(This is shorter than previous chapters but I just wanted to focus on the battle and nothing else.)
Master Sergeant Richard Flagg had been in the United States Armed Forces for over twenty years. Born in a small town he couldn't stand, Flagg enlisted the first chance he could and never looked back. A few years in, he passed Ranger school and joined the 75th Ranger Regiment. He fought in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia among others. And that all felt like warm up compared to Delta OTC (Operator Training Course). Officially designated as 1st Special Forces Operation Detachment-Delta, Delta Force is one of the five Tier 1 military units in the Armed Forces and certainly the most popular among the press. Majority of the members were in their mid-thirties and most candidates who could pass other special forces training flunked out. Flagg rose up the ranks to command his own five man team call sign Sierra 3. Three assault troops and two snipers. Sergeant First Class Eric Mason, Sergeant First Class Charlie Cutter, Staff Sergeant Arnold Gerhardt, and Sergeant Vincent Walker. All five of them fought in over a dozen countries in operations no one will ever know occurred.
Yet the countless firefights and the multiple successful missions didn't give anyone much encouragement for their next mission. Fighting aliens with god-like powers were not covered in basic or any other training school. Flagg read the reports on the engagement at Smallville and even reviewed helmet cam footage. The aliens withstood everything from assault rifles to missiles and were capable of things you'd only see in the movies. And Sierra 3 had to take one alive assuming they even had the ordinance capable of incapacitating it. And if the plan goes off without a hitch and they carry the aliens onto the Osprey, if it wakes up during transport the team was as good as dead.
Flagg could tell that was on everyone's minds just by looking at their grim faces. Aside from the engine motors, the back of the Osprey was completely silent as Sierra 3 waited for the green light. The other Special Forces in the Little Bird choppers had a dangerous job as well but theirs was milled. They would engage the target but at least they had some form of weaponry to fight back. Flagg and his men had a smaller portable version of an LRAD to utilize but other than that, they had nothing. Anything else could just end up doing them more harm than good. The team were armed with assault rifles and side arms but those would be about as effect as throwing paper balls at this alien.
"NORTHCOM this is Anvil Four-One. In position and awaiting package," the V-22's pilot's com chatter came in through Flagg's ear mic.
"Roger Anvil. All call signs check in," replied General Swanwick.
"Stinger Two-Five on station," reported the AC-130 Stinger pilot.
"Dagger-Two-One on station…Dagger Two-Two on station…Dagger Two-Three on station…Dagger Two-Four on station," reported all of the AH-6 Little Bird pilots.
"NORTHCOM this is Lightning One-One. We have the target in sight. Requesting permission to engage," chimed in an F-15 pilot.
"Lightning One-One you are cleared hot," ordered Swanwick.
That was the signal, the operation was a go. "Alright gentleman this is it," Flagg told his men.
Kara had no idea where she was going. Her first priority should be to find a populated area and try to use one of their communication devices to contact the Black Zero. Her people on the bridge were monitoring the human coms so if Kara could broadcast a signal, all she would have to do was voice the proper code words and then the crew would know it was her. But so far all she found was a lot of grass, few trees, and no humans. It didn't help that everything still seemed incredibly loud. Also there was a human machine constantly flying overhead in a circular pattern, following her. Using her X-Ray vision, she could tell no human was inside and was some kind of drone. Clearly she caught someone's attention but so far it was only observing her. Kara could have tried to leap up and swat it down but that might send the wrong message to whoever's controlling it. She was just trying to get back to her ship, not start a fight.
A new sound caught Kara's attention, something distant. She focused on the source with her enhanced vision to see two specks in the sky and getting closer. As they got closer, her x-ray vision could make out humans inside of them. Kara didn't know much about human technology but she knew an aerial fighter when she saw it. The two vehicles soared overhead, releasing objects from their under bottom. She also knew bombs when she saw them. Kara used her strength to leap away at the last second but the resulting explosion still sent her flying out of control, rolling once she hit the ground. Her ears started to ring as the massive explosion nearly blew out her eardrums, disorientating her. So much so she could barely get back to her feet. The fighters were gone but now a new noise replaced theirs. It was the sound of fast moving rotors.
