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Right this moment passing Pluto is a blur of bad news. A Czarnian has his course set for a primitive planet in some backwater solar system. The perfect place to hide when there's a price on your head, unless Lobo picked up your contract. And unfortunately for everyone involved this appears to be the case.
On earth things are much quieter now. No werewolves in the park, or vampires lurking in the bushes. It's still not really a place to be out alone after dark, but there aren't many places in the city that are. The sound of people talking and the smell of food cooking fill the air for the time being.
Ice cream. Kara Danvers is finished at the paper for the day, but she's not ready to hurry home just yet. Not when it's a beautiful day outside. Especially not when a walk through the park means there's ice cream to be had. She's just picked up a cone of vanilla from a stand, walking away with a cheerful step as she looks approvingly at the cone. All is…well, relatively well in the world, at least. She's found her cousin. She had an excellent interview with Miss Pepper Potts. And there's ice cream.
Lara-El, in her 'supersuit', is flying about the city as she's wont to do, listening and watching for people she can help, whatever the help might be. At the moment, she's flying at a slow and leisurely speed, about five stories in the air above Central Park itself. It's been a quiet day, so far, with Lara having had to stop to help… no one, thus far, leading to her flying about in such fashion, leisurely… and obvious to anyone else who might have super senses.
After about ten seconds something enters orbit. It flashes down through the city, blowing out several windows before the driver hops out, leaving the bike to fly up and out of orbit. In the park below a massive figure smashes into the ground then pushes up to dust himself off. His attire is outlandish, dark leather jacket and a pair of tight black pants. Lobo is now officially on the scene. Wasting no time he produces a large cigar from his pocket and lights it with a torch, before saying something in an odd language.
What a tragic waste of an ice cream cone. It's not the idea that someone is flying through the city that shakes her up - that's not too unusual these days. But something coming in from orbit, taking out windows and leaving someone else in it's wake? That's…a potential problem. The ice cream cone is abandoned as she zips under a bridge long enough to swap into her own red and blue uniform, then zips right back to the scene of the crime.
Not that showing up makes it make any more sense.
She stops a short distance away, brows furrowed as she eyes the latest arrival. "Are you…okay?" she asks, apparently granting him the benefit of the doubt for the moment.
Lara also saw something incoming… and realized that it was a controlled, if very chaotic and destructive, re-entry. So, instead of moving to catch it, as she'd originally thought to do, she flies down to land near where the big guy landed… or cratered, which might be more accurate, in Central Park.
"What brings the Main Man to Earth?", Lara asks as she herself touches down, just before Kara shows up in her Supergirl outfit. This wasn't expected, and Lara's eyes widen and her mouth hangs open for a moment in surprise. She then makes the mental effort to gather her wits, closing her mouth and putting her hands on her hips… and forces herself to give her attention to Lobo, once again.
"Hahn Sho Lobo ka skahveyt rok lok Krolo." Lobo replies to Kara, before looking over to Lara. "Ah," a thick finger with a black nail taps a button on his belt, "Got a contract on ah stinkin' Krolotean. You girls wouldn't happen to know where one is, would you?" The corner of his mouth turns up in a grin that shows off his canines, and clearly he hasn't gotten the memo that there eyes aren't located on their chests.
"I…have no idea what you said," Kara says slowly. "The first part sounded like a different language. The second part just didn't make sense." She keeps a cautious eye on Lobo, but someone else landed from the sky a moment ago, and that bears at least a look. What she sees, though, doesn't make her any less confused. In fact, the symbol on Lara's chest pulls her attention entirely from Lobo (if for a different reason than his attention). "Wait, who are you?"
Lara's eyes widen a fraction in surprise as Lobo mentions Kroloteans, then narrow a bit. She's heard of this… of Lobo coming to Earth to claim a bounty on one of that other species — but in her originaly reality, it was more than half a century ago that that happened… and roughly a half-century later than the 1964 in which she's found herself. As yet another difference from the history she 'knows' crops up, she purses her lips and thinks for a moment on how to handle the situation, considering her 'historical' knowledge of the Lobo that existed her her original reality and timeline. She doesn't want to change history… and, not realizing that she -cannot- change a history that hasn't even happened in this reality, she comes to the conclusion that she has to allow Lobo to fulfill his contract.
