Winn pulled up to the warehouse. The black SUV he was given to drive was the only vehicle in sight. As he looked at the seemingly empty, deceptively benign building in front of him, he felt like he was going to throw up. His hands were gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white and his fingers were starting to hurt. I've got to be insane, he thought. This has trap written all over it and I'm just walking into it.
"You need to go into the building eventually, Agent Schott," J'onn's voice came in over the comm in his ear.
"Yeah…yes, sir," Winn said, the uncertainty clear in his voice. "Is Siob…Silver Banshee in there?"
"Our scans indicate that she is in the building, but she's not staying in one place," J'onn answered him.
"Is she alone?" Winn asked.
"All scans say yes. What about you Supergirl? Are you able to see anyone?"
Supergirl was hovering high above the city, almost directly over the warehouse. She looked down, narrowing her vision until the warehouse was in view. She began to use her X-ray vision to scan the building.
"No…but even if there were someone in there with her, I couldn't tell you," she replied dejectedly. "The building's been lined with lead."
"This is sounding worse and worse by the second," Alex said through her comm. She was stationed a short distance away with a strike team. She was far enough away that wouldn't be seen by a lookout, but close enough that they could respond in less than a minute if they needed to. "I think we should pull Winn out and just let me and my team take the building."
"Negative," J'onn said grin the DEO. "Without confirmation we don't know what you all would be walking into."
"We don't know what Winn's walking into," Alex argued.
"But he's the one they're expecting. So long as we operate as they want us to, they should keep their guard relaxed and allow us a chance to make the apprehension. Though I would still proceed with caution, Agent Schott."
Winn nodded on his end. He took a deep breath and forced his hands off the steering wheel, got out of the SUV and, with his heart feeling like it was going to beat right out of his chest and his nerves nearly knocking him to his feet, moved toward the building. Inside, the place looked as empty as it did from outside, but the feeling of…well? To him, it felt like the building was letting him in only to swallow him whole. He was a good sixty or seventy feet in before he stopped.
"Hello…Siobhan?" he called out. The empty expanse made his voice sound like it was almost echoing. Despite the backup hovering above him, and the ones in the strategically close vans waiting on his call if things went south, he felt more alone than he ever had in his life. "Siobhan, I'm here you like you asked."
There was no response, but Winn didn't think that was because he was alone. The feeling of eyes following him was constant.
"Siobhan?"
"Siobhan…isn't…here," came the almost disembodied voice. Winn looked around. All he saw were support columns surrounding him.
"What do you want?" Winn asked.
"What? No small talk? So impolite, Winnie," the Banshee tisked at him from wherever she was. Winn turned again, looking for her with purpose this time. She's moving, he thought as he realized that her voice wasn't coming from the same place. And she can't teleport, he remembered.
"You don't strike me as a small talk kind of girl."
"Neither was Siobhan…until she met you. Maybe I should let you try and make me a better version of me," she said sarcastically. "After all, Siobhan isn't in the best possible position to indulge you," she chuckled. "And speaking of girls that are indulging you: how's…Lyra is it?"
Winn felt himself become quietly angry at the sound of Lyra'a name.
"There we go, Winnie. That's what I want to see…and feel. Get angry. Just like Siobhan would."
"Siobhan didn't have anything to do with that," Winn countered.
"Didn't she?" the Banshee asked as she finally stepped out from the shadows. She was standing maybe twenty-five or thirty feet in front of Winn. He choked down his rage at seeing her, telling himself to remember that she's just wearing Siobhan. "After all, Siobhan saw all the things I saw. Especially that picture of you and pretty, pretty Lyra."
"Banshee, quit wasting time and get him to call in Supergirl," came Lillian's voice over a comm in the Banshee's own ear.
"Siobhan was so heartbroken to see that you were back to blondes. Tell me, if Lyra doesn't survive, does this mean you'll be going back to quietly pinning for Kara? Or will you move on to another blonde alien? After all, you did know Supergirl."
