Justice League: The New Wave (IC)

[ChasNicollette]

Uncanny.

4... 3... 7... 6!

H-E-R-O!

SssshhCLICK!

"I am... ATMOS!"

He flexed his hands as fists at his sides, shimmering with raw power. "I am having excellent fortune with energy Heroes today."

Reaching up and touching his chest, Atmos squinted. "Although I cannot help but wonder, what foe has absconded with the rest of my torso?" He then examined his crimson mohawk. "Triumphant hair, however! A quantum of punk rock, a maximum of One Man Army Corps!"

Turning to The New League, Atmos called out with bravado: "Heroes of great power! Come, let us do battle with those who await aloft, let them wait no longer to feel our wrath!"

"I dunno, uh, Atmos," Aquagirl hesitated. "Are we sure we just wanna leave The Titans here unconscious and defenseless?"

...at that, Aztek sat up, still asleep.

His helmet spoke: [Autopilot: online.]

[Pilot: incapacitated. Allies: incapacitated.]

He stood, walking to the center of The Loop, popping the blades from the wrists of his armor and igniting the energy emitters in his palms, ready for battle.

[Defensive perimeter: established.]

"...huh," Aquagirl frowned. "That's useful."

Then glanced at G.R.I.D. "Can your armor do that?"

 

[Varshanka]

A Gathering

Rolling her neck, Renegade considered shifting, but chose not to. She needed speed and stealth for this, not muscle and power. Not yet anyway. Not that changing was difficult. A blink of an eye.

“Magic,” she murmured out loud. “I hate magic..” Especially after the Kobra Kommando Krap.

****

And then she gestured sharply at Danni Ketch, and the holy water that still drenched her puffed off of her in vapor, drying her in an instant and casting the remnants of it into the broken, leaking fountain at the middle of the loop. "Sorry I couldn't do that before, too, I was a little busy keeping Rae from drowning in her own blood. Is that Earthbendy guy okay?"

Straightening up Danni didn’t look pleased. If anything she looked like a rather annoyed drown cat. But that vanished when she ignited on fire and medieval armor formed around her. The creepy part was her eyes. They burned even through the helm that should have been hiding them.

“Vengeance!”

****

"I dunno how long we have for introductions," Ruby cautioned, handing Wonder Girl's shield back to her and punching in numbers on her handset keypad, "before our upstairs neighbors get stroppy that we haven't taken their invite. Better make it quick, Double-M."

Taking the shield, Wondergirl looked at it. Yeah, she knew it was hers, but where had it come from? She hadn’t arrived with it. Hades, even her clothes had changed! “Introductions after the fight, cause I’m sure there will be one.”

Making sure Rose was close by, just incase the shit hit the tornado fast, she looked at the Titans and the new.. Guardian? Bodyguard? Protector, that they had gained. “Umm.. yeah. Keep them out of harms way and try to see if they can be made more comfortable? Grass maybe instead of the concrete? And not under the big falling air ship?”

****

Cracking her knuckles. Raven looked at the assembled group. “Is everyone ready for this? It may or may not work, at least on the first attempt.”

 

[ChasNicollette]

Intel Inside.

As the heroes assembled like a certain band of Avengers, ready for the next wave of whatever assault might follow having to battle their friends and compatriots in public view...

...the defenses upon the object above them began to ripple and fade.

Cameras and sensors and senses-- human, superhuman, and extrasensory --could focus in upon the gargantuan thing above them, and they were subsequently flooded with new data.

It had its own power source, right at the heart of the rock, some kind of incalculable energy that emitted readings right across a myriad of spectra-- electromagnetic, mystical, extraplanar --and conduits threaded through the rock feeding those energies throughout the object. But that wasn't all, either.

Separate from that, there was at least one more massive electromagnetic energy source close atop the upper surface of the object-- the "deck" of the aircraft carrier-sized monstrosity. And not far from this surface source of EM power there rested, also up on "deck," a distinct, distant psionic resonance, an extremely powerful mind... though it seemed to be in "standby" mode, not quite dreaming, but definitely not awake.

Oh, yeah. And the rocky portions of the object... were made of moon rock, definitively lunar in composition.

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Velocity was on high alert. She was pretty sure the battle was not over and that both the Silver Bullet and Kid Flash were just preparing for round two, so when the black smoke started coming out of their head and their worst nightmares were made visible, she was fascinated but also on edge.

This was definitely the part of the movie where the villain revealed his big plan then all hell broke loose. Sure enough from that smoke appeared some form of entity and after mouthing off, it tried to once again have the Titans take them out.

She had been keeping a careful eye on the two speedsters though so as they moved she was ready. It looked like Kid Flash was on attack while Silver Bullet was on capture duty. A good plan but she was having none of it.

She sped straight at Silver bullet before he could get a hold of her and vibrating her whole body except her fists she launched a hundred blows at him before taking off again before the Kid Flash could get to her.

She had no idea how many had connected, but she hoped it was enough to dizzy the guy and at least give her a little break. She looked around and then smiled, taking off for the spire. Running straight up it she stopped on the observation deck and turned around, creating two mini tornado's back the way she had come towards the pursuing speedster. That should test his grip with the wall.

