The Poisoned Planet
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TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 GOING GREEN WITH IVY ...........................6 . CHAPTER 2 ENERGY CONSERVATION............................ 28 CHAPTER 3 ENERGY CRISIS .................................46 CHAPTER 4 AIR POLLUTION.................................. 60 CHAPTER 5 CLIMATE CHANGE ................................. 74 Published by Stone Arch Books in 2012 Cataloging-in-Publication Data is A Capstone Imprint available at the Library of Congress website. 1710 Roe Crest Drive North Mankato, MN 56003 ISBN: 978-1-4342-4091-0 (library binding) www.capstonepub.com ISBN: 978-1-4342-4224-2 (paperback) Copyright © 2012 DC Comics. Summary: Poison Ivy is tired of watching the Daily Superman and all characters and elements Planet newspaper produce billions of pounds of are trademarks of and © DC Comics. waste each year. She creates a voracious vine (S12) and covers their office building with her creeping creation. Ivy plans to hold the paper hostage and STAR26112 keep Superman out. Little does she know that Clark Kent is already in the building! All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or Art Director: Bob Lentz and Brann garvey in part, or stored in a retrieval system, Designer: hilary wacholz or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, Printed in the United States of America recording, or otherwise, without written in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. permission. 112012 007036R Danny sighed and wondered why his boss didn’t ever seem to need a rest. It was like she thrived out here in the wild. CHAPTER 1 “Let’s go, kid,” said the man standing GOING GREEN WITH IVY directly behind Danny. Ron nudged Danny forward with his elbow as if to make his point. “You heard the lady.” Danny was sick of walking. He’d been Danny weakly reached into his lugging his heavy backpack for nearly backpack. He felt around for a moment four hours now. The air was so humid in or two. Then he slid a long machete out the jungle that he had started sweating of its outer pocket. He raised the long the moment he left his cabin. He’d been knife in his hands and focused on the sweating ever since. vines. Another thick entanglement of vines “No!” screamed his boss. Danny blocked his path. Danny paused for a turned around as his boss pushed her moment and took a deep, heavy breath. way past the other men to the front of the line. “How many times do I have to tell “Keep moving up there,” came his boss’ you?” she said. “You will not harm any voice from behind him. plants!” 6 7 The woman slid past Danny. He glanced When Danny turned back around, his over at Ron, who was smiling. He seemed boss was nowhere to be seen. It was as if to be enjoying himself a little too much. she’d just disappeared into the thick brush Danny turned back to face his boss. of the jungle. Surprisingly, she had somehow parted the “Where did she —?” Danny started to tangled vines. In fact, she was already a say under his breath. Then he thought dozen or so yards ahead of him. better of it. He decided his time would Danny slid his machete back into his be better spent trying to catch up to his backpack. employer. So Danny started to jog. “Move it,” said Ron from behind him. The path was just too overgrown with weeds and ferns for him to move very “Okay, okay,” Danny said. He looked quickly. Nevertheless, he did his best. The back at his older partner. He had worked last thing he wanted to do now was get his with Ron for years now, and every time it boss even more annoyed with him. This was the same. Ron was always grumpy and was the first job he had had in months, rude. He never cut Danny any slack. After and he didn’t know when another would all the jobs they’d done together, Danny come along. assumed they would be friends by now. But if Ron even had any friends, Danny was Danny pushed past a particularly sharp, certainly not one of them. thorny tree of some kind. Then he stopped. 8 9 In front of Danny was a clearing. The But it wasn’t a laugh like something sun’s hot rays hit his face and neck. He was funny. It was a dark little chuckle. squinted in the bright light. There, a few Like she was up to something. Then she feet ahead of him, was a trench several feet said, “Everything is perfect.” below ground level. It was hard to see in the bright Danny walked over and peered down sunlight, but Danny could make out into the hole. His boss had already beaten something in his boss’ hands. She was him to the punch. She was down in the holding the end of a long vine. The vine crater, kneeling in front of a strange was growing right out of the earth under glowing rock. She had taken off her hat. the glowing rock in the crater. Just like Danny noticed her long and flowing the strange stone, the plant was glowing red hair. It looked out of place there, bright green. surrounded by all the green vegetation and “I think we found what we were looking the green stone in front of her. Even her for,” said Danny’s boss. She stood up and skin seemed to have a greenish tint to it. faced him. Danny could hear the rest of Danny had never noticed that before. the men spreading out behind him in the “Is everything okay?” he asked. clearing. It was time to get to work. And even in the heat and humidity, no one His boss laughed. was about to protest. 10 11 Danny had kept his complaints to himself for the last few hours. He’d rather be miserable than make his boss mad. One thing he had learned over the past few days — he did not want to get on Poison Ivy’s bad side. * * * KAPOWWWWWWWWWWWW! Superman smacked Parasite with a giant telephone pole. The villain was sent crashing into a concrete wall with a THUDDDD! He was unconscious. Finally, Superman thought. Fighting a villain you can’t touch is tiring. Superman had been forced to take a rather long lunch break to hunt down Parasite, a power-sucking super-villain. 13 Cautiously, Superman picked up the Perry White was a pretty fair boss, but unconscious Parasite by his collar and one thing he didn’t care for was tardiness. soared into the air. And Clark Kent couldn’t explain that FWOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! Superman had been forced to fight the Parasite on the outskirts of the city, then Just another day as the Man of Steel, fly to the Slab Maximum Penitentiary Superman thought. to ensure that the super-villain wouldn’t Moments later, he was dropping off escape again. the unconscious super-villain at Max Slab If Superman told anyone why he was Penitentiary. After talking with the guards late, then that would mean everyone and explaining the situation, he leaped would know he was Clark Kent. If the world into the air and soared toward his day job found out that Clark and Superman were at the Daily Planet newspaper. the same person, everyone he had ever As he touched down on the rooftop of met would become targets of Superman’s the Daily Planet Building, the hero just countless enemies. And Superman refused hoped no one would notice. It wasn’t to put other people at risk. exactly Superman who would get in So, Superman changed into Clark Kent’s trouble. It was his alter ego, reporter Clark work clothes in the shadow of the revolving Kent, who would have to face an angry globe atop the Daily Planet’s rooftop. boss if he was discovered. 14 15 Clark Kent would get a stern lecture Clark looked at the wall in front of him from his boss, but there was nothing even and used his X-ray vision. Inside, he could the Man of Steel could do about it. see four men holding cattle prods. Clark opened the rooftop door. He That’s not good, Clark thought. walked down the two flights of stairs to He scanned the rest of the room. No one the Daily Planet Building’s newsroom was hurt. But even still, everyone looked floor. He walked past the main elevators terrified. He could see his old friend Jimmy and began to head down the hall toward Olsen, his boss Perry White, and even Lois the main room and his cubicle. But as Lane. Clark exhaled a sigh of relief that he approached the end of the hall and Lois was safe. Now it was time to get to the glass double doors that led to the work. newsroom, he noticed an odd smell with Clark concentrated and used his super- his enhanced senses: the scent of lilacs. hearing. He could hear a woman’s voice. At first Clark assumed he had forgotten It sounded familiar to him. He knew the someone’s birthday. One of his co-workers person talking, but he couldn’t quite place must have received a bouquet for the the voice. special occasion. As Clark reached the “. has gone on long enough,” said the doors, he quickly moved out of view of woman. anyone in the main newsroom. 16 17 Clark searched the room and zeroed Poison Ivy was constantly using her in on the speaker. She was a redheaded plant-controlling abilities to try and destroy woman wearing a green, leafy uniform.