Justice League: The New Wave (IC)

[Wyldfire]

Okay this was just bullshit. Gar had erupted into an ass ton of ravens and about half an ass ton were headed right at her. Ghetto with mind witch was gonna have to wait. First it was time to use Gar to her advantage. Okay quick assessment time.

She'd noticed that zebra dude seemed kinda tight with Witch bitch, so she dodged the green murder of death with a newer faster speed. Her body was even more cat like than before but Thea was also clamping down on instincts. Instincts like finding birds tasty. She plunged around the murder. She was under and over it and moving, graceful yet determined. Parkour at it's finest. The human art of free running at it's best. Sliding under a large truck as the ravens flew over and up and over the zebra dude's head putting him between her and the murder. She grabbed him from his back and lifted him up and lunged at the murder with him as her black and white shield.

As she charged she bellowed in his general direction, "Hey 'Wave, give Momma a hand and burn the hippie bitch?" And just before the murder made contact, Thea jumped, kicking Zebra dude in the back into the murder. As she flew backwards from Zebra dude she back flipped and was on the move again. She knew this wasn't going to stop the murder, but if she could break Hippie bitch's spell Gar would break this off. As she flew and moved again she yelled "Hey Cold! Wanna give 'Wave a hand and Ice the Hippie?"

 

[LuckyVic]

Nightwing

Damian was struggling as the team pressed forward. Not so much against these weak ninjas, but against his own blood lust. The more he took down the more he thought it would be easier to just kill them and move on. But that was precisely the kind of thinking he had spent years trying to bury. Now it and the feelings buried along with them were rising up again. Then the yellow light hit him and all of a sudden he was somewhere else.

He knew he this place, it was Arkham. There were inmates everywhere they were threatening to overwhelm him. He began to swing his escrima sticks defensively trying to just knock them out as he had been dowin the Kobra ninjas. But the more he took down the more came after him, even so much that at some point he lost his main weapons. He had no choice then and removed another cylinder this time from his boot. He activated the control and from it a blade began to assemble itself until he he was now wielding what looked like a high tech katana.

He began slashing away blood going everywhere when he heard a voice. “STOP!”

He looked up and saw Dick, but not as Batman, rather he was Nightwing. He then looked at himself and he was in his old Robin suit. Damian was confused. “Robin doesn’t kill!” Dick told him.

“You’re not Robin anymore! Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to survive. They don’t deserve our protection! So stop telling me what to do” he yelled back. But what surprised him more was that he launched an attack against Nightwing.

Nightwing defended himself using escrima sticks of his own to defend against Robin’s blade. He did his best to either parry or dodge the younger’s attacks. It was an acrobatic display that would have made a martial arts movie enthusiast's heart full of joy. But the longer the fight continued it was apparent that Robin was starting to overcome his older mentor. Damian could see what was coming and he tried to stop himself but couldn’t. He had felt this loss of control before it was more than just anger… it was fear.

Then just as suddenly as the fight had begun it had stopped and Damian looked and saw his sword sticking through Nightwing’s chest. “Dick?!” he could feel tears begin to flow down his face “I didn’t… mean..” he all of a sudden had enough control that he was able to remove the sword from the older man’s chest. Nightwing’s lifeless body slumped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Damian went to him and began to cradle the fallen hero’s head to him.

“What did you do?!”

Damian turned to the source of the voice… an all to familiar voice. He saw the figure jumping down from a building. And even before it came out of the shadows he knew it was his father.

“What did you do?!” The Batman asked as he moved closer.

Damian tried to say something but he couldn’t.

“Get away from him!” The Batman said and pushed Damian away as he dropped down to Nightwing’s lifeless form.

There was a scream that could not be silenced. It was the scream of a child abandoned, suddenly, long ago.

As the scream echoed then, in that alley, it echos now in his mind. It penetrates all the dark places.

It slams into the loss, it bounces against the regret… and the pain.

“MY SON IS GONE!” The Batman screams.

The words hit Damian like a fist. The old fears having come back after years of having thought he had overcome them. The fear that he could never measure up to the legacy of Dick, the man that had been with his father longer than anyone. The fear that his father loved him more than his own flesh and blood. The fear that he was nothing more than a killer….

 

[ChasNicollette]

I Corinthians 13:12.

Sliding under a large truck as the ravens flew over and up and over the zebra dude's head putting him between her and the murder. She grabbed him from his back and lifted him up and lunged at the murder with him as her black and white shield.

Perhaps the majority of StrikeForce Kobra had gotten cocky with such powerhouses as Spectrumonster and Planet-Master to stave off conventional attacks-- it was a cushy gig, thus far none of them had had to lift a finger.

It was perhaps this that enabled Wildcat to get the jump on Zebra-Man.

He roared in indignation: "Son of a... bitch!" He paused mid-sentence and then came down hard on the final expletive, as though he'd changed his mind about what the operative word was and switched emphasis to make sure this wild-woman knew what he thought of her.

Besides, her stripes were clashing with his stripes.

Instantly, he applied his diamagnetic powers to repulse the flock of Garfield pushing the individual Gar!Ravens away as soon as they swooped near him, and in his frenzy to do so he could not immediately turn his power on Thea. Her gamble paid off.

As she charged she bellowed in his general direction, "Hey 'Wave, give Momma a hand and burn the hippie bitch?"

All the way back on shore before the bridge, the two remaining Rogues were too distracted to come to Wildcat's cry for backup. But more on that in a moment.

And just before the murder made contact, Thea jumped, kicking Zebra dude in the back into the murder.

With a roar, Zebra-Man focused his power behind him-- Thea's soles still slammed into his back, but his repulsion field hurled her back from him even harder and faster than even her jaguarian leap would carry her.

The birds still swirled around him, not quite touching him.

