2013.06.30 - A Better Mousetrap Pt. 3

The air whistles around the group as Stormwatch steps through Illyana's portal. They don't take Void's this time because the energy signature is familiar to the Daemonites and Hadrian wasn't about to risk detection so early. Spartan himself, ever since his return from captivity, has not been the same man. He's short and lacks patience, snaps easily at team members and seems far more drill Sargent then friendly teammate. He upped training schedules, increased monitor time, leaned hard on everyone. If he wasn't a robot, or Hadrian, one might say he was suffering a mild PTSD from his whole 'ripped apart and mounted on a wall' time or something. Whatever it is, there is a barely repressed anger in the android that's coated everything he's done for the last couple weeks in a thin layer of tension. "Here." he says, looking around, "It took two weeks to find it, but the coordinates that led here did lead to something."

Here is the middle of nowhere, as literally as that can ever by said. Smack dab in the heart, the center, of the Sahara dessert, the largest tract of unpopulated wasteland on the planet. There is no shade, and in the direct sunlight the temperature is around 120 degrees, but it's the driest heat imaginable, sucking the sweat and moisture out of the human body like a sponge, and once in the open air, hurling it with sand and dirt. For those with bare skin and who aren't invulnerable, dusty, dirty, and beyond uncomfortably hot, this place is hell. "There it is." he says as his open up and a pair of baseball sized bots fly out of them and off across the dessert floor, kicking up little rooster tails of sand as they go. "We go no closer then this for now, not until they open the door. This landscape is not unfamiliar to the Daem, they'll have sensors in the sand, soon as the cloak is dropped enough and the drones open a whole in their security network, we go in." Spartan seems to fidget in place, anxious, perhaps... afraid? Naw. Couldn't be.

Nate has not talked much to Spartan since he got... reset? At least he is not dead. Although he is not sure if being a program emulating an ancient alien hero personality counts as being alive. Sometimes it is better not to think to hard about some issues. The Sahara desert is not the worst wasteland he has seen by a long shot, but it is the hottest, so it gets some extra points as hellhole in his score tables. "Hellspont is a psychic, right? Do you think he will be here?" Because if he is, chances are the alien overlord has already noticed Nate has arrived, his psychic signature is loud and bright.

I am sure we have all seen Total Recall, where they stepped onto the plane of Mars and all about had their eyes sucked out of their sockets? Thats the feeling Ravager has as she steps out of the portal and into the desert. Thankfully at least that suit id regulating her temperature, or she would be peeling it off and catching a classy lobster burn. Her and heat are not close friends, and she squints in the blaring light lacking any cover one hand gripping the mass of white hair and twisting it to hold it on top of her head and off her neck.

Spartan's attitude shift did not bother her in the slightest, though she did skip out on his training exercises in lieu of her own, for reasons only one person knew. "Next mission, Antarctica or I'm not going."

Siege has done his best to...simply not be there when Spartan has been on his tangents and flurries of activity. Oh, he has done his fair share of training, even taken a few side jobs, but his mellow, laissez faire off the clock mentality might do more to aggravate the robot than anything else. After Action Reports, precisely worded communications, these are how he has avoided the metamorphosis. Still, he has been cognizant of the change, and keeping an eye in and as much is possible/practical. Blue-white smoke curls and wafts from his cigar as hands are shoved into the pockets of pants. Tactical gear...less for protection, and more for pockets and storage space and a nice way to hold the meat in when its not shifted into ceramic plating. "I can shift the sensors out of position, outright destroy them if you want. Whole desert and the inside of their base is sort of 'my area'. Alternatively, I can just give you info on relevant locations." Or...right, they can wait till the door gets opened, and kick it to hold it open. As it is, the ground around him sinks visibly, absorbed to create the ceramic compound armor that grants him not only resistance to damage, but enhances his terrakinetic and geosensory powers. Is also quite handy for deflecting sun from his form.

He turns toward Ravager and shrugs. "At least there is a breathable atmosphere and limited environmental hazards. Well, aside from the heat and the dust and the lack of water. Kind of expected something a bit more...impervious?"

"Lets hope he is." Kon's voice chimes in as he smashes fist in to palm. Confidence in spades and then some - we'll just call it foolhardy ego. Spartan's mood shift hasn't phased the Superclone too much as he is used to some bite from just about everyone the new training regime has been equal parts annoying and fun. He's known for half-assing everything and only putting his all in to something when he is angry; it's made the past couple weeks quality in headaches and entertainment.

Superboy's recent abduction and rescue still sits on him in that whole shameful department as well as traveling to another desert considering his luck with the previous thankfully he has had time to shower, clean up and get a new costume. One that is fire resistant, friction functional so it wont burn off when he goes really really fast and it has cape! Since you know he's a "Super", he can fly now and it's just cool looking. "New duds? Everyone like them?" Mission at hand and he is more concerned with his looks.

