The DOD testing facility hidden miles away from Gotham was usually a quiet location tucked away in woods, seemingly forgotten by even its government owner's, or rather it was. A single Humvee towing a covered trailer raced across the worn dirt trails, blasting music and kicking up dust and disturbing the relative peacefulness of the area. The armored vehicle sped over a small bump, catching air and landing with a slight crunch as it landed.
Inside the passenger's seat Alex gripped onto the Humvees frame for dear life as Harley whooped in glee. "Watch the turn!" Alex shouted over the loud music coming from the portable speaker as Harley drifted the vehicle around a sharp turn, causing the other passengers to jerk around in their seats. "How the hell did they give you a license!?" He wondered out loud.
"Don't worry about It, we're fine, aren't we? Tell him we're fine Red!" She gleefully shouted up to Ivy.
Ivy had been unfortunate enough to be standing in the gunner's turret the whole ride and as such had felt every bump and been thrown around in all directions thanks to Harley's driving. "I think I'm going to be sick…" She replied, craning her neck over the turret shield and releasing her stomachs contents onto the road.
"Aw, she's fine!" Harley dismissed as she pressed the Humvee's pedal to the floor and accelerated along a long stretch of road and doing little to avoid any bumps.
"Sergeant?" Alex turned after feeling a tap on his shoulder and found Barbara looking at him with a look of desperation. "Are we almost there? I gotta pee really bad!" She urgently pleaded.
They had been driving pretty much all day and the sun was already starting to set but they were still a few miles away from their designated training area and Alex wanted to get there and get their bivouac set up before it was completely dark. "We're like several miles out, can you hold it?" He asked her, hoping that she could wait it out so they wouldn't have to make a pit stop.
"No, I gotta go like right now!" Barbara warned as she squirmed in her seat.
They couldn't stop to pull over until they made it to their training area so instead Alex rummaged around under his seat until he found what he was looking for, an empty Gatorade bottle, and passed it back to Barbara. After being stuck for hours in route clearance convoys Alex had learned to always keep a piss bottle handy for occasions such as this. "Sorry Bab's, you're gonna have to make do with this." He apologized.
"But…" Barbara protested as she stared at the empty bottle.
"Do you wanna piss or not!" He told her as Harley laughed in amusement. "Just turn yourself away from everyone. Trust me, no one wants to see that shit either." He said as he directed his attention back out the windshield. Fortunately, the Humvee lacked the interior rearview mirror so Alex wouldn't accidently catch a peek of her.
"I think I'll wait…" Barbara sighed in anguish as she dropped the bottle onto the floor.
After suffering through another half hour of Harley's driving they finally turned off the dirt road into a large clearing. Across the road from the FOB sat a large space of clear land that served as an all in one rifle, machinegun, and demo range that they would be spending most of the week in. As soon as Harley parked the Humvee Barbara immediately bolted from her seat and ran behind a large tree to relieve herself while Ivy removed her Kevlar helmet and dizzily climbed down from the turret and occupied the recently vacated seat to rest. Alex switched off the speaker before climbing out and stretching his legs.
"Agh, thank God." He muttered as he stretched himself out before turning to address the others. "Hey, suns almost down guys. Grab your packs from the trunk and get set up for the night. I guess Bab's has already marked the piss tree so go do your business over there." He nodded over to the tree Barbara was walking back from, a relieved expression on her face. "Ivy, set up a fire watch roster, reveille at zero six."
"I'll get on that as soon as my head stops spinning." Ivy groaned from the backseat of the Humvee.
"Hey, cheer up Marines. It's already bed time and all we're doing tomorrow is shooting guns all day. Easy shit, right?" Alex said as everyone laid out their sleeping bags. Barbara and Kara had set up next to each other on the ground next to the Humvee and Harley was laying hers out on the Humvee's hood, using the heat from the engine to keep warm during the night, while Ivy was already starting to nod off in her seat as Alex took the watch roster from her. After reading the rotation he approached Kara as she finished laying out her stuff. "Kara, you have first watch. Twenty-two to balls and then you're waking up Barbara." He told her as he handed the list to her.
"Oh, sure no problem. Do I have to do anything?" She asked as she read the list for herself.
