View source for 3197/Space(tech) Oddity

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2017/11/19
|Location=Unknown
|Synopsis=Do Not Taunt Happy Apokalyps Funball. Failure to follow instructions may result in tentacles sprouting everywhere.
|Cast of Characters=87, 1320, 80, 42, 1429
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:87|Vorpal (87)}} has posed:'''<br>After his conversation with Damian, Tommy spent a good amount of time trying to put some of the lessons from the Angriest Robin Ever to good use- namely, working the street, trying to find leads. Admittedly, he cheated a bit- it's easier to gather clues when you can become invisible, after all. <br><br>The word-of-mouth had pointed the way, and now he had to reach out to some of the people they wanted to recruit. Brick, of course, and Kian. The Cheshire knew Brick from the Titans, and the avian from their multiple misadventures together. They both could be great assets to the... to the...<br><br>Right. They didn't have a name yet.<br><br>"So as far as I've been able to surmise, there's something rotten going on in that place o'er there."<br>They were standing on a rooftop on top one of the oldest and most decrepit apartment buildings in the area. Across from them was an old building that once had been a famous chain store, but now was a generic-sounding shipping and delivery center. Curiously enough, there seemed to be some activity in the building, even though the hour was late. <br><br>"I haven't been able to confirm it, but I've heard that 'strange things' and lights have been seen in that building, and glimpses of 'weird things' being put onto trucks and shipped out. Granted, the people I gathered this from weren't necessarily reliable. BUT..." the Cheshire cat holds up a finger, "Considering this is the best I've been able to get, and the alien tech thing does seem to be gaining steam as a black market operation, I figured we'd give it a look."<br><br>He turns to the building. It was about four floors high, and Tommy figured out there might also be a basement or storage area of some sort. <br><br>"Quick pow-wow. Best way to infiltrate- from above, or ground level?" <br><br>He wishes Robin were here. He wasn't exactly the leader type. This felt rather uncomfortable.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1320|Brick Marsten (1320)}} has posed:'''<br>Brick is standing, or rather, skating slowly, a few centimeters above the roof on his gravity skates, having appeared on a nearby rooftop -- and he's now moving toward the GPS that Vorpal gave him, just in time to hear the Denmarkian Condemnation applied to the building in question. His latest visor is a near-transparent field that runs around his head at eye-level, kind of like a stretched-down halo, and he's not at all sure it'll play on WhoTube. He's using a hollow tube scanner that contains an unusually high number of Kirby Dots inside it, and muttering to himself with an occasional PING inserting into his self-conversation.<br><br>"OK. Yes, the building has black mold in the top floor, dry rot in seven key places and the concrete support walls are soft enough to cut with a kitchen knife. Should be condemned. There's non-Terran tech in there too, but I can't tell what or which with this sensor."<br><br>He looks up and realizes he's reached Vorpal at least. That neon fur never looks quite real.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:80|Kian (80)}} has posed:'''<br>"I am not going to be able to give you unbiased advice. I'm always going to choose from above," Kian says with what *might* be a smirk. Wonderful, now he has enough command of English to be a smartaleck in it. First, however, he leans on the cornicework of the rooftop they're on and peers intently at the building -- eyes like a hawk, literally. "Let's see what we can see from here, before getting closer."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Diana Prince (42)}} has posed:'''<br>Diana Prince is in the area. She's a a social function a few blocks down, its taking place at an outdoor music festival. She was invited to it via social media by one of the lead performers who wanted to serenade her in-person, it was one of those 'long shot' chances online that actually paid off and Diana accepted the invite on social media, so it had drawn a pretty large crowd. The music could likely be vaguely heard from ehere Vorpal'n'Gang are located.<br><br>Diana is in her armor, but due to the cold weather she's wearing some dark blue skintight stockings beneath the skirt and she has a matching dark blue jaacket on as well, it gives her armored-look a bit more of an appropriate flare for the time of year.<br><br>Diana is mingling with the audience and sharing pleasantries with those who are here for a peaceful time.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1429|Caroline Ramsey (1429)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There is a ghost in the midst of that gathering down the way. Caroline Ramsey isn't part of the investigation that Vorpal is heading. Instead, she'd heard wind that someone she knew- someone she -used- to know- would be appearing. These functions are magnets, a lot of the time, for someone looking to tussle with heroes. Caroline is here- uninvited, to be sure- as security. Just in case, she tells herself.