2014.12.16 - Assimilation Part 1

Metropolis was a wonderful place, especially on a winter afternoon like this one. Sure it was cold, but it was one of those rare days where people could see the blue skies. White fluffy clouds were there just very sparse. It was near four in the afternoon. Streets were crowded with people that wanted to get a head start on Christmas shopping.
One shopper moved among them. He was big, somewhere in the 6' 5" range and two-hundred pounds plus some change. His shoulders were broad too. Shoppers were moving out of the way of this big guy. A trench coat and hat shrouded most of their figure. The figure came to a sudden stop as he heard sirens.
An unrelated firetruck whistled and whirled as it got closer. Instead of watching it like a normal person the man moved out into traffic.
Horns blared and peopled yelled trying to get this crazy man to move. Instead of moving the man drew back and fist and struck the front of the firetruck. With one blow the front of the truck practically crumpled like paper being balled up by two hands.
Those in the front flew out and the rest of the fire crew were hurt. People screamed in horror. Pieces of metal and glass tore at the man's attire, but it didn't phase him. Moving past the wreckage that was once a fire truck the man shred the tattered clothing.
All of the light from the sun caused his metal skin to shine. His face was featureless except for two red eyes and the sockets they lingered in. Even his body was relatively featureless aside from basic muscle and skeletal structure. Everything about this person was very nondescript.
An onlooker screamed, "Why are you doing this?!"
Hearing that caused the figure to turn toward them, "To show there are no true heroes."
You need to vote for other players before voting for Blur again.
A little vendor on a nearby corner serves the absolute best weiners in Metropolis. It just so happens that on this lovely and soon to be lively day, Thara Ak-Var and Jon-El are catching themselves a bit of lunch. It's not as though Thara herself needs to eat or really cares what the hot dog is made of. Right now it's just about spending time with her b/f.
"So later on we are going to um... Your Dad's so we can see if we can figure things out right?" The Kryptonian girl asks as she polishes off a dog. A little chili is left on her cheek as suddenly the day starts turning sour. "Err, Jon, I think it's time to go to work." With that, she is gone.
A moment passes and suddenly the fully uniformed Flame Bird is hovering within plain sight of the rather large man. "Mister, I am giving you a chance to walk away before you make a really big mistake. It is the holidays and we can all enjoy some peace. I will even buy you some hot chocolate, if you stop now."
Johnathan and Thara are enjoying themselves some 'us' time, wearing civvies and enjoying a pair of hot dogs, and polka colas near a corner vendor when a block or two away the sounds of metal screeching and being torn to all hell comes to his ears. "You hear that?" he asks not even pausing as she replies the teenager tossing the remains of his meal in the near by trashcan spinning in place as he takes a step towards the sounds a bright flash of light and Powerboy in full armor takes off at super speed his lengthening black hair rushing behind him as he comes to the scene of the crime. "I don't know who you are, but if you are the cause of this playtime's over, come peaceably, this is your only warning." He says light glinting off the 'S' shield of the House of El..
Alarms. Sirens. That's enough to attract the attention of a certain Martian. The green form descending through the sky, at an angle. He sees the presence of Jon-El immediately, of course, and Flame Bird. Not registering Thara, although he's pretty sure her mind is nearby. He slows, not charging in until he is sure who else is there, and letting the guy have that one warning from the young Kryptonian. It won't be followed, but you DO give them a chance to surrender.
A small blur darts in and out of the way, racing towards the commotion. Sonia grumbled to herself. All she had wanted was to sneak out from under the Bat's glare and enjoy a stroll in Metropolis. And then trouble shows up. She gulps, and hurriedly slips into her crime fighting costume. "There are true heroes!" She tries to bellow, imitating a Bat-glare as best she could. "And here we are to stop your evil!" Mentally she cringed. 'I sound so lame...'
Thara went off with her threat and the machine registered it. There was no words machine's eyes started to brighten. Beams of light went off toward Thara. Martian Manhunter would have recognized his eye beams anywhere. They were a little different than heat vision, but could keep up with them. Somehow this person had similar if not the same.
