2015-09-22 - Verschwindet

"VERSCHWINDET"

"Good advice, get lost." the 14 year old girl says in fluent German as she looks out through the hole. Looking down on the street below, past the exposed re-bar and torn concrete of the wall, she takes in the ruined city. The bus sitting on the street with no tires, no windows, and most importantly no people is the least of the problems the city has had of late.

Her red hair is tied on her head, and she fingers the AK-47 as she hopes simply to not get shot tonight. A brilliant sundown is an irony, as it happens over a city torn to shreds by a war that nobody seems to understand, and the warm wind passes over her bare shoulders.

She's pretty sure she's not on anyone's hit list right now, or she'd not be exposing herself even this much, but the sound of gunfire in the distance reminds her that not everyone is so lucky. Then a single pistol shot and there's silence again.

Kara Zor-El flies into the area. She usually didnt deal with wars that often. Well, there was that somalian warlord. And the North Korean slave ring which was ... sort of a war. But in general she didn't. Mainly because her cousin said it was a bad idea. Especially if she ever wanted to be a United States citizen without getting the US into a lot of wars as well.

Earth politics made no sense sometimes.

When she heard the shot, she was over some small nation bordering Germany. She flies in and lands behind the long girl with the AK-47. "< Hey. >" she says in German pretty simply.

Given that the girl's living in a warzone and hasn't gotten killed yet, it's safe to say that she's got some survival skills going on. Also that she made sure that there was nobody behind her before relaxing. So when she hears a voice behind her, she yelps, spins and brings up her weapon. Scrambles with it actually showing that she's not a soldier, and it takes her a good five seconds to actually bring it to bear on Kara. Probably too long in a real fight.

So holding her rifle on Kara after all that time, she says in her native German, < Don't move! > Mostly trying to sound tough. And not really wanting to shoot anyone.

The fact that she's only got a few rounds left in the rifle is immaterial. Kara Zor-El rubs the bridge of her nose. It's like it didn't even matter when she wears the uniform. Then makes a smile and walks over towards the girl. "< It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. I was just curious what you were doing here? My name's Kara. What's yours? >"

The girl backs away from Kara, firing off her last three rounds when Kara moves. Then the rifle clicks dry, and she continues holding it up as if it'll do any good. She's blushing red and breathing fast; obviously tense and needing a moment.

When she sees that bullets do absolutely nothing though, she narrows her eyes with realization. Not a crazy freak girl, not a hallucination. < You are...real? Supergirl? >

Kara Zor-El looks at the bullets as they hit her and do about as much damage as she expected, which is to say none at all. After the bullets flatten against her and fall harmlessly to the floor, Kara nods. "< Good for me, yeah. That's me. Supergirl. Like I said, you can call me Kara. >" she says as she approaches. "< So...maybe now that you're out of bullets and got that out of your system, you could tell me what's going on? >

The girl hugs her empty rifle to her chest, uncertain how to react to this new situation. Aside from the fact that her gunfire has pinpointed her position, and some talented neighbours take it upon themselves to riddle the area with small arms fire. None of which really comes close; good thing she'd moved away from the hole in the wall.

Still, the activity makes her duck and re-think her situation. After a second, she says, < I am Amalia. I don't think that anyone actually knows what's going on, > she says honestly as she tries to edge toward the wall to see if anyone's actually coming this way or if she can stay there a bit longer.

Looking back at Kara, she says, < We've always been kind of uneasy around here, but nothing like this. >

Kara Zor-El instinctively gets in the way of where Amalia and the incoming bullets are, just in case any go through the broken plaster of the walls. "< Stay down there for a few minutes, okay? >" Kara asks before going over to the open hole in the wall to discern where the bullets came from. Upon finding the sources of the gunfire, she peers, then fires out some pinpoint heat vision at each of them - just enough to melt the barrels ot the rifles which shot at Amalia's location. She then looks back at Amalia once she's sure that she didn't actually hurt anyone, and says, "< I wasn't really aware of any wars that were going on in this area, to be honest. So you really don't kow who you're fighting or why, Amalia? >"

Amalia twitches a bit, realizing she just fired on someone. For real, at point blank range. She sinks down, dropping her rifle, and hugs her legs with her arms, closing her eyes for a moment. It takes about the length of time that Kara took to fly down and eliminate the gunfire.

