Wolf 3-2-7
Streaking down through cloud cover, Kara saw the devastation right away. The rail yard was serving as a playground for a mechanical monster over twenty feet tall. Humanoid in shape, it wasn't fazed by shells fired from Army tanks. Oddly enough, it didn't attack its attackers; it merely continued its romp through acres of track, rail cars, and storage depots. Kara landed at a spot roped off for the press. Lois and Jimmy were out front, no surprise there.
"Supergirl!" Jimmy panted, rushing to greet her. "With Superman out of town, it's sure good to see you!" Superman was investigating the two moons of Mars for UFO bases. "That thing just came in on boot rockets and started swinging like it has something against trains!"
The Army major in charge confirmed it. "That's right, Supergirl. We first picked it up in Pennsylvania. Then it made its way here for some reason." Pennsylvania? Something about that wanted to register, but Kara was too busy watching the leviathan.
The giant had paused its rampage to scan the distant crowd. Kara figured it was here in Metropolis for a reason—to assess the best Earth had to offer by way of defense. That meant it had prior knowledge, and was equipped to deal with Kryptonians. "Lois," she said, "I don't think any of these people should be so close. If it charges, you'll never get away in time." Nearby, a tank crewman opened his hatch to see what she'd do.
"You're here now," Lois said confidently. "Now we'll find out what this thing is doing here, and who sent it." She held her hat against a gust of wind-born black grit from a coal silo.
Kara knew it wasn't that easy, as if the thing was going to answer questions. But first things first. She launched herself at it, smashing into the waist section to stagger it. The blow hardly caused a dent. The giant clearly had gyro stabilizers against being toppled. She alighted to stand on an auxiliary track in front of a big diesel engine. "Do you speak English, big boy?"
"I have a translator stone," came the booming voice, and that confirmed it: this thing had somehow come here from the Outworld. But that was only possible through the Archonage at Lunari, and nothing this big could go there without being noticed. It anticipated the next question. "We have an alternate means of accessing the Archon plane. I shall report my findings, and more of us will come. Resistance in my world is too strong, but here, we shall rule."
Another train was leaving the yard with a bass drone of powerful diesels. The owners wanted to salvage something from this disaster. "Report?" Kara queried. "You aren't going home. At least not in one piece." She leapt at it again, but hadn't noticed it was jointed at the waist. Its massive arms swung a fearsome backhand that sent her hurtling toward the crowd. Fortunately, they scattered in time, and Kara merely smashed into the major's jeep, demolishing it.
"Kara!" Lois trotted over. "Are you all right? Why don't we send for Sirtis to back you up?"
"I can handle this clown." Kara brushed off radiator fluid and rocketed back to the fight. Avoiding the big arms, she circled behind to deliver a punch to the side that would have holed a battleship. It merely knocked another dent in the thing, making it dance away to maintain balance. She had to avoid those grasping arms. Another punch to its chest only made another dent. It was time for more information. She landed again on the tracks.
"You've admitted you're from the Outworld. Exactly where?"
"A place known to the amazons. They have forbidden any to go there." The titan stomped toward her.
Kara had spotted an old steam locomotive, probably destined for a museum, sitting in an adjacent shed. She needed a diversion. With arm gestures, she motioned for the tanks to open fire again. The mechanoid turned its head toward them to gage the threat, but the explosions didn't even make dents in its super metal. Kara's plan was to put its balance to the ultimate test. She flew beneath the locomotive and hoisted it overhead. Its tonnage, concentrated on her two feet, caused the pavement to crack beneath her, and she began to sink into the black ground. No time to lose. "Here's yours, super jerk!" She heaved the big steam engine.
The giant didn't turn in time, and the locomotive crashed into it with such force as to knock it prone beneath an engine twice its size and many times heavier. Its gyros weren't up to the task, and the whole lot of metal came down with earth-shaking force. Kara's foe attempted to shove the heavy weight off itself, but she was having none of that. She raced around to grip the head and apply a hard twist. Maybe the metal was nearly impervious, but it had a weakness at joint segments. With sparking groans, the head was wrenched off and tossed aside. A huge cheer arose from the crowd. Kara stood atop the exposed chest, still ready to rumble, making an effort to calm herself. Now began the investigation. She used X-rays to probe it, making an expected discovery: in a side compartment rested one of the Oktoberfest masks needed to pass the Archons who guarded the multitude of gateways on the Archon plane. That was another mystery—where did it get such a secret talisman?
Police held back the onlookers, but allowed Lois and Jimmy to follow the major to the battle site.
"Sorry about the relic," Kara said. "Maybe you can fix it up." She pulled apart the storage seams to recover the mask.
The major grinned his relief. "Don't worry about that. It would have done a lot more damage if you hadn't stopped it." He spoke into his radio to issue some terse orders. "Can we expect more of these things?"
"Not if I can help it." Kara and Lois traded knowing looks. No one here knew about the Outworld, which was her next destination. "I have a good idea of where it came from, and I'll set out right away."
She led Lois a short distance. "I recovered the mask it had in a utility compartment, so I don't have to borrow yours. Have you ever heard of a place the Red Claw amazons have put on the forbidden list?"
"No," Lois said, "but I know a good place to start—Khot, City of Thieves. They have a hand in everything." She pulled in her lower lip. "You'll definitely need a team. When it comes to magic, even you might come up short." A trio of big front-end loaders approached to begin the cleanup. "I'll write this up as outer space shenanigans. No one needs to know about the Outworld." Jimmy had rashly climbed atop the locomotive to photograph the felled giant lying beneath it. As usual, the Daily Press would get the scoop.
Kara took in the gathering crowds, barely held in check by police now the danger was past. "Tell Sirtis to keep an eye on things until Superman gets back."
"Wait," Lois called. "Got any ideas about a team?"
Kara put hands on hips, still standing on her downed foe. "I'll want someone who's good at sneaking around, and someone with the hottest magic that can be found. Together we'll find out what's ticking in the forbidden zone." With that, she was off, soaring upward until lost in the clouds.