12051/The Conqueror Cometh: He Defends

The Conqueror Cometh: He Defends
Date of Scene:	21 August 2020
Location:	Central Park, Manhattan
Synopsis:	Central Park is attacked by hundreds of evil monsters! Lex Luthor, Mercy Graves, Power Girl and Conan save the day!
Cast of Characters:	Conan the Cimmerian, Power Girl, Lex Luthor, Mercy Graves
Tinyplot:	The Conqueror Cometh

---

Conan the Cimmerian has posed:
Having spent the last few days searching for people to join his crusade, Conan has been quite busy. Now, clothed in a classy brown leather bomber jacket, white button up shirt, blue jeans and brown leather boots, he has asked for his war party to assemble. This time at a forested grove he enjoys, Central Park.

The barbarian has a black soft case with him. It's several feet long and remains slung over his shoulder as he strolls through the greenery, watching his surroundings and the people in them as he heads towards his new friend, Amir the Kabob Cart Guy.

"Ah, Conan!" greets Amir. "How are you today? You need something to eat? Since you gave me that coin last time it'll be on me. Turns out it was worth quite a lot of money!"

The Cimmerian will laugh out loud, "Good! I am almost out of both the green paper money and my coins and nowhere on this island have I found any game!"

"Game? Like hunting?" Amir laughs. "Conan, you can't go hunting in Manhattan. You have to buy your food like the rest of us."

"I have scavenged much here, from the metal barrels behind dining halls," says the big man simply enough.

While he gets some food ready for the mighty warrior, the Kabob Cart Guy looks horrified, "You... Conan... Bro... That's unsanitary."

"I do not know what that means, not do I care," he says as he takes the food from his buddy. "Many thanks, my friend. Now I must meet with my party so that we can plan our next move."

He carries his meat on a stick towards the nearby benches, looking forward to seeing who might already have beaten him here.

Meanwhile, Riath Thalm has used his dark sorcery to scry on Conan's location. Now that he knows where his enemies are he can do something about them. Moving to a teleportation circle he's drawn in blood he's joined by a team of heavily armed mercenaries whose sole job is to keep the evil wizard safe. Thalm slices his hand open, dribbling a little blood onto the circle and then he and his men reappear in Central Park, in a copse of trees. The two teenagers in there making out are intensely frightened and immediately book it as the mercenaries take up position where they can use the flora for cover.

Thalm begins chanting quietly and the sky begins to darken. Animals begin making noise and children and babies start to cry. Statues in the area begin to cry tears of blood. Rain begins to fall.

Power Girl has posed:
Power Girl flies over the city on her way to her own office, planning to put in a few more hours reviewing renevotion plans for a lab upgrade when the stirring magick causes the clouds around her to begin to darken. She's experienced enough to know an unnatural shift of weather when she sees it. A quick assessment shows the effect apparently centering around Central Park.

"That place is a revolving door of trouble," she mutters to herself, extending her arms ahead of her and jetting down to investigate the problem, finally coming to land not far away from Conan and his fellows.

Lex Luthor has posed:
Meanwhile, in a LexCorp Limo just pulling up into the parking lot, Lex is conversing with Mercy and Hope about the situation. "I don't know exactly what is happening with all of this, but we need to find this wizard so Doom can give an assessment. I don't want to rely on Conan's opinions on the matter when he himself admits to hating magic." Lex states as they stop. Just down the road, the mobile assembly truck is moving into place as well. It's far too likely that there will be a situation developing soon, after all.

Then, the sky darkens and rain begins to fall, "That's way outside projecting weather patterns, something is going on." Lex sighs, "sometimes, I hate being right all the time." Lex looks to Mercy, "Go and coordinate with Conan, he may have an idea of what's going on. I'm going to go get the suit and get an overview."

The door opens, and Lex is already walking over to the truck, a bit of distance away from the others.

Mercy Graves has posed:
While most of her time body guarding Lex is spent in clean line, sharp dark suits and high heels, even Mercy knows that when a fight is coming where she might be outclassed, she should wear armor. So, today, she's in a dark, body armored suit that is made for fighting. LexCorp technology, the armor doesn't look much thicker than your standard leather, but it's enforced against both bullets and knives. The jacket goes from her hips all the way up to her throat with a single, thin zipper up the side, giving no point of weakness on the chest or back. The pants match, tucked into combat boots made for movement. It means her various gun holsters are visible, but she's not here to play nice.

"Yes, sir. I'll keep in touch over the comms as I know more about the situation. Stick close to him." She offers that last comment towards Hope, since she was going into the field today. With a long, weighted look towards both of them, eyes lingering on Lex for a heartbeat longer, she swings out of the limo and grabs her own, rather large gun case from the back, slinging it across her shoulder.

