"Shego attacked you?" Robin asked, mentally chastising himself for leaving the team for so long.

Raven nodded. "She destroyed my communicator. I went to find you while the others kept her contained."

"But why?" Starfire asked. "Had you anything of value to her?"

"She waited until I was alone in an alley to fight, and she destroyed the only things I had with me," Raven pointed out. "That's not a robbery. I sense darker things afoot."

"I'd better check on the others," Robin said, pulling out his communicator. He clicked it on and said, "Robin, calling Cyborg. Come in, Cyborg." There was static on the other end. "Cy?" No answer. "That's funny," Robin said to the girls. "Of anybody in that group, Cyborg should pick up. His communicator is built into his arm." He tried one more time. "Robin, calling Cyborg. Come in, Cyborg."

On the other end, he could hear Cyborg's voice yelling something like, "No, not that way…that's wrong…ow! Beast Boy! Gimme that!"

The three Titans looked at each other in confusion. "Well," said Raven, "that was strange."

Robin punched a couple more buttons on his communicator. "Maybe I should check their location…huh. Raven, where did you say you left them?"

"In the alley behind the shop," she replied.

Robin looked at his tiny screen. The little green dots were far from the alley, and they were moving along the streets of Jump City very quickly. "Not anymore. They're moving fast, and they're coming toward us."

The T-Car in which the green dots were sitting cruised smoothly along the street. Kim drove ahead, laser focused. Cyborg was nowhere near assembled yet. After the slightly embarrassing fiasco at the villain convention, he didn't trust Rufus getting inside and fixing his joints. Beast Boy, on the other hand, could barely put together a jigsaw puzzle of minimal difficulty. Cyborg's limbs were, therefore, far beyond his capacity of repairs. Beast Boy, however, was not one to quit. Thus, both boys found themselves yelling at each other with poor Rufus stuck in the middle of it all.

"Dude, just let me try it!" Beast Boy said, waving Cyborg's loose leg in one hand and Rufus in the other.

"Yo," Cyborg shouted back, "last time you tried to fix me, you made me shaped like a chicken! Why can't you just do what I'm telling you?"

"Because that's boring!" Beast Boy insisted. "Can't I just…"

"No! You need a different type of screwdriver for that!"

"There are different types of screwdrivers?"

Kim looked back at her passengers. "Guys, can you just work together? I'm trying to concentrate." She braked for a stop sign and waited for the opposing traffic to pass.

Ron glanced at the rearview mirror and looked worried. "Um…Kim? Green alert, right above us."

Kim looked too and saw Shego standing on the roof of the building next to them. "She's following us," Kim figured. "Come on, traffic, don't hold us up!"

Alas, the cars crossing the intersection could not hear her plea. Shego crouched, then pounced like a cat, landing on all fours on the roof of the T-Car seconds before the car started to move again. The backseat passengers heard a thud above them. "That better not be a dent I hear," said Cyborg, still wondering how Beast Boy had managed to put his hand on backwards.

"Maybe I can shake her," Kim said. "Ron, call Robin. Everyone else, hang on tight!"

She hit the gas and blasted down the thankfully clear street, jerking from one lane to the other. Shego held on with her suit's claws. Once she established her balance, she lifted one glowing fist and punched down through the roof, leaving a gaping hole between Cyborg's and Beast Boy's heads.

"Okay," Beast Boy admitted. "Now we have a dent."

Unable to fit her whole body inside the hole, Shego satisfied herself with blasting green energy bolts at the inhabitants of the backseat. Beast Boy grabbed the slightly reassembled Cyborg to move him out of the way while the seat was fried. The car jolted to the side and both teenage boys were thrown against the door, knocking Cy's foot loose. Shego slid back on the roof and clutched for a grip on the car's white top.

"I thought you had finished that one!" Cy shouted, trying in vain to reach his foot while still being squished between Beast Boy and the door.

"You think I know what I'm doing? Dude, your parts are more confusing than Raven's emotions!" the green one shot back.

The car swerved around a corner and they fell back into their original seats. Kim turned to Ron. "Did you call Robin?"

"Funny thing about that," Ron told her. "I just realized that he never gave me a communicator. I think I'm the only one. Why is that?"

She handed him hers. "I'm sure it's nothing personal. Just use mine."

