3861/Evil Explodes

Evil Explodes
Date of Scene:	19 October 2020
Location:	Belvedere Castle
Synopsis:	The avatars of ancient Egyptian Gods fall down upon Central Park NYC. Heroes Assemble to due battle with the Avatars and save the day before evil explodes across the land!
Cast of Characters:	Lara Croft, Edward Nygma, Yaretzi Acama, Peter Parker, Vanessa Carlysle, Maxima, Doreen Green, Atlin, Noriko Ashida, Zatanna Zatara, Alexander Aaron, Koriand'r, Kendra Saunders

---

Lara Croft has posed:
The streets of Cairo, Egypt. The middle of the night.

Footfalls beat into the dusty cobblestone ground. Someone running through the dark, soon to be followed by more, a group of people giving chase! It's night time, the streets and narrow alleyways are bathed in shadow and darkness.

Crashing noises, accompany gunfire, until a swirling blue glow bursts up in to the sky, fanning out in all directions, until it covers multiple city blocks-- then suddenly collapses back in upon itself with a thunderous roll that rattles the entire southern edge of the ancient city.

Standing in the center of one of the windswept alleyways, Lara Croft clutches an ancient artifact. A powerful magical staff that is adorned in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, peaked by a violent stone inset into a golden headpiece.

Lara is surrounded on all sides by figures in the dark. One of which steps forward and aims a shining curved blade at her before his voice booms out. "The fight cannot be stopped, you are too late. The staff you hold, has already begun the process of restore the battle as it was meant to be. You have no power to stop it, foolish mortal."

Lara rocks back and forth on her booted feet, her eyes going from the man with the silver blade, up to the violet gem at the top of the staff she's clutching in her right hand. She winces, her right side wounded from the chase... "You're right." The British archaeologist says as she looks back to the man threatening her in the dark.

"But that doesn't mean I can't effect the outcome." Lara's eyes close, her lips start to move as she mutters a series of ancient incantations! The throngs of shadowy figures start to rush her, raising their weapons all up to strike down upon her just as the violet crystal bursts once again with explosive power!

----

Central Park - New York City, early morning.

A calm and quiet day in the most famous park in the world. The sun shining high on a beautiful Fall mid-morning. People jogging through the park, others making their way to and from their day's tasks.

At least, until the skies above the park are suddenly dwarf by a burst of violet light. People scream in shock, heads all turning to the skies, as a spreading wave of purple energy leaves darkening clouds in its wake! The skie above the park is completely blocked-out by the dark billowing clouds, as they spread in a widening radius over the grassy green fields!

The ground is shifted as an unexpected sight suddenly shimmers like a desert mirage, manifesting itself inside the park. The Great Pyramids, flicker in to view, not aged by time, but instead glimmering as if they were fresh and new.

The NYPD starts to put out calls for park-goers to flee the park, as word spreads across the city. Nearby 'heroes' are alerted to the developing situation, and many are requested for the breaking emergency!

Edward Nygma has posed:
Edward Nygma isn't a hero.

If anything, he is an incredibly neutral and self-interested party.

Hand full of bread grumbs that he was tossing to the ducks, he wears a long green trenchcoat for the winter, his iconic derby hat with the question mark, and of course his golden cane hangs lazily from his arm.

It was honestly a very relaxing time, but then //pyramids// appear, and, well, if there's anything that The Riddler loves, it's ancient Egypt and their amazing puzzles.

And //this// is certainly a puzzle.

While he's unsure of what's happening, and it could very well be certain death, he casually drops the bread crumbs, brushes his hands off before sliding one into his pocket, and then starts to take very exaggeratedly large steps toward one of the pyramids, while spinning his cane in the other hand. "I am a wonder of kings, an apex of history, but in the end I'm ultimately just a tomb. What am I?" he asks literally no one.

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Yaretzi just happens to be visiting one of the comics/gaming shops she frequents, having suggested the place as a meeting point -- so that Peter Parker can return her cellphone to her. She's just received her phone from him, saying, "Thanks! I guess I was kinda scared by that crazy lady and didn't realize I'd left it behind...", as the two stand outside the comic shop -- and that's when the clouds suddenly roll in and the pyramids appear.

She gawks for a few moments, just as everyone else is doing, before saying, "I gotta go!", she says in a hurried voice to Peter, even as she's already backing away, hurrying to find someplace out of view. She scrambles off down to the end of the block and hurries into an alleyway. Perfect! It's close by and everyone's attention is on what's happening in Central Park. Stepping into a recessed doorway, to get as much out of view as she can, she calls out, "Cuatli!", and what looks like smoke just appears around her, misty tendrils almost forming what look like arcs of electricity -- but the mist does nothing to anything around her. The cloudiness obscures her completely for a moment, and then fades, leaving Golden Eagle standing in the teenager's place.

That's when she looks across the alleyway she -thought- was empty, eyes going wide...

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter Parker doesn't sign up for HALF the weird stuff he sees, but what can ya do?

He was in the area because he had finally heard from Yaretzi and they had hashed out a place to meet, this comic shop (FORBIDDEN PLANET) Yaretzi frequented. He hadn't visited many comic shops, but he did want to get her phone back to her.

He was inside the store, wondering if she was going to show up soon when she finally appeared. A little meet, a little greet...

And then a little boom-boom-boom in the park, and suddenly he said, "I gotta go..." right when she said it, and then he had hustled to the alley. It was a moderately-quiet alley, and he wasted no time shucking his clothes.

He had his pants off and had ditched the shirt when he heard the sound, a word called out, and had looked up to see...SOMETHING happening to Yaretzi. Some kind of electric cloud...

...And then Spanish Harlem's Own, Golden Eagle, was standing in the alley.
Then she turned and realized Peter Parker was staring at her. But then again, she was staring too...because from the neck down, Peter Parker was Spider-Man.

Well...crud.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa Carlysle wakes late this morning. Being out late trying to combat the worst elements in New Lots will do that to a person. She rises, bleary-eyed as she heads for the kitchen to make coffee, turning on the television on the way past. The news alert cuts in before she's even set foot on kitchen tile, causing her to turn back and stare at the TV as the news anchor gives a summary of the situation before cutting to a live feed.

"Argh," she says to herself, rushing to the fridge to grab an energy drink, and a bagel, and then back to her room to grab her gear. She doesn't want to try to leave the apartment-turned-safehouse in her costume during the day, so tosses it into a bag and hoofs it out to where she's parked the borrowed SUV she's been driving while in town. She takes off in it, finding an alley to pull into to do a quick clothing change.

A few dozen minutes later, the SUV is left near Central Park and Quiver emerges, dressed in dark green, her costume a female version of Green Arrow's. She grabs extra quivers to stash nearby in case they are needed and heads over towards the large green area in the center of Manhattan.

Maxima has posed:
If the sudden burst of violet light in the sky wasn't enough to get Maxima's attention, the locus of fear in Central Park tugs at her potent empathic senses drawing her attention in that direction. A large concentration of fear rarely means anything good.

One moment Maxima is walking down 5th Avenue exploring what levels of opulence Earth's human culture has achieved, the next she burst into the air arriving in the space among Central Park in mere moments. The violent light reflects off her gleaming metal ...'armor' as she surveys the situation trying to ascertain exactly what is happening.

Doreen Green has posed:
Squirrel Girl is never called to fight crime, save the city, or to so much as chase down a stolen purse. Nope she usually has to hear about it on the news and THEN try to get there in time to help. Today it's a bit different because she happens to be in the area where the danger is this time.

Doreen gawks at the changing sky but it doesn't take her long to impulsively grab her phone and start live streaming, "It's happening! The world is officially endi-.. oh yeah.. hey people and welcome back to my channel! The world is officially ending and I am going to stop it!"

Monkey-Joe climbs onto Doreen's left shoulder with a confident expression on his face and gives a very encouraging squeak!

Doreen taps a button allowing the camera to switch from selfy mode to record-everywhere-else mode, "Egypt is colliding with New York! It's really happening!"

Atlin has posed:
Technically speaking, Atlin wasn't really a hero either in the strictest sense. She was part of no teams, she wore no mask and didn't have any fancy name or costume. She was here in 'Man's World' to learn, to study and to experience the world away from her sheltered home. Of course, that home was rather important: Atlin was an Amazon of Bana-Mighdall after all!

She wasn't on patrol, she wasn't even particularly armed thanks to promises made not to keep scaring the population by walking around in full armor bristling with blades and bow, instead the blonde woman herself had been making her way through Central Park in quiet contemplation and consideration...with the assistance of the hotdog she'd been eating. Then? Pyramids, desert landscape familier enough to have the woman offering a double-take. One didn't need her heritage to spot magic today!

Her meal discarded in a trashcan as she ran, Atlin was headed towards the source of this mystical historical anomoly.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
The blue-haired teen isn't called in, isn't warned.  She gets no signal in the sky or on the pre-paid phone, which she could afford.  She's just going on one of her jogs to one of her favorite hot chocolate places that doesn't require a two hour run across the country.  Local fair for the Xavier School speedster.  Electricity crackles across her body as she notices the glow in mid-run.

Noriko runs toward the weird light and not away.  It's only a moment before she's running along the edge of what she thinks is safe, surveying this weird mirage thing.  "Cool, but what happened to..."  As she speeds along, to those who have the reflexes, she looks like a comet made up of lightning.  Jagged bolts shoot around her body.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
OUTSIDE GOTHAM:

Within the walls of appropriately spookily-named Shadowcrest Manor, Zatanna Zatara sits in her den, enjoying a drink and a good book in front of the roaring fireplace. Alone in her thoughts (and pajamas!) she is quite comfortable and ready to make the most of the evening...

...until something hits her, and she looks up, and vaguely into the distance. "Ugh. What this time."

