Kara Zor-El had never flown so fast. She had wanted nothing to do with goddamn Gotham, but Li Jie had called her and painted a beautiful picture.
A chance to shut that self-important Batman up. From now on, whenever he said, "This is my city," she could casually wave a hand and tell everyone, "Sure, sure. Except I was the one who saved his girlfriend."
All my past failures were just setting up this moment to rub it in your faces. That wave isn't an apology. It means you still have a long way to go, Batman.
Just thinking about it almost made Kara grin from ear to ear. She did not even bother responding to Li Jie's signal. All she saw was the figure falling from high above, like a withering flower, with only ten meters left before she hit the ground.
But that was enough. A few thousand meters meant nothing to a Kryptonian. A red-and-blue figure flashed past, the air compressed into a visible white shock wave before her, the buildings blurring into blocks of color in her peripheral vision. Her arm wrapped around Natalia's waist an instant before she struck the Bat-Signal.
The next instant, the scream of twisting metal erupted into the dawn. The Bat-Signal's supports buckled as though struck by a giant's fist, steel groaning under the strain. The entire lamp, along with its enormous focusing lens, flew into the air with a crash. Shattering glass sounded like a thousand wineglasses breaking at once. The metal frame tumbled into a water tank before finally catching on the railing at the roof's edge, dangling precariously.
Kara had no time to slow down or adjust her angle. All she could do was instinctively shield the woman against her chest and slam her own back into the