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Gatkowski
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re: Crystal Shards - Log 02: Extraction

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Here we are again. I'm quite surprised I actually finished this, as I believe it's the single most massive chapter I've ever written for any story at 10.914 words. Be afraid.

Quite a lot of stuff in there, half the Cara Crew (which is elementary by now, really), several cameos, action sequences (something I haven't been a virtuoso of so far) and bits and pieces, etc., etc.

Also, Leather and Natasha are so damn awesome I even looked for a duo theme for them.




So, I hope I managed to do justice to everyone I wrote into this. Have fun reading!


-----------------------------------


Justice Girls League Hall

'Are you sure about this?' Super Power asked from behind her desk, occupying probably the most comfortable leather chair in the entire League Hall of the Justice Girls. Her office was a plain but tidy place of dull blue and grey, no larger than necessary to accommodate her needs and tasks as League Commander. Only crucial furniture, little to no ornamentation. Save for a few framed pictures of JG gatherings, a bottle of whisky and a transparent locker with the Justice Girls uniform displayed on a stand.

Still, seeing her behind a desk was a strange sight after taking to the field for so long but lately, she had always kept commenting that after two years of pulling and blocking, she needed a time out. What exactly she meant by that, only the senior staff may have been fully aware.

The robust, amber crystalline woman sitting opposite her nodded without the slightest hint of hesitation. 'Yes. I'm resigning as a Justice Girl, indefinitely.' Her elbows were resting on her knees, hands folded and hanging. So much on the edge of her seat that she was barely sitting at all. It was clear something else was on her mind, something far away. And she wanted to go there, as soon as she could.

Super Power just kept looking at her, as if she were expecting more.

'It's my daughter, Super. Priorities.' Kirsten said with a tinge of uncertainty.

The ageless, maternal features of the commander of the Justice Girls shifted into a content smile. 'I've just never seen you so determined. It makes me very proud of you, you know.'

That wasn't exactly the response Kirsten had prepared herself for. She laughed a baffled laugh. 'Uh... thanks.'

'And I do understand your point. I should, too. In a way, you are all my daughters,' Super Power said as she stood up and slowly walked around the desk. 'Just do me one small favor.'

'And that would be...?' Kirsten said as she herself stood. It wasn't often she didn't need to look downwards to meet someone's gaze but Super Power was one such person. Stately in posture, composed and cool, like an iceberg. It may not have been a coincidence that by her powers she commanded the element of ice. What would someone like her ask in favor?

'Bring her here. Show us to her so she'll know she'll always have a place to come to,' Super Power said, patting Kirsten on the shoulder.

Kirsten smiled. Whatever tension remained of her reservations about this meeting vanished now. 'That never really was a question, Super. Thanks.'

Before any of them could say anything more, the door burst open, loud and abrupt. Neither of them needed to look to guess who had just arrived. But they did anyway. A figure encased in red-golden armor trotted into the office, servos whining, metallic feet thudding against the floor. The air was suddenly filled with confidence and bravado.

'All right, ready to go now? Stuff's in the bag and ready to ship. Literally. We're taking a ship,' Jenny Styger announced. Brash, lively, utterly in her own element as the center of attention. She was not wearing her helmet, holding it in her left gauntleted hand. Her face was showing severe signs of way too little sleep in way too many days. Bags, creases, wrinkles, eyes bloodshot.

The loss of the flesh and blood predecessor to her digital butler, Daniel, seemed to weigh harder on her than she would care to admit.

'Okay, not a ship per se, but it's still fun,' she said when her entry was greeted only by unimpressed silence.

Unimpressed silence which stretched on for another few awkward seconds.

'I don't remember inviting you in,' Super Power then said, folding her arms and narrowing her eyebrows. No hoarfrost – a clear sign of her ire rising – appeared on her cheeks. Yet.

'You didn't,' Jenny replied as if she were just flipping over a card to counter a move in some game. 'So?'

After a few moments of pause, Super Power simply burst out laughing, the sound striking clear echoes in the room. Kirsten also let out an embarrassed chuckle. Jenny raised her eyebrows quizzically.

'Seriously, Kirsten, tell me you're not going to miss this,' Super Power waved a hand at the armorclad young Styger. The entire scene started to feel like a sitcom that had run far too many seasons and was funny only because it was so cliched by now.

'Oh, I am,' Kirsten said. 'But I've been missing Lilly even more,' she added after her face turned serious again.

Super Power nodded as she saw both of her proteges to the door. 'If you need anything, you know where to find us. I was glad to have you on board.'

'I'll drop by every now and then. And Super... thanks for everything,' Kirsten said as she stepped out of the office and waved back for the last time.

'Unfortunately, you're not getting rid of me that easily, Boss,' Jenny stopped, grinned into Super Power's face and held up a finger to emphasize the point.

'I'd actually feel disappointed, if I did. Don't worry, I'll be keeping you occupied. See you around,' Super Power said and pushed Jenny outside before closing the door and retreating to her office.


-----------------------------------


They were walking towards the League Hall docks. Through huge glass walls they could see the bustling, colorful sealife outside, at some depth under the ocean. It may have been Mermaid's idea originally - and the generosity of her people – to allow the League Hall to be erected here, where drylanders were not necessarily welcome.

Jenny was taking the lead, a pace ahead of Kirsten, whistling nonchalantly. Her steps seemed... unsteady.

'Why are we heading to the docks instead of the porters...?' Kirsten asked tentatively, not exactly sure what to make of her friend's behavior. Acting strange wasn't really far from Jenny Styger, but right now, it was not the eccentric, carefree strangeness. It was something else.

'Where's the fun in that?' Jenny said without looking back. Kirsten paused for a second, then hastened her own steps to catch up and pulled at Jenny's shoulder.

'IB, wait a second...,' she said. Jenny stopped and turned back to look at her. 'You're a little... off, you know? Actually, you're really off. I mean, you definitely need to chill. If you're tired or anything, no need to wreck yourself for...'

'No, I don't need to chill,' Jenny cut her off. Her voice was so hard Kirsten was genuinely surprised, and in an unpleasant way. 'See here, you have absolutely no fucking clue how depressed I've been lately. Total KO. Nothing seemed to fucking matter anymore. Nil. Nada. Zip.'

'IB, I'm...'

'Then, all out of the blue, Sarah calls, telling me you're there in the lab, chewing your unbreakable little crystal nails off because of this and that. Asks me if I could prepare something for her to help you out with. Of course, I say, hell yeah! Purpose! Something that does matter!'

Kirsten took a step back to avoid being hit in the face by Jenny's vehemently gesturing arms. And the helmet she was waving around.

Jenny let up a deep, rasping breath. 'Yeah, I was down because of D. In the end, I wasn't able to save him. I just had to accept that there are things I have no control over. Can you imagine how fucking helpless that makes me feel?' For a moment, she fought her tears. 'But even if I couldn't save him, I sure as hell am going to get your daughter out of whatever steaming pile of horseshit she's in. Because that's something I can do. Comprende, Stomper?'

She gave Kirsten a hard stare. Her determination was outright scary.

