2013.04.15 - Out of Nowhere

It's an ordinary day in Harlem, somewhat late in the afternoon, and absolutely nothing of any importance appears to be going on. People go about their business or just generally enjoy their day, and it seems as though the day is destined to pass quite peacefully. For his part, Jeremy is outside one of the local shelters, cleaning up some trash scattered about nearby. Just another day, more ordinary than most in this city.

But in a moment, things can change. Two things happen...one far more noticeable than the other. First, Jeremy briefly stumbles, dizzy, and his trash bag slips from his hand and falls to the ground as he--for but a moment--turns slightly transparent. Second, and far more noticeably...a metal-clad man wearing armor of blue and silver coloration rockets into the area from above, seemingly out of nowhere, carrying another costumed man--a big, ugly fellow who looks like he's been through a /war/ from all the bruises and cuts--and slamming him directly into the ground hard enough to crack the road. The big fellow tries to stand up anyway, but the armored figure puts his hands to the guy's chest and lets loose a surge of electricity. The big guy screams.

And that's just the start...

A werewolf-like figure--whose fur is burning--is thrown through a shop window, followed quickly by a man dressed in blue jeans and a tattered shirt...with flaming wings and a sword of fire. The shop? It's on fire.

Several gunmen flee out of an alley, chased by a large cloud of smoke that surrounds them and causes them to start choking (along with several civilians). Desperate, they start firing at random, forcing people in the crowd to run for cover.

A scaled, lizard-like beast with a spiked tail jumps down off a rooftop, swinging the tail around at random and smashing up vehicles while it tries to clear its eyes of some sticky gunk...and from the roof, a man in a dark cloak throws a ball-shaped device down. The ball lands next to the lizard-man...and several scared civilians...and starts beeping.

Since getting civilian clothes, Lor has been spending a lot of time 'blending in', walking around the city and taking the chance to explore it from ground level without getting stares or the like. His explorations have taken him to Harlem, today. He had just noticed Jeremy, one of the few people in the city he knows, when everything turns to chaos. Where others start to panic and run, he just looks from one thing to the next. Then he blurs, moving at superspeed into an alley to take off and hide his fragile human clothes so they won't get damaged, slowing back down to normal speed on the street again in his more sturdy Kryptonian suit. For most, the costume change would be a matter of secret identity, but for him it's just a matter of protecting his one set of human clothes. In any case, once he's changed, trying to figure out which side of the battle to jump in on is more difficult, so he spends the first few moments just helping civilians escape.

What the...Mend, crouched on a nearby rooftop, watches this for a moment...and completely fails to recognize anyone involved. That's disturbing. She prides herself on keeping track of who's out there, and the fact that there's a battle royale going on down there between unfamiliar combatants bothers her. Which is why she doesn't rush right in. Nope. She's assessing it first...until the bomb starts up. Crap...and then there's a blur moving to help them. Good. She moves down the fire escape silently, watching as she does so. She can't tell who the bad guys are, so she's staying out of it. For now. Too dang many civilians, though.

Fern is trudging home from the subway station one stop farther away than normal. After a brief meeting with Ben Reilly, their topics of discussion so distracted her that she completely missed her stop. This has done little to lighten an unusually dark mood for the little waitress, as told by her fierce, concentrated frown. She's just coming around the corner near to the shelter when all hell breaks loose. Her steps don't just falter, they stop completely, and she looks around in amazement. Then she looks up, talking aloud in an annoyed tone, "Really? Is this some kind of joke? It's not funny." All she wants to do is act. Contrary to that, it seems most of what she does lately is find herself in the middle of trouble. Like this. While she does actually have the fleeting thought to just get out of here, fleeting it is, and she knows she can't just run away from people that need help. With what can only be called a growl, she starts forward, intercepting people as they flee the threats, pointing some toward the nearest building, "Go, head for that bakery, get inside." She herself continues forward slowly, repeating, "Get inside. No, not that way, go around this car." In her concern for others, she could be watching where she herself is going a little better.

Coming out of his daze, Jeremy stares around in shock at the scene. "Wha..." He's...not sure where to go first! What to do...who to help...and then he spots her. Fern, helping people out but moving rather close to the battle between the werewolf and the guy with the flaming sword. "Miss Fern!" He breaks into a run, headed for her...

