Superboy

Superboy waited in the hall of Cadmus. Finally the door opened and Roquette Serling stepped out.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"I was born ready," she replied. Together, they walked down the hall to the hangar. In the hangar, she climbed into his arms and they launched into the sky.

Serling leaned against Superboy's chest as he held her close. She opened her eyes as he stopped.

"Hey!" he called. "Glad you could make it!"

Wonder Girl smiled. "Well, I thought a field trip sounded like fun."

"You got that right," Superboy said. "Cas, this is Roquette Serling. She works at Cadmus."

"Hi," Serling said. Wonder Girl smiled back.

"Well, I guess we'd better get going," Superboy said. "After all, Donovan's lab isn't going to explore itself."

Slower, the three started flying back toward the lab.

"So that's true?" Wonder Girl asked. "All those Legionnaires who showed up on my doorstep were just clones?"

"You got it," Superboy said. "He had a whole herd of them."

"Did any survive intact?" Serling asked.

Superboy shook his head. "All of them went toasty on me after I beat them."

Serling frowned. "I'd love to see what he did to create those powers."

"Can you get enough samples from the bodies?" Wonder Girl asked.

"It'll be difficult," Serling said, "but maybe not impossible. I'd just love to see a living sample of that DNA."

"You never know," Wonder Girl said. "Maybe some of his tanks came through intact."

"You haven't gotten much from your scans on Tenzil?" Superboy asked.

"It's difficult," Serling said. "He keeps eating my scanners! Still, with the data I'm collecting, I'd love to compare it to another sample."

"Well, here's your chance," Superboy said. "We're here."

Inside Cadmus, a grotesque creature crawled out of an air vent and onto Superboy's desk. It navigated the piles of junk and finally settled down in the center of it. It opened its mouth and reached its small arms inside. The creature's jaw dislocated as it pulled a videotape out and gently laid it on the desk. The tape was labeled "Surprise!" in a woman's handwriting. Its job finished, the creature crawled back into the air vent. Once safely inside, it died and immediately disintegrated. The tape lay on the desk, waiting for Superboy to come in.

"Well, I've gotten us cleared," Serling said as she walked over to Superboy and Wonder Girl. "We should be able to head in with no problems."

"Great," Superboy said. "Come on in." He led the trio into the empty lab.

Inside, he led them to the room where Donovan's cloned Legion had made its final stand. "Here they are," he said, showing Serling the charred remains.

Serling frowned. "I don't think I'll be able to get much from this," she said. Still, she bent down over the ashes and began collecting samples.

Cassie flew to the ceiling of the cavern-like room and motioned for Superboy to join her. When he did, she whispered, "Why am I here?"

Superboy ran his hand through his hair. "Well, we haven't gotten to spend a lot of time alone for a while and I wanted to hang with you for a while." He neglected to tell her about the incident with the Wonder Girl clone*.

(*Last issue - db)

"That's sweet," Cassie said as she gave him a peck on the cheek. "I'm glad that you don't want to explore some creepy mad scientist's lair without me." They glanced down as they heard Serling make a slight squeak.

Knockout stood there, fuming. Serling scrambled backward. "Get your hands off my pup," she said coldly as she pointed up at Wonder Girl.

"Friend of yours?" Cassie asked.

"Knockout, don't-" was all Superboy could say as Knockout launched herself past him and slammed into Wonder Girl. The two women smashed into the wall and fell into the ash remains of Colossal Boy, spraying Serling with the ash.

Serling scrambled for safety as Knockout grabbed Wonder Girl up effortlessly and threw her into, and through, the wall. Knockout took off after her immediately.

"You've got interesting friends," Serling said as Superboy landed beside her.

"This is bad," Superboy said. He let out a cry as a hand crashed through the wall and grabbed his hair.

"Don't think I've forgotten how you helped them defeat me," Knockout whispered. Superboy yelled as she pulled him through the wall as well.

