9529/Toy Soldiers

Toy Soldiers
Date of Scene:	08 January 2022
Location:	Eastside - Queensland Park
Synopsis:	Terry takes some of his friends out for lunch. Nothing absolutely weird happens... for the first two minutes. Then all hell breaks loose, and Arsenal shows up to help save the day. Confused? You won't be, after this episode of TITANS!
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Sarah Rainmaker, Victor Stone, Donna Troy, Roy Harper

---

Terry O'Neil has posed:
In popular Italian folklore, La Befana is a hag-like character who visits the homes of children on the eve of January 6th (the feast of the Epiphany) to bring candy and presents to good children, while dealing coal or dark candy to the bad ones. She rides on a broomstick and has a shawl stained with soot- because she descends through the chimney.

Like almost everything, this seemingly Christian tradition has ties to a much older, pagan one that some conjecture harkens back to a goddess by the name of 'Strenia.'

This, however, is mostly unknown to most of the inhabitants of Little Italy, and probably to the majority of establishments offering Befana-related events for the little ones. The restaurant Terry O'Neil is taking some of his team-mates to is one such establishment- La Casa Di Carlo, which has decked itself with colorful paper decorations and little 'Befanas' suspended from the rafters. By the hubbub coming from the restaurant alone, there are a lot of families who are taking advantage of the special menu devised for the celebration.

The young red-headed human turns to his friends, a slight look of consternation on his face. "I forgot about the Befana thing. It's a big deal around here..." he glances up and down the street, "They say there's a thirty minute wait. We could... maybe look for somewhere else, or we could wait out here?" It's winter, so waiting outside isn't appealing, but waiting inside with the cacophony of laughing children is not enticing, either. Terry stuffs his hands in his jacket and looks sheepish, "I'm sorry... maybe we can find a gelato place that's quieter."

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
Sarah Rainmaker has gone along with the others for the sake of this trip, touched at being invited to socialize. The food and the smells from within are intoxicating, and Sarah's having a difficult (but fun) time to not openly drool at everthing she's smelling and hearing. "I don't mind the children." She would offer in the tone of voice of someone that had spent far, far too little time with children and liked them more in a purely theoretical way rather than had actually encountered. She would look appreciative, looking about and just paying attention. Scanning about and enjoying the atmosphere.
    "I'm going to have to come back here sometime again. It's fun." Also perhaps sometime in teh future to Metropolis, at least.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic grins as he looks around at the throngs of people in the area. "It's like second Christmas, man, it's great." He considers, and looks at Donna. "I mean... I don't mind waiting. The point was this is your /favorite/ place, right? I figure that's worth the wait." He shrugs. "I mean, I can handle gelato, but... the chrome doesn't run on gelato, if you get my meaning."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Of course the six of January is big in Greece too, where it is more often known as Theophany, but Amazons don't celebrate that. It's a few days too early for Megali Noumenia, Haloa or the Gamelion of Hera. A few days late for the Dyonisia. At least this year. The lunisolar calendar of Themyscira does not match the calender used outside all that well, and it can be confusing. All of which is to say that the Amazons have a remarkably large number of festivals -- according to some counts they have about one every three days if you count all the minor ones -- but today is not one of them.

    "I'm good with waiting too," Donna says with a broad smile as she takes in the scene, enjoying the aura of familial happiness. It doesn't have to be /your/ festival to enjoy it after all, and with everything that has been happening in New York and Metropolis of late, everyone needs a festival.

    She turns to Vic, nodding. "Gelato would probably stain the chromework. It's often a bit acidic. And you know, waiting for things makes them better, right? You get time for the anticipation. And to enjoy the smells! You can smell the cooking. It's good. I vote for here."

    She gives Sarah a friendly nudge. "Going out for food is a Titans thing. If this place is as good for Terry we'll all be coming back here some time, and if you're going to spend time with the Titans you'll just have to put up with being dragged out with us."

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy doesn't find himself in Metropolis very often, but he has been all over the place lately lending a hand with various evacuation plans. It's too late to head back to Gotham now, so he's just going to crash here for the night. Now to figure out how he's going to pay for a motel room. Probably telling them that he lives in the same house as a billionaire won't help. Maybe Oliver's around and can call somewhere and pay.

