3370/While the Cats are Away: Knock Knock, Anybody Home

While the Cats are Away: Knock Knock, Anybody Home
Date of Scene:	15 September 2020
Location:	Exterior - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	The Fearsome Five show up and make their presence known. Doctor Light is captured.
Cast of Characters:	Dick Grayson, Kara Danvers, Heather Danielson, Koriand'r, Gar Logan, Mary Bromfield, America Chavez, Kyle Rayner, Kian, Damian Wayne

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Dick Grayson has posed:
    It is about dusk, right around dinnertime when across the scanners it is noted that three helicopters have come within the island's airspace.  All have Metropolis Police Department transponders and are flying in formation, looping around the island in a regular patrol.  Over comms, a voice reaches out, "Sorry for the intrusion, just cutting it a little close, got some new pilots over here on a smuggling patrol, so they are flying a little goofy."  Visible in the pilot's seat for the helicopters are uniformed officer that is speaking on the comms; but inside the phrase there is a duress signal, something is not right.
    However, the weirdness does not end there as two vehicles, rather large custom SUVs, with delivery markers on the roof roll in, one is a local pizza place that will often deliver to the tower, the other is another pizza place, with familiar faces of the delivery drivers present in the vehicle, though one is in the passenger seat.  While unusual, nobody outside of the island thought twice about it.  Everything gets strange, though, when the lights around Titans Tower suddenly go dark.  The last thing being seen were the helicopters veering right for the tower while the SUVs roll in closer.  All of the faces seen in the vehicles do match databases held by the Titans confirming them as uniformed officers and the regular delivery personnel.
    Nightwing is in the kitchen making a snack between monitor shifts when the notices go off, but when he looks out the window he sees nothing.  Over comms he calls, "Look alive!  Everybody get out there, all hands on deck!"  Anything else he could say is garbled as he hurries towards the stairs to make his way outside, sticks drawn, ready to do battle in the dark.

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Neutron cracks his neck behind his hazmat suit and slips out of the car.  He cracks one set of knuckles, then the other.  "This is going to be a lot of fun," murmuring to Jinx.  When Jinx steps out of the car, her bare feet touch ground and she smiles.  "Perhaps.  I still think this is a childish waste of our time," she says with her lilting Indian accent.
    "Knock knock little pigs," she quips and raises her arms, pink energy flashing about her hands as nature leaps to her command.  A massive gust of wind hits the front doors to the Titans Tower, blowing them open.
    "The big bad wolves are here to play," Neutron says and moves several paces in front of Jinx and braces himself like a football line backer, "and the human bomb is here to blow your minds."  A glow begins to surround Neutron as his radiation starts to heat up.
    Jinx spreads her arms wide and suddenly there are eleven of her spread out across the space outside the tower.  Each one independently curls their toes against the ground.  "Let the games begin."

Heather Danielson has posed:
    In the kitchen is also Heather.  Not in costume.  In her workout clothes because she was on her way to the gym when she smelled a snack.
    "You don't mind if I bug you for some of that, do you?" she asks as she flops onto a chair nearby.
    That's when the lights go out and she sighs.  "Did someone forget to pay the electric bill?" she asks as she stands up.
    Dick's obvious alarm has her running to follow him.  Regretting the time it would take to go change into her costume, "I really need to get some Starktech smartclothes," she mutters as she follows.

Koriand'r has posed:
    Koriand'r is, likewise, in the kitchen just adding the finishing touches to a prize winning sandwich.  This thing should have its own zip code, three layers of cheese, six slices of bread, twenty seven pieces of meat, a full tomato, half an onion, lettuce, and enough mayo and mustard that it will absolutely be impossible to eat without getting it everywhere.
    Half admiring her work, half contemplating where to start eating it, Starfire walks a small half circle in front of the table end where the table is situated.  "Dick, do you think this will require a fork and kn…ife…."  The alarms interrupt whatever she was going to ask.  Blinking her glowing green eyes and looking in the direction of the doorway, taking flight to follow behind him with her hair fluttering out behind her like a wisp of fiery red smoke trailing in her wake.
    "No, we do not forget to pay the electric bill here.  All our food would be spoiled!  Nightwing, do you want me to attempt to establish air superiority around the tower?"

Gar Logan has posed:
    Gar Logan is mashing buttons, playing a game on the big screen the Titans so often enjoy using for movies, shows, and video games.  "C'mon, c'mon… man, it's just not the same without Vic here."  Their tussles over gaming matters are legendary among the Titans who have been around longer, with lots of pranks and retaliation between the two.  But, that was a while back.  Hasn't even happened all that often more recently, even before he was one of the four that disappeared.  At least there was work being done to try to track them down, most of the group believing it would work out.
    That's when the power cuts out and everything goes dark.  "Really?"  Given Nightwing's call to arms, he knows this is something a little more serious.  "Ohhh boy."  Good thing he was in costume.  He's been in costume a lot since getting back.  Just felt right.
    As he rushes for the front doors, they blow open.  If the power was on, alerts would be sounding up and down the entire Tower.  At the moment, he's not even aware of what's going on in the sky.  He just sees people out front, one of them having duplicated herself many times over.  Something feels familiar, but he can't quite place it.  "No visitors.  Go home," he warns them after passing through, immediately turning into a sizable bear.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
    Mary Bromfield, otherwise known as ContraryMary, was busy doing her Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning on her gaming stream.  So, of course, that's when the alert comes through on her Titans communicator.  She blinks, never actually hearing it before… but she thinks quickly enough, saying on the stream, "And man, you know it's a pain when life interferes, catch you later friendos!"  With that, she bolts out of her bedroom in Queens, running out into the backyard of the house.
    Once she's in the clear she shouts, "SHAZAM!" and changes into Thunderbolt, launching into the air and flying with alacrity towards Metropolis and Titans tower!

