Rumble on Floor Twelve

With her feet barely touching the dusty floor, Starfire glided backwards, luring her opponent away from the amassed group of hostages. Pantha followed after her, throwing jabs to test the Tamaranean's defenses. This also gave the orange Titan the chance to gauge the speed and strength of these attacks.

Taking a measurement of one's enemy through the basic maneuverings of attacking was a common way to judge how to counteract and achieve victory. Starfire would be using this fight and many others to build on this skill, one she would need in the far future.

There was decent speed to the jabs, but it was clear they were probing so the full might the masked female human possessed had yet to be used. However, this was not their first encounter and memory informed her that Pantha was another possessor of strength. Grappling was the preferred method of combat, so this would inevitably conclude in close quarters combat.

First, and currently being accomplished, was to draw Pantha away. When there was enough distance and space to move, then Starfire could commence with her own offensive. Raven and Terra would need as wide a wall-set opening to view the world on the other side as Starfire could afford them. She would provide this at the very least.

The withdrawal brought the two of them to a portion of the incomplete building where a wall was lacking. Construction materials were placed on the floor, stacked on one another in anticipation of being used in the near future. There was an absence of tools, so the current objective was creating an area for future work to begin. This meant there was more than enough space to engage in Pantha in this contest of might.

Starfire's stance changed from one of avoidance and evasion to one that allowed engagement through the use of blocks and parries. As a probing jab swung at her, the Tamaranean redirected it away with a swat and did so again with another jab. As if sensing there was a change, Pantha pulled back and regarded her.

The masked human's lips pulled back in a gesture of anticipation, and then the full attack began. A powerful punch was thrown at Starfire's face, a leaning of her neck and a swipe of her hand against a muscled arm pushed the blow harmlessly to the Tamaranean's left. Behind the head with orange hair, Pantha's fist uncurled and the hand swung back and latched onto the back of Starfire's head. With her other hand, Pantha lashed out and only for Starfire to catch it, two opposing palms pressed against one another.

Muscles bulged slightly as the two female tested their strength against one another. Starfire sought to snake her remaining arm around the opposing one that was grasping the back of her head, yet in that moment Pantha pulled and threw her masked face forward, striking head against head.

A momentary daze seized control, she was unaware of everything for the fraction of a second, and that fraction was all that was needed for Pantha to throw her into a steel beam that rose out of the floor and up to the open skeleton of the building above. Starfire's body collapsed to the floor, and the pain was enough to pull her out of the daze. Blinking her eyes, she used the beam to pull herself back onto her feet, then gave a shove to it right before Pantha's fist impacted it.

The metal warped slightly under the masked female's might; there was no holding back anymore. Starfire copied Pantha's earlier maneuver and latched her hand behind the masked head. The only difference was that she pulled and slammed her opponent's face into the metal beam, preferring not to clash skull against skull again.

The fingers and thumb of her left hand curled, and Starfire rammed her palm into Pantha's torso, throwing the masked female back into a stack of bags. A few of the bags broke open and spilled their contents out, a small cloud of dust and particles billowing out. Pantha did not remain idle for long, rolling over herself and the bag to regain her footing.

With a leap, the opposing human jumped high into the air, swinging a foot down in a maneuver that humans termed as an ax kick. Starfire evaded, Pantha's heel slamming onto the floor and slightly cratering it, a webbing of cracks spreading out in all directions. The Tamaranean swung her leg, aiming for her opponent's upper body. Pantha pulled her torso back and slipped under the swinging high kick, pushed her arms back to throw herself up onto her feet once more while following that up with another punch.

She pulled back slightly, the punch nearly grazing the tip of her nose, then she grasped the swinging arm and pulled it to her right, overextending the attacking limb. Starfire swung a fist of her own in an uppercut, landing a hit into Pantha's stomach region and picking the mask-wearing female off the floor.

Another spin of her body and this time the Tamaranean's high kick landed, swiping against Pantha and throwing the masked female across the floor. Her opponent's body hit the floor and rolled against it until the momentum was stopped by the placement of another steel-based beam. Starfire could have pressed her advantage, but she chose not to. She would conserve energy and wait for her enemy to expend hers with standing back up, closing the distance between them, and wasting the strength of the next attack.

