Superboy

Roquette Serling looked at Tenzil Kem as they stood in the halls of Cadmus. "He hasn't come out?" she asked.

Tenzil shook his head. "Nope. Not since he got back from New York."

Serling thought a moment. "Maybe I should go in and see if he's okay."

Tenzil stepped between Serling and the door. "I wouldn't recommend that," he said. "I dropped by a couple of days ago and, well, it's not a pretty picture."

"What do you mean?" Serling asked.

"He was sitting around in his underwear eating potato chips and watching Jerry Springer," Tenzil explained. "He wasn't happy about the show being interrupted."

"Is that where that came from?" Serling asked, pointing to a bruise on Tenzil's forehead.

"Yeah. He chucked this at me." Tenzil held up a small metallic device with "TT" on it. "I think it's some sort of walkie-talkie. I've already met a guy named Bart who's really cool. There's also this jerk named Sern or something like that, too. I'd really like to get my hands on him and teach him a thing or two."

"Interesting," Serling said. "Maybe we should give him a day or two to work though this."

"Great idea, Doc. I don't think he's showered since getting back either, so it's getting pretty rank in there."

Roy Harper tapped on the door to his daughter's bedroom. "Lian, honey," he called as he opened the door. "You ready to go to the park?" He opened the door and froze. Lian was gone. Roy quickly searched the room and saw that she was not there. Cursing, he ran for the security office.

"Sir!" a guard yelled as Harper ran in.

"Bring up the security cameras on my daughter's room now!" Harper yelled as the security personnel scrambled to comply. Roy scowled as he scanned the rewinding tape. "There!" he yelled as he pointed at the monitor. "Stop it there!"

On the screen was a shot of a white-skinned man, picking up Lian. "Get me a freeze frame of that and an ID," Roy ordered. "Now let's go at normal speed." Roy's scowl grew deeper as the man finished picking up Lian and they vanished.

"I want an ID of that creep and a full datafile on my desk in ten minutes!" Roy said. "Move!" Roy stormed out of the office, leaving security personnel to quickly begin scanning databases.

Mickey Cannon was in Harper's office in five. "How could he get through our security?" he asked.

"He was a teleporter," Harper said. "There's not really any way to block that."

Cannon frowned. "I'll get a team working on ways to block it. If our people can do it, we can keep this from happening again."

A guard ran in with a file. "Here's the information, sir," he said. Harper snatched it out of his hands and started scanning it. The guard quickly excused himself.

"Dr. Sin?" Roy asked. "I've never heard of him."

"I have," Cannon said. "Let me bring it up." Cannon moved to Roy's computer and brought up a case file. "Kid ran into him in Gotham. Guy's a real kook. Tried to drown him and Batgirl. Kept bragging how he was videotaping them so their deaths wouldn't be wasted."

"And he's got Lian," Roy said, slamming the folder down. "Mickey, I'm going to need a few days off."

"Don't worry about it," Cannon said, slapping Roy on the shoulder. "Go get your kid back."

"I intend to," Roy said.

Superboy sat in a filthy chair in his room. The lights were out, and he was wearing only a stained t-shirt and a pair of boxers. Having exhausted the potato chips, he was now into pork rinds. Jerry Springer was on the television.

"Welcome back," Jerry was saying. "We're talking with Angela. Her sister, Umlaut, is a transvestite Nazi midget lesbian Eskimo." He turned to the stage. "Angela, what do you think about Umlaut's lifestyle?"

"Her name ain't Umlaut!" Angela yelled. "It's Sarah!"

"Nein!" her sister yelled back. "Mein name is Umlaut!"

"You're out of your mind!" Angela yelled. "You're Sarah and you're coming back with me to Hoboken, where you belong!"

Another man ran in from backstage. "Don't you yell at her!" he yelled. "She's carrying my baby!"

"Bobby Joe?" Angela yelled. "You been cheating on me?"

"No," Bobby Joe said. "When I'm dressed like this, call me Velvet!" Bobby Joe dropped his robe to reveal that he was wearing women's underwear.

