The classic red and blue blur that was Super girl rocketed through the sky above National City, drawing the eye of everyone who was lucky enough to look up at that moment. Kara was careful not to let anyone see her change out of her journalist clothes and into her costume, her red cape now billowing behind her matching her knee high leather boots and high length skirt, contrasting her blue top with sleeves running the length of her arms down to her wrists hooked around her thumb. The material was specially crafted from the fortress of solitude, krypton Ian fabric designed to be soft, weightless and durable to all the known elements in the universe. Kara noted how she very rarely had to repair the costume throughout her adventures even when her own body was broken and bleeding. The outfit was emblazed with gold around her waist like a belt, and prominently around the symbol sewn into her chest; the family crest of the House of El, or as the humans here like to point out, the letter S.
She flew up over the city, her city, high above the tallest skyscraper and looked down into the streets. The midday sun beat down on her back, the yellow sun radiating her skin charging her body which granted her powers. She used them to enhance her vision and scan the streets below, picking out each individual resident in the city. She saw men and women rushing to work, parents carrying their children, friends laughing, children playing, people down on their luck begging and others calmly admiring the warm sun. She found other alien refugees like her living out their lives, some with jobs, and others caring for their families, many helping other humans. Things had gotten better between humans and aliens over the years, but there was still work to be done.
Kara shifted her attention to her hearing, using it to listen to the city. She drowned out the voices of civilians, pushed past the idle chatter to the raised voices and used it to narrow her search. She found the voices she heard earlier alongside the screeching tyres and gunshots, her eyes switching to x-ray vision to zoom in on the scene of a traffic collision several yards from an intersection in the financial district. The voices echoed in her ears, the only thing she now listened too as they barked orders to the man behind the wheel of a transport truck sitting on the curb with its nose bent around a lamppost, the engine smoking under the bonnet. She could see it was heavily damaged from the impact, rendering the truck immobile while a large van pulled up behind it along with a dark sedan where three masked men climbed out with weapons in their hands.
Having found her crime in progress, Kara threw her fist forward and flew down into the streets.
On the ground, the point man of the trio marched straight to the driver of the crashed truck and pointed his shotgun at the man through the window ordering him to climb out. The terrified driver raised his hands and nervously opened the door until the man impatiently ripped it open and dragged the driver out. The man was young dressed in a high-vis vest with a hard hat who didn't speak any English as the gunman threw him to the floor and pointed his gun at him. While the driver babbled in fear, the man with the shotgun dressed in a thick coat with a ski masked told him to stay on the floor and put his hands behind his head. The driver complied, closing his eyes begging the man not to kill him in his native language.
Fortunately the gunman wasn't interested in the driver. Satisfied he wouldn't pose a threat he returned to his partners who were gathered at the back of the truck trying to open the sliding door. One of them carried a pistol and shot once at the padlock breaking it. The third man flung the door up revealing the heavy iron safe within the back, the door filling the space of the truck. The gunman signalled to the van for it to back up to them where two more men climbed out carrying three large duffel bags.
"come on, let's hurry up!" one of them shouted, taking the handgun from one of the guys who then opened one of the duffel bags and pulled out the large alien device within. The device resembled an industrial buzz saw, if the saw has two fuel tanks attached to the machines and emitted a series of lasers along the spinning blade. The man climbed up into the truck and put on a welding mask, hoisting the saw up to begin cutting through the thick metal door hiding the truck's contents while the rest stood guard.
The four lookouts turned their heads when they heard the sonic boom of something breaking the sound barrier as it rocketed towards them, looking up as Super girl came in to land in the middle of the street a few yards in front of them. She rose from a crouch, managing to avoid creating a crater with her landing. She didn't want to leave the city council paying for her hard landings anymore. She stood up straight putting her hands on her hips, adopting her heroic pose so the gunman could see clearly who she was. "Put down those guns and surrender" she said politely, addressing the men in front of the truck. "If you turn yourself in, nobody needs to get hurt."
The three men with guns all stepped forward and started shooting at her, two handguns and a shotgun. Kara didn't even flinch as the bullets bounced off her chest and shoulders, one bullet even coming on contact with her cheek without breaking her indestructible skin. She suppressed a sigh as she waited for them to run out of bullets, their guns clicking empty.
"Like I said" she repeated, hearing the police cars approaching from behind her. "Put your guns down and surrender. Nobody needs to get hurt. We can end this peacefully" she insisted, walking forward calmly approaching the masked men.
But the robbers had no intention of being peaceful. What she failed to notice was while the three gunmen were shooting at her, the fourth had ducked behind the van and unzipped another of the duffel bags after telling the man in the truck to keep cutting. When she approached the group, the first three backed away allowing the fourth to step forward holding a massive cylindrical device by two handles at each end. Kara paused when she saw the object just as the man squeezed the trigger on one of the handles, the cannon firing a bright blue projectile of energy at the superhero.