This was the plan she had decided on, but it was a plan that she would not be able to put into action. She experienced a level of alertness that had her looking up and then blocking another large fist that came from above.

This fist belonged to a creature, one with a brown-orange hued skin, a massive, muscular body, and a head that seemed to blossom out of the thick neck rather than place atop it like the majority of bipedal species. Twin elongated feet swung down and struck the Tamaranean in her torso, and now she was the individual thrown back, her booted feet skidding against the floor.

The power of flight was utilized to prevent a fall, and Starfire peered through cracked open eyelids to regard this new development. She did not have long as this creature went on the offensive, displaying a higher level of skill that Pantha had not yet shown to be capable of. The punches were more controlled and did not move as wildly. Knees were used for jabs which was an interesting experience. When she retaliated, the creature was blocking and parrying as well.

The tail wrapping around her ankle was a new experience and it destabilized her balance as her leg was forced out of stance. One of the large fists slammed into the side of her face then, whipped her head to her left, a follow up blow landed into her chest, directly into her breasts which sent spasms of pain throughout…everything, then the tail pulled and whipped her bodily towards a nearby beam.

Starfire forced enough of her consciousness out of the pain and threw her hands up—or in her perception of what was up—and stopped her trajectory as she clasped onto the beam. Her arms bent and it took a great deal of strength to resist the speed that she was been thrown with, but she prevented her head from impacting metal, so this was considered a small victory. Now using the vertical mean was leverage, she swung her captive leg and pulled on the creature's tail. Catching this creature off guard, it was pulled only until it released her ankle and only a short distance was achieved with separating the two of them.

In a scramble, Starfire regained her footing and quietly regarded this new opponent. Not very pleasing to the eye, she admitted, there was intelligence in those eyes. It was watching her, studying her, and whether offensive or defensive, this seemed like it would be a challenge to continue fighting.

To continue she must, though. Raven and Terra—

Were they under attack too? First Pantha and this creature and she knew that these two never appeared without reinforcement. Were the hostages bait? Disposable once their purpose had been served? Her teammates would then have to fight their foes and protect the innocent humans; would they not need her aid?

"She is mine, Ridge!" Pantha bellowed, newly returned to her feet and glaring at the creature. Did this mean that the creature's name was Ridge? "I will defeat her; you will not interfere!"

"We have our orders," the Ridge creature spoke, and that was an accent. A funny accent. It was a disarming accent too as Starfire had not anticipated the creature to speak, and to do so with such a funny sound. "Get over yourself, it's obvious the alien's the better fighter. No holding back, we need to kill her. Your vendetta is not going to interfere with this."

The information being revealed was concerning, however it also created an opening. Not wanting to enter close-quarter combat with this Ridge and risk a two-on-one fight should Pantha choose to resume fighting, Starfire summoned her life energy and began firing Starbolt after Starbolt.

The green projectiles caught her opponents' attention and the two were running to evade. Keep them disoriented, try to keep them separate, and maybe she might be able to gain a victory here.

It would have to be quick; who knew what was happening with her friends.


Starfire was occupying the attention of their masked attacker. This meant that between the two of them, Terra and herself could devote their time and energy into saving the construction workers. There was a large group of them, a quick and inaccurate headcount had the numbers in the thirties. Hmm, teleporting that many, and with recent events in mind, that might be a problem.

There were two of them here, and that meant options.

"Terra, get us something solid so we can lower these people to the ground," she said to the thin geokinetic. "I will keep watch in case we aren't alone."

Terra gave her a curious look. "Why not teleport them like you did with the T-car?"

"That many? Even if I were in prime conditioning, that would be asking much. Two or three at a time would be easier, but that would be taxing from how many times I would have to do it. It'll be easier if you could bring up a platform and lower them to the ground first. I doubt there's another one waiting down there for us," Raven explained.

At her own words, she did a scan of the immediate area. She could sense the other Titans, the minds of the construction workers, and even law enforcement down below. She knew Ravager was here, and yet she was not sensing him. The same for the masked attacker Starfire was dealing with. Someone else was here and actively working to hide anyone else from her. A psychic perhaps or someone with knowledge of the mystical arts.

They could be attacked at any time.

"We need to work quickly," Raven insisted. "You act, I'll watch."

