Chapter 24

Private Medical Facility, Gotham...

Dinah slips her jacket on and looks at herself in the mirror. She was being let out...finally! It's a good thing too. Otherwise Dinah would have kicked someone's ass out of sheer boredom and frustration. She pushes a few strands of her hair back. Still mostly black but the blond was gaining ground.

There is a knock on her door. "Come in!"

The door opens and at the sight of Clark entering a large smile grows on Dinah's face.

"Hey. They're letting you're out," Clark realises when he sees her, sounding pleased for her.

"Yep...and weren't you suppose to wait for my phone call," she reminds him.

Clark rubs the back of his neck. "Yes...but I wanted to see you. I need your help."

Dinah was about to burst out into a huge smile when he said he wanted to see her but it deflates slightly when he said he needed her help. "With finding Roulette?" she queries because she knows from Barbara that they haven't managed that yet.

"Yes...and no. What I mean is someone is testing me."

"Testing you?" Dinah inquires with a puzzled frown.

Clark explains it. The weird things that have happened these last few days. "The train I could dismiss as a coincidence. The jumping people was what started my suspicions. First off the actress was obviously drugged with something. You could see the vacant expression and second the man I saved happened to jump from a building in direct line of sight of the first. That's too coincidental and then today I get a message broadcast at ultrasonic frequencies telling me there's a bomb and that if I don't show up it will be detonated. Then the second I do turn up the bomb happens to be in a place where it was unlikely to actually kill anyone and as soon as I get within a few feet it blows up in my face which must mean someone was watching and detonated it by remote."

"Are you alright?" Dinah asks him with concern.

"Sure. I'm fine. Made my ears ring. Took me a few minutes to stop seeing spots. Delayed my getting out of the building. That was all...and do you have any idea how to get explosion stains out?"

Dinah's brow quirks. "What?"

"Seriously. I have these stains all over my costume and I've tried everything to get them out but they won't budge."

Dinah snorts with laughter, before striding up to him, standing on her toes and enclosing his lips with hers.

"What was that for?" Clark asks, after she pulls back.

"Because you are just such a cute dork."

"Huh?"

"You get blown up and your major concern is your costume is ruined?"

"Well I made sure all the people were clear and I propped up the building until proper repairs could be done so after the fact there is some lunatic testing me yes it is my major concern."

Dinah smiles and kisses him again. He was just so...silly almost. It the situation wasn't this serious she would be laughing a lot more.

Wow is she a great kisser Clark has to say to himself. Now where was he? Oh yeah. "Um..so do you have any suggestions?"

"To have done all that in a few days someone would have to have been either planning it for a long time which seems unlikely considering your only recent return or it is someone with a lot of resources. In Metropolis that narrows it down to Intergang or Luthor...and my guess would be they are testing you looking for a weakness," Dinah logically breaks it down.

"Really?"

"I may have been hanging around Batman too long but if I faced the prospect of facing you it was what I would do. Obviously I would not put innocent people at risk but whoever is behind this has no such qualms."

"I don't...that bomb could have hurt a lot of people potentially. If they keep ramping it up someone will get hurt and I don't want to be responsible for that," he says feeling guilty and helpless because how does he stop them continuing these tests.

"You're not responsible Clark. They are. Now all we have to do is find evidence and trace it back."

"We?" Clark queries at the plural.

"Have you got experience of doing this?"

"No...not really but I have been looking. It is just...I have a new job and I like it and I need to be there or risk losing it and..."

Dinah puts her fingers up to his lips and stops him. "Which is precisely why I'm going to come back with you to Metropolis. This is why we sometimes need to work on a team to pull together different skills and resources to solve a problem...and I have been doing this way too long," Dinah suddenly complains. "I sound like some...some..."

"Leader?" Clark puts forward.

"Exactly!"

"You'd be a great leader," Clark tells her.

Dinah arches an eyebrow. "Says the guy who barely knows me," she pours mild scorn on that suggestion.

"Call it..." his lips curve up into a goofy grin, "woman's intuition from the girl in this relationship."

Dinah laughs. "You're a goofball. You know that right."

Clark pouts in mock hurt. "You wound me."

