Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Seeing Red

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 47: War

Colorado Springs

“We are going to be late.”

Lobo rolled his eyes.

“We aren’t going to be late.” he assured Alex. “Colorado Springs is a minute away. I can see that bitch’s glow already. She is going to suck the power out of that installation then blow it up. She won’t be in a hurry. I’m heading high so put your ridiculous helmet ski mask thing on. You look like an idiot by the way.”

Alex opened the steel kit containing the small crystals she had been working on since they had decided they would be in this fight. The idea had come to Alex during a family conversation where her father bluntly pointed out to Kara that her little blonde sister could not beat Flower of Heaven.

Alex realized he was right. The creature would be as strong if not stronger than Kara, as indestructible as Kara, and all Kara could do was make it stronger with her heat vision and even possibly her ring if she used it.

Then the Black Mercy popped into her head.

The Black Mercy incident gave her the idea she could manipulate Kara’s brainwaves to mimic the effects of the medications she had been taking. Because Kelex was able to link Kara’s mind with Alex’s using a crystal, the older sister knew the crystals could be formed, manipulated, tweaked, anything she needed them to be to affect brain chemistry.

The danger of what she was doing became apparent the first time Kara accidentally put on an untested crystal sedative band and was knocked out immediately for eight hours. Luckily, Alex had only been designing the crystals with positive effects in mind.

As soon as her father pointed out the obvious in that family conversation the solution presented itself.

She had the answers she needed already in the databanks.

The Black Mercy manipulated Kara’s brainwaves, feeding off them and would have eventually caused brain death after 48 or so hours.

All Alex had to do was copy the brain waves the Black Mercy used on her sister and accelerate them. Instead of taking 48 hours, the attack would cause the Worldkiller’s brain to shut down instantly. No matter how mutated, according to Zor El’s data, they were still Kryptonian and their brain waves worked the same.

In theory.

The problem was getting a crystal to touch the head of a Worldkiller. Her plan needed Lobo and his ship to succeed. She needed him to get her high enough that she could dive out of his ship without being noticed while he flew in a wide arc around the Worldkiller using the cannons on his ship to attack the Worldkiller, feeding her energy for a distraction.

Once that was done, all Alex had to do was guide herself at over a hundred miles an hour in a controlled fall, hoping the suit would allow her to slow down and adjust course as needed, land on the back of a creature radiating extreme energy and fluttering large butterfly like wings, hold the crystal against the creature’s forehead for at least two seconds and then jump off. In her mind the suit would survive the heat, stay in one piece and she could soar to the ground, right after Flower’s body causes a crater.

As Lobo’s ship flew higher and higher, Alex began to realize how dumb of a plan this was.

“You got your crystals strapped on?” Lobo asked.

Alex confirmed she did, five black crystal stars on both arms. Only one was needed but backups were a must.

She looked to the Earth and saw the lights of the base. She also saw the glowing Worldkiller arrive in a streak of light, hovering over it.

“She is here. Time for me to jump. I have something important to tell you. If she hits your ship it is possible the blast could incinerate you. If that happens, Kelex has the Ion canon in the Gulf of Mexico, ready to fire a burst to keep distracting her, so you can go to your death at peace, knowing I will be okay.”

Lobo looked at the white clad girl for a moment and shook his head. “You really do overestimate your importance in my life, don’t you?”

Alex lifted her hard polymer mask a bit and kissed the Czarnian on the cheek. “No, I don’t, and you know it.”

Putting the mask back in place, hoping the fabric allowed her to breathe as Kelex said it would, hoping it could stand up to the heat her mother thought it could…

Alex realized she was counting a lot on hope so instead of thinking too much about it, she opened the back door and jumped 28,000 feet above the ground.

Alex had quite a few jumps under her belt from her time at the DEO, but she had only started using this wingsuit in the last two weeks. Her practice had been limited to Kara or Lobo taking her high and dropping her over Antarctica, then Kara catching her before she hit the ground hard. After a week she was able to come down fairly easy after some tweaks to the suit. A filter Kelex swore would store air went through the exoskeleton and would allow her to breath a bit on the way down, provided the suit stayed airtight.

This stunt was the definition of desperate times calling for desperate measures. Alex had decided the only way to approach Flower was to wear a suit that had no power source, so it wouldn’t be affected by the monster. That meant it was on her. Her skill. Her body.

The brunette noticed she was moving much faster than she anticipated. Alex would have to slow down to have any chance of not breaking her body on the indestructible alien.

She leveled her body out, fabric from her arms to hips and between her ankles to back, catching her as if a parachute had jerked her up slowed her momentum. Far below she saw light blasts coming from Lobo’s ship and worried that he may be attacked any moment. the Worldkiller however did not appear ready to attack, instead absorbing the energy she was being attacked with.

Alex guessed she had twenty seconds until she reached the altitude of Flower. She wondered what her speed was, but did not have a speedometer on her, worried if she had even a small power source her enemy would sense her.

The brunette angled her body, squeezing and then opening her thighs and arms, maneuvering through the sky.

At ten seconds, Alex had the right angle and the perfect curve to swoop in. Lobo was still firing at the glowing enemy from fifty or so yards in front of the creature, but Alex barely paid any mind. She had a bigger problem.

The speed she was moving was much too fast. She would break herself on the Worldkiller.

Using her core strength to twist her legs in front of her, a gust of wind caught her, decelerating her a bit.

With five seconds to impact she felt the heat from the creature.

Lobo had stopped firing, but the monster was incredibly charged.

Alex managed to swoop in at the correct angle, decelerating from the fifty-five miles per hour she estimated she had been falling.

