15983/Injustice For All: The Deathless Doom

Injustice For All: The Deathless Doom
Date of Scene:	02 October 2023
Location:	Downtown - New Troy
Synopsis:	Metropolis finds itself under attack as the Injustice League unleashes Chemo on the unsuspecting city. The Justice League and their allies answer the call to find a way of stopping the creature's rampage.
Cast of Characters:	Barry Allen, Monet St. Croix, Alura In-Ze, Phoebe Beacon, Meggan Puceanu, Oliver Queen
Tinyplot:	Injustice For All

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Barry Allen has posed:
While the slow march through autumn might have begun, Metropolis once again finds itself in a bit of a summer resurgence as warm sunny days have gripped the city. And while twilight may have started to settle over the city, there is still a lingering warmth despite the veil of darkness that creeps across the sky.

Not that Metropolis is every really truly dark. A city of this size rarely is and with the setting of the sun street lamps have sprung to life everywhere. And while not every towering skyscrapper is lit up bright as day, a number of those towering structures still very much are.

While the working day may have ended for most, the downtown core of Metropolis is still crowded with people. Some are out and about to grab a meal, or take in a show, to do some shopping before shops close up for the night. Or even just to enjoy the weather. All of which makes the city streets bustling indeed. Even the park that stretches out in front of the famed Hall of Justice is crowded this particular evening.

Which is especially unfortunate on this particular evening.

Up above the city the skies begin to churn. While there are few clouds in the sky this evening, what there are seem to be caught up in a great vortex, beginning to move faster and faster as if caught up in a maelstrom until they are spinning about in dizzying fashion.

Then, almost as quickly as it begins that movement stops abruptly, as if time has stopped. And instead of an unseen vortex putting the sky into motion, the vortex becomes very real. Crackling purple energy seems to split the sky, discharges of light flickering across the heavens as a portal begins to open. One that has become all too familiar to the Justice League and their allies as of late.

If there is one small mercy, at least there doesn't seem to be any effort to try and magically conceal the threat this time, no spells of invisibility or any other attempt to obscure things. Possibly because the point behind things on this particular occasion are wrapped up in causing panic. In causing terror.

It is not easily to determine just what is coming through that portal, at least at first. The figure is huge and vaguely humanoid in shape, but does not look like any sort of life that any sane person would be familiar with. Instead it seems to be a transparent container full of roiling green liquid that moves unnaturally, almost nausea inducing. Metal bands seem to bind it in various places, including a pair that stretch over the 'head' of the creature, glowing 'red' dots seeming to function as eyes.

It drops from the portal slowing, falling more than thirty feet through the air to come crashing down in a nearby park, sending onlookers scrambling and screaming to avoid being crushed underfoot, landing in something of a crouch.

Then the strange, chemically-filled creation straightens, twists and spews a stream of toxic green liquids towards a nearby building, the radioactive acid absolutely chewing through the concrete as if it was nothing, starting the building's collapse in precarious fashion towards the dozens of people below who had been racing towards it to seek shelter.

In the Hall of Justice, in the monitoring room, Barry Allen sits draped in his seat. At least until all of the wards laid over the city to detect magicaly incursion begin to go crazy. Images begin to play over the monitor in front of him, of that towering figure falling to earth, of the casual destruction it wrecks so easily.

And the Flash sends out the alert of the League frequencies and every other band they have access to.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
This is getting excessive. Monet St. Croix has been in Metropolis to get some outfits replaced. And on this cool eve as it gets dark, then there are alarms going out. She goes to notice the vortex, and whatever it is that thing coming -out- of the portal.. She's still several hundred meters away, and goes to launch herself up through the air as she goes to tap to her comm.

<<This is M of the X-Men. Requesting tie-in to Comm-Net.>> She wasn't sur e-what- they were dealing with, but tehre was the hope that she'd get an update in short order. ANd maybe just pull memories from the rest of them to try and familiarize herself with it.

Monet goes to dart along in flight, heading on an interception course. She moves to head in the direction, trying to parallel it to get in a better position to try and figure out what to do and coordinate. Or at least be available to draw hte thing away from civilians. It's going to be very, very messy.

She really should charge them for these outfits she keeps having to replace.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Up on the moon base, Alura is looking over the Justice League communications device. She doesn't need it but it seems everyone gets one regardless. Perhaps one day it'll be useful if her Kryptonian technology ever fails her. It's elegant in design. The way humans utilise electrons is fascinating and some what inspiring. Very inefficient but it's none the less a technological marvel in her eyes.

Said eyes when suddenly both her gaunlet and the JL comm spring to life with an alert. The Injustice League are back. Even for Alura teleporters are faster than flying from the moon to Metropolis. She rushes over to the teleporter bay and activates it.

Appearing inside the Hall of Justice, she looks over the monitors and a confused look spreads over her face. "What is _that_..." as she spies the giant chemical creation. "Oh no!" is what comes quickly after that as the building is attacked.

She is gone in a blur out the door racing downtown toward the building. The slime is certain a huge problem but a collapsing building will cause cascading collateral damage, so she flies straight at it in an attempt to prop it up, putting her back and super powers in to it.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    This isn't part of her normal beat, but tonight Phoebe had been to Metropolis in support of a friend. Lindsay was bemoaning her latest break up after summer's end and school began, and the two Gotham U students were walking the streets with bags of shopping. The one nice thing about being a Wayne was that when it came to retail therapy in someplace other than Gloomy Gotham, she had the means to make it happen.

