Anny stiffened as she read her texts in the break room of the coffee shop she worked at when she wasn't in business school or patrolling the streets.

Double-N sent her a text earlier while she was busy making coffee for a crowd of people about Larie 'Wvyern' Kanker being on her bus this morning and following her into the library she worked at. He apparently trapped her on the top of a step ladder, kissed her and grabbed her butt before leaving. Apparently Rachel, who had been there to do some homework for her Intro to Children's Education Class, had to help her down from the ladder and helped her get to the break room. That's when they found the tracking device the sonuvabitch slipped into her back pocket. After explaining what it was, Rachel said she had to head to the docks to pick up a fish order and that she'd drop it in the water for her, but that the three of them would have a lot of explaining to do later.

And now she was looking at a new text from Karen, who told her that An had been freaking out around this blonde guy who owned the restaurant they were filming in today. She'd gotten so worked up when the owner was talking to her outside while getting her lunch from the van that she started sweating goop and Karen had to fish the spare clothes Double-N kept in the van for her while leaving her alone in the bathroom to wash up.

Then while she was gone, An was apparently seen shirtless by the same blonde who owned the place and while he'd left before Karen returned, she'd gotten a face full of sweaty, spiky crystal covered An shirt for her troubles.

When Anny asked 'WHY THE FUCK WAS A GUY GOING INTO THE GIRLS' BATHROOM WITHOUT ANYONE STOPPING HIM?!' Karen explained that the restaurant had plumbing problem in the men's room that popped up that they didn't know about until a little before they arrived due to a freezer dying on them.

The owner told them that the guys could use one in the back, but it was a single stall bathroom back there, so if more than one guy had to go, then they'd have to go to the lady's room, after knocking first.

Karen then sent, 'I dunno what you dorks did for An to be this nervous around someone or why she seems to know him, but you all are telling me tonight!'

Anny took this information in and recalled the name of the restaurant as she had helped An put in the GPS info into the Van earlier that day and pulled up the webpage she'd looked at earlier this morning and checked google for info on this owner…

When the information loaded up, she wanted to scream.

The place was owned by Jay fucking 'Gold Dragon' Kanker.

SERIOUSLY?! UGH AS IF THE FUCKING BASILISK HITTING ON HER THIS MORNING WASN'T BAD ENOUGH!

She leaned back in her chair and bit back a stream of swears as she tightened her grip on her phone.

What were they gonna do? She didn't think those guys would pop up the next morning like this after what happened last night. After all that gun fire and shit that went down, she would have thought those assholes would have laid low for a while and that would give them time to regroup.

But of course not.

Why would any of those bastards give her or her friends a break?

Why should they have time to set up defenses around their apartment building or update their supersuits or have Double-N come up with new devices to keep themselves safe or anything like that?

… URGH! SITTING AROUND DOING NOTHING WASN'T GOING TO HELP!

Anny stopped slouching and went back to her text messages and sent a message to Jamie asking if she could update their supersuits.

She asked for fireproofing for Double-N because, despite her many tiny pellets that expanded into a fire fighting foam that she had on hand (just in case) she had caught a living inferno's eye, so there was a chance that all those pellets wouldn't be enough to keep her from being burnt to a crisp. She and An would need blade proofing as a precaution against the Golden Dragon, even though Double-N said he was far less violent than his brothers, she wasn't taking any chances with these assholes. An wouldn't need fireproofing as her goop could easily put that stuff out and Anny kept some of those fire fighting pellets on her too and she didn't have the Wyvern after her, so that would be good enough for now. Double-N wouldn't need blade proofing as her hair could do that already, so there was no point in adding it.

Okay, so that took care of the Wyvern and the Golden Dragon… but the Basilisk's power would be tricky to beat, as they'd heard that it was some sort of hypnosis or mind control or something. Anny shivered a bit, if that curly haired fuck boy really wanted to, he could have made her dance in the palm of his hand… or worse.

She shook her head, silently telling the thought to take a hike. Double-N would probably find a way to beat it, after all, they'd played with hypnosis before and she had a pretty good understanding of it. If it was mind control it might take a bit more time to figure out how to beat it, but once they did, they could get Jamie on it.