Instead the girl struck the back of the Flower of Heaven at closer to forty miles an hour. The wind was knocked out of her, her suit only being able to cushion so much force. Her head struck the body, making her instantly delirious.

Wrapping her arms around the creature’s neck, Alex had enough presence of mind to use her right hand, grab a crystal off her left wrist and press it to the Worldkillers forehead.

The girl lost all sense of time, holding her broken body onto the floating creature as long as possible.

Then she was free falling. Alex opened her eyes, satisfied the monster was falling as well. She took advantage of her conscious state to notice the fabric of her wing suit had been severely burned, but the main body held. Not that it would matter. What was left of her body would be crushed as soon as she hit the ground. There would be no gliding in safely or being caught by Kara. Alex had done what she set out to do, take down a Worldkiller. She killed this thing before it could kill her little sister. That was all that mattered. Her eyes closed, her last thought of Kara before the darkness overtook her.

Lobo winced when Alex hit the Worldkiller, knowing she had come in too fast. In his mind he could imagine the sound of her bones cracking when she hit that super glow bug from behind. The girl had held on and after a few seconds, the Flower of Heaven was falling straight to Hell.

There was no doubt in his mind that even if Alex’s suit had survived, she would not be in any condition to make it the four thousand feet to the ground.

Lobo began circling the falling girl then flew towards the ground accelerating past Alex. The back-loading dock of his ship opened and he moved in front of her falling body, both racing towards the ground vertically.

As he slowed, Alex inched closer into his bay. Once her body was inside, the loading door slammed shut. The Czarnian jerked the ship up and rose, barely missing a small mountain. Once he leveled out, Lobo made a wide turn and managed to hover then land in the middle of Peterson Air Force Base.

A quick check showed him Alex was in trouble. She had a cracked sternum he guessed, a broken collarbone and pulling off her mask, he could see a deep bruise on her forehead. It was a miracle she stayed awake to push the crystal to that monster’s head long enough for it to work. He suspected her skull was fractured. There could also be nerve damage if her spine was compromised in any way.

He opened the landing bay and stepped out, surrounded by hundreds of soldiers aiming rifles at him.

“Who the hell is in charge?” the man yelled.

No one stepped forward.

“I asked a question. The lady that just took down the monster who was about to have you boys for breakfast is injured, bad. I need a team of medics in here. Hurry up before I start killing everyone at this damn base and find the hospital on my own!”

The majority of the soldiers looked at a man closest to Lobo who nodded and motioned for the others to stand down. Lobo walked up to the man who must have been the leader of this rag tag band.

“Name’s Lobo and I am with the DEO. I got to go over the ridge and make sure that thing is dead. Keep your soldiers away from it because I don’t know if she is going to explode when I cut her head off. My girl is inside and just hit that thing at forty-two miles an hour. She is messed up. You keep her alive or I will slaughter every one of you assholes when I get back. Move now!”

Lobo stepped back inside with Alex, keeping an eye on her breathing and checking her pupils, glad to see they were equally responsive. A group of four men brought a stretcher in and Lobo gently lay her on the device then followed her into the base. Seeing doctors swarming her, the man marched back out to his ship, ignoring the hundreds of gawking soldiers. Moving to the side of his ship he opened a hatch and pulled out a lead cased box Connolly had given him. Grabbing the machete like Kryptonite long blade he ran, climbing the small mountains with ease at incredible speed. The glow had gone but he found the body easily enough.

Without her glow she didn’t look so intimidating. Just a pale blonde woman, with butterfly wings that were crumpled. She wasn’t breathing. He carefully pulled back her pupils and saw they were non-responsive.

Alex’s execution may have turned into a physical disaster for her body, but damn could that girl make some weapons.

Lifting her up by the hair, the man swung the blade, the Worldkiller’s body dropping but her head remaining in his grip.

To his relief there was no explosion. Lobo doubted his tactical vest over his otherwise bare chest would have given him much protection and he didn’t want to waste time healing. Taking the head with him, he ran back to the base, not being challenged as he marched in.

The humans cleared the way for him as he walked back to where they had taken Alex.

An older man was standing outside the surgical suite, wearing a dress uniform and bars.

“You there. You in charge?”

The officer nodded his head, trying to meet the bounty hunter’s eyes. Lobo dropped the blonde creature’s head at his feet.

“The DEO is gonna be by after this mess is over to pick this damn thing up. I left the body where it landed. Keep your men on alert. This base could still be attacked from air. You better keep my girl safe. What’s her condition?”

“They are preparing her for surgery. She woke up… she is asking for a Kara? She may have a cracked skull, internal bleeding and isn’t very coherent. We are waiting on the X-rays to determine what is most pressing but the internal bleeding in her torso would be the biggest concern at the moment.”

“Where is she?”

Lobo followed the man into the med bay doors and found Alex on a rolling hospital bed.

True to the man’s word, she was awake. She met his eyes and was able to focus on him. Alex gave him a small smile.

“I can’t believe I talked my parents and Kara into letting me do that.” she whispered.

“That bitch took everything I gave her.” Lobo told her. “We weren’t taking her down with weapons. You saved NORAD. Now you rest. They are gonna fix you up and I’ll be back for you.”

‘No!” Alex shouted. “I have to get to… somewhere. Kara… Kara is going to need a weapon… I need to get the venom and…”

“This fight is over for you Little Danvers. I made a giant swarm of robotic insects that killed everyone on my planet. I think I can weaponize venom from a Worldkiller. I’ll be back for you. Do what they say.”

“Promise… promise to help Kara.”

