1942/City of Starros

City of Starros
Date of Scene:	12 August 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Aquaman, Stargirl, Ravager, Superwoman, Phoenix, Juggernaut, Aqualad
Tinyplot:	Starro Invasion

---

Aquaman has posed:
Shamokin Pennsylvania, a small town of about 7,000 people is rather rural, with vast fields, and rolling hills dominating the landscape, and only 162 miles from New York City. This is the location where strange sightings have occurred, unusual behavior, reports to the governmental hotline, and an Instagram picture of a woman, with something that looks like a starfish on her face, holding out another Starfish towards whoever was taking the picture, appearently.

All signs of worry, given the announcement put out just the night before, and even more troubling for any who might actually be familiar with the entity(s) known as Starro. The scene unfolding currently is centered upon a farm, farmhouse, barns, and outbuildings in a loose cluster, with a field surrounding it, and a long dirt road leading towards a county road that heads right into town, only a few miles away. It is late in the afternoon, moving on towards night, though the sun remains still in the sky, providing plenty of illumination. Several people have begun gathering here, walking in from the fields, or down the road. There are maybe two dozen people so far, all with one of those strange starfish clinging to their face.

Stargirl has posed:
Courtney saw that Instagram picture, and though she had no idea what the heck the starfish things were, it seemed enough like something real that Stargirl should check it out. So, she suited up and jetted out Pennsylvania way. Pretty soon she finds herself over the farm, and then the people. She drifts down to near head-height, not seeing the Starros on their faces. "Is everything alright? Hello?" Luckily, she always has a forcefield going at times like this.

Ravager has posed:
Riding down the country lane on her kickass motorcycle, Rose Wilson slows down so she can flip up the visor on her kickass helmet and look to the left. She squints because of the fading light and probably doesn't understand what she is seeing nearby.

"I have to call you back, there's some zombies in a field or something. I knew I should have checked the internet before using this ****** road. Weird," she says in her microphone and then taps her wireless communication off. She kicks up some dust as she makes a sharp turn toward the farm.

Superwoman has posed:
    Faora- Superwoman- had heard of the oddness occurring in some podunk town in Pennsylvania. Some tiny town, that was barely worth the time of day for most. For now, she was scanning, sitting meditatively below- trying to gather what information she could. Her legs are crossed and she takes a slow deep breath, listening and watching from her place high above the town, hidden in the clouds. People in a field, is odd. Now she watches. Quiet for now- focusing close, and scanning through with her X-Ray vision.

Phoenix has posed:
After setting a priceless piece of psi-amplification equipment on fire, Jean Grey peeled off of the Xavier School's grounds before dawn in a student's 'borrowed' Camaro.

By sunrise, she'd found a way beyond the Freeburg cordon to pick up the space parasite's trail, a brisk scan of nearby minds leading inexorably to posts scattered across both cryptozoological and local community forums related to strange starfish-sightings-- which of course brought her to the star-masked woman on Instagram.

Following a day of digging through cyber-depths and cruising around Shamokin with her many senses on alert, she is drawn inexorably along a dirt road where she eventually spots two dozen people in the distance who-- seem--

-- to be wearing-- stars-- on their faces. While taking in a bracing breath, she quickly pulls off of the road, intent on stashing the car a ways into a nearby field-- or, at the very least, getting it out of the way, if the foliage won't cooperate with giving her some cover. Once there, she waits for the woman on the motorcycle to race by before slowly breathing out, letting flame trickle out from her chest to roll over the whole of her body, burning away her De La Close Marathon shirt and jeans to leave form-fitting green and gold in their place.

Once that's done, {{STOP.}} rings in the heads of several 'zombies', accompanied by a sharply driven impulse to do just that.

Juggernaut has posed:
    The Juggernaut is in town as well. For his part, the occasional side job, be it escort work, security work, or some simple thuggery and super villain...ery..can go a long ways towards keeping a guy from getting bored inbetween larger happenings. Such a job has him taking a detour on behalf of his employer to check in on a missing shipment of this or that which apparently got caught up in whatever is happening in these parts and as such the huge man makes his way down the road, stuffed into a sizable car with his ice blue eyes hidden behind shades and peering about the area curiously.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm almost there." he rumbles into a phone, "I told you, I left late. Stop complaining and worrying. I said I'd check it out for you. Got nothing else to do.."

