2013-01-25 Japonium. Srsly.

Some people are the kind of people you just don't notice. They could be standing right next to you on the elevator at work day-in, day-out, and you have no idea. This is not that unusual. This is not unheard of to most people. What is unheard of to most people is that there are skyscrapers that are equally as invisible. Like that one mid-town. You know the one. The one you never noticed before today. The one that shatters the day's Manhattan-style calm by beginning to shake, it's walls sheering into jigsaw pieces. The people on the street around it are mostly natives. They know the deal. A little screaming, a little eye-bulging, and then get the hell out of the way and let the heroes get to it.
Noh-varr crashes out the window of the 76th floor of a building across the street followed by carnivorous Teletubbies on Big Wheels made out of light. "Oh come on@" he yells, feet bicycling in the air, as he starts plummeting towards the street below.
So he's not Superman. But he is the Green Lantern. And every once in a while, he's on patrol and can pull off some cool saves.
"Gotcha!" he shouts, pointing his fist at Noh-varr. A web of green light as solid as rope flings towards Noh-varr, neatly catching him and pulling him along in Kyle's wake as the Green Lantern shoots past through the air. "You know, freefalling's generally considered fairly safe. It's the short stop at the end that gets ya," Kyle points out to Noh-varr.
"That's right, sir." Superman says as he leaves the meeting hall. The Man of Steel had spent the day at the United Nations building, meeting with some diplomats at a closed door session regarding terrorism around the globe. "I'll be happy to help, just let me know where." Superman shakes the diplomat's hand and gives his shoulder an embrace with his hand before giving a final nod. "Until next time."
Just after exiting through the doors, Superman lifts off into the sky. His original trajectory would have taken him south, but the sound of trouble pings his ears. He burns his way over to the scene of the drama and takes in Green Lantern having snared someone out of the sky. "Lantern, what's going on?"
The rumbling of skyscraper is not something that happens every day, not even in New York. So it gets noticed quickly. For instance: Star Labs NY has seismic sensors, which are going bonkers. Fortunately Firestorm is on house, helping with certain experiments that require unstable and weird high mass elements that are still not in the Periodic Tables. "Oh uh. Last time something like this happened we had an unlikely tsunami. I better take a look... crap, epicentre is in the middle of Manhattan!" Nuff said, he flies straight up, phasing through the ceilings of the building and then speeds towards Midtown. "Firestorm to other JLA members in the New York area, I am... oh, you are already in the case?"
Massive slabs of stone wall are now collapsing on all four sides of the building, sliding down towards the street in what looks like slow motion thanks to the scale, like some vertical avalanche. Cars caught in the street and slower pedestrians are bound to be crushed or at least blown back and/or choked by the wreckage and dust. Behind the walls, shiny white, blue and red metal is exposed.
Somehow the Teletubbies manage to hit surface in mid-air, skidding a bit and then straightening in their pursuit of Green Lantern and passenger. Their little pumping legs are nearly invisible. Noh rolls over onto his belly as his guns materialize in his hands. "I tell you what, having seen what those little guys did to a Hujah with just their teeth I might have preferred the quick stop. Speed up..." VORP VORP VORP "...they're gaining!" VORP. He manages to take out the front tire of the pink one, sending the the little bastard peeling off from the rest of the pack. It smashes into the crumbling building and explodes. A lone cathode ray tube hits the street below.
Kyle checks his motion and jukes abruptly to the side. " This is Lantern. I've got a building on 42nd in midtown collapsing and I need assistance. I'm also being chased by, uh... teletubbies?"  He checks his ring. "Yeah, teletubbies." He checks out Noh-varr's hardware, then the net becomes a classic WWII biplane, completely with Noh-varr in the gunner's seat. " Keep 'em off me!" Kyle calls back to Noh-varr. "I've gotta shore this building up!" He swings down to the ground and forms a solid wall of bricks from sidewalk to sidewalk, protecting the civilians from falling detritus.
