ic Incursion: Drop The Needle

[Avenger Assembled]

"Uh uh uh..." By the obelisk, Aquaria was having trouble beyond that caused by the robots the other heroes were engaged with. "I don't read Lemurian so good," she admitted unhappily. "We didn't write a lot of things back home."

 

Pointing one bulbous finger, she picked out the ancient words one by one like a sight-reading child. "By the power of the black gods of Lemuria, and with the blood of Atlantean...um, that part's probably not important," she tugged at her costume collar and went on, "the, uh, enemies from beyond the stars are here sealed away until the end of days. Er, for all time. Know son and daughter of Typhon that if you free these soulless abominations, you will unleash a plague of famine and pestilence upon yourself and face the power of the...the...the Frog-Bat-Lizard? I don't know!" she threw up her too-jointed arms in disgust. "I don't even know what that is!" 

[Avenger Assembled]

Over their communicators came Monsoon's accented voice. "We are at the top of the wall! We are holding them off from here!" Looking over, it looked as though Nina was taking a continual firehose to the creatures that had avoided the targets around the obelisk and were still headed for the wall - Edge supporting his partner with a continual supply of water magically appearing in the air behind her. 

 

"We've got them pinned down here," said Edge, picking up the conversation as Monsoon went back to work. "Don't worry about us, concentrate on smashing these guys! No underground monsters are going to ruin OUR Christmas!"

[Avenger Assembled]

The ancient Lemurians had turned to magic to hold off their robotic attackers from the stars - something all the heroes lacked. But from the sound of things, it wasn't the kind of magic they wanted. What they did have was power, skill at violence, and the will to use both for the betterment of innocents. So they went to work - beheading robots and smashing them to pieces, crushing them beneath fountains of diverted river water, and otherwise either driving the proto-Communion drones back into their millennia-old cage or simply smashing them to pieces. Either way it seemed best to get everything back in the obelisk for the moment - capped off with a giant jar-stopper courtesy of Edge. 

 

They could hear the creatures still moving around inside, skittering against the metallic shell, but they couldn't tear away at what Mark built faster than he could make it. "This won't hold them forever, but maybe we can hold this on till the League can come toss them into space!" hazarded Edge as he concentrated on maintaining the plug. 

 

"The job is done," agreed Monsoon, obviously beginning to relax. "We've shown those robotic fiends that nothing can stand before the power of the Liberty League! Now, let's accept our due as the heroes of Seattle and try to-" 

 

Suddenly, Midnight's police band radio sounded - like most cities, Seattle reserved a frequency particularly for sending distress messages out to metahumans. "Attention, Liberty League! It's in Lincoln Park, there's something in Lincoln-" And then, the channel went silent. Lincoln Park, the Erins knew, was just a few miles away and had made a good local spot for mass corpse disposal. Er, it was perhaps three miles away - and within a good walk's distance of the White family residence. 

 

There was, from that distance, the distinct sound of screaming, and the churning of water and crumbling of brick. 

[Electra]

Wander and Singularity had been standing near the others, cleaning corrosion and oil off their hands and faces with the wet wipes from Wander's pocket. When the radio announcement came in they froze in eerie symmetry, then both of them looked directly to Midnight. "Lincoln Park," Erin told him, while Jessie looked on with wide eyes. "That's what they were saying. My-, our-, Erin's family lives near there. They could be in danger." Singularity took off running then, vaulting clumsily over piles of broken robots as she found her stride.

 

Wander swore under her breath, looking after her, then turned quickly to her team. "Edge, can you keep a lid on the robots while we secure the new scene? Maybe get everybody there? It's just a couple miles away, near the lake. I gotta go after her before she gets hurt or hurts somebody." With that, Wander was off as well, her pace far smoother as she navigated the ruined campus. 

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar was still encased in his energy construct when the Erins began racing away. He saw Trevor revving up the Night Cycle, but knew the others might need a speed boost.

 

"Right then. Aquaria, hop on my back please and hang on tight. Cannonade, Monsoon, a hand apiece. I'll give everyone safety harnesses. This'll be rough, but quick."

 

Indeed, when all three assented and moved to the requested positions, blue constructs coalesced such that they were all held securely, but no uncomfortably, in place. Templar crouched his "mechanical" legs a bit...

