A/N: So I warned you guys about very graphic violence when I posted the first chapter. In the interest of good faith, I felt like I really had to bring that up again for this chapter. While there might be generally more brutal violence later on in the story, this chapter has (in my opinion) the single most disturbing scene of the story towards the end. I felt uncomfortable writing and editing it. It definitely could be distressing, so if you think that might be a problem for you, exercise caution near the chapter's end.

With the power station having only drone security, Ellis and Jordan were able to get past them with ease, rig it and flee before any sort of backup arrived. A bypass for the detonator had been set up, meaning the only thing that they needed to do was set it off at the right time and Jensson's AV would drop from the sky like a dead fly.

It was too easy. All of it. Every mission she ever set out to do, every plan she ever tried to carry out, none of them went perfectly. Something, no matter how small or big, always went wrong as an unaccounted-for variable threw a wrench in the works and forced her to improvise. Ellis seemed confident that it would all work and Jordan was cautiously optimistic about their chances. But Kara's gut instinct was telling her that this might be a mistake and her gut instinct was hardly ever wrong. However, it was their only opportunity, so they had no choice but to try take it.

Now, they were just waiting for Jensson's arrival. Parked off on the side of a mountain pass road, they were a few miles away from the station, but it was clear in sight. Her preparation for the worst caused her to bring one of her sniper rifles along for Ellis to use in case she needed to cover her and Jordan while they went in to bag their target.

"Assuming you make it through all of this, what happens then?" Jordan asked from the passenger seat, staring at Kara in the back through the rear-view mirror.

"You already know the answer. Otherwise, you wouldn't have told me that I don't belong here anymore," Kara replied, "Or have you had a change of heart? Want me to stick around?"

"Quite the opposite. I'd be happy to never see you ever again," Jordan spat in reply.

"You know what? I think I feel the same way."

"I would prefer if you two squabble some other time," Ellis interjected, "We've got to focus."

Jordan scoffed. "Hard to do that with the stench of alcohol and cigarettes coming from her."

If there was one thing Kara wasn't going to do, it was sit back and take all of the shit he was spewing her way. If he wanted a verbal spar, he was going to get one. "Since we're talking about stenches, perhaps I should bring up how you stink of failure. Face it, you were never cut out to fill your daddy's boots."

He spun around to face her, glaring with eyes of furious contempt. He wasn't ready to let her off the hook with the last word.

"You want to talk about failure? You're the living, breathing embodiment of it because every person you ever loved is six feet under while you're still here."

"Jordan!" Ellis tried to cut him off, but Kara didn't want her to.

"No, Ellis, it's okay," she said, "Let him get it all out."

"They all died for something and you're here living for nothing. You haven't changed, no, you've always been like this. You just hid it well. The universe has slowly scraped little bits of your façade off until you could finally reveal yourself to be the pathetic, narcissistic, cowardly failure that you are. Where were you when Lex shot liquidised gold Kryptonite into Dad's veins? Where were you when Barry had his spine snapped in half?" he barked, "Where were you when Maxwell Lord took a knife to Alex's throat? That's right, you were nowhere to be found. So, you tell me who's the failure here?"

"I think he's here."

Ellis' words finally brought an end to the berating that Kara was being subjected to. She was no more than a second away from wrapping a hand around Jordan's throat and jamming her thumb into his windpipe, having to curl her hands into fists to resist the temptation to do so.

Ellis needed binoculars to make out that three AVs hovering against the backdrop of the darkening blue sky, but Jordan and Kara easily identified the convoy with their enhanced vision.

"That's them, alright," Jordan added, "Get ready. Any second now."

Ellis' grip around the detonator tightened, though she found it difficult to keep a steady hand. Her palm stuck to the device because of the sweat that had begun piling as soon as she spotted the convoy. Feeling nervous before a gig was normal, but this wasn't any ordinary gig. Without Jensson, her mission to get her back sister might as well be dead in the water.

"Easy," Jordan said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder to calm her.

