TWO: "Creative Differences"


-[[[]]]-

"So, I was thinking that we should team up." Victor took another slice of pizza in his robotic hand, nearly eating the whole slice in one bite. "I mean, we all end up at all the same crime scenes anyway. Might as well make it official."

It was a good idea in theory. Richard thought of himself as more of a solo act, though, Ever since he parted ways with the world's greatest detective, Richard had a difficult time picturing his place in the world. As long as Richard could fight crime and help people, he didn't particularly care about outdoing his old master or even moving out of his shadow, but being a part of a team wasn't an arena he had much experience in.

Richard gave Victor's question an absent nod, but truly, his mind was elsewhere. As they sat at an amusingly pizza-shaped pizza parlor, a celebratory get-together, Richard kept going back to the bank robbery earlier today and the actors who played a role. Jinx, the bad-luck sorceress; Gizmo, the small and obnoxious boy with a penchant for destruction and invention; and Mammoth, who was big, strong, and not much else.

This city hadn't seen much supervillain activity, or none the local police couldn't handle, but the city was jumping bad for some reason. The bank robbery was only the latest and brazen in a series of crimes perpetrated by the trio. There were others quelled by the police, but even those were growing in number.

A strangely egotistical thought crossed Richard's mind that these villains had come to cross swords with the former protégé of one of the most famous heroes in the world, but Richard waved the notion away as soon as it formed in his head.

Perhaps it was a simple crime wave, and once they discovered where the HIVE trio was hiding, things would slide back into a sense of normalcy. Or maybe there was guiding intelligence behind these transgressions. Richard hadn't any proof, however; one needed to be careful to not color the truth with their own unfounded theories and biases.

And there was the girl, Rachel. The one himself and Victor had conversed with briefly. She was obviously shining him on about the miraculous first aid she performed on one of the hostages, but Richard didn't know why, and it irked him. Most people with magical healing powers didn't keep them hidden with the zeal Rachel did.

Adding to this, when Richard inspected the area of the bank's lobby where the hostages had sought refuge, the boy noticed a strange halo of debris and scrap on the ground. The debris should have hit the assembled captives, but some unknown force had saved them.

There were recent tales of paranormal activity in Jump City, such as a woman assailed by muggers suddenly floating in the air and scaring her attackers off, or people being shunted out of the street before a wayward vehicle collided with them. Either this was one massive string of coincidences, or Jump City had its own Doctor Fate or Zatanna hidden among them, in the form of one Rachel Roth.

Richard supposed he should worry about the people committing crimes, rather than the ones who wished to help but not be known. If they wanted to help in their own way, who was Richard to stop them? Yet another difference between him and his mentor.

"Yo, Rich?" Victor was waving his cybernetic hand at him. "Everything good? Kind of zoning out there."

"I'm fine, just thinking."

Garfield wafted a pizza slice in Richard's face, small flecks of sauce hitting his face. "Come on, put that big brain on the shelf for a little while and bask in the afterglow. We totally whooped the HIVE's butt today."

"Sorry, just a habit." Behind his shades, Richard narrowed his eyes. "City's been bad lately. I only just moved here, but it seems like crime's going up. And there's actual supervillains, as well."

"Who?" Victor asked. "You mean the Three Stooges back there? They're just glorified back robbers, man."

"They're a credible threat, Vic. And what do we know about the HIVE, anyway?"

Beast Boy dangled a rope of vegan cheese onto his tongue. "They're some kind of weird supervillain academy. We didn't have much information on them in the database, though; they're kind of low profile."

"Who's 'we'?" Victor asked.

"The Doom Patrol."

Richard and Victor shared a glance.

"You were in the Doom Patrol?" Richard raised an eyebrow at the green changeling. "Aren't you a little…young for that group?"

"Dude, I'm like the same age as you."

"Why'd you leave?" Victor leaned in, conspiratorially. "I mean, the Doom Patrol isn't the coziest outfit, but still."