 

And suddenly the heroes were rocketing through the air, racing toward the site of the disturbance. They landed mere moments after Wander arrived on-scene, CT landing in a crouch that absorbed the impact, the restraints disappearing to allow his impromptu passengers to disembark. 

 

"Right then, time to get back to work. Sorry the flight didn't have any peanuts."

[Avenger Assembled]

The great head was just breaching the surface as they reached the shoreline of Lincoln Park, whose old growth forest was an odd contrast to the urban development all around them. But their eyes were all on the cold grey waters of Puget Sound as something rose up, and up, rising from the water or being formed by it it made no difference. Its face and body were a frog's, eyes bulging wide and head a massive square the size of a small house, tremendous sheets of water cascading off it as what seemed to be a long, scaly underbody continued to extend. Behind it curled the long, wicked curve of a tail that ended in a jagged, ichorous point that dripped some unholy venom into the waters below. 

 

There were birds in this park most days - but they certainly weren't here now, the park's animal population instead fleeing into the dubious safety of the city with all speed. It was, judging by the still-docked ferry a few hundred yards down the beach, perhaps 160 feet tall. 

 

Massive wings stretched behind it as it roared a terrible roar, great bat-like wings that with a few flaps began to lift it out of the water, unholy Lemurian magic doing what physics could never have dreamed of. From Cobalt Templar's back, a startled Aquaria squeaked "Llamhigyn Y Dwr! The Frog-Bat-Lizard! Aaaah!" Come to think of it, the creature's face did look more like Aquaria's than an actual frog's. The great wings buffetted the air as the creature rose higher and bellowed an air-warping, near-deafening bellow that Aquaria just remembered to translate. 

 

"COMMUNION! COMMUNION!" 

 

And then with a roar it curled that black, dripping tail underneath it and fired a blast of searing venom over the heads of the heroes that splattered across a row of tennis courts and baseball fields, producing an acidic explosion that started fires and left behind pools of foul, burning black fluid that showed the power of the creature if it got out of the park, and not incidentally cut the heroes off from retreat! 

[Gizmo]

"Accurate name," Midnight noted as the Night Cycle pulled into the park. It was, after all, indisputably a frog-bat-lizard. Based on Aquaria's reaction he gathered that it was also some sort of primordial being worthy of terror from long past Lemurian history but ultimately that was nothing new. The 'bat' portion of the creature's makeup introduced some specific challenges, admittedly. "Redbird?"

"Excellent!" the autonomic machine intelligence crowed victoriously from within the motorcycle as its frame began to extend and reshape itself. The front of the bike nearly doubled in length and straightened to hug the ground even as the wheels folded in upon themselves and transformed into glowing spheres of deep red energy that hovered inches off of the ground within the arches at either end of the vehicle. Within moments the earthly design had been replaced with something more resembling the wyldrides of the Terminus albeit with an aesthetic bent better suiting its rider. "Power cores online! We are combat ready, haha!"

Even in its new form the seat had enough room to accommodate a second person assuming personal space wasn't being held at a premium. Midnight glanced over his shoulder at Wander. "Templar, get above it," he spoke aloud to the others. "Monsoon, want water on our side, please. Pull it back down. Everyone else: hit it."

[Avenger Assembled]

Aquaria stared, goggle-eyed, at the Lemurian monstrosity as it came lurching out of the water. Midnight's words shook her out of her shock, though, and with a nod she prepared herself for battle. With great determination, she bent her legs, down and down, her body lowering until her knees were actually level with the top of her head as she crouched for a spring. And what a spring it was! She vaulted straight into the air just as the Frog-Bat-Lizard whooshed overhead, flying up like she'd been shot from a cannon! Spreading her arms and legs, she caught herself by the fingers and long toes as she landed on the belly of the great beast, and soon was scuttling up its massive sides towards the head. 

 

For her part, Singularity had similar plans. She leaped up too, albeit with less of Aquaria's great speed, and grabbed onto the creature by the folds of its smooth belly. She punched it, hard, and then again, devastating blows that would certainly have crippled even the strongest superhumans. But the great beast overhead seemed to show no signs of injury, even as it slowly glided forward.  

[Avenger Assembled]

In the air, Monsoon did her best to follow Midnight's command. Sword in hand, she fearlessly faced down the monster - water erupting from the sound to wrap around the monster like gleaming silvery ropes. But the ropes found no purchase, sliding off the smooth scales of the creature's belly. Confronted with something she wasn't powerful enough to defeat, Nina didn't run - instead she faced it down and pushed herself, blood in her eyes as blood vessels popped. Cursing in Arabic, she finally jerked out of the way at the last minute, flying after the creature as if she was about to cut it out of the sky with nothing but the blade in her hand. 

