"Lightning One-One do you have a visual on the target?" requested NORTHCOM. Flagg and his team listened to the com chatter impatiently. Attacking the alien was considered to be the easy part in the plan and yet it managed to take down an entire squadron of helicopters and a Stinger. Flagg didn't want to imagine what an entire army of these things with their ships and weapons could do.
"That's affirmative. We have visual seventy meters southeast of the impact crater. Target is not moving and appears to be unconscious," answered the F-15 Squad Leader. Even the pilot wasn't naïve enough to say the alien was dead, not after everything it just endured. Flagg wasn't sure anything short of a nuclear bomb could do the job but even then he had his doubts.
"Good work. Anvil Four-One you are cleared for extraction. Get in and out as fast as you can," ordered NORTHCOM.
"Copy that," acknowledged the V-22 pilot before Flagg felt the chopper shift directions.
"Moment of truth gentlemen. If any of you are religious now would be a good time to ask the man upstairs for a favor," Flagg addressed his men. Glancing out a window, he watched the ground grow closer and closer. The remains of four helicopters were scattered beneath them. Miraculously, none of them seemed to have suffered a major crash and from what Flagg hear on his ear com there were no casualties. Gut instinct told them that was no coincidence. The Osprey shook as it touched down and the loading ramp opened.
Instantly, Flagg's teams rushed outside carrying a stretcher. It wasn't difficult to find their target as the crashed pilots and SFs had surrounded a spot, their guns readied and aimed at the ground. Flagg had to give them credit for courage for using their flash bangs on the alien. They were lucky it didn't retaliate before being incapacitated. At least Flagg hoped it was incapacitated and not just playing dead for whatever reason. "Stand back! Stand back!" he shouted to everyone as his team approached.
As the crowd dispersed and Flagg finally saw the alien for the first time, what struck him was how human she looked. She wasn't a little green man or a humanoid with pointy ears but looked exactly like a normal regular human being. Long golden hair swirled around a pristine face completely untouched by heat or injury. You'd think she was just sleeping. "You know for an alien she's kinda hot," admitted Cutter as he helped Flagg lifted her up.
Flagg ignored Cutter's comment as they set the alien on the stretcher. For someone so powerful, she didn't weigh that much. They strapped her in but didn't bother putting restraints on her. If she was capable of ripping apart a helicopter, a few leather straps on her wrists and ankles weren't going to stop her. Mason and Gerhardt lifted the stretcher up and the team quickly rushed towards the Osprey. The look on the soldiers they were leaving revealed they didn't envy what Flagg and his team were about to do. "Good luck sir," one of them called out.
The minutes they were aboard, the loading ramp closed up behind them and they were already starting to take off. The pilots didn't want to be transporting the alien anymore then Flagg wanted to guard it. But they had their orders and they were going to carry them out. Flagg just hoped they would live long enough to complete them. "NORTHCOM this is Sierra Actual. Package is secured and in transit," he reported over his com.
"Copy Actual. Godspeed," replied NORTHCOM. In other words, you're on your own if something happens. Gerhardt grabbed a piston shaped device sitting on a pair of four wheels. It reminded Flagg of some gizmo you would see at a dentist's office, the way it would several movable joints along the frame. It was supposed to be a high tech injector system that used high air pressure to inject chemicals into the bloodstream. Flagg did wonder why on Earth they would even make something like this considering a syringe was much cheaper but according to the big brains at DARPA, it should be able to penetrate the alien's skin no matter how strong it is. Truthfully he wasn't convinced. Even if it could penetrate, there was no guarantee the anesthesia would even work. This thing didn't have the same body chemistry as a human after all.
Gerhardt loaded a chemical cartridge into the injector and positioned it onto the alien's exposed neck. He pressed a button on the control console, causing the device to charge. After a few seconds, a green light lite up indicating it was ready. He pressed the inject button and then things went sour. A sudden burst air shot out of the injector and red lights went off on the controls. "What happened?" demanded Flagg.
"Give me a sec. I only got a crash course on this thing a few hours ago," replied Gerhardt. He checked over the readings. "Zero penetration. The device needed to expel the pressure when it couldn't penetrate her skin."
"Chalk one up for the nerds," muttered Ryan.
Flagg sighed and activated his com, "NORTHCOM this is Sierra Actual. Injector is ineffective."
"NORTHCOM copys all," came the General's delayed response. No other words were spoken but then again, none were required. The last thing the team would have wanted to hear were words of encouragement from people who weren't sitting next to a sleeping beauty that was probably more dangerous than an atom bomb. The alien's head moved slightly and instantly, everyone backup up and aimed their weapons at her. Flagg was certain they were all dead but nothing happened. The alien moaned, her eyes clearly moving behind closed eyes. "I sure hope she's having good dreams," Flagg whispered.