Suddenly it blurred and started to go after Jon. A flurry of blows happened at superspeed. Any that may have clipped him came with a force that felt familiar. Jon probably fought and sparred with Thara. He knew how she quick she moved and how hard she hit. This person felt like he was getting a punch from Thara. Suddenly the machine started to shrink down. Within seconds it was like he disappeared.
Scanning with microscopic vision the Kryptonians would have seen the small silvery participle move toward the speedster on the ground. Out of nowhere the machine returned to full size, grabbed Blur and tossed her toward Martian Manhunter. If Blur had problems beating the flash she would have problems running from a Kryptonian that has trained in their speed.
"Heroes are nothing. They can crumble. They're false idosl. I'll prove that," the mchine spoke in a robotic voice.
"Welp here we go!" The second those eyes change and start firing their pseudo heat vision at her she does what any trained fighter would do. Move. She moves at blinding speed. A speed that would make the flash proud of a non-speedster. rather then jump in right away though, she lifts up and watches. It is not exactly a good idea for her to jump blindly into a fight with an entity who is suddenly mimicking powers.
Jon? Yeah he can take care of himself. J'onn He can too. This new girl though? She has no idea who she is. When the machine vanishes, she does begin looking around using various different visions. When she sees what is happening she shouts to her. "MOVE!" But it's too late. She does the next logical thing though. She flies towards the girl and hopefully catches her before Martian Manhunter has a Mid-air collision.
Jon-El. Thara. Kid he hasn't met yet. All three of them will hear the Martian's quiet voice in their mind. << If you would allow me to coordinate you... >> And then the speedster is thrown at him. He turns and he's ready to catch her. If Thara doesn't handle it, J'onn will. He's had people thrown at him before, believe it or not.
Powerboy rolls with the punches minimizing their impact on his body in a method that anyone who's ever seen Batman in a fight they might recognize. Not nearly fast enough to dodge them though, the sound of metal hitting metal rings through the street the shadows cast by various light sources flickering and lengthening towards Jon for a moment. Then the thing's vanishing and reappearing. Thara, if that things as fast as Flash, we need to clear the area of civilians He calls out suddenly lunging towards the robot his eyes flashing red with heat vision as he tries to hit the robot in the face blinding it momentarily to suddenly flip up and to the other side of it bringing a hand down trying to chop at the things neck.
That was what he wanted, distraction. Thara was busy going in for the catch, Martian was prepping for it in case she missed. Only one person was left Powerboy. Unfortunately as the machine was zeroing in the heat vision struck the machine's eyes.
Smoke rose from its face and it covered his face. "Amazo Repair Sequence Initiated," it said somehow while not having a mouth. Suddenly the machine streaked around through any civilians then vanished down to the size of particle. Right now he just needed time to repair.
Unfortunately the Kryptonians could have spotted him with a simple trick. They had had to catch a particle with super speed. The joys of having data uploaded from Thara, Martian Manhunter and Henry Pym.
~Sounds like a solid plan J'onn.~ Thara comments to the Martian Manhunter as she flies with the speedster. "Hello. Nice to meet you Blur. My name is Thara. Or Flame Bird. Can you focus on getting civilians out of here? This machine is dangerous and will kill people if it thinks it will prove it's point."
The kryptonian girl sets Blur down before regaining altitude and working on a plan. "He wants to prove that we are false idols and that we can crumble. What happens if he gets just that? It would be mission accomplished. End of story!" She states wondering if J'onn is listening.
Jon-El lets J'onn make that mental link, but something about it is off, where there should be one mind, there are two. one far far older than even the Martian. At first there is an exclamation in Kryptonian, and then it switches to English. "how... peculiar.. I have never been able to interact so.. directly before.." it says. Jon himself is already moving to keep an eye out for the robot his movements stopping for a moment. "Get out of my head." he says to the entity suddenly distracted..
Blur blinks at hearing the woman's voice in her head, and then aloud. 'I'll be quiet...' she thinks, as she's placed on the ground. "Yeah, I can get people to safety, don't worry Miss Thara!" The teenager takes a deep breath, looking determined. This was her first real outing as a hero, and she wasn't going to let anyone down. Suddenly she's blurring in and out of the area, pointing out the quickest ways to escape for the unharmed civilians, and trying her best to move the injured safely. She has no idea where the machine man went, and she's nervous.