Turning to Kara, although she doesn't take her eyes completely off of Lobo, she says, "I'm… Supergirl, actually. It's the name I've always used… because there wasn't a reason not to do so. It's confusing, I know, because you're also Supergirl… but it's something that can be handled later", to the Girl of Steel.
Turning her attention fully back to Lobo, she says, "I won't stop you from doing your job, Lobo, but I also won't let you harm any innocents or cause random destruction of property. If you can stick to those terms, and don't mind my shadowing you while you're on Earth, I'll stay out of your way and just watch."
Lara thinks she's doing a good thing, here… but she hasn't any actual experience in dealing with Lobo; she never actually encountered him in her 'past', after all. Her words are just as likely to set him off, or make him start breaking things just because he was told he shouldn't, as they are to get any other reaction out of him.
"Listen here keezy femme nobody, and I mean /nobody/ tells the main man how to do his job." It's about this time the dust clears completely and the giant of a man can be fully seen. He's armed to the teeth, from a hook and chain at his side to a number of firearms that look more like they belong on Lara's earth. "I'm sposed ta put on a show, but you don't have ta worry about that until I find Tseng."
"I- I mean, whatever you want to call yourself, that's- I just, I thought that-" Kara is really confused about Lara. But as much as she'd like to focus on that right now, Lobo seems like more than just someone who's lost their way here. So with one last, long look at the other woman, she turns toward Lobo, hands on her hips. "Okay, again, you're saying words, but they're really not making a lot of sense. And this sort of thing," she waves a hand at the destruction, and the bike, and the weapons, "Isn't really welcome around here, so maybe you could…you know, not?" One more try at the nice way!
Lara lets Kara have her say in the conversation… then says to her, in Kryptonian, "He's an intergalactic bounty hunter. He's here on a job, to catch a krolotean… which is an alien species, I think. Oh, and he's as strong as a fully-powered male of your homeworld would be here on Earth. If we get in his way, we'll have to deal with that level of strength."
"If you can put on that show of yours without harming anyone who isn't your contract, and without bringing down whole buildings, I won't worry about it", Lara says to Lobo, after switching back to English. Then she holds up a hand and wags a finger back and forth, "… but -don't- call me 'keezy'. Your rep's solid, Main Man. You ain't gotta dis me, or her, to keep it. I'm a nobody, just like you said", she adds.
Lobo can't help but chuckle a little bit. "Could have sworn there weren't any Kryptonians left. But without your tech you guys were helpless. Guess that means it's your lucky day." He blows a cloud of smoke upwards and turns to head out, not making any promises to keep innocents out of his crosshairs.
It's been years since Kara's heard anyone speak Kryptonian. She was old enough to know what she was losing when her planet was destroyed, and as welcome as the sound is, it comes with just a little bit of heartbreak too. Despite the distraction, though, she nods to the other woman, grimacing. "Then I guess it's a good thing there's two of us, isn't it?" she smiles faintly to Lara, right before she takes off after Lobo.
An expression of "Aw hell… he understood that?!" crosses Lara's face. She might know him by face and name, but she clearly didn't know Lobo well enough to realize he'd understand, or at least recognize, the Kryptonian language. Then, returning the grim little smile Kara gives her, she superspeeds over to in front of Lobo. "We're -far- from helpless, Lobo", she says. "Agree to my terms, of find out what we can really do."
"That's Daddy to you, sweet cheeks." Lobo reaches up behind him and catches Kara by the face. With relative ease he throws her in the direction of a hot dog cart. Thankfully most of the people in the area had enough sense to scatter and try to watch from a distance. "Long as they don't shoot me they'll live. Only slightly broken." He adjusts so the heavy metallic head of his hook hits the ground, clearly ready for Lara to make a move.
Kara was…not anticipating that. It's not that she shouldn't have been anticipating that, it's more that she just doesn't have that much experience going up against people who are as strong and as fast as she is. This plan might take some adjusting. She tries to throw a punch when she gets caught, but ends up with a bit of a swat at Lobo's arm before she goes tumbling into the cart, doing her best to just reduce momentum and avoid hitting the bystanders.
It's not going to help her dignity that she has hot dog buns in her hair when she pries herself up out of the wreckage.
