Justice League AU (Rated R) ~ RP

[Tangeh]

Blue Beetle [Javier Melendez]
Location: Starstruck Cafe, The Bronx, New York
Time: 6:15 pm

Traffic had picked up at the Starstruck Cafe, and Javier and his coworker were rushing from one customer to the next, trying to get everybody back out the door as quickly as possible. Evenings weren't normally this busy, but regardless Javier was certain it would settle down around 7pm. In the middle of handing a tray with four travel cups of coffee over to a scowling man, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Javier ignored it, forcing a smile as the man slammed the door on his way out. Why was everybody in this part of the city a total jerk?

[Recommend checking the alert. Disturbance suspected point two three miles southwest of current location.]

Javier blinked. The Scarab couldn't communicate with HQ without armor up... at least, he thought she couldn't. "Uh, why do you think that?"

"I think that cuz me and my husband need some damned coffee!" the customer Javier had been serving screeched at him, causing him to jump.

[Cyborg is detected heading to this suspected location. Additionally - ]

"Hurry it up!" the lady barked at him.

"R-right, that'll be, uh - " He hastily tried to jam the order into the system, but his mind was on other things and he kept pushing the wrong buttons. Cyborg? She pretty much never came to his area of the city. He wasn't sure he'd even seen her since the day she'd got him in touch with the Justice League, and that was ages ago. He'd just supposed she was a lone wolf and didn't question it.

[The total price including 4% sales tax for three small coffees and one bagel with butter is five dollars and sixty-nine cents.]

"$5.69." Javier accepted a ten and hastily made change before rushing to pour the requested order. "What was the 'additionally' bit, amiga?" Javier whispered.

[Additionally, readings from your auditory system indicate emergency vehicles heading in this direction. Triangulation yields the location of zero point two three miles southwest. Identifying exact co-ordinates - ]

Javier blinked. He hadn't even noticed, but there was a faint sound of sirens in the background -

"Stop staring into space and get me my damned order!" This woman was really starting to get on his nerves.

"Uh, y-yes ma'am - "

[Co-ordinates locked. Golden Jewelers, a jewellery store. Given the nature of its products, this - ]

"Javier?" his coworker was glaring at him now. "The line is crazy, hurry up!"

He ran the coffee over to the woman and doubled back for the bagel.

[This is likely a robbery. Estimated time to reach location: twenty seconds."]

"Finally," the lady glared at him as he returned. "Good luck getting my business again."

"Like I care," Javier hissed back as she left, then tore off his apron and threw it violently at the ground. "Like I care about any of you jackasses."

His coworker froze and looked up at him in concern. "Hey Javier? Maybe take your break now. I can handle it for fifteen minutes, just try to cool off, okay? You look really stressed out."

'Perfect.' He grumbled a response and stormed into the break room, pulling the back window open. The Scarab had started reacting to his irritation before he asked it to, and soon he was in full Blue Beetle armor and flying toward the location the Scarab had indicated on his map.

It seems the Scarab's suspicions had been correct; police cars were surrounding the jewellery store as they reached it. A gunshot echoed as Javier approached. An armed robbery, at this time of day? While a gunshot wouldn't penetrate the armor, it would still hurt, not to mention potentially damage the armor. Last time it had happened the Scarab had been quiet for two straight days to heal. Actually, that had been kind of nice -

[If you continue to have suicidal thoughts I will have no choice but to take control of your body, Javier Melendez.]

"Okay, okay, sheesh, I'll be careful." He raised his right arm and formed an energy blaster. He grinned at the two armed stakeouts as he landed about twenty feet away from them. They aimed their handguns at him, and he aimed his blaster. "Mine's bigger," he joked, then fired a few small energy blasts. The two men scattered, and Javier stepped forward -

A third man came out of the store, with what practically looked like a rocket strapped to his back. It moved on its own accord, and Javier realized it was some sort of cannon. The man laughed darkly. "Mine's biggest." What sounded like an explosion resounded through the air and Javier just barely took to the skies in time to avoid the blast, which decimated a parked car with another loud explosion.

[That appears to have been a cannonball. Do not let it hit you.]

"Okay," Javier breathed, "don't have to tell me twice. Recommended tactics?"

[The metallic substance the cannon is composed of appears susceptible to fire.]

"Can the armor make a flamethrower?"

[Affirmative, though I doubt your ability to properly utilize it. Given the likely usage of gunpowder, this tactic would require a fair distance and precision for safe execution.]

Javier landed back to the ground, weighing his options. The Scarab tended to know his abilities better than he did, and was probably right about his inability to properly handle a flamethrower from a distance with precision... he could give control over to the Scarab, but he didn't like doing that if he could at all help it.

 

[Vern]

Cyborg - Vera Yang
Location: New York, somewhere. > Still New York, somewhere.
Time: 6:16 PM

Already, the sound of sirens can be heard, and the smaller but more sinister sounds of gunfire are audible as well. Vera weaves to and fro in between the skyscrapers, pushing off their glistening walls whenever a crash was imminent and allowing the autopilot system to take care of the rest - flying is a lot more fun with you can focus on enjoying the feeling of soaring in the sky, instead of worrying about not crashing into a building. She had scarcely been in the air for two minutes when she arrives at her destination. Perching on the roof of the nearest building, her mechanical eye zooms in on the action below, and soon makes out a familiar figure - one covered in a bue-ish armour and conveniently tagged with the label ‘Javier Melendez’.

“Oh,” she mutters to herself, feigning surprise for no reason in particular, “So that’s his name. Wonder how he’s doing?”

Humming to herself, she removes a lollipop from one of the pockets in her pants and sticks it into her mouth. Before she can do anything else, a loud explosion ripples through the air, and with a soft whirring sound, her eye automatically focuses on someone other than the beetle kid - some guy with a rocket-like weapon strapped to his back. Curious, she runs a quick scan in her database and comes up empty - she had never seen the man before. Nevertheless, he was obviously much more of a threat than any of the other cheap thugs, considering the smoking remains of a car on the side of the road.

She snappers her two arms together and allows the metal to shift and reconfigure itself, becoming a large sniper rifle with a very intimidatingly visible laser sight. Just as the cannon man moves as if to fire again, she swings the gun towards his right foot and fires. Her eye still zoomed in, she watches as the bullet slams into the ground, causing the cannon guy to jump to the side. The red light of the laser is eye-catching in the dimming light of the evening. She would have liked to shoot to kill - that cannon looked like it could cause massive amounts of damage and the guy looked crazy enough to use it - but Freddy and Batty had made it clear that she was not allowed to do so unless it was absolutely necessary. So, for better or for worse, she was stuck firing warning shots until she could get a good enough angle to disable him without potentially blowing up that rocket contraption.

Switching on her communications device, she establishes contact with Javier’s scarab.

[Hey, beetle-boy!] She grins, her voice cheery as usual, transmitting it directly to the scarab, [Need a hand?]

 

[VampirateMace]

The Flash ~ Molly West
Location: Star City (California)
Time: 6:30/4:30-ish pm, or whatever, evening

The dash from Albuquerque to Star City was shorter then the one from Gotham to Alburquerque, especially considering there wasn't a stop in the desert. Of course neither having a full belly nor knowing you're running towards gunmen helps you run at full speed. Entering the city, Molly slowed way down and tapped her earpiece and requested an approximate address from the Justice League computer. She'd been to Star City a couple times, but she wasn't fully aware of all the street names, so a quick glance at a map within her goggles (upgraded thanks to Batman's apparent fortune), and she was off again.

Meanwhile updates continued streaming to her earpiece. Superman had picked up the plutonium (good, good), Blue Beetle and Cyborg were on the robbery (impressive that it needed two of them, supervillains tended to go after more 'sophisticated' targets then jewelry stores), and then Superman was joining Robin in Gotham to deal with the rio. . . BANG!

PASHOO, PASHOO!

BAM!

Molly could hear the gunfire before she even got to the site. She could see police car lights too. She zipped around the corner, locating the police barricade. She surveyed the scene. There were multiple cars and a SWAT van, with armored officers facing the scene; multiple gunmen behind their own vehicles on the street ahead of them, and less equipped officers minding the barricade to detour civilians. One officer was shouting into a bullhorn for the gangsters to stand down, while another was aiming a canister of tear gas at one of the groups. This could end pretty badly, but they did have an advantage with the gangs distracted by one-another.

One of the crowd patrol officers grabbed her arm, “Flash! You've come to help us? Thank goodness. Here, come get a vest and talk to the captain.”

Molly edged between the barrier, already forming a plan. Another officer retrieved an extra Kevlar vest from his trunk and passed it to Molly as the first officer directed her to the captain, who was understandably focused on the officer attempting negotiations. The officer cleared her throat, “Sir! The Flash is here!”

BANG! BANG!

TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

BAM!

“Wha?” commented the captain, turning aggressively, “Flash? I've never seen a gangwar like this! Out in the middle of the street! Do you have a plan?”

“In fact, I do,” announced Molly, “Just keep them distracted for me.”

“Keep their attention!” shouted the captain to the negotiator with the bullhorn. He then nodded to Molly, “Good luck.”

Molly strapped on the bullet proof vest. It was a little heavy, but it wasn't bad enough to worry her that it'd slow her down. Her next move had to be calculated. She had to knock down one whole side of the conflict before they started shooting again. She ran low, up along the buildings on the right, faster then the gangsters could even think. Approaching she reached out to shove over men as she passed. Hit, hit, miss. . . dang. . .

BAM!

BANG!

SHHAAAOOOP! - A cloud of blue smoke erupted into the center of the conflict, obscuring the gunmen's views. Unfortunately that did not detour them. . .

TAT-TAT-TAT!

BAM!

KRACK! SHHHH. . . the police's tear smoke enveloped the other side of the conflict with a differently colored gas. The first cloud obviously did not come from the police.

SHHAAAOOOP! SHHAAAOOOP! - More clouds of colored smoke were popping up. The man on the bullhorn was begging the thugs to save themselves by getting on the ground.

