The Fortress of Solitude
It had been hours since Kimberly and Ron had left the Fortress to a find Ron's hidden base where they could analyze the footage the cyborg Superwoman had given to WGBS. The footage had shown Galatea destroying Coast City and being in league with the alien invaders. But to Kal-El, that didn't make any sense. Kal and Galatea had been here for months and had gotten to know each other very closely. He knew what kind of woman she was, and knew that she did indeed have several flaws about her. But one thing that he knew for sure was that she would never help anyone kill thousands of innocent people. He didn't care if Ronald didn't believe him or not. He knew in his heart that Galatea was innocent. So while Kim and her lover left, he chose to stay here and monitor everything.
And while Kal was recording and monitoring transmissions from around the world about the Coast City event, he couldn't help but wonder about Galatea. Since the attack, he had lost any and all contact with her. By now it was obvious to Kal that this cyborg was the real traitor. But what happened to Galatea? Could she be dead? Was it possible he would never get to see her ever again? He prayed to Rao that she was still alive. But with each passing hour, the more his hopes kept dwindling.
"Robots, has there been any other communications from Kara or Ron?"
"Negative." Unit 12 responded.
"What about Galatea? H-has she reported back?" Kal asked, but knew the answer that was coming.
"Negative, sir. No transmissions from subject Galatea are detected." Unit 7 said.
"For Rao's sake, where is she?" Kal shouted as he slammed his fist against a console, almost breaking it.
"alert! Proximity alarms have been triggered. Something has penetrated the Fortress' defenses and is approaching at an alarming speed." Unit 7 reported.
"Robots, bring the inner defenses online and prepare for a fight. If those invaders have discovered our location, I'm not going down without a fight!" Kal said.
"Acknowleged." Unit 7 said as several pillars and walls within the fortress began to shift and change. Even the robots them selves began to shift and transform their limbs and pieces of their bodies into small but very dangerous looking weapons.
"Intruder is within ten feet of us. Impact in twenty seconds." Unit 5 reported as Kal tensed his muscles and his eyes began to glow red from his heat vision.
The Fortress shook briefly as something broke through the giant crystal roof before impacting into a large wall, cracking and shattering some of the larger crystals before falling to the floor. Kal-El and the other robots kept their eyes glued at the still form and readied for whatever attack it might try to use. But there wasn't any movement at all. Kal wasn't even sure if whatever this intruder was was breathing or even alive. In fact, it looked more like it was severely wounded. Dispite the distance, Kal could easilt tell that this creature had suffered significant burns to several portions of its body.
"Fortress, run scans. What is it?" Kal asked the main computer.
"Processing." The computer said and became silent for a few moments. "Life signs are weak. Subject has sustained trauma to the abdomen, several internal injuries as well as burns to thirty-five percent of body as well as some radiation poisoning." the computer reported before going silent once more. "Scans complete. Subject is identified as Galatea."
"Gala . . . NO!" Kal screamed as he rushed to her side. As he knelt next to her, he immediately grimaced at the wounds she had sustained. Various burns were all over her body. Most of them had burned through the solar suit and almost completely burned away flesh and muscle. Her visor was gone and her eyes closed tightly. Her long black hair was now significantly shorter than it had been. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach where he saw what looked to be some sort of wound in the side of her abdomen. The way her face was contorted, it looked like she was in very great pain.
"Prepare the regeneration chamber immediately!" Kal said as he lifted Galatea into his arms.
"Sir, the chamber's power cells haven't recharged from healing Kara Jor-El. It would only be at half power if we,"
"I don't care, 17! GET IT READY, NOW!" Kal shouted.
"K-Kal?" Galatea asked weakly.
"It's okay. You're safe now." He whispered to her as the chamber rose from the floor of the Fortress and the robots worked to prepare it.
"Cy – the cy," Galatea tried to say.
"What is it?"
"The . . . cyborg. Cyborg destroyed . . . Coast City. S-she tried to k-kill me." Galatea said before she passed out.
The Disaster Zone
Everything that wasn't on fire was either a burnt heap or a pile of charcoal and ash. Even the wind that dared to blow through the area carried nothing but intense heat that could melt the beard of the Lincoln Memorial statue in Washington DC. And despite their best efforts, the TV News crew that was following the cyborg Superwoman and the young Supergirl were having a hard time see through the ask and rubble that was still in the air. Supergirl herself was wearing an oxygen mask that had been given to her before they left airfield. She had claimed she wouldn't need it because she was Superwoman, of course. But when they entered the disaster area, the intense heat actually felt like it was hurting her lungs. So just in case, she put on the oxygen mask and was breathing through three small tanks attached to a belt she was wearing. The cyborg was still just still. She hadn't said much at the airfield, and she hadn't done much now. It was a little creepy for the young super teen to be around who was supposed to be, in some weird since, her mother. But this woman was always so emotionally cold. So much so that the teen thought the Titanic would mistake her for an iceberg.
