Collabed with Ruby

Metropolis/USA:

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^{May 18th, 2019 - 10:23 | Justice League HQ - Courtyard}

"So, in closing, I'm nowhere. None of my remaining options are good, but fI've already picked my next move. I have to hope it has a better outcome than projected. Kar'a Zor-El, head of House El, end log four."

Kara sat at the edge of the platform suspended in what she was calling Kal's "trophy" room. Legs crossed, dangling off the edge, her upper body propped up on an elbow wedged into the thick of her smooth skinned, sun goldened, thigh. She thought of ghosts staring at an old ocean liner that had been sunk and lost, many lives with it. It wasn't the ocean liner on Kara's mindf though. It was Kal's memory, both the construct and the actual hard biting memory. As she remembered it there were storms the night before, but the day after had been sheer serenity. Bright and cool, the best she had seen Krypton look towards the end.

"Sanctuary, turn it back on."

"Are you certain Kara? There could be unexpecte--"

She sighed. "Just do it."

"Kara," the voice belonged to Kal-El. His memory. She knew Earth and it's humans would have a difficult time understanding the concepts that made such a thing reality, but having enough of your elders recorded and recalled and artificially given the proper alignments...and it was possible to have a chat with the closest thing to a talking, walking, 'thinking' version of that person. Every level of his structure and coding she had personally gone over. The entire process took an hour, time spent before the Doomsday and Brainiac projects.

Habit was the reason Kara pushed herself up to stand and turn to face his memory, instead of just floating up. "I'm sorry about earlier. I had to repair and enhance some of your functions, tweak your basic engine to match something Jor-El thought up--after already creating the version of himself he installed on your craft it seems. You should be more comprehensive with responses and lines of logic."

Even his smile seemed ghostly to Kara, the girl always creeped out by the technology. "Thank you for the help. Can you tell me about where you've been already on the planet?"

A sudden bark of laughter was all the response he got out of Kara before a pause for consideration with care. "An Earth local helped me when I arrived. In his way. I spent weeks floating on the ocean surface, or hiding under it when something came close enough. Basic scientific scout work before deciding what to do next. Decided to train a little--I had trained on Krypton for these abilities before leaving, but it's different when you're actually flying through an atmosphere. Certain things are different than expected, so adjustments have to be made. Once I was relatively certain I wouldn't accidentally kill some poor human I went to school. Mostly to study what happened to Krypton after I left, but also to try to see if I could operate within human society."

"What was the result?"

"Oh, boy." She almost blushed, before shaking her head, "Fun is a human word that could be used if applies ironically. By the end of the semester I at least wasn't drawing attention to myself anymore.

His chuckle was smooth, seemed to her that it came easier to him than she would have imagined, his eyes with a slight twinkle. He was happy, he was at peace. It was the very opposite of what Kara felt, but it was a nice thing to see in what her baby cousin had become. "I guess I can skip any warnings about human males."

Kara gave a quick, painful, thumbs up. "Got that one covered, yup. After that I spent a few weeks in Smallville. Then after I collected enough data I decided to go after those who knew you. Went to Batman," Kal-El put up a hand, palm out.

"You went to Bruce?"

"Yes. That could have gone better." He laughed, and she didn't blame him. "So now I'm hunting down leads on Kandor and Doomsday. No good options, so I'm gonna...go ask the Justice League if they'll show me data they have on both. The risks there are extreme, it's way-way-way ahead of when I wanted to make this contact, but quite frankly I've run into unexpected blocks. Our projections were for Earth many decades ago. Sanctuary and I can adjust, but we can't over-adjust, because that presents it's own unique problems."

"You're going dressed like that?"

He was smiling when he said it, like he was teasing her. Mostly. Her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, 'like that?' What's wrong with my hew-man fashion outfit, Kal?"

"I'm not the one to ask about fashion, especially women's fashions, but if you're heading to see the Justice League and ask for a favor...you might want to change and not into a hew-man outfit." The emphasis he put on hew-man was definitely to tease her way of saying the word when she became a little frazzled. She ignored that part, and adding being mocked by a dead man to her list of issues with the memory technology, but the advice was sound. She should change.

The plan was to fly in very fast very high up, then stop very suddenly and just drop right down on the target. It was quiet and limited those who might see her. In fact if she nailed the speed and timing, no one would see her except whoever she'd come across at the Hall of Justice. Exiting the Fortress the arctic wind took the cape into a flurry behind her, before she took off into the upper layers of Earth atmosphere. The turn, then the sudden stop, then the drop. The drop was the hardest part because too fast and she'd create too much attention, too slow and she was too visible.

A blur of light became a floating Kryptonion wearing the ceremonial vestments of House El, a look Superman had popularized before his death. She was already touching ground inside the walls of the Justice League's courtyard when she realized someone coming to greet her--a friendly greeting Kara was hoping.

Willow was chilling in the main hall, waiting for some of the other leaguers to wake up so she could tell them what had happened earlier that day when a new face dropped from the sky into the courtyard. A girl in a weird outfit was just... floating there, and Willow wasn't entirely sure what they were here for, or if they were friendly or not. Considering the diplomatic approach, since she was polite to land in the courtyard, Willow exited the building and approached the newcomer. "Hello... newcomer. Welcome to the Justice League. How can I help you? Do you need a snack or something?" Willow said, waving at this new lady who had an air of danger about her. Good thing about being a robot, you could be on guard and never look it.

There was something familiar about this lady but Willow couldn’t place it. She accessed the JL database to see if they had any info on this new person, and apparently all she could find was she was a relative of the belated Superman and had a bad, although not violent, encounter with Batman. Well, that was besides the whole 'where they lived, their general life, and other sort of pointless things.' Willow figured maybe the Superman relation was why she was so diplomatic, so that was reassuring at least.

Sanctuary, if we’re clear go ahead and start.

Her toes touched pavement first. Toes, balls of her feet, her heels. As gentle and easy a landing as could’ve been hoped for by the Kryptonian. There was a joke to be made about Kryptonian technology appropriation, but Kara doubted now was the time and place for such a poke at this terran.

If she was honest, it was kind of a kick that wearing the seal of House El meant the beings on Earth let her float down behind JL perimeter walls without alarms or resistance.

“Hello my name is Kara. I’ve come because I’m investigating several unresolved issues regarding my late cousin, Kal-El, or ‘Superman’ as he was better known to…” her pink lips played at a smile, “Earthlings. I have reached dead ends on a few issues; namely Doomsday, the villain that fought much of your group and killed my cousin, as well as Brainiac, an intergalactic entity that was faced by my cousin and your group. I was wondering if I could search for records? They might provide data my Kryptonian eyes could see importance in where Earthling eyes did not, or could not. Please.”

So this was a family member seeking information on those that killed a relative? What a typical story, all things considered. “Ya know, considering your also an alien here, aren’t you also an Earthling? Not everyone on this planet was made on Earth you know!” Willow said sarcastically, hand on her hip. She giggled a bit before continuing, moving to a normal stance. “As for the other things your looking for, I don’t think I can tell you that right now. I’m only fairly new to the Justice League myself, and your just a solo entity. If Batman or Wonder Woman says its ok, that’d be a different story. But ‘til then.” Walking around to get a look at Kara, she seemed a nice enough person. Willow didn’t know her cousin Superman, but from what the stories said, he was kind as well. Although the stories also said he was extremely dull and stoic so he wasn’t willow’s type of man.

Deciding on something, Willow said. “All I can tell you for sure is I hate Brainiac with a passion. What self respecting robot wants to strive for de-evolution? If he pops his head, you can bet your fancy suit I’ll be there.” It would be hard for Kara not to hear the spite in Willow’s voice. Knowing what she could from the database, Brainiac was basically the antithesis of her very being. But considering Brainiac was so inclined on destruction and de-evolution, Willow was sure she’d just evolve past him and that would be that.

““Oh, where are my manners. Silly me. My name is Willow. Although you probably knew that. Most people know everyone in the Justice League.” Willow said,getting into a more casual mood and stance. ““So, do you wanna join the League? I’m sure everyone here would be happy to have you. Although I can’t invite you in myself. But it’d probably be easier to get the info your needing that way. Or there is that Titans group thats going on, though they don’t get all the fancy tech stuff.” Willow said, giving Kara a welcoming vibe.

