16085/Injustice For All: Release the Kraken

Injustice For All: Release the Kraken
Date of Scene:	18 October 2023
Location:	Port of New York -- New York City
Synopsis:	The Justice League and their allies rush to the defense of New York's Port when it comes under attack by the Injustice League and their mythological sea monster...
Cast of Characters:	Barry Allen, Monet St. Croix, Phoebe Beacon, Diana Prince, Bart Allen, Oliver Queen, Emiko Queen, Clark Kent

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Barry Allen has posed:
Autumn weather has well and truly settled over New York City at last, bringing with it all the associated vagaries. The mild, cloudy afternoon has quickly given way to a rather cool evening, the clouds above slowly but surely darkening throughout the day until a light drizzle has begun to fall, thoroughly soaking everything and heightening the chill in the air.

It is definitely not the sort of night that one wants to be out and about in, at least not if they can help it. Or if one has made the proper life decisions. Like say not deciding to put one's pwoers and abilities to use protecting others. In that case chances are pretty good that one might indeed find themselves out and about on this particular evening.

That is the case for Barry Allen, the Flash, as he spends the evening in New York City for a change. Is he grabbing a meal at an acclaimed restaurant? Maybe taking in a show? No, he has found himself in Hell's Kitchen, giving the Green Arrow a hand in his ongoing battles with the local Triad.

Emerging from a nearby building in a blur of red and gold, the Flash draws to a stop, leaning over a little and resting his hands on his knees. "You have no idea just how many tunnels are down there. There is no possible way anyone actually needs all that underground space," he says with a shake of his head. "It's tight, filled with tripping hazards and alternates between being way to hot and pretty darn cold. I'm glad that this is your problem and not mine," he offers up with a faint smile, drawing himself straight once more.

Before he can helpfully add anything else an alert begins to sound over the Justice League channels, along with out emergency frequencies tuned into the monitoring rooms of the Hall of Justice and Watchtowers. Those with video access may very well see the video feeds from the nearby Port of New York where the water swells with disturbing, shadowy shapes for a moment. Right before a whole host of tentacles from the deep errupt in an explosion of water, wrapping around a giant cargo ship. The video feed plays no sound, but it is possible to see the panic in the crew as cargo containers are rather casually smashed about, tossed like they were playing cards. Men dive overboard into the rough, cold waters of the ocean as the ship is literally lifted out of the water, metal bending and straining until the entire vessel is snapped in half like a twig, dropped, and begins to sink into those dark waters.

Then the shadowy shape beneath the waves begins to flow ominously towards the nearby wharfs of one of the biggest ports on the Eastern Seaboard.

"I think mapping your underground tunnels is going to have to wait," Barry says to those in Hell's Kitchen. "All aboard the superspeed express. Next stop, the Port Authority."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
These last few months Monet has been paying attention tot he Justice League comms - thanks to the general coordination that they have with the X-Men. For whatever reason she goes to get roped into these sorts of things again. As she gets the impression of what's going on from the comm net, she goes to let out a soft swear to herself, flying along patrol from Westchester. She goes to speak along the comm network.

<<En route from Salem Center. Passing along communication to any others available.>> Monet is a few minutes away from the area. She's fast, but nowhere near as fast as many of the other fliers - or the speedsters!

She goes to blast into the air at slightly under Mach 2, keeping up her pacing to go to a higher altitude. It means that she's not going to have to worry about evading the skyscrapers on her way down, but it means that her arc is going to take her longer to go through. She goes to blast through the evening's overwatch on an interception course. Too far away to pickup things which wouldn't be passed along the communications network.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm had been in New York City on other business, also in Hell's Kitchen, incidentally, quietly swinging on a playground swing and lost in a memory when she gets an alert on her WayneTech phone.

    Her lips purse, and her dark eyes look skyward before a rose-gold portal the color of the smell of peach liquor opens up behind her, and she tumbles through it.

    And the portal opens near the wharfs, where a gray armor-clad hero drops out and rolls onto the rooftop, switching on her comm system in her hood and applying her domino to her face, blue lenses lighting up.

    <<This is Balm. Alerting the Home Team of the need of a couple extra hands. And probably some lemon and butter.>> she states over the open comms. <<This feels like a Clash of the Titans sort of deal already.>> she adds on before she leaps off a building, launches a grapple to a port cargo crane and swings herself up onto it to get the bird's eye view, knocking on the operator door.

    "Get out, get out, there's something big coming!" she warns, "Radio down below to get everyone away from the water!"

Diana Prince has posed:
One of the problems of being a public super hero is that you rarely get time for yourself. Case in point, Diana was on a date tonight. At a ffine dining restaurant in the city, she was with a kind friend who'd asked her out for dinner. She'd dressed up quite nicely for it, and though the night was young, she was already having a good time. But, as things go, a call came across her phone that chimed with a unique sound, indicating a major possible threat to the city. She knew the chime, she'd chosen which chimes meant what on her device afterall.

Thus, Diana had to excuse herself from the lovely setting, and disappoint the kind man who'd she'd been enjoying conversation and drinks with. He understood, however, and helped her up and off toward the restaurant's exit, as if she needed it! But the gesture was well received by the Amazon Princess.

The man got a first hand look at Diana disappearing in to thin air out on the street too, as the Invisible Jet was already here to pick her up. The sharp whine of alien-tech engines glided up in to the city's canopy and vanished over the skyrise buildings.. leaving one man in fine attire stuffing his hands in to his pockets in a forelorn fashion.

A few moments later, and Wonder Woman's voice speaks over the comms of the JLA. "What is happening? Situation report?"

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen was out having dinner with Emiko when the call came in. So they step outside and after a quick change for Emiko, and a quicker change for Bart they are heading inbound. Impulse has Red Arrow ridding piggy back on him as he runs into the area long the water. He holds on to her legs so she has her hands free to prove the t-shirt he has on under his uniform "Red Arrow is the Best Arrow" He lets her announce where they are coming in from.