Dinah presses her lips to his again and wraps her arms around his neck as she deepens it. In return his arms wrap around her and hold her close to his body. After a long, long time Dinah's head starts to swim and she pulls back, gasping for breath which tickles Clark's cheek. "Did that make up for my comment?" she asks him in a breathy voice.

Clark swallows and licks his lips, the taste of Dinah still lingering on his tingling lips. "Yep."

Dinah's lips curve up in a little sultry smile. "Good. I'm really looking forward to our 2nd date."

"Me too," Clark says earnestly.

"Hot damn!" Both Dinah's and Clark's heads snap round to the door to see the blond woman who has come to stand there. Dinah silently groans at the appearance of the brash and impulsive Zinda Blake. It was like having two Helenas around in the Birds of Prey.

Zinda looks Clark over from head to toe. "Now that's what a call a fine piece of man," she comments.

Dinah rolls her eyes while Clark blushes. Definitely like having 2 Helenas around. She does the introductions. "Zinda Blake, Clark Kent. Clark Kent, Zinda Blake."

"Pleasure to meet ya darlin'," Zinda greets Clark flirtatiously.

Dinah rolls her eyes...again. "Why are you here Zinda?" she asks, trying to get Zinda's eyes off Clark.

"Heard ya needed a ride," Zinda explains.

Dinah laughs mirthlessly. "You? Pick me up from a hospital? The way you drive I'll be back in here and in need of traction 60 seconds later."

"Well the way I hear it you're kind of rusty so if you're needing advice about steering round the curves I'm your gal." The way Zinda's eye flicker off Dinah and into Clark as she said that tells Dinah she isn't referring to driving.

"You have been hanging around Helena way too much," Dinah criticises.

"Now there's a gal who knows how to have a good time," Zinda compliments Helena.

"You two got into another bar fight didn't you," Dinah assumes.

"It had been a good month since my last brawl. A gal has needs," Zinda justifies that.

"A gal has needs of course," Dinah mutters with yet another roll of her eyes. She takes a moment before turning to Clark. "I'm going to go home with Zinda and get my stuff. How about I call you in the morning and we can get started on your problem."

Clark had wisely, he believes, kept silent during all that. In response to Dinah he nods. "Sure. You have my number."

"I do," Dinah confirms.

Clark smiles slightly and makes his polite farewells to Zinda. Her eyes drift to his rear as he departs.

"Stop ogling him Zinda," Dinah tells her off.

Zinda's lips curve up into a hungry grin. "I'm just appreciating a fine specimen of manhood the same as you obviously are. I know you two were swapping spit before I walked in here. Have you tapped that yet?"

"Tapped that? God you really need to stop listening to Helena," Dinah practically begs at where Zinda is picking up language like this.

"I'll take that as a no. What's stoppin' ya honey?"

"We've had one date."

"When a guy looks like him one date is all ya need. Besides how long has it been since ya dumped the cheating archer?"

"It's getting on for 2 years."

Zinda arches an eyebrow. "Whoo," she whistles. "That's a long time. I'm amazed you're still sane."

"I'm not that desperate Zinda that I'll just jump right into bed with him."

"Desperation has nothin' to do with it. It's like I said. A gal has needs. There's no shame in admitting that."

"I'm not ashamed Zinda ok. You're right 2 years is a long time and I won't deny the urge is there but I'm still not just going to jump into bed with him...yet."

Zinda's lips curve up in to a grin. "Well at least you're thinking about it."

"It's called dating and getting to know someone first Zinda. With him that's what I want to do."

"I hear you," Zinda says, backing off. She changes subjects. "So how are ya feelin'?"

"Better. Thank you. Have you had any luck tracking down Roulette?"

Zinda shakes her head. "That woman is slippier than an eel in jelly."

"Who puts an eel and jelly together?"

"The Brits do. I saw it once back in the day."

"And what do they do with them?"

"Eat them."

Dinah's face pales. "Seriously?"

Zinda shrugs to say she can't explain it. "Just don't get me started on their beer," she tells Dinah because she has a long list of complaints about that. "So up for a drink?"

Dinah has to laugh at that. "1 beer. I have to get up early in the morning," she accepts with conditions.

"That's the spirit!" Zinda cheers as she places an arm across Dinah's shoulder and leads her out.

"As long as I drive," Dinah amends.

"I'm a good driver!"

"You got your licence back in the 50s Zinda," Dinah points out since Zinda is, to use the technical term, a temporally displaced person.