    Lindsay was pouring her heart out, and Phoebe was listening, until something pricked at her senses. The energy in the air had changed, and she tilts her head a moment. Lindsay paused, and she looked to Phoebe "... no, no, you're doing that thing when you have to leave me with all the bags and tell me to get to shelter again!" she complains as Phoebe's phone gives a warning.

    And, giving an apologetic smile to her friend, she does indeed hand over her bags of shopping.

    "Get to a safe spot. You know as a medical student I've gotta go and help out," Phoebe states, and giving her friend's had a squeeze, Lindsay does turn around and dash off. "YOU OWE ME BOBA!"

    There's a twist of magic, and Phoebe ducks behind some cars and between an extremely ungraffiti'd mailbox, and on the other side of the blind appears as Balm, be-dominoed, hooded, in dark tac pants and compression top.

    She leaps, sliding across the bed of a tow truch, bringing up her hands with her lazily spinning eight-pointed star of her magic seal appearing in translucent red-gold to help protect others from the debris from the building as Alura In-Ze catches the building itself!

    <<This is Balm. Always a pleasure, M.>> she replies over the comms.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
The last few weeks of patio weather are a blessing, knowing the interminable grey winter lies ahead. One small restaurant tries to earn some extra money by doubling their effective floor space. The hostess stationed under an umbrella-shadowed podium cries out in fear when the umbrella slews left and right unexpectedly. Four groups of diners might find their pre-theatre dinner or desserts trying to rush up into the huge vortex piercing the sky. Sliced avocado and curly kale rendered airborne by the sudden impact of a huge weird body with the Metropolitan ground.

Seated at a cafe table, a petite little blonde girl imperiously clutches her metal sundae dish. Two maraschino cherry halves slew off the jostled lump, settling into a pool of chocolate ice cream. "That's awful rude!" she professes. Widening sky-blue eyes take the measure of the awful chemical monstrosity and find it lacking. Building falling down or no building falling down.

Tossing her golden braid, the child tries to stand up on her chair as it wobbles and falls over. Her fellow diner, the spitting image of that girl in twenty years and another meter, deflects several glasses and a rogue sandwich board from hitting both of them. "Ceci! Now is not the time to practice immutable warding!"

The next umbrella topples over and takes Meggan and Ceci out in a heap, the piping protest, "Well Aunt *Zee* says!" quite heavily muffled. Cement and bricks from the falling building start raining down on the park nearby, near enough that unreasonably intense gusts of wind pointing vertical or sideways might at least disperse some of it. That's really the best Meggan can manage, half-shrouded and fighting with canvas and tines, and a small girl clinging to her.

<<Gloriana near impact site.>> An echoing voice adds, "Mummy! What if it has tentacles? Can I *then?*"

Oliver Queen has posed:
Between splitting his time in New York City and Metropolis, Oliver is beginning to miss Star City.

The unfortunate truth however is that he is probably needed more about these parts lately. That doesn't seem like it is going to change anytime soon, either.

Like Barry, the Green Arrow sits in the monitoring room, leaning back in his seat and trying to focus on the monitors like his old friend. But he does not, strictly speaking, have monitoring duty today. That's the Flash's burden. So he is not quite so committed to keeping an eye on things, instead fiddling with some of the arrows in his quiver, checking them over closely to make sure that they are all in good working order.

"Ugh, I just wish something would happen already. Waiting around is the worst," he complains.

Which is when the portal in the skies over the city suddenly open up, dropping that strange figure right down onto the city. "Ummmm, okay. I take it back," he says, studying the monstrous... well, whatever the hell it is with a certain amount of concerned fascination. Then he whirls and begins to tap at the controls aswell, tying in anyone in the local area to the comms to better coordinate.

"If you could give me a lift, it would be a lot quicker then me running for the door," Ollie says drily, sliding that quiver back into place and getting out his bow, extending it to its full length with a quick snap of his wrist.

Though he's not exactly sure what his arrows are going to do against something like that.

Barry Allen has posed:
There is a certain measure of relief to be found as an assortment of signals and voices sound on the Comm as those heroes nearby answer the call to action, coming out to meet the threat.

A threat that seems to be growing by the moment. In the figurative sense rather then the literal one. Which is good, because it is hard to imagine this particular deadly construct getting any bigger, already topping out above several of the nearby office and apartment towers. While not quite as massive as some of the Metropolis skyscrappers, it doesn't seem to need to be.

It has it's own, extremely effective, way of bringing things down to its size.

<< Flash here, >> Barry says over the comm, lingering just for a moment to try and gather any last bit of intel from all the sensors and scanners that tie into the Hall of Justice's monitoring equipment. << The threat does not appear to be alive. I don't know what it is, but it definitely isn't life as we know it, >> he offers up. Which makes things a little easier. Not a whole lot, mind, but at least a little.

<< Whatever it is spewing out is reading as highly toxic, corrosive and radioactive so I highly suggest not letting it get any of it on you, >> Barry adds as a warning. Then he is turning away from the monitors, offering a grave nod to his old friend and supporting his head to prevent whiplash as he races out towards the streets of the city, following in Superwoman's wake.

