2101/Apokolips Now: Darkseid Appears

Apokolips Now: Darkseid Appears
Date of Scene:	26 September 2017
Location:	Metropolis
Synopsis:	Darkseid appears. And the Earth trembled.
Thanks to:	Synestria
Cast of Characters:	Super-Man, Andromeda, Doctor Doom, Crusader, 109, Molly Millions, Thor, Miss America, Wonder Girl, Phoenix, Martian Manhunter
Tinyplot:	Apokolips Now

---

Grace Choi (994) has posed:
    Earth is tired.

    The heroes of Earth, all, are tired.

    Throughout the the last few days when the threat began, pre-empted by Superwoman's meterotic crash into downtown Metropolis, while the heroes have held their own, that's all it's been. There have been victories, but the swarms of Apokolips have continued to come. People have been stolen, people have died, yet thanks to the heroes efforts these are far more minimized than they otherwise would have been.

    The Furies have been bested.

    The Generals have been routed, including the self-proclaimed son -- Kalibak.

    It seemed that victory might be at hand ... until ...

    'BOOM'

    ... another Tube portal opens ...

Super-Man has posed:
After last time, Kenan has spent most of the last few days concentrating on speed healing. It works...well to everyone else it works. To Kenan, it seems to take just as long to heal as usual, it is just everyone else is slowed down. So here he has spend about 2 month of his time healing and doing physical therapy to get back into shape. He hopes he is ready, because Kalibak basicly promised that this will be, what would be in a video game, the boss fight. He heads out as soon as the warning of a new attival is sounded, moving at super speed to get there as soon as possible.

Andromeda has posed:
    The battle with Kalibak had not been a good one. She had fought well-enough, until magical lighting called down by Wonder Girl had eliminated her from the fight. That brought on some soul-searching... maybe the little Batman was right about not interfering in the timeline? Maybe she _couldn't_ interfere? But, there was still much to do. She had helped put down Bernadeth, after all. Still, she had spent as much time as possible soaking up sunlight on the edge of space.

    There was the call, though. That unmistakable sound. "Goodbye, my friend." she said, then let gravity take her as she searched for the Boom Tube.

Doctor Doom has posed:
    Doctor Doom took some time to repair his armor after the encounter with the Furies. In contrast to what one might expect from the monarch, his Doombots have been deployed in New York for the sole purpose of fighting off the hordes of Apokolips. Some might think that it was altruism on the part of the monarch of Latveria.

    Wiser heads would realize that only Doom is permitted to conquer this world. Interlopers are not tolerated in this matter.

    When the boomtube opening is detected, Doom's sensors react accordingly, and Doom frowns very slightly. First, he sends instructions for the Doombots to converge on that location... before he flies off in that direction as well. Certainly the Doombots look like him, so the group of them all arriving together should provide some measure of subterfuge. After the last encounter, any advantage should be seized against these foes.

Crusader has posed:
The constant battles can pull one spirit down - this is known all to well. But no matter what, one must keep fighting to the bitter end...else all is loss.
    The constant battleing has done a number on Crusader - keeping at full power was nearly an impossible task. Where he could he syphoned electricity from any power source he could between battles. He had just finished syphoning off several car batteries before again going to battle
    Spear in hand as he used it to piece throw another Parademon who had just killed a denizen. ANother life lost. He growls deeply before he looks up. The tell tale "BOOM" that signaled a tube has just opened.
    Crusader lifts into the air and soars through the sky towards the sound, ready, willing to take on any threat he can to this planet.

Synestria (109) has posed:
    A large figure can be seen walking through the boomtube, growing larger, and larger....until finally, the dark grey skinned form of Darkseid can be seen.....staring straight at the Hall of Justice. "Hmph. The so overblown Hall of Justice....home of Earth's Mightiest heroes. How.....amusing."

The Man has his hands behind his back, except when he taps a button to close the boomtube....and hands the Device to Desaad. "Do not let that device go anywhere, Desaad. Otherwise, you shall be stuck here."

He begins to turn towards the city.....and stares at the fires, the destruction....and very nearly smiles. "A shame, really. All they had to do was surrender, and this would not have happened. Now....their doom is nigh...."

Molly Millions has posed:
That sound is too familiar to Molly at this point... and what she has to say about it, unreprintable. But that one was close, and under the circumstances it's only a few moments of mental debate before she sighs, tosses what's left of her lunch in her backpack and heads in the direction of the sound. It's a decision she might live to regret, later, one that she doesn't know just the magnitude of the folly she's engaging in. But it hasn't stopped her from trying, yet.

In her wake, the small spider-shaped drone aptly known as Shadow skitters along, over small pieces of buildings and parademon corpses, around larger pieces. Where the cyborg and her machine stop relatively out of sight at the arrival she has to furrow her brows. She might not be entirely familiar with the way things go in this world, but even she is reasonably certain that lone figure doesn't bode well.

Thor has posed:
Thor stands ready, or rather, hangs in the open air upon Mjolnir, cape fluttering in the winds that howl at his command, hair likewise beneath his winged helmet. The stormclouds have gathered above, summoned at his whim, ready allies in the coming fight, where the elements themselves will stand beside their God of Thunder. His prior quest to seek the wisdom of Odin's Eye has told him enough of what is coming to stand ready, but not enough to fully comprehend what he is here to fight. But it matters not: Thor Odinson knows no fear. It would be... unworthy.

The tube sounds, and through his hammer, he can feel how space and time themselves bend and fold. It is a trick he himself is fond of, though these particular bridges reach far beyond the normal realms, beyond even the Birfrost's many destinations.

"Hail, so-called god of Apokolips. Know thee that thine presence is most unwelcome here, and that we stand ready to send thee hence, as we have thine servants and child. There shall be no surrender so long as Thor, God of Thunder, son of Odin, stands against thee."

Miss America has posed:
    Exhausting.

    All of this. In many levels. Even the word itself hardly seems to do it justice. America Chavez has seen all manner of things, but rarely has she been strained so thin as she has been over these past handful of days. But she doesn't stop pushing herself. Because there are still people to protect.

    And she's just that bullheaded.

    Having been moving between cities since this invasion has begun, America has started to run herself ragged just through sustained activity alone. The invulnerable superwoman ignores it as best she can, forcing herself past the fatigue as she soars through the skies in search of incursions. So many of the officers and generals in this invasion have already been felled. But there's still...

    BOOM

    It's golden-white puncture in space that catches America Chavez's weary eye. A frown tugs at her lips. She sees a figure emerge amidst the devastation... and her frown deepens all the more still. She's tired. More tired than she's ever been.

    But none of that stops her from turning in mid-flight, the sonic boom desperately chasing after her blurring form as she soars for the location of the New God of Apokolips in the distance.

