October 05, 2015:
The final attempt to take, reform and eradicate/enslave is stopped. But at what cost?
Hell's Gate - Metropolis
Characters
![class="image1"](http://cmbeta.wdfiles.com/local--resized-images//class="image1"/medium.jpg)
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
Mood Music: [*https://youtu.be/rvYgbXipvP8?list=PL50694C703BD459FB I'd Love to Change the World]
Fade In…
Hell's Gate, Metropolis: 7:32 PM PST
In all the history of Metropolis this island is like their Staten. The beacon of welcome to those who seek a place in this monolithic city, taking them from unsurety to sturdy in their hearty work that pumps though factories like the heartbeat, and they keep the blood flowing and the exports arriving to mainland Metropolis. Here immigrants find homes and old families have stayed - through Hell or high waters. Literally.
But the instability that rings throughout the world and their sister cities will not leave them untouched, and tonight at 7:32 PM…
"This is WGBS and we're live and reporting here across the bridge from Hell's Gate where the phenomena is occurring that has been seen and reported in Russia, Gotham, and New York." The camera goes from the auburn haired news reporter to that of the bridge that spans between Hell's Gate and New Troy where traffic is backed up along the structure that suddenly quakes and wavers…
"What…?!
The sentence is cut off as the ground shakes, the bridge sways like a jump rope about to be shifted into motion at the hands of Gods just before another pillar joins the silhouette of the duo lining the north and east point of Hell's Gate's shores. The camera drops to its side and the cameraman's leg can be seen pushing back, realigning as the reporter is running back with the mass of people leaving their cars to finish the evacuation on foot as a helicopter rips through the sky above towards the island. The camera follows the chopper belonging to WLEX-TV and just above it in the sky the swirling mass of clouds that drop a sudden storming onslaught in the form of a vacuum opens into a cyclonic circle, ripping the chopper from its course and sucking it up, tearing it to pieces in the process.
"I hope our heroes can do for us as they have for them!" The reporter shouts as the camera shakily pursues and then drops, the screen resorting to white noise after the stampede of feet and the backdrop of screams.
The fourth pillar shoots to the sky, severing that bridge into massive slabs of shrapnel and lashes of wires into the turbulence, some running sinking into the waters below, falling with the bits of highway into the rolling waters beneath.
It starts suddenly, no waiting this time as the Boom Tube opens and parademons reveal from the flooding sewers beneath taking flight to drop the humans atop their assigned Obelisks. The rite and ritual this time more organized, more militaristic as the cries from the ground reach to the sky where they are met with the wide mouth of the Boom Tube and the descent of their allies.
All those times before. You think you are the only ones to learn? There is no mercy, there is no end when you yourselves have been the experiments, the lab rats to which we have found the cure! The voice echoed, silencing the wails of the parademons for only the moment it took for several larger beings to land among the streets riding on the backs of Warhounds trapped in alien tech, harnessed to their riders that sweep outward into the streets leading the rising of Black Clad Forces strapped with weaponry fed by Intergang that flood from the insides of factories dragging hiding workers from their places and lining them along the streets to kneel with hands behind their heads and guns at their necks. One by one parademons rip the civilians from the streets, carrying them towards the open Boom Tube.
Oracle has been watching for signs that might indicate 'Apokolips' may try to attack again - she's only barely ahead of the news feeds though and sends an emergency call to the JL:A, SHIELD and another heroes that she is her contact list - and that list is really quite extensive. "This is Oracle. We've more obelisks appearing in Metropolis. Location being transmitted now. Please advise if you are attending and when you get to the location."
Grabbing the video and audio feeds to the area, displaying them in windows on her screens, she taps into the local Emergency Services and Law Enforcement channels - at first to listen, but ostensibly to provide support.
"This was supposed to be my day off," Caitlin says to no one in particular. Kneeling on the side of the street very near where the first wave broke through, she's playing along for the moment- head tilted down. It looks subservient but in reality she's got a fine view from her peripheral vision. Even kneeling on the ground she's tall, and she wears a men's leather coat as a light jacket.
She shifts her weight unobtrusively, feet flexed so she sits on her heels and the pad of her sneakers presses against the ground. There's a quiet coiled tension to her that she's unable to wholly hide, so she feigns a bit of distress and fear while waiting for the moment to strike.
Well, at least it's not time hopping Nazis chasing her while she rides a unicorn and a Cenobite Lady Gaga in hot pursuit. Rain has pretty low standards for alarming occurances. But the witch will end up teleporting, riding her broomstick and making her way as best as she can. Captain rides on the broomstick, lightning crackling from his fur. He's enchanted and ready for battle. Just rub the cat REALLY HARD to get him to shoot lightning. She's nearing others, but even pushing 100MPH in the air, it's just going to take a moment.
While most of the Outsiders were otherwise occupied, Roy happened to be on board, tending to Lian's homework, when the news went off. Kicking the ship into action, beaming up whoever was immediately available was a priority… but the person in command was K'tten.
"Look, I'm sure Kori'd appreciate -helping- these people right -now-, so let's get there and beg forgiveness later. I'll take the blame," Roy implores, waving his hands in a 'hurry up' gesture.
K'tten brings a fist up, and then brings a finger upward, studying the nail on it, which seems to have been sharpened into a nice point-esque look. "Well, then, let's do it. But anything happens to the Starfire…"
She makes a slash gesture. "You'd better -hope- Koriand'r is in a forgiving mood afterwards."
Arriving as the boom tube opens, Roy motions. "Evacuate the people, I'm going out there…!"
"Wait…!"
But Roy was already moving to teleport down.
"… I'm going to neuter Koriand'r's pet human, I swear I will…" K'tten mutters, as she taps a button on her captain's chair. "Prepare to evacuate the humans."