Further ahead he espies the odd gathering and so slowly applies the brakes while rumbling, "..Lemme call you back. Some sort of Walkin' Dead convention up ahead or something.."

Aquaman has posed:
"You cannot stop us." The group of Starro hosts say in unison towards Phoenix, eyes turning in the direction of the X-man, and several of the others arriving. The few that were targeted do indeed stop, though there appears to be a struggle for control over the host's actions between the Starro and the Phoenix as the human bodies twitch and strain against conflicting mental commands. It would seem, that everything is not alright, when Courtney queries the group, they do not respond, but the people are definitely not acting right, that is for certain.

Plummeting from the sky comes something green and gold, landing with a thump near the road is Aquaman on the tail end of a colossal leap of his, his trident in hand, and as he straightens he scans the area that has the gathering of heroes, and maybe not so heroes converging on it, "I've located them, Kaldur." He says into a communicator, "You were right about the location, on me."

Stargirl has posed:
Stargirl gasps as she sees finally the things on the people's faces. "Oh, no!" She sets her jaw. "Let them go!" she barks. "I will punish you if you don't." and she shakes her head at herself. "Too much Sailor Moon again." She considers what she can do.

Superwoman has posed:
    As others arrive, and it appears that something is about to hit off, Superwoman descends from the clouds. Draped in black, and silver, and white with a shield of her own on her chest she cuts a very different presence than Superman, Supergirl, Superboy, or even Power Girl. Her form is tight, almost military. She looks over to Aquaman. Then towards the star wearing civilians. She says nothing, her gloved hands squeezing tight. The crik of leather whining as she takes another slow, deep breath.

Ravager has posed:
Skidding to a halt, Rose Wilson stops her motorcycle as the zombies take notice of her and others in the area, "Geezus," she utters, then cusses a few choice words. She hops off the motorcycle and grabs a sword, and then grabs another sword, wielding them to ready herself to kill some zombies, "Watch out!" she calls to those near the zombies, "Don't let those zombies bite you!" she says.

Aqualad has posed:
Kaldur is strong, but he's not on Arthur's level-- gravity-defying vaults are just beyond him. But he is extraordinariyl durable and very agile; there's a roar of a twin engine and a motorcycle, sleek and angular, pulls up next to Arthur and Kaldur scrapes the rear wheel expertly to a halt.

Children, avert your eyes: Kaldur isn't wearing a helmet. He dismounts and sheds his heavy jacket, revealing a red vest and the Water Bearers, which he promptly puts into his hands.

"I do not recognize these starfish," Kaldur says with little more preamble than a short bow to his King, before falling into a step two paces behind Arthur's left shoulder. "But I sense hostile intent. Is this some invader from our realms?"

Phoenix has posed:
{{I did it once,}} Phoenix immediately shoots back. {{This time: home field advantage.}}

The part where none of the parasites she saw in the moments before her death were remotely as large as even the mid-sized members of last night's interstellar Starro-swarm, she conveniently leaves out of her retort.

Unmoving - part of her is focused on pushing bluntly against the intruding influence in her chosen hosts' minds, the rest on broadcasting; motion is a distinctly low-priority concept, just now - she flicks her eyes between Stargirl, Aquaman, Superwoman, Kaldur, and the motorcyclist racing towards the masked Pennsylvanians, then all of them hear, {{Conference call! Anyone not planning to weaponize, monetize, or otherwise abuse the alien parasites or their current hosts: let's start spitballing! Who knows what about these things? Think it real hard while I do something crazy.}}

Punctuating this last thought, she thrusts both hands forward while narrowing her focus from 'a few Starro-hosts' to 'just one, chosen at random'. Burning wings unfold within his already compromised psyche as a piece of Phoenix's consciousness seeks to hunt down the alien will seizing it. An ocean-sized Starro proved too potent, too enormously alien to effect beyond worsening its already gnawing hunger; whether the mask-sized probe will prove similarly impossible to tangle with - to control, or better yet disengage from its host - remains to be seen.

Either way, purifying flames begin to roil through the lucky(?) host's mind, sending jolts through his nervous system.

