An apology to everyone. Sorry it's taken two weeks to update, but this was a LONG chapter, not to mention choreographing all that happens in it. Combine this with a screwed up work schedule and writer's block and the result is a missed deadline.
Now things are back on schedule, the old routine established again, and the next two chapters are already written. So let's rock!
"We're Not In Kansas Anymore"
Chapter 9
"Royal Conflict"
Before anyone could react, Lex whirled and fired the pacifier.
The blast of energy bathed the first row of babies, instantly undoing its original work.
All the villains could do was gape as the babies quickly grew to toddlers, then children, and finally reached their proper ages. In moments they were face to face with six angry super powered teenagers.
Of course said teens had also grown out of their baby clothes and were scrambling to cover themselves as best they could with baby blankets. While the girl was having a harder time the boys tried to tie the blankets around their waists for makeshift loincloths.
That was until a restored Wally vanished for an instant, only to reappear with various odds and ends of clothes he had grabbed in a mad dash through the nearby buildings and tossed to the others to quickly put on.
This momentary distraction was all the villains needed to recover, and they did the best thing they could in this situation.
Lionel Luthor and the Kingpin made their way to the entrance and the Penguin bolted for his bizarre vehicle, intent on escaping back down the sewers. Royal Pain, however, refused to be scared, and she glared at Lex as she prepared to blast him with an energy bolt for his actions.
"You bald creep," she snarled, "you will pay for…"
That was as far as she got before she was tackled by a flying figure that sent her sprawling to the floor. She looked up and saw her attacker.
It was Will.
The two hyenas continued to giggle as they closed in on their prey; Magenta in her guinea pig form and the infant Clark.
Magenta returned to her human form, hoping it would stop the hyenas, and it did. For about five seconds. Then the two beasts resumed their stalking, only seeing that there was more for dinner than what they had first thought.
"I'm sorry Clark," said Magenta as she snatched up the baby and held him close, "I wish I had the power to protect you. Don't look little guy…hopefully it will be over quick."
Bud then leapt and brought his bone crunching jaws down on Clark's little leg, using the full force nature had given him to try to rip the baby from the scared girl's arms.
His teeth cracked and broke.
Screeching in pain, the hyena dropped to the floor, pawing at his bleeding muzzle and totally confused about what had happened. His partner was also surprised, and stopped his own advance to see what happened.
Magenta then realized that, though an infant, somehow Clark still had all of his powers, which included invulnerability. The hyena's monstrous bite had been deflected back upon it, so the only one hurt was the animal itself.
"Clark," grinned Magenta, "can you do ALL your powers?"
Clark smiled a baby smile back, and his eyes suddenly turned red as Magenta turned him around so that his heat vision struck both the hyenas, singeing their fur and causing them to howl in pain and run away.
"What's all the noise in…" said Stitches as he threw open the door to the room and was run over by the two squalling beasts as they ran out and into the main room to find themselves in the middle of the beginning battle.
"Looks like Lex got the fun started," said Magenta to the puzzled baby,
The Kingpin felt something grab his arm, and looked down to see a hand had grabbed him from across the room, one connected to a stretching arm attached to a skinny boy with shaggy black hair who was too full of himself.
"Yo, big boy," sneered Lash, "where do you think you're going?"
"So you like to get physical, eh boy?" asked the Kingpin. "Well, so do I!"
With his free hand the Kingpin grabbed Lash's arm and yanked him towards him with strength and speed the young punk couldn't believe. He flew across the room just as the Kingpin struck him squarely in the jaw with the crystal head of his walking stick. There was a sick cracking sound, and Lash's head twisted completely around as he fell to the floor.
"Too bad you had to learn that the hard way," sneered the Kingpin, who then noticed that there was no blood on his walking stick. He then saw Lash raise himself on his hands and knees and his head slowly rotated on his elastic neck back to its original position, totally unharmed.
"Okay," gasped Lash, "let's try that again."
The tall platinum blond girl brought her hands up and unleashed an icy blast intended to freeze the Penguin in his tracks, but he only laughed a horrible squawking sound.
"You'll have to do better than that to freeze a penguin, little girl," he mocked, "here, try this instead!"
He aimed his umbrella at her, which unleashed a gout of flame at the defenseless girl and would have horribly burned her if a strong, dark-skinned hand had not interposed itself and caught the fire, curling it up into a baseball sized sphere.
