Chapter Thirty-Four: Vengeance
People rush around the Daily Planet building in an insane and often frantic manner. Megan Jones pulls her attention away from her work and at first, she pays these people no mind. Just a typical news day, Megan thinks there to be no concern. She rubs the side of her temple and takes a deep breath before returning to the paper right in front of her.
Megan's eyes shift back and forth against the paper. The level of noises grows into an impediment towards Megan's attempts to get any kind of work done. She hears the screams and also the voice of Perry White in the background, yelling about something or other. Megan rubs the side of her head in thinly veiled frustration and looks around just in time to see Lois Lane skid over to the side of her desk.
"So, what the hell is going on?" Megan asks.
"Well, it's a jailbreak and it's some of Superwoman's greatest hits," Lois explains in a very breathless voice. "The trio of Parasite, Metallo, and Livewire, and they are a pretty dangerous trio as well."
Megan's mouth opens up and closes up. Lois senses the confusion building in her eyes and figures some kind of explanation is due to tell Megan exactly what was going on.
"First, there's Rudy Jones. He's called Parasite because of his ability to absorb the energy from anyone. If they have powers, then they are a more tantalizing snack. He used to be a janitor who got chemicals dumped on him. Instead of killing him, the chemicals transformed him into this monster of a super villain."
Lois points to a picture of a grotesque people mutant with beady yellow eyes. Megan's stomach turns at one look at this monster of an individual. Not exactly someone Megan wishes to meet in a dark alley. Or hell, she experiences uncertainty about wanting meet someone like this in a lighted alleyway. Terror flows through Megan's eyes when she deepends her breath.
"And then this is Leslie Willis, better known as Livewire."
A picture of an attractive women with blueish skin and wavy hair pops up on the screen. She dresses in a one piece suit flattering her figure greatly. The sneer on her face gives Megan a sudden vibe of "raging bitch."
"Willis was Metropolis's number one provocative radio host. And she did not discriminate against anyone at all. She trashed everyone. And the one she trashed the most of all was Superwoman. She decided to have a benefit concert out in a lightning storm and it doesn't end well. Superwoman tried to save her ass, and then…well you can look at what just happened."
Megan responds with a light nod. The image on the screen pops up for a third individual. A man with sandy blonde hair and also half of his face ripped off. He's dressed in what appears to be a blue car mechanics uniform or something. It looks ripped as well.
"John Corben, Metallo. Formerly a terrorist, a mercenary who would sell his services to the highest bidder, but he was stopped by Superwoman. And Luthor had him undergo an experimental procedure which turns him into a monster known as Metallo. It's pretty awful to see as you can tell."
"Yes," Megan replies. "I can tell."
Lois pops back on where she left off. "He can't feel anything. He can't taste any food, smell anything, or have the pleasure of being with anyone sexually. It's driven him madder than any before."
"Damn," Megan hisses. "So, these three got broken out of prison? Out of a pretty high security prison too? Do you have any idea whose done it?"
"Funnily enough, yes," Lois said. "It's this gentlemen."
A man dressed in a suit appears on screen. A short and stocky individual leers out from behind the screen. His attire consists of a powder blue suit and also a mask which looks like a demented child. Megan keeps her eyes locking firmly on the screen and wonders what kind of monster this man is. She feels another turn growing in her stomach when observing the man on the screen.
"You've just been acquainted with the one and only Winslow Schott," Lois explains. "Better known as Toyman. He used to work as a technician for LuthorCorp, but unfortunately for him, his invents were even too dangerous for Luthor. He's a genius, but also completely mad. His insanity grips him and drives him beyond the bend."
"Wow, sounds like a colorful crew," Megan concludes.
Both reporters lock eyes with each other and a couple of seconds pass. Lois lays a hand on Megan's shoulder and takes a deep breath.
"Yeah, pretty colorful and also out for revenge against only one person."
Something clicks in Megan's head. "But Superwoman's dead….."
The insensitivity of her comments hit Megan approximately two seconds after they come out. Lois looks away outside of the window and takes a very small breath at the reminder of this.
"Sorry."
"Don't bother, you just stated a fact. It's important to get the facts out when you're a journalist."
Lois returns back to the conversation after mentally counting to ten. It rapidly approaches the one year anniversary of the Doomsday incident and Lois's mind drifts to that particular point.
"Superwoman might be dead," Lois comments. "But I think that we can agree that Supergirl is in danger."
Megan answers with a swift smile. They go after Kara, well they might be in for a nasty shock with Alia being there. Megan clears off her desk area more to have something to keep her hands moving. She takes in a deep breath and rolls her head back.
