The lift felt painfully slow, if Prometheus failed to hold off Sam then there was nothing to stop her flying away and continuing her rampage.
"She told me she was having trouble balancing work and her daughter, but I never suspected this" Lena said.
"You had no way of knowing," Kara said. Lena said nothing more, it was probably due to a combination of shock and yet another spat between them. The lift's calm music seemed to elevate the tension between them more than any silence could. They hit the ground floor, some D.E.O agents were already on the scene. Alex must have sent them straight over from one of the burnt-out sites.
"Lena, get somewhere safe, I need to go and report what just happened to anyone who will listen," she said.
"I'm staying put, I know the building and staff so can help with the evacuation," Lena said. It was typical of her. Kara was angry at herself for doubting, even for that brief moment, that Lena only cared about her business.
"It's too dangerous, who knows how much damage Sam could do?" Kara said.
"I'm willing to take that risk," Lena said.
"I won't just leave you here," Kara said.
"You've got to get this out to the public as soon as possible. This whole area is unsafe and everyone needs to know," Lena said. Kara was conflicted, Lena was not listening to her and despite their recent issues she could not bear the thought of her getting hurt. Though the longer she spent trying to convince her, the longer Sam had to take Prometheus down. Not to mention Lena being even stronger in her convictions after the comments Prometheus had made in his video and what Kara had accused her of in the office only minutes ago.
"Stay safe..." Kara said. "And if you get hurt I'll..."
"I won't," Lena said. "And Kara."
Yes?" Kara said.
"Thank you," Lena said. Kara nodded and then ran out of sight. She let her hair down, made the change to Supergirl and wasted no time in flying to L-corp's top floor.
The office was in ruins. His armour was cracked and singed all over, but to her surprise Prometheus was still duking it out with Sam.. He seemed to be weaving around her, constantly moving but staying close enough to strike if Sam tried anything. He did however also seem to be slowing down and would not be able to take much more of what Sam could throw at him.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size," Kara said, hovering slowly toward them.
Sam stopped and turned to her, Prometheus stopped moving but kept his guard up.
"I'd say he's quite a lot taller than me actually," Sam said. If anything, Sam had not attacked her immediately.
"You have to stop," Kara said.
"Why? I thought you'd be here to help," Sam said.
"Help? You've murdered dozens of people," Kara said.
"Dozens of criminals, criminals like our friend here," Sam said. Prometheus said nothing, his visible eye just flitted between the two of them. He seemed ready to fight them both if he had to.
"I'm not going to let you kill anyone else," Kara said.
"Would you be saying that if he was a Daxamite," Sam said, chuckling.
"You don't know me at all," Kara said, sneering and clenching her fists tightly. Sam's faced dropped slightly at Kara's more aggressive stance.
"And here I thought we were going to get along. Oh well, I'll just destroy you with the rest of them," Sam said, advancing toward her.
"You don't want to do this, Sam," Kara said. Sam's eyes narrowed.
"Sam is weak. It was her fear that brought me out, her anxieties over the new city, the new job and of course fear for her own life. Now she's gone and I will not rest until this world's worst are brought to justice, until they all fall before my feet in submission." She pounded the symbol on her chest "I am Reign and I shall let none stand in my way." The moment she finished her sentence she flew at Kara. Both fists drove into her stomach and launched her back. Kara re-balanced, she had never been hit that hard before and was left reeling. Not even Kal's punches had had that much power behind them. Reign quickly came at her again but Kara managed to dodge to the side. Even without being hit, Reign's passing generating enough force to throw Kara slightly.
She saw her come round for another pass. This time she was ready for it. At the last possible moment, Kara dropped down and landed a vicious uppercut to Reign's chin, sending her flipping away. It was a good strike, but Kara could still feel the pain in her stomach and stretching out to punch had made it worse. Reign had steadied herself but still seemed dazed, Kara knew it was her turn to go on the offensive. Doing her best to ignore the pain she flew over and started throwing more punches, working the body and throwing in quick jabs to the face. Reign did a poor job of blocking at first, but after the initial flurries she found her composure. Soon Kara's swings were making little impact and she could see the growing confidence in her opponent's face.
Reign caught one of Kara's fists and pushed her away, following up with a blast of heat vision. Kara narrowly avoided it but Reign kept the beam going. The sweeping beam following her, grazing her foot as she flew away from it. The pain jolted her but she kept going, managing to pull away from it slightly but still feeling the heat only inches away. The physical and mental strain from the fires and from Oa were taking their toll and she knew she could not keep this pace up for much longer. To win this, she would have to strike hard and fast.
She flew around and above her target. She blasted her own heat vision to meet with Reign's. The intensity of the beams was reaching breaking point as Kara continued to advance downward towards her. Fighting through the clashing beam's heat and power, the world around her started to dull as she locked in fully on her target. When she finally got within range to punch Reign, she landed a heavy hit to the temple. It threw Reign's head to the side and Kara's beam grazed her ear as she was sent plummeting to the ground. Falling with significant speed, she crashed near the L-Corp building.
