in pain. Knightowl spun to the man who struck her, grabbed him by the arm, and vaulted him over his shoulder, taking out three more men in the process. Knightowl quickly helped Barbara stand back up.

“I told you to leave!” he scolded her.

“You’re welcome!” she bit back.

Knightowl wanted to argue back, but he knew that they had to focus on taking down their attackers. “Just fight!” he commanded as he punched another thug in the forehead.

After about another ten minutes of fighting, all the thugs have either been knocked out or ran away. Knightowl turned to Barbara. She was clearly exhausted, and he knew that her arms and legs would be covered in bruises within the next few hours.

“Get in the car,” he told her gently.

Too tired to argue, Barbara obeyed. She dropped the tire iron, which she had been gripping so tightly that her knuckles had turned white, and got into the car. Knightowl finished reattaching the tires and got into the drivers’ seat. He started driving and Barbara watched the city move through the windshield, not even bothering to ask where they were going.

On their way to their destination, Knightowl pressed a button that caused the outside of the owl mobile to convert to a black lamborghini with windows that appeared surprisingly dark from the outside.

Eventually, they pulled up to a mansion. Knightowl pulled up onto the driveway and into the garage. The garage was very large, holding multiple fancy cars but also a few modest ones.. Knightowl stepped out of the disguised Owl-Mobile and walked to the other side of the vehicle to open Barbara’s door. He then gestured for her to step out. Not having seen the earlier transformation, Barbara was shocked and confused to see the lamborghini when she stepped out of the car. As she stared at the sleek vehicle, Knightowl walked over to a navy blue camry and easily pulled the hubcap off of one of the tires. He walked over to the side of the garage, motioning for Barbara to follow him. She complied, noticing the Knightowl symbol on the back of the hubcap. Knightowl led her to a shallow circular indent in the floor. Barbara then realized that there were multiple of the same indents across the garage floor. He placed the perfectly fitting hubcap in the indent, symbol side down, and stepped on it. Suddenly, a section of the floor that they were on top of started sinking into the ground.

Startled by the sudden movement. Barbara watched as they lowered through the floor and into a deep underground shelter. As soon as they were past the floor of the garage, their platform was surrounded by glass walls, ensuring that they wouldn’t get harmed by falling off. Barbara looked around the shelter and saw that there were many other glass elevators where the circular indents from the garage were.

The shelter had eight display cases, an extremely large work bench, a computer with an abnormally large screen, and a desk below the computer screen. One display case was empty while the rest held different versions of Knightowl and Sparrow suits, one even held a horse mannequin that wore Knightowl-themed equipment. From the desk, a tall, bald, slightly muscular, African-American man took off a headset, stood up, and quickly made his way to the descending platform.

“There you are!” the man exclaimed. “What took you so long?”

“It was a busy night,” Knightowl answered as he got out of the elevator.

Barbara stayed on the platform, keeping a good six-foot distance between her and the strange man. The man, meanwhile, looked between her and Knightowl in confusion.

“Uh, what is she doing here?” the man questioned Knightowl.

“Sam, this is Barbara. Barbara, this is Sam Hombee,” Knightowl introduced them. “And I-” he faced Barbara and took off his helmet, revealing an African-American man with a buzz cut and a thick mustache. “-am Douglas Keynes, but I usually go by Doug. Welcome to The Nest.”

Both parties just stared at Doug in utter shock for a couple moments.

“What are you doing?!” Sam asked in complete shock. Before Doug could answer, however, Barbara spoke up.

“So, all that stuff about you being an immoral hero is just bullshit?” she asked, surprisingly calm.

“Yes,” Doug answered her plainly. He turned to Sam. “Could you please get her a few ice packs? Maybe a bit more than a few.”

Sam looked at Barbara and saw a few bruises forming on her skin. “What the hell did I miss?” he asked.

“I’ll tell you after I get her situated,” Doug said. Sam nodded and left to get the ice packs. 

Once Sam had left, Barbara let her calm act fall.

“You met me only a couple hours ago!” Barbara said incredulously. “Now you’re showing me your hideout and telling me your real name?! You’re either way too trusting or very reckless!”

“I have a proposition for you,” Doug said calmly, ignoring the insult. “I would like to reconsider letting me take you in. I promise I’ll take care of you. And, if you would like-” he gestured to the suits on display “-I can make you your own Sparrow suit. Then, I can train you.”

“Train me on what?” Barbara questioned hesitantly.

“I can help you improve your fighting skills, train you to be a hero that will protect New York City and eventually take my place as Knightowl, keeping the legend of the immortal hero and sidekick alive.”

Barbara didn’t answer, instead she just continued to stare at him in shock. Doug took that as cue to keep talking.

“Being Sparrow isn’t required in order to stay here, though,” he said. “However, you would get to beat up bad guys.” Doug gave a dry chuckle but still got no response from Barbara. “Of course, I would understand if you didn’t want to put your own safety at risk-”

“I’m in,” Barbara interrupted.

“You’re in?” Doug repeated, honestly a little surprised.

Barbara grinned. “When do we start?”

“Not tonight. You need rest.”

Barbara’s face fell. At that moment, Sam came back into The Nest with a few ice packs in hand. Barbara took the ice packs Sam offered.

“So, this is it?” Barbara asked, acting nonchalant once again. “This is your entire hideout?”

“Well, yes,” Doug answered. “What were you expecting?”

“I don’t know, maybe a dinosaur?”

“Why would we have a dinosaur?” Sam asked incredulously. “ How would we have a dinosaur?” Barbara shrugged.

Doug rolled his eyes and sighed. He began taking off his armor, starting with his gauntlets, and putting it in the empty display case. “Sam, could you show Barbara to her room?” he asked.

“Sure,” Sam agreed, “which one? You have like five spare bedrooms.”

________

A minute later, in one of said bedrooms, a thirteen-year-old girl named Camilla Hombee paced back and forth in her nightgown. She hasn’t heard her father come up the stairs. He said that he would say goodbye to her before he left. If he hasn’t come yet, he must still be in The Nest, which means that her Uncle Doug must still be out on the streets. Was he in trouble? Did something happen to him? Suddenly, Camilla heard two sets of footsteps on the stairs.

She stopped pacing and breathed a sigh of relief. She instantly recognized one set of footsteps as her father’s, but she realized that the second set was too light to be Doug’s. 

“Is there a map of this place?” a girl’s voice asked. Camilla’s dad chuckled.

“No, but you get used to it,” he answered.

Camilla walked over to the bedroom door. She reached for the knob, but then remembered that she was supposed to be asleep. Instead of opening the door, she pressed her face against the frame and peered through the slit between the door and frame. She saw her dad with a girl that she didn’t recognize. Her dad opened the door to the bedroom across from the one she was in.

“Here we are, sleep well,” He said as he gestured to the unoccupied, fully furnished, bedroom. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small container of Tylenol pills. He handed the container to the girl. “Just in case you wake up aching tomorrow. Remember; no more than two every six hours.”

The girl, who Camilla just realized was holding a few ice packs, rolled her eyes and nodded. Once she was in the bedroom Camilla’s dad closed the door, giving her some privacy. He then turned his attention to Camilla’s door.

Camilla quickly, yet quietly, went to the bed. Before, she could get under the covers, however, the door opened. Light from the hallway spilled into the dark room. She turned to see her dad standing in the frame.

“Cami, it’s 3 a.m.!” he scolded quietly, groaning lightly. “Why are you still awake?”

“Who was that girl?” Camilla asked, not bothering to answer his question.

Sam knew that he wasn’t going to get an explanation as to why his daughter was still awake anytime soon. She was clearly focused on his reasons for being up late. She was like her mother in that way; once something piqued her interest, there was no distracting her from it.

“Someone Doug found on the streets,” Sam answered. He came all the way into the room and closed the door behind him. “I don’t know what happened, but something must have because he brought her back here and took off his mask in front of her.”

Camilla gasped in surprise. “So she knows? How long is she staying?”

“I don’t know, but I imagine that it might be for a while.” Sam sat on the end of the bed. “Your mother and I are going to get her some new clothes and a few toiletries, meaning that we’re going to push our trip back a day.” He paused before asking “How mad do you think your mother is going to be?”

“For postponing your second honeymoon for the third time or for asking her to buy clothes for a girl, at 3 am, without knowing her tastes or size?” Camilla asked.

“Both?” Sam asked nervously

“I think she’s going to be pretty annoyed.”

Sam nodded. “I think you’re right. Let’s hope we can find a 24-hour clothing store.” he said. “I’ll be going home soon. Would you like to come with me or stay here tonight?”

Camilla contemplated it for a moment. “I’ll stay here,” she answered. “I would like to meet that girl tomorrow.”

“Okay, but I gotta warn you; she doesn’t seem like much of a people person.”

