Updated chapter 20! Hope you enjoy!
The summer storm is probably not the best omen.
Rain's pouring down like crazy, rivulets of it flowing down Kara's blonde locks. The suit actually keeps her somewhat dry, but...well, her hair's a dripping mess. She touches down atop OsCorp Tower, where Spider-Man awaits, chatting up Lena under the large, black umbrella she holds.
"Hey, you two." –she greets, pulling her hair back into a messy ponytail she tries and fails to wring the rain out of.
Lena offers a small wave, while Peter practically bounces in greeting. "Hey Kara!" –he says, then his mask lenses contract, like a wince. "Yikes, you're sopping wet."
She frowns, trying to squeeze under Lena's umbrella. "How come you aren't? It's been raining non-stop for hours."
He shrugs. "I was, actually. But I've been messing around with the suit and I discovered it has a built-in heating function. Lena helped me figure out how to activate it, and I dried up super quick!"
"I...don't think mine does that." –she says, morosely.
Lena smirks. "Well, it stands to reason. You're an adult, Spidey's a kid – if I were in Stark's place, I would've stuffed his suit full of goodies, too. Including, apparently, a fully-functional, portable AI."
"Oh yeah, I have a suit lady!"
Kara blinks. "...'suit lady'."
Peter raps his knuckles against his temple. "Yeah, we figured out I have a friend up here – I guess JARVIS has a little sister, now. We called her Karen." –he says, a smile in his voice. "She says 'hi', by the way."
The Kryptonian waves back, absent-minded. "I was unaware Stark's AI were so advanced. One might even consider them sentient..." –Lena notes. "I wonder, what would the ethics commissions say?"
Kara snorts. "They're already on his case, aren't they?"
"Yes, well. Blowing up half the Middle East in some misguided crusade to bring peace to the region will do that, won't it?" –she says, sarcastic. "Results – and long term ramifications – aside, don't you wonder how many lives he took in achieving them? To say nothing of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, of course, or Doctor Banner's unfortunate alter ego..."
"They're good people, Lena." –she defends.
"They're killers, Kara. Many times over, each and every one of them." –she says. "We can argue about the ethics of taking those lives all day long, but the fact remains that every Avenger has blood on their hands."
She winces. "Not me. I wouldn't."
"Not yet."
Kara frowns. "Why are you being a jerk about this?"
Lena crosses her arms, clearly worried. "Can you blame me? Kara, you used to be something of an idealist when I met you. 'No problem that couldn't be talked through', you used to say. And now I see you on TV, punching first, asking questions maybe, and well." –she says, pursing her lips. "It's about as jarring for me as the thought of me performing illegal human experimentation was to you."
"Somehow, I doubt that." –Kara says, darkly. "I'm not a pacifist, Lena. I never have been. If I'd been able to fight when Krypton fell – to keep the people I loved from dying, even at the expense of taking a life – I would've. Fear kept me from doing it here on Earth, even though I've had these abilities ever since I arrived, but I'm done letting fear control me. I won't kill, not if I can help it – but I will fight to protect humanity."
Lena sighs. "I understand. I don't necessarily agree with it, but...I'm not here to berate your life choices. My step-father certainly has that covered." –she says, chagrined. "I'm just worried about you, Kara. The threats the Avengers are expected to take on...strongest woman on Earth or not, you could get hurt. Or worse."
The blonde can't help the small, smug smirk that comes to her. "Don't worry, I'll be careful."
"I hope you are." –she says. "Both of you, for all our sakes. God knows the bad guys just keep popping up." –she shakes her head. "Speaking of which, we should head inside, see what we're dealing with."
"What are you expecting?" –Kara raises an eyebrow.
"Hopefully, a breezy trip to my office and then into the lower levels." –she says, though she doesn't exactly sound very hopeful. "Peter can stand guard out here. Should be...safer." –she says vaguely.
Peter sputters a response. "W-what do you mean? Who's Peter?"
Lena gives him a withering look. "You went missing and were subsequently found near the restricted area where the spider who gave you your powers was being developed while on a school trip, your girlfriend is an OsCorp intern, and I used to share a lab with your parents – who never shut up about you, by the way." –she lists off. "Kara may have blindsided me with the whole 'human experimentation' part, but putting the pieces together was easy enough after that."
