ic Set Up

[trollthumper]

"From a... certain perspective, yeah," said Nick. Great... Set comes back from whatever corner of the cosmos he was cooling his heels in, and he starts to sound like an Internet troll. Hopefully it's just him trying to be a braggart. He realized swiftly that there were other things to focus him thoughts on - like the fact that the tzitzimime, those who still had their full wits about him, were trying to escape his bonds. He focused his attention, and the ectoplasmic bonds seized and tightened. "Don't care how slippery you are, snakes. You're not going anywhere."

[Electra]

The strange snake guardians were tough customers, Stesha decided as she watched the fight unfold. They could be captured and they could be hurt, but they didn't go down easily. It would've been a simple enough matter to put them into her dimensional pocket, but she suspected getting them out again might be a different story. They didn't seem the type to be cowed into good behavior by a few hours caught between worlds. Instead, she sent a creeper sliding around the legs of one of the creatures still on the ground. The vine opened a dozen lovely pink flowers, each with an oversized yellow stamen. All at once, the flowers shook themselves like wet dogs, sending a cloud of pollen into the air that all but obscured the snakey creature. 

[Fox]

Tiamat answered Set's question with a defiant roar, setting a blazing red eye on one of the few foes who were both airborne and still a possible threat. She didn't even slow down as she chased her fiery breath toward her prey - if anything, she sped up, surging forward with jaws open wide. Teeth like large daggers closed on the unfortunate tzitzimitl, and it fared no better than anyone foolish enough to venture into the mouth of a dragon: she shook it twice, like a dog with a large rat, before snapping her jaw closed.

The broken form of the demon was expelled with a twist of the head, accompanied by a short burst of fire to clear anything distasteful that lingered. "Give up, worms!" she bellowed. "You began this fight outclassed, and it will only get worse for you!"

[Gizmo]

This time the tzitzimimeh, beaten about as they were, had less success evading the ectoplasmic hands Nick summoned to bind them in place. Every one of them still intact was rooted to the spot by ghostly limbs and even those able to struggle against the bonds found themselves well bound. The demoness falling from Tiamat's jaws disintegrated into crystalline dust before it could hit the ground, swept away in the storm's winds like her fallen sisters. Fleur's attack was less effective; the paralytic pollen she sent cascading into her target had little effect on something that evidently did not need to breath. The cloud was quickly dispersed while dripping venom continued to eat away at the vines still resolutely adding to Nick's spell.

[Fox]

Gaian Knight's stream of earth froze in place like it had become embedded in something invisible, individual stones and shards rotating in mid-air to re-orient themselves on a new target. When they moved again it was like they'd been shot out of a cannon: a single, sudden rush of lithic projectiles that, as usual, found their target with very little in the way of fanfare or showing off. For that, he'd much rather be building something; this was a fight, and even if their opponents weren't quite alive the geokinetic would much rather simply have it over with.

"The lady has a point, you know. Those of you who are left could stand down. We'd have to figure out what to do with you, but I can almost guarantee it's better than being turned to dust and sent back to wherever you came from."

[Gizmo]

"Aha! Tis very educational!" Set called to Gaian Knight across the whipping winds, watching the stones pulverize the tzitzimitl like a crystalline figurine under a bucket of gravel. "Repeated appeals for surrender and offers of mercy to both maintain the moral high ground and impress upon your opponent how little you think of the threat they present! Masterful indeed!"

Spinning around as his shendyt whipped about, the godling pointed a pair of fingers doggedly persistent demoness still struggling to reach him despite layers of ice and ectoplasm holding her at bay. In response yet another bolt of crimson lightning stuck downward, the thunder reaching deafening levels. In it's wake the attack left nothing but tattered scraps and more dust to be swept away in the wind.