Kirsten stood motionless, shocked into complete silence for several long seconds. Then she did something that may have looked very awkward from the outside, but there was no disguising the genuine, grateful nature of the act. She hugged the armorclad figure who, despite wearing a suit of metal, was about a head shorter than her.

'Thank you,' she said. 'You are nuts. You know that, right?' She said.

'I know. Every genius is,' Jenny replied, shifting uneasily in her friend's embrace. She wasn't really used to such displays of emotion. In the end, she gently patted Kirsten's back. 'Now, just drop the syrup and let me get on with it so you can take Lilly out for dinner tonight, okay?'


-----------------------------------


'Howdy y'all!'

Kirsten knew that voice. And whenever she heard it, a smiling, overwhelmingly cheerful and sparkling face wasn't far behind. Not to mention, the gingerly gestures, lively posture and skipping steps.

All that dressed in the familiar green-black livery of the Green Lantern Corps.

'Hey Belle,' Kirsten said, involuntarily returning the lantern girl's smile. 'Long time no see.'

'That's right! Sorry, ah've been busy at the other end of the galaxy. Lantern stuff an' all that,' Belle said while carefully leading a beam of hard light with her ring, to keep forming a rather large construct she was working on inside the docking bay. It was a very spacious area, separated from the ocean by a generated force field at its open end.

Jenny just waved and murmured a greeting. She was one of the few who found the “Belle Bomber Phenomenon” more irritating than charming. It may have had something to do with the lantern girl's uncanny ability to steal the spotlight and attention even from someone like Jenny Styger.

'S almost ready, jus' gimme a sec,' Belle said, concentrating on her construct.

'Uhm... and what is it, exactly?' Kirsten asked as she tried figuring out what she was seeing. A vehicle, maybe? Or an elongated face with pipes on top of it, reminiscent of a few strands of hair? It had a rudder, though. And a propeller.

'Ta-daaa!' Belle exclaimed as the beam of light from her ring faded and she threw her hands up. 'S our ride outta here!'

Kirsten blinked, still clearly in the dark as to what exactly the construct was.

'You really need to get out more, Stompy. You know, see things,' Jenny said. 'This here's a Yellow Submarine. Well... except it's green.'

'Ya! Yellow woulda make it a Sinestro Sub an' that ain't fun, however ah look at it,' Belle nodded and waved her index finger for emphasis. 'Ya know how much them lantern fellas love them Beatles tunes? Ah had ta make constructs like this one quite a number of times fer them.'

'Hrm. That's... one redeeming quality for you lot. I guess,' Jenny shrugged with a dull whine of servos.

'Come now, Ah-Bee, ain't the time fer grumpiness, we're gonna go save Momma Stompy's li'l gal! Well, y'all are, ah'm jus' givin' ya a lift. But be sure ta let me know whassap after, yeah?' Belle folded an arm under Jenny's and started pulling her towards an opening entry panel on the side of the light construct submarine.

Jenny grit her teeth and offered some resistance involuntarily. Kirsten followed them, chuckling.

'So how come you're back on Earth now, Belle?' she asked as they were boarding.

'Some mess was goin' on with them mist clouds formin' from emotional specturm energy. Ah was sent back ta this sector fer watch duty with a few others. Encountered them mists, too. Contained what ah could but may see more. An' it may bring other lanterns here as well so we better keep our eyes open,' Belle explained while still towing Jenny.

'You really could toss a bag or two of that over to Styger Research. I'd love to get a closer look at the stuff.' Jenny said, still resisting somewhat but making no real effort to free herself of Belle's grip.

Belle turned her head and grinned widely. 'Sorry, Ah-Bee, ain't happenin'. 'S not fer crazy scientists.'

'Crazy? Who's crazy?'

'Every genius is,' Kirsten said quietly and cleared her throat. Jenny gave her an annoyed stare and was about to retort but didn't get past opening her mouth. She just sighed in resignation.

They arrived in a small chamber – small for the robust Kirsten, anyway – that appeared to be a sort of bridge-control room. A cockpit lined with instruments and four seats, in between which lay a small grey crate obviously not made of hard light.

'What's this?' Kirsten asked. Jenny, after finally untangling herself from Belle while the lantern girl began bringing the submarine to life, knelt by the crate and gently patted it, looking proud.

'The little surprise Sarah asked me to cook up. Belle here volunteered to watch over it while I went to get you. It's a real fashion statement for your daughter.'

'I... still have no clue what it is...' Kirsten said spreading her arms.

Jenny didn't reply right away. She just stood back up and gave Kirsten her trademark smirk. Even with her face so weathered, her aura of confidence was almost solid to the touch. 'Listen, I don't want to burden you with the minutiae, you have enough on your plate to worry about already. It's something I designed so you can figure it's awesome. It will do your daughter good. And she'll look stunning in it, too.'

'Actually, that... makes me worry even more.'

Jenny patted the tall crystalline woman on the shoulder. 'Well, you'll just have to cope. No spoiling this one.'

'Arright, take yer seats an' fasten yer belts! We're off ta Metropolis!' Belle announced as she flipped a series of control switches and the meticulously designed construct submarine rumbled to life.


-----------------------------------


Hall of Doom - Pits

Whenever Cara Leather flashed a grin, hearts skipped beats. Cruel, predatory, frightening. Without a hint of mirth, warmth or kindness. There was no other way to describe it. Whoever she grinned at knew they were in for a world of hurt.

She was grinning now.

Her grin was all that filled the piss-smelling, squalid holding cell in the deepest pits of the Hall of Doom. That and her terrifying, grotesque yellow light constructs that resembled savage, wild beasts from different worlds, bastardized to the extreme.

Howling, slavering, ghostly monstrosities that appeared to be the only source of light in the darkness. They circled, growled and occasionally snapped at a female human figure curled up and trembling in the center of the cell.

'…they will come for me, they will come for me...,' she kept repeating in a voice of whisper, obviously overwhelmed with terror and not in control of her own mental faculties.

Cara Leather was basking, reveling in her fear while her ring was feeding on the energy it generated.

The cell door let out a deep, strained hiss as it opened up. A dark shape of a woman, shaded by the light pouring into the cell from behind her stepped inside. A small red glow on one of her fingers blended into that light.

'Tovarishch,' was all the arrival said, her voice like a rasp shredding thoroughly corroded metal. She inclined her head briefly at the yellow lantern, completely unperturbed by the the sense-assailing mess and palpable terror in the cell.

As she turned, the light reflected on the red lantern symbol on her chest.

'If it isn't my psychotic Russian besty,' Cara Leather greeted Natasha Vorosilov. 'How have you been doing? Piled up some bodies since the last time we hung out?'

'Quite,' Natasha nodded with a hint of satisfaction in her voice. Then she fixed her gaze on the tormented captive shivering on the floor. 'Who's this wretch?'

Leather shrugged. 'Alexis... something. Don't really know, care even less. Circe asked me to work her over and I gotta tell you, the fear she's letting off is... intoxicating.'

'Waste of time,' Natasha growled. Her ring began to glow more vividly, and a set of twin, jagged wrist blades made of red light formed around her right hand. 'Let's be done with it.'