Opening an eye to look at Kara, she shivers a little and kicks at her rifle. Then grabs it and pulls it close again, realizing that she needs it. Deep breath. < Far as I can tell... > she says, after her needed pause, < it seems to be everyone for themselves. Like, the whole city just went crazy at once. I mean, I think the army came through and like half of them quit and stopped being army. > She frowns, not certain about that part.

Kara Zor-El leans aganst the remains of a dresser to listen to her. < But... wait, what is everyone fighting about at least? I mean... it's everyone for themselves for what? Something had to have started this off, right? >"

The redhead pauses, looking up at Kara, and seems a little confused. < I don't know, > she admits, pulling the rifle to her chest again. Not standing up though, she knows she's a target. < I mean, I'm fighting to keep from getting killed. Hopefully find something to eat today would be nice. >

It might be that this girl isn't one of the enlightened. But after a moment, she says, < I think I heard something a few days ago...like I said, the army came through just before things all went...yknow. > She waves an arm out at the city, where a bomb goes off in the distance taking out a grocery store. Amalia winces at the sound.

Kara Zor-El sighs a little, listening to the girl. "< I can get you some food. Do you have any family here too? >" she asks curiously. Maybe she could just take them somewhere safe. She wanted to find out how this war started. Kara looks out at where the bomb went off, and shakes her head. "< This just doesn't make any sense. >" Not that war ever generally makes much sense to the innocent bystanders.

Amalia says in heavily accented English, "You're telling me..." and then gets up to look out at the damage. Pausing to lean on the section of wall, she glances back at Kara and says, < I used to buy bread there. Good sausage. Everyone is hungry, I think that's why nearly everyone is fighting, Kara. When you find someone who isn't hungry, but is still fighting... > She pauses, looking out at the damaged city. < Well, then you'll have found something real. I'm just Amalia. > Staring off into the distance, she's gotten a lot older in two-three days.

She didn't answer the question about family, but she wasn't ignoring it. Her heart jumped really hard when Kara asked the question. And she does add, after a moment, < I think my Father and Mother might still be out there someplace. >

Standing in the hole in the wall that serves as the 'window', Amalia's eyes widen as she sees someone holding a rocket launcher. Apparently someone spotted either her, or the bright red and blue figure who was in this opening a moment ago. She shrieks and dives to try and get back, as there's a whoosh and an explosive rocket is fired from the ground toward the tall building she's using as a temporary hidey-hole!

Kara Zor-El looks at where Amalia's looking with the widened eyes. "Crap." she says to herself as she rushes to the hole, catching the rocket-propelled explosive, and pulling it against her body. Once the rocket's propulsion stops, she turns away from Amalia to shield her from any blast, trying to make sure her arms and hands cover most of the explosive force as well. There's a muffled explosion, then Kara straightens up and looks back at Amalia. "< Stay put. >" before she flies out the hole and up to the man holding the rocket launcher. She quickly takes the end of it and bends it backwards before looking at him in annoyance. "< Go home. >" she says.

The foundation of the building is solid. Good German engineering, so any back-blast won't put it at risk. However as Kara tells off the guy with the launcher, there's the sound of Amalia pounding down the stairs. She skids into view with her rifle and points it at him, saying, < No! He is army! He must know something! >

Then a few gasps for air, and she tries to keep her (empty) rifle trained on him. The German still looks mostly at Kara, who just bent his rocket launcher with her bare hands. That tends to get people's attention. < S...Superwoman? >

Amalia slaps the soldier across the face to get his attention off of Supergirl, which has all the effect of slapping a statue. He does turn to look in her direction, then notices the rifle and gives a blink. Then a nod, as he raises his hands to back away.

Amalia grabs his shirt, saying, < Tell me what you did with my parents! > which makes him react, but not in a positive way. He takes the rifle from her and grabs her around the neck, spinning her around and holding her own gun against her side.

