Chapter 10
El had spent years fighting, she could take on scores of Paradooms and still keep fighting, but, while they were easily as strong as any Kryptonian, they were mindless shocktroopers, designed to flood a planet with overwhelming numbers and strength.
Astra.however, was exactly as skilled as she claimed. El’s vision flickered red as she took a punch that sent her spiraling through the air. She used the momentum to cartwheel and lash out with a kick to Astra’s head. The two of them flew apart and El used the opportunity to glance at Diana, who had just taken a punch to the chest intended for Kara, meanwhile, her younger self was struggling to keep up with Mur. The fire in El’s chest roared, but she forced it down. If she let herself go, she risked killing Astra, which would not only poison her relationship with Kara, but the rest of Astra’s forces would start to follow Non, who would not care in the slightest about civilian casualties.
Setting aside her handicaps, El focused back on the fight, blocking a haymaker from Astra with her forearm before spinning into a back kick that forced the air from Astra’s lungs. Astra recovered quickly enough and retaliated with a blow to El’s face, cracking her nose.
“El!” Kara shouted, flying as fast as she could to join her.
“Stay back, Kara,” El commanded.
“Listen to your counterpart, dear niece,” Astra said, floating away slightly.
“Aunt Astra, please,” Kara begged. “Stop this. Call off your men and we can settle this peacefully.”
“I can’t do that, Little One,” Astra said. “Not while you have this misplaced alliance with the humans.”
“The humans took me in,” Kara said. “They raised me when I had no one. I have a responsibility to protect them.”
“Flamebird,” J’onn murmured in her ear. “We have choppers on their way to support you.”
El wiped some blood away from her nose. She wanted to tell him not to. Even with Kryptonite, the humans were at a disadvantage when it came to aerial combat. She watched carefully as Diana and Mur separated, the two of them ruffled and bruised, and joined their respective sides.
“If you really cared about the fate of this planet, you would join your own kind,” Mur barked.
“Tyranny is never the path to prosperity,” Diana said.
Astra looked between him and Diana and raised an eyebrow. “Interesting, I didn’t know there were humans who were capable of doing even this much to one of my men.”
“We are stronger than you think,” Diana retorted.
“Tell me, warrior, what is your name?” Astra asked.
“I am Princess Diana of Themyscira, daughter of Hipolyta, Queen of the Amazons.”
Astra bowed her head minutely. “Well met, Princess. I am General Astra, Warlady of the Kryptonian High Army. You are a credit to your race.” Both her and Mur’s eyes began to glow as the sound of helicopters in the distance steadily grew closer. “Unfortunately, it still won’t be enough.”
In a flash of light, the two of them fired off their heat vision, attempting to slice through the helicopters before they even got close enough to open fire. Mur was briefly successful, managing to melt off one of the back rotors before Diana had a chance to surge forward and deflect it with her bracelets. El, meanwhile, managed to activate her own heat vision and intercept Astra’s while Kara zoomed away to catch the spiraling chopper before it could meet a watery grave.
Keeping her heat vision activated, El closed the distance between herself and Astra, reaching up, she grabbed the general by the head and brought her own forward, headbutting her in the nose and forcing her to close her eyes before forcing Astra’s head downwards into her knee several times. Astra struggled to escape her hold, so El quickly threw her at Mur, rushing forward to join Diana. The two Kryptonians slammed into the water, and El took a moment to breathe deeply and calm herself, forcing the fire in her chest back down to a simmer.
“You wouldn’t happen to be able to, I dunno, summon your sword and shield to you, would you?”
“Unfortunately not,” Diana grunted, removing the lasso from her hip. “But I have faced worse odds.”
Just as she said that, there was a crunch of metal behind them, and the two of them turned to see three more figures floating in the air. The first two were the brothers Tor and Gor, nearly identical down to the olive complexion, short, dark hair, and altogether plain features. The third, floating menacingly above them, holding the second helicopter by its tail as its rotor smacked impotently and crumpled against his arm, was none other than Non.
“Hello, Niece,” he said, his voice oily and full of promise. Astra and Mur resurfaced at the same time Kara returned from flying the other helicopter back to shore and El grit her teeth.