"Naw, just roam around the bivouac and keep an eye on the ammo trailer. Here, you'll need this." Alex unslung his IAR and handed it to her. Kara reluctantly took the weapon and he could tell she was uneasy about it. "There should be some security rounds in the trailer. Anyone but me tries to touch that ammo, you stop them. Got it?"
"Surely I don't need to go straight to…this?" Kara asked, nodding to the weapon in her hands.
"Oh, no. Use your escalation of force procedures before you use that thing. Look, I don't expect you to actually use that thing. We're the only ones out here and those douchebags know better than to mess with the ammo." He replied, nodding his head towards the others. "I get it, you're Supergirl, but you also said you wanted to participate in this training, so guess what? You're going to conduct your post, and this training, as if you were a Marine, understood?"
"Perfectly, Sergeant."
"Outstanding." Alex gave her a small smile before leaving to set up his own sleeping system. "Oh, and don't fuck up my weapon…" He called over his shoulder.
"Goodnight Sergeant." Kara smiled before sitting down on the Humvee trailers tailgate. She found the magazine of security rounds and loaded it into Alex's IAR but kept the chamber clear before deploying the bipod and setting the weapon down in the trailer within reach behind her. She wasn't a fan of guns, especially after Barbara's incident, but Alex was right. She had agreed to participate in the training and would have to put aside her own discomfort.
It wasn't long before Kara could hear everyone else snoring. She quietly stepped onto the ground and slung Alex's rifle on her back before she began to walk around and check on everyone. She stopped in front of where she and Barbara had set up, finding her girlfriend curled up in her bag peacefully asleep. Kara smiled as she looked at Barbara's sleeping form and wished that she could be bundled up next to her, even though it would be just under four hours until they would be. She worried about Barbara still, even though she hadn't done anything since her last incident Kara had a feeling that Barbara was being pushed out of her comfort zone too far and too fast which was stressing her out and causing her mental state to deteriorate due to the constant conflict of her morals. Barbara had to find a balance between her role as Batgirl and as a Marine, a task which was proving more difficult by the day, and while she acted like inner conflict didn't bother her Kara knew that it was only a matter of time before she completely snapped. But Kara had promised herself and Barbara that she would be there to help her when she needed it.
After admiring her girlfriend for a while longer Kara shifted her gaze inside the Humvee where Ivy had seemingly passed out, too tired to move to a more comfortable position or change out of her cammies, and Kara noticed the older woman shiver as a gust of wind blew through the air. She may have been enemies with Poison Ivy before, but sense Kara began working with her she had begun to realize that the woman wasn't as evil as she had perceived her to be. In fact, she found Ivy to be quite motherly, always looking out for the wellbeing of everyone else even if she had a snide way of doing it. Kara had been surprised to learn that Ivy had developed an immunity to toxins that she had then practically given to the military for distribution among its troops, eliminating the need for gas masks. It was a clear sign that the woman was serious about changing her ways and Kara couldn't help but admire that. As she thought to herself Kara noticed Ivy shiver again. She may be a strong woman but Kara doubted that Ivy was immune to hypothermia so she walked around to the trunk and found Ivy's blanket, using it to gently cover the woman and prevent her from freezing in the middle of the night. Kara smiled to herself as Ivy curled up into the blanket before continuing her round.
Walking to the front of the Humvee Kara saw Alex had set up on the hood next to Harley, his arm wrapped around her waist and a content smile on the blonde's face. It was cute really, Alex was always so focused on work and Harley was, well…Harley, but it was nice to see the two in such a loving way. Kara couldn't help but feel a bit of sadness though, given his position as Squad Leader Alex faced the possibility of ordering the woman he loved to her death, however unintentional. She didn't envy his position and couldn't imagine having that responsibility on her shoulders. Sure, she was constantly putting herself in danger for the sake of others but Kara had never been forced into that kind of leadership role before. She figured it must be hard for the two, only being able to act like a couple in their free time, but if it placed a strain on their relationship Kara couldn't tell, but based on the content looks on the twos sleeping faces she guessed that they were doing just fine.
