“Sir, movement, Sir! I think it’s ‘Trident 1’” Clarke pointed at the viewer. For long moments nothing happened, then they all saw it “THERE!” Clarke cried as an arm rose slowly up the wall. They were watching Kaplan’s camera, and Porucco’s boot was still visible where he had fallen, so it could only be Jones who slowly staggered upright, clinging to the wall as he rose. His camera was smashed but his mike still worked.
“Er…c-contro…I-I mean Pear…Pear Tree…er…this is…is Trident…teams down, b-been sho…I’m …my head…” he mumbled in a low tone, obviously in trouble.
“’Trident 1’ this is ‘Pear Tree’! Jones, JONESY! You’re concussed! Stay put we’ll get men to you-“
“Got orders, sir, gotta shoot somebody, wi…this gun. I got the gun sir. I’m ok sir, I’m feeling better.”
“Jones we ain’t got visual, stay put son, we’ll come to you!” Hudson turned to Clarke “Get Coopers guys in there!”
“We ain’t briefed them on the belt and the Doc, sir! We can’t send them in blind, they’ll end up like ‘Trident’.” Partridge said.
“Shit, make it quick!” He turned back to address Jones, but the young marine was obviously feeling better, his voice stronger and more coherent. Only his lower legs were now visible on Kaplan’s camera.
“’Pear Tree’ this is ‘Trident 1’, I can hear screams - I can’t wait, I’m going in…”
“Jonesy!” Hudson cried ineffectually. He wasn’t ready for Wilson when his play came.
On the dedicated line he had to Jones, Wilson suddenly issued orders. “Jones, this is Wilson! Special order in effect, Secondary target is now PRIMARY, repeat SHOOT AT NEW PRIMARY, disregard all further comms!”
“Why you dirty bastard!” Hudson cried as he hauled Wilson from the mike.
“’Trident 1’! JONES! IGNORE WILSON! IGNORE SPECIAL ORDERS!” Partridge cried.
“I …need the rescind code ….sir…Jones out.”
“SHIT! You goddamned low life! What will having him shooting her prove? What will it gain you, except maybe killing a young girl?!” Hudson bellowed at Wilson. He had Wilson pinned against the wall by his lapels.
“Sir!” Clarke called “Its Admiral Carver sir, straight from the Shape. He sounds pretty pissed, sir”
“Oh shit.” Hudson looked to the heavens. “Tell me we cut the live feeds to the Pentagon……? “ he asked Partridge optimistically. The young black officer shook his head as he grimaced.
Wilson was beaming in triumph. “You and your whole outfit are finished! You’ll be lucky to man the Admiral’s barge after this fuck up tonight…”
Clarke was listening intently before he addressed Hudson “Sir, YES SIR!” he turned to Hudson “ Admiral Carver, sir, sends his compliments, and he says ‘if that’s the piece of shit that withdrew med support from his injured men then try not to leave any visible marks. Please.’ Oh and he suggested you might let the Mayor’s wife take a swing , as she’s got the most vicious knee he’s ever seen….”
Hudson looked at Wilson with absolute contempt. “Much as I’d like to, here and now, we gotta stop Jonesy”
“He ain’t answering Sir”, Partridge called,” I been trying him.”
“You assholes don’t understand the significance, we have to get the belt. Supergirl’s just the sort of do-gooder moral bitch who’d destroy it rather than give it back. Claim mankind isn’t ready for it or some shit. You’ve seen what it can do! That thing can end wars! It can turn one man into an army! “ Wilson contended.
“It can also start wars too. Assassinations, planting bombs undetected, the applications are endless. And all lethal. That’s what you don’t get about the military. It’s not about killing. It’s about stopping the killing. Bottom line, I don’t wanna be obsolete.” Hudson said.
“YOU GOTTA UNDERSTAND ! If I don’t get that belt back my ass is grass!” Wilson cried. “That’s what Jones is doing, that’s all, its for all our sakes….”
“Jesus…you believe your own lies now?” Hudson asked incredulously.
Somehow, when she was hovering in the sunshine, she hadn’t envisioned the battle going like this. No getting away from it, this wasn’t going well. In fact she had barely laid a glove on her opponent. Kara knew she couldn’t stay in the centre of the room. In that spot, Willoughby could hit her from any direction, and was. Almost blinded, her super vision was useless to her now. She couldn’t hope to focus the beams accurately enough with one eye blinded and the other hopelessly blurred. She needed to land a blow , just one that would incapacitate the Doctor. She couldn’t grapple with her, not so long as the Doctor had the glove, and she couldn’t remove the glove as she daren’t touch it. Yet with the Doctor forever popping in and out of phase she could never be certain where she would appear next. She needed to create an environment where she could do just that. She needed to choose a spot, to set a trap, to draw the doctor in to one precise spot, where she knew she would be there long enough to land a blow. And as the Doctor taunted her, giving them both a brief respite, the answer came to her.
“Look at you…’the Maid of Might’…what a joke…’the Maid of Might-Die-Cowering-on-the-floor ‘ is more like it.” She suddenly winced in pain herself, holding her palm to her forehead as the headache from using the belt grew worse.
That, Kara realised, was the answer. She wasn’t going to die cowering on the floor, but she was going to cower in the corner instead.
