14802/Now Rises Madness

Now Rises Madness
Date of Scene:	30 April 2023
Location:	Happy Harbor
Synopsis:	A madness overcomes Happy Harbor. But a cadre of unflinching warriors fends off the attack and saves the day. And all of the power of the night is summed up in two simple words: I...teach.
Cast of Characters:	Freddy Freeman, Cassandra Cain, Audra Meridian, Billy Batson, Marie-Ange Colbert, Jon Kent

---

Freddy Freeman has posed:
It's a quiet spring evening in Happy Harbor. Weeks have passed since a strange and foul beast from the icy deeps emerged to wreak havoc on a beach in the usually sleepy Happy Harbor. If not for the timely intervention of the Shazam Family -- a group of young heroes imbued with the very power of the gods and their dearest friends and allies -- who knows how much damage would have been done. But the crew made short work of the beast and sent it back to the darkest reaches of the deep blue sea.

During the battle, many civilians fell under the mind-controlling powers of the monster and attacked our heroes. Fortunately, when the beast was defeated the civilians went back to normal.

Until now...

Chaos has broken out in Happy Harbor on this otherwise subdued evening. Those people who were previously mind-controlled -- spread all over the town now -- have begun to behave in violent, unpredictable ways. They are attacking innocent people, vandalizing property, setting fires, looting, and all other manner of wild behavior. There was no warning.

Freddy was at home. His father, Victor, was watching the news when the report came on. "Oh shit," he murmured to himself. Clutching his crutch tightly, he walked as quickly as possible to the back yard where he sent out a tweet to his allies and then he SHAZAMS and takes off into the air.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Orphan leaves someone napping, having done a thing to their jaw that likely will leave them with a headache, but really better that than what they were trying to do. She saw them start to try to bite someone, and really, who wants that? It's like asking to see someone's chainsaw and then deciding if it looks best with red or white wine?

If that doesn't make sense, don't worry. Cass is working almost entirely on body language, and frankly half the people she's seen walking the streets shouldn't BE walking the streets. So, it's clearly knockout time.

Still, they act weird. Not sure who she should tell about it, she walks from streetlight to streetlight, inviting problems. Because she'd rather it be her than someone with a baby. Or a cute doggo. There are many bad options here.

Audra Meridian has posed:
Happy Harbor wasn't one of Audra's usual routines, but the local meteorologist had called in sick and she had taken up the day to fill in. One of the advantages of being a storm chaser with an actual degree.

It also meant that she was at the station, having just finished recording the greenscreen parts of the weather forecast for the evening news, when the reports of unusual aggressive activities came into the station. Thank goodness she was done with her actual job on the matter. It made it easier to excuse herself, slip out the back, and make a quick stop in the back of her SUV.

Moments later Windrose was in the air over Happy Harbor, taking stock of the situation. "Just my luck something like this happens on the one day I'm here." She's gotten use to the weird and unusual crossing paths with her by this point.

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson is nowhere and everywhere. He's pretty sure the Rock of Eternity can allow you to see anywhere, be anywhere. He just lacks the skills, but he is learning. He usually does this as Billy, he just doesn't retain what he learned as Shazam when he changes back. Right now he is Shazam and reorganizing scrolls and tomes and a totally wrong feeling sweeps over him, through him and it's heading for Happy Harbor! Shazam invokes the symbols he is trying to memorize and is back at Billy's studio apartment. A moment later he is flying out the back window and splitting the air for Happy Harbor.

Marie-Ange Colbert has posed:
Marie saw this coming. Quite literally. She knew she'd have to be here to deal with the ramifications of their past actions, and knew her talents would be would be needed here. At the moment, the Two of Wands and her Wakandan training are being put to the test. While T'Challa's teachings used smaller sticks than what the Wands suit produces... well, holding them in the middle still makes for fairly effective, non-lethal weaponry. Even if /she's/ not the most proficient fighter... the mind-controlled people are operating on instinct. She at least has a /little/ technique behind her blows!

"Pardon, Monsieur." she adds quickly to one of the ones who's been laid out. "Tylenol will be good for this!" she offers helpfully... hoping the man's unconscious mind will hear, at least.

Freddy Freeman has posed:
There is a crack that fills the air! Pantheon is one of the better flyers in the Shazam Family, and he is putting the proverbial pedal to the proverbial metal now. In the distance, in the direction of the cracking sound, a blue streak can be seen moving in at well above the sound barrier. As he gets closer to the town, Pantheon slows down. Finally he comes to hover over Happy Harbor as he sees the chaos.

"Gods, Billy, I hope you know this is going down," the hero murmurs to himself under his breath.

