10387/Zombie

Zombie
Date of Scene:	08 March 2022
Location:	Columbia University
Synopsis:	Questions may still remain about just what the Zomborgs were up to, but the dozens of lives saved mean that those answers can wait for another day.
Cast of Characters:	Mark Grayson, Valeria Richards, Emma Frost, Susan Sullivan, John Stewart

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Mark Grayson has posed:
Only a few evening classes are still going on within the buildings that make up the Columbia University campus and the crowds have thinned considerably. But the campus is certainly not yet deserted, the evening still young enough that some students filter in and out of one of the libraries while others gather at the various nearby cafe's and bars that are ever popular with the young.

And in those lengthening shadows other shapes move, emerging from beneath manhole covers that are pushed aside with surprising ease.

For his part, Mark Grayson has been on his continuing quest to try and decide just where he will be going to school next Fall and while Columbia might be something of a reach, it is pretty close to home. And besides, it's a pretty good excuse to spend an evening in the city. Not that he really needs one, but it's still nice.

Currently he lingers on the College Walk, the Low Library to the north and the Butler Library to the south as perhaps a dozen or so other students traverse the pathways inbetween the trees currently still devoid of any of their leafy greenery. Despite the hour it feels rather safe here on campus, the well-lit walks bright and almost cheery.

At least until the first scream sounds from nearby...

Valeria Richards has posed:
Valeria doesn't actually need to attend college but sometimes she shows up to see what all the cool kids are experimenting on once the off hours have way less other students around.

But to do that she also kinda needs to not stand out so that means parking and cloaking her Fantasticar a few blocks away from any campus car park.

The other thing she needs to do is just dress like a normal college student, so a comfy if very close fitting pair of jeans A black leather racing jacket that might have some Fantastic blue on the shoulders and sleaves to match some comfy looking black sneakers with laces in the same blue.

She's even wearing glasses in kinda nerdy black hornrim style though a few flashes hit she might have included a heads up display fed data by a couple wristbands and a pair of rings on a middle finger each. The young woman's hair left loose for now to drape ofer her shoulders while she plods towards the science departments.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost is currently walking through the area, wearing a long coat made of koala fur, sparkles of mink over it to give it a look almost like a fresh snowfall going down over her form. She's wearing a large cap that one might see on a member of teh Tsar's family. As she's going through the area she happens to pick up over of the screams and there'sa frown over on her face.

Then she's rapidly going to try and sweep ahead telepathically, if at all possible going to try and get an idea of what's going on from that direction while evaluating who is present and who is not.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan is coming out of somewhere near the robotics lab. She's dressed for work, which means coveralls. She made this particular set herself, not that it shows much. Natural fabrics rather than manmade. However, a scream gets her attention. She runs quickly. With a little wall-running and parkour to get her through the throng of students. She doesn't slow down as she grabs a fallen branch on her way past one of the campus trees. She'll stop this mugging!...or whatever it is!

John Stewart has posed:
With all the problems on Earth alone, multiple Green Lanterns since the Guardians of the Universe assigned the first one to this sector recently was only logical. John is the second Green Lantern to have been chosen, and the second Green Lantern assigned to the sector. Of course, Earth isn't the only planet in this sector, so one of them needs to handle off world matters.

Just returning from off-world, John has already re-entered the atmosphere and is heading for his condo when his ring reports <<Status report: high decibel 'scream' detected, chances of panic relation, 76 percent. Project course?>> At this time of night, the graveyard shift might be too late, and that sort of scream meant local...

"Show me." John orders of the Power Ring, and gets a green line projected into his vision down to the university.

Up above, anyone who cares to look will see a sudden flare of Green energy as John Wills an energy shield into existence and starts to fly towards the commotion. Emma might even be able to scan him as he's coming.

Mark Grayson has posed:
More than a few startled gazes snap up at the sound of that scream and suddenly the campus walk doesn't feel all that safe afterall, regardless of how many bright light stands crowd the way. Those little pools of illumination are suddenly just a little bit smaller, just a little bit dimmer then they were just seconds before, and if it is all psychological, that doesn't matter in the least. It still very much feels true.

That first scream comes across the quad to the north, in around behind the Dodge Miller Theatre and just seconds later a panicked young man comes tearing out from that direction. The artificial light can give everything a washed out feel, but his features look almost bone white and bloodless. "It's got Lily! Some... thing's got Lily! Call the police!" he shouts.