"Good hit Lightning One-One. We have visual on target," reported a Little Bird pilot. General Swanwick stood in NORTHCOM's Operations Center, watching everything unfold on the large displays in front of him. The first bombing strike had gone off without a hitch. Swanwick was surprised that no alien reinforcements had shown up to aide their comrade. Perhaps they didn't know it was here.
"Copy that. Coming around to heading two-one-two degrees," replied F-15 Commander.
"Lightning this is NORTHCOM. Maintain a holding pattern until further notice. Stinger Two-Five you are cleared to engage." ordered Swanwick.
Whatever moment Kara had to orient herself vanished as firepower rained down from above. She had concentrated so much on the fighters and incoming rotor-based aircraft that she didn't notice another aircraft. Unlike the fast moving bombers, this one was circling overhead continuously bombarding Kara and the area surrounding her. Large bullets shot down, bouncing off her skin but carried enough force to knock her to the ground. Missiles and bombs soon followed with seconds away from impact. Unhurt but disorientated, Kara thrusted herself forward using her hands and knees. She launched herself away, using her super strength to clear herself of the blast radius.
"NORTHCOM we have lost visual of the target. I repeat we have lost visual," reported the Stinger. The entire room watched the footage of the bombardments but the alien had vanished. The attack seemed effective but whether the being was actually physically harmed was doubtful. If Smallville was any proof, Swanwick doubted it. These damn things seemed invincible.
"This is Dagger Two-One. We'll sweep the area…WAIT THERE IT IS!" screamed a Little Bird pilot.
Kara soared through the air and landed right on the front of a human flight machine with rotors on top and its tail. Not as efficient as Kryptonian flight tech but efficient enough to stay in the air. Climbing onto the front glass, Kara observed two humans manned the controls with two humans on each side manning four circular devices each attached to the machine for support. Kara didn't know what they were but she doubted they were harmless. One of the soldiers tried to swing his device around towards her direction but a simple swat from her knocked it right of its socket. Climbing up further, Kara stretched one of her hands up into the rotors which shredded themselves into pieces on her fingers.
"Mayday Mayday. Dagger Two-One is going down!" shouted the pilot. The machine dropped out of the sky and Kara moved herself underneath. Her feet hit the ground but the machine didn't. Holding it up with relative ease, she set it down harmlessly. Kara's eye caught another rotor machine nearby and with her strength soared through the air like a missile towards her target. Her ears could pick up the crew panicking mere seconds before she landed onto the side. Digging her fingers into the steel, she easily held on and kicked the back of the tail rotor right off the machine. Two down, two to go. Kara had no interest in killing the humans. They were more of an annoyance then a threat. The weapons they utilized though powerful couldn't harm her. Once again, she brought the machine down and stopped its crash by positioning herself underneath it.
Kara leaped off towards another one. Only this time, the humans were ready for her. Seconds away from her quarry, one of the passengers aimed the same disc-shaped device like the other machines had and activated. Instantly, Kara's ear felt like someone set off a high-pitched alarm inside her head. It was so loud and painful. Kara covered her ears and bounced off the machine like a rock. The machine spun from the impact but managed to regain control. Kara meanwhile dropped to the ground below. Though the impact was painless, her ears were still ringing. Maybe the humans did have something that could work on her.
Staying and attacking the rest of the humans was pointless. It wouldn't accomplish anything and Kara didn't want to experience that device again. She still wasn't completely able to master her enhanced senses yet and still couldn't handle loud sounds. But then again she didn't want to encourage further attacks so it was best to dissuade them from such force in the future. Kara shot towards a crashed machine were the crew were untangling themselves from the wreckage. They were injured but nothing serious as far as she could tell. Though they didn't really have to worry about her, the humans instantly pulled out their weapons and fired away. She passed by them, their weapons bouncing harmlessly off her skin.
Kara grabbed a large blade of the rotors and ripped it off. Just then, the intense sound returned. She covered her ears and glanced up at the source. Two machines remained, blasting her with sonic weapons. Enduring the torture, Kara aimed the blade and hurled it into the tail rotor of one of her attackers. Metal met metal, ripping each other apart. Instantly the machine began to spin downwards. Racing forward, she caught the crashing aircraft and gently set it down. Her ears felt on fire as she focused on the final one. Bracing herself, she leapt upwards and landed on front section of the machine. Punching through the glass, she grabbed the steering stick and forced it down. The machine responded by diving towards the ground. The pilot pulled out a sidearm and fired point black at Kara's head but stopped after two shots ricocheted off her and flew by his head.