America Chavez has posed:
    America Chavez had been relaxing on the couch, watching the PPV of the Women's Middleweight Championship Boxing tournament when the call came in and the power had cut out.  She had been on the edge of her seat as a particularly good set of left and right jabs had been coming in, when she heard Nightwing's call over the comm system.
    Cursing her luck, she at least didn't hesitate and was through the window and dropping down to the ground near the army of Jinx's.  Blinking once, twice, three times she calls back through the comm system, "We've got visitors."
    Then, to the Jinx closest to her, she growls, "Didn't anybody teach you how to knock politely?" After observing the doors blown in.  She slams a hard fist into the body double, for whatever good it'll do.  Yeah, she's not waiting on Nightwing's orders to start combat.  She doesn't know who they are, and she doesn't care.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle Rayner was winding down after a day of trying to learn more about how to manipulate his power ring and drawing.  Mostly, drawing ideas of things to use the ring for, so really, it's all training.  Even if he's just sitting in his seat with his pencil and paper, he's training!  But, he had just settled in to start watching one of his all time favourite shows, the sound of a J-POP anime opening coming through his open door before the power goes out and an alert goes out over the T-Com.
    Sitting up, he brings his ring up, and there's a green glow as the mask and the rest of the costume settles into place.  "So much for a relaxing Sunday evening before school," he mutters, a hand coming up and getting run through black hair, before he takes off, hovering through the tower and towards the front door, coming to a stop next to Gar, "Knocking is usually the polite thing to do," he agrees with America.

Kian has posed:
    Kían flits out of the window of his room, and instinctively drops.  Helicopters are perfectly reasonable ways to fly, but they still look like aerial bird—or worse, birdman—mincing machines.
    Below the top bar of the T, then.  Much safer there.  The darkness doesn't bother him; he's always thought the tower was too brightly lit at night anyway.
    What does bother him is the surge in radiation from a source he hasn't pinpointed yet, and he drops lower to see if he can find it, and do something about it.  "Iss a source of radiation down there," he warns over comms.  Radiation is rarely good for biological entities.  "I am lookin' for it, an' will see hwat I can do."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian had been working on a project of his in the lab, clearly marked 'Robin's, Do Not Touch' to the other scientifically inclined Titans.
    The alarm going out, he of course stands ready to fight, once he shuts down his project.
    Opting to go for a helicopter, he goes towards the rooftop, and removes his grapple gun.  Aiming to the closest helicopter, he is trying to get to the cabin and take out the offending persons within.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    From the helicopter descends a figure wearing a black and white jumpsuit and matching helmet comes Doctor Light, descending lower as he flies down from the middle helicopter, using the light he absorbed from the tower and the light pollution around him to go and strafe the roof defenses, all the while making his way down to join his comrades, though still hovering about thirty feet above the ground, the helicopters begin descending, though once Damian grapples onto the helicopter and finds himself on board, he does seen a uniformed officer of the Metropolis PD wearing an vest and holding onto the stick for dear life, though no matter how he moves it, the helicopter does not move as instructed.  He turns to Damian and says, "Get out of here!  No sense getting yourself hurt, kid."  The wiring on the vest appears very basic, but it does appear to be different than the regular Kevlar vest provided to the police.  The other helicopters are soon directed away with haste from the one Damian boarded and are moving to land behind the SUVs.
    From within the SUVs emerges a larger-than-life man emerges, followed by a smaller woman who says, "All right Mammoth, you know the plan, right?"
    "Yes, Sel… Shimmer," the man notes and joins Neutron in approaching the tower, the brute not being subtle by any means.  Shimmer herself takes out a few of the pizza boxes they brought, tucking them under her arm as she joins the others.
    Out of the rear SUV comes the last, a man looking a little strange, with what appears to be his brain visible to the outside world.  Psimon looks at those approaching and says to Jinx, "It will all prove worth it," a smirk appearing on his lips as he pours out a bag of ball bearings and throws them into the open doors, using his telekinesis to make sure they reach well into the lobby.
    Nightwing says to Kori, "Get up there, if there are innocents, we can't use our full arsenal."  He then is stalled a little by the ball bearings, taking a moment to recover as he blocks his face, the suit taking most of the hits before making his way outside and seeing the force arrayed against them and whistles, "Welp.  This is new, everybody let's keep it contained out here."  Dropping into a defensive stance.

Kara Danvers has posed:
    "Here the idiots come to play super hero," says Jinx with a smirk.  America is fast, but the version of Jinx she takes a swing at dodges with a fluid movement.  She stays just in range of America to entice her to have another swing.  This copy of Jinx seems happy to string America along, though eventually a hit does land.  It's inevitable.  It is then that America learns she has been sparring with an illusion.  The fist flies straight through the body making it wink out of existence, followed quickly by another copy appearing a few feet away.
    Neutron runs his hands together and the radiation reverses, no longer pulsing out of him he sucks it back in and becomes immensely strong.  This, in response to Gar transforming in to a Bear.  "You're not even the fun one.  When is the fun one going to arrive?"  One of Jinx replies, "She is coming, I can feel her approaching."  Neutron gestures to Gar and Kyle in a very 'bring it' motion.  This is what he has been waiting for, a chance to give these brats a good beat down.  He begins to lift a few feet off of the ground an behind his radiation suit mask, smirks wickedly.
    Jinx glances back to Psimon, "Yes yes, you have plans.  You always have plans."
    Over the T-comms, Kara responds to the emergency: «I'm on my way!»

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "Right, keep it outside.  Gotcha," offers Heather as she keeps moving.  Even as Dick goes into a defensive stance, she is in charge mode.  I mean seriously, being defensive isn't something she has ever really worried about.  "Fun's right here big guy!" she announces as she goes to shoulder-ram Neutron.  The problem is… ball bearings.  She's never learned how to roller skate on free rolling marbles.  So her awesome shoulder ram basically becomes a flying kick that is a bit off target.  Still, she manages to sweep an arm out….
    As testament to her stubbornness and reflexes.  She has enough strength to lift a bus, so who knows how tough Neutron is?  She breaks her hand on contact, but she's used to that and it's healing by the time she lands on her ass behind him.

