The final battle arrives

Evelyn, a.k.a. Ultragirl, leaned out of the helicopter as it skimmed over the cold ocean, the downdraft from the aircraft spraying water into the air in their wake. Moonlight reflected in the quiet water, illuminating her flawless face. Behind her, she saw two more Wildcat helicopters following them, skirting the cliffs of the Devonshire coast. The blonde superheroine turned back to her team in the cabin. Some brought strength, notably Woodpecker and Foxgloves. Hurricane and Artemis could wield powerful attacks. And Phantom, Miss Veritas, and Bowler brought more strategic options to the table. She certainly had her disagreements with them - her eyes lingered first on Woodpecker, who was fidgeting incessantly with his costume, and then Foxgloves, whose vines probed flirtatiously at Hurricane's stoic defences. But she set her irritations aside, because finally they were going to take down {if Futa==true}Mikaela{else}Michael{endif} Abbott.

{if Futa==true}Evelyn didn't like women like Mikaela who flaunted their sexuality. Call them what you will; vixens, temptresses, sluts... they were the most savage in society. The ones that gave into their instincts, and in doing so damaged women collectively - and society. Evelyn was disgusted by the rise of blatant sexuality across the world. What were they, animals? To her, Alpha was the worst of these women - the strippers, the seductresses, the OnlyFans girls. Mikaela was everything Evelyn hated about other women, and so she had no sympathy for what she was about to do to her.{if@ Images!=false}

{endif}{else}Evelyn didn't like straight men. She had yet to meet one that didn't ogle her Amazonian bust, or her powerful ass, or her abs visible through her skin-tight costume. She just knew that as they were doing that they were thinking about kissing her perfect lips, kneading her gravity-defying breasts, squeezing her delectable butt. {if@ Images!=false}

{endif}Certainly, they had good reason to be attracted to her; despite Girl 2.0's claims to the contrary, Ultragirl was under no illusion that she was the perfect woman. But that didn't excuse their behaviour. And, to her at least, Alpha represented the worst of these men.{endif}

It had been... disappointing when S.P.E.R.M. initially classed the disappearances of several women linked to Alpha as 'minor concern', even more so when they disregarded {if Futa==true}her{else}his{endif} attempt on GCHQ - and the hacking of nuclear missiles by IQ - as a 'resolved incident'. They had the location of Alpha's base, but when Phantom and Artemis attempted to apprehend {if Futa==true}her{else}him{endif}, they had come away with torn clothes, abused bodies, and a deep **** to confront the {if Futa==true}villainess{else}villain{endif} again. Only the mysterious disappearance of Humanity 2.0 last week had been enough for Ultragirl to convince them that Alpha was enough of a threat to warrant a full-scale operation. What had happened in that decrepit church was extremely well covered-up, but even IQ wasn't perfect.

Ultragirl put on a headset, holding a metal pole to steady herself, and the rest of the team turned to her expectantly. "Ready, squad," she said, her voice cool but determined. "Follow your orders to the letter. We must minimise harm to {if Futa==true}Mikaela's victims wherever possible. We capture Mikaela if possible, kill her if not.{endif{else}Michael's victims wherever possible. We capture Michael if possible, kill him if not.{endif}"

There were some murmurings at that last sentence. "I thought you hated killing?" asked Phantom.

Evelyn's stomach turned. "I... what matters is that we follow orders," she said firmly. She released her grip on the pole to she had accidentally crushed the steel. "The government has designated Alpha as a national threat, and authorised us to use lethal **** if {if Futa==true}she{else}he{endif} cannot be taken alive. I do not believe it will come to that, though."

"Sixty seconds to operation site," the pilot's voice crackled over the radio.

"Filter masks on," ordered Ultragirl. The rest of the heroes complied, sitting nervously in their seats. In theory, this battle would be a walk in the park compared to their battles with Humanity 2.0. But given the shape Phantom and Artemis had returned in after their last visit, the tension in the cabin was high.

"Engagement in ten seconds."

The Wildcat rounded a headland, and they saw it. A mansion built into the cliffs, windows embedded in the rocks looking out over the sea, with only a small structure above ground. As they gained altitude, two Typhoon fighter jets thundered overhead, dropping a payload of air-to-ground missiles which lit up the surface of the cliffs. The trio of helicopters spread out, firing more missiles at surviving auxiliary structures, before smoke from the explosions obscured their view.