Whether Terra began to act or not, Raven would not know. Raven certainly did know she herself was watching and she was doing so as a loud sound reminiscent of a trumpet blared. There was a warping of reality and the construction workers began sinking down.

The empath's eyes widened. The workers began to cry out, yelling and screaming and Raven knew she needed to act now. There was no time to question the efficacy of her powers and so she began to chant, "Aza…"

But it was too late and her words died in her mouth. The sinking men all disappeared, leaving the portal they had sunk through all the evidence that they had once been there. Ringed with white, deep blue pulsed within, then began to shrink. It happened so fast, and before any further action could be taken, it had closed.

Raven allowed herself to stare at the pristine…not so pristine area in which a group of over thirty men had once been held. Then she whipped her head up and searched for—over there.

He stood with a cloak and hood ensemble not unlike her own with the sole exception of its blue coloring. Then there was the blue tunic with the symbol of a trumpet placed on it, dark blue around arms and legs, and the headpiece that covered the upper portion of the face. Lastly, in hand was a trumpet, and there it remained.

"What did you do to them?" she demanded. Deep within, she felt an ember ignite and that was just another problem that could not be allowed to grow.

"Down on the ground," the hooded male answered. "There's no point in killing them. Just getting them out of the way. They're perfectly safe, and once they figure that out, they'll be running for safety."

"You're too nice of a guy. You'd have to be blind not to see it!" By the countless hells, was that a pun? Irritably, she eyed the latest annoyance in her life, and would a teen in white with—that was an eye symbol on the chest. And the helmet…she may not have style herself, but her standards were much better than that. It was one of the ambushers from Highland Mall, and one of the three who had been liberated from the Jump City Police Department soon after.

Raven turned her head slightly, keeping the hooded male in vision while regarding the eye-themed annoyance. This was perfect, wasn't it. Why couldn't this one be less chatty?

"I don't need to be psychic to see your future! You're going down, Titans!"

She did not have time for this.

"Terra!" she said sharply, her arms shooting out from underneath her cloak and her eyes ablaze with black, demonic power. All around, tools, building materials, anything that her will could lift now hovered in the air and with but a thought she was throwing them at Herald. Behind her, Terra leapt off the rock she had used to fly up here and broke it into pieces, using them as projectiles against the other one who would not be named.

An eye-shaped construct appeared out of thin air and slammed into Terra's attack, both defending the pun-making menace and striking out at the geokinetic with a very large and blunt attack. Meanwhile, Herald blew into his trumpet and formed a portal in front of himself where all the objects Raven had levitated were then swallowed into.

As the newest portal closed, Herald aimed his trumpet upwards and blew once more. Over the empath, another portal opened and from within spew forth the same objects that she had only just thrown at him. Raven quickly formed a shield over her and endured the barrage as all sorts of things rained down on her.

Just as the portal above closed, she found herself tackled and the unwelcoming floor slammed into her side. Herald pinned her down then rolled her onto her front only to pull her back up where an arm slipped around her throat. Pressure was exerted as she realized she was in a chokehold. He was trying to take her out as quickly as possible, which wasn't a bad strategy.

But she was far from helpless. A twitch from her hand had a hammer become engulfed in her power and a bending of her wrist had it flying into the side of Herald's hooded head, getting a cry of pain from him and loosening the arm around her neck. Clasping onto the limb, she pushed forward, then bent her back, trying to slip her head down and under. She was successful, and without hesitation she allowed her palm to radiate demonic energy akin to Starfire's Starbolts.

She swung her arm around, twisting her torso and blasted Herald away from her, gaining the empath much needed room. Getting onto her feet, she raised one hand to her throat while warily regarding Herald who was doing much the same only with a hand pressed to his chest.

Raven had intentionally held back there; no need to use too much otherwise it would have been much messier.

"You're not going to make this easy, are you?" Herald quipped more than asked.

This time levitating several workbenches, she allowed her next attack to be her answer.


As fast as that blade was, Beast Boy's shapeshifting was much faster and the green teen practically vanished as a result. The guy in the green coat ended up slashing Ravager's back and the asshole cried out before throwing a well-aimed elbow at his rescuer.

"The fuck you're doing?!" Ravager roared.

Holding his nose, the new prick snapped back, "Saving your hide—"

Abruptly, the new guy was thrown up and over a green ram who had hooked his legs with its horns and then tossed him over head. Spinning around on green hooves, the ram changed, shifting into a snarling gorilla to really dish out some pain.