__________

The Next Day; Late Morning

Barbara slowly opened her eyes to the glaring sunlight sneaking its way past the window shades. She groaned and rolled over in her bed. She pulled the soft blankets up over her head. Wait a minute. She was in a bed? Barbara slowly pulled the blankets down and sat up. She let her eyes adjust to the light before looking around the spacious bedroom, complete with a two-seater couch and a bookshelf.

“So, last night wasn’t a dream, got it,” she mumbled to herself.

She began to get out of the bed when she heard a light knock on the door. She didn’t respond, trying to remember who would be knocking. After a couple seconds of silence, the door opened. In walked a girl that Barbara didn’t recognize.

“Oh, you’re awake!” the girl said as she came in. She walked over to the wardrobe with her arms full of different articles of clothing. “Is there a specific way you want these organized in here? By color, style, season-”

“Who are you?” Barbara interrupted.

“I’m Camilla,” Camilla answered. “My mom went clothes shopping for you, but she didn’t know your style.” Camilla looked at the chaotic, yet neatly folded, bundle of clothes in her arms. “So, she got a little bit of every style. Fun fact: 24-hour clothing stores actually exist.”

Barbara just stared at her blankly.

“I’ll just leave these here,” Camilla said semi-awkwardly, putting the clothes down in front of the wardrobe. “Breakfast is cooking downstairs.” Camilla then walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

__________

Downstairs, in the kitchen;

“I can’t thank you enough, Alice,” Doug said as he flipped a couple pancakes on the stovetop.

“Oh, it was no problem at all,” Alice, an african-american woman with wavy hair, dismissed. “Although, next time you’re thinking of adopting, I would like to know sometime before 3 a.m. that morning.” Alice was cutting some strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, and other fruits and tossing them in a medium-sized bowl.

“I didn’t know that I was going to be adopting either,” Doug chuckled.

“Oh, I know! ” Alice said as if she had the hottest gossip in New York. She put the knife down on the cutting board, leaned against the counter with one arm, and had the other hand on her hip. She looked at Doug expectantly. “Sam said you kidnapped her?”

“I did not kidnap her!” Doug defended, incredulous.

“You locked her in your car!” Alice emphasized. She let out a small laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

“That’s not kidnapping!”

“It’s pretty darn close!”

As they continued their back-and-forth, Sam walked into the dinning room. He was shocked to see stacks of pancakes, bowls of mixed fruit, a yogurt parfait bar, and large plates full of bacon, eggs, and sausage on the table. Sam looked over to the kitchen just in time to see his wife cease her bickering with his best friend to frantically remind him to flip the pancakes before they burn.

“How long was I in the restroom?” Sam mumbled to himself.

__________

Upstairs;

Now fully dressed and with her hair up in a ponytail, Barbara stepped out of her new bedroom, closing the door behind her.

“You ready for breakfast?” Camilla’s voice came from behind her.

Startled, Barbara jumped. She looked behind herself to see Camilla smiling at her. Barbara rolled her eyes.

“Doug didn’t mention he had a daughter,” Barbara mumbled as she started down the hallway.

“Oh, I’m not his daughter. Doug is practically an uncle to me,” Camilla clarified, walking beside Barbara. “Sam’s my dad. They played football together in high school.”

“Your dad does not look like a football player,” Barbara commented as they descended down the stairs.

“I never said he was good.”

They reached the bottom of the stairs and Barbara was once again impressed to see just how large and roomy the house was. The first floor was open-concept, with both the kitchen and the dinning room visible from the living room. And even though all the rooms were visible, they were all still quite large. The living room alone took up about half the floorspace.

“For your information, I was a terrific football player,” Sam said from the dining table, where he was munching on his breakfast. He had clearly overheard the ending of their conversation. “I simply found out that Alice prefers the soldier physique to the football physique,” he finished with a sly grin as he drank his coffee.

“Please tell me Alice is your mother,” Barbara said to Camilla.

“Yes, she-” Camilla began before was cut off by a startled, yet joyful, voice.

“Douglas, put me down!” Alice commanded as she laughed.

Doug was holding her off the ground, with her back against his side, using one arm around her waist while he continued to focus on making pancakes. His hold on her didn’t falter as she tried to wiggle herself free.

“Not until you admit that you’re wrong,” he responded with a smile.

“I am never wrong!”

Barbara gave Camilla a questioning look

“Don’t ask,” Camilla pleaded. “They’re like brother and sister at times.”

Camilla walked over to a kitchen cabinet and grabbed two plates. She handed one to Barbara and started to fill her own at the table. Barbara, however, just stood in between the kitchen and the dining room with her plate in hand. She couldn’t decide which one was more shocking; the amount of food on the table or the fact that these people were enjoying each other’s company so much on a typical morning. Upon seeing that the girls were up, Doug let Alice down.

“Ha! I win!” Alice said triumphantly.

“Humph, more like saved by the bell,” Doug countered. He turned his attention to the girls. “Good Morning! Did you sleep well?”

“Y-yeah,” Barbara said, surprised by her own answer.

“That’s great! I see you’ve met Camilla, and this-” Doug gestured to Alice who waved and gave Barbara a warm smile “-is Alice, Cami’s mother and my friend.”

“It is great to meet you,” Alice said as she came over to Barbara to shake her hand. She then guided Barbara over to the table. “Sit down, eat. Doug and I made breakfast.”

“I can see that,” Barbara commented.

“We may have gotten a little carried away,” Alice admitted.

Doug, Alice, and Barbara filled their plates and sat down at the table. The five of them ate and discussed the events of the prior night. Barbara, of course, cleaned her plate quite quickly and Alice quietly encouraged her to have some more. After about half an hour, Alice checked her watch and frantically got up.

“Oh, Sam we have to go! Our flight leaves in 4½ hours!” she said. She quickly went over to Camilla, giving her daughter a hug and a kiss on the forehead. After Barbara established she wasn't a hugger, Alice gave her hand a quick squeeze.

“Oh, we still have time,” Sam said as his wife was saying her goodbyes.

“No, we don't.” She gave him a We’re leaving now look.

Sam nodded, put down his coffee and stood up. Alice rushed to the front door and grabbed two of the four suitcases sitting next to the entrance. Doug waved and stood up to wash his plate. Instead of following Alice, Sam went into the kitchen to talk to Doug.

“Hey, will you be okay without me for the week?” Sam asked him. “That guy did say that Jester was planning something.”

Doug put the dishes in the sink and turned to Sam.

“Sam, go on vacation with your wife,” Doug answered.

“Yes Sam, go on vacation with your wife ,” Alice firmly agreed from the doorway. This caused Barbara to crack a smile while Camilla did her best to muffle her snickering.

“Okay,” Sam gave in, “you be careful, Doug.” Sam gave Camilla a hug at the table, then he went to grab the remaining two suitcases. He left the house, leaving the door open for Alice to follow.

Alice took one step out the door before letting go of the suitcase handles and turning back around. She marched up to Doug and looked him dead in the eye, despite Doug being a whole head taller than her.

“If you get hurt,” she said in a serious tone, “I will kill you.”

“I promise, I’ll be careful,” Doug responded with a reassuring smile.

Alice suddenly grabbed him by the collar and yanked him down to eye level.

“If either of the girls get hurt,” she began, in a slightly more violent tone, “I will kill you, then bring you back to life just to kill again!”

“Girls,” Doug began nervously, “promise Alice you’ll be careful.”

“I promise, Mom,” Camilla assured, “It’s not like Uncle Doug is going to allow me to fight crime, anyway,” she finished, mumbling to herself.

“I cannot promise anything,” Barbara stated simply.

Alice, still holding onto Doug’s collar, looked at him expectantly.

“Neither of them will get hurt,” he promised.

Alice let go of Doug, gave Camilla another hug, then left. The three remaining people in the house watched through the window as Sam and Alice drove off. Barbara and Camilla returned their focus to their plates to finish eating. Meanwhile, Doug watched the window for a few more minutes, just to make sure that the couple didn’t change their mind and turn around.

“So,” Doug said with a smile after the girls had finished eating. He turned to Barbara, “you ready to begin your training?”

Barbara grinned as Camilla looked back and forth between the two of them, confused.

“Training?” Camilla questioned.

“Of course,” Doug said as if his reasoning was obvious. He then realized that he had not told Sam, nor Camilla, about his plans. “Barbara’s going to be the new Sparrow.”

“Really?” Camilla looked at Barbara, then back at Doug. “Is that allowed?”

“Who do you think makes the rules?” Doug answered with a proud smile.

“That’s great!” Camilla said as she excitedly stood up. “Can you train me too?”

“Absolutely not,” Doug shot her down.

“Aw, come on,” Camilla begged. “I know I won’t be Sparrow, but I can still help out!”

“ No. ”

“Why not?”

“Because I fear your mother.”

__________

That day was full of training. Doug started teaching Barbara how to perform some of Sparrow’s iconic moves. He also gave her basic training in multiple weapons including a whip, smoke grenades, tasers, bo staffs, nightsticks, a shield, and even more. It was a day of rigorous training, indeed. Though he wasn’t overly harsh, Doug only gave Barbara 30 minute breaks to eat lunch and dinner. While she ate a full meal, Doug had a protein bar as he showed Camilla how to use some features on the computer in The Nest. 

