Chapter 13
Wally arrived at the factory soon after and started searching for Kara but the blonde found him first, landing right behind him.
“Boo!” Kara whispered right in his ears before giggling.
“Oh God. Never do that again, I nearly got a heart attack!” Wally exclaimed.
“Sorry, Wally, I thought you speedsters had quick reflexes and couldn’t be surprised. I had to test this theory.” Kara replied with a cheeky smile.
“Well, we can be surprised, I hope you’re happy now.” Wally rolled his eyes, still trying to recover from the surprise. “By the way, they sent me here to say you can start the party and I’ll stay here to get rid of the eventual uninvited guests.”
“Ok.” Kara answered, worryingly looking around. “You should get out of here, according to Mick the fire will spread pretty fast.”
Wally nodded and was out of sight before Kara could even say goodbye. She exhaled loudly, her shoulders slouching. “I guess, I have no choice now.” She said to herself as she flew above the factory, searching for the pile of trash that Mick had indicated her to start the fire. She spotted it quickly on the side of the building and it caught fire instantly under her heat vision. The fire expanded rapidly like a crawling beast devouring everything. The heat was so high that even Kara was uncomfortable staying near it. Her super hearing quickly caught the sound of sirens coming her way so she decided to hide on top of a building while she waited for Barry to arrive.
In the meantime, the firemen were getting ready to fight the fire while the policemen were securing the area, trying to keep the journalists at bay. From her spot, Kara noticed Wally trying to contain the fire to give them more time. She was scanning the perimeter when she heard the sound of a helicopter approaching. She squinted her eyes and saw not only the police but also the news chopper heading in their direction. Not wanting to be seen on top of the building, she knew she had to hide somewhere else while still being close enough to intervene. She exhaled one more time and bounced toward the sky, deciding to stay high in the sky.
After a while, Barry arrived on site and with his speed, he quickly generated cyclones to smother the fire while Wally was making sure no one on ground would be armed. It was over in a few minutes and quickly, the journalists pressed the police barriers to get a word from the local hero. It was the signal for Kara and Wally to return to the base and get in the power shaker. Barry was surrounded by microphones and cameras as the questions fused.
“Flash! You saved the day. Any comment?” One journalist asked. “Flash! Here! Any information about the terrorist threat on Central City?” Another questioned. “Flash! Flash! You were pretty discreet the last few days, were you fighting other threats?” Another one jumped in.
“Flash! Susan Williams for Channel 52. A word please!”
Barry instantly recognized the name. Knowing she was Oliver’s girlfriend, he looked in her direction. “Miss Williams, I want to reassure everyone in Central City that even if I was not visible in the last few days, I was still working, like I do every day, to protect the citizens of this town from threats like this one and…”
Suddenly, the facility behind them, already smoldered from the previous fire, exploded in every direction. Barry turned around to face the explosion but only saw in slow motion a fist heading toward his face. He took a hard punch and crashed into the nearest wall.
“Hello, Barry. Long time no see.” Savitar said.
Before they knew it, Barry had lured Savitar to the building next to theirs and Kara and the speedsters were jumping inside the power shaker.
Barry could feel his strength growing as the powers of the others slowly filled his body. Feeling stronger, he started circling the God, trying to weaken him enough to throw a punch. After a few tries, he quickly realized he couldn’t go past his defenses. He could sense the force field contract under his blows, leaving Savitar’s back unprotected. However, he wasn’t quick enough to reach the breach just after his punches. He tried to come up with an idea when suddenly, Savitar grabbed him and sent him flying. The movement was so violent that he smashed through several walls and ended up in their building.
Barry stood up shakily and looked around, surprised to see some of the God’s minions had already joined his friends.
“Barry, you have to keep him away!” Oliver commanded from his spot a few feet away from him.
“I’m trying but I can’t seem to pass through his shield.” The Flash answered.
Oliver shot an arrow before moving closer to his friend. “Do you need the laser gun?”
“I can’t punch the shield and shoot at the same time.” Barry explained. “We need to destroy the force field definitely, not just temporarily like last time.”
“We need to team up then.” Oliver pressed his earpiece. “Ray, we need the gun.”
“On my way.” Ray replied.
“Go back to Savitar,” Oliver ordered. “We’ll join you shortly.”
Barry nodded before running toward Savitar at high speed as the God entered the building.
In the meantime, Lena was watching the scene from the control post. Things didn’t look so good; Savitar’s crew had filled the building, everyone was fighting and Barry didn’t seem to be able to manage Savitar’s assault despite the powers he borrowed. They were rubbles everywhere and it was pretty much chaos. “So much for keeping the building after this, well if we even survive then day...” She muttered.
“Have a little faith, we’re not completely surrounded by minions yet.” Cisco replied. As if on cue, many armed men barged through the entrance.
“You were saying?” Lena raised her eyebrow.
“Shit.” Felicity breathed out.
