章 33: 3.5

6:53 PM, 18th April, 1989.

Location: Metropolis, flying with Lois Lane

"So, Miss Lane… just to clear the air… what were you thinking when you decided to follow the world's dumbest mooks?" I asked. "Since their thought process would certainly have been, hey isn't that the Reporter that knows Superman? Let's kidnap her!"

She groaned.

"Worse..." I continued. "You weren't subtle about it. I could spot you from further away than the thugs, even with your sun glasses." Whoa, deja vu moment. Clark, she's just too much like you. "Do you have a death wish?"

"I didn't know they were that trigger happy, kid." She retorted.

"So how does this whole investigative reporter thing work, because I'd be worried you would foul up any police investigations doing stupid things like that." I remarked.

"Is this about the knockoff Superman crack?" She asked.

"It's about your whole attitude, actually. Here you are, front seat in a story and you're insulting the driver." I jabbed back.

"I can see how you might think that, I just hate being passive, y'know? I want a role as more than observer." She began before shutting her mouth. Finally she added. "Oh, that is bad. I'm supposed to be objective."

"Yes, what it sounds like is that rather than be writing the article, you want to be the person in the article, taking down the criminals." I commented.

She blushed at that. "Kinda. I do like that element of my job the most, rooting out and exposing crimes."

"You want to be even more involved, however that's dangerous. Even if you've got a lifeline named Superman. Do you really understand how he has to choose between crimes? He has to triage the most desperate cases. Someone he knows throws a wrench in that. After all, everyone else is a stranger." I explained. "So please, for his sake, don't put yourself in excessive danger relying on him. He might have to choose you over a bus full of kids on fire or something equally awful."

"Okay, I can see your point." She responded sullenly.

"Now, think about what happens when his enemies are people on a relatively equal footing in terms of power. Like our new acquaintance Black Lightning… or whatever he calls himself." She began to protest. "I don't mean him personally, just someone with a similar level of power. Who decides to hold you hostage against Superman. Things aren't quite so easy as they are with regular humans, are they? Because they could potentially use you to seriously injure or kill him."

She slumped.

"You're his most obvious Achilles Heel. Remember it." I summed up. Then smiled. "So why not get some training? Self defence from an expert could help against anyone with human physical abilities. You also threatened me with something…?"

"I have… a can of mace." She finally admitted.

"Good for a quick escape. But perhaps you should invest in a taser? The close range multiple use kind. Some surveillance gear like listening devices would be better than loitering within earshot. Also always keep an ally on hand. So that the police or ambulance can be notified if you do end up abducted or worse shot." I suggested. "Because in some ways your current method of loitering seems frankly, suicidal. You could one day, simply vanish and no one would know."

She was silent for the rest of the ten minute flight. Until we found a toystore with blacked out windows.

I circled around, probing the building… and holy moley that's a lot of metal.

The entire basement and upper floor are packed wall to wall. I had a bad feeling about this.

"Uh… Miss Lane… this seems to be a trap." Pulling iron dust from the surroundings I formed a map of the building in 3D over my hand. "See here and here? All of it is humanoid mechanical figures. Robots. Somewhere in the order of four hundred."

"Two humans as well. This guy is probably Toyman. He has a stupid helmet. The other is… odd. He's absorbing whatever powers my senses use like a blackhole." I glanced back at mystery man. He jerks and looks back, his head shaped void pointed my way. "Oh shit, the other guy knows I'm here!"

Leaping through glass windows to the street and into the main building from the basement, Toyman's robots start to move. They unleash bursts of those beam weapons in a concentrated wave from mouths of teddy bears and weapons in the hands of action figures. And here come toy planes and rockets… with actual lasers and micro missiles.

Dodging, I pulse my power toward the mass of flying weapons. They simply crumple and fall in the wake. I focus fire on the humanoid ones, setting off a small scale EMP in their midst. This it turns out, is much less effective. Either they aren't as vulnerable as Brain's creations or they have light EMP protection built in. Instead of shutting down, they go into a frenzy attacking everything friend or foe.