Camilla would eat at different times than Barbara, then she would spend her day watching them train or practicing her new knowledge of the computer and a few other tech devices. While she was grateful that Doug was teaching her something, it only took her about ten minutes to perfect all of the supercomputer shortcuts. After doing that, she stared at the computer with disinterest for a few minutes, not noticing Barbara glancing at her, before turning back to watch Doug and Barbara train.

Eventually, evening fell. Soon after the sun went down, Doug put on his Knightowl suit and left for patrol. He left Barbara behind, stating that she wasn’t ready for patrol yet. Before Doug left, he told the girls to get some sleep, reminding them that they only had a few days before Jester’s plan was put into motion, whatever that plan was.

Soon after Knightowl was gone, Camilla made her way towards leaving The Nest only to feel Barbara’s hand grasp her arm, stopping her. Camilla looked at Barbara, confused. Barbara was sweating and clearly exhausted. She kept her eye locked on the exit that Knightowl took for a whole ten seconds, as if making sure that he wouldn’t be back anytime soon. Finally, she looked at Camilla.

“Can he hear us through the computer?” she whispered, letting go of Camilla’s arm. Camilla glanced back at the computer.

“Um, no, I don’t think so,” she answered. At this, a small and slightly mischievous smile formed on Barbara’s face.

“Wanna learn what Doug taught me?” Barbara asked, earning a very wide excited smile from Camilla.

Their little training session only lasted about three hours. Barbara did the best she could to teach Camilla what Doug had taught her that day, but she didn’t have much energy left. Besides, both girls knew that they did need to go to bed eventually, or else Doug would be suspicious as to why they were so tired. Barbara taught Camilla what she could, but they would still end the training session without Camilla learning the entirety of what Barbara did.

The next two days went by very similarly with the exception of Doug setting aside a couple hours to assemble Barbara’s Sparrow suit, making sure it would fit her. Those days still included training and Barbara and Camilla’s secret training sessions after Doug left for patrol. Although Camilla was forced to learn at a slower pace than Barbara, she was still eager to learn all she could. While the other two trained in The Nest, Camilla practiced what she could in her room. When she got bored of that, she would return to The Nest to watch Doug train Barbara, taking all the mental notes she could.

The third day started like any other Tuesday. The three of them had breakfast and went down to The Nest, ready to start the day. That was, until the computer lit up, displaying the image of the infamous Jester, with his wild straight red hair and his yellow tuxedo covered in bold polka dots. Camilla, who had been sitting at the desk in front of the computer, yelped and hid underneath the desk. Hearing her yelp, Barbara and Doug turned their attention to the computer, both of them stiffening at the sight of the clown villain.

“ATTENTION KNIGHTOWL!” Jester cried with manic excitement.

Camilla, wide-eyed and panicked, made eye contact with Doug. She silently asked if Jester could somehow see them through the computer. Barbara, tense and worried, looked at Doug with the same question. Noticing their expressions, Doug tried his best to quell their worries.

“He must be on every TV and computer screen in the city,” Doug explained. He made eye contact with Barbara. “Get the Sparrow suit on.”

“I hope you’re watching Knightowl, because you’re gonna wanna see this!” Jester announced, confirming that he couldn’t see them.

Doug and Barbara watched the video as they quickly put their suits on. Camilla got out from underneath the desk and sat back down in the desk chair. She put her fingers on the keyboard, ready to try to find Jester’s location. That turned out not to be needed however, as Jester shifted his camera to show that he was in town square. People could be seen running in the background, trying to get out of the open.

“After all, I’m sure you’ll appreciate the heads up. You seemed so angry the last time I set off a bomb without telling you.” Jester hopped onto the hood of an abandoned car. “Don’t get in your birdie-mobile just yet, you don’t have all the facts.” Jester did a pirouette and took a deep, refreshing breath. “Beautiful day for terror, isn’t it?”

Now fully in uniform, Knightowl and his new Sparrow stood beside Camilla.

“Is there a way to find out where he hid the bomb?” Sparrow asked, slightly surprised by how different ‘his’ voice sounded with the voice modulator.

“Tap into police records,” Knightowl told Camilla. “See if anyone has reported suspicious activity.”

“There are three of them this time,” Jester said as Camilla furiously investigated. “It’s boring when you only have one to find and disarm.” He laid down casually on the car. “You have five minutes before the first one goes off, fifteen seconds in between each one. Ready, set, go!” With that, Jester turned off his camera, cutting off the video feed.

“I’ve narrowed down the search to three buildings,” Camilla said. Immediately, Knightowl bolted to The Nest’s exit, causing Sparrow to follow him.

“Great, we’ll head out,” Knightowl said. “Put the headset on and tell us where to go through the comms.”

Before leaving the hideout, Knightowl told Sparrow to grab a weapon. Without thinking too much about it, Sparrow chose the nightsticks. Soon, the hero and sidekick were speeding off in the Owl-Mobile. Camilla wasted no time sending the coordinates of the targeted buildings to the Owl-Mobile’s GPS.

“Are we sure we have the right locations?” Sparrow asked.

“ I’m sure ,” Camilla’s voice came through their earpieces. “Jester’s not very discrete. These are the only buildings that have reports of a clown-faced man in a hoodie sneaking out.”

“It cannot be that easy,” Sparrow doubted.

“Jester doesn’t really care who sees him,” Knightowl said as he drove. “In fact, he loves it when people see him. It causes more fear. However, it is very likely that he has restrained hostages near the bomb.”

“There is bad news,” Camilla added.

“You mean other than the three bombs?!” Sparrow questioned.

“Each one is three minutes away from each other. Even at top speed for the Owl-Mobile.”

“Then we need to hurry,” Knightowl stated simply. They pulled up to the nearest target and bolted out of the vehicle.

As soon as the Owl-Mobile was spotted, chaos ensued. People started to panic and ran to get as far away from that building as possible. Sparrow attempted to run into the building, but Knightowl stuck his arm out, blocking Sparrow’s way. 

“Where’s the bomb?” Knightowl asked Camilla. Camilla immediately pulled up the blueprints of the building.

“It has to be somewhere that can hide hostages,” Sparrow deduced.

“There is a spacious storage closet on the fifth floor.”

Knightowl grabbed a grappling hook from his utility belt. He hooked on a fifth floor window, grabbed Sparrow, and they both shot up. Knightowl rolled through the open window. However, Sparrow hit the wall and clinged to the window ledge. Sparrow eventually managed to pull himself up, but due to inexperience, it took him a few seconds. Once inside, he saw that Knightowl was already halfway done with searching the mostly open floor. Sparrow immediately joined the search, being the first one to find the locked door.

“Knightowl!” Sparrow called over his mentor.

Knightowl was quick to kick the door in. Inside, the heroes found three civilians, all bound and gagged with duct tape. Three feet away from them was one of Jester’s bombs.

“Free the hostages,” Knightowl commanded.

Sparrow obeyed, pulling out a pocket knife and cutting through the tape with haste. Knightowl made his way to the bomb and disarmed it with quick skill. He then ran over to the window that they used as an entrance with Sparrow quick to follow. Knightowl once again grabbed his grappling hook.

“You have one, too,” Knightowl told Sparrow. “Trust your instincts. Jump out the window and hook the grapple back onto the window ledge so that you have an easy landing.”

“I’m sorry, did you say jump -” Sparrow was cut off by Knightowl jumping out the window, rehooking the grapple, and landing swiftly on the pavement. “You never taught me that,” Sparrow quietly gripped. 

Knowing that he didn’t have any time at all to comtemple the risk, Sparrow took a quick breath and jumped. Midfall, Sparrow turned back to the window, aimed and shot the grappling hook, and held his breath. He watched the grappling hook slice through the air and miraculously hook onto the window ledge. Sparrow’s landing wasn’t as swift and graceful as Knightowl’s, but he didn’t die, so that was a win. He didn’t allow himself to breathe again until he and Knightowl were back in the Owl-Mobile, speeding down the streets of New York City.

Although he was breathing heavily and his heart was loudly thumping in his ears, Sparrow managed to check the time. It had been 1 minute and 40 seconds since Jester set the five minute limit.

“Do… we know the order… in which the bombs will go off?” Sparrow asked through his deep breaths.

“No, we don’t, ” Camilla stated sadly. “Is there a way that I can find out?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Knightowl said. “Which means that we need to move quickly and hope for the best.”

“We need to split up,” Sparrow said, coming to a revelation.

“Absolutely not!” Knightowl argued. “We are not splitting up on your first mission!”

“We are already going petal to the metal full speed, but we both know that it will still take us about three minutes to travel from one bomb to the other! We don’t have the time to stick together!”

“You don’t know how to disarm a bomb!”

“Then tell me how! We have comms for a reason!”

