76. Kara's Visitor part 2

"So….um….Supergirl….what are you doing in a place like Kansas City?"

"Pfft…only natural! I live here!"

"You…l-live in Kansas?"

"Well…more or less. Same continent, if that helps."

"Dude….I thought all you 'superpeople' lived in that Fortress of Solomon someplace…"

"'Solitude'. And no, I don't live there…thank gawd. Freakin' butt freezes off in that place. But heck, I've seen it enough to call the place a summer home."

"Are you here on any business?"

"Directly to the point, Robin! You are like they say in legends! Hehehe…I'm here on unofficial business."

"Doing what?"

"Unofficializing. Now tell me….what are you Titans doing here so far away from your Tower?"

"We are enjoying an extended vacation of glorious magnitude!! Hehehehe!"

"Sprechen sie what?"

"We're having some time off. It was Cyborg's idea and we all pitched in."

"Ahhhhh….coooool! But wait…what are you doing in a boring place like Kansas?!"

"Hahahaha! Dude! She agrees with me!"

"I'd agree with anyone. You guys are nuts!"

"On occasion…….we're downright schizophrenic….."

"And you must be Raven. I've heard lots about you."

"………….."

"That's a….um….pretty gemstone on your head!"

"………….."

"…………..Right…..so, um…..am I the only one baffled by whoever the heck those guys in the pickup truck were?"

"All we know is what our partner told us over the communicator."

"Ah, well, you see: it was these four guys with laser rifles and a really strong leader with the wyrdest way of talki—"

"Wait a second. I'm sorry to interrupt you, Supergirl. But before we talk about this situation, can we check up on Noir? I'd like his input too."

"Oh! Sure thing, Robin. Jeez…what got into him anyways? Heat prostration?"

"Heheheheheheh….you can saaaaay that."

"…..Huh?"

"Cyborg? How's he doing?"

"He's been awake for three minutes!"

I stopped pretending I was unconscious. Shaking my head with a sigh, I sat up. I looked at everyone around me through my shades. Blinking in response to the blinding light.

Six figures came into focus. Huddled around me and the opened back seat of the T-Car (the top was down). I saw Cyborg by my side, Raven and Beast Boy standing in the distance, Robin and Starfire by the side of the car, and in the midst---

"Hiya, sleepy head!" the Girl of Steel waved with a friendly, neighborhood smile.

And I laid back down to faint again.

"Stay with us, soldier…," Cyborg hoisted my head back up and forced me to sit. "My readings say you're fine. Probably exhausted, but fine. Care to join us?"

I rubbed my temples, flexed my jaw, and shrugged.

"Good to have you back, Noir," Robin nodded. He was in uniform. Everyone was in uniform. The Boy Wonder looked over at Supergirl. "So…you were saying there were four men—"

"In this badass pickup truck!!" Supergirl enthusiastically gestured. "And they were like—WHAM!—smashing into the Borders where Noir and I were! And then-ZAP!-laser guns were shooting everywhere and—SMASH!—they pounded into the ground and got a mysterious rock from the earth beneath the store. And quick as a flash—SMACK!—they drove out of the store and –VROOOOOM!-the entire way here. I followed by air and I guess Noir just….um….ran. We met at the same time and together we sneaked up on them and delivered a butt kicking! It was really cool!"

"And I'm assuming the four suspects got away….," Raven droned.

Supergirl simpered. "Heheh…yeah, well…that wasn't so cool."

"Fascinating story!" Starfire beamed.

Beast Boy blinked. "What were you and Noir doing in a bookstore?"

Supergirl winked.

My brow furrowed. I was about to gesture something when Robin walked in my line of sight.

"You remember all that, Noir?" he asked.

A beat.

I stared at him. I tiredly gave him a thumb's up.

"Well allright…," Cyborg uttered.

"So….like….," Supergirl rubbed her elbow. "Sorry about them getting away and all. You see…they still had their laser rifles and I kinda sorta got tossed like a rag doll into a blazing fire and Noir got his shades punched to bits and stuff. I think we managed well. We make a good team, don't we Noir?! Huh?!"

I had on a plastic grin. My cheeks were torturously growing red, no matter how much I fought it. Perhaps everyone would think it was a sunburn….