Just an instant before an arm abruptly wraps around the student, his cry muffled as that powerful limb covers his mouth and drags him back into the thicker shadows with only a brief glint of light reflecting off of metal left behind.

In moments the air is filled with more cries begin to sound nearby. To the northeast, behind Kent Hall. To southeast, over across the south field by Hamilton Hall and to the southwest, tucked away behind the Pulitzer building. Not some lone mugger then. Something else.

Something worse.

Standing around, leaning up against one of those light stanchions, Mark has been waiting for his friend William to show up. Ditched again, he absently flicks through his phone. At least until those cries start. He starts, straightening, glancing towards the north and those first cries until more behind to echo through the night, seeming from every direction at once. He, of course, has his costume tucked away in his backpack. What he doesn't have is anywhere good to change into it. "Son of a..." he begins to curse, glancing around -- both for the threat and somewhere to slip on his costume.

They never have this problem in the comics.

Valeria Richards has posed:
That scream does get a hmmm from Valeria and she starts scanning via a tap of her wrstband and a little holo display starts scanning for the noise in it's direction as she walks rather briskly. "Frat parties really suck sometimes." she ponders as she walks pretty briskly. she does at least spot Emma Frost and looks rather surprised at the coat. "Wow, how that hasn't had red paint thrown on it yet is a miracle." as the HUD in her glasses tells her what it was made from. But it's more screams here and there that get her pausing and soon enough she ponders which is closest to her and her legs. Which in this case is the Theater, so that's where she starts running. An abduction she can track live if she's fast enough.

Emma Frost has posed:
Going to move to pick up things from the minds ahead, Emma Frost goes to just let out a sigh. "Lovely." Of all teh times to not have taken her employee with her. Ah well, not everything can go the way that one would like it to. She's moving to start to focus her eyes now and then she would try to blur herself from the consciuosness from anyone nearby.

It's a rather simple psionic ability; blanketing awareness of herself from general senses and minds. For Emma, if it does work no one in the area will notice her short of direct physical contact, if they're very strong willed, or that there's something that gives them the ability to track her that stands out. Emma's intent is to for now just drop herself into concealment and try to get to an advantageous positioning.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan can smell mutant qi where Emma is, but that is NOT where the scream came from. She can smell something...else. Rotton. She knows that smell, or one like it. She rushes into the shadows where one emplored her for help. Wielding her branch, she readies herself to fight...a vampire? A jiangshi? A ghost pirate ninja? She just knows it's undead and that it's vaguely in the area. Undead aren't known for breathing.

John Stewart has posed:
A green beacon flits into existence directly above the university, then shifts over to the origin of the original scream. That's probably the one in need of most help.

<<Passive scan detects telepathic attempt to block sensory input. Radius: one 'block', US standard. Origin not consistant with origin of scream>> "Ignore it, scan for origin of scream."

Sounds like someone is taking precautions to him, so he takes the priority; finding the original victim.

AIming his Power Ring, John Wills into existence a small scale sun to illuminate out a few blocks with Green light, and aims the Power Ring itself towards where the ring could detect the original scream, but 'spotlighting' the area, and scanning for a trail or the victim themselves.

Yeah, he's a giant beacon anyone in the area can see now, and he's lighting up the area like a sun.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Increasingly the screams from around the nearby campus are cut off. Abruptly. It is in no way reassuring to have that silence restored, not at the moment and a few dozen people stream out onto the campus walk, racing towards either ends of it and the waiting safety of the streets to either side. If there is any safety to be found out on those streets that is. If there is any safety to be found anywhere nearby right now.

Behind the theatre itself there are much fewer lights, at least where the path twists to head northward, up past the other nearby campus buildings. But even for those without enhanced senses it is possible to see a trio of emaciated figures each dragging a strugling form deeper into the shadows, back into the alleyway and the open manhole that rests there.

It is Susan that gets the first glimpse of what is waiting there though Valeria will no doubt be swiftly behind. And what it is most definitely is not pretty. The attackers look like walking corpses to be sure, every bit of excess flesh seemingly melted away, particularly around the face where the rictus grin is particularly disturbing. If it looks like a zombie and acts like a zombie, it must indeed be a zombie, right?

