Lena finished up the last few emails before switching off the computer. She stood up from the chair rubbing her eyes. She hated late nights when she'd had a long day. She was exhausted and frustrated. She'd succeeded in removing the Samaritan project from the production line but it didn't bring her as much joy as she thought it would. She assumed bringing weapons that dangerous offline would make her proud, yet it appeared nothing had changed. All she'd accomplished was removing a scumbag from his office, as satisfying as that was, and denying National City another false hero.
So why does this victory feel so hollow? She pondered, walking over to the cabinet to pour herself a drink. She took a sip, crossing her arms letting the drink settle in her throat closing her eyes. Maybe because it took my brother's tech to make it? Another reminder of my family's long shadow that I'm running from. She sighed, swallowing her drink with a large gulp. She decided to have one more for the road, then she should head back to her apartment and seek out her bed for the night. Tomorrow was another day.
As she reached down to pick up the decanter, her eyes glimpsed a shape in the refracted glass. A reflection of something behind her on the opposite side of her windows, a glint of red and blue. She allowed herself a smile. It appeared Supergirl had come for a visit, as she often would. Maybe she wants to debrief about her date tonight? But it was pretty late, even for her. Lena's eyes lifted up to the small picture frame hanging above the cabinet showing one of her many doctorates. She found a crystal clear reflection of her window behind her revealing the figure hovering outside her office. Her eyes widened as they raised their arm.
Her office windows were made with some of the thickest glass the company could buy, installed for security reasons back when Lex ran the company. It was virtually indestructible, capable of stopping a high powered sniper rifle bullet, 50 calibre shell or an RPG dead in its tracks. But Lena was smart enough not to rely on the bulletproof glass as she dived to the side towards her desk just as the window shattered from a force greater than any ordinary explosion. She cried out as glass rained over her body, crawling hurriedly along the floor feeling the night air whip around the newly ventilated office kicking up papers. Her ears became filled with the wind from outside, now deafening without the sound-cancelling protection, and the distinct hum of thrusters drifting inside before being replaced with a heavy thump that shook her floor. She scrambled beneath her desk, reaching up the underside pushing the silent alarm by her seat frantically. She had top tier security but it would still take them a few seconds to get to her office at this time of night.
She turned her head to the sound of heavy footsteps, looking back to see a pair of large metal feet stomp across the floor crushing glass to dust with every step as it's hulking shape rose over her through the foggy glass. Lena backed away in fear as its large hand grabbed the edge of the table and threw it to the right, upturning the desk with a clattering crash revealing the red and blue Samaritan armour standing over her.
Lena's mind started rapid firing questions to problem solve. She couldn't understand how this suit was here, they would all be locked up downstairs in R&D. her eyes scanned the suit and found distinct differences. It was less refined in places, more toys on the arms and back. A prototype she realised. One we'd missed. Of course that left little doubt to who was piloting. "Maxwell Davies" she said bluntly, putting some confidence in her voice.
The Samaritan stared back at her coldly through its smooth faceplate, the small slit of a visor fixing its gaze on her. "Miss Luthor" Maxwell's voice crackled through the suit as he slowly advanced towards her. "I need only a moment of your time" he said, the technology on his arm whirling as the gauntlet retracted the concussion knuckles it used to shatter the glass.
Lena shambled backwards as the man loomed over her, her eyes darting to the exit hearing the doors swing open. Her security detail, five men in suits and body armour, raced into the office and found the Samaritan bearing down on her. They immediately drew their weapons and shouted at him, giving him barely a moment before firing their weapons. She covered her head as bullets began peppering the armour plating, bouncing off the suit ricocheting around the office. Glass exploded and plaster crumpled while Lena hurried along the floor towards her security. The Samaritan remained unfazed by the attack, turning its head to the five men and releasing a robotic sigh. Its right arm lifted up as a small energy cannon rolled from the side, its aim trained on the nearest guard and firing a blue beam of energy that struck him in the chest. The man screamed as he crumpled to the ground with a large hole in his chest.
Lena froze when she heard the man collapse, looking up to see him dead by the other's feet as they ducked for cover. She saw the face of the dead man. She couldn't recall his name, but he had a son at home. She closed her eyes and grimaced as Maxwell stalked forward adjusting his aim, burning through another man along with the doorframe he was hiding behind. She couldn't make a dash for the exit now and her security were outmatched. She needed help. Her hands went to her pockets but she couldn't find her watch, her head spinning around searching the room until she saw her handbag beside an overturned chair. She pushed to her knees and dove towards it as fast as she could, reaching the chai just as the fourth man screamed in pain before dying.