Oliver Queen has posed:
While battling a criminal entity like the Triad might be a little on the low priority side for the Justice League itself, Oliver Queen isn't above putting the resources he has at his fingertips to use when the opportunity arises. He is pretty results focused afterall, concerned more with the end result of making Hell's Kitchen -- and the Queen Consolidated purchase of the Phoenix Towers Project -- as safe as possible.

So if that means pulling in his friend and one of the fastest men alive to try and tackle the task of mapping up all the off the book underground passages and tunnels that riddle the ground beneath New York's streets, well, he's pretty okay with that.

It definitely beats having to walk those miles and miles of tunnels, passages, hidden basement and forgotten nooks. himself.

"There is a lesson here," Ollie says philosophically. "Friends are made to be imposed upon. That is their primary purpose. And if you can get them to do your work for you, you definitely should," the Emerald Archer asserts as Barry emerges from the tunnels beneath the city, his composite bow planted against the ground in front of him, hands folded atop the other end, his chin resting on top of those as he flashes a slight grin.

He's probably kidding. Probably.

Of course, then that alert comes over the comms, the silent video feed showing those rather disturbing images and most of that good humor drains away with the alacrity that one might expect. "Well that's not good. Did you see what that thing did to that ship? Did you see all those tentacles?" he asks. "I think we all know what that is. What's been released..." he starts, just a hint of a smirk playing over his face.

"It would be admittedly a little more exciting if I had something more then arrows to shoot at it," he conceeds, tensing himself up for the always disorienting trip by superspeed.

Emiko Queen has posed:
And while the adults were dealing with New York having a literal criminal underground, younger members of Team Arrow and Team Flash had been out doing younger people things. Conveniently, doing them together even as alerts and alarms went off. Which got a sigh and an eyeroll out of Emiko. "Okay who said it was going to be a quiet night and jinxed it?" At least they had made it far enough through dinner neither of them would have to go heroing on an empty stomach. And like any proper ex-assassin always had her gear ready to go.

Fortunately for him, her deceptively small build made it easy to carry Red Arrow on his back, one hand on his shoulder to help brace herself, the other at the comm, keying in the Outsider freq first. <<This is Red Arrow. Impulse and I are ... actually by the time I say anything he's probably already got us there.>> Then switchs to the other team channel. <<Will meet you there, brother.>> She knows Green is likely on the way already so that's all that's really needed.

Then her free hand is uses to pull her bow out and ready, once her ride drops them off on the site. "This is going to be either a monster flick, or a really bad anime special." Because, you know, tentacles.

Clark Kent has posed:
Clark Kent. Superman hears the call over the JLA channel. With a nod, and a shrug, Superman places both hands on either side of his shirt, and with a bit of superspeed, reveals the "S" underneath. After a millisecond, the shirt, and tie was gone...replaced by the uniform of the man of Steel!

Barry Allen has posed:
While things might slow down a little after dark at the Port, it is more then big enough that business never truly grinds to a complete stop. There are far too many ships coming and going to do any less, which, unfortunately in this case, insures that there is no shortage of people about. In many cases the crews of the massive cargo ships stay onboard their vessels even in port and even now the huge cargo cranes and massive containers fulls of items of all sorts are being loaded or offloadedby team of busy people who hustle about.

At least until the first stirrings in water, of motion beneath the surface approaching way to fast sends ripples and then waves crashing in against the massive concrete wharfs and the ships docked at them, enough to stir even them into a rocking motion. Until Balm portals onto the scene and passes along her warning to try and insure people get to safety as quickly as possible.

If there is any safety to be found.

A palpable hint of fear, of terror begins to rise up from the docks, a miasma of dark energy and the workers begin to flee from the water where they can, trucks half loaded, cargo containers still dangling from cranes. The waters of the port heave sending waves smashing out in all directions and again a flurry of fleshy appendages with huge suckers fly out of those disturbed waters, flinging their way towards the nearby ships, towards the fleeing workers, and even at the wharfs themselves as that massive shape looms closer and closer to the surface.

While other ships nearby have those huge appendages wrapped around them, have their mooring lines ripped free in a storm of growing chaos, one remains largely unaffected, only gently rocking beneath that flurry of waves. On the deck just outside the bridge a small collection of figures stand, surrounding a purple-haired woman who watches the scene playing out before them with a satisfied smile on her face. "You have no idea just how long it's been since I've gotten to play with this particular bad boy," she says with a wistful sigh, wiggling fingers. "This will be fun."

It is amazing just how good time you can make when you can weave in and out of traffic at superspeed and the Flash makes good use of that to zip through the city with the Green Arrow in tow, skidding to a stop as they pass through the gates to the port. "Don't you say it!" Barry threatens. "We don't actually know for certain that any mythological monsters have been released, so don't you do tempting fate," he chides, swinging that masked gaze around as he takes in the scene. << This is the Flash. Just arrived on the scene with Green Arrow, >> he says over the comm channel. << Looks like the New York Port is under attack by some undersea creature. And it looks huge, >> he admits. << The ships and workers seem to be under attack by, ummm, tentacles. It looks like panic is starting to set in, >> he continues to report.

Then he gives a little sigh and shakes his head at Ollie. << It could, uhhh, be the Kraken. >>

"You can walk the rest of the way," Barry says to his friend, making a face at him. Then he is racing towards the wharfs and the people fleeing before the might of that sea-going monster.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
At the mention of 'Kraken' there's the equivalent of a deep breath coming from the edge of the comm of Monet's end, and one with -very-, very good ability to translate breathing into snark and mad cackling despite it coming off over as a '...' along the network, there would be a 'that's what HE said' implied over the comm netowrk, even as Monet is going to charge on down.

