1608/The Bells: Death Knell

The Bells: Death Knell
Date of Scene:	10 May 2020
Location:	Hell's Gate
Synopsis:	Heroes assemble to face the Shadow monster trying to eat Metropolis, before it can move upon Gotham!
Cast of Characters:	Clark Kent, Hal Jordan, Conner Kent, Naomi McDuffie, Rose Wilson, Kyani Kohanna, Terry O'Neil, Gar Logan, Cole Cassidy, Samuel Morgan, Lois Lane

---

Clark Kent has posed:
Metropolis is in very bad shape.

Mechanical scouts sent inside view streets of people collapsed and comatose in appearance. Scans say they are still alive, but over time, their life energy is being feasted upon. Small black shadowspawn creatures of various kinds skitter the streets, assaulting anything in massive numbers that tries to come and deal with the problem.

And over everything is that massive cyclone-like cloud, blotting the sky and sun, hanging like a low monster of pollution tight over Metropolis. Ghastly long cones of darkness touch down here and there within the city like strange long, alien limbs, and the vibrating sounds of hypnotic resonance are powerful.

Something new has happened, though: heroes are consistantly poking at the monster and the city, and perhaps the monster has drawn in enough power, or become finally so annoyed that something has changed. The shadowy masses of creatures are mobilizing visibly, all moving out from under the smokey umbrella. An attack is coming, oriented to the north.

It is looking at Gotham.

It is a perfect time to either sneak in underneath, or to engage the shadowy minions to stop them from taking a second city....

Hal Jordan has posed:
The Green Lantern flies over the city, with a green energy field around his head to keep unwanted sounds out. His ring registers just how powerful that sound is at close range, and basically considers that green orb around his head to be life sustainingly necessary. Sure, he has a super high willpower by definition, but the ring doesn't feel like taking chances.

The first thing the Lantern does when he sees the creature apparently gazing north, for some reason, like it might want to move...is create a giant green mirror between it and the direction it was looking. While definitely tinted green, this mirror is as reflective as any other, and a good deal more durable due to being a construct.

"Hope Zee took a chunk out of that thing..." Too many people in danger to take a direct hand yesterday.

Nonetheless, the Green Lantern's brilliant green glow serves as a beacon for those being fed on, and those looking for someone to gather around.

Conner Kent has posed:
After Conner spent almost all his energy in the heat vision wave to clean up Gateway Bridge, he crashed the closest friendly place he could find to sleep and soak sunlight. He is feeling much better now.

Not that Gotham has a lot of sunlight. But it was enough. And if it is not, he will rely on his Tactile Telekinesis.

He is also wearing headphones and listen rock music at top volume. Yeah, no bells hypno-thing for him, thank you. He is not sure regular earplugs would be enough.

The con: he can't hear much else.

Clark Kent has posed:
There's help from Gotham's finest arriving, too: helicopters and air support mostly, and a contingent of SHIELD. They move into position just outside of the city.

There's a glowing patch where other backup is located as well, orienting on Green Lantern: Magic from Zatanna or another mage perhaps, and some assorted flying tech... is that something from Reed Richards?!

Heroes are mobilizing, though it is a little spread out and disjointed.

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
After saving the bridge, Naomi was informed that people were mobilizing to hit the source of this. She asked for inormation on where and was simply told, she'd know where to go. So, she took the moment to fly back to the Tower. She flies in and starts throwing up alarms, letting people know what is going on...that and downing like three of those snack shakes that they keep. Well, that and an entire one pound thing of sliced turkey. She finishes it up and lets out a breath before hoping to tag as many people as she can before she races back out into the fray.

Her streaking light can be seen flying right for where Hal Jordan is and she flies in to stop near him and call out, "Hey, I'm here to help and hopefully more are coming!" SHe nods her head, "Where can I be of assistance and...seriously what is up with that weird noise? It's making me feel really out of it."

Rose Wilson has posed:
It might be assumed that when Conner crashes he's not /literally/ crashing anything, but it's not as though Rose's apartment would be really harmed in the end. A crappy apartment is a crappy apartment, even with a person sized hole. She ought to know from past experiences.

After getting the story about what went down, and what is going down, she decided to chip in. For no other reason then a crappy apartment doesn't need shadowblobs moving in. Not being a flyer she relies on flying the friendly skies with Air Conner. And as soon as she's deposited somewhere that she can be on solid ground again, she pulls out the two swords strapped to her back, and simply hopes that no one needs to talk to her, because she's opted for precautions with her hearing in the form of military grade earplugs. For large ordinance. Not that she's EVER been around that. Nope. Never. ...thanks Dad.

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    Kyani would've been at the Tower having come in from New York not seeing what was going on, but when Naomi throws up the alarms. "Coming with you." he says as he blurs as he runs, lightning flickers off him as he runs. Everything around him is slow but he's moving at over 500mph an hour keeping up with Naomi. He doesn't have any costume, but at least he has a new code name at least.

    As he runs, he sees that Naomi is flying towards some green glowing guy. "Guess that is where he is going." he has his new T-Comm now, and he has a earbud in his ear and such now. He follows running up a building so that he can be close to the green guy.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
When Naomi's alert hit the comm systems, it took Terry O'Neil a little longer than he would have liked to arrive at the scene. This had to do mostly with finding a way to get out of sight from his Planet cohorts, who were on scene to cover the aftermath of the bridge attack. The confusion in the area was a good cover for him to sneak away and effect the transformation behind a dumpster- because the superhero life is a glamorous one.

Like Rose above, he is not a flier either, but he doesn't have any handy flying team-mates to hitch a ride on, and so he must rely on traveling the Wonderland way: via Rabbit Hole. When the warp in reality (it's more of a /whorl/, really) opens up into a porta and deposits Vorpal on a rooftop, the first thing he sees is the streaking green of Green Lantern up in the sky... followed soon after by the tell-tale glow of one of his team-mates. Then, he notices the glowing patch of magic, which makes his thumbs prickle just by looking at it- like attracts like, they say in the mystic arts. Interesting. Before he starts heading in that direction, he reaches for his comm and sends a message to Naomi:

<<"Got your alert, I'm in the area. Isee you're up there with the Green dude, is there a rallying point?">>

And then his ear twitches. He frowns, as he can hear something faint off in the distance. It's something unpleasant, just on the verge of hearing and it hasn't become quite intelligible yet. Whatever it is, though, he doesn't like it one bit- it makes his skin crawl.

It's just a jump to the left, and he's Rabbit-holing towards that magical glow, to see if he can obtain some information.

Clark Kent has posed:
There is a lot of active magic going on at that site: Zatanna is assisting. She is working on what appears to be a shield to help repel the invasion, but is also giving assistance magically to filter out the sonic attacks. Those that ask can have magic helping their hearing: Zatanna has been working with the shadow creatures for weeks, after all. A simple request from the sorceress can earn that assistance. Otherwise, though, she's very busy!

--

The shadows do not seem to be concerned with the heroes yet. Also, the mobilizing dark creatures have not started to attack: they are still gathering. But from the look of it, it may just be minutes, before something happens.

Gar Logan has posed:
The shadows have been on the radar, but suddenly they've become much, much worse. With the Titans just getting back up and running as a formal entity, are any of them ready for this? Those on the scene are about to find out.

