1574/The Bells: Metropolis Overrun

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The Bells: Metropolis Overrun
Date of Scene: 08 May 2020
Location: Gateway Bridge
Synopsis: Shadow monsters assault Gateway bridge, and heroes respond with firepower.
Cast of Characters: Clark Kent, Zatanna Zatara, Naomi McDuffie, Hal Jordan, Conner Kent, Heidi Ingerdottir




Clark Kent has posed:
Metropolis.... has sunk into shadow. It is not as if it is night--- it is as if a huge shadowy mass has covered it, an unnatural cloudy haze, so thick as to make the whole of the city, miles and miles of it, feel bleak and dark. Patches of this have existed in the city, but now it is widespread: as if before, it was little tastes, but now, someone has opened pandora's box, and the sky is full of invisible dark shapes, things that can't be SEEN yet also block the sunlight out. It all started around three in the afternoon.

There is no panic, because the city seems to sleep amidst a booming, bell-like vibration. People stand transfixed, hypnotized, in place, everywhere. Witnesses are those that are on the fringes of the city, that see the horror and either enter to be caught by it, or run away.

Witnesses see more than just the transfixed: they also see the shadowy creatures lurking through the streets, and huge columns of shadows, tornados touching down, here and there, only to lift and be gone again.

The Gateway Bridge between Metropolis and Gotham is an absolute mess, as people get out of their cars and flee out of Metropolis. Shadowy forms lurk among the cars, thick masses of darkness with teeth.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Since the trip to the warehouse, Zatanna has been digging through the library at Shadowcrest trying to find out what she can about this shadow and the sound element both. In fact, that's exactly what she's doing when reports begin to come in of what's happened to Metropolis. Gearing up (meaning her 'working' attire of magician's outfit and top hat and in this case? a set of earplugs!), she opens a portal and steps through onto the bridge...

...and out into chaos.

The Mistress of Magic's immediate reaction is to try to contain the sound. She takes a deep breath, lifts her arms to cross them in front of her and exclaims while flinging them wide: "Elbbub!" The intent being to surround Metropolis in a bubble, yes, but one that will not permit sound to enter or exit it. Those moving in or out will feel a sort of slimy, filmy sensation... as if moving through a bubble. But if her magic can push back against the magic within the city: it should squelch the sound from eminating forth. Hopefully. She's just hoping to halt the spread, first and foremost.

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
She was at Titan's tower. She was staring out from the top of the tower out at the various strange things happening out in Metropolis and then shakes her head, "I don't know what's happening but..." She leaps off the building. A moment later and a flash of light and Naomi is rocketing like a beacon into the darkness. She is aiming herself right for the first thing she notices upon entering the strange darkness...and a strange bubble? She isn't sure what is happening but she aims for bridge. People are fleeing and need help.

She's fast so her arrival is fast and there's a pop of sound that heralds her arrival. She lands right on the bridge and then flares up her bright form and points, "This way!" She points toward the way out of the city, "Go!"

Hal Jordan has posed:
In Brightest Day, in Blackest Night
No Evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!

When this problem came up, Green Lantern appeared. He had his own green barrier around his head. The ring will adjust to block the sound as necessary. He finds himself glad Zee's trying to bubble the whole city. While he could also try to do that, it's a little too draining on the ring for his taste, and he couldn't sustain that sort of thing very long. Much easier to keep a bubble around his own head to block the sound.

"Zee, what're we dealing with? Do you know how to stop it?"

Conner Kent has posed:
Someone is messing up with Metropolis, and of course it is a concern for Conner. Truth is he move to Hawaii shortly after he was out his clone pod, and then to New York in recent months. But Metropolis is still his 'birthplace' or whatever it is called for clones. He visits the city regularly and will tell you it is the greatest city in the world, despite not having good beaches.

But if someone is messing with Metropolis, and someone is obviously doing it, he will come 'to save the day'.

In fact, a couple years ago, he would have flown straight into downtown. But today he is a little smarter. Too many times burned. When he sees people running on Gateway Bridge, he lands there and tries to ask what is going on. Maybe finding a cop.

Of course, now he can hear the bells, too. Maybe some kind of alarm going? He looks at the city, seeing the shadow and mutters a curse. Then he spots Green Lantern. Much better than a cop, so he flies to meet him. "Hey, wait!"

Clark Kent has posed:
Zee's magic hugs the city, the mystical flutter of her power curling around it. It seems to work... except for the top. It splinters under the massive force of the magical monster within it, and columns of darkness streak skyward, like thickening, angry tornado. It's reacting like a monster was poked, and did not appreciate the magical glass ceiling up there.