A second later, the stage's chairs fell to the floor as the women grabbed each other's hair and started fighting. Angela's hands were still reaching for Bobby Joe. Jerry scurried into the audience as security hit the stage. The audience was chanting Jerry's name. A moment later they went to commercial.

"Are you a superhero with an unusual or confusing past? Call us at 1-900-GOJERRY."

"Huh," Superboy said, crunching away at the pork rinds. "Wonder if Hawkman and Troia'll be on there." Superboy glared as the door opened, pushing aside empty pizza boxes. The lights flipped on and Superboy was forced to close his eyes. When he could see again, a frowning Arsenal stood there. "Hey, Roy," Superboy said.

"Get up," Arsenal said.

"Why bother?" Superboy asked. He didn't have a choice as Arsenal grabbed him and pulled him to his feet, then shoved him in the direction of the bathroom.

"You're getting cleaned up if I have to get in there and scrub you myself," Arsenal said. "Move it!"

"Up yours," Superboy said, sitting back down. "I'm comfy where I am. I'm not going anywhere."

A moment later, Superboy was flat on his back, rubbing his cheek with a surprised look on his face. Arsenal's fist ached, but he wasn't about to show it. Arsenal reached down, grabbed him by the shirt, and dragged him into the bathroom, then threw him into the shower. Arsenal turned on the cold water and grabbed a bottle of shampoo. "Close your eyes," Arsenal said as he started spraying.

"Why are you doing this?" Superboy asked as he sagged to the floor, soaked and covered in soap suds. "Just leave me alone. Cassie's gone. Just leave me alone."

Arsenal grabbed Superboy by the shirt and pulled him up face to face with him. With their noses barely an inch apart, Arsenal gave in to the rage that was building inside him. "Listen to me, you little bastard," he growled. "I do not give a damn who or what you can't find right now. My daughter has been kidnapped and I need your help to find her. You can worry about getting some or whatever it is you're worried about later. Now get cleaned up!" Arsenal threw Superboy into the shower without letting go of the shirt. It tore free of Superboy and he fell to the tile floor. With disgust, Arsenal threw the torn shirt to the ground. "You've got five minutes before I come back in here," he warned. "Get cleaned up and in uniform." Arsenal stalked out and pulled the door shut behind him.

Superboy sat there a moment, rubbing the back of his head. He thought about not moving, then thought about what Arsenal would do if he came back in there and he wasn't finished. With a groan, Superboy pulled himself to his feet, and reached for the soap.

Lian sniffled as she sat on a lab table. Dr. Sin left the machine he'd been studying Lian with and walked to her. "Now, now, dear child," he said. "There is no need to fear."

"I'm not afraid," Lian said. "I just want to go home."

"Home?" Sin asked. "No, you cannot go home. You are needed here. You are very important. I know that your father and mother are both superbeings. Your father, Arsenal, is a man who is so finely tuned in the art of battle that anything can become a weapon in his hands. Your mother, Cheshire, is one of the world's top mercenaries, and one who has escaped capture by the Teen Titans time and again." Sin leaned forward. "Somewhere in your genetic structure is a key that, when unlocked, will provide me with access to the next level of evolution! You see, my dear, you are very, very important." Sin turned back to his chemicals, leaving the sniffling Lian on the table.

Arsenal expertly piloted the Whiz Wagon into Gotham City with a bored Superboy sitting in the passenger seat. "So what are we doing?" Superboy asked.

"We're going after Lian," Roy said. "You're here because you've fought Dr. Sin before."

"So what?" Superboy asked. "We never found out what he was up to. Not even Batman could figure it out."

"Huh," Arsenal said as a smirk crossed his face. "That's usually my line about Nightwing."

"Great," Superboy said. He stared out of the Wagon and watched the buildings go by.

Arsenal frowned as he studied a monitor. "There. That's where he is."

"How do you know?" Superboy asked.

"Thank Vic," he said. "He's the one who whipped up a special pair of earrings for her. They've got trackers hidden inside."

