She ran, her speed and reactions were beyond what she could comprehend. Racing through the streets was instinct, knowing exactly when to dip through gaps in traffic or leap over crossings. Her feet skipped along the ground. It was like floating on air, being pushed with great force every time she took another light and fast step. The coats and hair of passers-by whooshed in the breeze of her dash. It was so much faster than her flying.
"Sam? It's Spark, checking the D.E.O. didn't give me a dud or something," the voice came through her ear-piece with some minor static, she could make out what he was saying for the most part.
"They're targeting the city centre, Lena's allowed L-Corp to be used as a safe-haven for civvies. The D.E.O. intend to use it as a defensive position once they're in place. Get there before it turns into a warzone, the cultists will probably stop what they're doing if they see a World Killer in their way," he said.
"You're currently on a channel that J'onn and I can hear. The D.E.O. operatives our trained in these scenarios. Don't be so dismissive," it was Alex's voice.
"What if they see what I'm doing and shoot at me?" She said.
"You've got a shield, right?" He said. The pavements were getting more crowded, hordes of people going in the opposite direction in a panic. There were no gaps, she eyed a lamppost. She leaped and planted her left foot into it. Springing over the road and spinning in the air to a soft landing, barely breaking stride. Even if Reign had left, it appeared there was some talent for her powers coming back. A chill ran down her spine. She shook it off, but a worry that this natural affinity meant Reign was still lurking in her mind somewhere. It was stress and adrenaline that had unleashed her before.
"Sam?" Spark said.
"I'm still only one person," she said, she snapped away from those thoughts and attempted to focus.
"You've got speed on your side, regular guns won't do much to you. Any Kryptonian tech they've hoarded will pack more of a punch but the projectile will be slower," he said.
"Will the shield definitely work against those," she said.
"Er…yes?" He said.
The small pause was not reassuring. As she glided through the crowded streets, the sounds of violence drew ever closer. The roar of gunfire tore through the air, along with short, sharp blasts. Screaming and panic broke through the occasional silences of these weapons. Her stomach felt heavy and her feet began to slow.
"That material is like nothing I've ever seen, it should be able to block just about anything… in theory," Lena's voice came over the comms. Sam landed and came to a stop the air felt dry and she could feel her body trembling.
"In theory?" She said. There was a hesitation on the other end, in that endless pause she could almost sense Spark on the other side.
"Fear is the smart response to what's going on right now, I won't deny that. I've already told you how strong you are, but it's your empathy that keeps you going. I know you can picture Ruby amongst that chaos. Sons, daughters, anyone caught in the crossfire of something they don't understand. Embrace that fear, allow that instinct of yours to charge into the fire and protect the innocent to fuel you into something even greater," he said. She took a deep breath and let her body settle. She looked straight ahead, toward the cacophony of sound and smoke.
"No more speeches," she said. She picked up speed, bounding along the abandoned cars and drawing ever closer.
She came into land from another leap. Only one more turn away from the cult's main assault. She turned sideways and landed at an angle. As she came back to ground, the tarmac was smooth on her feet as she drifted sideways before launching up high to take in the horrific scenes. It was not just cultists she had seen at the sermon, there were dozens more. Some of them had regular firearms, firing randomly into the air and at store fronts. The unfortunate people caught amongst their rampage were either running as fast as they could toward the beckoning doors of the L-Corp building or cowering behind cover. She could see families coughing and spluttering near smoking craters in the ground. From what she could see there were injuries but nothing life-threatening. The cultists were getting increasingly careless, shouting and yelling in the name of Krpyton. The cultists wore masks similar to hers, each with a black shirt with one of the symbols she recognised from the beacon. The shape was odd, the closest thing she could associate it too was bio-hazard symbol. In the middle of a group one was holding a standard, it was metallic and the same symbol glowed upon it. Some possessed much stranger looking weapons, they were angular and glowed with energy. She saw a cultist aim at a car and hold the trigger. The glow brightened and a high-pitched tone whistled quietly away. As the cultist released the trigger a large bolt of energy released at the car. There was a colossal crash as the car was thrown sideways by the impact. She clocked the smoking wreckage hurtling straight toward a slow-moving couple. She did not have the angle to intercept it properly, instead she jumped into the air and landed hard above it, crushing it into the ground before it could hit its victims. There was a loud crunch beneath her feet and a puff of airbags as she leaped again. Her view flitted between all the dangers before her, another of those energy weapons was pointed at a store front. They were hard to see, but a few people had taken cover inside. Her eyes widened in horror as the energy charge up, before any rational thought could stop her, she deployed the shield and dropped in the front of the gun. She had almost moved faster than her senses could process. It was like she could see herself drop to the pavement and brace hard with the shield covering her. The shield rapidly engulfed in this energy, there was surprisingly small push-back from the blast. The shield's glow faded as the blast's energy seemed to harmlessly be dispersed amongst it. She lowered it, standing tall with the silver linings of the shield crackling and glowing brightly.
