19723/HUNGER: War of the Heralds

HUNGER: War of the Heralds
Date of Scene:	13 January 2025
Location:	Outside the Worldship, Somewhere in Spacetime
Synopsis:	The heroes gather. Two Heralds die (and one gets his ass bit by a super-dog). Galactus revokes the Surfer's powers and empowers Morg, who seems more dangerous than ever. The heroes retreat, but the Invisible Woman and Hal Jordan leads an infiltration into the Worldship.
Cast of Characters:	Norrin Radd, Monet St. Croix, Thor, Susan Richards, Mark Grayson, Erik Lensherr, Divine, Kyle Rayner, Rocket, Eve Wilkins, Fabian Cortez, Clea, Hal Jordan, Loki, Jon Kent, Cain Marko, Drax, Alison Blaire
Tinyplot:	Hunger

---

Norrin Radd has posed:
After re-uniting the Silver Surfer with his lost love - a process involving journeys to far-off planets, jealous relatives, meddling Lords of Hell, and a quest for the soul of Sue Storm - the heroes were at last able to appeal to the long-suppressed humanity (Zenn-la-ity?) of the cosmic wanderer, previously locked away through Galactus' power over his cosmically-imbued Herald. With that morality rekindled, he saw instantly the injustice of his service; sacrificing one living world for another was a bargain none should make.

With his servant turned against him, then, the heroic appeal was obvious: help stop his former master. Here, however, came the hard truth:

"Though he has imbued me with the power to move celestial bodies themselves, mine is but a tiny fraction of the Power Cosmic. The power Galatcus gathers for his great purpose... perhaps in another place, another time, he might have been defeated. But not here. However..."

The heroes already had another lead, pulled from the Devourer himself with power of the Lasso of Truth: a weakness, a device called the Ultimate Nullifier. Descibed (after some cajoling) by the Oan Guardian Ganthet as a weapon from a war of a prior age of this universe, one which had already laid waste to vast regions beyond the sight of Earth science, it could, in theory, threaten even Galactus.

Which was, unfortunately, why he had gone to great effort to claim the device and store it safely upon his own unimaginably large Worldship. The heroes, of course, plotted infilitration and recovery, but no science or magic - not Reed's calculations nor John Constantine's fancy house - could access the higher spatial plane in which it existed, the only place its logic-defying mass could safely exist.

"For the Heralds, it is a simple enough matter. Yet be warned..." From the surface of the moon, his silver gaze turns up into the black abyss. "When I open the path, He will know. As will the other Heralds. A battle is inevitable. In the chaos, perhaps..."

And so that is what the heroes face. An impending confrontation, a fight that they cannot even reasonably expect to win, but which must achieve at least enough distraction that some might be able to slip safely into the Worldship.

Hovering upon his strange board, the Silver Surfer turns in the air, and begins sailing outward from the lunar surface. Though they begin this journey in the shadow of the Watchtower, held in Earth's gravitic embrace, the way that opens before them is something else entirely, something less comprehensible. A twisting blue-silver 'wake' that stretches out into the emptiness of space, reaching beyond the three dimensions familiar to most.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The group is deploying. It is one of the most powerful assemblages of heroes that Monet has ever seen. And most certainly been a part of. And yet they are but the distraction, the heavy hitters designed to bust a hole or get attention. The sheer fact there is this much firepower available to them and yet they still cannot take the enemy head on is a testament to what they are up against. Monet is nervous, but does not let it show. On this battlefield, she is but one part of many. She goes to ready the standard battle meld.

She has fought Heralds several times. She has seen the aftermath of Galactus' consumption. Earth shall not fall the way that other planets have. They will save thier world or they will die trying. She goes to purse her lips, flying along with the other mutants and giving rides if need be to them. <<Standby for engagement. Follow instructions. I cannot guarantee that I can maintain the link when we enter into combat. The Heralds have been almost entirely immune to telepathy and likely will be able to disrupt me.>> She's only a mid tier telepath after all, and this many heroes fighting whatever defenses Galactus can throw at them.. She won't be able tokeep this up for long. But she will as long as possible.

Thor has posed:
    "Unseal the way, Argent One, and let yon Devourer of Worlds tremble 'neath the wrath of the Thunderer!"

    There is no room for jocularity with Thor today. Gone in the man of humility and good humour who made merry on the Isle of the Amazons a short time past, and in his place stands the scion of Asgard. Even in the vacuum of space, the mystic coil of the Thorforce runs in jagged tendrils about him like lightning. The short-hafted Mjolnir is hurled aloft, and the Odinson is carried along behind it in the Silver Surfer's wake.

    "By Odin's eye," he murmurs, staring at the way the dimensions twist and defy themselves even as they pass through them.

Susan Richards has posed:
Sue had been working closely with the Justice League with relation to being ready in space for additional situations involving Galactus. Today, it seemed, was one of those days where a reaction had to come as swiftly as possible.

In the hangar of the Watchtower, Sue appeared beside the Fantasticar. Where once there was not a blonde in a blue bodysuit, now there was. She appeared, and instantly slipped inside of the vehicle. She tossed her head left, and right, searching for others nearby. "Jump in, if you need a lift!" She called out, as her blue eyes went to the car's controls.

Sue began keying the controls on, priming the engines, and waiting to see if any other bodies would be joining her, before she lifted the vehicle off of its parking kids, and in to the air within the mag-sealed Watchtower hangar. Sue's gloved hand went to the throttle, and her fingers dialed the glowing blue speed indicator up, causing the tub-shaped car to suddenly rocket out in to space, to zero-in on their target location.

Mark Grayson has posed:
As he listens to the briefing, Mark is floating next to Eve, both of them in space together. It's going to be a week before he needs another breath again, so he has plenty of time for the adventure. As the Silver Surfer fills them in on the mission, the Viltrumit hybrid gives a nod of his head. "So, we show up, kick their asses, home by dinner." he offers, blustered by Thor's words about the coming attack.

He believes in the gathering with him. They're some of the heaviest hitters he's ever seen. There's no Superman or Wonder Woman or Batman... but those in the ranks should make up for them. There's one more straightening of his frame, and he gives a solid nod as he glances aside to Eve. "Flying, or catching a ride in the Fantasti-car?" he asks her playfully, before the dialation is opened, and Mark almost loses the breath he had drawn in back on the planet. For just a brief second, before he launches to follow the others into the portal, he doesn't quite feel...

INVINCIBLE

Erik Lensherr has posed:
    And among this gathering of heroes is one most might term a villain. Yet Magneto has ever fought for his people, and there's no fight for mutantkind bigger than this one. If the Earth goes, his people go down right alongside the normal humans.

    With his helmet on, he doesn't hear Monet's message to begin with, but he's used to that. When the Surfer opens the way, Magneto rises from the surface to follow. Drifting silently through the void, he has enough air held inside his magnetic shielding to keep him alive for a time even in the vacuum of space.

Divine has posed:
For once Divine is in something sturdier than her normal tank top and black pants with boots, a full-body suit and boots that can hold up to the rigors of open deep space travel. She stretches idly in place as the Surfer readies them for the trip, well-rested and brimming with energy after spending the day under the weaker rays of the winter sunlight. She doesn't know everyone personally today, but it's easy to fall into place with M, the light telepathic meld second nature after working with the other woman over the past several months. "Don't make us bring you back broken again," she murmurs quietly to her friend, launching into the air beside her and keeping pace with the other mutant flyers. She's not one, but between Emma and X-Force she's a lot more comfortable with them than she is some of the others, plus she's most familiar with how they fight. That makes staying with them an easy choice as they head through the portal.

Even if she's not so sure about that Magneto guy.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle is all ears when everything begins. Getting on the lantern only coms channel, <Highball. Party on Oa after this is done?> He'll wait a beat, <See you on the other side.> This is cautious optimism. Kyle knows they both could die. Still, he wants to believe in them seeing the brightest day instead of the darkest night.

Wearing the ring, Kyle will float down to the watch tower floor and pull out his lantern to give one last recharge. Putting the object back, he gets linked into the telepathic network. Once inside he says to anyone else in the greater sphere <It's an honor to fight with all of you.> Normally, Kyle is full of quips, nerdy references and similar. Dire situations often demand those things to be tossed aside. Green energy goes around him and he starts to take flight. A green flick of color against the myriad of ships, powers and stars against the blackness of space going toward what's going to be a very interesting night.

Rocket has posed:
The Rakk 'n' Ruin is aptly named, to begin with. The ancient ramshackle craft used by Rocket and Groot back in their bounty hunting days has largely been rusting on Knowhere ever since they teamed up with that band of shambolic misfits, the Guardians of the Galaxy. Yet, in a pinch, the old girl is still capable of getting them across the Galaxy, either because it happens to need Guarding, or because there are Space Prostitutes involved.

Parked near the Justice League's Watchtower, the cramped old vessel has had its post-flight checks completed, and looks substantially less ramshackle and decrepit compared to the other allegedly spaceworthy 'spaceships' assembled nearby. But then anything from across the Galaxy tends to look like magic on a planet where people are still holding their pants up with pieces of leather.

As he adjusts his anti-grav spacepants levitator, Rocket makes his toward the cockpit just in time to be slightly late for the Silver Surfer's big exit. Already, the Guardians' second least qualified pilot is pulling back on the controls, causing the ship to rise and follow the surfer.

"I am Groot?"

"Yeah, buddy, just needed a little top off real quick. You were right, I was waaaay to sober for this."

"I am Groot."

"Of course, of course... what kind of monster do you think I am?"

While Groot pilots the ship, Rocket takes the cap off of a bottle of Zwignarx's Choice, and plants it upside down in the pot that Groot is resting his feet in.

"There we go. Don't forget to close one eye while you're flying, this wavy shit'll give you a seizure otherwise."

Eve Wilkins has posed:
Atom Eve might have been the big gun for the Teen team, her powers might indeed make her a (little 'g') god if she could actually access their full potential...but well, for the moment she was just Eve. Still, they'd made it work, and this wasn't exactly something they could sit on the sidelines for. With the 'space' version of her costume formed by her power she was indeed flying alongside Mark, a little shake of her head given.

"Haven't we had enough interdimensional world consumers for one week?" she mutters softly before she lifts her arms and takes flight towards the rift in a blaze of pink light.

Fabian Cortez has posed:
Fabian Cortez is what you might call 'a professional support'. A particularly valuable support to the single category of improved humanity that matters, known as 'Homo superior'. Though he is Not in the habit of suidice missions and Not particularly Pleased to be here, much to his regret, he is. Perhaps, this is an attempt to make this particular trip less of an end game for the other mutants present out of the small goodness of his small heart. Or, attempting to make up for his failings on a recent fight against Stryfe.

At any rate, if Magneto is here, Cortez is not about to let the savior of mutant kind die alone. Or will at least be seen not letting Magneto die alone. The Acolyte's usual uniform has been modified for space with an additional jet pack to allow for movement and will fall in behind Magneto silently.

<<If you want Assistance maintaining communications, I'm here.>> M might only be a 'mid-teir' telepath, but perhaps with Cortez behind her, the convenience of mental comms can be maintained for longer. Either way, his touch will not be felt unless requested, though he does seem to be trying to pinpoint the other mutants present.

Clea has posed:
Clea's fought with one of the Heralds, but other than that she had lost track of where or how they were doing on that front. She's floating...because gravity be damned in any shape or form and on any planet or surface. The white haired woman is dress in a black armored suit and a royal purple cowl with the hood up. Her violet gaze notes some of the other faces in the crowd, but there would be time for greetings.

If they survived this.

Hal Jordan has posed:
This moment has been awhile coming.

The looming threat of Galactus has troubled them for some time, has hung over their heads, kept the entire world gripped by the possibility of extinction for virutally their entire species.

They have sought allies, sought out weapons, sought out every possibiility that might possibly make a difference in the days to come.

But from that moment over the doomed planet of Tamaran it has been clear that their best hope was always going to be this. That they would have to find out what the Ultimate Nullifier is, how they could get their hands on it, and finally have the the chance to use it -- or at least the threat of using it -- against Galactus himself.

While the Guardians of the Universe might refuse to get involved, might insist that it is not their place to interfere with the natural order of the universe and the raw force of nature that is the Devourer of Worlds -- with the lone acception of Ganthet -- that doesn't mean that that Green Lantern Corps will stand aside. It certainly doesn't mean that that the Justice League, the protectors of that shining blue-green sphere that stands out particularly from the surface of the moon, will stand by.

And Hal Jordan is a member of both.

Of course he provides that glowing green aura of protection to those that need it, a shield against the unrelenting cold of the vacuum of space and a shield of another sort, limited though it might be from harm.

But Hal's eyes continue to scan the heavens even as their new ally, the Silver Surfer, speaks. As he opens that portal.

And his observation is rewarded, his call answered as new streaks of light -- these ones yellow -- race towards them, drawing up just short.

"Hal Jordan," come the precise clipped tones of Thall Sinestro, still looking so strange in his new yellow uniform, the Green of Will, of the Guardians of the Universe, forsaken for his new weapon of Fear. "We have come as promised. Let us put an end to this Devourer of Worlds. Let the Sinestro Corps that we are the proper hands to place the fate of the galaxy in," he says with that customary arrogance, his trio of disciples - -the monster Arkillo, the jealous Amon Sur and the Mysterious Lyssa Drak flanking him, sneers on their faces as they take in the assembled heroes, Green Lanterns among them.

Loki has posed:
    At first, there is only one bird. A relatively small black raven, glossy in feather and obsidian of beak. It arrives in a subtle rush of wind, wings flung wide to brake silently, before doing a little spiral in the air. Magic makes the shape of the bird warp, and it bursts into perhaps a dozen smaller ravens, illusory magic flooding over them with a brief tint of purple and teal.