"Firestorm, lucky you're here." Superman nods to his ally and then looks back to Lantern, "We need to stabilize that building as fast as possible. But as the pieces begin to fall, Superman knows they must act quickly. "Lantern!" he exclaims, but already sees Kyle hard at work. Looks like he's got the structure of the building "Firestorm, can you incinerate those pieces into ash?" With that he bolts into action, moving as fast as possible to get as many bystanders far away from the impending wreckage.
"Not all of them! Too many!" However, Firestorm dives to try, shooting nuclear-transmuting blasts to the largest chunks of concrete and glass and those who seem about to fall over people or occupied vehicles, turning them into nitrogen and argon . But he can't cover all the sides of the building, he lacks Kryptonian-level reflexes and superspeed.
Between Superman, Firestorm and the Lantern, the dangerous rubble is gathered and set aside. So far not one casualty. However...
...Tall. Too tall. Waaaay too tall. A robot. An out-and-out Japanese robot. Blue chest and hips, red abdomen, white legs and arms blue gauntlets and boots. A red shield on the right forearm, with a blade protruding from the front. The right forearm has gigantic red axe blades. The head is vaguely like a pharaoh, with blue cowl/crown and two sets of yellow fins extending to each side. Sitting inside and behind the right eye is an orangutan in a lab coat. He is currently jumping up and down, acking and ooking in joy as he pushes and pulls levers. Gigantic Raydeen Mk II slowly lifts a leg and begins to step forward.
Noh-varr is somehow steering the green plane and firing at his pursuers. In short order he takes out two more, leaving one tenacious bugger gnashing it's teeth. Noh-varr centers the gun and then... "Sweet Hala, that is..." He is staring at Raydeen. "...awesome."
"Holy balls, are we being attacked by Voltron?!" Kyle shouts to no one in particular. He checks on Noh-varr as the airplane goes through a series of dives and loops to avoid the teletubbies. "And there's a... monkey driving it! Yeah, that's a monkey!" he points out, still yelling in disbelief.
After finishing with the impromptu evacuation, Superman returns to the scene. He rises in the air slowly in front of the mechanical beast. He too sees the Orangutan, but does a quick scan to see if the brain is that of a normal primate or if this is some form of meta-villain. "I'm not sure who you are, or what you're doing," he shouts towards the robot with arms folded across his chest and his long red cape billowing in the wind.
"But you're not going to take another step."
Firestorm almost crashes against a nearby (and completely innocent) skyscraper when he sees the giant robot. "That is... uh, actually pretty incredible engineering. But we gotta get it out of the city, fast." It is moving! So Firestorm is also moving, to keep civilians and vehicles out of its way. God help them if it decides to walk through another building!
Within the head of Raydeen, the orangutan and his metaprimate brain frown at Kal, "When you speak to Doctorangutan, you speak with respect!" He smashes a huge yellow plastic button clearly designed in the 70s to punctuate his command. The blade coming out the front of the shield charges with purple energy and the fist, shield, blade hoists up and rockets a stabby punch at the Kryptonian. The kind of punch that would knock the top third out of the Empire State Building. This thing may have been sitting in cold storage for thirty-five years, but it was clearly built to last. Meanwhile, Kyle's words finally soak in. "Monkey!? MONKEY!!? OOOOOOKOOOOOKEEEEEEEK! Furious button slapping while feet work the levers. Five fingers of doom fire from a hand trailing spirals of smoke as they close in on the Lantern. And his passenger.
Noh-varr's eyes widen and he leaps as the first missile hits the biplane construct, totaling it. Noh-varr lands desperately on top of the 'tubby, which begins growling and biting at him with it's needle teeth. The other missiles keep on for Kyle, one missing and heading straight for a school bus beneath Firestorm.
Kyle glances over his shoulder and grins once, tight and quick. His image blurs- and suddenly there are /six/ of him, all emitting identical heat and radar figures. One at a time, the figure rise up and are 'hit' by the missles, exploding into clouds of green dust, until all are gone.