Spartan is silent for a moment, his eyes staring off into nothing... then he turns to the group, "I've given you this speech before, but I'm going to give it to you again. You will never, in your entire lives, face a foe the likes of which we may face today. From the readings Void and I have been able to gather through the cloak, there is a facility here roughly three times the size of the Halo Towers and all of it is subterranean. There are an unknown number of Daemonite soldiers in there, potentially thousands, they are super strong, capable of possessing your body, equipped with advanced energy weapons, skilled fast warriors, and ruthless. We are a mere half dozen soldiers, most of you powerful, but new, to war. Most of you. So, let's assume, for a moment, that all we have to deal with is an army of advanced alien soldiers who's been trained to fight since their spawning, who may possess centuries of experience, and are holed up in their fortified defensive structures. This fight would be... difficult beyond measure. But inside that base I suspect Helspont waits for us. He is stronger then anyone you kno-" he pauses, eyes Superboy, "Well... perhaps. He is capable of Kryptonian feats of strength and durability. He is immune to flame and can himself project fire hot enough to vaporize steel. His is a psionic of mental powers great enough that I have seen him lift a mountain from a planet and use it as a weapon to take down a troop carrier in orbit far above. He can place thoughts, emotions, inside your minds, turn you on your allies..." Spartan shakes his head slowly.

"This is why I push you. This is why we train. I alone am immune to his psionic suggestion, listen to my voice if I command you to stop, follow orders, and above all else... Hold. Nothing. Back. Every hesitation you make costs more human lives down the road, every Daem you allow to escape, to trick you, is one more enemy that will come at us another time. I have said it before, I'm saying it not. We're not heroes. This isn't the work for heroes. We're soldiers today, and this is a war. Scion, Superboy, you're our nukes. Your /only/ purpose is to hit Helspont with everything you have the instant you see him. Ravager, Velocity, you're on crowd control, once the fight begins in earnest I need the two of you to become giant pains in the ass. Harass their lines, fast strike tactics, do damage, then flee, attack somewhere else, I need chaos and confusion among them or they'll simply bury us with numbers. Siege," the look that crosses Spartan face is pure wicked glee, "How much sand can you move...?"

Velocity wasn't so much concerned as she stepped into the scene of dust and sand.. The sun was shining and the air wasn't chalked full of smoke from a building going to ruins beneath bombs and disappearing pants. The sun was a little bright but with a shrug she made her way up along side her team mates.. Here and there she'd dart around trying to get a feel for the new terrain and then pause to glance over to Rose.. She was really going to have to start carrying some kind of water packs or emergency ice packs. "Erm...are you ok? No melting ok?"

Nate glances Spartan and arches an eyebrow. He has faced Apocalypse. Helspont can't be worse, if he was, he would have conquered the Earth like Apocalypse did. However, Spartan has a point. Helspont has been anticipating them for a while and it feels as if they fallen in all his traps. "Alright. You know what? If he is such as strong telepath, I should be able to find him quickly, go straight to him and avoid fighting all his warriors."

Siege is silent for a moment as the sand and flesh and various other bits continue to forge the most optimal 'light-weight' configuration (He's still super-heavy of course, but its good for efficiency, maneuverability, His eyes half close in calculation, his hands squeezing and unclench. One can see the sand about them shifting, moving. Almost as if performing the calculations upon the ground presented. "Not how much. How far. Its a question of perception, not of strength. Minimal obstructions, relatively similar materials. Off the bat, I can move anything I can see. You give me time...want to see something really impressive..." One can almost see him reading the vibrations, even more shifts in the ground underneath them. He listens to the speech, but a lot of it seems wrapped up in his geophysical calculation. "As long as you want 'simple', 10 miles. If you want heavy duty terraforming."

"Alright, so what are we waiting for then? We're all here... Lets get this show on the road." Kon's body lifts up off the ground and he begins to hover only to pause briefly and flip his cape over his shoulder then shuffle with it swatting it back and forth in the air.

"Sec..." He murmurs before it situates on his shoulders properly so it's not flying in front of him but behind him. "Okay /now/ lets get this show on the road." How the Snarf do Kal and Kara do this. "Psychic bloodhound time right?" A glance from Nate to the others, Carin's question had him looking at the pale haired Rose then back towards Spartan. This would be a shitty time for a heatstroke. "Scion and myself pummel Helspont. Sounds like a good plan." He's excited, he's losing his head a bit and it's obvious. Some part of Kon-El is far too easily aroused at the thought of violence some days.

They're so young. the voice comes from everywhere, a deep thing, but spoken through flame and steel that reverberates in the hollow places in the chest more then it's heard by the ear. ''I had begun to believe you a coward in your old age Yho-wait... You go by... Jack is it? Disappointing you could so callously throw your heritage aside. there's the sense of a wry twisted grin to the words, A pale, fragile copy of a greater man. I can see why you like the boy. See something of yourself in him? A broken toy made to mimic something more?'' Spartan's eyes narrow, "So much for stealth. He's distracting us." the android says, ignoring the voice that echoes about, "Siege. You want to know your job?" he asks, pointing with a finger. A half a mile distant a building shimmers into view as the pair of drones he launched earlier complete their work and bring down the Daemonite cloak, "Bring it down." his voice hardens, "All of it. Bring it all down." the 'building' is more of a shed then anything else... but beneath it the enormous complex remains. Seige's only job is to bury the massive base, bury alive potentially thousands of alien warriors. ''Oh yes little boy, bring my home down upon me. Perhaps /sand/ is enough to keep me contained.'' the sarcasm dripping from the words could eat through an engine block. Then the small shed like building's front door opens and Helspont merely... walks out. He's seven feet tall if he's an inch, and the black twisted skull of his face is ringed in blue flame, a black trenchcoat like garment flaps around him in the wind as he walks their way, his arms held nonchalantly behind his back with supreme confidence. "Everyone! Stick to your jobs! Ravager, Velocity! Keep frosty! Scion, Superboy..." Spartan's eyes and fists begin to glow so brightly he's hard to look at, "Sic him."