The situation is so much worse than the news report suggested because each time one of the mind-controlled civilians attacks another person, THAT person becomes mind-controlled as well. In the space of minutes, there are four or five times the number of 'infected' as there were when this all broke out.

Cass lays out an infected citizen, granting them the mercy of unconsciousness, surely better than this waking madness. But she finds herself suddenly surrounded by incoming would-be attackers as this madness literally spreads.

From Audra's vantage point she seems a woman in a blouse and skirt and one missing high heel shoe throwing a can of gasoline on a mini-van that contains a terrified family!

"Marie!" Pantheon calls out, pointing behind her where a guy in jeans, an AC/DC T-shirt, and a jean vest is running in her direction with two Rottweilers! He reaches out to fire a lightning blast at the ground in an attempt to scare the man and his dogs off. They are too crazed, but it does buy Marie an extra few moments!

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The group surrounding her makes Cass smile. She isn't really in this to fight them, but to draw their attention. Keep the people from hurting themselves or others. So, on that theory, she pauses and puts her fingers to her lips and blows.

The earsplitting sound of the whistle causes even more people to look her way, and she leans back as one of them reaches for her head.

She falls to the ground, almost comically, and lets them all pile on to the 'easy prey'. While doing so, she rolls and slides between one's legs. Then she gives him a push from behind and waits for them to realize that she's moved.

Which is when a few more show up, from all directions. Woo! This could get overwhelming...hrm.

Jon Kent has posed:
A knife presses through some meat.

It seems Jon is attempting to make a steak dinner for Pa and Ma Kent. Krypto was sitting at the table, more specifically, in Jon's spot while he waits for the dog-serving plate to be given to him. He's humming a soft tune.

Table set, Jon is smiling at all of them. "Okay guys, I hope you enj-"

He pauses, and looks to the east towards Happy Harbour. He doesn't focus his senses, he lets them all come to him. The people are behaving violently, and there's heroes coming in to help. But it's not enough. People are so much worse....the infection is spreading and spreading rapidly. People are becoming slaves to some kind of mind control.

"I'm sorry Ma, Pa, I gotta-"

"It's okay, kiddo." Pa tells him. "I'll tell you what I told Clark when he was your age: You can save 'em all, kid. If you have the ability to stop a bully from hurtin' someone else...you go do it."

Jon smiles. "Yes sir."

A blur and he's out of the Kent family farm and blasting off towards Happy Harbor. It doesn't take him long. A few minutes, tops.

A woman on top of a building (from what /was/ a fun roof party) narrowly manages to avoid a swipe from her mind-controlled boyfriend and...she falls. She screams, the cry breaking through the heavens when a red and blue motion catches her out of the air.

With an S on his chest.

He lands her safely on the ground and guides her towards safety. "Ma'am, please return to your home and stay there until this stops." He advises.

He picks up an empty bus with one hand and /sets/ it firmly on the ground to create a barricade between a group of infected and non-infected.

"How do we break the control?" He calls to Freddy.

Audra Meridian has posed:
Audra Meridian is no psychic but its kind of sad to say she's had enough experience dealing with mind-control at this point to recognize the symptoms of the ragged instinctive way people act out when not under their own decisive thoughts. Using whatever is at hand they can. Which turns out to be a can of gasoline that she spots flung into the air.

Ionized thrusters change vectors and she dives down speedily, unleashing a burst of frigid air ahead of her to render the gasoline too cold to ignite as the freezing temperature as it crystalizes. "Stay in the vehicle!" she calls to the family, so they don't add to the chaos by panicing and trying to flee. "Just lock the doors and keep your windows up. And for you." She turns to point her other arm at the disheveled woman and releases a blast of compressed air pressure to blow the woman away from the vehicle without severely hurting her. "Back off."

At this point other super-people have started to show up on the scene, getting a sigh of relief from her. "Oh good, I'm not the only one that caught wind of the situation."

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson arrives. He isn't subtle about it. Lightning backlights him as he flies out of a veritable windstorm. He looks down on the scene and feels something older than him take over. Zeus Pater. Jupiter in the common talk. Zeus Xenia -the god of kindness to strangers speaks through him for the moment. "You. Will. Stop. This. Madness. Now!!"

It probably won't work but let the King of the gods have a moment.

Marie-Ange Colbert has posed:
"Pantheon!" Marie calls out in relief, but when she turns -- she shrieks as she spies the man-with-dogs running towards her. The staves in her hands vanish into the ether as she starts to run in the /other/ direction -- hearing that lightning blast behind her is some relief, but she knows it's not a permanent solution -- she hasn't known Freddy for too long, but if he's anything like Mary frying a civilian would fall under off-limits.