[Gizmo]

As soon as Erin was aboard the Night Cycle-turned-wyldride, Midnight throttled forward and pulled back on the controls, sending the hovering vehicle roaring upward to circle around behind the gargantuan monster, a dark red energy trail streaking behind them. Knowing that Monsoon's hydrokinetic powers hadn't been enough to hold the primordial beast in place on their own gave some impression as to its raw strength; they weren't likely to have much success containing it if they couldn't swing that advantage back in their favour.
 
Selecting a handful of round capsules from his belt, the black clad tactician hurled them against the muscles connecting one of the Frog-Bat-Lizard's wings to its body, careful to avoid Aquaria and Singularity. The pellets shattered on impact, dousing the target in chemicals that quickly turned to a coating of numbing ice upon contact with the air. It was clear almost immediately that the attack hadn't had the desired effect, however, as the ice slid from the creature's slimy slick hide and fell into the waters below. Midnight grunted in mild irritation before toggling his comlink. "Direct approach, then. Follow Singularity's lead, focus attacks together on stomach."

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar blinked. He had not expected this, he wasn't going to lie. He sighed, and mumbled mostly to himself (though likely audible over the comlink).

 

"Worst Christmas ever? No, guess that'd be the one in that one jungle..."

 

In a blur, he circled wide around the battlefield, before coming to a stop well behind the rest of the team, the monster in front of him. He hovered there for a moment, eyeballing the creature, the distance, and so on. Then he re-positioned himself, metallic arms in front, and suddenly was screaming through the air at supersonic speeds. 

 

"Making my attack run now. Try going for its eyes, Wander."

 

With a mighty crash and a splash of a few flickers of blue flame, he struck the monster directly on the belly, just as Wander was assaulting its eyes. He struck with incredible force, the momentum of his motion augmented by the might of his magically enhanced muscles. 

[Electra]

"I'm with you," Wander radioed back, taking a moment to assess the scene as she rose to her feet on the saddle of the flying bike as easily as though she were getting up off the floor. Nothing they'd done so far had caused much damage, or any damage as far as she could see. Singularity and Aquaria were both vulnerable, hanging onto the monster's scaly hide and just waiting to be plucked off. She wasn't sure whether Jessie was as durable as she herself was, but she knew Aquaria wasn't, and neither of them were ready to fight injured. A bold attack was the only option. 

 

Rising to her toes, she lifted her arms and her bad behind her like a diver and pushed off the bike, careful not to overbalance it as she went. She arced into the air, nearly disappearing into the darkness of the sky, then came hurtling back down, right over the monster's head like an enraged starling dive-bombing an interloper. She tucked her body into a ball and began tumbling faster and faster, till she smashed into the monster's snout with a loud crack! Unfolding herself, she proceeded to smash her bat against the thing's eylids again and again, hoping to blind or at least cause great pain.  

[Avenger Assembled]

Wander hit the creature in the eye, again and again - and then the Frog-Bat-Lizard exploded! Or, rather, it reverted to its liquid state as if an inner switch had been turned off. This was no small thing, given the sheer mass of the tremendous flying creature - as long as a multi-story building and as wide across the face as a house, and evidently solid through from the extent of the bizarre fluid produced by the transformation.

 

A tremendous gush of greenish fluid came cascading down from the sky (along with Singularity, Wander, and Aquaria) to drench a whole block of small houses right at the edge of the park. Luckily it happened to hit a vacant lot, so that as it hit the nearby houses it was only low enough to break windows on the first floor. Nobody was outside to be knocked down by the wave, not in Seattle in December on Christmas, but the crash of breaking glass and shouts from inside the houses as the wave pooled through the neighborhood told the heroes some significant property damage had been done.

 

The fluid was sticky and warm as it covered Wander, Singularity, and Aquaria, and the snow melted and discolored wildly wherever it hit. Still hovering, Monsoon just barely avoided getting doused herself by the tidal wave. Fully familiar with the effects of tidal waves, she flew down to an now-cracked open window to assess the damage - it looked like the parents inside the house had been in the middle of laying Christmas presents under the tree when the wave had cracked in and doused everything. 

