Conner Kent was pissed off, to say the least. Not only was he made a fool of, his girlfriend was gone. He sat in his room sulking when Kaldur knocked on his door "Who is it?"
"It is Aqua Lad" the Atlantian said "May I enter your quarters?"
"Sure, come on in..." Conner invited him and he sat next to the Kryptonian on the bed.
"Do you wish to talk about it?"
"Not really...it's been a few days since she...you know..."
"I have been in a similar situation, Superboy..."
"How could you know?!" the black haired teen snapped "The only thing that happened was your girlfriend left you for your best friend!"
Kaldur bit his lip and trembled "I did not say that it was exactly like your situation, what I meant by it was that I felt a similar feeling that you are now. Your feeling however is amplified by-"
"By M'Gann not being here?! By not being able to be with her anytime I please?! You can just jump in the ocean and swim back to Atlantis to see your ex-girlfriend anytime you want, but wherever M'Gann is I can't follow!"
"You are testing my patience, Superboy...I only came to try and help you in your hour of need to console you."
"I don't need to be consoled! I need M'Gann back!" he threw his clock at Aqua Lad, missing only by a few inches and smashing into the wall.
"I shall take your words and actions with a grain of salt-your altered state of mind is to blame and I will leave you be for the time being. Please try to get some sleep..." he left to leave Conner to his silent sulking.
Meanwhile, back at Cadmus Labs in Star City a new scientific development was underway. Under the direction of Lex Luthor, the scientists were studying and trying to synthesize amber (fossilized tree resin) and the already existing synthetic kryptonite created by Luthor. The desired effects would be that when exposed to amber kryptonite, a Kryptonian would become hypnotised and do whatever the person holding the kryptonite told them to do. The project was put on hold due to Superboy's escape from Cadmus a few months prior to the date.
Calling his top agent Mourning Star in his office she said "I would like you to test a new form of synthesized kryptonite on Superboy. This is amber kyrptonite" he took out a small sized stone that fit in the palm of his hand, the yellowish-brown smooth texture was transparent "It is supposed to cause hypnosis and mind control in a Kryptonian, but it has not been tested yet. I would like for you to pick a fight with Superboy and bring this out when you're in a pinch."
Smirking, she said "With pleasure...how would you like for me to go about picking a fight with him?"
"Just do what you do best: toy with his mind, emotions and he'll be like puddy in your hands..." he caressed her cheek and said "I know you are the only one who can do an important job such as this...I know he'll demand his teammates to stand back as he takes you on himself, but stay wary: they'll jump in as soon as he's in trouble."
"I can handle myself, Lex...Trouble's my middle name!" she took the amber kryptonite and placed it in her bag for later.
She went to a crowded mall and started her fire stunts, heating up hot dogs from the vendors and using them as make-shift rocket launchers. Soon the media was there covering the story and her face was all over the T.V. screen.
Back at Mount Justice, Wally had the T.V. on and was watching his cartoons when they were interrupted by a news broadcast "This is Star News, reporting live from Star City Mall where the fire-villainess Mourning Star is causing a scene. As you all know, she is responcible for the death of Miss Martian just a few days ago and it seems she has not yet satisfied her hunger for blood..." Superboy was watching over his shoulder and growled.
Aqua Lad said "Time to move out!" the team got their things but Superboy stopped them.
"She's mine! You all stay here so you won't get in my way!"
Kaldur glared "We are a team! We will do this together!"
"Not if I get there first!" he ran out and on his way he said "Voice Command Superboy! Situation Three: Lockdown!" then the entire Mount Justice base was locked from the outside-only Superboy's voice commands from outside the facility could open it. He would get his revenge even if it killed him.
Mouring Star was trying on some skin-tight clothes, deciding that she liked them and set the register on fire so she wouldn't have to pay for it "You can't do that!" the manager protested.
"You're telling ME what I can and can't do?" she grabbed the woman's blouse and slowly set it on fire "Do you have children?"
Terrified, the woman replied "Yes!"
"And what are you going to do if I let you go?"
