Adventures of Superguy

July 22, 2010 - Isla Santa Prisca

Caribbean Sea

22:25:20

“Well, niños, it has been a pleasure hosting you on beautiful Isla de Santa Prisca, but now, I think, it is time for you to go.” Bane rumbled as she approached, casually tossing aside the empty RPG tube. Superboy and Robin gathered the team as Kid Quick finished tying the last of the Kobra cultists up. Shimmer wasn’t where he had left her crumpled in the dirt, having slipped sometime while they were dealing with the last of the cultists. There was also no sign of Kobra, Mammoth, Shimmer or Sportsmaster, and their time here was close to up.

Man, my record for villains captured vs villains escaped is terrible so far. We only got Docbuster…

Superboy hefted his pack, and felt Gizmo shift within. Something had agitated the little G-Gnome, but he struggled to convey it. 

What’s wrong, little bro? Is the mindlink messing things up?

Once more, Superboy lamented that G-Gnome was sapient but nonverbal, communicating through telepathic impressions, rather than the direct communication of Ms. Maritan’s mindlink. Apparently a mind without language couldn’t form telepathic words, either. The impressions Gizmo did provide through their connection were of an intrusion, and a miserable feeling of failure. 

Superboy furrowed his brow, distracted as Bane and Aqualass spoke, trying to puzzle out what Gizmo was trying to tell him. He couldn’t think of what would drive Gizmo to such feelings of guilt.

What did the little guy think he failed at? Does he think I’m mad at him? 

“We will not leave you in control of the Venom factory.” Aqualass stated definitively, hands at her side but a flicker of tension flowed across the mindlink. Unconsciously the others squared up, flanking her. They were exhausted and battered after a long night and a hard fight, but Bane was little threat against all of them.

“You do not have much of a choice, sirena. Santa Prisca does not answer to the Justice Guild. These dregs you may take with you, but this place belongs to Bane.” The supervillain waved expansively at the detained Kobra cultists, who clearly weren’t islanders. 

“And you’re out of your mind if you think we’re going to leave you to just start producing your poison again!” Robin shouted as she leaned forward, scowling.

“That is where you are wrong, chica. This trouble has cost me enough time and money already. I have customers who are waiting for their product, and the market must be very desperate for Venom. If you think you can interfere here any longer, then you and your Guild will have to answer to the legitimate government of Santa Prisca. Judging by how you are not dressed so colorfully as you normally do, I do not think you wish your invasion of our sovereign soil to be made public.” Bane smirked as she spoke, arms crossed confidently, unafraid of the implied threat.

“You think you can just stonewall us now? Gonna call the Santa Priscan cops, who are all in your pocket, and file a complaint about us being here? You wouldn’t have anything if we hadn’t taken out Kobra.” Robin spat, looking ready to chew glass than simply walk away from Bane and the Venom factory. Aqualass remained stoic, but Kid Quick and Ms. Martian’s eyes danced nervously.

Superboy was torn between the tense situation and the warning tingle of Gizmo’s consternation. 

Something’s wrong. Not just Bane thinking she can tell us to take a hike, something ELSE is wrong…

“What is it the chico said? The enemy of my enemy is my friend? We have a different saying on Santa Prisca. The enemy of my enemy… may have some uses. You have played yours, pajarito. The buy you wished to stop, has been. My enemies have been driven from my property. Any more interference by you niños will only bring you more trouble than you are prepared to handle. Take your victory, go home and get off my island.” Bane finished, her voice dropping dangerously as she put her hands on her hips.

Robin started forward but stopped as Aqualass raised a hand. 

“Very well, Bane. We will leave.” She stated simply and calmly.

“What!?” Robin exclaimed, and Kid made a disgusted noise.

“We are here as a covert team, only for reconnaissance and report. Mission creep has already pushed us far beyond that. We must withdraw now before our cover is blown. I am sure Bane will not let slip our presence here, or her reliance on our assistance.” She explained, and Robin’s tension slowly eased as she laid out her logical points. Robin clearly didn’t like it but couldn’t argue with the logic, from her silence.

Bane acknowledged her complicit silence with a hmph and a nod, eyes inscrutable behind her mask. Robin’s fists balled at that, but she stayed quiet. 

At a telepathic command from Ms. Martian, Ship swooped above them, still camouflaged, and opened a portal on its underside to extend a ramp down to them. The team boarded in silence, Robin casting an angry glare over her shoulder at Bane, before ascending. Superboy was last aboard, looking back at the supremely confident Bane, who blew him a mocking kiss that furrowed his brow, but he joined his team on board. They settled into crash seats that flowed out of the floor, and after sinking in and putting the pack on his lap, Superboy didn’t even get the willies from the living restraints that groped him.

