They had seen many atrocities in their careers, either as agents, superheroes, reporters or family members of people committing the atrocities, but nobody in the DEO was prepared for the concept of six zealots willing to become suicide bombers to destroy a planet. All seven of the self-termination protocols came into effect flying the suits towards Mars where the militia pilots awaited death.
"Do something!" Nia begged, spurring Lena and Brainy to fight the computers for control of the suits.
Lena cursed as the failsafe blocked her access. "They've set the protocol to override any remote controls" she said.
"I'll attempt to reroute the systems to disable the flight thrusters" Brainy opted working on his computer.
"You'd better hurry. If they get with range of the planet's gravitational pull they won't need to fly any further" Alex warns, leaping onto the comm channel. "Supergirl! You need to intercept those Samaritans before they reach the planet's atmosphere!" she told her.
"On it" she acknowledged, seeing the suits rocketing towards Mars. J'onn and M'gann saw it to and rushed with her to intercept the bombers. "We'll disable their thrusters and find a way to…"
"You will do nothing" Hank snarled, charging at the trio intercepting them before they could interfere with the protocols. M'gann and J'onn were knocked aside as he barged between them, hitting M'gann in her injury across her back causing her incredible pain. Kara spun to brace against his collision, kicking and punching at him until he wrapped her in a headlock. J'onn flew back to help but Hank tightened his grip around her throat firing an optical beam at M'gann hitting her in the stomach. He hesitated hearing her thoughts scream in anguish, the laser cutting into her gut. "What's it going to be Martian?" Hank snapped, holding Kara tightly in front of his nemesis. "Your home world, your lover, or your daughter?" he asked, dragging Supergirl with him away from the planet into space.
J'onn was frozen in the middle of space, his red eyes darting between the three situations unfolding in front of him. Each was critical and Hank knew that, just as he knew J'onn would realise he couldn't be in all three places at once. He hovered in place, clenching his teeth in indecision, knowing the longer he paused to figure out what to do the sooner he'd lose it all. "Alex!" he cried in desperation, unable to see any way that could save them all.
Alex was watching the same events from the DEO with equal trepidations. The clock was ticking as she watched Kara's homing beacon dragged across the solar system by Hank further away from Mara where seven blips closed into the threshold. She felt the panic rise afraid they couldn't save everyone. "Kara?" she called, trying her earpiece. But all she got was static, possibly destroyed. Her gut clenched. She knew J'onn wanted to go after her and help. But he couldn't leave M'gann to die, or is planet.
"I can do it" Lena said, snapping Alex out of her thoughts. The redhead turned to her full of hope. "I can override the lockout and stop the detonation" she said optimistically, sharing a confident look with Brainy. He nodded with her, already rerouting the subroutines.
Alex swallowed, looking at Nia and Olsen who waited anxiously beside her. The black man took her hand showing he was there for her. She looked down at the signal watch on his wrist, the House of El's crest as the button. She reminded herself Kara could take care of herself, just like everyone kept telling her she could. She exhaled slowly, tapping her earpiece. "J'onn, we can handle this" she told him. "Help M'gann, and then help Kara" she said.
J'onn hesitated for a moment longer, memories of his lost family flashing through his mind. He wanted to be there for them now, but he couldn't. that was the lesson he never managed to learn. He couldn't always be there for his new family. All he could do was trust he'd helped them learn the skills they'd need to survive without him. Reluctantly he dragged himself away from his planet and rushed to M'gann's side.
The woman was drifting in space clutching her side, her thoughts only of pain as her insides smouldered from the laser beam. J'onn appeared besides her cradling her in his arms, pressing his palm against hers. "Supergirl" she whispered but he calmed her with his thoughts, sharing their minds and her pain.
"I'm here for you" he whispered, bonding with her so his strength could help heal her wounds. She hesitantly relaxed into his warmth, grateful for his presence as they drifted through space amidst the chaos.
Alex hung up on J'onn and asked one of her operatives to keep trying to reach Supergirl. She then turned back to Lena and Brainy. "Please tell you weren't lying when you said you've got this" she whispered. Lena glanced over her shoulder but refused to answer, which made Alex's gut clench even tighter.