Warren then brought the fireball in his hand up to his face, glaring at the Penguin through the crackling flames.
"Dude," he growled, "you just pulled the wrong umbrella."
Warren hurled the fireball and, even though the Penguin opened up the umbrella for protection with its fireproof parasol, the physical force of the fireball slammed into him and threw him back several feet.
"Throw up some protection…block the area off," Warren said to the girl as she created a thick wall of ice separating them from the villains. Warren then turned to Wally and Jake, who had sprouted his extra two pairs of arms and was ready to fight.
""Spider Kid", you stay here and help "Freeze Girl"…if any of these creeps get past us let'em have it. Warren then turned to Wally, ""Flash", you start getting the babies out of here as fast as you can, but be careful and hold them so they can still breathe when you're running."
"No problem," said Wally, "where do I take them?"
"Maxville General Hospital, take them to the emergency room. My mom is working there tonight, so ask for Amanda Peace and tell her what's going on. She'll take it from there. We'll take care of these creeps."
"Now Gwen," said Will as he stood over the downed villainess, "no more tricks, no more of your lies. It's just you and me."
"Oh Will," purred Royal Pain, "you're so strong and forceful. Whatever shall I do? Oh, I know…THIS!"
She then blasted Will point blank with the energy bolt intended for Lex, sending him flying to slam into a nearby concrete wall.
"You miserable little puke," snarled Susan as she leapt to her feet and began stalking Will, "I gave you all my time and attention, listened to your incessant whining about how everyone was treating you so badly. I then gave you the power you lusted for, and NOW you attack me?"
"You lied to me and turned me into a baby you crazy witch," said Will as he climbed to his feet, "am I supposed to be grateful for that?"
"For a chance to start over? Yes! All that your arrogant father cared about was having a little copy of himself running around to keep his stupid aggrandized legend going! He doesn't care about you as an individual!"
"Yes he does! My dad may not be perfect," said Will, "but he's at least trying to help people…keep them safe from lunatics like you."
"Help people? Like he always helped us sidekicks back when he went to Sky High? He was one of the worst bullies of the bunch…always laughing at and humiliating us. Then he has the nerve to parade around all self-righteous like he does…well, he's not here to help his precious little boy now!"
With that Susan unleashed another energy bolt, but this one was different. As it struck Will he felt a strange twisting in his body and started feeling sick as his legs went limp underneath him.
"I gave you your powers with the kryptonite," she snarled, "and now I'm draining them away from you. In a few moments you will be a weak little wimp again, and I shall enjoy beating you to a pulp and dumping your barely living body on your dear daddy's doorstep."
Stitches, now covered in hyena footprints, leapt back to his feet. He was standing between Magenta, baby Clark and the way out of the room.
"Where do you think you're going?" he hissed as he glared at them with his beady black eyes.
"Anywhere out of here, nut boy," said Magenta, "now get out of the way or we go over you."
"Oooo," said Stitches, faking a quake in fear, "a little guinea pig girl and a baby are threatening me. What do you think YOU can do?"
"This," said Magenta.
She then performed a flawless spin kick, catching Stitches directly between his legs with a loud thump and lifting him nearly a foot off the ground.
"Uncle…" he gasped as he fell to the ground and curled up into a whining ball.
Satisfied with her work, Magenta carried Clark out of the back room. Clark made a mental note to NEVER make Magenta mad at him.
The Kingpin only smiled and slowly took off his expensive jacket as Lash unsteadily got to his feet. It had been quite a while since he had gotten a good workout when beating someone, and it looked that this little rubber punk was going to be very entertaining.
Lash then shot a fist flying through the air, but the Kingpin easily avoided it and brought up his cane. The crystal on the head began strangely glowing, and then suddenly fired a laser beam that would have cut Lash in two if his rubbery body hadn't been able to dodge it.
The Kingpin then laughed and prepared to fire the laser again when he noticed he had stepped in something. It looked like some kind of orange-colored liquid, but where had it come from? It hadn't been there a few moments ago. He then ignored it as he could always replace his thousand dollar shoes, but a chance for sport like this was…
The puddle the Kingpin stepped in suddenly rose up and grabbed him from behind, turning into a small black boy wearing an orange sweater and jeans. His skinny arms were around the Kingpin's thick neck, more of an annoyance than anything else.