She risked a glance to the last guard and saw his determination as he emptied his clip into the Samaritan, his bullets bouncing off his helmet. Maxwell stared at him impassively before switching the cannon for a tiny missile, catapulting it in his direction where it exploded at his feet sending the man, and his legs, flying across the corridor.
Lena pushed the horrifying view from her memory as she tipped her bag onto the floor, rummaging through the contents until she found the signal watch and picked it up. Maxwell's footsteps stomped towards her as she quickly flipped the lip open revealing the crest underneath and immediately pressed the button once.
The signal from the watch woke Kara from her slumber with a jolt as it rang through her eardrums. Her eyes snapped open and she shot up in her bed, the cover falling around her waist as she whipped her glasses off her face. She turned her senses to the city and found Lena, immediately hearing the clattering in her office and the thumping of heavy boots along with the grinding of mechanical gears. Her vision zoomed in and she saw the shapes of a massive figure with her bearing down on her. She was in trouble.
Before she could dart out of bed faster than the speed of sound she was interrupted by the gentle exhale of the young man in bed with her, his arm draped over her waist as he snuggled closer. Kara looked down at Jake's sleeping form and silently cursed. She didn't want to risk waking him. Forcing herself to move slowly she eased his arm back to the mattress and carefully climbed out of bed, her bare feet falling to the carpet as she pried her naked body from her lovers embrace. She paused to kiss his forehead, wishing she didn't have to sneak off like this, before silently hopping across her bedroom to her wardrobe looking for her costume. she gathered it up and brought it with her to the living room, pausing again to slid the doors closed casting one last guilty look at the bed before pulling her costume on as fast as she could and rushing out of the apartment.
Lena was yanked off her feet and shoved against the wall by the large fist of the Samaritan, its fingers around her throat ready to squeeze the life out of her in an instant. She stared at the faceplate glaring back at her, her hands grappling with the machine looking for a wire to pull or something. Its helmet folded back revealing the white haired narrow faced man beneath, his glare as hostile as his scowl. "I told you I'd make you pay for this" he told her.
"You can't get away with this" she said angrily.
"I've already lost my job, my freedom, and my dream. What more do I have to worry about?" he asked. "It didn't have to be like this. I came to you so we could change the world. We could've saved it together."
"You used stolen technology to make you weapons, and then you set them loose to kill people" she snarled. "Cadmus labs. Parasite. Metallo."
"You of all people should understand the sacrifices we must be willing to make to make the world a better place. You thought removing free will was the solution. An elegant one, I'll grant you. I am sorry for those deaths I'm responsible for, but I won't let their sacrifice be in vain. The Samaritan is too important to let you destroy it. It helped so many people already. Imagine how many more it could save? How many I could save."
"You're delusional" she whispered.
He shook his head sadly. "I didn't want this to be personal, but you made it so when you took my project. I'll always have fond memories of our stimulating conversation" he said, his hand beginning to squeeze around her neck.
In the span of a breath Supergirl came flying through the window as fast as she could, smashing through the thick glass at terminal velocity sending shards everywhere. Maxwell had a split second to look in her direction before her body collided with his armour, knocking it aside sending it flying across the room crashing through the wall into the corridor. By the time the dust settled Lena was slumped on the floor gasping for breath rubbing her neck. Kara rushed over to help her to her feet, her x-ray vision checking for breakages. "What took you so long" Lena asked after regaining her breath.
"I got here as fast as I could" Supergirl said, but Lena wasn't fooled. She's rushed over here enough times to know was late by several seconds. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"No, I'm not" she scowled, looking down at her dead security team feeling angry. Their eyes lifted to the hole in the wall where Maxwell had crashed through, his suit slumped in the corridor sitting on a pile of brick and plaster.
The man groaned as she raised his head and looked up, seeing Supergirl standing beside Lena. He sighed dragging his suit up to its feet, running a diagnostic on his systems. "I have no quarrel with you Supergirl" he said, standing in the corridor keeping his focus trained on Lena.
"Stand down Maxwell" Kara ordered, stepping in front of Lena facing the Samaritan. "I won't let you hurt anyone else."