Juggernaut has posed:
    Some big cars are..just not big enough. Cain Marko, even at his most restrained and casual, is basically a wrecking ball with arms and legs and as such when he emerges from his vehicle and steps onto the road it's not unlike watching one of those circus performances featuring a ton of clowns piling into a small car or something. He tugs on his shades, pulling them down to peer over them as the various metas, supers, aliens and mutants begin making their presence known and start exerting force against the incoming horde of Starro possessed. "..Figures.." he rumbles. Either way, he's got a job to do and he begins to approach. His movements are a steady walk at first but the ground soon begins rumbling and shaking as more and more pressure and force is exerted. Crimson energy licks around his form with a crackle akin to a mixture of fire and lightning. His body enlarges, proportions freakish and bulldozer like until with a final flash of red he's fully armored. To a telepath, his presence vanishes from the psychic landscape as the tell-tale helmet locks into place. The ground rocks violently with the impact of each step as he goes from walking into a full on run towards the gathered group.

Aquaman has posed:
One of the host begins to scream out in pain, violent, terrible pain, as the battle between the Phoenix, and the Starro Parasite begins. Jean is a powerful telepath, however the Starro is physically anchored to the host. It does not disengage, at least yet. The others speak in chorus, "This will be my home. You will be my home." They respond to the Phoenix, then, the Starro's attack, firing out beams of energy from the central eye of the parasitic creature. Many focus on Jean Grey, the immediate perceived threat, but other visible heroes are targeted as well, Courtney Whitmore, and of course the Juggernaut as he begins to ramp up his speed into a charge.

"Invaders." Arthur Curry says to Kaldur, "And there are more coming, Superman found several on their way to earth. We need to make sure they do not get a foothold here? if we can remove the parasites, it should free the hosts." He says before starting to advance forward towards the gathering crowd, and the disco-lights of star's firing energy beams out!

Stargirl has posed:
"Yowch!" Courtney exclaims as the people with frickin' lasers on their heads start firing at her. Her forcefield blazes brighter as she fortifies it. She returns fire, but rather than a blast of energy she does another trick - holding out her other hand she emits a spray of energy stars at the nearest couple of people... this usually makes people unconscious as the stars pass through them and disrupt their nervous systems. "Watch out!" she calls as she notices other heroes arriving on scene. "They can blast you!"

Superwoman has posed:
    Superwoman's eyes open very slightly at the unexpected telepathic intrusion. Her eyes then narrow. She thinks simply, brusque. <"They are a danger to humanity. If they can not be disengaged from their hosts, then all must be removed. Permanently."> She is indeed no Superman- <"These are the only options."> She shifts her stance, coming to finally land on the ground. She looks quietly towards Aquaman and Kaldur, then back towards the others. "That is all I need to hear. Remove the parasite."

    She shifts to the side, a simple movement, before she drives forward- her eyes flashing as she fires back towards the center of a particular star- which ever is closest. Kryptonians got lasers, too.

Ravager has posed:
Rose Wilson dodging around some CORN, she eyes the strange situation, "This is ****** weird," she says to nobody in particular. She watches the central starfish blast at people and especially at Jean Grey, who is causing the most trouble. She dances around the next set of CORN as the laser blast arcs toward her, then glances at Courtney, who has to do some fancy dodging too. She smirks a little bit, "No kidding," she says, then eyes the nearest of the Starro people. She throws a dagger at him.

Aqualad has posed:
Kaldur jumps in surprise at the mental contact; he looks to Arthur for advice, then narrows his eyes and focuses his internal thoughts. The Atlantean is no stranger to telepathy, a common enough evolution in the deep waters. {{<If you are on the side of innocent civilians, then we are allies,>}} he concludes. {{But I am at a loss for how to aid the--}} -- he is momentarily cut off as a laser beam burns through the sky near him; with an explosion of motion, he vaults into a lateral flip, and flicks a water bearer at the starfish-faced fellow. The weapon forms a lashing whip and clings to the attacker's face, and with scapular precision, starts peeling the starfish away from the man's face while keeping it aimed safely skywards.

Phoenix has posed:
Standing out on the side of the only road for miles in a colorful costume makes Jean an easy target; her continued efforts to taunt and psychically assault the parasites makes her an obvious one.

Unfortunately, while she isn't so focused that she's completely unaware of the Star-Conquered turning their attention towards her-- there are so many beams, and trying to overcome not just an alien mind, but one that is physically bonded with its victim is taxing enough that after managing - barely - to dart and weave past the first couple of blasts to come her way, energy abruptly explodes across her belly, dropping her to her knees and leaving behind a broad, horizontal swath of seared fabric and flesh.

