Green Lantern's Protégée

40: "Clowns always deserve to get punched."

"Not on foreign tours," Robin said.

"Good enough for probable cause," Cyra shrugged. Doing a quick scan to make sure there were no eavesdroppers lurking around, a green crowbar appeared in her hand and she grunted as she leveraged the top off the crate.

"Empty," Cyra said.

"No, wait—" Red Arrow slid his finger along the trunk, the tip coming out black. "Soot."

"The warehouse fire in Burges," Robin realized.

"Uh, guys?" All the eyes led to Artemis, who pulled her hand from beneath Ray's mattress. There was a lumpy blond mask in her hands that looked like a man had fallen asleep. "I think I found Ray."

Cyra grimaced. "Ew."

"Split up!" Robin ordered sharply. "Search the whole train!"

Cyra turned and began jogging down the hallway of the train, dipping into the kitchen, where she had to restrain herself from grabbing a few bites of food, moving through to the bathrooms—both which came up empty.

"Guys, come in," Robin's voice echoed through the earpiece. "We're looking for someone who stole Dawn's whole schtick, if you catch my drift."

"I got him!" Superboy barked. "But he's onto me! Exiting the dining car now!"

"En route!" Cyra said, turning on her heels to go back into the kitchen, following Superboy's footsteps into the dining area, where all the tables and chairs were discarded into piles of splintered wood.

"He's gone topside!" Superboy said, and Cyra heard a slam on the rooftop above her.

Cyra sprinted out the door, the wind whipping against her clothes as she pulled herself up the ladder, rolling onto the rooftop of the train, her Green Lantern gear quickly swifting to fit her body just as Superboy flew up from the side.

Cyra did a double take as the boy landed. She blinked at him, and Superboy just shook his head at her.

"That won't work on me, clown," Superboy bared his teeth, rage lighting up his features.

Robin hopped up onto the train next to Cyra as they faced the worse enemy to humanity yet—a moon and stars clown that Ray decided to form into next.

"That's not just any clown! That's Parasite, the guy who once stole Superman's powers!" Robin pointed.

"But he's still a clown. It's like you're trying to get me to punch you," Cyra growled. "Good think I don't need any more motivation. Clowns always deserve to get punched."

"As if you kids are who you claim to be." The clown stretched his back and his face suddenly turned to look like a wilted grape. Cyra stuck out her tongue in disgust.

Superboy took a step forward, but Robin held out a hand. "Stay out of his reach! There isn't any flu going around. The weakness comes when he makes contact and feeds off the powers and abilities of others."

"I have been a glutton today. Chowed down on nearly all the skills of every loser in this troupe, but, oh my, the piece of resistance was Dawn Danger, or whatever her real name is." The girl of the hour herself climbed up next to Robin on shaking legs. Red Arrow and Artemis soon followed up on the other side, surrounding the grape. "I thought I'd munch on her trapeze skills. Imagine my surprise when she tasted like Martian Manhunter instead, mm. She made a lovely appetizer. But guess who I want for my entree?"

Parasite's eyes turned green and Superboy let out a yelp as he was suddenly flying at the villain's open palm. He grabbed Superboy's neck and Cyra watched as her friend went limp.