"Ok life lesson here Dinah. Yes the world has changed during the time I missed. Technology advances. Governments, countries and empires rise and fall but people never change. The basics of what they want from life never changes and the true is the same of cars. The basics don't change. In fact you can apply that to that fine piece of man you're dating when the time comes because the basics of that don't change either. It's the same wonderful, scary, messy act it always was...and if ya happen to need tips..."

"Thanks but no," Dinah turns that down trying to be polite about it.

"Alright but if you change your mind..."

"I won't be," Dinah insists.

"I'm just sayin'."

"Don't. Trust me. I can remember the basics."

"Nothin' wrong with a refresher."

"Don't you ever stop," Dinah pleads.

"Not until I get my way."

"I'm going to need more than one beer," Dinah mutters.

Zinda gives Dinah a hearty slap on the back. "Now that's definitely the spirit!"

Dinah may be wrong but she thinks she may have just been played into agreeing to more than one drink.


Gotham, the next morning...

"You alright?"

That is Clark's 1st question upon entering Dinah's apartment after she called him a few seconds ago and asked him to come over. The slightly dishevelled look and dark rings under the eyes were a give away she wasn't alright but it is always polite to ask.

Dinah sips on a coffee and winces a little as a stabbing pain shoots through her head as she closes the door behind him. "If there is one piece of advice I can give you Clark don't ever go out drinking with Zinda Blake," she essentially explains she is suffering from a hangover. "I just need some coffee in me and I'll be good to go. What about you? Any other tests?"

"Not since yesterday."

Dinah nods. That was good. "Well as far as I can remember from last night it was agreed that Zinda and the others will keep on Roulette's trail and I'll help you with this."

"Thank you. I really mean that. I'm in over my head," Clark confesses because he has never faced this situation before where someone is testing him in this manner.

"That is what girlfriends are for," she says with a sly smile.

Clark smiles at that idea. "So do you have a plan?"

"Yes. First you help me move into that apartment Barbara keeps in Metropolis...unless you want me to move in with you."

Clark rubs the back of his neck. "Actually haven't gotten around to looking for a place yet," he admits.

Dinah frowns, puzzled. "Then where are you staying?"

"The farm in Smallville. I commute. It's only about a 5 minute fly and that's because I take it easy."

Dinah just looks at him in slight disbelief. He just shrugs and flashes his best goofy smile.


Metropolis...

Once Clark helped Dinah move to Metropolis the next few days were a real education as he watched her work. Essentially he just stood by her side in awe at her intelligence and problem solving skills.

First step was for her to use some contacts she had in the Metropolis PD to get access to the evidence they gathered on the 3 incidents. Then Dinah laid it all out on the wall in what was now her apartment as she looked for the common thread...the connection.

In between working on this they managed another date, which Clark thinks went well. His attraction to her was getting stronger the more he got to know her.

Apart from that there was the inevitable usual low level crime for Superman to deal with which Dinah actually helped him with. He flew. She rode below him through the streets on her bike. Clark also had to fit this in between his job which he still had and Chloe praised him for his last article so that was going ok. He also had had a warning from Jimmy that Lois was determined to get an interview from Superman and discover all his secrets.

Right. The woman who had seen his face as clear as day before he started wearing glasses and in fact had even kissed him once was going to get his secrets when she couldn't put that together. Forgive Clark if he is a little sceptical on that front. He'll deal with Lois as it comes but for the moment he has greater concerns as to tracking down and stopping whoever it is testing him before someone is hurt.


Roulette strides into Lex's office at his mansion where she is essentially a prisoner. Lex is keeping a very close eye on her it has not escaped her attention. She comes to stand on the opposite side of his desk and places her hands on her hips in a manner to show she isn't happy.

Lex is working on his computer. He does have a company to run. He doesn't look up. "Yes Roulette?"

"Superman. It's been a few days," she says a little crossly at the fact he has been let off the hook seemingly.

"I am still testing him. I'm testing his intelligence. I left clues behind in the previous trials. I'm seeing if he solves the puzzle."

Roulette snorts.

Lex doesn't respond directly but continues, "And I needed a few days to prepare."

"Prepare what?"

"A surprise for tonight."

"Which is?"

