Chapter Eleven.
The aftermath is often times better than the actual event, at least in Astra's mind. She takes in a deep breath to just bask in the glow of the sex. Sharing it with her niece and her niece's adoptive sister, it's an amazing moment. She wraps her arm around Kara, and pulls her in tight.
"It puts a lot of things into perspective."
Alex rolls over. She's satisfied, at least for now. One thing that will put people on the same page is sex and lots of it. Alex breaks into a smile.
"Yes, it does. Now we can focus on what we need to do and do it soon."
Astra responds with a nod and rises to her feet. The soreness between her thighs is something which surprises her. Even with the Earth's yellow's sun healing embrace, she finds herself a bit slow to heal. Something she would not trade by any means whatsoever.
"There's so much I need to tell you."
"Why did you attack me?"
"It was a plan that I had that I was rethinking. Perhaps, I can reach humanity in a different way."
Astra gets her thought process on straight. She needs to figure out how to get into this situation properly. Weakness under the watchful eye of her troops serves her not well at all.
Granted, anyone who calls General Astra In-Ze weak by any means is a fool and barking up the wrong tree, to still a phrase from the people of Earth.
Alex stretches a little bit.
"We do agree that anyone who sends drones are a threat. And this Smythe…"
"He's a big one, but I don't think he's working alone. I think there's someone else involved."
Astra cannot say who with any degree of certainity. The amount of escapes at Fort Roz paint a very unsettling picture to say the very least. Not everyone was part of her army and there were dangerous people in that prison who should quite frankly deserve to be there.
Kara puts a hand on Astra's shoulder. Astra relaxes only because it's her niece. Anyone else would not get away from touching her in such closed quarters.
"Are you going to track down Smythe?"
"Well, he's well hidden. And he's just one piece ot the puzzle."
"And we don't know what else he might have up his sleeve."
Alex checks her cell phone for a return message from Gwen. So far, nothing. Then again, she has no idea what rabbit hole she sent Gwen hurling down to in an attempt to find out information on Smythe.
So far nothing, but Alex is confident and more importantly patient, something which is more than essential in her line of work.
"Your source hasn't come back with anything, yet?"
Astra moves over to check the incoming transmissions from the members of her army. There's nothing on that front. It's quiet, and if there's one thing that unnerves Astra greadly, it's silence. She moves ever so closer and runs her hand over edge of the speaker.
"We should head out."
Kara responds with a nod and finds her uniform.
"The material you're using really isn't that conductive to absorbing yellow sunlight."
Astra's statement causes Kara to look over, eyebrow raising.
"Just offering you a suggestion. You will find that Earth materials tend to block out the sunlight because they are intended to help protect the humans from ultraviolet radiation."
Kara thinks it makes sense.
"Even with your new capabilities, you might need the heads up. And how is your hand to hand?"
"We've been working on it."
As if on cue, Astra sweeps Kara's legs out from underneath her and then pins her niece down onto the ground. She twists Kara into position, folding her arm against the back of Kara's head.
"It could use some work."
"Yeah, so I see."
Astra lets Kara up to her feet. Kara stands, preparing for her aunt to pull the trick where she takes her down again.
"Good, you're prepared at least. But, whether or not you could do anything about it if I decide to attack is another matter entirely."
Finally, Alex gets the phone call she's been waiting for. She crosses the room to take it.
"Hey, Gwen. Did you find anything about Smythe?"
"Oh, I found something alright."
Alex frowns when hearing something in the background.
"Are those explosion?"
"Yes...I was investigating Smythe, and I checked out one of his old labs. Turns out, he's not here, but he left a lovely parting gift. These robots...Spider Slayers, for lack of a better term. They're on my ass, trying to take me out. I'd like to talk right now, but I'm too busy staying alive. And I don't think that I want to die right now!"
Alex turns her attention over to Kara.
"On it."
She's in full Supergirl mode, and flies off into the direction. Astra and Alex are left standing there.
"We're going to have to track down Smythe."
"She should have really waited us."
Astra is about to take off. Alex whips the suit off and wraps the tendril around Astra's leg. This might not be the best idea as Astra keeps taking flight with Alex dangling behind her.