"Creative differences."

"Oh, come on. You can't just leave us hanging like that."

"It just wasn't a good fit for me," Garfield said. "it's complicated. My parents died in an accident when I was little, they took me in, and I felt like I owed them for it. They're like my family…but I just needed time apart from them."

Richard turned away. "Sorry, didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

"It's all good. Not like I'm the only one with dead parents."

"Tell me about it," Richard said.

"What about you, Boy Wonder?" Garfield poked Richard's shoulder, his finger digging to the coarse fabric of his blazer. "Why'd you leave your nest in Gotham?"

Richard gave Garfield a blank stare. "Have you ever been to Gotham?"

"You know what I meant."

After taking a long, long sip from his soda, Richard shrugged. "Creative differences."

"Dude, I gave you an answer."

"Yeah, you did."

"That's so totally not fair."

The question of why Richard left Gotham was a complex one, and wasn't one he really had an answer to himself, truth be told. The reason wasn't entirely his mentor, not entirely himself. To be honest, it was mostly Gotham City. Richard just needed to be away from there, away from its dreary, stifling atmosphere and never-ending crime waves.

"I'll tell you one day," Richard said, finally. "I'm still trying to work it out myself, to be honest. Gotham wears on you, Gar. I just needed to be somewhere else."

"Fair enough." Gar turned to Vic, a mischievous smile on his lips. "What about you? Don't tell me you used to be in the Justice League or something."

Victor crossed his arms. "I was one of the best high-school quarterbacks in my state, got a bunch of college team offers with full-ride scholarships. But then my mom's laboratory blew up. It killed her, and almost killed me."

He pointed towards the cybernetic side of his face. "My father did this to me. We had some disagreements about it."

"Seems like he saved your life," Richard said.

"I agree, but I couldn't see that at the time." Vic's gaze met the table, a mask of blatant shame on his face. "It seemed like I lost everything in an instant. My mom, my body, my chance to go pro and do what I loved. So, I took it out on the only person who was still there for me."

Gar nodded. "And you eventually ran away, I'm guessing? Landed here?"

"Pretty much." A heavy sigh left Victor's lips. "It was anger that kept me going for the first half of the journey. Then, once I realized how much of an idiot I was, it was shame."

"I'm sure your pops would just be happy to know you're safe, dude."

The man averted his eyes. "I'm working up to it. I thought I'd get a taste of the real world first, make myself into someone he'd be proud of."

"Well, being a part of Jump City's first and premier superhero team is sure to put a smile on his face." Gar leaned back into his chair, looking up into the sky. "Are there any superpowered girls in town? Would be nice to have some ladies on the team."

"Oh yeah," Victor said. "I'm sure those girls would be all over your scrawny butt."

"I'm lean, not scrawny."

Richard narrowed his eyes, rubbing his chin as Gar's words pulled on nagging thread from Richard's thoughts. His curiousity was killing him; perhaps he was chasing shadows, but his instincts weren't often wrong. And there was definitely something which didn't add up about the girl at the bank.

"Vic, did you notice anything strange about that girl we talked to?" Richard asked. "The one with the jewel? Did your sensors pick up anything?"

Victor shook his head, then checked the display on his blue metal forearm to be sure. "Not really, man. She was stressed to all hell - elevated heart rate, epinephrine – but she was just held hostage not ten minutes before we talked to her. Wasn't carrying as far as I could tell – hold on…"

"What?"

"I just ran an analysis on the gem on her forehead." Victor's face contorted with confusion. "My internal database can't identify it. Like, at all. I thought it was just a ruby or something, but the crystal and chemical signature doesn't match up with any known minerals or gems on Earth."

"Something's not adding up about her," Richard said. "she helped one of the hostages who was injured, got hit with one of those fancy ceiling lamps. But, the EMTs said the guy only had a mild concussion."

Garfield looked to the side. "Maybe it was a really small lamp?"

"It was nearly the size of this table, Gar."