"Lash," yelled Ethan, "swing your arm at full length to gain momentum, THEN hit him!"
"Huh?"
"Like that kid on One Piece!" Ethan yelled back, hoping Lash watched cartoons and that he could stay out of the Kingpin's reach for another few seconds.
Growling, the Kingpin easily plucked Ethan off his back only to have him melt out of his grip and again become a puddle. A suddenly whistling sound was heard, and he looked up as Lash's fist slung around and hit him in the jaw with a deafening crack.
The Penguin scrambled to his feet, remarkably dodging fireballs left and right. He reached into his coat and pulled out a collapsible umbrella, extending it to full length with a quick snap. He then opened fire with the machine gun umbrella, peppering the area Warren stood with bullets.
Warren reacted instantly, engulfing his body in blistering flames that vaporized the bullets that came near him. He then began advancing upon the retreating villain, his feet scorching the concrete with every step.
The Penguin grinned as he reached his vehicle. The little firebug may be able to stop machine gun bullets, but he wagered it would be a different story with the array of small missiles he had hidden in his vehicle.
A strange rumbling started coming from below, and a creaking sound came from the duck vehicle. The sounds grew until suddenly the vehicle seemed to fold in two, and then everyone saw that masses of thick vines had come up through the trap door and wrapped around the vehicle, pulling it down with increasing strength until finally it could resist no more. The vehicle was then pulled down into the trap door and everyone stopped to see what happened next.
The masses of vines returned, thicker and stronger than ever. They began pushing up through the trap door with such force they began tearing through the concrete, looking like a jungle was trying to smash through into the building. Then the vines receded for a moment, but returned with a small, green clad figure with bright red hair riding them.
"Ivy?" said the Penguin, thinking for a moment he recognized the girl with the plants. But then he realized that this was not the woman he knew back in Gotham, but someone he had no interest in crossing swords with.
Layla rose high into the air on the wave of plants, rising like a goddess to look down on everyone in the place as they all stopped what they were doing to watch her entrance.
"Where is Royal Pain?" she demanded.
Lionel Luthor had somehow escaped the conflict and managed to get to his limousine, but his elation turned to fear as he found the door locked.
"Mercy," he yelled to his chauffeur, "open the door! We've got to get out of here NOW!" He again tried but the door remained locked.
"Are you deaf woman?" Lionel snarled as he pounded on the driver's door. He then noticed something odd…it seemed like a light of some kind could be seen through the window's tinted glass. The light was moving.
The window rolled down, and Lionel found himself looking at a skinny boy dressed in a bright white and yellow shirt who was wearing Mercy's chauffeur cap over his messy blond hair. The boy was also faintly glowing in the dark.
"Sorry dude," grinned Zach, "no hitchhikers in THIS neighborhood. You never know what kind of nut you'll pick up."
Lionel was shocked for a moment, and then was about to reach through the window and grab the little punk when he felt something cold press against the side of his neck. He slowly turned to find himself looking at the business end of the pacifier, still being wielded by Lex.
"Now here's a strange opportunity for some role reversal," said Lex, enjoying his father's frustration, "one little pull of this trigger, and we could see if I could do a better job of raising you than you did with me. And I bet there are psychologists and sociologists the world over who would love to study the situation. Think of it as the perfect way to settle the old "nature vs. nurture" debate."
"Lex," said Lionel, his mind racing for a way out of this situation, "you wouldn't do that. If you've suddenly become so righteous and noble you'd know that this isn't the right thing to do."
"You're right Dad," said Lex, easing off with the pacifier but still keeping it trained on his father, "besides, it's going to be a lot more interesting when you finally get sent to prison for being a part of all this. That is if there's anything left of you."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Another of your old friends was VERY interested in coming to see you once I was able to contact him and tell him what was going on. He's in the limo right now.
A strange screeching sound started coming from the passenger cab of the limo as the roof started getting peeled off from within. Then the door was smashed off its hinges and Lionel Luthor gulped as he saw the tall, powerful figure with brown hair and dressed in a red, white and blue costume that emerged from the trashed rear of the car.
"C…C…Commander," stammered Lionel, "it's…been a long time."