PASHOO!

Molly continued to dashed through, knocking down the rest of the group, as well as the ones trying to get up. She zipped around to the other side. The tear gas had them choking, and holding her breath whenever she passed though, she easily toppled them.

The armored police were rushing forward now, just as one of the men on the first side was starting to get up.

SHHAAAOOOP! krackle krackle - A mass of sparkling electricity knocked him back over.

With the police now binding the gang members, Molly zipped out of the smoky area and scanned the roof tops, easily spotting the dark figure who'd have full view of the scene. Shedding the vest she dropped it off at the police car, before rushing up to the rooftop, not even giving their mysterious helper time to move. She slowed to a walk, coming up beside him, he was dressed in full black, with a quiver of multicolored arrows strapped to his back. She reached the rail and looked down on the police as they dragged the troublemakers into their vehicles. She smirked softly, “Thanks for the assist, Rainbow Arrow.”

“Happy to help,” rasped the Arrow, “But I'm sure you'd have managed without me.”

 

[Tangeh]

Blue Beetle [Javier Melendez]
Location: Golden Jewelers, The Bronx, New York
Time: 6:30pm

An explosion rocked the ground, and the man wielding the giant cannon jumped away from the blast. Javier took to the air again, warily glancing around for the source of the blast. He wasn't used to having allys, and assumed it was a badly aimed shot meant for him, not the cannon-wielder. He was therefore pleasantly surprised to find Cyborg perched on a nearby building, her armor reconfigured into a sniper rifle. He hadn't worked with Cyborg before - his area of the city didn't usually get supervillains like this - but he looked up to her, viewing her as the more experienced guardian of New York.

[Hey, beetle-boy! Need a hand?] Javier jumped as the voice was transmuted into his head. Not because it was a voice in his head - he was rather used to that - but because it spoke in a cheery, un-Scarab-like tone. He hovered in midair, confused.

[Incoming transmission from Cyborg,] the Scarab clarified. Huh, that explained it. Javier didn't know the Cyborg could communicate with the Scarab like that, though it made sense. The Scarab could pick up on League communicators when in range, after all. She was probably just emulating the technology.

He didn't divert his focus from the robbers, not wishing to give away Cyborg's position nor put himself in danger. "Yes please," he responded quickly, trusting the Scarab was still playing the part of walkie-talkie. 'Amiga? Can the armor make a sniper rifle like Cyborg's?' he adds mentally to the Scarab.

[...Negative.] The pause made Javier curious. [A long-ranged energy blaster can be configured, but has the same limitations as the flamethrower, with less effective results predicted.] So basically, the Scarab didn't trust him with it. He supposed that was fair enough, but noted that the Scarab had no comments on Cyborg's usage of the rifle. He recalled the Scarab being quiet when he first faced off against robbers with pistols, but she later was able to provide countermeasures and insight into tactics. The Scarab still didn't know what Cyborg was capable of, and had no advice on how to work together with her. Javier supposed he was on his own in that regard, but at least trusted Cyborg's aim far better than his own.

"I'll try to hold him steady," Javier communicated to Cyborg via the Scarab. He configured the armor into a sonic disruptor and fired it toward the offending cannon wielder. The sound waves it produced were designed to inhibit movement and confuse the opponent, though it was otherwise harmless. He noted the robber put one hand to his ear with a wince of discomfort, but slowly was trying to focus the cannon back on Javier. His henchmen, unaffected by the sound waves, open fired onto him. Javier swerved to the left, struggling to keep the disruptor focused on the main target. "Can't this thing fire at a larger range?" Javier asked, frustration seeping into his tone.

[Negative, not at this distance. Do not move so much, or you will disrupt the trajectory of Cyborg's fire.]

"Easy for you to say," Javier muttered, swerving sharply upward to avoid another round of bullets.

 

[Vern]

Cyborg - Vera Yang
Location: New York, somewhere.
Time: 6:30 PM

Vera grins to herself as she watches 'Beetle Boy' swerving around in the air, dodging the fire of the cannon man's allies. He's far more experienced than he had been when she has first found him. She has half a mind to stand there and do nothing, just to see how the kid would react, then decides against it. Now isn't exactly the time to be messing around.

"Yes please." Beetle Boy responds to her earlier offer for assistance, as his armor configures itself into some sort of strange device. "I'll try to hold him steady.”

She watches as the cannon man holds a hand up to his ear and wince. Whatever the kid is using, it's pretty effective. Chuckling at the fact that she was calling Beetle Boy 'kid' while technically not being much older herself, she fires another shot into the ground by the man's feet, attempting to scare him into inaction - after all, most people are smart enough to realize that continuing to fight while a sniper is locked on to you isn't exactly the best idea. However, the cannon man ignores the warning, continuing to aim at the figure swerving erratically through the air.

[Thanks.] She responds, [Let me take a look at that sound cannon thing later, will you? I wanna try making one.]

Sighing, she reconfigures the laser rifle into a bow, taking a sliver of metal from her arm to form an arrow. Then, almost in hindsight, she quickly manufactures a few more. In most circumstances, more skewers usually means less mobility for the skewered person - and while she wasn’t allowed to kill, it doesn’t mean she isn’t allowed to seriously hurt the guy, which is the next best thing. While explosive, flashy weaponry is good for intimidation, it's not quite so useful when your target is carrying explode-y things in a populated area. An old-fashioned projectile weapon would be more effective - and less lethal, which would please Freddy. Besides, while she wasn't exactly Rainbow Arrow, she liked to consider herself a pretty good shot.

[Hey, Beetle Boy.] She says, [Get in close, and when you see the metal things go through the cannon guy, tackle him. Back-mounted weapons generally can't handle close combat.]

Experimentally, she bites down on her lollipop as she takes aim with the bow, and the stick snaps in half. With an irritated click of her tongue, she swallows the other half, plastic-and all.

[ Try to knock him out or something.] She continues, [I'll take care of the small fry, so don’t worry about that. If you can hold him for a few minutes without getting anyone killed, I’ll beg Batty for some extra cash and we can go to a bar or something. Sound good?]

Her cybernetic eye blinks, calculating trajectories, wind speeds, and the target’s potential movements, while a blinking crosshair slowly moves to aim at the cannon man’s right shoulder as her arms make minute adjustments, the motors unperturbed by the mounting tension of the bowstring. Whistling, she lets go of the bowstring and watches the makeshift arrow fly, digging itself into the cannon man’s upper arm, a few centimetres from where she was aiming for, but not too far off. Remaining still, she quickly fires three more, one at each of the man’s limbs. Two of them hit their target, and one goes wide, bouncing harmlessly off the man’s cannon and leaving a small dent. Good enough.

The bow slides back into her arm and is replaced by a large hook shot. She fires it into the wall of a skyscraper on the opposite side of the road, and then takes a running dive off the side of the one she’s currently standing on, stretching out her arms and letting out a whoop, like a child pretending to be Tarzan.

 

[Tangeh]

Blue Beetle [Javier Melendez]
Location: Golden Jewelers, The Bronx, New York
Time: 6:35pm

Javier hovered precariously in the air. Simultaneously firing the sonic disrupter while dodging the bullets of the cannon guy's comrades wasn't exactly a walk in the park, and it was only a matter of time before his luck would give out. Whatever Cyborg was doing, she had better do it quickly. The cheery voice from before re-entered Javier's head: [Thanks. Let me take a look at that sound cannon thing later, will you? I wanna try making one.] Javier continued to hold his aim steady, but grinned.

"¡Cómo no, amiga!" Javier replied enthusiastically, then swerved swiftly upward to avoid another bullet round. "After we've cleaned up here, look as much as you'd like."

[The Scarab technology is ancient and impossible to accurately replicate.] The Scarab reminded him in her robotic voice.

'Aw c'mon, but Cyborg's never seemed impressed by us before... besides, she's a tech wizard, she - '

[UP.]

Javier obediently swerved upward without hesitation. Bullets whizzed past just beneath him. He exhaled slowly at the close call. "Thanks."

[Hey, Beetle Boy,] Cyborg says, [get in close, and when you see the metal things go through the cannon guy, tackle him. Back-mounted weapons generally can't handle close combat.]

[Negative. Close combat is impossible with the current level of weaponry detected. Approaching would endanger your life to an unacceptable level,] the Scarab quickly interjected before Javier could respond.

Javier paused for a moment. "...You have a plan in mind, amiga? The Scarab says it's too dangerous with all the armed vándalos."

[ Try to knock him out or something,] Cyborg added, [I'll take care of the small fry, so don’t worry about that. If you can hold him for a few minutes without getting anyone killed, I’ll beg Batty for some extra cash and we can go to a bar or something. Sound good?]

Javier smirked and began carefully descending. "You got it!"

[Negative. This is a dangerous plan. Regardless, you are not of legal drinking age. Furthermore, you are meant to be at work for another three hours and twenty-two minutes.]

"Oh relax bicho, I'll just say I was sick. Rest of the night should be quiet anyways, they won't miss me. And Cyborg can fashion a fake I.D., sí Cyborg?" Javier kept his sonic cannon steady and zipped down to the centre of the action. It was much harder to keep track of the other assailants up close, but Javier trusted Cyborg to take care of those for him. Her precise aim had already plunged a metal arrow into the cannon man's arm.

Suddenly Javier made a sharp turn and beelined away from the cannon wielder and toward the armed backup. He panicked, realizing he was no longer in control of his own body. The Scarab forced his left arm to fashion a shield, and his right arm retracted the sonic disrupter in favour of a scythe. He heard the ping of bullets bounce harmlessly off the shield, and his right arm pulled back to strike. 'No! Let Cyborg handle them!' His body bounded swiftly forward and immediately slashed the guns out of the robbers hands. One even lost his hand in the process, while the others sported long, bleeding slash wounds across their bodies, which dropped like potato sacks to the ground.