Kara Zor-El looks back and forth, then says to the soldier, "< Look... I'm just trying to find out why this war started. And if you know anything about what happened to this girl's parents, I'd appreciate if you told me. >" she says, not doing anything to separate the soldier from Amalia yet. She looks at Amalia, trying to figure how to let her know to not do anything even if she knew there were no bullets in the rifle. Then looks back at the soldier and says calmly, "< If you know who I am, you know that I can take the rifle from you before you manage to even pull the trigger. Instead, I want you to give me the rifle willingly, let her go, and just answer a few questions. Then you'll be free to go. I'm assuming you must have a family. She just wants to know where her family is. Please? >" she says.

There really is a lot for her to be paying attention to at once. Making sure she can separate Amalia from the soldier before he realizes the gun isn't loaded, since he could always kill her without the gun. Making sure no one in any of the surrounding buildings fires bullets at either Amalia OR the soldier. Making sure Amalia doesn't do something dangerous as well.

There definitely are people in the surrounding buildings. Some of them might actually be this soldier's backup, but he seems to be reasonably intelligent in that he hasn't shouted out for anyone or tried to do anything that'll get Supergirl angry with him. < I have a mission to secure this area, > he says, then adds, < Civilians are gathered at the pavilion to the south. If her parents were near here, that is where they will be. >

Amalia, however, is mostly trying to make choking noises. Guy seems to be holding her a little tightly around the neck with his arm. But he seems to make a decision and lets her go suddenly, allowing Amalia to sink to her knees and gasp in air. Lovely, lovely air.

At that point, a tank turns the corner in the street and starts rolling this way. The soldier holds Amalia's rifle in two hands, then tosses it to Kara and makes a break for it. Figuring that near the target area of heavy artillery is a bad location to be in.

Kara Zor-El looks at Amalia. "< Let him go. He's just following his orders. We'll find your parents. >" She watches the soldier flee the area. Good. She really didnt want to fight a soldier in a war where she still has no idea what it's about. When the tank turns the corner, she says, "< Amalia, get behind me. >"

Not arguing, Amalia scrambles for behind the superhuman. Staying low, she says, < You should fly away, this place is crazy. > Massaging her throat, she frowns as the tank aims their direction, and adds, < Maybe take me with you this once. >

Kara Zor-El could pretty easily take out the tank in a few seconds if she wanted to. But again - she had no clue about what this war was about, and she could just hear Superman or Batman scolding her about it. Funny enough, not Diana. She was pretty sure Diana would be supportive if she ripped the tank in half. "< Okay. We're leaving, Amalia. >" she says as she puts her arm around the girl, then flies upwards. But as the tank turret was to follow the ascent, Kara's eyes glow red and she fires out heat vision at the turret, melting the end into molten slag she she wouldnt have to deal with a tank firing at her and either hurting Amalia or missing and hitting someone else. Then she flies off towards the pavillion to the south where the soldier had mentioned the civilians were gathering. Maybe eventually she'd find SOMEONE who knew what the point of the war was.

Amalia gasps as she's flown. Every teenager wishes they could fly, just once. In the middle of all this strangeness, she grabs onto Kara and holds on as she watches the world shoot by beneath her. < So tiny, > she says, predictably.

Similarly predictably, the pavilion is visible to Kara's eyes up ahead, and Amalia points toward it to verify the location. < That way. > Not that Kara needed it, with what appears to be a massing of soldiers with weaponry and a huddled mass inside a hastily erected wire fence.

Kara Zor-El flies to the roof of a nearby building, setting Amalia down on it. She still had no idea what the war was about, who was on what side, why they'd be taking the civilians and interring them, or... anything really. Plus no one seemed to have any clue why they were fighting even, beyond 'survival.' She says to Amalia once set down, "You wouldnt happen to be able to see your parents down there would you?" She then adds, "Maybe through the scope of the rifle or something?" when she realizes that there is no chance that Amalia would be able to with her eyesight compared to Kara's.

The soldiers below, now that Kara knows who to listen to, are of course talking amongst themselves. Everyone in the city talks occasionally, but mostly it's just chat. But there seems to be a pattern if you know who is with who. They seem to be looking for something. Comments like < Not in this quadrant, mark it off and search south next. > and < Yeah, I've been checking this building for a freakin week. Lazy planning, I tell ya. > are fairly common. Yet it's not something that a civilian would be able to identify. The soldiers are professional, and clearing the civilians from the areas they search. From above, with Kara's senses, it's visible.