TWO SPELLS LATER:

Zatanna stands at the edge of the Turtle Pond, in full performing getup, the spooky purple light and dark clouds stir up an appropriately creepy breeze, animating her long raven tresses beneath the rim of her stylish tophat! "I didn't think we were due for an attack by an ancient Pharoh for at least a couple weeks," she complains, seemingly more put out by all of this than she is frightened by it. Uncertain of what to make of the spectacle, she turns her eyes toward the water in front of her, and speaks an incantation:

"Wohs em eht ksilebo! Weiv eht sbmot ybraen."

She knows the park well enough, and it's only a short distance to where an actual Egyptian relic is SUPPOSED to be, the Obelisk that sits behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There is also, of course, a world famous Egyptian exhibit within, and her first instinct is to check that all the NYC-native mummies are sleeping and accounted for. Images of both are conjured on the reflective surface of the pond, only barely distorted by the ripples across the water's surface.

After double-checking this, she glances around at the assemblage of hero-folk. "I don't suppose anyone knows how this started?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Alexander Aaron, for his part, sits in a tree.
    It's an old oak tree with a sprawl of limbs that looks like a hand after a bout with a hammer that it lost. But one of those contorted branches is just low enough to be easily assailable and a low enough swing seat that it supports the youth's weight and lets him dangle one leg off of it while the other is raised with the knee supporting his elbow. Attention on the book half-opened in his hand and with a finger marking his place he takes a moment to look up.
    And espies the pyramid's arrival with that purple light that casts it in such a magnificent tableau against the city's skyline. Enough to cause raised eyebrows and curiousity. Enough to cause his cellphone to be taken in hand. Yet it seems that action is being mirrored by many... many many people around him.
    So he slides off of that low branch, hopping to the ground and starts to move in the direction of the light and experience that is the Pyramid in the Park.

Koriand'r has posed:
    Koriand'r streams high in the sky along the purple and orange canopy of a sun setting in the horizon. Her hair whips behind her like an angry flaming lash, streamlined with the wind shear of her passing across the park when turbulent, violet light bursts! And then dark clouds clot from overhead above the light, consuming the sky rapidly as the light dissipates. She halts mid-air, staring with wonderment for the abrupt formation, and casts her emerald gaze down at the park below, as civilians begin screaming fleeing the park grounds.
    She stares down at them, passively, hovering the height of a building from the ground. As long as no one is straggling, that is a good thing. What more, there is already an assembly of potential friends on the way! Some of them she recognizes by their respective suits. But only some.
    The person she recognizes definitively, however, by ritual of sharing pizza, is Zatanna Zatara. Intuition tells the young Tamaranean that if the magician has the ability and knowledge to pull plastic plates out of no where for an impromptu pizza party, then perhaps the appearance of pyramids in central park is also something that falls under her perview.
    "Zatanna Zatara!" Koriand'r makes the greeting as her feet hit the grass somewhere behind the magician. "Fellow lover and purveyor of justice! I can tell you how it started. With a big violet light, this color," she points to her own outfit--a two-piece colorful ensemble that leaves her legs and midfriff exposed, "and then, as if the light were the velvety inside of a magician's hat, they--" she points at the pyramids now--"began to exist!" There is a pause. "I have never seen these before on the television channel known as the History channel. Usually there is an old English man narrating, about at this point, to whom these pyramids belonged to."

Kendra Saunders has posed:
Kendra had been out stretching her proverbial wings. It wasn't super easy to do a lot of flying inside the Triskelion and so she had taken to the skies above the Triskelion and put on her old costume (the really old one) in order to at least pretend at being somewhat subtle about her identity though she's really not been successful in hiding it, given her giant metal wings. Everything was frankly going quite normally when suddenly there was a flash and giant pyramids were appearing in Central Park. She stares off into the distance and idly reaches to her hip where she finds at least a pair of batons.

"Not my preference but...it'll have to do." She then activates her communicator and flies for Central Park. <"This is Senior Agent Saunders. There's a disturbance in Central Park. It appears that, well, the Pyramids have appeared. I'm on my way to investigate."> At least it is something familiar?

Lara Croft has posed:
The storms brewing directly over Central Park cast a dark shadow over what was a serene environment merely minutes ago. Now, the civilians who'd been enjoying the park were fleeing from its borders to get away from the literal trouble brewing in the skies above it.

The sounds of NYPD sirens 'woop wooping' along the streets bordering the park give signal to a growing response team arriving on-scene to tend to whats happening, but even the NYPD know what whatever is happening, its above their pay grade...

Heroes are required, and they're required fast.

All around the Pyramids, more shimmering mirages begin to visibly resonate and through them figures shake themselves out of seemingly thin air. Thousands of dark robed figures all culminating across the lawns of Central Park. All of them turning to look at the large pyramids.

From atop the central 'largest' pyramid, a single figure stands, holding that staff with the purple glowing headpiece. She lifts the staff up and shines it down upon the Robed Figures forming an army on the lawns.

In response, the 'Army' of figures start to march toward the Pyramid!

A pillar of purple light shines down from the pyramid, illuminating the army as it draws closer.

A voice, from the Pyramid booms out across the park, causing the purple light from the staff to shimmer as the voice carries. "People of New York, the forces of the Murderous God of Set have arrived to reclaim their lost Kingdom. We must keep them from achieving these goals! I have held them back as long as I'm capable of, but I need your help! They must not claim this Staff from my possession, or their God will be resurrected!"

The voice is clearly coming from the person atop the great pyramid, the one currently wielding the STaff.

And the army of dark hooded figures is quickly starting to march toward the base of that very pyramid!

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle stares, wide-eyed, at Spider-Man... who, it turns out, is Peter Parker -- and who just saw her transform from Yaretzi into the superheroine. "Oh shit...", she says, softly.

Then she shakes her head. "We'll figure this out later, Spidey... get your mask on. We gotta go see what's going on in Central Park!", she says, her feet coming off the ground as she floats over towards him. "C'mon... I'll carry you there", she adds, extending a hand his way.

It's not long after that the duo arrive where other are congregating as they also respond. "I... don't have a clue what's going on", she says in reply to Zatanna. "Just got here, but I saw the pyramids just appear after all the clouds rolled in like from that scene in Ghostbusters, just like she said...", she finishes, with a gesture to Koriand'r.

That's when the woman's voice from the top of the pyramid sounds out, loud and clear. "I can fly a couple of us up there, try and keep them from getting to her...?", she suggests, offering both hands to be taken, her feet already coming back off the ground.

It's not long before she and those she's ferried up with herself are arriving at the top of the pyramid. Dropping her passenger(s) off, she hovers to look about, visually take in what's coming their way.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Taking just enough time to pull off his black leather jacket, Alexander tosses it back over towards the place where he was sitting and lets it fwumpf against the trunk of the tree joining his now abandoned backpack. He turns back and starts to head in the direction of the pyramids not garbed at all in the like of a superhero save perhaps a budget one as he's just in jeans and a black t-shirt. Though it's a T-shirt that displays a large pink skull composed of a myriad of small grim looking flamingos all twisted into that morbid pattern of bonework. Though if that is his symbol it might well lead to conjecture as to his codename.
    Whatever that may be, he breaks into a run and cuts across the grass field, leaping over the old chain links that separates the sidewalk from the grass, over a bench as he looks up toward the pyramid and now the shimmering illusions made real, manifesting into that army that now marches in the direction of the staff-bearer.
    Eventually he hits the edge of that army and tries to wend his way through them, jostling as he runs and maybe even rudely shoving at some as he clears the way.
    Distantly, Lara might hear. "Hey, neighbor!"

Peter Parker has posed:
Okay...the time to realize that:
1. Another person just figured out who YOU are.
2. YOU just figured out who someone ELSE is...

Yeah, that his to be sorted out MUCH later. Right now, it looks like the God of Evil Crap is going to run roughshod over someone, and there is plenty of reason to get involved there. Evil Gods LOVE collateral damage. It's their schtick.

He has just enough time to pull his mask on before Eagle bears him aloft, heading up and up and up some more before he drops to the top of the pyramid, his feet finding purchase (because of COURSE they do).

He looks to Lara...and she looks familiar.
"Hi...I'm Spider-Man. The epic one in silver and gold is Golden Eagle."

Doreen Green has posed:
Squirrel Girl has been approaching the park and the pyramids ever since she started recording. Her narration continues, a squirrel sitting on each of her shoulders, "..and like I've always said, robed figures mean evil.. most of the time!"

That's when the booming voice starts talking about evil gods and all sorts of villany shenanigans, "Did you guys just hear that?! I told you! End.. of.. the.. world! But fear not! I am the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl! I may not know anything about Set or his robed worshippers.. who look like the kind of people you usually see hunched over bubbling cauldrons.. but the Nuts and Bolts Army has never lost a war!"

She didn't say battle.. she said war!

Doreen is making decent time as she advances towards the pyramids. By now she has quite the views count, "I will not let you down people! We got this!"

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Quiver runs past people who are streaming out of the park. The pyramids make it easy for her to pick a direction, and soon she's arrived in the area where various heroes have gathered to take stock of the situation.

She looks around for familiar faces, and recognizes one even if they've not actually met before. Vanessa makes her way over to Zatanna, the archer's outfit backing up her words as Quiver tells her, "Hey Zatanna. Name's Quiver. Friend of Green Arrow's. How can I help? And any idea what's going-"

The question then gets answered as Lara Croft's voice booms down from the pyramid. "Right. So stop the army of darkness from resurrecting a dead god," she says. "Nothing like a clear briefing," she says, pulling her bow from it's place in her hip quiver and giving it a little movement as it telescopes out into it's normal shape. "Mind if I join in with you two? Green Arrow is back in Starling," she says.

Edward Nygma has posed:
"What an odd coincidence that I have to face down //another// death god. I wonder if Hela set this up." Edward considers, reaching out of his pocket to slap his green domino mask on, since it looks like it's business hours now.

But then, even moreso, perhaps due to the unexpectedness of it, he notices that it's Lara Croft. "Well, she wasn't exaggerating about her lifestyle. Though, of course, I can't let the forces of Set ruin my plans to take her to the Iceberg Lounge."

