The New Girls
(part six)
by Green Lantern Lady

Author's Note: Liz Paige and Caitlin Arnold were ordinary girls from our world, the boring one where superheroes are only little dots of ink on paper. They idolized the Green Lantern and the Flash, their favorite heroes, and wished that could have their powers, even though they knew it was impossible. Then, one fateful day while they were walking home from school, Liz picked up an odd-looking marble, like the type used in fish tanks. Thinking nothing of it, Liz showed Caitlin the marble. They accidentally touched it at the same time and were sucked into another world- one that they knew well, Metropolis. They eventually were able to blackmail their way into the home of Clark Kent, a.k.a. Superman, and during their stay, attained the powers they had always dreamed of. The girls discovered how to use the “marble” to travel back and forth between the two universes that they called home. And now they know that dreams really can come true…

"How in the heck are we going to get into THAT?" Flash Girl asked, staring up at the D.E.O compound, a hulking giant of steel wire and concrete. "It's tighter than Fort Knox!"

"Want to give up now?" Robin asked, glancing over at her. Instantly Flash Girl shut up. "Impulse, I want you to-"

"Can do," the speedster replied, swiping away. Almost immediately he was back. "Do what?"

Flash Girl sighed. And Liz says I never listen, she thought.

Patiently, Robin explained that he wanted Impulse to check around the compound and report back with information on where guards were posted.

"And remember- don't let anybody see you," Robin cautioned.

"Maybe I should go with him," Flash Girl offered, glancing at Impulse. "Just to make sure he doesn't get into any trouble."

"I don't need a babysitter!" Bart whined, looking at Caitlin with an insulted look on his face.

"Maybe it'd be a good idea," Arrowette cut in, despite herself. Seeing Imp's betrayed look, she added apologetically, "Well, you do seem to run into trouble a lot, Bart."

"Fine, you can go. Just don't let yourselves be seen!" Robin emphasized. The two sped away.

Minutes later they returned, reporting that guards were posted all around the compound every 40 feet or so. However, Caitlin added, the shifts seemed pretty long, so some of the guards were sleepy.

"Good," Robin said, after hearing this. "We should be able to bypass them easier. Secret, you swarm in like a fog and surround one or two of the guards. Then, Wonder Girl and Superboy will knock them out. That's when the rest of us sneak in. By the time you leave, we should be past the guards.

"Once we're in, we need to find any files we can on where she might be. Imp, Flash Girl, you two create a diversion on the other side of the building from the file rooms. Stir up as much trouble as you can, just DON'T GET CAUGHT. Open some of the cells, then get back to us as quick as possible. You clear on that? We'll crawl through the air vents, so nobody can see us."

"Sounds like a plan," Wonder Girl said, standing up.

Secret didn't waste any time in swarming the guards. Superboy and Wonder Girl made quick work of the two goons that were suddenly in fog so thick they couldn't see, and it wasn't too hard to break into the air vents. It was tedious work, crawling through the narrow tunnels, and once or twice SB banged his head on the top, almost giving them away.

Finally, Rob, Arrowette, Wonder Girl and Superboy dropped into the file room. Flash Girl and Impulse continued on until they were over some of the cells that held the captives at the D.E.O. Dropping down as quietly as possible, the two sped around, opening doors and creating a clamor. As guards started to swarm down the halls, the two returned to the air vents. Impulse wasn't moving fast enough- his feet were all tangled up- so eventually Flash Girl had to pull him in, accidentally scraping him on the edge of the vent. She clapped a hand over his mouth to keep him from yelling in pain. They crawled back to the file room as fast as their knees and hands could carry them.

"I think I found it!" Arrowette whispered, as loud as she dared. Holding up her find, she smiled proudly. The others rushed over to her to see what she held- a thin file on Green Lantern Lady, a.k.a. Liz Paige. Opening it up, they found a small piece of paper- more like an index card- in among the larger sheets that held information on the girl. Carefully, they made out the words typed onto the card:

"Held in room: 509

Status: Disposable- execution at soonest notice."

Flash Girl, who had just returned, tried to swallow the lump in her throat as tears sprang to her eyes. They could already be too late.

Robin looked at the card grimly- things didn't look good. "Well," he said finally, "we don't know if they've got her yet. We'll go and check- hopefully they were waiting for you-" he looked at Flash Girl "-to tumble into their lap before they got rid of her." Carefully, Arrowette replaced the file and the group returned to the vents. They made their way to the 500s wing, trying to proceed as quietly as possible. Finally, they looked out the slatted covers on the vents at room 509.

At the sight of guards, Flash Girl quavered, then smiled. Liz had to be alive- you don't post guards outside empty rooms!

Wonder Girl, who saw the relieved look on Flash Girl's face, patted her back and smiled. It was the first time since she had met the girl that she'd seen her even mildly happy. In the cave she'd been mad- on the trip here she'd been anxious- and in the woods she'd been worried.