Except in this case these zombie's appear to be supercharged. Even in the scant light of the shadows metal attachments glint under the moonlight. In some cases it might be an entire limb that has been removed and replaced by an artifical duplicate. In another there just might be a scattering of metal plates. Some of the creatures seem to have metal plates grafted to their chest, while others do not.

EIther way, they all move silently and unnaturally quickly, easily managing their struggling burdens despite looking half wasted away.

The stream of students floods past Emma, not noticing her in the least. Despite that, none of them seems to plow into her either as they flee, so mission accomplished there. But the panic doesn't really subside when the night sky is suddenly lit up like day, a greenish glow doing much to banish those shadows, to reveal the horrific monsters creeping around the various buildings, each seeming to be dragging their chosen victims back towards open manholes in the four corners around the extended quad.

While the bulk of the crowd begins to flood away from the campus greens, Mark seizes the chance and goes the opposite direction, racing towards the giant sundial just to the south of him. Glancing around, he hastily digs into his backpack, tugging out his costume. "Man, I really hope no one's watching right now. I don't know how I'd explain an indecent exposure charge to my parents..."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma is now going to simply direct the studetns. <<All of you, get out of here>> This is the sort of puppeting hse's fine with, going to try and take control of as many minds as possible in her current state in the mass panic and fleeing. Her intent is to simply control them enough to get them to run away without trampling one another. emma's also going to put out a rather strong 'get out of the area' vibe to anyone that's around to try and get a few blocks in every direction evacuated.. And hopefully ensure there's not a curious viewing audience around that might wander in and get caught up in the melee.

Emma is focused, attempting to get the area cleared first before figuring out what to do next. The sensory images she's picking up verge on the ridiculous.

Valeria Richards has posed:
If the green light wasn't enough of a giveaway, the HUD in Val's glasses is pinging emotional spectrum energy and a look up confirms that there is a Green Lanterm up above.

Emma's psychic stealthing puts the older blonde out of mind of the younger woman for now while Val comes to see what the source of some of those screams is.

And it's like super gross and stuff.

Seeing the same thing Susan does, the blonde supergenius skids to a halt and with a push of the two rings together she nibbles her lip nervously. "Val Rings, Be good Bling!" she says and her clothes switch to a uniform. Designed like a standard Fantastic Four uniorm, thhough with more padding at the shoulders arms back thighs and knees, almost like a whole racing suit. Even with a number four in black on a white circle across her chest. A little shimmer of light like a blur flickering around her soon after.

A scan from a different kind of ring high up might pick up tech emulating a couple tricks known to Val's family. A prototype Thing Suit and a Forcefield projector.

Once Val quickly doublecheks the suit hasn't crapped out on her she scvans the cyborgs. "C'mon what tech am I looking at now? Dethlok, Stone, what?" she mutters hurrriedly."

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan raises her stick, then takes a step back. She wants to hit--to destroy--but suddenly, she needs to get out of the area. She finds her center. No. She's fought that voice before. Undead are great at mind control. In the same way she shrugged off her undead master a decade before, she shrugs off the telepathic suggestion, now.
    What had been an urgent desire to protect now burned as a figurative fire in Susan's eyes. Jumping up, she bounded off one of the nearby buildings and used gravity, the flow of her qi telekinesis, and the strength of her swing to smash a zombie head clean off. "Never again!" she shouts before swinging at another.

John Stewart has posed:
What in the...

John sighs then, at this point, he just isn't surprised at the sheer absurdity he sees on Earth anymore. Cyborg zombies. Why not.

Instead of trying to figure out why they're kidnapping random strangers across campus (though a quick moment gives him a couple scenarios) John instead flits over to the nearest cyborg, constructs an M24 sniper rifle, and aims for the nearest cyborg, trying to disable it.

From this vantage, he can keep going with that too... and so he does, starting to fire Green Willpower energy to give the people chances to flee.

Emma can also feel a powerful mind in the sky; The Green Lantern resisting her telepathic manipulation... and then feel his annoyance at her attempt just beneath his icy calm as he fires.

Mark Grayson has posed:
With each passing moment each of those zombie cyborgs gets a little closer to their designated sewer entrance with one of Columbia's finest. Or perhaps just some innocent passerby. They do not appear to be terribly selective, or at least there is no obvious pattern judging by those that are being carted away.

But who knows. Perhaps there is a method to the madness.