As she flew backwards from Zebra dude she back flipped and was on the move again. She knew this wasn't going to stop the murder, but if she could break Hippie bitch's spell Gar would break this off. As she flew and moved again she yelled "Hey Cold! Wanna give 'Wave a hand and Ice the Hippie?"

But Captain Cold's sister had just phased into a gleaming metal robot and hadn't come out the other side. He was a little busy right now.

And then Syonide stepped into the fray, lashing out her crackling energy-whip and drawing her energy pistol from its holster. Behind her, Lady Clayface bounded into the air, flapping clay wings so that she landed behind Wildcat, playing zone-defense to keep Wildcat in the reach of that vicious whip.

********​

Len Snart was in a cold fury.

"WHERE IS SHE? MCCULLOCH! YOU BASTARD! SHOW YOURSELF! WHERE IS SHE?"

A gleaming, flickering hologram sprung to laser-light life just behind Snart and Cold whirled to face it, blasting a cannonbolt of icy power through the image's chest.

Mirror Master flickered, and snickered. "Och, Snart, yeh always were a one trick pony. Besides which, yehr sister's me ex, this's just a bit o' legitimate post-breakup grievance."

Cold snarled. "Answer the question, asshole."

"Tsk," the Scotsman tutted. "Scudder dinnae ken half the power o' these mirrors. I've been tinkering with 'em. Managed tae tap even deeper intae Th' Mirror Dimension which th' gadgets get their power from. An' I just sent yehr slattern sister tae th' deepest part. Love her new look, by th' way, she'll fit right in wi' that lot."

"You backstabbing shithead," Cold grimaced, tightening his finger on the trigger of his cold gun even though he knew Mirror Master was no more standing before him than a magician's illusion. "I can't believe you. I can't believe all of you and the other Rogues. That you would so quickly turn and side with intruders instead of defending our turf properly! That's not how we do business!"

"Yeh oul' fool," Mirror Master scoffed. "Yeh really think this all started t'day? Kobra's been snakin' his way intae these cities for near-on twenty years. How d'yeh think he amassed so much juice tae power this blooday dome an' beam his minions across th' country? He made a deal wi' a contingent o' Rogues two decades ago, that we'd weave another power grid within th' cities' wires an' circuits. He's been storin' up energy for this ever since."

"I don't understand," Cold hesitated, for once his veneer of detachment fluctuating wildly. "We're the Rogues. We adhere to the code!"

"We've play-acted at followin' yehr code for years, yeh daft toley-poker," Mirror Master sneered. "Even when Flasher got his identity revealed an' we all found out he was secretly that Barry Allen twat, an' yeh insisted that his family an' loved ones were off-limits, we let yeh believe we were stickin' tae yehr code so our... investment wouldnae be discovered, under orders from Blacksmith. An' speakin' o' protectin' our investment..."

He vanished in a shimmer of light, laughing his ass off.

Cold's eyes widened, and he whirled, bellowing "Mick! Heatwave! McCulloch's here, he's backing Kobra's play, we have to--"

But Rory was standing, staring, transfixed, his psychosis in full bloom...

...at the titanic fiery beast that The Ghost Rider had become. Those Crazy Eyes that Kiz had so been amused by earlier, they danced with the raging fire of the demon-god-prince, The Word of Vengeance. He was deaf to the world, and all he could see was the mesmerism of those hellish flames wreathing the figure of his fever dreams and nightmares.

With a roar of anger, Snart hauled off and laid Rory out with a single haymaker, leaving Heatwave sputtering, enraged, bewildered, suddenly staring up at the nightmare sky. "Snart. What the Hell?"

Cold hissed through clenched teeth. "Mirror. Master's. Got. Lisa."

"Motherfucker!" Rory roared, shoving himself to his feet. "...wait, where's kit-kat?"

Snart rolled his eyes. "Probably run off and gotten herself killed... again. Damn heroes are a bad influence."

The jem closed as white eyes gazed across the field of battle, she could feel Kal’s fingers on her face. Strong fingers. Seeing between his fingers as she stopped looking at the battle and looked at him. “I am fine..” she whispered.

Kaldur gazed at her for a long, long moment, and saw the truth in that whisper, in those three words from his old friend, and he simply nodded to her, lowering The Champion's Trident and removing his hand from her face. "It is so."

Then she spoke in words that were Latin but older than Latin... resumed her chant...

She felt sorry for the souls she was ripping from the mortal coil. Sorry for the things they had committed, and what she was doing was an abomination against nature. But you didn’t fight a nuclear bomb with a glass of water. You burned out it’s power faster than it could grow.

Rising up, she felt fingers slipping from her face. A compassionate touch she’d never felt before. “Fear is a powerful weapon. But when you have friends around.. you need more than fear.” She hoped she wasn’t overstepping her comprehension of friend. Friend, ally, companion, compatriot.

Kaldur allowed himself a low smile, standing ready to defend Raven again, to make sure that the spell she had poured so much of herself into went off properly. Friend indeed.

Eyes as white as the sun focused on the thing that had sent the yellow beam of fear at her and those she fought alongside. She didn’t even speak this time as white light poured forth, washing over the field of battle for an eternally long moment, and then concentrated on that vile.. multicolored thing.

“I’m sorry for you.” She whispered.

"Ahhh," a voice crowed from nearby. "But nae as sorry as I am for ye!"

The white light from Raven's eyes gleamed against the golden sheen of Kaldur's trident, and suddenly Evan McCulloch bounded out of that reflection, landing in a crouch and-- with a sniper's trained precision, leveled his mirror-gun and fired it once.

A square of light formed in the air behind Raven as she levitated once more to deliver the power summoned by her spell... and swallowed her in and dragged her off into its vortex before slamming shut once more.

"Mirror Master!" Kaldur roared with surprise and righteous indignation, bringing his Trident to bear and unleashing a stream of raw power...