“I can’t believe we’re just leaving like this.” Robin griped as she sat hunched over her holographic display, furiously typing away at something.

“We may not like who made the point, or why, but the point remains true. Our mission here was covert in nature, and we have already gone beyond its parameters. We will provide a full debrief to the Guild, and they will decide the appropriate course of action in regards to the Venom factory and Bane. It is not our call to make.” Aqualass laid out, and the team nodded along with her.

“Would’ve been convenient if Sportsmaster’s chopper hit the factory. Then we could say it wasn’t even our fault.” Kid offered with a sly grin. Robin only grunted and briefly raised her eyebrows at the suggestion.

“It's a bit late for that now.” She groused.

As Superboy sat his hands on his pack, he surreptitiously patted Gizmo for reassurance, the G-Gnome still upset by his apparent failure. 

A sudden premonition made the bottom drop out of his stomach, and he desperately clawed the bag open and grabbed Gizmo out of it, plopping him down on the floor as Ship began to pull away towards the Santa Priscan coast.

“What! You brought the little creeper!?” Kid Quick shouted, and Gizmo hopped up on the console and hissed at her.

“Superboy, what are you-” Aqualass began.

“Shut up!” Superboy yelled as he pawed through the backpack, emptying it of crinkled chip bags and candy wrappers, and the sad tail end of the rope, and found nothing else.

“SHIT!” He yelled as he sprang to his feet, the restraints tearing wetly as he did so with. “M’gann, turn us around!” He shouted and hurried to the viewport, looking desperately with his supervision towards the factory. Bane wasn’t visible, no matter where he looked, and he cursed.

“What are you freaking out about!?” Kid demanded, but before Superboy could answer, Robin did for him.

“The Kobra Venom samples. You lost them?” Robin asked, her voice rising.

“I didn’t lose them! Bane…” He stuttered, trying to figure out how the hulking supervillainess had pulled a fast one on him. Superboy’s thoughts turned to the impressions of intrusion that Gizmo had shared with him. A vision filled his mind, a massive hand invading his personal space, swiftly grasping a container with purple vials in it with sure fingers, then withdrawing. His own memories filled the gaps; Bane leaning closer, her hand reaching around his shoulder, her knee rubbing against his inner thigh.

Son of a bitch, she suckered me!

Blood rushed to his face as the team stared at him, expecting some kind of answer that embarrassment stilled his tongue. 

“Turn the ship around, Ms. Martian.” Aqualass said sternly, and she dutifully did so, swooping low so they were just above the tree canopy. Swiftly the factory loomed large again, lit by fires smoldering on the roof where errant rockets had impacted it. Scanning desperately again, Superboy saw Bane walking back inside, and she had something in her hand. Ship swiftly approached overhead while camouflaged, and again it opened a drop chute for them to leap out of. Superboy didn’t wait for the others and dived through the hole.

There was a brief exhilarating moment of freefall and then he slammed down in a three point landing with an echoing boom. Bane didn’t freeze, but stopped naturally and turned back to regard him with an air of disappointment.

“Tsk tsk, chico, you should be away from here already. But it seems you forgot something, no?” She laughed as she drew the container from behind her back.

“Hand it over, now.” Superboy growled as the rest of the team deployed from Ship behind him.

“I don’t think so, chico. I know you’re upset, but all’s fair in love and war, no?” Bane said and laughed uproariously at her own joke.

“We will not let you reproduce the Kobra Venom, Bane. Give it up now, or have it taken from you.” Aqualass demanded, drawing her water bearers and forming maces with them. Ms. Martian flew overhead, levitating rocks to hurl as missiles, while Kid circled around behind Bane and Robin filled her hands with birderangs.

“Reproduce it? The thought never crossed my mind, sirena! Venom is an excellent product because it is potent, addictive and most importantly it’s power is temporary. Once it sinks its fangs into you, few can resist its allure ever again. With the exception of myself, of course. Bane is not mastered by mere chemicals. No, this Kobra Venom is a terrible product for sale; one dose and permanent strength? There is no repeat customer that way. No, these are just for Bane.” She said, patting the little case affectionately.

“I guess you’re in need of an upgrade, then?” Robin queried, edging her way to the side so that they might keep Bane surrounded.

