13851/Sorcerer's World: Faust's Comeuppance

Sorcerer's World: Faust's Comeuppance
Date of Scene:	13 February 2023
Location:	Hall of Justice - New Troy
Synopsis:	Felix Faust seeks his revenge against the Justice League as his mad ambitions are thwarted. It goes about as well as would be expected.
Cast of Characters:	Hal Jordan, Valeria Richards, Shayera Thal, Zatanna Zatara, Meggan Puceanu

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Hal Jordan has posed:
It is a lovely weekend afternoon in Metropolis and while the weather might be a little chilly the sun is bright, making the day that much more welcoming in the City of Tomorrow. Of course there is no shortage of things for the residents of the city to get up to on days like today, but certainly one of the most popular is to visit the Hall of Justice, the earth-bound headquarters of the Justice League. And today is no different.

The Main Promenade of the Hall is bustling with activity -- as is frequently the case during daylight hours -- open to the public. With it's towering ceiling -- the sky above revealed through the glass, brilliant blue and cheerful -- and it's numerous statues and mural depiction of the Leaguers and their greatest battles on display, hundreds of people wander in amongst the displays, occasionally stepping out into the gift shop, or cafe, or the even more detailed museum, full of all sorts of displays.

Just another, ordinary day in the greatest city in the world. But not for long.

The occasional strange sight is hardly unexpected in a place like this. Afterall, some of the greatest heroes in the world meet here regularly. So when a flurry of red sparks begin to flicker right in the middle of the promenade it draws plenty of stares, plenty of gawkers, but for the most part it is excitement and interested that register on the bystanders faces, not concern. Even when those sparks grow in intensity, a virtual rain of flickering red lights only more people gather around as the light show finally seems to resolve itself into a portal, a circular opening showing what appears to be a desolate landscape beyond, windswept and barren. And a singular figure in blue robes and a turban, his features gaunt and haggard, expression twisted with hatred.

The onlookers might not be terribly concerned by this particular development -- indeed, some even clap as if watching a show -- but deep inside the Hall, hidden away from the areas open to the general public, the warning signal of a magical incursion begins to sound.

Felix Faust -- the would-be ruler of all of known reality and -- briefly -- the King of Latveria steps through that portal, looking around the grand entrance to his greatest foe's headquarters, lips curling into a derisive sneer. "All of you all fools," he snarls at the bystanders gathered around, his tone finally sending a note of caution to some -- but not all -- of those gathered close by. "You worship these false gods, come to pray here at their cathedral of self-aggrandizing hubris. And none of you know what it is that they have taken from me!" he says, voice rising to a shrill scream by the end, his face a snarling rictus of rage.

Then the mad magician's features abruptly smooth, a twisted smile replacing the snarl as he looks over the couples and families who have finally begun backing away at last, over the citizens of Metropolis out enjoying their weekend and visitors from all over the world. "But you're all going to help me have my revenge..." he says, almost gleeful now as an aura of crackling black energy begins to radiate from Faust.

Valeria Richards has posed:
Why is Valeria Richards at the Hall of Justice? Well the League among other heroes and teams had helped depose the usurper to the throne of Latveria, they do desserve some unofficial ofical thanks and recognition for the help.

Likely Doom himself would have taken sole credit. But he may possibly have been stuck arranging for his homeland to be restored to it's proper glory.

So Val gets to be diplomatic.

Or she would if there wasn't already some weird magical stuff going on. In this case the man that was kicked off her godfather's lawn.

"I swear idiots like you never wait very long to try this revenge attack schtick." she calls out evenb as she activates her uniform with a pressing of two gold rings together. Her Val suit, looks like a biker style version of the usual Fantastic Four uniform, just extra padding for protection while the suit uses Thing Suit tech to enhance her strength and a hybrid Richard/Doomtech forcefield generator that can absorb and recharge the shields with most physical and energy attacks. A little weird purple glow to it makes the field visible. A little extra power boost that was used to good effect to help oust Faust. A certain appropriated mystical crystal

"You're still butthurt about no one worshiping you huh?" she states and loks around. "It's going to get very dangerous to be here folks. Time to clear out!" she yells out, a swipe of her wrist computer's holointerface expending the shield to try and deflect anything Faust might cast.

Key word try, even with the magitech.

Shayera Thal has posed:
Shayera had just finished a brief tour of the Justice League Headquarters, having recently come back to earth to act as diplomate and hero again. Dressed in her old costume including the hawk helm and her trusty mace she steps out of the head quarters as she tucks away the Justice League communicator. Right now her thoughts are lunch when she pauses to see the distortion in the area open up and Felix Faust float through and begins to monolog.