From her position above the city, Supergirl rolled her eyes and clenched her fists in anger. "Can I take her down now?" she asked
"Negative," J'onn responded to her request. "Unless Agent Schott uses his distress word, we proceed as we are. Let's see if he can reach her."
"Tell me, Winnie – is she here?" the Banshee asked, a twisted grin on her face as she started to slowly move toward him. "Is she close by? Can she hear us?" Winn didn't respond. "Oh Blonde Ambition," she yelled out.
From her post, Supergirl listened in, growing frustrated and angry. "Winn, say the word," she told him.
"Just how much do you care about…your pet?" the Banshee shouted, just before everyone heard what sounded like a demon growling. J'onn, Alex, and Supergirl next heard Winn shouting.
"Help me, Obi-Wan! Help me, O –"
"Move in," Alex shouted. She and her team began racing toward the warehouse, their weapons ready. Supergirl began speeding down toward the ground at the sound of Winn not completing his distress call.
Supergirl was the first in the building. When she landed, she surveyed the area. She came to a stop almost immediately. Directly in front of her, maybe twenty feet away, the Banshee stood, glaring back at her and with her hand wrapped around Winn's throat, forcing him to his knees.
"Let him go, Siobahn," Supergirl ordered her.
"When will you people learn," the Banshee growled back at her. "Siobahn isn't here"
Before Supergirl could respond, the sound of a door being breached was heard, followed by the sound of heavy boots stomping across the floor. Seconds later, Alex and her strike team were flanking Banshee to Supergirl's right.
"Put him down, get on the ground, and put your hands behind your head," Alex gave her own instruction as she and her team raised their weapons.
They watched the Banshee lift Winn, his feet dangling as they searched for the ground. He made choking sounds as the Banshee's gripped tightened from the effort. Winn grabbed at her arm but, like it had with Lyra, he lacked the ability to fight against her hold. She turned toward him, her lips curled sinisterly. "Have you ever wanted to fly Winnie?"
The Banshee reared back her arm and then began spinning in place until she was almost facing away from them, and threw Winn as hard she could. Supergirl took off in a blur of speed, catching Winn just before he slammed into one of the support beams. Before Alex and her team could respond the Banshee had already turned and began using her scream. Everyone dropped their weapons and immediately clasped their hands over their ears. With Winn safe, Supergirl focused her attention back toward Banshee, and began to use her freeze breath to blow her off her feet.
As Supergirl watched the Banshee topple over, a ball of fire came out of nowhere, hitting her in the back of her shoulder and knocking her down to one knee. She, Alex, and the strike team looked over and saw a meta engulfed in flames flying through the air. As Supergirl took off, Alex and the team grabbed their weapons and scattered, taking up defensive positions.
"Watch out for more hostiles and target that meta," Alex ordered. Several of the closer troops took aim and began firing. However, the fire meta was zipping and diving with enough speed and precision to evade the gun fire.
"Stay focused on the ground, I've got him," Supergirl shouted as she let loose with a blast of her heat vision. The fire meta dodged the blast and came back with a blast of several fire balls. Supergirl managed to dodge the first two, but the third did connect, though it only stunned her.
As the fire fight was happening in the air, several of the strike team members still tried to help Supergirl, Alex included. As they were in the middle of discharging their weapons, a blast of yellow lightning streaked across them and they found themselves without their guns. "Sorry babies, can't have you hurting my playmates," Intrepid sassed from a far corner of the warehouse.
Above the action on the ground, Supergirl and the flying meta were finally squaring off from opposite sides of the warehouse. Supergirl shot a steady blast of heat vision that was met by a continuous beam of fire from the meta's hands. Seeing the standoff, Alex grabs her sidearm from her thigh holster and fires off two shots at the fire meta. One of them connected in his shoulder, causing him to break the standoff and allowing Supergirl to hit him with her heat vision, knocking him to the ground.
"Oh Supergirl," the Banshee shouts from the ground. "We're not done playing."
