I need a hero [Chapter IX]

[DC Comics]

Members of Intergang now occupied an abandoned warehouse located near the back of the city where they were moving several Moon Valley citizens that they took hostage. Some of them let out the loudest scream they could muster in the hopes that someone, anyone, would hear them before being muzzled out by duct tape and tied together with one another. All of their faces were covered now as the members of Intergang began strapping them all with a bomb set to go off the moment someone else entered the room. The place was heavily guarded with sentries on the northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast of the building. A couple of men located on the roof and even more inside the warehouse but far away from the room with the explosive as nobody wished to get caught up in the blast if and when the thing goes off.

The trap was now set. Nothing else to do but wait.

[Silver Eyes]

Screaming. Abandoned warehouse of prisoners. The fluttering of heartbeats from within and the steady ones grouped up not that far away. Guns had been cocked and the gears of machines were turning.

Amoura's deduction: it was a trap. Was it set for her or for Superwoman? The hero of Moon Valley had, no doubt, made quite a few enemies in thwarting that sniper's plan to take down the mayor. It's a shame there was no success on his part. Yet Amoura was causing problems too; but was anyone aware of her presence in this city? Part of her wouldn't doubt it--she still wasn't at Ranka's level of secrecy.

Perhaps these were the allies of the now deceased sniper and it was time to make a proposition. From a shadow nearby, very well concealed, she threw out her voice loud enough for them to hear:

"Clever but obvious. I expected more. If you think explosives are enough then you need to do more homework."

Amoura emerged from where she hid, guns in her hands, both cocked and ready to fire should any try to attack. For the time being, she was no threat unless they treat her as such. "I trust that sniper who tried to kill the mayor was associated with you lot?" Amoura stopped getting closer, "I'll just say this right now: you can have me as your worst enemy or your greatest ally. I want the mayor dead as well."

Amoura half-expected to be filled with bullet holes any second now.

[Kara]

Superwoman was floating out in space admiring Genesis in all its glory as the dual suns began to shine their burning rays of light behind it. She held her breath to ensure that the cruel vacuums of space didn't take away her oxygen and pulled her away into the black abyss. Her peaceful viewing of the planet she had lived in for fourteen years came to an end when she heard the screams of women and children back in Moon Valley via superhuman hearing. Concerned Superwoman quickly flew back into orbit and followed the sound of the voices to the abandoned warehouse. Hiding out in the bushes to avoid the guards Kara used her X-Ray Vision to peal away concrete walls and to see the room full of hostages strapped to a bomb and knew straight away that she had to be careful or all these people weren't going to make it out alive.

Superwoman's attention would soon be drawn over by other voices, her eyes falling upon a woman she has never seen in Moon Valley before appearing seemingly out of thin air. Her eyes widened in shock at hearing what she had to say. "What?" She knew she had to do something about this, she couldn't let either side kill the mayor but what to do? Warning the mayor of course was definitely something she had to do even if Carari Grey tried to have her arrested in the process but first thing first, freeing the hostages. Spotting a guard passing by her position she quickly grabbed him and pulled him into the bushes with her now staring him down. "How do I disarm the bomb?" The guard only looked at her and said nothing. Kara, showing him she meant business caused her eyes to go red as she were only seconds away from using her Heat Ray on him. "How do I disarm the bomb!?"

[DC Comics]

No shots were fired, their guns weren't even raised up towards the Night Angel after she entered. Instead Bruno Mannheim entered the room, the guards standing down the moment his presence became known and his eyes stared directly into the direction of the demon, vampire hybrid.

"What reason would you have to kill the mayor?"

He didn't trust her, that much was certain. But he made no move to attack and neither would any of his men unless he ordered them to do so. The guards outside were beginning to suspect something was wrong once one of their own went missing thanks to intervention by Superwoman. They began scouting the surrounding area for any signs of the missing man as their leader handled the growing situation inside the warehouse.

[Silver Eyes]

The ringleader had arrived and Amoura couldn't suppress a smirk. Most of the time people would shoot first and ask questions later; these people had brains and she liked it. To show she meant no harm now that they were willing to listen, she put her guns back into their holsters and crossed her arms.