No need.
No want.
No warning.
A screech is born through the heavens as a figure in gold bears down upon the parademons, snatching one up and tossing it upon an upturned car engulfed in flames. Clawed fingers clutch and rend as the other provides good work with her staff, twirling with blazing speed, only allowing the parademons to suffer the sounds of her plight.
*THWOK!*
*THACK!*
"Oracle. This is Hawkgirl. Approaching ground zero from the perimeter. Patch a direct com in through to Wonder Wo—"
Words were soon cut off as she's pummeled by the side, a mixture of grey and gold twirling through the air in a flurry of flailing limb and a smattering of blood. One of the two were bleeding, but it was clear that it was not Shayera. The parademon does not stop, her own metal sticks aplomb, Shayera's soon clasped in front of her and broken in half to the point the electricity creates a stifling crackle in the air.
"Correction. Going radio silence. Shayera Hol, out."
Doctor Strange had taken all possible precautions to ward Earth from further Apokolips assaults, and set mystical alarms in the case it was attempted. But he was aware the invaders already had agents on Earth, maybe many, and that his wards could have come years late.
As it was. Not one. Four obelisks! The psychic shockwave makes him dizzy all the way in his heavily protected home in New York. It takes him a few seconds to gather his composure, and he spares only a few more to tell Wong to warn as many allies as he can find. Then he teleports all the way to New York to fight alien gods.
He gets Oracle message just upon arrival. "Oracle? By the Vishanti… four of those abominations at once. Doctor Strange here. Who else is on the field?"
No, there is no need. Only want. But for what is made crystal clear without words….
As the 'humans' atop the obelisks make contact the energy that rises is one that can be felt crackling along the surface of skin, lightning striking too close, in which it does, touching down in a constant drive from the Boom tube to assigned pillars and those placed atop, that energy blasting outward and what was falling stops.
Pause was pressed within the destruction, within the falling bodies and anything bearing the ions and matter made for Earth. The ground cracks and shockwaves split, opening lines and veins along the shores of New Troy and Queensland Park all the while Hell's Gate begins to concave, sinking inward and buckling with the groans of industrial protests and reinforcement. And just as it had in Gotham with the terra-reformation they had discovered it began here as the factories one by one began to snap apart as if puzzle pieces taken at the seams to hover ——
The groan was that of a beast, followed by the howls of the Apokolipian war mounts. Three that stand at ground zero's central location bearing women of a warriors physique upon them. One bearing arrows and a large bow, the other bearing a red cloak flowing behind her - Spartan among the gray and black of smoke behind them, the other a seemingly older and bone-thin woman weilding a large Fahren-knife that she holds out at her side, as malicious as the smile splitting haggard lips. In this line they watch the skies and the ground, clearing a path in their sudden ride forward while the red cloaked woman takes to the skies towards the airborne heroes, leaving her mount to charge forward with the duo. Furies set forth!
Above Queensland Park the people panic as the HMSS is suddenly breaking atmosphere and for the first time ever revealing the massive ship to its people as the protector above, but even now they panic, running into broken segments of scared animals despite the familiar form of Roy there and gone.
The radio is there but the lines are attempting to be wretched from Oracles grip, static setting in and responses garbled but there as those called upon respond.
"Backup…. comm systems…. Oracle—-~~** reroute we need to all be together I will link those in to us that join this!" Wonder Woman's voice breaks through, white noise attempting to take over, some parts chopped but clear enough as the flurry above comes in clad in the golden armor, thighs protected by the fall of pteruges while the hawks wing span still forms across the chestplate of lorica still in red. A spear is lifted, the gift from Thor that rotates in her grip to pierce between the armor of one parademon to hoist it above her head and over, throwing the beast towards the ground and shake him of her spear, spinning it to smack the pommel against another as they swarm inward. "Strange, Rain! *Crackle* Pillars!" A fist rises in time to catch the massive jaws of a parademon upon her vambrace where its teeth crack upon the metal.
Since the first attempts on Oracles comms systems, the clocktower bound redhead has been working on improving the resiliance and redunancy of the systems - bouncing signals from 'borrowed' time on Satellites, she works to avoid the hijack… she should be successful, she's a lot of resources at her disposal.
"Wonderwoman, you have Arsenal from The Outsiders, Hawkgirl, Strange, Rain from the Titans onsite. All are patched into this channel." Watching her screens, Caits phone shows up - the woman has been on several scenes that O has directed. "You've a third party down there that has worked with my teams before… it looks like she's in their custody. I'll watch her for now - don't want to break her cover."
A message pings on her systems "SHIELD incoming, they'll be there in approximately 10 minutes."
Rain has her cell phone on, should someone need to contact her. She also likely has a communicator or two on her. She's beginning to feel like this is a bit over her paygrade. She really is punching up. Captain hisses, his fur poofing up. Clearly, looking larger and angrier is the key to survival.
Rain gets the message about pillars, and she's going to do her best to find Doctor Strange and assist him with the pillar.
Captain will zot lightning at the nearest bad thing, with Rain starting to cast a similar spell.
Caitlin has been taking lessons in heroing from Carol Danvers, and among those were that a single well-placed punch can sometimes be more useful than flailing in all directions at once.
So she doesn't struggle when the parademons come to pick them up, though hers struggles a bit- Caitlin's far from a lightweight- and starts flying them towards the boom tubes over the obelisks.
She waits until they pass over one of the obelisks, then makes her move, grabbing the parademon's claws and breaking them with as much effort as someone might have snapping a bundle of spaghetti. The parademon wails and screams and hisses, releasing her, and Caitlin starts plummeting towards the Obelisk nearest her.
