Less Than Zero Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Bad Influence

"Now that's quality," Null said to himself quietly from a good vantage point overlooking a closed-off yard of mack truck trailers. He ignored the weapons and drugs being moved, instead keeping a vigilant eye on the unloading of high-end cars from the mafia shipment, "Okay, Hood. You've outdone yourself this time."

Because when one destroyed your car, it was only right that they did their part to replace it. Red Hood had his fingers in criminal elements all over Gotham City, keeping from slaughtering them for his own ends. Usually, he would extort weaker outfits of their drug money and force them to narrow their clientele and business practices. Other times, he would simply monitor them closely just to see if they reached a point to where they required his particular fatal brand of justice.

Yes, Red Hood had blown up Null's previous car. But as long as he kept an eye out for anything good coming into Gotham City, playing the part of Kelley Blue Book for stolen luxury vehicles until Null found a suitable expensive replacement, he could be forgiven. What good was a friend if you couldn't blow up his car every once in a while?

Null's plan was simple. Find a car that he liked, put a tracker on it, then go and steal it from wherever it would be later when there wouldn't be two dozen armed goons protecting everything. From there, he'd stash it at his hideout until he could get it resprayed and dredge up some doctored registration for it.

Yes, it probably would have been easier to just buy a new ride, even an expensive one. He was sitting on a ton of money that he'd been very good about not going out and flaunting. But buying a sweet car just didn't bring the same sense of accomplishment that came with rolling up his sleeves and ripping one off properly.

Tiny, homemade tracker in his possession, Null used his magnetic powers in conjunction with a pair of binoculars to guide it into place on his car of choice. It was very delicate work, and required his full focus.

...Which was why it was excusable that he didn't notice the figure floating down behind him on the dark, moonless night. Not until he was sent flying off of his perch with a punch to the back of the head. The punch was strong enough to knock Null a quarter of a mile away, clear over the truck yard he had been working on.

He stayed conscious despite so much force aimed at the back of his head, only because he had been in the middle of using his magnetic powers, which enacted a thin field around his body, which doubled as a cushion for melee attacks against him – something he'd been training himself to do as a standard defense.

Null's body would have smashed into the wall of a tall building, had he not expanded and strengthened that same magnetic field to stop himself, "That wasn't a Bat-person," He growled to himself, rubbing the back of his head. None of the Bat-people hit that hard, "So, who has the balls?"

His answer came in the form of a male figure cloaked in the shadow of the night, lowering just above the top of the building Null had tacked himself to. Even though the guy wasn't hiding, Null couldn't see what he looked like in the dark, as he was wearing form-fitting gear, with hair obscuring some of his face.

Null didn't wait to ask any questions. He was angry, and whoever this was had already attacked him. The safety was off. Null's eyes glowed blue as his body rippled with electricity. He boost-jumped at the hovering attacker, intent on driving through him, but missed.

His leg was grabbed and used to swing him away. Null flipped and twisted, landing with his feet sliding across the glass surface of a skyscraper. He was able to see the flying approach of the enemy and shot rapid-fire bolts of electricity that were dodged. Null avoided a retaliatory punch, jumping off of the skyscraper just as he came to the edge of the wall.

In midair, Null unleashed a blast in the form of an electric ball, but it wasn't fast enough to even inconvenience his attacker. He weaved around it and delivered a hard punch to Null's face, sending him flipping head-over-heels. He bounced off of the sides of a few buildings before vanishing from sight.

The indistinct powerhouse flew after Null, trying to follow up on his advantage, only to find no Null where he was supposed to have been, "What the hell?" He asked as he flew around, looking for any sign of the thief, "How did he disappear? He's just a stupid-, grr..."

He seethed in anger. This was supposed to have been quick. So, not only was this 'Null' a crook, he was an unrepentant coward. He didn't deserve the attention he was getting from the person he was getting it from.

Eventually, he would make Null pay for stepping out of place. It wasn't like he wouldn't be able to find him again whenever he popped up. And when he did, she would be that much better off for it.

"You're not good enough for her," He said to no one in particular before flying off. If he hung around too long, if anyone saw a man flying around Gotham City, Batman would find out, and if he started investigating, then he would have questions to answer.

Null waited for several minutes, making absolutely sure that his assailant was gone for good before uncloaking his suit and starting for the safety of his hideout. No need for a fight that he wasn't sure he could win. Just because someone wanted to fight him didn't mean he had to engage. Just who was that supposed to have been anyway, a new villain? Perhaps, but more than likely not. Most criminals didn't see him as enough of a nuisance to target him, and the ones who did certainly didn't fight like that.

He seemed to know who Null was, but Null didn't know him. At least, he didn't think so. He never saw who it was, and Null didn't make it a habit of angering people with that kind of raw power, so why did this particular cape (who didn't have a cape) know who he was?

"Okay... that's enough action for one night," Null said, touching at his very sore eye that he was certain would be bruised and swollen by morning, "Note to self: The Static Rocket is too slow by itself to use on flying fuckers. Good to know. Ow."

XxX

(The Next Day)

Spring was beginning to bleed into summer. There was only a week or two left in school before it let out for vacation. For Max, it couldn't arrive early enough, so he could get out of school and receive his real education.

Just thinking about it made him smile. Two months away from Gotham City. Two months away from wasting his daytime hours in class. Two months away from psychos who jumped him when he was minding his own business in the dead of night. Two months away from nosy, crime-fighting do-gooders that he couldn't seem to get away from and had to ride the damn train home with.

"What are you smiling about?"

Speak of the devil...

Max's smile fell as he turned to face Barbara. On school days, she stuck to him like glue. The only real reprieve he had was during classes that they didn't share, where he was otherwise preoccupied with the monotonous lectures and work.

It was like some kind of learning prison, and Barbara was his warden. Why he felt the need to make jail analogies, he didn't know, seeing as how he hadn't even been to real jail yet, but his point stood. After all, what did she think he was going to steal at school, extra milk from the lunch line?

...He'd done that. He did it all the time, actually. But that wasn't the point.

Barbara awaited his answer, never averting her gaze from his face, as though she could coax answers that he wasn't already willing to give out of him in that way. At least she hadn't asked about his eye.

"Just thinking about getting away from you," Max half-sneered in her direction. He had been extra annoyed lately by Barbara's increased attention, "When summer vacation starts, I'm leaving the city."

Barbara seemed confused that he was so forthcoming with that kind of information, "Wait, are you actually telling me? That easily?"