"Oh." Garfield grinned sheepishly. "Come on, you guys really think she has psychic powers or something? What are the chances of that?"

Again, Richard and Victor shared a look.

"I never said anything about psychic powers," Richard said.

"Oh, right. Totally."

If Garfield could have slid under the table without anyone noticing, Richard figured they'd already be wondering where their green companion had gone off to. His eyes wandered, avoiding the two people sharing his table at all costs – he clearly hoped the conversation would pick back up, and his strange behavior would be overlooked, but Richard and Victor simply let the silence drag out.

"Gar," Victor asked. "would you happen to know something about this girl? Something we don't?"

"Well, she…" Garfield shook his head vigorously. "I promised I wouldn't tell."

Richard smirked. "You promised this girl that you wouldn't tell us about her psychic powers?"

"I didn't say she had psychic powers. You just inferred it with your freakish perp-sweating skills."

"But you're not denying that she has psychic powers?"

"I'm not saying anything." Folding his arms, Garfield looked away from Richard. "What does it matter, anyway? If she has these powers."

"Well, if she does have these abilities," Richard said. "it would line up with some of the stranger reports I've been getting. A person getting mugged suddenly lifted into the air, scaring her attackers away. People being pulled out of the street, seconds before getting hit with a car."

A content hum escaped Victor's lips. "So, she wants to help people. She just doesn't want the recognition or the drama."

"You think we could talk to her, Garfield?" Richard asked. "if we're considering making some sort of team, I think we need all the help we can get. Maybe we just need to reach out to her, make an offer?"

"Not sure. It seemed like she just wanted to be left alone. Besides, I wouldn't even know the first place to look. It's a big city, y'know?"

"She's a girl with a jewel in her head. Can't be that hard to find."

Garfield put a finger to his lips, some sort of idea coming to him judging by the sudden light in his eyes. "Actually, I've got something. Catch you guys later."

The boy jumped down from the patio onto the street; his green hands had turned into paws by the time he hit pavement, as he transformed into a bloodhound and scampered off. Richard and Victor looked at each other and shrugged, holding onto a vague hope that the changeling's plan would pay off.

-[[[]]]-


-[[[]]]-

A green dog running down the streets of Jump City didn't elicit as much confusion and wonder as Garfield had expected, though he supposed that boded well for him. In a city where magic and strange gadgets were hardly uncommon, Garfield guessed the populace were somewhat well-adjusted to seeing strange sights at random; often, he wished his powers would allow him to transform into animals of normal color, but in all his years since the accident, Garfield hadn't successfully managed it.

He figured the priority for most people would be changing his normal, human skin tone to a normal range on the RGB scale, but that was beside the point.

Garfield could have flown, but surprisingly, running in dog form was actually good exercise which carried over to his human self; and, though he didn't want to brag, Garfield was no slouch in that department. His mile was four minutes and twenty-one seconds, and he could run a marathon with little to no trouble at all. Star City One was a little less than a 5K run from the pizza shop; at a leisurely pace, Garfield was at the front door in a little under sixteen minutes.

Only a couple hours had passed since the robbery, so the bank still wasn't open for business. A few vehicles of construction workers and window repairmen were lined up outside, though work hadn't started yet, so Garfield simply hopped in through the door Mammoth had created when he walked through a wall of plate glass to enter the place. The only person in the lobby was the bank manager and an assistant with a clipboard in the crux of her arm, surveying the damage and assessing the cost, Garfield assumed.

Both whirled towards Garfield when he entered. He gave a wide dog's smile in return and went on his way.

Rachel's spot was easy to find. Garfield brushed his nose against the ground at the center of an odd circular outline of debris and glass and caught the barest hint of lavender. He scampered off after the scent, running through the front door and towards downtown Jump City.

As he crossed streets and weaved through foot traffic, Garfield wondered what exactly he was going to say to the girl. He didn't consider himself the best diplomat, and Rachel seemed standoffish at best; the boy shuddered at how her mood would curdle when he showed up at her doorstep unannounced.