For the moment, the sound seems relatively contained... but for how long?

The more pressing matter is that a drove of shadow monsters skitter out onto the bridge itself, oozing under cars. They don't attack, they seem to be scouting like a blanket of oozing shadow. They are attracted to the heroes, it seems: and they are hard to count, these masses of shadow, as they are moving amongst the debris and sea of cars. People are screaming, though, others taking pictures, in the melting pot of the arrival of the shadowy monsters.

Each monster is the size of a large dog, limbless shadow. They seem to phase as they enter shadows, and surface again, taking on real form, revealing huge maws of fangs in their shadowy 'bodies'. No limbs, they have roving tendrils, like strange shadow-urchins. And they are /coming/, as if responding to the magical use, or perhaps something else.

"I have to get into the city!" begs a woman near Naomi. "My mother's there! What is HAPPENING?!"

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Since her bubble is holding (for the moment) and Green Lantern is approaching, Zatanna pops her earplugs out and tucks them into a pocket. "I don't know how to stop it," she starts with the bad news. "It's some sort of demon. Shadowspawn. It infests cities, the sound hypnotizing people, eating everyone inside. It drains life and magic-" which causes her to glance with concern back to her bubble. "And then it goes dormant once everything is dead." And then the worse news.

She hops up onto a car (sorry whoever owns it) to get a better view of the approaching hoard, face going a bit pale. Paler. "I checked out a warehouse last night. Found a dead guy. He had been trying to break a mirror and.... something like these guys came out of it. I don't know if the mirror or what he was trying to break it with was the clue. Incoming!"

And she's already shaping and forming a shield before her and GL to ward off the incoming shadow beasts. "We need to get these people off the bridge and back into Gotham!"

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
A quick pair of blasts come from her hands aimed at one of the shadow creatures she spots nearby and then she floats down to near the woman begging with her. She simply smiles and says, "Fear not, ma'am. I got this." She nods her head and then she fires off another blast and looks back with a nod, "I'll save your mother. We'll save everyone. Just head back and away." She nods, "Worry about your safety and I'll worry about your mother's and all of Metropolis."

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner attempt to talk with Green Lantern is interrupted by the skittering of shadow things coming from Metropolis. Looks like evacuating the bridge is now first priority, and he flies to move a stalled bus out of the way, flying it to the Gotham side of the bridge.

Interestingly, he suddenly doesn't hear those 'alarms'. But he can hear Zatanna's explanation. "The what?"

Clark Kent has posed:
The monsters didn't expect Naomi's ability to crush them into nothing. With two shots she puts big holes in the ghastly shadow-creature's bodies, but more of them stream over the ichor-splatted corpses of their fellows, seeking to overwhelm, much like zombies. They phase out to attempt to approach her, unaware that her blasts will still turn them into goop. But there's a good number of them.

And nore screaming, and honking, as two people get the bright idea to start to bash their cars into others to try to drive backwards towards Gotham. There's more shrieks. The main source is a giant white Ford truck, that is literally attempting to drive over a Hundai and the person in it to try to get off the bridge. The other is a teal Silverado, attemtping something similar, except he's going through people trying to run along the edge of the bridge's railing. And using that clear spot that Conner just made: unfortunately he had the same idea as foot traffic, and it's pretty awful: a few people are flung from the bridge, screaming.

Still, it might be better than being in the shadow creatures, though they are mostly focused on Zatanna's area. Maybe they smell her awesome, and want a piece.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Shadowspawn," Zatanna tells Conner, voice taking on that pitched, almost hyperactive sound of someone whose adrenaline is spiking. "A kind of demon!" She's trying to look too many places at once. There's people falling. There's vehicles trying to run one another over. She can't fix all of them. There are fliers present: she saw them come in. There's also the possibility of surviving a fall into the water.

So she focuses on the vehicles. Flinging out an arm, she opens a portal for that Ford truck so it can drive through and into some street in Gotham. Once it's through, similar is done for the Silverado. This isn't difficult. They're short distance portals. Open, close, done. It is dividing her attention, however, and that means that the shadow beasts could close in. Harder to throw a shield up for yourself when you're looking out for others.

Damn civilians are always getting in the way.

"Try, uh-" It's a longshot, but who knows. "If you see their reflection in something, like a car mirror, break it!" It's worth trying, right? But then, Naomi's blasts also seem to have taken a good chunk out of 'em. So perhaps raw power works well enough... at least for these guys!

