No matter where it was you were traveling, plants would become concrete and concrete would become plants. Sarin noted this as she rested her head against the cold glass of the bus window, staring out at the trees as they were replaced with more buildings every minute the bus approached Star City. She’d been resting like this for a while now, so much so that her forehead felt gummy from the window holding it up, but she didn’t mind. The people around her were quiet. [i]The way they should be in transit[/i], she thought.

Go to Star City, she’d said. Black Canary had seemed uncomfortable when she gave the order, as though there was someone else--anyone else--she’d rather be giving it to. There were rumors and reports of attacks going on in every major city, but something here stuck out. Maybe it was just that it’d been Black Canary’s old stomping grounds, but Sarin hadn’t complained. She’d wanted to see the city her old mentor, Shado, had spoken to her about; where the man in green had captured her attention and helped the people of his city be free of criminals, who would have otherwise run rampant. Criminals who would have otherwise put pressure on families and shattered them like Sarin’s.

“Miss? Excuse me, miss?”

A Scottish man spoke to the person in the seat in front of her, and her silence was broken. 

“Do you mind budging up a little?”

“Oh. Sure,” replied the female voice of the girl who’d sat alone until now. Sarin liked her; she was quiet when she travelled. Granted, she hadn’t known that she was in fact a girl, until she spoke to this old man, but that made Sarin like her even more. She had to have strength to be a girl, traveling on her own towards danger. But then again, was she truly in danger? If she was headed to Star City, Black Canary had said that the targets had all been metahumans, heroes and villains alike.

Sarin listened to the girl and the man talk and she began to feel acquainted with them, despite not being part of the conversation herself. He was a sweet, old man.

“We are now entering Star City,” the voice over the loudspeaker announced. “Anyone who wants to get off at this point, please do so.”

The young man next to Sarin woke up with a start and grabbed her wrist. She grabbed his with her friend hand, prepared to break it, but after shooting looks around and realizing he was on the bus still, he let go.

“Sorry…nightmares, y’know?” he said, between shallow breaths. Sarin responded with a blank look, stood up and shimmied past his knees. As she turned to walk down and out of the aisle, she was pleased to see the girl from in front was getting off here too. Maybe she’d see her again. Maybe not.

Do not engage with any metahumans, Black Canary had said. She was to be part of a team, but she wasn’t worth trusting yet. Sarin’s face wound up in a snarl as she thought back to it, grabbing her bag from the pile outside the bus. She was worth trusting. She’d left Shado to do exclusively good, but with the delicate way she was being treated, maybe she should’ve stayed. Regardless, she wouldn’t miss her mark.