Seeing that everyone was safe and secure Kara wandered back over to the ammo trailer and unslung Alex's IAR before hoping up to set on the tailgate, settling in for the next hour and a half before she had to wake Barbara up.
…
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
Kara plugged her ears as the Fifty Cal mounted on the Humvee's turret boomed, its report earsplitting to her sensitive hearing. They had driven across the road in the morning and after Alex gave a quick safety brief begun getting practice on their weapon systems. Currently they were practicing firing the heavy machine gun while it was mounted on a moving vehicle, Ivy was up manning the gun and Harley was driving the Humvee back and forth at a constant speed while Alex and Barbara rode in the passenger seats. As for Kara, she had been delegated to watch the ammo trailer again after they unhooked it from the Humvee.
Kara was impressed by Ivy's shooting. Several steel silhouette targets shaped like trucks rested close to five-hundred yards downrange, but even at that distance Kara could see the rounds Ivy was firing spark against the targets as they impacted. After several more bursts, Ivy fired off the last round in her belt and cleared out the weapon before climbing down from the turret and exiting the vehicle before making her way towards Kara, removing her Kevlar as she did so.
As Ivy walked up to Kara she held her Kevlar out towards her. "Sergeant say's you're up Kara, you'll need this." She said as Kara took the helmet. She studied the helmet quickly before putting it on and buckling the chin strap as Ivy removed her plate carrier and handed it to her as well. "We get that you're bulletproof and all, but range regulations and all say that you have to wear body armor." Ivy explained as Kara took the armor from her.
"Makes sense, although it looks kinda funny on me…" Kara mentioned as she looked down at herself. The brown plate carrier and woodland covered helmet was a sharp contrast to the red and blue suit she wore underneath.
Ivy smiled slightly as she looked at the odd sight. "Hey, all I'm saying is that my suit was already black and green but they still force me to wear this." Ivy replied as she tugged on the woodland Marine Corps issued fatigues and combat boots.
Kara looked her over quickly, noting how the baggy uniform hung off her body. But somehow Ivy still looked drop dead gorgeous in the generally unflattering combat utility uniform. "Ah come on Ivy, you make anything look good." Kara smiled.
Ivy offered her a smile as she leaned against the trailer. "Very true. Now go on, be on your way." She said with a wave of her hand.
Kara nodded and walked over to the Humvee. The inside looked like a complete mess now, spent shell casings and links littered the seats and floor and Kara crinkled her nose at the smell of gunpowder. She smiled at Barbara who was in the backseat before climbing up into the gunner's turret. She waited a moment before Alex hoped up and crouched on the roof beside the turret with a fresh can of ammo.
"Alright, alright. You ready for this shit or what!?" He asked cheerily.
Kara couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm as she nodded her head. "Yeah, looks like fun!"
"Oh, it is. You know I got my first kill with this gun? Back in Afghan we were on a mounted patrol in MRAPS, and I was manning the Fifty. Well we're going along our route when all of a sudden, this Taliban dickhead pops up behind a berm a couple hundred meters away. So, this guy has an RPG and he shoots it at our convoy, luckily since it was an RPG the rocket spiraled and hit the ground a hundred meters from us but all I'm thinking is like 'this dickhead just shot a rocket at me!' Crazy, right? Anyways my Corporal shouts up to me, 'Westbrook waste that motherfucker!' And I'm just like alright, got it Corporal. So, I fire off this burst and I see the dude get ripped in half, his legs fall over and his torso goes flying over the berm, funniest thing I've ever seen. I mean, yeah, that's a shitty way to go, but he shouldn't have been a terrorist douchebag. Sucks to suck, right?" He laughed at the memory.
"Uh, yeah, that really does suck. Good thing we're on this end of the gun, huh?" Kara laughed nervously.
"Yeah it really is. Alright this is what we're gonna do. You're gonna clear out the weapon, load the weapon, engage all the downrange targets, and then clear out the weapon again. Make sense? Don't worry I'm gonna be up here to walk you through it. First things first, ensure the weapon is on safe. It's that little toggle under the trigger, white is safe, red is dead." Alex instructed as Kara looked down at the safety toggle and found that it was already set to safe. "Next, we're gonna underhand grip the charging handle and pull it to the rear then open up the feed way cover."
