PLEASE READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE! VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION!

Ok, here's chapter 4. I know, it's been months. And honestly, the only reason I'm updating is to let everyone know that PICTURES ARE UP ON MY PROFILE PAGE!

Yes, thanks to a review from a more informed member than I, I was made aware that you can put links in your profile. SO ALL THE PICTURES RELATED TO THIS STORY AND ALL MY OTHER OCs ARE ON MY PROFILE.

PLEASE CHCEK THEM OUT!

Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed! It's been too long to remember whom I have and haven't thanked yet, so just thanks to everyone. And now, on to what I hope to be a hilarious chapter 4.

Tell me what you think, and enjoy!

It wasn't long after my interesting day at Atomic Comics that Red Mist contacted Kick Ass's Myspace. In fact, Dave was telling me about it the very next night. I hoped it was because of me that Red Mist had made such a speedy get-together, but that was mostly fantasizing. The exchange went as such:

It wasn't long after my interesting day at Atomic Comics that Red Mist contacted Kick Ass's Myspace. In fact, Dave was telling me about it the very next night. I hoped it was because of me that Red Mist had made such a speedy get-together, but that was mostly fantasizing. The exchange went as such:

"So have you heard of that new superhero?" He was asking me as we skulked around the streets, "Red Mist, I mean."

"No, actually." I said, holding back my smile. Dave was silent a minute, waiting for me to continue.

"No tricks?" He asked. Ah, so he was learning, "You haven't actually heard?"

"No tricks." I assured him, "Why don't you tell me about him."

"Oh, ok. Well he-"

"Of course I've heard of him, dork." I interrupted, smirking, "I was in Atomic Comics the day he went public."

"Wait, you were there? I was there!" He said, sounding maybe a little frustrated with himself for not looking for me, a habit he's told me he's taken up recently.

"No shit, Sherlock; I saw you." I replied. Kick Ass was silent again, looking at my face for any sign of me lying. Like I'd let it show on my face; he still had a lot to learn about me I guess.

"Aha!" He said, pointing at me, "You weren't there." He had to dodge a signpost he'd nearly run into while he wasn't paying attention.

"I'm not lying." I said, completely deadpan, and staring him down.

"All right, you were there." He said feebly, holding up his hands. I smiled at him as we continued to walk.

"So anyway-"

"Red Mist messaged your Myspace." I finished for him, my smile turning into a smirk.

"How do you do that?" He demanded, flabbergasted. I just shrugged, "You wanna go meet him, then?"

"Yes." I said simply. So we changed course for the alley Kick Ass had specified.

We had been waiting in the dark space between two buildings for a while. Kick Ass was on the ground just screwing around and I sat on the ledge above him, watching Bitey chase rats. I was becoming impatient, but stayed in the shadows and waited like a good girl. I tried not to let my anxiety about seeing Chris again get to me. And before I knew it, Red Mist had appeared on top of a dumpster in the alley below me. I drew my legs up to avoid being noticed. I wanted to see if he'd tell Kick Ass about us meeting already, like I assumed he would.

I stifled a giggle as my partner finally noticed the other's presence, both striking a heroic pose as they were introduced. They went back and forth for a minute or two, throwing out compliments and generally playing kiss-ass. You know, the usual bullshit people say when meeting someone with some semblance of renown. I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"So anyway," Red Mist finally said, hands on his hips, rocking back and forth, "Where's your partner?"

"Who, Bandit?" Kick Ass asked, like he had some other partner besides me, "I thought she was around..." He trailed off, looking around for me.

"Oh, I figured she'd be with you." Red Mist said, losing the cocky tone he usually had. He maybe even sounded disappointed; I bit my lip and tried to hold back my smile.

"Wait." Kick Ass said, squinting at Red Mist and tilting his head to the side, "Bandit's never gone public. How do you know about her?"

"I met her once." Red Mist continued, picking up that cocky, but I had to admit sexy smirk, "Without a mask." He added, because he probably figured that would make my partner jealous.

"I hate to spoil your fun, man." Kick Ass said with a laugh and a self-confident grin of his own, "But she doesn't always wear her bandana. I know what she looks like too." Red Mist opened and closed his mouth, apparently not sure how to respond to that.

I then became aware that I was being used as a prop in a childish pissing contest, so I took the opportunity to slide down a drain spout and break it up.

"Someone say my name?" I said through my bandana. I didn't mean to discredit my partner, but I felt that wearing it was more neutral.

"There you are." Kick Ass said to me quite calmly, while Red Mist stumbled back a bit. Bitey followed me down, first jumping down to the dumpster previously inhabited by the newest of us superheroes, then right onto the startled Red Mist himself, before landing gracefully on the ground.

"Hey Bandit." Red Mist said in his usual cocky tone once he'd recovered, flashing me a toothy grin. I willed my heart to be still, and my voice to remain even.

"Hey Red Mist." I returned coolly. There was a stretch of silence as Kick Ass glanced back and forth between Chris and I, looking a little put out.

"Well now that we're all here..." Kick Ass started, but falling off as he realized that the ball was basically in Red Mist's court.

"Oh, yeah." He said, "You guys wanna go fight some crime?"

Kick Ass and I replied at the same time; me with a "hell yeah", and Dave with "what, now?" We looked at each other and laughed.

"Come on, partner." I said, giving him a playful shove, "Let's go have some fun." With that decided, Red Mist offered me his arm, which I refused, and we set off down the alley; Chris said he had something to show us.

