Star City- Heroes of Tomorrow IC

"The Sound of Silence," covered by Disturbed. (Chris/Rose)

ChasNicollette said:

Grant was standing on the roof of a building next to a celltower on the corner of 6th and Liberty, a daringly close walking distance from the original fight.

And he was yelling into his phone.

"--no, look, just put me in touch with Requisitions, I still have active mission status--"

"--no-- no-- fuck-- don't put me on hold-- I've just spent the last--"

And then he roared, threw his phone skittering across the rooftop, swore, dropped to his knees, punched the rooftop hard enough to bloody his knuckles, and let out an incoherent scream.

"While I can empathize," Redwood growled, crouching on the lip of the building's roof, glaring at Grant with narrowed eyes, "as it seems customer service is Hell's fergotten Circle no matter what universe yer in, mebbe disarmin' yerself was not yer smartest move ever."

Grant laughed faintly, didn't look up at her, didn't flinch at the sound of her voice. "Yes, my Dial doesn't have the same quantum tethering that yours has. Though I suppose you'd have noticed. Would have made things much easier for me. Could have just walked away from the block of wood and found the Dial back in my hand, for instance. Wouldn't have had to choose between my Anti-Life Drive and my Dial when I was fighting Open-Window Man last month. And on and on."

He tutted, glanced down at his bloodied knuckles.

"If I'd just had access to that Anti-Life firewall software, I could have fed it into the local cell network, infected The Eastern Seaboard, it wouldn't be the whole world-- but I could at least accomplish my mission in part, corrupt all the nearby Dials. But it seems my fears were correct. I've been stranded here. I imagine that I've been burned with my InterGang contacts, too. What a shame-- I could have done it! But they won't even listen to me!"

Redwood jumped down the short distance from the building rim, stalked towards the kneeling Grant as he ranted and blathered. Stood over him. "M'heart bleeds."

"Well, no it don't."

"But yours is sure gonna in a minute, here."

Claws popped from one hand, held low. SNIKT.

Grant still hadn't looked at her.

He just gazed over Pittsburgh's darkened skyline, expression sort of... wistful.

"It's funny what you think about when you can't go home again."

"There was this girl with me in Boot Camp. Beautiful redhead, real knockout, you'd have liked her. Kay, we called her. I wonder whatever happened to her."

"So on top o' everythin' else," Redwood drawled, "ya cheated on yer wife wi' a ginger side piece in some faraway black hole place? Gotta be honest, Mom's probably gonna wanna divorce. Here, I'll save ya th' trouble."

She clutched his hair with her fingers and raised that claw hand high.

Click to expand...

The world stopped there for a moment. The space between the ticks of a clock.

And then her claw hand descended, quick as a lightning bolt stabbing down through a tree--

--but Grant exploded out of his catatonia--

--by God, he was fast--

--rattlesnake fast--

--like he'd been forced into a merciless training regimen on a planet whose gravity was excruciatingly strong and whose atmosphere was asphixiatingly thin--

--he drew his stolen gun, stupid, Redwood should have smelled the gun oil, the cordite, but she was in such a hurry to splatter his viscera across this roof--

--so bloodthirsty she didn't stop wait think--

--his gun was in his hand, pointed upward, pressed against the wrist of the hand that held him fast--

BLAM!

--chlorophyll-green blood burst like a bubble into the air, severing the hand--

--before she could recover, he aimed, fired again--

BLAMBLAMBLAM!

--a perfect grouping--

--three bullets right in her eyes and forehead, blinding her in another gush of green--

--she roared in fury, staggered backwards--

--he dove, rolling, throwing off the hand that still clutched his hair--

Redwood healed almost instantly.

A fresh hand had almost finished growing by the time she used it to wipe green goo out of her freshly-grown eyes.

And he was standing there across the roof, holding his phone his one hand, his gun aimed square at where her heart would be if she were human.

"Not so disarmed, then," she snarled.

He squinted his blue blue eyes at her. "Being a Dialer is all about taking what you're handed and beating the odds. If you haven't learned that by now, maybe you never will."

"I ain't done yet," Redwood snapped as she circled left a bit, right a bit, trying to gauge if she could get to him before he Dialed-- he was so fucking fast--

"Oh, but you might be," Grant replied. "See, cut off from The Master's grand design, left on my own to wail and gnash my teeth, I have no aspirations left. No dreams of a future where I serve as an officer in an army of this Earth's corrupted Dialers, with you as my lieutenant. I could just kill you now."

"I don't die easy," Redwood reminded him. "Redwood's th' best there is at what she does."

He ran his tongue over his teeth. "True. But all I have to do is keep the pressure on you until your Dial times out, and then you're cattle to the slaughter. How long have you been in this form, now? How many hours did you spend suspended in the Hellspore firewall? How many hours hunting me through Pittsburgh? Can't be long now."

Redwood hesitated. He was right, she never knew how long she had in a given ectype before it timed out, but it had never been longer than 24 hours.

"Who should I become to destroy you?" Grant wondered, his voice rising with intensity, narrowing his gaze down the gun-barrel at her. "Savitar again? Storm Boy? I admit, I have gotten quite fond of frying your nerves with lightning. But perhaps something new."

"Whatever ain't borin' me t' tears!" Redwood decided with a snarl, diving forward with claws akimbo and murder aforethought--

SssshhCLICK!

"I am SONAR!" he roared, transforming into a man with long red hair, and a tattered uniform of white, brown, and blue-- and that roar accompanied a wave of concussive sonic force exploding radially from both palms, and that wave bulldozed Redwood near to ribbons, smearing her along the rooftop.

She was on her feet again almost before she was done skidding, her green skin spreading back across her body where it had been road-rashed away--

--but then--

--no--

SWOOOSH

--her time was up, she was Rose again.

Down on her knees, her hands and knees, her inner ear spinning from the vile vibrations emanating from Sonar!Grant, she felt bile rise up in her mouth and she vomited noisily on the rooftop. "Oh-- oh God--"

"--been Redwood before-- but she--"

"--killed all those monster things--"

"--killed that robot guy--"

"--was gonna kill you when she thought you were powerless--"

Sonar!Grant stood over her, and narrowed his masked eyes down at her, power humming in his hands.

"Hnh. I suppose something can be said for your... desperately clinging to your innocence. The tenacity of that purity. But it'll all be for nothing in the end. All is still one."

"I don't-- I don't know what that means," Rose mumbled, fumbling her phone out of her pocket, ready to Dial again, not sure why she was still alive but ready to do battle-- just as soon as Pittsburgh stopped pinwheeling around her.

Sonar!Grant rolled his eyes, and floated up into the air in a bubble of sonic force.

"You will," he decided and derided.

"You're going to live just long enough to see the true face of my onetime Master and then you will know."

"You will know true purity."

And then he flew off and out into the dark dawning skies over Pittsburgh, leaving Rose a balled mess on that roof.

And as Rose looked at her phone--

--she saw a message glowing back at her.

[Thirteenth ectype unlocked.]

And then the message changed:

[All available ectypes unlocked.]

[One ectype remaining, downloadable content only.]

[To access DLC, please contact The Exchange.]

Rose stared at her phone, the world had stopped spinning but now-- now it only seemed bigger and darker.

Every time she'd heard about this Exchange, it had been in terms of a place of cosmic possibility and pan-cosmic warfare and the very thought of going to that place flooded her bones with a chill she could not easily shake.

"Well," Rose mumbled. "Now what?"

Pinch Hit.

Lunaramblings said:

The manifestation of Darkness before them roared with anger as it first caught, and then took the full brunt of the fiery explosion from the javelin. It clearly didn't expect that.

Click to expand...

Sportsmaster chortled mockingly. "Nice catch."

Lunaramblings said:

In the moment that it took it off balance, the new arrival, Eel O'Brian struck out at it. As he flung himself forward, from god-knows-where, Renee Montoya drops from inside the from he had just abandoned. Having perhaps only a second of surprise, it was nonetheless enough. The blast of buckshot from the shotgun catches Nyssa off guard. Wounded, she hisses.

Click to expand...

And that shotgun blast was, though he'd never admit it aloud, just exactly the opening Sportsmaster needed. Her flank and back lit up with blooming flecks of red, she hissed in the direction of the blast, and Crusher bounded forward--

--signature finishing move--

--his elbow bashed into the top of her head, driving her chin down into his upward-bounding knee, cracking her skull at both ends--

--she somehow stayed conscious, and her counterslash was sloppy enough that it didn't rip his torso open--

--but he grinned behind his imperious mask.

It was all over but the crying.

The battle raged. This way and that.

Twisted and turned.

Raatko had cleared her benches, her locker room, her penalty box--

--but some serious Bad News Bears ragtag plucky shit was happening here.

Lunaramblings said:

Nyssa's forces should have the upper hand here. She has two immensely potent superpowered monsters at her side. And a living weapon. But fate is fickle. And here and now, fate deals a blow to the wounded warrior princess that she won't soon forget.