"My body is holy, and I congregate in cloaks. What am I?"

This is asked right before, while expertly keeping his cane on his arm, he opens his trenchcoat and pulls out two tommy guns, and begins immediately firing at the hooded figures while running towards them. "I'll give you the answer... riddled!"

Though he does notice the gathering heroes, he's mostly just waiting for that shoe to drop before he addresses them.

Maxima has posed:
The cultural significance of the Pyramids is lost on Maxima. All the Almeracian imperial crown princess knows is that they really don't match the rest of New York's architecture and thus probably do not belong. The cloaked cultists and bellowings about the resurrection of a dead god only reinforce this view.

Maxima's eyes narrow, she has little patience for claims of godhood, there are plenty of planets that have confused her for such a being as they fell to Almeracian conquest. The storm whips her fiery red hair about as she floats there in the sky, green metal binkini gleaming in the violet light, yellow half-cape flapping behind her in the wind. "Who dares disrupt the peace of MAXIMA? God or man you will fall before me!"

Taking a cue from the figure at the top of the Pyramid's comments about keeping the cloaked figures from the staff, her eyes begin to glow before narrow laser-like beams of optical force begin to shoot forth from them. The beams sweep strafing across the ground before the cultists with an explosion of earth as they cut a trench between them and the pyramid in an apparent warning shot to come no closer.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
When the figures appear quite close to her, Noriko seems like she's already zipping in the other direction.   She's running as fast as she can, or thinks she can, straight away from the pyramid and to a nearby transformer nearly just appears up on the pole with it, bearhugging as her body lights up as it sucks up the electricity of the entire block, trying to hold the rate of absorption and range.  Suddenly her absorption spikes hard, and she lets go.

So long in her strange static world, but Noriko blazes back right to the line of robed jerks and full on stops.  Holding her hands out, she tries not to think of anime as her body ripples with violently arcing electricity all piling into her gauntlets.  Her eyes glow and in about two to three seconds, and then she runs in through the creatures a row or two deep to let out a blast of electricity radiating out from her whole body.

"OH FUUUUUCK!"  Noriko shouts, blue shooting out of her mouth as she tries to weave out of all the robed ones now that she's possibly gotten some attention.  Her shout is loud, but it's faster than one might expect...more like, sped up.  Like an undiscovered adrenaline junkie going down a black slope for the first time, suddenly Noriko realizes she needs to speed up, lean into it and enjoy the ride...because she very well might die.

Atlin has posed:
Set? Great. At the very least, if you want someone to understand the danger of what the Egyptian god could be? An Amazon of Bana-Mighdall wasn't exactly the worst place to start. Heroes had arrived, everything from 'the Spider-Man' to flying woman to the familier face of another demi-god in the form of Alex and others she didn't quite recognize. Vanessa's reveal of the bow however? It had her pausing for a moment with a frown. "I need to get one of those..."

It was a lament of weapons lacking that only really grew when the man with the cane suddenly unleashes a wave of gunfire towards the cloaked cultists. But well, one works with what they have!

Rolling the sleaves of her own jacket up, the slim and broad bracers at her wrists are left bare while the woman rolls her shoulders and extends a hand towards the first wave. The burst of flame errupting from her palm in violent immolation wasn't exactly a standard trick, but the 'Daughter of War' wasn't going to be playing it safe dealing with the potential of Set himself turning up!

Even as that burst of fire dissipates, the blonde was already rushing forward behind it, striking out with her fists and trying to carve a way up to the figure of Lara. The goal was fairly clear: keep the staff away from the villains!

Koriand'r has posed:
    "It is not the English voice of David Attenborough that I know," Koriand'r whispers to Zatanna Zatara as the VOICE /booms/ across the park. It carries a physical presence with it, in such a manner as to cause her firey red mane to flick past the lines of her heart-shaped face. "Nor is it the style of narration that I meant, but it is a good example."
    As Golden Eagle arrives with the Amazing Spider-Man in tow, Koriand'r gives them both a bright and eager smile, as though this were merely any other day within the park and not the incumbent invasion of an army under the thrall of a murderous God. She even lifts her hand, offering them a five-fingered smile. "Yes, we share the same experience as to what happened," she confirms.
    "Hello, Quiver, Friend of Green Arrow!" Koriand'r greets Quiver. Now there's... Wait a second. She counts them off on her fingers. Spider-Man and his flying friend--that's two. Herself and Zatanna. That's Four. With Quiver? "We have the required number of people to make a full team. There is already a civilian, I see, engaged in bravery by charging head first." Placidly, she interlocks her fingers in front of herself. "It is brave of him, and a tactic that I admit to enjoying."
    She looks to Zatanna now with big green eyes and a smile that could melt the icecream scoops right off of its cone--for multiple reasons! "I am ready to hear and adhere to your plan."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Purple light, hmm?" Zatanna glances toward the pyramid, where there seems to be a lot of that going around.

"This definitely isn't your usual History Channel version of things," she agrees with Starfire. "So I think it would be best to take this as a little bit different than the Old English Guy version of things. Still, it's the right general historical vicinity. All those 19th century Egyptologists had very little idea what they were messing around with, and it's still causing a lot of problems today. Basically, they were grave robbing. And it's left a plethora of misplaced magical artifacts in dangerous or just stupid hands, restless Priest-Kings eager for vengeance, you name it. For intance..."

Zatanna's prior conjuring reveals a scene upon the water. Or rather several, the images flickering one to the next in a cycle. There are various mummies in their elaborate sarcophagi (with glass exhibit boxes around them), sections of tombs (rebuilt for visitors to wander through!), and even the entire reconstructed Temple of Dendur, under the huge glass roof of the MET's northeastern wing. All of those look mostly normal. The tourists inside probably look frightened, though.

The image that doesn't look normal is the Obelisk, which seems to have manifested a large gold chest. "Well, that's not supposed to be there. Starfire, its less than half a mile from here. Want to back me up?" And since Vanessa has joined her, and announced herself as a friend of Ollie's, she gives her a quick upnod. "I'm going to check it out. I can bring any of you with me if you want-"

There's also a glance spared back to where the army is massing, but where Maxima is also face-lasering them. "I think the mooks are under control."

Whatever aid she has from her allies, she turns and incants: "Ekat su ot eht ksilebo!"

Soon, she's standing before the spire, with all her friends who care to come along!

Kendra Saunders has posed:
"Well, that makes things simple." Kendra states as she flies overhead, shaking her head as she looks down at the figure holding the staff before considering, "Is that Lara Croft?" She asks of no one in particular, her incredibly sharp eyes spotting the others as they move in on the cloaked figure army. Maxima fires off her beams of light and all that and Kendra does what a Kendra do. She's Hawkgirl after all and she was really never known for subtlety.

There's a yell of a battlecry and Kendra picks a spot right in the middle of the cloaked figures, flying in hard and fast and just as she is about to hit headfirst, she does a flip in mid-air that whips her around at break neck speed, causing her feet to aim right for the chest of a hooded figure and potentially send him flying back even as her wings tuck tight into her body before she lands and whips them outward with incredible force, causing a gust of wind and the whipping damage of wings.

"Ok, I'm Hawkgirl, you're the army of an evil god...and I'm here to fight. Who's first?" She whips both hands out and two batons extend with the tell tale sound of metal sliding on metal even as her wings stretch out and she holds them to either side, her eyes peering out from her classic mask.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara Croft is indeed at the peak of the pyramid with the Staff in one hand and a handgun in the other. When others arrive to where she is, she greets them with a simple nod. "They're members of the Shadowsect of Set, and they're here for the staff! Set's soul resides within this staff, but it's already cracked and leaking out in to the world at-large." Croft explains to those who come up to meet her. "The closer that these Shadowsect Warriors get to this staff, the more power Set's spirit will have to effect our world!"

Right after finishing these words, Lara levels the staff down at the armies as they start to reach the base of the pyramid and begin to scale it. A purple pillar of light shines out of it and burns through the first few layers of hooded minions trying to work their way up the pyramid!

It only accomplishes so much though, as the number of Shadowsect Cultists is far too great for the limited power that Croft has with the staff can intercept, and they start to make that obvious as the Dark Evil Cultists begin to ascend the pyramid with an unnerving speed! From afar, they might look like an army of black ants crawling up the side of the faces of the triangular structure!

Maxima's laser beams do indeed tear through the ground, digging out trenches, and some of the Shadowsect begin to fall down inside of the fissures cut into the earth, but others adapt and start to 'walk across the air' once they've learned of the new obstacle in their path.

Lara looks to the heroes who'd gathered around her, she's. visibly relieved. to see them. She's filthy, bloodied, covered in sweat and dirt. She's had a rough go of it lately, and to be back in New York... well, it's almost like she set this up for the heroes to be here, to be her backup in this fight!

The mention of the golden chest draws Lara's eyes. She aims the staff toward it and a purple light shines directly toward that Obelisk in the far distance. "It's a key to stopping this invasion, I need poeple to get to it, quickly! There-- there will be more too, but, I'm, I'm not sure wher--"

Lara's voice is cut off by a giant howling roar as another mirage fades in to view. This one of a very recognizable figure-- It's the Sphinx. Nose and all. Looking pristine!

It stands up from the ground, another golden chest having been between its feet. It stands up and looks toward the Pyramid. Standing somewhere around 85 Feet tall, the massive beast's eyes flash RED as it starts to march toward the Pyramid next.

"Shit." Lara Croft utters, before aiming the staff down at the horde coming up the eastern side, blasting them with more purple power. "Can some of you deal. with, that?" She asks of the approaching monstrous Sphinx.

Peter Parker has posed:
Thousands of evil creatures, but they were human. He'd seen army ants overwhelm a spider in nature documentaries.

Well, Attenborough was going to have to be disappointed, because he was NOT doing to let them take the pyramid.