Ron clicked the communicator on and said, in the most important sounding voice he could, "Ron Stoppable, calling Robin."

Robin's face appeared on the tiny screen. "Hey, Ron," he said. "What's going on? We called Cyborg earlier, but he didn't pick up."

"Yeah, we're kind of getting chased by super suit Shego," Ron explained. "Cy's coming apart and Kim's driving the T-Car. I think we lost Shego, though, so it's cool…"

Shego took this opportunity to crash land on the hood of the T-Car, blocking Kim's vision with her eerie evil smirk.

"Ah!" Ron exclaimed. "We did not lose Shego! I repeat, we did not lose Shego! Mayday! Mayday! We need backup!"

Unable to see, Kim struggled to stay in her lane. Shego punched the windshield, cracking it and making the whole front of the car vibrate upon impact. Kim swerved upon feeling the shock and felt the trunk of the car crash against something.

"Sorry!" she shouted at Cyborg, certain that something had been terribly damaged.

Cyborg just stared in shock at the once beautiful windshield, now cracked in the center. That gave Beast Boy an idea. "Dude," he said, leaning over so his head was by Ron's shoulder, "start pushing the pretty buttons."

Ron immediately caught Beast Boy's drift. He randomly selected one button, which turned up the air conditioning. "Nope." Another one moved the windows up and down. "Uh-uh." He began pushing random buttons quickly, hoping to find what he was looking for. The headlights turned on. "No." The GPS turned on. "Not that." Radio turned on playing the latest Oh Boyz hit. "Definitely not that." The backseat folded up on itself, leaving Beast Boy and Cyborg stranded on the floor. "Whoops." Two rockets came out on the back of the car and blasted them forward at an uncontrollable speed. Shego's face was smashed against the windshield from the force. Everyone in the car screamed and held onto something nearby for dear life.

"RON!" Kim shouted.

"Hey!" her sidekick pointed out. "What were the odds of it having this? Everything else was normal car stuff! KP, DEAD END!" The car blasted straight through the dead end sign. Ron pushed the button again to shut off the rockets just in time for Kim to pull the car out of danger and back onto the street.

Shego stretched out her suit's claws and sliced open a piece of the windshield big enough to fit her hand into. Glass shattered into the car's interior, hitting Kim's arm. She would later regret choosing today to wear that cute new tank top. Shego reached her hand in and grabbed the steering wheel, attempting to wrestle it out of Kim's hands. Kim held on tight.

Frantically, Ron slammed his finger down on another button. Cleaning liquid sprayed all over Shego's face and she found herself under attack via windshield wipers. She was forced to withdraw her hand and focus on fighting off the little black swipers.

"Nailed it! A-booyah!" Ron celebrated. He looked over the buttons again. "You look like something important…" he said, clicking the button next to the windshield wiper trigger.

The hood popped open and sent the already off balance Shego flying.

"And I believe that is worth another one. Booyah!"

The beat up T-Car sped along with haste, hoping to avoid more confrontations with the villainess. Without realizing it, they passed a Chinese restaurant, outside of which three other heroes were standing.

"Is that the T-Car?" Starfire asked, seeing a white and blue shape approaching.

"With that shape, it could be anything," Raven remarked.

Robin looked at it. "It's the T-Car all right. Come on, Ron said they needed help!"

Robin and Starfire hopped onto the R-Cycle, following the T-Car. Raven made a disc of black energy and floated close behind. Robin spoke into his communicator. "Robin calling Ron Stoppable. We're right behind you. Stay calm and head for the bridge. It's coming up on your left. We can regroup there."

"Roger," Ron replied. "KP, you hear that?"

"Bridge. Got it," she answered, bringing the car down to a more reasonable speed.

It looked like they had escaped to safety. Shego had been flung far out of view. She was able to grab onto a nearby streetlight and swing up onto it. She stood up and looked ahead. "They're heading for the bridge," she said. "Looks like it's show time." She jumped down to the ground and checked the supplies Slade had given her. What could hold them on the bridge…?

The bridge was not too crowded today, but there were still cars entering and exiting as usual. Kim reached its edge and breathed a sigh of relief, as did all of her passenger. Suddenly, she heard something.

"Ron," she asked, "do you hear something beeping?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it," Ron replied, "and from my experience beeping is almost always bad."

