Issue#2: Fight and Flight

The creature following Supergirl also jumped over the railing and let itself fall but she flew upwards and caught it in midair, flying higher, through the rock and eventually getting outside. She wanted to throw it down on the ground but the alien kicked her hard and Supergirl, taken by surprise, let go of it. The alien landed on its feet, its long legs that had more joints than human legs dampened the fall.

Now it stood there. Its eyes locked onto Supergirls every movement, legs ready to either fight or run.

Meanwhile Supergirl had decided to fight. She flew towards the alien, colliding fist first with it. They went down and Supergirl tried to pin the shoulders of the alien to the ground but the alien could move unlike she had ever seen someone move. Its joints worked differently so the creature was able to slide sidewards, out of Supergirls reach.

Both got up and immediately a fist fight broke out. Supergirl threw punch after punch witch superhuman speed. The creature could also move faster than any human and it blocked or ducked most of her attacks. Then it got ready for a counterattack. Grabbing one of her arms to hold her it kicked out with one leg, hitting Supergirl in the stomach. It did so two, three times and each time Supergirl cried out in pain. Before it could kick her again though, she flew up into the sky.

The creature let go of her arm before it got lifted up too high and landed on the ground.

This time when Supergirl attacked the alien was ready for her. It jumped aside and kicked Supergirl to the ground, so that she smashed face first into the dust. It quickly picked up a stone as big as its own head and crushed it against the back of her head. The stone shattered on impact. Supergirl felt dizzy and it took her a moment to get up again. The strength of that creature was something she hadn't expected. After a few seconds her head was clear again so she got up and looked around.

'Where are you now?' Supergirl wondered. It puzzled her that the alien hadn't attack her further when she was lying on the ground, defenseless. But now she couldn't see it anywhere.

Flying slowly higher and higher Supergirl searched all the surroundings without success. Since the sun had already set it was pretty dark and the black skin color of the alien was perfect to hide in the dark. Even though her eyes could adjust better to a very bright or dark environment than human eyes, Supergirl could still see best in daylight and even x-ray vision couldn't help there.

Still on the lookout, a call reached her earpiece.

"Alex?" Supergirl asked.

"It's Hank", a deep voice responded. "Have you got the alien under control?" he asked.

"It ...ran away", Supergirl said. "I'm trying to find it but it must be hiding somewhere. Can you send out helicopters to help?"

"Sure. They'll be up there with you in a few minutes. But this is really bad news. How was it able to get away from you?"

Kara thought he sounded very accusing, like 'how dare you be so sloppy and let that creature get away!' She wanted to protest, telling him next time, he could try and bring down an unknown alien that can perfectly conceal itself in the dark. At least she didn't let it get out of its cell in the first place. On the other hand she thought he might be right. She let the alien get away, even if not on purpose. Heck, she even broke it out of the facility and brought it outside.

"Well I don't know it hit me with a rock really hard and when I got up again it was just gone", Kara said. She knew it sounded stupid: The Girl of Steel, distracted by a stone.

"It knocked you out?" Hank asked, sounding alarmed.

"It didn't knock me out! Just made me blink a few times but that thing is really fast!"

"I know, I saw it too. We can't have such a creature running around freely. What if it gets to a city? Bullet don't harm it, we need to find it quickly!"

So they searched together the area around the DEO. Kara checked in on Alex if she was all right. She said she was fine and that Kara should just concentrate on finding the escaped inmate. Multiple helicopters with search lamps assisted Supergirl. But the longer it took them the less likely they were to find it. If it can keep up the speed Kara had seen it running at the alien could have left the state already or found a place to hide that the DEO would never find.

Eventually they had to give up.

"It's no use now, Supergirl", Hank said to her. "It'll be long gone by now. All we can do now is to be ready when that thing strikes again."

Supergirl sighted and returned to the base.

S

"There you are", Alex greeted Kara with a smile at the command center of the DEO. Kara noticed a scaffolding in the middle of the room reaching up to the ceiling where a couple of people were working on temporarily filling out the hole Supergirl had made during the fight. It would be properly repaired tomorrow during the day.

"Sorry about that", Kara said to Alex. "I was trying to keep the damage at a minimum, still destroying things is so much easier than repairing it."

"Don't worry about that. We're pretty used to aliens making a mess of this place."

Kara was taken aback by that comment. Her face must have shown that she was hurt and saddened because Alex quickly explained: "Oh no! I didn't mean it like that. I'm not blaming you for that hole. It's there because of that Sterregoi that broke out. You know I don't see you as an alien but as my sister".

"It's alright Alex. Don't worry about it".

At that moment one of the construction workers at the top of the scaffolding yelled: "There is a loose rock here! Everyone get clear!"