"Lets just leave it as a surprise for you too." Lex then looks up finally and penetrates a cold hard stare into her. "And Roulette please remember you are a guest in my home. You do not demand anything of me. I told you how I will deal with Superman. Trust me to do so," he says and there is the unsaid threat in his tone that if she doesn't trust him unpleasant things will happen to her.

Lex gestures at the door. "Please shut the door on your way out," he says, indicating this conversation is over.


Finally. After days of looking through records Clark had been the one to spot a commonality. Parts. Parts for the train, drugs like those found in the actress' bloodstream, parts of the bomb were all shipped through a set of warehouses at the docks. That made it the next place to search through.

At the docks Black Canary brings her bike to a sliding stop as Superman lands next to her. Dinah can't help but take a quick admiring glance at him. He does look impressive yet his costume is a little homespun. It is probably an indication of just how incredible Clark can look that he overcomes that. Well those are pleasant thoughts for another time. Back to business. "Spot anything?" she asks him, since he has revealed to her the power he refers to as x-ray vision.

Clark shakes his head. "No." He then cocks his head to the side.

"What?"

"I think I hear something in there," he explains pointing at a warehouse.

"You think?"

"It's weird. It's like it's just on the very edge of my hearing range and I can't quite grasp a hold of it."

Dinah's brow draws down. It was a place to start at the very least. "Keep on your toes," she advises him to stay alert.

Clark nods as the two heroes head for that warehouse.

An unseen figure watches them go. She raises her wrist to her mouth. "He's here...but he's not alone," she speaks into a communicator on her wrist and yet Superman, for all his enhanced senses, doesn't hear her.

She is speaking to Lex Luthor who zooms in with one of the many hidden cameras he had spent the last few days installing for this moment. He focusses in on the woman with the half-blond, half-black hair.

"That's Scream Queen," Roulette chimes in as she recognises the person.

"That's Black Canary," Lex corrects her and mentally groans at her incompetence and inability to realise who it was that had been infiltrating her organisation.

"Do you want me to change plans?" the woman on-site inquires.

"No," Lex tells her. "Nothing has really changed. I had heard rumour she had been seen with Superman and have an operative standing by. Just keep the others hidden with your power."

"As you wish...and oh by the way you never said just how gorgeous he was Lex darling. It's such a shame what you want me to do when I can think of many other uses for a man like that."

"Just stick to the plan," Lex commands sternly, sounding irritated at her flirtatious attitude.

"But of course. Have I ever let you down?"

"No," Lex admits...but there's always a first time for everything.


Dinah, by habit and experience, sticks to the shadows and now that she is inside the warehouse she is starting to feel what she thinks Clark heard. That there's something here just on the edge of her perceptions. It is hard to explain. It's like a cold shiver up her spine and it is an unpleasant sensation. Clark appears next to her accompanied by, what she has come to associate as the normal, gust of wind. "Are you as put off as I am?" Dinah asks him.

Clark nods as an uncontrollable shiver runs up his spine. There was something in the air, a smell, a cold creeping feeling that made his skin crawl. It was just...wrong.

That is when it hits. A sonic wave that blasts Clark and Dinah away from each other. Dinah skids to a halt when she impacts some crates. She rubs her head which is ringing painfully. "So that's what it feels like," she mumbles to herself, imagining this is what it must feel like to be on the receiving end of her Canary Cry.

Instinct suddenly kicks in as Dinah senses danger. Her head jerks to one side as a boot smashes into the crate where her head had been a moment earlier. Dinah rolls and flips to her feet. When she turns round she is extremely surprised by both who it is and the fact they let her get back up. Dinah thought the Asian woman, with long black hair and cold brown eyes, would never let an opportunity slip her by to finish Dinah off once and for all. "Shiva," she states the name simply.

Lady Shiva, born Sandra Wu-San, stands a few feet away, dressed in red top, black pants and boots and a shin length black coat with red coloured lining. Her face is a mask of utter concentration. "Hello there little bird. Ready to finish this?"

Dinah so does not need a throw down with a woman who spends her life obsessively trying to defeat every martial artist in the world to prove she is the best. As Barbara phrased it Shiva is a woman whose hobby is to kill the best fighters in the world with her bare hands. Not to mention that between them there is a personal element involved. If Dinah is being honest Shiva is arguably the greatest fighter she has ever been up against which means this is going to be very, very, very difficult. She takes her stance and focusses completely. "So tell me Shiva is this our personal issue or are you getting paid to get your butt kicked this time?"