"Not since you hired the Scorpion to try to kill reporter Steven Stronghold when he exposed that little incident with Luthorcorp illegally dumping toxic waste." The Commander glared at Lionel with total contempt, his square jaw as hard as granite.
"Now, there was no proof I was connected to that," said Lionel, "even then you seemed to take it personally."
"Well, this time it IS personal Lionel," said the Commander as he grabbed the man by the lapel of his coat and lifted him effortlessly off the ground with one hand, "because one of those kids you tried to buy from Royal Pain is MY SON."
Lionel could only swallow the lump of fear in his throat and realize that maybe this time he had finally been caught.
"I'm right here," sneered Royal Pain as she turned from the downed Will to this new threat. She had no idea that Layla, who had been marked as a sidekick, was so powerful. Apparently the flawed system of power placement had struck again, relegating a young goddess to such a degrading status as it had done to her all those years ago.
"Get away from my friend," Layla demanded, her eyes alight with green fire as she glared at the villainess, "you've hurt him enough."
"Maybe for the moment," Susan replied, "but I can always do more…after I'm done hurting YOU."
Royal Pain flew into the air via her jet boots and headed for Layla, but a branch thick as a car flew up and slammed into her, smashing her down to the concrete floor. Her armor absorbed the impact, but Susan was still stunned for an instant. Recovering, she began firing blasts of energy at the writhing wall of plants, but for every hole she put into it, it instantly recovered and regrew. She knew she had to attack Layla directly, but doing so would leave her vulnerable to being attacked in turn by the other heroes. She momentarily thought the other villains could help, but then saw that Kingpin, bleeding from a blow that had loosened several teeth, and the Penguin were both struggling to escape the barrage of vines that had already tied them both up securely.
Her mind was racing for something to do. She could fly up to smash through the roof and escape; no one else present could fly. But she loathed the idea as she refused to run from this fight. How dare these miserable little punks think they could stop her? She had been through too much in her life…twice. All the pain and humiliation, the frustration at her smallest little desires and dreams being squashed by people like them. Who the hell were they to do this? They were…
She suddenly sneezed. She didn't think anything of it until it happened again…and again…and again. She could barely catch her breath as her nose began to run. Her eyes were becoming teary as well, and she was starting to feel itchy inside her armor. What was going on?
She then saw that the vines around her were covered in flowers. Flowers that were filling the air with pollen. Pollen that she was allergic to.
Royal Pain cursed herself. She had not sealed off her armor and used its internal air supply like she had during the attack in the gymnasium. Now she was being bathed in who knew how many different types of pollen the little elemental was attacking her with. It would do no good to try to seal up now, it would only trap what was already in with her.
Hives were breaking out on her perfect alabaster skin. Her lovely blue eyes were thick and gummy and mucous was dripping from her runny nose and down the back of her throat, which was itself trying to close up.
She lost her concentration and fell to the ground, slamming into the concrete floor. She was unable to resist as thick vines began grabbing her and forcing themselves into every nook and cranny of her armor, finding the weak spots at the joints and the intake vents for her air and output vents for her jets. As the vines wriggled in they grew larger and larger until, with a series of pops and screeches, the armor of Royal Pain was shattered into pieces, leaving only a gasping and gagging Susan Tenny laying on the floor in a tight black bodysuit much like the one Will had worn during the gym incident.
With her enemy defeated, Layla called the vines back and had them stop producing their pollen. In moments the ventilation system of the lair had cleared out the excess pollen, and everyone could literally breathe a little easier.
"So…you've won," gasped Susan as she got back to her feet, "yay for you."
Suddenly she jumped and hit a certain section of the wall, which fell away to reveal a red switch. Everyone froze in place for they recognized it for what it was…a detonator switch.
"I'm going to blow this whole place to hell," she sneered and grinned at the same time, "at least this time Royal Pain WILL go out with a bang, and I'm taking all of you with me!"
Just as she started to grab the switch, a high-pitched whine she knew all too well was heard, and she felt a jolt of energy race through her body. Suddenly she felt her strength vanishing, and noticed that everything seemed to be getting bigger. She could no longer reach the switch…her outfit was getting looser by the moment. She knew what was happening. She let out a final scream of rage and defiance that turned into a wail as everything went black.
Lex stood in the doorway, staring as he held the now-silent pacifier in his trembling hands.