As Obsidian lunges forward, his clawed hand inches from the fallen hero's carotid artery, there is a sudden, violent flash of light so bright that for a moment, those who see it from afar believe it is a nuclear detonation. Instead, Bint al Qabil, has made her first free choice. Nyssa never trusted these metahumans, and as such her and her assassin were both armed with means to dispose of them should they turn on the League. Bint al Qabil uses hers. A small grenade of mystical energy summoned from the polar opposite of where the Shadow-Warrior draws his power, it momentarily forces him from his shadow form, back to that of just a mere human. And in that second, while everyone else is off guard, Bint al Qabil, lashes out. Incapacitating Nyssa's greatest trump card.

Click to expand...

Earlier, Sportsmaster had been momentarily blinded by an unexpected bright flash through nightvision lenses--

--but this time, this time he was ready, swiftly tapping a control on his mask that switched his NVGs with polarized lenses, filtering enough of the surge of light that he managed to retain his vision.

As the melee reeled from the bright flash, Sportsmaster swung Fish's bat up to his shoulder, homerun derby, ready to bash Nyssa's skull off of her neck like a teeball, he swung--

--but as he whipped his bat around with Mighty Casey force, a League of Assassins arrow ripped down from somewhere above, sliced in front of his eyeline, forcing him to change-up his swing--

--he caught Nyssa in the shoulder instead of the head and what should have been a killshot only badly bruised armored bone instead, maybe knocked the shoulder out of joint--

--he'd missed his window--

Lunaramblings said:

As the light clears, Nyssa howls in agony. Not for the wounds to her back from the buckshot, but for the betrayal of her living weapon. Nyssa draws forth a small talisman from hiding and smashes it in her hand. Immediately, she is swallowed by darkness and is gone. With her the remnants of her forces. Leaving the would be heroes alone in the dark.

Click to expand...

"Hrrnh," Sportsmaster grunted, lowering Fish's bat. "Balls."

Switching back to NVGs, he snapped out another of those explosive javelins, glanced up at the ruptured skylight above to see if the Assassin who'd fired at him was still there, he could at least force the bitch or bastard to tap out and squeal about where Raatko had run--

--but instead, up there, he found himself mildly amused to discover Artemis Crock kneeling there with her bow, her own polarized lenses in place against the bright, another LoA arrow nocked to string, teeth gritted with determination.

"Sportsmaster," she growled.

Sportsmaster chuckled. "Babygirl."

TertiusHuman said:

"Seems like we have tripped an alarm with the re-activated comms. I'm going in..."

Click to expand...

Artemis' hazel eyes widened, then narrowed. Of all the damn timing.

TertiusHuman said:

He paused, not sure if anybody read him. The last contact was Artemis. "Artemis...do you read? If you do...tell him I messed up."

Click to expand...

She twitched. "Venom? Venom, I read you, but what the Hell-- messed up how? Tell who?"

"Babygirl," Sportsmaster drawled, mockingly, "what have I told you about keeping yer head in the game?"

And exerting less effort than it takes to tell, he almost lazily threw the javelin at her, forcing her to fire her arrow on an intercept course, exploding the javelin in the air just outside lethal radius, sending her tumbling back ass over teakettle with a cry of fury and dismay.

He drew his speargun, fired a grappling line upward, he was on the roof beside her in a heartbeat. "I ain't stickin' around to bat clean-up, Babygirl. Meanwhile, you gotta certain Pretty Boy that ain't in so great shape. Better look to him, much as you might wanna chase me."

Shoving up from her sprawl on the rooftop, Artemis rolled almost instantly to a firing position, another League arrow stabbing through the darkness at her father--

--but he batted it out of the sky with his armguarded forearm, laughing throatily gravelly as he bounded off of the roof and vanished into the pre-dawn dark of Slaughter Swamp.

Cursing luridly, vividly, candidly, insulting Sportsmaster's ancestors in Vietnamese with little care that they were her ancestors too, Artemis dropped down through the skylight.

"Nightwing? Jesus fuck, is he all right?"

Y.A.N.A. (Felicity)

ChasNicollette said:

It was beautiful. Like the box Felicity's mother kept her jewelry in.

Like a puzzle-box designed by Daedalus and forged by Hephaestus.

And it bathed Felicity in a warm glow that took her breath away.

Soothing her frayed, frayed nerves. Breathing life.

"Oh," Felicity mumbled, "my God."

PING, the box said.
PING.
PING.
PING.

Click to expand...

"There is a darkness coming that threatens to eclipse the light of every world in the spectra of The Omniverse," he murmured, wheeling forward to place the PINGing cube into Felicity's palm. "A darkness of which you have only glimpsed the very leading edge. A darkness that will threaten you with the very depths of infra-sombre despair. A darkness that will try to consume Life itself wherever it may live."

"But I give you this to show you: You Are Not Alone."

"I don't," Felicity breathed, gazing at the cube and then glancing back up at the old man. "I don't understand. I don't-- I understand a lot of things, but-- sometimes my brain is like Teflon and-- what-- what is it?"

The old man wheeled back from her. "I must keep my Mother Box. She is the last of her kind in this universe, uncountably old almost even by my exacting measure, and she plays host to a neuropsychic net that I have preserved for greater purpose. But she has spawned for you something smaller, less powerful, but perhaps just the advantage you need to light the way to The Fifth World that may yet still be to come."

"This... is a Daughter Box."

"I have reasons of my own for giving you this," he shook his head.

"You are only forerunners."

"Who," Felicity stammered, her sentences fragmenting even more than usual, still staring at the warm little metal box in her hand more than she was at the man himself, "who--?"

"Oh, that is the question, isn't it?" the old man remarked with a wryness that somehow slipped in amongst his preternatural coolness.

"I am called many things."

"Observer, Calculator, Traveler, Rebel."

"Lord of Time, Space, and Mind."

"But in this timezone, I am most commonly known as... The Wizard."

And a green light flashed in that place, light the color of Kryptonite, momentarily blinding Felicity, and she threw up a palm across her face--

--and he was gone.

The Daughter Box waited patiently.

PING.

...and metamorphosed into an earpiece.

"The Adventure," by Angels and Airwaves. (Supergirl)

Nevyn_Black said:

Jaime looked around, as if searching for some answer in the wreckage around them. "Maybe we could appeal to the public directly? I mean...this is insane. Gotham still has so many people within it's city limits."

"You're Supergirl. People have to listen to you, if you ask them to. Right?"

Click to expand...

ChasNicollette said:

Supergirl shook her head and laughed brokenly. "If only that were true, I would have lost way less fights over the bathroom with my sister growing up."

She put her hands in her hair, shoved her soot-stained blonde locks out of her face. "Sorry, TMI. I just-- I don't do a lot of pushing for policy. I just like to lead by example when I can. Sometimes it works. People rally behind someone who inspires hope and can seem to actually make a difference. But the moment I push too hard, try to intervene in the workings of Earth governments, the fearmongers will use that against me-- an alien immigrant trying to put herself above the people of Earth, never mind the fact that J'onn helped me become an American citizen when I was little--"

"--I'm not supposed to interfere in the natural course of human history. I'm just supposed to catch them when they fall."

Her brow crinkled, and she immediately self-corrected. "They're falling now."

She took a breath, squared her slender but powerful shoulders. "It's worth a try."

Click to expand...

She stood there on the roof of the Pittsburgh airport, shoulders squared, uniform battered and damaged but still intact enough to be decent.

And she gazed right ahead.

And she spoke:

"People of America and of Earth."

"I come to you as a visitor to your native planet, one who you have made feel welcome when I had no other planet to call home.

"While I have lived among you, defending you against dark elements from within and beyond your world, I have performed many great feats of power thanks to your yellow Sun. But there remains one true source of power that leaves me looking as weak as a baby by comparison: the things you can do when you stand together united.

"In these dark days, the City of Gotham finds itself beaten down and bent low-- trials and tribulations almost beyond counting. They are a people who take adversity and flourish in it-- whatever the darkness that befalls them, they trudge on. But now they are tested even to their breaking point.

"In your nation's capital, legislators argue even now to abandon them to lawlessness and strife, to factions and fractions.

"I know that this is not your way, not your American way. Before I even arrived here, America withstood great tests of fortitude by banding together, during World Wars and after 2001. You showed that you as a nation would not give in to darkness, that Liberty's torch shone brighter.

"Show the world that unity and liberty now. Don't let Gotham drown in a No Man's Land when all men-- all human beings are created equal!

"Call your Senators, your Congresspeople, your state legislatures-- let them know that the American people do not abandon their own!

"SAVE GOTHAM!"

ChasNicollette said:

********​

She stood there on the roof of the Pittsburgh airport, shoulders squared, uniform battered and damaged but still intact enough to be decent.

And she gazed right ahead.

And she spoke:

"People of America and of Earth."

"I come to you as a visitor to your native planet, one who you have made feel welcome when I had no other planet to call home.

"While I have lived among you, defending you against dark elements from within and beyond your world, I have performed many great feats of power thanks to your yellow Sun. But there remains one true source of power that leaves me looking as weak as a baby by comparison: the things you can do when you stand together united.

"In these dark days, the City of Gotham finds itself beaten down and bent low-- trials and tribulations almost beyond counting. They are a people who take adversity and flourish in it-- whatever the darkness that befalls them, they trudge on. But now they are tested even to their breaking point.