It does not take much for Nate to spot Helspont. A brief glance into the Astral space, and... well, that is what other telepaths feel when they watch him? Helspont positively glows with power. The other Daemonites are like ants in comparison. "Alright, skipping the looking for him part. Looks like he wants a fight as much as we do. Unless it is another of his tricks, of course. We'll know soon." He takes off, hovering about ten yards from the sand, and his left eye starts glowing like the sun. "Launching mountains to space, hmm? Lets see if you have kept your abilities up with the centuries or are you rusty from lurking under the desert so long." For those non-psions, there is just a low buzz just beyond their hearing a second before Nate strikes, for Helspont, and perhaps for Spartan if his sensors can kept track, there is a brief but massive buildup as Nate draws energy from the Astral Plane and then launches a dual telekinetic and telepathic attack on the alien warlord. The TK blast is very visible as a golden blast almost two yards wide, carrying enough power to demolish the building behind Helspont.

Spartan has stressed not to hold back but Kon-El is off the same branch as Kal-El holding back is almost like it's in the genetic make up. He's doing his best though. This guy is afterall the one great threat of an entire advanced alien civilization - he is the Kherubim's Zod.

"Whoah? What you want to bring the whole thing down!? What if there are innocents in there?" That entire line of thought or complaint is cut short when Helspont himself shows his face and Nate with quick resolve initiates the attack.

"Solves that." Kon huffs before his shoulders shift and the air currents around him begin to waver. Teamwork time! Superboy adds himself in to that mix of TK/Tele visual wave as a black and red streak immediately behind it. The colors mingle with the golden streamer hues changing it to look almost deep orange to purple. A combo wombo mega-mutant Kryptonian cocktail.

"Im fine." Ravager murmurs at Velocity as that twisted wrap of hair she held fisted above her head is tugged through a loop and made into a self wrapped knotted bun atop her head, keeping it up with many whip-like lashes of white falling around and into her face, but it is better then the weight on her neck. Though with the risen hold of hair what she had resting at her back is now left to the eye.

The harnesses matched her outfit perfectly, even those thin lines of red. She wanted to hear no objections from the 'pure' souls. Down her back rests the large barrel of a triple barrel Chiappa, at the small of her back two semi-automatic pistols rest crossed at the barrels, and from the side where hips curved outward horizontally, rests smaller fighting blades. Of course, x'd across her back are her swords and on her tac belt pouches are replaced with grenades.

Hands now drop as she steps up beside Spartan and casts him a small smile. "You know, someone recently incited a side of me I thought I had let go. Glad I am not the only one." Moving towards Helspont as he departed the building now in a slow stried that belied the limp Ravager reached behind her and drew those semi-autos, clicking the safeties off. "I packed too much heat to be frosty."

Siege just smiles, grins with that sort of 'nice guy doesn't live here' mentality that tends to happen when he's facing someone that prides themselves on being bigger, meaner, and just seems utterly full of themselves.. Oh he's no psychic, no telepath, but he has every bit of folk wisdom and a good solid set of mental walls. Getting into his head has got to be a pain in the ass. The cigar is flicked to the side, ground beneath his boot. "I'd say something clever about sand and earth, but then I'd be just as bad. Hubris kills man and God alike...Spartan, I get he's powerful, but does everyone on your and his side suffer from this whole epicly pretentious mustachio twirling horse shit?" Is all he offers as his consciousness expands.

Every particle of dust and debris, every molecule of silicate. Spartan hadn't asked for anything precise, any Herculean effort of precision. No, what he wanted was a /push/, like driving ones fist into an anthill. Except instead of ending up with ants all over ones hand, there would only be the rampant squishing of Daemonites and asphyxiation, killing by deprivation of vital gases what cannot be accomplished by pressure. Once he begins to reach that critical mass of sand, he....pushes. And the desert begins to sink upon itself. THe ground itself making a mockery of support structures, the pressure demanding the yield of even the most resolute of building materials. It will take time of course, but the cracks are forming. It will only be a matter of moments before sand claims the base as it has claimed all the great works of architecture in the desert. "As for innocents Kid Steel, I'm sure the Greater Good is pretty resoundingly on our side here.

Kon's words actually give Spartan pause, and he freezes. He does what he told them not to do. He hesitates. "Siege, take Velocity with you, scout the building, double quick. You find hostages, you free them and get them out." his plan is falling apart but Superboy is right. What if? Spartan files this moment away for later reflection, "Then bring it down." Then Spartan simply blinks out of existence, vanishes instantly. ''Oh no! Not brute force! My only weakness!'' the deep rasping voice mocks. The combined might of Nate and Kon hit the Daemonite square in the chest in an instant. The impact causes a shock wave great enough to kick up a wall of sand forty feet making the concussive forces edge. As the sand falls Helspont can be seen, having been blasted back nearly the length of a football field, his legs having dug a furrow into the sand and ground that leave a trench almost three feet deep. But he still stands, and as the bright flash fades it can be seen that he is holding Kon's fists in his hands. That actually hurt. the alien growls. ''You show promise. I see why he chose you lot. You actually pose a threat...'' Then he leans forward, hard, bending back on Superboy's wrists and leaning over him trying to force the Kryptonian to his knees. ''Kryptonain's so arrogant, so sure they are superior. So wrong.''