The truth was Lena was only fifty percent sure she could hack the protocol and prevent the Samaritans from detonating. But of that fifty percent she was only twenty percent sure she could do it before they reached the planet's atmosphere. Worse still the closer the suits got the Mars the less signal her transmitters sent back which left Brainy struggling to keep the link established. She could sense the others anxiety growing as they watched the blips edge closer to the threshold, silence falling over them like they were holding their breath. She narrowed her focus, determined not to let something as simple as a countdown prevent her from saving more lives from her failure. The keyboard rattled as her fingers flew desperately, code running across her screen as fast as she could write it fighting the Samaritan's systems brutal firewall trying not to worry about her best friend somewhere on her own in space. She worked so hard she could feel the sweat running down her face and palms. I've got this she kept telling herself, willingly summoning the image of Lex in her field of vision as an extra incentive.
"You're trying to hard" he told her, surprising the younger sibling as her own mental image blinked in confusion. Lex stepped around and sat beside her. "We both know there's a way to save that ghastly planet" he said coldly. "You already have your backdoor. You can shut down the software from here."
"That'll kill the pilots" she replied in her head to her imaginary brother.
The bald egotistical man scoffed. "Six men who stole from us and tried to kill your precious Supergirl" he reminded her. "Are they really worth saving?"
Lena hesitated in the real world, the question hanging over her. She could terminate the suit controls, trigger the detonation early save the Martians. He was right. But it would be wrong. "I can't be like you" she whispered under her breath."
"You already are" he whispered. "And so much more. Look at everything you've accomplished. It's more than what I could've achieved. Cracking kryptonite. Brainwashing the whole planet. The most I could do was turn the sun red. I'm sure you could make it dance the Macarena" he laughed. "You could save that Martian's stinking home planet and all it'll take is the sacrifice for six lowlife, moronic nobodies who had the audacity to cross the Luthor family!"
Lena's finger hit the enter key shutting down the functionality of the Samaritan suits, triggering a release of her breath as she blinked. Her hands had been running on autopilot as she argued with her brother's ghost and now everyone stared at the screen as they feed the readouts of what she had done with shock. The suit had been shut down, disabled, their computers offline leaving them floating aimlessly in space. Alex looked at Lena asking "what did you do?"
Before Lena could answer Brainy read the transmissions from her magnetic devices. "All the Samaritan subroutines have been disabled. Everything except the vacuum seals, oxygen and life support supplies. Flight systems are no longer functional and the self-destruct protocol is deactivated." He turned to Lena nodding. "The pilots are alive. As is the planet."
There was a sigh of relief from the DEO as everyone took a breath to celebrate. Alex relayed the news of a relieved J'onn out in space. Olsen squeezed Lena's shoulder as she sat back exhaling. In her mind she heard her brother clapping from across the workstation. "I did say you were so much smarter than me" he told her.
"Fuck you brother" she muttered under her breath.
Kara wasn't the sort of girl who liked to be taken hostage, so she made it difficult for Hank to keep her in his grasp. She wiggled, kicked and punched at him furiously as he carried her through the solar system as fast as he could. Her writhing didn't make it easy, redirecting him by shifting momentum to swerve them off course. They skimmed the atmosphere of Venus and nearly collided with Mercury but Hank refused to let her go. Not even when she dug her nails into the fleshy part of his face and gorged two deep scratches next to his eye. He did retaliate however, crushing her windpipe trying to cut off her air supply, but she responded back throwing her head back attempting to break his nose. Her skull met the metal plate of his skull with a crunch, causing him to scream in pain but made her dizzy and lightheaded. When his grip loosened she was too dazed to react fast enough, leaping away from him too late allowing him to catch her cape and drag her back.
She spun around, punching him in the face until he caught her wrists and head-butted her, droplets of blood escaping her nose. "I always knew you'd be trouble" he grumbled, grabbing her by the blonde hair pulling her closer to hiss in her face. "I should've killed you when you landed on our planet. Jerimiah was a fool to take you in."
"He was ten times the man you were before Cadmus turned you into this" she spat back, attempting to break free.