Amalia raises her rifle, but the sights don't seem very helpful. Still...she says, < I believe...perhaps... > in the german stoic way. < They are all ...wait, yes! That was Father! > Lowering her rifle, she pumps her fist.

Kara Zor-El looks at where Amalia is looking through the scope. "< Describe him to me. Where is he next to? >" she asks. She wasnt sure if she'd be able to help them all, but at the very least she'd be able to get Amalia back with her parents. Still, it was odd how the soldiers were talking about looking for 'something.' Were they even 'official' soldiers? She took a closer look at one of them, using x-ray vision and telescopic vision, in case they had something on them that would determine who they were.

Amelia describes where she saw her father as well as she can, which isn't great but it's enough for someone with Kryptonian eyes. The gentleman seems familiar, probably from the news. Yes, she's seen him on the sidelines when a fairly famous scientist was filmed getting a nobel prize for physics. Her husband, then. That would make Amalia, Amalia Von Deshamp, daughter of the scientist in question.

Another thing she sees is that every one of the officers, not the normal soldiers, has a HYDRA badge under his jacket. Not good. The nobel prize winning physicist? Not to be seen anywhere.

Amalia has her rifle raised again, trying to see what she can see. < I can not see Mother, > she says worriedly. < Perhaps...she is being kept elsewhere? > She turns to look at Kara.

Kara Zor-El whispers to Amalia. "< I think I've seen your mother on TV, if that's your father. One moment... I'm going to go bring your father up here, okay? >" She peers at the Hydra insignia under one of the soldiers' jackets. Maybe letting that other soldier go was a bad idea. Probably should do something about this before they're warned.

Kara waits until the soldiers guarding the civilians are not looking at Amalia's father's direction... then she quickly flies down to where Amalia's father is standing, and before the man knows what's happening, a blur of blue has swept him up, and he's set down upon the roof by a blonde girl in a half-shirt, skirt, and cape. And his daughter is there.

Amalia says, < You're going to what? > as Kara acts on her plan. She doesn't know what happened, just that father has vanished from her sights. She's frowning and looking out intently as he's set down nearby.

The older gentleman looks a bit haggard, a bit harried, and a bit surprised to find himself on a rooftop suddenly. < My word, > he says, as Amalia lowers her rifle and looks in the direction of the familiar voice. She hadn't really processed the situation yet.

< Father! > And the old man finds a crying young redhead in his arms who happens to have forgotten her rifle on the roof behind her.

< Dota, is that really you? What happened? > His arms figure it out quickly, and the two of them need a moment apparently.

After a minute, the two turn to Kara. They separate as if it's expected, though Amelia is still wiping her face. The man who is apparently her father extends his hand to Kara, saying, < You are Supergirl, I believe. I am Rudolph. How may I help you? > Straight to business, this guy.

Amelia nudges him, saying, < Kara. > < Pardon? > < Her name is Kara. > The man nods his head to his daughter, but seems likely to keep calling her Supergirl.

Kara Zor-El smiles a little as the father and daughter hug. At least she has done something good here. Still, there was a lot more to do. When the man addresses her, she says, "< I think something is going on here beyond just a war. Your wife... she's some sort of scientist, isnt she? I remember seeing you on TV next to her. >" Thank Rao for having a Kryptonian Eidetic memory.

Kara looks back over at the soldiers and civilians below, taking an account of how many soldiers and heavy weaponry and vehicles there are, before looking back at Amalia and her father. "< I think those soldiers down there actually belong to this group called Hydra. I've fought them once before when helping Captain America with something. Do you have any idea why they might be here pretending to be normal soldiers? >"

Mr. Von Deshamp inclines his head to agree with Kara's comments, though he looks around for someplace he can sit. Finding a pile of bricks, he rests his old bones without apology. < I am slightly familiar with Hydra, > he says, as Amalia goes to get her rifle. Empty or not, it's still important to appear armed right now. < Generally it is not considered appropriate to give out state secrets, but this does seem to be a situation where judgement is required. But my daughter does not need to hear this. Some knowledge can put a person at risk. >

Amalia turns to look at her father, and her brow furrows as she seems curious. Then proceeds to plant her feet, as stubborn as anyone in her family.

