10193/Church of the Living Hulk

Church of the Living Hulk
Date of Scene:	26 November 2019
Location:	Town Square, Riverdale
Synopsis:	After breaking downtown Riverdale free from the mental grasp of Xemnutology, Supergirl is determined to investigate the potential source of that threat.
Cast of Characters:	Doc Samson, Supergirl

---

Doc Samson has posed:
Downtown Riverdale today is decked out in colorful streamers, banners, and happily assembling townsfolk.

In the gazebo in town square, a half-dozen individuals assemble a microphone and lectern.

One of them taps the microphone and, after an initial squawk of feedback, cheerfully speaks: "Welcome, all! Thank you for joining us today as we celebrate the wonder that is ... XEMNUTOLOGY!"

"Hurray!" some of them call. "Hurray for Xemnutology!"

More flock, slowly toward the gazebo. A crowd masses, all falling silent as they move closer to the microphone.

Some pace the perimeter of the town square, waving to others. "Come, friend! Join with us in thanks. Thanks to Xemnu!"

One or two, undeterred by demurring passersby, grab the skeptics by the arm and pull them into the crowd.

Supergirl has posed:
What?! Xemnu?

The mild mannered, not super at all, Kara Danvers adjusts her glasses with a shift of her hand, her lips pursing a bit as she lingers at the edge of the crowd, her brow furrowed with all the confused furrowedness that one can expect from someone who had no idea what a Xemnu was, but really did believe that she should know about it.

And so, Kara Danvers starts into the crowd, or... sorta does. She was wearing a collared shirt and sweater, and a cute, modest skirt with stockings and mary janes.

"So um... what's Xemnu again?" she asks one of the more culty types.

Doc Samson has posed:
An older woman near Kara turns, perhaps just a bit too slowly for the movement to feel normal, and with wide eyes and a wider smile clasps her hands together.

"Oh, my darling!" she says sweetly. "Xemnu is the admiral of our heavenly church! He is peace and light, all that is and will be! We are but motes of dust in his eye. Praise Xemnu!"

"PRAISE XEMNU," a number of people nearby intone together, punctuating the woman's statement, but they do not seem to be engaged in the conversation she's having with Kara.

On another edge of the square, a teenage boy is dragged into the crowd. "No! No! Help me! Help--" His voice is cut off abruptly, and several moments later he can be seen and heard joining in the statements of praise.

"You should join us, my dear," the older woman says to Kara. "We have punch and cake near the gazebo." She reaches out toward the girl with a calm, inviting hand.

Supergirl has posed:
Momma Danvers didn't raise no fool.

Kara Danvers adjusts her glasses again, pursing her lips somewhat as she keeps her eyes on the older woman. Not that she was going to be upset about strange aliens or other things pretending to be human.

Because. You know.

"It sounds just a teensy bit like a cult, you know?" she says.

"Especially with the whole, you know, chanting thing," she says. "So I gotta ask, um..." Superhearing tickles at the edges of her senses, the boy calling for help, turning to a droning chant.

A pause more. "Sure. Let's go see the punch and cake!" she says, giving a bright smile to the woman.

Doc Samson has posed:
With a lighthearted chuckle, the older woman waves her hand in a jovially dismissive manner. "Oh, pish-posh, my dear. We're just an outgoing bunch, is all. Come and see."

For just a moment as she finishes the statement, the woman's tone changes to something far more ominous, but then quickly recovers her composure.

"Just this way..." she says, attempting to lead Kara into the thick of the crowd.

"Xemnu loves us all."
"Xemnu cares for us."
"Xemnu knows what is best."
"Live for Xemnu."
"Toil for Xemnu."

A repeated flurry of statements can be heard--but no one in particular seems to be saying them aloud. Also, they all sound like the same voice is saying them, but it's not the person currently at the microphone (although he is speaking at length and enthusiastically about Xemnutology, supposedly a way of life meant to guide mankind to the stars).

Several others nearby turn to regard Kara with toothy grins. "Be one with Xemnu and elevate your spirit!" a ten-year-old pipes up.

The teen who had been fighting takes a large bite of cake, his eyes glassy.

Supergirl has posed:
And ever so non-chalantly, Kara starts to reach closer and closer to the stage, her head tilting a bit to the side. The weird way that the voice was... coming from everywhere probably confused superpeoplesenses, and she kinda narrows her eyes, looking this way and that.

Although her need to look like a hapless teen causes her to smile kinda goofily again, looking back to the woman - and indeed, everyone that was smiling at her.

