A date, in Paris, with Power Girl. What more could a teenage boy ask for? On the rooftop of the Centere Pompidou, with a grand, sweeping view of the city around the table. Not an easy seat to come by. Yet here Hiro was, on a romantic date with Power Girl.
…Okay, maybe not so romantic. Honestly at first it was kind of a disaster, he was having a hard time tearing his eyes away from her 'assets', and she often had an 'oh god kill me now' look on her face. The conversations were a bit awkward, but social skills were not his strong suit anyway.
Then it got better. He managed to lift his eyes a bit, looking her in the face. Her grumpy attitude faded a bit and they were having more meaningful conversations. Hiro was actually enjoying himself, although he wondered if Power Girl was having as good of a time.
Hiro couldn't hold back anymore and asked the question he was dying to ask. "So… you did hear about the original deal, right? I'd settled for that robotic copy of you to take on a date, you didn't actually have to take me out yourself, and you sure didn't have to pull out all the stops and take me here." He'd probably indirectly saved the world just earlier. Small spider robots originally designed to collect forty kryptonite molecules in the atmosphere came in handy when Lexcorp set off several gigantic kryptonite dirty bombs. These bombs covered the planet in a fine dust of kryptonite, harmless to humans, but making the planet uninhabitable for those with Kryptonian blood. When he heard about it, he quickly changed the design to make the tiny robot spiders self-replicate, scour the planet for the dust, and drag it all back to his lair. Soon, the planet was safe for Superman and his relatives again. Hiro only asked for a date with Power Girl in return, and Batman offered the spare Power Girl robot to take her place, which Hiro quickly agreed to. It was a bit of a long shot on demands anyway.
"Well..." Power Girl scratched the back of her head and looked to the side. "Kryptonite may not have much of an effect on me, but this time it did… personally. I would have to live on earth without my family, I'd be all alone, the only one of my kind on this planet. When I first found out about the dirty bombs, my heart skipped a beat when I realized what that meant. I was scared." She then looked back to Hiro and smiled slightly. "Then you came along and like a knight in shining armor, saved us. I thought you deserved more than just having dinner with a robotic copy of me in a burger joint."
Hiro made a goofy grin and blushed slightly. "Hehe, it was nothin'. Couldn't leave you guys hanging. Wasn't actually expecting much, you guys save the world every other day and all you get is a pat on the back." Hiro figured it wasn't because she was actually attracted to him. He was thirteen years old, and heroic morals tend to conflict with dating underage kids, even if he was of age in his country.
"Well, you're an honorary member of the JL now. It's mostly a title so you don't have to hole yourself up in the Watchtower, but we will request things from you every now and then. I'm sure Batman will send you something soon."
The rest of the date went well, and as the two parted at the end of the night, Hiro silently wished for a repeat sometime, but it was unlikely.
Hiro's lair was a grand one, almost like a cross between a factory and the Batcave, but with a lot more toys. A small door on the side of Mt. Fuji was all that gave away the location, and that door was heavily guarded by deadly robots ready to reveal themselves at a moment's notice. The top floors were the living quarters, where he would spend most of his off-time. Entering though the heavy metal doors, one would find themselves in a grand foyer, with two large statues of the Buddha greeting them. Not literally, of course, those were artifacts, not robots. Similar to a mansion, the living quarters was laid out and built by his Grandfather, who was a genius like him, and who raised him in absence of his father.
Below that was the laboratory. The hub, the top level of the lab and the room closest to the mansion was a large circular room, lit orange by the dozens of monitors on the walls and on the computer terminals. Along the sides were large robots, many of them with cockpits, behind glass walls. Mostly they were there as trophies, accomplishments over the years, but they could come in handy in case of an emergency. He'd spend most of his working time in the hub, where he would remotely control his large scale experiments and all the things he wouldn't be able to do with his own two hands. Below him were the chambers where the robots were built, the experiments were carried out and the toys were stored.
He sat back in a comfortable chair in the hub, watching the many robots below him carrying out their daily duties. A flashing light and a beeping sound came from a terminal near him and he pressed a button. On the largest screen on the wall, Batman's face popped up, with the older man's usual scowl on and a very serious look on his face. "Hiro, I have an important job for you." The hero's voice said plainly yet in a commanding way.
"Wazzup, Bats? Need me to build a giant robot or invent some mystical equipment for ya?" Hiro was unusually casual around the big shot heroes, sometimes even playfully making fun of them. "Also, I'm a hero now, call me Toyman."
"Fine… Toyman. I am very confident in your technological knowledge and power, but it's time to put that brain to use on other things." Batman knew that Hiro had no super powers besides having an I.Q. of 210, higher than any human being his age, along with the loads of money from Hiro's family to fund his projects, which Hiro managed to use wisely and even make some back. "There's an individual who works in your area that I want you to take down, last seen in Tokyo. He goes by the name 'Riepuman'."
