Chapter One: The Money Shot

Alex really hated Maxwell Lord. If the prick had just kept his mouth shut she wouldn't be chasing a five ton monster through the streets of downtown National City. Alex pressed harder on the gas pedal and made a sharp turn on sixth avenue. She had a rocket launcher with Grog's name on it, all she had to do was corner him into position.

"Alpha One to Alpha Two, pull east fast we're going to pigeonhole him on Exposition Blvd," Alex calmly relayed through her comm. "Alpha One to Alpha Three, pull in from the west; keep it tight."

Alex peeled out in a circle to face the alien and slammed on her breaks. "Alpha Three to Alpha One, be advised we are ten seconds out from contact point," came a quick reply.

Alex jumped out of the driver's seat and hauled the bazooka up with her onto the roof of her tac SUV. "Roger that, Alpha Three."

Alex lined up her scope. Distantly she could hear a series of explosions; she really hoped Bravo team was having better luck then she was.

Ah, there he is. The green gray monstrosity was running at her full speed, maybe a quarter of a mile downwind. "Alpha One to Alpha Two and Three. Be ready for emergency evacuation, peel off and stop suppressing fire on my mark."

Alex turned the safety off and waited. She inhaled and counted. Five. Four. "Three. Two. Mark!" Immediately the two shepherding vehicles turned sharply to get out of her range of fire. It was just her and the big guy now. Three. Two. One. Fire!

Alex was not exactly the biggest agent in the DEO; when the rocket left her bazooka the recoil knocked her on her ass and almost off of the roof of the car. Despite Alex's size she was the best shot in the DEO. Her aim was straight and true, a direct hit to the head. The thunderous sound and heat of the impact did not feel pleasant. She wasn't sure if her comm was still active, because honestly she couldn't hear a damn thing right now. She shouted for a cleanup crew anyway.

"This is Alpha One. Confirmed contact. Enemy down; requesting full cleanup crew immediately on Exposition and Third." Alex could faintly hear confirmation from Vasquez through the ringing in her ears. Alpha Two and Three pulled up beside her SUV. The rank scent of burned alien flesh caused her stomach to turn as she gingerly climbed down from her perch, a junior agent with a medical bag meeting her halfway.

She could barely hear the shouted triage questions, but the disturbed look on Agent Lowry's face was enough to tell her she was missing an injury. Lowry quickly pried the comm out of her ear and Alex gasped in pain, she could feel the warm drip of blood escaping from her ears now. Whatever, she still had a job to do - busted eardrum or not.

She signed to Lowry and Agent Richards impatiently as she was forced to sit down and lean against the tire of her vehicle to be checked for a concussion. 'Bravo Team, Status?'

Lowry crouched down to wipe the blood off the side of her face, Richards must have taken pity on her because he countersigned. 'No contact, status unknown.'

Shit.Kara had been with the Bravo Team to take down the horrific golem robot thing Lord cobbled together from scraps and bombs. There's no telling what Lord put in that damn Frankenstein monster of his, she needed to get to Bravo team and fast.

'Last known location?' she signed.

'32nd and Red River.'

Alex nodded and took the gauze from Lowry.

"Secure the contact site, remove the remains immediately. I'm going to rendezvous with Bravo team." Alex stood and opened the driver's side door.

She was relieved when she heard the protest from Agent Lowry. "Ma'am, with all due respect you're in no condition to do anything."

Alex ignored her and buckled her seatbelt. "Your concern has been noted and taken into consideration, Agent Lowry. But we still have an active terror situation in progress, and it's my job to make sure we complete our objective. Now either get in or get out of the way."

Agent Lowry looked at her team leader who motioned her away, she would be more useful as a medic with Bravo team anyway. Lowry jumped in the passenger seat and barely had time to buckle her seat belt when Alex stomped on the gas for 32nd street.

Thankfully, most of the roads had been cleared by uniforms so she wasn't dodging any civilian traffic. "Hand me your comm, Lowry." The other woman hesitated before removing the earpiece and passing it to Alex.

Alex winced in discomfort as she slotted the plastic in place. "This is Alpha One in route to Bravo Team, patch me through to Bravo's channel please." Vasquez was a stickler for manners, whether she would admit it or not, and was more likely to cooperate if asked politely.

"Patching you through." It must be bad if Vasquez didn't have anything smart to quip back at her. Alex realized how bad as soon as the comms line switched over.

There were sporadic bursts of indistinct screaming and people shouting. Alex pressed harder on the gas, Lowry grabbing the support handle for balance beside her.

"Alpha One to Bravo Team, Bravo Team please respond." Nothing. Just random burst of static and noise. "Agent Danvers to allcon, please respond!" She said it with more force the second time, hoping the drill sergeant voice would snap an agent into responding. Sure enough a faint voice came through the other side of the line. "Vasquez can we clear up that sound please?"

The faint voice sharpened into quality and increased in volume. "Bravo Two to Agent Danvers, be advised the robot started some kind of countdown and released an unknown agent into the building it was hiding in. I've been evacuating civilians for the past ten minutes."

Alex could tell from the wet sound of Agent Reynolds voices that he had taken some kind of lung damage, Lowry looked distressed beside her. "Where is Supergirl?"

There was a long stretch of static then, "Unknown, she was engaged with the robot last time I saw her, but she fell when that substance was released. Bravo One and Three went to back her up, I lost all communication with them shortly thereafter."

Damnit! Alex slammed her hand on the edge of the steering wheel.

"Continue to evacuate the civilians, keep HQ posted on progress. I will extract our agents." Alex drove through the smoke billowing on 30th street and noticed the uniforms directing civilians out of the blast zone. Alex threw the car into park and reached for an additional side arm and an ammunitions sling.