She was no longer trying to hurt them, just buy time until she could work out how to take them out without killing them or injuring them too much.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Terminal Velocity.

Seconds Ago.
********​

She sped straight at Silver bullet before he could get a hold of her and vibrating her whole body except her fists she launched a hundred blows at him before taking off again before the Kid Flash could get to her.

She had no idea how many had connected, but she hoped it was enough to dizzy the guy and at least give her a little break.

Hiro replied with blurring deflections and counterblows... though he hadn't her skill with vibrations yet and his swings and kicks passed through her as though she were a stiff breeze... her hits rained down on him, rained and reigned, and he grimaced as more than a few slipped through his defenses... crushing bodyblows and thundering headshots...

...maybe he was still shaking off the effects of being struck by lightning moments ago, but in any case he was slow enough that she managed to get him on the ropes...

...but the fact that his suit was sculpted out of The Speed Force worked to cushion the greater force of her strikes and his wear and tear was not nearly as bad as it could have been.

She looked around and then smiled, taking off for the spire. Running straight up it she stopped on the observation deck and turned around, creating two mini tornado's back the way she had come towards the pursuing speedster. That should test his grip with the wall.

Kid Flash ascended The Space Needle without a fraction of hesitation, and when she sent the twin tornadoes down after him he didn't even slow down...

...he pirouetted as he ran, once and then twice, opposite to the cyclonic spin of each tornado, creating the perfect counter-vortex to cancel out and disperse the wind-- like he hadn't been fighting Weather Wizard and Turbine and The Top since grade school--

--and blurred up to the top of The Needle, facing her, grimacing, green eyes cold and glinting. "Here's your finish line."

And then Silver Bullet blurred to a stop behind her, breathing hard and holding his side but still up, still in the fight.

And then they both held up fists... fists which again began vibrating at that terrible, devastating harmonic that would accelerate Carin apart if they touched her, shred her molecular structure... four fists of death...

"You'll never outrun this. There's no distance no direction no speed where we won't catch you and make you pay."

 

[LuckyVic]

The Titans, then, spared the inner torment of these long sad nights and days, were free to fall into the sleep that Raven had earlier commanded. And one by one and two by two and all at once they crumpled to sleep in peace upon the ground.

She didn't need to forge portals or telekinesis to defend Aztek or the face of the Earth from his own power source-- he dozed off before his glove could make contact and he curled there upon the paving stones of The Loop.

Even Captain Marvel, spared his transformation by the intervention of Sandman, would find himself sleeping peacefully.

Zatanna, too, fell to a sorely-needed slumber, and with that Dreamslayer's voice had been silenced.

It seemed-- irritated.

It had no mouth nor face to express, but its body language seemed to pout--

Fine, then.

Have it your way.

But don't blame me if you later wish you'd taken now the easy way out.

And with that, with a blur of deformed spacetime, Dreamslayer soared up towards the mysterious object far, far above, approaching it and phasing into it without the slightest impediment.

And then, after a long moment swollen with uncertainty, a mechanical voice like a vengeful, robotic deity called down from the object and echoed across the Seattle rooftops:

"Very well. 'Justice League.' Come on up. We're ready for you now."

Batman Black managed to catch Red before he hurt himself. When he heard the voice call out to the league he looked up instictively. "Oh yes we're definately coming up." he said

Making sure Rose was close by, just incase the shit hit the tornado fast, she looked at the Titans and the new.. Guardian? Bodyguard? Protector, that they had gained. “Umm.. yeah. Keep them out of harms way and try to see if they can be made more comfortable? Grass maybe instead of the concrete? And not under the big falling air ship?”

****

Cracking her knuckles. Raven looked at the assembled group. “Is everyone ready for this? It may or may not work, at least on the first attempt.”

Batman moved RED out of harms way and to where the other Titans were being placed. He was actually hoping that the Titans once freed would have been able to join them in this. But now it was just him and the rest of the League. As he looked up at the floating object he was surprised to see the flow of data that started to come in over his HUD.

It had its own power source, right at the heart of the rock, some kind of incalculable energy that emitted readings right across a myriad of spectra-- electromagnetic, mystical, extraplanar --and conduits threaded through the rock feeding those energies throughout the object. But that wasn't all, either.

Separate from that, there was at least one more massive electromagnetic energy source close atop the upper surface of the object-- the "deck" of the aircraft carrier-sized monstrosity. And not far from this surface source of EM power there rested, also up on "deck," a distinct, distant psionic resonance, an extremely powerful mind... though it seemed to be in "standby" mode, not quite dreaming, but definitely not awake.

Oh, yeah. And the rocky portions of the object... were made of moon rock, definitively lunar in composition.

"Martian Manhuntress.. I'm picking up some strange readings that my sensors say could be some sort of psionic pressence. That being the case we'll need you more than ever as our defense and probably as our best weapon against this thing." he said as he looked around at the rest of the League as well as the new arrivals. "My thanks to those of you that have come to help out. If you want to come with us, I recommend you stay close to one of the members of the League since you don't have communication devices yet." he told them. "Who can fly and who can't?" he asked looking around. He already knew the answer to that of those on the League, the new comers he didn't know yet. Which was another reason he wanted a memeber of the League with them.

