Glass rained from shattered skyscrapers of Gotham and fire bled into the night from ruptured infrastructure. Kara Zor-El's chest was rising and falling, cape torn at the edges, eyes burning red, with rage and focus. The green glow of kryptonite reflected faintly across her skin, weakening her, eating at her strength, but not nearly fast enough to stop her.
Across from her, Rakan rolled his shoulder with a sickening crack as his torn flesh slowly knit itself back together, his jagged teeth smeared with his own blood.
"You're slowing down girl," he taunted, voice feral. "That glow's getting to you. I can see it… in the way you breathe.."
Kara wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, smearing blood across her cheek, and gave him a sharp, humorless smile. "Is that so?"
Then she vanished, the air detonated where she had been standing, and she reappeared in front of him with a punch that folded the space between them. Her fist slammed into his jaw hard enough to twist his entire body sideways, the shockwave flattening what remained of a nearby building. Before he could even hit the ground, she followed, driving her knee into his ribs and sending him crashing through concrete, steel, and earth.
But she didn't stay, she pulled back instantly, eyes flicking to that glowing green claw, carefully as she couldn't afford a single mistake.
Rakan rose from the crater with a laugh that sounded more like a growl, bones snapping back into place as his form shifted, muscles swelling, white fur tearing through his skin as he leaned further into his beast form, larger, faster, more monstrous. His red eyes locked onto her with a predatory look.
"You're protecting something," he realized, voice dropping. "That's it, isn't it?"
Kara didn't answer.
"And I'm not talking about Superman." He attacked and this time, his strikes were different, less wild, more precise. As every swipe and every thrust of that claw angled not for her head, not for her heart… but lower.
Her eyes widened for a second as she twisted her body, letting his strike graze her side instead of landing clean. Pain flared instantly, sharp and burning, but she ignored it, countering with a brutal elbow that cracked against his skull and forced him back.
"Bastard…" she hissed under her breath, now fully aware of his intentions.
Rakan's grin widened, teeth slick with blood. "You can't protect everything and everyone," he said, almost gleeful. "So which do you choose? Yourself… or his blood?"
Before she could answer, the air behind her shifted, a subtle movement.
Querehsha was already there, her broken arms having twisted back into place, her smile wide and venomous as her stinger lashed forward, fast and lethal.
Kara felt it, the intent and even the poison.
She turned, but not fast enough to fully evade.
So she did the only thing she could, she grabbed it.
Her hand clamped around the stinger mid-strike, the tip piercing just enough to break skin, and her eyes flashed with fury as she drove her forehead straight into Querehsha's face with a crack that echoed across the sky.
"You're not touching me with that like Kal!"
She didn't let go.
Instead, she attacked hard, bone shattered and the flesh tore apart, Querehsha's scream was cut short as Kara ripped her arm clean off and spun, hurling her through a line of buildings like a missile. Six structures collapsed in sequence as the Monarch of Plagues disappeared into the wreckage.
Kara exhaled sharply, her grip tightening for a moment as she checked herself.
Still standing, still fighting.
But not safe.
"You're getting reckless girl," Rakan's voice came again, closer now.
She barely had time to turn before his claw came for her again.
She blocked, but the kryptonite burned the moment it came close, her strength faltering just enough for him stab her in the hand and push her back, boots carving trenches into the asphalt as she skidded across the street.
"Reckless gets results, one way or another.." she shot back, forcing herself forward again despite the weakness creeping into her limbs.
And then,
The sky darkened as hundreds of insect-like monstrosities surged forward, a living wave of chitin and venom, shrieking as they descended toward her.
Querehsha's laughter echoed from the ruins. "Let's see how long you last like this, little Kryptonian."
Kara braced, but the swarm never reached her.
They froze mid-air.
Pierced.
Dozens, hundreds of them impaled by long, black, razor-like constructs that erupted from the shadows themselves.
The insects shrieked as they were torn apart, shredded, annihilated before they could even touch her.
Even Querehsha was caught off guard, one of those constructs slamming into her, driving her violently back into the rubble.
Rakan's expression changed.
Someone strong had arrived.
Kara didn't even need to turn.
She felt it.
That presence.
That familiar, cold power and she smiled.
"Took you long enough."
Behind her, darkness folding into itself as Raven stepped forward, cloak shifting like living shadow, eyes glowing with a deep violet light. Dark energy curled around her hands, dense, controlled and lethal.
"Sorry," Raven said calmly, her voice quiet despite everything. "Got held up dealing with the rest of their mess."
Her gaze moved past Kara, settling on the two Monarchs with a sharp intensity.
"And it looks like you found the worst of it."
Kara rolled her shoulder, stepping slightly to the side, putting space between herself and Rakan's claws while keeping her stance ready. "Kal's in bad shape," she said, more serious now. "Poison and Kryptonite. The whole package, it's hard to deal with this bastard who seems to be eating punch after punch and he keeps regenerating."
Raven's expression didn't change "Then we should end this quickly faster than he can regenerate."