She double times it in Conan's direction, one brow curiously lofting as she sees his food of choice. "Conan. I...could have brought you some protein bars."

Conan the Cimmerian has posed:
Power Girl's arrival catches Conan's attention. He's still getting used to people flying down from the sky. "Are you another Noble Alien, Short Cape?"

When Mercy approaches him Conan lifts his kabob in her direction before taking a bite of the meat, "Good day! I do not know what those are but if they are food then I will welcome them."

Elsewhere: when Thalm finishes his chanting manhole covers explode into the sky! Some of them even smashing into the underside of automobiles and flipping them over. Creatures begin pouring out of them, all converging on Central Park.

The monsters are about five feet tall and wide enough that it's surprising they can escape from the sewers. They have six spider-like legs, two eyes on longish stalks, a beak like a giant squid, a massive claw for their left front appendage and a mass of long tentacles on their front right, where another claw might go on a more normal beast.

People begin to flee in all directions, but some are not fast enough. The first person one of the sewer critters catches up to is cut nearly in half when the monster's claw clamps shut on him. He is brought towards the beak so that the claw thing can begin consuming him.

When he hears the sounds of screaming Conan drops his kabob and unzips the case he has with him, revealing his sword, which he takes in his hand. Looking around he sees the monstrous mollusks (possibly creepy crustaceans?) beginning to head in his direction. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people between him and the aberrations. "Best to save as many of these civilized people as we can, my friend!" the hulking fighter calls out to Mercy as he tries to put himself between a group of crying children and their parents and the swarm headed towards them. As he meets the first of the unholy things he darts past its tentacle attack and punctures where its brain should be. It twitches once and stops moving as the Cimmerian calls out to the people he's trying to keep alive, "Stay behind me! Anything that comes for you today shall meet its death by my blade!"

Power Girl has posed:
Power Girl has no particularly good idea what's going on. She's about to investigate when suddenly there are spider-beasties and an armored woman who seems rather formidably armed. Conan draws his sword and leaps his way right past her, wading right into the battle.

"I don't know who you are, buddy, but you're not the only one here who can fight," she says. She unleashes twin lasers of heat vision, slicing through one monster as she flies forward to plow another with a right cross. She'll sort out the particulars of the D&D troupe once this is over.

Lex Luthor has posed:
In the confusion, Lex slipped into the truck, and stepped onto the platform, the bulky components of the warsuit beginning to assemble around him quickly as the manholes begin to pop open.

Moments later, the suit is on, and Lex simply steps out onto the parking lot as he begins a scan of the surrounding area.

This time, he knew he would likely be dealing with a fight... and has exchanged his usual weapons for something... heavier.

He turns to where a mass of the creatures are coming from, and activates a grenade rack built into his wrist, using his targeting array to mentally paint where best to aim... and fires into them.

"I'm seeing a lot of them above. Trying to get an idea of how many are in the sewer system now." Lex calmly informs Mercy as he works on thinning the horde.

Mercy Graves has posed:
"Well shit." Mercy mutters to herself as any time for planning or organization very quickly disappears. She looks over to Power girl, giving the woman a quick nod, "Take the west side of the park, we'll try to keep the east clear!" She yells across the beginnings of the chaos. Lex, meanwhile, has a full comm stream of everything happening around her, so he can hear the orders she's trying to give to those around and the fight that's already breaking out in her area.

"I'll try to lay down surpressive fire, if you can get the civilians evacuated, Conan!" She calls back to him, never much of one for dealing with children, and her weapons had a better range. So, with a few sharp, fast dashes, she climbs up the side of one of the monuments in the park and levels the large gun she had over her shoulder. Quickly, with the discipline of an expert shooter, she begins fast, focused bursts at each of the creatures coming near the pack of children.

Conan the Cimmerian has posed:
As Power Girl lays into the monsters with her heat vision and immense power the critters come apart and quickly stop moving. Conan sees the action out of the corner of his eye as he lops off some eye stalks, "You are mighty indeed, Short Cape! I would walk with you after we slay these abominations."

The power suit's grenade is highly effective, reducing the creatures caught in the radius of the high explosive detonation to paste!

More swordplay occurs, monsters getting sliced and diced by the barbarian as Mercy provides covering fire and starts thinning the herd. "Very well, Mercy!" Conan calls out before chopping off some tentacles that come his way. "Women and children, move back towards the building. We can protect you more easily in there." It's the Tavern on the Green he's talking about. Quite the classy establishment. For now, at least.

