Chapter 37

I’ve decided that I didn’t really like Martian Manhunter very much. I didn’t care that he was an alien. I didn’t care that he was standoffish. I didn’t even care that he could read my mind.

None of these things were enough for me to dislike someone on principle. No, the reason I disliked him was far simpler.

He treated me like a complete idiot.

Perhaps it was due to knowing the lack of real schooling that I’ve received in my life, or perhaps he had another reason. It didn’t really matter. What mattered was his actions.

Oh, and wasn’t he so pleased that we did such a good job for the Justice League?

That…was relatively fine. I could accept being talked down to as taking work for free was indeed a fucking dumb move. Especially when I didn’t owe the Justice League any favors.

Yes, he was quite vocal how we did such a good job. So much so you’d think he was talking to a fucking dog. But no, that’s not what pissed me off. Nor was it the fact that he proceeded to take away all the notes I had gathered. That had been expected, which is why I spent most of my time going through them.

What really angered me was his comments afterwards. Exclaiming oh so subtly how well Miss Martian and I worked together.

Yes, it was quite obvious that this whole mission was manufactured in order to build relations between me and Miss Martian. For the express purpose of when the Justice League puts her name forward as an applicant, the Titans would take it more seriously. A way to get her foot in the door, as it were.

And yet he still felt the need to patronize me by constantly bringing up his niece. Yes, I could see the benefits of having her on the team. Yes, I understood how powerful she was. No, it wouldn’t have been so smooth without her.

What made this all even worse was his ability to read minds. Which means he has to understand what he was doing, and the way I was taking it. Was it not obvious that they were constantly reading the minds of everyone around them?

It was the obvious option to take. Especially with a power like that.

Oh, and we had gotten in a minor bit of trouble for ‘pressing our luck’. But that was quickly pushed underneath the rug due to the success of our mission. It wasn’t anything to be shocked about. As long as the mission gets complete in a very beneficial way, it only made sense to ignore the little things.

Even if the job had been messy, what mattered was that it was done and that the mess had been dealt with. This was just the way the world worked. Not even an organization as morally upright as the Justice League could disagree.

After reporting the mission, I finally left to go back home through the zeta tube. Before doing so, the Martian Manhunter advised Miss Martian to escort me towards it. Causing my eye to start twitching.

After finally getting back home, I wasted no time in immediately going to the Lab.

Venom was deceptively easy to make, and what better time to get started than right now?

At first I started to use the rats as guinea pigs like usual. Waiting for how they react to the drug before writing down the results and taking the next step. But…that was too slow.

This was Venom we’re talking about. Super strength in a bottle. It was inevitable that I got annoyed with how slow the rats were taking to react. So, I did the only sane thing anyone in my position would do, and experimented on myself.

Bane used it on himself, did he not? Then how bad could it really be? Especially when the person using it has the power to control the chemical composition of his entire body.

With but a thought Venom coursed through my veins. It took mere seconds for me to feel energized. My muscles expanding and my body to grow. The process wasn’t exactly pleasant, but it sure beat getting it…naturally…

I frowned as the pain increased, and my body kept growing. Until finally my clothes were starting to be pushed outwards and stretched to their limits. The growing process was…taking longer than I had expected. As well as providing a much more substantial boost as well.

And yet I was still growing.

I groaned in pain as my constricting clothes finally snapped and were cast off. One of my legs grew larger than the other, causing me to stumble as I took a step back. Leading to me crashing into the nearby counter.

Several experiments crashed around and even onto me, utterly ruining them. And it didn’t take long for them to start having an effect on my body.

Shit, this was starting to get bad. I needed to calm down and…and focus…

My head started to get light and it was only a few moments later that I realized why. One of the experiments that had shattered was a...choking mist that…would…make it difficult to breathe…

Spots danced in my eyes as I tried to focus on my power. I needed to stop the Venom, and at the same time deal with all these other chemicals on my body before they did irreparable damage...

*~o~*

I woke with a start. Almost immediately the fact that I wasn’t in my bed or Starfire’s was apparent to me. Causing me to be on edge. My hands and legs started to hit stuff as I started to move, causing a clinking sound to echo.

As the light in this place was out, I had to travel to the nearest wall and feel along it until I found something resembling a switch. At least, it was a switch for the Tower.

The light turned on and…showed me the Lab.

Right, the venom, knocking down the experiments onto myself with who knows how many chemical combinations...Ugh. Even worse, it was going to take a while to get back to the same amount of progress.

There were glass shards practically everywhere. Leaving the cleaning to be…

Uh…

To be uh…very annoying?

It took me a few seconds to realize what was very wrong with this picture. And no, it wasn’t the fact that I was completely naked. It was the fact that despite the myriad of broken vials that were scattered on the floor…there wasn’t a drop of anything else.

