By the time the four reached the exclusive airstrip, Angel, Batgirl, and Robin all changed back into their civilian clothes. As they closed in, Sadie leaned over to Cassandra and asked, "Okay, for real, how did Tim do that? He's driving for God's sake!"

"Practice," Tim said from the driver's seat. "Lots of practice."

"Yeah, it's nearly a superpower." Stephanie extended an open hand over the cupholder between their seats. "Pass me my ring?"

Tim fished around for a moment, his pants pocket for a moment and held his hand a few inches over hers. He sniggered as he asked, "Will you marry me?"

In total monotone, Stephanie said, "Yeah, sure, why not?"

From the back seat came both a laugh and an, "Awww." Sadie went on, "Do you seriously ask her that every time she takes the ring off?"

"One of our classmates thought it made me seem really insecure and desperate," Tim said. "I told them it was just supposed to be cute. Thanks for the aww, glad someone agrees with me."

Sadie slipped her own hand into Cassandra's and squeezed. "So, go over this part of the plan with me one more time? Cassie did her best, but admitted she's not totally clear on the specifics."

"Batman operates an FBO—that's Fixed-Base Operator, like a private airport—up north of town," Tim said. "We telling them we're flying to Maine, but we're going to almost immediately divert and head for Rome. Father Day and his people operate their own FBO over there, they're not going to ask us any of the standard questions about paperwork or passports or anything, they're just going to escort us out and to their higher ups. Then, God willing—" He paused, uttered an uncomfortable chuckle, and continued, "Then they're going to do whatever they need to do to take that thing out of you safely."

"Is somebody else looped in on all this?" Sadie asked. "Who's flying the jet?"

Tim blew a breath up at his face. "We've got the most sophisticated autopiloting systems in the world on our side. But if anything needs to be handled manually, I'm going to handle it."

Sadie went red in the face. "You're kidding—you have a pilot's license too?"

"Thanks to some lax requirements back in World War II, I'm not even the youngest pilot in history. But I'm up there," Tim said.

With a shake of her head and a squeeze of Cassandra's hand, Sadie muttered, "Your family is nuts. Really, truly nuts."

Fifty minutes later, with the car parked and a brief set of questions answered to a security officer, the four were escorted to the FBO's tarmac. Everyone's driver's license was active and accurate, the flight route was explained, the next step was to board the private jet that awaited them.

At the front of the vessel stood a standard-looking cockpit, but anything regular about the plane ended there. Behind the pilot's seats stood a row of chairs with seatbelts on the starboard side, and two long, plush couches opposite them. Between two windows a large television set was screwed into the wall, and further back was a full, wood kitchenette with a refrigerator, running water, and even a stove. At the very back of the plane laid a king-sized bed that fit so snugly it was impossible to enter from the sides, it could only be accessed by crawling in from the foot.

Sadie struggled to contain her awe as she set her backpack down. "This is absolutely nuts. The hotels Cassie pays for us to stay in feel less fancy than this."

"They come even fancier." Stephanie elbowed Tim as they climbed aboard. "This is the inconspicuous route, believe it or not. Rich boys, am I right?"

"Well, it's gonna get us where we need to go, and fast. Let's just be glad for that." Tim cracked his knuckles as he stepped into the cockpit. "I've been resting all day, so even if we're getting out of here early, at least I'll be able to pilot if I have to."

Stephanie sat down in the copilot's chair, Cassandra caught up with Sadie and the two made themselves comfortable on the couch.

"Better you start with the normal chairs, actually," Stephanie said. "It'll probably be a little bumpy when we get started."

Cassandra rose and led Sadie over. She'd probably have remembered that herself given another minute or two. But the extra chance to sit close together, whatever the current circumstances, just seemed nice.

"Heads up, looks like the undercarriage is open," Stephanie said as she looked over the controls on her side.

"What?" Tim frowned and saw the light she was looking at. "I didn't hit that button."

"Isn't the fuel tank down around there?" Stephanie said. "Did somebody just leave it open when the jet got fueled up?"

