[IC] Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

[Blackstripe]

December 25th, 2:36 AM
Mount Olympus

This wasn't going to work.

Before now, she had always had the backup of Ted and his friend, but now Karen was all alone against a literal God.

He, ironically, didn't seem to want to be here any more than she did.

"Just stand still already," Ares grumbled under his breath. "It'll be much less painful for you that way."

Swinging his divinely constructed xiphos sword down at her in an effort to cleave her vertically in half, Karen only narrowly avoided such a fate with a well-timed leap, a few strands of her blond hair notably being less fortunate as they parted with her. Leveling the flats of her palms at the God of War, a wave of red-hot flames poured forth over Ares, which he dully strode through as if he had just been hit with a mildly annoying gust of wind.

"Really now," he said, "what's the point of all this?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about saving the world?" Karen snapped, turning her flames on the golden floor at his feet. It softened around him, and he sank down into it. Even as it began to harden, however, he simply ascended into the sky, forcibly ripping himself free in the process.

"Gaia's doomed," he stated flatly, "you're doomed. Your friends, too...as am I, all thanks to that horrid bitch you met in the throne room."

Karen was rather surprised to hear the vitriol lacing his words when he referred to his apparent wife. Just what had she done to him, exactly, to make him loathe her so and yet simultaneously refuse to turn against her?

"If you hate her so much, why do you-hgghk-k-keep fighting for her?" Karen asked, not-quite-dodging a horizontal strike, which sliced into her shoulder, staining the gleaming floor beneath her red as small globules of blood poured from the wound. Raising her hand to it, a heavy shiver of pain ran up her spine...words couldn't describe how much she missed her invulnerability.

"She has the God Wave Spark from Tartarus," he said, shrugging. "She's invincible--took out the whole pantheon, father included."

He cast his eyes towards the incapacitated forms of the Gods nearby, each suspended in midair by five silver lances--one through each of their limbs and a final one through their torso. Zeus' situation appeared to be unique, however: the lance through his torso was obsidian in color, and from the end that protruded from his chest shot a wide, almost blinding bolt of lightning into the roof of the palace and presumably into the infinite cosmos beyond it.

"She also made some very...compelling threats towards my person, should I either harbor thoughts of betrayal or disappoint her," he finished, eyes briefly falling to his crotch. It was covered by what could only be described as a very ornate piece of black armor that seemed partially designed to draw ones gaze to that particular region of his body.

Having found out far more about their marital relationship than she had ever wanted to know, Karen once more partially dodged a slash from Ares that bit into her waist. By this point she had several gashes across her body, and was starting to feel light headed. There didn't seem like much hope for her achieving any kind of victory against this guy.

As much as she hated the idea, she may just have to flee and regroup with the others. Maybe with Ted and his friend back on Earth, they could all figure something out now that they knew who was behind everything that was happening.

Resolving to do just that, Karen steadied herself and prepared to sprint with all her might for the exit. She needed Ted to teleport out of here, so hopefully he would still feel up to it. There was no telling what he and his friend had been put through by this point at the hands of this guy's wife.

Turning away from Ares, he seemed to have not yet grasped her plan, instead thinking it was yet another ploy to delay the inevitable. Good, that meant he would probably--

"Uh?!" Karen gasped, reaching up to clutch at her head as a bizarre and overwhelming sensation washed over her. So strong was it that she felt her knees betray her as she collapsed onto the floor, her stomach doing cartwheels. She would've surely been easy for Ares to kill in this moment, if he didn't appear to be having the exact same problem, if not worse.

What was going on? It felt like something had...changed, but she couldn't pen down what exactly that meant.

"S-somebody has altered the flow of hypertime," Ares growled, still trembling. "Eris, not even you would be so foolish, surely?!"

He seemed transfixed on the exit, as if trying to figure out if his wife was the culprit behind whatever was going on. Despite her own queasiness, however, Karen couldn't help noticing that he seemed rather vulnerable right now. As much as he ever was, in any case.

Extending the middle and index fingers of each hand towards that ridiculous section of armor, she focused not on producing the biggest blast of fire she could managed, but rather the most concentrated beam. Sure enough, two tight--almost laser-like--lances of crimson flame shot towards his crotch, the black armor soon beginning to glow red.

It took him only a moment to feel the growing heat, his focus on the temporal event violently broken. With a horrified scream, he began frantically trying to remove the armor. Using that opportunity to dash past him with every ounce of augmented speed she possessed, Karen encased her left arm in the hottest fire she could produce before slamming it into the black central lance impaling Zeus.

Shattering like glass beneath the power of her blow, the lightning pouring from the King of the Gods vanished in an instant. Her lips turning into a smile, she was suddenly able to understand exactly what had happened just then: somebody had rewritten history, and--
they erased Jimmy Chong from it!

Why would they bother doing that? Why him? And who was this so-called "Velocity" who was trying to take his place in her memories?

"HUGHH--!" Karen gagged, a searing pain lancing through her gut and rapidly working its way through the rest of her body. Carried forward and off her feet by the force of the attack, she noticed--as she fell--the blood-stained sword that now protruded from her stomach.

Shit, she had gotten too caught up in the revelation, just as Ares had earlier.

Slamming hard into the golden floor, she was almost immediately staring up at Ares, having discarded his protective armor and looking pretty livid to boot. Harshly tearing his blade from her gut, Karen vomited up a river of blood at his feet.

"You insolent little worm!" he snapped. "How dare you seek to mar the perfection of a God!"

She had never felt this kind of pain before. It was almost maddening. When she had been shot, she had hardly felt anything--that was anything but the case here. Worse, she was passing out from the blood loss...but neither of those things mattered, not anymore.

Leveling his sword at her neck, Ares sneered down at her. "Do you have any last words before I extinguish your pathetic existence, brat?"

"Yeah..." she replied, staring up at him with the best grin she could muster.



A white lance of spiraling lightning instantly fell upon her, causing Ares eyes to go wide in horror. Glancing up at Zeus, he only then realized what had happened:

"The lightning blocking her signal...!"

"It's gone," Lady Arcana said, stepping forward as the light faded. "And I'm back."

Her uniform was mostly the same as before, but she realized it was just a little different--rather than purple, it was now a more reddish-violate, and around the hem of her bell sleeves there was now an orange-yellow flame pattern. Reaching a hand down to her stomach, she was happy to feel that her wounds had completely vanished.

"D-damn you...!" Ares hissed, raising his sword again. When he swung it down at her, however, she merely raised her hand to catch it as it fell, her fingers coiling around it. A moment later, the shards of the broken blade clattered to the ground as the God of War staggered back in horror.

"Alright, Ares," Lady Arcana said, smiling, "Let's see you walk off these flames!"

Leveling only a single palm towards the War God, a blinding wave of pure blue fire engulfed his screaming form, the gold beneath them immediately liquefying. Rising high into the ceiling above, it--too--melted instantly as Ares was sent howling into the heavens with burns so severe that even his godly healing factor would take a good long while to bring him back to fighting condition.

"Now," Arcana glanced to the pantheon, "Let's get you guys down."

[Bluetommy]

December 25th, 2:37 AM
Mount Olympus

The very ground of Mount Olympus shook, cracks appearing in the ground as vines and tree trunks sprouted from the very stone that the godly structures were built upon.

The ground quaked, buildings sliding along the now less solid ground as something rose from below. A Green beast, reptilian in appearance but plant=like in construction, rose from beneath the broken ground.