Koriand'r has posed:
    The sudden arrival of so many superpowered villains has Starfire's usually chipper expression souring dramatically… more so as she begins to feel Neutron's effect on the surrounding plaza outside the tower.  Squinting, she isn't specifically concerned with the residual effects, but her worry is for those Titans who do not have some form of protection….
    "It is my general belief that everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt," Kori says as she rushes across the open area to position herself in front of Neutron as the radiation sucks back within the powered villain, making him immensely powerful.  Her fists clinch down at her sides, energy radiating out from the corners of her eyes in wisps of green fury that collects around her curled knuckles like an open circuit conduit between face and hands.  "You've come to my home, threatened my family with your nonsense reasoning…."  When Heather swings and her whole fist cracks against the stubbornly strong villain, Starfire growls.  Partly because of the ball bearings pelting her from Psimon's telekinetic attack.  Squinting and holding up a hand to defend the side of her face, she still has presence of mind to twist around aerially and sweep down towards Neutron from right to left trying to pop off a haymaker punch.
    "Leave my friends alone!"

Gar Logan has posed:
    This… is a lot of people.  Some of them are in the database, maybe most, but there isn't a ton of info Beast Boy can recall about anyone in particular.  "I'm feeling bearish about your chances here," he retorts when the taunts come in, and he hurries off to one side of the front of the Tower when the ball bearings are sent out.  Hard to tell if they're just little balls of metal, or if they'll explode or do some other kind of damage.
    He sets his sights on the big guy coming out of the SUV.  Mammoth.  In fact, he charges it even before everyone's fully piled out, turning into a rhinoceros in the process.  "You picked a bad time for this.  We're really not in the mood!"

Mary Bromfield has posed:
    There's a distant thunder rumbling towards Titans Tower.  Everyone outside can hear it, and quite possibly see it… a locus of lightning and thunder roaring from New York proper to Metropolis.
    One thing about Thunderbolt, she's not exactly subtle.  And she's going to be crashing the party pretty fast.

America Chavez has posed:
    Once America finally does land the hit against the barefoot 'mage' that is Jinx and realizes she's fighting an illusion and that 11 out of those 12 Jinx's are (most likely) illusions, she makes an angry looking face, eyes sweeping over the various threats that have come to 'play' with the Titans.  She feels her words at the meeting she'd held coming back to her—that they needed to remain strong, and together, and show the world they were still the Titans until they could get her friends back and she feels a chill of anger run through her that this 'crew', whoever they were, felt they could take advantage of that—whatever their 'plans' were.
    As Kori's haymaker lands on Neutron, America proves just how fast she is.  Suddenly she's launching into the air on her feet, spinning 'round with a fast right hook of her own against Neutron's gut, her punch perfectly timed and position to send his body flying at high velocity into a small gathering of Jinx's to see if any of them are the 'real' ones.
    "Take your garbage and leave, now, while you still can," she snarls in reply.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle Rayner brings his arm up and conjures a brick wall in front of him as the ball bearings begin to ping and bounce around him.  Preferring to not deal with them, while his eyes widen as Neutron and Heather collide and he's barely moved.  As everyone in the tower charges someone, Kyle decides to do his best again, well, apparently the entire Teen Titan Rogue's Gallery.  "Look, we asked nicely," he offers, before using his ring to conjure a large wrecking ball headed at Neutron from the opposite direction of Starfire, hopefully making him have to choose what to get hit by instead of just dodging Starfire.

Kian has posed:
    Qihár training—find a protected space to strike from.  Terry would recognize what Kían had done, getting under the top of the 'T', having seen it in the birdman's mind… were Terry still with us.  In any case, he should be safe from ball bearings where he's at.
    And now the radiation is going back the other way: another one with a rhy'thar like his own?  Kían doesn't know, and isn't interested in finding out.  He just knows it isn't one of his friends, and that it is therefore one of the 'dik-heds'—Vic has a lot to answer for in what he'd taught Kían about English.
    In any case, the change in radiation helped him pinpoint the source—only in time to see Neutron get dogpiled.  Problem solved.
    Given a moment to think, the birdman only just now notices another active mind here, and instinctively makes contact.  {Leave!} he sends as firmly as he can, {you have no business here.}  Among his people, his mental tone would be considered needlessly sharp and 'loud'.  Here… who knows?

Damian Wayne has posed:
    Robin's reaction to the vest on the Metropolis PD guy has him taken aback for a second.  «The pilots are wired to blow up,» he announces on comms, before he takes a moment to reassure the pilot.  "We will get you home," he says before jumping out the other side of the cabin.
    His cape assures a soft landing as he scopes out the situation.  Then, Doctor Light gets involved.  Birdarangs equipped, and are sent out to an unsuspecting thug, followed by a swift air kick.  «Priority should be on who has the detonator,» he communicates, before making more leaps towards some of the big bads in play.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Doctor Light calls from the sky and says, "We are the Fearsome Five, we do not take instructions from you.  You will be humbled and broken again, as you were before."  His tone is haughty, but by judging how the fight is going, he has confidence.  Especially with the sound of thunder and likely lightning that he can see as a potential source of those precious lumens.
    Mammoth is perplexed by Doctor Light's comment and he says, "But there are seven of us?"  To which his sister replies, "Fearsome Five, Mammoth. Five."  She holds up five fingers for emphasis, but is busy as everyone seems to pick Neutron as their target.  She takes a moment and turns her pizza box into a steel plate.
    Mammoth is momentarily caught off-guard from Gar changing from a bear into a rhinoceros.  "Rhino?" he asks before being charged, though he braces himself and takes the hit full on, leaving drag marks in the ground, though at the end of it Gar finds himself grabbed by the man who has a very aptly named.  Mammoth lifts Beast Boy with ease and chucks him into the side of the towers, knocking loose some exterior fixtures, but the structure still stands.  Shimmer is about to hurl her new-found steel pizza box, when she gets a chance to swing it at Kori as she attacks Neutron.
    Psimon looks up to Kian, clearly not amused by the mental message and returns with one of his own, "You have made a bad choice, bird boy," he then extends his will through to Kian, directing him to come to the ground, and using a little of his own telekinesis help Kian to go along with the very strong direction.
    Doctor Light notices Damian on the ground and the downed minion and snorts, "Well, well, looks like we have a big damn hero."  A smirk crosses his face and he sends bolts of energy aimed directly at Damian.  "Let's see if you can avoid this!"
    Dick joins the fray, seeing Beast Boy thrown, but when has taking on someone more powerful than him stopped him before?  He tries to slide in there, and his sticks find joints, sending zaps, but Mammoth will not go down.  It is a game of Dick being able to be a nuisance by landing hits, but it only takes one from Mammoth to make him have a bad time.
    At this time, security breach alerts for several rooms go off on all T-comms, until they all go silent.  The T-comms now dead quiet, nothing going in, nothing going out.