To the side, with most people watching the main battle, it's no shocker that only Ravager is sharp eyed enough to spot the sudden trap. A glowing set of tendrils shoot from the sand beneath Siege's foot, a clawed hand following them. It's claws seem to sink into his spine, stiffening him suddenly, then the glowing creature simply pours up and into the Mutant, vanishing beneath his ceramic skin. There's only a second where he's still, then glowing red eyes turn to survey Stormwatch, a wicked grin flicking over his lips.

The earth was moving, sand and all that mixed with it a shifting tide that she watched with narrowing focus. As the paths available to her would change, so to she has to change the calculations theat make up her course. Speed is great, but its a shot in the dark without navigation. A point that Siege might well agree with if there is time to talk about nerd shop mathmatics and such later after they stop the end of the world. Well after the everyone else does..the heck is she going to do with this?

This little speedster was all suited up, the tac-hear a streamline number of darkest greens and golds outfitted with all of the little tricks the halo labs had been cooking up to help collect and relay more information from her enviroment to her brain box for break down. A running replay of events building up logs of data for later. Its that point that makes her jump as Spartan orders a tear down and brows arch up. "Stay frost as a desert gets leveled?... Bad puns boss."

Stopping Ravager waits as the earth behind to forcefully open her maw to take them into the depths of the underground cavern that harbors far more then their dwindling numbers of a team. But that is just it, they are a team and they have to move in as such. Helspont collides with Superboy like two forces of nature battling, the wall cloud of sand erupting before the tornado could even be formed, but even in the rain of grain ravager turns towards Siege, waiting on time, how much longer..? What she sees though, turns her aim from at the ready but at her sides to have both of those semi-automatic Stoeger Cougars levelled on Siege.

Possession, Spartan has warned them and she just saw -it- enter Siege, and no one else seemed to take note of the twist of events. "Not another move!" Her eyes are narrowed and she is moving, stiff legged, like a wolf against a challenging enemy, towards Siege with both guns leveled at his eyes, her own peering at him in a chilled blue over the sights, fingers waiting just as tensely over the triggers.

Nate pauses too. Hostages? Now they think there can be hostages? Dammit! Alright, Conner will have to fight alone for a minute, "let me do a quick scan for human... argh!" He drops halfway to the ground before he manages to recover from the psychic attack. "Sonofabitch. No scanning. We have to take him down now!" He is almost envious Helspont is able to hit him telepathically /that/ hard while struggling with Superboy. Reinforcing his telepathic shields excludes doing any telepathic scanning, so instead he charges Helspont, shifting power to add his telekinesis to physical strength and toughness. In a second he has broken the speed of sound, and attempts to tackle the alien down and away from Conner.

From a purely objective, out of camera standpoint, something happens to Siege when he is working with this level of material. His consciousness has defused across ten miles of sand and earth, so strictly speaking even if he were able to perceive or such a thing (and lets not kid ourselves, his folk education and mental defenses are more of a 'is this really worth your trouble?' sort of thing than an actual impediment to a determined and insidious possession), he isn't strictly at home right now, which would attract any such critter like cancer to a prostate. For now, his consciousness focuses on those last orders...crushing the base beneath sediment, providing just enough room for Velocity to run through and check, shifting curtains of sand to provide her with air and room to navigate. Shoulders sag slightly as he goes about this mass terraforming of the landscape. Teeth grit as he does not see Ravager, nor the encounter with Hellspont. Jeffrey Enfield is completely out to lunch, the ceramic titan utterly unaware to what exactly he is playing host.

Telepathic 'battle' communications no doubt on as it seems standard procedure whenever Scion is present meaning dialogue can occurs. ''Graded absolution doesn't fly with me Siege and it shouldn't for anyone else. If there are innocent people in there we're going to have words.'' Kal would be proud no doubt, Kon just had a moment of "srs bznss". Even more serious upon impact. An impact that Superboy actually felt tremble through his entire being but doesn't end up how he played it out in his mind.

"Thats just the beginning asshole." So that reply to the Daemonite Warlord isn't very Superman-ly but Kon is still Kon.

Gritting his teeth Superboy is bent in that power struggle as veins along forehead, forearms and neck bulge outwards and he is gradually forced to one knee. Twin globes of red light up and the anticipated-to-expected beams shower his adversary even despite Spartan's earlier warnings about Helspont's resistance to heat. Anything to slow the powerhouse, to distract, to stop. Spartan is right they can't hold back and if he knew Nate had just scanned for hostages or innocents he would have thanked him and had a moment of pride in his team but instead all he can manage is a responsive /I'm trying!/.

It's the training with Spartan and Ravager that has him taking a step further then just relying on his heat vision to distract or open Helspont up he pulls towards himself and slams his head forward and up aiming for that flaming blue skull of a face grinning down at upon him, no matter how much pain it will cause himself.

Velocity wasn't sticking about to find out more about the fight going on. She'd catch the replay on her down time when this was all over. Right now any how that building is coming down, and even the long shot of innocent people being inside has she hot of the track to get in there before she needs scuba gear to get out. There is a feed of information that comes from some of the flashing behind her, but its broken up in the static formed by shifting sands and a growing distance. No obstacles to speak off and she'd be inside, on wing and prayer that she wasn't going to need fun teleporting powers to get out.