“Go to sleep, Alex.” Lobo told her firmly, knowing he couldn’t help Kara. “It will be okay. I need to go now. More ass to kick out there and I’m going to have to do double the work without my favorite partner.”

Alex closed her eyes as the nurses came out, pulling her away to surgery. Lobo took a deep breath.

He had to get to Metropolis.

The man raced to his ship and sent a message to Kelex with information on Alex’s physical state and assurances she would live. He hoped he wasn’t lying.

Metropolis

“What’s the situation Jack?” Connolly asked.

“Two Worldkillers are being engaged by the League but they are working their way here. Streets are empty. Enemy fighters are breaking atmosphere all over the world. Looks like Lobo and Alex pulled off their jobs. NORAD is still in one piece and the Flower of Heaven is dead. Satellites are all but wiped out, but Kelex is sending probes all over the world every twenty minutes. Looks like the Lanterns are holding their own but are thin in some areas. I expect at least a cruiser or two to land somewhere, either here or overseas and then we will have ground troops to deal with.”

“Bruce, Caitlin Snow and Cisco are ready. Do we have a read on the flagship?”

“Winn, show us probe feeds.” Webb ordered. “The flagship is hanging back, almost on the far side of the moon, but it can accelerate fast. I think it is waiting for a hole. I wouldn’t recommend jumping onto it until the damn thing is closer and engaged.”

“They won’t expect us to enter now. We need to move.” Connolly decided, ignoring Webb’s advice as he often did.

He gathered Wayne and the two agreed now was the time. The Flagship was huge. It could take hours to find information, the King, sneak around or try and win a fight with thousands of aliens resembling walking snakes on their home turf. Waiting until it was almost in atmosphere or being attacked by Lanterns didn’t seem the wisest choice considering they were on a clock since this thing began.

“Ramon!” Connolly called. “You are up. Get us on that ship. Preferably somewhere we aren’t seen but anything that isn’t open space will do. Double check your weapons everybody. Time to take the fight to them.”

National City

Kara made the trip quickly, moving across country, staying low, ignoring the sounds of battle hundreds of miles above her. She knew enemy ships were breaking into the atmosphere, but the Lanterns appeared to be holding their own, judging by the limited amount of large ships.

Those weren’t her problem. Her problem was cleaning up more messes her father had created. Not for the first time, she wondered how the hell her father even trapped these creatures in the first place. She suspected after Worldkiller 1 escaped he designed fail safes for the others or simply brought the might of the House of Zod, joined with the intelligence of the House of El to trap them.

Kara had no intention of trapping them.

“Kelex, what is Alex’s status?”

“Alex has succeeded and is safely on the ground. Flower of Heaven is dead. Your target is still stationary over the Catco building and I am picking up a minimal number of life forms outside of the city limits but for the most part, the battlefield is clear.”

Kara listened closely for any deception from the robot, but it was futile. He may have developed emotions, but he was still a robot at heart. If he wanted to lie, there was no heartbeat for Kara to pick up, no facial expressions for her to read.

She just needed faith. Alex had done well in the practices they had and as long as she hit Flower at less than twenty miles an hour she would be fine. Her older sister had mastered the suit and her speed with great skill.

Alex would be fine. She had to be.

“Thanks, Kelex. Its time to test Reign’s skills. Keep track of me.”

“I always do.” the robot assured her.

Kara found Reign soon enough, standing on top of the CatcCo tower in the center of a blackened Kryptonian symbol she had burnt into the top of the building.

Kara landed slowly in front of her, giving enough space to react but not within easy reach.

She took her enemy in seeing her for the first time without video or holograms.

The Worldkiller was hideous. Perhaps six-foot tall, athletic build and gray ashen skin. Her eyes were a deep red and hair midnight black. Her skull was misshapen tapering out towards the top with small protrusions barely peeking out of her hair.

“Kara Zor El,” she greeted her in Kryptonese, “I was beginning to doubt you would come.”

“Why would I not? You traveled all this way to destroy me. I wouldn’t want to disappoint you. You aren’t the first to want me dead and I am still here. You won’t be the last. This is my planet. You didn’t really think I would hide from another pathetic monster trying to make a name for herself, did you?”

Reign scowled and her eyes grew brighter, giving Kara the split second she needed to move her head out of the way and avoid a heat vision blast.

The blonde straightened her head back but stood her ground.

“It took you too long to build up your power. That is a weakness. Your vision should always be ready to unleash.”

Kara demonstrated her point by blasting the unsuspecting Worldkiller on the chest, sending her to the ground.

Reign stood up with a growl.

“You have the DNA of Zor El and Lyta Zod. You were made to be a mutated soldier, all your combat skills hard wired into you. You should fight like a Kryptonian. Let’s see what you got.” Kara offered.

Reign needed no encouragement, rushing Kara, sending a barrage of strikes with her fists.

The blonde anticipated each strike and dodged rather than blocked, not giving Reign a chance to make any contact. It was true the speed of Reign’s strikes showed her faster than Kara, but her moves were obvious, basic Kryptonian military guide combat training. It was a simple matter for Kara to dodge. Reign finally tried to kick her, allowing Kara to sweep the leg, and punching the Worldkiller in the face as soon as she hit the ground.

Reign was knocked through the roof sixty floors to the ground, causing a crater in the first floor of Catco.

Rather than following her down, Kara remained on the now unsteady roof and sent a strong blast of heat vision into the hole, lighting the Worldkiller up.

Reign stood against the onslaught and flew upwards into the blast. Kara seeing she had no effect any longer stopped and flew off the rooftop to maintain distance.

