"Ah, shit!" Kara repeated herself, her muscles straining uselessly against the chain wrapped around her body.
Standing only fifty meters from her was the giant and shirtless form of Lobo, DC's most infamous bounty hunter.
Lobo was just… huge. While Kal had more of a swimmer's build, the bounty hunter was made of muscles upon muscles with arms as large as Kara's waist. He basically looked like the stylized album cover version of an 80’s heavy metal singer on steroids.
The very end of his chain was still wrapped around his bulging arm and the pale man was pulling her slowly towards himself with a smile on his face.
"Lobo, what the hell are you doing here?" Kara grunted, equal parts fear and anger.
"Heh, seems like even Kryptonians know to fear the Main Man. You guys really are as smart as they say!" Lobo mocked, but continued to drag her closer
In a hurry, Kara grabbed at the chain and tried to break it, but the metal was able to resist her strength somehow and only released a groan.
Trying to fly away was useless so Kara did the opposite. Rushing Lobo caused the chain to give her enough slack that she managed to slip out of it and kick him in the face as hard as she could.
Lobo took the hit without even trying to protect himself and went flying, skidding across the ground for a hundred meters before his hand grabbed at the floor and he stopped himself.
"Feisty! I like it!" He laughed as he snapped his nose back into place and snorted a glob of blood out. "I'd offer ya a…"
Kara hit the asshole with the strongest blast of heat vision she could manage before he could finish the sentence.
The attack hit him with physical force, driving his body back and through the ground for nearly a kilometer and incinerating a path of destruction. The farmland around her attack caught fire, its flames spreading rapidly through the crops.
Kara cut off the attack and turned away from the Kent farm. Before Lobo could recover she started fleeing.
A single command activated her panic button, sending a message to the Justice League, Kori, Kal and even Batman at the same time as her leg started reconfiguring itself into her emergency teleporter.
Kara was just starting to think she had escaped when her ears caught a sound that chilled her blood.
From the Kents’ direction she heard Kon telling Martha he was gonna check out a noise he heard.
"Fuck!" Kara didn't know if Lobo had come specifically for her or if any Kryptonian would do, but she wasn't willing to risk it.
Stopping herself in the middle of the sky, Kara turned around to see Kon taking a huge leap towards Lobo's location.
The bounty hunter himself was just getting up and seemed in no hurry to follow after her. Kara wanted to scream.
"Bastich, I think I'm in love!" Lobo shouted as he got back to his feet, his burned face already starting to heal and his black hair to grow back.
Pulling a giant cigar from his back pocket, Lobo bit the tip off and used the fire around him to light it up. He took a huge drag on the cancer stick and finally looked up at Kara, lifting an eyebrow when he saw she wasn’t running. "Heh. And I thought I'd have to hunt you down again."
Kara was paralyzed with indecision. She wanted nothing more than to fly away but, with Kon coming here and Lobo seemingly disinclined to follow her, she couldn't do it.
She considered catching Kon before he arrived, but she also didn't know how fast Lobo was and couldn't risk leading him any closer to the Kents’ farm, the man wasn’t exactly known for his aversion to killing innocents.
"Why are you here, Lobo?" Kara repeated herself, hoping that she could get him talking and delay him.
“Seems like you stole something from some pussy-ass lizard people and they put a bounty on y’head. Something about their progenitors or some shit.” He pointed at her with two fingers while puffing out a huge cloud of smoke. “Always wanted to bag myself a Kryptonian so I took the bounty, and the Main Man always delivers.”
Shit, how the hell did they find out about her? She and Kori had made sure to destroy all the data in the ship when they took it over.
Also, Kara hadn’t stolen anything from them. Well, maybe the ship itself, but it was just a common ship, damnit.
Kara took the chance to release every drone she carried in her pockets, the little round devices weren’t really weapons, but she could overload their self-destruction and turn them into low power grenades.
Not like that would hurt someone like Lobo, but it could distract him.
Damnit, Kara just knew things had been going too well. Why didn’t she bring an actual weapon?
Lobo started calmly walking towards her, twirling his chain in his hand and causing it to sing as it cut through the air.
“Now come here, Princess. The damn Lizards are mostly interested in some bullshit organ they put in ya, so let the Main Man make your insides into the outsides and we can find it together.”