Max reached out and tapped her on the temple, giving her a subtle static buzz. She flinched and looked like she was a moment away from slugging him. If only she were that willing to make his day, "Because you've been doubling down on the whole goddamn parole officer act lately, so I figured I'd tell you now before you flip your shit trying to check in on me," Max leaned back and threw his arms behind his neck, "But on second thought, I should have just let you sweat it out until someone smartened you up."

Barbara continued to glare as she rubbed the spot on her head where Max had shocked her, "I wouldn't have 'sweated it out'. I would have called you, like a functional, rational human being. I do have your actual number, you know," Something Max had done before his and Barbara's dual lives had come to light.

Max knew that nothing about the way either of them lived was 'functional' or 'rational', "And what would you do when I didn't pick up because I don't feel like finding out what roaming charges are like in Switzerland?"

"You're going to Switzerland?"

"I have no idea where we're going. It's Selina's thing. I'm just along for the ride."

"Are you going to steal something?"

"Again, no idea. It's Selina's thing."

That wasn't a 'no', and Barbara honed in on it, "You're admitting that you would though, right?"

Max found Barbara's attempts to trap him more amusing than restrictive, "I wasn't aware that talking about hypothetical crimes was illegal, Barb," Max responded with a lazy smirk. He felt like they'd been through this before, "Also, your beat doesn't extend halfway across the globe. Even if I did steal something in some other country, there's not a whole lot you can do about it. So, you know... up yours," He said with a click of his tongue.

Barbara observed Max's calm demeanor up and down, "You've been acting really cocky lately."

Was he? He hadn't noticed, but since Barbara brought it up, Max realized that he felt more at-ease than he should have, given that his identity was compromised, "Well, the Batcave thing proved something to me. You might know who I am, but unless I actually do something illegal in front of you, you can't touch me. That pardon from months ago still counts! I am a law-abiding citizen of Gotham City!"

Barbara frowned. He was right, and it was irksome that he was sitting in such a pretty position. He was a known criminal entity, "I can still kick your butt if you get too mouthy," She said, trying to take him down a peg, "What are you going to do about it, go to the police?"

Max feigned disbelief, "You wouldn't try to beat me up just for running my mouth. I'd expect that out of bird boy, not you," The fact that he could annoy her just as much as he was annoyed by her daytime babysitting him gave him life, "How's it feel though, knowing I stole all of that shit? I'm sitting this close to you, and you can't do anything about it," He leaned in and inhaled a deep breath through his teeth before whispering, "How does it taaaaaste?"

Barbara was unaffected by Max's most recent attempt to annoy her. Really, he usually did much better with that. He had been doing much better than that, "Wow, okay, revisionist history much?" She said with a raise of her eyebrow, "First of all, at your peak, you only stole maybe one or two things that were ever really valuable. Everything else you took – sports memorabilia and random swag – a regular detective might have just classed you as a kleptomaniac instead of a highly-trained burglar. Who actually bought that crap off of you? You are the lamest thief that actually got on anyone's radar for being a thief."

Max leaned out of Barbara's personal bubble all on his own, looking more impressed than offended that she'd managed to pop off at him like that, "...You've been holding that one in for a while now, haven't you?"

In a rare moment of complete transparency between the two of them, Barbara let out a tired sigh and slumped in her seat, "I've been waiting for you to give me an excuse for months."

Max nodded in understanding, "I get it. Also, all of the shit you know about is from back when I was a baby," He said, professionally speaking, "By the time I got really good, people couldn't tell that it was me that had stolen anything at all."

Barbara heard his braggadocios words, and also what wasn't necessarily said aloud, "So, you've stolen other stuff since the pardon?"

"Why, have you heard anything?" Max replied, neither confirming nor denying any illicit activities.

Barbara gave him a deadpan look, "You basically just confirmed it to me."

"No, I didn't," Max quickly replied, realizing that perhaps he had been feeling a bit too cocky. The statute of limitations hadn't run out on any of the crimes he'd committed since the pardon. The less incentive he gave to others to start poking around, the better, "Look, if a tree falls in the woods and no one's around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

Barbara felt the need to choke him for being so difficult, "Yes! Yes, it does!"

"Well, this one doesn't. So, you might as well stop asking," Max said, trying to cover up his failed analogy. The two settled into an uncomfortable silence, until Max decided to go out on a limb and make things even more awkward, "...But while we're on the subject of asking things, if I were to try and take a girl out that's nearly impossible to impress, how would I do it?"

Not for the first time, Barbara stopped to marvel at how surreal her life was. A noted enemy who was her classmate and had also been her friend was now bringing this her way, "Are you serious? After all of that, you're asking me for dating advice?"

All Max had to reply with was a shrug of his shoulders, seeing nothing wrong with it, "Who else would I go to?"

Barbara quickly remembered that Max or Null, either or, didn't really have any friends, "...Romance isn't really my strong-suit, you know."

None of this mattered to Max, who was looking for any kind of help he could get, "Okay? What's your point? Two people fumbling around a pitch-black room still have a better chance of finding the light switch than just one."

He had a point, and yet Barbara had nothing for him in return, "Just... be yourself?" She offered.

Max just stared her down until she felt uncomfortable, "...Because that's worked so well for me when it comes to establishing meaningful relationships," And she had the gall to call him lame earlier.

Barbara scoffed and rolled her eyes, 'Pick better company than Rose Wilson, and that wouldn't be a problem,' She thought, keeping the potential snide remark to herself. Ravager wasn't around anymore, so heaping that on Max's head would do no good, "Who are you even going out with? I've been watching you at school for weeks. You don't even talk to anyone."

Max hesitated at first before figuring there was nothing she could really do against him with the information, "She's... not from school," He typed out a name on his phone and held it up for Barbara, waiting for the reaction.

He was disappointed, and thankfully so, because any bigger a reaction and everyone on the train keeping to their own business would have known about his, "Are you kidding me?"

It was clear that Barbara wanted to yell. She was discretionary enough to keep her voice down, however, which was helpful for Max, "No, I'm not," He said, erasing the message and tucking his phone away, "We've... we've been hitting it off. You said it yourself, she sees a lot in me."

Barbara understood, having found it kind of cute herself, in a twisted, star-crossed kind of way, "It's just... I don't get how the two of you will be able to really do anything in uniform-," She stopped when she found Max looking away from her, "You're not going out in uniform. You're going as you."