The birds separate and spread out, like a magical, illusory recon team, to accompany different groups on the field. Their magic seeks out and flicks a mental feather across Monet's telepathy system, willing to join forces and allow a combined survey of the field.

    Fabian Cortez gets a special visit from one of the ravens, that circles in a graceful loop near him, interested, maybe, in the chaos that he could bring about.

    Loki himself is one of the ravens, mixed into the various illusions, flitting between the different images. The trickster god is mobile, watchful, and setting up his eyes throughout the groups.

Jon Kent has posed:
Is it possible that Superboy could have traveled on the trail of the Silver Surfer? It's highly probable. Was that going to be boring, just flying through space without the ability to have conversations for the ride and generally pick the brains of others? Absolutely. Which is precisely why when Sue Storm calls out for those who may need a ride to pile in, Superboy himself is quick - very quick - to suddenly be seated in the passenger seat of Sue's Fantasticar after calling out, "Shotgun!"

He tucks his cape behind himself in order to keep it out of the way and then looks to her with a warm smile, "Hi there, I'm Superboy. I've heard a lot about you, Invisible Woman. Do you mind if I call you Invisible Woman or would you prefer Missus Richards or...?"

Jon trails off so that he can take a breath, his smile never faltering. Plus he needs to give Sue time to answer!

As Superboy is settling in the quiet bark of excitement (and justice) from the back seat seems to indicate that Krypto has likewise joined in for the adventure. The Adele playing though seems to result in Jon turning his attention over his shoulder and toward the backseat, "Be careful back there, Krypto, I know you love Adele but let's just be calm and lay down, okay?"

Cain Marko has posed:
So they have to -fly- where they need to go. It figures. Fortunately as a card carrying member of The Justice League Dark and an erstwhile ally of The Brotherhood, Juggernaut's got options - especially if you want his muscle on a mission like this -- one that's certainly to devolve into an all out slugfest.

Therefore it is reasonable to see him within the expanded magnetic bubble summoned by The Master of Magnetism. He's one of the ones that'd be signing off on his checks after all if Polaris or Mystique haven't already gotten to it.

The grip of the magnetism upon the mystic metal of his armor might 'feel' strange to the touch of the mutant's power but between the amplification offered by Cortez and the willingness of The Juggernaut to be carried along for the ride he's an easy carry.

"Onna these days I'm gonna need t'recover my magic-mojo and get to figurin' out how to do a flyin' spell or something cause this is just ridiculous." he grumbles. You'd think he's tired of getting flung into space or into the middle of the ocean or something. "If you aim me at something...don't miss..." he implores Magneto as he crosses his enormous arms and remains standing upright within the field of power as the high velocity travel begins.

Drax has posed:
Cramped in back of the Rack 'N Ruin is Drax.  He is looking at his fingernails and trying to figure out a way to stretch out which isn't invasive to the cockpit.  Trying.

"Is it important which eye to close?"  Drax closes one eye, then the other, to see if there's any marked difference.  He knows Rocket is talking to Groot, but he just wants to see for himself.

Drax shifts and bumps something open with his elbow.

Alison Blaire has posed:
Alison Blaire is wearing her cute blue space outfit as she meets her friends the Guardians at the Justice League watchtower. She has reinforced boots that are really cute and slick in style. She has to maintain a certain level of style after all.

Alison climbs aboard Rocket and Groot and Drax's ricketity spacecraft, "Thanks for giving me a ride you guys. I haven't seen you in forever," she reminds them. She looks back at the Justice League watchtower and the Earth as the ship blasts off to follow the Silver Surfer. She crosses her arms a bit quietly and looks over at Drax and then smiles at Groot.

Norrin Radd has posed:
The course the Surfer charts through spacetime is one to challenge human preconception of that same concept. To the Asgardians, it is akin to travel on the Bifrost, and to the Lanterns and space-farers a cousin to normal Hyperspace travel, yet not entirely the same. In some ways it is more bounded by 'physical' space, yet also more capable of bending those rules and forms.

For all, by whatever means they travel, they witness their local reality through the lens of higher dimensions. They look one way and see the sun diminished to a pinprick, look another and realize they are riding the crest of a solar flare like a more earthbound surfer does a wave. The planets, and other objects of meaningful gravity become marker-stones on their path, weaving amidst them, toward, away.

Objects blink in and out of view in strange skewing perspectives, random-seeming at first, yet slowly resolving toward a kind of meaning. There are specific horizons that seem to limit their sight, their travel, places where the course must turn and _go around_, for whatever that concept means here. As they travel, these boundaries start to take shape, felt by their immense gravity alone.

That shape, it turns out, is their destination.

As the Surfer's path travels at what one might call a tangent to the usual spatial curvature, suddenly, they can see it: they are not going toward something, so much as they are already inside it, sailing through the space contained by what is an incomprehensibly large vessel or station in the shape of a Moebis strip, its main construction a great twisting chrome tubular form, adorned with... a rather ramschackle collection of devices and antenae of unknown purpose, quite chaotic for what some might perceive as a Godlike being.

Like every encounter with Galactus, the size and scale of the whole thing feels strangely incongruous, almost as if things become smaller as they get nearer, rather than what most would expect to be the opposite. Still, the scale remains grandiose. The Surfer's path loops through the structure and toward a vast open window, not unlike a hangar bay.

"Be wary. They come."

It is here, inevitably, that the challenges rise. They will spot three twinkling lights that become flying figures, corckscrewing through space in ways not unlike the Surfer himself. One is not unlike Sue's own brother in appearance, a seeming man of flame though armed with a silvery staff. The other wears a strange silver shirt and cowl with a sun-like symbol, as is carried by 'wings' of crackling cosmic power, almost angel-like. The last rides a meteor-like chunk of rock, brandishing an axe. Firelord, Air-Walker (yeah, who knows about that second name...) and Terrax.

Theirs is not the only reaction, however. As this attack comes in force - Hal with his new allies, multiple vehicles, everything - there is no doubt that whatever sort of 'alarm' the entire station is capable of is activated. It does not deploy weapons, as such, but vehicle sensors, Rings, and other such things will identify various odd power sources triggered in response to their arrival.

The Surfer himself does not engage the two other fliers, but continues straight toward that Hangar bay.

Rocket has posed:
"What the flark?"

"I am Groot?"

Swatting around his head, Rocket attempts to bat the Magical Loki Raven out of his airspace, with no success. As it flies past him and near Groot, the most plant-like of the Guardians also tries to swat the raven, which goes right over his head. Apparently his reflexes aren't too fast. But as their pilot takes his hands off the controls, the ship begins veering out of control, long enough for Rocket to provide some helpful feedback.

"D'AST! Watch the road! We ain't got no insurance!"

"I am Groot..."

"Of course that ain't legal! We're bad guys!"

"I am Groot..."

"Oh right... well... maybe we'll get Quill to buy us some insurance then."

It looks like the ship is straightening out again, when SOMEBODY bumps something open with his elbow. The contents of one of Rocket's liquor cabinets begin spilling out into the ship, leading to horrified gasps from both Rocket and Groot!

"Holy krutack! My booze!"

"I am Groot!"

Practically leaping back toward the rear of the ship, Rocket scrambles to pick up the bottles that Drax scattered with his careless display of might. He shouldn't be so concerned, it's all rotgut anyway.

Already their flight is devolving into chaos, and they've barely left the Moon's surface.

The raven lands on Groot's head.

"Hey Dazz... little tied up back here. Can you stab that bird real quick before it has babies?"

But as the Heralds begin their approach, the priorities change suddenly. They'll have to put 'exterminate the creepy Loki birds' at number two on their to do list.

"I AM GROOT!"

"OH FLARK! We gotta man the guns! Are you two rated for a Coagulox Anti-Matter De-Moleculizer Splodo-Ray?"

Looking back and forth between Drax and Dazzler, Rocket points at the entrances to the ship's guns, located on the top and bottom of the ship, and accessible through somewhat cramped-fitting, somewhat rusted, ports.

Thor has posed:
    "Take thy place behind them, brother," Thor calls to the flock of dark birds, spotting the figure of Loki amongst them, "And weave thy cunning trickery!"

    For all his understanding of tactics, however, he knows better than to attempt command of an army so diverse in ability and demeanour. Instead, he presents himself as a beacon of resistance to the approaching heralds. Let the others go about their mission, for battle cannot commence without Thor!

    The largest of them, the rocky Terrax, draws the Thunderer's eye. He ceases to fly forward, hovering in space. Mjolnir is thrust before him, and from it a bolt of blinding white and blue is fired at Galactus' earthen herald.

    "To thy ravenous gluttony, I say thee ... NAY!"

Monet St. Croix has posed:
They've barely fought off one Herald in the past by swarming them and breaking them bit by bit. Facing three at once will push them to their limits. But now? Now they have things that they did not the other times. Monet goes to grit her teeth and goes to take a breath in and goes to keep the group coordinated as she works at maintaining a mental map to everyone within the telepathic range of the location of Galactus' large ship, the oncoming Heralds, and the position of the moon. It's a tricky bit for humans - that aren't necessarily used to the frame of reference in space, where there's no horizon, and thus no real concept of 'Up'. But Monet goes to translate it into more of something like a three dimensional hologram, a big blip for the Worldship, and for each of teh glowing Heralds, and the Surfer going to try and race on past them. They're past the point of negotiations now.

Monet takes a breath <<Their reserves of power are finite and they can run out and be overwhelmed by multiple attackers and worn down. However, given the proximity to their Master they may be quickly refreshed.>> A quick explanation given as to how the Heralds were defeated in previous engagements - and a warning that the same way may not work this time.

Monet goes to send Loki a telepathic link, and then over to Clea. <<Are those things vulnerable to magical illusions? At a strategic time if they can be disoriented, it could leave them vulnerable>> The Heralds were immune to telepathy, but maybe not magic? Then she warns over to Jon and Divine <<Somehow, when they fought Superman they were able to depower him. Engage with hit and run attacks and do not get in a prolonged melee. Stay mobile>>

Eve Wilkins has posed:
This might well be one of the most powerful teams (or maybe at this point army) that Eve had ever been part of. With the flock of revens behind them? Well, it did look -extra- dramatic. Of course, looks weren't her real concern when she was in the midst of avoiding what was apparently instant-death rivers and super-powered heralds of a cosmic being.

Of course, going into a place like this? Where physics and chemistry were...inconsistant? Well, it sent Eve's perception of all those components, forces and possibilities into overdrive. It was almost enough to make her dizzy...

Loki has posed:
    "Behind you, you mean?" one of the Loki-ravens caws at Thor, unable to resist a brief spark of snark. "Always taking all the spotlight. Hmph." But that doesn't mean Loki is taking on any spotlight here. Nope, staying low.

<< Most beings are vulnerable to trusting in their own senses. >> Loki answers Monet slyly. Sensory confusion, sowing doubt, disorientation.

Loki does stay behind Thor, but perhaps more accurately is near Clea, a fellow magic user, in a raven shapeshifted form. He is starting to add additional magic illusory 'allies', additional targets, to the field. A flying monkey, some extra battleships, a few extra Superheroes in tights. All illusion, but he's adding more threatening targets to absorb some attention. Loki is playing defensive line, for the moment.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Mark's breath caught as the chaos unfolded around him. One second, he was flying alongside Atom Eve, catching his bearings after the mind-bending teleportation, and the next, the surreal vision of Galactus' space station loomed ahead, its architecture alien and foreboding. Streams of un-life energy erupted from the station, twisting through the void like cosmic vipers.

"Watch out!" Mark shouted, narrowly dodging one of the energy streams. His Viltrumite reflexes kicked in as he weaved and corkscrewed through the barrage, the energy close enough to make his hair stand on end. "What is this stuff? Eve, are you able to figure it out-?"

Before he could finish, three twinkling lights ahead solidified into figures, each more intimidating than the last. The flaming figure with the silvery staff roared toward them, his heat so intense Mark could feel it even through the vacuum. The winged being radiated cosmic power, its form almost serene yet terrifying, while the figure riding the rock and wielding an axe was the very picture of raw, destructive force.

"Great. More Heralds. Just what we needed," Invincible muttered under his breath, his jaw tightening as he surged forward, trying to keep pace with the Surfer. The alien hero hadn't slowed, cutting a direct path toward the hangar bay, seemingly unbothered by the chaos erupting around them.

<<We have to trust the Surfer knows what he's doing,>> Mark said over their comm link, dodging another surge of un-life energy. He gritted his teeth. <<Even if it means we're gonna have to play defense while he->>

The flaming herald, Firelord, dove toward them with a thunderous cry, his staff crackling with energy. Invincible barely managed to twist away, the staff's edge grazing his shoulder. The force sent him spinning momentarily before he righted himself, glaring at the herald.

"Okay, guess we're doing this!" he shouted, shooting forward to intercept Air-Walker. "Cover me! I'm going after the shiny winged guy, just don't let that axe guy sneak up on me!" And with that, he cuts away from Firelord, for the moment.

Divine has posed:
Divine doesn't look at or think too hard about the seemingly circuitous route they take to end up at their destination. She'd much rather not, thank you. The space they end up in makes her lip curl a little in annoyance, but she nods as Monet speaks along the link. <<I remember that, it was... not something I want to be the focus of.>>

She's got a few ideas about trying to rip materials free and use them, but she's not willing to think that too loudly. Hit and run's an excellent choice, as is the advice to stay mobile. <<You too,>> she cautions Monet. <<Don't make it easy for them to catch you.>>

Susan Richards has posed:
Sue had looked over to the two Kryptonians when they joined her in her car. She'd offered them a quick smile, before the space worthy vehicle was out in the vacuum of infinite unknown. "Sue is fine." She told Jon, as she navigated the vehicle to trail after the Surfer, a max amount of speed applied via the car's throttle, which had the little pill shaped vehicle sputtering along at a trmendous speed. "You're the son of Superman, right?" She asked, as she was making small talk. Her eyes looked up at the rear view hologram, and with the sight of Krypto back there, Sue suddenly had a memory strike her.

