Chapter III: This Looks Like A Job For… Part 2

Ms. Mercy Graves waited patiently for her boss to come downstairs so that she could drive him to MaxCorp. It wasn't really a bad job. As the bodyguard of one of the most powerful and influential businessmen in all of Metropia, there never truly seemed to be a dull moment in her career. But what she really enjoyed was helping Max Von Havoc do his dirty work. As she had just finished straightening her outfit, she heard a noise coming from the staircase.

"Oh, good…" she thought to herself. "He's pissed."

Max stormed over to the car with a grim look that could turn milk sour. "Favorite son…" he grumbled. "He's not even human!" With a sudden outburst, he slammed his fist into the wall.

"Max!" Mercy stepped towards him before he held up a finger, signaling her to stay back.

He was breathing heavily, seething with a suppressed hatred for Hyperman. After a few short moments, his breathing calmed down and his muscles relaxed. He straightened his hair, took a deep breath, and walked right past Mercy as if nothing had happened.

She opened the passenger-side door for him to get in, and then she went around to the other side. As soon as they were on the road, Max pulled out a folder and finished a few quick strokes with his pencil before closing it.

"As soon as we get to MaxCorp, I need you to get this to the medical research lab. I came up with the formula last night, and I've made it eighty-seven percent applicable. See to it that they can finish it so that it's one hundred percent."

"What is it this time, Max?" Mercy asked with interest. "The cure for cancer?"

Max chuckled. "Even my superior intellect isn't that skilled… yet. It's a formula for a successful treatment for muscular dystrophy. You see that, Mercy? It isn't Hyperman who's improving medical procedures, and it isn't Hyperman who's slashed Metropia's unemployment rate in half, and it certainly wasn't Hyperman who rebuilt more than three quarters of this city… it was me."

"And here I thought you were angry because you lost the nomination for president."

"Oh, please…" Max scoffed. "I would've dropped out anyway. This year's political race is nothing short of a joke. The only thing that truly angered me about this race is that Simon Hammer became their nominee. That man makes politicians look like nothing more than a bunch of greedy crooks and unintelligent businessmen."

"Yeah…" Mercy smirked. "Thank God for all of the honest and bright ones like Richard Nixon and George Bush."

Max craned his head towards his driver before a smile creeped over his face. "Touché. But, back to the matter at hand; I'm going to need to reschedule my meeting with the board next week now that I've been invited to the – what the hell?!"

Mercy braked just in time before Hyperman and a purple-skinned woman crashed into the ground. This woman quickly got up and wrapped her hands around Hyperman's neck. Marvelgirl was flying close behind, trying to draw the other woman's attention. Hyperman, himself, didn't look very healthy, this made Max's smile begin to grow even wider.

Five Minutes Earlier…

"It hurts, doesn't it, Hyperman?" Renegade grinned as she drained the energy from Hyperman's body. "Or should I say Kent Milton?" Hyperman's eyes went wide with shock. "Yeah, when I absorb a person's energy, I also absorb their memories. What do you say to that?"

"Behind… you…"

"Ha! Oldest trick in the –" Suddenly, Renegade was struck by a lamppost that sent her flying into the air.

"Are you okay, Kal?" Marvelgirl helped her cousin up off of the ground.

"Don't let her touch you, Kara!" But it was too late. Two beams of red energy struck Marvelgirl in the back. Renegade was hovering above them, using Hyperman's heat-vision to pin Marvelgirl to the ground. Marvelgirl tried to use heat-vision of her own, but she couldn't. Somehow, her physiology was slightly different than her cousins, meaning that she may not have all of his powers.

"Leave… us… alone!" Kara struggled just to stand up. She put her hands in front of herself to keep the blast out of her face. Renegade got closer, making the strength of the beams grow with intensity. Kara screamed in agony, and two beams of yellow energy shot from her palms, colliding with Renegade's stolen heat-vision. Renegade, Kara, and Kent were all surprised.

"Can you do this?" Kara looked down at her cousin.