Hiro frowned and rubbed his forehead. "Please tell me it's not what it sounds like…"
"He's a contract rapist."
"God damn it."
"He's paid by clients to extract revenge on specific females. This means no pattern besides women who someone has a grudge on or is related to someone. He's sneaky and has evaded capture, even with the yakuza on his tail after attacking a boss's daughter. I'm sending over what we have on him. Capture him as soon as possible, we don't want another attack."
Hiro's mind was running, thinking of all the ways he could catch him. Robotic females to use as traps, pheromones to reduce sexual urges, or maybe even robot ninjas that pop out when he's about to attack. "Hmm…"
"Toyman, I know that look. You're thinking of all the toys you can use to catch him, but I don't want you to focus on the what, I want you to focus on the how. This is a job for a detective, not an inventor. Act like one."
The feed was cut, leaving Toyman alone in his lab. He pulled up the data sent from Batman.
"… seriously? A mask shaped like a penis! What the…" Hiro shook his head and scrolled through the data. If this wasn't such an urgent case he'd think he was chosen because of his fascination of sorts with women. He never really saw the problem, he's a teenager, it's kinda normal. "There's hardly any evidence at all to help me…"
He picked a victim and examined the family. It was the daughter of a fishery that sells whale meat, which was recently the site of vandalism by a small group of eco-activists. He pulled up the pictures of the vandalism, mostly spray paint graffiti. However, the messages spray painted on were very hateful and threatening. While it was known where to find these eco-activists, all charges against them were dropped for some reason. While the attacker was unlikely to be among the activists, one of them likely hired him.
"Time to pay them a visit."
While he understood the whole 'eco-activism' thing, Hiro thought these guys were taking it a bit far. That's why he'd feel just fine about sleep gassing them in their meeting room, dragging them off and stuffing them in a dark room with his latest creation, the Red Oni.
Those of Japanese heritage would almost instantly realize what the creature was, or at least supposed to be. With a towering, muscular figure with dark red skin, a menacing, inhuman grin with curved tusk-like teeth, and blood-stained horns sticking from the head, this 'monster' was perfect for interrogation. To top it all off, it was carrying a gigantic spiked club, as is traditional in Oni myth. Hiro was safely tucked away in another room, controlling the Oni from behind a screen. The Oni would even distort his voice into a more menacing, demonic voice before copying him. Hiro was mostly busy setting up final touches, but was interrupted by three screams. "Ah, they're awake." He'd say plainly as he scooted his chair up to the screen. He'd clear his voice and control the robot, ordering it to hold the club threateningly. The three activists were already tied to chairs, so they wouldn't be going anywhere. He pressed a button and spoke into a microphone. "Hehehe… you three look very tasty…" He almost felt sorry for them… almost. The screams kept going and they squirmed, trying to get out of their bonds. "You're not going anywhere until I say so!" He controlled the robot to bend down and near its face closer to the leader's face. He assumed he was the leader anyway, that one was barking out orders earlier when he was watching them. "I might not eat you… if you tell me what I want to hear."
The leader activist nodded franticly. "Yes, yes, whatever you want, just don't eat me!" Hiro was starting to think he didn't even need to bring the other two; the leader would spill all the beans. Maybe the Oni was slightly overkill, but fear tactics worked wonders for Batman.
The Oni slowly lifted its head back up and away from the leader. "Good… now, I have reason to believe that you have been in contact with someone I want even more than you worthless scum, someone who forces himself upon women of your choosing in exchange for money."
"I'll tell you everything you want to know about Rapeman!" This was almost too easy. He would likely end up dumping them on the side of the road soon enough, if they told anybody that they were 'kidnapped by an Oni', they'd be called crazy or people would assume they were under the influence of something. "I never met him in person; we did all our deals over the phone. I do know the phone number, though!" He gave this information very frantically. Soon he'd given the Oni a phone number, which luckily the activist remembered fairly well, even under pressure. He checked the man's phone, and indeed there was that number in the call history.
"He told us what you want to know, now let us go!" another one of the activists yelled out, still struggling in his bindings.
Hiro smiled and nodded, as did the Oni. "I'm a demon of my word." He pressed a button and the chamber filled with a red gas, quickly knocking the three activists out for about an hour. He ordered more robots to drag them away while he took a phone of his own and called the number.
"Speak." A gruff voice said from the other end with a very commanding voice, a voice that made Hiro think this person had a very high need for control and domination."
"Oh, um, I'm sorry!" Hiro replied in an innocent voice, which he could pull off pretty well with his teenaged voice. "I must have called the wrong number."
"Don't fucking call me again, brat." The man spat out before hanging up.
Hiro smiled and put away his phone as he followed the robots dragging out his victims. "Jackpot."