"Oh, golly gosh! I sure wish I could meet Xemnu!" she says.

"He sounds like a great guy!" she says.

Doc Samson has posed:
"Oh, gosh, dear, me too!" the woman responds.

The ten-year-old nods happily, his eyes wide and pupils dilated. "It's my greatest wish," the child says.

Sitting on the gazebo a few feet from behind the current speaker at the microphone, a man whose features might be described as 'entirely nondescript' sits, staring out at the crowd. His eyes turn toward Kara, and it seems as though a more powerful pair of eyes, alien in nature, stare /through/ him at the girl.

"GIVE YOURSELF TO XEMNU!" resonates the unfamiliar voice. "LET YOURSELF GO! LET ONLY XEMNU BE!"

The nondescript man stands, slowly, and points a finger toward Kara.

"YOU!" the voice booms.

Everyone in the town square suddenly stops and focuses their attention on Kara.

Supergirl has posed:
Okay, by now, it didn't take a great detective to figure out that something weird was going on. And that something was mind-control. Kinda sticking out her hip a little bit, Kara brings up her hand to adjust her glasses, turning her attention to the man in the crowd.

Man, it was kinda hard to maintain a secret identity.

As he points, and the crowd turns towards Kara, Kara brings up her hand to point a finger at her own nose, trying out a surprised look. "Me?" she asks.

"Hello! I'm..." A pause. "Allison. I heard there was cake?" she says, her stomach flip flopping in the wake of the poor brain controlled child.

Doc Samson has posed:
"INDEED," chant people seven-deep around Kara, causing a few to blink and shake their heads.

One's nose starts bleeding. "What the...?" he mumbles before his eyes flutter and he stares again at Kara with the rest.

The nondescript man on the gazebo clutches his temple, but he maintains his gaze.

"Everyone, let's welcome Allison to our flock! Our crew, as it were," she says happily. "Why don't you come with me to the stage and introduce yourself?"

"YES," half the crowd chants, and more act oddly, like they're coming in and out of consciousness. The man on the gazebo stage's lips move with the statement.

"COME ... CLOSER ... TO XEMNU," the internal voice shouts. "LET GO ... OF YOURSELF."

The older woman all but claws at Kara's arms in an attempt to drag her toward the gazebo, where the nondescript man waits, his glare not even remotely masked or obscured.

Supergirl has posed:
And Kara kept that goofy little smile on her face as she was ferried around by the old woman's arm, and eventually, 'Allison' ends up on the stand, bringing up her hand to kinda brush a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"Well..." she says, her eyes looking around the crowd - and it was at that moment she spies at the obviously not glaring man.

He was glaring. And she was X-ray visioning, checking for vaguely human boney structures. More or less. It wasn't 100 percent great and she wasn't a doctor but if he was a blob person it'd show up.

It was then that she realized that that internal voice? Maybe it wasn't /so/ internal. "Closer to Xemnu," says Kara in time to the internal voice, bringing up her hand to kinda cover her mouth as she continues towards the stage.

Doc Samson has posed:
As Kara approaches, the throng steps closer, literally crowding her so that there's only a somewhat comfortable path to the gazebo itself, people on every other side of her.

The smiles grow wider, but their warmth has definitely cooled.

"COME ... TO ME!" shouts the voice.

The man on the stage leaps forward, his hand grabbing for Kara.

So do the hands of everyone else around, trying to restrain her arms.

"XEMNU SPEAKS THROUGH ME!" the man bellows, the voice a faint echo of the intonation heard but not spoken before. "ASCEND THROUGH OBEDIENCE! BRING THIS ONE TO BE REBORN!"

As the crowd attempts to follow his command, the nondescript man's nose starts bleeding, and he clenches his eyes shut for a moment, his teeth gritted.

Near the opposite end of the crowd, one or two people seem to regain consciousness. "What--what's happening?" one asks quietly.

Supergirl has posed:
Oh, wow. So this was getting really kinda awkward at this.

Kara /could/, of course, just knock all of these people head over heels like a bunch of balloons, but that would be awful and kinda villainous and that wasn't like her at all.

But no matter how many of them were tugging, she wasn't budging at all. It was kinda weird.

"Help!" she calls out, her voice lifting up just enough to cause problems. And the SCREAM! That she screams afterwards - well, it was human in pitch, but maybe it would be enough to kinda let the people on the outskirts know the situation was getting kinda bad in here.

But Kara keeps her eyes on nondescript man, a somewhat knowing look in her eyes.

