Chapter 52
Kara let out a huff as she stared down at the sidewalk passing beneath her feet. It wasn't the hours of homework in her backpack that upset her, she could take care of all that five times as fast as her classmates. Instead what upset her was the knowledge that her nearly perfect world was starting to loose some of its shimmer. At the start it was nearly everything she could have asked for. She had friends, family, and a clean slate. Now, however, she was loosing at least one friend and was distanced from the other because of the heaping responsibilities she had.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket. A land line number.
"Hello?"
"Hello, is this Kara?" said the voice of Peter's Aunt.
"Yeah, it's me Aunt May. What do you need?"
"Oh, well I don't want to pry or cause an alarm, but...I was wondering if you knew what was wrong with Peter." she said.
"What do you mean?" Kara asked.
"It's just that I hardly ever see him anymore." Aunt May said, "What with his advanced classes, and internship at Wayne Enterprises." Peter's alibi for the time he spent with Batman. "I'm afraid he's running himself into the ground. Does he at least set aside enough time to be with his friends?"
"No, not really..." Kara said.
"Oh..." Aunt May was quiet on the other end of the phone for a moment, "Well don't give up on him, dear. I know that boy cares about the people in his life, he just...gets distracted is all. I'll give him a stern talking to and sort him out."
"I..." Kara didn't have the heart to tell her she was fairly certain Peter had broken up with her and Korra. "Alright, we'll try to be there if he needs us."
"That's all I ask." Aunt May said, "Take care, dear."
Kara smiled, Aunt May may have been the only person left who could...She froze at the door to her home. Inside, Kara noticed two erratic heartbeats she hadn't heard while she was on the phone. And one more heartbeat, disturbingly calm.
She flung open the door, ready to blast apart anyone that shouldn't be there.
"Calm down girl." said a man in what appeared to be an orange and black hockey mask. "Mission says I'm to bring you both in alive."
Sitting tied up in front of the Mercenary Deathstroke, was Kara's mother, Alura. Her head was covered in a bag, while the other erratic heartbeat came from the strangely still puppy, King. He lay on the floor, but looked up at the mercenary, face contorted in a silent snarl, and some sort of dart in his shoulder.
In Deathstroke's right hand he held a handgun pointed at the base of Alura's skull, and in the other hand was a small chip of kryptonite, roughly the size of a quarter. Kara barely felt the radiation from here, but she could only assume it had blocked out her mother's powers to the extent that a direct gunshot to the head would be fatal.
"Now here's what's going to happen." Deathstroke said, "You're gonna walk four steps forward, then stand still for ten seconds." Closer to the krytponite and standing in range long enough to dampen Kara's powers significantly. "Then all three of us are gonna walk out of here and get in a gray SUV. The only other option is I kill your mother and then you."
"If you hurt her, I'll-"
"Let's not get too far into the alternative possibilities." Deathstroke said. "Four steps forward. Stand still."
Kara gritted her teeth and glared at the mercenary, every muscle in her body tensed up. Slade was lethal and ruthless. She might have enough power to get over to him and break both of his arms in half a second, but with the super soldier serum and years of special forces training, there was no way Kara could get there before he pulled the trigger. She could yell for her cousin. Slade wouldn't kill his only hostage, but he might cut a major artery to show how serious he was and give them a limited time to react to his demands. Any way she sliced it, Kara didn't think she could win without her mother getting seriously hurt.
"Okay..." she took a few steps forward.
Her body feeling heavy, the effects of the krytonite had long since moved past draining her powers and started making her sick. Her legs buckled under her and she stumbled. Someone pushed her and she grunted while stumbling forwards.
"Leave her alone!" Alura shouted.
"Mom, I'm fine." Kara said. She couldn't see her mother, or anything for that matter. The same kind of bag on her mother's head now covered her own.
The person behind grabbed the neck of her shirt and pulled her to a stop. There were a few beeps, then the sound of a heavy metal door moving before she was shoved forward again.
"Just throw them in the last cell." said a man's voice. "We'll take the kryptonite."
"Bad call." Deathstroke asked, "If I were you, I'd have this as close to them as possible."
"Negative." said another voice, "We're not entirely clear on the long term effects of prolonged exposure to the radiation. It could contaminate the subjects."
