End of the Line
Peter was swinging through the city of National City, loving the feeling that it brings of feeling the wind in his face. That is, until a certain drone caught his attention that seemed to be following him for some time. He just originally thought it was one of those weird delivery drones, but it seems to be following him.
Peter just waits and then does a quick spin and uses his repulsers to send a electrostatic blast at it, causing it to short circuit. Before it falls though, he grabs it and flies off with it.
-
Peter brings the drone to the DEO to see if they have any answers to where it came from.
"What's this?" Gwen asks as Peter drops the drone on the table.
"I hoped you could figure it out. It was following me most of the morning." Peter explains to her when Kara returns with another drone.
"Thought I'd return this to you." Kara mockingly tells Hank dropping the drone on a table. "I thought we were clicking."
"Okay..." Hank responds, not knowing what she's talking about.
"People who click don't spy on each other. I don't like being followed." Kara explains to him.
"If I were following you, ms. Danvers, you would never know it." Hank states to her. "This is not one of ours."
"Yeah, I just ran into the same thing myself." Peter states as he and Gwen join them while she's looking over the drone.
"I can't find any brand markings, and I've never seen anything this advanced on the market." Gwen tells them.
"Alien origin? Could be her aunt, Astra." Peter offers as a suggestion.
"No, it's definitely from earth, but it's incredibly advanced." Gwen explains to him.
"No kidding. That thing was like trying to sway a fly in a tornado." Kara replies to her.
"If someone's targeting my assets, I want to know who it is." Hank says before taking the drones. "We'll handle this." He promises and leaves.
-
Kara returned to work and finds that ms. Grant has won an award and the ceremony is in Metropolis the next day, and Cat needs to get someone to watch her son, Carter.
That's when Kara says she's more than happy to watch over him overnight for her.
-
Later, a bomb has gone off in a parking garage and the two heroes take off again to make sure everyone's okay.
Kara uses her strength to keep the building up when the beams start to crumble and Peter uses his repulsers to melt them back together and uses his webbing to keep it together until it cools back down.
As they were dealing with that, another drone was scanning the two of them and gets away unseen this time.
-
"You were supporting the weight of 120 pounds per square foot, multiplied by five floors." Hank informs Kara. "Not bad."
"What I'd like to know is why someone would want to blow that building. What did they have in there?" Peter asks Hank.
"A lab developing a new, non-lithium battery. Cutting edge could be industrial espionage." Hank suggests as a conclusion. "This might be one to let the FBI handle."
"I don't think we want to do that, sir." Alex says as she approaches them. "Gwen found these fragments from the bomb, and she found the exact same technology in the drones they brought in."
"So whoever was spying on us, were also the ones planting the bombs?" Kara asks, not understanding why.
"Yes, and I think I have a lead." Alex says and shows them a photo of Maxwell Lord.
"Maxwell Lord?" Peter and Kara asks at the same time.
"Both the bomb and the drone used a advanced fiber optics relay system. It's not even on the market yet, and developed by Lord Technologies." Alex explains and that makes a s much sense as anything else.
"Let's pay Maxwell a visit." Hank says.
"How? You can't walk in as DEO agents." Kara reminds them.
"We won't." Alex says and shows her badge when she uses a switch and it changes into a FBI badge.
"Okay...That is cool." Kara admits and sees the time. "I have to get back to work." She says and on her way out, Alex and her have a talk about James and Lucy Lane when she remembers she was supposed to get Carter and takes off faster than a speeding bullet.
-
"Yes, this is my technology. Mind telling me where you found it?" Maxwell asks the three of them.
"Inside the bomb that destroyed a lab." Peter informs him.
"You don't seem to be concerned about that." Alex says, seeing no change in facial expression.
"I'm very concerned with how my technology ended up in a weapon, since I don't make them, but not with becoming your suspect." Maxwell says and starts waking out of his office.
"And why is that?" Alex asks as they follow him.
"Because it was my lab that was destroyed." He informs them. "It was a subsidiary of one of my companies. Not that it's public knowledge."
"And you didn't think to share that information with us?" Hank now starts questioning him.
"I prefer not to rely on the government to solve my problems." Maxwell explains to him.
"Any idea who's targeting you?" Alex asks him.