Lena watched almost helplessly as some minions created a breach through their defenses and started rushing upstairs. Not long after, she heard an explosion before Nate’s voice came through the intercom. “They reached our post, the machine took some damages.”
“Is everyone okay?” Lena asked.
“Yes, we…” Nate started. “Fuck, everyone takes cover…” Another explosion.
“Nate? What’s going on?” Felicity inquired.
Cisco looked at his screen to check the state of the power shaker and frowned. “The temperature of the machine is rising up, that’s not good.”
“Barry is far from doing good,” Felicity stated, glancing at the screen too. “We can’t lose his power source already.”
“Okay…” Cisco frowned. “Now it’s losing power.”
“We need to use some of the small electric generators we have to maintain the power level.” Lena declared.
“Nate? Can you hear me?” Felicity called in the intercom. “The machine is losing power, we need you to plug the small generators we left on the side.”
“We’re a little busy right now.” Nate answered after a while.
“Send someone else!” Lena urged.
Felicity scanned the ground floor and saw all of her friends fighting minions. “They’re all busy.”
Lena pondered the situation for a moment before nodding decisively to herself. “Fuck it.” She put Alex’s vest and grabbed her gun. “Forgive me, Kara.” She marched toward the door.
Felicity frowned in confusion. “What are you doing?”
“I’m just standing here doing nothing so I’m going.” The CEO explained as she opened the door.
“No, wait.” The blonde tried but it was too late, Lena was already out of the room.
Lena didn’t waste a minute and raised her gun, aiming at the closest man and shooting him as she rushed toward Sara. She shot another minion, tucking her gun in her belt and kneeling down to take his sword. She dodged a few men before stopping next to Sara who was covering their point. “Need a hand?”
Sara smirked. “Well...” She punched a minion before piercing his body with her saber.
Lena chuckled. “Don’t even.”
Sara got rid of the man running toward her before turning her attention to Lena. “You shouldn’t be here, Kara made me promise to protect you.”
“Well, what a better way to do it than if I’m right here next to you.” Lena replied.
Sara grabbed her arm. “I’m serious.”
They saw flames coming from the first floor and Lena’s eyes went wide. “They need back up! Clearly they’re more interested in killing Kara and the speedsters than destroying the power source.”
“Then stay here, I’ll go.” Sara declared, turning around to fight another minion. Once she was done, she stepped forward but Lena stopped her.
“Please. The machine needs more power, you can cover me while I take care of it.” Lena insisted.
“I…” Sara paused as two men charged toward them. She took the man on the left, stopping his attack with her weapon before quickly stepping to the side to hit the other man on the right. She stopped when she noticed Lena swirl her sword a couple of times and block the minion’s attack.
The clacking of the swords echoed around them as Lena batted the man’s blade away. The minion tried a swipe at her head but Lena blocked it easily, quickly bringing her weapon down to strike at his left side. The man fell with a yelp of pain. She swiftly removed her sword from his body and turned toward Sara. “So, are we going?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Urgh, why am I so weak for badass women. Fine.” Sara pressed her earpiece to speak. “Thea, take my spot.” When the woman was close enough, Sara grabbed Lena’s elbow and led her toward the staircase. “Where did you learn to do that?”
“It’s certainly not as impressive as your technic but I am a Luthor, being proficient in any tool that can incapacitate, wound or kill is part of our genetic heritage.” Lena explained as they fought their way toward the stairs. “Lex, my brother, he was a big fan of fencing. He gave me some lessons when I was younger. After a while he started using real swords without any protection.”
“And it ended well?” Sara kicked a lackey before impaling him on the ground.
“My brother is in prison for multiple life sentences and I’m the one holding a sword to defend aliens and meta-humans that Lex would rather see dead, you tell me.” Lena joked with her usual dark humor.
Sara frowned. “Hum oookkkaaayy?!
The CEO chuckled. “I surpassed him in the end, that’s all you have to know.”
“I don’t know if I find this arousing or bat-shit insane.” Sara declared.
Lena smirked, reaching for her gun to shoot a few people standing in the way. “You wouldn’t be the first to think the later.”
They made their way to the first floor not without any difficulty. They joined Nate and the others in the fight for a few minutes before Lena made her way to the corner of the room to check the generators. Thankfully, they were still intact. She dragged one close the machine, careful not to get hurt by the minions’ attacks. She plugged it and did the same with a second generator. Once it was done, Sara forced her to kneel down and take cover behind the power shaker. Lena pressed her intercom to inform Felicity. “I just plugged two generators, how’s the power level?”
Felicity sighed in relief. “Thank god, you’re okay.”
Cisco joined in. “The power is getting back to normal.” He smiled. “What you did was awesome.”
“You should come back now.” Felicity advised.
Lena looked around the room, more minions had made their way upstairs and it wouldn’t be that easy to go back. “It might be harder than I thought.” She removed the magazine of her gun to check the ammo, 6 left, without counting the two magazines in the pocket of her vest. It wasn’t much if Savitar’s lackeys kept coming in but it wasn’t the first time she had to do more with less…