“Sloppy.” the blonde told her nemesis. “Kryptonian combat skills hardwired into your DNA, along with intelligence and all it took was a simple leg sweep to take you down. Do you have any other skills that could be considered more advanced?”

The creature roared and attacked faster than she had before, hitting Kara in the jaw and sending her tumbling a hundred or so yards away into the sky.

Reign followed, moving in a straight line for the blonde. Once she reached Kara’s stunned form she raised her fist back to crush the girl’s skull.

Instead, she only hit air as Kara lay back just before Reign’s fist would have landed.

Kara watched the woman’s body fly over her and kicked her in the abdomen. The blonde suspected Reign had no real skill at flying. In the air, without the ground to center her, the monster’s combat skills would not be as effective or strong.

Flying was a difficult skill to master, having taken Kara years to truly perfect. One important thing to learn was when fighting in the air, there is no up or down, left or right. A person is fighting without gravity but can still see the Earth as it rises above you then drops below. The effect on the equilibrium is difficult to become accustomed to.

Reign may have been faster in the sky but she had only flown as far as Kara knew, in space. Flying above a planet was very different.

The blonde moved in quick circles around Reign, causing the Worldkiller to look up, down, all over until Kara’s fist struck her in the throat.

Kara saw her shot had her attention and began focusing on other soft parts of the body, causing her enemy significant pain. Using the blade of her hand, she struck the armpits, the back of the knees, a palm slap to the side of her head, then her brachial artery from the other side.

The girl knew she wouldn’t kill Reign this way. She just had to make her frustrated. Brute force would not be on Kara’s side in this fight.

The blonde’s good fortune ended when Reign grabbed her by the cape and tossed her away, followed with a heat vision blast to the back of Kara’s skull.

Kara knew it would have to end, knew she would be struck eventually but the severity of the blast surprised her. Reign felt only slightly less strong than Doomsday in terms of energy projection. A blast to her eyes or prolonged blasts to her body and she would be done.

Supergirl flew straight for the ground with Reign following. Just before she crashed, Kara leveled out and flew above the ground, skimming the surface at only three feet above the floor. A crash behind her let her know Reign was not as good at turning on a dime.

Kara knew Reign was furious, her instincts for battle giving way to her instincts for blood. She was easily able to lead the monster out of National City, past the DEO desert base and kept moving. Reign was having difficulty not hitting the ground on her chase since Kara heard several scrapes behind her, as if a high-speed bulldozer was carving through the landscape.

Finding the area she wanted, Kara zipped around a mountain into a steep canyon and stopped immediately, striking a chasing Reign in the head with a heat vision blast.

The two opponents now stared at each other above the ground that had suddenly dropped away into a twisting canyon.

“Why did you come to this planet? Why did you follow the King of Diaspora?” she asked.

Reign grinned despite the obvious frustration written on her twisted face.

“He wants Earth dead and offered me the chance to kill the last of the Kryptonians, the beloved daughter of our creator, the man who locked us away for eternity.”

“Is he one of you? The King? Is he your leader?” Kara asked, hoping this monster would give her some clue.

“I have no leader. I was born to destroy, born to…”

“Yeah, I get it.” Kara stopped her, frustrated. If she did know something, she wouldn’t say. “He gave you my address, the opportunity to do what you love and you didn’t ask questions. He is using you to distract me. For someone with so much intelligence hardwired into your body, you don’t use it often, do you?”

Reign’s grin was gone. Kara could tell the taunting was not what she expected. The Worldkiller expected a stand-up fight and was not getting it. Not yet.

“Okay,” Kara told her, “let’s see if you can get better at flying. I call this place Beggar’s Canyon. Womp rats are endangered so you aren’t allowed to kill any. Show me what you got.”

Kara took off, low to the ground, not as low as before, but low enough to remain covered a bit by the top of the cliffs if Reign did not follow her but flew above instead.

Supergirl was correct in her guess Reign would follow her at the same height. The woman may have had the DNA of the House of Zod but strategic instincts had to be honed in war and Reign had never been in war.

Kara zipped through the narrow canyons, canyons she spent quite a bit of time in college practicing through. Flying through a forest without touching trees as a child, flying around skyscrapers of National City and what she lovingly referred to as Beggar’s Canyon in college had made her an expert at agile maneuvers. Doing this sober made her even sharper.

Judging by the crashes she heard behind her, Reign was not having as much luck, obviously ramming the cliffs at every turn.

This would by no means injure Reign, but it would continue to frustrate her, making it easier to trap the monster.

Kara saw her objective soon enough, a hollowed out small cave in the middle of a tall cliff she had recently made. Moving into the dark passage quickly, she stopped and waited for Reign to come in behind her.

Supergirl was not disappointed. Reign did fly in and skidded to a stop in the dark.

Though she was stronger than Kara under any sun, the red rays that lit up the darkened hole distracted Reign, the loss of solar power obvious. She stood in one spot, attempting to find the source.

Kara took advantage, turning off the red sun ray device in her hand and struck with her restored strength at a still disoriented Reign, hitting the sternum of her enemy with the palm of her hand.

Kara heard Reign’s heart flutter, the normally steady rapid beat slowing and beating irregularly. Having the advantage, the blonde circled Reign and struck again, this time with a fist at the base of the spine, followed by another in the back of her neck, dropping the Worldkiller to her knees. Kara grabbed Reign’s hair in her left hand and continued striking with all her strength into the back of her neck, the force of the blows shaking the rock structure around them.

Reign went limp and Kara let go of her hair, wrapping both arms around her neck and twisting.

She heard the neck snap.

Letting the body drop, Kara watched it closely, listening for any sounds of life.