"I don't want to hurt anyone else" he assured her, receiving the all clear from his on-board computer. His suit had suffered no damage. "But if you get in my way, then so be it" he added, his helmet folding back into place.
Supergirl sighed as she dashed forward, sprinting through the hole in the wall in the blank of an eye to pin the Samaritan to the corridor holding him in place. The suit grappled with her but she pushed him back until he couldn't move.
In his suit Maxwell glared at Supergirl through his view screen, her face tinted red as stress levels flashed around him with icons. "Confirm integration of parasite data" he muttered into her microphone. His computer gave him a visual response, the analysis records of both Supergirl and Dreamer acquired from the sample he took logged in his suit. "Engage counter-threat protocol. Subject: Supergirl" he ordered. His HUD changed as new parameters came into place, his suit shifting its gears initiating the logged countermeasures.
Seconds later the Samaritan was humming as its pistons engaged new stress levels and Supergirl watched as its body pushed back against her as she continued to pin it to the wall. It grabbed her arms and forced her off him, her eyes widening as she stared at the newfound strength it had. She pushed back harder but the Samaritan managed to match it, slowly gaining room to move. She dug her feet into the floor for more leverage, staring back at the faceplate with a determined glare. When it refused to remove her arms she pulled her head back, inhaling sharply, and slammed her forehead against the helmet with enough force to flatten a car. Though it didn't harm her, the head-butt still left Kara momentarily dazed for a second.
Maxwell stared at the girl through his view screen, analysing the read out of the impact velocity absorbed by his new impact dampeners. He smirked. "My turn" he whispered as he slammed his faceplate into Supergirl's face. The kinetic build up discharged upon impact sending Supergirl stumbling back through the hole and through the floor until she landed on her backside two floors down. He exhaled sharply from the shock, staring up at the cold faceplate looking down at her. Maxwell cocked his head. She clenched her jaw and leapt back up to fight him.
Lena edged away from the corridor listening to fight. She trusted Supergirl could handle Maxwell by herself and so kept her distance. She ran over to her office locker and tapped in the code to the keypad. She didn't usually keep any of her tech in her office, but she always had something here in case of emergencies. She opened the locker and looked inside before being interrupted by a loud crash as Supergirl came crashing into her office with the Samaritan.
Kara grappled with Maxwell on the floor, slamming his suit down punching her fist into its chest feeling the shielding ripple along the armour. He swung back at her, his punch deflected by her arm as she blocked the swing. She changed her tactic and focused her heat vision, firing it down at point blank range into his chest plate. It burned hot enough to melt metal instantly, but it proved fruitless. Maxwell reviewed the internal temperatures, relived his engineers succeeded in installing the new cooling systems before he was fired. Supergirl wasn't roasting him tonight. He reached up and grabbed her by the head throwing her to the side, her heat vision briefly cutting through the ceiling until she closed her eyes. He leapt on top of her and pummelled her with his fist, each punch smashing her into the floor. She caught the next punch with both her hands, using his weight against him to flip him over her head sending him to the ground. It was a miracle the whole office hadn't sank yet. Lena shook unsteadily on her feet as she rummaged in her locker, grabbing the equipment she was looking for. Kara jumped to her feet only for Maxwell to catch her ankle and pull her back onto her front. He climbed up, grabbed her cape with his left hand and yanked her back so fast she almost got whiplash. "Divert kinetic reserves to right gauntlet" he ordered his HUD, watching the lights flash as energy is charged into his fist which he uses to strike at the stumbling Supergirl. She is hit with the full concussive blast sending her rocketing through the walls and out of the building, tumbling through the night air and crashing into the neighbouring skyscraper.
Maxwell exhaled staring out of the large gap in the building he'd created, heaving behind his suit. The fight with Supergirl was more tiring than he was expecting. He disengaged the kinetic shielding and turned around. "Now Miss Luthor, where were we?" He asked before being struck by a bolt of green plasma.