"Oh! Here..." She leaned forward, and opened a compartment on the dashboard, before she fished out a few dog treats that fell in to her light blue gloved hand. She offered them back to Krypto, with a curious look to Jon. "He like these?" She asked, while in the process of offering. "The bank just gives you these things, like even if you don't have a dog in the car. I think they just want to give a treat, but honestly... it kinda makes me self concious..." She smirked, as the vehicle caught the tail wind of the Surfer, and the speed got much faster.

Sue keyed on an open comm channel.

<"Sue Richards here."> her voice traveled over the network of any connected allies. <"The Surfer's attack plan here, he does not have a lot of confidence in it. But with all of your help. Maybe we'll have a chance at something big. I believe in you all, if that helps. I'm going to be doing some serious science shit in the background, so if I get in any trouble, I'll graciously ask for your help before I get demolished. If you need a exit, take it. don't die here..."> She added, upon seeing what was coming up.

Sue felt her stomach drop a bit, at the strange sight of what laid ahead, but once they were engaged, she had her AI system already scanning...

Hal Jordan has posed:
Sinestro was his mentor, was regarded as the greatest of the Green Lantern Corps.

In his own way, he was -- is -- a friend, despite their considerable differences. But it is almost impossible for Hal Jordan not to feel a little ill at ease having him and his new found allies so close, their sneering contempt almost palpable, the rage of Amon Sur -- his predecesor's own son -- being particularly palpable every time his gaze turns towards the Lantern who wield's his deceased father's ring.

But they did answer the call. At that disasterous meeting on Oa where the Guardians of the Universe refused their help, refused their support, Sinestro swore to find the power to assist them, swore to find the power to uncover all of the Guardians little secrets. Whether the power of Fear is truly the answer is... debatable. Certainly Hal has his doubts.

But they are not exactly in a position to turn down assistance from anyone. And they are hardly the only questionable allies that they have with them here today. At least Hal has Kyle nearby, among numerous other friendly faces that he can depend on.

The trip along the Surfer's path is... unique to say the least, even for one who has seen as much of the galaxy, has seen so many of the wonders and terrors that it possesses, as Hal Jordan. The shifting changes in perspective could easily be a lot for anyone to deal with, but that is exactly what he does without flinching, soaring along stoically until they approach -- or simply appear amongst -- that tremendous World Ship.

How they would have got here without the Surfer's aid is... questionable. And yet, as those three points of power seem to emerge from the... calling it a craft, a vessel seems inadequate... and as other defenses turn their way, the green glow of Will increases in intensity around the Lantern and Hal prepares to help the rest of the group take whatever initial volley is coming their way.

It would appear, however, that his allies have a diffent idea in mind.

"Now Jordan, you will see just how potent the power of Fear truly is. With me, my Corps," Sinestro says, clipped tones dripping with all that arrogance as he and the tree other Yellow Lanterns leap on ahead, speeding up to break away from the mass, to hone in on the Herald known as the Air-Walker, beams of concentrated fear lashing out ahead of them, blasting towards the 'angel of doom' with their searing, cutting intensity.

Gritting teeth, Hal watches them leap ahead without waiting, without considering the rest, but he holds back, instead wrapping up those nearby in that emerald glow, focusing instead on those pinpricks of light that race towards them, the defenses of the World Ship turned their way.

"Kyle, run interference for the others and look for your opportunity to counter-attack," he urges, even as his ring flares and dozens of green energy constructs form up, great medieval tower shields the size of skyscrappers lurching outward to intercept the assault.

Drax has posed:
Drax doesn't seem that bothered by the raven.  "A bird," he observes, to no one's benefit.  He's able to keep stable when the ship sways.  When Rocket dashes back to take care of the bottles, Drax tries to reach down and grab one of the bottles.  He makes a straining noise.

"I can shoot anything that goes boom."  Drax assumes that a something that is anti matter and splodo must make booms.  He reaches out for a handhold and then tries to awkwardly move past Dazzler like he's in a movie theater.

Once he's out of sight, all that is heard is, "It's time to destroy!" followed by a guffaw as he lets the ray rip toward Terrax to put the pressure on him.

Clea has posed:
Ravens? In Space? Probably Loki. Clea's tracking the pseudo-Avenger as the ravens flit here and there as the large group that has gathered flies, drives and propels.

She was just about to answer Monet would Loki gives his input and there is a smile from the woman, <<He is correct, though I have not tried illusions on them previously, maybe that is something his Highness can help with.>> she comments.

And with that, Clea draws forth energy from the Dark Dimension and herself to start creating illusions for the incoming Heralds.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle flies around for a moment. Trying to dodge everything. Just doing sudden veers and drops. Then he sees the three dots on the horizon. Oh, great. Heralds. Kyle knows how m uch power they pack and it seems like they might be stronger somehow.

Oh, so now he just sees how it's unfolding. The heralds are going after targets, if they're not dealing with a hero coming at them. Thinking on it, Kyle decides to go for the flaming one threatening some of the other titans. Focus, he just tries hit and run tactics. A fly by while firing of some pot shots, trying to distract the flaming one in this moment more than anything. Doing what Hal says before giving the order.

And he curves around trying to do the same for the big one with the ax. The shots are longer, wider, but he is just trying to throw people off while looking for his opening. Then he just keeps on course. Weaving in and out while taking shots. Kyle's mostly vested in just moving and shooting, not seeing if they connect.

Fabian Cortez has posed:
Cortez's attention shifts to the approach of the black bird without understanding what it is. Weird Birds. Creepy. It Isn't a Mutant nor Mutant made, so he cares much less, but will remain unsettled. Animals don't generally like Cortez. The shell of glass providing oxygen that has been added to his suit will be checked once more, the raven given another dispassionate glance, and they are off.

The horrible sinking feeling that Yes, it really should have been Exodus here risking life and limb and not himself is reaffirmed. Does the teleporter back to Astroid M work this far away? Cortez really doesn't want to risk it, so surviving this has just become far more important to him than it previously was.

As it is with the appearance of the Heralds, Cortez's attention immediately shifts to Magneto, pushing power into the man, sharpening that already ridiculous gift into something far-greater. It's a familiar thing, a thing he failed to maintain only a week ago.

Consentration began, Cortez will drop back in the pack, more towards the middle where risk to self is reduced, his guns out, but his main job here is not his own firepower and he knows that.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
    The journey is a bit disorienting, but you wouldn't know it by looking at Magneto. Impassive as ever he follows the Surfer, his extra senses trying to make sense of the gravitational fields as they approach Galactus' ship. Once it comes into focus an eyebrow raises at the size of the thing, but that's the extent of his outward reaction.

    When the Heralds come into sight, it's time to prepare. Glancing in Fabian's direction, the Master of Magnetism feels his powers boosted by his Acolyte. Then he reaches out and starts pulling antennae and other small projections off the ship, setting them to orbiting around him as an additional layer outside his shield. This gives him excess metal at hand should the need come up.

    From beneath his cloak, he produces something new - a golden sword, somewhat oddly curved and with the edge somehow blurry. Stopping Stryfe from stealing Apocalypse's power had also given him the opportunity to acquire one of the Celestial weapons the First Mutant had armed his guards with. Given what they're facing today, maybe it will help even the playing field just a bit.

    Sword in hand, he moves to follow the Surfer - they're here for the Nullifier, not to waste time fighting the muscle. Should one come his way, he'll worry about it then.

Alison Blaire has posed:
"Bird?" Alison questions Rocket, "Whoa, there's a bird in here," she notes with squinty eyes, watching it swoop past Drax. "Okay no problem..." she tells him.

Alison jumps into mission ready mode, sitting down to change into her antigrav space-action ROLLER SKATES, old school powerful feet boots of tremendous disco power. She stands up with a smile but ducks as the bird swoops down at her next. "You know, if we could protect light out into space, maybe we can super power Superboy or ...somebody else like a microwave. I'm pretty sure I could energize superheroes who need it. Or maybe I could fire some beams themselves--" she muses, maybe confusing her science, maybe confusing herself. She is distracted from this thought as the black bird swoops down at her again. "Hey!" She starts skating after it. She skates and skates and does a cute twist and turn and spin. She dazzles and sparkles. "I'll try to keep it out of the cockpit at least."

Alison stops skating and considers being a super cool gunner, but gets nervous as she says, "I think I'll leave that to Drax," she stumbles as he pushes past her awkwardly and she eyes him as if asking what the heck he's doing. "Can you guys totally turn the tunes on?" she wonders.

Jon Kent has posed:
"That's right, Sue," Jon answers the question that Sue poses regarding his own relationship to Superman and slips in a use of the desired name as well. The appearance of treats finds Krypto perking himself up and practically leaning his snow white head over the seat that Jon occupies and Jon's own shoulder. He doesn't attempt to snatch the treats away, but Jon still issues a calmly spoken, "Eeeaaassyyyy," to remind Krypto not to take a finger with the treats. "They just give them away? And they say there's no such thing as a free lunch, right, Krypto?" Jon asks the backseat pooch with a lopsided grin.

Then it's back to Sue and then ahead again when the points of light appear in the distance. Sue's broadcast across the open channel causes Jon to glance toward her and then ahead again. "I'm going to take a couple deep breaths and when you signal, can you eject me or something? I should probably get out there and start helping. If you need me though? Call for me and I'll come as fast as I can," Superboy explains with a cheerful smile despite the impending calamity and doom.

"Krypto, you ready too? I need you with me, buddy," Jon explains while reaching back to give the dog a quick rub of his palm atop his head while Krypto's busy enjoying what could be his last delicious meal.

Cain Marko has posed:
Juggernaut sees Terrax. Juggernaut sees Thor go right for Terrax. Juggernaut fumes.

"You kill-stealin' blonde haired cheater! I wanted to solo that guy and take 'im down!" This is all because he can't fly isn't it.

Bracing himself, Juggernaut flickers his gaze this way and that, attempting to gain -some- semblance of the construction of this place and when he spots when he thinks is some sort of stable platform or oversized protruding bit of technology large enough for him ... he leans his body forward, pushing against the grip of the electromagnetic field encompassing him and then lunges his massive body into motion - bursting free of the bubble just as Magneto himself begins summoning pieces of the environment around.

Juggernaut flips and then tumbles downward towards the platform only to realize it's rapidly becoming -smaller- instead of larger. "Oh sh--" he snarls out before adjsuting his momentum to land atop it violently and avoid rolling right off of it. It turns out he's more dexterous then his immensity would suggest and he manages to maintain his balance before then turning his attention towards Thor and Terrax. An instant later..he's crouched ...and then a thunderous leap occurs as he springs forth from the platform, hurtling through the air in a lunging leap that'd make Hulk call up his cousin for a trademark infringement suit. The lancing blasts of energy splash against his form, splaying rays of power in numerous directions but Juggernaut keeps going - hurtling in towards Terrax and Thor as he cocks his arm backwards and flexres boulder sized muscles. Once close enough - he swings, bringing the fist around with a shockwave rippling into being just from the sheer momentum of the swing, not to mention his leap.

If he's lucky....he might not even hit Thor by accident!

Norrin Radd has posed:
Their prior contests offer a good bit of knowledge on the Heralds of Galactus. Individually, each has certain powers, granted by birth (or construction), over earth, fire, and so on, but these are not the whole sum of their ability. Each gifted a small portion of the Power Cosmic, they display immense strength, and near-immortality thrhough self-healing, or can channel that power to work stranger miracles upon the fabric of reality. It is limited only, really, by the nature of the gift itself: a portion, a mote, an allowance of power. Great, but not infinite, for Galactus is ever economical in his gifts.

Terrax they know best by now, and he is very much the right subject for Thor's challenge (or is he really just racist against rock people?!). Prior encounters mark him as a space tyrant and conqueror even before he was a Herald. Domination is in his nature.

And so, on that hurtling rock, he barrels forward to clash axe to hammer, delivering an impact that even Thor will find jarring.

What is more surprising is the secod and third swings that follow in less-than the blink of an eye, speed uncanny for a man apparently man of stone.

While Terrax leads the brute forward assault, the Air-Walker and Firelord remain more mobile, both directing energy blasts toward the incoming group, although the multiplicity of targets that Loki and Clea conjure do a great deal absorbing the initial volleys, as do Hal's shields. This is good, because as even one stray scrapes the shields on the Rack 'n Ruin, the ship shudders with the impact, while a half-dozen warning lights immediately start complaining.

Several heroes converge on the Air-Walker, and Mark gets there first. Unlike Terrax, raw power is not his philosophy and with a flicker of motion - or is it even motion? - he is not where he was a moment before, and Mark finds himself on the receiving end of one of those blasts. As the Yellow Lanterns come in behind him, the same thing repeats: here and there, he blinks in and out of apparent existence, never where an attack is, and using any overly-aggressive attack as an opening to offer a counter of his own.

Firelord, meanwhile, plays neither brute nor skirmisher. He is raw artillery: while the initial volley of blasts seemed managable, his second set of volleys is more devastating. Conjuring orbs at the top and bottom ends of his staff, he spins it and then hurls them forward in a quick one-two, each sailing outward into the midst of as many heroes as he can find, and then exploding in what may as well be small suns of energy. The Lanterns are the main target, since there's a lot of them, but the blasts threaten one and all!

Back at the Terrax battle, he's held from a FOURTH swing against Thor in that eye-blink worth of time as a volley his him from behind. The ship guns mostly tickle, but still, it's energy, a cost to pay. More than that, it's a brief enough distraction that Juggernaut's approach is covered, although as he sails into the melee to land a blow, like Thor he may too be surprised by just how well Terrax takes it, head turning, but standing strong. No, he's not going to dodge aside. He's going to 2v1 them, to prove who the Conqueror is, here.