The old man looks out at the world and says, < I suppose there is enough risk to go around, then. My wife, your mother, was working on miniaturized nuclear generators. Recently she developed a way to create a nuclear device which could conceivably be held in the arms. Or carried in a small case by a single person. >

He pauses, then says, < She arrived four days ago with one in her possession. Then she vanished shortly thereafter. I do not know where. But somewhere in this town is a nuclear bomb in a satchel. I am certain that is the goal of all this searching. >

Kara Zor-El mentions, "< Your daughter seems to have been handling risk really well, actually. >" Then when the father tells her about his wife's ability to create a miniature nuclear generator, it becomes a little more clear to her why Kal was so against Kara showing humanity how to make sustainable nuclear fusion or quantum-entangled generators or other more 'modern' Kryptonian methods of power generation. Apparently even stuff like nuclear fission can be calamitous, especially if miniaturized and in the hands of groups like Hydra.

Kara looks at them. "< Okay.... I'm going to go down there and free those people and stop those soldiers. Then I'm going to find out where your wife... >" She then looks back at Amalia, "< your mother... >" Before talking to both of them again, "< is being held. Try to keep yourselves hidden until I'm done okay? >"

Kara Zor-El flies off the roof and down above some of the tanks and the platoon or two of troops, then whistles at them to get their attention. "< You need to let these people go free. Right now. >" she says before crossing her arms. She knows it's not going to go that easily, after all. And as professional soldiers go, they react pretty predictably. With gunfire. Shooting at Kara with fully-automatic rifles as one of their officers who seems to recognize Kara's outfit tries to get them to stop wasting ammo. The others seem to be joining in until it's obvious that bullets aren't working.

Amalia for her part throws a rock off the rooftop, braining a soldier from where she's standing.

Kara Zor-El lets the soldiers fire the hail of bullets at her as she floats there, arms crossed in midair. Seriously, only one officer out of all of them recognizing her. Hydra really needs to learn that there are other people willing to fight them that arent carrying a red, white and blue shield. "< I guess you didn't hear me the first time. I said, 'You need to let those people go.....>"

Then she flies quickly down in the center of the soldiers who were firing at her, hitting the ground as she lands like a localized earthquake, sending pavement and earth flying upwards in all directions. "< NOW! >" The devastation is amazing. It's a testament to Kara's skill that nobody really got badly hurt, considering how powerful the Kryptonian is if she really wants to be. Of course, a couple more bullets bounce off of her but it seems a little halfhearted at this point.

Then a tank fires on her from behind as that one smart officer is yelling < STOP already! This is not a battle we can oh never mind, just get it out of your system. > He turns to start working on contacting his superiors on the radio as a few idiots in his team work out some aggression with a flamethrower and the aforementioned tank round.

Kara Zor-El gets hit by a tank shell from behind, but when the smoke clears, Kara's already flying at it, landing in front of it and planting her hands on it, halting it's progress, right before she lifts the entire tank overhead, then slamming it down upside down, bending the tank's gun barrel in case the tank operators are stupid enough to want to try to fire while upside-down, like the second tank with the flamethrower on top tries to keep firing at her.

For a girl who can and has actually gone into the sun, a flamethrower isn't exactly a big deal. But she purses her lips and blows at it, being careful not to send it flying. The flamethrower definitely goes out though, not to mention the tank's 62 tons of weight getting pushed back by the teenage Kryptonian's super-breath until it hits into a wall. She then flies at the tank and lands on it, putting her hand on the flamethrower and ripping it off the turret.

Then she rips off the entire tank's rotating turret off the base, and tossing it aside to look at the tank operators inside. "< Stop that. >" she says calmly before flying away from them to where the officer was, landing and walking towards him. Still no major injuries among the 'soldiers.' "< You, on the other hand, .... we need to talk. After those people are released. >"

Another rock from a suspicious rooftop bounces off of the tank, getting Amalia a look from a tank operator, but no gunfire. The whole idea of gunfire seems to be calming after Kara literally TEARS A TANK IN HALF. Oddly, one of the operators actually takes a celphone pic of Kara while she's doing it. The oddest things in wartime...

The officer lowers his radio as Supergirl walks up to him. He says, < I do not think I am in a position to argue. What are your terms, American? > He motions toward the civilians, as his troops try to regroup. Regroup as in 'stop panicking'.