She hits the side with an 'oof' and grabs a small protrusion to keep from sliding down the nearly sheer surface, toes diggin in for purchase. Before she slides too far she eyes another passing parademon carrying a pair of civilians and leaps again, timing her jump to grab both parademons by the wings and cripple them with a twist of her wrist.
"Hang on!" she tells the terrified civilians, grabbing one in each arm and free-falling a good fifty feet with them held close. It's going to hurt like hell when they hit, but she can at least absorb some of the shock of their impact in her arms and knees. Better broken ribs than broken backs.
There's a small, puckering warp in space high above, probably not particularly noticeable amidst all the hubbub, falderal and general shenanigans. Transparent at first, it slowly begins to glow: lime, then avocado, then full on emerald, gleaming bright and shining until it finally breaks open to reveal the energy-sheathed figure of the Green Lantern streaking back into this solar system from a distance. He'd been near Alpha Centauri, scouting what had turned out to be a scout satellite for an alien civilization - just a time capsule really, loaded with pictures of their dignitaries and old episodes of their sitcoms. Alien sitcoms are bad, but they're at least better than the Big Bang Theory. He'd been three episodes into his binge watch when he'd gotten the signal and warped back to Earth.
Rather than landing on earth as himself, though, the energy field around him grows and swells, reforming until ilt creates the shape of a giant humanoid, a massive, armored carapace with hands that look suspiciously like lion-heads. He lands with a hard smack as he faces off against the screaming mounts, reinforcing the layers of protection with his will as he rises up and then slams his giant robotic fists together.
"I'm not dumb enough to wait until you've kicked my ass for a while. We're going straight to the end game. FORM BLAZING SWORD!"
Landing in the middle of the action, Roy Harper was busy firing explosives at the parademons, mostly to keep them from veering into the crowd and picking them off.
As the Starfire's teleporters went to work, Roy focused on keeping the crowds safe from the swarms… at least until a voice crackled in. "Oracle? Oh hey, just the voice I needed to hear. Dude… you don't mind if I call you dude, do you? I'm not sure what gender you are… hook up with the Starfire, and coordinate with them on who to help beam up? Then you can point me at things that need exploding… whoa!"
Another arrow fires into the crowd. "Hey, K'tten… you're causing a panic, just broadcast loud and tell them you're here to co… you know what? Clear the area, then fire at the… are those supposed to be the four horsewomen?"
Shayera was lost in the fray of her own battles with the parademons, seems some of them pulled a Matrix and had upgrades, but it was nothing that Hawkgirl couldn't handle. Electricity flies through the air, cutting through the demons like a knife, her wings a soar until she stops and comes face to face with a flying furie, who.. may just have met Shayera's match.
It was like a clash of the titans, a flash-bang gone off within the air as the two warrior women go toe to toe, demons also joining into the fray and soon dropping lifeless to the ground in the mess that remains within the sky.
Strange is flying and the air is full of parademons. He blasts a couple that come too close, and so a dozen more begin shooting back, and another dozen come flying to stab and club him to death.
So no, thanks, he is not going to engage in a brawl with an endless horde of minions. Instead he casts two simple spells. One to go invisible, and another to leave an illusion behind to put a token fight and die at the claws of the parademons.
Just in time to see some parademons fried by lightning. He knows that magic and flies towards the woman responsible, going visible just for her. "Rain, good to see you. We should try to reach the obelisks. We can't break them alone, but I know how interfere with their workings."
The comms clear up and Wonder Woman's voice rings through as her other hand grips the parademon's clamped jaws, fingers sliding between teeth and over massive alien muzzle to /squeeze/. The sound of breaking is blocked out by the sound of a pained shriek before it is flung into a counterpart to send them reeling towards the vacuum. "Loud and clear, O. Patch them in if possible." Looking down at the crater forming that was once Hell's Gate, Wonder Woman's cerulean gaze seems to hold it's own turbulence as she watches Caitlin's sudden switch and grab before her plummet towards the eroding earth beneath.
Just as parademon's converge above Wonder Woman suddenly drops, letting them meet their own masses as she free falls towards the ground herself, the sudden pace reset by flight to rocket her towards Caitlin and her rescuees while counting her timing.
"Hermes pace me well." Her hand extends to try and catch Caitlin's while slowing enough not to jolt but to save from a brutal landing with an outward pitch to keep her moving when she hit ground. If successful or not tangled within Caitlin's arm is a transmitter bearing the JL:A logo, a comm device to bring her into the loop if she chose. Though Wonder Woman does not linger, her flight path quickly shifted to take her along the streets where people lined up like prisoners set for the execution with the backing of the Forces. Hands clasped with silent pleas and sobs as the heavens open up to them but not in the answer they call for.
The racket behind them leaves them knelt there, but the only things left are a few boots, helmets, and a couple weapons..
The lasso glows brightly with her captives held aloft, feet braced upon the street as hands clutch the effigy of Truth and a single demand is barked. "Tell me who….!" But as the lasso groans and her hand twists to tighten it the Fury bearing the Fahren rides through, the blade attempting to cut the lasso, but the woman atop the massive mount also lunges down, landing a solid blow with armored heel upon Wonder Woman's temple with agility enough to make the world spin even moreso.
"Why ask, you already know." The warrior elders voice cackles upon laughing tones when the blade seeks to come back around and get caught against another vambrace just as Wonder Woman surges back to her feet and enters her own fight.
Arsenal's form now meets an arrow that cuts through the air, threatening to knock the bill of his hat backwards in trajectory as a shadow falls over him. The dark haired Artemis of the Furies dismounting in time to fire another at Roy and as one is released another is notched and drawn. "Three is all He needs!"