As the Surfer approaches the gate, there is a brief glance behind him, when Magneto follows him toward the apparent entrway. "This task is my burden, you-"

The whole thing is cut short as space seems to tear itself apart along a long, slash-like path, making the Surfer twist desperately sideways on his board, and threatening Magneto and anyone else behind. Tracing it back, the source is obvious: another alien with an axe (lots of trademark issues around here!), and orange-brown, rough, spikey skin. Some of them have faced Morg before, as well.

The Surfer surges forward toward him at incredible speed.

Meanwhile, the sensors on the various vehicles and fingers continue to complain. Spatial anomalies. Coordinate errors. Error error error.

Rocket has posed:
The attempted cleanup of the Rakk 'n' Ruin's liquor selection is going poorly. For outside the ship, battle has been joined. Each time he's nearly got all of the bottles wrangled, Groot does some sort of 'maneuver' and causes the entire collection to spread around the cabin once again. So far, the ship has remained undamaged, or at least not damaged by anything that happened on this particular mission.

"The flark's goin' on up there?" The irritable rodent hollers at his co-pilot, who for some undisclosed reason has been selected as the main pilot for this mission.

The reason is that Rocket flew on the way to Earth. Fair's fair.

"I am Groot!" The Flora Colossus answer testily, growing a second set of limbs that he might better handle the controls. Say what you will about his methods, but he's managed to keep the ship from getting immediately destroyed, and that's actually kind of impressive.

"You were only supposed to keep one eye covered during the swirly thing! Now you're supposed to open both of them!"

"... I am Groot..."

Finally the liquor bottles are policed up, and Rocket carries one of them into the ship's Other Gun Bay. Strapping himself in and taking a swig of Ymir's Emiction, Rocket brings the guns online. A psychotic grin spreads across his face as he begins firing at the Firelord.

"DRINK ANTI-MATTER, SCUZZBAG!"

Up in the cockpit, Groot uses one of his extra hands to turn on the ship's sound system, which is in all honesty quite a bit of a downgrade from the Milano's. Still, the slightly tinny speakers are still capable of belting out...

'Rock Me Amadeus' by Falco

Monet St. Croix has posed:
As the battle picks up in full, Monet can only stare for just a few moments at the exchange that is the Heralds not holding back, and their allies going all out. There is a flash as she analyses the way they fight. Terrax with brute force, Firelord with massive explosions, and Airwalker seems to be simply teleporting about and blasting at will in precise attacks.

For now, Airwalker is the most dangerous due to his mobility and that he's using hit and run. Monet goes to close her eyes to try and get a handle on him.. His mind is slippery, even for a Herald's and she can't -quite- get a sense of it. She can't influence him, she can't put pressure on him.. She tries to trakc him over as he teleports around, rapidly trying to get a sense of the pattern that he uses here.. Then her eyes snap open and she goes to immediately put out a -feeling- as she goes to coordinate iwth the other heroes int he area.

She gives a quick sensation, a pulse of power right over near Airwalker. It takes a great deal of effort, but she can just put a small bubble there of pretense for just a moment, calling out to Loki to aid her if possible, and to Atom Eve, that she's seen influence reality.. And to Clea, if the Faltine is not fully in the melee. As best she can, she tracks, she times..

And then there's a flash as Airwalker goes to just where she thinks that he's going to be. And she's given the locationa nd timing to everyone in the area that she can contact tleepathically if they want to hammer him before he can get away

Susan Richards has posed:
The Fantasticar is keeping a wide perimeter on the bulk of the heated fighting, but it is trying its best to not be an obvious target. At the behest of Sue's piloting abilities, the vehicle performs a tight corkscrew manuever through some of the flashy dangers bursting off around them, before the blonde looks over to the young man on her left. She casts him a reserved smile, before she draws in a light breath, and a pale blue bubble spreads out around her body, sealing her in to a protective space. The blue energy slowly becomes more translucent, allowing the two to see one another again, as Sue reaches for the controls.

"Good luck out there, you two. Try not to get hurt. I probably will need your help." She tells him, before she activates the eject sequence for Jon's seat specifically, assuming that if he's taking his dog out there with him, the dog will follow on his own.

Once she's managed that, Sue returns her gaze to her dash displays, and she begins a focused scan on something specific that has come up. "Hmm, that's interesting..." she mutters to herself, as she suddenly breaks off her flight path, and sends the space-car rapidly spiraling through some of the obstacles outside, casting away a small nebula of gasses, leaving a trail of sparkling stars in the wake of the car.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Mark grunts as the blast connects, the cosmic energy burning into his side and sending him careening through space. He clenched his jaw, forcing his flight path to stabilize as the pain rippled through him. Anger flared in his chest as he turned his glare back to the Air-Walker, who now hovered with an unsettling calm amidst the chaos.

"Watch him for a pattern!" Mark shouted to the Yellow Lanterns, his voice cutting through the din of battle. "He's not where he's supposed to be-figure it out!"

Karu-Sil snarled, her feral instincts driving her forward despite Mark's warning. She dives at Air-Walker, her constructs lashing out like a pack of wild beasts. But the herald flickered, and in an instant, he was no longer there. A beam of cosmic energy erupted in his wake, catching Karu-Sil mid-flight and sending her spiraling into the void with a cry of frustration.

"Dammit!" Mark snapped, watching her tumble away. "Stop going in without a plan!"

Seer Ruggle tries next, the bomber Lantern forming an explosive orb of yellow energy in her hands. She hurls it towards Air-Walker with a frustrated grunt, but the result was the same-the herald blinked out of existence, the bomb detonating harmlessly in the vacuum. Ruggle growled in frustration, readying another attack.

"This isn't working!" Mark shouted, dodging another flicker of motion as Air-Walker reappeared near him and fired again, causing him to dodge. "He's blinking away from every direct attack!"

Amidst the chaos, the slug-like Low drifts silently, his gelatinous body glowing with a sickly yellow light. Without a word, he latched onto the Air-Walker's back as the herald dodged another assault, the wet sound of his impact almost audible in the vacuum.

Mark rockets toward Air-Walker, but as he closed the distance, the herald flickered again. In an instant, Mark found himself in the path of another blast. The energy tore into him, sending him reeling with a growl of pain. He spun, forcing himself upright, his teeth clenched in determination.

"Alright," he muttered, eyes narrowing as he locked onto the Air-Walker. "If raw power's not gonna work, let's see how you handle something else." as he sends a message to Eve. <<Little help, love?>>

Drax has posed:
"Hey!  No booms!"  Drax says with great disappointment as his blasts don't explode everything immediately.  He sighs and then reaches out to touch the hull of the ship when it shudders.  "Still one piece, many pieces together that came to be one," he tries to straighten it out, then doubles down with Rocket on the Firelord while Thor and Juggernaut take care of Terrax.

"If this doesn't work, I'll have to get out take care of them myself," Drax says with sincere determination set in his eyes right before unloading another burst at the Firelord.

Loki has posed:
    Loki wasn't really focused on the illusion that was located in the Guardian ship. But it's being attacked and chased and Loki gives it a bit of his attention, finally. "I'm here for communication. I am not vermin. This is insulting," the raven caws in irritation at Dazzler and Drax. It has stopped dodging, but since it's illusory anyway... attacks pass through it. "I have coordinates for attack." The raven is very grumpy though, as if requiring apology before sharing coordinates. After all, decorum is still important for some illusion birds!

    < Mmmmhm > Loki answers Monet. One of the illusion battleships that Loki created seems to suddenly have an issue, blasted hard by one of the Heralds! It spews huge beams of energy, spinning out of control, wildly. The energy from it appears to blast other illusion heroes, who scream in extreme pain, their faces melting, as the ship kareens. What a powerful ship! It appears to regain control, but it's back is open, giving a MOMENT to tempt Air-Walker to appear to finish the ship off. He'd just need to be where Monet wants him to be, to take the shot.

    Loki's Illusory Bait Manuever <tm>, usually used to draw enemies into range of other traps. Enemies often enjoy feeling clever or getting in the kill shot, after all...

Thor has posed:
    "Still thy tongue, Unstoppable One," Thor calls to the Juggernaut over the din of battle, "Tis glory enough for all to sup in my Father's Hall ere their long journey ends!"

    So, a second player has entered the game? Thor has come a long way from the young (by Asgardian standards, at least) man who arrogantly strove to be better than all others. Nowadays, he is able to recognize the skills of others or, in the case of the Juggernaut, the raw strength imbued in them.

    "I have met thy patron, Cyttorak, in his Crimson Palace! You earn his blessings when wielding them in service of Midgard!"

    Thor takes advantage of Terrax being distracted by the blasts from the ship and the blows from Juggernaut. He clutches Mjolnir by its leather thong, turning it in his hands until it glows with otherworldly might before clutching the haft and driving it upwards into the Conqueror's jaw.

    "Thy conquest ends here, Man of Stone!"

Fabian Cortez has posed:
Everything is Awful. Cortez would really like to hang out in one spot and shoot things while he does the very important work of making Eric Lehnsherr more terrifying than usual. Cortez's attention is slip between maintaining Magneto's increased power and shooting, but a blast intended for the Yellow Lanterns will throw him back as well. Not accustomed to movement in space, with or without a jetpack, he goes spinning away from the fight with alarming speed.

The time it takes to regain control and start back is a panic-filled one, but will be managed. Taking the opportunity to right himself and skirt around the outskirts of the fight, darting between illusionary blasts and real ones without caring which is which. Cortez will push out on the telepathic comms, <<I'm much more helpful less in danger, someone on a ship want to swap places with me?>>

This is Not Cowardice. This is Practicality.

Alison Blaire has posed:
Alison Blaire puts on a pair of sunglasses and smiles as the tunes start, which are needed because she supes up the anti matter as she says, "Hey Drax, check this out! I've been thinking about testing this idea!" she lets out. Her hands go up in the air and she does some disco disco dance dance moves to music. She rolls around on her roller skates, rocking some light energy into the spaceship. Her light energy goes off from her hands and into the spaceship itself! The light energy mysteriously mixes into the gun salvos and other technical stuff, surging and pulsing into the turret itself until the weapon glows yellow and pink in a cute way. The energy mixes with the anti matter in a very technical and scientific way, charging the energy into a more powerful blast than the ricketity ship was initially capable of.

Alison stops as the black bird divebombs her again and she eyes it critically. She opens the cargo hold door and turns back to the bird intently, skating to the tunes with style. She lets off a sparkling dazzle from her fingertips as the bird turns to prepare its next run toward her, and it maybe could be confused with a CAW CAW as Alison lets off more light! Maybe. Alison sparkle dazzles, sparkle flashes the bird back toward the cargo hold and she waves her hands frantically around, which maybe could be really encouraging and confusing. Maybe. She hopes to trap the bird in the cargo hold.

Clea has posed:
Clea's relieved that the first of the volley was greatly absorbed by the illusions, but she's not relying solely on that in this situation. She directs more illusions, seeing if Air-Walker is going to take the bait of Loki's distressed ship before unloading any heavy duty spells onto the Herald.

Cain Marko has posed:
So he wants a 2 v 1 with the likes of these two? Bold ...even for a herald.

Either way, the thunderous *TWHOOM* of his impact resounds across the battlefield, joining its roaring volume with the impact of Thor's hammer an Terrax's axe. Terrax holds fast against the blow, meeting it as its shockwave ripples out around the trio. The fact that Terrax took the hit dead on is noted, but not utterly surprising. Hulk, Thor, Superman, Black Adam ... People have taken opening strikes from The Juggernaut and held their ground.

But will he keep up.

Though the question of if Thor and Juggernaut will actually be able to work -together- or not is ....uh...a pretty big one and could possibly swing this in the wrong direction very, very quickly..

"Yeah, yeah, blondie. I got ya covered." Juggernaut growls out as the fist that slammed into Terrax quickly attempts to wrap a palm able to wrap about the roof of a car, over the stone mans head and yank him backwards while his other arm swings up to pull Terrax into a crushing grasp against his gigantic body...pitting his unstoppable strength against the heralds cosmic infused might to keep him steady for Thor.

Looks like they can team up after all! Thor's 'graciousness' seems to have done the deed here and though one can't say this is a 'kinder gentler Juggernaut' per se... he's been tempered enough in recent months to not just fly off the handle.

Yet at least.

"Let 'im have it!"

Jon Kent has posed:
"Thanks a lot, Sue!" Jon answers back at her preparing to eject him into space from the Fantasticar. Really, she's doing him a big favor. Krypto, too! His hair tasseled by the tight corkscrew maneuver, it does little to diminish the Boy Next Door vibes that he seems to exude. "You ready, Krypto? Stay close to me, okay?" There's a bark that almost seems like an affirmative, but dogs can't try to relate complex thoughts. Everyone knows that.

Krypto wastes no time scrambling over the seat and settling happily onto Jon's lap and Superboy gives the goodest boy one last pet between the ears. He takes in a long, deep breath and...

They are launched from the Fantasticar and it continues speeding away, leaving Superboy and Krypto the Superdog to float in space for a moment. Gathering their bearings, Superboy sends a nod the way of Krypto and the pair take off. They fly together with Superman's son and dog staggered slightly in their alignment, but not leaving one another beyond the easy reach of the other. Jon's arms stretch out before him and his fists seem to lead the way, while Krypto's legs and paws curl beneath his body and turn him into a fur missile as son and dog travel together.

