17062/Injustice For All: Rogues On The Rampage

Injustice For All: Rogues On The Rampage
Date of Scene:	16 February 2024
Location:	Rosemont Nuclear Facility -- Outside Metropolis
Synopsis:	The Justice League and their allies respond to a threat at a nearby nuclear power plant by the Rogues of the Injustice League
Cast of Characters:	Barry Allen, Alura In-Ze, Barbara Gordon, Phoebe Beacon, Oliver Queen, Zatanna Zatara, Meggan Puceanu, Austin Reese

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Barry Allen has posed:
It was always just a matter of time of course before the Injustice League made their presence known. Especially after unleashing Eclipso upon the Hall of Justice. Especially after baiting the trap at STAR Labs and attempting to have Professor Ivo's android creation Amazo take out the League and it's allies.

But this time when the response comes it does not come in another headlong assault designed to gain revenge against their enemies for a recent spate of defeats. This time the warning comes when the Rosemont Nuclear Facility about thirty miles outside of Metropolis suddenly goes off the grid, plunging the nearby city into darkness.

And causing all manner of anxiety in the local authorities.

Of course the League's Monitor Room -- be it in the Hall of Justice or high above, orbiting the world in the Watchtower -- is designed for just such an occasion. To monitor for these sorts of problems, to send out the alert to available Leaguers and their allies and to insure that there is a response waiting to take charge of the situation and make sure that it does not get even worse.

Which of course means that one of the first on the scene is Barry Allen. There are a few perks to superspeed afterall, and while he might be chronically late to most other things going on in his life, he at least tends to be right on time to disasters.

Which might say a little about his priorities.

It is not difficult to tell that something is wrong on site. Unlike on previous occasions there has been apparently no attempt at stealth, no attempt to hide their intentions. The security fence that surrounds the facility looks like something out of the movies as both it and the security checkpoint leading into the facility have been, in a word, levelled.

Great gouts of ice are slowly melting where it has been used to tear gaps in the barrier. In other sections intense flame looks to have simply melted away the fencing leaving little pools of liquid metal steaming in the cold air, wafts of steam still rising up from the ground. Ground that, in many places is pockmarked, simply torn up, ripped and tossed about.

And the trail of destructions leads inexorably towards the main building, a number security personnel strewn about like broken dolls while vehicles lay on their sides or rooftops, tossed about casually. Right up to the main doors of the main building that lay askew.

<<Flash here >> Barry's voice chimes over the comms. << The site has definitely been hit. And if I know my markers there's more then a few of the Rogue's involved. >>

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Above the Earth a small twinkling set of satellites carefully watch and feed information back to Superman and Superwoman. One such satellite linked in to the Justice League picks up the alert from Barry. A small crystal ejects from its interior and launches itself down through the atmosphere.

The arc is small but bright and at high speed. Its whistle stops suddenly as it moves next to Barry. Light constructs around the floating crystal in to the living form of Superwoman. "Flash," she says as she looks at the damage. "I think you're right. I'll set a course back to Earth. Be there in a few."

The hologram does not disappear. It touches invisible controls in the air as Alura touches real controls on her space craft. Then her attention goes back to the damage so far. "Freeze and Fireguy? Dangerous weapons but not their most deadly of compatriots in the rogues."

Light begins to shoot out from the internal crystal at the bodies as Alura's hologram moves in closer. "Checking for life signs and injuries."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
With the Gordon Green Energy Blimp making routes between Gotham City, and Metropolis, it so happens that Barbara Gordon is inside her company's literal flagship when the JLA comms come across her alert network inside the air ship's gondala. Within the control center, Barbara hears the first few comm messages, and keys up the information on the site at-hand. "Batgirl here." Her voice sounds out over the network comms. "That site is pretty sensitive, to say the very least. We need as many people on-hand as available to ensure its safety."

Her hands move up, lifting her helmet up over her mane of fiery red hair, where she pulls it down atop it, securing the mask over her nose. Rising up from her chair next, Barbara sweeps herself around toward the lift at the back of the control room of her dirigible transport vehicle...

Moments later, the rumbling of a powerful turbine engine screams to life above the blimp's super structure, and a single Bat-wing jet plane rockets off away from the blimp, toward the direction of the power plant facility not terribly far away.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    <<Balm Responding. I'm bringing a friend.>>

    Nearby Flash, a portal of rose gold opens up shimmering like glitter-filled Sharkberry Kool-Aid. Balm is in her gray armor with her hood communication array and her blue-lensed domino, her lips pursed as she hangs back briefly, one arm through the portal to permit anyone deciding to follow her through.

    "Ever wonder why everyone who has ice guns or ice powers is a brilliant scientist, Os?" she questions to her companion, turning back to look to Osprey. <<Patching Osprey into the Justice League comms.>>

Oliver Queen has posed:
He really shouldn't complain.

But he's probably going to anyway. Under any normal circumstances Oliver Queen would just be leaving New York City now, perhaps rushing towards the nearest transporter to get to the Hall of Justice and at least cut down on the travel time. But he would probably still be at least fifteen minutes out.

Such are the burdens of being one of the not so powered members of the League. No magical portal arrows here or anything.

Unfortunately he has a tendancy to be somewhere close to Barry when these sorts of things go down. Which means that transportation tends to be covered. Even if he really, really wishes it wasn't.

So as he is superspeeded to the scene, Ollie pays a little less attention to the trail of destruction that has been left strewn about the grounds of the nuclear facility and a little more with his hands on his knees, bent over as the last queasy hints of nausea at trying to take in the world at such incredible speeds begins to pass. "You nearly hit a deer," the Green Arrow accuses his scarlet and gold friend. "I'm almost positive that I saw you almost hit a deer on the way over here. You're the real reason why Bambi is an orphan, aren't you?" he says, making a face and straightening up to start walking warily across the grounds towards the main building, pulling out his bow, peering through the gloom.

Given that hte place is a power plant, it is surprisingly dark.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
In an ancient house, hidden from mundane view, a crystal tied to the Justice League's monitoring apparatus glows green and Barry's voice rings in the quiet of Zatanna's library. No spells are cast to find his location. Instead, the mage opens a very modern computer and brings up a map linked to the Justice League's system.

