Girl's Night Out
(Starring the DC teen heroes)
Chapter Two
Story by Sean Taylor
Art by Stephen Doll
When Robin and Spoiler reached the Young Justice cave, they saw it filled with familiar costumes. Mingled in the crowd were the faces of Arrowette, Secret, Argent, Wonder Girl, and Sparx. The other faces didn't look familiar at all, and if not for the colorful costumes underneath them, the girls wearing them might as well have been total strangers.
It was getting to be way too much to handle. Sure, finding out that her boyfriend would probably look better in her costume was bad enough, but seeing a cave full of find that Superboy, Impulse, and that guy from the Teen Titans could do so too went so far beyond bad that she'd need to leave bread crumbs just to find her way back.
"Hey, it's the Girl Wonder. She finally made it!" shouted a deep, sultry voice. Spoiler looked to see the owner of it. The leather jacket tagged the girl as Superboy, well, Super-model, anyway.
Robin ignored the remark and, after jumping out off the Super-cycle, headed straight for the only 'male' in the room, Red Tornado. Spoiler kept up with him, step for step, trying to shake the image of his runway walk.
"What's going on here?" Robin said when he reached the android.
"Didn't
you get the email?" Spoiler turned to see a red-headed bombshell in the Impulse
costume darting helter skelter around Robin. "It's a slumber party. And
Superboy's stoked because he finally get permission to go into the girls'
shower."
"Not while I'm in there," said Wonder Girl loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Ahem, welcome, Robin. I'm glad you could make it. I've grown rather tired of having to babysit the new girls," Red Tornado said flatly, "I took the liberty of calling a few reserves. In your present conditions, you might find them helpful."
At once, Spoiler found herself face-to-face with a young blonde girl in a light blue costume. She had deep blue eyes and was looking at her suggestively.
"Nice to meet you, gorgeous," the girl said in a hungry , husky voice."You work out, don't you?"
"Down, boy," Robin said. "Spoiler, meet Risk. He's something of a one-man self-appreciation society."
Steph laughed. "He doesn't look like a one-MAN anything to me."
The girls -- the real girls, the ones who had been girls yesterday -- laughed and watched as Risk, redfaced, backed off. In his place dropped a drop-dead gorgeous, dark-haired beauty with a lightning bolt emblazened across her embarrassingly large chest.
"Hi, I'm CM3. Remember me?" the girl asked.
"Fawcett City blue?" Steph asked.
"In the lily-white, pouty-lipped, man-killer flesh," came a voice behind him. It was Argent. She smacked him teasingly on the backside, like a boy might pat his girlfriend, then said to CM3, "Care to double with me and the real Captain Marvel sometime? I could probably hook you up with Atom or one of his JLA buddies like that dreamy Green Lantern."
"Very funny, Toni." He turned to Spoiler. "So, you like the new look we're all sporting?"
Steph grinned. "It's ... interesting."
"It takes some getting used to. I had to learn how to fly all over again almost. With this new body," he said, glancing down at his chest, "I've got more wind resistance than I've used to. And trying to throw a punch around these things. How do you guys do it?"
She glanced down at her own chest, turning a little red herself. "I guess we just get used to it. I don't know."
"Well, I hope I don't have to get too used to it." Argent opened her mouth like she was going to make another smart-aleck comment. "Not a word, Toni. Not a single word, please."
"Well," she teased, "since you said please." She laughed. "I wouldn't want to start a cat fight."
"Enough fooling around, people." Steph turned to see Robin taking a place at the head of the round table in the middle of the cave. "We need to get some answers fast." Robin was trying to use his take-charge voice, but the new vocal chords defied him, making him sound more like a late-night, female dj with an axe to grind about something.
"Well said," said Red Tornado.
"Well, I know where we need to start looking." The chick in the Superboy costume flew up to the front of the crowd. Every eye in the room looked at her with suspicion. "What, can I have a good idea too every once in a while. Girl Wonder here isn't the only one with a track record."
"Fine," said Robin, looking a little impatient. "What do you know?"
"That they didn't all happen at once. They started in a place called --"
"Marietta, Georgia," Robin said. "At 5:45 this afternoon."
Superchick appeared shocked, her mouth open and her eyes large as eggs. "How'd you know that? I was waiting to tell everyone at once."
"I've got connections. Now if you'd just loosen your bra a bit and stop trying to impress us, let's work together on this."
Spoiler heard a voice say softly behind her, "They're adjustable?" It had to be Impulse.
"Are you really wearing a bra underneath your costume?" Superchick dropped down behind Impulse and placed her hand on the back of the white and red costume. "Oh cool, Bart's really wearing a bra."
"Aren't you?"
"No." Superchick made a 'L' with her thumb and index finger, and pointed it at Impulse.
"I'm gonna get Carol for that."
Robin's lilting voice interrupted the fun. "Well, if that's settled, why don't we try to figure out a plan to get out of these bodies and back into the ones we know and love?"
Steph spoke up. "Robin's right. I don't know about you guys -- uh, well, girls," she added with a giggle, "but the sooner we find out why this happened, the sooner we can all start figuring out how to fix it."