Fortunately, they aren't alone. There are at least a couple other heroes about, and even if Gar doesn't have an affinity for magic, it's pretty hard not to recognize it when it's front and center like this to help protect those who need it. In costume, Beast Boy shows up nearby and wears a worried expression as he looks out at what he can see. Monsters, things shifting around and touching down, a lot of people not moving.

"Uh, guys? I'm here. What are we supposed to do about all this?" he asks, attention taking in all that are gathered so far, as at least some of them move in on the same rallying point.

Hal Jordan has posed:
The first thing Green Lantern does is bubble Naomi. If she's talking about a weird sound, she needs better ear protection than whatever she's got. It's equally clear Terry needs some better ear protection too, so he gets a bubble. And then he radios Zee. "Zee, can you get some magical protection for our friends here?" In short, anyone who appears bothered by the shadow noise gets a bubble.

Something suitable will pop into existence near Naomi and Terry, and even Gar, which they can use instead of his bubble once Zee gets them the items.

Since he figures most of the people here can't hear well due to ear protection of whatever kind works, green letters appear before the assembled. <<The Shadow Creatures can brainwash whoever hears that weird noise they make. Both magical protection and military hardware works, but if you get too close with nothing, they'll hypnotize you. The idea is to kick the shadow creatures out of Metropolis and return it to the light. The shadows hate mirrors for some reason, so large reflective surfaces...won't hurt them, per se, but they won't approach them, so you can block them with large reflective surfaces. As for the rest, energy appears to work better, so if you've got it, use it.>>

Cole Cassidy has posed:
You know, having been laying low since he broke out while being transported between Arkham and Blackgate, Cackler has come out of hiding because, frankly speaking, Gotham is in trouble and he's not going to just sit around while people get hurt.

He's riding his motorcycle towards the gathering. They haven't attacked yet, but he's seen this kinda thing before. All it'll take is a spark and all hell will break loose. As he gets closer he can hear...Something, he's not sure what, but his enhanced hearing sure as hell doesn't like it. He pulls the bike over, pulls out a pair of wireless earbuds and pushes them into his ears, turning on some heavy rock on his phone. At least that seems to be drowning out whatever the other noise is for the moment.

He decides to procede on foot, not wanting to risk his precious bike getting smashed up by a shadow monster.

Conner Kent has posed:
I'm telling you, I'm bulletproof
Believe me, I'm bulletproof

It is loud enough it can be heard several yards around Conner. At least by those not wearing earplugs.

Then, he gets the magical message about the magic earplugs. He removes a side of the headphones "What?" No, he 'heard' perfectly. Only he was not supposed to hear it! "Rock and roll, why did you fail me?" He complains. "Okay, I am taking the magical (ugh) earplug thing." It makes sense. It will likely give him magical cooties or something. Magic is never good!

Rose Wilson has posed:
Magical earplugs, regular. Whatever gets the job done is all that Rose cares about, and if someone wants to throw some magic at her, she takes it and ultimately waits to see if anyone has a plan for all this.

For now. The desire to get down to the action is clear for those that can read her, know her, or are just super observant. There's a tension to her, and a fingertip tapping against the hilt of her sword, waiting.

Clark Kent has posed:
Above the shadow monster, something is happening. An unnatural storm is brewing, in the high atmosphere. Is it related?

The cyclone above Metropolis ... begins to move, though. It's faster than it should be, at that size. Forming out of the sky like a foot of a tornado, a city block wide, a massive limb drops down into Hell's Gate, hauling the rest of the mass after it like so much heavy baggage.

And the sound, those weird /bells/ that vibrate to the core of a person, begins to blast the front line of where the shadow monsters are set up. It is as much of a cue for the monsters to do something as it is affecting those arranged.

In fact, all of those without ear protection begin to struggle. A helicopter goes crazy and goes spinning off to the site as the driver falls into the trance: the first blast of attack.

Clusters of shadowspawn are released, gobs of five or so to a group, starting to exit Metropolis's center. They rush the magical zone of Zatanna in particular with a focused hate.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    There's more than one motorcycle heading towards the gathering. This one, however, is a beast of a bike, sounding like someone trapped a supercar and condensed into the shape of a slightly outsized motorcycle. Angular plates, a matte beetle black finish, it all screams 'hero' without even seeing the figure riding it.

    Techno halts the contraption near the rally point, letting the engine idle so that it thrums, supporting the vehicle with his left foot. His armored left foot. The rider of that bike? He's wearing a suit of what looks like power armor, of a design that has so far never been seen.

    ... New hero alert...

    "I take it we've got a plan of some sort?"

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
"Thanks, Green Lantern." She smiles and nods and then she looks over at Conner with a smirk and then she joins Gar as well as Terry and smiles. She uses the communicators to speak. She takes the things that Zatanna gives them and then llooks over at Gar, not putting htem in till she relays, <<Terry, Gar, and Kyani, we are probably going to rally here as good as anywhere. Don't let these things bite you or the'll suck out your soul or something.>> She nods her head, << He's right though, they hate energy and tehy really don't like mirros.>> She puts in the earplugs and gives Hal a thumbs up, <<Thanks for hte protection.>

It's weird not to hear anything outside of the others. She looks at the others here, mainly focusing on the TItans. She smiles and gives a thumbs up. She looks at the new arrival, about to add something only to blink as she sees a helicopter going out of control. She immediately shoots off and ends up catching the Helicopter a bit roughly. She hopes it is ok but she's not great at this yet. She winces as she uses her power to try to stabilize it and then she carefully lowers it down and lets out a breath once it is safely down. She immediately goes to check on the pilot.

Cole Cassidy has posed:
The assault wave begins with the tolling of the bells. Cackler gets an idea, and pulls his phone out, rolling the music over to something more appropriate before he puts his phone back into the pocket of his armored vest, and pulls his revolver out, "Okay you weird shadow things. I've seen enough movies and TV shows to know you're probably going to kill everybody or steal their souls or whatever if I don't stop you."

Seeing the focused attack on an area not far from him, however, Cackler heads that direction, figuring there's probably a group of heroes out there standing strong against the incoming threat.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Beast Boy!" Vorpal notices his fellow Titan, "You might want to--" and he's behind the curve, as everybody gets a magical dingaling to help them filter out the noise. He has to give points to Zatanna for making a set that would work with his non-human ears. And then things start going south- that massive limb descends, and chaos strats letting loose- which he takes as a rather personal affront, since that is usually /his/ job. The Cheshire cat narrows his eyes. "Incoming..." he taps his comm, "<<Reflective surfaces. I have an idea, but I need to portal somewhere else first. Titans, help hold the front here and protect Zatanna and co- those jerks really seem to hate her magic. I'll be back with something that might help!>>

With a few seconds of focus, the Cheshire cat vanishes through a rabbit hole.

Somewhere, on the other side of Metropolis, a Rabbit Hole opens up in a certain department of a certain high-fallutin' department store. The cheshire grins, and several dozen grins answer hin back.

"Oh yes. This is perfect..."

Gar Logan has posed:
Pointing to his ears, Beast Boy remarks, "I think we're good for talking and stuff. This feels like it's just blocking whatever /they're/ saying. I don't know about this stuff with biting and sucking out souls, but that doesn't sound good. All I'm gonna be able to do is fight some of them, but I don't have any mirrors or energy attacks or any of that." He barely gets a wave off to Vorpal before he's gone. Must have something in mind.

