by Tess Sharpe
Wonder Woman charged forward with her Lasso of Truth swinging from her hand. Supergirl was at her side, soaring through the air with a determined expression on her face. Bumblebee followed with Green Lantern and Zatanna, while Batgirl brought up the rear, Batarangs at the ready.
Pumpkins had smashed the lab. There were pumpkin guts on the floor. On the walls. All over Mr. Kincaid’s desk! He was going to be so mad!
Giganta clambered through the broken window, kicking microscopes off the back tables and knocking chairs to the ground. She was the size of a grizzly bear and equally ferocious. Behind her, Harley Quinn set her pumpkin launcher on automatic and gleefully skipped after the other villain.
“I’m gonna cover ya in pumpkin,” Harley called. “You’ll be so sticky you won’t be able to stand it!”
“You’ve made the biggest mess!” Bumblebee shouted, outraged at how the lab was being treated. It was one thing for the freshman biology class to mess it up—at least they were learning! But Giganta and Harley Quinn were just causing mayhem for the sake of doing it!
“That’s right, I have!” Giganta crowed. “Because I am the biggest and baddest around!”
“Do you know how long it takes to clean stuff? Because I’ve become an expert lately!” Supergirl shouted. She charged through the air toward Giganta, but the big bruiser batted her away. Supergirl slammed against the lab wall. She winced as she felt the walls shake. She was still getting used to having her powers back.
Wonder Woman let out a fearsome warrior yell and leaped forward, her Lasso of Truth in hand. But she froze when Harley laughed and pulled a big beaker from behind her back.
“It’s the pink foam mixed with the pumpkin!” Zatanna said, grabbing Bumblebee’s arm in alarm.
“I like to go dumpster diving on the weekends,” Harley cackled. “Science class always has the stickiest, stinkiest trash. And this looked really sticky. And really stinky. And it’s all for you!”
The super hero girls were stuck! Who knew what would happen if Harley spilled the bottle on herself or Giganta? She could switch personalities with the shark in the tank, for all they knew! A Giganta shark would be scary—and scarier than a Harley shark by only a small degree.
Bumblebee noticed that Giganta’s focus was on Wonder Woman and Supergirl: the people she thought were the strongest. But Bumblebee was strong in her own way. She launched in the air, happy to be back in her suit. She zipped down to bee size, soaring forward with a determination and boldness that was all her.
Bumblebee grabbed the bottle out of Harley’s hand and buzzed away before the clown girl even realized it was gone. Sometimes it paid to be the small, quiet one!
Bumblebee tossed the beaker to Zatanna. But before the magician could reach out and grab it, Giganta drew her arm back, planning to deliver a crushing blow. The glass container shattered on the giant’s massive hand! Pink foam with pumpkin bits splattered all over Giganta and Harley.
Zatanna gasped. She had reason for the drama! The super hero girls were about to witness a villain switch-up!
Giganta shuddered as the pink foam hit her. Harley squealed.
Everyone in the room fell silent, waiting to see what would happen. Were the villains going to switch powers and personalities like Kara and Karen had? Or would the strange mix of science, squash, and magic cause a different reaction in them?
The super hero girls got the answer to their questions almost instantly. A poster fell off the wall, brushing against Giganta’s shoulder. Instead of batting it away angrily, Giganta giggled like it tickled! Giganta wasn’t ticklish!
The super hero girls watched as Harley Quinn looked down at her fingernails and gasped. “I don’t paint my nails red and blue!” Harley said in a much deeper voice than her normal squeak. Then she gave a sinister chuckle.
Giganta stared at herself in the broken window’s reflection and began to hum, arranging her hair into pigtails. Harley muttered under her breath and pulled her pigtails out, brushing through her hair angrily until it was wild around her face.
“It’s a full-body switcheroo this time!” Zatanna shouted in realization. “Giganta is in Harley’s body, and Harley is in Giganta’s body!”