Kara, I believe I found what we’re looking for: I have both video of Brainiac leaving Earth, sufficient to project several flight paths, and I have discovered an M.A.C. address for a terran router at a location near San Francisco that might have something to do with Doomsday, or at least information regarding the creature. The M.A.C. address is one I found while investing LexCorp networks as well.
All Kara could think of was just how wonderfully interesting that information was: who hits up the Justice League and LexCorp both? Or, rather: who does it and is good enough to get noticed by Sanctuary both times?

The thought and the update from Sanctuary took all of five seconds, and Kara mostly just listened to Willow speak at the same time. Kara relaxed into a big, bright, smile at Willow’s kindness, nodding her head gently at the creature, “Thank you, Willow. I’m certain the Batman would be helpful, however, I’ve bothered him enough recently--I’ll just find another way to get the information I’m after.” Her smile, and the brightness of her eyes, never wavered a moment even as she knew Sanctuary already had the information they came to get. Another way, indeed.

At the suggestion she join, Kara’s mouth went crooked, blue-blue eyes framed under sharp black eyebrows and dirty blonde eyelashes looked up and about, from here to there, from there back again. In the end, she shrugged, “I can’t say the thought has ever come up before. Ever need a Kryptonian, feel free to send a call out as I’d be happy to help while I’m on the planet. Otherwise I will have to keep the idea about joining a group in my mind and open.”

A promise punctuated with a firm nod of her head, and her lips curving to smile again without ever fully reaching it.

Something about the way Kara acted was… off. But Willow couldn’t place it. Sure, at the start she seemed a bit apprehensive about joining a superhero team, most people were. But after that, the smile she gave…. There was something weird about it but Willow couldn't place it. She’d keep that in mind, but for now there was this issue to solve with this visitor. And thankfully, Willow didn’t have any tells or body language that would give away her thoughts. “I’ll keep that in mind. Although like I said, you need to really talk to Batman or Wonder Woman about joining, they’re in charge of all that stuff.” Willow said. ”Anything else I can help you with then?”

“No. Thank you, Willow. Be safe, and no kidding about calling for help if a heavy hitter is ever needed.”

She floated, first, upwards and away--only turning on the serious speed when above the roof, not wanting to tempt anyone seeing her in her current outfit.

Pacific Ocean:

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^{May 20th, ???? - ???? | ??? - ???}

After the recovery from the scuttled Russian submarine, Admiral Halifax had organized for a deeper scan of the area - utilizing drones and satellite imagery to get a better reading on what they had in the deeper bottom of the ocean.

Namely, in essence the scans had come up with an intact but sunken Atlantean ship - a rare find as any in the world, since most of them were either scuttled and destroyed or recovered and made unreachable. It was a rare find, and one the Russians had spent some time trying to keep hidden. But now, with the US Navy ‘increasing patrols to secure Japanese territorial waters’ the Russians had backed off wisely. With that done, Task Force Leviathan had been organized and namely, had been given orders to deploy Lizard into the deeper waters and recover the sunken ship and any technology from on-board the vessel.

In an unknown swamp in Louisiana, the Society composed of some of the world’s most threatening individuals were gathered by the son of billionaire tech mogul and enemy of Superman in the 80’s and 90’s Lex Luthor. Lex Jr. stood at the head of a monitor room of sorts in their HQ that oddly resembled the helmet of Darth Vader mixed with something out of an anime. It was submerged in the waters and slushy Earth beneath the surface with crocodiles swimming nearby. If not for the Enchantress’ spell the stealthy fortress would fall victim to Swamp Thing or another avatar of the green. Icicle Jr (son of the original Icicle and legacy criminal like Luthor Jr), Warp (teleporting super thief), Akando (animal powered criminal with ties to the Red), and Solomon Grundy were gathered around when Luthor mentioned something about a sunken Atlantian ship found off the coast.

“This ship could be the key to getting the drop on the League and all of the tech that they keep in their vaults. I could tap into the Multiverse like I have before…” Luthor Jr. began before being interrupted by a fresher looking Icicle Jr.

“You never tapped into the Multiverse Lex. Are you going insane?” Icicle asked.

“SHUT UP! Go get me the tech on that ship, ANYTHING I can use against the rest of the Justice League…” Luthor commanded at the head of the Monitoring station. “I still remember… the blue man that waved his hand. The Nth metal we gathered… what happened…?” Luthor thought after Warp and Icicle put on aquatic gear while Akando powered up with the abilities of a shark. Grundy just hulked around not needing air or equipment underwater.

Warp began teleporting everyone to the coordinates given to him by Luthor. In three long ports he got to where he was going in the middle of the ocean it seemed and placed each member of the squad. Akando first who went in with the best chance of immediate results. Then Grundy who sank to the broken down ship. Warp and Icicle Jr were last in with their abilities still in tact with their aquatic gear on. Icicle simply armored up with ice and used the breathing face apparatus that was said to last an hour and a half before needing new oxygen. Warp already wore armor so the face apparatus sort of went with his look. The team was deployed. What on Earth could they find?

They would soon get their answer in the form of Akando suddenly heard fighting something, although by the time they got there - they would notice that Akando had been knocked out by…something. Namely something had knocked him unconscious, while his natural abilities had left him unable to drown - it also likely left him vulnerable to such creature’s own weakness.

Since he had a black eye, a bloody nose and a bruise on his neck - all consistent weak spots of a shark - eyes, gills and snout. It seemed that they weren’t alone in this old wreckage. Someone had gotten here first and they had been rather unsupportive of the idea of having another group come here and try to steal ahead of them.

As it was also, down below at this level - the whole ship was dark with low visibility. Leaving them namely able to only see as far as the nearest hallway would take them. Although not allowing them to see anything beyond the corner or in the likely abandoned rooms of this ship.

“Warp… you seeing this? Akando is out of action and it looks like Grundy went through the bottom of the ship. I still don’t know what’s down here.” Icicle said into his communicator.

“I’m trying to find Solomon, Popsicle. Akando will be fine when he wakes up. Look for something useful so Lex Jr. pays us. I’ll be there when I find our monster…” Warp replied teleporting a bit slower in the water until finding the brute. “Here we go… Grundy’s on the scene! What’d we miss Icebox?”

Icicle was floating in a jacked frozen form akin to something out of a fantasy movie. An ice golem of sorts with spiked ice shards out of his shoulders and upper back.

As Warp and Solomon walked about the place, the zombie-man stepped on a placed boobytrap; namely an explosive. While not doing much damage to Grundy it did make him get sucked out of the ship - to the far deeper bottom, where water pressure itself would make it harder for him to move or move at all. Warp would be affected by having the entire pressure wave of the explosion transferred onto his body - which was much more dangerous underwater. If not for instinctively porting out of there it may have killed him.

---

The behemoth had once again been sidelined, or low-balled, whatever you want to call it. Warp disappeared in a port just before Grundy was sucked out of the ship. Nobody noticed Akando waking up after tapping into the healing abilities of a lizard before triggering the strength and power of a killer whale. As Icicle began to come back to the conscious world something caught his eye. What looked like a wand or weapon from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

“Akan… think I got something over here….” Icicle mentioned.

As Akando and Icicle were gathering their thoughts on their prize, they soon enough heard beeping coming from somewhere nearby. From one of the rooms - which in this case could belong to their mysterious enemy or namely some kind of defense system that had been activated. Either way, one of them likely would need to investigate what the thing was - otherwise they might be in for a nasty surprise - if it happened to be a bomb.

Icicle moved forward after hearing something. It turned out to be a strange golden artifact making the odd beeping noise. An other-worldly cube shape that vibrated, however it looked broken, was in a containment pod in the Atlantian ship’s lab. The dumbfounded member of the Society had no idea what he was looking at WASN’T Atlantian, but something far more powerful in it’s days before being damaged.

“PNNG! PNNG!” the box continued to ring out.

Before he could even begin to pry the artifact from it’s place in the odd Atlantian tech pod, the iced up villain was smacked back with a large scaly tail.

