Camp Justice

Welcome to Camp

The sounds of my feet clicking on the smooth floor echoed down the dark halls. I recognized this place as my school, but it was distorted and dark. The walls stood at strange slants. The floor seemed to curve and tilt. Doors went to random places or nowhere at all. The classroom numbers read 101, 102, 9, 18, 62, 248, and so on. Strange stringy tendrils came from the vents like streamers. And the air was filled with strange dust particles.

Movement behind me made me stop.

"Hello?" I said.

A hissing-clicking sound was the response I got.

I turned.

Ga-KiSSS!!

I came face to multi-eyes with a giant spider! It's maw came for me! I became enveloped in blackness as its mouth closed around me. Panic filled my body and with it a rash of energy. Suddenly, beams of hot red energy escaped my eyes. The blast erupted from the back of the beast's head and it fell.

I turned. More spiders were coming for me. They came from the walls, the ceiling, the doors, and the vents.

More beams of heat flashed from my eyes as I fought back against the monsters. But they continued to come and I had to run.

I took cover at the nearest boy's restroom. I splashed cold water on my face to calm down. In the mirror, I saw a reflection of a scared 10-year-old with a mop of black hair. Though taller than most 10-year-olds, I was still average built. I then noticed I was in my costume: a blue and red jacket with ripped blue jeans and red tennis shoes. A red cape was on my back and large "S" in a diamond shape rested across my chest.

Image taken from the Wikipedia article "Jonathan Samuel Kent" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Samuel_Kent

That's right, I thought. "I'm Superboy," I whispered. How could I forget that I was Jon Kent? I shook my head to shake off the metaphorical cobwebs.

Why was I afraid of a few spiders? Dad and I have faced aliens, demons, and dinosaurs.

I glanced around the boy's restroom. How'd I get here?

I rubbed my head in thought and felt a sticky, wet liquid. I was bleeding. How could I possibly be bleeding?

I stepped back from the mirror. "What's going on?"

Suddenly a feeling of warning rose in my gut. Something then grabbed my ankle. Instinctively, I turned to pound the snot out of my attacker but stopped short when I saw the hand belonged to Damian Wayne. He was laying on the floor in the gap between the stall door and the floor.

It was a funny image considering it was Damian.

A few seconds later, he was standing next to me.

I ran a hand through my hair. "Phew, I'm glad to see a familiar face. Even if it is you."

Damian continued to stare.

Huh, that should have gotten a reaction out of him.

I then did get a reaction from him, but not one I wanted...he smiled. Damian, son of Batman and raised to be a master assassin, never smiles—unless he was about to do something painful to you.

His mouth slowly opened and he began to spew tendrils. These black, ink-like ropes wrapped around me and shoved me into the air. I struggled against them but couldn't escape.

I gasped and cried out.

I then heard some faint laughter as I realized I was on a bus. Damian scowled at me from the seat next to me. My face turned red as I realized how much of a fool I'd made of myself. My hearing picked up a couple mocking insults before a camp counselor stood. "That's enough of that," she said. She looked familiar. A couple of quick blinks straightened my hazy-dream vision. It was Starfire, but she looked human. She had a normal Earthling skin color instead of orange. She must have been using some kind of Justice League hologram device. As she sat down, I recognized Nightwing sitting next to her, but he was in his Dick Grayson street clothes.

And the bus driver was...Cyborg. But like the others, he was fully human.

"What's going on?" I whispered.

"You OK, Jon?" said a voice seated next to me.

I glanced over and my heart skipped a beat. "Kathy?" I said. My, ahem, first friend from Hamilton before I had to move to Metropolis. "What are you doing here?"

"Same as you. Going to summer camp."

It then finally started coming back. Damian and my parents in their ever continuing quest to have us experience a somewhat normal life had signed us up for summer camp. It sounded great from the beginning, but now that I found out Kathy would be there too...it was wonderful.

Apparently, Starfire, Cyborg, and Nightwing were signed on as counselors. Maybe they needed the summer money—I image having Titans Tower rebuilt every other week because of some villain attack can be costly. Or maybe Dad and Mr. Wayne had them chaperone. It wouldn't be the first time they'd asked people to check in on us.

A quick scan showed me that Kathy, Damian, and I weren't the only heroes going to camp. I spotted Beast Boy (also looking like a normal human), Raven, and Jaime (aka Blue Beetle). I also recognized some people from school. And maybe one was Billy Batson, but I'm not sure.

The bus driver reached for a microphone. "We're here, everyone. Welcome to Camp Justice."