"What's up with you two?" Dave asked me in hushed tones, his voice having a hardness to it. I raised an eyebrow at his tone.

"Absolutely nothing." I said evenly, "Don't be jealous."

"I'm not jealous!" He replied, sounding affronted.

"I know you aren't." I said, smiling a little more sweetly than usual and giving his hand a quick squeeze, "I'm just reminding you that you don't have to be." Dave seemed surprised by my sudden change in attitude, but gave me a weak smile and gripped my hand in return. He turned his head as we exited the alley.

"Sweet!" He said, sounding impressed. I looked into the parking lot to see a single car under the light of a street lamp. I'd never been much of a car person, but even I had to admit that Red Mist's ride was awesome.

"Meet the Mist Mobile." Chris said as he led us over to it.

"Oh wow." I said sarcastically. I thought Chris was cute with his dorky tendencies, but talk about living out a fanboy fantasy. He opened the passenger side door for me, and I crawled into the back seat with Mr. Bitey.

"You could sit up front-" Red Mist was saying, but Kick Ass pointedly cut him off by claiming the passenger seat for himself. So with that being taken care of, we were off.

We hadn't been in the car for five minutes before Red Mist was showing off all the gadgets he had equipped, as well as "the Mist", which I think he thought we would find really cool. I can't speak for Kick Ass, but I can easily say I was much more taken with his iPhone and GPS.

Then out of the corner of my eye I saw Red Mist pick something thin and white up from the ashtray and bring it to his lips. And from the way he took a drag off it and held it between his forefinger and thumb, I could tell it wasn't a cigarette.

"Smoke?" He had the audacity to ask Kick Ass and I. My partner politely declined, "I feel a little weed takes the edge off things when I'm on patrol, you know?"

"What about you, Bandit?" He said, trying to turn his face to see me in the back with a devil may care grin, "Wanna have some real fun?" I glared at him before taking the vile substance from his hand.

"Ah, she knows how to party- ouch!" Red Mist's self-confident smirk dropped as I ground the smoldering end of the joint into his red and black wig. The foul-smelling smoke no longer issued from the open end, and there was a small circular singe mark in Chris's fake hair. He tried to protest as I reached across him to roll down his window and throw it out.

"The only thing you're taking an edge off is your ability to drive." I said dangerously in his ear before settling back down in my seat. He didn't seem angry with me, and I noticed a blush creeping out from under his mask; he should be embarrassed. The car was silent for several blocks before, clear out of nowhere, Dave called a Padiddle. Simply from force of habit, I felt my hand smack the roof.

"What the hell was that?" Red Mist questioned the two of us. Kick Ass and I exchanged glances.

"You've never played Padiddle?" My partner asked incredulously.

"Um, no. Obviously not." Red Mist said, "What is it?"

"It's a driving game." I said, "When you see a car that has a headlight, taillight, or any light really, that's burned out you say 'Padiddle' and hit the roof of the car with your hand."

"Whoever hits the roof last has to remove an article of clothing." Kick Ass finished, looking at Red Mist like he was an alien; which was about the same look he was giving us.

"Like- like this?" He asked, tentatively tapping the roof with one hand, the other still on the wheel of the car.

"Precisely." I said, "Which makes you last." I added with a smirk.

"Wait, we're actually playing?" Kick Ass turned to look at me with fear in his eyes. I chuckled quietly at his face.

"Sure. Why not?" I asked nonchalantly with a shrug of my shoulders, "Doesn't Superhero-style Padiddle sound fun, Red Mist?" I directed this last sentence at Chris, who was looking at me in the rearview mirror. He was a teenage boy, and I knew what he was thinking. As a means of reply, he slowly pulled off his wig.

"Nice hair, man." I said, ruffling his short black hair and grinning. And from that point it was game on.

I called the next one, and Red Mist was last again; he pulled off a glove. Chris actually got the next call, using the side mirror to his advantage, with Kick Ass being the last to tap the roof. He laughed as he pulled off his batons, outraging Red Mist and I, but we let it go. Kick Ass saw the next one, and before I even lifted my arm I heard Red Mist slam his fist against the glowing red roof of the Mist Mobile with such intensity that it rang in the sudden silence of the car. I was last.

"This guy's hustling us!" I said, my mouth hanging open and pointing at the back of Chris's head. He and Kick Ass high-fived.

"Well?" I heard them say, looking expectantly at me. I can play this game, too. I just smirked and untied my bandana from my face.

"Awe, come on!"

"That's hardly fair."

"We already know what you look like."

"Give a guy a break!"

"Oh, I'm sorry." I said over the boys' whining, "And to think that this is coming from the guys who take off gloves and batons."

The three of us looked conspiratorially at each other. From then on the game got much more competitive and much more serious. Kick Ass even lost his pants after a series of calls on my part. I did a pretty decent job of staying decently clothed; until Red Mist called one from behind us, and Kick Ass's hand banged against the roof a fraction of a second before mine. I was down to my last layer. Sighing into a volley of laughing and whistling from the boys, I was about to remove my undershirt just as the car screeched to a halt.

"Oh my God." I said, looking out the front windshield at the burning lumber warehouse in front of us.

Red Mist glanced at Kick Ass and something seemed to click in his head. Then he looked back at me as if he'd never seen me before. He seemed to have driven to this place on autopilot, forgetting something seemingly important. And if the pained expression he was giving me was any clue, I wasn't supposed to have been here.