All that Icicle Jr saw, was the silhouette of an underwater figure, dressed in all black and sporting a tail. The only thing that gave ‘it’ a more grounded reality, was the fact the eyes were resembling regular crocodile eyes - so it wasn’t completely an alien beast from the depth. Just someone from Earth. Although, the figure didn’t stay to talk - they soon enough, struck at his shell. While the two initial strikes didn’t do much to pierce Icicle’s added armor - the figure, quickly responded to that situation - before even Icicle could. In essence, the figure smashed something into his shell - before kicking off him. As it was, Icicle Jr would notice that a grenade had been lodged into his icy armor.

In a matter of moments the thing went off and the figure was feeling merciful - the grenade hadn’t been an explosive one. If it had been, the metahuman criminal’s icy shell likely would’ve cracked and perhaps even his suit - to suffer the effects of both drowning and pressure. Instead it had been something equally worse - as when that thing went off, it gave off the worst pinging sensation into his ears. A sonic grenade, plus with him being literal ice - the vibration and sounds kept bouncing around and around - until he’d suffer motion sickness and simply black-out from the trauma to his inner ear.

While the black figure, quickly swam over and gently pried the golden thingy from it’s resting place, with a knife - she had it sealed inside a container. Before the black ‘lizard’ spun around, as even Akando would have heard the short skirmish between the two.

Thus the animal-man would soon find Icicle Jr knocked unconscious and floating about - while he came face to face with their ‘enemy’ - a humanoid creature covered up in black camo and sporting a K-Bar knife in her hands. The only visible thing were her slitted eyes looking back at him. Akando was blocking the exit and the figure soon gestured with her knife to move.

Akando was completely healed from the encounter before and smarter for it. He had began tapping into more than one marine animal’s abilities before entering the Atlantian lab to face the black clad ‘hero’ in a sense. Absorbing what seemed like a large piece of trident tech from a smaller melee weapon of sorts, he tapped into another aquatic animal’s ability to digest food much slower. His red hood had long since fallen off in the depths, his scarred face looking uglier than ever. He was tapping into the bio-electric energies of an electric eel as well as the strength and durability of a whale-shark.

“You can tell Batman and the League whatever’s on this ship belongs to us now.” he began to taunt as energy cracked around his arms and from his eyes. Solomon Grundy was making the ground beneath the ground the remains of the ship rested on unstable. The whole thing began moving back and forth, Atlantian metal creaking and cracking. Bubbles floating from within every new opening.

With the speed and bio-electric energy of an eel coursing through his body and fists with the strength of a whale-shark, Akando struck down at the lizard-like ninja with what amounted to a ‘taser fist’.

---

Metro Tower had been quiet for most of the day until Wonder Woman got the call from a fisherman claiming supervillains were “messing around with stuff in the middle of the ocean…”

“I will lead a team myself to investigate, and assure your safety. Keep as far away from the commotion as you can..” Naomi responded on the visual two way communicator.

“Code YELLOW. I repeat… Code YELLOW. Assistance is required in the Pacific. It looks like the Society may have discovered some old Atlantian tech.. All available heroes report to the teleporters...” Wonder Woman spoke into the intercom throughout the HQ.

Comet was one of the first guys to show.

---

The two metas were almost at a stalemate. The ground beneath them continued to crack and crumble due to where Solomon Grundy had landed earlier. Icicle was still out. And Warp was nowhere to be seen.

The masked figure, eventually decided to stop playing around and soon pulled out a detonator and pressed it. In that moment, any idea or belief that the person in front of Akando was a hero was shattered.

As one could hear multiple explosions going off all around their location - both inside of the ship and outside of it. The ship had been grounded on an edge already underwater and now the figure had in essence detonated any support it had. As soon enough what followed was a grenade literally thrown at Akando - detonating in his face. Although, against his tough skin it, luckily, didn’t do much damage. Yet it gave the figure time to escape - leaving behind him and Icicle without bothering to look back at all.

Thus confirming, that they were NOT a superhero or member of the JL at all - rather they might have been a villain themselves, a mercenary, a third party operative or even a rival itself. As the situation was though, the ship was slowly lurching downward to depths that could crush even Akando and Icicle - despite their currently tough exterior.

Thus Akando had to either run, grab the tech or grab Icicle and hope to escape the ship, before they reached crushing depths and were turned into tomato paste. He chose to let Solomon Grundy get buried by the ship and what was left of it’s support, while pulling on Icicle after making an opening in the side of the vessel. With his ice armor, the frosty villain simply floated to the top. Warp was waiting for them but when the Justice League hit the scene minutes later, he chose to grab only Akando who had swallowed an artifact earlier while leaving Icicle and Grundy to be dealt with by the heroes and international authorities.

As this was happening, Lizard by herself swam away into the waiting submarine several miles away - an unofficial official part of the United States Navy, thus it had legal protection against unlawful search by heroes. Without much hassle, she got on board and soon debriefed.

---

A few days later, such an object was stored in a briefcase and was brought by Admiral Halifax - namely to DARPA’ Black Operations Division. Where Department of Defense, developed technology from highly advanced or alien races. Thus, one such object was designated A-1X - or the device recovered from the sunken Atlantis ship.

A basic scan of the item showed it to be somekind of data storage device, one which had been made from rather advanced materials. Thus, under heavy guard and through several checkpoints - Admiral Halifax, soon entered the BOD Wing of DARPA. Towards the lab of the head scientist.



Once the scanner finished processing him, the doors opened and the guards allowed him entrance. “Evening. Got something for you egg-heads. Straight from the bottom of the sea,” spoke Halifax, soon depositing the briefcase on a table and opening it up.

Bludhaven // USA:

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^{May 16th, 2019 - 12:44 AM //Caernaervon District// A Steriotypically Evil Man with a Steriotypically Evil Distraction}

Of course he sets a fucking apartment on fire... Of course there was an apartment to set on fire...grjkrewjrklwerjl. Ghost's thoughts are, understandably, a bit of a frustrated mess as she's forced to lose her quarry. She could track down a man in a weird suit with a crotch gun tomorrow. These people might not live through the next 10 minutes. Fortunately the fire wasn't up in earnest, and there was rain starting up, but she could still see the glow of fire deep inside the building. Dodging a passing cannon shot from her phallic foe - how the fuck..., She went to work immediately, crashing through an upper story window and into the main hallway of the building. Down the hall was a fire alarm, which she pulled. Forcing open the closest door, she flew through the rooms checking for people - empty. They'd be coming back to a surprise. She moved to the next room. two. able bodied. more doors were starting to open, and she accosted a passerby. "Is there anyone living near here who will struggle to get out of this building?"

"Holy Sh- yes, 503. Paulina's deaf and lives alone"

Ghost was gone before the sentence had finished, breaking through another door. The woman was indeed still sleeping - and of course this building hadn't installed visual alarms. Ghost slapped the woman awake. She had learned a few signs, in the event that she ran into a deaf person, and she signed "danger. trust." Before grabbing onto the woman by her arms - mostly using her own strength to do so - and dragging her to the window. She set herself down for a moment and pushed the glass of the window outwards before picking her back up and floating out. It was more of a controlled fall than anything else, but they got to the ground in relative safety. People were starting to gather, but she figured that trying to get a decent evaluation of who was missing from them would be an exercise in inefficiency, so she went back up to the fifth floor as the firemen and police officers started to arrive. she could start to feel the heat as she moved down to the fourth floor, busting open doors on that level.

This is hopeless...can never finish in time...can never be sure... A cat in 407, quickly lifted out from under the bed, through the window, and onto the ground. It bolted, but at least it wasn't trapped in a burning building. The next story, the heat very noticeable now. 304, a man completely passed out on a couch, smelling strongly of alcohol, an empty whiskey bottle on the floor. He was heavy, they more or less just fell, and she was pretty sure she heard something break in his leg. The next room. nothing. The next room. nothing. The next room. nothing. second floor - beginning to become unreasonably hot. At this point she was listening for cries for help as she navigated with care above the crumbling floorboards, avoiding the flames licking at them. If this heat didn't wake them, they were as good as dead anyway. No sound, and she could feel the heat slowing her down. she exited out of a window on the ally-side of the building, avoiding the crowds as she frantically beat at a small flame at the end of her dress that the rain helped put out. She then flew to the top of a nearby building and just kind of collapsed, watching the building become engulfed. The storm that was coming through would prevent it from spreading - but what if she had missed someone - what if someone was dead on her inability to be fast enough? strong enough?

