Dreamer took a little longer to get her costume on than Supergirl did because she didn't have the added benefit of super speed. Fortunately, with all the attention on the main floor nobody was around to interrupt her as she whipped off her civilian clothes, zipped up her blue and silver outfit and put on her diamond mask, pulling off her hair band to let her dark hair fall around her shoulders. Once she was ready, she took a deep breath and raced out of the storage room and leapt into the action.
By the time she arrived on the assembly floor, Hank Henshaw had revealed himself to Supergirl standing with his men behind him. The transgender hero had never personally met the real Hank Henshaw, but she'd heard all about the Cyborg Superman who once worked for Cadmus Labs. The large black man towered over his men dressed in black military clothing, his thick coat was dropped to the ground to show the scarred flesh beneath the fabric, the metallic components running up his right arm reflecting the florescent lighting. Nia paused when her eyes found his stern face, taken aback at how much he looked like John. The most distinctive difference was the cybernetic eye and faceplate covering the left side of his head.
"You picked the wrong fight Supergirl" Hank said, his voice dripping with venom as he stepped forward and fired an optic beam from his robotic eye.
Supergirl stood her ground and took the brunt of the blast, the laser hitting her in the chest sending her sliding back on the balls of her feet. She could've dodged it easily, but she didn't want to risk it damaging the factory or hurting someone.
When the beam was stopped she was left unharmed in the centre of the warehouse with Dreamer now ready behind her. "Get Carlton and the workers out of here" she told her friend. Dreamer nodded, vaulting over a conveyer belt while Supergirl dashed forward to fight Hank on her own.
The guards watching the civilians all pulled their attention away from the fight unfolding to intercept Dreamer as she leapt over the machinery advancing on them. Four sets of rifles started shooting at her, forcing her to jump down to the floor and roll behind cover. She didn't stay long though, waiting until they paused to whip out and summon and astral construct of a bull whip, cracking it over their heads. It diverted their aim long enough for her to close the distance and change the construct to a lance, holding it with both hands to swing and jab at the gunmen sweeping them off their feet.
All her training with Brainy and Supergirl was paying off as Dreamer managed to disarm and neutralise the four gunmen within moments. That left at least five more still watching Carlton and his staff. The man cowered on his knees in fear for his life as the guards raised their weapons and fired. This time Nia crouched lower, summoning a shield of astral energy to hide behind protecting herself. She felt her mind and body shudder from each impact of the bullets, her constructs only as strong as her concentration and willpower. She considered rushing them with the shield, but that might put the civilians at risk. So she let the lance dissolve and threw her empty right hand out around the shield, channelling her power into a focused blast sending rings of astral energy towards the guards. Two jumped out the way diving for cover before the blast struck a third sending him into the steel wall knocking him out.
She didn't give them time to recover as she spun on her heel, throwing the shield like a Frisbee to strike at the other two guards knocking them to the floor, the energy dispelling on impact. Moving as fast as she could, Dreamer sprinted across the floor leaping onto the conveyer belt towards the group. Just as the first two gunmen brought their guns up to shoot her she created a small platform at the end of the conveyer to use as a springboard, jumping over their heads summoning a lasso of energy to spin around her body and disarm them of their weapons. Rifles clattered to the floor as she landed in a crouch, whipping the lasso back yanking both men off their feet and into the machinery.
That left the final two guards. One of them got to his feet and raised his handgun, pointing it at her head as she turned to face him. Before he could pull the trigger, one of the technicians leapt at him to struggle for the gun. The bullet shot into the ceiling as the man ripped it out of the technician's hands and kicked him back to the floor. But the diversion gave Dreamer enough time to throw both her arms around and fire a blast of astral energy at him sending him spiralling to the floor unconscious.