The chain flew towards her faster than she could see. Kara was ready and still managed to dodge to the side, but Lobo pulled on the chain and whipped it towards her, almost taking her head off.
On reflex Kara ducking under the swing, but she wasn’t fast enough to dodge Lobo himself as he jumped up and grabbed her boot.
“Gotcha. Now let me punch your face in for ya!”
“Fuck off!” Kara stomped down on the brute, but Lobo only grabbed her other leg and squeezed, his strength so great it actually caused her pain.
Looking at Lobo, Kara tried to burn his face off with heat vision again. The Czarnian just leaned his head away and swung them both around in the air causing her shot to go wide, burning a line through the farmland and hitting a barn a few kilometers away, setting it on fire.
Fuck, even here she had to worry about collateral damage!
Lobo took the chance to grab at her shirt and pull himself up her body, cackling in amusement the entire time.
Using the interface on her eye, Kara ordered one of her drones to fly into Lobo’s eye and explode.
“Argh.” He finally took a hand away from her body to protect his eye.
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Kara acted fast. Twisting her body, she ripped the leg of her pants off and caused Lobo’s remaining hand to slide off her body holding only a piece of cloth. His body started tumbling down to the ground fast.
With a shout of rage she took the chance to punch him in the kidney and accelerate his fall. He hit the ground with a shockwave and immediately turned around, but Kara was already on top of him, delivering a knee to his stomach.
She used her speed to punch him in the face twice before activating her heat vision again and trying to burn through his neck. The blast was so hot it vaporized the crops around them and scorched the ground.
She just managed to burn her way to his spine when he grabbed her face, his enormous hand blocking her vision.
Kara felt herself being lifted as Lobo got to his feet and ordered all her drones to bombard him, forcing the bounty hunter to use his other arm to destroy her small army.
Having never stopped using her heat vision, Kara’s drones brought her enough time to burn through Lobo’s hand and amputate two of his fingers, loosening his hold.
Before Kara could take her distance, Lobo kicked her in the chest, folding her body in half and sending her flying back.
“Feetal’s Gizz, what a rush! I ain’t had this much fun since I stitched my granddad’s eyes shut and sent ‘im walking through traffic!” Lobo screamed. A giant smile on his face.
A hundred meters away, Kara held her chest with a hand and tried to recover her breath. Heat vision was probably her most costly ability and she had been abusing it.
“Kara!” Kon shouted when he finally got close enough to see them.
With another giant leap the boy dropped by Kara’s side in a superhero landing. Putting a hand on her shoulder he checked her for any wounds before looking towards Lobo.
“Bastich. Another one of ya Kryptonians, I knew I wuz gonna have fun t’day! Just fraggin’ KNEW it!” Lobo laughed out loud as he shook his wounded hand, his fingers already starting to grow back.
“Kara, who’s that?” Kon asked as Kara finally righted herself, her chest still hurting.
“Lobo, psychotic bounty hunter extraordinaire.” Kara glanced at Kon and saw the boy was tense, his eyes glued to the enemy as if he just wanted to charge in and start punching. “Don’t. I already called for help, we just gotta delay him.”
For a second, it seemed like Kon wasn’t gonna listen to her, but then he released a breath and nodded causing Kara to smile.
“Alright punks, it’s kinda ah tragic fraggin’ waste, but the Main Man is on the clock. And if your buddies are coming I’m gonna have to stop playing around with ya.” Lobo cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. “Tell ya what, the more ya struggle the more it’s gonna hurt so, y’know, feel free to go crazy!”
Lobo exploded into action, his speed much faster than before. Both Kara and Kon ducked under a swing of his chain and Kara barely had time to cross her arms in front of her chest before getting hit by a flying knee.
Kon tried to punch Lobo in the face, but the hunter reacted instantly. Grabbing his hand Lobo pulled Kon out of balance and head-butted him into the ground.
Kara recovered and attacked with a kick which Lobo blocked with his chain wrapped around his arm. Kara managed to avoid getting grabbed again but Lobo’s hook glanced off the side of her head with enough strength to disorient her.
The Czarnian turned towards Kara, giving Kon enough time to jump to his feet and punch him twice in the side, then climb on his neck and try to put him into a sleeper hold.
“What’s this, amateur hour?” Lobo grabbed at Kon, but it left him open for Kara to strike him in the balls. “Gah!”