And while it might be a good idea to have all of the things they needed to cover figured out before ordering improved supersuits, Anny wanted to cover as many bases as they could as fast as they could. Better to be safe than skewered or scorched.

That, and she remembered how it had taken a while for Jamie to find a fabric that was durable and could still allow An's goop to flow out of it freely so there wouldn't be pointy crystals stuck in the fabric, stabbing her repeatedly as she moved. To make a material that was stab proof, durable and could let An's goop come out without drying between the fibers could take some time, so it was probably for the best that she requested that as soon as she could.

She also told her to also make some regular and formal clothes made of the same materials, just in case those guys tracked them to more places they frequented or while they were out for a night of fun and/or retcon at a fancy party or something and to give her the price so they could pay her for the work as soon as she knew how much it would cost.

Jamie sent back a thumbs up and wrote back her now signature phrase whenever it came to their superhero costumes 'But no capes.'

Anny smiled at that for a moment, remembering that, after Jamie offered to make them superhero costumes for their try out at the Justice League, An had offered her comics and pictures she'd drawn of the Justice League's heroes for references.

After going through everything and Jamie had shown them her final designs, she and An had gotten into an argument about the lack of capes on their costumes.

After separating them and having Sockhead convince them to both make their cases, the two wiser Ans declared that Jamie's points about all the cape related accidents and how it would be safer for them to go without was best.

An still pouted that she didn't have a cool cape like Superman for a little while…

The thought of the wellknown and regarded hero made Anny's smile shift into a toothy snarl.

When she and her friends tried out for the Justice League, they'd gone through several tests to see how well they worked together as a team and to show what they were made of. And they'd done really well as far as they could tell at the time.

Sure Superman didn't want An near him because she could maybe sort of potentially make his fatal weakness and they all messed up once or twice with one or both of the others having to help, but their teamwork was solid and individually they held their own.

She'd had a good feeling when Superman asked to talk with her privately for a moment while her friends chatted with other members of the Justice League, with An asking everyone around for autographs, even the janitor, and Double-N asking Cyborg about whatever high tech nerd thing they had been tested in, curious about how it worked.

He led her into an empty room and then he told her she was in if she wanted to be, even offered her a chance to work under one of her personal heroes, Black Canary.

But when she went to run out and tell her friends that they were in, Superman stopped her.

"I'm only offering this to you, not them." He'd said.

Anny stopped, "What?" she'd managed through the shock.

"The three of you make a good team," He told her, "But the League needs people who can work well on a team as well as on their own and you're the only one who can pull her own weight."

"Excuse you?!" she snapped.

He then, in a roundabout way that pissed her off, told her that An was basically too stupid and trusting to be a hero and how anyone could trick her to either kill her or use her as bait or brainwash her or use her as an endless fountain of possible Kryptonite to be sold on the black market, blah blah blah.

And then he went on about how Double-N was a powerless weakling and how without her gadgets, it would only take one punch to take her out and that the Justice League's job was to help protect and save others and that her friend couldn't do that if she couldn't do that for herself, blah blah blah.

Anny stood there, grinding her teeth, clenching her fists so hard her nails cut into her gloves and hands, making them eventually start to bleed under the fabric where Superman could only see if he used his x-ray vision. It was taking everything she had while he talked shit about her friends to not send him flying into the nearest wall. She knew attacking the most well-known and respected super hero in the world was a bad idea…

But he had the gall to insult her best friends in front of her.

Him, a person who didn't know them or care about them.

That asshole didn't know her friends, who, despite not wanting to hurt anyone, promised Anny that they'd all become superheroes together. Her friends, who when her sister left to become a criminal after trying so hard to be a hero, comforted her while she cried at her sister's open doorway and empty room for so long. Her friends, who constantly got into trouble with her as kids while trying to earn money for candy for crying out loud!

This guy was standing over her and talking all this shit… This guy who was born with practically every superpower and had the world practically worship him was talking shit about two of the nicest, most hardworking people she knew?

How the fuck did this guy become the golden boy of the Justice League?!

The door behind her opened and Wonder Woman and Batman walked in, saw her and then glared at Superman.