Kim looked out her cracked windshield as well as she could and saw a little black circle on the ground. "Oh no."

The beeping sped up and got louder until the little explosive detonated, covering the whole bridge with black smoke. She tried to drive out of the way of the confused cars, but found she could barely see herself. As the smoke began to clear, another car rushing to get off the bridge slammed into the T-Car's rear, shoving it forward a couple feet. That was all the T-Car needed to hit and tilt over the side wall of the bridge. The car teetered on the edge, its front pointing toward the bay water and its rear sitting just above the pavement. It wobbled on the tip of the concrete wall as if it couldn't make up its mind whether to stay on the bridge or take the plunge.

"We're gonna die!" Ron yelled, bracing himself in his seat.

"Aw, dudes!" Beast Boy cried. "I didn't even get to call Tara back!"

Cyborg gave him a look. "We're dangling over the edge of a cliff! Your cheerleader girlfriend can wait, grass stain!" He turned to Ron. "Top row, second button to the right!"

Ron obeyed. Just as the car rolled off the railing, a grappling hook shot out and caught hold of it. The car froze halfway to extinction, dangling.

Ron wiped his brow. "Whew. We're alive!"

Kim looked down at the water below them. "We're not in the clear yet. We have to stay still. Sudden movements could mess with the grip. Anybody got an idea of how to get out of this?"

While the T-Car's occupants tried to think of ideas, Robin, Starfire, and Raven arrived at the scene. Raven could feel the heavy emotions of panic as anxious drivers tried to navigate through the black smoke. One wreck had already occurred near the center of the bridge involving a pickup truck and a convertible.

"They need you, Raven," Robin told the empath. "We'll take care of the car…whoa!"

A motorcycle with no rider was thrown through the smoke at the trio. Raven pulled her cloak around her and flew back away from it. Robin pushed Starfire out of the way before jumping away himself. A woman's silhouette appeared, walking out of the wreckage, her suit's green lines glowing in the dark and an evil smirk on her face.

"Look who came out to play," Shego said.

"You maniac," Robin responded. "What do you think you're doing? You're hurting innocent people!"

Shego put her hands on her hips. "Yeah. FYI, kid, I'm a villain. Hurting innocent people is kind of in the job description."

"But what do you want?" Robin demanded, taking one birdarang in each hand.

Shego held up both of her hands, each starting to glow. "What's it look like I want? A tea party?" She blasted an energy bolt Robin's direction. He slid out of the way. She stepped down off the wreckage and advanced toward the teens. "I'll tell you what I want. I want to rule the world, and I want to do it without any meddling kids ruining everything for me. Drakken wasn't giving me that, so I switched to Slade. Any other questions?"

"I don't think there's anything more to ask," Robin replied. He ran up to Shego and began to fight her. "Go, Raven!" he ordered. "We've got Shego! Just go!"

Raven fled into the smoke and sensed her way to the car wreck. The pickup truck was flipped onto its side and the convertible looked like it had gone through a garbage compactor. Its driver stood beside it, his trendy outfit ruined but his body relatively unscathed. She waved her hand over the bottom of the truck to create a black swirl, reached in, and pulled out an unconscious woman. A man climbed out after her, looking traumatized.

"What's happening?" he asked. "Where's all the smoke coming from? Careful with her, she's my wife. We've never seen anything so horrifying."

Raven cocked her head at him. "You're not from around here, are you?" She laid the woman on the ground and pressed two fingers to her wrist. The pulse was regular. Good. "I can help her," she said, "as long as I don't have any distractions. Both of you, try to direct traffic off the bridge as much as possible." She put her hand gently on the woman's forehead and began to mumble, "Azarath metrion zinthos…"

Meanwhile, Shego and Robin fought tirelessly. Starfire wanted to leave and locate her friends in the car, but the knowledge that Robin was facing the same enemy who had brought so much pain upon her the night before froze her in place. After a few minutes of even give and take fighting, Shego grabbed Robin's arms and threw him into the air. Starfire flew up and caught him in her arms.

"Thanks, Star," he said. "Look, she's getting away!"

"No she is not!" Starfire decided, her eyes glowing green.

