A stand up paddle is a type of paddle used in stand up paddle surfing. The stand up paddle is used to propel an individual across the surface of the water while standing on a surfboard. The paddle consists of a blade, shaft and handle.

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Viper stood strong against the bitter winds of Steel City Harbor in her orange wetsuit. Her short, choppy black hair danced on top of her head and her green eyes had a bright gleam of determination. She was barefoot, her size eight tan feet contrasting on a green and white paddle board. In her long fingered hands was a black handle to a paddle. The blade was the same green as the board and had a classic silver snake forming an "S" on it.

The tide was pretty calm. It looked a bit like glass.

"You know, you should really wear something on your feet. They'll get frostbite," a calm voice replied.

Viper looked up. A black haired teen around her age sat on a ledge in the middle of the nearby cliff. His eyes were black, but you could tell where he was looking by two small white dots. He wore a streamlined black and blue uni-tard.

Viper shrugged, "Health doesn't seem to be my biggest problem right now. Besides, now-a-days I could have my feet replaced with metal robotic ones."

"Touché…I'm Aqualad," the teen replied.

Viper nodded, "I know…I've seen you and your Titans East friends around. I'm Julia Doe."

Jane Doe was an old alias of my mother so changing the first name created the perfect name for me. I had a friend named Julia back when I used to go to school in Animalia. We used to joke around about being jealous of each other's names…Julia wanted an exotic name while I just wanted to fit in better. The kids at the school always made fun of me because my eyes weren't the same color as my hair, something that branded the popular kids at the school.

"Are you a fan?" Aqualad asked, seemingly curious. Viper knew better by the look in his eyes – the look of sheer panic.

Why would a super be afraid of fans? I thought that some supers did what they did for the fame...the glory…the recognition that they were depraved of as a child.

Viper nodded, "A bit, but not the crazy kind that you're used to. I'm part of the six percent that is just grateful to what you guys do."

…I'm not sure if I'm lying or telling the truth anymore. It's all blurred in my mind…

Aqualad sighed in relief, "Oh…okay. So what brings you to Iron Cliffs?"

"Just relaxing. Needed a break from the city and sadly, this city does not have a park I could chill in. So I come out here," Viper replied, "No cars honking, no people shouting at each other, just the waves crashing against the rock and the seagulls. Why's a big shot hero like you out here?"

"Same as you. I needed to get away from my teammates. Speedy was eating my friends again, Más and Menos were singing something Spanish that sounded suspiciously like 'It's a Small World', and Bumblebee was playing the texting game with Cyborg," Aqualad replied.

Viper sat down on her board, using her feet to keep her still in the water, "The what game? And how was Speedy eating your friends?"

"Some game where you text back and forth with different jokes. Bumblebee was seriously starting to grind on my nerves with her giggling," Aqualad answered, "And I come from the ocean. Those fish in those tacos could have been friends of mine."

Viper smiled, "I know what you mean. My friends get on my nerves too. They sometimes do it on purpose."

"Exactly! Speedy sometimes just gets fish tacos just to annoy me! Or he makes us all tuna sandwiches and claims they're chicken!" Aqualad ranted.

Viper giggled, "He sure sounds like he wants to be noticed."

"That's Speedy alright. He's a bit of a wanna be playboy too, so watch out," Aqualad warned.

Viper smirked, "Oh…don't worry. I've dealt with his kind my entire life. I could bring him back to our level lickety split. He doesn't stand a chance against me."

"Eh, still, I'd be careful," Aqualad replied.

Viper shrugged, still smirking, "Speedy's the one who needs to be careful. He has more of the crazy fans than you and they've been concocting a scheme to get into the tower to steal some…very private things of his."

Aqualad chuckled, "Oh really?"

"Mmhmm…they try to get me to spy on you guys," Viper replied.

Aqualad raised an eyebrow, "How? You can barely see the tower from the rocks."

"It's more of that they're making fun of me. See, normally I'm really quiet so I tend to scare people," Viper replied.

Aqualad asked, "Then why are you so chatty to me?"

"Because according to what I hear, you're the nice guy of your team. It's not in your nature to use information to make fun of people," Viper replied, "Now, sorry to cut this short, but I gotta go. I've got to pick up my little sister from her gymnastics class."

Viper waved and started to paddle back towards shore.

Aqualad called after her, "Bye. Maybe I'll see you later."

Oh, you will. Just not the way you think…and probably some of that too.

Viper replied, "Probably. See ya."

Aqualad smiled and helped her a bit by making the current push her a little. He went inside to see Speedy fuming on the couch.

"What crawled up your tights and died?" Aqualad asked, sitting down.

Speedy growled, "You…just talked to the girl who I've been wanting to talk to for weeks!"

"So? All we did was talk about how friends sometimes annoy us on purpose. Not like we scheduled a date or anything," Aqualad replied, rolling his eyes.

Speedy exclaimed, "You…you just don't get it, do you? I've been trying to work up the nerve to even talk to her and you just strolled up and talked to her, no problem! I don't even know her name!"

"Well you do now. Her name is Julia Doe, she doesn't seem like a city girl because she comes out here to get away from all the noise pollution, she's made fun of because she's quiet, and she has a little sister who does gymnastics. Happy?" Aqualad replied.

Speedy blinked, "…kinda."

Aqualad sighed and got up.

"Oh yeah, get new locks. Julia said that you have some crazy fan girls planning something," Aqualad replied as he left the room.

He could have sworn he heard Speedy cuss and mutter, "Not again…they took my boxers last time."