"Not taking any chances." Tim rose, stepped out of the cockpit, and called to their escort. "Hey sir! You—yeah, come here for a sec." He then stepped out to speak with him.

"Hopefully nothing, but you can't really be too paranoid in this kind of job," Stephanie said.

"Well, I'm gonna take a sec and check out the kitchen." Sadie rose and got in a few minutes of sifting through packages of peanuts and crackers and bottles of water in the fridge.

When Tim returned he said, "Yeah, fuel line is down there. I'm going to go check it out, make sure we haven't been compromised or whatever."

"I'll come too." Stephanie took his hand up when he offered it. "May as well drop off my backpack."

Shortly after they left, Sadie asked, "So did one of them, like, recruit the other one?"

Cassandra considered for a minute before she scratched the back of her head. "Sort of? Better to ask them, some of it was before me."

"I'm really going to start annoying people if I keep playing twenty questions with you guys, but I've got like a million. I don't even know where to start."

"Figured you'd be put off by all this," Cassandra said. "Even if you approved, that it would be, don't know, intense."

"The last days have been intense, yeah." Sadie nodded. "But, I dunno, maybe it's like a runner's high or something. If I stopped to think about it too long maybe I'd feel more freaked out. But if I can keep my brain busy, I just feel really wired."

Cassandra patted Sadie's knee. "Will try to keep you that way then."

After a few minutes, Tim and Stephanie returned, each with a shrug. "No idea what that was about," Stephanie said. "Tim thinks this is maybe just an older plane. Which, in here, sounds like complaining that the hot tub in your limo is busted."

"Well, whatever gets us out of here and gets this thing out of me safely, right?" Sadie asked.

"That's right." Tim sat down in the captain's seat and entered a few coordinates. "Looking at about an eight-hour flight, and Rome's five hours ahead of us. Should be in tonight. If you can get some sleep, do it." Then, under his breath, he added, "Gonna be flying into the sun that whole time. At least it'll keep me ready to take the controls."

Positioning and take off went off without a hitch. Soon the jet began it's flight at hundreds of miles an hour over thousands of miles of Atlantic Ocean. As soon as the initial ascent and turbulence settled, Sadie and Cassandra moved to the couch.

"I've never seen so much water before," Sadie said. "Gotta be honest, it was freaking me out."

Cassandra gave her a sympathetic smile. "Most people start on shorter plane trips. Sorry for this."

"No, no, it's fine." Sadie rose from the couch and stepped into the kitchen area. Toward the front she called, "You guys want any peanuts or anything?"

"Sounds good to me," Tim called back.

Sadie cracked open one can of peanuts and a second of cashews, dumped both into a bowl and mixed them around. She brought the bowl to Cassandra and the two cans to the cockpit. Then she settled in again.

After the two got in a few bites of their snacks, Sadie started in again. "Okay, so, we need to talk about that some more. Because I'm still trying to process everything. When we first met, the time I was dragged down into that underground church, you were already working for Batman? Is that why the bad guys had you?"

The memories weren't kind of Cassandra, but she nodded anyway. "Yes. Terrible times."

"I'm sure," Sadie said. "Were you already in the Angel costume? I'd think that would make them go easier on you."

Cassandra shook her head. "I was, earlier version. Stephanie said later it was gaudy. Didn't make things that any better."

From the cockpit, Stephanie shouted, "The suit was inspired, Sadie. Conceptually it was great! But, you know how you've been studying art for years and years and Cass just hasn't? It needed refined."

Sadie laughed. "Got it." She looked back toward Cassandra. "No, don't think I ever saw that one. I heard from the news you were the one who took that guy—" Sadie stopped mid-thought and her eyes widened. After a few seconds of mental math, she started to sputter. "Wait a minute, Christmas Eve 2009… I drove you home from the hospital that night! You turned around and fought the Seraphim right after I dropped you off?!"

That reexamination made Cassandra smile a little. "If you think about it, you helped me do it."