She was about to step forward and mercilessly slaughter the captive, but Leather raised a hand to hold her back.

'Ah-ah-aaaah,' she said, still grinning. 'Circe has plans with her. Alive. And Circe's one you don't want to cross. Trust me. I tried it.'

Natasha gave her a stare and another growl. The wrist blades disappeared, but liquid, plasmic rage started dribbling from the edge of her mouth. She spat it at the captive.

The one Leather had called Alexis shrieked as the gob ate through her torn clothing and bit burning into the skin of her arm.

'Hmm... okay, she won't die from that,' Leather said looking on, indifferent to the woman's pain. She then turned back to Natasha. 'So, our mutual friend Luthor wants us to snatch that toy from STAR Labs, correct?'

'Da. So, if you're quite finished?' Natasha growled again, impatient.

'Hrm... just about. Ring's full now,' Leather gave her ring a check, and her light constructs faded away.

The two lanterns turned to leave the cell.

'Just promise me you'll let me play with some of the miserable little pests before you off them?' Leather said, leaning over to Natasha's side as they stepped outside.

'I don't make promises I can't keep, tovarishch,' Natasha replied with a snarl.

Behind them, the cell door slid back to place and the chamber was once again cast into silence and darkness. But the fear, the overwhelming terror never left.


-----------------------------------


STAR Labs

'Think of it as a girls' night out,' Sarah told Maggie jokingly. 'You pick clothes, try them on and go partying once you have the right fit.'

They were standing inside the SpHERE chamber which was cleared of all unnecessary equipment, benches and tools. Some additional cables sneaked from the gigantic gyroscope-like construct to the control interfaces and monitor screens.

Alan Kerr was positioning the container holding Lilly directly under the SpHERE, to secure it into a special harness for the operation that was about to take place.

'Ah, that,' Maggie nodded. 'Never been good at that, actually. I usually... well, arm-wrestle guys for fun. Or kick butt during unarmed combat training.'

'Well, then. It was high time you finally loosened up a little, don't you think?' Sarah winked at the star and stripe uniformed girl, undeterred.

'Maybe,' Maggie said. She was looking intently at the SpHERE.

'She actually does that. The butt kicking, I mean. It hurts quite a lot, too,' a voice said, coming from behind them, followed by heavy, metallic footsteps.

They turned to see the armorclad Jenny Styger walk into the chamber, smiling confidently, helmet hooked under one arm, while she raised a small crate by the handle triumphantly into the air with her other hand.

She was followed by an anxious-looking, amber skinned Kirsten Stomper, slightly hunched and hands in pockets.

The group exchanged greetings as they came together. Jenny put down the crate she brought and began to busy herself with opening it.

'Hey Comanderette,' Kirsten said, mindful not to call Maggie by her real name in public. 'Belle sends her regards.'

'Belle?' Maggie's eyes lit up. 'She's here on Earth?'

'Yep. Took us over to Metropolis Bay in a light construct submarine. You should have seen it when we surfaced, traffic stopped, people started taking pictures... it really was something,' Kirsten told her, chuckling.

'Is Belle the... uh, lively blonde lantern girl I remember? With the funny sunshades?' Sarah asked. 'I really can't tell one lantern apart from any other but her, I do seem to recall. Distinctly.'

Kirsten nodded. Probably one of the easiest things to do in the world. Recall Belle Bomber distinctly.

'She's actually a good friend I haven't seen in a while,' Maggie said.

'Oh, she sounds like the ideal person for you to practice the girls' night out gig with, isn't she?' Sarah winked at her again.

'I... I guess,' Maggie shrugged slowly.

'After we're done here, we can all go out and have a party but let's focus on work first, shall we?' Jenny said as she got through the apparently quite secure locks on her crate and stood up, flashing its contents to all the others. 'And presto!'

Stunned silence followed.

'...and what are we looking at, exactly?' Kirsten asked, raising an eyebrow. Maggie's expression echoed the same question.

'It's a containment suit,' Sarah replied.

'And a piece of art,' Jenny added, nodding for emphasis.

'Something like that,' Sarah half-concede with a faint smile. 'One I asked Ms. Styger to design exactly as I specified. It's a rather intricate thing. But it will allow Lilly to retain the necessary control over her quantum abilities in order not to damage space and time around her.'

The item in Jenny's hand was indeed a bodysuit, lined entirely by circuits, plates, and other micro-technology Kirsten had no way or even hope of understanding.

'Wait,' the crystalline woman paused. 'If she has to wear this, how are we going to put it on her when she can't leave the tank? That's what keeping her in... in place, isn't it?'

By way of answer, Sarah waved one hand at the SpHERE, the other at Maggie. 'Moles and hills. If Lilly can't come to us, we'll have to go to her.'

'What Dr. Charles means is that through the SpHERE I can synchronize the... uh, “Lilly space” with our “current space”. So I'll take the suit to her, have her put it on, then lead her back out to our “current space”,' Maggie explained and glanced sideways to Sarah for confirmation.

Sarah nodded. 'Simplified, but yes, that's the gist of it. She will anchor herself to this space with the SpHERE so she can extract Lilly. Dr. Kerr and I will handle the technical nuances from this side but the Comanderette will do the rest.'

Kirsten's expression was anything but relieved. 'And you're sure this is gonna work.'

'I told you already. It's a fashion statement, one I designed, so it'll work wonders,' Jenny said, handing the suit to Maggie. 'I can't speak for the SpHERE, but they already fished your daughter out once, right?'

'Yeah.'

'So stop worrying. It's practically Dress Up In Quantumland. It's fun,' Jenny donned her helmet. Her vision slits flickered to azure life. 'Let's rock.' Her voice was now slightly distorted, but no less confident.

'Alan, are we good to go?' Sarah asked, turning around towards her colleague who was directing a few other lab staff to complete the last adjustments on the gyro-frame of the machine.

'I would say so, yes,' Kerr said. He did the final checks and sent the staff outside of the testing area, into the monitor chamber. Then, he manipulated some of the controls on a console. 'Begin when you're ready, Comanderette.'

Maggie stepped forward, the containment suit wrapped around one arm while she raised the other. Her hand took on a glow of vivid blue and white. The gyro-structure began to move, slowly at first, then accelerated until it was barely less than a blur. A low, thrumming noise filled the air.

'Rotation speed nominal. Particle injection.... now,' Kerr directed.

The SpHERE started to glow the same way Maggie's hand did. Fluctuating, swirling waves of energy formed around it, increasing in intensity and enveloping the containment tank holding Lilly. The SpHERE began to fade, as if it stopped being entirely there in its place.

'Spatial overlap?' Sarah asked Kerr firmly.

'Stable,' came the response as he read some of the screens. 'Equalizing phase distortion.'

Kirsten had to give it to Kerr as she was watching the scientist's hand race unerringly back and forth on the control panel, he may have been a little too much on the nerdy side but he certainly knew what he was doing. Though it was clear Maggie wasn't doing this the first time, either.

'Ready,' Kerr said after a short while. 'The operation can commence now.'

Sarah nodded and looked over to Maggie, inclining her head. The young heroine lowered her hand and turned to Kirsten.