"I'm trying to change the world, Agent Danvers. So anyone invested in maintaining the status quo would be interested in targeting me." Maxwell states.
"That's a conveniently large suspect pool." Peter says as he quickly calculates in his head how many people that would be.
"All right, well, let's narrow it down to former employees with access to the lab, who know how to modify the tech, and had a personal grudge against you." Alex suggests as a way to narrow down the suspects.
"I guess we know who's the brains of the operations." Maxwell states to her.
"Well, you'll be glad to hear I'm leaving her behind to protect you." Hank says as he and Peter make their leave.
On their way out, Peter's sense go off as they're passing a container. He quickly makes his way to it and despite getting constant complaints from the workers, he opens it to discover a bomb.
"Clear the building." Peter tells Hank and he leaves to get everyone out of the building when Alex runs in when she sees Peter activate his suit.
"We need to evacuate, what are you doing?" Alex asks him.
"If this thing blows, it has enough power to destroy 30 square blocks." Peter informs her when he opens the casing and gets to work. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. This isn't my first bomb that needed to be disabled." He promises and cuts the wire that gets the timer to stop with thirty seconds to spare.
That's until it starts to rapidly start back up and going faster. "We might have a situation." He and sends a SOS signal to Kara and seconds later, she makes it.
"Skirt, glad you're here. This bomb is like a high-tech daisy cutter. If it blows, it'll produce an overpressure of 2,000 pounds per square inch. Meaning there's gonna be a big boom." Peter informs Kara while handing her the bomb
"You need to get it clear of the city." Alex says and Kara takes off and flies as fast as she can. Hank contacts her and tells her to fly upwards and the bomb is about to blow and she throws it with a second to spare but the blast sends her unconsciously falling to earth.
But luckily for her, Peter was flying after her and caught her before she could hit the ocean and flies her to the DEO.
-
Later on, Kara wakes up to see she's in a strange device she's never seen before.
"That was some fall you took." Hank says as the device moves so Kara can stand up.
"Take it easy, you took an massive explosion to the face." Peter tells her as she's pushing herself to stand up.
"This is a concentrated solar wave generator that mimics earth's yellow sun, and recharge your Kryptonian cells." Hank tells Kara.
"We had it designed for Superman, but it comes in handy for other Kryptonians. Unless you're me." Peter states since the whole messing with his DNA means he doesn't get a recharge like they do.
Alex also makes it and hugs her sister. "Are you okay?" She asks Kara.
"Thanks to the boss." Kara tells her.
"Actually, you have Parker to thank for bringing you in." Hank says pointing to the man.
"Hey, if I let her drown, I'd never hear the end of it from her or the Big Man." Peter states looking to Alex as they leave to see what they learned.
"We got a shot of the bomber from the security cameras at Max's lab. Facial recognition came up with a match. His name is Ethan Knox. Worked at the first lab that was attacked." Gwen informs them all. "He was fried back six months when his work became erratic. He was reported missing two weeks ago."
"How do we find him?" Kara asks, ready to get back out there.
"We? No, a fall from that height would've rattled your cousin." Alex informs her sister. "You're staying home."
"There is a literal mad bomber out there." Kara states to them. "And I have to get back to work. Oh, my god, ms. Grant's son. I have to get back to the office. I'm supposed to be babysitting him." She realizes.
"Skirt, you think maybe you're spreading yourself too thin?" Peter asks her. "I mean, you're trying to be Supergirl, an assistant, and a DEO Agent. Maybe you should take a break. I can handle this." He promises.
-
"You fired Ethan Knox six months ago." Alex reminds Maxwell as she returned to his office. "His wife divorced him, big sole custody of their child. When his daughter got sick, he snapped and he needed someone to blame. So it looks like he chose you." She says and he doesn't seem too bothered. "Knox will target that event tonight. You have to cancel it."
"I won't be intimidated by a terrorist." Maxwell says a She gets ready for the unveiling of his new high-tech train.
"Why are you fighting me? I'm trying to protect your train." Alex states to this annoying billionaire.
"I don't put much faith in the government's idea of protection." Maxwell tells her.
"I read your file. Your parents were doctors who developed vaccines against bio-weapons. They worked for the government, they didn't see it as an enemy." Alex states.