'Girl, you can't stay out of trouble if you try.'
A trip to Paradise refreshes both Alia and Kara something very nice. The two of them enter a café where Kara and Alex Danvers wait for them at the door. Alex catches Alia's eye and smiles at her.
"Fleur's running late," Alex informs Alia. "Last night she thought it was a good use of her time to hit some of the clubs with Nymphadora Tonks."
This piece of news causes a small amount of discourse in Alia's body. She knows about what those two could get up to if she leaves them along to their own devices.
"Why do I have a feeling that I should be checking the police reports to make sure neither of them got into too much trouble?"
Alex and both Karas laugh even though Alia only half-kidded. She thinks it would be best to see whether or not this plays out. Alia sits down on the edge of the table.
"Your trip looks like it did you some good," Alex says. "I don't think I've had a chance to have a vacation since I was at the DEO."
Alex decides it would be best to do Alex one better. "Well, I don't think that I've had a vacation in my entire life. My relatives…they wouldn't take me along on my vacation."
The time she went camping with Susan and Daphne did not really count because they were trying to get the drop on some of Voldemort's followers. Alia painfully recalls that encounter having some very mixed results in the end.
'Could end up being better, but I suppose things could be much worse in the end.'
"Hello everyone!"
Kara Kent-Potter's entire body runs cold at the sound of that voice. Alex tenses up as well, even though Kara and Alia are less likely to recognize the voice.
"Hello, is this thing on? Can anyone hear me?"
"Willis," Kara Kent-Potter groans at the top of her lungs.
Livewire, one of the more persisted enemies of her cousin, pops up on the screen. It raises some unsettling questions in the mind of the Girl of Steel as to how. Latest Kara recalls, Livewire spent some time in the high security ring at Bell Reve. A situation which unfortunately did not stick as much as Kara would have liked it to be.
"For all of those who are new to this game, my name is Leslie Willis. If I haven't become your favorite radio host, I most certainly will be soon. But, unfortunately, I don't come here to bring you the top forty overhyped hits. Rather, I come here to bring you a public service. And namely warn you that even after the fall of the last daughter of Krypton, there is still a Kryptonian in Metropolis."
'Of course.'
"Supergirl, I want you to pull yourself away from rescuing a kitten in a tree. I'm a big fan of pussy as much as the next red-blooded bisexual, but listen to me and listen to me good, little girl. Your time is coming to an end. You're not going to be around much longer. We're going to finish the job your little planet going boom started, and you're going to meet your cousin once again all too soon."
Kara clutches her hand around the edge of the table. The one year anniversary of the Doomsday incident rapidly approaches and Kara knows Livewire wants to make an example out of it.
"I want to meet you one and one Supergirl. Meet me at the place where I got my makeover, if you dare."
A ringing of the cellphone from Kara's directs her full attention away from Livewire's ranting and raving on the screen. The Girl of Steel sees Lois is calling.
"It's not just Livewire," Lois informs Kara. "It's Parasite, Metallo, and Toyman as well. Toyman busted them all out."
'Obvious trap is obvious,' Alia thinks to her wife while holding her hand underneath the table.
'I know, but we're not going to let innocent people get caught in the crossfire, are we?'
'Not if I can help it.'
The two rise up to their feet. Both Danvers sisters nod in understanding and they realize what has to happen. Kara and Alia leave to suit up to leave both of the sisters there.
Kara Danvers turns her direction to Alex. "Looks like they need some help."
A spark of adventure and excitement comes through Kara's eyes. Alex notices it right away. She really does hope Kara would never reach this point.
"We should get you home," Alex said.
"Okay," Kara said. "I guess you have some work to do and you really should get back to the DEO."
For a brief second, Alex raises an eyebrow. Kara adopts one of the more innocent looks ever. Alex tries to figure out what kind of deception appears on Kara's face. She decides it would be a good idea to just bring Kara straight back to the apartment the two sisters shared.
'I have a feeling we're going to be in for something bad now.'
Lightning flashing through the sky often proves to be a pretty deadly omen. Supergirl and the Dragon flies into the sky towards the sound of Livewire's voice.
"I'm pretty sure Supergirl isn't woman enough to show up and actually face me!"
'Oh, you're going to eating those words soon enough.'
Alia frowns as a prickling sense of something bad flows over her body. Something bad comes close to happen the closer alia whips through the air. She has no idea what is going to happen. She stops Kara from flying on right into the belly of the beast. The unspoken agreement of to be careful comes between the two girls.