"Aaaa"{{hhHHHH!}} echoes aurally and astrally, even as the link warbles in and out. Years of training draw her arms above her head and her thoughts outwards-- to just a few feet in front of her body, where her determination to see these terrors gone hardens into a wall of force sufficient to absorb the blasts that follow.

{{Okay-- nnh, Jesus-- okay, what I know is: they maybe obviously need contact to spread. They're at least a little psionically active-- one of them fought-- ow-- me real hard before I got interrupted! We need-- to find a way to disengage them without killing the hosts!}}

Thanks to the chaos of starfish beams, second degree burns, and mass psi-communication, Phoenix's head is currently bowed, putting the less gentle efforts of some of her current allies out of view for now.

Juggernaut has posed:
    To his credit, Juggernaut doesn't just aim to go barreling through a crowd of Starro possessed innocents and civilians at full power and speed and mostly ramped it up slightly to finish clearing the distance between himself and the others.. and of course he also loves makign an epic entrance. The energy blasts don't seem to pose a particular issue for him as he plows right into them, briefly raising a hand up to block some as they lance against his form. His huge legs then crouch, the ground buckles wildly with a crater splintering around him from the sudden pressure...and he leaps. It's no Hulk leap of course but it clears the remaining distance and then sends him diving back downwards like a meteor and a loud roar of, "Juggernaut comin' in!!"

His legs straighten and he impacts thunderously. A loud *TWHOOOOM* that rocks the local area with the force of a full on rolling earthquake that races furiously out away from the epicenter of his impact zone. A minor quake by -his- standards but still certain to dislodge any without rooted footing or the ability to take flight.

Aquaman has posed:
The Parasite that Jean was engaged in battle with collapses, host falling to the ground, the parasite falling free from its face at a similar time to the collapse of The Phoenix, the psychic assault of the woman successful, it would seem, if taxing.

Courtney's attack of energy stars, and the focused eye-beam of Faora have far different reactions, however, the star creatures apparently absorbing the energy directed at them and returning it equally back at their attackers, in the form of potent energy blasts, nearly as potent as what was directed at them.

Rose's dagger lands on target, hitting the star creature and sinking it, causing visible injury to the parasite, though not cutting it free completely from the person wearing it.

The attack by Kaldur lands, and is able to peel and cut the parasite off of the face of the elderly fellow that it possesses, and Arthur's Trident launches at it moments after, spearing through the Parasitic host and landing in the ground not far away, the Atlantean leaping after to reclaim the weapon, just at the same time that Juggernaut bowls through the mob and lands with force, sending all of the Star-Conquered tumbling to the ground, and anyone else nearby who might be unable to brace against the tremendous force of the Juggernaut's ground pound.

Stargirl has posed:
"Don't blast them in return!" Another call of the obvious from Stargirl. "It doesn't work" Her forcefield holds, even as the Starros return fire. She doesn't bother to dodge... better they shoot at her than Kaldur or Aquaman. She alights on the ground, staff in hand. "Let's try something a little more personal!" and she reaches out towards one of the Conquered near her landing spot to thump the parasite on their face. She's strong, stronger than people realize. Strong enough to toss the Juggernaut a good way, if nothing else. She's trying to stun the creature, not cave in the host's skull.

Superwoman has posed:
    Superwoman frowns when she notices her attacks having little, if any effect. She's reeling back as she struck by a reflection of her own heat beams. "Very well. We do this physically." she states, voice dripping with venom. She scans the creatures- using her X-Ray vision, looking at them from the macro to the micro level in a moment. Scanning and learning the creature's physical nature and attempting to extrapolate its biological form against her wide and varied skills in hurting the living.

Aqualad has posed:
Kaldur's talents are not proof against an earthquake; he grunts and hits the ground, landing badly on his side and elbow. He keeps the water bearer aimed at the man's face until the parasite is peeled away, and holds the target out for Arthur to take with a swift cast of his spear.

He lunges for the old man and checks his pulse. Alive. {{Use caution, but I have removed one carefully; they use strong suction to remain attached,}} he tells the others. He summons a half-circle shield to protect him from a laserblast, the concave shape guarding his whole left side; with his right, he aims at a Starro preparing to blast Jean Grey and starts prying the parasite off again, using the subtle gripping fingers of the water in his weapon to pry it off.