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She's hard to notice, but not impossible- on the fringes, the outskirts. Away from everyone else and seemingly not even taking part in the festive gathering, but there. She's not invisible, no matter how much she tries. The cafe had been enough- perhaps bad enough for the both of them- and to be noticed here, confronted here, would be even worse. With any luck, Diana wouldn't even know she was there.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:87|Vorpal (87)}} has posed:'''<br>"Thanks for the scan, Brick," the cat nods, and then looks at Kian. "You heard the Brick, looks like we've got some confirmed contraband in there." They can hear the music, alright. He peers in the direction from which the sound comes. "All that celebrating should give us some good cover. Alright, team!" He turns around, hands on hips, trying to look heroic and inspirational all at once. "We ready to go and do this the stealthy way?" Because that would impress Robin. Not that he WANTS to impress Robin. But it would be cool. "Let us prepare to go in, become one with the night and arouse no sus-"<br><br><br>And that's when a concentrated beam of blinding light essentially pierces through the shipping building, creating a tower of light that can be seen for several blocks around. Anyone looking at it directly will need to re-adjust and blink a couple of times, it is that strong.<br><br>And then the power goes out. The blackout covers a massive number of blocks. Outside of the cars on the street, there is no source of light anywhere else-<br><br>Except the windows of said shipping center. They are glowing with an eerie blue-white light. And there is a humming that can be //felt//.<br><br>".... ooooor rush in and try to do damage control on a dumpster fire. That works, too," the cat says, sighing. He gets up on the ledge. "Something something plan something something first meeting with the enemy, right? Let's get down there quickly."<br><br>There is currently a rather generous number of people, all dressed in the uniform of the shipping company, actively running out of the building and, apparently, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the building as possible. <br><br>So, of course, the heroic thing is to do the actual opposite.<br><br>"Banzai!"<br><br>Vorpal leaps over the edge, seemingly ready to splatter to his death ten floors below.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1320|Brick Marsten (1320)}} has posed:'''<br>"Maire Boit? Shortcut please," Brick says quietly.<br><br>!! BOOOM !!!!<br><br>The hole in space looks like it's lined with some sort of giant plastic drink straw. Perhaps one scaled to the UP of the Source Wall Giants, whatever those are. In any case, Brick slides down the tube and appears on the other side within a second, at the wall which is most definitely the easiest to breach. He punches the wall, hard. The garage-door-sized hole that appears is probably unexpected by the people inside, and does not involve any special spatial tubing, though it has its own boom. It does, however, include flying cinder blocks and other structural disruption.<br><br>Meanwhile back at the roof, the tube is still there for long enough that other people might jump through. But once they're done, it closes again with a second BOOOOOM!!!!<br><br>Because nothing says stealth like a Boom Tube.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:80|Kian (80)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kian snaps something in his own language -- from the tone of voice, it's probably not 'oh dear' -- and rubs his eyes, then dives off the rooftop himself with a quiet rustle of feathers. Definitely more stealthy than a Boom Tube.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;While approaching, Kian tries to make sense of whatever sort of energy signature is coming off the building. Never mind trying to sense it in the first place. Most likely he's needing to filer most of it out to keep from getting overwhelmed.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Diana Prince (42)}} has posed:'''<br>The music festival was in its later moments, the major acts were finished and those still playing were playing softer and quieter tunes. Christmas music was starting up now, in fact, as it was nearing that time of year for it to be everywhere anyone ever goes until the 26th of next month.<br><br>Diana was in the process of speaking with people when Caroline and her were suddenly on the verge of crossing paths, it might make Caroline quite uncomfortable if she was looking to stay incognito as well! But just as the Amazonian Princess was about to turn in Carol's direction, the 'sky beam' lanced its why toward the stars and Diana (as well as everyone else at the festival) turned to look after it, most people were shielding their eyes from the light... but Diana did not need to.<br><br>With a slow downward tip of her chin, and a steely-eyed gaze toward the danger, Diana suddenly rushed forward toward the edge of the small Manhattan park and when her armored boots hit the sidewalk she shot into the sky!<br><br>She spoke into her comm to the Justice League, informing them of the activity taking place in Harlem while she soared through the chilly sky toward that sudden burst of danger.