Over one shoulder hangs a backpack that seems like it's loaded down with something heavy. He slings it easily over the opposite shoulder as he tugs out his cell phone. "C'mon, Ollie, fuckin' be there," he murmurs to himself, his breath threading out into the cold winter air. He dials a number and holds the phone to head as he walks. "Sorry," he says as he almost bumps into Terry. "Fuck," he says in frustration as it goes to voicemail. He tucks the phone away in his pocket.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Donna, Sarah, is right- food is our thing. The only reason we keep so trim is because we train constantly and traipse through the rooftops a lot." Terry pauses, "That, and Gar, Kori, Caitlin and the speedsters have insanely fast metabolisms. La Befana is a /pretty/ big thing in Italy. She was doing the coal and presents thing several centuries before the Saint Nick tradition came around. So the dude totally stole her- oops!"

The redhead whirls and manages to avoid the collision with Roy, almost bumping into Sarah instead. "It's okay- no harm done..."

Suddenly, there is a scream. It sounds like a scream of surprise, more than anything else. The voices of many children- laughing or giving out startled yelps- soon join in, all coming from Casa Di Carlo.

"What in the blazes-"

Those who may be susceptible to magic (probably only Terry) will feel it- a ripple of Chaos, quickly expanding. But those who can't feel it will soon start to /see/ it, as a horde of paper witches, having grown to human size, fly out of the open restaurant doors like a flock of startled birds, cackling incessantly with a laughter that sounds like crumbling paper. "What the- WHOA!"

That's Terry. Because a paper Befana grabs him by the arm, and suddenly he is airborne, being swept upwards and away by one of them.

All around them, decorations are coming to life. Little toy soldiers set out in a Christmas display grow to their full size and start marching towards each other, starting to form a regiment, and colorful animals spring to life (and a larger size) and jump out of windows, doors and rooftops, beginning a veritable colorful stampede across the streets!

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
Sarah Rainmaker would rub her hands over her shoulders, "One that I can appreciate. Thnk you for taking me along with the team. I really do appreciate it." She would glance over. "And I'll enjoy whatever time I can get. I don't get out much so it's nice to have somewhere to go." A cautious bit on 'don't get out much' for her own reasons. "So do you go out to experience things or is it more involved with the amount of destruction the kitchen suffers?"
    Letting herself go along and listening to Terry. Sarah would hold an arm out over in case a brace and catch was needed..

Then as everything would come to life she would yelp and a charge would buildup in her hands.. Then drop as she saw what was going on. "Your teammate's enthusiasm is very.. Unique."

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic is about to say something to the man that bumps into Terry when all hell breaks loose. Or all chaos breaks loose? "Aw, /man/," he grumbles. "C'mon, can't we have /one/ nice outing without things going completely /bonkers/?! This is more Wonderland crap, isn't it...?"

    Terry's being hauled into the air, toy soldiers are coming to life, animals are about to rampage. Cyborg shouts, "Every time these things turn out to be puns. If we can figure that out..." Yes, he's trying to figure out Wonderland through logic, c'mon. "We'd better get people out of here."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Speak for yourself Terry," Donna says with a smirk. "Some of us do not skulk around on rooftops. That's for bats, cats, and other assorted ne'er-do-wells."

    "A bit of both," she tells Sarah, with a hand wobble gesture. "The truth is as you're probably staring to see, we kind of like each other. It's sort of the Titans thing. Other groups get together because of the whole team thing, fighting together and all that. We've always been... closer. More of a family than just a team. When we started the Titans, we still had a lot of growing up to do. We did it together."

    "But also the kitchen thing. We may need to get a bigger kitchen one of these days soon."

    Donna switches from chatting happily to all-action in the blink of an eye when the chaos starts. Just because the group is going out for food rather than action doesn't mean she's unarmed, and Terry isn't that far off the ground before Donna's lasso lashes out and entwines the paper witch in coils glowing gold. "You're meant to deliver candy, not steal cats!" Donna calls out, yanking the paper figure out of the sky and bringing Terry back down to Earth.

    "See to the safety of people outside," Donna calls to Vic. "I'm going in." Pulling back her lasso and readying it between her hands, she charges through the door to rescue the people inside.

    Mere moments later, Donna comes backing out of the door again, struggling against a swarm of short, brown, cylindrical creatures. Apparently the restaurant's entire stock of panettone has grown legs and is trying to bite her.

    To add to the chaos, still a little distance away from the horde of soldiers and animals, a group of three strange figures are making their way up the street. The are eight foot tall puppets, strings floating above them but ending in mid-air with nothing attached. The three all have bushy black beards, crowns, and are holding lanterns on poles. At each door they come across, they knock at the door with their poles (in one case breaking the glass door of a shoe shop they've stopped at), and call out "Food! Bring food for the three kings, hungry from our travels!"