Physical force it is. I slam down with a large cone of magnetic energy, crushing the robots in the affected area like aluminium cans under a boot. With a pull I suction up dozens in a ball and compress them together, before using them as a wrecking ball against those below. Lois shouts out a warning and I veer left as my last position is peppered with laser fire from miniature artillery formations on the roof. Damn green plastic army men. I pulverise them with the robot ball.

Then my backup arrives with a flash.

He takes one look at the scene with a look bordering on bemused horror. Oh, god this would be when the golliwog dolls advance, wouldn't it?

"I'll handle this rabble. You take the sides." He declares angrily.

I sense what he's doing, he's charging the atmosphere directly above the enemy formations.

I help, by pulling down with my own powers as well. Apparently, I can do more than hinder him, because he staggers back in surprise as he is too successful. The sky discharges in streams of lightning, all at once onto the crowd annihilating them completely and setting the road alight.

Overkill.

Lois yelps at the suddenness and overwhelming power.

"Now we just have to..." Black Lightning began to say, before I cut him off.

"Get back now! The other guy is coming!" I yelled, throwing a barrier up in his defence. The barrier however shattered as a very ugly humanoid lashed out at superhuman speed, to grab hold of my ally.

Oh no. It's Parasite.

Black lightning tries to blast him off, with a strong bolt but this merely feeds his opponent. I think he's feeding off my ambient magnetic field too. But he isn't immune to robot wrecking ball! The collision separates the two and Parasite is knocked for a loop since pure kinetic energy is perhaps one of the few things he can't absorb easily. He lands badly, tumbling down the street.

"Don't let him touch you, he sucked some of my powers from me!" Black Lightning shouted, standing up, shakily.

Parasite grinned in a most unwholesome manner and then for a moment became lightning, pouncing at me.

I chuckled as I caught his energy form, unravelled it and with a flick of my hand threw him back to Earth like a meteor.

"Try again, fool!" I yelled after him. He dared to come after me?

I followed up with more wrecking ball, straight down while he was stunned.

He met it with brute strength and he stopped it almost dead. He wasn't prepared for when it melted down and wrapped around him as molten metal. He roared out in fury, while it didn't seem to be burning him seriously, it must still be painful. He struggled.

But I was already done, with a gesture I raised him into the air.

"Tag team him!" I shouted to Black Lightning.

He grinned before raising his hands and focusing all his energy, releasing a bolt of jet black electricity. In return I twisted the magnetic fields and increased his output by as much as I could, effectively supercharging the attack.

The Parasite screamed as he took entirely too much energy, his body breaking down in places.

I slammed him down again, sealing him in a cocoon of solidified metal. He was no longer conscious. Still alive however as I left air holes. His powers are temporary boosts, for the most part… I think. When he powers down I'll let him out. How he got so strong is something to explore…

Oh yes… Toyman.

I drift inside the building and drag out a hiding figure in a silly mask.

All it takes is a few lengths of wire to capture him.

"This creature, the Parasite… you made some device to feed it, didn't you?" I stated, holding him over his destroyed army. I sensed a chair like device. Which I ripped out, holding it in view. "It was this thing, right?"

"Yes..." The Toyman nodded.

"Good." I crushed the chair into wreckage.

"Well, it looks like we got the ones that matter." Black Lightning announced.

"I'd say so. These would be the ringleaders." I replied.

"Was that you, making my powers stronger?" He asked.

"Yes. Seems I can help or hinder you." I chuckled.

"Nice work, but I'm a little concerned about that last attack. We could have killed that… man." He noted.

"He was tougher than a normal human, he could take a lot. But it wasn't the attack that stopped him, it was the excess energy he leeched off it which did him in. He took in too much and his power started to short out. More and he might have completely self-destructed." I replied.

"Ah, a power interaction. That makes more sense." He agreed.

"He was stealing energy from me too, from my aura of magnetic energy." I added. "Nothing worth mentioning, but he did get you. I'd guess his power is temporary boosts with maybe a few small permanent gains."