Shego saw the duo approaching and instantly had a plan. She jumped on top of several cars, then from there shimmied up one of the many cords holding the suspension bridge together until she stood on top of the structure. "Come and get me, bird boy!" she shouted, maneuvering along the narrow ledge with ease and a wicked laugh.

Meanwhile, those inside of the T-Car felt it move an inch closer to the water. "Cyborg," Kim asked, "how much weight is that hook supposed to carry?"

"Well," he explained, "technically it's intended to drag other things along behind the T-Car, not hold up the entire vehicle's weight plus four people and a mole rat."

"Okay," said Kim. "That might be a problem. Let me see if I have anything useful with me."

Ron looked at his girlfriend's arm as she reached into her bag. "Kim, you're bleeding!" he exclaimed. "Oh my gosh, it must have been when Shego broke the window on you!"

Kim looked at her arm for the first time since she had started driving. Little red lines had appeared all along her forearm, and it stung a little. "I'll be okay, Ron. I've been through worse before."

Ron wasn't listening. He didn't know very many things, but he did know that it was his job to take care of Kim when she needed help. "Yo, Cy," he asked, "does this car have a first aid kit?"

"Sure does," Cy replied. "Push the third button to the right."

Ron pushed the button. All four doors swung open suddenly, nearly sending Beast Boy flying out of the car. He quickly transformed into a bat and flew back in. "Seriously, dude?" he asked, once he was a human again.

"Your other left, Ron," Cyborg groaned.

"Right. Sorry." Ron pushed the same button again and slammed the four doors shut, shaking the car once more.

"Wait, Ron," Kim told him gently. "I'll be fine. Just don't push any more buttons. Please."

He nodded submissively. She checked her bag and found her laser lipstick, knockout gas lip gloss, and hand mirror. "No hairdryer," she said, disappointed. "This is what I get for not being prepared."

"Hairdryer?" Beast Boy repeated. "Kim, are you crazy? We need, like, something to hold onto, or something to fly us out of here."

"My hairdryer is actually a grappling hook," she informed him.

He looked a little bit embarrassed. "Oh. My bad."

A little light bulb went off in Kim's brain. A couple seconds later, the same light bulb went off in Ron's and Cyborg's. All three of them looked at Beast Boy. "If only we had an animal that could get us out of here…" Cyborg said, staring straight into BB's eyes.

Beast Boy was kind of confused, but eventually his light bulb also turned on. "You want a…oh! I got it! You want me to change into something useful. Um…T-rex?"

"Not while you're in the car," Kim pointed out. "Maybe something that can fly."

"Hm…hawk?" he suggested.

"Not enough for all three of us," Cyborg said.

"Think, Beast Boy, think!" Ron urged his green friend, still worried about Kim's arm.

"Gah!" Beast Boy said. "I'm under a lot of pressure here! Just stop staring at me and let me think!"

Meanwhile, Robin reached the top of the bridge with Starfire's help. He ran after Shego while the villainess cartwheeled tauntingly along the edge away from him. He eventually caught up to her and the fighting began. Both parties tried to knock their opponent off balance, but neither seemed ready to fall. Robin actually had the advantage here, with all those years of trapeze training behind him. After a series of hits and blocks, Robin landed a solid kick strong enough to cause her feet to slip. The moment she began to fall, he took out his grappling hook with the birdarang on the end, shot it so it wrapped around her, and pulled her back up.

"Game over, Shego," he said to his prisoner. "Now, what is Slade planning?"

She looked up at him. "Wow," she said. "You really don't know a trap when you see one, do you?"

"What?"

The cord binding her glowed green and then dissolved into ash. With her suit's sharp nails, she slashed at the Teen Wonder and nearly flattened his spikey hair with an energy bolt. Robin realized that she was much more skilled than she had appeared before he had saved her. But…why would she fall on purpose?

Shego ducked and swung her leg around. Robin jumped back and threw a birdarang at her. She acrobatically dogded it and flipped over, doing a perfect handspring and landing behind him, where she gripped him with her nails and sent green electricity directly into his body. Unlike Ron, Robin realized what was happening and shoved her away before he could be completely knocked out. This was all she needed to push him off the edge and leave him hanging by his gloved hands over the water. He realized he no longer had his grappling hook. So this was why she had fallen on purpose for him to save her!