Trying to discuss their plans soon proves much more difficult, as the attacks begin. "Guys, I think we need to get moving here, and we should probably buddy up and have someone's back, just in case! I call Vorpal when he gets back!" Until then, he takes to the air as an eagle, seeking to avoid whatever reach the creatures have.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Test, test," Conner verifies he can hear to others, and looks back to the city. With his enhanced eyesight he is likely the first to notice the shadow monsters are rushing out. "And here they come. Don't let them bit you, folks. And don't let them move in Gotham. We will never find a shadow monster in Gotham, and we will never hear the end of it from Bats."

He charges first, as he usually does. Even if it is not the smartest thing when dealing with supernatural critters. But bad habits die slowly, and common sense is the least common of the senses. Also, he is quick enough to avoid most biting things.

Hal Jordan has posed:
Green Lantern is in the unique position of having a large supply of very large mirrors, so he can 'direct traffic' as it were. So, as the shadow monsters attack...large mirrors pop up in front of them. All green, of course. Mirrors keep appearing to either side of the shadows as they move, forcing them on a winding, indirect path that really leads nowhere. Still, it's a containment move, not an attack, per se.

However, those mirrors are perfectly reflective, should anyone with energy like to bounce energy off of them, and durable enough to withstand such bouncing.

"Don't know how long that'll hold 'em, but it's a start..."

Green Lantern flies up to take an aerial view as he tries to keep the mass of shadows moving in a specific direction.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Good call." Techno responds to Gar, and takes stock of the situation. His voice is distorted and somehow amplified, so he can be heard by those who don't have communicators. "Stay together. We hold the first wave back, break the back of the assault and then counter attack. If you have range, find cover. If you're close in, do it side by side or back to back."

    Then he points to Cackler "You! You're with me. We're the mobile reserve, but first..." and he kicks the bike up, revving the engine "...we go in full speed to break them up. Because all good battles start with a cavalry charge."

    One last rev of the engine and the bike tears away, making a din like a dragon descending on an unsuspecting medium-sized town.

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
Letting out a breath when she sees that the pilot is ok, Naomi looks back in the direction of the others before calling out through the link, "Beast Boy, the shadows become solid when they attack. Just make sure they don't connect. It hurts like...oh crud!" She turns and in the distance, on top of the roof she was able to get the helicopter down on, blasts of light can be seen firing from the rooftop.

The roof flares with light repeatedly as shadows swirl about it and then Naomi is flying off the roof with the pilot in hand and angling for the gathering point even as shadows converge upon the roof.

Clark Kent has posed:
High above, at that forming lightning storm, a magical flare flies airborne. It streaks upwards, growing into an enormous feathered mystical summon, that crackles with thunder and light, wings expanding, magic flowing through it, conductive to the storm, adding and building through it: and being a big target.

Additionally, more lightshow begins high up there, flashes of red, streams of power of some kind. The creature is becoming less of a cloud, and more of a long, distended ghastly spirit, having formed two eerie legs, and some of an upper torso. The top seems tied up by the things high in the air, for the moment. But for how long?

--

On the ground, the mirrors direct traffic extremely well. The shadows just seem to stop in front of them and mill around, trying to figure out how to get around this. It is as if it were some kind of barrier to them: which doesn't make sense, since they should be able to phase or crash through. But they aren't. They're redirected, but that does mean their numbers get heavier, and some of them... start to merge together into BIGGER shadow monsters. Naomi saw them do this up close and personal, and it seems they are doing more of the same, when crunched into close quarters with each other.

Lois Lane has posed:
If there's one thing Lois Lane is good at, it's running into the middle of danger.

Thankfully, she /is/ good at other things, but it doesn't stop her from hurrying forward towards the danger at a rapid clip. This isn't the usual run to try and get a better view of an unfolding story, though. The reporter's pace and angle tells a different story--she's got a purpose for this hurried run. There's a half-a-second where she seems to be very aware of the chaos going on, but it doesn't slow her. She doesn't particularly acknowledge those around her other than to notice they're there in her peripheral vision.

Instead, she's beelining in the direction of Zatanna.

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    Remembering that ear protection was needed, "Hey, I need something for my ears as well." the moment he says that he feels something on his ears, he reaches up feeling protection for him there. "Thanks." he says to the air as his ear protection came out of thin air....."Yeah." he says more to himself than anything else.

    Kyani tests his communications and he nods his head to Naomi, Terry and Gar. "I can hear you all, just nothing else. Oh hello you two." he says to Gar, Terry and Naomi. Though when everyone begin their attacks, Kyani watches for a moment, he's never been in a large scale fight, a bit of trepidation fills him, not the cockiness he has when just delivering packages or rescuing people from a burning building or fighting dinosaurs and ape people. This is something different, something that causes him to pause and stare on at everyone until he sees a shadow creature feeding on a cop.

    There is no thought at that moment, lightning flickers through Kyani's eyes and a streak blurs down the side of the building and as he comes down the side, he slams a punch into the shadow creature, though as he strikes, he remembers that energy hurts them, so he uses his lightning to enhance his strike so to shock the hell out of it as he hits it.

    Breathing hard, his body shakes as he looks down at the dead cop now, his eyes narrow, "What the fuck!" he says into his comm.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Okay... come ON!" Vorpal waves his hand at the mirrors. Nothing happens. He then, irritated and impatient, curses at them.

Nothing continues happening.

"Come on, I know I can do it! I did it with that gigantic spider, so why can't I do it now?"

Fortunately, the department store is empty, so he's not in any danger of having the cops called on him just yet. Nevertheless, he is clearly frustrated by the fact that there's people back there counting on him (whether they know it or not) and he's simply. not. delivering.

"What do I need to do?... there must be something I can do..." he paces. He remembers what happened back then- Gar was in mortal danger. And then his hand glowed purple and...

He frowns, and looks at the mirrors. Intention. Yes. He waves his hand- "Come alive!"

Nothing. And then, fishing into his mind and coming up with an old chestnut from his childhood movie days, he raises both hands and says with a stentorean tone:

"Treguna. Mecoides. Trecorum Satis Dee!"

And then...

Nothing.

"Oh for #$@#'s sake!"

His hand goes to punch the elaborate brass frame of one of the antique mirrors- "Ow!"

Vorpal rubs his glowing purple hand, and curses-

Wait.

He looks down at his hand. Then he looks up at the mirror. It, too, is glowing purple. And it is spreading to the other mirrors in the vicinity at a fast rate.

He grins.


That tear in reality appears again, and suddenly Vorpal emerges through the rift, very much the figure of a charging general, one hand pointed before him and the hand behind beckoning--

The army of mirrors that, against all logic, are walking quite rapidly on the ornate, antique legs of their frames.

"Hey guys! I've brought reinforcements!" and to the mirrors he says, "CHARGE!"

And off they go, dashing towards that dark mass, their glistneing, glimmering, reflective surfaces aimed at dispersing, channeling and chasing groups in tandem with Green Lantern's own smaragdine mirrors.

Vorpal watches his handywork with a grin, and taps into the comm <<"Hopefully that should help some. How's everybody doi--">> he pauses and spots Lois beelining for their position. Quietly he speaks into the comm <<"Uh oh... I see my boss. Be right back...">>

The Cheshire takes off at full trot towards the woman with a million lives. As he catches up to her, he says: "Miss Lane, what on earth are you doing here?"