Shiva's brow puckers ever so slightly. "That won't work," she says knowing what Black Canary is trying to do and that is make her angry and lose her focus. She is too professional and well-trained for that.

"No I think you will find the butt kicking is mandatory."

"No-one beats me twice," Shiva vows because she learns from a defeat. Since that last encounter, where Black Canary defeated her, she has trained herself religiously in even more fighting techniques to ensure this time she will be the victor.

"First time for everything," Dinah vows.

Shiva's eyes narrow. "I allowed you up so there are no excuses. We will finish this and you will die knowing you were beaten by your better."

"Heard it before," Dinah reminds Shiva of last time.

"Prepare yourself," Shiva offers the warning before she attacks and the two women engage in combat.

The man dubbed by the press as Superman has his own ringing head. He hates sonic waves. His hearing is far too sensitive for this. Worse still he was caught off guard which is what managed to knock him down although how he was caught off guard is a mystery to him. Whatever it was that generated the sonic wave was hidden from him somehow.

Clark gets to his feet and finds himself confronted by a man is a white overall like costume, wearing protective glasses over his eyes, pointing a gun of some sort at Clark. "In case you haven't read the papers guns don't work on me," he points out to the man.

The villain known as Heatwave allows himself a lopsided smile. "One thing I know for fact jak is that everything has a melting point." He then unleashes a stream of intense fire from what is essentially a small portable flame-thrower.

Superman disappears within a wall of flame. That wall then starts to moves closer and closer to Heatwave until a hand shoots out of it, grabs his weapon and crushes it to pieces. The fire fades away to reveal an entirely unhurt Superman. "While it's true everything has a melting point I think you need a cooling off period," Superman says before he delivers a gentle punch sending Heatwave careening into a stack of crates which shatter upon impact. Heatwave groans and that is all from him.

Suddenly a white beam strikes at Superman's feet and he finds himself frozen to the ground by a misshapen block of ice.

"You said something about cooling off. Allow me to assist you there."

Clark turns his head to find a man dressed in a white and blue parka and blue pants and white furry Eskimo boots holding yet another weapon of some sort. Clark frowns and takes one step forward easily breaking free of his icy prison. This is getting annoying and more over confusing. How do these people keep appearing from nowhere?

The villain known as Captain Cold fires his weapon, capable of freezing anything, at Superman whose eyes light up bright red in response. Two red beams shoot from his eyes and impact the white beam causing steam to manifest at the sight of conflict between the contrasting heat and cold energies.

Clark suddenly realises what he is doing is pointless, stops his heat vision and blurs off out of sight.

Captain Cold almost groans at seeing the blurry motion. It reminds him too much of his constant opponent, the Flash. He turns on the spot looking for any sign of Superman. A gust of wind blows by. Captain Cold has enough experience with battling the Flash to spin to the direction and fire his weapon at where he judges Superman stopped...only his weapon is no longer in his hand. It's in Superman's.

Clark looks the weapon over. "Impressive piece of technology," he has to compliment the man, a second before he crushes it.

The next instant Clark is getting slammed in his side by those sonic waves again. He stumbles but manages to keep to his feet this time. His head snaps round to the side to see a man with long red hair dressed in a yellow and blue costume.

The villain known as Sonar summons up his sonic powers and stretches out his hands. Interesting thing about sound is that if you know how to control it you can perform what might look like telekinesis. He generates sound waves around objects surrounding Superman which begin to vibrate in response before levitating and then Sonar throws them at Superman. They all shatter on impact harmlessly off Superman's invulnerable body.

Sonar growls annoyed. He gathers his powers and sends out a high-frequency sound wave in every direction so no matter how fast Superman tries to move he can't avoid it.

Clark recoils, his hands over his ears. That is painful. He tries to think. Ok sound waves...sound waves. Sound travels at a finite speed through air. Therefore if he accelerates his foe above the speed of sound that, in theory, should neutralise the effect...or that is what Clark is going to try.

Superman vanishes in a blur and Sonar starts to smile, thinking perhaps he has driven him off. The next thing he realises is the air rushing out of his lungs as an immense force slams into him and before he knows it he is away from the warehouse and flying through the air. When his senses return enough he can he see he is in Superman's grasp.

