Heya everybody! This is it! The big build up of The Devil's Choice! It's only one hour folks before the summary! (Ay caramba, that was a lot of exclamation marks.)
Enough of me blabbing… Here we go! :)
SEVEN
1 HOUR BEFORE
DEO Secured Medical Bay
The shadow flitted between the computers.
Sam glanced at the clock. It was coming up to four o'clock in the morning. Nearly dawn. Sam could see the vivid colours of morning begin to burst in the sky, the sun carefully poking its head from the horizon.
Since she was a small child she had loved to watch the sunrise. The few times when she and her mother had called a truce, they would always get up early so they could watch the sun rise. Sam recalled one time when her mother had taken her for a sunrise walk on the beach. It had been truly stunning. That was for her tenth birthday, before their relationship had collapsed into a heap of nothing.
Later on, Sam's mother had shown her beauty of the sunset. They sat on the roof of their seaside home, watching the fading sunlight glisten on the ebbing waves. Hugging each other, they had fallen asleep on the rooftop. That was probably one of Sam's favourite memories from her childhood.
The rest... well, they weren't as pleasant.
Sam was disappointed that she hadn't been able to show Ruby the wonders of the sunrise. You still have time, she thought. But a part of her doubted that.
Sam sighed. She began to hum Let her go by Passenger. It was Ruby's favourite song. She had always sung it as a child. Now, Sam used that song as a way of remembering Ruby.
"Only know you've been high when you're feeling low..."
A thud sounded.
Alert, Sam whipped her head around to the source of the noise. Her eyes widened when she saw a cloaked figure approach her – the figure's chest bearing the symbol of Reign.
"Samantha Arias." The figure said in a disguised voice. Sam backed away further into her pillow. Her hands were tightening around her 'call' button.
"We don't really need you. But the Earth does, Samantha Arias. The Earth needs you to Reign."
DEO Lab
The wave refracted. The wave refracted!
"Yes! It refracted! There is liquid inside!" Lena yelled, practically jumping for joy.
Winn scrambled forward, examining the chart and diagram on the computer. His eyes darted to all of the flickering numbers and he gasped. "It worked!"
"As if there was any doubt." Lena remarked sassily, raising an eyebrow. Winn forced a laugh.
"Now we need to find a boiling point."
Winn raised a finger, biting the bottom of his lip. "Lena... what if the boiling point is really, really high? It would take eons to figure out its boiling temperature. And, if you didn't notice, we don't have that long."
"Damn. You're right." Lena cursed herself. She had gotten so far only to be stopped by the final obstacle. It was aggravating.
Noticing that he had effectively crushed Lena's dreams, he tried to offer another solution and be more optimistic. "Hey," he spoke softly. "There's no harm in trying." Pushing his goggles further up the bridge of his nose, he placed the rock into the Legendary-Fire-Oven (as he liked to call it, though its technical name was Industrial Heater). Turning the dial up, he looked at the black screen. The number 100 flickered onto the screen.
"Okay, 100 degrees Celsius. That's a good place to start!"
The rock had been placed in a vat of water that was rapidly turning into steam. It billowed out of the top of the Legendary-Fire-Oven, disappearing into the vents. Winn turned the dial again. "Now we are at 150. No change."
Pessimistic, Lena walked over to the other end of the room, clearing up. She was dubious that Winn's leap-before-you-look method would actually work.
"200."
Winn was slowly losing hope.
"300."
The numbers continued. Winn turned the dial slowly once more. He exhaled loudly. "850." The digits increased, and Winn set his eyes on the rock. Then, with sudden ecstasy he cried out: "It's melting!"
Lena scrambled toward him. His eyes were not deceiving him. The rock was melting. The blue and black exterior seemed to droop into the water. After a few moments, it had all become liquid. It was a gloopy, thick mess that infested the waters, but it had worked!
The Legendary-Fire-Oven cooled down. The door opened with an unmistakable hiss. Winn grabbed a spatula and scraped out the liquid, before cautiously pouring it a syringe. Lena snatched it and held it up, admiring it.
"We've got it." And together they raced to J'onn and Alex.