There were no chemicals spilt on the floor.

This of course defied reality. There was no way that I was mistaken about those vials unless…they had been empty before I came into the Lab? No, that couldn’t have been possible. I mean, I didn’t check but…I definitely felt something wash over me when I crashed into them.

Could it have been my blood…maybe?

Setting aside the question of how and why anyone would take my experiments, I checked my body in the nearby mirror. Which helped me make another few discoveries.

I was much more fit. My abs were much more defined, and I had a bit more muscle growing on my arms. Nothing crazy, but definitely noticeable. Though I doubt most of the Titans would notice unless they’ve seen what I looked like beforehand.

And considering I could count on one finger how many Titans have seen me naked…

Another rather striking fact was that my body was completely clean. Not only was this odd considering the earlier vials, but it was even more so considering that I had just gotten through a mission. By all accounts I should at least not smell good.

But I seemed…fine. For the most part at least.

Perhaps the most alarming fact that I noticed in the mirror was the fact that it was damaged. Cracked a bit due to the imprint of someone fucking punching the corner of the mirror and going straight through it. In a way that didn’t damage it, nor leave any blood, which meant they at least had some sort of protection around their hands.

Unless whatever had made the rest of the chemicals in the room disappear had made that disappear as well. Bah, I was starting to get paranoid. I felt like someone was actively gaslighting me into believing that there were no chemicals there in the first place.

BUT THERE HAD BEEN.

I…I knew it. Of course I knew it. How could I not? Was I not the person who put them there in the first place?

This strange situation got to me pretty bad, leaving me to check on my other experiments, and even the main area where I put all completed experiments. As well as vials of various helpful chemicals, like the Man-Bat cure.

They…thankfully still had their chemicals in them. Now that I think about it, the actual important projects that I had set up in the main room also seemed to be fine and untouched.

This situation…was too weird.

It also didn’t help that it all started with me being much too rash. Though I did have to admit that I hadn’t expected to have such a bad reaction to Venom. What had caused that?

The formula was perfect. It should by all accounts have worked. I wasn’t an idiot. If the papers had a fake formula for the Venom, I would have saw through it quickly. And there was no conceivable way that I would have fucked up making it.

This was me we were talking about.

Perhaps…it had interacted badly with a chemical that had already been in my body? SHVA perhaps? It could also have been the tree sap. I’ve noticed that my blood has been carrying more and more traces of it until finally it’s started to turn pinkish.

Still, it hadn’t seemed like a problem…until now.

It was probably extremely stupid to do, but I wanted to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible I wanted to know the truth. And the best way to do that currently in my opinion…was to repeat what had caused it.

This time however by funneling much less Venom through my body than before. For safety reasons.

With but a thought I did so. Like last time, it almost instantly started to surge through my veins. I waited a few moments for my body to react…

But it didn’t. Well, that wasn’t completely right. I did feel like I got more energy but…my body didn’t physically change.

This was fine. It only meant that a large dose was needed. So, I increased it incrementally until a change happened. After a few minutes of nothing happening, I increased it again. And again. And again.

Until finally, I was using the same amount as I did previously, when I caused the events of what happened earlier to unfold.

And yet my body didn’t seem to really change. I definitely feel more charged up and excited, but my body didn’t grow dramatically like Bane’s. What was going on?  What exactly had changed from earlier? What…had really happened when I was unconscious?

I wasn’t sure why, but I was starting to feel…very uncomfortable.

Testing with Venom had to stop there for today. Not only did I feel like I had just drunk eight Red Bulls, but anymore Venom pumping through my body could have genuinely dangerous effects. And although nothing was happening for now, I couldn’t trust that to always be the case.

I took once last look around the Lab. Examining everything around the place before pausing and shuddering. It was only in just this moment that I felt…uncomfortable with how silent it was. Not even the rats were making any noises.

It was starting to get to me.

Before I finally left the Lab, I took one last look at the mirror. It also reminded me that I was going to have to walk all the way back to my room completely naked. Great.

I did a double check of my body. Making sure there were no wounds to speak of. Something that wasn’t made easy due to the broken mirror. Whatever. I’d just have to replace it later.

I took once last glance at the mirror. Making sure for the last time that there was nothing wrong with us before finally heading out. After I got to my room and checked the time, it was pretty evident that a lot more time passed than I had previously thought.

It wasn’t anything crazy like a day or a week, but just a few more hours than I had been expecting. I still felt an energy high due to the Venom, despite it being mostly purged from my system at this point. However, I knew there would be an incoming crash later, so all I had to do was wait for that in order to fall asleep.

To help me relax, I brewed some tea before coming back to my room and deciding to just read a book until I fell asleep. Big and wordy books weren’t really my thing, but Raven had recommended this book. So, I’d at least give it a shot.

So, I began to read the Count of Monte Cristo.