"Lowry stay out of blast range, prepare for casualties. Do not follow." Lowry was young, barely out of med school; Alex wasn't about to risk losing their field doctor to a building collapse. Lowry protested loudly. "That's an order, Agent Lowry. Set up triage. Vasquez what's the ETA on reinforcements?"

"ETA 5 minutes."

Alex pulled her helmet and mask on in hopes that the mask would filter out the usual irritants. Lowry ran off to set up triage and direct civilians as Alex dodged a rain of broken glass that just hailed from above.

Even with a busted eardrum Alex could hear Agent Cooper's death cry as he was tossed out a seventh story window to the pavement next to Alex. "Bravo One down! Allcon pull back, pull back!"

Alex pushed forward into the building, the only thing she was focused on right now was getting Kara out. The fact that Kara didn't catch Cooper was telling to Alex. Kara needed help and she needed it now.

Alex sprinted and jumped up the crumbling stairwell; she could hear the sounds of something being slammed through walls. Alex busted the door to the seventh floor and gasped in horror. There was a massive hole leading three floors up and almost all of the interior walls were rubble. She could see where Agent Jimenez had been impaled on a broken support beam. The substance the robot had leaked was sickly green in color. Alex felt terror grip her heart like a vice. Her gun gripped painfully in her sweating hands. The floor reeked of the coppery scent of blood.

"KARA!"

Alex had little time to dodge Kara's limp body being thrown at her like a rag doll. Kara knocked through the wall behind Alex and didn't get up. The cyborg, glowing a sickly green, approached her slowly.

Alex wasn't sure exactly what happened next, but she was screaming in rage and raining bullets into the advancing machine. Alex, against all common sense, ran right at the target. She had to time this just right. Alex dodged some flying circuitry from the robot's chest. She scrambled to throw away her empty side arms and instead pulled one of the glowing grenades from her ammunitions sling.

If robots could feel surprise, then Lord's monster would definitely have been feeling it as the fleshbag charged it.

Alex armed the hybrid hand bomb with her teeth and tackled the machine, forcing the softball sized piece of polymer deep into its exposed wiring. Alex braced herself and activated the first level of the bomb. Arcs of pure energy encased Alex's hand and the torso of the robot, both of them thrashed and screamed as thousands of volts of electricity raced through them.

Alex, in a great show of will, activated the second level of the hand bomb. She ripped her hand back and pushed the thrashing robot to the opposite side of the building and away from the triage unit.

Five. Four. Alex had to time this just right or the damn thing would explode in her face or damage things below. Three. Alex used a nearby chair like a bat to knock the cyborg out the window. Two. One. Detonate. The explosion rocked the building dangerously.

Alex had already turned back towards the prone superhero. What a damn mess, she thought. Alex wasn't sure if she was talking about herself of Kara right now. Alex checked for a pulse and was relieved to find a sluggish heartbeat. She needed to get Kara out of this poison fast.

Alex considered her options briefly. The stairwell had crumbled into dust as Alex had climbed them earlier. She was seven stories up with her only method of flight unconscious. Time for Plan C, then. Alex pulled the grappling anchor she had out of her tac pack and threaded an extra rope in preparation for their descent. She hooked the anchor around one of the last remaining support beams and tugged to test the hold. It would do. Alex grabbed Kara roughly, shuffling her limp body into a fireman carry.

Alex didn't look back as she lowered herself down the smooth side of the building. Alex's iron clad grip on Kara kept them from separating in the wind. With the ease of someone in shock and years of training, Alex repelled down the building as fast as she could. They had almost made it to the ground when the final blast of a bomb detonated above them, severing Alex's rope. They fell the last story down.

Alex laid stunned underneath Kara's weight. They weren't out of the blast zone yet. She peeled the helmet and mask off, panting. With great effort Alex stood and picked Kara up bridal style and limped towards the triage unit. Behind her a great ball of flame exploded and engulfed the building, but Alex's eyes never left Kara's unconscious face. The anguish Alex was feeling was choking her.

Mercifully, the support unit had arrived. Kara's eyes fluttered open and Alex held back a sob. A tear escaped as Kara's eyes focused in on Alex. Kara's eyes said everything. You came back for me. You saved me. Kara raised a weak hand to wipe away Alex's tears and gently cupped the side of her face to cover the blood tracks left by her ear injury.

They cried together as Alex pulled Kara tight to her chest and kneeled down. "I will always come back for you, Kara. Always."

Kara buried her head into Alex's neck. "I love you."

I love you too, went unsaid because Lowry was pulling them towards the medevac copter. Alex didn't let go of Kara until they were high in the air and they moved the portable sun lamps to rejuvenate Kara. Alex blacked out still holding Kara's hand.

Miles away, back at the bomb site, a lone photographer reviewed her photos from today's drama. She was thrilled to see the crystal clear picture of the dark haired woman who had pulled Supergirl from the wreckage. 'That's it,' she thought with a smile "I've got the Money Shot."

End Chapter One

Author's Note: Hey guys, thanks for reading. Huge thanks to Beaglesinbowties for acting as my beta, I really appreciate it. Let me know if you like the story, constructive criticism welcome. Updates will hopefully happen every other day depending on my university load. I have little background in paramilitary combat procedures but here are some jargon translations for the curious:

· Allcon = all concerned, everyone who is involved, used when speaking to a large group of people but what you're saying is only relevant to certain people.

· ETA = estimated time of arrival

· Fireman carry = the military's preferred method of transporting casualties. Places the weight of carry on the back rather than the arms of the carrier.

· Medevac = medical evacuation

· Triage = the process of determining the severity of injuries among a large amount of casualties. Triage can also be referring to a mobile emergency medical service.