The ride to the airport was quiet, but Stephanie figured out how to break the ice gently without making everything awkward.
Stephanie always hates being bored during rides through town when she was much younger, always bringing her headphones with her.
But, she does not have her headphones with her to listen to music now.
Instead, Stephanie pulled out her phone from inside the pocket of her blue jeans and turned it on, tapping on it gently.
Lance noticed Stephanie pulled out her phone and tapping on it, occasionally pushing her glasses up into place with the back of her finger.
"I know that look," Lance sighed, smiling softly. "You want to talk about something."
Stephanie glanced over at Lance from the phone in her hands, nodding her head.
Lance chuckled to himself gently and hopped onto Stephanie's arm without accidentally distracting Marcy from her driving.
"What is it that you want to talk about, Stephanie?" Lance asked.
Clicking her phone off from what she was doing, Stephanie asked, "What was Walter like? You have been talking about him recently."
"He was a weird kid at first," Ears spoke, making a 'so-so' mention with his hand. "But there was somethin' 'bout him that made us impressed!"
"Yes," nodded Eyes as the lens of her glasses went through a bio of Walter. "Walter graduated from college when he was fifteen at the M.I.T."
Stephanie was impressed with Walter's background, feeling more curious about him.
"He was our armor specialist," Marcy continued, adding into the conversation. "But," she glanced over at Lance, who looked a little sheepish as his feathers on his cheeks ruffled a little. "Someone decided the weapons Walter made were not good enough and fired him."
"Really?" Stephanie glanced back over at Lance while cocking an eyebrow at him. "You fired him?"
"I was being a bit of a jerk to him," Lance sighed, before noticing Ears cocking an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe a lot. But, he accidentally turned me into a pigeon."
Stephanie listened to the story from Lance, feeling less irritated at him.
"It took more than 18 hours to finish the antidote for this," Lance sighed. "The first time did not go as well as it was, but the second time worked."
Stephanie softly smiled to herself, as Lance moved up from her arm to her shoulder.
"And, during that time, I started to loosen up a little," Lance chuckled. "Now, I'm more than a complete jerk to anyone."
"You're a friend?" Stephanie asked.
Lance nodded his head again, and Stephanie glanced over at Marcy.
"What about his job?" Stephanie asked again.
"Lance was fired before," Marcy chuckled. "But Joy did rehire them again."
"Is that the director's name?" Stephanie asked, nodding her head over her shoulder towards the hidden spy's building they exited out of.
"Yes, but that is classified since you are-" Marcy spoke, before Stephanie interrupted, "I know, I know, I'm a civilian."
Marcy rolled her eyes as she glanced away, focusing on the road in front of her.
Silence filled the car again, before Stephanie perked a little, moving up slightly from her seat.
Lance noticed this as Stephanie glanced out the window.
"What's wrong?" Lance asked, sounding confused about Stephanie.
Stephanie did not respond to Lance's question and continued looking out the window, looking suspicious about something.
Ears and Eyes noticed this, looking confused about what she is acting.
"Stephanie, if this is a prank, I swear," Lance spoke, sounding a little irritated. "I am going to be-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Stephanie immediately grabbed Lance and Lovely carefully with one arm, before using her left hand, as the car stopped automatically without Marcy hitting the brakes.
Ears and Eyes in the backseat were not hurt as they slammed into the back of the front seats but was startled.
"What was that for Marcy?!" exclaimed Ears.
"I didn't hit the brakes!" Marcy responded, before turning her attention to Stephanie. "Did you-!"
Before Marcy could finish her sentence, something zoomed out from the alley and went down the street where they were going down.
"What was that?" Lance asked as Stephanie released her from around him and Lovely.
Eyes' lens looked closer at the car, before saying, "I don't know, it does not have any records."
Stephanie hummed to herself slightly in confusion before snapping her fingers, allowing the car to move, as Marcy looked startled.
"So it was you!" Marcy exclaimed.
"Yes, yes, not now, please," Stephanie softly spoke, before pushing her sleeve up of her right arm. "Just focus on the road and continue following that car."
Marcy hesitated for a moment, before glancing back over to the front, following after that mysterious car.
Stephanie ran her two fingers across the back of her metal arm for a short moment, as it lit up, turning into a screen.
"Whoa," Ears remarked while looking over her shoulder with Lance. "That's awesome!"
Stephanie nodded her head gently, agreeing with Eyes' remark, but said nothing to him.
A hologram appeared in front of her from her metal arm as she tapped the button in the middle.
She then tapped the maps and showed the street they are on, as the mysterious car was in front of them.
Before Stephanie could tap on the car in front of them, 8 more mysterious cars appeared from behind them, following after them.
"Who are they?" Lance asked, moving his wing over to the cars.
Stephanie moved her finger away from the car in front and stared at the 8 cars.