Speaking of pale….I felt blue eyes darting back and forth in the corner.

I glanced over.

I saw Raven look at me…at Supergirl…at me again…and then at space.

"……," I looked at Cyborg. I gestured.

He 'read' me. "Nah. We were just loafing around the hotel with nothing to do when you hailed us, man. Not all of us are as crazy as you to walk around in this burning weather."

I gestured again.

"Yeah…we brought bottled water. Hold on."

He pressed a button in the side of T-Car's interior while I stepped out and stood alongside of him. A compartment opened and Cyborg handed me some Aquafina."

"Drink it all up, man. Lord knows you must be parc—"

I unscrewed the cap and ungracefully dunked my head with a fountain of water. I soon emptied the cold contents all over my face, shook the drops out of my long hair, and exhaled.

"…..," Cyborg blinked. "Or that would do."

I wiped the water off my shades. Blinked my black eyes. And refocused the world.

After the ghastly, awakening splash of cold water…it turned out that Supergirl was still standing there.

I sighed and wandered over to the side to sharpen Myrkblade a bit…

"So….," Robin mumbled as he paced across the hot, barren parking lot. "You said that the four men inside the Borders got their hands on a mysterious stone?"

"Uh….yeah!" Supergirl nodded. "It seemed as if it was hidden deep under the floor of the bookstore. Like nobody knew about it but them!"

"You know what the stone looked like?" Robin knelt over a piece of asphalt.

The Girl of Steel thought for a second to herself. "Um……………..heck if I know," she shrugged.

Robin stood up with a very tiny, glowing pebble of green in his grasp. A shard. "Could the stone have been something akin to Kryptonite?"

Supergirl stared….blinked…and sweatdropped: "Oh….well….I-I guess I can sorta…vouch for that."

"You knew it was Kryptonite they were running off with?" Raven asked.

Supergirl turned and nodded. "I saw them running off with something green and glowing. That count?"

"Why didn't you tell us that to begin with?" the dark girl glared.

"Hey! I didn't know this was an interrogation!" Supergirl barked back and everyone but Raven flinched. "If you must know….um…..Kryptonite is kind of a touchy subject."

"Oh really…."

"Yeah! For Clark and me."

Silence.

"Clark?" Beast Boy blinked.

Supergirl instantly blushed. "Um…I-I mean 'Superman' and me."

Silence.

I glanced over at Robin. I saw that he was wincing. And wincing mightily. He struggled to hold the pebble of glowing Kryptonite in his glove as he uttered: "Um…..Supergirl? I don't remember exactly how long you've been in the business. But…"

"But what?"

"Be a little more careful about…..a-about….," Robin looked at everyone. He sweated and cleared his throat. "A-About names."

"What's so special about names?"

"Everything!" Robin retorted. "How did you know anyways?"

"What? About Superman?! Pfft! We're practically cousins!"

"I guess that would make sense. You know Superman's secret identity is important to him, right? I-I mean…has that changed in the 'Super' order or something since last time I checked?"

"Oh come on…," Supergirl folded her arms and rolled her eyes. "You ARE an offspring to the Bat, aren't you?! Why can't you be as liberal as Barbara…I swear"

"Dnkkttkkt!!" Robin hissed, his whole body in a cringe. Starfire jumped, concerned.

I looked at him. I looked at Supergirl.

She bit her lips. "Ooops….um…."

"Clark???" Beast Boy again muttered.

Supergirl rolled her eyes. "Clark Kent! He's a journalist. Metropolis. THERE! That wasn't so bad…was it?"

Everyone was silent. Although, I could hear Robin's heart stopping. There was a paleness that swept throughout his eyemask. It was haunting….and kinda funny.

"Clark Kent?" Beast Boy remarked.

"A journalist??" Cyborg added.

A beat.

"Pfft!"

"Who cares."

"Man…how boring."

"As long as he's Superman, I don't care."

Supergirl smiled at Robin. "See? Everyone understands!"

Robin was catatonic.

The Girl of Steel lowered her sapphire eyes to the tiny green sliver in his hand.

"So…um….about that," she pointed.

Robin snapped out of it. "Huh? Oh. This."

"Yeah….that…," Raven droned.