Wonder Girl has posed:
Rather than returning to Titans Tower, Cassie had spend the intervening day - night - whatever it has been, in the Hall of Justice, getting both some minor first aid (which was nice, if not strictly necessary) and more importantly, a proper night's sleep. Or as good as one as one can have, laying there amidst the invasion of one's home and waiting for the other shoe to drop. They all knew something worse was coming, Kalibak had told them as much.

Thus Wonder Girl is there at the Hall when Darskeid arrives, although unlike her new idol (who is waaaay cooler of a Thunder God than her lame ass dad), she is afraid. As much as Cassie is never one for caution or care, gladly throwing herself at any foe... today is an exception, and she hangs back with the 'bulk' of the League's defenders as they emerge from the tower.

Phoenix has posed:
NEAR EARTH ORBIT
THE WATCHTOWER
NOW

As the latest of countless alerts - a stream of blaring sirens and rude lights one could almost set their watch to, during the past few days - encroaches upon the League's floating sanctuary, burning eyes snap open in one of its infirmary rooms. Its contents - any that weren't tightly secured to something else - clatter to the ground, while the green and gold-clad woman who's been sleeping since the Furies first struck Earth jolts upright with a sharp gasp. A gloved hand sharply swats at a bruised cheek, eliciting a sharply hissed swear as she slides out of bed to wander towards the door-- and, from there, into glistening corridors. The flames dancing in her eyes gradually spiral inwards as she practically shambles towards the Zeta array, drawn by a half-remembered tour during her pre-Starro visit, raw urgency, and a desire to escape these damn sirens.

World's trying to end; she gets it. She's coming.

Upon arrival, she mashes a helpfully glowing button, locking the Zeta beam to the 'Tube's signature and - likely - sending an alert to League members that the system is in use.

Filling her lungs, Phoenix hops from foot to foot a time or two until the array finishes charging, at which point she exhales, locks her eyes forward, takes off--

METROPOLIS
NEAR THE HALL OF JUSTICE

-- and comes charging through a teleport signature, skidding to a halt near the other heroes after a couple of feet when she realizes that Darkseid isn't yet so much as fighting as he is engaging in a menacing staredown with some of Earth's Mightiest.

So, raising her fists, she sets both eyes - one and a half, really, thanks to Lashina slamming her head into the Hall of Justice's floor - upon the God of Evil, briskly glances askance--

{{If anyone's hiding a secret power-up, or back-up army, or any other deus ex machinas you can think of, now's the time for it,}} and establishes a link between herself and the heroes, doing her best not to let the nerves leak into it. {{Otherwise: what's the plan, here, exactly? What does he do?}}

Synestria (109) has posed:
    Darkseid actually locks eyes with the only person talking to him....Thor. "An Asgardian. Now this I did not expect. Desaaad...."

The cloaked man behind him straightens. "Yes Lord Darkseid?"

"Prepare a proper punishment for Kalibak...for his....'FAILURE'.

The cloaked man winces. "Yes, Lord Darkseid." One can only imagine what Darkseid has in mind for his 'son' when he gets back. But he re-focuses upon Thor.

"If you are here to surrender this planet in lieu of the current world leaders, feel free to lower to a knee and pledge your planet's loyalty to Darkseid, Asgardian. Otherwise, step aside so that your world leaders may surrender their provinces one at a time."

It's like Thor never even said anything to Darkseid. Or the man simply ignored him.

Super-Man has posed:
Kenan will think to Jean, (If someone has solar powers, I can absorb solar energy to become more powerful for a time. It was what was done when we first met.) He does remember mentally encountering Jean when he first encountered Starro.

Kenan brings his focus to his belly, concentrating on his invulnerability. He gets the feeling if the big dude attacks him, he is going to need it.

Crusader has posed:
He wasn't there to fight th furies or Kalibrik, he was in other cities helping out, but he was here now .Crusader looks around seeing the swarm of doombots comming to convenge. There was something narcissistic about having so many robots styalized after yourself. But hey, the more bodies covering their latest problem, the better.
    Of course it was in someways uplifting to see so many heros, beings and denizens comming togeather to fight agaist this invader. Though as he sees Darkseid he can't help but think <"To Bad we might just get crushed under a giant boot first"> he chuckles. Though it is quickly silence as he approches the Halls of Justice and sees many of the halls defenders emerging.

The time to fight was now.

Or was. Crusader quickly broadcast over the telepathic link <"What do you think this is? A comic book game? Deus ex Machinas do not exist. Not sure what this Giant does...all we know he came through a boom tube and he is trouble, and brought a friend too.">he sends over the link as he notes Dasaad.

He speaks up when Darksied finishes "Giant - you might be deaf. No one is surrednering to you. Not by a long shot. But your more than welcome to surrender yourself anytime now. Make all our lives easier" and floats with his spear at the ready - electricity begining to curl about it as he is braced to attack.

Andromeda has posed:
    *I plan on trying to take out one of his legs.* comes Laurel's 'voice' over the psychic link. *It may take a while, but I'm not going to let him catch me.* She sweeps in behind Darkseid, in one of his rear quarters, sizing up his left leg, looking for a suitable spot to burn. Touching Darkseid was a bad idea anyway... Thor was going to use more lighting and she couldn't afford to be out of this fight, not like before.

Doctor Doom has posed:
    At least one world leader is not prepared to surrender, as Doctor Doom arrives in the air, cape rustling behind him as he has... well, not really an army, but perhaps a company of Doombots. Landing not too far from Darkseid, he intones, "Invader. I am Doctor Doom, Ruler of Latveria, and my people will not surrender to you. You may be permitted to leave, if you do so without further conflict."

    The Doombots fan out at that proclamation, moving to coordinate their attacks with the heroes that are also preparing their assault, Laurel in particular as she is remembered from the fight with the Furies.

Miss America has posed:
    Red, white and blue make impact behind the God of Thunder with a crack of concrete and brief burst of rubble. America Chavez lands, sneakers skidding across the ruined earth, hands clenched into tight fists -- wary glare leveled at the God of Evil.

    Normally, the Girl from Utopia would be coming in swinging, no questions asked. That she isn't, well... even someone with as immense of self-confidence as hers can see when she's dealing with something Big.

    For now, she stands her ground, even as she feels that familiar, psychic twinge at the back of her mind. Brown eyes narrow, fingers curling in all the tighter against her palms. {{Just got my fists,}} is all she thinks over that link for Jean's call for last-minute hail marys. It's just them, in the end. No one to save them but themselves.

    {{This is bigger than big leagues. Give it all you've got.}}

    With that, she seems intent to follow the God of Thunder's lead, giving the Asgardian a brief look as Darkseid brushes his words aside. "Only one kinda language guys like him speak," is all she says as she finally breaks that silence. Tired, worn down, star-spangled clothes still burned and ripped... America still stands firm. As ready as she'll ever be.

Thor has posed:
"Surrender the realm of Midgard, whose own mother goddess did give me life, and which I have sworn to defend until the very day of Ragnarok? Bend knee to a tyrant of a distant world, who lives as mockery of the divine?" For Thor, there can only but one answer to such absurd a demand: "I say thee, nay!"