Supergirl looked down and saw that the Banhee once again had Winn, this time directly in front of her to shield herself. She flew down and confronted her once again.
"Let him go, Siobahn."
"My name is…Silver Banshee," she corrected, shouting her name at the end, though not using her powers.
"Siobahn. Silver Banshee. It doesn't matter. Holding Winn hostage gets you nothing because you and your new friends aren't getting out of here," Supergirl told her firmly. Alex and her team, now armed with their own sidearms, moved in to surround Silver Banshee.
The Banshee chuckled.
"Of course holding him hostage gets me something. Right now it gets me a smile on my face because, well…Winnie just looks so cute when he's scared. Isn't that right, Winnie?" the Banshee tormented as she squeezed down on Winn's throat.
"You're not much to be afraid of," Alex said.
"Which is why I brought friends," she grinned. The screaming started with the strike team. They fell to their knees, writhing in what looked like unimaginable pain. Alex and Supergirl looked on as the team started to drop to the floor.
"What are you doing to –?" Alex began to ask Banshee before suddenly she too found herself suddenly in pain. It began in her ribs, a feeling like someone was compressing them into her own organs. Then it spread to her chest, the same squeezing sensation, but this time as if someone was trying to squeeze her heart from inside. "Oh…oh God," she half groaned, half screamed as she too fell to her knees.
"Alex," Supergirl cried out. She looked over at Banshee and felt the heat build in her eyes as she made them glow, showing that she was powering up to use her heat vision. "Whatever you're doing, you stop it…uh…you stop it n –"
Supergirl never finished her command. She suddenly felt a pressure in her head that grew exponentially fast until it felt like her very skull was trying to crack open. She began to falter on her feet from something she had never felt before – excruciating, all-consuming pain. Her brain felt like it was being stabbed from the inside and she soon lost the ability to even focus her vision on the Banshee. When she tried to regain her balance she felt a blast of energy hit her from seemingly out of nowhere. It knocked her back, but she still remained on her feet.
Suddenly, a pair of fire balls came at her followed by a blast of yellow lightning. As she fell to one knee, she felt herself become the target of more fire balls, lightning, energy balls, blasts of what could only be described as physically hard light, and even Banshee's scream which she sent in repetitive waves. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the barrage ended, Supergirl was still down on one knee, and even though the pain in her head had stopped, she was severely weakened and barely able to keep herself from falling. She tried to stand only to feel a punch come out of nowhere and hit her so hard that she actually felt herself reel from it as it was the thing that finally knocked her to the ground.
The Banshee looked at Winn, feeling a sense of glee at the fear in his eyes. She brought him closer to her until their faces were centimeters apart. "Don't go too far, Winnie, we still need to chat," she told him before giving him a hard, unwanted kiss, and then, with a predator's grin, threw him aside.
Banshee then sauntered over to where Supergirl lay fallen. She delivered a swift kick to her ribs, bringing a groan of pain from the Girl of Steel. She then knelt down until she was nearly face to face with her.
"Told you I brought friends. Would you like to meet them?" Banshee gloated.
Without a response, the metas began to show. The first was Intrepid, who speeded up and next to Banshee on her right. Close behind her was Manchester, who took up Banshee's left flank. Banshee grinned wickedly as she revealed that he was the source of her, and Alex and the team's, sudden pain. Soon, more and more metas appeared. Supergirl turned to see them, trying to force herself back up, only for Manchester to flick his wrist and keep her down.
"B-Banshee," she struggled to say. "And at least…oh Rao. At least fifteen to twenty more," she added. She was silenced by a kick to the head from Banshee.
"Aww, that's so cute, she's calling for what…backup?" Intrepid mocked. "Sorry girl-scout, no one's helping you."
