Adventures of Superguy

August 14, 2010 - Annapolis, MD

Trang Residence

00:37:23

The humid night air and a forest of bamboo leaves brushed past Superboy in a rush as he hurtled through the trees surrounding Trang’s palatial home. He was still seeing in the infrared as he barreled towards his landing spot, a wooden balcony framed with delicate paper screens. Through the infrared, he saw Ms. Martian, levitating into the room ahead of him and the heat blob that was her gestured upward, and he heard a thunk as something embedded itself into the ceiling. Then he landed and smashed right through the paper screen blocking the balcony and his vision snapped back to the visible spectrum.

As it did, his eyes widened as he saw in the middle of the opulently appointed room where tapestries and vases lined the walls, a tall man in a gleaming black and gold high tech suit of samurai armor, a red visor across his eyes and a crimson sash tied around his waist. Above him, embedded in the ceiling, was a katana with a similarly technological aesthetic. On the other side of the samurai was an elderly woman in a silk house coat, on her feet now and her drink spilling across the floor in her haste. Ms. Martian floated just ahead of him, now just a barely distinct blur in her camouflage without his infrared vision.

Reacting instantly to his sudden arrival, the samurai snapped out his left hand and impossibly grabbed onto Ms. Martian’s invisible ankle, then spun her like a whip right at him. She yelped at the sudden and unexpected attack, and  he skidded to a halt as she came flying at him. Slamming on the brakes, he reached up and caught her flying form and let the impact push him back so she wasn’t smashed against his indestructible body. She huddled instinctively as they collided, and he cradled her to protect her against the impact.

“Are you okay?” Superboy asked as Ms. Martian looked up into his eyes, her surprise and fear melting away as their gazes met. She shook her head and levitated out of his arms.

“I’m fine!” She shouted as she turned to face their opponent. 

The samurai looked at his stolen weapon embedded in the ceiling and simply reached up with his impressive reach and plucked it from its resting place. As it settled into his hands, it began to make the same infrasonic hum, even as the edge began to glow with a cool blue light. He sneered at the two heroes as he armed himself and smoothly took a ready stance, both hands on his blade.

“New security guards, general?” He asked rhetorically while Trang gaped in surprise, frozen in place by the sudden turn of events. “Most impressive. Too bad I’ll have to retire them as well…”

Anger surged through Superboy, at the arrogance of the samurai and his attack on Ms. Martian.

“Never gonna happen!” He shouted as he charged forward again, nothing stopping him this time as Ms. Martian levitated to the side.

As he closed with the samurai, the man hardly seemed to move at all, but suddenly he was in a different stance with only that teeth rattling hum to make Superboy realize he had moved. Then agony bloomed on Superboy’s chest as he felt a hot wetness soak his shirt. Coming up short, he glanced down at himself to see a gash across his chest, from his right shoulder to his left hip, and blood flowing freely, staining his shirt a dark purple. 

“I’m… bleeding?” He asked in disbelief, even as he touched the wound and his fingers came away sticky and red. Suddenly, everything else seemed far away and quiet as he contemplated the bright blood on his hands. It felt as though the ground had fallen away, that the last few months had never happened, and the terrible pain and sickness that had ravaged his life were back. He felt, for the first time on this Earth… vulnerable.

Fear shocked his system and he was paralyzed by it, seeing the truth laid bare, like the glimpses of white bone beneath the cut. 

Weak.

Vulnerable.

Dying.

He stumbled back, pressing a hand against the wound and feeling the quantity of blood gushing out of it. He started to feel light headed, either from the blood loss or shock, he wasn’t sure.

Ms. Martian: You’re cut! But a Kryptonian can’t be cut!

Superboy: I… 

He couldn’t focus on a telepathic response, couldn’t tear his eyes away from the gap in his skin, severed muscles showing the bloody rips beneath. Vainly he grabbed at the wound and his shirt, trying to pull them back together somehow. The agony of the cut barely registered next to the shock of it happening at all to him. He had faced meta-human bruisers who hit hard enough to hurt him, but those blunt force impacts were nothing like seeing himself slashed open like a normal human by a sword.

I gotta… get it together. Its probably magic or something. Right, magic…

But that proved harder to do than it sounded. His feet felt rooted to the ground like a tree, impossible to move them. Impossible to move any closer to the samurai and his deadly blade.

Kid Quick: Coming in!

And the dark blur that was Kid burst through the hole he had made, tucked into a roll like a cannonball launched from a twelve pounder. She untucked in midflight and put both booted feet out in a ballistic dropkick that impacted against the samurai’s gleaming black and gold trimmed armor, and kicked off as she finished. The man barely budged as she bounced off and was sent tumbling across the room. She was on her hands and knees as the samurai turned and darted after her, gleaming blade raised high to strike. Superboy’s heart froze at the sight of his friend in danger, but his damnable feet refused to move.