Thara's words had clearly inspired Blur because citizens were getting out of the area promptly. They were looking to the teenager as an actual hero. A five year old though started to scream as a Monster High Doll fell to the ground. It was from her grandma, an early Christmas gift. If Blur went to get it and return it, the five year old would have given a genuine "Thank you Flash-Girl," as Dad was carrying the little one to safety.
Silence was the worst part of anything. It was a sound more deafening than thunder. A sight of nothingness more terrifying than the most nightmare inducing monsters. It played off of that fear of the unknown.
As Jon gave Amazo the opportunity the machine suddenly grew into view saying, "-air complete." The machine tried grabbing the S of of the metal, but it couldn't be pulled off. Amazon's other hand punched him in the face full tilt. There was a good chance the Kryptonian had a cracked jaw, maybe worse. Had a Kryptonian, or anything like it, hit the young alternate world son of Superman taken a blow like that? Hard to say, it was clear the machine wasn't pulling its punches.
Instead of turning toward Martian Manhunter and Thara it was examining Jon's armor thoroughly. There was something about it that made the machine curious. Martian Manhunter, being the tactician he was, would see the opening caused by this distraction. Thara would have seen it too. If they had a good plan of attack Blur could have joined in too.
The punch to Jon's face may have been the shot heard round the world. Thara had been watching and paying attention to the situation. "Yeah lets give him the illusion that we surr..." That is all that wold come out of the kryptonian's mouth. Suddenly everything changes for her. The look in Thara's eyes goes from well adjusted warrior to that of a pissed off deity. While she is still linked to the others via the Manhunter, it is definitely not Thara on the receiving end. In an insane burst of speed that would Kal would likely not approve on this planet, the Flamebird goes flying at Amazo. "You foolish, pathetic excuse for a creation. I shall do with you as I have done throughout ages past!" Heat vision is unleashed. It is not a controlled blast like Jon or any of the other Kryptonians would use. It is full bore, nothing behing held back. A single mission in mind. Complete and total destruction of the being. "You struck my love. You deserve no mercy." Flames begin pouring out of her eyes, her arms and legs too. She has yet to actually use the fire on him though.
Those linked to J'onn will feel the link snap like a rubber band, so hard it pings back against their minds like the lash of a whip, enough to possibly give them a headache. And the Martian falls from the sky, landing on top of a car, denting it (and setting off the alarm) as he bounces off onto the sidewalk where he...slowly...melts into a green puddle. A quivering green puddle. A shaking green puddle. This is, well, not good for J'onn and probably not great for everyone else.
"You're welcome little sweetie. Name's Blur." the young speedster said to the young girl, returning the doll before dashing off. Her heart filled with emotion. She wasn't just a lurking shadow striking blindly. She was a hero, with a purpose. It made her feel incredible. That rush ends with a could lump in her chest when she watches Powerboy take one on the jaw. And then Thara turns into something scary. What really sends Blur into a panic is the mental snap, and then emptiness. Everyone gone. "N-no! Don't leave me!" she whimpers, eyes wide. "Don't disappear!" She's too scared to try and fight the machine, especially with Thara going all fiery, so she races over to the green puddle. "Mister, get up!"
Distracted by the mental link just like J'onn stated, Powerboy takes the hit fully, not close to as powerful as a full blooded Kryptonian and not ready for the hit his jaw pops and while not cracked is definitely dislocated. The Mental link suddenly is missing the mental presence of one Half Kryptonian, Half Amazon. Jon's body doesn't go limp though with the loss of consciousness, the shadow of the android and teen darkens, lengthens, and widens taking on an almost draconic shape as a corona of jet black flame starts to flare out across Powerboy frost forming on the arm of the android. one hand moves to pop the jaw back into place "That, was your third mistake." the teen says, his voice calm and cold, his eyes glowing a purplish white as his other hand moves to grip the androids writ as it still holds his armor finger tips digging into the metal with full Kryptonian strength.
Amazo had barely any time to study Thara's movements. Those red eyes continued to just observe. For some reason it wasn't fighting. Everything was read and analyzed. Seeing the build up of the energy he started to expand a little. A whole was practically bore through his chest. The eyes managed to stay on as it was examining everything about the woman.