"Isn't that nifty," Superboy said in a bored tone.

"You know," Arsenal said, "If I'd ever copped an attitude like that around Ollie, he would've beaten the crap out of me. Maybe that's what you need. Maybe I should schedule you for a couple of extra hours in the training room when we get back."

"Oh, blow me," Superboy said. "I'm sick of this. We're getting your kid, then I'm going back to bed. Cassie's gone, and there's no reason for me to worry about anything else."

"You think you're the only one who's ever had girl problems? Lian's mother is an international terrorist. I've got to live with that every day. And every time I look at Lian I wonder how someone so twisted and evil could give birth to someone as perfect as that little girl."

Superboy looked over at Arsenal. "Yeah, but did she ever videotape herself screwing somebody else and then give it to you?"

Arsenal met Superboy's gaze without flinching. "No. You ever hear of Qurac?"

"No."

"It used to be a country. Now it's a radioactive crater because of Lian’s mother. Cheshire nuked it and killed millions of people. I don't think that's any comparison to your little problems."

"What do you know?" Superboy asked.

"Plenty," Roy said. He pulled off his glove and showed his arm to Superboy. Scars still showed on his skin. "You know what those are, kid? Ever seen needle tracks before? When I was your age, I was strung out on heroin because I thought my problems were so horrible. You don't have any idea what horrible is."

"And you do," Superboy challenged.

"I do now," Arsenal replied. In his mind's eye, he saw the mushroom cloud rising over the nation of Qurac. He heard the imagined screams again, both of the dead and the survivors who lay on the sand with their skin burned away, dying of radiation poisoning. "And believe me, kid, I hope you never have to see it."

Arsenal's gaze flipped to the screen. "We're here." The Whiz Wagon lowered to the ground and Arsenal jumped out, with Superboy following.

Lian sniffled again. Dr. Sin smiled as he saw a beaker that was bubbling. He pulled an antique syringe out of a worn leather case and filled it with the liquid.

"Now, my dear," Sin said. "I'm just going to give you a little shot, and then we'll see if this unlocks your potential like it should."

"No!" Lian yelled. "Get away from me!" Lian began thrashing about and knocked the syringe out of Sin's hand. It fell to the ground and shattered.

Sin glared at the young girl. "My dear, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this." With an unexpected strength, he shoved Lian down and pulled leather straps across her. He fastened them so tightly she could barely breathe.

"There now," Sin said as he stepped back. He reached for another syringe. "This should only hurt for a moment." He started forward and froze as an alarm started sounding. "What?" he asked, turning to a monitor. He saw Arsenal for a second before an arrow impacted with the camera and the screen went dark.

Sin scowled and filled the syringe totally. "My dear," Sin said, "Time is short. I'm afraid I will have to give you this in one large dose." Sin crumpled to the ground as Superboy streaked in and his fists slammed into the back of Sin's head. Sin rolled over and saw him. "Oh, no," he said.

"Listen to me," Superboy said. "You have caused enough trouble for me." He threw one more punch and Sin fell to the ground unconscious.

"Lian!" Arsenal yelled, running in. He quickly freed his daughter from the leather straps. Lian grabbed hold of her father and pulled him tight.

"Well, glad that's over," Superboy said. He stopped as a small hand grabbed his sleeve and pulled him over.

"Thank you for helping my daddy," Lian said, giving Superboy a peck on his cheek.

For the first time in days, Superboy smiled. "That's okay," he said, lifting Lian up.

She scowled. "Your face is all prickly, like daddy's."

Superboy rubbed his face. "Maybe I could stand to meet up with a razor."

"Go ahead and take her home," Arsenal said. "I called the cops and I want to make sure Sin gets locked up tight."

"Right," Superboy said. "Come on, Lian. Let's go home." Together, he and Lian flew out into the sunshine.

Next Issue: When an experiment of Serling's goes awry, Superboy winds up in the last place he'd ever imagine! Or maybe that should be all of the last places he'd ever imagine! Be here for part one of Time Tossed - with special guest stars you'd never expect!

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