“I had only seconds to get rid of the missile….”she said tearfully while she tried to crawl away as the Doctor landed a new barrage of blows to her back, her kidneys, less effective kicks to her ass and thighs and the odd blow to her head, knocking her flat. All of the strikes came from a different quarter as she appeared and disappeared all around the fallen hero. Some were conventional blows and kicks yet even they, in her injured state, hurt her more than they should have. The journey of just a few feet seemed endless to Kara, a desperate ordeal of pain that she was forced to endure. She realised that this was what the Doctor wanted, to see her broken, to see her crawling before her, beaten and defeated at the feet of Helen Willoughby . The Doctor materialised away from her again, licking her own wounds as the nosebleed worsened. During the brief lull, Supergirl slid on her injured left thigh the final few feet across the room, to rest in the corner diagonally away from the Doctor. Her back pressed into the walls, breathing heavily as she slumped onto her ass, her legs folded under her, gazing forlornly at her Nemesis. The table and chairs had already been smashed to matchwood earlier in the struggle and apart from them, the room was empty. Nothing stood between her and the demented scientist. As she crawled, she had thought of all she had lost…her home…her family…her race. And now, perhaps she would fail and die here, alone in this room, with a deranged wife blaming her wrongly for something she could never have averted. The tears flowed freely, just as she intended they should and she made no effort to control or stop them. Great heaving sobs of despair wracked her body as a lifetime of loneliness and isolation poured from her. Just as she wanted them to. For these tears served their purpose, washing away the terrible specks in her eyes. Not completely, but her right eye was almost back to normal whilst her left, though still unusable, was at least relieved a little, in terms of the pain. But though nearly back in one eye, her vision was still not usable as an offensive weapon.
Yet she knew her position was not right, as even here in the corner she was too exposed. The Doctor could hit her from anywhere, either side, on almost any part of her except her back. It was this next move that she was frightened of taking. The pain, each time the glove struck her, was getting worse as her body weakened. It was difficult to knowingly expose yourself to more of that agony by choice, deliberately. But this was what she must do. With a struggle, she drew her legs up beneath her as she moved onto all fours, then crouched, her left knee upright, kneeling on her right, enduring the odd blow that the Doctor landed as she appeared around her. Willoughby then appeared well away from her, her nose bleeding profusely. This was the moment Supergirl needed. She hugged her up-turned knee with her left arm, her right braced on the floor, her body diagonally across the corner of the room, her head bowed, the right hand side of her body now protected by the two walls, her left side and her back exposed, as her torso still shook with the sobs of her despair. This was just what the Doctor ordered she thought to herself, and this was her trap. Now she just had to draw the Doctor into it. And she knew the right buttons to push.
“I-I’m sure Richard would be very proud of you…” she whispered dejectedly, just loud enough for the Doctor to hear, keeping her eyes low but raising her head slightly to show just a glimpse of a weak smile. As she spoke, she subtly swapped hands, her left now bracing her body upright, whilst her right hugged her knee, before slowly sliding back behind her body where it clenched, despite the pain from her palm, out of sight of the Doctor. When Willoughby was rational, her attacks were not direct. There was no guarantee that at any time she would head straight to Kara from the point where she was currently visible. As such, her reactions were completely unpredictable, as she could literally appear on any side of her victim at any time. But all through this conflict Kara’s Kryptonian mind had been working tirelessly. Calculating distances, the time spent in the quantum bubble before the Doctor reappeared and therefore her speed within it. It was in microseconds but she was more than capable of doing the maths. But anger now would force the Doctor into a mistake. Angry people didn’t dally, didn’t detour. Their rage needed an outlet and it needed it sooner, rather than later. When Kara mentioned her husband, that was the trigger. She knew that Willoughby would come straight for her and she did. The smile that Kara had flashed was like a rag to a bull, as it was intended. The Doctor would want to wipe that smile off her face and with the glove she had the means to do it. And that gave the Girl of Steel the advantage she had been lacking – she now knew where the blow would fall. Supergirl had watched her carefully, while she could still see. She was 5ft 7” and right handed, and like all good martial artists was light on her feet, her weight on the ball of her foot and her toes, elevating her slightly as her heels were barely on the ground. Supergirl had also noticed that there was the merest shimmer in reality the nanosecond before the bubble dissolved and the Doctor appeared. With the way Supergirl was crouched, in order to punch her in the face Willoughby would need to appear just behind Supergirl’s left shoulder. But she was aware that the Doctor was a master at anticipating her moves, at reading her body language; probably as the glove slowed Kara’s movements whilst the Doctor was slipping in and out of phase. So Supergirl never moved, never raised her head, never made eye contact even though she was blind in that left eye. It was important that her chin was static, there for the Doctor to hit, so Willoughby would need to be in that precise place, just where Supergirl intended her to be. Instead she just looked passed her left elbow waiting for the shimmer, counting in her head the microseconds that it would take the Doctor to cover that distance. To an observer, it was instantaneous. To a Kryptonian, it would be 0.6 nanoseconds after she disappeared. Her superior sense of smell could home in on the blood from Willoughby’s nose, sensing her as she re-appeared. But above all, she would be listening, using her superior hearing to detect the sub-sonic pop as the bubble dissolved and the crazed Doctor appeared a micro instant before she would strike.