Knightowl was silent for a whole ten seconds before giving in.

“Fine,” he said. “I’ll drop you off at the next target. Make sure all the hostages are free before focusing on the bomb.”

“Got it,” Sparrow agreed.

“I’ll instruct you on how to disarm it when you get to it.”

Sparrow nodded, then he noticed the Owl-Mobile slowing down.

“Don’t slow down!” Sparrow said. “We need to save as much time as we can. I’ll jump out.”

“Are you crazy?!” Knightowl questioned. And yet, the Owl-Mobile quickly picked up speed.

“I just jumped out of a window, this feels completely sane!” Sparrow reasoned. With that, he opened his door and jumped out of the moving vehicle.

Sparrow landed on the hard pavement on his side and rolled to a stop. He quickly got to his feet and looked up at the building, realizing that it had to be at least ten stories tall.

“Any idea as to where this bomb is?” he asked.

“Seventh floor,” Camilla answered.

“Of course.”

Sparrow once again grabbed his grappling hook and used it to enter the seventh floor. This time, he was able to avoid getting caught by the outside wall and immediately started searching the floor. He once again checked the time. 4 minutes 45 seconds. Sparrow found the locked door. 4:49. Not wasting time kicking the door (he knew that he wouldn’t be able to kick it in), Sparrow grabbed a nearby fire hydrant and broke off the doorknob. Opening the door, Sparrow saw a scene similar to the scene at the previous building; two hostages and a nearby bomb. 4:53. Sparrow immediately unbound the hostages.

“Go, quickly!” Sparrow commanded, causing the hostages to run out of the room. Sparrow went over to the bomb. “Knightowl, I’m here, what do I do?” 4:58.

“ GET OUT, THERE’S NOT ENOUGH-” Knightowl was cut off by a loud BOOM!

Sparrow covered his face with his arms, but nothing happened. He lowered his arms, realizing that the bomb in front of him had not gone off.

“Knightowl!” Sparrow called into his earpiece. “Are you alright?!” He looked out the nearest window, hoping to catch sight of something, anything.

He did see something, something he was not expecting to see. Outside, high up in the sky, above most of the buildings, was a cloud of fire and smoke. The cloud did not lead back to the ground, and there was no destruction around it.

“I’m alright,” Knightowl said, snapping Sparrow out of his thoughts. He sounded disappointed. “I didn’t make it to the target. I’m turning around and heading back to you.”

“Someone got there on time,” Sparrow said. “Unless Jester decided to detonate it in the sky.”

“ What do you mean?” Knightowl questioned.

“Look at the sky.”

Before Knightowl could respond, Camilla’s voice came over the comms system.

“Guys! Sparrow’s bomb!” She reminded them.

Crap! Sparrow had forgotten about that. 5:16. Geez, they got lucky.

“What colors are the wires?” Knightowl asked frantically. 5:17.

“Green, yellow, and blue,” Sparrow answered. “But there are multiples of each one.”

Knightowl came in through a nearby window and bolted over to Sparrow and the bomb. Sparrow took a few steps back to give Knightowl room to examine the bomb. 5:20. Knightowl disarmed to bomb. Sparrow let out a breath that he didn’t realize he was holding.

“Jester’s probably long gone by now,” Knightowl said as he stood up. He picked up the bomb so that they could dispose of it properly. “Let’s get the other one.”

Knightowl walked over to the window he came in from. Once he reached the window, he turned to Sparrow, expecting his sidekick to be right behind him. Sparrow fell behind, however, distracted by the sound of faint beeping. He followed the sound until he heard a creak below his feet. Beeping, loose floorboard, 5:27. Beneath the mask, Sparrow’s eyes widened in realization. The beeping quickened.

“What is it?” Knightowl asked, not having heard the sound. 5:28.

Sparrow bolted from his spot towards Knightowl.

“Jump now!” Sparrow yelled. 5:30. Another explosion.

Surrounded by the fire and deafening sound, Sparrow was thrown through a newly-cumbled wall that was adjacent to Knightowl’s window. He could hear worried cries from both Knightowl and Camilla. As Sparrow free-fell along with building debris, he grabbed his grappling hook and aimed it at the opening left in the building’s side. Before he could shoot, however, a large piece of debris hit his arm, causing him to drop the grappling hook. Sparrow’s heart dropped along with his tool, realizing that he had no way to save himself. Sparrow was about to call out Knightowl, but something stopped his free fall.

He looked up to see that someone had caught him. His rescuer was a girl about his age. She had her blonde hair in a pixie cut and was wearing common street clothes. The only thing setting her apart from any other civilian was the fact that she was levitating in midair while holding Sparrow bridal style with her very strong arms as if he weighed nothing.

“Are you alright?” She asked him. Her concerned blue eyes checked him over for injury. Sparrow was glad that she couldn’t see Barbara’s face blushing underneath the mask.

“Sparrow, are you still there?” Camilla's frantic voice came in through the comms. The girl turned her head slightly, as if she had heard Camilla, but quickly turned back. Sparrow assumed that he was seeing things, given that it was impossible for the girl to hear anything from his earpiece.

“Y-yeah,” Sparrow said once he found his voice again, not sure who’s question he was answering.

The girl’s eyes moved to Sparrow’s mask and Sparrow couldn’t seem to look away. Until screaming was heard below them, causing both of them to turn their attention towards the ground. Apparently, even though the girl had caught Sparrow, the laws of gravity still applied to the building debris. Knightowl was already on the ground, running towards the source of the screaming. The girl quickly lowered herself and Sparrow to the ground.

Once the girl put him down, Sparrow rushed to Knightowl, who was straining to lift an extremely large piece of rubble. Underneath the rubble was a woman trapped and screaming for help.

“Sparrow, the nightsticks!” Knightowl yelled.

Sparrow immediately dropped to the ground and put his nightsticks upright in the small gap that knightowl had made between the rubble and the ground. Knightowl then gently let go of the rubble, letting the nightsticks hold its weight. He quickly went to the opposite end of the piece of rubble and braced himself to lift again.

“Pull her out when there’s room,” Knightowl told Sparrow.

Sparrow nodded and got a hold of the woman, ready to get her out. Knightowl lifted with all his might, but he couldn’t give Sparrow enough room to pull the woman out. Sparrow’s rescuer saw Knightowl’s struggle. She came up beside him and lifted the entire piece of rubble above her head with minimal difficulty. Sparrow moved the woman out of harm’s way and the incredibly strong girl gently put the rubble back down. She then gave Sparrow his nightsticks that she found on the ground and began to ascend back into the sky. Before she could get more than a couple feet off the ground, Knightowl gently grabbed her arm, causing her to look back at him.

“Thank you for saving Sparrow,” he told her sincerely.

Realizing that Knightowl must have seen her holding him, Sparrow’s cheeks burned with embarrassment.

“I would have been fine,” Sparrow said.

“You would have been fine after a seven-story drop?” The girl questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“I have a jetpack,” Sparrow lied.

“You do?” Camilla said in disbelief. “ Since when? Is that a new thing?”

Sparrow wished he could telepathically tell her to shut up. Knightowl remained silent, deciding not to call out his sidekick’s lie in front of company. The blonde girl just smiled and flew over to Sparrow. Unexpectedly, she pulled him into a hug.

“I’m glad you’re okay anyway,” she said as she hugged him. She then let go and flew off.

__________

Knightowl and Sparrow stayed for a few more minutes, making sure that anyone who needed medical assistance got it, before returning to The Nest. Camilla was elated to see them both return unharmed.

“You’re okay!” She celebrated. She ran over to them and gave Knightowl a big hug, giving Sparrow the opportunity to put up his uniform. “What happened after the bomb went off?”

“Well,” Knightowl began. He still had his helmet on, but the girls could practically hear his teasing smile, “when I saw Sparrow go through a wall, I made it back to the ground as fast as I could. But once I saw Sparrow being cradled by a flying girl, I knew he was okay.”

“I was not being cradled ,” Barbara snapped as she put her Sparrow helmet in the newly installed display case. Suddenly, Camilla rammed into her for a hug, nearly knocking her to the ground. What was with people and hugging her today?

“Hold on, did you say ‘flying girl’?” Camilla questioned, releasing Barbara before she was pushed away.

“Let me get this suit off first,” Knightowl said, “then I’ll tell you all about it.”

Within the next couple minutes, Doug, Camilla, and Barbara all stood in front of the computer as Doug pulled up images from the newsfeed of the day.

“That’s her,” he said once he found a picture of the strange blonde. “She was able to defy gravity-” Camilla opened her mouth to speak, but Doug quickly cut her off “-do not start singing broadway.”

Camilla responded with a weak “wasn’t going to” before Doug continued.

“This girl also had inhuman strength. I’m willing to bet that she somehow found one of the bombs and threw it into the sky. She might be from out of this world.”

“You got that right,” Barbara unconsciously commented.

“What was that?” Both Doug and Camilla turned their heads to look at Barbara.

