Of Knights and Aliens

Chapter 76

It's nearing three in the morning and Kara's full of nervous energy. She tries to keep her nervous bouncing to a minimum, but it's still noticeable enough for her to get some odd looks from the people around her. But they most seem understanding, giving off nervous energy themselves as they check and recheck their weapons.

Kara hears a cough coming from somewhere in J'onn's voice and takes a deep breath. That's the signal they agreed on. It works because it's subtle and quiet, and since he's with Alex's group, every group can tell pretty much at the same time.

Kara raises her fist in the air, the signal for her group and Lena's archer group that J'onn has signaled. Kara's troop straightens their backs and pulls out their weapons. They slowly stalk forward, keeping their movements silent. Because Kara's okay but not great at walking silently in the woods, she floats a little bit above the ground so she doesn't make any noise. She can hear the soft rustling of the archers moving through the trees behind her.

Kara takes a deep breath and moves towards the front of the group. Depending on what's ahead of them, if the giant front door to the castle is closed, that kind of thing, they may need in front to break through. Her group breaks through the tree line, which is still a good hundred yards or so from the entrance. Which is smart on Cadmus' part, so they can see whoever's coming.

Kara trains her ears on the castle, focusing her attention on the entrance and front gate. There's absolutely no indication that anyone has seen them. It seems like their plan, Lena's idea, worked. The guards are snoring or slumped against the wall and yawning, according to her X-ray vision.

Kara focuses on the front door's mechanism that keeps it locked and shut. The group stops a few feet back, giving her time to study it and space to open it, as well as time for everyone to catch up. The mechanism is relatively simple, which she didn't expect. But maybe they weren't expecting a Kryptonian with super strength to try to break in. Kara floats up a bit higher.

She doesn't think she can yank it open without the people inside the entrance noticing. She wants surprise on their side. Kara looks down to the people below her and signs to them.

"I'm going to kick the door in. Ready?"

A ripple goes through the crowd of gathered knights as the message is passed on so no one's surprised. Eventually, the person who's been named their group leader gives Kara thumbs up.

Kara nods to herself and winds up the way Alex taught her. She kicks hard and the door practically flies open, the sound of splintering wood echoing loudly. The hinges creak and groan under the unexpected strain of the door being kicked open. Kara wishes there was a quieter way to break in, but this works.

The dozing Cadmus agents inside snap up, eyes wide and terrified. Kara uses her heat vision to heat up their swords. They try to draw them and yelp, practically throwing their sweltering hot swords away. They're in an entry way of some sort, with the real entrance to the castle behind the guards.

Kara has no doubt that a group of Cadmus people have already gathered. Lena has often said that Lillian likes to prepare for anything, and that probably includes running drills for a similar scenario to this. She uses her X-ray vision and sure enough, there's already a good thirty agents just inside and more rushing to come to them. Kara signs that to the others and they nod.

The Cadmus agents near them are terrified and backing away from the force in front of them. There's only five of them, and a lot more DEO agents and knights. They take them down easily and the leader of the unit signals up to Kara that they're ready to continue. He isn't using sign language, but Kara learned long ago how to decipher the weird hand movements that the DEO uses (Alex taught her).