"I don't… think so…" As Kent felt his strength returning, Renegade's heat-vision began to fade.

"No!" Renegade cried. She dodged Marvelgirl's blasts, and desperately lunged at Hyperman again. This time, once she grabbed onto him tightly, she flew high into the air, away from Marvelgirl. Hyperman struggled to get free until Renegade dropped him. She dived down after him, until she finally wrapped her hands around his neck, and slammed him into the ground.

Present Time…

Max was feeling completely giddy! He watched with intense interest as Renegade fought with Hyperman and Marvelgirl right in front of him. Suddenly, Hyperman regained his powers and punched Renegade into the sky. Marvelgirl followed after her, but Hyperman was still low on power. At last, he worked up enough strength to follow them.

"Mercy?" Max looked to his bodyguard as he got out of the car. "There's a movie theater two blocks away from here. Would you be a dear and fetch me a bucket of popcorn?" And with that, Metropia's most successful entrepreneur ran after the super-beings.

"You won't hurt anyone ever again!" Marvelgirl continued to blast Renegade with her energy beams, trying her best to keep her distance. Renegade looked like she couldn't keep it up much longer, and she finally collapsed to the ground. "Finally… I was getting pretty tired of this."

But Renegade suddenly clutched Marvelgirl's ankle, causing the Teen of Steel to double back in pain. "Mmmm, yummy!" Renegade laughed.

"W-why… are you… doing this…?" Marvelgirl whimpered.

"Consider it karma, sugah." Renegade explained. "Ah'm just tryin' ta repay this world for what it did to me! Folks don't take kindly ta muta-humans, so me an' mah friends are gonna see to it that they pay!"

"Leave her alone!" Something hit Renegade upside her head. Ayesha Abdallah was just leaving her therapist's office when she saw Renegade attacking Marvelgirl. Acting on impulse, she grabbed the biggest stick that she could find and hit Renegade. Unfortunately, the stick snapped in half upon contact.

"You're that Muslim girl from yesterday, ain'tcha?" Renegade stood up to face her. "You really are suicidal!"

Renegade lifted her fist to strike the girl when Hyperman flew down and knocked the villainess down. Renegade regained her composure, and gave Hyperman such a powerful blow, that a stream of blood flew from his mouth. Hyperman quickly swatted Renegade away and went towards Ayesha, but he was too distracted to notice something equally important. After Hyperman had coughed up his blood, someone gathered it up, and snuck away with it.

"Ayesha! What are you doing?! Get out of here!"

"No! You helped me, I want to help you!"

"But Ayesha, you can't-!" Suddenly, Hyperman got an idea. If Renegade absorbed super-beings' powers and memories, perhaps she absorbed even more than that. "Okay, Ayesha, maybe you can help! I need you to go to S.T.A.R. Labs and talk to Prof. Hamilton. Tell him I need him to unlock vault 337, he'll understand. Go!"

Ayesha rushed off to help her friend, now all Hyperman had to do was buy her some time. Renegade got up and snarled angrily. Her fists began to glow with the same yellow energy that Marvelgirl had shown. Hyperman knew that he obviously couldn't defeat her one-on-one, and he saw the damage that they were causing to the city. He needed her to chase him.

"That's it! Ah'm gonna drain every last once of energy from your body, Hyperman!"

"I'd like to see you try, you redneck stereotype!" He coaxed.

"That tears it!" Renegade flew into the sky, screaming bloody murder.

Hyperman flew out of the city as fast as he could, with Renegade right behind him. As they got higher, Hyperman's eyes began to burn with intense solar energy. At last, he turned around and released his heat-vision upon Renegade. But the purple villainess fired yellow energy blasts at the same time, locking both super-beings into a deadly situation. The two colliding energies continued to build up until they finally exploded.

Hyperman's super-hearing suddenly kicked in. It was time to execute his plan. Renegade's powers were beginning to fade, meaning she would be dangerously desperate and reckless. Hyperman led her to the edge of Metropia where S.T.A.R. Labs was located.

