Chapter Thirty: Heavy Metal
"This just in; there's been an attack on downtown Metropolis." The news anchor's voice echoed through the empty apartment. "Superman was quick on the scene but so far there has been no development. We advise everyone to stay away from these areas of the city."
A diagram appeared on the screen just as Silvia popped her head around the corner. The danger areas were highlighted in red and the safe zones in green. For once Southside was completely out of harms way.
It was odd that Superman hadn't settled the matter though. Usually these attacks were a fairly easy task for him. Silvia shook her head. She wasn't going to sit there and worry about him.
"There hasn't been much information about the assailant. Only that he extends beyond normal human limitations by mechanical elements."
Silvia leaned over her bed and grabbed hold of one of the handbags she received at the party. She poured its contents out onto her mattress and tried to distract herself by sifting through it.
"So far there have been around five deaths and over twenty severe injuries."
A Rolex watch sat glistening against the tattered blankets. Something so expensive looked incredibly out of place in her house; especially when it laid amongst gift certificates worth thousands and the newest phone on the market.
"The names of the confirmed deaths are 21 year-old Kaycee Adams, 42 year-old Lyn Alys, 30 year-old Gilbert Knight-"
Silvia took one of the gift cards between her index finger and thumb, turning it in her hand and blinking wide-eyed at the number sketched onto it. Two thousand dollars. She could get so many Rambo figures with that... If it weren't for a high-end clothing store.
"70 year-old Blake Keller, and his 5 year-old grandson Marty Keller."
Silvia dove into the bottom of the bag and brought out a small box - inside was a diamond bracelet with sapphires embedded in so many places that the silver was barely visible.
"After Superman arrived on the scene he managed to stop any further injuries, but the fight has yet to finish."
She could definitely sell this and get her own motorcycle with the money. She may even be able to move out of Southside... though she doubted that there was anywhere else she could belong.
"More on this story as soon as we receive an update. Until then stay within the safe zones of Metropolis."
The television darkened and the image switched to an advertisement for a new burger at McDonalds. Finally Silvia's gaze flicked up and the things in her hands fell back against the mattress. The distractions in front of her couldn't occupy her mind for long, especially not when Clark may be struggling.
Any anger she felt towards the man was irrelevant. The fact that he hadn't resolved this yet made certain that something was wrong... but what could she possibly do to help? She didn't have powers like him. If he couldn't finish it then how could she?
The Nokia sitting on her bedside table was quickly snatched up. The small buttons made it difficult to scroll through her old messages but she somehow managed it. She was given a tip over a fortnight ago about a group of criminals stealing new weapons... If she was going to do this she needed all the help she could get.
The night sky stood an inky canopy of darkness freckled only by the fewest of stars, where just hours ago it had been a blue summer's day. The occasional hoot of a hidden owl was the only sound to permeate the silence until the slapping of Silvia's footsteps and crunching gravel echoed angrily into the emptiness of the night.
The hideout was relatively easy to find. It was surprising that they had lasted so long without getting caught. The thugs guarding it left even less to be desired. It took about a minute to make it through their defences, maybe not even that. The path soon lead her to a jackpot of stolen weapons.
It was impossible to carry all of them so she dug through to find the most effective ones. The first one she grabbed spat fire from its muzzle, it reached so long that a nearby tree was engulfed in flames. Silvia shivered and put it back. No. Fire was too unpredictable in a public place.
The next thing she picked up had a nob on the end that determined it's power. One squeeze of the trigger and a beam shot out of it, tearing a hole in the burning wood. Silvia blinked. Yep, that'll do.
She grabbed a few different kinds from the same pile, hoping they did the same thing. Once her body was strapped full of guns she saw the glimmer of fabric peaking beneath a Automatic Pistol. Curiously, she grabbed hold of it and pulled it into the moonlight. It was pure white and illuminated in a way that would catch anyone's eye.
Hanging from the sleeve was a booklet starched by a long string. Silvia took hold of it and squinted. No, not a booklet... an instruction manual? Silvia huffed. She didn't have time to read it, she'd already wasted enough time as it was.
An inner debate blew up in her head - should she wear it or not? Her old costume was more suited to her. It was pitch black and ensured that she could stay hidden whenever she chose to. There was no way she could stick to the shadows in this new, shockingly white fabric. It was steadier than her own though. The one thing she did manage to catch on the instruction manual was 'energy absorbing.' It would likely protect her better than her old costume ever could.
The conflict spiralled her into further panic, and that is ultimately what forced her to change into the costume she found. It was tighter than her other one but much harder as well. The moment it made contact with her skin it contracted like tiny rocks all over her. It was like having a second layer of muscle on the outside, and the mask was like an additional skull.