"Let's just say the Mayor is in league with someone I want dead as well. The friend of my enemy is my enemy."

Amoura narrowed her eyes at Bruno,"I shall repeat myself. You can have me as an ally in this or as your worst nightmare. Make the choice."

[Kara]

He didn't know anything and now people were looking for him. This actually worked in Superwoman's favor as now all she had to do was wait for them to come to her and when they did, she'd grab them, ask the same question and when they couldn't answer, knock them out with one punch. Taking one of the criminals cellphones she used it to call the police and kept it just in case the police could use it at a later date. Now that the cops would be on their way all she had to do now was ensure that the people inside wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. She took to the roof when the guards around the warehouse were taken care of and took out the foot soldiers on there, bending their weapons to render them useless and then dropping their unconscious bodies down with the others where the police would find them.

Returning to the roof Superwoman thought long and hard about what her next move should be. Come on. Think! Think! Those people are counting on you. Using her X-Ray Vision to get a bird's eye view of the room with the bomb she noted something she didn't back on the sides. The bomb was triggered to explode when somebody turned the handle on the door that led into the room. As long as nobody touched that door the people were safe and she was standing, on the roof. Without further ado Superwoman used her strength to pull out a hole in the warehouse roof, as quietly as one could do something like that, and placed it down before floating down through the gap and pulling off the bag over one of the hostages heads.

"Shh!" she told him while pressing her index finger up to her lips. Removing their constraints Superwoman flew all of them out one by one allowing them all to run far away from the warehouse where they would inevitably run straight into the in-coming police so Kara knew they would be in safe hands soon. With the last of the hostages removed from the room the only thing left to do was cover their tracks. Superwoman went over to the door and turned the knob, causing the bomb to go off as a result and making anyone on the other side think that someone fell for the trap and got all the people killed. Superwoman would be fine and by the time they got into the room after the explosion, she would be long gone.

[DC Comics]

((Sorry for the delay. I'll try not to make it a habit of taking a week to reply.))

Bruno opened his mouth to speak but it was soon drowned out by the sound of explosions, explosions coming from inside the warehouse. Had someone really proven stupid enough to set the bomb off and kill all of those people? Bruno's thugs were quick to investigate this and they saw no signs of bodies on the floor and as they only began to wonder what had happened, they saw the hole in the ceiling and everything became all too clear. Reporting back to the boss Bruno could only give off a crooked smile at the news.

"It seems we've underestimated old Supergirl's intelligence."

He made it a point to call her a girl, not finding her suited for the title of woman just yet. Soon the sound of police sirens could be heard drawing near and the crooked smile soon fell off his features as he looked back at Amoura.

"I accept your proposal but if either one of us wants to get to the mayor then we're gonna have to get through the red caped wonder first. For now though, we have the matter of some pigs to attend to."

[Silver Eyes]

"You can leave her to me."

Amoura watched the caped crusader fly off, victorious for now, but not even she can stop the inevitable. The Night Angel's mind was set; the mayor must die for what she had caused and for being in league with her most loathed enemy. No one, not even Superwoman, will stop her from achieving this.

"The police will be easy to deal with."

The moment those words were uttered, the ground began to shake, the buildings within the vicinity had cracks racing along their structures and collapsed into piles of dusty rubble. The police's eyes were clouded, they were panicking, their cars were blaring uncontrollably from the angry earth and screaming joined in with the sirens.

"Where to? We'll need to discuss a plan to get to the mayor."

[DC Comics]

"You're just full of surprises aren't you? That's ok."

Bruno held up his right wrist and pressed on a button on his watch, moments later a small beam shot from out of it, opening up a portal in space and time itself, creating the threshold for them to quickly move to a secure location where they could further discuss business. It wasn't magic but done by a technology strange and foreign even by Genesis' standards.

"So am I. Ladies first."

[Silver Eyes]

"Keeps people on their toes."

With the gesture to go first, Amoura promptly walked through the portal without asking questions or showing real concern as to what could be on the other side. It could be a trap, or better yet, to a dangerous location and Bruno had no intention of allying himself with her. Regardless of the fact, it was a risk worth taking if it meant taking down the mayor.

[DC Comics]

((To be continued in: Apokolips))