Roy Harper has posed:
The ginger-haired teen is still trying to figure out if he's going to be able to, you know, sleep inside tonight or he's going to be sharing some steam grate with some homeless people -- and it would /not/ be the first time he's done that, not by a long shot -- when bizarre chaos erupts from the restaurant. He looks up from his phone. Oddly, he looks neither surprised nor started by this. His expression remains even. "For the love of fuck," he curses to himself under his breath.

Unslinging the backpack from his shoulder he glances around as though looking for something. His gaze lands on a small alley about twenty yards away. Like a bolt, he takes off running, carrying the obviously heavy backpack like it was nothing. Kid's fit. He vanishes into the alley. Must be a coward. He basically ran away.

And in other news, a few minutes later a figure that would be familiar in Gotham and probably largely unknown here in Metropolis -- that of Arsenal -- appears on the rooftop of the building across from the restaurant. The archer surveys the scene from the roof. Bow out. Arrow in...er, no two arrows in...wait, make that three arrows in. He glances down, noting that the redheaded kid -- soulless gingers gotta stick together, don't'cha know -- landed safely while at the same time firing the bow. He doesn't even have the decency to look where he's shooting. Cocky. But true to form, the three arrows hit their mark, each pinning one of these freaky paper witches to the side of the restaurant.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
One child, in awe at the figures approaching from afar, points and says, wide-eyed: "Mamma! Mamma! Guardate quegli! I re! Vengono qui! possiamo-"

His harried mother drags him off his feet and into her arms, "Silenzio, Bruno!" she hisses, starting to run.

Terry lands with an 'oof,' being in his human shape and therefore not engineered to land on his feet. "Thanks, Donna!" he says from the ground, pretending his ass doesn't hurt from the impact. He is in a position to be able to notice Arsenal appearing up on the rooftop- and he gasps, pointing. "Hey, we've got compa- WAUGH!" another witch swoops down to take him, again, but an arrow hits it and pins it flawlessly onto the wall across the street.

Getting to his feet as fast as he can, he points, "Sarah... big... puppets. God, puppets are freaky. I still can't get through Pinocchio without- anyways, Sarah, we're going to need something to stop them!"

Because Donna is fighting panettone that has developed a taste for Amazon. "Yeah... let's get people out of here!" first things first, right?

The redhead reaches for his mirror and begins to chant the words that will transform him.

The light fades and Vorpal is left behind. He summons a Rabbit Hole that leads to Centennial Park and begins to swoop it down towards fleeing bystanders, "I seem to be doing a lot of evac these days. Vic! Send some people this way-" but at this point, the toy soldiers have started to charge towards Cyborg, perhaps mistaking him for a soldier of the opposite band- the steadfast tin soldier.

The witches have realized that Arsenal poses a serious anti-air threat, and they are beginning to converge towards him, flying in loose ranks to avoid being pinned in groups. Several have been taken down, but there are at least a dozen of them in the formation.

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
It takes Sarah a few moments to realize that htey are, in fact, in danger and this isn't some sort of display. Get people out of there.. That she sees seems to be handled. So Rainmaker would go to take her hands together and they would glow. The gauntlets on her wrists starting to sizzle as they would build up a charge, humming as she would go up several meters into the air over as the trio of 'kings' would have her attention. The three figures at a distance would be met by Rainmaker flying up into the air.
    "We'e going to find out what happens when one hits a puppet with lightning." Energy bolts blsting down from her hands at them from a distance. She's moving to intercept what she presumes is another threat.. Without coordinating with the team.. Without actually making sure that they are a threat rather than indifferent to what is going on.. And trying to blast it conventinoally on top rather than figuring out what she's up against.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Cyborg is working on getting people moving, raising his voice and using his height to be noticed above the crowd. "Okay, people, I know the festivities are nice and all, but... oof!" He's taken off-guard by the swarming toy soldiers, and one of them pokes him in the shoulder!

    "Hey, watch the chrome!" He raises his sonic cannon and starts blasting at the ranks of the toy soldiers, being /very/ certain not to hit any fleeing people while he's doing so.

Donna Troy has posed:
    At too close quarters with her cake-like opponents, Donna gives up the lasso in favour of her fists. She's obviously got some aggression to work out, judging by the violent explosions of breadcrumbs and raisins that fill the air each time fist comes in contact with panettone. Cake after cake bursts open in a golden puff of bready, festive sweetness with each blow -- there are a lot of them though, and they're making it hard.

    Nobody say anything. Nobody argue about whether panettone are actually bread or cake, lest a furious Amazon turn on you.