"Your funeral." Deathstroke said.
"You're not going to get away with this!" Korra said, "I'll find a way out, and when I do I swear I'll-"
"If you take more than five steps outside this cell, those cuffs explode." Deatstroke said. "You'll bleed to death before they can send me down here to kill you."
"Big talk coming from someone who wouldn't even fight me!" Korra shouted, "Leave my parents out of this and let's see whose-"
"You can shut her up, can't you?" Slade asked.
"Not entirely soundproof, but we can dampen the sound, yes." one of the other men said.
Metal slid against glass and Korra's voice was muffled. It didn't stop her from pounding against the cage in anger. The man behind Kara pulled her to a stop again, then made a few beeps as he pressed a couple buttons and a large object in front of her moved. The bag was ripped off her head and she was suddenly staring at a dimly lite metal room, the only furniture being an aluminum bench.
"Kara?!" Korra's muffled voice shouted.
Kara looked sideways to see Korra's panicked face behind a thick glass wall that kept her contained. Before she could say anything, someone shoved her forwards with enough force to knock her off her feet. In the doorway, Deathstroke pulled the bag off Alura's head and shoved her in as well. Kara dug deep to find the anger to giver her strength, then charged at the mercenary. Before she could even react, his boot was in her chest and all the wind in her lungs rushed out. Alura caught her before she could hit the ground.
"You're a monster!" Alura yelled.
"No, I'm just the best there is at what I do." Deathstroke said. He pressed a button and the glass door slammed shut. "Don't believe otherwise." He turned around to the group of four men in yellow hazmat looking suits. "The junior kryptonian and the junior Avatar. Delivered without a scratch. Now I'd like to get paid and get out of here before you plan backfires."
"About that," said one of the men in yellow suits as they walked away from Kara's cage, "A.I.M. is willing to pay you eighteen million more to stay here as...insurance until we feel we have complete control of the experiments."
"Hm..." Deathstroke slid open the panel on Korra's door as he walked past. "I suppose that's a decent enough starting point for negotiation."
"Kara?" Korra said after a few seconds of silence. "Are you alright?"
Still struggling to breath, she answered. "M' fine."
"How in the world did they manage to catch you two?"
"It's my fault." Alura said, "I answered the door and he said he already had you, Kara. I should have known he was lying, but I couldn't hear any change in his heartbeat, and I was...I was just too afraid that he was telling the truth."
"He got us the same way." Korra said, "Came to visit my parents and found that psychopath with a gun aimed at my mom."
Kara forced herself up and pressed against the glass wall. "Can you bend these metal walls?"
"No." Korra said, "I don't know if you saw, but I'm kinda wearing these big...I think they're some kind of plastic cuffs around my hands. They said there was a chip inside that can detect any Chi fluctuation. It's hooked up to explosives in the cuffs and to collars around my parents necks."
Kara let out a sigh and leaned her head against the glass. "My mother and I are drained. We have no solar power, and no way to charge ourselves...we're stuck here. Wait! Have you tried breaking the cuffs?!"
"Yeah..." Korra said, "There some kind of electric shock device in them and the collars. I smashed the cuffs against the wall and they shocked us until I stopped."
Kara growled as she wheeled around and studied the room. "Any other ideas?"
"Not right now..." Korra said, struggling to not sound defeated.
Sliding down the glass wall until she was seated on the ground, Kara studied the room. After several minutes, she failed to come up with a plan. The bench against the wall was made out of a flimsy metal, and there was almost no way it would even crate the thick glass wall.
A red light started flashing and a blaring alarm came from above.
"What's that?!" Korra shouted.
Panels on the ceiling opened up and two automated guns descended from them.
"Prisoners, stay in your cells or you will be fired upon." said an automated voice.
Five of the men in yellow hazmat suits stormed in and ran up to the glass walls. "Command, prisoners are secured." said one of them.
"Good. Keep them that way." said a voice over the communication devices in their helmets. "We're sending two security teams to the breach. I want everyone else with anything even resembling a weapon standing in between the security teams and the prisoners."
"That our rescue already?" Korra asked the A.I.M guards.
"Personally I'm not surprised it took this long." Kara said, "You don't mess with family when it comes to the House of El. Maybe if you let us out now I won't beat you to death with your own arms!"