Kara grabbed the handle protruding from the right side and pulled it as far back as it would go with her right hand while using her left hand to open the top of the gun.
"Cool, now inspect the chamber and make sure it's clear of any brass or debris. Visually and manually inspect. Now this is important, do NOT release that charging handle while your hands in the gun, if that bolt comes home it'll take your fingers off." Kara grimaced at the thought of losing her fingers, but she felt around the inside of the gun for debris anyways.
"It's clear." She reported as she pulled her now carbon covered hand out of the gun.
"Awesome. Alright, send the bolt home." Kara released her grip on the handle and watched as the bolt snapped shut inside the gun. As soon as Kara let the bolt go Alex opened up the ammo can and started pulling out the large belt of Fifty Cal rounds, and passed the end over to Kara. "I hope you can figure out for yourself which way the pointy ends go. Load them onto the feedway and close the cover." He told her as he moved the ammo can onto the inside lip of the turret. Kara did as he instructed, placing the belt inside the gun and snapping the cover shut over them to lock them into place. "Ok, we're almost ready to fire. Now when making a weapon ready to fire you always want to make sure its pointed in a safe direction, in this case the downrange area. As you can see the Humvee is faced parallel with the range and our turret is pointed ninety degrees to the right of the front bumper. If you look down into the turret ring there should be a crank, you'll use that to rotate the turret as the Humvee makes its U-turns to ensure this gun remains pointed downrange, got it?"
"Got it Sergeant." Kara replied as she felt around for the crank he mentioned and gave it an experimental twist, rotating the turret just slightly.
"Alright, well I'm ready whenever you are. Rack that charging handle twice whenever you're ready, but don't take the weapon off safe until I tell you two. Once we get going I'll call out your targets."
Kara took a breath before gripping the charging handle again. She racked it back once and saw the belt feeding into the gun shift as the rounds moved into place. After another rack of the handle the gun was fully loaded and Alex called down to Harley to start the vehicle. The Humvee roared to life and began moving forward at a slow pace.
"You ready!?" Alex shouted over the engine, to which Kara gave a brief nod. "Alright, hostile convoy at three o'clock, five-zero-zero yards. At the sustained rate fire on my command…FIRE!"
Kara gripped the dual handles on the back of the gun and waited until she saw the barrel line up with one of the steel targets downrange. After another second, she flipped the safety to fire and gave the trigger an experimental press with her thumbs. Kara jumped slightly as the initial burst startled her, the rounds missing their mark by several feet. She had never fired a gun in her life and the feeling of the gun recoiling, the loudness of its report was completely new to her. Sure, she had been shot more times than she'd like to remember but it was a completely different feeling being on the opposite end of the gun.
Kara frowned slightly as she let go of the handles and looked over at Alex. "I don't like it Sergeant." She told him.
Alex called down for Harley to stop the vehicle before turning back to Kara. "What's wrong? It's just some target practice."
"I don't know, I guess that I just don't like guns. I mean you guys having them is fine, I've only ever seen you use yours for good, but I think I've just seen them in the wrong hands to often to be one-hundred percent comfortable with them." Kara explained to him.
"Hey, I completely understand were you're coming from. If I was shot at as often as you I'd probably never want to see one again either. But hey, you still got out of your comfort zone and at least made the attempt, I respect that. And I'm always open to alleviate any concerns you might have about weapons, or if for some reason you come around and want to try again just let me know, alright?" Alex replied warmly as he smiled.
"Thank you, Sergeant, I appreciate the understanding." Kara smiled as she climbed up over the turret shield to stand on the roof. As she did she heard the sound of another vehicle pulling up and she and Alex both turned to see another Humvee pull up beside the ammo trailer. "I thought we were the only ones out here?" Kara asked him but Alex looked just as confused as she did.
"Yeah me too. Probably just range control, Ivy can deal with them." Alex dismissed as he and Kara hopped off the roof. They looked over to that two Guardsmen had emerged from the Humvee and were talking with Ivy. The three talked for a moment before Ivy began to lead them over to them.