Ravager has posed:
Rose Wilson frowns and doesn't seem to doing much damage to these annoying Starro people. Her dagger throwing form is flawless, and her pointy dagger precisely pinpoints the target, arcing across the air until it hits and sinks in not-so effectively. She frowns and puts a hand on her hip frustratedly, watching with no reaction from the Starro person, so she tries to walk up and punch the guy in the face. WHAP. Maybe that was a bad decision, since everybody is firing frickin laser beams, but she's right in front of the target, so any frickin laser beams will hit the target, not her. Until the target goes down, that is, which she's trying to do using repeated fists to the Starro face.

Phoenix has posed:
Gradually, the wave of deadly energy directed in Phoenix's direction subsides to a bare trickle, giving the psychic enough room to catch her breath.

And then - following the peal of what she thought was thunder in the distance moments ago - she suddenly finds herself lurching backwards and tossed about for a couple of disorienting seconds as the consequences of the Juggernaut's landing reach her. An exhaled, "Fuuuu--" accompanies a quick, short rise into the air, and she's got her head cradled and shaking as she draws herself upright.

{{Good to know!}} Phoenix transmits to Stargirl and Kaldur alike, the link snapping back to full clarity. {{Okay, so I'm gonna just go ahead and try shutting their minds down, then, because these things actually manage to get more horrible every time I see them? There's one on the ground, over-- hh--}}

Green eyes briefly squeeze shut; the location of the Starro she psychically disengaged flashes in both of their minds, and then-- she remains silent, her consciousness instead shifting towards a pair of the parasites that fired back at Faora. Attempting to draw upon her budding experience at astrally dueling with Starros, she - true to her word - assaults the two alien psyches in swift and violent fashion, manifesting burning talons that rake through the hosts' minds in an effort to grip-- to detonate the parasites from the inside out.

{{This is a vacation for you-- and it's about to end!}} she meanwhile broadcasts to the parasites.

Juggernaut has posed:
    Untroubled by the echoes of his own earthquake, Juggernaut strides forward out of the debris cloud caused by his impact and casually enters the fray. He's..really got no idea what's going on or how to properly deal with these creatures and he barely acknowledges any instructions or descriptions that are sent his way. He certainly can't hear any of the telepathic onveration that's being bandied about.

Jean, at least, he recognizes on sight. "The hell's going on here, Red?" his deep voice rumbles in her direction as he comes to a stop above one of the prone Starro-Possessed. He reaches down for poor bloke, intending grab hold of the starro by means of pinching it between two tree branch thick finger tips and pulling. "Something you folk did? Somebody's business you got into that you needed to keep your nose out of?"

Aquaman has posed:
The quick call out by Courtney is quite on point, the blasts that the Starro's fire off are not nearly as strong without the energy fed into them by the energy attacks. They are, however, able to fire off blasts from the tips of their star like tentacles, giving them plenty of flexibility to fire at the attacking heroes!

The physical attacks prove far more effective, Courtney's restraint likely prevents the man from having his face caved in, it does daze the Starro, keeping the host and Alien down. Faora's scan gives her fine detail of the connections, a strong grip and a bit of suction the main thing's holding them, and they do seem vulnerable to attacks at this state. Rose beats the Starro and man sufficiently well to bring him down, and Juggernaut plucks the Alien off with great ease.

All things considered, the Heroes and company are doing an efficient job of removing Parasite from host, especially thanks to the knock-down offered by the Juggernaut to disrupt the group. It is about the time that Jean launches her Psychic attack on the Starros that she senses a presence much stronger then the little ones, and only moments after, the Barn erupts, giant star tentacles thrusting out of the wooden roof, and the tumbling structure reveals a large Starro, about the size of a small house rising up. "I will stop you all. You will be conquered." The pummeled on mass says in unison, and the large Starro fires off an equally large blast of Energy, which Arthur Curry leaps in front of, blocking the initial strike from landing on the concentrated group of Heroes!

Stargirl has posed:
Courtney tries to peel a Starro off of the downed person, and she had turned to try and deal with another poor person but just about then the barn explodes and a giant version of the monster appears. "Cripes!" and she drifts a big up, then has a better idea. She flits over to the Juggernaut, double-quick. "Hey, They don't seem to be able to hurt you. What do you say I fling you at that big thing and you hit it hard?" She lands more fully to get a firm futting. Sure, it seems silly, but...

Aqualad has posed:
Kaldur snaps his Water Bearers close as he extricates the last of the nearby parasites; one forms a shield and the other a stout, wide blade, and he drops into a guard position at the sight of the tentacled beast squelching and bloviating out a garbled mass of words.

