6236/Sorcerer's World - The Dark Side of the Moon

Sorcerer's World - The Dark Side of the Moon
Date of Scene:	16 May 2021
Location:	Gotham Observatory -- Outskirts of the City
Synopsis:	Felix Faust and his allies manage to successfully draw forth Eclipso, the one time Spirit of Vengeance from Dr. Bruce Gordon and lay waste to the Gotham Observatory. But their victory is not without cost as the Demon Rath is badly injured and banished. Perhaps for good? And what is the fate of Jason Blood, corrupted by Eclipso and unleashed as the Demon Etrigan? What is Felix Faust's ultimate end? Far too many questions and too few answers.
Cast of Characters:	Bruce Wayne, Cliff Steele, J'onn J'onzz, Diana Prince, Arthur Curry, Zatanna Zatara, Karen Starr, Kara Danvers, Hope Svelgate

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Bruce Wayne has posed:
It has been several weeks since the Justice League or any other interested parties have heard anything from Felix Faust. Whatever his ultimate goals might be, he is either laying low or he has managed to do what he needed to without being detected by the League or it's allies. Not a small feat in the grand scheme of things.

That is all about to change of course. In a fairly substantial way.

The Gotham Observatory certainly seems like a strange sort of site to play host to a massive magical disturbance. It is a center of science, studying the wonders of the universe, the stars and other heavenly bodies. And while few outside of the scientific community likely notice or care, the Observatory has been abuzz for the last several weeks, playing host to one of the foremost experts in the field of solar energy, Dr. Bruce Gordon.

It is early evening, the last lingering traces of sunlight falling beyond the western horizon, leaving only a purple glow lighting up the sky there while the heavens above have already settled into a rich, midnight blue, peppered with flickering points of light in the cloudless sky. Along with the numerous astronomers and members of Bruce Gordon's team, a dozen or so gifted amateurs also crowd into the building for the chance to hear the renowned scientist speak.

They get a little more then they might have expected.

It should come as no surprise that Gotham's Dark Knight is keeping a close eye on the situation. He always does. But even moreso in this case. While magic is certainly not a subject in which he considers himself an expert, a number of these disturbances have taken place in *his* city. And that is something that will always catch his attention.

Knowing very well that he does not have the knowledge or magical resources to keep tabs on Faust and his frequent disturbances, he has turned to others. Certainly the Justice League has able members in that regard. But the Dark Knight is not one to put all his eggs in one basket.

It is one of those alternative sources that first sounds the alarm, alerting Batman to the imminent threat nearby and allowing him to put out the alert to the Leauge and any other friendly faces that he can call upon. And then? Well Gotham's Dark Knight and his ally appear as if out of thin air, arriving just outside the entrance to the Observatory, staggering just a little bit. The man at his side, his dark hair streaked with white mutters a curse and reaches out a hand as if feeling at a barrier not there. "They have sealed off the building. My magicks will not get us directly in," he says, annoyance touching his voice.

"Do what you can to bring the barrier down Jason. And you might want to hurry," Batman says in those stony tones.

Around them, in the parking lot the street lights all seem to have failed, leaving the hilltop in the grip of darkness more heavy then is normal. And in that darkness dozens of brightly glowing eyes reveal themselves, shadowed shapes beginning to creep nearer.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Inside the Observatory, in the main chamber a glowing, mystical circle of energy throbs with power, an eerie violet glow pulsing, sending shadows skittering wildly. In one corner of the room a dozen more scientists huddle together, looking on fearfully as three towering, purplish demons stalk around the edge of the room. Abnegazar, Rath and Ghast. And spread around the mystic circle, three more figures linger, arms flung heavenward as strange, ominous words escape them in a rhythmic chant. Felix Faust in those flowing robes and blue turban. Amos Fortune, greasy haired and in billowing white robes. And Blackbriar Thorn, the ancient druid now appearing as if made out of sculpted wood.

And there, in the center of that circle a swirling cloud of utter darkness from which comes a piercing, and all too human scream...

Cliff Steele has posed:
Cliff Steele arrives in the waking world having felt a pull on him from the Brazier and something else. At first, he thought it was Terry having promised to try and summon him but popping into the middle of a scene from the Wizard of Oz, Robotman thinks that this might be the case. He can feel his body sleeping on the otherside of the dreamlands and looks down at dream hands that seem solid enough and looks around and spots the Justice League about to storm the castle. "What the fuck?" He is surprised to say the least.

J'onn J'onzz has posed:
J'onn J'onzz got the alert and immediately dropped what he was doing, which was merely having a conversation with one of Hank Pym's ants. He did very much enjoy those conversations, but this was considerably more important. Taking to the sky he heads to the Observatory at his fastest speed, that is to say he arrives and lands beside Batman. His abilities do not permit him a magical sense, but he can already tell that something is amiss. Batman would not be outside when there is trouble inside.

At first he doesn't note the eyes in the darkness, but one does not miss something like glowing red eyes for long. He puts his back to Batman, watching the darkness and the eyes. "It would seem I have arrived at an opportune time," he offers to Batman.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana was in transit between Metropolis and New York when the call came across her frequencies in the Invisible Jet. She immediatley averted course by issuing the command to the Jet's A.I. and sent the vehicle on the way to the Observatory at full speed, the alien-tech craft making its own gravity to move at an astounding speed.

Diana prepared herself for the situation in the mean time, changing out of civilian clothing and in to her battle armor. She gathered up her sword, shield and a golden javelin that she might take with her for this potential fight. She knows what this Faust person has done in the past and has to prepare herself for it as best as she can.

With lasso on her hip, the Princess moves through the interior of the jet and to the aft exit that lowers when they are within range....

She slips out of the jet and glides through the air of Gotham's sky, descending at a rapid pace until her boots land on the grass near by and she starts to walk with the javelin held at her side, the tip pointed down toward the earth...

Arthur Curry has posed:
Arthur Curry has been spending a rather large amount of time in the Metropolis area as of late, so when the alert comes in he's not terribly far away. A quick duck into the Hall of Justice to grab armor and trident, then he books to the water and blasts across the Bay, taking to the air once he reaches shore. A few minutes later he is dropping out of the sky into the parking lot beside his comrades.

Taking his trident in a ready grip he faces several of the eyes while he mutters to Batman, "You always introduce us to the most interesting critters. What did you find this time?" Arcs of electricity start to play along the tines of the Trident as he levels it and growls, "Back off if you don't wanna suck lightning."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna Zatara looks prim but not quite as crisp as she habitually does. It's as if she had to stay up late to deal with somebody very recently.

Nevertheless she is here and she is waiting. Waiting and watching as sunlight fails and something Else begins to throw a light, or something along the lines of one.

Any grim and forboding aspect in her fades momentarily when Batman pulls another of his signature surprise arrivals. Zatanna jumps - just a little - and then steps towards the man who came with the Bat. "Are you trying pure force? This looks..."

Zatanna looks over at nothing in particular. "Thick."

The good news is that much of the rest of the league is coming. Zatanna beams towards the Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Aquaman; to Robotman, she says, "Yeah, seriously. Hey, though. They're putting... whatever this is at the observatory, right?" Zatanna points from there. "If they've made a ward this strong, it's probably drawing sympathetically from astrological alignments. So, if we--"

Someone screams. Red eyes appear. Zatanna straightens up, brushing some dust off her stocking'd knee. "And-- so much for waiting for Saturn to rise."

Karen Starr has posed:
    Metropolis almost seems like a world away, but it's nothing compared to where Power Girl has been these past few weeks. Luckily Faust hasn't been discovered while she was gone- though that's a bitter draught, as there's no guarantee he's not just under the radar this time. When the alert comes in over her communicator, Karen Starr is quietly milling through a pillar of paperwork piled up over her 'sojourn on the sea' in an autonomous boat.

    She takes a breath, and starts pushing through the paperwork at super-speed, a technique she learned from /someone/ who would occasionally write articles at super-speed, something that requires she lock the door to her office despite the late hour. Everyone else will just assume she's slept in her office again if she doesn't return before morning.

    Before long, she's out the window of her office, skimming off her work 'clothes' to reveal the suit of Power Girl. The journey to Gotham is one she takes with one detour, shooting off into the sky at a rate of speed that only gets ever more incredible with each passing moment. She breaches the atmosphere and basks momentarily in the light of the sun before arcing herself back down and towards Gotham.

    All told, it's been a precious few seconds since the alarm rang out. Sometimes it pays to be an Alien.

    Between the present Leaguers in their bastion and some of the eyes- she may only be on one side, after all- lands one of the most powerful physical forces in the universe. Or, you know, his cousin, depending on how safe you happen to be feeling about saying that. The only question is, as she confidently cracks her knuckles at the darkness, will that be enough?

Kara Danvers has posed:
    The late classes were especially useful for Kara to keep up to date with her course work. Between being Supergirl, interning at the Daily Planet, and just life in general she needs all the chances she can get to succeed at this degree. When the alert comes through, she can hear it amidst the lecture she is attending.