<<Approximately seven kilometers away, six hundred meters up, angle of approach..>> It's summarized by <<ETA two minutes, seventeen seconds to general area. Will perform fast recon>> By that she means fly past at high speed and then send a general telepathic summary along the group network or verbal to try and help coordinate what exactly it was that they were all facing.

And for those that were /very/ aware of the Moroccan Mutant's rare penchant for snark, she would be boiling over with laughter as she launched along at high speed.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm helps the operator out and down, holding onto his jacket and bringing him port-side with her grapple line before she turns up to the sky. She can feel the heavy feeling of the magic, almost familiar by this point.

    <<YEah. Yeah if you can not mention Anime Tentacles, Red Arrow, that would be *great*-->> she states. THey have Arrows, Speedsters, Diana and Phoebe. M incomming.

    <<Well then -- let's get Kraken!>> she states over the coms as she takes back to the air, swinging herself back up to the span of the cargo crane to get a good look.

    <<I can already sense someone might be controlling or at least calling this thing, out on the water, due Eastish?>> she breathes out, and then she focuses. The Orichulum-enriched ink in her back tattoo lights up even through her armor before her wings errupt, pink and clear like glass, and Phoebe takes to the air as she readies some shields to defend against the tentacles. <<Might be a good idea to ameks rue none of those tentacles grab the dock workers first unless someone can convince them that this is a terrible night for calimari?>>

Diana Prince has posed:
"Understood." Wonder Woman's voice responded over the comm-net, as the situation at the harbor began to grow ever more dire with every passing moment.

When she arrives, there is no hesitation in her movement, no time taken to survey the area... no, instead Wonder Woman just appears in the sky, moving forward in a fast rate of speed! Donned in her Eagle Armor, with her sword drawn and held up above her head, Wonder Woman descends toward the mayhem with an aggressive intent!

She aims ffor one of the shipping vessels that is in dire need of aid! The Amazonian Princess sweeps through the sky, down toward the spongy tentacle arm coming up out of the bay's water! Her sword is swiped down through the air, just as her flying form reaches its suction-cup covered length!

SWORD STRIKE!

Diana flies right on past it then, her armored boots touching down upon the deck of the freighter, as she spins around, letting her sword dash out to her right as she grips its blue leather handle tightly, looking back to see if she successfully sliced the damn thing in half or not!

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will look around and sees one of the cranes mounted on the docks that looks more steady than the boat ones. He will run up it and lets Red Arrow off his back here "You should have a pretty good shooting range from here, if ya need a quick evac let me know." He kisses her cheek, and is then off back down the side of the crane. Impulse starts heading towards the boats, grabbing a crew member or two at a time and running them back towards the shore. If they complain he tells them "We can get you back to your boat after it calms down." adding to himself "If the boat is still there."

Oliver Queen has posed:
"Hey, you said it, not me. Everything that happens now is entirely on your head," Oliver points out helpfully, taking a moment to orient himself after that superspeed rush.

While the flow of people out towards the port's entrance will almost assuredly pick up before too long, there are already the first people emerging from nearby buildings. Mostly the few administrators on the night shift and a small group of custom's agents reviewing the incoming and outgoing shipments. Despite that building sense of dread that seems to hang in the air, for the most part those emerging into the drizzling, damp evening stand around with some confusion, casting tentative glances towards the nearby wharfs.

"Hey! People! Lets move it! This isn't a movie here. Not even Clash of the Titans, regardless of what you see," Green Arrow chides, motioning with one arm. "So get through the gates and as far onto dry land as you can before the people with the sense to run arrive," he adds, spurring them into motion once more before he starts trotting down towards the water proper.

"I knew I should have packed my Kraken-slaying arrows tonight," he mutters, only pausing and lifting his voice to encourage each group of fleeing dock workers to continue their evacuation.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko Queen finds her footing with ease as Impulse sets her down. "Excellent choice in vantage point, thanks. Now get down there and help people." Which he is already speeding off to do. Time for her to also get down to business.

Now facing off against a giant oceanic tentacle monster with only a bow and arrow might seem daunting to some. Maybe it is, but Red Arrow takes the challenge in stride as she takes stock of the situation. There's Flash dropping off her brother, and both already assisting the evacs. There's Wonder Woman taking the fight directly to the monster. She can't sight Balm at the moment but knows she is here somewhere.

There's also the monster's tentacles, the ones not trying to crush cargo ships slithering onto the docks after the fleeing workers and civilians. But what arrow could she possible use against this thing...

And that's when her sharp situational awareness spots one of the other cargo cranes opposite the one she's perched on. This one must of been abandoned mid-use as it still has a large storage container suspended from it, swaying a bit as tentacles rumble across the docks. Okay, that works. Red Arrow stands at her perch, nocking an arrow back in her bow as she takes aim and fires. Across the wharf the arrow speeds, shattering the front window of the crane's cab and hitting the lever on the controls. Machinery screeches as the winch releases and the crane drops its load, that heavy container on top of one of the tentacles trying to grab the people fleeing on foot.

Clark Kent has posed:
"I am not sure Diana." Clark says over the JLA coms. "I don't have eyes on the situation. Flash? Arrow? Monet? Balm? I see you are active? Do you know what is going on? I'm on my way." Red Arrow. Impulse. Also active.

A red, yellow and blue blur was all that was left of Superman after leaving the local phone booth.

Hearing Barry's report, Clark almost pauses in mid flight. "Wait...a Kraken? Like Clash of the Titans?" Superman picks up the pace.

Barry Allen has posed:
The situation certainly does not seem to be on the verge of improving, at least not anytime soon.

There might be a reason why the Kraken is such a feared creature of mythology. It is huge and those powerful tentacles seem to tear through those steel hulls as if they were tissue paper. The sound of rending metal drowns out the screams and terrified shouts of the fleeing civilians. Even the reinforced concrete of the huge piers begins to crumble under the crushing weight of those massive appendages that pull that hulking sea monster closer and closer to shore, letting it bring more and more of it's tentacles into play.