'I'll bring her out. I promise,' she said. Kirsten said nothing in response but despite all her worries and reservations, she couldn't help but believe Maggie instantly.

With a thin aura of white shimmering light forming around her whole body, the Comanderette then leapt and vanished in the haze of energy that engulfed the SpHERE.

'And now we wait,' Jenny said.

'Right,' Kirsten nodded, folding her arms over her chest, obviously not too happy at the prospect.

'Oh, chill out already,' Jenny said and slapped her hard on the shoulder. Kirsten didn't even budge. 'I mean, you see how pro these people are. Not to mention, I also have a part in this. What on Earth could possibly go wrong?'

The question, intended to be rhetorical and boastful, was answered a second later in a rather denouncing manner by an ear splitting, cracking noise coming from the walls.


-----------------------------------


It was a sunny day in Metropolis, mildly warm with a light breeze and no sign of rain. Ideal for spending time outdoors. But all those who had opted that day to do so were now running for their lives screaming, within at least a two block radius of the main STAR Labs facility.

Giant, serrated claws of red energy, blurry as if they were slowly liquefying, tore into the renowned research building's walls, ripping sections of it out, throwing falling rubble in all directions for several dozens of yards.

Fleeing people did their best to avoid the hunks of concrete that came crashing down. Not all of them were lucky enough to make it.

In the air, high above the streets, the glowing red form of Natasha Vorosilov was manipulating the claws with unrestrained, wild swings of her arms. Eyes incandescent with red rage, face contorted in a vicious mask of relentless anger.

Cara Leather was hovering beside her, taking deep breaths of the air. 'I love to see you at work, comrade... I can taste the fear. So delicious!'

Natasha was almost completely oblivious to her, focused on tearing half the roof and walls off the laboratory. More and more debris fell, crippling and crushing people down below. Shrieks of mass panic and snaps, cracks of shattering concrete and ripping steel resounded far away along the streets.

In a matter of seconds, STAR Labs was cracked open like an eggshell.


-----------------------------------


“D! Reading!” Jenny commanded her digital butler as she felt the ground shake beneath her feet.

“Massive surges of energy, Madame, identified as... fear and anger. Data suggests we are under assault by lanterns,' D.A.N.I.E.L. commented, rather more stoically than Jenny believed was optimal for his programming.

Before she could react, she was blinded by sudden, vivid sunlight as a very large section of the roof came off. Chunks of rubble fell, then bounced apparently off thin air. In reality, they bounced off a telekinetic shield Kirsten hastily threw up around as much of the chamber as she could.

Her suit's visor compensating for the increased light levels, Jenny blink-clicked a zoom command on her HUD to scan the two figures appearing above their heads and coming in through the breach.

Indeed, two lanterns, one in a rather revealing, construct-reinforced Sinestro Corps uniform, the other a red suit reinforced by pads and armor on her arms and legs.

'It's that damn psycho Leather,' Jenny said out loud for Kirsten to hear, 'and... her!'

Recognition hit Jenny like a freight train when Natasha's face cleared up on her helmet display. The lantern's expression was distorted into a mask of fury, mouth frothing with plasmic rage. Barely recognizable as human. She was no more than a wild animal.

Their previous – and only – encounter had been brief but all the more memorable, even though Jenny wished for anything but memories of that day. Natasha had gone on a rampage inside Styger Robotics and sent several employees to their deaths meaninglessly, without remorse. Even the building had collapsed in the end, burying Jenny under a small hill's worth of debris. If it hadn't been for her suit of armor, she wouldn't have survived.

'I'm going to wipe that disgusting, miserable piece of-' Jenny started spewing through gritted teeth, eyes focused firmly on Natasha, as she was increasing power to the thrusters of her armor and lifting off the ground without noticing it.

IB, wait! Kirsten's voice rang inside her head. It snapped her back to her senses enough to make her stop. Don't just go off like crazy, we have to protect the SpHERE! Maggie and Lilly are still in the flux!

Yeah. Yeah, you're right, Jenny conceded, trying to restrain her own surfacing impulses. She glanced behind her shoulder. To their credit, Kerr and Dr. Charles didn't leave their stations, even though their expressions showed how frightened they were by the sudden attack. We'll just have to keep them away long enough, then.

I can keep the shield up for now, Kirsten said with less confidence than Jenny would've liked to hear. But she was standing focused, two fingers on her right pressed against her temple to help her concentrate.

I'll ping HQ for some backup, Jenny said and sent the message via another blink-click. 'D, engage tactical,' she then told her digital butler.

'Already running Madame. Putting it on your screen.' Variables, sub-system symbols, damage percentage meters and a small radar screen appeared on Jenny's HUD, all blink-click synced.

'Oh, look comrade! I think we have found playmates for you!' Cara Leather told Natasha with crazed playfulness as they hovered through the roof breach. Her voice cut the air like a cold steel blade. 'I don't know the big one but the tin can is one of our favorites, the Justice Girls. Such a pleasant surprise, da?'

Natasha' breath came in short growls. Like a bomb about to explode.

Leather lit the fuse with just a few words as she leaned closer. 'Why don't you draw something nice with their entrails?'

Natasha lunged, roaring madly, all sense gone from her now. She hit Kirsten's shield mid-air but instead of bouncing off it like a slab of concrete, she latched onto it, repeatedly stabbing it with her wrist blades and belching plasma all over it.

In four seconds, with unrelenting fury, the red lantern pierced the shield, ripping it apart and shattering it. Kirsten shrieked as the backlash tore at her mind. She was thrown on her back and felt like her head was about to burst.

Natasha was on her in a blink of an eye, slashing at her wildly with her blades, snarling and howling like a rabid beast. Kirsten did her best to fend her off but with her mind burning, she couldn't possibly keep the red lantern's charge at bay.

What did throw Natasha off her was a high pitched whine-snap and flashing burst from the Iron Beauty's palm exhaust as she rushed over and shot the red lantern point blank in the side of the head, sending her away stumbling.

Jenny didn't want to give her time to gather her bearings and air-dashed after her, thrusters flaring, taking turns in throwing blows at the lantern with her armored fists and blasting away with her palm exhausts. They slammed into a set of boxy lab equipment, knocking it over and scattering it.

'Remember me, Mother Russia? Payback's one sweet bitch, huh!' Jenny yelled as she pushed her opponent away with a blow to the midriff and flipped her faceplate up so Natasha could clearly see who she was. Recognition seemed to get through to the lantern and the craze ebbed in her eyes for a moment.

'Otlichno, tovarishch!' Natasha hissed with an expression halfway between a grin and a vicious snarl. 'Saves me the trouble of hunting you down.'

What saved Jenny's life next was probably the reflexes Comanderette America had helped her hone. She flipped her faceplate shut just in time to avoid being spat between the eyes by a large gob of plasma.

The metal sizzled as the liquid rage began eating away at it.

'Madame, prolonged exposure to that substance will heavily damage structural integrity,' D.A.N.I.E.L. announced.

Jenny's answer, one to the effect of 'you don't say, Captain Obvious', was postponed by a savage flurry of blows from Natasha who, despite having taken a beating, appeared to have little or no injuries at all. She was growling, roaring wildly with each strike, swinging a sickle in one hand and a hammer in the other, both formed of vibrating red energy.