DEO Conference Room
The two scientists burst through the doors violently. Winn nearly tripped over his own feet. Gasping and spluttering, Lena held up the syringe. "The cure."
Alex could not help but let out a huge smile. Hope filled her veins, as she looked at J'onn. "Well done, Ms Luthor." He said emotionlessly – the Martian was evidently hiding his joy.
Alex unbuckled the gun that was strapped to her waist. It was empty. She gestured for Lena to give her the syringe and Lena did. Alex looked to her left and saw a collection of empty bullets, and squeezed the cure into one bullet casing. It was filled to the brim with the blue-black liquid. Securing the lid, she put it in the barrel of the gun. It let out a satisfying click.
"Ready."
"Wait... wait a minute." Lena said quickly. "You are going to shoot her?"
Before Alex could answer, J'onn intervened – he could sense the tension in the air between the two women. "It will not be lethal. But it will work whether Sam is Sam or she is Reign. Also, Ms Luthor, how do you expect us to administer the cure if Sam is a Worldkiller? The only way is by force."
Lena shut up. Winn, however, was grinning. "But Sam will be cured. She'll be Sam again!" he spoke, trying to lift Lena's spirits.
Suddenly the alarms blared.
Their eyes widened. A voice spoke frantically over the speakers: "Reign is loose in the facility. I repeat... Reign is free!"
DEO Weapons Room
Her eyes glowed red. The guard outside this room was scared. She could sense the fear in the air. Reign laughed. She despised humans for the sole reason that they were fearful. Superior beings – like her – were not brought down by fear. It was a weakness.
As she blasted her heat vision at the guard, she grinned. The guard flew against the wall, his body slowly coming apart.
She held her hands out and pushed them against the huge metal door. It instantly crumpled. Even the door was weak. Everything, everyone on Earth was weak. It was actually ridiculous.
Reign smiled at the array of green-gleaming weapons: but some were shimmering blue, some pink and some glowing black. As she was impervious to kryptonite, the Worldkiller decided that the kryptonite-weapons would suit her most.
Her fingers wandered over the weapons, before picking up a green knife. It was truly stunning. Next to it were a set of green throwing stars and a gun filled with kryptonite bullets. Reign found it quite amusing that the DEO – Supergirl's ally – had such a huge variety of toys for her to use: it was almost as if the DEO did not trust Supergirl.
Reign was about to leave when her eyes caught something hiding in the shadows. It was a luxurious black supersuit, the emblem of the Worldkillers etched on the front. With long sleeves and a mask, Reign laughed. The hobbit hadn't been able to resist making a few alterations to her suit. She sped forward, and with in a second the suit had been put on.
Discarding her hospital garments, she felt her new suit. It was slick. It fitted her perfectly. It was a piece of art.
Reign strapped the weapons to her side, and left the room. Before vanishing into the corridor, she stopped.
"Wait, I can't leave just yet. Not without a little compensation prize."
DEO Medical Bay
"Kara!"
Kara looked up. Her sister came striding into her room, a stern expression on her face.
"Why so serious?" she asked. Alex frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Alex, you are wearing that face. It's the face you sport when everything is going wrong. The last time you looked that way was when Harry McClure had cheated on you with-"
Alex glared. Kara immediately shut up.
"But why are the alarms blaring? What's going on?" she asked, concern filling her voice.
Alex looked at Kara. "We have a slight problem. Reign is free."
"Sam, or Reign?"
"Reign."
"Oh schist."
"Are you okay to help?"
Kara gave Alex a huge smile. "Of course, Alex." Her blue eyes glinted in the light. Alex returned the smile with a sigh of relief.
"J'onn is trying to hold her off right now-"
Suddenly they heard a huge smash. Alex stumbled backward to see J'onn lying helplessly in a pile of glass and rubble. "Correction: was trying to hold her off. Let's go, Kara."
Kara dashed out of bed, but her cheery expression became grim when she saw who was behind Alex. "Reign." She growled in a very menacing way.
"Alex, get back."
Agent Danvers shook her head, before whacking Reign unexpectedly in the face with a spin-kick. "Hell no."
