11582/Justice League: The World Eaters

Justice League: The World Eaters
Date of Scene:	25 June 2022
Location:	Monitor Room
Synopsis:	The Justice League meets to discuss the Eater Hearts recovered from the two major battles where they were discovered from.
Cast of Characters:	Diana Prince, Clark Kent, Donna Troy, Hal Jordan, Vic Sage, Hyperion

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Diana Prince has posed:
The meeting section of the large monitoring room has a series of items set across the surface of the large oval shaped table that is surrounded by high backed black leather chairs. The lights shine down upon the table from above, while a holographic image of Earth is projected up in to the air just above the table. It's bright glowing form is reflected upon the glossy shine of the table's clean surface...

Upon the table, the five 'Eater Hearts' reside each mounted on a small metal frame that allows the egg-shaped hearts to stand upright. The 'Hearts' are glass-like objects, the size of footballs, each one containing pink swirling mist that moves visibly slowly within the shiny glass interior. The Hearts are surrounded by boney-rocky 'fingers' that almost seem like different hands gripping each Heart in a different grasping embrace. They simply stand there, five in total, almost serenly like strange table adornments.

Wonder Woman stands off to the side of the large table, wearing her armor, and a blue cloak that covers her shoulders, and drapes down toward the floor where her armored boots stand gently parted. She stares at the table with the 'Eater Hearts' and then looks toward the others who have gathered here to meet about them.

"We recovered the first several months ago, in the Atlantic Ocean. We tore it from the insides of a massive funnel-shaped 'worm' that was coming to life before our very eyes. The 'worm' had swallowed whole a Cruise Liner ship, and our people were able to recover it. As well as this." Diana notes, nodding toward the single Heart that sits a bit further apart from the other four.

She looks to those four next then. "These four... were recovered just ten days ago in the Sahara desert, near the remote city of Siwa. They were on the back of a fully formed 'sky creature' that was quite... large. Roughly the length of the city of Manhattan, and half its width. This Sky Creature formed out of the desert itself, eye witnesses have said. It was headed directly for Siwa, when my fellow Themyscirans intercepted it, and found the hearts just beneath the surface of its spine..."

Diana motions to the holo=projected image of the Earth which zooms in on the Sahara desert to show the 3d imagery of the massive creature waving almost gracefully through the sky, surrounded by similar smaller creatures.

Once we removed the five hearts from its body. The creature was vulnerable to attack. We put it down, where it fell across a remote mountain range, and turned to rock and dust before our eyes."

She takes in a soft breath then. "One of its five hearts was lost within the desert. We searched for it, but were unable to locate it... But these four..." She motions to the four Eater Hearts that sit in a group together upon the table. "Are making it clear that whatever is ... summoning these creatures, is not likely random anymore..."

Clark Kent has posed:
    Superman nods, saying "So it seems we may have somebody going around and making these things on purpose. Have we been able to determine what sort of power these hearts use?"

    He settles back into his chair and adds, "I know I was busy elsewhere during the second event, but I remember the one from the ocean quite well. We need to work on tracing these things back to whatever person, group or entity is responsible, because if one of these things reaches a city the damage and loss of life will be catastrophic."

    "Have we gotten any clues at all from the hearts we have now?"

Donna Troy has posed:
    Though not a member of the Justice League, Donna is no stranger to the Halls of Justice. She is, after all, Diana's sister -- and if not the leader of the Titans (notoriously a team that refuses to name an outright leader) she has since the team reformed been the person who generally represents them. While that may go some way to explain why Diana brought her along today, it's probably more because of her experience with the incident in Egypt.

    "It was certainly not an entirely natural creature," she comments. "And given how vulnerable the thing was once the hearts were removed... I mean it pretty much fell apart. If it wasn't about to land on a town we could probably have just stood back and watched it collapse. As Diana said, it pretty much crumbled to dust in front of our eyes. I'm inclined to think it was purely a construct of some kind, and these 'hearts' are the power source for it."

    Donna leans back, glancing at Diana. "What kind of construct -- whether it be magic, technology, or something in between -- is a question. Knowing that much would help us start narrowing down the possibilities for who or what is behind this, and where they come from."

Hal Jordan has posed:
Of course Hal Jordan remembers well the problems they had to deal with when it came to the incident in the Atlantic. All things considered, not the most fun he has ever had on the job. Flying down into some sort of giant sea creature is a rather disgusting affair. Would not recomment. One out of five stars. At best. The last enounter was missed however thanks to Guardian business.

