She watched Optic talk to the confused creature. His ability to shift his tone on a dime was always strange to see. A mere minute ago he was throwing accusations at her, the ring had revelled in his anger. Now there was nothing, his tone, body language and words all exuded compassion. The pained breaths of the former World Killer he was knelt beside had calmed. Beth had every right to be panicking, instead Optic seemed to have effortlessly placated her. As he continued it sounded like Beth's feeling of being everywhere were her disease-like powers at work, that part of herself stretching out beyond her own body. Optic spoke as if he knew how to control it. He told her to focus and reel it in. She could only conclude he knew more than he let on or it was his talent for outright lying at work. Whichever it was, she was begrudgingly grateful for it. Supergirl reached for her earpiece.
"Perrilus is pacified… it worked," she said.
"I'm proud of you, Kara," Lena said. It was strange, the ring was relatively quiet. After a victory or moment of relief it would flood her with a euphoric, burning pain or weigh heavy on her. Instead, the ever-present hum did nothing more than louden slightly.
"Any word on the last World Killer?" She said, she wanted to distract herself from the ring's unsettling passiveness.
"Perrilus will need to be fully contained," Lena said.
"Her name is Beth, and she isn't going anywhere," Optic interrupted.
"Did you hear that?" Supergirl said.
"No, what's going on?" Lena said.
"Optic's being stubborn," she said. He slowly stood up, his sight never broke from Beth. He pointed to her ear and outstretched his hand to Supergirl. She wearily obliged.
"She's too injured to move, I'll watch over her," he spoke quietly.
"The nature of her powers are too dangerous to ignore," she said.
"Then continue with the evacuation, she's a light breeze away from dying. I'll stay with her, keep her conscious as long as I can." He looked up at the darkening sky. "Worst case scenario, her last moments shouldn't be some D.E.O. goons chucking her in a containment unit."
Even over the earpiece she could hear a distinct throat clear from Lena.
"Give the comm back to Supergirl," she said. Optic glanced at her with a glum expression on his face. After a brief pause, he handed it to her. He returned to Beth and face the setting sun.
"Supergirl, do you think it's safe?" Lena said. She watched him sit in the grass beside the former World-Killer. Her hard scales and sharp teeth glimmered with droplets from the damp ground. Without a hand to hold, Optic placed his hand gently on her shoulder.
"Are you there, Spark?" Beth said to him.
"I am, and I'm going to look after you," he said.
"What's going to happen to me?" she said.
"We're going to get through this. Keep your eyes to the skies, the stars will be out soon," he said.
The ring still hummed at her, it was still relatively dormant. Supergirl sighed. "It's safe. Perrilus will need sunlight or something equivalent. Tell Superman, he might have something at the fortress,"
"You're sure?" Lena said.
"Yes. Now what's going on with the last World Killer," she said. Lena seemed reluctant to heave dropped the subject so quickly.
"Deimax is in Yellowstone National Park. The Green Lantern is trying to keep things contained but I fear her skill set could wreak havoc if she isn't stopped quickly," Lena said.
"I'm on my way over, it's time to end this," she said. The pressure built in her feet, she took off at high velocity breaking the ground as she shot up. Despite her initial speed, she slowed down when she heard her name, it was below the breath. Optic's voice was quiet and hard to make out past the ring's hum.
"Supergirl, I know the threat the World Killers pose. Do what you must, but please try not to hurt them anymore," he said.
She did not acknowledge him in any way, not to even a look back. She accelerated again, shooting away from the sunset in a flare of red energy. Tracking the earpiece on her and the Green Lantern, Lena gave her a more precise location in the park.
The earth raced below her, lights from the cities and countryside flickered at her ever so briefly. She thundered by them, eager to deal with the last remaining World Killer. The hum of the ring built up as she flew, it was as eager as she was. It pounded and pulsed on her finger, accentuated by her quickening heartbeat. Lena's calming voice could only do so much to pacify this excitement.
The sky lightened on her flight to the west. As she closed in on her destination, she could hear a subtle rumbling. It grew stronger as she pressed forward. The low rumbling turned to a forceful shudder. She could see the ground shaking and felt the force of it even from her elevated position. The wildlife below was scrambling off, taking whatever respite it could find from the unknown force. Birds fluttered from bristling trees. She was closing in, the force of the quake increased in power as she went.
Following Lena's direction, she quickly spotted a green glow in the distance and raced toward it. The shaking was even more violent here. The smaller trees were crashing down and even those with sturdier roots were struggling to hold their ground. The Lantern was flying at a quick pace, his constructs varying from form to form. A giant bucket scooped water from a lake to pour on some flaming trees. It transformed to a fan every now and then, blowing away the billowing smoke and blowing the fire back toward the direction it was going. The occasional green hand reached down to scoop up wildlife and place it at a safe distance. The air was hot from the fires and the of erupting geysers sounded off around her. The force of her entry was enough to catch the Lantern by surprise even amongst all the chaos.