But the rock was already falling out of the ceiling from right next to the hole and landing on the top platform of the scaffolding. It hit the man standing on the platform and pushed him over the edge. He fell from 30 feet high but getting closer to the ground very quickly! Before he reached it though he found himself safely in the arms of Supergirl. She lowered him carefully down to the ground.

"Thank you Supergirl! I might have died if you hadn't caught me!"

"Don't mention it", Supergirl said smiling. "It's the kind of thing I do".

"'Don't mention it'? I'm so gonna tell my little daughter that I got saved by Supergirl! She's a big fan of you. It's her tenth birthday in four days and we're planning a Supergirl-themed birthday party. I'm sorry am I babbling? I guess it's because I got scared from the fall."

"No that party sounds so sweet. Wish her a very Happy Birthday from me."

"Yea I'll do that. Actually, if you have moment, I just thought of the best birthday present I could get her. Would you mind taking a quick video of yourself where you congratulate her? It would make her day perfect!"

"Alright. I like that idea."

"Thank you so much."

The man took his phone out of his pocket and switched to camera.

"Her name's Selina", he told her.

Supergirl took the phone and filmed herself wishing Selina a great tenth Birthday. She explained that she sadly couldn't come to the the party in person because she had promised Superman to help him bring down an old building in Metropolis that needs to be rebuilt. She gave the man his phone back who thanked her again.

"I think I should probably check up there weather there are any more loose rocks", Supergirl said. "Don't want another accident like that."

So she flew up to the hole and tested the others rocks. Luckily they were all safely in place. She also took the rock that was still on the platform of the scaffolding and brought it down to the ground. Then she joined Alex again who was talking to Hank now.

"Alex you mentioned 'Sterregoi'. Is that the name of the species?" Supergirl asked. "I've never heard of them before."

Hank answered for Alex: "Yes they're called Sterregoi. And it's not surprising that you haven't heard from them before. They don't exactly live next doors... Krypton was pretty far away from earth but compared to their home planet it's a stones throw. They live literally on the other side of the universe."

"Right now we have another problem at hand though", said Alex, bringing the conversation back to the topic. "See, we found this Sterregoi two days ago and managed to capture it with electric shocks. We brought it here and ..."

"Wait wait!" Kara interrupted. "You just shot at it and locked it up? I'm not surprised it attacked as soon as it broke out."

Again, Hank answered to that: "Supergirl, that's the way we do things at the DEO. This ensures the safety of the people we're protecting. After capture we try to make contact with the alien lifeform and give it a chance to explain. But landing on earth without authorization from the government is trespassing and could even be viewed as a military action against this planet."

"Still not a good way to make friends", said Kara. Although she understood Hanks point and even had to agree to it partially, it still struck her as unfair. This behavior against new species visiting earth would alienate many, well ...aliens. English is a sort of racist language for aliens!

"Anyway", Alex continued before Hank could say anything else. "After this Sterregoi woke up it did a strange thing. We have video footage of it." They walked to a computer nearby.

"Here you see the Sterregoi in the cell shortly after it woke up."

Alex pressed 'play'. They saw the Sterregoi slowly walking around, observing the room. It saw the locked door and jumped to it. There was no sound but Kara could see it making its 'Godzilla cry'. As nothing happened, the Sterregoi kicked against the door. It kicked again and again, each kick getting more and more powerful. The door held, though. It was designed to withstand exactly this kind of attack. The Sterregoi seemed to realize that too because it stopped kicking and moved close to the door and held both of it's claws against it.

Alex zoomed in on the creature and now they could see that the arms of the Sterregoi had become nothing but a blur. The head and body were in high resolution clearly visible but arms and claws were almost invisible and now the door started to shake.

"It's vibrating it's arms at a high speed", Hank explained as the door shook more and more and a red light started blinking in the cell. The doors lock had broken so the Sterregoi could now force the door open by hand. Then it disappeared, leaving only a red, flashing light.

"Killed nine of my men", said Hank. "Two are in the hospital in critical condition."

"So the question now is: How can we keep this one from breaking out again, once we capture it?" Alex asked.

"I don't wanna be rude but can you guys figure this out on your own?" Kara said. "I'm really tired. It's in the middle of the night and I have work tomorrow. I'd like a few hours of sleep."

"Of course, Supergirl. Go home, we have the situation under control."

"Thank you, Alex. Goodnight you two."

"We'll see you tomorrow. I'm gonna let you know when we find it."

S

At home, Kara immediately went to bed. She even forgot the half-eaten slice of pizza in the living room. Her last thought before falling asleep was 'Tomorrow will be a tough day at CatCo'.

S

End of issue # 2

Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it. The story will continue in a few days.