There are no shortage of civilians to evacuate as as Impulse begins to race through the most imperiled on the ships and carry their occupants to safety he is soon joined by the Flash who does the same. A red and yellow blur streams along the wharfs, up boarding ramps and along ship decks made slick from falling rain as they hasten the evacuation, as they get people away from the imminent danger and buy time for the arriving heroes to get the situation under control.

Of course that might be easier said then done.

Still, Wonder Woman's arrival is certainly a good start and as the Amazon Princess soars out of the drizzling night sky and slices into some of the tentacles on the verge of tearing one of those cargo ship's apart the water heaves violently again and a horrible, booming shriek seems to resonate up out of the surface of the harbor, loud enough that it shatters glass in nearby buildings and ships.

Only the might of that sword, of Diana's blow lets her simply sever that tentacle, the huge limb still flopping about dangerously. More dangerous though? The dozen or so additional tentacles that come flying out of the water straight towards the Amazon.

As bad a toll as the sea monster might be wrecking on the docked ships and the harbor facilities itself, the real threat is that some of those tentacles will find actual people. One suspects that they would not last long in that particular grip. And one of those mighty limbs is right on the verge of doing so before Emiko's arrow sends a heavy, dangling cargo container crashing down towards the wharf before, landing right on the writhing tentacle, the added momentum the fall enough to crush the squirming, rubbery mass.

On the ship that exists in the metaphorical eye of the hurricane, the purple-haired sorceress continues to smile in satisfaction as she watches the show. "Oh my, I've missed this," she breathes, that smile not dimming even when the first tangible signs of a response begin to show up.

Not everyone standing with her on the deck seems quite so calm and something close to a growl comes from the furred, spotted woman standing close by, her gaze fixed on the Amazon doing battle. "Very well. Go make a little trouble," the purple-haired sorceress says. "Just don't forget what we're trying to accomplish here," Circe adds.

Needing no more prompting, Cheetah hurls herself over the rail and begins to slink through the night in Wonder Woman's direction.

But she is not the only one who has drawn attention to herself. "There is another practicioner nearby. Deal with it for me, will you?" Circe says with a smile for Copperhead, running a hand under his chin before sending him stalking after Balm.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
And Monet is aware of Cheetah. She goes to let out a shriek, going to abort her skimming run over across the ocean to get an idea of what was going on. She's in a supersonic arc over towarsd Cheetah, going at her maximum speed. Cheetah's got speed on par with Superman and even perhaps with Flash..

Monet has her rage from her previous encountesr, her ego, and those scars of where she was gutted before. This will make up for it whlie hopefully the rage-bmittered feral demigoddess has her attention all on her rival. Monet's intent is to just slam into her from behind with all the brutality of a sledgehammer.

Of course, Cheetah can and will act like the laws of physics don't apply, and Monet is about as subtle as a cannon going off, so it may be less than useful. But still.. Monet is going in to try. As she VERY much has wished to for a long time as she goes to try and cannonball over into Cheetah without fear, without restraint, and tries to level the demigoddess with sufficient force to level a small building!

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm is in danger. Not that she can tell quite yet as she flits around the docks, raising her hands and bringing those lazily-spinning eight-point stars of her shields up, letting the tentacles strike against them as she urgers others to RUN. Get inland.

    She hears a cry as someone gets grabbed, and she turns about, drawing a sword from her back and slicing at one of the tentacles to try and release the poor captured soul.

    <<So how many Clash of the Titans references are we making? The KRaken's not even GREEK. It's Norse!>> she complains lightly as she moves through the crowds.

    But she feels the hair stand up on the back of her neck as she runs through the crowd!

Diana Prince has posed:
Drenched from head to toe in rain water, and now splashing waves of sea water that come crashing over the edge of the damaged bulk freighter, Diana watches the reaction from the massive sea creature beneath the surface. She steps over to the battered edge of the sea ship, and stares down at the source of the resonating sounds coming from beneath the churning white waters of the ocean. Krakken...

Wonder Woman is forced to take a step back when a whole cluster of wiggly-armed dangers come rushing up out of the ocean to try and slap down at her, but she just nimbly avoids each strike by dashing her body from right to left, her armored boots propelling herself back and forth on the urge of flexing muscular thighs! She dodges each strike, her shield pulled from her back now, bashing one of the thick tentacles aside before she lunges out off of the ship and over the churning waters...

The spotted foe who may have ill-intent ffor Wonder Woman, may have trouble reaching Wonder Woman now... for the Amazonian Princess hovers out over the white waters where the screaming shouts from the many-armed-nightmare is centrally located.

Wonder Woman spends a moment to look around at the ships in peril, the docks in imminent danger of being completely washed away... and she dives down in to the ocean waters, headed right for the source of the Krakken's cries!

She vanishes inside the violent waves spewing up from the harbor!

Oliver Queen has posed:
The further into the port that the Green Arrow goes, the more people fleeing he begins to encounter.

On the one hand it is good that he doesn't have to prompt any of them to take flight. It save a little time. No one nearby seems inclined to linger and those that shoot a look back over their shoulder only look more terrified as more ships are casually manhandled by the -- what everyone has pretty much agreed now is the Kraken. None of which says anything good, despite more and more help arriving on the scene by the moment.

Even in the growing chaos and confusion, the Emerald Archer never stops looking around, especially once Balm indicates where the source of all this trouble likely originates. Of course it is them again. So with his attention centered there Ollie spots when Cheetah and Copperhead peel off from the deck of the ship, going their own ways. And with M apparently intent on thowing herself after the dangerous cat-woman, he follows after the vexxing snake-man.