Serling dove to the ground as Wonder Girl came flying right back through the wall again and slammed into the far side of the cavern.

Thinking quickly, Serling climbed to her feet and ran deeper into the base.

"Knockout, knock it off!" Superboy yelled as he flew into Knockout from behind, knocking her to one knee and forcing her to drop Wonder Girl.

Knockout smiled. "Have you forgotten our lessons so soon?" she asked as she slowly turned. "Have you forgotten how I taught you to never give your foes a chance to fire?" As she finished speaking, she launched and crashed into Superboy, sending him skidding. Her smile grew wider as she pounded her fist into his face.

The sounds of battle grew fainter as Serling kept running. "Come on, where is it?" she whispered to herself.

Wonder Girl finally fell to the ground. Knockout stood over her, smiling. She stepped over and broke a stalagmite off the ground and raised it over her head. "Oh, dread lord Darkseid," she began, "accept this sacrifice of a foe unworthy of your glory."

"Cas!" Superboy yelled as he flew over. Even with his t-k field, he still barely stopped the rock spear from going right through her.

Knockout glowered at him as she threw the remains of the crumbling spear aside. "Pup, that was a mistake." She licked her lips. "Now I've got to teach you a lesson!" Superboy rolled to the side as her fist went through the cavern floor where his head had been a moment before.

Superboy threw a punch that sent Knockout flying. "Knockout, I'm sick of this!" he said. "Knock it off!"

Knockout licked a small smear of blood under her lip. She smiled. "That's what I'm planning," she said as she tore toward him.

Knockout stopped short as a laser beam sizzled across her path. "What?" she demanded.

Roquette Serling stood on the other side of the room, holding a laser rifle. "Guess who just found Donovan's armory?" she asked.

Knockout snarled and started toward Serling. Another laser blast sent her flying through several walls.

"Good shot, Serl!" Superboy said.

"Thanks," Serling replied, dropping the rifle. "I'm afraid it's out of juice, though."

"No prob," Superboy said. "You stay here and make sure Cas is okay. I'm going after Knockout!" He cautiously started through the holes Knockout's exit had created.

In a chamber deep within the base, Knockout sat up. She had smashed into a tube containing an immature clone. Knockout flipped her hair back, spraying the fluids from inside the tube away from her. "Come on, pup," she said. "Let's settle this."

Knockout turned her head as a burst of light appeared. She clenched her fists as it turned into a portal and a smiling Match stepped out.

"Huh?" Superboy asked as he finally reached the end of the trail. "This is where she stopped." He looked into the shattered tube and saw a lock of red hair caught on the jagged glass. "What's going on around here? Where is she?" However, an exhaustive search of the base still turned up nothing. Knockout was gone.

After dropping Serling off at Cadmus (with an impressive amount of data retrieved from the machines) Superboy and Wonder Girl went for a flight.

"You're okay, right?" he asked.

Cassie smiled. "Yeah," she said. "She just knocked the wind out of me. Where's she from, anyway?"

"Apokolips," Superboy replied.

"Oh. Guess that explains that."

Superboy thought a moment. "You know, why don't we go out for dinner tonight? Just the two of us."

"Sounds good," Wonder Girl said. She gave him a peck on the cheek. "I'll see you later!" She flew off into the distance.

Superboy smiled and flew back to Cadmus.

Far Away...

"Where am I?" Knockout demanded. "What is this place?"

"Silence," a lead figure said.

"How dare you speak to me like that!" Knockout yelled. "Who do you think you are?"

"My identity is unimportant," the figure said. "What is important is that this group needs you." The leader explained their plans.

Knockout smiled. "That does sound like fun. I'm in."

The leader smiled and stepped forward, with Dabney Donavan standing behind. "Then welcome to the Superboy Revenge Squad," the leader said.

Knockout only smiled, which was equaled by the smile on Match's face behind her.

Next Issue: The big date between Superboy and Wonder Girl!

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