"I'll take care of the other crashers. You get the big bad," Kid Flash told her as he raced off. The yellow blur he became zigzagged about and the bee-themed girl vanished along with him.

It was just her and Ravager now. Wonder Girl wasn't about to let up on her attack, and so that's what she pressed. Realizing that he wasn't in a place to treat his injury, Ravager was quick to go on the defensive. Every step he took was backwards and his arms were held up defensively, parrying any and all armored fists thrown his way.

Her world seemed to narrow and slow down, all of her attention on this bastard as a sense of calm seemed to wash over her. Each punch thrown was less of some brute force attack and more a testing of the guard, seeing how quick he was to defend and where he was slowing down.

Because he was slowing down. It was something she knew in the back of her head but could not explain why. Was it the armor whispering in her head again? Who cared right now? She moved on to testing jabs, aiming for ribs and clipping his arms, perhaps one of the more successful strikes so far.

Ravager always seemed to be improving, his speed increasing, his fighting getting better. The last time, at that sorry excuse of a rally, he had been the one in control or just quick enough to get it back if he lost it.

So when she switched from a jab to a slicing swing of a punch, she nearly grazed that smug face. He was still in the middle of leaning back when she reversed and swung her arm back. The back of her fist got him in the jaw, right side of his face, and his head was snapping to the left. Spit was spewing out of his mouth, lensed eyes squinting in pain, and Wonder Girl was quickly following up with a second hit, one that struck Ravager in the chest and breaking through his guard while she was at it.

Feet skidded against the floor and then Ravager ungracefully flung his arms out to try and hold onto his balance. Weird, but who was she to deny the invitation. Off she went, like a missile, an arm cocked back and a fist flying ahead of her.

Practically at the last second, Ravager regained his balance and quickly brought his hands up in time to catch the incoming punch. Against her strength, his failed and the backs of both his hands were ramming into his face, throwing him off his legs and onto his back.

To his credit, the guy rolled over himself and onto his feet, leaving some blood staining the floor where he had landed. He remained in a crouch, one leg bent under him and the other holding up his body while one hand was planted firmly on the floor. His shoulders rose and fell, up and down, and very noticeable.

Funny, she wasn't sure but he seemed a bit pale. Maybe from blood loss? She didn't think that knife Ravager's buddy sliced him with had gone that deep. Then again, she could be wrong about that.

Not wasting time with banter, because this prick didn't deserve any, she charged again, her world zeroing in on Ravager once more. This time, Ravager went on the attack, and Wonder Girl allowed him, finding it a bit easy to block and parry herself. Once, she would have said that Starfire's lessons were paying off, but after everything, she wondered if that was the case right now. Last time he had been delivering some sledgehammer hits and now her arms barely trembled.

And he was sweating. From the opening in his mask that bared the lower half of his face, she would see the beads of sweat escaping and running down the skin, the edges of the mask darkening from absorbing too much of it. It really stood out and she didn't understand why. Plus was he getting paler now?

Hard questions were for Red. Catching a fist, she overextended the reach of Ravager's arm and sent an uppercut into his gut, getting an oomph out of the guy and letting him drop to his knees. Without a care, she raised and swung a leg, one that batted the killer away and across the incomplete construction area. His body slammed through a workstation, sending the stuff resting on it all over the place.

He wasn't looking good now. Maybe he really was slowing down. Not her problem. No, her only problem was making sure he survived this so that he could answer any and all questions they had. That didn't mean she was going to go easy on him, not after everything.

You didn't need both of your legs in fine condition to answer some questions anyway.


Beast Boy was wincing. He was wincing hard. Why was that? Well, things had started all right, he had the newest bad guy on the block on the run and he had started swinging some powerful gorilla punches, as you do. Well, he hadn't been careful enough and all it took to remind him that while a gorilla fist was tough, steel was tougher.

Bastard tricked him into hitting one and now his poor hand was aching. Oh wait, now the bastard was out of sight and he had the scythe-like knife on him. Where did he…go…?

There was something to be a shapeshifter, especially one that could do it quickly. He could lose mass and weight faster than a supermodel between diets and that saved him from getting his back all hacked up.