It's at that moment that Kyle- having rendered himself invisible- comes out of nowhere, just off the deck and at the same level as the robot's knees. And if there's one weak point every biped shares... it's the knees. Kyle hits each of them with enough force to break reinforced concrete, the blows delivered at a penetrating angle and aimed to take the joints completely off axis.
*SLAM*
Superman knocks backwards and careens into some of the building framework across the street, mangling the metalworks all around his body. He winces, but straightens, and with a look of grit in his eyes peels the metal off his body. "Don't say I didn't warn you." He's back at the robot with super-speed, trying to grasp the villain under the chin by digging his hands into the metal in hopes that he can bring him up into the sky. Kyle takes the low road, Clark takes the high road.
Firestorm was watching for the robot feet, not missiles. He spots this one almost too late, turning at the last second to transmute metal into paper, explosive and fuel into confetti. The missile disintegrates, scattering colourful bits of paper all over the street. "That was too close... do we try to make it crash? I could hit a building, though." Could his powers even affect the robot? Concentrating a moment, he scans to see what materials it is made off.
Green Lantern (and voyeuristic Firestorm), meet Super Alloy Z, engineered from pure Japonium. Energy absorbent, hyper durable. A little like if you mixed Vibranium with Adamantium. Kyle ricochets off the first knee and into the second. Pain and dizziness ensue. Doctorangutan starts screaming into his comm unit. Doctor Demonicus! Come in, Demonicus! Facing extreme resistance! Require assistance--ook--now!"
That Super Alloy Z shows it's, ahem, mettle as Superman slams the jaw upward. The shock is distributed throughout the entire body and out the feet into the street below. Which is to say the whole surface vibrates to rubble, trapping the dozens of cars still here. A foot the size of a McDonalds begins to lower from way above.
Noh-varr finally manages to finish off the leader of the tubby pack by morphing his gauntlets into a garrote. He kicks the body off to follow the head down and squeezes into the seat as the big wheel begins to fall. "Ok, let's see, how does this work now... I can do this..." He waves his hand across the handles as he passes floor after floor and starts pedaling as fast as he can. At about fifty feet something 'catches' and the light bike ignites, tearing back up into the sky towards Superman and the robot.
Kyle carooms of a wall and into a building. Glass explodes and dust goes flying. A moment later, he smashes out the rear of the building, looking a bit shaken, but flying more or less straight.
"Ok, let's see if you like Star Wars." Kyle swoops in a complicated circle from behind the robot, casting a lasso of green light around the descending ankle. He goes up, over, around, and ties the loop of green light off to the robot's other foot, the 'rope' as hard as woven spidersilk and stretching over the robot's head. A flash of his hand manifests a giant winch and pulley system, and the rope begins to tighten with ten times as much force as he could have delivered with his bare hands, pulling the robot's foot up towards it's face.
Superman grits his teeth and tries to pull the robot upwards and yank it up and away from the city like a dentist pulling out a tooth. "If....we can ....get it to the water..." he grunts.
Japonium! One of those Holy Grails substances for chemists and physicists. Identified but never reproduced, like Captain America's legendary shield. Atomic bonds so strong Firestorm can't break them. "It is indestructible in all effects, folks. The armor reads as Japonium alloy. We need to disable it from the inside, seek a hatch or something. Or I can try to phase inside... agh, I might need help evacuating the street!" Green Lantern's 'rope' might stop the feet, but just in case Firestorm starts hauling the vehicles with people still inside out of the foot's shadow.
The foot slows in its descent as the green loop tightens. Slows and strains, coming to a stop before crushing those slack-jawed victims beneath it. And then begins lifting as the Lantern's constructs keeps tightening. The mad orangutan, PhD, (also a Nazi) erupts in hoots and button mashing violence as his rage increases. Titanic atomic engines redouble their efforts and finally the snare SNAPS, the foot plummets and... nothing as Superman finally lifts the colossus from the ground.