“Why, you arrogant BITCH!” the Doctor cried as she again disappeared.
Supergirl was crouched low, which would force the Doctor to bend slightly. Which if she had done her sums correctly, ought to put the Doctor’s chin … right… about…here. She caught the vaguest ripple in the air and started her swing as a micro second later the Doctor appeared just in time to catch the full force of Supergirl’s blow, as the Girl of Steel rose and spun her arm, swinging up first into empty air but then finally connecting with the Doctor as she appeared fully, putting every last ounce of energy into her superspeed. Her calculations were slightly off, as her knuckle brushed first against Willoughby’s throat but the momentum took her fist naturally upward, sliding swiftly on to connect with the Doctor’s chin with a reassuring ‘clack’ a partial nanosecond later, that lifted her off her feet to collapse unconscious in a heap on the floor. Literally, the Doctor never knew what hit her. Her eyes had already glazed and rolled into her sockets before she hit the deck and her nose bled freely.
The pain in Kara’s hand was almost unbearable as the splinter screamed in her palm, a stabbing pain that coupled with her wounds and the proximity of the glove rendered her feeling weak and sick. She too, collapsed back into the corner, sliding back down in exhaustion. She stared at the body of the Doctor as she lay out cold. The glove, still on her right hand, lay across the body, trapping Supergirl in the corner of the room. Not good. She felt as if she were actually going to vomit as she felt the bile rise in her throat. She was relieved when the door opened cautiously and a young Navy Seal wobbled into view leaning heavily and unsteadily against the door jam. She looked at him with gratitude and relief which rapidly turned to confusion and fear as she saw Jones raise the dart gun to point it shakily in her direction.
“I have—I have a target ‘Pear…Tree’.” He panted as he steadied himself against the door way, he blinked profusely as blood from a head wound trickled down into his eyes. He wiped them on his wrist holding the stock of his assault weapon.
“Wait…I’m…I’m on your side!” she said incredulously as she could detect the Kryptonite dart in the barrel. With her injuries, the blows, the shards still in her body, the specks still in her eye, and the proximity of the glove she wasn’t sure she could take anymore. One more hit and she might be finished.
“NO!” she begged as she saw his gaze harden. “No, please, why? She’s who you are after…” she pleaded piteously, gesturing at Willoughby.
In the control room Hudson and the team could hear the conversation through Jones’ mike but had no visuals.
“JONESY! Is it Supergirl or the Doc, JONES?” Hudson shouted down the mike. “FOR GOD’S SAKE MAN DON’T SHOOT , WE’VE GOT COOPER ON THE WAY. HE’S SECONDS OUT!”
“Got….Got the new primary….God, she’s beautiful…but she’s hurt real bad…Doc is down…maybe dead.”
“JONES! FOR CHRIST SAKES, STAND DOWN! ITS OVER! COOPER IS ALMOST THERE! DON’T SHOOT! DON’T TAKE THE SHOT, YOU’LL HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! FOR GOD’S SAKE STOP!”
“Rescind …code…over?”
“JONES, I DON’T KNOW IT! FORGET THE DAMN CODE! STAND DOWN, REPEAT STAND DOWN!”
“I have a shot…”his breathing was heavy, but he seemed to rally. “’Pear Tree’ , I have a shot. I have executive orders to shoot at new primary target. And I’m gonna…”
Supergirl stared at the young man in despair. The gun was pointed in her general direction but she couldn’t determine the trajectory in her weakened state. She had no reserves left, as despondency and exhaustion caught up with her. She simply met his gaze and shook her head slightly, almost imperceptibly.
Jones looked at her coolly. “Sorry Ma’am. But I got orders to shoot from Mr Wilson.” He winked at her as he pulled the trigger.
In the control room, they all heard the “PHHHFFFFTTTTT!” noise as the dart gun was fired as Hudson bellowed down the mike.
“JONES! NO!!!!”
The room fell into silence as they all listened for the confirmation. None came.
Wilson grabbed the mike. “JONES! JONES! IS SHE DOWN? DID IT KILL HER OR IS SHE JUST UNCONSCIOUS? JONES?!!”
Finally Jones answered. “Er, neither sir. I missed.” Unknown to Wilson he was grinning broadly as he removed the gauntlet from the prone woman, in response to Supergirl’s desperate gestures, moving it away from Kara so he could then help her up , to her obvious relief.
“Good ol’ Jonesy!” declared Hudson, as Wilson shook with rage.
“You missed her with all 4 Kryptonic shots?!!” Wilson cried incredulously.
“Oh, no wait a second.” Jones’ voice came back on. There was a stream of rapid “PHHHFFFT” shots.
“There, now I missed her with all the shots, over” he informed Wilson.
“You god-damned maniacs!” Wilson’s face was bright red. He spun around, fumbling with his cell phone. “I’ve got to get that chopper in there! You’re bluffing! We both know your man won’t open up on that Sikorsky-“
Hudson cut him short with a laugh “That’s ‘PANDA’ Hernandez on that 50 Cal!!!! Clarkie, tell Mr Wilson why we call him ‘Panda’.”
“Every Monday after a weekend furlough he always comes back with two black eyes. That kid loves to fight, anybody and anything…” Clarke said with a grin.
With impeccable timing the radio crackled once more.