Lara, probably realizing that Kara's going to be fine, just takes on a combat-ready stance directly in Lobo's way. She even makes a little gesture with one hand in a 'come get some' sort of way. He's stronger, but she's faster (she hopes), and that's her plan… to use her fighting skills and speed to let her lesser strength be enough to redirect his attacks instead of meeting them head-on. If she can keep him off-balance and his attention focused on her, Kara'll have time to get into the fight and use -her- strength, which Lara is hoping is more a match for Lobo's than her own, to even things up.
"Ka ree?" Lobo asks, rolling his shoulders. While Lobo himself might not possess any super speed, he's incredibly strong. So when that chain of his starts whipping around it quickly becomes literally invisible. When Lara makes the gesture to start he lets go, launching that heavy hook directly at her midsection. "I always hated havin' to frag a pretty face."
Kara learned from the first time - this time she's going to see just what's going on before she rushes in. Whoever Lara is, she's at least tangentially related to Kara and Clark if that symbol on her chest is any sign. And she certainly seems to know more about actually fighting than either of them. Shaking the hot dog out of her hair, Kara takes to the sky, watching for the right time to dive into the fight.
Lara watches the chain and hook as the weapon speeds up. It's certainly invisible… to human vision, but she's got kryptonian-esque levels of superspeed, and while she can follow it, that hook's still -very- dangerous. So, when it comes at her, she uses her speed to step back out of its way. As it goes past in front of her, she uses that same speed and her own super strength to drive the heel of one hand down on the top surface of the hook, guiding it in the direction it's travelling, but also changing that line of travel, so that it hits the ground about a quarter of the way around past her location. The contact of her hand with the hook makes a deep 'gong' kind of sound, too, what with the speed and strength at which the 'slap' took place. Turning fully around with the momentum of her own defensive strike, Lara comes back to her defensive posture, having given up all of about three feet of distance.
The chain starts to dig into the ground, but it's quickly swung around for a second strike towards Lara, going for her head as she spins around. This clearly isn't Lobo's first time fighting an opponent that's faster than himself. They may not realize it, but there's a method to his madness. Kara may notice, but in his opposite hand he's wrapping a separate length of chain around his fist. He's plotting something.
Kara's eyes narrow as she watches Lobo, trying to get a read on what's happening. Lara seems to be able to handle herself, which is reassuring, even if the fact that she exists at all is really weird. She's still uncertain enough that she isn't ready to dive into the fight yet. But she can do a few things from a distance. Narrowing her eyes, she aims heat vision at Lobo's other hand and the chain there.
Lara actually… blows a kiss at Lobo, as if to tease him. She's going out of her way to goad him on, keep his attention fully on her… especially now that she sees Kara's using her heat vision on something out of Lara's immediate line of sight. As the hook comes back around at her, she flits up into the air, to go over it and land back where she'd been standing.
However, Lara's opponent is very experienced… and had planned for something like that. With the extreme control he's able to exert on the chain, Lobo alters its path through the air… and snags Lara's ankle as she flits up into the air, getting a look of surprise from the woman… and a surprised cry as she's yanked in to him to take a punch from his other fist, the one wrapped in a now red-hot chain!
Lara's sent flying back and away, over the trees like a home-run baseball going over the wall in Yankee stadium.
*THUNK* Lobo doesn't seem bothered by the heat at all, not yet anyway. The hook gets yanked back and he secures it at his waist, hands coming up in a stance that looks more suited to brawling. That should be more Lara's speed, yeah? "Thanks for tha assist babe. You comin' to play now?"
"Thanks, but I don't think you're my type," Kara calls down, taking in a deep breath only to blow a chill wind down toward the chain that was red-hot just a moment ago. Hopefully the chain isn't made of something intended to handle extreme changes in temperature, but given her luck in this conflict, she's just as likely to temper it as break it.
Lara sails through the air, and the 'line drive' curve of her movement changes, angling upwards instead of continuing down, as she does her best to gain control of her momentum. She manages to turn it into a big loop-around, up into the air over the park, instead of ending up crashing down onto something (or someone!) that might be destroyed by an out of control landing. She pauses there for a moment, gathering herself… it's been a while since she's been hit that hard, after all… and that's only happened a few times before, too! After a few seconds of holding one hand to her side, she tips foward and starts diving down out of the sky back down to the fight still in progress.
"Aw, don't give me the cold shoulder. How 'bout we heat things up?" Lobo grins as the chain shatters, pulling the large break-barrel firearm from his back and leveling at the Kryptonian's chest and squeezing the trigger. Despite it's deadly design it appears that it's just an alien net launcher. It's something she won't have any problem dodging, but it'll give him a fraction of a second to gather his thoughts. It'd be more than enough time.