Zor-El's funeral had attracted quite a large crowd considering how he lived a reclusive life away from everyone except his family. Even the Council had come to pay their respects. He deserved that much considering he died defending them from Terrax. Kara's fury could barely be contained after the Council's last meeting regarding that monster. They should have killed him but even after he murdered thirteen guards and Zor-El, the Council still deliberates like this was a difficult decision.
Mother couldn't contain her tears throughout the ceremony and Aunt Lara tried to comfort her. Kara wished she could tell her everything was going to be alright and that Father would have wanted her to be strong. But she couldn't comfort anyone at the moment. She should be sad and even let a few tears drip down her cheeks but she was too angry to cry. Uncle Jor stood beside Lara composed but the smile Kara had seen on him for so many years was gone. She swore her uncle hadn't smiled at all since her father's death. Perhaps he was just as angry as Kara was.
Zor-El's coffin levitated slowly around the room, allowing all to see the deceased. He was dressed in a combat uniform with the symbol of El on his chest plate. Though born of the Scientist Caste, he died bravely defending the lives of others and was given full military honors. Dru-Zod, recently promoted to General, watched as Zor's coffin passed by him then his eyes turned to Kara. For the first time, Kara saw his military facade change into one of sympathy.
The coffin came to a halt in front of the immediate family for the final regards. One by one each member of the immediate family took a handful of Kryptonian soil and dropped it onto the body. It was tradition that had dated back thousands of years when Kyrptonians were buried in the ground. Though bodies nowadays were broken down into nutrients for Genesis Chambers, some customs never changed. Kara and her mother were the last to drop their handfuls and say their final farewells. The coffin closed and floated towards the intake chamber. A small rectangular hole was just large enough for it to fit through and begin the molecular breakdown process.
"As we were once born from the chambers, so too must return in death. Becoming nutrients for the next generation of our people is the last great service any one of us can do. May those who are born in the next cycle hold themselves to the high standard that Zor-El had lived his whole life and be a shining example as he was for every generation to come," spoke Ro-Zar, leader of the Council.
After a minute, the team began to relax and one by one sat down. Flagg didn't feel safe at all but worrying about it wasn't going to help. His thoughts wondered to his ex-wife Karin and their son Rick Jr. They were the perfect happy family when Richard was home but more often than not, he was away on some mission. Rick and Karin's marriage had been happy and strong for years but slowly the extended missions and long unexplained absences began to chip it away. Karin wanted him to retire but the military wasn't a job for Rick, it was a part of his identity. He couldn't just leave the service and Karin couldn't stand worrying that her husband would leave one day and come back in a box. The divorce was less messy then it could have been and the two agreed to share custody of little Rick Jr. Still, Flagg felt as if life didn't mean as much to him after it. As if some part of him left when his wife did and he's never been able to get it back.
Sitting a few feet away from something that could kill him in a second the moment it woke up made Flagg reflect on how many times he let the two people that matter most down. It's amazing how a firefight behind enemy lines against superior numbers didn't even make him flinch but a sleeping beauty waking up scared the hell out of him. Maybe because a firefight he had a chance but not with the alien. Flagg normally didn't take his old family picture with him in his uniform but upon hearing the details of this mission, he felt he needed to their faces one last time in case it goes FUBAR. He slipped it out of his shoulder pocket and instantly remembered the warm summer day as Karin and Rick Jr. posed with him during a family trip to an amusement park.
Kara stood outside the Council Chambers impatiently pacing back and forth. How could it take them so long to come to such a simple decision? Terrax deserves to die not just for murdering her father but also everyone else he butchered to get to the Council members. What was there to decide? Mother, Uncle Jor, and Aunt Lara refused to come. They didn't want to spend another moment of their lives wasted on that monster but Kara couldn't. Zor-El was more than just her father but friend and mentor. Someone she could talk too about anything and not worry about being judged. Jor warned Kara that she was becoming too obsessed over seeing Terrax dead and that led to probably the biggest argument they've ever had. Why couldn't they understand that she couldn't move on with her life as long as that thing was still breathing? It was all she thought about night and day.
Hours passed and Kara's rage only built with it. The government officials who passed her avoided her gaze, whether intimidated or disgusted Kara couldn't tell. Not that she cared what any of those so called genetically superior beings thought of her. People like them had always considered her trash because of her origin and would go to so many extremes to make her life miserable. One would think they'd show a little appreciation after stopping Terrax from murdering the Council but nothing changed.