Kon's attack causes Helspont's head to snap back, but in doing so singes some of the Kryptonian's hair. Helspont brings his face back down, the heatvision simply seeming to vanish into the blue flames. Ow. he says wryly before he moves with shocking speed, twisting as the waist ever so slightly and turning to place Superboy directly into Scion's hurtling path while moving himself /just/ out of reach, ''What is the human word? Ah yes. Ole!'' he shouts, and for a being with no lips he seems to be grinning ever so broadly, but it's really rather impossible to tell. <> he says as the telepathic assault lets up on Nate and it's his turn to resort to telekinesis. A blast of blue fire hurtles from his face, chasing after the streak that is the combined Nate/Kon ball, the sand beneath and near the alien instantly turning into steam and glass, the backwash from the heat kicks up another forty foot tall wall of sand that travels outward, only it's melted and jagged, turned into shrapnel. Of course you hide from me like a coward!! Helspont roars, ''Face me Kherbium! I am done playing with your children!'' he seems to be glowing brighter and he starts to float upward, his fists held at his sides.

The structure seems to be devoid of human life, well... non-possessed human life. Where ever Velocity runs, there are people, but they're carrying large energy weapons and running for the surface, some are quick enough to take poorly aimed hasty shots at the blur that goes by, none even close. But the deeper she travels into the subterranean structure, the fewer of them she sees... However, her cybernetics begin to inform her the hotter the location is getting. Not temperature. Radiation.

"Not cowardice. Tactics." says a voice directly behind Helspont as Spartan reappears. His skin is torn away in most places, showing the shining metal beneath, the exposed conduits and wires that are his life's blood, damage he took waiting, invisible, through the impacts, the blasts of bluish flame. There's a return flash, a bright pinkish light as Spartan cuts loose. This is not like the sparring room, like combat training inside the TEACH. This is the warbot at it's complete limits, this is Spartan at war. The explosion of raw plasma hurtles Helspont into the glassy surface of the ground he'd just made, causing another impact crater to be made. Surely all this tectonic rocking isn't good for Sieges work. "Boys!!" Spartan says, his voice carrying over the din of battle, "C-Can't... hold... him..." he manages as the aura of power around him begins to flicker as Helspont starts to struggle to his feet beneath the unworldly barrage, pushing his way back up, slowly but surely.

Nate is not quick enough to prevent the impact with Conner, but he is telekinetic, not really superstrong, so he cushions it enough so neither of them is injured. He rolls to his feet in a second, and tosses a golden telekinetic wall between them and the blue flame. It does not fully stops the heat, but it helps. "Superboy," he grunts ''I am going to drop the wall and blast him, see if you can speed to the other side and hit him at the same time. He won't be able protect well from three sides.'' A second. Then the wall vanishes and a TK-blast surges from his left eye. More focused then the first one, Helspont is far closer, but also stronger, as Nate puts all his power in the attack.

Ravager's gaze did not waver from Siege as he began to sink into the hole he is creating for her and Velocity. But there is no way she is going down there so the daemonite-Siege can collapse the cavernous tunnels down onto them. he didn't stop, she had shouted and made it clear and no one else seemed to see or hear this and he could turn this oin them, make it worse if a daemonite is steering their terrakinetic like a race car - headlong into a wall.

As Siege sunk lower and opened the tunnels up ravager moved forward in a blur of motion, knowing well enough those .45's may not fully penetrate Siege's armor but she is going to try. "Vel, don't go in!" Too late? "Shit!" And her pace picks up, running to that gaping wound in the sand jumping in in a herald of bullets towards Siege and those flaring red eyes she sees staring at her and laughing silently from his face, landing on the ground and taking that weight though one leg buckled beneath her and left her in a crouched kneel where she landed, tucking both guns back and releasing the triple barrel Ciappa is drawn and held up towards where she estimated Siege had been in her leap of faith.

Again, from a purely logical standpoint, the NON-Daemonite Siege isn't quite here. So at first he doesn't notice the plunking of bullets against his skin. Slight irritations, but it melds with the fatigue and the dissemination of his consciousness. Until the triple barrel shotun goes off in his face, which causes him to grunt in pain and snap back into his 'body' as a defensive measure. Which is really the worst possible thing for anyone under the ground as the sand starts dumping down in all haste and with absolutely no mercy, only stopped in Siege's best and valiant attempt to at least try and key into the place where Velocity is running about. "Hell?" He mumbles drowsily. Really, its the fatigue that dampens the pain. Which is not insubstantial. He blinks blearily at Ravager before he realizes what the hells going on. "Look, Ravager, honey, it ain't that I don't think you are pretty or deadly or just outright dangerous sexy awesome, but ya gotta let me work here..." Putting his forearms in front of his face as he realizes just what the hell is pointed at him. "Not going to hurt you, and I kind of need to make sure Velocity doesn't suffocate or get crushed down there, so uh..." Yeah, awkward. Pimp handing her probably will lead to serious drama down the line, so he errs on the path of least resistance after the shotgun goes off. "Ow! Son of a bitch!" Apparently someone has gotten out of practice in taking tank shells and buckshot and all that. Or seems to be more used to be going from zero to 'you've got to be shitting me' to not much in between. At which point the ground underneath Ravager 'SHLOOPS!' and hopefully buries her in sand up to her head. Or maybe a few limbs. At least giving her some time to see reason.

Kon anticipated slamming in to Nate and embedding both of them half way to Hawaii but instead the mutant's considerable gifts buffer the impact to almost nothing. "Good catch." He compliments.

''Good plan too. I'm on it.''

A blur of movement and the Kryptonian is already on Helspont his superhuman speed has his fists pounding up and down in such rapid succession he looks like a Gorilla on space coke just clubbing away at some offensive creature that invaded his territory and stole the most awesome banana ever! There is no holding back now. Superboy is letting lose some of that rage and just treating the villain like he is a drum.

WUMPWUMPWUMPTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDWUMP

Kon can actually feel his knuckles starting to lose skin, actual skin and his own blood as the ground shudders with continual tremors that have glassy black sand splintering and erupting. That three way barrage is not a nice one. "Stay down!" The young man snarls as adrenaline and solar energy pound through him. Some part of him wants to get all righteous and preach about how this is for all the people the Daemonite has made suffer but really it's just Kon embracing his rage and anger. That sheer brutal desire to cause this monster as much pain and suffering as he possibly can. The amount of punishment he has inflicted on Helspont not something that is really registering to him only that he makes use of this opportunity with as much prejudice as he possibly can.

That darting path in and around the unground wasn't turning up and thing she'd expected.. Innocence didn't live here anymore, if it ever had. Plus she was running out of welcome and resistance to the growing radiation was setting off all kinds of her sensors. Time to exit stage left. Back out the way she came, that blurring dart of movement wasn't taking the time to weave around people - now it was just obstacles..and like the infamous New Yorker she was shouldering her way straight through. One ping, two ping, three ping, TILT!

The other side found her shooting through the cascade and crashes of sand she rockets out, the current path aiming straight between Ravager and into whatever poor fool was standing in the way of letting that thing come crashing down. "Let her go... no civies!"

Helspont struggles to his feet, the sand bubbling and blistering around him beneath the power of Spartan's full out assault, his arms crossed over his head forming a pocket inside the cascading energy that only causes him to sink to his knees inside the molten glass. The punch of Scion's telekinetic blast knocks him back, sending the alien splashing through the molten mess skipping like a stone. Just in time too, as Spartan's energy onslaught flickers and then shrinks to a pin prick of light before dying completely. The android falls from the air, limp and unresponsive, to land with a splash amid the glowing glass pond. Helspont never has a moment to catch his breath, for as his momentum begins to slow, Superboy is upon him, the rapid fire hammering of fists against him continues to push the Daemonite through the slog, a wave of liquid sand splashing about them before they hit dry sand, which does little to slow the jack-hammering her takes...

ENOUGH!! the cry bellows out psychically as well as physically, and his hands come up to grip Conner's wrists. You sniveling, insignificant, small, impotent /child/! Helspont pushes himself to his feet with a stumble, his grip on Superboy tighter then nearly any he's ever felt. ''A shadow of Majestros, are do not deserve to even stand beside that broken toy soldier who leads you. You are nothing. You are a copy of an forgotten and dead species. You are failure incarnate. You are the scraps glued together from the remnants of something that once was great. Hear me and know I speak the truth.'' There is nothing except the great glowing eyes of Helspont, the blue fire rolls over Kon, over him, into him, through him. And in an instant Kon is back where it all began. In a tube. The needles that poke and the tubes that push in, the scientists in the coats, the burn of the chemicals and the feel of the slime against his skin, and most importantly the knowledge, the unyielding knowledge that everything he's known, from his escape to now, was a lie. He never got free. He's never even left his birthing tube. He's been here all along, his dreams of a life as a hero were just that. Dreams. Because they'll never let him out. Never let him free. He is there. Trapped. Forever. As Kon falls limp to the sand, his eyes open and unseeing, his jaw slack and loose, there's a blur and Helspont towers before Nate. ''I have seen your nightmares boy, and you believe your future the worst imaginable. Thank you for giving me the name I must seek out. Without your help I never would have known the name of Apocalypse.'' there is a gloating grin in the voice a moment before a blow great enough to send Nate into orbit slams into the mutant's TK shielding.

Helspont looks around and laughs, his eyes scanning about until he spots Spartan, and he walks over to tower over the slowly standing android, ''You try so hard and for so long, and for what? You fail. You always fail Yohn. You cannot defeat me.''

Spartan glances up, sparks and a puff of smoke rising from a blown power capacitor. "Maybe not." he says, his voice electronic, distorted slightly, "But we can... You need to look in a mirror Helspont. It looks like my boys fractured your face." Spartan grins, black oil and lubricant smear over his teeth and in the reflection from his metallic skull Helspont can see the truth. Across the blackened bone skull a crack now runs, from his temple along the cheek bone down to the jaw. A large one. Helspont's eyes widen, then narrow, <> And with that Helspont explodes into the air, the force of his flying sending Spartan tumbling across the sand even as the Daemonite vanishes into the sky. Save his people? ... ... ... The ground begins to rumble and Spartan's radiation meter red-lines. "VOID!?" he bellows as the ground around the team starts to tremble.

Nate put a good deal of power in that blast, he needs a few seconds to recover. He can't shield Conner as Helspont hits him telepathically. But when the alien turns on him, he is ready. Mostly. His telekinetic armor holds, but he can't anchor himself against so much power and Helspont sends him flying a mile away, he crashlands among the dunes some distance from the fight.

Ouch.

The most irritating thing is that the alien somehow got into his memories despite his mind-shields. He wants to find Apocalypse? If Helspont has been on Earth over three thousand years it is weird he had not meet the oldest of all mutants already. But hey, maybe they will kill each other!

He stands, coughing some sand out of his mouth, and checks the mental state of his team-mates. All alive. But Conner is trapped in an illusion, so he reaches for his mind and tries to pull him out. ''Wake up. Not real. Remember Helspont! We still have to beat the crap out of him!''

