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No internal dialog in this one.

Brothers in Arms, chapter 3

Superboy noted that it was dark, but tried to ignore that. He tried to ignore the warm sticky feel of Match's blood on his hands. He had to ignore all of this because it was taking every ounce of his power to hold the rubble off of him and the severely wounded Match below him.

Kon was aware that he could probably burst through the rubble, but he'd have to leave Match behind. Match who had saved him. Match whose injuries were his fault. Tears of shame mixed with sweat ran down his face.

"Just leave me," Match whispered. "Don't die because you're trying to save me."

"Shut up," Kon said through clenched teeth. "I'm trying to concentrate."

"Can you bust through?"

"I don't know. Can you help?"

"I'm keeping my wounds closed. I think I can keep up with you if you're clearing the way."

"Sounds better than suffocating down here. You ready?"

Match weakly chuckled. "On three."

Kon counted aloud. "One...two...THREE!"

He used his powers to rocket upwards while making sure he had a hold of Match. It was very difficult to shift aside the weight. Unfortunately, Kon's reserves ran out.

"So close," he thought as he had the vague sensation of someone grabbing his hand from above.

The next thing he knew, he was breathing fresh air and looking into Superman's face.

"Superboy, what happened?" he asked.

"Group I tried to kill us," he managed. "Match's hurt bad!"

"I'll get you both some help," Superman assured him. "I'm glad you're safe."

Superboy smiled faintly before passing out.

Superboy woke in a hospital bed. Superman was there and smiled when he woke.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Like crap," Kon groused. "I couldn't break through all that rubble on my own. I should have been able to."

"It came after more than an hour of you flying at your top speed and a fairly intense fight with Match. Don't beat yourself up over it."

Worry flared. "Is Match okay? I can't believe that Group I lied to me."

"He's in worse shape than you are. The doctors say he's stable."

Kon sighed. "I messed up. I believed what Group I told me about him. I shouldn't have. Why didn't I trust him?"

"We all mess up and do things we regret. You've tried to fix your mistakes. That says a lot about you."

Kon swung his feet to the floor. "Can I go see him? I want to talk to him."

"I'll go with you."

Superboy almost gasped when he saw Match lying in bed with all sorts of tubes hooked up to him. Match looked up at them when they entered.

Kon asked, "Match, how are you feeling?"

"Annoyed," was his response. "I don't like hospitals."

"Look, about what happened..."

Match shook his head. "Don't worry about it. They lied to you."

"So, you're not angry?"

Match gave him a slight smile. "I tried to kill you when we first met, so I don't think I'm someone who gets to hold grudges. I'm angry, but not at you. Group I just took advantage of your trusting nature."

"You make that sound like a bad thing."

Match sighed. "Superboy, you're a nice guy. Nice has never been a word to describe me. I'm a pessimist and have found only one case where trusting someone didn't blow up in my face."

"Who's that?"

"You."

"Me? You can still say that after I tried to take you down?"

"Yeah, I can," he said before smiling slyly. "Besides, if I wanted to take you down, you'd go down."

"What? This from the guy who lost our last fight."

"That doesn't count. You had about twenty years on me then. And, I have to ask you when you got your heat vision."

"Not that long ago. I'm still trying to get a handle on it."

"Match, why did Group I want Superboy dead?" Superman asked.

He shifted to give his attention to Superman. "He was a security risk. He heard of the organization and might have been able to track it down."

"And when you refused to kill him, you became a security risk as well," Superman reasoned.

"Yes. Thames has always valued efficiency, so giving information to get us in the same area to use one cruise missile strike is very much his style."

"So, how are we going to take them down?" Superboy asked.

Match gave them a nasty smile. "I know where their headquarters is. I can sneak in and get plenty of incriminating evidence. They'd have to face government oversight."

"That'll shut Group I down?"

"Not just Group I, but all the Groups, A through Z."

Superboy looked surprised. "There are more?"

"The name wasn't arbitrary."

"What can we do to help?" Superman asked.

Match paused. "With all due respect, you're not trained for this. Your presence would alert them and they could erase the information before we get it."

"I don't think you should go alone," Superboy interjected. "You're not one hundred percent physically. I'll go with you."

"I don't think that's a good idea. It's too dangerous."

"We worked well together before. Besides, if you can do it, so can I."

Match sighed and addressed Superman. "Don't you think this is too dangerous for him?"

"I don't like either of you going. Could Batman go instead?"