 

[Lunaramblings]

The field was a beautiful green. The grass impossibly soft. Eddie laid there for a moment. Almost forgetting where he had been. He patted the grass, the same sort gesture one might use to pat an old friend on the back.

"Hey Gilbert."

The ground rumbled. And from beneath it rose the form of the husky man from his last meeting with Morpheus. He glared at Eddie with obvious disapproval but said nothing.

"What? I don't deserve the rest? I just got imploded by Superboy after fighting some dark twisted version of Him."

Gilbert simply crosses his arms over his chest and breathes a soft, unimpressed sigh.

"Fine. I get it. This is what he endowed me for right? To protect the Waking World from the manifestations of The Dreaming, and to ensure the two don't mix too frequently. I know. I... I just don't know if I can stand against Him. Even if it is a fraction of what He is."

M'gann-- still unbeknownst to Rose, still a secret kept from the one who held her heart-- murmured to the mind of The Sandman still inside that pebble... <"Eddie! Is that you in there? How long have you been in The Waking World? I don't think I've ever seen you in uniform before...">

Eddie glared at Gilbert. "You knew... You knew she was there. And none of you told me? The one other living breathing Waking Soul I had been friends with in all these years, and you didn't tell me she was going to be there.... don't look at me with that disapproving glare... Fine. Rest time's over. Time to face the Waking World once more."

As Eddie clambers to his feet he once more is enshrouded in the Mantle. Once more he becomes The Sandman. And as he does, he reaches out to M'gann.

"Didn't recognize you either kiddo. Been too long. Now lets show this bastard that Hope lives, and he isn't even a shade of The True Lord of Dreams."

As The Sandman vacates his resting spot in The Dreaming, Gilbert, the human guise of Fiddler's Green smiles softly as he merges back into the ground.

Back in the Waking World the pebble in Rose's hand begins to vibrate softly. Then suddenly cracks open like an egg, and from within billows a cloud of Sand, swirling about the stone, until in a moment it has once more taken on the form of The Sandman. He turns his head upward to contemplate the thing that has been revealed in he sky.

"Sorry for the lack of introduction. I am The Sandman. Emissary and Warrior of The Lord of Dreams. That thing... was a mockery of Him. A Shade of His granduer. But it is still immeasurably powerful. And something tells me it's not alone. If you will allow me, I would like to be at your service."

 

[Varshanka]

Cracking her knuckles. Raven looked at the assembled group. “Is everyone ready for this? I hope so, cause the shit is about to get deep. And I’m not sure some of will survive. Mentally, Psychically, or physically.”

Whispers passed across purple lips as she chanted, summoning power to create a shield around the exit to the portal she was opening. Hopefully enough to buy the assembled time to get into defensive positions, or attack patterns.

With a final chant, “Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!!” Raven thrust the power forth, Darkness ripping a hole from here to there, and spreading as it opened a doorway large enough for the group to get through, quickly.

“Go, before they prepare.”

 

[ChasNicollette]

Unto the Breach.

Rolling her neck, Renegade considered shifting, but chose not to. She needed speed and stealth for this, not muscle and power. Not yet anyway. Not that changing was difficult. A blink of an eye.

“Magic,” she murmured out loud. “I hate magic..”

"I'll try not to take that personally, Renagada," Aquagirl squinted.

Straightening up Danni didn’t look pleased. If anything she looked like a rather annoyed drown cat. But that vanished when she ignited on fire and medieval armor formed around her. The creepy part was her eyes. They burned even through the helm that should have been hiding them.

“Vengeance!”

"Yes!" Atmos roared. "I like the way you think, fiery wraith!

Taking the shield, Wondergirl looked at it. Yeah, she knew it was hers, but where had it come from? She hadn’t arrived with it. Hades, even her clothes had changed!

It was perhaps a testament to the strangeness inherent in their lives that none of the heroes had really questioned the fact that Karan had manifested this armor out of nowhere on a couple of different occasions. After all, hadn't Wonder Woman's invisible plane been composed of some liquid, shapeshifting techno-organic substance? A disappearing battle-mode suit was tame by comparison.

“Introductions after the fight, cause I’m sure there will be one.”

“Umm.. yeah. Keep them out of harms way and try to see if they can be made more comfortable? Grass maybe instead of the concrete? And not under the big falling air ship?”

Rose grinned at her softly, and gave her hand a squeeze with the hand that wasn't holding a Sandpebble.

"Well, I dunno, don't we have extensive experience keeping gigantic rocks from falling from the sky? It's a funny kind of romantic-- that was how we met. Happy Valentine's Day."

********​

Eddie glared at Gilbert. "You knew... You knew she was there. And none of you told me? The one other living breathing Waking Soul I had been friends with in all these years, and you didn't tell me she was going to be there.... don't look at me with that disapproving glare... Fine. Rest time's over. Time to face the Waking World once more."

As Eddie clambers to his feet he once more is enshrouded in the Mantle. Once more he becomes The Sandman. And as he does, he reaches out to M'gann.