...but unfortunately, the metal-clad man notices him as he calls out. "You!" the armored man calls out in a voice that sounds wild and angry despite the mechanically filtered tone. He raises his hands and launches twin blasts of lightning...Jeremy barely notices in time, the blue light surrounding him and sucking in the lightning.

The man with the flaming wings and swords laughs, striding towards the fallen werewolf, who jumps to his feet and jumps over a car...only for the swordsman to follow by cleaving the car in two. The werewolf flees over towards Fern, and the swordsman swoops after him, cutting through a streetlamp and sending the post falling towards the werewolf...and anyone else nearby.

The civilians near the lizardman are cleared away by Lor-Zod's speed, and the bomb goes off, sending the lizardman flying. He lands on the roof of a car, smashing it in, and the cloaked figure on the roof leaps down via zipline, landing and quickly dodging under a tailswipe that smashes a street bench. The cloaked man produces a set of knives, and he and the lizardman start fighting fast and furious...in the middle of a crowd of civilians trying to stay out of their way.

The civilians in the smoke cloud, as well, are freed by Lor-Zod, and the gunmen fall to their knees, still firing wildly...until the kid yanks them free as well. They lie coughing on the ground, passed out, and the smoke coalesces into a humanoid form. "Death to the wicked," it says.

Whatever's going on here...it doesn't seem like /either/ side is worried for the safety of civilians.

Lor-Zod looks around quickly, and spotting the falling post he lifts into the air, flying quickly to try to catch the falling streetlamp. Then he swings it to block the swordsman's path, yelling, "Stop this! You're hurting people who haven't done anything wrong!"

Mend is on the street level now, moving towards the lizardman and cloaked man. She's going to try and clear the area around them, but she's not fast the way Lor-Zod is...she might well end up in danger herself, but she's doing her best. "Enough of this!" she yells as she starts to hustle people out of the way.

A familiar voice tickles her ear, and Fern falters, turning to the side, eyes scanning the area. "Jeremy?" Then she spots the blue glow that surrounds the boy, the glow she's witnessed before, and she moves in that direction. She's not unaware of the werewolf's path, and she's hoping it's only seeking escape and not her specifically. Unfortunately, the change of direction puts her directly into the shadow of the falling streetlamp, the quick actions of Lor-Zod preventing her harm. She scuttles up beside a parked care, as yet undamaged by the sudden invasion of battling factions, and moves to look around the front fender. Fern looks for Jeremy first, but her head turns at Mend's voice, unfamiliar but clearly trying to stem the chaos.

"Stop!" Jeremy shouts, as the energy continues to stream into him. "We can talk about this, mister!"

The armored figure isn't having any of it, though...seeing that the electrical blasts aren't working, he charges in and swings a punch for Jeremy's face. The boy dodges aside, and is forced to swing away from a few other strikes...and one finally tags him, slowed but not fully stopped by the blue light. It's a glancing blow, but it's enough to knock him reeling. Desperately, he swings a hand up and lets out his own electrical blast, but the armored figure has clearly shielded his suit against his own power. "Stop, please, mister...B...Boltknight, stop!" Jeremy yelps, and pauses for a moment, gasping as he realizes he just said a name. Unfortunately, that pause is enough to let the armored man tag him with another blow, catching him in the stomach and doubling him over. "You young /fool/!" the armored man shouts. "How could you?"

The swordsman laughs wildly, grinning at Lor-Zod, and cleaves through the light pole with ease...then lunges straight for the kid, swinging his sword of flame for the boy's midsection. "Can't stop...too...much...fun!"

The werewolf, meanwhile, takes advantage of his distraction to flee...at first. He spots Fern moments later, and changes course, howling and charging straight for her.

The cloaked man and the lizardman continue their battle, at first not even noticing Mend's presence...but as she gets the civilians clear of them, both notice her. And, unfortunately, both seem to take her as another opponent. The lizardman swings its spiked tail for her chest. and the cloaked man spins and throws what looks to be some kind of shuriken for her leg...even as both continue attacking each other. The cloaked man manages to get in a stab to the lizardman's arm. On the bright side...she's gotten the civilians clear.

The smoky figure slowly drifts towards the fallen gunmen...but pauses, looking over and spotting Jeremy. "Death...to the wicked..." He begins to drift that way, leaving the passed-out gunmen alone.