"Mmm," Max hummed in confirmation, "Now, the million-dollar question is how to impress the girl that can fly to space in a minute if she gets bored."

"I really don't think you'll have to try that hard," Barbara said, "From what I know, you tried to keep her from liking you, and it still didn't work. Honestly, 'just be yourself' is really the best advice I could give," Why was she helping the thief get in good with a friend?

Oh, who was she kidding? Max was already in good with Kara, without anyone even knowing how he did it, himself included.

Max wasn't sure about Barbara's advice, because it was the stock-standard crap that everyone said. Still, he didn't have any alternative ideas, "Fine. I do my best work with some kind of frame of a plan, but in this case, I guess I'll just wing it."

"So... how you probably handle most things that happen to you?"

"Hey, at least I know what I'm about, Barb."

XxX

(New York City – Titans East Headquarters)

Cyborg had been trying to recruit and train a second team of Titans to operate on the east coast. It wasn't a bad idea. More heroes operating in places where other heroes weren't necessarily stationed could only be helpful in the grand scheme of things.

Supergirl hadn't been interested in joining the main Teen Titans, and had less interest in Cyborg's intended offshoot. No offense to any of them, but she had little interest in being the designated powerhouse of a young team. She wanted to gain experience in her own way, instead of saddling herself with that kind of commitment.

That didn't mean she wasn't willing to help out with getting them prepared. When Wonder Girl called asking for an extra pair of hands to help with a few training exercises, she made plans to fly right over. With Wonder Girl being her 'cousin' Superboy's girlfriend, she was a pretty good friend, so that gave her an excuse to goof off and just chat while the would-be Titans were put through their paces.

There was gossip abound as the two girls caught up with each other, and along the way, an excited Supergirl couldn't help but slip with her intended plans for the weekend.

To say Wonder Girl was stunned to find out that Supergirl was set to go on a date with Null of all people would have been an understatement, "Whoa-whoa-whoa, you asked out Null? The thief?"

Kara rolled her eyes. Whenever Null came up, this was usually the kind of reaction she received, "Yes, that Null. The same Null, I'll have you know, who helped us save Metropolis. Remember that? You were there."

A wry smile came to Wonder Girl's lips, "Yes, I was there," It was very useful that Null's powers allowed him to drain the electricity out of objects. He had indeed helped save the day, "But you have to admit, a good deed here or there doesn't make up for a historical lack of low moral fiber."

"He has morals," Kara defended, albeit somewhat weakly. Null's method of operation was slightly less offensive than most common criminals, "He usually only steals from other bad guys, which is kind of Robin Hood of him, right?" Wonder Girl looked less than impressed, "And! And! He's a non-violent criminal, so it's not like he's dangerous."

"He almost killed Rumble, Livewire, and Shockwave... and Felix Faust before," Wonder Girl said, listing off some of Null's catalogued past victories, "I don't really blame him for that last one though, because I might beat someone half to death if they magically lit me on fire too."

"I just think you're letting Robin's opinion color yours too much. Connor likes him," Kara muttered. Nightwing and Cyborg liked him too. Even Zatanna and Atom from the Justice League were okay with Null, "I'm pretty sure Kal-El is okay with him, at least," If Superman really had an issue with Supergirl being around Null, she figured he would have said so by now.

"Wow... got him taking the Super-family test already, huh?" Wonder Girl teased.

Supergirl smiled over at her friend, "Oh, shut up," She bit back good-naturedly.

Wonder Girl also didn't really have an issue with Null from their one actual meeting. It was just that their alignments made it hard to consider anything substantial between him and Supergirl a good idea.

As the exercises drew to their end, they both noticed one of the would-be Titans more than most of the others, namely because he kept looking their way every so often.

Power Boy was a tall, well-built specimen. He had black hair with bangs and yellow highlights, and wore black gloves, and a sleeveless black outfit with a window in the chest to show off his muscles. A golden rope stretched over his shoulder and across his chest with the circular clasp over his heart. The consensus amongst the female hero populace was that he was utterly gorgeous – damn near a demigod in appearance. His raw power wasn't anything to sneeze at either, from what anyone had seen.

And he seemed to have a thing for Kara. They hadn't met in person much, but whenever they were around each other, he looked for opportunities to keep her company.

Wonder Girl sensed opportunity, and tried to test the waters, "Well? What do you think?" She asked.

"I mean, he's okay," Supergirl knew who she was talking about. It wasn't like she didn't think Power Boy was a decent guy. But clearly Wonder Girl wanted a better answer, "Hey, what's with that face? What did I say?"

"He likes you. Why don't you just go out with him?"

"Cassie-."

Wonder Girl waved her hands in Supergirl's face to shush her for a moment, "No, seriously. Hear me out. Power Boy is hot, he seems nice, and he's on your side of the fence. As opposed to Null, who is pretty plain-looking-."

Supergirl held her cheek in her hand as she offered a look that showed how tired she was of this kind of debate, "The only picture of his face anyone's seen is the photo on his driver's license, or in his high school yearbook."

"-Is a known jerk-."

"He's really not a jerk. He's pretty nice when people aren't trying to kick his butt."

"-And is a noted criminal," Wonder Girl finished after barreling through Supergirl's responses, "Talk about a conflict of interest. What are you going to do if you're dating Null, and he winds up joining some evil cabal? You gonna go see him behind bars?"

Supergirl grinned in amusement, but not at the hypothetical scenario, "Cabal? Who says 'cabal'? And he hasn't done anything bad since he was pardoned," Wonder Girl shot her a look, as though to ask if she really believed he hadn't done anything questionable in all that time, "Okay... he hasn't done anything bad that anyone knows about."

Wonder Girl rolled her eyes, "Because that makes it so much better," She said with a shake of her head, "Supergirl really shouldn't be dating a bad guy."

Supergirl's blue eyes sharpened at being told about what she was expected to be like, "He's not a bad guy. And since when is anyone else an expert on what Supergirl should or shouldn't do?"

Wonder Girl had the understanding that she'd touched a bit of a nerve, and backed off a tad, "Okay, just... just be careful. That's all."

She was concerned for a friend, not trying to dictate someone else's life. Supergirl understood that much and relented quickly, "Don't worry, Cassie. Null wouldn't ever do anything to actually hurt me."

She didn't say he couldn't hurt her, because he probably couldn't, even with all of his might. Instead, she said he wouldn't, as in he wouldn't ever try to. On the surface, there didn't seem to be much of a difference in use of words, but Wonder Girl could pick out the meaning of her focusing on one against the other.