“’Pear Tree’ from ‘Kite 1’, er, Hernandez wants to know if he can open fire anyway, the chopper ain’t taking off but he says the pilot is, and I quote, ‘looking at me in a funny way, like he wants to try something’, over”.
“Oh, Christ! Negative, ‘Kite 1’, take no action unless they move, ‘Pear Tree’ over and out” Hudson turned to Wilson. “You still think he won’t take a pop at them?”
Edwards, sitting right next to him, started to sing softly, an old Genesis number, all the while staring at him, coldly.
“Oh Supergirl, where are you now?
When everything’s gone wrong somehow-“ he looked purposefully at Wilson as he changed the lyrics deliberately-
“The men of influence, the men of power…” he stopped and straightened in his chair as he smiled
“They’re losing control by the hour.” the young technician grinned broadly at Wilson’s raging anger.
“YOU ARE ALL FUCKING FINISHED!” Wilson cried.
Kara made a fist by her cheek to indicate Jones should cover his mike. He did so with a fist of his own.
“Sorry ‘bout that Ma’am. I had to point in your direction, I didn’t know how much of me was on the guys cameras in the corridor. What can I do for you?” he asked.
“I thought you were concussed? Are you okay? Can you put that glove away, it’s a poison for me…”she said weakly.
“Sure thing. I kinda guessed that was why the bitch had it,” He took out the waterproof Ziploc bag that he had used to house his gun and comms equipment as he swam to the ship. Though not perfect, it helped for the glove to be out of direct sight of her and she felt a little better straight away, then better still when he placed it in the hallway behind the steel wall, checking on the two men collapsed in the corridor. Both were just drugged. “I figured if I was gonna disobey a direct order from some guy from the Shape – er, the Pentagon Ma’am – “he explained the phrase seeing her frown, “being concussed was a damn good excuse to avoid a courts martial!” he smiled as he re-entered the room.
Jones was putting plastic ties around the Doctor’s hands and feet as Kara retrieved the belt.
“There’s a man aboard…downstairs…” she began.
“Oh, don’t worry, Kaplan dropped him as he came up the stairwell. We nabbed the other guy on the bridge. Was it just the two, Ma’am? Ma’am?” Jones queried as she went white with shock. Genuine tears of emotion welled up in her as she realised he meant Jarvis was dead.
“WHERE?!” she cried as Jones dumbfounded just pointed at the corridor.
“J-just down the hall, in the stair recess…”
“Oh NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!!!!!!!!!” she cried as she ran out at a human pace still recovering from her exhaustion, feeling the draw of the glove as she quickly stepped passed it, wincing at the surge of pain and weakness it again invoked in her as she went within a few inches of it, only screened by the thin material.
She saw his slumped body then, as she emerged into the corridor. He was lying on his back, an arm up in the air at the elbow. As she rushed to his side he moved weakly, trying to raise his head to look at her. Her tears streamed down her cheeks even though she barely knew him. Friends were rare in her life.
“H-hello , Miss. Don’t cry now, I-I’m alright…” he said weakly with a faint crooked smile. He was breathless, his voice barely a whisper.
“Oh, you stupid, STUPID MAN! Why didn’t you listen to me? Why did you come up here?” she wailed in despair at him.
“Easy, now Miss. I’ll be alright. Just need to catch my breath is all…. Came up here to help you, Miss, …just….”he swallowed, drawing in a deep breath “just in case she had more of them bullets or Wheeler had his bit of the green stuff…Don’t cry now…I’m ok…”
Tearfully, her eyes stinging and red-rimmed and not just from the flecks in them, she dropped her gaze to the nine holes at his chest and though scanning him hurt her eyes, she switched to her X-ray vision to see his internal injuries as best she could. And found she couldn’t. Because he had an inch and a half of lead plate across his torso with nine bullets in it. The bullet holes were only in his shirt.
“WHAT THE-? YOU’RE NOT SHOT!” she shouted at him in bewildered relief.
“I know, I been saying to you, I’m ok. Clint fan, remember?” He rapped his knuckles on the plate. “ ‘Few Dollars More’. ‘cept he had steel. That’s why I went for a thicker one in lead but it weighs a ton. Them bullets really took the wind out of me. Feel like I been grapplin’ Stone Cold, an’ lost.” He said referring to the wrestler. He was still breathing heavily.
She punched him on the shoulder. “You idiot! You scared the hell out of me!” she frowned and pursed her lips, hitting him again slightly harder than she had intended. She was genuinely annoyed with him for scaring her, albeit briefly.
“OWWWW! I’M SORRY Miss!” he rubbed his arm. “Could you help me up?” he pushed the plate aside. “Please?”
Coopers men approached, weapons drawn, from both directions.
She turned, holding out her hand to indicate they should stop. “WAIT. Back up. He’s with me. There’s radioactive material in there –“ she gestured at the room and the bag with the glove. “Secure the perimeter. I need this man’s help” she indicated Jarvis. She saw Jones suddenly look scared. “Don’t worry, you haven’t been endangered,” she reassured him. “Tell Mr Wilson, I have his device.”