As they got closer Alex saw the Guardsmen's rank, a Major and Master Sergeant, and immediately felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"Sergeant, these gentlemen would like a word with you. Privately." Ivy warned him as she walked over. "Come along Kara." Ivy grabbed Kara's wrist and pulled her away, leaving Alex with the two Guardsmen.
Alex looked over to make sure that the others were a good distance away before turning to greet the two. "Good morning Gentlemen, how can I help you?" He offered with a nervous smile.
"Sorry to interrupt your training Sergeant, but we have a situation we could use you and your squads help with." The Major replied as he held out a report to him. Alex looked over the report briefly and then back up at the Major. "Gather your things and drop your trailer, you leave immediately."
"Yes Sir…"
…
Some hours later they were rolling with a convoy of National Guard Humvees down the trails outside Gotham. According to the report Alex had been given another patrol consisting of four Humvees and two M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks had failed to report in somewhere in or around Slaughter Swamp several hours ago and the National Guard was worried that it wasn't as simple as all the convoys comm equipment failing at once. The prevailing theory was that they had run into contact with a New Era patrol, but there had been no sightings of any of their Hind gunships which was the only thing that they knew of in their arsenal that could destroy an Abrams. In short, the Guard wanted their tanks or whatever had disabled them found.
"Gun One passing checkpoint five, Over."
"Gun Two passing checkpoint five."
"Gun Three passing CP five."
"Gun Four passing checkpoint five." Barbara said into the radio as Harley followed behind the other Humvees. Looking over Alex's shoulder she saw that they were now passing into Slaughter Swamp.
After the four remaining Humvees checked in Barbara heard the Convoy Commander come over the radio again. "Copy all. Be advised we do not have any accurate information on what's out there, break…All personnel go condition one if you haven't already, Over."
"What's condition one?" Kara asked from the seat next her. Barbara answered by simply loading a full magazine into her M4 and racking the charging handle, just as Ivy did the same with the Fifty Cal up in the gunner's turret and Alex with his IAR up front. "You're not gonna use that are you!?" Kara whispered, a concerned look on her face.
"I'd rather not, but I don't exactly have any of my Bat tech on me." Barbara replied, remembering what had happened the last time she held her weapon. During his last visit to Gotham, General Anderson had mandated that in preparation for the Division's arrival all Department of Defense personnel were to standardize all gear and equipment, meaning that Barbara was no longer permitted to go running around in her Batgirl uniform while on duty, limiting her, Alex, Harley, and Ivy to the woodland MCCUU (Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform).
The only indication that she was Batgirl was now on the identification patch on the front of her plate carrier. Along with her name, branch of service, blood type, and serial number, the Bat logo was stitched dead center of the patch. The others had similar stitching on their patches, Alex had the Engineer Castle, Harley a trio of diamonds, and Ivy with a plant leaf. It was a small thing really, but it helped remind Barbara that even in her new uniform she was still Batgirl. Since Kara wasn't a member of the DOD but instead attached to it she was still allowed to wear and use what she wanted even if it made her the perfect sniper bait.
"Ugh, can these guys go any slower!?" Harley suddenly whined. Being stuck in the middle of the convoy vastly restricted the speed at which she was allowed to drive, much to everyone else's relief.
"Probably for the best." Alex replied before looking over his shoulder at Barbara. "Did you use the little girl's room before we left this time?" He joked at her expense.
Barbara felt her cheeks heat up with embarrassment as she replied. "Y-yeah, I went…" She heard Harley snicker up from the driver's seat as she answered. "What!? Like you've never had to pee on a road trip before!" She exclaimed, causing Harley to laugh louder.
"Oh, believe me I have, but seeing you squirm yesterday was hilarious! OW!" Harley yelped as Ivy kicked her shoulder from up in the gunner's stand and causing Barbara to laugh at her expense now.
"Oops, my bad…" Ivy shouted down at them.
Alex laughed at his squad's antics before deciding to get them focused. "Alright, knock it off guys. Keep on the lookout for that convoy."
Heeding her Sergeant's words Barbara focused her attention back outside the window and scanned the swampy environment for anything out of the ordinary. Thanks to the detective training from Bruce and the IED detection skills Alex had taught her Barbara knew to examine her environments baseline and look for anything that didn't fit. About another mile into Slaughter Swamp she found her disturbance, a rather big one. Several yards off the road lay one of the missing Abrams, its hull breached in several locations and the barrel of its main gun bent beyond recognition.