He tried to climb back up, but she slammed her foot on his hands. He sucked in his breath, trying not to reveal the pain he was feeling. Shego enjoyed every minute of this.

"Aw, bird boy can't fly too well, can he?" she taunted. She stomped her heel on his left hand, making two of his fingers slip. "You're team's not doing too well either. See them on the other side of the bridge? Nope! They're all hanging for their lives too." She stomped again. One more finger struggled not to come loose. "You know, as friends of Kimmie's, I expected a lot more from you guys. This was way too easy." She stomped again and his whole left hand let go.

He reached up and grabbed the edge with both hands again. "You won't get away with this, Shego. Slade is pure evil. Even if you destroy us, he'll destroy you in the end. You're making a mistake."

Shego placed her hands on her hips. "Oh, that's right. You used to be his apprentice too. Slade told me all about you." She knelt down so he could see her face. "Just think, Robbie. If being Slade's apprentice is so bad, why am I sitting here smiling while you're slipping to your demise? If you'd had the brains to see the potential in that guy, you'd be the one on top right now. But you didn't see it, and now I'm on top." She stood up, preparing two energy bolts to end him. "Nice knowing you, kid. Well, actually, it wasn't that nice. Have fun falling to your death, anyway."

"You leave him alone, you zolwarg tubarkplixing zarbmarker!"

The confusing words alone were enough to divert Shego's attention to the strange alien girl who had flown up and now stood on the same part of the bridge's architecture as her. Starfire's eyes glowed bright green, and her hands had two star bolts at the ready.

"Oh look," Shego said sarcastically. "It's the flying freak from space. I'm sooo scared. Look, princess, I'm a little busy here. Mind if I take care of him first? I hate to make him wait."

"You will do no such thing!" Starfire replied, walking two steps toward Shego. This was the first time since yesterday's incident that she had spoken with the green lady. She still had questions, but she knew that now Shego had no surprises for her.

"Oh, you want to go first, then?" Shego asked. "Fine by me I suppose." Her voice shook a little bit, but she wouldn't acknowledge it. Somehow, this girl had the same powers that she did. It was impossible, yet true. The impossibility of the whole situation made her feel a bit uncomfortable, but not to the point of fear. Never to the point of fear.

"Careful, Star!" Robin shouted, still trying to cling onto the slippery ledge right next to Shego's feet.

Starfire noticed his location. "I do not wish to harm you," she told Shego, her eyes changing back to their normal state. "I wish to speak with you, and I wish to do so without you causing Robin's destruction."

"What's to talk about?" Shego asked. "And why should I care what you want?" To prove her lack of concern for Robin's safety, she flicked a mere spark of green energy at his hand. The shock made one more finger slip.

Starfire shut her eyes. There is nothing to fear, she told herself. The one called Shego may have your powers, but you are the stronger one. She opened them and pushed Shego with her super alien strength, holding her back with one hand while her other hand still contained a bright green star bolt. Shego didn't move, mostly out of shock that the sweetest Titan was acting so tough.

"You may not care for the safety of others," Star said forcefully, "but I do. You are harming the innocent citizens of the Jump City without reason. You are also attempting to destroy Robin, who I would not allow to fall for any purpose. We may have the same energy bolt producing capabilities, but I have much more power than you. With my strength and ability to fly, I am capable of picking you up this moment and sending you to prison for what you have done today on this bridge, though I believe that further research once you are turned in will find you guilty of even more crimes."

It was true that any investigation could find a particularly dirty record under Shego's name, complete with a list of the continuously growing number of countries she was wanted in. That didn't faze Shego. She relished a life of danger, and if she had to break out of prison—again—she would. Also, in her new battle suit, Shego was pretty sure that if she wasn't invincible, she was close to it. Still, she was impressed with the alien's boldness. Usually the only one who had the guts to approach her like that was Kim Possible. She relaxed her pose and decided to humor her. "All right, sweetie, I'm listening. I've got all day."

Starfire did not relax her pose at all. "You have questions about me. I too have questions about you. You will not cause me serious damage until your questions are answered. You know of what I speak. I believed that I was the only person on this planet with my powers, and I suspect you believed the same about yourself." She let her star bolt fade and took her hand off Shego's shoulder. Her angry expression slowly transformed into that of a concerned friend. "All damage can be avoided if you allow me to advise you. The only other person I know of with identical powers to ours is my sister. Though you are not she, I am willing to treat you as hospitably as if you were. I am not your enemy. I wish only to help you."