"What are you doing, where's the World Killer?" She said. With his brief lapse in concentration the fire spreading through the trees roared at them.
"I'm trying to contain the damage, that friend of yours is fighting the World Killer not far from here," he had to shout to be heard over the rumbling. He carried on with his task.
"What friend?" She said. He flew back toward the lake, the ring emitting another large giant bucket, it scooped a huge swathe of water.
"The other Red Lantern I found you with, she's keeping it distracted while I'm on damage control. I've got this for now but with the building pressure, things are going to get out of hand real fast if the World Killer isn't stopped,"
"How did these fires even start?" she said. It was hard to focus on his response, the shaking landscape, eruptions, smoke and flame was a sensory overload.
"No time for talk, go," he shouted. It was all she was going to get from him. The thick smoke was tickling her nose and gathered heavily in her throat and lungs. She blew out her freezing breath in an attempt to clear her airways and put out as much of the fire out as possible. It had never been quite as effective since the ring took hold of her. It's heat and burning of her body taking away the chilling intensity. It did little to pacify the flame, but she could breathe easily again. She activated her shielding and rose high to the sky.
She immediately spotted red blasts sparking into what could only be described as a large monster of rock towering above the treeline. It reeled back slowly, each step it took had a shattering thud that rang through the quaking landscape. Even from the distance she could spot Bleez' distinctive wings. Supergirl raced toward the fight, Bleez spun out of the way of a tree thrown at her. In the short moment it took to close in, blasts from Bleez' ring chipped away at the rock monster's form, her wings folded in to dive-bomb in with a follow-up attack. Bleez' fist connected, cracking the chest of the strange humanoid rock-form. The monster was staggered by the hit, but found form quickly for its size. Its fist was swinging wildly toward a vulnerable Bleez. Supergirl quickly adjusted her trajectory toward her, in an instant she grabbed her and sped out of the way of the swinging fist. She did what she could to cradle Breez from the violent momentum shift, trees shattered to splinters as she slid along the ground. Bleez tried to push out of grip to no avail when they came to a stop.
"This I my fight," Bleez said, she bared her teeth at her. Gone was the sultry woman, this was a Bleez in the true sway of her Red Lantern power. The ring reacted with intense heat to Bleez' rage and sent a booming pulse through her body in response.
"Your energy blasts are sparking off and starting fires," Supergirl said, still holding on to an increasingly restless Bleez.
"It's the only way to break through that damn thing's armour," Bleez said. She breathed heavily, blood trickled from her nose and mouth. There was a large bruise on her face and long black hair poked out from a ripped hood.
"What exactly is that thing?" Supergirl said.
"Can't you feel it? All it wants is destruction and pain, it has to be put down. Now let me go," Bleez said, she wriggled and pushed at her. Bleez' strength could not stand up to her grip and the increasingly excited ring.
"Stop, think. You're going to get yourself killed. Now tell me what it is," she said. Bleez still tried to get out of the hold, she looked past Supergirl and was flailing toward her target.
"The creature is inside that rock, it's wearing the terrain like armour. If you don't let me go it will take this time to reinforce itself again," Bleez said, shouting an trying to pry Supergirl's arms away. Supergirl looked back at the eclectic collection of rock and dirt. It was still for now, crouching lower to the ground to collect itself. As Bleez let on, it looked to be adding to its shell. She scanned it with her X-ray vision and could make the outline of whoever was inside. While significantly smaller than what the shell presented, it was still a sizeable creature.
"You've done what you can, Bleez. Stand down and let me handle it from here," she said.
"No, I have to stop it" Bleez said, she was still trying to break the hold despite her futile efforts.
"I'm going to let go, stay there and listen to me, please," she said. Bleez made eye contact with her for the first time. They were wide and wild, she could sense that rage she was so familiar with. The drumming of her heart was loud and overpowering.
"Breath, Bleez. Let the ring be your equal, not your master," she said. Bleez's fidgeting stopped, she held Supergirl's gaze. Though an eye still twitched, the booming let up ever so slightly. Supergirl released her hold tentatively, she was weary of Bleez shooting off immediately. No such thing happened, Bleez stared at her.
"You've done your duty well, I don't want you being hurt any further. I'll handle the creature, you help the Green Lantern contain collateral," she said. Bleez looked conflicted, it was something Supergirl knew all too well. That underlying rage was still screaming out to her to fight. She gently placed her hand on Bleez' shoulder. "You are more than your rage, trust me."
