The square erupted into chaos as the ground shook from the chain of explosions that caught everyone completely by surprise. Miranda's lips cut into a canister smile as Alex watched in horror as fire erupted from each street surrounding them, circling the crowd and scattering the police officers caught inside the perimeter.
Up above Supergirl watched the explosions go off, realising they were hidden in vans and cars that had been parked here since morning. The Children of Liberty clearly planned ahead, got here early, positioned their vehicles outside the police barricade and waited in the alleys or shadows or, more ingeniously, inside the protest march. As she saw officers turn and jump back from the heat as wreckage suddenly collapsed and cut the square off the city, men and women came out and put on their hoods and masks brandishing weapons.
"Shit!" Kara gasped, flying into action instantly. After hurriedly reporting what she can see to her friends she raced to the perimeter where the fires were surrounding the terrified populace. She needed to put it out and open up as many escape routes as she could for the civilians to flee. She flew around the square blowing her frost breath to put out the flames, hoping the others can stop the thugs.
Alex whirled around pointing her gun at Miranda Oakridge. "Tell them to stand down!" she barked.
"Why would I do that?" she asked coldly, confidently stepping forward to glare into the redhead's eyes. "Now that all the traitors and freaks are at our mercy, why would pass up the opportunity to cleanse this city of this filth?"
"There are children here!" Alex screamed.
"The offspring of aliens and human cross breeding? Those abominations deserve their fate" she snarled.
Alex stared at the fanatic middle aged woman, almost considering pulling the trigger. But then the gunshots echoed around her and she was forced to turn away and follow them in all directions. Miranda disappeared back into the crowd as they began to panic, pushing and shoving each other desperately. Alex was forced to lower her weapon and scream over the frantic voices "I NEED THE EVACUATION. WE HAVE TO GET THESE PEOPLE OUT OF HERE!"
"That may be difficult Director" Brainy informed her, standing stoically in the war room watching the carnage unfold on his monitors. "The explosions were set up in such a manner that it had complete barricaded everyone inside the square. I have nearly twenty targets already taking positions around the perimeter armed with rifles and pistols."
"They want to murder everyone in the square" J'onn shouted, his blip already rushing through the crowd towards the nearest targets. "Hundreds of people will be massacred."
"Supergirl, you'll need to open a path for the people to get out" Brainy suggested, knowing she was already rushing to get the fires out. "Might I advise focusing on Main Street first? It has the largest yield and widest exit potential."
"On it!" Kara acknowledged, diverting her course to charge for Main Street where a massive fire was blocking their exit. She used her cape and flapped a wall of air towards it to push the flames back from the crowd, extinguishing the fire with her frost breath before she even landed. She stood up and was met with a wall of debris that came from the collapsed scaffolding nearby. She rushed forward and began lifting the metal beams up from the pile and dropping them aside, ripping the debris apart to make an opening. On the opposite side of the wall she saw a trio of police officers walking towards her. "Officers! We need to clear a path and get these people out of here" she barked commandingly.
But instead of helping her the trio suddenly pulled their side arms and Kara's eyes widened as she saw them each wearing a gold mask. She cursed as they opened fired, shooting through the barricade at the crowd of terrified civilians. She tensed her muscles and watched the bullets travel through the metal in slow motions, instinctively leaping in their path to block the projectiles and keep the innocent people safe. She had to dart back and forth along the barricade but she deflected each bullet before they could hit a target. When the fake officer's guns clicked empty she whirled around in restrained fury, clapping her hands together so hard the shockwave tore through the debris and knocked the Children of Liberty of their feet. She jumped over the wall and made sure they were all incapacitated, restrained and disarmed before returning to the barricade.
A young man shouted in alarm as more officers sprinted in from behind her. She spun around prepared to fight until the leader held up his hands. "It's okay, we're real! We're real!" Supergirl hesitantly lowered her fists as the officers immediately handcuffed and dragged the Children of Liberty away. "We found a couple of our guy's unconscious all over the perimeter. A dozen at least" the lead officer explained.
Supergirl inwardly cursed. That meant there were more of them disguised as police officers. "We need to clear this debris and evacuate this crowd" she told them.