"I really hope he didn't steal anything of mine." Black Lightning responds.

"Still, that was incredible teamwork from you both!" Lois added. "Well done, apprehending the menace and his secret monster."

"He's a meta. But a criminal one, by how he jumped straight to assault. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a body count from his feeding." I added.

Lois nodded. "I'll look for unusual deaths."

"Try looking through the reports for dehydration or abnormal decay." I suggested.

"Will do." She added. Then blinked.

A blank spot entered my senses at high speed. I turned waving. "Hey Superman. Good to see you again."

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章 34: 3.6

7:13 PM, 18th April, 1989.

Location: Metropolis, Toyman's lair.

Superman hung midair, arms crossed with a faint smile on his face. "What are you doing here, I thought you worked in France?" He asked with a grin. "And while I know Miss Lane beside you, your colleague is new to me."

"I call myself Black Lightning." He answered for himself. "I live in this city too."

"Oh? Well it is a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to seeing more of you in the future. Metropolis can never have too many defending it from malice, natural disaster and accident." Kal El offered gracefully avoiding a possible slight.

Black Lightning looked at the slain robots and then Parasite's coffin/cage. "Certainly."

"So I see you both had a bit of a scrap with Toyman's minions." He paused, likely x-raying Parasite. "But that seems like excessive restraints on this being."

"It most certainly is not!" Black Lightning responded.

I nodded. Even Lois gave a tacit agreement. "He absorbs energy and can steal powers. I suspect for brief periods… but for a time he was nearly as strong as Chemo and far faster, with the ability to transform into electricity he stole from our new acquaintance."

Kal El's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Really?"

"Yes, he's even absorbing ambient energy. Physical attacks from a distance work best, stay out of touch if you can. He probably kills with sufficient contact. We beat him by overloading his absorption ability, he started to break apart." I explained. "You probably have better options, however. I would guess his greatest weakness would be hitting him with extreme cold at range to keep him starved until he was subdued."

"Of course. Cold is a decrease in energy and should be impossible for this creature to absorb." Black Lightning frowned. "However if this is an ability owned by a person, I suppose he could steal it like he did mine, through touch."

"Good point." I nodded.

Kal El's eyes narrowed as he understood my hint to use his freeze breath at range if he was forced to fight Parasite. Face to face confrontations with that monster were playing to Parasite's strengths.

"We caught who I believe to be Toyman, since he was wearing this ridiculous mask and sandwiched between two separate robot armies in the same building." I added. "Miss Lane has been following since the start, when both of us began tailing some criminals… who blasted Mr Lightning's home in mistake, thinking it was where you lived."

Kal El's face turned to concern and he looked at Black Lightning with guilt. "I'm dreadfully sorry, was anyone hurt? If you need help, I can help with the repairs."

"Nothing was damaged a bit of plaster and some new windows can't fix. My kids were in their rooms when it happened." He replied, genuinely at a loss. "In fact, I think I'll see how they are doing now this is all wrapped up."

"Of course. Please, if you need help or even just to talk at any time: call my name and I'll be there as soon as I can." Kal El replied. He paused to fly away in a blur before returning a few seconds later. "Sorry, a boy fell out of a tree. I caught him."

"No wonder we've never met. You seem rushed off your feet." Black Lightning responded.

"Nature of response times, you and I are fast but Superman can sense the people in danger from much further away. He just doesn't usually have much warning in emergency cases." I explained as Superman nodded.

"Accidents or sudden acts of violence are almost impossible to avert unless I can see them." Kal El explained. "For example, since it sounded like my French friend had the situation under control I was free to aid when a bridge began to collapse. So my thanks for that, I don't know how long this being would take for me to defeat alone. Perhaps far too long."

"Well, this is my good bye. Drop in at my home anytime, Bubbleboy. See you around, Superman." He smiled before transforming into a flash of lightning and piggybacking off the power lines to head home.