Green Lantern's entrance hears a volley of protests as well as responses to take him on though from above in battle with Hawkgirl the red eyes of Bloody Mary open wide, attempting to blast her back with the telekinesis from that gaze, all the while lips move and minds around her become but puppets or can feel that draw… that call…. Green Lantern to move against the heroes, shield the demons and herself…. As she is all they /need/ - and he will live as kings….Imagery flickers, temptation vivid in wants, desires….
Caitlin reflexively grabs the hand offered her- any port in a storm, right?- and uses that little boost to recover her leverage, though she ends up squeezing both hostages under one arm to manage it. Crushed ribs, right? She lands with an 'oof' and stuttersteps, dropping the hostages with a muttered 'sorry', and looks at the earpiece.
"ohmygodit'sasecretdecoderearpieceandwonderwomangaveittome!" she says in a single strained breath, eyes bugging out. She narrows her gaze isntantly, particularly reminding herself that supheroines don't squee /or/ fangirl, and shoves the emitter into her ear.
"Uhhh…. Fairchild checking in," she says, eyes swinging around wildly to track Diana's flight. "Testing testing, one two three…"
She doesn't wait for a response- instead she sees Diana battling one of the furies ion the sky, and Caitlin backs up two paces, then breaks into a sprint that sends detritus and chewed asphalt up in a spray behind her. The city will just have to bill her. With a huge surge of effort she leaps into the air like a redheaded torpedo, moving /fast/, and aims right for the undercarriage of one of those flying chariots, fists clenched and ready to start wreaking some havoc of her own while the warrior battles Diana.
The comms for the team are already patched, anyone who Oracle has contact with will hear the updates. "Already done, Wonder Woman." the redhead watches the melee from her perch in the tower. "There's a SHIELD team on the way, ETA 4 minutes."
A Quinjet can be heard in the distance making it's way to the location, it will touch down and a dozen highly armed and armoured SHIELD agents will depart from it… forming up to address the most pressing threat.
Rain looks to Strange. "Sure thing, let me know what I can do," She promises. Captain's eyes glow and he blasts a demon. "Mwahaha! BOW BEFORE YOUR FELINE OVERLORD!" He's having too much fun with this. Rain looks worried, and there's a pause. "I feel someone- brain-" Mental manipulation. "LOOK OUT GREEN FELLOW!" Rain is the best at helping. For her part, she'll help Strange and keep parademons off him.
That sort of mental seduction of the innocent stuff might work well on your average joe blow superschmuck, but Green Lantern is made of sterner stuff. Mostly because that's the only way they give you the ring. He might not have much self-control when you put a big plate of jalapeno poppers in front of him, but try to mindcontrol him into turning on his allies and going full Darth Vader and he's much more likely to buck.
Which is exactly what he does, imposing his massive font of willpower and blocking out the attempts to control him. He stumbles for a moment, his massive robotic construct faltering for just a second but then redoubling in strength and drawing those hands apart to reveal a gleaming, flaming sword, "Nice try! But I got news for you. I. AM. BULLETPROOF." he says, doing a spin before leaping and lashing out at the parademon horde with his giant robot sword.
"Hey!" The hat! No wait, bigger problems was coming, as he spins around to point at Artemis, another arrow notched and ready to aim. "Three is all you need? Lady, with me around, -one- should be enough…!"
Firing the arrow as she fires, Roy immediately dashes, not wanting to be around as the ice arrow goes off. Just clear range, and keep moving, while calling. "K'tten! Hey, K'tten! If you're done scaring the population, play a little skeet shooting with these flying demons, will you?"
"… what's a skeet?"
"Just shoot!"
Strange weaves a few more illusions quickly to keep nearby parademons busy chasing shadows and fighting giant cat monsters that look like Captain. Then his eyes follow Rain's and he murmurs a detections spell.
"She is one of the alien gods. Much like Libra was," states Strange. "I suppose the obelisk can wait a minute, we need to take her out quickly. Please, some lightning her way. I will craft a greater banishment spell."
There was a lax in battle; almost as if time stood still, the blades all drawn and rushed towards her with a slice to the exposed part of her armor, right in the crook of where a wing would be. And then another slice to the back of the thigh, calf.. cut upon her stomach as she twists every which way. But she prevails, thundering out a bolt of electricity that knocks the demons and the furie back enough for her to gain her footing, drawing herself higher, near the tip and top of the obelisk, her staff twirled and..
*THWOCK*
It was a nasty crunch, one that even shocks herself to the core, taking out the first human that was attached to the obelisk with a single blow to the back of the neck that shatters spine into a million pieces, possibly like dust. She went radio silent for a reason, and with parademons and an angry furie on her tail, she heads to the next…
"You got it!" Rain nods at Strange. They are going to help Strange, frowning and nodding at his words. Captain is charging his la— lightning beam, his fur standing on end, eyes glowing blue and he looks pretty fierce actually. Rain is concentrating, dark purple eyes reflecting a blank peacefulness. Drawing upon willpower, drawing down the moon and lightning. Pagan as all hell, but soon, an immense white lightning bolt drops down at the target Strange directs her to.
Captain follows up with a few smaller bolts (cat lightning!), to help out while he crafts his banishment spell. The two are staying on their broomstick, but they have to be mindful of the flying things. "Doooooodge!" Captain urges as they loop de loop around.
No bill will likely come of this for our heroes, as they stand upon the island of Hell's gate it begins to crack open, sink holes dropping parked vehicles below while factories foldin on themselves. Every bit of wreckage crumbles and begins to reform.
Upon the pillars the 'humans' behind to glow, the lines of tattoos placed along their bodies taking on that electric forging, the power wiring through them like its own network, streamlining from toe to head and into the wide maw of the Boom Tube that only pours the onslaught upon our heroes to make up for those that managed to get past and take captives back into the vacuum with them.