“As the chico said, Bane was ‘not in his weight class.’ But our partnership has borne much fruit, in spite of his insults. I rather do like the idea of spreading Bane’s infamy far beyond Santa Prisca. I would still like to know exactly how he knows so much of me, and I think I will beat it out of him after I am done dispensing with you little niños. Your Justice Guild may come after you, but Bane will deal with them as well.” She explained calmly, seemingly unconcerned with being surrounded as she explained her masterstroke.

“You think a little Kobra Venom will let you take on the Guild? You’re dreaming. We just took out Kobra’s champion. The Guild would take you apart.” Superboy retorted. 

If Mammoth couldn’t beat me and Ms. Martian, no way could Bane take on the Guild.

“Well, I do have one dose left. I’m sure I could find a buyer willing to shelter me for it.” Bane replied, and Superboy grew cold.

“‘One dose left?’” He asked tremulously, already knowing the answer.

There was a tinkle and crunch of dirt as an empty injector fell from Bane’s other hand, and she chuckled darkly.

“One last lesson, chico. Always watch what the left hand is doing…” She instructed, waggling the fingers of left hand as her right stuffed the vial container into a belt pouch with jerky motions. 

What happened next was familiar to all of them but Ms. Martian, and she gasped in horror at the transformation before them.

Bane jerked and spasmed, her muscles bulging grotesquely as they heard bones snapping and knitting back together. She grew a foot at a time in height, matched by her growth in width. Across her exposed skin, her veins rose to the surface and stood out like a roadmap painted in dark purple across her tanned skin. Bulking up massively, her arms were thicker than a man’s torso and she looked very top heavy. Her pants and boots tore apart around her as she grew, leaving her in the strained singlet as she tore the tactical vest off of her chest with one hand. Her head didn’t swell, leaving it a curiously small pin head on an elephantine body. She towered over them all, and even the departed Mammoth, easily over 9’. Stretch marks burst across her skin but unlike Kobra’s champion, her skin didn’t split apart. Superboy realized she was far more in control of her transformation than Docbuster had ever been.

Breathing heavily, Bane shook herself loose from the last rags of her shredded clothing. Her breasts, Superboy noted, were now literal torpedoes bolted on to her monstrously muscular pectorals, and the singlet barely covered them like a microkini. Her transformation rendered it more disgusting than titillating. 

Well, there goes my boner for Bane… he thought wryly.

“Ha ha ha ha ha! Such POWER! I have not felt like this since they first injected Venom into me!” Bane laughed, staring at her massive hands in rapt wonder. Her voice had dropped an octave again, booming from her massive chest. She grinned like a maniac and her eyes were a glowing purple as she gazed intently at them, the whites massively bloodshot.

Aqualass dispensed the battle plan over the mindlink.

Aqualass: Kid, get the last vial from her. Ms. Martian, keep her pinned down with your TK. Robin, hit her with flashbangs to blind her. Superboy and I will take her right and left. Go!

The team instantly responded and leapt to the attack. Ms. Martian hurled the boulders she had ready to cover the melee fighters approach. Superboy and Aqualass rushed in and Kid hung back, waiting for them to distract the villain to make use of her fast hands. 

Bane bellowed and swatted aside boulders as big as engine blocks, shattering each and showering them in stone fragments as Ms. Martian tore up more to keep up the pressure. Aqualass went left, lashing out with her water bearers at Bane’s hip while Superboy went right, stepping inside Bane’s reach to go for her ribs with haymakers. 

But the massive luchadora was deceptively fast, and batted Aqualass back with an elbow and snatching Superboy around the throat and head, before lifting him up and smashing him into a crater in a devastating chokeslam. Stars burst in his eyes as he ragdolled from her attack and he tried to roll to his feet but stumbled. His momentary failure earned him a vicious kick to the ribs that sent him tumbling back.

Robin hurled a fistful of birderangs high towards Bane’s face, but she simply threw up an arm and let them embed into her forearm without the slightest concern. This left her open to the underhanded lob of a flashbang which went off in her face, momentarily blinding her as they all looked away. Bane stumbled back guarding her face with one massive hand while swinging wildly with the other. Kid quickly used the distraction to rush in and go for the belt pouch still doggedly hanging on.

As she did so, though, Bane raised one massive foot and brought it down with apocalyptic force, shattering the ground around her into a broken pit trap and shaking the earth all about. Kid stumbled and fell from the ground strike, while the others fought to keep their footing in the sudden earth tremor. She raised her foot again to squash Kid’s prone form, but the speedster threw herself in a tornado-esque roll that saved her from knowing what an ant feels in its final moments.