Mirror Master chuckled, holding up a mirror that caught the blast and reflected it across the river into Keystone, taking out a small building, and then he shimmered away again as though he were never there. "I'll take the high road, yeh'll take the low road..." his voice echoed in a nowhere distance as he dematerialized.

Kaldur roared in frustration, slamming his fist into the Earth and seething through flaring nostrils and rippling gills. "Enough! Let us finish this! Let us work as a team and bring back order from the brink of chaos!"

He stood, then, framing his shoulders, the Trident held low in his grip.

"Green Arrow!" he roared to Connor. "Reach the Rider, if you can! Get her to see reason! Get her to see Zen! We need her power in this fight but her power uncontrolled is as terrible as any forces Kobra would unleash!"

"Martian Manhuntress! Use your psychic powers to protect our animal-powered allies from the voice of Fauna Faust!"

"Wonder Girl! Static! With me! We must engage directly, and hesitate no longer! We must fight this planetary powerhouse while Kiz keeps the light-beast occupied, and give our rangers and hand-to-hand fighters a chance to take down Kobra himself, as Wildcat attempts to do! Once we weaken their defenses enough, we must tear down the bridge itself, it is a focal point of their power-- by destroying it, we must surely also collapse the dome and cut off his armies from their leader-- truly, cutting off the head of the snake!"

"The rest of you, engage targets of opportunity! To arms, to battle, to VICTORY! For JUSTICE!"

With that, The Champion's Trident flared to golden light in Kaldur's hands and the winds whipped around him, carrying him into the air with blurring speed and flying him towards the bridge.

That's right, Aquaman was flying.

If only Rocket's son Amistad could see him now.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Revelation 6:8.

"Ahhh," a voice crowed from nearby. "But nae as sorry as I am for ye!"

The white light from Raven's eyes gleamed against the golden sheen of Kaldur's trident, and suddenly Evan McCulloch bounded out of that reflection, landing in a crouch and-- with a sniper's trained precision, leveled his mirror-gun and fired it once.

A square of light formed in the air behind Raven as she levitated once more to deliver the power summoned by her spell... and swallowed her in and dragged her off into its vortex before slamming shut once more.

Elsewhere.
********​

And thus it was that Raven would find herself dropped unceremoniously into a strange, terrible place, eerie as a catacomb. Mists rolled low over the floors, and innumerable rats scuttled here and there and everywhere. Windows to various despondent, hopeless scenes from across the world hung in the air every few paces.

A pall, a miasma, of utter heartache hung over the entire scene like it was embedded on a molecular level.

But of course, since Raven liked creepy places, she might just feel at home.

In any case, unlike Lisa Snart, when she landed she was not alone.

There was a woman with her, standing not far from her-- or, at the very least, a being in the shape of a woman.

She had skin as pale as moonlight's ghost, and hair as dark as midnight in mourning. She had an umbrella popped open against the seasons of mists, and a smirk adorned her lips.

Pointing at Rae, she greeted her brightly. "Oh. Hey. It's you! I was wondering if I'd see you here. I was just in the neighborhood visiting my sister in her gallery when a friend of mine showed up. Maybe you can walk with me to go find her?"

 

[TertiusHuman]

.....

 

[Varshanka]

Kara Zor-El, Wondergirl

“Weak” the first voice sneered.

“Coward” The second voice boomed.

“Shameful” The third voice Lamented.

“Silence..” the Forth voice commanded. “She does not know.”

“Failure. I told you she could not handle this. She has failed.”

“Zod. We should have sent Zod’s offspring. He would have succeeded already, while she quakes in terror.”

Turning the possessor of the Forth voice looked at the last speaker. “I said.. SILENCE!” A moon detonated with the resonance of THE VOICE, parts of it spiraling through the cosmos to one day be seen on a distant world as a shining star high in the heavens.

“She knows not who she is, she is not ready to know the full truth. But she can remember a small part of her heritage.”

“No interference you said.” The second voice whispered slyly.

“As the mortals of her new home are wont to say.. ’I’ve changed MY mind. Sue me.’ ”

Lifting a hand from a burning throne it pointed. A beam of light speared forth. Transgressing space and time. Reality and non existence. Yes and no, didn’t matter for this entity. Reality was more fluid than air or water.

Worlds had been given birth and died at it’s will. But right now in this moment it only desire one thing. A memory to be remembered.

*****

Kneeling before Hippolyta, Antiope, and Menalippe, Kara shook, unsure of what to do. She’d messed up big this time. Artemis’ jaw would take months to heal. If ever.

Beside her stood the Princess herself.

Diana.

Kara took a small comfort that the hand of the Princess was on her shoulder, not the back of her neck. Or twisted into her hair so she could smash the blonde girls face into the marble steps of the temple.

“Mother. Aunts. It is with great pride that I bring before you my sister, Kara…”

“PRIDE!!”

“She shattered Artemis’ face!!”

“Artemis is a bully.” Diana countered. “A quick tempered one as well. She.. deserved what she received. I wish I had had the chance to see it. Or punch her in the face myself.”

“Kara is to be punished.”

“Why?” Diana asked.

“SHE BROKE ARTEMIS’ FACE!”

“Kara showed bravery in standing up to Artemis and you punish her for forcing that camel faced minotaur into retreating? Bring the witnesses out. ALL OF THEM. Let them talk about Artemis and her ways.” Diana argued. “Artemis’ gets others to fight her battles, or uses deception to win a fight she can’t fairly.”

“Lies!”

“Really aunt? Shall we let the Golden Lasso tell the Truth for us? Bring forth your Daughter Artemis, and we’ll discover the Whole Truth…” Diana challenged, daring them to challenge her. Not that they would. With the wind blowing through the pillars of Hera, rustling her hair, and making her eyes darken she was a sight to behold. Even on The Island.

None had challenged Diana in Centuries. It wasn’t worth the beating.