Hawk Woman blinks a few times and watches the man curiously for a bit, she knows it is generally rude to interrupt a villain when they got their speech going, even though she just wants to clobber them mid sentence. Taking her mace off her hip and limbering up. Once he starts charing up his attack Hawk Woman goes on the offense and then with a powerful beat of her wings shoots into the air with that mace that has been known to disrupt magical abilities and does what she always does, try and bash the man over the head with it. Granted she has very simple solutions to problems, but it is normally those simple solutions that work.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Red light bathes one wall of the tranquil room, turning the gold lettering on the books lining the walls, to fire. Zatanna closes her book with a snap, stands and looks down at herself. She won't be arriving at the Hall of Justice in a fine negligee and matching robe. With a wave of her hand she transforms herself into something more apt to a magical incursion alarm: black form fitting pants, knee high boots with low heels (she hates running in high heels) and an ample black sweater over a crips white blouse.

A vertical sweep of her hand paints a vivid line of purple light which widens into a door that she steps through. The portal takes her to a private area of the Hall a room where dignitaries can rest before going out into public in time to hear Faust's invitation to the citizens of Metropolis to help him on his mission and another familiar voice answer him. Zatanna's blue eyes spark with laughter. Val has never minced words.

She pushes the door open behind Faust, not announcing herself, then steps into hall, watching the easy going tourists become a panicked swarm heading for the doors.

Hal Jordan has posed:
For his part Hal Jordan has been sticking pretty close to the Watchtower as of late. Afterall, it's not every day that you run across SPACE NAZI CYBORGS on the moon. Who knows if there will be more surprises, so it probably pays to have someone stick close by, just in case. And certainly there are few better suited for adventures in space then a Green Lantern. So it is no real surprise when the warning alarms go off in the Watchtower's Monitoring Room. What is surprising however is the source -- the Hall of Justice itself. As the first images begin to flicker over the screen in front of him, Hal shakes his head. "You've got to be kidding me..." he mutters, whirling almost at once to the bank of teleporters that stand nearby, waiting to convey the emerald ring-slinger down to the increasingly chaotic scene below.

The quiet babble that fills the promenade grows louder, an increasing note of panic in that background noise. Despite that fact Valeria Richards' words cut through the crowd, easily reaching the blue robed sorcerer who whirls, that gleeful smile vanishing from his features to once again be replaced by that rage-filled snarl. "You! So much the better than you're here as well. A shame that that petty sham of a conjurer who calls himself king is not as well. But I will deal with him soon enough too!" Faust screams.

Completely unaware of the fact that the winged woman with the spikey-weapon is soaring towards him.

Could the whole threat be over before it starts? It would be somehow fitting for Faust's last stand to end like so many of his other gambits against the Justice League; in abject humiliation and failure. And while he might be unaware of his imminent doom, that doesn't prevent him from acting, suddenly crouching down, pressing one of those fists that crackle with ominous black energy to the marble tiles of the promenade floor.

There is a loud, audible crack and fissues begin to radiate outward in twisting, crooked lines from the mad magician. And as those fissures begin to spread a deep, dark mist begins to seep upward from the earth, little tendrils that seem to have a mind of their own, lashing out at the nearest of the bystanders. And as they find their marks, as those seemingly insubstantial coils wrap around their chosen targets they begin to shake and convulse, a sudden change washing over them. There, a tourist with a camera suddenly twists, expanding like he is about to burst, body turning bright red as limbs extend -- and more spring forth from his body -- until some great, demonic squid-llike creature stands in his place. On the other side of a fountain another tendril finds a mother as she franctically hands her child off to her partner, screaming as she drops to all fours, growing at an impossible rate into a hulking, spiked boar straight from hell, snorting and pawing at the ground as she eyes her partner, no longer with worry for her child but instead burning eyes filled with rage.

And Faust's saving grace? The tendril that catches the local artist just behind him. Like the others he too swells up, growing into a monstrous ogre-like creature with one eye and a horn in the middle of his forehead, interposing its incredible bulk right in front of the mace that Shayera is bringing down with all her force, rocked backwards as it hits with a roar, stumbling and clumsily swinging a huge fist at Hawkwoman.

While Faust might have dodged a concussion -- for now -- Shayera is not the only one he misses in the confusion, Zatanna's arrival seemingly going unnoticed as well as the mad mage lets his magics reach out to twist and corrupt anyone he can catch in those black, smokey tendrils of power.

Shayera Thal has posed:
Nut bunnies. Shayera is a little to committed to her charge so when her mace collides with the creature does she now take in her surroundings and hisses. She is about ready to take flight when the fist comes around and hits her sending her cartwheeling backward and landing on her stomach. "Ok." She stands up and then scans the surrounding, noting that these people are just innocent civilians so she is going to have to pull her punches and not kill them. Knock them out at least.

