Before you can set out, you have a private word with Raven Woman

"Surely this can wait." You wait for a second before narrowing your eyes and the sultry, chalky-skinned queen of the dark magical arts.

"It really can't." Raven Woman says. "When I helped you find Green Streak's 'special friend' to convince him to spend his ticket into the Wonderland Warriors' lair, I assumed you were going to make some kind of plan-"

"That was you?!" Green Streak shouts in annoyance from the front seat. "What the hell, Rayvy? I thought we were friends!"

"What could have possibly made you think that?" Raven Woman says in her usual snarky monotone. "No, I'm being serious. I have an eidetic memory that has allowed me to memorize no less than one thousand, three hundred and thirteen separate spells... any one of which could tear my own soul apart if performed incorrectly. And I cannot recall one single occasion where I said anything positive to you OR about you?"

"But..." Green Streak frowns haplessly. "Right after I joined the Big 7... we used to go out, didn't we?"

"And did I ever say anything nice to you, when we were together?" Raven Woman replies nonchalantly. You can't stop yourself from giggling a little. It's fortunate your mask hides it. Over in one of the other seats, you see Red Balloon wrinkle her nose is disgust and glare at Raven Woman.

You hold your hand up and speak. "We're wasting time. Raven Woman, for your information, I, the canny and calculating Thunderbird, have a strategy in mind. Did you think I was planning to just walk in there and start karate-kicking the first supervillain I see?"

"How do you have a plan when Green Streak hasn't even told you exactly how he's going to get you into the base to begin with?" Raven Woman asks.

"Um," you say noncommittally, groping for words. But Raven Woman continues before you can manage anything: "Oh, and speaking of 'Thunderbird'. I've already set things in motion. I'd estimate about a 60% chance the situation with the other heroine calling herself Thunderbird, out there patrolling some worthless desert in flyover country, has been dealt with. If her lawyers send you any more cease-and-desist crap, come tell me and I'll make sure it doesn't happen a third time."

She notices that Snowflake is looking at her curiously. "And you," Raven Woman says. "You I don't really care about, but since this was a package deal, I can also tell you that your name issue is probably taken care of. Very soon, that 'Princess Snowflake' will stop asserting her white privilege by denying you the right to use a name that she came up with and trademarked 6 months before you started heroing."

"Well... good." your snow-manipulating teammate says. "It's important to me to fight injustice under this name. I'm reclaiming it, you understand..."

"Hey, wait a second!" Green Streak rolls down the interior divider in the limousine so he can look back into the passenger compartment, and has a shocked expression. "Snowflake?! You're here? Are you stalking me now?"

"WHAT?!" Unsurprisingly, Snowflake takes offense. "How dare you accuse me of that, you gaslighting-!"

As they start to argue, Raven woman is staring intently at you from behind her mask, right into your eyes. As if she expects something from you. A couple of times, she makes funny motions with her hand, and then snaps her fingers right in front of you.

Eventually, you remember your superpowers and get what she's doing: focusing on your control over soundwaves, you create a bubble of private conversation with only yourself and Raven Woman. She holds up a small, jet-black colored ovoid. On closer inspection it has a hinge, like a jewelry box.

"This is what I came here to give you." Raven Woman says to you. "Something I created to help you. An ointment that will temporarily increase all of your powers. You're really going to need it, especially if you run into Queen of Hearts. She might be young, but she's the first villain in years that's managed to give me a really hard time, and I doubt you want to stake your and Rainbow's life on hoping Queen lets you get another cheap shot on her. Considering that you got defeated by her mentor, Queen of Spades, who isn't even half as powerful as she is, don't even think about refusing."

You take the egg-shaped box surreptitiously and raise an eyebrow at her. "What, like, performance enhancing ****?"

"**** are chemicals, and this is magic, but yeah, basically." Raven Woman says flatly. "If that bothers you, you may want to hear the next thing I have to say, and the reason I need you to keep this little talk of ours quiet. About Nightingale."

"You mean..." you blush. "The whole... song thing? You found out about that?"

"Yup." Raven Woman replies calmly. "I adopted Gloomy Sunday as my personal chamber musician. Better than letting her talents rot in jail. Trust me, it's for a good cause... having a supernatural musician whose artistic motif is suicidal nihilism and the abandonment of all hope provides the perfect ambience for when I have to take a phone call from my mother."

You groan in annoyance. Raven Woman continues: "Which segues nicely into what I had to tell you next. Nightingale, the original Nightingale that is, has taken it upon herself to rescue Dr. Rainbow, since Nightingale and Dr. Rainbow were part of an official heroine duo."

"WHAT?!" You demand. "God damn it, mom...! She wasn't Dr. Rainbow's partner, I was!"

Raven Woman nods. "Yeah, but technically, there's only one Nightingale identity. Aren't bureaucratic loopholes wonderful?"

You ball your fists and continue. "And now she's going to try and take on the Wonderland Warriors HERSELF just to prove a point to me?"