The recoil on the shotgun is going to bruise, but she had full access to the armory at Halo and she used it. She needed to learn something new and wanted something beautiful from it. So she took the Triple Threat and now her shoulder will suffer for it. The shots have her bracing in that crouch, the final one knocking her back slightly to have her back pressing against the sand coated wall as the upper earth is rocked by the current fray and making more fall into the forcefully made hall like a slow waterfall yet to unleash. Half of her hair has already fallen over part of her face as she stares with a deadly intent on Siege while part of the tunnels begin to collapse.

"You're going to kill her, I'll call it even and take you with, daemon." Intent, not yet letting go of what she had seen sink into Siege's body and take over. The earth beneath her began to rumble and as she started to sink she pushed to try and stand, her legs wobbling beneath her, one still bearing a healing wound and the pain killers only go so far. The shotgun is slung back as her other hand grips the grappling pulley at her belt, aiming it towards Siege, firing it to imbed right beside his head and then snap her towards him with an unceremonious jerk as it rips her from partially sinking into the earth and uses the resistance as momentum (like a slingshot) once she's freed. In that quick moment all Ravager can do is twist her form, aiming to throw a shoulder into Siege's mid section and take him down with the impact, though now Velocity has zipped into the way and is instead the one to take the brunt of that impact. That does not stop Ravager, her swords sliding free of her sheaths and held at a cross as she lunges at Siege aiming to pin him back against the wall with those open-scissor'd blades attempting to capture him by the throat and pin him in place. Determination and purpose in her eyes the only thing left.

Siege has gone from terribly confused to OMGWTF in record time. Swords and shotguns and Holy Friendly Fire Batman! Which is about what happens when he takes a Carin sized bullet to the midsection and subsequently gets pinned by Ravager. Of course, the problem is that pain aside he's totally in his body now, which allows him to slip out, his form molding with sand beneath to tunnel underneath Ravager and come out the other side, hopefully only in bullet range. "Uh...hun...I'm not killing anyone, especially not wearing our colors." Never mind the several thousand Daemonites he just sent to the sandy equivalent of Davy Jones. All accounted and bought and paid for by HALO money. "Its Siege. Ol' Jeffy. I'm not bright enough for any demon to be interested, remember?" Well, its a vain enough attempt. "Besides, we're done for now. We gotta go. Plan our next move, chase the big bad, that shit."

One moment Helspont and in an instant he is back under Cadmus' N.O.W.H.E.R.E. project, all of this that had just happened was a lie? A fabricated reality designed by the system. The invasion is near instantaneous and he is floating no sinking in to his own subconscious back in to his memories and the faux world they create. Those memories that are not even his own yet they are that doppleganger Smallville and it's denizens that helplessness yet awareness of more beyond and the feeling of being trapped, inhuman, a tool, a simple object to be experimented on and eventually discarded. Oh well. It is what it is...

Conner is walking through a hallway with a beautiful white haired girl named Rose, books in hand as they talk and laugh and then some asshole bumps in to him and tells him to watch where he is going? No, to wake up? It's that new kid, Nate? A real punk and rough sort he's in to black leather and acting like he's cool. Probably smokes too. "No, you watch where you're going." He'll behave as best he can his adopted family doesn't need to hear about him getting in to another fight but he could show off for Rose?

Wake up?

"We are awake idiot. What are you on drugs? Get a grip." A grin and a head shake and Conner pushes past the new kid, "Come on Rose, we're late for Social Studies." She stops though and stays back with Nate even seems more interested in him which causes Conner to glare and stomp off down the hallway even as the Nate kid keeps saying, "Wake up!" - Shutting the door behind him as he enters the class room he turns around after cursing under his breath to stare at the flaming blue head of his teacher, "Sorry Mr. Spont I got caught up in the hall."

"It's okay Conner just take a seat." The flaming head looks quite strange in contrast to the polo shirt and slacks but he's already learned you don't make fun of the substitute teacher. He's got a nasty temper. "Now where were we? Decapitations and mutilations right?"

To the outside world Kon is laid out on the ground in a sprawl; eyes wide open and mouth agape as he stares off in to the sky.

Velocity was looking where she was going to end up on that final dart from the sand trap. It was all sand in her eyes, HONEST! So here ,of course, was the theory of things in motion stay in motion until acted on by and outside force. Ravager, now being that force. Really science nerd everywhere should be cheering, this whole event was Physics at work, dynamic or otherwise.

Boomeranged out of the course headed straight for Siege, that blow is enough to send her flying passed as Rav lands her target and spiral-lying into the sand dune next to them. Rattled and rather sandy, a red haired head pokes back out looking to see what the scene at hand. Before glaring up at the two.. "What the heck did I miss?"

Hands digging up through the sand she moved to tap Rose on the side of her nearest sword hand and offered a nod toward the crashing tunnel she'd rocketed out of. "Hate to break up this little spat, but um radiation is about to go boom!"

Lightning begins to flash and crackle all about, white walls of light appear, gateways. One near Nate, one near Siege, Ravager, and Velocity, one before Spartan, and another, a final one, beneath Superboy. "GO GO GO!!" Spartan shouts as his boots flare to life with a flicker, his thrusters hurtling him through the portal and to the other side, his voice echoing out the other side. "GOO-" the words cut off as the portals close moments later, hopefully with everyone through them. Because a moment later the sandy earth of the Sahara is thrown nearly a hundred feet into the air like a giant bubble made of dirt and stone and sand, then falls back down, collapsing in on itself and into a crater a half mile across, a crater made of rapidly cooling molten glass...