“Surrender, Kara,” Astra said. “I do not wish to take lives unnecessarily. I would even be willing to overlook your betrayal if you join us - both of you. Together, we could bring true peace to this planet. Save the humans from themselves. Prepare for the threats that you claim are coming.”
“Never!” Kara shouted.
Astra sighed and shook her head. “Very well. Non, kill the humans.”
“Yes, General,” Non said, his eyes glowing as he prepared to destroy the helicopter and the humans inside.
Time slowed as El’s heartbeat drummed in her chest. She could see the agents in the helicopter bracing themselves. One of them was desperately clutching a cross near his chest.
Fire coursed through her veins, an inferno that raged through her being.
The shrieking cry of a bird echoed in her ears, and El sent a quick prayer to Rao before red filled her vision.
*(OoO)*
Faster than even the Kryptonians could react, a crimson streak of light blasted past Non, materializing into El a moment later as she now held the helicopter above her head. Her entire being was haloed by a flickering saffron light that burned with a baleful intensity as deep blue eyes looked upon Astra and her forces with contempt.
A scream tore through the air, drawing everyone’s attention away from El to Non, who was hunched over cradling his shoulder. To Kara’s horror, his shoulder was all that remained of his arm, the rest of it was dangling from the tail of the helicopter, fingers still dug into the metal as blood gushed into the sea below.
“What is this?” Astra demanded.
El didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she passed the helicopter to Wonder Woman, who seemed more intrigued by whatever the strange light surrounding El was than the fact that she just ripped a Kryptonian’s arm off in a fraction of a second.
“I told you I went by Flamebird,” El said, her quiet, raspy voice somehow projecting through the air. “Did you think I took that name in vain?”
“Here,” Wonder Woman murmured, passing the helicopter (and the severed arm) to Kara. “Take them back to safety.”
“I can help,” Kara muttered, trying very hard not to look at the limb dangling off the back of the chopper.
“You can help by protecting the people in here,” Wonder Woman countered. “This battle is beyond you, Little Kryptonian.”
“But El -”
“I will watch your sister’s back,” Wonder Woman interrupted. She paused, reading Kara’s expression. “And keep her from going too far. Your job is making sure these brave men and women get back to their families safe and sound.”
Kara swallowed. She could hear the heartbeats of the eight agents inside the helicopter. One of them (Ramirez, she thought) was praying under his breath. She was suddenly very grateful that Alex had been too far away to join them. Taking one more deep breath, she nodded, and readjusted her grip on the helicopter. “Look after her,” she pleaded.
“I will fight by her side as if she were my own,” Wonder Woman replied seriously.
Turning away, Kara started to fly away, trying valiantly to ignore the sounds of combat she was leaving behind.
“Supergirl,” Director Henshaw barked. “Status update.”
“I - I’m not quite sure what happened,” Kara muttered. “Astra’s man shot down the first chopper before they could even open their doors, and she had reinforcements that took out the second. Flamebird managed to… incapacitate one of them, and Wonder Woman is with her to help with the others. I’m currently headed back with the other chopper, there were no casualties.”
“Very well,” Hank said slowly. “I guess all we can do is trust in them at the moment.”
*(OoO)*
Diana kept a wary eye on El as she floated over to join her in facing the Kryptonians. Her new friend was wreathed in vermillion light that made her feel almost as if Ares himself had returned. The malefic fire was little more than an outline, but it made her skin glow, as if it was coming from within, and it wrapped around El like the currents of the river Phlegethon as she stared down her enemies with painful intent. Where Superman and, from what she had seen, the Kara of this time shone as paragons of light and hope, El was a warrior through and through. She seized the darkness in her soul and used it as flint to ignite a power neither Superman nor Supergirl could understand.
“Is this the power of the Flamebird?” Astra asked, almost to herself.
El didn’t respond. Diana was not sure that she was totally in control of herself while using this power, which was part of the reason she sent Supergirl away. The other was because she didn’t think the young hero was ready to face the realities of combat at this level. There was a certain savagery that she lacked that would only hold her back if they all decided to stop holding back.