The civilians behind Conan do their best to keep the immense warrior between them and the monsters. Just as it looks like one is about to make it through Conan grabs it by a hind leg and pulls it to a stop to deliver a sword thrust that seems to kill it. He is quite covered in pinkish monster goo by now.

Power Girl has posed:
Power Girl luckily doesn't get much bothered by blood and guts sort of things. She would pull her punch to be more controlled if these were humanoid opponents. Perhaps she should be more considerate, there are many species of creature that don't remember humans or Kryptonians in appearance, that might be intelligence and reasoned and...

...did...did that thing just slime on her face?

The resulting punch splatters one of the creatures into pits, the immense power of the Kryptonian woman unleashed. She looks back at Mercy and considers telling her not to boss her around, but the strategy seems sound enough. Still, she isn't one prone to taking orders. Nonetheless, she does as asked, sweeping to one side and trying to create a lane through which innocents can escape.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"The sewers have some sort of energy, and the creatures are pouring out of them. Good chance those are portals of some kind." Lex grumbles as he continues firing grenades... then, he activates thrusters, taking off into the sky visibly as he begins to scan for the closest concentration of the creatures without civilians in the area. In moments, he's flying over them.

His legs are straightened out as thigh plates shift, and suddenly micro-bomblets begin to drop from the sky as the warsuit begins to literally carpet bomb the horde from the sky.

"We need to work on bottlenecking them at the manholes, otherwise they'll just keep coming, and this whole field is far too chaotic for bombing runs to hold them back for long." Lex confirms for Mercy. "Minigun it is."

Mercy Graves has posed:
The high ground is ideal for Mercy. She can watch everything that's happening from most angles up here, even if she needs to hug against an old concrete horse any time she needs to move around another side of the moument. She's had harder obstacles in her life. She takes out another few of the creatures who have set their eyes on the fleeing civilians with a concentrated burst. Her gun goes quiet again, surveying what might be the most vital target now.

"The *Sewers*?? Can you triangulate where the heaviest part of the energy is so we can send Conan, or myself, into the source?" Mercy calls over her comms, between bursts of fire from her gun. She gives Conan an encouraging nod at his cheering, but she doesn't have time for small talk.

Then Lex is giving other orders. "I can proably bottle neck most of the eastern field here. It'd be easier if I was higher, but it's a big game of whack-a-mole and I've got plenty of rounds." As if to demonstrate her point, she pours fire into another group starting to spill out of the sewers. As long as civilians don't get in the way, she can cover this area.

Conan the Cimmerian has posed:
Police officers arrive to start shooting into the monster horde. Their weapons seem adequate, if barely, when it comes to stopping the threats. Unfortunately, they can't shoot them fast enough and some will quickly be overwhelmed.

Power Girl finds herself able to open up a route for the noncombatants to escape through. The menacing mollusks climb over their dead in their haste to get to the defenders and those they're protecting.

Conan works his way towards the Tavern, the Cimmerian a veritable whirlwind of death. Beasties come apart as he swings his blade but there are always more to replace them. By now a normal man would be getting close to exhausted. Thankfully, Conan is not a normal man.

The bombing run by the armored suit seems to buy enough time for the noncombatants to make their way to the Tavern on the Green, huddling together with its original staff and patrons inside the part of the building that's not all windows. Conan moves to stand guard at the front doors.

The combined might of Power Girl, the metal behemoth and Mercy have almost created a lull in the action.

Power Girl has posed:
Power Girl spins in place, creating a dervish effect that combines wind and limbs to batter at the incoming horde. She can overhear the discussions between Lex and Mercy, one of the gifts of her Kryptonian senses. She rises a bit above the field.

"Better to attack them en masse than one at a time," she says to herself and so she inhales deeply, filling out her lungs (cue remarks) and then unleashing, creating a bitter and frost-inducing hurricane of force capable of freezing the beasties where they crawl.

Lex Luthor has posed:
With Conan and company having a clear path over to a defensive position, the warsuit turns in midair, the helmet glancing to Power Girl briefly, before it flies over to one of the manholes, and one of the modules on Lex's back spins up.

Within moments, a fully modular and custom built minigun clicks into place and aims for one of the main sources of the horde.

The sound is almost deafening around him as Lex begins to fire directly into the manhole with a massive number of 7.62 caliber rounds, trying to suppress anymore of the creatures from coming out. Brass casings begin to litter the ground as Lex starts to run through the ammo drum.