 

"Hello, so sorry about the mess," she began to offer, "let me help you clean that up!" the last word was more of a rising shout because the couple inside, their holiday sweaters ruined by the greenish dousing, had risen as one and headed for the door. They, and other people below on the street, had begun to chant a word in Lemurian. 

 

"COMMUNION! COMMUNION!" 

[Avenger Assembled]

Aquaria caught herself as she fell amidst the sudden deluge - not with her hands but with a long, pink tongue that erupted from her mouth like an extra arm. Spinning on a light pole, she executed a neat little flip before landing in the middle of a street covered in Frog-Bat-Lizard fluid. "Weird!" she declared, the sticky fluid mostly sliding off her smooth skin. "It's like the stuff in egg sacs! At least it's still warm," she added, reaching down and smearing another handful of it over herself. "I don't see any babies though - YIKES!" 

 

She jumped back up on top of the flagpole as doors began opening all over the neighborhood, dispersing dozens of people; parents, children, families, even what looked to be pets, soaked in the greenish fluid dumped out of the falling frog and chanting "COMMUNION! COMMUNION!" as they marched eastwards towards where the Communion robots were still being held in place by Edge. From the inside the house, especially on the upper floors, came screaming - people upstairs had missed the deluge, but they could see what had happened to their families.

 

A little more willing to act on her own, Monsoon hovered in the air on one side of the street and gestured - and a full dozen people rose into the air, limbs twitching and voices still chanting, bodies still covered in the fluid that had come pouring down from the sky this Christmas evening. "I can't get the whole street!" she called. 

[Gizmo]

Midnight had to admit he hadn't seen that coming... internally, at least. Outwardly he adjusted his jacket's collar with one hand, activating hermetic seals connecting his mask to his under armor and his gloves to his cuffs and switching over to his uniform's internal air supply. Those were all the precautions he had time take before using his free hand to steer the Nightryde into a steep swoop down toward the street and the growing mob. Long, narrow barrels slid out of either side the flying motorcycle's chassis as it streaked through the air, unleashing a barrage of red hot darts of light. Artfully avoiding Monsoon, the attack shredded the bases of trees adorned in glass bulbs, street lamps wrapped in candy cane streamers and large plastic Santa Claus lawn decorations of highly questionable aesthetic value. The array of festive decorations toppled into the street, layering atop each other to form an ad hoc dam against the tide of chanting victims.

"Stop smearing," he instructed Aquaria as he came in low enough to be heard. "You and Jessie, find hydrants, open them." Holding what amounted to hostages in the air by their blood was proving surprisingly effective but with a clean water source he hoped Monsoon could wash the citizens clean of their contamination instead. A little extra property damage was a small price to pay.

[Electra]

Wander gagged a little as she hit the street in a shower of warm goo, but it was, sadly, not the worst thing she'd ever been coated with during a fight. Ripping off her mask, she used it to wipe her face clean and then tossed it aside to assess the situation. The crowd of possessed people, especially here, sent a shudder down her spine, but she'd had a lot of years of therapy to overcome the instinctive terror and revulsion. Next to her, Singularity, equally sodden, was gripping her own body with both arms and shaking as she stared around her. 

 

"Park Street," Singularity muttered, her voice catching as she began to ramble.  "This is Park Street, I rode my bike here, down to the park, turn left, turn left, turn right. Kathy lived in the blue house on the corner... that blue house on the corner! And the Kellermans, I babysat for them, right across the street, oh god, Mr. Kellerman is a zombie!" Evidently not all of Singularity's combat instincts had been conditioned out of her, since she immediately began to lunge in that direction. 

 

Wander's arm was there instantly, stopping her. "Shut UP!" she snapped, her voice taut with tension. "Of course this is Park Street, but so what? It's just a fight and they need our help. They're not zombies." she stressed. "Go open the hydrants like Midnight said. I'll go stop the people. Don't touch anyone!" With that, Wander leapt into the oncoming mob, flicking her bat to full extension and conducting some very careful mayhem. Her bat was optimized to let her do minimal damage when she wanted, and she used that property now, smacking pressure points and sweeping legs to disable her fragile opponents as gingerly as possible. Yes, she recognized several of them, but she couldn't think about that now. 