Meanwhile, a satellite circles the moon. Well, one of many, many supervillain and superhero satellites. It's valuable real estate. "Doctor Demonicus here, Doctorangutan. Help is on the way!" ZOORRT A silvery beam shoots forth from a cannon streams across the distance in the blink of an eye. A flash and then three 60 foot tall members of the Elements of Evil appear in the ruined street. blobby humanoids one composed of water, one of fire and one of earth. They roar in unison.
Noh-varr's eyes travel from Superman hauling up a skyscraper sized robot bound with a green lasso to the three monsters below and he curses. Bootlegger's turn and he is drops towards the one made of earth.
From deep within Raydeen's chest a hum begins, and then the chest plates begin to glow. A charge is released upwards through the head and the horns, discharging into the Kryptonian.
" I've got the scrubs! Keep an eye on Voltron!" Kyle shouts to the others. He ducks and weaves, eying the three of them with a shake of his head. "Man, it's like- villains do this stupid elemental thing. And it never works out," he mutters to himself in his normal tone of voice.
Kyle sweeps around the three and takes a deep breath. The wall of light that shimmers into existence around the liquid one is thin, flexible- and equipped with a spigot at the bottom. Eyes lidded in concentration, Kyle opens the valve, aims a 'hose' at the Earth elemental, and starts applying a few thousand pounds of hydraulic pressure to the top of the improvised hydraulic assembly. And then he lets nature and physics do the rest.
Superman lets out a guttural yell as the charge rips into his body. He tries his best to bear through the pain and chuck the robot into the nearby ocean. No matter the result, he still needs to get his bearings after being lit into from the energy blast.
Firestorm does a double take, "those creatures have n biology or internal mechanisms... where is Zatanna when we need her? I think this would be her thing." Kyle grabbed the water one and the acrobatic gunslinger has the earth guy. That leaves Mr. Fire to him, which feels completely right for Firestorm. "My, you are a big one, lets see if we can make you smaller, uh?" Matter is energy, and energy is matter. And fire is plasma, which is energized gas. Firestorm reaches for that energy and turns it into (small) amounts of matter. A little iron, because iron is the most stable of all the elements. The effects of that trick on an energy being should be dramatic.
Superman's spins and manages to hold on long enough to whip Raydeen up and out towards the Atlantic before dropping. Along the way it barely misses a couple of passenger jets and happens to smash a completely unrelated alien invasion force before crashing down into the ocean. Water begins to seep in. Apparently the Mk II was never weather sealed before being mothballed. Doctorangutan blinks as the freezing water begins to fill his cabin. "Damn you hew-manns!" He pulls a cord next to his head and there are four small explosions as the head is released from the body and ejected up into the air. A parachute pops out and the head begins to drift in the wind back towards the shore.
If the water elemental had any real consciousness it might blink at the shell that surrounds it. Or even yelp in pain as it finds itself squeezed through a faucet. But it doesn't so it doesn't. The jet of water catches the earth elemental as it lifts a Fiat 500 to eat it. First a shoulder, then the torso, then the hips and upper legs go in short order. What's left collapses, including the Fiat still clutched in a massive earthen hand.
The fire elemental, currently vomiting lava like a fountain, hiccups and then begins immediately shrinking. It darkens and solidifies along the way until all that is left is a human size iron statue that looks a little like Clayface.
Noh-varr smashes his ride into the ground where the earth elemental was standing just a moment before. He steps off right before impact, as if exiting an escalator, and then his ride dematerializes like Tron. "Well then. I see I was essential to this rescue." He sounds more bemused than angry. "Nice job." This to both Kyle and Firestorm.
"No problem," Kyle grins at Noh-varr, descending to the ground. He looks after Superman and the now-vanquished robot, kicking at the mud monster's remains. "Someone had to scream and look like he needed saving. This week was your turn." He rolls a shoulder, shaking out a tense muscle. "Superman! How's it going, buddy?" he calls up to the Man of Steel.
