"Hey nerd! What 'cha reading this time?" It was recess in Central City Public Elementary School. As usual, some of the more popular kids had surrounded a poor little girl who wanted nothing more than to read her book. Today's book consisted of the collected works of Edgar Allen Poe; it was a personal favorite of hers. Her name was Marie. She was the bookworm of her class, which was a crime apparently. "Just leave me alone you moronic imbeciles!" The girl exclaimed while clutching her book close to her chest, anticipating the children's next course of action. This had been occurring for the past three days. The group ganged up on her and defaced whatever book she held in her possession. Today was no different, or so she thought. Apparently her enthusiastic responses in class coupled with the bullies' poor test results had them in a particularly violent mood.
Not only did they tear up her book, but they pushed her into the dirt and pulled on her bright red pig tails. Luckily, the teacher saw what was happening and stopped the mayhem before they could break her glasses. Her eyesight wasn't terrible, but things were slightly blurry without them. Needless to say, she spent the rest of recess talking to the counselor about the bullying, or rather, the counselor lectured her about speaking up for herself and other nonsense. The whole time, Marie wondered why SHE had to listen to this crap instead of her tormentors. Perhaps it was due to their "leader" being the son of the principle. She read enough books to know that those types got away with pretty much everything, so what was the point in fighting back? She would have her revenge once those idiots worked for her in the future anyway.
After school, she took her usual route home with one of her books firmly grasped in her arms, only to be surrounded by those wolves again. They teased her, called her names, and made fun of her. Why? Because she liked to read? Because she was smarter than they were? Or perhaps she was just unlucky and caught their attention. Weary of their actions, she found herself backing into an ally nearby, intending to make a run for it. The bullies were quick to follow. One even managed to push the girl to the ground, causing her book to go flying into the shadows.
"My my my. Ganging up on a little girl?" A smooth voice came from the shadows behind the child. The girl turned and looked over her shoulder as her tormentors eyes filled with fear. From the shadows came a huge figure with yellow eyes and sharp teeth that gleamed in the darkness. In front of her stood a huge monkey, no, a huge gorilla. A huge, talking gorilla to be exact. The girl gasped and stared at the marvel before her. The bullies, however, were quick to run away screaming like the cowards they were. Marie looked at their retreating forms, then back to the talking gorilla."…Why did you help me?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, oddly calm about the appearance of the gorilla.
He chuckled and flipped through her book casually. "Any child who is a friend of literature in this wretched world deserves a helping hand now and then." He held the book out for her to take. "Shakespeare, a lovely choice…Though I do prefer Milton myself." He stepped closer, but only by a few steps. "Greetings child. My name is-"
"Grodd." The girl responded as she took her book from his large hand. He quirked an eyebrow at her response. "You know of me." He seemed to be a little surprised, but quickly got over it. "Yes." Marie replied as she held the book to her chest. "Enemy of the Justice League. I've seen you in the news enough to know that you're a bad guy. You definitely don't seem like the type to help out little girls." She was clearly suspicious of his motives in approaching her, but her curiosity prevented her from trying to escape. Grodd sighed. "So that's how they portray me on the news huh? " He shook his head. "My dear child, I am simply a victim of misunderstanding. It is pretty easy to dub a talking gorilla as a bad guy, is it not?" He asked sweetly. "Surely you of all people would know about being misunderstood."
The girl paused for a minute, then nodded. "Yes. I understand." Grodd grinned. "Good. Now, how about we work together so that we can both get something we want?" The gorilla offered. The girl tilted her head at him, once again suspicious. "What do you mean?"
"I'm simply offering a deal. You see, in the museum there is a new exhibit for a little item called the venerable orb. It is a sacred artifact to my people and I would like to take it away from that horrible museum. It's nothing but legalized theft, really." He disdainfully explained to the child.
"And what does that have to do with me? What would I get for helping you?" She quickly asked, obviously interested. "Well you see, I would end up getting punched into a wall by the Justice League as soon as I got close to that museum. However, they are very soft. They wouldn't dare to lay a hand on me if I had a tiny hostage such as yourself on hand." Before the girl could interject, Grodd continued. "Of course, there is something in this for you. You wish to be a bit more popular in school, correct?"
The girl huffed and shifted uncomfortably. "Only so that I won't be bothered as much, but yes." Grodd nodded. "If you agree, I will make sure that all of this is televised. What's more of a popularity boost than to be caught by a big bad villain and saved by the Justice League?" He held out his large hand. "What do you say?" He grinned. "I promise you won't be bored."
"Hmm…." The girl rubbed her chin in thought. "Alright, why not? It's not like I can be sent to jail." She stepped forward and shook the large hand. "Haha! Excellent. I much prefer my hostages to be willing. Now, we need a plan…But first.." He tilted his head. "We need to make you…Cuter." He kneeled down to get a better look at her face.
"Cuter? What for?" The girl seemed to be slightly offended at the idea. "The news is always quick to pick up a cute damsel in distress. I'm sure you can understand." He reached out and undid her wavy red locks, removed her glasses, then wiped off some of the dust from her clothes. "There. That's good enough." He nodded in approval. "Shall we go?" He reached out to pick her up, but she stepped backwards. "Wait, I have a better idea. How about I go in first and cause a distraction, then you come in and get your orb to take everyone off guard? You can grab me on the way out or when the Justice League shows up. It looks more organic that way, don't you think?"
Grodd laughed. "I knew you were a smart kid. Oh, how terribly rude of me. I never caught your name." He crossed his large arms as he smiled at his tiny partner. "My name is Marie." She took a moment to place her book in her backpack. "Alright Marie, give a good show. I don't need anyone to figure this out." He warned before he slipped back into the shadows.