Queensland Park's outer buildings along the bank closest to Hell's Gate begin to groan, wavering in the shockwaves sent outward while the people flood into the streets away from one horror to meet that of the unknown ship now revealed as beams sweep them from the streets and teleport them further. Leaving them disoriented in their landing and searching for missing neighbors, friends, and family as well as staring warily towards the sky bearing an alien structure and the further one bearing the inverted funneling of midnight clouds lined in energy…
Sparks fly as the elder Fury, Bernadeth meets Wonder Woman in the toe to toe battle, her features grimly set and unflinching in her desire for a war to be one. Blow for blow is nearly exchanged even on uneven ground in the sky, the blade used to parry and strike against Wonder Woman in a manner that slowly had blood flowing.
"Do you think that my brother was not smart enough to have me watch at his side so we had the tactical advantage? We have all of your /Achilles/ Heels." Her smile was as ugly as her words though as another burning blow sought to land upon Wonder Woman her hands slam down upon it, catching the woman's wrist during her boast as the blade found resistance in the armor that coated Wonder Woman's side. The smell of burning leather, melting metal and searing flesh permeated the air as Diana jerked her close with the snapping of bone that wrought only an eye tic from the war forged crone.
"Not all of us at once." And with a wrenching wind up of her grip Wonder Woman slides that blade from her side still holding the old woman's arm, rocketing into the sky beside Caitlin in time to whip the woman around and into her sights upon that chariot.
"Fairchild. She asked for a one way ticket!"
Green Lantern's refusal and will has Bloody Mary screaming her ire to the skies, her path in pursuit of Hawkgirl but on her way her mind seeks to tamper, to weaken and waver, finally stopping her pursuit in seeing her taking out their precious forms of housings, the humans. Her figure hovers in the middle, the red a wound in the middle of the melee, untouched as her mind pushes outward and rides along the wavelengths of the energy. One had fallen and the other three are suddenly swarmed, Rain and Strange's minds attempted now. /STOP HER!/ The mental yell one that would shake any to their core and forge obeisance if listened to…
Artemis and Arsenal are now exchanging the artful volley and exchange of blows at distances but while distraction is had in a similar enemy behindhim Artemis' mount lunges for his back only to be taken out from the entry of cover fire he had called for that does not stop upon him - keeps going.
With the heroes engaged as they are the SHIELD detachment starts to evacuate people, working with onsite EMT's and Law Enforcment to alleviate the panic.
From her vantage, back in Gotham, Oracle sits and watches… there's little for the Information Goddess to do, except ensure the comms channels stays open.
Rain is bringing down some lightning. It's serious lightning. Someone probably wrote sad poetry about it at some point. She's concentrating hard, will working and bending the world to her will. There's an immense crack of white lightning down on her target and a pause. Fortunately, will working requires some pretty strong will - even if Rain is kindof-really-actually a coward. Captain is enjoying zotting things. And now we know what happens when cats actually catch the laser and gain powers.
She fights the mental yell, trying not to let it ooze in. KRAK-ABOOM! The lightning bolt is immense, sheer white.
Caitlin swings up into the chariot and drops into a catcher's squat, hands going out in the air automatically. Her face is set in stone, a fighter's features, and she doesn't flinch as Diana hurls the villain at her.
It's clear she's no fighter. She's a brawler. Short, conservative blows, kicks, easy balance. But when her hands get around the fury, she puts her in an admirable bearhug and squeezes. Hard. And squeezes.
Super-strength is a funny thing, after all. Some people have magical fields and telekinesis and all kinds of ways to exercise control over stuff. Caitlin's just immensely strong. And while she rarely has leverage enough to employ that strength, or a surface sturdy enough to support that much weight… she's never found something she couldn't lift or move.
So when she hugs the fury against her chest, muscles in her arms flex and stand out and she applies as much force as she has ever brought to bear. And while she's never measured it or quantified it, this is a girl who routinely bends I-beams at right angles for a light workout. That amount of sheer pressure promises to make the Fury in her arms snap right in half, perhaps multiple times.
Hal Jordan lashes out in full on frenzy, the massive sword blasting parademons left and right and generally just battering back any and all hordey threats and evils that come his way. One of the benefits of fighting with the ring is that he can hack and slash violently while actually expending no physical effort. Laying at the center of the giant construct, he's as reclined as if he were still watching that marathon of "Everybody Loves Gleeblef'lotz" back in Alpha Centrauri.
But he is paying attention, making sure to track anything stray, driving and pushing to try and put everything back where it belongs and, along the way, deliver a serious walloping to the wicked types that have provoked the wrath of the Justice League and its various subsidiaries, allies and underlings.
Trying to keep track of the general situation was a pain in the ass when one was getting arrows up the ass. Trying to, anyway.
"K'tten! What are you doing?! Shoot the parademons already…!"
As if in response, the Starfire, already turning slowly and majestically, unleashes a large beam… not at the parademons, but at the large portal, aiming to bar entry.
Crossing her legs, K'tten leans forward, folding her hands in front of her, muttering. "What do I look like, a wet-behind-the-ears kit? No portal, no exit, pfung-scammer, go concentrate on not getting your ass shot off. Or -do- get it shot off so I can rub some… what do we call it… NACL?"
"I heard that!" Roy exclaims, as he ducks behind an overhang. Glancing up, Roy takes aim at the building above. Reroute her, keep her out of his way, and then… wait, maybe if he leads Artemis right into whatever that flying woman is doing…
Strange feels Mary's mental command, but manages to ignore it through raw mental discipline, instead concentrating on his spell. The redheaded vampire soon feels herself badly shocked by the lightning, and although she is too strong to be knocked out, she is certainly knocked down a few yards and loses her focus enough the mind-control fades. Before she manages to recover enough to use her powers again, she is hit by another spell.