"Stop," she said, the sound of her voice bellowed. It cut the chaos to silence almost immediately, most of the cultists had yet to clock exactly who had interfered with them, but they stood stock-still now and nervously exchanged glances. The halt in the madness saw most of the remaining bystanders make a dash for the L-Corp building. One of the twitchier cultists took a shot at these people. Sam launched to her side to intercept the bullets. They tinked off the shield as if they were nothing as she planted her foot hard and rapidly changed her angle toward the gunmen. The inertia carried her forward and she bashed the gun out of the cultist's hand letting, sending it in a high arc and clattering where it could do no more harm. Sam stepped back from the shocked cultist.
"I said stop," she said. The standard-bearer stepped forward and removed her mask. She was tall with shoulder length hair.
"Forgive me, Reign. I don't understand, now is your time. The planet is yours for the taking, we are merely aiding," he said.
"I don't need your aid, stop this and lay down your arms," she said, the cultist turned from grovelling to confusion.
"We know you are all powerful, we just want to prove ourselves to Krypton. Your cohort is attacking Downtown, Perrilus will be with us soon, you need not watch over us," she said.
She looked at the symbol again, piecing together what seemed to be going on. She clicked on her earpiece.
"I think there's an attack group for each World Killer," she said.
"I imagine there's only four, I'm in my own weird category," Spark said.
"Understood, we'll look into it," It was Alex's voice.
She paid attention to the cultists again. The standard bearer raised a hand and the cultist's weapons were all trained on her.
"Who are you talking too," he said.
"That doesn't concern you. Lay down your arms, this destruction must stop," she said.
"How can such blasphemy come from someone such as yourself. The old world must be cast aside for the new. That is our purpose," the standard bearer said. Her resolve was unwavering in the way she spoke, she could only see the eyes of the other cultists.
"Sightings of high-speed flying creatures are being reported in, we have to assume they're World Killers, the trajectories suggest they are headed toward National City" Alex said in her ear. It was difficult to concentrate on the cultists and the earpiece at the same time. She clicked to a less busy channel it off.
"This world need not be cast aside, it must be preserved," she said, attempting to blag her way around whatever reasoning these people had. The Standard bearer's face hardened.
"Those are not the teachings." A few cultists gripped their guns tighter, but there was mostly unease amongst them at the sight of this showdown. Even with only their eyes, she could the fear amongst them. It was a familiar fear, she remembered what Spark had said. That these people were lost and angry, it did not excuse their actions but she knew those feelings all too well.
"Why now, Reign? The dawn of a new age is upon us and you demand that we stop?" She said. Sam took a deep breath and cleared her throat.
"I don't know about new ages or casting aside this World. What I do know is that I've thought I've seen the worst that it has to offer. I have suffered, I have known pain. Time and time again this world has found a way to beat me down. There was a time I followed the path of carelessness and destruction. I took everything out on myself and anyone around me." Some of the cultists were listening closely, the standard-bearer seemed to be getting more manic.
"Keep your weapons on her" she said, some half-heartedly listened.
"I learned the hard way where rampant anger gets you. I moved on from it, let it go and moved forward. This idea you have, that Krypton is some salvation for you. You think it's an easy way out of your pain, follow this path to finally be happy. I'm afraid it isn't that simple. It takes resolve. Belief in yourself to push through and do better," she said. At this point a few cultists were lifting their masks and barely paying attention to their weapons.
"But what else can we do? This is our path," one said.
"Path's change. Look to those that you love and those that love you, even if you think you don't have anyone. This old world has so many willing to give that love, if you just don't push it away. Step back from this purge, help yourselves by helping others. This destruction you're so intent on helps nothing, this is no salvation." She said. A few weapons dropped to the ground.