“Pythia, has prophesied that one day I would be no more. Since that day I have sought a successor, to take my place in the World of Man and as the Defender of The Island. When Kara was delivered to us, I knew she was the one. A daughter of my Heart, if not of my body. She has met and conquered all of the challenges. Except her feelings.”

“Yes, she gets angry. Yes she jumps to the defense of her sisters when they are being beaten. But isn’t that what The Defender is supposed to do?”

“Bring out Artemis, and I will put both Kara and her to the Lasso. If Kara is guilty, then I will personally banish her from The Island. If she is not… Artemis apologizes.”

Sighing the three woman leaned closer to each other and spoke in whispers.

“Concerning the Oracle we will speak later, Daughter.” Hippolyta said, hinting at a verbal thrashing. “As for this matter before us now, there will be no forced Truth, from anyone.”

“Without Truth there can be no, punishment..” Diana countered.

“There will be no formal punishment.” Menalippe replied.

Kara almost leapt for joy, and probably would have if Dian’s hand hadn’t kept her grounded. “Formal?” Diana asked, scowling darkly. So darkly that the clouds overhead began to darken and snap with lightening. A sign that Hera herself was.. displeased.

“Kara will no longer train with the others of her age. She will face the Elders. She will fight alongside The Warriors.”

“You can’t.. Warriors fight a Titan to get that status, she’s too young.”

“She’s the same age you were.” Menalippe taunted.

*****

Standing at the edge of the Ocean Kara felt the spray on her face and legs. The spear in her hand was hers. By right and by blood. The rocks beneath her feet were hers to protect and Defend. Like her Mother before her.

*****

‘Remember..’ a voice whispered.

And there was this beautiful Kryptonian creature that just played merry hob with her heart and desires...

...flinging her arms around Wonder Girl's shoulders, clutching the back of her head with one hand, Rose pushed up on her toes and kissed Karan for all she was worth. Call-and-answer to the kiss that Wonder Girl had laid on Rose when they had first talked upon that beach in Australia.

Kara’s mind was a whirlwind of thought and emotion, until Rose kissed her. And then there was nothing. Nothing but Rose and her.

Returning that passion with a passion of her own, Kara wrapped one arm around Rose, holding her close, her other hand however reached down and grabbed Rose’s bottom and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Rose was telepathic and had untapped sensory capabilities rivaling those of the very Kryptonian she was kissing.

But she was distracted, H'ronmeer bless her.

So she didn't see that hand coming.

And it startled her, dear girl, and she squeaked against Karan's kiss as her eyes went wide.

*****

“Hear me Last Daughter, the world of your Birth is long past. But you have my power flowing through your veins. The courage of Gods flows through you. Do not allow uncertainty cloud your mind. Uncertainty is never Fear.”

“You are the Last Daughter of Krypton. The Last Daughter of the House of El. In ages long past when the Houses were formed, they each took a word to represent their House. Your distant ancestors took the Word of …”

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff260/Varshanka/Supergirl/S7TCf42.jpg

“…It means Hope. Have Hope, Daughter.”

*****

<"Karan. Hey. I don't know who we are or what we are or who I even am. But I know one thing. I think I love you and I want to find out what that means.">

Straightening up, Karan looked at the sky as she glowed, even though the barrier hadn’t quivered in the slightest. Looking down at Rose as she separated from the ground she whispered, “I’m in love with you, and I will wait for you to be ready.”

And with a roll of her neck she intoned in a voice not her own. “This is My daughter in whom I am well pleased.” Clothing rippled and changed as torn fabric reshaped into leather and metal. Steel girders ripped from the ground, reshaping into a shield with an Old Symbol emblazoned on it, straps of metal forming along her boots.

Lifting her eyes, her gaze swept across Spectrumonster, and settled on Planet Master. “I am Kara Zor-El, Last Daughter of Krypton. And Wondergirl, Defender of The Island. Leave now.”

Beneath her breath she whispered. “Or don’t leave. Either way I’ma fuck you up.”

 

[Wyldfire]

Okay, that had given Thea a bit of extra distance. Good pick for who to throw at the murder. Bad case is she now had two of the baddies wanting to dance. Lady clay clay seemed to be just covering her back so she couldn't get away from Twisted sister with the whip. A whip and a gun to a fist fight just sucked.

So, what do we know about a whip? It makes a big noise. It hurts if you get hit with it. At the end of the day it is just a string that makes a little sonic boom. No no. Do NOT think of this as a string. Bad kitty. This is a challenge. A new twist to an octagon. A new twist to a match. How to choke out Twisted without having to deal with Clay clay. Simple. Break her whip arm, take the gun and shoot Clay clay with it. Yeah, simple. And while you deal with that the murder that is a guy you want to protect kills you till you're out of lives. Ah fuck it, just move.

And move Thea did. With an absolutely supernatural speed. Cheetah would shit herself if she could see the newest Cat around town. Moving in no pattern at all she let instinct take over for just a hair. Bobbing and weaving forward, only the speedsters would be able to follow. Okay the speedsters and the really good fighters might catch her.

She lunged at Twisted sister intent on the bitch throwing at least one whip shot. As she got into reach she slowed up just enough to taunt and feinted to a side. If Twisted threw the shot she was going to set herself up to get a broken elbow when Thea struck with an arm block to Twisted's inner forearm and an elbow strike to the back of her elbow. A little of something Grand had taught her from U.S. Army quick kill fighting. Yeah, go Army.

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Velocity sat on her knees, all fight gone from her as she waited for her body to be taken over by the metal which was slowly consuming her. She had all but given up when she heard the voice in her head.

<"Velocity: you can outrun this! You can outrun anything! What would Barry Allen do?">

He brain kicked into high gear and she started to think. Maybe this was just a disease, maybe it was something the people who had done these things to her had put into her as a failsafe, but would Barry have given up? No he would have done everything in his power to fix it. He would have never given up.