He grappled with her, their trajectory bringing them closer to the star at the centre of the solar system. He flung her around holding her up to the blistering surface of the sun, the blinding light scalping their vision as its heat encased them both. She glanced back, the closest she'd even gotten to the star that gave her these abilities. She turned back and saw the intent in his eye, fear finally gripping the young kryptonian. "Cadmus made me superior" he told her, gripping her around the throat drifting closer to the sun's corona, the hottest part of the orb. Kara felt her skin tingle, her cells igniting from too much energy. It never occurred to her that her greatest power source could also kill her. ""superior to you, to Superman, to every man and alien in this galaxy" he continued, watching as Kara struggled in his grasp, her cape brushing the plasma behind her threatening to burst into flames. He gave her one last sneer as their eyes met. "Be grateful you won't have to see your sister die next" he whispered, shoving Kara backwards as hard as he could.
With no friction to catch onto, Supergirl was sent tumbling into the Sun disappearing into the photosphere screaming.
"I've lost her" Brainy reported as Kara's homing beacon vanished into the centre of the star.
Everyone in the room gathered around the war table staring at the screens where they witnessed Supergirl vanish from their radar. Alex's heart stopped as every satellite and transmission lost her signal, stumbling against the round table unable to breath. Nia stood frozen next to her, turning her head to look at everyone asking "can she… she can survive right? The sun gives her those powers. She can survive, can't she?" she asked. Olsen put his arms around out, sharing her optimism. But the truth was they didn't know. This never happened before, not even with Superman.
The DEO looked to their director, who stood silently frozen and silent, unable to process what just happened.
J'onn was similarly in a state of shock, watching Kara vanish before his eyes as Hank threw her into the sun. Unlike her sister, he was not silent. He screamed in rage drawing Hank's attention to the Martian. The cyborg looked back and grinned, happy to see this moment had been witnessed. M'gann floated beside J'onn, still holding her side, still healing, staring in shock. J'onn flew toward the sun, attempting to rescue Kara until the corona forced him back, the heat burning his skin triggering his phobia. He tried to push through it but M'gann grabbed him holding him back as he screamed in anguish. Hank laughed, watching in delight and amusement. So J'onn turned his attention to him.
Hank was more than happy to meet the furious Martian in combat, blocking his flurry of blows effortlessly laughing maniacally at his emotional outburst. When he finally grew bored he caught his arm and pummelled him with his fist three times, grabbing him and hoisting him closer to the sun. M'gann cried out rushing to aid him, but Hank shot out a hand and caught her throat dragging her beside him as he held them to the fiery star, each of them bloody and bruised. "I'm not going to kill you Martian" he promised J'onn, holding him at arm's length as the man struggled to breathe coughing up blood. He looked at his female companion. "First I'll kill here right here. Then your planet. Then we can return to earth and I'll burn National City to the ground" he said, his eye glowing menacingly, his grin wide.
J'onn gathered his control, grabbing his wrist firmly prepared to do what he should've done years ago. M'gann sensed his thoughts, sensed the hate and pain and telepathically begged him not to give into it. He wasn't listening, his eyes glowing hot as he bared his teeth to him in anger. "J'onn?" Alex's voice came over the earpiece, calling to him. He didn't want to listen this time. This time he didn't want to be pulled away. Hank Henshaw didn't deserve to live. But somehow Alex's voice cut through his barriers shouting "J'onn, look!" before he could act on it, he saw Hank's grin falter as his gaze turned away from him. Across from him M'gann followed the gaze and her eyes widened. He sensed the disturbance, reluctantly turning back to the star to discover what they, and the DEO, had detected.
Though not many of Earth's satellite were capable of monitoring the nearby star, those that were had a direct link to the DEO following Lex's master plan to kill Superman by turning it from yellow to a red sun. Until now, very little changes had occurred that warranted an immediate observation. That was until they all detected a change in the plasma currents and increase in flare activity. On the ground their screens recorded numbers almost indistinguishable from normal, unless they knew how to read them. Brainy was such a person, relaying the information to Alex snapping her out of her shock as the surface of the sun churned into a swirling pool of energy. In orbit of the star the three entities watching at close range saw much more, the pool funnelling around a specific spot in front of them. The exact spot Supergirl entered the photosphere. Hank stared in disbelief as the sun's energy was consolidated into a focused space, the corona fluctuating as a shape emerged out of the surface absorbing the intense solar energy. J'onn froze in wonder as Kara Zor'El, Supergirl, emerged out of the sun in a golden aura of solar energy.