"I'll run interference!" Because it is what he is good at, after all. He runs down the slope of the pyramid, checking both web cartridges were full and primed...

And that is when the traps are set.
Spider-Man begins covering the area around the base of the pyramid with the stickiest webbing in his arsenal, running along the periphery. It looks as light as gossamer, but it holds like steel, and any cultist stepping in it is not going ANYWHERE. And if any of them come over the traps...well, that's what the new prototypes are for...

Maxima has posed:
As the shadowsect cultists ignore her warning Maxima's expression darkens, "So be it, you choose your fates in battle then. Prepare yourselves!" And with that she dives down towards them fast enough to create a sonic boom as she moves.

Rubble from the trenches is gathered up with telekinetic might even as she enters melee sending cultists flying and sweeping the huge rocks through their ranks with abandon. They are many but she is Maxima.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    When it's clear Lara didn't hear him, Alexander's features take on a determined cast even as he's jostled to the side by the shove of one of those hooded figures who tries to knock /him/ out of the way in its mad scramble up toward the summit of the pyramid.
    "Hey!" He continues to clamber up and grabs the ankle of the hooded being, yanking to the side sharply and sending it tumbling back down the slope of the pyramid and into its cohorts even as the blond Olympian continues his ascent. Several others of the beings round on him as he breaks through a handful more of the hooded cultists, clearing the space around him for a brief moment until six of Set's servants abruptly round and leap onto the youth.
    Only for a flash of silver fire to flare as a crimson blade flickers into life in Alexander's hand, one clean smooth arc is made with the katana that seems to encounter nothing to stay its arc, though it leaves the mummies in tatters bisected by the clean slash which gives him room to run... though now brandishing Grasscutter in hand and using it to aid that flight up toward Lara and her companions.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko catches the cultists starting to ascend the base, but really because of Lara's use of the staff.  Knowing it might be relatively easier for her to fight on the steps than others, she makes a beeline into the horde of cultists straight for the base and into the front line even as they swarm behind her.

"With a burst burst here," Nori sings only to herself as she slaloms, lighting bursting out with loud, synchronous cracks, "and a burst burst there!"  But that's about all of the song she can bear.  There's not much the cultists can do but try to avoid her, which is also futile.  In one she pokes her thumb into its chest on a drive by just to see how far it will go.

"Ewww.  Too far.  Too far."

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle's eyes widen. "It's the freakin' SPHINX! ... and it's moving! Wow!", she says. Then Lara's asking if anyone can deal with it -- and everyone else seems pretty busy, except her. "I'll try!", she says to the archaeologist, and flies over towards the behemoth. She darts past its face, trying to get its attention, before landing a solid punch at the side of its head.

Some of the 'sandstone' of which it's made powders away, but there's hardly a mark left on the thing -- it's a LOT tougher than it might at first appear! Golden Eagle is then forced to go on the defensive, doing her best to avoid the Sphinx's counter attack when it comes -- but she's, at the very least, distracted it for the time being!

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna reappears moments later, some quarter mile northeast of where Belvedere Castle stood. The Obelisk, more correctly called Cleopatra's Needle (that's a lot longer to say backward!) is just what it sounds like, a 70-foot tall pointed pillar of stone etched with hieroglyphics, although these have faded significantly with its exposure to the elements. It sits in the middle of a small courtyard connected to various park pathways.

Promptly, she starts forward toward the chest, speaking as she approaches:

Tceted spart! Nepo kcol!" Are those basically D&D spells? Yes. Wanna fight about it?

The box opens, any deadly poison needles or the like vanquished into the nether (or probably not there in the first place, but you can't be too safe with ancient Egyptian tomb nonsense!). She leans down toward it...

And makes quite a face.

"Etativel!"

Why the spell? Because she doesnt want to pick up the thing inside... which is apparently a mummified head. It's not clear if she's grossed out, or just being very careful with what may be an ancient artifact.

"OK, looks like there's more than one chest, heading to the next- we'll have a fight on our hands."

So again, Zatanna bamfs: "Ot eht xnihps!" Really, she's kind of lazy, Starfire could probably fly it all just as fast, but maybe it's handy for Vanessa!

Either way, they're soon before a far greater threat, the first head bobbing at Zee's side.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Quiver nods in agreement to Zatanna's plan, nocking an arrow and standing with her and Starfire as they are teleported to the Obelisk. Not as many robed figures here, and Quiver makes good on her purporting to be Green Arrow's sidekick as she takes down a pair with long range shots before turning to see what Zatanna has found in the chest.

"Oh. Oh ew," she says, wincing. "I'm guessing there's more parts out there, then," she says, spying the chest that appeared with the Sphinx. "Alright, I'll try to give you some cover," she says.

Another arrow is selected and knocked, ready to fly when Zatanna has moved them nearer to the Sphinx. As they arrive, Quiver moves into action, sprinting in a circle around the giant stone beast. She shoots an arrow which trails a line behind it, firing it between the creature's nearest legs, the arrow making a loud THUNK as it lodges into a far leg. Quiver grabs the end of the line, getting it wrapped about a leg and then attaching it to another arrow meant for moving about from one rooftop to another. She sends this one flying into another leg now. Another pair of arrows are fired trailing lines as she starts to wrap up the Sphinx's legs, trying to impede it's movements.

Edward Nygma has posed:
Edward turns around once the strange hooded figures begin to fall, and also when his ammo runs out, and stares up at the sphinx in awe. "The real one... maybe? I wonder if this is historically accurate or some kind of..."

He'll ask Lara Croft later, as he drops his guns and reaches into his coat to grab rubix cubes, and begins tossing them at the cloaked figures around the pyramid. He does spot Spider-Man, and calls out, "Spider-Man! Edward Nygma, aka The Riddler, nice to meet you. Stay away from the cubes if you want to live."

He runs away, trying to lead cloaked figures after him, and then holds his cane up and presses a button, causing the cubes to re-arrange until they're 'solved', then they beep and explode like chains of dynamite.

Meaning, they're some pretty big goddamned explosions. "Riddled, indeed."

Atlin has posed:
Swinging fits, cracking skulls and the occasional immolation, Atlin was carving her way up the Pyramid towards Lara and her impressive display of magic from the staff. Lashing out with a sweep of her leg before twisting and slamming her palm into the chest of the same burning cultist, her bowling ball sends several more tumbling like skittles, but well...the Amazon wasn't exactly holding back on lethal force here!

The onslaught of demi-gods and superpowered bug-zapper mutants was probably making decent headway on the cultists, Atlin probably wouldn't take long to reach the summit...but the Sphinx? It's emergance had the woman halting in wonder, her eyes going wide.

"By Bastet...the Sp-"

Then one of the cultists blows land across her back and the blonde flinches, turning in irritation and driving her booted heel into the man's chest. This high up? It was going to be a long way down.

Kendra Saunders has posed:
The winged woman slams aside an apparently very undead cloaked figure and then whips around a wing to knock aside another. They come at her but she's not very impressed, "These creatures are of one mind." She states to no one in particular but to anyone that'll listen. She then notices something. They are reappearing. She whips her wings down and flies up above the throng to see them reappearing in the distance and then she shakes her head.

"It's useless! They keep reappearing! We have to slow them but they won't-" And then she is cut off by the sight of the Sphinx and she stares for a long time, "That is not supposed to move." She states and then poitns at it, "I know that isn't supposed to move." She then sighs and shakes her head before looking to Maxima and others causing havok with the undead. She instead turns her attention to red eyed Sphinx and rushes ahead.

As arrows fly below, she performs a similar maneuver to earlier and this time, as she flips into the air she is aiming herself into a dive right for the thing's head, her fist coming in first, "Bad kitty!" A fist aimed right for one of those glowing eyes.

Doreen Green has posed:
The one thing that this army of robed wannabe liches doesn't understand about Central Park? It has a lot of squirrels. And they love Doreen. And Doreen can talk to them.

Squirrel Girl holds the camera up so that her viewers can see the sphinx, "It's getting REALLY nuts out here subscribers! It's Dragon Ball Z level crazy now! Just look at all these heroes who have come to help yours truly stop... the END of the WORLD!"

She turns around to see the squirrels peeking out from the trees here and there as if waiting for her to give the word. She's close enough now to charge.. and that's exactly what she does:

Doreen chitters.. loudly.. and suddenly scores of squirrels start pouring in from various directions. The leap onto, bite, claw, and cling from various angles, and means onto the zombie soldiers.. or whatever they are.

Squirrel Girl gives a nod to Monkey-Joe and begins her own assault, phone in her left hand, still recording, "YAH!" She soars into a flying kick and knocks one of the robed undead over!

She then brings the phone back up, filming her squirrels doing their thing, "They had it coming and here it is!!"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko is really having too much fun to notice the Sphinx, and by the time she does, she's not late by human standards, but she's already let off a bunch of charges like a flash bulb and she's starting to lose some of her charge, revealing her inefficient use.  She's closer to the inside of the ring of cultists than the outside, so she sprints to be with the others, suddenly appearing next to them.  "So. I'm-not-sure-I-can-get-out," the teen says ultra quick, though her pitch hasn't changed.

"Anyone-with-electrical-powers? Cell-phones?"  Nori's eyes twitch back and forth as she bounces on the balls of her feet, her sneakers' soles rather thin.