Bleez was still breathing heavily, though her body started to relax.
"I will do as you ask, but there is no room for mercy with that thing. I know you can sense that," she said. She stretched her wings out.
"Thank you," Supergirl said, bringing her hand back. Bleez looked away, her eyes darted back to her briefly before she took off in the direction where the smoke was thickest. Supergirl turned back to the creature. It was standing at its full height again, trees fell as it stretched out. Dirt and debris pattered of this shell to the shaking ground, the cracks caused by Bleez were sealed anew. For anyone else it would be a daunting foe. She focused on the outline inside this armour, with a pulse from the ring she exploded forward. The armour of thick rock shattered as she crashed into it, sediment rained all around. She hit the outline hard, pushing whatever was inside out of its armoured cocoon in a flash. With her momentum, she grabbed it and force it to the floor. What was left of the humanoid shaped rock form slowly crumbled as she stood atop the World Killer. Beneath her boot was a large creature covered in black fur. Though it was hard to tell, it looked as if she was meant to be bi-pedal and would have easily cleared ten feet. The features of her face and claws on her hands were reminiscent of a panther.
"You've sealed your fate by attacking me," Deimax said. The voice was deep but feminine. She struggled to get the words past two huge sabre-like teeth. Supergirl ignored the threats. Deimax's orange eyes glared at her, she growled in frustration each time her claws uselessly scraped against Supergirl's skin. The ground violently shook as Supergirl focused on her ring, she tried to muster the same effort that had worked with Perrilus to cleanse Deimax from this woman's mind. She knelt down in an attempt to keep Deimax still enough for the ring to do its work. Deimax whipped her neck round, her teeth clamped down on her reaching hand. They ground against her knuckles, unable to do any damage. Spark's sentiment to avoid unnecessary harm sounded out amongst the monotonous hum of the ring. The ring burned at her in response to the hesitation. She stopped herself from yanking her hand away.
"We can end this here and now, stop fighting it," she said. Deimax's teeth clamped down harder, the fangs harmlessly itched at the sides of her palm. The punching and clawing from Deimax added to Supergirl's growing impatience. The ground's violent shaking caused the teeth clamped on her hand grind and scratch. Supergirl batted away a tree that fell toward them, the snarling panther was either too stubborn or too distracted to notice how fruitless her resistance was. She sighed and activated some light shielding around her hand. Deimax hissed as her jaw unclenched, even amongst the ashy air, the smell of singed fur reached her nose. She reached for Deimax's face, the ring glowing amongst the dim light and the smoke. Her reach was interrupted by Deimax slamming her fist into the ground, the earth beneath them lurched and the rumble turned into a cacophonous explosion of dirt. The force caused her to stumble back, in this moment Deimax leapt up. She towered above her, some of the harder debris that exploded up had attached itself to Deimax's oversized fist. The creature's fist swung at Supergirl's face. Supergirl held her ground and stared into the eyes of her attacker. The gauntlet of rock broke across her face as the clawed fist found its target. There was a heavy thud, the mighty swing had stopped dead against her cheek. Deimax backed off in disbelief at her unmoved target. Supergirl held eye contact as she brushed off the remnants of the shattered rock. Deimax shook off her shock and raised her fists in the air to slam down at Supergirl. With this opening, Supergirl took her chance, her ring flashed brightly as she took hold of Deimax's face and the wash of red energy engulfed the hulking monster's form. The shoulders slumped, Supergirl felt the ring's influence take hold as she tightened her grip on the side of the beast's face.
There was a sudden sharp pain, it forced her to reel her hand back in. She sensed a violent outburst of rage from Deimax.
"Supergirl?" she shouted. Deimax's head snapped from side to side as she looked to be taking in her surroundings.
"Are you okay? What's your name?" Supergirl said. Deimax's eyes narrowed and she snarled. She brought her fists slamming to the ground amplifying the rumbling. Supergirl put her hand up to block the worst of the collateral hitting her face. Beneath her, there was a wave of force rippling centred from Deimax's fists, it ripped up the grass and all the remaining trees fell away at the rolling destruction.
"Deimax is gone, why are you fighting?" Supergirl said. The rage she sensed from the World Killer was growing inside her, like water reaching its boiling point.
"The world has stepped on me long enough, it's time to pay it back," she shouted. She slammed her fists into the ground again. A stronger wave of force caused Supergirl to stumble, she floated up to avoid the next wave of force that was shooting from the ground. Deimax roared out as a crater formed around her from the constant slamming and quaking ground. Supergirl could only stare in disbelief, the ring's brief contentment was falling by the wayside. She exhaled heavily as a heavy boom came from her chest. The pulsing of force Deimax's shockwaves were quickly being replaced by that primal heartbeat of the ring. She held her head and tried to resist it. The seismic waves from Deimax grew more violent. The trembling ground was breaking apart, distinct cracks were forming among the growing crater. A blaze of red light shot into Deimax, she fell back. The red blaze bounced off, boned wings outstretched from it and bolts red of energy shot out from the ring. It slammed into thick hide of the World Killer.
