Powergirl : Quantum Quest (49) Redirected Fire

Monarch knew that the figure standing before him was no ghost, it was his original personality given form, the one before mighty Darkseid revealed him to the truth. He had to be destroyed.

" BURN you misguided fool! In Darkseid's name i shall destroy you! " His words were fanatical, but lacked the drive he might have once possessed, he no longer felt whole, he felt like it was he who was the shadow, and this mere "duplicate" of his past self was the truth....but no, that was heresy, Darkseid's will was all.

Captain Atom felt that if Monarch truly was a part or an aspect of himself, he could be reasoned with

" You can't win this, you haven't the strength of will, you're confused. Darkseid got into your, our mind and warped you. I don't think...

" DIEEEE!! " was Monarch's response.

Ignoring his worsening injuries, Monarch launched a barrage of energy at Captain Atom.

Captain Atom himself seemed unimpressed, this sickened, dying aspect of himself seemed to no longer have the wit to realise it was over, if that was all he could muster. Nathaniel absorbed the energy, drawing it deep, redirecting it, altering it into a mix of energy and mass, holding it....

" My turn " He released the energy.

Kara had to admit, it was a spectacular sight, as the energy blast cut through Monarch, blasted away the slope of the crater and carried Monarch clear into the distance.

Captain Atom breathed heavily, it was more of a strain than he expected, but then rebuilding himself had proven exhausting. He really hoped that blast had proven enough to end this, if Monarch remembered how to absorb both matter and energy this might not be over, he thought to himself.

" Welcome back Nate " said a warm voice that he had long missed, " so is this over ? "

Nathaniel turned to see the welcoming face of Kara. Though not just her face, she was entirely devoid of her costume, every curve was on display, and had the situation not felt so physically aching and dangerous, Nathaniel might have felt he was still dreaming as he did when he was nothing but a shard. She was beautiful. He tried to look away.

" Lord, i hope so...do we have any back up ? I wasn't in any real condition to take in the full situation before, everything was kind of hazy. "

" Me, and Atlee, "

Captain Atom expected that, Atlee was a good kid and had been a firm friend to Kara. Stronger than she was given credit.

" Maxima, Vartox "

" Wait...Maxima ? and Vartox? you went and recruited our former stalkers ? "

Nathaniel still remembered having to let a needlessly jealous suitor of Maxima's hammer him into the ground. And he remembered the time Vartox "accidentally" brought an small alien horde that interfered with his first actual date with Kara, that was a farce.

Kara was beginning to look irritable, and Nathaniel was struggling not to look at her in her glory, he never had a problem before but it had felt like an eternity since he had seen her. This whole situation felt weird.

" They have been good friends to me. And finally Lobo, and curiously his Dolphins "

" LOBO?!? Seriously?!? jeez, it's a solid team you put together, if a bit different from what i expected "

He had to admit in terms of raw power, Kara had outdone herself. No wonder Monarch increasingly looked like he was going to shatter into dust, he must have been put through the wringer even before Kara started pounding him.

" Kara, one question. Why are you naked ? "

Kara's response was dismissive as she gave him a suspicious stare, " I had hoped you might explain that to me. ".

Yeah, he was definitely not dreaming, they had to finish this fight and fast before Monarch could...wait, where the hell actually was Monarch ?....





Captain Atom returns in as spectacular a fashion as i could think, doing what he does best, blasting things that are too tough for his team. I had thought to have them trade punches but i felt Monarch was not in the right state of mind to try, and Captain Atom would be itching to blast something

It may have been noticed that i keep using both the superhero name and their identity for both Powergirl/Kara and Captain Atom/Nathaniel/Nate, i can't help myself, at certain moments it feels right to use their actual name, or the name their friends use, it makes it more personal somehow.

So far i have avoided depicting Kara fully nude, and i'll probably find some inventive ways to hide parts of her body, mostly to keep it gently tongue in cheek like her comic series

I've tried my best to have a certain lightness given by their conversation, as though they are both trying their best to cope with a fairly strange day by treating it as business as usual.

Maxima did have a passing interest in Captain Atom, but he was never interested ( also i think he was briefly engaged or married to Plastique, a reformed villainess at the time )

As for the Vartox interrupting Powergirl's and Captain Atom's dinner, i made that up, though i think it would have been the type of thing that could and should have occurred in the Powergirl comic series if it had not been canceled. I might do a picture or even a 5 page comic short if i feel up to it.