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
Naomi sees her power working and gets a determined look on her face till her eyes go wide as that Silverado takes off and people leap to 'safety' by going over. She looks back briefly at the shadow people even as it looks like others are handling those falling. She considers the woman in the distance who seems to be attracting them and then she flies up. She has been practicing this after all. She gathers energy up around herself and then races right for the area where the largest amount of these creatures are, fists forward. She then attempts to start going around her in a quick circle and finally coming to a stop near her on the bridge and letting out a slow breath.

Conner Kent has posed:
"So do we go looking for an exorci... wait a min!" Conner has questions, lots. But there are some folks falling from the bridge and he hurries to pick them up, catching them using a combination of sheer strength and telekinesis so they don't get hurt when he reaches them. Someone pushed them off? But looks like the vehicles involved have vanished!

So, he flies back to the Gotham side to leave the people there. Then flies up to get a better idea of what is going on the whole bridge. "This must also be happening on the other bridges, what a mess. And what is that sound?" For the last question, he goes to Zatanna, since she seems to have some clue of what is going on. "Also, pack holy water and, uh, proton packs?"

Clark Kent has posed:
The vehicles careen out into Gotham through the teleportation portals: which encourages other vehicles to start up their engines and attempt the same thing, honking loudly and driving a bit wild. Fear does that. One crashes into another both attempting to do the same thing at the same time, and they slam into the guardrail. Panic is really hard to contain.

A child hiding under a car screams in fright as Naomi lands right next to her, curling into a ball as Naomi's spin throws four monsters out of the way as well as the car that was above her. There aren't 'clear' spots to stand on the bridge, really, there's always something there. The child cries, trembling, but at least Naomi is there to defend her. Two shadowy monsters consider Naomi, and squish together, forming a larger, more robust single shadow ... with two maws full of teeth. It's about the size of a pony, and advances, with more care, before suddenly zig-zagging around a car (and a fleeing lawyer) and pounces, biting hard like dual bear-traps at Naomi!

Conner is able to save the terrified people, who gasp out their thanks, and get rapidly out of the way when he puts them down. They're doing the right thing: professional bystanders, maybe. Well, they live by Gotham...

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
There's something about magic in that it's meditative. It gives Zatanna a place to center herself. "Gee-El," she calls out to Hal, "Cars!" Probably for those careening into each other. She's trying to help guide more people off the bridge. Either by portal or just by moving vehicles and give them space. But it means trying to evade shadow beings herself.

And in the effort -- physical and magical -- she's able to start piecing things together. The lightbulb moment happens. "That bastard!" The next time she sees Conner, she's able to call out: "Not an exorcist! But... yes! Kind of a proton pack! The mirror was a trap! We need a mirror!" And... and something else. Something she hasn't figured out yet.

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
Near to where Zatanna is, Naomi is trying to help only to see the crying child and she stands by her, "Hey there!" Naomi calls out even as she looks at the demons, trying her best to keep up with them, "Don't be afraid." She looks down, "I'm here." She then looks up in time to see the thing become a double creature. She blinks as it goes left and right and then zips around a car and she realizes she can't dodge it without leaving the kid so she instead considers it. With a wince she gives it her left arm to chomp on but instead of offering it up side ways, she punches that arm right for one of those open mouths engulfed in light. She grits her teeth, trying not to scream or lose her smile when it comes down.

"I've been thrown through a building before...I'm pretty tough. Are you?" She isn't sure it can understand her but then she sends power down that left arm, charging up a powerful blast before unleashing it inside that creature, "Have a taste of my shine!"

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner is listening to Zatanna, but there are also monsters threatening people. Problem is they are demons, so bad news for a half-kryptonian. He makes sure his telekinetic forcefield is there before trying to punch one of the critters converging on Naomi.

"Hey, hi. I am Superboy," he chimes. Because introductions are important. And he is wearing a leather jacket over a black t-shirt with a big red S. So, it wasn't super-obvious anyway.

Heidi Ingerdottir has posed:
It's hard not to notice a giant shadow looming over Metropolis. Something that big is certainly enough to draw attention and Heidi has certainly been drawn. The Asgardian is atop the pegasus Eira, the pair speeding through the air towards the scene. She's dressed for battle, weapons and all, because she doesn't entirely know what's going on. When she gets close, Eira slows down so Heidi can get a better view of the scene.

She's aware there are people helping. A quick scan allows her to see that a lot of what's going on is helping the people stuck on the bridge. Potential battle or not, she's not going to let people be harmed if she can help it. So instead of worrying about her weaponry, she worries about figuring out who is in the most danger first. This is serious business time!