Looking to Faust she narrows her eyes, she'll deal with hm last right now she going do crowd control. Taking her mace in two hands she eyes the ogre like creature and narrows her eyes. She bends her knees and then vaults upward with a wing assisted leap getting high in the air before tucking her wings and going in for the death dive as she attempts to knock it out, the wicked looking mace pulsing with a electrically charge and the gravity generator increasing the downward swing of the mace as she brings it down.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Meggan intended initially to stop by the Justice League headquarters to drop off something courtesy of John "I'm not a Leaguer" Constantine, acting as the bridge between heroes and miscreant blue-collar warlock. He used the excuse of a nap. He might be rather jealous now he doesn't get to do the warlock things to the demonic terrors.

Thus she runs straight into an agitated crowd, and almost nothing else on Earth can be more fruitful or dangerous to an empath of her level than a group considering tipping into a mob. Their responses, running from fear to dismay, wash around her like a tide strewn in floating trash. Sometimes, you just have to hold your breath and push forward, hoping things might change. Among the faces and names gathered here, one stands out more than any other.

Headed towards a certain sorcerer about to -- and then actually assailed, her white-haired presence probably differs a great deal from the last time Faust saw her. Seasons change and so does Meggan. Civilians caught in the miasma don't blunt her from shouting to him; incidentally, it might announce her. Not many heroes of Britain about. "Oi, you great pillock!" That passes for a greeting. "I can think of better things to do on a Sunday night than fall on my knees and bat my eyelashes hoping you'll bless me." She can project loudly when she wants to, "You are no god, Faust. I've stood before The Presence. Trust me, no comparison."

The situation might get rather worse when the crowd's emotions turn to terror, startled and darkened by the abuse of their body. Poison for some, poison for many. But given it's winter, the darkest looking-glass of emotions are purely food for the fae goddess.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Thankful for the presence of Hawk Woman and Val Richards who occupies his attention, the mistress of magic has no intention of fairly announcing her presence, not after the hideous transformations he inflicts on the innocent. Anger flares in her soul for not acting sooner. His magic comes from the darkest places in the universe, diametrically opposed to the light and order that enlivens her magic.

Still keeping herself small, Zatanna closes her eyes, marshaling a spell, intent on containing him till he can be stopped and neutralized. Helping the magicked innocent will come next, she tells herself optimistically.

Zatanna seems to grow in height as she raises a hand, intoning, ".egac gnitcelfed llepS" (Spell deflecting cage.)

A shimmering veil drops around the ravening magician, evanescent in appearance, it is designed to deflect magic spells back on the caster. Just as she finishes, she senses a familiar presence.

Valeria Richards has posed:
The blonde woman swivels her head as she sees the changes happening in the crowds. Luckily her own forcefield seem to be working. "I really hope that can be fixed?" she asks aloud while she works to increase the size of the field to make sure as many people are protected from further mystical mutation.

Wether that works and she can use the energy from the spell blast to power mystical shields remains to be seen. She's as much at risk as anyone without it.

"Too much of a coward to just fight on your own huh?!" she taunts and yells as some of the others step up when it's their yard. "Uhh, I'll try and keep the remaining people safe. Of course that also means some of the transformed were stuck in the dome shaped field. It's a mad frantic work of math to adjust the shape and size to work out and eject former people now beasts on the fly but she does her bessts. Though being inside and that the spell effects attack from the ground up it's difficulty and she feels a jolt herself through her boots and on up.

It's painful and there's a very, very sunken look in blue eyes as she looks around.

She might have a problem.

Hal Jordan has posed:
While the teleporters are obviously in the secured section of the Hall of Justice it takes Hal no time at all to join the fray, that emerald aura wrapping around him as he simply rises up from the lower levels, passing straight through the floor to emerge in the total chaos that grips the promenade. "I see someone's come to share their sour grapes again. You'd think he'd eventually get tired of getting his ass kicked all the time, wouldn't you?" Green Lantern states drily, his power ring flaring brightly for a moment. Watching as some of the bystanders are turned into monsterous weapons by their old foe, he puts his constructs to work trying to minimize the number that can be so utilized, huge glowing ice cream scoops flying about, scraping along the ground as he plucks a few dozen people from where they cower, flying them away towards the exits crowded with fleeing civilians before those inky tendrils can find them.

The efforts by the League to limit the collateral damage certainly has an effect, but a handful of others are caught before they can be whisked to safety. A slithering grey mass of slime oozes across the ground, leaving the marble tiles smoking and burned anywhere it touches. A creature with huge eyes, sickly brown skin and clawed hands begins to hurl balls of fire here, there and everywhere. Another person morphs into a small, ugly looking lizard. HArdly seems a threat compared to the others, right? Until those whirling, baleful eyes turn their attention towards another fleeing civilian, the man shouting in fear as he becomes rooted in place, a layer of stone slowly creeping over his body until he is nothing more then a rocky statue.