For Valeria, those scans will not register the cybernetic technology being utilized as exactly like any other that might be in the Fantastic Four's database. There is a certain crudeness to it, very much like it is still being refined, but all the promise is there.

It is, afterall, apparently animating corpses. Not too bad, on the scale of mad science.

The man/machine beasts do not appear to be daunted by very much and as Susan and Val approach those rictus grins only curl a little more -- the only reaction they make. Perhaps the only reaction they can make. They continue to carry out their tasks in silence, only the occasional click of metal on pavement, or the hum of internal servos sounding at all. And increasingly those struggling burdens are going still as well, as the hands over mouths, or arms wrapped around necks cut off the air supply, rendering their would-be captives unconscious.

For her part, Emma won't find it that difficult to infilitrate the minds of those around her and make a few helpful suggestions. Almost at once the headlong dashes towards the flanking Broadway and Armstrong streets comes to a halt and a more orderly evacuation begins to insue, the cries of fear and panic growing less pronounced and a brisk all seemingly the pace of choice.

The southeastern trio of zombie-cyborgs suddenly come face to face with a Green Lantern and even with the intentional or unintentional shield of students they carry the creations don't really hold up to gunfire -- at least not when the bullets are made of emerald willpower. They tear through the abominations, fortunately missing the hostages with pinpoint accuracy, ripping away more of that emaciated flesh. But still those creatures continue to tug their burdens towards the sewers until they are all but blown apart. Even then servos and motors in the cybernetic components try to move, to fulfill their purpose.

For a moment as Mark slips into his costume, he too feels the tug of Emma's mental command and he starts to rise half dressed from his place of concealment behind that huge sundial. But he manages to shake his head, brow furrowing in momentary confusion as he glances around, absently tugging the rest of that costume into place. He's Mark Grayson no more. Now he's Invincible.

Hopefully. He doesn't want to test how well he holds up against zombie bites.

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Ugh, home brew cybernetics." Val says and looks over to Susan, the blonde shrugs. "Guess we better make sure that it's not dragging anymore people off." she states and runs through her scans. "Okay, lets see autonomous or being controlled?" she says and switches to scanning for any communications coming in and out , setting the scanner in her glasses to go to work as she steps up to try and put herself between the zombie and it's next victom. And see what can be done to stop it fast. Cybernetics are such a hassle when it comes to shutting things down. "No brains for you!" she calls out and waves at the mechanical monstrosity.

Emma Frost has posed:
There's cybernetic zombies pulling people towarsd teh sewers. Lovely. Life is getting more ridiculous lately. The area is evacuated and no one else is running -in- towards the chaos which is a plus. Now how to deal with the adorable litlte undead things. Emma pauses, concentrating. She's not going to be able to press into the minds of the things.. Their grabbings do appear to be random, as far as she can tell. The presence of the other heroes is noted and ignored.

Creatures grabbing people and pulling them towards the sewers is indicative of them retrieving things. Retrieving things implies a higher directive. So Emma goes to focus and moves to start more deeply telepathically sweeping the area. If at all possible now..

She's trying to expand her thoughts even as the area is evacuated, going to try and scan for -other- things. Individuals that might already be taken underneath teh sewers. Individuals that were standing out by not having senses of panic. Those that stood out with emotions that were ever-so unsuited to such a thing.

Emma's making the assumption that the.. Cybzombies are being directed. So let's see ifwe can find who's on the other end of the remote control.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan, meanwhile, is finding that lifting and moving people out of the way is less effective when the zomboids have them. She tosses the splintered heft of what used to be a branch down onto the ground. A rock rises from just beneath the Earth. It's about as big as she is, curled up. She runs forward and lands a flying side-kick against one of the undead. And then the rock falls. Whether you're animated by homebrew machinations or flesh, a rock that big dropped from that kind of height will stop anyone.
    She looks around. One on one isn't doing the job. She looks up at the green machine gun firing down. Okay, that green stuff STINKS of qi. Shame she can't do THAT, right now. Instead, she jumps up onto the rock that had floated as it raises up again. She'll repeat her performance, though she'll try telekinesing trapped peoples away rather than kicking flesh. Feeling it sink under her foot was...gross.

John Stewart has posed:
"This is too slow." John mutters to himself, the flesh seems like a secondary concern for the machines below it, which means precision firing will take too long. Too many are in danger already, and he did /not/ want to go sewer diving, even with his Power Ring to protect him.