"Didn't recognize you either kiddo. Been too long. Now lets show this bastard that Hope lives, and he isn't even a shade of The True Lord of Dreams."

<"I'm not a child, y'know,"> M'gann replied wryly. <"Also, uh, technically, I haven't been living or breathing for a long time. I'm sort of... beating... at the moment... but anyway, hello, get out here and let's kick the sand out of this imposter!">

<"And, uh, don't tell Martian Manhuntress I'm her heart. It's a whole thing, I'll explain later. Guys from The Dreaming keep showing up and we gotta take baby steps around her sanity.">

********

Back in the Waking World the pebble in Rose's hand begins to vibrate softly. Then suddenly cracks open like an egg, and from within billows a cloud of Sand, swirling about the stone, until in a moment it has once more taken on the form of The Sandman. He turns his head upward to contemplate the thing that has been revealed in he sky.

"Sorry for the lack of introduction. I am The Sandman. Emissary and Warrior of The Lord of Dreams. That thing... was a mockery of Him. A Shade of His granduer. But it is still immeasurably powerful. And something tells me it's not alone. If you will allow me, I would like to be at your service."

A shiver raced down Rose's spine at this mention of The Lord of Dreams. Just like Kiz-- who still hadn't rematerialized from his disappearance thwarting Specrumonster two weeks ago...

But that paracortical voice in her heart murmured: <"You can trust this guy. I promise.">

"Martian Manhuntress.. I'm picking up some strange readings that my sensors say could be some sort of psionic pressence. That being the case we'll need you more than ever as our defense and probably as our best weapon against this thing." he said as he looked around at the rest of the League as well as the new arrivals.

"Yeah, I can feel them up there," Rose nodded, putting her hand on her forehead. "There's something... different about whoever or whatever they are... but if they're a threat, I'll do my best!"

"My thanks to those of you that have come to help out. If you want to come with us, I recommend you stay close to one of the members of the League since you don't have communication devices yet." he told them. "Who can fly and who can't?" he asked looking around.

"I, uh-- I can, and Wondergirl," Rose explained, having not scanned Batman's mind to realize he was the same Nightwing who had led them against Kobra. "And Raven, and Rebel, and Beast Boy. Uh... Atmos?"

"In the form of Atmos, I presently possess the power of flight!" Atmos thudded his fist to his chest. "And friend G.R.I.D. is capable of an infinite series of leaps!"

With a final chant, “Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!!” Raven thrust the power forth, Darkness ripping a hole from here to there, and spreading as it opened a doorway large enough for the group to get through, quickly.

“Go, before they prepare.”

"By the Nova's Eye! For Xanthu!" Atmos thundered, diving into the vortex without a second's hesitation. "To battle!"

 

[ChasNicollette]

"Pleased to meet you. Hope you guessed my name."

Dimensional barriers tore open as Raven's teleportal transitioned The New League from the ground to the object, one by one and two by two and all at once, and their feet kicked up puffs of moondust as they touched down.

Like the aircraft carriers whose size it matched, the object turned out to be laid out like a small city.

Buildings cropped out from its surface, including a citadel the size of a small stadium at one end, with panoramic glass gazing out from the "fore" of the "ship." There were also more utilitarian buildings... one that would scan as a laboratory, another that would scan as a gymnasium... some structures under construction with metal beams and tools stacked about them... towards the "aft" of the "ship" there was an artificial lake glisteningly full of water, dwarfing Olympic pools in size and volume... perhaps incongruously, there also stood nearby what looked like a... fairground funhouse?

Ringing the upper "deck" were technological modules that looked like forcefield emitters. The more technical-minded among The New League would be able to identify that these emitters would project a dome of force over the "deck," capable of containing atmosphere, maintaining gravity, holding in heat, even in the naked depths of space.

And of course, there could be any number of structures or other modifications tunneled beneath the surface of the lunar subterrane, including the formidable power source keeping the object aloft.

Great glass doors to the citadel opened, and eight figures strode out, led by an imperious figure clad in a white hood and white metallic armor with eyes burning from the lenses of the helmet with a cruel, vindictive red.

The New League would, of course, recognize to the hooded figure's left Dreamslayer, Nightmare of The Endless as it levitated alongside this cadre, its faceless form and its tattered attire and its nauseating aura of corrupted power.

Stiffly beside and below Dreamslayer walked a beautiful red-haired woman clad in leather and silk and a golden, birdlike chestplate. It was from her that the psychics amongst The New League had detected that extraordinary psionic presence. The woman herself, however, conducted herself not unlike The Titans when they had been under Dreamslayer's sway, only... worse?

Helmeted, caped, on the hooded figure's right, there also levitated a figure clad in black and pale purple. On his lips there rested a sneer so perpetual, so disdainful, that it might have been carved there by a master sculptor. He, in turn, was the source of the electromagnetic energy they had detected upon the surface of the object-- and he crackled and thrummed with the sheer raw power of it all, but seemed every bit in control of even the merest fraction of it.

