After one of the fastest changes in recorded history, she was ready to take off. "Try to hold your breath when you fight them." Her odd ally advised when she opened the balcony door.
"Why?" she questioned.

"Because that's how they weakened you during your last battle. I watched the security footage of the fight." Toxic explained. "They encircled you at such speeds that they removed the oxygen from your perimeter. So like I said, hold your breath."
"Thanks." She sent him one last smile before taking off.
When her feet had left the balcony; and the hotel was behind her, she remembered how good it felt to be off the ground again. These past few days had been the longest period she’d been grounded.

After Galaxy Girl had taken off, Toxic changed into his regular costume; savoring each part of the process that he had missed so much. From applying his heavy dark "Guyliner" as his rival called it, to the feel of his skintight black shirt against his lanky torso; there was so much he ached to return to. The teenaged villain didn't have his shoe boot to lace up his patent black combat boots like usual, but he managed. The admittedly vain villain pulled his hair out of the baby pony tail that kept it at the nape of his neck. His mother was Romanian, and he had inherited his curly, raven black hair, and dark brown eyes from her, but not her bronze skin. His ghost-like complexion he owed to his father's gene pool.

Once he’d finished, he finally stopped to take one final glance in the mirror, admiring the striking figure he thought that he cut. From the Radioactive symbol on his chest; to his knee length, bright green, spike studded long coat; how could he not be pleased with how he looked?
Toxic pulled on his gloves and picked up his silver radiation blaster gun.

It's good to be back, and baby, I'm back. He thought to himself with a grin, walking towards the balcony to admire the beautiful city that he felt would soon be his. He did not step out onto it though, his fear of heights deterred him from that idea. After a few minutes, he began to grow increasingly bored.
He knew he couldn't make his grand entrance until his nemesis had defeated her new foes. If he did, it wouldn't have half as much of a dramatic effect, and Toxic would forever be a sucker for the dramatic.

 Another surprisingly human thought occurred to him. What if, after she did win, she was too tired or too beat up to fight him? He'd have to give her a chance to recuperate. It would only be fair. Toxic shook his head. Why couldn't he be like other villains and just crush the hero when she was down? It would be so easy. Why couldn't they be like every other set of Arch Nemeses? I'm evil. He reminded himself. It was plain and simple. He enjoyed causing others hardship, and just plain wreaking havoc for no other reason than a simple want to. What was so different about her? Why did he always have to be fair to her? Why was their relationship so simple, yet so incredibly complicated?

Eventually boredom overtook him, he just had to go and do something. Even if he couldn't unveil his presence to the capital of France just yet, he could at least go watch the battle. Maybe see how those Speeders managed to defeat her the first time? The thought of watching his lifelong enemy getting kicked around sounded like so much fun!  

Now how to get out of here undetected? He thought to himself; bravely peering over the balcony’s edge from his 7th floor room. The image of that crazy Frenchie so easily sliding down the side of the building with his grappling hook.
"Nope, that's not going to happen." Toxic mumbled to himself, taking a huge step backwards because his crippling fear of heights had gotten the better of him.

Following the moving blip on the high-frequency distortion tracker that her nemesis had let her borrow, Galaxy Girl traced the signal as it zipped around the city.  Eventually it stopped at a location marked on the screen as Ve'ree Experimental Laboratoire. Obviously they were there to steal tech, something she'd stopped Toxic from doing loads of time. This should be easy. She gave herself a little self-encouragement.
"Time to dish out a little justice," Galaxy smirked aloud to herself.

After tampering with a few of the security cameras and hacking into the secure code for one of the least used employee exits, Toxic had made it undetected all the way to the hotel garage.

He rubbed his gloved hands gleefully together at the delicious sight of all the world class automobiles lined out before him. With the Security feed on a loop and the lone guard in the booth completely engrossed in  whatever French soap opera he was watching; the soon to be car thief had his pick of the lot.