In the end, it was General Zod who finally emerged from the chambers. The once cold and harsh taskmaster that Kara remembered from the Academy had changed. He was still stern and rigid but more lenient towards Kara. Though whether it was due to sympathy over her loss or simply adjusting to his new position was debatable. He could no longer afford to be the same ruthless commander but a general who had the support and love of his troops. "Cadet. I should have known you would be here. Did Jor-El come as well?" he asked.
"No sir. He…felt it would be best to stay away from all of this," answered Kara.
"If only I could do the same," sighed Zod. "The Council has made its decision. Terrax has been sentenced to the Phantom Zone for somatic reconditioning." Somatic reconditioning? As in he could potentially be released one day. The sheer thought of that monster walking on Krypton once again was almost too much for Kara's mind to handle. She staggered back in a wall and then suddenly turned and unleashed her fist into it again and again. Within seconds, her knuckles began to bleed and left behind red marks on their target.
Zod grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved into the wall, pinning her. "That's enough Cadet!" he shouted. Kara had so much blind rage inside of her that she would have struck the man had her military training not kicked in. How could this happen? How could the so called beings genetically engineered to make the right decisions agree to this? Did they actually needed one of their own to die in front of them? Her father died for these kind of scum? A strange sensation began tingling in the back of her eyes.
"I understand you're angry but save it for the field. I need to know you're ready," continued Zod.
"Ready for what sir?" asked Kara. Zod pulled out a Service Medal and slapped it onto Kara's uniform. It took her a moment to recognize it as a Lieutenant's insignia. "Sir…is this what I think it is?"
"The Council has assigned me to the Northern Territories to deal with unrest there and I want to know I have the best soldiers under my command," Zod explained himself.
"But sir I haven't graduated the academy yet," protested Kara. The sensation in her eyes got worse but still she ignored it.
"You fought and put down the most dangerous enemy imaginable and lived to tell about. Terrax had killed hundreds over the years and you're the only person that's managed to take him down single handedly. As far as I'm concerned, putting you back in a classroom is a waste of time and furthermore an insult," Zod stated.
Kara didn't know what to say. She was completely speechless. One minute she was going through one of the worst moments of her life and now she was experiencing one of her proudest. This was what she wanted for years. To finally a member of the Warrior Caste and defend Krypton from all enemies foreign and domestic. Yet it all felt bittersweet. Father wasn't alive to see this for himself and that destroyed whatever joy Kara felt for this achievement. "Thank you sir. I know I don't look appreciative but I am grateful for this," Kara finally managed to say.
"Your emotions are considered a weakness among the rest of my peers but I disagree, I think it gives you a strength no other soldier can have. What you did against Terrax was proof of that. That's why I'm assigning to my personal command. You'll be taking orders only from me," said Zod.
"You want me to go with you sir?" Kara asked but knew the answer. Her eyes were starting to burn and yet it strangely almost felt natural.
"We'll subdue the insurgents and then we have a more important task at hand. Krypton is dying due to the degenerative bloodlines being maintained and we're going to change that Lieutenant," nodded Zod.
Kara understood his statement completely. He was going to act against the Council. Whether it was politically or militarily, Kara didn't know but she did know that she wanted to be a part of it. After today, she no longer had any sympathy or loyalty to those bastards. "You can count on me sir," she said proudly.
Suddenly her eyes began to burn red. Kara screamed in pain as the world around her dissolved into a red haze.
It happened without any warning. One second Flagg was looking at his family portrait, the next the alien screamed and twin crimson beams of energy shot out of her eyes. Everyone instantly leaped to their feet as the beams cut through the ceiling like butter. As the Osprey wasn't pressurized, the air wasn't violently sucked out of the aircraft but Flagg didn't count himself lucky at the moment. As the alien's head moved upwards, the beams cut along the back frame of the aircraft cutting the injector in half and nearly hitting Mason who was forced to jump out of the way. Suddenly the whole aircraft shook violently, knocking off their feet. Those damn beams must have hit one of the rotors.
By the time anyone could stand back, the alien had ripped through the restraints and covered her eyes as if in pain. She stood up and opened them once more relieved. Until she glanced around and Flagg swore he had never seen someone so pissed off in his life. Gerhardt quickly grabbed the portable LRAD unit but the alien was on her feet in a microsecond. She grabbed the unit as Gerhardt raised it, crushing the machine like it was tinfoil. Gerhardt was lucky his hands weren't crushed as well but he didn't let go and the alien gave him a simple shove sent him and the crushed unit flying into the cockpit. Flagg scrambled to grab his assault rifle but the alien swatted it away by the time he raised it. She grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up effortlessly, slamming into the wall.