“Jeepers!” Harley-as-Giganta said. “This is somethin’ else!”
“Just remain calm,” Wonder Woman told the villains. “Do you have any ideas?” she asked Zatanna under her breath.
Giganta-as-Harley began to pace and stomp. “Why won’t I grow?” she growled. “And why are my arms so puny?!”
“I see why you like being so big!” Harley-as-Giganta giggled, bouncing up and down in excitement. “I’m so strong!” She flexed her biceps. “Ooo…muscles!”
“Those are my muscles!” Giganta-as-Harley roared in anger. “You didn’t put in the work to earn them!”
“Harley, you need to stay still,” Zatanna said. “You only got sprayed with a little foam. It should wear off in a few minutes.”
“I don’t think so!” Harley-as-Giganta said. “I wanna try my new powers out. I think it’s time for some acrobatics!” Before anyone could stop her, she began to flip and cartwheel across the lab, smashing tables and chairs in her destructive enthusiasm. This time, her routine didn’t just make the lab floor shake, it sent the team flying—even the ones who couldn’t fly! Luckily, they got to their feet in seconds. Harley-as-Giganta was dangerous! She wasn’t going to be patient and figure out how Giganta’s powers worked. She was just going to smash everything and giggle about it.
Giganta-as-Harley did some quick thinking while the super heroes were distracted by Harley’s antics. She didn’t have her powers, and Harley’s body was terrible at crushing things. Tee-hee! That was it! She needed to think like Harley instead. Giganta-as-Harley leaped out the window, grabbed Harley’s pumpkin launcher, and loaded up six pumpkins at once.
“Time to get squashed, Super Hero Girls!” she yelled, pressing the big orange button.
Bumblebee yanked Supergirl out of the way as one of the pumpkins crashed to the floor right where she had been standing. Another pumpkin smashed into the fish tank. Wonder Woman gasped in horror as the shark went flying through the air.
“Baby!” Harley-as-Giganta held out her arms and caught the shark! She hugged the sea creature to her and some of the magic pink foam on her face smeared onto the shark. Pop! Harley-as-Giganta let out a startled shriek as the shark began to grow and grow. She dropped it with a yelp as she began to shrink.
Behind the pumpkin launcher, Giganta-as-Harley watched as Harley-as-Giganta got smaller and the shark grew. They needed to get out of here before Harley lost her giant powers completely! “Harley!” she shouted. “It’s time to scram!”
Realizing that this was their chance to get away, Harley-as-Giganta dashed through the broken windows and joined Giganta-as-Harley while the super hero girls rushed to the shark’s aid.
Harley-as-Giganta was getting smaller with each step she took, but the super hero girls knew they couldn’t chase the villains down and save Kerfuffle.
Green Lantern used her power ring to create a net to keep the shark from flopping all over the floor while Zatanna cast a spell to repair the fish tank—“Erotser ssalg!” Bumblebee and Wonder Woman hurried back and forth between the tank and the sink, filling it with water.
Zatanna tossed the test tube with the remaining antidote into the air. “On it!” Bumblebee shouted, as she landed on the top of the test tube, her weight tipping it, and emptying the last of the blue liquid into the water.
Zatanna waved her wand and said “Retawaes!” to make the water go from fresh water to salt water. Then Green Lantern transformed the green net into a sliding board and carefully slid the shark into the tank. Kerfuffle splashed about as if nothing had happened.
Wonder Woman pressed a hand to her heart, her eyes shining like a thousand suns. “A warrior could not hope
for better sisters,” she said. “You have saved Kerfuffle!”
“Did she actually name the shark Kerfuffle?” Supergirl asked Bumblebee.
“It kind of fits,” Bumblebee pointed out. She glanced at the clock on the wall and let out a shriek. “Girls! We have ten minutes before Mr. Kincaid comes to check on the lab!”
