Galaxy Girl didn't have to search for long before uncovering the bomb, encased in a huge ball and left conspicuously in the middle of a city park. She quickly grasped the giant metal sphere and flew up, as far away from the park as she could get. Other heroes might have been suspicious of the placing of such an item in such a wide, open, easily locatable part of the city, but this particular hero just rolled her eyes as she made sure to not pulverize the handles with her intense grip.

She knew Toxic had always been the victim of a flair for the over-dramatic, and that with his level of genius, he could have easily made this bomb as small as a bowling ball. But he just had to make it the size of an elephant, so that nobody would miss the spectacle when she lugged it up and out of the city.

Galaxy Girl swung around a bit to the left in mid-flight so the Channel 7 tower would get her good side as she flew with the bomb, her destination: space. She could have just waited for the bomb squad to arrive instead of taking the bomb up into space, but Toxic wasn't the only one in this city who loved being the center of attention.
Up she went, breaking out of the earth's atmosphere. Soon, the hero began to feel the air thinning as she struggled to breathe. She began to gasp for puffs of oxygen. Flying in space was yet another thing on the list of feats that her father could readily perform that she couldn't. When she had gone as far as her body would allow her, she chucked the device hard, aiming towards the farthest patch of emptiness.

Less than a minute later, she was crashing through the wall of Toxic's latest lair, this one, inside an old art museum. Bits of red brick scattered around her as she landed upon the polished hardwood. Without warning, an orb of green energy blasted her in the side, and she was thrown against a wall, the impact of her body leaving a large crack. Something made a clicking sound behind her and before she knew it, her hands were shackled above her head.

"You know you don't always have to crash through my walls, the door WAS unlocked," Toxic said, nodding at the now splintered remnants of the oak door that had come down along with the wall when Galaxy Girl burst through.

Toxic stood in the hallway, wielding another one of his many radiation-powered guns, this particular one looking like a rocket launcher.
"How do you feel?" he enquired about the effect of his latest radiation gun.
She felt fine; only his pure radiation affected this hero.
"Nope, nothing this time, sorry," she shrugged.
Toxic sighed, clearly disappointed. "Well, you can't blame a villain for trying." He covered the distance between them, stepping closer until he was only about two strides away from his arch nemesis, near enough to be up-close and personal, but not so close that their powers would begin to affect each other.

"Miss me?" he asked, his usual sarcasm clearly present in adequate amounts.
"Always," Galaxy Girl admitted with a roll of her eyes.
The one thing these arch-enemies had in common, was that even after several years, they remained truthful to each other. It was a stable part of their dynamics.
It was the truth, she did miss him, or at least, she missed the challenge he presented. Being nearly indestructible could get boring and surely, Toxic was a challenge, something she didn't have every day. He was something in her life that she didn't have to hold back on, the one criminal she never had to worry about breaking. She looked up at her hands to see what he had tried to capture her with this time.

"Diamonds, seriously?" she asked.
Clamped around each of her wrists was a thick cuff of solid, sparkling diamond. She considered the fact that these had probably taken a while to create, and she was impressed with the fine craftsmanship.

"One of the hardest natural substances on earth," Toxic said smugly.
"Is that a fact?" Galaxy Girl asked in slight annoyance.

She broke out of the diamond cuffs with ease, jerking her arms out of the bonds that held them, as chunks of the glittering mineral glistened all around her before falling to the floor. The smug smile drained from Toxic's pale face and dark brown eyes, in its place now stood a familiar look of disappointment.

"When are you just going to give it up?" Galaxy Girl asked. "You know nothing holds me for long."

Galaxy Girl began to rub her wrists and looked up when Toxic said, "I guess we're just going to have to do this the old fashioned way."

She detected a hint of amusement in his intelligent voice; they both admittedly found great enjoyment in fighting each other in hand-to-hand combat. In two bounding steps, she had crossed into his radiation zone - the permanent aura of lime green light that surrounded Toxic whenever he was without his radiation-proof coat. Like with every other battle, the instant the Hero came within three feet of this particular Villain, she felt her superhuman powers beginning to wane. Toxic was truly as deadly as his name suggested, with his radioactivity capable of killing any living thing that it came in contact with it, but Galaxy Girl wasn't just another human; he couldn't quite intimidate her with his powers because she had hers too.
Descendants of the same meteor that struck earth in 1987 A.D., the superpowers of these second generation superhuman were cousins to each other, just as their respective fathers' abilities were siblings. Unlike Captain Galaxy, who was immune to every form of radiation, Galaxy Girl was immune to all except one. Her human half acted like a sponge, the lime-green fog the only thing that could permeate her impervious pores.
The hero soaked in Toxic's radiation, and unlike every other being on earth, her hero half kept her heart beating. Nonetheless, this unique convergence would render them both powerless. Luckily for both, the process was painless. This was how they'd managed to go toe to toe all these years, because whenever they clashed, the titans fought as mere mortals.
Galaxy Girl punched Toxic across the jaw with a blow that normally would cause buildings to crumble. This was not to be so with Toxic because the second her skin came in contact with his, she absorbed the radiation fully, and lost every ounce of super strength. Whenever she touched him, the muscular blonde would have to rely on her human strength and stamina. Pain shot through her fist as it struck his face, and a strange smile escaped her lips.
Pain, she hadn't felt that since their last battle. He winced, and quickly returned with a blow to her stomach. Galaxy Girl took a few steps back and felt her super strength surge back.
"That shirt is like two sizes too small, isn't it?" she teased, noticing a slight abdominal line, and biceps that weren't there the last time they battled.