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1429|Caroline Ramsey (1429)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Caroline cannot fly, but bright light isn't necessarily a problem. After all, you could dip her face into the surface of a star and she'd probably only need to squint a little. However, that particular activity from the factory does take her attention. She's not as fast to -get- there as Diana, perhaps, but she doesn't necessarily take even half a moment to react. She's rushing towards it at the same moment that it goes off. She doesn't know why or what it could be, but it is something that warrants attention.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She runs at highway speed, lurching around the crowd and then moving at full-tilt towards the source of the disturbance. Unlike automobiles, though, she has... Literally no reason to slow down or stop. She can leap over obstacles, and her mobility is greater- which means that she'll be at that building very, very shortly after the others find their way inside.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;So much for avoiding Diana. Caroline knows she'll be here too.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:87|Vorpal (87)}} has posed:'''<br>Brick's entrance only adds to the chaos inside as the remaining people in the building scramble to get away as fast as possible. The inside of the building is lit by that brilliant glow that doesn't seem to have any point of origin that can be easily pinpointed. Both Kian and Brick's sensors would register a sudden spike in the energy signature as the light grew brighter for a second-<br><br>And then vanished completely, leaving everything in darkness. After that brilliant light, it's that much harder to adjust your eyes immediately.<br><br>Vorpal, for his part, uses his Rabbit Hole powers to land on the rooftop next to Kian, just before the glow vanishes. Not a moment too soon, otherwise he might have messed up the landing.<br><br>"Okay, the fireworks are off... what now? Bird, can you give us a bird's eye and see how far this blackout goes? I'm going in to touch base with Brick."<br><br>He slides down the side of the building, using a pipe for good measure. By the time he reaches the wrecked wall, everyone in the building has fled, and everything is darkness.<br><br>"Hey, Brick!" Vorpal calls out. His eyes are better equipped to see in the dark, so he moves confidently.<br><br>There are no energy signatures currently detected. None whatsoever.<br><br>"-What do you think caused this?"<br><br>Beep.<br><br>The Cheshire cat walks across the floor, trying to find stairs to a lower level. "Any words from your little friend?"<br><br>Beep. Beep.<br><br>He frowns, as there is a sudden breeze picking up. From *inside* the building. "Did you fee-"<br><br>Any sensors would scream at this point as the building shudders violently. In an instant, the floor under Vorpal's feet gives way and he jumps to the side with a shout, trying to get out of the way.<br><br>A massive, metallic collection of appendages vaguely tentacular in shape erupt from the floor. And through the next floor. And the next. And the next.<br><br>"Kian! Fly!" Vorpal shouts into the comm.<br><br>Wonder Woman would be arriving just as as the appendages burst through the roof. The building begins to groan under the assault, parts of it clearly looking like they are about to collapse. Several more appendages burst through windows at floor level, roughly around the time Caroline makes it to the spot.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1320|Brick Marsten (1320)}} has posed:'''<br>Have you ever heard cursing in a language that you understand but don't know the language and you know you don't know the language? Well, if you're approaching this central spot, you'll note that someone is doing that, interspersed with loud, angry-seeming PING PING noises.<br><br>Brick was inside. He was actually in time to see (with his very useful visor) the horrified expression of don't eat me on the face of a guy who had four teardrops tattooed on his left cheek. A tentacle pulled him down into the darkness and the scream cut off abruptly and with a wet noise. The tentacles tried to grab him as well, and the cursing comes as he burns zero-energy to push his speed up to "pretend physics" in order to avoid being similarly wetly cut off. Bright flashes happen when he punches one of the tentacles which has become too friendly, and it burns and retracts into the hole.<br><br>"It's a tentacle monster!" Brick yells, with his communicator on (so Vorpal and possibly Kian can hear. Maybe Diana as well.) There's a PING PING, and he says, "ALSO IT'S a SCORCHED-EARTH Grenade!"<br><br>Whatever that means.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:80|Kian (80)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kian does not need a whole lot of encouragement to put plenty of air between himself and whatever the heck is going on in that building. "/c'Rhys'yw/! What *is* that?" Not that he wants to get close enough to find out. He stays out of its reach -- he *hopes*! -- and again tries to get a read on its energy trace. If he can slow it down even a little, it will count as a good job.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Diana Prince (42)}} has posed:'''<br>Diana swooped low in the sky and came to a running-landing upon the edge of the roof, she'd spotted the tentacles from above... she'd fought things like it before... they didn't worry her.