It was with that, when Power Boy was able to make his way off of the field, over to the two girls. Wonder Girl tried to subtly elbow Supergirl repeatedly to give her a cue, until Supergirl elbowed back. Despite the cordial nod to Wonder Girl, Power Boy's attention was primarily on Supergirl. "Hey there, Supergirl. Been a little while, hasn't it?"

Supergirl smiled in return, remembering him from a previous random encounter, "Yeah, you did really good with the hurricane rescue in Mexico last week. Thanks for the help."

He accepted her gratitude with a show of pearly whites. "The offer for patrol is still open. How about Saturday? We can make a day of it," He offered, arms out wide.

Again, Wonder Girl started nudging her with an elbow. Supergirl had to glare at her to stop before turning back to Power Boy, "Sorry. Saturday isn't great. I've got plans with someone already," She said, trying to let him down gently.

The smile dropped from his face, leaving a stony expression behind for just a moment before a more sheepish one replaced it, "Hey, it is what it is. Some other time, maybe."

Supergirl didn't say anything to leave the door open, and Power Boy was graceful enough to leave before anything got awkward, the excuse of getting back to field exercises available to him. Once he was far enough away, Wonder Girl was quick to chide the Kryptonian girl once the moment had passed.

"I just don't get it," She said, clicking her tongue, "Shooting down that kind of a hunk for someone like Null."

Supergirl just hummed in middling agreement, "No, I guess other people wouldn't get it, would they?"

XxX

(A Few Days Later – Gotham City – Silver Lake Shopping Plaza)

Max originally thought better of having Kara come to Gotham City, because even Max didn't want to be in Gotham City in his leisure time. In the end though, he figured it was fine for her to be there, as long as it was during the day. Very rarely did the worst crimes in Gotham happen when the sun was still up, so there wasn't much that would distract her.

Besides, there probably wasn't anything he could do with her in Metropolis that she wasn't already privy to. He'd given up on doing something to impress her, but that didn't mean he was okay with boring her to death. That was why his plan was to meet up with her at a Sundollar – a coffee chain.

Granted, Max hated coffee, but most girls usually didn't, right? His knowledge on the validity of that opinion was limited. And if Kara did, they didn't have to hang around. It was just a neutral place to start from.

Max got there early and sat down at one of the tables outside, messing around on his phone until he felt a person's presence enter his field of awareness. Looking up, he caught sight of the superheroine out of her usual attire, and greeted her with a smile, "Hey, Kara. You look good, hon."

She was dressed for a regular day out, in a light-colored skirt and a yellow shirt, with shoes she could walk around in. Very different from the normal red, blue, and yellow she was associated with.

Kara smiled back, though she seemed a bit trepidatious at being out and about amongst the civilian populace, "Are you sure this is okay? I told you, I have a disguise, I could have totally just done that."

Max rolled his eyes and stood up to receive her properly, "Do you know how many girls out there have blonde hair and blue eyes? Unless you float around with an 'S' on your chest, I'm pretty sure no one will figure it out," He said, giving her a friendly hug, "Besides, if you hear some trouble afoot and have to fly off, you can just do it, Girl Scout. I know how to make myself scarce."

Kara pulled back far enough to let Max see her smug expression , "Oh, you won't help me out? The gentleman would leave me to face danger all on my own?"

Max let out a bark of laughter. If something was too dangerous for her, he didn't stand much of a chance of handling it himself, "Sure, I'll help," He said, leading the way to the door to open it for her, "Come up with some kind of currency and an exchange system for me to take advantage of, and I'll think about it. Call 'em 'Hero Bucks' or 'CrookCoin'... or something that doesn't suck, because those names don't seem good to me."

It turned out that Kara did like coffee, but they didn't have to stay, much to Max's relief. After getting an order for Kara, they headed out, on foot of course, to avoid attracting unwanted attention for Kara. Max thought it was funny how unused to seeing her actually use her legs he was.

"Jeez, are my thighs that interesting?" Kara asked, trying to sound offended despite the sunny smile she wore.

Upon hearing Kara's remark, Max idly realized that staring at her lower half so much did make him look like a creep. But in defense, they were very fine legs regardless, "Yes, since you're asking," He replied brazenly. Kara gave him a little shove, with enough control to not send him flying through the nearest storefront, "I was just thinking. I know you're probably more used to flying around and whatnot. I could have at least given you a ride in my car."

"You have a car?"

Max stopped for a moment, realizing that he should have spoken in the past tense, "...I did, until it got blown up," He mumbled, trying to wave the whole thing off, "It's a long story."

Kara wouldn't accept that as an excuse, "Well, we've got time. What else are we doing?"

The girl had a point. So, Max regaled her with some of his more recent tales of Null activity, carefully selected and all heavily redacted. He obviously left out anything that would get him or anyone he liked in any kind of real trouble, such as everything regarding Ravager before her departure with Deathstroke and her brother, but only alluded to certain people without using their names due to their being out in the open.

Most of the time, Kara found herself laughing. Max had a gift for spinning his less illegal adventures into lighthearted affairs, regardless of whether or not people were actively trying to murder him at the time. He had a sense of humor about most of it in hindsight, because he still found the life he led to be outrageous – a life he couldn't have fathomed having less than a year prior.

He was enthusiastic about being Null, which shined through when he talked about being Null. To Max, being Null was by far the most interesting thing about himself. And even then, it had to be way more interesting to be Supergirl. But Kara wasn't as keen as he was on swapping stories. When he sent the ball over to her side of the court, their conversations tended to stall a tad bit.

Kara was a smart girl and realized this. Of course, identifying a problem and coming up with a feasible solution were two different things, "So... is school going good? How are your grades?" Upon uttering such a nothing conversation bridge, she felt like burying her face in the ice cream Max had bought for her.

"Good," Max answered, looking amused, "Do you really want to talk about how I'm doing in school though?" Because he definitely didn't.

"No..." Kara admitted, glaring at him over her cone, "I just... I don't really know what to talk about," Her glare only intensified when she caught him trying and failing to hide a smile "What's so funny?"

"You don't know what to talk about? What do you think I've seen?" Max asked. Kara was from a different world altogether for goodness sake. She didn't have to give up sensitive details or embarrassing stories. She could tell him literally anything and he would probably find it intriguing, "You're so tense. You were cooler than I was about hanging out the last time we did it."