The monster's upper body twisted and spun in the skies above the golden roofs that marked the realm of the Gods, gazing upon the ground below with eyes full of indignation and an unconstrained rage. Beneath the surface, its lower body pushed against the indestructible foundations of the gods' buildings, holding it upright.

It steadied itself, standing over the godly throne room. Its mouth opened as it coiled slightly, before shooting forth at great speed and letting out a deafening roar into the skies above.

Harris smiled from within The Green.

Gaia's home.

He sprouted from atop the beast's head, appearing like a man half-submerged.

"Gaze upon your sire, Gods of Olympus!" he roared, attempting to sound as "Godly" as possible, intimidating the vocal qualities of those gods that he had met in the Underworld. He knew that the Gods respected theatrics; since merging with The Green, his memory had been filled with events thousands of years old, and from what he remembered of the Pantheon, they were a theatrical and prideful bunch.

The beast coiled through the air before darting forwards, tearing its way up the massive staircase, finally slowing to a stop in Zeus' throne room.

Harris hopped off of the dragon-like beast, which crumbled into nothing behind him. He just wanted to make an entrance is all, the Gods were like to respect it. He hoped. He wouldn't want to embarrass himself in front of a bunch of literal gods. He quickly scanned the three people in the room already. It took a little searching through his abyssal memory to recall their names, but he was understandably quite starstruck to be in the presence of two titans.

And Eris too he guessed.

"Hey," he offered with a small wave, that was all he could say really. Though he quickly reminded himself what he was here for, and his face grew firm once more. "Oh, Eris, good to see you, hope you're not too mad with me after what I did to your son and all, I think he deserved it," he taunted, perhaps unwisely. Definitely unwisely, but even as an anxious lump made itself known in his chest, he continued. "Yeah, it's too bad too, he was doing a pretty good job watching over Hades, but, well, once Hades' done taking care of his wife and things, he's gonna be pissed."

This is a terrible idea.

[Blackstripe]

December 25th, 2:40 AM
Mount Olympus

It was over, more or less.

Eris had been...mildly upset when Prometheus and Atlas had melted her armor through their trickery, not to mention giving her hair a bit of a sing. But she was feeling better now. Her frizzy ends had long since repaired themselves, she had taken out her frustrations by beating “Ted” to within an inch of his immortal life, and had been entertaining herself by trying out various inventive ways to injure his nominally invincible brother.

“Hmm, let’s try a space-time drill to the eye,” Eris chirped, foot placed firmly on Atlas’ chest. Pointing a finger straight at his eye, time and space began to distort between them as the fabric of reality was twisted into a rapidly spinning point that began to press down into his right eye socket.

“I do so love testing the limits of divine immortality, don’t you?”

”Fuck… your… self…” came Atlas’ strained reply, oddly eloquent for a guy that was having his eyeball bored out by the very fabric of time-space. Gripping onto Eris’ ankle in vain and trying to lodge himself free, even as his head lay partially submerged in the semi-solid, still cooling liquid gold.

The invasive thought that perhaps the mortals were onto something with that whole ‘dying’ thing did make it’s way into some ugly part of his mind he prefered to ignore, as he gnashed his teeth in pain and anger and began outright slamming his mammoth fist into the side of Eris’ knee as hard as he was able while still holding onto her ankle with his left in a no-doubt vain effort to snap the damned thing and get her off of him.

Behind them and across the room, Ted lay motionless and silent, face-down in the melted floor and as far as anyone could tell, rather dead.

...Save for a slight twitch of his hand that occurred when his brother began to scream as Eris began forcing her ad-hoc magical drill deeper into his brother’s eye-socket.

“My, I think it’s working this time!” Eris exclaimed in delight, “after this, I think I’ll try it a bit lower, if you know what I mean.”

Though, in honesty, after that she would probably just lance the both of them and be done with it. This game was beginning to lose its entertainment value. Still, no sense in stopping it until she’s managed to extract every ounce of agony possible from them both.

She had almost finished boring all the way through to Atlas’ skull when the delightful crescendo of agony was disturbed by what briefly sounded akin to thunder. But this wasn’t coming from the air--no, the she could feel entire palace trembling beneath her feet at the booming voice. A moment later, a…thing riding what looked to be a dragon made of vines and bark burst into her throne room.

Craning her head to the door, Eris ceased her excavation. “...And what are you supposed to be now?”

Harris stood in a hunched over position, scratching the back of his neck as Eris approached.

”...You know I made up that whole speech in like… the five minutes it took me to get here… I guess that’s cool,” he muttered, shrugging as the god approached. He felt like he should have been intimidated, but with his newfound memory, he recalled Eris to be little more than a spoiled brat.

A spoiled brat with omnipotence and the power of one of the many shards of the power that created… everything, and with two Titans half dead at her feet, but still a spoiled brat.

”I uh… just said, that er… I’m your sire,” he stammered out, coughing in an attempt to regain his composure. ”Well, er, by that I mean, I’m Gaia… kinda, it’s tough to understand, even for me,” he tried, and failed to explain his identity. ”But yes, I’m here now, Hades sent me, and I’m about to open a can of whoopass!... No, he was right, that does sound stupid when I say it...”

“You’re Gaia,” she monotoned. “Right. Well, ‘Gaia’, I’m afraid that I’ve about had my fill of intruders today. Goodbye.”

Raising her hand in his direction, a stream of putrid-looking green gas poured forth in the room, quickly enveloping the entire area in which he was standing. Upon making contact with his body of plant fiber, his normally green tone rapidly began to change to brown as the cloud of death eroded even the hardiest of his bark.

Harris watched as his lively green flesh turned a sickly dying brow, his extremities curling inwards and shrinking to tiny sizes. He watched less out of fear and more out of astonishment.

”Woah, that’s fascinating! I’ve never seen anything quite like this before!” he said, almost giddy.

The fact that his body was technically dying was just a bit scary, but with the heel of his foot, he discreetly drilled a hole in the golden ground below, depositing a small plant, protected by the dying flesh from his body.

He could have just sent his consciousness somewhere else, but this was far more intriguing. He watched in awe as his body dried out more and more, twisting and curling and turning a pale brown before he finally crumbled.

Wow, that’s something else! Kinda terrifying to everyone who can’t just grow back, I should stop her lickity split!... God I’m old.

He transferred his consciousness into the small plant below the surface, no longer in direct sunlight, he began to feel a bit tired, but waiting out the cloud of death was a little more important to him than getting some sun.

Eris symbolically dusted her hands off, turning back to Atlas. “Well, that was weird. And aww, your eye’s already healed, I’ll have to start anew.”

Conjuring her drill for the second time, she was about to once more set to work on her quest to break the unbreakable when yet another sound gave her pause. This time it was far more subtle--approaching footsteps from the hallway to her left.

“...Husband? Did you finish--”

But standing in the doorway was not Ares.

Rather, it was a face she had rather hoped to never see again, one that she was almost certain was gone forever--Lady Arcana.

”...Ted! Lady Arcana gasped, dashing to him with such speed that Eris had raised her arms in defense, thinking for a moment that the Wizard was rushing in for an attack. Instead, she had flipped Prometheus onto his back, and was lifting his head slightly so as to check on his condition. ”H-hey, you’re still alive, right…?”

Any other God she would’ve asked that question to, probably wouldn’t have answered in that moment. At least, not after a long recovery.

Prometheus, however, an immortal deity cursed by Zeus to regrow entire limbs and organs fast enough so that he could be awake and tortured again in no time flat, was another story.