Why the HELL didn't I expect him to know I was coming?

GOTHAM, New Jersey / U.S.A.:

---

^{June 23th, 2018 - Time 19:47 | The Kane Ballroom - Gotham Heights}

As Thea braced herself for the inevitable crashing of bodies, the old man was suddenly pulled from the space he had occupied just a second before. The unforeseen rescue by an invisible force through Thea off, if only for a second, and caused her to lose her balance leaving her open for attack. The old man would yell out a warning as she looked toward the faux Batman, watching the false vigilante pull out the flechette from his neck as if it were nothing but a stinger from a bee. As the watched the fake Batman began to what Thea could only describe as melt. "I AM THE NIGHT!" he shouted seemingly in defiance as he melted, his skin and costume becoming one in color and in substance as flesh and cloth transformed into slime and ooze. A glance to the side allowed Thea to see dead party-goers suddenly rise and rush towards the old man and a younger man -was that a dishrag on his face? The former Batman began stalking towards her, his mouth growing inhumanly long and wide with each step.

"Shit," Thea said under her breath. Up to this point she had never faced a metahumn before. She was completely out of her element here and unsure of what to do next.

As if on cue, a silvery haired young woman entered the ballroom with guns blazing firing her automatic weapon towards the undead while making a beeline towards Thea. The woman shoved Thea, a move that was more annoying than necessary in Thea's mind, before jumping on to a table and opening fire on the oozing Batman. "That's not going work!" Thea yelled at her. Then, the woman fired a grenade at the approaching monster. "But, that might," Thea mumbled.

"Fuckin' run!" the silver haired woman screamed at Thea after turning over the table she was standing on and using it as temporary cover. Running seemed like the obvious choice of action. Besides, Thea still had a mother to check on.

Finding the closest exit Thea opened the door and did her best to flag down the two men who hopefully hadn't been hit bit friendly fire while shouting back at the woman, "This way!"

---

Metropolis / United States:

---

^{May 17th, 2019 - 04:15 PM | Metro Tower - Midtown}

The Thanagarian ship looked like something out of the classic Star Trek series, and the half dozen wingmen like some villains in a superhero movie blockbuster with CGI. While in simulated space nobody could hear the hero or his telepathic banter in his mind as he went after the enemies. Three of the wingmen were armed with alien energy rifles while the others had close range melee weapons. The Comet shot around and with his telekinesis grabbed two large asteroids from a nearby belt to take out the star cruiser. Somewhat like a pair of stone battering rams the hero’s power crushed the ship between the two asteroids. The Earthman used his power to amplify his strength and went in hard and fast to take down the other enemies one by one. He flew fast at one of the wingmen and extended his arm for a clothesline type of maneuver. With another pair of the Thanagarians in close proximity Comet went in with something of a combo taking swings and throwing punches and backhanded fists, all the while ducking attacks with Nth metal axes and spears. One of the wingmen armed with an energy rifle got a lucky shot off. Adam turned around and behind the wingman, that seemed to be waiting for a response, was once again the Weird. The wingman began to move again until the hero grabbed him and held him in place with his telekinetic power.

“You can’t be real. Whoever that blue guy was waved his hand and you turned into dust in the cosmic wind. What the hell is wrong with me?!?” Adam Blake asked nobody in particular since the only ones still in the War Room were himself, the one holo-droid mimicking a wingman, and the ghost-like figure in black and red.

“I am real, Blake. I’m just not where I’m supposed to be. He manipulated reality… took powerful individuals off the board like chess pieces. We’re all in some… dark dimension…” the ghost said before fading away.

“THREE MINUTES REMAINING!” the intercom blared in what seemed like deep space.

Adam finished off the exercise more confidently knowing that he wasn’t going crazy. The Weird WAS trying to contact him from some sort of limbo or dark dimension. Who else could the blue skinned man have ‘taken off the board’? It had happened months ago just before Adam came back to Earth and joined the League. Sooner or later he'd have to come clean about what he saw in space to the remaining Justice League founders. The red and black clad hero pondered as the War Room began to shift. Comet flew towards the exit nearest the control room.

“HOSTILES ELIMINATED, TARGET OF OPERATION CLEARED. SYSTEM SWITCH TO STANDBY MODE!” the intercom announced as the surroundings faded and the gray walls with several openings were visible once again. When Adam checked the scoring system, he finished with 93% proficiency. Not bad, but he DID get caught off guard by the one rifle wielding enemy. Blake rolled his eyes walking towards the elevator after grabbing a small cup of water from the fountain. He needed to get one of these smart-phones he'd heard so much about since returning to his homeworld. If for nothing else to kill time. He stepped into the elevator and hit the button. It was nearing four thirty in the evening. It likely would be by the time he reached the first above ground floor of the headquarters. He used his telepathy to scan the area for anybody who may have come to the Tower since he went underground for the War Room exercise. At least one more Leaguer or reservist came to HQ. However at this point, Adam was thinking about using a teleporter to go back to Kansas and just fly over a few farms. It wasn't the 1930's anymore, but he still loved the smell of a good crop.

- Ω

With @Ruby



Faster

Barry ran.

Something one would not normally deem extraordinary, the act of running. Something done the world over by countless individuals since mankind had first hobbled onto two feet. When Barry ran, however, extraordinary didn’t quite cover it.

He felt the cold whip at him, seeping through even the protective layers of his armour. It would be enough to kill a normal human given enough time, but Barry had left normal behind long ago. While the supernatural force that surged through him protected him from forces such as the wind and air resistance, forces that would pull him apart at this speed without it, the chill still made itself known. Good, it was nice to feel his limitations.

Snow, rock and ice impacted beneath his feet as he powered on, the great variety of the Artic circle spreading out before him, from the frozen forests of North Canada, the Tundral peaks of Scandinavia and the ice sheets of the pole itself, all opened up before him. No matter how fast he ran, he could always see, what should of been a blur of emotion remained clear to him, the rest of the world moving as if he viewed it through tar or treacle.

Eventually he passed beyond the limitations of habitation, to the frozen roof of the world where life could not claim. Barry had not come here before, in his search for the ideal location to test his powers he had previously roamed south to the deserts of the US, but he had recently discovered the effects the cold had on his powers. It drained him faster, limited him gradually, forced him to expand more energy to achieve the same results. To him, this was a positive, here the natural elements, he felt, might limit his capacity for destruction. The far end of his powers were unknown, if indeed, they had any. As thrilling as it was to run, to escape anything that might hold him down, it was also terrifying. What could he ‘not’ do.

With a thought, he unleashed a surge of built up heat, the consequence of friction and static playing across his form. The protective energy of what he had named ‘The Speed Force’ nulified this destructive energy, but if he so chose, he could unleash it around him. A series of detonations followed his path as he ran, the speed at which he was running preventing him from being caught in the fireballs caused by him releasing the force.

A mountain of ice reared before him, jutting from the shelf into the sky. Beneath the red helmet of his armoured suit, his eyes narrowed. Time for another test. He maintained his speed as he approached it, refusing to allow himself the extra time to prepare. As he ran, he began to harness another aspect of his power. Arcs of lightning began to gather around him, sparking from the dashing figure like the peak of a tesla coil. To the human eye, a ball of lightning would have been seen streaking across the flat ice, just another impossibility born from the realm of the unknown.

Pushing himself to new heights in both aspects of the power he tested, Barry lunged into the air, several miles from his new, adopted target. Narrowing his body into a straight lance, he exploded from the ground in a crescendo of noise and energy, unable to ground, the lightning built around him, sparking brighter and more intense with everything passing moment. In less than a blink of an eye, he passed the distance through the air.

