2013.10.17 - What the Demon said to the God

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"Do I look to be in a joking mood, mortal?"

You know how you know you're having a really bad day? When you not only cause a traffic accident, totalling your car and possibly fatally wounding someone else, but when Black Adam himself drops out of the sky and rips you from the crumbled cabin of your destroyed SUV.

"It was an accident! Please!" The man sobs, his choked plees for mercy barely making it past the god-like hand on his throat, keeping his feet dangling above the pavement. "Because of your stupidity, an innocent may die. Accident or not, you will pay for your actions," Black Adam callously declares, his free hand clambing on around his victim's arm. Someone's about to lose a limb!

And it's people like that who make sure Carol NEVER makes it to a meeting on time! Why can't they behave until AFTER lunch? She was almost to where she needed to be to!

With a sigh, she had stepped into a side alley and transformed in a flash of violet light then immediately took to the air. Hovering above Black Adam and his victim, she speaks. "The innocent would live if you focused more on getting them to a hospital and less on trying to kill someone." Her right hand curls, the Power Ring on it glowing faintly. "Let him go." Always try diplomacy first.

The terrifying smashing noise had startled Raven, and when she heard it, the girl knew... exactly what she had to do. She'd thought those metal contraptions didn't look very safe, and it seemed like she was correct!

There's only a faint noise when the girl appears, a portal of darkness opening and depositing her next to the wrecked car. Her attention isn't on Black Adam and the develoing situation above, but on the woman fighting for her life inside the crushed vehicle.

The grey-skinned girl's expression is set and determined. "There's, a lot of blood." She murmurs, to herself. "Azarath, metrion..." Darkness suffuses the door of the vehicle, and it comes free with a squeal of metal as she rips it out. "Zinthos!"

And now, she's confronted with her first, real, life-or-death situation. A lot of blood, broken bones. Her jaw tightens. "Don't try to say anything." She says, her voice serious and focused. This, is going to be a lot of pain. She's, not sure she's ready for this at all! But what else can she do?

Many times, it is the trouble that finds a person, rather than the other way around, and it is exactly that for Barry. Nearly instantaneous reaction time is only effective when he's aware of the situation and it isn't until after the cars collide and Black Adam comes down from on high that he can involve himself. An brief moment as Barry and then he's nothing more than the passage of air and a blur of red as he takes in the scene.

One challenge issued by Star Sapphire, the injured being seen to by Raven, the Flash comes to rest near the latter, "I don't think I could get her to a hospital without aggravating her injuries further. Is there anything you're able to do?" He keeps an eye on Black Adam and the hovering ring-bearer, his suit still crackling with residual streaks of lightning.

High up, up on the rooftops someone is watching the events transpire. How in the world did someone get all the way up there without flying? That could be anyones guess. That person is Roxie. She looks down with a frown. A purple flash of light goes off and she is suddenly on the ground.

"Umm Excuse me. Put the nice man down. It was an accident. There is no need for more damage." Roxie comments as she tries to handle things calmly. She glances at the accident and sees both Flash and Raven there so her attention is solely on the two obscenely powerful people. "Please?"

Black Adam quite simply ignores Carol and Roxie, his hand tightening on the driver's arm until, with a sickening popping sound, he pulls it free of the socket amidst a terrified and painful wailing. The man's eyes are wide, unseeing, the pain excruciating, and Adam sneers in response, chucking the arm away as if it were unclean. "Pathetic," He finally states, before dropping the crying man, and turning to face Roxie and Carol. "Do not presume to tell a god what to do," his emotionless drawl answers back to their demands as he begins to calmly float away, briefly glancing to Raven and Barry as hovers past.

Purple eyes narrow at Black Adam. "You're a god? I'd classify you more as a murderer." She looks back at Raven and Flash. "Can either of you get him to a hospital on time?"

A glance is given to Roxie and she smirks slightly. Color choice approved! "Or you can teleport him if you're able to do so. He'll bleed out quickly."

Her fist curls tighter and that ring glows a little more before a giant purple hand shoots out to curl around Black Adam. "And a coward."

Raven looks back to The Flash, then to Carol, and, hesitant, takes a deep breath. "I can take on her pain." She says, quietly. "But I don't know for how long. I might, pass out. She won't get any worse, but..." Sweat beads on the girl's brow already, and she tugs one glove off, sweeping the hood back from her face so she can look the older man in the eye. "You, need to be really, really fast."