They nodded, jumping in to help clear the rubble. More gunshots rang across the square just as they made a small opening to begin helping people escape. "We got it from here Supergirl" the officer told her, helping women and children through the gap. "Go!" he insisted. Kara nodded to him, leaping into the air to go save more lives.
Jimmy was inside the crowd when the explosions went off. He saw one of them on the edge of his periphery, darting back the way he came only for his path to be blocked by an upturned van. He was trapped inside the crowd without his suit. He loosened his tie and sprinted along the perimeter, looking for another escape route. But also to help anyone else he can escape.
He found the Children of Liberty instead, glimpsing their hoods and masks through the bodies as they took their positions inside the barricades hoisting their bats and metal poles in their hands. People backed away from them in fear. Jimmy sprinted forward and brazenly charged at them.
She tackled the first guy to the ground, wasting no time in beating his mask to try and knock him out. The others turned and swung their bats at him, so he brought his arms up to deflect it. Without his shield he was just a man in a shirt and tie. It didn't stop him from trying to help. He found a piece of debris oblong in shape, taking hold of it and using it as a makeshift shield and battering ram as he knocked two more thugs off their feet. The trio rose back and came at him as one, grappling his weapon from him and forcing him onto his knees. Two held his arms while the third stood over him with a baseball bat.
"I remember you" the masked man said to him, lifting his mask to show his ordinary face. A face Olsen recalled seeing when he attended Lockwood's rally a year ago. "The Agent of Liberty trusted you" he snarled accusingly. "And you betrayed him."
"I was never a part of this" he growled back.
The man scowled, sitting on the black man before putting his mask back on. "Did you traitor!" he said, bringing his bat up.
The man was suddenly struck from behind by the discard piece of debris as a young black woman swung it at him knocking him out. The two others looked up in surprise as the dark skinned Kelly Olsen stood over their comrade and glared at them. Jimmy pulled himself free, punched them a few times and, with his sister's help, knocked them out cold.
The Olsen siblings stood side by side looking at the thugs before turning to each other. "What are you doing here?" James asked her.
"Saving your sorry ass apparently" she replied, dropping the debris to the floor.
"You shouldn't have come here" he told her.
"Well I'm here now. I ran into Alex but she got lost in the crowd. I went looking for a way out so we can get these people out of here."
"So did I" he replied, looking at the barricade following it around the square. "Let's try up here" he suggested, leading Kelly to a spot not on fire where they could push a police car out the way. He climbed into the driver's seat and put it in neutral, joining his sister at the bonnet so they could push. "So you saw Alex" he said casually, glancing at the young woman. "How was it?"
"Really not to time to discuss this" she snapped, focusing on the car as they heaved it backwards to make a gap for the crowd.
"Brainy, what's going on?" Nia asked, holding the radio leaning out of the van where James had left her. She saw the fires erupt and got a distinct sense of panic off seeing all those people trapped.
"The Children of Liberty has the entire square trapped" he told her over the radio. Supergirl and the Martian Manhunter are working to open as many exits as they can so we can evacuate the crowd. But there are hostiles on the perimeter. Some are disguised as police officers."
"Is everyone okay?" she asked worried. "James ran into the crowd to find his sister."
"Hold on" he said, going silent a moment to listen to a report. Nia waited nervously for him to come back, sitting in the back of the van impatiently. "An opening has been made on the south side of the square" he reported. "It's Olsen. And it seems his sister is with them. They're helping people escape."
Oh thank god she breathed in relief. She thumbed the radio again. "What about Alex?"
Alex was pushing through the crowd looking for Miranda Oakridge, listening to the constant stream of reports and information in her ear as people yelled and screamed around her. She didn't run into any of the Children of Liberty, she was too far in the dense centre to find anyone. She was about to give up her pursuit when a hand suddenly grabbed her from behind.
The large form of Samuel appeared out of the dense crowd like an apparition, grabbing the director's red hair yanking her back where he wrapped an arm around her throat. She lashed out with her elbow but he deflected it, grabbing her wrist which held her sidearm and twisting it to disarm her. She threw her head back cracking his nose causing him to grunt and loosen his grip, but only to readjust with his other arm locking her wrist behind her as he kicked his boot into the back of her knee, driving her down onto the floor. She became pinned under his weight , struggling to breath as she felt a knee in the small of her back, and elbow against the back of her neck.