    Sarah's lightning bolts are not as effective as she might have hoped, the puppets being made of wood and thus not hugely bothered by electrical current in the way that biological creatures tend to be. She could up the power of her bolts, but the streets are still crowded and she doesn't want to fry poor Bruno, who just want to go and take a closer look at the three kings. Nevertheless they are beginning to look distinctly singed around the edges, the woodwork is starting to show cracks, and while one shakes a fist in Sarah's direction, another is busy putting out its beard, which has caught fire.

    "Belay that, Sarah!" Donna calls out. "They are looking for food. Drive them this way, maybe they'll eat these cakes! Terry, Vic... wind-up soldiers. Straight lines. Herd 'em and Rabbit Hole 'em!"

    Donna's a little preoccupied with her tasty opponents to see where the arrows are coming from, Roy may be a little surprised to hear her calling to him over her shoulder when she sees the first few arrows arrive -- "Hawkeye! Where did you come from? Keep shooting and keep moving, be with you in a minute!"

Roy Harper has posed:
Really? Is a squadron of paper witches seriously coming in for an attack? Dear Life, you did not turn out the way I thought you would. Sincerely, Roy.

Fortunately, the definitely-not-Hawkeye archer is also a gadgeteer. He tugs a small metal orb off his belt, turns a dial, and tosses it up high in the air. It rises into the midst of the witches and...

"Oh shit," Roy says as he leaps off the rooftop. He got so absorbed in watching Sarah's quite awesome electrical powers that he, you know, forgot to get out of the way of his own flame-burst grenade. As he falls, he acrobatically twists around so he's falling back-down and in mid-air the freakin' show-off actually knocks a grapple arrow and fires it!

That's when things go south. The flame-burst grenade pops in a surprisingly silent burst, showering the attacking paper witches with fire, but the force also knocks his grapple arrow to the side so it doesn't hit the building. Kid's free falling now.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"On it, Troia!" Vorpal calls out, switching his Rabbit Hole to try to make things easier for Vict- "Hand on, buddy, I'm..."

FWOOOSH. There's fire, and then there's Befana Flambe falling from the sky. The Cheshire Cat is briefly dazed and 'oooohs' at the fiery trick, so his glance is already in Arsenal's vicinity when the grapple arrow trick fails. "Sorry Vic, gotta-"

He dashes through his own Rabbit Hole, which opens up right under Arsenal. The Cheshire Cat emerges to grab the falling archer, "Hi!" he says, rather cheerfully, and they both plunge into the hole.

The fun thing about the Rabbit Hole is that its two ends can be moved at will, and at the speed of thought, so Vorpal and Arsenal emerge, falling upwards, high above the rooftops, "That's some nifty shooting you were doing there!" the cat says, arms holding on to Arsenal. Ipward momentum eventually stops. It's then that he immediately opens a Rabbit Hole below them. Vorpal's feet touch the street below at almost no speed at all once he goes through it. He's still carrying arsenal.

"Troia, this isn't Hawkeye!" he calls out, "Hawkeye's, like, ancient! This dude's close to my age!"

And then he gets shoved by one of the rushing soldiers making its way to Vic, sending both of them to the ground. "Ack, I forgot about the stupid soldiers-"

Vic has managed to decimate their numbers marvelously, but it's clear that some aid to cull down the numbers will help the Titan greatly.

Sarah Rainmaker has posed:
Going to charge in over towards the trio of puppets, Sarah Rainmaker is about to consider other elemental attacks to use that would not risk the civilians when Donna's words would beckon over. "Understood." Her fingers going to then try and makea gust of wind - trying to drive the puppets forwards from their position. her using smooth control to make an airflow to hopefully tug the trio forwards towards the cakes (even if they were a lie) while making pressure along the sides.
    Hopefully making a wind funnel to push the puppets forwards, contain them, make sure the civilians are gently pressed to the side.. And get them in the direction of necessity. Focused on maintaining her wind tunnel with precision and not overextending herslf.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic starts corralling the toy soldiers with his blasts, heading in the direction Donna indicated. He glances up to see Vic falling... and up... and down again. Well. Typical. He grins briefly and focuses and the soliders.

    "Could use those portals, Vorpal!" he calls out. "Let's let these soldiers eat cake before they turn on us or something!" It's a really bad reference, he knows.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Sarah's change of tactic pays rapid dividends. The care she takes to urge civilians out of the way ensures the stronger winds targeting the three kings don't blow over any bystanders, and soon the locals are fleeing, clutching at hats and coats that whip in the strong winds, while the puppets stagger forwards, flailing limbs barely under any semblance of control. Donna feels the imminent arrival of her puppet reinforcements by the wind whipping her hair around before they're actually there, and back-flips out from the horde of panettone just as the winds Sarah has summoned drop down again and the ravenous marionettes set about the panettone creatures, shovelling them into hinged jaws as fast as they can, while the remaining panettone attempt to chew through the strings that hold them together.