They've got their target and it's the artillery that Jon and Krypto head. The Firelord is raining destruction down from a distance and with his and Krypto's incredible speed, it would be foolish not to employ it against someone hoping to maintain the advantage of distance. Superboy banks to his left and Krypto to the right, with the pair looking to come in from different angles on the fiery Herald. A fiery ball of energy sends Superboy barrel rolling away to avoid its passage and Krypto continues surging forward. Teeth grit and Jon urges himself forward, faster and harder.

Superboy comes in high with a fist leading the way. The whirling staff of the Firelord swats Superboy aside and away, sending him practically cartwheeling through space before he can arrest his movement, shift himself about, and preparing to launch himself at the Herald again.

In the meantime Krypto takes advantage of the opening that the Firelord creates in swatting Superboy aside and, in true dog fashion, bites down on the giant stick at the Firelord whirls about in a bid to snatch the biggest - and thus best - stick ever away from the Firelord.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
    "It's also the reason we're all here, making it foolish to attempt alone" Magneto replies to the Surfer.

    And proving his words a touch prophetic, the fourth of Galactus' Heralds makes his appearance in the Surfer's path. As the Surfer moves in to engage Morg, Magneto hovers to a stop, eyes locked on the Herald. Power flares in them as his ability surges out across the intervening space, directed not at Morg himself, but at his axe.

    Omega-level mutants are feared for a reason - there's apparently no real limit to their power. And yet, whatever metal that axe is made of, possibly reinforced by some trickle of the Power Cosmic, makes it possibly the strongest thing Magneto has ever tried to manipulate. However, today he's got not just his own near-limitless ability and knowledge, but Fabian's boost as well.

    After a moment, Magneto finds the slight weakness in the molecular structure of the metal. Slowly enough to indicate the difficulty of manipulating the thing, the axehead begins to deform with a screech of tortured metal. The blade flattens, losing it's cutting edge, while the mass of the metal shifts location, throwing off the balance of the weapon Morg is used to. It may not be as dramatic as jerking the axe out of his hands and hitting him with it, but against Cosmic powered Heralds, he'll take what little victories he can get.

    After that, he moves in towards Morg, Celestial blade held ready to strike should the Surfer give him a chance at hitting the Herald.

Hal Jordan has posed:
It is almost inevitable that their force will get spread out, that even the pwoer of a Green Lantern can't shield them all.

This plane of reality housing the World Ship of Galactus is immense, both in scope and concept and that ring helps Hal project that power out over the expanse, the ring calculating vectors and coordinates in ways that a human mind could not possibly hope to duplicate.

Even still, insuring that each and every barrage is met by a counter is all but impossible, even for the greatest tool ever devised by the oldest species in the galaxy.

But that doesn't mean that Hal Jordan isn't prepared to give it a go.

That ring flares bright with it's emerald glow over and over again and each blast of the Power Cosmic that it intercepts causes those giant green constructs to explode in a flurry of shards of energy that flare brightly for a moment, almost blinding in their intensity before they fade away.

But for every shield that Firelord's 'bombardment' blows apart, another one seems to appear anew, each of those massive shields bearing the emblem of the Green Lantern Corp in their center like medieval heraldry, despite whatever differences Hal might have with the Guardians at the moment.

Still, here and there those blasts streak amongst them, coming dangerously close in some cases, unable to intercept them all. Still, Hal strains with the effort, teeth grit together, one hand gripping the wrist of his ring hand as if that alone can somehow mitigate the strain. Can coax out just a little more power.

And throughout the entire exchange, that faintly musical voice of the ring sounds in his head, a constant running commentary on the slow depletion of the Power Ring's charge. <<Power Levels at eighty-nine percent... eighty-seven percent... eighty-five percent...>>

For their part, Sinestro and his Yellow Lanterns are clearly growing impatient, frustrated with the machinations of the Air-Walker, of his deception and misdirection and increasingly they spread out.

Whether guided by Invincible's words or simply by their own determination to force a confrontation, in short order the quartet of Yellow Lanterns find themselves in a seeming rough pattern, spread out as a field of glowing yellow energy springs up between them.

A net of pure Fear that slowly begins to come together, to tighten, seeking to cut of the Herald's avenues of escape. Sinestro with that cold arrogance. Lyssa Drak with her cryptic superiority. Amon Sur with a smile of furious triumph. And the beast Arkillo with that look of rage burning in his eyes.

"You will run no longer Herald of the Devourer. Show yourself. Show yourself and be destroyed by the yellow light of Fear," Sinestro demands coldly.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle sees what the Fire Herald does, it takes bit not to scream. Still, he'll be there joining the lanterns to try and help minimize the damage. It's hard to keep track of everything. Right now, he just wants everyone safe. To get back to those they care for while moving about a much safer world. Also, maybe find excuse together again, minus the Sinestro Corps, in a more positive situation. That would be very nice.

Divine has posed:
She takes in a deep breath and goes on a strafing run against Firelord, letting out frozen air over his orbs while being careful to not hit her allies. Those bursts of light hurt, and she definitely doesn't want anyone being hit by them.

Jon's there too, with an absolutely adorable dog that Divine wants to pet. He knocks the staff out of the way as she takes a sharp turn and darts back in their direction, breathing in until her lungs feel like they're about to burst before letting it out in a long, slow stream. She aims at places where gear might have weaknesses, joints and feet with a long line up his back. She figures the best counter to fire is ice or earth, and well... they're not really in the position to dump earth on him.

Norrin Radd has posed:
Near the 'hangar bay' the Surfer engages Morg with his full speed, the battle likely difficult for some to even fully follow. Blasts of cosmic energy, from the Surfer's outstretched hands or the tip of the Executioner's axe are traded back and forth upon approach, although this is perhaps mere 'pleasantries' of combat, as their similar origins render such attacks largely useless against one another. With tremendous speed, the Surfer plummets toward his foe, sliding under the swing of an axe and then striking backward as he passes on his board. But the next pass goes to Morg, as he catches the rim of that silver conveyance and tugs it downward, causing the Surfer to waver and crash, skidding briefly along the hangar surface.

He raises his axe.

And then looks backward, with a snarl. "Not your fight, little man. You can die next."

Monet engages a large plan, telepathically coordinated across her team, to try and pin the Air-Walker down. It isn't easy. Each time they barely seem to catch up with him, only for the Herald to reposition, often with a powerful retort. Success takes more than coordination; it takes a measure of sacrifice.

Loki's bait works, given the rather dramatic appearance invested in the whole thing, of that 'powerful' ship. The Heralds, with whatever sense of the cosmic fabric, can likely eventually distinguish these illusions, but not everywhere and instantly. It takes an attack to determine the real from the unreal, which is enough for Monet to get her 'blow' in. Or rather... well, to get him to attack HER. A blast one direction, a quick blink and he's behind her, bring his hand down in an almost martial-arts like strike. This isn't the first time she's going to suffer at a Herald's hands. But it offers opportunity.

A moment, for Eve to try and harden some kind of prison around him. This too the Power Cosmic can reverse, mimicking her own power almost exactly in that manipulation of matter, but for at least a moment, he's THERE, and he's not using his powers for that teleportation. And after Eve's bubble, comes a whole Corps worth of fear-net construct.

Somewhere in all the chaos, one of the ship's guns charge up strangely, and when the next volley hits Firelord, though the damage seems no more lethal than previously, the sheer brightness of the blast does seem overwhelming. And by the time it clears? Well, he's surrounded by Kryptonians (or semi-Kryptonians, half-, clone- or dog- as the case may be...). He starts to spin the staff to fire another shot-

-and then looks down at the fact he has a super-dog hanging off it. It's a strange scenario, even for a Herald, and his reaction is less 'all knowing space being' and more to just kind of flail the stick around a bit to try and get it lose. Now granted, this is some VERY powerful flailing, but that's one heck of a dog.

Thus, much like with the other two-on-one, he tries to engage Jon and Divine, occasionally yanking one end of the staff toward one of them to get off a blast, only to have his aim yanked off course. Even trying a broader 'shell' type blast outward, so that he doesn't have to aim, Divine's breath proves a worthy countermeasure.

The Terrax fight is a simpler affair. He takes hits from both Juggernaut and Thor, staggering a bit, but seemingly always recovering. Then he raises a hand. The surface of that rock he rides suddenly cracks and jutts upward, not really in an attack, but almost a birth, spewing forth a simulacra of his own image, made of stone. The two quickly leap back into battle, now two versus two, trading the same powerful blows at double the prior rate.

Norrin Radd has posed:
Meanwhile, as Morg stands on the hammer deck, weapon held back by Magneto, the Surfer rises. Yet at the same time, the Master of Magnetism can watch, and feel, as the work he's done with the weapon starts to reverse itself, almost like watching a tape on rewind. When it reshapes itself, he aims it at the mutant, releasing another cosmic blast, as the Surfer rises from the prior blow.

On that central platform, a humanoid figure armored in purple stands, working a control panel. The battle seems little concern, despite the fact that he has a 360 degree view of it exploding all around him, from that little bubble. However, at long last, something catches his attention. A control is tapped, the gangway rotates, until his platform seems much closer to that battle with the Surfer. "Ah. You have abandonned your duties. Very well, then..."

Rocket has posed:
While the Guardians' two most psychotic members operate the Rakk 'n' Ruin's heavy artillery, the ship is weaving in and out of the station's attempts at blowing them out of the sky. So far, the shield's have been holding off the worst of it, but the ship gets rocked by a particularly strong particle ray! Rocket is fortunate to be strapped in, but the force from the blast causes his teeth to rattle.

"D'AST! Knew I shoulda got insurance..."

Odds are, the only insurance that he'll need is for a proper burial. But then, when Rocket bites the big one, his teammates are probably just going to chuck him in the nearest dumpster. And honestly, that's probably what he'd want.

Up in the cockpit, Groot attempts to keep the ship steady as he brings it closer to the station. There are tons of potential targets for the Guardians to unleash their arsenal upon, but all of them are strange-looking and trippy. It's tough to tell what exactly on the station does exactly what. Especially for a talking tree that's currently soaking his feet in a pot full of dirt and liquor.

Looking in the direction of the Loki Bird, he asks a simple question.

"I am Groot?"

From his position on the underside of the ship, Rocket loses sight of the Heralds and has to retrain his cannon. Attempting to make sense of the massive structure that they're attacking, he mutters to himself as his eyes sweep along the surface of the giant Mobius Strip in Space.

"Eenie..."

"Meenie..."

"Uh...

"Flark it! You're Moe!"

He begins firing the guns at a large structure on the exterior of the station. It's slightly more trippy-looking than the others. This might mean something.

But when he fires the gun, Rocket feels a jolt in his arms as the ship's cannons suddenly have more kick than expected. It looks like bringing Alison along might pay off. Rocket's grin becomes even more unsettling than usual as he fires the guns that have been charged up with Dazzler Power!

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Airwalker is too fast. He weaves in and out of existence. She's not sure if he's teleporting, so fast as to simply make someone with the Speed Force seem forzen in place, or it's that he can move in and out of reality and back like NIghtcrawlker or Illyana can, coming and going as he wishes. With the powers given to him by Galactus, it could be all of the above. Thus, trying to hti him when he can be everywhere at once doesn't seem to be working well.

Even as the other allies she's working with narrow it down, starting to close in on a bubble, Monet goes to brace herself. All she can do now is.. She's gotten his attention.

But it means offering herself up. But the exchange is worth it. One godly being that can warp existence being neutralized from the fight is a small price to pay in exchange for herself. She's been hit by HEralds. She's been hit by Kryptonians. She's been gutted by Cheetah. All she can do as she waits in place is brace herself. The strike is offhand (or the equivalent of it). A quick snap.

Not the type of blow that could easily shatter a planet's crust. Not even one that could smash a moon through a star. It's the equivalent o fa fingerflick, like one might use to snap away a somewhat irritating fly. This si going to hurt. This hurts. it hurts a lot.

There's a SNAP-CRACK of where Monet's torso used to be as she's flung back rather roughly. Ribs caved in. Not through her lungs or heart this time. Still functional. She's in agony but she goes to fully bury it. Her mind is hopped up on endorphins, and she simply goes to her consciousness and adjuts her adrenaline levels to keep her body flooded with them. It will make her injuries worse later. But for now they can't spare someone to take her out of the battle and to safety, to heal her. And she's not retreating.

She made the point of shutting off her telepathic communication when she was about to be struck, and is sent flying away many kilometers. Flying back gives her an excuse as to why the link is down for a few moments as she makes some adjustment to the chemical production of her brain.

Now she's back to reenage.

Eve Wilkins has posed:
If Eve were the studious, scientific kind, she'd contemplate if somehow her creation was essentially just a human who could tap into the power cosmic given the similarity of what she, and the power could do. Unfortunately it came with limiters and no instruction manual so...she'd have to make do with whatever she could manage.

For the moment? It was trying to hold someone who walked on the non-existant air in place.

Holdinging her concerntration on the pink energy bonds quickly reinforced by the lantern corp, she gives a grunt of air at Mark's call her way, her voice broadcast by the commincation of her helmet and the psychic links.

"Can somebody please hit this guy?!"

Clea has posed:
"Are you good on things, Loki?" the white haired woman asks of the Trickster. Clea's not distracted, but when there is a Herald about to karate chop Monet the Faltine feels it is best to start bringing out the bigger guns. The fiery crown the floats above her head flares brighter and stronger than it normally does as she calls upon the Flames of the Faltine with the flourish of hands that goes along with other Mystic Arts castings.

The flames channel through her and blast into Air-Walker. She's hoping that it will at least do some damage...

Mark Grayson has posed:
Mark growls in pain as he grabs his dislocated shoulder and slams it back into place with a sickening crack. The sharp jolt makes him wince, but there's no time to linger on it. He exhales sharply, testing his mobility with a quick roll of his shoulder before scanning the battlefield. Air-Walker continues to flicker across the void, but now the Yellow Lanterns are swarming him, with Low latched onto his back, steadily draining energy like some grotesque parasite.