He ducks behind his shield at the blast of energy, but Arthur's interception protects him; Kaldur looks through the water barrier, ready to back his king if needed.

{{I have seen larger, but not on land}}, he explains over the psychic link. {{If it is like the octopus, the tentacles are water instead of tendon and muscle. Be wary-- its reach might be vastly more than you anticipate.}}

With that, Kaldur breaks into a long, loping run, low to the ground and reforming his water bearers into a pair of short choppy machetes; he waits for an opening, then lunges at one of the tentacles and slashes his weapon at it with a brutal warrior's strike.

Ravager has posed:
Rose Wilson kicks one of the downed Starro people in the ribs and then puts her hands on her hips as more of a big threat erupts from the barn, "Okay seriously?" she wonders. As the huge Starro bursts from the barn, the door separates from the building and falls on her motorcycle, pummelling it and causing massive damage not covered by insurance, "OH! Come on! What the ****?" she lets out frustratedly, "**** this piece of **** fight," she says, cussing out being helpful. She decides not to do anything else but whine or complain, letting Superwoman and the rest of the Justice League attack the megaStarro.

Phoenix has posed:
Fire erupts from two of the parasites' eyes for a beat before the appearance - physically, psychically - of the squatter in the barn takes Phoenix off-guard and brings her hands up to clutch at her skull; cyclopean eyes continue to smolder for a while afterwards. Pain and dread ripple through the telepath, and while she does her best to keep a damper on the latter, an echo of it still rolls through the non-Juggernaut minds assembled.

"No-- Juggernaut," she shouts, dropping a hand to cup around her mouth. "Why, or how would-- ugh-- they're alien parasites, from space! They crashed maybe forty-five minutes from here, last night, and they're-- I dunno if they're spawning, but they're definitely spreading! They work by contact-- they wear you by the face!"

She grows gradually louder all the while, because the pounding between her ears and the barn-dweller's bulk are more than enough to make her think twice about lunging right back onto the astral battlefield; instead, she's racing through the air, intent on barrel-rolling between two of the Mega-Starro's arms while flinging her own out wide. Wafer-thin bands of pink, telekinetic force momentarily unspool around one of the tentacles from a dozen different before snapping inwards an effort to make alien sashimi; right afterwards, both arms are drawn back in to clutch the trench cut out of her belly as she drops into a kneeling landing not far from the monstrosity.

Juggernaut has posed:
     "What is this? Seafood Special?" rumbles Juggernaut as he flicks the smaller Starro upwards and then snaps his huge hand around it as it drops back down for maximum squishiness. HE does hear Phoenix though, and his eyes narrow, lips pursing as well, as he eyes the larger Starro. "Well then.." he begins, "I suppose I'll have to---"

But then Courtney is by his side and the goliath turns, swiveling on his feet to look to her and to consider her plan. At first he wrinkles his nose and just blinks, likely unsure of the premise. After a few seconds he reconsiders and a wry smirk creases his face, "..Yeah sure. If you think you can manage the toss, let's do it.."

Superwoman has posed:
    Superwoman takes a scant, portion of a moment to create a new plan of attack- but that's when the larger Starro appears. She rockets at the creature, a SNAP of sound as she breaches the sound barrier and begins a rather violent, physical attack on the giant creature. She uses what she's learned from the smaller creature's anatomy and tests to see if it follows form. She'll go for weak points, with little desire to hold back from harming the alien creature who's dominated the minds of the innocent and shown well its hostile intentions. "I will try to keep its attention!" she shouts back to the others, as she takes a deep inhale holds her breath a moment before bursting forth with icy, almost arctic winds that pull the heat out of the area- focusing her cold breath on the creature's central mass.

    After that, she's still striking- hard, martial-arts style strikes and not the rolling, brawling motions of the likes of every other Kryptonian. Precise and pinpointed strikes with all the strength.

Aquaman has posed:
The Starro's do not have a particular weakness to cold, being space faring creatures, ice, on the other hand, is quite capable of immobilizing, or at least hampering the movements of the alien entity, and , and the physical assaults launched against the creature do indeed seem to have an effect, though the beast is incredibly durable. Luckily, Faora is incredibly strong.

Lasers blast out from the various tentacles, at the attacking heroes, Faora, and Aquaman taking the brunt of the assault, as the later launches himself in to attack with trident as well, piercing the giant Starro with the weapon.