The lord of storms surveyed his handiwork contemplatively, placing a finger to his pursed lips. "Hrm. Holding them in place removes much of the sport, do you not think?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Hmmm." Frost drifted up to the nearest fiend and solidified into a human shape, billowy clouds briefly forming the shape of a cape behind him as he approached the nearest tzitzimitl. "Woman, listen," he said, putting his hand against the Aztec monster's face and draining the life from its writhing form, ice crystals erupting from beneath its skin as he froze its solidified flesh as he would a block of wood. "You are beaten. You will be beaten worse. You know that gods in Omeyocan do look below and laugh at your failures, and sneer that you are no protectors of women if you can be beaten so handily. It is regrettable but they are quite harsh. Would you go home and prove your valour there in battle against the others? Or simply be beaten worse here and go home with the humiliation multiplied a hundred-fold?" He shrugged, doing his best to be diplomatic around the American supers.

[Gizmo]

Sekhmet seemed less concerned with either sport or diplomacy, taking advantage of her opponent's immobilization to rake deep gashes through tattered fabric with her claws, roaring victory in the wake of yet more dissipating diamond-like powder. "Rrr, thine appeals to ego would work on liesmith, drrraugr," she rumbled, stalking in a slow circle as she chose a new direction to pounce, "but the tzitzimimeh be warriors."

The lioness goddess' assertion did not seem entirely correct, however, as Frost could feel the face of the demoness under his touch contort with rage through flayed skin and muscle. "No failuresss!" the handful of remaining snake women hissed in unison, unpleasant shapes sliding about beneath their flesh as they writhed back and forth against their bonds. "Never beaten!" Their incensed movements reached a fevered pitch before they abruptly burst into fine powder just as their defeated sisters had.

"...well!" Set began after a nonplussed pause. "I suppose that works as well?" His sense of victory was short lived however as the winds brought a wisp of crystalline dust past his nose, then another and another as they joined together in an airborne stream that whipped about the stormy battlefield. "Ah. Not my fault!" the godling insisted, raising his hands in a gesture of innocence.

With a grating sound like gemstones sliding against each other, the dust began to reform into a towering form, very nearly one hundred feet tall. The upper body was vaguely feminine as the tzitzimimeh had been but with four arms in total, each ending in razor sharp talons. In place of a face was a polished skull with eye sockets that bled ebony black energies and hair made of twitching rattlesnake tails. So too did her lower body extend into a serpentine tail that ended in a rattling tip, coils of terrible muscle pushing the creature upward and over the heroes below and even Tiamat in the air. Massive bat-like wings protruded from her back, sending gusts of wind through the whipping storm with each flap. The entire thing was composed of something like black diamond, swallowing light from some angles and gleaming from others. Opening a mouth of fangs, the monster let forth a hiss loud enough to shake the glass of the skyscrapers to each side. "Sssset!"

"I am reconsidering my stance on negative attention," the chaos god noted, taking a few steps backward.

[trollthumper]

Wait a second. Is that...? Nick studied the incandescent abomination closely, as if trying to see behind all the flash and glamour. No. Not Itzapapalotl herself. But someone higher up the food chain than any of these girls. But the bigger they are...

He took a step forward, staring up into the snarling cosmic snake-face. "Glad to see someone of import could make it," he said. "Mind you, something tells me you didn't exactly come invited, so the very fact that you're here is probably lining up a whole bunch of cosmic sanctions to smack you between the fangs. But beyond that, let's talk about us hairless apes here. See, I know you remember the days when roads, wheels, and pyramids were fancy inventions. But we've come a ways, and your giant face showing up in the middle of a major metropolis probably isn't going to go down well with the guys who know how to rain fire from the sky."

Phantom flame trailed from his fingers again. "And on top of that," he said, "some of us apes got our hands on Tezcatlipoca's skill set." The flame flew off in a massive gout, trailing through the air... and missing the snake head as it turned at just the right moment.

Good on form, but you may have broke your ankle on the dismount.

[Gizmo]

The massive beast slithered lithely like a sidewinder to avoid the mystic fire, moving with uncanny grace for something with so much apparent mass. Nevertheless she recoiled slightly, evidently less eager to trade blows again with the assembled heroes just yet. Instead she shot forward, clawed, boney fingers reaching toward her original target like a quintet of dark, diamond spears. The hand wrapped around Set, pinning the godling and lifting him into the air.