Almost immediately, as if fate wanted to prove her wrong, a small device, no bigger than a medium sized stone, rolled in from behind the Banshee, Manchester, and Intrepid. There was a small whirring sound and then, much to the shock of the assembled metas, a loud explosion and a bright flash of light as the concussion grenade began its work. There was immediate disorientation, enough that Manchester Black found his concentration broken. Alex and the strike team fell to the floor, their pain halted, though more from the grenade's effects than from Black relinquishing his efforts. The metas themselves even began falling, the light and sound waves knocking them out.
As the flash of light faded, Supergirl saw a blurred vision of yellow lightning streaking from the area. A second later Winn, who had been shielding himself behind one of the larger support beams, came running out.
"J'onn, the metas and team are down. They're knocked out," Winn started reporting, kneeling down next to Supergirl to check if she was okay. "Kara…Kara is…actually hurt."
"I'm sending back up and a med team your way," Winn heard J'onn say into his comm. "What about Silver Banshee?"
"Gone," Winn answered as he looked around frantically. "So is the guy that was standing next to her, and the speedster. She was probably the one who got them out," he clarified.
"Just hold tight, Agent Schott, the backup is almost there. And good work with that concussive grenade."
"Is everyone alright?" J'onn asked as he entered the infirmary.
"Define alright?" Winn asked dejectedly.
"I don't need sarcasm right now, Agent Schott, I need answers," J'onn chastised him, though as he looked around the room, he saw that Winn's response may not be one hundred percent inaccurate. Alex and most of the strike team were in this room, the others not able to fit in here were placed in the secondary infirmary on floor below. As he looked around, the general expression on everyone's face looked to be total shell shock.
Some of team members looked passive, almost as if they were trying not to look like they had been affected. Others wore the expressions of people who you could tell had been through a trauma, but were doing their best to hold in the hurt, but little cracks were letting some things show. Finally there were those whose effects were more visible. They were shaking slightly, and there was a great deal of nervous fidgeting being done.
J'onn could see that Alex was in the last group. She was sitting on one of beds, her feet resting on the footrest. Her elbows were resting on her knees and her head was resting on her fists. There was an occasional twitch from her, and every time it occurred, he watched as she lightly tapped her first to her temple, almost as if she was scolding herself for it happening.
"What happened out there, Alex?" J'onn asked, forgoing the formality of calling her Agent Danvers in front of her team.
"We got our ass kicked," Alex answered as she looked up. Her eyes slightly bloodshot and puffy. She'd forced herself to not cry, but the telltale signs of a small fit of tears were obvious.
"Agent Schott, how did we not pick up on all those hostiles?" J'onn demanded from Winn, seeing as he was the only one who seemed to show no ill effects.
"I couldn't even begin to tell you," he answered quickly.
"I suggest you try," was J'onn's impatient response.
Winn took a few seconds to gather his thoughts and then shook his head.
"Near as I can gather, we scanned the warehouse and the surrounding area. We didn't do a scan of the area under the street level once we picked up Silver Banshee's thermal readings. We didn't think it was necessary."
"And Supergirl, her scanning of the area?"
"Kara only scanned the warehouse like we did," Alex answered. "But the building is lead lined, so even if they were under it, she wouldn't have seen it."
"Well so far, I've been informed that we were able to capture roughly fifteen metas," J'onn informed them.
"I can guarantee that that's not all of them," Alex told him.
"Even so, they should be able to give valuable information about whomever broke them, and Silver Banshee, out," J'onn theorized. "Stay here and rest," he ordered Alex. "Agent Schott and I will begin questioning them."
"No," Alex shook her head and got off the bed shakily. "I'm gonna question them too."
In the holding cells, the metas were taking in their surroundings, or lack thereof. All of them realized that their cells back in Van Kull were better than this. They started hoping that Lillian had some plan to get them out of their current predicament, or that they'd just be sent back to Van Kull, because if this place was an indication of where they might get sent – then they should've stayed in prison they reasoned.
Suddenly they heard the doors slide open and in walked two of the agents they saw at the warehouse and another agent, a large African-American man who they assumed to be in charge since he was being flanked by the other two.