Behind this front row there stalked a hulking, hairy, grim-faced bestial man of mercenary dress and predatory demeanor, sniffing as he moved with loping grace. His fingernails were like bladed talons, gleaming, replaced with a steely metal, and when he bared his teeth they were replaced with the same... and-- SNIKT-- from the back of each of his hands there stabbed out four claws of the same incredible, indelible metal.

Beside him levitated an incredible amazon-esque blonde woman, impassive, implacable, clad in black. Her ears swept up to points like elves' might, and upon the ankles of both bare feet there quivered tiny wings like the talaria of a messenger god.

Beside her slithered a male figure clad all over in metallics and greens, the lenses of his mask squared off and cold. He moved with supernatural litheness, and all around him writhed like serpents four tentacular metallic arms.

And, at the very last, beside the octopoid figure there walked a man in a white suit with a yellow cravat and long red hair, a red flower in his lapel, giggling maniacally to himself as he flexed his hands and blue electrical fire jumped between two joybuzzers he had upon his palms.

The white-hooded figure at the forefront crossed his arms behind himself, and gazed with a regard as arctic as his raiment upon the arrayed heroes of The New Justice League.

"So," he intoned, and from that single syllable it was immediately apparent that this was the voice from above that had bid them approach at last.

"We will take your questions now. I wish to make certain that you know beyond any shadow of any doubt just why we are crushing your bodies, your spirits, and wresting this world out of your feeble, dullard grasp by right of conquest."

He clenched his clawed, armored hand into a clanking fist. "So cries LORD HAVOK and THE EXTREMISTS!"

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Kid Flash ascended The Space Needle without a fraction of hesitation, and when she sent the twin tornadoes down after him he didn't even slow down...

...he pirouetted as he ran, once and then twice, opposite to the cyclonic spin of each tornado, creating the perfect counter-vortex to cancel out and disperse the wind-- like he hadn't been fighting Weather Wizard and Turbine and The Top since grade school--

--and blurred up to the top of The Needle, facing her, grimacing, green eyes cold and glinting. "Here's your finish line."

And then Silver Bullet blurred to a stop behind her, breathing hard and holding his side but still up, still in the fight.

And then they both held up fists... fists which again began vibrating at that terrible, devastating harmonic that would accelerate Carin apart if they touched her, shred her molecular structure... four fists of death...

"You'll never outrun this. There's no distance no direction no speed where we won't catch you and make you pay."

Before Nap Time​

Velocity looked at the two approaching speedsters and knew that Silver Bullet was right. She may have increased her speed, but both of them were more than capable of keeping up with her, and Kid Flash certainly knew more ways of using his powers than she did. It was only a matter of time until she was caught.

Smiling grimly she took off directly over the side of the spire again heading for the ground. Just because she was probably going to be caught, that didn't mean she was just going to roll over and play dead.

She hit the ground and zoomed off towards where the others were fighting. She weaved between them, dodging projectiles and flying bodies as she concerned herself with the two people following her than the people around her.

She was tempted to just run for her life, take off around the world and see just how far the entities influence stretched, but if she did that she could miss a chance to help out a member of the team at a crucial moment. So instead of running away she ran around and around.

The only problem with that of course was that the two of them soon caught on and began to try to hem her in. Several times they almost had her and it was only by pure luck that she was able to avoid the trap they had set up. However she knew her luck could not last.

Finally as Kid Flash was closing in from behind she dodged left and right and then glanced back to see where he was. By the time she looked back, Silver had flashed around a corner and was within three steps of her, his hands vibrating fiercely. Carin knew she was caught and began to vibrate her own body in an attempt to absorb some of the damage when she saw the lights go out in Silver Bullets eye's. One moment he was hell bent on touching her, the next it was like no one was there.

Quickly she caught him and then turned and was just in time to cushion Kid Flash's fall as he too was headed towards the ground. All three of them bounced and skidded along the ground until coming to a stop.

Carin lay still for a little bit breathing heavily before getting up and looking around. She saw the other Titans had fallen over as well so it wasn't just her foes. She carried them one at a time to were the others were being placed and then looked at the others.

"So I guess that was the easy part huh. Well on to the main event."

 

[LuckyVic]

"We will take your questions now. I wish to make certain that you know beyond any shadow of any doubt just why we are crushing your bodies, your spirits, and wresting this world out of your feeble, dullard grasp by right of conquest."

He clenched his clawed, armored hand into a clanking fist. "So cries LORD HAVOK and THE EXTREMISTS!"

"The first question is simple... Why are you trying to take this world?" he asked.

 

[ChasNicollette]

"A heap of broken images."

"The first question is simple... Why are you trying to take this world?" he asked.

The blond-haired beclawed beast snorted through feral nostrils.

"Tol' ya they'd play dumb, Sergei," he sneered, crossing his arms over his chest. His voice was deep, almost more smilodon-growl than speech, with a thick Canadian accent. "S'usual, talk is worthless."

Lord Havok gestured a silencing hand at the bestial fellow, and while one got the impression that not much silenced the merc, nevertheless he stilled his voice-- but continued sneering.