"Barry, I copy that. Say no more."

A gesture replaces the silk robe she was wearing for a magical version of a black tactical suit. She leaves her dark hair free. Another gesture draws a sizzling line of ultraviolet in the air. In one step, the portal engulfs her and deposits her outside the breached gate next to a puddle of melting ice.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Meggan has a bag full of books read by someone much smarter and more precocious than her by a decade and double that her junior. The plan to return them to the library comes to a complete and utter end when an alert hits her mobile phone and it's not because of the trending hashtag on her socials or half a dozen alerts set up to remind her when ritually gathered materials need exposure to the crescent moon. No sooner has she raised the screen to determine the latest emergency than she essentially turns and gets shoved out of her own house.

The House has opinions about urgency. In a blink of an eye, she materializes on the grounds of the nuclear plant. To her credit, she doesn't trip over but two doorstopper novels hit the ground. She bends to pick them up, cheeks flaming when a noisy blimp sails overhead. <<Gloriana here.>> Because John would be chiding everyone for using their codenames, she keeps it short. Stuffing the now damp books back into her bag, she looks around to locate anyone familiar. The damage rundown is obvious even to her.

<<I suppose this would be my cuppa. I'm headed your way, and radiation's not so much an issue if you need someone to go tell the reactor to behave. Least it shouldn't be.>>

Austin Reese has posed:
Man, the Justice League. This is the big league stuff. Osprey happened to have already been near Balm when she was responding to the alert, so he hops out of the portal right after her, taking a moment to survey the scene, "I don't know, I figure maybe they need to be super smart to figure out how to make ice guns work." He offers, as he checks over his gear, making sure he's loaded a couple of flame charges into his belt, knowing he'll probably need them with this amount of frost.

Barry Allen has posed:
<< There's not a whole lot to steal around here I would imagine, so it's a safe bet that whatever they are doing on site it relates to the Injustice League, >> Barry adds over the comms, that darkened entrance ahead both an invitation and an ominous warning. << Not the sort of thing they would generally be interested in. At least not before they fell in with Grodd at any rate, >> he adds.

Though that does beg the question of just why they are here at all? Barry's suspicion is that the Rogue's abrupt change in behavior a few months back was largely driven by Grodd's mind control. At least it seems the most likely explanation towards their sudden shift towards violence and non-profit related motives. But with Grodd and a number of others missing after their attempted escape at the Transatlatic network facility it begs the question of why the Rogue's would still be up to such showy bouts of violence.

"And trust me, that deer was never in any danger," Barry asserts to his grumpy friend.

A light dusting of snow falls from the evening sky, just a flicker of flurries that are blown about, dancing in the wind. At least until their is an ominous crack of thunder. It is, of course, not impossible for there to be a thunderstorm even while it's snowing. But it's not exactly common either. So when the sky is suddenly illuminated by a crack of lightning, a figure is briefly illuminated briefly, hovering just above the main building. A man in green and yellow with electricty crackling amongst his fingers. And as he raises up his hand the swirling clouds above seem to open up and bolt after bolt of lightning begins to rain down onto the grounds around the main building.

Springing into action, the Flash almost immediately becomes that red and gold blur of speed as he begins to move the downed security personnel away from the immediate danger, occasionally darting across the grounds to reposition a Leaguer away from an impact site as well.

<< That would be Weather Wizard. I'd say it's safe to say that Captain Cold and Heatwave are somewhere nearby too, as well. >>

And lately, where one Rogue goes they all seem to follow so there is probably a whole lot more then that.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Alura's hologram looks up at the illuminated figure. "Stalling tactics, like the other times we've encountered them. Attacking a nuclear power plant elevates this scenario to critical in my book." It's true the Kryptonians keep a keen eye on the nuclear state of the world. Peaceful uses such as medical and electricity can be subverted in to weapons all too easily.

"I'm passing through a nebula my conn-" The hologram begins to flicker a bit and stands still for a moment as the communications breaks up. A lightning bolt strikes down at the hologram and the crystal glows brighter for a moment as it absorbs the energy. "-ection might become spotty."

Alura steps out of the hologram projection circle and walks over to her Kryptonian armor. It parts open as she approaches and she steps in to it. The sunstone closes around her and she checks all the systems over. Since the encounters with the Kryptonian Hegemony from another timeline, Alura has been trying to step up her game. Precautions and preparedness are more necessary than ever.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
With the throttle shoved to max speed, the Bat-wing plane rattles softly around Barbara within its cockpit. the bulkheads gently reverberating as the turbine engine propels the jet toward the power plant under siege. "The last thing I need is to have myself associated with an attack on a Nuclear Power Plant..." Barbara tells the AI Oracle ever monitoring her via the systems within her cockpit. "Yes, that would not go over well for GGE." The AI voice calmly states back to Babs.

"In fact--" She's starting to respond back to the computer, when the bolts of lightning flash in front of the jet, causing alarms to sound off within the small aircraft!

"Evasive actions!" Barbara calls out, the Jet's AI adjusting some systems to better allow for manueverability, as Batgirl tugs hard on the yoke to weave the Jet through the madness coming down around the power plant's property!

In the sky, the nimble Bat-wing streaks across ths the horizon, swinging itself around to come back toward the plant's terrain, blazing like a rocket through the snowy night.

"These friends of the Justice League, they're real nice people." Batgirl comments on open comms, her voice clearly laced with a concentration and strain at her perdicament of avoiding lightning of all things!

Oliver Queen has posed:
"Color me skeptical," Oliver counters.

Which is when that first crack of thunder sounds and is eyes are draw away from the tempting and shadowed entrance into the power plant itself, up towards the top of one of those towers that dominates the local skyline where the figure of one of the Rogue's floats, illuminated by that backdrop of flashing lightning.

"Well that's probably not real good, huh?" the Emerald Archer comments casually, reaching back into his quiver to grab one of his arrows. But before he can even nock it those bolts of lightening begin to fall nearby and he becomes one of those Leaguers that needs a helping hand as he is jerked away, repositioned as one of those bolts leaves the ground scorched and smoking where he was standing only an instand before.

