Worst Case Scenario

Chapter 31: Shadow Strike

Superboy hit the ground hard. Before he could recover, Sportsmaster slammed his foot into his chest.

A few yards away, M'gann pulled her legs apart and the scorched ropes around her ankles disintegrated. A pity the same wouldn't happen for the metal handcuffs keeping her wrists behind her back.

It didn't matter, though.

She had to help Conner.

M'gann leaped into the air and landed on the shoulders of a nearby goon who had one of the large, red Apokoliptan weapons on his chest. Pushing off with all her might, she flew into the air again while sending the man spinning to the ground. Another goon holding a rifle started to turn around.

M'gann kicked him in the face. While she was in midair.

And Wally said those kung-fu movies on TV were 'unrealistic'.

The noise of the fighting distracted Sportsmaster. In the split second he turned to look, Conner got to his feet and gave him a hard punch to the jaw.

That felt really good reflected Conner, so he threw another one. However, Sportsmaster moved his head to the left, caught his arm and threw the Kryptonian over his shoulder. The mercenary tried to stomp him again but Conner rolled out of the way and knocked Sportsmaster's legs out from under him.

M'gann landed with cheerleader grace. It was really amazing what her White Martian form could do, she decided, even though Earth had three times Mars's gravity.

Then a pair of red hovering disks appeared.

And electrocuted her.

Again.

Conner scrambled to his feet and grabbed one of the disks in his hand. It electrocuted him, but only for a second before he crushed its delicate circuitry in his fingers with a satisfying crunch. He turned towards the goon who was targeting the things (having just sent two more towards him) and threw the disk like a Frisbee. It struck the man in the head, knocking him out. The other disks shut down.

Conner felt pretty good about that, so of course, Sportsmaster chose that moment to slam his shoulder into the clone's back, sending him stumbling forwards.

M'gann recovered from the electricity fast and struck at the mercenary with a spin kick. Sportsmaster caught it in one hand and then twisted. Pain exploded in her leg as Sportsmaster shoved her aside.

Superboy charged, but Sportsmaster tapped the side of his mask again. Conner stumbled as his equilibrium was thrown into disarray and Sportsmaster caught him on the chin with a punch, and then another, and then an elbow jab to the neck, finishing with a mighty kick to the chest. Superboy fell on his back, stunned.

M'gann started to get up, but winced in pain as soon as she tried to put any weight on her left leg. Sportsmaster had twisted it pretty bad, alright.

Suddenly, the man himself turned to face her. From his belt he drew out a small pistol and aimed it at her.

M'gann could see where this was going, and desperately tried to reach out with all the psychic power she had left.

Nothing.

Sportmaster pulled the trigger, but as the gun fired, his entire arm jerked to the right and the bullet missed by several feet.

Sportsmaster tried to fire again, but his gun hand seemed to have a mind of its own as it jerked left and right. Then the gun tore itself out of his hands and flew off into the trees.

"How?" he managed to gasp. "Your powers can't be back yet. The dose was too strong!"

"Then it is a good thing she is not alone" said a flat, near-emotionless voice tinted with just a tiny bit of rage. Sportsmaster turned around as a green figure with red eyes emerged from the ground like a ghost and solidified.