Koriand'r has posed:
    Koriand'r is along for the ride with Zatanna. It's easier than flying! Not that flying is hard. But if someone offers you a free sandwich, versus a sandwich in which you gotta' spend three-fiddy on, which one are you going to pick?
    So at one point she's on the grass green rolling lawn of central park. The next, she's a half-mile off, VERY high up into the air, and looking down upon everything that's going on below. The wind whips harder at this altitude and Koriand'r has to keep pressing her hands into her hair to keep it from blinding her as she realizes, much to her fascination, "Zatanna Zatara, it is best if we make haste. They are now summoning things beyond the 'mooks' as you called them."
    Where Zatanna Zatara is squicked by the mummified head, Koriand'r is vaguely delighted! She reaches for it with both hands to assist, picking and holding it up as though it were not a skull in the golden chest this whole time, but a delightful puppy with a bow. "Do you suppose the rest of his body is in the other chest?" she asks the magician before--
    Woosh!
    And indeed! The head is bobbing at Zatanna's side! Plucked straight from Koriand'r's hands, and she looks down at her palms surprised, bewildered, and fascinated by the magic that has been displayed. The Tamaranean begins to float in her excitement, literally unable to keep her feet on the ground any longer.
    "I will go and retrieve the second chest," Koriand'r promises the magician.
    Arrows are loosed toward the Sphinx by Quiver. As she agile archeress works on tying up the beast's legs, Koriand'r briefly gives Quiver two big thumbs up and a, "Nice shooting!" before making the barrel toward the Sphinx's tripped up paws. With the length of her mane flapping wildly behind her, she is more like a flaming torpedo than not as she sweeps for the chest--and if that Sphinx is adequately distracted by everything else going on, she swipes it out from underneath!

Lara Croft has posed:
The heroes who've assembled for this fight are getting in to the mix of the combat now, and really starting to make a dent in the army that is trying to scale up the sides of the pyramid. Or they would be, if the... army that was being felled, weren't reappearing back down in their original positions on the grassy lands of Central Park.

"Alex!" Lara shouts, when she sees her neighbor appear up the side of the structure. She fires the purple-beam of light down past him to help free him of any of the Shadowsect cultists trying to get up on him. "This is a very unexpected reunion!" She shouts to him before looking after the others on the Pyramid, and those who've moved off to attend to the GOLDEN CHESTS!

Spider-man's webbings are locking down a large number of the Cultists, preventing them from getting up the pyramid, but they're also rapidly 'dying' because of it, which is making their mirages fade out of existence, only to reappear again on the lawn and start their trek toward the Pyramid over again!

It's very clear that the dark magic powering this undead army has quite the upper hand here in the long-run, if an alternative solution isn't discovered!

The Sphinx is doing its best to patrol the perimeter around the golden chest that it had been laying in front of. ITs continuing to ROAR at those who dare attempt to attack it, its RED flashing brightly at those attacking it!

Quiver's arrows are landing true, the lines are starting to add up and the sphinx is being stuck more consistently in place, but its still close enough to its GOLDEN CHEST to defend it fairly well!

Back on top of the Pyramid, Lara is watching the battlefield, her eyes looking up to Hawkgirl as she swoops over head, then down to the forces of EVIL trying to scale the Pyramid. "They're reforming, and regrouping to resume the attack. We have to hold our gro---"

A CHAIN WHIP lashes up from the western side as Lara turns around, it wraps around the STAFF OF SET and rips it from Croft's hands! The Shadowsex cultist who'd flong the CHAIN WHIP catches the staff in his free hand and raises it up in to the air.

Lara, on her ass now on the side of the Pyramid calls out to the others. "Stop him!" She shouts as the Cultist raises the staff up in to the air.!

There comes a swirling of purple-hued storm clouds and a dark figure coalesces in the sky and drops down to the grassy fields! The massive animal has a curved snout, long rectangular ears, a thin forked tail and canine body, with sprouted fur tufts in an inverted arrow shape; sometimes.

It stares at the pyramid, and releases a growl that rumbles the world!

"It's Set!" Lara calls out, getting back up to her feet. "They've summoned him!"

Beneath Set, the third GOLDEN CHEST glimmers in the light. "We have to get the items out of those chests!" She shouts to those who can hear her.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Eventually reaching the summit there now, cutting his own path with blade in hand, Alexander clambers to the top to take up a place beside Lara and holds the blade ready, grip reversed and empty hand held out to the side, a precise stance readied for the ascent of those mummies to try and assail them.
    "Hi-diddly-ho." Alexander says in way of announcing his arrival to Lara, half-smiling a little frazzled. "I got this side, focus on your... thing." Though his eyes catch Atlin making that same ascent and he laughs as he points at her, "Hey!"
    But then his attention is on the rush of the undead that seek to free their master and rend the staff from poor Lara's hands. Even though she is dispatching purple death with the artifact.
    Fighting from above them, he makes sure to control his immediate area, laying about with a flicker and flash of that blade, twisting in his hand with clean strokes that never seem to catch upon blade or bone, slicing just as easily through both as it does through the ancient papyrus-like skin underneath those robes.

Peter Parker has posed:
Okay. The Spider-Sense just redlined. He looks over to the cultist who is now grasping the staff.
Okay. That's it. We're going to Level 2.

Spider-Man jumps from the pyramid, firing two weblines to propel him forward, straight at the staff-wielding cultist, fist first.

The cultist's head basically explodes as Spidey plucks the staff from the disintegrating hand...

...and lands on the ground, holding the staff.

"I got the staff!" A pause. "WHAT THE SAM HILL DO I *DO* WITH IT??"

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
For all her attempts to evade, Golden Eagle gets swatted... okay maybe 'slapped' is more accurate... by the Sphinx, and goes sailing up and away from it. She's about a hundred feet away when she 'catches' herself in the air. "Ow!", she says, rolling one shoulder, where she took most of the impact. Then she takes a good look at the thing, and grins...

"Hah! I think I know where its weak spot is!", Golden Eagle thinks to herself. With that thought in mind, she accelerates through the air as much as she can, aiming to basically shoulder-tackle the Sphinx... right in the nose.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa Carlysle yells up to Koriand'r about the Sphinx, "Go for it, I'll try to keep it busy!" Another arrow is pulled from the quiver, nocked and released so quickly and smoothly the eye could nearly miss it. The arrow flies to hit the Sphinx in the side of the head and erupts in a small explosion. Just a flash-bang, nothing that will more than distract it and hopefully blind it as Golden Eagle goes for its face, and Starfire heads after the chest.

Quiver continues running a circle around the Sphinx to fire in the grapple arrows from each direction. She bashes a robed figure who comes after her, using the bow as a club, then turns to fire at the Sphinx again.

The arrow flies into one of the front legs, but as the line starts to draw tight, the great beast pulls with its leg and suddenly Quiver goes flying towards it! She lands beneath the beast just as another giant paw is about to come down on her. The archer frantically rolls out of the way to the right, then has to go back to the left to avoid another leg as the Sphinx stumbles with the lines tying it.

Edward Nygma has posed:
Well, Spider-Man didn't die, so that's something.

Edward is out of rubix cube bombs, and holds his cane firmly in hand as he notices swarms of squirrels attacking cultists. He starts looking from hero to hero, carefully calculating, until... he points his cane at Doreen, that's the obvious one doing this.

He carefully marches over to her, occasionally slamming his sharp cane into a cultist for a quick decapitation, until he's crouching down to photobomb Doreen's stream. "Squirrel Kid, or Lady Rodent, whatever you are. Edward Nygma, The Riddler. Nice to meet you. Do you mind using an army of squirrels to take me to a golden chest?"

Koriand'r has posed:
    It's right about when Golden Eagle goes sailing through the sky that Koriand'r arrives at the feet of the sphinx to make good on her promise to Zatanna.
    The Sphinx then appears ready to give Koriand'r the same treatment! The one freed paw its got left gets in a good wind before trying to crack down on the Tamaranean like she's some type of fly trying to make off with its goods (and to some extent, she is!)
    And then Golden Eagle comes right back for the rescue, bulleting straight for its nose! It's that impact that gives Koriand'r the time she needs to throw open the chest and to retrieve yet another piece of the puzzle: A mummified torso with its arms still attached!
    "Oh!" She blinks several times in dismay. Perhaps because she's right? Or perhaps... Perhaps, perhaps...
    There's actually no telling what's taking her. The only thing that can be said for certain is that it's Quiver's seriously awesome and amazing shooting skills that keeps the Sphinx tripping the other way, rather than directly on top of Starfire!
    But the sudden screaming by the Amazing Spider-Man about having the staff propels her to scoop that mummified torso up into her arms as if she were giving the poor dead body a hug, and then she shoots off, to meet back up with Zatanna Zatara and Quiver, where they have made base.
    "I have retrieved the second part of the 'key'," Koriand'r announces proudly! And then, beneath where the head bobs at Zatanna's side, she props the torso standing, so that the head can be hovering at least above the shoulders, semi-complete.

Atlin has posed:
There were others, magicians and more who were dealing with the treasure, the Sphinx...Atlin's focus had been on the Staff, the cultists and stopping Set from being summoned. Of course, that hadn't gone quite so well. Right as she'd reached Lara, the damn thing had been snatched and the summoning had been all too easy.

It was a good thing that she knew quite a few languages, because in that moment the Amazon wished to do quite a bit more cursing than just English would have allowed...but first it was time to focus on not letting an Old God destroy their way across the city.

Spidey's snatching of the staff gave them a new target to protect and the cultists a new direction to surge, but his question? She had no idea. She was a warrior, not a scholar after all! "Keep it away from them!" she calls back, her fist shattering the 'head' of another cultist before she snatches his weapon from his hand and slashes out viciously through the next. With this many allies so close she couldn't just keep using the same magical flames she'd wielded before, but sharp implements were a nice alternative.

Noriko's question of charge? The Amazon manages to call out her suggestion between strikes and cuts: "The lamps are connected to the city!"

Doreen Green has posed:
Squirrel Girl keeps filming, occasionally drop kicking a zombie along the way, "The Nuts and Bolts Army is quickly making short work of the forces of evil today people! It won't be long before the sky goes back to normal and Egypt goes back to where it's supposed to be!"

And it's right then that Riddler becomes a guest on today's show! Doreen focuses the camera on Nygma as he makes his request. SG responds excitedly, "YES! Good idea! Subscribers we have a guest today! The Riddler!"