The question is perfunctory, he knows the answer: Getting into trouble. It's the same answer /he/ gives her in his civilian identity, after all.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Plans rarely survive contact with the enemy. Especially not an enemy that doesn't need to follow the laws of physics or even thermodynamics. It was supposed to be a diversionary attack, to split the monsters into three or four smaller groups, but... well, then he can see the things merging, and the plan has to be adjusted. "Yeah... this is gonna suck..." The bike plows into the mass of monsters, and Techno can feel the teeth gripping down on the armor. Luckily he's not aware of anything on earth that can bite through this particular alloy, but then these things are not from earth. And not all around him has been forged alike. As the charge begins to falter through sheer weight of monstrosity hanging off him, the armored figure reaches for a set of objects attached to his belt.

    Shutting down his cameras.

    Twisting the end of the cylinders and scattering them around.

    Feeling the gnawing of a dozen ... somethings... scraping along tungsten-titanium.

     A bright FLASH and a deafening sound as half a dozen flashbangs go off at once.

    Cameras come back online as the bike is once again revved into gear, now dashing back the way it came, hopefully leaving dazzled and disoriented creatures behind.

    Ducking and weaving through the walking mirr-... WHAT?!

    When the bike screeches to a halt, he kicks it onto the stand and dismounts, looking at the parade of purple mirrors. His armor doesn't allow him any visible expression, but the mere fact that he's come to a stop in the middle of what is likely the most chaotic fight since the battle of New York is a good indicator of sheer and utter surprise. "Okay. Very... resourceful."

Cole Cassidy has posed:
Once he arrives on site, with the army of mirrors and the man with the power ring, and the guy with the robot suit, Cackler takes a second to look at his gun, "Huh." He realizes that he may be a little out of his depth at this point, "So uh, who's running this show?" He figures maybe if he can find out who's in charge, he can find a way to put himself to use because somehow he doesn't think he's going to beat a giant shadow monster with a gun.

Gar Logan has posed:
Beast Boy gets a birds-eye view of Vorpal returning with..magical mirrors? There have already been some set up, and it remains to be seen how good or bad it's going to be when some of the smaller creatures blend together into larger ones.

He's also staring at the changes going on in the storm. "Oh, boy...that can't be good." Thoughts of Doomsday begin to creep back into his mind, and the eagle veers away from the Big Bad taking shape, making a pass of Vorpal. "Hey, we need to watch each other's backs!" he calls out for the cat's benefit, then he adds, "Watch this!"

The eagle rises up then comes back down toward one of the shadow creatures rearing to attack, and in the process changes into an electric eel. Upon landing atop the critter, it's struck with as much as 800 volts of electricity, pulsing repeatedly. As a direct charge, not dissipated by water, it might just be enough to disrupt it.

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
Flying back into the fray, Naomi blinks as she looks down in time to see Terry...send an army of mirrors out into the city. She watches them march from above and shakes her head a little, <<What even are y....is tha...what am I l...>> She shakes her head again before she sighs, <<Nevermind, just keep it up!>> She nods and starts flying toward the city. She stares firing beams of light into the shadows. She looks around as she hmms and then looks up at the creature above before looking down at the mess again before she lets out a breath.

<<I don't want to ask this but how do we get the source's attention. I don't want that attention but that's the job.>> She looks back at those she left behind and then ahead, <<I can keep blasting but what's the goal? What's the plan??>>

Clark Kent has posed:
The police officer by Kyani is dead... but probably did not feel anything, having been in a trance. Small positives. Two other policemen rush over to assist Kyani: ones with proper ear protection. They silently point over at the mirror-parade area, and make some other gestures that they're falling back. They can't fight these shadows effectively. Or can they?

The shadow monsters that merge seem far more physical than the little ones. In fact, as they move, they impact structures, pushing cars out of the way. They're big and powerful, true, but that also could be their weakness. One of them has broken loose from the mirror flank, and stomps through the street, slowly trying to follow some zipping mystical shape that's up in the air. Magic seems to draw them.

The walking mirror parade seems more to confuse the creatures than stop them, due to the gaps between. It's like trying to stop a flood with a chain link fence. But the cracks can be fixed, perhaps, or used to shore up spots in Hal's mirror prison.

Samuel Morgan's assault was extremely effective it seems, much as is the style Naomi is using to use flashes and bursts of power. The creatures turn into a faded dusty mess when exposed to such heat!

Naomi asks excellent questions: how can they get the attention of the big creature, and what will they do once they have it? It does seem to be stopped, oddly, oriented upwards into the energy above it. Focusing attack on making sure the shadow minions can't breach into Gotham has already had a large effect, as the creatures are held to the line created by the heroes.

Clark Kent has posed:
Beast Boy's creative attack made for a funny spectacle: the creature, zotted, spins around like a crazy bucking thing, entirely disoriented, and bites it's buddy, sucking life out of it, while the eel gets a free ride in a circle. Other shadows turn to scream at the crazy cohort.

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois just has regular earplugs. So when Vorpal approaches and seems to ask her a question, she's going to just go for it. She barely slows down, shouting out, "I need to get to Zatanna! It's /important/!" She's got no real context for anything else, but she points in Zatanna's direction in the off-chance he can't hear her either.

She's not stopping, though. Even with Vorpal there nearby, she's keeping up a fast clip on her way to the magic-user with a very determined pace. It does, however, give her an idea as she glances in Vorpal's direction. "Can you get her attention?" She still doesn't know if he can hear her, but it's worth a try.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "The Titans are running this show." Techno responds to Cackler and gets back on his bike, seeing the man's pistol. "See the bigger ones? You can shoot those, it'll certainly get their attention. Don't let the little ones get close, they've got mean teeth. We can't let them past us."

    Two revs to get the engine back up so the transfer case doesn't pull itself apart when the clutch is engaged, and he's off again. He doesn't have many of those flashbangs left, it's not like they grow on trees. And then there's the big one...

    His next question comes through on comms. All the comms being carried by the heroes around. "Does anyone know how to fly a helicopter?"

Hal Jordan has posed:
Green Lantern's mirror row is a fantastic delay tactic, but it won't hold them forever...ah, there it goes. It won't have to, if the man in power armor isn't the only one who can do damage.

The mirror parade is actually leading the creatures in endless circles, winding them from path to path to path. When he notices the creatures getting bigger, he adjusts the height of the mirrors to compensate. If they're gathering into one larger creature, he's fine with that...a single large creature might be easier to deal with than a horde.

Elsewhere, the presence of rescue personell unprotected causes Green Lantern to put bubbles over them so they can think clearly again.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Good going BB!" Vorpal says and gestures, "Keep at it. I'm going to escort miss Lane to Z-point! Stick close to us, but I think you've found a way to screw with them!" because of course Gar would be the one to figure out how to shock someone into a total rage!

Escorting, in this case, means plopping a Rabbit Hole right into Lois' path as she is running. It isn't a nice thing to do, without warning her, but how can you warn her when she has non-magical earbuds? Vorpal runs in right after her, the Rabbit Hole leading them directly to Zatanna, a few feet away. Vorpal didn't quite think this one through, and hopefully Lois has enough distance to slow herself down before she bumps into smoeone. He turns around, "BeeBee, this way!" gesturing through the Rabbit hole for Gar to follow them. He'll close that hole as soon as Gar comes through, lest any shadow globs come in.