After checking with Hudson, the SEALs did as she asked, carefully hauling away the body of the still unconscious Doctor. Kara went down to the little sink in Jarvis’ room, ran some water and dunked her head in, swilling away the remaining flakes in her eyes. Her head became a blur suddenly as she swung it from side to side at three dozen times a second. One of the perks of being Supergirl, was that you never needed a hairdryer. She used his tweezers to remove the shards finally from her palm and upper thigh. The one in her shoulder was no quick job; she decided to remove that later under more controlled conditions.
She then gargled and drank, washing the micro dust particles that she had inhaled from her throat, deliberately retching and coughing to dislodge any that were in her lungs. With Jarvis’ help she moved the glove and the splinters she had just removed into the locker with the other shards and then sealed the lead with her heat vision. Finally she was feeling almost herself, apart from her shoulder wound, which still twinged, irritably.
She retrieved the box for the belt from the bed, with a few other items she needed, then turned her attention to the bomb. Heading for the light where ‘Leonard’ and ‘Sheldon’ had reached an impasse, she left Jarvis with the locker.
The one named ‘Sheldon’ addressed her about the situation.
“We can’t get into the light mechanism, either through the glass, or the door. There are pressure and temperature traps. Whoever did this really didn’t want it to be stopped. It’s like 9 little bombs, all doing different jobs, all interconnected to the bigger one. It’s crude but well done. Once they closed that glass door on the light, it was all set. I just can’t see a way in. We-“
Suddenly, a previously blackened led screen inside the light sprang into life, displaying the strange sequence of 13.0.0.0.0.0 that rapidly started to wind down at a frightening rate.
“SHIT!” ‘Leonard’ cried. “’PEAR TREE’ BOMB IS ACTIVE, IMMEDIATE EVAC ALL PERSONNEL, REPEAT BOMB IS ACTIVE, OVER!” Speaking into the built in mike of his blast armour.
“COPY!”
Almost immediately the boats and helicopters started to descend on the Light Vessel Compass Rose with renewed urgency.
‘Sheldon’ looked at her coolly from behind his blast visor, his face illuminated by their own free standing lights but washed out to white every so often when the light revolved. “You too, Ma’am. You’d better go. I ain’t seen a countdown timer like this. It ain’t even counting down sequentially its jumping numbers.”
“That’s because it’s not a decimal system, its calendar orientated, and its a Mayan calendar at that. It’s jumping in prime numbers down from 144,000. What about you? Aren’t you leaving? “ Kara asked.
“This is what we do. “ He shrugged. “It seems to be armed now. We’ll wait as long as we can, give people time to get off…then we’ll …give it a try…” he said simply with a shrug. “We ain’t suicidal Ma’am. If we can’t do anything , we’ll head off with the others. But we gotta take a look-see first, that’s our job.”
“Don’t need two of us , Phil.” His partner said pointedly.
“Yeah, but I’m all dressed up an’ nowhere to go!” Phil smiled behind the toughened plastic as he patted his armoured suit.
Supergirl was deeply impressed by their nonchalant bravery. But fortunately for all, she had a solution. “I need a screw driver, smallest you got, and a small forceps. You can both go, I got this. My friend Robert is downstairs, make sure he gets off.“
“Whoa! We can’t leave you, Ma’am!” one of them said.
“There’s no danger, I got this” she tried to reassure them. That wasn’t totally true, but she felt confident. She was 99% sure she could do it. Well ok, 98%.
“If there is no danger than we can stay.” One of them pointed out.
“Fine. You hold this –“ she gave him the belt “You –“ she turned to the other officer, get my friend in a boat then come back if you want, just don’t take long. Oh, and make sure he’s well treated, he’s helped save us all”.
“What you got in mind?” Phil asked her.
“It started the countdown at midnight… that means today is the 21st, right? This will go off around 11 am, Eastern . We got loadsa time” She smiled. Over the next twenty minutes she dismantled part of the belt, paying particular attention to the projector array in the buckle. With a tweak here and there and hooking it up to the battery power supply in the stand-alone lights of the bomb squad, she was ready. Phil’s only role had been to hold the belt while she worked. To his credit, ‘Leonard’ too returned to help. All the while she worked she was understanding more of what each of the components did. It was genuinely impressive. Finally, she was done. She addressed them both.
“Ok, here’s the deal. I’ll heat this little doozy up, you guys direct it on that little box of tricks , just ….there” she pointed at it through the glass.
“But we don’t know what that steel box houses…” Phil protested.
“Luckily for us all, I do.” She smiled. 100% sure of herself now.
With her vision and the batteries acting as a power source she used her homemade device and the bubble projector array to produce a brief, short range Electro Magnetic Pulse that fried the main electronic components of the Doctor’s bomb. With that dead, the rest could be defused at leisure.
Finally safe, she left the disposal experts to finish up as she flew with a belt in the belt shaped box to return it to Wilson.
As she located the Harbour Master’s office as the control room and landed outside, she saw an ambulance on the quayside take the Doctor away. She was still out, now in a straight jacket and as part of an armed convoy of two black Humvees with Wilson’s men in them. Wheeler was in cuffs on the back seat of one of the vehicles. Inside the building though, she could see with her X-ray vision that Wilson was still around and grilling Jarvis.
She walked in declaring “He’s with me” imperiously, putting a reassuring hand on the shoulder of Jarvis as he sat, looking rather frightened.
Hudson rushed over to her.