Javier faintly heard the cannon starting up - even without the use of his limbs, the cannon man was able to roughly aim it. It fired, destroying a segment of the jewellery store building. Javier dodged easily around it and flew forward, scythe and shield exchanging for a flamethrower in the process. 'Are you crazy?! At this range it could blow the whole store up! Or what's left of it, anyways.' His protests were again ignored, and the Scarab took advantage of the man's immobility to fire the flamethrower at his back. He screeched in pain as his flesh was seared, but Javier's attention was firmly on the cannon. That thing was filled with gunpowder - it could blow any second. It clattered to the ground and Javier fell to his knees as the Scarab abruptly gave him control of his own body back. He panted, his heart hammering in his chest, staring at the fallen canon. The Scarab wouldn't have give him control back if it was a danger at this point, but that was certainly not the clean ending to the heist that Cyborg had requested.

...​

Robin [Grayson Moncrief]
Location: Downtown Gotham
Time: 6:05pm / Early evening

A few whacks with his staff and Grayon had the perp pinned up against the wall of the electronics store. He noted that the boy was much weaker than the foes he's fought earlier at the train hijacking - likely he wasn't much older than Grayson himself, despite being taller, and was possibly malnourished judging by the weight of him. The thievery was an act of desperation, not greed. Not wanting to injure him, he didn't bother applying full force. Grayson nodded at the loot the boy was carrying. "Drop it." It would've been easy enough to take it back by force, but the boy obediently released everything in his arms, knowing he was out-muscled.

"Oh hi Robin!" Robin recognized the voice of Max. He glanced over and nodded once in recognition. "I know I'm not the dad you usually work with, but since I happened to be in the neighborhood, I thought I'd stop by and lend a hand. You seem to have this under control though..."

"Did you dispose of the plutonium?" Grayson responded immediately. He didn't think the vandal in his grasp was a threat any longer, and released him. The boy nearly fainted at the sight of Superman in front of him, and was frozen to the spot.

"THIS SHOULD NOT BE TAKING THIS LONG! WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Grayson threw his hands over his ears, trying to shield his hearing from the outrageously loud voice. He looked up with a grimace, noting a scowling young woman trudging over to them. Her attention was actually on the boy Grayson had stopped. "You're serious? A kid is giving you trouble? Ugh..." The boy looked to the ground in shame, and Grayson quirked a brow at her as she quickly noticed Superman and focused on him.

"Hey, he's my kid you know..." Max retorted... "He's a lot better at this than you're friend over there. Now, put back the stuff you took before this gets ugly."

Seems this girl wasn't as complacent as the boy Grayson had dealt with earlier, and smirked. "Yeah, how about no?" She let out a sonic scream that had enough force to send Superman flying into a brick wall, and Grayson tensed in anticipation, but she didn't seem bothered by him. Underestimated as usual. "HURRY UP! FINISH THE KID, AND GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE THE FUCKING BATGUY COMES!" The chaos picked up, with kids piling out of stores carrying whatever they could. Grayson sprung into action, tossing shurikens toward the kids that were too far away to reach and thwacking the rest of them with his staff. He swiftly tripped one girl with his staff before somersaulting into another boy and knocking him to the ground. Still, there were too many for him to effectively stop, and those that could were fleeing as fast as possible.

"Robin, Superman," Lucas's voice was loud, clear, and commanding, and Grayson instantly halted in surprise. "Stop what you're doing. Don't attack. I'll handle this, just get back home, right now." It was a scolding tone, and Grayson felt as if he'd done something wrong, and obediently stopped to ponder what it was. But... wait, where was Batman?

The girl from before jumped down in front of him, and Grayson defensively held his staff in front of him. She was holding a small bag of what he guessed was valuable jewellery. "You heard Pops, didn't you kid?" she mocked, then sneered at him. "STAY OUT OF OUR WAY!" Batman's voice came out of her mouth, and the sheer force of the soundwaves nearly toppled him over. His ears rung and he groaned, rubbing his head. She was fleeing with the others - if he couldn't catch her, he could at least do one thing. He brought out an explosive shuriken and expertly threw it so it attached itself to her bag of stolen items. Her eyes widened as she noticed the beeping, and reluctantly ditched the bag before running. There was a small explosion - given the nature of the items, they were likely still salvageable, but regardless it was worth it to have them out of the hands of crime.

 

[VampirateMace]

The Flash ~ Molly West
Location: Star City (California)
Time: about 6:40/4:40 pm

As per usual, Rainbow Arrow did not stick around long. Molly knew he usually worked alone and from the shadows whenever possible, even if he was a member of the Justice League. Spinning about on the spot, to watch him dash off stealth-fully, Molly tapped her earpiece. The triggered info stream told her of the progress on the riots in Gotham, the duo responding to the jewelry store break-in in New York, and the successful opening of the elevator in DC by civilian maintenance workers and firefighters. So that mean the monster in SD. . . Molly rolled her eyes. As much as she'd like to play Scooby Doo, she wondered if she shouldn't go help out on one of the other missions instead.

She turned back and watched as the police continued to throw gangsters into their vehicles, taking a few seconds to think over what she wanted to do, that was a better course of action then just running off in what was ultimately the wrong direction. When she was ready, she turned, zipping downstairs and out onto the streets. Then suddenly, a new urgent alert came over the communicators. There was another stronger earthquake detected in Gotham, followed by reports of a metal monster.

What? Seriously? Molly changed direction abruptly. Okay, it was on. Whatever this things was, it was going down. Molly raced across the states. As she finally approached Gotham, she could hear the sirens, screaming, and crashing from miles away. Whatever this was, it was big.


Downtown Gotham (NJ)
Local time: 6:45

Police and local heroes have been trying to get the rioting and looting downtown under control since the small earthquake nearly an hour ago knocked out power. Though no one was injured, some took advantage of the chaos and darkness to start a crime spree.

Nearly an hour after the first tremor, a second starts to rock the streets. At first it seems obvious that this is an aftershock, and most of the looters and police officer take what little cover they can find. But the second tremor does not subside. It appears the first tremor was only a warning of the real earthquake that was to come. The streets of the downtown shopping district of Gotham began to crack, shaking side to side. Looters and officers near the fissures flee in terror as a point in the middle of the streets begin to rise.

Buildings collapse, rubble falls aside, and water sprays from broken water-mains and sewers as a twisted metal construct reveals itself. The massive metal behemoth, seeming to be built from plundered underground pipes and stolen building framework, lets out a deep bellow, sounding like something between a tea kettle's whistle and a train-wreck. Spider-like it stomps around on eight legs, causing further wreckage. There is no obvious head, just a spiral of metal between the eight legs, tangling inward around a small crimson light.

All the while, screams and sirens break out around it, as people continue to flee, with just a few brave souls trying to save those trapped in the rubble. One foolish officer fires off a taser at it, to absolutely no effect. Whatever type of energy was fueling the magnet-like powers of the monster, it was not an earthly brand of electricity. Breathing heavily he draws his gun, and shots towards the Crimson Heart. The bullets pepper the metal core, doing no more then denting it slightly, then sticking to the construct, reinforcing it.

The behemoth goes about it's business. It lashes out with a massive leg, sweeping down another building. Metal components from the buildings frame and contents stick to it, enlarging it's leg, as does a nearby car and several parking meters.

Extra info:
~ Monster is about 3-4 stories tall, and growing as it collects metal from the wreckage.
~ It's made of metal, mostly copper pipes and steel girders/bars at the moment.
~ The missing Crimson Heart is at the core, and seems to be powering it. If the construct starts to take significant damage, it will form a force-field.
~ It acts magnetic sucking up any metal, but does not obey the laws of nature as humans know them. Attempts to use electricity and magnets against it will likely fail.
~ Superman can probably lift it, but since it will fight him and probably fall to the streets below causing more damage/danger, that's ill-advised.

 

[Vern]

Cyborg - Vera Yang
Location: Golden Jewelers, The Bronx, New York
Time: 6:35 PM

As Vera swings through the city air on her personal, metallic Tarzan-vine, her left arm twists itself into the shape of a metal gun with glowing red markings. With a childish whooping that contrasts somewhat disturbingly with the activity she is currently engaged in, she opens fire on the gathered thugs bellow. The sensors in her eye whirr into overdrive as they attempt to account for her every calculation, and her arm twitches wildly in a seemingly erratic pattern as it attempts to correct for her speed, the recoil, and all sorts of other factors. The instant she nears the anchor of her hook chain thing, she pulls it out of its current position and launches it to another one, keeping up her rather showy and eye-catching 'flight'. For this to work well, she'll have to draw attention to herself, and thankfully, being a human robot with glowing eyes is pretty handy for that.

Nevertheless, the blinking crosshair in her vision is steady, and while there are a few near misses, most of her shots hit their targets. The red lasers cut through the metal of the thugs' guns, and occasionally slice holes in their arms and hands. Most start scrambling for cover, but a few braver ones open fire at the new, flying threat. Vera ignores the bullets, allowing them to whiz past her harmlessly - none had experience shooting at flying, laser-gun-toting cyborg humans - and opens fire at the attackers. They too quickly scramble for cover.

She takes the opportunity to perch on the wall of a skyscraper after digging her hands and feet into the cement of its walls, looking kind of like Spider-Man. Beetle Boy seems to be doing fine, and while she couldn't hear his scarab talking - the device seemed not to trust her - Javier seemed confident enough, even going as far as to ask if she could manufacture a fake ID, to which she gives a cheery affirmative. It's kind of funny how casually two superheroes agree to break the law. After taking stock of the wounded cannon man's position and deciding that it should be safe, she turns her attention back to her own job. That should give him a clear enough path. she thinks, looking at the scattered thugs, Now to draw their fire.

Her wings sprout out of her back again, and within the blink of an eye, she has already calculated her trajectory. Her legs tense and she morphs her hands and feet back into normal shape, pushing off the wall just as they begin to lose their grip. Her left hand turns into liquid and reassembles itself as a booster, which she fires off just as she's about to hit the ground, slowing her impact. The thugs scatter backwards away from her. She jumps forward immediately upon touching down, kicking a man to the ground. Her right arm, which she had reconfigured into a pistol, aims and shoots at the legs of some of the thugs closer to where Beetle Boy is, bringing them down as well. Before she can finish morphing her face into something more demonic and creating a laser sword complete the job of acting as a functionally un-ignorable, terrifying decoy, she's interrupted by the sound of a blade rending flesh.