With Lois at the goal, he listens to the comm chatter. "<<Well, we're not exactly running this thing- we're acting in tandem with the Justice League...">> He is not thinking about that right now, because there isn't time. Otherwise he'd be filing up to ask Green Lantern for an autograph, and he is pretty sure he saw Superboy charging in the lead- another autograph. But right now there is a monstrosity from another world apparently, that they need to take care of. <<"I don't know, Naomi, but it looks like Zuul is arriving in just a matter of minutes and somebody has chosen the form of the destroyer. If we could get Raven over here I'm pretty sure she'd be able to do something absolutely traumatizing to this. But it's just us now.>>" He frowns, "<<I think we might get its attention when it notices how many of its mooks are getting stopped by the mirrors, or by punchy punchy action...">> and then, he hears a voice over the comms as Dude is speaking. <<"Dude... are you talking to a hyenah, by any chance?">> Because that is a thing you ask.

Done with his questions, he turns to Lois to make sure she doesn't need anything else. Or jumps into danger when he's not looking.

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    Nitro who is Kyani, though he never gave his code name to anyone looks to the cops as they take the dead cop away with them. He looks in the direction of the army of mirrors and how some of the creatures are starting to flank the mirrors, and the other heros are busy with the fights they are in.

    "WHat the hell am I doing?" he asks himself as he watches the mirrors continue to be outflanked. Taking in a deep breath and looking to them, the other shadows and when Naomi's voice comes over the comms, he remembers what he did to the dinosaurs and apes, he cut them all off and began herding them. <<I need someone to cover me from above.>> he calls into his comm. <<Looking for streaks of lightning on the ground. I will be the distraction as well is possibly herding these damn things.>> Nitro (Kyani) runs, and as he runs everything around him slows, he is able to see the shadow creatures moving around the mirrors and at the point he speeds up and runs so close he is able to punch a few of them, using the lightning to shock the hell out of them, as well as the lightning that he produces as he runs to ZAAWT! them as well. He runs in front of the mirros, to get the lightning the bounce off them to strike the shadows as well. He doesn't know if that works, hell he's not trained enough with his powers, but he's trying something.

    He begins making a circuit, pushing himself hard so that he is able to draw the Shadow Creatures attention to himself. Hopefully moving this fast......no....one of the creatures punches him, another hits him causing Kyani to crash into some trashcans. The lightning stops. He gets back on his feet, his nose bleeding, but he starts running again, "FASTER!" he says as he runs again and from the sky people would see him and he starts his circuit again, but this time he is moving faster, and he runs back the way he came and back again, cutting off the Shadows if he's able to and soon a contiues line of lightning can be seen as he runs hard breaking his normal speed levels, but he doesn't know that, as his shoes start to smoke, along with his clothing. "FASTER NITRO!" he hollars at himself!

Gar Logan has posed:
When he was told energy can be effective on these things, Beast Boy went with the first idea that popped into his head. Now he's swinging around as an eel, and in the process he lands atop another creature and gives /that/ one a little shock treatment as well. "Guys! I think it's working!" he calls out.

But, sticking around too long could be a recipe for disaster. By the time Vorpal is calling for him to get over there with him, through the opening created, he returns to his normal, costumed form - still the purple and black - and jogs along. "Did you guys see that big one up there? And..oh, hi Lois! There's so much going on right now!"

Cole Cassidy has posed:
Cackler listens to the guy who tells him the Titans are in charge, and though he hasn't been added to the group chat yet, he'll need to get set up with the mystical earplugs sooner or later if he's going to help.

One of the minion monsters tries to jump onto his back, and he slams it into the ground, holding it down and smashing his other fist into the creature a couple of times, "Okay see, now this is starting to get annoying." He growls, "How are we gonna stop them all? I don't know if we have that much firepower."

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
From above, Naomi is doing her best to provide support. However, this isn't like the bridge. There's buildings everywhere and monsters, too. She flies down to blast a path for people where she can, trying her best to help where she can. Everyone she sees is in some kind of weird trance but she is trying to get them free. When she hears Terry and company are moving, she moves to try to help provide support. She flies toward them only to have a monster dive from above.

"Crap!" She calls out and is landed on by one of those two mouthed combined mad monsteres that tries to bite her. This time she glows bright as it lands giving it something to bite. As it sinks down with teeth the blast is already coming. The top of it splatters away and she spins to fling what is left of it away.

She ends up roughly above the group and sends a blast across the battlefield, <<What is happening down there?!>>

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois is running, then she's suddenly running through something with no chance to stop, but her instinct to stop /does/ keep her from running smack into Zatanna. Thankfully she's got decent reflexes. She is close now, so she should at least be able to get Zatanna's attention, even if she's busy.

"Zatanna! I need that mirror shard you took from the warehouse!" She hurries forward to take the shard once it's produced, wrapping it carefully in a handkerchief so she doesn't get sliced on the edges, and then she looks back to Vorpal. "Okay, I need to not be here now. I need to get this to the right people."

Clark Kent has posed:
The heroes, though split up, have done well. The minions that get through are being chased and electrocuted by eels or shot, and those in groups are being crushed by the high-powered. There's lots to do. But it may feel like a stalemate, but considering the odds, the heroes are actively saving Gotham! But then...

The creature above Metropolis is continuing to form into a more physical shape, drawing power and energy fiercely from the city. Even those not in a trance may start to feel that pull, that leech. It's hungry, and needs it to continue to gain power.

Or perhaps more accurately, it is healing. Overhead, the light show continues, red flashes, blue, lightning! Much excitement! It starts to lean downwards, as if starting to squat onto the city. Then there's more of a defined face, aimed at the small war of heroes. A giant maw of fangs that leads into an abyss of darkness, instead of a head. Columns of shadow reach out like thick tongues of blackened tornado, grappling. They twist and reach, giving chase to a few central targets.

Suddenly, as red heat, heavy duty lasers come down out of the sky, the blast hits the arrays of mirrors, and lances back upwards. One of the columns of shadow-tongue suddenly gets almost shorn entirely off. In the curling smoke, though, the source of the heat vision becomes visible, next to Green Lantern, in blue and red, cloak of rippling red, with a splash of gold....

"Green Lantern," Superman greets him, mid-air, pausing as the monster recoils from the blow. "We need it to come down, and we can hit it from multiple sides at once," he says, voice clear and focused. "Everyone here on this side has been invaluable. A team is ready in Metropolis as well; you aren't alone here: we'll coordinate."

"//Together.//"

Superman moves, quickly, to land next to Lois and those near her. "Can I help?" Superman asks Lois, with a familiar, assured smile, offering her his hand.

Hal Jordan has posed:
"Good to see you back. And got it!" Green Lantern promptly moves into action. Get it to come down? That could be arranged...when a giant green mirror appears over the head of the biggest critter, with other mirrors all around its head. The idea is to slowly lower the green box of mirrors (minus a bottom) over the head of the creature. Presumably, the big one won't like that at all, and will duck to get away from it.

And once it's forced to the ground...Superman's plan can be put to good use, as the more ground based heroes can cut loose on the thing.

Elsewhere, his maze of mirrors is at least keeping the smaller shadows occupied till he puts this in order.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "I am, as a matter of fact." Techno replies to Vorpal, dodging a creature and punching it through the face as it tries to bite, wiping what's left off his gauntlet with studied nonchalance. "But we're barely making a dent here, we need..." Ah crap. That. That is Huge. Monstrous. Garantuan. Brobdingnagian! And it's coming for him.