Kara flew down beside the small crater Reign had caused with her crash-landing. The road had been totally wrecked by Reign's fall. Kara saw Alex and Lena amongst a small crowd of people that had gathered to investigate the commotion caused by Reign's crash. Kara approached the crater, Reign was down with her eyes closed. She turned to her sister who gave her a slight grin, she grinned back before doubling over. She was out of breath and still in pain from Reign's early surprise attack.
Gasping onlookers told her something was up. This moment of victory was short-lived as Reign emerged from the crater, shaking the rubble off herself and hovering above the ground once more. Reign rubbed her singed ear.
"You shouldn't have done that," Reign said. Kara stood up, she was in no condition to keep fighting. She was exhausted, her stomach and burnt foot felt like they were dragging her down. Nevertheless she tried to prepare to face her opponent once more. In the blink of an eye, Reign rushed over to her. Kara failed to react in time as another punch planted itself in her stomach. As she lurched forward Reign grabbed her and punched her head. Kara just about managed to push Reign off, it was slow and clumsy but it gave her some distance.
She was barely able to stand-up straight after Reign's latest attacks. Her stance wavered as dizziness set in. She started to fall but caught herself by putting a hand on the ground. As she slowly got up again she heard a laugh. Through blurred vision she spotted another beam coming her way. It hit her square in the shoulder causing her to jerk backwards. She held for as long as she could to try protect the people behind her, but soon it became too much and lurched her shoulder back. It spun her round and she fell on her front clutching her wound. There was a scream from the crowd, a familiar scream.
Kara looked up to see shock and terror on her sister's face. Alex fell to her knees and was looking down at the ground, where her arms had been parted from her body.
Kara forced herself up, growling, grinding her teeth and now wanting nothing more than to end Reign. Nothing else mattered to her now, she did not even wait for the dizziness to pass or any strength to return. She recklessly flew at Reign, wanting nothing more than to attack her with everything she had. Reign caught her by the neck, stopping her dead. Despite Kara's efforts to free herself, Reign was too strong. Kara struggled to breathe as Reign squeezed on her throat. She tried to swing at her but there was too little strength left in her arms. Reign smiled, then slammed her into the ground hard enough to create more cracks in the concrete.
"This is only the beginning," Reign said, as she picked Kara up by the cape, presenting her as a trophy to the petrified onlookers. Kara dangled down, barely conscious enough to register her surroundings. Reign then started swinging her around, as speed picked up Kara began to feel increasingly sick. The world became a blur when Reign let go. She sailed through the air with no control whatsoever. She lost count of the number of walls she crashed through and eventually came to a halt, landing head-first on the top of one of National City's many skyscrapers.
She shifted round to lie on her back, she was at the end of a swathe of damage done to the roof she had been thrown on. Her breath was laboured, she could taste blood in her mouth, there was nothing but ringing in her ears, her vision was dim and still blurred. She closed her eyes for an attempt at respite, but all she could picture was Alex's face at the sight of her lost arms. She tried to move, to will herself back to the fray. She had to make Reign pay for what she had done, but she simply could not. Her body had been through too much, she was hanging on to the edge of consciousness.
That's when through the ringing, she heard it.
"Kara Zor-El of Sector 2814."
She opened her eyes and a glow dominated her vision, it was a beacon amongst the blurred background. She saw a similar symbol to Hal's, it was a power ring. It almost seemed to be scratching at her mind, willing her to take it. It would be what she needed to turn the tide. To give Reign what she deserved and to avenge Alex. Something to undo all the injustices not only caused by Reign, but on the city as a whole. Using the last of her strength she reached out, feeling almost instinctively what she could do with it. The ring moved itself toward her outstretched finger, slowly placing itself on it.
She started to feel rejuvenated instantly. She heard the voice again.
"You have great rage in your heart." The red glow of this ring engulfed her, as it did she could feel its power coursing through her veins.
Everything had been leading up to this, Rhea's invasion, Mon-El's sacrifice, Cat's disgrace, Lena's distance, Kal's betrayal, the Guardians' trial and now Alex who had been her one guide through all of this. The image of her injured sister flashed to her again. The dismembered arms of the sister she failed to protect, at the hands of an enemy more powerful than any she had ever faced. She had been pushing it down below the surface all this time and ignoring it, but now she felt she would not only embrace her rage, but that it would be her salvation.
She shot up in the sky, all her senses returned to her. Her first thought was to go back to Reign and bring her to her knees. However she felt the ring's power was seeping into every fibre of her being. She looked at the Red power-ring as it began to glow even more brightly. The injuries from the fight had all but vanished but a new feeling of pain overwhelmed her, she felt an intense burning much worse than anything Prometheus' fire or Reign's beams had caused. It was almost like her blood itself was boiling. She started screaming out, but soon the screaming turned to roaring as her mind was filled with thoughts of destruction and death. The beating of her heart became extremely prominent in her ears and she felt an overwhelming urge to crush, burn and kill everything around her. Her conscious mind got in one final thought before these uncontrollable urges took her over completely.
"Get out of here. Now."