Shiiitttt.

Whirling around, Vera's eyes automatically focus on the anomaly - Beetle Boy himself, charging into the thugs with a shield and scythe and tearing them apart like paper. They drop to the ground, either out of shock or death-ness, neither of which bode well for their continued health. Without hesitation, she immediately turns around and shoots at the man with the cannon, aiming directly for the vital organs - with such a destructive weapon on his back and left completely unattended, she could not risk allowing him to fire it again. Not with so many people still in the general area. Unfortunately, her aim chooses the worst moment to fail her, and the bullets only manage to tear through the side of his torso and graze his face - enough to cause pain, but nothing near crippling or fatal.

With a loud booming sound, the cannon fires and tears a good chunk off the jewelry store’s walls.

She watches as Beetle Boy swerves around and arcs through the air, his scythe becoming a flamethrower. Quickly, Vera runs the calculations and decides that at this point there’s not a whole lot she could do to set the previous plan back on track - her crime-fighting buddy had suddenly cut off all communications, and all she got was static. Maybe his blue machine friend was acting up, but there’s not a whole lot she can do about that either - it’s difficult to hack ancient tech. Sighing mentally, she decides to trust his (or his machine friend’s) judgement, and wing it from there.

Before she can reload the gun and shoot again, Beetle Boy swerves in the air and blasts a jet of flame towards the cannon on the man's back. The man screams and falls over, probably succumbing at last to his wounds, and the cannon clatters to the ground, still flickering with flame. Acting fast, she quickly springs forward and knocks the one or two escaping thugs (Beetle Boy had taken out most of the ones she hadn’t) unconscious - perhaps a bit too hard, but at this point there are other things more important than some random bad guy's health.

With a slightly irritated click of her tongue, Vera runs over to where her fellow superhero is kneeling on the ground, giving him a cheerful wave and then crouching down next to the cannon. She'll scold him about screwing up later, if she was still in the mood for it. Why he thought it was a good idea to torch a massive lunk of gunpowder is beyond her, but there's no point dwelling on the past. Moving quickly, she vents a decent amount of her internal coolant onto the burning cannon, putting out the flame and leaving her feeling a little uncomfortably warm - all the flashy swinging and body morphing generates a lot of unwanted heat. Normally, the coolant would do its job, but now, she'd have to wait for it to die down naturally. And get herself some new coolant - Batty probably owned a decent share, since he probably owns just about everything.

The immediate, more urgent danger taken care of, she relaxes slightly. Her hands and feet liquidate themselves, then solidify in their original shape. The store is burning, but she can't do much about something like that - the firefighters would have to figure that out now that there’s nobody shooting stuff. Instead, she reaches onto the fallen cannon and slowly assimilates it into her own body, then hops over to the fallen cannon guy and does the same with her makeshift arrows, twisting one into a set of handcuffs and slapping it onto him for good measure.

With pretty much everything under control, Vera sits down next to Beetle Boy and let’s out a contented sigh. “Hey, buddy,” she says with a chuckle, talking normally this time and giving him a friendly pat on his armoured shoulder, “You wanna get out of here? Freddy’s gonna arrive soon, and I don’t wanna be around for him to scold."

 

[Monster Guy]

Superman - Max Hudson-Moncrief
Gotham City
Evening

Max wasn't particularly bothered by being thrown into a brick wall. He was Superman, invulnerability helps with that. The brick wall didn't really take it as well. Thankfully, the building the wall was attached to the building was still under construction, and nobody had gotten hurt.

Just as Max was about to fly into the battle, he heard a familar voice call out. "Robin, Superman," Max heard Lucas say from somewhere. Although, he couldn't see him anywhere. "Stop what you're doing. Don't attack. I'll handle this, just get back home, right now."

At first, Max was excited to hear his husband. Then, he looked around, and still couldn't see him anywhere. For somebody with 50 different kinds of vision, that shouldn't be. Then the girl from before jumped down in front of him Grayson. "You heard Pops, didn't you kid?" she mocked, then sneered at him. "STAY OUT OF OUR WAY!" Luc's voice came out of her mouth, and Max frowned. That meant Batman wasn't here then. The sheer force of the young woman's attack knocked Robin down. She then took the opportunity to flee with all the stuff she stole. However, Grayson threw something at the bag of stuff, causing her to drop it and run. Then the bag exploded.

Max flew in to check in on his son. "Ohmigosh, are you alright?" He didn't get enough time to get an answer, Max felt the rumblings of an earthquake, and he immediately took his son by the wrist, and lifted him up into the sky, just as the ground was about to crack beneath his feet. "Yeah yeah, I know you don't like when your dad picks you up. Would you rather I left you down there?" Max pointed down to the streets bellow. The ground was starting to crack, buildings were collapsing, and anyone that was caught outside were fleeing in terror looking for some place safe. "I don't think so."

As they were flying, the pair came across something even more dangerous than the earthquake. It was hard to miss the giant, metal spider monster thing. It stomped through the city causing more destruction. It looked like twisted metal with a bunch of legs, and was the size of a skyscraper. Some sort of red jewel made up it's core. Police officers tried shooting at it to no avail. Metal stuff just stuck to it like a magnet.

"Well... This isn't usually the kind of thing that happens in Gotham. Usually the giant monsters attack Metropolis." Max slow came in for a landing, and left Grayson on some stable ground nearby. "Ok, well until your father gets here, congratulations you're the new Batman! I'll slow this thing down as much as I can. It seems like it might be alien in origin, so I don't know how much I'll be able to do to it. You get civilians out of here, and do whatever you think Batman would do."

With that, Superman took up to the skies again, flew close to the metal behemoth, took a deep breath, and let out icy breath from his mouth at the creatures legs, slowing down it's progress. Then, he flew around the thing, and delivered several strong punches, in different areas around the monster while it tried to break out of the ice. He may have been a fly compared to this thing, but Max was Superman. He made significant dents in the monster, but then it's red core glowed, and a force field surrounded the monster. "Ugh, seriously?!" Max groaned. Then he fired heat vision at the force field, with little effect.

 

[VampirateMace]

The Flash ~ Molly West
Location: Gotham
Time: about 6:47/4:47 pm

The road suddenly became uneven, and Molly stumbled, forcing her to make a tuck and roll maneuver to avoid injury. It kind of hurt at high speed, but it wasn't actually damaging. Rolling back onto her feet, and avoiding falling into a fissure in the road, Molly surveyed the scene. The road was a mess, she could still move pretty fast, but top speed wasn't going to be an option. At least she could get enough speed to jump some of these enormous cracks.

But there was a much bigger issue. A nasty looking metal-spider thing. It looked like it must have been wrecking the area, but now it was partially covered in ice, and Superman was punching it like a pro. Molly started over, trying to keep enough speed for an lighting bolt and to jump the gaps in the pavement, but also stay slow enough to prevent anymore falls. Unfortunately as she reached it, the core glowed and a pale red force-field seemed to go up around the spider. Superman hit that with heat vision, and Molly zipped around a couple times before extending an arm and releasing her electrical charge. Neither seemed to do any good, both fizzling on contact.

Molly zipped away, noticing Robin out just beyond the main damage zone. Unfortunately she didn't see Batman or any of the rest of the Justice League. Hopefully they were on the way. She could try to send out a call for assistance, but the emergency alert had already gone out, so hopefully they knew how bad it was here.

What they really needed now was a plan of some sort. Molly looked back at the metal monster. It's rampage had been slowed by Superman's ice breath obviously, and he'd managed to dent it with his strength before the force-field went up. She had neither of those things, and her electric attacks could not make it past the same force-field now stumping Superman.

She noticed as it stomped around some more that it picked up a nearby car. That was kind of concerning, but it told her it was held together magnetically. . . however the way it could move was, wow. . . she knew electricity could move wires, but pipes? That plus the force-field made her suspect it was something alien. She tapped her earpiece, “Guys, I'm not sure what we're looking at here, other then it seems to be magnetic. And, I'm guessing alien.” Way to go, Molly, she scolded herself, way to state the obvious. She tried to get to the point, “Er. . . Since we can't just get through the force-field, we should probably try to immobilize it. The cold looked like it was working. Maybe if we hit it with more then just Superman's breath? I can round up what I can find in the nearby buildings; but that'd have to be a hell of a lot of fire extinguishers.”

 

[Tangeh]

Robin [Grayson Moncrief]
Location: Downtown Gotham
Time: 6:45pm / Early evening

Max landed near Grayson, his face predictably displaying a father's concern. "Ohmigosh, are you alright?" Why was he so worried? He'd barely managed to do anything before the thieves fled. Grayson rolled his eyes, though they were hidden by his mask.

"I'm fi - h-hey!" Max grabbed Grayson's wrist and rocketed him upwards, and Grayson was speechless for a few moments as he got over the initial surprise and regained his bearings. It seemed another earthquake was rocking Gotham city - this one was literally splitting the pavement. People were screaming in terror as they scrambled for safety.

"Yeah yeah, I know you don't like when your dad picks you up. Would you rather I left you down there?" Max asked, gesturing to the destruction below. "I don't think so."

Point taken. Grayson wasn't going to do much superheroing buried under a pile of rubble. Even though he probably looked really stupid being dragged around in the sky by his dad. "Fine. Thanks," he said begrudgingly. "But the tremor stopped, so we need to get back to helping people." He at least took the opportunity to survey the area for possible damage points, noting several people cowering behind an overturned bus, a few frantically trying to re-enter ruined buildings to locate loved ones, and several more gesturing in horror somewhere behind them... Grayson turned and finally noted the gigantic metal monster, vaguely spider shaped, and covered in ... various metallic objects?