But Ms. Martian recovered from her shock at Superboy’s wounding before he did, and with a hand, she employed a telekinetic trick she had made good use of in Santa Prisca. Seeing that their foe was a melee specialist, she simply levitated him up into the air, out of reach of the floor or the ceiling and he hung there, suspended and impotent. Superboy’s heartbeat fell in relief at the save.

Ms. Martian maneuvered the samurai in the air with a gesture, but the enemy kept twisting in the air, before his off hand darted to his sash and he threw a fistful of shuriken at Ms. Martian in a surprise attack. She gasped as she saw the glittering blades flying and brought up her other hand as she flinched back. The shuriken suddenly stopped in mid air, inches from her face but the samurai fell back to the grounds at the same time. Clearly she couldn’t hold both at once. He landed in a smooth crouch, blade held out to one side.

Robin swung through the open balcony, her staff extending in her hands as she landed opposite the samurai. He grinned as he saw her, rising smoothly and taking a new stance, sword held high and behind his shoulder as Robin charged, her staff twirling. She shifted her grip to grab one end and swung massively, utilizing the superior reach of her weapon to send its whistling tip at the samurai’s helmet. The buzzing blade came down, trailing blue after images and the speeding end of Robin’s staff went pinging off into the corner as the two combatants passed each other in the exchange. 

Robin gawped at the sheared off end of her staff, a perfectly smooth cut through it, reducing its length by a quarter. The samurai grinned, and moved in to continue the exchange.

By then, Kid had regained her feet and was suddenly grabbing Superboy’s arm, shaking him out of his fugue.

“C’mon, Supey! Get it together!” She shouted, an intense look in her emerald eyes. That look finally brought him back to the present and his body, and he winced as he became hyper aware of the agony that was his chest. But he grit his teeth and powered through it as Robin took a defensive stance, trying and failing to block the glowing katana strikes, losing a bit more of her staff each time.

Superboy shook his head, and resolved to get back in the game. His team was in danger. He glanced at Ms. Martian who had returned to the air, the shuriken now floating around her in a constellation. She nodded and the three of them charged to Robin’s aid.

“Right… let’s take him!” He shouted, anger rising to fill the void left by his fear. 

Angry is better than afraid!

As they charged, Robin was forced to sacrifice her staff to deflect a last blow of the sword, but as she did so the samurai caught her across the face with a gauntlet backhand blow that sent her sprawling. Behind the two combatants, Superboy saw Trang was sidling her way around a heavy tapestry depicting the siege and sack of an ancient Asian fortress, but the samurai commanded her attention. Ms. Martian flicked her hands forward and the constellation of throwing stars flew back at their owner who seemed unperturbed. In a display of dazzling speed and finesse, he cut each apart with his katana, leaving glowing contrails behind the blade as he did so.

What the hell is that thing? And why does it make that buzzing sound? Superboy pondered, clenching his teeth to keep them from rattling which only made his whole skull vibrate unpleasantly at the same frequency.

The samurai gave Trang and the tapestry she had disappeared behind a minute glance and then turned to meet their charge. Kid darted in first, as always, launching a machine gun volley of punches that the samurai ignored. She fell back, grabbing at her hands as she busted her knuckles against the gleaming black and gold trimmed armor, unable to penetrate it and unable to get inside his guard to attack his face. He swung a sharp elbow at her that she yelped and zipped back to avoid.

Then Superboy got his turn to throw a wary jab that the samurai checked with a swift parry of his katana. Superboy was forced to abandon the attack rather than hit that deadly blade, and the samurai’s grin grew thrice as wide as if he could taste Superboy’s fear of his weapon. They circled each other, the samurai continuously keeping his blade extended to balk Superboy from pressing the attack. Everytime he tried to move forward, he saw that glowing sword blade move to match him and his fear of it kept him from pressing the attack.

Suddenly, whirling birderangs cut in from the left and the samurai threw himself into a backflip to avoid them. Ms. Martian followed Robin’s volley with a battery of antique and no doubt very valuable vases, which shattered as they smashed against the walls while the samurai dodged. 

Except for the one that hit the tapestry that Trang had been sidling up to. It hit and dragged the bottom of the tapestry up as it flew into a space behind it. Every fighter turned to it as they heard a distant crash, muffled slightly by the flapping tapestry. The samurai glanced at the team for an instant, then slashed the top of the tapestry with the sword in one hand, seizing it with the other. He threw it like a net at them, blinding the team just as they turned back to him. The tapestry hit and Superboy only saw darkness, even as he heard the surprisingly quiet pounding of the samurai’s armored feet.