"No, they didn't. So when they raised concerns about the safety of their lab, they trusted the government's findings. Acceptable risk levels. Two months later, an air system malfunctioned. A virus entered their pressure suits. Their internal organs melted. When it was over, there was nothing left to bury." He explains to her why he has no reason to trust the government.
"They covered it up." Alex guesses.
"You can't be surprised."
"What happened to you was a tragedy. I'm trying now to prevent another one. Rejecting our help is not rational. You are a man of logic, Max."
"I'm also an orphan. We don't get over things easily. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a grain to catch." He tells her before leaving her in his office making his way to the conference.
-
"Agents are positioned around the perimeter, Peter is a few blocks down on standby. I have commandeered the security cameras at the station, but there's no sign of Knox." Alex says when Kara returns.
"Sounds like you could use some help." She tells them.
"You sure you're up for this?" Hank asks her, thinking she should be resting.
"Somebody's gotta help protect that train. And once it gets moving, when the DEO won't be able to keep up with it." Kara says and knows Peter could use the backup.
It's been a few hours and they haven't seen a sign of Knox.
"I've scanned the train from above, there's no bomb." Peter states as Kara flies back.
"I've looked over every inch of track. Nothing." Kara says as she flies next to Peter.
"Agent Henshaw, report just came in. Bomb found at the airport. But the train has been Max's obsession." Alex states from the DEO.
"Or it's a decoy to draw us away from the real bomb." Hank states. "Supergirl, there's a bomb at the Lord Air terminal."
"I'm on it." Kara says and flies off.
Winn was inside the station looking for Conner who snuck away to the station when he notices Knox boarding the train.
"Kara, where are you?" Winn asks as he calls her.
"Can't talk, there's a bomb at the airport." Kara tells him.
"No, that's wrong, I just saw the bomber on the train." He informs her.
"That means there are two bombs?" She asks.
"Worse than that, Carter is on the train." Winn says.
"Peter, did you hear that?" Kara pleads.
"I heard it. I'm on the train, you get to the airport." Peter tells her and starts chasing after the train.
-
Peter flies as fast as he can and throws all of his energy into the thrusters to land on top of the train and uses his powers to stick to the roof before entering the train where he's met with Maxwell and Conner.
"I'm starting to think you have some sorta obsession with me." Max states this being one of their many meetings.
"Ethan Knox is on board." Peter informs him.
"That's impossible." Max replies.
"You've gotta stop the train." Peter tells him.
"I can't. It's automated." Max says.
"Is there something wrong?" Conner asks Peter.
"There might be, but I'm gonna fix it." Peter promises when his senses go off, followed by a muffled explosion goes off and the doors to the rest of the train stops.
Peter uses his mask to see through the doors to see Ethan's at the engine room. He uses the way he got in to get back on top of the car and moves up to see the controls are completely fried to the entire train.
"There's no way you're stopping this train." Ethan informs Peter before he webs him to the wall.
-
Kara makes it to the airport and quickly finds the bomb then flies it into the air once again.
"Peter, how are things going on your end?" Kara asks.
-
"You won't be stopping this train." Ethan tells said Peter
"Look, I know your daughters sick, but what makes you think this will help?" Peter asks while he's working on ways in his mind how to stop the train trying to work through the destroyed
"That's what this is all about." He responds from his webbing. "It's her only hope." He states.
"What are you talking about?" Peter asks, feeling like he's missing something.
"It doesn't matter anymore. No one was supposed to know it was me, and now that they do, I'll..I can never face my little girl again."
"Pease, don't do this." Peter begs.
"I won't...because you'll save them." Ethan replies before he presses a detonator Peter didn't realize he had before the entire inside of the car explodes, including the controls.
Maxwell makes it through the destroyed doors that were caught in the explosion.
"What's happening?" He asks Spider-Man.
"He destroyed the controls, I gotta find a way to stop the train." Peter says before leaping out the window and holding onto the front of the train. "Tell everyone to hang on!" He warns Maxwell who turns to the other passengers.
"Brace yourselves, people!" Max yells as Peter activates his metallic arms and slams them into the tracks to try and slow it down. But all that did was snap his arms, sending them flying somewhere in National City.
"Anymore bright ideas?" Max asks him.
"I got a few." Peter states to the man looking for an idea before webbing the buildings but all that did was break the buildings and he falls down the tracks. Peter quickly grabs onto the bottom of the train and uses it to bring himself back to the front.
