The Toxic Trio  

Landing atop a towering silk cotton tree, Devon watched the van that kidnapped Cain turn off the main road onto a crumbling access drive. Squinting ahead past wild brush, he realized where the kidnappers were headed - an abandoned mining site. Huge mounds of red soil intermingled with rusty dormant excavators and shacks partially reclaimed by rainforest. Whatever happened next would occur well away from prying eyes. Devon had to act.

Dropping from treetop to treetop, he followed the van right up to the edge of the sprawling operation turned ghost town. The vehicle parked beside a cluttered workshop with shattered windows. One kidnapper stayed at the wheel while the other two dragged a limp Cain around the side.

Devon crawled down and crept nearer through a ditch filled with muddy runoff. He had donned his signature Blur costume beneath school clothes in the morning just in case. Now it might prove necessary to confront some dangerous enemies. Peering over a berm, Devon watched and listened intently.

The side door of the building flew open and Cain was flung roughly down to sprawl groaning at three pairs of boots. One figure then crouched and yanked his hood off. "Not so cocky now, are yuh pretty boy," growled a female voice.

Blinking groggily, Cain's eyes widened as he gawped up at the trio of dangerous villains surrounding him. "Toxic Tess…? What kinda setup is this? We had a deal!" He tried scrambling backwards but was stomped down violently again.

"Yes, we did have a sweet deal." Tess flashed a cruel grin while twirling a glowing vial in one hand. "But instead of genuine Coco pills, yuh tried pawning garbage!" In a fury, she suddenly dashed the vial against the ground, revealing only pebbles within. "Yuh lie and rip me off, now you pay the price!"

Devon gasped under his breath, reminded of swapping that parcel contents himself. This Toxic Tess must have been the shady green-haired female he'd stolen from at Cain's party. His actions had inadvertently placed a target on the sprinter's back instead. But why were villains demanding these pills from Cain?

"I swear, those were real when given to you!" Cain claimed desperately. But then his eyes narrowed. "In fact... I bet yuh mess up and lose di actual vials!" He laughed coldly. "Don't try to pin your mistakes on me now, incompetent bitch."

Hissing venomously, Tess grabbed Cain by the shirt and hoisted him up. "Get cute with Toxic Tess again boy, I dare yuh!" Her hair and clenched fist began glowing with neon energy. She looked ready to melt his face off.

Her pale twin sister approached calmly though, lowering Tess's wrathful arm. "We need him able to talk," the logical Toxica reminded. She addressed Cain with an icy tone. "You will give us the proper pills owed, or our little visit turns... unpleasant."

On cue, the third villain - darkly alluring Poison Dart - gleefully stroked a razor-tipped bolt under Cain's jaw, drawing a bead of blood. "I say we carve off his limbs piece by piece until the bastard confesses everything," she suggested darkly. The deadly trio relished terrorizing their quarry.

"Nuh wipe him just yet!" Tess snapped impatiently, still seething. She turned aside, tapping nervously on a burner phone. "Boss wants a decision fast. Yuh hear that, prick?" She warned Cain. "No more chances!"

The call apparently went to voicemail. "Dammit!" Tess cursed as they waited for a callback. She began anxiously chewing her neon thumbnail. "If the man don't get his pills soon, we all dead out here." Fear tinged the villain's threats now. Someone higher up was clearly applying pressure.

Meanwhile, Cain sat scowling as he dabbed at the leaking blood on his neck. "You feisty bitches seriously just made the worst mistake of your lives," he spat angrily. Dark tattoos running down Cain's wrists began faintly glowing as he stood back up. Devon became curious about that lustrous azure shimmer – was Cain gathering power?

Toxic Tess whirled, still enraged by his arrogance even outnumbered. "Yuh need a reminder why yuh kneel at our boots, idiot boy?" In a flash, her right fist ignited with scalding acid. She punched it brutally against Cain's shoulder.

"Arrghh!" Cain's cocky bravado broke as he howled at the bubbling burn left in the wake of her corrosive knuckles. 

However, the manic glint in his eyes only intensified. "I... will make... you pay!" he spat through clenched teeth.

Casually leaning against a rusted digger, Toxica examined her nails. "Are the empty threats done yet? Because you're only making this worse for yourself."

In answer, Cain merely grinned and dropped into a catcher's squat, slapping both palms flat against the bare ground. "Sapphire Dust, rise and serve my wrath!" he commanded. Devon realized Cain was invoking some sort of earth-based ability.

At first, nothing appeared to happen. But looking closer, Devon noticed the soil around Cain was shimmering faintly azure - a spreading reaction to his Coco Power being channelled through the raw dirt. Suddenly the earth came alive!

BOOM!

Hundreds of fat mutated ants began erupting from the shimmering dirt and leaf litter. The baseball-sized insects swarmed furiously towards Toxic Tess with their mandibles primed to shred her boots and legs. She and Toxica screamed while trying to stamp out the creepy-crawly wave.

"Rip them apart, my deadly hive!" Cain shouted with manic glee, continuously spawning more hulking ants from the Sapphire Dust-laced soil. The chaos was spreading.

Devon watched in awe as Cain's small-sized army went to town ferociously. He had assumed the arrogant sprinter's success came from natural enhancements, not genuine Coco gifts. This animate insectoid manipulation was frighteningly potent.

Poison Dart reacted swiftly by spraying corrosive toxin from her namesake weapons to incinerate attacking ants by the dozens. But it was a losing battle against Cain's endless reserves.

"We must retreat!" Toxica shouted urgently. Already toxic welts covered her legs from dozens of stinging mandible bites. She tried conjuring poison dome barriers to hold back the insect tide. "He's too powerful here where there are many insects underground!"

Tess cursed in anger and agony while smashing mutated ants desperately with pulsing acid fists. "Like hell! I'll melt this fool's stupid face off!" She lunged furiously towards Cain through the crawling hordes.

Sneering, Cain merely waved a hand, sending a fresh wave of biting ants to engulf Toxic Tess's head and leave her screaming. He was clearly in his sadistic element surrounded by legions of vicious minions whom he controlled with his Sapphire Dust. "Let's see how much that skank face melts when my colony rips it off!" Cain cackled.