"Gwen and I aren't together yet!" –he says, embarrassed. Kara facepalms, as he tilts his head. "Wait, you knew my parents?"
Lena and Kara share a tired look. "Really had to bring the fifteen year-old on the potentially lethal Avengers mission, huh?" –the ravenette says.
"Maybe I wouldn't have if you'd told me it could be that dangerous." –Kara narrows her eyes.
"Hey, I'm a lot tougher than I look." –Peter says, indignant.
Both women give him the evil eyes, and he whimpers into silence. Lena purses her lips. "I assume more of your teammates are nearby?" –she asks.
Kara nods. "All on stand-by. War Machine and Iron Man have the skies, and the rest will come in on my go."
Lena winces. "This could turn ugly really fast."
"True, but if it does, you'll be glad to have the whole team around." –Kara argues. "Now, what is it you found?"
Lena motions for them to follow inside. "An organization named Project Centipede." –she says. "Not their main lab, I assume, but still, a big one. And they just had a major breakthrough."
The trio slowly make their way to the elevator, careful not to miss any potential ambushes. "You were right on the money, when you first came to visit." –Lena admits. "Someone at OsCorp is desperately trying to reproduce the effects of the Super Soldier Serum. This goes far beyond the usual attempt at creating super soldiers, though." –she explains, swiping her ID card and activating the elevator. "It seems that, over the years, an underground branch of OsCorp has attempted to gain the military's favor through several projects – VTOL prototypes, experimental exoskeletons, particle blasters, plasma grenades...you name it, they've probably tried it. Mind you, most of these projects have ended in failure, or been deemed unfeasibly expensive, even for the US military's seemingly unending cash reserves."
Kara hums. "They're not just creating the super soldier army – they're equipping it." –she surmises.
"Trying to, at any rate." –she says. "There's only so much they can do with funding discrete enough for the board not to notice, and a lack of viable test subjects for their inventions. The latter problem they've almost solved, however." –she says, dismayed. The elevator doors open, and they all make a beeline for Lena's office. Kara worriedly notes that she hasn't seen a single OsCorp employee yet – not even a janitor, or a security guard.
"The Chitauri invasion was devastating, of course, but it also brought along a treasure trove of new, highly advanced technology. I imagine the black markets are filling up with alien weaponry and other such parafernalia."
Kara grimly nods. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has been working around the clock to keep the worst of it out of the wrong hands."
Lena makes a funny face at that, but doesn't comment. She presses her card against the wall beside her office's doors, but nothing happens. She huffs, annoyed. "Either of you fancy destroying some private property?"
"Honor's all mine." –Supergirl smirks, punching through the thick, bulletproof crystal. It might as well not have been there, for all the resistance it put up. Kara doesn't miss the enthralled look Lena briefly has at her display of power.
"This is awesome." –Peter says, giddy.
"Between your first visit and now, should I be worried that your sidekick has clearly developed a taste for wanton destruction?" –Lena asks, sarcastic.
"Spider-Man's his own hero." –Kara chides, though Peter doesn't exactly look put off by the idea of becoming her sidekick. "Besides, breaking stuff is fun! You should try it sometime."
Lena raises an eyebrow. "Anyway, as I was saying, OsCorp's branch in the Centipede project have unfortunately obtained a key sample of Chitauri technology. As I understand it, they've taken to stripping the aliens' corpses of two components: a neural link, and something they call a 'techno-organic fluid regulator'."
Kara frowns. "I'm guessing it has something to do with how the Chitauri stay alive through all the cybernetic enhancements."
"No kidding. Those guys were more machine than men. Well, alien...gorilla...lizard men, I guess." –Peter says, clearly unsettled.
Lena approaches her desk, then kneels behind it. "How the heck did you figure all of this out, Lena?"
The raven-haired woman rises, smiling wickedly. She holds a somewhat flattened, segmented cylindrical object about the size of her forearm, filled with a strange, green-ish orange fluid. "I may or may not have broken into their lab yesterday." –she says, triumphant.
Kara gasps, outraged. "You what? Lena, what were you thinking!? I thought you'd just found some files, or something!"
"I told you I'd get to the bottom of it, didn't I? Those bastards thought they could get away with all this crap right under my nose. I wanted to see how bad it was for myself, before I called anything in." –she says, hotly. "So I cleared out the building. Staged a company-wide contaminant breach – which I can't imagine the Board will be too happy about – and checked things out for myself."