Maybe so, but this was different! It was a date! She couldn't just pretend that it was two people hanging out just because. He'd caught her in the act of slyly trying to ask him out, and now it was out there.

'I should have known better than to try and pull a fast one on a thief, of all people,' Kara thought to herself before speaking aloud, "Why did you agree to go out with me?" She eventually blurted out.

Max barely reacted, aside from raising an intrigued eyebrow, "Why not?"

"That's not an answer," Kara said with a frown.

It was to Max. Kara was hot, she was nice to him, and he didn't dislike being around her. Those were enough reasons to take the time to spend the day with her, "Sorry if you were expecting something profound, but it's the best I've got right now."

With that, Kara relented on her query, "It's okay. It wasn't really a fair question."

If anything, he had the right to ask her why she wanted to go out with him. The whole kiss above Metropolis thing hadn't been brought up after it had happened, but Kara thought about it a lot. She figured it was somewhat on Max's mind too. To what extent, she didn't know.

Max reached out and put an arm around Kara, weakly guiding her near him. He'd allow her to choose how close she wanted to be. She got right against his shoulder as they walked, "I've already accepted the fact that if you wanted to crush me, there isn't much I could do about it. That's, like, the biggest hurdle to us being close," He said, before taking a chance to amend his statement, "...Well, second biggest hurdle, after all of the thievery."

Kara sighed and leaned against Max comfortably. In her head, she came to a decision about where to go from there, "Actually, I do want to show you something. Do you trust me?"

Max hesitated for a moment before answering, "Yeah," Given their alignments on the spectrum of good and evil, he shouldn't have. But if anyone couldn't trust Supergirl of all people, there was no one who could be trusted, "Yeah... I do. I trust you."

Kara beamed up at Max, and that sight on its own made his entire day.

XxX

Kara needed him in his supersuit. The reason being, she said, he wouldn't be able to survive what she wanted to show him without it. Max was cautious, but again, he trusted Kara wouldn't do anything that would hurt him.

She gave him some device that was meant to go around his neck, and up they went, flying into the air. He quickly realized what Kara meant when they went higher and higher. High enough that the buildings looked like dots. High enough that the ground looked like a detailed map. High enough that he couldn't even see the ground through the clouds.

When the air started to get thin, Kara touched a button on the device she gave him, a force-field formed around his head, and just like that, he felt fine, capable of breathing and everything. Apparently, his outfit was suitable to allow him to survive in the vacuum of space. Who knew?

What he'd already experienced had been a marvel in of itself, but when Kara eventually stopped, Null found himself floating with her in space, looking down at the Earth, in all of its planetary glory.

"Holy shit," Null said in awe. The highest up he'd ever been until then had been on a jet.

Kara took great pleasure in Null's stunned reaction. And here she had been afraid that he was getting used to her, "It really is something, isn't it?"

Null could only nod in agreement as he took in the sights of space, "You can come up here and look at this anytime you want?"

"Believe it or not, this is pretty new for me too. Remember, I didn't have powers until I crash-landed here like a year ago," Kara said with a shrug, "Sometimes I just go flying around the planet, sometimes in space for a bit, just to keep things in perspective, you know?"

Now Null was the one who found himself at a loss for words. He wanted to say something, but bit his tongue to keep from asking a stupid question, such as, 'Do you miss Krypton?' Of course, she did. It was her home, and less than a year was not enough time to come to terms with the loss of an entire planet.

Fortunately, this time Kara was able to pick up the slack in their conversation, "I'm Supergirl," She said matter-of-factly.

"I noticed."

"No..." Kara cracked a quick grin at Null's quick answer. Even when thrown off, he could maintain his wit. But she had a point to make, "When people see Supergirl, they just see Superman, but with lady parts. I'm supposed to stand for truth, justice, always doing what's right, always putting everyone ahead of myself. That's what Superman is. But… is that what I am? Am I supposed to be just like him because I'm from Krypton too?"

Max went wide-eyed and turned away from the awe-inspiring sight of Earth from space, to the sight of Kara baring her insecurities to him. The entire planet of Krypton was gone now. No one but Kara and Superman were left. There were only two Kryptonians in existence that the world had as a reference point, and one had a legacy that the other could never get away from.

"Max, I never got to make that choice for myself," Kara continued, "I was sent here, away from my family, my planet, to take care of my little cousin. Only when I got here... he was full-grown, and I was the little cousin. And all of a sudden, I had powers that I couldn't dream of, and all of the responsibilities that came with them! Just like that, I was supposed to be... this," She gestured to the familiar colors she wore that Superman made famous, "…Everyone says I'm here to help and stuff. But they don't know me. I don't know me."

And there it was. It made sense to Max as to why things got weird whenever he tried to get Kara to open up about herself. It wasn't because she was being cagey about personal details. It was because from the moment she was dropped on Earth, she was seen as being just like Superman. That was the kind of shadow he cast. And she didn't know if that was what she wanted.

It even made sense as to why she hung out with him. Because when they first met, he only gave a damn that she was Supergirl for all of ten minutes, until he realized that he wasn't going to have to fight or run from her in the immediate future. From that point on, she was just some flying chick who could melt him with her eyes.

No one else gave her that but him. None of her friends on the good side of things. Kara Zor-El didn't have an existence outside of being Supergirl. For as much as he loved being Null, Max could choose whether or not he suited up. For Kara, it seemed to be an obligation that she had to use her gifts to help others. Any deviation from Superman's lofty moral standard would have others perceive her as lesser to him.

Null let everything she told him sink in before deciding to strike right at the heart of the matter, instead of dancing around it, "Kara… do you want to be Supergirl?"

"I want to be Supergirl. But I want to be the one to define what that means. Does that make sense?"

"Absolutely," Max said honestly However, he didn't know exactly how he could help, "Look, I'm probably the last guy you should come to about any of this. You want to help people. You just want to do it your way, or at least have a chance to figure out what that means without having the civs and the rest of the do-gooder populace think less of you for doing it."

"Yes!" Kara exclaimed. He understood. He actually understood where she was coming from, "I'm sixteen, Max. At some point, I need the chance to figure things out on my own," Kal-El was a good example to follow, but that was all he should have been; an example. It should have been up to her to pick and choose what parts of him she wished to emulate, and what she wished to do away with and strike out on her own for, "It's just so tiresome…"

Clearly. It was why Null was never going to be a hero. People expected you to be there to help them with their problems. And the stronger you were, the more of a given it was that you were always supposed to be there. He didn't want to throw around the word 'entitlement', but he felt like it fit when it came to the relationship many superheroes had with the people they dealt with.