“Thank God, Ma’am! I just want you to know, that business…it wasn’t my doing.” He looked uncomfortable and embarrassed. She knew he was telling the truth and more importantly she recognised that voice as the one in Jones’ ear, ordering him to stop. She followed his gaze to Wilson, and knew she had found the true instigator. She nodded simply to Hudson. Then she turned away, facing Wilson.
“Oh, one sec, I said I’d let the Mayor and his wife know you were ok. “Hudson said. He proceeded to make contact via Eddy’s mike and earpiece.
“Mr Mayor, Mrs Reynolds, I am delighted to confirm that we have a very alive young lady standing with us right now! Oh, and Mr Mayor? I just wanted to point out it’s the ROTATION of the Earth our snipers have to allow for on long shots, not the curvature.”
“Are you sure?” asked Reynolds.
“Er..yeah,sir…it’s what we do. Got a lot of dead insurgents who are testimony to it.” Hudson said.
“A good point, well made, son. Could you just pass on our best wishes to our girl and Eddy is really sorry about Mr Fellini…”
“Er…what? What happened to Fellini?” Hudson asked, confused, looking at Partridge and Clarke who both shrugged, equally bewildered. A click brought up his enlarged head camera view- it appeared to be a view of his knees with his hands clutching his groin.
“We wanted to try and stop Mr Jones shooting at our young friend, and when we refused to move, he told Eddy to …er, ‘haul her big old ass’ down to the boat and she over reacted. She feels terrible about it…” Reynolds said.
“Yes, I do” Eddy said. “Really bad”.
“Told ya she was better than Fellini…” said Clarke with a grin.”Guess he learned the two rules every guy should know…”
Supergirl acknowledged the couple and thanked them for their support and especially in offering to trade themselves for her, promising to call into see them in the morning. Then with a steely look, she cast her gaze on Wilson.
She strode over towards him, hands on hips, one holding the box. Wilson paled visibly and backed away. She held out the relocked belt shaped box to him.
“You wanted this?” she offered it up , ungrudgingly. “Here, take it. I never want to see it again.”
He took the box off of her, slightly bewildered. Edwards had his eyes glued to the stunningly attractive blonde as he sipped from a cup of coffee.
Kara stood before Wilson, and slowly looked him over.
“You’re lucky we are friends Mr Wilson, not enemies. Because if I was you’re enemy, I wouldn’t bother to tell you that in your small intestine, there is…well. Let’s just say, you need to see a Doctor in the next week. It’s too small for them to pick up at the moment but at the rate it’s grown inside you since I met you in the Mayor’s office…well the sooner the better. If they can’t spot it, book yourself in anyway, it isn’t established yet, if you get a full colonic irrigation that should move it, then make sure you get a barium meal, so they can trace your digestive tract. If they don’t find it, then you know you are in the clear. Now, if I wasn't your friend Mr Wilson, I would never have warned you about that….”
Wilson had paled , visibly. He clutched at his lower stomach subconsciously, his mouth suddenly dry. He looked her in the eye as she stared at him evenly. A long moment passed. He nodded finally, reluctantly.
“The belt - it’s in here?” He asked, holding up the box.
“It is. I’m not telling you the combination, in case you decide to try it on now. It’s caused enough trouble for one night. Your boffins can work it out. She was very, very clever…” she flashed Jarvis the briefest of knowing glances “she disguised it as just an ordinary belt.” Jarvis hid his smile as now he subconsciously clutched his own stomach where Kara had stitched up his pants. Secretly Supergirl smiled herself. “Oh, and I want a full pardon for Mr Jarvis here.”
Wilson turned away and headed for the door. “ Very well. I’ll clear it. This changes nothing between you and me” he said to Hudson. “I’m calling the Pentagon, let them know we got the belt” he stepped outside briefly using his cell phone. “I’ll speak to Carver about the deplorable actions of you and your men in the morning…” he called back in. “And I’ll show him the tapes. It’ll be his ass on the line too, so make no mistake, he’ll give you up.” He closed the door behind himself.
Hudson sighed. He saw Supergirl raise a questioning eyebrow “Not your fight.” He said wearily.
“It could be mine if you wanted…” she offered, raising an elegant eyebrow in query, but Hudson shook his head. He was a man who fought his own battles.
“After the way he’s behaved towards you, I’m impressed you bothered to tell him about the cancer…” he said.
Supergirl frowned, folding her arms as she stood facing straight ahead and then turned slightly to look at Hudson. She raised both eyebrows, blew out her cheeks and then frowned quizzically at him.
“Cancer? He hasn’t got any cancer….” She said with a straight face.
“Oh, but I thought, with the barium enema and the colonic- oh. Oh, I see.” Hudson broke into a smile that she mirrored. He bit down on his bottom lip, suppressing his laughter.
Edwards had no such control, spraying his coffee all over his equipment.
Clarke piped up “Great! When they look up there they might find his head!”
Wilson stepped back into the office, popping his cell into his inside jacket pocket, looking around to find everyone grinning at him like maniacs.
He frowned as he looked from face to face, then shook his head. “ Well, at least the matter has been successfully concluded. I can’t overlook the disobedience of your men in this business, Captain Hudson. I’ll take it up with the Navy in the morning.” Hudson said nothing.
“What’ll happen to the Doc?” Jarvis asked.