Still, all he managed at first was a slight gurgling hiss as his jaw reconfigured itself back together before finally locking back into place with an abrupt ‘Snap!’ and his eyes blearily fluttered open.

”Oh… hey, Kid.” He rasped, some mix of pain and his usual irreverent humour colouring the edges of his tone. ”...Don’t suppose ya got the number on that fucking truck that just hit me, did’ja?”

”If it’d been a truck, I think you’d be alright,” Lady Arcana replied sympathetically.

Exhaling, she lowered his head back to the melted floor and turned her focus to Eris. The Goddess of Discord had stepped down from Atlas and began approaching her, her black lips twisted in a deep frown.

“How did you defeat my husband?” Eris demanded. “Surely even he couldn’t be so foolish as to lose to a child with just a sliver of divine power? Wait…”

Lady Arcana watched in silence as Eris glanced up at the ceiling, as if searching for something beyond it. It was that same expression Ares had carried earlier.

“Did it have something to do with that temporal disruption earlier?” Eris said, her eyes snapping down to the Wizard again. “Did you somehow defeat him by altering the flow of time? Are you truly capable of such a thing?!”

”It wasn’t me,” Lady Arcana stated. ”It was...a woman, older than me. I know her, somehow, even though I don’t--Velocity.”

Eris reached a hand up to touch her temple. “Velocity...yes, she fought with you against the Arab Fed--wait, no, she didn’t! What is the meaning of this?!”

”Beats me,” she shrugged. ”I’ll figure it out later, after I’ve beaten you.”
Harris thought that the cloud would have cleared by now. From the small little spudling, a great number of thin vines sprung from the ground, twisting around each-other to form into tissues, then flattening to form into skin, then hardening to form into armor. He let out a soft yawn, stretching his new limbs.

He opened his eyes and was… not surprised, but… something, to see Arcana speaking to Eris. He knew she had to be around somewhere, Greek gods were her thing after all. He thought about saying something, but then realized that with Eris distracted, he could prepare a sneak attack. His body deformed just as quickly as it had formed, and the little spudling began to sprout powerful roots, which tore through the molten gold ground like nothing. Finally he had positioned the roots right behind Eris’ feet, burrowing up a small flower in order to be able to hear the conversation further.

The confusion etched onto the new Queen of the God’s face had immediately vanished at Lady Arcana’s words, replaced with that same disdainful rage from earlier. “Oh, you’ll beat me, will you? You think regaining your powers is enough to allow--”

The goddesses words were cut short by the fist of Lady Arcana driving into the side of her jaw, causing Eris’ lips to distort from their tight frown, spittel flying as her head flew back--followed shortly by the rest of her. Blasting through the roof of the palace in much the same fashion as her husband before her, Lady Arcana immediately lifted off the floor to pursue her.

”The rest of the Pantheon are recovering in that room over there,” she explained to Ted and Atlas. ”I’ll deal with Eris from here on out, you guys try and get them to do something about the Earth!

Without waiting for their response, she vanished through the opening Eris had made in pursuit of her opponent.

Harris’ flower picked up the sound of a powerful fist thwacking its way into a jaw. He knew that he had waited too long. His body reformed, and he watched as Karen took off into the sky through a god-sized hole in the ceiling.

That was quite a punch. Well, Harris didn’t have much else to do but follow them. He sprouted a pair of wings from his back and took off into the air after them at… a less than reasonable speed.

[Bluetommy]

December 25th, 3:00 AM
Mount Olympus

Blow after blow rained down against Eris, who now had her arms raised in defense. Burning through the pure air of Olympus at speeds beyond the comprehension of even the fastest of Earth’s recording technology, Lady Arcana slammed her fist into the other woman’s gut, causing her guard to drop just long enough for her to follow it up with a right cross that sent the Goddess of Discord flying back towards the golden palace.

Towers toppled as she ripped through it, the very mountain itself threatening to collapse from the impact and take everything with it. Eris, however, soon shot from the rubble, black wings spread fully like a great, malevolent raven. Blood poured from her lip, but she was far from defeated.

Shooting forward into Arcana, it was her turn to slam her fist into the heroine’s jaw. Once more Olympus groaned as more of its resplendent architecture toppled, the now violet-hued Wizard involuntarily smashing through several impossibly ancient structures.

Lady Arcana could feel the sting of that blow in the corner of her mouth, the warmth of a trickle of blood working its way down her chin telling her that she was facing an opponent stronger than any that had come before. This was the first time she had ever felt true pain while in her Arcana form, and certainly the first time she had ever bled.

Still, she wasn’t even close to giving up.

Rocketing from the liquified remnants of what had once been a bathhouse, Lady Arcana slammed into Eris’ nose with a thunderous headbutt that sent the Goddess’ neck snapping back as fresh blood poured from her nostrils. Following this up, the superheroine leveled both of her palms at her winged foe, blueish-white flames--plasma, really--pouring from them.

One hand clutching her nose to stem the bleeding, Eris extended the other towards Arcana, erecting a spherical shield to block the oncoming stream of burning miasma as it swept over her body.

Harris flapped above the quickly becoming destroyed buildings of Mount Olympus, he watched as the two godly beings pummeled each-other over, and over, and over again. He felt like he could have just stayed with Hades, he seemed like a cool guy, hell, maybe they’d let him put in a few more plants, the Underworld was just so dour. He tried to stay focused, but the pure speeds that Karen and Eris were achieving made that hard. So he just floated with crossed arms. What was he to do?

Rising from the flames--her shield having only just withstood them, Eris dispelled it and leveled both of her hands at Arcana, a blast of raw Godwave energy emerging from them and enveloping the heroine.

Unable to stop herself from screaming against the searing pain that threatened to light every one of her nerves on fire, Lady Arcana was sent plummeting through the clouds of Olympus, with Eris already in hot pursuit.

Extending her hands to either side of her body, Eris appeared to seize hold of the air itself. No, a better way of putting it would be that she had seized the very fabric of space-time. Drawing the two parts together until it looked as if she was holding a large blanket made of reality itself, she swung it down at Lady Arcana, impacting the other woman with a force that literally sent shockwaves through the very universe itself.

LIke a asteroid breaking through the atmosphere at impossible speeds, Lady Arcana broke through the seemingly infinite cloud layer of Olympus, before hitting the dimensional barrier separating it from the Earth...and tearing straight through it. Eris seemed almost surprised by the sheer strength of her last attack, but quickly followed after her, the two women taking their battle to the realm of mortals.

”Oh crap,” Harris exclaimed as he watched the two punch each-other into a different reality. He tried to follow but could find no trace of them. Well, he supposed just floating through the barrier would work? Maybe? He tried anyway, despite being unsure, fluttering his way out of Olympus.

Unfortunately, Harris seemed to lack the proper oompf necessary to break through the dimensional barrier, the living embodiment of nature bouncing off it almost like a trampoline.

Harris sputtered as he bounded off the reality wall. He tried again, and again. He must have looked like the world’s biggest house fly. Finally he gave up with a huff, and transferred his consciousness back to Earth.

December 25th, 2:43 AM
Conowingdo Dam, Maryland

The clash of Goddesses had continued above the Earth, the pair racing across the thermosphere while exchanging thousands of planet-shattering blows with each passing second, with no small amount of divine magic thrown in-between their frequent melees.