"In your nation's capital, legislators argue even now to abandon them to lawlessness and strife, to factions and fractions.

"I know that this is not your way, not your American way. Before I even arrived here, America withstood great tests of fortitude by banding together, during World Wars and after 2001. You showed that you as a nation would not give in to darkness, that Liberty's torch shone brighter.

"Show the world that unity and liberty now. Don't let Gotham drown in a No Man's Land when all men-- all human beings are created equal!

"Call your Senators, your Congresspeople, your state legislatures-- let them know that the American people do not abandon their own!

"SAVE GOTHAM!"

Click to expand...

The Blue Beetle hacked the world. Every system mainframe, every satellite control unit, all of the cell towers and radio transceivers on planet earth, the signal went out. Supergirl would be heard and not just by the local news station, but by everyone who was watching or listening. And there were a lot of people watching and listening. His eyes were focused on her perfect blonde beauty, but his mind was surfing the silvery lines of communication, batting aside firewalls like they were made of paper, destroying existing security and splicing it all together into one big network that would play and repeat this message over and over globally. Even the serious processing power of a human mind combined with the powers of the Blue Scarab, could only buy them access for so long. Eventually the programmers and system maintenance staff of the nations of earth would fight back and they would crash the signal. But for now...for now, Jaime would make sure that Kara's adorable earnestness was seen by as many people as possible.

The tiny part of him that was not engaged in the struggle was praying that they listened to her. Praying that this was enough to help his friends.

ChasNicollette said:

Again, Mari reflected on how-- vaguely-- similar Tomari's set-up was to Rose Grant's. But then again, Mari had a prehistoric version of the same thing, touching and switching powers on the fly. Just because they were alike, didn't mean they were related...

...her eyes slid back over to Paula, but then the screaming started with Flamebird, Pagan, and The Black Canary.

(Laurel had been wise enough to deactivate her Canary Cry collar before this started, otherwise the whole building might have come down.)

But there she was, holding Flamebird's hand-- Bette was, suddenly, wide-eyed and wide-awake in pain as her anesthesia was no longer sufficient to block this pain...

...the two birds' hands were white-knuckled together as Drive's Doctor powerset forcibly regenerated their bodies.

Pagan had no-one's hand to hold-- Joe Public was still missing, out there somewhere, one of those few aforementioned metas on the side of the angels-- but then one of Selina's Strays hurried over to her and mopped her forehead, murmured encouragement, worriedly watching those heartbeats hologrammed on Drive's chestpiece to make sure no-one was approaching a cardiac event.

Mari stared in horror as the three costumed women contorted on their way to recovery-- and immediately made the judgement call that she wouldn't pass this on to Paula. No sense trying to get the woman's legs back to her if it might burst her heart into a fine red mist in the process. Better to find some other faith healer or cybernetic remedy.

Regretfully, Mari gently touched her new armband. If only there was an animal in Nature that had healing powers in a real sense.

For now, she'd have to settle for healing herself.

Click to expand...

The energy discharge stops and the needle disappear.

"Treatment is finished."

Drive replaces the Doctor Shift Car with his Type: Speed one. He surveys the room seeing what else he could help with.

Venom

ChasNicollette said:

"People of America and of Earth."

Click to expand...

Television sets have suddenly come to life where there were just static before, they grinned to themselves, this was a great distraction!

ChasNicollette said:

"I come to you as a visitor to your native planet, one who you have made feel welcome when I had no other planet to call home.

"While I have lived among you, defending you against dark elements from within and beyond your world, I have performed many great feats of power thanks to your yellow Sun. But there remains one true source of power that leaves me looking as weak as a baby by comparison: the things you can do when you stand together united.

"In these dark days, the City of Gotham finds itself beaten down and bent low-- trials and tribulations almost beyond counting. They are a people who take adversity and flourish in it-- whatever the darkness that befalls them, they trudge on. But now they are tested even to their breaking point.

"In your nation's capital, legislators argue even now to abandon them to lawlessness and strife, to factions and fractions.

"I know that this is not your way, not your American way. Before I even arrived here, America withstood great tests of fortitude by banding together, during World Wars and after 2001. You showed that you as a nation would not give in to darkness, that Liberty's torch shone brighter.

"Show the world that unity and liberty now. Don't let Gotham drown in a No Man's Land when all men-- all human beings are created equal!

"Call your Senators, your Congresspeople, your state legislatures-- let them know that the American people do not abandon their own!

"SAVE GOTHAM!"

Click to expand...

As Supergirl's last words came from the speakers of multitude of devices in range of the re-activated communication grid, the two of them took time to look at the bodies scattered around them. It had been a good fight.


EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

The sound forced them to their knees, the pain close to unbearable as the sonic waves ripped into their bond. It felt like dieing, only much, much worse. With an almost superhuman effort John manages to force them into a roll which took them behind the first truck's wheels. Immediately there was relieve for them both.

Booted feet came running closer, looking for an angle and the two of them melted upwards, seeking spaces to guide themselves through. Behind them another sonic wave hit the spot they had occupied seconds ago. Where had these guys come from?

"Hah! They were right! These sonic rifles really does damage to that guy."

They? Who were they?

From the bed of the truck, they sneaked a peek and saw the truck being surrounded by soldier-types wielding what John identified as sonic blasters, weapons which had been on the prototype line for years now. There was no real advantage to the bulk of the weapon and the power it set out. Seems like some black ops facility have made some anyway.

We should kill...

'Yes I agree. But we will have to get moving before they decide to target the truck, it makes a great sonic amplifier with all the metal around us.'

Agreed. We go. Now.

And go they did. A black blur launched itself from the back of the truck, smashing into two of the attackers. Sonic blasters erupting as black tendrils rip them apart. The remaining soldiers swung their weapons into action, but already Venom have disappeared down a storm drain.

"The Catalyst," by Linkin Park.

Zet_Cross said:

The energy discharge stops and the needle disappear.

"Treatment is finished."

Drive replaces the Doctor Shift Car with his Type: Speed one. He surveys the room seeing what else he could help with.

Click to expand...

The ladies shuddered to a stop, Black Canary prying her fingers out of Flamebird's grip, Pagan sitting up and letting out a whoosh of breath, tears streaking down her face-- but she wiped them away quickly so as not to betray weakness.

Laurel straightened, nodded to the wide-eyed Bette, and then shrugged out of her arm-sling, flexing her fingers.

Vixen nodded gratefully to Drive. "Thank you. These are good women and good fighters, we might stand a fighting chance now that we're back up to, well, speed."

Selina approached, Holly and Eiko hovering guardedly behind her, and Paula wheeled up beside-- looking conflicted about what she'd just witnessed.

Vixen's heart went out to her.

"Yes," Cat mused, nodding to Drive. "Thank you. Now that our numbers have been bolstered, we should think about shoring up our defenses and perhaps mounting a counter-offensive."

But before they could engage in too too much tactical brainstorming or barnstorming, there came a crackle in commlinks and smartphones and the radio of the old ambulance parked nearby...

...maybe even Belt-San would detect the ping of the broadcast powered by the Reach Scarab...

ChasNicollette said:

"People of America and of Earth."

Click to expand...

Heads turned collectively, eyebrows raised, Strays stared at their phones.

Laurel blinked. "Is that... is that... Supergirl?"

ChasNicollette said:

"I come to you as a visitor to your native planet, one who you have made feel welcome when I had no other planet to call home."

Click to expand...

Elsewhere in Gotham, a girl named Harper Row and a young man named Lonnie Machin, Jr. would see their computer monitor spring to life and link hands in mystified surprise, watching transfixed.

Over in Slaughter Swamp, worried sick about Nightwing, Artemis nevertheless touched her earpiece and glanced up at the sky, her cynical heart feeling a pang of hope despite itself.

Sportsmaster, darting through the swamp like he was born to it, grunted and yanked out his earpiece, flinging it a respectable distance through the trees.

ChasNicollette said:

"While I have lived among you, defending you against dark elements from within and beyond your world, I have performed many great feats of power thanks to your yellow Sun. But there remains one true source of power that leaves me looking as weak as a baby by comparison: the things you can do when you stand together united."

Click to expand...

In the Newark substation of The DEO, Hank Henshaw scoffed bitterly, and Alex Danvers shot him a scowl, and Hank grimly went back to selecting his load-out for their next mission. Hank was sorely tempted to use his powers to cut off the TV signal and order everyone back to work, but he could feel that Reach Scarab's background noise on the signal from here and he decided to not grin and bear it.

Agent Kendra "Hawkgirl" Saunders moved up beside Alex and put her hand on Alex' shoulder, and they watched the speech together. Their orders were to deploy around the borders of Gotham City and prevent alien incursion into The No Man's Land, bolstering the existing authorities already in place such as ARGUS and The Coast Guard. But if No Man's Land got repealed, they wouldn't have to engage in such miserable business.

Deep in The S.H.A.D.E. Legendarium beneath New York's Greenwich Village, Father Time watched the speech on the op-center's main screen, adjusting his domino mask to fit his new face. This would bear continued scrutiny.