His nose led him towards Little Japan, an area which Garfield honestly hadn't been much, except to pick up a date once. The boy hoped his talk with Rachel would end up better than that ill-fated encounter.

It was late afternoon once the scent trail led Garfield to what he assumed was his destination – a creepy, morbid sort of shop which seemed misaligned with the surrounding buildings. Miko's Magicks and Maladies, the sign above the shop read.

Did Garfield arrive at the right place? Maybe the girl had given them a fake name; if that was the case, the girl was really going to be livid with him. Not to mention that Richard and Vic knew about her powers – through no fault of Garfield's, of course. It wasn't his fault Vic was half-robot and Richard had a studied under Batman for most of his life, he didn't stand a chance of keeping any secrets of note from them.

Procrastinating wouldn't do him any favors. Garfield morphed into his human form, startling a woman who was walking by in the process. He took a breath, straightened his hair and clothes, and rapped his knuckles against the door.

No answer. He rapt against the door again, waited, then knocked one last time. Again, he wondered whether his bloodhound's nose had caught the scent of someone else - he turned the leave, only hearing the door creak, and open, as he had his back turned.

"Uhm." A monotone voice said. "Can I help you?"

Garfield pivoted. Rachel stood in the doorway, a steaming coffee cup in hand – the girl had changed clothes to a black long-sleeved shirt which left her mid-section bare, and a pair of dark-grey sweatpants pulled up past her belly button. Her eyebrows were raised, though her expression was more surprised than annoyed.

"Uh. Hi."

Rachel nodded, responding in a deadpan tone. "Hi."

"Alright, well." Garfield's smile was wide and anxious; he rubbed the back of his head. "You're probably wondering what I'm doing outside of your doorstep, randomly, and probably how I found you."

"You turned into a dog and tracked my scent." Rachel shrugged at the shocked face Garfield made. "I saw the giant green bloodhound sniffing around outside the door. You aren't exactly inconspicuous."

"Well, yeah. That's true," Garfield said. "I'm not here for anything weird or creepy. I mean, I know you can't just say that and have you believe me, but I'm totally not. I want to talk, about you and your…skillset. And some other things, things which also aren't weird or creepy."

Rachel's lip curled when Garfield finished speaking. "You're anxious. Like the 'I broke an expensive vase playing baseball in the house and have to explain it to my parents' kind of anxious."

"Oh, you can tell? That's a pretty good description, actually."

"You told them, didn't you?"

"I didn't. I totally didn't."

Surprisingly, Rachel's eyes softened a bit. She leaned against the door and gave a quick cant of her head towards the inside of the shop. "Just come in. I don't think we want to have this conversation on my doorstep."

"Yeah, sure. Good call." And Garfield walked in.

The inside of the shop didn't inspire Garfield with any great confidence. The most technologically advanced item in the front room was a cash register, and one which wouldn't be out of place in the sixties, at that. Strange items and knick-knacks lined the walls – more than a few skulls were among them - and where there weren't morbidly curious items, there were planters filled with herbs and roots. And there was a strange smell about which Garfield couldn't place, though the bitter fragrance reminded him of a sort of spice.

He followed Rachel up a flight of stairs, being careful not to disturb anything – or worse, accidentally break something and give himself a life-long witches' curse, or something.

"So, who's Miko?" Garfield asked, as they walked to wherever Rachel was taking him. "I thought maybe it was you, maybe you gave us a fake name? Which is completely cool, I get it – "

"I'm not Miko, Miko's the owner." Rachel gave a long sigh. "I teach her magic and manage her shop, so she lets me stay free of charge. Not as glamorous a job as being a superhero, but it keeps a roof over my head."

"Hey, I have a real job too."

"As?"

"Animal handler at the Jump City Zoo." Garfield gave a meek smile as he reached the top of the stairs, right behind Rachel. "It's a pretty fun job. And pays surprisingly well."