Upon realizing that she had said her thoughts out loud, Barbara’s cheeks flushed slightly.

“What? I- I didn’t say anything,” she denied. She quickly glued her eyes to the picture of the girl on the screen in order to avoid eye contact.

Doug shrugged it off and turned his attention back to the screen. Camilla, however, continued to look at Barbara questioningly.

“I’ve never seen her before,” Doug said. He once again looked towards Barbara. “Did she tell you her name?”

“Nope,” Barbara responded quickly, still refusing to make eye contact.

The three of them discussed the day’s events over the next hour. Eventually, Doug decided to go on a short patrol. He said that he wanted to see if Jester left any evidence as to where he was hiding in any of the target buildings. He told the girls that they earned a break, meaning he didn’t want them to join him, whether it was on the field or over the comms.

“So,” Barbara said once Knightowl had left, “time for secret training?” Camilla didn’t respond. Instead she continued to look at Barbara, as if trying to solve a visual puzzle. “What?”

Camilla’s puzzled face shifted into a teasing grin.

“You like her!” Camilla said in realization. 

“What? No I don’t,” Barbara lied, her cheeks getting more red by the second.

“Oh, yes you do!”

“I don’t!”

“You do!”

“I don’t!”

Camilla stayed silent for a moment, still smiling teasingly at Barbara.

“C’mon,” Camilla said finally. She began to walk towards the exit platform of The Nest, not bothering to check if Barbara was following her.

“To where?” Barbara questioned.

“C’mon,” Camilla repeated. She stood on the platform and gestured to an empty spot next to her. After a bit of hesitation, Barbara joined her on the platform.

__________

A few minutes later…

“You could have just told me that we were going to a coffee shop,” Barbara said as she and Camilla stood outside a humble Ma and Pop coffee shop called The Rush .

“It’s not just a coffee shop,” Camilla defended. “It’s also the best place to get cookies in New York. And it’s a great place to hang out with your friends and talk about a crush that one of you definitely has on a mysterious blonde. Well, it’s better than a basement anyway.”

“I do not have a crush,” Barbara said through gritted teeth. However, it was clear Camilla didn’t believe her.

“Let’s just go in,” Camilla said, opening the door for her friend.

Before stepping through the door, Barbara’s eyes scanned the inside of the coffee shop. It wasn’t tiny, but it wasn’t very large, either. The shop was cute and comfortable, suggesting that Camilla was right about it being a good hangout spot. 

That’s when Barbara saw her. A tall girl with pixie-cut blonde hair was looking over the menu through her glasses, trying to decide on what to get. Barbara’s heart rate quickened at the sight of her. For some reason, perhaps she felt Barbara’s eyes on her, the blonde turned her head and saw Barbara. She gave Barbara a warm smile and a small wave. Barbara immediately grabbed Camilla’s wrist and pulled her away from the entrance, trying to get out of sight of the windows. That proved to be a tricky task, given that three of the four walls each had multiple large windows.

“Hey! What gives?” Camilla complained as Barbara dragged her. 

Barbara stopped them at the corner of the building. There was still some visibility through the windows, but they were partially hidden.

“That’s her,” Barbara said, glancing back through the window.

“What’s who?” Camilla asked. She followed Barbara’s gaze to the blonde in the coffee shop. The girl had her attention back on the menu, acting as though she hadn’t seen either of them.

“Girl, you’ve got it bad ,” Camilla teased. “That’s not the same girl.”

“Are you blind?” Barbara turned her gaze back to Camilla. “Sure, she changed her outfit, but that is clearly the same person.”

“The girl from earlier wasn’t wearing glasses.”

“Don’t tell me the glasses are fooling you,” Barbara said in disbelief.

“Even without the glasses, I don’t think she’s the same girl.”

“Trust me, she is.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Because you instantly fell in love with her and could recognize her through any disguise?” Camilla asked, her grin more prominent than before.

“That’s not why!”

Camilla burst out laughing, causing Barbara to roll her eyes in annoyance.

“Okay, so she’s the same girl,” Camilla gave in once she was able to stop laughing. “But what makes you so sure?”

“I saw her face when she waved at me,” Barbara answered.

“She waved at you?” Camilla asked, sounding slightly worried. “Did she see you without your mask on?”

“No, she’s just a friendly person.” Barbara was once again looking at the blonde through the window.

“Okay. Let’s go say hi.” Camilla walked back over to the door.

“Are you crazy?” Barbara asked, not following her. “We don’t know her!”

“...That’s why we’re saying hi.”

“Where I come from, strangers don’t approach each other unless one of them is about to get mugged.”

Camilla just gestured for Barbara to join her by the door. Barbara stayed where she was.

“If you don’t go in right now, I’m going to go over to her and tell her that there’s a crazy girl with no social skills outside the window watching her,” Camilla threatened her.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Barbara challenged.

Camilla simply opened the door and gestured for Barbara to enter. They stared each other down for a few seconds before Barbara gave in. By the time they had actually entered The Rush, the blonde girl had already ordered and was holding a treat in her hand. She was about to sit down at a table before Camilla dragged Barbara over and tapped the blonde’s shoulder.

“Hi, I’m Camilla,” Camilla introduced herself, offering her hand to shake. “I haven’t seen you around here before.”

 The girl turned to them and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said, shaking Camilla’s hand. “I’m pretty new in town.”

“Well, I’d be happy to show you around! Oh, and this-” Camilla pushed Barbara forward slightly “-is my friend, Bar-” Suddenly Camilla’s phone started to ring.

Barbara gave her a if you answer that, I’ll kill you glare.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Camilla wisphered, assuring her that she isn’t cruel enough to abandon her with her crush. That incentive quickly changed, however.

“Oh, that’s my mom,” Camilla said at a normal volume. “I have to take this.” She then stepped away, leaving the other two alone.

Barbara began to panic on the inside. She didn’t know what to do or say and she definitely didn’t want to be standing there awkwardly.

“I’m Olympia,” the girl said as she held out her hand. “I know, it’s a weird name.”

Relieved that she didn’t have to start the conversion, Barbara felt her increased heart rate slow down.

“I’m Barbara,” she said. Her heart rate immediately quickened again the moment she took Olympia’s warm hand. While trying to force herself to calm down, Barbara continued. “Olympia’s not a weird name, by the way. It’s actually pretty majestic.” Barbara instantly panicked about what she just said and quickly tried to change the subject. “I mean!- I- what did you order?”

“Oh, it’s a Sparrow cookie,” Olympia answered with a slightly confused smile. She showed the cookie to Barbara.

It was cut and decorated to look like one of the bird eyes that were painted on the sides of Sparrow’s hood.

“What’s in it, bird seed?” Barbara asked.

Olympia laughed out loud at Barbara’s joke; a sound that made Barbara smile brightly. That was when Camilla rejoined them.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Camilla said apologetically. She handed Barbara her phone. “My mom wants to talk to you.”

“Why?” Barbara asked, confused.

“Because two bombs went off in our city today and she wants to make sure you aren’t dead?” Camilla answered as if it were obvious.

Still confused by Alice’s concern, Barbara took the phone and stepped away. The conversation was mostly “Are you okay?!” “Sam and I saw the news and it said you went through a wall!” “Do I have to kill Doug?” “Who was that girl who showed up?” “Has Doug gotten you a phone? Do you have a phone number?”

Barbara assured her that she was okay, she lied and said that she didn’t know who the girl was, and Alice seemed to calm down by the time Barbara promised to share her phone number with her once she got a phone. Alice promised that she and Sam would be back within the next couple of days before saying goodbye and hanging up the phone.

Olympia and Camilla were still talking when Barbara rejoined them. Camilla was telling Olympia all about the ‘secret menu’ that only the shop’s regulars know about.

“If you want,” Camilla began once Barbara gave her back her phone, “the three of us can get something to go and hang out at Barbara’s mansion. Barbara has a mansion.”

“Hold on one second,” Barbara requested of Olympia before she had the chance to answer. Barbara grabbed Camilla’s arm and pulled her a few feet away.

“What are you doing?” Barbara whispered angrily.

“Being an amazing wingwoman,” Camilla whispered back.

“Don’t.”

Camilla rolled her eyes and Barbara went back over to Olympia.

“Sorry about that,” Barbara apologized. “We don’t have to-”

“Actually, I’d love to,” Olympia said.

Shocked by her answer, Barbara didn’t know what to say. Camilla smirked and mouthed a ‘told ya’ to Barbara.

“Technically, it’s not my mansion,” Barbara said, as if that needed clarifying.

Camilla ordered about a dozen Knightowl and Sparrow cookies and three cups of hot chocolate before leading the other two back to the mansion. Once there, the three of them sat down in the living room and talked over cookies and hot coco.

“So, where are you from?” Camilla asked Olympia.

“Oh, it’s pretty far away,” Olympia answered, deflecting the question. “What about you, Barbara? Camilla obviously grew up here. Did you?”