Querehsha rose from the rubble again, her face partially regenerated, though slower this time, her expression twisted with irritation and anger "HIS WHORES ARE EVEN MORE INSSUFERABLE THAN HE IS!"
Raven tilted her head slightly, glowing violet gaze narrowing.
"You've met my Arthur?"
Querehsha opened her mouth, and something invisible hit her and hard, the impact folded her body mid-sentence, obliterating her jaw entirely and sending her skidding across the ground in a spray of broken flesh and blood.
Raven lowered her hand slowly.
"On second thought… I don't want to hear it."
Silence fell for a second.
'She is this strong?!' Even Rakan paused, his eyes flicking between them now, recalculating.
Kara cracked her knuckles, her red gaze locking onto him again, sharper now.
Raven stepped forward beside her, dark energy coiling tighter around her arms.
"I'll take the little white cat," she said, eyes already shifting toward Rakan. "You handle the currently shocked bug."
Kara's smile came back, "Yeah," she said, stepping forward, heat beginning to build behind her eyes again despite the pain. "That sounds fair."
Rakan, for the first time since the fight began, he wasn't looking at prey anymore, he was looking at a serious problem.
Rakan was still for some time, his head tilting ever so slightly as if listening to something no one else could hear. The feral grin on his face twitched, then tightened, irritation creeping into his expression.
A voice cut through his mind.
"You're taking far too long."
"What is delaying you, Rakan? These are earthlings. Kill what needs to be killed. Draw him out. That was the plan. Instead, I see you bleeding and you have yet to accomplish your task!"
Rakan's jaw clenched, his claws flexing as his eyes flicked toward Kara Zor-El and Raven, both of them standing their ground without a hint of retreat. Annoyance and frustration burned through his gaze.
"Yogumunt," he growled back internally, his thoughts sharp and edged. "I am dealing with them."
Pain crossed his face as his regeneration faltered again, the torn flesh along his torso refusing to close as cleanly as before.
"They're not what we expected," he admitted, "They were ready. Stronger than anticipated. But that changes nothing."
His eyes drifted back to Kara.
"We are still fortunate," he continued. "The two I'm facing… they belong to him. One of them…" his gaze dipped for just a moment, a predatory look, "…carries his child."
There was a pause on the other end.
"I see... that is indeed good news for us."
Rakan smiled.
"This will draw him out. It has to. And while he makes his move, our armies will do what they were meant to do. Mine. Querehsha's. They'll grind this planet down piece by piece. The defenders are already stretched."
In the distance, another explosion rippled through the city, followed by the distant roar of battle.
"They won't last," he finished. "Not against what's coming next."
A faint chuckle echoed in his mind.
"And Querehsha's servants?" Yogumunt asked.
Rakan exhaled through his nose, eyes narrowing slightly. "Her little pets will spread their poison soon enough. Once that starts, it won't matter how strong these defenders are."
Silence lingered again, then,
"Hmph. See that it happens quickly."
The voice sharpened.
"We cannot afford mistakes. Not now. Not when everything is aligning in our favor, and Rakan…"
"Do not fail."
The connection severed.
Rakan's expression darkened instantly, the last word echoing unpleasantly in his thoughts. His claws tightened, muscles tensing as he glanced down at his own wounds again, at the blood that hadn't stopped flowing, at the regeneration that wasn't keeping up the way it should.
"…Tch."
His lip curled.
"Damn it…"
High above the battlefield, hidden behind layers of data streams and tactical overlays, Batman watched everything unfold in real time.
The Batwing hovered at a controlled distance, its systems feeding him every piece of information it could gather, heat signatures, movement patterns, energy fluctuations. He didn't need all of it.
He only needed enough, and one thing terrified him more than anything.
He opened a secure channel immediately.
"Kara."
The comm crackled to life in Kara Zor-El's ear just as she stepped forward again, heat vision beginning to glow faintly in her eyes.
"What?" she shot back, breath slightly uneven but steady enough to fight. "Make it quick, I'm a bit busy here with miss bug lady."
"I need you to disengage right now."
She froze for half a heartbeat.
"…What? Why?!"
Her tone dropped in disbelief, she glanced upward instinctively.
"No," she said immediately, sharper now. "No, I'm not backing down. Not now. Not when they're right here, they are strong, only I can fight them, besides I can't let Raven fight them alone!"
Below her, the Monarch of Plagues shifted her stance again, clearly preparing to strike.
"There's no one else strong enough to handle them," she continued, voice rising slightly with frustration. "If I don't stop them here, they're going to tear through everything..."
"I'm not worried about them!"
Batman's voice cut cleanly through hers, more urgent than usual.
That made her pause.
"What? I don't understand..."
"I said I'm not worried about them," he repeated, quieter now. "I'm worried about you."
That stopped her completely.
Even the heat building behind her eyes flickered for a second.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, slower now, more guarded.
Batman didn't answer immediately and then he finally said"Please Kara you have to listen... Their threat means nothing to me. What comes after you're harmed… that is what should terrify anyone."
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Shadow Monarch: In One Piece / The Witcher: Heir of Fire!
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my p@t-reon / FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to 7 More Chapters on all of my stories!