Chapter 29

* Central Harlem

Matthew had never flown so fast before, especially inside the planet's gravitational influence and wind resistance.

He forced himself through the air, a loud boom blasted out as he punched through the sound barrier and reached the location Robot had indicated in under 10 seconds.

He angled up and aimed towards the top floor of a particular skyscraper, bursting through the floor to ceiling glass windows and was just in time to see a horrific sight spread out before him.

A towering, thinly armored humanoid with white mane-like hair and a lion's head stood in the middle of a mess of debris, gore, and blood. Invincible, Black Samson, Monster Girl, and another super with rock skin lay on incapacitated around its booted feet. All of them were severely injured and unresponsive to anything around them.

Matthew floated down, ignoring the looks from the looks he was getting from all around the room. His eyes focused only on his brother and the noticeably patterned, massive hole on his abdomen.

His breathing caught and his hands shook from a boiling anger that blasted up from within him. The phantom pain he felt only served to worsen his anger into full on blown rage state.

He looked up at the towering lion humanoid and to the golden mace steeped in blood on its back.

Unconsciously, his mind reached out all around him and the scene played out in an instant.

"You..." he spoke to the lion humanoid, breaking through the last bit of hesitation that suddenly came over him as he delivered his ultimatum "I'm gonna kill you for this"

The lion humanoid grinned viciously at the proclamation, amused.

"We shall see-"

Matthew didn't let the lionman finish before he rushed forward and delivered a full strength punch to it's head, connecting squarely on one cheek. The resulting shockwave from the full strength blow shattered all the window panes around the lavish open space, sending a shower of glass flying outwards.

But to his surprise, the lionman was merely pushed back instead of thrown away by the punch. It's head angled only slightly away. A line of blood fell from its snout and the cut on it's lip, but nothing else showed the slightest damage.

It stood up straight and looked back at Matthew with a wide, toothy grin. Its tongue licked up the blood with a slightly satisfied hum.

It chuckled darkly and snarled "Finally. A challenge, if only a minor one. Come, boy!"

"Superboy!" Robot called out, the few still standing Guardians, Rex Splode, Shrinking Rae, and Dupli-Kate arrayed beside him.

"Stay out of this, you insects!" the lionman drew its mace and pointed at the gathered young heroes "You dare interrupt my battle, you die"

"Why, kitty? Can't handle it?" Rex Splode gestured to his team.

"I'll handle him" Matthew said, loud enough for the Guardians to hear.

The lion chuckled viciously, "Excellent"

It made a show of cracking its knuckles in obvious anticipation, a low *growl* escaped the corners of its mouth as it lounged.

"Let us see what you are made off!" it said, grinning like a wild beast.

Matthew didn't waste any more words and met the approach fiercely, fully intending to not hold back.

Their brawl began with a mutual punch, both striking the other's fist in an impact that rippled through the room.

Matthew gritted his teeth as he felt the bones in his arms rattle but stubbornly pressed forward. He delivered a pair of blows to its face, one landing squarely but the other was caught firmly in the lion humanoid's enormous fist. It retaliated with a savage punch to Matthew's jaw, a metallic taste filling his taste buds. It would be enough to send him flying across the room if Matthew hadn't grabbed onto the lion's arm and drove his head straight for the lionman's own jaw.

Its head lurched back from the blow, his grip loosened just enough for Matthew to slip away with slightly shaky steps.

The quick exchange made Matthew's head spin for a moment while the lionman merely took a step back. Then it laughed.

"What ferocity!" it roared "Show me more! More!"

Matthew's head cleared and he obliged.

He swiftly ducked underneath the lionman's bolder-like chest and delivered a powerful punch to his gut, his fist's collision echoed and Matthew wasn't down. Seeing the momentary gap in defense in the lionman's hunch, Matthew rose and rapidly spun, landing a forceful kick onto his enemy's neck that brought it to one knee.

Matthew didn't let up though, his raging anger fueling his actions and pushed his body to its limits as he continued his attack. Grabbing the lionman's thick mane, he pulled and drove his knee towards his temple with a brutal efficiency.

Matthew went to strike again but the strong grip on his ankles revealed that his enemy had other ideas.

The lionman effortlessly threw off Matthew's balance with a tug of its overpowering strength, slamming him face-first into the adjacent floor. The cement beneath them shook with each forceful impact as Matthew was repeatedly pulled out and slammed down again.

By the third attempt, Matthew escaped the lionman's grasp. Once again putting a little distance between them to set a minor window to catch his breath.

For the first time in all the months after receiving his powers, he felt slightly powerless. His knuckles hurt, his feet felt like they might fall off, and his forehead still throbbed in pain.

It was clear to him that the lionman was significantly stronger and faster than him, maybe even stronger than his father, but Matthew wouldn't allow himself to back down without paying the lionman back for beating up Mark.

As for the lionman himself, he only laughed as he rose back to his feet. Licking up more blood that stained its snout.

"Truly interesting" he said with an almost appreciative hum "Is that all you've got?"

Matthew snarled "I've got more in the tank, pussycat"

The lionman chuckled "You succeeded in amusing me. Be grateful"

He drew his mace and then...dropped it to the ground, all while keeping his trained on Matthew.

"I'm giving you a chance to prove your worth. We are on equal footing now" the lionman explained.

Matthew prepared for an attack, but someone behind him moved first.

Rex Splode saw the opportunity and tossed a dozen explosively charged coins towards the lionman. The lionman twitched in slight rage at the daring act. It made to kick up the mace on the floor, grab it as it was propelled within it's reach, spun, and flung the mace like a dart towards Rex Splode.