"Thanks," he mutters, though the red and gold blur is already gone, zooming away to help with whoever else needs a hand.

That bow is raised once more, all those little factors that can affect a shot like that weighed and judged in an instant before the Emerald Archer sends that projectile arching into the night sky and the figure so conveniently lit up by that lightning fueled backdrop.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Well, tell me something new, Barry. No question you're right," Zatanna sighs. "Grod," she adds with a disgusted shake of her head.

Magic floats in the air, gentle as the flurries of snow that dance around them. "Meggan, dear. Balm. Do you sense the other Rogues nearby?" The question no sooner asked than the air splits with lightning. A single word adjusts a shield around the mage and anyone nearby. Snowflakes adhere to the glowing surface. "Yes, we are very nice. Just not well-coordinated at the moment. I want to have a word with the would-be Weather Wizard, myself."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe had been making regular trips out of the city to help, Austin would have known from reports back to the Batfam.

    "Stay close." she warns gently to Osprey -- not out of fear that he couldn't handle it, of course -- more that she's run into one or two things in the last couple outings that've tried to take her by surprise!

    She pulls her hood down against the flicker of flurries droping out of the sky.

    Phoebe draws her hands up, a whispered phrase in middle Egyptian before her fingertips glow with golden light, and dramatically lit by lightning.

<<Working on it -- it feels different than the distortion of wards on the mannor. There's just.... it's a lot of energy to work with and sort through -- almost like trying to force Impulse's lightning through the eye of a needle!>> Balm states, and then she breathes out, titlts her head back, and her owl's wings splay out behind her before she takes a look to Osprey <<I'm going to check the high ground. Go low, take it easy. Heatwave might be more aggressive but easier to out-think. I think. If I read the file right.>> she states, and then with a WHOOSH Balm is airborne, softly glowing wings lifting her aloft.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Meggan utters a breath when a bolt of lightning strikes altogether too close, though it forks away to impact the ground almost immediately and the rebound shies back into the dark sky. A marked frown settles on her clouded expression, those fair green eyes paling further to lose what little colouration they possessed. The brief survey of the offending cumulus deck spitting snow on them all sketches an irregular path back to earth after the departing archer, Ollie being of an excellent colour to spot amidst the darkness. He moves considerably slower than Barry, further making him easier to use as a gauge for distance and direction. It's a direction to follow while feeling among the familiar and unfamiliar presences for those burning with hostility, nerves, or anger.

"Feeling an awful lot of turbulence. Someone's trying to jam a signal, if a signal weren't actually a broadcast." Putting words to purpose is hard as she protectively stuffs the books back in her bag and flits at a markedly irregular pace for the power station while shadowing Zatanna to boot. Not many things may hurt the black-haired sorceress, but those which can might be more responsive to the nearest shadow materializing into something that punches hard.

Meggan loses substance as she moves over the ground at a gliding step, all trace of walking purely perfunctory, eventually shifting invisible as she attunes to the air.

Austin Reese has posed:
Following along with Balm, Osprey is listening to her plan as she gives it, "You got it." He says, getting ready and moving along at ground level while he lets her move up. Heatwave is at least someone he might be able to put up a decent fight against if he runs across him. He switches his domino mask over to a thermal vision mode, scanning through where he can, since Heatwave will no doubt spike out over the ambient cold. Might give him just the advantage he needs.

Barry Allen has posed:
It seems likely that Alura's analysis of the situation, even from a distance, is more then likely the correct one. Whatever their purpose here, to simply reveal themselves like this in such a showy and obvious way does suggest that perhaps what is going on inside is still very much going on and so some of their number are seeking to cause a suitable distraction outside to keep the arriving Leaguers and their allies occupied for the time being.

And as far as distractions go, turning the grounds and skies around the nuclear plant into one big field of electrical discharges is a pretty good one.

Those bolts streak out of the clouds, down towards the ground and only narrowly miss the Batplane that weave in amongst them, though between the spells of the more mystical inclined and the racing of the Flash none of them strike home at those who approach the main building.

Those bolts do find a number of the toppled vehicles however, gas tanks igniting as once more the grounds are lit up -- this time with fiery explosions that send glass and steel debris flying about, pelting the ground and forcing those working to shield the Leaguers on site from the worst of things to work just a little harder.

The fact that their normally reliable magical reconissance is running into issues is rather telling and even as he races about, a streak of red and gold to safeguard anyone who might need the extra helping hand, Barry takes in Phoebe and Meggan's report. "Sounds like Abra Kadabra then. His magic, or technology, or whatever the heck he actually uses is the most likely source. Probably hiding whatever they are up to inside," Barry speculates.

At least he does until an answering blur of yellow and red suddenly darts out from that dark, yawning entrance leading into the interior of the building, slamming into the League's speedster and sending him flying.

That almost seems to be a signal. And while those bolts of lightning still fall, they seem to do so more directedly now, with purpose instead of sheer, raw chaos, more precisely lashing out at the individual Leaguers, seemingly trying to keep them from grouping up.

And amidst those falling bolts other bursts of energy begin to make themselves know. Sure enough, brilliant gouts of intense, almost white flame lash out towards Osprey as he moves across the fiend. Green Arrow's projectile is picked out of the sky even as it soars towards Weather Wizard, wrapped in a sheath of ice that breaks it's trajectory before that freezing beam continues to sheer towards the flying form of Balm.

Boomerangs, of all things lash out of the darkness, cutting through the air with razor's edge, soaring towards Zatanna while Meggan suddenly finds herself coming on a sonic assault, waves of sound pummelling out of the darkness in her direction like a physical wall of force.

Even the streaking Batplane suddenly has more then just lightening to worry about as a hulking metal form pulls itself out from where it has been hiding amongst the overturned vehicles, plucking up one of those tipped over cars and hurling it skyward like a crude missile, straight towards Barbara.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
The hologram of Alura reforms and now is dressed in some rather spectacular golden armor, still with cape, that pauses a moment as she looks at the nuclear power plant. "We need a plan. Whatever they're up to inside - let's not mess around."