The aerial view was good, but brief, as Max swiftly landed them somewhere safe. "Well... This isn't usually the kind of thing that happens in Gotham. Usually the giant monsters attack Metropolis. Ok, well until your father gets here, congratulations you're the new Batman! I'll slow this thing down as much as I can. It seems like it might be alien in origin, so I don't know how much I'll be able to do to it. You get civilians out of here, and do whatever you think Batman would do." He took off to attempt to fight the behemoth monster.

Grayson nodded slowly, his focus firmly on the monster. That thing was underneath Gotham City? How was that even possible? Should they be worried about more of them emerging? He approached but kept at a safe distance. It seemed to absorb metal, and was collecting tons of it from the rubble around the city. Depending on how strong that magnet was, it could devastate the Gotham water system and cause widespread flooding if it got close enough to a main pipe. Though it was causing enough damage to buildings and cars as it was. The magnetic force - fueled by an electrical source that Grayson agreed was alien - was at least strong enough that he could feel it gently pulling his sheathed bo staff, even from this distance. His metal shurikens weren't going to help him much in this fight. He instead observed Superman's efforts while simultaneously seeking out endangered civilians. Superman's ice breath at first seemed to be working, then the monster enacted a powerful force field to protect itself.

"Please, somebody, help!" A sobbing woman with a number of bystanders standing outside a half-destroyed building garnered Grayson's attention, and he went to investigate. "Robin! Please, my son, he's trapped inside!" Grayson hastened a bet that her son wasn't the only one trapped in there. It looked like a small apartment building.

Grayson nodded swiftly. "If the monster comes back this way, try to take cover near something that isn't made of metal." 'Behind the ruins of your destroyed home' didn't sound particularly comforting in Grayson's mind, but he doubted the monster would double back here if the metal was gone. It seemed to be seeking it out. He spotted an open window two stories up and shot his hookshot toward it, grabbing the edge of the window only briefly to direct his momentum inside. He was immediately greeted by a small yappy dog - well, if he was coming back out this way, may as well make a mental note to grab it on the way down. "Hey!" Grayson called. "If you can hear me, yell!"

He heard muffled cries somewhere to his right, and began carefully maneuvering his way around the rubble. This half of the building was still standing... he doubted anyone on the other half made it out unscathed. But that wasn't a job for him to investigate; the ground crews would be able to handle emergency rescue efforts on the rubble once the monster was gone. The precarious still-standing upper levels were going to be much trickier to reach and navigate, not to mention a time crunch problem in case the whole thing went down. He swiftly brought his staff out to split a wooden door that had been too badly damaged to properly open, revealing a young woman cradling a sobbing girl who didn't look much older than two.

A man waved frantically from Grayson's left, gaining his attention. "There's another couple trapped next door. I think they're injured. There's probably more all along this hall; the building shifted so much that none of the doors can open."

Grayson nodded. "Follow me." He led the family back the way they came, and carefully lowered the mother first with his hookshot, then went back for the father (who had opted to take the small dog with him).

As he was finishing up, the Flash's voice buzzed into Grayson's earpiece. “Guys, I'm not sure what we're looking at here, other then it seems to be magnetic. And, I'm guessing alien.” Grayson didn't bother responding an affirmative. He confirmed that the monster was still a safe distance away, then headed back into the building to search for more people. “Er. . . Since we can't just get through the force-field, we should probably try to immobilize it. The cold looked like it was working. Maybe if we hit it with more then just Superman's breath? I can round up what I can find in the nearby buildings; but that'd have to be a hell of a lot of fire extinguishers.”

Grayson simultaneously pulled out his cellphone and dodged around the broken building structures. He tapped his earpiece. "Flash: hold that thought." According to the Justice League app, the emergency alert had been sent out. A few extra heroes had responded to it, but not the two he had in mind. He paused a moment to break down another door, then tapped a few buttons on his phone as he entered the room, spying a couple curled up in the corner amidst several blood splatters. The woman was crying, though it seemed to be the man that was injured - a bad gash on his leg. Nothing life-threatening, didn't seem near any major arteries, but definitely something that required medical attention. Grayson tapped his earpiece again. "Cyborg, Blue Beetle, do you copy? We need immediate backup in Gotham. Repeat, requesting immediate backup. An alien metal spiderlike-monster is wrecking havoc and then only thing that seems to be slowing it down is Superman's ice breath. Could use two more ice blasters here." He had hurried into the bathroom while talking to grab some towels for a makeshift tourniquet / bandage, and was now coaxing the man up with help from his girlfriend.

"There's a little boy next door who's all by himself," the woman explained in a rushed panic. "His mom works this time of day, I'm supposed to be the one to check up on him in case of emergency, but I couldn't get the door open..." Okay, that was probably his original target there. Hopefully he could clear the rest of this mess up and regroup with the others to more effectively plan everything out...

...​

Blue Beetle [Javier Melendez]
Location: Golden Jewelers, The Bronx, New York
Time: 6:45pm

Javier shakily observed Cyborg assimilating the fallen cannon and arrow, as well as twisting one into makeshift handcuffs for the thieves. Was she mad at him? Javier couldn't tell. There was no point in scolding the Scarab - she simply was unable to comprehend what it was she had done wrong, and arguing with the voice inside his head just led to frustration in his experience. He was expecting a scolding when Cyborg was done cleaning up, but instead she sat down next to him with a laugh. “Hey, buddy,” Cyborg says with a chuckle, giving him a friendly pat on his armoured shoulder. “You wanna get out of here? Freddy’s gonna arrive soon, and I don’t wanna be around for him to scold."

Javier's expression changed from guilt to confusion to joy in a matter of seconds. "Hell yeah! Hey, sorry about this mess... el Bicho got jumpy at the end, I still can't control her properly sometimes."

[There's been an emergency transmission from the Justice League HQ while we were preoccupied. Recommend checking the alerts.]

"Huh?" Javier asked, but didn't have time to check it before another voice cut across the Justice League radio system.

"Cyborg, Blue Beetle, do you copy?" It was Robin's voice. He could prominently hear crying in the background, and more faintly the sound of sirens and panicked yells.

"Si, Chico. What's the matter?"

"We need immediate backup in Gotham. Repeat, requesting immediate backup. An alien metal spiderlike-monster is wrecking havoc and then only thing that seems to be slowing it down is Superman's ice breath. Could use two more ice blasters here." Javier met Cyborg's gaze.

[End transmission.]

"An alien metal bug..." Javier grimaced and glanced pointedly at his own back. "Friend of yours, amiga?"

[I do not have contact with the worlds outside of earth, due to - .]

"Sustained damage, yeah yeah, it was just a joke." Javier looked at Cyborg. "Things sound pretty bad over there. Looks like we'll have to cut the hangout short." He stood up and the Scarab reconfigured itself into a jet pack with sleek blue wings. He grinned. "Back to business."

 

[Vern]

Cyborg - Vera Yang
Location: Jewelry Store, New York
Time: 6:45 PM

"Hell yeah!" Beetle Boy says, somehow managing to switch from guilt to joy in the blink plan eye, "Hey, sorry about this mess... el Bicho got a little jumpy near the end, I still can't control her properly sometimes."

Vera nods and looks over her shoulder at some of the thugs lying on the ground. While they were being bundled into ambulances and bandages were being applied, she knew at a glance that one or two would probably not be getting up again. After about a millisecond of deliberation, she decides not to bring it up. "Don't worry about it." She says with a yawn, "I was a lot worse than you when I first started out. Anyway, next time your machine friend doesn't like something, just tell me, and we'll change plan."

[Okay, Machine Friend?] she adds, transmitting to the Scarab, then rather absent-mindedly switching back to talking, "Oh, right, I forgot - this one guy I mooched a drink off told me to tell you he liked your armor. Thought it looked badass, or something." She laughs. "Tried telling him mine was cooler, but he said it just didn't have the same appeal. I'm a little jealous, to be honest. Anyway, we should really get to that bar thing bef-"

She's interrupted by a loud beeping sound, followed by some red text that quickly scrolls over her vision - [Emergency transmission from Mini Batty], quickly followed by [Priority: Really freakin important.]

Besides her, Beetle Boy also seems to have received the message, and was asking the sender what the matter was.

"We need immediate backup in Gotham. Repeat, requesting immediate backup." Vera took a split second to dig through her database and verify that it is indeed Robin. "An alien metal spider-like monster is wrecking havoc and the only thing that seems to be slowing it down is Superman's ice breath. Could use two more ice blasters here.” With the sound of crying and explosions in the background, the transmission ends. She glances over at Beetle Boy, who returns her look, then pushes herself into a standing position.

"Things sound pretty bad over there.” Beetle Boy says, standing up. His armour reconfigures itself into a jet pack with sleek blue wings. "Looks like we'll have to cut the hangout short. Back to business.”

“Oh come on,” she mutters, rather unnecessarily making a stretching gesture with her arms as her own pair of metal wings sprouts from her back. For something like this, it would be better to conserve energy. A jetpack was flashier, but wings got the job done just as well - especially if you added in a propeller or two. “I was looking forward to taking the night off as well…” She gives them an experimental flap, testing the strain on her motors. With her internal coolant largely used up there existed the danger of overheating, but that shouldn’t come to pass as long as she doesn’t try anything too crazy. It’d be easier if she could just ice-blast her own motors, but unfortunately, using a device designed to cause maximum damage to enemies to cool her own systems isn’t exactly the brightest idea. “All right!” She grins, lifting her body off the ground with a few powerful flaps of her mechanical wings, the four helicopter-like propellers embedded within them whirring to life, “Let’s get this show on the road.”

[——][Some time later I guess][——]​

As Gotham city springs into life around her and the metallic monster looms into view, Vera slows to a stop and hovers in place, taking stock of the situation. Her scanners quickly identify the presence of both Superman and the Flash, then somewhat belatedly picking up Mini Batty’s signal from further away from the damage zone. Her sensors could only show the Flash as being in the general vicinity, knowing better than to try to track her actual position given the speed at which she moves, but Superman’s signal can clearly be seen flying in the air, attacking the monster.