Clark Kent has posed:
Double-maws of teeth is double the fun! Or double the life suction. If those teeth can close on Naomi's body, they will rapidly feed on life force. It feels like intense cold, liks shoving an arm into an ice bucket. The siphoned life will go nowhere, as the upper jaw is crushed with the power of Naomi's light: but damage may still indeed be done.

The child shrieks at the giant shadow monster, seeking a new hiding spot: different car, near the back wheel, nodding at Naomi with relief, but cowering since Naomi is fighting a HUGE black shadow! "Help us!" She says, directed at Conner, this time. "Superboy," the child adds, faultering. But trusting. A woman, fleeing two smaller shadows that end up being shoved back by Conner's telekinetic force, runs right past her without seeing or stopping. It seems direct force isn't great on the monsters, but they aren't /immune/ when unphased.

There's perhaps two dozen people left in immediate shadow areas of the bridge, though the melee of creatures is holding at about the same numbers: they have reinforcements, though the fighting is stemming that tide. Four of them have now krept up on the focusing, distracted Zatanna, and in a rush, all four dart out from the back of a trailer and try to pounce to bite!

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Good, good, this is good. Superheroes are here. That's what they're here for, right! "Zatanna," the magician offers to Superboy, though it might be unnecessary. She's pretty famous!

The woman is still keeping an eye on her bubble around metropolis. The broken 'ceiling' is worrying. The sound potentially getting out would be moreso. The people inside that are dead and dying is the worst part.

But then four of the things leap at her and she throws up a shield. Sort of. It's not one of her usual shields and this one comes with a spell as she throws up her arms in that classic warding 'X' of forearms crossed. "Tcelfer!" The surface shimmers, mirrored on the outside at the shadow beasts that leap at her.

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
There's a clear wince as her arm is siphoned of her very essence by this monster. She pulls it back after her crazy blast and then she looks to Connor, "Just call me Naomi." She nods her head as she looks back to the monster, "Don't let them get their teeth on you." She holds her left arm close to her and shivers, "They tried to siphon something out of me. I don't know what." She then thrusts out her right arm and fires off another blast, "I don't know what these things are but we need to find the source."

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner rushes to grab the child, and along the way he grabs also the vehicle's rear-view mirror in the case it works like a proton pack. He is skeptic, though. Quickly developing a distaste for magic lately.

"Here, your kid," he says, returning the child to the woman. "Stay out of the city for a couple days. We will get this fixed soon," he promises. Then to Zatanna, "I have a mirror," a tiny one. But hey, she should have been more specific.

Heidi Ingerdottir has posed:
While Heidi is very aware of the fact that there are shadows causing problems, there are also people dealing with that. Plus she has a helpful way to get people out, so she focuses first on that. Looking for a cluster of people she brings Eira about to land nearby, cautious of any shadows being too close.

"Greetings," she calls towards the nearest group of people. "I am Heidi of Asgard, and today I am offering the very rare opportunity to ride on a pegasus. Children first, then others. The bonus is, by the end you are not in mortal danger! I believe that is referred to as a win-win situation."

Clark Kent has posed:
Zatanna's test has interesting results. The monsters converging at her stop at the shield and mill around a little, as if baffled by it. One starts to try to creep around the edge of the shield. More come over, in a little odd audience of milling shadow monsters, to inspect what Zatanna has going on with her reflective shield. It's made a big pile of targets, really, and is a good distraction for others to move innocent people out of the way without shadows directly rushing at them! They don't touch it, they mostly seem to be puzzled by it. They scream, in shrill shrieks, though. Communicating? Maybe.

It does seem to be working. What if it could be used on a larger scale?

"This isn't my child--" the woman begins, confused by being offered a child, but she takes the kid anyway, and flees where indicated. That child might now be stolen? But it could be fine. She ends up near Heidi. "I have a child!" she announces, as if she had a first class boarding pass to a plane ride. She runs towards the Pegasus, carrying the child.

Naomi and Superboy stil have attention of a few shadow creatures, but between them are able to rip those apart. Most that remain seem to either be far away near Metropolis side of the bridge, or are being entertained by Zatanna, now. There's a break in the storm to get the rest of the people saved that may be hunkered down or hiding in cars.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
This is good. Or if not good, it's at least not -bad-. Zatanna moves forward a few steps, pushing her mirror-shield at the shadowbeasts. "Dnapxe," she tells the shield, drawing her arms wide to encourage the mirror to embiggen. If she can get it to encompass enough of the bridge to walk //toward// the shadow creatures and shepherd them toward Metropolis, it'll give the others even more time to help the bystanders still on the bridge.

"How many do we have left?" People, she means, likely. Look, she's a little distracted right now!