<br><br>The sound of metal across leather was heard as Wonder Woman drew her sword from her back and then leapt into the fight! With her left arm blocking swinging attacks against her metalic bracer, her right hand swung this way and that--slicing the tentacles to shreds, sending pieces and goo in all directions as she would cut her way down into the building.<br><br>Brick's communication channel was being monitored by the Justice League, and Diana tapped into it with a command to her JL tech.<br><br>"This is Wonder Woman." She announced, between sword swings. "I am on the roof, working my down into the building. Please provide me with all information that you have so far."<br><br>And shortly there after, the woman in the <span class="fg_b bg_n ++ b">blue</span>/<span class="fg_r bg_n ++ r">red</span>/<span class="bold_fg_y bg_n ++ hy">gold</span> attire sliced the last tentacle out of her way and dropped down into the old building!<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1429|Caroline Ramsey (1429)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Containing this mess is not necessarily Caroline's specialty. Her attention shifts for half a moment, as she overhears a few words in a language she had long decided she didn't like. However, that's a matter for another time. For now, Caroline sidesteps some of these horid 'vines', aiming to breach the building's side through whatever hole could be made. It didn't have as much flare as Diana, but the pale woman literally bursting through a wall and then moving towards the source of this had... Its own sort of flair.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Once inside, Caroline is a form of anathema to the things, as she pulls and tears at them. She doesn't have the physical -strength- to pull them apart with her bare hands, but she does have the ability to superchill them on contact, dropping them to a temperature so low that most metals buckle and snap under the near-instant change in temperature. By the nature of her approach on the ground floor, Caroline is likely the closest to the center, a source of impossible cold amongst the masses of metal surging forward.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:87|Vorpal (87)}} has posed:'''<br>"Of course it'd be a tentacle monster!" Vorpal shouts into his communicator as Kian and Brick weigh in, "Just my f$#@ing luck, my first miss-"<br><br>This is Wonder Woman sounds loud and clear in his voice. He freezes. "-saywhat?" So it seems he swore with Wonder Woman right on the line.<br><br>Wait. What was she doing on the comm line?<br><br>They say that curiosity killed the cat-- well, okay, the correct idiomatic expression is that CARE killed the cat, but since time immemorial it has been desmonstrated that cats care even less than Honeybadger, the idiom must have been corrected at some point. But in any case. They DO say that curiosity killed the cat, nowadays, and that adage proves almost too true as Vorpal's momentary distraction makes him the target of a handful of twirling metallic vines. They latch onto his right leg and arm, and begin to pull him towards the center, towards the caved-in floor through which the ever-writhing forest of vines is emerging. <br><br>"OH crap! No!" he tries to hold on to something, anything- but the vines suddenly become brittle as Caroline's touch superchills them. He is lucky to escape their hold before the super-frost reaches him.<br><br>Up on the rooftop, Diana's attacks thin out the tentacles rather quickly. The alien machinery seems to realize it is being decimated quickly, and the humming that shook the building once before resumes. A few seconds later, two pods about the size of a human child are ejected out of the hole on the floor, the tentacles doing their best to keep Caroline from reaching them directly as they fly through one of the walls.<br><br>One of them hits a parked car on the street and collides with it, exploding in a tangled mess of silvery filigree over the machine. In record time, the filigree manages to sink itself into the vehicle and, surprisingly enough, the car begins to shift its form as its chassis begins to deform itself, sprouting a tentacle. That tentacle reaches back and slams itself on another parked car, which soon begins to undergo a similar metamorphosis, becoming absorbed into the first car, the compound entity now looking something like a somewhat melted metallic spider. It reaches towards the next parked car...<br><br>The second pod slams against a wall and seems dazees for a moment, before it begins to dart towards one of the holes on the wall. <br><br>"Don't... don't let it get away!" Vorpal calls out to Brick. Then he remembers that Wonder Woman asked a question. "... We were looking into smuggled alien tech being peddled in the black market, but we don't know the natre of-" And then he is quickly pulled in by another set of tentacles. "Oh for crying out loud! REALLY?" He tries to fight them off. He really needs to start carrying a weapon-<br><br>Caroline, being close to the hole on the ground, will better be able to see the nature of that which sprouted these tentacles, lying deep in the basement. It is a solid metallic mass of several fused machines. Some of them are terrestrial in nature... other looks distinctly Apokolyptian.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1320|Brick Marsten (1320)}} has posed:'''<br>"APOKALYPS TECH!" Brick yells. "KILL IT WITH QUANTUM FIRE!"