    Slipping out of the lecture and around a corner, her blouse is unbuttoned to reveal the House of El logo beneath and her blue uniform. A quick change and she is shooting up in to the sky and across the land to Gotham. She lands next to the group and says, "Huh.. this is new."

    "Forgive me for stating possibly the obvious, but can't you just wave your hands at it and get us in?," she says.. and while on the subject of the obvious, she does indeed walk right up to that barrier and try to punch it. Because that scream makes a shiver run up her spine - people are in serious danger.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
So much for the conveniences of magic.

To be sure, the Dark Knight arrives on the scene much quicker then would be expected. Far, far quicker. But even with the mystical powers at his disposal it would seem that Jason Blood is unable to get them beyond that barrier and into the Observatory proper.

Where there is little doubt that Faust and his growing band of allies are surely up to nothing good. Certainly that piercing wail that reaches the night air beyond the walls of that building certainly suggest that is the case at any rate.

Of course, getting into the building is proving that it might be the difficult part, especially as those glowing eyes start to creep closer, low, ominious growls quickly added to the mix. For a moment the Dark Knight eyes that gathering crowd, hand darting to the utility belt at his side and cracking a half dozen glow sticks before tossing them in a wide arc around them, letting that luminous green glow light up the parking lot some. His cowl lets him see just fine in the dark, thanks to the starlite lense inserts. But not everyone has that advantage. And as reinforcements arrive, well, it would be good to make sure that they all can see just what's going on. "Blood. Zatanna. See if you can doing anything about that barrier," he says, gaze flickering over towards the unexpected form of the Robotman who seems to materialize out of nothing as well. Interesting. "J'onn, see if you can phase through the barrier. Perhaps through the earth. Maybe it's a dome instead of a sphere," he suggests, again tossing that quick glance towards Zatanna and the dark haired man with the white stripe, handing off the matter of the mystical field to their more capable hands.

The green glow of those snapped sticks reveals just what those eyes are attached too -- shapes of shadow and darkness in the form of dogs. Or really, wolves. Great big hulking wolves about twice the size of a man. The glow in their eyes seems to intensify and as they open their mouthes that glow appears in those tooth-filled maws as well, licks of fire escaping them with each growl.

"Looks like demon dogs to me. I rather doubt they can be reasoned with," Batman comments to Arthur quietly.

Whether it's Arthur's threat or the Dark Knight's words proving to be all to accurate the pack suddenly starts lunging forward, concrete torn up underfoot as if it were grass, dozens of those Demon Dogs lunging towards the assembled Leaguers.

Hope Svelgate has posed:
Lady Death stands in the ruined church within Hell's Kitchen that is her Sanctuary on Earth watching events unfold upon the buildings mystical stained glass windows. Faust has earned her ire time and again summoning demons to Earth, putting children in danger. He has Death's attention and now she is coming for him.

"Apocalypse!" She calls, summoning the Chaos-forged blade to her hand. A gaping rent is cut in space/time as she steps through the portal in pursuit of her prey.

Cliff Steele has posed:
Cliff Steele has no idea what is going on, but takes his hands and super charges them to create a ton of heat and begins to charge into the barrier, putting more and more pressure on it. Normally, the physical attack wouldnt do much but given the nature of his 'body' right now its a bit more mystical than it otherwise might be. It isnt a deal breaker but definitely annoying to the right person.

J'onn J'onzz has posed:
J'onn nods once, "I was going to suggest something silimiar."

Lifting himself off the ground, he takes a quick look around to ensure positions of those present, then moves himself over to the barrier. First he will try phasing through the barrier directly to see if that is a possibility, if it isn't, then he will land and sink into the ground and search for a point beneath the surface that the barrier may not be.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana doesn't speak, she barley moves after arriving, but she does show a small smirk of amusement at Kara's actions. Her eyes dart back to the Batman as he issues orders and then the demon dogs when they are mroe revealed.

This gets the Princess to raise her javelin up off of the ground on its butt to spin it once in her hands, a fjourish that leaves the javelin gripped in an open stance. As the canines charge forth, the Princess starts to move, her booted feet thudding on the soft grass toward them in return.

It isn't but a few moments later that Wonder Woman is lunging at the dogs as they lunge at her, javelin starting to spin through the air as she swipes at the first two, trying to slap them out of the sky with a powerful side-swiping motion!

Arthur Curry has posed:
Arthur shrugs a little, "Screw it then", and drops to one knee. Holding the Trident with both hands, he jabs it forward towards the charging hounds, the crackling of electricity leaping to a bright glow that illuminates the parking lot before a stroke of lightning leaps from the tines to rip across the parking lot and into the oncoming mass of shadow hounds.

Once it fires off, he spins the trident and rises back to his feet, striding forward and snapping off strikes with the heavily enchanted divine weapon, hoping it can disrupt the magic holding the demons to this plane.

Even should they not be disrupted, hopefully he can get in solid enough hits to blast them out of the area of the parking lot while the others work on the problem of the barrier. Let the magic types try their skills at it before the brute force method gets tried. After all, Faust might be ready for it this time, even if they did manage to break his barrier with teamwork last time.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Kara asks a fair question, or at least Zatanna thinks it's a fair question and not a rhetorical one. "Boundaries like this are made *to* be repellent to other magics," she says. "We might be able to brute force it, but the backlash could set half the city on fire." Zatanna glances to Batman and raises her eyebrows as if to say: And we don't want that.

"If it is a dome with a floor, though... we could flip it over, if we had to." Zatanna theorizes, before having some real work ahead of her. Taking off her hat, she reaches inside of it to search within, before her eyes turn towards--

The dogs! The hounds!

Zatanna moves to get on the other side of Cliff, though this is probably only a relative factor. "If those things jump for me or Jason," Zatanna says to him, reaching up to touch his terrible robot forearm for a moment with one white-gloved hand, "Can you stop them? We're going to have to focus and that is, I know, the PERFECT time for a giant evil hell-dog to kill you. Me, I mean."

And then she pulls something out of her hat. It looks like a tuning fork. It seems heavy, although with a lack of super strength, *everything* must seem heavy to her. "Right hand on the grip," she tells Jason. "And then we touch the barrier, and then..."

"!yaw eht nepo, nrutaS .sllaw eht paer, nrutaS .reirrab eht hcaerb, nrutaS" Zatanna chants, intently. Jason has his own freestyle techniques, after all.

Hope Svelgate has posed:
A sword seems to pierce space, half a glowing blade emerging from nowhere before moving downward slashing open a gaping rent of glowing orange energy. From the other side steps a powerfully built albino looking woman with long flowing white hair and white glowing pits for eyes, adorned in black 'armor' if an enchanted swimsuit can count as armor, accented with metal fittings following a skull motif.

Once she has stepped through, the rent in the fabric of space closes behind her, resealing itself. The hellish valkyrie looks around, "This is not... Ah." She notes mostly to herself upon seeing the barrier that likely disrupted her intended choice of destination. "Does Faust think he can hide behind such a thing?!" Almost as if oblivious to the gathering crowd she strides towards the barrier, raising her magical blade, now swirling with both orange and blue mystic energies of her energy arcane as well as the Chaos power the blade itself draws upon, channeling her own power through the sword as well as she moves to strike down that which stands between her and her quarry.

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara unapologetically says, "Someone had to try it..." to the amused look from Diana. Because sometimes punching things really hard works sometimes: even against magic. Not this time though. Though the 'set half the city on fire' does get a bit of grimace from Kara, "Okay. Everything about magic gets worse the more I learn."

    Her eyes turn to the glowing eyes that seem to be approaching them. Illuminated, they look much more intimidating. Her lips form a thin line and she starts to step toward them even as they begin to bound their way, "These aren't the friendly kind of dog."

    The dogs towering over them. This is a moment for action and less introspection. She pushes off the ground, leaving a dent there with fist thrust forward, zooming up in a blur of red and blue arc to uppercut the nearest of the hell hounds. "Come on kujo, let's play fetch," she says with an edgy amusement to her timber.

Karen Starr has posed:
    The dogs charge the group, and seeing as Zatanna and Jason need time, it's the job of the heavy hitters to buy them that. Sure, these are summoned hell-hounds meant to rip people limb from limb... But they're not charging normal people.

    "Fair share is, what, four, maybe pups each, right?"

    Bursting from her position, offering a freshly frightening thunderclap behind her as she hits speed. She goes up and over the nearest hellhound, and reaches for its tail. With terrible strength and no little amount of generated catharsis, if Karen can get a grip on the thing she'll swing it around like an impossibly unhappy golf club, spinning it around herself to slam into the its brothers on either side- the intent to stop the charge and declare that they're fighting /her./

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Faust seems to have an unhealthy interest in demons, that much is for certain. And each time they face him he seems to have pulled out a different set of them. Perhaps to see if he has finally found the right combination to finally beat them back? Perhaps for reasons more inscrutable. It's something for the Dark Knight to dwell on -- understanding the enemy's tactics is one thing that he puts a great deal of time and effort into. But this particular evening? It probably doesn't matter. Felix Faust and his allies are facing some of the Justice League's most power and no Demon Dogs are going to get in their way.