So what could she do? What did she know? She knew a metallic substance was growing on her, but was it growing on her or was it changing her entire body? After all she had a friend who's body changed into living metal so there was a difference. If it was only growing on top perhaps she had a chance.

Going from a kneeling position to top speed in an instant was not easy but she managed it and soon she was pushing herself faster and faster. She zoomed off the bridge in less than the blink of an eye and was soon flying around the blocks closest to the bridge.

As she pushed herself to new speeds she saw the metal start to retreat or flake off and she even started to vibrate her molecules. Now that she knew this phenomenon was only a "second skin" she was determined to shed it and reclaim her humanity. Faster and faster she went and vibrated until she was just a blur. Finally the last of the metal disappeared and she smiled.

Racing back to the bridge she saw that not much had changed. Her whole little adventure had taken less time to do than to describe. She was tempted to go after the speedster again but realized she could do better going after other targets. Oh sure if she got in the way again it was on but getting her teammates into the battle would be better.

To that end she sped towards the one called Fauna Faust. If she could knock her out while she was distracted then Gar would be back in the game. Her plan was a simple one and straight from the speedster handbook. Hit her with a hundred blows before she knew what was happening. They might be normal blows, but she was a decent hand to hand fighter and Fauna looked like a normal human. A hundred blows should put her out like a light.

 

[ChasNicollette]

This Race is Gonna Have a Photon Finish.

Going from a kneeling position to top speed in an instant was not easy but she managed it and soon she was pushing herself faster and faster. She zoomed off the bridge in less than the blink of an eye and was soon flying around the blocks closest to the bridge.

Not for nothing was The Speed Force known as The Seventh Fundamental Force, The Fundamental Force of Freedom. Not for nothing was it the antithesis to The Fundamental Force of Restriction.

Trapped, strangled by her Fear, Velocity nevertheless burst free in a single synaptic electric leap.

"Still got some fight in you," Dervish leered as Velocity streaked away to shake it off. "Good."

Racing back to the bridge she saw that not much had changed. Her whole little adventure had taken less time to do than to describe. She was tempted to go after the speedster again but realized she could do better going after other targets. Oh sure if she got in the way again it was on but getting her teammates into the battle would be better.

To that end she sped towards the one called Fauna Faust. If she could knock her out while she was distracted then Gar would be back in the game. Her plan was a simple one and straight from the speedster handbook. Hit her with a hundred blows before she knew what was happening. They might be normal blows, but she was a decent hand to hand fighter and Fauna looked like a normal human. A hundred blows should put her out like a light.

Velocity knifed towards Fauna like an emerald solar flare...

...but then a blur of violent violet slashed at her from perpendicular to nowhere, Dervish was all up in her grill again, fists blurring into bouquets as she tried to hit Velocity a hundred times a second herself.

Her face was twisted into pure, blind, thundering fury.

"STAY. AWAY. FROM MY. GIRLFRIEND!"

 

[ChasNicollette]

(Solar) System Error.

Kaldur stepped up, bellowing commands like a leader, like a king...

...their direction was clear!

Straightening up, Karan looked at the sky as she glowed, even though the barrier hadn’t quivered in the slightest. Looking down at Rose as she separated from the ground she whispered, “I’m in love with you, and I will wait for you to be ready."

And with a roll of her neck she intoned in a voice not her own. “This is My daughter in whom I am well pleased.” Clothing rippled and changed as torn fabric reshaped into leather and metal. Steel girders ripped from the ground, reshaping into a shield with an Old Symbol emblazoned on it, straps of metal forming along her boots.

If that proclamation hadn't been enough to make Rose's heart skip a beat, the unexpected metamorphosis of nearby objects into shiny new Vestments of Steel, the channeling of a strange and powerful presence emerging from somewhere far deeper than Karan's subconscious...

...she was breathtaking.

Rose let a little smile of wonderment of cross her lips. "Um. Wow. Yeah, shouldn't be too long now..."

Lifting her eyes, her gaze swept across Spectrumonster, and settled on Planet Master. “I am Kara Zor-El, Last Daughter of Krypton. And Wondergirl, Defender of The Island. Leave now.”

Beneath her breath she whispered. “Or don’t leave. Either way I’ma fuck you up.”

As Kaldur soared towards the bridge with Planet-Master in his sights, Planet-Master heard Wondergirl's challenge and gritted his teeth inside his helmet.

Darkning crackled through his suit and he roared: "SPEED OF MERCURY!"

And with that he launched up from the bridge, swooping up with blinding speed, speed enough to intercept Kaldur and-- "WINDS OF NEPTUNE!" --hit Aquaman with a massive blast of aerokinesis and almost knock Kaldur from the sky.

With a cry of fury-- "Again you blaspheme Father Neptune's name-- you shall not do so again!" --Kaldur shifted the Trident in his grip and his tattoos glowed-- a surging water-spout caught him before he hit the river, shoved him back skyward, but Planet-Master had already hurtled onward--

--he flew with that Speed of Mercury towards Karan, cold malice aforethought, and exclaimed: "POWER OF JUPITER!"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose versus Red. Flora versus Fauna.

As Karan and Kaldur engaged with Planet-Master directly, Rose levitated like Raven had, and placed each hand beside her own bald forehead, closing her eyes as she concentrated.

Thea was easy to find, she was already free of Fauna's control again for the moment and her mind was a red-hot froth of predation and primal primacy.

Biting her lip, Rose-- with M'gann's subconscious direction --tried to imitate the "firewall" that Raven had installed in her own brain to resist fire-- tried to place psychic filters around Thea that would prevent any such command-words to be implanted again by mystic means. She thought it would work? She hoped it would.