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Jinx seems plenty amused by America's attempts to hit her illusion.  It's the little things in life that make it worth while.  Neutron though seems to have gained quite a bit of attention.  She can't help but ponder how things would go if he actually stuck around for all that fire power… on the other hand.  "She's here," Jinx says to Neutron.
    Neutron is surprised by Heather being the first to take a hit at him.  The punch lands and he drifts back in the air briefly and furrows his eyebrows.  "Ow!  You punch like a girl."  Yep, he's having fun already too and seems secure in his might that he doesn't mind complimenting her on actually packing a good punch.  Though when Kori powers up and start on him, that haymaker and the Kyle's wrecking ball.  There is a mighty clash… and a womphf of light as Neutron disappears.  Total protonic reversal, like they'd punched him out of existence.
    What he'd been waiting for, super eager, he transforms in to pure energy right before he has to take the full brunt of Kori and Kyle's attack.  That thunder rumbling, the lightning threatening to strike.  When it strikes, he is up in it and transformed back in to matter with an upper cut of his own to intercept the arrival of Mary mid-strike.  "FINALLY!" he yells with exuberance.
    Jinx ponders helping out Mammoth?  Naaah screw him, he's a moron.  She smirks at the way Kyle and Kori are fighting and with a snap of a finger, a pink beam shoots out and saps away the good luck from the two heroes.  They're willing to put in effort, she's willing to turn it against them.  "Really Psimon, this is beneath me.  These children are helpless.  I feel genuinely embarrassed for them.  Next time let's attack the Doom Patrol, for the laughs."
    Supergirl shoots through the skies with her hands out stretched and her jaw set.  A lovely morning talking to King T'Challa ruined by idiots thinking they can attack her friends at the Titan's Tower.  The blur of red and blue stops in the air and she crashes down on to the ground in a hearing kneel and stands up.  "I don't know who you people think you are, but this ends now!"

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Scrambling back to her feet, Heather looks down and notices three neat ball bearing sized wounds right through her torso.  Two in the stomach and one that went through a lung (and her sports bra).  Amazing how adrenaline will make you not even feel some things.  That, and the fact that as she notices them, the wounds are finishing their whole healing thing.
    But she looks back up and shakes her head.  She is about to say something, but then thinks better of it.  She just turns and spots Captain Brain-In-A-Jar.  She rolls her neck and picks up a ball bearing that has popped out of her bloody wounds.  She turns and hurls the thing at the brain-case with all of her strength.  Which as previously indicated, is anything but minimal.

Koriand'r has posed:
    It's extremely bad luck.
    Koriand'r is about to come home with the haymaker when everything turns over on its ear like a cartwheel.  The angle she'd come in at puts her in a prime position to become the unintended target of Kyle's wrecking-ball.  Hitting her as it swings, not because of any fault in his aim, so much as the way the Tamaranean Princess moves to build strength for her punch against the radiated villain.
    And hit her it does.
    Like a freight train.
    It's not enough to knock her out, but it definitely knocks her around… specifically it knocks her right into Shimmer's swung metal plate.  The super charged solar alien is twisting end over end when the object clips her across the back of her shoulders and changes the trajectory of her flight right into the side of the tower.  Crashing against the mortar with a grunt, raining down concrete dust and bits of plaster onto her orange head.
"By X'Hal…."  Holding to the side of her head as she stands, shaking the cobwebs trying to claim victory over her senses, she twists around and points both fists out in a sweeping motion across Jinx copies, sending a beam of energy out like a laser trying to clear the court yard of duplicates.
    But is her aim off after bashing her head against the wall?
    "I don't feel so good…."

Gar Logan has posed:
    Beast Boy puts his head down, expecting to gore Mammoth or simply knock him into the next county.  It doesn't happen.  Instead, his forward progress is halted for the most part, except for Mammoth digging in, and before he knows it he's hoisted up and sent toward the building!  "Whoa!  Rhinos don't fly!" is all he has time to get out before he's bouncing off the side of the structure, leaving a dent in the wall.
    That shakes him up enough that he reverts to normal for a few moments, while Nightwing tries to land some strikes of his own.  "Anyone get the number of that truck?" he grimaces.  It gives him a few seconds to get back to his hands and knees, but hearing Doctor Light, seeing the others around… this does not look good right now.
    He has to duck one of Starfire's wayward beams.  "Whoa!  Friendly fire!  Friendly fire!"  Gonna need a few more seconds to get back into this thing, but his mind is racing through something to be, something bigger and badder than a bear.  There are options.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
    Thunderbolt did not see Neutron coming, though she still can react enough to roll with the hit.  It's still a pretty nasty punch, sending her flying back.  She turns on a proverbial dime, though, thunder and lightning dying down as she focuses less on flying and more on fighting.  She glares at Neutron, and simply says, "Alright, now I'm mad."
    With that, she soars around and tries to catch Neutron by surprise… a shoulder block in the back designed to send him most of the way to Nova Scotia.  He can dish it out, but can he take it… Mary is more than willing to find out.

