Growing Pains

“So how long do you think it will take before Superman comes to get you?” I asked during one of the breaks Lois asked for so she could organize her notes.

The reporter just paused her writing and raised an eyebrow at me. “How would I know? It’s not like I have a way of calling him.”

“You don’t?” I asked, genuinely surprised. I thought she would. “What about something that lets him track you? Or Batman track you, I guess. I’m sure he would help out Superman if the jerk needed it.”

“Why would I have something like that? Besides, I was forced to leave all electronic devices at the security gate back on the base.”

“So how is he supposed to know where to come get you?!” This was such a bad idea. I should never have listened to photo guy about kidnapping his boss.

“You tell me. I’m the victim here, remember?”

I ignored the annoyed reporter and thought over what this meant. No signal and nothing for Batman to magically track meant it could be days before someone came to pick up Lois. Days that I would have to put up with her asking questions about every little thing she could think of and I would have to listen to because I couldn’t leave her to go train without risking her crossing a bear or something.

Yeah, that wasn’t happening. Time for Improvised Kidnapping Plan B.

“Hey Lois! Wanna go on a trip?”

-o-

A few hours of flying later the two of us touched down in the first major city I could find. I would have liked to head to a city I recognized or even back to Metropolis, but flying with Lois screaming in my ear that I was going too fast got old real quick so I just picked one close by.

Then, after dropping Lois off on a rooftop, I looked down at the humans rushing around on the ground. It was time to begin the next phase of my plan.

My Plan B was basically the exact opposite of Plan A. If going to the middle of nowhere and waiting for Superman to come to me wasn’t going to work, I would just have to make myself so noticeable people would send him to me instead. And what better way to get his attention than making the government be the ones screaming at him to do something?

“Attention government agency goons!” I called down to the black and yellow outfitted group trying to both guard a perimeter and break back into a lab that looked like it had been attacked by another villain. Though points to them for bringing fancier looking guns than normal. “I’m here to challenge your Champions for the fate of the planet again! Call out Superman!”

“Uh, Califa. I don’t think those people work for the government.” Lois commented before ducking away from the edge of the building.

“What do you mean?”

“I think that’s a H.I.V.E. logo on the van, they’re a–” Lois was cut off as the goons down below started shooting at me.

So not government agents according to Lois. Why did H.I.V.E. sound familiar? Were they like the Metropolis special police or the Star Labs security teams? Or some kind of discount SHIELD that I forgot about? Meh, as long as they called Superman I didn’t really care.

A blue laserbeam missed me by inches and I decided to give the goons my full attention.

I shot a ki beam into one of the SUV’s the goons were hiding behind – turning it into a burning wreck of twisted metal – and sent them scurrying for cover and then very obviously toying with them by shooting several weaker beams that barely dented the other forms of cover they were using.

Despite being fancier, most of the guns I could safely ignore. Sure bullets stung a bit when they hit me and really scuffed up my armor pretty good, but I would take those every time rather than the unknown laserguns they had with them. Something that was quickly picked up on by the humans down below and eventually we were in a fun game of tag where they would try to herd me into position with the more standard guns before trying to hit me with the laserguns while I did my best to dodge.

That didn’t mean I was just going to let them shoot at me though, that would get boring fast. So every five laser shots they missed I would blow up one of the cars. Cars they were quickly running out of given how trigger-happy some of them were. If Superman didn’t show up soon, the goons were going to have to walk back to whatever base they called home.

“Come-on guys! Either step up your game or get someone who can keep up! This is getting embare– Ack!” My snarky banter is interrupted by an SUV smacking me in the face. Considering I was still hovering over twenty feet in the air that could only mean one thing.

Someone fun had just shown up.

“Better! Now you’re getting it!” I exclaimed as I shoved the car off of me and looked where it had come from, eager to see who showed up.

It was a giant man walking out of the lab followed by another squad in the same black and yellow colors as the goons but missing the chest armor and the sleeves on the upper part to let the man’s ridiculously huge muscled arms move freely. He was also missing the almost insectile helmets I had seen on the others too, showing off his wild red hair.

I approved. He almost looked like a Saiyan with that outfit. He was missing the tail though, so no chance of that.

“This runt is the one giving you so much trouble?” He growled, making the goons flinch.

“Mammoth, sir…”

“Shut up. We have what we came for. I’ll deal with the brat.”

Mammoth, huh? The name was familiar and I kinda remembered him being part of a team… the something five? So a Fantastic Four stand-in?

Although if he was here with just some goons then I guess the team hadn’t formed yet.

Meh, I’ll think about that later. For now…

“‘Deal with me’, huh? You’re pretty cocky. Hope you’re a good enough warm up for when Superman gets here.” I smirked at the giant and kicked off the ground before Mammoth could say anything else.

I wasn’t expecting someone looking like him to be a fast opponent, but the muscular giant was quicker than I expected. He snapped up one arm just in time to use his forearm as a shield and the only reaction I got was a small grunt.

