Henry's house was a one storey bungalow in the residential district. He bought it for appearances when he moved to the city, wanting something much more comfortable than a hotel room. The attached garage was a practical site to work on his tinkering, and he never got bothered in this neighbourhood. He made a point to memorise the surrounding area, all the back alleys and side streets in case of emergency. He would've preferred an underground escape route linked to his workshop, but there was nothing nearby that helped that wouldn't draw attention.

He returned to his home, keeping his head low as he slipped through his front door. He was surprised to find he had gotten here before the authorities had got here, leaving the neighbourhood quiet and empty. He scanned the neighbour's houses, spotting a few faces peering outside to see him returning home. He didn't overthink it as he unlocked the door, stepping inside and locking it behind him. He estimated he'd have fifteen minutes to get what he came for and leave. Five minutes for his neighbours to make the call, another ten for the response time of the local police. He'll be gone before they get here.

He ignored the bedroom and resisted the impulse to pack clothes and personal belongings. That would take too long. He ducked into his garage instead, leaving the lights off as he opened cupboards and drawers. He unzipped his bag and collected the trinkets he was working on, things he needed to complete a shipment he'll be using. He rummaged along his workstation looking for his little black book, names and numbers scrawled within.

He froze suddenly when he heard the sound of a car pulling up outside. He turned his head, peering through the dining room to the crack in the curtains where he glimpsed an unmarked car and a patrol cruiser coming to a stop. It appeared his calculations were off. He saw the shapes of a uniformed figure climb out of the cruiser and approach the window. Henry ducked out of sight and silently pulled a device from his pocket. He could see the officer's face in the reflection on a sheet of metal scanning the interior. He took a slow breath and twisted a switch, the red light arming his homemade security system.

Alex and Maggie stepped out of the unmarked car cautiously, looking up at the single floor bungalow uniform were already scouting. "Not quite the hideout you'd expect from a criminal who makes weapons, is it" Maggie remarked.

"At this point I'm not taking anything at face value" Alex said, reaching into her waistband and pulling out her personal sidearm. She may not get to use her alien handgun any more, but old fashioned lead bullets would still stop a grown man. She looked at the captain, who was calmer though her hand rested on her sidearm signalling to her officers to check the back. One circled around while two advanced on the door. Alex saw the woman wince in a little discomfort with each step. "Are you sure you're up for this?" she asked.

"I'm fine" she said. She caught the tone in her voice and apologised. "I've had enough doctors fussing over me. Even the deputy commissioner emailed his concern. He thinks I should be seeing a shrink."

"You did get caught in an explosion" Alex reminded her. "My boss suggested the same."

"And did you?"

Alex pulled a face. "I was busy" she replied.

Maggie nodded with a knowing smirk. "So am I" she agreed. The two of them chuckled, in silent agreement they can seek help once Jake and the Blacksmith were behind bars. She walked up to the front door and banged loudly. "Mr Irons? This is the police! Open the door!" she shouted, loud enough to draw the neighbour's attention. She paid no heed to the eyes spying on her from behind curtains as she stood on the porch and waited. After a minute she knocked again. Again, no reply. She looked to her officer, who all shook their heads indicating they didn't see anything. So she backed up and gave them the hand signal, a burly officer taking her place knocking one last time.

"Is it naive of me to hope it could've been that easy?" Alex asked her when she returned to her side.

Maggie chuckled. "We never expect the bad guys to be home, but you never know" she said as the officer tried the handle and found it locked.

When he gripped the handle and slammed his shoulder into it attempting to break it down, Alex nervously asked "won't we need a warrant?"

"The suspect is confirmed to be on the run, and a dangerous fugitive. We don't' need a warrant to search his property" Maggie replied.

Alex nodded, feeling like a dunce. She knew that. "It seems like every time I make a break in this case the only thing stopping me is a wall of red tape" she complained.

"I know the feeling" she nodded, watching her officers take positions as the big guy shoulder barged the door open. "But we're in the home stretch now" she promised as it smashed inwards with a loud crack. The officer stumbled into the dark interior, his boots stepping onto the creaking floorboards as the lock broke.

The door swung open tripping a laser tripwire that had been armed moments before, the sensor sending a signal to a secondary device that became armed and activated the moment the officer stepped onto the pressure plate under the floorboards. There was a five second delay before the explosive charge hidden in the entranceway detonated, a claymore explosive launching shrapnel at the front door tearing it and everyone standing around it to shreds. The explosion sent the two woman out front stumbling backwards at the bang rang in their ears, wood and metal and plaster and flesh spraying into the street as they ducked behind the cover of the police cars. Car alarms of parked cars blared as the neighbourhood froze in shock.