Harris budded up from the ground, watching as Karen and Eris collided once more. That wasn’t surprising. Even if she was holding her own impressively, knowing from the Green’s vast memory that a godwave wielder was practically unstoppable, even by a physical god, Harris realized that he would have to see about getting help. Wasn’t much he could do himself, unlike them he was constrained by the laws of physics.

Maybe some other heroes were up to something. His consciousness floated back into the Green, the vast memory of every plant to ever exist flooded his mind. Based on what they remembered, that big ol’ splotch of nothing by that dam hadn’t always been there.

He again budded from the ground, not shocked to discover a scene out of a war movie. The passed out giant, who he remembered to be Cronus, was presumably the reason behind all of this damage. He looked around, trying to figure out just what in god’s name had managed to knock a Titan into unconsciousness. He spotted a few clearly tired heroes lounging about, one or two of whom he recognized… sorta.

”Hey!” he called out to them through cupped hands. ”I’m guessing that most of you know Lady Arcana, right?!

”Well if you look up a bit, you will notice the fact that she is… punching a god!” He pointed a thumb over his shoulder towards the sky, he only had to wait a few seconds for a sonic boom to roar out, parting the clouds and leaving a circular hole where they once had been. ”And I’m pretty sure she’s not gonna be able to handle it alone, so uh… do something! Please!” he pleaded, as yet another sonic boom sent a wave of powerful wind over the area.

Even though the battle was taking place in the troposphere, they could still make out the sight of two fireballs rapidly dancing across the night sky, occasionally colliding with a terrible thunder. Whenever they grappled, the pair would form a vicious accretion disc made up of the trace amounts of atmosphere around them, before breaking apart and resuming their superluminal jousting anew.

[pyroman]

December 25th, 2:43 AM
Conowingdo Dam, Maryland

As if some greater power, greater than Cronus himself, had heard his pleas, a new figured appeared from the ground. His ring was quick to register the creature as a part of the earth itself, some sort of conscious extension that was stronger and more acute than beings like Mogo. How strange. Maybe Preston would have to study up on this guy at some point and learn more about his powers, provided he was friendly.

He couldn't believe that he hadn't noticed the skyward brawl going on. Lady Arcana was the one with the lightning bolt on her chest, if he remembered right. He hadn't see any of these faces since the Middle East, and he didn't spend a lot of time on earth anymore because of his elevated job.

He was probably the best person suited for something like that. Not only was he equipped with flight and probably one of the strongest ones here, but... Actually, that was about it. Velocity was still the best scout, Grim could do a myriad of things, and that guy with the trident probably wouldn't be able to do much so high up.

His ring was picking up slight disturbances every time something flickered in the sky. Surely, that was the fight going on the newcomer was talking about.

"Alright." He clenched his fist, forcing the ring to let out a glow. "Alright, man..." He couldn't go on without knowing his name. Preston had never seen this guy before. His confidence quickly faltered. He let out a groan, sliding his hand across his face. "Alright, what's your name? We're going up there. Someone needs to explain to me what's happening here and why Cronus just tore apart DC."

[Crazytazer]

Tank turned to look at the newcomer and could definitely see as well as hear the fight going on above them, started to feel it too with the wind picking up at the impacts, not exactly something he could just ignore but quite far away all the same. He was pretty aware of how tough Lady Arcana was so if even she was going to have trouble they definitely would have to help like the talking plant...bug thing was saying though there was a bit of an issue. The big man despite probably being able to jump the distance was worried about doing it considering the margin for failure might put him just a little too close to space for his liking and breathing was kind of important not to mention if they shifted positions he would have to find a new takeoff zone. Besides maybe Emerald Knight the rest of them would have some problems participating as well, space suits came to mind but getting them now wasn't a solid option since he wasn't sure if any of them knew where to get any in the first place. Being able to fly would make this so much easier, though maybe I could use Cronus as a springboard... Girard thought trying to reason an independent solution and the only other thing he could think of was having EK use him like a flail which while cool in theory wouldn't be much fun for him or his stomach.

"Hi there." The big guy finally piped up keep half an eye on the sky as he greeted the plant-bug guy. "So how are we doing this exactly? I could the use the big grump over there to jump off and land on in a pinch unless they move too far."

Tank's head tilted to the side accompanied by a puzzled expression under his helmet walking over to Grim pretty sure what he was about to ask was very stupid but figuring his friend might be able to give him a proper answer. "I have a dumb question, you think I could keep myself up at that altitude with enough push downwards? Just trying to make life easier so Knight doesn't have to carry me around or somethin."

[Alfhedil]

December 25th, 2020 - Conowingdo Dam, Maryland

---

A thousand memories and feelings assaulted her all at once, tearing at her mind in two very different directions. For one, there was the older woman who had fought against the Great Enemy for nearly three decades, a battle that was being lost day by day and was left with the only option left. The other, a young woman still just a girl. She looked around in a daze as the temporal dissonance became stronger with the ripples of her monumental alteration of hypertime. Her one singular act of interference had broken every rule that had ever been written about time travel, to *never* change a keystone event. Such events were defining moments in the timestream, such as the rise and fall of Chingis Khan, the splitting of the atom, the birth of christianity and the victory of the Titans in the second Titanomachy. They were supposed to have won here on this day, break the human spirit and inspire a golden age that would follow.

The golden age that would be birthed from a bitter resistance of the survivors and the use of weapons that would later be buried along with those who had created them, all except for one. That was what she came back to prevent. To prevent the need for such a weapon to ever be unleashed and ensure the Great Enemy never came to be. Why then did she simply not return? She was supposed to fade with the severance of the previous timeline, along with everyone she had ever known. Nor were there the screams of the time-wraiths, creatures who were supposed to protect the integrity of the timeline. No, instead she felt uneasy and off-balance.

People called her name and spoke to her through a communication device in her ear that she remembered being given by Grim, and at the same time never had. She had spoken briefly with her before arriving, telling her that she needed to take care of something first, but also knew that she had been dead for centuries. All of them lingered as fond memories, of a few battles fought together, a stern lecture to use her abilities responsibly, and a very awkward introduction to the king of Atlantis. Yet none of them had ever truly met her, had they? Or had she?

Electricity crackled around her hands, the fingers clenching tight as she struggled internally, her brow furrowing while she tried to sort it all out.

"Will you be joining us?"
"Good morning to you too. Woulda been a shame if you missed out on the fun Velocity!"
"Welcome to the glory, Little Lightning Bolt!"

There were others too, drifting off to the side in her memories. A mother who was a fighter, recently severely wounded and taking a long break from field work. A grandfather who was eccentric at best, and people she knew as friends from a place that had long since been destroyed in what she knew as her real life. Only problem was that she started to question if it really was her real life. Someone was missing from this group, the real speedster who was supposed to be here. Except… These new memories that fought against her had nothing on him. There was no Celerity to her, not even the supposed identity of the man. It was the only thing that truly screamed out as an inconsistency. Everything else she could just mark off as simple temporal dissonance, but this one little detail immediately felt wrong.

More voices spoke, and there was a battle being fought overhead. There! Lady Arcana was fighting the mastermind of this whole mess and trading blows in a fight to decide who would truly decide the fate of the earth. At the moment there was nothing she could truly do, her feet unsteady as she bolted from her landing spot in this timeline, and appeared next to the other heroes. She had to play along for now, to act as if everything was fine and she truly was their Velocity.