ChasNicollette said:

"In these dark days, the City of Gotham finds itself beaten down and bent low-- trials and tribulations almost beyond counting. They are a people who take adversity and flourish in it-- whatever the darkness that befalls them, they trudge on. But now they are tested even to their breaking point."

Click to expand...

In Glenmorgan Square in Metropolis, Kansas, Bart "Impulse" Allen skidded to a stop to watch Supergirl's face up on the jumbotron. He took a swig from a bottle of water, chugging it in moments-- even his pinball antics were exhausted from helping to clean up and save people after Savitar!Grant's battle with Supergirl and Rose. He wondered where Rose was.

He hoped she was okay, wherever she was.

Not far from Impulse, on a floor of The Halldorf Hotel that she had bought and customized to her exacting standards, a dark-haired, beautiful woman sat watching the speech on her TV.

A slow, sly smirk touched the corner of her mouth, and she reached out and gently stroked Supergirl's cheek on the screen with just the tips of her fingernails.

ChasNicollette said:

"In your nation's capital, legislators argue even now to abandon them to lawlessness and strife, to factions and fractions."

Click to expand...

In Los Angeles, California, G. Gordon Godfrey sat drinking morning coffee and glowering at his various television screens. Between this and the cellphone footage of the fight in Pittsburgh, he was going to have a goldmine going into this broadcast day.

Not far from LA in National City, Cat Grant sat in the back of her limo on the way through the embattled city-- themselves feeling the burn from the clash between Savitar!Grant and Supergirl --and watched the speech unfold on her tablet. Her expression regarding her former media wunderkind remained... utterly inscrutable.

But her brand still benefited from its early connections to The Girl of Steel, she had still named the Kryptonian woman, this could be good. It was all about the right spin, after all, it always had been.

In the Gulag, Caitlin "Killer Frost" Snow heard Supergirl's voice emanate from the Public Address system. She glanced next to her at her husband, Ronnie Raymond, part of Firestorm, and she placed her palm on the glass of her cell that separated them.

Ronnie placed his palm on the glass, mirroring hers, and he tried to give her a hopeful smile.

ChasNicollette said:

"I know that this is not your way, not your American way. Before I even arrived here, America withstood great tests of fortitude by banding together, during World Wars and after 2001. You showed that you as a nation would not give in to darkness, that Liberty's torch shone brighter."

Click to expand...

John Diggle, The Star City Guardian, sat in the Justice Society brownstone medlab holding an icepack over his bruised face, one of the nearby monitors displaying Supergirl's speech. He looked... broken, grim...

In his other hand, he held a photograph of his daughter Sara, laughing brightly with her friend Billy.

He, too, had seen the cellphone video of the fight in Pittsburgh.

And there was a fine line between a father's worry and a father's wrath. He'd walked this line six weeks ago when Sara and her school bus had been hijacked. He walked it again now.

ChasNicollette said:

"Show the world that unity and liberty now. Don't let Gotham drown in a No Man's Land when all men-- all human beings are created equal!"

Click to expand...

Barry "The Flash" Allen skidded to a stop on the bridge between Central City and Keystone, Rumble of Team Turmoil falling belatedly facefirst to the asphalt behind him after a supersonic punch. Barry touched his earpiece, and glanced up as Static swooped down beside him on his board, dropping the unconscious Miasma onto her team-mate.

Both of them shared a look as they listened to Supergirl's plea.

Metavillains had been seriously coming out of the woodwork all up and down The West Coast, almost seeming like a massive campaign specifically to keep The Flash busy and preventing him from intervening in Gotham and Pittsburgh. Was this outcry from Earth's most trusted superhero the light at the end of the tunnel?

ChasNicollette said:

"Call your Senators, your Congresspeople, your state legislatures-- let them know that the American people do not abandon their own!"

Click to expand...

Sitting on the rooftop in Pittsburgh, Rose Grant watched Supergirl's speech on her cellphone, and felt her heart rise and swell in her chest.

Her new friend Supergirl. She'd make everything right. She'd save the day.

No matter how dark things got.

ChasNicollette said:

"SAVE GOTHAM!"

Click to expand...

In that little side room in The Capitol Building in Washington, DC, Felicity Smoak watched Supergirl on the screen of her laptop, resurrected by Blue Beetle's signal.

And she looked down at the Daughter Box earpiece that waited in her palm.

Was this their chance to make a new beginning?

God, Felicity hoped so.

She slipped the earpiece into her ear.

PING.

And it was like a map of the world spread out in her mind, whole vistas, she could feel it unlocking in her like a software expansion, cybernetic post-human evolutionary upgrades, a dark globe lined with a web of minds-- and the brightest nodal data-points on that web-- were her friends, her teammates.

She couldn't just see them. She could hear them. Snatches of conversation.

She could feel them.

Felicity bit her lip, realized with wide wide eyes what she was experiencing.

"Digital telepathy," she breathed.

Then she narrowed her gaze, adjusted her glasses.

And reached out, connecting with those nodal points, linking, peer-to-peer, speaking directly to their minds--

--it didn't matter what mincemeat and hash Nyssa and her people had made of the communications grid, how deep they'd plunged Gotham back to The Dark Ages, she could speak to her people out there.

"You heard the lady, everyone."

She wasn't just Felicity anymore, and this transcended her Sister Eye persona she'd used to do a little black-ops cyber-work.

This was something else. This was something new.

A new genesis.

The name came to her like instinct, like inevitability.

"This is Overwatch and we are connected."

In the world of the web, Jaime watched as something dark and iron hard formed like a hammer and shot at him, sending before it a concussion wave that not only tossed him offline, but physically knocked him to his knee's. He put his hands out to catch himself with a soft grunt, even as his Armour retracted back into his back, leaving him in just jeans and a black hoodie. He just huffed for air for a long moment, head hanging. Then he looked up at Supergirl.

"Well...that's all she wrote. The NSA just revoked my FCC license. Permanently."

Jaime...a new network is sending us an add request. The one sending it seems familiar, but is calling itself 'Overwatch'. Should I accept the add request?

Jaime frowned momentarily, looking at the Kryptonian beauty. "Umn...I think your speech did something. I'm receiving strange signals."

Cautiously, Jaime gave Khaji Da permission to join the Overwatch network. As he felt the familiar presence of several people, he grinned.

BlueBeetle: Hey guys! I really hope you're having a better day than I have.

"The Sprawl," by Sonic Youth.

Nevyn_Black said:

In the world of the web, Jaime watched as something dark and iron hard formed like a hammer and shot at him, sending before it a concussion wave that not only tossed him offline, but physically knocked him to his knee's.

Click to expand...

The Calculator rolled his desk chair back from his three-monitor workstation and smirked, steepling his fingers.

Touching his earpiece, the elder statesman of cyber-warfare contacted the "home office" of this particular endeavor.

"Goldface," he drawled. "Utilizing the tech you so handily supplied, I managed to phlash the blonde and the blue. We won't be hearing from their pirate station again anytime soon. Brute-force DoS attacks are hardly my style, there's no finesse to them, but I must say that 'battering ram' was quite efficient."

"Excellent," Goldface declared imperiously in reply. "A souvenir from my time working for that ditzy dullard Palmer, a stolen design enhanced with technology from our somewhat silent partner. I'm not surprised it proved effective."

The Calculator ran his tongue around his teeth and grimaced. "The other hacker, though. The one who managed a satellite link-up. Near as I could tell, they were operating a basic laptop rig on government issue wifi and they still gave me a-- run for my money. Which, given my professional reputation, is saying something. The idea that someone that... talented... could be working as a white hat is troubling to say the least. I couldn't even phlash their hardware, only sever the link at a satellite level. If they're a black hat trying to run some kind of smuggling op out of Gotham while the grids are down, they may be worth buying off. If they're working with the 'heroes,' I may require the use of that battering ram more often, or perhaps a web-nuke."

"Monitor the situation," Goldface acknowledged. "If this is your way of negotiating a higher fee, Calculator, then your technique could use some fine-tuning. Crush this so-called prodigy in open cyber-warfare, no matter the color of their hat, and then we will talk bounties. In the meantime, continue your work."

Calculator narrowed his eyes, but nodded. "Very well."

As he signed off with Goldface, he frowned, then rolled forward again and began typing. There was something... familiar... about the problem hacker's digital footprint. He couldn't place it yet for the life of him. But that was... temporary.

He hadn't spent the last few decades as a urban-legend phantom on The Dark 'Net to let some upstart beat him at the game he'd perfected.

Curbing Impulse.

ChasNicollette said:

In Glenmorgan Square in Metropolis, Kansas, Bart "Impulse" Allen skidded to a stop to watch Supergirl's face up on the jumbotron. He took a swig from a bottle of water, chugging it in moments-- even his pinball antics were exhausted from helping to clean up and save people after Savitar!Grant's battle with Supergirl and Rose. He wondered where Rose was.

Click to expand...

And as he stood there and listened and watched, he threw the empty water bottle off to one side.

It stopped before it hit the ground.

Bart blinked, and stared at it.

He was going to zip over to it to wave his hand around it, poke at it-- but when he went to dart across he-- lifted his foot. Slowly.

The whole world was moving slowly. Around him, Metropolis had stopped stone stock-still, and his own rapid-dash single-synapse always-blurring thoughts were... sluggish...