"How can you listen to this heresy?" The standard-bearer said, the standard clattered to the ground as she clambered to grab one of the dropped Kryptonian guns.
"She is a World Killer, we must heed her words," a cultist said.
"No, something has turned her, she walks the path of salvation no longer," the standard-bearer said pointing the gun at her. The trigger clicked and the whistling of its charge shrilly threatened her. Sam deployed her shield again, the blast harmlessly absorbed by it once more.
"This fight is not worth it," she said.
"She tried to kill Reign, get her," a cultist said. There was a quick scramble as the in-fighting began, Sam's heart skipped, relaxed briefly as the gun was quickly ripped away from the standard-bearer none of them seemed interested in using guns for this brawl. She clicked her ear-piece back on.
"How close are you to L-Corp, I think this group seems to be pacified for now," she said.
"I've got a squad nearby, they had to leave their transport from grid-locked traffic. They'll be with you shortly to detain them. We've got locations on the other groups. J'onn has set out to deal with one of the other groups, Superman and a Green Lantern have shown up. I've deployed them to the other locations. This should be wrapped up soon," Alex said.
Whilst it was more of a brawl than any overt danger, Sam was worried about the cultists hurting themselves and stepped forward to intervene. She succeeded for the most part until, using her exalted position to get most of them to sit still. Shortly a squad of D.E.O. moved in to detain them properly. Spark was amongst them and walked quickly over to her, watching the scene unfold as the cultists were processed and a few squad members went over to talk to L-Corp's security at their doors.
He did not speak when he got to her, just carefully observed her and more of the surroundings. Smoking wreckage and bruised cultists. Some of the make-shift barricades that had been set-up inside L-Corp were being taken down. He turned back to her and cocked his head.
"No major injuries, you included. A little messy, but I'm guessing it could be much worse," he said.
"I guess you aren't the only weirdo with a speech or two up their sleeve," she said. A massive grin rose on his face.
"And here I was thinking I'd have to do all the work," he said, she smiled back at him. This bizarre man was hard to get her head around, but after a terrible first impression he knew what to say and when to say it. Even if it was all calculated, it was something she was grateful for.
"Thank you, by the way. It was your encouragement that pushed me forward," she said. He laughed.
"You would have done it anyway, I just sped up the process," he said, his expression shifted again as he glanced to the side. The D.E.O. were rounding up the firearms and the standard the cultists had come with.
"Erm… tell me, was that banner glowing when you first got here?" He said.
"I think so, why?" Sam asked. At that moment, the agents and cultists around them all started to cough and splutter. Some were gasping for air and fell to their knees, rubbing their chests or holding their throats. Sam's eyes darted around, everyone in the area seemed to be going through the symptoms. Some had started to vomit and few were able to stay on their feet for long. A bitter smell started to assault her nostrils. It was nasty but easy enough to shake off. Spark was still in front of her, also not feeling the effects of whatever was taking hold of the people around them. He sniffed loudly and looked to the skies. His view drifted downward and he squinted his eyes.
"There's why," he pointed to a far-off figure in the sky. "Cleanse." he said. She focused on this figure, her enhanced eyesight helping her get a clear view despite the relative distance. Whatever it was was coming toward them. It was vaguely humanoid in shape, though that was the only human thing about it. Light shimmered off the green, scaly skin as the figure hurtled their way ever closer. Before she could take much else in, she was distracted how much worse the people surrounding her were reacting. They were all wrenching and curled up in balls. The chorus of coughing only got louder before this figure landed in front of her. It was a strange sight. The figure wore a similar uniform to the one she had put together when Reign was in her head, the notable differences were the biohazard-like symbol on the chest and the green shade of it, only mildly darker than its skin. It was intimidating up close, the arms were long and looked like vines. There were no hands to speak of, only frayed spikes. The array of feathers on her shoulders and head were barely noticeable on this creature as its head resembled that of a Lizard.
"Ah, Reign. It appears some humans wished to fight with us. It's all very quaint," the voice was feminine. Her tone was drawn out and slow, hisses making their way into the pronunciation. An array of sharp teeth and a forked tongue showed when she spoke.
"You're killing these people," Spark said. The creature's attention turned, the yellow eyes drilling into him.
"I know your face. Why do I know your face?" she said.
"Long story, you need to stop whatever this is," he said. Gesturing to the disturbing array of sickness around them.
"No, I am doing what I must," she said, baffled at the protest.