When it becomes apparent that Copperhead is making a beeline for Balm, Ollie draws out an arrow and sends it flying towards the threat with one smooth motion, nocking and releasing the projectile in one smooth motion. The arrow flies true, but somehow the man dodges at the last second, those snake-like reflexes serving him well. The arrow slams into the pier, detonating a second later but even the sudden shower of concrete only slows the snake for seconds before he's lunging for Phoebe.

<< Heads up Balm! Copperhead coming up on your six! >> Ollie calls out the warning.

Emiko Queen has posed:
The tentacle is crushed under the container. Impulse recognizes the handiwork of his favorite heroine (he has the shirt to prove it!) and uses it to hone in on more evacs needing assistance. One of the men is hobbling a bit, having twisted his ankle in the rush from the epicenter of the assault, and despite his otherwise grizzly appearance appreciates the assistance as now he won't slow down his mates trying to keep him at hand.

Red Arrow turns her attention back to the larger matter at hand. <<I'm not,>> she replies stoicly to Balm. <<Certain Impulse, Flash and Brother are making more than enough of them for us all.>> There's Ollie now, moving to assist her. Putting himself in danger's reach to do so of course, as that's just how Queens rock it.

But just as he has Balm's back, she has his. Red sights her aim on the tentacles near Green and Balm's part of the docks as she pulls a canister tipped arrow back in her bow and fires. It bursts upon impact with a tentacle, splattering a liquid that... doesn't seem to do anything other than splotch upon the squirming appendages.

At least until the tentacles try to grab onto something! Normally a grease arrow was used to slip up crooks, but in this case, it also can slip up that kraken grip when it's suckers can not suction so easily!

Clark Kent has posed:
Superman hears the comments over comms, and quickens his pace, careful to not go so fast as to cause damage to the atmosphere.

"I'll provide support. Let me know if I have to jump in. I am sure you all have everthing under control." Superman's voice was confident and sure of his words. He trusted the men and women on the ground dealing with the threat.

Now his job was to ensure there was no loss of life. A job he was very good at. The ships, the sailors, the civilians, he made sure everyone was safe and no one was hurt. After all - sorcery and Superman did not mix well.

Barry Allen has posed:
So far the race to evacuate the ships and any nearby buildings is keeping just one step ahead of that writhing mass of tentacles that look to destroy anything they can get those huge, oversized suckers onto. The Flash races across the uneven footing provided by rocking boats, and even the concrete piers shudder and shake as the Kraken hauls itself closer and closer, flailing limbs smashing into warehouses now, sending up new sprays of debris everywhere. Another tentacle goes slamming into one of those huge cargo cranes, the mass of steel girders starting to topple -- and along with it the cargo container that still dangles in it's grip, crashing down towards the ground below.

Such easy, casual destruction.

<< Hey, I don't know about the rest of you but I'm all for some guy on a winged, flying horse to swoop in and save the day right about now, >> Barry asserts. Of course he's a fan. Though he has no time for any more wishful thinking as he narrowly speeds under the crashing remains of that crane just before they crash loudly right behind him as he speeds on.

Cheetah's eyes glint angrily as Wonder Woman hurls herself from the deck of that ship, plunging into the dark waters of the harbour, looking to take the fight to the Kraen more directly, rather then continuing to try and deal with the hundreds of individual tentacles. For a moment the Cat-Woman looks distastefully at the water, seeming on the verge of jumping in after.

Then Monet comes hurtling out of the sky, slamming down into Cheetah, driving her back. For a moment the feline villainess is clearly to startled to reply, perhaps the air even being knocked out of her. But she keeps her feet and rakes those clawed hands right down M's back in response. "You again!" she hisses.

Those tentacles continue to cause havoc and as Balm enters the fray with her sword, that warning is called out over the comm. The sword cleaves the tentacle, the end narrower, thinner, enough to slice through and again it weaves wildly in the air as its intended victim falls to the ground, scrambling to his feet with wide, terrified eyes.

Before Balm can offer him any more help however Copperhead is suddenly there at her back, landing in a crouch and lashing out with that dangerous tail towards her.

"Two against one. How ignoble," the purple-haired sorceress mutters up on her perch above the harbour. "Just like a man," she adds with a faint sneer. And for a moment Circe's attention turns away from the Kraken, focusing on the Green Arrow as an amused smile begins to play over her face and magical energies pour out from her.

Turning away from her unleashed magic, Circe glances towards her last companion on the deck. "Perhaps you can do something about those annoying speedsters and that other archer, hmmm? I have an Amazon Princess to deal with," she adds, glancing towards Deathstroke who dips his head slightly, moving towards the nearest rail with sniper rifle in hand.

The waters beneath the harbor are almost as rough as those above the surface, but much darker and growing darker by the second as those flailing tentacles above smash down the light staunchions that illuminate the peers. As Wonder Woman plunges towards where the heart of the Kraken presumably is and that razor-sharp beak, a sudden burst of red-laser light cuts through the water towards her, the pitch-black form of Black Manta briefly illuminated by those glowing red-eyes before all fades back into darkness.

How cute. The Kraken has a bodyguard. Perseus is looking pretty good right about now.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
After the third or so time that the two have brawled, Monet has at least some idea how Cheetah fights and hodw she reacts. Cheetah fights very sloppily, on instinct, and just goes to thrash about in a rage. The issue being that she is insanely fast, insanely powerful, and those claws can cut through anything short of adamantium.

And Monet is far, far easier to cut than Logan's claws are. She's just fast enough to avoid being skewered by it and having her spine slashed out, even as she bites back a yelp. She realizes she can't stay on the defensive with Cheetah - the other woman can and will and has simply hacked her to bits. So she has to get aggressive. At the very least she can engage the feral demigoddess and keep her busy!

"You're not worth her time." 'Her' meaning Wonder Woman. "So I'm here." This is designed to bait Cheetah to engage her a lot, lot faster. And Monet goes for something tricky that she's not done before. Namely trying to hit Cheetah with a psionic blast. To stun, to disorient.. To try and make her slow for just a few thousandths of as econd in mid-air. Hopefullly enough to disorient her! Telepathic training from the X-Men, experience with fighting the Brood, experience with the Kryptonians.. She had to make it count. Just a little bit.