Samuel didn't know Alex personally, but he knew who she was. The Director of the DEO. Miranda made sure to keep abreast of who was in charge of the organisation following Lockwood's defeat. He also knew she worked with Supergirl. It was fortunate when she came upon Miranda in the crowd. He was watching at a safe distance, waiting with the trigger to the bombs that locked their prey in their cage. She gave him the nod as they crossed paths, stalking the redhead through the crowd as she searched frantically for his leader. He considered snapping her neck here and now, but it wasn't her life he was focused on. As she clawed at him with his nails, gritting his teeth when they scratched down the side of his face, he caught her wrist and wrestled it behind her head at a painful angle. He thumbed the casing of the signal watch she wore on her wrist, flicking it open revealing the crest of Supergirl underneath. Miranda had been briefed on the existence of the signal watch the DEO had to call Supergirl. It stood to reason the Director would have it on her at all times.
With the young woman helpless beneath him, he pressed the button once and then backed away, disappearing back into the crowd leaving Alex gasping for breath.
She sluggishly crawled up onto her hands and knees, her hair billowing against her skin as the air kicked up around her sister's landing, responding to the flashing signal on her wrist. "Al…Director, are you okay?" she said, hurrying to her side helping her to her feet examining her with her x-ray vision.
"I'm fine" she said, looking around in confusion. "Where'd he go?"
"Who?"
"The guy who…Samuel, Miranda's driver. He was just here, on top of me and then…" she looked at her wrist. Why did he use her watch? Her eyes narrowed with concern. "Go" she told her sister. "Get out of here before…"
There was a clink at their feet as the two of them looked down and found a small metal device bouncing along the floor between them. Throughout the crowd more of the same devices bounced and clattered under the civilian's feet, the humans and aliens looking down in curious trepidation. Kara stood silently looking down at the object, unwilling to leave her sister, stepping in front of her in case it was what she fear.
With a final click the devices exploded all over the square, a brief flash of light and loud crack stunning everyone in the crowd as they were suddenly engulfed in a thick mist. Alex covered her head as the device exploded at their feet, holding her breath waiting for whatever shrapnel or explosive was within. But to her surprise the explosion was harmless, a flashbang at most. She opened her eyes and found herself surrounding by lime green fog, instinctively inhaling it and fearing it might be toxic. But her breathing never changed. The civilians around her coughed but none were collapsing or suffering.
"Director? Do you hear me?" Brainy's voice called through her earpiece. "We registered six explosions from within the crowd. What is your status?"
"I'm here" she replied examining the crowd. "We were hit with some kind of gas, but I don't see any…" she froze when she heard Kara wheezing behind her, turning around in horror seeing Kara falling to her knees coughing and heaving. Her skin was now pale and her veins were turning green, her blue eyes becoming bloodshot. "Oh no, it's kryptonite!" she cried, leaping to Kara's side as she struggled to breathe through the fog. "Brainy, what's the quickest way out of this cloud?"
"The populace is too dense for you to escape effectively" he said, analysing his monitors closely.
"Okay, J'onn! How soon can you find us?" she asked, pushing the button on Kara's signal watch to reiterate the emergency.
"I'm on my way, but it'll be difficult to find you in this fog" he said, already lifting into the air in his green form to hover over their heads.
"Follow the signal" she suggested, standing protectively beside her ill sister peering through the mist. "We you find us get Kara out of this…"
Her instructions were interrupted when Samuel returned and charged at Alex, yanking her off her feet and dragging her into the cloud. She called out and Kara spun around only to see her vanish into the dark silhouettes of the crowd. "Alex!" she called, her voice hoarse and weak as she stumbled after her. She collapsed to one knee and wheezed, coughing up blood onto the street. Everything burned inside her. Her eyes were getting hazy. Her muscles were aching like crazy. She tapped her earpiece, calling for anyone to help her sister.