Strange chants. "Most venerable Hoggoth, you who have watched the very stars being born, age and die for countless aeons. Heed my call. A sinister enemy seeks to destroy my world, help me protect it! Help me banish them. Lend me the Mystical Hosts of Hoggoth to carry this foul intruder back to her lair!"
And reality cracks. A tunnel of darkness and stars opens behind Blood Mary, and the gnarled hands of impossibly old spirits grab her cloak, her limbs and her soul, pulling her with irresistible force into the crack. A few nearby parademons are also grasped, and flung into the breach.
This is no Boom Tube. And the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth and not gentle with those who are banished. The trip back to Apokolips at the further corner of the cosmos takes a minute and Mary is tossed to the rooftop of Darkseid tower with god-like force.
There was no stopping the winged being, really. Pain took hold and the Nth reacted; cutting her through the air even though the parademons took after her in flight. Spears were thrown, even as one catches within her side, it was knocked away with a blow of her arm and a spatter of blood that falls below. The second human that was attached to the obelisk was soon felled with a swift knock to the back of his/her head, caving in the skull in bits in pieces that drained from orifices that were soon made clear.
She was becoming the thing that she hates, for no matter what these people were attached to the pillars, conduits, mindless beings..
They were still human, they were still people.
Blades cross against exposed skin again but she flies on, dropping a bit in altitude, fighting with all she could to reach to the third, her rod draws back… and only forward to punch a hole through spine as silent prayers were said and she continues.
With a slow lifting hand to tap against her helmet to bring herself upon the comms, she listens in to the battle call and cry of those fighting, her eyes hazy and alighting upon the field.. there was just one more to go.. and then she was done.
~Do you think to truly end this? My Master has set his sights and is a legend that you only seek to be. Mere threads to be plucked in a weakened net that attempts to keep the feeble safe. They fear extinction and you race in to welcome it!~ That voice not only comes from that of the open hole ripped into the atmosphere lined in circling clouds, but through the comm unit, though the lines are left open due to the continual hop from Oracle's deft backups and quick configuring one is found and infiltrated just before it is left behind. Leaving those words for the heroes there is a sudden shift in power as the Fury in Caitlin's grip omits a scream as ribs begin to crack and her shoulder pops, the Fahren blade hanging in fingertips that spasm beneath muscles sudden loss and ligaments tear.
The chariot Caitlin rides in suddenly comes to a spin, the large mount Bernadeth had ridden in upon clings to the side with claws that anchor it to the spiraling chariot, responding to the cry of its mistress it lunges for Caitlin in a suicidal flurry of claws and teeth, its side clad in alien armor seeking to impact her. With her one good arm before the constrictor-like crush of Caitlin's grip can snap her from this world or her own, Bernadeth seeks to grip Caitlin's fingers, bending them back in a wrenching twist of using her own weight to shift the tide towards freedom… which leads to her plummeting towards the concaving earth and the burning streets below.
Though Bloody Mary's attempt is met with her own mental dagger returned, the attempt to stop the attack upon the Mother Boxes and control the minds of these heroes was not so easily brought to fruition, and with the plummeting fall of a broken sister (despite her hatred her fear of Desaad was greater) she plunged down after Bernadeth, gripping the woman from her fall just before those hands form from the ether to cast them back.
"Oh Lashina is going to /love/ this."
Along the streets pedestrians not yet evacuated are being pushed towards the docks and openings where helicarriers are loading, the Intergang members are being taken into custody, those who are not engaging the Agents in an open fire fight, one that uses their advanced tech, knocking remnants of walls aside or melting metal in the path of the weapons open fire, several Agents having already fallen while other grab up their foes weapons and fight fire with fire, reforming their lines of defense with hand signals since radio waves could be compromised on channels Oracle is not governing.
"One more Helicarrier and they should all be accounted for, final sweep!"
The final Helicarrier is coming in, not far from where Hal battles the onslought, a herd slowly and thankfully thinning, managing to keep them off the rescue that SHIELD brings in, one by one that crackle of energy in the air is dying, a flickering bulb in an abandoned warehouse and the cover fire called by Roy buying them time as they are walled in and the vacuum slows….
The pace slows and as Wonder Woman stops in the streets, the lasso clutched in a bloodied grip, her side heaving and the gaping wound exposed with every pant as she pauses to listen… Hearing the exchange a single block over between Roy and Artemis…
"And what happens when your extinction comes? Your ego will be my trophy!" Her form does not seek to keep distance now. An Amazon of her own right in Apokolips she loads three arrows at once, a volley sent for Roy in succession. One smoke, one explosion, one net to keep him down if her aim was true and through that smoking trail after him she sought to slam the bows end honed to a blades edge upon him….
Midair she hovered, hanging in a struggle from her neck within the lasso as Wonder Woman slowly wound the noose upward to bring them face to face and loosen it just enough….
"How do we end this?"
Cracked lips from kickback in her fight with Roy split into laughter, but the tug that tightened Truth around her cut it off and a raspy tone hoarsely omitted. "Kill all the instruments, the tools. Or kill yourselves, you're dead anyway" The sinister smile told trith and was amused at the look that did not share the level tone of vocals that rode across the comms to all of this Team.
"You all catch that? Let's prove them wrong."
Rain is assisting Strange, trying to avoid random things in the air. Captain is enjoying having super powers far too much, and now we know what happens when cats obtain magical powers. They urge you to accept your feline overlords. The chaos around her isn't lost on her, but Rain is concentrating - worried about the others. Captain is going to help zot the pillars, as Rain acts as support cover.
As Oracle watches the readings her systems gets go haywire - alerting her to something BIG (TM). As she watches the data coming through, her eyes widen - this is so not good … it's BAD.