Sometimes Hal thinks he might have a few too many jobs.

Still, Green Lantern stands in the meeting hall of the Hall of Justice now, eyeing the quartet of 'hearts' that they do have under their watch, giving Superman a small nod. It's a fair question, cutting to the heart of things to be certain. "I can give them a once over with my ring, but unless they are extraterrestrial in origin there's probably not going to be a whole lot in the Guardian's databanks. I might be able to get a grasp on the type of energy that it's emitting though," he says before giving a small shrug of his shoulders.

"I assume that since one went missing that we're expeting another attack sometime in the near future?"

Vic Sage has posed:
Standing with his hands tucked deep into the pockets of his trench coat is The Question, investigator extraordinaire. Despite his blank countenance, it's clear from the movements of his head that he's paying good attention to the facts that are being presented by Diana. Absent from any run-ins with these things due to his increased presence in Gotham, this is all brand new to him.

His brow very clearly furrows at one of the projections of the sky beast and he mulls something over in his head, flipping through that strange encyclopedia that's floating around therein.

"The shape of this one is reminiscent of an Eastern style dragon, or 'loong'," he begins, leaning in a little bit. Introducing Vic Sage to the internet has been a disastrous occurrence for many people.

"Have the creatures exhibited any...mastery over the elements?" he asks, standing back up straight and looking to the other gathered members of the League.

"If they are...mythical creatures, these hearts could be a phylactery of sorts. A kind of pure, concentrated worship used in the manifestation of them." His other theory is that they're genetic freaks engineered by CADMUS for ill ends. He's not voicing that one, yet.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana stands behind her chosen chair, having not yet taken a seat upon it. Her right hand comes uop to rest upon its back, her palm wrapped in leather but her fingers yet bare.

She looks to Superman first, before nodding softly toward him, and then adjusting her gaze to the others.

"Well..." Diana speaks softly. "The first Heart we recovered from the sea creature, we assumed was a random occurence... Or we hoped it was. It has been in the science research labs on the Watchtower since then, with minimal work done to research it. However, now that these other four have come in to our posession... it seems this is growing in priority. The first Heart was taken before that creature had fully formed. It seems as though it was not fully 'ready' when it made its appearance at sea. Now, with this second occurence... we've found five hearts, and the creature in the desert was formed much more rapidly. I believe this would hint at some ... group being responsible for these, or maybe just a single individual..."

"Preliminary scans of the Hearts show that they're heavily surrounded with an unknown form of magic. But, their power is picked up by technology. We thought this would lead us to be able to find the lost Heart within the desert... but... it did not turn out that way. Siwa may yet be in danger...."

Diana looks toward Donna, and then back to the others. "We need to monitor the city closely. As Superman has said, if left unchecked, these kind of creatures could devour countless lives before we could intervene."

Clark Kent has posed:
    Glancing over at the hearts again, Superman takes a moment to consider them before sitting forward. "So, it sounds like they may be a mixture of magic and technology. Given that, I think I am safe agreeing with Diana. Someone is creating these things and unleashing them for a yet unknown purpose. We need to keep a couple people ready to go at any time if a hint of these pop up again."

    He chuckles and adds, "Well, more ready than we usually are for regular days. But if we have people standing by for this, they can be on their way before the report even reaches the rest of us."

    Sitting back again, he continues "Also, if it hasn't been done already, let's get all of our satellites watching for the particular energy signature these things emit. It's not terribly likely, but if the culprits have one or more of these things unshielded, it could lead us to them."

    He shakes his head and sighs, "I almost want to find some outside force behind this. I keep hoping that our example and that of other heroes would push humanity to better itself."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Apart from being able to fly, the one we saw at Siwa was not overtly elemental," Donna replies to Vic. "But it's an interesting question. One flying, one in the sea. It may be advisable to keep an eye on volcanic activity next. Or the sun. Whether it could be considered a mythical creature -- it was not something I recognized from the bestiaries, and we have very extensive bestiaries on Themyscira. The notion of a phylactery of some sort is an intriguing one. A container of some kind of focus or focuses en masse. It may be worth trying to open one of these things up, but if so I suggest it is best to try it a long way away from anyone. Perhaps in space."

    "If we can at least determine some kind of power signature..." Donna gives a nod to Hal. "Green Lantern may be best-equipped to find the one missing in the desert. Whatever these things are, they are not safe to leave lying around."