Those eyes started to flicker and flash color. Something was going on there. What it was remained to be seen. Martian was seen by the machine. Unfortunately for it would have been hard to keep his form those flames were just too much. Anyone could have seen something was causing the alien to practically crumble. A laugh left the machine's person, "See?" he nodded to Blur who was trying frantically to put the Martian back together. "You're no b..b...be...bett...better...than me." the machine said as he looked at Thara and Powerboy, who had just recently joined.
Then the fingertips of Powerboy dig into the machine. As the snapping noise of the metal echoed the eyes winked out completely. The machine was still firm, "How many m-m-mor-more will be sacrfi--sacrificed because I hit him?" yes it was playing an elaborate mind game. It wasn't everday heroes caused as much destruction as they prevented. "The...there..are no heroes," Amazo's voice got low, "us."
"Pretty soon. Just US. You will be going the way of Krypton herself." the Flamebird smiles to her Nightwing and then unleashes a barrage of super speeded super strong punches at the machine's head and body. No two hits are at the same place. Turns out she is studying something too. "We should go have fun away from these mortals. After all, those that returns will be the victors after all." She goads Amazo, taunting and luring him. Of course she is still pummeling him too.
Quivering puddle of, basically, goo. J'onn doesn't immediately respond to Blur's exhortations. Whatever happened to him...and nobody saw anything actually HAPPEN to him, he's out for the count. Well, maybe he quivers a little bit more.
"Soon, my host resists, he distrusts and has not the faith yours does. I can only help when his consciousness is dormant." The thing inside Powerboy says his grip still holding the arm of the robot "I will take care of this, see if the humans, and martian are OK my love." Powerboy says grabbing the robot and rising into the air twin black 'wings' of shadowy flame rising up on either side. The wings stretch forward of him as he picks up speed creating a tunnel that the kryptonian flies through and vanishes taking the android to one of the craters on the moon, he rests the android there before it can self destruct or anything, eyes studying it for a moment to make sure it is truly dormant..
This had gone from the best day for Blur to the worst day, in about five minutes. One moment, she had been doing good; saving civilians from danger, and being praised for her effort. The next, everything had changed. Thara and Jon had transformed into terrifying creatures straight from a story, and the green alien had literally become a quivering puddle. "Come back, please come back!" she cries out loudly, staring at the melee between the two Kryptonians and the machine. "Don't leave me alone!!" Her voice is desperate, eyes wide. She didn't want to be alone anymore. "I... I have to do something!." She gulps, hard, and grits her teeth. This was going to suck. Forgetting thought, she rushes at the Flame Bird, time seeming to slow down around her has she streaks towards the woman. "Miss Thara, please! Wake up!!" The next moment, she's trying to tackle Thara.
As Thara became a blur of vicious blows at some point hte machine went limp. Every shot connected. All of the taunting went unheard. They could have done anything they wanted and did so. Nightwing's shift went completely unnoticed and unexamined. Being tossed onto a crater the body laid there lifeless. Powerboy could see that it wasn't about to get up any time soon as it looked to be deadweight and nothing more.
A voice chirped in Blur's mask, "Pull yourself together. Move the martian to safety," it was calm yet firm. Batman woudln't have made someone a costume without a means of tracking and communication. At least there was no malice in his voice.
J'onn continued to deal with the effects of the flame. How it all caused distress to his body and was the weakness to his people. Sad his temporary teammates were not privy to such secrets.
Suddenly, The Flamebird was gone. Silenced. What was left was Thara and Thara drops to her knees. "Damn, Owww!" She shutters and looks down at herself. If not for her Kryptonian genetics, she'd be well roasted. Her attention shifts around. "Blur I am alright. Sorry. I will explain later." She gets up and moves over to J'onn. "Manhunter, pull yourself together... It's over. You're safe." She looks around. She will likely be visiting Gotham and quite possibly some of her friends over this one. "What happened?"
a few seconds later a black tunnel of flame appears above the sky, like a boom tube, but not, Powerboy once more flies through the flaming corona and glowing white eyes in full effect. "The Human authorities are en-route." The Nightwing says landing on the ground, the corona vanishing as shadows that were leaning towards him suddenly go back to normal the light in his eyes winking out as he goes week in the knees himself catching himself before he drops. "I'm OK!" he says in his normal voice once more conscious "Thara can you see where he went?" not fully aware that the fight is over..
