"Guys?" Impulse watched the red blip on the early warning radar grow larger, from a pin point to a golf ball. "Hmm, guys?"

At the table Robin was teaching Secret how to play chess. Superboy stood in the corner showing off (again!) while Arrowette and Wonder Girl looked on. None of them even heard him call out.

Why didn't they ever take him seriously? Well, okay, he thought, why didn't they at least take him seriously SOMETIMES? Sure, technically he was only two years old, but Superboy wasn't much older than that, and he got treated with a little respect. And the girls really seemed to go for him.

Impulse shook the mental image of Carol fawning all over Kon's leather jacket from his head.

"Guy's, I'm serious."

"Get a load of this," Kon said. "Mister broken synoptic here is pretending to be serious."

"But I am…"

"It's synapse, Kid, not synoptic," Robin said, and started to come over to the screen. "What's happening, Bart?"

"Well, this red thing -- whatever it is -- is getting bigger and bigger." He turned, looking Robin straight in the eyes. "That can't be good, right?"

Robin nodded. In a flash, the rest of the team joined them at the screen.

"Any idea what it is?" Arrowette asked Robin, nudging Bart out of the way.

"Yeah," said Wonder Girl. "Have you run a scan thing on it yet? How bad is it?"

"And how soon do we get to go teach it not to mess with Young Justice?" said Kon. They all turned and stared at him. "What?"

Bart zipped up next to Robin. "Sowhatisit?Howcloseisit?Doweknowhowtofightit?Isit friendlyorabadguy?"

"Slow down, Bart. You know I can't understand a word you say when you speak that fast."

Slow down, Bart. Don't touch that, Bart. Stop and think, Bart. They were all as bad as Max.But unlike Max, they couldn't keep up with him. A half a second later, he had a wonderful idea. Why not show them how important he was by figuring out this mystery before they even had a chance to map out the location of the blip? He'd show them. Besides, he'd fought blips bigger than that in the Seeds of Doom's Giant City video game. He'd even taken down the Kid Joker and helped Flash tackle Cobra. And neither Robin or Superboy had been in the Titans. He shrugged smugly. Right. No problem. He'd be back before they even realized he was gone.

*****

"Moon Scepter Power!" Sailor Moon stepped back and aimed the light from her scepter squarely at the chest of the dark crystal demon who had knocked Tuxedo Mask unconscious. The light found it's target and, within seconds, the fashion freak combination of a mermaid and a cyberpunk runway model dissolved into a fine black dust.

"Not bad, Sailor Moon," came the voice of Sailor Mercury. "She was tougher than the last few Emerald has sent."

"Yeah. I wasn't sure we could handle her." Sailor Jupiter pushed herself off the pavement to a half stance. "She pounded us pretty good."

"Believe in yourselves, Scouts." Tuxedo Mask's voice was weak and heavy. "You will find a way to defeat Emerald once and for all."

"I know we will, Darien. Are you okay?" Sailor Moon ran to him, knelt down, and lifted his head to her lap. "You're going to be okay, aren't you?"

"Quit worrying him, Serina. Doesn't he always get better?" Sailor Mars stepped forward, and Sailor Moon could feel Rae's shadow fall over her. "Don't be such a baby about it."

"But we're destined to be together, Rae. You're just jealous because you don't have anyone to --"

Her remark was cut short by a flash of green light that sent all the scouts careening backwards. When the smoke and light dissipated, they could see the Nega-Moon villainess known as Emerald standing over the once-again unconscious body of Tuxedo Mask.

Ooooohhhh, Sailor Moon thought, how dare that woman get near my Darien. She looks like she's ought to be working the streets, not helping out the Nega-Moon. The day I let a fashion victim like her touch my Tuxedo Mask is the day I turn in my moon scepter and stop eating cakes and sweets. She struggled to rise to her feet, feeling like her body had grown heavier.

"What do you think, Sailor Slouches?" Emerald cackled, brushing her green bangs aside with the back of a well-manicured hand. "It's a hand-held model of that loser Rubeus' gravity ray. Don't even think about getting up this time."

"You are the bane of love and justice everywhere." As hard as she tried, Sailor Moon found she couldn't get up. "And even if I have to to it lying down, I will punish you on behalf of the moon." She fought to raise her scepter but found the effort too much. Her arms were frozen to the ground by the increased gravity.

"Shut up, little girl. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll take the mystery man here and be on my way. Next time you see him, he'll be working for me. Hope you like your men tall, dark and sinister, Sailors." A portal opened up behind Emerald. From the look on her face, it seemed that it was a surprise to her too. "What?! This isn't my --"

The portal grew and swallowed up Emerald and Tuxedo Mask.