A figure strode out of the fog in front of her, their heavy steel capped boots thumping down on the concrete with each step as the leather clad figure emerged. Kara's eyes rose up to see the boots, the pants, the axe, the jacket, and finally the mask looking down at her. She sighed internally, forcing herself up onto her feet to brace against the Sentinel of Liberty's attack. Her movements were too sluggish to respond fast enough to the blow across her chest, the impact rattling her ribcage as she tumbled backwards into the panicked crowd surrounding her.
The Sentinel advanced on the kryptonian, a smile of gleeful anticipation beneath her mask as she watched her fumble awkwardly to her feet. "Good. I was worried the Blacksmith's new gift was going to be ineffective. But it seems I should stop doubting his capabilities" she remarked, charging her hammer swinging it again. Kara lunged towards her opponent before she could make the swing, grabbing it and pushing her weight against the figure. But thanks to the kryptonite her strength was barely at that of an average human, which meant the Sentinel easily countered her lunge with a punch across her jaw which send the blonde tumbling to the ground. She looked at the droplets of blood on her glove as more dripped from her nose. "I guess you freaks can bleed" she cackled, kicked Supergirl in the side before she could get up.
Her axe swung over her head towards her, but Kara was able to roll out of its path in time and kicked the Sentinel back. She climbed to her feet and stood her ground unsteadily, pushing her eyes to focus so she could fight the woman.
While Kara was struggling to keep standing against the Sentinel, Alex once more found herself in the grasp of Samuel. This time however she didn't make herself easy to pin down. She twisted in his grasp and scissor her legs around his, tripping him up sending them both to the ground. She rolled out of his grasp and swung her foot, kicking him in the chin as he was racing back to his feet. She regained her balance, took up a fighting stance and waiting for him to lunge at her. They exchanged blows and grapples, both finding themselves evenly matched as they fought hand to hand. Alex got into a flip that had her thighs around his neck so she could pummel his skull with her fist. He resisted by diving forwards to slam her back against the ground, shifting into a grapple with him straddling her waist and his hands around her throat. She got a foot under his armpit and, after digging her thumb into his eye to distract him, pushing him off and onto his backside. She jumped onto him but he hit her with a backhand that almost dislocated her jaw.
Before he could follow up a dark shape appeared beside him, a green hand grabbing his collar and throwing him across the ground like a ragdoll. J'onn stood between him and Alex, growling menacingly as Samuel gave him a scowl of contempt before pulling a knife from his belt. J'onn was prepared as he parried and disarmed the human before smacking his palms against his ears to stun him, grabbing his jacket and throwing him into the fog over the crowd's heads.
Once Samuel was out of the fight J'onn strode to Alex's side where she was nursing her bruised jaw. "I had him right where I wanted him" she said in a joking manner, secretly glad he found her.
"Where's Kara?" he asked her.
Kara kept telling herself she needed to invest in training under the influence of kryptonite, but she kept putting it off. As a reward for her troubles she was now receiving multiple blows to the face, torso and arms as she stumbled through her fight with the Sentinel. The woman wasn't an avid fighter but she had enough moves to keep up with the groggy superheroine as she battered her defences and parried her pitiful punches, driving the blunt end of her hammer into the kryptonian when she wasn't dodging the sharp end. The fog was beginning to evaporate as the remaining crowd still trapped in the square got to witness the brutal exchange first hand. Parents shielded their children as Supergirl was knocked onto her side by a vicious haymaker, her blonde hair sticking to her sweat and bloodied pale face as she looked up in time to see the axe coming down. She rolled to the side, the sharp blade cutting into the fallen beam cleaving it in two. She scrambled to her feet and grabbed one of the pieces, swinging it around hitting the Sentinel in the helmet. The wood bounced off the iron and the faceless figure just glared back before hitting Kara with an uppercut from her hammer.
Supergirl tumbled through the air over people's heads, landing hand onto the raised platform in the middle of the square where Dorian once stood, where the Sentinel of Liberty made her grand entrance. She took a painful breath, feeling blood in the back of her throat as she looked up into the overcast sky. Not even sunlight was going to help her now.
