The Pentagon, five minutes earlier.
General Lane, the father of both Lois and Lucy Lane, was in an underground bunker several miles beneath the Pentagon while looking at satellite clips of the destruction that was being caused by the fight between Supergirl and the creature from CADMUS. The General then turned to another screen which showed a soldier, who was bleeding from a gash on his forehead, while ordering other behind him to check their records. The General heard soldiers shouting 'yes, sir!' before the man turned to the screen and looked at the General directly while even more soldiers running around behind him. IN addition to the smoke in the room that the General was looking at, he saw occasional showers of sparks, while there flashes of yellow light from the silent klaxons where reflected on the smoke.. giving off an eerie glow.
"Something like this… this thing has to have a failsafe," bellowed General Lane at the soldier who looked around the console he was sitting behind, nervously, "well? Colonel?"
"We've activated the failsafe, sir," came the reply before the young Colonel ducked as a shower of sparks blew up from his left. The Colonel then looked at the screen again before saying that there was a bomb in the base of the creature's skull. IT was meant to go off after a code was input into a panel, but it wasn't activating.
"Why not?" demanded the General as he looked at the other screen which showed the creature slamming Supergirl onto a street. He then turned to look at the Colonel and was about to ask if they had other weapons that could beat this monster. The General stopped mid-sentence when he saw the Colonel gasp before looking over his shoulder and ordering everyone out of the underground base. The man then got up while looking at the screen and shouted that someone activated the self-destruct in CADMUS, leaving the General surprised, "how? Turn it off!"
"We're trying, sir!" yelled the Colonel.
"Do you have anything at CADMUS to stop this thing?"
"This.. this thing was supposed to be our most powerful weapon, sir," shouted the soldier, "I…. we.. we may have something and… no!"
"Colonel! Colonel!" yelled the General leaning forward as the screen went white, and then it went blank. The General turned to the soldiers around him and demanded to know what just happened.
"It's gone, sir," said a soldier as he stood up, his face ashen while telling the General that the nuclear weapon that formed the self-destruct device in the underground facility just went off. The General's mouth remained open in shock as he looked at the blank screen, and then he looked at the battle in National City.
"Oh dear God," was the only thing he could say before he ordered that a call be made to the White House, "get me the President!"
National City.
The last thing that Kara remembered after she crashed into the street, was firing a flurry of punches into the creature after she was thrown into a building. She remembered zooming out of the building, and then ramming into Jeremiah before grabbing his arm, and then turning him over before slamming him into the asphalt. Her entire body was hurting. Kara could feel blood oozing down the side of her mouth, she knew that a part of her uniform was torn.. the skin underneath cut and bleeding.
It was something she never thought possible… she was the Girl of Steel.
She was supposed to be invulnerable, but here was evidence that broke that rule; jagged bones from a creature that had the face of her adopted father had been cutting into her skin. She remembered continuing to punch the creature, she remembered screaming when the creature hit her out of the blue. The back of its hand hit the side of her face, the bones scratching her cheek as she was flung from the creature, and crashed onto the street.
Her back to the creature as she stood up, Kara never saw the creature stand up faster than her, and then dash towards her. He shoulder slammed Kara just as she turned around while holding her arm, which was bleeding from cuts through the uniform, and she was thrown back onto the road. Her cape, which was supposed to be invulnerable as well, had cuts from the jagged bones which cut into her back. The cape covered her while she was crawling away from the creature that was now ambling towards her.
It was just then that she heard thumping sounds from above. She looked up over her shoulder, while at the same time, she was trying to get up. Kara could see that the creature was distracted as well; it looked up and growled at the helicopter, which was soon followed by another one. Almost on her feet, she felt herself being slammed into the ground again. She screamed when she felt the bones from the creature's knuckles being driven into her back, through her cape. She felt another punch into her back as the creature stood over her, followed by another, and then another; all the while she was howling in pain.
CatCo, at that same time.
Cat was looking at the unfolding scene that was being fed from the news helicopter that was circling over the furious battle between Jeremiah and Supergirl. She had her hands on her hips while watched the multiple screens in her office, all the while feeling helpless to do anything about what was going on. She watched, as did the others on the floor, as the creature roared at the helicopter, before it continued to slam its fists into Supergirl's back.
Cat heard the young woman's screams and all she could do was shake her head as she looked back over her shoulder at Kara's desk. She then looked at Winn, who was staring at the overhead screen, and then at Jimmy who was preparing to leave with his team for the site where the monster was killing the protector of National City on live TV.
Cat looked back at the screens in front of her, and shook her head while rubbing her forehead. She knew that even the affiliates from the Daily Planet were present on the ground, as well as on their helicopter, which could be seen flying next to the one bearing the Catco logo.