...was this what normal people felt like all the time?

...people like Iris and Rose and--

--and then a red-haired man in black stood before him.

"Mercury hid you well," Per Degaton grimaced. "Kept you from making too many ripples in history. Kept you sequestered. But no-one hides from the march of time forever."

"Whoooooo..." Bart narrowed his golden eyes. "WhowhoWHOare... you?"

Degaton harrumphed. "Someone who finds speedsters' ability to penetrate the time barrier without mechanical means to be... vexing. Almost as vexing as my employer finds how resistant The Speed Force makes you to Anti-Life and The Omega Sanction."

"Ooooomegasanction?" Bart's expressive eyebrows shot up his forehead. "AuntieLife? Idon'tdon'tdon'thaveanAuntie--"

"Actually," Degaton rolled his eyes, "your aunt is named Dawn, not that you'll ever meet her."

He lifted a hand and grabbed a handful of Bart's uniform at the chest, and because Degaton was manipulating time around him, Impulse couldn't move fast enough to avoid it.

"I curse you to the wilds of The Multiverse, to drift in The Bleed and The Void, like the survivors of Earth-247. Pray to whatever fruit-fly gods bob about in that high-fructose soup you call a brain that The Master never comes looking for you."

"LeggoleggoleggoLETGO!" Bart scrambled, tugged against Degaton's hand, planted his feet on Degaton's chest and shoved hard--

Degaton grunted.

And Bartholomew Henry Allen II dispersed in a burst of golden crackling light.

Degaton snidely dusted the oversized footprints off of his coat and stepped sideways into time.

The empty water bottle clonked dully on the pavement.

Time marched on.

"The Shortest Straw", Metallica.

AmenRa said:

J'onn stepped towards him, reaching out with hands that now had talons like some great raptor. "And, after you, they will fall!"

Click to expand...

Silver Surfer sat on the red, dusty stone floor as the Last Green Martian towered above him. He knew something was wrong here, something was terribly wrong.

This was not the J'onn J'onzz of legend.

So, with a quiet thought, Silver Surfer infiltrated the mind of the Martian.

As J'onn prepared to destroy the once-Herald of the World Eater, Norrin Radd looked deep within the great Manhunter's mind.

What he saw alarmed him and saddened him.

J'onn J'onzz was consumed by the Anti-Life Equation.

No!

NO!

He encountered malevolence and hatred and utter terror inside the great mind of Martian Manhunter. Yet, there was also J'onn's essence there...small and quiet...and, afraid.

Silver Surfer saw within J'onn's mind the them he had spoken of. Earth's protectors. The heroes. The ones who would fall.

The Surfer retreated his thoughts from J'onn's own, and he directed them to the craft upon which he traveled the cosmos.

The board hovered silently into the air behind Martian Manhunter, who's terrible countenance had now directed the full force of its fury towards Silver Surfer.

"Yes," J'onn seethed, "this will be your end. I will break you in half and bury your body in the dry sand!"

Directed by thought and fueled by the Power Cosmic, the board spun on its axis and struck Martian Manhunter in the head, sending him reeling and tumbling across the vastness of the temple.

Surfer was immediately on his feet and mounted his craft. Even as J'onn himself was standing, brushing dusty red sand from his uniform, Silver Surfer extended his hands and unleashed the Power Cosmic.

It pulsed from the board, though him, and erupted as silvery-blue energy from his open palms. The blast struck J'onn and enveloped him in a swirling mass of energy. The energy coalesced and pulsed and became a vortex of swirling plasma.

Martian Manhunter screamed.

Norrin Radd put his hands over his ears and turned away, his eyes closed and his heart in sadness as J'onn was ripped through space/time.

The vortex disappeared in a loud crash. J'onn was gone, with nothing but footprints remaining in the dust that covered the temple's stone floor.

Silver Surfer stood upright on his board. He let out a weary sigh and turned his attention towards the temple's ceiling. He moved upwards, the board carrying him swiftly, and he phased through the temple's stone walls into the Martian atmosphere. He traveled higher, reaching space beyond.

I must warn them. The heroes of Earth. Martian Manhunter's confinement in the trans-dimensional vortex is temporary. He will break free. He will come for them.

What have I done? What have I unleashed upon the Universe?

Silver Surfer blazed a trail of silvery light as he sped towards Earth.

It wasn't from pain or fear that Martian Manhunter screamed.

It was from RAGE.

As the silvery blue light faded out Martian Manhunter found himself in a place of darkness. There was a light, pale though it was, that seeped in from the blackness. His footsteps sounded hollow as if he were walking upon hard sheets of glass. There was nothing to be seen here in the place of no places, this space between space itself.

J'onn dropped to his knees and pounded the floor beneath him in fury.

"I'm afraid that won't help", a voice said from a distance. It was a familiar voice and footsteps drew near. Even in the dim light Martian Manhunter's keen vision made out the figure who approached.

He was dressed in all balck and had a small emblem affixed to the right lapel of his cloak. The Manhunter zoomed in on this and even before the figure drew back the cloak's hood he knew who this was.

"Var-Sen," J'onn snorted. He stood to his full height and regarded the Kryptonian scientist.

"J'onn," Var-Sen spoke. "You are not yourself it seems."

Martian Manhuter contemplated this. It only took a fraction of a second for him to realize two things. The first was he was locked in some kind of phased space/time quantum state. The second was Var-Sen wasn't real.

"Go away," J'onn said, as much to himself as to the apparition before him.

"You must listen to me," Var-Sen told him in response. "The very fate of all that is depends on it."


J'onn's voice was acid in reply. "You are a construct of a consciousness that no longer exists. Be gone!"

There came more footsteps. These were lighter than the first, more graceful.

"Lawgiver," a soft and feminine voice said, "listen to my husband. We need you to return to us."

J'onn sighed. And now the weakness within him, that part that had thought been vanquished, had conjured another ghost to torment him. Raya Sen, wife of Var-Sen, stood dressed similarly to her husband. Her hair fell in tresses and her eyes sparkled even in the pale and dim light.

He had no time for this!

The way out of here would require the disruption of the quantum flow. An opening of a singularity. A wormhole.

A simple construct, really, when one was the Martian Manhunter.

"Born for This," by Paramore. (Supergirl/Felicity)

Nevyn_Black said:

In the world of the web, Jaime watched as something dark and iron hard formed like a hammer and shot at him, sending before it a concussion wave that not only tossed him offline, but physically knocked him to his knee's. He put his hands out to catch himself with a soft grunt, even as his Armour retracted back into his back, leaving him in just jeans and a black hoodie.

Click to expand...

Kara was half-kneeling beside him... faster than a speeding bullet. Her hand on his hoodied shoulder.

"Jaime. Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

Nevyn_Black said:

He just huffed for air for a long moment, head hanging. Then he looked up at Supergirl.

"Well...that's all she wrote. The NSA just revoked my FCC license. Permanently."

Click to expand...

Kara laughed faintly, closed her eyes.

Tried not to think about how much Jaime had sounded like Winn just then.

She ticktocked her head from side to side, shook her head, and then nodded, opening her eyes again.

"It's all right. We said our piece. That's all we can ask for."

"Fingers crossed it goes viral."

Nevyn_Black said:

Jaime...a new network is sending us an add request. The one sending it seems familiar, but is calling itself 'Overwatch'. Should I accept the add request?

Jaime frowned momentarily, looking at the Kryptonian beauty. "Umn...I think your speech did something. I'm receiving strange signals."

Click to expand...

Kara frowned back at him, then immediately tucked hair back behind her ear, an unconscious, Lindsey-Wagnerian mannerism, a reference to another "Jaime," and listened with ears that could hear snowflakes colliding from all the way up in orbit.

"I don't hear anything. Maybe if I squint I can see it?"

Nevyn_Black said:

Cautiously, Jaime gave Khaji Da permission to join the Overwatch network. As he felt the familiar presence of several people, he grinned.

BlueBeetle: Hey guys! I really hope you're having a better day than I have.

Click to expand...

As Jaime joined the digitally-telepathic "chat room," the signal pinged Kara, too, and she blinked, cocked her head, and signaled that she would like to enter.

It was like...

...it was like braindiving that Anti-Life Fatherbox Hellspore...

...except it was the opposite.

Instead of cold clammy impenetrable darkness, this technology gently embraced her consciousness with a force-field of warm, white light.

And she heard Felicity's voice, not in her ears, but in the part of her brain that comprehended language:

@Overwatch: We've taken losses, Blue. We've taken hits. But no bad day lasts forever. Here Comes the Sun.

Supergirl smiled softly.

@StrongerTogether: Couldn't've said it better myself.

"Calling All Angels," by Train. (Rose)

Still reeling from yet another loss to her father-- and his escape--

--but buoyed by Kara's speech--

--Rose was absolutely stunned when she felt Felicity's mind gently touch upon her aura and ping it for contact.

It was kind of like sharing a mind with one of her Heroes, that kind of effortless seamless interface, only with no inadvertent loss of identity. Everyone was each themselves, but they could talk back and forth.

