Chapter 28

"It's truly amusing, you really think the boy is still alive!" Felix Faust mocked, his body hidden behind the large frame of his demon. "You see, I killed him myself as soon as I got the order."

The words hit Kara like a raging flame dragon, causing her to freeze in place as she tried to process the information. In truth, Kara hadn't been very close to Red Arrow, but he was working with her. She had spoken with him, given him equipment, even lead him in the Prof. Morrow raid. In a way, he had been her responsibility.

Kara knew that continuing to use him as a mole against the Light was a huge risk but, in the end, it hadn't been his failure that caused his death. Damn it all.

Kara noticed a red haze starting to fill her vision and had to stop herself from moving. She wanted nothing more than to tear into the damn Sorcerer, but she knew that, if she gave in, she'd probably slaughter the whole base, and that wasn't who she wanted to become.

Taking a breath, she forced herself to think. Accelerating her thoughts until the world around her seemed to be moving slowly.

Once again, Kara was thankful for her armor, her enemies couldn't see the conflict on her face as she desperately tried to think about the situation. She was angry, no, she was beyond angry. Kara wanted nothing more than to rip Faust's head off his shoulder and stomp on it, but she knew that acting harshly would only cause problems.

Should she kill them all? She definitely wanted to, but then what? Rao damn it all, Kara didn't have the training for this kind of thing, her accelerated thoughts helped, but even then, it couldn't solve everything.

"Faust, what's the meaning of this?" Talia frowned, her hand still holding the remote control. "Deal with the intruder already."

Kara glanced at the woman and activated every sensor on her armor, she also used her x-ray vision to look inside the remote. She detected at least another five controls working on the same frequency amongst Talia's followers, as well as a deadman switch that would trigger the explosives if Talia was killed.

She was probably fast enough to disable them all anyway, but there was nothing stopping someone from triggering them from outside the room, Kara detected at least two cameras on the cave already.

Her armor could probably block the signal, but could she take the risk? Did she ever care? If she wasn't gonna use the Pit, she couldn't care less if it was destroyed.

Kara assumed the Pit was a Lazarus Pit, used to resurrect Ra's every time the old bastard was killed but, could she trust it with Red Arrow? Kara wasn't an expert on the Lazarus Pit but, from what she remembered, every time it was used on a hero, things didn't turn out well.

From what she remembers, the Lazarus Pit had been used twice to resurrect two different Robins and, both times, it had caused them to go crazy. Kara had to wonder if Ra's al Ghul had always been so crazy, or was he such a warped person because of the Pit's influence?

Using the display on her armor, Kara ordered her drones to reconfigure themselves and waited. She decided that she was willing to let her enemies talk as long as it gave her time to think and plan. It would also give her enemies time to think, but Kara had a huge advantage there. She was convinced that she'd get far more from whatever time was brought, even if it was incredibly hard to hold back her rage.

"In a moment. I believe I have to deal with you first, my dear." Faust said, tapping a finger against his chin in thought. "After all, the intruder isn't threatening my goal right now. You are."

"What's the meaning of this? Your master should have been clear on your orders, Sorcerer, obey them!" Talia said, her voice hard, Kara saw the woman's eyes subtly glancing all around the room, trying to find a way out of this situation.

"Ah yes. In truth, I doubt the little abomination will care overly much as long as what I do amuses it, more than that, I have a new master now." Faust shrugged with indifference. "I confess, I could probably have taken the boy alive, he was quite pathetic but, seeing how desperate for information your group was, I thought it possible you'd try to revive him. If I knew a Lazarus Pit was right here, I wouldn't have bothered."

Turning away from Talia, Kara focused all of her attention on the sorcerer. Really, he was the real threat here, and the one responsible for Red Arrow's death. She wanted him to hurt, she wanted to tear him apart with her bare hands. It was time to figure out how to do that.

Kara knew the Sorcerer should be dead. While she certainly hadn't hit him with all her power, her punch had been strong enough to explode any human's head, even a moderately enhanced one, not to mention how his body had broken through a wall and damaged a second one.

Clearly, his powers gave him some kind of protection. Seeing as he still got hurt, it was probably some form of body enhancement and not a shield, plus some regeneration with how he'd been recovering. His magic was also greatly empowered, but he still didn't have much experience in a direct fight at this level.

Now, if only she could get through his pet demon. Kara had watched some records of Etrigan in action from the Justice League's files; the Rhyming Demon was fast, strong and capable of magic. This wasn't Etrigan, but he looked almost exactly like him so, probably family.

From what she knew, Etrigan was a prince of Hell, which meant he was at the upper level of power. Kara didn't know much about the sealed demon's family, but anything related to a prince of hell couldn't be weak.