Marie nodded. "I'll give a good show alright." After a few minutes, little Marie entered the museum as planned, but she had a worried expression on her face. She looked around frantically while gripping the straps of her backpack tightly. "Mommy?" She said in a trembling voice. Her lip quivered when no one responded, and she began to cry in the middle of the museum. Naturally, the nearby security guards gathered to help the lost child. "I..I can't find my mommy! Waaaa!" She cried, even managing to squeeze out a few tears.
Grodd, who was watching from accross the street, seemed to be pleased with the child's convincing performance. "Like taking candy from a baby." He chuckled, then rushed for the door with a blaster in hand. He easily broke a hold through the wall as he knocked the front door down. "Ahhhh!" Marie screamed, then ran to take cover under a desk conveniently located near the hold in the wall.
Grodd made quick work of the guards as he made his way towards the exhibit where the venerable orb was on display. It was a green orb that had a faint glow to it. With the orb in one hand and his gun in the other, he made his way towards the hole he made earlier. However, before he could make it he was hit back by a strong force and sent flying into a wall. The man of steel floated in front of the gorilla with a non-too-pleased look on his face. "We meet again Superman. What brings you here? Come to see the sculptures?" Grodd asked as he got back on his feet.
"Cut the pleasantries Grodd. Time to go back to jail." Superman wasted no time in rushing Grodd. However, his bull like way of fighting was easy enough for Grodd to predict, so he evaded Superman and headed straight for Marie. That was the signal. Marie moved from her hiding spot, screamed, and ran towards the exit only to be grabbed by Grodd on his way out.
"No! Grodd! Put her down now!" Superman yelled as he flew after the escaping ape."And why would I do that? Not even you can lay a finger on me and risk hurting this poor little girl." Grodd laughed and plopped Marie on his back. "Hang on if you don't want to get hurt." Marie, still into her little act, yelled as she hung onto Grodd's neck. Her frail arms weren't nearly enough to choke him, so it was the best place to put her. "Superman help! I'm scared!" It took every bit of her self-control to keep from giggling. Grodd was right, this was fun.
A few of the other Justice League members showed up at the scene. They were the Flash and Hawkgirl to be exact. True to her usual fashion, Hawkgirl flew towards Grodd with her mace in the air, but stopped when Superman's voice hit her ears. "Stop! He's got a hostage!"
"What?" Distracted, Hawkgirl didn't notice the laser from Grodd's gun coming at her. "Ah!" She fell to the ground, stunned from the hit. Superman flew after Grodd as the Flash went to check on Hawkgirl. Grodd looked over his shoulder as Superman gained on him. "Looks like this is where we'll part ways." Grodd said to the girl. Marie blinked. "What do you mean?"
He grinned. "You should have expected this much As if you were anything more than a mere meat shield. Good bye." He gripped the back of her shirt with the hand that had his gun in it. However, he failed to see her little hands grabbing the gun from him before he chucked her at Superman. "What?! No!" He reached out to try and get the gun, but the child was already out of his reach. As she flew backwards in the air, she grinned and pointed the laser gun at Grodd. "You should have expected this much." She said before pulling the trigger. The recoil sent her body flying back even more. As for the laser, it didn't hit anything vital, but it did knock the orb out of his hand. "Ow! You insolent brat! You'll pay for this!" He scrambled to get the orb.
"I got cha!" Superman said as he caught Marie in the air. "Flash!" He looked over his shoulder at his red friend. "I'm on it!" The Flash ran towards Grodd and grabbed the orb before he could. "I'll be taking that!" He mocked. Grodd growled right before he got knocked to the ground by that metal mace of Hawkgirl's. "It's over Grodd. This time you won't be getting out of jail any time soon."
Just as planned, the news crew had shown up to catch the heroic rescue on film. They zoomed in on Grodd's face as he was led away in handcuffs and put in the back of a criminal transport unit made specifically for him. "I'll take that." Superman said as he took the gun out of Marie's hands. "Awww! Can't I keep it?" She pouted. Marie figured that she might as well keep up the innocent child routine while the cameras were rolling. "I think you've had enough excitement for one day." Superman laughed, then set the child on his shoulders. The Flash and Hawkgirl joined the man of steel. "Good shot kid." Hawkgirl complimented. "Yeah! Did you see Grodd's face? Priceless!" The Flash laughed. Marie laughed. "Thanks! I just couldn't let the bad guy get away!"
They all shared in a group laugh as the scene phases out to look like a news report on TV. The reporter stepped into frame with her microphone in hand. "And that is the story of a brave little girl that just couldn't let the bad guy get away. It just goes to show that anyone can be a hero." Grodd stared angrily at the TV from his jail cell, brooding about his most embarrassing loss yet. "Unfortunately, the venerable orb was lost in all of the confusion. The Flash, who had seen it last, seemed to be baffled as to where it could have gone." The reporter continued. Grodd's eyes widened. "What? How?" He stared at the screen, then shifted his attention to Marie's back as she rode of the shoulders of Superman. There was a strange circular shape bulging out of a pocket of her backpack. "Hmm…" He smirked, then looked outside of his cell as some of the guards laughed at him.
"Hey Grodd. I heard you got outsmarted by an elementary school kid. So much for being a genius. Hahaha!" The first guard mocked. Grodd glared at them, then shrugged. "What can I say? She is a very smart child." He turned his attention back to the TV and paused the picture so that he could stare at the outline of the orb in the girl's backpack. "A very smart child indeed…."