He doesn't waste any time, barely even slowing as he leaves Oliver on the fringe of the city park before continuing to race towards that building that continues to plunge towards the streets and people below. So that becomes his first target, racing in amongst them, carrying them away all in less of a blink of an eye.

The building, well there's nothing he can do about that. Even his most powerful wind currents aren't going to stop it's fall. Fortunately he's not alone on the field.

The monsterous, walking chemical cocktail threatening the city takes a step and the earth shudders beneath it as it casually crushes a kiosk underfoot. There is a faint roar, the rushing sound of liquid moving at high speeds and then another stream of that glowing green goo is spewe3d forth, splashing over the park, rolling waves of the toxic mess chasing the fleeing residents of the city as it leaves a toxic swamp in it's wake.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Well, if the Justice League doesn't knwo what it is.. Then it can't be good. It's spewing lots of chemicals.. And dangerous things. Monet quickly picks up Meggan, and goes to pull her along to a telepathic link, then moving to speak to Alura as well. <<The collateral damage from that will be horrific if not contained. Meggan, could you do something like encase it with lead or something to smother the area? Superwoman, can you then dissipate it or draw it off?>> she focuses on trying to figure out a quick way of what to do before sending out to Barry and to Oliver.

<<Then the rest o fus can keep it distracted and draw it away from civilians>> It's a quick plan, and not necessarily a great one. But Meggan blocks the radioactivity, Alura dissipates it.. Or perhpas they switch it about. But M knows what Meggan is like in the fall..

So best to give her a general direction, and hope that the elemental fae will play along with the rest of them at this time of year. Where she can be whimsical.. And when the time comes, occasionally murderous. While trying to coordinate, M is charging in along ona n attack ruN!

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    With the flash taking the civilians out from her field of shield, Balm turns her attention back to the simply ginormous form of Chemo, and she balks a moment. She twists, and then with a quiet huff she takes to the air. <<I can get near it without it hurting me too much -- my body heals too quick for long-term effects.>> she explains over the comms, <<But creature of science, not magic -- I don't know if I can *purify* the swamp it's leaving behind -->>

    And she ducks down, using her shield to re-direct some of the noxious spewing gunk so a group can get out of dodge through an alleyway <<And blowing it away just creates other problems. Is there a protocol for containment?>>

Alura In-Ze has posed:
You know - buildings are heavy. Really heavy. As the building performs its wild topple toward the ground plenty of debris falls ahead of it. When Alura gets in the way of it, the walls start to crush in around her. It pushes her down and she pushes back up against it.

The acceleration of all that mass from gravity begins to reverse until dangling precariously over the city streets and populous is a broken building. She can hear all the panicked people inside clinging to desks and hugging walls.

Not that many of them will hear it, but she calls out through the shattered windows, "Every one hold on - I've got you." Most of the people inside have no idea who is talking to them. But one catches sight of Superwoman and the panic starts to transform in to heavy frightened breathing instead.

The large monolith of modern man's hubris, the building, rises up in to the air. Its shadow shrinks away as she flies it to the nearest football stadium. Ever so carefully, she lowers it down to the ground.

To her delight she sees the fire wardens starting to get people out of the building laying on its side. She cannot dilly dally. Thrusting her hands up wards and looking to the sky she races back to where the action is. That monster can topple buildings faster than she could possibly catch them.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
The petite child sheltered under her mother certainly doesn't seem very happy about it, squirming and trying to crawl out and see that great, horrible green shambling shape. Ceci protests softly when pulled back and shoved behind a twisted pile of chairs that provide a temporary shelter at best. Trying to peek through at least gives her a far-too-close vantage point, and a very small Laughing Magician's whims still have an uncanny way of warping localized events to her benefit. Oooh, look at the Super Lady and the zippiest Flash go!

Meggan has no resistance to M's telepathic suggestions, and no desire, since thinking can be a lot faster than talking sometimes. It helps to think of red-edged ascent of confining the monstrosity while verbally saying, "Don't you run off or your father will hear. No stories or unicorn rides for a month, you understand?" Parenting in the midst of a disaster is no one's idea of easy or fun.

Then out she comes, darting in the direction of the toxic swamp that sickens the ground and darkens the last vestiges of summer away. Her long braid sways down her back, and she kicks off her trainers, going down to bare feet. That great, awful Frankenstein device should warrant more protection and not less.

<<Gardeners might not appreciate me much. Try to keep their knickers from getting in a twist, mm?>> Up come her hands and a spray of dirt with it. All of it poisoned, and a good deal of loam stripped from the flower beds yet to be fouled. Heaps of dirt isn't lead. Throwing chunks of mud in significant square meterage serves a purpose, sticking as much as she can to the chemical sack of hate. Coating the lower limbs and torso is her preference.

Oliver Queen has posed:
He won't ever complain about not having something to do again.

Honest.

These are the kinds of things that he hates, the kinds of threats that just seem overwhelming. Not that he allows them to slow him down, or deter him in anyway mind you. That's not really a part of the Green Arrow's make up. But there are definitely moments with the League where he's left to wonder just what a guy with a bow and some trick arrows can really do against threats like this.

There is no way that he could traverse this kind of space this fast. He's a pretty outstanding athlete in every respect, but a speedster he most definitely is not. So he clenches his teeth and readies himself for that burst of speed that will undoubtedly leave him vaguely disoriented as they move from the depths of the Hall of Justice to the streets of the city in the blink of an eye.

