"Jaime, let's go over there!"

"No, Mil. We already spent too much money on lunch. Mom's going to yell at us again if we spend it all." Jaime sighed as they walked down the San Diego sidewalk, "how was training? You getting used to the ring?"

"Yeah!" Milagro clenched her fist and pumped it in the air, her Green Lantern Corps. ring glowing before Jaime's eyes, "Mr. Gardner is really nice and let me keep this ring!"

"Ah." Jaime chuckled, "don't you like Mr. Jordan better?"

"Nah. Mr. Gardner is the best!" Milagro laughed.

"Stop!"

Jaime and Milagro turned to see a man wearing a black mask holding a woman by the neck.

"Hand over that purse!" The man demanded.

"Never!" The woman managed, "someone h-help!"

"How dare you disobey me!" The man tightened his grip, choking the woman.

"Hey!" Jaime shouted and ran over, "leave her alone!"

"Well, well." The hooded man's partner chuckled as the man dropped the woman, who was coughing and gasping for breath, "it's just a kid. What are ya gonna do, Kid? Go crying to your mommy?"

"Get out of here." Jaime commanded the woman, who nodded and ran.

"You wanna go, Child?"

"You bet." Jaime challenged, "Mil, stay back."

Milagro nodded slightly and stepped backwards.

"You'll pay for this!" The man cackled as he cracked his knuckles and threw the first punch.

"Too slow." Jaime easily dodged it, then pulled a leg-sweep technique on the man.

>> Canary's training has really paid off. << Jaime chuckled.

>> Jaime Reyes, your anger has clouded your judgement. You are nothing without your armor. << Jaime recognized the voice of his Scarab in his mind.

>> Relax, Scarab. I've got this. << Jaime reassured him as his opponent lay coughing on the ground from the impact of the fall. Jaime was ready to punch him in the face, but remember his young eight year-old sister was watching, "give up, yet?"

"Nope." The man chuckled as more from his 'gang' walked out. Each wielding a loaded gun.

"Put your hands over your head, Punk!"

"Whoa, whoa, what's going on?!" Jaime looked around in horror.

"Jaime!!"

"It'll be okay, Mil..." Jaime hugged Milagro close to him.

>> Jaime Reyes. Use your Plasma Cannon. Its range and power will be most effective against these men. << Jaime's scarab instructed him.

>> No. Not with this many bystanders... << Jaime saw all the San Diego residents watching, as they were on the busiest side of the city, >> And especially not in front of Milagro. <<

"Jaime, do something!" Milagro held onto Jaime's sleeve tightly as one of the gang members cocked his gun.

"Now hand over your money! All of it!"

>> Scarab!! What do I-- <<

>> Plasma Cannon. <<

>> No! <<

>> Then I can't help you. <<

>> Screw you, Scarab... << Jaime held Milagro tighter.

"Fine." The gang member chuckled, "see ya on the other side."

"Jaime!!" Milagro screamed.

Oh well... Jaime thought, is this really the end?

The last thing they heard was the burst of a gun and screams all around them. Suddenly, Jaime felt what he thought felt like... rain.

"Jaime!"

Jaime looked down at Milagro, who was smiling in awe. He looked up all around him and saw that they were in a dome of water. He saw the bullets that were shot in the water, just floating five feet away from them.

Aqualad... Jaime smiled, but jumped when he heard an unfamiliar voice right behind him.

"Hey. You okay?"

Jaime turned to see a girl with black hair and a purple and white outfit.

"Who are you? How'd you get in here?"

"I created this dome." The girl replied.

What?! Not Aqualad? Jaime stared at her, "who are you?"

"My name's Aquagirl."

Aquagirl... Jaime continued to stare, before Milagro yanked on his sleeve.

"Jaime, look!" She pointed outside the dome, and they saw the gang members had ran.

"It's her!" one of them screeched.

"Get out of here! We can't beat her!" another added as they suddenly vanished faster than they showed up.

"I have to go." Aquagirl said.

"Wait!" Jaime started, but before he could say anything else, she disappeared with the water dome in a large puddle on the concrete.