"Convoy halt! Gun Four has eyes on one of the Abrams at our two o'clock." She said over the radio. The Humvees stopped in their tracks as the convoy commander relayed what Barbara had said and ordered dismounts to go and investigate.
"Barbara, Kara with me! Ivy stay on the gun and provide security, Harley keep the truck running!" Alex ordered as he stepped out of the Humvee and transitioned his IAR to the alert carry.
Barbara pushed open her door and hopped out, transitioning her rifle to the same carry as Alex as she and Kara followed him and the Guardsmen through the swamp towards the Abram. As they waded through the marshy water the vegetation began to grow dense so Barbara fixed a bayonet to the end of her rifle to hack her way through to the tank. Upon reaching the tank they learned that the damage was much worse. The tanks hull breaches weren't caused by any rocket, rather it looked like it was pried open. Along with the tank they also found the four missing Humvees, all damaged in the same manner of the tank and tossed away into the swamp. There were obvious signs of a fight, spent shell casings and discarded weapons were scattered about the area but there were no signs of the Guardsmen themselves or the second Abrams.
"Weird. All this destruction but no bodies and where the hell is that tank?" Alex wondered aloud as he inspected the damage to the first tank.
"Uh, guys…I think I found it." Kara told them as she pointed behind them. Everyone looked to where she was pointing to find the second tank tangled up near the top of the trees, it's hull crumpled as if it had been swatted away.
"What the hell…" Barbara whispered, staring in disbelief. "That tank weighs several tons! There's no way it could just be thrown up there!" She exclaimed just as her radio screeched to life.
"Barbara it's Ivy! I just felt a massive disturbance in the Green, you need to get everyone out of there now!"
No sooner had she heard Ivy's warning then there was a monstrous roar emitted from the swamp. Suddenly one of the destroyed Humvees was lifted into the air and thrown towards the group, scattering them as it slammed into the ground. In its original place stood a large deformed humanoid. It stood nearly ten feet high and its dark green skin was covered in large, bulbous growths. The creatures left arm was twisted into something resembling a large club, explaining the dents in the tanks armor, and its right hand was deformed into large claws. But the most disturbing thing was its face. It was twisted into a look of pure agony and rage.
"Take it down men!" The Convoy Commander ordered as he leveled his rifle and fired at the creature as it advanced. It wasn't long before everyone else began firing as well, but the creature seemed to just absorb the bullets. Suddenly Kara blasted the creature with her laser vision, stunning the creature momentarily but it quickly recovered and roared in anger before a vine shot out of its right hand and wrapped around Kara and smashed her into the ground.
"It can control plants!" A Guardsmen shouted as he shot at some vines slithering along the ground towards him.
"What do we do!?" Another one shouted as the creature swept away a group of his friends.
The Guardsmen were in a panic as nothing they did seemed to affect the creature. As if this monster wasn't enough Barbara began to hear gunshots coming from behind the creature. Avoiding one of the creature's vines Barbara sighted in with her rifle and spotted a large group of New Era troops advancing behind the creature. So, they were responsible for this after all…
"Sergeant, NE troops behind it!" She shouted to Alex.
"Roger! Guardsmen, focus on the troopers and let Supergirl deal with that thing!" Alex relayed to the remaining Guardsmen as Kara freed herself from the creature's vine and leapt at it.
Barbara joined the Guardsmen behind the destroyed Humvees and sighted in on the troopers. The two groups began engaging in a firefight as Kara kept the creature at bay, just barely. Not wanting to use her weapon but also not willingly to abandon her allies Barbara set her rifle to semi-auto and took carefully aimed potshots at the NE troopers to keep their heads down and prevent them from firing at the Guardsmen.
Bullets flew all around as the battle raged and troopers and Guardsmen alike fell as Kara battled the massive monstrosity that had attacked the previous convoy but thanks to Barbara keeping the trooper's heads down the Guardsmen were able to flank and overwhelm the troopers, leaving only the creature to deal with. Barbara watched as Kara threw punch after punch at the creature but still it remained unfazed. Then she remembered the tank suspended in the trees and thought of an idea.