"Or to protect you. Whatever." Raven Woman shrugs. "Anyway, to make a long story short, that particular 'Nightingale' and I have never gotten along well with each other. If she wants to make a fool of herself cartwheeling across rooftops when she's pushing 50, it's no feathers off my back, but now she's started asking questions about how the League is run these days."

Raven Woman subtly turns her head towards Snowflake and Red Balloon. "And honestly, I'm not a fan of this stupid weather team. I've told Petite Mort that she needs to stop forming these embarrassing gimmick teams. Effective heroes are most effective on their own. These two ticking drama-bombs are going to drag you down and stop you from reaching your full potential. And Rainbow... let's be honest, she'd be a lot safer and happier focusing on feel-good public service stuff that keeps her away from sleazy criminals and villains."

You sigh. "They're not ideal team mates. But I can't just break up a team that the Big 7 asked me to lead..."

"You may not need to." Raven Woman says. "So, on further consideration, I think I do actually remember the situation regarding a funny little man, using the term 'man' very loosely, that Red Balloon unleashed from a certain underground ritual bunker..."

"You just now remembered?!" You demand angrily, your voice resounding in RW's ears even though Snowflake and Red Balloon can't hear it. "What happened to your 'eidetic memory'?"

Raven Woman is unrattled by your retort. "I said I could remember 1313 different spells with flawless accuracy. I didn't say I could remember all of them immediately. Also, I have this weird medical condition where being around nosy, suspicious brats gives me short-term memory loss."

"Grrr..." You grit your teeth. "Setting aside the fact that you keeping him in there, and summoning a bunch of demons to guard him, must have been against every law and regulation in the book... how the hell do I get rid of him?"

"You're not going to like the answer." Raven Woman says. "Get whatever service he's bound to do over with quickly, in a controlled way or with a technicality. Do you know what the higher-dimensional entity was asked to do?"

You sigh. Damn it... you've already trusted this spooky woman too much, but with so many threats breathing down your neck, you have to prioritize. You tell her the truth. "To make me and Dr. Rainbow fail out of the team so Red Balloon can have it to herself. Oh, and she wants Snowflake gone too, I guess."

...

By this point, you and Raven Woman have been silently staring at each other for a good five minutes. Unfortunately, by this point Red Balloon has figured out how your power works and let Snowflake in on it, which means both of them are starting to express their annoyance with you. But you tune them out to hear RW's reply: "Were those the exact words?"

"No..." you say. "It was... he said 'he'd whittle down the competition to one'..." you look at her. "Wait... that could be some kind of Rumplestiltskin, cuts-both-ways bullshit, right?"

"You're starting to learn how this magic stuff works." Raven Woman says... you think you detect a hint of amusement, or maybe pride, behind her usual dour tone. "There's always a catch like that."

"But..." you say, "I can't just kick her or Snowflake off the team. Plus, technically I would have to get rid of Rainbow... Although, I could just ask her to resign, and then bring her back onboard after the weird little guy disappears back to wherever he came from. Since I'd have power over selecting new team members..." your eyes snap open. "Wait a second. If the team was emptied, and I had a compelling need, I could pick any unattached C-rank hero. Even... Nightingale."

There's an awkward pause. Looking over you notice that Red Balloon has been recording the two of you, holding her arm up and aiming one of the wrist cameras at you in a way she only thinks is inconspicuous. Damn it - she's planning to do lip-reading analysis later, no doubt.

Your eyes flick back to Raven Woman when she speaks again: "Wow, Thunderbird - that's some, uh, lateral thinking. That sounds painfully awkward. But... maybe I guess that's what you're after?" She sighs. "I can relate. Anyway - about that subject," she looks over towards the other end of the limo cab as she speaks, though as before, only you can hear her: "I'm already going to bring my cleaver down on Red Balloon's fat, juicy neck once you're done with this mission." She pauses. "Figuratively speaking, in the sense of kicking her out."

"What? Why? Are you allowed to just get rid of anyone who annoys you once you're Big 7?" you ask, starting to worry a little.

"No, because she interfered in my plans, of course. She's committing, like... 'grand theft Mephistopholes'." Raven Woman says. "I guess that might not be enough reason. She'll probably blunder real badly during a mission like this, so report that and I'll make that the excuse."

"Snowflake would never go along with it, though." You say. "They will assume the worst of my motivations like always. And they're actually really good at fighting so there's no way I could justify trying to drop them after relying on them to make it out alive..."

"Oh," Raven Woman says flatly, "I think the way Snowflake could end up getting 'themself' bumped off the team is pretty obvious considering the rumors about 'their' behavior around the Headquarters so far. Anyway, make good use of the gift. Stop with the mute now."

You dispel the bubble of privacy linking you and Raven Woman, and she speaks aloud to the other three. "Alright, keep that 'confidential intel' in mind, Thunderbird. I'd offer to fly out and help in person, but it might be a trap, and unlike any of you, I'm too valuable for the League to lose." she pauses. "Also... y'know. Don't want to take away your spotlight and all that." she adds in a grudging tone. "Try to hold on to your heads." With that, she spreads her black wings and takes off, heading for the garage exit under her own power.