Ms. Martian tried to exploit the moment by launching another volley of boulders, but even half blind, Bane managed to deflect most and catch one, before hurling it back twice as fast. Ms. Martian yelped while she did a barrel roll to avoid the returning missile. Even the boulders that hit simply shattered against Bane’s invulnerable hide as if they were dirt clods. 

Aqualass: Superboy, together!

The two of them charged at once, and as they did so Aqualass formed her water bearers into one massive hammer, swinging for all she was worth at Bane’s chin. Superboy attacked simultaneously, driving right on the outside to snap a kick at the back of Bane’s enormous knee. Bane took the hammer blow more seriously, using her improbable speed and brutal fighting skill to grab Aqualass by the wrist and shoulder and put her in a brutal joint lock that made the Atlantean cry out in pain even as she strained with all her might to stop Bane from tearing her arm from the socket.

Superboy’s kick landed with a hollow thud and it made his shin burst with pain. As impossible as it seemed, Bane on Kobra Venom appeared even stronger and tougher than Mammoth had been. But at least Bane’s hands were occupied by trying to pull Aqualass apart like a chicken wing, so he fired off a machine gun burst of punches into her floating ribs. His knuckles ached with each impact but he grit his teeth and simply threw harder. After a momentary enduring the barrage, even Bane was forced to grunt in pain. In retaliation, she swung Aqualass like a bludgeon and smashed the two young heroes together and hurled them away. They crashed down in a tangled heap as Robin hurled her explosive birderangs at Bane’s face, which actually made her guard her face as they burst against her guard, leaving only scorch marks on her scarred forearms. Kid Quick darted in and out, throwing supersonic punches but little seemed to get through Bane’s thick hide.

Aqualass flashed an interrogative to Superboy.

Aqualass: You know about Bane. How do we beat her? What is her weakness?

Superboy: Venom is supposed to be her weakness! Normally she uses the regular stuff, she wears an injector harness for it. Usually Bat-, usually you go after that. Cut the tubes or whatever. But she doesn’t need one now!

Superboy answered with bitter frustration. None of this was what the comics had shown him about Bane. This new universe proved irritatingly novel in its twists on the familiar.

Robin: Can’t we use electricity? It worked on Docbuster.

Aqualass: That proved most effective because the water and electricity could bypass her durable skin by seeping into the splits caused by her growth spurt. Bane has no such weak points.

Snarling in frustration, Superboy wracked his brain and encyclopedic comic knowledge for something that would help them. Bane didn’t let them have a moment to consider, and this time she moved on to the attack, swinging fists like wrecking balls at him and Aqualass, forcing them separate and dodge. He kept coming back to the time Batman had beaten the physically superior Bane; it always seemed to come down to the injector harness.

Kid Quick: Hey Superboy, that injector harness thing? Does it plug into the back of her mask? 

Superboy: Yes, usually its a wrist control and pump, going right into the back of… her… head.

Superboy’s mindlink message petered out as he realized the implication.

Kid Quick: Well, she’s still got it. How’s that for a bypass for durable skin?

Superboy: Kid, I could kiss you! That’s it!

Aqualass: Then that is the plan. Superboy will keep her focus, I will go for the injector port. Robin, Kid, Ms. Martian, keep the pressure on and don’t let her consider what we are doing.

The team snapped to their positions and executed on Aqualass’ plan. Superboy roared and charged toward Bane as the villain turned to face him. Ms. Martian tore a dead tree trunk from the jungle and with a wave of her hand, sliced off the root base with a telekinetic blade, sharpening it into a massive spear. Bane kept a wary eye on the floating weapon, while Robin circle strafed and threw birderangs the whole while. Kid Quick took a lap around the factory to build up speed before launching supersonic blows with all her momentum behind them. Meanwhile, Aqualass circled behind, forming her water bearer into an ice pick that would fit into the connector port.

Bane proved harder to catch than they hoped. Using her massive reach she lunged forward to meet Superboy’s charge and grabbed him by the ankle, hauling him up into the air. As he flailed she caught his other ankle and leapt into the air, wrapping her massive thighs around his torso and head. As she dropped down, she angled Superboy’s head as the impact point and buried him headfirst into a massive crater. 

This time Superboy found himself buried in a crater big enough to swallow a bus. His head rang with the blow, and he was barely conscious as the world swam around him. He struggled to extricate himself from the ground he had been driven into like a tent peg, but finally managed it with a surge of desperate strength. As his vision slowly cleared he saw the plan was not going… to plan.