Touching the wounded woman gently, there's a shimmering white haze around the girl's hand, and she chokes. She can't repair this much damage anywhere near quickly; in fact, without someone to set the bones and get the woman on the way to recovery, she can't heal her very efficiently at all. But she can stem the bleeding, and hold her steady. The weight of all that pain tasks even Raven's composure, and her teeth grind together. Its far more than she's dealt with before. Each breath the woman takes, agony blossoming across Raven's own, every heartbeat thundering in sympathy in the grey-skinned girl's ears. Her vision swims, and she doubles over, hand continuing to glow as she holds all that pain deep inside her.

The Flash's blue eyes widen a bit as the woman's condition visibly improves while he watches, a quick glance turned toward Raven and back. He hears the sickening popping sound even as the young woman doubles over and he sets himself in motion. Lightning crackles about his form for a heartbeat and then he's gone, the man and his arm disappearing in a tremendous rush of air that returns almost as soon as it dies down, the injured, but no longer dying, woman also disappearing in a blur of red and gold.

A hand comes to rest on Raven's shoulder, a lingering crackle of energy snapping in the air as he asks, "Are you all right?" His voice is gentle, but the look he gives Black Adam is hard, his eyes revealing anger as he watches the trapped man.

After seeing and hearing the display of power by Black Adam, Roxie goes white. "A god you say? You are little more then a child with a magnifying glass." She screams at him and with a flash of violet light she is over by the man.

Quickly she tears the midriff of her top off and uses it to slow the bleeding. Then the Flash does his thing! The man and his arm are both gone leaving the girl standing there. She glances up at Black Adam as Carol starts using her ring. Rather then chucking a vehicle at him she gets an idea. A strange mark on her torso, which is partially exposed, ignites in violet light. << What have you done. You've caused harm to an innocent man. You are to blame. You are guilty. >> Telepathically to black Adam. The voice would sound like a whisper if he hears it. She isn't a crazy strong Psychic yet.

...

"Coward..?"

Black Adam doesn't even fight the hand for a moment, simply letting the rage building in his chest wash over him. His wrath fills every limb, fingers curling into a fist as he's restrained. First the Norse gods, now this /mortal/?! "You filthy, sniveling, piece of discarded, unworthy, filth!" With an almight wrenching he struggles against the restaining hand of energy, several thousand tons of force going into trying to pull himself free. "I will mount your head on the wall of my palace for all the world to see! You dare to call Black Adam, ruler of Kahndaq, first chosen of the gods, and most powerful being on this Earth a coward?!" His voice reverberates through the street like a physical force, the glass in the windows of every shop and house shaking with his rage. With one last powerful pull, Black Adam breaks free of his prison and crashes through the air towards Carol, the sound barrier smashing in his wake as his fist comes surging towards her midsection.

Meanwhile, as Roxie invades Adam's mind, there's no wall to protect him, simply an immense darkness that surrounds his mind. The answering voice is not his own. Where Teth's voice carries authority and power, this one basks fully in divinity. << You are unwelcome here, mortal. Leave now before you meet the true might of a god. >> Quite suddenly, an immense pressure begins exerting its will on Roxie's probe, not a wall, but pure force pushing her from Adam's mind.

Even in the face of that fury, Carol remains calm. "What else would you call someone who preys on those weaker than themselves?" She's not even going to touch the comment about him being the most powerful being. She has serious doubts as to that claim and it reads, clear as day, on her face. You can almost see the thought bubble that reads: Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night.

The hand cage is broken out of and Carol is forced to lift herself higher into the air as he flies towards her. In the process, she places several 'walls' between them, hoping to slow him down. He'd make a wonderful Red Lantern, wouldn't he? So angry! Grrrr.

Briefly, her eyes flit to Raven, Flash and Roxie. "Are you three alright?" If she can keep Adam's attention on her...

It is just a few seconds. Raven only has to hold it for that long, as The Flash takes her, and, a moment later, returns. Yet, even though it is only for a tiny amount of time, Raven is still pushed to her limit. Thankfully, the glass in the vehicle had already shattered, but Adam's fury, the sound of it, shudders through the wreckage of the car, and draws a pained groan from Raven's lips.

A few seconds. But it feels like an eternity. When The Flash's hand is on her shoulder, Raven is even more pale than she usually is, her expression drawn and haggard. "You did it already?" She whispers, and, mercifully, she can let it go. A faint feeling of guilt that she can't do away with it, and the poor woman in the hospital will have her pain crash back into her, but, she's already so weak.