"Alright, we want to know what you all know about today's events, and everything they led up to them," J'onn began as he stood in front of them, his hands behind his back. "So we'll try this like the normal authorities – first one to talk gets the best deal."
All the metas stayed silent.
"After what you all did today, this won't end well," Alex tried. "So it really is in your best interests to talk to us."
Before anyone could even think about responding, J'onn, Alex, and Winn watched as all the metas began gripping their heads and screaming, much like the strike team earlier. But this time, the screaming was much quicker, as almost as quickly as it began, all the incarcerated metas stopped screaming, and fell to the floor. Alex immediately punched in the code for the containment cell and rushed in. She began checking them over, and then began checking for pulses.
"They're all dead," she informed J'onn, her voice carrying a bit of horror at the sheer loss of collective life.
Watching from their own base, Lillian, Banshee, Intrepid, Manchester, and the remaining metas watched on the monitors as the vital signs of the all the captured metas went from steady signs of life, to numerous, single flat lines all at once. A tech at one of the consoles turned and reported to Lillian.
"All incarcerated metas have been dealt with ma'am."
"Good," Lillian said with far too much calm in her voice. She glanced at the monitors for a second or two more, her face passive and unfeeling, and then turned to her remaining…troops. "For those of you remaining, congratulations, despite the number of you captured, today's results far exceeded my expectations.
"You just killed them," Intrepid said in horror.
"They were liabilities," she said matter-of-factly, as if she was simply relaying a simple correction.
"They were people," Intrepid replied in disgust.
"Ms. Harmon, may I remind you, that when we orchestrated your release, it was with the condition that those who didn't perform to expectations would be…dealt with."
Intrepid felt her jaw fall at the ease with which Lillian spoke of what just happened – as if what she did was simply flipping off a light switch instead of the mass murder that it was. She looked at Manchester and at Banshee. Manchester looked as equally conflicted as she suddenly found herself after witnessing the coldness of Lillian Luthor and her minions. But to her surprise, even Banshee looked as if she'd suddenly found herself reconsidering her allegiance to the Luthor Family matriarch.
"Now, I trust there won't be any further outbursts, because we have more work to do. Rest for now, you have earned it. We will devise a second - this time more precise – assault to show the world that threats like Supergirl are soon to be a thing of the past," Lillian said as she smiled genuinely, though frighteningly to her assembled ranks.
Later that night, as the other five metas slept, Manchester Black, Intrepid, and the Banshee were still awake. They were glancing at one another, not saying anything, just feeling the weight of the situation.
"We need to get out of here," Manchester whispered with a swiveling of his head, making sure no one was around.
"Get out of here?" Banshee asked in a similar whisper.
"Escape. Flee. Run away. Whatever you want to call it," Manchester mocked. "Because I don't know about any of you, but I for one don't feel inclined to stay here, waiting for Mommy Dearest out there to decide I'm not useful and snuff me out. Her revenge isn't worth my life."
"We can't just walk away now can we?" Banshee told him. "Not while she's giving us –"
"Don't give feed me that bullshit of helping her get her revenge helps you get your revenge," Manchester cut her off. "You may want to kill your roommate's boyfriend and all his little playmates, but I could read your thoughts when she killed all of them back there. You were as terrified and disgusted as Little Lizzie over here."
"Eliza," Intrepid corrected him, stressing the sound of her name.
"Little Lizzie sounds cuter, Love," he said with a crooked smile.
"Even if I did share – Eliza's – feelings," Banshee said, earning a smile of appreciation from Intrepid over the correct use of her real name, "like I said: we can't just walk away."
"Just say the word, I'll rush the three of us out of here before they notice we're gone," Intrepid said.
Manchester shook his head. "No, I've read the thoughts of Lillian's lackeys. These things in our necks, they have a pretty far range. If we're going to run – and live – we need them out."
"If we tamper with them, they'll know. We'll be dead before we could really try," Banshee reminded him.
"So then we think like our like benefactress," Manchester told her. "We come up with a plan, and then we think…surgically."