"I'll run home, give them great big hugs and tell them I love them!"
"Good..." she put out the smoldering embers on the woman's shirt "Now get out of my sight before I change my mind..."
"Thank you!" the woman ran out, and did as she promised what she would do.
Then, the wall caved in and Superboy was there with a hateful look in his eyes. "I've been waiting to get my hands on you for a long time!" he pushed her back, their fingers interlocking in battle "You're the reason why M'Gann-"
"I see how it is! You were too busy fighting me and weren't with her when she died!" she mocked him "She died cold and alone, didn't she?"
"RAAAAAGHHH!" he pushed her back farther, leaving marks in the floor. Setting herself and him on fire, she chuckled and greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. He was ignoring the painful burns, his revenge more important than some petty third-degree burns on his hands.
"You can relate, can you? Cold and alone in that tiny cell in Cadmus was terribly lonely wasn't it? Don't wanna end up there again do you?" he roared and pushed her through the other wall and into an ice cream shop.
"Shut up! You know nothing about me!" he said, getting ready to fight once again.
"Oh but I know EVERYTHING about you: You pose as a highschool student Conner Kent, you are half Kryptonian and half human, you get mad easily and sometimes with no provocation at all, you love M'Gann...but do you know if she really loved you too? Being a Martian after all-getting in your head, she could have been messing with your emotions" with a sadistic grin she said "she's just like me in every way-except she's not as pretty as me!"
That sent Conner in a rage, and he picked her up, spun her around a few times and tossed her into the ice cream tubs. "You'll have to do more that that to beat me!" she tried lighting herself on fire again, but the wetness from the ice cream made it impossible to get enough heat going to fight.
"Youe fires been put out! Let's see how well you do without it!" he pulled his arm back for the final blow, but she pulled out her trump card-amber kryptonite. The stone began to glow a deep yellow color and Superboy heard the soft singing of M'Gann in the language of the Martians. He relaxed his grip on her and let his arms fall to the ground. He was breathing deeply and slowly-just like he was sleeping.
To see if he could do as she told him she gave him simple commands like "Put on this frilly pink dress!" and he did as he was told, the dress flowing down to his ankles. She chuckled and ordered him "Take a picture of yourself in that dress!" he did it and handed her the camera. "Good little doggie..." he scratched his ear.
Back at Mount Justice, they were trying to get back out when they heard "Superboy Voice Command: Situation Three Over, Discontinue Lockdown!" everything opened back up again and Aqua Lad was definitely going to have words with Superboy.
"Superboy, I do not know what in Atlantis you were thinking, but you have earned yourself my distrust!" he was perplexed when the normally hot-headed Superboy did not say anything, and he understood what was going on when he saw Mourning Star behind him holding a glowing yellow stone.
"Sorry, Aqua Brat..." she mocked "He's with me now...Superboy! Destroy your friends and this place!" he did as he was told, sending Aqua Lad flying into Robin, then tossing Kid Flash into the TV screen, leaving a hole that his butt got stuck in. Turning his focus to Artemis, she fired a stun arrow at him but it was set on fire by Mourning Star before it could reach him.
"You won't get away with this, Mourning Star!" she said, with Superboy grabbing her arms.
"Believe me, girl! I already have! Break her arms!" the fire villaness roared.
"Conner, no!" Artemis pleaded with her super-powered friend "This isn't you! The Superboy I know would never hurt his friends!"
With no reply, he bent both of her arms in and they all heard a distinct cracking noise and Artemis let out a scream of pain. It was so much that she passed out right there on the floor. "Good boy" she smiled at him "Now, destroy the computers and let them know just who did this!"
Superboy punched a hole in the console and ripped out the wires, alerting all the real heroes in the Watch Tower in space that connection to Mount Justice had been severed. Within the hour Green Arrow, Superman, Batman and Captain Marvel beamed themselves to the mountain to see about their side kicks. Green Arrow carried Artemis to the sick bay and had a doctor examine her arms "Both broken at the radius and ulna...multiple fractures too..."