    'Limiter disengaged' the voice chimes in his ear as the cover comes off the thumbswitch and the bike shoots forwards with an extra burst of speed, barely outrunning the tongue of darkness, until one of the little ankle biters goes for his sabaton, misses, and gets itself entangled in the bike's rear wheel. The engine dies instantly and the bike flips, sending it and its rider in a forward flip. Techno is thrown off, and both the suit and the bike skid along the street in a shower of sparks, about to be snatched by the monster...

    Until a blast of red light severs it.

    And there he is, Superman himself. Inside his helmet, Techno blinks, checks the video feed is correct, does a full diagnostic, and only then believes his eyes, getting up slowly. Oh, but that does make things easier.

    "Plan B. Purple Cat Thing, if those mirrors are yours, I'm going to need them to line up in a fifty degree arc, each mirror angled and offset by five degrees. Except the middle one..."

    In case it's not obvious, he walks over to the assembly of proper heroes and explains in as few words as possible. "We're building a laser cannon."

    A brief look at Superman, although even his distorted voice sounds more than slightly awed. "You look good for someone who's supposed to be dead. You have no idea how good it is to see you again."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"No worries, Miss Lane, you can count on me." Pause. "Vorpal. I'm with the Titans." He clarifies, because he has /not/ spoken about Vorpal at /all/ as Terry. Interestingly, Lois has yet to ask why that is... but it's bound to come soon. "Where do you need to go, I can take you anywhere."

And then /things/ happen. Things that are impossible enough to baffle a Wonderland mind- suddenly, Superman lands /right/ next to him. Superman, who is really, most sincerely dead. He looks remarkably well, for a dead chap.

"..." says Vorpal. Despite the fact that there is an apocalyptic monstrosity at large, there are some things that take precedent-

"That's... He's..." Cheshire.exe has stopped responding, please reboot.

"You're Superman." To Lois. "Lois. He's Superman. He's..." he frowns, somebody is talking to him? "But he's..."

~SNAP OUT OF IT O'NEIL!~

He doesn't know where the voice came from, but it has its intended effect. He quickly turns in the direction of the question, and tries to gather his dignity. Some parts of it have a long way to go. "Right. Mirrors. Right."

He steps through the Rabbit Hole with admirable speed, and not because he wants to run away in embarrassment, no siree. He emerges in the midst of his line of specular soldiers and begins barking directions, trying to get the mirrors to align following the dude's directions. Which is preferable than thinking about Superman Not Being Dead. Or how he gawked at him. Or how that guy called him-

Hey. Wait a second.

"I'm SALMON colored, nor purple!" he barks into the comm, in the midst of organizing the mirrors and dodging attacks from the shadow blobs.

Gar Logan has posed:
The last time Beast Boy saw Superman, he was still fairly fresh to the Titans, still only around fifteen, sixteen years old. Doomsday happened. People died. A team fell apart. Months turned into a couple years, countless nightmares, waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, reliving that fated battle.

Throughout all that, Garfield Logan kept trying to do the right thing, trying to find a part of him that had been damaged and in need of repair, lost and in need of being found again. Progress had been made, friends and teammates returning, new relationships developing.

The monster in the sky caused some of those fears to creep back to the surface, threatening to tear apart everything, to ruin it all. Then, laser beams. Laser beams reflecting off mirrors, cutting viciously into the monster, and someone very, very familiar shows up. Beast Boy can see him in the air, and what his eyes are telling him is real is confirmed when /he/ touches down by Lois, by nature putting him near Vorpal, by nature putting him near Beast Boy...

...who can't quite help himself, impulsively moving in for a hug of the Man of Steel. "Oh my God! Superman, you're back! You're alive!" Whatever the others might think of him going for the hug, his brain starts working again, enough for him to add rapidly, "We're gonna stop this thing now! I just know it!"

Superman returning can bring with it a whole lot of renewed confidence.

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
Flying above, Naomi has done her best to keep it up. That thing is huge. She remembers her dead mother's message. She remembers the heroes she idolized growing up. She remembers everything her foster parents taught her. Smile, stand up and make the world better. However, that thing is huge. It's face, its mouth...it's massive. Her right eye begins to tear up ever so slightly. Real, true fear for not herself but for everything and everyone.

She's new to this and she can't fail now. However, despite her smile that is just beginning to falter, inside she's growing in fear. Then the blast. The twin red beams. She blinks slowly and her broken smile gasps open.

"What?" She then sees the blur of blue, red, and gold. She looks at the man and then her smile genuinely grows again. She pumps a fist in the air and zips over to next to Superman and looks at him with a awe. She then nods her head and then turns and puts her hand up in a V for victory, "Hell yeah! We got this!" She suddenly glows brighter than ever. Flickering and moving lights twist around her form in unbelievable ways as her fear is pushed down. She turns that wide grin at Superman and nods to him.

"We got this, Superman." She says as much to herself as she does to the man himself.

Cole Cassidy has posed:
Fighting off monsters by hand near the mirrors, Cackler bails to the ground when the big monster comes in. This is it, game over man. Game over!

Then suddenly, lasers. They carve a path through the monster, and Cackler looks up at...Superman?! "Ain't he dead?" He asks, really to nobody in particular, as he watches the blue boyscout do his thing, "Holy shit." This is going to totally change the paradigm of this fight.

Cackler picks himself back up, and looks over at Techno, "What do you need me to do to help with your laser cannon?" Now this thing seems winnable.

Lois Lane has posed:
While Lois looks surprised at the sudden appearance of Superman, it's not the look of shock of someone seeing a dead hero for the first time in years. It's a look of surprise at seeing the suit. She gets a tiny smile before tucking the shard away in her jacket. She turns back towards Vorpal, giving him a thumbs up. "Thank you." She's certainly grateful for the help. Then she turns back to Superman. She laughs a little at seeing Beast Boy's hug, her gaze moving to Superman as if to silently say 'look what you mean to them'.

But she does have something she needs done. She steps forward, taking the offered hand. It's a familiar gesture. "I need to take this mirror fragment to the rest of the mirror. I think it's safe with SHIELD right now. It's a container for this thing, I think."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    And this is it. The galvanising moment. Sam can feel it, can see it in the change of body language all around him. Superman is here. It's all going to be okay. But he also know enough about history to know that the last time Superman was seen was also the time this team took its major loss, the moment it fell apart. It is, quite literally, now or never.

    Time to heal the past and forge a new future.

    "Okay, listen up." it's the tone of a team leader, someone used to being in situations like this and coming out alive. The tone of someone who doesn't impose authority, but is nevertheless use to being listened to. "This is where we stand, this is where we defeat this thing. It, and all its little creatures."

    He points to Cackler. "Be mobile, protect the mirrors. Shoot, claw, bite, punch, whatever you need to do, but keep them away from those mirrors."

    To Vorpal. "I stand corrected, Salmon Cat Thing. Shuffle the mirrors, keep them aligned. Without them, without you, this doesn't work."

    To Beast Boy. "Watch his back. Be the best you, keep them away from your buddy."

    To Naomi "We need you to cover us from up high. Blast them apart, clear us a path to the big thing."