"I uh… wow." Sadie laid one hand over her mouth as she thought it over. "I did? I mean, how much of this stuff has tied back to us?"

Cassandra still had her share of loyalties and secrets to keep. But some of the little lies she'd told only ever belonged to her in the first place, so they were hers to release. "Not actually a…" she paused to pick out the word, she hadn't told the lie directly in some time. "In-som-niac? Easier to explain than being on patrol."

Sadie's gawked at her as her mouth slipped open involuntarily. "You can't be serious. You've been calling me late at night for years while you were, what? Skulking around on rooftops?"

"Rooftops, gargoyles, bell towers." Cassandra shrugged. "Wherever, when things went quiet."

"That's wild." Sadie leaned on one palm and chewed on a handful of cashews as she wondered at her next question. As Cassandra decided to cut her off after one more, she settled for, "So, like, you were working for Batman before the angel costume, right? What were you going before that?"

Although Cassandra had meant to issue her warning first, that question actually tripped her up. Bruce always been there to explain it to anyone who was on a need-to-know basis, and everyone else had been there when she made the choice. None of her friends or comrades had ever actually asked her to go into details about that. And beyond that wondering, she found she did actually appreciate someone actually asking her.

After a moment to sip and ponder what was and was not confidential information, Cassandra decided she could tell the truth. "Used to be Batgirl."

"No way!"

"I did," Cassandra said. "Liked it, but Stephanie deserves it too."

From the cockpit came a quick, "Thanks!"

"I guess I knew there had been at least two." Sadie scratched at the back of her head as she tried to remember the details. "The redheaded one and the blonde one—that's Steph, weird to know now. But I'm not sure I'd have ever recognized you in the costume."

"Used to be stealthy before wearing white," Cassandra said. "That suit was very form fitting." She raised one open hand and lowered it, as if she pulled an invisible blind down over her body. "Tight and black. And I kept to the dark."

"Huh… if you still have that one sitting around back home, you should let me see it sometime. Tight and black sounds pretty hot."

"Very hot." Cassandra nodded. "And the full facemask made it—"

Sadie burst out laughing, and a moment later Stephanie and Tim howled from the cockpit. It took Cassandra a few extra beats to realize the double entendre, and when she went red with embarrassment and raised a hand over her cheeks. "That's enough, you're done now."

"Hang on, hang on, just one more."

"No."

"I swear I'll be on my best behavior. Pretty, pretty please?"

Cassandra breathed an exasperated sigh, but she was still having fun with the talk. So, she said, "Fine, one more."

"So, you switched from Batgirl to the Angel uniform, title and all. What brought that on?"

After a moment's consideration, Cassandra shrugged. "Just wanted to. Right after I converted. Thought Gotham could use more hope, less darkness."

"You're really something, you know that? I already knew, after we ran out of the subways together, but man." Sadie managed a dumbfounded shake of her head. "And you never even thought to brag about it?"

Cassandra got a good laugh out of that. Only then did the tiredness of the last day start to catch up with her. Pleased with the progress being made, she leaned over, rested her head on Sadie's shoulder, and shut her eyes.

"There's a big bed in the back, you know," Sadie said. "It's been a long night for you, you could sleep there." After a moment to consider, she added, quietly, "We could sleep there."

"Just resting my eyes," Cassandra said. "But you go if you want."

"Nah, I'm okay." Sadie raised a hand to gently curl a finger through Cassandra's hair. "Rest what you gotta rest, oh holy knight."

Lulled to relaxation by the ambient thrum of the jet's engine, the two swiftly dozed off. With the autopilot handling the journey toward Rome, Tim and Stephanie took turns shutting their eyes too. All aboard seemed well with the world until about four PM that afternoon. In the dreary, slightly turbulent airspace just outside of the United Kingdom, a section of the control panel started to flash a harsh red light. And out from a speaker on either side of the cockpit came a scratchy, mechanical voice with the message, "Alert! Alert! Alert! Fuel levels low, insufficient to reach destination. Alert! Alert!"