<< "Can someone get the emergency shutdown procedures for this power plant. Our primary goal should be to shut it down, eject the cores in to the heavy water so that there's no more generation." >> Alura has no care for the economic repercussions of shutting down the power plant. At this point she has to assume the worst - someone is turning it in to a bomb.

If they can't get the instructions they'll have to figure it out on the fly. But knowing Batman she expects one of his protege will have it on hand already, << "Batgirl?" >>

Her attention snaps back to the Flash, "I'm about to do a phantomdrive jump - I'll be back in Earth orbit imminently. See you on the ground soon." The hologram's light disassembles and the floating crystal simple remains floating where it is.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl's days as a pilot were still relatively new. She'd put in a lot of time in to Microsoft Flight Simulator though, and had been pretty confident when she'd finished building this small jet enough to confidently act as the test pilot for it too. Her actions with it have been growingly steadily more, and more, dangerous however. Case in point, alarms going off, her hand rapidly adjusting the flight stick to continue to weave away from bolts of brilliant lightning! The Bat-wing flying down lower toward the earth, only to see a object being hurled up at her from down below!

"Shit." Babs grits her teeth, hiking the plane's stick to the right, kicking herself starboard within the jet, the hurled object narrowly avoided, before the Bat-wing levels out again.

Babs' gloved left hand reaches over to a bank of buttons, and with a pointed index finger, she depresses one of them. Beneath the Bat-wing a rotary canon extends downward, leaving three silvery barrels aimed at the hulking beast that threw that object at her!

With a squeeze of the flight stick, the rotary cannon opens fire, not shooting mere bullets, but capsules of electrifying energy explosives! A veritable hailstorm of explosive electric rounds peppering the ground all around the beast that dared toss that chunk up at her!

She gets a good few seconds of firing off that cannon, before the Bat-wing roars past overhead!

"I have the schematics of the facility." Batgirl's voice chimes in on comms again. "I'd really like to not harm this place until we have no further options, though. I'll send out the schematics, and the guide to everyone's registered devices. I'll find a landing spot and head inside too."

Oliver Queen has posed:
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again, right?

That arrow slices through the air, honing in on the Weather Wizard -- right up until the moment that beam of cold slices through the air and cuts it down, the sudden added weight of the ice sending it toppling from the sky, leaving it to smash uselessly against the tower about a dozen feet below its intended target.

"Stupid Rogues," Ollie gripes, casting a glare towards the source of that freezing beam that cuts through the darkness close to the entrance of the building. And while it is tempting to go after Snart and his cold gun, others can likely counter him a little more easily then him.

Instead the Emerald Archer peers through the darkness, taking advantage of those bursts of lightning that illuminate the grounds until he spots ol' Digger Harkness and those boomerangs, taking a bead on the man and sending a flight of arrows his way, sending him diving for cover.

"Green Arrow here. I can check for a rear entrance, see if I can sneak my way in since they seem pretty intent of blocking off the whole frontal assault. Though someone would probably have to talk me through any shutdown procedures," he admits.

He's not technologically illiterate or anything. But it's probably best if he's not shutting down a nuclear power plant on his own either.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    <<I'll handle this guy.>> Balm can be heard, as energy crackles around her. She brings her hands forward, her wings folding up as she drops, her shield rising up and lazily spinning in a cirlce to deaden and deflect the ice beam. The white tattoo at her left wrist glows, and then dims, and Meggan and Zatanna would probably be able to pick up that Phoebe's loosened her dampener -- she's now a bright spot in the aether.

    "Abra Kadabra -- let's go ahead and reach out and grab ya." she states, and then she makes her shield flash, condensing. Her wings splay out and leave trails in the clouds behind her as she attempts to shield-bash the faux magic user to try and knock him further into the sky.

Austin Reese has posed:
The flame almost manages to catch him, and even though it doesn't hit him directly, the heat coming from it could probably scorch an eyebrow. He drops backwards, putting some distance between himself and Heatwave, throwing a pair of batarangs in the Rogue's direction, fully expecting them to get melted out of the air by that flame gun, using the momentary distraction to swap the charge in his gauntlet from incendiary to cryo. Sure he doesn't have powers, but he can more than make up for it with the tech and training.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Someone is throwing occult chaff into the air, hiding," agreeing with Meggan's assessment. They both rise in the air - the visible and invisible, Zatanna's black form limned by the crackling light thrown at the ground. Zee feels Meggan's presence at her back, "So two can play the hiding game. Let them just see me..."

Faster than anticipated, Zee's feint makes her a target. A piece of black fabric flutters to the ground and blood wells slowly from a razor cut to the mage's shoulder. She drops several meters in shock at the breach in her shield, then rallies, whispering words to target the source of the attack.

A voice rings, piercing the air. .rotarteprep eht ot ylbuod snopaew eseht nruteR.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Sound waves move fast, annoyingly fast. They can be disorienting to someone composed largely of a gaseous state. With that shift went the comm with Meggan, sealed into the form she adopts else it's lying atop a bookbag somewhere in range of pummeling lightning bolts. Best believe John *will* take offense and come after whoever stuck him with the fee for the Gotham Public Library, downtown branch. Really, he's the one to worry about.

She shifts as the disruption ripples across her, a bombardment she does not enjoy. Trying to trudge a path through the sonic attacks coming in beams only hurts her, and her body spontaneously reacts to avoid further damage shaking her wind-bound shape apart. Air flash-freezes around her, water vapour transformed by proximity to the winter-aspected Tuath into icy mist.

Invisible becomes invisible no more. The other side of winter is darkness. Or the Otherworld equivalent of the Darkforce, though they can be one and the same. So she moves ahead of Zatanna and the boomerangs sweeping through the air, hunting, given a little too entirely to the silent doom that her season entails. The silhouette of a woman with eyes darker than pitch tracks by feeling alone: whatever radiates that negative intent. Of course what she'll do *as* darkness is more than a bit difficult to say other than pounce them to blind 'em for a bit. Maybe someone can sock them with an arrow or a spell.

Barry Allen has posed:
As he's knocked off stride and goes skidding across the ground, narrowly missing getting hit by one of those lightning bursts from above, Barry is not exactly surprised. Of course Thawne would be here. While he might not be a Rogue, not really, he was with them, working with Grodd when last they met.