Suddenly, John flies down, right into the face of the cyborg he can see closest to the manhole covers... directly in it's path, and he starts to fire concussive bolts to /rip/ off limbs in one blow, flying about each cyborg as he needs to to make the shot without hitting the civilians.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Whatever the creatures are, wherever they came from they appear almost indifferent to the sudden confrontations, no reaction, barely any sound coming from them. Clearly they cannot or unwilling to speak. Valeria will not sense any sort of communications being beamed their way -- at least nothing that shows up on her scanners -- which suggests that they do have a brain of their own. Or that they are programmed. Not impossible, since some of the metal attachments do seem to be located around the head or neck. That could be their central controls.

For Emma the challenge might be to zero in on a specific mind. While the crowds outside have been dispersed, the screams have attracted the attention from some of those still in the bearby buildings and while people seem smart enough not to rush out into the line of fire, many windows are filled with curious or horrified expressions, peering out into the quad that's still lit up like daytime thanks to that green light. I their malice there, in any of those minds? Nothing that would suggest this level.

As Susan leaps up to kick one of the creatures, her foot certainly makes solid contact. But the zombie cyborg hardly seems to flinch. The rock ripped from the ground landing on it however? That is a little more effective and it collapses in a heap of desicated flesh and shattered metal. The next one she turns towards however releases it's burden and instead one of those metal arms swings at her with shocking speed. And force. It does not connect with her, but it does hit that rock... which shatters into dozens of fragamets.

Not just zombies. Super-strong zombies.

The zombies appear quick, but they can't quite match Green Lantern's speed and he easily gets behind them, cutting off their escape route. Even as they start to whirl, those green bolts are blowing them apart, their unconscious burdens dropping safely to the ground. The rather messy ground.

For his part Invincible takes flight, racing towards the southwestern corner of the quad, behind the Pulitzer building where the zombies have nearly reached their destination. Arms outstretched, he races only a few feet off the ground towards his targets -- apparently planning to slam right through them while retrieving their unconscious captives. That was the plan at least. But when he is only inches away those fast reactions come into play once more. One of those cybernetically enhanced limbs slams into him and in an instant Invincible's trajectory is changed, slamming him into a nearby wall.

Ouch.

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Someone's gotta be making these things. Just gotta find where!" Valeria mutters as she puts up a guard. The sound of other zombies out and about getting a hmmm. "Hey if anyone is fighting right now. Disable, don't kill. They might have sentience being supressed! Or location data of their home base." she yells out with a look back over her head to Susan and then anywhere else fighting might be happening though the range of her voice is sadly limited.

The lack of wireless communications being used makes the blonde frown. "Whelp this is gonna get gross but can't just let one go with a victim now." she states and puts up her dukes.

"So looks like we know what time it is!" she calls out to anyone that can here.

Her Uncle Ben's favourite time indeed. As she gets into a boxing stance to throw the first punch at center mass and knock the zomborg down.

Susan Sullivan has posed:
    Susan is not really prepared for this. She really needs better tools. It took all her force plus gravity to find out these things can stay moving without their heads. Hardly sporting. Her telekinesis manages to part someone, but they'd have a bruise after, then she lets her rock drop, diving off it to roll on the ground away from the scrunched zombie. She doesn't get hurt falling from that height, but nobody needs to see her flying to know that's her manipulating the stones.
    Then she smells that mutant qi. She turns to where it is. Wait...she focuses her qi again and centers herself. There's a woman there. She's not easy to shrug off, but Susan can see her, now. Susan turns to the zombies, then looks up at the green lantern corps member above. This fight is above her pay grade. She helps the woman she freed up and runs with her away until she can get lost in a crowd and let the actual heroes take care of these things. She'd love to pick apart the cybernetics, but that will just have to be a bit of curiosity she leaves un-satisfied.

Emma Frost has posed:
Sorting through things is going to be difficult. So Emma's going to just try to do them as quickly as she can. Grumbling to herself as she would try to go through consciousness by consciousness. The explosions from the zombies catch her unawres from the sheer force of them as she would get a view as to how strong they were. Lovely, that meant direct confrontation wasn't going to be useful.. Tracking their controller would take time..

But now time for an experiment. Zombies did have some sort of functioning mental material. THey weren't purely robots. There had to be some form of brain activity there or they'd just be fully drones. No capability to fight or to act and be fully puppeted. So.. if there was any sort of activity there in their minds.. It's time for an experiment.