Wilson stared at him a moment, then shrugged and decided to speak anyway. “She’ll get the best of care until she is back on her feet…”
“You mean back working for you…” Hudson said with disgust.
“Perhaps. Still, thanks to our very attractive alien friend there, it’s all come good. We got her, we got the device. Oh and the bomb is safe of course. As for you and your men, Captain Hudson…I suspect we won’t see each other again. I’m gonna bury you when I speak to Carver tomorrow.” He said maliciously.
“Excuse me a moment…” Kara was unsure what this was all about, but she was confident that in the morning, Wilson would have enough problems of his own to deal with. She stepped out of the office and with lightning speed flew to the lightship, retrieved the lead sheathed locker and rocketed up into the atmosphere. When she had just crested the outer stratosphere she hurled the locker towards the sun. It would take several years to get there at that speed, but it wasn’t as if anyone was going to intercept it. She might pop back up in a day or two and speed it on its way, she decided. But for now, it would do. She returned to the Harbour Master’s office.
While she was gone a minor situation had developed…
“Partridge. Those vid copies…” Wilson held out his hand.
“It’s Lieutenant Partridge , Sir.” Partridge corrected him for the dozenth time that evening as he handed over the disks.
“Like I give a fuck. You’re career is over, mister. I don’t give a damn what your rank or what uniform you are wearing.” Wilson said.
Partridge stood toe to toe with him “Any time, Sir. You wanna do the man dance? Let’s just step outside now…”
“Yeah, like I’d brawl in the street with a dumb ni-“ Wilson never got any further as Partridge flew at him, but as they grappled briefly, this time Wilson was ready, felling Partridge with a gut punch just as Hudson and Clarke had grabbed him to pull him off.
“Dumb ass” Wilson said as he readjusted his suit, whilst Partridge was clutching his stomach as he sat on the floor. “You’re all fucking finished…all of you…” Wilson said casting his gaze around the comms room.
“What the hell did I do?” said Tom Lewis.
As Wilson left, Hudson helped Partridge up.
“He really is gonna nail us, aint he?” Partridge asked Hudson.
Hudson just nodded sadly. “ ’Fraid so. You did punch him on the nose. I threatened to shoot his team and in general we all got in the way of his little op. I’ll go to bat for the other guys on the team, but folks like Wilson make their own rules. Think he’s gunning for me and you but he’ll probably hit us all. You’re getting slow John, letting yourself get taken down by a sucker punch like that.”
“He said I should ‘go back to picking cotton’, -ain’t no cotton in Detroit” Partridge smiled. “Now, if he’d said ‘go back to picking pockets’…now that woulda been fair enough…” He brought up the hand that was clutching his stomach and waved Wilson’s cellphone between his fingers with a huge grin on his face. “I think I still got it Cap.”
“Would that be what I think it is?” Captain Hudson asked innocently. “That’s theft Partridge.”
“Mr Wilson musta dropped it. Our lucky day I guess. Probably all sorts of dark deeds he’d wanna keep quiet on here…” Partridge grinned.” It’s only theft if I keep it. I am handing it over to my c.o. for him to try and trace the owner of this piece of equipment.”
“True. Edwards, Clarke. See what you can get off this. Maybe we can identify the unfortunate man who has lost it. In about 12 hours. That's what you got, GO!” He turned to Partridge as the technical staff took the cell phone. “But he has still got all those vids… He’s got proof we were prepared to disobey his orders. And did so. And you hit him.” Hudson’s elation was short lived.
“Six copies of Edwards’ ‘Genesis’ album? Don’t think that’ll sway anyone.” Clarke said with a grin.
Epilogue
A little while later, Supergirl stood outside with Jarvis. She had her back to him and was looking up at the clear, full moon that was emerging from clouds. He spoke to her in a hesitant but respectful way, as if in awe of her. Which indeed he was.
“Tough day for you I bet, Miss” he said awkwardly.
She turned, closing one eye to the moon’s brightness, though in truth she didn’t really need to.
“You could say that” she replied, smiling at him.
“I just wanted to say a few words before they haul me off to jail…”he said hesitantly.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll fix that even if Wilson doesn’t. You saved me, helped save the city, helped to stop the bomb.You were just a pawn . You thought you were doing the right thing for the government. Don’t worry.” She reassured him.
“But…there’s still the fight in the alley , the robberies…” he said quietly.
“I think it’s safe to say the fight was self defence. The robberies…? Well, again, I think we can turn a blind eye to them. I got friends in high places…” she smiled.
“You mean…like the governor or something ?” Jarvis asked.
She sighed in mock exasperation “No, I mean I know the janitor who cleans the gift shop of the Empire State Building! Of course I mean the governor, the Mayor, the police chief, silly.” She huffed at him and he looked suitably abashed. “They all owe me favours, and we all collectively owe you a great debt. We’ll put you on some kinda parole, make sure you don’t go back to your old ways. But the fact you seem so keen to do time for it, tells me you’ve reformed. If you want to atone for the robberies, I suggest you reimburse the victims, maybe make it up to them somehow. C’mon.” She stepped smartly forward, putting her feet together, perkily bobbing up and down slightly. She held out her hand, palm spread towards him, waggling her fingers and inviting him to grasp it. “You got a flight to catch…”
“I can’t fly miss! I got no passport nor id nor nothing. And where too?”