Thunder roared across the polar landscape, before an ancient mountain of ice detonated with electrical fury. For meters around his impact point, the ice burned straight to water vapour, a vast nascent cloud forming before ascending into the polar air, shortly to fall back to Earth. Much of the rest of the structure melted, but several large chunks of ice, at the extremities, were simply blown into the air.

Pausing in the remains of his act, Barry watched as the great chunks began to fall from the sky, appearing to drift almost as if made of feathers to his modified senses. While there was nothing for him to disturb for a great distance around him, it would prove another interesting challenge. A slight smirk spread across his features as he set himself the goal. Then he was off once more.

He intercepted the first block of ice hundreds of meters before it hit the ground, once again taking to the air. The process to whittle it down was simple, his feet clinging to its icy surface as he ran across it, the ice melting away beneath the force as speed of his running, until it crashed down to the ice sheet as little more than a large puddle. The second ice block was met with a series of dashes, launching from the ground to air and back again, dividing the ice enough times that it crashed down in sections smaller than Barry. The third and final, he allowed to crash down, simply standing in its path.

Once again his form sparked lightning, and the red of his suit began to shimmer. Remaining still, but moving even faster than before, focusing the force within himself, until even to his own eyes he blurred in static motion. When the ice struck him, rather than flaten his form beneath multiple tons of ice, instead it simply sizzled into vapour, the vast heat and energy of his form casting it aside, focused upwards, rather than down, to prevent him melting into the sheet.

Finally he exhaled, the chain of events taking place within the space of time it took him to breathe. His heat pounded in his chest, the strain of his actions catching up with him faster due to the cold, but it was good to unleash something of his power. Eventually he could not help but release the laugh building within him, the sound of his amusement tumbling over the frozen landscape.

“Alright. That was pretty cool.” He spoke aloud, forcing it through his panting breaths.

“You do have neighbors up here, you know.”

She had watched with interest. He was human, Sanctuary confirmed it, but the A.I. didn’t have to. With Kara’s superpowered abilities of observation it wasn’t impossible to tell Kryptonian from human. Given everything she knew about physiology all she had to do was look and listen. Helpful that he was standing still now, of course. He hadn’t noticed her match his speed in the air, high above him, but that was the point. But now he was getting dangerously close to the Fortress of Solitude, and there was no giant key pointing the way to alert someone like this super-powered hew-man about just what they neared, and why it was dangerous on so many, many levels.

She wore it only for recognition. If Kara had been dressed in the jeans and tank top and denim jacket she wore just minutes before, it wouldn’t have been the same. There wouldn’t have been the same instant recognition she saw in his eyes now, when he looked up to the floating young woman that had spoken to him, and seen that suit with that red cape and that red and yellow shield on her chest. House of El, it said to her.

Superman, it no doubt said to him.

Barry’s eyes settled on her for several moments before he spoke, simply allowing the rise and fall of his breathing to fill the time before he reacted any further. It wasn’t that her arrival didn’t come as a surprise, indeed it almost defeated the very point of him deciding upon the Artic, but he had a suspicion she’d hardly been in much danger from his collateral.

The symbol across her chest was something recognisable to all but the most isolated of humanity, especially in recent times. America, even the human race as a whole, were still trying to work out how they moved on without it, without what it had come to mean. Yet here it was hovering before him, in the Arctic Circle. She was quite pretty too.

All this and Barry barely blinked, his mind working through it at far beyond a human capacity. It was simply that the Fastest Man Alive rarely panicked when confronted with new situations anymore, nothing he was too slow to respond it. In the next moment, he smiled at her, genuinely, before he finally spoke.

“Don’t suppose I could talk you out of the noise complaint? Can’t really afford to have that added to my record.”

"Superman's secret home is nearby. It's built with Kryptonian technology. I'm his cousin, when I arrived a Bat-human pointed me in the direction of this secret home. Needless to say because of the Kryptonian technology you would be wise to go ten miles east or ten miles west before continuing. Kryptonian A.I. and I aren't entirely sure what would happen, especially with everything that Superman collected over time. It was decided I should come warn you." After a long beat, as if something or someone had reminded her of Earth customs, she simply added: "Please."

“Get off my lawn, basically.” Barry’s eyes momentarily left the young woman to watch the sky, already the dispersed water vapour had formed more tightly, preparing to snow, likely the first time it had actually done so above this frozen patch of ice-desert in some time. “It doesn’t matter how you dress it up, from Kansas to Krypton, that’s what they mean.” Mused aloud, to both himself and her, the two choices of location were obvious. He considered, in that moment, whether something in whatever alien craft the original had landed in could have picked it for that reason. Name alone.

The golden haired girl’s head tilted to the side...just so. “What is a lawn?”

That made him pause, truly pause, if just for a moment, before he responded, racing through all the potential things to say before landing on one. Less than a true moment, but for Barry Allen that was almost meditation.

“You might need a new AI if it couldn’t tell you that. Think of it like...a little piece of nature, each of us likes to claim and make our own.” He mused over the response, attempting to place it in terms that were both poetic, and not reliant on other Earth terms. “Some people take a great deal of time over them, or, just like their privacy, hence ‘Get off my lawn.” He added a helpful smile to the end, all the way from a corny stock photo.

“I asked you, not the A.I.”

Her feet hit the ice gently; first her toes, then the balls of her feet, then her heels. The long red cape whipped a little as a gust of artic wind came up, but like him, she didn't seem all that bothered it. The cold didn't bother her. She barely felt it, truth be told. A truth she thought dangerous to tell this strange superhuman. Her eyes were the color of deep ice, a fact that was only highlighted in the arctic of white on white. Eyes that drifted to the sky for a moment as the A.I. filled in the gaps.

"Oh! A section of land, typically grass and typically proportional to the size of the home, that sits between a street, or side walk, and a home.....so many variations..." Her eyes danced, micro-movements at incredible speeds, as pictures flooded in her mind. A sudden blink, and her blue eyes opened once more--focused on him again. Except now she smiled, broadly, like a scientist alive with the rush of new understanding. "Yes, exactly: get off my lawn because I can't promise it won't hurt you."

His smile eased as he watched her, exaggerated cookie-cutter expression replaced with a softer, more real, emotion as discovery alighted her senses, but it was buried behind a grin by the time she had finished speaking.

“I’m out here because I don’t know the limits of what I can do. It’s exciting but it terrifies me, and it should. I watch videos of your cousin and I don’t marvel at him, I think of all the ways I could have done everything I’ve seen him do, sometimes they’re better, sometimes they’re worse, but they’re never impossible. As Barry spoke, his tone gradually became more severe, never quite leaving behind the joviality of his nature, but growing, in the moment, a certain maturity.
“I’m sure that sounds arrogant, maybe it is, but I was never inclined to that until I ran so fast I could feel the Earth turning back on me, so if you’re telling me there’s something out here that could test me, really test me, it might take more than please to get me to forget that, because I’m not a fan of being terrified.” His voice trailed off as he finished speaking, breaking the hold on her eyes he had maintained until the point, almost reluctantly, watching the horizon trail away to white canvas.

The light left her face, and her tone. Blue eyes narrowed. “My dead cousin’s secret home is not here simply to test your super…hew-man abilities.”

And then she snorted, anger getting the better of her. Kal was something of a sore subject for her, she knew, and she resented the idea that the Fortress was there as some great ‘ring of fire’ for this being. “We’re not sure what the Kryptonian technology would do. It’s...reactive,” she said, as if she were already afraid of having said too much. “Nevermind the Sun-Eater.”

She added that last bit after a small pause, and a smaller smirk. Her eyes went to the northern horizon, to the sky. To Crystal Mountain. To anyone else it looked like a lonely, misty, mountain covered in ice atop the world in the northern arctic; it was a ruse. Get close enough, or have the Kryptonian computers authenticate your access, and all a person would see would be a mountain of crystal alive with a slow burning energy that was blue, white, purple, even streaked and dotted red from time to time--every color shifting and moving within the crystal like blood through a body.

“Would you like to see my...lawn?”

Barry maintained his cool through her anger, although the suit hid a slight relaxation of his muscles, a suggestion her reaction was not something he misunderstood. His own exhilaration and fear over the limit, or lack of one, of his own powers, could make him single minded. Understanding was not, however, the same as surrender.