Peter looks and thinks he had the right idea, but the strength and speed of the train is too much for just one of his webs and too much on just one building. He them starts webbing several buildings constantly while holding onto them all and holds on with all of his strength to stop the train.
"We're slowing down." Max tells him but Peter is trying to keep his strength and the constant pain in check since this is the longest that he's ever used this much strength, and he was able to stop the train completely.
Peter drops the webs as his regain his strength when he passes out from exhaustion. But before he hit the tracks, Kara flew down and grabbed him and sees what he did in order to stop the train.
"Nice work, Spider-Man." Kara tells the unconscious hero and flies him off to the DEO.
-
Peter later wakes up and sees Kara standing against the wall after she made sure Conner returned to his mother.
"Thanks for the save, Skirt." Peter thanks his friend when she sees he's awake.
"Hey. Nice work with the train." Kara congratulates him to what happened.
"Yeah, a bit of luck never hurt. Sadly, I don't get much luck and it did hurt." Peter tries joking.
"Yeah, Gwen says you pulled twelve muscles. That train did a number on you, and your suit." Kara says as he sits back up.
"It's just...Knox killed himself. I don't understand why." Peter admits to her trying to find out what he missed. "He said he was doing for his daughter. I don't know how it helps her."
"And we bring you Maxwell Lord's response to the incident." The news they just realized was being played.
"Yes, the bomber did work for the company, and we did fire him, but we never anticipated he would react this way. I try to build in failsafes for every situation. But in the end, you can't control people. And I...take full responsibility for that." Max says and Peter takes note on how he's reacting to his death.
"Why is he getting so choked up about some lunatic who tired to kill him?" Kara wonders.
"Didn't we find a failsafe in that bomb?" Peter asks Kara.
"Yeah, why?" Kara asks,
"I think we only know part of the story." Peter says and thinks of something. "I'm gonna have Gwen look into the hospital records." He says and gets up.
-
Lord is getting a drink in his office when two shadows appear on his wall.
"What can I get the two of you? Or are you not allowed to drink and fly? I don't know the rules." He tells them.
"We caught your press conference. We were surprised, you're usually a little more glib." Kara informs him.
"There was nothing to be glib about. A sick little girl lost her father." Max states to them.
"That little girl's being treated by a doctor who has a lifetime grant from your company." Peter informs him what Gwen was able to find. "And tonight, you said you always build in failsafes, like the kill switches in the bombs. Something tells me there was a failsafe in Knox's bomb, too. One that you could have remotely activated, but you knew the car would keep you safe. And you could've remotely stop that train if I couldn't stop it in time."
"You forced Knox to plant those bombs in exchange for saving his daughter's life." Kara finishes.
"I would never barter a child's life. I can't speak for Knox's motives. He was clearly insane." Lord replies to them while taking a drink.
"Maybe you didn't expect Knox to vaporize himself, but we know this was all a ruse. What we don't know is why." Peter continues since they can't find out what he has to gain from all of this.
"Fascinating theory. Unprovable, but worth exploring." Lord replies to them. "I suspect that whoever is responsible for those attacks might just be curious for the two of you. What are these two made of? How do they do what they do? What is their limitations?"
Then the past few days became so clear to them. The drones, the bombs, everything, it was for them.
"You were testing us." They both say at once.
"And what would these tests have shown us? The drones would've measured agility. Building explosion, strength. Not would've been speed while showing you're not invincible." Lord lists them off and the heroes can't understand how they missed that.
"But the results of that last tests are the most intriguing of all. You chose to split up, but that's not what's intriguing. It's how you chose to split up. Supergirl would've been the better choice for the train since she has more strength, and Spider-Man would've been a better choice for the airport since he can use his webs or witts to disarm it. One might deduce that there was someone you cared about on that train and airport. And finding that person is the key to revealing who you really are, when you're not wearing those suits of yours."
"For the record, we care about everyone. He had the brain power to stop the train, and I had the speed to get to the airport. You may have fooled this city, but we know you were behind this. And we will be watching you." Kara warns him.
"Finally, something we agree on." Lord states when he turns around to see they're gone.
Lord wants to know everything about these two heroes, and doesn't want any detail to be left out. And once he has that information, there's gonna be more trouble.
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