Kara Zor-El walks over to him, taking a second to look at the radio. "< Well... first, I'm not American. I'm Kryptonian. >" She closes the gap between them, noting to herself that the Hydra soldiers are not as cool and collected as she imagined they would be. Then again, the last time she fought HYDRA soldiers, she took care of them in about 30 seconds because she was just there to ask for Captain America's help on an unrelated matter. "< Second... I want to know where you've taken von Deshamp. >"

Once right up to him, she looks up at him a bit and says, "< And last, I want to know what Hydra wants with her. You can feel free to not tell me.... > She looks at the radio, and heat shoots out of her eyes as they turn red, extremely focused on the radio, which starts smoking as a hole melts through it. Then she looks back at the officer. "< But that would be a big mistake. >"

Thank you Batman, for teaching Kara that fear was a really good motivator for criminals who might normally not talk.

You're welcome.

Officially out of contact with his boss, the officer gulps as he watches the radio melt. More than melt really. Looking back to Kara, then to his men, then back to Kara, he says, < Someone free the civilians, > with a bit of a squeak in his voice. Figuring it's a good place to start.

After that, he looks at Kara's eyes, remembering very clearly how dangerous they are, and says, < Von Sheshamp is ...Deshamp is dead, to my knowledge. Though she may be hidden by someone in town, our last reports had her badly wounded and ...I mean we do not know where she is. > Then it clicks. Yes, she knows about being a Hydra agent.

< Our orders are to find her bomb. By any means necessary. Also to keep it out of the hands of the populace. > Which probably won't go over well when the report gets back to Red Skull, but it's that or Kara. < We have not found it. >

Kara Zor-El puts her hand on the officer's shirt and lifts him up so his feet are dangling off the ground. "< Now you're going to tell me where she was last seen, and where the people you were going to radio are located. Because I'm asking nicely, and because you don't want me to ask not-so-nicely. >" She waits to see if the soldiers are, in fact, letting the civilians go free.

The soldiers seem a bit confused, but they are following orders. There are some even coming in from the city who weren't there for Kara's arrival, and are being briefed on the current situation. Oddly the soldiers themselves don't seem too worried. They're used to following orders.

The officer however is quick to walk to the map and point to the location of the last report. A library of all places. Which he says, < Is not there anymore. It burnt, with her inside. Or she seemed to be, as we found no bodies we are uncertain. It is highly likely that someone took her bomb from that location. >

Amalia, on the rooftop, is talking with her father. < Father? Did mother still use the same systems she used at home? Patterned electric buffering? > < How did you know about those. > < Father, I live with you. Can we detect electric patterns in a city with no power? >

The old man is suddenly at the edge of the roof, waving furiously for attention.

Kara Zor-El looks at the officer. "< All the civilians are out of the detainment center? Good. >" Then sets him back on the ground. "< Stay put for a few seconds then.... >"

Then she's gone in a blur. Over the next 20-30 seconds, each of the soldiers who was outside the detainment area find themselves suddenly in them, usually with their rifles wrapped around their hands like makeshift cuffs. The soldiers who were in the two humvees (as the two tanks were already in non-working order) also find themselves suddenly yanked out of the humvees as the doors are ripped off by a blue blur, and they're in the detainment area too. Then Kara's back by the officer, patting her hands. "< You can go in there on your own while the rest of this is taken care of. >" After all, there are a lot of civilians now who can watch to make sure they don't escape while Kara goes to find the mother and whoever is in charge to stop this 'war.' Once the officer is with his 40+ soldiers, Kara flies off after telling one of the civilians what to do.

When she lands on the roof, Kara says, "< Okay, I sort of hit a wall on finding out where your mother is, Amalia... >"

The soldier walks into the pen with the rest and pulls the door shut behind him without protest. He looks at his troops, and says, < What? > Which causes them mostly to nod understandingly. They get it.

Amalia is grinning as Kara states her problem, but it's her father that speaks up. < My genius daughter has a solution. Or a likely one, but we would need to create a device that could detect energy fluctuating between exactly 10^-1.767 and 10^-2.13 on a tenth of a millisecond repeating flow. It's not difficult to make, but if you can get us the materials, I can arrange it. You see, my wife used.. >

And Amelia breaks in energetically with < Patterned electrics! Always in the same amplitude, to keep from falling outside the range of the equipment she had in her shop! So she could work in her spare time at home! > Huge grin indeed.