"It must have come loose from the sample the men had," the Boy Wonder said, back in detective mode. "It might not be too wild of a guess to assume there's more around here."

"And that they're after it!" Cyborg exclaimed.

"Ah! Now that gives me an excuse to be 'on unofficial business' here in Kansas City! Doesn't it?" Supergirl planted her hands to her hips and beamed. She smiled over at me.

I cleared my throat and looked away. I sharpened Myrkblade studiously.

Raven was silent.

"You said they had laser rifles?"

"Yeah…they should be lying around here somewhere….well…bits and pieces of them."

"Dudes!" Beast Boy waved from the side of a warehouse. "Over here!"

Cyborg, Starfire, and Robin walked over. Robin pocketed the Kryptonite shard away in a satchel on his utility belt as all four Titans knelt besides the remnants of a laser gun.

"That look like pop gun to you?!" Supergirl called out from the sidelines, smiling.

"Hardly…," Robin lifted one. He handed it to Cyborg. "Can you do a quick scan for ionized crystals, please?"

"Consider it done," Cyborg nodded. He held up a cartridge to the laser rifle, opened a compartment in his arm, shone some sort of laser analysis on the object, and nodded. "Done indeed. Positive match."

Robin knelt up. "Well, that settles that." He spun and faced Supergirl at a distance. "You ran into Intergang."

Supergirl's eyes widened. "You don't say…."

"Intergang?" Starfire remarked.

"One of the biggest crime syndicates on the East Coast," Robin said. "A bunch of international criminals working together to create a hybrid of alien technology and advanced Terran engineering. These lasers—howbeit a trademark of their underlings—are petty compared to the big stuff they've got."

Cyborg nodded. "They are situated in Metropolis, mainly. Lord knows I had my evenings full of listening to stories bout them on the news as a kid…"

"How awful!" Starfire exclaimed. "And now they are this far west across your continent?! What could it be they desire?!" Robin tapped his utility belt. "They've gotten ahold of this stuff before. Undoubtedly, they're trying it again."

"But Kryptonite doesn't just hang around all over the place, does it??" Beast Boy exclaimed. "I always thought of Kryptonite as rare Yu Gi Oh cards. Some of them just can't be found…and besides, good riddance!"

"Usually they're scattered across various parts of the world," Supergirl said, regaining everyone's attention. "But….," and her voice lingered as she considered saying it…but eventually did: "Th-There's a very good reason why we might find more than usual in terms of amounts of Kryptonite here in Kansas."

"And what reason my that be?" Starfire asked, her hands clasped together.

Supergirl rubbed her chin. She caught the eyesight of Raven….hesitated…and then said: "I-I'll tell you later! Now…where can this sort of stuff lead us?"

"We can use the T-Car to do a scan for traces of ionized crystal runoffs," Cyborg said. "That might tell us where more of these guns are."

"And more of the gun-toters!" Beast Boy palmed his fist.

I smirked…sighed…and returned to my blade. I tried not to look at Supergirl. I tried…..

"Well…sounds like a plan to me!" Supergirl smirked. "Leave it to boys—tried and true—to have a titanium car and a super computer all rolled into one."

Cyborg hopped into the driver's seat and typed away at the dashboard. He smirked. "Don't you know it…"

"Wait a second….," Raven suddenly said.

Half of us looked over at her.

"What is this 'plan' all of the sudden?"

"We cannot allow these dangerous criminals to escape with the Kryptonite in their possession…," Starfire said.

"Whatever Intergang is after…," Robin spoke, "…it can't be a good thing. With their technology and path of destruction, they tend to move fast and are merciless to anyone in their way. If we are to find out what they're up to and conceivably stop them, then the time for action is now."

"You can learn a thing or two listening to him," Supergirl grinned.

"And we are doing this as a team, right?" Raven asked. A beat. "A team of six?!"

Supergirl pouted.

I watched…curious.

Robin glanced at the Girl of Steel. A beat. "Well…her interests in a matter involving Kryptonite are as serious if not more so than ours. I don't see why it can't be a team of seven."

"Yeah…you never know!" Cyborg exclaimed, typing a flurry with his hands. A compartment in the flank of the T-Car's hood opened up and a spinning radar dish of sorts rose up and started to twirl at the sky. "We could need her help! What's better than two supergirls on our team?? Two supergirls and a Supergirl with a capital 'S'!"

