Blood and fire, prologue
The explosion caused by the body impacting into a fuel tank sent sheets of fire throughout the warehouse, setting alight anything that could be, and ratcheting the temperature up even further. The heat was so intense, it was distorting the very air, creating a haze that had nothing to do with the smoke and toxic fumes building up.
The heat would have begun cooking a normal human, but as the figure staggered away from the still burning wreckage, the injuries she'd suffered had nothing to do with the heat. For all intents and purposes, she was immune to it anyway.
Blue eyes under blonde hair narrowed as the massive war machine slammed into her, blindingly fast, its occupant as immune to the heat and fumes as she was, and the brought her arms up to block the attack a fraction of a second too late.
The fist made of an alloy that was supposed to only be theoretical, would not normally have been enough to cause a serious injury, though kinetic energy transfer would have probably knocked her through a wall regardless. The real problem was that in each of the knuckles sat a green gemstone, protected by a hardened container and emitting a radiation that was if not immediately lethal, at the very least seriously debilitating.
The warmachine stomped over to where she lay on the ground, struggling to stand, and through the smoke she could see the two pitiless eyes of the pilot safely ensconced in cockpit, wires trailing into the machine from the control headset.
"Heh," she said, as the Kryptonian pulled herself to her knees, and raised her chin in defiance. "It always comes down this doesn't it? A Super versus a Luthor."
The voice from the warmachine was distorted, but still very identifiable. "Then you know how this ends Supergirl," the voice echoed through the room. If not for superior Kryptonian hearing, she might not have heard it at all over the roar of the flames.
"Oh please. You don't have the will to do this Lena," Supergirl said with a sneer, even as the massive warform loomed above her. "Go ahead, prove me wrong."
"Last chance Supergirl," Lena said, spitting her name like an epithet. "Stay down, and you get to walk away. If not, I'll put you down."
Supergirl laughed, which soon became a cackle. "Oh dear Lena, your threats need work." She forced herself to her feet, one leg at a time. Under the effects of the Kryptonite, she was weakening quickly. "But you know I'm never going to surrender to you."
Lena's lips pulled back in what could very technically be called a smile, but was predatory enough to chill anyone who saw it. She didn't say a word even as the arm and fist of the giant battlesuit slammed down onto the crossed arms of Supergirl. The block held, even if the impact drove her nearly a quarter inch into the concrete and generated enough of a shockwave to momentarily clear the air.
Even as the blow landed, Lena kicked out catching Supergirl in her now unprotected gut, and sending her crashing to the ground once more. She raised an armoured fist and slammed it down across Supergirls jaw, hammering the Girl of Steel into the ground.
There were limits to all things, and the Kryptonian had reached hers, spitting a mouthful of blood and at least one tooth onto the warehouse floor, and glaring up with hatred in her eyes.
"Finish it," she commanded, her voice imperious, despite her battered and broken body barely able to function. For a long moment there was no movement and then Lena shrugged.
"As you wish," and drove her fist, Kryptonite knuckles and all down into the face of Supergirl, smashing her to the ground and leaving her stunned.
She stepped over to her, even as another detonation elsewhere in the warehouse made the whole building shake. Lena looked at her fallen opponent, still trying to move, demonstrating the legendary toughness of the Kryptonian form and despite herself felt a measure of respect for the willpower needed to still be conscious.
"You should have taken the easy way out," she said softly, and swung one last time. As the hammer blow fell, she triggered a control in her gauntlet, and a set of explosive bolts trigged, blasting the fist forward nearly half a foot in the fraction of an instant before impact, in what the instruction manual Lex had left her called a 'Rocket Punch'.
The blow landed driving Supergirls head back into the concrete and shattering and cracking the floor a good three feet in all directions, finally bringing the battle to an end.
In the midst of fire and flame, Lena Luthor stood triumphantly over her enemy.
To be continued...