"Let me see what I can do. I'll make a break for the main entrance if you want to try and sneak to a back door Arrow," the Flash agrees, taking up Alura's suggestion.

Though that proves much more difficult now that his opposite has taken the field and as he streaks towards that entrance, easily avoiding the gouts of fire and ice that play across the open grounds around the main building -- even more so when Zatanna's spell takes effect and sends so many of those discharges hurtling back towards their source -- the red-yellow blur of Barry is countered again and again by the yellow-red blur of the Reverse-Flash, each attempt to breach the defenses the Rogues have errected around the nuclear plant by superspeed turned back by his old nemesis.

As that flying Bat-Wing straffs the hulking metallic form of Girder he simply stands there, sparks flying, lighting him up as those projectiles ting off that rusted metal body that he iws trapped in, raising one of his arms in counter and sending out a burst of shrapnel racing towards Batgirl's flying craft, adding a literal field of chaff to go with the more occult one that seeks to interfere with the League's more mystic practicioners.

Zatanna's spell gives everyone a momentary reprieve. Captain Cold's freeze ray, Heatwave's burst of flame, the Pied Piper's sonic assault on Meggan and even Captain Boomerang's returning projectiles all turned back against their sources. Even the lightning discharges that fall all around them are stiffled momentarily as they flow back towards the Weather Wizard, though unlike the others who need to dive away from their own powers and tech being turned against them, he simply crackles with the returned electrical discharges, lit up bright in the sky once more.

As Meggan unleashes the other side of the season, as she lets that darkness grow she can indeed break through the shifting haze of interference, can latch ointo the dark intent in the hearts and minds nearby and pinpoint the location of those who seek their harm, can see the hiding spots of their foes who have taken up positions around the entrance to the building.

And she can sense the trap about to be sprung, those lightning strikes and exploding cars more then mere chaos. But an opportunity to litter the ground with shards of glass, little reflective fragmets that one more of the Rogues -- Mirror Master -- can put to good use at their backs.

With Balm's unleashed power directed at it's likely source, she too can cut through that haze, enough so that she can quite clearly sense Abra Kadabra's presence -- not out here proving a distraction. But in the reactor control room. She can almost see him moving about with all that advanced technology that might as well be magic, can practically sense him siphoning off all that copious amounts of power generated by the constant fission reactions deep in the radioactive core for purposes unknown.

"Why are you still helping these lunatics Snart?" Barry asks as he zips by, still trying to get past his equal and opposite.

<<Do not expect to get through to them Flash,>> comes a strange mental voice from the darkness of the entrance, a floating chair appearing a moment later. And sitting there? A parody of a man, his body seemingly stilted and withered. But his head? It is several times too large for even a health human form. <<While Grodd might not be here to hold their leashes, I think you'll find that I am up to the task,>> comes the mental retort from Hector Hammond. Right before a wave of telekinetic force lashes out in a great wave towards the League and it's allies.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
On board the Kryptonian scout ship Alura watches as the universe twists from reality to aether and then moments later back to real. The transition is unpleasant but sacrifices have to be made to stay off the Hegemony's radar. The beautiful blue orb that is Earth flows in to view. The Justice League watch tower registers the return of her ship but she is not content to wait for re-entry.

Alura steps up to the rear of the ship and the crystals rearrange themselves in to an opening. The mask of her suit snaps closed and she launches herself down to the planet. The chaos that has erupted around the power plant is like a small warzone. You don't want to fight a war next to a nuclear power plant.

She lands with a *thud* that blows back the debris. Her cape flaps down behind her and she takes in the moment at super speed. Barry is moving just a bit faster than normal speed and so is the yellow speedster. There's a man hovering in a chair of sorts. A read out springs to life on her wrist bracer - power from the plant is draining. There's a man firing ice and a man firing heat and a man slinging thunderbolts.

In her minds eye she sorts through the various rogues in Clark's database of villainy. There's a few who float in chairs and this one, she surmises, is Hector Hammond. Another genius level intellect turned to more than crime - this is terrorism.

Time snaps back in to place. Her eyes burn bright and with a *fip* her heat vision cuts across Hector's floating chair. She turns and draws back her hands before giving them a super clap together in the direction of the heat gun. << "Distractions of our own - let the Bat sneak inside, they're good at that." >> She's done enough missions with Batman to know it's one of their specialities.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
A counter-shot of shrapnel peppers the lightly armored form of the Bat-wing from below, causing the jet to shake and rattle in the sky above! Within it, more alarms sound off, with system damage reports rapidly streaming across Barbara's glowing display screens. Her AI computer begins to calmly explain all the damage sustained across the entirety of the jet's intricate systems, while Babs grimaces within her cowl.

"I can shut it down." She says over comms. "I read the manual for this type of reactor when I was at recess back in grade school." Surely she's joking.

After adjusting her plane's course, Babs speaks with the Oracle AI, before she preps her ejection procedure. With a gust of wind, a explosive ejection, Batgirl launches from the interior of the jet, bailing out of it as it speeds off toward the woodland area to the north of the power plant's property.

Up in the snowy night sky, Batgirl's cape flutters all around her, stiffening out in to a glide-wing that allows her to near-silently curve her way back toward the power planet's main complex, the golden black form of the Bat now fluttering through the cold wind toward the complex's roof...

Oliver Queen has posed:
The cover offered by Zatanna's spell returning all the enemy fire back to it's source, the cover offered by Superwoman's arrival on the scene, all of it suggests to Oliver that it is an awfully good time to make himself scarce, to try and use the big nasty fight out front as a good opportunity to sneak around to the back and try to find another way in.

Which is exactly what he does, darting away, falling into a long loping stride as he begins to circle around the building, picking his way until the full out battle is definitely fading even in the proverbial rear view mirror. Which doesn't necessarily mean that he's out of trouble.

Ollie, at least, seems to be willing to take Batgirl at her word even as he pulls out one of Overwatch's technical marvels, pressing it to the security scanner by the rear entrance, letting it break the encryption for him until the door quietly clicks and slides open. "You Bats need to get a life," he suggests quietly before slipping inside, beginning to pick his way towards the reactor control.