No matter how Kon tried to hold on, Lobo still managed to pry the arm away from his throat with a single hand. He then swung at Kara, using her little cousin’s body as a bludgeon.
Kara managed to dodge it and kick at Lobo’s arm, but the bounty hunter didn’t release his new club.
“Aaaargh!” Kon screamed and grabbed at his arm with his free hand.
“No!” Unable to keep her mind calm, Kara charged right in, tackling Lobo which caused him to drop Kon but rewarded her with a knee to the face.
Before Kara could recover, Lobo lifted both hands and delivered a devastating hammer blow to the back of her head, burying her body deep into the ground.
Under the ground, Kara realized they may not be able to buy enough time. The fight had only lasted for a few minutes and Kara really doubted she could survive another.
She thought about the teleport in her leg. It was already ready. Activating it would be so easy. A single command and she’d be away from here and safe inside the Fortress.
Unfortunately, it could only take one Kryptonian to the Fortress. She couldn’t take Kon with her or send Lobo instead.
A huge arm dug into the ground and grabbed her by the hair lifting her up with barely any resistance. Bringing her head up Lobo stared into her face with a grim. “What’s the matter? Y’done already?”
“RAAAAAAAA!” Kon screamed as he rushed from the side and punched Lobo in the head.
The Czarnian dropped Kara and took two steps back, but Kon didn’t stop there, raining a flurry of blows at his face and screaming all the while.
Kara tried to help, but she was still disoriented from the last blow and couldn’t even manage to fly, only managing to stumble towards them.
Finally, Lobo had enough. Grabbing his hook he swung up, forcing Kon to stop his attack and jump back.
In the air, Kon was unable to dodge the second hook strike. Not being fully Kryptonian he wasn’t as resistant as Kara and the hook dug deeply into his side splashing blood all over Lobo’s arm.
When Kon fell back to the ground he stumbled and fell to his knees in pain.
In desperation, Kara tried to rush to his help, only to fall down, her legs unable to support her. With one last effort she used her eye’s interface to delay her teleport by three seconds. Ripping her prosthetic leg off, she threw it as hard as she could towards Kon.
Lobo reacted; his instincts making him swat the projectile out of the sky. Kara watched it hit the ground and, with a loud pop, disappear.
“Huh.” The Czarnian looked at where the leg used to be, then shrugged and walked towards Kon with a maniacal grim on his face. “Y’know, ya punch like a chump but y’re tenacious, I’ll give you that!”
“I’m almost sorry to have to kill ya… Ah, who’m I kiddin’. I’m not sorry at all!” Kon tried to fight back, but Lobo kicked him in the head one last time, sending him back a few dozen meters, worsening his wounds and causing him to finally pass out. “Now, I never fragged a Kryptonian before, y’fella gonna be my first. I’m almost shy!”
Unable to get herself up, Kara dug into her eye socket and pulled out her last prosthetic before throwing it at Lobo as hard as she could.
Once again the bounty hunter swatted it out of the sky with his chain, his swing so fast the bomb flew a few meters away before it had time to implode.
The effect was devastating. The displaced space first drew Kara a few centimeters closer to its effect, then it seemed to break with a deafening bang, violently and randomly cutting everything in its range into a thousand pieces and teleporting them into different directions.
Kara stayed down for a few seconds. Finally, she managed to push herself into a kneeling position and laugh.
She had done it! The device should have splattered Lobo all over the place buying them enough time. It just had to!
“Hey ya fraggin bitch, those chains cost money!” All color fled from Kara’s face as she heard the Czarnian’s voice. “I was gonna do you the favor of killing ya, but nobody gets away with breaking th’ Main Man toys like that. Now I’m gonna hand ya to the bastards alive.”
Kara finally saw the bounty hunter. Lobo hadn’t escaped the explosion unharmed. He was missing his entire right arm and most of his chest, his head was only connected to the rest of his body by a small strip of flesh and his ribcage was left fully exposed.
He also didn’t really seem to care.
Blood flowed freely through the ground and he seemed to barely be on his feet, but soon the blood stopped and his exposed flesh started squirming as it regenerated.
Getting his feet back under him, Lobo used hand to hold his head in place until it grew enough flesh to stay on his body. It must have taken an entire minute, but Kara just stood there, looking.