Alex scrambled behind Maggie's vehicle, scuttling to a crouch drawing her weapon pointing it at the bungalow. She stared in horror at the ravaged remains of the two officers who were taking point, their uniforms torn apart and bloodied as they laid motionless on the porch. Dust and debris floated down around them as she trained her aim on the house, her heart racing as she took the safety off. "Captain? Are you okay?" she screamed over the ringing in her ears. She looked over and found Maggie sitting behind the police cruiser, her eyes looking at her officers on the ground, her chest riding and falling with rapid breaths. Alex stared at her and saw the panic behind her eyes, the paleness of her skin. She glanced to the house and raced over to her, shaking her from her transfixed daze. "Maggie, are you hurt? Say something" she whispered.

Maggie couldn't stop the fear overcoming her. The moment the front door exploded she had visions of Jake's apartment, the flash and the noise and the shockwave, the pain as she felt the debris rip through her body and the impact against the floor which knocked her unconscious. She through her was going to day in that moment. She saw the flash in the doorway and froze, falling backwards when she felt the dust cloud tickle her skin, droplets of her officer's blood peppering her shirt. She was afraid she was about to bite it for real now. But instead it was her officers, two of her officers not enough off patrol, who were killed. No, murdered by a madman. Who plants a bomb in their own home? She asked for the second time.

Alex grew worried as she saw Maggie draw into herself. She recognised the signs of PTSD, Kelly described them many times when they were helping James. She stayed by her side and watched the front door, pulling out her phone to call for backup and the fire department. But before she could dial 911 she looked up and saw a figure standing inside the house, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder as he stared out in her direction. She inhaled sharply when she saw the face of the photograph brainy sent her. "Son of a…HENRY IRON! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!" she bellowed, pointing her gun at him.

The man turned and bolted towards the back door, ignoring her command.

"Shit!" Alex cursed. Her impulse was to leap out of cover and give chase. But she didn't want to leave Maggie to her trauma. She was about press the button on her signal watch to call for backup when Maggie suddenly grabbed her wrist. "Get him" the woman ordered, her eyes focused and full of fury. "Get that bastard" she said. Alex nodded, leaping to her feet and sprinting around the back of the house while Maggie pulled her radio call for backup herself.

Alex sprinted around the back, her gun drawn in front of her ready for anything. She found the backdoor wide open, the third uniformed officer lying on the ground. She ran over and checked his pulse, looking down at the blackened hand curled into a claw. She looked at the door handle he must've grabbed, the other side wired with a car battery. Another part of the Blacksmith's security system, the poor cop was electrocuted the moment he grasped the handle. She confirmed the man was dead and crept cautiously to the open door scanning the interior. A noise from behind her brought her attention to the backyard, an open green yard with a few overgrown bushes. "Henry Irons?" she called out, cautiously scanning the fenced area. She glimpsed faint tracks in the flattened grass, footsteps leading to the back. There wasn't a back gate here, the only exit a few yards to her left leading back into the street. "Come out agent" she ordered, her gun poised. "There's nowhere left for you to go!" she told him.

He begged to differ as he watched her from his hiding place, calmly counting the footsteps before he pushed a button on the device in his hand. The ground around Alex sprung up with a flash of light as he triggered the flashbang buried in the yard. Alex recoiled crying out as she covered her eyes, momentarily blinded and stunned. Henry darted out from behind the bush and tossed his bag over the fence in front of him. "Stop!" Alex shouted, firing blinding at the shape leaping up over the perimeter, the bullets missing wide. He heard her curse while he landed in a crouch, picking up his bag and sprinting down the alley in a hurry.

He had his escape mapped out in his head. There was a turn at the end of this path that would take him to a back street, which would lead him to the subway he could use to go deeper into the city and then slip into an access tunnel that would take him to his workshop.

Unfortunately, his palm was foiled by the arrival of a man clad in armour riding a motorcycle. "Going somewhere?" Guardian asked as he slid to a stop in the entrance. Henry skidded to a stop and reached into his pocket, the motorcycle roaring towards him. He pulled out a laser pointer and aimed it at the vehicle. He pressed a button and the device made the steeling mechanism lockup, causing the man to veer into a pile of garbage and crash. The man grunted and rolled onto the ground as Henry turned and sprinted the way he came. It wouldn't take the young Mr Olsen long to bring himself to his feet.

He got a couple of yards away until his second escape route was blocked by the arrival of a young blonde woman in a red and blue costume. Supergirl landed on the pavement with a thud, her stern gaze fixed on the man as he came to a stop. "Mr Irons" she said bluntly.