"That was awesome!" Milagro smiled.

"Are you kids okay?" A man ran up to them, followed by the woman he had saved from the gang.

"Thank you for helping me." the woman thanked them, "it looks like Aquagirl saved the city again."

"Aquagirl. You know her?"

The woman nodded, "of course. She's the guardian of the West Coast. Without her, many of us would be dead. Possibly including you."

"Yeah." Jaime looked at the puddle, then saw a reflection, "hm?"

He reached in and pulled out a plastic identification card. He examined it, and the water had washed out most of the lettering and the picture. Nothing recognizable. But he did recognize a school logo, thus making the inference that this card is a school ID.

"Jaime?"

Jaime looked down at Milagro, then back up at the woman, smiling, "thanks again. Come on, Mil. I need to go make a phone call."

________________________________________

"Back here..." Dick gazed around San Diego.

"Alright. You are certain we will meet up with them this time, right?"

"Yes, Kaldur." Dick reassured him, "I made sure they knew to meet here."

"It's been an hour. They haven't shown." Aqualad sighed, "is Jaime still here?"

"He should be." Nightwing replied casually, "I mean, he's here with his family."

"Hm." Aqualad nodded. They've been waiting atop the building for what felt like ages before the people they were waiting for finally showed up.

Nightwing got up from the ledge he was sitting on, "you're late."

"Oh please. Admit it. We could never have come and you'd still be here." The blonde chuckled.

"You're really testing our patience." Nightwing crossed his arms.

"It's fine." Aqualad eased the tension, "thank you for meeting us."

"No, thank you for this opportunity." The other girl shook her head.

"We're going thin on members. And with a huge case over our heads about a rogue member, we need all the extra help we can get." Nightwing explained.

"So..." The blonde shoved her gloved hands into her brown leather jacket pockets, "what is this case? If we can..."

"We appreciate the offer." Nightwing cut her off, "but that's classified information we don't just hand out to newbies so easily."

"At least not yet." Aqualad added, "we will ask you questions back at the cave."

"That's fair."

Nightwing cleared his throat, "so. Names?"

"I'm Tara Markov." The blonde spoke first, "my Superhero ID is just Terra."

"And I'm Jennifer Pierce. Lightning." The other girl introduced herself.

"Your Superhero names are very self-explanatory." Aqualad grinned, "we'll head back to the cave right away."

"Right." Nightwing nodded, "follow me."

The two girls nodded, following close behind Aqualad and Nightwing as the Bioship appeared. As soon as it did, they quickly boarded and left.

Tara and Jennifer looked at each other and nodded as they watched outside the window of the ship flying over the cities and to Happy Harbor.

"So..." Jennifer looked down at Mount Justice, "this is the team's HQ."

"Pretty much." Nightwing nodded.

"Interesting." Tara nodded in response, "we're going in, right?"

Nightwing looked at the two and nodded slowly, "of course..."

"Right. Yeah sorry. Don't really like this humidity." Tara shrugged.

Nightwing and Aqualad looked at each other, but continued on into the cave's hangar.

As soon as the got off, Nightwing turned to Aqualad, "make sure Jaime doesn't get out of line while in San Diego..." Once Aqualad nodded, he turned back to look at the two girls, "I called for someone to come give you two the official tour. As soon as that's over, we'll get you two registered into the cave systems."

"Nice." Tara nodded in understanding as she and Jennifer gazed around the halls and rooms in utter fascination, "this place... Way too cool."

Jennifer nodded in agreement as she passed one of the cave's system pads closely, eyeing it, "so this is how the system works..."

"Ahem."

The two girls stopped and looked up to see M'gann and Cassie standing at the doorway, "oh, hello."

"Hi!" Cassie beamed, "so you two must be Tara and Jennifer, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Soo nice to meet you guys!" Cassie smiled.

"So we're here to show you to your rooms." M'gann explained.

"Oh, yes, right." Tara nodded, "let's go, Jennifer."

"Yep." She nodded as they followed Cassie and M'gann. Before leaving the room, Jennifer glanced back to look at the system pad for a few more seconds, then turned back and followed the group.

- To be continued-