While Faust might have just been allied with a Lord of Chaos, he is rather apt at bringing that dark side of magic himself. That demented grin reappears as he watches one of those black, misty tendrils slip under Valaria's forcefield, reaching out for the young woman and finding purchase. "Yeessssss," he hisses triumphantly, eagerly watching to see just what twisted shape his dark magics will bring out of her. At least until he finds himself confronted from another direction. Abruptly he whirls once more, turning towards the approaching Meggan and throwing up a shield of what looks to be the night sky, black and pierced by sparkling lights, trying to keep her at bay. "Ahhh good, more lambs to the slaughter. If you don't care to worship me my dear, I'm only too happy to see your corpse on the funeral pyre I plan to make of this so called Hall of Justice," he barks back at her.

Those rippling fissures continues to stretch and roll across the floor, glowing with their dark power as they seek out more victims to twist and turn against the Justice League. At least until Zatanna intervenes and completes her incantation. All at once their growth stops and the power starts to snap back towards Faust, the marble tiles buckling and heaving. The mad mage's eyes widen and the frantically waves a hand, muttering under his breath as he cuts the spell off before he can be twisted by his own magics. "Damn you," he growls angrily, motioning curtly towards the giant demon squid that begins to flail huge tentacles towards the League's Mistress of Magic.

While Hal deals with the onlookers and Meggan and Zatanna take the fight to Faust himself, Shayera gets the fun of dealing with the monstrous creations that assail her -- and anyone else they can get their mitts on. THe giant ogre swings another clumsy fist her way as she launches herself at him, but this time he misses and when that magic-disrupting mace strikes it this time that monstrous form shimmers. As it falls the shimmering intensifies and by the time it hits the ground it is once again the innocent artist -- unconscious but otherwise unharmed. Handy that. And timely too, given that the giant Hell-Boar is bearing down on the winged woman from behind.

Shayera Thal has posed:
Shayera takes a moment to look down at the artist. "Well it seems I c---." Before she can finish that statement she turns just in time for the boar like creature to ram into her and slam her against a wall, a small crater and a spider web like series of cracks forming on the wall. Hawk Woman narrows her eyes and then brings her legs up and pushes the beast back enough for her to get air born once again, a few beats of the wings has her in a commanding view of the room. Her Hawk Helm starts to blip little targets around the room and bring up friends and foes alike.

Still right now one foe has her attention, that giant boar that bruised a couple of ribs. Letting out a war cry she decents from above holding the Thanarian Nth Metal mace and swinging it around with both hands, the electrical field that disrupts magical energy crackling to like as she attempts to knock the massive boar senseless with the weapon. Someone has to deal with this little fish while the big ones at dealt with by the heavy hitters.

Valeria Richards has posed:
The blonde barely gets her wrist computer and fotcefield generator off and thrown to one of the civillians as she clutches her abdomen.

The shields will take the ground into consideration now and give better coverage for those still inside the shield dome. It or her intelligence was not fast enough to save Valeria herself.

The blonde collapsing as she expants and contorts, her boots ripping as legs distend and human feet become cloven hooves.

The back of her uniform bulging as much with muscle as her shoulderblades push out, muscles expand as black leathery wings flap their way free like a bat, flicking some blue fabric while padding hardens into almost medieval style black body armor around her.

Forehead bleeding as long goat like curved horns and that steerotypi9cal spaded tail emerges from her behind flicking messily as a super genius is left by the wayside as a large bulky demon looking archer with an energy weildding bow rises to it's hooves. Glowing eyes scanning for it's first target while all that visibly remains is the shreds of her uniform's top half haging from a spiky belt like a loin cloth.

A bolt of energy charging from that black bow as a shot is lined up.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Ika no sashimi," Zatanna mutters under her breath as black tentacles curl menacingly toward her. More loudly for Faust's benefit, "Why Faust, one of my favorites, you should try it sliced thinly with sea urchin. A real delight."

The darkness that is Faust will have much to reckon with now that Meggan, the child of the goddess of creation and the homo magi, face him. Zatanna imagines the sharpness of cold metal: knives appear, their keen edges reflecting light, hanging suspended on either side of the tentacle, writhing its way toward her. With a gesture from the mage, they slice into the black flesh. More knives appear ready to transform danger into a good meal of raw squid.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
"Take several seats, Faustypants." Meggan's sibilant tone becomes a threaded hiss as her body grows insubstantial mid-step, the fluid motion rolling through her diffusing light into several different points. His manifestation of the wall of night brings a velvety laugh to bear, as cold and distant as the moon's sickle curve. Through her, Hawkwoman's Nth metal mace glitters and the battle to save civilians continues across a sidewalk filled by perilous dangers. Demons named Valeria Richards included.

She skims her invisible fingers for the invisible, iridescent web strung beneath the stony flesh and ore-licked veins of her mother earth. Feeling for mana takes a few moments, and she calls it up in dulcet whispers and murmurs ripe with secrets. Let her be a conduit for the very essence of magic that threads through the living world and links trees to people and seagulls to wellsprings.