Even still, it seemed that was unnecessary, as her invitation came, as if plucked from air, doing more to put him off guard than any hostility or show of power from the alien being.

“Something tells me it’s not going to be like any lawn I know.” Barry chuckled slightly, before nodding; “Thank you, lead the way.” His smile turning from humour to a genuine one.

Bludhaven // USA:

---

^{May 16th, 2019 - 12:59 AM //Caernaervon District// Connections}

This is bigger than any of these individuals - way bigger, she though to herself before smirking at the obviousness of her own thoughts. The issue wasn't necessarily that they were working together - it was that all of their actions were pre-planned, and she was still sitting there, trying to react to them as they came. She needed to get some information, and she was going to get it the old fashioned way - by beating up thugs and corrupt policemen in back alleys until one of them spilled the beans on this "Tusk." And once they did.... oooooh boooy.

But before the fun, comes the research. Need to know who the baddies are to get the information out of them.

Metropolis // USA:

---

^{May 17th, 2019 - 4:15 PM //Metro Tower - Midtown// Intro}

He probably cut a strange scene driving up to the Metro tower, in his blue 2000 Nissan Sentra blasting LazerHawk while wearing an outfit straight out of a gothic horror movie, but that was just how Richard Swift rolled these days. To him, the aesthetics weren't even clashing - just a part of him.

His euphoria came to a bit of a crash when the automated gate on the Metro tower parking garage wouldn't open for him. "Oi, I know this ain't the fuckin batmobile, but I don't really need anything fancy when I can fly, ya know?" he yelled at... well, no one in particular. He huffed and shifted into park - didn't seem like there was that much in and out car traffic - which made sense. From what he'd heard they automated what they could to minimize citizen endangerment, and most of the superfolk weren't exactly the types to drive everywhere. He still liked the experience - and besides, it didn't exactly do well for one's image to come flying in cloaked in a shroud of inescapable blackness.

He shook his head and climbed out of the car, forming a cane out of the darkness as he walked in the front door of the tower and explained the situation to the front desk woman. The problem eventually solved - his car and face hadn't been in their databases yet - and he was able to get parked, and make his way to the upper level, pushing a hotel cart made of darkness with all his stuff on it. It wasn't much, but it made his room feel like home - and it was nice to have somewhere to settle down in after a few months on the road. America was truly fascinating, and his travels had given him time to re-focus, and become confident once again about his new life trajectory - which started with meeting other members of the JLU. The Comet seemed to be the closest thing this group had to a leader since the founding members faded away from the scene, and he was apparently in a training simulation at the moment. He decided to take the stairs down - good exercise, and happened to end up on the ground floor just as the Comet walked out of the elevator.

"'Ay." He said, extending a gloved hand. "You must be The Comet. I'm Shade, and I'm new here. Wot's the latest, and 'ow can I help?"

( @Omega Man )

Poseidonis / Atlantic Ocean:

---

^{June 1st, 2019 - 11:06 PM | Domed Capitol City - Royal Castle}

A man with dark hair walked past the throne room in the aquatic castle of Atlantis’ royal family and glared as he passed the empty throne. His brother, the half breed dubbed ‘Aquaman’ the the surface world, was out among the people again in the domed inner-city. No doubt to take his mind off of the fact his oldest child Mareena had ventured into the surface world on her own vision quest. When Orm made it to his quarters in the castle, he used his Atlantean magics to open a sort of window to the ruler of the kingdom of Xebel. If it wasn’t clear enough that he was from Xebel, his trident was made of hardened water itself. The people of Xebel, like Queen Mera, were water benders.

<<“The king will be voyaging to Tritonis to visit the ruler of the mermen in half of a cycle. The surface dwellers have poisoned the princess’ mind. Your armies can go in from the west, and ours from the east. When we close off their main ports they will have no choice but to surrender Mareena.”>> Orm, aka the Ocean Master to the surface world, informed the longer haired king.

<<“Arthur is a coward to not go after his child himself. Just because the surface dwellers accepted him with open arms doesn’t mean his daughter shall be as well. If the wrong air breather learned the secrets of the Seven Kingdoms…”>> King Nereus began in response before being interrupted.

<<“Arthur’s connection to the surface dwellers is a threat to the security of Atlantis and her people. He MUST be dethroned before he sets us back another three hundred years…”>> Orm continued as a crab stepped through his quarters. Knowing the creature could inform the king of what he’d observed Orm crushed the crustacean under his boot.

*translated from the Atlantean language

San Francisco / United States:

---

^{June 2nd, 2019 - 08:32 AM | Titans Tower - Off the coast...}

Batman’s team had finally begun to look like a team. With the recent additions to the group the now completed Tower didn’t seem as empty. And with Sideways’ teleporting powers the team didn’t even need the teleporter tech of the JLU, however they DID still have it at their disposal. Batman had been down in his back again. In the League’s last battle with the Thanagarians back in 2017 Bruce Wayne’s back had become a problem after taking injuries fighting a dozen or so wingmen in close range and exhausted. If not for the exo-suit he’d probably already be wheelchair bound. If not for his suit detecting the energies of the dark multiverse, Batman might have been surprised by the sudden emergence of the aforementioned Sideways this early in the morning..

“So Bats? Can I call you Bats?” Sideways started enthusiastically like he was still a rookie, “Are we still recruiting? And… by chance do you want like… an OFFICIAL sidekick? Not just somebody else running around with a bat on their chest and no relation to you?”

“We’re ALWAYS recruiting. And no, I’m not looking for a sidekick. In Gotham I work alone.” Batman replied continuing to walk the perimeter. What he didn’t realize, however, was that radio waves were being jammed and he was completely oblivious to the invading forces of Atlantis. They had already sent a unit to check out the small island where the Titans’ Tower stood.

Metropolis / United States:

---

^{June 2nd, 2019 - 11:32 AM | Metro Tower - Midtown}

Robotman was powered down in his quarters. The Amazons’ champion Naomi was also still resting in her quarters after late night training with a few of the other female heroes among the League’s ranks. The Comet, aka Adam Blake, was working the Monitor Room when he got a call from Batman on the west coast.

“This is a red alert, Atlantis is attacking San Francisco. Requesting League assistance…” Batman asked in a live video feed.

Alerts and holo-screens began going off and lights began to flash in the Justice League’s headquarters. Coast City on the west coast, as well as Metropolis and Hub City were being attacked. The government’s Navy and Air Force bases as well as Coast Guard were immobilized by what looked like giant sea monsters and men and women warriors began coming up out of the oceans.

“THIS IS JUSTICE LEAGUE HEADQUARTERS! WE ARE RED ALERT, REPEAT, WE ARE RED ALERT! REQUESTING ALL ACTIVE AND RESERVE MEMBERS TAKE ACTION! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! COAST CITY, SAN FRANCISCO, METROPOLIS, AND HUB CITY ARE ALL BEING INVADED BY ATLANTIS! I REPEAT… THIS IS JUSTICE LEAGUE HEADQUARTERS!” Comet sent out a psychic link to all of the heroes and metahumans presently in the League’s database. Members, non-members, reserves, anyone who was under the League’s eye. Some of them may not have even taken up a costume and identity.

The only question on Batman’s mind out west: Where was Aquagirl?

- Ω

Coast City / United States:

---

^{June 2th, 2019 - 12:20 | Naval Yard - Barracks}

"ALL HANDS MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS, THIS IS NOT A DRILL! ALL HANDS MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS!" yelled the loudspeaker, accompanied by the feared klaxon, that no soldier stationed on their Homeland wanted to hear. Namely, the actual and real sound of being attacked and the call to man the various towers and posts scattered around the base.

As armor was strapped on, arms and ammunition passed between each other - Jessica was trying to desperately get in-contact with Admiral Halifax. As it was, she couldn't do it - since the fish-people seemed to be jamming their communication. No doubt, they were angry at their ship being pillaged or something. Otherwise, they wouldn't have come in force and challenged the entire might of the United States of America.