It /does/ buy her a little time, though.

Enough time to pull a card -- this time, it's the Devil that comes to life from the tarot deck, collects the redhead in one fist and hefts her up in the air.

The man, and his dogs all try attacking the giant creature.... but they don't have the power required to break it, so for the moment, at least, Marie's safe and her summon is working as a distraction...

...or possibly a magnet.

Freddy Freeman has posed:
The pig pile that Cass created is actually helping tremendously. Instead of swarming the town and spreading their infection, these citizens are all contained and isolated. But from behind her, Cass can hear a sudden roaring of a small engine as a kid in a black leather jacket and a spiked collar on his necks starts a chainsaw. His hands are bloody from where he smashed through a hardware store window to steal it.

"Thank you, Superman!" the woman says as Jon sets her on the ground. Well, at least she's in the right family. As she runs to her car, she murmurs, "I thought he'd be older."

The would-be fire starter lets out an enraged yell as Windrose nullifies her plan. She turns and screams, "YOU BITCH..." but gets cut off as the air slams her back into the outside of a coffee shop. She collapses unconscious to the ground.

Perhaps to Billy's surprise, his plan did have some effect: About a couple dozen or more infected near him seem to snap out of it. They blink and look around, trying to figure out what happened. It's a double-edged sword. They are un-infected, but they are lost, confused, and subject to being re-infected!

Once Tarot's Devil is summoned, it seems to have an interesting effect on the man and the two dogs. They actually seem to stop and calm down, as if the infection leaves them in the same way it did when Shazam invoked Jupiter.

Pantheon swoops down and picks up Marie. "Mind if I cut in?" he says to the summoned Devil. Pantheon flies Tarot and sets her down on the roof of a one-story building. He lands there as well. "I don't know what's causing this," he says to Tarot. About that time is when Jon calls down to him asking how to stop the mind control. Pantheon looks up in the air with a troubled expression. "I don't know, Superboy." He doesn't say it loud. He knows Jon could hear him from London.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Yeah, that's a lot going on. Big pose and all. But hey, fun had by all, right? Cass pauses and frowns, looking at the chainsaw guy, and then back at the horde. Then, her eyes go up.

Superheroes in the skies, and a giant demon.

Well, I've had weirder days. She shrugs and then blocks the incoming chainsaw with her left forearm, sparks flying furiously from the armor kept beneath, and she berates herself a little for losing focus long enough to get hit.

She shoulders the chainsaw to one side, then punches the saw itself to make it stop working. And, hopefully, explode. Because explosions improve everything.

Then she sidesteps a few other incomings like a soft linebacker, and jogs toward the demon. Keep them all wanting more, as they say in show biz. Not that Cass would know the terms.

Audra Meridian has posed:
Audra Meridian sighed softly. It wasn't an optimal solution but being unconcious meant she wasn't a danger to herself or others at least for the time being. Hopefully someone else can figure out what's really needing to be done about the problem as a whole.

The crash and thoom of lightning gets her attention, mostly because she's not the one causing it. But the Devil rising over the streets is what really catches her eye, and she re-engages her own flight systems to jetstream in that direction. Then diverts to the rooftop where she sees someone setting a more familiar face down. Explains the Devil.

Windrose glides down to hover at the rooftop, giving a nod towards Marie. "Fancy seeing you here." Then to Pantheon. "I take it you are one of the local heroes? Can call me Windrose." She pauses to glance over the side of the building at the crazies in the streets. "Though I think more thorough introductions we might want to wait on."

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson faces the next wave, trying to distract them from the people he exorcised, if that is the word. After all Solomon bound spirits. He intones, "Father Zeus, protector of the weak, help me to be strong against my fears. Father Zeus, protector of the wronged, help me to do right by all I meet. O god of the lightning, god of the wild winds, grant to us your blessing, grant to us your favor, grant to us your good will. O kind-hearted..." A thin bolt of lightning reaches down and plays around him. He doesn't notice his uniform turn white and softly glow.

Shazam lifts a hand, "This is Olympian magic. It jets from Father Zeus. Follow the lightning to it. I have to stay here and keep curing people." Billy scarcely recognizes his voice. Most of the time he is hard pressed to keep his girlfriend from giggling at his mishaps. But the lightning jumps from his fingers forming a glowing trail. Zeus was a cheating husband but he had his good points.

Jon Kent has posed:
'Thank you, Superman'.

Jon had never known himself to be called Superman. In fact, being called such is a common reference to the shadow he's drowned in. He knows that he might never live up to the legend that is Superman. Even when Superman decides to hang up the cape or - if the worse occurs, dies - Jon might never quite be /Superman/.