Doc Samson has posed:
The crowd's members waver in response to Kara's scream, their eyes gaining focus enough to look at her and the immediate surroundings for a long moment.

"What?"
"Wha--where am I?"
"Someone ... in trouble?"

As their consciousness returns, even temporarily, their hold of Kara also lessens. Many stagger, staying upright only by virtue of the closely assembled mass.

The nondescript man snarls, his white-knuckled fists held against his chest.

"YOU ARE NOTHING ... WITHOUT ... XEMNU!" the voice intones deeply.

The crowd shudders, but people shake their heads and frown.

"No--no thank you," one calls out.

Another laughs in response. "Yeah, no. What is this mess?"

"Xemnu sucks!" someone else offers.

The nondescript man relaxes, passing out. He falls forward.

Supergirl has posed:
Xemnu did, indeed, suck eggs.

As the scream causes people to start to waver around, her eyes glancing around as she feels that internal voice leave her alone. Stepping forward - it wasn't exactly crazy dizziness, but she wasn't someone who actually ever felt dizzy, so even the mild dizziness was enough to cause her to list forward, grasping her forehead.

"Wow, um..." she says, looking to kinda prop up one of the more tottery looking people. "Is everyone alright? I saw a couple little kids around here!" she exclaims. And she was nonchalantly kinda shuffling towards the nondescript man as she goes.

Doc Samson has posed:
The nondescript man collapses on the gazebo floor, only a soft groan emanating from his lips. It sounds, perhaps, like a muffled "Xemnu, help me..."

The crowd continues to collect its senses, and the assorted members begin looking for family members and friends that might be about. An even friendlier atmosphere begins to pervade the town square, although most seem suspicious of the cake and punch.

Some of the crowd members announce they're first responders, and they begin addressing the concerns of those whose physical symptoms suggest worrying dizziness or confusion.

The intrusive presence of Xemnu, though, is utterly absent.

Supergirl has posed:
And so, as it was, that Kara Danvers, after helping people out - goes to kinda kneel by the nondescript man, and under the guise of 'taking him to the hospital', actually ends up wooshing him, when she can, to a nearby hillside, away from people.

Unless deer ticks are people, in which case, she put a lot more people in danger.

And of course she would woosh into her Supergirl outfit somewhere along the way, too, and kinda let him wake up as needed.

Doc Samson has posed:
"Mnuhhhh," the man groans as he's placed on the hillside. "Zerrrmmmm."

After several minutes, he comes to, massaging his temples and scowling. "Unghh. My head. What the ...? Where am I?" The man looks around, squinting.

"Superman?" he asks quietly. "No ... Supergirl? What happened?"

The man slowly pushes himself up by his elbows to sit upright on the ground.

Supergirl has posed:
And Kara Zor-El - nay, ~Supergirl~ - hovers some distance away from the man, her blonde hair, cape, and skirt fluttering in the cool mountain breeze.

"Hey there. I hope you feel better - but... Xemnu happened. And I was hoping you could tell me a little more about that?" she asks, tilting her head just so to one side. Her smile grows a bit wider. Confident, toothy. Friendly.

Doc Samson has posed:
The man rubs his forehead and clears his throat. "No ... I don't think I can. What's Xemnu? Is it contagious?" He examines his hands.

After a few moments, the man coughs and adjusts his tie. "I'm just a door-to-door salesman. Last thing I knew, I was taking a pit stop at a diner to recaffeinate. Now, I ..."

The man looks around. "Where /are/ we, anyway? I guess not Rexburg."

Supergirl has posed:
A pause then, as ~Supergirl~ kinda assesses the situation. "Which diner was it? Could you tell me?" she asks.

It's like Barbara was kinda teaching her, once upon a time. /Detective Work/.

"It's okay, though, I can fly you back to where you need," she says, holding out her arms. "I think something fishy is going on, and I'm going to find out what!" she promises him.

Doc Samson has posed:
"Hmmm," muses the man. He fishes in his pockets for a beat before presenting a rumpled receipt.

"Looks like it was the Double R?" the man says, unsure, as he reads the receipt.

"That /sounds/ right, but I honestly don't remember it as clearly as I should..." He pauses. "Are we even /close/ to Rexburg? I'm probably so fired."

Supergirl has posed:
"It doesn't matter," says Supergirl. "I'll talk to your boss, and sign an autograph or something," she just about chirps.

"I um. If you have the google maps, and kinda guide me around, we can scoot scoot over there," she says.

And thusly, Supergirl would take the man back to the diner, or whereever he wanted, really.

But this Xemnu guy? She wasn't going to leave /that/ alone!