Without having gotten any answer, Jessica decided to simply follow her designated role on this base. As she was an official member of the United States Marine Corps Reserves - under the rank of a Corporal, she could still fight. As such, she quickly pulled on her uniform, helmet and also a balaclava to hide her appearance. Some things needed to sadly remain hidden, although her uniform would do enough to prevent friendly fire and getting identified as one of the fish-freaks attacking the Coast City Naval Yard.

---

"FIRE! FIRE! KEEP UP THE FIRE! DIE YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!"

Outside the Naval Yard, most of the units stationed on the base had gotten armed and started shooting at the Atlanteans and their sea-creature allies. Although, not doing much to slow them down - as the rifle rounds, didn't do much but bounce off the armor of the humanoids or pierce the thick hide of the freak-lobsters.

It might be a funny sight of seeing - cooks, technicians, sailors and a few nurses engaging against the sea monsters - alongside the more regular types. If not for the seriousness of having their home being invaded for the first time in forever. None of them had trained nor expected this thing to happen yet still - they took up arms and gladly stood their ground against the invaders. Showing the Atlanteans of why America was the land of the brave and free.

Needless to say, they didn't do much damage and the only reason the Atlanteans hadn't pushed ahead without any resistance was due to the heavier fire from the APCs. Although, their enemy was firing strange energy pulses that seemed to make the APCs unresponsive with each blow - disabling them one by one.

Leading this group of soldiers was Colonel Henry Hunter - an army man, who had wished to do nothing much beyond ride a soft desk job, into retirement with his family somewhere warm. Although, now he was in charge of defending the Naval Yard - in what might be the first attack in three centuries from a hostile power. "The line is breaking! Colonel! We can't hold them back! They are fucking us up!" yelled one grunt, taking cover behind a disabled APC.

"Hold your position Private! We fall and this city might fall as well. We aren-" replied Colonel Hunter, before one soldier charged past them both. Putting much more speed behind their sprint, than most humans could. In addition, they didn't stop, even through the energy blasts fired at them. Simply charging into the hardest fighting, vaulting over the makeshift barricade and clocking one Atlantean soldier in the head.

Once the heavy soldier arrived, the Atlanteans immediately took fire upon her. While Jessica usually liked to avoid being shot, this time she was willing to tolerate some damage. Although, the energy shocks didn't feel 'right' upon her body - but compared to the regular soldiers, who were disabled by such strikes, the only thing they did was make her more pissed and only make her stumble temporarily.

"I'll take this," chuckled Jessica, wrestling one gun from, an Atlantean, before clocking them in the gut with her knee and then elbowed them in the face. "Nice souvenir. I'll be keeping this!"

Once the initial vanguard had been thrown back, Jessica soon was face to face with a giant lobster. "Hello, dinner," she muttered, dodging it's two pincer attacks. Leaping backward and soon pulling off a door from a destroyed APC - as she soon ran forward and jumped on top of the giant crustacean and proceeded to ram the hardened metal construct into the shell of the sea beast. It took a good ten seconds of heavy smashing before, she got through and managed to pierce into blood. Not stopping until, the thing started thrashing like some mad crocodile and bull crossbreed.

With that done, Jessica climbed off the dead lobster - panting from the exertion. This was the first time, she had ever fought so heavily in her life. Since she needed to put her entire force behind her punches and kicks - as these Atlanteans could take, a bad pun intended - a punch. Although, the sight of the fleet smashed in harbor did make her blood boil - so much so, that she wanted to run out there and start fighting the sea creatures in the harbor itself.

But, before she could do that a voice pulled her back. "Corporal! Back in-line!" yelled Hunter - not bothering to check, what kind of monster had the 'black-ops' unit not-actually-stationed on the base, unleashed to save their bacon. As it was, the Colonel merely had taken note of the soldiers uniform, rank and name. With a literal sledgehammer on their team, perhaps they could prevent this Naval Yard from falling into the hands of seafood.

Jessica looked a bit conflicted on wanting to ignore orders and run out to help the still half-alive navy, whom despite being smashed, burning and some sinking - were able to let lose missiles and cannon fire at the enemy. "Too late! If you want to save what is possible, you will get back here and help us fortify our position!" he repeated, this time with more logic and force behind his tone.

Jessica groaned and quickly fell back into order, landing before the Colonel and quickly giving off a salute. "Corporal Jester. Reporting for duty, Sir. Pardon, but due to Executive Order XX99123, I am unauthorized to reveal my face or ID number. Although, due to a communication black-out, I am under your authority, until further orders from Admiral Halifax come worth."

For Colonel Henry, having a black-ops soldier, who had direct orders to remain incognito didn't rest well within his mind - yet neither was the idea of losing to walking and talking calamari. For the moment then, he would make due with what soldiers he had and under his command. "Jackson! Baker! Get a truck and bring us the heavy equipment. Anti-tank, anti-material, anti-air. Anything that is designed to destroy vehicles and tanks, get it here double-time! Our usual weapons are worthless, we need the heavier stuff!"

"YES, SIR!" replied the two grunts, before running off to fulfill their mission.

"And you, Corporal. Since you have more muscle on you, than most of the guys here - get the APCs, pulled in front of the main gate. Those fish-freaks knocked out their controls, so they are dead weight sitting in the streets - but they can still be used as barricades! Then help get the injured to the infirmary once you are done!"

"Yes, Sir!" replied Jessica, saluting in reply, before getting to work. They likely had only minutes to spare, before the Atlanteans returned with an actual force this time around - as Jessica, soon started pushing and pulling the numerous APCs into position. While the others, got into more fortified positions with much more heavier equipment. Perhaps, just perhaps - they could prevent the Atlanteans from taking the base.

Metropolis/USA:

---

^{June 2nd, 2019 - 11:32 | Justice League HQ}

What a day. First training with one of the prime league members, something Willow questioned considering she was a robot. Maybe she was there just to make obsticles for people, considering thats what she was doing during the training. At least she could say she got something out of it, learning a few tricks at arranging materials so they wouldn't crumple as easily to super strength punches. And who had the foresight to know that might come in handy, considering what was to come with the whole atlantian invasion.

That was a fun thing for Willow to hear on the intercom. So far it had all been small time stuff or Batman requests, but here was something actually big and heroic. With a joyous expression on her face, Willow answered the call as soon as she could. The internet videos could wait, now was the time to beat up a lot of bad guys! Of course for some reason even though it was an invasion, Willow wasn't allowed to use lethal force on the invading atlantians. While this would make things trickier for her, it was always a neat hero challenge to not just delete the opposition.

Turning into her cloud form, Willow flew to the coast, where the invading atlantians were approaching the city. While Willow could probably make a weapon or two that could help with the invading sea mosnters, Willow figured she'd be better used dealing with the approaching atlantian soldiers. After all, they were reliant on their metal weapons and armor. And metal was one of the easiest things for Willow to mold to her will. As other leaguers did what they thought they should do, Willow swooped down at the edge of one of the atlantian battalions, coalescing on top of three of them as she ate their armor and weapons, turning the metal into a tesla turret that started to zap anything wearing atlantian armor that got nearby. When she had gotten the attention of some of the battalion, she turned back into her cloud form and flew away, looking for another angle of attack as a few atlantians had lost their armor, while others were getting zapped by non lethal electrical currents akin to a really big tazer.

She repeated the same tactic on other parts of the battalion, making sure to come at the angle of the sun to really disguise her approach. Soon there were tesla turrets littered around the streets where she had attacked, paralyzing any atlantians who approached. Hopefully the others were having the same success she had.

M E T R O P O L I S / U S A :

---

^{June 2nd, 2019 - 12:35 | Metropolis Streets}

War was something familiar to Midnighter. He was bred for it, molded by it. In some ways, the world was only war. Wars of culture, ideas, and of personality. It never stopped, and it never would. It was all the League and all the Peace Corps of the world could do to just slow the cycle down. But goddamn it if those Atlantean sons of bitches wouldn’t try their best to cock up the process.