They were all a mass of thrashing limbs as each tried to find the end of the tapestry at the same time, scrambling for a moment until suddenly they could see again. Superboy saw the tapestry float above them, realizing Ms. Martian had simply levitated it off of them. The momentary distraction had been enough, however.

“You’ve gotta be freaking kidding me!” Kid growled as she stood up and Robin walked over to the secret passageway the tapestry had once concealed. It was a narrow corridor that ended in a security door, still and the electronic locking keypad now smashed.

Before it, lay the bloodied corpse of General Duk Trang, cut down from behind as she fled for her own escape tunnel. 

Robin rushed to the door, checking the keypad, but it had clearly been stabbed right through and there was nothing she could make it do. She waved Superboy over, gesturing at the door, even as Ms. Martian knelt by the body, tentatively reaching toward it as her eyes glowed. Superboy grabbed the handle and strained to rip it open, succeeding only in tearing the handle off. Growling, he jammed his fingers between the gaps around the door, and dug in to yank the entire door off. With a groan and shriek of metal, he succeeded, but he felt a burning pain spread through the gash on his chest as he did so. He gasped, dropping the door and clutching at his wound.

“Woah, hold up! Just relax.” Kid said as she came over to him, putting her hands over his own reassuringly. 

Robin ducked into the tunnel, chasing after the samurai, while Ms. Martian waved her hand over Trang’s still face, and her eyes shut for the last time.

“She’s gone. I couldn’t get anything.” She stated quietly, head down as she knelt by the corpse. 

Superboy hung his head, anger, fear and shame filling him as he looked down at the bloody consequences of his failure.

********

August 14, 2010 - Washington, DC

The Hall of Justice

01:47:23

“Ow!” Superboy said as he winced, then bit back another exclamation as Robin looked up at him in consternation as she worked to clean and dress his wound.

They were in the Hall of Justice’s infirmary, a little used facility judging by the dust accumulation. The bloody ruins of his shirt had been cut off of him by the Girl Wonder, and he lay on a cold surgical table while the rest of the team hovered around. The blood had been wiped off and now Robin was applying stinging disinfectant to the long gash. She finished, and he made no more exclamations of pain or winces.

Great, now she thinks I’m a wuss. He chided himself. And nobody cares about me not wearing a shirt now. Hope I get a cool scar.

“Okay, I’m gonna have to glue this shut. We don’t have anything that’s gonna go through your skin, so I can’t sew this up. You’re gonna have to go easy until it heals or you’re gonna pull the glue apart and open the wound back up.” She instructed with clinical detachment, already grabbing the glue applicator, which looked like a small calking gun. 

Funny that she put the surgical gloves OVER her gauntlets, but whatever…

As she began squirting the surgical glue in, she called Aqualass over to hold the gash closed for it to set. Superboy winced as they did the first application, and Aqualass gave him an encouraging smile as she helped. Superboy gave her a nod in thanks, trying to ignore the pain and discomfort, before he spoke up.

“Since we don’t have anything for the pain that can work on me, how about a distraction? What do we know?” He asked, preferring the distraction of an update to focusing on Aqualass and Robin glueing him shut so his blood would stay inside of him.

Rather not think at all about how that bastard cut me…

Apollo had been leaning against the wall with his arms folded, watching the minor surgery impassively, but he kicked off with relief and booted up one of the screens in the infirmary. It displayed the photo that they had found at Sherman Mason’s home, under his corpse. 

But now, almost all of the people pictured were identified.

“You had it right, ‘Supey’.” Apollo said sardonically, and Superboy glared at him. Kid had the decency to look embarrassed that her nickname for him had been overheard. “We do know all the people in the photo.”

Well, at least I was right about that. Economy of characters for the win!

“From left to right…” Apollo began, and each figure was highlighted with their identity as he spoke. “General Clementine LeMar, the original victim. Then Lt. Kendra Blankly, the prosecutor in Adam’s trial for the murder of LeMar. She passed away from cancer in 1993.” He narrated as the two were identified.

Superboy winced at the C word, but it kept him from wincing as Robin and Aqualass glued the middle of the wound shut.

“And the guy is Sherman Mason, the medical examiner. Ex-medical examiner, now.” Kid muttered as Apollo glared at her for interrupting. She met his glare with her own, until Apollo scoffed and rolled his eyes and returned to the briefing.

“The man is Sherman Mason, murdered tonight.” Apollo continued as if Kid hadn’t interrupted, earning an eyeroll from the speedster.