Hank's grip on the Martians loosened as he stared at her. "How is that possible?" he asked as she lifted her head and opened her eyes, both of them shining bright and hot like two miniature suns. She fixed her gaze onto him, her glowing fingers curling into a fist as she narrowed it, and he felt the power behind her glare. Then, in the blink of an eye, the sun erupted in a solar flare following the wake of Supergirl as she rocketed out of the corona and collided with Cyborg Superman.
"What the hell just happened?" Olsen asked as the DEO became a frantic hive of activity. On the monitors the solar flare spiked across their measurements as something projecting more energy than he's ever seen emerged out of the star and hit Hank Henshaw.
Alex stood in the middle of the chaos staring at the monitors, her head spinning wildly. "Brainy, talk to me" she said, seeking an explanation. "Was that Kara?"
"I can't be sure" he replied, analysing the data as fast as it came to him. Lena attempted to help but she was lost in awe at what she was seeing. "It appears to be, but…"
"I've never seen anything like this" Lena marvelled, her voice trembling in awe and fear. "Her body, all of her cells, the energy…" she turned to the others with Brainy, who were more lost than excited. "Her body has absorbed the sun's energy. More than any of or predictions or projection. I never would've believed she could harness so much power."
"How much power?" Olsen asked, noting to concern on their faces.
"By my calculations" Brainy replied, doing the math as the readings continued to spike. He looked up in amazement. "I would have to estimate she's currently operating at one million times her usual output" he said.
Everyone stared at the screens in disbelief as Supergirl, supercharged and overcharged, cut a path through their solar system and their maps.
Kara had never harnessed so much energy before. It felt like every cell in her body was buzzing, alive, expanding, her senses amplified beyond everything. She heard voices from planets lightyears away, saw everything through dozens of spectrums, and felt the currents in the void she didn't realise was there. She acted on impulse when she began pulling in the solar energy inside the sun, feeling it soak into her skin like she was bathing in light. She couldn't stop. She wanted to see how much she could drink. When she emerged, it was like stepping out of a cocoon. She felt empowered, godly, enlightened. And then she saw Hank Henshaw and her attention narrowed, her emotions returning. She emerged all the pain he put her and her family through, all the lives he'd taken, and with this newfound power in her veins she snapped.
Everything that came after felt like a dream, a fever dream that felt good. Too good. She felt alive as she grabbed Hank, her body glowing in a golden light, and carried him at subsonic speeds through space in a trail of fire. She saw the look of disbelief on his face as he stared into her white orbs and she smiled. She wanted payback, now she could get it.
They flew through the solar system like a comet, spiralling around the asteroid belt barrelling through the debris where she held him in front of her crashing him through as many of the big pieces she could find. He was pummelled by rocks cursing until she released him, throwing him across the void spiralling out of control. He caught himself before he left the solar system, shaking his head angrily as she hovered a few feet away staring at him daringly. Her body was encased in the same aura, solar energy emanating from her as she waited for his move. He snarled, lunging towards her throwing a powerful fist at her head. She didn't move, nor flinch, as his metal hand struck her cheek and crumbled against her skin. He screamed in pain seeing his knuckles crush themselves, cradling his broken hand while she smirked mockingly. He didn't seen her punch to his plexus, but he felt it as his internal organs shook violently inside his mechanical frame, his body propelled backwards into the void and souring through Neptune where he came out the other side. Supergirl followed him, circling the gas giant and punching him through the next on. He emerged out of Uranus tumbling out of control, his body flailing trying to catch himself before crashing into the asteroid rings around Saturn.
He bounced between them until he caught a large chunk stopping his path, groaning in pain clinging to the spinning rock. He planted his feet attempting to get his bearings, looking up into space only to find Supergirl swooping in to find him. instead of punching him she fired her heat vision; a thousand times hotter than usual cutting through the asteroid striking his metal chest dead centre splitting the rock he was on sending him into Saturn's clouds.