No, she just refused to believe it.
She refused to believe this utter asshole was just gonna kill her newest little cousin.
She absolutely refused to believe he was gonna hand her back to the Psions, to once again become one of their experiments.
No!
In her first life Kara had just been getting her life in order, had gotten a job and started to be happy when it was all taken away as she died.
NO!
She had been gifted a second chance. A second life on Krypton where she had a family, a bright future, maybe even a chance to leave her mark on the world. But that too had been taken away, even more completely than her previous one.
NO!
Now she had just started to rebuild it all, she had a best friend, she had a family again, she had people who loved her and this… this… thing was just going to…
NO! She refused!
With a roar of absolute anger, Kara threw herself at the regenerating Lobo, a red aura manifesting itself around her, sharp spikes of pure rage forming around it.
Lobo used his remaining arm to punch her, but one of the spikes dug into his flesh and divided his fist in half.
Kara seemed to forget about her wounds, forget about her pain. The only thought in her mind was to utterly obliterate her enemy.
“DIEEEEE!” She shouted, her voice distorted by emotion.
In her anger she grabbed his arm and turned one of her spikes into a thin blade, severing it completely before throwing it away as hard as she could.
The aura around her arm turned physical, lengthening her fingers into claws that she used to push an arm through his chest and pull out his heart.
Lobo head butted her, snapping her head back. He then did it again and again, laughing like a maniac the entire time, but it only served to increase her rage.
Grabbing his head with both hands, she twisted it all the way around and ripped it off before hundreds of rage spikes ripped his body into pieces.
“DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!” Kara squeezed his head between her arms and activated her heat vision one last time, the heat burning through Lobo’s flesh until there was only a skull left, then even that crumbled into ash.
Despite Lobo’s total destruction, Kara continued to rage, screaming out like a madwoman. She completely lost track of time as she struck against an inexistent enemy and sent spikes of red light cutting through the ground.
Finally, she fell back to her knees breathing hard, her rage having diminishing and the red aura around her slowly fading away. Breathing hard, she felt the tears falling down her eyes and into the completely ravaged ground.
Strong arms enveloped her and pulled her closer to a chest covered with the red symbol of house El. “Shhhh, it’s alright. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
She looked up to see Kal, his face concerned but also filled with half a dozen small cuts. His costume too was filled with small cuts from her power.
A second set of arms hugged her from the front. Kara turned her eyes to see Kon, a huge gash on his forehead, an eye already starting to swell up, but otherwise fine. She cried harder.
Gently, Kal lifted her into his arms and cleaned her face with a thumb; still crying, Kara buried her face into his chest and shook as the Kryptonian equivalent of adrenaline left her body.
Lifting his eyes, he considered the destruction around them, his face turning into one of utter fury, his eyes shining red with barely contained power.
“Again.” Kal quietly whispered. His voice was sadder than Kara had ever heard before. “I won’t allow this to happen again, I can’t.”
“FRIEND KARA!” Kori shouted as she finally arrived.
The Tamaranean princess dropped right in front of Kal and was quickly followed by Wonder Woman.
With some of her regained strength Kara managed to push her face away from Kal’s chest. Her cousin reluctantly released her, letting Kara float under her own power for a brief second before Kori glomped her.
Kara buried her face in Kori’s shoulder and held on with everything she had. The Tamaranean hugged her back, her hands carefully supporting Kara in case she lost her power.
“It is alright, I am here for you.” Kori soothed and held Kara’s head in her hands. She adjusted Kara’s hair away from her face with a finger and kissed her in the forehead. “I will always be here for you.”
Kara let herself be held in Kori’s arms, enjoying the fleeting sense of security she could bring. She knew she’d have to let go, but she really wished they could stay like that forever.
“So, what are you doin’ after? Cuz bastich, that fight was hot!” Said someone from the ground.
Everyone reacted, Kori held Kara in her arms and floated up to get some distance from the sound while Kal put himself in front of Kon, his eyes shining red.
Without anyone to protect, it was Wonder Woman that advanced, finding a pool of blood and pieces of meat with a half regenerated head inside.
“What’s the matter? Ya never seen a guy regenerate from his own blood before?” Said Lobo’s head, still missing most of its left side. “Wonder where you threw that arm, cuz I tell ya, that’s gonna be a pain to deal with in a week or two.”