"Help me?" Shego scoffed. "What makes you think I need help?"

Starfire pointed to the green "S" on Shego's new uniform. "Slade. He will try to control you."

Shego rolled her eyes. "A little late there, kid. Your fearless leader was just warning me about him."

"Then perhaps you will listen more to one with the same powers as your own," Starfire persisted. "Our abilities are dependent upon our emotions. Think of what Slade could do if he entered your mind and troubled your feelings. Think of the damage he could cause. You may believe that you shall not allow him in, but he will find a way if there is one to be found. His last apprentice was one of us. He took complete control over her body and her powers, all thanks to a garment not unlike this one." She gestured to the black battle suit. "You know what destruction he could cause if such a thing were to happen to one like us. You cannot trust him!"

Shego shook her head. "Maybe one of your little hero friends would fall for that, but not me. I've broken out of some of the strongest prisons in the world. Some old dork with a mask over his face can't control me."

"You may think so," Starfire warned, "but you would be incorrect. He is a truly horrible man, capable of truly disturbing things!"

Shego failed to hold in a laugh. "Horrible and disturbing! I think you missed the memo about me being evil. I'm a pretty bad person, and that's how I like it. Horrible and disturbing are right up my alley."

"You do not understand. He shall do horrible and disturbing things to you as well. I am merely attempting to act as your friend and help you…"

"Whoa there!" Shego cut her off. "'Friend'?" she air quoted, and continued to do so liberally. "I am not your 'friend'. I don't want to be your 'friend'. I don't need to be your 'friend'. If you want 'friends', talk to another airheaded hero wannabe. Slade's no match for this, and even if he is, it's none of your beeswax, got it?"

Starfire looked at Shego's face outlined by her dark hair as she spoke her spiteful words. There was something very Blackfire-like about her. Starfire was sure that through their powers there was a bond somewhere. She felt it, and she was certain that Shego felt it too. She decided to try one more time. "All I can say is that you must leave Slade immediately, for the good of yourself and everyone else. He gives you everything you ask, but he will turn around and take it all away. Please, Shego." She pleaded with her big, solemn green eyes.

Shego was sucker for adorable big-eyed expressions. It was one of the few things she hated about herself. She quickly looked away from Starfire's face to where Robin was beginning to crawl back onto the bridge. A plan began to form in her twisted mind to get rid of this innocent do-gooder. "Listen, kid," she said. "You're pretty stupid if you think I'll take any of your advice and suddenly convert to the side of good or something. You know, you surprised me. You're a lot tougher than you look. So, instead of finishing you off right now, I'll give you a tip." The edge of her mouth tilted upward into a one-sided smirk. She placed her index finger over the center button of her bright green belt. "I planted a bomb on your friends' car while you weren't looking. They have no idea. When I push this button, it's ten seconds, then ka-boom."

Starfire tried to figure out what Shego meant by this. Surely she was aware that the alien princess could travel to the car's location in under ten seconds?

Shego suddenly slugged Starfire in her bare stomach, stepped around her, and shot two very hot bolts at Robin's hands, making him finally lose his grip and fall off the ledge. "Tick tock," she said, shoving Starfire off the other side of the ledge and pressing the bright green button at the same time.

Ten…nine…

Starfire caught her own fall and flew as fast as she could to catch Robin in her arms. "Starfire, the others!" he reminded her.

Now she realized Shego's plan. Surely she could reach the bomb and disable it in time on her own, but traveling at such speeds could endanger Robin. She gripped him tightly and dove through the air, silently praying to X'hal that she would make it in time.

Eight…seven…

Shego slid down one of the suspension bridge's cords in a hurry. The alien was moving faster than she had expected. She might actually make it in time. She'd better not. She had promised Slade six dead communicator signals. By letting Starfire go, she had already given up one. She sprinted off the bridge as fast as she could. If even one Titan survived, she would need to get out of their range.

Six…five…

The traffic and smoke had cleared out by now. The unconscious woman was now fully conscious and had been driven by her husband to find follow up care. Raven looked to the sky and saw Starfire zooming toward the dangling T-Car. Sensing something bad, she headed toward it.