Rachel stopped, and from over her shoulder regarded Garfield for a moment, before continuing on. "That's…quite inventive, actually."

"Being able to change into nearly anything in the animal kingdom had to be useful somewhere." Garfield marveled at the wands, orbs, and strange paintings which lined the hallway. "So, is Miko a witch or something?"

The girl shrugged. "She certainly thinks of herself as one."

"So…she can't do magic?"

"With magic, you don't gain anything without losing something else first." Rachel walked into the only open door in the hallway, and Garfield followed into a room filled with books, scrolls, and notebooks. "And you don't always get what you want in return. Miko's better off the way she is."

"That must be hard." A sudden chill ran down Garfield's spine. "I definitely had to give something up for my powers, and I'd trade them back any day."

"What did you trade?" Rachel asked, her voice soft.

Garfield averted his eyes. "My parents."

"Oh. Sorry."

"No biggie. Well, it is big, but I don't mind people asking about it." Garfield tried a smile to lighten the mood. "What about your folks? They still kicking?"

Rachel gave a glum nod. "Yes. Unfortunately."

"Come on. I'm sure they're not that bad."

"One of them really, really is that bad. Trust me." Rachel turned her head away, her mouth contorting as if she had swallowed something distasteful. A book flew from one end of the room to the other, hitting the wall and dropping to the ground; neither Garfield nor Rachel had physically touched the tome. "I would rather not talk about it, if you don't mind."

"Sure, sure."

"You want to tell me why your friends know about my powers?"

"One of them is half-robot and the other was Batman's sidekick." Garfield pressed his finger against his temple, where the jewel would be on Rachels head. "Victor scanned the jewel on your head, said it wasn't native to this world."

Rachel's eyes widened. "He knows what it is?"

"No, it just didn't match up with any known minerals or gems on Earth. Process of elimination. Like I said, they figured your…secret out between the two of them. Just too many things about you which didn't match up."

"I've put a lot of effort into masking my powers. Covering my trails, making sure other people didn't know." Rachel pressed her forehead into her palm, scowling. "To have it figured out in a day. Not even a day, a few hours…"

"Well, to be fair, they've only confirmed that you have some sort of superhuman abilities. They don't know what they are, or where you're from, or how many powers you have. That's totally still a secret."

His words didn't seem to console Rachel like he wanted. The girl took a heavy breath, shook her head, then met Garfield's eyes. "And now that you guys know, what is it that you want from me? To join a team? Save the city?"

"Kind of, yeah. I don't think we're up to saving entire cities yet, though."

"Yeah," Rachel said, her voice completely monotone. "that's not happening. I'm not the superhero type, and I won't be sticking around Jump City too much longer anyway."

"Oh? Where are you moving to?"

"To a place where a cyborg, a former sidekick, and a boy with green skin don't know about my powers."

"What about Miko?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "She'll live. It's for the best."

"Well, it's just…" Garfield struggled to find his words; he had succeeded in opening a dialogue with the girl, at least, but his attempt to convince her to put her powers to good use wasn't going well. "…up and leaving like that, it seems a little extreme."

"If you knew anything about me, you'd know that it's anything but."

"Well, that's why we're talking, right?" Garfield asked. "Look, you don't want to talk about your past. I totally get it. But…I know what you're feeling right now. Kind of."

"Do you?" Rachel asked, her lips curling.

"Yeah." Garfield lifted a nearby chair and placed it in front of Rachel's bed, falling back and sitting on the cushion. "I think you're a good person at heart, and you've got these powers, powers that can really make a difference. So, sometimes you just can't help yourself, can't help getting in the middle of bad situations, and trying to make things better. You pull someone out of the street when a car's rushing by, you scare off some muggers. But today you helped and got found out, and now you're afraid of the spotlight."

There was a subtle change in Rachel's expression, though Garfield didn't know what it meant. She didn't immediately tell Garfield that he was full of himself or admonish him for assuming he had some insight into the inner workings of her mind, so the boy took the lack of response as a good sign to continue.