Mercy Graves has posed:
Either she heard Power Girl over the chaos, or she's thinking the exact same thing. Out of pure habit, Mercy's attacks are timed on Lex's, so the moment he starts opening fire with that mini gun, she follows suit. She'll have to reload sooner rather than later but, due to disciplined fire, she's still got plenty of shots for now.

As he concetrates on the main area and Power Girl clears a lot of the other side of the park, Mercy opens fire on her eastern view. She only slightly winces at the trained but incredibly loud sound of gunfire all around, including her own. Without ear plugs over her comm unit, she'd be half deaf. Her own casings tumble to her feet and pour off of the statue on which she's taken position.

She glances just a moment towards Conan and the civilians, giving him an approving, clear sort of nod as she realizes he's gotten most of them to safety already. "Make certain they STAY THERE! Good job!" She yells across the chaos, no clue if he can hear.

Conan the Cimmerian has posed:
The sudden super blizzard causes the creatures to freeze in place, some of them actually falling apart as they struggle to move forwards. It is particularly effective against them.

Just like a hose of rounds striking one of the sources of the monsters. The minigun does a hell of a job of liquefying creatures.

Mercy's precise marksmanship keeps the other group of monsters from being able to get very far.

For the time being Conan only has a few stragglers to slay. His acute hearing picks up Mercy's shouting and the barbarian yells back at her, "None shall pass!"

Seeing as how his hordes seem to have been defeated, Riath Thalm frowns and curses in a forgotten and menacing tongue. "Return to my side, mercenaries," he says to the guys he brought with him. They do as he says instantly. Moments later the evil sorcerer works his magic and he and his retinue depart in a magical burst of energy.

Power Girl has posed:
Power Girl watches the sudden withdrawal and departure, settling slowly back down to her blue boots. She heat-visions a few of the withdrawing ones, making sure to put a kick in the behind to send the mysterious sorceror's mercenaries on their way. Not that she knows about any of that. But if you said "hey, this is the work of an evil wizard", that would totally make sense to PG.

"From the sword and such, I'm guessing you know more than a little about this, friend," she calls out to Conan, warily regarding the armored pair.

Lex Luthor has posed:
With the main threat contained, Lex finally has a moment to do an in depth and long range scan of the park... only to catch the tail end of the mercenaries and Riath departing on his sensors. He has just enough time to record them and get a clear image for upload.

When the portals fade, the minigun is repacked and the module storage for it replaced, clicking back into place on his back as the warsuit begins to fly around the park, scanning above and below for any other threats. "Seems clear."

Mercy Graves has posed:
It's not until Lex's sensors confirm what she's getting visually, that the park is clear and the enemies have retreated. Mercy lets out a little breath, giving an unhappy glare over to the mess of pink around the park where the collective fighters destroyed dozens of those strange creatures. "Disguisting." She mutters quietly.

Then, with a swing of her legs, she smoothly jumps down off of her perch. She ensures the safety is in place for her automatic rifle and she slings it back across her shoulder instead of keeping it ready to fire. Slim combat boots carry her over to where Conan and Power Girl are. Her free hand comes up now, pressing against the comm in her ear, "Is there any sign of them regrouping anywhere?" She speaks over the earpiece.

A momentary look is given to Power Girl and Conan with a respectful, curt sort of nod to follow. "Good fighting. Though, I suspect they retreated before we could finish the whole mess."

Conan the Cimmerian has posed:
"Yes!" The big man replies to Power Girl, looking her over once again. "I am Conan of Cimmeria and this..." He gestures with a hand at all of the destruction, "Was the work of my enemy, the Sorcerer Supreme."

After taking a deep breath Conan looks at his sword and swipes it quickly through the air, stopping suddenly to get as much of the goo off of the blade as possible. "Are your abilities science, magical or miraculous, Short Cape? Regardless, I wish to thank you for your help."

Pointing towards the armored suit he then calls out, "Well done, Science Giant! You wreaked much havoc this day."

Turning to Mercy, Conan grins, "Well fought! I do not think we shall be seeing any more of them this day!" He points again, this time towards police cars with their lights and sirens going, "The watchmen have arrived in force now, too. If they are well meaning people they will care for the weak so that we can bathe and drink and talk."

Power Girl has posed:
Power Girl nods, "A pleasure to meet you, Conan of Cimmeria. I am called Power Girl," she says, "My powers are a matter of heritage," she says simply enough. "No magic that I know of. I take it that you aren't precisely from around here. Swordplay doesn't tend to be a common weapons tactic. Nor does power armor, for that matter," she says, regarding these others.

"Rather fancy rigs and weapons the two of you are sporting," she says. "Impressive and effective."