    To Kyani, over the comms "Keep them confused. You'll have top cover!"

    To Hal "Keep doing what you're doing."

    To Superman "Sir... if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to put those eye lasers of yours to good use."

Clark Kent has posed:
Superman nods once to Naomi. Cackler gets a smile. Vorpal gets a softened, amused look, which he then tips towards Lois. /Well/. The welcome is doing a lot for Superman, and his worries. Worries about having left others to their own devices. Not helping SOONER. Not being there, during his death. A lot of weight. And the welcome... does a lot to help Superman, even if the others don't know how much they're helping.

"We are," Superman answers Beast Boy, accepting the hug without issue, one hand moving to rest on the young man's back, gently. "We have to, for all of the people of Metropolis."

Superman's gaze is the same as it ever was: blue, confident in such as way as to suggest his faith in those around him: that they will have hope, as he does. Hope not just in what he can do, but in what THEY can also do.

Superman releases Beast Boy with a brief smile, as he moves to pick up Lois protectively. "Work on the cannon. I'll be here to help you. I promise." Superman gives Gar a meaningful nod, looks to Sam Morgan, "Yes. I'll return, in a moment."

And Superman is off, taking Lois where she needs to go.

Conner Kent has posed:
Meanwhile Conner has been running himself ragged by using speed to fight large croups of shadow critters. Mostly to avoid them biting him and punching them while they are solid. Metropolis is a large city, so he has been doing this for a while, trying to reach the city center and the big one without leaving anything behind.

Maybe not the best teamwork, but he had no plan and no big mirror to haul around, and certainly not enough power to use a lot of heat vision. Couldn't be sunlight monsters for once? He would settle by not-too-dark ones, too.

The flashes of laser beams hitting the big bad from different angles draw his attention, though. Someone build laser cannons? Maybe Tony Stark is around? No, wait, kidnapped by AIM.

So, he goes to look.

And freezes when he sees Superman for the first time. Because he died just a few days before Conner escaped NOWHERE. So, he really had never meet him. Back then, some called -him- Superman (more out of hope he was the great hero returned) and finally Superboy because of how he looked, and how he acted. Which took a while for him to embrace, as few boys like to be called 'boys'. And many thought he was a clone.

Then there was genetic testing, and he was told he was 'half-Superman' and half human. Which technically means he can't be a clone. But he was 'used' to be a clone, so whatever. Clones are people too!

One thing it was clear he would never meet the real deal. Because, duh, he was dead and buried by the time he was out there, being 'The Metropolis Kid'. So, he read a lot about him, and he decided the leather jacket was better than the cloak. A belief of arguably validity. But it works for him.

So, yes, he freezes. About ten yards on the air about the other heroes.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Of course Gar went for the hug. He was adorable, but that's something Vorpal had known for a while. He'll have to buy him a pizza for extra adorable points after today... if they survive.

Superman was back. Of course they'd survive.

Vorpal keeps barking orders, occasionally punching a mirror to reinforce the fading magic, and it's a miracle that among all of the hassle, he has time to realize something.

"Why wasn't she surprised to see- OW!" that moment of distraction is enough to get a stray blob creature to bite him, and the realization fades away with the intense pain of the bite, "You $*#(@!"- that's language Superman probably wouldn't approve of. Fortunately for Vorpal, a mirror soldier comes to the rescue to herd the blob back, but that means he then has to command it back into formation after that is done. But now he's alert to potential threats.

"No pressure, right?" he says into the comm, "I'm keeping them aligned as much as I can, but whatever you guys are going to do, I hope it doesn't take too long. It's a bit /thick/ out here!" he rubs his bleeding arm. Stupid shadow blobs.

Then he looks up and notices a figure up there...

"Superboy! We could use some punching over here if you've got the time!" he ducks, avoiding blob, claws drawn to strike... but really, could his puny claws do any damage to these things?

Gar Logan has posed:
The hug was not premeditated or anything like that. It was on the spot. It came from the heart. It's a culmination of the last few years. Whatever happened before, whatever demons are still out there, they take a backseat to the moment.

And a moment it is, for that was all that was needed. The embrace, the pat on the back, the look of youthful exuberance filled with hope and optimism in the face of danger, it's all there.

"Yeah. Let's do this," he says to nobody in particular. Sam is trying to take charge of things, and in the sense of taking care of what needs to be done, it's on now. "Roger that. Nothing's getting through me!" Whether it takes fighting the creatures as a lion, a tiger, a bear, a rhino, an elephant, it doesn't matter.

Somewhere along the way, a tyrannosaurus rex shows what it thinks of the chompers on the shadow horde by tearing through scores of them in return.

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
"So, I learned something today. I can punch shadows." Naomi states to the others and she smiles a little wider before pointing forward, "You guys need a path? I'm gonna make one. Wish me luck, I've never done this before!" She then raises up in the air and starts to glow. She closes her eyes, focusing on that power she remembers using ot punch Zambudo back to the world he destroyed. Her world. And hten her eyes open and they are glowing, too.

She whips back a second and then she puts both her arms out and flies! She goes full force, energy coating her form as she flies straight through the monsters, attempting to cut as wide a path as she can straight through the crowd of monsters.

Clark Kent has posed:
Overhead, multiple things come together: From afar, lightning arcs down from the sky, from the distant God of Thunder! It strikes, blazing spots of pain across the upper head of the creature. The mirrors made by Green Lantern do seem to subtly guide it: away from both that attack and the mirrors that are suggesting it come downward. The huge maw, though, is lowering as well, and it draws in a deep breath, siphoning life.

Some of the weaker humans around will feel it, this tug on their life force; some fall, other stumble, unable to fight as it breathes in.

Yet there is also a nice target: that big mouth of teeth, for the cannon. And it's getting into range.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Nothing to it." Sam half grins as the team sets out on their tasks, rolling his shoulders as he starts to run towards the mirrors, savagely punching or otherwise brutally slaughtering any shadow monster that tries to get in his way. A toss of his last flashbangs to break up a group moving in from the flank, and then Naomi is clearing the sight line. Vorpal has the mirrors ready. Beast Boy is crushing it, literally. Connor... points for participation. Kyani is keeping everything nicely bound up and dispersed, freeing up the other flank. Hal is herding the thing here. It should be a scary proposition, but with everything ready, it's just presenting a better target.

    Techno stands by the center mirror, ready to aim it. Watching the grim death approach... and smiling.

    Comms around him start to play 'Thunderstruck'.

    The cannon, such as it is, is ready. Now they just need the laser...

    "Superman... wherever you are... whenever you're ready."

Conner Kent has posed:
"Punching? Oh yeah," it happens to be one of Conner's main occupations. So, he dives down, punching one of the large-ish critters against the street pavement. Definitely not as hard as some other days, but they aren't so tough. "What is this about a laser... oh hell, look at that thing!"

It has a big mouth and more teeth than a school of sharks. And it is maybe too big to punch. But maybe he can grab something large to use as a club. He needs a big truck or similar.

Hal Jordan has posed:
Green Lantern's attention is split multiple ways, both in herding the thing down, and making sure none of the civilians perish in that gaping maw. He doesn't want to shield the creature by accident, so multiple green domes pop up over those who have fallen, creating a barrier between the lifedrain effect and the civilians. Now, the others just need to fire that cannon and explain to this thing why being in this world is a terrible idea.