[trollthumper]

"All right," said Cannonade. "Got it. No touching." But as he watched Wander cut her way through the crowd, knocking each one down and out gently, he realized that might be easier said than done. Just leaving the civilians in the street wouldn't suffice - given everything that had happened tonight, he couldn't guarantee this would be where the parade of crap ended. But trying to pick them up, even by stacking them like cord wood, might result in some of that frog goo getting on him - and then everyone would have to try putting him down as well. 

 

As he scanned the area, however, he realized the solution. There had been a banner back in the park, a big one announcing Christmas festivities. It had gotten away fairly clean when the frog-monster was rampaging. He leapt back to the park, grabbed the banner, and leapt back. It was large enough to fit quite a few of the civilians, so if he did it in trips...

 

Taking care to bundle the civilians without disturbing them - and working to sluice as much of the frog juice as he could onto the ground, and not anywhere near the sewer ducts - Cannonade moved them in groups of three and four back onto the porches of the nearby homes. "Okay, they're soaked and it's nighttime in December," he said. "We got some sort of solution for that?" 

[Avenger Assembled]

Wander's efficient takedown of the poisoned Christmas revelers left them battered, bruised, but not in any shape to go anywhere anytime soon. Luckily the Lemurian-crafted toxins didn't seem to be overriding their pain responses, so when they went down, they stayed down. With Cannonade arriving to deal with both the people Wander had taken down and the ones Monsoon had taken up, the team was left with a thorny problem indeed. 

 

"Oooh, this is bad, this is bad," said Aquaria, her big eyes swiveling independently as she wrapped big bulbous fingers around each other nervously. "They're not turning into Deep Ones, though, so that's good, right?!" she asked hopefully. "I mean they're not actually turning into anything, it's just, um, in their brains!" She looked scared, her greenish skin decidedly pale. 

 

For her part, Singularity was moving down the street with efficiency, ruthlessly beheading the fire hydrants with her fists before redirecting the water to sweep the streets clean with a shriek of ruptured metal. She looked scared too, but was working through it. When the gushing water hit the poisoned citizens it helped, washing away the gunk and seeming to prevent any biological changes - but their limbs still twitched and voices still shouted that same eerie Lemurian chant. 

 

"Mommy, Daddy, no!" A little girl, face in the second-story window, was watching her mind-controlled parents down below. "What's happening!?" she cried. It looked to have been mostly kids who had avoided the wave, upstairs when it had splashed through the first floor. 

 

To her credit, it was Monsoon, of all people, who dealt with this one. "It's all right, little girl," she told her, swooping up to second-story level. She'd made very sure no fluids were sticking to her. "Don't worry! The Liberty League is here to save the day, and-yike!" The little girl, whose eyes had lit up at the sight of a superheroine, had simply jumped out of the window and grappled Monsoon, clinging to her with all four limbs as they both hovered in the air. 

 

Over the commlinks came Mark's voice. "Hey, everybody OK over there? I heard a big wet explosion!"

[Gizmo]

"Mind altering giant frog monster bile," Midnight replied to Edge calmly as he brought the Nightryde close enough to Monsoon to make sure she wasn't in danger of accidentally dropping her unexpected passenger. "Under control." He gave the princess a small nod and gestured toward the ground, swinging by the burning blue beacon of Cobalt Templar before gathering the heroes back together on one side of the makeshift barrier. "Templar, check on Edge, get him up to date."

Dismounting, he scooped up a sample of the Frog-Bat-Lizard's remains from the street in a small vial from his belt and inserted it into an analytic computer roughly the size of a bifold wallet. After reviewing the feed of data he looked up at the others. "Should be able to create an antidote. Need supplies." Silently thanking every little bit of chemistry knowledge he'd managed to absorb from his grandfather over the years and hoping he wasn't straying too far from his own areas of expertise he withdrew three slim, palm-sized tablet computers from a compartment in his motorcycle and entered a list onto each of them.

"Cannonade, you and Aquaria head east," he requested, handing Joe the first of the lists, mainly household products. A list of more potent chemicals he hoped the nearby hardware stores would have in sufficient quantities went to Erin. "Wander, Singularity, west. Monsoon, north, with me." The affected civilians would keep for a short time at least and he wasn't willing to spare manpower in their impromptu scavenger hunt or to leave anyone without immediate backup. With any luck Mark and Corbin would be able to mop up the remaining spider macrobots and get back quickly anyway.