'D... I need... a way... around that shimmer she has... it must be a... shield,' Jenny instructed between evading and blocking as best she could. She was still floating above ground, skimming on her thrusters trying to dodge, but the damage meters on her HUD still told a woeful tale of damage sustained. This Natasha, even though unquestionably unhinged mentally, seemed far more formidable than given credit for, matching the Iron Beauty's own aerial maneuverability with relative ease.

'Six o'clock, Madame!' D.A.N.I.E.L. shouted, monitoring the radar. Jenny complied without thinking and with a burst from her leg thrusters, she slid far to the side, out of the perceived threat's and Natasha's reach. A chained claw split the air where she had been a moment before and bit into the floor a few feet below.

Looking up, Jenny saw Leather smiling down at her contently, holding onto the other end of her construct chain. To Jenny's right, Natasha was raising her weapons to pounce at her again.

A wonderful, sunny day in Metropolis.


-----------------------------------


Having often transferred from post to post back in the era of World War II, Maggie had seen plenty of seashores with waters so clean the bottom had been clearly visible even a dozen feet deep. Whenever she had taken a dip and had dived below, she could clearly see the sun from down there.

She felt something like that as she floated around in the quantum field generated by the SpHERE.

Currents of energy, vivid blues gradually turning to whites and cyans enveloped her like water, but there was none of the tremendous pressure she had always felt when diving under. Still, she was aware that quantum particle fluxes were far more precarious than water and that she was only able to safely establish her own body matter in such a flux because of the SpHERE.

Distantly, like a very blurred, barely recognizable painting, Maggie could make out sections of the testing chamber in STAR Labs if she was looking long in enough at the same spot in the energy currents. But these images seemed constantly shifting, melting and reforming very slowly.

It was time to get the job done.

Maggie concentrated, reaching out with her abilities to try and sense the same thing she had first sensed when she had discovered Lilly.

Since now she knew what she was looking for, it was easier. A slight tinging sensation that lead her deeper into the flux. She followed it carefully.

It didn't take her long to find Lilly. A glinting, azure shape floating motionlessly in the flux naked, curled up as if asleep. Several, transparent and hazy images of the containment tank circled close to her, like holograms that could not be focused.

Maggie drifted over to the little girl. Though, coming close to her, “little” quickly became a relative term. She did take after her mother, being almost Maggie's size despite the obvious age difference between them. Her body was letting off that intense azure glow, her hair a deep red. That too, reminiscent of her mother.

Maggie reached out and gently touched her on the shoulder. She was half-expecting her hand to just slide through her form because of a spatial misalignment but no such thing happened.

'Lilly?' Maggie said. Her voice sounded odd in the flux.

Nothing. Maggie shook her carefully.

Lilly's eyes snapped open, looked at her startled and slid away from her hand with surprising speed.

Maggie calmly drifted back. 'It's all right, it's all right. I mean no harm to you. I'm a friend.'

Lilly said nothing but didn't take her eyes off Maggie. In fact, she was maintaining eye contact without blinking. It was disconcerting as her eyes had no white, no iris, just the same azure radiance as her whole body. She then cocked her head to the side, her glance flickering with something approaching curiosity.

'Who... are... you...?' She asked very slowly, like her attention was not fixed on Maggie, even if her eyes were. Her voice was similar to Kirsten's too, only a little higher in pitch.

Maggie put a hand on her own chest. 'My name is Maggie. I'm here to take you out of this place.'

Lilly didn't move. Nor did she respond. She just kept looking at the star and stripe uniformed girl, curious but wary.

Maggie had no idea what she'd been through or what effect being confined to a “place” like this for so long had had on her but it was no wonder she was acting very much like a frightened, small animal.

I've got to reach her... somehow, she thought. Then an idea struck.

'There's... someone waiting for you outside,' she told Lilly, speaking slowly and articulating the words. 'Your mother.'

Lilly's expression softened. Not much, but it did. 'Mom...?'

'Yes. And she asked me to bring you this,' Maggie said and unfolded the containment suit she was carrying.


-----------------------------------


Kirsten's head was hurting as if rams were duking it out inside her skull. But she could at least stand now. Swaying a little, but on her feet.

Around her, everything was a wreck. Broken and shattered equipment and plexiglass, torn cabling, lab notes, debris and dust swept by the wind coming in through the enormous breach in the walls.

Kirsten's own garments were in tatters, ripped to shreds by the attack she had weathered. She took what remained of her jacket off. Other than that, however, she appeared to have suffered no lasting injury. A few spots where she had been hit did sting but nothing permanent. Nigh-unbreakable crystal skin had proved its worth once again.

The lack of bodies lying around did fill her with some relief. Miraculously, no lab staff seemed to be hurt, at least not yet, and the SpHERE was still functioning, humming deeply, faded in the quantum energy fluctuations. Kerr and Dr. Charles were crouching behind their consoles, carrying on with their work but doing their best to not draw attention to themselves.

Why they did that was easy to follow.

Ear-scraping screeches and dull, metallic thuds ripped into the air, coming from the opposite end of the chamber as the Iron Beauty was occupying the assailants, withstanding and dealing out punishment in equal measure, collateral damage spilling out on whatever got in their way. She was tussling with the red lantern Kirsten didn't recognize while the other – the one she did know; Cara Leather - was taking pot-shots at her from above.

Kirsten shook her head to clear it and bending her knees to catapult herself, she took to the air.

Leather's head snapped up at the thudding noise behind her. She was about to turn when the amber skinned form of the woman she had dismissed as a threat when they had broken into the building suddenly appeared looming over her. Leather had called her “the big one”, but she only realized now just how big she was.

Before Leather could do anything, a hand clamped around her wrist and with barely more than a flick, flung her across the chamber.

Even though her mind hadn't cleared up completely from the earlier backlash, Kirsten managed to shoot a telekinetic push after Leather, shoving her hard against a wall. She wouldn't do it again, however. It felt like a knife thrust through her brain. But it had the desired effect. The yellow lantern let out a gasp as she knocked off a sizable part of the plaster-work, then fell on the ground and didn't move, seemingly unconscious.

Natasha smashed her energy hammer directly into Jenny's face, knocking her down on half-knee in a shower of red particles and protesting whine of servos. Jenny raised one arm to block the next blow while she charged the palm exhaust of her other hand to retaliate.

The blow never came.

'Excuse me,' Kirsten said, hooking her arm around Natasha's neck and dragged her back, 'that's my best friend over there.'

They grappled for a second or two, then Natasha turned and slid out of Kirsten's grasp with unexpected nimbleness. Kirsten may have been stronger by far – not too difficult when you could flip over an aircraft carrier – but the red lantern was clearly no newcomer to combat, possessing skills honed to function on an instinctive level, even in an enraged state.

And she immediately struck back with her sickle, roaring ferociously. Kirsten barely had time to block with her arm. She felt the red energy burn her skin as she was sliced. It wasn't painful, not exactly, but the sensation was stinging, discomforting. She wouldn't want to discover what would happen if the red lantern kept cutting her for too long.