Before Stephanie could tap one of them, her sapphire powers kicked in, showing a future vision image in her head.
In her vision, it showed the car that was leading the troop, zoomed up to the side.
The leader banged against them as hard as they could, causing one of the wheels to pop.
The crash caused them to go off the road and into a ditch.
After the vision disappeared, Lance was shaking Stephanie's head with both of his wings, and Ears was shaking her shoulder with his hand.
Without saying a word, Stephanie lifted her left hand up, palm down, and said, "Switch," while flipping her palm up.
In a blink of an eye, Marcy switched seats with Stephanie, as Lance was on her shoulder instead of Stephanie's.
Stephanie immediately hits the gas pedal, and the car goes faster than the speed it was.
The leader was getting closer to them from behind.
"What are you doing?!" exclaimed Ears. "Who are those guys behind us and in front of us?!"
She did not answer to their questions and continued driving, before seeing the black car slide up to the side.
Just like her future vision predicted, the car veered towards them in a fast move.
Stephanie immediately hit the brakes, just in time for it to miss and go into the ditch.
Ears and Eyes quickly moved their hands up to block themselves from being smacked into the back of the front seats again.
Marcy, who was holding Lovely in her hands and Lance was almost flung off the chair but stopped themselves before it happened.
Stephanie hit the gas again and went forward, as the remaining cars chased after them.
"Stephanie," Eyes spoke. "There's a green light ahead of us, so you might want to watch out!"
Using her technique, Stephanie turned and twisted the wheel, avoiding the other cars through the lane and made it through the other side.
The cars chasing behind them were not so lucky, but 3 managed to go through.
Stephanie caught up to the car in front of them and glanced over at it.
Her left metal eye glowed, without Stephanie using it.
Before she knows it, something stung her eye at a severe amount of pain.
It made her take her left hand off the wheel, wincing in pain as she covered it.
"Stephanie?!" exclaimed Lance, as he flew over to her from Marcy's shoulder. "What happened?!"
Stephanie said nothing and continued wincing before her right hand started hurting too.
In pain, Stephanie removed her other hand off the wheel.
Lance panicked and landed on the wheel, trying to drive while watching Stephanie with worry.
Her second pair of arms popped through her sides, still having the sweater sleeves on, and her second left arm clutching her right metal hands.
The second right hand clenched the seat underneath her, digging the nails in slightly.
It hurts her deeply as if she survived a bombing, except having shrapnel in her eye and arm.
But it was a weird thing too.
She had lost all of her senses since she had an 'incident.'
Lance tried to turn the car while in his pigeon form while Stephanie was wincing in pain while covering her eye, although he struggled with it.
"Eyes, Ears," Marcy demanded as she reached over to the wheel with her hand as the other held Lovely. "Take care of Stephanie!"
Ears, who was close to Stephanie, tried to reach around the chair to Stephanie but had troubles.
Eyes scanned Stephanie's body with her glasses, looking through her features and her insides.
As they were distracted with helping Stephanie and driving the car, the other black vehicle next to them had troubles too, seems like it was slowing down.
As for Stephanie, she continued wincing as she covered her left eye, feeling the pain dying down a little.
Once the last feeling of pain disappeared, Stephanie slowly removed her hand from her left eye, noticing a drip of black substance stained her hand.
Confused, Stephanie was about to reach up to her eye when another vision came to her.
It showed a car crashing into the black vehicle next to them, then into theirs, making a massive collision.
After the vision disappeared, Stephanie immediately grabbed the wheel in front of her with her right hand.
With her left hand, she used her powers to control the other car's machine too.
She used her powers to hit the brakes, but mostly to turn out of the car's way.
She did the same to their car and severed out of the way from the 9th black car.
Once they have severed out of the way, they continued on their way.
"I think they are part of the organization of that Commander of Darkness person!" called Stephanie as she drove.
"You think?!" exclaimed Lance as he was in Eyes' hands.
"Yes!" Stephanie nodded. "I am making a guess because sometimes cyborgs make mistakes too!"
Stephanie went back to the road and got an idea.
Rolling down the window, she glanced over at the car as they entered a long tunnel filled with bright lights.
From each light they pass underneath, Stephanie could see a man inside, but not the face.
Using sign language, she signed something to the man with one hand while the window down and inside the car, as everyone watched.
The man from inside the car understood what she said and gave a thumb up, before driving away.
"What did you say to him, Stephanie?" Lance asked as she rolled the window back up. "Is he your friend?"
"Depends!" Stephanie answered before speeding.
When they were reaching the edge of a bridge as it was lifting up for a ship to go through, Stephanie got an idea.
"I have an idea," Stephanie called. "But, you all need to hold onto something!"
"Why?" all of them simultaneously asked.
"Because I'm going to make the jump!" Stephanie answered.
Immediately, everyone randomly spoke at various times, yelling at Stephanie to not make the jump, turn around or stop the car.
