"I thought you said you couldn't track the suits?" Nia asked, talked through her mobile as her and Olsen raced to the DEO headquarters in their Uber.
The conference call included Brainy, who was back at the DEO coordinating with Alex and J'onn, and Lena who was at her apartment with Kara, remotely accessing her company servers. "I couldn't until their transponders suddenly switched on" Lena replied just as confused.
"The computer virus that was masking their signal seems to have been deactivated" Brainy theorised, operating at his work station. "L-Corps satellite has pinpointed their trajectory leaving orbit" he reported, the map on his screen zooming out and blinking.
"I guess they figured out the space travel part" Kara said from Lena's apartment looking at hr laptop tracking the same suits. "But where are they going?"
"According to my calculations, based on the current alignment and trajectory" Brainy replied mapping the projected course. The fourth planet came up on their screen. "They are on a projected course to Mars" he reported.
In the Uber, Nia and Olsen both looked at each other. "A blood red planet" he whispered, echoing her dream.
Alex turned to J'onn, who stared back mutely. "He wouldn't" she muttered.
"He would" he nodded, turning on his heel and marching to the balcony. "I need to call M'gann so she can warn her people" he said.
"I'll meet you on route" Kara called over the call, already racing out of her clothes into her costume.
Nia, knowing this was one mission she wouldn't be able to follow them on, tells them "be careful!" while Olsen tells their driver to pick up the pace.
"Before you go, we need to stop by L-Corp" Lena suggested, ending her side of the call to catch Kara. She nodded, following her lead taking her to her office first.
Hank lead his Samaritan strike team through space, dodging asteroids weaving through the natural rocky barrier with ease, the red planet growing in size as they approached. Eagle and his comrades followed close behind, their blue HUD's tracking the space debris so they could weave around them charting a path to the destination. Just as they cleared the asteroids Eagle's radar picked out movement coming from the planet ahead as several unknown objects left obit to intercept them. "Boss, we have incoming" he called through his radio.
Hank saw them and grinned, his cybernetic eye glowing firing an optic beam at the incoming spacecraft. His laser cut through the first Martian ship, its malleable hull melting under the heat causing it to veer off course.
The two behind fired back with its weapons, red lasers zapping towards them. The Samaritan shields deflected the heavy artillery, except for one who got hit enough times to overload the barrier and disable it, the final laser cutting through the armour and hitting the mercenary inside. He screamed in pain before his suit decompressed and his cries were suffocated by the void of space. Eagle scowled, narrowing his eyes targeting the space craft unleashing a torrent of rockets. His allies did the same, the barrage blanketing the path of the space craft. They dodged and weaved through the explosions, their shields deflecting the blasts and some being shot out of the air by their lasers. They continued on their intercept course only for Hank to meet them head on, propelling his body forward punching straight through the second ship destroying it instantly. The third swerved around him only for the Samaritans to fire upon it with energy cannons, disabling the flight controls as it shifted form to raise bigger armaments. The first ship returned flanking the Samaritans, raining fire upon their shields. They hit it with rail guns, the rounds cutting through the cockpit killing the pilot leaving the ship unmanned. Easy prey for Hank who grabbed hold of it and flung it at the final ship. The white Martian ejected out of his ship at the last moment, the two space craft colliding in a mighty explosion. He roared at them flying through space to attack them, tearing into the nearest Samaritan angrily, the great pale alien ripping the cannon from its arm. Hank dashed forward and yanked the alien from the battle suit, latching his fist around its throat staring into its bellowing maw. One optic beam melted it's skull at it was left drifting lifelessly through space. A fourth Martian fighter came barrelling towards them, its cannons firing missiles at the invaders. The Samaritans shot most out the sky and Hank cut through the rest, catching the last and redirecting it back at the fighter. It exploded twelve feet from their position, the concussion blast brushing over Hank's skin.
But then a shape materialised through the explosion as a slim skin skinned Martian female came out of the cloud with her fists raised, launching herself at the cyborg clocking him across the jaw. He wasn't expecting such a bold assault and he was sent tumbling through space. M'gann Morzz, Miss Martian, came to a stop in front of the Samaritans floating in their way, defending her home. She didn't speak, unsure whether the humans would be able to hear her out here in space. They made their intentions known, drawing their weapons and firing at her. She flew between them, using her skills at a warrior to dodge their attacks and disable their weapons, phasing her hands through the shields and armour to sort out their cannons. She didn't want to kill the pilots, merely disarm them. They didn't make it easy though, lashing out at her with blades or fists. She twirled and knocked a few of them into each other, sending the crew into chaos until their leader, Hank, returned to grapple with her through space.