Hank tumbled and spiralled into the turbulent storms and winds, his orientation falling out of his grasp as the gases ignited from her heat vision while meteorites rained down over him. He spun in circles trying to stabilise himself, slowing his descent as the faint gravity pulled him into the centre of the giant. But just as he reoriented himself there was a gold blur as a streak of yellow dashed through the storm clouds and struck him across the jaw. Seconds later he was hit in the back catapulting him forwards onto to be hit in an uppercut sending him upwards. Supergirl flew in and out of Saturn faster and faster, a comet of fire shooting though the planet colliding with Hank over and over knocking him about faster than he could keep up. She preserved it like it was slow motion, her mind tracking every particle in the clouds as she weaved through it like electricity, slapping her palm across his cheek watching the flesh ripple and the metal shimmer before she vanished into orbit to circle around and enter at another trajectory. Eventually she grew bored of slapping him about and swapped the open palm for a closed fist, sending him catapulting into space in a tornado of air following in his wake.
She caught him at the peak of his orbital arc around the sun, dragging him around towards Jupiter at its many moons. She considered smashing him through a few of them but instead opted to skim the atmosphere of the gas giant, holding the man against the barrier dragging him along the stratosphere witching the flames burn his flesh and heat his circuits while he screamed in fury. She circled the giant a few times, the heat igniting the gases around them until she used the orbit to slingshot Hank back into the asteroid belt where he smashed through them like a bullet.
J'onn and M'gann returned from the sun to see Supergirl's path towards Earth, chasing the tumbling cyborg as he crashed through the asteroid belt shattering it. Seeing Supergirl glowing like that, like a god, was unnerving for them, seeing the power she had at her fingertips. They felt the concussion wave when Kara barrelled back into him pushing him towards the third planet on a direct course of re-entry, the trail of fire left behind her across the solar system.
On earth news of the abnormal solar flares broke the TV networks and now the world was watching as footage from satellites and observation stations tracked Supergirl's path through space on its way back to Earth. They didn't realise it was Supergirl, instead interpreting it as an unusual space phenomenon.
But at the DEO her friends waited with bated breath as she flew back towards the planet punching through the atmosphere. They followed her as she cut a swathe through space, power levels spiking in ways none of them had ever seen before. Warning lights flashed as work stations projected alarms. Brainy sat down at a computer while Alex approached the monitors, her eyes fixed on the glowing figure flying into orbit. Behind her Lena sat at another table while Nia stood frozen beside Olsen.
"The trajectory has their impact zone in the Atlantic ocean" Brainy reported with concern. "At this velocity, the impact with the surface would incinerate the ocean and create devastation on a planet wide scale. The results would be…biblical" he muttered.
"She's going to pull up" Alex said, optimism in her voice. "She knows what she's doing. She has too" she said. And yet she could bring herself to look at anyone as she clung to hope in her sister. Lena shared her hope too, confident Kara wouldn't put the lives of billions of innocent people at risk unnecessarily.
Behind her, however, Nia was beginning to hyperventilate as she clung to Olsen's arm in panic. Brainy climbed out of his seat to join him in supporting her as she panted for breath, her heart racing as she took their hands tightly. Her eyes were glued to the image in front of her. Not the image of Kara rocketing towards the planet. She was reliving the nightmare of the city on fire surrounded by dead bodies and Kara sitting in the middle of it all. This is it she thought. This is where my dream comes true.
Kara didn't feel the heat of re-entry. Not like Hank did as his skin melted across his cybernetic frame, his scream lost to the rush of air as they broke through the stratosphere. The planet rushed towards them, the clouds parting revealing the glistening ocean below as them plummeted like a comet. Kara heard the cries and the voices from the planet, heard the panicked screams and prayers of the people watching her dive towards their home. She heard their fear, their pleas, and their cries for Salvation. She heard their calls for Supergirl.
"Supergirl, please stop!" a voice called.
Kara blinked, her enlightened mind snapping back to the moment. She differentiate who had said it. Her sister? Nia? J'onn? Olsen? Lena? Eliza? It didn't matter who, she realised what she was doing. She looked down at the man in her hands, his body burnt and metal fused with his body, the man she wanted to kill, to hurt, and to atomise. She was better than this.