A powerful psionic blast against the feral demigoddess' mind mid-melee might even work - even if it likely wouldn't.

But she gave it her all. SHe would follow it up with a brutal attempted PUNCH over at Cheetah's neck, trying to slam up into her windpipe to try and collapse it! The way she had seen cheetah get up so fast in the past implied a healing factor.. So she'd just have to try and keep on inflicting damage!

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe turns around, and her eyes narrow as she regards Copperhead, and she brings her sword up to slice at the tail as she shoulder rolls, breathing out in a huff.

    <<Thanks for the Head's Up Green Arrow. I take the crack about being 'The Pretty One' back. You're pretty *and* observant.>>

    "YOU again?" she asks copperhead "Didn't we have this dance in Gotham City? Have you considered Hognoses? Black races? Rat snakes?" she asks of Copperhead before she grips her hand into a loose fist and, keeping her attention on the snake, she slings a fireball at him to give herself a little distance, the little mageling taking a deep breath as she engages the serpentine bad guy!

    "How about we talk this over like a couple civilized people after we send the Kraken back to the deep?" she inquires, "Or maybe you wanna help fight the bigger fish?"

Diana Prince has posed:
Once beneath the waves of the harbor water, Diana pauses her forward momentum, her dark hair flowing like ghostly tendrils around her head as she spies the submerged body of the beast causing the bulk of this mayhem here tonight. She is about to move, when that laser beam cuts through the darkness, causing her to look back in its direction, a second before it finds her face. She raises her shield up in the dim of the ocean waters, blocking the heavy round of sniper ammo that attempted to snipe her from afar!

Not wasting another moment, Diana lunges forward through the murky waters and toward the beast itself!

Just as its mighty maw yawns open, Diana's form rushes in to it. She dives in to the proverbial belly of the beast, passing through its open beak and in to the darker-still interior of the colossus creature...

With her shield up, her sword pointed toward the sky above, the Princess begins to hack and slash her way further ahead, striking gashes across the interior of the monster's mouth, cutting her way toward its very core. As it inevitably begins to thrash and buck, the Princess of Themyscira steadies herselff as best she can within its very guts, and continues to cut... continues to strike, and forge herself on a pathway toward..

She listens, using her advanced senses to search for the rhythmic sounds of a beat amongst the chaos...

The gleaming blade of the Athena sword cuts its way in to the beast, as Wonder Woman advances toward the Krakken's heart...

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen continues working on the civilians. He has not noticed the new one who has been sent out into the fray. No Impulse continues to work on getting to people to shore. He will look over and seeing Flash heading out towards a different area, he spends a moment now looking over things. He grabs a couple of life preservers and heads down shore just a bit and starts running back and forth down the shoreline splashing the perservers into the water. This creature is a predator, and though it is being controlled, maybe if he can make it think that it can find easy prey it will come after it, and it might have worked, but then Bart does not know Wonder Woman is getting it's attention like no other can.

Oliver Queen has posed:
Situational awareness is always important in situations like this. But the complete chaos of tentacles flying everywhere, of ships being casually ripped apart, of warehouses being crushed, of cargo cranes collapsing nearby and cargo containers raining down like raindrops certainly takes things to another level.

Despite all that Oliver tries to stay focused on his target, pursuing Copperhead relentlessly even as he zeroes in on Balm, drawing another arrow and preparing to let it fly as well.

Which is when he stumbles.

It's strange. He certainly doesn't usually have trouble with his balance, though there is certainly enough debris everywhere. Trying to regain his footing, he stumbles again and a strange sensation runs through him, the tingling growing more intense, painful evening. A shadow looms behind him, and Ollie turns, catching sight of that cargo crane falling directly towards him. He tries to move, tries to run but instead doubles over, clutching at his gut as the pain simply gets to much to deal with.

The crane crashes down, crashing into the pier and sending up a shower of dust into the dark night. And there, amongst the twisted metal girders is a shredded green costume. The Green Arrow's costume. As for Oliver Queen? He's nowhere to be seen.

At least not until a pig suddenly pops out from the remains of that costume, giving a little squeal and trying to pull himself free of both the shredded costume and twisted metal remains.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Debris hurtles through the air from the Kraken's furious rampage upon the wharf!... though a cluster of it is snagged away from avalanching upon evacs by a well placed net arrow and left tumbling off the side of a broken pier in a tangle. It's followed by a flurry of several more standard arrows used to shoot down various air borne bits, but even Red Arrow can only fire so many so fast.

It doesn't help when one of the Kraken's tendrils smashes into the base of the crane she was using as a sniper perch. Quickly she turns and darts down the boom several paces before leaping off, landing on a stack of crates, and then forced to lunge again as another tentacle slams into that. The second landing is much more hurried and less graceful, hitting the ground at an odd angle and pitching herself into an acrobatic roll haphazardly to absorb some of the impact. The tumble does get her back onto her feet, but there's little to be done about the sheer chaos at this point.

But the chaos doesn't keep her from honing in on her friend and brother in trouble. Particularly the latter, as Ollie disappears under the crane rubble, only for his costume and a pig to remain, tangled in the mess.

A string of of Japanese better left untranslated escapes her lips even as Red hurries over to the remains of the crane. "Stop squirming before you hurt yourself." Did you know you could put an acetylene torch in an arrow? Emiko didn't either until she reunited with her family, but that is exactly what she pulls out of her quiver. It's actually not a very shootable arrow, but the style is for thematics as she strikes it up and tries to cut enough of the metal wreckage apart for Green Porker to get loose.