Dangerous to wield that much power except she's a walking mana reservoir almost all the time. The world burns when her floodgates drop, and she utters a sound - hear, there she is! Zatanna and Faust can probably both feel the seal on her dropping, freeing her up to channel pure, raw magical energy.

She unleashes a pair of pulses soaring in two opposite arcs at Faust himself, one side-on and one from below where she aims to coax the very ground to split open and throw the sorcerer off his footing. Zee's knives are weapons of finesse. Meggan has revenge to pick and lessons from how Mordru and her own Laughing Magician husband did it.

Hal Jordan has posed:
With Faust's transformation magics endedm the immediate danger to the crowds that continue to try and evacuate the Hall is lessened. Lessened, but not ended and the area around the entrance suddenly glows green as giant conveyor belts suddenly raise up beneath the startled bystanders, starting to whisk them out the door and to the relative safety outside the Hall itself. "Crowd control handled," Hal says, dusting his hands. "So smooth sailing from here right?" he says, swinging his attention back to the rest of the battle. "Or maybe not..." he mutters, a giant shimmering wall of green slamming down right in front of the transformed Val as she starts to unleash that crackling bolt of energy. "Man, I hope this can all be reversed or Dr. Richards is going to be really, really pissed with us..."

While the threats might slowly being removed from the field of battle, they're not all gone yet. As Hal finds out as he is suddenly pelted by a string of fireballs that burst around him, the big-eyed monster below gleefully conjuring up the fiery projectiles to bombard him. The emerald aura surrounding the flying man keeps the flames at bay, though it is one more distraction to be dealt with.

The rumbling from the ground cannot be missed by any of those present, but that is not the sound that makes Faust's eyes widen. He can indeed hear that clean, clear peel of magic so very different from his own abomindable powers and as the ground cracks underfoot the mad magician does indeed slip, his footing lost on the suddenly shifting earth that seems to turn against him. Falling backward, he sprawls in front of the fountain in the center of the promenade, frantically trying to catch sight of both Meggan and Zatanna once more, frantically motioning towards the last of his transformed slaves. "You cannot do this! You are beneath me! I should have been a god!" the turbaned man shrieks as the little basilisk and oozing mound of sentient acid begin to move towards the fey looming above him.

Zatanna's magic blades leap forth, slicing towards the tentacled monstrocity that menaces her, those massive, muscular limbs flailing dangerously. At least until they are sliced and diced in efficient fashion. The giant squid demons lets forth a great bellowing cry of pain as it is practically shreded. And as that hideous red flesh falls away it begins to desolve into a messy, ectoplasmic goo until a rather confused looking tourist remains sitting in what remains, absolutely covered in slime. But alive.

For a moment that great beast of a Hell-Boar grinds Shayera against the wall, pinning her there until it is pushed back, freeing her and letting her get airborne once more. It snorts, turning those malevolent red eyes her way but seemingly can't reach her. It lets out a roar and the sharp, spiney protrusions on it's back stand up... and abruptly shoot up at Hawk Woman even as she descends towards it in a rush, that mace leading the way once more. Thanagarian technology meets Chaos Magic and a moment later the unfortunate, transformed mother lays sprawled out at Shayera's feet -- alive but likely to be nursing a headache.

Shayera Thal has posed:
Thing about those death dives hawks go on it leads very little room for dodging and weaving, still Hawk Woman manages to weave out of the way of the worst of it but not untouched, little nicks, cuts, and one actually hits her in the thigh before she nails that landing. She stumbles a bit at the spine sticking out of her leg. She grabs ahold of it and then pull it out and wince. She takes stock of the surrounding and notes the attacks going on Faust. She gives Hal Jordan a respectful nod and a slight salute with the mace as he clears the civilians out and then turns her attention to Faust.

Favoring her other leg she pushes off and takes to the air, her wings beating a couple of times as she decides to be a little more careful, the boars spine caught her off guard and she is not sure what Faust can do. She glides over not committing to a full on charge but a carefully arppoach as she gets a grip on the wacking stick and trying to hit him while he is dealing with the other two magicians.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Bits of meat fall to the floor and boil off to nothing. Zatanna sighs in real relief at the sight of the innocent tourist returned to life, blinking in wonder. She had feared for a moment that she had done harm.

Faust's roiling maelstrom of chaos and entropy, meets the ordered dimension of life embodied in the magic wielded by Zatanna and Meggan. Eyes closed, Zatanna calls light to contain the darkness welling from Faust. In a way, she pities him. He had no choice in the magic gifted to him by the demonic bargain made by his father. It has deformed the man whose spirit in no way matches the power he received from that bargain.

Each of them has quelled the magic thrown by Faust in their unique ways.

"You could never have been a god unless it was the god of the mean-spirited and the petty, Faust. I pity you. You will not have your vengeance today."

With an abrupt gesture Zatanna opens a portal behind him, then turns to Hal and Meggan. "But where should we send him? Free or imprisoned?"