The Asgardian holds firm for the moment, only keeping from immediate attack as he hears the voice of yet another teamate projected from the heavens. This is not too strange for him, and he answers as she provides. ~ I have no answer that would be to thine liking, Lady Gray. 'Tis strange, this one, for he hails from beyond the realms as we know them. Even the Eye could show me little of his home. And while there be others in mine own realm, to be sure, 'tis not their battle to fight, with such a strange outsider, and they have not oaths such as mine. Indeed some would well see us fall, if only for their own profit. ~

Earth shall have to make do with but one of Son of Asgard, at least on this day.

"We shall not surrender, and so there is but one answer. Battle draws nigh. Prepare thyself! Friends, allies, do what you may to weaken or distract him, or strike his lackey, but rush not too quickly into the arms of the Valkyrior - they will take you in due time. Face not this so-called God unless ye be of such a stature!"

And with that he flies forward, hurtling behind as Mjolnir leads the way. He very well remembers the blast from Kalibak's club, and approaches with his best defense face-front.

Phoenix has posed:
{{It was worth a shot!}}

Green eyes shift - briefly - towards Desaad before focusing fully upon Darkseid.

"Nobody's kneeling," Phoenix firmly states while stepping forward and erecting a translucent, pink shield in front of the heroes. "Nobody's surrendering-- the only people who'll be coming to meet you are more of us; promise." A beat; a jerked thumb towards Doom. "And him, but I think it's pretty clear where he and his crew of robot dupes fall." Fire dances around her forearms as both fists return forward-- and Thor bellows both defiance and encouragement.

Fair enough! This gives her time to shift her focus back to Desaad, rather than be burdened with trying to trash-talk the God of Evil. As she sets eyes upon the robed man, burning wings soar through the astral plane for a split-second before alighting upon his psyche. Gingerly, the telepath tries to worm her way past the surface of his mind to get a peek at what lies deeper within him.

Molly Millions has posed:
Molly's probably not immediately recognizable as not just a civilian, certainly not a hero of any particular repute. She's a girl with a gun. And a headfull of electronics. But that she recognizes at least a few of the people who are showing up is a bad sign. She pulls out the device from her back pocket to send Shadow up the nearest wall to give her the best overview she can get. A dumpster seems like very paltry cover right now, but options are not exactly fantastic no matter what.

A lead is uncoiled from her pocket to attach the device to the port in the back of her skull so that she doesn't have to wrestle with it to keep the drone's overview in mind and she takes this... lull before the storm to check her load out and set herself up. Even she recognizes that her bullets are liable to do little more than give him a skin rash, but that isn't going to stop her from trying.

Martian Manhunter has posed:
    Having heard the alarm, J'onn has flow across the planet to arrive at the site of the most recent portal. Of course, he should have expected it would be near the Hall of Justice, he is pleased to see the gathering of heroes that stand before this powerful foe, and he arrives in time to see Thor's initial attack.

    The Martian uses his ability to become invisible in an attempt to surprise Darkseid from behind. He realizes this foe is leagues beyond the others they have faced, and it will require cunning more than brute force to deal with this threat.

    As he grows in size to match Darkseid, his arms growing to try to encircle him in attempt to lock him place for Thor's attack as he says to him, "Hello Darkseid, you came to my people, and learned of our Life Equation. Your wish is to find the antithesis of this, but you will not find it here while a Martian still lives..."

Wonder Girl has posed:
Listening to this Darkseid dude trash talk, Cassie is ready enough to get on with it. And maybe Thor's signal is about as much as she is waiting for as far as when it's 'go time.' She takes the Thunder God's lead, but she has no plan of being a bystander to any of this. Wonder Woman is one of the planet's greatest heroes, and for all that her once-sidekick admires her, she can't live in her mentor's shadow forever. If she doesn't at least try and fight beside the big boys, what's the point?

She's fully ready to fight, as she sails forward in Thor's wake, lasso looped in one hand. She's even broken out the sword and shield, although they're strapped to her back for now - weapons she's not quite as comfortable with as her big-sister Amazons. She glances aside at America, and gives a nod. "Only way this dude's gonna get it is with a proper butt-kicking. 'Bout time we showed him what Earth's got!"

Synestria (109) has posed:
    Darkseid raises an eyebrow at the very flowery speech given by Thor.....and then the hurtling charge of the Asgardian and his might hammer, Mjolnir.....not that Darkseid cares about such trivial matters. He stares like a dullard at the charging hammer and asgardian....

...Only to sidestep at the last possible second and backhand Thor with his right hand INTO the Hall of the Justice.....with the resulting shockwave from the hit being visible from a fairly short distance away, but doesn't affect anyone else.

"So be it. I gave you the chance to surrender so that you may keep your lives. Now....your world will surrender.....with your DEATHS!" And his eyes begin to grlow an even brighter red......as he looks at the doombots that are now collecting....

And a pair of red lasers, much like Superman's blast out of his eyes...only they angle in totally different directions to cut off escape.....and vaporize the Doombot.

Desaad's mind is fairly spidery and resistant, as if he's faced this sort of thing before. he has fairly substantial barriers, and not all of them are organic either. But there is one thing that Jean can feel, above all of the barriers, mental evasions and defenses: Fear. Fear....of Darkseid. One thing seeps through....and it's a recent memory. Bruno Manheim......

As he was vaporized, much like the Doombot just was....right in front of Desaad.

Jean will see that if the furies and kalibak were tough, this being is light years beyond their power.

Andromeda has posed:
    Laurel's cerulean cape drifts into place around her for only a moment, then she blurs out and zips forward. She expects that Darkseid has reflexes enough to catch her if she comes within arm's-length and so she doesn't. She lifts off the ground a bit to stop instantly and then reverse course. The idea is just to distract the evil god a moment while the others attack.

    When they do press forward, Laurel finds a suitable spot on Darkseid's leg - a nerve cluster or something that seems close to that and fires a blast of heat-vision, maximum power, there. She prepares to dodge, surely _something_ is going to be thrown at her.

Crusader has posed:
Alright a psychic plan of attack was forming. Laurel was going for one of the legs - pressure from below and behind. An attack from the front and above should help give them some leverage. He is quick to follow suit and shoots upwards as he sees Thor going for a frontal assult he sends over the link "One will come in from above!" he tells his comrades in battle going up and over the Pink Shields Jean provided

His spear alights with electrical power ignoreing the fact that Darksied just backhanded Thor out of the air! With J'onn having a grip on the massive man he dives down - spear tip aimming true to try and piece DarkSeid from directly ontop of his head. He didn't know if this would work, but it was worth a shot!

Doctor Doom has posed:
    Doom seems to frown as Thor gets backhanded into the Hall of Justice, and the Doombots immediately attack in coordination with the other heroes, firing their blasts at Darkseid. Focusing their efforts to try and hit the same points repeatedly, to see if that has any effect first, as Doctor Doom hangs back, not committing directly to the fight just yet as he tries to get the measure of this "god."