As if never intending to stop, Natasha's hammer came in from the other side in another savage swing. However, that wasn't nearly as unexpected as her agility just moments before. Kirsten kicked her straight in the midriff to knock her back and gain some room. The hammer swing faltered and the red lantern staggered, trying to regain balance.

Kirsten stepped in and, in an attempt to overpower her opponent, threw a hook that would have punctured a tank's armor. As it connected with Natasha's face, it depressed air in a fifteen feet spherical radius. The hit looked silent, then a thundercrack exploded outwards as the soundwaves caught up with the air molecules.

Jenny felt the shockwave even encased in her suit of armor. Her HUD was flickering from all the damage taken but she could still make out Natasha falling hard on the ground.

And getting back up after rolling away. Hunched, clearly in pain, but she gathered herself to her feet. And she snarled a murderous, vengeful snarl that promised nothing but blood.

'Just what is this crazy bitch made of?' Kirsten said, amazed and unnerved at Natasha's near undiminishing endurance. Particles and wisps of energy came loose from the red shimmer shielding the lantern, as if her defenses were weakening but she was far from defeated. Kirsten didn't dare risk attacking with her telepathy or telekinesis. The telekinetic push she had dispatched Leather with had been taxing enough. Not to mention, all the anger boiling inside Natasha's mind might cause another backlash, if touched in any telepathic way.

'Something that needs the both of us,' Jenny's distorted voice replied as she stood up. Her armor was looking the worse for wear, dents, cuts, scratches, scorch marks from burning plasma spread around its surface. Her left optic slit was flickering unsteadily. And those were signs of the outward damage only. 'Where's Leather?'

'She's out for now,' Kirsten said as they slowly began to move in to take Natasha down, circling her from two sides.

Natasha growled and threw a suddenly materializing lance at the Iron Beauty, then a two-headed flail appearing in her hand, she hurled herself at Kirsten.


-----------------------------------


Leather pushed herself up, gritting her teeth and pressing a hand on the back of her head to stead the dizziness she felt. It felt so undignifying, having been caught off guard by that lumbering, crystalline lug of a broad.

'When I get my hands on her she's gonna...' Leather grumbled but then saw Kirsten was having trouble holding her own against Natasha in the far end of the room, even with the Iron Beauty's help. Concrete-shattering blows echoed, cut intermittently by high-pitched pulse blasts.

A content smile crossed Leather's lips. '...or I can just have my lovely comrade take care of that for me. Such a peach she is. A red peach.'

The yellow lantern dusted herself off and looked to the side, at the SpHERE. 'Time to get the package,' she said to herself and began walking towards the gyroscope-like construct, raising her ring to her mouth and blowing air on it.

Two scientists were working at one of the terminals connected to the gigantic machine via a batch of cables. A dark skinned young woman and a pale middle aged man with glasses. Leather was approaching them, calm and unhurried, her body language promising pain. They noticed her in disconcert.

The woman said something to her colleague hastily, then left the station.

'You can't enter here! This experiment is dangerous and unstable and is off lim...' Dr. Sarah Charles said as she held out her arms and tried to stop Leather by standing in her way. She was desperate to sound authoritative and facing someone else, someone of lesser resolve, she may even have succeeded. But facing a yellow lantern, her legs were shaking with terror and she faltered.

Leather stopped, looked her over disapprovingly, then smacked her aside with the back of her hand. Sarah fell to the floor without making a sound, blood dribbling from torn lips, and lay there motionless. Leather stepped over her and kept walking, a maniacal grin spreading across her face, her ring forming several feet long light construct nails on her hands that extended suddenly like switchblades.

She was looking directly at the man still at the console. He was showing remarkable self-control not running away screaming, even though fear was creeping up his back and tightening his gut. Beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead. He didn't look back at Leather, he was only staring in front of himself, his hands running back and forth on his console keyboard.

The tip of a yellow light nail came up against his chin, turning his head.

'Afraid yet?' Leather asked, her voice thrilled.

'Y-yes, q-quite...' Kerr replied, gulping as he was forced to make eye contact. His eyes shimmered with terror bubbling barely beneath the surface which the lantern was exhilarated to see. But his hands never stopped working.

'I need this device you're operating. Intact,' Leather said. 'Kindly shut it down so I can take it?'

'I'm a-afraid I c-can't do that...' Kerr stuttered on the verge of panicking, yet he was able to resist.

'Oh?' The nailtip slid a bit down, pointing at Kerr's windpipe. 'Suffocation is an ugly way to go.'

'I can't! T-the... SpHERE is in a d-different s-spatial field! T-trying to move it... w-will have c-catastrophic c-consequences!'

'We'll see about that.'

Raising her other hand, Leather began to form a light construct in the air. From several parts that manifested and joined together in proper order, a giant four-clamp lift was assembled above the SpHERE and slowly descended, opening up.

Leather grinned at Kerr. 'Raise the stakes some more, doctor?'


-----------------------------------


Maggie had to admit, if grudgingly, that Jenny had been right earlier. The containment suit made for Lilly did fit her like a glove, and the moment she put it on, it started functioning flawlessly. The circuits synchronized with her quantum flow, and discharges began running up and down along the conduit lines to the suit's exhaust ports, venting and dissolving the excess particles.

Jenny and Dr. Charles had explained this effect to be visually striking but otherwise completely harmless.

What Maggie did notice was that Lilly now appeared more... solid. Her form looked sharper even through the glow emanating from her.

'You look great,' Maggie said, an attempt at encouragement. Lilly stared at her, still a little blankly and said nothing. But she had the suit on and was holding her hand so they were getting somewhere.

Even though the spatial field they were in now held a wider interpretation for physics, Maggie could feel something shaking. She also thought she heard something crack. Something was going on outside. Something bad an unexpected.

'I think it's time we left,' she told Lilly and this time not expecting an answer, she began hovering back in the quantum field the way she had come. She expanded her senses again, searching for the entry point she had come through.

Lilly offered no resistance, she simply followed her without letting go of her hand. What others had often called “instinctive charisma”, a quality Maggie had been noted to possess, seemed to rub off on the Stomper-girl quickly.

Another shake and crack, still distant but stronger this time. Like an earthquake.

Maggie saw the entry point.


-----------------------------------


The clamps bit into the ground around the foundation of the SpHERE with a painful screech of metal, intending to tear it from its place. The gyroscope-like construct was still running, the energies swirling around it, enveloping and fading some parts of the lift Leather had created.

Then all of a sudden, a flashing white ball shot out of the haze, falling on the ground and skidding a good way before coming to a halt. Its shimmer died away, revealing a human shape curled protectively around another.

Leather's eyes narrowed when recognition struck her, seeing a star and stripe patterned uniform. 'You,' she hissed at Maggie.

With a grunt of relief, Kerr's hands ran a final sequence on the keyboard and the SpHERE's gyro- structure began to decelerate its rotation, the energy fluctuations ebbing and subsiding as it entered its shutdown phase.

The doctor then passed out and collapsed unceremoniously on the ground. He obviously wasn't used to these tremendous amounts of emotional tension.