Doreen thinks for a moment, "Hmmm.. how much do you weigh exactly?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Since everyone else seems to have more important things...truly, to do and are rather detained, Noriko looks at her gauntlets. "Fck-Fck-Fck!"  She rushes out as fast as she can before she can hear the Amazon, her adrenaline on overdrive, which is saying something.  Grabbing her stomach from the gnawing hunger at the outer edge of where the cultists are spawning, she finally breaks free, living out a few seconds in normal before zipping off back up to that same transformer.

Hanging on to the pole, she looks at her gauntlet on her free hand.  Then Noriko slams her arm against the pole only three times before the gauntlet falls to the ground with a big thump.  Then she breaks off the other one.  It's a slower climb, but still quick by anyone's standards, still a blur.  She climbs out over the power line and then swoops down, hanging upside down from her knees, her ankles hooked.  Closing her eyes, she lets all her restraint down and electricity from the far reaches of the city jolt out of the lines from the sustained draw, pulling it all into Noriko's body.  She doesn't take long, a gnawing concern for the ill just as sharp as her hunger.  But for a moment or two, there is a blanket of darkness and for New York City, that might as well be an unplanned eclipse...strange and engaging for some, totally forgettable to the next amongst all the strange.

Noriko screams, digital and choppy, remixed, and then seems to appear in flits like a skipping record.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
At this point, Zatanna keeps faith in her companions- Kori is fast, and Vanessa is doing a good job tripping the thing up. They don't need her help.

Also... Set.

This time, she brings no one with her as she rises to face whatever projection of the dark god, leaving the choice facing such danger to each person alone. Indeed, she takes the time to soar slowly through the air, summoning magical shields as she approaches, visible as a pair of large, faintly glowing runic circles rotating slowly in the air before her, centered on each hand. Her usual casual approach, flippant commentary, all of that is gone. She approaches this foe with caution, as the other heroes do likewise... and with respect, for the power he represents.

Mr. Head is with her, too, bobbing at her side like a creepy familiar! Indeed, she's up there long enough for Kori to rejoin her, bringing the body to join the floating head.

"Starfire... that name means something, right? Gonna need you to join me on this one. Give him all you've got."

And then she turns fully upon her target:

"God of Storms, Lord of Disorder, this is not your place. I beseech thee, return unto your own realm, and do no further violence here." She does not actually expect the negotiation to have an effect, but it shows her proper deference to the power she faces. And it serves as a warning, that this realm's inhabitants do not take its violation lightly. With arms sperad, tux tails flapping in the breeze, she speaks again:

"I EKOVNI EHT EYE FO SUROH! EHT NUS SI YM THGIR EYE DNA EHT NOOM SI YM TFEL. I EKOVNI EHT YKS-DOG'S NOITCETORP NO FLAHEB FO SIHT MLAER!"

Rather than between her hands, or at her chest, the spell's effect coalesces in her eyes, which glow gold and silver respectively, and somewhat above her, a sigil traces itself in golden light, in the stylized hieroglyphic-style eye probably familiar to many of the tourists in the museum below. It blazes in the air for several moments, and then unleashes a massive blast of light upon him.

Maxima has posed:
Maxima seems irate that the cultists were able to get the staff. Now that a greater threat has begun to appear though she has no further time to toy with them. Her eyes glow again as another laser-like blast targets the chain wielder who took the staff, having sufficiently earned her ire.

Cracks then rip through the surface of the pyramid below Maxima as she uses her telekinetic might to tear massive chunks asunder and raising them into the air forming an impromptu meteor shower of marble debris aimed at the ranks of the Cultists before she begins rising into the air and launching forward to face the manifestation of this would be god.

Lara Croft has posed:
The entire army shifts to chase after Spider-man when he claimed the staff from the cultist with the chain whip. They all turn to the agile hero and adjust their course to go after him.

A line of them start to pull up bows and arrows to fire at Spider-man as well!

Meanwhile, the Sphinx is pulled down to the ground by the rope-arrows from Quiver, and Golden Eagle's attack rocks the Sphinx, cracking its nose and making the beast call out in agony! It thrashes its head and tries to get back up to its feet but seems to be unable to fully muster the strength to do so!

The army of SET continues to chase after the Staff, seeming to have a sixth sense of its precise location, though the falling rocks from Maxima's impromptu meteor shower are smashing some of them on to the ground, and diverting overs around the rocks that now pepper the landscape of Central Park!

The SQUIRREL ARMY is certainly mucking up the edges of the Shadowsect Cultists, but the cultists themselves are definitely not being nice to the squirrels in return... there will be squirrel funerals in the days to come...

Nygma's having a field day with his weapons to be sure, the cultists that he's taking down are carving a way off of the pyramid and giving Lara the eyeline she needs. "Come on." Lara says to those with her on the pyramid, starting to descend it now as she draws out her own bow off of her back.

Soon Vanessa's not the only one lobbing arrows in this battlefield, for the good side, as Lara's own arrows scream down from the pyramid toward the battlefield!

SET marches toward SPIDER-MAN, rushing the battlefield with a much more aggressive and agile form than the Sphinx's rocky body was capable of! The fearsome GOD will pounce the Staff that holds his soul in a matter of seconds!

Except for Zatanna's timely intervention! Her erected shields cause the BEASTIAL FORM OF SET to be deflected away from his goal! He ROARS in frustration and snaps his forked tail out behind his wickedly unusual-shaped body!

As she tries her incantations on him, the beast ROARS defiantly again!

...

The head and torso of the mummy pieces found in the golden chests, Kori brought them close together, and their surfaces lit up as they formed once more in the natural statue. The mummy's eyes begin to glow, and a golden light shines out of its mouth shining straight up in to the dark purple clouds of the sky...

What comes next from the sky are the screeching calls of giant avian birds, Falcons, that fly out of the clouds and descend toward the park now.

Lara looks up from the battle, pausing her arrow flinging to look to the screeching Falcons. "Horus... Isis..." She murmurs their names, watching them descend towar dthe earth!

The Falcons come down, their wings spread wide, they descend straight toward the BEAST of SET and crash in to him, the three massive creatures now engaging in a battle of claws and savage bites!

"The last chest!" Lara shouts. "We have to bring back the King!"

Peter Parker has posed:
Great! Now they're ALL after him!

He springs forward, firing a webline to take him up and away from the pyramid...and the arrows...and the angry god...

Wow, he is going to need a SERIOUS chili dog when this is over. With EXTRA cheese.
On the upside, if they're chasing him, they're moving away from the pyramid, so he just has to avoid the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune until the experts can go do the voodoo they do so well.
He does have one thing going for him, though - thanks to the Spider-Sense, he is able to not be where the arrows are when they get close.

"Missed me, missed me, now ya gotta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUL5w91dzbo !"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Now that the undead are instead rushing toward Spider-Man, Alexander lowers his blade and then looks sidelong towards Atlin and Lara, eyebrows furrowing as he gives a single sharp nod at her command to follow her. He breaks into a run after her only a stride behind, hitting the edge of the pyramid and making that leap to the lower levels, landing and with sneakers skidding upon the stone.
    Faster as he drops, leaping from point to point and then landing with a heavy /fwumpf!/ Just a moment to snap the sword back into line as he chases in the direction of the staff, but more angling straight... for Set and trying to intercept his pursuit.
    It's a skitter of feet across the ground as he draws to a halt, snapping the sword up and the hilt clinking with the sharp twist. His eyes flare silver with a flick and lash of power that surges forth, creating a grim silhouette around the youth that glows like a haze of ebony armor. Perhaps an attempt to draw Set's attention, or to block his way, or perhaps to get the God to offer challenge. For the sword in the young Olympian's hand is not only known as Grasscutter. But as Godslayer.

Maxima has posed:
There are others to get these objects. Maxima, at least in her mind, has better things to do. Never one to shy away from any foe and completely irreverent of 'gods', she selects Set as the most worthy opponent on the field and goes on the offensive even as he chases after the staff.

In the blink of an eye Maxima backs up several hundred yards, before launching herself forward at hypersonic speed, a sonic book splits the air as she breaks the sound barrier, both fists extended out before her she does her own meteor impression, or perhaps more of a bullet given Set's large size straight into the center of his bulk.

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle's never actually shoulder-tackled a big, stone statue before... and she definitely felt it, as she spirals away and lands, sprawled on the ground a bit away. Thankfully, all of the 'undead army' is chasing Spider-Man, and he's avoiding getting hurt, because she need some time to catch her breath.

As she sits up, the superheroine winces, her right hand coming up to her left shoulder; she dislocated it, it seems, when she rammed into the giant, living statue.

Edward Nygma has posed:
Edward considers Doreen's question. It's an obviously important question that he desperately needs to give her the answer to in order for her to actually help him.

But he is also kind of a psychopath.

"It would be easy to take one second to give you the answer. But eight years ago I met three men who asked me a similar question. And, well, I told them that if they simply think about the wait, the answer would be right in front of them." He shrugs, holding his hands up helplessly. "Do with that answer what you will."

It's now that he starts to realize the larger bits of chaos happening in the sky, and he stares over to finally notice the large creature that is drawing a hell of a lot of aggro. "//That's// what she meant. I recommend not attacking the death god with your squirrels, by the way. Unless they're some kind of magic squirrels."

Unsure of if Squirrel Girl will even figure his riddle out, he's digging around in his coat. There's a lot of gadgets and weapons, but something that can kill a god?

He does pull out a glock and stares at that. Pretty sure //that// isn't going to do much. "I'd try to talk to it, but I've talked to one death god too many already, I'm not in the business of tempting fate."

That's a lie, he is in the business of tempting fate, but not when there's the better option of letting heroes throw themselves at the death god.

But he does at least keep an eye on Lara as best as he can, and occasionally fires a shot into a cultist's head if they seem to be in her way.

"Alright, the chest it is. Squirrel me. Then when I get there, make the squirrels run far away from me. I plan to electrify my entire suit, just in case."

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Quiver rolls free from beneath the Sphinx as it focuses on Golden Eagle. She runs to get some distance from the tied down beast, and then turns to take stock of the situation.

