Chapter 37 – Schooled Pt. 3

August 3, 2010 - Litchfield County, CT

Mile Marker 38 US-202

20:06:04

On any other day, Superboy would be thrilled to be working alongside the Justice Guild.

But its not any other day, he thought grimly.

The team were ensconced in a wooded copse off of the highway, near what was formerly an expansive and golden yellow cornfield. It was formerly because there was now a massive crater in the middle of the field, and all the stalks in the fields surrounding it had been flattened by the pressure wave of whatever had caused it. As he found his eye drawn inexorably to Superwoman’s cape clad back, Superboy thought he knew what might have caused the devastation.

Well, at least it was a real emergency that she blew me off for.

Half of the Justice Guild, it seemed, were standing sentry around a half dozen armored trucks, like the kind banks used to deliver cash. There were a matching number of red painted steel crates that looked ludicrously reinforced for the job that a number of federal agents in tactical gear were getting loaded. Each crate was the size of a coffin, he noted morbidly. Each truck got its cargo and a team of agents to ride shotgun, or in this case, assault rifle.

The Guild was represented by Superwoman, Batwoman, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Jesse Quick and Captain Atom.

Lady Captain Atom is surprisingly hot, in an ‘square-jawed atomic energy MILF filling out a silver containment suit’ kind of way.

He wasn’t sure if her organic body had been quite so perfectly sculpted or if the United States of Columbia’s finest atomic meta-human scientists had gone above and beyond to make her suit.

That is Columbia’s ass, he thought as her unfairly shiny posterior moved out of his sight.

The Guilders each gave a nod in turn as the truck they guarded was loaded up and their diesel engines rumbled to life, then his ear piece crackled to life.

“STAR Boston is a go.” Came an unfamiliar voice.

“STAR Manhattan is go.” Replied Green Arrow’s smooth burr.

His eyes drifted back to Superwoman’s back, and as if feeling his eyes upon her, she turned and unerringly met his gaze. He was taken aback but refused to show it, meeting her eyes across the distance and the foliage between them, until the Woman of Steel turned away. For some reason, that pissed him off more. But he had no more time for his own tumult, as Batwoman waved the trucks on. They rumbled off the side of the road where they had been staged and they made two convoys of three trucks each, heading off in each direction of the highway.

As the trucks departed, he shared a look with the rest of the team. They were all in mostly black biker gear, and astride color matching street bikes. His was sky blue, Robin’s was her trademark red, Kid’s was canary yellow, Ms. Martian’s was lime green, and Aqualass’ was, to his mild surprise, the orange-red of her queen’s colors. Each nodded their readiness and started up their bikes, the high pitched whine a contrast to the trucks’ rumbling. The peeled out onto the highway, immediately splitting apart as he and Robin followed the southbound trio of trucks, and the others followed the northbound convoy.

The bike was quick and agile under him, and he felt the power thrumming between his legs. The only thing he had ever ridden in his old life was a bicycle, but he immediately got why people loved motorcycles. They were already growing on him. It helped that he knew he had nothing to fear from a motorcycle crash. This one probably had a lot of extra doodads, judging by the complicated series of displays and buttons on the instrument cluster, centered around a large round digital display that displayed an image of  his shield.

I regret not paying more attention on the trip over, he lamented.

The ‘battle bikes’ were apparently a mass produced machine that the Guild used for covert work, and to provide members without movement powers effective transit. They had ‘custom modifications’ but they were no Bat-Mobile. The team had Zeta-Tubed to Hartford, where they had taken a truck with the bikes on the back to the site of the battle with the gynoid.

I’m a little surprised that there are gendered terms for robots that mimic people, but there ya go. Androids are boy-bots, gynoids are girl-bots. The More You Know…

There had been a brief safety briefing (mostly for his and Ms. Martian’s benefit) and an even briefer motorcycle riding lesson, as some of them had little experience with motorcycles. Superboy had none, actually, but the mind palace delivered again, providing a basic muscle memory for controlling the bike. He hadn’t embarrassed himself, and had even helped Ms. Martian with some pointers before reminding her to take her Megan form, since this was a covert op. She had still been ‘looking a little green.’

Robin was, of course, supremely skilled on a bike and had shown off her skills, Aqualass displayed her quiet competence at most things, but Kid had been disappointed by the top speed the speedometer indicated. She clearly would rather have not bothered with the bike but their task was to shadow the trucks with the real loads covertly, so she had to put up with it. Ideally, nothing would happen and they would just have a pleasant evening road trip in the scenic countryside, which boasted a spectacular sunset as evening wore on.

Side by side, he and Robin rode a quarter mile behind the trucks as they neared a set of highway on ramps, and the two decoy trucks took the exit for their bogus destinations while their charge took the exit for New York City. They followed and the truck and its dangerous cargo trundled on for miles while they tried to stay surreptitious. Traffic was light, so there were few other vehicles to blend in with. The amber waves of grain passed by on either side of the highway as they traveled through more farmland.