    "What are you talking about, Cat!" Donna calls, already running to join. "She's younger than you are! I thought it was OUR Hawkeye, not the other one. He's useless and can't shoot straight, I knew it wasn't him." This is utterly untrue, but ever since, just over a year ago, Donna and Clint appeared on an episode of the Super Match Game together and nearly came to blows over whether the Titans or the Avengers were a better team, she has had it in for him.

    This is also utterly untrue. The whole thing was an act, and Donna is really very fond of the older Hawkeye.

    Donna puts on a sudden burst of speed and crashes through the ranks of tin soldiers to join Vic. Colorful toy animals are stalking him from behind as he blasts his way through the ranks of the soldiers, and it's these that Donna starts engaging. Soon the two OG Titans are standing back to back, his sonic cannon driving the tin soldiers into a narrow channel, her golden lasso flicking out at camels, lions and wolves, tangling limbs and bringing them down, or wrapping around an animal body and picking it up to dash it back down on the ground.

    "That isn't either Hawkeye," Donna continues as she fights. "I believe that's Arsenal, with the Outsiders." Someone's done their homework. "One of Green Arrow's crew."

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy blinks and peers at the cat person who caught him in mid-air...and is continuing to catch him as they fall up toward the, you know, sky. "This isn't even the weirdest thing that's happened to me today," he tells cat boi very calmly. As they step out of the portal and get bowled over, Arsenal acrobatically tucks into a perfect roll and ends up on his feet. But not before rolling past Victor and Donna. "Hello. Hi." he says to them.

Sometimes you use fancy trick shots and special arrows. And sometimes you just beat the crap out of someone. Arsenal's bow is made from a hardened alloy and getting hit with it makes getting hit with a baseball bat feel like a spa day. He spins into an attack sequence, smashing the heads from soldiers as the bow twirls baton-like around the young warrior in a blur. Then the spins in the opposite direction and begins a return attack run on more of the soldiers. He takes a soldier's forearm to his throat, causing him to stagger backwards and gag. "Not a good idea, my dude," he manages to choke out as he rubs his throat.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"That's right!" Vorpal says, from the ground, "Arsenal- I was thrown off by the- OW!" Yep. A toy soldier just tread on his tail, "Oh now it's ON!"

Quickly getting to his feet and summoning a glowing giant mallet- what he likes to call the Harley Special, and soon he joins Arsenal in the fighting of toy soldiers, bashing them left and right. Between bow and mallet and sonic blast, eventually the soldiers meet their Waterloo. They are defeated, you won the war.

As the fight dies down, the street is littered with the remnants of toys and flecks of colorful paper, now ordinary as the magic seemingly leaves them.

The Cheshire Cat pants, dismissing the mallet and glancing over to the restaurant. It looks... messy.

"You know... I think I'm good for Italian for now... what do you say we get Chinese take-out and go to the tower?"

The cat glances at Arsenal and gives him a Cheshire grin, "... wanna come? An ally of Green Arrow's is always welcome at the Tower."

He's also going to ask Donna to text Dick to see if they can send the locale owners some moolah for repairs. They're going to need it.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Cyborg and Donna have fought back to back often enough that it's easy, almost instinctual. Vic lowers the gain on his sonic cannon so he's herding the soldiers rather than destroying them, angles animals into Donna's line so she can corrall them the way she's sending them. And so they bring things back into order, calming the chaos.

    "Arsenal, huh? Looks like the name fits... that's /impressive/." He can appreciate a good beat-down, especially of annoying toys.

    "Chinese sounds /great/," Vic says, "but you're /definitely/ bringing us back here... some time /after/ we're not so likely to get randomly attacked by toys come to life."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna keeps up her attacks on the animals, until the final camel smashes to the ground in a shower of plastic parts, the magic gone from it.

    The Three Kings sit contentedly chewing on the last of the panettone, barely mobile from the damage done to their strings, and Sarah resumes her lightning attacks. They ignore the increasing damage to their bodies, too distracted by food, until one of them bursts from the overheating of moisture in the wood. When the magic fades and they shrink back down to the size of the original marionettes that had been hanging in the window of a store, the final bolt fries them completely. Vic, Arsenal and Terry finish off the toy army, and that's all she wrote.

    Donna had a little more to write though. "You know what, Terry? Chinese sounds just fine about now," she says, nodding in agreement with Vic. "I never want to see another panettone for as long as I... for /weeks/ anyway."

    Panettone is too good to swear off for life.