Havok intoned: "No, Cade. Neanderthals, half-wits, ingrates they may be, no amount of playing is required to see the depth of their 'dumb-assery.' ...but denial is the coward's refuge, and obscenely misplaced though their loyalties may be, no matter their moral obsolescence, these 'heroes' do not strike me as cowards. No, more likely machinations in this world beyond their short-sighted notice have brought us here. But I hold them no less responsible. If they choose to defend the world that attacked ours, they are complicit, the blood of a planet stains their psyches. Thus declares HAVOK."

Then he beckoned to the man in the white suit. "Carny."

The red-head smirked a long, languid smirk that oozed into a biiiiig, too-toothy grin. "Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch."

Havok paused. And glared at the suited man. "Play it."

"Carny" giggled, shaking his head. "Fine, fine, Thomas Stern Eliot. I'll be your holo-man."

Then he produced from a pocket of his suit what looked like a Viewmaster, and in pressing down the lever on the side to advance the slide it projected a great big hologram into the air between The Extremists and The New League.

A globe.

A globe of Earth.

The countries and the coastlines were slightly different, the lines on the maps oddly familiar but skewed, but it was unmistakably Earth.

"Surely even ignorant creatures as yourselves must be familiar with the concept of a parallel universe, of the hypothetical entelechy for a Multiverse of such worlds. Behold, such a world, the gleaming blue-green gem called Angor. Our world, our 'turf,' our 'territory,' ours by right of fist and empire even as the 'heroes' of Angor travailed and failed against us. In the cartography of The Multiverse, this was once called 'Earth-8,' or 'The Major Universe.' Once."

Carny advanced the slide, and giggled again.

"'This is the way the world ends,'" Havok proclaimed. "Not with a bang, or a whimper, but with a boom... and an outcry suddenly silenced."

The hologram changed-- another Earth, virtually identical to the one already projected-- it came out of nowhere, came from somewhere to the left, careening at breakneck speed...

...slamming into this Earth-8, this "Angor," and shattering it to dust and asteroids, oceans boiling off as the atmosphere failed.

"And that was Earth-7. 'The Essential Major Universe,' our direct orbital sister in the Multiversal structure. Cast by some globe-spanning teleportational force out of their universe and into ours, sundering both worlds in less time than is required to enunciate the syllables. And we alone escaped to tell thee."

"Fourteen billion lives," the blonde woman snarled. "And that only counting the humans on the surface, not the countless creatures in the depths of my undersea kingdoms of Atlantis."

"The Experiment House, my life's work in genetics and cybernetics," the tentacled man in green clenched his fists, "my underworld army, The Superior O.C.T.O.P.U.S."

"My Academies for Advanced Children," spat the helmeted, caped magnetic dynamo, "schools in Massachusetts and West Germany. My Zen Men may have betrayed me, joining Metahuman Registration to become The Meta Militia's attack dogs, The Geno-Men, but they were worthy of a greater end than this!"

"And my own sovereign nation of Slovekia," Havok spoke again. "the crown of which I took from unworthy, gormless noblemen to forge into a mighty, feared monarchy whose people all pledged undying loyalty to me and my defending army of Havokoids. All gone. Cast to ash and dust in a single instant act of nigh-incalculable technology."

Havok's face was an expressionless mask, and his voice a digitized poltergeist, but the wrath and disdain in him was plain to perceive nevertheless.

"'Nigh-incalculable,'" he clarified, "that is, save for an intellect as peerless as my own. Through time and space, across the oceans of arterial red that flow throughout the Multiversal strata, using a time machine of my own invention combined with a transmatter cube pioneered by Doctor Frank Future and perfected by myself... we traced the signal that transmitted the planetary teleport. Traced it back here. To this very, middling, damp excuse for a city on this backwoods, forgettable excuse for a parallel, a fortnight hence."

"Two. Weeks. Ago. Your world used a world to destroy our world. You owe us a planet. And we will take this one, and carve new empires upon it with flags stained by your long-dried blood and the saline left by your tears."

He scoffed. "Next question."

 

[Zet_Cross]

In this moment Milton did the one thing Lysl told him never to do under any circumstance, but he doubted she had considered multiverse adversaries bent on conquering the entire world. He thought to her. Doing so risks a cascading neural mesh which would overwrite one personality with the other, but he didn't want to be overheard.

"Lysl yell at me later for talking to you this way but I need to do a full spectrum scan on all hostiles, establish a tenth level encrypted com line with the others and transmit the results to them.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Brain Dump.

"Lysl yell at me later for talking to you this way but I need to do a full spectrum scan on all hostiles, establish a tenth level encrypted com line with the others and transmit the results to them.

...compliance.

...utilizing this communications modality continues to be extremely ill-advised, as a corruption of your neuropsychic net with my AIOS could prove unrecoverable, jeopardizing the retrieval of The Genetrix.

Individual designated: 'Cade.'

Skeletal structure molecularly bonded with unknown metallic substance (element? compound?). Analysis suggests tensile strength and resilience on the order of depleted promethium, possibly surpassing it, functionally indestructible. Teeth and fingernails fully replaced with same substance. Four bionic retractable claws housed in each forearm capable of being deployed in fractions of a second, also composed of same substance.