<br><br>He prepares to do just that. A fast code-word to Maire Boit and a boom tube opens in front of him and closes, cutting off a tentacle as it tries to grab his trailing skate. He appears outside with a clear view of the marauding car-topus. He snaps the fingers of his left hand and yells "FIVE!" and a tiny boom-like noise deposits a gun in his right hand.<br><br>The tenta-car is the target; the beam from the gun glows BLACK, and some seriously counter-entropic effects that look a lot like digitized flames begin moving energy around in ways that make it suck into a tight little ball. It gains its own event-horizon, that it can't reach outside, and then outside that, an uneventful-horizon that wraps it like a glowing pink egg.<br><br>"It worked?" Brick says, "Oh, uh, IT WORKED! Containment achieved! Where's the other one?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:80|Kian (80)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"What do you mean, DON' let it get away?" Kian replies incredulously, his accent thickening as the adrenaline really gets going. "Do you really *wan'* it to s'tay aroun' here?"<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Okay, he doesn't really mean that.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Much.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Partly fascinated, partly horrified, he watches a pod slip out. Vorpal said to stop it -- as much on instinct as anything else, he lets loose with a thick, writhing, purple-white spark at it -- hopefully will stop it, and with any luck will seriously mess with whatever circuitry operates this thing!<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Diana Prince (42)}} has posed:'''<br>Diana's sword was thrust into one of the tentacles and she used it to guide her fall directly through the center of the ruined building. The sword sliced its way downward as the woman holding onto it glided through the wreckage...<br><br>She would come to land directly over the monstrosity that was pulling Vorpal down into the guts of the foundation and she'd jam her sword right down into--and through it-- into the floor, effectively halting the thing's ability to claim the Cheshire Cat as a victim.<br><br>Diana's blue eyes scanned over the immediate area, she took note of what was happening outside... Brick was doing well... Her eyes went to Kian, he seemed to have his hands full but he too seemed to have the right idea.<br><br>"This is not mere alien technology." Diana said, her voice likely heard by all as she spun around to look at the origin of the tentacles. "This is an abomination. The work of a mad man..." She muttered.<br><br>NOW Diana's eyes fell upon Caroline, she remembered her and who she was/is. But now wa snot the time for that.<br><br>"Can you freeze it?" She asked Caroline, "Down to the source? We will crush it into dust there-after."<br><br>Diana pulled her sword from the tentacle that had had Vorpal in its grasp, she swung it around in a flourish and held it readied at her side.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1429|Caroline Ramsey (1429)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Caroline says something, but the sheer noise of the writhing metallic appendages is enough to drown out what little is left of her voice. She'll have to figure out a few things. She knows her voice can carry, but not how- and now isn't the time to learn. Instead, she draws on old ideas, and memories that... Well, she hates to make use of.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Pushing forward, Caroline makes her way through the stone and metal to the heart of this particular catastrophe. The apokolips tech she recognizes. It's -that- that needs to be excised. It's not necessarily graceful or careful, but it requires a bit more finesse, and a lot more -hands-, than simply freezing it.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Instead, Caroline moves over to the thing- inspecting how it's fused together. Likely, as well, standing in an area that is overwhelmingly deadly for anyone who is more human. Quite frankly, she isn't the physically strongest here- but she knows which -part- to pull from the mass, and if she can get it, she'll know how to turn it off. While the idea of being "thankful" for half a century on that hell-world isn't entirely accurate, she certainly is making use of the experience.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With her bare hands, she pulls- freezing water molecules wherever she can, supercooling everything she touches. It's not a feat of strength, but likely more a feat of chemistry and physics- mixed with her unnatural ability to control where and how the thing shatters due to her influence.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;By the end of it, she hopes to have pulled the thing apart- and, hopefully, to be the only one present. There's no telling how much energy is going to be put out at the severing, or if it even will at all- but Apokoliptian tech is anything but "stable."