    "It should be noted that the one we fought in the desert was accompanied by a large number of smaller but nonetheless dangerous minion creatures. They were not powered by these same hearts, but may have drawn their power from the hearts of the main creature. It may have manifested them, or may have summoned them. Which raises the possibility of an extra-dimensional origin." Her eyes flicker over to Kal now. "I couldn't help but be reminded of our run-in with the creature Zed'Zhud'Ger'Uth on that alternative Earth a while back. There is always the possibility that there is an outside force that is nonetheless human. You'll recall the so-called doppelgangers from that world had not the benefit of positive examples to push themselves to betterment."

Hal Jordan has posed:
Magic. Why did it have to be magic?

Sure, more than a few people might have mistaken the ring he wears to be magical, and any technology, sufficiently advanced might look to be mystical in nature. Hal knows better however. Give him science, with it's proper rules and laws anytime. It might look chaotic on the surface, but somewhere down below there is a reason for it all. Maybe it's the same with magic. But it sure doesn't feel like it.

"So long as it doesn't shift energy signatures that shouldn't be a problem." the glowing green figure agrees with a small shrug. "And we can always retask one of the satellites, put it in geosynchronus orbit over Siwa. Though we probably shouldn't put all our eggs in that basket since the first one showed up in the Atlantic," he urges thoughtfully. "After that yeah, just automate the alerts so that if the signature is detected, around Siwa or anywhere else for that matter, we're notified instantly. Some of us should be able to get their quick enough to contain the threat until a larger team can be assembled," he notes.

"As to the powers, it might not have been distinctly elemental. But we've had one from the sea and one from the air. It's too early to call it a patterns, but..." he says, leaving it hanging.

With that he falls silent once more, listening to some of the others, still unusually thoughtful.

Vic Sage has posed:
"I wouldn't be any kind of help fighting something like this, but I'll keep an ear to the ground and see if I can find where they're coming from," Vic says. It's what he does.

"If it's a doomsday cult, it will be my third one in as many months," he adds with a grumble.

His gloved hands slide out of his pockets and the leather begins to creak and whine as he flexes and unflexes his fists. He listens to Donna and nods. "If it's a Chinese doomsday cult, they've forgotten their Wu Xing. Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Japanese maybe," he muses, before emitting a soft 'hrmmm'.

Hyperion has posed:
    For someone capable of such speed, it is almost unfathomable that Hyperion would be late for anything. But almost as if he was trying to prove a negative, he is indeed delayed and arrives a few minutes after things get going.

    The only good thing for his sake is that as he was approaching, he was able to overhear a few comments from a distance. So he is not completely without a clue... only mostly.

    Upon arriving, he does not interrupt things to apologize for being late. The fact is that he has had nothing to do with any of the events that led to the hearts being acquired, and he knows literally nothing about any of this. But he has been busy elsewhere when the League was dealing with all of this.

    That is part of the reason he made sure to be here today, so that he -could- be involved, and contribute. And so he stops just inside the door and studies the hearts with his full spread of senses. It's not like he's going to pick up anything that nobody else has. But he just wants to be informed. However, after a long moment, he does speak, "I can perceive the entire electromagnetic spectrum if you need an extra pair of sensors." he states, moving closer once he's done his survey of the items.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana shows a quick, small, smile for Superman's summation of hoping for it to be from an outside source. She then looks to her sister and nods once toward her. "The sea creature also had smaller minions that seemed to be tasked with the protection of the larger creature. Perhaps this is some element of the magic, or the working forces behind all of this. Guard the 'mother' while it is formed."

Diana looks toward Hal and Vic then. "If you are able to help our technicians zero in on that energy signature, that would help greatly, I believe. But as you said, they've gone from the Atlantic to the Sahara... clearly wherever these things are coming from, they can travel great distances. Siwa is in danger though, with that last Heart still missing..."

A nod is given toward Vic then. "I had hoped Zatanna Zatara would make it tonight, I thought her insight in to the magical realm might give all of us more to work with, let alone yourself. Apocalypse cults means you have an ear ready for this manner of thing..."

While Diana speaks, those with rather keen eyesight might notice something in the light above the hearts, and around the holo projection showing the Sahara desert and that Air Creature that had been vanquished by the Themyscirans... it's a house fly, and it's zipping around eradically as house flies do.