“Next is Lt. Henrietta Yarrow.” Apollo stated, highlighting the third woman in the picture, and Superboy gaped.

“Yarrow? But she was the one who put us on to Mason! Why is she in the picture?” Kid objected, earning another glare from Apollo that she ignored.

“Our working theory is the picture shows all the members of the conspiracy that framed Adams, but we don’t know that’s the case, Kid. We believe the picture was taken in 1968, the year LeMar died and Adams was convicted. Photo cross references of some of the participants suggests that strongly; they were all in Vietnam at that point. But we can’t be sure of anything, so we have to let the evidence tell us what it wants, not project what we want the evidence to tell us on to it.” Robin lectured while she continued the glueing.

“As I was saying…” Apollo continued, his brow furrowing as he continued to be interrupted. Aqualass cleared her throat to get the team’s attention, and nodded over to Apollo when she had it. Everyone got the message and piped down.

“General Duk Trang we already identified, and also deceased tonight. Next to her is CIA Agent Anita Rois.” He continued, highlighting a tall woman with short frizzy hair in civilian dress. “And finally, Sgt. Ishah Polk, military police. The MP who arrested Adams for the murder of LeMar.”

The whole tableau was now identified, except for the downcast young boy. A thought tugged at Superboy’s attention as he looked at it.

“Could that be our samurai? That guy was middle aged, all of these military types are retirees by now. Except for Eiling…”

“Are you still harping on that? Eiling and Adams are the ones NOT in the photo, remember?” Kid interjected, and Superboy’s face fell.

“Oh, right. Still could be Eiling. He sentenced Adams and then married his widower.” He asserted.

“The boy could be the assassin. Trang called him ‘Rako’. She mentioned protecting him since Rako was a child. But Rako said he was loyal to someone other than Trang.” Ms. Martian continued, fixated on the boy. Her voice gained a sympathetic softness.

“Its a good bet that ‘someone’ was our missing CIA spook, Rois. She’s been in the wind for years, whereabouts unknown. And her dossier listed a lot of nasty specialties; assassinations, explosives, brainwashing.” Robin added, not looking up from her work on Superboy.

“The photograph is looking more and more like a hit list.” Apollo concluded. “Somehow, Rois and Rako found out we were investigating the Adams case…”

“And decided to tie up the loose ends!” Kid interjected. “That means Sgt. Polk or Adam’s old buddy Yarrow are next on the list. And if so, its kind of our fault.” 

“We didn’t kill Mason and Trang, Rako did. And ‘somehow,’ meaning Eiling put the hit out. She was our first stop, remember?” Superboy added, getting back on his hobby horse.

Damn, that wasn’t even ten hours ago. Eiling sure moves fast. 

“Don’t let your pet theories distract you from the evidence, SB.” Robin instructed him a stern look, as she finished the glueing and then cleaned the whole wound with antiseptic again before bandinging it.

“You do this a lot, huh?” Superboy asked her quietly, and she gave him a small smile. 

“Usually, we have someone else doing it. Never had to do it on a Kryptonian though. Going to have to tell the boss to update protocols for it. If this was any worse, glue wouldn’t be an option. Make sure you get a lot of sun the next couple of days.” She said and peeled her gloves off to pat him on the shoulder. Ms. Martian approached with a new shirt for him, and he tugged it on. 

“Huh. Its a Superwoman one.” He remarked bemusedly. It was royal blue, with the classic red and gold S shield that the Woman of Tomorrow wore.

“I found it in the gift shop. Is it ok?” She asked worriedly.

“It’s perfect. Gotta keep up the brand.” Superboy said as he smiled at her and tucked it in. 

Ms. Martian beamed and sagged. As he got up off the table, he noticed her glancing at him sidelong, but chose to ignore it. Turning to Aqualass, he asked the obvious follow up.

“So what’s our next move, boss lady?” He inquired, resisting the urge to wince when he crossed his arms over his still tender chest.

“We split the team. Half of us investigate Polk, she lives in Metropolis. While the other heads back to Las Vegas to protect Yarrow.

Man, I’m never gonna shake the Zeta-lag…

********

August 14, 2010 - Las Vegas, NV

Yarrow Residence

00:17:23

Superboy glanced through the bushes at the still illuminated house. It was a single family ranch with brown siding and a black tile roof, sitting in a dry subdivision on the outskirts of the City of Sin. He was a little taken aback by how many well watered green lawns there were in the neighborhood, astounded that people wasted so much water on their grass in the middle of the desert. Yarrow lived more frugally, her yard was hardy desert plants and artful arrangements of stones with a winding footpath through them. The living room window spilled light from the flickering television still on inside.