He doesn't exactly number amongst the League's most powerful in any respect. But there's a reason he holds his own amongst them. As those wolves charge in, dozen's upon dozens, he ducks low, hanging back behind those who are a little sturdier. Even then he is forced to raise his cape as a sort of shield, the nomex-kevlar weave keeping those bursts of flame from touching him. And each moment he gets a respite that cowl reappears, peering over the edge of his arm before another batarang is hurled, each one finding its mark on another of the demon dogs before bursting to life, discharging the electrical energy of the taser embedded within.

These particular dogs might be of the demonic variety but lightning is lightning and as those bursts rip across the ground and slam into a half dozen of those advancing shadows they give off high pitched whines of pain and peel away. That still leaves plenty more to charge in however, those glowing eyes and flaming maws filling the dark of the night around them.

These are Demon Dogs. No one is going to feel bad for them. But they surely don't know what they're in for. They leap for Arthur, for Diana and Kara and Karen. Maws open wide, fire burning there and those razor sharp teeth just as menacing. And for their trouble? They meet fist and trident and javeline. They are punched and slashed from the air in mid-leap and hurled about by their tail. Dozens of the huge, shadowy hounds launch themselves at the quartet. They go for the head, they go for the chest and those outstretched arms. They come in low, snapping and growling and trying to hamstring their prey. And the sound of their whimpers fills the evening air as they are driven back each and every time. Sticky green ichor makes little puddles on the ground and finally those glowing red eyes seem to slink back a little, not disappearing exactly. But not quite so willing to throw themselves at that immovable quartet any longer.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Magic... doesn't exactly work like physics. The field surrounding the observatory is entirely intangible, it cannot be seen -- at least with any normal sight -- and while it stops progress it has no real texture or feel to it. It is simply not possible to walk through it. But 'thick' is still a good way to describe it and Robotman's direct application of raw power makes it... thrum, at least for those with magical senses, but the barrier remains up.

"Bring the barrier down but don't destroy *my* city," the Dark Knight states flatly, not glancing back towards where the more magically inclined work. They have their job to do and he has his. While he can be difficult to work with, it's not as if he does not trust the rest of the League. At least that's the case with most of them.

Jason Blood dips his head towards Zatanna, brow furrowed in concentration and a slight twist to his mouth. He doesn't have the sheer versatility of power as her, but what he does have is centuries of experience. He does not offer a verbal reply, but instead holds both hands up as if pressing against the barrier in front of him, standing to the other side of Robotman as he chants. Where he 'touches' the barrier it begins to glow, faintly at first, a soft golden hue. But that light spreads, moving towards where Zatanna works at bringing down the barrier as well.

So perhaps it is no surprise when Lady Death swings that blade at the invisble field of force and it actually seems to... chip. For a moment that invisible field lights up as if it were a miniature sun and little hairline fractures appear. And as another blow strikes it those fractures begin to spread, little cracks that undermine the integrity of the mystical barrier entirely.

Of course, as that barier begins to splinter and crack a half dozen of those demon dogs rush past the front lines, hurling themselves towards the vulnerable spellcasters.

As for J'onn, whether because of carelessness or because the energy was needed elsewhere, he does indeed find that the wall of mystical force only serves as a dome, touching the ground but going no lower.

Cliff Steele has posed:
Cliff Steele works as a barrier between Zatanna and Jason alright. He might not be kryptonian but he can be quite effective when he needs to be, picking one up and throwing it into the others, punching and punching and then kicking. One makes a nice dent in his arm that he looks at, says, "Fuck that" and throws the dog quite a ways. "Fuckers," and keeps punching.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana's initial strike sends two of the demon dogs flying away from her front, the two of them slamming in to three others that were headed toward other members of the League. The Princess plants her feet on the earth, cascading up clods of dirt beneath her wedge-heeled boots. She looks back ove rher shoulder after seeing Arthur's powered staff zip energy over her head, only to see the others are all engaged in the battle now as well.

The second of looking, gives one of the canines the ability to charge at Diana and grasp on to the javeling she holds with a set of sharp fangs! It tucks on the combat staff only to get Diana to suddenly twirl it around her head, using the dog on the end of the stick to helicopter three more that were jumping at her from all sides!

She bends herself over backwards and does a handless backflip, bringing her javeling around and flinging the dark shadow hound off of it toward a tree trunk!

Back on her feet again, the Princess plants her javelin in to the earth and reaches for her sword and shield off of her back....

J'onn J'onzz has posed:
J'onn appears up out of the ground near the barrier again, and immediately goes straight up into the sky to ensure that he is free of any hell hounds upon emerging. Using the commlink he says to those who can hear over it, "It is not a dome, merely an above ground shield, I can phase people through the ground and into the Observatory when ready."

As he speaks, he looks over the parking lot and the decimation that is occurring. Those dogs chose the wrong heroes to mess with today.

Hope Svelgate has posed:
Lady Death watches as the barrier is giving way before her, the way to her quarry soon to be open, only to be interrupted by an onslaught of demon dogs. The white haired Hell Lord turns and glares at them, if looks could kill they would already be dead. "You dare attack /me/? Then fall before Lady Death!"

A second blade is drawn from somewhere on Lady Death's person, perhaps under the cape, it had to come from somewhere... This one resembles a Roman gladius and yet the metal glows with Norse runes carved along its length. Channeling her Energy Arcane through the blade of the new weapon it begins to curve and grow until she is holding a glowing rune carved scythe, a fitting weapon for Death.

Leaping into the air, Apocalypse is pointed at the lead hound and a blast of blue Energy Arcane mixed with Angelic power is sent hurtling at the creature before she actually throws the scythe, sending it spinning through the hounds, a blue glow surrounding it as she seems to control it with some manner of telekinesis, laughing as she momentarily loses herself in the thrill of battle.

Arthur Curry has posed:
Arthur is spinning the trident like a propeller, scything through the ranks of the hounds, demon dogs flying back with each strike. Yelps and whines fill the night around him as he throws back the attacking ranks. With the dogs starting to show some reluctance to attack, he falls back a little to make sure the magic users are covered while they work on the dome.

"Well, if we can just go under, let's skip the burning half the city thing and do that. Seems safer. No offense, magic types." This would be Arthur being fairly diplomatic, actually, he bothered to realize people might be offended. It's progress.

Another dog that leaps for Zatanna is batted out of the sky and actually goes the long way through an SUV. "Hope they have insurance!"

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna is momentarily distracted from her chanting to glance sideways at the emergent and /extremely sick/ manifestation of a pale rider of death and beauty! Her eyes flick left and right for a moment, then rest on Jason, perhaps /accusingly/, before she resumes.

When an actual 'chip' goes into the boundary, she pivots around, the leaden fork resonating with a B-minor hum as it brushes the 'barrier' itself. If you look closely, there is a vaguely violet aura emanating from between the two tines of the tuning fork.

But you probably don't because of the DOGS. Zatanna keeps chanting as she looks over towards the incoming loping creature and actually, briefly, cackles in relief and probable amusement when Cliff completely dumpsters the animal-demon.

"We should keep going," Zatanna answers J'onn, adjusting her hat: "Or he'll know something's up. And I think we're getting there..." She wipes her forehead on her sleeve. "And no, no city burning, geez." ("This is what you get for being transparent," Zatanna comments to Jason.)

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara tilts her head a little as the dog she was messing with turns in to a blob of goop. "Well.. that's.. gross," she says and then notices the dogs making a breakaway attack on their mystics. Always defend the healers and the mystics. The titans have been a bad influence on her - she know D&D now.

    With a blur of blue and red she scoops up two of the giant dips in her arms and rises up high in to the sky, then flies back down to the ground hard. An explosion of dirt and road shoots up in to the air as she slams the two dogs in to the ground. As the dust clears it's just Kara standing there. "Sorry about the road..."

    "I'm at three.. I still have one more in my quota, right Power Girl?," she says with a sly little smile to Diana. Kara's fighting style has evolved since her time on Themyscira.. and the more trips she makes there, the better she's getting. Philippus is an excellent teacher for people who superhuman abilities.

    "Only a dome??," she says as she rises up and lands with a turn to protect Jason and Zatanna's backs. If they're lucky, the more destructive abilities of herself and her sister won't be needed. The more of Batman's city they can save the less upset he'll be at them later.

Karen Starr has posed:
    There is an absolutely dreadful whirlwind, and a moment later Power Girl stops spinning, the second dog she'd grabbed by the tail simply gone from her hands... Mostly. Its tail is still there, but the rest of it has frankly disappeared.

    She hucks this to the side, as another hellhound has charged her- but, of course, the cape she wears is not merely for show, as she whirls it around the face of the dog, that gets caught up in Kryptonian fabric before finding itself grappled by the blonde who bends over backwards and, as if the pup were a fledgling tree, she plants the beast in the street of Gotham. Its lower half slumps somewhat, resigned to its new life.