'Superman,' thought Cat to herself as she turned to watched Jimmy, and four others, rush out of the office. She looked at the screens again and whispered, "wherever you are, you're needed, now more than ever. She needs your help, she… she'll die.. I'm afraid she'll die."
Central City, at that same time.
Whatever National City was watching, so was the rest of the world, including Central City. Everyone from the patrons at departmental stores, to the Central City Police department, to the West Residence. Everyone watched helplessly as Supergirl was being beaten to the ground.
Wally and Iris looked on worried while their legs were shaking as the creature punched Supergirl in the back once again; they winced as she howled in pain and the street was getting wet from her blood. They watched her crawling away from the creature, and then looking back over her shoulder. The camera showed the determination still on her face despite the obvious pain she was in.
"Where are you, Barry?" whispered Nora.
Fort Rozz, at that same time.
Non, Indigo, and the other Kryptonians were watching a live feed of the battle on a holographic HUD. They were all standing in a circle as they watched Supergirl looking back at the creature with gritted teeth. Non could see the same determination on her face as used to be on his former wife, the now dead Astra, and what used to be on his now dead sister-in-law, Alura.
It was a face that said she was not going to go down easily.
"Your niece will die tonight," said Indigo as Non looked at her, "the humans built a weapon designed to kill all Kryptonians, but they lost control after… well, after I took control. I disabled the failsafe, and it will only answer to me."
"After Kara's death, I want that thing pointed to Metropolis. And I want that creature destroyed once it has taken care of Kal-El," said Non, "understood?"
"Of course, my dear Non," said Indigo with a smile on her face as she looked at Kara's eyes starting to glow, 'we will see about that'.
Near National City Bank.
Kara was looking over her shoulder as the creature that now looked like a shell of the person it was supposed to look like as it pulled back its hand. She knew that she was already getting weaker thanks to blood loss, it was a feeling that she rarely experienced. She had hit the creature everywhere with all her strength, but it had been able to take as well as it gave out… and even more. She couldn't see any injury on the creature itself, except for a few cracks on the bone plates on its chest.
Kara knew she didn't have a lot left in her, and she was worried that her heat vision won't penetrate the plates, even though they were cracked. So, she aimed for the creature's eyes. About to fire, Kara could feel the heat growing in her eyes as she readied for her high intensity beams. However, just as soon as she was about to fire her heat vision; the creature stopped and turned around upon hearing the sound of a boom in the distance. The creature then roared and turned back to Kara, it pulled its arm back, the jagged bones jutting out of its wrists aimed directly at her face.
"I'm not… not going to… to die, not… not today," rasped Kara, as she smiled. Time seemed to slow down for her as the creature's roared drawled to a crawl, and it's arm that was being pushed forward towards Kara's back at high speed slowed to a crawl as well. To anyone else, it would be as if the creature was moving it's arm at super speed. From Kara's perspective though, it seemed as if everything was moving extremely slow.
Even her heart beat, which had been racing, had slowed down.
She looked behind the creature as a red blur with yellow lighting trailing behind was running towards her. Kara saw that he was holding on to something green… or rather, someone green. Kara smiled as the blur, in slow motion, pushed the green form towards the creature, while the red blur ran towards her. She felt herself getting picked up while the creature was still pushing its arm forward to punch her, and then the blur came into focus.
And she grinned.
"You came, Barry," Kara coughed.
"Sorry it me a while," replied Barry who stopped as J'onn punched the creature, throwing it back a few meters.
"It… it's coming after me," rasped Kara who was in Barry's arms while J'onn landed next to the Girl of Steel, and the Scarlet Speedster.
"Flash," said J'onn while all of them were looking at the creature roaring at them as it got up, "get Supergirl to the DEO, get her under the sunlamps. She needs to heal and…"
J'onn went intangible, just as Barry sped to the left while the creature moved at super speed and then punched the ground behind them. They turned around to see the back of the creature as it got up, turned around, and then roared at them once again.
"Barry," whispered Kara while he was moving backwards at speeds higher than the creature, stopping at intervals to make sure that it followed them until they were outside the city. Barry looked at Kara who asked him if he really could take the creature for a few minutes.
"Yeah," said Barry as he and J'onn moved away as the creature attacked them, or tried to attack them. It continued to roar as J'onn became intangible. It moved through him, and then J'onn would solidify, and then punch the creature. IT would fall to the ground, and then try to attack J'onn while following Barry. However, Barry was moving too fast to hit. Both of them knew that they weren't strong enough to beat the creature, but they could be a distraction while Kara told Barry her plan… a plan relayed to J'onn as well through telepathy.
"But I'm not going to do this unless you…."
"We'll be alright, Supergirl," said J'onn glancing at the blonde.
"Do what you need to do," said Barry nodding at J'onn before he turned and sped far enough away from the creature while J'onn attacked it. Barry then put Kara down, feet first. He helped the blonde get steady on her feet, and then he asked if she was sure about this.