Valeria Richards has posed:
Inside the cage, Denom!Valeria fires that bow again and again trying t get through it and out of the confinement. It's probably a very standard smart person becomes cut off from smarts when big and strong.

Hal's willpower at least holds while the demonic being starts using the bow as a club. It's a futile effort but they try. Even that tail flails against the green light confines. The Ring way more effective than even Valeria's own forcefields.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
The occasional glimmer betrays the nearly invisible fae goddess' presence, though Meggan is so close to transparent as to elude the eye. Sensitivity to magic helps; in that spectrum she blazes. Motes that trickle around her immediately scorch the rumpled ground in hoarfrost, silver-plating the shattered concrete for a rather pretty glistening effect.

She hovers off the ground, letting the mana well up through her and practically make her hair stand on end while it brims to a higher level. Dangers of going on a shadowy high or growing awfully jittery from the magical adrenaline rush are, for the most part, contained by Zatanna being proper, Hal focused, and Shayera disciplined. Three good sources of emotion to pull from and hold her own self together whereas poor Valeria, on the other hand, cannot. "Let an actual god," she adds, "offer a piece of advice: get rid of the lethal case of FOMO. Haven't you noticed, with all your special powers, that mortality is sacred? You diminish yourself trying to turn yourself divine. And guess what, it won't work. Actually you're destroying your very self doing it."

She shrugs her shoulders, eyes glowing bright as stars in the shadowy warped field of nightfall that no longer separates them, except that it's a very effective backdrop to make her insubstantial self look sufficiently alien to live up to expectations.

"Maybe you'd rather we pummel you to bits or martyr you, but try listenin' 'cause, seriously. God," she points to herself. Then, to the others still trying to combat him. "Her? Extra magic mortal. Him? Awesome mortal. Her? Transformed mortal but super-excellent mortal. Lady with the wings is more complicated but basically mortal. What makes every one of them special doesn't come from worship. You are more than you know but you keep /blowing it up/ trying to turn yourself into a round peg. Mate, be the square peg. It's really okay. Mum still loves you as you are. She /made/ you. Trust me, she knows what she's doing and likes you just the way you are, mortal and with a heart and soul and everything. You need a cuppa to understand or shall I do the really big fucking fireworks and cower in terror and shudder in rapt adoration thing to really get that through your noggin?"

Hal Jordan has posed:
While Faust's magic might look impressive and the servants created by his dark arts certainly seem fearsome, they are rather singleminded rather than cunning foes and that makes them a little easier to deal with. And given how Hal has seen just how effective Shayera's mace is at dispelling the enchantments that have twisted the unfortunates, he focuses on containment until she can do the same with the others. The glowing green wall surrounding the transformed Val Richards grows, expanding to a full emerald dome to contain her, and a moment later the beam from his ring splits, lashing out at the creature that pelts him with fireballs, forming container around it. His very own demon in a bottle. "Quit it," he says to the creature that continues to caper and senselessly toss those flaming spheres despite being trapped, though otherwise sparing a moment to return Shayera's nod.

Sprawled on the ground, that blue robe starting to crawl up his rather spindly legs, Faust looks a little comical, that crackling black energy aura that surrounds him is increasingly frayed and wispy as it tries to hold back the continued assaults by the Leaguers who close in around him. He lifts a hand and lashes out with an eldritch blast of darkness towards Zatanna -- only to have her magics turn it back against him, draining that shield further. As Shayera closes in behind him he frantically lifts another hand, a shield of mystic runes blocking her path -- and promptly shattered when her mace connects with it. Another one appears an instant later and meets the same fate. The third defensive ward is slower to appear, barely deflecting her mace before it too explodes in midnight sparks leaving the mad mage look increasingly spent, that magical aura flickering wildly, unstably as the sheer darkness threatens to be overwhelmed by the encroaching light.

There is no more gloating on that expression, no more gleeful satisfaction at the possibility that he might somehow, impossibly, can revenge on everyone he imagines has wronged him, everyone who has denied him his rightful place as lord and master above all. There is fear there in those sunken orbs of that too gaunt face to be sure as they shift from each of the heroes that surround him before fastening on Meggan. Fear, yes, but that rage is still there -- reduced to an ember at his humiliation perhaps, but still alive. Rage and madness. "Limit yourself if you choose. I know I'm meant for greater things. I might have failed this time but sooner or later I will end you, all of you and claim my due," he snarls, finding a brief moment of defiance.

At least until the portal opens up behind him at Zatanna's command and she asks her question of the others. Then fear floods his expression once more, looking aorund desperately. "No... wait... I've learned my lesson. Let me go and I swear you shall never hear from me again..." Faust begins to babble.

Hal doesn't seem to think very much of those pleas though and the 'pffffft' sound that comes from him makes it clear what his opinion on the matter is as he begins to float over and descend. "I think the world has seen quite enough of his delusions of grandeur for awhile. You do the crime, you do the time," he says. Very Space Cop of him. But probably not wrong.