She glances over her shoulder to look at Beetle Boy, who had flown here along with her, letting out a gleeful whoop. Having idolised Superman ever since she first picked up some comics in a trash dump, the prospect of meeting and working alongside him in person made her oddly nervous. “Woo! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” she laughs, “I can’t believe I’m finally meeting him. Hey, Beetle Boy - you wanna go ask him for an autograph after we’re done here?”

Her momentary burst of enthusiasm over, Vera quickly moves to disable a couple of her emotional circuits, partly in order to prevent any potential embarrassment, and to ensure that she was running at optimum performance. There was a time for nervousness, but now wasn’t it. The wide grin on her face is quickly replaced with a less wide, but still cheerful one, as the metaphorical butterflies in her figurative stomach are terminated without remorse. There’s something incredibly convenient about being able to mess with your own emotions like that.

[Hey, Robin! Hi Flash! Good evening, Superman!] She says, transmitting directly over the league’s intercom and taking care not to call Robin 'Mini Batty' when he could hear it. She wasn't sure how the kid would take that - the guy probably at least had some sort of self esteem issues, with both of his dads being so powerful and famous. [We’re here. Is the plan to just keep shooting ice at it until it stops moving, or do we, uh, have something more concrete?]

 

[Monster Guy]

Superman - Max Hudson-Moncrief
Gotham City
Evening

Superman's heat vision wasn't doing a thing to break this spider monster's force field. Meanwhile, cars and other random metal objects were flying overhead, magnetically drawn to the thing, and making the creature bigger. Max knew he could destroy this thing with ease if it weren't for the force-field.

"Guys, I'm not sure what we're looking at here, other then it seems to be magnetic. And, I'm guessing alien.” The Flash's voice said over Max's earpiece. By now, that was an obvious fact. “Er. . . Since we can't just get through the force-field, we should probably try to immobilize it. The cold looked like it was working. Maybe if we hit it with more then just Superman's breath? I can round up what I can find in the nearby buildings; but that'd have to be a hell of a lot of fire extinguishers.”

Max tapped on his own earpiece. "There's an idea. I'm not sure we can get that many fire extinguishers, but we can definitely get more help with this." With that, Max took out his special dog whistle, and blew it.

None of the humans heard anything, but moments later, a white dog with a pink cape tied around it's neck, and Superman's logo on the collar came flying in to greet his owner. "Arf! Arf!" He got really close, and started licking Max's face.

"Aw, you're such a good boy Krypto!" Max giggled. "But now is not the time for games. We need your help." Max gestured to the giant metal spider monster the Justice League was having trouble beating. Krypto turned around, and started growling at it. Not that this thing was remotely intimidated by a relatively small canine growling at it.

Soon more Justice Leaguers started to arrive. There's was the Blue Beetle kid, and Cyborg. [Hey, Robin! Hi Flash! Good evening, Superman!] The voice of Cyborg directly transmitted over his earpiece. [We’re here. Is the plan to just keep shooting ice at it until it stops moving, or do we, uh, have something more concrete?]

Max simply shrugged his shoulders. Planning things was usually Batman and Robin's area of expertise. Still, Batman was nowhere to be found. What could he possibly be doing with that metal monstrosity running around Gotham. Max was going to have a very serious talk with his husband when he gets home. "Shoot ice at it guess. It's the only thing that seems to be working. I've tried everything I could think of! Just... be careful not to freeze any civilians while we're at it... Speaking of being careful, Cyborg, don't get close to that thing. It's also a really powerful magnet." He warns as he points to a random car flying overhead, and getting stuck to the metal spider along with the other metal objects. "We wouldn't want you getting caught in that."

As Max was talking, Krypto was happy to see another familiar face. He flew right up to Robin, and happily licked his face too. "Arf! arf!"

Max giggled at the sight of it, but he knew this wasn't the time for this. "Come on Krypto! You can play later. We have something to do!" Max called out,

The Superdog barked, and flew back to Superman's side. Then, the two placed themselves in strategic locations close to the monster, then exhaled their icy breath.

 

[Tangeh]

Robin [Grayson Moncrief]
Location: Downtown Gotham
Time: Evening

The building trembled unsteadily, its weakened supports groaning their failure. Grayson smacked the last door down with a few strong blows from his staff and sprinted inside. He quickly spotted two eyes staring at him in terror from underneath a wooden table, grabbed the boy's arm, and turned to double back out the door. The shaking increased in intensity, and Grayson skidded to a halt, and in one swift motion grabbed a shuriken and spun to toss it at the window. He began running at the window even before the explosive had gone off, prompting confused cries from the child he was half-carrying by this point. He brought out with grapple and launched it at the roof, then leapt out the window seconds after it had been obliterated with a small explosion. They managed to make it to the ground with not even milliseconds to spare, as his grapple line went slack just as they hit the ground. Onlookers cried in surprise as the building toppled, and Grayson waved them back to a safer location. He looked at the demolished building with a grimace, but at least spotted the mother tearfully hugging the little boy. He'd done everything he could.

"Hey, Robin! Hi Flash! Good evening, Superman!" Cyborg's voice echoed cheerfully over the com, and Grayson felt a wave of relief that they had responded. He stared up at the sky to see both Cyborg and Blue Beetle closing in. "We’re here. Is the plan to just keep shooting ice at it until it stops moving, or do we, uh, have something more concrete?" Grayson watched them soar right past him, and followed their flight path to where the alien spider was currently rampaging. It had unfortunately gotten quite a bit away from his current position, leaving a path of destruction in its wake, and Grayson broke into a run to catch up to the others.

Max must've summoned Krypto, as the family dog-slash-sidekick spotted Grayson, and quickly became distracted by the familiar figure. He barked joyously and jumped up to lick his face. "Down boy," Grayson scolded. Max called him back, and Grayson ran over to join the fray. He wasn't able to safely get any closer to the spider himself, so grappled himself to a still-standing building then ran up the outside stairs to at least get a better view from the top. He grabbed his smartphone and quickly used the tracker to take note of everyone's positions, then tucked it safely away as he felt the magnet pulling at it.

Grayson tapped his earpiece. "Guys, listen up. We need the ice evenly distributed if we're going to stop this thing for more than a few seconds. Superman, you and Krypto hold position." It was best for Superman to be closer to the beast, as he could easier dodge away if needed, and Krypto was a small target anyways. "Cyborg, aim for the top, and stay as far up as you need to so the magnetic force doesn't pull you in." Cyborg becoming a part of the alien spider would be nothing short of a disaster, but he trusted her to know her own limits. "Blue Beetle, aim for the back, where the others aren't aiming." The back of the creature should be the safest area for the rookie, and the triangular spread should give them even coverage of the beast. "Flash, once its frozen, you need to get to the core while the force field is down. If you can't remove it, destroy it, but I'm pretty sure it'll come right out." The behemoth was very protective over the core, so it was likely its power source. If removed, its brief, but destructive rampage should be over. He could see that the beast was starting to hesitate already from Superman's ice breath. "Cyborg, Blue Beetle, now!"

...​

Blue Beetle [Javier Melendez]
Location: Downtown Gotham
Time: Evening

Javier didn't often get to leave New York for an emergency mission. Well, okay - this was the first time that had ever happened. He was nervous and curious and pumped up all at once. The Scarab's tracker slowly picked up on the location of their three teammates once they were within range, and Cyborg let out a gleeful cheer. Cyborg actually seemed even more excited than he was. Wasn't this par for the course for her by this point? Maybe official Justice League business was rarer than Javier originally thought. “Woo! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” she laughs, “I can’t believe I’m finally meeting him. Hey, Beetle Boy - you wanna go ask him for an autograph after we’re done here?”

"Autograph?" Javier asked in amusement. Okay, so Superman was really freaking cool, but they were also all members of the Justice League, weren't they? Definitely not cool if the public saw them asking for autographs from their own teammate. "Gonna have to pass on that, amiga. But, yeah, this is pretty awesome." Thank you, ice cannons!

[Approaching danger area. Do not get too close to the alien apparatus.]

"Got it," Javier responded lightheartedly, soaring at a safe distance to investigate as Cyborg tried to radio in to figure out the plan. Superman had summoned Krypto, and he had to admit, it really was like something straight out of a comic book. And now he was living it!

Robin came on the communicator shortly after, and started giving them more concrete instructions. "Blue Beetle, aim for the back, where the others aren't aiming." Javier circled around the machine. None of the sides really looked like 'the back' to him. He hesitated, wondering if he should ask for clarification. "Cyborg, Blue Beetle, now!" ... Okay, no time for that - he observed where Superman and Cyborg were aiming, then configured his armor into the ice blaster and fired at the open area. He'd never actually used the ice cannon before, but he made a mental note to try it out more often. The bug slowed down as the frigid temperatures took effect, and then it stopped moving entirely.

"Flash," Robin's voice spoke over the radio again, "now!"

 

[VampirateMace]

The Flash ~ Molly West
Location: Downtown Gotham (NJ)
Time: Evening

Molly dashed around the construct, trying to get a better look at the monster. Robin's voice buzzed over her earpiece, “Flash; hold that thought.”

“Got it Wonder Boy,” commented Molly, glancing at where she'd last seen Robin. He wasn't there, probably he'd found someone to help, he was good at that. She ought to see what she could find and who she could help while she waited for a plan. She ran through a half-standing building, snagging the first-aid kit and defibrillator off the back wall as she passed. Robin was putting out a call to Blue Beetle and Cyborg now, requesting ice based back-up. Good, sounded like the kid had a plan. Made sense, he was Batman's kid after all.

Molly screeched to a stop where a terrified cop was pulling an injured man out of one of the fissures. She set down the kits and help him pull the man up, then gave him the kits telling him, “Here, I assume you can put these to good use.”

“You're go-going to stop this thing r-right?” stammered the cop, “B-because it's certainly ou-outside my training.”

