Adventures of Superguy

August 3, 2010 - Happy Harbor, RI

Mt. Justice

13:06:03

‘Recognized. Superboy, B-04.’

The accompanying light show of the Zeta-Tube’s arrival did nothing to brighten Superboy’s mood as he stalked into the Cave, hands in his hoodie pockets and head down. His black mood and misery meant he didn’t even notice the rest of the team until the blare of an electronic warning startled him. He looked down to find himself standing halfway inside a holographic air hockey table, with Kid Quick and Aqualass scowling at him from either end of the table. Awkwardly, he backed out of the board so they could resume their game, but they didn’t bother.

“Superboy?” Ms. Martian asked expectantly. She was in her regular costume, white and red top with blue miniskirt and half cape. The sight briefly distracted him before he replied.

“What?”

“I asked ‘How was Metropolis?’” She reiterated, and now he had everyone’s attention.

Awful, M’gann. Superwoman thinks I’m a fuck up. 

He winced as he thought it, worried she would pick up on it. Steeling himself, he addressed her question.

“It was… fine.” He finished lamely.

Ms. Martian deflated at his answer, and he saw the concern in her face. He steadfastly refused to look at the others, worried they would look at him the same. 

Of course she doesn’t believe me. I spent half the morning moping around Metropolis, too embarrassed to run home to the Cave and lick my wounds. Not that I probably look any better to the others for all that time trying to cool off.

His anger about Superwoman’s dismissal had faded and now he was only left with the shame and inadequacy of how little he measured up in her eyes. He could feel the others' eyes on him, and their concern, which made his pride rankle.

What’s left of it…

“Ready for training, everyone?” Came a familiar melodious voice from the other end of the Main Hall. 

Striding confidently into the Hall, as if she strode any other way, was Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter accompanied her. She looked much better than she had a few weeks ago, when Trojan quit on them, though she had a bandage wrapped around one of her impressive biceps. Her easy confidence was contrasted to the Manhunter from Mars’ quiet presence. 

“Aunt J’oann!” Ms. Martian exclaimed, and rushed to hug her aunt. The two green women warmly embraced, and Superboy noted Ms. Martian was a head shorter than her aunt. He wasn’t sure if height mattered to Martians at all, since they could change it at will.

“M’gann! I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I would see how you are adjusting.” Manhunter said, somewhat haltingly.

“A few bumps, but I’m learning!” Ms. Martian answered brightly.

“That’s all I can ask.” Manhunter said as she smiled warmly down at her niece.

Must be nice… Superboy thought, his stomach twisting at the warmth between the two. 

He had that once, in another life, he reflected.

That bitter thought made him turn and slink towards his room before anyone noticed he was gone.

“Stick around. Class is in session.”

He froze, his shoulders hunching, as he blew a sigh and slowly turned to see Wonder Woman standing off to the side, her arms crossed.

So much for ditching ‘class’. Can we not do this some other time?

He wasn’t stupid enough to voice that thought aloud, but it might have shown on his face because Wonder Woman arched one perfect eyebrow at him. Just that was enough to make his face warm. Reluctantly he joined the team, who were all in costume. He unzipped his hoodie and tossed it onto the conference table, leaving him as ‘in costume’ as he got, sans the Jacket.

Wonder Woman strode to the center of the Hall’s circular holo-field. The translucent air hockey table disappeared and at some unseen signal from her, the entire holofield floor lit up in a grid pattern. The team stood to attention, or they did. Superboy still slouched in a tiny act of defiance.

“I consider it an honor to be your teacher.” Wonder Woman declared, her crystal blue eyes meeting each of theirs in turn. When she met Superboy’s, he saw a sparkle there and straightened up.

“I will test you to your limits. Then we will see what you have beyond those limits. I will teach you everything I know, and everything I’ve learned from my own mentors.” She said as she strode down the line of them like a drill instructor. At the end she turned on her heel and began limbering up, wincing slightly as she worked out her injured arm.

“What happened?” Ms. Martian asked worriedly. Superboy narrowed his eyes, wondering the same.

It takes a lot to actually hurt Wonder Woman. Was she called in for the same battle?

“The job.” Wonder Woman said dismissively. 

“Now, combat is about control. Control of oneself, control of the battlefield and control over the enemy. If you can control those three things, you will not need to fear a thousand battles.” She instructed as she strode to the center of the holo-field turned sparring ring. She turned to them with an eager grin that made certain parts of Superboy’s anatomy do certain things.

“I’ll need a sparring partner.” Wonder Woman stated, her hands on her hips in a pose she made look effortlessly heroic.

There was a sudden surfeit of volunteers to step into the ring with the Amazon princess, so she selected her own.