The man closest to the wall flinched and backed away when Kara slammed the glass.
"You don't scare us!" the man said, "We've got kryptonite and an arsenal of weapons that can take down even your cousin!"
"Oh yeah?" Kara said, "Give me half an hour in the sun and I'll show you how useful your weapons are against something you can't even see."
"Jeb, stop talking to the prisoners." said another guard. "Security team, have you found the intruder yet?"
"Negative, no sign of entry. Are we sure there even is an intruder?"
"Affirmative security team. We have some of the most advanced stealth detection technology on the planet. If we detected a blip for five seconds, then that means an unscheduled visitor was in our airspace for five seconds."
"I meant no offense, I just can't see how anyone could have...Oh God! S-security team one is down, I repeat security team one is-Gah!"
"Gerald? Gerald come in! Security team two close in on the other team's position. Everyone else cover that hallway!"
"On it sir!"
There were a few moments of radio silence. Kara and Korra tried to get a look at each other to figure out who could have fooled stealth detection technology and take out an entire group of guards without being seen.
Suddenly the radio erupted in chaos.
"Oh God, they're everywhere!"
"Get 'em off!"
"Shut up, they're not venomous!"
"The vents! They're in the vents!"
In between the screams of horror were burst of gunfire and other weapons the science organization had cooked up. The girls and their parents felt a trickle of fear that whatever was unleashing terror on A.I.M. maybe wasn't here to save them, so much as destroy the criminal organization.
"Sir? What the hell is going on out there?" said one of the guards on the other side of the glass.
"Everyone remain calm and regroup outside the holding cells. Mister Wilson, if you'll please just get down there, we can discuss payments when this is over."
"Do I look like the kind of guy that does what he's best at without getting what he wants first?" Deathstroke said.
The next few minutes were strangely quiet. The radio picked up every now and then as the A.I.M. henchmen all grouped together in whatever strategic section of their base they could defend. They asked each other what was happening, who was attacking, but so far no one who had seen the attacker was still in contact with the rest of the henchmen. All anyone knew was the last thing their comrades yelled out before going quiet.
"Maybe they got what they wanted." said one of the guards outside the glass walls. "Maybe they weren't here for these girls and-and they left."
"Who do you think it was or is?" said another guard.
"Shut up, all of you!" yelled the lead guard, "Keep focused until we get the official all clear."
One of the guards looked nearly straight up. "Uh, sir...that species isn't indigenous to this island is it?"
Kara, her mother, and all the other A.I.M. guards looked up to see a five inch long spider slowly crawl down the glass wall.
Suddenly webbing shot down from the ceiling and snagged the guns from two of the guards. As the guard closest to the glass was turning, Spider-man jumped down and kicked him into the glass. He then grabbed the barrel of the gun of the guard to his left, thrust it up, then delivered a punch to the abdomen that lifted the man off his feet. In a blur, Spider-man slammed the man's gun down onto the gun belonging to the guard on his right, then kicked him across the room. The two guards that had their weapons webbed away now tried to tackle Spider-man from behind, but he thrust his elbows back and cracked their skulls, knocking both men out.
"Woah." said Korra.
"Nice costume." said Kara, seeing the gray and black uniform in person for the first time. "Prefer the red and blue personally, for obvious reasons."
"So those Kung Fu lessons are coming in handy. Now can you get us out?" Korra asked.
"No." Spider-man said. He pulled a large, flat object out of his belt, held it against the glass to Kara's cage and webbed it to the door. "Close your eyes." a bright yellow light shone into the cage. Kara immediately felt her strength returning. It did little to make her feel less ill and wobbly, though. "I've disabled the sentry gun's infrared sensor. They won't be able to see you. The guards have access cards to open the cell doors, but I don't have time to find them. He'll crack this one and then you should be able to break it completely open."
"Wait, who's-"
Spider-man back flipped twenty feet into the air as a rocket exploded where he had just been standing.
"I heard you had a knack for getting out of dangerous places at the last second." Deathstroke said from an observation deck above, "I hope you don't mind if I put you to the test."
Spider-man webbed at Deathstroke's feet and pulled himself towards him. The two crashed and tumbled out of the room in a flurry of gunfire.