Silvia didn't have time to see how it worked. She simply re-strapped the new weapons around her and ran off - leaving her old costume behind.
The sounds of fighting grew louder as she entered the red zones and the buildings around her slowly became less stable. Some were nothing more than rubble now, others looked like someone had thrown solid steel into them. Silvia shouldn't have been surprised... There was always something destroying the city no matter how many times they stopped it.
A loud grunt pierced the air just as she rounded the corner. Superman was slammed into a brick wall, body slumping against it and suit ripped across his chest. His head rolled on his shoulders, eyes struggling to stay open and blood trickling from his mouth.
Silvia's limbs froze. Blood?... She didn't even know that Superman could bleed. The thing that had thrown him was a giant machine glowing green. The thing stepped towards the injured hero, metal scraping against metal with each movement.
"How does that feel? Huh?! Tell me!!" The metal creature roared.
One of its gigantic metal hands rammed itself into Superman's gut, embedding him further into the brick wall. The Man of Steel's face was strained with pain as his foe wrapped its cold talons around his waist. "Fight back you wimp!! C'mon!!"
Its other hand impacted once on Superman's face, reeled backwards then came screaming at it once more. With a sudden crack of thunder, the metal fist was halted in its path by Superman's own. Gritting his teeth, the hero growled "Fine."
It happened so fast that Silvia almost missed it entirely... Superman speared the beast and they came soaring down the street towards her. Superman thrust his foe into the concrete and slowly came to a halt as its massive metal body grounded a trail through the street. As he screamed in exertion, Superman clenched the robot by the neck, leapt ten metres above the ground and reeled a clenched fist.
The ensuring impact shattered almost every window on the street, and sent the creature hurtling through a building, then another, and another. Exhausted and still poisoned, Superman fell from the air and landed on the pavement with a startling 'crack'.
"Holy fuck...!" Silvia gasped as she came sprinting towards Clark. He was struggling to stay conscious...he was barely even aware of Silvia's presence.
"No...no...! You can't...I can't let you get hurt...!" He wheezed, probably half delirious.
"How do I beat him?"
"Sil. I can...hear his systems rebooting..."
"I'm not leaving you. I can't...I won't." Silvia snapped, squeezing Clark's hand, splattered with drops of his own blood.
His eyes were still the brightest blue that Silvia had ever seen in her life, even now. The sound of grinding metal brought her attention back up. Clark's hand shook against hers with the last of his strength as if he was begging her to stand down.
Silvia flashed him a sorrowful look and wriggled out of his weak grasp. In an instant she grabbed onto the pistol on her leg and aimed it in the direction the noise was coming from. The ground rumbled beneath her but still Silvia refused to move. She was the only thing blocking Clark from harm.
"The whimp brought a weakling to defend him?" A low voice said. It was altered, almost as robotic as his body. "Pitiful."
"I'm stronger than I look!" Silvia hissed but she didn't even have the opportunity to shoot before being flung into a pole.
"Doubtful."
The pole had a large dent rounded where Silvia had been flung. All things considered a hit of that magnitude should have broken a few bones... but if it did she couldn't feel it. She heard Clark's voice, raspy and breathless calling her name in worry.
Silvia stumbled to her feet, hands gripping at her torso to make certain that she was still alive. The suit felt like titanium against her fingers and she gasped. "I'm... okay."
In one swift motion she re-aimed her pistol once more and shot a barrage of energy beams at the mechanical man. The first few bounced right off of him but once she increased the power it seemed to be enough to push him back.
The man growled low and it echoed through his metal chest. He veered away from Clark's injured body and marched in Silvia's direction. She shot again and the beam went right through the robots chest. Wires sparked and his systems grinded loudly, but the giant didn't stop sauntering towards her.
She shot again and every laser made him stumble back. None of it stopped him though and eventually the robot was right in front of her. It's cold hand reached out and gripped against Silvia's throat, tightening until her airway was completely sealed.
It felt like her lungs were slowly filling with water, as if there was just less space in them for the air. Inflating them felt like pushing up a lead weight on her chest. Her head was spinning and her vision was nothing but a blur. Just when she felt her consciousness slip away something rammed into the robot and set her free.
Every bone in her body rattled when she impacted with the ground. Silvia gasped in pain but somehow managed to crawl her way over to Clark's unmoving figure. In the distance she could hear the familiar cries of Wonder Woman as she defeated the already damaged robot.
"Clark?" Silvia said in a raspy, breathless voice but there was no response. She opened her mouth to try again but this time no words would form - her brain was still recovering from the lack of oxygen.
She refused to let go of her senses until she saw Wonder Woman help Superman up. At this point she knew he'd be alright but as consciousness left her once more, Silvia couldn't help but despise her weakness. If she had been more like Diana than she could have stopped the whole thing before Clark was put into even further danger...