Shayera Thal has posed:
Shayera likes to think of herself as rather simple to be honest. At least her approach to combat is, hit with mace, repeat until thing stops moving. Simple!? Still as her mace goes through those barriers and opens him up to Zatanna she steps back so not to get caught in the magical backlash and looks to the Mistress of Magic. "Some place where he won't harm anyone ever again comes to mind." Is Hawk Woman's response. She is not about to pummel a helpless man. There is that thing spewing fireballs and she makes her way over to that and waves for GL to drop his barrier long enough so that she can at least wack it with the mace and reutrn it to normal.

Valeria Richards has posed:
The winged demonic enity that was Val Richards even attempts some of that flight. It's got wings so might as well use them. Unfortunately the dome prison she's in does not buckle, crack or shatter. It does however have a demon hitting the hard light ceiling and then falling back to the ground and growling in frustration. The black armor dented here and there from the impact.

Even almost mindless, the demon hears faust trying to beg, and snorts and snarls. Even it recognises bullshit.

There's some good odds being a victim of chaos magic. It could have and may have actually shot at Faust with that bow. Indisciminate rampage clearly averted.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Can you hear the truth in Meggan's words, Faust? Your place is no longer in this world but someplace where you can do no harm." Zatanna's gaze roves between Val. and Hawkwoman then stops on Meggan, lingering for a moment before returning to Hal. She shares a smile with him, tinged with sadness and determination then turns to Faust.

"Your days of hurting others will end now, Faust, but I do not deal death. We will find a place where you will harm no one. The portal is open, I will leave the destination to others. They need only to say it for it to be so."

She steps forward, glowing with the light she called, "For my part, I cut off your reach into chaos and black magic." Light descends on the craven magician, encasing him like armor, first his arms and legs then torso until it rises to cover his face - an impenetrable spell adhering to his skin.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
When Meggan whispers, the air stills and drops a good twenty degrees in one spot, and she slowly phases a little more into an outline superimposed like a negative image on the world. Her hands rest on her knees as she bends forward until more or less at eye level with him, toes pointed downward, staring with those unnatural glowing eyes that just do not blink. Every word is articulated to be as sharp and clear as one of Zatanna's knives or the phalanges on Shayera's mace, to be unmistaken, elongating her accent to pull out the lilting hints of Scots Gaelic and Welsh.

"You hurt people, Felix Faust. Remember Latveria? We do. You stole people's choices and your actions killed some of them. Remember that? We do. But you've no remorse now. I see it in your heart. I read it in your soul." His babbling certainly doesn't seem to be having an effect on her, at least no apparent one. Justice takes many forms, from space cops to homo magi, and their lessons will be ones to reflect on. One stands out, though.

"Next time around, I hope you can show remorse for your deeds. And if not, may John or Stephen or Kent atomize you. The power you took and misused, I take." Her hands reach out, lifted off her knees, and she calls to the mana in him. Not exactly the first time she's done such a thing, but that is still new, and it takes a considerable bit of concentration on her part to figure out how to drag it forth from Faust without botching it. And if it starts getting squidgy, Zatanna most definitely gets a call for help.

Hal Jordan has posed:
It would seem that the threat posed by Faust is dealt with -- hopefully for good, though Hal Jordan would not want to bet on that. Afterall, it is not as if this is the first time the Justice League has thwarted his ambitions. Still, one can hope. Those emerald cages soon house not only Val and the fireball throwing creature, but also the oozing acid blob and the basilisk as well, opened one at a time so that Shayera can deal with each of them in turn, returning them to their proper forms -- if a little more battered then when they started their afternoon. All things considered it still seems like a fair trade.

Faust cowers on the ground now, doing his best to seem truly broken, to seem deeply repenitent annd earnest in his false promises. He's not likely to fool anyone, but then relying on other people's better natures is hardly an act beneath him. Then again he has proven that very little is beneath him in his mad quest for power. His eyes do occasionally flicker towards that portal that hovers so close behind him, eyeing warily and trying to inch a little further away.

And then judgement is pronounced and the weaselish hope in Faust's eyes dies as it becomes clear that there will be no simple slap on the wrist, no slithering away to some dark corner of the world to rebuild his power. More so, when that magical radiance from Zatanna encroaches in on him, when he feels his connection to that chaos magic cut off -- when Meggan reaches and strips away that last connection to the dark powers he draws upon -- Faust winces and then snarls. "Banish me, lock away my power but know you have not seen that last of me. No mewling words, no threats from any of you will stop me from obtaining what is rightfully mine. Do your worst for Felix Faust shall never grovel before such pathetic --" he starts, ignoring the fact that he was, in fact, just grovelling.

Anything else he might have to say is cut off however as a green gag suddenly appears over his mouth, making his eyes bulge in anger. "What a complete wind bag. I mean really," Hal says with a shake of his head. Then a big green hand emerges from his power ring, lashing out and pushing the mad mage through that open portal.