Lots of robed figures firing arrows at Spider-Man. Egyptian god of darkness fighting Horus and Isis. Who says New York doesn't rank up there with the best in terms of tourist attractions?

Quiver runs towards a statue of a man on a horse, swinging up to stand on the horse's rump to get a better angle and then begins to unload arrow after arrow. A cultist sights in on Spider-Man and is taken by an arrow through the chest, dissolving only to reform again elsewhere. The arrows fly through the air one after another as she works to cover the others.

Atlin has posed:
There were literal gods being channeled, the great birds being summoned to do battle with Set. Any other day? Atlin may hell have stopped in wonder, or at the very least had quite a few questions for the 'Mistress of Magic'...but there was still a horde of violent cultists trying to murder people and steal back the staff from the taunting Spider in tights, so that'll have to wait for another day! Much like Alex, Atlin nods to the instruction to follow, she nods for the instruction of the chest...but she has to get there first.

The cultists with bows? That was too tempting a target! Her leap lands her among those taking aim at Peter, a sharp blow and a snatching of the weapon along with at trio of arrows had the Amazon grinning savagely as she pulled back the string and loosed the projectiles straight into the center of each robed figures hoods.

And the bow immediately shattered in her grasp. Right. That's why she needed -her- bow. Oops.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
The stylized Wedjat continues to blaze in the empty space above Zatanna's head, as the woman hangs suspended in the air, channeling energies that strain even her considerable limits, her glowing eyes vacant, unseeing in the torrent of light that pours from them. In a battle of divines, it would be hubris to call herself a proper soldier, but rather, merely a conduit by which a greater struggle is enacted.

In this fugue, she is not wholly unreactive, however, as her 'gaze' follows Set around the field like an unerring spotlight.

She's kind of like the good guy version of the Eye of Sauron.

Above her, the invocation is answered by the cry of the giant falcons- wait, this really IS the Lord of the Rings.

Subsumed as her consciousness seems to be, the harsh cry of the raptors gives her a second wind, and again she speaks out:

"SIHT SI EHT DNAL FO EHT REVIR, DNA DEHSINAB REVEROF ERA UOY MORF STI SEROHS. NRUTER WON, OT RUOY MLAER, OT EHT SSELDNE SDNAS."

Whether the Nile or the Hudson, she invokes the ancient division that ceded the throne of Egypt to Horus and gave his rival dominion over the deserts beyond.

Doreen Green has posed:
Squirrel Girl watches the zombies start to... flee? Doreen chitters loudly again as she points the camera at the running horde, who she honestly believes is fleeing in terror! The birds in the sky and their significance are not really.. understood by her at the moment.

"And they are on the run people! We did it! Now let's chase them down.. uh.. after we get that chest right?! We can probably catch up to them later!"

She looks at Nygma, "I.. uh.. I guess it really doesn't matter how much you weigh at this point!" With another chitter the squirrels still standing, and there are still a lot of them, swarm towards Riddler and begin to.. carry him towards the final chest. It would be quite a sight for anyone watching.

Doreen points the camera again as she follows from a distance, "The Nuts and Bolts Army is on the move to get this last chest.. I have no idea what it's for but.. we're going to get it! For the sky! For Egypt's... homesickness!"

It doesn't take TOO long for the squirrels to reach the final chest with Nygma on their backs, his weight distributed evenly enough that they don't get squished!

When the finally DO reach the chest, Doreen chitters again, and she RUNS with her squirrels away from the chest.. cause Nygma is about to do.. a thing.

"And we are now fleeing what is about to be ground zero of an INSANELY crazy electric boom.. thingy."

Doreen and her army begin to chase after the zombies again, "Now let's run them down! Monkey-Joe! On me! Yaaaah!" The distance closes but there's ground to make up for.

Edward Nygma has posed:
While he can't say that this is where he expected his day to go after spending it feeding ducks and squirrels, Edward riding a sea of squirrels is certainly an adequate answer to the riddle of 'I wonder how today will go'.

He presses another button on his cane, and his suit is suddenly electrofied as he reaches down to open the chest. "I should have you know!" he shouts. "If I die, Hela gets my soul, so, you're probably breaking cosmic laws if you try to kill me."

This is said, perhaps, for Set, as the chest is opened.

Koriand'r has posed:
    Zatanna Zatara is the gal' with the plan. As far as Koriand'r is concerned, if she says jump, then it is her job to pull out the trampoline and jump! Visually, she is distracted by the magician in key areas. Namely that she has a floating half-corpse at her side. Koriand'r is undecided as to whether that's REALLY cool, or REALLY creepy.
    "After the battle is won," Koriand'r tells Zatanna by her side, the power of the young Tamaranean beginning to coalesce in a rather visual way. Her body positively glows with energy, and in particular, her eyes. Gem-hued, they brighten to a veritable emerald fire that lights her entire face. "I would like to introduce you to my good friend, Rachel Roth." Because floating mummy side accessories seems like the type of thing Raven might dig as an aesthetic choice. And clearly this is just something that Zatanna must love doing. Sound logic, all the way!
    She lifts off the ground.
    Zatanna Zatara does her thing.
    Alexander Aaron gets himself squared in front of Set! The veritable 'tank' of the operation with his big ass sword.
    Maxima barrels straight into Set's chest as if she were some kinda' bullet from a magnificently big gun. Will she fly straight through? Rebound like a pebble hitting a giant rubber ball? Who can say!
    And then there is Koriand'r--No, Starfire--flying nearby and above Alexander one arm outstretched, palm forward, with a hot radiating energy that the youth from underneath can perhaps feel in the same way a crowd can feel the pyrotech even from the very back of the building at a concert. It's a virulent green and it tinges her in the whole color as she gives her Heroine speech:
    "I am sorry, but I cannot permit you to endanger my new found friends any longer."
    FLASH!
    That blinding starbolt is directed straight for Set's head! As if he didn't have enough light to deal with already!
    Below, she yells at Alexander, "Go and slay the dragon!"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Nori, lightning shooting up from her head like a new form of hair...okay her hair is kinda floaty too with all the strong electrical forces...she zips up close to Doreen with those glowing blue eyes.  She watches the squirrels and laughs, but it just sounds like someone trying to make the sound of a tommy gun.  Way too fast, though it sounds natural, not forced and therefore incredibly odd in its context.

Nori says something, but it comes out all digitally mangled and scattered.  Words even sound kind of switched, if one can make them out.  Then she takes off with near instantaneous acceleration toward Nygma.  It's fast, and it looks like Nori might be going to swipe the chest out from underneath Nygma.  Instead, she slows, and without fear of electrocution, obviously, she pulls her charge down so it isn't just rippling across her skin.  It takes effort but focused, she's quick about it, and says to him, "Stayyy-Stiiiff."  She tries to elongate the words as long as possible to get through her own distortions.  "We-go."

Nygma barely has enough time to hear the words before Nori has put a gauntlet on the back of his head and one at his torso to speed them along.  Sometimes a telling someone to jump on your back and giving them severe whiplash is not the best way to first meet someone.

Lara Croft has posed:
Arrows are lacing through the purple-hued sky, soaring up from the army of SET toward SPIDER-MAN who is keeping the Staff aerial and away from them on the ground. They're firing massive amounts of arrows toward the swinging web-slinger though!

On the ground, Alexander charges in toward the fighting trio of the BEAST SET and the two Falcons that have swept in from the skies. They both shriek at the form of Set, as the monster himself lunges toward Alexander to snap its jaws at the man and his powerful weapon! The sword in the Olympian's hands clashes against the beast, causing it to lunge backward, just as HORUS THE FALCON slams in to the side of SET once more, sending him toppling to the ground, and the two of them tumbling end over end together on the grass!

Lara, is right there with Atlin, the two in the thick of the fighting with the cultists and both of them trying to take down the enemy archers. Lara rushes up behind one and slams her climbing ax in to the back of its head, before she releases the ax handle, quick-draws her handgun and fires it in to the faces of three more rushing her! She spins around, rips her ax out of the Cultist's cranium as it falls face-first on to the ground.

The assembled heroes are taking shots at Set now, along with the Falcons, and this buys the others time enough to open that last golden chest. The magical summonings of Zatanna levitate the mummified remains of 'The King' to the third chest and there's a sudden burst of golden light that illuminates are large radius around the battlefield!

in the aftermath of the light, a figure steps out. Just as tall as the BEASTIAL SET, but this figure is that of a man, in golden Egyptian finery, holding a long golden spear.

OSIRIS he wastes no time, running now toward SET to rush the creature as it stands up from the attacks pummeling it from all sides.

The KING, lashes forward with his javeling and spears it directly into SETS's MAW!

AN EXPLOSION OF PURPLE LIGHT POURS OUT OF THE BEASTIAL FORM OF SET! THE PURPLE THUNDER CLOUDS RUMBLE AS THE ARMY OF SET COLLAPSES ACROSS THE WHOLE OF CENTRAL PARK.

When it fades, the King stands above the corpse of his fallen enemy. Planting his spear in to the ground at his feet. He stares at the heroes who've come to help and he nods to them a single time, as the two Falcons fly to him and land on either sides of him, folding their wings together.

Peter Parker has posed:
The Spider-Sense is great when it comes to detecting threats. And his agility helps a great deal when it comes to dodging incoming fire...

...but it does not mean he can avoid everything.

He is just about to vault over the treeline when one arrow hits, piercing his right leg halfway up the thigh, and he tumbles over the edge of the trees, hitting the upper branches of one and falling into the soft grass.