Lor-Zod isn't expecting the sword to hurt him, so the instant the sword comes into contact with him and he actually feels that flash of pain, his eyes widen and he yelps. Luckily, he's very fast, able to zip back out of range before the sword can do too much damage, but for the first time since he saw a sunrise on Earth, he's bleeding. Luckily, he's not a wimp, not after so many brutal training sessions with his mother. Not letting up, he speeds in at the swordsman again, this time moving more like a martial-artist to duck under the sword and strike a couple of quick jabs.

Ack. This guy's better than her...or anyone on her team. She's not afraid of the lizardman, but the other...but she does manage to backpedal before they kill her. This time. "Stop. I don't have a quarrel with either of you!" It probably won't work...they're all bad guys...and she's reaching to her belt, presumably for something to help defend herself.

With her attention momentarily on Mend, Fern sees the combatants round on the other girl, and she stands without thought, yelling, "Hey!" Whatever purpose she'd hoped to achieve by that, if any, is lost in the howl of a wolf. Fern senses more than sees the charge, and she lunges for the car's door handle. It's not a very bright move, but she's rewarded with the outward swing of the door. She dives into the car, pulling the door shut, muttering, "Who doesn't lock their car door in Harlem?" There's no stopping once inside, and Fern scrambles across to the far side of the car, pawing for the handle, wincing in expectation of the beast either smashing into the car door and knocking itself out (best case scenario) or breaking through the window to maul her (worst case scenario).

Jeremy's stumbling on his feet after a couple nasty hits...but those couple nasty hits have given him some power, as well. "S-Sorry..." he says, and raises a hand. The armored man clearly knows what's coming, and launches backwards...but the blast of blue light slams into him anyway, hard, and knocks him back into the side of a building hard enough to put him partially through it. He's coming again anyway, but Jeremy launches a second blast, tagging him on the shoulder and knocking him spinning out of control so he smashes through a fire hydrant, sending a fountain of water spraying into the air.

The swordsman laughs as the kid comes in...but he's caught by surprise too. He had to know the kid would be strong...but he clearly wasn't ready for Kryptonian strength. Even a couple light jabs from Lor-Zod is enough to rock him, and bones clearly snap. His wings go out, vanishing in a puff of smoke, and he falls to his knees on the ground...but despite some clearly severe injuries, he keeps standing. He swings his other hand through his flaming sword, pulling some of the flame off of it, and throws a stream of fire out at the young hero. With Mend backing up, the lizardman moves in for the attack...but the cloaked man is clearly smarter, and takes advantage of the moment to focus on the lizardman again. A quick series of strikes and slashes, and the lizardman has several new wounds...and a moment later, even as it realizes its mistake and turns to the cloaked man again, a knee strike to the face takes it down.

The werewolf charges in, but isn't in time to stop Fern from getting into the car. It isn't the best case scenario, but it isn't the worst either...the werewolf smashes up against the door and breaks the window with its face, but it /is/ shaken by the blow and delayed in trying to get through. Slowly, it picks itself up off the ground.

The smoky form hovers near Jeremy and Boltknight, and neither appears to notice it as it begins to expand again.

Lor-Zod hops back from the sword swinging, raising into the air to dodge the flame, and he frowns as he looks at the man's sword hand, "Will you just stop! I don't want to..." He was likely going to finish with 'hurt you', but as he glares a blast of heat-vision comes from his eyes at the man's hand, and it seems to surprise even Lor.

And now he's turning to face her...even though she didn't interfere. She's not afraid of him, but she can't help anyone if she goes down. So, Mend relies on the smart, twisting backwards to jump onto first the hood, then the roof, of a car. The alarm goes off.

As soon as the werewolf crunches against the door Fern is falling out the other side, tumbling to the pavement and immediately pushing to her feet. She looks across at the broken window, and turns on one foot, on the move again toward the last place she saw Jeremy. She doesn't know that the creature is dazed, and isn't going to stick around to find out. Quick steps take her past two more cars, both bearing damage, and she ducks in front of the second car, staying low and hoping the werewolf isn't already on her trail. But they say water washes away the scent of prey, don't they? So maybe it's a good thing that Fern has moved into the 'splash zone'. As the hydrant erupts, Fern finds herself almost instantly drenched as the water cascades back down to the street.

A gust of wind heralds the arrival of a tall blonde in black and teal, suddenly interposing herself between Fern and the broken fire hydrant as though she'd been there all along. Tossing the jacket of her outfit to Fern, Laurel gives her a quick smile and a "Hold tight and get ready to run if you need to - you're doing great so far," before kneeling down and punching a hand down through the concrete around the space the hydrant used to be.