    Boy, is he in for a rude awakening...

Super-Man has posed:
Kenan will follow Doom's Lead, "Speaking for the people of China, this world's most populous land, we have outgrown swaying to the whim's of petty Tyrants and those who think themselves gods. You may kill me, but I am not the greatest champion of my land. You will find this world has much to throw at you even if you best all who stand here."

When Thor acts and then the others, Kenan adds his own Heat Vision to that of the apparently Kryptonian girl. No matter how tough this guy is,if enough attacks are focused on one point it should do SOMETHING.

Molly Millions has posed:
Molly's out of sight, all things considered, making herself obvious to something of this grey guy's caliber strikes her as a remarkably quick way to die. She flicks through menu's, tries to access bigger systems than her own, but there's no response from the platform. Subconsciously aided by her augments the defenders are tracked as she presses her lips into a thin line. She recognizes that she'd have to be crazy lucky and probably need something a lot stronger than what she has, but still she waits with all the patience she can muster.

She's waiting for a gap, between the defenders, and Darkseid's lethal gaze, seeking an opportunity to try and put out his eye with the most mundane attack of all; a sniper's bullet.

Miss America has posed:
    And off Thor goes -- only to be swatted aside. America grits her teeth; she looks sidelong at Cassie, and then nods once. "Wait for an opening," she says under her breath for the demi-goddess. "Then hammer him with everything you got. Don't stay in too long. Too risky." Which might be the only time America Chavez has ever uttered something like that.

    Still, she waits -- waits until Laurel goes on the offensive, waits until she unleashes those burning beams of pure, concentrated heat -- and then she -charges-. Becoming a smear of red, white and blue, the Utopian Girl seeks to (hopefully) capitalize on the New God's distraction, right fist cocked backwards.

    "Bring it!" roars the extradimensional hero, seconds before she brings that fist pistoning down in an attempt to give the dark deity one titanic right hook. She holds nothing back. Because she knows, the second she tries to reign it in, even for a second, the second she stops pushing herself to her limit... it's all over.

Martian Manhunter has posed:
    Having arrived too late to assist Thor, J'onn tries to wrap his arms around Darkseid, growing a second set of arms he mentally calls to Cassie <If we can use your lasso we may be able to pull him out of here...> then speaking to the rest of the heroes, he adds <...he will use any innocents he can as leverage. If we can drag him away from the populated area it may lessen our disadvantages.>

    "Even in surrender you would burn this World.." J'onn responds, "...for what you wish there is no option but to fight to the end." He also works on telekinetically reinforcing his hold to keep Darkseid in place.

    <Let us see if we can anger him enough to be sloppy...> The Martian adds to the group of heroes, "Despite all of your abilities, Darkseid, all those you sent before have been sent home with their tails between their legs. Their weakness is a reflection on yours, I believe. You speak boldly of your superiority, but all we have seen is incompetence. When we send you back to your World, we will make sure your subordinates see the same failure in your eyes as you have seen in theirs."

Thor has posed:
A Thor-shaped crater is left in the facade of the Hall of Justice... really, it's quite distinctive, like a signature! They ought to keep it. From its center there is a momentary rumbling as residual rubble shifts and falls away, before the Asgardian drags himself forward, just a little worn for the effort. "Ha, well struck." Game respect game?

It takes him a moment to extricate himself, but once the God of Thunder has done so, he seems every bit eager to rejoin the fight. And while Thor is bold, he is also a consumate warrior, a veteran of millenia of constant battle, worshiped at times as a deity of war as well as storms. So he does not repeat an error such as that, no longer underestimates his foe's skill in battle itself.

Again the Asgardian sails forward, but this time his approach is better measured, respectful of the towering figure's impressive speed and reach, not presenting himself as such an easy, predictable target. Mjolnir itself is impressively fast, though fighting upon earth does limit it in some regards, and as he speeds forward, Thor himself zigs and zags, watching for his foe to strike out against some other of the many targets around him - America perhaps, or Cassie if she inevitably does something dumb - and even then anticipating at least a single counter-attack like the last committing fully to his own.

As he sails in, the stormclouds crackle above, and a powerful wind accompanies his approach. "Have at thee, Apokolipsian cur!"

Phoenix has posed:
Clad in gleaming green and gold plate with a blazing firebird emblem upon her chest, Phoenix's astral avatar struggles to weave her way through the twisty, well-fortified corridors of Desaad's mind without immediately resorting to the burning sword at her hip. Chasing threads of vulnerability - surefire routes to some deeper level of his psyche - she instead finds herself slamming abruptly through false memories of pain, of shame, of loss-- imagined explanations for why he'd ally himself with a being as monstrous, as terrible as Darkseid that shatter like glass and slice right through her own defenses.

Each time, she picks herself back up, focuses upon the firelight shining from her chest, and lets it guide her once more-- and each time, she catches just a bit more of the pale, craven truth quivering in the shadows beneath his weaponized deceptions.

Once, it looks upon her in turn, and in that moment - more than simply seeing Desaad's fear, she knows what it is to be mere feet-- inches?-- away from a man who was, then was not-- and what it is to wonder when His annihilating gaze will finally turn upon her--

{{De--}} she strains to think as her material self shudders and begins to shed red tears, {{Desaad--- st-- stop trying-- to fight me-- I don't-- want to fight you!}}

Wonder Girl has posed:
Do something dumb?! Her?!?!

OK, probably.

Even if her eyes go wide as Thor gets swatted back like a fly... and then seemingly comes right back for seconds, Cassie absolutely goes in with Aemrica and the others, unwilling to sit out the fight while others struggle and bleed. She's willing to try just about anything, and she gets a variety of advice. 'Wait for an opening then hit him hard.' 'Try and use the lasso.' Yeah, the lasso worked absolutely GREAT against Kalibak, she recalls, but... first time for everything. Plus, between America-punches and J'onn hugs, maybe they can overwhelm him a bit?

She speeds up as she flies in just behind the others, and tosses the lasso, going for... well, whatever it looks like she can get it around. An arm? A foot? A finger?

From the last time, she well expects to get some major pull in response, and so she actually tries to keep some slack in the rope at first, to give her at least a little bit of time to react.

Then she waits for a moment, probably when Darkseid has thrown off some of her friends (she's not sure which of them are lightning-proof!), before calling down a good old blast from the absentee Other Thunder God, aka papa Zeus.

Synestria (109) has posed:
    Darkseid stands up a little straighter before he looks down...to find four arms wrapped around him. As J'onn begins to speak, Darkseid simply grabs one of the martian's arms and squeezes it....painfully....to drag the martian around in front of him. "And a martian. This world has a very lovely collection of people defending it. I almost wish you had surrendered. I could've made some of you my champions. Alas. It will not happen."
    it is then that Darkseid uppercuts J'on into the maelstrom that Thor is producing with Mjolnir, likely to get hit by a lightning bolt, or THE lightning bolt produced by Cassie.