"Stop this now, Perrilus," Sam said. While any emotion was hard to read on the Lizard face, she guessed Perrilus was taken aback.
"What, this is my calling. Do you not feel it too?" Perrilus said. An agent was crawling to them, struggling to breath.
"I think we should have this conversation somewhere away from people" Spark said.
"I will not waver," Perrilus said. Sam's mind raced, she was staring down another World Killer whilst surrounded by suffering. Time was too much of a factor to dawdle or debate.
"Stop this at once, I am not asking," she said.
"I will do what I must Reign, even if your resolve is lacking," Perrilus said. It was the wrong answer, she launched an upper-cut under Perrilus' chin. The unexpected hit launched her upward. Sam bent her knees and her feet dug into the ground. The pressure in the balls of her feet built quickly before she released and launched herself with as much force as possible at the flailing body, the strange vines she had for arms flapped freely in the wind. She wrapped her arms around Perrilus' waist, trapping the vines at her sides. She let the momentum carry them further up into the sky.
"What are you doing, Reign?" Perrilus shouted through the rushing wind. Sam struggled as Perrilus tried to wriggle free, but it was easy to keep hold of her. Either Perrilus was holding back or not as strong as her. As the momentum of the jump started to slow, she switched to flying.
"Might lack subtlety, but what you're doing seems to be working. People at ground level are getting up again. Still smells awful but that's probably the vomit…" Spark's voice crackled in her ear.
"So be it," Perrilus said. The vines flowed out and became rigid below where Sam had attempted to restrain them. They whipped around and Sam felt a severe stabbing pains in her back, she could feel the spikes digging in. Blood trickled down her back, she soldiered through. Keeping hold of Perrilus and flying further up. The struggling was becoming harder to control, the friction of the hard scales rubbing against her arms started to burn at her. The spikes ripped out of her back and whipped round, she could only watch as the spikes lurched violently into her shoulder-blades and began pushing at her. They hurtled upward. Sam had no idea how close Perrilus had to be to inflict whatever it was on the people of National City. She gritted her teeth and endured the spikes wrenching around her wounds.
"Sam, the L-Corp area is safe and…" Alex crackled to a stop mid-sentence said. Sam's relief to hear her voice was short-lived as the earpiece died on her. There was no time to dwell on this problem as the vines drilled further into her shoulders. She unclasped her arms and brought her right arm above her head and deployed the shield. She brought it down hard at the vines above where the hardened spikes were. There was a yelp from Perrilus and satisfying snap as the spikes broke loose from the vines. She pushed Perrilus away and ripped out the spikes. She broke each one in two and tucked them into her belt, she did not want to chance dropping them if they were responsible for whatever had happened outside of L-Corp. Perrilus bared her teeth at her.
"I don't know what has come over you, Reign. I won't let you ruin our purpose," she said. The words were slow and slurred. At first she thought that Perrilus' injuries were more severe than she thought. These thoughts drifted away as her eyelids felt heavy and she started to see double. She shook her head to try and focus, she began to stifle coughs. She watched the double Perrilus merge into one and back to two again as nausea set in. The spikes were for more than just simple stabbing. Perrilus closed her eyes, the feathers on her head and shoulders stood on end and a stretching sound made it to Sam's befuddled ears. She could see Perrilus' arms regrow in an instant, from what she could tell they were no longer spikes at least. Her eyelids slid open again, revealing the unnerving yellow eyes once more. Perrilus lunged at her, vines flailing back. Sam had the strength and awareness to bring her shield in front and keep Perrilus at bay. A vine tried to curl around and get at her neck. Sam grabbed it with her free hand, staving off the pressure of Perrilus with her shield. The second vine was coming around her right side. Left-side vine still in hand, she brought her free arm around to grab the other. They were soft and the pull back from them was weak. Knowing she was restrained Perrilus changed tactic. She pushed forward, pressing against the shield even harder. It was not enough to halt Perrilus' momentum, she was also forced back as the sharp teeth snapped away near her face again and again. The breath was foul as the razors snapped ever closer. The wounds and nausea made every moment of Perrilus' bestial assault aggravating. She had lurched backward, the rush of air flying into her back wounds stung sharply but helped keep her focused through the nausea. With no sort of fighting experience to look too and her strength waning, she found herself being pushed down further and further. She wanted to reach to her ear to warn those at ground level, but she had been forced to use her free hand to push away the jaws frantically coming at her. It was difficult, trying to push away a face that was constantly moving and biting at her. Perrilus pressed herself against the shield, coming in at different angles. She was too quick to react in any way other than defensively. They were spinning in the air while tumbling groundward. Inevitably her time ran out and she lost the space to retreat too. Her back hit tarmac, they had ended up near L-Corp again. She assumed Perrilus was drawn to the banner and pushed her back here. She feared any civilians caught in the radius. She was sure she could hear coughing in the distance.