The teenager topples from the car, and lands on her knees. "I'm fine." She lies, and it a testament to her willpower that she is able to keep her voice at least mostly steady after all of that. "But, that man, this, is all because of a misunderstanding, you have to, calm them down!" Because, right now, Raven can't even stand up, let alone try to cool tempers in a battle of the Gods. As Black Adam smashes through the restraints, the Flash turns his head away, the roar that shakes the very air momentarily silencing his response to Raven. "You saved her life. She's safe now." There's genuine approval and respect in the comment, but for now, he focuses on the rampaging Black Adam. His response for Raven offers no answers, "I don't know how we'll calm anything, he's looking to hurt more people."

The lightning once more crackles about his form and he's off, making a run toward the edges of the city to get some distance before he comes rocketing back toward the altercation. He takes the walls of a build at a sharp angle, climbing rapidly before he pushes off as hard as he can on a collision course with the flying Black Adam, "Stop!"

As the darkness hits her head, Roxie drops to her knees. The pain is immense. The strange violet light intensifies becoming much brighter. She looks up at Black Adam and shakes her head, << YOU are unwelcome here false god. >> The voice inside Black Adam's head goes from a whisper to pounding.

"I will be fine for now. Keep his attention!" She calls out to Carol. The girl continues to put off that ominous purple light. << You know you can't win this one. You are outnumbered. Take Flash's advice. Stop. >>

"You are a fool!"

Smash! Adam bursts through one wall only to find another, but none of them manage to delay his rage for long.

"He nearly took the life of another!" Smash! "He deserves the same fate!" Smash! "As do you! I will see how well you use that ring without a hand to wield it!" Smash! No matter how many walls Carol puts up, Adam never ceases plowing through them, over and over and over again. His anger propels him forward, an unstoppable force of oncoming dismemberment until a quick-moving blur of lightning strikes him full on in the chest. Adam grunts as he's propelled backwards several feet, but he quickly regains control of his flight and instantly decides to reach for the moving blur while he's at the mercy of gravity, looking to grab the Flash by the back of the collar.

Roxie's pounding voice is met with an amused laugh. Whoever she's talking to, it's not Black Adam. << Foolish, girl. I have watched this Earth grow since time began. I have seen cultures and civilizations rise and fall. The Egyptians prayed to me. I was worshipped amongst my brothers and sisters as the wisest of all. You speak now to Zehuti, not Teth-Adam. >> The laughter sounds once more, and Black Adam seems only dimly aware of the battle of wills going on inside his own mind. << So I say again, leave now before I am forced to break your mind in two. >>

Raven just stares as Flash goes up, and the battle rages in the sky. She's exhausted, mentally, physically, and spiritually... but if she gives up now, Flash is right. More people are going to be harmed. Seeing the man slam through those walls as though they were hardly there, it sends a shiver down her spine.

Rising up, Raven is practically a snail compared to the speed demonstrated by Black Adam, but she thinks... she sees how to help, here. Her voice has never been very loud, but she does her best, speaking as clearly as she can to address the man directly. "Please. We, saved her life. If wrongs must be punished, does a Just act enable us to ask ... a boon of the Gods?"

"And you almost killed him, but no one is dying today!" There's not a lot of room to maneuver and, when he plants his feet on Black Adam's chest to use as a springboard, there's just enough of a pause to allow him to fall into the other's reach. When the hand clamps down on the back of his collar, no matter how hard he pushes with his legs, he's unable to break the grip. It makes for quite a scene, the Flash's hands clamped down on the arm that holds him even as he feet stay firmly planted on his torso, attempting, as best he can, to keep his distance. The lightning begins to come to life once more until Raven speaks, the speedster waiting just long enough to see if the ploy works.

Roxie lets out a shrill of pain as she continues. A simple thought resounds in her mind. One that emits wildly toward Zehuti and in about any direction. Raven, Flash and Carol could very likely hear that simple thought. << GO BACK TO EGYPT!! >>

Suddenly all of that pent up psychic energy is released. In the form of a psionic blast. It goes sailing towards Black Adam with a lot of force. "OWWWWW." Roxie cries out as tears flood her eyes. It is too much for her to handle. Too much for a rookie like her.

With a cruel laugh at Barry's struggles, Adam hoists the Flash above his head, snarling a bit as he declares, "You are not the only one who can conjure lightning -- SHAZ-" And then suddenly Raven. Now /that/ is a mortal that knows how to show respect. After a brief moment of consideration, he lowers Barry, though he keeps his hand clamped on the man's collar, "Very well... Speak quickly and well, for your companions' lives depend on it."