Midnighter would’ve liked to think he was knee deep in the dead. Instead he was knee deep in a pile of people with profound spinal cord injuries, who’d need major corrective surgery. Didn’t have the same ring to it. By now Midnighter had taken to uprooting parking meters and lobbing them like spears. Bonus points for headshots. The Atlanteans fell easier than expected. He might’ve assumed them to be stronger, for a people that survive under immense pressures day in and day out. But that didn’t change the fact that they had shit unit tactics and had to contend with every available branch of the US Military shelling the ever loving crap out of them, in the city with the greatest Superhero-Per-Capita rating in the world. Not exactly ideal invasion conditions.

There was something… Off about this invasion. The Atlanteans were a proud people, incredibly powerful and commanded with impeccable military structure. But this invasion was just… Off. Were it up to Midnighter he’d have started by takeover of small, defenseless port towns. Atlanteans were damned near indistinguishable from humans -- they could’ve set up Forward Operating Bases anywhere in America and no one would be the wiser. Instead they charged gung-ho into major population centers that had capes falling out of every orifice. Not to say Midnighter was complaining -- it made them so much easier to mop up.

In the past hour they’d made a lot of surprising progress, mostly locking down beachheads in all the ports, and dismantling whatever Navy presence there was. But by then surface resistance had gotten a little thicker and that posed problems. Turns out Atlanteans that didn’t really know what surface-land looks like were easily surprised by landmines. Midnighter had also taken the liberty of rounding up the fancy-schmancy energy weapons of any Atlanteans he dropped and mass-teleporting them to HQ for distribution. The surprise on an Atlanteans face at seeing their armor being boiled away by their own weapons brought Midnighter a special kind of satisfaction.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel almost useless up here. In between stacking up car barricades with his super strength, he was just shooting fish in a barrel that’d get taken out by another Leaguer or a lucky Cop with an Atlantis-gun. All of the cities should be more of less effectively covered -- Titans could handle SanFran, old guard Leaguers could take Coast City, current and reservist Leaguers could handle Metropolis, and hopefully the solo heroes would remove their heads from their own asses long enough to marshal a defense for Hub City.

He ripped the door off of a nearby car and wrapped it around his latest Atlantean takedown. He added him to his slowly growing pyramid of soldiers. That left Midnighter as a foot soldier, cutting down any infantry who took a wrong turn and ended up in his neighborhood. It was fun, sure, cracking skulls and making interesting pretzels out of Atlantean body parts, but it was somehow unfulfilling.

Midnighter looked into the horizon, past his latest car barricade, waiting for the next wave to roll in with the tide. He could see out into the sparkling ocean beyond. If he put the fire and the smoke and the steady rat-tat-tat of gunfire out of his mind, the water was almost beautiful… A great, blue-green jewel hiding the greatest city the world had ever known. Then, it hit him. He keyed his comms.

“League channels, this is Midnighter. I’m abandoning position -- I’m going to give those Atlantean sons-of-bitches a taste of their own medicine.”

Bludhaven // USA:

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^{June 2nd, 2019 - 11:34 AM //Saalima's Apartment// Interruption}

Saalima REALLY did not appreciate this invasion of her personal mental space. These fucking Justice Leaguers. Assuming we all cared. Assuming we all could help. Assuming we all weren't making lunch. Assuming we wouldn't panic and knock a pot of boiling water on the floor when the message hit. At least she was able to clean things up relatively quickly.

This invasion potentially spiced things up quite a bit. She'd learned a lot about her most recent foes in the past couple of weeks. Codpiece and the Fiddler, real names unknown, origins of their tech currently unknown. Appearances: textbook comic book villain. Working for Tusk, trying to edge into Bludhaven via the cocaine market. Fiddler also seemed to have some ulterior goals to mind control large portions of the city for reasons unknown to her. Their middleman, Felix Esteban Gálvez, a Colombian. Rumored to have cocaine based superpowers, but she couldn't get any reliable information from any websites, informants, mooks, bad cops. Even after breaking fingers. She wasn't exactly sure what their plan for dealing with Blockbuster was - it might have something to do with Fiddler's mind control though.

If Atlanteans made shore in Bludhaven though...

She wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell against those fuckers. Neither would the ne'er-do-wells of her town, but all of the important ones could slip town pretty easily, so she needed to prepare both for an invasion, and for their return post-invasion. Now seemed like a good time to re-familiarize herself with the sewer system. she'd be needing it soon. She also needed to pay an ally a visit.

Bludhaven // USA:

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^{June 2nd, 2019 - 5:56 PM //Near Woolrich Ave.// Interruption}

"So I've heard. Things seem to be going decently in Metropolis, at least."

"If they come here, we will not be so lucky. How many clean and trustworthy cops can you organize together to form an underground if they do?"

"I can probably get about 7 guys together. Most of the force would still resist, obviously, but they'd also try to arrest you as soon as things smoothed out. You've really done a smashing job of making the wrong people mad, you know."

"I'm here to fix the city, not make the evil of the world like me. I've got five of my own that I would trust enough to bring with us as well. There's a place on the Blue line near Fireflaught Mount. Caved in old subway stop near there, accessible only via sewers. I've been stockpiling the few weapons I've picked up down there in case I ever ended up needing them, moved some food down there as well today. That would seem the best meetup place if we need to execute this last resort plan. We won't win, but we can keep them on their toes and weakened until we get backup from somewhere."

"They do seem to be avoiding minor population centers. It's weird. Like they're... trying to get as much attention as possible. Distract from something."

"Not much we can do to find out for ourselves. I'll be seeing you around."

Metropolis // USA:

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^{June 2nd, 2019 - 11:34 AM //Over the Water Somewhere// Shoo, Fishy}

Well, things were getting a bit slow. Still, Swift was not exactly expecting an entire fucking army to pop out of the ocean today. At least the american army was reacting quickly, and managing evacuation, so he could stop teleporting and flying people all over the place and actually work at the matter at hand. And what was at hand, exactly? well, this ship shelling him was probably a good start. His body dissipated into what looked like flecks of ash, as he momentarily stepped into the plane of shadows, took two steps, and faded back into reality on top of the bridge. Blanketing himself in darkness armor, he jumped off of the roof and broke through the glass, executing an acrobatic roll as he formed a chakram like disc around either hand. "Y'know, ya gotta request permission to enter these waters. Very busy shipping channel," he observed as he flung the discs at the nearest two soldiers' heads. they slumped to the ground, as did the other two main guards as Shade produced and flung two more discs, Turning to face the remaining soldiers as he drew his cane off of his back, it finally dawned on him that this really was an army.


He said, as the darkness grew out from him, bathing the room. he quickly moved to work, his armor augmenting his movements as struck the first atlantean in the side. He went sprawling into his neighbor, as shade moved with the hit into a massive overhead swing that hit the head of the next nearest soldier. There was a distinctive crack that Swift was rather familiar with - that of a skull being split open. He'd have to dial things down a bit, it seemed. The sounds he made were also queuing the other soldiers into his location, and their blind shots were getting closer to the mark, one actually hitting the darkness protecting his body. He produced a few darts of darkness and threw them at the closest offender, whose left leg would now probably not be working for him for quite a while. He danced about the rest of the room in a similar style, taking out the rest of the soldiers with relative ease. The commotion was sure to attract attention - he could already hear them moving.

it probably wasn't in his best interest to have an entire army following him around, and there was a rather convenient air duct above him, so he clambered in. He started moving downwards as quickly as he could, slowly hovering through the ducts to avoid making any noise. He made it to the lower levels before things started getting too confusing, and popped out into what looked like sleeping quarters. He continued following the sounds of the engine room as he wandered down the halls, watching for patrols. There weren't any just yet - why would there be, this was their ship, so he made it to the engines rather easily. there were a few technicians hanging around, but they were rather easy to dispatch - the first one hit with a large mass of darkness streaming out from his hands, which he then formed into a large hand that slapped the other two into nearby walls. Holding out his staff, he formed a giant sledgehammer of it, and began indiscriminately smashing at important looking things until a few alarms started going off and the ship distinctively started listing in one direction. reforming the sledgehammer into a comically large drill, he quickly flew to the wall of the ship, and drilled his way out into the water.

As he flew back into the air, again dodging Atlantean fire, he could see the ship sinking. He could also see a massive sea monster... thing rear its head out of the water. He smiled. "You're next."