"Why yes, I have been working out more recently. I finally took advantage of the gym in my last prison; glad you noticed," Toxic replied before landing a swift kick to the center of her stomach.

"Well, when you can bench press the Empire State Building, let me know," she humored, crouching down and swiping his legs out from under him. She stood back up, waiting for him to do the same.

"Never kick a man who is down."
Her father's code had stuck with her since the day he instilled it, all of his pearls of wisdom had. Toxic tucked his feet in and with a maneuver that would make Bruce Lee proud, he used his legs to propel himself back up. Galaxy Girl readied herself, going back into a defensive stance.
"How did you get out of prison this time?" she asked. "You couldn't have blackmailed the warden like you usually do..." Toxic didn't hesitate to cut her off mid-sentence, ready to show off his prowess at getting out of prison.

"You do realize I feed off guilt, right? I'm the criminal equivalent of a kid in a candy store every time you put me in a big house; and as for the wardens, you have to be a pretty messed up person to want a job watching the scum of the earth all day." He shrugged.

"I mean, most of them are siphoning money, and there was that one who was having relationships with six different prisoners all at the same time! It's almost too easy. I almost feel guilty... If I could feel guilt, that is."
Toxic laughed at his words and Galaxy Girl threw some fierce punches his way but he dodged them with ease.
"But that was a fully automated prison, no guards or wardens to blackmail. It was supposed to be inescapable!" she replied, protecting her face from his hits. Toxic flashed his trademark ego-filled smile and said,
"I know, I designed it."

He flipped backwards to avoid another one of her powerful punches. He had always been a great deal more agile than her. She was stronger, but not as quick or nimble as Toxic, making her rely more on sheer brute force.
"You did what?!" She asked astonished.

Without stopping the fight, Toxic calmly, arrogantly answered her.
"I knew that sooner or later I'd end up in a more complex prison. I mean, they quit putting me in juvie when I was 7!" He chuckled.
"So one day, I thought: why not help them? Give them some time to think about something else other than having to create a more secure prison for me? And so, I designed the prison myself. All it took was a little hacking; on a night when I was pretty bored and didn't have much going on the TV."

"Impressive," she had to admit before she tried to roundhouse kick him in the stomach, but she was too slow, and he grabbed her foot in midair and twisted it.
"When are you just going to stop trying that?" Toxic chuckled.
"You're all brawn, leave the acrobatics to me."

She winced and he let her foot go, grabbed her arm, and pinned it behind her back.
"How's your dad?"
His question was genuine, as they always were when they were engaged in their now regular combat. She began trying to wrestle out of his grip. "He's good, still away a lot," she grunted. "Saving some major country from your dad or some other evil whatnot."
Galaxy Girl elbowed him in the gut and he released her. She was about to launch another fierce assault on Toxic when he backtracked rapidly.

"Time!" He called, making a T formation with his hands.
They both sighed and wearily slumped to the floor. Calling timeouts during their fights was something they'd both done since they were very little. It was a childish concept, maybe. But this duo had been fighting for as long as Galaxy Girl could remember. Timeouts seemed like a good idea to the brains of small children. Their little bodies couldn't take as much as adults, and they used to tire easily, but even now that they weren't children anymore they just never stopped taking breaks. The fights could go on so much longer if they were not completely exhausted, and this pair did love a good battle.

Once Galaxy Girl's rear hit the ground, she groaned and eased down sideways onto the floor, her blonde hair falling all over her face. Everything is going according to plan, Toxic thought to himself. She had taken the bait, and taken the bomb into space as he'd predicted she would, so there were no worries. Toxic sat down onto the floor with his legs crossed, his palms resting on his ankles and sweat beading on his pale forehead. Still panting, he tried to maintain a rhythmic breathing pattern.
In that moment, only the sounds of their mutual exhausted panting filled the lair.