"Mayday mayday mayday. Controls are not responding. Repeat this Anvil Four-One we are going down!" shouted the Osprey pilot over the radio. Swanwick and the rest of the staff at NORTHCOM could only watch helplessly. The alien must have caused those energy beam that hit one of the rotors and now the aircraft was descending rapidly to the ground. Swanwick had watched men under fire before via drone and satellite footage but this time it was different. Every other time the men had a chance to get out with their lives but this wasn't the same. With how much power that alien had, Swanwick already knew that everyone on board was as good as dead.
Mason, Cutter, and Walker fired their weapons at the alien but the bullets ricocheted off her skin and bounced around the hold. Walker screamed in pain as one ricocheted into his ankle, dropping him. The alien glared at them annoyed and then turned her attention back to Flagg. He was certain he was as good as dead. "If you're going to do it then do it," Flagg snapped.
Something caught the alien's interest on his uniform as her free hand reached towards his shoulder pocket. It was only then that Flagg remembered he had hastily put away his family's picture and could see it just slightly hanging out for the world to see. He tried to stop her hand from grabbing it but he would have had better luck trying to stop a train. She pulled the picture out and almost seemed unnerved by the sight of it. Was she appalled by the sight of a family or did this thing actually understood what it was and had some sense of sympathy. She dropped Flagg onto a seat and though a little out of breath, he was certain he wasn't seriously injured.
"Everyone hold on! Brace for impact!" shouted the pilot. Flagg quickly strapped himself in along with the rest of his team. Since their weapons were useless against her anyways, surviving the crash took priority over stopping her. The alien glanced around as if in thought then knelt to the floor, dropping to one knee and concentrating. Flagg didn't understand what it was until he realized the turbulence began to diminish. The aircraft felt like it was leveling out and the shaking stopped. Flagg's team watched in complete shock as their weapons, equipment, anything not bolted down began to float into the air defying gravity.
"Two hundred feet…one hundred feet…ninety….eighty-five…eighty-three," Staff Sergeant Sekowsky reported with the same shock as everyone else. The footage from the predator drone showed the Osprey was still falling but slowing down. There was no way to explain how this was happening. The aircraft didn't have the rotor power anymore to keep itself in the air like that and yet there it was.
"NORTHCOM This is Lightning One. Are you seeing this?" the F-15 escort leader asked over the radio.
Kara breathed a sigh of relief as the aircraft gently landed on the ground. She couldn't explain it but however she was able to defy gravity before, she managed to do it again. Kara remembered the terror she felt the first time she fell to the surface on this planet and could see the same fear on the men who had seemingly abducted her while she was unconscious. The first thing she remembered was the pain she felt as energy shot of her eyes and when she realized where she was, Kara was pissed. The humans had taken advantage of her mercy and used it against her. If she hadn't seen the picture of the man with his family, she might have left them to die in the crash. But as soon as she realized one of the humans was a father, Kara sprang into action. She remembered what it was like to lose a father and she didn't want anyone else to ever suffer that kind of pain.
She didn't know how to fly like Kal but she knew she could. Jax-Ur believed the ability was caused by a bio-electric field that altered gravity around the subject. And just maybe, Kara thought she might be able to extend that field to encompass the entire craft. It was a just guess but it paid off as everyone onboard was alive though somewhat injured. The humans just stared at her, unsure what to do next. Kara didn't give them any time to figure it out as she kicked a hole out in the wall and stepped outside.
The same sound she heard before could be heard overhead. The human attack craft were circling, possibly getting ready to attack. But this time she was ready. Missiles shot out of their underbellies, aimed at her. Kara focused on the burning pain she felt in her dream and managed to bring it back. Her eyes glowed red before beams of pure energy shot out of them. She blasted the missiles before they were even close. Next she turned her attention to the fighters and their wings. As fast as they were, they couldn't outrun light. Kara unleashed a quick burst of energy into each of their wings, slicing them off. The pilots ejected as their machines spun out of control and crashed. One last target remained and the unmanned drone was sliced in half a second later.
Swanwick had been embarrassed when the alien had taken apart four helicopters and an AC-130 without as much as a scratch. No he was starting to feel afraid as the alien had wiped out the F-15s with no effort at all with this energy ability. Why she didn't utilize it earlier, Swanwick didn't know but he did know he had to tell the President that a nuclear strike might be the only remaining option in dealing with these things. He was about to make that call when suddenly klaxons went off.
"What just happened?" demanded Swanwick.
"Their ship's splitting in two. Track 1 is heading east. Track 2 is heading somewhere over the Southern Hemisphere!" reported Sekowsky. It looked like the single alien in Iowa was now the least of their problems.
(This is where things are going to start to change from the movie. I never did like that tentacle fight so I'm replacing with something involving a certain killer from Kara's past. If that doesn't give it away, you haven't been reading this fic. Please review and subscribe.)