“I… have lived in New York my whole life,” Barbara answered. “But I’ve only been in this part of town for the past few days.”

“What caused the change?” Olympia asked curiously.

“Uh, I…” not wanting to reveal her past just yet, Barbara didn’t know what to say. Thankfully, the sound of Doug coming in through the garage door saved her having to answer the question.

Camilla was quick to introduce Olympia to Doug as Barbara breathed a sigh of relief.

“I hope it’s okay that we invited her over,” Camilla said as Olympia stood to shake Doug’s hand.

“Oh, it’s not a problem at all,” Doug assured. “In fact, I’m impressed that you got Barbara to leave the house and meet new people,” he teased. Barbara gave him a death glare. Doug just chuckled. “I’m going to be doing some work in my home office, just pretend I’m not here. Unless one of you knows how to make a jetpack?”

Of course, Doug wasn’t expecting an answer, but Olympia was quick to give him one.

“Well, jetpacks are made of small jet engines that burn fuel to create hot gas, which is expelled downwards in order to push the wearer upwards,” she said, “but they have short flight time because of the high fuel consumption. Highly-powered propellers that attach to someone’s back would be more efficient.”

The other three were shocked silent by her knowledge. When Olympia noticed, she started to get embarrassed and quickly sat back down.

“That was incredible,” Barbara complimented in awe.

Olympia gave a small smile as her cheeks flushed. “I- I just have a passion for science is all,” she said

“I am definitely hiring you when you turn eighteen,” Doug told her, causing Olympia to give a light laugh.

“Wait, hire me where? What do you need a jetpack for?” she questioned. Barbara and Camilla also looked at Doug expectantly, wondering what excuse he’d give.

“I own Keynes Technologies,” Doug explained. “We make technology for the secret service and earlier today, Barbara gave me the idea to make jetpacks. I’ll look into those propellers, though.”

__________

A couple of days later…

Keeping their promise, Alice and Sam returned from vacation and stopped by the mansion first to pick up Camilla. Alice was quick to give a tight hug to both Camilla and Barbara while making sure that they were, in fact, in one piece. As Alice began to chew Doug out for not calling her immediately after the bombings, Camilla went upstairs with Barbara to finish packing her things.

“I think I’ve got everything,” Camilla said as she closed her suitcase.

“You forgot something,” Barbara’s voice came from behind her.

Camilla turned to see Barbara holding a triangular titanium shield.

“I noticed that this was your favorite ‘weapon’,” Barbara said a little quietly. “I don’t know why though, it’s such an odd shape for a shield.”

“That’s why it’s my favorite,” Camilla said, taking the shield from Barbara. “Did you steal this from The Nest?”

Barbara shrugged. “It’s not like Doug ever uses it.”

Camilla smiled and hid the shield in her suitcase.

“Try not to hole yourself up in your room when I’m not here,” she said as she lifted her suitcase.

“Don’t worry, Doug is taking me on patrol after you guys leave.”

“Okay, but remember that we’re meeting Olympia at The Rush later today. Don’t be late,” Camilla reminded. Barbara nodded and looked at the ground. Camilla put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll miss living with you, Barbara.”

Barbara looked at her. “I’ll miss you, too,” she admitted.

“On the bright side,” Camilla started with a smile, “I’m only five minutes away, we share a favorite coffee spot, and we’ll be going to the same school in a couple weeks. You’ll never be able to get rid of me.”

Barbara smiled and Camilla left to meet her parents downstairs.

__________

Patrol started off very boring. There was nothing that called for the immortal superduo’s assistance. Sparrow was about to ask Knightowl if they could cut it short before a familiar blonde showed up. This time, she was wearing a blue and red suit with what looked to be a golden M across her chest. Sparrow smiled brightly at the sight of her. But of course, that wasn’t visible due to his mask.

“Is something happening? Is that clown man back?” she asked as she flew up to Knightowl and Sparrow, who were perched on a rooftop. She frantically looked around for any trouble, ready to leap into action.

“It’s nice to see you again,” Knightowl greeted calmly. “No, nothing’s happening right now, Sparrow and I are just on a patrol.”

The flying girl seemed to calm down because of Knightowl’s assurances.

“Would you like to join us?” Sparrow invited. The girl smiled and agreed.

“By the way,” Knightowl said, “we never got your name.”

“I was thinking… Majestia,” Majestia answered.

“I don’t think that’s a word,” Sparrow commented.

“A friend gave me the idea,” Majestia said, smirking at him. Sparrow was once again thankful that she couldn't see Barbara’s face blushing like crazy.

__________

Over the next few months, the girls fell into a sort of routine. Before the start of school, Camilla, Barbara, and Olympia would meet at The Rush almost daily. Anytime they got the chance, they would spend hours together, whether it was at their favorite coffee shop or at the Keynes mansion. Anytime Knightowl and Sparrow were seen in the city, whether it be on patrol or actively protecting the city, Majestia was quick to join them.

When the three heroes had some downtime, Knightowl took the opportunity to ask Majestia how she got her powers. All of their ‘supervillains’ were just people with either very good fighting skills, or impressive technology, or they were involved in some sort of accident that had given them powers instead of death, or all of the above.

Majestia admitted that she was not born on earth, she was from a far away planet. Her people were violent people who constantly fought and hurt each other and nearby planets. Majestia couldn’t take it and fled. Reasonably, Knightowl inquired about the chances of an invasion from her planet. Majestia assured him that her people have no interest in Earth, it didn’t have any needed resources.

“But I promise you;” she said in a serious tone. “If anyone from my planet finds themselves here, I will do everything within my power to keep this planet safe.”

Barbara, of course, told Camilla everything that Majestia had said the moment she returned from patrol.

Anytime she was not with her parents or friends, Camilla was in her room at home, practicing with her new shield. Once or twice a week, she and Barbara would have ‘sleepovers’ at the Keynes mansion. They would watch movies together until Doug left or went to sleep, then they would go down to The Nest for a training session. In order to avoid suspicion, they would occasionally invite Olympia to a few sleepovers and skip the training session and dye their hair instead. Actually, they only dyed their hair once (mistakes were made).

When school started, Barbara and Camilla were pleasantly surprised to find out that Olympia attended the same school as they did. Doug, meanwhile, was elated to hear that Barbara would tell her teachers that her last name was Keynes when they asked. No one could wipe the smile off his face for days.

While the girls were in school, the adults (Team Knightowl, as Sam called them) took care of the criminals. Doug would fight them as Knightowl while Sam had his back from The Nest. Meanwhile, Alice would use her law degree once the criminals were in custody. She would attempt to convince them to give up information in exchange for a reduced sentence, or if needed, she would personally gather the evidence, build a case against them, and serve as the prosecutor. Everytime Jester showed his face, Alice would log every one of his actions and every single word he said. She then would keep each log in a gigantic file that she kept at her desk, waiting for the opportunity to be used.

If Knightowl had an overly busy week, Sam would oversee production at Keynes Technologies. Doug would always joke that a perk to being the owner was that he only had to come into the office a couple days a week, but he didn’t want to leave his company unattended for too long. Doug would say that that was the main reason that he had given Sam such a high position in his company, but the truth was that he really enjoyed working with his best friend.

It was about a month and a half after the start of school when Knightowl’s team got a new member. Knightowl, Sparrow, and Majestia were in the streets of New York trying to stop the villain Bison from tearing the city apart. Bison wore an extremely large and heavy suit that allowed him to run through solid objects with minimal damage. He also had amazing strength, allowing him to run at great speeds and lift hundreds of pounds.

Majestia used her flight and speed to try to keep him contained in a small space while Knightowl and Sparrow looked for ways to restrain him. Each time Bison would charge, Majestia would fly ahead of him to cut him off, causing him to rapidly direction. Each time he did this, however, his feet would tear up the road and send large pieces of asphalt debris flying.

Knightowl heard a scream as one piece of debris headed right for a bystander. He turned just in time to see a new hero, another teenage girl, in a star-spangled uniform and mask leap in front of the civilian and hold up her triangular shield, blocking the debris.

“The name’s Victory,” she introduced when she saw him looking in her direction. Before Knigthowl could come up with any sort of response, Majestia leapt onto Bison, attempting to knock him down.

Majestia was much stronger than Bison was, but she wasn’t very balanced, which allowed Bison to throw her off of him before Knightowl and Sparrow could restrain him. Majestia landed on a car, leaving a sizable dent, as Bison began to change once again.

 Victory was quick to throw her shield, tripping Bison with impeccable aim. Bison fell to the ground, only then could Knightowl and Sparrow put restraints on him. Victory’s shield returned to her and she was able to catch it with ease.

“So,” Victory said with a smile as she made her way towards the other heroes, “what do you think?”

Majestia was clearly surprised to see her, but she still wore a welcoming smile. Unfortunately, Knightowl beat her to responding.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Knightowl asked angrily, catching the rest of them off guard. “You can’t just put on a mask and fight crime! It’s too dangerous, especially for a kid!”