"The sun lamps would work slowly," said Kara as Barry nodded his head before looking up at the darkening sky and then at the helicopters that were approaching them, and then at Kara who he was still holding up, "I need to recharge. I need the sun. I'll be back soon… just... Just hold the line. And don't die."
"J'onn's strong," said Barry, "and I've got a few tricks I haven't used yet. We'll be alright, now go."
Kara nodded her head as she stepped back. She then crouched down, and placed her fists on the ground. The ground soon started to rumbled and crack as Kara then looked up and shot up into the sky at dizzying speed.
"Good luck," whispered Barry before he ran, away from the fight as fast as he could.
Everyone watched on TV as Supergirl sped off straight into the air, while the man in the red suit, who the other stations had continued to call 'the Blur', ran the other way… away from the creature fighting the green alien. Nora leaned forward as she watched the video taken from a Catco helicopter of the blur running away; the voice-over saying that he thought the Blur was scared about fighting something that even Supergirl feared.
But Nora didn't believe that for one second.
While Wally and Iris were looking at themselves and wondering what happened to Supergirl, Nora continued looking at the screen. She then felt a hand on her shoulder, a hand which she reached for with her left hand. She knew Francine was giving her support, silently telling her that everything was going to be okay. All of a sudden, there was the sound of a boom that roared through the air, and even shook the camera. Nora, Wally, and the others just watched as an orange stream of lightning flashed for just a moment with the voice over asking what just happened.
Everything was slow for Barry, he had already broken the sound barrier as he ran faster, and faster. He could tell that he already hit Mach 4, and was about to hit Mach 5. He remembered his encounter with Girder back on his Earth, and how he beat him. Smiling as he neared the creature while hitting Mach Six, Barry aimed his punch just right, and then he flew forward. Pulling back one arm, Barry punched the side of the creature's jaw.
The camera's saw the creature being thrown back a few feet after being hit by what seemed to them was a bolt of lightning. And then they saw the man in the red suit rolling on the grassy, hard ground.
"Barry," whispered Nora standing up as she watched Barry lay still, smoke all around him from the dust that was kicked up from his running, and then crashing onto the ground. She saw the green man landing next to him while the other creature was slowly getting up, "come on, Barry. Come on… Come on…"
"Flash," said J'onn as Barry groaned, back in the outskirts of the city, while the Martian lightly slapped the young man's face, "Flash!"
Barry opened his eyes, only to see the creature behind J'onn jumping towards them at super speed. Groaning, he quickly got up, and then took himself and J'onn out of the way. They then stood against the creature who started to attack again. Barry ran towards the creature, and then ran around him in a circle. Barry's lighting surrounded the creature as it roared while J'onn stayed back away from the heat being generated. Once Barry knew he had a good shot, he grabbed a lightning bolt and threw it at the creature.
"What just happened?" asked Iris as they watched Barry fire more and more lightning at the creature which was roaring into the air, and then at Barry as he threw even more lighting at it. Nora and the others then saw Barry running around the creature until there were multiple Flashes, each throwing a bolt of lightning, one after the other.
The lightning hit the creature all at once, making it roar in pain, but leaving Barry panting when he stopped next to J'onn. The alien was impressed as he helped the Flash steady on his feet. J'onn could hear Barry panting while whispering he hadn't done that before as they both watched the orange energy crackling over the creature's body.
"Kara said she needs to recharge," panted Barry, "we need to hold the line."
"You rest," said J'onn as he went in for the attack while Barry went down on one knee.
"No time for a rest," said Barry as he ran away from the creature, and then ran back and punched Jeremiah at high speed, while in the intervening time, J'onn was viciously attacking the creature.
Kara was already high above the clouds, and was continuing to fly even higher. She felt herself getting weaker and wondered if this was all a mistake. Pushing those thoughts out of her head, she continued rising as her body started to warm up slightly. She knew that she was entering near Earth orbit, and so she took a in a deep breathe, and flew even higher.
And then she stopped.
She closed her eyes as she felt the rays of the sun hitting her. Smiling as she felt the cuts all over her body slowly healing, Kara looked down at the blue-white planet below. She could hear Barry and J'onn fighting the creature and hoped that she'd be back to full strength soon.
It took her a few minutes, and all that time, she heard Barry and J'onn fighting as her strength slowly returned. She heard J'onn grunting, and the sound of lightning as Barry ran.. braking the sound barrier multiple times.
Back on the surface, Barry and J'onn were standing side by side as the creature slowly got up to its feet. Barry had just hit it at Mach Six again, followed by J'onn punching it while flying as fast as possible. The creature then fell onto its back, in a depression before it got up again, and then roared.
"You've got to be kidding me," cried Barry when J'onn suddenly grabbed him, and told him to run as fast as possible.