"I'll help however I can, though with them that high up all I can do is hurl lightning bolts. A little risky with Lady Arcana so close, I would rather not zap her." Vera thought for a long moment, her eyes rapidly tracking the two at a speed far faster than any of the others would likely be able to do. For her they would be moving as if in slow motion, her mind processing every movement of their bodies and starting to anticipate their next moves. It was partly a measure to focus her mind on something else, but also to make sure that the job she came here to do was done.

"Wait!" Bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet, her skirt waved a little from the motion, her hand pointing out into the clouds. "Tank, how hard can you throw about… A hundred twenty-five pounds? Think you can hit the stratosphere?" Then she turned to Emerald Knight, a part of her thinking it amusing they were nearly of the same height. "How fast and how far could you generate precisely placed platforms, Emerald Knight?" Hopefully both of them would understand her plan of action, a flash of speed-force energy building behind her eyes as her mind raced and calculated the angle of approach and speed needed. If she could get high enough and build up enough energy, she felt like she could make a breach stable enough to end this once and for all.

[pyroman]

December 25th, 2020 - Conowingdo Dam, Maryland

Well, that was at least three. Tank wanted to go, as did Velocity, and the plan-man more or less had to go since he seemed to know what was going on. It seemed like they had a ground team ready, with Grim and... that other guy, whom his ring told Preston was Atlantean. Maybe Tank could stay back as well, or maybe the plant if he didn't want to go into the action. He seemed a little timid. Maybe the big fight wasn't for him. If he really was a part of the earth, it would serve him better to stay on the ground anyways.

Velocity chirped a question, one that Preston didn't have to take much time to think about. "I should." He answered her with a subtle shrug. "Granted that I can probably fly faster than Tank can throw you, I can make them wherever and whenever you needed them. I can't move as fast as you, but if you slow down, I'm sure I can generate platforms for you in time."

[Blazion]

December 25th, 2:45 AM
Conowingdo Dam, Maryland

Like so many things in life, the victory of the motley little crew of vigilante heroes was short lived. This time even quicker than their initial take down of Cronus, to boot, as their greetings to Velocity were barely passed their lips before ... a bud grew a full sized bug-man who started talking to them.

See, this is why Grim didn’t have plants in The Dog House.

Nonetheless the words he spoke were worrying and immediately drew the Gotham hero’s gaze skyward. The lenses of her helmet reflected the flashing lights above of the colossal battle, each strike between the two Goddesses causing a rupture of color to spark against the night sky. The helmet of the Iron Fang prototype zoomed in, following the movements and recording, yet even then their motions were swift and could barely be followed. A battle of Gods, indeed.

Yet it was heartening that immediately those around Grim jumped in, wanting to help. To go up into that fight of men beyond mortals to assist Lady Arcana. The problem of course, lay in how. Emerald Knight was the one that would even be able to get up there, and though Tank might be able to jump or throw the others what then?

No, what they needed was for this fight to be grounded.

”Hold on,” It was barely more than a mutter directed to Tank’s question as Grim’s gaze turned from the sky to the metal armor on her wrist. A few taps, and... yes, yes good. Communicator 1 was back online. It was out of range for awhile, which was no surprise considering where Lady Arcana had gone. Connecting the communicator back to the grid Grim spoke to the congregation of vigilantes, letting her words be heard in the ears of all.

”Lady Arcana, we’re sending reinforcements. We need that fight on the ground. We’ll offer you an opening Try to aim for the dam where Cronus’ body is – there’ll be no one for casualties around here.” Grim had, after all, warned people away long before she had even shown up with King Orin.

Turning the glowing white gaze of the Iron Fang armor to the others she gestured to the three most useful in this situation. ”Speedy’s plan has merit. Tank, throw her as hard as possible then get ready to jump on whoever is up there once they’re down. Green Glow, get ready to catch Sonic – I’ll be ready as well if necessary. Orin, Harris, get ready to lock down the threat as well. Stay out of the water too, if they land there that’s prime time for a repeat performance from Orin’s trident.”

The motors on Grim’s back flared to life as she rose up, and from her shoulders, arms, and the thick plating of the Iron Fang’s chest metal panels slid away to show a variety of weapons, both magical and mundane. Hopefully the fact they were mere beta tests wouldn’t backfire.

”Let’s make this one even a God won’t forget.”

[Bluetommy]

December 25th, 2:50 AM
Conowingdo Dam, Maryland

Harris' eyes dashed between the battle in the skies above and the people on the ground, their hectic planning underscored by the pounding in the air of superpowered fists striking with superpowered faces. He mousily poked his fingers together, not speaking even when spoken to. His nerves were quite strong, you see, and when Harris was this nervous, there wasn't much that could force him to speak. He gulped as Grim pulled an exceptional amount of rank. He was never great around authority figures, well, the good type anyway; in terms of the bad kind, well, he had enough farming blood in his veins to know how to deal with a jackass.

"Wait why am I on lock-down duty? I can grow to the size of Godzilla for God's sake, I could easily smack her out of the air!" Harris protested, holding up his pointer finger. "Hell, I could probably throw harder than Tank over there, can he turn his arm into a slingshot? No, I didn't think so! And furthermore, I feel..." Harris caught a glimpse of the vast variety of weapons on Grim's... everything. He swallowed whatever words he was about to say and recoiled. It wasn't like they could hurt him, his human half was just irrational like that.

"I feel..." He stuttered, hemmed and hawed, made a few strange noises, the usual. "I feel like lockdown duty sounds great yeah!" He nodded nervously.

Nice save Harris.

[Alfhedil]

Four hours before the arrival of Velocity
Salt Lake City, Utah

---

Silence dominated the observation deck, the eighteen men and women collected there watching as one more stood before them facing out towards the city. Fires had engulfed it across the horizon, buildings exploding from the ongoing battle raging in the region. The man who stood just inches from the glass wore an indifferent expression, merely observing. To those who waited on his every reaction, this was a disaster that was only barely being kept from becoming a tragedy by the heroism of black-clad soldiers fighting block to block to retake the city. For him, it was merely another city. His eyes had taken in the burning of hundreds just like it, the only difference was that this one was his.

"It is said, that Nero played a violin as Rome burned." The sudden breaking of the silence by his calm tones shook a few around the room, concerned glances shared between them. Raymond von Lüneburg turned, putting his back to the fires of Salt Lake City, and the ongoing struggle of his armies. "Popular fiction, a lie that gained prominence due to his status as a rather tyrannical Emperor. I was there with him, when Rome burned. It was his home, and where he had lived for much of his life. Nero wept upon the balcony of his palace, watching everything that he had controlled turn to ash in his hands."

A soft chuckle passed, but he was not truly amused by anything that had transpired now or then. "By that time, my own home had already been forgotten. Taken over by insidious forces like the ones besieging humanity now, and destroyed by rival powers when we were still recovering from rebellion. How many of you have watched your homeland burned to the ground before your eyes? Your country erased from the history books and changed in the name of progress? Has a single one of you even lost a city to natural disaster?"

The tension in the room was palpable as his mood soured and turned on the collective leadership of his company and the various shells that contributed. It was a modern world, and the days of the great wars were long past. Most of the people around him were in their forties, a few in their fifties and the oldest one other than him could actually claim to have lost close to as much. Reverie stood in the corner with a bemused smirk, a lit cigar held between her lips as she understood more than any of them what was at stake.

"We are besieged by forces that seek to subjugate and destroy humanity. Creatures thought to be myth have descended from the skies and erupted from the earth to attack our cities and destroy centers of power. All across the world are reports of not just the foot-soldiers, but vast beings of power thought long gone." He knew them of course, he had once tried to make a deal with one millennia ago. "Titans. They have come back to have their vengeance."