“Yeah, we're working on it,” confirmed Molly, before she sped off, hoping the Justice Kids would get here soon. The good news was they both could fly and weren't that far away. The bad news was that she experienced time expanded compared to a normal person, and while it gave her time to help the people around the battle zone, pulling them out of dangerous spots and delivering them to the ambulances parked blocks away, it also gave her more time to be anxious about the plan.

A pink and while blur streaked through the streets. Was that who Molly thought it was? Yep, the white dog was flying overhead and licking Superman's face now. Kind of amazing that they'd had dogs on Krypton too.

Carrying a kid piggyback to the 'safe parking distance', Molly was glad to see Blue Beetle and Cyborg arriving, shortly followed by a transmission from Cyborg, [Hey, Robin! Hi Flash! Good evening, Superman!. . . We’re here. Is the plan to just keep shooting ice at it until it stops moving, or do we, uh, have something more concrete?]

“Shoot ice at it guess. It's the only thing that seems to be working. I've tried everything I could think of! Just. . . be careful not to freeze any civilians while we're at it. . . Speaking of being careful, Cyborg, don't get close to that thing. It's also a really powerful magnet. We wouldn't want you getting caught in that,” commented Superman, as he and the superdog positioned themselves. Molly passed the little girl off to a paramedic, and tapped her earpiece, addressing first the newcomers, “Good to see you. So, obviously the ice isn't going to hold it long. We'll need to find a way to immobilize it permanently next.”

Robin chimed in again, “Guys, listen up. We need the ice evenly distributed if we're going to stop this thing for more than a few seconds. Superman, you and Krypto hold position. . . Cyborg, aim for the top, and stay as far up as you need to so the magnetic force doesn't pull you in. . . Blue Beetle, aim for the back, where the others aren't aiming. . . Flash, once its frozen, you need to get to the core while the force field is down. If you can't remove it, destroy it, but I'm pretty sure it'll come right out.” Damn that kid was smart, decided Molly, the force field did seem to drop wherever there was ice, “Cyborg, Blue Beetle, now!”

Molly nodded to herself, replying,“Roger,” and rushed towards monster, circling around it and planning the best way to get to the core once it was iced over. Obviously, she was going to need to run up some slick surfaces and make some good jumps. Slowly, but surely, ice started to encrust the surface of the metal beast, and it gradually ground to a halt. Molly already knew this was her opening, but Robin shouted over the radio anyways, “Flash, now!

Molly picked up speed, leaping over a fissure and onto a raised chunk of pavement, running across it and jumping onto the monster, sliding back a little, but regaining speed as she dashed the rest of the way up it's leg. Wow, this was not easy terrain, even for a speedster. Her earpiece meanwhile slipped from her ear and clung to the beast. No time to worry about that right now, but her phone was probably wrecked too. Over a car, and across a ledge made of filing cabinets, and then up the spiraling pipes that led inward, like a real-life game of Shadow of Colossus. She could see it clearly now. The gem itself had been free floating, now encased in ice, and glowing softer then before. Clinging with one hand to a stop-sign stuck to the mammoth pipes, she vibrated the other, reaching through the ice. She wrapped her hand around the gem and pulled.

Falling. Everything was falling away around her now, crashing to the ground, as Molly scrambled to follow the pipe legs back down to the ground. She shot across the jagged road, making sure she was well out of dodge, before turning to watch the tail end of the collapse. Boy she was glad to be out of there, that would not have felt good. She looked down at the gem in her hands. The gem's glow pulsed twice, then once more, and finally went out.

 

[Vern]

Cyborg - Vera Yang
Location: Downtown Gotham
Time: Evening

Beetle Boy didn’t seem as keen on the autograph idea. "Autograph?” He asked, sounding a little surprised and a bit less enthused. "Gonna have to pass on that, amiga. But, yeah, this is pretty awesome.”

“Now now,” she giggled in response, giving him a friendly elbow on the ribs, “Don’t be a spoilsport."

That ended their conversation - there was more important things to be taking care of beyond trivial kinda-banter. Beetle Boy moved away, no doubt to scout out the monster, remaining a safe distance away from it the entire time. Not bad for a rookie. Holding her own position, Vera watched as Krypto soared through the sky to land in Superman’s arms. She smiled to herself - that’s another item off the bucket list.

"Shoot ice at it, I guess.” Superman was the first to reply to her radio call. "It’s the only thing that seems to be working. I've tried everything I could think of! Just... be careful not to freeze any civilians while we're at it... Speaking of being careful, Cyborg, don't get close to that thing. It's also a really powerful magnet. We wouldn't want you getting caught in that.” As he talked, a car flew by her, and Vera casually ducked to the side, allowing it to brush past her wings. Supes was right - even from her current position, with her not-really-magnetic alloy body, she could feel a bit of a pull towards the monster. It would no doubt only get worse as she gets closer, but if she kept a solid anchor on the buildings or ground, there shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

[Thanks for the warning!] She replies with a lighthearted chuckle, [One serving of ice cannon, coming right up!]

“Good to see you.” The Flash adds in her greeting as well, before getting back into planning. "So, obviously the ice isn't going to hold it long. We'll need to find a way to immobilize it permanently next.”

Vera descended from the sky, landing on the ground with a fancy spin, then broke out into a run towards the monster. A few civilians were staggering by, but unfortunately she didn’t have time to give them any help beyond a cheerful smile and a thumbs up, as well as a quick 'run away faster please!' to those who seemed to be moving slower than they could be. If they broke the monster and all the pieces came crashing down, it’d suck to be anywhere in the vicinity. As she ran, her right wing slid back into her back and slowly reformed, along with her right arm, into a large cylinder glowing with a frosty blue energy. Her left wing dod the same, this time forming a large, menacing-looking claw. That would be used to anchor her to whatever surface that was available.

"Guys, listen up.” Mini Batty’s voice crackled over the intercom, seemingly taking over the role of plan-maker in Batman’s unexplained absence. "We need the ice evenly distributed if we're going to stop this thing for more than a few seconds. Superman, you and Krypto hold position. Cyborg, aim for the top, and stay as far up as you need to so the magnetic force doesn't pull you in.”

[Don’t worry, I gotcha covered.] She says. With a gleeful laugh, she jumped and fired a jet of ice at the floor, soaring through the air with the help of the monster’s magnet and landing on the roof of a nearby, relatively small building. Her now-massive, clawed left hand dug into the concrete, latching comfortably onto the roof. Her feet also shifted into smaller claws, securing her grip. As Robin continues giving instructions, Vera’s brain runs calculations as she moves her ice-blaster arm to aim where she had been instructed to, eventually achieving a perfect lock. She had had no time to come up with a plan herself, and since Robin had been here for a longer time and was no doubt more familiar with the monster, it would be most efficient to just follow his commands. The crosshair in her vision stops swaying after a second or two, her body having adjusted to all the new factors in order to perfect her aim. [Hey, Robin] She calls, [I’m ready to go anytime.]

"Cyborg, Blue Beetle, now!"

The instant the command hit the intercom, Vera fired. The ice shot through the air and scored a direct hit, spreading across the behemoths body. As its movements slowed, Vera amped up the power, drawing whatever energy could be spared from all the systems she wasn’t using in order to increase the ice beam’s strength. Eventually, the beast stopped moving. Grinning to herself, she keeps shooting, deciding it would be better safe than sorry.

“Flash, now!”

In a blur of colour, the Flash dashed up the monster’s leg, leaving a trail of colour in her wake. Before Vera’s sensors could fully process what had happened, the Behemoth was already collapsing, the metal pieces falling into the ground. Guess that’s a win! She thought to herself, a grin on her face. Feeling the magnetic pull on her own body disappear, she quickly detached herself from the roof and used the metal that had been part of her claw and gun to form a protective shield over herself, blocking whatever debris that might have hit her. When the feeling of random metallic things bouncing off her silver bubble shield ceases, she retracts the metal back into her body and stands up, surveying the aftermath. She let out the breath she had been holding in a contented sigh.

[Woo-hoo!] She called over the intercom when all her systems had recovered, [We did it! Imaginary high five!]

Laughing and humming a happy tune to herself, she jumps off the top of the building and descends onto the streets below, sprinting around as she looked to see if anyone had been injured by the falling debris. No doubt people had been evacuated, and of course some of the other Justice League members would have helped in that regard, but there could potentially still be civilians who didn’t make it out of the danger zone in time. Thankfully, the area around her seemed to be clear.

[All’s clear over here.] she says, half-sitting, half-lying down on a nearby car wreck, [I think everyone got out OK. So, uh, any of you have idea what the hell that thing was?]

 

[Gamzee Makara]

Booster Gold and Skeets
Location: Downtown Gotham
Time:Evening

Booster Gold wasn't one for sudden entrances."Skeets, warn the JL that we're here.". "Should I tell them what we were doing?" Booster rolled its host's eyes. "Of course. I wonder WHY I didn't think I had to say that explicitly." Skeets made a defensive face, but quickly rebounded. "I just want to make sure you're remembering humanoid sensibilities.". Booster frowned. "Just do it.". "Alright, I will."

From what Booster could see high above Gotham City's skyline, the battle they'd been alerted to by Robin's call had carved up the area pretty bad. Booster began to think about hiring a cleanup crew and how to cut their pay legally, but Booster thought NO! I will resist my programming...but Booster wondered how the city was going to clean up this mess. Gotham's government was either corrupt or incompetent from what Batman had said in the past, so anything besides private contractors seemed unlikely.

Skeets then relayed a message to booster privately:"I sense something. Something in the wreckage that feels...wrong. Booster, have your force field up. And scan the area on the EM bands. Something's up." Booster decided to be cautious and relayed this to. "Wait until we get an update from the League. I trust your senses and knowledge, but I'd like to hear their perspective." "OK." Skeets tuned into the JL's psionic frequencies, and used his telepathy to tell them "This is Skeets. Booster and I were dealing with a fight between Intergang and the 1000 in Metropolis. Torcher and Blackguard led their sides' respective combatants. We helped the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit take in most of them, but the leaders got away. Can we have a status update? I also recommend that Booster scan the area on EM bands to check for dangerous or unknown energy emissions, as I'm detecting some troubling psionic residue from the rubble. Please respond.

