So sorry for the six months absence, we both had a lot going on in our lives. Here is the next installment of Heathens. Thank you for your patience and Enjoy!!

Terra scowled into the night sky, digging trenches into the sand as she dragged her feet. She had long given up furiously cursing the Light under her breath, but not before patting herself down for any bugs they could have snagged on her.

Yes, the whole thing still left a bitter taste in her mouth when she thought about it.

Maybe it was the sand - did sand even have a taste? - but still. Had any of those morons heard about privacy?

Probably not, if she was being honest.

Damn.

The cool wind brushed across her cheeks, causing light shivers to dance down her spine. Rubbing her palms in hope to spark some warmth, she glanced once again at the pitch-black midnight before squinting at a figure in the distance.

Was someone flying?

Then it hit her - the person was jumping, one impossible leap after the other.

That was Superboy, and he was coming right at her.

Splendid.

As if this nightmare of a day (had it really only been a day? She couldn't tell anymore) could get any worse.

He didn't seem too good - it looked like a part of his classic black-and-red tee had been ripped off and each time his feet touched sand, Terra could feel the vibrations on her toes from where they ached in her boots. Superboy was so far away, it was a little hard to see his moon-lit features, but what she saw...

Supes Jr hadn't gotten his cookie today, and he was angry.

Terra hoped he wouldn't notice her, she was all out of cookies and she wasn't entirely sure if she could manipulate sand. The blonde girl also couldn't see anything around that she could use against the clone and she knew for a fact he absolutely would demolish her in hand to hand.

Not that she was terrible at it or anything - she wasn't, she was pretty damn good. Not like Rose or Jade good, but she could hold her own. It was just that the teen was a clone of goddamn Superman, a literal godlike alien.

So yeah, Terra just wasn't in the mood to die. Not yet. She still had shit to do.

And Jason owed her money and she would be damned if she died before getting what she was owed from the little snot.

Terra made the smart choice to avoid Superboy, sprinting out of his path and hiding behind a sand dune to watch him continue on his angry journey to wherever he was headed. Once he was out of her sight, Terra emerged from her hiding spot and breathed a sigh of relief.

As the blonde went to wipe some nonexistent sweat from her forehead, she froze, looking down at the crunchy substance beneath her feet.

Repeating the movement once more, a smirk slowly formed on her face and she briefly felt a little stupid.

Of course she would be able to manipulate sand. It is technically earth and she can manipulate all things earth and stone. Duh.

That just made finding the others - and taking down any enemies - that much easier.

And it was a good thing she discovered that when she did because not long after she finished her little inner celebration Miss Martian appeared over the sand dune, flying right at her.

The wannabes really had to stop coming right at her, it was throwing off her groove.

Terra sighed, rolling her eyes as she started a sand storm around the green teen, immediately hearing sputtering and coughing. "Don't even think of brain blasting me, Martian, or I will fill your lungs with this godforsaken sand. Got it?"

Hearing what sounded like an affirmative noise, Terra lessened the sand storm, getting into a fighting position while upping her mental guard.

Miss Martian lowered herself to the ground, still coughing. She looked up at her foe with slight confusion in her eyes, tilting her head to the side. "Are you also on my team? You weren't in my memories, but I am having a hard time remembering everything right now, so I'm not sure about things..."

Terra paused, thinking it over.

She could definitely use this to her advantage.

The wannabes' telepath is confused and having trouble with her memory, in a vulnerable state and looking to Tara for guidance and help? Uh, yeah, Tara will help the green girl out...as long as she gets something in return.

"Yes. I am on your team, M'gann." Terra was so thankful to Jade for making them memorize the team's identities. "My name is Terra."

Stopping the sand storm completely, she walked up to the Martian and knelt next to her, using her powers to take the sand off her foe. Miss Martian smiled at her. "Thank you."

"Of course. What are friends for?" Terra smiled back, shrugging. "And I'm sorry. My brain is a little scrambled too. That's why I attacked."

"It's okay, Terra." Miss Martian stood up, offering a hand to the blonde. "Let's find Robin and the others. I think I saw Superboy go this way."

"I saw him too. Actually, I hid from him. He didn't look too good." Terra shuddered, blinking at the hand Miss Martian held out to her. "Do you want me to shake your hand? We know each other already, M'gann."

The Martian giggled. "No, silly. I'm going to fly us. Much faster and easier than walking. Come on!"

Terra had never flown outside a plane or helicopter, so who was she to turn down a flight with a real life Martian? She'll pass it off as gaining intel if pressed.

Somewhere across the sandy desert Red X was following Cheshire's star plan, finding it was taking forever and he was getting hungry.

"'Follow it to civilization,' she said. 'You'll get there,' she said."

Jason huffed, and gazed up once more, taking a break from muttering curses under his breath. He would blame his Hungry Hungry Hippo hunger on the fact that he hadn't eaten anything past breakfast, but he knew the real reason.

His belt, it seemed, to grow heavier with the realization that oh, hey, he's rather stupid.

"Yeah," X scoffed, "Like I knew the limits to teleportation."

You should, a cranky old voice - oh, hey, Slade! - bounced in his head, You should know that before-

Yeah, no. Cheshire showed that man his place and Jason did not want to think with his - old - mentor just yet.