Kara Zor-El listens to them as they talk to her. She nods, smiling. "< Actually.... now that I know what type of energy fluctuations to look for, I can probably detect it by looking for it. I'm able to see with electromagnetic vision. It usually doesn't come up that I need to. I can leave you here... you should be pretty safe, but if any additional soldiers come, I want you to call for me. Don't worry - I'll hear you. With any luck I'll have this done before additional soldiers come here though.>"

Kara flies up a bit, then says, "< You said 10^-1.767 to 10^-2.13 on a a tenth of a millisecond wavelength right? >" before she flies up higher in order to get a good look at the city below, looking for that particular energy signature. And in a city where most of the power was off, it's actually a lot easier to find it than if it was being masked by hundreds or thousands or more of energy signals piled on top of each other. Kara makes her way down to the bomb shelter, since she detected someting coming from below it.

Rudolph calls < Watch for nine tenths just in case she's altered it! > as Kara takes off. She's already gone, but she said that she'd hear it, right? Right.

The bomb shelter, not really known to most of the city, is under the old elementary school. It has thick, thick walls, reinforcement against radiation, and a tiny amount of electricity active inside. And a door that's sealed from the inside. No lead lining though, which makes sense. The builders weren't making it to protect their children from Kryptonians. Just nuclear bombs. Ironic, because there's one inside, and life signs.

Inside the shelter is a very recognizeable Nobel Prize winning scientist with a bad gunshot wound and some burns, along with what appears to be a very tall skinny man and a woman. They're all sitting fairly quietly, with an IV on the patient to keep her alive. There's medical supplies, and they seem to have set up a makeshift hospital. It's a war out there after all.

Kara Zor-El lands outside the school, then heads in. After walking inside, she heads down to the basement, looking for an entrance.

There's a door. Foot thick steel. Worthy of a proper bomb shelter. It's hidden behind a cabinet in the basement.

Kara Zor-El nods a little to herself, moving aside the cabinet, then knocks on it. "Of course they're not going to hear that, Kara..." she says to herself. Then she takes her hands, and finds the seam of the door. She places her hand to the edge of it and, as if the door was made of aluminum foil instead of foot-thick steel, she crumples the door to the side before ripping it off. "< Don't be scared, I'm not a soldier! >" she calls in. "< Amalia sent me! >"

Oddly, only the short lady inside seems to have a weapon. It's a small gun, and she doesn't have it in her hand. Holstered safely. Having the door crumpled and removed was not on their mental options list until a moment ago. Then when Kara uses Amalia's name, the patient in the bed says, < Well. Finally. Someone I can turn this over to. > She seems to breathe a little easier, though she doesn't move to give Kara anything. There seems to be a nuclear bomb slid under her cot.

The other two occupants burst into excited chatter, apparently one of them is a high school teacher and the other is a librarian. Both seem excited to see a real live superhero! But Mrs. Von Deshamp looks mostly like she could use someone with a medical degree. Stable, but she won't be forever. < Welcome to Germany, Supergirl. Is my daughter alright? >

Kara Zor-El nods as she comes inside. "< Yes. Amalia's safe. So's your husband. They're the reason I was able to find where you were. Your daughter especially. They told me about the energy signature that your .... er.... invention gave off. >" She peers at Mrs. von Deshamp. "But you don't look so good. I can help but we're going to need to get you to a doctor. >" she says before taking a look at her with x-ray vision. But Kara wasnt a doctor - she just knew some rudimentary first aid that Batman taught her.

< Yes, yes, I would appreciate medical aid. You've done excellent work on me, you two, > she says, looking to her friends with a smile. < I think it's time we got a real doctor in though. >

The two bookworms breathe a sigh of relief, happy to turn the responsibility over to someone more suited. Nice people, but not rebellion leaders.

Back at the rooftop, Amalia and her father have actually gone inside the building and are sitting in a room. Talking. They have some catching up to do. Something about having grown up and oh daddy you haven't been watching close enough. No I won't put the rifle down. That's fine, dear.

