Chapter 26
Kara flew higher and higher. She could feel the energy pulsing from the malfunctioning nuclear engine. The atmosphere was close, and she wondered if she could just fling the ship from where she was. The thought entered her head and left it almost as quickly. If the nuclear material exploded upon touching the planet's atmosphere, radioactive material would rain down. There was only one way to handle this and it was to enter space.
It was a death sentence. Clark was out on Argo and J'onn was missing. With Midnight gone, she didn't want to leave her friends to deal with Malefic alone, but she also knew that a radioactive National City was not an option. There wasn't any other way forward as far as she could figure.
"What have we got to help her? She's going to make sure that thing doesn't explode while breaking the atmosphere and then she's going to die," Alex hardly believed the words. If they didn't do something, Kara would suffocate in space.
"Her new suit is made of Nanites! The same Nanites that purified the air for her when the Kryptonite was in the air!" Brainy screamed into the comms, which caused Alex to flinch. What she didn't know was that the duo had ran back into the DEO SUV the second they figured out Kara's comms were down
"How does that help us? We can't reach her to tell her that they might prevent her from suffocating! What is the plan?" Alex demanded. Kelly didn't want to interfere, but she moved closer to her girlfriend, seeing how upset she was.
"The Nanites might buy us some time! Dreamer and I are heading for J'onn's spaceship," Brainy explained.
"She'll breach the atmosphere in less than two minutes," Ricky announced. Alex was on the brink. She couldn't lose Kara, she just couldn't. Kelly put a hand on her shoulder as they watched the Maiden of Might's flight path. Alex reached her hand up to touch her girlfriend's hand. Lena moved to the redhead's other side and grabbed her upper arm. Alex gave her a weak smile. The raven-haired woman could see the pain behind her eyes.
Ricky had a timer counting down on the big computer screen. One minute, thirty seconds. One minute, fifteen seconds. One minute. The redhead swallowed hard.
"On an intercept course. How much time do we have?" Brainy asked.
"Thirty seconds until we lose contact," Ricky hadn't meant it to sound like it sounded, but it was true. Supergirl's tracking would be lost once she crossed the radiation layer leading to exiting the planet's atmosphere.
"We're at least a minute out," Brainy said it, as if it was no big deal. Alex swallowed again. That left Kara on her own for thirty seconds. Now being a superhero, holding her breath for thirty seconds on her own should have been no big deal. But she was exerting herself. She had to make sure that ship wasn't allowed to reenter the atmosphere or damage the moon or damage the sun. Thirty seconds was an eternity.
"We've lost contact," Ricky announced. At this point, Alex was about to collapse but she knew she couldn't. If Kara couldn't make it home, the redhead had to lead the DEO forward. She'd have to take the place of both of the strongest people she knew. There were still no leads on what happened to J'onn. Alex suddenly felt all alone but she opened her mouth, needing to know.
"Brainy… Dreamer… do you have her?" They had to stay away in case the nuclear engine went off. That was the tricky business of it. All she got back was static. Alex ordered Ricky to try over the main radio.
"Brainy, Dreamer, come in," Ricky said. Again static.
"I say again. Brainy, Dreamer, come in," Ricky tried again but nothing.
"I got them all killed," Alex said. She was about to fall apart when the radio crackled to life.
To Be Continued…