Then the Flash is zooming away and Ollie is left to stare up -- and up, and up, and up -- at the towering green... thing in front of him. He doesn't even try firing one of his arrows at it, and instead draws a pair from his quiver, firing them off towards that toxic wave closing in on some of the fleeing civilians, the detonations sending up a shower of pavement and dirt. But more importantly create little pits in the ground to catch the toxic chemicals, giving those nearby a chance to flee.

<< It's getting ugly down here. There is going to be complete panic on the streets in a moment and then we're going to have an even bigger problem, >> Oliver warns, turning his attention towards trying to guide the fleeing onlookers to safety.

If there is such a thing against a menace like this.

Barry Allen has posed:
There are not all that many bright spots that one can find in moments of pure, rampant destruction like this, but one small saving grace would seem to be the fact that the chemical monstrocity laying waste to downtown Metropolis does not seem to be targetting anyone in particular. It doesn't seem to be going out of it's way to try and melt the residents of Metropolis, nor has it targetted in any of the heroes on the scene. So far it feels more like a natural -- or extremely unnatural -- disaster. Destroying indescriminately.

Of course all of that could change when it actually finds itself under assault so it might be best not to grow too confident about the situation.

While the Flash speeds through the nearby streets, races through the park to snag up those people caught in the area, there are a whole lot of them and even with Superspeed at his disposal, evacuating them all to safety is going to take time. Time that this walking nightmare doesn't seem interested in lending to them, << Anything you can do to distract this thing or slow it down will be greatly appreciated. I need more time to get people clear, >> Barry says over the comms. They have to be the priority for him. And besides, this is what he's best suited for in this instance. He doesn't know if the thing would even feel his superspeed punches. And trying to break it open with a lightning strike seems like a particularly bad course of action.

That collapsing building suddenly comes up short as Superwoman arrives just in time, catching it no matter how precariously as concrete begins to crumble under the sheer stress. The area around the building has been cleared at least, and setting it down does give the people inside a chance to start flooding out onto the streets and away from the hot zone, steering well clear of the craters of radioactive waste that dot the area and seem to continue to chew through the earth.

Aside from the appearance of the vortex and that brief moment of churning air high above the city, the weather has been pretty reasonable, pretty mild. But that breeze suddenly begins to pick up again, this time at ground level, whistling through the crowded streets, sweeping through the parks. And as it does so the ground grit, the dirt begins to stir, picked up and carried aloft to start to buffet the chemical monstrocity, sticking to that clear exterior.

And Chemo finally takes notice, that massive form slowly turning towards that little cafe where Meggan and the much younger girl shelter. A giant hand lifts, points, and another stream of toxic sludge starts to fly through the air in their direction, that glowing goo arching through the streets in sickening fashion, ready to crash down in a puddle of radioactive death.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
And Monet goes to swear as she sees what Chemo is doing. She can't go fast enough to try and get the girl out of there. She can only hope that Meggan is able to get her out of the way. It's a child.

Monet closes her eyes. Whimpering. The girl about as young as her sisters. Taken in by her abomination of a brother. That she will never see again. There's hesitation. For just a moment. Then it vanishes. Buried underneath her walls. Hardened to steel.

She goes to charge in towards Chemo at high speed, going to launch herself ta him at roughly five times the speed of sound. Fist going up to try and hit him in the center of the torso with all of her considerable strength. She is not the Hulk. She is not Thor. She is not Superman.

But in this moment, none of those comparisons matter. She is just M. She is perfect. She is good enough.

She's a treat through the air, trying tos mash the brute right in the middle of the torso. And to be blasted at point blank with the radioactive, chemical bath. hopefully enough to give the otehrs a chance to evacuate the area.

There is hesitation. Timidity. Most of all fear. All of it buried deep down.

Monet's greatest asset and her greatest weakness is her shell. Her shield. It keeps her going. Empowered by denial, forged to a veneer of arrogance that blocks out everything and everyone.

Today may it empower her just enough to slow down a threat to save just one life.

Even if not her own.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Noting the touches of burning acid on her suit, small trails of smoke coming off the alien fabric, and the words spoken earlier... Alura narrows her eyes at the giant creature. << "Perhaps we can neutralise it with a large dose of a strong alkaline." >>

Where do you get that much soap or chalk in the midst of a big city though. The prospect of splitting the creatures skin and having more of its toxic ooze out is unappealing. As it belches up more mayhem, she swoops down after it.

Drawing in a huge breath she blows out over it. It starts to slow and crystalize. But even as it tries to freeze its radioactive nature thaws it. << "It's too radioactive to freeze. We'd need to put it in a low pressure environment for that to work." >>

Watch the way it focuses in on its assailants she queries << "Are we -sure- this thing isn't alive? " >> Because killing is high on the not to do list. And then she witnesses Monet about to do something truly stupid.

Superwoman drops down before Monet and wraps her arms and cloak about the brave telepath before the torrent of retaliatory toxicity washes over them.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    <<If it is ANY consolation -->> Balm begins as she moves to rediret more sludge, set on crowd control duties. She uses her shields to provide safe passage, the same as Ollie's doing with his groups. She's standing on a car to make herself more obvious <<--I don't sense any Life from it. And that was kinda my thing at one point.>> Balm finishes her thought before she looks up to M, leaping into action to punch Chemo?!