Arrogant, cocky git. That's a few thoughts Sonar has. As if he can be beaten this easily...despite Green Lantern's constant mocking that it is that easy. He summons up his power and...nothing. What the hell?

Clark would take the time to explain the painfully obvious except he has to get back to that warehouse asap. Sonar obviously needed to use his hands to focus his power from what Clark has observed so far. Still above the speed of sound he circles round back to the docks and ties Sonar up in a crane cable, making sure to tie the hands behind the back where they can't be used, leaving the man dangling 30 feet up in the air. Clark ignores the curses Sonar utters as he zooms back to the warehouse. Checking up on Dinah he can see her fighting this other woman with skill, speed and ferocity Clark, not including his superpower, could not come anywhere close to.

Clark zooms towards the two women only to smack into something solid before he reaches them. He hits the ground on the rebound. Sitting up his eyes narrow when he spots a cracked...forcefield?

"None are a match for Dr Light!" a high-toned voice proclaims in triumph.

Clark looks to the left slight to see a man with light brown skin with a short black goatee wearing a black and white costume with a yellow light bulb on the front who seems to be generating this forcefield. "Dr Light is it?" Clark asks, as he gets back up.

"That it is my soon to be defeated foe!" he confirms, in a haughtily tone.

"Right," Clark drawls. "Little advice. I fought someone with powers like you and since I'm here and he's not take a guess who won."

"Ha!" Dr Light says dismissively. "He was obviously an intellect that shone less brightly!"

Ok. Terrible light related puns. Clark wonders if all villains are this kooky.

Captain Cold, meanwhile, had taken the opportunity to pull out the second freeze ray he carries on him. He aims it at Superman.

Clark raises a finger at Dr Light. "One second doctor," Clark requests of the master of illumination. His head snaps round and two beams shoot from his eyes and melt the gun in Captain Cold's hand.

In response the parka wearing villain pulls out what is a freeze grenade. Clark blasts that out of his hand as well. Captain Cold tries again. Clark shoots off his heat vision only this time the twin beams bend around Captain Cold. Clark follows them as they circle around to above Dr Light's head where he seems to hold the energy in his raised hands.

"Dr Light is a master of all the wavelengths!" he declares. "Even infra-red!" He then amplifies the energy and slams it into Superman's chest.

Clark goes tumbling backward with a grunt, unprepared for the force and simply having his powers used against him like that has never ever happened before.

Captain Cold throws his grenade which explodes and encases Superman completely in ice.

Dinah catches it out of the corner of her eyes and her focus departs for once second out of concern which is a mistake as Shiva catches her firmly with a chop to the neck and a quick follow-up kick to the chin. Dinah uses the momentum to spin herself away and get some distance so she can block, barely, the next blow. She catches Shiva's right wrist and then the left and holds her.

Shiva's cold emotionless brown eyes bore into Dinah's blue ones. "Foolish girl," she chastises. "You're letting your feelings distract you and that is why I will win."

"Oh...bite me!" Dinah retorts with not her best comeback ever she will admit.

Shiva pushes off Canary and tries 3 quick moves all blocked. She jabs at Canary's throat but Canary catches it with crossed arms before grabbing the arm, yanking forward and pulling Shiva into a hard left sending the professional assassin flying.

Shiva quickly flips herself back up, barely missing a beat and the two women resume their evenly matched contest.

Dr Light and Captain Cold come to stand around the block of ice that is currently Superman. "You know the money we're getting paid barely covers those guns he destroyed," Captain Cold grumbles.

"One must always look on the bright side!" Dr Light proclaims.

Captain Cold groans. Flash says his puns are lame. Sheesh. Even he isn't as lame as Light.

The sound of ice cracking grabs both their attentions as Superman bursts free sending chunks of ice in every direction knocking Cold and Light to the ground. Captain Cold finds himself jerked into the air by a powerful hand lifting him up.

"Thanks for spilling that someone is paying you," Clark says gratefully. "Now his name if you please," he says in a deadly serious tone.

Captain Cold shakes his head in refusal. "Forget it! There's no way I'm spilling that. I like breathing!"

Clark jerks Captain Cold higher. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist," he says, trying to sound intimidating.

