A/N: A shout out to Jennifer Baratta! Thanks so much! Hope you like this chapter. :)
Chapter 27
What happened next, none of the Super Friends saw coming. A bullet whizzed through the air, shattering the large glass lobby window, and destroying the head of one of the men that was attempting to take Kate away. All hell broke loose as the Many Arms of Death opened fire on the Crows while trying to go for cover. The Crows returned fire despite the fact that there were civilians in the way. Kara quickly did the only thing she could think of – putting her hands out at shoulder height and quickly bringing them together. The sonic wave crashed through everything in the bottom of the building – shattering glass, knocking people down to the ground, and everyone could feel the floor move underneath them.
"Enough!" She shouted, knowing that everyone's ears would be ringing. It was worth it however to get them to stop shooting each other. The shot was obviously meant to cause chaos and it had succeeded.
Kara went to the Many Arms of Death members only to find that most of them were stunned while one man had received a shot to his leg. She quickly started grabbing them and handing them over to the dazed Crows. Then she helped Kate to her feet.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Kate wasn't meaning to shout, but she was struggling to get her equilibrium. Kara just took her over to Alex and Nia. Dreamer had seen the move coming and quickly surrounded herself and Alex with dream energy. That had taken the brunt of the wave and they were not feeling as dazed as the others.
"I have to go looking for a sniper and a bomb. Can you guys handle this?" Kara asked.
"On it," Alex gave her a look; they'd talk later. With that the blonde took off through the broken windows. She quickly looked nearby for the sniper but could not find whoever it was. Their job complete, they had taken off while the heroes were trying to stop the chaos. The Maiden of Might then took to scanning the city, she did not hear nor see anything and was beginning to wonder if the Many Arms of Death had actually been bluffing. Until she heard the screams of children, who were obviously terrified. She couldn't be certain where they were coming from as the noise was reverberating off of something. Stopping in mid-flight, she closed her eyes and tried to focus harder on the noise. She was not as familiar with Gotham as she was National City and she needed to get her bearings.
Homing in on a location, she quickly landed to find a school bus full of children parked in a parking lot close to a factory in the industrial park. None of them moved toward the bus's exit and she used her x-ray vision to find out why – the front doors were kept shut with an explosive device. The rear and side doors seemed to be free of explosives but then she noticed that they'd been welded shut. It was then that it occurred to Kara that no one seemed to be at work in the middle of the day as the rest of the parking lot was completely empty and she wondered if this was part of a trap. That's when a voice came from behind her,
"So, we meet at last." Swirling around, Kara came face to face with a woman who had long blonde wavy hair but wore an entirely black outfit.
"Safiyah?" The Kryptonian figured.
"You can see my men weren't lying. I have to wonder what happened to them and where Kate Kane is. I'm sure they delivered my ultimatum," the woman did not confirm who she was and it made Kara suspicious.
"They're all safe. Why do you want Kate Kane?" The Maiden of Might wanted to know.
"We'll get what we want. Surely you must know this by now after what you found at the abandoned candy factory," the woman said.
"You have killed a lot of people. I see no reason why these poor kids need to be brought into the fight," Kara pointed out.
"Oh, but they are only the beginning. Time is running out Supergirl. Save the kids or save the city… your choice," her foe told her, a smirk crossing her face.
"What have you done?" Kara asked.
"While the kids may be safe for now inside the bus, the workers inside that factory are really not," the woman pointed to the nearby building. The sign on the building read, Glu Gluten's Glue Factory.
"They recently laid off a bunch of people and this parking lot would have been full. It would be shame if they lost the rest of their workforce and the factory all in one day. See they make synthetic glue now but that has some nasty stuff in it - acetylene and acetic acid. So, when the bomb goes off… well the crater will be spectacular. I can only imagine what it will do to all the buildings within a five-mile radius," she continued. Acetylene is a compressed gas that is highly flammable and highly unstable and now knew why the Many Arms of Death had picked this spot.
"This doesn't need to happen. You don't need any more blood on your hands," Kara said.
"Oh, but I do. It's my job," the woman pulled a remote from her pocket before saying,
"I press this button and the countdown on both devices begins. Bring me Kate Kane and I call this all off. Don't bring me her and well, you know what'll happen."
"All right. I'll bring you Kate Kane, but I have to go and get her. You have to give me ten minutes before you do anything rash," Kara seemingly backed down. She knew that Luke could hear all of this and hoped that he was trying to get some backup.
"You're the Girl of Steel. You have five minutes," the woman said.
To Be Continued…