Inside the van outside the square, Nia sat with her knees pulled up listening to the commotion of the radio. Brainy was coordinating with the agents to evacuate the crowd, which now had their escape routes and were clambering to get away. She heard reports of people being trampled in the panic, confirmed victims of gunshots and stabbings and brutal beatings, the Children of Liberty resisting arrest. She heard Alex's frantic voice calling for Kara. She heard Jimmy's reporting how many people he'd helped evacuate. She heard snippets of Kara's ragged breathing leaking through the earpiece. She knew the Sentinel was there, knew about the kryptonite fog, the trap and the chaos.
She felt so helpless.
Her eyes drifted to the bag she brought with her, hesitantly crawling over to unzip it. Her costume sat waiting for her, calling to her. The memories of her abduction flashed through her mind again, but this time they were followed by the reassuring faces of her friends. "You're not alone" they said. "We're not going anywhere." She looked down and picked up the blood splattered pin Dorian wore, that memory and failure coming back to haunt her. But then she remembered the speech they gave, the private admission of how she herself had inspired them to step up for what's right. She couldn't sit this one out anymore.
Putting the pin on the dashboard for luck Nia ran to the sliding door and pulled it shut with a slam so she could get changed.
The Sentinel marched through the parting terrified crowd and climbed the steps to the platform, her gaze fixed on the struggling superhero in front of her. She twisted the handle of her hammer and charged the weapon, anticipation building in her gut.
She stopped abruptly when she caught something in a reflection to her left, a broken piece of glass giving him away. She spun without looking, bringing the hammer around behind her to smash the concussive blast into the Martian before he could tackle her. He grunted in agony as he was sent tumbling through the air landing in a heap amidst the crowd. He coughed up blood when he tried to move, detecting a couple broken rips and a collapsed lung.
The masked figure ducked when gunshots rang over her head, Alex Danvers rushing at the stage with a handgun firing at her. When she ran out of bullets and didn't hit her target she leapt onto the platform to fight the woman head on. She lasting much longer, using her training and skill to get under the hammer's swing and try and disarm her. The Sentinel got lucky when her foot clipped Alex's boot, tripping her up and opening her up for a thrust of her weapon's handle stunning her. She dropped the weapon and clubbed her with a two fisted blow that dove Alex to her knees. Another blow to the back of her head drove her to the ground on the verge of consciousness.
Miranda sighed, rolling her shoulders as she picked the axe back up. With that inconvenience over she returned to advancing on Supergirl, who was finally beginning to drag herself up to her feet. She saw the woman coming and crawled up a support beam, getting on her feet swaying unsteadily. She held a look of determination as she glared back. "You won't win this fight" she said hoarsely.
"I beg to differ" she smiled, casually sidestepping Kara's swing and knocking her back onto the floor. She charged her weapon and swung the mallet, missing Supergirl when she kicked her boots against the floor to escape the thunderous blow. The shockwave shook the platform, the supports falling apart and collapsing above them. Kara didn't have the energy left to avoid them as they rained over her, a heavy metal rail pinning her shoulder to the ground along with her arm. Miranda stalked forward, watching the young alien attempt to pull her arm free or push the rail aside. Her strength gave out as she collapsed onto the floor, her pale skin riddled with green veins as she looked up at her through bloodshot eyes. The Sentinel twisted the handle again, listening to the hum as the axe blade glowed. "I was sworn not to kill you" she told the blonde as she planted her foot on her other wrist, pinning Supergirl to the floor enjoying her struggle. "But I'm sure they'll forgive me if I relive you of a limb or three" she hissed, bringing the axe down onto the helpless heroine.
Before Kara could be introduced to whatever pain Miranda had planned, her axe was blocked by an object made of blue energy stretching out into the shape of a lance. Miranda felt her discharge dissipate harmlessly over this construct, her narrow eyes following the weapon to the gloved hands of the young woman with raven black hair and a blue/silver costume. "You" she hissed as Dreamer glared back at her.
The girl pushed against the Sentinels axe, swinging her lance up throwing the leather clad figure off the platform and away from her mentor, watching her stumble onto the ground as the crowd backed away in surprise. Everyone's eyes rose to the young hero many believed to be dead as she stood protectively in front of Supergirl, her narrow eyes focusing on the Sentinel of Liberty as she rose back to her feet.
Their eyes met, the silent challenge accepted, and the two of them leapt for each other.