"Look, I don't know what kind of issues you've got, or who you're running from. But I'm guessing between the three of us, there's something we can do to help. If you'll let us."

Rachel looked off to the side; she was less sure of herself now. "It's not that simple. I mean…you're right, at least partially. I want to help, but it's not just the spotlight I'm afraid of."

"Well, what is it? Come on, spill."

"My powers…" Rachel gestured towards the breadth of her room, taking in all the dusty books and tomes scattered about. "…they don't exactly fit in a neat little box, like you guys. All of these books are the collected knowledge I brought with me, when I left home. Spells, rituals, incantations, that kind of stuff. I spend my time reading, studying, searching for ways to keep my powers under control."

"You don't have control of your powers?"

"Certain aspects, I do." Rachel said. "Manipulating objects and healing, as you've seen, as well as…certain others. But I've never 'fought' anyone with these powers, not like you guys do with yours. I don't know how they'll react to outside stimuli, or whether I can control them under pressure. And the times I've lost control…"

For a moment, Rachel buried her head into the palms of her hands. The solitary window in the room slammed open, then shut; the lit incense candles snuffed out one by one, and then Rachel regained her composure and sighed.

"I haven't lost control like that, not since I was a child. But it's always there. In the back of my mind. I have to meditate every day to keep it down, contained." The girl leaned back with a wistful smile. "It's not as simple as taking my powers and helping beat up the bad guys. Every day is a struggle for me, and I have to pick my battles."

"I still think you could help out. Even with your healing powers, none of us can do anything close to that." Garfield shrugged. "Or, if you just wanted to hang out. Decompress. Having people to talk to with…similar life experience couldn't hurt, could it?"

"I suppose not." Rachel looked Garfield in his eyes. "But no questions about my past. Or where I come from. Understand?"

"Can't make any promises." When Garfield saw Rachel's brows arch, he gave an apologetic shrug. "Rich used to work with the Dark Knight himself. He won't pry if you don't want him to, but he's going to ask. Just giving you fair warning."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever."

The phone in Garfield's pocket vibrated; after pulling his phone from his pocket, he saw the caller ID clearly lit up. 'A Complete Dick', it read. If Rich ever saw the epithet – and, knowing him, he would – Garfield hoped he would laugh, rather than pout and be offended.

"What's good, dude?" Garfield asked as he answered the call. "we were just talking about you."

"You haven't looked outside in a while, have you?"

"Nah, Rach and I have been chatting for a little bit." A pang of worry struck Garfield in his chest. "Why?"

"Take a look for yourself."

Garfield walked over towards the window near Rachel's bed. People on the street were staring up at the sky with both wonder and horror, and Garfield saw one unfortunate woman who had dropped her groceries on the ground – milk, eggs, and various fruits were splattered on the sidekick below.

When Garfield looked up towards the sky, the reason for the peoples' apprehension was readily apparent. Some kind of heavenly body – a meteor, a satellite, a space pod – rocketed towards the general direction of downtown Jump City. Perhaps the near-blinding light of the meteor was playing tricks on Garfield's eyes, but the boy swore he saw green sparks erupting from the rapidly descending fireball.

Even if any of them were capable of stopping the projectile, it was of little use, as even Garfield could tell the object would careen into the city within the minute. And those meant injuries, property damage, and dealing with…whatever this meteor brought with it.

They felt the shockwave before they heard it. The ground rumbled beneath them, sending books and tomes flying, Strange artefacts and knick-knacks were slid to the edge of the shelves which held them – more than a few would have fallen off if not for Garfield and Rachel's timely intervention, though while Rachel could stop them with her mind, Garfield had to briefly morph into an octopus and hastily grab the items with his arms.

After about thirty seconds, the rumbling stopped. Garfield morphed back and picked his phone up from the ground. "I'll…I'll meet you guys downtown."

"Don't be too long. Later."