“Superboy, you’re up.”

A new wave of heat washed over him as he dragged himself over to the center of the ring, a confusing medley of emotions in him. But when Wonder Woman gave him a dazzling smile, he felt a new wave crest within that made him tingle all over. He stood a little straighter and bounced on the balls of his feet as he faced her. She put up her hands and he did likewise, his blood starting to pump harder at the thought of being so close to her. They squared off, eyes locked, and he had to force himself not to get lost in them.

It was a titanic struggle.

He focused on the combat instruction and martial arts within his mind palace, reading her stance as derived from pankration, the ancient Greek martial art. He adjusted his stance slightly, eyes still locked, trying hard to focus on what was surely coming next.

As they continued to stare into each other’s eyes, he thought he saw some searching interest in hers, and just that made his heart leap. His face warmed even more as he struggled to focus. 

Then Wonder Woman let loose a soft sigh and bit her perfect lip as she stared into his eyes, and his heart was fit to burst.

He didn’t even see the jab that snapped at his face but his body reacted instinctively to block it, knocking it off to the side. He barely saw her duck down and only realized what was happening as an impact buckled his knee and swept his feet.

Then he was crashing to the floor on his back, staring up at the cavern ceiling while the holo-field computer blared out a failing buzzer. Now his face burned for another reason Robin and Kid laughed, until Aqualass elbowed them into silence.

Traitors! He thought as he rolled to his feet.

Wonder Woman reached down a perfectly manicured hand to help him up, and this time his face was incandescent. He didn’t think he could stand holding her hand right now and shook his head as he stood on his own. She gave him a slightly amused and indulgent look as he rose, before turning to address the team.

“That was a good block. But did anyone see where he went wrong?” She inquired.

“He got googly eyed and got served?” Robin added helpfully, and Superboy glared at her.

“Dude!” He objected, but Robin only smirked and shrugged.

“Yes.” Wonder Woman stated bluntly and Superboy flinched at her directness, which somehow made Robin’s teasing worse. The team looked at him knowingly and he desperately wished he could crawl under a rock.

“Superboy lost control of himself, specifically his libido.” 

If it were possible for a half-Kryptonian to burst into flames from embarrassment, he would have at that moment.

“And because of that, he lost control of the battlefield and himself. But beyond his lapse in judgement was his lapse in confidence.” She continued, circling him as he straightened to attention.

“What do you mean?” Ms. Martian asked.

“Superboy is more than strong enough to resist a sweep like that, at that level of my strength. He need only to employ that strength properly, and it would be near impossible for someone to utilize that move against him.” Wonder Woman answered as she finished her circling and stood before him again, her arms crossed under her breasts.

Genuinely confused, he wracked his brain and sacked the mind palace for some context to what she meant, but came up empty.

“How am I supposed to do that?” He finally asked, and she smiled at him, making his heart flutter.

“Many of the martial arts you have been instructed with are human ones, meant for human bodies, with human limits. But your half-Kryptonian body is beyond most of those limits. If you are in control of yourself and your powers, confident in what you can and cannot do, then only someone stronger should be able to sweep your legs like that. I might be that strong, but I certainly wasn’t using all of my strength to do it. If you can focus and employ your strength effortlessly, you would be able to defend against such simple moves easily.” She explained and he struggled to follow.

“So I should just… lock my leg?” He offered, and she shook her head. She stepped closer, circling behind him and pressed her chest against his back as she guided his arms in place, and her foot daintily pushed his legs apart into a wider stance. She leaned her head down to speak right into his ear and all the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

“Focus  on control of yourself and your power, first. You are strong, Superboy. Use that strength, know it, trust in it. Plant yourself like a great tree and know you are unmovable, indomitable.” Her voice was like a susurrus of the wind in the leaves, and her warm breath on his ear thrilled him before he stuffed that distraction down.

He realized, finally, that this second lesson was also a test of the first; controlling himself.

Controlling my ‘libido.’ God, I can’t believe she said that in front of the team…

He hurled that new embarrassment deep down too, sharpening his focus as she walked back in front of him again, ignoring her sashay as she took her position. Again, her guard came up and he matched it. They locked eyes again and he threw cold water on his ‘libido’ as he strained to focus. He began reciting baseball scores to himself that he had memorized with his father, enumeration RBIs as their staredown stretched.

Superboy thought he was ready the second time, but then Wonder Woman gave her lips a lascivious lick with a perfectly pink tongue, matched by a smoldering gaze, and he almost lost control. The jab flicked out again and he blocked it smoothly, and this time as she dropped out of sight for the sweep, he focused his indomitable strength. His footwork solidified, his leg muscles tensed and he turned his knee to take the sweep on the outside. 