"Kara, I'm going to lead it under the that tank! Once it's there cut the tank down on top of it!" She shouted to her.
Kara landed another hit to the creature before turning to her and nodding. Barbara then broke cover and fired at the creature to get its attention. The creature turned to her and roared in anger before chasing after her. Barbara ran as fast as she could, leading the creature right where she wanted it. She ran under the tank and stopped just past it, turning to see the creature stumble towards her, right under the suspended tank. It stopped just a few feet away from her and stared down at her with pure hatred in its eyes, but Barbara just smirked back at it and flashed it her middle finger. The creature roared in response but before it could make a move Kara cut the tank free with her laser vision, sending it crashing down straight onto the beast. The creature may have been strong enough to put the tank up there in the first place, but the tank itself was also extremely heavy and fifty-seven tons of metal came crashing down right on the creature's head, crushing it under the weight of the tank.
Everyone gathered around the slain creature as Barbara poked it with the tip of her bayonet to make sure it was well and truly dead before breaking off to tend to the wounded. "What the hell is this thing?" Barbara wondered as she withdrew her bayonet and examined the green goo that came with it.
"I have a hunch." Alex replied as he examined the creature himself. "When we were in Seattle, Ivy and I found the lab where she was experimented on. It was occupied by the New Era and after clearing them out we learned that they had sent whatever knowledge there was to be found off to their headquarters. We assumed that they would try to recreate the conditions used to make Ivy what she is, but clearly they altered the process and this…thing was made." He explained to them.
"Whatever that thing was I hope that it was the only one. I haven't been thrown around like that in a while." Kara huffed. "Nothing I was doing seemed to work. Could you imagine if…" Kara's words were cut off by a single gunshot as a round impacted with her shoulder.
Barbara saw Kara take the hit and turned to see where the shot came from to find a New Era trooper pointing a pistol at the Kryptonian. As she looked at the trooper and the smoking gun that he had used to shoot her girlfriend Barbara felt something snap inside her and before anyone could stop her she charged the trooper, the bayonet on the end of her rifle pointed straight for his chest. The trooper froze in place as she rushed him, unable to move as Barbara drove the bayonet between his ribs, piercing his heart as she tackled him to the ground. But she didn't stop there, this man had shot Kara so she repaid the favor in kind, setting her rifle to burst and pulling the trigger until it clicked empty, and once the bullets ran out she withdrew the bayonet and stabbed it into his chest over and over again until it was nothing more than a bloody mess, all the while the trooper's eyes wide in pure shock as Barbara stabbed her bayonet into him repeatedly.
In the distance Barbara could hear someone calling her name but she didn't stop stabbing the now dead trooper until she felt a pair of hand wrap around her and pull her off the body. She squirmed against Kara's grasp as Alex rushed over and took her weapon, both of them pleading with her to calm down before Kara dragged her to the ground and held her.
"Barbara stop I'm alright!" Kara pleaded as she restrained her. Barbara looked over her shoulder to see that Kara was indeed alright and felt the murderous feeling inside her die down. She ceased her struggling and just let Kara hold her as she broke down in tears, seeing clearly what she had just done. "Shh, it's ok Barbara, its ok…" Kara soothed.
"Oh God, I…I killed him…I don't…I feel so wrong…" Barbara sobbed loudly as she turned and buried her face in Kara's shoulder.
"It's ok Barbara, we're going to get you help, alright?" Kara assured her while looking up at Alex for help.
Alex nodded and crouched down to place a comforting hand on Barbara's back. "Yeah, we'll get you help Barbara. Don't worry…" He told her as the Guardsmen began to gather around to see what the commotion was. "Come on let's get you outta here." He then helped Kara pick her up and carry her back to the Humvees, all the while Barbara kept sobbing and apologizing for what she had done.
Barbara didn't know what had come over her and the murderous feeling that she felt consume her scared her. She had lost complete control of herself and mauled a man to death without a second thought. One thing was for sure though, something was dangerously wrong with her psyche and she needed to get it fixed before she hurt anyone else…
…Mission Complete…
On field op, cannot update until November timeframe, patience is appreciated