Seconds became minutes as she watched the convoy edge closer and closer within range of the station. She fancied herself a patient person, but a lot of that fortitude had been stripped away when her sister had been from her. It felt agonisingly slow waiting for the AVs to get to the perfect position.

"Now," Jordan said, prompting her to jam her thumb onto the detonation button. The plethora of antennae running around the station and into the city began to combust one by one leading into the massive energy unit in the center of the station, letting out one final burst that dwarfed all others.

What did Kara warn them about again? It all seemed too easy.

The AVs' systems didn't completely shut off. While the engines buckled for a second, they were only partially damaged by the EMP. Rather than prompting the quick free fall that they were hoping for, what followed was a semi-controlled descent.

"Fuck. The engines are still running," Ellis croaked.

Kara squinted her vision, spotting the turrets on the sides of the AVs come out. "Weapons systems look like they've engaged as well."

"Comms?" Jordan asked, "If they can call for backup, we're fucked."

While a corpo transport was likely to be on a secure frequency, Ellis desperately toyed with the settings on one of her eavesdropping gadgets. Several settings turned back nothing but static until there was finally a hit.

"... not going to make it to the city. Looks like it'll land just a few klicks from our current position."

"Just keep your iron on hand, don't know if they're going to be friendly."

The voices were instantly recognisable to Ellis, but it took Kara a little longer to discern the familiar tones and indentations.

"That's Jerome and Rosey," she eventually realised.

"Caleb, stay in the car, alright? Don't get out unless we say so."

"They probably want to help the survivors without knowing it's a fucking corpo transport," Ellis said, a trembling shake in her voice as she realised two of her allies were walking into a slaughterhouse with there being no way she could contact and warn them.

Ellis was panicking, but that very unbothered bearing that added to Jordan's detestation of Kara was what proved to ultimately be most useful in this scenario. That attitude was largely influenced by her having seen and done everything. There were no more nerves, no panic, no impediments to her decision-making. She and Jordan made eye contact, letting each other know with just a look what had to be done.

"I'll get them, you go for the AVs," Kara said, immediately jumping out of the car as did he. "Ellis, cover us with the HMG."

Jordan lifted himself off the ground, hovering in the air next to Kara to ready himself for flight. He turned to her with a waiting glance, expecting her to do the same. She hadn't flown in years and had no intention of ending that streak even in this situation. He was rather baffled when she burst into a run towards the nomad cars in the far distance. He tried to rationalise it by thinking that she thought it was best to approach the grounded vehicles on land whereas he had to take flight for the AVs, but he knew it was far deeper than that. Her defiance to lift her feet off the ground and suspend herself in the air was rooted in her desire to leave everything she once was in the past.

As Jordan took flight and neared the AVs, he was allowed to better make out the features of the people inside the convoys with his x-ray vision. As expected, Jensson was in the middle of the three, but he was accompanied by nearly a dozen armed men as well as foot and air drones. The ADS tracking systems were able to compute and process information at a speed nearly equal to the brain of a speedster, and the missiles and laser turrets were designed to neutralise such a threat in time. He was spotted once he was within a couple hundred meters distance, immediately having to spin and shimmy in the air to avoid the first few missiles that came his way. He couldn't avoid them all as a projectile finally struck his abdomen, the blast knocking him out of the sky.

From the mountain pass, the two nomad cars looked like ants crawling across the rocky Californian desert. They were already dangerously nearing the firing range of the convoy, who no doubt had already spotted and identified them as a threat. Kara ran as fast as she could, galloping along the golden sands and leaving a trail of dust clouds behind.

Jerome and Rosey's vehicles were already too close in proximity and the AV at the head of the convoy fired a missile from its nose directed at them. Kara's plan to grab them and bolt them to a safe distance wasn't viable anymore, so she slightly adjusted her plan and running line. Her attention was redirected to the airborne missile ahead of the vehicles now. The split-second at which she was within leaping distance, she propelled herself off the ground directly in front of the missile, taking the hit on her lower back. While she succeeded in absorbing the brunt of the blast as she intended, the sheer power of the missile caused a shockwave that was still powerful enough to shove the two nomad vehicles several meters away, flipping them upside down.