Ultragirl stepped out of the aircraft, hovering in place over the mansion as the smoke cleared. They suspected that Alpha had equipped {if Futa==true}her{else}his{endif} base with weapons illicitly obtained from the manufacturers Glymann & Co - but given the ruined surface, any defences had surely been destroyed by the bombing strike, clearing the way for them to land their ground operation. The blonde heroine was about to give the go-ahead to continue - but something seemed... off. She peered down at the smouldering rubble, trying to comprehend why she had this gut instinct - and then she realised. She couldn't smell the smoke.

"Illusion, it's an illusion," Evelyn cried into her radio - but it was too late. A missile speared out of the ruins, connecting with one of the Wildcats in a ball of fire. "Base, we're taking fire. We need plan swordfish. Repeat, plan swordfish." Ultragirl reacted with superhuman speed as she saw another missile ascending through the smoke. She raced it to the second helicopter, curling herself into a ball and knocking the aircraft out of the path of the weapon. It exploded just metres away, but the pilot was able to maintain enough control of the aircraft to aim for a landing.

"Artemis, clear the smoke," Ultragirl ordered. The silver huntress flew through the moonlight to join the white-and-gold clad heroine, and notched a silver arrow in her bow. She loosed it towards the ground, and a sparkling shockwave pulsed through the night. Suddenly, the smoke faded. Behind it, there were no ruins; instead they saw the Beaumont mansion, its grounds completely untouched aside from one intact crash-landed helicopter and the flaming wreckage of another.

"Swordfish inbound in twenty seconds, Ultragirl," a voice came over the radio.

"We'd better give some more space," the blonde said to her raven-haired teammate, who nodded sombrely. The two of them ascended higher into the night sky, and peered at the illuminated water below.

"There," said Artemis, pointing at a shadow flitting across the water. It tested the limits of Ultragirl's eyesight, but there it was: a Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile, gliding over the ocean towards the base. Evelyn had wanted to save Rachel and Esmée and all of {if Futa==true}Mikaela{else}Michael{endif}'s victims, but if she had to make a choice between stopping Alpha or letting her teammates get massacred - it had to be the former.

Her stomach sank, however, as she watched the missile turn in the air, missing its target completely and exploding harmlessly against a barren cliff face.

"Black Swan's telekinesis," growled the blonde superhero. She had no time to dwell on the conundrum Rachel presented, however, as she spotted yet another missile heading for their final remaining helicopter, the one holding the S.P.E.R.M. heroes. Evelyn didn't think; she shot down towards the missile, intercepting it mid-air, and for an instant she was engulfed in an explosion which drove the air from her lungs. But she lowered her arms, and found herself completely intact. Even her costume was barely stained.

"Land, now," Evelyn yelled, as Artemis shot another surface-to-air missile out of the sky with her bow.

"Ma'am, shouldn't we regroup?" asked the pilot over the radio.

"We're not leaving here without completing our mission," said the heroine fiercely. "Besides, we have troops stranded on the ground. Don't worry, we'll cover you."

There was a pause, and then, "Copy that, Ultragirl." The last remaining Wildcat banked into a steep descent, and Ultragirl matched its speed, hurtling towards the ground. As the mansion grew larger, tracer fire from air defences began appearing around them, and Ultragirl quickly traced them to their source. With a burst of speed, she became a white-and-gold blur, shells bouncing off her before she smashed into the hidden air defence emplacement and through a dozen metres of earth, finally emerging into the air. Spotting another, she repeated the process, using her body as a physical weapon, tearing apart the reinforced gun emplacements like they were made of paper. Finally, their helicopter was able to set down next to its damaged sister, and the gaudily-dressed heroes grouped up with the surviving Royal Marines, who were already establishing a path to the mansion.

Woodpecker rushed up to her. "Ultragirl, if what we just saw was created by Dr Illusion, then that means -"

"That Alpha has joined forces with Humanity 2.0," she nodded grimly. "Which is why we need to stop them now, before they can put whatever plan they've concocted into action."

Just as they had been trained, the marines and heroes spread out around the mansion, preparing multiple points of entry. Evelyn took up position by the front door, Woodpecker by her side. As the two most invulnerable mutants, they planned to take whatever heat Alpha had prepared for them, and allow the rest of the troops to get into position.

"Ready?" Ultragirl asked her partner calmly. He looked up at her, and nodded, trying to put on a brave face. "Execute," she whispered into her radio - then smashed down the door.