Lena stood in her wrecked office confidently, a green gauntlet on her right forearm similar in design to the Samaritan's. A remnant of her brother's tech which she'd modified for her own use years ago, this was the only weapon the woman allowed herself in her office. Its primary feature was the energy cannon that could fire a wide range of projectiles, originally designed for kryptonite. The Samaritan stumbled as she fired several more times, Maxwell's circuits reacting to the electromagnetic charges within the projectiles messing with his sensors. He lashed out throwing a hand forward, but the woman ducked underneath him and pulled out the second object she retrieved from her office stash. With a graceful twirl she planted the palm sized disc onto the back of the suit, the magnet locking it into place glowing with green LEDs. She retreated back when he spun around to try and catch her, adjusting her stance as she opened her palm and unleashed a torrent of green energy at him. He raised his elbows to block it, ordering his suit to bring up the shield to deflect it so he could analyse the energy pattern. Lena pushed some buttons on her wrist alternating the wavelength so he couldn't negate it so easily. She knew it couldn't stop him, she just needed time.
Time was something Maxwell deprived her of when he activated a secondary function in his armour. A targeting reticule appeared on his HUD and he focused it on the ceiling directly above her. With a vocal signal into his mic an explosive dart flew out of his back and into the ceiling where it was targeted. Lena looked up at the tiny explosion causing the roof to collapse, diving to the side abruptly cancelling her attack. Plaster and dust fell on top of her caking her black hair in white, her clothes covered as she coughed and sputtered. Maxwell stomped over to her and trained his own cannon upon her, waiting for her eyes to look up at him before telling her "if this my last day as a hero, my final act will be to end the tyranny of the Luthor family." Lena tensed as his cannon hummed to life, then relaxed when a familiar red and blue blur crashed through her office snatching the Samaritan from the building.
With brick and mortar crumbling behind them Kara dragged the Samaritan through the air and flung him away from the building. She slowed her momentum and hovered in place watching the heavy suit tumble through the sky and hit a concrete wall of a sturdy building. Mentally she chastised herself for not checking if it could withstand the impact, or how many people she might've hurt, but physically she took a deep breath and prepared to fight this machine all the way across National City.
Maxwell grunted as the sensors in his systems flashed in warnings. "Status report" he asked. The computer replied his defences had sustained 37% damage and needed diagnostic. Kinetic absorption was online fortunately. He looked up at the L-Corp building in front of him, Supergirl hovering in his path. "Load the bunker buster payloads and engage thrusters" he growled. The jets in his suit ignited and carried him out of the crack in the wall he sat in, lifting him and his suit into the air to hover above the city. He saw Supergirl in his view screen clenching his fist, but he brought up his targeting system instead. "Lock onto the L-Corp building" he said as his screen glowed red. "Calculate optimal locations for complete demolition." The diagram of the skyscraper was brought up and three distinct points of impact were chosen. "Fire!"
The Samaritan launched three large rockets out of its back, each of which flew across the sky towards the building on its own trajectory. Lena sat in her office hacking at her wrist computer watching them approach her company. She turned her eyes to Supergirl who was already in motion. Kara shot through the air like a bullet, her flight path intercepting each missile with ease. The first she caught in her right hand, yanking it out of the air. The second she incinerated with her heat vision where it burn up in a small explosion. The third she spun in front of, catching in her left hand crushing it in her fist withstanding the explosion to her face. She let the smoke clear revealing her focused expression to the man hovering in front of her. Maxwell stared in amazement and fury as Supergirl took the remaining rocket and flung it back in his direction. He shot his arm out and destroyed it with an energy cannon, the explosion obscuring his view leaving Kara a moment to race through the smoke cloud and charge into the suit sending them both rocketing to the ground.
They crashed into the middle of the park forming a large crater of dirt, trees toppling over in a small circle. Kara straddled the Samaritan pummelling it with her fists trying to pry the suit open. Its kinetic shielding absorbed the blows and Maxwell waited until was fulling charged before activating a concussive blast to throw her off him. She rolled and back flipped across the ground landing on her feet, her eyes glowing hot with frustration as he used his thrusters to lift his suit back to his feet. "Why couldn't you have just stayed out of this" he grumbled, engaging his lasers firing them at the kryptonian. She dodged and weaved around him faster than a bullet, punching and kicking at him periodically trying to exhaust his shield. He caught her with a backhand that sent her flying, following up with a beam of blue energy that struck her in the chest. She dug her heels in and stood fast against the beam, pushing forward gritting her teeth. It didn't pierce her skin or her costume, but the focused beam was strong enough to make moving difficult. "Focus power to the weapons" Maxwell ordered, his laser intensifying as it gave everything it could. Kara started to slip back, losing ground as her strength struggled to resist.