"Miss Danvers" he smiled politely. He looked behind him and found the Martian Manhunter floating down to join the armoured Guardian flanking him. he adjusted his bag and reached into his coat, only for a whip made of blue energy to strike his wrist making him drop whatever he had intended to use. He spun around to the intersecting alley and found Dreamer glaring at him, her blue whip shrinking back to her hand as she stood poised glaring at him. "Miss Nal" he said fondly, raising his empty hands to them. "It's a pleasure to see you again" he said.

His surrender was interrupted when Alex barrelled into him from the top of the fence, body slamming him onto the floor with her gun pressed against the base of his skull. She knelt over him, kicking the duffle bag away as she pinned his back with her knee, her gun pointed at his head as she hissed angrily "you sick, twisted son of a bitch. Three more people are dead. How many more people have to suffer before you give up you murderous bastard!" she screamed, her finger tightening on the trigger.

"ALEX!" J'onn's voice snapped, interrupting the thought he sensed running through her mind. She looked up and found everyone had cornered him, responding to the report of an explosion at this address. Nia and James were fortunate to be in the area. J'onn and Kara came flying in the moment they heard Alex was here.

She looked around at the group and then down at the middle aged man she had pinned down. She reluctantly eased her finger off the trigger and let out a breath before pulling the blacksmith to his knees. "Henry Irons, you are under arrested" she snarled, yanking his hands behind his back as everyone surrounded him.

Henry looked up at them all, not resisting as J'onn radioed Brainy over his earpiece. "I'm impressed" he remarked, curiously asking them "what gave me away?" they didn't say anything but he noted a brief glance to Dreamer. He laughed, nodding at his foolishness. "You truly are remarkable" he told the young woman.

"It's over" Supergirl told him, standing over him firmly, and a hint of pride in her smile.

"Damn right it's over" Alex agreed, pulling out a pair of zip ties since she didn't have handcuffs, tying his wrists behind his back. "We've got a long list of charges waiting for you, and a lot of people have a lot of questions to ask" she told the man, not hiding her satisfaction of catching him.

As the group enjoy their brief moment of triumph, their victory is cut short when Nia spots a red dot drifting over the Blacksmith's glasses before floating up to Alex's chest. "Look out!" she cried, alerting them to it a split second before a bang could be heard echoing around them.

Kara spun her head at super speed, the world slowing down around her in time to see the bullet skimming through the air towards her sister. She reached out with ease and caught the projectile in her palm. But then she grunted as a second bullet struck her back, the lead object bouncing off her body ricocheting into the fence. She heard more whistles as more bullets came flying past her, hitting the fences and ground around them as everyone dived for cover. Alex shoved the Blacksmith down flat covering him as Guardian pulled up his shield, the bullets bouncing off his armour as he stepped in front of J'onn. Nia threw up a force field of blue energy, the bullets pounding her defence making her strain to keep it up. Kara covered them with her cape, blocking as many of the bullets as she could as they tore through the alley and bounced off her skin.

She peers over her arm and scans the street, finding the source of the gunfire coming from a fence on the opposite side of the street. She glanced back at the others she's shielding, looking to J'onn who was shifting his mass to cover Alex and her prisoner. "Go!" he told her, assuring her they were covered. She nodded, dashing out of the alley in a blur, flying through the gunfire towards the source of the muzzle flashes.

She caught the barrel with her fist, crushing it and ripping it out of the grasp of the shooter. She had to rip apart the fence it was hiding behind but that was nothing. But when she looked down she discovered nobody was there. There was no shooter. She looked at the machine gun in her hand, then at the mechanical contraption still whirling with activity swinging back and forth as it attempted to fire on the alley. "What they hell?" she muttered, staring at the mechanism and the remote signal device attached to it.

In the ally, the gunfire ceased and the group lifted their heads over their protective shields. She saw Supergirl across the street standing in front of the fence but no sign of the shooter. James rose up from his crouch, feeling the bruises from the gunfire making his body ache. But as he lifted his gaze his eyes caught a reflection on the inside of his shield; a shape rushing at him. He whirled around in time to see a huge figure barrel into him, flanking them from behind and delivering a powerful kick to the superhero.

The superfreinds were blindsided by the attack from behind, their first indication when Guardian was sent tumbling to the ground by the figure in red and black kicking him down. Nia spun in alarm and swiftly got a backhand across her face, her force field dissolving as she landed on the pavement tasting blood. J'onn was more fluid in his reaction, stepping in front of the figure who pulled an object from his shoulder plate, the item whirling and growing becoming a weapon he fired at the Martian, hitting him with a sonic cannon that sent him hurtling through the fence. Alex brought her gun up and fired at the figure, her bullets hitting him in the chest plate bouncing off the armour. She heard him grunt as he stumbled back, charging forward to grapple with her disarming her of her weapon. She disarmed him off his, prompting him to pull a knife rom his gauntlet and bring it down at her until she blocked his stab with her arm, grappling for the knife.