Garfield was harder. Beast Boy's consciousness had been split four hundred and twenty times, all driven by singular impulse-- Fauna's fingers were already dug into Gar's mind, and Rose would have to extricate those tendrils one by one.

She scrunched her eyes tighter, willed harder, reached for the flock mentality, tried to find Garfield's unifying neuropsychic net within them...

<"Beast Boy!"> she called out to his mind, trying to reach him through the festering fog of Fauna's influence. <"Help me out here! Help me find you! You can help me shake this off, come on! Fight this!">

 

[ChasNicollette]

Syonide and Happiness.

With Planet-Master and Spectrumonster both engaged by powerful League forces, Kobra's weaker StrikeForcers were forced to take on the rest of this coalition of heroes toe-to-toe.

Of course, Syonide and Lady Clayface were ever so willing to mix it up-- but neither of them were quite prepared for how fast Thea could move.

And move Thea did. With an absolutely supernatural speed. Cheetah would shit herself if she could see the newest Cat around town. Moving in no pattern at all she let instinct take over for just a hair. Bobbing and weaving forward, only the speedsters would be able to follow. Okay the speedsters and the really good fighters might catch her.

She lunged at Twisted sister intent on the bitch throwing at least one whip shot. As she got into reach she slowed up just enough to taunt and feinted to a side. If Twisted threw the shot she was going to set herself up to get a broken elbow when Thea struck with an arm block to Twisted's inner forearm and an elbow strike to the back of her elbow. A little of something Grand had taught her from U.S. Army quick kill fighting. Yeah, go Army.

As Thea had correctly recalled, a whip broke the sound barrier as it lashed and cracked, the whole length of the cord rippling through various multiples of Mach on its way to its target.

But a human eye and hand wielding such a whip were another matter, far slower.

Syonide unfurled the whip with a sharp caw of effort, making for Thea's taunt, taking the opening... but of course Thea was feinting, a jump to the left and a step to the right... and then Wildcat was all up in Syonide's pierced nostrils.

Thea's elbow struck, and Syonide's arm cracked almost louder than the whip had, her roar of pain and anger echoing alongside the sound of breaking bone.

But in getting within lunging-radius of Syonide, Thea had closed the distance and thus cost her furious pantheric reflexes precious reaction time.

Thea was at point-blank range. In less than a heartbeat, Thea could gut Syonide with her claws and be done with it--

--but the whip was not Syonide's only weapon, the whip hand not her only hand.

Thea was in too close for a straight body shot, but with an assassin's dexterity Syonide flashed her gun hand up and pumped a one-two-three grouping of yellow crackling pulse-blasts aimed at Thea's upper right thigh from scant inches away-- hoping to drive her back and hobble her to impede her predatory speed.

 

[TertiusHuman]

<"Beast Boy!">

He knew that voice.

It was not the voice that was screaming at himself to stop.

It was another voice, one which knew him.

One who knew him exactly for who and what he was.

One who knew he was not a murder of ravens.

A voice who had spoken to him before.

A voice who calmed the fretting young man inside the body of a dinosaur.

A person who told him that he looked beautiful as he was.

A person with the name of a plant.

No... a flower

Rose.

The name came unsure to his mind.

<"Help me out here! Help me find you! You can help me shake this off, come on! Fight this!">

Rose!

Yes, the name, it was her!

ROSE

She wanted to help him!

ROSE!

The murder staggered slightly in it's attacks.

ROSE!! HELP ME!!

 

[ChasNicollette]

"Sukuryū Atakku? I 'ardly know you!"

The two versions of Lysl opened a channel between the two versions of the Genetrix Retrieval Interactive Designate Armor, so that they could share thoughts simultaneously without having to repeat themselves.

Honestly, Milton!Lysl chided, you're both Tenth-Level Intellects, you should really learn to use your heads!

"Great, just what I needed," Milton sighed, once they'd both scanned the car and extrapolated driving skills from it and Ruby!G.R.I.D. had brought the Romanaclef to a shuddering, shattering halt. "Lysl in stereo."

"Heh, tell me about it," Ruby!G.R.I.D. chuckled, bounding out of the ruined convertible. "I've been binary heroes before; I once Dialed these twins, Castor and Pollux? And this other time I was this Firestorm knockoff called 'NucleUS?' But this is ridiculous."

"You can lead a mind to data," lamented Ruby!Lysl,

"but you can't make it think," agreed Milton!Lysl without missing a hertz.

They hurried to the riverbank, discovering to their surprise that Ghost Rider's furious wheelmanship had put them on the opposite shore, over in Keystone. They stood near the opposite end of the bridge from most of the rest of the group, watching Kiz attempt to siphon Spectrumonster, watching a contingent engage with Planet-Master in the air over the river, Wildcat throwing down with a couple of StrikeForcers under threat of a thorough Gar-pecking...

"We need to try and take down the bridge, or at least undermine it," Ruby!G.R.I.D. deduced. "We could Scan Visor for stress points in the architecture, and then-- what do you think, spam them with Missiles until we're out of rawmatter?"

 

[Varshanka]

Karan vs Planet Master

As Kaldur soared towards the bridge with Planet-Master in his sights, Planet-Master heard Wondergirl's challenge and gritted his teeth inside his helmet.

Darkning crackled through his suit and he roared: "SPEED OF MERCURY!"

And with that he launched up from the bridge, swooping up with blinding speed, speed enough to intercept Kaldur and-- "WINDS OF NEPTUNE!" --hit Aquaman with a massive blast of aerokinesis and almost knock Kaldur from the sky.

With a cry of fury-- "Again you blaspheme Father Neptune's name-- you shall not do so again!" --Kaldur shifted the Trident in his grip and his tattoos glowed-- a surging water-spout caught him before he hit the river, shoved him back skyward, but Planet-Master had already hurtled onward--

--he flew with that Speed of Mercury towards Karan, cold malice aforethought, and exclaimed: "POWER OF JUPITER!"