'Not the most ideal way to fly.'
Still, these robots attacking Gwen means that Alex needs to help out in any way she can and she will help out, no matter what the cost.
Spider-Girl dodges one of these robots. She's pretty sure she's not going to like the outcome if it blasts her. A beam of light cuts through the ground and almost strikes the pillar. She picks up a barrel and hurls it over her head. She slams the barrel into the line of sight of the erupting beam.
She takes a deep breath, realizing that she's very close to being taken out. The web shooters she made, they look like very small caliber.
Especially now that the spider slayer unleashes about eight miniature drones. All of them seek her out and start firing blasts of laser energy at her.
Spider-Girl whips out and grabs the pipe. The damn thing's rusted together, so she can't break it to unleash the steam or water, or whatever's inside of it. Maybe it would be raw sewage, but that's a bit messy.
A blur of light shoots through the broken windows and slams through the drones. They all smash down to the ground, glass crinkling from the attack.
Gwen looks up and smiles. The spider slayer turns its attention to Kara and shoots webbing far thicker than hers at Kara. Kara dodges the attack, and does a tuck and roll in mid-air.
She lands on the mine that the slayer shoots out and it blasts Kara up into the air. Gwen screams the second Kara bounces off of the wall. She rolls over, clamoring up to a standing position.
"I'm okay...super strength...remember."
The Slayer calls in two more from a wall on the other end of the room. Supergirl fires a beam of heat vision, but the reflective services bounces it off back to her. The Last Daughter of Krypton ducks her head to avoid the attack, wondering what the hell is going on.
More blasts come from the drones and Supergirl realizes she has a close encounter with the Kryptonian hunting drones. They are back and bigger than ever. And also powered by the same thing which drove Kara completely nuts before.
Gwen looks skyward, crinkling her nose.
"Someone really does have some severe compensation issues."
The spider slaying drone hunts her out. Gwen has what she thinks is a good idea. She jumps onto the Supergirl hunting drone.
"Hey, hit me with your best shot."
The slayer's beam of acid misses Gwen and hits the front of the drone. Gwen drops down to the ground, the breath being taken out of her body.
One Kryptonian drone taken out, but the Spider Slayer is still on her ass and not in the good way. Gwen throws as much debris in its way.
Kara decides to return the favor. She uses her cape to get the attention of the Kryptonian hunting drone. She flips into the air and lands on the back of the Spider Slayer drone.
"Best you got...that's kind of sad?"
The drone fires a beam of green light at her. Kara flies out of the way, coughing from the dust in the air. The drone blows a hole through the spider slayer.
A whip of black fluid shoots out and wraps around the drone before whipping it into the wall. Alex comes into the picture and rushes the drone. She takes out a gun and fires the enhanced bullets taking down one of the drones.
The spider slayer almost pins Gwen against the wall. Her attempts to push it out off go unneeded when Astra dives down from the ceiling and wipes out the slayer.
The other two slayers move at Astra and fire upon her. Astra throws her arms out and vibrates through the front of the slayers. She crushes them in the palm of her hand, a miniature explosion going off the second Astra connects with the slayers. She breaks out into a very obvious smile when pulling away from them.
"On your right."
The slayer comes down on Gwen's right. Gwen dodges the attack and sends blasts of webbing at the underside of the slayer. She pulls the legs out from underneath it.
The final drone gives chase on Kara. Kara throws her cape up into the air to confuse it.
This allows Alex to blast the drone out of the sky. Kara's cape returns into her hand and she puts it back on.
"There's going to be more, isn't there?"
Astra moves across the room and notices a blinking relay.
"Well, not when this thing stops giving a signal."
She rips it open and disconnects the wires. The lone drone in the air, perched to attack, drops down.
Gwen gathers up all of the pieces of the Red Kryptonite before they can affect Kara and Astra, and Alex brings over a lead lined container. They drop them into the box and then put a lid, which Kara seals with her Heat vision.
"Not bad...although there's room for improvement."
Alex just takes a second to give Astra a sidelong look and sigh. She supposes that could have gone a tiny bit smoother to be perfectly honest.