Bane didn’t even bother dodging the barrage of weapons Robin hurled her way, and she must have run low because she drew a collapsible staff from her utility belt and moved to attack with it. Aqualass and Kid Quick were fairing little better, switching positions so Aqualass could get behind Bane for her sneak attack and Kid darted in every direction, trying to keep Bane’s focus on her. Ms. Martian launched her impromptu spear, instantly accelerating the shaped tree trunk so much the air around it shrieked. The others dived out of the way just in time.

The tree trunk flew like a ballista bolt and it hit Bane right in the chest, even as she tried to catch it. She partially succeeded as the massive bolt struck, killing part of its momentum and driving her backwards as her heels dug furrows in the dirt. But she stopped it from penetrating her hide or doing any serious damage, then she swung the massive thing like a club, batting Aqualass, Kid Quick and Robin away. Fear for them left Superboy cold, but his anger heated him right back up as he screamed a wordless battle cry and leapt at Bane to deliver a devastating uppercut. 

Thunder boomed as his fist connected. Bane’s head snapped back and she stumbled back as he landed. Seeing his success at targeting her more normal sized head, he jumped on her back and tried to clamp his arms around her absurdly thick neck in a rear naked choke. His arms barely managed to cover the distance as her trapezoids were absurdly exaggerated. She bucked like a bronco as he grimly tried holding on. She reached behind her to claw at him but her massive arms couldn’t effectively reach him that way. He could even see the tantalizingly close injector port; a metal circle on the back of her mask, just below where it laced up in back. 

His reluctant mount wasn’t happy with him. She snorted and snarled like an animal, seemingly enraged that his blow had actually hurt her. But Bane wasn’t content to let him hold his position, so she grabbed his forearm with one massive hand, and hauled on that arm with her other, ripping free of his chokehold. Then she flipped him over her head and slammed him viciously down to the ground. His breath blasted out as he landed on his back, cracking the ground beneath.

Bane still wasn’t done with him, even as the others desperately stepped up their attacks. She snarled in bestial rage, her glowing purple eyes bulging wildly out of their sockets as spittle flew from her mouth. Grabbing him by his right arm and leg, she hoisted him high above her head and a dreadful premonition gripped him as he struggled in her iron grip.

“BANE WILL BREAK YOU! BANE WILL BREAK ALL OF YOU!” She roared and shifted her grip on him. Glancing down he saw her knee rising and knew what came next. Unable to break her grip he reached out desperately across the mindlink for help. 

Each team member hurled attacks at Bane but nothing broke her single minded focus on Superboy, and with a terrible finality she dragged him down towards her raised knee.

Halfway there, she froze with a terrible stillness and Superboy jerked in her grip at the sudden stop. He grabbed at her thick fingers and tried to tear himself free, but Bane was as solid and unmoving as a statue. Looking at her berserk face, he saw her eyelid twitching even as he eyes darted around, but otherwise she was unmoving. Bane’s body remained frozen, and Superboy was utterly shocked, despite his predicament.

What the hell…

Then he saw Gizmo, perched atop his backpack across the way, his little stubby horns glowing cherry red. Superboy wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry but knew he had to act as the team seemed as shocked by Bane’s sudden paralysis as she herself.

“Kaldura, do it!” He screamed, too discombobulated to even use the mindlink.

Aqualass recovered from her surprise and leapt on Bane’s back, the eel tattoos that wound up and down her limbs bright with electrical glow. She raised her crackling water bearer with its thin pick blade, and drove it into the injector port.

There was a crack of thunder as all the juice she had collected discharged all at once. It hit Bane and everything went white for a second. When they could see again, Bane spasmed and convulsed as she was ravaged by the electricity introduced directly into her nervous system by the port’s medium. There was a stench of ozone and burning hair as she spasmodically hurled Superboy away. So much current went through her that even Superboy received a much lesser shock from his brief contact.

After the flash of electrical discharge, Bane remained frozen in place in a twisted pose, smoke wafting from her in places. Then with the terrible finality of a falling tree, she toppled to one side and crashed to the ground.

Superboy stared at her prone form with trepidation, but she didn’t stir. He could see she was still breathing, though, and sagged with relief. 

That was way too close…

Taking a moment to simply breath and catalog his hurts, he put his head down. He became aware of somebody poking at him, and looked up to find Gizmo peering at him curiously, a few inches from his face. He broke into a smile and snatched the G-Gnome up in a hug. Gizmo squawked in protest.