"Really not interested!" Kara calls back, eyes narrowing as she fires a ray of heat vision at the net rather than dodging. Still, she's at least observed enough that she doesn't seem to be eager to rush back into close combat just yet. She knows when she's been outmatched there. "Look, there's really no reason for this to get ugly. Just put down the weapons and go…away."
Lara comes diving out of the sky… and suddenly kicks her flight speed up a notch, coming in at superspeed to flash past Lobo, aiming a high speed, full strength punch at the back of his knee, hoping to at least unbalance him to let Kara get in a good lick!
"The main man ain't here to frag anybody today. Just gotta put on a show, ain't gotta hurt an-" Lobo's defense of himself is cut short as he's given the world's worst deadleg. He's not just knocked of of his feet but into the air. Those crimson eyes of his flash as his temper flares up and he lets out a low whistle.
Without any warning Lobo's bike enters the atmosphere, and being the bastich he is, he parks it right in the small of Kara's back before swinging around to catch him.
"This is what you call a show?" Kara seems more interested in lecturing Lobo than in punching him at the moment. Unfortunately for her, that means she's not really paying attention when the bike comes barreling into her from behind. She does at least recover quicker this time, grasping at the bike as it passes to try to tear something - anything - off, but it gives him another moment. Then again, if he's going to actually leave, that is what she's going for…
Lara 'skids to a stop' in the air after her high-speed pass, turning around to come back for another run at Lobo. She sees the bike coming in in time to call out, "Look out!", just as it's slamming into Kara's back… but it seems that Kara was more than able to take the hit. She superspeeds back in, and up under Lobo, punching at him from below with the same thought as Kara — if he gets back to his flying bike and leaves, all the better!
"No, I call this foreplay. I was just stretching, but if you want we can get rough." Lobo takes a moment to notice that Kara ripped the head of Smelly Jim off his saddlebag. "Hey, that's /my/ bounty!" Before he can get too upset about it he's alerted to a blur of motion, and in response the bike flips over, allowing him to backhand Lara down towards the park. It quickly becomes clear that he has the speed advantage now too.
"How about you girls run home and let me get back to work? The Main Man's about to lose his temper."
Kara gives the head in her hand a disgusted look, tossing it back at Lobo without even thinking about it. "Okay, that is gross, aside from the fact that bounty hunting and killing people is wrong, and…" She shakes her hands off, wrinkling her nose. Tonight is going to be the longest bath night ever. "It's time for you to leave. Now."
Lara, caught out in her own game of speed, takes the backhand full on… and ends up hitting the ground in the park hard enough to create a little crater where she lands! Dirt flies up in the air, and one nearby tree is even knocked off-kilter by the woman's impact against, and into, the ground.
"You know, I think you're right." Lobo catches the head and secures it in place once again. "But Lobo don't kill for fun. Fun as it may be. Bounties and self defense." He takes another cigar from a compartment in the bike along with a torch. "Who attacked who here?"
Without waiting for an answer the Czarnian flips up a one finger salute and twists the accelerator. Just like that he's gone, central park and the surrounding cityscape bearing the proof of his arrival.
"Pretty sure it was you!" Kara shouts after the stranger, brows furrowing in confusion. "Pretty sure. Might've been her," she mutters to herself, turning to fly back down to where Lara landed. There are other questions to handle now.
Lara pulls herself out of her hole in the ground. "He hit you before either of us hit him, if memory serves", she says, shaking her head to get some dirt out of her hair. "… he hits harder than I've been hit in a very long time!", she comments, as she stands straight up, and then puts one hand to her side once again. "I'll need some time up in the sunlight after this…"
Kara lands not far from Lara, still looking at her hands like she'd very much like to wash them after touching the head. "That was…gross. Like, in every possible interpretation of the word, that was gross." She purses her lips, catching the inside of her cheek between her teeth as she considers the other girl. "I…when all this started, you said…Who are you?"
"Let's fly somewhere you can wash your hands and I can catch some direct sunlight, and we can talk there? … do you have any suggestions of such places, by the way?", Lara says. Either she's trying to accomodate Kara's 'eeeww!' moment, or she's delaying a bit, as if trying to figure out just what to say.