Kara starts pacing in disbelief. "You could've gotten seriously hurt, Lena! They could've killed you!" –Kara says, anguished.
"All of it true." –Lena admits, then shakes the container in her hand. "And yet, here I am, holding their sole viable dose of Centipede serum."
Kara balks. "You took that from them!?"
"If I hadn't, their first prototype would probably be out there already, wreaking havoc." –Lena defiantly states. "Their prototype was meant to be infused with the serum today, Kara. They would've struck while you all were out of town – but without this, they couldn't do a thing."
"Wait, they knew we'd be gone?" –Kara asks, bewildered.
"Uh...guys, should we be worried about that?" –Peter asks, pointing behind Lena. Kara walks past the other woman, staring out into the stormy night. Ahead, above the other high-rises, Kara could make out a series of small explosions illuminating the night's sky. "Rhodes..." –Kara mutters.
"And Mr. Stark, too." –Peter says, his mask's lenses squinting, presumably zooming in on the action. "They're getting attacked by something."
"A lot of somethings." –Lena notes.
Kara taps the comm in her ear. "Rhodes, you there?"
There's no response – not even a hint of static. "My comm's dead. What's Karen telling you, Peter?"
Spider-Man hums for a second, as if listening to his companion speak, then his eyes widen all the way. "MOVE!" –he yells, shooting a web at Lena and pulling her back. Kara barely has a moment to turn back towards the window, before a bright light – a missile, she realizes much too late – slams through the window and into her, instantly exploding.
Kara shakes her head and rises from under the pile of rubble that had once been Lena's office. What she sees makes her blood run cold; a looming, armored figure appears to be pointing a minigun at Peter and Lena.
"You...you're supposed to be dead." –Kara says, shocked. The helmet is a little different, and the armor's gotten a green and silver paint job, but there's no mistaking it: before her stands Iron Man's first superpowered enemy, Obadiah Stane's Iron Monger.
The figure turns, eerily familiar glowing eyes staring her down. "Stane is." –the reborn supervillain says, turning the spinning gatling gun towards her. "But he had some good ideas."
He fires, a stream of hot lead forcing her to stumble backwards. She manages to put up a hand, covering her face, and lines up a shot, immediately setting the minigun ablaze with her heat vision.
The armor's pilot stares at the semi-molten piece of slag mounted on his forearm and growls, lunging toward her with a monstrously powerful punch. Kara crosses her arms and blocks it, but still feels the sting – the blow is at least as powerful as Hulk's earlier punches.
Peter joins the fray then, jumping onto the man's back and pulling back his mechanical arms with webbing. Kara spares a moment to marvel at the young hero's prodigious strength, then tackles the massive silver-green armature, pushing all three of them through the hole in the exterior crystal, rendering them all airborn. She pulls back, floating just ahead of the gaping hole in OsCorp Tower, yelping when one of Spidey's webs catches her hand. She pulls on it, hard, making Peter fly way past her.
Smirking as the teen lowers himself to her level, dangling upside down from one of his webs, Kara looks around for the new Iron Monger, but doesn't find any sign of him. In the distance, the aerial battle has only intensified. "Was that who I think it was?" –Peter asks, shaken.
"No doubt about it." –Kara confirms, dismayed. "Someone's recreated Stane's armor."
"Improved upon it, too." –Lena says, behind them. Kara looks her over, but aside from a small cut on her left eyebrow, she seems fine. "I don't know if you noticed, but your punches didn't even dent the metal."
"The reactor in his chest was blue." –Peter notes. "Not white, like Iron Man's."
Kara frowns. "Let's get you out of here, Lena." –Kara says, then turns to Peter. "Can you get her to the Tower?"
Peter doesn't get a chance to respond, as the sound of crushed wood, glass, and metal erupts behind Lena. The villain has returned, emerging from the demolished elevator shaft. "Miss Luthor can't leave just yet. She's got something that belongs to us." –he claims. "Hand over the Serum. Now."