The little electronic map that presents itself helps a lot in that regard. Gadgets. They can make up for a lot even if one lacks super senses.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Of course, her quarry's inside. Phoebe follows her senses, guarded by her shields as she ducks through the sky, folding her wings as Zatanna 's spell gives a moment's repreive, quieting the night around her before she ducks down and into one of the doorways proper.

    <<That's great news Batgirl.>> Phoebe states <<I've located Abra Kadabra. Moving in to interrupt.>>

    And Balm runs through the darkness, guided by the HUD on her own bit of technology.

    "I'm going to have the song stuck in my head for days.>>

Austin Reese has posed:
His distraction works, just enough for Osprey to finish closing the distance. He has to disable that weapon if he was going to finish taking the Rogue down. The flames scorch his armor as he finishes closing the distance. When his fist strikes, he doesn't aim for Heatwave's body, but the weapon, the gauntlet sending a blast of cryogenics into the weapon and it's owner. A bit of reverse engineering of some of those very same super-science cold weapons he and Balm were discussing.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
In the silence following Zee's volleyed return of weapons, the air ripples with power, ominous for the ones ranged against them. Even to one counted a power among those raised in the magic arts like Zatanna, Meggan Constantine unleashed is like walking into an unshielded nuclear reactor. Zee raises her hand to shield her face then lowers it. One moment she is there, the next, she has portalled in a flash of violet to race under the cover of Meggan's wake.

"I take exception to sharp objects. Let me count the ways. Boomerangs, glass, knives and our enemy's arrows."

Words as sharp as the detested weapons slice the air, syllables reversed. Zee hurdles a spell blunting the opposition's armaments.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Malice is a dark chalice to drink from and Meggan has very little choice otherwise. Her natural projection, greatly reduced, remains the sole means of communication to her. "One hides among the glass," comes that insidious whisper, trailing from the dark, the sum of the creaks in a snowy forest and sighs coming from the house settling or what lives under the bed during the darkest hours of the night.

Inner peace isn't her cause to find. She passes soundlessly through the snow, following the rich and layered emotoscape peppered by fear and deliberation, urgency and purpose. Half the Justice League heads into the reactor and her place is dancing outside with Zatanna and the speedsters.

Dark conditions swallow her and lit ones do little better to distinguish an apparently one-dimensional figure launched skyward from the plucked string of Zatanna's invoked word. She goes well wide of the Weather Wizard, aloft into the steady flurries, mingling with the dark of the sky. Like a well-shot arrow above, her goal is simple; fall right back down upon him.

Let those ephemeral hands reach for his flesh. Pass through.

Solidify and send them both hurtling to the earth. She is, after all, the blood of her mother's own flesh. And Mom really, really likes grounding people.

Barry Allen has posed:
Given that the power levels from the plant have dropped precipitously, there is a good chance that whatever it is that the Injustice League is up to here, it largely involves the siphoning off of tremendous amounts of power. And given the baclout in Metropolis and everything between here and there, there is a good chance that much of what they were looking for has already been accomplished.

But if it can still be interrupted, can still be stopped, at least the distractions provided by the rest of the League and their allies out front have given a few of them the opportunity to get inside, though all from different directions. Ollie through the back door, Batgirl from the rooftop access and Balm right in with the frontal assault. But all three will find their paths strangely, perhaps ominously clear right until they reach the reactor control room.

Where they will find Abra Kadabra encased in a glimmering shield of light, holding a device pressed to the controls. The strange looking object seems to be ticking upwards, the indicator suggesting that it has very nearly completed it's work. Cackling to himself, he doesn't even pay the slightest bit of attention to their arrival.

Outside however, outside is a different matter entirely. And while a considerable number of their forces might have made a break for the interior, the sudden appearance of Superwoman dropping from the skies is certainly a reassuring sight. As those eyes glow bright red, as beams of heat cut across the cold dark evening to slice through that floating chair and drop the unfortunate figure to the ground, Hector Hammond lets out a piercing, mental scream of rage and humiliation, body flopping almostcomically to the ground.

He does not stay there however, slowly rising up into the air, supported by the will of his mind alone as he turns that malevolent gaze towards their Kryptonian reinforcements. <<You shouldn't be here!>> comes that shrill mental objection before sheer waves of mental force blast out towards Alura, seeking revenge for the perceived slight.

The other Rogue's are hardly idle in all of this, though they do seem at least a little gun shy after having their powers and tech turned back against them thanks to Zatanna's magic, perhaps aware of the dark presence of Meggan's shadow-self stalking amongst them. Either way, it slows them down. Enough so that Heatwave is only beginning to raise his gun towards the approaching Osprey when he is suddenly there, letting loose with that burst of cryogenics to counter the heat. As his heat pistol freezes over, the man glances at it in disbelief. Then the burly, scarred Mick Rory simply rears back and tries to bunch Austin square in the face.

Sure enough, Zatanna's magic continues to dampen down any attempted reprisal, making use of all that scattered debris to make a virtual wall of sharp impliments that slices through the air and offers cover. Intentionally or not, it also helps prevent that imminent attack from the rear as the flying shards of glass make it much more difficult for the Mirror Master to emerge and ambush them from behind.

While the returned lightning might not be able to hurt him, it offers no real benefit and instead the hovering Weather Wizard focuses on different forces, less showy but in their own way more dangerous. The clouds above begin to whirl, slowly at first but with increasing motion. Those flurries swirl about with increasing wildness, carried on those growing winds.

But before he can call them into place, Meggan is there. Dropping on him out of the dark night. And while lightning might not phase him in the least, the solid strike of her suddenly manifested form is much more effective, driving him from his airborn perch towards the ground as those gale force winds begin to die away.

Barry Allen has posed:
Unable to gain the upper hand against Thawne, Barry continues to race about the field of battle and instead puts him to use. Racing back and forth, he veers their course until they race between Alura and Hammond, using that rush of speed to generate a blast of air as they race past, knocking Hammond askew once more and giving Superwoman a respite from that mental onslaught.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Alura takes it at face value that Batgirl read the manual for the power plant while a child at school. But then schooling was very different on Krypton and Kara did no less complicated and arduous science and maths during her younger years. Kara is very good at feigning ignorance though until Alura asks her for some help.