A shoulder nudged him as he observed, and he glanced over at Robin. She was back in her civvies, a black leather jacket over her usual red hoodie and yellow button up, with green yoga pants and sneakers below. Clearly, she was feeling the desert night chill.

“You alright?” She asked, eyes inscrutable behind her shades.

“I’m fine.” Superboy answered, not meeting her gaze. She let the silence linger before she replied.

“You froze back at Trang’s place.” She stated simply, and his head fell. He heard Kid on the other side of Robin shift, but she didn’t say anything.

“I was just… surprised. I thought I was invulnerable.” He stated awkwardly, unsure of what he was even saying. He had known nobody, not even Superman, was truly invulnerable. Meta-humans had beaten him up, but he hadn’t feared any weapon a normal human could wield so far. Not until Rako’s terrible sword.

“It’s ok, Superboy.” Robin assured him, patting his knee. “You took a wound. Its scary the first time. It rattles you.” She continued, and he finally found the courage to meet her gaze.

There was no judgement there, only understanding, and his shoulders fell as he sighed deeply.

“I wasn’t expecting it. I know I’m not invincible, plenty of things can hurt me. Docbuster and Bane both gave me a kicking. But Rako just cutting me like that… he was so fast, and it went right through me.” He got out, with some effort, shame filling him as he confessed his fear and failure to his heroic friends.

“Its ok. It happens.” Robin continued. “The first time I got shot-”

“The FIRST time?!” Kid whisper shouted from the other side of the bush, but Robin shushed her.

Not the time to yell, but I’m right there with ya, buddy. Jesus, she’s my age.

“The FIRST time, I took it on the armor. It stopped the bullet, kicked like a mule and knocked me down. I just lay there, thinking I was dead and I was just in shock. That’s why I couldn’t feel the blood yet. Then Batwoman finished breaking that gal’s everything and stood over me, just looking down at me. You know what she said, while I lay there gasping for breath like a fish?” Robin asked, looking Superboy dead in the eyes.

“No, what?” He asked dumbly, drawn horrifyingly into the story and imagining the scene.

“‘Why do we fall, Robin?’” She continued, adopting an impression of Batwoman’s gravely tones, which made he and Kid chuckle. 

“‘So we can learn to pick ourselves back up again.’” She finished, and patted him on the back. “Which is what you’re doing. You got knocked on your butt, and now you’re already back at it. You’ll shake it, no sweat.”

Superboy just stared at her, playing that scene in his mind. He had seen such things in the comics over and over, but looking at Robin next to him, a real woman he had become very close to in a brief time, he was terrified for her. But as he processed his emotions, he looked past her at Kid who had a similar expression, but much less severe. She feared for her friend, but also accepted it. 

This is the world we live in. The world I live in now. I wanted to be a superhero my whole life. I wanted to be Robin. That’s what being a hero means; putting yourself in danger for others. I chose this.

His resolve firmed as his heart filled with pride and the camaraderie he shared with the two girls. He nodded, and clapped Robin on the shoulder as well. They shared a final nod, and turned back to their assignment. The three shared a quiet moment, observing the flickering of Yarrow’s television, before Kid spoke.

“It’s not too fancy a house, like Trang. Looks like Yarrow wasn’t on the take. Knew I liked the old girl. We should get in there, warn her she’s in danger-”

Superboy saw the heatbloom of the explosion expanding in the house, even as he started moving. A glance at the side saw Robin frozen in place, the fireball bursting through the windows reflected in her shades. Kid was moving like she was in molasses, trying to react. Glass and timber shattered in a silent moment as he began to move, glass shards and splinters flying in slow motion through the air as he grabbed up Robin and then Kid, running with them under each arm, turning to put his back to the explosion and huddling over his teammates. 

Then the concussion and heat wave hit them, along with a rain of sharp and blunt debris as the house disappeared in an orange fireball. Robin and Kid huddled under him as he spread his arms and back to shield them as much as possible, even as debris pelted him. A particularly big chunk hit him below the ribs and he grunted, but he stayed in place as debris rained down. The roar of the blast was massive but it didn’t hurt his hearing any, and he simply sheltered his friends as the boom echoed and the flames flared and dimmed.

After what felt like an eternity, everything returned to normal and he could hear things beside the blast. Car alarms across the subdivision were going off, and he began to hear sirens wailing as they turned around and raced towards the blast. He straightened, dust and debris falling off of him as Robin and Kid coughed in the smoke and dust. They turned toward the burning pile of rubble in the crater that had been Yarrow’s house, debris scattered all across the yard and neighboring houses.

“...Shit.”

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