"Mom, on three." Kara and Alura rushed to the crack in the glass door. "One, two, THREE!" both kryptonian women punched and the glass door burst outwards. "Come on, let's find the cards!" they dug through the unconscious bodies until Alura found a plastic card and swiped it against the panel on Korra's door. It opened and she, Senna and Tonraq quickly came out.
"Nice! I don't suppose you've got enough juice in the tank to get these things off us do you?" Korra asked.
"We can try."
Surprisingly, the cuffs and collars tore fairly easily under the might of the slightly powered kryptonians.
"Good work!" Tonraq said, grabbing a weapon off one of the A.I.M. guards. "We need to figure a way out of here. I'm guessing smashing our way out isn't an option."
Kara shook her head. Both her and her mother hunched over, their strength quickly fading.
"Well, only one door we can go through." Korra said, "Might as well see what's on the other side."
They all pressed themselves against the wall on either side of the metal door. Tonraq looked back to make sure everyone was ready, then sucked in a breath and opened the door. Screams were the first thing to great them. Yellow hazmat suits sprinted back and forth, firing their guns as they tried to escape the fifty some spiders skittering randomly around the hallway, some clinging to the faces of the minions.
"Well..." Korra said, "I think I have enough nightmare fuel to last a few months."
"Um, Korra, honey," Senna said, "I know this might not be a good time, but...since when does your boyfriend have a spider army?"
"It's news to me too." Korra said, "Kara, did he steal Ant Man's tech?"
"I don't...think so." Kara said, squeezing close to the rest of her group to avoid any stray spiders. "I don't think spiders work the same way ants do. Maybe he just stole the idea and made his own...horrible nightmare device."
"We can worry about that later," Tonraq said, "Right now we need to get out of here." he grabbed a sprinting A.I.M. scientist whose legs, arms and head snapped forwards as his body stayed put in the chief's grasp. "How do we get out of here?!" The man only stammered and squirmed.
"Talk!" Supergirl said. She grabbed his helmet and began to rip it off, "I hear some spiders eat peoples faces when their asleep. Get us out of here and you wont find out what that feels like."
"NO!" the man screamed, "That way!" he pointed to a metal door on the other side of the hallway. "There's an elevator at the end of the hall. Take it to the first floor. Please let me go! I have to get out of here."
Kara and Tonraq released the man and he fell to the floor, then whimpered and crawled to his feet and ran.
"Alright," Korra said, "Dad, take everybody out of here. I'm going to help shut this place down."
"Oh no you don't." Kara said, "I'm not sitting this one out if you're going to be down here too."
"I'm not asking you to sit out, just soak up some rays first." Korra said.
"Hmm, alright." Kara said, "We'll call the Justice League too. I'm sure they'll want to know about a secret A.I.M. base."
Spider-man circled around Deathstroke as he did the same. Both were already bloodied and beaten. The Web Head had managed to deliver a few good hits as he disarmed one of Deathstroke's swords and his rifle, but in the process had sustained a gash along his left shoulder and bullet holes to the right of his abdomen and to his right thigh.
"You aim pretty good for someone with only one eye." Spider-man said, "Figured lack of depth perception would hinder you at close quarters."
"When you've undergone as much strenuous training as I have, you get used to dealing with what you have available." Deathstroke said. "I might have the best gear, but I've trained to know how to kill a man with nothing but a plastic fork. Working with all that tech you share with Batman, can you say the same?"
"With all the expensive tech Batman has, why would he ever use a plastic fork?"
"That's...not the point."
"I know. Forks have four points." Spider-man said, "And they make forks out of metal you know."
"Hmph. You're trying to act like a fool and make me loose focus." Deathstroke said. He put both hands on the hilt of his sword and took a charging stance.
The Web Head crouched low in anticipation. "I have not yet begun to act foolish."
Deathstroke charge forwards, but Spider-man jumped over top of him. The mercenary turned and pulled out an automatic pistol, but Spider-man had already shot a web and pulled the gun towards him. His intention was to crush the weapon in his hand, but Deathstroke held onto his pistol and came with it, pulling the trigger along the way. The Wall Crawler fell on his back and kicked his legs up as the Terminator was on top of him. Deathstroke spun and landed as Spider-man kicked up and got to his feet. Turning, the Web Head fired two rounds of impact webbing, one of which Deathstroke sliced in half, the other he simply dipped his shoulder to avoid. Slade quickly pulled something out of his belt and ran it along the blade of his sword, cutting away any webbing that had stuck to it.