As she stood up she saw the last guy carefully lowering his gun to the floor raising his hands up in surrender. "Smart decision" she said, walking over and pointing to a nearby harness. He followed her lead and allowed her to zip tie him to the crane so he couldn't do anything else. She returned to the hostages asking "is anyone hurt?" They all looked at each other, checking for injures, a mix of relief and fear on their faces. She helped the man who wrestled for the gun up to his feet, thanking him for the assistance. He nodded, a bruise forming on his cheek. Everyone else seemed to be unharmed. "Come on" she told them. "We need to get you all out of here to safety."
"What about my inventory?" Carlton asked in a panic.
Dreamer stared at him. "Don't you think your employees should be top priority, Mr Carlton?"
"I don't mean it like that" he replied curtly. "But we can't let those thugs steal any of this. If anything from here got into the wrong hands…"
Dreamer couldn't believe she was listening to the man, who moments ago expressed his sorrow for losing so much of his staff, talk about saving his business. But then she remembered what it was these men were stealing. He's right. If any of this was to fall into the wrong hands it'd be disastrous. "Let's get you and your employees to safety first" she said diplomatically. "Supergirl and I will handle it."
The man reluctantly nodded, pointing towards the nearest exit for her to lead the civilians out of the warehouse and away from the fight. She glanced over her shoulder as she escorted the hostages out, making sure Supergirl had the situation handled in the meantime.
Supergirl wouldn't say she had the situation handled. Managed would be a more accurate statement. The first time she fought Hank Henshaw she was new at the hero game, making him one of her most dangerous adversaries. But she'd evolved since then, grown and trained. She could handle his level of threat.
The problem was, Hank had grown and evolved too. He was stronger, faster, better trained and efficient. He'd gotten used to his enhancements, his new powers and abilities. So while Kara could boast she wasn't the same person she was five years ago, neither could he. As a result, he was able to match each move or blow she came at him with just as swiftly as she could equal his attacks. The two titans were on an even playing field as they dodged and batted punches and kicks, ducking and weaving around each other at breakneck speed until the onlookers saw nothing but a blur in a cyclone of swirling air. Kara thrust out a powerful fist at the man's head only for him to catch it in his palm, retaliating with a jab that Kara stopped by grabbing his wrist. The two of them became locked glaring at each other, their feet planted firmly on the ground digging into the concrete.
"What do you want with Metallo?" she asked him.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out" he growled, breaking the locked arms by grabbing her shoulders and throwing her across the room.
She somersaulted through the air crashing into a forklift, the impact shaking the warehouse as she crashed into the floor bringing piping and girders down on top of her. She picked herself up a found Cyborg Superman leaping towards her, fists raised. She picked up a thick metal pipe and swung it at him, catching him in mid-air and sending him flying across the room into a conveyer. She heard his groan as she dropped the pipe and hovered into the air, approaching him cautiously. He was still prying his body out of the machines so she rushed forward, looking to trap him in the metal using the steel as restraints.
He saw her coming however, ripping his arms free in time to catch her before she could grab him, deflecting her arms and slamming both palms into her chest sending her rocketing through the roof of the warehouse.
Everyone watching gasped as Supergirl was sent flying through the ceiling, looking down at Hank as he pulled himself free and stepped up to look through the gaping hole in the roof. His good eye returned to the men watching silently. "Get those robots on the trucks!" he barked before leaping out through the ceiling chasing after the kryptonian.
Outside the warehouse, Dreamer was escorting the civilians to the front gate telling them to call 911. She then sent a text to brainy informing him of the attack on Axis Environmental. Hopefully the DEO would be here soon enough to help apprehend the thieves. She told them it was cyborg superman, expecting that to speed things along.
While she was attempting to contact her boyfriend she heard a series of booms from above her, looking up and seeing the shape of Supergirl tumbling through the dusky sky. Seconds later another shape, Hank Henshaw, rocketed up to her and sent her flying even further through the sky. Dreamer watched as Supergirl's shape spun and rolled before catching herself in the air currents, rocketing back to intercept the cyborg in a mid-air collision leading to a battle in the sky away from innocent civilians.
