"Who?" is the first word out of her mouth.
"Of course, how cliché." I make my voice high-pitched and squeaky. " 'I need to go visit an old friend.' 'Who?' Look, just get us to San Diego. You'll find out who when we get there."
"No need to be rude." Argent rolls her eyes, and I sigh, putting my head in my hand. But she turns in what I can only assume is the direction of San Diego, California. At least judging from the GPS thing that Cyborg installed on the dashboard.
We're quiet for a while, at least until we're over New Jersey. Then I start to get impatient. "Can't this flying lump of metal and wires go any faster?"
"Sure." Argent says casually, tapping her seatbelt. It shifts until it's an X, covering her chest and stomach. Oh, god. I know what's coming.
I reach to tap my seatbelt, but before I get the chance, Argent pushes a small button next to the tape player. Immediately the car-plane is speeding forward at about a thousand miles an hour. "We'll be there in no time." Argent says with a saucy smile.
I shoot her a look, or as much of a look as I can when my head has been whipped back against the passenger seat and my face is being battered by winds. Luckily, one of my arms hits my seatbelt and it spreads into an X, steadying me against the car seat, and allowing me to glare properly at Argent.
"What was that for?" I demand, irritated.
"You wanted to go faster. You're in charge, so I did what I could. We'll be there in maybe five minutes."
My shock probably shows on my face, so I do my best to wipe it off. "What did Cyborg do to this car?" No regular car would go from New Jersey to California in five minutes and still allow its passengers to be comfortable.
"Just a few tune-ups. Why?" Argent says casually. "Nice, isn't it?"
I feel slightly sick, but I'm not going to show that to Argent. "That's one word for it." I say, calm. "Dangerous is another."
Argent chuckles, a light giggle that doesn't at all seem to match the Goth New Zealander demeanor. "That's what I told Cyborg, so he made extra safeties."
I raise an eyebrow. All the safeties in the world won't convince me that this car could ever pass government inspections. I say so to Argent, and she laughs again.
"That's why the modifications are undetectable until such time as Cyborg can make them convincingly safe-looking. No one can tell they're there unless it's in flight mode."
"But you're a Titan." I say, slightly confused. I could trust this sort of thing from Gizmo and the HIVE Five, but Cyborg and Argent? "We're supposed to enforce the law."
"Jinx, there won't be any laws for or against this kind of technology for another twenty years." Argent says, ignoring my point. "It's less of a law-breaking thing and more of a what-they-don't-know-won't-hurt-them sort of thing. Cyborg says Beast Boy does it with Robin all the time."
Hm… I'd always pegged Cyborg for more responsible than that. "So, you and Cyborg spend a lot of time together?" I ask casually. "Dating or something?"
If Argent was drinking soda she would have spit it all over the steering wheel. Not so much out of disgust as out of surprise. It seemingly had never occurred to her.
"No way. More like a big brother, I guess. I never had something like that, but I guess."
I nod. "That's a good way to describe Cyborg. The only one who might not think so is Bee."
She looks at me and we both laugh. Jokes about Cyborg and Bee have finally broken the ice between me and her. Who'd have thought?
"Yeah, and- oh, crap!" She yelps, banging the steering wheel. Then she brings us to an abrupt stop.
"What was that for?" I snap, massaging my sore neck.
She points at the gas meter. Apparently going super-speed in this car burns gas like you wouldn't believe, because we're almost out.
She maneuvers gently down to the ground, hovering down into a parking spot on a street in some town I don't know. The last of the gas is used getting us to the gas station, where we both hop out of the car and walk into the little shop part.
It's an out of the way town, which is fitting because their gas station looks like it came out of the 1970s. Not just that, but the whole thing is dirty and gross and just all around beaten up. We walk up to the kid behind the counter, because (and this is another testament to just how ancient this gas station is) the refill station isn't serve yourself. You have to get someone to do it for you.
"Hey," the boy behind the counter says. He's African-American, probably spends most of his free time playing basketball, and looks oddly familiar.
"Hey," I say. "Look, we need a refill on gas, and we need it pronto. One of our friends went missing."
He's slouching, not really caring what I have to say. "Right. What's your friend's name?"
"Yeah, like I'd tell you." I say brusquely.
At the same time, Argent says, "Wally West."
His eyes light up. "Kid Flash went missing?"
"How do you know Kid Flash's name?" I say suspiciously.
"Jinx, Argent!" Right… just who is this kid? A wacko, that's who. He laughs at the look on my face: complete confusion. "It's Hotspot."
That explains a lot. Like why he looks so familiar. Argent's face lights up and immediately she's running her mouth, babbling to him about anything and everything Titan. I regard her with a look from the side. That's not normal Argent behavior. Huh.
"Look, can we just get the gas?" I say after a few minutes of conversation. I'm getting impatient. This isn't getting us anywhere closer to Kid Flash.
"Yeah, sure." Hotspot says, hopping easily over the counter and striding loosely outside. Argent watches him avidly.
"What's with you?" I ask.
She blinks. "What?"
"You're chattering about anything that comes into your brain." I say roughly.
"Oh, I'm bored." Argent replies casually. "I've had no one to talk to about Titan stuff for about four months."
"I've been right next to you for about fifteen minutes."
Argent follows Hotspot out through the door. "Yeah, but that's you. You're hard to talk to at first."
She's got a point, but I don't really want to admit it.
Hotspot's filling up the car as I walk over and perch on the hood. "So, you're going to track down Kid Flash?" He says, flicking his eyes up towards me and Argent without moving his head. The combination is actually rather attractive, but not something that normally appeals to me.
"Yeah." I say, shrugging my shoulders. "What about it?"
"Well, you're going to need backup." He says. "So as soon as the tank is full, I'm in the backseat."
Wait, what? Next to me, Argent is nodding like it makes total sense. Which it does, but that's not the point. The point is that I'm in charge and I haven't invited him along, and I'm probably not going to.
"No, you're not." I say.
"Yes, I am."
"No, you're not." I repeat. "My mission, my rules."
"I'm coming." His voice is insistent.
"No, you're not. I said so and I mean it."
I can tell Hotspot's getting irritated, but right before he can argue, Argent speaks up.
"Um."
We both round on her. "What?"
She points at the hose for the gas in Hotspot's hands. "You're melting the hose." She's right; the rubber dripping on the ground right next to the back tires.
Hotspot takes a deep breath, and apparently his hands cool down. Still, though, there's no difference. I guess that's because the hose isn't going to lose all its heat just because Hotspot cooled off.
Then gas starts to overflow, pouring out of the little socket on the side of the car, and Hotspot jumps and yanks the nozzle out. I pull out my credit card, and he waves me off.
Excuse me? Nobody waves Jinx off.
"What's the big deal? I need to pay."
He looks at me skeptically. "It's on the house." Then, in one fluid movement, he's hooked the nozzle back into its place and jumped into the backseat of the car. "So, where are we going?"
"San Diego, California." Argent replies for me. "Jinx has a friend there we need to meet."