The power in the weapons systems abruptly disengaged all of a sudden, the laser shutting down leaving both Supergirl and the Samaritan stunned in the middle of the park. Maxwell looked at his HUD readings in confusion. "What the hell? Re-engage weapon system!" he commanded.
"I'm afraid that won't be possible" his suit suddenly chimed in a female voice.
Maxwell stared in alarm as everything in his suit started to power down, the HUD turning from red to green as systems reroute out of his control. He stared in shock shouting into his mic, trying to move his arms or legs as they lock into place. "Computer! Run diagnostic. Identify malfunction!"
"there's no malfunction Mr Davies" the voice said as a new screen flickered across his view screen, Lena Luthor's face materialising in front of him.
She was still sitting in her destroyed office, cuts and bruises on her face and neck as she looked down into the wrist gauntlet on her arm she was hacking him from. Maxwell glared at her, unable to move as she shut his suit down. "How?"
"It took me a while to figure out that not only did you steal my brother's schematics, you also built the control network on his code. Once I realised that, hacking into your suits subroutines was rather easy" she said, tapping her wrist computer linked to the hacking device she planted on him during their scuffle. The suit powered down and the Samaritan slumped down to its knees while Maxwell hissed and cursed her name from the park. She spoke into her own earpiece, her voice coming through the headset the man was wearing. "Supergirl, would you care to do the honours?"
Maxwell's face twitched in confusion until he looked up and found the blonde heroine standing over him chuckling. She could hear Lena's voice over his headset with her super hearing. "Absolutely" she replied, taking a deep breath and blowing frost over the Samaritan. Ice formed over the metal and without the systems online to activate the internal heaters Maxwell started to freeze. She stopped once the ice covered the suits torso and shoulders, the metal now brittle enough for her to punch through the chest plate and rip the power supply out. The suits auxiliary power packs kicked in but it only powered life support and HUD controls, leaving Lena still in control as Supergirl ripped the helmet from Maxwell's head and discarded it.
It landed on the ground a few feet away, the visor looking up at them both giving Lena a perfect view of the former CEO and superhero on his knees in front of Supergirl. She smiled broadly. Now she felt pride.
Maxwell hung his head in defeat, his chest and shoulders exposed through the broken and heavy battle suit, his hair falling over his eyes. "All I wanted was to make this world a better place" he muttered. "To save lives."
"At what cost Maxwell" Supergirl asked him, heaving from the fight shaking her head in disappointment. "All the good you tried to do, how many lives did you ruin in order to make it happen?"
"Everything I did was for the betterment of humankind" he insisted.
"Forcing Carl Carlton to mass produce Metallo into an army for a publicity stunt? Setting them loose upon the city?" Kara challenged.
"I admit, I made questionable choices. But I swear it was all under control. I was doing it to help. The Samaritan would've revolutionised planetary defence. Even you must see that!"
"What I see are the people you murdered!" she spat. "You unleashed parasite on innocent people. Why? What purpose did that serve?"
Maxwell bit his tongue looking away, so Lena answered for him. "The counter-threat protocol. It's a program in this suit, and the others" she told Kara. "He used parasite to collect data on the powers he absorbed. There's a counter program for you and for Dreamer."
"I never meant for so many to die" he confessed, looking at Supergirl with conviction. "But you must understand, that data was necessary. If the suit could withstand you then it could withstand another Daxamite invasion."
"Dreamer could've died!" Kara screamed.
"And I am sorry for that. I didn't anticipate her being involved."
"You used innocent people as bait to get to me?" Kara scoffed, anger filling her eyes. "You say you want to help save lives and then you go and do all of this? Work with Hank Henshaw, build an army of robots, parasite, attacking Lena…" she turned away in disgust, feeling a familiar urge to incinerate a monster. "The worst part about all of this is I believed in you. I believed you wanted to change the world. I believed you could help." She sighed, disappointed.
Maxwell closed his eyes and finally admitted his shame. "You have to understand…not everyone can rely on you Supergirl" he explained. "You can't be everywhere to save everyone. I was only trying to help, but I had to make sure it worked. I had to…"
"No, you wanted to be the hero" Lena scolded through the headset. "Instead all you've done is prove what I said at the beginning. In the wrong hands, this suit is a weapon. You made it a weapon Maxwell, good intentions or not."