Four…three…

"I've got it!" Beast Boy announced. "An anaconda!"

"Well it's about time," Cyborg complained.

Kim's ears perked up. "Hey Ron," she asked, "do you hear something beeping?"

The bomb had previously been silent, but it began to tick louder as its detonation approached.

Three…two…

Starfire had shifted Robin to being held by his waist in one of her arms while the other one cut through the air in front of her. She was almost there. She could just…barely…reach it…

One.

"No!" she shouted, just inches away from the bomb. She shielded her eyes and Robin's from the explosion…but it never came.

They opened their eyes and saw that the bomb was covered in a layer of black energy, completely disabled. Raven hovered beside the T-Car and removed the dead weapon from the vehicle, depositing it in the water below. She focused her energy and covered the whole dangling car in darkness. Raising her arms up, she lifted it to safety on the now empty bridge. Starfire flew herself and Robin up to meet the others.

"Yeah Raven!" Cyborg cheered, getting out of the wreck of his car that remained.

"I seriously thought we were goners for a minute there," Beast Boy added, giving her a friendly punch in the arm.

She gently pushed him off. "What?" she asked. "Did you all forget I was here or something? Also, I have to ask how you even managed to be hanging off the bridge by the T-Car's grappling hook like that."

"Shego meant business," Kim responded, surveying the damage to the car. "Apparently that business involved wrecking the T-Car and trying to drop us into the bay."

Robin smiled at his cloaked friend. "Great job, Raven. Thanks to you and Starfire, we're all safe and sound."

"Speak for yourself!" Cyborg corrected him. He himself was fully put together and operational, but the state of the T-Car practically had him in tears. "It could be weeks before my baby gets fixed up after this. Man, that woman is brutal!"

Ron again noticed his girlfriend's arm. The red lines had become slightly thicker streaks. "Hey, we've got to get Kim fixed up too. How soon can we get back to the Tower?"

"As soon as we find someone to tow the T-Car," Robin said. "We'll have to double up. Raven can fly with Kim, Beast Boy can carry Cyborg as a pterodactyl, Ron can ride with me on the R-Cycle, and Starfire can fly solo."

Cyborg began punching numbers into the phone on his arm to find a tow. Starfire inched closer to Robin and asked quietly, "Robin, did you mean what you said about the researching of the powers belonging to Shego?"

"Of course," he replied.

"I wish to commence the research the moment we arrive at the Tower," she told him. "I believe it will be advantageous to ask Kim about her as soon as possible."

Robin nodded. "That sounds like a good idea." He paused for a moment, then added, "I'm glad you were able to stand up to her like that, Star. It was really brave of you. Not that you aren't usually brave!" he quickly pointed out. "You're the bravest person I know, and between talking about it with me and confronting Shego you really proved it. I mean, it's not like you need to prove it or anything…I just…um…" He mentally cursed himself for being so awkward. "…you…great work today."

Starfire giggled and gave her boyfriend a tight squeeze, careful not to completely cut off his breathing. "Thank you, Robin," she said sweetly.

From the roof of a building on the opposite side of the bridge, Shego crouched with binoculars held to her green eyes. Yes, all of the young heroes had survived. This was unsettling. What particularly unsettling about it was that she knew perfectly well that it was her fault. If only she hadn't let that weird flying girl talk to her, over half the team would have exploded by now. What was even more unsettling was that the tiniest part of her mind had honestly had the slightest desire to see Starfire succeed. But Slade would never know that. She didn't like the kid any more than she liked any of the others, or so she reminded herself. Maybe she'd been a little too nice. It was time to toughen up. "I'll get you kids," she said, "somehow." She put down the binoculars and slunk into the shadows, thinking of the best way to break the news to Slade.

But somewhere, deep down in that same tiniest part of her mind, she kept a couple of Starfire's warnings for record's sake.

(A/N: Whew! That took a while! I think it was my longest chapter yet! Just a note: this is set before the KP episode "Stop Team Go". Not really important now, but later it might be. Just keep in mind that as far as Kim knows, Shego cannot be good at all. Whether that's true or not, it looks like something is brewing between Starfire, Shego, and Slade. I wonder what will happen next...)