I felt the muscles in his arm tense and kicked away from him before he could retaliate. And even then the wind pressure from his backhanded swing blew my hair back.

Okay, quick, but probably not fast, and very strong. How durable was he though?

The second my feet hit the pavement again I rushed him. Mammoth was again quick enough to raise his arms in defense when I went for his face, but he seemed content to let my slowly strengthening punches and kicks rain down on him.

“That tickles.” He grunted, and that was the only warning I got before he tried slapping at me again. I jumped over it and using his arm as a springboard, kicked him in the face.

“Yeah?! How bout that one?”

“Grrrr.”

Mammoth didn’t verbally respond beyond growling and charging me in turn. I lightly jumped backwards as he repeatedly attempted to use his massive fists to hammer me into the pavement, taunting him the whole way and dishing out some counterattacks that didn’t phase him much, only for him to snag another SUV as we passed by and use it as a baseball bat to smash me into another car and then through a building.

“Okay, I probably deserved that.” I mumbled, pushing myself out of the wreckage. “But that means no more holding back!”

My Ki aura flared a pale white as I powered up and I shot out of the ruined building and straight into Mammoth’s stomach. This time my punch folded him in half and sent him flying into the second or third story of the building across the street.

I didn’t even get time to grin before the few goons hanging around opened up on me again. And this time I was just annoyed by it.

“Take a hint already and get lost!” I snapped and fired off several Ki beams. This time I wasn’t playing around and exploded all the cars I hit. That was enough to finally send all of them scurrying away.

Seriously, didn’t they figure out I was just playing with them earlier?!

The slight distraction was enough for Mammoth to jump back down to street level and glare at me. From the look of it my punch might have hurt, but it didn’t seem to have done much damage.

“I’m going to crush you for that.”

I rolled my eyes. There was no point in a warmup getting so dramatic.

Mammoth didn’t like that though and smashed both hands to the ground causing a shockwave that knocked me off balance long enough for him to get close enough that he was in punching range. And considering he was like three feet taller than I was, it meant he was able to punch at me while I still had to get closer to do anything.

We traded punches as the fight moved down the street, the occasional car or light post getting used as an improvised weapon, and I realized eventually that Mammoth was wearing me down faster than I was doing to him. And by that I mean I missed blocking a punch and winced when I felt a bone in my arm crack under the pressure.

Arm hanging uselessly to not aggravate it, I switched things up so I was flying around the giant faster than he could track and occasionally knocking him around with a Ki blast. I didn’t bother with those too much though, because the standard blasts only seemed to push him around and make him mad.

“That’s it you annoying little fly! I’ve had enough of you!” Mammoth raged after I got inside his guard and blasted him in the face, also incidentally proving my point.

The red-headed giant lifted his foot and brought it down on the cracked and cratered streets with enough force to cause a localized earthquake. From the savage smirk on his face, he was pretty confident this move was going to deal with me.

I looked around at the devastated surroundings and had to admit it was pretty impressive. There was just one teensy tiny problem…

“So, uh, you know that didn’t do anything right?” I asked hesitantly. “Cause I’m flying right now?”

Going by the way his smirk collapsed, no, no he hadn’t realized that.

Mammoth was kind of a moron wasn’t he?

Oh well, like I said he was only a warmup. I should probably try to end this now.

My Ki flared even higher and I sped past his guard again. This time I landed an uppercut that lifted him a couple inches off the ground but I wasn’t done. Before he could react, I twisted midair into a kick that broke his nose and sent him flying down the street. Naturally I flew after him and spun into an ax-kick, slamming him headfirst into the pavement and leaving me hovering just over the resulting crater, a Ki attack charging in my hand.

Mammoth groaned, still not actually unconscious, and looked up at me with a dazed expression.

I grinned down at him. “Smile for the birdy!” And unleashed my attack.

Once the smoke cleared I saw Mammoth was finally out for the count and in no shape to keep fighting.

With that out of the way I flew back up to the rooftop I left Lois at and waved at her. “So, government agency dealt with. Their superhero backup is taking a nap for a while. And the guy who attacked the building before we got here is probably going to get away. You think that’s enough to get Superman’s attention soon?”

Lois gave me a long look before she started rubbing at her forehead. “If you had listened earlier I would have told you those were H.I.V.E. agents. They’re a terrorist group, not someone working for the government. They were the ones attacking the lab.”

I froze.

“So they were villains?”

“Yes, yes they were. And while I’m sure someone will be glad you stopped them, did you have to destroy a city block in the process?”

“I’m not supposed to stop villains!” I protested. “I’m supposed to be beating the heroes and taking over the world!” I slouched in midair, even my tail drooping down. “Do you at least think this got Superman’s attention?”

Despite looking like she had a headache, Lois looked at something behind me and smirked. “I think you got a little more than that, kid.”

I turned.

Flying silently a little above me with his arms crossed in front of his chest was Superman.

…Along with Wonder Woman just off to the right of him.

……Aaand Green Lantern just off to his left.

This…this wasn’t part of the plan…