"I hear you claim to be the best at what you do." Spider-man said, "But have you met a guy named Wolverine? I think he'd like to dispute your claim."
"I admit, the man has some impressive weaponry." Deathstroke said, "The kind I intend to replicate with my new friends here at A.I.M."
"So that's why you teamed up with the bee keepers." Spider-man said. "Now I know who stole that case of adamantium a few months ago. I should warn you, ol' Wolvie has lost a number of people he's really cared about on his path to becoming the best...but then again I guess you already know what that's like." There was the slightest flinch in Slade's eye. Not very many people knew about his family history. "I'm no stranger to having crushing regret, but tell me, what's it like to have the constant reminder of your failure carved into your face?" he said pointing at the mercenary's covered eye.
Deathstroke's eye narrowed in anger, but quickly returned to a normal, almost blank expression. "Oh, you are good. You've actually managed to piss me off." with one hand, he pulled two large knives out of his belt, "But you're going to find out that wasn't such a good idea."
He threw both knives, and Spider-man flipped sideways to avoid them. Upon landing, the Web Head ducked backwards to dodge a sword slice that would have cut him in half just below the rib cage. With hands and feet on the ground, Spider-man kicked up at Deathstroke as he flipped back to right himself. The kick landed and the Terminator staggered back, then charged forward again. Spider-man ducked and juked to the side, dodging precise cuts. Backing away, Spider-man put his hands on the wall behind him as Deathstroke raised the sword overhead for a devastating slice. The Web Head pulled himself up out of the path of the sword, then put his feat on the mercenaries back and webbed the last automatic pistol out of his belt and flung it to the ceiling where the webbing stuck it.
Deathstroke knocked Spider-man's feet aside, sending him tumbling towards the ground. He shot a web to pull him to the center of the room, but not before Slade sliced him across the chest.
"Gah!" Spider-man staggered as he landed several feet away. The body armor had taken most of the damage, but the sword still managed to cut half an inch deep. He clutched at the wound as Deathstroke let out a brief chuckle.
"You're not a bad fighter," he said, "But you are a fool. Taking away my weapons does nothing if you keep getting hit by them first. Way I see it, you're going to need to head towards medical attention soon. You keep fighting me and you're going to bleed out. I beat your little mentor in Gotham and I beat you. Now walk away. No one's paying me to kill you."
"I'm a little insulted you actually thought that would work." Spider-man said. "First, you haven't hit any vital organs or major arteries. I'm not going to bleed out for several hours, and by then the Avengers will take you're unconscious body into custody. Second, you were only ever able to beat Batman because you were stronger and faster than he is. Well, same thing applies here. I'm stronger and faster than you. If you give up now, I'll tell everyone I had to have the girls help to bring you down."
"Hm. Guess no one's walking away from this fight." Slade said, "Shall we continue?"
A gust of wind slammed three A.I.M. henchmen into a wall, knocking them unconscious. Korra put her back against the wall and peered around the corner. At the end of the hall, lit almost exclusively by the spinning red emergency light, was a tall metal door. From the information she had gathered, this was where the A.I.M base commander was holed up. He couldn't have escaped through the hangar, Korra had broken the doors before coming here.
She could metal bend the door open, the only problem was what likely awaited her on the other side. Every weapon the scientist goons could have snagged was likely pointed right at the door. If Spider-man was here, maybe he could have sent his little pets into the room and cause a little chaos, but most of the spiders had either lost interest or sense of direction and were now all retreating to the dark narrow corners of the base.
About to bend a piece of the floor up for cover as she pried open the door, a sudden whoosh ran up behind her.
"Hey Korra." Supergirl said, still in the clothes she had worn to school that day. "This where the last badguys are?"
"Think so," Korra said, "But I don't know how many and what weapons they've got. How're you feeling?"
"Mhm, about fifty percent." Supergirl said, "More than enough to sneak a peek through the wall." her eyes grew hazy as she used her X-ray vision. "Okay, so thirty guys. Looks like they've got some sort of big cannon thing pointed right at the door. Two guys with rocket launcher looking things, but everyone else looks to be holding a regular or close to regular gun."
