Over The Rainbow
by Max Hass
Copyright August 2006

Chapter 3

Seconds after Supergirl flew out of the building and back into the unfamiliar skies over Gotham City, she fingered the device the mobster had given her. "Any other day I would have crushed this toy and smashed the smug look off that monster's face! But my options are very limited. Any error in judgement and Batgirl's life could be ended. I won't have her death on my account."

While Supergirl reviewed the events, both past and present, a group of men on a rooftop were busy. Three large tubes mounted on heavy tripods were already aimed at the sky in the general direction that the heroine was flying in. One man hung up a cell phone and turned to a laptop some distance from the launchers across the rooftop. With the depression of a button, two of the rockets housed in the tubes were sprung out, their engines lighting off several yards away.

A third launch, delayed by several seconds, concluded the mission assigned to this mysterious group of individuals. Sitting in the background, a scale sized helicopter was warming up. The unmanned aircraft had a pair of robotic arms in the nose of the fuselage. Seconds later, the remote aircraft took to the skies.

The rockets closed the gap slowly, taking some time to catch up to the heroine as she flew by. But the heroine was unaware of all of this, deeply lost in thought. Supergirl had encountered the trio of self appointed vigilantes who struggled to counter the likes of this fat, egotistical and power mad criminal.

Supergirl did respect what Batgirl had tried to do. Rather than risk any further harm to Batgirl, she gave Thorne the illusion that he had something he didn't: control of the situation. Little did she realize what she was about to confront, ripped from the illusion of her own command over this situation.

As she pondered the emotional depths of the event she had been dragged into, two anti-aircraft rockets sped at Supergirl's heels, followed by seconds by a larger and heavier anti-tank weapon. Lost in thought, she didn't notice the sounds as they approached.

With a whistle and whine, the two rockets roared past the blond heroine, leaving a pair of bright, dusty trails that she was now flying through. Supergirl came to a stop in the midst of a cloud of particles ejected by both of the rockets. As she looked around at the colors, she thought she was in a rainbow. In these seconds of distraction, Supergirl failed to consider what this event meant to her, or the danger about to strike.

Continuing to breath as if the particles were harmless to her, the blond beauty floated for a few more seconds, then realized the rockets that passed her might pose a threat when they fell from the sky. Not wanting the innocent to be harmed, she sped out of the cloud and after the rockets.

Flying faster, Supergirl began to notice that it was taking far more effort to fly. Using her enhanced vision, she saw the trails left by the motors up ahead. While she strained to move faster, she ignored the sound lost behind her. She was far too occupied in noticing the fact her breathing was now labored, an effort she never experienced before.

The larger and heavier anti-tank rocket had closed the gap and was targeting the signal transmitted by the cell phone her enemy had given her. Eyes monitored the telemetry from the rockets as they conducted their missions. A screen displayed the distance between the last rocket and the cell phone transponder. Then a graphic flash, demonstrating that the final rocket had found its target.

All Supergirl recalled of the next few moments was a nearly perfect white flame that overtook her from behind, the heat and shock wave blowing her body into an uncontrolled tumble towards the ground. When the warhead exploded, a jet of super intense flame roiled over her body, burning her clothing and scorching her skin. The concurrent explosion, designed to demolish the largest tanks built for war, had knocked her unconscious.

Less than a minute later, the robotic helicopter had caught up to the impact point where Supergirl had crashed to the ground. Cameras in the nose exposed a grim scene. The jet of flames had burned almost every stitch of clothing from her still unconscious body. Patches of her exposed skin were burned.

Watching on the other end of the transmission from the remote aircraft, the pilot and mission specialist sent commands to the on-board computers, telling the robotic arms to begin their assigned tasks. Unfolding and extending, the arms reached out as the helicopter floated over the body. Claws slid under Supegirl's arms, closing on them firmly. Sensing that the subject was secure, the helicopter strained slightly to lift the excess weight of the still unconscious female.

Another set of eyes monitored the events unfolding. Rupert Thorne sat in his office, a smug expression playing out on his face. "So, she can be hurt. Now to see if she can be broken." Reaching for a phone, Thorne contacted the team he had hired for this mission. "Tell your employer that I'm quite happy with the outcome of this first test. Please secure your prisoner and await further instructions."

Thorne then hung up. Opening the drawer by his left leg, he removed and examined the same sphere he had stolen a week earlier. "If this works on Supergirl, it will stop Superman as well! No longer will we have to suffer his self-rightous acts. We will be free to conduct our business once again!

Very interesting and very good.