@SheCanBeHeroes: Uh. Hey. This is new. And kind of-- useful. Robby--

she hesitated when she said his name, but kept going

@SheCanBeHeroes: would always gripe to me that I couldn't take objects with me when I Dial, he couldn't call me or give me a communicator, everything would just be transformed.

@SheCanBeHeroes: But if you're talking to my mind without a physical conduit, that means that I could Dial and you'd still be able to stay in touch with me.

@SheCanBeHeroes: --right, sorry, I'm rambling, I'm sorry. I'm not sure how long I've been awake.

As Oliver and his contingent speed through the city in Joker's car Penguin looks positively shocked when his phone goes off and quickly snaps it to his ear as he answers.

"Yes." He listens intently for a moment. "You are certain? Because I don't think I need to remind you what I do to those who give me bad intelligence."

Penguin calmly puts the phone back into his pocket. "Wrong direction. It's a trap. The asylum was a trap. So is the station. By now both have been sprung. We need to get to the old depot in the swamp. It hasn't been on a map since Falcone had it removed generations ago. It's where the devices are."

Joker grinned behind the wheel and yanked it hard to the right. As the car spins and fishtails down the alley he laughs and hits a small red button on the wheel. The car picks up insane speed. Joker drives like the madman that he is. Taking corners and wiping out obstacles. As they reach an old logging road he pulls he emergency break cutting on to it and coming to a stop.

"Ding Ding! Last stop! Snakes, spiders, killer assassins and world ending super tech." Joker steps out of the car and bows for the others to follow.

Robin and the Arrow are out first. Penguin follows with a bit of a green look. Clearly not appreciating the ride.

"Where is this place?"

"About a mile down this road there is another. The depot has been out of use for nearly a century. Falcone used it for storing drugs, guns, whatever he didn't want at his stash houses. What my dear friend Jim wouldn't have given to find this place back in the day. Anyway kids, its small. Was never meant to be a huge yard. Only one building. Sits on a large hill. Easily defended. We can't just walk in." Penguin smoothes his rumpled suit as he speaks and removes his umbrella from the floor of he vehicle before walking around and joining Joker on the other side.

"I suggest that Joker and I move in through the front. Claim we just came for our cut. See if we can draw attention. You two need to go around the other way. Flank them. See if you can get to the Markov Devices.

Arrow steps to Robin's side and nods. "Sounds like it should work. Unless you two betray us."

"Listen, I have spent the better part of my life taking over this city. I am a lot of things. But stupid is not one of them. I will help take back my city. After that, well... business."

Joker tisks at the Arrow and waves his finger in a gesture of denial. "My goals are my own. But this city... it deserves better than these... miscreants. I want them gone. It's awful hard to have fun in a city thats doesn't exist. Besides, how can Batsy and I continue our little game if they wipe out His city? Nah. I will keep my promise. These League types... they have to go. Scouts honor!"

Robin shakes her head. She can't believe she is working with these two. Seems impossible. But the city needs all the help it can get. "Fine. Lets go. Lets do this."

As the teams split up they head deep into the woods. Joker and Penguin don't make it near the perimeter before they are fallen upon by the League.

"Halt. Goldface wants you two alive."

Joker nods at the small army of warriors that emerged from the trees. "Goldface? That two bit broker? Seriously? Fine. I suppose if I want my cut I will have to deal with that schmuck."

As the detachment of Leaguers lead them through the woods Arrow and Robin arrive on the back side of the property.

Venom

The soldier types were at the drain entrance, arguing about the use of sonic weapons in a sealed tunnel and if it would work or not. Well if they cranked up the volume high enough, then yes, the effect would render the symbiote practically useless, but as it was, no. The concrete would dampen too much of the sound for it to have any real effect. Now as the four men stand around stating their cases, we direct out attention to their truck. The very one that Venom had escaped from just moments earlier. More directly, we will direct our attention to the manhole at the nose of this vehicle, the manhole which has no cover, or more accurately, the manhole cover which whizzed through the air at that very moment.

"Aaah!"

The pieces which clatter to the pavement tells them that they had struck. As quick as thought and as silent as smoke, they both retraced their path. Taking a peek as the remaining three soldier-types fires their weapons into the empty sewer where they had been, the fourth one busy cradling his arm as he is trying to pick up the pieces of his weapon.

Clonking him behind the ear with a pseudopod was nothing but a thought. They slither from the grate and send multiple pseudopods rushing across the ground. Their target, the last remaining weapons. Not the men as some readers have come to believe.

Then the voices touched his mind and for a moment he froze. It was like the Martian have linked them, but this just felt...different. In this moment the natural camouflage of the suit stopped and they became all too visible for even the engrossed soldiers.

Venom's first broadcast over this neural network was not one that anybody would have envied him.

@Venom/John: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!

Luckily the sonic weapons was aimed at their chest area, the soldier mind going for the easier to hit, yet still deadly target. Dropping backwards, they rolled and again fled into the sewer, nursing a massive headache and a body which feels like it had been hit by a truck.

@Venom/John: Bad timing, that one hurt. Objectives are still secure, just having problems dealing with the current attacks. Sonic weapons.

Waves of sonic came rushing down the tunnel, one of them must be firing through the grate. They move away when another wave comes from the front. They were in fact trapped, leaving one of the assailants free to take down the tower and undoing their work.

Knuckle down, we can handle it. It will hurt, but we can do it.

'Right. But I have a better idea.'

I concur with that idea

He held out his arm and the sniper rifle appeared in it as the symbiote extracted it from the pocket dimension. They had a good idea on the layout of the tunnel and which shots might ricochet enough for them to actually make head way. He raised the rifle and squeezed off a round. It didn't have the desired effect, but what it did do was cause a lapse in the attack, allowing them to peek around the corner they were hiding behind. The soldier actually had his whole rifle through the grate, aiming blindly. But they could see clearly, shifting their focus was easy and with practiced ease the shot reverberated before the sonic wave hit him and then died away as the rifle well away from stinging hands.

No need to kill at all.

They grinned and knew that the time for assault was then and it was the exact moment that the sonic wave hit them through the wall, driving them to the ground and tearing the most terrifying scream of pure pain from their throat.

"A Sky Full of Stars," by Coldplay. (Felicity/Supergirl/Artemis/Rose/Vixen)

TertiusHuman said:

@Venom/John: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!

Click to expand...

@Overwatch: Whoa there, all caps, Felicity winced as that yell sounded seriously loud in her cyberpsychic earpiece, and tried not to wonder if that was how The Black Spider had screamed when he'd died.

@StrongerTogether: Venom, are you all right? Supergirl frowned.

TertiusHuman said:

@Venom/John: Bad timing, that one hurt. Objectives are still secure, just having problems dealing with the current attacks. Sonic weapons.

Click to expand...

Felicity paused, took a breath, Venom was still fighting the good fight, he wasn't the first member of Team Arrow or The Justice Society to slip and take a life, but having to watch it on the satellite link wasn't going to do her dreamscape any favors for the next ever. There would have to be consequences of course, but that was Ollie's call, he wasn't Chairman for nothing. Now was not a good time to pull rank and demand disciplinary action, that could happen during a debrief. She toggled back in.

@Overwatch: The moment you need back-up, just give the word, okay? I may not have satellite coverage again yet but I think I can do a remote viewing thing...

It was right about then that Artemis got the ping, and almost out of sheer startlement she signed on.

@NegasonicTeenageArrowhead: Uh, hey, speaking of back-up. Is there any way I can get a Medevac out 'round by the sanitarium in Slaughter Swamp?

@NegasonicTeenageArrowhead: Nightwing's not looking so good, here, and that might be the first time anyone's uttered that sentence.

Artemis paused.

@NegasonicTeenageArrowhead: ...who the Hell gave me this screenname?

@Overwatch: ...um.

@SheCanBeHeroes: No, it's cool, though! Any superhero named after a song can't be all bad.

@NegasonicTeenageArrowhead: ...

@NegasonicTeenageArrowhead: Fine.

Vixen and Black Canary came online at virtually the same instant.

@CNRI_Cry: Artemis, we might have someone who can help you with that Medevac.

@VixMcCloud: Fel-- uh-- Overwatch, there's a man next to me with curious vehicular superpowers and a serious set of wheels, can you include him in your... psychic friends network?

@Overwatch: We are so not calling it that. But yeah, lemme just open a new port--

Felicity extended her awareness to this newcomer-- Leon Tomari, Kamen Rider Drive, inviting his mind to join her net.

All of a sudden a chat box opens up in Drive's HUD.

@GoSpeedRacer: Well this is different.

He pauses and looks at the screen names.

@GoSpeedRacer: Love the Screen-Name. Yea Artemis I'll be there in a minute.

With that Drive hops in the Tridoron, punches up the GPS, and heads to Artemis' and Nightwing's location.

"When the Man Comes Around" - Johnny Cash

The Power Cosmic enabled Silver Surfer to touch all things, yet he especially took notice of sources of great energy and power.

Thus, it was natural for him to alter his orbital trajectory to enter Earth's atmosphere over the North Pole. Unhindered by the Arctic winds and below freezing temperatures he descended through a swirling maelstrom of mist. Once through this protective barrier he stopped his craft abruptly before a great structure.