“I- but I know how to fight! And you saw how well I can use this!” Vivotry argued, holding up her shield. She was honestly shocked by Knightowl’s response, given how welcoming he had been to Majestia.

“You are too young!” Knightowl countered.

Starting to get a little annoyed, Victory gestured to Majestia and Sparrow, who were keeping Bison restrained as they waited for law enforcement to arrive.

“Majestia has superpowers,” Knightowl excused.

“You and Sparrow don’t! And Sparrow is my age!”

“We are immortal!” Knightowl argued back. “Sparrow alone is older than your grandparents! Our years of experience far outweigh whatever kind of self-taught training you have!”

Shocked, annoyed, and hurt, Victory couldn’t find the words to argue back.

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll go home, but I’m going to continue to fight crime whether you like it or not!”

Victory turned and ran off just as a couple police cruisers pulled in around the heroes. Bison was loaded into one of the vehicles and all the police officers drove off, leaving the heroes in a tense silence.

“What was that ?” Sparrow spoke up.

“We’ll discuss this back at The Nest,” Knightowl snapped. “Get in the Owl-Mobile, we’re leaving.”

“But Knightowl,” Majestia defended, stepping forward. “She did help us.”

“If she starts fighting crime, what’s to stop other civilians from doing the same thing? That’s how people get hurt,” Knightowl explained. “Sparrow, get in the car; now!”

__________

Victory snuck back into her house through her bedroom. She then took off her mask, revealing Camilla Hombee’s face. Even though she was alone in her room, Camilla still fought the urge to cry as she laid down on her bed. Despite Knightowl not knowing that it was her under the mask, she still expected him to be proud. She thought that he would have been happy to see that he had inspired someone else to stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves.

Tears stinged Camilla’s eyes as she remembered how Knightowl had doubted her ability to contribute to the team. He had never doubted Barbara! And he had welcomed Majestia to the team! What, just because she could fly? Oh, and she did save Sparrow’s life, there was that, too.

Suddenly, Camilla’s phone rang. The caller ID read Barbie . Camilla smirked to herself. Barbara absolutely hated that nickname, but she kept it in her contacts just to spite her. Camilla wiped her eyes and answered the phone.

“For the record, you did great today, ” Barbara’s voice came from the other end of the call.

Camilla chuckled dryly. “Yeah? Well, Uncle Doug didn’t seem to think so.”

“About that; I may have just yelled at him in your defense.”

Camilla sprang upright. “What?! You didn’t tell him it was me, did you?”

“No, I didn’t. He just said something along the lines of ‘we don’t know if she’s had any training’ and I yelled ‘You’re right, you don’t know’. Then I locked myself in my room.”

“Well, that couldn’t have been suspicious,” Camilla commented sarcastically.

“Hey, I was trying to help your case!” Barbara shot back.

“I know,” Camilla sighed. “Thank you.”

“Besides, if Doug knew it was you underneath the mask, I don’t think he would doubt you for a second. As far as he knows, you’re just a superfan in a Halloween costume. You need to prove to him otherwise.”

A determined smile graced Camilla’s lips.

“You’re right,” she said. “By the way, how did I look?”

“Like the American Flag threw up on you.”

Camilla rolled her eyes.

“And Victory ? That name’s kind of cocky, don’t you think?”

“Goodnight, Barbie.”

“I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME TH-”

Camilla hung up the phone.

__________

The very next day, the Owl-Mobile pulled up to a bank that was currently being robbed. At the same time, Majestia flew in from the sky and began to descend. Just before she landed, however, Majestia stopped and hovered a few feet off the ground. She looked off in the distance, as if she were listening for something.

“What is it?” Knightowl asked.

“There’s another robbery happening,” Majestia said. “It’s across town.”

“Hold up, do you have super-hearing?” Sparrow asked. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

“They must have planned this,” Knightowl deduced, ignoring Sparrow’s simping. “They know they can’t win against all of us, so they did this to separate us.”

“I‘ll go to the other bank,” Majestia said. “You two can stay here, I’ll take care of things across town.”

Knightowl nodded in agreement and Majestia turned to fly off.

“Wait!” Sparrow called out in concern, causing Majestia to turn back around. “Be careful.”

“I promise,” Majestia replied, blushing. With that, she flew off.

The second Majestia landed in front of the glass doors of the second bank, the robbers opened fire on her from inside. Not even flinching, Majestia stood her ground, planning to let them run out of ammo. That plan seemed to be going well until Victory jumped in front of her, holding up her shield. Panicked, Majestia immediately picked Victory up and flew her over to the side of the building where the stone walls protected them from bullets.

“Just to be clear;” Majestia said as she put Victory down. “ I am bulletproof. You do not need to be jumping in front of me!”

“Well, that would have been good to know!” Victory retorted.

After checking Victory over for injuries, Majestia made a plan. She would distract the robbers and let them shoot at her while Victory threw her shield, knocking out as many of them as possible. That phase of the plan went well. Majestia once again stood in front of the glass door and the robbers continued to unload their weapons onto her. Meanwhile, Victory ducked behind a pillar and threw her shield, knocking out two out of the five of them. As soon as the remaining three heard their partners hit the ground, they stopped shooting and their eyes followed the shield as it returned to Victory. Before they could change targets, however, Majestia was two feet in front of them, easily knocking each one out with a single punch. Once all the robbers were unconscious, Victory ran into the lobby to join Majestia.

“You check the building to see if there are any hostages and I’ll check the safe,” Victory said. Majestia nodded in agreement and flew off into another room.

As Victory neared the walk-in safe, she could rustling coming from the inside. She peeked inside and saw two more robbers stuffing bags full of cash. Holding her shield in front of her, Victory charged at them. She rammed one into the wall, causing him to drop his gun, and she kicked the gun out of the hands of the other one. Victory used her limited knowledge of martial arts, and a few of the combat moves Barbara had taught her, before using the shield to knock them unconscious. They had gotten a few good hits in, but she soon stood over them with nothing more than a few bruises.

“There aren’t any hostages, it seems like everyone made it out- oh, wow,” Majestia said as she hovered in and noticed the two robbers on the ground.

“Yeah,” Victory agreed, slightly out of breath. “It seems we got everyone.” 

She proudly held up her hand, inviting Majestia for a high five. Majestia accepted, a little too eagerly.

“Sorry,” Majestia apologized after her high five knocked Victory to the ground.

“It’s okay, but we should probably find a different way to celebrate successful missions.”

Majestia agreed and helped Victory stand back up. Majestia then turned to exit the safe.

“We should find something to restian these guys,” she said as she returned to the lobby with Victory following her. “That way, we can leave them here for the cops and go help Knightowl and Sparrow-” Majestia paused for a moment. “-Nevermind, Knightowl and Sparrow are heading to us.”

“Oh, then I should go,” Victory decided. “Are you able to stay here till someone comes to pick these guys up?”

Majestia nodded. “By the way,” the flying superheroine said, causing Victory to pause. “I think you’re a great hero, and I’m pretty sure Sparrow agrees.”

A relieved smile lit up Victory's face. “Thank you,” she said. “Seems that I just have to prove it to Knightowl. But I’m going to take off for now and let him see my work for himself.” Suddenly, the Owl-Mobile could be seen through the shattered windows as it pulled up to the bank. “Crap, I forgot how fast that thing is.”

Victory immediately ducked behind the front desk. Sparrow got out of the Owl-Mobile and jogged over to Majestia in the lobby. As Majestia and Sparrow discussed the two different attempted bank robberies, Victory peeked around the desk. Not seeing Knightowl, Victory got out from behind the desk and quickly, yet as quietly as possible, left the building through one of the shattered windows. She got about fifteen feet from the building before Knightowl stepped in front of her.

Meanwhile, Sparrow and Majestia were still in the bank. Their conversation had shifted from work to some more casual topics as law enforcement took the robbers away.

“ You and Majestia do some patrolling,” Kightowl said over Sparrow’s earpiece, “ Victory and I need to have a talk. ”

“That can’t be good,” Sparrow sighed. Having heard what Knightowl said, Majestia shook her head with a defeated look.

Sparrow watched the Owl-Mobile speed away and added “Looks like I’m patrolling on foot today.”

Majestia’s look of defeat quickly turned to one of a mixture of teasing and fake suspicion.

“I thought you had a jetpack,” Majestia recalled as she crossed her arms. Sparrow froze.

“It broke,” he excused, “Knightowl’s working on something to replace it.”

“Mmhm,” Majestia responded. “Well, if you’d like, I can fly you around.”

Barbara’s face once again turned beet red underneath the Sparrow mask.

“Uh, that might be a little humiliating,” Sparrow admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well,” Majestia replied as she walked around Sparrow, positioning herself behind him, “what if i carry you like-” she put her hands around Sparrow’s waist and started to hover a bit, picking him up off the ground in the process “-this?”