She found his metal hands around her throat but phased through them and his body to escape, disappointed when he remained operational. He grabbed her ankle and spun around throwing her into a nearby asteroid, the rock shattering with her impact. He shook off the day's and looked him to see him charging an optic beam, ducking out of the way before it could incinerate her. She flew in a circle as rail guns followed her path, the Samaritans attempting to kill her until Hank took those chucks of asteroid knocked loose and threw them at her. She mistimed one volley and was struck in the side, knocking the wind out of her leaving her open for a Samaritan to grab her in a headlock. She struggled against the machine as electrical currents funnelled through his metal plating preventing her from phasing. She grew angry and shifted into her natural form, her white Martian body expanding in his grasp ripping the arm from its body. She saw its head stare at the missing arm, the human forearm hanging out of the hole until the emergency seals latched around his elbow preventing him losing oxygen. She roared angrily, punching the Samaritan hard enough to render the pilot inside unconscious, pieces of metal knocked from the suit. Another retaliated by driving a blade from its gauntlet into her back, the alien screaming in pain lashing out at the attacker.
Hank pummelled the alien with his fists, tumbling through the void with her until he once again had his hands around her throat. She changed shape again, back into her green Martian form in an effort to loosen his grip, but he adjusted strangling her, keeping her from becoming intangible. "I've waited a long time to exterminate you and your alien kind" he growled.
She sat in his face glaring in contempt. "You will not set one foot on our planet" she warned.
He sneered. "I won't need to in order to reduce it to a dead world" he replied, squeezing her neck menacingly.
"NO!" J'onn roared, barrelling into Hank from the side throwing him off M'gann. The Martian Manhunter pummelled the cyborg sending him into his Samaritans and Supergirl swooped in and pulled M'gann clear of the fight. She examined the wound in her back and reluctantly used her heat vision to cauterise it. M'gann grit her teeth before thanking her, pushing herself back into battle. J'onn returned to her side in his green Martian form. "Are you okay?" he asked in Martian.
"You took your time" she replied in their native tongue. He apologised as she waved him off, joining his side as the three of them stood between Hank and their home world.
Hank floated in front of his six remaining Samaritans, the seventh drifting unconsciously a few feet away. He looked at the two newcomers and smiled. "Good. You can all die together" he said with glee. M'gann, J'onn and Kara floated side by side glaring back at the metal army, determined not to let his cross this line. When he charged forward, they were ready to meet him.
"Supergirl, you deal with the Samaritans first" J'onn suggested as they flew ahead to intercept their opponents. "M'gann, help Kara."
"What about the cyborg?" she asked telepathically.
"I'll keep him busy" he replied, throwing himself at Henshaw as the two men collided in space with a thunderous roar.
M'gann reluctantly followed J'onn's instructions and flew alongside Supergirl as she rushed the Samaritans. "So what's the plan?" she asked her.
"Keep them distracted while I attach these to their suits" she explained, pulling out a small collection of magnets from her belt. She flew into the fray as they fired wildly at her, weaving through them faster than they could react. She was expecting their countermeasures to kick in any minute so she acted fast, slapping a magnet onto the back of each of the mechanical suits one by one. They swung and blasted at her frantically while M'gann dashed at them from the opposite side, kicking and shoving them around keeping them off balance. Once the sixth magnet was attached Kara tapped her earpiece. "Okay, they're all in place. Good luck Lena" she called.
Down on Earth, Lena Luthor sat beside Brainy at the DEO with Alex hovering over their shoulder. At Kara's signal their computers lit up indicating the magnetic devices attached were successfully infiltrating the suits subroutines. "You were right, the virus was purged from their computer" Lena said, rapping her keyboard frantically.
Alex scanned the screens reading the data with a smile. "They must've wiped it after the prison break. Along with the countermeasures against Supergirl and Dreamer."
"Foolish of them" Lena agreed, able to hack into their systems again. But she hissed nonetheless. "The original code is corrupted. This will take a little longer."
Behind them Olsen and Nia stood nearby pacing nervously. "I wish we could help" Nia said anxiously.
"We are" Brainy confirmed, coordinating the satellites replaying the signals to Lena's devices she gave Kara before she flew into orbit to join J'onn. "The transmitters are penetrating the suit's on-board computers giving us partial access to their systems. I calculate an 87% chance of us rewriting the remaining code to…"
"Brainy, I love you, but this time don't give me the odds and get on with it" she said gently, pecking him on the cheek. He glanced over his shoulder and nodded, focusing his attention on the computer.