As a hummingbird, he easily flitted through the air, finding that green trenchcoat and the yellow buckles under it. What was with the long, shaggy, brown hair? Was he trying to go for one of those brooding, edgy, trenchcoat mafia types? Because that was way overdone.

Whoa! Asshole spotted him, but hummingbirds had their moves and your favorite hero Beast Boy was using them. The amount of control these little birds had was amazing and there was some speed there. It made dodging so easy, you know?

But dodging wasn't gonna win this thing. So, up he went, high and above wannabe edgelord down there and from this height, he looked like a tempting target. Oh what the hell.

Remember that part about mass and weight? Well, now he was doing like everybody else once they got off their diets, though gaining the size and mass of a rhino might be overdoing that. Trenchcoat guy was looking up and it was a shame, the shapeshifter missed what his face looked like due to gravity doing its thing.

He landed on the floor, then he went through the floor, but before he went further, another shift and he was gliding across the floor below and using this to take cover and wait to see what would happen next. It was darker down here since the walls were mostly built so, you know, less light. This meant an owl was a nice choice and so that's what he became. Finding a perch, he watched and waited.

Through the hole, knife-happy guy dropped from above and what do you know, he had that knife out too. The dweeb was looking around, obviously looking for him, and Beast Boy thought about what to do next. Nothing too heavy; he didn't think this building was structurally sound enough for something too large, plus he didn't want to make too much of a mess and compromise the building. They didn't need to collapse it.

Oh, he knew! Something slick and with power. Can't beat one of the big cats. Giving a hop with his talons, the shapeshifter allowed himself to fall and landed softly on paws of the feline variety. A housecat, small and compact and if he had given off some noise, it would make it harder for this poser to come at him.

Seemed like he had been loud enough; that coat whirled about, the asshole was facing his direction but literally overlooking him. Beast Boy crouched his lithe, little cat body down, tensing his feline muscles to ready for a pounce. Then, trenchcoat mafia took a careful step forward in his direction. The shapeshifter kept still and was rewarded with a second step…

Instinct was controlling him here, and like nature's best predators, he waited patiently, patiently, patiently

Legs kicked up, mass increased, and a tiger lunged at the asshole. Asshole's eyes widened as hundreds of pounds of kickass tiger barreled in on him, and it was all the guy could do to try and twist out of the way. Beast Boy casually reached a paw out, claws extended, and sure enough they tore through fabric.

There was a cry of pain; claws had done more than sliced through clothing, they had found skin. It was all happening in a second, and then it was over, Beast Boy moving past the guy and skidding along the floor. With a natural twist of the body, he was spinning around so that he could face the poser, claws now digging into the floor.

Hot Topic loser there had a hand pressed to his side, blood staining the fabric of his clothing. Still, he held onto that scythe-like knife of his with a death grip. Maybe he should do something about that? His flicking tiger tail agreed with that question, and so he charged again, keeping himself from making a roar even though he so wanted to do so.

Those narrow eyes of the bushy haired stranger here spotted him, and the guy angled himself so that he himself could strike with that knife. Beast Boy trusted the instincts and reflexes of his current form and continued with his change. He lowered his head, ready to use his skull as a battering ram and he leapt with his hind legs. The world was slowing down for him, like it usually did when he was in a predator's body. Every second felt like it was an hour, each one measured with a heartbeat.

The whiskers detected the sharp edge of the blade, and his body responded in a way that cats were impossibly capable of. Like some kind of weird liquid, his tiger body curved under the knife as he swung, he was moving under it, and then his head made contact with asshole's torso.

Asshole was thrown off his feet and back, landing harshly on the floor and on that wound the shapeshifter had given him. One second later, the green tiger ran over him, not quite able to stop himself. Still, he was able to swipe a paw lazily and hit that knife out of the prick's hand, the weapon clattering away. Digging his paws into the floor again, he spun his body around so that he could face this guy again.

So far, things had been going his way. Nice. Now, time to end this so that he could get back and help the others. Who knew what else was going on? Best to end it fast.

Trenchcoat mafia rolled onto his front and slowly pushed himself onto his knees. He glared up at the tiger, one of his hands going to his injury. "You're tougher than you look."

Oh, oh now they were having some of that good ol' banter? "People don't think much about the animal kingdom until it's staring them in the face," he said. Oh man, that had been an awesome line!