    "M! That's not going to --" she calls out. HEr group of runners ducks into the alleyway, and drawing up her hands she casts in her native tongue. She's never *tried* a Distance Heal from this distance -- but any bit she can do to help M at just this moment might be good enough!

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
At an age for tea parties and dressing up unwilling cats, the little blonde girl is probably most vulnerable. Peeking through the chairs at the torrential sludge headed her way, she does not move for several seconds. Clearly, a child in terrible danger.

And that would the wrong assumption with little Ceci Constantine. She pipes up in a most decidedly English voice, "Mama! Thirty-four degrees to intercept. It's moving five or six meters per second towards you. You've got to bop it *particularly* hard!" Well, it was, because she clutches her precious ice cream and scarpers away from her mother who glares at the chemical concoction.

"Turn to lead, turn to soda ash. Make up your bloody minds," says Meggan. The earth is screaming in sickly despair where plants used to live. Ivy isn't wrong about some of her perspectives.

M and Alura throw flesh and ice into the mix, the open corridors for civilian retreat at the fringes of awareness. Mortal fear and floral suffering went into a rather ugly concoction that feeds into her wresting a bus-sized chunk of soil out to hurl straight at the sludge-blast headed her way. Roughly a thirty-five degree angle, if anyone cares to measure.

In the seconds to follow the woman is no longer a pretty blonde. Her skin leaches out colour, going bone white, braids darkening through copper to heartsblood.

Advancing through the splatter leaves her skin speckled with the goo, wounds bubbling up and showing raw muscle or flesh, knitting shut once her mutation figures out how to adjust against the implicit toxicity. Oh, it hurts, and the hurt shouldn't feel that good. So begins the lilting invocation in the Stone Tongue, convincing the rock and muck and dirt and ice saturating that gross monstrosity to become something else by pumping its own pH higher and higher. Shed your acids, dry and rise, and rise, and rise o bones of Metropolis.

Oliver Queen has posed:
Lovely. Just lovely.

How do you stop something like this? At least there seems to be some sort of plan in place. How successful will it be? Oliver really doesn't have the faintest idea. Some sort of lead coating would seem to make a lot of sense of course, to seal in the radiation, to perhaps keep it from spewing that poisonous sludge everywhere. Maybe make it too heavy to move.

Unfortunately the Green Arrow does not have an immediate way to aid this along, no matter how much he might like to do so. What he can do is to continue to linger near the perimeter of the disaster area and coax the fleeing, panicked people to some semblance of order.

Easier said then done of course.

"C'mon people! Keep moving and don't shove! Help those that need it!" he calls out, diving into the milling crwod to scoop up a child that has become separated from his parents, wading against the flow until spotting a young couple frantically calling out for their child and depositing the young boy into their arms.

"Here's hoping this works. Because it sure seems like this thing is aware afterall. Or someone's directing it!" the archer calls out over the comms.

Barry Allen has posed:
That glowing green mass of death takes another step that shakes the ground beneath it, sending many of those still in flighty tumbling forward, their balance upset and left scrambling to regain footing to continue on their way. Fortunately both Balm and Green Arrow to have a good handle on the evacuation, and the Flash continues to race about, picking up strays who were either slow to flee, or were unable to do so. Then that streak of red and gold races into nearby buildings to seek to evacuate them as well.

No telling when another stray chemical bath might reduce the surrounding buildings to a radioactive sludge.

While the evacuation is continuing apace, some of the more heavy hitters at the League's disposal are looking to buy that time so desperately needed. Superwoman's frozen breath rushes out, few left close enough to feel that change in ambient temperature, but as fast as frost forms it dissipates as well, that churning mass of sludge within it's strange body keeping it from being encased in ice -- or even slowed for more then an instant.

<< That might be our other option, >> Barry says over the comms as he continues to move faster then any but the most gifted eyes to track. << Get it away from here somehow. Somewhere with no people. Or better yet, into orbit maybe, >> he chimes in with his own suggestions. Though that might be easier said then done.

Or there is Monet's way. Bursting open Chemo could be precarious. It is absolutely massive and filled with some truly deadly toxins. More then enough to turn several city blocks into a radioactive wasteland. But doing nothing might leave it to do the same to the entire city as that radioactive sludge seems to be perpetually replenishing itself somehow within. At least there are no signs of the volumns going down. Yet.

So M hurls herself towards the massive toxic bubble of death, only Balm's last ditch effort to shield here with healing energy ffering any releif from the radioactivity that radiates from the threat. She slams full on into it's chest.

And Chemo? It bends, but it does not break.

Whatever the monstrous construct is made of, slamming into it is like slamming into a pliant material filled with liquid. It shifts, it ripples, it collapses, but it does not actually break under that blow. There is a lot of surface area to Chemo it seems, and it takes M's strike by absorbing the force across it's entire form. And then that flexible body strikes back, slamming back into Monet.

Then Meggan is there, adding her own power to the mix. As that green slime begins to fall from the sky around her, she shifts, changes and though it falls upon her changed skin it does not burn straight through her, does not simply dissolve her into goo. It lets her work her ways, to start changing all that dirt and grit into something that might neutrailize the threat.

Which is when those sensitive to the forces of magic might hear the soft chanting from high above, words carried on the wind to practitioners. They might follow those lines of magic back to the portal, back to the figure that might be familiar to some of them by now, wrapped up in her invisibility.

Tala the Sorceress.