"Hmmm, a pity. It seems like our intruder has more self control than I first thought. I was certain he would attack me if I mocked the boy." Faust gave an exaggerated sigh, Kara was paying close attention to him and still barely saw a shadow leaving his body. "I guess we should resume this? I have bought enough time after all."

Everything happened at once. As soon as Faust finished talking, Kara shot him with her gun as well as five laser pistols formed from her drones. The demon's arm flashed and he actually hit the projectile out of the air while blocking one of the laser bolts.

Four lasers still hit Faust's body, but they were blocked by a shield just above his skin. The sorcerer waved his arms, one hand aiming for Talia and her followers, while the other sent a wave of purple fire towards the Lazarus Pit's doors.

A purple pentagram appeared under Talia, enveloping all of her goons at the same time. Kara had to choose quickly, block the flames and save the Pit, or save Red Arrow's body. She chose the latter.

She acted fast. Moving just below the speed of sound, Kara saw the demon watching her with amusement, but he didn't intercept her as she flew towards Talia. Kara still managed to snap off a shot at the purple flame, the projectile dispersed some of the spell, but it still hit the metal doors sealing the pit and started melting them.

Flying through the pentagram, Kara threw five of the assassins away from the spell's area of effect before reaching Red Arrow, she grabbed his body and noticed purple bars starting to grow from the floor, aiming to lock her in place.

Kara briefly noticed that Talia was able to jump away too, then she flew out of the area of effect with Red Arrow's body on her arms. Behind her, the purple bars formed a dome with three assassins still inside.

One of the assassins tried to jump through the bars, they offered no resistance to his body and he passed right through, then he fell to pieces, the bars having cut through his body like a hot knife through butter. Inside the dome, both remaining assassins also burst into flames, burning from the feet up and turning into ashes.

"Demon, kill any who tries to interfere!" Faust yelled as he flew towards the Lazarus pit.

"As you wish." The demon smiled and turned towards Kara.

Talia rolled through the floor and attempted to get up, but her own shadow seemed to come alive, holding her in place. She tried to press the button on her device, but shadows enveloped her hand and pulled it through the floor as if it was intangible, Talia screamed in pain.

The demon took a deep breath, then spewed a wave of hellfire into his own hands. Molding the flames into the form of a large sword, he released a roar of rage and pounced towards Kara, moving almost as fast as she could.

A shield generated by her drones intercepted the first blow, but the sword broke the shield easily, destroying the drones used. The deflection still brought Kara enough time and left the demon exposed. Making sure to keep Red Arrow's body away from him Kara punched out, a sharp blade protruding from her gauntlet towards the demon's heart.

The creature was fast enough to twist aside, but Kara's blow still pierced all the way through its left shoulder; Kara herself managed to dodge his swing completely and, before she could twist the blade, the demon kicked her in the chest, driving her away from his body with another roar.

"Ha! Good one!" The demon laughed, his shoulder healing almost instantly. "I am Vortigar, son of Belial, and I will enjoy spilling your blood and adding your skull to my throne!"

Kara didn't reply, the fight was only making her angrier and she just didn't feel like trading barbs with her enemies, she just wanted them to die!

Noticing that her drones had finally finished attaching themselves to her gun and modifying it, she pulled it from her back and pointed it towards Vortigar's chest. The demon was arrogant enough to stand in place while her weapon locked into his position. Kara pulled the trigger.

There was no noise, no projectile, but Vortigar suddenly stumbled as a portal opened inside his chest and sucked out a piece of his heart. From the side of her gun, a capsule was ejected, the demonic flesh compressed inside so as to not create a mess inside her weapon.

The demon roared, the noise was like a tiger's roar, only a thousand times worse. It caused the entire cave to shake and almost froze Kara in place. With a grunt, he threw his sword like a javelin towards Kara's chest.

Another drone shield formed automatically in front of her, it broke almost instantly, but deflected the projectile enough that Kara was able to snap out of the stun and dodge just enough. The sword still pierced through her side, but it only hit the metal of her armor.

Almost in a daze, Kara released the gun, letting it swing back into place and touched the sword that almost pierced through her chest, her heart beating like mad. She didn't know if the weapon could have pierced her Kryptonian skin, but she most certainly did not want to find out.

The sword started to heat up, its metal turning back into hellfire, Kara quickly ripped it out and threw it aside, but it still left a melted hole in her armor.

Then the demon pounced. Missing part of his heart seemed to have some effect though as he was a little slower than before, allowing Kara to use her speed to fly back. Making sure that Red Arrow's body was always protected, she pulled out her gun again and aimed towards him. Vortigar was certainly arrogant but he wasn't completely stupid, never staying in place enough for her teleportation weapon to get a lock on his position a second time.

Kara was so focused on the demon she didn't see Faust cast a new spell, a bolt of purple lightning hit her armor and sent her flying back, her display flashing red from the damage.