She stared back at the grisly faceplate staring back at her. The figure was armoured head to toe, coloured red and black, his faceplate painted with a menacing skull as his deep breathing leaked from the helmet. She glared back growling, having a good idea exactly who was behind that mask. She was going to let him get away again, putting her combat training to work to break the hold and kick him back. They traded swings and blocks, the figure well trained and skilled. But he was also stronger than her, putting his weight to his advantage to fling her against a dumpster, knocking the wind out of her body so he could follow up with a punch to the jaw that knocked her unconscious on the ground.

Guardian was next to attack him, charging him with his shield knocking the knife from his grasp, only to be sent cartwheeling over his head. Olsen wasn't as well trained as Alex was. Neither was Nia, who fired a pair of energy blasts to knock the figure over. He ducked under them, whipping a piece of his armour off his thigh with extended into a handgun firing it at the girl. A bullet grazed her shoulder and sent her scrambling behind cover. Guardian came back swinging his shield, hitting the figure in the chest leading to a brief brawl which the strange ended by yanking a piece from his suit, slamming it to the weapon in his hand upgrading the pistol to a shotgun and firing it at point blank range at Guardian. The hero went flying backward, landing in a heap with a painful grunt.

By this point Supergirl had heard the commotion and come rocketing back into the alley. The figure turned to her firing his gun, the projectiles striking her chest harmlessly as she flew in shoulder barging him backwards. The weapon went flying and he went tumbling, twisting his body to land on his feet skidding to a stop. Kara looked at her friends either incapacitated or injured and let her eyes glow hot as she stalked forward.

Behind her Henry had grabbed the knife the figure dropped, used it to cut his bindings and was fumbling in his coat pocket. With Supergirl's back turned she failed to see him pull out the sonic emitter he had, twisting the dial unleashing an ear-splitting noise that would disorient an ordinary human. Indeed Nia covered her ears behind her cover, as did J'onn as he stumbled out of the gap in the fence. But for someone with as sensitive hearing as Supergirl, she screamed and fell to her knees clutching her head, blood pouring from her ears. The figure in front of her remained unfazed, his helmet insulating the noise from his eardrums, rising to his feet pulling another item from his belt. Supergirl saw him approaching and attempted to swing at him, but he caught her wrist and slammed a funnel over her nose and mouth and pushed the button on the device releasing the green gas in the tiny chamber. She gasped instinctively, inhaling the green gas from the item before she could realise what it was. He let her go as she stumbled back to her hands and knees, clutching her neck as her lungs started to burn and her throat inflamed, her kryptonite gas suffocating her leaving her gasping for breath.

The figure stepped over the paralysed kryptonian and approached the man on the ground, who turned off his weapon and climbed to his feet. "I'm surprised to see you" he remarked to the man who yanked him to his feet. "I'm guessing the kid called you?" he assumed.

"Something like that" the mercenary replied, looking at the group of superheroes. He saw Dreamer still hiding behind the dumpster a few feet away, her hands glowing preparing for another attack. He pulled a tiny disc from his belt and flung it at the fence next to her, hearing the three second beep before it detonated with a small explosive charge. Enough to send the young inexperienced hero tumbling to the ground coughing up dirt, her body falling limping into a sluggish daze. He heard Supergirl try and call out to him, telling him to stop as she crawled forward, her skin turning pale and sickly as green veins grew around her mouth and throat. "You're fortunate Supergirl" he told her, stepping forward to look down at her coldly while Henry collected his bag. "My client expressed instructions to make sure you are not permanently harmed" he informed her. "But your friends on the other hand" he added, pulling another folding handgun from his thigh and efficiently turning around to aim at the green Martian roaring at him.

He fired four times, each bullet punching J'onn in the chest sending him tumbling back against the fence. Kara watched in horror as the Martian fell with four bullet wounds in his chest, his breathing raspy as he collapsed to the ground. Alex stirred in time to witness it, screaming his name in anguish as Supergirl looked up at the skull face staring back at her.

"Consider that you're only warning" he said, marching away dragging Henry with him leaving the heroes injured and defeated in the alley. Kara tried to push herself up, to give chase or to help J'onn. She failed as her legs gave out under her, the kryptonite she had inhaled spreading through her body until she finally blacked out on the floor.