Now which one to "borrow"? With so many filthy rich world leaders’ vehicles to choose from, he felt like a kid in a candy store. His dark  brown eyes mischievously passing over Bugatti's, Porsches, Rolls Royce's and Ferrari's, scrutinizing each one carefully until his eyes came to a mesmerizing halt on one of the cars.

It was the color, rather than the make that had caught his attention. It was a soft blue, Lamborghini Aventador; the same color, oddly enough as Galaxy Girl's Costume. Toxic pulled off a glove and ran his glowing hand over the smooth blue hood of the beautiful sports car. Female beauty was something he had never really been able to understand or appreciate, but mechanisms like cars and weaponry, this chaos causer could legitimately consider a thing of beauty. Peeking into the window, he saw no key hole on the door, or even in the ignition.

It was one of those Smart Key models.
Why must this be so easy? This car is practically begging to be stolen. Thought the Villain, pulling out his handheld multipurpose computer and communicator. Then, he hastily put out a matching signal for the smart key, and with a click, the door unlocked and the engine powered on. He slid into the excruciatingly comfortable genuine leather seats, and caressed the steering wheel.
"Sylvester Stockman is SO getting one of these when I get back home to the mansion."

Galaxy’s heart continued to pound in a mixture of excitement, relief at being on the job and nervous fear. With her course corrected, she was soon gently landing in a dark alleyway directly beside the lab. She cracked her knuckles and readied herself to punch through the wall.

Wait... she thought. What if they weren’t on the first floor? If not, then she would  have destroyed the perfectly good wall of a reputable business, not to mention having to burst through several layers of flooring looking for them.
That's a lot of collateral damage, and she'd put The Peace League in enough debt as it is. Better safe than sorry.

Galaxy flew up to look inside the huge glass 3rd story window. Hovering, she peered inside, and what she saw was what she'd expected to see. A pair of twin yellow and black blurs, zipping around the lab, stopping at each table for only a millisecond, obviously searching for something in particular.

What Galaxy didn't expect was how she'd react to seeing them again.
She tried to ready herself to punch through the glass, but when she looked at her hand, she saw that it was trembling.
They were the worst thing to happen to her, and her mind still remembered how it felt, obviously.
Her throat grew tight; it felt as if she's got a ball stuck there. She couldn't breathe; she couldn't get any air into her lungs. Her head began to spin, and it felt as if her heart was trying to burst out of her chest.

She was having a panic attack. The nightmares she'd been having nearly every night since her death started to playback in her brain. Blood everywhere, HER BLOOD. The incredible pain, but worst of all, the helplessness. It was terrifying having to go through life virtually indestructible, then to suddenly, inexplicably and without warning, be broken; shattered like the glass she'd so often punched through. She hadn't told anyone of this, who was there to tell? Instead, she'd just buried it deep down, trying to ignore it, and now it bubbled to the surface; much like the hot magma of an active volcano that Toxic had once tried to dunk her in.

At first, Galaxy Girl couldn't move, but that quickly transitioned into this giant urge to flee. She needed to leave this place, NOW.
Her ability to breath returned, only this time, she wasn't breathing normally, she was hyperventilating.

The overload of oxygen to her brain caused her to grow dizzy, her vision swam, and her flight kept swaying from side to side, bouncing off an alley wall. Suddenly she was falling out of the air. She landed on the ground with a loud thud; the air knocked out of her. Galaxy Girl gasped in a huge breath, still mid-panic attack and jumped to her feet.

She didn't try to fly, luckily even in this state, she knew better; she'd take down a couple of buildings if she as much as tried. So instead, she clambered to her feet and did something she'd never done before. She ran away from a fight, at full speed.

______________________

A/N:

Hey Guys!

Tommorow on the official bedding camp Facebook page I will be doing something completely new, an author reading!

Tommorow at 2pm (mountain time), I will be doing a live video of myself reading the first two chapters of my latest book 'Arch Frenemies', and afterwards (if anyone is actually watching, lol) I can do an author Q & A. Also, if it goes well, I might just turn it into a regular, bi weekly thing.

So help me out guys, show your support by tuning in tomorrow. :)
Link in my wattpad bio.