"What?" Hal asks innocently. "There's an uninhabitted moon in the Denorious belt. It's not a pleasant place but it is capable of supporting life. So long and good riddance," he adds.

Shayera Thal has posed:
Wack! Wam! Blam! Shayera deals with the people who have been transformed into monsters. Once she is done she watches as Hal pushes Faust off and then looks at him and shrugs. "Well as long as he is out of the way I'm fine with it." She notices some ambulances come in and then begins to help arrange the people so the medics can check them and make sure they are alright. She gives them a bit of a run down on what has happened and then goes to join the other after that.

"I am going to have to look over the Justice League files to get the full story of this aren't it?" SO much she has missed while she was on Thanagar, still is good to be back and working with the league, a small smile appears on her face as she savors the job well done for a bit before she winces a bit. One of the medics notices this and begins to coral her as well. "I'll be alright.." The medic however is not hearing anything and checking the nicks and cuts she got before she looks at Hal and Zatanna with a 'help me.' look.

Valeria Richards has posed:
The spells are undone and people become people again. For some it probably isn't pleasant much like the change.

It's pretty rough on Valeria as the demonic beast screams and roars, shrinking and curling up into a ball bar it's head thrown back with that painful yelling.

The pitch getting higher till there's a blonde woman left in a pile of rags and padding. Curled up in a ball she looks up at shayera with a blush on her cheeks. "Umm, Hi! I didn't eat anyone did I? Please don't tell Uncle Doom, or my folks." she asks when she can get some coherent words. Her voice hoarse from the yelling while she looks very, very embarrassed. "And anyone seen my wrist computer?" that'll get returned later.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"You popped his bubble Hal and good riddance. I hope the moon is uninhabited. Nobody could stomach his constant whining and self-pity."

Zatanna snorts a laugh then turns to Meggan. "On an errand were you? Or have you decided to join the League with your husband?" With a gesture encompassing Val and Hawk Woman, "I'm sure you'd get the vote."

At the last, she catches Shayera's pleading look and walks over to the medics. There is nothing commanding about her presence and yet, when she pitches her voice right, people listen, "She's in good hands here. We will tend to her. There are other people that need you." The two medics exchange looks, one shrugs and they leave her to the Justice League to care for her.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Those screams are what give Meggan a splitting headache before the minute is out. She slides out of the incandescent form riveted by too much energy, and a lot of it tainted badly by Faust being /Faust/. It tastes worse than a night of chasers and bad Tequila, followed up by cheap street food that's probably not legal to any inspector.

That just means dropping onto her knees, and making an unhappy sound as she more or less manifests in a queasy wobble. "Ah-- she's loud. Very, very good at being loud." A gesture in Valeria's direction blindly indicates who. "Is she well enough?" Please don't throw up, please don't throw up.

Her expression looks especially unhappy about the foul taste in her aura, but that's all. Putting her arms around her stomach, she manages a bit of a smile at Hal. "Thank you for all that. Handling the moon somewhere bit." She hiccups, and then pauses, shaking her head. "Err, right. Yeah, Zee asked -- and sorta? I'd like to?"

Hal Jordan has posed:
Ahhhh yes, the after fight clean up. Certainly the Main Promenade of the Hall of Justice is going to need some work, shattered tiles riddled with cracks and fissures. Statues have been knocked over, walls damaged -- but there was no loss of life. That's the most important thing. Though the accountants that oversee the League finances might not entirely agree with that assessment.

"I highly recommend it, yes," Hal chirps back brightly to Shayera. "Dealing with the Queen of Fables was a high point. I got a magic cloak and sword out of that. Though I understand that the trip to Hell was a lively affair too," he says drily before flashing her a grin and wiggling fingers at her as the medics start to escort her off. At least until she's saved by Zatanna. "Awwwww. I wanted to see how long it would take her to threaten them with a good macing if they didn't let her go," he protests, eyes glinting mischeviously.

He does get a little more serious -- at least for a moment -- as Meggan drops to her knees, taking a step closer in case she needs a hand before glancing towards Zatanna, suspecting that she might be a little more equipped -- and knowledgable -- about just what she's going through. Magic. It's a hell of a thing.

Turning towards Valaria as she is returned to her less ominous persona, the Green Lantern's lips twitch at the blush at her words, though he otherwise manages to keep a straight face. "Not a word," he promises as his ring flares briefly once more, a glowing green dog leaping from it as it begins to trot through the shattered hall, nose pressed to the ground until it finds the object of it's search -- said wrist computer. Picking it up carefully in it's mouth, it trots back over towards Valeria, wagging it's tail at her.

Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?

"So, anyone else hungry? I could go for a burger. Do you think they would open the cafe?" Hal asks hopefully. If anyone deserves a victory celebration it is probably them afterall.