Perrilus was stood atop Sam as she strained to push her back from the ground. She was still scratching and snapping. Like a wild animal, Perrilus kept trying to get around the shield to inflict some real damage. The hard concrete of the road refused to give as she tried to pull back from the constant barrage of biting. A sudden new wave of aggression came at her, Perrilus' maw dipping beneath Sam's free hand. The edge of a tooth nipped face. Sam brought her free arm back and crashed her forearm into the back of the shield in an attempt to brace it. There was a colossal clang followed by a low rushing ring, Perrilus was launched away from her as the shield vibrated violently. The vines she still had gripped snapped off as Perrilus' backward momentum was too much for them. Sam blinked rapidly to keep her sight mildly focused as the feeling of sickness lingered. Whatever she did seemed to have worked, she aimed the shield toward Perrilus, who was already diving in for another assault. She punched the back of it again. With a loud clang, a shockwave ripped through the air and knocked Perrilus even further away.
Sam was still on her back, looking up at Perrilus. The tall buildings of National city stretching out, scratching the clouds. For a split-second Perrilus stopped, distracted by something. Sam's heightened senses were picking up a strange wave of sound. It rapidly turned into a thunderous boom as before her eyes a blaze of light crashed into Perrilus. The green figure hurtled out of sight in an instant. A force pushed against her. Glass shattered in a wave from the blaze, windows all breaking apart in turn. Car alarms blared and a cracking bang could be heard off in the distance. Sam retracted the shield. She was unsure if her nausea was still kicking in as she looked down the street. It was raining shards of glass, any debris had been pushed back or aside. Even the lampposts and traffic signals had bent and were leaning away. There was a jagged crack down the middle of the road. It was as if the street had been parted in two and everything near the centre had been pushed away. The extent of the damage was astounding, it made her grateful Ruby's school was so far out from the city centre. The wave of relief and confusion was short lived, her heart dropped as the red blaze in the sky faded to reveal a furious Supergirl. Her shoulders were squared forward, her breathing was hard and slow. It was hard to tell, but she was sure that she was smiling. A chilling tingle worked its way around her body. She jolted in reaction, making the pain worse.
Spark then appeared above her, seemingly out of nowhere. He offered a hand to help her up. She took it, his grip was surprisingly strong as she painstakingly lifted herself from the ground. Her legs were doing a poor job of keeping her up. Spark caught her, she leaned on him to let the spinning world come to a halt.
"Take it easy, civvies have been set up in safe locations, gas masks are on their way. Just a few D.E.O. left on the scene. I don't know if what you did was brave or stupid, but well done nonetheless," he said. Sam was only half listening, her eyes fixed on Supergirl. She still had not moved since her cacophonous arrival. If she had noticed them, she was not showing it.
"Looks like Perrilus got a few licks in, hang on." She sucked air through her teeth at sudden pain in her shoulders. Her attention drew back to her current situation. Spark had some sort of medical kit and was dabbing blood from her wounds. He was looking to treat them properly.
"I don't know if we have time for triage, Supergirl could be a problem," Sam said.
"She certainly wins the prize for property damage. The bigger problem is the power grid and tech have been on the fritz. Flower of Heaven is around somewhere, we need to get you patched up and then out of here. Especially if that's how Supergirl is treating World Killers," he said.
"I'm fine," she said.
"Oh really? How many fingers am I holding up?" It was a blurry hand.
"Three," she said.
"Swing and a miss tough-girl. You need medical attention," he said. The wail of car alarms that had accompanied the scene came to a halt all at once. The blinking lights of the cars along with them.
"Oh for… it just keeps getting worse," Spark said, he was looking up. Sam followed his eye line. There was a crackling energy in the sky. It was focused together, like a barely contained ball of lightning. It was hard to make out from her bleary eyes, she was sure she could make out some sort of outline of a person within it.