“Ha, you did it, buddy! I knew you were the best tactical gear to bring!” Superboy shouted as he tossed Gizmo in the air and caught him. Gizmo quickly extricated himself from Superboy’s grip and clambered onto his shoulder, resuming his usual spot. Superboy gave him a little scritch under the chin, which made him chirp happily.

“Gizmo… did that?” Ms. Martian said with disbelief as she floated down, looking from Gizmo to Bane uncertainly. 

“He telepathically paralyzed Bane for approximately 2.4 seconds.” Robin said as she typed at her holo display, apparently already breaking down the fight for review.

“I don’t think I could have done that. I couldn’t even read her mind in the moment before…” Ms. Martian said, rubbing her elbow and looking down.

“Well, I think the Kobra Venom helped a lot there. Bane was bugging out. She’s supposed to be uniquely suited to Venom, but that stuff’s not what she’s used to. Bane handled it a lot better than Docbuster did when she transformed, but she had the crazy eyes going. Too berserk to keep reciting futbol scores to keep a telepath out, I guess.” Superboy explained as he sat up, exhausted. 

She was gonna snap my spine like a twig… he thought, shuddering. He patted Gizmo again, absently. 

You saved me, little bro. I owe you.

Images, scents and tastes filled his mind. Salt and grease predominated.

Okay, fine, sure, pork rinds. I get it.

“Hey gals, check it out! Souvenir!” Kid shouted as she ran up, holding one of the loaded RPGs.

Everyone looked at the weapon, and then at her, silent.

After a beat, she sagged in defeat.

“Aww, fine…” she said, and then with a whump and a flash, the rocket propelled grenade fired off and they all ducked out of the way. The munition spiraled through the air… and landed directly onto a pallet of fuel barrels inside the factory through the massive open doorway. The detonation was even brighter than Aqualass’ electricity, and the explosion tore through half the factory. It set off sympathetic detonations as more fuel or precursor chemicals went off, tearing the place apart and setting fire to the remains. In a moment, there was a massive blaze consuming the factory.

The team turned back to stare at Kid Quick, who looked utterly guiltless.

“...My finger slipped.” She said, and threw up her hands like she just made a little oopsy-daisy, and dropped the smoking launch tube.

“Well, we can’t get any less covert than we already were.” Robin said a little smugly. “Congratulations on your election win, Aqualass. You can be the one to explain it all to Batwoman.” She finished with a grin and artfully washed her gauntleted hands of it.

The team laboriously restrained Bane, and called in pick ups for the remaining cultists. Superboy made sure to grab the case containing the last vial of Kobra Venom, and stuffed it into his backpack after verifying the last vial was still there. As he was doing it, Kid sidled up to him and thrust a folded cloak into his hands. He looked at her curiously as he held it.

“Kobe’s cloak! I needed a different souvenir. I dunno if they’re gonna let us keep that little vial.” She explained with a cocksure grin. “Now, I seem to remember something about you wanting to kiss me…”

Superboy’s face heated as she leaned in, but with a glance he saw the others weren’t watching, so he leaned in and French kissed her fiercely. Their tongues wrestled, and Kid tried to dip him, but he refused to yield and tried to dip her in turn. This left them in an awkward tongue wrestle until they broke the kiss, both flushed and short of breath. Kid absently wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. The kiss left Superboy in a giddy mood, something also buoyed by their victory. He stuffed the trophy into the backpack atop the vial.

“Well, that was some kiss…” She quipped.

“There’s more where that came from when we get back.” He said with a grin. “But first…”

“First what?”

He picked Gizmo up and thrust him in her face, while she recoiled.

“You have to apologize to Giz.” He stated firmly but with a grin. 

“What! Why do I have to apologize to him?” Kid demanded as she warily eyed the G-Gnome.

“For calling Gizmo a creeper. He saved my life, or at least my back!” Superboy demanded, advancing toward Kid holding Gizmo up like a totem to ward off evil.

It seemed to work on Kid Quick, as she kept backing up until he was chasing her with the genomorph held out.

“Aw come on…” Kid protested.

“Say you’re sorry, or no… ahem.” Superboy replied tersely.

Reluctance warred with something else in Kid’s expression, and she sighed, rolling her eyes.

“Ugh, fine. I’m sorry…”

Superboy burst into laughter as they filed on to Ship, and prepared to depart.

So much for ‘observe and report’... Superboy thought as they took their seats, and Ship began to ascend. It turned out towards the Caribbean Sea, and they swiftly left Santa Prisca behind. The Venom factory was a bonfire on the horizon as they slipped away into the night.

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