The heart had stopped, there was no breath, no movement, other than a slight twitch of the monster’s eyebrows.

The blonde stood over her fallen opponent and unleashed heat vision directly into her eyes, burning the orbs and forcing the beams into Reign’s brain.

Seeing she had blasted the beams into the skull, Kara stopped, utterly exhausted. She had only once used this level of power against Doomsday but was never able to land any precise blows against the stronger creature. Kara had learned many moves against Dan Hawk before without her powers, learning to take down much stronger opponents by striking the weak points of the body.

Grabbing her enemy by the ankle, the exhausted Kryptonian began dragging Reign’s body out the opening of the cave she had made days before.

She was a step away when she heard it.

A single breath.

Kara turned to find Reign’s other foot striking her in the jaw, sending her tumbling out of the cave, unable to catch her bearings and hitting the ground below, causing a small crater from her free fall.

Supergirl got to her knees and used the back of her hand to wipe the blood pouring from her nose, then slowly stood on two shaky feet.

Reign landed close to her, an evil grin on her face.

“You thought you could kill me that easily?”

“I was hoping.” Kara admitted. “No nervous system, a stopped heart, a sliced brain and here you are. You should have stayed dead, for both our sakes.”

Reign struck Kara again, rising in the air and using her entire body to power her swing. Kara, still disoriented was unable to move away and hit the ground face first. She felt Reign strike the back of her neck, then stomp her back.

The Worldkiller pulled her up by the hair and turned the blonde towards her. Kara noted Reign’s eyes were glowing. She used her own heat vision as a last defense and luckily the two surges meeting tossed Kara away from her enemy.

Supergirl stood up quickly to find another fist in her face, sending her to the cliff wall.

“No more tricks Kara Zor El. You cannot avoid me forever. You cannot kill me. I will rip you apart slowly, one limb at a time. Do you have any loved ones on this planet I can give the pieces of your body to, before I kill them as well?”

Kara nodded her head. “Oliver Queen. He is like a brother to me. You can find him in Star City. He is going to be the idiot fighting aliens with laser guns using a bow and arrow. Should be easy to find.”

Reign struck her again, driving her head into the rock Kara was pinned against. The blonde slid to the ground but was lifted by her neck and tossed aside.

Lying flat on the ground, blood pouring from her mouth and nose, Kara decided to give her one more opportunity.

“He hasn’t told you everything. Your King? He has lied to you. You cannot beat me. Tell me what you know about him, everything, and I will let you leave this planet with your life… maybe.”

Kara’s words stopped the approaching alien who was no doubt wondering where her bravado had come from. In Kara’s mind, it was not bravado, it was resignation. She had foolishly hoped by using precision and discipline that she could beat this monster. For a moment, she thought she had done it, beaten Reign, burned her brain, snapped her neck.

But Reign was on par with Lobo in the regeneration department. Not even death could keep her down. There was only one way to deal with a creature like this. It was the same way she dealt with Doomsday. She had to burn it to nothing.

Burning them all was what Red Lanterns did.

Kara slowly regained her feet, watching Reign who was waiting for some other trick from her. Kara was all out of tricks.

“Is he the first Worldkiller? Was he Zor El’s first creation?”

“He wants this planet dead and I want you dead. That is all I need to know.”

Kara nodded her head, suspecting as much. Reign knew nothing the King didn’t want her to know.

“Did he speak Kryptonese? He had to. You know no other languages. Does he have powers his subjects do not? Is he as strong as you? Can he fly? You have Zor El’s intelligence in theory. You cannot have been so stupid as to have blindly followed him. You say you are a ruler. Why would you follow a king?”

Reign shook her head and clenched her fists. “I was promised you. I will deal with him soon enough.”

“No. You won’t.” Kara lifted her right fist and from the expression on Reign’s face, knew that she saw the ring glow red, energy bleeding from it, but could do nothing. Kara struck, the Worldkiller being blown back and through a boulder behind the monster.

Kara walked slowly towards her, the feeling of the energy radiating through her body, giving her the rush she had craved for so long. The blonde looked towards the sky where her Red Lanterns were fighting beside the Greens. She knew she had lost brothers and sisters. That happened in war. She also knew they were winning. Guy was leading them for now, but soon she would step up and take her place, burn them all.

To her annoyance, Reign was smarter than Doomsday. When Doomsday had seen Kara, dressed as she was now, black and red, wearing the symbol of the Red Lanterns on her chest, red energy wrapping around her, the monster had been too stupid to run. Reign was not stupid and flew straight up, trying to reach space perhaps. Kara didn’t know and didn’t care. She had work to do.

Giving chase, she caught up to Reign easily, grabbing her leg and sending her hurtling back to Earth. Reign was no longer faster, no longer stronger.

Kara knew nothing was as strong as her in this universe.

She had her mission. Kill Reign, lead her Reds in destroying this army and kill the King of Diaspora.

Once her enemies were dead, her family would be safe. She would find Alex and take her to the Fortress with the rest of her family, making sure they could not get out until Kara had made the rest of the universe safe for them. The Worldkillers, the Diasporans, the Guardians, Sinestro. She would burn the universe, cleanse it and she could be at peace, her family safe. First the fire, then rebuild from the ashes.

The blonde shook her head. She needed to focus. Her first objective was to kill the woman who had dared to challenge her.

She landed quickly, for the first time seeing absolute fear on Reign’s face. Instead of lashing out in fury, Kara smiled and slowly walked towards her enemy.

“What are you?” Reign whispered.

Kara thought of what to say but no words seemed appropriate. What was she? She didn’t know. Perhaps what she had told the Amazon was right. Perhaps she was the goddess of death, the destroyer of worlds. What she considered herself was of no importance. It was what she could do that mattered.