As Garfield thumbed out of the call, he looked towards Rachel. "Hell of a first day, huh? First a bank robbery, and now some sort of freaky comet just hit downtown."

"I think you mean a meteorite."

"Yeah, that."

Rachel went to the window; the tips of her fingers trembled as she saw the scene outside. "What did this 'comet' look like? Anything weird about it?"

"Looked like some green sparks were coming out of it. Couldn't see much else, aside from the ball of flame around it." A sly smile crossed Garfield's lips. "Seems like if there were someone with telekinetic and healing powers, they might be just the thing to help out."

A book vibrated near Garfield, before shooting into Rachel's waiting hand. She flipped the tome open, pouring through the pages until she reached a particular point of interest. It was obvious the girl knew – or thought she knew – something about the incident; Garfield didn't want to pry, and to be honest the boy didn't know what insight the girl could have into a random meteorite hitting the city. It wasn't like she had the Hubble Space Telescope in her room.

Finally, Rachel shut the book closed. "I'll go with you."

"Oh. Really? Sweet."

"But just this once, got it?" Rachel pointed her finger at Garfield; for a moment, the boy thought she was casting a spell on him, but the gesture appeared purely performative. "I'm not a superhero, and I'm not getting dragged into whatever you guys have going on."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." Garfield put his hands up in mock surrender. "Appreciate the help nonetheless."

The girl didn't respond, turning and heading for the door.

"Well, let's get this over with."

-[[[]]]-


-[[[]]]-

"A little sloppy, no? I was led to believe these children were a little more…professional."

The headmistress stood at attention, in a vast room of turning gears and mechanisms. Most of the light in the chamber was ambient from one distant source or another. Leading up to the makeshift throne in the room's center, there were a series of gas-lit lamps which provided enough illumination to see the silhouette of a man sitting in the chair.

It all seemed a little dramatic to the headmistress – why they couldn't have the meeting in a board room or even at a bar was beyond her, though with the amount of money the man was putting down, they could have had the meeting in pits of hell for all she cared.

Sitting in a slouch, the man propped his head against his fist; he wasn't impressed with the footage of the three children robbing a mid-town bank and being forced to retreat because of the do-gooders who showed up out of nowhere. A mere thorn in the HIVE's side, and they would be dealt with soon enough. The HIVE couldn't afford to have its reputation ruined by a trio of part-time vigilantes.

The room was stifling hot; the headmistress wiped beads of sweat from her brow and loosened her collar. Yes. a board room was definitely more appropriate than some inhospitable underground lair. It wasn't like the man before her was an A-list supervillain or anything, the headmistress hadn't even heard of him before a couple days ago.

"They came across some unexpected trouble," the headmistress said. "It wasn't known to us that there was a group of vigilantes working in Jump City. This oversight will be corrected."

"Oh?" Behind the man's mask, his eyes widened. "With all the information at the HIVE's disposal, you were caught unawares. But I knew, and I am merely one man."

"They were beneath our notice. As I said, this issue will be corrected."

"I hope so. Because the bank robbery was merely a test." He stood from his throne, folding his arms behind his back. "When or if I send them on a matter of actual import, I will expect results."

"Students of the HIVE do not fail in their duties. This time will be no different."

"Good." The man wore some sort of mask, but it was obvious the man was smiling behind it. "I will send you word of what I need accomplished in the coming days. Do try to not disappoint me this time."

The woman took the man's words as an invitation to leave, giving him a curt bow as she walked out of the chamber. He dropped back into his throne, crossing his legs as he began working out plans in his head, blueprints of his personal designs upon Jump City. But all of his plans and ideas originated from one point. He picked up the tablet which the headmistress had left behind, examining the paused video of the bank robbery.

Front and center of the video was a black-haired boy, wearing sunglasses and a red blazer.

"The baby bird has left the nest, it seems." The man slouched forward, steepling the tips of his fingers together. "Let's see how you fare in the real world, little Robin."

-[[[]]]-