With Hyperion arriving, Diana is looking toward the double doors as they spread open to give him passage inside. She affords him a soft smile also. "Hello, Hyperion. Yes, that would be helpful. If you would like to assist the Green Lantern with that." She notes...

While Diana regards the arriving Hyperion, that house fly comes to settle down on the lone Heart pushed away from the other four, the one that came from the Sea Creature. It wiggles its wings rapidly, and walks along one of the boney-rock 'fingers' that encircles the glass egg-shaped Heart. It bounces a little, before stepping on to the glass surface...

The pink mist inside the Heart starts to swirl more rapidly, and a little trail of black mist rises up around the fly. Tiny tendrils reach up out of the glass and encircle the fly, which just seems completely clueless toward all of this. It flaps its tiny wings, then,a tiny spike bursts out of the front of its face... as it starts to visibly grow, doubling in size... quite rapidly. Of course, you have to have pretty keen vision to see this yet still!

Clark Kent has posed:
    Superman doesn't happen to be looking in the direction of the hearts at the moment, so the fly's current distress goes unnoticed for now. He actually shows some distaste as he says "Oh yes, the acid slugs. They were not very friendly creatures. So we're seeing a pattern there as well. But as for the differing locations, it's probably not the creatures themselves travelling, it just has to be whoever is calling them up using the hearts."

    "Oh, and I wasn't suggesting pointing everything as Siwa, but rather giving priority of that energy signal anywhere in the world. Hopefully that way, no matter where the next one starts growing, we'll get a fast warning about it."

    "We've already seen these things kill people, so we know who or whatever is behind them, they're not on humanity's side and they have access to something very powerful. That's not a good combination, and we have to find them as quickly as possible. So far we've been lucky, but what happens if they actually start one of these things in say, the New York sewers instead of an uninhabited area like the first two were? That would add up to a lot of damage very quickly."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "There are always doomsday cults," Donna agrees with a cynical smirk. "Regardless of Kal's hopes for the general improvement of humanity, there's always going to be a few crazies who persuade themselves that destroying the world would be a /good/ thing. "

    She gives a nod in greeting to Hyperion as he makes his belated arrival, before addressing the question of the even more late Zatanna. "Diana, if Zatanna isn't available, I could get Raven to take a look. But do not forget you also have the Justice League Dark to consult with. There is lots of good expertise there, if not necessarily quite at the levels of Zatanna, Raven, or Doctor Strange of the Avengers. And honestly, I suspect a bit more interaction and co-operation between the Justice League and the Justice League Dark would be a good thing. They have done some good work, but their leadership is somewhat inexperienced still. "

    Donna raises an eyebrow at Superman. "Maybe it's not luck. There may be a reason why they have been created, summoned or whatever in uninhabited areas rather than in a city. Tactically it does not make much sense unless whoever is creating or summoning these things needs space to do so. Or time to do it without being observed. There may be a ritual involved that is slow to perform, or would attract attention. Or it may take some time for the creatures to be ready to go on the attack."

Hal Jordan has posed:
"I certainly won't turn down another pair eyes if I'm gonna be sweeping the area around Siwa for any signs of the fifth 'heart'," Hal says agreeably. Of course he won't be relying on his own eye sight -- though it's almost a given that he will be peering through a giant magnifying glass at some point -- but the sensor sweeps from his ring will serve the same function really. Will it speed up the process any? Is there even anything to still find? Hard to say. But a little company never hurts.

"Or bug Fate. He sure as heck owes us," Hal adds with a faint smirk. Of course, that might be easier said then done. Finding him, reaching him might very well take longer and involve more effort then they have time for. Magic, so unreliable.

Of course not every knows, or at least respects the fact that the ring circling his finger is more than the universe's arguably most powerful tool. There is a rather potent artificial itnelligence within each ring. Which has many uses for the Corps and it's thousands of members. Certainly one of them is that even when Hal is not necessarily paying attention to something there is a better than average chance that the ring still very much aware of what is going around nearby.

Like, say, a familiar surge of the very energy that they are supposed to be monitoring for. A minute amount in the big picture, but Hal certainly hasn't put any limits on what it should be looking for. So when the glow from that ring around his finger suddenly surges noticably, casting a greenish glow over his section of the room the Intergalactic cop gives a small frown. "Strange, my ring is detecting a surge of energy right now. Have we had any strange readings from the hearts while we've had them in containment?" he asks, turning back to glance over towards where the quartet of devices are currently displayed.