“So, how goes it controlling the ol’ libido?” Robin asked over their comm and Superboy started so hard he jerked the handlebars and had to wrestle the bike back under control as the Girl Wonder laughed at her own joke, and his reaction. That done, he turned his helmeted head to glare at her.

She rode with an easy grace of long experience, staring at him and handling the bike without a glance. Her riding leathers were black with yellow stripes across the arms and a red bird emblem stretching across her chest. Her helmet was red with a black band with the same red emblem, bordered by yellow stripes. For some reason, she was wearing her sunglasses beneath her tinted visor, but that was probably for her ‘disguise.’

“Very funny.” Superboy deadpanned, which only made Robin chuckle.

“I thought so!” She answered brightly, and he rolled his eyes in response.

“You’re a barrel of laughs.”

Robin’s chuckle died as she saw his obvious annoyance, and she sighed.

“Sorry. Am I poking an open wound?”

It was his turn to sigh, so he did.

“A bit.”

“Hm. So the Metropolis trip was that bad, huh?”

Her perceptiveness made Superboy grind his teeth hard enough to turn coal into diamonds. Glancing at her as they rode, she was still staring at him from behind her visor and shades, awaiting his response. Seeing she was unlikely to relent, he gave in for the sake of having something to think about other than his many failures today.

“There was trouble. The Metro Narrows Bridge almost collapsed. I tried to help, Superwoman was already on it. She… implied I was just making things worse. That I can’t control my powers enough not to do more harm than good.” He explained, his mood and tone sinking as he did so.

“Oof. That’s rough, buddy.” Robin replied companionably.

“The worst part is… she might have been right. I’m not sure. I was trying to help, but she seemed like she had it all handled.” He admitted miserably.

Robin’s reaction was visceral, and she ducked her head as she winced in sympathy.

“I know that feeling. I’m guessing she didn’t even chew you out, just gave you The Look?’”

Superboy thought for a second before realizing what she meant by ‘The Look.’

Yeah, that was The Look. Not of anger or recrimination. But of disappointment.

Glancing back at Robin, he saw a mix of anxiety and recrimination that was all too familiar.

“Batm-... Bats gives you 'The Look’ too, huh?” He asked gingerly.

“Yeah. I try to avoid it as much as possible. Thus all the training.” She said with a sad smile. He sighed again in response.

“At least she wants to train you. So you can be better. Superwoman just blew me off, and then blasted off to come and deal with this.” He explained as he waved at the truck ahead of them. The hurt was clear in his voice. “She said I have Wonder Woman as my trainer.”

“Well, that sucks, but on the bright side, we have Wonder Woman as our trainer.” Robin replied and waggled her eyebrows suggestively. It was so shocking he laughed out loud and his mood brightened a bit. She smiled and laughed along with him as the miles passed them by.

I didn’t think Robin was into Wonder Woman. Or girls. But I shouldn’t presume, I guess.

Glancing over at her, she had her familiar cocksure grin on, clearly pleased by something. He decided to indulge her salaciousness.

“I guess you couldn’t consider Wonder Woman as a consolation prize.” He joked.

“From where I was standing, you were doing a bit more than ‘considering’.”

And just like that, his embarrassment over being so overlooked by his idol (or a reasonable local facsimile) was replaced by his embarrassment by how easily Wonder Woman had… toyed with him.

“Oh god, I thought you were trying to cheer me up for a minute there…”

“I don’t think its your ‘cheer’ that’s up for the Princess, if you know what I mean.” Robin said and chuckled.

His face grew redder under the helmet and he was glad she couldn’t see it with the helmet.

Probably .

“Hey, she’s magic, or whatever. Blessed. Sculpted out of magic clay and brought to life by the actual factual Greek gods. Its not even fair.” He choked out, just thinking about Wonder Woman’s forwardness earlier getting another motor running between his legs.

Robin’s belly laugh was long and tortuous to his pride.

“Ahhh dame, you are too easy to get going.”

She flashed him a knowing smile that gave his motor more gas. His heart skipped a beat as their eyes met. There was something there he hadn’t seen before. As he stared into her eyes, he searched for what it was.

Which was, of course, when the truck laid on the horn, snapping them out of their moment and returning them to the mission. The truck was slowing, their earpieces crackled as the driver radioed them.

“There’s something in the road up ahead. I’m not… sure what it is.” She admitted.

The two young heroes shared a glance before revving their bikes and overtaking the truck on either side to see what obstruction was. Superboy’s telescopic vision picked it out instantly, though he had no idea what to make of it. He turned his head to meet Robin’s gaze as they slowed their battle bikes.

“It’s a barrel.”

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