The bike of poor Rose Wilson suffers the worst fate as the barn collapses atop of it, how bad it is, remains to be seen, but the prognosis is grim. The irate woman is far enough from the scuffle to avoid the worst of flailing tentacles, and discharging energy beams.

Between Jean Grey's telekinetic threads, and Kaldur's water blades, they are able to dismember the limb, causing a spray of viscera and a wail of psychic pain that likely only Jean can pick up on. Then, comes Juggernaut, thrown by the powerful Courtney, right into the mass of the Starro sending it tumbling with a crunch, though, the thing is still not dead!

Stargirl has posed:
Stargirl lets her staff go, and it floats above and just behind her as she takes hold of the giant man's belt. Yeah, she's stronger than she looks - a lot. He weights almost a ton, but her limit is something like twn times that. Her own belt whines as she makes the effort. "Ooof. You're a big boy." but she hefts him. A step forward and she tosses the Juggernaut's huge bulk like a javelin at the center of the equally-giant Starro. "Steeeeerike!" she shouts in glee, lifting off to follow Juggs and Kaldur. If the latter recognizes her in her colors is an open question. He may be too busy to take a good look.

Ravager has posed:
Rose Wilson puts her hands on her hips in a bored fashion, even as the heroes start to dismember the attacking starfish, "Great," she mutters. After the megaStarro tumbles away from the barn, Rose inspects her fallen motorcycle, "******* god dammit," she says as she peels the wooden barn door off the bike. She sighs, seeing it bent, dented, warped, and wrecked. She kicks at it. Pieces of megaStarro's tentacle flop past her but she pays it no mind.

Aqualad has posed:
Kaldur puts a hand up to shield his face from Faora's icy bellows; Atlanteans are quite accusomted to the frigid depths of the ocean, but the sudden chill robs his muscles of strength, even if just for a moment.

He's up and running moments later, though, and forms his water bearer into a long spear; he grips it at haft and midlength, creating a longer haft to brace himself, and with a shout of defiance launches himself at the reeling Starro-creature and aims his spear for it with all the force and speed he can muster behind the needle-tipped point, trying to find the Starro's heart behind the writhing mass of hide and tentacle.

Superwoman has posed:
    Superwoman continues her assault- almost ignoring the strikes of energy with a grit of her teeth, working through the pain as she is a flurry of fists, bladed hands, and pointed strikes- almost as if she meant to break that creature's flesh and tear its guts out with her gloved hands.

Phoenix has posed:
One grimacing three-count later, Phoenix hops up to her feet; it takes another second before one of her hands comes to her temple and she decides - with teeth pressing against her bottom lip - that rather than dive back into the midst of flying Juggernauts, fast-moving Kryptonian martial arts, and Atlantean lancing, she may well be better off risking her brain leaking out of her head.

She can't quite make eye contact with it, but just the same, burning wings unfold within the beleagured Mega-Starro's mind as the X-Man tries the same trick she began the encounter with, only targetted directly at the parasite's will, rather than a host body's.

{{STOP,}} roars within it; blood begins to trickle from her nostril. {{And make sure your space pals see what's waiting if they don't turn back!}}

Juggernaut has posed:
    Both fists stretched out infront of him, Juggernaut goes slamming full bore into the mega-starfish and brings it down. It also helpful that he happens to be..you know..unstoppable.

But he also can't fly. He crashes back earthwards, bringing the giant Starro with him, and then tumbles off the creature. He manages to turn as he does, digging up a huge trench in the process, but is soon back to his feet and approaching the downed invader. He laces his fingers together and stretches his arms out while also cracking his knuckles as he walks. The sound thunders through the area, akin to giant tree trunks being splintered or boulders breaking, "Time to go night-night." he rumbles as he raises a gigantic arm and looms overhead, intending on bringing the fist down to try and administer the coup de grace at the tail end of the flurry of other attacks pummeling the alien invader. "...And maybe time for some seafood dinner.." he adds.

Aquaman has posed:
It is not an easy fight, the Starro is Strong, it's incredibly tough, it shoots powerful energy blasts, but it also is still, all things considered, a juvenile. After a bit of effort, and good teamwork, the large Starro is taken down under the combined weight of the various super heroes, laying there pulped, stabbed, dismembered, and beaten thoroughly!

One question remains, however. Is this all of them? Or are there more out there that weren't at this small pennsylvanian farm?