Hyperion has posed:
    Keen vision. That is something of a trademark, or hallmark as it were, for Hyperion. He was not looking in that direction as things began, but his ears picked out the change in the sound of the fly's wings beating. It deepened, like the wings grew larger all of a sudden.

    His head tilts to the right and he murmurs softly, "That's odd." before he turns his head to try to find the source of that changing sonic frequency.

    "I'm guessing that is not normal." he says as he focuses in on the fly. His first instinct being to flare out with a tiny pulse of Atomic Vision... but after Hawai'i, he has learned to restrain that impulse. He has no desire to vaporize half of the wall behind the fly. So he merely points at the fly and says, "It's small, but that fly is mutating and growing larger." he adds to explain what he is worried about.

Vic Sage has posed:
While perfectly cataloging and recalling any given piece of information or locale is well within Vic Sage's wheelhouse, the man's just got baseline human senses, so the fly's plight goes unnoticed by the man. Instead, he's nodding to Diana and then her sister.

"Donna may be on to something. It's highly likely that what we have seen so far is just a ramping up to the final product. Test cases and experiments. Refining. One heart to five is a notable jump. No reason not to think that the next incarnation will be even stronger. If we don't find the source soon, we may find ourselves in the eventuality wherein one of these things outclasses all of us." The last bit is said with a very direct look at Superman.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana's eyes are sweeping between Superman, and Donna, when she's about to speak, but the words from the others stop her. She removes her hand from the back of the chair and starts to walk around the circumfrence of the meeting table.

"Yes, if these creatures were summoned to destroy mankind's cities, it would seem unusual to summon them in such wide open areas... unless it was a requirement of their summoning..." The Princess notes as she steps around to view the Sea Creature Heart..

Just as she gets closer to it, the fly has grown exponentially in size, to the point where its now the size of a small cat, or dog, and its wings become very visible on the sides of the Heart itself!

The fly is not a house fly anymore either, with that spike jutting out the front of its mouth now reaching down to the meeting table itself.. It's wings continue to flap to the point now where its able to make the Heart itself wobble on its metal stand!

The Heart that it is attached to starts to pulse with pink misty glowing energy within its core!

Clark Kent has posed:
    As the fly grew in size, he started to hear the wings even through the dampened level of hearing he usually keeps himself at so as not to hear everything in the city. With Hyperion's warning he stands from his chair, moving towards the display of hearts. Glancing to Diana he asks "Do we want to study it or get rid of it?"

    He stands ready to grab the fly or the heart and rocket out of the building with it. Perhaps a first good test would be to separate the two and see if the link breaks. But with his worry about it happening in a city growing right before his eyes, he's not likely to wait for very long before taking action.

    Sometimes it really sucks to be worrying about the right thing.

Donna Troy has posed:
    There is no cause for alarm! Even the unpowered Question could squish the flybeast, and though it continues to grow it'll still be a little while before it becomes a concern to anyone else at the table. Thus Donna leans forwards to peer curiously across the table to study the transformation as it takes place. She is not entirely without caution though. "Flies digest externally," she reminds people. "Don't let it throw up on you." Delightful!

    "I would strongly recommend separate rather than smash. Get it away from the heart, and keep it for observation. Without the hearts, the previous creatures have soon collapsed. It's a good bet this will not continue to grow without contact, and its power should soon fade. A construct to trap it?" she proposes, tilting her head in Hal's direction.

    She leans back again, and nods her head in Vic's direction. "Always better to stop a problem before it grows too big. But if things go bad, don't forget you can call on the Titans for more than a bit of consultation. There's not much the League and Titans combined couldn't deal with."

Hal Jordan has posed:
A fly might be a little bit hard to notice immediately from across the room. But a fly the size of a small dog? That's a whole lot more eye-catching. Couple that with the warning offered up by both ring and Hyperion and Hal is not exactly standing by idle, waiting for the other shoe to drop. That ring hand is already coming up, the green glow growing as well, casting the table, the 'hearts' and the mutant super fly in Green Lantern's light.

Of course Donna's helpful advice makes Hal make a face, an expression distaste. "Good pro-tip. Do not let the mutant fly start digesting you," he agrees with a certain degree of vehemence. It's not very hard to get behind that particular suggestion.

He does not, however, immediately seek to detatch the fly from the heart it seems to be feeding from. Instead when that glowing beam of green energy shoots from his ring it lashes out and creates a glowing green orb around both mutant fly and mystical 'heart', leaving only an opening for someone to reach in and detach the growing bug from it's nummy treat.