"Look…" Prof. Hamilton pinched the bridge of his nose ion annoyance. "I don't care who you are or what you say… I'm not gullible enough to believe that Hyperman sent a little girl to have me open the vault."

But Prof. Hamilton quickly retracted his statement once Hyperman and Renegade crashed through the Lab's observatory. Renegade was caught under some rubble, but Hyperman was quick enough to warn everyone to get as far away as possible. As soon as he made sure everyone was evacuated, Hyperman returned his attention to Renegade. She had finally freed herself in time to see Hyperman run into the next room.

"What's the matter, sugah?" Renegade laughed as she followed. "Ah thought ya'll wanted a fight!"

She broke the door down and was surprised to see that Hyperman wasn't in there. She wandered around, checking every corner of the room until she came to a larger corridor filled with vaults. As she walked inside she noticed one vault labeled 337 was wide open, but nothing was in it.

Suddenly, firm hands gripped her shoulders and threw her out. There was Hyperman dressed in a bulky hazmat suit.

"Ya idiot! Ah still have plenty of juice to just peel that thing off ya and get back down ta business!"

"Maybe…" Hyperman reached behind his back. "But do you have enough to stop this?"

Renegade lunged at Hyperman with anger and hunger in her eyes. With lightning speed, Hyperman pulled his hand out from behind his back, and held up a glowing, green rock. Renegade was in pain. Her body felt as if it were on fire, her bones felt as if they would shatter, and she screamed an unearthly howl until all of the power she absorbed faded from her body, and she was weak once again.

Hyperman sighed with relief as he placed the rock back into the vault and locked it. He picked up Renegade and strapped her down onto a gurney. Just then, Marvelgirl and Ayesha came back inside to find Renegade defeated.

"Whoa… how'd you beat her so easily, Hyperman?" Ayesha was awe-struck.

"I took a gamble, and I won." Hyperman looked down at Renegade's unconscious body. "She absorbed our strengths, but she also absorbed our weaknesses."

"The radonite!" Marvelgirl gasped. "Is she…?"

"No, she should be fine. We'll just have to see if Prof. Hamilton can create a special cell for her at the Raft."

Later, at the Raft

"You're certain she has no memory from today?" Hyperman stared cautiously at Renegade as she sat in her cell.

"We're positive. It seems that the exposure to the radonite has completely erased all memory of today's events." Fury assured Hyperman.

"Alright. Kara, let's go home. You need to get ready for school next week, and I need to talk to a friend."

With that, the Radonians flew off. Director Fury looked back at Renegade before going back to work. Once everyone was gone, a cockroach crawled up next to the purple woman. She touched it, absorbed its life-force, and smiled wickedly.

Later That Day

Ayesha was back at home with her mother. Helping to cook dinner, finishing her chores, and going over her school preparations one last time.

"Thank you for your help today, Ayesha."

Startled, Ayesha spun around to see Hyperman right outside her window. "I owed you my life."

"That's not the way it works, Ayesha." Hyperman chuckled as he came into her room. "You don't owe me anything. It's my duty to help everyone. But now, I am in your debt. So, I want you to have this." He handed her a watch with his symbol branded on it. "It's a signal watch. If you're ever in trouble, or you just need moral support, push that button on the side, and it'll give off a frequency that only I can hear… and I'll be there as fast as I can."

"Hyperman, I… I don't know what to say…" Ayesha smiled brightly.

"Just… don't go showing it off at school."

With that Hyperman flew off into the sky, leaving Ayesha to cock a sly eyebrow at her new watch.

Meanwhile, at MaxCorp

"You three, drop what you're doing and come with me!" Max ordered his scientists. He led them down to a secluded part of the biology division and opened a secret door. "I have something more important I want you working on… find out what we can do with this."

Max set a case onto the table in front of them and held up a test tube filled with a red liquid. The scientists gasped in surprise. "Mr. Von Havoc…" one said. "Is that…?"

"Pure Radonian DNA…" Max said staring sinisterly at the vial. "Christmas came early this year."

To Be Continued!