She watches their allies slip inside the power plant three every angle at once and smiles a touch before turning her attention back to the rogues waging war.

She opens her mouth to speak but suddenly there is a blast in her head like a clamp of pain pushing down on her every little thought. She grips at her head and drops to one knee with a groan. The world is turning white for she has no defences against this kind of attack -- except allies.

As Barry zips by and knocks Hammond askew she grips her hands in to fists and lowers them from her head. Rising back up there is a look of annoyance on her face.

Alura is not at all above using technology to her advantage either. Not in a world filled with super villains with super powers of their own. She raises up her hand and the suit armor reforms itself; an energy weapon rises and fires at Hammond. There is a pulse of blue light, a stun gun of sorts, that strikes the man.

Clearing her throat and relaxing her jaw now that the mental pain has stopped she replies to him, "And neither should you." The reply coming out of left field considering she was the only recipient of his accusation.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl had entered through the roof access, and advanced down the stairs in to the heart of the main building. With her wrist computer displaying the layout, the Batgirl's green eyes sweep back and forth from where she is headed, to her map feeding her directions. "I've heard that before." She calmly quipped back about needing to get a life, while she was ready for an attack that never came. When the group arrived together at the control room, each coming from different directions, Batgirl greeted them with a nod, then swept herself through the doorway in to the main brain of the plant itself.

She eyed the form of the one controling this situation, preparing herself for the attack! But... it didn't come. Instead, Batgirl glanced at the other two with her, and nodded toward the large bank of computers and controls lining the room.

"First step, locating the primary coolant system. Standby, locating..." Batgirl said, as she swept herself around to one of the terminals, her cape flowing behind her as she moved. "Alright, got it. Initiating shutdown sequence. Disabling secondary control rods now. Standby for coolant flow cutoff." Batgirl motions to Phoebe, "Push that button there..." She tells her, aimed finger pointing at a large green button beside a glowing monitor screen. "Push it now. Shutting down pumps in three, two, one. Coolant flow stopped. Control rods inserted, fission halted. Activating the emergency shutdown."

Batgirl's eyes sweep over to another console, which she motions Oliver toward. "Right there, that silver dial, dial it all the way down, and then hit the yellow button."

Emergency shutdown engaged. Reactor is in cooldown." Babs states, as she rushes toward the main monitor computer to check the system, and ensure that the counter measures are not reactivating any of the systems.

"We're good here, as good as we can be." She announces in a cool voice over the JLA network as she steps back, her hands flexing inside of her bronze hued gloves.

Oliver Queen has posed:
Creeping into the reactor room and apparently unnoticed, Ollie takes a moment to glance around, accessing the situation.

And the situation doesn't seem great. Lots of probably sensitive equipment that it would probably be a bad idea to just break, at least not without knowing what it does. But on the plus side, it's not like Ollie is exactly a spray and pray type. His arrows are very much a precision weapon, at least in his hands.

So letting others attract whatever attention they'd like, the Emerald Archer draws a bead on the device in Abra Kadabra's hand before letting that arrow fly.

And fly it does, straight and true as one might expect. At least until it hits that glittering barrier that flares brightly for just a moment before the shield of energy protecting Kadabra cuts it's flight short, snapping it in half and drawing a mad giggle from the man.

"Stupid force fields," Ollie mutters, emerging from cover and out into the open, bow already drawn and aimmed at the cackling lunatic.

For all the good it will do.

Which is when Batgirl starts issuing orders. And since that seems more productive then firing another arrow, Oliver listens. "I'll do it. But just note that I don't like solutions that don't involve me shooting arrows at people," he points out, going where indicated.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm comes up behind Barbara and Ollie, giving quiet upnods to the archer and the tech knight, her eyes setting on Abra and the weird item he's gotten set up against the consoles. She watches as Ollie moves - and as Ollie provides a wonderfully bright green distraction, Phoebe moves to hit the big green button at Batgirl's command, and then dashes forward and baseball-slides beneath The Green Arrow's bow, her left hand raised up as she brings her own magic to the fore, her hand crackling with magic.

    "Depone scutum sicut sumus Imperiales in Hothi!" she barks, trying to take down the shield by overloading it with her own considerable power.

Austin Reese has posed:
With the gun frozen and out of action, when Rory swings at him, Osprey dodges back, weaving under it and throwing a jab to counter. He follows up with a downward elbow, trying to hit him between the neck and the shoulder, right in that soft spot at the trapezius.

After his elbow comes in to land that hit, he'll grab hold of that arm and shoulder throw Rory to the ground with a judo maneuver, moving to pin him down after the throw, "Stay down, big guy. You're done."

Barry Allen has posed:
While the Rogue's might have the advantage of numerical superiority they probably weren't really counting on facing the mystical might of Zatanna or the elemental wrath of Meggan. Let alone a Kryptonian. So while they might be able to keep the Flash mostly at bay, mostly preoccupied, the tide has already begun to turn.

The Weather Wizard lands in a heap on the ground, groaning as Meggan manages to bring him down before stalking after other nearby Rogues, still very much benefiting from the continual stream of enchantments muttered by Zatanna, suppressing any offensive response, keeping them pinned under that hailstorm of debris and discarded weapons.

Heatwave fares no better in his one on one encounter and while Mick Rory most definitely doesn't lack for strength, in the raw battle of sheer strength against practiced skill, well the outcome is never in doubt. Soon enough the big man is down on all fours, panting and fighting for air after that elbow lands and he finds his arm grabbed and locked, twisted painfully to keep him down.

Fairness is very much subjective in these sorts of encounters, especially when the stakes can be so high. Certainly Hector Hammond showed no signs of mercy as he poured on that mental onslaught towards Superwoman, seeking to overwhelm her mental defenses. So when the opening presents itself, why not take it? His appearance might be comical, but in some ways no one on the field this evening is more dangerous then Hector Hammond. Though he is considerably less so when that stun ray strikes home, another mental wail of anguish sounding from the vaguely pathetic figure before he crumples to the ground.