    "That makes my six, are you two even trying?" she calls out, chiding both her 'sister'- it's complicated- and Diana.

    On the International Space Station, two bewildered examples of humanity's finest gaze out of a viewport at an equally bewildered tailless hellhound, unsure of its future, and surely questioning the decisions that led it here.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Under other circumstances th Demon Dogs might have been difficult to deal with. Had the League been tied up with another emergency the Dark Knight would have likely found it difficult to deal with them. Then again, his team has proven rather resilient against the demonic invaders they have seen more often in the city in recent weeks. Still, the price paid would have undoubtedly been higher.

There does seem to be a certain animal cunning to the shadowy beasts and with it clear that they cannot simply overwhelm the heroes with numbers, they linger in the darkness, just beyond the parking lot, occasionally feinting in, moving towards one of the defenders, snapping at them and sending bursts of flame their way, all in an attempt to get one of them to chase them, to move out of that defensive position. To create an opening.

While the others remain on guard and while their magical contingent begins to bring down that barrier, the Dark Knight does not hesitate to take J'onn up on his offer, letting the Martian Manhunter carry him beneath the surface of the earth to emerge on the far side moments later. If he finds the whole thing unpleasant or disturbing -- feeling matter slide through him -- he gives no sign. "Help the others if they can't bring down the barrier," Batman suggests, glancing back towards where that mystic energy is now very variable as those spider-web cracks spread further and further. It doesn't look like that's going to be a problem. "I'll scout ahead. If you want to join me when you're done," he adds. Then he turns and plunges ahead through the dark doorways leading into the Observatory itself, no doubt looking for some advantageous perch within.

Around the defenders that hold back the fiery shadow dogs, a growing pile of downed demons lay, a deterrent to any others that might want to challenge the quartet of Arthur, Diana, Kara or Karen. At least those bodies that have not been hurled away at any rate. No matter how one tallies the score, collectively they are clearly winning. As for any internal competition...

Bruce Wayne has posed:
The Demon Dogs that do make it through the lines in that initial rush do not get the chance to regret it for long. While they might throw themselves at Zatanna and Jason Blood not one of them manages to find the mark, coming up short again and again as Lady Death turns her attentions to them and finds that Arthur and Kara join in that defense. The sickly green demonic ichor that sprays about is probably not so welcome and where it lands on the ground it hisses and bubbles as if eating away at everything it touches. Though it does not seem to be able to do anything to that gleaming scythe or trident that whirls in Arthur's hands.

As Robotman managers to deal with one of those hounds, another lands on his chest, claws racking at the figure before being dispatched by that whirling scythe. For a moment that figure stands there and then he simply fades out, seeming more apparition then sentient robot in that instant.

Jason can offer no defense, at least not verbally. Not without interrupting his chanting. All he can do is shoot Lady Death a quick glance and shrug his shoulders, those mystic-sounding chantings still coming from him, rising to a seeming crescendo while the note sounding from Zatanna's tuning fork seems to be doing much the same. For his part, Jason does manage a brief smirk for his fellow sorceress good humored complaint. He too is familiar with the Bat's sometimes acerbic manner.

And then that mystic lattice of energy seems to finally give out, those spider-web cracks spreading too fall as the adjuration simply falls in on itself, vanishing in a brief flash of light.

The way lies open.

Within the Observatory, with that massive telescope focused on the moon above the chanting of the three practitioners also seems to be reaching a climax, echoing through the domed room. The Demons Three continue to pace about, standing guard to all appearances. That anguished cry continues to come from that inky black cloud in the middle of the glowing pentagram, growing higher and higher in pitch.

"Whatever they're trying to do, it looks like they've just about succeeded," the Dark Knight's voice cuts in over the comm, tucked away in the shadows on one of the walkways that circle around the upper level of that chamber.

J'onn J'onzz has posed:
Swooping down from the sky J'onn lands beside Batman and the two meld into the earth like ice melting into a puddle, minus the mess afterwards. Moving through the earth is something he has done numerous times, but it can be disorienting for those unaccustomed. He would have preferred to move at a slower pace for Batman's sake, but time was a factor and he moved with haste to emerge silently with the bat on the other side.

Offering Batman a nod, he turns and prepares to leave the same way he came in when the barrier goes down outside. He catches the last effects of it through a window before it is simply gone. They have their way in, so he will stay within. His attention goes to those forming the circle, back to Batman, then back to those around the circle and attempts to use his telekinesis to break the last stages of the ritual by picking everyone and everything up into the air.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana, sword and shield in hand, watches the demon dog fly past her and through the SUV from Arthur's efforts. She shows him a small frown but it is gone fairly quickly as she has her own targets coming toward her. One lunges right for her, causing her to raise her metal round shield up and bash it right in its mouth.

A loud dull 'thud' happens when the canine collides with the Themysciran steel shieldd, the reverberations roll across the battleifled. The next dog that lunges at the princess skewers itself on her sword's tip, the Athena-blessed steel causing the dog to melt away in a disgusting display of ichor and filth.

Kara lands beside where Diana is and the Princess offers her a momentary smile. "Keep it up, watch yourself." Diana tells the young Kryptonian being trained in Amazon tactics and martial skills.

Karen's quip gets a momentary glance from Diana who smirks softly. "Let us keep the competition for Mario Car Night." She tells the other Kryptonian, getting the name wrong of the Nintendo game, of course. A second later and the SUV that Arthur sent a dog through, is suddenly eclipsed by a dog jumping over it from the other side! It leaps at Diana who raises her sword up and slams it in to the dog's nose, sending the engraved blade through the Dog's entire body from nose to tail, cutting the beast in to two halves!

The Princess steps backward, her long dark hair flowingover her otherwise bare shoulders. "I am definitely winning though." She admits, with a reserved expression of amusement, at herself!

When the dome falls, Diana's eyes look toward it and she begins to move in that direction now, keeping her eyes on the dogs that seem to have decided to regroup, or rethink their approach for the time being. "Well done." Diana tells those who brought the barrier down.

Arthur Curry has posed:
Arthur notes Diana's look and simply asks, "What?". He glances back as the barrier cracks and then flashes away and starts backing towards the Observatory, keeping an eye on the remaining dogs. "Everyone head for the door, Diana and I can keep the dogs off till everyone is in." He charges the Trident up with lightning again, but doesn't release it yet, keeping it in reserve in case there is a mass rush by the lurking dogs.

If people actually head inside as suggested, he does his best to cover them, batting any attacking dogs aside. Given a guess what Diana was unhappy about, he _tries_ to avoid fastballing them through any other vehicles, but dogs aren't terribly aerodynamic and may go a bit off center at times. The area he and Diana will need to cover will shrink as more people head inside, making it easier for them to cover the doors.

Hope Svelgate has posed:
Lady Death curses in what sounds like a very old form of Swedish as whatever ritual is being performed seems to be nearing completion. Whatever it is, she doesn't like it, not from someone willing to flippantly summon hellspawn to Earth, too reminiscent of her father.

The spinning gleaming scythe is caught in her off hand as it finally makes its way back to her and with the barrier down she takes off towards the ritual happening inside, energy arcane trailing from her feet behind her as she flies almost like little blue magic rocket flames.

As she flies Lady Death's right hand grips Apocalypse tightly charging the sword with her power, before whipping the blade out in front of her like an avenging angel of death unleashing the channeled mystic power as raw destructive force upon the ritual and those casting it.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
When the shield breaks, Zatanna topples forwards, landing on all fours. The break is always a difficult time. She would take a moment to cheer and pass out high fives, EXCEPT that they aren't done, they just kicked down the door! Scuffling a little as she gets heeled feet back under her, she proceeds forth.

Between the pale woman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Robotman, Karen and Kara, Zatanna estimates she has a moment to breathe.

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara is extremely amused by the banter between her older 'sister' and Diana. She says, "You two are encourage-able." A trio of demon dogs leap out of the shadows and Kara takes the opportunity to fly to their flank and aims straight down the street with a powerful clap of her hands. The shockwave rips through the three dogs and disturbs every car parked along the street for a mile. Car alarms start to scream loudly in to the night.

    There's a small oops from Kara as she flies up in to the sky and stares down at the red eyes hiding in the shadows. Her heat vision cuts through the darkness and she says, "We're not quite done here Aquaman. We can stop this and give the others a chance to end that magical ritual. Fire.. meet Ice." As demon dogs breath fire up at her she pulls her cape in to place. Kryptonian capes are very handy things. She draws in a deep breath and with a twirl unleashes freezing breath over the milieu of demon dogs from above.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Floating just next to where she'd suplexed the dog into the ground, Karen starts drifting back towards the door. Idly, a few words hit her oversensitive Kryptonian ears, and she pauses at the door to stare, intently, at the eyes in the dark. As some of them begin to creep out towards Arthur and Diana, Power Girl lets loose with a few streaks of crimson- putting down a few dogs.

    "First place." she states to herself, before calmly swooping in through the breach in the barrier and pausing- only momentarily- next to Batman. "Then we don't have a lot of time." Then, she's off like lightning, the pink blur she turns into curving at seemingly perfect ninety degree angles before it storms into the ritual room.