Physiology suggests accelerated metabolism, injury resistance, speed, strength, reflexes, senses-- and a regenerative healing factor potentially rivaling that of a Czarnian. Metagenetically active, though the metagene expresses itself differently than known human metagenetic sequencing-- on the 23rd x-chromosome.

Possible military training. Extremely dangerous.

Individual designated: 'Carny.'

Seemingly baseline human genetically. Brain chemistry suggests a dangerous form of unstable, unpredictable 'super-sanity' transcending conventional madness a la individual designated 'The Joker.' Moderate superintelligence.

Possesses array of technological artifacts visually based on human toys and pranks, but augmented with highly advanced nanotech of indeterminate origin, likely extrasolar, near-Coluan in complexity.

Extremely dangerous.

Golden-haired female: designation unknown. Species unknown. Possesses attributes from baseline humans and Atlantean amphibious races, but also exhibits x-23 metagene.

Evident flight capability. Molecular density and metabolic rates suggest speed, strength, invulnerability on par with fully-charged Kryptonian.

"Kryptonite" requires further analysis. Possibly hydration link. Still collating data.

Extremely dangerous.

Individual designated: Dreamslayer, Nightmare of The Endless.

Readings inconclusive. Sensory data negligible. Current operating theory is that Dreamslayer's physical substance occupies an alternate plane of reality inaccessible to Scan Visor.

Demonstrated abilities include flight, self-cloaking, distortions in spacetime, and psionic manipulation override of sentient life-forms with varying tiers of meticulous fine-motor control.

Possibly susceptible to Raven's "soulself" manifestations. Further analysis required.

Extremely dangerous.

Red-haired female: designation unknown. Human with active high-yield x-23 metagene.

Exceptionally high psychokinetic potential. Possible expressions: telekinesis, telepathy, pyrokinesis. Planetary level threat.

Neural centers in evident state of tabula rasa, possibly astrally manipulated by individual designated: Dreamslayer, Nightmare of The Endless.

Given Dreamslayer's demonstrable ability to weaponize super-powered individuals, this makes her, too: extremely dangerous.

Helmeted male: designation unknown. Human with active high-yield x-23 metagene.

Exceptionally high electromagnetic potential. Possible expressions: ferrokinesis, electrokinesis, photokinesis. Planetary level threat.

Full brainscan inaccessible due to manifold nanotech neuropsychic baffling hardwired into helmet.

Extremely dangerous.

Tentacled male: designation unknown. Genetically augmented human. Helical and neural scarring suggests possible recent cloning and psycho-graft.

Possible expressions: speed, strength, high-velocity reflexes and agility, possible activity detected in precognitive neural centers, surface adhesion.

Technological augmentations include cybernetic neuro-link to bionic tentacles. Highly flexible, dexterous, and extensible, and capable of feeding realtime sensory data directly to individual's brain. High-tensile strength. Composition appears to be some form of "plazsteel," highly resistant to damage, non-conductive, non-ferromagnetic. Additional chemical discharge units mounted on backs of individual's hands, possible molecular adhesive.

Moderate superintelligence.

Extremely dangerous.

Individual designated: 'Lord Havok.' (Possible alias: 'Sergei.')

Full abilities impossible to determine.

Armor defies analysis and densely filters deep scan. Neuropsychic baffles in place.

Possible technological integration with magic?

High superintelligence claimed and demonstrated.

Extremely. Dangerous.

...uploading data to NJL smartwatches at full available link-speed.

 

[LuckyVic]

"Two. Weeks. Ago. Your world used a world to destroy our world. You owe us a planet. And we will take this one, and carve new empires upon it with flags stained by your long-dried blood and the saline left by your tears."[/I][/FONT]

He scoffed. "Next question."

Batman was listening to everything that the leader was saying. But as soon as the data from G.R.I.D. he began to formulate what he thought might be the best matchups.

The one that appeared to have Atlantean dna could take on Aquagirl, with the help of the one called Rebel.

This Cade individual could take on Velocity and maybe that walking mountain that showed up to help out during the fight with the Titans.

Dreamslayer could deal with both the Rider and the Sandman.

The beautiful Red head psychic he'd need to match up with Martian Manhuntress, and because he knew how over protective she was Wondergirl. That way Wondergirl would make sure that MM would stay protected.

The man with the funky helmet could take on Beast Boy and Hotline.

The Tentacled male he thought G.R.I.D. and Wildcat could deal with him.

He'd like G.A. and Renegade to take on the male known as Carney.

Which would leave him and Raven dealing with the unknown Lord Havok.

He sent those target designators to the others along with those he'd like to take them on. If they didn't have time to check on the alert he'd have to call out the instructions verbably. "I highly doubt that anyone on this world has the capability to do such a thing." he said. Of course the things that people shouldn't be capable of was changing quickly.

 

[ChasNicollette]

"The more you know, the less you believe."

He sent those target designators to the others along with those he'd like to take them on. If they didn't have time to check on the alert he'd have to call out the instructions verbably. "I highly doubt that anyone on this world has the capability to do such a thing." he said. Of course the things that people shouldn't be capable of was changing quickly.

"What you doubt or what you believe could not be less relevant," Havok dismissed.

"'Quanto più si conosce meno si crede,'" he quoted in Italian.