“Thought I’d take you home to Nantucket. And if you’re flying Supergirl Airways, you don’t need id for an internal flight… I never said anything about you catching a plane.” She beamed at him.
“I can’t go home, Miss. It’s the middle of the night! I don’t know where my daughter lives now, she could be anywhere…”
“I’ll drop you off at an all-night motel somewhere, pick you up in the morning. It’s nearly Christmas , what girl wouldn’t want to see her daddy at Christmas time? We’ll find her. I’ll square things with her. Tell her how you helped save me. “ She smiled that dazzling smile of hers again.
“She might be frightened…” he gestured hopelessly at his distorted grin. “She’s probably forgotten I looked this bad…”
“Only when you smile.” she tried to make light of his palsy. “She will see passed that…” she said with pity. She had scanned his face to see if there was anything she could do, but the damage to the nerve endings was too old and ran too deeply.
“Maybe …”he said unconvincingly. “Look , Miss, I got something I need to say to you…”
‘Oh dear’, she thought ‘Here it comes, the outpouring of undying love for her that men always seemed to be gushing in her presence…’ she sighed and grimaced. “Look we could never go on a date or anything….”
He just stared at her blankly. “Ye-es?” he said uncertainly. “I’m old enough to be your dad…”
“Oh, weren’t you gonna aske me out?” she said slightly bewildered.
“Hell no!” he said “You got that terrible ass!” his face cracked into that twisted grin of his.
“I wha-?“ she began, then laughed as she realised he was the one teasing her now.
“I was gonna say, Miss, you and me got a lot in common. I been on my own most of the last ten years. Well , no family anyways. I expect your life is…pretty lonesome too. Oh, I know everyone knows you and you’re popular and all. But that can be lonely too. People think loneliness is about being on your own, but it’s not, is it Miss? It’s about being with all your friends and family and people who care about you and still feeling like you are on your own, right? That cape must be pretty heavy on such young shoulders. All I was gonna say, Miss, is that if you ever need to just talk, you come find me, ok?”
“Thanks…”She felt genuinely touched “if ever I do, I will.” She smiled that flawless smile of hers at him again. He smiled his crooked grin back. Both of them knew that she never would.
“I might need some directions for Nantucket. Lot of islands up there from 30,000 feet. All kinda looks the same, especially in the dark. I’m ok until I get to Buenos Aires…” she tailed off.
“Oh but no Miss, no that’s the wro-“ he stopped and smiled as she grinned at him again. “Miss, when I’m with you…well…you just make me want to be better…a better man I mean, better than I am. Just to do the best I can to be a better person, Miss. Being near you…makes me want to be a better human being” he looked at her nervously and was relieved when she smiled gently back.
He smiled too. He decided to change the subject. “So how was the Doc gonna get away, Miss? What was her plan?”
“I don’t think she ever intended to. She just wanted to take me down. Whatever happened afterwards didn’t worry her.” He nodded conceding the point as likely. “Not so much 'suicide by cop' as suicide by SEAL.”
“Did you have to give him my belt? How did you know he wouldn’t recognise it?” he asked as he pulled up his pants slightly.
“Guys like Wilson are trouble shooters. Never hang around projects for the day to day stuff, just get called in when it goes wrong. When he briefed me, he used words like ‘think she made a kinda belt’ – if he had seen it , he’d just say ‘she made a belt’. Figured he wasn’t directly attached to the project so maybe he didn’t know exactly what it looked like. The resolution on those monitors was pretty lousy, figured he hadn’t had a good look at it because the Doctor moved so fast. So, I gave him a belt. Your belt. Sorry.” She pulled an apologetic face with a shrug. “There’s probably a lot at stake for him in this. No one wants a trouble shooter that misses. This could well see him kicked out.”
Jarvis had more pressing worries than Wilson’s career prospects.
“What if the stitch in my pants doesn’t hold up to the flight?” he asked nervously.
She frowned angrily keeping her head perfectly still as she narrowed her eyes, looking at him with a serious expression as she asked “Are you seriously questioning my needlework skills?”
“Oh , no I-“ he stopped –“you’re teasing me again!” he said with a smile. Blushing again. He was definitely Bashful, she decided.
She gazed up at the moon, its silver light shining in her sapphire blue eyes. Even its reflected glow of the Sun’s rays felt good to her after what she had been through tonight. The prospect of going blind had truly terrified her. She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. “C’mon buddy. Let’s get you home.”
“But what if my pants DO give out?” he said, still worried.
She sighed and looked back up at the full moon.
“Well, if that happens…” she paused as she kept her head still, staring straight ahead in thought staring up at the night sky as she bit her lip. “I guess there’ll be two moons over Nantucket tonight.” She turned her head to look at him, and her laughter was like the song of angels.
"Miss, I'm Kinda frightened..."
"That's ok, I'm kinda super" she winked. She smiled at him again, her wonderful shining smile, that was full of diamonds.
THE END.
p.s. to the Homeland security guy who is gonna have to read this because its hit so many key words, I hope your name isn't Wilson! And if you liked it please leave a comment!
P.p.s. I just want to point out that I fucking hate Genesis and Phil Collins, but Lemmy and Motorhead hadn't done lyrics I could use.