Lex Luthor has posed:
"The energy is gone. I assume when the wizard left, the power source left with him." Lex notes, before he turns, and begins to fly off into the city, "I have to look into a matter." Lex states, vaguely.

Looks like Mercy is on her own to head back. At least the Limo is right there.

Mercy Graves has posed:
The woman in the dark armor reaches one hand to her ear, confirming what reports she can from the person on the other side of her comm. "Understood. I'll clean up here." She then turns back to Conan, giving him a little bit more of a smile as he praises nearly everyone who fought there. She just dips her head in gratitude. "Told you I'd come help. Looks like they've fully retreated. Doesn't help finish the situation for good, but..." Well, it was good for tonight.

Power Girl then gains her pale eyes, Mercy looking the younger woman up and down for a few moments, profiling what sort of fighter or super hero they have in front of them, "Fairly impressive yourself. Mutant or...otherwise powered?" Mercy dares to ask the woman. "LexCorp makes good protective armor and weapons. All the better to keep Metropolis safe."

Conan the Cimmerian has posed:
"Born strong? Crom has blessed you, surely," Conan says to his new acquaintance. Then he lets out a barking laugh, "I am from across the Western Ocean and across time itself! I have traveled here from the Hyborian Age in pursuit of my nemesis." He grows a little bit more serious, "Power armor is something I should like to get. I have seen both that Science Giant and Sky Man use it to great effect now."

"I shall be acquiring the weapons of LexCorp when I get the chance, but my sword still worked on this day," the Cimmerian says rather proudly. "If you stay here then I shall as well. It would be good to appear on the black mirrors as a savior of those women and children."

Power Girl has posed:
Power Girl gives Conan a thin smile, "Strong is only the beginning of it," she says. Not that she's going to brag. Well, maybe a little bit.

"Across time, eh? That would make sense. I admit, I am not as up on history as I could be," she says. "I'll have to study when this Hyborian Age occured."

Mercy is regarded warily but with a respectful nod. "No mutant, although I would unashamed if I were. Everyone is born with different gifts, after all. Why should some be punished simply because theirs are more impressive?"

Mercy Graves has posed:
Mercy stays mostly quiet while the other two are getting aquainted. She smiles a bit in some silent amusement, but also is watching Power Girl more curiously now. She nods in agreement to the woman's words, "Absolutely. A gift, when used properly to protect humanity and civilization, is truly a gift." Mercy states simply, no hate or dislike in her voice. She seems open minded about such things.

But then, she's clearly some sort of friend or, at least, supporter of the strange barbarian with them. She nods in affirmation to Conan's statement. "Your sword did well, but a few long range weapons will help when they come again. It'll be nice for you to switch between them. We'll make sure you are set up soon."

Conan the Cimmerian has posed:
"Only the beginning!" Conan exclaims to Short Cape with joy and amazement in his voice. "I should like to know you better, Power Girl! Will you join us in our quest to kill Riath Thalm?" And then there's a little explanation, "Thor, Grandson of Bor, tells me that it could be twelve thousand years ago."

Looking at Mercy he grins, "While I am in this time I shall master its weapons with your help. Until then I may need to acquire a bow."

Police start heading around to gather up people and take witness statements. A pair of plainclothes detectives begin making their way towards Power Girl, Mercy and Conan, however, apparently trying to get to the bottom of things. Fire and EMS are here, too, taking care of the injured as best they can. There are even reporters on scene. Things are getting busy once again.

Power Girl has posed:
Power Girl looks at Conan steadily, "Generally I don't favor indiscriminate killing. But we'll see just what kind of threat this sorceror of yours poses," she says. "But I've vowed to protect the people of this city...of this world...and I'll do so regardless of who the threat might be," she says.

As the authorities gather, she regards them coolly, "If you'll excuse me, I'd rather not deal with a lot of tedious questions. Goodbye for now," she says, jetting up into the sky.

Mercy Graves has posed:
"I don't blame you. Be safe, Miss." Mercy gives Power Girl a little salute, but doesn't seem like she's taking off immediately now. She looks back to Conan as the media and police start to approach. "You can either take off and I'll handle smoothing all this over, or we can start getting your story out to the media. You were a hero here today. We'll worry about a bow later on. Right now, we're going to make your name for the rest of the world."

And with that, Mercy sets her 'Public Relations' smile firmly on her features. As others are fleeing the cops, she steps over with her best face forward and practiced, calm words. She's used to dealing with the various authorities and knows all the words to manipulate them like butter. The reporters will come next, but Mercy has a long few hours of making Conan (and LexCorp technology) look like the city's darlings ahead of her.