But, Stephanie ignored all of them and sped the car up.
Knowing the car would not make it, Stephanie decided to use a particular tool of her own that could power the vehicle up a little.
Using the first finger of her right hand, it transformed into a key-shaped form, and she jabbed it into the car keyhole on the side of the wheel.
After she did that, as her second right hand moved up and grabbed the wheel, the car sped faster than before and launched off the bridge.
Everyone screamed as the car was launched off the bridge.
The mysterious and dark cars that were chasing them stopped at the edge.
When the car safely landed on the other side of the bridge, Stephanie sighed in relief.
She removed her finger from the keyhole, as it transformed back into her finger.
The screaming stopped too once the car had landed on the road.
Lance was clutching onto Marcy's cheek as she had ahold of Lovely in her hands, while Ears and Eyes in the backseat were hugging each other.
Stephanie lifted her left hand, palm up, using her powers again, saying, "Switch." while flicking her palm down.
Marcy was at the wheel this time, holding Lovely in her hand without Lance on her shoulder.
Lance, on the other hand, was on Stephanie's shoulder instead.
Stephanie was back in the passenger seat, collapsing against the edge of the door while panting.
"Were you CRAZY?!" exclaimed Lance, as Stephanie winced, feeling his voice yelling in her ear. "You could've gotten us killed!"
"If we slowed down," Stephanie spoke between pants. "We could've been caught!"
Lance opened his mouth to argue, but closed his beak, agreeing with her.
"True." he nodded as Ears and Eyes released their hug.
"That was awesome!" Ears smiled. "You were great as a stunt driver!"
"I-I agree." stammered Eyes, pushing her glasses into place.
Marcy silently nodded her head in agreement as she drove down the line, although a little shaken up and placing Lovely on her shoulder.
Stephanie sat up slightly, although feeling a little dizzy and out of strength from using her powers to get themselves, including an unknown person out of danger.
Lance noticed that she was panting, reaching up with a feather and feeling her forehead.
"You used up your energy to save all of us?" Lance asked.
Stephanie only replied with a quiet nod of her head, still panting.
Marcy thought to herself for a moment, before glancing over her shoulder once, and said, "Ears, Eyes, there should be my bag back there, and it is filled with some Gatorade. Give Stephanie one."
They both nodded and looked around, before finding the bag and opened it, taking out a grape-flavored Gatorade.
Ears gave the grape-flavored Gatorade to Stephanie as she took it.
"Thanks." Stephanie thanked before opening the bottle.
Once she opened it, Stephanie chugged the drink down in a couple of gulps, before finishing it.
Lance looked surprised after Stephanie finished the bottle of grape-flavored Gatorade, crushing it in her hands with superhuman strength, and disappeared when she moved them from her palms.
"That is pretty amazing." nodded Lance. "But how are you able to crush that bottle with your hands and make it disappear?"
"A magician never reveals their secret," Stephanie spoke, sounding less tired and out of breath. "So, in other words, I can't tell it."
Ears groaned from the backseat as Marcy continued driving towards the airport, while Stephanie held Lovely in her hands, petting her back.
They still have not figured out who or what Stephanie is truely, but kept their guard up if she is about to do something.
Stephanie, on the other hand, was thinking about that strange feeling of pain when she was neck-to-neck with the mysterious black car.
She absent-mindedly scratched her right metal hand out of thought from underneath the sweater sleeve.
Then, she stopped when Stephanie noticed something.
It felt like her metal arm had… upgraded.
Pushing her sleeve up to her elbow, Stephanie glanced at her arm with confusion as Lance watched, seeing that her arm somehow upgraded a little.
"Is that normal?" Lance asked, mentioning over to her arm with a wing as a red spark came from it for a moment.
"Usually," Stephanie answered. "But, it never upgrades during something dangerous. Unless it was automatic."
Stephanie glanced away from her left arm for a moment, before saying, "Or that guy who was in that car had the same metal arm like me."
A slightly concerned expression appeared on all of their faces after Stephanie mentioned that mysterious person.
Meanwhile, the man who Stephanie mentioned had stopped at the airport before them, except parked his black car in a dark alley and stepped out.
When he had stepped out, he winced as he lifted a hand up to his left eye with his right hand, feeling it gently.
It stings a little since that chase but did not hurt him.
After feeling his eye, he glanced down at his left arm, looking at a metal arm that has four fingers.
It does not look like Stephanie's metal arm, except less modified.
Twitching his fingers for a moment as he stared at his arm for a moment, he sighed and moved it back down, walking towards the airport.
Automatically without him noticing, a light blue zap came from it before stopping, camouflaging his metal arm to look like his right hand.
His left eye camouflaged like his face as he continued walking, hiding his left arm behind his back, thinking it was still metal.
He still thought about what that mysterious girl said to him through sign language, as he entered the airport, without the security noticing he had come inside.
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