    There's something in the way of course- the burlier of the Demons Three can toussle with a Kryptonian- and has done so, to varying degrees of success before- but he does need to be aware he's going to be hit before he can really take it. She doesn't have a lot of time, and having burst into the room ahead of /the rest of the League/, Karen takes a deep breath and aims that freezing cold at the attending Evil Magicians.

    Sadly, that's all she's going to be able to do- as there are three very violent, very angry demons- one angrier than the others, seeing as he was bulldozed so Karen could even get in here- and they're just as ready as Karen knew they'd be.

    This isn't going to feel great: But it was their best shot, she thought, at disrupting the ritual- and her safety isn't all that important anyways.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
They have been beaten, whipped like mangy curs instead of the fierce predators they are. But then perhaps they have learned a lesson here tonight. There are always bigger dogs on the block.

Not that it would be a very good idea to call Diana or Kara or Karen a dog mind. Nor Arthur for that matter. But they have certainly soundly dealt with the demonic threat. At least out here. And while they might be wary after that lesson, it would seem that the magic that brought them forth compels them. Reduced to a fraction of their number, those few shadowy hounds still on their feet charge the slowly retreating forms of Wonder Woman and Aquaman and Supergirl as they cover the entrance to let the others gain the Observatory at last. That charge is met with javelin and lightning and freezing breath and when it is done, the fiercing, glowing eyes that had lit up the night are no more.

It is a clever gambit. One that the Dark Knight surely approves of. It does not always take a fist to the face or some blatant display of power to bring the machinations of their foes crashing down all around them. As often as not it is the subtle play that pays dividends. And if it was just Faust that they were up against, J'onn bringing his telepathic powers to bear just might be enough. It has already been shown that he can be a little careless.

But it's not just him. Perhaps it's not just raw power that the mad wizard Felix Faust is collecting, but differences in approach and methods that make his grandiose plans far more effective then the sum of their parts. Then they have been when he has faced the League on his own.

Those down below on the lower level of the observatory do indeed begin to float, to lift off from the ground whenthe Martian Manhunter exerts the power of his mind. The Demons Three find themselves lifted though they look curious more then anything else. An instant later they begin to simply fly, breaking free of whatever force binds them, moving through the room more intently to seek out the source of the disturbance.

Faust himself along with Amos Fortune are not quite so blase about the whole thing, their chanting faltering a little as they are unexpectedly lifted from the ground. They flail a little, caught in that unseen force. But not Blackbriar Thorn. The ancient druid remains firmly anchored in place, his voice still booming out from past those wooden lips. An instant later tree roots, thick and old and strong burst right up out of the ground beneath Faust and Fortune, wrapping around their ankles and pulling them back down to the ground, anchored now.

But was it enough to disrupt the ceremony?

It might not matter of course, not as the rest of the assembled heroes begin to pile into that now breached building. With Lady Death in the vanguard, a blast of eldritch energy is hurled towards the glowing pentagram and the practicioners there... only for Rath to swoop down, throwing himself in front of it. While he may very well be one of the most ancient, most powerful demons in existence he still staggers, dropping to a knee as that energy washes over him.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
The fact that Rath has been knocked off balance, winded even at least gives Power Girl a shot. The three together might have been enough. But even Abengazar and Ghast alone are formidable, the huge demons dropping out of the air, long limbs grasping for Karen, one tugging at her arm while the other lets that huge fist try to simply engulf her head, to cover her mouth and block that burst of freezing breath.

With the barrier collapsed, Jason Blood almost doubled over as well. He keeps his feet -- though only barely -- but he still breathes hard, finally having a moment to catch his breath. Turning towards Zatanna, he offers a hand, helping her gain her feet. "Good thing you were here. There's no way I could have taken down that field. Not alone," he admits, just a little grudging. "Catch your breath. I'll lend your friends what protection I can," he promises her, following after Lady Death and Power Girl. Slower perhaps, but ready to bring his mystic arts to bear.

He hurries into the chamber, just in time to see the Demons Three swoop down to temporarily forestall the Justice League's efforts to end the ritual. He pauses, starts to gather his own mystical energies to bring to bear when more of those roots burst from the ground beneath him, wrapping around his arms and legs and lifting him into the air. Another one begins to snake it's way up his torso, to tighten and squeeze and his breath explodes for the ancient sorcerer leaving him gasping for breath, those mystic defenses collapsing. A flicker of panic enter's Jason Blood's eyes and he forces the next words out.

"Gone, Gone, o form of man. Arise the Demon Et-"

From that swirling black cloud in the center of the chamber a beam of pure, crackling darkness shoots out. It races across the room, threading right between the demons that grapple Karen, snaking past Lady Death to strike the white-streaked Sorcerer, enveloping him in black as pitch energy. And then a cold, hard voice comes from that cloud. "Arise Demon," it says, words harsh enough to make Batman sound like a sweet talker in comparison.

When the energy fades away Jason Blood stands there, apparently unharmed. Unharmed, except that it is as if a shadow has passed over half of him, a shadow that has sapped away all the color from him, leaving have his form looking... drained. The wooden roots fade away, lowering him to the ground and then he smiles. A cold, cruel smile. "Etrigan." he says as a burst of fire envelops him.

J'onn J'onzz has posed:
J'onn lifts those that remain locked in his telekinesis higher, continuing to watch around himself for signs of anything coming his way. He had not expected to be able to hold them all, in fact he had not expected to be able to get as much as he did, but the ritual still seems to have succeeded in some way.

"I think we have an unexpected guest," he comments over the comm, hearing Etrigan's voice, or what he believes to be his voice. "Need a plan of attack Batman, this will go badly if we just swat at things and hope it works out."

In the mean time, while everything is happening around him, the ones that he can hold onto he will, to keep them out of the fight and out of harms way for the most part. If he has to pile them up on the ceiling he will, so long as they cannot add to the fight or be hurt from arrant attacks. No sense in everyone getting killed.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana moves to work with Arthur on covering the others entry in to the Observatory, she retrieves her javelin from its posted place in the soft earth, her sword back in its sheath on her back. The Princess watches the remaining daring beasts as they creep toward them, and just gently shakes her head toward two of them as they treat her like prey, creeping in before lunging. A grin spreads over the Princess' lips as she uses the javelin to stab one and then brings her armored boot up to collide in to the second, cracking against its skull and sending it toppling head over tail across the lawn toward a cement walkway where it slams in to a solid half-wall.

The javelin is yanked from the other dog's head, dropping the animal to the ground where it melts into a dark pool of guck, and the Princess surveys the area before she turns to join the others, moving at a jogging run to catch up now...

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna smiles, a little wearily, at Jason. Not wearisome in what he says, but because, hey: It's not the first time, is it? And it won't be the last. Her little improvised rod of Saturn is replaced with a more classical wand as they press inwards.

Zatanna's double-time is quick enough to let her see the telekinetic inversion and de-inversion (via tree root) of the triad behind all of this ruckus. "Stop it, Blackburn!" Zatanna says, raising one hand up and then:

Crack, rip. The ground's unzipped. Grasp, flood: It's got Jason Blood. She sweeps her arm round, a gout of flame washing over the tree roots as the impulsive yet vigorous call on flame rips outwards. But they're damp! Everything's damp in Gotham this low down, isn't it? Zatanna grits her teeth and takes a step back, but before "the inevitable" happens again, a cloud of black and:

"Jason?" Darkness. Fury. Beyond what they've seen. Beyond what could be expected, even from a rhyming Demon.

"You maniac, what did you DO to him?! Jason! Don't --" But the ritual is complete. The fleshy mire, doubtless, shed. "Oh, God. Look out! He did something to the rite!" Zatanna cries out, shielding her eyes against the hellish intensity of unholy light and flame.

Arthur Curry has posed:
With a final strike from the Trident, the last of the dogs Arthur can see melts into a puddle of ectoplasm. He glances at Diana who is finishing her two at the same time, then follows her at a jog into the observatory. Reaching the main room as J'onn announces trouble over the comm, he pauses just a second to look over the situation. Power Girl is being jumped by two of the Demons Three, Rath is looking a little stunned, and there's a new demon standing fairly near the door.

"Plan wouldn't be bad. Let's start with someone punch Faust through a wall." He levels the trident at the already stunned Rath and lets fly with another lightning bolt. Might as well keep it on the defensive.

He follows the bolt with a charge at the demon, Trident leading the way. Let the others deal with the sorcerers, he's pretty sure he can at least keep the demon tied up and out of the fight for a bit.

Kara Danvers has posed:
    It was satisfying, crushifying these demon dogs with Aquaman and Wonder Woman. But hyper aware as always, it's very hard to switch off.. especially when it's your ~it's complicated~ sister. She did something reckless, something Kara had for a microsecond considered doing herself. She flew right in to a den of demons to stop the ritual.