The projectile struck the girl of steel centre mass, launching her backwards off her feet and crashing into the bonnet of the police car moments from joining her. The vehicle screeched as metal folded around the young woman, its tyres sliding backwards twenty feet before coming to a groaning halt in the road blocking its counterparts forty feet away from the crash site. Kara released a shocked exhale as she lay on the front of the destroyed car, the windscreen a web of cracks around her intact skull. She sat up in the wreckage putting a hand to her chest. Nothing was damaged, nothing torn or burnt. Whatever hit her had some kick but couldn't hurt her.
She looked down at the police car, checking the officers inside were alright. To her relief they were unharmed. "Stay here" she told them and their fellow officer. They all nodded in agreement as she climbed off the bonnet and zipped back into the fight.
"How much longer" the man with the energy cannon asked as he charged his next shot, knowing that wouldn't keep Super girl down for long.
"Another minute" the man in the truck shouted back as he hurried with his task of cutting the door open. He was halfway around the door as the lasers melted the metal and let the saw slice the locking mechanisms.
The four lookouts all whirled back to find Super girl now standing only a foot away, her long blonde hair falling over her annoyed face. "That was a mistake" she said, catching the shotgun one of the gunmen tried to bring up to point at her. He pulled the trigger but the shot skimmed past Super girl's face and instead cut harmlessly into the door of their van. She crushed the barrel in her palm and thrust her hand out against her chest. she'd had years to hone her skills and her super strength, pulling her strike back enough so the hit didn't punch a hole in his chest and instead simply sent his body tumbling back against the side of the truck where he fell to the floor unconscious. Another gunman brought up his handgun, firing off several bullets all of which Kara caught out of the air before snatching the gun from his hand and shattering it, dropping the bullets from her unharmed palm.
Then she saw the man with the cannon, the real concern. She dashed over stepping into range to prevent him from bringing it back up to aim catching his wrist. But he still managed to squeeze the trigger, the blast striking at her feet sending them both lurching away from each other in a shower of tarmac and concrete. She landed on her back while he stumbled on his feet, the heavy weapon dragging his arms down. She was able to hoist her body up into the air, floating back to her feet gracefully before walking towards the man. "Drop the weapon" she told him, quickly crossing the distance before he could bring it up again.
Before she could reach him though, Kara's body was caught in an energy field that seemed to come out of nowhere. She tried to move but her arms were sluggish as she reached forward. Then her feet lost traction on the floor as she felt herself lifted up into the air, her legs kicking at nothing. She tumbled in the weightlessness until she found one of the masked men holding another alien device, this one with five prongs glowing with purple energy generating the field holding Kara in the air. She tried to break free but the man laughed, gripping the handles of his device tightly before aiming the weapon up. Her body was flung up into the sky, her stomach doing summersaults as she tumbled wildly until coming to a stop several feet high. Then she screamed as her body came tumbling back down, striking the ground hard enough to break the tarmac. She gasped in shock, looking up to see the man with the device chuckling, bringing her back into the air before throwing her to the left.
The field dissolved leaving Super girl spiralling across the road and crashing through the glass window of a nearby office building. She tumbled and rolled like a ragdoll across the reception before coming to a stop by the front desk, her cape falling over her head as she sprawled across the floor. Her head was spinning and she felt sick from the disorientation, but she managed to push through it to lift herself up to her hands and knees and people ran in fear around her. She lifted the cape off her face and brushed her hair aside to look out of the broken window where she saw the man with the cannon aimed directly at her. She inhaled sharply as it fired into the building, the energy projectile shooting through the broken entrance into the reception.
Kara managed to dodge the impact this time, rolling out of the way and shielding her face with her cape as it struck the front desk and exploded. The explosion engulfed a small radius, but the concussion blast was enough to weaken the foundations of the building as the roof started to crumble and collapse. Kara looked up and found several people still on this floor and the floor above in danger as the supports gave away. She quickly leapt up and put herself under the roof pushing against the weight, supporting the structure shouting for everyone to run. She knew she couldn't do this indefinitely but she needed to give the people upstairs time to evacuate.
Outside, the masked men all looked at each other like this wasn't part of the plan. "No what?" the man with the field generator asked?
The man without an alien weapon grabbed the man and dragged him to the truck. "Never mind that, just get that door open" he barked, the man with the saw signalling he was done. "You, keep an eye out for Super girl" he told the man with the cannon. "If you see her, shoot her."
With the door not cut open and the locks sliced, the man with the saw climbed out of the back and was replaced by the man with the gravity field generator. He didn't understand exactly how it worked, he just knew it did which was enough. He aimed the prongs at the door and activated the field, the purple glow engulfing the thick door as he carefully pulled it free from the rest of the safe. It was slow, the door was heavy, but the saw did its work and it slid out slowly and cleanly.