They drop onto the ground where Leslie stands at the edge of a pavilion surrounded by radio equipment. Alia takes a couple of steps forward. The attention of the crazed meta-human flashes in their general direction, with Leslie breaking out in one of the wider ear to ear grins that someone could imagine.
"Supergirl!" Livewire cheers at the top of her lungs. "And you've brought a friend. Misery is so much better when it's shared! Because I can have you watch her free."
A blast of lightning comes out and directs at Alia. Alia performs a shield and the lightning absorbs and fires back at Livewire to knock her off of the stage and cause her to topple down. Livewire lands on her ass on the ground and howls in agony.
"You bitch!" Livewire yells.
"You're going to be the one in misery," Kara replies in a very casual tone of voice.
Livewire rises up with a brilliant smile over her face. The crackles of energy rise in the air around her. Livewire drew in a breath as the form of Metallo steps out of the bushes. Parasite joins the situation to make it a three against two battle.
"You were saying, Luv?" Metallo asks.
A large rumbling tank rolls down the way. The holographic image of Toyman flickers over the top of the tank. That grinning face, which resembles the stuff of nightmares, flashes up into the air.
"It's playtime!"
Several rockets bombard Supergirl and the Dragon and force them to evade the attacks. The Dragon staggers back and aims a flaming dagger at the underside of the tank.
Livewire returns to the battle and shoots lightning from her hands at Supergirl. Supergirl rolls out of the way in mid air to avoid the lightning. A gust of wind from her super breath comes from her. Supergirl drops down to the ground. She evades Metallo's concusive Kryptonite vision.
"It's only a matter of time before my new upgrades weaken you."
Kara hurls a trash can at Metallo. Metallo catches the object in his hand and crushes it into little more than a paperweight. The large smile on his face only deepens the closer Metallo walks to his prey. The Girl of Steel moves backwards.
An explosive landmine rolling from Toyman's tank forces Alia to teleport out of the way. Alia jumps behind the tank and fires at the tank. She hammers away at the tank. Each attack bombard off of the tank. Through the process of trial and error, Alia eventually finds the weak spot in the tank. She draws in a deep breath and rears her hands back before firing at the tank for everything she can do.
'Not quite,' Alia thinks when dropping down onto the ground.
Parasite grabs onto Supergirl. She struggles. The energy sucks from her body and leaves Supergirl feeling doubled over.
"I'm going to take all of your power!" Parasite yells. "It's going to be mine! DO YOU HEAR ME? IT'S GOING TO BE ALL MINE!"
The figure grabs Supergirl around the neck and hurls her out. He wants another treat, another snack. Parasite walks over only in time to receive a bombardment of energy from Metallo. The Kryptonite drops Parasite down to one knee.
"Get my strengths," Kara spits weakly. "Get my weaknesses."
Alia flips over and crashes down onto both Metallo and Parasite to knock them down onto the ground. She rushes over and picks up Kara. Kara's limp body crumples out from underneath her.
"Hold on."
An attempt to teleport them out of there only hits a very solid wall. Both Kara and Alia fall back to the ground, very much jarred from the attempt to get out of there.
"Attack them!"
A giant purple dinosaur with laser eyes jumps out into the battle. The lasers shoot through the air with lethal attempt. Alia picks up one of the grenades falling to the ground from the tank and detonates it before hurling it into the mouth of the large purple dinosaur. The dinosaur explodes and the members of the Supergirl revenge squad.
"Why not teleport?" Kara states weakly.
"Someone has blocked me," Alia said.
Kara gurgles and almost collapses to the ground. Alia holds her wife up and drags her dead weight against the ground. It is hard to hold Kara because she can't hold herself up other than what pressure Alia has. Alia slams her hand onto the ground and causes the rocks to explode behind them.
"Hold on."
"I don't think so."
An attractive female steps into the scene wearing a skin tight black body suit, with black pieces of fabric wraps around her face. She brandishes a whip which shoots with electricity and goes through the air.
'Lashina, Female Furies,' Kara manages mentally. 'She's one of the strongest women out there.'
"Finally," Lashina says while licking her lips. "Sweet, sweet, revenge."
A lack of clarity came to Kara about whether or not Lashina could be considered a part of this Supergirl revenge squad or not. All she could deduce was one huge problem which did not have any solution any time soon. Lashina whips at Supergirl.
Alia catches the whips which burn in her hand. Lashina pulls the whips back and smacks it at both of them. Alia senses some kind of power within the whips. The strength of the whips crack against them and nails Alia in the face opening up a gash in her cheek.