Match shook his head. "Time is extremely limited. They're probably preparing to relocate."

"Wouldn't they have already done so?"

"They don't know that I know where the headquarters is. I'm not supposed to. Plus, Thames doesn't want to lose face, so he would have tried to keep it quiet. It'd be dangerous for him otherwise."

"So, how did you find out?" Superboy asked.

"Logical deductions and discreet investigating led me to it."

"When do we go?"

Match sighed. "We'll go as soon as we can."

"Your injuries-"

Match pulled the tubes out of him. "I'll be fine. We'll need black clothes. No 'S' shields."

Superman gave them a look. "You're certain about this?"

"Yes."

Kon looked at the camouflaged fortress. He wasn't expecting it to be in a desert in Nevada.

"You sure about this?" he asked.

Match replied, "It's far from prying eyes. It's either the Group's headquarters or a H.I.V.E. base."

"That wasn't what I meant. Are you sure we can handle this?"

"I am. We'll sneak in and head for the sub-basement. I'll be able to access the system from there."

"When did you get all of these spy skills? You didn't have them before."

"Group I implanted them. It wasn't a pleasant experience."

Match paused before continuing. "Come on, let's go."

Normally, air ducts would have been too small for people to crawl around in, but Superboy and Match hadn't reached their full size yet, so when combined with a frictionless telekinetic field, they were able to make their way around. There were a few traps and alarms, but Match was able to disarm or avoid them.

They got to a terminal, and Match started burning the files to a disc.

Seine frowned. Someone was accessing the system and moving a large number of files.

He pushed a speaker button. "Please dispatch a security team to subbasement 3. Get Thames and Rhine to my office."

Superboy heard something.

"Someone's coming," he hissed.

Match nodded and crouched behind a terminal. Kon hid under a desk.

Six guards entered.

One of them spoke into a radio. "No one is here, but a terminal is active."

"Shut it down," came the order over the radio.

As one of the guards approached it, Match popped out and used his force beams to knock the man out.

"We have a security breach!" one of them shouted as he leveled his gun at Match.

Superboy rolled out and hit the man.

The guards retreated, dragging their unconscious compatriots.

Alarms went off.

"This isn't good," Match said.

Seine looked at Thames and Rhine. Rhine was an elderly man and looked to be at least fifty years older than his two companions.

"It appears as if we have a situation," he said calmly.

"Who could have come here?" Thames asked. "A double agent perhaps?"

Rhine asked in a steady voice, "What did they look like?"

Over the radio, the report was, "There were two of them, both young men. One had some sort of force beams from his eyes. The other was inhumanly strong. They looked identical, except for hair color."

Thames gasped as Seine asked, "Did one have black hair and one white?"

"Yes, sir."

Rhine smiled at Thames. "Your report said that you had dealt with Superboy and Match, did it not?"

"I...I thought-"

Rhine continued to smile. "I forgive you. Anyone can make a mistake. It's simply unacceptable. Seine, if you would?"

Seine took out a gun and shot three rounds into Thames' chest. Thames collapsed, dead.

Rhine looked at Seine. "Three shots were perhaps a bit excessive. Regardless, give the lock down and evacuation orders while I give the orders to detonate the Kryptonite Bomb."

Kon heard restraining walls slide into place. "That doesn't sound good."

A voice came over the intercom. "All personnel, evacuate. There is one minute thirty seconds until the K-bomb is detonated."

"That's even worse," Match said. "Come on, come on...it's done."

He took the disc out.

"So, do we bust out now?" Kon asked.

"We're too deep and the building's too reinforced for us to do that. There should be escape pods down here."

While the two were running, Kon asked, "What's a K-bomb?"

"It's short for Kryptonite Bomb. They figured out how to make synthetic Kryptonite."

"Oh, that's not good."

They reached the lower level escape area. Match paused.

"What's wrong?" Kon asked.

Match answered with a punch that dazed Kon.

"There's only one, and you'd argue with me," Match explained as he pushed Kon into the pod.

He put the disc in Kon's hands and said, "Be well."

"Match!" Kon shouted as the hatch closed and the pod rocketed off.

Match grimaced. Only fifteen seconds until a massive explosion with Kryptonite dust occurred. He had an idea that could work. It was a gamble, but better than nothing.
Kon looked back at the headquarters. "Come on, come on."

A green explosion consumed the building.

"Match!" Kon screamed, tears streaming down his face.

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To be concluded

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