It also leaves him open to Crusader's spear....which does stab him on top of the head....but does not penetrate. He even barely grunts as lightning from the spear hits him, or even a massive lightning bolt from Thor or Cassie, but despite being in a no smoking section, and smoking anyways....it doesn't seem to faze him. Darkseid grabs onto Crusader's spear and *BAM* Crusader is actually hit with a fist that send him into a building in Metropolis. Good thing there wasn't anyone in there.....except now.

Laurel Gand will find that trying to get to Darkseid's nerves is like trying to poke at a nerve in tank armor with a gold needle and the armor is steel. Darkseid stomps his foot and the resulting shockwave knocks Laurel back quite a ways. She's lucky he only considered her a nuisance.

Kenan and the Doombots are next, as Kenan leads their assault, Kenan gets the left hand and is backhanded into about four doombots, as well as America, careened across a pool and into another building.

Molly hasn't been noticed yet. Fortunate for her so far.

Desaad's memories are getting more fractal, but now, Jean is finding determination....to NOT defy Darkseid. he may fear him, but he is also loyal. Mostly to save his own neck, but he is still loyal. She now sees previous fights. Darkseid is always the victor, but many fights have him fighting with his bare hands...and he is a very strong, but not fast, opponent. Even stronger than Superman. But....jean would notice one thing.....only those with high grade invulnerability would not be instantly vaporized by Darkseid's omega beam. There would still be crippling pain, but not vaporized.....

Andromeda has posed:
    The blonde Daxamite knew it wouldn't be easy, that it might take a long time to make her heat attacks effective, but she's going to keep trying. "Let's rally up!" she cries, hoping that the others are still able to drag themselves up for the fight. She stays in the air this time, though still not far off the deck, and manevers to fire at exactly the same spot again. Still worth a try.

    *If we get desperate I can throw some of you human missiles at him?* Laurel says over Jean's link.

Super-Man has posed:
Kenan was far enough back from Darkseid to have time to roll with the blow. As such, he was thrown backward farther than he would otherwise have been, but generally hurt less badly. Of course he also switched to invulnerability as fas as he could, or it still would not have been enough...though that in turn made him impact the robots and the woman in the flag suit harder than any normal man would.

Kenan rises to his feet and apologizes to America, "I am sorry, I did not intend to hit you." He has a thought...Darkseid is strong and tough, but he can not fly it seems. Kenan is not sure about super senses, but he has an idea. He locates a manhole and heads underground...if anyone is reading Kenan's mind they will see he intends to get directly below Darkseid and hit him UP into the air.

Martian Manhunter has posed:
    J'onn's arm cracks under the grip, and he grunts with the pain of it. Before he's rocketed upwards, J'onn grunts, "None of us would bend knee to you..." and then he see's stars as he is blasted up towards the lightning strikes. As they come racing down, J'onn is directly in their way, and then they go /through/ J'onn as he phases at the last moment. His hope is that Darkseid had prepared for J'onn to take the brunt, and leaving the Tyrant to the actual attack.

    Once he's righted himself, J'onn allows his jaw to reset, and he takes in the combined efforts of the heroes. Flying down faster than any human, and some superhuman, eyes can follow J'onn reaches out for the Lasso that Cassie threw. He attempts to spin the lasso around Darkseid, and anchor the other end,

    <Cassie, let's see if you can hit him with the same thing you hit Kalibak with. I will attempt a mental attack, and Thor you can try the frontal assault and his own lightning attacks.> That said, the Martian will try a mental assault to disorient Darkseid to buy them time to coordinate.

Crusader has posed:
Crusader may have hit his mark...but it did absolutely nothing. Even the head of the spear broke upon impact with not even a scratch to show for it. But that didn't really matter. Suddenly a massive hand grabs his spear...and procedes to just casually punch him away like he was nothing more than a fly! Window shatter, concrete falls as steel struts bend and warp as Crusader impacts them.

He emerges from the ruble in time to see Darkseid just batting everyone away like flies "J'onn One has the distinct feeling insults will not help" he says over the psychic link and he looks up as the alien is thrown "....joy" he says outloud

He takes a quick scan reassessing the situation. Big - invulnerable considering the concentrated attack did NOTHING. What to do, what to do. Something clicks.

He rises up and unafraid to head back into battle, he surges forward. If Darksied is going to treat them like flies...than he'll act the part. Crusader begins flying around Darkseid head, occasionly attempting to land and take off multiple times. One to annoy him...but more important he was trying to purposefully draw out Darksieds eye beams.

"One will gladly volounteer as human missile...but ne think we should attempt to use his attacks agaist him. If our own power will not work, than mabey HIS will!" he projects over the telepathic connection

Doctor Doom has posed:
    Doom, meanwhile, directs the Doombots around. Some were knocked over, but most start flying into the air, making various passes against Darkseid with their lasers. Not that it will do much good, but it's a measure to try and distract Darkseid, while the heroes coordinate their own strategy. And allows Doom to devise some plans of his own...

Thor has posed:
Whatever collateral damage the storms may do, that cannot be helped, but it seems no cause for the God of Thunder to set aside the thing that is truest, first of his birthrights, a power far more instrinsic to him that the hammer that has, admittedly, made him far more famous and feared. Even as he fights in melee, the storms brew, the skies flash, and here and there, lightning lashes out. Some may strike at Darkseid or Desaad directly, though those are mere... crackles, mere byproducts of the stronger storm.

The greatest bolt he summons falls down, not direclty upon his foe, but upon Cassie, for it seems Darkseid has for the moment left her lasso-grip unchallenged.

"Lady Cassandra, fellow child of the Skyfathers, kindred cousin, I grant thee this boon!"

And then, even as his friends are swept away, J'onn punched upward, the cyborg with the spear struck backward, Thor strikes, completing the sailing charge that he begun moments earlier as he emerged from that crater, flying into the space opened by the others in the moment Darkseid is busy with them. In that moment, he deals a hefty blow, swinging Mjolnir overhand and downward toward his foe's skull. "Taste thee the strength of Asgard and the hardness of mine mighty hammer!"

Hopefully, it comes with lightning backup!

Molly Millions has posed:
<Bullets are not effective.> Molly contributes tentatively,<Unfortunately I do not have access to anything more lethal.> there's a regretful tone to it. She drops back from her spot and scrambles up a fire escape for higher ground, not that it's likely to help, but, well, she's not willing to give up just because she hasn't found a solution yet.