He heard people on the street armchair-quarterback all kinds of hero performances all the time. It made him angry, and he was a thief! He didn't even like most of them, and he was upset for them. Nothing was ever good enough. It wasn't enough that they beat themselves up when things went wrong. Random nobodies who turned and ran at the first sign of trouble instead of doing anything themselves did it too.

Null could give her his ideas, but in the end, it was up to her to make her own choices. Freedom was one of the most important things to him, freedom for others included, "You already know what I'm going to say – that number one should always come first. But you aren't going to listen to me, because you're a good girl, and you care about people. Just… don't get so wrapped up in doing the right thing that you forget you're a fucking person, and you need to look out for yourself too."

The self-sacrificing hero schtick would always be for the birds, as far as he was concerned. Going above and beyond should have been the exception, not the rule. That was what made heroes extraordinary. Everyone needed to keep that in mind, even heroes themselves. Humility, and giving of oneself for the many was one thing, until it turned to exploitation, which was what heroing felt like to him.

"Whew!" Kara slumped over exhaustedly, suddenly breaking the serious mood, "That got pretty heavy for a while, didn't it? Sorry about that. I just wanted to show you what space looked like, and then we went and got into this whole thing. I think it's just because I like coming here to just let things go... you know?"

There was nothing to apologize for to Null. Even if he hadn't been willing to have the kind of talk they'd just had, she took him to space. That alone was worth whatever, "Did you want to sit around having some vapid, meaningless conversation? Because at this point, it'd be kind of underwhelming to ask if you want to go back to the mall to keep doing my original plan: my former favorite pastime of walking around and looking at shit we can't afford."

Kara took ahold of Null and started flying back towards Earth proper, "Max, it's not what I'm doing that's important."

-It was who she was doing it with. They could have been watching paint dry. As long as they were doing it together, it would have been more fun than just about anything she could think of doing alone.

Null complained on their way back to the ground, "Man, I should have taken you to the beach or something."

Kara giggled and pinched his cheek, "Don't feel so bad. There's always next time," She said.

XxX

(A Few Hours Later – Gotham City)

After spending time with Kara, and then parting ways with her when the sun started to go down, Null found himself feeling a bit stir crazy, so he remained in his suit to allow himself to properly stretch his legs, "Man, I was in space a few hours ago. Now I've got to adjust back to being on shitty old Earth?"

Null's half-joking offer to walk her home had been accepted, with him going with her to her hometown instead of his. It wasn't really far out of the way for him. The Gravboard wasn't close to being as fast as Kara was, but a trip from Gotham City to Metropolis or New York only took a thirty-minute flight. It was just the gentlemanly thing to do.

He may have been an outright delinquent, but he was a gentleman... except for when he had to fight women. Then he was equal opportunity.

Either way, flying back from Metropolis left Null with plenty of time to come down from his date. It had been a nice day. Kara was a sweetheart, but she had a backbone and her own personality. Just getting to know her better was fun. The flying to space and to a few other landmarks was just icing on the cake.

Once his light, airy buzz started to wear off, Null started to notice something grabbing at his senses at the very limits of his field of awareness. He kept a wider range when he was out in the open, or higher in the air, due to less buildings being around to crowd that aspect of his powers.

He was being followed, and not by Kara, because he knew what she felt like. In fact, it felt a lot like the person who violated his magnetic field a few nights ago. You didn't forget an ambush after only a few days, and this one was still fresh in his mind.

...Because he couldn't just have a nice evening to follow a nice day. Oh well. At least he could nip this in the bud before it got late.

He stopped in the northern portion of Gotham City and hopped off of his board onto a rooftop, ready for a confrontation, "Hey! You got the drop on me once already! I'm paying attention now! It's not happening twice!" He shouted into the air, "You want something? Get your ass out here and tell me what you need!"

At first, there was no reply. Eventually though, a well-built young man descended from the sky, dressed in a sleeveless black getup with a gratuitous chest opening, and a yellow highlight in his black hair, "You actually noticed me this time," He said, with sarcastic applause, "What's the saying? A dead clock is right twice a day, or something like that, isn't it?"

"Nice to meet you," Null said, with equally sarcastic cordiality, "Now... who the fuck are you, and what the fuck's your problem?"

"You're my problem," The newcomer declared, "And you can call me Power Boy."

'Power Boy?' Null thought to himself, wracking his brain over whether he'd ever met this person, "I feel like I'd remember someone with a lame name like that. You don't look familiar. Have I robbed you before?"

A dangerous, predatory smile started to grow on Power Boy's face, "As a matter of fact, yes. Yes, you did. You took something very precious to me... just like the thief you are. But that's okay. All I have to do is get you out of the way, and I can make it mine."

Whenever someone said they wanted to 'get someone out of the way', it never meant anything good for whoever they were talking about. Null wasn't about to let that happen to him; whatever Power Boy had planned.

"Well, I'm sure we can sit down and talk this out like-," He suddenly lashed out with electricity from his fingertips, doing his best to fry Power Boy. Power Boy simply stood in place with a slight grimace that he tried to make a smirk, "Dude... really?"

"Yeah, really," Almost faster than Null could keep up with, Power Boy dashed forward through the electricity and delivered a punch that knocked Null back. His body smashed off of the stone-encased suspension pillar of the Vincefinkel Bridge that spanned the Gotham River.

Null's body hit the road, cracking the pavement before he picked himself up. The impact and the punch from Power Boy had all been cushioned by his magnetic defense, "Yeah... you're definitely the same guy from the last time," Null said to himself, confirming Power Boy as the one who attacked him a few nights ago.

Power Boy hovered above the street, cracking his knuckles as drivers stopped and got out of their cars to spectate, "Oh really? That's a big accusation. And how do you figure that?"

Null laughed humorlessly, "Do you have any idea how many times someone's taken a swing at me since I first put this suit on?"

"How would I know that?" Power Boy asked with a scoff.

"Every. Time," Null said, with a sigh of acceptance, "Literally, every time I put this suit on, someone always ends up taking some kind of shot at me. And most of them hit me at least once. By now, I could probably identify every person I've ever fought by what their punch feels like," His point made, he stared up at the smug young hero, "I couldn't see your face then, but you move just like the guy from the truck yard."

"And what does that tell you? Wait, let me answer for you," Power Boy said, his entire body rippling with visible red energy, people started yelling and getting their distance, while still keeping an eye on the super-battle happening in front of them, "It tells you that you can't beat me. And this time, there won't be anywhere you can run or hide."