Having re-entered a more restricted physical plane, Maggie felt somewhat dazed. She tried to focus and make sense of what was happening. What she did immediately did pick up on was the danger. Her hand reflexively went for the shield strapped to her back as she was getting back up, taking up a defensive position to protect Lilly.

'You have no idea how much I'd love to stay and watch my dear comrade chop you up into little pieces,' Leather sneered and let loose a blinding wave of light from her ring, throwing Maggie back on the ground, 'but I believe we've already overstayed our welcome.'

The clamps shut tight around the base of the SpHERE, wrenched it free and began to rise, following Leather as she took to the air.


-----------------------------------


Kirsten heard the crunching, cracking noise and as she looked above her shoulder, saw the SpHERE taking off, hoisted up and away by a yellow light construct. It wasn't functioning anymore and the cables connecting to it snapped when they were unable to cope with its climb.

The crystalline woman felt her heart skip a beat. Lilly! LILLY! her thoughts hammered in her head. Leather had not been knocked out for long enough and was after the one thing that had a chance at giving her daughter back.

She turned, raised a hand and was about to rocket off to stop the yellow lantern, but a chain, formed of red, burning rage, wrapped around her neck and pulled her back, off her feet.

Natasha rained down a flurry of savage blows with the jagged, curved blade she held in her other hand at the Iron Beauty who tried to flank her, but didn't let go of the chain. Jenny deflected the slashes and retaliated with a pulse blast, extending her arm to hit the red lantern point blank. She wasn't fast enough. Ducking, Natasha roared as she thrust upwards, ramming her energy weapon into Jenny's exposed shoulder joint.

A shriek of sharp, burning pain signaled a direct hit, and the armorclad figure staggered. Natasha yanked her, going into a throw and slammed her down on top of Kirsten who was struggling to get the chain off her neck.

The red lantern was panting heavily, exhaustion and pain making her breath come in short gasps, plasma and spittle around the edge of her mouth. Rage and triumph glinted in her eyes as she rose over them. She began pulling at the chain and raised her blade.

'Tovarishch!' A voice called from above. 'Time to go!'

Natasha looked up to see Leather had already hauled the whole SpHERE construct halfway out through the breach in the roof.

'Or... I could just leave you here with all your new friends to play,' Leather said playfully. The way only a maniac would. 'Do svidaniya, if you make it out!'

With that, the yellow lantern made her exit.

Distracted, Natasha almost fell as the chain in her hand unexpectedly pulled back at her, crystalline hands gripping it at the other end. She let go of it, leaving the chain to dissolve, and lifted into the air to back away from Kirsten who managed to dig herself out from under Jenny, and was almost up again.

A metal disc flew at her. Natasha noticed it in time to evade, and swiftly slid to the side. The disc missed her only by a few inches. On the far side of the room, the Comanderette was now steady on her feet. Her shield returned smoothly into her grip like a loyal hound rejoining his master.

The high pitched whine of a palm exhaust charging warned that the Iron Beauty was not out of the fight either, even if one of her arms was now limp.

Anger flared in Natasha's eyes. Anger that built quickly for a few seconds, then was released in a galling eruption as her head snapped up and letting out coughing, retching noises she disgorged blistering plasma in a wide radius. Kirsten tackled Jenny to take the brunt of the scorching rain and Maggie crouched above the lying form of Lilly, bringing up her shield for protection.

The floor sizzled as the plasma spattered it, searing holes into it and throwing smoke and vapors up in the air. Kirsten felt her back sting. Maggie's shield withstood the burns without any damage more serious than a scorch mark.

The plasma quickly burnt itself out. And by the time it did, Natasha was gone.

Kirsten got off Jenny and barely conscious of the pain in her back, looked around intently. There's Maggie, she survived, so then... she thought and then she noticed the young heroine was standing over someone else. Someone who wasn't Dr. Charles, nor Dr. Kerr.

Someone wearing a circuit-inlaid, padded bodysuit.


-----------------------------------


Rage was a powerful emotion, but it also drained its wielder in a very short time. Even more so, if that wielder was expending it at the rate Natasha usually did. The momentum of the Russian red lantern's fury was dwindling, her strength waning after the short but intense encounter in the STAR Labs facility. Adding to that the pain, fatigue and the injuries she had suffered, however minor, Natasha was slowed down considerably by this point.

Hence Leather was able to dodge or deflect the vicious assault unleashed on her by her unstable red counterpart. Natasha would have been able to overcome her had they been on equal grounds but in her momentary condition Leather was able to hold her back, if not without effort.

The air was filled high above Metropolis with deep, glassy clangs, accompanied by colorful energy discharges as red and yellow light clashed and clashed.

'Leave me here?! Deserter! Scum!' Natasha bellowed in anger.

'Aww, come now, comrade,' Leather said, the disconcerting, mirthless grin never leaving her face. 'I didn't leave you in the end, did I?'

She formed a hooking edge on the construct shield she was holding and trapped Natasha's jagged blade in it with a twist.

'They were gaining... the upper hand,' Leather explained, grunting with the strain of keeping Natasha's weapon pinned. 'And I have a hunch they also called in reinforcements.'

Realization began to dawn in Natasha's eyes, her mindless anger retreating.

'Now, you are one of the toughest bitches this side of the galaxy, I'll give you that,' Leather continued and winked. 'But even you can't take on half the Justice Hos by yourself. The simplest way to get you out of a losing scrap? Piss you off so you'd come after me. Worked just fine, nyet?'

Slowly seeing the sense in what she was hearing, Natasha grudgingly withdrew her weapon.

'Gutting you and scattering your intestines is something I would enjoy,' she told Leather, a murderous glint in her eyes.

'No doubt. But Luthor sent us to get this thing for him,' Leather said, still smiling, and inclined her head at the SpHERE carried by her construct below them. 'Wouldn't want to botch this job, too, now would you?'

Natasha stared at her for a moment, as if about to explode with fury again. Then she just began laughing. Louder and louder until she sounded almost hysterical.

'You are something else, tovarishch! Your skills of manipulation are... exquisite,' she said as soon as she could catch her breath. 'I'll leave butchering you for another time.'

'Yes. For another time,' Leather's grin spread wide, then she too burst into maniacal laughter.

With the SpHERE in tow, they disappeared into the Metropolis skies.


-----------------------------------


'I am sorry for being late with the information Madame, but I believe I was able to identify the wavelength pattern of our assailant's shielding,' D.A.N.I.E.L.'s voice crackled from Jenny's wristband, which served the purpose of a communicator, a wristwatch and numerous other things. Her own design, of course.

And which she used to have D.A.N.I.E.L. on hand – quite literally, one might have noticed - when she was out of her armor. She was sitting bared to the waist down, the weathered pieces of her gear scattered about her, her top covered only by a sweat-soaked sleeveless bodysuit.

'No worries, D. Store it for future reference and run the usual tests. I have a hunch it will be useful when we see those two again. And we will,' she told the digital butler, her voice almost uncharacteristically serious.

First, the loss of the real, flesh and blood Daniel and now, the insane red lantern who had already caused her much grief re-emerged. Witty sarcasm and nonchalance were not sufficient any longer to help her get through this situation.