Phoenix has posed:
{{You're going-- to lose--!}} Phoenix transmits as wobbling knees slowly drag her physical self towards the ground. {{Hundreds, thousands of us-- realms of gods, demons-- all of them-- interested-- invested-- in some way-- in this planet-- how long-- until we're not-- worth the trouble?! How long-- until the ants-- swarm Him-- bring Him down?!}}

So ironclad is Desaad's desire to remain loyal to his master that the weight of it threatens to crush her astral self by collapsing the fracturing passages of his psyche around her-- so, rather than try to counteract it, Phoenix's hail mary pass is to try and piggy-back onto it, latch onto Desaad's fear of Darkseid and magnify the threat of failure-- of standing by and watching his master be bogged down by increasing numbers of defenders, metahuman or otherwise, until he either withdraws to spare his energies, or - less probably - is forced to flee-- even brought low. Maybe he's stronger than Superman, but what about Superman and Superwoman?

And Supergirl, and Captain Marvel, and on, and on--

Could Desaad outrace the Omega Effect-- or survive it? How much longer until he finds out, should Darkseid somehow find himself overwhelmed, today?

The firebird upon her breast spreads its wings as the rest of her is agonizingly contorted into impossible angles. Fire and life push back against the evil god's paradoxically craven and potent will, as Phoenix struggles to turn his fears against him to induce a sense of panic in the desperate hope that it'll serve to buy the other heroes some time by disrupting Darkseid's plans.

He must be here for something, after all, right?

Miss America has posed:
    Whatever the outcome of her punch, America doesn't have or make time to feel satisfied or not about it; almost instantly, the Utopian girl finds herself on the receiving end of the Dark God of Apokolips' offensive in the form of a runaway Kenan, crashing into her with uncanny force and a violent CRACK of impact.

    Taken off her feet, America Chavez goes flying through the air like a ragdoll. It's much too sudden for her to course-correct in mid-air in time before she -punches- through a nearby building with an explosion of steel and plaster blowing around her like rubble. She lands with a thunderclap of impact, sending a small shockwave tremoring across the ground at the point of impact as debris rains upon her from the precarious shudder of the surrounding foundations.

    America Chavez has survived escape velocity, the vacuum of space, taken punches from the best of them. She is as invulnerable as one can get.

    That blow -still- makes her bones sing in exquisite agony. Her ribs may be fractured; she's not entirely sure. It's been a very long time since she's been hurt -this- much by a physical blow.

    But still, she gets up, rock and dirt rolling off of her as she coughs wetly; it's the only sign of pain she allows herself to show before she steels herself anew, brown eyes narrowing and form straightening amongst her own personal pile of self-made rubble.

    "Get him back twice as hard, and we'll be good, chico," is all she says for Kenan by way of encouragement, rolling her neck and ignoring the way her ribs protest as she takes off once more. This time?

    This time, as she listens to the rest over those mental frequencies, America flies high into the air. This time, she waits until she's just high enough... before shooting -down- at rapidly increasing velocities to try to introduce Darkseid's face to the soles of her star-spangled sneakers in a high-speed descent. Punches didn't work so great. Time to try kicks.

Wonder Girl has posed:
It seems there is a plan is afoot, and... screw it right, it's as good a shot as any! J'onn is clear, Thor IS Thunder, so... yeah? If she's going to do it, now's the time.

Ignored for a brief moment, the advantage of being the *mere* demigoddess compared to the raging full Asgardian, Cassie gives it all she's got. While she begins with what is her usual stick, calling down on Zeus's power to electrify herself and the lasso, channeling her father's power through the weapon gifted to her by his son, in the midst of it she gets another lightning bolt dropped out of the sky on her, courtesy of Thor. It's definitely a new feeling for her. Suddenly filled with the energy of not just one patron deity but seemingly two, skin alive with electrical charge, arcs of it running over her skin, through her wrists, and into the weapon, she grits her teeth, focuses her... we'll politely call it 'super pissed-offedness' and channels all of that power through the lasso's length.

"Take that, asshole! Courtesy of Olympus AND Asgard!"

Synestria (109) has posed:
    The further Jean presses into Desaad's mind, the more fractal the memories become. Apparnetly, he's been attacked mentally before, and he's has some substantial resistance, so it's taking time. She finds other 'champions', such as Barta, who had been brainwashed, after being defeated by Darkseid, and became his champion to spare their lives. Then....Jean finds something that has a substantial wall around it....but she can peel away the wall and see the answer......The anti-life equation....the same J'onn had spoken of earlier.....THAT is what Darkseid seeks......

For the rest of the forces, they all combine into one simultaneous assault on the dark skinned giant of a man with the gaze of death. Doombots, lightning, fireball kicks, and more are thrown at the spot where he is standing and all create a massive explosion of mortar, shockwave of air and leaving a crater behind.

To find he is not there.....

Jean, however, finds a pair of red eyes, glowing in Desaad's mind.....and she hears TWO voices. One in Desaad's mind.....and one in her physical body....the deep, rumbling voice of Darkseid. "Why is my attendant clutching his head......while you are staring at him so intently?"

Darkseid is floating only a few scant feet from Jean. His red eyes glow with an ominous light a scant second before his Omega Beam fires......at Jean.

Crusader has posed:
Crusader had only been ciricling Darkseid, attempting to keep him attracted, to draw out the mans attacks! But as the dust and shockwaves clear, he flew up to quickly check what was going on

To only see dust clouds and than nothing.

One quick scan and he sees Darksied....near jean. Crusader heart (if he had one) drops a moment, but didn't stall him from flying headfirst towards Jean and Darkseid.

He had one simple goal:
    To tackle Jean out of the path of the Omega Beams. No thought to his own well being, only the thought of saving one more life - a life who could potnetially do more to help the cause than he could

Super-Man has posed:
Under Ground, Kenan switches to his version of X-ray vision to find his way to just below Darkseid. He does not know why Darkseid moved, but he knows the Dark God is roght over his head. He puts all his energy into his hands, crouches down, and slams himself upward with enough force to level a skysceaper, propelling a huge chunk of masonry into Darkseid from below.

Martian Manhunter has posed:
    J'onn releases his hold on the lasso, glancing over his shoulder to see Darkseid staring at Jean, and furrows his brow when he see's the glow in their foe's eyes. At the same time, J'onn attempts to provide a link to Jean, offering his own Psionic power to help her deflect or whether the power of the Omega Beams. He knows he can't move their fast enough, but his mind works far far faster than his physical movement.

    From his position, he stretches out his arms in an attempt to grab the feet of Darkseid, and tries to pull him away as well as off balance. J'onn sends a mental message to the others <Perhaps if we can capture his minion it may draw his attention. Maybe if there's a way to threaten his own World it will give him second thoughts of destroying this one.>

Andromeda has posed:
    Laurel knows she can't call out fast enough, and that Crusader is already moving to try to save the telepath. What she can do, though, is try an experiment.

    She zips after Darkseid at top speed and tries to intercept the Omega Beams with beams of heat vision. If that works or not, she turns her head to blast the monster with her own eye-beams in the face. A puff of super-cold air follows, she hopes.

Doctor Doom has posed:
    Doctor Doom doesn't hesitate, flying quickly towards Darkseid and interposing himself between the telepath and the Omega Beams. Not exactly the behavior one would expect from such as him...