"If one of you want to do the honors?" Hal suggests, glancing between Hyperion and Superman, letting them decide who wants to get bug puke on their costume. He's apparently taking a hard pass there. "Once the connection is broken I can then seal off both our new sample and the heart until we can tell if it's leaking anything after being fly food," he suggests.

Vic Sage has posed:
"I will keep that in mind," Vic answers Donna, nodding to her before he turns his attention to the fly. If he had his druthers, the pistol sitting in his shoulder holster would be drawn an already spent of its ammunition, but there's plenty of actual superheroes in the room, so he's not worried.

"Think we can do away with the idea that it's a Kyoto death cult determined to usher in the next cycle with the aid of their long-forgotten gods. Maybe it /is/ CADMUS," Vic muses, hands slipping back into his coat's pockets. "Or some other cabal that's...no this isn't testing. With results this immediate and malignant...I'm back to apocalypse cult. Still doesn't explain why they aren't just strapping these things to alleycats and setting them loose in subway tunnels," he notes, stepping forward towards Hal's impromptu containment fields and leaning in to take a closer look at the bug.

"Motive still unclear," he says, squinting.

Hyperion has posed:
    "I got it." volunteers Hyperion as he strides forward. "Puke is far from the worst thing I've gotten on my costume." he says as he puts action to word and reaches in through the aforementioned gap to try to get the fly away from the heart.

    Yes, it is going to be disgusting. The real question is if any of the material on the legs or carapace of the fly grew also. Giant turd flakes would just suck.

    That said, he takes hold of the thing as gently as he can, and then steps away, pulling it with him. It would -not- do to just squish it in his fingers.

Diana Prince has posed:
With the green containment field that Hal summons, the growing Fly Creature is now being illuminated on all sides by the given light. This makes it very easy to watch its growing body being changed by the magic of that Heart connected to its underbelly. There are new additions to its exterior growing across it, like rocky armor growing all around the Fly as it once more pullses and grows larger within the container construct! Now its wings are having trouble beating in the air, as the jade container is growing too small to accomodate it!

"The Hearts provided the creatures with rapid healing. It wasn't until we detached them, that we could easily damage them..." Diana notes, her left side cast in green from the light coming off of Hal, while the other is shaded in darknes. She just watches, while Hyperion reaches within the green box. "Tear it from the Heart, but try not to damage either.." Diana spares a glance toward Donna. "I think we will need Raven, or members of the JLD to look in to this." She grimly notes before looking back.

Everyone will observe Hyperion's efforts to separate the two, causing a black smoky mist to ripple out of the damage that Hyperion is causing. The fly starts to do precisely as Donna had indicated, spewing nasty sludge out from around that spike that has jutted out from its mouth. Its eyes even start to spew black mist inside of Hal's energy box.

It isn't exactly easy to separate the Heart from the Fly, but when it happens, the Heart instantly starts to dim again, as the fly starts to writhe around in clear, agonizing pain.

Within moments after that, the whole creature begins to turn shades, hardening and quickly becoming rock inside of the Lantern's jail...

Clark Kent has posed:
    Fortunately, the problem was fairly easy for the gathered members of the League to handle before any emergency exits through the roof were called for. Once they are separated and the fly hardens and dies, Superman relaxes and moves over to his chair, this time merely standing beside it as he looks around the room. A very controlled burst of his heat vision and another fly that was in the room is turned to ash.

    "Well, that was interesting. It also raises the questions 'Why did it not affect any of us who touched it?' and of course 'How big would it get if we let the process continue.'" He looks over to Diana and suggests "It would be best to move these hearts to containment in the Watchtower. There's a lot less chance they would get something to latch on to up there."

    He considers, then says "Well, that gives us some starting info anyway. It appears they will work without a ritual or anything, though we have no idea if it would get to the size of the two we've seen on it's own."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna watches the entire fly removal process with considerable curiosity before giving Diana a quick nod. "I can take one of the hearts back to the Tower and get Raven to take a look at it. And our science team. I'll forward anything we learn straight to the League and return the heart as soon as possible. As Kal says, better to keep these things well away from any possible... hosts."

    She leans back, folding her arms. " I don't know what that fly was transforming into, but it makes me wonder whether the last two monsters transformed from something far more mundane. Maybe the creature in the desert was originally just some desert snake originally, that ran into one of these hearts. The fly didn't separate all that easily from the heart -- perhaps it would soon have bonded to it and absorbed it. And perhaps whatever the fly creature became would have then started to seek out other hearts to absorb, just as the desert creature had more than one."