Seeing that the Lanterns seem to have the Herald occupied, Mark turns his focus elsewhere. His eyes lock on Monet, who is telepathically coordinating her team with remarkable precision. Her plan unfolds like a well-rehearsed symphony, but Air-Walker remains relentless. Each time they close in, he repositions, often retaliating with devastating power.

Mark watches in alarm as Air-Walker blinks behind Monet, his strike brutal and precise. Monet takes the hit, staggering but holding her ground. Mark realizes the sacrifice is intentional-it creates the opening they've been fighting for.

As he closes the distance, Eve springs into action. Her hands glow as she manipulates the matter around Air-Walker, forming a shimmering prison to hold him in place. The strain on her face is evident, but the effort pays off. The Herald is momentarily contained, his teleportation powers seemingly neutralized.

Mark's heart pounds as he sees the Yellow Lanterns add to the effort. Their rings weave a glowing net of yellow energy around the trapped Herald, emanating an oppressive fear that clashes with the Herald's cosmic aura. Air-Walker's movements slow, his struggle visible but futile for the moment.

Will somebody hit this guy?!!

Mark rockets forward, his jaw clenched and eyes locked on the trapped Air-Walker. Eve's voice crackles over the comms, sharp and commanding, and it's all the push he needs.

"On it!" he shouts, his voice laced with determination.

The air seems to vibrate as Mark accelerates, his Viltrumite strength coiled like a spring. The pink energy bonds shimmer and strain as Air-Walker thrashes, his Power Cosmic testing the limits of Eve's and the Yellow Lanterns' constructs. But for now, they hold.

Mark barrels toward the Herald, twisting through the chaos of space with precision. His fist glows faintly from the friction of his speed, a trail of energy blazing behind him. He knows Eve's efforts-and the Lanterns'-are buying him this moment, and he's not about to waste it.

"You want a hit? Here's a hit!" he yells, the words tearing from his throat as he closes the distance.

With a roar, Mark slams into Air-Walker, his punch landing with all the force he can muster. The impact reverberates like a shockwave, the raw energy rippling out in a burst that seems to crackle through space itself.

In the meantime, on Air-Walker's back, the Yellow Lantern Slug, Low, starts to try to drain the cosmic life-force within the herald, an eager sponge to devour energy.

Drax has posed:
"Oh no.  Is this the power of dancing?" Drax wonders when Allison charges up his guns.  And it is.  It is the power of dancing.  In his mind.  Though when the newly charged ray collides with the Firelord, the flash makes Drax grin expectantly.

As the flash fades, Drax realizes that this attack was not much more effective, at least in the way he wanted.  He gets up from his seat to shout down below, "Behold, the power of dance."

This is when he overhears the raven delivering part of its message.  "Coordinates to destroy?" he asks with a spark of new hope.  "What coordinates?!"

Jon Kent has posed:
Krypto's clutching at the staff and sending a growl toward the Firelord seems to buy Superboy enough time to surge forward again. He sidles up to the Firelord and grabs at his staff, attempting to wrest it away. The best that he's able to achieve alongside Divine is their wrestling over the staff and generally preventing the Firelord from readying it against their friends and allies. There are no words exchanged in space and Superboy's brow knits with equal measure of concentration and determination.

He floats aside in a controlled fashion just as another blast is sent the way of himself and Jon responds with a fist thrown toward the Firelord, all in an attempt to further disorient him while Divine and Krypto attempt to tug and yank the staff away.

Another blow and another is thrown, though none of them seem to land as the Firelord dips and sways around them, no matter how fast that Superboy seems to throw them. When Jon isn't sending this blow or that toward the Firelord, he's attempting to distract him by wrestling over the staff in a bid to keep the Firelord from sending a point blank blast at Divine or Krypto in turn.

In the middle of the melee and the incoming fire from starships, Krypto finally releases the stick and with stoic determination he floats about, surveying the melee and seeking some other means of approach in order to unbalance Firelord and bring the fight further into the favor of the heroes.

Loki has posed:
Does the Loki Bird speak Groot? Is it translated? Hard to know for certain. But the Loki bird bobs a little dance and nod at Drax, and does indicate two sets of coordinates for a big charge-up shot directly through the middle of the power supply area on the enemy ship, which could help bring down some defenses, so... that's an option?

To Dazzler, then, the illusory bird looks at her dead on as she tries to get it trapped in the CARGO of all places, does an illusory poop to show it's opinion of being chased about, and fades away with a flicker of green magic. --- The white birdpoop stays. Because maintaining certain illusions are a priority over others.

The great thing about ranged combat is Loki can put on a whole elaborate show of his fake targets getting injured when they are shot, rallying, coming back for more. It's the melee or hand to hand stuff that his illusions mainly avoid getting into. But Loki's having a great time with some really horrific injuries. Probably from experience--after all, villain experiences there.

Over time, though, Loki's illusion troops are reducing in number, since Loki is changing up his methods. God of mischief doesn't stick to the same tricks, that gets boring. < Always. Just time to change it up, I think, > Loki answers Clea.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
    Morg is fast, and it's not likely Magneto can dodge the blast sent his way given how close he is. An unexpected ace in the hole comes through for him, however. The golden sword he holds ready before him is hit a nanosecond before he would be - and it drinks the energy in, it's vibration increasing in intensity as it begins to glow with infused energy.


Never one to question an unexpected gift, Magneto surges forward and past Morg, the blade lashing out to open a deep gash on the Herald's upper arm. With a growl, Morg spins in place bringing the re-formed axe up, his attention suddenly focused on the Master of Magnetism.

    Which may be a mistake since now the Surfer is behind him.

Susan Richards has posed:
Sue was having trouble flying her space car close enough to the station's section, that she wanted to get in nearer to, having to deal with some high powered shield system. She was working with her AI assistant, to try and configure the car's scanning array to try and scramble the shield system, but a gift came from the form of the Guardians, and Rocket's timely destruction of the shield conduit power relay system, you know those things. The shield fell, and with a soft laugh, Sue directed the vehicle toward the gap in the station shields.

<"Thanks, Guardians. I owe you one."> Sue stated, piloting her small tubular vehicle in closer now, sidling up nice and close to the station, her scanner actively working a radar system over the hull.

At least until alarms went off all around Sue's interior cabin. They had a targeting array locked on them. "Crap..." Sue muttered, as she shunted her car's thrusters to the starboard side, dropping and rolling the vehicle in a dramatic display of its agility. A trail of plasma fire chasing the Fantasticar! Sue weaved the little nimble craft in and around some protruding scaffolding, until she came out on the other side with a triumphant smile on her facial features... only to have the alarms pick up again. She sighed, her hand reaching up to the roof controls above the forward viewport. Her gloved fingers tapped repeatedly on a series of buttons, right as her AI took control of the piloting system... only to have a large plasma burst slam right in to the hull of the station outside the Fantasticar's port side.

Boom!

The Fantasticar was engulfed in an explosive wall of molten gas and self inflicted damage to the station, by its own weapon systems... Sue, and her fancy little space car, were off both visual scans, and any ship system scanners too.

Sue's eyes opened, surrounded by the vacuum of space, she was entirely invisible, inside the core of a large protective force bubble, summoned by her own reflexive ability, the Invisible Woman silently glided up to the space station, right up to an old hatch on the side of the super structure. From her belt, she pulled a beam cutter, its systems powering up, as the see-through woman gently positioned herself up against the hull of the station. With an unseen look of determination, and her bottom lip bit down upon between her pearly whites, Sue began cutting her way through the old exterior hatch, tiny sparks coming from seemingly no where, along side the station, most assuredly a little display, lost amongst the massive carnage and chaos taking place.

Fabian Cortez has posed:
Cortez might not know what Magneto is doing, but he feels the massive draw of power and will throw his full attention into fulfilling that pull. He knows where Magneto's limit is, and is willing to push against it, but things are not dire enough even now to risk burning the man up with his own power.

Guns are meant for shooting, but floating in space with literal gods zipping about and people who punch things with light and bare fists, Cortez really doesn't think his weapons are up to par. He can afford to do something about that and likely will if he survives this. He's going to continue moving defensively, appearing on the outside to be doing nothing of consequence while trying his very best to not be a target, but also not be seen as a threat in the relative safety of 'not near enough a herald to be bothered with'.

Thus, Cortez will watch in horror that Monet is the one to tank a hit rather than one of the numerous overpowered, but still lesser life forms present.

Very soft curses to himself will be accented by a reach out to Monet herself, touching her natural resilience and pushing her body toward stitching itself together again. The pain will lessen, the internal bleeding slowed, he's no Elixir, but Cortez's healing comes with a wrap of comfort and adrenaline. That will be accented by the familiar feeling of Cortez touching Monet's powers, not to insult this time, but to fulfill. Uplift. Whatever pain, fear, unease that Monet might have about being here can be washed away by the bliss of pure power. A general wash and uplifting rather than something specific, but the moment comms are up again, Cortez will take requests, <<You have too many powers M, which one do you want me to focus on? I can't hold them all up like this for long->>

Well, he can't while also giving so much to Magneto, but he's not about to drop that.

Cain Marko has posed:
The hangar bay thunders and shudders as Juggernaut slams down upon it in a sliding crouch and then straightens up to meet the lunging approach of the Terrax clone head on. -Now- he's more impressed. The guy stood up to a pummeling from Thor while being held in a locked grip by Juggernaut and stilll omehow managed to wriggle free through his own combat skill, strength, will and the help of his rocky-platform. One that's now developed into not one but two Terrax's fighting the God of Thunder and Avatar of Destruction.

"No foolin'!" rumbles Juggernaut, unable to help himself from sounding impressed before bracing his body and meeting the impact of the Terrax attacking him head on. "Thought only Hulk could pull stunts like that..."

Virtually immovable, the force of the impact slams against his frame with force to build out another billowing shockwave in an expanding sphere and Juggernaut leans forward into the attack, returning it in kind with several seismic shifting blows, each one seemingly increasing in power and fury as the behemoth further taps in and pushes himself, trading blows with Terrax clone. The sound of their punches thundering loudly across the battlefield. "....But you're making a mistake 'ere. Yer giving me a reason to -not- hold back!"

Juggernaut's enormous fingers come together at the end of all that and he leans forward into throwing a thunderous mountain cracking haymaker at the herald for a strike to try and send him hurtling away from him.

"Let's see if you can keep up!"

Hal Jordan has posed:
The immense displays of power are something to behold to be sure and for the moment would appear to be holding the Heralds in check, even perhaps turning the tide in some cases. The sheer barrage lashing the assembled protectors of Earth has been seemingly mitigated by the fact that so many of them have been able to get up close and personal with the Heralds. That mixed in with his raw, physical defenses the more illusive, distracting magicks of illusion sent forth by Clea and Loki are leaving the forces of Galactus with more targets then they know what to do with.

And that opens up an opportunity.

They are not here to crush the Heralds. To try and take out Galactus' allies. Even if they are capable od doing so, those imbued with the Power Cosmic have shown a remarkable tendency to restore themselves. As the reappearance of Morg would testify to. despite the power that the singular Orange Lantern in the Vega system commanded and directed towards the most viscious of the Heralds when he invaded Okaara, here he is, once more serving his Master's will.

While Hal leaves a smattering of those constructs up and about, those massive shields of pure, emerald Will, he turns away from the battle of with the Heralds themselves and instead becomes a green streak of light, racing towards the World Ship, flying until even that brilliant glow fades as the Lantern goes intangible, phasing right through the theoretical structure of the home of Galactus.

<<I'm going for Ultimate Nullifier. I'm fairly certain that my ring can lock onto the energy signature once I'm inside thanks to the information that Ganthet provided,>> he sends out over that telepathic link that joins the heroes together.

While Hal might be abandonning the battlefield to focus on the true objective of this battle, Sinestro and his Yellow Lanterns remain firmly focused on the Air-Walker and taking him out of the fight. Or perhaps just taking him out permanently.

As he finally appears, going after Monet's diversion, going after Monet herself, that field of fear locks in. And Sinestro and his followers converge.

Chains of glowing yellow Fear made manifest lash out from Lyssa Drak, much like those that bind her to the ever present book she carries. Lash out and close the distance with the Herald, clamping around his limbs.

Amon Sur is all deranged passion, wild, searing blasts of energy peppering the Herald of Galactus in a frenzied flurry of lurid yellow light.

Arkillo roars, that gaping maw sprad wide, spittle seaming to fly from that fanged mouth and each droplet flows with yellow power, dozens upon dozens of similarly shapped maws in miniature manifesting, leaping forward to rip, to tear into Air Walker.

And Sinestro directs it all, precise and controled in every motion, a giant yellow fencing sword lunging in again and again, seeking out the Herald's weak points, appearing and disappearing seemingly at will only to reappear at strange angles, attacking from unexpected sides, all in an attempt to finally pierce the synthetic angel's defenses at last.

Alison Blaire has posed:
Alison peers at the bird strangely as the poop plops on her shoulder, "Hey...this bird ...pooped on me...what the..." she says and stumbles a bit as the ship starts becoming a target. She frowns as the bird poops away in a green magic, "Hey, where'd it go?"

"Looks like we need some defense," Alison suggests and runs to the cockpit. She looks out the large window, gazing across the vaste expanse of space. It's so eerie, so empty. She raises her hands and gazes at the ceiling. Her light wavers out of her lil fingers in a very different, very technical way, oozing slowly into the ship, into the metal itself with a glowy, pink light energy. It coats the metal with glowyness and makes it radiate pink (temporarily) with Dazzler's plan for defense (temporarily).

"If these guys take a shot at us with energy, I'll absorb it....automatically!" Alison lets out lying of course because she thinks she can take it and she's trying to help, "I mean, energy is sorta super light and junk right? I can handle that! Yeah! Let's nuke these guys!" she adds dramatically.