Turning towards the Sorcerer, she saw a flow of green energy being sucked from the Pit and towards his body, his eyes flashed with unholy light as veins of green pulsed through his body.

Her armor's display warned Kara that his latest attack was five times stronger than before; her systems had also finally gathered enough information to analyze its effects.

It seems that Faust's spells weren't just strong, they had an exotic effect capable of warping the materials it hit, corrupting its attributes with every subsequent hit, every blow that Kara blocked made her armor weaker.

Thankfully, the attacks weren't able to encompass her entire armor, only affecting a small area around the hit, and only for a certain amount of time. But, with his powers constantly growing, that area was increasing, and she didn't dare take more than one blow right now.

Rao fucking damn it, couldn't she get a fucking break!

Her vision started to become red again, with a growl, Kara aimed her gun towards Faust, but Vortigar jumped at her again, forcing her to dodge and lose the lock. Hitting the ceiling, the demon took a deep breath and released a wave of hellfire towards her.

Kara's armor could take it, but she was still carrying Red Arrow, forcing her to fly back. Floating atop the Lazarus Pit, Faust gathered another bolt, layering five pentagrams to increase its powers.

Kara also noticed a wave of mud rising from inside the Pit. Doubtlessly, it was yet another enemy she'd have to face. With a scream of frustration, Kara sent three blades of red light towards Vortigar, they cut through his hellfire and forced the demon to dodge, one of them cutting right through his wrist and sending his hand flying away.

She took the chance to aim back towards Faust, the bolt he had been preparing flew towards her. Without a choice, Kara released Red Arrow and blocked the bolt with her Nth metal gauntlet, then pressed the trigger.

With a 'click', a capsule was ejected from her weapon, the teleport had pierced right through all of Faust's shields and pulled a piece of his brain out. Kara released a roar of satisfaction as she saw the sorcerer's eyes growing dull.

Releasing her weapon, Kara flew down and grabbed Red Arrow's body right before it hit the ground. Faust's body hit the mud creature and bounced off, falling inside the Lazarus Pit. A wave of green light exploded from the pit, sending the monster flying away.

"Oh fuck no! NO!" Kara roared, the cursed sorcerer was not about to get a fucking second form!

Glancing down at Red Arrow's body, Kara gritted her teeth, the red haze around her eyes growing thicker, the Lazarus Pit released another wave of green light and Kara gave the order.

While Faust had been speaking, a few of her drones had flown towards the explosive charges, using their stealth tech to remain undetected as they attached themselves to the explosives. Kara's goal had been to use the drones to block any transmission towards them, eliminating any danger of the charges going off. Now, she did the opposite.

Using her X-ray vision to look through the stone, Kara saw as the Sorcerer's body started to move inside the pit, then it, and everything around it, exploded.

Pieces of stone flew away from the pit, Kara batted one of them aside with an arm and briefly saw another flying towards where Talia was. Glancing towards the woman, she saw that the shadows holding her in place had been dispersed with Faust's death.

Unfortunately, Talia's hand was still inside the floor keeping her in place. With a shout, Talia used her sword to chop her own arm off, then rolled aside as the rock smashed into the place.

The explosion caused the waters from the Lazarus Pit to spread through the entire cave, while also sending pieces of Faust's body flying, Kara saw the Sorcerer's remains falling to the floor with a 'Thud'.

Faust was left with only one arm, missing most of his body from the chest down, and covered in burns, he still had a wave of unholy green light covering his body, his magic desperately trying to heal his wounds, but it wasn't enough, his wounds were just too much.

With another roar, Vortigar tackled her, causing Kara to drop Red Arrow's body once again and smashing her armor against the wall. With only one hand, the demon grabbed her by the throat and spewed a wave of hellfire directly on her helmet.

Growling in anger, red spikes of light exploded from Kara's body, they were unfocused and only left shallow cuts on Vortigar's skin, but the demon seemed to still be weakened from the missing heart, his actions slower than before.

With satisfaction, Kara managed to grab Vortigar's head and aim his mouth away from her helmet before he did too much damage, using her superior strength, she twisted around, reversing their positions before smashing the demon's head on the wall.

Grabbing his head with both hands, she used her super-speed to smash him against the wall over and over again. one of his horns broke from the blows, then she pulled his head back and smashed it one last time, driving his head inside the wall up to his neck.

Taking two steps back, Kara pulled out her gun and aimed at his chest, a second later, she pressed the trigger. Then did it again, and again. Three capsules were ejected from her gun, each one holding a piece of his heart or lung.

Finally, Vortigar's body stopped struggling, falling bonelessly to his knees, his head still stuck inside the wall. A weak bolt of purple energy hit the wall to their side and Kara turned back towards Faust.