    Which, as the beams explode Doctor Doom, the destructive highlight of the Omega Beams reveal that the lead Doctor Doom was, in fact, a Doombot the entire time!

    Meanwhile, in a laboratory deep beneath the Latverian Embassy, Doctor Doom studies the telemetry on this new invader and his powers... and frowns. His expression darkens, and he looks over towards a mystical artifact that he has secured beneath some very powerful wards, "Perhaps it is time to unleash the Key and the Gate, despite what Richards might believe..."

Thor has posed:
Mjolnir strikes with great power... against the naked earth. In doing so, it very likely causes quite a powerful shockwave around the point of impact and further damage to the surrounding city as the God's blow echoes with the power of a small earthquake. Not his plan, obviously, but such is the price of exercising such strength!

And then, like all the others, as soon as he to see what has happened, he has only one response, to try and save Jean. There is no chance of even he moving so quickly as to physically intercede, and so, in a last ditch, the Asgardian Prince does the only thing he can think of: Whirling about, he hurls Mjolnir toward the pair.

He aims not at Darkseid himself, who seems resillient against many blows, but at the space between them, throwing his hammer into the blast, so that it's strange metal and great enchanment might hopefully draw some of that blast into itself. The hammer flies faster than light, by its enchantment, but even then, the distance is great by comparison.

In that moment, even the God of Thunder fears. Not fear of battle, but fear that he has not done enough, that even he may be too slow. And of course, in those moments, he is without weapon himself.

Molly Millions has posed:
Molly studies the lay of the land when she gets to her new spot, everything's shifted again in terms of the battle, but J'onn's words have sparked a thought in her head. Rather than worry about the grey skinned guy, her attention shifts towards the minion. One's bulletproof... the other? She takes a position behind the lip of the roof, scanning and sighting for Desaad. Time to find out how bulletproof he might be while the big guy is distracted.

Wonder Girl has posed:
Cassie is just left dumbfounded as her lasso falls limply, empty, to the ground, all that energy she channels along its length expended harmlessly into the air, or still cascading over her skin, crackling, zizzling, but slowly dissapating into nothing.

She's still gawking when the shockwave from Thor's strike catches her and throws her back some distance, totally unprepared. In the aftermath of that, she may, eventually, shake of the daze of being blasted back, she may even start flying toward the place where Darkseid has reappeared... but none of that will be remotely fast enough to intercede. She's fast, fast enough to block bullets, but she's not a teleporter nor does she ignore the laws of physics so arrogantly as Thor might.

At best, she's doomed to play witness as she charges back toward the fray, helpless to do anything about what happens next.

Miss America has posed:
    America Chavez's ribs scream in internal strain as her rubber-clad heels collide with ruined street in a tremendous BOOM of impact. With all the other assembled offenses poured forth against the Dark God, the shockwave is tremendous; at its epicenter, the Utopian Girl weathers it as best she can, hearing -- feeling -- the crack in her damaged ribs from the godly strain she puts upon that injury. She chokes down the wince with stoic aplomb; there's no time to indulge in weakness. After all...

    ... something is very wrong.

    "Where the hell--" she begins, as the dust settles and that colossal god is nowhere to be found. But the answer comes in the shadow that casts itself overhead like an ill omen. Her brown gaze snaps skywards... and sees him there, looming above. Eyes burning like two red suns. His smiting stare cast upon -- the Phoenix.

    "NO!" shouts America, a rare breach of that impeccable calm she always comports herself with. She doesn't have the luxury -- the power behind those seething eyes is unlike anything on Earth. So she moves. She moves fast, -exploding- off the ground in a way that concaves the earth further inward in cracking, kinetic protest, because she also does not have the luxury of discretion.

    And she is fast. So very, very fast. Fast enough to boggle established physics. Fast enough that her rib's fractures deepen with the strain even on her frame. But she's afraid, just as Thor, somewhere deep inside. That she isn't fast -enough-. Isn't strong -enough-. Others are interceding on the Omega Beams; there's little else she can do there to help.

    So, the girl from outside time just tries to pry Darkseid's attention away from Jean the best way she knows how -- attempting to tackle into him mid-flight at high speeds and with every ounce of her strength. "Not on my watch!"

Phoenix has posed:
The mere act of trying to keep track of Desaad's thoughts - thoughts which expand and split and divide to slide through her fingers - threatens to tear Phoenix's astral self apart, pieces of her shearing themselves away from the whole, held back from flying off into the black reaches of the cruel god's mind by nothing more than the binding flame clinging to them, straining with them.

And rather than flee, she presses onwards, burning talons latching onto psychic barriers and struggling to shred through them-- to get a peek at the secret within. Digging for what feels like an eternity spent being stretched increasingly thin across the astral plane, the mutant finally earns a glimpse of anti-life as her material shell's knees hit the ground-- only to find herself staring into the eyes of Evil himself.

His question is met with a psychic scream, an atavistic response to having a a piece of her Self in such close proximity to His dark glory-- and then with fire, once the scream is cut short and the emblem in her astral breast expands to consume the fracturing pieces of her avatar and draw them back into a coherent whole.

In the next moment, she's out of Desaad's mind and fully plugged back into the real world, where one hero's tackling her, another's channeling spare energy into her beleagured psyche, two more are fighting to intercept impossibly angling beams with heat vision and mystical Uru, and Doctor Doom is apparently trying to commit sui-- wait, no, robocide-- to further blunt their threat to her.

Eyes dancing with fire flick to meet Crusader for a split second as they disengage, leaving her to rise from a crouch a few feet from her initial spot.

{{Not yet,}} echoes between his ears as fire erupts before his vision. {{Not today--!}}

Twisting around - or through - the obstacles thrown in their path, Omega Beams surge irrevocably towards their target, perhaps mitigated somewhat as they finally crash against a free-floating firebird nearly as tall as Darkseid itself with its wings wrapped protectively against Crusader and Phoenix. The redhead throws her arms forward as the Effect rages against her will, drives her feet backwards along the pavement for several seconds-- and then finally detonates the raptor, blowing Phoenix backwards until she crashes through a boutique window.

Synestria (109) has posed:
    The Omega beams actually blow THROUGH the self-sacrificing Doombot, giving Doom, back in Latveria, enough reading to blow his mind, since the readings on his computer....explode the monitor.

They veer AWAY from every attempt to block them except Jean's actual phoenix force field. Despite the pressure of the Omega Beams on Jean's Phoenix Barrier.....it seems the Phoenix barrier is able to spare herself AND Crusader. That is a feat that is superman worthy.

*TANG*

And Darkseid's head is actually moved to the side, to distract him from the target of his Omega Beam....and stop the beam in its destructive path.....

Only to look directly at Desaad as a small hole appears in his forehead, and the back of his head explodes....and he falls over....dead.

Jean, in that instant, sees a quick flash of a VERY deep memory of Desaad....and it explains why his memories were so fractured.