Divine has posed:
Freezing Firelord is helping, but it's not getting them as much of a victory as she'd like.

Divine narrows her eyes at the staff, a thin, concentrated beam of heat pouring from her eyes and coalescing against the weapon. She's focused on a specific spot, trying to effectively slice through the lower half and make it less effective. There's a thought that it might be useful if she can bring it back, let some of the magic users they've got examine it and figure out counters, but mainly? Mainly she just wants to destroy it.

Thor has posed:
    Thor wrestles bitterly with the duplicate of Terrax, no longer able to gang up on the singular Herald alongside the Juggernaut. One hand clutches the rocky creature's throat only for a stony fist to be driven across the Thunderer's jaw, drawing a trickle of the God's own ichor across his lips. They trade blows, yet it seems no matter what he unleashes Terrax is able to weather it.

    As the battle rages, blue eyes turn for a moment to the figure atop his floating platform. His knuckles whiten around the haft of Mjolnir, and for a moment the draw of death and glory is palpable. Almost too strong. For a moment, it seems as though he may leave the battle for a chance to do battle with the Devourer himself.

    But, in the end, he remains. Through gritted teeth he summons all his strength, shoving the duplicate Terrax in the same direction as the one the Juggernaut sent the other one flying in.

    "Tarry not in the light of the All-Power, O Unstoppable One! Lest it unravel thy very being!" Thor calls out to the Juggernaut, holding Mjolnir aloft. Despite being in the depth of space, lightning seems to thread its way out of the unseen domain of all storms and into the material. Each and every bolt strikes the hammer of mystic Uru, causing it to glow brighter and brighter until it is unbearable to look upon.

    "Honourless One!" Thor calls to Terrax, "Thou hast brought devastation to the galaxy in thy lust for conquest! Thy greed a pale imitation of thy wicked Master's! Thou thinks thyself unbeatable, inevitable ... but to this, I say thee ... "

    Thor's eyes are no longer their icy blue, but rather the pupils have vanished and been replaced by an inner glow. The very heart of the storm brews within the God of Thunder, tapping into that fathomless power that raises the immortal above the mortal.

    " ... NAY!"

    KRAK-A-THOOM!

    A blast, several dozen feet wide and brighter than the heart of the greatest star, flies forth from Mjolnir. It engulfs Terrax, the Herald of Stone, and the monster is visible for a few moments as a mere shadow suspended in bright light wreathed in lightning. A plaintive cry, and when the beam disperses there is nothing of Terrax save smattering of rubble suspended in the cruel void.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Giving up defense, Kyle decides to fly toward Firelord. Right now there's a brawl between the Herald and the House of El. Kyle thinnks of joining with an old lantern trope: the giant fist. However, a sudden thought intrudes and he focuses. In his hand a particular gun appears.

A gun with decades of age, but a lot of fans. A particular pistol. And he just aims toward the firelord. Given the distance, most may not be able to see the Gun Mode of Megatron. This is all pomp and circumstance.

The construct just helps him focus. He waits for the time to take the shot. When he has what appears to be an opening a ray of green energy lances out from the barrel. Kyle's taking his shot, literally, at the Herland. He doesn't care if this is offensive and does damage, or just creates a distraction in a defensive way. After the shot he flaots forward trying to take another shot. Each blast measured and he's joining the others trying to handle this threat.

Norrin Radd has posed:
The barrage the Rack 'n Ruin delivers causes one of practically innumerable strange devices on the surface of the Worldship to explode, somewhat spectacularly in its own part, although as a portion of the whole, almost unnoticably. This causes no apparent effect to most, as they struggle through cosmic battle. But Rocket didn't pick his target at random. It did... something. There are subtle changes, to those fluctuating readings, and to the scans that Sue is following.

A weakpoint? A way in?

With two foes surrounded, the fights against Air Walker and Firelord both start slowly turning in the heroes favor. The Heralds are fast, but three Kryptonians is a lot. Perhaps two out of every three he can block, dodge, strike back, but that leaves plenty of space for each to get in a hit here, or there. And while he's getting pummeled from all directions, he's NOT blasting everyone else. He eventually gets the staff free, aims it dead set at Jon's chest...

...and then howls as the dog bites him like he's the mailman. Then Divine sets in on the staff itself, as he starts taking blasts from other sources.

Does the final barrage of blasts being delivered by Megatron make them more effective? Only the Watchers know. But with shot, after shot, and no option to retreat or re-position with the surrounding Kryptonians, his cosmic defenses are battered down until there's nothing more to sustain him.

With Air Walker, it's easier. The legion of Yellow Lanterns is playing a game of 'whose battery runs out first.' And sure, those rings are all announcing how fast they're ticking down, and which side would outlast the other remains in question... were it not for other factors, like a full-speed Viltrumite super-punch, or a coordinated beat-down from the rest of the Yellow Corps. And when that final punch lands, they learn something. Actually, the life-drain slug helps with that, too:

Firstly, life draining doesn't work entirely because apparently this Herald is a humanoid android. Secondly? Mark might not feel as bad when its head pops off like a rock-em-sock-em, sailing off to be lost among the battle debris. The Yellows certainly don't as they tear the mechanical body apart.

Which leaves the titanic clash of, well, titanic heroes and an equally brutish Terrax (and rock-clone). The latter is as strong and powerful as its progenitor, but certainly more simplistic in its tactics, and though the Juggernaut may endure many blows, he too has a source of unfaltering endurance. And perhaps just some better tactics. A big swing, and Terrax-Two goes sailing off into space. Maybe he can come back, but...

...well, exhibit Thor. Whatever Terrax was doing, whatever tactics, whatever blows he lands, blocks, heals? None of it truly matters when Thor focuses that all powerful blast. A tiny portion of the Power Cosmic doesn't trade with the near full of that Asgardian power.

The rock-clone disassembles AFTER the real one does.

Norrin Radd has posed:
Which leaves only...

The fight on the Hangar continues to play out under the dispassionate observation of the Worldship's very owner. Dispassionate, at least, to a point. Galactus has had many Heralds, and will have many more. Even if he would not admit it, this one has always been special. Yet, as the fullness of this betrayal comes into focus, the decision becomes inevitable and he prepares the pass judgmenet.

The gangway extends further, and again, the strange geometries twist and contract, to bring the encounter into intimate proximity. Galactus' face hovers over them. He pays no mind as Magneto cleaves Morg's flesh with the Celestial blade. He cares not for them. Instead, that gaze becomes a glare, as the Surfer takes the opening and lunges with full speed to strike the Execution from behind.

"Since you shall be Herald to Galactus no longer, I withdraw the Power Cosmic..."

Two beams of energy lance from his eyes, striking through the Surfer's body, and before he can close in upon the other battle, he staggers, giving a sudden scream at odds with his own normally cool demeanor.

"... and grant your portion to the Executioner."

In that instant, everything changes. The wound knits instantly. Ignoring Magneto, Morg turns, then, raises the axe, and brings it down toward Norrin, who lifts his surfboard as a shield...

...only to have it cleaved easily in twain. The axe continues downward then, into his shoulder, forcing the Surfer down to his knees. He looks up, not to Morg, but past him to Magneto: "Take this to her... and RUN." Momentarily, he holds out his hand, where he's formed a small, perfectly smooth sphere of metal, not unlike his own body.

It is a strange moment. The heroes, collectively, have bodily dismantled two of the Heralds and are working on a third, and yet, it seems the very opposite of victory. Morg the Executioner turns, hefting his axe, and surveys the scene before him with a truly manic glee.

"I'm going to kill them all, and make you watch, Surfer."

Cain Marko has posed:
"What th...."

Juggernaut lifts his gaze upwards as the light show begins, casting him and the foe he had hurtled from him into the glow of Thor's divine lightning and the furious building aura of his attack. He'd already begun moving forward after Terrax only to see the other Terrax clone hurtled his way. His -assumption- was that Thor was setting things up for a proper 1-2- punch.

His assumption did not include...well...-this-.

"Hey what is--!"

And then the blast comes hurtling downward, scythign in towards the Herald with the full fury of Thor's god force unleashed. Juggernaut looks to the left, looks to the right, and then just ends up bracing and pushing forward. There was really nowhere -for- him to go or to do so with enough speeds for it to matter. He can run like a freight train but he's no speedster.

Thus when the godforce meets the herald and blasts into and through him, it meets The Avatar afterwards and fully consumes him from sight. A hunderous GAR-THOOOOM roars through the entire battle field as the blast explodes into his frame and around him. From the point of all onlookers, both Herald and Avatar have been utterly consumed...

But Juggernaut remains, the unspeakble invulnerability conferred by his nature and as the exemplar of power itself, springing to life to struggle against the ongoing consuming blast of the asgardian champion. Juggernaut's foot raises.... pushing forward...forward...

And then he finds himself sliding backwards.

"What th--No...this aint POSSIBLE! Nothin---"

But really who can hear him over all that as Juggernaut slides backwards more and more..unable to even brace himself against the force let alone apply his unstoppable momentum.

Until it all just ...well...ends! The simple fact that Juggernaut was -able- to tank that is...well...something of note! That in and of itself is a feat beyond measure. But so was actually pushing him backwards and preventing his unstoppable momentum. Something that heretofore had simply -not- been seen in this world, in this reality. But Thor has managed that and Juggernaut's eyes are wide like saucers as the smouldering energies of the remaining effects of the God-Blast dissipate around him. Then:

"WHAT THE HELL WAS -THAT-?!?"

Rocket has posed:
Nodding along, Groot seems to have a better understanding of the dynamics of the battle than most, and certainly more than he would typically be given credit for. But such is the wisdom of the Flora Colossi, those ancient mysterious lifeforms. As he reaches out one of his hands toward Alison, it looks as if Groot is going to impart some of that wisdom to her. His arm lengthens, a finger is extended...

And he wipes the bird poop up with his finger.

Most of it, anyway.

With a finger covered in Loki Bird Poop, Groot retracts his arm and brings the finger to his mouth. Once he has cleaned his finger, he looks a bit disappointed, perhaps due to the poop's illusory nature. But he can not linger on such disappointments, for there is a battle to win.

"I am Groot..."

Down in one of the gun turrets, Rocket takes a break from cackling maniacally to listen to the pilot's instructions. Important information is being relayed across the ship's speakers.

"I am Groot..."

"We need to aim where?"

"I am Groot..."

"But won't that cause a grand total of nothin' to happen, as per frickin' usual?"

"I am Groot..."

"Well... when you put it that way, I guess it's worth a try, good buddies."

Up in the cockpit, the song by Falco ends, and there is a brief period of respite before the next song begins. This time it's 'Holding Out for a Hero' by Bonnie Tyler.

Rocket brings up the targeting reticule, and unleashes all the fury of his aging ship's souped up guns on the coordinates indicated by Bird Loki. Who, in retrospect, is a pretty unreliable source.

"I am Groot!?"

"Just keep us from gettin' hit, pal! It's colder than a Glorpon's snootch out there..."

Groot wastes no time, and begins putting some space between Galactus' ship and the Rakk 'n' Ruin.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet is mostly running on suppressing her pain over now as she tries her best to keep track of things. Right until there's that buzz hitting her in the system courtesy of Fabian. Her internal organs knitting a bit, her powers being amplified.. There's that surge of aggression from her mutant powers being enhanced. She's on a high for almost a few moments until she can control herself again. Cortez gets a very, very rare thing from Monet.

A sensation of thanks. The three Heralds outside seem to be broken. Others are getting inside and getting in. They're moving in and seemingly ready for the next phase of the assault. Monet does not know what's happening inside - even she is not arrogant enough to try and mentally read things of the interior of Galactus' worldship.

"THeir defenses are broken!" The light comes from nowhere. Teh flash blinds her as suddenly a new one joins them. Morg.. They have beaten him before, seen him fall.

But now.. Now he radiates beyond anything Monet has felt so far in her life short of that passing connection to Galactus himself when he consumed Tamaran. It's overwhelming, overloading. Monet's aggressive impulse is replaced with raw fear now as she quickly channels it away and takes a breath.

<<We have to withdraw>> The team is inside. They've done their part. Now.. Now she can't even think further. She knows if they face Morg they will die.

But thier mission was just to make a lot of noise outside and draw attention. They've done that part. Now it's in the hands of the infiltration team. This isn't a battle they want to fight - not when they've already accomplished their purpose here.

<<All hands, ready to disengage>> Monet goes to give along a sensation of -THIS SI VERY BAD IF WE STAY- as best she can. Then, she's looking for any that might need carried away.

Clea has posed:
Apparently Clea's help was not needed with Air-Walker as the Yellow Lanterns, Mark and others pile on. The Flames of the Faltine diminish as the Herald is beheaded. That leaves her gaze turning to see where the others have gotten off to.

With Galactus speaking there is a bit of a concern that settles over the womans face as she listens and the scene unfolds.

Then she is summoning portals, multiple for their allies to go through. <<I'll stay until everyone is through unless you're doing something else heroic.>> she calls to others.

Mark Grayson has posed:
In another universe, Mark would have presented the head of Air Walker to Eve like a trophy. After all, she demanded it, he would deliver it.

In yet another universe, Mark would feel nothing after beheading the Herald and his attention would turn to the next fight, eager to take on Morg.

In this universe, Mark Grayson slams into the Herald, beheading it, and instead of gathering the head or anything else, he feels the shift in the power dynamic, and even he knows that they are overwhelmed, flying towards where Atom Eve is, he calls out to her. "Head for the Guardian's ship, or it's going to be a long walk home!" He can grab a hold of the outside of the ship, but he wants to make sure Eve is safe first.