    The memories of her battling Ursa and Karen coming to her aid fill her with a sense of purpose. Her eyes start to glow even before she had fully turned her head. Her vision peering through wall after wall before suddenly, the heat leaps from her irises and whips through each barrier as if nothing were there at all.. straight at the demon grappling at her sister Power Girl - the demon Ghast.

    There is a palpable look of anger on her face as she channels the emotions Ursa beat in to her.. that this monstrous demon would dare to silence Karen. As the blast from her eyes ends she draws in a deep breath and places a hand to her heart. "Calm... calm...," she whispers to herself, then presses a foot to the ground and launches in a blue and red blur in to the room to tackle Abengazar as hazardously as Karen would.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Let nobody say that a single Kryptonian is easy enough to contain. To Karen's credit, the /three/ of them would have been able to stop her, but just two have little chance of keeping her contained for long. Sadly for her, they don't need to keep her contained for long at all.

    Sadly for /them/, there are /two/ Kryptonians here today. Kara is as hotheaded as Karen ever was (and, despite some level of temperance, it really is true in the reverse) and that is in this case rather literal: Beams of red snap through the wall and strike Ghast.

    The force of them leaves him at best off target, and this means with a slight adjustment, Power Girl sends a blast of hypercooled air to wash over the three ritualists- one of whom is hopefully made up of that soggy Gotham bark- in hopes of halting this ritual.

    Despite that Faust has yet to really defeat the League, the League has yet to halt any of his schemes. In Karen's book, that means they've been had a nubmer of losses here. She's also had a lot of loss in the past couple of weeks, /without/ Faust's involvement. To say that she's a bit... On edge would probably be a well measured statement, and indeed it'd be safe (physically, specifically.)

    Abengazar is grasping at Karen's arm- and were she alone, he'd have to be dealt with before she could move on. Kara, however, has other plans- and before Power Girl can properly contemplate what fresh hell she wants to deliver Demon Thug #3 into, Supergirl has thundered through and tackled him off of her.

    This leaves her with Ghast, whose new name will be Projectile. He wanted her? He's going to get her, for the /moment./ His hand may not have met her face, but she grasps at the arm attached to it, and in a furious swirl of motion aims to sling Ghast right at Faust and Friends.

Hope Svelgate has posed:
Rath's appearance in front of Lady Death blocking her attack from its intended target elicits a snarl of rage. But she seems more than willing to go through him, summoning the Demons Three after all is one of the reasons she has been after Faust to begin with.

Continuing forward in the wake of her blast Lady Death slams bodily into the already staggered Rath like a human sized albino death bullet. Apocalypse is then brought around in a vicious stab at the demon's guts before amping the power of the Energy Arcane coursing through it yet further as she tries to incinerate him from the inside out with magical power.

"I will teach you to kneel before Death!"

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Always a beacon of reason and responsibility on the team. It is a simple suggestion on J'onn's part, but one that is absolutely correct. Things definite are starting to spiral and while it is not exactly clear what just happened to Jason Blood, it seems a safe guess that it was nothing good.

"First priority is to get the civilians out of here," the Dark Knight says quietly, peering out of the rail, down towards the chaos that has increasingly enveloped the ground floor of the Observatory. That, at least seems to be well in hand, the dozen or so scientists and amateur astronomers slowly floating up and out of the way under J'onn's mental guidance. Batman will feel a little better when they are out of the building entirely however. "Keep trying to disrupt that ceremony until we know more." Not for the first time, and almost certainly not for the last Gotham's Dark Knight regrets not knowing more about magic.

While he does not see Zatanna below, he is certainly hoping that she at least has some sense of what is going on. "Do you have any ideas on what they were trying to do?" His world requires information. He thrives operating in the dark it seems, but that's because he normally knows more of what's going on then anyone else. It doesn't seem like that's the case here.

As a second line of defense goes, the Demons Three are a pretty damn good one. Bound as they are, to the Bell, the Jar and the Wheel, bound as they are to Felix Faust's will, they are not quite what they were, back before humans walked the Earth, back when demons still thrived in this reality. But they are powerful enough. Just perhaps not for the collection of titans gathered here. Rath tries to regain its feet and those busts of lightning flung at it again and again keep it down, forcing it to raise a hand defensively in front of itself to try and fend off those blasts as it is driven backwards towards that mystic circle. It doesn't leave him in a very good position to defend himself when the Unearthly tears into his flesh, ripping deep into the very gut of him. The Demon looks confused for a moment, and no blood or even ichor drips from him. Only a malignant dark energy.

The walls of the Observatory give way before Kara, ripped asunder like paper. Only with a lot more debris as brick and insulation and shattered timbles go flying as she tears into the main room, though much of it is simply *melted* as those beams of heat proceed her. Proceed her right into the Demon Abengazar who was already tied up attempting to hold Power Girl back. He doesn't see it coming and he never has a chance, his hold on Karen ripped away as he is driven back right into that mystic pentagram that begins to surge with power as it is crossed.

Any chance that the ceremony might continue is utterly destroyed as any effort to hold Power Girl back comes to an abrupt end. Ghast hastily tries to hurl her away, hurl her through the roof above... and instead finds his own efforts turned against him, his leverage lost as he is instead hurled to crash down in the midst of the mystical circle, sending Faust and Fortune scrambling for safety. Blackbriar Thorn? He moves like the tree does before the storm, bending, shifting, giving ground but on it's own terms.

But the chanting? It stops.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Scrambling to his feet with something less then grace, Amos Fortune glances around. At least until he lays on Zatanna. Then his features screw up making him look rather like an angry piglet and he grits his teeth as his beefy face turns bright red. "You," he says, words just filled with hate. Clearly he has not forgotten his humiliation at her hands during the Met Gala. Hands come up and the Justice League's magical expert will no doubt feel the waves of misfortune and unluck hurled her way.

Faust regains his feet a little more readily and he surveys the room with a certain sense of satisfaction. He peers at the center of the circle where that cloud of inky darkness is fading, those last, human-like screams of agony long since faded. Then he glances towards Rath and Lady Death. "So angry. I know you know. We should talk. Soon," he says before a low, malevolent chuckle rolls through him.

As that inky darkness dissipates it reveals a peculiar figure standing there. Tall and powerful and looking pale white, as if the moon's light was sheathed in shadow, half his form is sheathed in that same discolored shadow as Jason Blood -- now Etrigan -- is. A purple hat droops from atop his head, embracing what appears to be, well, long pointe elf ears. Black pants cover the lower half of his body, his torso left bare, and purple gloves sheath his hands, a black diamond dancing in amongst his fingers. "The bargain is set Faust," he says, the words the same cold, hard tone that spoke to Jason Blood a moment below. Words filled with a barely suppressed rage, an overwhelming desire for vengeance. "Your enemies will be mine. Their rage unleashed, they will serve our ends. And the world will be remade," Eclipso, one-time Spirit of Vengenace proclaims, each word like a little shard of icy rage delivered right to the brain.

When that sheath of fire clears, when it fades away Jason Blood no longer stands there. In his place stands yet another demon, though one very different from the Demons Three or even the Demon Dogs. This one is considerably smaller for one, being much closer to human sized but far bulkier and still powerful looking. It's skin is bright yellow, it's features, well, demonic. Horns and fangs and sharp edges. A red tunic covers it's body while a blue cape billows around it's bulky form and iron bands enricle it's wrists. Like Jason Blood, half it's form is sheathed in shadow, as if bleached, the color sapped away. This then, would be the Demon Etrigan. The rhyming demon. But it does not speak. It simply opens it's mouth, impossibly wide and great, huge gouts of raging hellfire race out from him. Like the sea made suddenly aflame, sheets and sheets of driving hellfire wash across the room as the Observatory turns into an inferno -- Hell on Earth -- in a moment.

J'onn J'onzz has posed:
It had always been J'onn's intent to find a safe place for the people, even if they were not at all pleased with the manner in which they were 'rescued'. He holds them in place as he watches the entrance of others, through walls, through the door, all aimed at the demons. This was just the sort of thing he had hoped for, major distraction, sense-filled violence, and all of it aimed away from him and the people.
    As Kara explodes through the wall, she offered him the prefect place to start heading. Lifting himself up to join the civilians in their floating, the whole group including himself moves toward the hole Kara just made. Escape route planned, J'onn will focus his attention on getting them all out through the hole. Setting them down outside is not an immediate option, he has no idea if there are still hell hounds out there, so for now he will concentrate on getting them outside to hover until he can be certain they will be safe touching the ground.

Diana Prince has posed:
J'onn's assistance with the civilians is well received, but many of them are still quite put out by the odd way of being evacuated. Where they are brought to is where Diana is arriving at. She helps reassure them that they were just aided by the Justice Leaguea nd urges them to leave the property at once.

Diana moves in to the observatory then just in time to see the hellfire pouring in to the room. Her shield comes up to push back at the fire that tried to wash over her and her hand holds the shield up before she looks to the others on the Justice League that she can see. She grits her teeth and waits for the fire to subside before she raises up from behind her shield and throws the javelin of Themysciran steel twoard the mouth of the beast flooding the room with its fire.