Kara's feet hit the ground and she dug her hands into the sides, stopping the machine's crash and setting it harmlessly down. Quickly assessing the situation with her X-ray vision, Kara determined that none of the humans had suffered any fatal injuries. She glanced back at the machine she just brought down and was somewhat amused by the faces of its crew. They were stunned and angry but one thing was clear, they knew she let them live. It wasn't enough to just beat them. Kara wanted to them to know that they couldn't stop her and yet she didn't kill anyone. They were no threat to her but Kara just proved that she was no threat to them. She just wanted to get back to her ship.
The aircraft circling overhead was still on Kara's mind as she ripped another large rotor blade off. It wasn't going to bomb her for the moment with the other humans nearby but that could change. She glared at one of the humans, who still had his primitive rifle aimed at her. Whatever bravado he tried to hide behind was ruined by his shaking hands. "Can the people in that craft survive a crash?" Kara demanded. At first, he didn't answer her. Taking a single step towards him diminished their bravado.
"They all have parachutes so yeah," he finally answered. Kara felt his answer had more to do with the safety of the men in the aircraft rather than his own. Taking aim, Kara tossed the rotor blade through the air like a spear. She may not be an expert on human aviation but she knew a weak point when she saw. Her senses and strength enhanced beyond measure, the blade hit an engine on one of the crafts wings. The engine lite up on fire and the aircraft turned away in retreat. The humans on the ground all stared at her dumbfounded.
General Swanwick didn't know whether he felt more stunned or embarrassed at the moment. The alien had managed to survive a bombing run, disable an entire squadron of attack helicopters, and take down an AC-130 by throwing a helicopter blade like a javelin thousands of feet into the air. What the hell does it take to bring one of these things down?
"Uh sir. The F-15s are still in holding and requesting instructions," added Captain Farris who was still stunned by the apparent ease the alien defeated the attack force.
"Now!" shouted one of the humans. Before Kara had a chance to react, every single human survivor tossed grenades at her. Kara didn't know whether to admire them for their bravery or pity them for their stupidity. Suddenly, she was engulfed in a flash of light and sound. Kara stumbled to her knees as she realized the grenades weren't designed to kill but rather stun. The intense combination of bright light and loud bang disoriented her. For all her strength, Kara's enhanced senses were still a weakness she hadn't completely mastered yet and one the humans just exploited.
"Sir!" shouted Farris, pointing to the camera footage. A drone circling overhead picked up the helicopters attacking the alien with flash bangs. And that seemed to do the trick as it dropped to its knees disoriented.
"This is Dagger Two-Five. Target is stunned. Requesting a fire mission immediately. This will be danger close. I repeat danger close," a helicopter pilot urgently requested.
"Lightning One-One you are cleared to engage. Hit it with everything you've got," ordered Swanwick.
"Copy NORTHCOM. Danger Close," replied the F-15 Squad Leader.
Kara's senses began to return to her as she got back to her feet. Her ears were still ringing but her eyes could see more clearly. The humans were taking cover behind one of the wrecks. Kara was half-tempted to walk over there and teach them a lesson but realized that was childish. They had stunned her but otherwise didn't even scratch her armor. It was time to leave. Kara turned to simply walk away when she noticed four incoming objects coming from the sky. Smoke propulsion followed in their wake as they closed the distance between her. She had no time to react before they were upon. The last thing she remembered was being engulfed in flames from the explosions before everything went dark.
(Now I know some people will be angry that Kara was seemingly defeated by the military but remembered she didn't have a helmet on and hadn't completely mastered her senses yet like her cousin. Faora was knocked out by a missile to the face after all. I know Zod mastered his senses very quickly in the movie but I thought that was a little cheesy whereas Kara I wanted to take more time. Flagg is a character I wanted to introduce in this chapter as he will become more relevant in future chapters. Hope you liked and please review.)