With Kerfuffle safely back in her tank, the super hero girls went to work on the lab, this time using their superpowers! As Zatanna fixed the broken windows with magic, Bumblebee turned off Harley Quinn’s pumpkin launcher and stowed it out of sight. Wonder Woman and Batgirl carefully filled bags full of smashed pumpkin parts, and Supergirl sped them away to the dumpster. A lot of hard work, speed, and a bit of magic got the job done. When Mr. Kincaid walked into the room, the lab was spotless.
The teacher frowned when he saw the girls—now in their normal clothes—lined up at the front of the room, waiting for him. “Done already?”
“We wanted to make up for last time,” Karen explained.
“We felt bad about what a mess it was,” Kara added. She thought that she might even keep her own room clean from now on. Well, cleaner, at least.
“I’m glad you learned from this,” Mr. Kincaid said. “And since you have done such a good job, I will share the exciting news I’ve just received. Metropolis High has caught the eye of the very prestigious Project Cadmus.”
“The science company?” Babs asked, her eyes going wide with excitement.
“They’re considering coming to our school to be judges in the upcoming science fair. There might even be an internship for the winning student and a grant for the winning school.”
Karen, Babs, and Jessica squealed in excitement. This was the best news for science-minded students at Metropolis High ever! Thank goodness they had gotten the lab clean—and Kara and Karen had gotten switched back to their old selves. Mr. Kincaid would never have let Project Cadmus come to the lab if he’d seen Giganta and Harley Quinn’s path of destruction. No scientist worth their lab goggles would’ve worked in such a mess!
This time, when the girls assembled, it was for an excited hug. An upcoming science fair, and a possible internship and grant for the school? The life of the curious student by day and super hero at night could not get better!
After detention, the super hero girls went to Sweet Justice, their favorite treats shop. They deserved some cupcakes.
“I never thought I’d say it, but I think I learned more from detention than school in the last few days,” Kara said as they sat at their regular table.
Babs giggled.
“I learned not to mix magic, squash, and science,” Zee said. “Never again!”
Diana swiped a finger through the frosting on her cookies-and-cream cupcake. “I learned about unicorns, the word ‘kerfuffle,’ and that faithful friends are forever.”
“Oh, I like that last one,” Babs said cheerfully. “I also learned that faithful friends are forever.”
“I learned that the need to protect pumpkins and squash is clearly growing,” Jessica said. “While I don’t think I can convince people to stop buying them just to carve, I could create a program to compost pumpkins.”
“That’s a great idea,” Karen said. “I want to help.”
“As will I,” Diana said. “And what do you think, Kara Danvers?” she asked. “What have you learned from detention and this switcheroo that has bonded you and Karen as sisters in both power and heart?”
Kara grinned. “You know, I think the coolest thing I learned was that Karen is a little more rock and roll than I thought. The girl knows how to mosh.” She winked at her friend.
Karen blushed at the compliment. “And I would say that Kara is a lot more patient than any of us give her credit for,” she said. “She may be a hothead”—Kara laughed and nodded—“but she holds back a lot so that she can give it her all when she’s needed most.”
“Did you like having a hot head?” Kara asked.
“It was a lot of fun, feeling like the world couldn’t touch me,” Karen admitted. “Being confident can be hard. Even though I’m not indestructible, I’m going to try to keep feeling that way. Because I deserve to.”
“Yes you do!” her friends cheered.
“We also learned that cheaters never prosper!” Babs said excitedly. “I heard that Mr. Kincaid gave Doris another full week’s worth of detention for not showing up to clean the lab with us!”
“In time, perhaps she will learn the lessons we have learned,” Diana said.
“I’m not sure there are enough test tubes in the world to scrub to teach her,” Kara said, “but I wish Mr. Kincaid luck!”
“Let’s do a cupcake toast,” Karen said. She held out her red velvet cupcake. “To being brave and doing the right thing, even when it’s scary!”
The girls tapped their cupcakes together. The frosting didn’t clink, but it did smash, and it was a good kind of mess this time.
A very good kind of mess indeed.
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