"What are we supposed to do? You've already ordered most of the garrison to the city, and unlike some areas, we've got a majority of citizens safely evacuated. We've done the best we can, considering the circumstances."

Raymond took note of the one who spoke, a man who headed up foreign operational intelligence. He was both right and wrong, all things considered. At the first sign of attack, LIS had rolled into the city in force, deploying everything they had to secure the city and protect the evacuation convoys. Some other cities across the world were lucky to have gotten mobilized in time, and a few burned before the people knew they were under attack. Yet something bothered the former priest turned warrior, and it was not just the presence of a titan nearby. He had worked for millennia in order to prepare mankind, secretly fostering conflict in order to advance weapons technology and keep the armies of the world on the bleeding edge of preparedness. Then they were attacked and it was largely down to the resistance of the powered people to defend mankind.

He turned back to the city in the distance, seeing not the valiant defense that his soldiers were making in every street, but the failure to do enough. For all of his efforts in secret, gently pushing nations to war and orchestrating events across the globe to get to this point, one singular outside force was pushing them back on their boots. It wasn't enough. None of it was. A thought had come to him that maybe it never would be enough, that they were doing the best they could. Perhaps a little more trust in Lady Arcana and her band of heroes would be what was necessary in order to prevail. No… His hands clenched into fists, a slow simmering anger rising within at the thought of simply leaving the fate of the Earth and all mankind in the hands of a girl who was barely of age and still learning to control her powers.

There needed to be more done, and it was time to stop the act. "Reverie, gather the council." His words snapped out with authority, his daughter leaving at once with a crisp salute. Control needed to be re-established, and these games needed to end. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the heads of his company, most of them all too eager to leave in the wake of his building rage. Just in time as well, for the moment the room was empty that lingering presence manifested itself.

"Ramman of Akkad." Melodic just as he remembered, with the tones that would have swayed lesser men to her will and broken them with her magics. Her face twisted and distorted into dozens that he had seen across a lifetime, body contorting to try and match even as her form sought out the one that would disorient the most.

"Theia." She was the one who had very nearly been the end of him twice before, enticing with offers that had been hard to turn down then, and he knew would be irresistible now. This time though, he knew her clearly as an enemy. That thought focused him and blocked out her attempts to sway him before she even started. A curious expression solidified on the misty features of her face, something that approached sadness and mischief at the same time.

"You're blocking me out of your thoughts… Such a shame, I had argued with the others that you could persuaded to join us, but your obsession with these lesser mortals has always clouded your judgement."

No more words needed to be said. They were enemies now, and with an explosion of raw arcane energies he lept towards her with a true word on his lips. He could not afford caution at this time, not with her.

[Crazytazer]

December 25th, 2:50am.
Conowingdo Dam, Maryland.

Girard waited patiently continuing to think on the issue at hand figuring if Grim was gonna figure out a solution it might take a minute anyway. He did turn to listen to Velocity's question to him and then to Emerald Knight getting a sort of picture of her general idea. It could work, he was sure that if he could launch himself that high it wouldn't be all that difficult to get someone shorter and lighter, plus all things considered it would look really damn cool pulling off another team maneuver like the one before. So fuck it, why not?

"Pretty sure I could manage that throw for ya if that's what we're doing." He said first looking at her then up above and finally back down at those involved in the planning.

Tank liked the sound of it at first and with EK and Zoey also agreeing to the new plan the big man was all for it. He could definitely help afterwards too maybe helping to force down whichever god so the ground team could get a proper hold. This seemed more and more like it could work with everyone's part in place. There was a certain pride to all of them pulling together like this to do crazy shit no one of them could do alone, and it made him happy. The big guy walked over to Velocity standing nearby prepared for what was going to be a pretty good time.

"I'm ready whenever you guys are. Lets finish this up properly eh?" Girard said waiting for the speedster to give him the go ahead and he would send her flying as close as he could get to the fight above which didn't take more than a moment.

Girard hefted the woman up over his shoulder balancing the still standing heroine on his hand before he drew back and hurled her with all the force he could muster up towards the ensuing fight. Was going to rate at one of the longest throws he had ever done after this, well the longest for sure, the big guy just hoped it all went to plan.

[pyroman]

Emerald knight began to glow as his body floated gently above the ground. His ring was getting low on energy, his charge would only last one, maybe two hours tops.

“Wait.”

He couldn’t take that chance. Emerald Knight knew they didn’t have a lot of time, but he didn’t know how much longer this was going to last. His ring forward, he summoned the energy to create a portal to his lantern. Pulling out the large device and inserting by his ring into the open hold on the side, he recited the mantra that the Guardians of Oa had gifted to him.

“In brightest day, in blackest night. No evil shall escape my sight, Let those who worship evil's might. Beware my power--Green Lantern's light!"

Light and energy were discharged from the lantern, and the power returned to Emerald Knight. He smiled at the return of his strength and energy reserves. Now nothing would be able to stop him from helping the others in taking down the gods.

It only occurred to him now that nobody knew what he was doing. Maybe Orin, but certainly none of the others. “I’ll explain later.” He chuckled and looked skyward. “I’ll catch you, Velocity, let’s go.” With that, he flew upwards, ready go catch velocity wherever Tank might throw her.

[Blackstripe]

It wasn't as if Lady Arcana hadn't heard Grim's voice in her earpiece. It had registered loud and clear. No, the problem was that her battle with Eris was happening so far beyond the realm of speech and sound that she couldn't possibly reply to her in a way that her fellow heroine would understand. Even their brief pauses between clashes were less than a microsecond in real time; it was as if she was living in a different reality entirely.

As for her request of knocking her to the ground, well, that was easier said than done. This was by far the most difficult opponent she had ever faced. Even more so than Solomon Grundy had been, because she also had speed and magic that rivaled her own. If she was going to change their battlefield, she would need some kind of distraction.

Their clash continued to send shockwaves resonating across the Thermosphere, with a not-insubstantial number of satellites being wiped out by the aftershocks of their power.

In order to change the flow of this battle, she just needed something, anything to draw Eris' eye for a second. Something to give her the upper hand.

[Alfhedil]

Electricity flickered in her eyes as she stared up into the skies, following the battle raging between the two. It would have been far more convenient to be doing this closer to the ground, but they would make do with their current plan of action. Velocity made her way over to Tank, hopping up to crouch in his palm, giving him a steady nod when ready. All of the tension of the moment felt like it was building as she prepared herself and waited, hearing familiar words from Emerald Knight at her side, and knowing that he would catch her. Time slowed for her as she began to move backwards, Tank pulling back and starting the throw. Her fists clenched tight and she pressed her foot into his palm to launch off of him, finally rocketing into the air as the toss completed.

Air rushed by her, the ground leaving swiftly and the skies darkening as she went higher and higher. Each second brought her closer and closer, soon able to bound off the falling debris as the two women crashed through satellites in their titanic brawl. It was enough to get her started, flashes of light forming in the skies to signal her race towards Eris and Lady Arcana. Soon those flashes shifted into a more circular shape, only helped by Emerald Knight's assistance once the ring was formed. Speedforce energy lashed outwards from her speed, a sonic boom forming the moment she broke the sound barrier, but still she wasn't done. Only the crack of reality being torn open slowed her just slightly, a hole forming between dimensions and the shimmering gateway of a breach forming in the center of that ring. She just hoped it was going where she wanted, and that it would be enough to keep Eris contained.