That seems to be enough for the Reverse-Flash as well -- or perhaps he simply receives word from others -- but either way that yellow-red streak abruptly peels away, racing off into the night

Within the reactor itself, Abra Kadabra continues to cackle behind that wall of force that protects him, seemingly indifferent to the arrow fired at him, or to Batgirl and Green Arrows efforts to shut down the reactor before every last drop of power can be drained from it. He does pout when it is shutdown though, finally turning their way.

"No fair! Now that I've siphoned all the power we needed I was going to blow it up. You've ruined my fun!" he protests with that deranged little smile. A smile that lingers even when Balm makes her move, using her own magics to counter act his -- or to disable his technology. It really is difficult to tell.

"Oooooh, you're feisty. I like you," Kadabra burbles merrily. "But it's too late. We found them you know. Such an interesting place they got hurled to. A moon, with almost no ambient magic. It's how you trapped them there you know, however unintentional," he says conversationally while casually wiggling fingers.

Around him, around the others sets of golden rings appear, glowing brightly. "I'll bid you adieu here. Don't worry. You'll see us soon enough. And you'll get to play with our new friend! He is very much looking forward to getting a measure of revenge on you all! He was stranded there for so long with no magics to play with, no Demons Three to conjure up. But now that our portal is all nicely powered I'm sure he'll want to thank you himself," Abra Kadabra adds, mockingly wiggling fingers towards Balm as those golden rings start to glow brighter and brighter around each of the Rogues.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Each time the rogues put on a show like this they have chipped away at their number. Lesser worthy rogues are recruited in turn. Somehow this injustice league is unstoppable. Their PR campaign in the villainy bulletin boards must be legendary.

Alura knows eventually they'll run out of reinforcements. When the golden rings start to spin she narrows her eyes and with her own super speed scoops up Hammond. She's not letting their master mind get away. He knows things and they need answers. What's all this for - and what is the end goal?

"Oh no you don't," Alura states to the unconscious man, "You'll be coming with us. Sooner or later you'll learn crime doesn't pay."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl watches the strange man vanish in a style that only these types of weirdos seem to be excellent at. It causes her to release a exhale, and roll her shoulders, as she was starting to feel the effects of ejecting from that plane at high speeds, even in her armored suit made to help shunt such forces from overly harming her. It's a rough life, this vigilante super hero stuff!

Once more, Babs leans over the consoles to check the status of the reactor, as she listens to the team chatter over the comms in her ear. "We gotta get the employees of this place back in here." She states grimly. "Anyone see a bunch of people locked up anywhere by chance?" She asks, as she switches over to another console, to check on other elements of the system conditions.

She smirks. "My wind energy is so much more superior to thi..." She quietly says to herself, championing her own technology, even if it is nowhere near as wide spread as this kind of energy production.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    She never picks the right option. Why is she always wrong?

    Phoebe gives a cry of rage and springs up, boots scraping the floor as Kadabra begins to wriggle his fingers.

    Her right hand extends to grab a gleaming, golden longsword, slight curve to its form as she leaps in the air and tries to cleave off Kadabra's arm and the machine he was using to slurp up the energy, her form crackling with magic as she tempts losing control of herself.

    If she's going to make the bad decision, why not go whole hog?

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Hovering in the air, Zatanna keeps a jaundiced eye on the remaining Rogue contingent and renews her spells. Glancing down, for one moment she almost feels a frisson of empathy for Weather Wizard, wondering how it feels to receive the full brunt of Meggan's ire.

"Ka-pow," she murmurs, releasing her fingers in an exploding gesture while imagining mega-asteroids impacting a planet, plunging it into darkness.

A change in occult atmospheric pressure illustrates the team's success in the reactor room. "Gone, but not forgotten," she quips over coms.

Austin Reese has posed:
While Heatwave does struggle until Austin finally gets his arm pinned behind him. Osprey manages to finally get a pair of zipties onto his wrists, and then ties those to a nearby pipe as an anchor point, "Hey at least I didn't use the riot foam on you. That's a pain in the ass to get out." He tells Rory after he finishes getting him locked down, <"Heatwave's over, looks like temperatures in the city are going to be cooling off.">

Barry Allen has posed:
The Injustice League does have a somewhat irritating way of sneaking away when they are either done, or when their plans are foiled. Whether it be through magic or technology, they do seem to come prepared. And based on the sound of things from the reactor room, it would seem that the missing members might have been found. Morgan La Fay. Deathstroke. Merlyn. Grood. The Calculator. And all the rest. Found and apparently returned with the power stolen here tonight. Along with another. One that sounds suspiciously like the mad magician Felix Faust who was stranded quite some time ago, deprived of his power.

Certainly not ideal if true.

But at least not all of them will get away on this evening at least. Abra Kadabra's technological magic might be formidable, but it is not instantaneous and while those brightly glowing rings might provide some manner of protection, they are clearly not infalible. For instance, they do not seem designed to cope with a Kryptonian's speed or strength and as the teleportation rings try to port Hector Hammond to safety, Superwoman is abruptly there, tearing through them to pluck the huge headed threat from them, hauling him bodily away before he can be whisked away.

Nor does Abra Kadabra escape unscathed either. Cackling merrily, gloating over the seemingly successful rescue of many of their number, of added reinforcements that they can throw against the Justice League and their allies, he is still laughing when Balm's sword descends. But not for long.

That mad laughter turns into a shriek of pain as that sword finds it's mark, cleaving his arm free just below the shoulder leaving it to land on the ground, the strange device seemingly utilized to steal such a massive amount of power and transmit it elsewhere landing at Phoebe's feet. Even as the future mage vanishes, that pained shriek still lingering in the air.

Chances are Phoebe's made a new enemy tonight. But that device might be a valuable lead, a means to find whatever portal it powered. Assuming that the future tech -- or is it magic? -- can be deciphered and figured out.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm pants, the sword of light crackling with energy before she lets it fade away, a murky darkness filling the control room before she steps to the box. She lifts it up with a gloved hand, and she gives it a wordless toss towards Batgirl with a huff.

    She leans over and picks up the arm.

    "Well. NOw Kadabra's sorta 'armless." she states with a sense of gallows humor.

    "I'll go find Osprey and get him home."

    And with that, she waves the warm over her shoulder, and disappears into the murk.