"Gnyeea!" Set shouted in pain and surprise as he was carried away, his expression caught between a wince and outrage at the entire situation. "This affront - ngh! - shall not be forgotten, Tamoanchanian!" he snarled, struggling against the unyielding substance of the grasping hand.

On the ground, Sekhmet's form flowed like water for an instant, leaving the young, black haired woman in place of the lioness as she turned to the local heroes. "Attend, champions, this demoness must not succeed!" she implored them, desire to fulfill her duty outweighing her distaste for the kidnapping victim. "I shall explain fully later!"

[Electra]

"We'll do our best," Fleur assured Sehkmet, even as she stared with some consternation at the giant monster clutching the unfortunate would-be god. It was too far up to throw a vine, and she suspected that the monster would not be much hindered by tangling its feet with plants. If she could get up there herself... but it was no good, there were no plants that high to teleport to. Not for the first time, she wondered if she could convince her teammates that live-flower boutonnieres were what all the stylish heroes wore. In any case, that wouldn't help her now. 

 

Stone, stone, a monster made of stone... What hurt stone? Earthquakes, obviously, or heavy impacts, but that wasn't her purview. She thought of dandelions growing in the cracks of pavement, the strong roots breaking up the cement, gradually turning what had been stone into dust. That might work, if she could speed it up a bit. Reaching into her pouch, she drew out a tiny, slender seed, cupping it in her hand and coaxing it into growth. A bowl of bright green, arrow-shaped leaves formed first, then from it a single shoot, which bloomed in seconds into a cheerful yellow disc. The bloom discolored and closed once again, its yellow fringe turning white and opening a second later as a round white ball: a perfect  dandelion clock. Fleur held it up, focused on the monster, made a wish, and blew. 

 

The white dandelion seeds made a little cloud as the floated and spun, catching the breeze to drift high onto the monster's torso and arms, or staying low and sticking to the legs and feet. Each one landed and immediately began to grow, sending roots deep into whatever crevice or joint they could find, binding up and eroding the rock creature's moving parts, even as they covered the obsidian structure in a patchwork of cheerful yellow. 

[Fox]

Tiamat's bellow sounded a bit like rumbling laughter as she wheeled toward the giant snake-woman, driving rather fearlessly at the creature's head. The dragon's cry ended on a sour note, though: while her talons found purchase they made an awful scraping noise as they failed to dig far into their enemy's surface, and nothing but some faint scratches were left behind as she passed.

Gaian Knight had somewhat better luck: between Tiamat's attack, Fleur de Joie's disabling, and Nick's distraction the geokinetic hero had just enough time to line up enough of an attack that could hurt the thing. Under his direction a spinning cylinder of stones like a windless earthen cyclone bore into the creature's side - it wasn't enough, not against a being its size, but it was a start.

[Gizmo]

Set struggled against the smooth crystal of the skeletal fingers holding him in vain, finding no purchase or give in the grip, even as roots and stems crept into the monster's knuckles, popping at joints audibly. Even trapped, however, he was still Set. Taking as deep a breath as the confines of the fingers would allow, he let out a mocking laugh. "You should tell your masters I am insulted, demoness!" the godling suggested conversationally, smirked upward at the massive fanged skull. "To send a beast so dull witted she could not anticipate a simple illusion from the Pharaoh of the Umbra? The true Set has been standing behind you this entire time!" The creature seemed to hesitate for a moment at the unlikely claim but between the infuriatingly smug grin and her inability to fully turn around a kernel of doubt seemed to grow in the blackened eye sockets.

[Avenger Assembled]

Muttering black oaths in the dark tongue of the Dökkálfar, Comrade Frost swirled his way up to the feet of the plant-bound abomination. His icy form poured over the lower extremities of the great undead beast, icy cold snaking its way up the great monstrous body, bones cracking and chipping as their heat was drained away into the icy cold of Nifelheim itself. A few of Fleur's plants browned along the way, but the sheer mass of Stesha's flowery growth was enough to survive even Frost's deep freeze. From the depths of the icy cloud that was his body, the increasingly fatigued Frost called to the others in a voice like the hissing Arctic wind, "This is no ordinary beast, but a cold-hearted monster from the depths of the Americas Hell!" he called to the others. "You must freeze its evil plans in their gigantic tracks before it can free itself and do more evil! And someone save that...Kid Set!"