"Guys, were not getting anything on radar. Can either of you see anything?" the helicopter asked through his headset.
"I can't see anything after a few feet ahead of me." The young heroine replied.
"I'm using x-ray and telescopic vision. So far, I don't see anything." The cyborg replied.
"According to the instruments, we're almost twenty miles into the disaster area. I'm going to have to turn back in a little bit before all this ash clogs the engines." The pilot said.
"That's what you think." The cyborg said to herself as her red eye began to glow.
"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! REPEAT! UNDER ATTACK!" the cyborg shouted as loud as she could as she stopped in mid-air.
Supergirl immediately stopped and looked all around the area, trying to see what the cyborg was talking about. What she saw instead was the cyborg Superwoman aiming her heat vision at the helicopter's gas tank, and watched helplessly as the chopper exploded into a massive fireball and obliterated anything that had been inside of it. As the chopper fell, the super teen saw the figure of the cyborg still floating with flames and ash all around her. And glaring at her was that one red cybernetic eye that was still glowing like a hot coal from a raging fire. At that moment, they cyborg looked like evil in carnet.
"Y-you killed them? B-but we said we – we'd protect them." Supergirl said in shock. "I said I'd protect them." She whispered.
"And I said they would die in here." The cyborg said as her voice dropped several octaves. "And as for you, welcome to hell!" the cyborg said as she used the young teen's moment of shock to fly in close and bash her across the face with her cybernetic arm.
The young girl tumbled end over end through the sky as she headed for the blazing inferno below her. It was difficult for her at first, but the young girl was able to straighten herself and make herself pull up with the large and uncontrollable flames liking pieces of her uniform and jacket. Desperate to gain some distance between her and the psychotic machine, the child soared and weaved through burned trees and the remains of what were once various buildings. After flying for some distance, she finally had to force herself to duck behind the remains of a large concrete wall when she felt the sensation of pain on her arms and legs. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she looked down at her uniform to see that parts of her jacket and the uniform had been burned away and the skin underneath was red. She looked down along her legs and saw it was like her arms as well. What was wrong with her? When she rescued the Man of Steel, she had burned her hands because his armor had been super heated. And now with the fire? What was going on?
"Haven't you heard?" the cyborg's voice rang out, causing the teen to press herself against the wall as she darted her head back and forth to find her. "Last time I checked, Superwoman was invulnerable to fire. Which means she would laugh at something like . . .THIS!"
The entire wall she had pressed herself against was destroyed in a massive explosion that not only propelled the young Supergirl forward against her will, but it also washed a wave of intense heat and fire over her as well. Face first she tumbled through the wreckage and ash of what was once a busy interstate before she crashed through a concrete barrier and found herself falling off of what was once and overpass. She leapt to her feet as she screamed in pain, ripping off the jacket from her shoulders as it was being incinerated by intense flames. The shoulders of her uniform were burned away, as well as a good portion that covered her lower back. Her skin was surging with pain from the burns as she tried to force herself back into the air. She knew that all she needed was to bask in a little bit of sunlight, and her wounds would heal in no time. She just had to find a way to get airborn.
"You fooled everyone, tinsel teeth! You won't get away with this!" the young girl said as she dashed into the air and shot straight upward.
"Is that a fact?" the cyborg asked as she appeared out of the smoke and ash in front of the teen and pelted her across the face with her metal fist and sending her spiraling down back to the burning ground. The young woman stood to her feet as she coughed out smoke and ash from her lungs.
"Damn – Damn straight. I'll stop you, you overgrown blender from hell. And Superwoman always wins!" the young girl said as she stood back onto wobbly legs.
"There's just one problem." The cyborg said from behind. Supergirl spun around in time only to have what was left of a large oak tree smash her in the face and send her flying skyward into an ark. "I'M Superwoman, brat!"
When Supergirl hit the ground, she skidded through what felt like smooth ground and rock before her head hit bedrock. After hitting the bed rock, her momentum caused her to bounce a few times as she saw the ground beneath her rush by before she hit the ground again and skidded to a stop. She was in pain and she was already feeling exhaustion. She was using too much energy, and the smoke and debris were covering too much of the sunlight to let her recharge. This wasn't good for her at all. As she forced herself to turn over on her back, her eyes had barley focused when she saw something from high in the sky barreling straight toward her head! The young girl managed to cross her arms over her face and head when she felt something incredibly strong and heavy strike down on top of them. Whatever it was, she could feel it trying to push down on her arms! When she lowered them slightly, she saw that it was the cyborg with her metal arm slammed against her crossed arms.