Now Emma goes to brace down and moves to start to try and just p ush -hard- mentally over on one of the zombies. One furthest from her. If there was -any- sort of mental activity at all within it's consciuosness she might be able to hopefully pick up on it.. And if there were any in the slightest then hse would try and twist the mind around.

OF xcourse that presumed that a zombie did hvae a mind to control.. But Ms. Lee had proven her presumptions incorrect on a number of occasions so..

John Stewart has posed:
"They're dead meat being used by someone as a framework. Nothing to suppress" John replies, his green glowing eyes looking over in the general direction of Valeria, even as he flies around saving the knocked out civilians.

They have a source... but the targets first. More concussive bolts sound through the night as John rescues people.

Mark Grayson has posed:
There are many ways to be a hero. Not all of them involve smashing zombie-cyborg hordes. To the woman that Susan helps to safety there's probably little doubt just who her hero is. Even if she doesn't regain consciousness, or at least some measure of sensibility, before she is left with the paramedics who will no doubt soon be on scene.

Valeria might not look quite as intimidating as her uncle, but looks can be deceiving. And the Zomborgs don't seem to care if their fore is huge and hulking or a blonde young woman. One of them starts towards her, agai moving with that surprising speed, only to find that she packs a bit of a whallop. Emough to take it off it's feet. Enough to make it drop it's hostage. Another person saved. That's not nothing.

It is logical, to reach out towards those... creatures, no matter how they look. Something is guiding their actions afterall and perhaps they are not truly dead. Maybe they just look it. They are acting and reacting afterall. That suggests thought. But the mutant telepath will find no signs of sentient thought in any of those abominations. Whatever is guiding them it is nothing like human thought.

More of the zombies fall beneath the Green Lantern as he starts to join up with the others, concentrating their efforts, cutting off those avenues of escape. More of the constructs are blasted apart, the grounds of Columbia starting to looking like a horror film with all the limbs scattered about.

Shaking his head, Invincible picks himself up from the ground, absently lifting a hand to his jaw and grimacing a little. Those things back quite the punch. As he starts towards them though something different happens. Something strange. And he is not entirely sure just what it means at first. Those metal plates and limbs? Yeah, they start to glow.

At first the light is not that bright. But it continues to grow in intensity from a white light, to something almost blue and on through the spectrum until it is almost a brilliant red. Brighter and brighter. Every Zomborg, whether still standing or already down begins to do the same.

"Oh shit!" the blue and yellow clad teen says, leaping foward to wrestle those burdens from the now still, glowing creations. It is awkward, trying to carry three people at first but he manages. Then he's airborn. "They're going to blow!" he shouts out towards those others still fighting below.

He doesn't know, can't know that for sure. But it feels right, and as those glowing cybernetic components get brighter and brighter, it certainly makes sense.

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Then we keep one's systems in tact!" Val calls out to the Green Lantern. Hopefully between thr forefield and the enhanced strength in the suit she can start cleaning up the zombies.

Of course the goal is to keep enough of the cyborgs computerized tech driving the flesh in tact. They did have to come from somewhere. First things first, she moves to rip the arms and legs off the downed zombie then move on to the next. Heads and torsoes left intact for now while she moves as fast as she can. There is somewhat of a manic glee in her eyes though. This is usually the sort of thing her folks would have a fit over. Field heroices.

"Don't just stand there, if you can move move she calls out loud to anyone that does get freed and is in a position to run. "Call 911 while you're at it dammit. Folks getting hurt!" she reminds the civillians.

Emma Frost has posed:
Well isn't this fine and dandy? Emma Frost goes to quickly focus, picking up the thoughts from Invincible. Then going to coordinate <<Ms Richards, please do see what you can do if anything to disarm those things quickly>> Then a telepathic message is sent over to the Green Lantern <<Be a backup if need be and ready to hurl those things up and out over into space or put a field up around them>>

Then she's going to quickly take the state of Invincible <<Get their victims out of the area as quickly as you can. You're hte one with the most speed>> Whethe ror not the others are going to listen to the directives of someone speaking into their minds from out of nowhere is, of course,e ntirely up to them!