America Chavez has posed:
    As America is unable to get her attack off on Jinx, with Neutron disassembling and reassembling, she growls, "What, does every single one of these jerks have the ability to not get hit?"  This seems to rankle her even further and put her in an even more of a sour mood.
    Up on the air, she doesn't have time—or, doesn't think to reassess her strategy.  She's got an eye on the real Jinx, now (or at least, so she thinks), the one that just shot the pink laser beams, and she moves down to dash through the air to pulverize the little barefoot mage—when Kori's energy beam slams into her back, and sends her sprawling forwards onto the ground, hard, but not out.  Still, hard enough and decisive enough to render her groggy and in pain for the next few precious moments.  Bad luck, certainly.
    But even bad luck can be turned to an advantage, and with the blast, America is now 'behind enemy lines'.  If she can recover quickly enough, she might possibly be able to take advantage of that?

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    "Wait-wait-wait-wait," Kyle tries to say, as Neutron suddenly does his party trick, and suddenly there's a large wrecking ball headed directly for Starfire and it hits, and he winces, the wrecking ball blinking out of existence as he turns to watch Starfire crunch into the side of the tower, and bites his lip.
    He stops trying to attack any of the others, as he flies towards Starfire.  "I am SO sorry," he yells, before suddenly there's energy beams swinging around and Kyle is much more focused on dodging those.  "H-hey! I said I was sorry," he says to Starfire, before realizing she wasn't trying to hit him.

Kian has posed:
    "/Ki-AI/!"  Resisting the mental command: difficult, but not impossible.  Kían owns his own mind.
    Resisting the telekinesis: well, that's different.  Kían is a very good flier, but telekinesis is another matter entirely.  The only thing he can manage is to slow the descent, lessen the impact.
    He veers badly under the unaccustomed downward pull, bounces off the side of the tower, and hits the ground.
    Hard.

Damian Wayne has posed:
    Robin had barely seen the bolts out of the corner of his eye before he'd been hit.  The energy bolts seared past his armor, and to the fleshy bits inside.  The first one had managed to be absorbed by the armor, but the other reached into Damian's midsection, causing the young man to bleed a good amount.
    However, this one wound doesn't hold him completely off, it's made him angry.  More birdarangs are removed and thrown towards Doctor Light with his right hand, his left clutches the wound on his torso, attempting to staunch the bleed.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Shimmer grins as Kori is disoriented from the unfortunate series of events.  But that changes when she notices the beams coming her way and barely avoids getting zapped herself by Starfire's attack, calling out "Ow!"  This gets Mammoth's attention, as he had been distracted by Nightwing, but now in his face is only rage.  Dick may be fast, but good luck outrunning angry brother speed and strength as he is grabbed and becomes a projectile, thrown at Starfire.  Mammoth pulls a decorative tree out of the ground and brandishes it like a large baseball bat.  He turns to Gar and says, "You're next Rhinoman!"  And charges forward.
    Shimmer beats a hasty retreat, though seeing America, elects to hold up her sheet of metal like a shield as the ground in front of her for about three feet becomes a deep pool of tar, providing a small moat around her.
    Psimon smirks as Kian is grounded, but it seems the field is changing, with the arrival of Thunderbolt, the strategic arithmetic has changed.  He snarls as the ball bearings are thrown at him, and he is not quick enough to stop them with his mind, but he can slow them down, giving satisfying, but non-lethal, thuds against his chest.  Well, time to bring balance to the world.  He focuses his attention on Heather and sends psionic blasts towards her.  Psimon looks to Jinx.  "Well, some times you just got to warm up.  That's all this is.  A warm up."
    Doctor Light sees the arrival of Thunderbolt and grins.  "Good, good, I want you all here for the end of it all."  One Batarang snags his armor and Doctor Light winces, though he is quick to generate a shield to block the others.  "Little twerp," he mutters, instead working to build a force cage around Robin.
    Dick may be a world-class acrobat, but when the force launching him catches him off-guard, it's hard to look good, but he does his best to try and steer himself away from Starfire, but it does not appear that he will be able to do so.

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Jinx laughs at the almost comical outcome of Kori and Kyle's misfortune.  She feels it coming though, that attempt to fight back.  The first illusion winks out of existence when the beam hits, then the second.  The third—is real and she has summoned her elemental power of the energy to reflect it back and aims it directly at Kyle for as long as Kori is unwise enough to continue trying to shoot her.  Kyle was already trying to dodge the poorly aimed beam, now it's not so poorly aimed.
    Neutron laughs with glee, his breath making hot puffs against the clear plate of his radiation suit.  The shoulder barge hits him.  He's not the most skilled at dodging.  He starts to vault away as intended by Mary until he wompfs in to nothing again an appears behind her a yard away and cups his hands together.  "NUCLEAR BLASTIN' TIME!"  An intense beam of radiation shoots out of his hands at Mary.
    Jinx senses the danger coming from America.  That danger sense has kept her alive more times than she cares to admit.  A smooth roll out of the way from the predicted attack.
    She laughs again as Kori's beam hits her would be attacker and with her free hand she makes a waving motion.  "Time for you to 'hang ten' as you Americans say."  The water surrounding the island swells and a wave bursts up over the edge and forms a vortex, which then crash toward America.
    Kara surveys the scene around her, the world slowing down as she picks and chooses her moves ahead.  It's pandemonium, they were so much more coordinated when they took on Brainiac.  She's not the leader of this group, but ever since they lost four of their number they have been in utter disarray.
    Heather looks wounded… Robin looks wounded… Kori is out of control.  She snaps back to real time.  "Lantern, get that wizard!  Nightwing, get the one with the tar and shield, Kori… steady yourself!  Thunderbolt, you've got this.  Robin keep him busy, I'll take him next.  Beast Boy get brain jar guy, America, get up!  Punch this!"
    Supergirl true to her name dashes in front of Mammoth and pushes against him as he tries to charge toward Gar.  He's strong, but he's not going to be good vertical.  She grips tight and flies up sharply pulling him up with her.  "Time for a swim," she says to him and launches him toward the bay.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Good, Heather has become the target.  She can take it.  That's pretty much her best use… to get destroyed on a regular basis, and put herself back together again so the others have a tactical advantage.  But… pain of the body is one thing.  Pain of the mind is entirely different.
    She staggers back… her vision pulsing in and out, dark and not dark, then dark again.  She shakes her head and waves her hands before her as if trying to stop whatever it is that is hitting her.
    I mean come on, she hasn't had a headache since she got her powers.  But that is when she sees Damian there.  She grits her teeth… her ability to fight through pain.  It is something that has to be seen to be believed.  Pain is something that she is not only used to, but that she has learned to welcome because it is part of who she is now.
    She lurches towards Damian… reaching him… but off balance.  "Stay… stay behind me…" she mutters to him as she turns to brace herself against anything else that may be intended for her wounded teammate.  And she staggers down to one knee before forcing herself back up to her feet… unsteady, but there.