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:87|Vorpal (87)}} has posed:'''<br>The pod staggers under Kian's barrage, and then eventually falls to the ground, inert. The most damage it causes is that it dents a car's hood on its way down, but that's better than another centipede spidercar, right? With that, Brick and Kian have a perfect containment score, while Vorpal... well. The tentacles severed, he dodges another set that come for him. "Seriously, this is getting ridiculous!" He does take some agency for himself, though, as he blasts the remains of the severed tentacles with a chaos wave and commands them to come to his defense. Suddenly, it is tentacle-on-tentacle action, which leaves the cat free to approach the center...<br><br>As Caroline begins to pull, there is a clear effort from the machine to secure its own survival. It is, however, not fortunate in this regard as the woman knows where to pull, where to freeze, and where the 'tender' spots are, so to speak. Knowing what is to come, the machine makes one last effort and expels another pod. This one? This is one is tiny, about the size of a human head. <br><br>And, in its desperation, it flies in a straight arc that puts it right within Wonder Woman's grasp.<br><br>A few seconds later, there is a rumbling below the ground as the destruction of the apokalyptian device releases a wave of energy. Fortunately, it isn't as much as Caroline might have feared, since the machine was forced to deploy a large amount of resources in a very short amount of time. Nevertheless, though, the shockwave causes structural damage to a building that had already been extremely battered. It begins to crumble.<br><br>"ohcrap." Vorpal says, looking up as the ceiling begins to cave in, almost in slow motion, it seems. "..... everybody get out!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1320|Brick Marsten (1320)}} has posed:'''<br>"Trace omega-field particle radiation detected. Neutralize," Brick says in that weird language. There's a PING PING PING PING and as Brick fires the gun in a too-wide cone at the building, a sudden flowering of Kirby-dot hot-pink and infra-green light explodes in tiny flower-puffs before fading away fecklessly.<br><br>The itch that anyone might have begun to feel in their cells is suddenly soothed.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:80|Kian (80)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kian stays on watch, moving a little closer as the tentacles withdraw -- ready to bolt if any look like they're coming his way. Any that even try to peek out will get zapped. He may even give a warning shot, just to make sure none of them were even thinking of it. "Are *you* clear of the building? I'm near enough to grab you if you need to be pulled out!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Diana Prince (42)}} has posed:'''<br>Whenever Wonder Woman was on a field of Battle she inherently felt the need to protect thsoe that were fighting on her side and when she'd come to this fight she'd admittedly expected to find this group of young heroes to be in over their heads... She was pleasantly surprised to see them doing quite the opposite of that though.<br><br>Diana's primary attention was down toward where Caroline was, she was waiting to see the results of the woman's efforts but the explosion of the pod coming straight at her obviously took her attention in a different direction!<br><br>Diana's left hand swept up just in time to deflect the pod with a shower of sparks that flowered-out in front of her as she took a step backward with her left foot planted behind her! She then leapt straight up into the air and caught the pod befor it could fly away, further illustrating her insane reflexes!<br><br>Diana would grasp the head-sized pod and bring it down before her to look down upon it... a large part of her wanted to smash it, and she would if it showed any shred of hostility. If it didn't, she'd keep it for the techs at the Hall.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1429|Caroline Ramsey (1429)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Caroline's arm stregnth does get a workout- or something approaching it, if she even can build muscle mass anymore- even if the brunt of the work was done via various material laws rather than pure strength. When all of it comes apart, Caroline braces momentarily, the energy washing over her where she stands. She holds onto the thing for a few moments, moving her fingers across it in a semi-familiar way. The device is not necessarily destroyed- she couldn't risk pummeling it and turning it less into a weird novelty of destruction and more into that same phrase but with the word Mass inserted where it seems appropriate.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She hears Vorpal scream the word "out" and her attention is drawn skyward. She doesn't have any particularly fancy modes of transportation. The chains are a novelty that let her get around cities faster than normal. She runs about as fast as a pretty good car on the freeway, somewhere about in the seventy to eight mile-hour range.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Neither of those things are flight or teleportation, things you need in this instance to get out of a collapsing building. She doesn't panic, or scream, or anything the like. Instead, in that last spare moment of the building's fall, she manages a second or two of speech.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Yeah. Seems about right."<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The others are free to get clear. Vorpal can teleport, Diana can fly- the others weren't -in- the building, much less were they at its very core.