*****
The plan was Robin's idea.
He -- since he still thought of himself that way, no matter what his eyes told him -- hadn't really expected Superboy and the guys to go for it. Well, maybe Impulse. After all, he was the only one of themwho had shown up in a bra.
Undercover work. It was nothing new to him. He'd done it many times, with Batman and solo. But never quite like this. Sure, he'd been a bum, a prep, a grunger, even a waster and a vamp. But always as a guy. Never as a high school supermodel.
Another look in the mirror confirmed that he was ready. Denim mini-skirt, short-sleeve sweater, white pantyhose and a pair of white flats. All chosen by Spoiler, of course. She'd even fixed his hair for the undercover assignment. She was good, he had to admit that. It was embarrassing how attractive she'd made him look. Way too embarrassing.
"Oh well," he said louder than he realized. "It's now or never."
Stepping out into the main hall of the cave, he was greeted by not only the girls, but the rest of the guys, already dolled up by their 'makeover artists.' He couldn't help but laugh.
For CM3, Argent had selected a curve-hugging, short knit dress with black hose and a pair of high, flat, black leather boots with fringe on the top. Wonder Girl had chosen a pair of khaki slacks and a shiny cream top for Risk, then set the ensemble off with a matching coat and a pair of beige oxfords. Impulse was sitting still -- for once, probably afraid he topple over if he tried to run in the low heels Arrowette had selected for him -- in purple jeans and a white, spaghetti-strapped top with a thin, matching cardigan. But the crowning jewel in the little beauty pageant was Superboy. Sparx had had a field day with him, choosing for him a short, black skirt, v-neck, sleeveless top that left his middrift bare, black tights, and a pair of pointed, black patent flats. To top it off, she'd puffed his bangs into classic 'big hair' style and worked the back into a long, thick braid. He looked like an extra from a bad 80s teen flick.
"One thing's for sure," Superboy said with a grin, "Nobody's going to mistake you for junior partner in the dynamic duo on this mission."
"Oh yeah, your outfit just screams 'Superboy,' doesn't it?" Risk butted in, "And I've seen smaller hair in an Alabama beauty parlor."
"Oh yeah, well, at least I don't look like a librarian."
"Oh yea, well --"
Robin let out a loud whistle. "Okay, ladies, no catfights, please. Or do you want us to get out the mat with the Jell-O?" Neither Risk nor Superboy said a word. "So, are we all clear on the plan?"
Great. It was bad enough when everything was normal. Superboy trying to strut his stuff in front of the girls. Impulse being, well, Impulse. Wonder Girl making goo goo eyes at SB all the time, and looking jealously at Arrowette. And Secret being so secretive. But now, with all the confusion created by the gender change, how would he ever get everyone to work together ? And if they couldn't work together, how could they ever hope to fix whatever had caused all the mix-up?
Some leader he was now. How could he lead a bunch of super-girls with any confidence when he knew he wasn't even able to defend even himself properly? After all, Steph had KOed him in no time flat, something that would never have happened when he was at his prime. It was that stupid new body, and he knew it. How did girls every get use to fighting with so much stuff to get in the way and such an odd center of balance?
Those who could took seats around the circular table. There weren't enough chairs, so some of them were left to stand or sit on the edge of the table. He promptly offered his seat to Steph when he noticed she hadn't found one herself.
"Always
a gentleman?" she said coyly, accepting the chair. "Even when just on the
inside."
He smiled. Somehow it was easier to take the jokes when they came from her. He was sure that, inside, she was just as confused as he was, and that making a joke out of the whole situation was just her way of dealing with it.
Superboy and Risk, on the other hand, seemed so angry at what had happened that they were way too eager to go toe to toe, if just to let off a little steam.
Yeah, he thought, some leader he was turning out to be. Robin, the Girl Wonder, leader of the League of Superchicks in tight spandex. Not exactly what he'd signed up for when he started training with Bruce.
"Sorry about the chairs," he said, clearing his throat to try to sound less 'sweet and cutesy,' "but we're not used to having more than the seven of us here normally. Let's go over the partners again, okay." He glanced around the table, making mental notes about the team-ups as he reviewed them. "Sparx, you and Risk check out the south side of town. Wonder Girl, you're with Impulse, and you two hit the north side. Arrowette and CM3, you guys take the eastside 'burbs. Spoiler, you and SB the 'burbs on the west side. Then Argent and I will check out the downtown area. The 'guys' will serve as decoys and primary info searchers while the girls stick to the shadows for protection and back up. And I do mean back up. The last thing we need is anyone in a costume inciting a fight before we know what we're dealing with."
He glanced around the table. Every eye was on him. No one said a word. Maybe he did still have what it took to lead. After all, none of the changes had affected his mind. And his mind -- as many from the Joker to Two-Face has learned -- was his greatest weapon. No matter what body housed it.
"Understood."
A fairly unison nod from the group.
"And Secret, you stay here with Red Tornado to monitor the com units. It's not exciting, I know, but somebody's got to do it."
Secret smiled, and gave him a thumbs up.
"Good, then. Let's get out of here and show Marietta a little girl power."