This place of crystalline spires and frozen monoliths that jutted from the icy surface struck him with awe. And yet, there was a familiarity to this construct, as if he had seen this kind of architecture before. He could not immediately place this feeling in memory, as he had traveled the cosmos and seen many, many things. And, when he was a child on his home world of Zenn-La, he had studied so many different alien cultures.

Norrin Radd knew, though, this place was not of Earth. It radiated strong power currents throughout, and it's technological imprint told him this construct was from an ancient race.

Silver Surfer could detect within this fortress, for that is what it seemed, defensive technologies designed to keep unwanted travelers out. He had no desire or need to violate the sanctity and solitude of this place, yet he wondered if the owner of this place knew he had arrived.

He must make contact with the superheroes he had seen in Martian Manhuter's mind. They were the targets of his hatred, the recipients of his wrath now that he carried the Anti Life inside him.

Once, Silver Surfer had come as a herald.

This time he came as a harbinger of terrible news.

"Home," by Angels and Airwaves. (Supergirl/Felicity)

Perhaps she was not as great a source of energy and power as The Surfer.

Or even as powerful as the sum total energies contained within The Fortress of Solitude, created from seeds that Jor-El, Alura and Zor-El had placed within her pod as well as Kal-El's-- wherever he was. It was the sum total of the knowledge of Krypton, gleaned from all 28 known galaxies.

And that Fortress took one look at The Silver Surfer, and it knew two things.

1: this was a being of nigh-incalculable potence from beyond the boundaries of this universe.

and

2: this was a figure of dread in the history of dozens of populated worlds near the sites of other planets that had been... consumed... by a horrifying extrauniversal entity known as Ga Lak Tus.

Kara did not know by heart the full length and breadth of knowledge in The Fortress. She did not know that many worlds in those 28 Known Galaxies had been devoured by the monstrous deity that traveled on the heels of this argent horseman. She did not know that some of the extraterrestrial villains of Fort Rozz had only turned to crime when they had been the sole survivors of worlds reduced to empty wastelands and debris by Galactus. She did not know that if Krypton had not been undermined by its own people's overreach and self-destructed, it would have been ripe for Galactus' plucking-- and even that disaster might have been averted, had not Tomar-Re, Xudarian then-Green Lantern of Sector 2813, been preoccupied at the time using his Zathon Ray Communicator to warn other worlds of Galactus' approach.

But when the alarms went off in The Fortress, she could hear it half a planet away.

And she could hear the panic in Kelex' coding sequence.

She hissed.

@StrongerTogether: Something's found my Fortress. Something... scary.

@StrongerTogether: Keep me in the loop about Gotham, but I need to secure Krypton's heritage.

She had just seen Krypton alive again. Her family, her friends. Alive in her mind's eye. And now they were gone again.

No way in Hell was she going to let this-- whatever it was-- threaten their last vestige of memory.

@StrongerTogether: Blue, follow when you can. I might be out of my weight class on this one.

And with a rush of wind she was gone.

Faster than a speeding bullet.

Again, Felicity winced.

@Overwatch: Okay, so, hard for the signal to keep up at extreme velocities. Good to know. (That explains why The Flash keeps cutting in and out and I... can't seem to find Impulse anywhere.)


Supergirl blurred to a stop above The Arctic, drawing level with The Surfer's eyeline, her cape, skirt, and hair all billowing around her in her slipstream before settling to hover with her. She was wary, but by no means going to give a single inch of ground.

"I am Kara Zor-El of Krypton's House of El."

"And you."

"Are trespassing."

Speedy Delivery. (Artemis)

Zet_Cross said:

@GoSpeedRacer: Love the Screen-Name. Yea Artemis I'll be there in a minute.

With that Drive hops in the Tridoron, punches up the GPS, and heads to Artemis' and Nightwing's location.

Click to expand...

@NegasonicTeenageArrowhead: Yeah, yeah, you got a great name, everyone'll be humming it for a week. Laugh it up, gearhead.

Trusting Thea and her horseman to keep an eye on Nightwing for a moment, she stood up and aimed one of her last trick arrows up through the "skylight" hole in the roof.

A magnesium flare arrow, burning like a small sun in the lightening sky over twilit early-morning Slaughter Swamp.

@NegasonicTeenageArrowhead: Eyes on the skies. Satellite coverage is a little on the blink right now but I sent a flare up over the tree-cover to help you zero in.

@NegasonicTeenageArrowhead: Pedal to the metal, okay? This masked lin kuei bitch beat the Hell out of him and I don't think he has a lot of living daylights left.

ChasNicollette said:

"I am Kara Zor-El of Krypton's House of El."

"And you."

"Are trespassing."

Click to expand...

Silver Surfer had registered the approach of Supergirl. Her movement through the slipstream had gathered his attention and he knew someone was coming. He assumed, correctly, it was the owner of the structure of power that stood gleaming before him.

However, when this beautiful and powerful creature stopped in mid-air in front of him and revealed her name and her heritage, Silver Surfer shifted slightly as he stood on his craft. His eyes widened in understanding, and he moved his right hand to cup his chin. He looked away, down towards the sparkling snow beneath him, as comprehension and realization flooded their way into his mind.

Krypton? Of course! This was the civilization who's emissaries had visited his cradle world so long ago. The symbol on her chest, it was similar in design to others he had seen. He knew, now, as he remembered, the symbol was a glyph of their language and a mark of their respective house or clan.

Their family.

Silver Surfer raised his eyes once more to look upon Kara Zor-El. He nodded, not knowing surely enough whether to bow or what manner of greeting would be appropriate.

"I am Norrin Radd," he said in a quiet voice of soothing bass. He then opened his arms, his palms facing outward towards Supergirl. "I come in peace. I mean no offense to this place or to you."

He cupped his chin once more as the memories of his childhood came to him. After a moment's thought, he once again addressed the Last Daughter of Krypton.

"You are Kryptonian," he said to her. "Long ago, on my home world of Zenn-La, I met travelers from your world. One also wore the symbol that you do, also of the House of El." Surfer thought for a moment, "There was another with him, although this scientist was of a different family. The name of his house was Sen."

Silver Surfer willed his craft to glide slowly and silently closer to Kara as he maintained his non-offensive posture. He then stood to his full height and bowed slightly from his waist. "It is an honor to meet you, Kara Zor-El of Krypton."

He then glided back from her, widening the distance between them, and once again cast his gaze down. When he looked once more upon her, his argent face was creased with trepidation. "An honor," he worriedly stated, "that I fear may not be bestowed again, for I come to you with a warning of imminent danger."

He looked into her eyes, blue as they were, and he felt sorrow all over again for what he had unknowingly done.

"I have awakened something that should have been left to sleep."

As Green Arrow and Robin watch from the shadows Goldface's men bring Joker and Penguin in through the front of the yard. Goldface emerges from the one warehouse-like structure on the property. It had to be where they were storing the remaining devices and where the control hub was located.

"Goldface. I would say I am surprised, but then where there is tech, there is usually you. Working for the League of Assassins though... seems out of your usual routine. Regardless, this is MY city. You want to come in and make waves you come to me. We have business to discuss. You owe me for damages."

"Your city.... heh. This city will be gone in a matter of hours. Wiped from the face of the Earth. And then The Master will rise. Those who are loyal to him will be rewarded. Those who are not will pay the price. As far as our... business... I only brought you in alive because you have something The Master wants. He believes that the weapons and supplies you have stored here in this city can be of use in the coming days. Otherwise you would both be dead. So, you will give me the location of your stashes and I will let you survive the destruction of this pit."

"Goldy! Why so serious? You had me going for a minute there... but lets be honest... this Master of yours, when he is done with you, he is going to throw you away like the sorry excuse you are. So let me be clear. Penguin and I, we didn't come here to parley. We came to kill you and take back our city."

Goldface laughs at the two unarmed men. Surrounded by four armed leaguers, and Goldface himself standing before them. "The two of you... with what, an umbrella and your bare hands are going to take out me and these men? Plus God knows how many more men I have on patrol and in the warehouse. Sorry Joker, I don't think your going to get out of this one. Kill them. I will find the stashes in the rubble of this pathetic city myself." Goldface turns to walk into the Warehouse and then all Hell breaks loose.

As the men raise their weapons Joker flicks his wrists as cards slide from his sleeves, two in each hand. Before the Assassin's get their weapons raised the cards are flying through the air. Two of them strike the man to his left, one removing his left eye, the other severing his throat. The other two striking the man to his right. They both hit directly in his throat, severing his head.

Penguin moves with a quickness and agility one would not expect from a man with a lame leg and clearly a bit older than his prime. As he brings the umbrella up into the chest of of the first assailant, he twists the handle as the tip strikes directly in the man's heart. A blade springs out, driving into him and killing him instantly. His partner manages to pull the trigger on the gun he had brought up, but Penguin uses the first man as a shield. He rips the gun from the dead man's grasp and shoot the other man in the face. Joker steps forward and catches the gun as the man drops. As Joker and Penguin are left standing aiming the guns at Goldface they both open fire. The bullets pang off of Goldface, barely scratching his metallic form.

"Well shit."