    "Based on that -- two observations. It's possible that this entire thing at least partially by accident rather than design if, as Kal says, no ritual is needed. Perhaps the reason they started out in the wilderness is simply because that's where the hearts were, and some animals accidentally ran into them. In which case they may have been seeded here intentionally to cause these problems, or may have arrived by accident."

    "Secondly, that the priority must be to locate these hearts as soon as possible, preferably before any small animals bump into them. And given the desert creature was heading to Siwa and may have been collecting hearts, a good place to start looking would be in the town itself, or somewhere beyond the town in a line extending from where we encountered it."

Hal Jordan has posed:
While there might be plenty of raw power wrapped up in that glowing green energy, the sheer willpower of Hal Jordan, he is capable of using it for more precise purposes when the occasion arises. Certainly that is what he does now for the most part, tight energy matricies forming around the heart itself, sealing it off from just about everything but the visible light spectrum while the rin takes reading from it, making sure that it isn't still leaking potentially harmful energy while it slowly rotates in that artificially created vacuum.

Even while he does that, Hal splits the container into a second diamond-shaped containment field, gathering up some of that misty discharge to better scan and store for later. That glowing beam of emerald energy splits off a third time, that floating orb following after Hyperion as he separates the mutant fly from it's food source, leaving an opening just large enough for him to deposit it back into once he's done.

"Agreed. I think we definitely want to consider moving this to the Watchtower for the time being. We also might want to consider dragging one of the resident geniuses up there to have a peek at all of this as well. I know that the mystical element seems to be at the forefront but it never hurts to get other perspectives," he muses, brow furrowed just a little as he keeps that will firmly focused on the task at hand.

Vic and Donna get a nod as well. "I can think of any number of organizations that might be behind something like this. It's entirely possible that there is no immediate endgame here at all. That these are just early experiments. That these creations are just dumped some place to meld with whatever happens by. We might have gotten lucky thus far that they haven't bonded to somethign sentinent after more than random destruction," he says thoughtfully.

Vic Sage has posed:
"Not a lot in this universe that can be chocked up to accidents. There's always someone pulling a string somewhere," Vic says to Donna, frowning at the shriveled and rock-like fly husk.

"Maybe a long time ago some ape got the idea to snuggle up against one of these things and that all led to us. Most of us," he says, looking at Hyperion and Superman.

"Too many questions for now. Conjecture is dangerous. Best not to preemptively settle on a conclusion lest you point all of the evidence towards it yourself," he advises Hal, despite having been doing the exact same thing since he got here. The bottom of his faceless mask shifts and his jaw can be heard popping, followed by another gravelly 'hrmm'.

Hyperion has posed:
    Regurgitated upon, Hyperion just stands there watching the fly mutate and then die. His eyes are watching on a microscopic level, trying to view it down to a molecular degree. But after being swamped and warmed by the digestive liquids of the fly... he shakes his head slowly.

    "I've no words." he says in response to him getting so thoroughly soaked in Fly goop. But then he looks up at the others and asks, "Where should I put this... thing?"

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana's eyes go over to Superman who eye-beams another fly that had somehow gotten in this deep to the Hall of Justice's lower levels... certainly not impossible, but clearly an issue in this case.

"Right..." The Princess quietly says as she turns to walk across the room where she gathers up a pair of black boxes off a table. "We will give the Sea Creature heart to Donna, and let her take it to the Titans for their people to view. Now that we know the dangers of letting these things stay exposed, this will help us know to keep them safer..." She mutters those last few words as the two boxes are set down on to the table. She pushes the one for the Sea Creature heart toward Hyperion, and then the others is set beside the four Hearts clustered together. she opens that box, and there is form fitted foam within it for the Hearts to fit perfectly snugly inside of.

"These can be taken up to the Watchtower, where we will have anyone we believe could help go to examine them and... hopefully find anything that could help."

Diana gathers one of the four Air Creature hearts up, and gives it a look over, her thumb brushing across the glass. "Clearly they do not effect us like they do other animals... as you've all noted. Perhaps this feeds in to the idea of it being a safety protocol for whomever might be creating these things. If... anyone is."

She slips the Heart in to its place within the foam, then reaches for the next one.