"She's right" Supergirl told him, fixing her blue eyes upon him stern. "You are not fit to bear that responsibility."
He stared back at her in contempt, grinding his teeth as fury took over along with pain. In his heart he knew they were right, but his pride wouldn't accept it. He deserved to be the Samaritan, it was his dream. His life's work! "You can't take this form me" he snarled.
"We can, and we have" Lena told him.
Supergirl nodded. "You can go to prison and think about where you went wrong. Maybe they'll give you a cell next to your co-conspirator" she said.
"What co-conspirator?" he asked.
"Hank Henshaw. Cyborg Superman? The man you helped stage an attack on the city with your robot army?"
Maxwell's scoffed, breaking into a sarcastic laugh. "You've got to be kidding. I had nothing to do with that attack. I helped you people!"
"You've already confessed to building the machines" Supergirl reminded him.
"Yes, I contracted Axis to build them but we couldn't get the power source finished. Then that lunatic stole all our drones for himself."
"You really expect me to believe that" she laughed.
"Why would I work with someone as unstable as Cyborg Superman?" he asked defiantly. "I planned to stage an attack with Metallo, yes, but a controlled environment where nobody would get hurt. Why would I stage a theft of my own property? Why would I risk exposing my plan like that?"
Kara paused, forced to consider he makes a good point. It didn't make total sense. "But we know you helped him" she insisted.
"How?"
"You're the man in the red suit" she explained. "We've seen the schematics. The recon king? Your prototype suit for the Samaritan?"
Maxwell stared at her blankly for a long moment wondering what she was talking about. "Wait, are talking about that reconnaissance suit?" he asked. "That was just a concept design. It never got made."
"We've seen it" Supergirl told him.
"You can't have" he assured her. "It never made it to production. The technical specs were beyond our capabilities. Why do you think we needed L-Corp's cooperation so badly?"
"We know it's you in the suit" she insisted angrily. "You helped orchestrate the attack on the city, you attacked Hank when the job was done, and you tried to kill Lena and…a reporter at one of your properties when they got close to the truth…"
"I don't know who you think I am, but I'm telling you that suit doesn't exist!"
"Supergirl!" Lena's voice called through the headset, watching through the helmet's visor. "I think he's telling the truth. I've got his body's readouts in front of me and his heart rate is barely shifting. I'm not an expert but I'm pretty he's telling the truth. He doesn't know anything about it."
Kara looked at the helmet, then at the L-Corp building sensing Lena's gaze on her. She looked down at Maxwell and focused on his heart-beat. She was right, it was as steady as a rock. But he could still be lying. She leant over the immobile man and asked once more "what do you know about the man in the suit?"
"I have no idea who you are talking about" he repeated, and she listened carefully to his heartrate. It confirmed he was speaking the truth. She closed her eyes and stepped away, sighing in frustration. "That recon design was a waste of time anyway. You'd be better off asking the guy who designed it."
That gave both Kara and Lena pause for a moment. "What do you mean?" Kara asked.
"I mean I didn't design the bloody thing" he iterated.
"It's your name on the schematics" Lena said.
"My name's on everything TITAN Industries builds under my leadership. It's my innovations on the blueprints, my work going into it. But that particular prototype…I don't usually admit to hogging credit but the specs were solely down to my engineers, particularly the lead guy. He took my ideas and came up with that within a month. He called it the Reckoning, which I already knew would make horrible PR. If it wasn't so reliant on tech we didn't have it would've made production."
While the man was talking Kara felt familiar side effects from her fight with parasite flare back up as her ears started ringing again. She tried to focus on the man but the noise rose in pitch becoming uncomfortable. She rubbed her head as it got worse, expecting the nausea next. I thought this would've worn off by now?
"So who designed the suit? I don't have a name on file" Lena asked Maxwell.
He rolled his eyes. "I'm aware. The guy was a genius but he disappeared several months ago. No forwarding address, no letter of notice, no explanation. Though I can't complain, his paperwork was a mess. I don't think he signed his name to anything, and when he did it was unreadable. I swear, if he hadn't gone AWOL I would've…" he trailed off when he saw Supergirl wincing in pain. "Are you okay?" he asked with shocking sincerity.
Lena's voice came through the headset when she saw her friend in distress through her computer. "Supergirl? What's wrong?"