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
A smile as she sees the kid get away before she looks to Connor and nods to him. Naomi lifts off and takes a deep breath before she begins to scan around for the people, "I think they're all making their way to the otherside." She nods her head as she calls out to Zatanna and lands near her to offer support, "We might be in the clear but...what is that thing in the sky?"

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner makes a hopeless gesture at the 'not my child' 'I have a child' statements. Not the finest day of Metropolis citizens! But he will blame the demons.

He looks at Zatanna's giant magical mirror and tosses his tiny one away. "Okay, mirrors. Note for next time: bring a big one." He also tests his heat vision on a sneaky shadow beast, just to see if it works better than punching.

Heidi Ingerdottir has posed:
Heidi's more than happy to help the child up onto the pegasus in front of her, where she can most safely keep it from falling off, then offers a hand up to the woman who is, most /certainly/ related to the child. Why else would she be carrying a child around with her? Don't want to separate family groups.

"Don't worry, I will be back very shortly!" And Heidi's off, her passengers warned to hold on tight as she guides the pegasus towards somewhere that seems to be a ways away, enough for them to escape to wherever they need to go. After all, they have each other!

Clark Kent has posed:
The shadow creatures don't actively run from the reflective shield, but when nudged, they ooze back a tiny bit. It's slow, maybe a kind of leisurely, plodding walk speed. Nudge, nudge. Pushing them too hard makes them shriek and dart sideways towards the shield edges, seeking. ... But mostly they do mill backwards, as the shield pushes them: though they are still trying to figure out where the edge is, in a blind sort of way.

One monster finds the shield edge, though, and streaks around it rapidly, seeking to eat Zatanna while she holds back the small horde!

Conner's head vision shreds it, though, when he ramps up the heat. It's effective, but probably a little draining to maintain. It doesn't fall, it just vaporizes into shadowy fluff. Extreme heat might be super effective. It's GONE.

The people are actively now vacating the bridge, now that shadow monsters aren't trying to eat them for the moment. There's a lot of interest in Heidi's method, and also some in helicopters that are appearing in the sky from Gotham, boats in the water. Gotham is able to send aid and support! Gotham police are visible on that side of the bridge now, catching people as they arrive.

The sky over Metropolis is thick with a churning, dark misty cyclone, now. From afar, large limbs can be seen in it: as if the cloud were hiding an enormous, impossibly long-limbed giant monster. It fades in and out, visible and then gone.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"That," Zatanna tells Naomi, "is the shadowspawn. These are like... the demons to its devil? The spawnlings? I'm not sure how to explain it." She's also a bit distracted trying to push the mirror fast enough to hurt the creatures.

When one gets around to come for her, she lets out a little yelp! but Superboy is there to brrr-zap it into non-existence and that's when she has an -idea-.

"Hey! Let's coordinate!" She chin-jerks towards the sky. "I'll adjust the shape of this thing," meaning the mirror. "Just fire your eye beam," heat vision, whatevs, "at it and I'll try to wide-blast it at these things to wipe the rest of them out to clear the bridge." Hopefully none of the civilians are left on that side. Cough cough. Some cars might be damaged in pursuit of this maneuver.

But if they pull it off, it'll be super cool.

And even as she explains, she's making her mirror-shield more concave, slightly oval, preparing it to reflect a blast in a wave over the shadowlings. If it's set just so...

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner takes note of the beam effects. His 'laser vision' is not terribly powerful compared with his raw physical might, but in this case, it seems the right tool. The problem is it drains his power very quickly.

And of course, the freaking demons are blocking the sunlight with their shadow thing.

But he won't admit he can't do it. Because maybe he can do it. Even if he needs to get back to New York to recharge later. "Alright, lets see..." double dose of laserz eyebeams to the mirror!

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
Looking at Zatanna, Naomi hmms at the idea, "Here. Let me help." She flies up and over, looking down at the concave mirror, watching Connor, smiling at him before she sucks in a breath and holds it. Light flares up around her form as she becomes progressively brighter and then aims both of her hands downward and she does something she hasn't done since she punched the guy who destroyed her homeworld back to that wrecked planet. She unealshes all that power in one heavy blast and for a moment, it might look like it is Day when she fires. The beam of light flying right for the mirror and reflecting out.

Clark Kent has posed:
The heat and flaring light power flood out of the mirrored shield, fanning in a massive wide blast across the bridge. Shadow creatures turn to flaking dust as it hits them, while the last few people wisely take cover.

When spots vanish from the vision of those onlooking, the bridge seems clear of shadows... though that cyclone of darkness still remains, daunting, in the back.

Still... it is a victory, and a good start.