Koriand'r has posed:
    With both her fists extended and firing steady beams of solar energy at Shimmer, it could be forgiven if she doesn't immediately notice a hurled Nightwing tumbling at her like a flesh-arang.  (We here in the Starfire section do not always agree with the commentary expressed by the writing staff.  While we applaud the teams attempts to create amusing descriptions, we must observe that she is just now learning Double Entendres from Vorpal and worry that they may be misrepresented in this last entry.)
    With an obvious concussion, Koriand'r stumbles after her sweeping blasted and suddenly finds herself beset upon by a thrown projectile of her very good friend Dick Grayson.  Colliding with her left shoulder, the Tamaranean Princess is knocked off balance, but has the presence of mind to turn and wrap her arms around the acrobatic former Robin to protect him as they land on the debris covered courtyard of Titan Tower.
    The sheer force of the throw coupled with her already woozy head injury, Starfire bounces along the cement like a rock skipping over the surface of a lake.  Coming to a stop on her back, somewhere in one of the grassy area with decorative trees, clutching Dick protectively until they've come to a full and complete stop.
    Her head lulls to the side, red hair spilling across her face, and her arms drop down onto the soft earth with a little sigh.
    A distant, hollow voice emitting from the groggy Starfire, "I'm fine…."  She is absolutely not, but she's clambering back up to her feet, but immediately stumbles shoulder first into one of the decorative trees.  Trying to see the chaos that is the Titans beset by… a great deal of misfortune.  It doesn't seem at all natural to her.  Squinting, whether in an attempt to focus or put together the pieces, Koriand'r growls angrily.  "I'm fine."  This time it sounds more believable.
    A glance to Dick, holding her hand out to help him up.  "Supergirl is correct, if we do not get coordinated, we are going to lose the Tower.  We have already lost enough… hold on to your cowl."  She gives him enough time to brace, then sends him back into the fight directly towards Shimmer's position, surrounded by her tar moat.

Gar Logan has posed:
    When Mammoth goes and yanks that tree up, Beast Boy fumes.  "Hey!  I planted that tree!  I didn't say you could do that!"  He gets back to his feet as the foe comes for him, ready to swing the tree itself, and Mammoth is met by a gorilla.
    Not just any gorilla, but rather a prehistoric one that's pushing ten feet tall, weighs about half a ton, and packs the strength to go with it: Gigantopithecus.  Its long arms come to within about a foot or two of scraping the ground, leading to a wingspan any basketball player would instantly be jealous of.  The hands fly up to catch the tree trunk, intent on grappling with Mammoth as Beast Boy roars at him.  "I told you, I am not in the mood!"  That's when Supergirl cuts into that particular dance, likely removing Mammoth from his immediate vicinity.  "You go, girl."
    His friends?  Still missing.  His home?  Now attacked.  There's only so far someone can take being pushed around by life.  Unfortunately, he's unable to spare any attention toward other parts of the fight.  Good thing the brain guy has been called out.  "On it."  He's still got a lot of reach on his side like this, and he turns his focus to Psimon with the intent of wrapping one of those giant hands around his head!

America Chavez has posed:
    A two-pronged attack on America, as the sore and battered heroine finds herself immersed in tar, and now a huge wave coming at her as she starts to regain her senses.  It's lucky for her that she's so resiliant.  And, it's lucky for her, too, that—
    She can punch.
    Reality bends to her as her fists slams into the very tar that is holding her and there's a star portal, suddenly in the ground.
    Later, after the battle is over, and presuming it's not wrecked in the chaos to come, that star-shape will be a few inches deep and have left a 'lasting' impression in the concrete until fixed.
    For now, however, the tar it sent 'somewhere else', which gives America time enough to shoot up, and double-fist club the shield down, and out of Shimmer's hands, and attempt to then grab Shimmer, and throw her into the oncoming wave from Jinx, and herself out of the way, and back to her teammates to hold their ground—and their base, realizing that right now that's probably the best they can do.  The enemy has the advantage of strategy and planning, and the Titans, presently, are too haphazard to coordinate anything out of the blue.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
    Thunderbolt yelps, covering instinctively as she is blasted by the radiation blast.  "Wait, let me get my microwave popcorn packets at least!"  She looks pretty well cooked, though not badly hurt just yet as she's getting her invulnerability put to the test…
    And she realizes that the others are in trouble.  "Get in my way, Jimmy, and I'll turn you into a lawn dart!"  With that, she punches rapidly at Neutron, then rockets downwards on the follow through, trying to get back to help the others before it's too late….

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle Rayner had just come to a stop when suddenly there's another energy beam coming after him, and he's back to dodging and weaving, throwing up the occasional shield when it gets entirely too close for comfort.  His eyes surveying the field and seeing what's going on before Supergirl flies in with some rather decent suggestions.
    Turning his attention to Psimon, he conjurers up an Illithid, straight from the Monster Manual that lumbers towards him with out stretched tentacles ready to do some damage.