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:87|Vorpal (87)}} has posed:'''<br>"Negative, stay out!" Vorpal calls to Kian. The moment the bird set wing in this collapsing hellhole, he wasn't going to fly out. He wasn't Wonder Woman (tm). <br><br>And someone else who wasn't Wonder Woman was the woman at the bottom of the hole.<br><br>There's that moment of sheer and abject horror where everythig slows down and you know you are toeing the fine line between making it out alive and potentially becoming a pancake. Fear shoots through him like ice, and for half a second he almost turns around and runs.<br><br>But there's a woman stuck in a hole at the bottom.<br><br>The jolt of adrenaline pushes him forward and he drives himself in the opposite direction to the one every fiber of his body wants, he runs towards the hole. Chunks of the building are now falling around him. Possibly soon AT him.<br><br>"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"<br><br>It's, pretty much, a shout of sheer terror. He's completely afraid as he jumps over the edge and swan-dives into the hole. Caroline will probably get a rather comical image of the Cheshire cat appearing over the edge and speeding towards her general direction, arms outstretched and a sheer look of panic on his face, screaming all the way.<br><br>It's not the most heroic image.<br><br>And that's when the Rabbit Hole opens. It opens right under Caroline's feet and it shows the area just outside of the shipping warehouse.<br><br>By all rights, it SHOULD have worked. Caroline SHOULD have been pulled through the hole just as Vorpal passed through it. They both should have emerged on the other side, rolled on the ground, get bruised somewhat maybe, but make it out alive and in one piece while the Rabbit Hole closed behind them and the warehouse collapsed.<br><br>Vorpal brushes himself off and slowly gets to his feet on the street outside, just as a huge cloud of dust is raised when the building falls upon itself. And he looks.<br><br>No woman.<br><br>"Oh no... no..." he says quietly, eyes wide. "She was right in front of me, she was-"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1320|Brick Marsten (1320)}} has posed:'''<br>Brick scans the building. The weird flickery maybe-alive signal he was getting on the visor shows more strongly, but he can't tell what it means. Maire Boit has no record of anything like it. He sends the gun back to his secret storage bin through the boom-box -- "Five" -- and then starts skating along the "edge" formed by the change in air density caused by suspended dust. The readings don't get any more or less clear.<br><br>"I can't tell, was there someone in there, Vorpal?" He circles the building remains twice before the dust settling makes it impossible.<br><br>"I'm going to take this holding pod to a desert so I can open it and dissect whatever is inside it. You guys going to be OK?"<br><br>Brick figures the best location will be somewhere in Australia ... far from the stuff it can eat.<br>"I'll tell you what I find out."<br><br>!! BOOOM !!<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:80|Kian (80)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kian touches down lightly behind Vorpal. There is, he hates to admit, something fascinating about destruction on this scale, and it takes a moment before he can find his voice. "Is it stopped?" he finally asks. "What was it? The energy signature I sensed was... odd. I couldn't make much sense of it." His wings are still spread just a bit, flicking occasionally, like the slightest unexpected movement will send him skywards again.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1429|Caroline Ramsey (1429)}} has posed:'''<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There's unexpected movement alright. It doesn't take especially long for it to happen. The building drops itself on top of her, and her reaction is a nonplussed combination of resignation and acceptance. Her expression? "This might as well happen" in facial features.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The dust settles a bit, Brick tubes out, Diana flies off to help with the cleanup and make sure nobody was hurt, and the other two? They're still sort of standing there as the rubble shifts and roils.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For all the grandeur of it, Caroline literally -walks- out of it, shrugging rocks and bits of building off of her shoulders like tougher rainwater. It almost seems effortless, the way she does it.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:87|Vorpal (87)}} has posed:'''<br>"No, you gotta- there's someone-" Vorpal starts blabbering at Kian about the woman who is trapped under all of that rubble, probably dead. Or dying. He's almost near tears-<br><br>And that's when the woman just *walks out* of the mess of rubble and debris, cool as a cucumber (he has NO idea).<br><br>The Cheshire cat stares, and then he turns to Kian, looking suddenly very, very tired. "Three years, two months, four days and six hours before I can legally drink," he says, casually. Then he pats the bird-man on the shoulder and says "... go get some rest, Wonder Woman's got the clean-up and aid covered. I'm going to go give my report to Robin." And then curl up with some Haagen-Daaz and an episode of Murder She Wrote on the couch. Or a cheesecake. Whatever he can find first.<br> <br>
}}