Goldface turns and lets out a roar as he charges the two men. As he roars, the door to the warehouse opens, and two men charge out. Goldface calls out as he hits Joker driving him to the ground, "Zeiss, Abbot, Kill them!"

Joker laughs as Goldface pummels him on the ground. Knowing he has no chance of damaging the metal body of his attacker Joker laughs maniacally at the irony of his situation. How many times had he tried to destroy Batman and this city? And now he was going to be beat to death by a man made of gold for protecting the city...

Meanwhile, Penguin opens fire on the hulking man, Abbot, that begins to move toward him. As he does, he transforms into a huge, hulking wolf-like beast. The bullets tearing into him, but the wounds healing just as quickly.

Zeiss, toggles a button on the side of his strange goggles as he draws a pair of knives from his belt. He moves cautiously toward the fighting.

Arrow and Robin are seeing this all from the shadows.

"Robin. We have to save them. We take out these guys, then we shut down the devices. Any clue who these guys are?"

"Never seen the Werewolf guy, but the other one is named Zeiss. Cybernetic assassin. Used to work for some of the local mob bosses. Those goggles let him process data at a crazy rate, he can mimic any fighting style he has seen. He even kicked Bat's ass. He knows my style but you might have a chance. I'll take the wolf, then we both go for Goldface?"

The Arrow nods and they break cover.

Robin charges forward extending a pair of batons from wrist sheathes as she goes. She twist the two batons together and they form a staff that she uses to launch herself at the wolf man that had just snapped Penguin's gun in half and grabbed him by the throat. He small form isn't enough to take him off his feet but the surprise of it stuns him momentarily allowing Penguin to drive his umbrella into his left eye. As the beast drops him, Penguin and Robin each begin attacking. Robin with quick, lightning fast strikes at vital points, and Penguin with a savagery that is truly frightening. But as soon as damage is done, it is healing. The beast backhands Robin, sending her flying threw the wall of the warehouse.

Again he has his hands on Penguin. Driving his fist into Penguin's face and body again and again. Taking a sick joy in prolonging the pain, the wolfman lets loose a blood curdling howl of joy as he smashes Penguin's nose causing an utter explosion of blood.

The Arrow darts forth and cuts off Zeiss. There is a flurry of fists, feet, knives, and blows as the two go at each other. Truly fighting to a stand still. Every time Arrow tries a tactic it seems that Zeiss is ready. But The Arrow is likewise prepared for Zeiss. Finally, The Arrow catches him off guard with a sloppy head butt that no skilled fighter would ever throw. But it staggers Zeiss, letting The Arrow grab for his quiver and send a barrage of arrows flying at the mercenary. But to his credit, Zeiss is able to swat them out of the air as they come with his knives. All except one small dart that The Arrow flung from his palm as he fired. The dart strikes dead center of Zeiss's goggles, and the miniature EMP on the base detonates. Zeiss screams in pain as the cybernetic implants throughout his nervous system and the rest of his body crash. Searing pain erupting on every nerve ending, and his surgically manipulated eyesight, powered by cybernetic implants fries out. He is left blinded and nearly immobile as The Arrow dashes forward, driving a jumping Thai-style knee strike into his face, sending him down and out for the count.

As Robin gains her footing again she sees that the Wolfman has stopped using his fists and he has extended his huge, taloned hand behind him and she barely makes out through the guttural growling of his speech the joyous proclamation of how he is going to remove Penguin's head from his body. And for a moment time seems to stop dead for Stephanie. The man that killed her father is in front of her. About to get killed. He deserves it. God knows Gotham would be better without him. She wants him to feel that pain and to cease his existence just like her father. But then time crashes back...

And she's on her feet, legs pumping, she screeches through the air like a missle. Catching that taloned arm, she swings up and over, driving a foot into it's throat as she spins over his head, dragging him backwards, as they fall, she drives her knees, into it's back as she lands with it's full weight on top of her, and she pushes harder than she has ever pushed before, using the momentum to send it flying over her head and onto its face. She hangs on and rolls through, pulling a taser batarang from her belt she drives it into the beasts head, right at the base of it's skull, and she rolls clear as the taser discharges, sending all that voltage directly into the brain stem of the beast. Healing factor or not, its enough to put him down for a while. Unconscious, her reverts to his human form.

Robin looks down at Penguin, he is battered and bleeding profusely from wounds on his neck where he had been held. Again she chooses to save him rather than letting him die. She quickly produces a med kit from her belt and stops the bleeding and injects a mixture of sedative, pain medication and nano-bots that will help the wound to heal much faster than it naturally would, as well as protect from infection. As Penguin slips into unconsciousness, he looks at her bewildered.

"Wh-... why save me... after what I've done?"

Stephanie fights back tears as she looks into his eyes. "Because unlike you, I am not a monster. And I refuse to become one just to watch you die."

He grins as the meds take hold. His eyes fluttering as he whispers one more sentence. One she never thought she would hear.

"Your father's alive." And with that, Penguin passes out.

Stephanie is frozen. Her mind reeling. She doesn't perceive the rest of the fight. She doesn't see The Arrow take down Goldface. For her, she is lost in thought. Lost in HOPE. Only when The Arrow and the Joker shake her and call out does she snap out of it.

Moments later, the trio, Joker carrying Penguin over his shoulder, enter the older warehouse. What stands before them is nothing they could have imagined. A huge machine nearly fills the warehouse. Pipes burrow into the ground all around it. The gleam red energy pulsing through the machine lends a sinister glow to the room. And standing at the controls of the machine is a lone man.

He is taller and muscular. His outfit hugging his huge form and accentuating his physicality. His eyes glow red as he turns to face the intruders. With speed that nearly matches The Flash, he strikes, sending them thudding through the air into the wall. He reappears with the injured trio of The Masters.

"It does you no good now humans. The call is made. They come. The end is nigh. Enjoy your destruction." A portal opens behind the huge figure as he carries his lieutenants through it closes.

The giant Markov Device shutters as it blasts a beam of red Omega Energy deep into space. Throughout every galaxy, known and unknown, the energy rips and tears. Calling out.

The Arrow struggles back to his feet. He and Robin and the Joker all cluster around the control panel as they try desperately to shut down the machine as it begins to vibrate. Sending small tremors through the multitude of pipes that lead to masses of smaller devices all buried throughout the city.

"This thing seems to be powered by that," The Arrow points to a large red crystalline form suspended in the middle of the machine. "We need to find a way to destroy it. But the backlash is likely to wipe out anything nearby. Robin, take Penguin, get out of here. Tell her I love her. Joker, go. Get her home safe."

The Joker cocks his head to the side as he looks deeply at The Arrow. His trademark grin widening just slightly. "Sorry kiddo, no can do. Did I mention I knicked one of these of Goldface? Turns out you can set a location to transport. It's been nice knowin' ya. Tell Batsy I win." With that The Joker pulls out one of the small box like devices that the villains had used to teleport. He sprays both Robin and The Arrow with an aerosol from his lapel pin and laughs as they collapse. He presses a series of buttons on the small device and then tosses it into the air where it expands into a portal not unlike the one that the unknown man just used. He struggles to life The Arrow up and shove him through the portal, repeating the same with Robin and Penguin. As the Portal closes the box drops to the floor.

Joker picks up the box giggling maniacally as he strides over to the crystalline form that is radiating a sickly red energy. He again manipulates the buttons and dials on the device. He then reaches out and screams in pain as he steps through the radiation around the power source. His skin burning and peeling almost instantly, he activates the device. A portal tears through the building, larger than any seen yet. And as it closes the majority of the warehouse, device and power source are gone.

Moments later, all around the world, people react in fear and surprise as red explosions can be seen from Earth all over the surface of the Moon. As they stop, clear as day, a giant smiley face has been carved into the lunar surface. The Arrow, Robin and Penguin fall through a portal that tore above the Police Station. In moments Robin and The Arrow would awake to see the fireworks.

In the coming days, investigators would find that there are no remains of the Joker, save some ash and blood from his incineration. In Crime Alley, a small group of homeless begin vigils for The Joker. The man who saved Gotham City.

The pain...

Intense pain...

Like having an I.E.D. blowing you up and ripping your spine apart...

Like being ripped through skin pores...

Pain...

Enough to break the strongest mind...enough to rip apart the strongest bonds...

EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!

Slithering...crawling...sliding...

Pain subsides slowly. Blood.

Blood in mouth, blood in eyes...

Pain is better now. Not gone. Just. Better.

Breathe...yes...

Move!

Yes

They were scrambling now, pulses from two weapons hunting them. They erupted from the manhole. Hurt. Terrified. Pissed off.

Weapons trained on them, but pseudopods took care of the metals and plastic.

Those elbows and knees which hails from the roots of Muay Thai, coupled with the power and speed of a symbiote bonded with a highly trained soldier running on adrenaline and super soldier serum, took care of the soldier types.

They sank to the ground then, not seeing the last gasp of The Joker, retching up blood which was not good. Finally stopping the internal bleeding. Able to focus their mind to contact Overwatch

@bondedsoldier: Objectives secured. Multiple bogeys ready for arrest. One fatality.

And that was that, how else could he tell them that he had slipped and in pain and anger killed a man?