A look is given to Vic. "If you come across anything, or anyone, that you think could help with this, please do not hesitate to reach out." She notes with a faint smile, before she looks toward Hal, and Hyperion. "While you two feed the energy signatures in to our computers to monitor for them..."

Diana then looks toward Superman. "Want to take these to the Watchtower? Then perhaps do some fly-bys of Siwa, so that the locals know that we are watching? It might provide some comfort to them... after all of this."

A chime comes over the computer systems then and a Hall of Justice intern speaks up, telling everyone that the caterers have arrived and that dinner is being served in the Dining Hall.

Clark Kent has posed:
    Superman waits while Diana fits the hearts into the box that has been prepared for them. Once it is closed, he picks up the box and heads for the door. "That sounds like a good idea. Once I get these into a clean room up there I'll take a trip down to Siwa and let them know we're keeping an eye out."

    "Afraid I'll be missing dinner this time around but I want these things somewhere safe as soon as possible." Hopefully there are a limited number of these things, but I have one somewhat disturbing thought. If they've been lying places for who knows how long, why did two of them in very different places suddenly decide to activate?" With that somewhat disturbing question, he waves and heads for the exit, box under one arm and his red cape waving behind him.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "You might want to wash that stuff off," Donna suggest to Hyperion, smirking slightly. "That stuff's full of digestive enzymes, they'll probably eat through your costume if you leave it there too long."

    She gets to her feet and gathers up the heart to be taken to Titans Tower for analysis. "I'll get this looked at straight away. When we're done I'll send it up to the Watchtower so they can all be kept together, and let you all know if we've found anything useful. Searching for the heart that was lost in the desert and a possible extra one that may be hidden somewhere in the town of Siwa itself would seem like the priority until there is further information."

    She rests a hand briefly on Diana's arm and gives her a smile before turning back to the rest. "I must get going. Gentlemen, sister, a pleasure to see you all. Enjoy your meal, and if there's anything else the Titans can do to help you all with this, don't hesitate to contact us," she says, before she too heads for the exit.

Hal Jordan has posed:
While there is food in the offering -- food he neither has to pay for nor cook -- there business is not quite done it seems. So with the decisions made on how to proceed Hal lets that ring sweep over the rest of the hearts, glowing green orbs enveloping them as well until there is a little procession floating in the air in front of them.

"Alright. I'll run these up to the Watch Tower and be back in a jiff," he says. "Don't eat all the good stuff before I get back," he says, letting his gaze swing about the room with mock sterness, pointing a pair of fingers towards his eyes and then flicking them back to the rest of the gathering. To emphasize the point a little more dozens of glowing green eyes are spit from that ring, dancing about the room before flocking towards the dinning hall.

"Thanks for your help as well," he adds to Donna as he lifts from the ground and starts towards the door. "Don't leave without making them give you a doggy bag," he urges in chipper fashion.

And then he's gone, nothing but a green streak left in his wake.

Vic Sage has posed:
Vic offers a nod to Diana. "I have a few rocks I can kick. See what scurries out."

He sniffs sharply and reaches down to tug down the brim of his fedora before sending his hands pocketward once more. "I'd stay to eat, but I've lose my appetite," he says, eyes lingering on the fly's corpus.

He looks to the other members of the League and offers them an all-inclusive nod.

"Goodbye."

With that, he's slipping out to find the answers to some very pressing questions.

Hyperion has posed:
    "I would ask Superman to heat blast them the goop from me, but I worry that the smell would -never- leave this room if we did that." offers Hyperion. "For now, I will simply go and shower it off. Perhaps I will ask the League laundromat to forgive me as I drop off the uniform."

    That said, he turns and just starts to walk out... making sure to stop breathing for the moment. "I will return for food once I have.... cleaned myself."

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana gets that case closed up and handed off. She gives the departing Superman a light smile before she looks to her sister who gets a warm expression as well. "I look forward to hearing Raven's thoughts on it all. Travel safely." She notes before she looks to Hal, and Vic making their leave as well. She grins at Hal's display of watchful eyes, before nodding her head lightly toward Vic. "Thank you ever so much..." The Princess says in her accented English.

She averts her gaze then to the goop covered Hyperion who has her grinning also, though she tries to wipe it from her features. She dips her chin then toward him. "Yes, cleaning up might be wise.." And then she laughs lightly at the laundry words. "I am sure they will accomodate you." She offers him before her eyes go to the globe being projected once more over the table. She stares at the spot on the map where Siwa is indicated by a small blinking light...