Barry Allen has posed:
Throughout it all, the Man of Steel swoops in to fill in those gaps, stabilizing buildings or ships for precious seconds to allow the two speedsters to facilitate the evacuation, throwing himself at swarms of tentacles, ripping them apart with his bare hands or slicing through them with his heat vision, keeping the sheet onslaught from overwhelming the others who tackle the situation down on the ground.

Those snake-like reflexes and long tail that flicks and lashes out is the only thing that serves Copperhead well now that he has lost the element of surprise. But he does move with blinding speed as he circles around Balm. "Why don't you consider joining us? The pay's much better. All things considered I'd rather be on the side of the Kraken," he counters. It's not a bad argument.

On the opposite wharf, M battles it out with Cheetah and calls upon just about every trick in her vast arsenal to try and keep the deadly demigoddess off-balance, throwing taunts and insults in her face along with psychic blasts. And indeed, it does drive Cheetah into an unthinking rage -- which is an advantage of a sort. It also means that she has to deal with a raging Cat-Woman with superhuman strength, stamina and claws that can slice through virtually everything. As M slams a punch towards Cheetah's neck one hand snaps up and catches it, giving a hard twist on Monet's wrists.

For the moment at least, both archers appear to have other things to worry about. Or one thing to worry about. The fact that Oliver has quite clearly been turned into a pig. At least that's the best case scenario in this particular instance. But it does leave Deathstroke free to raise that rifle up, bracing it on the rail and letting the AI assisted scope start to narrow in on the Flash and Impulse as they streak about, rescuing civilians or trying to create a distraction on the surface of the water. Fiddling with the scope, Slade Wilson apparently gets it to his satisfaction and the first of several shots ring out, tearing down around the two speedsters.

Beside him on that bridge, Circe sucks in a deep breath, her eyes slightly unfocused, as if seeing something not actually in front of her. "That bitch," she breathes.

The reason becomes apparent in moments as beneath the surface of the waves Diana plunges down, straight towards the Kraken. Despite Black Manta's attempts, the sheer momentum of the Amazon Princess carries her past those lasers blasts that hiss as they cut through the water. Carry her towards the Kraken before the ocean-based menace can hinder her any further. That great, deadly beak snaps at Wonder Woman -- and then she is past it too, plunging into the depths of the creatures gullet, that sword slashing, ripping it up from within.

In moments another of those horrible, booming shrieks of pain echo across the city and the nearby waters, those tentacles beginning to flail wildly, slashing, ripping and tearing, causing massive devestation until they abruptly stiffen, falling lifelessly where they are, that huge body slowly rising to the surface of the water to float and bob there as the liquid around it turns even darker.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet barely has enouch control to move her hand back before it's cleanly cut off by Cheetah's slash. She takes it on the bone, which cuts through to leave her forearm useless and bleeding like a spigot. This is enough to break Monet's self control as she goes to let out a loud cry of pain over as she's stuck at close quarters with her. Cheetah is supremely strong, supremely fast, and supremely brutal. Monet's punches, even if they do connect, wuould be like flicking a finger at a raging beast. So she can only quickly back off. She goes to send out a telepathic cry to one of the archers - Balm is a bit preoccupied at the moment with the cunning Copperhead so she's trying to coordinate with another.

She goes to try and spin aruond, hoping to deflect Cheetah off her before she loses a limb. Cheetah can't fly, so that gives her at least al ittle leeway to dodge. So with Cheetah hopefully going down towards the water, before she impacts it and goes to launch herself down.. Monet goes to try and with one of the Queens coordinate with them a place and a position for Cheetah's downward trajectory for them to try and target her!

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    <<I heard and understood Every Bit of that Emiko, and I'm a little scared now.>> Balm replies over the coms as she watches Copperhead circle her, her sword being slipped back into place, and replaced with her extending staff. So many weapons on a mageling. She's going to have to concentrate on this one.

     "I heard the Justice Leage Dental is the best in the solar system --" she starts off with a quip, and she flicks up a bit of broken dock to send it careening at Copperhead's face! "How's YOURS?"

    And she follows up with a trick from her alternate alter-ego -- a pellet of expanding foam is slung at Copperhead's tail to try and stick him down to one spot!

    "Sit and stay a minute and think on it!" she breathes out, giving a little distance in case that tail comes at her again!

Diana Prince has posed:
The ever-present thumping of a heart's beat becomes more real the closer and closer that Diana finds herself getting. Her sword is her primary ally in this interior maze of grimey guts, and sinew that soon falls sliced by the sharpened blade! With one last stroke of her sword through a fleshy wall, the thumping mechanism of the Krakken's pulse is found, and in the darkness it's run through with a powerful thrusting stab that puts Diana's entire arm through the pumping chambers of dark ichor that surrounds her in the blackness of thee beast's body.

On the surface... when the Krakken's form floats above the waves, it lingers there motionless for several moments, where water rushes up over it, splashing across its slippery surface before a single silvery spike cuts through the outer layer of Krakken flesh, slicing a gap right down its side, followed by a blur of motion shooting out through the newly ripped tear!

Diana flies out of the Krakken, up through a wave of ocean water, and up in to the air to hover above the devastation left in the wake of this nasty creature's wrath.

Covered from head to toe in the Krakken's blood, Diana looks at the carnage left behind, her shield given a quick shake, and her sword a backward angled swipe, that sweeps blood and bits of guts from the blade. "Status report." Wonder Woman's voice requests over open comms.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen sees the bullets hitting near him and then some near his grandfather. He looks up and when he sees who is doing the firing, he says "Oh no.. you don't." He then starts to run towards the boat that has Deathstroke on it. He starts to zig and zag back and forth, but then he does something unexpected. Instead of running along the water he dives under it and starts swimming. Many people might think the Flashes just run fast, but they can do everything fast, and Bart dives deep and then comes up using his speed to propel himself up above the boat's dock and throws the life preservers he brought with him one at Deathstroke, and one to the left of him hoping if he dodges he dodges into the other one.