Sparrow barely heard her with his heart pounding in his ears, but managed a (kinda shy) “Yeah, that works.”

Majestia’s smile grew as she flew them higher into the sky.

__________

While Majestia and Sparrow were on patrol, Knightowl and Victory were sitting in the Owl-Mobile driving through the city. They sat in silence for a while as Victory angrily had her arms crossed and was refusing to look at him.

“I owe you an apology,” Knightowl said, finally breaking the silence.

Surprised, Victory turned her head to look at him.

“I shouldn’t have assumed that you were just a fan who didn’t know what they were doing,” he admitted. Before Victory could respond, he continued. “ But , I can’t have people putting themselves in danger. We can’t be putting the idea into civilians’ heads that if they put on a fancy suit, they’re untouchable. If being a vigilante were to become common, lots of people would get hurt.”

Victory nodded, understanding.

“I’m still not going to stop fighting crime,” she said. “I don’t want others to get hurt, but I’m also not going to stand by when I know that I can help.”

Kightowowl shook his head.

“But what changed your mind?” Victory asked. “I thought it would take a lot longer than two days for you to see that I actually know what I’m doing.”

“Security footage,” Knightowl answered.

Victory nodded again, figuring that he had seen the bank’s camera footage on his way over.

“From The Nest,” Knightowl finished. Victory’s heart dropped.

The Owl-Mobile pulled up to a house. The house of the Hombees. Victory looked at the house then back at Knightowl with wide eyes.

“I told your parents,” Knightowl said. “I imagine they’re going to want to have a talk with you.” 

Not saying anything, Victory got out of the car and closed the door behind her. Knightowl watched as she made her way to her bedroom window. He put his finger to his earpiece.

“Sparrow, meet me at the Hombee household immediately,” he commanded into his earpiece.

Victory held onto the impossible hope that Knightowl may have been bluffing as she climbed through her window. That hope soon went down the drain. Victory was closing the window when a light turned on behind her. Victory froze. She slowly turned to see her mother sitting on her bed, and she was mad .

“Take the leotard off and meet your father and I downstairs, now ,” Alice commanded before marching out of the bedroom.

When Camilla came downstairs, she saw not only her parents standing in the living room, but Doug was there too. Barbara gave Camilla a questioning look from her spot on the couch. Camilla just sighed and mouthed ‘Two days’ before sitting on the couch next to Barbara. There was a minute of tense silence as the adults, all with their arms crossed, and teens stared at each other.

“What were you two thinking?!” Alice broke the silence.

“That depends,” Barbara began, “what are we talking about?”

Sam gave Camilla a look, offering for her to answer the question.

“It’s about me being Victory,” Camilla answered with a defeated tone.

“What? You’re Victory?” Barbara responded, trying to sound dumbfounded.

“Drop the act,” Doug firmly commanded. Barbara obeyed.

“That was supposed to be acting?” Sam commented.

More tense silence.

“Well?!” Again, Alice was the one to break the silence, reminding the girls that they had yet to answer her question.

“I knew that I could help,” Camilla answered.

Alice turned to Barbara expectantly.

“Cami wanted to learn,” Barbara stated simply, trying to cover up the fact that she was nervous about the outcome of this conversation. “Doug wouldn’t teach her only because she’s your kid. If he didn’t know her parents, then he would see that she would be a great hero, and quite possibly a better Sparrow than I am.”

Both men glanced at Alice, curious to see what she would say in retort. Alice slowly recrossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the girls.

“Boys, side bar, now!” she commanded as she marched into a separate room. Sam and Doug immediately followed her.

Barbara and Camilla sat in awkward silence as they listened to the adult’s muffled conversation. They would occasionally glance at each other, silently asking if the other could make out what they were saying. After about fifteen minutes, the adults came back out into the living room.

“Is there anything we can say or do to keep you from fighting crime?” Alice asked Camilla in a surprisingly calm tone.

“No,” Camilla answered her mother without hesitation.

Alice let out a sigh of defeat before saying “Then you’ll be part of Doug’s team.”

“Really?” Camilla jumped off the couch with a large smile while Barbara’s jaw dropped in shock.

“Only because it is the safest option for you,” Sam clarified.

Camilla let out a celebratory cheer and offered Barbara a high five. Barbara returned the gesture in a daze.

“There’s a catch,” Barbara said. “There has to be a catch, right?”

“Oh yeah, you are both grounded!” Doug confirmed.

“No going to The Rush , or meeting with friends outside of school,” Alice instructed.

“What?!” This time, Barbara jumped off the couch, upset.

“I didn’t realize you guys had many friends,” Sam said, earning a harsh elbow from Alice.

“Another condition;” Alice added. “You two DO NOT involve Olympia in the vigilante business.”

The girls gave each other a glance before saying “Deal” in unison.

“What was that look?” Sam questioned.

“What look?” Barbara retorted.

“The look that you guys gave each other after Alice mentioned Olympia. Is she already a part of this?!”

“I can honestly say,” Camilla started slowly, “Olympia does not know that I am Victory or that Barbara is Sparrow.”

“... Okay.”

“How long are we grounded?”

“Until Barbara becomes Knightowl!” Alice declared.

The grounding lasted about a month.

_________________

 Over the next few weeks, Majestia silently took note of how Victory now came to battle alongside Knightowl and Sparrow, often riding in the Owl-Mobile with them.

“I’m glad Knightowl changed his mind,” she said to Victory the first time they were able to catch up since the bank heists.

From across the street, the two girls watched Knightowl and Sparrow detain one of Jester’s accomplices.

“Yeah, I am too,” Victory admitted. “Although, he was still pretty mad that I didn’t quit when he told me too.”

Majestia nodded. She wouldn’t take her eyes off Sparrow and it looked like she was hesitant to say something.

“Are you and Sparrow dating?” Majestia blurted out before Victory had a chance to ask what was on her mind.

Victory choked on a laugh.

“You two seem pretty close,” Majestia defended after seeing Victory's shocked reaction.

“What makes you say that?” Victory asked, trying to play dumb.

“You ride in the Owl-Mobile with them. You’re clearly part of their team.” Majestia didn’t seem mad or annoyed, but it was clear that she felt like there was a divide between her and the rest of them. “I figured that you and Sparrow dating would explain how they know your identity.”

“Okay, first of all;” Victory started, determined to put her friend’s doubts at ease, “you are just as much a part of the team as I am. Secondly, we don’t know each other’s identities. I meet them at a rendezvous point where they pick me up in the Owl-Mobile. We would offer you a ride, but we’re pretty sure that you’re faster than that thing anyways.”

Majestia looked at her. Victory can see in her eyes that she doesn’t fully believe her, but Majestia didn’t say anything in return.

“No, I am not dating Sparrow,” Victory clarified.

Majestia nodded again and returned her gaze to Sparrow. It broke Victory’s heart to see her friend feel left out in any way. It took everything inside of her to not tell her that they know she’s Olympia and that she and Sparrow were her friends behind the masks. Desperate to cheer Majestia up, Victory thought of a topic that would lift the mood.

“Would you be jealous if I was dating Sparrow?” she asked teasingly. She automatically regretted it, though, once she realized that Majestia thinks that Sparrow was male. And not Barbara.

A blush rose to Majestia’s cheeks, causing Victory to get slightly worried on Barbara’s behalf.

“I-I should probably get going,” Majestia deflected and quickly flew off.

“Oh, please let her be bi,” Victory quietly begged.

_______________

That evening, Barbara returned to her bedroom. Exhausted, she picked her backpack up from the foot of her bed and began to riffle through it for her homework. She didn’t miss living on the streets, but if she was being honest with herself, she did miss not having to go to school for several hours of the day just to bring schoolwork back home.

The moment she finally found her homework, she heard a knock on her window. Leaving her schoolwork on the bed, Barbara opened the window to see her favorite order from The Rush sitting on the windowsill. Confused as hell, Barbara began to look around to see who could have left it. She quickly found none other than Olympia standing in the grass a story below her. Before Barbara could recover from the shock and say anything, her phone began to ring. She didn’t even care to pick it up until she saw Olympia holding her own phone to her ear.

Barbara promptly grabbed her phone and answered it after seeing the Majestic 💛 contact name.

“I figured that you’d need some energy to get the homework done,” Olympia said with a smile once Barbara picked up the call.

“Okay,” Barbara said, still surprised to see her. “How did you get it up here?” Of course, Barbara knew exactly how Olympia delivered the food, but she decided to feign ignorance.

Olympia seemed to be caught off guard for a second before answering “I was able to scale the wall.”

Instead of challenging her lie, Barbara just smiled and thanked her.

“What did you and Camilla do to get grounded, again?” Olympia questioned. This time, Barbara was caught off guard.

“Uh, we took Doug’s car on a joyride,” Barbara lied.

“Camilla Hombee stole her godfather’s car,” Olympia repeated, doubtful.

“Okay, it may have been my idea,” Barbara pho-admitted, causing a laugh from Olympia that brightened Barbara’s own smile.