Loki has posed:
Each of the ravens, which are still scattered around at the various groups (except the Guardians, they drove theirs off), twist, and pop into small teleportation windows... to literal greener pastures. But these are fake: Clea's are real. Fake heroes cluster on them, to help mask anyone actually retreating.

Because that's what Loki's shifted to -- a retreat for the time being. It's a positive note that he didn't just wink out without aiding others the same, so perhaps Loki is making some real progress on his 'from villain and into grey' journey. He's taking a good note from Clea's example, and bolstering that, protecting her portal and the retreats.

"I'm not going to explain how we lost you out in space to Mother /again/," Loki snarks at Thor's back. "Retreat time. Don't make me stab you and kidnap. It is /SO/ tempting."

Thor has posed:
    "I am heartened by thy survival, Unstopptable One, and count you fortunate to have had such a shield as the beast Terrax," Thor calls to Juggernaut, "But steel thyself, for the battle is not yet won - "

    As he's speaking, he is surprised by the appearance of Loki. He frowns deeply, almost swatting at the Trickster God with one burly hand.

    "Stay thy crook'd tongue," he snaps, almost reflexively disagreeing with Loki, before reason seems to dawn on his face, "But I have not forsaken the lessons of a thousand thousand battles. My power is all but spent, and still the Devourer and his minions come."

    The God of Thunder reaches a hand towards Juggernaut, offering it in aid or perhaps to even carry him with him as they retreat from Galactus' stronghold.

    "Our battle is ended," Thor continues, "And we must away to prepare for even greater ones to come!"

    He leaves it up to the Juggernaut whether or not the giant man chooses to come along with him as he twirls-and-hurls Mjolnir, carried along in its wake and away from Galactus' world-ship.

    The nearest mystic portal is his destination, with whoever else may choose to latch onto him in the process.

Eve Wilkins has posed:
Thankfully, Eve wasn't in the market for a new robotic pot plant made from the skulls of their enemies. When the Herald is felled for the moment? Well, Eve wasn't a lantern, but even her power wasn't infinite...so the pink shackling barrier falls away while she takes stock.

"Time to leave!" she calls out, relaying the message others were speaking to any who hadn't heard it before her hands extend and she began to fly backwards towards their escape, letting lose a barrage of pink energy blasts at the other heralds to try and give the other heroes space.

Alison Blaire has posed:
Alison Blaire looks up as Groot reaches out and she pauses, smiling toward him, as if he's the great wise Oak imparting knowledge. He then eats the magic bird poop. "GROSS!" Alison lets out. She frowns.

Alison leans forward and turns up the volume, "Dang, where's the Dazzler music," she mutters disappointedly. Rocking and rolling to the tunes, she sorta misses some the communications as she stares out the cockpit. She sings along with the music.

"I think you're going the wrong way," Alison comments helpfully to the pilot as he dives toward some super secret coordinates, "I think we're sorta retreating." She blinks a little as the ship fires off some super cool volleys and super awesome blasts of power, "Whoa!" It then banks away and she's super impressed. "Wow, good job!" she says super helpfully.

Susan Richards has posed:
Sue has her feet up against the hull of the station, and one hand holding on to a makeshift grip in the edge of the hatch. Her beam cutter continues to slice through the seals, as she hears her AI assistant speaking in to her right ear, through the comm piece. "Make sure to mirror their internal communications. We want to make sure that when this hatch pops, it doesn't let them know it is open. Just mimc what is already being broadcast from the hatch. Yeah, that series of slow beeps on channel A. Make sure it keeps beeping in that same pattern, because I'm almost through the last seal."

She could sees flashes of light against the hull, coming from behind her, as she knew the battle was raging on, but she dared not look back over her shoulder, as she was a woman on a mission. With her space Nikes moving to find a more comfortable position, Sue crouched and continued to cut.

"My bubble is locked on to the hull. It should contain any air pressure changes, once we're in. No, I'm sure they breathe the same air as I do. don't be silly..."

Sparks continue to dash across the hull, as the Invisible Woman made the last inch of cuts, and the hatch began to pull open. With a breath of stale oxygen, Sue's protective bubble pushed its way in to the airlock within the station. She had an invisible grin cross over her lips, as she reattached her beam cutter to her belt, and placed one space Nike right on inside the enemy starbase.

Her see-through hand detached her comm device from her belt, and with a flick of the team channel, Sue looked outside the open hatch, her bubble keeping the station perfectly balanced with air pressure.

<"this is Richards. I'm inside. If you're brave enough, join me at my beacon. Lets go find this Ultimate Nullifier thing."> Her voice carried across the team networks, her hope that others were still listening...

With a soft sigh, and a red light glowing within the airlock, Sue waited for others to join her, taking a leisurely leaning position up against the bulkhead, the Invisible Woman waited.

Divine has posed:
Divine's eyes widen at the chaos of taking down a few of the Heralds, then further when she sees the Surfer's powers just... go. It's not unlike what she'd seen happen to Clark before, and when Morg brings his axe down...

NOPE.

She turns course and scoops Monet out of the air carefully. "One of these days you're going to encounter someone with abilities you can't recover from," she scolds, heading towards one of the portals but waiting off to the side. "I'm very upset you keep making me be the responsible one in this friendship, M."

Everyone seems to have the memo that this is get the heck away time, but she feels uneasy leaving before her mutant companions have, so she drifts in place with her friend in a cautious hold.

Drax has posed:
"Thank you bird!" Drax calls after it emphatically before returning to his turret.  He swings round to focus fire on the spot indicated by a bird.  "I can't believe I'm doing this," and he lets out a laugh as he continues to fire.

It isn't until they begin to pull away that Drax calls out, "Hey!  We were winning!"  He drops down from the top turret and makes his way to the cockpit.

"What's wrong?"  When he hears Sue's broadcast he points a finger at nothing specific, "We should help!"

Erik Lensherr has posed:
    The offered sphere is pulled to Magneto's hand and placed in a compartment on his belt. Given that the Surfer knows how the power game is played here, he takes the man's words as gospel and blasts away from the station, heading for the nearest of Clea's portals. His senses scan the battlefield until he finds the metal of Cortez's jetpack, which he pulls quickly to him.

    "It appears the frontal assault will not be proceeding, Fabian. Let's make our way home and plan for our next move."

    With his Acolyte at his side, he stops just short of the portal for a moment. Sight and other senses scan the battlefield, making sure everyone has a way out of this situation before leaving himself. It seems everyone is covered, so he and Fabian fly through the poral, vanishing from the battlefield.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle sees people starting to retreat. Kyle thinks of taking more shots, but Monet starts to scream over the telepathic network. Kyle floats there and starts to pull back, he will linger back to provide shields for any ships or people that need them on the retreat. Kyle will be one of the last ones to retreat as a result. He just wants to be sure if anyone needs help, they get it.

Jon Kent has posed:
The heat vision of Divine burns at the Firelord's staff and Superboy retreats from it, not wanting to get caught up in the mix of the attack and to create ample space for Divine to work. This in turn results in Megatron likewise hammering the Firelord, along with Krypto's own vicious attack on the Firelord's calf.

Superboy's fists move as blurs for a moment, hammering strikes in at the Firelord. While many are blocked, some slip through and the flurry of fists culminates in Superboy suddenly exhaling some of his claimed breath. Frosty air blows at the face of the Firelord, further inhibiting his ability to defend himself from so many attacks.

The call to break away begins and Jon continues his assault, attempting to buy time for others to retreat. A gesture from the Son of Superman is cast toward both Divine and Krypto, attempting to signal the pair to start their retreat. Superboy will follow them of course, but it is his self-assigned role to bring up the rear and ensure that none are left behind without the aid of Superboy to leap to their aid or rescue.

Hal Jordan has posed:
Just as he phases through the hull of Galactus' World Ship, Hal Jordan glances back and gets a glimpse of things finally turning their way, watching as Air-Walker and Terrax are completely overwhelmed and seemingly destroyed. Watches as Firelord is brought to a standstill.

Then he is pushing his way into Galactus' abode.

It is like nothing else he has ever gone through. Flying straight through the heart of a swun would burn less then this seems to do and for a moment the Green Lantern is not at all certain that he is going to make it through.

Then, just as it seems that even Hal Jordan's formidable will has limits, he bursts into the World Ship proper, practically panting for breath as he glances around, taking in the sheer size, the sheer scope. The impossible angles and devices that seek to overwhelm the mind and reduce it to gibbering insanity.

Steadying himself, Hal refuses to succumb and instead turns towards his ring once more. "Lock onto the energy signature of the Ultimate Nullifier. And onto the signals of anyone else who made it inside," he says, already beginning to move, to soar through the vastness of Galactus' home as his ring works.

Which is when he detects that sudden surge of power. Of the Surfer's Power Cosmic pouring forth into the monster Morg.

And all he can hope is that anyone in his path can get out of the way in time.

"RIng, minimize energy signature and mask life signs. Go into passive mode. Sensory data and life support only," he says, once more fading into intangibility as he soars along, seeking out the others within, seeking out the weapon that might be humanity's last, best hope.

Outside, Sinestro and his Lanterns undoubtedly experience a surge of satisfaction as the artificial Ari-Walker is dismantled. More, as it is thoroughly ripped apart. By that punch, by their rings and even the impassive Sinestro grants a small nod of approval to his team.

But as the Sinestro Corps turns towards the World Ship, intent on pursuing that fight, to taking it to Galactus himself if they can, their rings too, forged on the hostile world fo Qward, detect that same surge of power, hear that roar from Morg.

And Sinestro actually hesitates.

"Prepare to fall back," he finally grudgingly orders, giving a sharp flick of his head and his adherents act as one, immediately starting to soar away from their target. Soon, soon he will have the numbers to match the Green Lantern Corps. Soon his legion too will be seventy-two hundred strong. Soon even his former brothers and sisters of the Green will see the light and come to embrace the truth. The Yellow power of Fear.

But not if the throws them away.

"You," he says, gesturing to a fierce horned, red-skinned follower. Once a feared intergalactic assassin, now one more cog in the Sinestro Corps. His Corps. "DevilDog. Cover our retreat."

And without a further word, Sinestro joins the others in that tactical retreat.

But only for now.

Fabian Cortez has posed:
The cognitive dissonance that allows Cortez to continue believing the things he believes remains unshaken. All mutants he can feel continue to ping alive and retreat. Good. Suicide avoided! They can go now. Cortez would Like, very much, to go now. The slow healing on Monet continues. Jetpack cutting out at the pull of Magneto's power to prevent conflicting with the drag.

Pushing both Monet and Magneto this hard was was going to take days to recover from. Battery or not, Cortez himself has limits and despite not appearing to contribute much to the battle, he is starting to hit the bottom of his own stamina. Whatever side effects Magneto or Monet feel in the coming day will have to be forgiven at some point, but for now Cortez starts to ease off his support of their powers gently. No point in endangering either of them on the steps of safety.

"Thank you sir, all mutants present survived." He's not going to question if this was a success or not, but home is the only place he wants to be and with the push of Magneto through the portal, that is accomplished.

Clea has posed:
Clea gives a look to Loki when she realizes that he's sticking behind, "After you, your Highness." she gestures to the portal that is open in a flourish.

Then she looks to see Magneto and Fabian along with others are making it out. Maybe she'd have to catch the Master of Magnetism at another time to see what the sphere was. For now, she concentrates on making sure everyone that is not staying is covered before portals start shutting.

Norrin Radd has posed:
Morg kicks the once-Surfer back, that he lands on the deck, injured, before turning to his new task. Perhaps the heroes might find Norrin's plea a little melodramatic? He dismisses this notion by hoisting the axe and releasing a much more powerful blast of that cosmic energy than previously seen. Akin, nearly, to the move that Thor just unleashed, it blows a hole straight through a dozen-odd Lantern constructs and strikes the Rack 'n Ruin, putting those special Dazzler-enhanced shields immediately to the test.

It's good they have them, because even still, a dozen panels still explode in dramatic Star Trek-like fashion, and Rocket can practically hear the 'cha-ching' of what his spare parts guy is going to charge him on the repairs, as he tries to keep the ship under control.

And though Magneto seems to take the cue to exit quickly, not everyone else is so swift in their retreat. The battle, chaotic as it is, has drifted everywhere, and it is the Yellow Lanterns that make up the bulk of much of the force, some of them still relatively close by virtue of the drifting battle, and by Air Walker's previously frustrating mobility.

Sinestro calls a retreat, calls for one to stand their ground, but perhaps even his confidence underestimates the day. None expects what meets them.

Morg leaps from the deck, hurtling bodily into the rear of the formation, even as it attempts to put that withdrawl into motion.

"Yes, run. Show me YOUR fear, hahaha!"

His axe meets the first of the Lanterns, or rather his shield, but breaks through and in that single motion passes through the trunk of his body, leaving two pieces floating separately in space, and the ring quickly zipping away. Thereafter, more nameless Corpsmen of Fear have their credo tested, as the Executioner becomes the face of impending death, hurling into their formation with abandon, seeking to make the retreat into a bloody rout. Most make it into their hyper-portals, but some do not.

DevilDog, to his credit, shows no fear. Conjuring yellow clawed constructs over his own hands, he leaps to meet the Executioner, if not to stop him, to slow him. He rakes the alien's chest, leaving gaping wounds that bleed only the energetic crackle-pop of raw cosmic energy, healing as fast as they are made.

Morg catches one of his arms, catches his HAND, enclsoing the lantern's fist with his own, and then brings the axe down again, diagonally. The clenched fist vibrates angrily, as the ring tries to flee... and fails.

The gangway with the observation platform begins to withdraw. The enemy is in retreat, and the Devourer of Worlds may return to his preparations, for the final stage of Earth's consumption. The work must continue.

He knows not of the intrusions of the Lantern or the Invisible Woman, or whatever otehr stragglers may be left in the debris of the great battle.