"Stay thy hand my primary coloured friend!" Dr Light orders as he moves to assist his colleague in this endeavour.

Clark cocks his head slightly as he looks at the good doctor.

"Great speed I saw you do possess but even you will find travelling at the speed of light does not agree with you I do not jest," he rolls out the rhyme as he brings his hands in front of the light bulb on his chest.

"Since when do you roll off rhymes?" Captain Cold has to ask, confused, having never seen Dr Light do that.

"Once should always seek enlightenment by expanding ones interests my friend. Now my new foe feel the power of Dr Light!"

The bulb on the chest glows and a beam of yellow light shoots at Clark. He holds his free hand up and the beam impacts and defuses around his hand while at the same time it is clear to see the energy is partially absorbed into his skin.

"Oh yeah that showed him," Captain Cold mutters sarcastically in complaint at the fact he is held in a grip he cannot break and Dr Light's attack did nothing.

Dr Light takes a moment to blink. That was unexpected but he is not beaten. Someone of his vast intellect always has more tricks. "Strength and speed mean nothing if one is as blind as a bat!" he declares as he throws multiple little white light balls which explode mid-air around Superman's face with blindingly bright light. He ends up dropping Captain Cold as he literally sees spots.

Clark covers his eyes as they take a moment to readjust. "Neat trick but you have made two misjudgements."

"And what is that?" Dr Light asks.

"One; I don't need to see you. I can hear you and two; your friend in the yellow and blue is not the only one who can generate sonic compression waves." Clark spins round and slaps his hands together hard in front of him creating what he said as the shock wave slams into both Captain Cold and Dr Light before they can react.

With a whoosh Clark is standing over Dr Light. "Neat suit," Clark compliments the man. His eyes flash electric blue as he scans and studies the suit. "However like any electrical appliance the weakness is..." Clark reaches down and rips the belt off. "Power," he finishes as he takes away the batteries that power the suit. He then throws Dr Light into Captain Cold. "Now lets see how you like to be frozen," he says before he inhales deeply and unleashes his ice breath encasing them in ice up to the neck. That should hold them. Now Dinah.

Dinah finds herself on the defensive being pushed back by Shiva's attack. Damn! The woman has gotten even better if that is possible. A fist gets through her defences rattling her enough to leave her open to several follow-ups. Shiva only needs a pin-hole of an opening. A kick to the head knocks Dinah down.

"Now to end this," Shiva states coldly as she jabs her hand forward looking to hit a pressure point. She knows them all and what each can do to disable and kill an opponent. Her attack never reaches its intended target as her hand is caught in an iron grip. Shiva's head snaps round, her eyes full of rage. Who dares intervene in her moment of triumph?

Shiva finds two hard as steel blue eyes looking back at her.

"Enough," Superman says, in an understated but firm tone before he gently throws Shiva back.

Shiva lets out a grunt as she hits the ground. She cautiously gets back to her feet as she eyes her new foe. "The Superman. I've heard about you."

"Hopefully enough to know that you should surrender now," he advises.

"This is not your concern," Shiva warns him off from interfering in her business.

"I'm making it my concern."

"Superman just hit her already," Black Canary says as she gets to her feet. "She's trying to delay you long enough to read your body language...not that it makes any difference on you I'm guessing. You can't talk her down."

"Black Canary is correct," Shiva confirms. "You can't dissuade me from my goal."

Clark sighs. He doesn't like all this violence at all. He gets he has to do it. It doesn't ever mean he has to like it. He blurs forward until he is right in Shiva's face and even she doesn't have time to react as he gently taps her on the head with his finger knocking her out cold.

Dinah moves to stand next to him, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth as she does so. She looks down on Shiva.

"Do I want to know what that was about?" Clark asks in relation to whatever it is between Dinah and this woman having overheard most of the preamble despite how distracted he was.

"It's a long story," Dinah says wearily. "Damn it must be handy to have powers like yours," she has to say and can't help but feel a little envious at how easy he put Shiva down.

"They have their uses...and their burdens," he adds at the end. He turns to look at her. "You alright?" he asks with concerns.

"Nothing a long soak in the tub can't cure," Dinah says as the solution to her aches and then suggests lasciviously, "You could always join me."