Karan could move fast, she knew she could move faster than fucktard. But she didn’t need to. Not until the last second anyways.

But when she did move she MOVED. Five feet, straight forwards, punching him in the chest with her right fist. “Speed of Light!” she growled just as she moved. And as her fist connected she thundered “POWER OF RAO!” She moved so fast that for that split second it looked like there was two of them connected by a blur.

But her fist moved so fast the air around it glowed red with heat. Seconds later the shockwave shattered glass a block away. “By the way, Poseida says.. ‘Shut the fuck up!’ ” She said, following through with another punch. “Demeter don’t like you either.”

 

[Varshanka]

A conversation...

Pointing at Rae, she greeted her brightly. "Oh. Hey. It's you! I was wondering if I'd see you here. I was just in the neighborhood visiting my sister in her gallery when a friend of mine showed up. Maybe you can walk with me to go find her?"

Taking in the corpse pale lass, as well as the dark and gloomy area surrounding her Raven, slowly lowered to the floor and walked forwards. “Interesting place. Yours?” She asked, looking at the ankh as it dangled from the girls neck.

Between the pale skin and the choice of clothing color they might have been sisters. Excepting the parasol/umbrella that one carried, and the red gem sticking from the other girls forehead. Looking around at the low rolling mist and the scuttling rats she lifted an eyebrow. “Add a few grave markers and it will be rather.. homey.”

“Whom are you looking for again?” she asked, almost as an afterthought. Giving herself more time to adjust to having a rather alluring figure before her. She wasn’t normal.. nor human. Unless she was madder than the Hatter himself. Normal humans didn’t find trans-dimensional travelers by accident and not get unnerved by such matters.

 

[Wyldfire]

Thea was in too close for a straight body shot, but with an assassin's dexterity Syonide flashed her gun hand up and pumped a one-two-three grouping of yellow crackling pulse-blasts aimed at Thea's upper right thigh from scant inches away-- hoping to drive her back and hobble her to impede her predatory speed.

The smell of singed fur was awful. The pain in her thigh was incredible, but Thea willed herself to stay up. Moving was going to suck for a while too, but she had fought hurt before. She lashed out with both claws, one low for the gut the other high and for the eyes. Let's see if Twisted is a brawler too.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Blow me a kiss, and that's lucky too.

Taking in the corpse pale lass, as well as the dark and gloomy area surrounding her Raven, slowly lowered to the floor and walked forwards. “Interesting place. Yours?” She asked, looking at the ankh as it dangled from the girls neck.

"It's my sister's, actually," she replied brightly, lowering the umbrella, closing it and hooking it from one arm. "She's a bit gloomy, but I think you'd quite like her."

Looking around at the low rolling mist and the scuttling rats she lifted an eyebrow. “Add a few grave markers and it will be rather.. homey.”

"Oh, no," she tutted goodnaturedly. "We never redecorate each others' realms, not after all the time my brother has had to spend cleaning up after my other sister."

“Whom are you looking for again?” she asked, almost as an afterthought. Giving herself more time to adjust to having a rather alluring figure before her. She wasn’t normal.. nor human. Unless she was madder than the Hatter himself. Normal humans didn’t find trans-dimensional travelers by accident and not get unnerved by such matters.

"There are times, here and there, very strange and rare times," she mused, twirling the umbrella in a very Fred Astaire sort of way, or maybe Dick van Dyke, "When one of our souls manifests as a tiny fragment inside the soul of a mortal, and their existence is forever linked to ours. My brother's had one or two-- a man named Wes, a boy named Sand-- and I've got a few, too. A fellow named Boston, another named Willie-- and a girl named Lisa. It's a terrible burden, but I think she can handle it."

She jutted her head off in a direction that looked just the same as all the other directions. "C'mon, I think she's this way."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Faster, Pussycat! Kill, Kill!

The smell of singed fur was awful. The pain in her thigh was incredible, but Thea willed herself to stay up. Moving was going to suck for a while too, but she had fought hurt before. She lashed out with both claws, one low for the gut the other high and for the eyes. Let's see if Twisted is a brawler too.

Syonide pitched herself backwards hard, tilting her head as she fell, so that just the tips of Thea's claws grazed her in both places...

...long, shallow, fierce cuts, one swipe across the stomach, the other along her cheek just narrowly missing her eyes...

...she couldn't bite back the cry of agony as she slammed onto her back on the bridge road surface, jarring her busted arm and sending red-white-hot screaming spires of pain up and down that whole side of her body.

But her left hand still held the gun and from the ground laying on her back she had a better shot at Thea's center mass--

--"Like the taste of blood? Eat this."--

--and she fired again, hammering the trigger, trying again to drive Thea back and away, keep her on the defensive, keep her on her back foot.

 

[Wyldfire]

Syonide pitched herself backwards hard, tilting her head as she fell, so that just the tips of Thea's claws grazed her in both places...

...long, shallow, fierce cuts, one swipe across the stomach, the other along her cheek just narrowly missing her eyes...

...she couldn't bite back the cry of agony as she slammed onto her back on the bridge road surface, jarring her busted arm and sending red-white-hot screaming spires of pain up and down that whole side of her body.

But her left hand still held the gun and from the ground laying on her back she had a better shot at Thea's center mass--

--"Like the taste of blood? Eat this."--

--and she fired again, hammering the trigger, trying again to drive Thea back and away, keep her on the defensive, keep her on her back foot.

Dodging to the side and forward Thea rolled and pitched herself at Twisted. Grappling for the gun arm to apply an arm bar submission hold. Nowhere near as fast or as graceful. She gave a small sound of pain from the shot that grazed her in her dodge. But she planned to take the gun out of the picture next. This arm bar wasn't going to stop with a tap out. Thea was going to make Twisted useless.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Strange New Worlds.