"You're just delaying the inevitable, brat." The cyborg growled as her hand shifted and transformed into a large two-barrel energy cannon. Moving quickly, the teen titan pushed the weapon away from her face. But the cyborg was still so much stronger than her. She could feel the cyborg trying to reposition her metal arm, and was slowly succeeding. "I will write Superwoman's legacy, and it will be written in blood. And you are powerless to stop me, whelp. You're nothing. You're not ecan a clone of Superwoman."
"D-don't – count me – out - - just yet!" the young girl said as she tried to push the weapon away even harder. As her anxiety, frustration, and fear all began to spike at once, her hands began to glow with green energy. Without warning, the cyborg realed backwards, screaming in pain as a massive explosion of green energy destroyed not only the cannon but most of the cyborg's right arm as well. Using her unexpected opening, Supergirl launched herself into the sky and fled as fast as she could.
"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" the cyborg screamed as it clutched the smoking ruin of it's arm.
She was lost in the swirling haze, unable to see where she was going. She just prayed to Christ that she was going the way she had come in. She needed to warn everyone that the cyborg was the real villain. She tried to focus her eyes, trying to activate some other power she had. Superwoman had x-ray and telescopic vision, so why didn't she? Was the cyborg right? Maybe she wasn't a – no! She was a clone of Superwoman! Cadmus just didn't understand Kryptonian DNA. There was probably gaps or something. Just like in that Jurassic Park movie. That had to be –
"Holy shit." Supergirl said as she soared out of the massive cloud of ash and smoke. Hoping to find signs of civilization so she could warn everybody, she found something far more horrible. In what looked to be one of the world's most massive craters was a huge city of advanced machinery. It was like a massive refinery from far, far in the distant future. And in the center of this technological monstrosity were what appeared to be two massive cooling towers that were the size of small mountains. All together, the sight before her had to be as big as the entire city of Metropolis if not bigger. What the hell was going on here?
"Beautiful isn't it? But you don't have to worry, pup. It isn't the end of the world." The cyborg said directly behind Supergirl. As she began to turn, the cyborg landed a powerful uppercut directly underneath her chin and sent her flying higher once more. When Supergirl came crashing down again, she felt herself hit one of the smooth metals walls of the alien city like a bug hitting a windshield before bouncing of another wall and landing face first into the dirt. She was aching all over, she could feel her jaw swelling, and she could swear that she was seeing stars in front of her eyes. She could hear the cyborg's footsteps coming toward her, but she didn't have the strength to move. "It's only the end of your world."
The cyborg bent over and grabbed Supergirl by a tight handful of her red hair and forced her to her feet. She didn't have the strength to stand on her own, or to even shout at the pain of the cyborg almost pulling her hair out. Most of her wait was being propped up on the sleek metal building behind her.
"Y-your not – not Superwoman. Y-you can't be." Supergirl moaned as she tried to stay awake.
"I guess you'll never know. Will you?" the cyborg asked before bringing what was left of its arm directly down upon the young girl's head.
Batcave underneath Arkham Asylum
Ron was still watching the computer analyze the footage while Kim slept on a small cot he had kept inside the alternate batcave. His cowl and cape were sitting in a pile next to the computer, as well as his gloves. He didn't know how long he they would be in here. In fact, he had created this cave in case of an emergency and had never thought about bringing a spare set of clothes for himself, let alone anyone else. He knew Kim had to be uncomfortable in that solar suit. Every so often, he had noticed her trying to adjust it in certain places and wished he had thought about getting her something before hand. But he couldn't risk releasing the lockdown on the mansion and main cave yet. Not until he knew what they were dealing with. As he thought about that, he began to wonder where Hanna and Dick were. He had sent them the coordinates to the emergency cave's location, and they should be here by now.
Just as Ron thought those words, the alternate entrance/exit to the cave opened to allow Dick and Hanna to enter as they were removing their masks.
"We got the message. What in the world's going on?" Dick asked as they stepped onto the main platform.
"Have you seen the reports about Coast City?" Ron asked them without turning around.
"It's all over the place. CNN and all the major news networks are constantly covering it." Hanna said.
"That kid claiming to be Kim's clone even went in there with the cyborg earlier, but the lost contact. The last transmission said that they were under attack. Who knew that lady with the visor was the bad guy." Dick said.
"She wasn't." a very familiar voice said, causing both Dick and Hanna to stop in their tracks. All they could do was look at Ron as he sat in front of the bat computer. When they saw a woman with red hair stand to her feet, and saw her green eyes looking down at them and the large S shield on her chest; they almost fainted on the spot.
"K-Kim? I-is it?" Dick stuttered.
"FOCUS!" Ron shouted, forcing hit two partners in crime fighting to pay attention. "Haf an hour before you got here, we received this message from Kal-El." Ron said and brought up an audio file.