Meanwhile, Kara was tracking the progress of the evacuation with her x-ray vision, counting the people still scrambling to get to the fire exits. She looked below and was relieved to see most of the people had escaped. Until the cracks in the roof spread further and chunks started falling to the ground. One narrowly missed a panicking man in a business suit, the shock tripping him over his feet sending him to the ground where a large piece of ceiling was about to fall on him. Kara did some rough calculations in her head. She couldn't use her heat vision, the damage might make the situation worse. Same for her super breath. So she waited until the last possible second, ensuring all in the floor above was safely out of harm's way before letting go of the ceiling and rushing to the man's side, using her body to shield him from the collapsing debris as the first floor finally gave away and crushed the ground floor.
The man opened his eyes, expecting to be dead. But instead he found Super girl standing over him offering her hand. He took it and was helped to his feet, looking around at the rubble filled reception, his eyes drawn up to find himself staring at the offices on the first floor. Kara asked him if he was alright. He said he appeared to be. "Thank you Super girl" he said graciously as she led him to the nearest exit.
Kara watched the man retreat out the fire exit to the waiting officials, releasing a slow breath of relief. She looked around at the destruction, her mind recalling the chaos from the Community Hospital five years ago. At least this time no one was hurt. But it still left an angry growl in Super girl's gut as she turned her attention back to the men outside.
The man with the energy cannon watched the innocent civilians escape the dusty office building as police and paramedics escorted them away from the site. He couldn't hide the feeling of relief as he watched them escape the carnage. Nobody was supposed to get hurt on this op. no humans anyway. He looked back at the reception where the dust cloud was clearing and found a figure standing in the entrance. His eyes widened as he realised it was Super girl, and she didn't look happy.
He raised his cannon and took aim, but the krypton Ian suddenly narrowed her eyes and released two powerful beams of heat from them. Her heat vision hit the cannon in his hands, superheating it to the point he couldn't hold it, his hands springing open dropping it at his feet as he released a cry of pain. Seconds later she was inches away from him, her hand gripping the scruff of his coat lifting him off his feet.
His partners all turned to see him hanging from her grasp before she tossed him at the group. The man collided with the man who once held the laser saw, sending them both tumbling to the ground tangled together. The man with the gravity field generator stopped what he was doing and jumped down to fight her. But she dashed at him pushing him with her palm sending him sliding across the road towards the police cars, the weapon falling from his grasp. That left the final man standing, unarmed and outmatched. Kara looked at him with narrow eyes prompting him to turn and sprint away. He got only a few feet before he himself found his legs kicking at air as he was lifted off the ground and carried across the street before being dropped in front of the police officers who all raised their guns.
With all the masked men disabled and in custody, Super girl allowed herself to take a deep breath as she circled the crash site one last time, scanning the damage making sure there was no further permanent damage. As she paced her earpiece buzzed, so she tapped it. "Hey, where are you?" Jimmy's voice asked, the call to her cell transmitted to her earpiece. "I'm outside the hospital" he said.
"Sorry, I was called away" Kara apologised, forgetting se was supposed to be on a reporters assignment. "There was an armed robbery on Lexington."
"Yeah, I hear the sirens" he said, understanding perfectly. "I was just worried you had…everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, it's all dealt with" she told him, looking at the men now in handcuffs and the paramedics treating the people from the office building. "No one got hurt."
"How about you?" he asked.
"I'm fine" she answered.
"Good. Well, I'm just wrapping up here so consider the assignment over if you want to take the day. We can discuss the story in the morning. I will need a draft by tonight though."
"Will do" she smiled, promising to find a few hours to write this up for him.
"Out of interest, wat were the bad guys trying to steal?"
"It doesn't matter" she shrugged, casually glancing at the truck they were robbing. "What's important is they didn't get away with…it…"
She trailed off as she realised there was something odd about the transport truck. On the outside it looked like a regular moving truck, but there was no logo on the sides. And inside…well inside she couldn't tell. Whatever safe the men were trying to cut through was lined with lead, meaning she couldn't see. And the safe was too sophisticated to be commercial.
"Kara?" Jimmy asked, sensing his friend had become distracted.
"Can I call you back?" she said, tapping her earpiece ending the call as she walked forward to get a closer look. She scanned the truck with her vision, unable to gleam anything other than it wasn't an ordinary moving truck. She climbed up to the door that the thieves almost pried open, easily pulling it free using her super strength. Carefully dropping the door on the floor outside her climbed into the truck and looked inside.
Inside there was only one crate, a large crate equally lined with lead. There was nothing else se could see, the box fixed to the centre of the safe strapped by two harnesses. She walked over and unlatched the straps, running her hands over the crate fighting an uneasy sense of dread. Whatever this van was transporting wasn't anything good.
Should I really be prying into the business of the people I helped protect? She wondered. But her reporter gut told her something was off about all this, so she buried the concern about privacy and private property and opened the crate.
She was stunned to find a familiar face staring up at her, its chrome head baring into the hero as her shocked eyes scanned the metal body folded in on itself to fit into the large crate. She instinctively looked to the large opening in its chest where, thankfully, there was no kryptonite to power the machine sitting in front of her.
Though deactivated, Super girl now had to wonder what the body of Metalloid was doing in the back of this truck.