"What does that mean doc?" Oliver Queen said.
"It means, she'll need physical therapy and even with that there's a small chance she'll be able to regain full function of her arms and hands again...so in short-she has to stop crime fighting."
Superman had dislodged Kid Flash from the television and examined the security video to see what had happened. He noticed a glowing stone in Mourning Star's hand and concluded "That must be a new synthetic form of kryptonite...I've never seen it before!"
Kaldur added his own input with "I believe the side-effects on Kryptonians are that it induces a hypnotic state in which the one holding the kryptonite has supreme command over the actions of the effected individual..."
"He is only half Kryptonian, so if it works this well on him, just image how it would work on me..." Superman thought out loud and then Batman backed him up.
"When the team has re-grouped, go back to Cadmus Labs and see if anymore of the new kryptonite has been reproduced...if not, hack into the computers and delete all the data on it. If it has, destroy those too..."
Artemis sat up in her bed and said "I wanna help too!"
Oliver took her aside and said "No, what you need to focus on now is getting better! You are to stay in your bed here until your arms have healed!"
"That's not fair! I am just as much part of this team as anybody!" she cried into his chest.
"We have some back up, that's why it took us so long to get here..." Captain Marvel said, introducing a man with long black hair and in a black and blue body suit. "Tim, meet Dick Grayson-the original Robin."
"I'm Nightwing now" the man said "I know Mourning Star personally-Batman and I went to see her while she was at Arkham when I was your age. Joker came in and busted her out and I've been looking for her since..."
Tim Drake looked up at him and said "Do you REALLY think her soul can be saved? After all she's done?"
"Every soul can be saved-Bruce wanted to adopt her when she was declared legally sane and train her to be a force to be reckoned with for the side of good" he put some more thought into his next words "Melissa Starling is my cousin..."
Upon getting back to LexCorp with Superboy in tow, Mourning Star made her way to Lex's office and presented him with her prize. "Excellent!" he beamed "Even more that what I expected from you!" he went to take the amber kyrptonite from her hand but she moved it away.
"Ah, ah, ah..." she teased him "What's the magic word?"
"Please give me my kryptonite?"
"I was thinking more of...coup de grace" she grinned wickedly.
"You trader!" Lex hissed and pressed his button for security to come. They did and waited for their orders "Arrest her and give me that kryptonite!" Nobody moved "What are you waiting for?!"
"They are waiting to see who wins" she said simply "I can see your entire life in your eyes..." she took a deep look and said "They resemble mine-poverty, child abuse and the drive to go all the way...you wanted to be a 'made man' so you took out big insurance policies on your parents and messed with their brakes to kill them..."
Grunting and growling Lex Luthor for once in his adult life was lost for words "What is it you want...?"
"It's very simple-sign LexCorp over to me and you'll get to keep your pathetic life. If not, I'll just kill you and take it by force! So what's it gonna be?"
He contemplated the consequences of his actions and grit his teeth "I'll give you LexCorp..." he had the papers drawn up and the lawyers sign it before signing it himself.
With a great deal of satisfaction, Mourning Star signed the paper and said "How's it feel to have everything you worked for taken from you so easily?" he only glared and she continued "How does it feel, seeing me succeed where you have failed so many times?"
She sat in her new desk and office, not taking her hands off the amber kryptonite for an instant when Cameron walked in with anger in his eyes "This is too much! You've gone mad with power!"
She pressed a button on her desk that linked her directly to the police station "There is an intruder in my office. He is an ice-villain to be transported to Belle Reve immediately. Please put him in solitary confinement" she let go of the button and crossed her hands in front of her face.
"You bitch! You were just using me the whole time?!"
"Took ya long enough. If you were Braniac's son, you would put him to shame. But you've already done that with your own father right?"
This point he had enough and iced himself up to toss an ice blast her way when the police burst in the door and gotten a collar around his neck and shocked him unconscious. The chief asked her "Do you know this, person Miss?"
He had regained enough consciousness to hear her say "I've never seen this loser before in my life" he groaned and knocked himself out.