"Darien!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" With Emerald gone, Sailor Moon found that her increased gravity was gone as well. "Come on, Scouts, we have to save Tuxedo Mask!"

"But we don't know anything about that portal, Serina."

"I don't care, Mercury. I'm going if I have to go by myself."

"But we don't --" Mercury started to say again, just as she too was consumed by the growing portal.

"Mercury!!!!!!!" cried Sailor Venus, then, "Venus Love Chain Encircle!" The golden chain shot like lightning toward the portal and disappeared inside, dragging Venus with it.

"Ven --" the rest of the scouts started to say but the portal consumed them all before they could finish the cry.

*****

The first thing Impulse saw then he found the spot the blip had indicated was a massive circle of black light. It was black as pitch but still some form of light. Like anti-light or something Justice-League weird, he guessed. The perfect kind of thing to prove his worth against.

Without another thought he raced toward it and got the surprise of his life when he hit it hard and it actually pushed him back, sending him spinning back into the brush.

"What's is made out of?" he wondered out loud, "Industrial-strength gelatin?"

Before he could take another shot at it, a lady with green hair and a guy who looked like he was dressed for a school formal fell out of the circle of black. The guy appeared to be out-cold.

The woman, however, didn't. She said something Bart couldn't understand and a blade-like, black rock appeared out of nowhere. She took the rock and shoved it deep into the guy's chest as if his chest weren't solid anymore. Instantly the guy awoke and stood up, then bowed before the green lady.

In a flash Bart was there. "Are you guy's okay? I mean, at first I thought maybe you were a bad guy the way you shoved the rock in his chest, but he sure seems better now. Any idea what this thing is?"

The woman looked at Bart with a long stare. "I don't believe I've seen you before, boy." She let her eyes trace him, then turned to the guy in the tux. "Why do I always have to get the kids? Tuxedo Mask, destroy him!"

"In the name of milady Emerald, I must destroy you." Tux guy suddenly held a rose in her hand and was poised and ready to throw it.

Impulse laughed. "With a flower? You're kidding, right? What's next, a geranium gun?"

"You mock me?! How dare you!"

Impulse darted back and forth, tapping his foot loudly. "You don't know that plant lady from Gotham do you?"

Tux guy threw the rose and Impulse dodged it easily.

"You're fast. I'll grant you that. But I will destroy you to please the wishes of milady Emerald."

The lady in green smiled and stepped a few steps away. "I just love blind obedience in a man. It's so becoming, don't you think?"

Bart looked the situation over. Apparently the tux guy worked for the green-haired lady. And for some reason they both wanted to take him out of the picture. And apparently they had caused the blip on the screen and they were using the portal to teleport in and try to take over ... to take over ... well, to take over whatever city it was he was near.

"Why don't you go ahead and give up now?" he said. "It's pretty obvious that Rose Boy isn't going to a lot against somebody with super speed."

"Then he will die trying. Right, Tuxedo Mask?"

"Gladly, Lady Emerald."

Tuxedo Mask?! Tuxedo Mask?! His villain name was Tuxedo Mask? What did that have to do with throwing roses? Bart raced to him and with a single punch knocked him unconscious.

Wow! he thought. That was easier than normal. He stopped and stood over the guy's unconscious form. The guy looked young, just a few years older than himself. He hoped he didn't hurt him too much. Ever since Max had been shot thanks to Bart's brashness, he was trying to think things through a little more and keep people from getting hurt.

"Okay, lady. You're prom date is out cold again. Are you sure you don't want to give up now?"

Before she could answer, the lady vanished. Just disappeared -- without the puff of smoke he'd heard about.

"Wha --" he started to say, but was interrupted when five girls fell out of the black circle and hit the ground a few feet away from him. As they stood up, Bart noticed that they all wore similar outfits. With really short skirts. And that the one in the front had a really goofy hairstyle, like two meatballs on her head.

The meatball-headed girl glanced over the scene, saw him standing over the unconscious, overdressed guy, and yelled something about the moon, then zapped him with a burst of light. It hit him like a truck and sent him rolling backwards.

When he shook the pain from his head and chest, he noticed that all five of them were standing over him, the meatball-headed, blonde one in front. She pointed her magic wand thing at his chest again.

"I don't know who you are, but if you've hurt Tuxedo Mask, you're gonna be sorry," she said. "I'm Sailor Moon, and on behalf of the moon, I will punish you."

They all looked at him like he was the last piece of turkey at Thanksgiving. They were going to hit him again, he was sure, but all he could think was that Superboy would really love this. A lot. An awful lot.