The battle between J'onn and Hank was intense as they slammed each other into asteroids, each rock shattering from the force of an impact. The hate between them fuelled their fight until it engulfed both their minds. "I will not let you destroy my home planet" J'onn growled smashing his knuckles into Hank's face.
"Not destroy it" he corrected. "Burn it and every living thing into ashes. Including that Martian friend of yours." His expression turned into a sneer when he saw J'onn's jaw clench. "Or is it lover? Even better. I'll leave her till last before I move onto Danvers's children."
"Over my dead body!" he snarled, his body growing to batter the cyborg even harder around Mar's orbit.
Meanwhile M'gann was swatting off attacks from the Samaritans with Kara's help while Eagle was growing tired of their tag teaming. He locked onto them with his computer and ordered his men to fire through the radio. Tracking missiles ejected out of their backs flying through the void to chase them. "Watch your six" Supergirl warned, rolling through space to lead the majority of the missiles from M'gann, who dispatched the last few by phasing through some asteroids. Kara spun around and dispatched her tailing rockets with heat vision and fists, swatting them aside to explode harmlessly. Out the corner of her eye she saw Hank fighting J'onn so she grabbed the final missile and flew towards them shouting with her mind "J'ONN! ON YOUR LEFT!" before hurtling the missile towards them.
J'onn heard Kara's thoughts, glancing over his shoulder and aligning Hank with the incoming missile phasing out of harm's way. The rocket struck him in the chest exploding in his face causing the man to curse as he was flung across the expanse.
M'gann lunged back into the fight with the Samaritans, determined to get revenge for the white Martians they killed, battering their shields ripping their weapons from their wrists. But she was caught off guard when she was snared by a metal lasso around her arm, the fibre wire channelling a thousand volts of current to electrocute her. She screamed in pain struggling against it until another lashed around her other arm, and two more caught her legs. The four Samaritans coordinated to pull her limbs apart, holding her tight as she writhed in agony, electricity ripping through her body boiling her. The mercenary known as Eagle hovered in front of her, his blade springing forth from his gauntlet. His eyes fixed on the alien ensnared. She stared back defiantly as he drifted closer ready to impale her.
Before he could run Miss Martian through, his HUD suddenly went offline as his systems rebooted. He looked around as they came back online, his radio nothing but static for a second. He heard his comrades reporting the same thing as their suits locked in place, the view port switching back on revealing the Martian free of their snares. Eagle looked at the HUD, now glowing green as the systems took control of themselves locking him out. "No!" he cried, fighting the suits trying to regain control.
"YES!" Lena cried as she successfully hacked the Samaritans. The others cheered seeing the computer readouts on the big screens, including the view ports from each of the operating suits, including the seventh holding the unconscious mercenary. Lena let out a sigh of vindication as she rebooted the system and locked the militia out. Alex clasped her shoulder in congratulations. "Got you now you son of a bitch" she muttered before tapping her earpiece. "Kara, we have the Samaritans."
"Thank Rao" she thought, relaying the news to J'onn and M'gann. The female Martian looked at the suits sceptically as they drifted aimlessly, nursing her burnt wrists where the snares held her. She nodded with satisfaction, smiling at Kara as they returned to help J'onn.
Hank got the news from Eagle as he radioed the situation, smouldering in Mars orbit. He saw the tri of heroes approaching him, the disabled Samaritans floating behind them. He closed his eyes giving his final order to the man; "die well."
Eagle nodded, taking a slow final breath before signalling to his men to enact their final contingency. They knew there was a risk their systems might get overwritten, possibly by the Blacksmith, so they implanted one simple protocol of their own before they set off. With one last wordless salute to his comrades, they all activated the subroutine together.
Warning alarms flashed on their computer screens as the protocol overrode all other functions. "Oh no!" Lena gasped reading the subtext they initiated.
"What's wrong?" Olsen asked as both she and Brainy became frantic.
"They've just initiated a self-destruct protocol in their suits" Brainy explained as their trackers began drifting closer to the planet. "Their flight controls have them locked into a collision with the planet surface, completely automated."
"They're going to kill themselves?" Nia squeaked.
"If the power source in those suits detonate anywhere near the planet's atmosphere it's ignite the air and incinerate everything on the planet" he continued bluntly.
They stared at the computer screens in horror. "They'll kill every last living thing on Mars!" Lena said.