"We said we'd get all of the available founder's opinions before we'd tell them the results." Wonder Woman said, her tone furious as she stepped towards him, "What did you say to her?"

Superman looked at her, his posture rigid, "I told her the truth. Those two can't be heroes. They don't have what it takes-"

And at that moment, no matter what else he was going to say, Anny decided that she'd had more than enough. She'd stood here and listened to him go on and on and on. She'd let him talk more shit about her friends than she'd ever allowed anyone else to before due to shock that he'd have the guts to insult two people who meant so much to her like that and his golden boy status.

But now?

Now Anny wasn't holding back for shit.

"FUCK YOU!" and sent him into the air, where he started floating and staring at her in shock.

"WHEN WE CAME HERE, WE TOLD YOU WE WERE A PACKAGE DEAL," Anny shouted, her voice launching him backwards again only for him to fly against her voice, "YOU GET ALL OF US OR NONE OF US! AND AFTER THAT YOU STILL HAVE THE BALLS TO ASK ME TO GO SOLO AND THEN INSULT MY BEST FRIENDS TO MY FACE?! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE THE 'MAN OF STEEL', IF YOU EVER INSULT MY FRIENDS EVER AGAIN, I'LL KNOCK YOUR FUCKING TEETH OUT!"

Superman continued to soar through her words until she finished her threat and then turned around to stomp out and instead watched as Superman then flew straight into the wall above the doorway with a loud smack.

Wonder Woman and Batman hopped out of the way and watched as he fell to the ground, the two looking surprisingly pleased with Anny's actions before Anny stepped around him and stomped back down the hall to find her friends again.

When she did, they were smiling and chatting with the Green Lanterns and the Flash, what they were talking about was hard to hear, but her anger could have been blocking it out.

She was so. Angry.

"Royal Diamond?" Double-N called, "Are you alright?"

Anny sucked in a breath, and considered telling her friends what just happened or lying and saying that they just didn't make the cut. She looked at them, and saw the joy and hope start to leak from their expressions at the sight of her own.

"We didn't make it." she said, her voice strained as she felt her eyes start to water, "Come on, let's go home."

Her friends seemed to hesitate for a moment, then Double-N politely excused them and they followed her out of the Hall of Justice and to the van.

Anny had drove in silence, her friends not talking either, seeming to wait for her to tell them why they didn't make it.

But Anny never did.

And she never planned to.

That stupid space alien thought he could dictate who could and who couldn't be a hero? The guy who basically built his superhero career on punching bad guys and dropping them at police stations and saving just ONE reporter from a constant barrage of danger that she kept putting herself into?!

The FUCK she'd let that guy tell her that her friends weren't hero material! She'd show him! She'd show everyone what she and her friends could do!

Anny stopped for a moment, her sister had said something similar after she had failed her tryouts too…

She was thankfully jolted from that line of thought by her timer going off.

Her break was over, she needed to get back to work.

She crumpled her empty lunch bag and tossed it into the trash before putting her apron on and turning out of the break room and walking through a hallway and out a door to get to her station behind the counter and clocked back on one of the registers. Her co-worker, Ashe, giving her a concerned look as she took her spot by the espresso machine.

"You okay?" She asked, "Cause you look ready to punch someone in the face and I don't want to get in a fist fight before my date tonight."

"Oh, please, Jenny told me that your boyfriend thinks it's hot that you get into fights." Anny snorted, pushing a smile on her face as she turned around to face her, one hand on her hip. When that comment didn't change the expression on her co-worker's face, she sighed, "I just remembered something annoying that happened this morning, that's all." She said, half fibbing, half not.

"What happened this morning?" A familiar voice called. The two turned to see Jenny with her laptop bag over her shoulder.

"Hey Jenny!" Ashe greeted cheerfully.

"Hey Melonhead, thought you had classes today, what are you doing here?" Anny asked.

"Oh, one of my professors cancelled at the last minute and I figured I'd stop in to get a chai latte with soy and get some homework done."

"You mean, chat with us so we wouldn't be bored while waiting for people to get out of class and grab more caffeine?" Ashe asked impishly.

"Oh lay off." Anny said as she began making the chai latte, "Like your boyfriend doesn't do the same thing when his classes are cancelled."