"Dude…you could do better than that," Beast Boy muttered.

Supergirl blushed and held her hands behind her back. "I-I don't know what to say. Well I do, but I don't know how to say it."

"Oh please!" Starfire rushed over, her hands clasped together and her eyes bright and cheerful and green. "Please say you will join us on our trip! It would be most glorious and honorable to track down fiends in your presence!"

Supergirl couldn't help it. She smiled. "Well, when you put it that way. Allright."

Starfire beamed. "Oh euphoric felicitations omega!!" and she proceeded to give Supergirl a hug that could bend steel. "I am most elated to share this sudden and spontaneous quest with another of intergalactic ilk!"

Beast Boy sweatdropped.

Supergirl suddenly wished she could sweat. Somewhere there was an ounce of breath that came loose and allowed her to pronounce: "Y-Yes…it's quite fortunate that w-we fantastically met each other from thousands of light years apart for you to happily suffocate me!"

Stafire blushed. "Eeep!" She jumped back and held her hands together, biting her lip. "M-My voluminous apologies! Robin keeps telling me I must stop doing that."

"Robin values the life of innocent people," Supergirl wheezed. She looked in the direction of the Boy Wonder. "So…am I hired for the weekend?"

"Consider yourself along for the ride," Robin smirked.

"Woohoo!" Beast Boy jumped, cheering. "The more the merrier, dude!"

"Merriment indeed!" Starfire giggled.

Raven was silent. Either she was in thought or she was turning to stone.

I gave up on Myrkblade. I sheathed it in the scabbard over my shoulder and walked over towards Cyborg in the T-Car right as--

"Got some results for y'all!" he exclaimed.

Everyone flocked over around the T-Car. Raven included.

"Here…," Cyborg pointed at an unnecessarily tiny computer screen on the dashboard displaying a black and green schematic of the local geography. Red flares of light showed up in a path traveling westward.

"Okay…," Beast Boy blinked. "Got something besides an Apple IIE to instruct us with?"

Cyborg glared before explaining the imagery: "This is data of the runoffs being detected by my sensor sweep as I speak. The electromagnetic frequencies being released in conjunction with three modes of benign radiation signatures causes a five fold result on the---"

"Save the explanation," Raven droned.

"Whoever the punks were who had lasers here—Intergang or not—are presently heading westward at the moment. There's a possibility that they may have turned north or something recently, but it won't be until about fifteen minutes from now until I can learn any significant change in their directions with the scanning system."

"They're moving in a group then?" Robin asked from a distance. "That is…the traces of the laser rifles aren't being detected in separate directions?"

Everyone looked over. The Boy Wonder was fifteen feet away.

"Shy, Robin?" Beast Boy asked, eyebrow raised.

Robin nodded towards Supergirl. "I can't get too close to her."

Supergirl made a face. "Why not?"

Robin pointed at his utility belt…at the satchel containing the Kryptonite shard. "Don't wanna make you sick now, do we?"

"Y-Yeah…," Cyborg rubbed the human part of his head and looked at Supergirl. "This is gonna be a tough chase if they got that stuff—"

Right then, Supergirl drifted over to Robin's side, opened his utility belt in a flash, and palmed the Kryptonite shard casually.

Starfire gasped. Beast Boy winced. Raven stared.

"It's so tiny and cute!" Supergirl mused with a grin, tossing the shard up and down in her grasp. Totally unaffected. She darted her blue eyes down at Robin. "Now what were you saying?"

Robin's jaw hung open. He stammered: "Y-You're not hurt by that at all?"

"What? Something THIS small?" she held it between two fingers for her and everyone to see. "Pfft! It'd need to be a heck of a lot bigger for me to be so much as dizzy!" She tossed it at the Boy Wonder, who frantically caught it.

"So…..um….why's it called 'Kryptonite' if it has no affect on a Kryptonian?" Beast Boy scratched his head.