But he can't deal with his insecurities right now. There's people to save.

Jon wishes he was older, sometimes.

Hearing that Pantheon didn't know made him nod, but he flies upwards towards Freddy and Marie. He turns to Billy and aclls to him. "I'll follow it and put a stop to this." Superboy immediately volunteers to go into the great unknown.

Though he quickly flies downward, making a swift beeline to reach for Cassandra and pick her up off of the ground if she doesn't mind!

"Hey. I see you're really amazing. Want to help me free everyone?"

Freddy Freeman has posed:
As Orphan jogs out in the direction of, it turns out, Shazam her fan club is in pursuit behind her. She saved a lot of citizens from being infected with her tactic of making herself a target to round them up. But now a shadow is appearing out of the sky, heading in Orphan's direction. None of than Superboy? Superman? A Superperson is swooping down to lift her up.

Pantheon studies Windrose carefully. The Wisdom of Solomon picks apart every tiny aspect and detail that she presents, crunching all of that data like some sort of ancient, mythological super-computer. The verdict must have come back good because Pantheon smiles. "Hi, Windrose. Yeah, I think we can save the hi-how-are-ya for post-fight shawarma." He seems like he is about to take off again when he suddenly stops. A massive pulse of mythological energy that bears the very energy signature of the Rock of Eternity brings Pantheon to his knees. He grabs his head for a brief moment, then he stands up with a gritty determination on his face and BLASTS upward in the air.

"Shazam, did you feel that?" Pantheon calls out as he desperately looks around for the source of the blast. "Superboy?" he calls out, also hoping that Jon might have sensed it too -- Freddy is not clear on the limits of Jon's powers.

But he sees the lighting crackle and twist from Shazam and he points. "There! There! That dumpster behind the movie theater," Pantheon shouts just a little too loud, a little too excitedly. Some nearby windows break from the force of it. "Follow Shazam's lightning!"

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Picked up, carried and lifted, Cass looks up at whom she might thank for the assist. She tilts her head, not talking at all, but given the situation she's probably not needing a ton of convo. She feels a little weird about the sudden uptake, but that's mostly because those kinds of lifts always cause her shorts to bunch in ways that weren't in the manual.

The nod that she gives Jon is joined by a smile. He's just going to have to assume that means 'yes' because this Cassandra doesn't really talk. More of a body language girl really.

Which leads to some awkward hijinx let me tell you. But that's for another time.

Cass' team of tryhards down below bite at the air, trying to catch up. They really are giving it their all, so go team Zombie. Ice cream after the game, okay? Cool.

Audra Meridian has posed:
"You okay?" Windrose asks, but the guy is back on his feet looking even more determined before she can do more than be concerned. Seems he's picked up on something, and takes off. She glances back to Marie a moment and shrugs. "If you need help with the crowds, just yell. One of us can come back to lend you a hand." Her flight stabiliers flick back out and she takes off after Pantheon on a thrust of ionized vectors. "It's getting a bit wild on the streets... though they're probably going to hurt themselves more than anything else. We need to stop the source of this, because I don't really want to have to try and knock an entire city unconcious."

Billy Batson has posed:
People fleeing. People biting. The cured people are finally picking up their heels when more afflicted reach the bolt of lightning given human form. Hand reach to grab the hovering man, bring him down, bite kick, kill. "Sorry, my god does not require my suffering at your hands." With a burst of light and rumble. He walks down the boulevard drawing the ire of the deranged. Their fists and feet and crude weapons don't stop him in the least, don't harm him and ever touch results in a lunatic falling to the ground stunned and returned to whatever passes for sanity.

Jon Kent has posed:
Smiling at Cassandra, Jon nods to her. "Alright. Let's do it!"

And Superboy (Superman, to some people) flies low to the ground as he follows the lightning. Though suddenly there's a pulse of mystical energy. While Superboy has no training in the mystic arts at all, the electromagnetic spectrum (which Jon can see the entirety of) shifts a certain way when magic happens.

And it just shifted like hell.

"I did!" He calls out to Freddy. Apparently the limits are truly spectacular. Maybe nonexistent. Truly, they do exist, Jon just hasn't found them yet. Following Shazam's lightning, Superboy flies with Cassandra in his arms and his eyes firmly ahead.

"They really are trying hard." He remarks about the mind-controlled zombie-people.

Yet, the pair reach the dumpster and swings it open, revealing a small reddish black stone.

"That...That I think is what's causing all o this." He looks to Cassandra.

"Want to do the honors?"