Despite her desire to join the Lanterns in space, she took her time, walking up to a shaking Reign.

“Kneel.” Kara told her.

“What?”

“Kneel at my feet and beg for your life. I told you that you should have stayed dead. Kneel and beg me to let you live. Kneel before your new master.”

“I… I am not meant to kneel.” Reign told her.

“Perhaps, but I was never meant to rule, yet here I am. You either submit or die painfully. Decide now.”

Reign made no move to kneel, not that Kara expected her to. Subservience was not programmed into her DNA. She was a member of the Houses of Zod and El, no matter how frightened she may have been.

Kara grabbed her by the throat and squeezed, enjoying the feeling of the Worldkiller’s neck buckling under the pressure of her grip. The blonde swung, planting the fist that carried the ring, through Reign’s chest and out her back, just missing her heart and spinal column. The creature tried to scream but could not get a breath to make a sound.

A flurry of blows continued, Kara snapping the woman’s left arm off and watching it burn in her hand.

Reign dropped to the ground face first, bleeding, the heart still beating slowly and body constantly trying to regenerate but unable due to the massive injuries occurring so quickly. Kara dragged Reign to her knees.

“You should have knelt when I gave you the chance.”

Kara opened her mouth, a stream of fire and molten lava erupting, incinerating Reign until there was nothing left but the ground she had been on, only sand that had turned to glass.

“Kelex?”

Nothing for a moment.

“Kelex?”

“Yes Kara?”

“Reign is dead.”

“Yes, we are watching. I have sent probes all over the world and one is watching you.”

“Where is Alex?”

Nothing for a moment.

“Kelex if I have to ask twice I am burning you. Where is Alex?!”

“She is at Patterson Air Force Base. Flower of Heaven is dead and she decided to stay and assist in the containment of the body.”

Kara listened closely, wondering if Kelex had developed the ability to lie. It wasn’t possible. No matter how much he grew, he was still bound by his parameters and he could not lie to her.

“The other Worldkillers?”

“J’onn, Diana and Curry have engaged Deimax and Barry is attempting to destroy Perrilus. Lobo is en route to assist. He will also weaponize the venom…”

“I don’t need the venom. Not anymore. Tell them to only focus on killing Perrilus and Deimax. If they cannot do so, then protect the DEO and I will deal with those two when I get back. Have any ships landed?”

“Three have entered atmosphere and released soldiers and fighter craft, one over the Central US and the other two over Europe. Connolly and Wayne have successfully entered the Flagship, well behind the battle, protected by the moon.”

Kara stood for a moment and thought of what her next move would be.

“How many of the Armada ships are left in space?”

“Three hundred and twenty-two are still engaging Lanterns.”

It was time to take out the enemy combatants at the source.

“I am taking out the Armada and sending the Greens to handle the soldiers and air power on Earth. Tell Bruce to get off that ship and allow the King to come to Earth if he wishes. No matter where he runs, he cannot escape me.”

Kara flew into space, breaking atmosphere in seconds, moving at unreal speeds.

Once she reached the area where the most intense fighting was taking place, all weapons ceased to fire.

The Greens and Reds were staring at her, the enemy ships turning their large cannons her way.

“Green Lanterns, go to Earth and destroy the Diasporans. Do as I say or burn now.”

To Kara’s pleasure even Jordan obeyed her without question, the Greens diving into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Gardner floated near her. Kara looked at him sharply, wondering what would happen next.

“What’s the plan, kid?’

Submissive. There would be no battle for supremacy, a relief to Kara who did not have time for that.

“We do what we do. Follow my lead and we will burn this race to nothing.”

A canon blast aimed for Kara was deflected by her red shield, with no effort on her part. She grinned at the cruiser and used her ring, blowing a hole into the bridge sending it circling. Using her X ray vision, she found the engine room and did the same, leaving it adrift, spinning and defenseless.

“Burn it Lanterns. Burn them all. Leave them no escape. The flagship stays safe until my friends are off. Everyone understand?”

Everyone did, Kara knew. Now that she was in space they were bolstered by her power. Her rage inflamed theirs. Even Gardner, the most levelheaded was beginning to lose himself into a frenzy of anger and destruction.

She took off, not bothering to use her ring, simply flying through ships with her body as her only weapon, damaging them with hull breaches and smiling as her Lanterns burned the enemy from the inside.

Metropolis

Barry was not feeling optimistic. Diana, J’onn and Curry were attempting to battle the monster Kara called Deimax. It was large, over seven feet tall and dark grey in color with a long snout and sharp tusks protruding from its mouth. The creature was incredibly fast and its long claws appeared to be able to cut through anything. Diana had slashed its hand off only for another one to grow back within seconds. Curry had stabbed it with a trident, but that weapon was plucked from its body and tossed away. J’onn was able to phase a hand in it but whatever organ he tried to grab would grow back instantly. All three of them had been hurt, Diana limping from a deep gash on her thigh, Curry’s left arm most likely broken and J’onn constantly healing himself after attacking the creature in physical form.

Barry was unable to help them since he had been following Kara’s instructions and dealing with the tall, green female with two tentacles instead of arms. The tentacles were barbed on the end and wet, the poisonous venom leaking out and dripping on the ground.

As Kara told him, this creature was fast, the strikes like whiplashes at superspeed. She was also strong, having taken his hardest punches from all directions with no effect. The man tried using his hand to saw her tentacles off. The first time he tried, the moment he reached physical form the venom began burning through the thread of his suit. Had it not been for his suit, he had no doubt he would have been poisoned and no good to anyone.