"Wonder Woman, the rift is about to do something. If I'm reading this data correctly, it's very similar to what we saw in the other three locations but I can't be sure. Get people out of there… now." beat "Everyone, it's time to leave. Get civilians and depart the area now."
SHIELD is directed to evacuate … and she watches in abject horror.
"Oh no you don't," Caitlin growls. The wrenching twist of her fingers takes her by surprise- but she counters by rolling her hand into a clenching fist, with enough force to crack a diamond.
She vaults off the chariot without a second thought when someone faces off with Diana, following them both to the ground and landing with a 'thump' on the asphalt, ankle-deep in the street. She steps towards the Amazon, tossing her jacket aside. Her shredded clothing goes, too, revealing a green and purple leotard made of some stiffer, stronger stuff under it, less damaged by the battles.
"Round two," Caitlin says, stomping to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Amazon warrior. She punches her fist into her palm, the leotard putting a significant pile of muscle on display- she's taller than Diana, even, and carries more visible muscle. "No one invades my town while I'm on the job and gets away with it."
She glances sidelong at Diana, swallowing visibly when she realizes she's talking over Wonder Woman. After all, the more senior woman certainly has seniority in terms of trash talking.
Hal Jordan jets free of the Voltron suit, leaving it to fight somewhat on auto-pilot, guided by his will but empowered enough by that intent to do what it will do on its own. He streaks out, sheathed in emerald, and streaks to Hawkgirl's side. Seemingly in good humor, he manifests a pair of shimmering green wings along the way, along with a large mace ethat he starts swinging with aplomb, helping to beat back the onslaught around his teammate.
"Your radio silence was starting to bother me. I don't feel like it's a JL battle without you screaming bloody murder in my ear. C'mon, let's work up an appetite and go get a pizza, my treat!"
The voices through the comms, everything was listened to as she bears down upon the last remaining Motherbox. Her intent was to kill, to do away with her and leave her as a corpse among her brothers and sisters. But Shayera was fading fast, and the words through the comms to prove them all wrong and the emergence of Green Lantern at her side gave her vigor that she's felt many a time in battle, especially when things felt so dire.
"Pizza and beer.." Shayera manages to squeeze out, a quiet little chuckle drawing out as she turns to bat away the last parademon upon her tail. "You asking me out on a date, human?" Of course he wasn't, but the joke was still put out there into the air, for in times of need.. one must. She learned that from them. "Help them get everyone out of here, I'll be right behind you."
Strange looks mildly surprised when another of the alien gods also get snatched by his spell. Mostly at seeing there is more than one this time. Bad news, but it looks the heroes are quickly dealing with them. Now, the obelisks.
A quick teleport spell takes Rain and him to the closest one. He can't affect them with magic, but their influence on the world can be disrupted, he has been thinking on the problem for months now. "Cover me, please," he asks the witch, as he casts a complex spell to shift the world around out of phase with the device.
Oracle's words did not ring through the comms as much as her tone. The look on her face could almost be imagined, a look almost shared when Artemis stated her Truth while noosed in the lasso and held before her as a captive to more then just war.
The call for evacuation not only rings in their ears, but those of any civilians as the severe weather alarms in New Troy, Queensland Park and the one fallen and not disconnected in Hell's Gate ring out like air raid warnings. Perhaps too little too late. Cover fire or evacuate? Roy's demands are met to an extent, but evacuation and what Oracle was seeing is shared across the monitors of the HMSS and K'tten rapidly works to multitask but among the civilians beamed away from Hell's Gate and those in Queensland pushed back she takes Roy as well, whether he likes it or not. He may thank her later.
Wonder Woman looks over at Caitlin…and then slowly up while she loosens the noose on Artemis just enough to wrap it from her neck to her torso and encircle it around her limbs. "Not just your town. /Your World/. You heard the lady," Tapping the comm piece in her ear. "Let's evac and save it."
From behind Fairchild one last Intergang Spec Ops fires the laser cannon upon her and Wonder Woman, two parademons swooping down with ungodly roars escaping maws bearing the strings of saliva mingled with blood from razored teeth.
"Keep them pinned, I have someone to deliver home." With a jerk Artemis is hoisted into the air that Wonder Woman takes off into, the ground around where armored feet had stood cratered and cracked, that one small push of force suddenly spiderwebbing outward into a large sinkhole as well…. Oracle was not lying.
When the cover fire over the Boom Tube ceased to evac protocol the flood began again, meeting Green Lantern and Hawkgirl head on, and those that passed and sought to get to Strange and Rain were gathered in passing as Wonder Woman used the remains of her lasso to begin catapulting them back with capture and release tension.
"You self proclaimed heroes and ill begotten /godlings/. You have not the clue of the master you take on. But he knows you. To save yours, you will become martyrs. You know this…" Wonder Woman's brows furrowed as those words passed and the comms even relayed that before they went to silence with the resounding crack of her swinging Artemis into an oncoming Parademon to silence her and clear her path straight for that Boom Tube past Hawkgirl and Hal.
"Back me up! Hal, shield the opening while Strange and Rain shut those pillars down. No more!"
Those final words rang as the vacuum took hold and Wonder Woman snapped her lasso like a whip, recoiling Artemis into it with the force and pivot of her form, knocking several parademons back as well in the process.
Hell's Gate below does just as Oracle warned. Just as the last Helicarrier sought to take off the island seemed to take a deep breath in….. and the exhale exploded. An eruption that opened sinkholes into blackness, the pressure sending the Helicarrier to its side and spiralling towards the waters surrounding as they drain from the tributaries into massive waves - waves that build into massive walls, slamming down upon miles of the sores of Queensland Park and New Troy, levelling buildings, flooding streets and leaing behind a wake of destruction and an empty island, but what goes out….