"I think he's more a community focused type than city-wide like you. But he seems like a resource and a nice guy, to boot." I commented. "I'd poach him for France, if I wasn't certain he had some really deep roots in this city."

"So, any chance you'll let me out of this bubble now buster?" Lois asked.

"Sure. Just stay away from Parasite. I'm not entirely sure that thing can hold him. If his power is longer lasting or works through surfaces he touches, you could be hurt or drained if you get too close." I suggested.

"Okay, okay. Just put me on the ground already." She growled.

Gently I did so.

"You know, you are an enigma. I just don't get you, kid. Everything you say and do screams out to me as strange. You don't act your age, at all." I chuckled as Lois commented. Absolutely correct. "But you're a good kid. Name needs work. But good, none the less."

"Is this about the whole Bubbleboy, Metal Storm thing? It's frankly exhausting being in the middle of it. At this point, I'd settle for being called my real name. It isn't as if people don't know who I am or that I'm hiding it." I retorted.

"Good point. Magnus, it has a nicer ring. Latin for greatness, I believe?" She smiled, pleased. Oh, she was going to run with this as a side-story wasn't she?

"It has personal meaning, the name of a personal hero… and I despise my family name." I explained.

"As you explained in your press conference, your father is abusive, right?" She asked.

"Yes. I suppose you heard about the UN barring me from my home country, because Daddy is afraid I'm going to kill him? He's right to be scared, after killing off the entirety of my close family with the exception of my little aunt in a plane crash… which I'm sure he staged. It may even look genuine. After all, powers can run in families… you know?" I grinned. Time to screw with Dad some more. "It isn't hard to make accidents happen when you own the power to disorientate people." I smiled coldly. "Please, just make sure to relay this message to him. If I hear of an accident, illness or a damned scrape befalling my infant aunt, I will fly down to my Father and personally let him experience a plane crash, without the plane. As many times as required."

I looked at Kal, who raised his hands to ward me off. "Don't get me involved in this. It sounds like quite a thorny issue if it involves international politics. Just don't fly off the handle and do something stupid."

"No, but that threat should give her at least long enough to reach her coronation. I'm sure Dad will slowly forget my warning or prepare for me, so that he can knock her off before she gains power… but it gives me time to train and prepare as well." I smiled. "Politically or otherwise."

"How is the crown princess your aunt, anyway?" Lois asked.

"My mother was the daughter of the Queen, by a different father. She remarried to the King after the death of my Grandfather. She originally married young like my mother. I suppose my father saw the King's stepdaughter as a stepping stone toward the throne, since the royal couple were childless for many years." I shrugged. "Royal lines are weirdly complicated. At least I'm not obviously inbred as far as I can tell, apart from those cousins a few generations back."

"Well, that was convoluted. And a glimpse of how cold blooded your father appears to be, from your perspective." She held up her hands as I growled. "Objectivity, I'm just trying to show objectivity."

"My scars from his beating when I was a six year old would agree with my position." I retorted.

Kal El looked. I knew, because he flinched. I look like a former convict from the sixteen hundreds who received the lash several times, from behind.

The police finally began to arrive.

"Anyway, I'll be in town for another day or two. I'm on a bit of a whirlwind tour of the States. If you need me, you can reach me at the Hotel Concourse, room 601 Miss Lane. Or just flying around making a nuisance of myself, Superman." I glanced at the struggling Parasite, who seemed to finally be awake.

I hovered closer. "As for you. Stop squirming, or I'll take away a few of those breathing holes. You hear me in there?!"

"Yesh!" A frantic Parasite finally responded.

"Good. Behave, or next time I won't be so forgiving." I smiled coldly, peering in the holes. "I'll simply bury or drown you into submission. Understand?" I looked at the cowering Toyman. "You too if you piss me off."

"Please, protect me from this maniac, Superman!" Toyman howled.

"Oh, he already is. I'm only being so light handed because he's here. Do remember it." I chortled.

"Definitely not a Bubbleboy." Lois remarked under her breath.

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