John Stewart has posed:
"I had the same idea." John confirms to the 'Emma' voice. Then, he sets a /loud/ audio signal from his ring as he starts to fly around, Willing a green net into existence to grab up each body and body part in turn. "I have the north side, deal with the rest." John barks out over that 'loudspeaker'.

Indeed, everyone in the area can suddenly see the Green Lantern flying around /fast/, just like Superman, as he grabs as many of the zombie cyborgs as he can.

"Ring, scan bodies, extrapolate timer for detonation. I want to know how long until I have to throw these into atmosphere."

He's a Green Lantern, so picking these things up with constructed nets would be easy... except he's gonna be grabbing a /lot/ of them, /quickly/.

Good chance this is gonna go badly for him... but at least the Power Ring can protect him while he's knocked out.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Did they trip some sort of self destruct program? Or is someone indeed watching and has little interest in seeing their tech fall into other hands? Either way, it could be a mess as the cybernetic components work themselves up to critical mass.

As far as teenagers go Mark is pretty well mannered. Rarely contrary just to be contrary. So he has no trouble obeying the mental instructions that suddenly pop in his head, unexpected as they might be. He blinks, peering around even as he races to deposit the trio he's rescued out on the street. In the distance the glowing, flashing lights of approaching emergency vehicles cuts through the night. But there's little that they can do for those endangered now.

"On my way back," he says, not sure if the disembodied voice in his head can hear him or not. Either way, he picks up speed, fast, and races through the open quad, collecting another pair of unconscious victims before taking to the sky to deposit them. More seconds past, and still that glow intensiifies.

The forthcoming explosion is obvious and unmistakable at this point, not that it seems to be disuading Valeria of course as she works on one of the cybernetic components, a race to see whether she can disarm it before it explodes. A race that looks like it's going to go down to the wire.

As Invincible sweeps back into the open expanse between buildings he can see John begin scooping up the the glowing remains of the Zomborg horde. A quick glance around makes it clear that he is the most obvious choice to collect the rest. Fewer in number to be sure. But still. "I just hope I don't trash my uniform," he mutters.

Or, you know, get blown up real good.

In short order both John and Mark have their burdens and are airborn, the glow from the soon to explode devices almost blinding in intensity now. Which might be a bigger problem for Invincible than the Green Lantern. Of course John also has a likely countdown going on. <Eleven, ten, nine, eigh...t>. It is something that Invincible lacks. And instead of flying upwards, the blue and yellow clad teen instead angles for the nearby river, diving towards it, beneath the surface of the water as the countdown reaches it's inevitable end.

KABOOM.

Valeria Richards has posed:
The suit Val wears, based on the same tech that went into the Thing Suits used to replicate Ben Grimm's strength in the times he was depowered definitely helps even at seventyfive percent of ther uncle's class ninety strength.

But being inexperienced with it Val is clearly building up a sweat. At least the unstable molecules will keep it easy to clean as the gunk of ripping apart cybernetic undead. The blonde dry heaving as her forefield flickers as it catches viscera.

Over the mental link. <<Ms Frost. Please start running. I think disabled is going to be an understanement.>> The mental voice is recognised.

She states and sees one starting to get ready to explode and the young women pins it down to start trying to disarm the explosives. They need that processor and data storage. And so with a few taps of her wristband a small pouch with tools is made visible on her waist and to work she goes hurriedly. "C'mon, c'mon, no body tell my mom!" she says and works with a very nervous look as she literally goes to cut the last wire.

Emma Frost has posed:
Invincible is doing the most important thing here; getting civilians out of the way from the blast area. He's the one that's giving them room to work. Emma gives a mental sensation of a 'nod' of acknowledgement over to the teenager of affirmation that yes, the mind-witch did get what he was saying. This is also passed along to the other two as they work. The glowing self-destruct only needs sirens coming from it and a blared countdown to be more obvious.

Putting that on the back burner of her brain to do when she dresses down the creator of those things for such deciedly ridiculous enactments, Emma goes to speak to Valeria <<I'll be fine. You focus on what you're doing or you'll have more than your mother expressing annoyance with you.>>

Mess with exploding cyborgs and Valeria could very well be grounded FOREVER with no building time machines to go back in time to pet dinosaurs ever again!

All Emma can do now is brace, get behind cover, and hope that whatever ones ofthem left that Valeria can't destroy are quickly picked up and hurled hard over by the Lantern.