[Gizmo]

The gargantuan slabs of black crystal that made up the demoness' form began to creak loudly as the ice spread into the joints and cracks widened by Fleur de Joie's weeds and expanded. Sekhmet sprinted toward the towering monster, picking up speed as her form rippled once more into her leonine proportions, transitioning smoothly from two legs to four mid-step. Razor sharp claws easily found purchase in the marred surface of the now brittle crystal, leaving deeper gouges as she climbed upward. The left knee joint crumbled to gravel in her wake, causing an avalanche of restrained limbs that left the Aztec myth in an awkward, one-legged crouch. The lioness maintained her momentum even as the crystal shifted beneath her, digging deeply into the sizable pit left by Gaian Knight's strike. As larger and larger fissures spider-webbed out from that point, the goddess made her way to the arm holding Set.

"Ah, Mistress of Dread!" the red haired youth exclaimed with as much aplomb as the situation allowed. "I appreciate the assistance, but I have the situation well in hand, haha!"

The goddess refused to respond beyond a long-suffering snarl as she shredded through the weakened fingers. The blackened stone fell apart in great chunks, a knuckle sliding away here and an entire finger bone there. The Heliopolians fell free on the Tamoanchanian, one slowing his decent with a powerful gust of summoned wind while the other landed easily on her feet despite the distance.

As they touched down on the street, the damage to the snake demon reached a critical point and it collapsed with a disbelieving hiss of rage into shards ranging from the size of a person to that of the news vans now ringing the scene.

[Electra]

Almost reflexively, Fleur raised a curtain of vines to shield the spectators from falling chunks of rock, even as she herself shaded her eyes to watch the obsidian monster go all to pieces. There'd be some damage to the city, she estimated, but nothing that couldn't be put right within a few hours, and no serious injuries. A good day for hero work. She smiled at her colleagues, relieved enough that even Comrade Frost got caught up in the periphery of it. "That was a great job by everybody. We might even have the scene clear before rush hour!" Letting the curtain of vines fall away and disintegrate to dust, she jogged in the direction of the two visitors. They'd landed well, but it had been a tough introduction to the city. "Are you all right?" she called. 

[Fox]

"Not bad at all," Gaian Knight agreed, his little arsenal of stones standing down and returning, relaxed, to hover above and behind his shoulders. "No civilian danger, not much infrastructure damage. That's about as well as it could have possibly gone, really!"

He set about repairing what little he could, immediately sighing as Tiamat swooped in to add a shallow gouge to the road as she landed. "Hahaha!" she rumbled, turning her head to grin toothily at the godlings. "I do like you, cat! You are small, but you have excellent style."

[Avenger Assembled]

Comrade Frost formed up into his white-clad humanoid shape, hmmfing as he dusted the fragments of obsidian that had mixed with his icy body off his white coat. When he was as clean as he was going to get, he pulled up his parka's hood, casting his blue-white face into shadow and hiding his red eyes from view. "Yes, well-done, everyone! You young people certainly know how to show old man exciting time in Freedom City." He bent down and picked up a fragment of the fallen avatar, sliding the mirror-bright shard of obsidian into his pocket. "And you! Look at you!" He walked over and clapped 'Young Set' on the back. "So fierce the way you battled that monster." Frost had never sounded more cheerful. "Filling its hand with your body!" 

 

"Come, shall we give them hospitality of League headquarters?" he invited the others. 

[trollthumper]

Nick aided Fleur's efforts to catch the falling crystals, the phantom hands swarming up from the pavement to catch whatever shards might pose risk to man and vehicle alike. "Y'know," he said, "can't think of many other pantheons who tend to look like Liberace met Pinhead. You've got to give the Aztecs applause for that, at least."