Kara Zor-El nods, then looks at the other two. "< I'll take you all to where the rest of the civilians are. And your family. There must be doctors there. They seem to have rounded up a lot of the city there. >"

At that moment, Kara hears someone walking up. A man in a well tailored german suit comes around a corner. He somehow managed to conceal his presence til this point, but with the game coming to an end... "Well Supergirl. Hiding seems a bit useless for me at this point. Thank you for finding it for me, I'll take the bomb." The Red Skull seems quite confident for some reason, his face a hideous crimson that belies the excellent suit.

Kara Zor-El looks around. "Wow. I'm impressed that you somehow managed to not be detectable to my hearing. Usually I hear the heartbeat. You really ARE heartless, arent you?" She crosses her arms, getting in between him and the civilians and the bomb. "You're also delusional if you think you're going to get that nuclear device OR get past me."

Red Skull stands confidently, adjusting his lapels. A shimmer around him gives away a force field, probably from a generator on his person. If he thinks it'll hold against Supergirl, it's probably a strong one. "Consider for a moment that I respect your accomplishments, Supergirl. Unlike my officers, I do read the world news."

With a pause, he looks her over and says, "It's really too bad. You would be the absolute perfect being, if you weren't an atrocious choice of causes to champion. No, you'll step back and allow the good doctor to hand it to me or something...unfortunate will happen to the good people that I've gathered in the pavilion. And a sniper is trained on the good lady's daughter at this moment as well. We mustn't leave the young lady out."

Kara Zor-El frowns. "You seem really sure of yourself if you think that force field is going to hold out against me." she says. Though there is a problem. Even if she was to break through it, she's a good mile or so away from the pavillion, and if Red Skull was to get the message out in time, she couldnt stop it without leaving the mother and the other two innocent civilians here. With one of the most ruthless supervillains around, if Cap was to be believed. Which he was. He was definitely believable.

The Red Skull grins his rictus grin at Kara, rather hard to read inside his little bubble. "I stopped caring about spending time in prison decades ago, if that's your plan. I am actually not certain about the force field, but it's interesting that you can detect it. I'll have my scientists add it to your file. Now stop stalling and let me have my bomb." He steps forward, giving Kara a respectful distance just in case, but willing to take chances for his goal as his gaze drifts toward the doctor and her package.

Kara Zor-El says to the Amalia's mother, "< Slide over the package to him.... >" after a sigh.

The lady in the cot struggles to turn enough to follow instructions, and eventually gets her hands on the briefcase. As she slides it out from under her cot, the Red Skull says, "I'm certain that you can hear very well, Supergirl. Listen carefully as she slides it over. There's somewhere very important that you really need to be right now."

And with a frown, the doctor slides the briefcase over toward Red Skull, he squeezes a trigger in his left hand and a sniper gets his signal to fire. Sighting on Amalia's head right through the concrete wall with infrared, he squeezes his trigger and a heavy armour-piercing round flies out of his tripod mounted rifle with a *BLAM*, heading for the girl's left temple as she sits chatting with her father.

And Red Skull reaches for the briefcase, flipping off his force field for an instant as he tries to be faster than Supergirl, who has a bullet to catch.

Kara Zor-El narrows her eyes as she sees Red Skull squeeze the trigger to alert the sniper. There's a blur of motion, then Kara rushes at Red Skull and slams into him once the force field is down. Red Skull could only wish that Captain America ever hit him THAT hard.

Then Supergirl says, "Oh... by the way.... for someone who is taking notes on me? That whole 'faster than a speeding bullet' thing?'" she says, as she opens her hand and drops a sniper's bullet that's flattened against her hand. "It's an understatement."

Cut to the roof opposite Amalia and her father, and an unconscious sniper.

With a wheeze, Red Skull says, "You live up to your...reputation," and collapses. A show of respect, and then unconscious. Though he's sure to be found missing from prison later on, for now the great mastermind is the one on the floor. Too bad for him, because his goal is sitting on the floor in a briefcase, while the Doctor claps her hands. Carefully.

< Stunning. Pun intended. May I have a doctor now, miss? And perhaps send my family by? I worry. > The old lady has a sense of humour about the whole thing, even though the world could have ended. Again.

The librarian and the teacher have fainted. Both of them. Probably stress.