And as she finishes her incantation, the skies begin to cloud over and droplets of water start to fall, threatening to wash away all that accumulated dirt.

The cleansing power of nature turned against them in insidious fashion.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
It's not smart. It's not coordinated. It's against something that's not alive over to try and save lives. Whether or not the intent was true, her effort may have made things worse. For the other ehroes. Or herself. But Alura goes to block the worst of the radioactive spray over her. And Phoebe's healing saves her from the worst. Where she should have been goo.. Now there's enough of her left to be recognizable rather than slush. The backstrike sends her FLYING through the air as the monster is then face to fiend with Meggan!

Monet is impacted back over to the next building over and thens mashed through it. She slowly forces herself upright, even with chunks of her skin melting off, with her hair mostly gone.. She shuts off pain receptors, ignores the parts of her body that aren't responding to her mental commands..

And even with chemical clumps melting off her body, bone and muscle, acid bubbling down her.. She gets back up. She has to.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Alura flies up higher as she watches M go ragdolling across the sky. She knows M can take that - it was the radiation and acid that had her worried. The magic seems to be doing its thing. Alkaline meets Acid and soon this monstrosity will be permanently put to rest.

At least, until it starts to rain. She looks up in to the sky and narrows her eyes, << "I don't believe in coincidences." >> Her eyes scan across the city for an onlooker. Since their first encounter with the Injustice League Alura had taken the time to read up on those that had committed themselves to Grodd's crusade.

<< "Weather witch might be near by. If she keeps up this rain we're going to lose our fix." >> There's so many places someone could hide. Her eyes scan from building to building, through their walls, in to their offices, and down in to their parking garages.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe almost feels bad for Chemo, and whoever is doing the chanting, because they're just... they're not going to have a good time. She feels the energy change, the hair on the back of her neck standing up as she crouches down.

    She gives a soft command, and a pair of rose-gold wings that look as if they're made of glass errupt from her back as she slings herself into the air, trailing light behind her as she goes.

    <<If she's controlling the thing, I can sense she's going to have a Bad Time.>> she states, and she brings her hands up. Her eight-pointed seal appears beneath Monet, turning off nerves, easing pains and wears, and Phoebe pumps Monet with The Healz (TM). Anyone magically inclined is going to recognize the young woman's presence as she opens to The Light.

    "Maybe next time *don't* directly punch the walking toxic spill?" she asks in exhasperation to M.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
No takebacks on acidic goo. The t-shirt celebrating an obscure punk band becomes tattered cloth. Jeans fare little better, a bit more like cutoffs on Meggan. Or designer, more holes than fabric, stitched together by battered strings. Resilience for skin doesn't make for immune clothing and she has no budget for Atelier Richards and unstable any particles.

Swirling volumes of dirt and mud turned increasingly to vicious alkalinity obscure the Tuath de Danaan as she advances on Chemo. Rain plummets down to soak him and her in kind, splashing into little bubbles on the toxic puddles. Glancing down in frustration, she pauses as the light bulb moment goes off.

"Mind how you breathe." Alura moving around at speed is only a blip of recognition on the empathic mindscape. "Let's see how this deals with seaspray."

A call escapes her throat, as much as the soughing of the breeze through reeds or the gasping undulations of the mistral rippling across the Rhone makes an audible sound. Her elemental aspect communes to the water-logged air and the disturbed sky. Already it roils in chaos. Barry whipped up localized vortices and Superwoman froze portions. Balm leaps and dances as Oliver splits narrow paths on a dagger's edge.

<<Dance with me.>> Her heel hits the ground, her hands lifted. <<Twirl with the earth. Leap, dust! Spin the rain into sawblades. Rise and fall with the green one. Slap the motes, droplets. Strike the wind, soil. I call you to dance to a frenzy.>>

Simple fact: semi-liquid solid vigorously agitated will trap pockets of gas. All the rain makes this much easier. Water dissolving the highly alkaline compounds on Chemo will produce foam. Lots of alkaline foam. Far more surface area to stick to when all the foam is lighter, fluffier too. Bubbles of it all over, and a supply for a whirlwind. This may work and it may not, but Meggan whirls around in place, the savage motions of the falling wave, the heaving faultline, the turbulent sky. Tala's built it, but within that stormy house, the wild one will dance.

Oliver Queen has posed:
For a moment it looks as if they might have things under control and neatly sewn up afterall. that would be something of a relief.

But only for a moment.

Down on the ground Oliver winces as Monet tries to slam into that horrible weapon, the beast taking her best shot and sending her flying in response. Even so, that shifting dirt seems to hold promise to neutralize the chemical threat at least. And then of course it begins to rain, dirty lines washing over that massive body, starting to wash away all of Meggan's work.

"Oh, there's no way that's just a coincidence!" Green Arrow shouts, echoing Superwoman. He doesn't need to be a wizard to know someone out there is up to no good. And he's fairly certain that he knows who.

Still knowing isn't stopping and while Ollie continues to urge those fleeing the scene to move along, his eeys sweep the nearby buildings, sweep up towards the portal that still crackles with energy above. "Ten to one little magic girl is hiding somewhere near the portal. She does seem to be something of a coward and likes her quick escapes," the billionaire archer suggests.

He is willing to put his theory into practice, and while he might not know exactly where the threat might be, he fires off a couple of arrows anyway. Which begin to explode around the portal, sending out flak to anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby.