Caitlin throws a hand up in front of her face and cries out in pain when the energy hits her. It /hurts/, and she looks at fresh, singed wounds on her upper thigh and belly. "Ow! You made me bleed!" she screams in anger at the parademons. "That friggin' HURTS!"
She leaps sideways and grabs a manhole cover with one finger and hoists it up for a temporary shield, then with a loud roar of anger, throws it like a flicked frisbee disc, except it weighs a solid hundred pounds and is going like a fastball for one parademon's face. The other, swerving after the departing Amazon, gets a bum rush from the fierce and furious redhead, who lays into it with swinging fists in a scrabbling attempt to get two hands on the alien being and just rip it apart by main force.
Inelegant, but effective.
Hal Jordan wraps himself and Hawkgirl in a protective bubble as the backlash unleashes, sealing the two of them away behind the force of Hal's will. Luckily, it's one of the most indomitable wills in the universe, which makes it a lot easier to withstand powerful shockwaves of dimensional chaos and other buggery.
"The Guardians aren't going to like this," he mutters under his breath. On the other hand, those little blue cocktail wieners don't like very much to begin with, so there's no reason they should start now. His primary goal at the moment is to keep himself and Shayera intact, starting to pull back from the heart of it all as an attempt is made to stabilize the situation, lashing out with energy at any lingering enemies trying to draw them back into the fray.
Everything was falling around them, the cities were being torn apart, bodies of parademons and humans alike littering the ground as Shayera stands moved. Those heroes that stay to fight, those humans that pick each other up and go, causes her weapons to fall down towards her side as her fingers clutch and grasp hard with a slight resolve, until she falters. Even though the bubble that surrounded her protected her, it did not stop her from suffering her own injuries, her hand pressing to her side as her wound bleeds a fount that refuses to stop. Even as Hal drags her away, and Wonder Woman passes by, she frowns just a touch as she just realizes..
"STOP!"
She turns towards Hal mid-air, wings fanning, the sharpness of the Nth attempting to beat and break down the barrier surrounding her as she tugs and pulls to try to fly in her direction. It all makes her bleed worse, but.. what can anyone do at this point? It's a loss for Shayera Hol. "I know that I am not your leader but I am your senior. You close the portal behind us and you do not stop until it is done! And that is an order!"
There would be hugs, possibly kisses upon the cheek, farewell and see you soon, but Hawkgirl was not that type of woman.
She tears herself away from the binds that hold her, her hand reaching up to give a few smacks to her chest in a final warcry that draws the Nth to move and slither upon her skin. It protects her where it should have before, the battle armor slamming into place as her staff soon liquifies into something akin to a trident.. perhaps a mockery or a nod to the king of the sea. Either way, Shayera was going into her final battle..
Wonder Woman would not be alone.
Strange tries to repeat the trick in every obelisk while avoiding getting mired fighting parademons. Hopefully this will disrupt the enemy's teleporting device and prevent further disruptions of the environment. But it is a temporary measure, as the spells will fade in time.
But for now, it is all he can do. His magic energy is almost exhausted with these four spells. But the people of Metropolis will have his services as a medical doctor for the rest of the day.
? Must go in. Like breathing…
The push of power ceases with the teams tear down of the Mother Boxes and the pillars, but the damage done cannot be reversed and the vacuum returns in force, but at the other side of that turbulent tube lined in the shocks of electricity that bleeds blue to red there is a masked face residing, shielded in shadow with two narrowed red eyes glaring forward.
~Say your condolences, this is the end.~ And from beneath the cloak boned hands with dry skin stretched over the top of them rise, archings of flame huen light spanning between fingertips to build and streak across the sky in the threat to rain meteors of alien fire upon them.
What Desaad did not count on was the heroes quick actions. With the battering of the Parademon army, one by one dropping upon the ground beneath Caitlin's brutal and efficient tactics, the pillars powering down with Rain and Strange - forcing the power back with the remnants in the sky falling beneath Hal and Shayera's blows to be finished by ground forces that remained and few that lived even with hope as they unburied themselves and looked upon their heroes both SHIELD and the Team.
"Do not make promises we will not let you keep!" A single twist of her wrist and the arching wide sweep of her arm Wonder Woman throws Artemis at Desaad through the Tube, but as Shayera approaches and the final power goes down the yell of rage is met with the sudden force of a pull.
~I'll take some of their hope, with promise to be back!~ And in that final pull as the Boom Tube begins to close he takes those nearest with it. Leaving them all standing (or fallen) except Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman.
Rain has been helping cover Strange, and the witch will assist in destryoing the things. Captain is zotting things as he can, but she is helping shut down the pillars, pourin mana and magic for Strange to tap into.
"Oh man…" Caitlin blanches. She's a novice hero, sure. Beat up a few frost giants once. Smacked around a giant robot. She's a brawler but there's a keen tactical mind under that mussy red hair. The flow of the fight- the way the parademons ebb and retreat, coming and going, even the way the boom tubes open.
"Ohhh, Carol's gonna be pissed," Caitlin says, wiping her hands on her leotard nervously. She finds her phone- her expensive, hero-proof sPhone- inside her abandoned, shredded jacket, and takes two seconds to fire off a fast text message. She hits 'dial' and throws the phone as far away as she can, even while breaking into a run, and makes a mad dash for the Boom Tube where Shayera and Wonder Woman are headed.
She's an amateur. She's been out of the country exactly once, and Kara was flying them both there. But she knows a fight brewing when she sees one, and in that twisting moment, instinct tells her that Wonder Woman and Shayera might need help.
So tossing it to the wind, she sprints as fast as she can and dashes for the Boom Tube after the two more senior heroines. It shuts even as she leaps for it… it'll be a close thing if she makes it through, or ends up falling back to Earth.