"I'm fine" she said, her face contorting in discomfort as the whine in her ears grew louder. "It'll pass, I just…ow, that's loud" she whined, stumbling to her knees clutching her head. She looked at the Samaritan suit desperately. "Lena, I think Maxwell's suit is…"
"It's not the suit" Lena reported after double checking her hack. The suit was completely powered down. "Maxwell, what's going on?"
"How should I know?" he asked. "You two are the one holding be prison…"
There was a sharp twap and a thunk before Maxwell's voice was suddenly silenced by something sharp and spherical piercing his chest at the base of his throat. Lena jumped as his life signs suddenly spiked into the red while the man choked on blood staring ahead in surprise. Kara's head shot up seeing the man bleeding from spike in his torso. The ringing in her ears drowned out all other noise rendering her virtually deaf as the man turned his head to her mouthing something before slumping in the suit. She vaguely heard Lena's voice calling her name over his headpiece when she pushed herself to her feet to examine the man. She felt for a pulse, but it was gone. Blood leaked from his wound and the red projectile sticking out of him. She felt the ringing in her ears lesson and she breathed a sigh of relief. Then she sensed the presence standing behind her, turning back feeling her blood run cold.
The man in the red armour stood several paces away with his trident in his hand, the middle of three prongs missing leaving only two. He lowered it slowly staring at the hero silently. She narrowed her gaze and rushed at him as fast as she could before he could escape. He made no move to retreat as he spun the weapon in his hand, one hand on his glowing utility belt. Kara was able to cross two thirds of the distance before she realised her powers were once again gone.
Lena watched in horror from her wrist computer in her office as Maxwell's life signs flashed in warning before flat lining, the man dying before her eyes from an assailant she hadn't predicted coming. She could see Kara struggling to her feet from a noise Lena couldn't register through the microphone, nor could the suits sensors detect. But when the Recon suit, the Reckoning, stepped into view Lena called for Kara to run. But she didn't seem to hear as the girl threw herself at the figure. She became beside herself when she saw her powers were gone, stumbling forward only to be met with a swing from the two pronged trident.
"Kara!" Lena shouted into her earpiece, trying to get her attention wondering if the headset was still working. She watched the figure stalk around her as Supergirl tried to fight him, only to be struck back by someone with clear training and fighting prowess. Lena watched Kara get thrown to the ground with a cut across her cheek and began looking for a way to help. She couldn't get across town in time, her portal watch wasn't here. So she hacked the suit again. The auxiliary power only ran a few subsystems so she routed what wasn't needed any longer, such as life support. "Hang on Kara" she muttered, frantically tapping at her touch pad hotwiring the suits circuits to divert power to different areas. She saw through the visor Kara on the ground with the figure standing over her, his trident at her throat charged with electricity. Lena's heart skipped as she saw Kara looking up at them, seemingly pleading. She doubled her efforts and finished syncing the circuits. "Please work" she prayed engaging the suit.
Kara stared up at the reckoning as they held her at the point of their weapon. They hadn't said a word during their fight, just stared at her with what felt like silent contempt. She tried to grab him and maybe pin him to the ground but without her powers they just dodged her attempts and swung at her with their trident. She felt blood on her cheek and the electricity hovering around the spikes at her neck, wondering how much it would take to kill her. She stared at the faceless warrior asking him again. "Why are you doing this?"
Before it could decide to either replied or kill her, the Samaritan suit suddenly spurred to life. both of them turned to look at it in surprise as it's right arm shot up and pointed it's wrist at the figure, discharging a focused concussion blast from the gauntlet striking the reckoning in the chest sending them flying over the park into the bushes. Kara gasped in shock as the figure disappeared into the shrubs, panting heavily in relief.
"Kara? Can you hear me?" Lena's voice called from Maxwell's headset.
Kara rolled to her knees and crawled over to the suit, once more silent and immobile. She pulled the headset from the man and put it on, turning to look at the helmet a few feet away. "I'm here. Was that you?"
"Yes. Are you hurt?" she asked.
"no, I'm okay" she replied, rising to her feet holding her side where she'd been caught with a rather powerful gut punch. She found it healing fast though, checking her powers finding them returning. "My powers are back" she said.
"Good. Can you find the reckoning?" she asked.
Kara scanned the bushes they were thrown in with her vision, but she couldn't see anything. She ran over and parted the shrubs to double check. The clearing was empty. Her assailant was gone.