'Yes, Madame.' D.A.N.I.E.L. said, offering no remarks on the shift in Jenny's tone.

'A real mess,' Burst Angel said. The Justice Girls' magical medicae, an odd mix of rebellious and majestic appearance, was kneeling at Jenny's back, her wings slightly spread to not be in the way. Her lips quietly breathing incantations of restoration, she was carefully cleaning Jenny's shoulder wound.

The lab was looking as though a hurricane had swept over it. A group of women wearing Justice Girls emblems, along with a handful of police staff, were conducting a scene examination of the room, trying to reconstruct what physical – and other – effects had taken place. Scanners and communicators were beeping. Indistinct conversation murmured in the background.

Dr. Charles and Dr. Kerr were sitting by a wall, tended to by Cara Lace. Sarah was holding a bag of frozen coolant to her face which was bruised and swollen from Leather's less then polite treatment of her but otherwise she appeared unhurt. Kerr's glasses were cracked and one of the temples bent. He must have fallen on them when he had fainted.

Both of them were quite clearly very shaken. No one escaped a confrontation with hostile lanterns without it affecting their emotional balance.

The clamor of sirens, vehicles and superpowers at work in rescue operations outside drifted in through the breach in the roof and walls of the building. It happened often enough in Metropolis for the residents to get used to it, only this time, the intensity and magnitude was drastically higher.

'Yeah, well, like I said earlier, they caught us completely unprepared. Leather and that other, freaking Russian psycho. No wonder they trashed this place-'

'I meant your shoulder,' Burst Angel cut Jenny off in a somewhat scolding manner. She had a penchant when people took taking care of themselves lightly. 'You're lucky the joint's still intact. It will take time to mend and it will hurt when you try to move it.'

Jenny shrugged. And immediately hissed from the flaring pain she felt.

'Told you. Maybe try being careful next time?' Burst Angel suggested, but not really expecting an answer, much less a favorable one. It was Jenny Styger she was talking to, after all. She voiced another incantation and as a rune flickered up in the air and bathed the wound in warm light, tied it up with a set of gauze. She looked away in one direction. 'Are they gonna be okay?'

'Hmm?' Jenny followed her gaze.

On the far side of the chamber she saw Kirsten sitting with her back to a console, Lilly in her arms, clinging to her like a monkey to a tree. They had been like that ever since the girl had come to. The moment she had recognized her mother, she had tackled her and they had slumped where they were now. All in silence, neither of them uttering a single word.

Jenny couldn't really tell but she thought she saw Kirsten sob.

Maggie had taken it upon herself to stand guard a few paces away, politely but firmly deflecting anyone curious enough to try and disturb the delicate moment mother and daughter were having.

'Yeah, I think they'll be all right,' Jenny told Burst Angel with a sigh. 'Just need some catch-up time.'


-----------------------------------


Hall of Doom – Lex Luthor's Private Office

'Splendid, Natasha, splendid,' Lex Luthor said in elation, thrilled by success. 'A job well done. The SpHERE has been secured and my scientists are already all over it. The agreed upon compensation has been delivered to the location you specified.'

The woman in a two-tone red, gold inlaid uniform standing at ease in front of his exquisitely carved mahogany desk flashed a disturbing smirk. 'Spacibo, comrade Luthor. I will make good use of it.'

In what manner she thought making use of tonnes of explosives and munitions was good, she didn't elaborate. Not that Luthor cared about it much, as long as it didn't interfere with his own agenda.

'I also heard you encountered Styger during the operation?' Luthor said as he smoothed out his astronomically expensive suit.

The smirk melted away from Natasha's face and was replaced by a menacing frown. She growled.

'Da. That pest is quickly becoming irksome. I attempted to eradicate her but was unsuccessful. She had substantial backup. And comrade Leather reminded me of mission priorities.'

'And that, I appreciate. It wasn't such a bad idea to pair you up, yes?' Luthor said with a slight smile. It was his subtle way of letting Natasha know he didn't assign Leather as her teammate by accident. He was a cunning, calculating man.

'Da.' Natasha smirked again. She started to like the way Luthor was playing his cards. If only the man had more bloodlust. 'About this Styger, comrade, I believe you won't have to worry about her elimination anymore.'

'I won't?' Luthor leaned forward, resting his chin on his folded hands. His eyes showed intrigue.

'Nyet. She's made it personal. I intend to end her in the most gruesome way possible regardless of our business,' Natasha hissed and clenched her fist.

'Looking forward to it,' Luthor nodded, then opened a drawer in his desk, taking out a file, and laying it out. 'Also, here's a little something you might be interested in. It's from a few weeks back where a group of my... more popular associates had a run-in with a group of Justice Girls affiliates.'

Natasha picked up some of the photos. 'Ah, Miley Virus, an icon of capitalist decad... ' She fell silent and her eyes narrowed. 'Who's this?' She showed Luthor the picture. In it was a woman visibly exuding the red energy of anger, her eyes glowing with it, her hand in the middle of forming a construct of light.

But she was hanging from a wall much like a spider and there was no ring on any of her fingers.

'Unknown at this time,' Luthor said. 'She may have something to do with the mists that have been appearing periodicly throughout Metropolis. I figured you should know.'

Natasha eyed him with some suspicion. 'You do all you can to oblige me, don't you comrade?'

'As anyone with even a modicum of business acumen would,' Luthor conceded and spread his arms.

'If we are to solidify our business relationship,' Natasha said after a brief, thoughtful pause, 'there is a favor I'd like to ask.'

'A favor?' Luthor seemed genuinely surprised and curious.


Last edited by Gatkowski on Sun Aug 28, 2016 4:00 pm; edited 2 times in total
Cara Lace
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re: Crystal Shards - Log 02: Extraction

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There was so much to like about his, im kinda at a loss for words. First, you did the characters perfectly Happy And then followed that up with action, suspense, intrigue, comedy, and drama. Gotta admit, imagining the Comanderette standing watch over Kirsten and Lily, the symbolism of it, brought a lil tear to my eye.

Epic line... "Oh? Suffocation is an ugly way to go..."


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re: Crystal Shards - Log 02: Extraction

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Thanks, Cara, glad you like it. Happy

Also, I noticed only now that the last few paragraphs are actually cut off which is odd because they showed up in the preview. Anyway, here's the missing section.


----------------------------


'What exactly are you proposing?'

'To deal with Styger and her cronies, I require additional... endurance.' Natasha brought her ring up and began projecting an image in red. As detailed and in-depth in specifications as the ring's marvelous supercomputer was able to store and recall.

Luthor smiled as the slowly rotating holographic took shape. The shape of an armor suit, the one Natasha had battled against in the STAR Labs facility. And which had been piloted by none other than Jenny Styger herself.

'You need this reproduced?' Luthor asked, already excited by the prospect of getting his hands on some Styger tech, even if it proved somewhat inaccurate. Scanning and recording all this data during combat was sure to have some gaps and broken segments.

'Nyet,' Natasha shook her head. 'I need it improved. And run on a different power source.'

As if to emphasize her point, her red lantern ring flickered with malevolence.
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