Without warning, El moved. She was little more than a blur of red light before reappearing with her fist buried in the stomach of one of the two men who had come to reinforce their enemies. She flipped over him and quickly kicked the other man in the head, sending him flipping through the air with a loud crack of a broken jaw. Astra and her men snapped back to attention and tried to charge El, but Diana held to the promise she made Kara and flew in with a kick to the man she had already been fighting, forcing him down while she lashed out with her lasso, snaring the one-armed man, Non, before spinning around and hurling him at Astra.
Astra shoved aside her crippled man and punched Diana in the jaw with the force of a tank shell. The two of them tumbled through the air, grappling and wailing on each other, while Non flailed behind them before he managed to free himself. He barreled towards the two of them, his heat vision burning, but Diana was ready for it this time and deflected it with her bracelets into Astra, forcing her back even as she felt the metal heat enough to burn her wrist.
Luckily, El managed to throw one of her opponents at the one-armed man only for the one she had kicked away to burst out of the water, uppercutting her across the face. Blood filled her mouth, and she quickly spit it out, watching as El and Astra exchanged blows faster and faster.
Unlike earlier, where El had relied on technique to try and outmaneuver the general, Diana could tell that she was fighting more and more on instinct. Blocking moves without even looking, and attacking with straightforward, overwhelming force. Whatever power she was tapping into, it was clear that her control was not perfect. The two brothers tried to charge El while she was distracted, but Diana rushed in, throwing her lasso out to catch one while she slammed her shoulder into the other. The one she had caught yanked on her lasso, however, throwing her off balance, granting his brother enough time to recover and kick El in the back of the head while Non flew up and punched Diana in the side, forcing air from her lungs.
Elbowing Non, she gathered her strength and yanked the other Kryptonian back, clotheslining him as he flew towards her, only for his brother to blast her with heat vision to the back. She screamed as the beams of fire slammed into her armor, heating it up like Hephaestus’ forge, before El charged in, roughly pushing her into the water to cool down. When Diana resurfaced, El had grabbed the man by the front of his dark suit and was punching him repeatedly in the face before she threw him into his brother and turned back to her aunt in time to catch a tackle around her middle. Flipping through the air, she swung Astra around, driving her elbow into her back as the glow around her body grew brighter and more violent.
Mur tried to tackle El from above, but she only seemed to grow faster and stronger as the fight progressed, and Diana watched as she threw Astra off her before charging him, her heat vision erupting before her. There was a flash of light as Mur tried to counter with his own, but it was quickly overpowered. His screams brought the other Kryptonians to a halt as El flew up and grabbed him by the back of his neck, showing off the burned out pits where Mur’s eyes used to be to Astra and her men.
“ENOUGH!” She bellowed, the fire surrounding her growing in intensity. The other Kryptonians watched as Mur whimpered, reaching blindly behind him to no effect. El tossed him towards Astra, and the two brothers rushed forward to grab him while a pale and clammy Non floated shakily beside his general. “Take your men and leave, Astra. Before I lose what little control I have left.”
“This isn’t over, Flamebird,” Astra muttered, slinging Non’s arm over her shoulder while the brothers each grabbed one of Mur’s. “Expect no mercy when next we meet.”
“I don’t want to kill you, Aunt Astra,” El rasped. “But I will not let you win.”
Astra hummed and turned to Diana. “You are a formidable warrior, Diana of Themyscira. I pray that we meet on the battlefield once more.”
“And I hope that the next time we see each other is under the banner of peace,” Diana replied, nodding to the general.
Astra scoffed lightly as she and her men started to fly away. “Humans and their delusions.”
The two of them watched them fly away in silence for several minutes.
Eventually, Diana turned to El. “How can I help?” She asked quietly. Whatever ferocity El had just unleashed was not willing to be caged once more, and she watched as El took several deep breaths, her eyes closed.
El shook her head quietly as the fires died down. When she finally opened her eyes, there was a distance in them - a deep well of sorrow that made Diana want to reach out and embrace her friend and fellow warrior.
“I have to go back to the DEO,” she croaked, her normally raspy voice thick with emotion. “Come with me?”
Diana smiled. “Of course, my friend.”