"Duh…cuz I'm not Kryptonian, silly!" Supergirl placed her hands on her hips and smirked. "I'm Argosian! Related to Kryptonians by a few centuries…but still different enough to show it. We weren't so awfully affected the Kryptonian Sun as Superman's people were. So when I got to Earth, there wasn't much to get used to. I can speed past bullets, outrun locomotives, leap over buildings and what have you…but my strength is roughly half that of the Blueboy. The tradeoff? I can play marbles with bits and pieces of Kryptonite whereas Superman's suffering a seizure. Hehehe! Life's funny, ain't it?"

I watched her closely the entire time she said this. And I studied her…and found what seemed like a well of pride. It was fascinating…

Raven walked into view. "These men…they had Kryptonite…was it enough to hold you at bay?"

Supergirl sighed. "Yeah. It was like a softball. That's too big in my book. I wouldn't have died, that's for sure. But I'd be on less than equal terms with the leader of the group. Especially considering how strong he was….er….is…."

Raven nodded. "That's something we'll have to consider if you're to be a part of this investigation."

"What? That the leader's a heavyweight?"

"That too. But chiefly because they have a lot of Kryptonite. It would be best if we took the first line of offense in confronting Intergang."

"It would be best if we figured out where the hell they are!" Robin exclaimed. He walked over and leaned on the T-Car. "As I asked earlier. Are our enemies all together?"

Cyborg nodded. "Heading westward. And—get this—they're sticking to the railroad."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "They're on a train?"

"No…it looks like they've got transportation on the roads parallel to the tracks. But they're following the railroad, that's for certain."

"It would seem like they are attempting to meet someone?" Starfire remarked.

Cyborg nodded. "And if we don't hurry…whatever secret—green glowing or not—that they have will be gone in a flash."

"Then what are we waiting around here for?!" Supergirl palmed her fist. "Let's go kick some ass!"

"Yeah!!" Beast Boy giggled. "I like your spirit!"

"I like my spirit too!"

"Ahem….," Raven cleared her throat.

Supergirl sighed and rolled her eyes. "Now what?"

"They must know that we're onto them," the dark girl droned. "I understand the importance of making haste. But as long as Cyborg's scans aren't accurate to the exact second, we must keep a safe distance. And that means we have to…t-to act as a whole. And since you're new to the team…"

"I'll be calling the shots," Robin nodded. "I know that probably sucks for a solo hero such as yourself, Supergirl, but—"

"Hey! It's cool!" Supergirl smiled. "I get to fight with the Teen Titans! I'm not complaining!"

"Glad you understand."

"Oh…and call me Kara if you like," she winked and pointed. "Supergirl is nice in writing…but in the heat of battle, I'm sure it feels long-winded."

"…..," Robin stared from under his eyemask. "I'd rather not."

"Pfft!! Straight-lace!"

"I'll call you Kara!" Beast Boy smirked. "Heck, I'll call you anything and everything until your slap me!"

"And I shall address you as Kara if you so desire!" Starfire bubbily exclaimed. "Hehehe! Imagine the irony! We are both gifted with a real first name starting with 'K'!"

Starfire blinked. "Uhhhhh….yeah."

"First order of business," Robin went on. He looked at Cyborg. "Can you run that scan while we're en route to chasing Intergang down?"

"No problem," Cyborg nodded. "But someone else's eyes better be on it, cuz I'll be focusing on the road."

"We all can't fit inside the T-Car…," Raven said.

"Hey, I'll fly!" Supergirl smiled. "It's not like me to intrude upon your guys' wheels!"

"Awwwww," Starfire cooed. "Then you would be alone! I know! I shall travail upon joining you in the air!"

"Y-Yeah! We'll be like the alien chicks of the sky!"

"Yes! Extraterrestrial poultry indeed!"

"Ehhh….heheheheh…"

Robin smirked at the two. He glanced at Cyborg. He motioned towards Supergirl.

"Huh? Oh…right on, Robin." Cyborg popped open a compartment in his arm, produced an extra Titans' communicator, handed it to Robin, who tossed it to Supergirl.

The Girl of Steel awkwardly caught it. "Whoah….," she looked it over in her grasp.

"You'll need that," Robin said. "It's very simple to use. But for not…just keep an ear ready for our next course of action. At the time being…westward ho!"

I shuddered.

Robin jumped into the front passenger's seat of the T-Car as Cyborg started the engine.

"Wooohoo!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "And to think I saw this vacationing hitting a new low in Kansas!"