Barry Allen has posed:
The rain is still just beginning to build, heavy wet droplets but hardly a downpour yet. But the promise is still there.

Still, it is enough to seem to partially blunt some of Chemo's abilities, the next spray coming from the towering threat far less potent. Oh, for those with the capability they might still register some of the radioactivity, but the stream is diffuse, pouring down around the artificial goliath in a corrosive rain that mostly sputters and fizzles, rather then completely melting the ground around it.

They have bought themselves a little more time, at least until the storm really grows in intesity.

It would seem that most of those present have been able to deduce the presence of one of Grodd's gang somewhere nearby, and most have been able to make the logical leap that it is the annoying and cowardly sorceress that has been present at most of the appearances of this new threat. It is not too much of a stretch really, and certainly explains just who it is that is directing Chemo to such devestating effect.

So that rain continues to fall, slowly starting to have an effect on Chemo, on washing away that protective coating. Those sprays of radioactive acid growing stronger, less diffuse, less neutralized.

If nothing else it still has the threat represented by it's sheer, massive size, each step shaking the ground and crushing everything underfoot with devestating results. It careens into the side of a building, the resiliency of it's outer shell on display again as it remains entact, even as it sends chunks of steel, glass and concrete tumbling down to the ground, opening up a hole in the side of the building.

Throughout it all, Barry remains a streak of red and gold, racing through buildings and emptying the inhabitants onto nearby streets, away from immediate danger. << The evacuation is going well. Barring a disaster I don't think we need to worry about more casualties, >> the Flash says, emerging from the last building on the block and turning his attention back towards the core of their problems as Meggan moves in closer -- in what remains of her outfit -- to engage.

Those arrows of Oliver's have their intended effect, and the Emerald Archer has guessed well about just where their foe might be found. The barbs of those exploding arrows begin to slam into Tala's defensive shield and while they might be tiny, there are so many that they overwhelm those mystic shields in moments, making the purple-haired sorceress cry out as a handful of that shrapnel embeds itself inside her.

That has the further effect of disrupting her invisibility charms as well, and the startled, bleeding woman appears in the sky once more, a panicked look shot down towards all the heroes who are far too close for her liking.

One would think she would be used to having her spells countered or failed by now, but she doesn't hesitate to swoop towards that open portal, seeking escape.

And apparently willing to abandon the chemical monster to it's fate.

Which probably makes sense, because it seems to be increasingly in hand.

While the rain might be an inconvenience at first, the faerie elemental seems to find a very effective way to turn it to her advantage as as Chemo is put into motion, that foam does indeed begin to spread, begins to encompass that strange plastic-like exterior.

<< I think that's got it, >> Barry calls out in excitement over the comms, racing towards Chemo himself now, starting to rapidly circle around it, faster and faster. Increasingly that red and gold blur starts to create an updraft, increasing the motion and even managing to corral those wind currents to lift the monstrocity a few inches off the ground, keeping it from bringing it's formidable size into play.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
And Monet St. Croix, even as Phoebe heals her and prevents her from being thrown into a regeneration tank to have most of her body regrown.. Monet's eyes go to snap up and over in the direction of the fleeing woman making it towards a portal. She's in no position to chase or do anything. Or to move as she doesn't bother to give Phoebe thanks - there will be time for that later.

She can just give the others a location of where the fleeing sorceress is. And to said sorceress Monet tries her best to broadcast something dark and twisted.

Fear. Overwhelming, total fear. Paralysing. Overwhelming and incapacitating fear. Enough to hopefully slow and stagger her just enough she could not flee. Tremors and terror to make it too hard to think.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
As the cry of pain escapes the weather witches lips, Alura's head turns to the obscured invisible miscreant. And then her magic falters and she is visible. All this destruction today is on her head. The courts will have an absolute field day with this one.

As the witch attempts to flee through her portal, Alura is upon her. One hand gripping the scruff of her collar as the other wretches her staff away. "Your days bringing bad weather to Metropolis are over," she says matter of factly to the Grodd compatriot. Mostly just to see her cringe from the very corny words.

She drops down to Green Arrow and offers her over figuring he will have the right kind of cuffs for this one. "Nice shot," she says as she looks over their advasaries wounds to make sure nothing is fatal. "I have a present for you Green Arrow."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm doesn't really expect thanks -- there's chaos going on around them, and she feels her own magics arc in the suddenly very thick environment. Rose-gold sparks between her fingers light up her face as she raises her hands, and she swoops upwards, her wings splayed, lifted by what winds could be spared from Meggan's call, and she plants her own shield ofver the portal to event the Sorceress's escape, whipped about by the foam around them, her expression grim as Alura catches the witch.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
An excellent shot strikes through Tala. Under other circumstances, Meggan might be sympathetic to the cowardly woman. Being on the receiving end of a volley of the Green Arrow's missiles is not enjoyable. No one wants to become quarry unexpectedly. Even bad witches.

Monet's sacrifice play doesn't end in sadness, and that may well be cause for celebration later. Alas, the dance really consumes too much of the Tuath's attention to spare elsewhere. Beyond the broadest strokes, she can only follow what's immediately in front of her.

A really big toxic green being without obvious intelligence, causing mayhem and burning shit down is best handled by continuing to throw things at it and try to counteract its worst properties.