J'onn...does pull himself together. Unfortunately, not entirely being conscious, he pulls himself together into...so that is what a Martian really looks like when he's at home. A lanky, bipedal, green monstrosity that sort of resembles the bastard offspring of a mobile tree and a chestburster. (http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090916085906/marvel_dc/images/1/19/J7onn_J7onzz_8The_New_Frontier9.jpg)
Blur jumps a bit when she hears Batman's voice in her ear. "Okay, Batman." she says, sounding a bit more calm now that her mentor is talking to her. "Mr. Martian, are you okay?" She isn't looking right now, as she spots Jon 'waking up' from his own... whatever that was. "It's okay; bad machine is gone." And then she turns to J'onn. Uh oh. "W-what?!" She yelps, the Martian's true form just the icing on the trama cake. She burls into a ball and starts rocking back and forth.
Thara sits down beside Blur and gives her a hug. "I'm sorry. I wish I could explain. I know what happened but I don't know what happened. I am linked to a goddess from my home world. The Flamebird. She is the source of my faith if you will. More recently I've been blacking out. I don't know what happens while I am out of it. That is the situation I am in right now. I don't know what happened. I think the Flamebird took over but umm... I dunno." She smiles to J'onn, "err... you are a little out of your element."
With Thara addressing Blur, Jon goes over to J'onn. "J'onn, you with us sir?" he calls out the mans name trying to get him back to consciousness. "do you know where you are? how many fingers am I holding up?" he asks holding up three
Oh, he's conscious. Just...all Martianed out, but slowly the hideous visage melts its way back into the more familiar form of the Manhunter. "Is everyone alright?" Because HE didn't see most of the fight, after all.
Blur leans into Thara's hug, slowly calming down. Again. Being a hero wasn't nearly as cool as she thought it would be. Still... "You went all fiery." she says softly to Thara, raising her head. She looks over to Jon. "And you got all dark and scary looking. And Mr. Martain went all gooey when Miss Thara went fiery." She stands up, shakily, "I got all the civilians out. I don't think anyone's dead. What was that thing?"
Jon-El looks around at the carnage "My pa once told me about something like this, was called an Amazo, it had all the powers of the justice league and was one of their deadliest foes. The fact that nobody got seriously hurt or killed, that's thanks to you.. we had to keep him busy. The fact that we won without needing any more league help, and as quickly as we did is amazing, it musn't have had the full suite of powers, I didn't see it manifest any of my... of Wonder Womans powers" he comments..
"That was a machine that was capable of mimicking any metahuman power. That explains how it could match Flash's Speed, a Kryptonian's Strength and Heat Vision... But How did it go to microscopic levels. I've read a little big about the heroes of this world... Doctor Hank Pym does work in that field. Wait... He snuck into the Watchtower..." Thara suddenly looks very worried. "I think we may have a small problem. She looks over at Martian Manhunter, "Umm... Sorry if I did this. I umm... I really don't know what happened. Could that guy have goten something onto the Watchtower?"
"Possibly. I will have the best person at finding such things look. And talk to Dr. Pym." He's aware, somewhat, of Pym's research. He still seems a little bit...off... A little bit shaken, but at least he's conscious, talking, and non-monstrous. Progress, right?
"Everyone's okay, though?" Blur says, managing a smile now. It's shaky, but there. "I'm glad. That was really scary." She looks around, looking self conscious. "So, um... My name's Blur. I'm from Gotham. I've heard stories about you guys, but I never thought I'd actually get to meet you!" There;s some very child-like enthusiasm in her voice. "I do good, right? For my first time?"
Jon-El looks around again emergency crews starting to arrive now that they've scoped things out and seen that it's safe "Thara, would you fly her someplace safe? Maybe the Hall of Justice?" he suggests before turning back to J'onn "Do you feel up to talking to the Authorities with me? or would you like to get on our of here? I can handle it." he offers
Thara smiles to Blur, "Well anywhere you need to go? I can give you a lift. Afterwards I think I am going to go so up some rays. I feel really drained for some reason." She comments with a curious look in her eyes. She doesn't know just how much damage she probably caused with that heat vision blast.
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