Oliver Queen has posed:
The squealing from the pig that is presumably Oliver Queen doesn't stop, the transformed porcine hero struggling mightly to try and escape, clearly in a panic.

Or possibly enraged. Maybe at the purple-haired sorceress responsible for all of this. Possibly at Barry who dragged him into trouble once again. And got him turned into a pig. Yeah, it's probably that later one.

Either way, he certainly doesn't make his sister's job every easily. She might be trying to help, she might be oh so reasonable, but if Oliver is actually in there right now it seems difficult to tell, seemingly more pig then man. He shrieks and squirms as that flame starts cutting through the metal around him and as soon as he manages to squirm free, Oliver-Pig starts to make a break for it...

Emiko Queen has posed:
Normally there would be witty remarks in return for witty remarks, but this was no longer a normal situation. <<Please tell me you can or know one of your magic friends that can do something about brother's situation. I know he can be pig-headed at times, but this is too much.>> Okay maybe there's still a little wittiness to be had. But still mostly serious!

She gets chunks of metal cut apart, only for Oliver Pig to squirm free and hoof it. "Really?!" At this point even she is expressing a bit of exasperation. "Why must you always ham it up?!"

That one was mostly unintentional. Mostly.

Barry Allen has posed:
The death of the Kraken might put an end to any further destruction, but there is still more then enough left in its wake. The harbour has been decimated, warehouses and cranes knocked flat, concrete piers crushed and cargo ships ripped apart, their battered, ruined hulls marking the nearby waters like some horrible seaborn dump. Where they haven't been flung onto land by those same tentacles.

Even dead, the corpse of the Kraken fills the harbour, it's tentacles draped everywhere as obstructions and reminders of the destructive power. Not to mention the smell. Something that grows even more apparent as Wonder Woman literally cuts her way free of the corpse, emerging into the air above the ruined port, dripping Kraken blood and innards.

Sometimes a stratetgic retreat beats losing a hand, and certainly Cheetah wouldn't hesitate to mutilate M -- or anyone else for that matter -- if it got her what she wanted. And even with that, she still leaves a deep and bloody cut on the mutant, one that leaves her hand all but useless. But before she can strike that final, killing blow, Monet puts her aerial advantage to work and deposits the Cat-Woman into the gore-soaked harbour, an angry hiss greeting her.

Without the element of surprise, Copperhead can't quite close the deal and put an end to Balm, his tail lashing out periodically to try and knock her into next week. "Dental..." he starts to scoff, right before he suddenly finds himself under seige, dodging and weaving to try to avoid the debris flicked his way, not to mention the effort to bind him to the earth. It is a glancing blow, but in the end his tail is caught, leaving him open and vulnerable.

Even with the most advanced tracking software and artificial intelligence assistance, actually picking off a speedster is no easy feat. There might only be a handful of people who would have a chance and while Deathstroke is certainly one of them, it is a challenge even for him. If that's even what he's attempting to do. Either way, those shots at both Barry and Bart come up short and it is only seconds before Impulse is blurring about the ship, looking for his revenge. "Mission accomplished," Slade says quietly. "Time to make ourselves scarce I think," he adds, seemingly unphased by the fact that a very angry speedster is clearly coming for him.

"I suppose you're right," Circe agrees with a sigh, the purple-haired sorceress casting a baleful look towards Wonder Woman and the remains of her Kraken. "But know that I'm quite vexed. I was happy to do this favor for you, but losing my Kraken was not a part of the deal. You're now going to owe me a favor. And I know just what I want to use it on..." she says lowly, glinting eyes fixed on Diana.

Then she snaps her fingers and it is as if a giant hand simply scoops up Cheetah, Copperhead and Deathstroke. Another snap of her fingers and all of them vanish just an instant before Impulse's hurled life preservers splat hard against the metal walls of the ship, just behind where Slade Wilson stood only an instant before.

The Injustice League and their new ally has been driven off. But looking around the harbour, it's fair to ask at just what cost? And what's behind such seeming randon destruction...

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will let out a soft curse as Deathstroke disappears. His lands on the deck, and looks about. He brings a hand up to his ear, and says "Ok, now that is weird. This was not Circe's plan, this was her doing this whole thing for Deathstroke. They disappeared but before they did, I heard her telling her she did this as a favor to him and was ticked her Kracken was killed."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
<<Trot him towards me and I'll see what I can do as soon as I'm done with my serpentine-->> Phoebe's cut off suddenly as she dodges the tail, rolling and catching it up ad along her back. She gives a soft cry through the night, and then almost tumbles into the drink. She looks down at the water, and then up at the docks.

    <<This is Balm. Status is -- slightly damp.>> she states over the comms to Diana's call, and she swings herself back up and over the dock, coming for a three point landing.

    <<All right, Red Arrow. Where are you and the ham?>> Phoebe asks, standing up tall and cracking her neck. <<If Circe's plan wasn't to Kraken Out but for something For Death Stroke -- what was the ship he was on carrying?>>

Barry Allen has posed:
Zipping in and around all the debris and destruction laid out through the port, the Flash races along, the air crackling behind him as he scoops up the fleeing pig before it can disappear amongst the wreckage, skidding to a stop and holding it out in front of him. << Well, I think we can say that the bad guys are gone and there's a big mess to clean up. I hope you all like calamari. We're going to be eating it for awhile, >> Barry reports over the comm. << Also I have a pig here that I'm pretty sure that was Green Arrow so, uh, Red Arrow and Balm, I'll leave him with you. If he was pissed about being set on fire, he's really going to be angry about the pig thing... >> he says.

Bart's overheard comments and Phoebe's inquiry are also worth considering. << Well, it sounds like Circe hasn't signed on with Grodd's group of villains. That's something. And I'll do a run through of the ship while we're waiting for the authoritites to arrive, >> Barry promises.

Now the fun part begins. Clean-up. Yay.