Null magnetically grabbed the two nearest cars he could reach without people in them, and swung them through the air, like extensions of himself, trying to swat Power Boy. Eventually, he tired of making a show of dodging, and blocked the cars on both sides of himself when Null went to smash them together with him between them.

"Tch," Power Boy scoffed, holding the cars up with little effort, "You're not in my league."

"And you're not very smart," Null shot back, using his powers to ball up the cars around Power Boy's body like wrappers around used gum. He then threw the wad of twisted metal over the side of the bridge and into the water. Null watched it sink with great satisfaction before turning back to the people whose cars he'd taken, "Ooh... uh... sorry about that."

One of the now vehicle-less pedestrians gestured uselessly to where Null had thrown what had been left of his ride, "That was my car, man."

Instantly, Null felt awful. He too had felt the experience of having his car taken from him before its time. No one deserved to have that happen out of the blue on a random Saturday night, "Believe it or not, I've been there before. Hold on. Here," He reached into his satchel and pulled out a roll of cash he'd taken from a recent raid on a criminal safehouse, "You guys split the money. I think that should be about-."

He was interrupted when Power Boy blasted into the sky out of the water, glowing red as he streaked through the air and whipped around to fly at Null.

The thief took off running in the opposite direction as Power Boy bore down on him. Just before Power Boy could swoop down and wring his neck, the Gravboard came out of nowhere and smacked him in the head, sending him into the side of a tractor-trailer.

"Ha-ha!" Null taunted, jumping on his board and disconnecting the trailer with his powers. He took off into the sky with the trailer in-tow before throwing it into the air over the river, "Let's try this again!" He unleashed a blast in the form of an electric ball, and once again, just like before, it moved too slowly on its own to hit a fast-moving target. Luckily, Null had been working on a fix.

Firing a bolt of electricity at the trailer, the electric ball he'd fired homed in on it like a smart bomb, traveling like a jet to its destination, where it exploded on contact. The Static Rocket he'd been working on was a success. He just had to lock it onto something to make it move as fast as he needed it to go.

"Boom!" Null shouted gleefully at his new attack having worked, "Suck my electric dick!" He chopped his crotch in the direction falling trailer as he flew away, across the bridge to Gotham County.

Unfortunately, his troubles weren't quite finished yet.

As he flew, he was hit with a large red hand made of energy. It slapped him off of his Gravboard and knocked him back down to earth, outside of a fenced off patch of land. Just great. An open field. There wasn't even anything around he could use to turn the tide the way he had been fighting before.

Power Boy followed behind and shoulder-checked Null as he tried to stand, knocking him through the fence and smashing him through a wall, kicking him back out on the ground, "This is why I try not to fight very much," Null groaned in pain, "...Goddamn heavy-hitters."

Power Boy stood over the downed criminal, walking a circle around him as Null tried his best to settle his spinning head and recover, "Wow. You really thought you finished me with that? How weak do you think I am?"

Even in dire straits, against an enemy he needed more stopping power to beat, Null wasn't about to censor his mouth. He'd hurt Power Boy. As much as he wanted to lord superiority over Null, he could see that his last attack had left its mark. Even his standard electricity had done something to him.

"Since my electricity actually hurts you... ugh... I was banking on 'weak enough'. At least you're weaker than Supergirl," Null said while pushing himself up on all fours, "Oof!"

That crack got him a sharp kick to the stomach as Power Boy continued to stalk him, "Don't you say her name. You shouldn't be allowed to breathe the same air as her," He said, giving the downed Null another kick that sent him sliding across the ground, "Get up, parasite. Do you get it yet?"

Null stood up with an arm around his stomach, gripping at his waist close to his satchel, "Yeah, I think I get it now," The guy was jealous. Null dropped to a knee, seemingly from his wounds, before slowly standing back up, "What, are you Kara's ex? Because we've been friends for months, and you've never come up once."

Power Boy laughed at the thought, "Ex? No. When I finally have her, I won't do anything to screw it up. Not like you would. Because I love her," He shook his head clear and began thinking about Supergirl, "From the moment I first saw her on Apokolips, she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. Ever felt."

Null's mouth fell open in a mix of surprise and horror, "Apokolips? Like... the crazy-nasty planet with the one dude? Darkseid? That Apokolips?" Was he fighting an Apokoliptian? Just what had he gotten himself into this time? And forget jealous; Power Boy was obsessed. A superhero with violent ownership issues. Great.

Power Boy ignored Null's reaction, instead focusing on waxing poetic about Supergirl, a whimsical look in his eyes, "She was my missing half. I knew we would be together. And then, she left. So, I ditched Darkseid, and followed her across the universe," He closed his eyes and held a hand to his heart, "She tried so hard to fit in on this backwater planet, and all I wanted to do was hold her, tell her how beautiful she is. But she wasn't ready to hear it," His eyes opened and drifted over to Null, where his gaze hardened, "She needed someone to lift her up... and all she's doing is letting scum like you drag her down."

"Me? What the fuck did I do?" Null snapped at him, a bit of a slur to his voice, "I never told Kara to do anything. I mean, I give my thoughts on stuff when she asks, but that's all."

He didn't have her contemplating robbing banks and killing people. He'd never tell anyone to do such things, let alone a friend. Even if he had the power to get her on his side, to be a criminal like him, he still wouldn't do it. She had her own path to walk, and she had the right to figure things out for herself.

"You're poison – a bad influence," Power Boy insisted, threateningly carving a massive chunk out of the ground with his powers to intimidate, "She could be so special, but right now, she's lost, and she's too weak to find her way alone. She needs to be around someone who loves her, who knows what to build her up into, to make her into something she can be proud of," A smile on his face at his grand plans of being a couple with Supergirl, he marched forward, set on overwhelming Null once and for all, "We'll be perfect together. I can fix her. I just have to get rid of you."

Instead of running, or lashing out with a desperate attack, Null reached into his satchel and slowly pulled out a cellphone before pulling back the side of his hood. It revealed the earpiece he always kept in for hands-free calls. The screen of the phone showed an active call. The recipient was listed as 'Kara Zor-El (Supergirl)', and it had been going since Null had first heard her name come up.

Power Boy's eyes went wide, and he took a step away from Null who slowly began to grin evilly, "Well, Kara... you heard the man," He said, "What do you have to say about all of that?"

