"Damn, what a fight," Batgirl heard from behind her. She slipped the ampule and hypospray into her belt, turning to see the speaker. It was Power Girl!
"Hey Babs," The muscular blonde's costume was torn and scorched, practically about to burst from her powerful frame. She grabbed a towel. "I just got back from Apokolips. Barda and I busted up Kalibak pretty good, but he... hey, what's the matter?"
"Oh... nothing," Barbara said evasively. Karen was the last person she wanted to see right now, embodying all the things Barbara wasn't: tall, statuesque, strong as anything and stacked like a ton of bricks!
"Hey, is this about that fight with Bane?" Karen grinned. "Don't let Bruce ruffle you. He's a jerk to everybody. By the way, could you unzip me? I feel like I'm gonna rip this suit to shreds if I flex the wrong way."
Barbara felt a twinge of humiliation. She knew Power Girl swung both ways, and it felt belittling that the blonde regarded her with the same kind of detachment as she would a doctor or butler, even if she was trying to be friendly. "Sure," she sighed,
pulling the zipper down Karen's back.
"Thanks, Babs!" Power Girl said cheerfully, stripping down and strolling to the showers. "And hey, don't worry. They used to think of me as Superman's little cousin, and look at me now!" She flexed a little, showing off her luscious muscles. Batgirl felt
the belt pouch with the Venom in it, more sure than ever that she wanted this.
***
She slipped into the lab at GSU with her keycard. Batgirl had stopped by her dorm to change back to her civilian clothes, and she was once again Barbara Gordon, grad student. She was a few credits away from having a PhD in criminology and chemistry and
the Justice League still treated her like a kid! Well, no more.
Babs began to analyze the makeup of Venom, intent on synthesizing it in order to create a continuous supply of the power-boosting drug. Within a few hours, she had managed to reproduce the chemical, creating a more concentrated batch.
"I just wish I was able to build an injector system to supply a constant stream of the drug," she mused with a yawn. It had been hard work doing this, going almost all night, but she'd succeeded! She regarded the green liquid in the vial. "Bottoms up!"