Kara had taken Ellis' forewarning about improved human weapon capabilities seriously before, but feeling it first-hand proved to be an entirely different challenge now. She'd been hit with missiles before. None of them felt like this. She and Jordan both found it challenging to get to their feet after taking their hits, feeling as if their muscles had been deadened by the impacts they endured.

She immediately rushed over to Rosey's vehicle first. She quickly scanned Rosey with her x-ray vision, seeing that his heart was still beating before prying open the back door to attend to Caleb. He was still disoriented, unable to process any of the words she was shouting at him. He was unresponsive but conscious, mostly unhurt and alive, more than which she could say for the nomad next to him whose heartbeat was now non-existent.

She hadn't another second to assist them before a spray of bullets punched her back. Bullets too… They didn't feel like tickles anymore. They were concentrated pulses of energy slamming against her flesh. She whipped around to see three armed men, all with their guns aimed at her. The convoy had landed and they were intent on establishing a safe-zone, but this time, Kara saw it all coming. She either dodged or caught every bullet that was sent her way, weaving through the chaos of pellets in front of her to make it to within arm's reach of them.

The first combatant had his head knocked off his shoulders with a single punch from Kara, the second was flung several hundred feet into the air with his screams as he rose and then fell being drowned out by the sound of more gunfire and explosions. The third combatant, with an implanted metal arm, was able to get a punch in on Kara, striking the back of her head and knocking her to the ground. Before she could get up to get her own hit back in, she saw the combatant's head disintegrate before her eyes. She looked to her far right where the plasma pulse came from, spotting Jerome with her old pistol in hand accompanied by another nomad.

"Thara?!" he called out to her.

More gunfire rang out, this time sounding a little closer and prompting Kara to shift her gaze up high to her right. An aerial drone had targeted them and having already fired, Kara rushed over in a vain attempt to shield them from the gunfire. She couldn't make it in time to the other nomad before a bullet blasted a hole through her chest, but she managed to wrap her arms around Jerome and spin him, taking much of the gunfire to her already beaten and bruised back before placing him behind the cover of his overturned car. Her eyes became heated with a blue fire, turning back towards the aerial drone to slice it in half before turning her attention back to Jerome.

"Fuck," he attempted to scream, his words coming out as nothing more than a muffled groan. She hadn't been able to shield him from every bullet, looking down to spot a chunk of his thigh missing. Kara ripped a sleeve off his jacket before tying it above the wound to slow the tremendous bleeding.

"What the fuck are you guys doing out there?!" Kara screamed, "You fucking idiots! I'm getting you out of here!"

"No!" Jerome protested, barely being able to raise his arm to gesture to the other vehicle, "Get Caleb!" he exclaimed as he placed her pistol back in her hand.

Kara quickly surveyed the situation. The convoy had smartly realised that the real threats weren't the nomads, but rather she and Jordan. He was pinned down badly by the majority of the convoy's forces while the nomad vehicles were being largely left alone for now. Rosey and Caleb were struggling to undo their jammed seatbelts and were sitting ducks without the ability to free themselves.

She pushed the pistol back into Jerome's hand before speaking, "Cover me!"

She paced over to Rosey's vehicle, helping to drag him out of the vehicle first. A bone protruded below his right elbow, a compound fracture having pierced through the skin as he moaned in agony while Kara helped him out of the vehicle. She rushed him back to his feet, pulling him up and propping him against the vehicle as support.

"Rosey! Rosey, look at me!" she said, drawing her second pistol from her holster and handing it to him, "I'll get Caleb!"

He understood her instructions immediately, a subtle nod affirming that to Kara as he tried to compartmentalise his pain and focus on keeping an eye out for them. The young boy, having finally become aware of his surroundings, was petrified. He tugged at his seatbelt incessantly while weeping, even jolting back in fear as Kara appeared by his side.

"Caleb, hey, hey, it's me," she reassured him, "Remember me? The lady who beat up your daddy?"

Slowly, his cries died down as he recognised a familiar face.