"Yeah…," Cyborg chuckled. "Let's punch our way to the Land of Oz!"

"Dude! What's wrong with you today?! You been loading up on the wrong machine oil?!"

"I gave that up a year ago, little man! Hop in everybody!"

Beast Boy practically swan-dived into the back.

Raven and I were…..much slower in our 'loading in'. There seemed something on Raven's mind that made the hood of her robe droop mysteriously over her fair crown.

And I…..

I looked over at Starfire and Supergirl. The two aliens.

"Come, new friend!" the Tamaranian beamed. "The humid air awaits us!!" She soared upwards.

Supergirl stood on the ground, looking up. She took off slowly—paused in mid-air—and looked down at me.

I bit my lip.

She smiled…winked…and blurred upwards after Starfire with her cape billowing.

I gulped.

I looked to the side.

Beast Boy had a devilish look on his face. "Need a new pair of pants yet, Nooby?"

I frowned and was about to gesture something in response when Cyborg hit the gas and I was throttled back into my seat.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!!

-T-T-T-T-T-T-

Twenty minutes into it…

"Any idea where this is taking us?" Cyborg exclaimed.

Robin looked at the computer screen on the dashboard for the both of them. His hair blew in the wind of the convertible T-Car. "I have my theories. They haven't let up on following the railroad tracks. There're two possible places they might have an interest in. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess."

We blurred out of Kansas City, into the countryside, and parallel about half a mile away from the distant railroad tracks.

"Well as soon as you know…try and fill us in, okay?" Cyborg remarked. "Cuz if we have to outrun those punks, my baby can do it!"

"Hang on a sec…," Robin flipped open his communicator with a Star Trek sound and spoke into it: "Starfire. Come in. How're you two fairing?"

I glanced up at two specks flying over us. A white speck and a green speck.

Starfire's voice crackled forth: "You would not believe this! She is faster than I am! Glorious!!"

"Uh….yeah….how're you two doing beyond that, Star?"

"We are following you along diligently! How close are we to the fiends in flight?"

"About a mile at constant…," Cyborg said.

"About a mile!" Robin exclaimed into the communicator. "As soon as I have a good guess, we'll try and outrun them to the destination!"

"And what destination would that be?" Starfire's voice asked. "Supergirl thinks that a train station of sorts may be the key here!"

"We're sorta on the same page, Star," Robin nodded. "I'll keep you informed."

"Hehehe! Okay!" her voice said. And then, aside: "Kara! I can traverse the wind currents upside down! Can you—"

Robin cut the communicator off.

"Sounds like they're having fun," Cyborg smirked.

"All fine and good," Robin smiled. He kept a trained eye on the computer monitor. "Can't let a bunch of hi-tech crooks steel the joy of vacation away."

"Man….you sound like a different person."

"Don't try to wake me yet."

"I won't, man. I won't."

There was a chuckling sound to the side.

Lethargically, I glanced over at Beast Boy. He had been suppressing a chuckle for the last ten minutes of travel or so. He finally broke and smiled at me. "Dude….you so should have seen the look on your face!"

I rolled my black eyes under my shades.

"Seriously!! You totally got saved by Supergirl, man!! THE Supergirl!!"

I folded my arms and looked away. My cheeks felt red.

"HA!! He's blushing again!! Gawd, Noir! You're like a transparent book cover!! Hehehehehe!!"

I covered my face and sighed. But—so it would seem—even the fingers of my right hand were blushing through.

Cyborg chuckled from the front.

I kicked the back of his seat.

"Hey!! Be cool, man! Be cool!"

"You seriously didn't realize it was Supergirl when you first met her??" Robin asked from the front seat.

I blinked at him.

I gestured to the rear view mirror.

Cyborg said: "Apparently 'Kara' was in disguise. Guess we can't blame him."

"Was she sexier in disguise?" Beast Boy leaned in.

I would have shoved him away…but doing so in my position would have meant elbowing Raven.

In speaking of the dark girl, she had been silent the whole time. At least up till then.

I looked at her…but she was scowling at Beast Boy.

"Give Noir a break…," she uttered. "He had his hands full of gunmen with laser rifles, not to mention his shades were shattered and he was positively blinded when she dropped in."

I swallowed.