Matthew moved to intercept, batting the mace away at mid-flight with an audible clang. Flinging the weapon out of the room.

He turned to the lionman just to see the moment when a massive red gloved hand grabbed his face and slammed him back onto the floor, pinning him easily with its strength.

Matthew tried to retaliate with his fist, but none hit strong enough for the lionman to loosen his grip. Seizing an opportunity, the lionman skillfully avoided a left punch and clamped down on the teen hero with its wide maw. Matthew screamed in pain as the bite tore easily through his costume, skin, and even bone. He immediately grabbed the snout and pulled with all his strength, to no avail.

Instead, seeing his prey struggle, the lionman pressed into his savagery even more.

Ignoring the hands on his face, the lionman shifted his grip to Matthew's neck along with his other hand to choke the boy. Matthew struggled against the lionman's tightening grip, desperately gasping for air as panic quickly set in.

"Fight me, boy! Prove to me your ability to make your foolish threats a reality!" the lionman growled on Matthew's forearm.

As Matthew grappled with the lionman's unyielding grip, the air itself seemed to betray him. Gasping for breath became a desperate struggle, the world darkening around him. Despite his feeble resistance, the lionman's relentless hold was quickly but certainly forcing Matthew into unconsciousness.

With a final desperate thought, Matthew used what strength remained in his bones to jab at the lionman's left eye with two of his fingers raised. The lionman pried itself off Matthew's forearm and growled in pain.

Momentary relief washed over Matthew before a hard boot kicked him in the head. He was thrown off, tumbling through the air before landing in a disoriented roll near where Monster Girl's struggling monster form lay facing the floor when the momentum stopped.

With constrained effort through his fading consciousness and the immense pain, he summoned the will to push himself off the floor. He made about halfway through the action before twin impacts landed on his right elbow and back, shattering bone and pride as he was finally pushed into unconsciousness.

***

Battle Beast stopped the assault when his ears picked up the change in the young hero's breathing and pulse rate, signalling his incapacitation.

He moved off the boy's body and stared, disappointment slowly forming in his fierce feline eyes.

"I thought you were worthy, but you are simply inadequate. Pitiful" he said to the broken and bloodied body of one who was called Superboy.

He touched the area around his closed, bloody, and swollen eye. Seeing the bright red blood and smelling his own familiar smell on it, he couldn't help the slight vicious smirk.

It had been a while since he was bled like this. And now,  it will be a while before it will again.

Without any more words, Battle Beast grasped a chunk of Superboy's hair and walked back into the fray. The field was quiet, as he quickly surmised that the insects had managed to disable the others who were hired along with him.

He didn't care about them or the remaining heroes standing before him, ready to attack.

He lifted Superboy's body and showed it to them, reveling in the looks of pure horror and fear transforming their previously fierce faces.

"This one proved to be ferocious enough to have a modicum of potential" he said with a loud and commanding tone "But alas, he still fell"

Then he threw the body along with the others he had put down with much more ease, minus one who was nowhere to be seen.

"I could kill you all with my bare hands" he began "But that would prove absolutely NOTHING. I came to this world on the promise of facing fierce and worthy combatants. Yet I have only faced one who barely stood a chance and did not last long to prove challenging"

He looked at the arrayed Guardians before him and scoffed "Killing you all would be nothing but a waste of my time. Such a battle would be beneath me"

Then he turned away and clicked a button on his arm console, summoning a bright sheet of light to appear before him.

"Know this mercy as nothing but small pity I grant you on account of that single moment that made this encounter somewhat entertaining" he then walked through the white sheet and disappeared.

****

The remaining Guardians finally snapped out of their daze when Robot walked forward and began scanning their downed allies, checking for vitals and injuries alike.

"They are still alive. All, however, are in varying degrees of critical condition, but Superboy and Monster Girl are a priority given the severity of their injuries" Robot said, his voice still cold and calm despite the situation.

"What do we do?" Dupli-Kate asked their leader.

"I have already contacted Cecil several minutes ago. They will arrive soon" Robot reassured her.

Robot then turned to them and began to give his orders.

Dupli-Kate split into several duplicates of herself and began to clear up the rubble from the scene, clearing up a path for the easy access of the Emergency Response Team.

Shrinking Rae shrank down to her smallest size and began to glide around the bodies, checking for possible bacterial contamination from all the blood and gore crossing all over the bodies.

Robot had Rex Splode help him calm Monster Girl as her monster form began to writhe and sputter out blood.

Everyone acted accordingly to provide what help they could, without complaints. Rex Splode even stopped his verbal jabber in all that time. Their emotions, however, were in a flux. Dupli-Kate and Shrinking Rae was pained to see their allies in such sorry states, Rex Splode was rendered speechless out of a fear, and Robot almost obsessively cradled Monster Girl who was still in her monster form.

Eventually, the GDA arrived in full force. Several aircrafts carrying both armed soldiers and medical personnel funnel through the windows and began to take in the scene.

Donald and Cecil came through after everyone else, their faces immediately scrunched up at the bodies around them.

"Jesus fucking Christ" Cecil cursed as he stood beside the bodies of Superboy and Invincible, remarking more on the former than later.

"Are we gonna lose them?" he asked Donald who stood beside him.

"It's...a possibility sir" Donald hesitated as the medical team gathered around the boys.

"No. We need them" Cecil insisted firmly "Do whatever it takes"