"But…"
"Do it!" yelled J'onn as Barry ran just as rockets fired from a small group of DEO agents to the west hit the creature. Barry circled around and stopped next to Alex, who was ordering the agents to fire at the creature.
"Where's Supergirl?!" yelled Alex as she looked at Barry and J'onn. Before she could get an answer, they heard a great roar from the fire and the smoke created after firing the rockets at the creature. Barry saw it before anyone; the creature sped out of the fire and headed for the agents who were firing at it. Barry was faster as he grabbed them out of harm's way, and it was the same with the other agents, including Alex. He moved them far enough away that all the creature could damage were the weapons and the vehicles that they had come in.
Alex was trying to get her bearings after having been super-sped away from her previous location, before she looked at Barry, who was still holding onto her arm.
"Sorry," he said letting go just as everyone looked up when they heard the sound of thunder. Barry saw a streak against the darkening sky travelling towards the creature at a high rate of speed. He smiled as Alex pumped her fist into the air when Kara slammed into the creature. Barry looked at J'onn and nodded his head before they took off. He could see Kara keeping the creature off balance while it continued to be flung back while she was punching him.
Kara was viciously punching him, not giving the creature a chance to recover.
Barry saw J'onn joining Kara in punching the creature, continuing to keep it off balance. IN the meantime, Barry looked at he surrounding area… and smiled when he saw some hills in the distance.
"Kara! J'onn!" yelled Barry as he ran next to them while they were alternating punches between the both of them, "I have an idea… I need the two of you to grab an arm. You know this isn't your father, right? Kara?"
"Yea," yelled Kara as she grabbed an arm while avoiding the jagged bones, as did J'onn.
Barry saw that the creature was still roaring at this high rate of speed with its legs swinging freely as it tried to touch the ground. Barry was so far keeping up with the two aliens, and now… he ran faster. He placed his hand on the creature's chest at Mach Five, and then he went up to Mach Six, and then Seven, and then eight as Kara looked at Barry in surprise.
"Let go! Now!" yelled Barry.
"But…."
"Now!" yelled Barry as Kara nodded her head before she and J'onn let go, and then rose high up into the air. They watched as the bolt of lightning ran into the side of a hill.
"Barry!" screamed Kara as she put her hand on her head in shock. She thought Barry slammed himself into the side of a hill,, "Barry!"
The shock she was feeling increased when the bolt of lightning passed through another side of the hill and then came to a stop right below them. Kara and J'onn flew down and landed next to a panting Barry, and before Kara and J'onn could ask what happened, Barry told them that he moved so fast that he was able to push the creature through the side of the hill.
"I vibrated my molecules and phased through," said Barry as he leaned down on his knees, "which is why I asked you guys to let go. Once you did, my hands were already on him. I made sure that he vibrated as well, and we ran through the hill. Once we went in, I let go… and whatever that thing was, solidified, but I remained phased. And then I just got out of there."
"So it is dead?" asked J'onn as he looked at the hill. While Barry looked at Kara looking back at him.
"Yea," he whispered as Kara closed her eyes, and nodded her head before looking at the hill where the creature was buried, "sorry, Kara."
"It wasn't my adopted dad," she whispered as a Catco helicopter, joined by another helicopter, as well as four military helicopters were circling them high in the sky after having followed them in the battle, "it wasn't Alex's dad… it was…. What the….?"
Suddenly, the ground around them started to tremble as the three of them tried to keep their balance. Both J'onn and Kara took to the air, while Barry reading himself for anything. They scanned the surface with their eyes, and then Kara switched to her X-Ray vision, and looked down.
Directly between Barry as her face twisted in horror.
"Flash! Run!" screamed Kara.
Barrie had prided himself on being fast, and he was already faster than Zoom thanks to the tachyon device. Which made him want to kick himself at super-speed when a hand with sharp bony protrusions grabbed his leg. And before he could even vibrate, he heard the sound of a crack… followed by a howl of pain.
His own howl as the creature broke his right leg.
"Flash!" yelled Kara as she zipped towards Barry with J'onn when there was a sudden explosion of dirt, and rock. Kara and J'onn watched helplessly as the creature rose into the air with Barry's dangling body in its hand.
"Barry," whispered Nora as she looked on in terror at the TV as the creature, which had already jumped high into the air with Supergirl and J'onn following it, flung Barry back towards the ground. Nora, whose hands were over her mouth when Barry howled in pain, remembered the night of the murder and shook her head while mumbling that it was happening again.
That she was losing her son again.
"No," said Francine as she turned her friend towards her, and grabbed her shoulders, "you are not losing him. He's going to be fine, Nora… he promised you that he'll come back. He'll come back. Have faith."
"But…" said Nora as she looked at the TV as the camera focused on the fight between the creature and J'onn.
"He'll be fine," said Francine as Nora looked into her eyes, "he'll be fine, Nora. You'll see."
TBC.