That she'll fall down unconscious from the effort really doesn't matter to her.

Oliver Queen has posed:
There is a certain, undeniable satisfaction as he hears that obnoxious sorceress call out in pain, audible to the Green Arrow even above the sounds of the crowd fleeing past.

A brief, tight smile slides over his face and then Oliver turns his attention back to the fleeing crowds around him, once again raising his voice to offer instructions, directions, urging the crowd not to push, to stay orderly.

He's confident enough that someone else will be able to grab and restrain the purple-haired sorceress and put an end to her annoying interference. "That should inconvenience them some," he mutters quietly.

When Superwoman drops out of the sky with her prize, Oliver is waiting, waving the handcuffs towards the sorceress as she nears. "Just remember sweetheart that there are far worse ways to deal with your sort," he says, not above making that not so subtle threat as he binds her hands to restrict her ability to cast.

And when she inevitably complains? He no doubt has something suitable to serve as a gag too.

Barry Allen has posed:
Overhead, the purplish energy discharges that surround the portal flicker and flame out, that gap in space suddenly dissolving as Tala looses access to her powers to keep it active.

The capture of the purple-haired sorceress has another benefit -- beyond the satisfaction they are all likely to feel at removing her irritating presence from the board. As the magic that powers the portal is cut off, so to is whatever means she is using to direct Chemo. The hulking monster filled with corrosive toxins abruptly ceases it's struggles, going inert. Even the swirling liquids within seem to slow, to darken, the sheer levels of radioactivity radiating from it lessening to something more tolerable -- at least for those with super durability or suitable radiation suits.

With the immediate threat dealt with, the Flash races about the city blocks that have been effected -- the buildings damaged or totaled, the park turned into a radioactive bog of poisonous waste. Those things will not be quick fixes though no doubt the fact that Metropolis might well be the technological center of the world will surely help in coming up with clever solutions.

He checks in with Balm who tends to the devestated M, helping keep those injuries from becoming too serious. Though, again, the same can't be said for the woman's wardrobe. He checks on Meggan and Cici, especially after that sort of effort. And he gathers up everyone by Superwoman and Green Arrow to watch as Tala is bound, sure enough complaining.

"You can't do this to me! You have no idea what my magics are capable of! When I get free of these restraints I'll *mmmmf* *grrrt*" she manages as Oliver follows through on that implied threat.

"Good work everyone. Next step will be cleaning up the mess. And figuring out how to get this... thing out of the heart of the city," Barry says quietly.

Challenges remain to be sure. But thousands if not tens of thousands of people in the city are still breathing tonight because of their actions. They'll deal with the aftermath.

And hopefully begin to root out this threat from these assembled villains soon enough.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Alura smirks a moment to Barry, "Don't worry about big green there. I'll fly him out to space. What I really need help with is setting the building he broke back upright. The owners of that football stadium probably won't be too happy that their field is covered in a sideways sky scraper."

She gives the witch a confused glance and just shakes her head to her, then nods to all those gathered. "See you back at the Hall, Flash."

Superwoman rises up from the ground and floats over to Chemo. Hands wrap around the acid creatures arm and she begins to lift the inert bag of toxin up up and away for an endless sleep in the vacuum of space.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm had come to a land, and had gone to check on the powerful Tutha... but stops, giving Flash, Meggan, and the child space. She just awkwardly stands a moment or two before she turns to disappear down an alleyway after some of the diverted crowds, to change back to civvies and escape from clean up duties.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Ceci stops hiding with her precious ice cream in the furthest corner she can find from the gross toxic mess made of Metropolis. Once the immediate danger is passed, she comes out to stand on a table. Being taller matters with the cool kids.

"Ooh, you're so fast. Hi!" Unlike John or Meggan currently whirling to a collapse, the littlest of the Constantines actually defaults to charming. "Was she being bad with her magic or using bad magics? Aunt Zee always says to be very responsible."

Such is the problem with being that kind of responsible. "You have very splendid wings," she calls after Balm, using her little voice. Because Ceci *is* little, everything comes out that way. Then she has the excitement of prodding her cellphone to call the most dutiful member in the extended family to come dry out the sleeping elemental when she finally drops.

Barry Allen has posed:
It helps to have a few super talented individuals around when it comes time to clean up the mess. It's not always just about the fighting. Nor even always just about rescuing the innocent bystanders from the fray. Sometimes what is needed most is the ability to clean up the mess and help people get their lives back on tract as quickly as possible.

It might not be quite so glamorous, but it does a great deal of good.

"Thanks Superwoman," Barry offers up as the Kryptonian offers to dispose of their radioactive giant where it will hopefully be unable to hurt anyone again. She might be the only one currently on sight that can do so safely, even with the lessened radioactivity the thing is throwing off. "I'll contact Green Lantern and see if he can't do something about that building," he offers. "See you can at the Hall."

Then the Scarlet Speedster turns his attention back to Cici and Meggan. She might be small, but she's clearly quite mature for her age. Then again, she's probably had to grow up in a fairly unique environment. And with a unique heritage.

"Hi," Barry offers up with a grin for the child. "I'm just going to take you to the Hall right over there until we can get someone to come and pick you up, okay? And you're right, that woman was using some very bad magic to try to hurt a lot of people, but hopefully she won't be doing that again soon," he opines, watching as Tala is led off before gathering up Meggan and Cici to take back to the Hall for the time being.