The asshole gave a chuckle. It wasn't one of those funny ha ha kind of chuckles, more like a funny I have an idea kind of chuckle. "There's more to you than I thought. Well, guess I can say the same for me too."

"What, you're not some kind of knife expert fighter guy?" the shapeshifter challenged.

"I am that, but like you pointed it out, what's that to the animal kingdom? Especially when it has the brain of a man behind it? Well, you're not the only one that has a way with animals."

Okay, not liking where this was going. "You gonna change into one yourself now?" Ooh, now he had another line he could use! "Maybe that might make this interesting." You were the man, Beast Boy! Nice delivery there.

The poser shook his head. "Nothing like that. I do have a way with, well, them…"

It wasn't just the voice or how that sentence ended. His tiger body tensed up, but not for pouncing. He was sensing something, something that his tiger mind was aware of but his human one hadn't figured out yet. Hearing strained, nostrils flared…hmm, he was smelling something. Cats had stronger senses of smell and if he really exerted hearing…

Slowly, his head looked behind him. There was a lack of lighting on this floor, so while that might get in the way of a human, a cat, even a big cat, had better night vision, and he was picking movement in the shadows. Like the shadows were moving…!

No, not shadows! They were small! Really small! But when grouped up and moving together!

Crawling out of…nowhere, but not really, the swarm was coming for him. A swarm of freaking spiders!

"You might want to be careful," asshole remarked. "I have a knack for the poisonous ones."

Beast Boy wanted to retort and as he turned his head, eyeing asshole there from the corner of his feline eyes, he froze up as he saw more spiders were pouring out of that trenchcoat as well. Hadn't he just got out of a horror movie lately? He was not wanting to be the star of another creature feature thank you very much!

As the spiders advanced, he didn't have much of a choice, did he?


It was so easy to forget that not everyone could move faster than an eye could blink. As soon as he dropped off the little bee that had tripped up Wonder Girl, he got another reminder as she wobbled, one hand against her stomach and another on her mouth. Nausea and dizziness, so standard there.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Kid Flash apologized, rubbing the back of the head. "I swear, I'm gonna remember not to move people at supersonic speeds one day!"

"Su…?" Cheeks suddenly bulged out with eyes included.

"I'll give you a sec. I'll be right back," the speedster said, racing back to where Wonder Girl was already trying make Ravager friends with her fists. Coming from behind her was the girl with the wings, the one that had almost got her earlier. Wow those things were big.

Moving quicker than usual, he helpfully guided the wings in a more helpful direction, and by that it meant taking hold of the girl herself and turning just enough so when those wings clapped closed together, it was with one of the steel beams.

And it was crumpling from the strength used by those wings, ooh, was that a good thing, it couldn't have been a good thing, definitely not a good thing, but at least the wings were shrinking back now. The girl was turning her head to get an eyeful of him, but the time traveling superhero decided that a nice spin might help her out. So he did just that, spinning her around until she was starting to look green. Not as green as BB, but enough that she was looking sick and oh hey, speaking of sick, time to be getting back!

"Okay, I'm back!" he announced, now back at the side of the bee girl.

The bee girl was huffing, hands on her knees. "Good, saves me the trouble."

"Oh? How?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Looking for you so that I can smack you upside the head!"

It was like taking a few steps—and it really was—but that hand she was using to try and smack him only got air. "I don't know, smacking me upside the head doesn't sound like a good time."

"Oh, it'll be a good time. For me." Now she was glaring at him just like Raven did at BB right before she did something his green bean of a friend would regret.

"Kinda makes sense," he remarked, easily avoiding the several smacks while holding a hand to his chin.

"Will you stay still?!" bee girl snarled, changing from smacks to punches that had the same results as the former.

"I kinda have a problem doing that," Kid Flash admitted, practically blurring around the bee girl. Nothing was touching him, and nothing would unless some anti-speedster weapons had been made in this era, of which those were very primitive and hard to come by. The only other way was if he was having some bad luck like with Ravager—"Hold on a sec."

He left bee girl to check in on Wonder Girl and she was starting to own the guy. A shame, he would have liked to dish out some punishment of his own but he would settle for that guy to have his butt handed to him by a girl, a Wonder Girl in this case, but a girl nonetheless. That was somehow a big insult in this century. By the way, the wing girl looked like she was getting her bearings so it would be best for him to do something about that.