"Felt better," Superman says, still crackling with electricity as he lowers softly toward the ground. He's holding his arm over his chest, but he seems to be okay, all things considered. He looks to Noh-varr, "Hello." A simple nod is given to Firestorm. "Good work, guys."
And now Noh-varr knows how Firestorm feels around heroes like Superman, Wonder Woman or Green Lantern. "Thanks, what happened here before the robot showed up? I'd swear I saw some children television... things." He grins when Superman arrives. "We are going to need to collect that robot later and place it in some very safe place."
"Scrap it? I like scrapping it." Kyle moves to Kal-el, and makes a gesture with his ring hand. A high pitched buzz- almost indetectable to human ears- comes from his lips, and he quirks a grin at Supes. Another faint buzz occurs, then he turns back to the group. "So, what- miller time?" he asks, ignoring the throning horde of cheering spectators that is gathering around the wreckage.
Superman gives Kyle a wince and a nod. He's not too thrilled with what Kyle has come up with, but it's unsurprising given the pain. "I think I'm going to have to sit out the beers, guys," he says. "I've got a robot to dispose of and then I think I'll need some r and r."
Noh-varr doesn't seem very humble or awed in this company. More like relaxed. "Those things? They were hunter-killer units from a nearby dimension, sent after me by a decrepit and demented corporate beast. I wouldn't worry about them... they were reanimated corpses." He's looking from Superman to Kyle and back again. "I'm more interested in the fact that from what I have seen we have a Kryptonian and at least one Green Lantern based on this planet. And yet it's a cesspool of corruption, violence, starvation and general suffering." He folds his arms across his chest. "What the hell are you two doing spending your time on robots when there are real crimes to go after?"
"At least- what? One what?" Kyle's suddenly immediately in Noh-varr's space, staring intently at the man. "Where else are they? How many Green Lanterns have you met?" he demands, his tone full of urgency. "Tell me!"
"Uh, actually there are several Kryptonians and Green Lanterns around," mentions Firestorm idly. "And..." he looks around for the cesspools of corruption, violence and the rest. "What did you say?" Okay, the street is a wreck, but he can fix it all in half an hour.
Superman gives Noh-varr a slightly-curious, but partly annoyed look. "Who's the guy with the sunshine-demeanor?" he asks Kyle. But as Kyle's asking about other Lantern's, Superman falls quiet.
The Kree steps back, staring at Kyle suspiciously. "That depends. If you count the army of them in that one dimension," he starts counting fingers, "two million? Back home they've been dead for at least ten thousand years. Here? You're my first." To Firestorm he shrugs. "Knock yourself out. I'm sure it will feel satisfying. Then he looks back to Superman. "My name is Noh-varr, and I'm sorry if the mostly preventable daily suffering of billions makes me cranky. Wait... no I'm not." He steps up to Kal-el, looking up at him and jabbing a finger in his chest. "These Terrans worship you. Why don't you help them? You have the power. Don't you have the technology?"
"Two.. what? How am I the /only one/ in the dark about these guys?" Kyle demands of no one in particular. He shakes his head, and wipes a white gauntlet across his face. "It's like I'm the only jackass in the universe who doesn't know the secret club handshake. Two /million/ of us?" he demands of Noh-varr, still looking incredulous.
"Two.. what? How am I the /only one/ in the dark about these guys?" Kyle demands of no one in particular. He shakes his head, and wipes a white gauntlet across his face. "It's like I'm the only jackass in the universe who doesn't know the secret club handshake. Two /million/ of us?" he demands of Noh-varr, still looking incredulous.
Superman licks his lips as he goes between trying to comfort his friend and trying to answer Noh-varr's accusation, "Well, I'm sorry my young friend. I thought that's what we just did here today." He grimaces again, looking at Lantern, only imagining the young man's aggravation.