 

[Schade]

✧-------------------~✪~-------------------✧
Jimmie "Jim" Carrera
California -> Gotham
Time: The Catching-up Timeline -> current evening
​

It had been a trying few hours for Jim as he had rescued people out of the burning building complex two and two at the time. Even when he was working as fast as he could, he was still scared he hadn't managed to get them all out. The fire was raging, and the smoke made it difficult to see. However, Wormboy pressed on. He knew that there were people relying on him to do this, and he was relying on himself as well. If this was the direction he wanted to go in life, then there was nothing that would stop him, not even a raging flaming inferno of doom.

After having received help from the Yellow Lantern in rescuing even more people from the fire, Superman came around to tie up the not really loose ends of the whole scenario, rescuing the rest of the workers and putting out the fire in almost an instant. It was soo cool, and Jim couldn't just sit still about it. Part of the superhero job was to be professional and cool headed, and Jim figured that that would come in due time. For now, he always got excited whenever Superman was around, and he tried his best not to act like a total fangirl, with inspirational help from Yellow Lantern. As the scene wrapped up, Jim didn't get to say goodbye to either Superman or Yellow Lantern as apparently there was more going on somewhere in the world. Jim, however, was flooded by media and flashing lenses and microphones and everything all at once. Jim wasn't used to being on Tv, but nontheless kept his trademark smile and spouted out inspirational quotes about just "wanting to help out" and all the superhero on television 101 stuff. As the crowd dispersed, Jim stayed behind to aid however he could with the first aid crew, and saw to it that all the injured workers got sent off to their respective homes, or to the hospital for the badly injured ones.

As one of the last ambulances took off, Jim decided it was time for him to get back home. It was a long drive from where he was and home, so he would better just get to it. Not all heroes could fly, as his sister had told him when she sold him her motorcycle. Though the cycle was old and well used, it still functioned the way it was supposed to, and Jim was nothing but grateful for it. He had tried getting from place to place like a huge slingshot, but that had sent him flying straight into a tall building, of which he comically fell down like a sticky slimefigure on a wall until he was rescued by another hero. He did envy the flying heroes, as they didn't ever feel the frustration of getting stuck in a traffic jam while on their way to where the action was. Sure, Wormboy wasn't a full fledged Justice League member yet, but he was pretty far up on their contact list whenever hey needed help on a case.

Before embarking on the long road home, Jim stopped at a roadside diner and sat down for a cup of coffee. IT looked like it would be a long stretch to get home, and he would need all the energy he could get. Ordering a sandwhich at the same time, he sat down by the bar, getting a few weird looks from the bartender and some of the others inside. Being a superhero was tough work, and many seemed to be surprised that Jim chose the method of traveling as he did. He should've asked Superman for a lift back then. He took a sip from his coffee, trying not to let the whispers of the people around get to him. His attention was snatched, however, when he was the surprisingly old and somewhat still functional boxy Tv in the upper left corner of the bar. The news were showing that there was some commotion going on in Gotham. Something about a huge metallic monster.. thing? Downing the rest of his coffee and firing up the GPS on his phone, Wormboy heroically ran out of the diner, ready for action.

Or he would be, if he didnt see on his GPS that Gotham city was like 42 hours of driving away. He sighed loudly, but quickly thought up a genius idea. He whipped out his phone again and began to dial in Yellow Lantern's number. It took a while, and Jim almost hung up, but he got an answer in the other end. "What!" he said. He sounded tired, and out of breath, as if he had been on a hike or something, even though it was maybe an hour since the warehouse fire.

"Hey friend! It's me, the crippling anxiety of not being able to fly wherever i want!" Jim said in a cheerful tone. "What do you want Wormboy" Willam responded on the other side. "See, so there is this big thing happening in Gotham, and i am barely out of the parking lot of the warehouse from earlier.." he was cut short on the other end. "Nononono, i just got home 15 minutes ago..", Jim cut him off again. "But I need a ride! My motorcycle can't do 42 hours in 30 minutes, but you can. Come on, pleaseplaseplasepleeeease?" Jim begged. The phone then went silent for a few seconds and he feared he had been hung up on, but Willam then responded with a very annoyed grunt. "Ugh fine. I'll be there in 10 minutes. Jim skipped with joy. "Oooh, thankyouthankyouthankyou!" K see you then" he said and hung up.
Exactly 10 minutes later, the yellow comet was visible in the sky, and Yellow Lantern landed a few feet from Jim. "We have to hurry or we might not make it!" Jim said. "Stop telling me what to do, Wormboy!" he snapped in return. "Now hold still" he then said as he pointed his power ring at Jim, who was encased in a bright yellow light. He hopped onto his motorcycle and the two took off. All the while Jim tried not to look down. He was, after all, very scared of heights.


~~~


Some time later, the flying dynamic duo landed in downtown Gotham, and it was easy to see that a big fight ha taken place, with ruined buildings, cars and general mayhem. However, it also seemed like they were late to the party. Many different heroes were here, including Superman, Robin and the Flash were standing around what appeared to be a gigantic fallen Metal monster. It was the same thing that Jim recognized from TV, and he was immediately set back by it. "See? See? I told you we should've gone left at that big cloud!" Willam barked at him before taking off. "Noooo, you're my ride hoooome!" Jim shouted as he ran after the Yellow Lantern but to no avail. He was gone. Jim sighed. Well this couldn't get any worse. Regardless, he skipped over to the others. "SO uhm... what did i miss? I just happened to be nearby.. Yeah!" he said with a nervous laugh.

 

[Sketchie]

---♮---
Lucas Hudson-Moncrief // Batman
Gotham Underground
---♮---
​

Shit.

Things Lucas should have done: 1) Stay with his family, 2) Stay at the shopping center, 3) Tell someone where he was going if he was going to leave. Things that Lucas did: 1) none of that. In fact, he: 1) left his family under the assumption that they were handling it just fine, 2) left the shopping center as an alarm had alerted him that something was happening at the museum, and 3) did not tell anyone where he was going, because he's the oldest, he's the dad, he doesn't need to. So, he hopped in his batmobile and zoomed away to the museum.

The alarm was coming from a locked safe deep in the belly of the museum, around where other special artifacts were kept. This safe, however, kept only one thing: a crimson heart. Or at least, that's what Mr. Moncrief was thinking it was. Whatever it was, it has some weird space energies coming off of it, and Lucas wasn't going to have any of that just being left for the public to find. But when Batman made his way down, down deep where the heart lay, the safe was open. Broken open, he might say, and the heart was gone.

Shit shit shit shit SHIT.

Thankfully, whoever stole it wasn't too sneaky. Inside the vault was a poorly dug tunnel, probably made by some crude machine. Clearly the only thing left to do was jump down and follow it... and that's exactly what he did. With a swoop and a cape fwish, Lucas was in the tunnel and on pursuit. He should probably have told the Justice League now where he was, but beneath the museum's heavily fortified walls and however much underground there was, no signal was going through. Oh well. He'll get around to it. Through the tunnel's darkness he relied on his echolocators, using sound to see the large cavern walls. Whatever stole the heart was big. And he had to be getting close. He could hear a rumbling, steel carving and crunching rock, and he could see a faint glow in the distance. Suddenly, the grumble rumbling stopped, and he came to a large spidery... thing. Yup. Huge. But why did it stop? Lucas tiptoed towards it. He inhaled, getting ready to inform the League, when suddenly...

The ceiling came down, the machine went up, and the floor fell out from under him.

Lucas hit the ground hard, and the world went black for a bit.

...

...

...

Shit.

These walls weren't familiar, filled with gothic architecture and... bones. Lots of bones. Is this what it was like to be dead? No, Lucas thought, Hell had to be much worse. He was good, still alive. But. Where was he? Right. That's right. Gotham city has catacombs beneath everything. He should know that. He does know that but jeez, he just fell a long way down, @Himself give yourself a break. He wriggled himself out of the rubble, standing up and dusting himself off. He could hear a commotion above, through all the rubble and rock, but he wasn't sure how long it had been going on. Well, he wasn't underneath the museum anymore...

Lucas activated his communicator. "Hello?" His voice echoed in the darkness, bouncing off old hallowed halls. "This is Batman, checking in. Can anyone hear me?"

 

[Monster Guy]

Superman - Max Hudson-Moncrief
Gotham City
Evening

The giant metal spider went down in an icy storm. and flash managed to get that gem that was powering it up. Throughout out all of this, Batman still hadn't shown up. A monster was rampaging through his city, and that husband of his was nowhere to be seen.

After it went down, he got a telepathic message from Booster Gold. Not the person who he was hoping to hear from, but it would have been rude not to respond. He called him on his communicator, because for all his Superman powers, telepathy wasn't one of them. "Hi Booster. Yeah, some giant metal spider thing was running amock. Don't worry, we already took care of it,,, Hey, have you heard anything from Batman by any chance?"

Sure enough, another call came through on the communicator, and Max was relived. At least he was still alive. A bunch of different emotions were going through Max's head as he responded. "Yes! I can hear you! Are you ok? Where the hell are you, and where the hell have you been?! Do you realize a giant spider monster was rampaging through your city? It would have been nice to have Batman around to help us. We've had this discussion about you keeping secrets before... Would it kill you to keep in touch with your husband when you're going to disappear?! Ugh, look just... stay where you are, we're coming to get you."

Max then clicked the communicator off before Lucas could give any sort of reply, then looked at Robin. "Your father called, finally! Does he disappear on you like this when you two are together?" He asked his son.

Somewhere during Max's rant with his husband Wormboy showed up, and his attitude changed. "Oh hi Wormboy! Nice of you to show up. Yeah, you missed a lot. I'm sorry you missed a lot. A giant metal spider did a lot of damage... Now, we're looking for Batman." With that, he turned his attention to Cyborg. "Cy, you're good with technology. Can you pick up Batman's signal? I can hear he's under us, but I'm not exactly sure where..."