Kian has posed:
    "Nnh."  Kían looks up woozily, mutters something in his own language, tries to get his bearings.
    Once he's settled on the mentalist who threw him to the ground, he takes a second to focus, and then launches a stunning bolt of electricity at him.
    Wait a minute.  Did Kían just attack a sentient directly?
    No explanation is forthcoming.  The birdman doesn't remain conscious long enough to even see if he hit his target.

Damian Wayne has posed:
    Damian normally wouldn't feel so great about taking cover behind someone, but he was wounded, and his armor was compromised.
    There wasn't a thing he could do standing behind Heather.  There wasn't much he could do with his current gear.  "We… need to get the detonator.  Save the… hostages," he said slowly.  It was starting to hurt to breathe.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Mammoth is about ready to bring his club down when he is ran into by Supergirl.  The force is so great, that a leather squarish thing falls out of his pocket.  Soon he finds himself over the bay and is squirming and trying to land hits on Supergirl, it's a game of levers and he is out of position.
    Dick calls out, "Yeah, been a little uncoordinated," the joy of surprise attacks.  He does say as he is caught and safely carried, "Thanks Kori," and then louder, "Thanks Supergirl!"  He then addresses, "Tie them up, we got the biggest guns we got here, so let's roll 'em."  He then nods as he is chucked towards Shimmer and as he flies by the tar pit, though fortunately America already has Shimmer tackled.  Dick sticks the landing and then looks to Damian and calls out, "Robin!" concern evident in his tone.
    Shimmer, though is not where she wants to be.  The star will allow the tar to pool while it remains for the next three minutes.  She is thrown by America, but is able to call out, "Psimon!"
    The telepath is surprised and pulls Shimmer over with his own power as something comes across his earpiece.  He would say something but is zapped and takes a moment to recover.  Finding a giant gorilla facing him.  It takes all of his energy to try and push Beast Boy back, enough room for a temporary, at best, barrier.  "Well, with this small army here, I think it is time we depart."  Psimon's tone betrays his concern and worry, but having lightning, ball bearings, and a giant gorilla in your face makes you rethink life choices.
    Psimon mutters and says to Neutron and Jinx, "I think now is the time."  For what?  Only they know, but Psimon continues as he throws up some psionic barriers and moves towards the car.  "Do not follow us or I will detonate our good friends in the helicopters.  Hinder us, they go boom.  As do your precious delivery drivers."  But before he closes the door, Psimon calls out to Doctor Light, "You really thought we'd go through with your plan?  You are as foolish as you are egotistical.  But be a good pal and cover us."  With force of will being extended, Doctor Light snears at Psimon, letting loose a flurry of curses but begins letting out all of his power shooting out beams of energy at various Titans and throwing up even more barriers as the Furious Five depart, though the keen-eyed may see a short humanoid burrow out of the ground and hop into the car.

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Jinx is enjoying herself, but it is time to go apparently.  She makes a motion with her arms.  The sea starts to mist and a fog settles over the battle field.  This one is no illusion, vision is cut considerably and from the air it's hard to see what's going on.
    Neutron laughs at her joke and says, "Good one.  Bring enough for two though."  When she tries to fly away he looks annoyed.  "Hey!  Get back here."  He starts to fly after her but quickly hears the retreat that they planned without Dr. Light.  He turns in his descent and rejoins Jinx in the SUV.
    The ground begins to rumble with a minor earthquake made by Jinx to slow down any pursuers who might think to get in the way of them getting in the cars.  With a motion to the ocean the water gathers under the struggling Mammoth and lifts him up and dumps him on the ground next to the car.  "Idiot," Jinx says and steps on his back and in to the car.
    Kara nods to Beast Boy and smiles at his gorilla form.  So awesome.  So green.  She scowls at Doctor Light and flies in front of his neck beam.  She lets it hit her and winces, but this isn't as bad as the beam Brainiac used on her.  Her eyes begin to glow and she starts to shoot back at his light beams, cancelling them out.  She flies up to him and punches down his shield, then grabs him by the scruff of the neck.  "Lights out."  Using the carefully trained control from Troia and Caitlin, she bops him on the head to knock him out.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Okay, the pain is receding now.  It wasn't wounds so much as just raw pain.  Heather shakes her head to clear it.  Then as she spots the enemies withdrawing, she lets out a shuddering breath.  Then… her eyes go wide, and she whirls to face Damian before yelling, "MEDIC!  HE'S WOUNDED!" and that done, she's not sure if she should pick the guy up or just stand there and stare.  "Pretty sure brain drain there has the detonator.  I couldn't reach him… tried but couldn't," she admits to Damian, her shoulders slumping.

Koriand'r has posed:
    Koriand'r wants to blast an SUV back into broken down parts, but her head is swimming.  One hand comes up to push in against her mane of fiery red hair, rubbing her temple when a wave of nausea washes over her, the ebb and flow of the tide crashing against the shore.  Her other hand extends out, grasping at air, while she's bent over behind the trunk of a tree. 
    Not exactly vomiting, but… close.
    Down she goes, back against the tree with her head resting against the bark trying to catch her breath.  It's been a good long time since she's been hit that hard… very few people on Earth can do that… but it was a perfect storm scenario that leaves her disoriented and struggling to get her wits back around her.  This is the horror of head injuries, though.
    Deceptively unintrusive until the swelling gets bad.
    Waving absently at the heroic team of friends chasing after the retreating villains, she mumbles something incoherent and then slumps over into the grass face first.
    "I'm just… going… to catch my breath…."