Will it do anything? Who knows! But its mouth is wide open and that makes for a 'hell' of a good target to aim for!

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Batman's asking her something. Zatanna focuses on his words, even among the chaos and the melee, the spinning, blurring motion of Kryptonian, Atlantean, Themyscrean, Martian might conveyed against the foe. The thing that always stands out to Zatanna in these moments is the wind. It's like being by the sea, or near a great - well, a great bat; huge shifts, gusts, controlled and massive force. (Her hat has a hair clip in it.)

She answers. "All of this was a separation rite," Zatanna states. "I can't tell you everything because it's already all messed up but they wanted to extract something from someone - like an exorcism, but with control."

Her head turns to look towards Amos Fortune and a moment later misfortune ripples towards her. The first and most obvious sign is that when she turns round to face him the heel snaps off of her shoe. The next is when the wand nearly slips straight out of her fingers, like some sort of vantablack comedy act. "Kcirb a tae dna dray eht ni tuo teg!" Zatanna cries out, the compulsion trying to wend its way through the increasingly disrupted space towards--

"Oh God," Zatanna cries out. "I see what they did here! This is HORRIBLE! Jason was able to call forth Etrigan -- so they used that as a channel into the world we know... But not for Etrigan alone! This --" And then she shrieks something that's half a curse and throws herself down into a crouch because Etrigan is here and it seems that Etrigan is JUST FEELING FINE, THANK YOU:

Zatanna is surrounded by a sort of conch-shell of sheets of ice which the hell-fire touches and immediately both par-melts and collapses, burying her with an "unh!" as they erupt with steam, the conjured ice losing much of its virtue with the momentary debility of its summoner!

Kara Danvers has posed:
    Kara's look of annoyance and anger toward the demons is adorned on her face. She is about to take the fight back to the demon but then she hears the explanation.. which doesn't make much sense to her. Though, the sudden eruption of fire does. Fire she can handle, fire she is immune to... except.

    It's magical fire and the flames begin to whip around Kara, hot, burning, pain. Kara lets out a wail and pulls her cloak about herself, then tosses herself out of a window and drops down two stories to hit the ground with a thud.

    Stop drop and roll. She rolls about putting the magical flames out and patting herself down. Her Kryptonian armor protected most of her body, but her hands and especially are burned and her hair singed. The moon light dances down over her body gently, calming the burns on her skin as her body slowly regenerates.

    Staring up at the reflection of the sun on the moons surface, Kara whispers, "Magic.. it really is the absolute worst."

Hope Svelgate has posed:
Lady Death wrenches her blade free from Rath again with a powerful kick to shove him from the weapon. "Hellfire? Trying to remind me of home?" The flames engulf Lady Death and yet she continues to wade through them, if anything the flames roiling around her only add to the 'pale rider's' sense of menace. Burning white eyes now glowing with the blue energy arcane as well dart to the newly brought forth Etrigan and now Eclipso. It never ends with this Faust, the Demons Three were bad enough, he clearly needs to die.

"Faust! Enough of your insolent meddling in the realms beyond, Death comes for you!" She shouts at the sorcerer.

Focusing her power through the weapon that previously changed from short sword to scythe, it changes again, this time retaining the scythe blade while most of the shaft becomes a chain instead and like cracking a whip the rune-forged blade sheathed in mystic power is snapped out towards Faust, the chain seemingly lengthening as it goes, becoming exactly as long as it needs to be.

Arthur Curry has posed:
Arthur follows Rath as he is driven back by lightning and Lady Death's attacks. After her sword tears into the demon's flesh, he drives the Trident into Rath's chest in another attempt to disrupt his form on this plane. As Hellfire sweeps across the room, he grits his teeth and mutters, "This is gonna suck."

Sheets of flame wash over Atlantean armor and flesh, seeking out openings in the armor. Fortunately, his natural temperature resistance (the man can swim in lava) and magic resistance combine to leave him looking just a bit singed and reddened, with a few small flames in his hair and beard. He doesn't let it stop what he's doing, however, demons need to be dealt with. With the Trident planted firmly in Rath's chest, he twists and pulls downward to try and put the demon on the floor where it can be seriously worked over.

With Lady Death moving to engage Faust, he leans into the Trident, trying to end Rath's time on Earth, at least for now.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen takes a brief respite in the air. The chanting has stopped. The ritual is done. The innocent occupants of the obervatory are being evacuated by J'onn. Arthur has Rath, Kara is on fire- for a moment.

    Oh, right, the. The fire. Karen isn't in the midst of it, at the moment, floating above the washing sheets.

    The problem is that Zatanna isn't. For the first time in a long time, Karen is actually sweating. Beads of it form on her brow as the magical heat of this particular hellish oven wash over her form. Like a bolt, Karen is moving- there is only one way in which she can do this and still continue to fight, and that's to move fast enough the flames cannot catch her... Kinda.

    We'll get to that.

    First, however, is the effect of her efforts- a blur of movement within the room, Karen rounds upon several targets, nonetheleast of which is Etrigan himself, whom is likely not to enjoy a thunderous move-by right hook to the throat. She hopes. She doesn't get to stick around for it, because she can't stop, so there's no census taken. He's just on the honor system to not like being punched at Mach II.

    The second target- so swift is she moving that it's almost impossible to really count who she visits 'second' at all- is Zatanna. "I'vegotyou." spoken at a volume such as to be heard and reassuring among the waves of flame, by a person traveling twice as fast as the sound it took to make the words- an equation that produces the dizzying effect that is /hearing/ that you'll be safe /after/ you're already safe.

    By the time Zatanna's told she's going to be okay, she's being deposited from Power Girl's arms to the space next to Bruce, which is thankfully flame free.

    Karen, however, doesn't look like she's going so great. Her arms are burnt and red in a few places, her gauntlets having melted off. Portions of her costume have singed away to reveal not-quite-so-invulnerable looking skin underneath. She's lost her cape and pauldron, but already, she's turning back towards the ritual site.

    "Gonna see if I can deal with Etrigan. Just have to make him say his name backwards, right?"

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Getting the bystanders to safety. That might be the extent of their plan in this instance, but it is the priority and it is executed to perfection. While the scientists might be enthused by the methods, there is no criticizing the results -- especially as Diana is there to offer reassurance and urge them to continue to run away as they are released from Jonn's telekinetic hold. Given the sight of demon dogs and puddles of glowing, green ichor scattered about the parking lot, well, Wonder Woman does not exactly have to bring all her persuassive powers to bear to get them to do what she wants. The science types are rabbiting and are glad to do so leaving her free to enter the fray once more.

That fire washes everywhere, absolutely filling the lower half of the Observatory -- at least wherever a new field raised by Faust and Blackbriar Thorn doesn't turn it away, turn it back. Even when Lady Death's chain hits it, the barrier only gives. But it gives a lot and Faust's look of smug superiority is shaken, saved only when the weapon is still brought up short. But before he can gloat, before he can do anything really there is a cracking sound. It's the sort of thing that could be lost in all that fire and chaos. But of the three artifacts circling Faust's head, the Silver Wheel suddenly cracks almost in half, barely holding together. And with what looks like surpiciously like fear, wit the Trident of Poseidon driven through his chest, the Demon Rath simply seems to fade out of existence.

No, Faust doesn't look so happy any more.

"Get us out of here," the mad Wizard snaps as his allies begin to collapses back towards one another, a swirling portal beginning to open around them.

With his maw still gapping open to spew that impossibly hot flame everywhere, Etrigan slowly begins to back towards his new masters, at least until Wonder Woman appears before him and stabs that sword towards his face. The demon seems unphased, simply biting down on the blade as if sampling an unfamiliar snack. It does cut off the flow of fire for a moment though a queer look slides over the demon's features as the sword blade does not snap as expected.

Amazon Princess,
not given to excess,
your steel feeds not my appetite,
so I allow you to taste my spite.

And with that he belches rudely, opens his mouth once more and billows out that Hellfire towards Diana of the Amazons.

From his perch above the Dark Knight continues to watch, looking for an opening. But that magical fire definitely changes the equation. "Good work J'onn. Don't come back in here," he says, well aware of the Martian's vulnerabilities. "Zatanna needs assistance. Power Girl..." he starts as she rushes into the flames, smacking the rhyming demon and sending him stumbling, the flow of flames interrupted once more as she races to scoop up Zee and carry her to safety.

"I don't think that's how it works," the Dark Knight says, just as down below that portal of swirling darkness envelops Faust and his increasingly potent list of allies.

Before they can curse their luck, before they can see if they can follow there comes another crack. Much louder now. Burning jet fuel can melt steel with ease. Hellfire? Sooooo much easier. While the perch that Power Girl, Zatanna and the Dark Knight might have been safe moments ago, that massive telescope begins to shift, begins to move and begins to collapse, right towards them -- and anyone else unfortunate enough to be standing below. Faust and the rest might be gone. They still have to get out of here and lick their wounds.