"Yeah, and for me, watching you flirt with my cousin is gross." Jenny commented.

"It's not like we do the fun stuff in front of you two." Ashe teased.

"UGH!" Jenny cried, covering her ears, "STOP!"

Anny chuckled as she pulled the soy milk from the fridge under the counter, knowing that Ashe thinking about the more intimate parts of her relationship was probably more than Jenny every needed to know about her and her cousin.

Jenny was the only one in their cul-de-sac, outside her, An and their siblings (as Double-N's hair was apparently more of a mutation than a power) who had super powers. Her powers apparently were more of the psychic nature than physical like her and An's.

Apparently all those years of her talking to 'Plankette' actually was pretty dangerous as the hunk of wood had actually been possessed by an evil psychic years ago and had been trying to manipulate Jenny ever since she'd found her. Jenny never told them exactly what she was trying to get her to do, but Plankette had been taken away after a psychic (who was supposed to check on them all after the incident with Tiffany) had found what Plankette really was and had taken her away. The psychic took Jenny aside to 'talk' but never actually moved his mouth, to all of their frustration and concern as they all did their best to eavesdrop.

It was only after An had suggested that the psychic was talking to Jenny through her mind did this not talking become less stupid and more worrisome… after the shock of the brilliant suggestion from An sunk in. But when they asked Jenny why Plankette had to leave, Jenny never said why, she only said it was for the best and didn't go outside as much, curling up in a ball in her room and crying.

After that, the Ans and Jenny were more included in the other kids' games and activities and were treated better. And eventually Jenny seemed to get better.

Anny made her drink and even added a dash of cinnamon, just like she liked it, "Here ya go." She said, handing it over.

"Thanks." She said, pulling out her wallet to pay.

"Oh, Jenny! I was just about to call you!" A voice called from behind them, they all turned to see their boss, Toni, walk out from the back with a hemp woven bag filled with coffee beans, "I got a call from Joyce today, her son is better now so she can do her shift tonight, so you don't need to cover for her." She said, then put the bag down on the ground and opened a cabinet under the counter to put it away.

"Right on! Glad to hear Jack is better." She said with a smile as Ashe took her cash and opened the register to count out her change.

"So…" Jenny asked, "What happened this morning that made you so mad?"

Anny bit her lip, unlike Ashe and Toni, Jenny, Rachel and Karen knew all about their vigilante gig. That and Jenny was psychic so she probably knew far more about what she and her best friends got up to than the other two…

But since An and Double-N told Karen and Rachel they would tell them and Jenny about last night later, Jenny would probably know soon enough if she didn't already, so she might as well talk about what happened this morning and vent a bit about it.

So she sighed and said, "So I was going for my morning run," She said as she turned her back to the counter to put the soy milk away, "And some asshole in a pick up starts hitting on me. I tell him to get lost and started jogging, but the sonuvabitch just started driving beside me and tossed all these stupid pick up lines and shit at me. He followed me for a little over a mile before he finally drove away!" She said, slamming the tiny fridge door shut, "I mean, seriously, I'm not interested in you or your crappy lines! When I say 'get lost', I mean get lost! I was this close to punching his face in!" she said, pinching her fingers in the air to show just how close she was to hitting that smug, deep voiced little-!

"Hey, my lines weren't that bad." A deep, familiar voice commented from behind her.

Anny's blood felt like it was turned to ice as she turned around and saw the fucking Basilisk standing there with a cheerful grin on his face, "Hiya cutie." He said, giving her a little finger wave that quickly turned her blood from frozen to boiling.

"You-" Anny snarled, only for Toni to come to her rescue with a, "Anny, why don't you help me get the rest of this shipment in? Ashe, can you take care of this customer?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Ashe said, a bit nervous at Anny's reaction to his presence before turning to him and asking, "So, what would you like to order?"

Toni gently motioned for Anny to come with her as the curly haired fuck said, "One coffee, black, no cream, no sugar."

Once they were safely back in the loading dock area, Anny saw no other bags like the one her boss had brought to the front, just a few beans spotting the cement floor.