Robin indicated that Impulse and Flash Girl should go down the hall and stir up a little trouble, to distract the guards. The two nodded and rushed off. A few moments later the group could hear a crash as some metahuman, long imprisoned, broke free of it's cell and started enacting its vengeance on the nearby guards. One of the guards in front of the door responded to the summons coming from his walkie-talkie, but the other one stood his guard. Robin cursed him silently. Looking at Secret, he pointed out the vent, indicating that she should try to break into the room. Nodding, she became as transparent as possible and slipped through the slats.

Secret knew she wouldn't be able to get directly past the guard, so she trickled into the storage closet next door to Green Lantern Lady's cell. Inside, she found an interesting machine hooked up to the connecting wall. It seemed like some sort of pump into the next room. Deciding to follow it, she slipped into the liquid compartment and from there into the hoses that went through the wall…

Liz noticed the brownish-colored smoke that was rising from the gas boxes almost immediately. At first sight of it, she had walked over to her cot and sat down, pulling herself into a little ball. There she had sat, prepared to meet her maker. Soon, though, she realized that the smoke, which should have been filling the room, instead gathered together and solidified into the form of a young girl in a trenchcoat…

"Secret!" Liz squeaked, unfolding herself. At the sound of her name, the girl looked up, startled.

"How did you know that?" she asked, a puzzled look on her face.

"I know everybody," Liz said casually, as if that explained everything. Smiling, she stood up. "Man, am I glad to see you! I thought you were some kind of nerve gas!" Suddenly, she turned serious. "You've got to get me out of here. They'll kill me!"

"I know," Secret replied, floating up to her. Noticing the box on Liz's hand, she stared at it. "What's that?"

Liz held it up. "The only reason I can't get out of here. Do you think you could bust it for me?"

"I think so," Secret said, eyeing it carefully. Forming her hand into a tendril of mist, she sneaked into the little gap around Liz's wrist. She added more and more of herself into the box until she started flowing out again. Concentrating, she expanded, pressing against the plastic until-

BANG!

The box shattered into a million little pieces, leaving Liz's hand free. Smiling, she charged her ring up with her willpower, making it shine dazzlingly. Secret noticed that a black mask suddenly materialized around the girl's eyes and nose, changing the look of her cheekbones and her face in general. Green smiled at that- she felt stronger, behind that mask.

"Stand back," she warned Secret. "I'm going to do a little damage to this place." Aiming at the door, she hurled a blast of green energy. The impact sent the door flying, only to crash into the opposing wall. Harris, the guard who had stayed behind, stood up and in one smooth movement held his gun up at the girls inside the room. Green smiled wryly.

"Look, buddy," she said, her gray-blue eyes cold. "You're looking at one teenage girl and the most powerful weapon in the universe. I suggest you stand aside." Harris hesitated at that, and slightly lowered his gun at the memory of what she had done to the door. Taking advantage of that, Green sent out a tendril of green light, which reached out and grabbed the gun from Harris's unsuspecting hands. The tendril thickened and formed a ball around the gun. When she let it go, what had once been a high-tech piece of weaponry was now a pile of little metal pieces on the floor. Before Harris could do anything, she and Secret pushed past him.

Green glanced up and down the hallway, trying to decide what to do next. For now the halls were clear of any guards, but she knew that there was probably an alert going around the building at that very moment. There wasn't anywhere to hide, and running wouldn't get them anywhere.

"Psssttt! Up here!" And unseen voice hissed, getting her attention. Looking up, she could just see a caped figure through the slats in the vent cover above her.

"Hi. So, you came to save me, huh?" Green managed to say casually.

"In a way," Robin answered, voice a whisper. "Your partner can be very persistent."

"Tell me something I don't know. Coming up." She carefully rose herself off the ground, so that she was level with the vent. Four green screwdrivers went to work on the screws at the corners, and Green had to act fast to keep the cover from crashing to the ground. Checking the hallways up and down, she crawled in. The vent cover went back to its place, the screwdrivers replacing the screws again before disappearing.

"Nice work," Arrowette commented. "I wouldn't think to do that."

"That's why I'm a Green Lantern, and you're Arrowette," Green replied, smiling not unkindly. "Come on, let's get out of here. You guys lead- I'll follow."

Pure bedlam reigned in the hallway as the test subject that Imp and Flash Girl had let loose battled with the guards that had responded to the alert.

The two speedsters huddled in a corner, trying hard not to be seen. Though they had been able to distract the guards away from Liz's room, they had accidentally gotten themselves surrounded. Finally, realization dawned on Flash Girl. Getting Imp's attention, she indicated that they should vibrate through the walls and make a getaway. Imp nodded, agreeing with the plan. Carefully, Flash Girl stood up as much as she could in the crowed space. Taking a deep breath, she vibrated through the wall in front of her. Impulse followed. The two found themselves on the other side of the guards- and under the eyes of a D.E.O. agent who had turned around to reload…

read part seven | return to fan fic index