John Stewart has posed:
Flying upwards with just enough time to spare, the Green Lantern is towing a metric ***ton of bodies with him. If anyone saw his face in this moment, they'd see the strain.

Right at the five second mark, John suddenly flares with Green energy as he Wills a giant cannon into existence... and starts firing the whole lot of cyborgs right up into space.

Of course, it's anyones guess if he manages to 'fire' them all in time.

Mark Grayson has posed:
The explosions, when they go off are quite considerable -- more than enough to all but obliterate the cybernetic components leaving little if anything behind to examine and make much sense of. For Invincible, he simply plunges into the Hudson river, dumping what components that he managed to scavange there, already starting to rise up out those chilly waters as the explosion hits. The shockwave still batters him, breath exploding from his lungs and for a moment he loses all sense of direction. Disoriented and on the verge of panic, he does manage to find the sky, shooting out of the water, dripping and shivering a little.

He can stand up to the cold of space. But there's something about being soaked in the cold wintery air that just feels so much worse.

Certainly John's solution is a little more elegant. That glowing green cannon fires off body after body -- or pieces of therein -- as the time starts to run out. Down on the ground they are unlikely to even notice unless one happens to be peering at exactly the right part of the sky. But John certainly gets quite the light show. Maybe one that is just a little too close for comfort.

Down on the campus itself in the end it turns out only a single device was missed thanks to the clean sweep of the gathered heroes. The explosion that rips through the quad is likely to be pretty disturbing for those in the surroundiing buildings -- and possibly for Emma and Valeria too, depending on their nerves -- and while it rips into the path sending pavement and other debris hurling about -- not to mention knocking over a trio of trees -- none one is close enough to be hurt.

Of course, Emma and Valeria do have another device to worry about, one right next to them. One who's explosion they can't possibly avoid. As those seconds pass, as Valeria works to disarm it for a moment it seems that the Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic are indeed going to have cause to be put out with her daughter. But that would be underestimating her. Even as the explosion tears into the ground a hundred or so feet away the bright glow of the device in Valeria's possession dies away. Explosion deactivated.

And a clue acquired. Maybe.

Out on the streets beyond the crowds gather, emergency vehicles arriving on scene. But thanks to certain heroes it would seem that there was no lose of life and only minimal property damage. Of course there are still questions to be answered.

But all in all, not bad for a night's work. Heroes: 1 Zomborgs: 0

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost has done the whole 'duck and cover' routine from a long practice and isn't phased too badly by the explosion, having laid flat behind something too bulky to be blasted over and far enough from things to not have any issues over with debris. Now Emma's going to slowly stand up and over to brush herself off and over with her fingers. Then as the emergency vehicles are going to swoop in, Emma can only look at her ruined outfit with irritation. She's going to have to get a new one for this.

And so the former White Queen would go to withdraw, intent on making a call shortly to no doubt attempt to lower the already desperate koala population's numbers even further..

John Stewart has posed:
Time to do some investigation.

Flying down just as fast as he went up, John stops just above Valeria as she works on her cyborg. Floating above her is a black man in a clean Green Lantern uniform, his glowing green eyes centered right on her.

He smirks, "Guess whoever did this didn't count on you. Good work, kid." John compliments her as he crosses his arms, "This has a strategic feel to it. You don't round up random strangers unless you need /them/ for something. I'm not jumping to conclusions yet though. I have somewhere to be, but I want to follow up on this." John pulls out a notepad, writes, and tosses it to the ground in front of Valeria, "You can reach me from there. I have resources. We can help each other." John informs her, before he looks to Emma, nods in respect, and flies off into the city proper.

Valeria Richards has posed:
The bomb closest to her doesn't go off. "YES!" Val whoops and yells in victory as she now has an intact disabled xomborg to hand over for examination.

She does look over to were Emma is and winces for the plight of the Koalas.

The ones in that coat. The rest are done for.

"The rich girl in me mourns for your loss Ms Frost! But I think after that we are all going to need mimosas and a long shower before even looking a a hot tub." she states and stands up to look down at the disabled monstrosity again.

Then Val looks at the Green Lanterm. "Thanks. Got somewhere safe you can plug this thing in and rip out any location and pathing data. Had to come from somewhere, gotta go back after. Gonna guess these things were looking for 'recruits' so to speak." she says and dry heaves a little in front of the others.

"Not game to plug in in at home. My folks are gonna be cheesed off as it is!"