"You can go back up to the front after he clears out." Toni said, obviously concerned. But then again, she knew about her powers and about what happened with her sister, she had a very good idea what could happen if Anny lost control out there.

"Thanks." She said, her tone still angry, but her mind racing.

How the fuck did he know where she worked? Double-N was the only one who had a tracking device put on her last night and the guy drove off before she finished her run and their building had a garage that needed a special pass in the vehicle to get past the gate and a special code they had to type in to get access to the door that led inside the garage.

So how did he know she was here?

Was it just dumb luck?

Ugh, more like her dumb luck! Things often went wrong for her and her friends, it was actually shocking that they managed to survive this long with how awful their luck was. Every strike of bad luck they survived had made them stronger, but this time they'd really gotten handed a shit hand and Anny wasn't sure how they could weasel their way out of this one…

"Are you okay, Anny?" Toni asked, "You know, I've been worried about you three ever since you came back from your try outs…" Anny struggled not to wince at that, their failure aside, Toni knew all about how failed tryouts could make someone depressed… And how, in her sister's case, too many failed try outs had make her so angry she decided to just join the other side. It wasn't hard for her, she'd been in the same grade as her sister and had been An's babysitter, so she knew all about what happened after her sister got fed up with being rejected by the League and joined that gang…

"… I'm fine. Just annoyed." She fibbed.

"Anny…" She said, concerned carved into features.

"What?! The guy followed me for a mile with his annoying pick up lines, you'd be annoyed too! Heck, if it was you, you would have beaten his ass and then called your wife to come over to take pictures of what you did to 'um!" She clenched her fists, "But as much as I really wanted to hit him, I can't do that. I have powers, so I can't hurt innocent people with 'um unless I want to be branded as a criminal like she was…" She then looked her right in the eye, "So if you really are worried about me, don't. If I can put up with that creep for a mile, I can wait until next year for a new round of try outs for them to come to their senses."

Toni considered that for a moment, then put her hands on her shoulders with a sigh, "Alright, but stay here until I tell you that guy is gone, I wouldn't want you to end up down the wrong path because some guy just couldn't get the message."

Anny finally smiled, "Thanks boss."

Toni smiled and headed back to the front, leaving her alone in the loading bay. Once she was out of sight, Anny breathed a sigh of relief.

Then her phone dinged with a message from Jenny, "The guy's gone. You have something to tell me?"

She sighed and texted back, "Party at our place tonight."

Jenny sent back a "I'll bring the Chunky Puffs! ;D"

Anny pushed a few strands of pink hair from her face, now that she had that settled, she needed to figure out how the fuck that guy had found her and think of a way to make him and his shit head brothers regret coming to look for them…

Maybe they had some of their lackeys watching her and her friends for them? After all, they were figureheads in a gang, they probably had all kinds of minions doing their dirty work for them, people gathering information and supplies for them, and covering for them…

She smiled, an idea hitting her, "Maybe it's about time we brought in our own back up…" She purred, now looking forward to the talk she and her best friends would have with others later.

She heard the door to the hall open, "Anny," Toni called, "That guy's gone, you can come back to the front now."

"Thanks Boss." She said, thinking of all the ways her back up could help even the score as Toni led the way back to the front. Once they got to the door that went to the store front, her boss's cell rang and she quickly opened it up, "Hey Hun!" she cooed, motioning for Anny to go on without her as she turned towards the back, most likely to talk to her wife in the break room.

"Well don't you look happy?" Ashe said as she returned to her spot behind the counter, Anny spotting Jenny in a corner with her earbuds in and her laptop open in a back corner.

"So what's got you all cheerful?" Ashe asked, "I mean, I know that guy's gone now, but I also know you tend to rage until you run out of steam or An or Double-N distract you. And they're not here. So…"

Anny smiled broadly, "Oh, I just remembered that there's strength in numbers."

"So, does this mean you're going to ask An and Double-N to go with you on your jogs?" she asked her.

"Not just them." She said, "I'm thinking I might let Jenny, Karen and Rachel come too, just in case."

Ashe smiled broadly, an impish gleam in her eyes "If you all kick his ass, I will need pictures and details." She demanded.

"Count on it." Anny purred, "I'll make him regret ever walking into my life at all."