Lady Bird almost forgot that the kid was around until she ran into her in the cafeteria or when she was heading to the bathroom. It didn't help that the kid was gone most of the day at school, as the paperwork to withdraw her was still processing. But today, Terri purposefully approached her with a piece of paper.

"What's this? I thought I had already signed all the necessary paperwork for your withdrawal?”

“This is for my driving school.” The kid explained as she handed the paper over to her. “I have to practice driving for x number of hours outside of class to make sure my skills don’t get rusty. I know you’re pretty busy and so is Wayne, but I figured it’s something you needed to know about.”

Lady Bird looked at the paper. There were driving skills in one column along with a scale that went 0-5. She noted with curiosity that the kid had a five when it came to parallel parking, but only a two when it came to highway driving.

“They give kids grades for driving school? No wonder your generation is so stressed out. Do I have to do it or…?”

“It’s more of a progress rating than a grade. Any licensed driver can help me. When Melissa couldn’t help me, Dan’s mom would take us driving.”

“Dan.” Lady Bird ran her tongue over her teeth. She knew he was one of the kid’s friends, but she couldn’t recall what he looked or acted like. Maybe she should actually read the dossier on them that her minions had put together a while ago. “Your friend Dan, who…”

“I play games with online quite a bit and he doesn’t like bowling. He also keeps up with the whole super villain/hero thing so much that sometimes Melissa uses him for information. He understands how to navigate social media platforms better than she does.”

Lady Bird nodded. “He’s the nerd friend, got it.”

The kid’s slight frown told her that maybe she needed to get more knowledge of teenagers that wasn’t from TV shows or movies. But since she didn’t outright deny the statement, Lady Bird figured that there was some truth to it.

“If you’re too busy, I guess I could always ask Number One. He’s usually the getaway driver, so he should be decent at it.” Terri suggested as Lady Bird read some of the instructor’s notes. Mostly, they were about how she needed a bit more practice when it came to the highway and needed to get comfortable driving at high speeds.

“Yes, Number One is very good at driving. But Kid, the truth is that he doesn’t have a driver’s license.” Lady Bird admitted. “Unlike a lot of the other minions, he doesn’t have a civilian identity. He has fake ones, but he never got a license with any of them. Said something about not wanting to keep up with the renewal. He just always evades the police if they get after him, even if it’s for a minor traffic violation.”

She threw the paper back to Terri. Terri attempted to catch it, but she missed as it suddenly shifted directions. She did manage to collect it before it could hit the ground.

“I’m taking a small break right now, so I’ll take you for a drive. We’ll take the inconspicuous car.”

The inconspicuous car was a ten year old four door sedan with peeling paint. But it was reliable, which was the only thing that mattered to Lady Bird. She hopped in the passenger seat and Terri took the driver’s. She waited a minute for her to adjust the mirrors and seat.

“Let’s see, we should probably work on entering the highway first. The notes said that you were too hesitant when it came to that.”

Terri nodded and started the car. The drive out of the Nest went smoothly, though Lady Bird thought it wouldn’t hurt to go a little faster. The kidi seemed to be driving a couple of miles under the speed limit at all times, despite there being no traffic in the area. But once she got to a slightly busier road, she at least knew enough to match the flow of traffic.

“Now, we’re going to turn right to get on the service road.” She instructed as they pulled up to the intersection. “You can turn right on red as long as you yield.”

“Maybe I’ll just wait until the light changes.” Terri seemed transfixed by the cars rushing by in front of them. “It’ll be safer…”

Then there was a gap in traffic and no one was coming that direction. Lady Bird slammed her hands on the dash, sending up some dust that had collected there after the car hadn’t been used for a few weeks.

“Turn now, kid!”

Terri, fully startled, executed a very sharp turn and brushed the curb slightly, but not enough to make the car rock. It probably did leave a mark on the curve.

“Now get in the left lane as fast as you can or we’ll miss the exit! Don’t forget your signal!”

To the kid’s credit, she took the sudden command pretty well. It was probably thanks to living with Beretta. One had to be quick on their feet around her since she didn’t explain her actions very often, even to allies. That trait was probably why she was a solo hero and not someone on a team.

“Now push on the gas as hard as you can!”

“But it’s only 45!” She exclaimed as the care went faster before slowing down a bit when the speed made her nervous. A car behind them honked at the sudden slow down before going around them.

“The rest of the cars on the highway are going 70 at least, so unless you want to get creamed when you enter, push the pedal to the metal!”

Terri bit her lip a little bit and then pressed the acceleration as hard as she could. The car sped up suddenly and sent Lady Bird back in her seat, but that was okay. At least she seemed to understand. The kid’s eyes nervously darted to the entrance lane and that cars in it.

“I don’t think there will be any room to merge…” She began to depress the pedal and the car slowed a bit. Lady Bird felt a bit sorry for the car behind them, though they seemed to be tolerating their odd behavior well.

“Don’t slow down or stop, keep going! Don’t worry about merging until you’ve matched the speed!”

If the kid managed to not chicken out when merging onto the highway, that would go a long way to solve her other highway driving woes. Besides, it wasn’t rush hour so traffic was fairly light. Terri flicked on the signal and went for the nearest gap she saw. The wheels squeaked slightly from the sudden movement, but the other car was far enough behind that she didn’t hold up traffic when she pressed on the brakes because of it.