Dreamer pried her eyes from the fight above, realising if Supergirl was up there then it was up to her down here to stop the thieves. So she left Carlton and his staff at the entrance to wait for the police while she sprinted back into the warehouse to confront the armed gunmen.
She found them in the process of loading the Metallo robots into the trucks, crates being wheeled or carried by several men in masks. She leapt into the fray using her constructs to pull the truck flaps closed, halting their loading procedures abruptly before coming to a stop in their midst. "Drop your weapons and put your hands on your heads" she ordered, her voice sounding much more confident than she did.
As expected, nobody obeyed the command as those with guns shot at her and those without and for their guns. She ducked under the bullets spinning in a circle, her astral lasso whipping around her scattering everyone sending them diving for cover. A handful of men decided not to go for their guns, instead feeling confident enough to rush at her unarmed. She turned around shocked to find one of them tackling her to the ground, using his momentum to throw him off before giving him a swift kick across the jaw. The next guy went to throw a punch, which she weaved under before jabbing him in the throat and knocking him to the ground. After that she alternated between using her lasso, lance and energy blasts to counter or pacify the thieves surrounding her, occasionally hooking some of the cranes or machinery to send towards groups or knock out oblivious aggressors.
After a short while Dreamer took a moment to stand in the middle of the warehouse, the dazed and disorientated thieves surrounding her with trepidation. She felt good, proud, completely in control of the situation. "Anybody else want to give it a go?" she asked with a cocky grin.
In response, her legs suddenly became lashed together as a bolas materialised out of nowhere tying up her knees. The young woman yelped as she was suddenly wavering on her feet trying not to fall over. Then she was struck in the chest by a dart, the projectile sticking to her costume before sending several volts of electricity into her body like a Taser. Dreamer gasped as shock and pain ripped through her chest, sending her falling to the floor tripping over her tied up feet.
Now groaning on the ground, the humbled superhero pried the dart from her chest and the electrical current stopped. Through groggy eyes she looked up and found a new figure strolling toward her confidently, giving hand signals to the men ordering them to continue loading the crates. Dreamer tried to sit up but her arms felt like jelly unable to support her weight. The figure stood over her looking down at her, the florescent lights beginning to blind her as spots danced across her vision.
All she could see of the figure was the blood red of his outfit, the horns on his head, and the three pointed trident he was carrying before she was struck across the temple and knocked unconscious.
Meanwhile, up in the air, Supergirl continued to trade blows with Cyborg Superman as they rocketed at each other through the sky above National City.
Punches connected with hardened skin or steel, bouncing off each other only for them to try again. Kara grappled with the man, grabbing him around the neck wrapping her legs around his waist trying to choke him out, but he wrestled himself free head-butting her in the nose. He followed up by grabbing her by the ankle and spinning around like the hammer toss, throwing her down towards the city below. She threw her arms out for balance, slowing her decent until he came charging at her striking her in the chest sending her plummeting.
With the city surging up to greet her, Kara diverted her tactic from stopping to redirecting, controlling her descent until her body was sailing with her momentum steering herself away from the pavement and back up into the air. Wind rushed past her head as she flew in a large arc back towards Hank, using the same momentum to rush at him and hit him with a punch of her own across the metal jaw.
The supervillain was surprised by her counter-attack, the blow knocking him backwards tumbling through the air like a meteor. Instead of crashing into concrete the man careened headfirst into the bay, an explosion of water rising from the impact flowing outwards. Supergirl floated above the surface waiting for the man to surface, her breath laboured and panting, adrenaline pumping through her system.
After a minute she brace for the next attack. After two minutes the water fell calm. After three minutes Kara's eyes started scanning the bay, peering into the blackness looking for Hank. She couldn't see him. Her eyes narrowed and she flew along the surface, searching the whole seabed and surrounding area. But the man was gone. He had escaped.