Lowering his voice even softer than normal, he stepped close to Wander. "Shouting isn't helping her. You've been here before, she hasn't. Be the big sister." Giving her shoulder a small squeeze with his gloved hand he moved to get back onto the Nightryde.

[Electra]

Erin glared after Trevor as he left her with a list growing soggy in her hand. "Maybe you wanna babysit her then, Dr. Phil," she muttered. "And how are we supposed to get any supplies from people when we're covered in hallucinogenic frog vomit- hey!" Her complaining was interrupted when she noticed Singularity had taken off already. She was moving in a vaguely westerly direction, but Wander suspected that was entirely incidental to the fact that she was headed for her- for their- for Erin Prime's house. "Jessie, get back here!" she yelled, jogging after her double. "We're not done yet!"

 

Singularity wasn't moving fast, seeming almost as though she was walking in a trance as she stared at the brightly lit houses just outside the water's impact zone. She'd have been easy to catch if Wander hadn't been distracted by an old man  about to kill himself trying to fish his Pomeranian out of a storm drain with an umbrella. She took a second to rip the cover off the drain and scoop up the dog, and of course by then Singularity had managed to get herself in trouble. "Erin, is that you?" Wander heard a disbelieving and slightly familiar voice say as she finally caught up. "What did you do to your hair? Is that a superhero costume?"

 

Jessie was staring dumbfounded, and Erin followed her gaze to see a young woman in a Christmas party dress with a windbreaker hastily thrown over it. "No, no, she's not Erin, and neither am I," Erin said hastily. "We're Erin's cousins, from-"

 

"Kathy?" Jessie blurted out, running right over Erin's words. "You're alive?" She moved in to hug the wide-eyed Kathy, but was stopped by Erin's subtle use of a restraining armlock behind her back.

 

"We're Erin's cousins from Freedom City," Wander repeated, her smile really more of a grimace. "And we'd really love to talk, but the day's not saved yet and we've still got a lot to do, right, Jessie?" Singularity glared at Wander, but relaxed in her grip and let herself be led away for the moment.

 

"Wow, I didn't know Erin had superhero cousins," they heard from behind them. "I only ever met the weird one that cried all the time." Wander winced briefly and kept going in the direction of the nearest hardware store she could remember.

[KnightDisciple]

The explosion of goo and gore didn't really phase Cobalt Templar; the liquid just sizzled to ash or slid off of his construct-body, never touching his actual flesh. He blinked in surprise at how...dramatic...that defeat had been. And then he heard the cries of surprise and fear as the citizens below were doused in poison that left them mind-controlled. He moved down and helped Cannonade corral and contain them for a few moments, before everything was at least partially settled down. Then Midnight was organizing the next stage of things with the same calm efficiency. He gave a quick salute to the understated vigilante, and then was off in a blue blur.

 

Unhindered by consideration for passengers, he was back to where Mark was in just moments, crashing to the ground with an impact lighter than his bulk might suggest. Almost immediately, blue bands of flickering steel sprang up to help hold Mark's plug construct in place, even as Templar walked over next to his friend, his exaggerated size evaporating away as he did so.

 

"There was a giant frog-bat-lizard. Wander and I punched it really hard, and it turned into...green goop, basically. Mind controlled all the people it touched. They're all knocked out but the others are getting stuff so Midnight can cook up a cure."

 

He paused, folding his arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes at the uneven needle construct, the blue bands flickering with force from the internal efforts before reforming themselves.

 

"Edge, how long do you think the hardest, toughest plug you've got in this thing could last, if you weren't maintaining it?"

 

He seems to have some sort of plan...

[trollthumper]

Cannonade, meanwhile, didn't really have much in the way of clever plans. He realized that this was, once again, somewhat outside his area of expertise, and that the longer he spent thinking about things, the more others would be screwed. So, he took off through the neighborhood, trying very hard to avoid more contact with the gunk and trying to get everything on the list. 

 

He could extremely lucky on the first house. Apparently someone had thought to leave the door unlocked and open, meaning he could just barge through without kicking the door off of its hinges. And, blessing of blessings, the area under the kitchen sink was undisturbed, meaning he was able to make out with a set of dishwashing gloves and a few garbage bags. 

 

Hooray for Christmas miracles, he thought as he tore from house to house, gathering chemicals for Midnight's cocktail. 