Barry stayed blurred, baiting the creature into attacking him. In his incorporeal form the barbs went through him, frustrating the venomous monster. She had stuck herself several times, but it had no effect.

Barry accelerated his speed, standing still, a trick he had recently learned. The entire world slowed down around him and he was able to take in the surrounding area as if it was motionless.

Diana was in the air, having been thrown by Deimax and J’onn was on his way to cushion the fall. J’onn had grown taller and wider, trying to match the creature in leverage but had been having no luck. Curry was being hit by the creature’s other arm and in the process of crumpling to the ground.

Perrilus was trying to find him, her sight not able to keep up thankfully but he knew that would change.

This was not going to work. They could not beat the creatures like this. They could slow them down but eventually these two would get past them. All it would take was one lucky shot and Barry would be out of the game.

Think, think, think, Barry repeated to himself. What had Kara said? Steal her kinetic energy, take all their energy, and unleash it back onto Perrilus.

Slowing down and slowing the world to speed up, Barry did just that, reaching out with the Speedforce and drawing kinetic energy from as far as possible. Drawing it in and feeling more powerful than ever, the man unleashed a lightning bolt that would have split a large boulder in half straight into Perrilus’s body.

The creature stumbled backward and fell, giving Barry hope.

A hope that was gone two seconds later when the Worldkiller stood back up.

A scream behind him.

J’onn was injured. All three of his teammates were down, Deimax standing over them, ready to bite.

Barry heard a noise from above and grinned, moving quickly to take Diana, J’onn and Curry two blocks away and into an alley.

He stepped back into the street in time to see Lobo’s large ship crashing into the body of Deimax, an explosion ripping through Metropolis, shattering windows for miles away.

The Flash was pushed back by the blast but made a vortex, to keep his footing.

After the initial explosion, there was no noise on the street, only an eerie silence.

The groaning of metal caught Barry’s attention. He saw Lobo climbing out the top of his ship, bending metal and not effected by the fires around him.

The Czarnian walked slowly up to Barry, as the three other members of the Justice League limped out of the alley.

“Why are these two still alive?” Lobo asked, jerking his thumb behind him.

“They are as tough as they look?” Barry guessed.

“Tough has nothing to do with it. Alex killed the glow bug and I took the thing’s head. She didn’t regenerate one so I guess we are good. Only two choices we got is disintegrate them or get their heads away from the bodies.”

“Where is Alex?” Barry asked, not sure if he wanted the truth. He knew Kara’s older sister wanted this venom in the event the King, whoever he was, came down. If she wasn’t here, it couldn’t be good.

“She got messed up good but she will make it. Kara don’t need to know that. Speaking of, anybody heard from my girlfriend?”

“No.” Diana answered. “We have been a little busy.”

Deimax stood up from the wreckage and roared, Perrilus walking behind him.

“Fine. We need to kill these bastards. Kelex told me we don’t need the venom anymore according to Kara…”

“Kara is okay?” Barry asked, hoping she was and also that she was out of the loop. If she found out that Alex was injured, she would go insane. He had to get to her first. He and J’onn were the only ones who had a chance of keeping her calm in his mind.

Lobo looked sharply at the Flash for interrupting him.

“Of course she is okay. She will do whatever it takes to win. If she doesn’t need the venom, I guess that means she isn’t worried about how to kill King WK Uno. We all know what that means.”

No one said anything. No one had to. It was obvious to Barry. Kara didn’t need weaponized venom because she was using a stronger weapon.

Barry supposed Lobo sensed his indecision about what to do next.

“We need to kill these bastards. Barry, go stand in front of the green lady and do that little thing where things can go through you, you know that thing, the speed and you kind of blur…”

“Yeah, I got it Lobo. Why?” Barry wondered, not knowing what good it would do.

“Just do it. Get her to try and stick you one more time. Diana, get ready to cut Deimax’s head off.”

Barry moved around an enraged Deimax with ease. Perrilus was closing in, nearly running to stand beside her brother until she stopped in front of Barry’s image.

Barry turned his back to her, watching Deimax, staying phased.

Lobo attacked Deimax. Barry was not prepared for what happened next. Lobo wrapped his arms around Deimax’s waist and lifted him off the ground. Deimax bit Lobo’s shoulder but the Czarnian didn’t seem to care. He caught Barry’s eye and winked.

Barry turned back to Perrilus and solidified. The green Wordkiller noticed and struck, both tentacles nearly reaching Barry’s chest. The Flash moved out of the way, going low under them and avoiding Deimax who had just been tossed by Lobo towards Barry.

Perrilus’s barbs went through her brother, injecting him with venom throughout his body. The grey monster roared and ran back from her, the barbs leaving its body but the damage done. Deimax fell to his knees and Diana moved in, chopping its head off. The Worldkiller dropped to the ground head to one side, body to the other.

Barry stood by his teammates, watching the twitching body of Deimax, losing what blood it had remaining and the venom burning his tissues.

Perrilus remained where she had just stabbed her brother.

The Flash checked Lobo who was missing a hunk of his shoulder still in Deimax’s mouth. He wasn’t surprised it was already healing.

“Barry, wrap her up. Vibrate her and blast her molecules apart.” Lobo told him. “Kill her Barry. Turn her into nothing.”

What Barry heard in Lobo’s words were not to let Kara down. He had thought it would be easy to cut the tentacles off but when that proved not to be true, he was out of ideas.

He had phased animate objects before into the ground and through walls. The idea of dispersing their excited molecules apart had never occurred to him. He wasn’t sure how to do it.