Kara bares her teeth, and charges forward. "Get her away, Spider-Man!" –she yells, just before she makes contact with the supervillain. The reforged Iron Monger, screeches backward, but doesn't topple over, bringing both massive fists down on her back and driving her halfway through the floor. He then jumps, intending to crush her under his feet, but she flies upward, smashing him against the ceiling. Unfortunately, that puts him near an exposed support beam, which he yanks loose and uses to bat her into the jagged hole where the elevator used to be. She floats out, but he then follows up with a handful of rounds from the grenade launcher mounted on his left wrist, which cause her to tumble onto the floor.
Clearly annoyed, the Iron Monger tries to bring the metal beam down on her head, but she manages to catch it, using her heat vision to slice it off his hands. He punches her as she tosses the beam away, but the blow merely stings a little. She then dodges a second punch, hooking her arm around the shoulder joint and pulling him down, hard – so hard, in fact, that she tosses him cleanly through two entire floors.
Wasting no time, Kara jumps down the hole, landing in front of the struggling behemoth. She kicks at its knee, but it doesn't warp or bend – but this time, she does notice that a cyan energy film covers the armor, flaring up with major hits. Frustrated, she winds up her arm and punches, sending the man hurtling into a nearby wall, then charges forward and drives him through, for good measure.
The man groans, but his armor remains unscathed. He sluggishly rises, laughing as he takes in her clenched fists and fighting stance. "It's no good, is it?" –he taunts. "I'll let you in on a little secret, Supergirl: this armor got the 'Phase 2' treatment. S.H.I.E.L.D. infused its core with the Tesseract's energy – infinite energy, I'm told – so you won't break through its defenses anytime soon." –he explains. "Seems like the Girl of Steel can't beat good ol' titanium. But I can't beat you either, I'll give you that."
Kara purses her lips, cautiously dropping her stance. "Truce, then. You said you're not Stane, so...who are you?"
The hulking mech mirrors her relaxed pose. "Just a merc, Supergirl. The name doesn't matter. All you need to know is Centipede pays very well – and I gotta admit, this thing is fun."
"You stole the armor?"
The man hums – which comes out more like a rumble, over the armor's speakers. "Wasn't stolen. Salvaged, from the wreckage of Project Pegasus. Repaired, upgraded...shit, I don't know. I'm just the guy they pay to kill people with it. The 'Titanium Man', they call it. They're no Iron Man fans, I'll tell you that."
Kara snorts. "Too good for Iron Monger, huh?"
"Personally, I think they're both dumb as shit. But Centipede respects Stane's legacy. Guess he did a lot for 'em."
Kara frowns. "Stane died two years ago. How exactly did he help you guys?"
"Beats me. Hazard a guess, though? Funding. Centipede's been decades in the making, Supergirl. That requires serious cash. Stane sold StarkTech to the black market, you do the math. The experiments, the gear, the muscle – that's me – Stane's under-the-table sales probably paid for a lot of it."
"Pay for the distraction outside, too?"
He chuckles. "Didn't you hear? Justin Hammer got put on house arrest a few days ago."
Kara scowls. "Well, I guess I appreciate the honesty."
Titanium Man shrugs. "Centipede's going public. Probably don't even need the serum Miss Luthor stole. It's their best cocktail, sure, but they have a lot of other options ready to go, all over the world. I could walk away from this fight and nothing about what's coming next would change."
"Well, why fight, then?"
"Like I said, the money's good." –he says, then looms forward. "I like you, though, so I'll tell you this: I might not be on the right side of this fight, but I am on the side that's going to survive. Everyone's a target, Supergirl – your friends, your families...everyone you love. Get in Centipede's way, and they're as good as dead. So, it doesn't matter what I believe. I've got a job to do."
Much faster than she'd imagine the lumbering armature moving, he traps her between his hands. She grunts, struggling to break free – and, mighty as the armor is, it's no match for her strength, the hydraulics groaning under the stress – but he merely chuckles. "I doubt this'll kill you, but the eggheads have faith." –he says, the reactor on his chest whining with pooling power. "Let's see if the power of the Tesseract can't beat a Kryptonian."
Kara barely has enough time to wonder how anyone outside the Avengers could know what a Kryptonian is, before Titanium Man's chest bursts with blinding energy, and her world goes dark.
As always, thank you for your attention! Make sure to comment or message me if you have any questions about this story. Look me up on Twitter as Darthkvzn or Tumblr as darthkvznblogs if you'd like - and on Ko-fi, as Darthkvzn, if you like what I do and have a buck to spare.
Until next time!