"I'm here to help, okay? Let go," she instructed as she gently pulled his hands away from the seatbelt. With a single jerk, she was able to tear it off him before quickly shifting her hand to his shoulder, catching him, "I've got you!"

Before she could get a proper grip on him to speed him out of the vicinity, gunfire rang out next to her again. She quickly but gently let Caleb drop down before springing up to assist Rosey. It was too late. With just a pistol and firing with his unfavourable arm while in excruciating agony, Rosey was riddled with a spray of gunfire before he had a chance to take out even one adversary. Kara dipped back down to shield Caleb from any stray gunfire, having to sit back and watch bullets blow pieces of Rosey's flesh all around her until one finally blew his head apart.

Plasma blasts flew from behind her, taking out three of the several adversaries. Jerome drew the attention of the foot drones, while the two remaining humans were still fixated on Kara. She flew forward to engage them, ripping one's mechanical arm off and then using it to smack the other man several feet away. With the mechanical arm still in hand, she found a place to dispose of it, driving it through her adversary's stomach. Before she could shift her attention back to Caleb, a powerful blast emanated from behind her.

She turned to see the aftermath where Jerome's car once was. The upheaval from the blast consisted of dust, metal, blood and pulverised flesh. Jerome too was no more.

In less than 15 seconds, she saw two good men slaughtered right in front of her. That would have propelled her into a berserk if a grenade hadn't immediately been fired into the back of her head. The concussive force of the blast sent her flying several meters through the air. She was dazed, disoriented with her vision going black for a few seconds before she found just enough control to struggle back to her feet.

When she did, it appeared as if the chaos had died down. Gunfire seemed distant, as Jordan must have drawn the rest of the forces away with the nomads and Kara thought to be no more. She stumbled momentarily as she got up, having to wait another second for her vision to clear. At this very moment, Konrad Jensson seemed a distant thought. Her mind had been solely focused on ensuring the Caleb's safety.

Upon regaining full control of her senses, she found both of them.

Having seen that Kara wasn't put out yet, Konrad Jensson had dragged Caleb out of the car and was now standing with his one arm around the neck of the boy and a pistol in his other. He put the pistol to Caleb's head, stopping Kara dead in her tracks just as the thought of rushing him occurred.

"Take one more step towards me and I'll pull the trigger!" he exclaimed with a strange tranquillity.

Kara lowered her voice. "Tell me you have a shot, Ellis."

With the forces mainly targeting Jordan, Ellis had been providing cover to him from the mountain pass. She turned the scope of the HMG towards her right, hoping to pinpoint Kara's location only to be met back with a sight of a thick grey smog.

"Smoke's blocking me out."

Kara glanced over her shoulder. The ruins of the nomad car had all been set alight by the explosive that destroyed it, creating a thick fog that obstructed Ellis' line of sight.

"I've made the call. My friends will be here in a minute," Jensson said, "All you have to do is stay put for sixty seconds, and I'll let the boy live."

Though the gun on Caleb's head was being wielded by someone else, his life was in her hands. There was no one else to rely on, no one else to help her make a decision. She could attempt to rush him with her superspeed, but her window of opportunity was too small. The chance of him being able to perceive the slightest change in her demeanour and pull the trigger was high with the distance between them being a little too far for Kara to make it to Caleb in time.

"I'm here for you. I don't give a fuck if you shoot the kid," Kara scorned in an attempt to snuff out if he was bluffing.

But Jensson remained cool, a sadistic will speaking through his eyes. "Are you sure about that? Are you really willing to sacrifice his life for mine?" he asked.

There wasn't a hint of sarcasm in his words. He almost seemed to be asking genuinely, testing Kara's resolve and moral compass. When she remained silent without moving a single muscle, he found her answer.

"Thought so."

These were the choices that Kara had become glad to not have to make anymore. Jensson was a vital cog in their plan to get Cody back and end Lord. Caleb was just someone she had met yesterday. On the surface, all he had done was hand her a plate of food and put a smile on her face. But he was a child. An innocent juvenile who had yet to be marred by life's trials and tribulations, yet to be corrupted by the darkness of the desolate world he had been brought into and yet to become someone unworthy of compassion and love. And that smile he had put on Kara's face was the first genuine one she had in years.