That showdown? Explosive, just like the ammo on those - very clearly Bialyan - tanks.

He'd decided to steer clear after seeing the wannabe's Flash and Green Arrow zipping away from the barrage. It did make logical-ish sense if Queen Bee and the Light did have a part in it, especially if it were a test.

Red X was somewhat sure they didn't want him dead, so he noped out of there as soon as the 120mm's came out to play.

Then came the issue of how he chain-teleported.

"Not today," he sang under his breath, smoothly sliding - no, he is not falling - down a sand dune.

Not his day, got it.

Popping to his feet, X dusted the grains off his armour and tilted his helmet to let some stray sand slide out.

When he got back to civilization, the first thing he'd be doing was hopping in the shower and waiting there till he was as red as a tomato, and then straight to bed because-

"Woah-!" a soft and awed voice rang out, green eyes fixed on the shimmering blade that was pointed in his direction.

"Geez," Red X hissed, withdrawing the blade and risking a careful - no, his age-old fight or fight instincts did not kick in - step back, "Kid, what are you doing here?"

The boy who owned the emerald eyes looked as if he was seeing a unicorn. "Woah," he repeated, and Jason was honestly worried for his vocabulary range before the kid continued, "Twice in a day? I'm so lucky! I can't belie-"

"Wait, wait, wait, back it up," the older of the two interrupted, raising a hand and giving the child a pointed look, "What do you mean by 'twice'? Who are you?"

Jason bit his tongue before he could ask where the kid came from. If the Light was watching, they wouldn't like to know that Jason's situational awareness was currently little to none all because of a bad tumble and an empty-yet-queasy stomach.

"You're the second - well, not hero - masked dude I've seen out here!" the boy gushed, looking far too excited to be talking to... whatever they're calling Red X nowadays. "Well, not exactly second, but still. Oh, and I'm Gar! Nice to meet you!"

"Uhm," Jason licked his lips, giving 'Gar' a look-over and thinking over his next few words, "Masked dudes? Like - like Kid Flash?"

"Yeah! I saw Kid Flash, and Robin, and Aqualad, and - oh, I have to tell you about M-"

"Gar, where are you?" Another voice called out, just behind a dune, "Gar, don't tell me you've gone beyond the gate-"

A woman with hair as red as the kid came from a nearly invisible path in the sands, looking tired and frustrated, but relieved when she looked over her - son, probably.

"Garfield," she breathed out, her admonishing tone filled with barely hidden relief as she swiped the messy nest of red away from Gar's face, "What have I told you about leaving the sanctuary, especially after today-"

Then she saw Jason, and her tan skin lost some of its colour.

"Hi," Jason waved, shuffling a little under the intensity of the green orbs that had gotten stuck onto the ruby red X on the helmet.

"Yeah," Gar beamed, tugging on his - probable - mother's sleeve to catch her attention, "I found him wandering around! He's lost!"

"I'm a little turned around, kid, not lost-"

"Gar - Garfield, what-"

"Mom-" ah-ha! "-Can we keep him?"

Wh - What?

"No!" Gar's mom hissed, grabbing her son's shoulder and pushing him further away from the armoured teen, "No, I am not-"

"Listen to your mom, I'm not house friendly or domesticated-"

"Please?" Gar interrupted, looking up at them with wide, wet eyes and popping his quivering lower lip out, looking like a cat begging for cream. "Just for a little? To help?"

Oh god, Jason slowly realized, this was the worst test the Light could've ever given.

And it was puppy eyes.

Gar's mother seemed to have the same issue, but calmly sized up Red X and then looked at her son, keeping the air of a woman in control.

"Fine," she relented, ignoring her son's cheer and turning a scathing glare onto Jason, who felt a little - who was he kidding, it was majorly - out of place. "But only to help you gather yourself. Plus, no funny business. Got it?"

"She has a shotgun," Gar cheerfully added, "And she's not afraid to use it."

"Thanks for the heads-up," Jason thickly swallowed, "There will be no doing of funny business."

"Great," she smiled, waving the stranger over, "Now that's cleared up, let's get back home. It's late, and Gar's had a long, long day."

You and me both, kiddo, Jason wistfully thought but bit his cheek and said instead, "Don't mind me asking, but who are you?"

Garfield's mother turned back from where she was leading their little procession and smiled, "Oh, I'm Marie Logan. I'd say it's nice to meet you, but-"

"Mom," Gar whined, "You don't say those things!"

"Why not?" Marie challenged, features softening when she scanned her child's every features with sure tender care that it made Jason feel as if he were intruding on something.

(He also ignored the stiff and ugly feeling in his chest, pushing that far, far, far down.)

"Because!" Gar pouted, looking like a grumpy cat that Jason desperately wanted to pet.

Marie laughed - a soft, warm chuckle filled with bright amusement - a quiet yet loud thing against the expanse of yellow sands and budding greenery.

And, looking at a mother and her son, Jason hoped that the Light didn't ask for their... disposal.

(He just couldn't imagine either of those twinkling forest eyes staring into the starry night sky, unblinking.)

"So," he piped up, forcing a thin smile to his lips even though the Logans couldn't see it, "What does it take for a masked dude to get some cell signal?"