He studied Set and Sekhmet. They'd certainly risen to the occasion, and managed to tear into the Obsidian Butterfly. But... he couldn't shake the feeling that Set's ego had been in the driver's seat. He knew every hero let themselves get grandiose now and then - the costumes were a part of that - but it felt like Set had more been fighting for himself than for the others around him. But he had fought, and he had kept Freedom City safe in the process. That mattered for a lot. And it looked like Sekhmet would throat him if he did anything too untoward.

"I'm not in the League," he said, "so I'm probably not one to speak on that matter. But... I see no reason to keep him out of the city, if that helps."

[Gizmo]

"Yes, I often exceed expectations!" Set agreed happily, brushing himself off fastidiously. "I would expect you to recognize a ploy to lull one's enemy into a false sense of security, old chum, haha! I believe I remember you being more ruthlessly underhanded, yes?" he continued, responding to Frost forceful slap on the back with a jocular smack to the well dressed liaison's rear. "Too many American cheeseburgers and apple pies perhaps!"

Sekhmet made a reverberating sound that wasn't sure if it was a growl or a purr, dislodging some crystal flecks form the run on the back on one paw with her tongue before rippling back into human form and flicking her asymmetrical hair with her hand. "Hhn. I am not so used to relying on 'style', however your words are appreciated, daughter of Typhon." With a stiffness that betrayed unfamiliarity compared to the grace of most of her movements, the goddess gave the dragon a shallow bow. "I erred in not spotting thee as the warrior among warriors earlier," she admitted gravely, almost keeping a smile from pulling her lips back enough to reveal pronounced canines. "I would well like to take thee up on thy offer to spar."

"You see? A good day! Even dour Sekhmet in making friends!" Set cheered, moving close enough to place a hand on his fellow Heliopolian's shoulder before quickly stepping away with a nervous laugh at her murderous glare.

Adjusting a golden armband to cover the motion, the godling's limited attention span was captured by one of the nearby civilians who had begun edging slightly closer to the pitted site of the battle now that things had died down. With shutter shade and a waxed moustache, the twenty-something young man, like many around him was snapping pictures and rapidly texting away.

Intrigued, Set darted past the ring on heroes. "Ho, mortal! What wondrous device is this?"

After a beat of surprised silence, the bystander answered in a disaffected drawl, "Uh, a smartphone? I guess you've never heard of one."

"A telephone, truly? Your sciences have come far since I last walked this plane!" Set exclaimed, positioning himself so that he could see the screen. A grinning photo of himself graced the high resolution display, accompanied by a long row of poorly spelled comments. "And it captures images as one of your cameras as well! Tremendous!"

"Not to mention LTE," the phone's owner added smugly, scrolling upward with his thumb. "Already posted that one to my feed. I've got more than twenty thousand followers."

Standing abruptly straight, Set snapped his fingers, summoning a pair of identical eyewear to his face solely for the purposes of lifting them over his eyes in a gesture on intense interest. "Did you say... followers?"

Before the blogger could respond, a hand grabbed Set roughly by his brick red dreadlocks and began dragging the protesting godling back toward the Freedom Leaguers. "Do not test my patience, deceiver," Sekhmet growled in annoyance before finally releasing his hair. "If thee have a temple nearby, champions, it would give me opportunity to better explain... circumstances."

[Electra]

Fleur frowned slightly as Set went over to engage the crowd; that didn't seem like the wisest idea under the circumstances. It seemed like he had a lot to learn about Earth as it was these days before he went running around and got himself tazed or hit by a car or something else unpleasant. "Yes," she agreed, loud enough for her voice to carry, "let's take this into Freedom Hall and let the cleanup crews get to work." Seeking the path of least resistance, she motioned her colleagues over to join Set and Sekhmet on the edge of the crowd. "Don't worry," she assured the visitors, "this is just a transport, it's perfectly safe and won't hurt." With that, she opened one giant flower over all of them, and with the overwhelming scent of magnolia blossoms surrounding them, they appeared a moment later in the lobby of Freedom Hall. 