At the last second she threw her body upwards, violently slowing her descent feeling the air rush forward underneath her hitting the water causing it to ripple outwards, waves spreading outwards as she redirected her momentum back into the air as a tsunami grew across the Atlantic. She flew into the air, staring at the cyborg heaving in her grasp glaring back at her. She glared back with contempt throwing him into the sky like a ragdoll, watching him fly uncontrollably over the horizon. She lifted into the sky on the edge of the stratosphere, looking at her glowing body and the tsunami forming below her. With a defiant bellow she let out a scream, her body releasing the excess solar energy across the sky with a shockwave that dispelled the waves below. The air lit up with energy which dissipated across the atmosphere, the solar flare emitting an electromagnetic pulse that shorted out every satellite in orbit.
On the ground the world shook with tremors, but nothing violent or catastrophic. The monitor's glitches as connections to their satellites went offline and everyone staring in confusion and shock. Alex turned around to look at everyone, who stood and waited to see if the world was about to end. After a few minutes nothing happened and several systems started to reboot. Brainy reluctantly pried himself away from his girlfriend, who was currently having a panic attack, and returned to his work stations. "Multiple disturbances across the planet. An EMP discharge disabled all of the non-protected satellites. The worlds in turmoil."
"But we're still here" Lena observed with optimism.
Brainy nodded. "Last readings confirmed zero impact across the Atlantic" he reported.
"She did it" Alex said with relief, releasing an exhale.
Realising the world hadn't ended Nia's panic attack subsided, her breathing slowing down as Lena and Olsen helped her into a chair. "Are you okay?" Lena asked her. She nodded mutely, tears falling down her cheeks.
Halfway across the world Hank Henshaw landed in the desert like a meteorite, crashing into the dirt kicking up a geyser of sand and a mushroom cloud of dust. He lay in the centre of his crater gasping for breath, smoking and smouldering as the sun beat down upon him once the dust cleared. It took him a few minutes push through the pain and crawl out of the crater, dragging himself out of the hole sluggishly with his charred hands. His cybernetic machine frame was fused, each gear grinding awkwardly. His human parts were on the verge of non-functioning, his skin blistered and melted against the metal plating. His remaining eye was full of blood, his blood vessels ruptured, casting a red haze over his vision. He grunted in agony as he pushed himself to his knees, raising his head to the sky slowly.
The sun cast a glare across his vision, yet he could still see the silhouette of Supergirl floating down towards him with her cape and hair billowing in the wind. He grunted with distaste. "Coward" he spat. "I should've known you couldn't…"
He was interrupted by a boot to the jaw, the impact sending him rolling onto his back with a thud. He groaned in pain as she dropped down on top of him, her knee crushing his chest as she followed up with an unapologetic fist to the face. She punched him twice more, each with an alternate fist before kneeling over him grabbing his charred collar pulling him up to face her. She was back to normal, her skin pink and eyes blue. But the fiery heat behind them remained. "It's over" she told him defiantly. "You lost, again. It's over." He glared back at her, his strength gone unable to fight back as she hoisted him up. "Now talk. How do we find the Blacksmith? Who is the Reckoning?"
Hank looked at her and scoffed, chuckling hollowly. "I don't know" he hissed. She didn't accept that answer and head-butted him, shoving him back to the ground. He laughed harder. "I don't have to believe me. I wouldn't tell you even if I did. I doesn't matter now. I thought I could kill you all and deprive him of the satisfaction." He fixed his eye on her as he continued to laugh. "I'm looking forward to watching him tip your world upside down. And when it's over, you'll wish it had been me who killed you."
Kara knelt over the man as he laughed, his laugh filling her ears as she let the last of her anger wash over her. She brought her arms over her head, releasing one final bellow of rage as she brought her fists down upon the enhanced excuse of a human being, smashing into his chest as dust kicked up in a radial shockwave around them. He stopped laughing, his armoured chest bouncing off the floor as he fell unconscious. When he fell still all Kara could hear was the beating of her heart, her heavy breathing and the faint thumbing of his heartbeat.
She rose to her feet and closed her eyes, standing over the defeated Cyborg Superman basking in the yellow sun taking a long satisfied breath.