The Sorcerer had one hand aimed towards her, but his body had stopped regenerating even while he still didn't have an arm or anything below his stomach. Somehow, he was still alive, his unholy powers keeping him from fully moving on, but clearly, he could no longer put up a fight.

Breathing hard, Kara felt the red haze retreating from her vision as she stumbled away from Vortigar's body. She almost fell to her knees from the effort it took to take a look around the destroyed room, Kara saw that Red Arrow's body was still intact, while Talia was running towards an exit while wrapping a piece of cloth around her missing limb.

Unfortunately, the mud monster that had left the Lazarus Pit was following her, the mud flowing and forming into the deformed body of a blonde man from the waist up. Kara kept an eye on them, but decided to deal with Faust first.

Walking towards the Sorcerer, she saw his eyes widen with every step. She stopped in front of his body, the Sorcerer was struggling to breath, his hand and head shaking with effort. Several times he tried to form new spells, only for them to fizzle before they were halfway done.

Kara stared at his form for a second, then kicked his arm away and stepped on his face with her armored foot, pressing it into the cave floor. "You know, I thought this would give me more pleasure." She commented as she increased the weight. She felt Faust's nose break before she stopped. "In a way, I'm glad it doesn't. I took far too much joy in killing the Psions, and it made me afraid of what I'd become, but this doesn't bring me pleasure, I'm not really enjoying your pain right now."

Without taking her foot away from Faust's head, Kara thought about what to do, she glanced at Red Arrow's fallen form, then towards Talia facing off against a blonde man, her sword cutting through his arm, only for it to reform from mud.

"I know that most of the people I care about would tell me not to kill you, you're no longer a threat to me, I should arrest you." She said again, but she wasn't really talking to Faust. "And, if I felt any kind of pleasure right now, I probably would listen to them."

Then she increased her strength and crushed his skull, bone and brain leaking around her armored feet. Stepping away from the body, Kara lifted her weapon and changed its configuration once again, releasing a wave of fire that scorched the rocks and turned Faust's body into ashes.

In truth, if she had felt any kind of sadistic pleasure at Faust's situation Kara probably would have stopped herself, she didn't want to become a monster. But no, the only satisfaction she felt was from winning the fight and surviving.

She'd killed Faust because he was a monster. The kind of monster that wouldn't stop, that would kill children and torture souls while laughing about it, the kind of monster that wouldn't repent.

Kara didn't know if she wasn't just making things up, perhaps she was just justifying her actions and she had killed the Sorcerer for revenge, but she didn't think so. Some villains just needed to die.

"You left me there!" The mud monster screamed, still acting uncoordinated while fighting Talia.

"You used me. It was what you deserved!" Talia answered with disgust. Even without an arm, the woman was dominating the fight, but the monster wasn't affected by her blade, and managed to keep itself in front of the exit.

Glancing at her HUD to check for any other threats, Kara started to walk towards Red Arrow. She had recognized the mud monster as Clayface. With a single order, she made some of the drones attached to Talia's body since the start of the fight transfer over to Clayface, then activated them.

Lifting Red Arrow into her arms, she watched as both Shadows were shocked. The electricity ran through their bodies for several seconds until they both fell to the ground, unconscious.

Above her, the same thing happened to every human agent on the fortress as hundreds of drones shocked them too, disabling the entire building.

With one last command, Kara used some of her drones to physically connect with the servers on the fortress and start downloading everything she could. Looking around the room, she noticed Vortigar's body had turned into flames with Faust's death.

"Now, how long do I have before they get reinforcements?" Kara wondered to herself while looking around.

Ten minutes later, Kara was hovering a few kilometers above the Fortress; at her side, Red Arrow's body floated atop one of her energy shields, Talia's unconscious form beside him, as well as a jar holding Clayface.

Below, the unconscious guards laid into a huge pile a kilometer away from the fortress, Kara had alway wanted to have a mountain of defeated enemies at her feet. Doing so while keeping them all alive had been a little complicated, but she had managed it. They were protected under several of Kara's shields.

Lifting her arm, Kara also lifted a huge metal box she had found inside the fortress. It had been a giant safe, but Kara had already emptied its contents, together with everything else of value on the fortress, on top of a different shield. She wasn't looking to keep the already cracked safe as a souvenir. No, she simply needed something sturdy with a lot of mass.

A command later, her armor followed the precisely calculated movements and threw the safe down, hard. The metal caused a sonic boom as it flew down, then hit the fortress like a hammer from god, sending large pieces of gravel flying up. The entire island shook from the blow and a cloud of dust rose, almost reaching her own height.

Kara watched the rain of debris for a few moments, then, when there was no longer any danger, she retrieved all her drones and flew away.

Utterly destroying the League of Shadows' main fortress and base of operations may have been a little much but, after today, it had been very cathartic.

Now, Kara just had to find out what the hell she was gonna do next.

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