[Avenger Assembled]

"A giant frog-bat-lizard, huh? Wow, I guess she wasn't kidding with the name. I'll have to sneak a look at I can put an osmium cap on there," said Edge thoughtfully. "Osmium is really brittle so I don't build a lot with it, but it's super-dense so it'll take a long time for them to chew through. I learned about that from Freedom Friends," he said with that tone of sincere cheerfulness that Cobalt Templar knew was perfectly true. "Why, what are you thinking?" 

 

-

 

The little girl clinging to Monsoon took one look at Midnight and buried her face in Nina's chest, making the journey a little more difficult than it had to be. "Sssh, sssh, it's all right..." This was new terrain for Nina, the youngest of twelve, but she was doing her best to stem the occasional sobs that came from the small girl. The hydrokinetic wound up opening cabinets by means of yanking their contents out with her powers, trying not to scatter the contents of utility closets and under the sink cabinets beyond Midnight's ability to reassemble them. "The real monster was the giant one, remember?" 

 

-

 

All the hardware stores Erin and Jessie could find were closed - after all, it was Christmas. But luckily they were superheroes, this was an emergency, and the Liberty League had the funds to do minor property repair. Luckily Erin and Jessie between them had the ability to force a lock with minimal damage, letting them enter and get what they needed with minimal damage, and then come racing back to the damaged neighborhood to make their repairs. Erin had to watch Jessie on the way back - all the way back. 

-

[Gizmo]

Midnight couldn't do much more than offer Monsoon a minute shrug at the child's reaction, careful not to release any midnight mist an to square his hips and shoulders enough that his silhouette belonged more to a man dressed in black than an animated shadow forcing itself into the world. His appearance was designed to be frightening, after all, though he sometimes wished it was a little more selective. If he was slightly more worried about traumatizing a young girl in Seattle than he might be under different circumstances he kept it stoically to himself.

As Nina and her unexpected charge flew across the street to where the Nightryde was hovering off of the sidewalk - Redbird being reluctant to resume a more mundane configuration given the chance to cut loose - Midnight was placing a few bills on the counter of an empty convenience store before stepping outside. He carried two jugs by their handles in one gloved hand and a rectangular package in the other. He raised the latter when the girl briefly looked up from Monsoon's chest in his direction. "...cookies?"

"Bah, do not patronize the tiny human with confectionery bribes!" Redbird piped up, tutting as she turned the handlebars of the vehicle toward the organic females as if it allowed her to better see them. "Teach her the warrior's way, to confront fear with a glad heart and overwhelming force, hah!" The Nightryde bobbed up and down in the air enthusiastically to emphasize her point.

Midnight lowered the box of cookies slightly and gave the autonomic machine intelligence a withering look even through the blood red lenses of his mask before attempting a different tact. "Talking motorcycle," he pointed out to the little girl, his voice as soft as the filters through which he was speaking allowed. "Only let good guys have those."

It was difficult to imagine just what combination of movements would constitute a motorcycle preening, but Redbird pulled it off. "Well!" she allowed modestly, "That is certainly true!"

[KnightDisciple]

"A giant frog-bat-lizard, huh? Wow, I guess she wasn't kidding with the name. I'll have to sneak a look at I can put an osmium cap on there," said Edge thoughtfully. "Osmium is really brittle so I don't build a lot with it, but it's super-dense so it'll take a long time for them to chew through. I learned about that from Freedom Friends," he said with that tone of sincere cheerfulness that Cobalt Templar knew was perfectly true. "Why, what are you thinking?" 

 

CT shrugged at the comment about the monster.

 

"One of the more...literal...translations I've found, yes."

 

Templar didn't really bat an eye at Mark's comment about Freedom Friends; it was just the way things were. If anything he found it cheering! As he responded, he eyed the needle.

 

"That might be just what we need, then. I'm looking at this thing, and I don't think we need to wait for anyone else to throw it in the Sun. I can hit orbit and then really open up. Worst case it's 10 minutes for me to break atmosphere and get close enough the throw's a guaranteed long bomb. I know that can be an eternity in super-battles, but I figure right now it's the best shot we've got of removing this part of the equation while also freeing you up to help with cleanup. Midnight's got the de-gunk-ification handled, and he's got Wander, Singularity, Aquaria, Cannonade, and Monsoon to help ride herd on things. If we can spare you holding this thing together we can spare me tossing it into the system's biggest wastebasket, right?"