And then suddenly Roxie. The psionic blast hits him square in the chest, and he loses his grip on the Flash, tumbling backwards through the sky as her mental scream reverberates through his skull. It seems Zehuti's presence isn't quite as unassailable as the god would like the telepath to believe. Adam is still struggling with the psionic shout when he slams into the concrete, forming a new Egyptian-sized pothole. It takes a moment, but his head clear eventually and his hand slams on the concrete just outside his resting spot. Slowly, menacingly, he pulls himself free, standing still for just a moment before he once again blasts the sound barrier. This time, however, his travels takes him directly in front of Raven, appearing in front of her with a blur. "Speak. Quickly." The rage he's holding back could probably melt the arctic, but he said he'd listen, and listen he does, though his hands crackle with magical lightning.

Raven is far too tired to be as composed as she normally is. She flinches when the psionic blast slams into the man, and when he craters the concrete. If he'd been incapacitated, she might have dared hope it would end there, but, of course, one isn't enough to put him down.

She startles when he's in front of her. She'd barely registered he was getting up again, and then- bam. So much anger. If only she could claim that this was the greatest amount of rage she had ever felt... but she can't. There was ONE other who eclipsed even Black Adam's hatred. And maybe that is why she finds the spirit to speak up despite how intimidated she is.

"Blood has been spilt, and words spoken that shouldn't have been." She says, and her arm lifts, waving across to indicate the stunned, terrified civilians. The broken ground, the destroyed vehicles. "Violence will only bring more violence. Please. I humbly beg you, forgive us. Even if we don't deserve it, have mercy. Before more innocent people suffer."

Being hoisted above anyone's head is not a pleasant experience and seems to happen all too often, though at Black Adam's sudden, intimate, introduction to a concrete wall the Flash also loses what was keeping him from the ground. As he falls, a rapid motion of his arms creates enough air to slow his descent, though it gives Black Adam the opportunity to head straight for Raven. As red-booted feet touch the ground, his attention turns to the contrasting forms of the massive Black Adam and the worn-out Raven. Lightning sparks down the lines of his suit, but he holds off, willing to let Raven try to end it without more violence. Even remaining where he is, though, there's a tension in his body and in the very air around him, a sense of motion at bay. Powerful and seething with rage Black Adam may be, but the Flash doesn't intend to allow him even a nanosecond to turn any of that on Raven.

Roxie is still down. She is still hurting. The girl has taken a lot of pain. Her body is simply not ready to handle that level of psychic energy and it shows. Slowly she begins working her way to her feet. She looks at the a nearby car. Ironically, It is the car of the man who is now hospitalized having had his arm ripped off. Her eyes close and she focuses hard on it. It slowly begins shaking and rattling. Gently it lifts off the ground. The girl is looking like this is her last hurrah. She simply holds it there for the time being, letting Raven attempt her own methods.

Adam is distinctly aware of the impending threat of a car and the impossibly fast attacks of the Flash, not to mention the Star Sapphire just waiting to open up on him. For a moment, he seems to consider Raven's offer repulsive, perhaps even an insult, but slowly that fades. He's in council with his gods, though it doesn't outwardly show, until finally the energy surging around his fingers fades to nothing. He reaches up an unnaturally large hand, moving to grip Raven by throat as he regards her emotionlessly, the rage faded. "You speak well. As much as I'd enjoy tearing you all limb from limb... Innocents would be hurt. Know this, however, if you ever get in my way again, I will not hesitate to destroy each and every one of you."

Finally he moves away, turning slowly in the air to regard Barry, Roxie, and then Carol, before he abruptly departs, sailing back towards Kahndaq at the speed of sound.

Raven is far, far too exhausted and beat down herself to offer much in the way of resistance when Adam's hand comes for her. She dangles, and when he lets go and flies away... all of the tension goes out of her body.

She does, at least, manage to control her descent back towards the earth, even if her progress comes in little fits and starts. When solid ground is beneath her feet again, the teenager draws her hood back up over her head, and closes her eyes. "That guy." She says, to Flash and Roxie, when she's quite sure he's far, far away. "Has some *serious* issues."

He's already standing next to Raven's descent point, but doesn't interfere as she manages on her own. "Are you all right?" The first is directed toward the weary looking Raven, but he also turns his gaze on Roxie to convey the same question to her. At Raven's comment, the Flash lets out a sigh, "An understatement if I've ever heard one. Good job on the redirect, there, it would've gotten uglier before it got any better. If even that."

"Some? He's got more issues then the Daily Planet!"

Roxie looks faint to say the very least. She quite literally looks like she she is about to faint. Slowly she walks over to Raven and Flash. "I don't even know where to start about that guy. I just mind wrestled some moldy ancient diety. Talk about a rough morning. Anyone know where a good place to get fooo..." thunk. Down she goes again. She looks up. "od."