Gar Logan has posed:
    Beast Boy's efforts to perhaps squish Psimon's head like a grape go for naught.  Kian's attack has an effect on the matter, but everything's starting to get more chaotic and confusing when the so-called Five begin to extricate themselves from the field of battle: the Titans' own front yard.
    "Hey!  We're not done with you yet!  We're just getting started!"  Beast Boy roars out, shaking an oversized fist before he begins to morph into an animal meant for better speed.
    That's the point when one of Doctor Light's bolts lances through his right shoulder, nothing to absorb it, sending him careening off to one side with a yelp.  Staggering back toward the building, he covers the wound with a hand as red begins to coat green, a hole in the costume.  "…ow."
    The chase, for him, is over.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
    Thunderbolt steals a glance behind her, but Neutron teleported away… so she descends, landing next to Supergirl as she flashes the Kryptonian and Doctor Light a curious look.  "Sorry I'm late, apparently Neutron was trying to keep from joining the party."  She makes a bit of a face, looking like she just spent a week in Hawai'i thanks to the radiation blasts from the supervillain.

America Chavez has posed:
    Herself freed from her imprisonment, and the villians fleeing in the sudden mist, and at least one of the villains in 'custody', America stays near the base, moving over to the sound of Koriand'r's voice.  She, too, is hurting, but she'll get over it and she's not complaining.  Instead, she looks to her teammates whom she can see in the fog and touches Kori's shoulder.
    "C'mon.  We'll get you and the others to medical, make sure you're okay," she says, with an edge to her voice.  She's… not happy.
    "They caught us by surprise.  They won't be that fortunate again.  And by the way they were acting, there is going to be a next time.  Everyone else okay?"
    One can hear the strain in her voice.  She's not fully recovered herself, yet.  It'll probably take a day or so, but she's better off than some.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle Rayner stops projecting the mindflayer as the villianous group begins to leave.  He flies over and lands near Kori, and immediately looks at America.  "Is she okay?  I didn't mean to… it was an accident… I swear, I'm just learning how to," he says, concern evident on his face as he rushes his words out.

Damian Wayne has posed:
    Even though Damian had a wound, he wouldn't allow himself the indignity of being carried.  His hand clutching his side, he starts to walk towards the Tower.
    "This was…."  He stopped himself a moment before he continued.  "We have much to work on," he said, righting himself up, working through the pain.  His green glove stained red from his own blood.  "Tell Batman I need the spare suit.  This one is toast."

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara steps out of the fog to see the cars racing away.  She stares with anger that they're going to get away with this.  "Nightwing," she calls out and points up, then approaches him and with his permission, flies him up to the first helicopter to disarm the first bomb… then to the next… and the next.
    "Could this month just stop already," she says wryly to him between helicopters.  While there she comforts the poor pilots.  Having Supergirl there does tend to help people relax and feel like everything is going to be okay.  Often that's true.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Following Damian, Heather seems fine now.  Aside from the blood all over her clothes, and the dried blood on her upper lip due to the nosebleed the brain damage caused.  Good thing that's healed already.  "Oh god.  Where can I help?" she asks since… Damian seems like he's moving okay.  But then when he mentions Batman she snorts, "Like I have him on speed dial."

Koriand'r has posed:
    Starfire is struggling to get her bearings, but she inwardly knows that she's face down in the grass with her arms bundled up beneath her like solid rods against her abdomen.  Folded nearly in two, she mumbles incoherent nonsense that she's absolutely certain is assurances that she's fine, to check on someone else, but it doesn't sound even remotely like that.  No not at all.
    With half her face hidden in soft earth, one eye stares unfocused up at Chavez and Kyle, a slippery, stupid grin on her face.  One arm slides out from beneath her body to reach up for her teammates, but passes right through the shoulder of a double vision mirage to slap down hard against the ground instead.
    It'll take a lot to knock her out completely, Koriand'r is as tough as any of earth's coffin nail, but physiologically speaking, her brain still rattles around in her very tough skull in the same way human brains do.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Dick scowls as the Fearsome Five/Six/Seven/Graham's Number departs, knowing they hold the cards on this.  Then Kara is there and he nods, "Yeah, let's get them free."  With that, he begins helping disarm the bombs for the pilots and after a few minutes the helicopters are able to fly on their own controls.
    "Thanks, Supergirl," Dick says erring on the side of alias with the cops here.  Once he is on the ground, he tosses out some antibiotics to Damian and says, "We'll get you a new suit, Robin.  Are you all right?"  His concern is evident, but he is not going to seem overworried to let Damian keep his pride.
    In the immediate aftermath, Kara finds the delivery drivers within the half hour, near an old pay phone, and it turns out that the leather squarish item that fell out of Mammoth's pocket was a wallet.  It has his ID and a piece of paper with a series of letters, symbols, and numbers on it with about 32 characters.  Fortunately the pilots and drivers are all fine, just a bit shaken up.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
    Thunderbolt blinks as she sees America looking dazed and confused.  "Mac!"  She zips over with alacrity, focusing on the injured and other Titans.  "Sorry I couldn't get here sooner, are you guys okay?"  She looks over at Kori with worry too, noticing the woman is having trouble despite what she's mumbling.
    She gently crouches down near Kori, "Hey, I'm going to pick you up, okay?  Just to get you to the infirmary and make sure you're not too badly hurt."  She smiles and then, barring any protests, helps Kori to the medical center.

America Chavez has posed:
    America will see to Gar, as Kori is getting attention from Kyle and Mary, and make sure Beast Boy, too, gets to medical.  "Whoever those jerks were, they're going to pay for this," she says, under her breath.  "They won't get that lucky again."
    Then, she's taking him back inside, to ensure he—and the rest of the team, have time to recover and recuperate.  There will be much planning in the future, no doubt.

Damian Wayne has posed:
    Damian gestures to Nightwing.  "That was to him."  He responds to Heather before he stumbles to his knee.
    He catches the syringe and injects it in his side.  "I am…" he comments, ever the brave soldier, but a closer inspection of the wound shows a different story.  It was as if a bullet and a burning piece of shrapnel got past his layer of armor.  The black suit underneath his tunic was the armor underneath, and many of the plates had burned off, and singed.  "Not so fine," he said, as muted as he could make it.  He hated feeling vulnerable and hurt.