The Apokoliptian teen looked down as a shadow started to descend. He turned and looked up in horror as Supergirl hovered above them, looking down with an emotionless demeanor. She'd heard everything. His whole spiel. And where it took Null thirty minutes to make a similar trip on his board, if Kara really wanted to, she could do it in under five.

But… Power Boy loved her. He could make her see that. He knew he could. And now that things were out in the open, all the better! All he had to do was explain himself further. Then she would see where he was coming from, and that he was right!

Power Boy reached out to her, beseeching her to listen, "K-Kara, I-. YEAARGH!" His pleas fell on deaf ears when his entire hand was lit on fire from Kara's heat vision.

"Supergirl," Kara said coldly as she watched him try to put the flame out, "For you, it's just Supergirl," She spared a quick look in Null's direction, concern on her face when she saw him standing there, roughed up, "You okay there, big guy?"

Null held a thumbs up into the air as he swayed unsteadily in the breeze, "I want you to know, I totally could have won this," He said groggily, "I just figured when I heard your name, you'd want some say in this. Don't think I called you because he was beating my ass... 'cuz he wasn't."

Kara couldn't help but smile, even with the situation before her, "Gotcha," She said, before getting down to business. Namely, handing Power Boy his backside.

As Kara touched down on the ground and slowly started walking forward, Power Boy began to panic, "K-Kara, you're acting way out of line right now, Okay!? Can we start there and talk about this?" The girl was entirely unmoved, "...Or maybe I'll do the talking. The anger vibe coming off of you is no joke. It's part of what I do, you know. Empath."

"Is it now?" Kara said severely, "Sorry, I just get so agitated when someone tries to kill my date and says he's going to control me."

"But I'm doing this because I have to!" Power Boy spat, taking steps back as Kara came closer, "Don't you get it, you can be happy if you just listen to me!" Kara said nothing else, instead continuing to stalk forward, "K-Kara! Don't make me hurt you!"

Null inhaled sharply through his teeth in faux sympathy, "As an expert on running away, you should probably get moving, man," Instead of taking the advice, Power Boy panicked and lashed out with a punch that Kara stopped dead in the palm of her hand with an audible 'smack', "Or not. I don't really care what happens to you so-."

Kara's face showed a mixture of disappointment and disgust as she held Power Boy in place, "I wasn't going to do anything to you. I was just going to hear you out," She clenched down on the fist in her grasp, bringing him to his knees with enough pressure to shatter his hand, "-Until you did that. No one who says he loves you should hit you. Ever."

Even as he struggled aimlessly, Power Boy maintained that he was in the right, "You made me hit you because you wouldn't listen! Like now! You're not listening! Don't you want someone to take care of you?" He found himself lifted off of the ground with a kick between the legs. It got a wince out of even Null.

"I hear you loud and clear," Kara said casually before hurling the convalescing Power Boy away. He flew away from the field, over a mile, his body skipping off of the surface of the Gotham River like a stone. She took her time flying off in pursuit.

Null exhaled deeply and summoned his Gravboard back to him to lag behind at a slower pace, "Okay, somehow not pissing her off when we first met was the smartest thing I ever did without meaning to," He said to himself.

By the time he caught up with Kara, Power Boy wasn't in sight. Null couldn't sense him, and Kara seemed frustrated, "He made a Boom Tube. I didn't even hear it, though."

"The fuck's a Boom Tube?" Null asked with a tilt to his head.

Kara raised an eyebrow at him before realizing that today had been the first time he'd ever been in space. It wasn't likely that he would have been in a situation to deal with a Boom Tube prior to this, "Inter-dimensional travel portal. Don't worry about it. I think I heard where he went."

Null laughed at the casual way she said such things, "You heard where he went?" She could hear the use of a veritable teleportation device.

"Yep. Not a lot of noises out in space," Kara said, staring up, presumably in the general direction of where she'd heard Power Boy go, out amongst the stars, "I'm gonna go finish this. Call me later?"

"Hell yes," Null replied resolutely before realizing how desperate that may have made him sound, "I mean, yeah, sure. Absolutely. Sounds like a thing... that I can do. Later. When you get back," He said, moving his hands as though he didn't know what to do with them.

Kara shook her head, trying and failing not to smile. She was supposed to be upset, after all. Not at Null, but in general. She gestured for Null to step back, allowing her to take off with great force. Null covered his face to protect from flying debris. By the time he was able to look again, Supergirl was gone, a supersonic boom in her wake.

Null laid himself down on his Gravboard as it hovered over the surface of the river. What a day it had been. He lifted a hand into the air and watched his electricity crackle between his fingers.

Okay, so he had a decent grasp on his powers now. That was good. He wasn't afraid of going toe-to-toe with others anymore, even though he preferred not doing so. His repertoire was fairly diverse, but he still couldn't flatten certain types of people. He could hurt Power Boy, and had hurt him, but that wasn't a fight he was going to win without a little more 'oomph'.

The sound of an engine getting closer prompted Null to sit up, in time for the Batplane to come to a stop nearby. The hatch opened, revealing Batman inside, giving him a stern look.

Null wasn't even surprised. The fight in town had been a complete mess.

Come to think of it, did Batman even have any other looks?

"The situation on the bridge with Power Boy. Explain," Batman demanded, wanting to know what kind of trouble had transpired in his city.

Null relaxed back down on his board, arms and legs hanging off of the sides, "First of all, I didn't do anything wrong. I was on a date. Ask that asshole... if anything is left of him after Supergirl is done. You guys need to vet who you let be superheroes better."

A date? A date that left him covered in dirt and bruises, Batman observed, "From the way you look right now, I'm guessing it didn't go so well."

Null pursed his lips in thought at how everything had gone down before shrugging, "...All things considered, I think today actually went better than expected!"

"Hm," Batman's expression was unreadable, until he finally spoke again, "Keep your-."

"-Keep my nose clean. Yeah, yeah," Null said, preempting Batman from what he knew he was going to say, "As if."

Gotham City's chief hero lowered the hatch of the Batplane and whipped the aircraft around, hitting Null with river spray as he departed.

Null barely flinched from his relaxed position, despite laying drenched on his Gravboard, "Dick," He remarked, spitting out some water, before returning to staring up at the stars.

Somewhere up there, a girl he'd just been on a date with was beating the crap out of a jock superhero with a possessive, abuse problems. Power Boy was undoubtedly in the middle of a Kryptonian attitude adjustment from Supergirl.

The thought made him grin. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.