No banter, no sarcastic remarks or acts of heroism, just a shared quiet understanding. After a minute or so, Toxic's heart rate started to calm itself, the adrenaline faded and the pain of those blows began to kick in. He sighed and rubbed his jaw; it would be purple by morning- that much he could predict.

"Have you seen the latest Schwarzenegger movie?" Toxic asked her, breaking the comfortable silence.
Action movies were a mutual interest for them, and Galaxy Girl nodded excitedly.

"Yeah, it was ok. I didn't like the ending though, he shouldn't have left his daughter on the beach."
She sat up and faced him, leaned back on her hands, and tucked one ankle over the other. In between pulverizing each other, they would talk. It was another thing that they'd always done for as long as Toxic could remember. He never had any friends growing up, and neither did she. The pair did spend a lot of their time together, so it was only logical they would eventually start talking about things other than trying to destroy each other.

"Well," Toxic started, "I thought the villain was pretty poorly written. His plan was sloppy, and the idiocy of his henchmen was well above the legal limit!" He said, scrunching up his face in disgust.

"Not everyone can be the perfect villain," Galaxy Girl said with a laugh. "If you really think it was that bad, you could always convince the director to make a better sequel."
She sarcastically made quotation marks in the air, referencing his hobby of blackmail for personal amusement.

Not a bad idea, Toxic thought to himself, as he nodded, making a mental note to put that into consideration. He just might do so!

"How are things at the Syndicate?" Galaxy Girl asked, adjusting her golden boots.

She was referring to the Syndicate of Extraordinary Supervillains or "SES", a little club Mastermind had jealously founded after he discovered that Captain Galaxy had organized a Peace League.

"I've got a meeting tomorrow," Toxic said. "Ridiculously enough, another villain is trying to knock me off my spot on the board..." He trailed off in obvious annoyance.

Galaxy Girl was well aware that the Syndicate and its goings-on annoyed Toxic a hell of a lot. As a matter of fact, Toxic only participated because his father expected it of him.

Using her heroic voice, she asked, "You're worried about that? What makes you think you won't be locked up in jail tomorrow?"

Her booming voice was a signal that their brief timeout had come to its end and so Galaxy Girl got to her feet; shaking off the brick dust from her cape. Toxic grinned and rose to his feet as well.

"Time in!" was the only warning he gave her before kicking her legs out from under her.

The effect was spectacular; Galaxy Girl's body toppled over and she crashed to the floor with a rather ungraceful thud. Toxic knew that she would start the bout with a punch from her right fist and every villain worth his salt knew better than to ever let her hit you with a right hook because powers or not, she packed a wallop. She was a powerful brawler but her agility, balance, and stealth left much to be desired.

Galaxy Girl groaned from where she had landed on the floor. Toxic held out his hand to help her up, and she clasped his wrist as he pulled her to her feet. Toxic may have been meticulously evil but he was not a complete monster, he did have some manners. Once back up, she threw him a punch and with a back handspring, he easily avoided it.
"Too slow," he said, taunting her.
She lunged again and he dodged once more.
"You have got to be faster than that, Star," he teased.

"For the millionth time. It's not a star, it symbolizes the galaxy!" the blond hero shot back, pointing to the 5 pointed star on her chest, something he frequently teased her about.

At that moment, Toxic only cared about making her lose her head and he could tell she was getting flustered. The son of Mastermind had a devious plan and he just had to keep sneaking backwards. She attempted a left hook angrily but he caught it and squeezed her fist in his hands.

"Gotcha!" he said as he flashed her a lopsided grin and applied more pressure.

But Galaxy Girl didn't falter; she didn't even struggle. Instead, she stood there as though he was merely holding her hand and not squeezing it with all the energy he could muster.

"You think your lab boy grip can hurt me?" Galaxy Girl mocked. "You may be a slippery and quick little weasel, but you've got no real strength."

Toxic scoffed in faux offense. He was a firm believer that brains were far superior to brawn, so her harsh words meant absolutely nothing to him. The evil smile never fading, the Villain stepped back onto a cleverly hidden trap door and hit a lever. With a whoosh, Toxic was gone, disappearing down into the tunnels below.

"Better luck next time, Galaxy Girl!" he called out as he chuckled, his evil laughter echoing loudly.

_________________________

A/N: Thank you so much for reading. The full, edited and complete book will be launching on Amazon starting December 1st.
To celebrate its official amazon release, for its first week, it will be available for purchase for only $0.99.
Otherwise, a new chapter will be posted here every Saturday until the full story is available on wattpad. :)

Please dont forget to vote and comment. :)