"Arcana, it's Velocity. I got you one hoop in the sky, so how about you slam-dunk that witch into another dimension and finish this?"

[Blazion]

Lights flashed high above in the sky as two great beings met again and again in a cacophony of sound and violence. Across the nation eyes turned upward, across the world people tuned in to the shaky news coverage amidst the rest of the world’s carnage. Amongst the creatures of myth, amongst the Titans, amongst the Gods themselves, a single fight came to a point for the fate of them all.

The plan was made.

The stage was set.

Finally...the execution.

The appearance of the portal behind Eris had drawn her eye for a mere nanosecond, but that had been all Lady Arcana required. Her fist collided with with jaw of the goddess of discord, knocking her back towards the oblivion that awaited her.

Then a roar split the air.

Like little more than mosquitos, Lady Arcana and Eris were knocked from the sky by the descending bulk of a creature so large, so great, that Cronus was a mere insect. Beneath them, the six heroes that worked with such synchronization were knocked away like bowling pins, scattering across the ground. Another roar, shaking the very foundation of earth itself as the latest God joined the fight, a God of such immense power that it was weaved into its very name!

“GODZILLA!” Came the cry as the creature leapt hundreds of feet in the air and descended once more. Roaaar! Not even the great Justice League could-

“Hey dweeb, you’re going to break your toys.” Godzilla paused mid air, the painted eyes gleaming in the artificial light from above. The plastic Tank figure with real jumping action spun in place on the playmat, his six companions knocked to all four corners of the soft green material. “Besides, Godzilla was never in that fight.”

“Well, if he was he would’ve won!” Was the childish reply as the young child stuck his tongue out, crossing his arms and sulking.

“What? Yeah right,” The older girl leaned over from his position on the couch, grabbing one of the plastic figures with a tiny trident. “For one, Aquaman would’ve known long before he reached the shore of any giant lizard, and in this fight the Justice League were against actual Gods and not just overgrown reptiles-”

“Kids!” The siblings immediately went quiet and lifted their heads at the call, meeting the gaze of their father. He offered a chuckle and a shake of his head, kneeling down to collect the rest of the toys. Grim, Lady Arcana, Vine Stalker, Velocity, and Emerald Knight joined their plastic companion - and Godzilla - in the box of toys nearby. “Come on now, we’re meeting your mother at the parade and I don’t want to be late.”

“Yes Dad.” Came the reply in stereo as the two children sprung up, moving to collect their jackets and make last second preparations.

“... Godzilla would’ve totally won,” The little boy added on in a whisper to his older sister, who merely rolled her eyes and blew a puff of air at the boy - freezing his blonde bangs into little icicles.

”DAD!”

All across the world similar scenes played out as families gathered for the celebrations. Parades, open-air reenactments, in the countries where the sun had already set - fireworks! Merchants hocked their wares, from Justice League figures to little flags of smaller heroes closer to home. The shaky video footage posted nearly five years ago of the final confrontation between the Goddess of Discord and the seven most known heroes in the world hit an all time high, as viewer after viewer flocked to relive the battle that had formed the equally famous group - the Justice League!

So much had changed since then. So many new powers. New threats. New opportunities. The world was in so many ways unrecognizable from the scared, paranoid populace that once looked so distrustfully on those with these abilities. It wasn’t perfect by any means, there was still so much danger in the world.

Death.

Crime.

Branches of police specifically made to combat those with powers. Criminals who could stop others with a fist, with a thought, with so many abilities they couldn’t all be listed.

Yet through it all there were always those willing to fight back. From the streets to the very Gods themselves. From the space station high above, branded with the familiar “JL” that marked its occupants, to the powerless person who only stepped in since it was the right thing to do, and everyone in between.

From the trenchcoat detectives, to the tech geniuses, to the police, to the teenagers just wetting their feet with their newfound abilities.

And in this era, it was a new time. A time of Heroes Reborn.

Join us in the new Heroes Reborn thread, coming soon for Year Five!

[Simple Unicycle]

_{yes this is late stfu}

DIRECTED BY:
BLACKSTRIPE, BLAZION, AND ALFHEDIL

STARRING:
BLACKSTRIPE AS KAREN HERNANDEZ/LADY ARCANA AND BILLY JOHNSON/DEMON SEED

BLAZION AS ZOEY KASIMIR/GRIM AND JOSHUA CHRISTOPHE/DEMON

ALFHEDIL AS RAYMOND VON LUNEBURG AND VERA VALINOVA/VELOCITY

CRAZYTAZER AS JUDAS AND GIRARD BABCOCK/TANK

BLUETOMMY AS HARRIS HERTUG/VINE STALKER, WILHELM SILBER/IRON EAGLE, ROBERT WOJOWNIK/BANG, AND SHAMS AL'HARASA/ALIAS

KORKOA AS JESSIE BEEDLE/LIGHTNING BUG, ANARKEE, KING ORIN/AQUAMAN, AND SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE AS SINESTRO

PYROMAN AS PRESTON WESTFIELD/EMERALD KNIGHT AND PATRICIA 'PAT' PALIMO/APEX

SIR LURKSALOT AS MALCOLM TALHAIARN/WATCHDOG

SIMPLE UNICYCLE AS OSCAR ELLISON/THE QUESTION AND DAVID KASIMIR/BLACKSTAR

AFRO SAMURAI AS MARVIN HAYES/THE TIGER

AND INTRODUCING

LEGION X51 AS KATARINA 'KAT' VON RYSECH/THE RED COUNTESS

AND POKEMAD1 AS ARNOLD RENE/RALLY

IN MEMORIAM:

CETA DE CLOYES AS EZRA LO/ECHO, THOMAS TOOMBS/HEX, AND KASSANDER 'KASSAN' MARKOS/PROTEUS

ASTRALGEMINI AS JACQUELINE 'JACK' BLAKE/BLACKJACK

THE WHACKO AS CLAYTON TOOMBS

TAYTAY AS IRA REEVES/RENEGADE AND ZALIM NAN MARKOS/BETA

DRAGONOFTHEWEST AS JOHN RIZZO/SUPERMAN

CU CHULAINN AS JAMES 'JIMMY' CHONG/CELERITY

HAGRODEN AS SHAWN J. STUBBE

HOLY SOLDIER AS ROLAND COOK/SWARM

DBLADE26 AS TIMOTHY MCCLELLAN/KID ETERNITY AND BRUCE PHOENIX

CLANJOS AS SHOUSEI KOUGAMI/LORD DEATH MAN

PLEEK AS BANE

MOONMAN AS BLACK MANTA

ZERO HEX AS DESMOND DORRANCE/KING SNAKE AND DORIAN VON JELEK/THE PALE COUNT

AND DESCARTES AS LEX LUTHOR

WRITTEN BY:
A BUNCH OF MONKEYS WITH A TYPEWRITER

PRODUCED BY:
HARVEY WEINSTEIN

SCORE BY:
LUNATICS AND MADMEN

CATERING BY:
WU-TANG CLAN

FILMED ON LOCATION... YES, EVEN THE PARTS IN HADES

COSTUMES PROVIDED BY:
YOUR MOM (SHE'S A NICE PERSON, GIVE HER A CALL SOMETIME)

I'M GONNA PRETEND LIKE THERE'S MORE STUFF HERE

SO HOW ARE YOU?