"Bleez, stop. She's confused," Supergirl snarled, still doing what she could to push past the ring's growing impatience. Bleez turned back, artfully dodging a counter-charge from Deimax. The World Killer zipped past their view as the momentum carried her far.
"I don't care who she is, she's bent on taking out everything on this planet. I know you can feel it too, so stop stalling and do something about it," Bleez said. Supergirl tried to focus, Bleez' words rang true to her. That boiling she felt in her blood was the ring reacting to whoever Deimax was, an unhinged anger ready to lash out without remorse.
The Green Lantern flew toward them, narrowly avoiding Deimax and constructing a green translucent wall between them and Deimax. It absorbed the brunt of the force and crackled with energy each time it took a hit
"What the hell's going on, we just about had it contained," He shouted over the crashing chaos.
"Supergirl's mercy is getting in the way of everyone's safety, destroy that thing before it does permanent damage to this planet," Bleez said.
"I cleansed the World Killer programming, I know it worked. But she's still fighting. Whoever she was is furious and she's not stopping," she said. The Green Lantern seemed distracted after a moment of pause his mask fade away from his face. At that moment it hit her why he had seemed so familiar.
"Prometheus?" She said.
"It's Fletcher. And hold on to that mercy, Supergirl. I wouldn't be here without it. I was angry at the world once, maybe I can get through to her." He dropped the wall and flew toward Deimax. The crumbling landscape and growing craters shook with increasing destructiveness.
"Stop, I get it. We live in a cruel world and you want to strike back in any way you can. It's okay to stop, you can change your mind if…" this was as far as he got before a lunch chunk of the ground was tossed at him by the World Killer, a construct of a bat formed and knocked it harmlessly into the horizon.
"That's not going to work and you know it," Bleez said. Every instinct told her to give Prometheus the chance. She took a deep breath, her boiling blood seared away at her as she took in her surroundings. The landscape was barely recognisable, the picturesque park was being reduced to rubble and smoke. The restless Bleez eyed the World Killer impatiently. Her once former foe batting away more projectiles and trying to yell reasoning over the destruction. She clenched her fist, deep down she knew she had to do. The ring spurred her on. She shot forward, crashing her fist into Deimax's face. There was a delayed boom from the hit as Deimax's head whiplashed sideways. The violent rumbling began to let up as a dazed Deimax waywardly stumbled, her legs falling from under her. As she fell to her knees there was another crack across her face as Bleez blazed in and hit her again. Deimax slumped to the ground, twitching slightly and out cold. Supergirl turned to a smiling Bleez.
"That was overdoing it," she said. The trembling ground finally let up and the park fell still. The rumbling was done, there was an eerie silence in the destroyed park.
"I'd say it finished the job," Bleez said, her body language returned to that of the calmer Bleez. Supergirl detested the exhilaration the ring pulsed through her at the sight of the fallen World Killer. The Green lantern landed beside them.
"You could have at least given me another minute to try," he said.
"I'm sorry, I know you meant well but she was doing too much damage to reason with," she said. He sighed.
"I hate to agree but I can't argue," he said, picking up part of a splintered tree and examining it.
"She's still breathing, dear," Bleez said, she had grown used to seeing Bleez so composed, but hair still poked out and she looked rough from her battle-weary state.
"We're not killing her," Supergirl said, her ring glimmered and Bleez took a step back.
"Fine. But care to explain to me exactly how we stop her from doing this again. If this happens in a populated area I will hold you just as responsible as her… darling," Bleez said. Supergirl did not need the ring to sense Bleez' anger.
"Earth doesn't have the means," she turned to Fletcher. "But I'm guessing Oa does." He looked taken aback.
"You're not wrong, it'll be a hard sell though. I'll talk to Hal and the Guardians," he said.
"Working with Green Lanterns?" Bleez said, she made no effort to hide her distain.
"You once said to me that the Red Lantern Corps needs a change. This is change," she said. Bleez' harsh expression to a small frown, she then looked to the ground and said nothing.
"There'll need to be a hell of clean up, but after a quick sweep of the damage I'd say were' done here," Fletcher said. Supergirl half-heartedly nodded in acknowledgment, distracted by Bleez's reaction. The beat of her heart as soft, the ring's heat settled itself. After all this chaos, there was now only the quiet hum.