Almost all her life, Kara Zor-El had lived in a world made of cardboard.

But he could take it, couldn't he? Big man.

Karan could move fast, she knew she could move faster than fucktard. But she didn’t need to. Not until the last second anyways.

But when she did move she MOVED. Five feet, straight forwards, punching him in the chest with her right fist. “Speed of Light!” she growled just as she moved. And as her fist connected she thundered “POWER OF RAO!” She moved so fast that for that split second it looked like there was two of them connected by a blur.

And connect she did, slamming him right in the ringed-planet logo at the center of his chest-- blasting him backwards in the air before his power of speed and flight braked him mid-arc.

He grimaced at her. The glass of his helmet had a hairline fracture in it. He bled a little from the corner of his lip.

“By the way, Poseida says.. ‘Shut the fuck up!’ ” She said, following through with another punch. “Demeter don’t like you either.”

Her follow-up punch, however, clapped into the waiting palm of his hand-- he caught her punch with speed that certain Flashes would find impressive, and while the atmosphere burst around them with the force of the impact, and he hissed through clenched teeth, he scarcely budged from where he hovered.

The friction-burn of her punch sizzled harmlessly in his gloved grasp. "HEAT OF VENUS."

Magical anti-lightning crackled around him, sparking against her invulnerability-- positrons colliding with the bio-electric field that sheathed her skin-- how vulnerable was she to magic? "POWER. OF. JUPITER."

And he threw at her chin a counter-punch uppercut hard enough that it could have put her straight up into orbit if the dome wasn't in the way.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Listen to Me Very Carefully.

He knew that voice.

Rose.

The name came unsure to his mind.

Rose!

Yes, the name, it was her!

ROSE

She wanted to help him!

ROSE!

The murder staggered slightly in it's attacks.

ROSE!! HELP ME!!

Even yelling at the top of his lungs, her telepathy had to strain to hear him, so suppressed was his agency by the power of Fauna's magic.

But hear him she could.

Like a little sonic signal flare, a beacon on the ramparts.

<"Oh, hey. There you are.">

And then--

--in the psychic no-place in which he visualized himself, walled off from his own body--

--a pale-white hand came crashing down from the murky, swirling skies, tearing through the cloud cover and reaching for him with fingers straining, outstretched--

<"GAR! I'M HERE! GRAB ON!">

The catchphrase was right there at the tip of her subconscious, like she'd heard someone say it recently but she couldn't remember who--

<"COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!">

 

[ChasNicollette]

Tag Out Before You Tap Out.

Dodging to the side and forward Thea rolled and pitched herself at Twisted. Grappling for the gun arm to apply an arm bar submission hold. Nowhere near as fast or as graceful. She gave a small sound of pain from the shot that grazed her in her dodge. But she planned to take the gun out of the picture next. This arm bar wasn't going to stop with a tap out. Thea was going to make Twisted useless.

Thea snagged Syonide's good arm almost effortlessly-- there was no way even with all her training that Nikki was going to be able to stand up hand-to-hand with a superhuman neko-girl. Her weapons were her only advantage in this, and now that they strained and snarled with Thea's hands on her gun arm, Syonide had maybe seconds before she was overwhelmed and done done onto the next one.

"Lil'," she sputtered-- "lil' help?"

A massive shadow loomed behind Thea, as Lady Clayface swelled to almost Ajagar proportions-- her left hand forming into a massive mallet-- a huge hammerhead--

--and she swung it in a vicious backhand, aiming to swat Wildcat off of Syonide and knock her flying.

Syonide smirked. "Bye, Felicia."

 

[TertiusHuman]

--in the psychic no-place in which he visualized himself, walled off from his own body--

--a pale-white hand came crashing down from the murky, swirling skies, tearing through the cloud cover and reaching for him with fingers straining, outstretched--

The first reaction was to flee from this strange apparition, but something stopped him.

Again it was something he knew, he had seen it before.

<"GAR! I'M HERE! GRAB ON!">

Rose? She had found him?

He reached out, but an image of Raven and Thea flashed into his mind, seen from the point of view of birds and with a cry of anguish he staggered back from the hand, slapping madly at the air around him, trying to get the visions to stop. He had to focus. This was wrong.

He saw the hand once more.

Rose...

<"COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!">

He wanted to live.

He wanted to live a long and happy life.

He rushed towards the hand and just as he gathered himself to jump to reach the hand, the visions tore into his mind again and he could not see the hand.

He jumped anyway.

Call it a leap of faith.

Faith that Rose would pull him out of this, that she was the only person right then who could safe him from this nightmare.

His outstretched fingertips grazed over something and he closed his hand.

Hoping that it wasn't a raven.

Hoping that he wasn't grabbing hold of Raven or Thea's throat in some other form than the ravens.

Hoping that he had not become a killer and have to go back to hell...

 

[Wyldfire]

Thea snagged Syonide's good arm almost effortlessly-- there was no way even with all her training that Nikki was going to be able to stand up hand-to-hand with a superhuman neko-girl. Her weapons were her only advantage in this, and now that they strained and snarled with Thea's hands on her gun arm, Syonide had maybe seconds before she was overwhelmed and done done onto the next one.

"Lil'," she sputtered-- "lil' help?"

A massive shadow loomed behind Thea, as Lady Clayface swelled to almost Ajagar proportions-- her left hand forming into a massive mallet-- a huge hammerhead--

--and she swung it in a vicious backhand, aiming to swat Wildcat off of Syonide and knock her flying.

Syonide smirked. "Bye, Felicia."

Thea only had an instant to choose. She chose more pain but with a vengence she dug her claws in Twisted's arm. She was going to fuck the arm up no matter what. "Ouch" was all she said as the blow landed and she was flung off of Twisted. If she could stay conscious she would see how much of the arm came with her.