 

"This is Freedom Hall, our base of operations," she told Set and Sekhmet, gesturing around at the vaulted lobby with its many statues. She led the way across the lobby and down into a much less grandiose hallway, into a nicely equipped but unremarkable conference room. Dropping casually into a seat at the round table, she smiled at the newcomers. "Now maybe we'll have a chance to catch our breath and you can tell us a bit more about yourselves?" 

[Fox]

"It's more like a barracks and meeting hall than a temple," Tiamat supplied as they made their way to their seats. It had taken her a while to adjust to the modern world when she'd first arrived, too - the awkward memories were fresh enough to move even her sense of helpfulness and sympathy. "With some weird additions - a library and...it's like a scrying pool. And some out of the way, quiet sparring rooms," she added, raising an eyebrow. "If you ever have time to spare."

"Please try not to break them," Gaian Knight countered, grimacing as he took a chair near Fleur. "They're designed for superhuman combat and testing, but you aren't supposed to take that as a challenge."

"I'm not sure you understand what 'testing' means."

"Not what--okay." The hero gave up, pointedly ignoring his partner's canine-baring grin as he turned his focus back on the gods. "Please, take a seat. I'm sure everyone here is going to have questions, and the least we can all do is try our best to provide answers."

[Avenger Assembled]

"How did you die? Was it Geb?" Frost took a seat in his usual chair, the one with the built-in heater, and pulled back his parka to study Set and Sekhmet with red eyes. "You have given him some cause for it over years, you must admit. A shame when fathers and sons quarrel, but if you must die, how better than at command of the great gods, eh?" He put a hand inside his parka, frowned momentarily, then removed it, again all smiles. "Heliopolis had been quiet lately, at least in channels which I monitor." Which I will evidently have to expand, he thought with a trace of irritation. "You are not what you once were, in more ways than just your actions. If we are to assist you in your transformation," he offered, "it is vital information for us." 

[trollthumper]

Nick took in the sight of Freedom Hall. He'd lived in Freedom City long enough to be fairly familiar with it from the outside. He'd even gone on a few field trips in middle school that had resulted in a glimpse around the lobby and some of the other tourist areas. But this was easily his first time stepping behind the scenes, and seeing where the heroes gathered. Well, okay, today they were gathering in a tiny conference room that wouldn't look that out of place in an office building, but still, there was a significance to the whole thing.

"Kinda interested what the state of play is like in Heliopolis," he said. "If something like this happens, things must be up in the air." Nick was somewhat interested in how Set had died, but felt there were better avenues than reminding the god of his recent dispatching.

[Gizmo]

"Aha, convenient indeed!" Set agreed as the flower opened up around them, waving to the crowd with a wide smile in the moments before it swallowed them up and deposited them.

"A barracks suits me better," Sekhemt told Tiamat, unruffled by the transportation. The goddess strode through the lobby with a fluid grace, back straight and shoulders squared as she fell into step beside the amazonian red-head. "It does seem unlikely I shall have much time to spare while keeping watch over this one."

The expected return jibe from Set never came as the godling had paused in front of one of the lobby's many statues, looking up at the stone visage of Horus the Avenger. The youth's expression was a mixture of reverence and regret that both looked equally out of place on his features. He stood there for several long seconds before jogging off to catch up with the local heroes.

Inside the conference room, however, he took on a dark scowl that looked more comfortable on his face, glowering dangerously at Frost with more heat than he'd given the Aztec aggressors earlier. "You cross a line, draugr," he responded in a tone that lacked any of his earlier jocularity.

Before he could demonstrate how badly he thought the Russian had erred, a firm hand pushed him down into one of the seats circling the table, though not as forcefully as it might have. "The wise do not inquire too closely on the Ennead's family disputes," Sekhemet advised the gathered group as diplomatically as she was able, nodding her head slightly in deference to Fleur de Joie as the perceived leader of the champions. "The liesmith's return has been the cause of some... concern in Heliopolis, yes."

"I can hardly help being the most interesting thing to happen in that stagnant shanty town in eons," the shorter deity sniffed, regaining his composure enough to cross his arms haughtily over his bare chest.