Alex slapped her sides and two guns flew to her hands. Kara simply raised her eyebrows. They shone a bright yellow, and Alex fired twelve rounds at Reign. Each time she was hit, an arc of electricity would zap Reign backward. After the twelve rounds, Reign was on her knees, angrier than ever.
Alex smirked at Kara, but yelped when Reign barreled into her. They collided heavily with the wall behind her. Sparks flew and Kara yelled Alex's name.
Whisking her way to Reign, she pulled the Kryptonian off her groaning sister. Grabbing Reign by the collar she threw her into the wall. Reign crumpled to the ground before shakily regaining her footing.
As Reign stood tall, Kara shot her heat-vision at her. Reign countered it with a burst of freeze-breath. They circled each other. Kara slowly moved her spare hands to her cape.
Hopefully now those cape-tricks would come in handy.
Kara grasped her cape and pulled it over Reign. The latter was extremely bewildered and started to flail about. Taking this opportunity, Kara swiveled on one foot before sweeping the other to Reign's feet. The Worldkiller stumbled and fell. Taking her cape off she twisted it around Reign's arm and tugged at it. The Worldkiller was promptly thrown viciously into the glass. Reign crashed into the railing and tumbled over the side, landing in a heap on the ground floor.
"Ay caramba!" Winn cried out as Reign landed inches from his feet.
Kara glided through the air as she landed next to Reign. The Worldkiller was snarling and spoke in a distorted voice: "Weakness. I am impervious to your pathetic weakness, Kryptonian. I am more powerful. You can never achieve such power."
Supergirl gasped. Suddenly every breath she inhaled felt like she was breathing shards of glass. She tried to exhale and inhale, but her lungs were filling up with water. Clutching her chest, she frowned before looking at Reign with perplex. Reign glared in contempt.
"What?" Kara managed between fits of coughing.
Her lungs seemed to be shrinking. The world began to spin. Black spots plagued her vision. But a part of her knew exactly what foe she was currently facing: the enemy that had followed her around since Krypton.
"Kryptonite."
Only now did Kara's eyes drift to Reign's waist that had obtained a ghastly green hue. There were many weapons – weapons that Kara had never heard of – and at that moment, fear had conquered the hero.
"Sam." A confident voice said.
Kara turned. Lena stood behind Reign, a gun in her hand. Her hands were trembling.
"Lena... don't." Kara whispered.
Lena ignored Supergirl and concentrated on Reign. The Worldkiller was laughing. "You actually think that you can shoot me? Those bullets will bounce off my suit. Then I will pick each one up, hold you by your neck – watch as you cry out and squirm like you pathetic humans do – and drive the bullets through your skull."
The CEO wanted to cry. She wanted to throw up and hide. Each word that Reign said sent multiple shivers down her spine. The way Reign described her demise was truly terrifying. What Lena found most frightful was that Reign was Sam. It seemed as if her best friend was saying these horrid words to her. That broke Lena's heart.
But she stayed strong and pointed the gun at Reign.
"Weak. Feeble. Woeful. Three words, Lena! That is all it takes to describe you and the rest of this miserable race." Lena looked away. Reign had Sam's face. Sam was saying these things to her and Lena couldn't bear it.
"Oh, I see. How about now, Luthor?" Reign took off her mask, dropping it on the floor. "Will this tear you apart?"
Lena didn't look. She didn't want to look. Lena feared that if she did, she would crumble into a million fragments that could never be put back together.
Reign rushed forward, grabbing Lena's chin and forced her to look the Worldkiller in the eye.
Those once caring, nonchalant brown eyes were filled with animosity and rage: hate and ire that Sam never had. A tear fell down her face.
"Oh, so sad..." Reign mocked. She released Lena and turned her attention back to Kara. "Is this more tear-jerking?" she held a knife to Kara's throat. "Will it be more poignant if I kill your beloved," (at this point she was addressing the crowd of DEO agents that had surrounded Reign, their guns ready), "amazing, inspiring hero in front of you all?"
"No." The Worldkiller paused. "You won't ever know. You won't see her die. I'll dump their bodies into the middle of National City for all to see. Yes, that's much better."
Before anyone could react, Reign had grabbed Kara and Lena and shot through the sky. Reign had left, but dawn had arrived.
TBC...