Jerking back the swords pull free of the wall that Siege sinks into and disappears to only materialize behind her, his words making her spin and backpedal away from him, blue gaze snapping at Vel and then back to Siege like a ricocheting bullet though landing on the target in a piercing manner as she just resigns to keep the wall at her back, even if the rest is caving around them, using it to regain footing, breath, (mental) balance as Siege speaks. Ravager's upper lip coils back and shows the flash of teeth. "Lies, they have you, I saw it. He's posessed." She hisses between teeth to them both just before lunging forward once more, sweeping one blade upward to try and stop him from dodging in one direction while the other is rotated around to try and slam the hilt of the blade against his temple and knock him out at least. Slowly, she's slipping out of her killing mode; -hearing- him but not /listening/. She isn't stopping just yet, or any time too soon, and once they get ported back she's still 'having at thee' towards Siege, only to pause and blink as reality shifts and they're in Halo.

"I saw it, one of those daemonites sank into him!" Looking like a crazy bird lady with half her hair still knotted on top of her head, the other half fallen in and around her face, all of her covered in sand and dirt. She may as well be rambling about finding the face of christ on a peanut shell she was feeding to her parrot.

Siege has had just enough of being shot at, almost stabbed, and generally being harassed /BY HIS OWN FUCKING TEAM/. He advances on Rose, picks her up, and slings her under his arm like he's bringing a hog to market as he responds sardonically. "You know what? Fine. I'm possessed. I have a Daemonite inside me whose only desire is to kill Velocity, procreate with you and thus doom the human race. YOU WIN!" He says in supremely mocking, bombastic mode. She may not be trying to kill him anymore, but right now Siege doesn't /care/. He's collapsed a base full of Daemonites, doesn't have any new hole...oh wait, yes he does, because of that god damned triple shotgun! "Now I am going to put you to bed, without alcohol, and then we are going to have a chat young lady about how you don't shoot, stab, or otherwise attempt to disembowel your teammates while they are rearranging the Sahara almost at the tectonic level."

Incidentally, if anyone cares, he got through the portal without incident.

Carin was getting to the point of about having had it with this sandbox.. The locals sucked, the sand was where it didn't belong and damn it this heat was making everyone just a little bananas. Concern clear on her face as she watchs Rav stare at Siege like he's some kind of ghost before starting to freak all out. One cookoo over the nest? Check. Thankful the monolith has lost his patients and taken up making himself into a straight jacket for her.."Careful, she might bite next."

And BLINK! One kitty box gone and now a pile on the floor of the Halo tower, the sigh she levied totally about hoping she isn't the one having to clean this up.

"Don't... Touch.. Me." Was no one else even bothering with this? ravager wasn't mad, it was what she /saw/ can't blame her for seeing the (unt)truths put before her eyes. When grabbed as she was she writhes in his grip and kicks out to twist her body in that grip like a trapped cat repositioning to insert claws... And there one was, that flash of silver as a blade is drawn from the holster at the small of her back and she stabs at Siege's side. "Void, exorcize him or something! I swear it, I saw the daemon go into him!" Also, don't threaten to take her alcohol away before bed. Sinner.

Siege looks at her, then looks at the blade that goes into him. Fortunately, there are just enough layers of ceramic that he avoids taking too much lethal damage. His withering glance at Ravager speaks volumes. "Look, I'm from the Deep South, so I know how crazy Bible women are. I'm not possessed, I'll submit to any scans, but if you stab me again woman so help me you are going to be spending the week having Kon fly you places because no place on the ground will be safe!" He pulls out the blade and winces, tossing it well away from the angry white haired woman. "Stand down Deliverance. Lets talk about this like reasonable people. Do I _look_ posses...wait, don't answer that. Void, do I look possessed?"

Void floats through the room, her hand falling down over the staring Kon-El, a flash of lights flowing over him. "Rose," she says firmly but without malice, "I assure you there is nothing he can do in here." the Lab is still under construction, but the entire team has been dropped in what appears to be an empty steel box. "None of you can." it echos like a hanger, "Until we're certain you are not possessed, this safety measure has been taken. Spartan's orders." The robot man stands and stares at his team, "Stand down. All of you." his gaze falls on Siege, more willing to believe someone was taken and be wrong then the other way around. He eyes Void, "Get Nate cleared and squared away then start with him." he points at Siege, "then her." now to Rose. "I'm going to begin my repair sequence and review the battle." he pauses for a moment and turns to eye the room again, "... Good job team." he says, as if somehow this asswhooping was a proper turn out.

The other blade is drawn even as Siege drops the first, her hand is steady, but something is wavering her focus. Painkillers wear off and her's are no exception, but she is hesitating for Void to be judge and jury to her executioner. Slowly, as the talk went on she eased and the blade is kept in her grip, but lowers. "Just business." ravager says as she finally looks around at the rest of the team and levels the stare on Kon, brows furrowing as she smears a hand across her face and moves closer, leaving a view of unsullied skin beneath the cake of dirt and dust. "Good job? Are you... Oh hell I'll drink to that. Someone bring me Vicodin and Vodka." Eyeing Siege as she claims a seat next to Kon. "Ever tell me I got to bed without my 'Tussin again and I'll stab you on principle with something longer." That being said though concern seems to flicker over her brow as she glances to Kon in his catatonic state and kicks her feet up on a table, wincing and sliding down, as if right there was her bed. "Demonic...bull..Safer in Kansas, eh Dorothy?" trying to kill the worry with bad humor in speaking to a comatose Kon.