First, a detour, one that had him running all over the site, checking in on BB to see he had that guy who tried to 86 him—right term, right?—under control, picking up some things along the way, such as a bag of cement, a few other additions like acetone, had to go out for some hexane, heptane, and a dash of toluene, and a couple other tanes for good measure, quickly mixed them up, then returned to facing wing girl.

"Hey, you don't look like you're about to vomit up your guts! Good job!" he praised.

Wing girl shook her head then glared at him. On a scale of one to ten, about a three or a four there. "You have made an enemy for life."

"Why is that the only kind of enemy I make?" Kid Flash wondered.

The wing girl growled, her wings stretched out and grew in size. The speedster remained where he was standing, holding in his hands a large serving bowl he had…borrowed, couldn't remember where, but when you were mixing, you need something to mix it in and hold it, right? Right.

The ends of the wings were honing in on him, but it was so easy to slip away right before they slammed against one another. Then the speedster went to work, taking the mixture he had made and covering the ends of the wings with it. Ran a little up the wings with the mixture too and then stood off to the side, the bowl now on the floor next to him and Kid Flash looking quite pleased with himself.

"You think you're—what the? What did you—?" Some unladylike grunts followed. "My wings! What did you do to them?!"

Holding up a finger, Kid Flash explained cheerily, "Rubber cement! Extra rubbery! Made some real quick and ta da! I think that'll keep you busy for a while!"

The winged girl blinked at him. "You know how to make rubber cement?"

"I got bored one day." A nice ol' shrug of the shoulders. Giving her a salute, "I leave you to it. Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone, but don't worry, this handsome face will be back in a minute! Two tops!"

Now back to bee girl. "Did you miss me? Sorry, had to take care of one of your buddies. She's the one with wings that get big."

Bee girl was now blinking at him. "You're double teaming me with Angel?"

"Is that her name? Weird. Why would a supervillain call herself Angel? Oh, what's your name! I don't think I got it, you know, with you trying to attack my friends, then me. I can't just keep calling you bee girl in my head, you know?"

Suspiciously, she surprisingly answered, "Bumblebee." No wait, her tone of voice was full of suspicion. That made more sense.

"Bumblebee, huh? That doesn't sound too scary either. Didn't you consider, I don't know, Killer Bee?" Priorities, you know?"

"That's way too on the nose—what am I doing talking to you about names?!" Now Bumblebee was smacking her head. Once her hand was done doing that, it partnered with her other hand to pull out these twin stringer-like weapons—that didn't look like real bee stingers but he supposed that if a person with a bee theme had a weapon, it would be called a stinger—and starting shooting off short bursts of energy.

Ooh, going for long distance now, eh? Well, had the same success rate as close up and personal because he was dodging those too. "You don't seem so bad yourself. How'd you hook up with these creeps? They've doing a lot of stuff that's not law abiding or anything."

It was getting hot. He knew something was wrong in a split second, and a frown creased his face as he stood in place for about 1.3 seconds. The energy beams that might well truly sting might now carry the same heat, not like this, and oh, it was getting brighter around here. Let's dash off here and ooh, nice, that was a fireball! Flames spread out across the floor, igniting anything flammable it touched. Oh wait, that wasn't a good thing. Where had that fire come from?

Looking up, he found standing on a horizontal steel beam was yet another guy, this one glowing red like lava or something to that effect. Bits of flame were licking the air around the guys' hands, but let's get this out there, that guy looked kinda awesome. Made the speedster want to be one of those fire-type heroes for a second before he reminded himself of all the great things that superspeed gave him. Speaking of which-

He ran around the spreading fire, speeding up the air around it and if you add this touch right here, you could actually started pulling air away from an area like so and there, he could see the flames being suffocated until there was not even a glowing ember left.

—had to take care of that fire first, now back to business. "Hey, hotshot! You might want to be careful! There's flammable stuff down here!"

"Hotshot? Oh, not too far off from Hotspot—why am I giving you name?!" Bumblebee seemed to be doing some bumbling here. Might want to give her a break. He could do so by making sure Hotspot up there didn't accidentally set off an explosion.

Best to move this fight elsewhere.