Clark's cheeks go red and he sputters and chokes.

Dinah chuckles. "Oh man you are so easy."

"Not funny," Clark says with a frown.

"Really is," Dinah says, enjoying how much fun it is to embarrass Clark. She looks around at the 3 guys Clark incapacitated. "So we walked into a trap didn't we," she assumes.

"It was another test for me."

"How do you figure?"

"Heat, cold, light, sound. It was testing my reactions against varying stimuli. Testing my sight and hearing. Testing my limits to heat and cold...or trying to anyway. The guy in the parka mentioned something about not being paid enough but he wasn't feeling like talking about who was paying him."

Dinah locks her fingers and cracks her knuckles. "I'll get him to talk," she promises. "And whoever is behind this better figure out that even 4 different powered guys aren't taking you down."

Suddenly two beams of coloured energy strike both Clark and Dinah sending them flying into the stacks of crates shattering them. This hurts Dinah a lot more than Clark as the wood splinters dig into her skin.

"That would be 4 different powered guys...and 1 sorceress of magic sweetie," a voice says a moment before a figure begins to phase into view. The one that was talking to Lex earlier. A woman with purple hair and pupilless white eyes dressed in a long black dress. "Well now here we are," she announces in a cheery voice with a rosy smile as she looks upon the two fallen heroes.

Dinah groans as she tries to move. That attack hurt and she knows this feeling having felt it before. Magic. She can virtually smell it. No wonder their foes seemed to appear out of nowhere. They were being hidden behind magic although this sorceress before her was not one she has ever met before.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Tala. I am the one who will succeed where those 5 bunglers failed," the sorceress announces to the two heroes. After all she was the back-up plan and her moment has come.

Clark throws the broken crates he landed in aside as he gets to his feet. Whatever this woman struck him had hurt...not that he is showing her that.

Tala smiles appreciatively as her eyes drift over Superman's form. "It is too bad I have to destroy you. You would make a wonderful...pet," she says with a malicious grin.

Clark's eyes narrow as he decides to be cautious. This Tala called herself a sorceress. Something Clark has no experience with. Hell the only thing he knows about magic is courtesy of his friend Pete and the fact his parents hired a magician for Pete's 8th birthday party and that was slight of hand which Clark easily saw through.

Tala summons up the energy. Superman braces himself. Tala throws her spell bolt at him and he zips out of the way. Tala mutters an incantation, a distortion wave emanates from her and the blur that is Superman slows down to a normal visible man.

Clark almost trips up from the distortion and stumbles to a stop completely baffled by what just happened

"Not so fast now are we," Tala remarks with a cocky grin. She throws a spell bolt but Superman dodges it not wishing to try his luck after how much it hurt the first time. Tala frowns. "That spell should have brought you to a complete halt," she complains. He must be more powerful than she gave him credit for. "Oh well I'll just have to go for the sitting duck then won't I."

Clark's eye widen as he watches the sorceress spin round and aim a spell bolt at Dinah still lying amongst the wreckage of the crates she smashed into. He wills his body to move and it responds by blurring in the way, overcoming whatever Tala did. The spell bolt slams into his chest and Tala maintains it as a continuous beam as she walks closer to him.

It was exactly as planned. Tala knew he would throw himself in front of the prone Black Canary. Heroes are so predictable He cries out in pain and slowly drops to his knees as her attack both inflicts injury and saps his strength. By the time Tala is standing over him she discontinues her attack as he is bent over, breathing heavily in obvious discomfort. There is a black charred mark all over his chest.

Clark's fingers go to his chest and he hisses in response to the pain. It is not his shirt she just burnt through but his skin is scorched and showing no signs of immediate healing.

A smile grows wide on Tala's face at the sight of the injured Superman. "Well now it seems this night is not a complete waste. We have found a weakness after all," she remarks sounding immensely pleased at herself. "You're vulnerable to magic." She summons up a white magical glowing ball of energy between her hands. "Any last words Superman?" she asks him.

Clark looks up at her through narrowed eyes and from somewhere deep inside him, as if it is an instinctual response to what he is facing, he speaks 3 words. "I hate magic."

And with that Tala unleashes her attack.


Author's Note: And now Clark learns about that pesky vulnerability of his to magic. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; We find out if Clark survives his encounter with Tala as Dinah calls in the support.