Not needing the venom any longer, it made sense. The longer this thing existed, the longer Kara was without their help. She could need them if the King really was as powerful as she suspected, Red ring or not.

The Flash touched Perrilus from behind, placing his hands on her back. She tried to bring her tentacles back to lash at the man, but she was too slow. Barry vibrated both of them, the movement of their molecules reaching a state of excitement to blur them both nearly out of sight.

Once Perrilus was frozen, completely under his control, Barry sent out a burst of kinetic energy into the monster, electricity flowing through her and breaking her apart.

The Worldkiller blurred completely out of sight and then with a flash of light, was blown to nothing.

Barry slowed his movement until he was seen once more by those on the street. The more solid he became, the stronger he felt. For the first time since the battle began, he stood still, catching his breath and reorienting himself to the physical world.

Lobo clapped him in the shoulder.

“I lost twenty bucks to Alex, Flash. I didn’t think you could do that without blowing yourself up at the same time. Nice job.”

“Where is Kara?” Barry asked.

Lobo looked up in the sky, lit now by sunlight but he could make out the ships in space still.

He saw flashes of red, fires and more flashes of red.

“Taking out the Diasporan Fleet with her army and having the time of her life would be my guess. Until that King is dealt with either in space or here, all we can do is wait.”

The Fortress of Solitude

Jeremiah Danvers watched all the screens closely, those monitoring the battles in space, the battle in downtown Metropolis and the fights his daughters had been involved in.

The man was petrified. Alex was having surgery, one he was watching on a screen from a security feed inside the surgical suite. She had internal bleeding in her stomach, a pneumothorax and one broken rib had nearly pierced her heart on impact with that thing.

Kara had not been able to beat Reign on her own. She gave herself over to the power of the ring again. Any doubts about whether she would let it influence her were gone when she played with Reign instead of ending her quickly. Now his youngest daughter was in space, leading an army of warriors who were now her worshippers, through an Armada, breaking ships apart with ease.

“Is Kara going to come back Dad? Is Alex going to be okay?” Clark has asked him a minute ago. Eliza pulled the boy away and he was grateful he didn’t have to answer. Jeremiah had no idea if she would be back and could only hope Alex would be okay.

Alfred was listening in on Connolly’s team feed with Winn at the DEO. Cisco Ramon had gotten them successfully inside. Batman had used his sonar to find what he believed had been a server room. After a brutal fight in the hallways, led by Caitlin Snow who killed a dozen or so Diasporans, the crew had made it inside. Ramon had established communication with Winn Schott and was feeding every bit of information on the ship into the DEO servers.

Alex’s vitals were holding steady. Her upper body was a wreck, but she could recover. It appeared the surgeons were good. It shouldn’t have come to this. He never should have allowed Alex to talk him into this plan. She promised she could control her speed, that the suit would hold up, that she would come back. If not for Lobo she would have fallen to her death.

Now he was here, stuck in Antarctica, while his world was falling apart.

“Jeremiah, we need to do something.” Eliza told him, knowing as well as he did there was nothing that could be done. He didn’t bother to say anything but did take her hand and squeezed.

“Kelex, where is Kara?” he asked.

Kelex walked away from Alfred and joined him. “She is still in space. The Green Lanterns and the militaries have taken down all fighters in the atmosphere and soldiers on the ground. Deimax and Perrilus are dead. Kara is leading the Red Lanterns in the battle with the Armada. They have all been wiped out except for one. It appears the Diasporan King has launched an escape pod toward Earth. Judging from the feed of the nearest drone, Kara must have ordered her Red Lanterns to stand down and is escorting the King to the planet herself. I suspect when he arrives she will kill him.”

“I need to talk to her.” Eliza told Kelex. “She needs to wait for help, for some kind of backup. Even the Greens, she should have her… her Reds with her. Open her com. She will listen to me.”

“I cannot do so, Eliza.”

“She turned off her com, didn’t she?” Jeremiah guessed, not surprised.

“No, I suspect the power she was unleashing in space has destroyed any technology near her. Her suit has been transformed by the ring and I have no way of monitoring her physically or communicating with her.”

The man held back a growl. Kara was on her own, Alex had her life in the hands of military surgeons and the rest of them were stuck in the Fortress.

“Kelex, track the King’s ship and prepare the cannon closest to his location in the event Kara needs a distraction.” he ordered, knowing it would be useless. If Kara didn’t want her Red Lanterns with her, it meant she wanted to play with the King before she killed him. She didn’t need help fighting.

She needed someone to stop her from losing herself and the only people that could do that were in this room.

“Jeremiah?” Alfred called.

Jeremiah looked towards the man and noticed he had gone pale. But Kelex was watching Kara, the Worldkillers were dead, Alex was holding steady…

“What’s wrong?”

“Bruce needs to speak to you urgently.”

Jeremiah, Eliza and Clark heard Bruce Wayne’s voice in the room.

“Jeremiah, I need to talk to Kara and I can’t get a connection. Are you in contact?”

Bruce Wayne sounded… panicked?

“Her com has busted, Bruce. She… she had to use the ring. She is following the King to the surface. I just hope when she is done with him she stays on the planet. It looks like he is going to land in Brazil. If you have a way of getting to her, try and talk her into staying on the planet Bruce.”

“We have no way to her. Ramon took a hit to the head on the way in. He won’t be ready to send us anywhere for a while. You have to get a message to her somehow. She was right, the King is Worldkiller 1. No matter what Jeremiah, tell her she cannot kill him.”

“Bruce did you say she should not kill him?

“I said she must not kill him. If she kills him its over Jeremiah. Kara will be gone for good and they will have won this war.”