"Havok," the helmeted electromagnetokinetic mused, "they're exchanging tactical data. I can see the signals."

"Even such a trivial detail has not escaped Havok's notice, Doctor Diehard," Havok replied, blithely. "I, too, was monitoring the scans they just interfaced."

"Impertinence," the blonde woman clenched her fists at her sides with the force of artillery shells, her voice like thunder in her lungs. "Such temerity and spinelessness, sweeping us with sensors unbidden, I am an empress enthroned! And then whispering about us as though we were not before them. Let me show them what punishment befalls those who besmirch the royal person of The Queen of Atlantis! IMPERIA REGINA!"

"My cloning techniques are proprietary!" the tentacled man agreed, his voice somewhere between a snarl and a squeak. "I did not painstakingly perfect the DNA of that infernal, inferior Bug just to have these fools steal it out from under me in corporate espionage! Let my limbs rend them limb from limb!"

"Silence," Havok gestured sharply. "Barracuda. Gorgon. Let them formulate their stratagems. They might even prove an amusement to us. A novelty. But let us show them how long their battle-plans survive contact with the enemy... before they are reduced to HAVOK."

 

[Varshanka]

Wondergirl

"Two. Weeks. Ago. Your world used a world to destroy our world. You owe us a planet. And we will take this one, and carve new empires upon it with flags stained by your long-dried blood and the saline left by your tears."[/I][/FONT]

He scoffed. "Next question."

“The People of Earth and Themyscira deny your claim of attack. But we will refute your claim to this world as well.” Karen replied, shifting her shield to the fore as she faced off against the enemy.

 

[Varshanka]

"Two. Weeks. Ago. Your world used a world to destroy our world. You owe us a planet. And we will take this one, and carve new empires upon it with flags stained by your long-dried blood and the saline left by your tears."[/I][/FONT]

He scoffed. "Next question."

Chains slithered from The Riders arms and back, forming wings of fire and steel, as it snarled and ground it's toes into the surface of the moon. Ready to do battle. "Vengeance is Mine, Sayeth the Lord."

 

[Varshanka]

"Two. Weeks. Ago. Your world used a world to destroy our world. You owe us a planet. And we will take this one, and carve new empires upon it with flags stained by your long-dried blood and the saline left by your tears."[/I][/FONT]

He scoffed. "Next question."

“You believe this world has the power to do what you say, yet you attack it anyways? Either you are insane – probably – or stupid. Obviously.” Raven murmured to herself as she began chanting.

 

[Varshanka]

"Two. Weeks. Ago. Your world used a world to destroy our world. You owe us a planet. And we will take this one, and carve new empires upon it with flags stained by your long-dried blood and the saline left by your tears."[/I][/FONT]

He scoffed. "Next question."

“Krazy as the Kobra,” Renegade grunted. “Nutball. This world doesn’t have the power to do that. Not anyone. Dumbfuck.”

"Silence," Havok gestured sharply. "Barracuda. Gorgon. Let them formulate their stratagems. They might even prove an amusement to us. A novelty. But let us show them how long their battle-plans survive contact with the enemy... before they are reduced to HAVOK."

“Blah Blah Blah. Been dealing with loud mouthed overbearing self-righteous fucktarded asswipes for longer than the written history. And every fucking one of them blames their shitty fucking problem on someone else. Cry. Me. A. Fucking. River. Shit. For. brains.”

 

[ChasNicollette]

War.

“The People of Earth and Themyscira deny your claim of attack. But we will refute your claim to this world as well.” Karen replied, shifting her shield to the fore as she faced off against the enemy.

"Them's fightin' words, frail," growled the clawed one who had been named Cade, grinning at her with indestructible metal teeth, murderously sharp.

"An' they'll make a fine plaque on th' wall, once ol' Tracer here hangs yer head up there by yer pigtails."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Pestilence.

Chains slithered from The Riders arms and back, forming wings of fire and steel, as it snarled and ground it's toes into the surface of the moon. Ready to do battle. "Vengeance is Mine, Sayeth the Lord."

"Praise the Deity," Carny whooped in an aw-shucks Appalachian accent, comically slapping his knee, "an' pass the ammunition!"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Famine.

“You believe this world has the power to do what you say, yet you attack it anyways? Either you are insane – probably – or stupid. Obviously.” Raven murmured to herself as she began chanting.

"The question is," the redhaired woman intoned in Dreamslayer's voice as he wiggled his fingers above her, puppeting away...

"If we're not scared of something like that. And we're not."

"How stupid and insane were you to attack us in the first place?"

"Let's pay that piper now, shall we?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Death.

“Krazy as the Kobra,” Renegade grunted. “Nutball. This world doesn’t have the power to do that. Not anyone. Dumbfuck.”

“Blah Blah Blah. Been dealing with loud mouthed overbearing self-righteous fucktarded asswipes for longer than the written history. And every fucking one of them blames their shitty fucking problem on someone else. Cry. Me. A. Fucking. River. Shit. For. brains.”

Barracuda narrowed her eyes.

"Your language lacks subtlety, sellsword."

"I shall enjoy crushing your tongue to paste beneath my heel while it is still in your skull."