Freddy Freeman has posed:
Belatedly, Pantheon responds to Windrose, "Yeah, I'm...I'm okay. There is an energy here that shouldn't be on this planet. It's from the Rock of Eternity somehow but I can't think of anything there what would cause this." He shakes his head. "There are a lot of secrets in that ancient place, though."

Then Pantheon looks down to where Shazam is, just walking down the street like the wrath of an angry god, nothing can touch him, nothing can so much as slow him down. "Look at him go," Pantheon says, perhaps to Windrose. It's clear that Freddy has nothing but love and admiration for his brother. No matter what mighty things Pantheon accomplishes, he always considers himself to be the lesser of the Mighty Shazam.

On the ground, at the dumpster, suddenly the stone begins to emit a bright glow. For whatever reason deemed by the Cosmos, Orphan seems unaffected. But Superboy, susceptible to magic, suddenly stands stiff. His eyes glaze over as the mind control begins to subdue him. And let's be honest, do we really want a violent, mind-controlled Kryptonian to put his thing down?

Orphan is standing so close to the soon-to-be-monstrous Superboy that she can feel the heat radiating from his body. Can she get that stone away in time?

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass was SO CLOSE to not bothering. Superboy is way powerful, and she's not really into doing it all. But she peers at him, as things change, and then she sighs. For some reason, can't explain it, she thinks that this is Freddy's fault.

But she knows that something's shifted. So she gives a little headshake, and then flicks her thumb in her sleeve. This causes a protective knuckle guard to fall down, giving her full access to all the hitting power she's got inside.

WIthout shattering her knuckles. Because that shit hurts.

She nods, then with one eye on Jon, she turns and hauls off and drives her fist into that rock, like it has no reason being allowed the right to exist.

Doesn't. Change my mind.

Whether or not it dies is someone else's decision.

Audra Meridian has posed:
Audra Meridian doesn't know what the Rock of Eternity is but 'lot of secrets in an ancient place' is more than enough of an explaination for the time being. She glances down for a moment when Shazam is pointed out, and whistles softly. "He's got their focus on him, that's for sure." He's clearing the minds of people as he's go through some righteous power she doesn't understand.

Audra may be a woman of science, but she's open minded in the matter and has just accepted that magic is another aspect of the world. Even if she doesn't understand it, it exists, and she can at least try to be prepared for it.

And when the source in the alley is broken, the horde stops being a horde. Just a lot of confused people. ".. I think someone broke the madness."

Literally, but they don't quite know that yet.

Billy Batson has posed:
Billy Batson does avert his eyes from Cassandrq's adjustment. Pure of Heart. He was going to haul off on Jon. A feral Kryptonian of any kind is no joke and he already got mauled by a Kryptonian dog this week. He stops when the pretty Asian girl shatters... she punched a rock.

She gods damned killed it. The radiance, the command, the majesty leaves him, no longer needed.

Shazam, who could wipe out a city stands before Cassandra and says, "That was the most amazing thing I ever saw. You are awesome... and so petit. I'm Shazam." He sticks out a hand.

Jon Kent has posed:
That glow strikes into the very heart of Superboy.

He has that Dumpster up and over his head to make it easier to drop the glowing rock into Orphan's hands....then he sees it. He goes stiff, completely frozen as whatever dark magic tries to grip his heart, grip his mind. The dumpster falls off to the side as Jon's eyes begin to glaze over as something...else is trying to take over!

"Ah.....Ah..."

Jon tries to say something, but his voice is caught. The light is fading....

Then he literally snaps back to reality when Cassandra smashes the stone! Jon takes a large inhale of breath. He doesn't have to breathe while powered by the yellow sun, but man does it feel nice. He fills his lungs and he moves his arms to rest his hands on his knees.

"Thank you,..." Superboy stands up straight. "He's right. That was amazing. Thank you...you saved the world." He smiles at Cassandra, a big smile on his face.

and the world was saved thanks to this new unity of heroes!

Cassandra Cain has posed:
<.< >.>

Cass looks around, not entirely certain that this isn't some kind of prank, but when she's checked and confirms it is so (yar) she shakes Billy's hand.

Lord, I didn't even know that he was there! When did Billy even arrive? So much going on.

Still, having a good showing before TWO of the spandex crowd is usually a good thing. She quickly makes sure that her hood is in place (which would have made more sense earlier. Also, super-vision) and then squeezes Billy's hand. Gently. Don't want to hurt him.

Don't laugh at me.

"I...teach," she says, actually using words. GASP! But she lacks business cards, or a business, or anything to identify herself in any visible way so that's probably going nowhere.

Oh hush, you'd do it too. Nite all! <3