She thought nothing would get in the way of her mission of vengeance. She had force-fed herself the notion that she was an uncaring, unlovable and bitter former hero who was long past her prime. She spent so many years telling herself that after giving up so much for others, it was time to put herself first at every turn. But here she stood, having to choose between her mission and the life of someone else, and she couldn't compel herself to choose anything other than the latter.

"Caleb," she called to him, grabbing his attention, "You're going to be okay. I promise."

All he could do was nod back, with a faint glimmer of hope in his teary eyes ever so slightly easing Kara's worry. Jensson seemed rather surprised at Kara's willingness to let him go. Her words of reassurance even seemed to draw a wry smile out of him. Every muscle and bone in her body ached, not just because of the damage she had taken in the battle, but she had to stand by while there was a gun at Caleb's head. She so desperately wanted to burst forward and definitively make sure his life was safe, but all she could do was sit back and… hope. Something she hadn't done in a long, long time. So long that now as she tried to do it, she almost felt disgusted with herself.

But with Jordan's battles not over yet, the chaos of his fight spilled towards Kara's vicinity. A broken aerial drone came hurtling down from the sky above, heading straight for Jensson and Caleb. He spotted spot it and shifted away from danger as the drone crashed, but that was the opportunity that Kara had been waiting for, hoping for. Now, she had already burst into a gallop towards Jensson.

Even a woman with her speed felt as if she was going too slow at times. Each step felt like it took an eternity. The world was in slow motion around her. There were very few people who could perceive things at this speed.

What Kara didn't know was that Jensson was one of them.

His cyberdeck coupled with eye enhancements allowed him to process things and react faster than most. He wasn't at the level of a speedster, but he was just fast enough to have realised that Kara was hurtling towards him. His finger began to pull back on the trigger and Kara's fears began to realise. She cursed her legs, feeling as if they weren't moving fast enough as she watched the trigger edge closer and closer to the point of no return. She found herself just a meter away from them as the trigger was pulled all the way back.

She reached out with her hand in desperation, attempting to grab a hold of the gun before it was too late.

The gunshot echoed across the desert. Kara crashed into Jensson, shoving him back several meters while undoing his grip on Caleb, who slumped to the floor on his side.

"No," she let out under her breath.

She dropped to her knees, turning Caleb over on his side. She was hoping, hoping that he would be alright, hoping that the bullet would have missed and that he would be unscathed.

She turned him over only to find white eyeballs that had rolled into the back of his head. In reality, what was left of it.

"Caleb. Caleb!" she pleaded, cupping her hands around his shattered skull as blood poured into her hands. Just like the last time Kara held a dead body in her arms with blood staining her hands, she felt an extraordinarily crippling feeling of failure. But this body was different. It was small. Just… small. It was once a tiny vessel for a soul that had managed to inject a drop of warmth into Kara's cold, cold heart for the first time in decades, and that soul was gone now.

The feeling of failure became fuel for a fury that propelled her to her feet. She didn't care about the mission anymore. She couldn't look past the fact that a young life had been taken, and for that, she wanted Jensson's head.

"You fucking bastard!" she growled, marching towards him with the intent of ripping his head off.

She wouldn't have the chance, as a dart flew into Jensson's neck. He immediately dropped to the floor, losing consciousness in less than a few seconds. Jordan appeared by Kara's side with a tranq gun in one hand, the other on Kara's shoulder to stop her from advancing forward. He glanced at Caleb's body for just a second before turning his eyes back to Kara. She stared back into them, finding in them a lack of hostility for the first time since she had been back. She found a sympathetic consolation, one that mourned the loss as well but attempted to console her.

"What going on? Guys?"

Ellis spoke up over comms, her view of their scene still being blocked out by the smoke.

"We've got Jensson," Jordan replied, gulping heavily before continuing, "He shot the kid."

"He what?!"

"Kid's gone, Ellis. Gone. So are the nomads. We couldn't save them."