He's a clone.
Of a clone
Of a clone
Of a clone
Of a clone of the original Desaad.

No wonder his memories were so messed up.

Darkseid actually stops to look at Desaad's dead body for a few moments before he turns towards the gathered heroes. "And to think, I thought you all were too 'pure' and 'good'.....yet...here we are. You have killed someone that wasn't even in the fight. SOmeone that wasn't going to attack. Bravo."

He doesn't clap his hands, however, as he grabs Thor, by the neck....and uses his body like a bat to smack American Chavez like a baseball and letting Thor go with the same swing. This makes his hands spread wide.....

Only to bring them together in a sonic shockwave clap, very much like the Hulk, blasting everyone away from him and into buildings. This even pushes oxygen away.....

Crusader has posed:
Crusader looks for a moment in awe at the Phoenix Forcefield "By Juthuum" he says impressed and thankful. He didn't know how strong the Omega beams were, and frankly that was the last thing in the back of his head. So win win!
    But that was but a moment as he comes back to the moment of the here and now. He thinks to himself "And this is why One never claims to be pure or good." it true. He lets other people do the labeling for they had little meaning to him.

But he loks back to Jean who went through a forcefield before looking back to Darksie in time to see him use Thor like a bat. And that when he sees it, in slow motion. The hands going back and than comming togeather like the hulk.... Crusader digs his feet into the ground, his hands grasp debree in front. But it wasn't nearly enough. The resounding shockwave surge at him and he went FLYING back crashing through cars, buildings, you name it! Buildings and structures where comming down.

Martian Manhunter has posed:
    J'onn can feel the strain from providing Jean power to help deflect the Omega Beam. His attempt to grab Darkseid's feet is foiled by the gigantic thunderclap that blows everyone away from him. He has just enough time to phase through the building instead of tearing a whole all the way through it. It takes him a moment to recover his senses, but he then flies up over the buildings.

    While his eyes attempt to track Darkseid, his mind reaches out to the various heroes, attempting to understand their current physical condition, and their location. While he would like to help those hurt, Darkseid must be dealt with, and as long as none of them are in critical condition he will attempt to buy them time to recover.

    "There is no doubt that your power is impressive. However, we will not stop, we will keep fightin you until we have pushed you back away from this World..." The Martian speaks up as he slowly floats towards their nemesis. "There will be no victory for you here. Even if we need to give up our lives to insure it."

Thor has posed:
There is a great Phoenix-y blast of energy and then... whee, Thor-bat is going on a journey!

Being slammed into an ally is perhaps more a threat to the ally than to him, so it's fortunate that it is one of the more sturdy of their lot. Still, he's thrown bodily a great distance, and with Mjolnir out of hand, has little control of his trajectory. The Asgardian goes saaaaaaiiiillling, although fortunately not quite so far as some of the time's he's gone on planet-crashing FTL brawls through space, and lands far distant from the fight, with a suitably large crash and some amount of property damage to the nearby city.

From amidst the rubble, he holds his hand out, recalling his weapon, and once it faithfully returns to his hand, lets it pull him upward from beneath the rather impressive pile of depris. He comes out dusty and a bit scratched up, which is something, for a God.

Once again, he's left with something of a journey back toward the fray.

Molly Millions has posed:
Not bulletproof. Also not likely to be mistaken as 'pure' any time in the near future. She hadn't quite meant to put the bullet in his head, but regrets are something she can't particularly afford right now. Rather than climb down herself, she sends Shadow to clatter its way down the wall and head towards Desaad's corpse. She's not sure what she expects to find, but well, done is done and she might as well see what can be salvaged for the potential to help.

There's not even a wince from the black clad woman at the accusations about pure and good. Maybe vague guilt that the telepaths can pick up on for them getting tarred for her actions, but no particular regret. All's fair in love and alien invasions as far as she's concerned, apparently.

Andromeda has posed:
    Her heat vision and freezing breath do nothing, this turns out to be a major disappointment, made worse by the shockwave knocking her into a building. Still, she picks herself out of the rubble and zooms back towards the fight. "Kid gloves are off!" but that's mostly a boast for herself. She's already been trying hard.

Super-Man has posed:
A shockwave rends the Earth as Kenan braces himself for his push. He is rattled a bit, but it actually maked hisd task easier...the ground above is alreadu broken it is easier to mobe a chunk free...

Wonder Girl has posed:
Cassie is still flying back toward the center of the action and everything gothing on around Jean... only to arrive JUST as Darkseid does his powerful thunderclap, and she catches the front of the shockwave rather full on.

Fortunately, she's pretty high on the durability scale, at least when it comes to broad, unfocused force and impacts like that. And yet it's still all she can do not to be overwhelmed. Here, in fact, in an immitation of her mentor, she crosses her forearms, and the star-marked bracers that cover them, in front of her face, her body folding into a bit of a ball in the air. Like this, she blocks the worst of the impact and any particulate debris from catching her in the face, while trying to let more of it flow around her.

When it's all over with, she's been pushed to the edge of the blast area, and is left with ringing ears and a mild daze. From that vantage, she looks around at her friends on the battlefield, at the wear that's starting to show through all of this. "We're throwing everything at him..."

Phoenix has posed:
KILL COUNT: 3

Bloodied fingers poking through golden gloves grip broken brickwork as Phoenix hauls herself upright-- or, rather, tries to haul herself upright, only to be assaulted with one last gift from the depths of Desaad's psyche.

Which, at this point, mainly serves to add fuel to the rage consuming her soul-- sure, Desaad was a cowardly sadist who was almost certainly complicit in some percentage of Darkseid's war crimes, but since he appears to be the Apokoliptian equivalent of a Foxconn employee and product in one, he probably didn't actually have to die.

Part of her even wanted - genuinely - to talk him into giving himself and his Master up, before it'd become clear how deeply set he was in his cowardice. Part of her held out hope that this could somehow be brought to an end without further death and bloodshed, that the mere threat of Earth's heroes being willing to martyr themselves on the altar of Darkseid would be enough to scare him off from sacrificing even more resources on his invasion of Earth.

But she's asleep, now, and what remains draws swollen lips back in a teeth-gritting grimace as Darkseid's compressed shockwave finds her in her boutique and shoves her all the way into a changing room.

{{Stronger than Superman, but not as swift,}} she transmits to the heroes and Mollys as she once again hauls herself upright-- this time with what's left of a bench. {{Beams capable of vaporizing all but the most resilient. He's never known the taste of defeat-- he mocks us in his arrogance, comfortable and assured in victory--!}}

Steadying herself against cracked drywall, surrounded by flickering flames from head to toe, she swipes blood from her eyelids and nostrils.

{{In a way, I envy him:}} she continues, trying to flare the heroes' own will and determination to greater heights, {{An ancient being, about to be exposed to a new experience for what must be the first time in centuries. Thank you for your assistance; let's crush this pretender!}}