GOOD TO HEAR I'M PRETTY GOOD TOO

I WASTED LIKE HALF AN HOUR WRITING ALL THIS SHIT SO YOU KNOW

WHY ARE YOU HERE?

SERIOUSLY THE RP'S OVER GO HOME

THERE'S NO AFTER CREDITS SCENE

NOT JOKING

GO AWAY

... OKAY MAYBE THERE IS

To Be Continued...

... Don't these kinda things have post-credits scenes?

Of all the ways Malcolm had thought he was going to spend Christmas morning... this probably wasn't one of them- Seated there, in his tiny kevlar suit and flak-vest, absolutely caked in bits of steadily drying ant-person, his foster-brother to his right, the mouthguard of his helmet to his left and an infamous psychopath carving up a double-cheese pepperoni pizza with a stuffed crust to his front.

...And also some kinda shiny crystal stick leaning up against the wall in the corner. With an old, half-gutted Sony Watchman crudely bound to it with electrical tape, still playing reruns of Mr. Rogers' Neighbourhood over it's tiny black and white screen and broken speakers.

Because that was a thing that happened today, he couldn't avoid remembering as his glowing eyes lingered on the crude contraption of magic and spite that may well have just saved the whole goddamn planet, that actually fucking transpired.

The Goddess of Misery and Discord had been unceremoniously booted into another dimension by everyone's favourite blonde, magical jailbait while flailing and shrieking incoherently about old men in cardigans.

Yes. This is a thing that actually happened.

For a moment, no sound escaped him as his apparently mighty wit still struggled with processing the sheer enormity of the pants-on-head insanity that was the past three hours until finally...

"How the hell did that work?"

David, who was currently more worried about making sure none of the bits of antfolk the trio were covered in got into his Coke or, God forbid, onto the pizza, shrugged at his foster-brother's question, the gesture making the paper bag over his head jostle slightly. "Honestly, it's just... It's best not to question these things."
'... Pffft, he's wearing a bag over his head.'
The older brother honestly felt a little bad for the staff at the Pizza Hut who, no doubt, were practically pissing in their pants behind the counter. Here they were, two vigilantes and a well-known terrorist covered in blood and pieces of monster, striding right into the store and having a quick bite to eat. It was a good thing the food got here so fast, so they could get out of the restuarant faster...

Actually, he was pretty sure Anarkee was the reason it came so quickly, considering she was well known for bringing the hammer down on anyone she didn't like.

Literally.

"... Do you think mom's gonna be pissed that we completely totalled the Grimmobile plowing it through all those ant guys?"

"Well I for one, thought that was a hell of a lot of fun!" The pale-faced terrorist said, grabbing two more slices of pizza and stacking them like bread on a sandwich. "Though I still say we should have gone somewhere else to eat, Ray's place has way better pizza and he doesn't try to call the police every time I walk through the door. Good guy, Ray. Seriously though, this was fun! We should kick ass together more often."

At this, David quirked an eyebrow. "... You do remember that Ray's was absolutely destroyed when we went there, right?" The teenager paused at Anarkee's desire to 'kick ass together more often'. "I mean, hey, you keep this up then you might be bumped down to Public Enemy #2. At least then we wouldn't have to try and lock you up."

Anarkee paused at the mention of the destroyed pizzeria, frowning at the thought. "Oh right... Where the hell am I gonna get pizza from until he rebuilds? Damn it, I'm going to have to rely on Chinese food, aren't I? Gonna have to go halfway across town to get the good stuff, and then haul it back to my place through the streets with your mother and you guys after me the whole time, I have to eat too you know!" Anarkee said sullenly.

"You could maybe... try cooking?" Mal offered with an almost apologetic shrug and awakward smile, not necessarily knowing what to tell this woman in condolence. "I mean, shit, I've lived off trash and cooked rat for most of my life, I'm sure you'll think of something."

Truth be told, this was Mal's first time actually meeting a real 'Supervillain' and not just some knifey goon. And here they were eating goddamn pizza after saving the world, instead of brawling it out dramatically as most logic wuld denote they should be.

He was a bit outta his element.

Anarkee waved a dismissive hand towards Malcom, now talking around a mouthful of pizza. "Tried it. Hated it. Cannibalized the stove for spare parts to build this beauty." She said, slinging a hand over the massive hammer leaning against the table. "If it comes down to cooking or eating trash, I'll take trash any day. Hell, sometimes you find fries or half a burger or something, and then I didn't have to cook it!" She said proudly, grinning at the two young boys.

It was a very disconcerting smile.

The young, former trash-diver was unmoved at this, instead cracking a wee smile of his own.

He happened to be an expert on this topic.

"Actually, what'cha wanna do is raid the bins behind donut shops. The tiny mass-murdering vigilante started, just a bit too enthusiastically for someone talking about dumpster diving "Anything they don't sell, they just chuck at the end of the day. It's a fuckin' goldmine!"

"Also grocery stores with a deli or a meat market." Anarkee said nonchallantly, picking some pepperoni off the pizza at the center of the table and adding it to her own slices. "Same deal, anything they've prepared but haven't sold gets chucked out." Her expression darkened for a moment as she stared at her pizza.

"The amount of goddamn waste in this country is freaking disgusting. people who are out on the streets have to dive for it like animals when it could just get donated, but noooooo. Instead the goddamn government tells us we have to throw it all out, who cares about the poor and homeless, right? Fuckers..."

For a moment after that, there was quiet, the only sound being Dave munching slowly on his pizza. "... Well, uh, this got awkward real fast."

Anarkee perked up and grinned at the pair of young heroes. "Oh! Speaking of awkward! She leaned forward conspiratorally and motioned for the boys to do the same. "If you tell your mother where I get pizza from, I will not hesitate to hunt you down and bash your head in with my hammer."

The younger of the brothers just kept chewing through his slice of oily, cheesy goodness without a care in the world at that statement, almost looking somewhat offended if anything at the notion of betraying and attacking the pale anarchist where she pretty much lived.

...Which had nothing to do with the fact that he actually did have a hell of a lot of fun today, fighting monsters alongside a lunatic with a rockethammer.

Who, as it turns out, was absolutely hilarious.

No siree.

"We just might've saved the fuckin' planet today, us three." He stated, or at least tried to through a mouthful of pizza and cola "I'm pretty sure we owe ya the right to eat goddamn pizza in peace."

The older, for his part, tried not to look too terrified at the casual threat. Then again, the bag covering his face probably helped with that. Having recovered as his brother swore the duo wouldn't betray the anarchist's trust, he nodded along. "Right. I mean, it's the least we could do after you helped us out."

That damn smile was back on the lunatic's face now as she leaned back in her chai, tearing off a bit of pizza crust with her teeth. "Good! We have an accord then! You know boys, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship!

... We should start a gang."

"...The hell's an 'accord'?" the smaller boy's glowing eyes blinked in confusion under his visor for a second "...Is that dessert or something?"

It took David a few blinks to process what Anarkee had just said. "... A gang? Okay, we're friends, but we're not gonna help you start a gang." He then turned to his brother. "It's like... An agreement, I think. But dessert sounds pretty damn good right about now."

"Then why not just call it a fuckin' agreement..." the Watchdog just started to mutter under his breath but dropped the topic quickly as-

"Garcon!" Anarkee called out, turning towards the kitchen where the employees were cowering. "A batch of your finest cookie cake thingies! And Oreos, if you have them!"

^{Copyright Blackstripe RPs 2017-2018}