Spider-Girl kicks over the inactive spider slayer. She makes sure that there's no surprises. There's a serial number on the bottom of it.
"And what kind of idiot puts a serial number on the bottom of his death machine?"
"The type of idiot who wants to be found?"
Astra's very calm declaration of fact is something Gwen's unable to dispute. Still, she whips out the portable computer. Last time she's searching around for Smythe, she ended up getting bombarded with these Slayers. Hopefully nothing else would be bad out here.
"Nice moves out here."
"Thanks..it's a work in progress. You too by the way."
Kara just smiles.
"It's a work in progress."
Gwen gets a match, she gets three matches in fact.
"The parts are made at one of three factories."
"Which means Smythe's lab will be located in the center."
Astra takes the portable computer away from Gwen.
"How do you know this?"
"He's not going to set up shop in an obvious location. But he's not going to want to be part from the parts he needs to build more slayer. I expect that someone is...supplying him with Kryptonian."
"Luthor usually got his hands on it, but...he's currently in prison."
Alex puts a hand underneath her chin and looks very thoughtful. The DEO has Kryptonite, obviously, but this Red Kryptonite is rarer, and the piece she got a good look at looks different than normal Kryptonite.
"No one's supplying Smythe with the Kryptonite. But someone knows how to make it."
Kara frowns and this causes her eyebrow to raise.
"Who…."
"Someone who has access to all of the planetary data of what the core of Krypton was made up of right before it exploded."
It would take someone very capable to recreate the Kryptonite. One wrong move, and they would end up making this planet go the way of the dead planet.
"And I know of someone who also escaped Fort Rozz who knows so. The reason why the rest of us escaped and the reason why your ship finally crashed on Earth."
This is news to Kara who waits for Astra to explain.
"I'll tell you on the way."
Gwen and Alex sigh. Gwen supposes that it's down to her to make the very obvious observation.
"You realize neither of us can fly, right?"
"Well, I'm sure Ms. Danvers can show you how she caught a fly last time."
"Yeah...I guess."
Alex is not too particularly happy with the situation, given the last time she left her stomach about two blocks away. Regardless, she latches her webbing onto Kara and Gwen, copying her motion, does the same.
The moment they kick off of the ground, Gwen comes to the conclusion it's a hell of an experience, although it's almost one she does not want to make a habit out of doing.
Alestair Smythe sits on the chair behind of the screen which showcases what was once a lab. But, now it's completely faded to black and no matter what he can do, he cannot restore the decision.
"I don't know if you get that...but they might have known that we're here."
"I told you it was a high probability that they would come here. And you're prepared from them...the Ultimate Spider Slayer."
The updates to Smythe's weak human body make him a very formidable enemy indeed. He gives up a lot, including his humanity, for true power. For too long, people like Osborn and Octavius treated him like a second class citizen. Even a worm like Menken was higher up the food chain than he is.
But now, thanks to the help of his power, he became someone else. Smythe is the ultimate slayer and he enjoys the power it brings.
"With Astra and Supergirl out of the way, there will be nothing left standing in my way. Non's easily manipulated….his false delusions of his self-importance are the perfect tool for me to take everything from this planet and leave it nothing but ash as I continue to go through the universe."
Smythe's scanner goes off, clocking one item heading towards them.
"Something's coming at us, faster than a speeding bullet."
A beautiful, but deadly, blue skinned female, wearing tight black pants, a tight top, and a leather jacket steps out. Indigo breaks out into a smile.
"And this Spider-Girl as well?"
"I'll take care of her personally."
"Of course...it's time for me to make them kneel before me."
Indigo breaks out into a smile and waits for their guests to arrive. She's been calculating all of the probabilities in her mind and there is a very high odds of her enemies lying broken and battered, especially with the Ultimate Slayer and his new Kryptonite heart entering the battle.
Making Kryptonite from scratch had been tedious, given many of the elements in the planet's core being harder to come by. Yet, Indigo improvised and the results had been spectacular to say the least.
The sound of something hitting the large metal doors outside of the lab indicates that it's go time.
Indigo smiles.
To Be Continued.