"Think you can take the cannon?"
"I don't know what it shoots."
"Hmm...was it made of metal?"
"Yeah. Oh, I see what your planning at." Kara smirked, "I like it, lets go."
Korra ran up to the door and planted her feet shoulder's length apart and waited. Jamming her hands inbetween the metal door, Kara pried open a four foot wide hole. The men inside fired the cannon, but Korra metal bent the barrel shut and the weapon exploded. Amidst the chaos, Supergirl dashed in and took out the two men with the rocket launchers, then Korra dove through the hole and shot fire at the closest goons.
"Spin cycle!" Supergirl shouted. She then began to fly around the room at incredible speeds while Korra moved her arms and bent the air in the room the same direction Kara flew. In a matter of seconds, there was a small tornado that lifted all the A.I.M members several feet into the air. "And cut!" Both girls stopped moving and almost instantly the wind died down and everyone fell to the ground.
"See? I told you it was a good plan." Kara crossed her arms and smirked.
"I never doubted the plan, I just said we needed a better name for it." Korra said.
They both snapped to attention as the door on the other side of the room opened. Spider-man stood, holding onto the back of Deathstroke's body armor. The mercenary hung limp from the wall Crawler's Hand
"Well...good jo-" Spider-man fell face first into the room. The girls ran up to him and rolled him onto his back.
"Spidey, what's wrong?!" Kara asked.
"I...I dunno..." he said, sitting up. "I think my body is physically trying to reject how badass I am for beating Deathstroke. It could also be that haven't slept in over thirty hours...and that I'm bleeding profusely."
"Don't worry, we've already sent our parents to get help." Korra said, "The Justice League should be here any second."
"So now that this is all over...what did these guys even want with us?" Supergirl asked.
"Wanted to learn the secrets to your powers." Spider-man said, "Probably so they could make weapons out of you, or weapons that could take people like you down...and then sell them to the highest bidder."
"And how exactly did you know we were in trouble?" Korra asked, "Have you been spying on us?"
"No. The Avengers hacked this base's coms a while ago." Spider-man said, "They were trying to use them to locate the main A.I.M. base of operations. I...sorta just blew that opportunity."
"Yeah, well we appreciate it." Korra said. A smile came to her face. "It might have taken us a few hours to figure out how to break out of this place."
"Yeah, we'll pay you back with dinner." Kara said, "Maybe tonight if you get a clean bill of health from the doctor."
"I...thought we broke up." Spider-man said.
"I did too, but we can be un-broken up." Supergirl said, "...wait, you haven't already started seeing someone else have you."
"No, I... I just thought it was over." he forced himself to his feet and walked a couple steps away from them.
"Why are you saying that like you were relieved?" Korra asked. "You want to stay broken up? Why?!"
"Because...I..."
"What?! What is it?!" Korra shouted, "What, did we smother you by wanting to actually see you ONCE a week?! Or was it that we didn't appreciate you enough when we constantly said how grateful we were that you're responsible for everything that we have now?! OR was it-!"
"GWEN IS DEAD!"
The room fell silent. Korra's demeanor of anger changed to one of sorrow. Both girls had looked up Gwen Stacy, part of them wondering if Peter would feel the need to go back to her side, and part of them wanting to know why he loved her so much. They had been shocked to learn that the same thing that happened in Peter's old world had happened here. The Goblin, the bridge, the only thing that was different was the city.
"In this world, where you two got almost everything you could have wanted," Spider-man said, "Gwen and Ben are still dead. And Harry...the point is... I can't ever have what I want. Because I already had it... and lost it. I'll always need to remember that I let Uncle Ben die because I was so concerned with myself. It was my fault. And this...this is my penance. I can't have anyone in my life that brings me happiness because I don't deserve it. All I can do, the only point to my life now, is to keep the people of Gotham safe. "
Kara stepped forward, "Peter, that's not-"
Spider-man held up a hand. "Please. It's not like I'm happy about this. Just...just let it go." at that, he wandered out into the A.I.M. base until help arrived.
Thanks for sticking around, I think this is one of my longest chapters in a while. I may sound generic at this point, but thanks again for reading, and commenting if you do, I really appreciate it.