"Kara, it's Kal! Galatea just crashed in here, and it's not good! She has radiation burns as well as what appears to be wounds that could have come from an energy based weapon. I've got her in the healing matrix now, but it's low on power. I – I don't know if she'll p- pull through or not. B-but I analyzed the energy signature that was left from her wounds. Kara, this weapon was Kryptonian! Whoever these invaders our, their using our technology against Earth!"
"And I've been going over the footage from the news broadcasts. These images are fakes." Ron said.
"They look real to me." Hanna said.
"I know. The computer was almost fooled. But there were small details here and there that the computers found. After further analysis, I was able to confirm that every single frame is a computer generated forgery. The images were just too perfect. Several objects were missing key elements such as tool marks, fabric textures, and some of the people in the distant background are missing pores on their skin." Ron said.
"Holy Crap, Batman." Dick whispered.
"You mean," Hanna began.
"It means the cyborg is the real monster." Kim said as she looked back at the image. "That bitch slaughtered thousands, and she did it using my name. Wearing my families crest!" she said as she gripped a hand rail and was barley able to twist it out of shape. "At least that's getting easier." She said to herself.
"Well, Kim's back. Can't she just swoop in and kick their ass?" Dick asked.
"It's never that simple. Earth's satellites can't get any clear images of the disaster area. Neither can the Watchtower, and their systems were too easily hacked. And," Ron said but trailed off.
"What's wrong?" Hanna asked.
"My fight with Doomsday took a lot out of me. I might be back on my feet, but my powers aren't restored yet. I can't really fly yet, and it took a good portion of my strength just to bend that guard rail." Kim explained.
"In other words, we're screwed." Dick said.
"Not by a long shot." Ron said as he and Kim went back to the data they had been collecting.
"That dust cloud has been there longer than it should have been. If they're using Kryptonian technology, that means they must have a machine creating cover for them. Similar to the ones in my fortress that keep it hidden." Kim said.
"But what about Supergirl? If the cyborg is the bad guy, then that means,"
"She may already be dead." Ron said, finishing Hanna's sentence. The young batgirl may not have liked the super powered teen, but that didn't mean that she wanted her to be killed. As her father's words sunk into her mind, a cold feeling of both guilt and nausea began to form in the pit of her stomach.
"What do we do now?" Hanna asked.
"We can't contact the league. The invaders are most likely monitoring their transmissions. And if we let the world know Kim is alive, they may try to make another move that we're not ready for." Ron said.
"We're going to need help though. And every hero in the world is on the Watchtower." Kim said.
"Not all of them." Dick said, causing all of them to look at him. "Me and the other sidekicks started hanging out with each other every so often. You know, when we're not fighting bad guys? In fact, we've got a small club going." Dick said, but started to cringe as both Ron and Kim kept looking at him. "Right. Get to the point. Well, some of them can actually hold their own. If you need some muscle, they might be able to help."
"But how are you going to contact them, genius?" Hanna asked her boyfriend.
"Wade might have set us up with our own comm. System. One that – um, - you didn't know about, Ron." Dick said as he scratched the back of his head nervously.
"Who are they?" Ron asked him.
"Um, let me think. There's Speedy, Kid Flash, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire." Robin said as he remembered their names
"Roy Harper, Wally West, Victor Stone, and Garfield Logan from the Doom Patrol. But I don't have anything on a Raven and Starfire." Ron said.
"How do you know all of their secret identities?" Ron asked.
"I'm Batman." Ron said. "Who are Raven and Starfire?" Ron asked him.
"Raven was raised in some sort of monastery. She's empathic and some kind of sorceress. She keeps to herself and really doesn't open up a lot." Dick said.
"That sounds familiar." Kim said to herself.
"And Starfire?"
"Believe it or not, she's an alien princess from outer space." Dick said.
"And a tramp." Hanna muttered.
"Excuse me?" Kim asked while giving a stern look to Hanna.
"Sorry. It's just that when she showed up, the first thing she did was kiss Dick on the lips!"
"She told us that it was how her race learned different languages."
"By shoving her tongue down your throat?"
"It wasn't a French kiss!"
"But you sure as hell weren't trying to push her off!"
"ENOUGH!" Ron shouted, causing the entire cave to become silent for several minutes. "Dick, give them these coordinates and tell them to meet us there in an hour."
"Ron, you're not seriously thinking about asking them to fight these guys?" Kim asked.
"It looks like the invaders don't know, or don't care about them. And it gives us a needed edge for a reconnaissance mission." Ron said as he began to put his gloves back on.
"Ron, they're kids!"
"And they knew what they were getting into when they started fighting crime, KP. And right now, we need all the help we can get." Ron said as he slid his cape and cowl back on.
"They got the message." Dick reported.
"Then suit up and move out." Batman said as he deactivated the computer and made his way toward one of the exits.