Beast Boy looked at her blankly. "Yeah….well…..he still could have been kissed by his fantastical sweetheart!! Ha ha ha ha!!"

Raven sighed and shook her head in exasperation. "So immature…I swear…."

"Dude…you haven't called me immature in months!! It feels like the old Raven's back!"

"Hardly," she droned. "If you want the 'old me', you can have it in how I feel and not what I say…"

"Then what is it that you feel, Miss Gruesome?"

"She's way too cheerful to be chasing after Kryptonite…not to mention she wasn't willing to tell us about the Kryptonite to begin with…," Raven stared off into space with her arms folded as she spoke. "I can't help but think that she's hiding something."

"Oh, COME ON!!!" Beast Boy moaned. "When are we EVER gonna have a friend that you're not gonna be suspicious of?"

"You gotta admit," Robin said from the front. "It never hurts to question."

"Yeah, but it hurts to assume!" Beast Boy pointed a finger at the girl. "When Speedy joined us for that short time…how come you weren't so questioning about him?"

"He'd served with Robin before…."

"No, you mean he fought Robin before! Master of Games, remember?! They were butting heads, not joining hands! And here comes Supergirl who hasn't raised a finger to spar with any of us in the past and you're all over her like…like….I-I dunno, bloodthirsty termites!!"

"Heheheh! Good one!" Cyborg smirked from the front.

Beast Boy smiled a crescent moon and laid it thick: "And it was the same thing with Terra! She was a girl hero and you doubted her!"

"I had good reason to in the end—"

"That's not the point. How come you're always so….I dunno….female doggish about newcoming female superheroes?"

"Because….," Raven began. She faltered. She barely glanced over at me. "……b-because I am!"

Silence.

Beast Boy blinked. "Huh….funny. That's probably the most intelligent thing I've heard you say."

Raven huffed. "Whatever."

Beast Boy chuckled for some odd reason.

And for an even wyrder reason, I wanted to as well…

"Ah HA!!" Robin cackled from the front seat. He leaned in towards the monitor. "I know where they're headed now!"

"Care to share your love, Robin?" said Cyborg.

"Better yet…I'll share it with everyone!" Robin quipped…stalled at the words coming out of his mouth…shook himself out of it…and lifted his communicator again. "Star. Supergirl. You listening?"

"Affirmative!"

"Yup!"

"I think I know where they're headed. There's a roundhouse west of here. In an industrial section. It's where many of the major industrial railroad tracks converge. They house a bunch of train cars there before sending them cross country to the coasts. Undoubtedly, Intergang is trying to meet someone there."

"Kinda out in the open, don'tcha think?" said Supergirl's voice.

"I've read up on this station before. A couple of the roundhouses are old and abandoned. It's easy to get lost in the immense place."

"Shall we high-tail it there, then??"

"You and Starfire go on ahead. We could use some good reconnaissance. But mind your altitude. We don't want you being caught."

"We shall accomplish this verily, Robin! Come, Kara!!"

"Hehehe…Yes, Missus Kori!!"

Robin shrugged and cut the communicator off. He looked at Cyborg. "Think we can cut ahead of the Intergang caravan?"

Cyborg smirked and pressed a button on the dashboard. "I thought you'd never ask."

With a whurr, the top folded down and braced itself with metal framework over the T-Car.

"And still avoid their sights?"

"We'll take it as it comes." Cyborg's hand then rested over the button for the nitro.

Beast Boy grinned. "Oh yeah!! Time for some tire burning!!" He doubly buckled up.

I nervously scrunched myself in and prepared for the ride of my life.

"How I do hate this part…," Raven muttered.

I looked at her.

She looked back at me. "What have you got left of this day to complain about?"

I wanted to hand-sign something in response to that…but suddenly I felt my stomach being pressed into my spinal column.

PHOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-YAAAAAA!!!!!"

Robin and Beast Boy likewise cheered as I hid inside the cushion of my seat and did my meager best to not throw up. And I couldn't decide whether it was the impact of G-Force or immortal butterflies in my stomach that were taunting me to do so…

It was a good thing I hadn't stocked up on Dr. Pepper that day.

My black eyes clamped shut as we rocketed down the road and kicked up dirt devils behind us in the late afternoon shine.