“Now we’ll just maintain this speed for a while. Let’s stay in the right lane so you can go a bit slower if you want to. Not too slow though. This isn’t a Sunday drive.”

She maintained a speed five miles under the limit, but that was fine. People who were in a hurry simply went around her. The kid had good mirror checking skills, though Lady Bird thought she did it a bit much, especially since they weren't changing lanes.

"All right, let's exit and then get on at the next ramp. That way we can…"

A car suddenly pulled across three lanes of traffic and Terri slammed on the brakes. The tires squealed and Lady Bird pulled on the wheel so they would go over into the shoulder. All the cars behind them stopped likewise, though there was a crash somewhere in there. The kid gripped the steering wheels so hard that her knuckles turned white. Of course, the one who caused this whole mess was long gone. Too bad this wasn’t the car that had the rifle in it. The least someone could do is shoot out that menance’s tires.

“Maybe I should drive us back,” she suggested as she got out of the car. Since no one had run into them, she didn’t see any reason to stick around until the police showed up.That would turn awkward quickly. “You can let go of the wheel and turn off the car. Don’t forget to put the parking brake on.”

Terri stiffly released the wheel and stepped over the center console and into the driver’s seat. Soon, Lady Bird had them on their way again. But as they were driving along, she spotted the car that had cut them off parked at a convenience store.

“Stay in the car. This shouldn’t take too long.” Lady Bird assured her as she pulled into the parking lot and parked next to the car. She began to remove the heel of her shoe, which had a pointed tip which could serve as a weapon if needed.

Terri looked at the heel and her eyes grew wide. “You aren’t going to kill them, are you?”

“Kid, you know me. I’m a supervillain, not a sociopath. I’m not going to kill someone over a mild traffic incident. But since I am a villain, I’m not going to let them get away scott free either.”

It wasn’t easy to walk around missing a heel, but she had practice doing it. Lady Bird punctured all of the tires with the heel and even scratched up the paint for good measure. Briefly, she considered signing her initials, but that would probably be a bit too much for what had happened. Lady Bird put her heel back on and hopped into the car..

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Terri remarked as she started the car. “Maybe they didn’t mean to cut us off…”

“They had plenty of time to get over and they didn’t. They made a conscious decision to come across all those lanes of traffic and got away without consequences, so I’m giving them some.” She drove out of the parking lot. Hopefully, no one had caught her doing that. It wouldn’t look good for her image. “I’m not about justice or anything, but I do believe in come-uppance.”

“Still doesn’t make it right.”

Lady Bird had been wondering how long it would take Terri to speak up against her methods of doing things, though she thought it would’ve been a big operation like destroying the HQ of a competing villain or trying to dispose of a nosey hero. If she was objecting over something this small, Lady Bird wasn’t looking forward to what would happen at a big operation. She’d probably end up locking Terri up so she’d stay out of the way.

“Let’s not get into an ethics debate here. I certainly feel better now. You can’t tell me that a small part of you didn’t enjoy seeing that.”

The kid shook her head and Lady Bird could tell she was being honest. She knew a couple of villains who would say the kid was lying to herself, but those particular ones were jerks, thinking that a psychology degree made them smarter than everyone else. The kid was a grade A good girl, simple as that.

Too bad they couldn’t stick around to see the owner’s reactions. That was the best part of revenge, especially if they were shocked that it could even happen to them. But from Terri’s unamused look, she knew a confrontation was probably more trouble than it was worth.

“Lady Bird, next time I need some practice, can I just call Dan’s mom?” She asked as they headed back home. “Not that you’re not a good driver, but…”

“Yes, I don’t have time to waste driving around anyways. I’ll see if any of the minions want to volunteer in case the nerd’s mom isn’t available.”

It was for the best, Lady Bird told herself. Things would be miserable for six months if she didn’t avoid situations where they would clash. Despite how quiet Terri was, Lady Bird could tell that there was a dam of emotions waiting to be released. Surely everything that was happening was weighing on her more than she let on. As far as she was concerned, Terri was an emotional time bomb. The question was when she would explode.

They arrived back at the base and the kid went toward her room without a word. Number One spoke to her, but she completely ignored him as she walked by. He looked to Lady Bird.

“Did something happen? Terri seems...distracted.”

“I took her out driving for her lessons and some jerk cut her off, so I slashed their tires and scratched their paint. I don’t think she agreed with that.” She handed the keys off to a passing minion.

“I can see that, but there seems to be something more.”

Lady Bird had to agree with him as she watched Terri round the corner. “But the best thing to do is to give her space. Maybe she’ll come up with the solution to whatever is really bugging her on her own. She’s old enough to do that. Besides, she has Berretta to call. She doesn’t need us.”

“You are right. Now, I’ve brought the files for the next operation. I figured you wanted to go over them.”

Lady Bird smiled as she took the files, the kid put away from her mind for now. She had been serious when she told her that she believed in come-uppance. “Impeccable timing as always, Number One. We’ll show that arrogant A-lister not to underestimate a B-list villain.”