From where Superwoman’s teammates stood just outside the perimeter of the prison complex, it looked as though a blizzard of construction equipment had engulfed the two airborne women. I-beams, dump trucks, cinderblocks, a row of port-a-potties – even a backhoe – formed a series of high-speed orbits around Superwoman, but Chatichai must have been dissatisfied with the size of her arsenal. A hailstorm of boulders and uprooted trees came hurtling into the tempest, making it even harder for Superwoman’s teammates to spot her. Occasionally, a glimpse of blue or red was briefly visible among the frantic whirlwind of objects as something slammed so hard into Superwoman that she was almost knocked out of the telekinetic Thai’s sphere of chaos. Other than those alarming sightings, her colleagues couldn’t see her at all.
Gren had returned from the prison and was circling above the battling women, trying to break into the streaming wall of debris. Chatichai apparently saw him: the Green Lantern found himself dodging a trash dumpster and a shower of high-velocity bricks. He threw up a force field quickly enough to protect himself, but he couldn’t squeeze through the swirling mass of objects, and forcing his constructs into it blindly could end up hurting Superwoman as much as their enemy.
Gren’s teammates could see him cursing in frustration as he continued to try to infiltrate Chatchai’s fortress of flying steel, trees and stone. There wasn’t much they could do to help him.
“I’ve never seen a telekinetic with that much strength and speed,” said Arsenal, his eyes locked on the maelstrom of flying construction materials. “She was nowhere near this powerful last year.”
“I wish I could see Martha,” said Quiver.
“She’s still trying to get to Chatichai,” Meera said, straining for a glimpse of her teammate.
“Is she hurt?” asked Batman tensely.
“Yes,” said Meera, “but she’s still fighting.”
Batman remembered something Lian had said not long ago about no one really knowing the true extent of Meera’s powers. He grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Can you stop this?” he asked.
“What?” asked Meera, stunned. She shrunk away from his grasp.
“He asked if you could stop that nutcase from killing Martha.” Grendel landed beside them with a startling thump. “
You can. Do it, Meera. Get into her head and fuck it up.”
“I can’t,” said Meera who seemed horrified by Gren’s suggestion. “You don’t know –”
“Meera, please,” interrupted Arsenal. “You won’t lose control.”
She looked into his desperate, tired face, whispered a prayer and closed her eyes. Slowly, the deadly squall seemed to slow and Chatichai’s power over the airborne objects started to slip. The wrecking ball and a few boulders came crashing to the Earth. Gren and Midori immediately threw up force fields to protect the team.
They could see Superwoman now, hovering unsteadily in the air, her eyes still locked on her opponent. As a confused Chatichai struggled to regain control over her powers, Superwoman gave a final push forward, charging the foe she’d so badly underestimated. As powerful as she was, Chatichai was not invulnerable. A quick left cross sent her tumbling, unconscious, through the air. Superwoman gamely tried to race after her, but her injuries slowed her down. Gren’s big green hand snatched the telekinetic Thai just before she hit the ground.
“I’m taking this bitch right back to prison,” he said. His eyes moved toward Superwoman, who was shakily making her way back to them. “Make sure she’s OK.”
Superwoman staggered through her landing, holding up a hand when Quiver rushed forward to help steady her. “I’m all right,” she gasped.
“You sure?” asked Arsenal skeptically as Batman stared at her in what appeared to be an attempt to penetrate the pristine hologram through sheer willpower.
“Yeah,” said Superwoman, dazedly. But as she tried to smile, her head lolled back on her shoulders and her legs buckled. Batman and Quiver each caught an arm before she went crashing onto the ground, unconscious.
They eased Superwoman onto her back and Batman ran two fingers along the length of her spine. “Check her pupils,” he said.
Quiver felt around Superwoman’s right hip for the hologram projector. “Oh, God,” she said when the blonde illusion melted into the small, battered body of her roommate. Both of Martha’s eyes were black, her lips were torn and there was a cut just above her left cheekbone that would have required stitches for anyone without her power to heal almost instantly. Her blouse was ripped and bloody. There was swelling and a nasty bruise near her collarbone that suggested a bad break.
Batman glanced at Martha quickly, felt his stomach lurch and growled, “
Check her pupils.”
Gren landed heavily by Quiver’s side as she carefully peeled Martha’s lids open. He dropped to a squat and examined her eyes.
“Fuck, they're uneven," he said.
Arsenal’s eyes snapped towards Meera, who still seemed shaky from her telepathic clash with Chatichai. “Call Superman.”
She nodded and licked her lips nervously.
“She doesn’t like her father to see her this way,” Quiver warned.
“I don’t care,” said Roy. “Clark’ll know how to help her.”
Gren had been a medic in the army. “We’ve got to wake her,” he said. “She probably has a concussion.” He pushed her shirt up to the bottom of her bruised ribs and ran a hand over her flat belly, checking for internal injuries.
Lian stroked Martha’s cheek, careful to avoid the cut under her eye. “Martha?”
Meera shook her head at Arsenal. “I can’t reach him,” she said as Lian continued to try to talk Martha awake. “He must be off-planet.”
Gren looked up. “Then call her mother,” he said. “She’ll know what to do.”
Everyone blanched. All of them loved and respected Lois, but they were also a little afraid of her. No one wanted to be there when she saw how beaten up her daughter was – especially when the rest of the team had managed to escape without a scratch.
Midori, who had been examining Martha’s bruises from where she stood beside Arsenal, reached over and touched his gloved hand. “She’s not healing,” she said.
“Call Lois,” said Roy miserably.
“No.” Everyone’s eyes shifted to Martha, whose voice was a shattered whisper. Her eyes fluttered as she spoke, but she could not seem to find the strength to open them. “Just take me home. And hurry. It’s really… it’s really cold out here.”
Continued...