A car flies in through the rubble at a mad speed. The criminals scatter for a minute which causes Alia to repel them back and cause them to crash down onto the ground.
The door flings open to reveal a crazed and manic looking Lois Lane.
"Get in, quickly!"
Kara and Alia scramble into Lois's car and she slams on the gas. She destroys the gate leading into the park. Alia, not having a chance to get buckled in, almost slams into the back seat of the car. Lois burns rubber and Alia hangs on, one hand to Kara and the other hand to the backseat of the car.
'I've survived Basilisks, Dragons, Dementors, and Voldemort. Imagine if I got killed by Lois Lane's driving.'
Alia returns back a bit shaken, but she survived the experience of driving with Lois Lane. She ushers Kara over to the couch to sit her down. Kara receives a very mad case of the shakes which grow even worse the longer she sits on the couch.
"It takes anywhere from twenty-four to thirty-six hours to recover from a Parasite attack," Kara says with trembling hands.
Lois moves over to fix a cup of coffee. Alia snuggles herself into Kara's side and tries to share her warmth with the shivering girl. Parasite's powers were pretty nasty and Alia did not have a chance to study them up close.
"What's the deal with Lashina anyway?" Alia asks.
"Wait, she's a part of this as well?" Lois asks.
Anyone from Apokolips being part of anything never ends up well, as Lois recalls way too many times. Even some of Darkseid's lowest minions were among the most dangerous in the world.
"Yeah," Kara replies in a weakening voice. "She was exiled from Apokolips the last time I checked. She failed Granny one too many times, and…yeah that Gargoyle's not exactly the most forgiving person."
Lois finishes the cup of coffee and makes sure it's nice and hot. She adds a little lemon to enhance the flavor and hopefully allow Supergirl back on her feet sooner that.
"And now she has a mad-on for Supergirl," Lois concludes.
"Well, more so than usual," Kara replies with a weak shrug. "I don't think she's quite over the entire me kicking her ass every time we met think."
Kara takes the hot coffee and drinks it. She feels a little bit better. The fact five deadly enemies of Superwoman, and by extension Supergirl, linger out in the city does not make Kara feel much better. It makes her feel kind of bad to be perfectly honest. She takes out her phone and tries to call Star Labs. A busy signal comes back.
"Okay, maybe I should try Babs," Kara murmurs.
She switches to call to Gotham City. No signal once again and now Kara knows something is up. She turns slightly to face Alia.
"See if you can open a portal to Paradise," Kara requests of Alia.
Alia walks across the room and extends the hand. She feels Paradise on the other end of her arm. She almost comes close to reaching out and grabbing it. The crackle of energy comes through the area and Alia shakes her head for another few seconds.
"There's nothing," Alia comments.
"Shit," Kara half grumbles.
Alia responds with a nod. Yeah, she figures about as much as well. Karen and Helena also were out of town on business this weekend.
"They've done their homework," Alia comments.
"Toyman doesn't seem like that much of a planner," Lois says with a slight roll of her eyes. "He's a genius, but he's very scattered brain."
"Yeah, well someone arranged for the early release of Lashina and Toyman," Kara replies. "They're both supposed to be in an ARGUS prison."
Lois walks over to her laptop where an e-mail pops up. And being that it was from a very reputable source, Lois found herself kind of inclined to take it as seriously as possible.
"There's been another prison break. No one of a meta-scale, but still dangerous…."
"GET DOWN!"
Alia drags both Lois and Kara to the ground. Several rockets shoot through the window and crash down to the ground. The explosions ring out through the apartment.
Kara Danvers walks over, ready to go out and do something productive. She puts the finishing touches on her costume, a combination of bright colors, red outlay with a yellow symbol of the Flamebird entity of Krypton on it. Kara smiles while looking at the costume.
'Cass was a big help in training me to be ready. And I'm ready.'
Double checking to make sure everything had been prepared leaves Kara in a pretty good sense.
"Supergirl is a coward who runs. She's not the savior the world wants."
Kara Danvers frowns at the shade Livewire threw at her alternate future self. Kara's hands reach in and pull out the costume. She changes into it and feels good about how the fabric stretches against her skin.
'Those sewing classes came in handy after all,' Kara thinks in bemusement. 'And people saw them as a screw-off elective.'
She slips a red domino mask over her face and ties her hair back into a ponytail. With all of the bad guys out there, Supergirl and the Dragon need all of the help they can get.
'This looks like a job for Flamebird.'
To Be Continued on December 6th, 2017.