Noh-varr fights his rising indignation. He waves the finger in Superman's face. "Don't go anywhere. I'm not done with you." He turns back to Kyle. "I haven't met any Lanterns Green or otherwise in this dimension until today. Until you. I have no idea if you are one of a universe-full or are the last Green Lantern son of a dying planet. I have met Lanterns, killed Lanterns and made love to Lanterns... sometimes the same Lanterns... but it was in different realities from this one. I'm sorry if you are distressed. I don't mean to add to it. But I don't have any answers for you."
Kyle throws his hands up in disgust. "Feh." That one word seems to say it all, and he stalks a few paces away, hands on his hips and looking fairly disgusted with the world. Morosely, he kicks a muddy chunk of former elemental into powder, looking off over the horizon with a posture clearly angry and confused.
"I am not sure what you mean," notes Firestorm, "The Justice League exists to support the law and protect human lives. That is what we do." He has nothing to say about millions of Green Lanterns. Sounds like there is an army of them. On the other hand, Noh-varr speech is confusing. Other dimensions? That would explain it.
Superman gives Firestorm a confused look as if to say he can't figure it out either. But, as asked, he doesn't go anywhere. He's just sort of dumbfounded by the whole thing.
Noh throws his hand up and snarls at Firestorm's comments. "That's all I ever hear. Support the law! What if the law is wrong!? What if people are starving, freezing, dying because the laws are designed to maintain a class-based power structure? You save a handful of lives while you allow millions perish each day. How is that right?" He puts his hands on his hip, now clearly in preacher mode. "When you have children, you don't say, 'Oh, do what you want because I don't want to impose my judgment on your free will.' Bullshit! You account for their lack in judgment to best take care of them until they develop that judgment. The same holds true for a planet of crazy people."
"You seem to assume that having power bestows us with the right to rule normal people, and the wisdom to do it 'the right way'," replies Firestorm, frowning. "Perhaps that is how it worked in some of the dimensions you have visited. People that do that here are called tyrants, and super-villains."
"Man, I am /this/ close to putting the hurt on you, you arrogant SOB," Kyle snarls, coming back into the conversation. "Show up on my planet, start talking smack, need to get your /ass/ rescued, and then you start griping about how I protect my planet? Pendejo, I oughta give you some free dental work!" he says, pointing a finger at Noh-varr.
"Lantern," Superman says softly and tries to wave a hand between the young hero and the young Kree. "He's baiting us..." Superman turns to regard Noh-varr, already feeling better from the attack to his midsection. "While I appreciate your vigor, young man, it seems like you and the three of us are not going to see eye to eye on this particular matter. I certainly don't begrudge you your opinions, but our team does as it sees fit."
Noh rolls his eyes at the perceived naivete of Firestorm. "I'll tell you about wisdom honed and proven over a hundred thousand years, tested and found satisfactory on almost as many planets. It's called the Kree wa-" He is cut off as Kyle crowds him, then waits for Superman to finish. "Like I said. Crazy people. As soon as your comfortable little bubble of delusion is pricked, you turn violent rather than try to understand. And that's why your sick system has to come crashing down to the ground. To let something grow in its place. So go, have fun with your team while it lasts."
"Man, whatever. Supes, I swear, man, this job..." he growls and shakes his head, and with an unncessary explosion of force and noise, hurtles skywards at speeds approaching Mach 2. "You're welcome, pendejo!" he shouts down at Noh-varr, before vanishing towards Metropolis.
Superman sighs, "I don't doubt your heart is in the right place, son. But your methods are questionable at best."
"You know? It is tempting to try to use my powers to help developing new branches of technology," comments Firestorm. "Cheap super-conductors, abundant lithium for electrical engines, rain diamonds on poor nations. It is very tempting, but it could easily wreck the world economy. It would also make whole industries and nations dependent on me, a single point of failure. I think if I take that step I would want a very solid program and a backup plan or three." Yes, he has thought quite often about it. He is definitely not feeling up to the task. At least yet.
Noh-varr says, "That's a start. And the first good response I've heard in a while. Anyway. Thanks to the three of you. But this isn't over." He turns and sprints for the exposed subway tunnel and bounces in and disappears."
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