And when he sees where on the creature the big laser is pointed at...he can only grin and tell it to, "Smile." Smile for a big laser shooting you in the mouth.

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    Nitro isn't where Superman is, nor does he know that he is even around. His clothes have burned off and all he has is his basketball shorts and whats left of his shoes. Still, Nitro is working on keeping the shadow creatures from the mirrors, though now he's using his martial arts skills, weaving around, and striking the Shadow Creatures once each pass.

    Knowing that he can't stop or else they will break from what he's been doing, he didn't know if he was being covered or not. He called for help but he wasn't seeing it yet, though he does pass by Conner who was fast but not that fast as he is able to see him fight. As he comes back around, "I will be back!" he calls to Conner as Nitro is pushing himself now. The lightning racing behind him flickers and blazes yellow behind him. Punches and kicks are delivered as he races around what he's created, trying to offer help to Conner as he fights the Shadows around him.

Cole Cassidy has posed:
Cackler grins at Techno and the nnods a couple of times, "That I can do." He replies, as he draws his gun once again and then leaps out in front of the mirrors. He pops off a couple of rounds into one of the shadow monsters, and then leaps on top of one of the large ones, digging his jaws into the creature's neck, or at least whatever closely resembles a neck on it.

He's going to tear through them and make sure he gives enough time for that mirror cannon thing they're trying to put together to work. He just hopes he can get himself out of the way before it goes off, because getting hit by it would SUCK.

Clark Kent has posed:
Superman returns, though not directly to the cannon. He assists on one side, where Kyani, Cackler, and Beast Boy are working, giving assistance by hanging in the air, and freezing a line of the monsters with a funnel of cold breath, slowing them to aid the fighters. He could not linger, though, he moves to the cannon.

If there are any others that have energy powers, now is the time: Superman has appeared over the arrangement of mirrors, checking with the team to be sure that they are ready. It isn't just him alone: everyone needs to be prepared for what may happen if they unleash upon this monster.

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
Flying out of the monsters, Naomi lets out a breath and her shine dims a bit as she floats up, "Awesome..." She says with a heavy breath and then she spots Superman there. She floats up to beside him and nods her head as she looks at the assortment and then back to him, "It's great that your back. I'm Naomi, by the way." She then looks at the mirrors before she looks at her hands and grins. She looks to Superman again and nods.

"Honestly, I have wanted to do this since I got these powers..." She then pulls her hands back to her side and starts focusing before she takes aim with the man himself.

"Ka...meeeeee...haaaaa....meeee...."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Ah yes. This is it. Techno looks around him, taking control of the center mirror by the simple expediency of grabbing it by the top and threatening it until it behaves. They're doing this. So it's time to act the part.

    "Hey, big thing. I bet, when you came here and saw all these juicy morsels around, you thought this was going to be quick, huh? Nothing to it? Just pop into the dimension, snack on the people, pop out again to join weightwatchers or something? Well guess what. Ain't happening." His voice is amplified, so it carries to the top of buildings.

    "And when we send you back to whatever shadowy hellhole you crawled out of, I want to you take a message to your buddies. To anyone thinking of doing this again."

    "The Titans are back!"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Here's a fact that is probably on every guidebook of the Titans Tower- or not: The tower is a massive phased array radar. This means that it can potentially be used to channel massive amounts of energy, when needed.

It also happens that the Titans who are now at the Tower and haven't had a chance to get here yet for various reasons have been busy, both monitoring the situation and brainstorming.

That's when Troia's message comes through. Coordinates needed. Vorpal quickly goes over to the array, now that his back is being watched, and tags it so the tower can hone in on it. And then steps back.

"We're getting backup from the tower. They're going to add a massive amount of energy to the attack... just have to give them the signal when Superman starts... and HEY YOU, THIRD MIRROR, GET BACK IN LINE OR I SWEAR I'LL.... that's more like it!"

Clark Kent has posed:
Aww, a fellow nerd? Superman DOES get the reference. He can make his own. "Fire photon torpedos, full power, on my command, Ensign Naomi," Superman teases Naomi in a low voice, settling next to her. He gives her a chance to charge up. Friendly, playful in a way: warm, and intending to boost her spirits. Even if the matter is very very serious and a monster is about to attempt to eat Gotham next.

It'll have to go through the heroes, first.

Overhearing the information from the Titan tower, Superman gestures to Naomi to hold one more moment. And the movement from Metropolis itself, as the SHIELD team readies there light cannon, needed a moment....

NOW.

Everything comes together: The explosive attack from Superman and the heroes amidst the mirrors, the backup energy funneled directly from the local Titan Tower. And the blast from SHIELD behind the monster from Metropolis's heart, with the assistance overhead of Thor and Hal Jordan forcing the monster to take the full brunt of all of the energy...

The tornado bucks under the onslaught, tongues pulling back in, in a hurry, blinded, as is everyone around, by the power of the blasts... it curls in, frothing, bucking against the ceiling made by mirrors, as life force streams out of it in threads of blinding white......!

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Light.

    All pervasive, all consuming light.

    Even with the cameras dimmed and the helmet turned away, that is some seriously bright light. Inside his helmet, Techno squints, putting his shoulder against the mirror to keep it in place. He can feel the heat building up against the plate of his armor, raising the temperature of the air inside, and even on the edge of the blast from the Titan's phased array, his system are starting to suffer. The glowing dots of light on his faceplate flicker, and for a moment the inverted triangle illuminates as a solid T instead. Sacrificing power for survival, Sam boosts the systems to the limit of their design tolerance just to stay standing. To keep the beam on the creature.

    ~You've been....

        THUNDERSTRUCK!~

Naomi McDuffie has posed:
Smiling over at Superman as he goes into Trek nerd, she smiles brighter even as she holds her hands together before all hell breaks loose and she thrust both hands forwad and yells out deep from within herself, "HAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
As the blinding light and the energy surges, Vorpal opens a Rabbit Hole leading back quite a ways. "Those without shielding quick! Through here!" because he doesn't need to be there to control the mirrors right now, and because he doesn't have any shielding. Heck, he still doesn't even have a uniform- he's beeing doing Blue Jeans heroics. Gar can fly away or go through the Rabbit Hole, and Nitro can run away or run through the mirror. Dude seemed to be surviving, what with the armor and all.

As he emerges on the other side, he shields his eyes from the blinding light as the Rabbit Hole closes, one very important thought running through his head.

"... who's going to pay for the mirrors?"

Clark Kent has posed:
The monster is entering a sort of death throes, violent movements of the huge, long limbs of murky shadow, as the light cuts through it, and dissolves away the mass. It's under serious assault, and with a sudden lurch, there's an explosive burst, as pieces of it fly apart, like a fire igniting so much scrap paper, into ashes!

The small shadow creatures freak out, running in all directions, phasing into shadows, trying to hide, like rats running a sinking ship. Many of them don't make it, they collapse where they are, splots of black ichor left behind.

The booming sounds end, the bells are silent, as the monster collapses backwards towards the Queensland Park of Metropolis.

Superman remains over the cannon, drifting forwards in the rain of ash, looking into the distance. "We must rely on others to contain the creature," Superman says, with assurance, and firmness. "We have done our part." His gaze moves over those all around the cannon, those that risked their lives for Metropolis, for Gotham.

"Thank you, heroes."

For they /are/ heroes, just as much as Superman is.