"I…I couldn't let her kill herself. That would have been such a waste…and there's been too much of that already."
The Commander gently took the pacifier from Lex, and tucked it safely under one arm.
"It's alright son," said the Commander, "you did the right thing. Hopefully this time we can get some help for her so that this never happens again."
Layla went over to Will, who was laying still but breathing. He was wide awake.
"Will," said Layla, cradling his head in her hands, "are you okay? Can you stand up?"
"I…I don't know," said Will, "I can feel my legs and everything, but I'm so weak and tired."
"Don't worry," said Layla, "we'll get you help. Your dad is here too."
"I…don't want him to see me like this…not after what I did."
"Don't talk like that," said the Commander as he knelt down next to his fallen son, "you made a mistake and tried to correct it. Let's just forget about it for now and get you out of here. Your mother is worried sick and expecting us at the hospital…she was helping guard the babies with Mrs. Peace while Wally brought them in."
"Mrs. Peace…Warren's mom? He…he's here too…saved the babies…I was wrong about him…"
"We both were," said the Commander as he handed the pacifier to Layla and gently picked Will up to cradle him in his arms, "I admit I didn't like the idea of him going to Sky High, but it looks like he takes after Amanda…and Richard to some extent in the right way."
"Are all the babies safe?"
"I think Wally got them all except…"
"Except who?"
"We…couldn't find Clark anywhere. We're still looking."
"Clark? Oh God Dad, what I did to him…and he only wanted to help me and be my friend. Please…you've got to find him."
"We'll do all that we can," said the Commander, "it's the least we can do for him."
Layla's attention was drawn by Magenta, who was waving to her to come over with the pacifier. She went over as the Commander left with Will and police came in to free the entrapped Kingpin and Penguin from the tangle of vines and take custody of the crying infant that had once been Royal Pain. Lex also went outside to give his statement to the lead investigator. It was going to be a long night for the local law enforcement with the processing and booking of two infamous crime lords and a world-renowned billionaire plus finding a way to deal with the two whining and smouldering hyenas.
"Clark's over here," said Magenta, "we need to reverse the pacifier on him without Lex seeing him. Lex doesn't know about Clark's powers, and I think we should keep them secret for him."
Layla nodded her head in agreement and, once out of sight, used the pacifier to restore Clark to normal. He was stunned for a moment, but then so were the girls as Clark was now totally naked. Layla covered her eyes but Magenta didn't even blink. When he realized what had happened he vanished at super speed and returned wearing Lex's long black coat that had been hanging in the back room. Buttoned up it covered him, though since it was tailor made for Lex it was very snug across the chest and shoulders for Clark. Still, it beat the alternative, at least in his mind.
"Uh…thanks," he said, his face beet red.
"No, thank you," grinned Magenta.
"You…um, you better get out of here before anyone sees you," said Layla, her own cheeks as crimson as her hair, "we've got everything covered."
"Thanks," said Clark. Before he could even think about it, he leaned over and kissed Layla on the cheek, leaving her totally stunned.
"Now I know what it feels like to be saved. I could get used to it," he grinned.
He then leaned over and started to kiss Magenta on the cheek as well, but she had other ideas.
"Uh-uh," she said, "I get something more for facing freaking hyenas."
She then threw her arms around Clark's neck and proceeded to kiss him on the lips with a ferocity that made Clark wonder if she should actually be able to turn into a lioness instead of a guinea pig. Of course that thought didn't really come until long after she finally released him and he could breathe again. He was even more stunned than Layla had been by his kiss.
"Get moving stud," said Magenta, "it IS a school night, you know."
"Uh…yeah," said Clark, not sure for a moment what planet he was on, "I…I guess I'll see you guys at school tomorrow."
"I'm hoping they give us the day off," said Magenta, "we deserve it."
Clark and Layla exchanged glances for a moment, and then he took off to the hospital to see if he could help in any way. Once he was finally convinced by Warren's mother, who he was very glad to meet, that they didn't need him, Clark headed for home to tell his worried parents about all that had happened.
And to wonder about the mysterious voice that had broken through the pacifier haze to reawaken his mind.
To be continued
Next:
What, you think we're done? NO WAY! There's still the matter of Will's fate, not to mention the aftermath of that kiss between Clark and Layla, plus a little event called Homecoming.