J'onn J'onzz has posed:
Each of the humans is set down carefully, even as J'onn himself lands to ensure they are all safe and running away. From the corner of his eye he catches something, something horrible, something he convinces himself he did not really see. He turns his back to the Observatory, it is not a choice he wants to make but knows he has to. Hearing Batman's warning over the comm confirmed that he didn't see what he thought he didn't see.

"Go now, go on," he urges the humans away, focusing on them, even though most are already running off. He wants to be useful, but that option is now taken from him, so he will remain away from the Observatory in the parking lot, his back to the building, watching the sky and thinking about the way birds move through the air.

Diana Prince has posed:
Diana pulls her weapon back and tosses it to the side as the Demon looks to her, speks to her. She sees him preparing to billow more flame in her direciton and it causes her to once more raise her shield up before she ducks behind it again, deflecting the fire to the sides and around her as she hides behind it. The shield begins to glow a brilliant bright orange before the Princess waits for the fire to subside again, just enough that she can lunge to the right!

When she comes back up again this time she lashes out with her divine lasso and attempts to wrap it aorund his throat. Her intention here is to ensnare the Demon's throat and pull tightly upon it to constrict his ability to breathe flame!

She holds her shield off to the side now, the metal round buckler glowing almost as bright as the rest of the room that is crumbling from the destructive fire.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna comes back to her awareness just in time to think that it feels like a sauna but it's radiating cool onto her. Weird. A moment later she remembers everything. A moment later, it starts feeling more like a steam bath. There isn't that feeling of cool any more. Her suit jacket starts feeling warm. A moment later, hot. A moment later, it is ABOUT to start to really, deeply burn --

-- 'I'vegotyou!'

When she is instead taken up, up, and atom. Something like that.

Zatanna adjusts her hat with one hand, saying to Karen with profound relief, "THANK you." She is still steaming but not smoking, and she is just thrilled to be alive--

Oh right, demonic crisis.

"I don't think that's him," Zatanna answers Karen. She does not sound /completely/ sure. Her fingers clutch around a wand that isn't there, which makes her snap her fingers in frustration, and then she calls to Faust, "This isn't the end! This is an evil work and it's gonna end like all the OTHERS, you--" A beat passes as Etrigan bites into the sword blade of Wonder Woman.

Zatanna stagger-pivots towards the portal and raises her left hand, flicking the sodden cuff and pointing two fingers at the darkling portal. "noitanitsed ruoy laever, latr--"

Something creaks.

A vast shadow rests over Zatanna's face. One that grows. "ohgod," she says, which is not, in fact, an invocation of the Goodest Boy, Dogho: instead, she cries out, "The telescope's coming down!"

Hope Svelgate has posed:
Lady Death does not look pleased when her attack is blocked by the new shield, however close it comes to penetrating it, not pleased at all. This level of power, it's not enough. But does she dare draw upon more and risk losing herself to it? No, that is probably exactly what Faust wants if what happened with Jason Blood and Etrigan is any sign of things to come.

That however does not mean she is done attacking, her foes are before her and the lust for battle still not sated. Flinging herself Lady Death snaps the scythe-bladed chain back even as she bring the chaos-forged blade Apocalypse up on then powerfully down upon Faust's new barrier with all of the power she can muster short of drawing upon the darkest reserved that dwell deep within her. Even as Apocalypse comes down, the sickle bladed rune-forged weapon Scynister is brought around for another attempt at removing Faust's head from his neck should the barrier fail to resist her onslaught.

Arthur Curry has posed:
Arthur wrenches the Trident out of the floor now that Rath is gone and looks up as things start to groan and shift. "Crap." He looks towards Faust and company who are already stepping into a portal, then curses and opens his comms <<Batman, you guys wanna be somewhere else!>> is all the warning there is time for.

Etrigan being the only demon not heading through the portal with Faust, Arthur has his next target. His legs pump, driving him across the room. Given that this demon seems to have taken up residence in someone who was helping them, he doesn't lead with the sharp part of the Trident, instead flinging himself into a body tackle against the demon and trying to use the Trident's shaft as a bar across it's throat with much the same thought Diana is having: Need to stop that fire.

Karen Starr has posed:
    "Yeah. Yeah." Karen says, dejected that the Mxy Gambit won't work on Etrigan. "That's just the one guy. It's never easy like that. It's always the hitting and the being punched through the moon and catching rogue planets before they get ticketed for a moving violation."

    Muttering as she is, it's almost hard to miss when she says "-ing Magic-ass fire I /liked/ that cape-" before her attention goes elsewhere. Kara is safe. Diana is doing Wonder Woman things. The fire is gone. Rath is gone. The remaining demons and the others are retreating. Just as Lady Death nearly breaches the shield, Karen coils up, her body screaming as the muscles that could punch a planet in half get ready to see just how many times the speed of sound and just how much physical catharsis the shield around the set of sorcerers and demons can take before...

    Her shoulders slump. The coiling she'd been doing changes direction, and she surges up, much slower than she'd been a second ago, putting herself under the telescope, hands up and to her side. Sure, she could just stand there and see if it can handle the stress of suddenly stopping when it meets her arms, but that'd put Zatanna in danger, and the merits of allowing harm to come to Bruce are outweighed. Squirrely Bat'd dodge anyways, and considering he's the father of what ended up being her best friend back on her home Earth, she's got a soft spot for the gravelpit. Sue her.

    Arms flexing and pressing up against the falling telescope, the metal groans and whines at her actively as she decelerates it rather than just lifting it- calling its momentum to arrest and occupying her while the bad guys escape. The thing slowly comes to a halt and there she is, essentially bench-pressing an entire telescope.

    It'd look impressive if people weren't understandably fleeing and/or not the type to be impressed.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
The Hellfire down below swirls and crests, washing through the Observatory very much like stormy seas, crashing against walls and buring right through them, raging higher and higher, the heat nearly overwhelming -- at least to those lacking a superhuman constitution. And those flames lick higher and higher, climging the sides of the chamber.

That would be a problem of course, but not quite as immediate of one as the fact that telescope is crashing towards where they stand. They might be first in the path, but it won't be long before it's a problem for Lady Death, Aquaman and Wonder Woman as well. Though likely less then those above.

"Power Girl's hurt and the telescope is collapsing," the Dark Knight says sharply over the comm, a grapnel in one hand ready to fire off, to try and get up to the top of that dome with Zatanna and Karen in tow if necessary. Though that looks to be no easy task itself given chunks of that moveable dome are also collapsing. It's a damn sight better option the just standing here though.

The flickering remenants of that portal remain, hints of rippling black energy hanging in the air. The last place that Felix Faust was standing. And Lady Death's blades fly, slicing through that spot. There is a hollow, echoing cry from that portal -- as if from a great distance away -- before those blades reappear, flying back towards the woman who threw them, those honed edges marked with little splatters of blood. Did they find their mark?

Between Power Girl's punch and Wonder Woman's lasso, the flow of new flame from the depths of Hell are cut off as Etrigan finds that golden cord around it's neck? Does it need need to breath? Who knows. It doesn't seem to like it very much though, clawing at his throat, smoke rising in a ring from where that cord touches demon flesh. He is stopped short of escape, of that black portal that envelopes the rest of the fleeing magical assemblage, at least for a moment. Then a cord, just as black as Diana's lasso is golden flies out of that gateway to wrap around him. Diana pulls, and something -- Eclipso perhaps -- pulls back with Etrigan caught in the middle. Aquaman joins the fray as well, diving atop the corrupted Sorcerer, bearing him down to the ground, adding one more impediment to him belching out more waves of Hellfire. The Demon roars, there's a flash and then both cords, golden and sheer dark are left limp, Arthur is left sprawled on the floor and no sign of Etrigan remains.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
She probably shouldn't be doing that? But then if not her in this moment, who else? Under normal circumstances the Dark Knight imagines that Power Girl can manage catching that telescope without too much trouble. But these are far from normal circumstances. He can't help with that. But he can remove himself and Zatanna as a distraction. So he drapes that heat resistant cape around stage magician turned hero and mutters, "Hold on." A second later they are aloft, soaring up to the gape in the roof. Then they're through, the Dark Knight hauling Zee up onto the curved dome rooftop after him. The cool -- relatively speaking -- night air has never been so welcome. And never been such a cold comfort.

He brought Jason into this. Got him involved. Despite his reluctance. And now he is in his demonic form again. Now he is who knows where, doing who knows what. Yes, there will be some brooding about that. "We have injured. Regroup at the Watchtower. And call in any of our resources. We need to know more about what we're dealing with here."

For a creature of the night, Batman sure hates working in the dark.

Hope Svelgate has posed:
Lady Death's fists clench as her quarry eludes her yet again.

Turning to survey what remains of the observatory still awash with Hellfire, before the entire structure comes down she reaches out and begins gathering the hellfire, shaping it, drawing it to her and away from the rest of the chamber.

Gesturing with her blade Apocalypse, the weapon courses with blue arcane energy which shoots forth forming into a portal. Beyond the portal is visible a seemingly Endless Graveyard, which she channels the Hellfire into before stepping through herself with the portal closing behind her.