Wonder Woman’s leg crashed into his with bruising force but this time he planted himself and felt like he was pushing the earth down through the soles of his feet. His knee buckled but he didn’t lose his footing. Shock and elation shot through him, and he raised his hands in joyous success.

Wonder WOman smoothly rose and smiled indulgently at him again.

Then she seized one of his arms, snatched him off his feet and threw him over her hip. As he flew he got a fantastic view of her ass in between the slats of her armored skirt. Then he crashed down to the floor and the failure blare came again. Robin guffawed and nobody silenced her. This time he stayed laid out until Wonder Woman walked over to him and stared down at him expectantly.

“What have we learned?”

He thought for a moment before answering.

“Fight’s not over until the fight’s over?” He inquired.

“Correct.” She said as she reached down to offer him a hand, and this time he accepted. She didn’t let go as she pulled him to his feet, and their faces were very close as she spoke.

“That was much better. You have much to learn, Superboy, and I am eager to teach you.” She said with a warmth and genuineness that took him aback. There was also something more in her gaze that he couldn’t quite name. He was almost lost in her eyes again when a new alert blared across the Hall and the holo-field projected a video pane over their heads, which caught everyone’s attention.

A black clad and highly pointed visage filled the screen, and a chyron below declared it a priority communique.

“Batwoman to the cave. Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow. The attacker was capable of analyzing and duplicating the powers and abilities of its opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant.” The Caped Crusader summarized, narrating over a confusing supercut of shaky cam footage of the Justice Guild in battle. Their enemy constantly changed appearance, copying the costumes of the Guild as well as their powers, but there was little discernible footage of it. What was clear was how hard pressed the Guild was against it.

“Whoah. One gal with the powers of the entire Guild?” Kid asked, incredulous.

Batwoman ignored the question and continued.

“In the end, it took eight Guilders four hours to defeat and dismantle the gynoid.”

What the hell is a gynoid? Superboy thought but didn’t interrupt. That seemed a bad idea with Batwoman.

“A gynoid? Who made it, T.O. Morrow?” Robin asked, her worry evident. The rest of the team looked equally disturbed at the ‘gynoid’ giving their mentors so much trouble.

“A good guess, Robin. But Sister Terrific doesn’t think so.” Batwoman answered her ward.

“The technology bears the signature of Professor Ivo.” Martian Manhunter added ominously as she joined them.

“Ivo? But Ivo’s dead.” Aqualass objected with disbelief.

Prof. Ivo’s dead? Captain Marvel must be relieved. Or would be. Don’t you know, Kaldura? Nobody stays dead in the comics.

“So we all thought… or hoped.” Wonder Woman said as she put her hands on her hips, wearing a grim expression.

“To make certain this threat is permanently neutralized,” Batwoman continued. “We’re sending two trucks carrying the gynoid’s parts to two separate STAR Labs facilities. One in Boston and New York, for immediate evaluation.” 

The mention of Boston brought a stab of regret to Superboy. He hadn’t even tried going back since arriving on this Earth. 

Part of me knows its not my home. It just looks like it. I won’t find anybody there I want to see…

He shook his head to free it from the black clouds descending and focused on Batwoman’s briefing.

“Every precaution is being taken. We’ll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo, or anyone else, tries to recover the remains.” As she instructed them, the holo-field displayed a map of the northern East Coast, showing the battle site somewhere in Connecticut, and the routes heading north and south to Boston and New York, respectively. The routes appeared to avoid major highways and populated areas, which seemed a prudent precaution if Ivo did try to reclaim his property.

“You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks.” Batwoman finished, and the route map now listed the two teams. Aqualass, Kid Quick and Ms. Martian were headed to Boston, Superboy noted with relief. He and Robin were taking the truck to New York city.

“Yes! Road trip!” Kid exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air and Ms. Martian smiled at her enthusiasm.

Aqualass’ tablet beeped as she received the mission specs on it, and after consulting it she gave her orders to the team.

“Civilian dress, we’re taking the battle bikes. Everyone, be suited up for a long ride in ten minutes.” She snapped and the team all turned to go.

Superboy stopped as a firm hand caught hold of his arm, and he turned back to find Wonder Woman.

“You have a great deal of potential, Connor. You just need the right mentor to help you bring it out.” She told him, warmth and encouragement plain on her face. Once more his heart fluttered and he clammed up, but he gave her a quick nod. She nodded back and released him to go change.

He hurried down the hall to his room to switch into more ‘civilian’ appropriate riding gear, when he drew up short.

We have ‘battle bikes’?

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