Spider-Man groans as he gets to his feet, ready to make his stand against an oncoming army...except the army is losing cohesion, seeming to sink into the ground as they get close to him. The arrow itself begins to disintegrate and he drops to one knee. The pain is nearly incandescent, but he can deal with it...now that the attackers have fallen.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    The snapping god lashes at Alexander and is enough to send him reeling even as his blade clashes against the bestial monstrosity. He staggers back a step, shaking his head sharply as he tries to refocus, blade snapping back to he fore as he holds it ahead of him...
    Only for the hawks and other heroes to leap in and lend their efforts before King Osiris lances in with his spear and causes that explosion of purple light. Enough to bathe the surroundings in that violet glow and enough for Alexander to shield his eyes as he holds that blade up ahead of him.
    Then the sword lowers and he's left with the other heroes there looking at the Egyptian King.
    "Hi." He offers. Then his phone buzzes.

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle gets to her feet, still favoring her injured shoulder, and takes the the air, flying forward to punch through an undead soldier that's about to get Spider-Man as he goes down.

Her fist went right through it as it faded away.

Landing next to the web-slinger, Golden Eagle looks around and and takes a deep breath that she slowly releases. "... glad -that's- over!", she says, quietly. Looking down at Spider-Man, she asks, "You okay, Spidey?"

Edward Nygma has posed:
Edward is disoriented by the time Noriko stops and the chaos finally dies down with the stabbing of Set.

When she lets him go, he wobbles, nauseous and dizzy, looking up at the King now as he squints. He looks down at his cane, which projects a holographic screen for him to look at a readout. "My suit is entirely drained." he observes, and looks back at Noriko, curious. But it's hard to tear him away from the display of gods, so he's soon back to staring at that instead.

"Lara!" he finally decides to call out, when it seems safe to do so, and the impending end of the world seems to be behind them. "Are we still on for the Iceberg Lounge?"

He does, however, turn his head looking around for Squirrel Girl. and when he spots her, he motions his cane for her to come over. "Come get a selfie for your social media clout."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
And just as quickly, and far less spectacularly, Zatanna is spent.

In a moment, the unatural light in her eyes goes out, and the Eye sigil fades above her. Indeed, the last remnants of her magic seem spent on far less spectacular yet no less important tasks, sending the first two parts of the body to join the third... but that is it. Done. Fini.

Fortunately, it seems that even if no more of her own magical reserve remains, there is just enough of a lingering touch of the divines she just summoned - a Sky God, of all things - to see her gently back to earth, tor the air itself to usher her final descent, rather than allow her to merely plummet from the sky. She lands upon her knees, coat tails splayed behind her, arms open in the grass. And her hat falls off, landing just beside her.

She remains like that, for a few moments.

Then, finally, with a blink of her eyes, Zatanna comes back, her consciousness reasserted, and she looks around. "Oh." Ancient God-King. "Your Majesty," she offers, bowing her head low.

When she thinks it appropriate to look up, she glances around, finding Koriand'r, since she remembers her somewhere close by, some echoing, distant words about a friend who might share her appreciation for ankhs and wedjats. "Looks like we won."

Doreen Green has posed:
With all that is going on, it's hard to know who did what, or how! All Doreen knows at this point is that as she and her squirrels began to charge the "fleeing" zombies, they all soon after just dropped.. into the ground? Dead?" Squirrel Girl cheers! Chitters! She is ecstatic!

"We did it!" She holds the phone up now to show that everything is at least starting to go back to normal and the zombies are all dead or dying, "They knew they couldn't stand a chance people! So they just hit the self destruct!"

She hits the selfie button again, "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl has prevented the end of the world as we know it! And with the help of an assortment of heroes I have never met, the sky is going back to normal, a sphinx monster was defeated, and an angry evil god's horde of undead cultists have been forced to admit defeat!"

She faces Nygma, running over to him, "Riddler here was the most instrumental of my new friends! This up and coming hero was brave enough to electrify himself and... do.. something! That must be why the zombies killed themselves! They were afraid of the combined might of squirrel and lightning! They knew it was hopeless!!"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
A puzzle indeed, for later.  For later.  Noriko looks nonplussed at Edward's look, already staring at Osiris in a certain amount of awe right before he charges.  "Oh yeah.  Sorry man.  If you throw up.  Don't feel bad.  Lots of people have."  By the time he seems alright, she's already given her spiel.  "Oh okay.  Cool."  She sounds...robotic, like Discord shitting the bed.  Then she just moves back to watch Osiris take on Set.

"Is-ther-safe-distance?" Noriko asks aloud with her arms folded.  She looks down as she feels the cold air, the lack of weight.  "Oops."  Nori scratches at her forearms.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa Carlysle is just nocking the last arrow in her quiver when Osiris and his wife and son finally take down Set and the park is returned to it's normal state. She lets out a breath, arm dropping to hold her bow at her side as she catches her breath and turns to look around the area, checking for anyone in need of help before refocusing back on the ancient Egyptian god.

She walks over that direction mumbling to herself as mimicking someone else's voice and her own in a conversation. "'So how was your time in New York?' Oh, great, had pizza at Angelo's, defeated an Egyptian death god, stopped and grabbed a few postcards..."

She moves over beside Zatanna and gives her a nod at the comment about winning. Quiver looks to each person in turn, giving them nods of approval before turning back to Horus. "Thank you, Your Majesty," Quiver says as well.

Koriand'r has posed:
    The result is climatic!!
    Koriand'r, or Starfire at the moment, hovers in the air with glowing green eyes and with her red firey hair tousling in the wind. Osiris gets the BIG swing in and the Tamaranean squeals with delight.
    Koriand'r looks back to Zatanna Zatara. As if Osiris slaying Set had been her accomplishment all along, she gives the magician two big thumbs up, and a cute little smile as her eyes begin to fade back to their normal emerald hue--before she realizes that the magician, is in fact, on the ground doing the modified plank.
    Hm!
    Gently, her feet find grassy turf again, and she walks over to (needlessly) offer Zatanna a hand to help her up. "We have fought well today. The staff is safe, the body has been restored, and cultists that wear robes have been put to rest once more." Her eyes brim momentarily as Quiver walks her way over. She is given an enthusiastic nod before the words bubble out of her, unable to be contained: "Can I say it?"
    Before anyone can tell her whether or not she can say 'it', she sing-songs it anyways giddily. "It is all in the work of a day! Come, friends! They are recording!"
    She begins to barrel over toward where Squirrel Girl is giving her live coverage of the antics that are a foot! Just in time to--
    FLASH
    --photobomb the selfie!

Lara Croft has posed:
The heroic efforts of the very varied, and powerful, individuals that showed up here to face the evil menace has made a serious impact on the potential outcome of this situation. The God of Set's true summoning was prevented, the BEASTIAL FORM of Set was defeated and the cult that was after the Staff of Set's Soul was prevented from acquiring the staff.

The presence of law enforcement agencies is thick on the perimeter of the park, along with news outlets, and all kinds of onlookers who've come to witness this situation as it is professional handled by those who came to the rescue (squirrel army professionalism).

Spider-man is approached by medics, and members of SHIELD's WAND team who ask for the Staff, as it is far too powerful an item to be left out in the public.

The pyramids shimmer and fade away, leaving the park back the way it was originally... just with a few more trenches carved out of its soil, and pot marks where super sonic booms tore in to the grass, nothing that a bit of dedicated landscaping can't fix right up!

And as for the summoned form of Osiris, Isis and Horus? They come to stand together, facing the heroes before they flash brightly gold again, and leave behind simply a statue in remembrance.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Looking across the way towards Edward, Alexander sort of half-smiles as he takes a few quick steps and scoops up one of the errant rubix cubes. One that didn't seem to go off when hurled in the mass and seemed to, at least for now, be nominally safe. The youth holds it up and gestures with it, "Excuse me, sir? May I keep this?" He asks even as he's digging into his back pocket for his phone.
    A quick check of the message though and he's typing out a response.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man drops on his keister, still holding the staff in one hand. After a moment, he drops it to the grass and checks out his leg.
Entry and exit. Nicked an artery, but that's already mending up, but it did bleed quite a bit when the arrow...turned to dust...and the muscles were going to hurt like a mad bastard for the next few hours.

"I...will be..." He fishes the medical kit out of his backpack, then sets to work with a medical stapler, binding the two wounds closed.

The flash of light causes him to look over at Starfire, the squirrel girl, and the E.Nygma. He chuckles a little sadly at that.

Ah, the glamorous life of the photogenic superhero. Meanwhile, his best stuff shows up on www.spider-fail.com.
He waves off the SHIELD personnel, but doesn't argue when they take the Staff. He can let it be someone else's headache.

Yaretzi Acama has posed:
Golden Eagle, still favoring her shoulder, says, "I'll talk to you later", in a voice meant only to be heard by the web-slinger. With that, she lifts up off the ground to fly away to the north-east, disappearing among the taller buildings in that direction.

Edward Nygma has posed:
"Sure, though if it remote detonates and you die, I'm not taking responsibility for it." Edward says with a bit of a shrug, not //his// problem. "When I sniff the wrong thing, I die every time, but lucky for me, I have nine lives."

He shrugs, that's an easy one.

"Well, I'll see you around."

He drops a thick puzzle piece, and suddenly there's a poof of green smoke.

When the smoke clears, all that's left are floating sparkles...

The Riddler escapes!!!

Doreen Green has posed:
Squirrel Girl squees as Kori jumps into the shot, "People we have another of the brave heroes who helped the Nuts and Bolts Army force the undead horde into a self destructive surrender!"

She makes sure that Starfire is clearly in the shot. She then swings the phone around to show the squirrels mourning and carrying their dead home. Doreen becomes somber, "And.. it is with great pain and pride that I must also announce to you viewers that many squirrels lost their lives today, sacrificing themselves to defeat a great evil that threatened the world. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten!"

Monkey-Joe nods, eyes narrowed in seriousness, and chitters something. Doreen nods at the chittering, "Monkey-Joe has promised to compensate their families with his own nut stash! They will be taken care of!"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko goes back to look at one of those curious little cubes that the strange man left behind.  Yoink!  Hopefully it won't go off in her hand before she can get it back to school!  Everyone needs explosive cubes for school!

Annnd, she's out of there.