Yanking the spurting pipe a bit higher up with one hand, Laurel uses the other to pinch the end - vastly increasing the pressure of the spray, and aims it right /past/ Jeremy and his Armored-foe towards the guy with the flaming sword attacking Lor-Zod! "McGruff the Fire Safety Panda says JUST SAY NO!"

"/Stop/!" Jeremy shouts, and fires another blast at the armored man...but this time, the man dodges aside, and the blast dents in a car hood.

Ripping up a sewer cover, the man flings that at Jeremy. "You deserve to die, boy!" he shouts. Jeremy barely manages to duck under the flying metal. The sharp-eyed might notice he's now partially transparent.

The heat vision strikes the swordsman's hand...and...not much happens. It seems that with power over fire might come at least high resistance to heat. Grinning, the man reignites his wings and jumps into the air...only for the water to hit him. The wings again vanish into smoke, as does the sword, and he falls to the ground, swearing mightily.

The werewolf, recovering from its daze, searches the car for its target. Not finding Fern anywhere nearby, he looks around...and spots her. Heedless of the new arrival near her, the wolf howls again and charges into the street and towards Fern.

The cloaked man starts to step towards Mend...but her maneuver gets her out of his range just in time. He turns towards her again, starting to slowly stalk towards her, but his attention is caught by something to his side...a trembling woman a short distance away, terrified and frozen in place. A look of anger comes to the visible part of the man's face, and he turns to walk towards the woman. "You people," he growls. "You cannot do /anything/ by yourselves. Why did we bother? You live...you don't deserve it."

The smoke figure, expanded into a cloud, drifts over the area in which Jeremy and the armored man are fighting...and a look of panic comes to Jeremy's face as he realizes he can't breathe. The armored man...no such trouble, it would appear. He charges for the kid, raising a fist...

Lor-Zod blinks as the swordsman rises into the air, only to be quashed by a stream of water. Turning quickly to look towards the source he smiles, "Thanks!" A quick glance around and he spots that Jeremy's in trouble. Once again becoming a blur, he flies over to place himself between the armoured man and Jeremy, giving the former a shove.

And now he's stalking a random civilian. Whoever this guy is, he's nuts. Clearly completely insane...and Mend takes her opportunity to leap forward and try and hit him from behind, hard enough to knock him out. Jeremy's going to have to help himself. Or be helped by the Kryptonian...this guy's going after civs. That's worse.

To say that Fern is surprised by the arrival of the blond woman would be an understatement, but it's perhaps the most welcome surprise by far. She catches the coat, with a grateful, "Thank you!" Not only that, the water is diverted, and Fern shrugs the coat on quickly over her wet clothes. Using one hand to wipe the water from her eyes, a howl comes again, and Fern hisses, "Oh come -on- already." Again, she doesn't even look, she knows something bad is on the way and she just needs to be in a different spot to have any hope of avoiding it. This is probably a good example of a need to run, and Fern heeds it, continuing out toward the street.

Crunching the end of the pipe together in a clenched fist to stop the flow, Laurel only nods once ( Note to self, attempt at Twencen humor has fallen flat. Let's not try THAT again! ) as she watches the fiery-sword-and-winged guy go down; That's /one./ The fact that the other heroes present are young boys doesn't seem to even catch her up short, she's onto the next.

That werewolf, for instance. One deep breath later, Laurel is exhaling a frozen gust of air at the hairy snarling thing.

Jeremy isn't able to think about defense at all--he's too panicked by the inability to breath. Lor-Zod's intervention comes just in time, and the armored figure is sent flying by the shove, slamming through a wall and vanishing for the moment.

Eyes wide, Jeremy tries to back away from the covered area, but the cloud moves with him. He can feel himself starting to lose consciousness. Raising a hand, he lets loose a bolt of electricity...and that does get a reaction from the cloud, forcing it to spread away from that spot. It comes back in a moment later, though.

The cloaked man uncharacteristically seems to have forgotten about Mend...instead, he's raising a knife over the cowering woman. The blow catches him almost completely off guard...he manages to twist at the last moment, absorbing a fraction of the force, but...it still knocks him into a daze. He whirls around, flinging a shuriken with uncanny reaction time, but in his dazed state, his aim is /way/ off.

The werewolf charges in...only to meet a strong gust of air. On the bright side, the freezing air finally puts out the last smoldering patches on his fur from when someone (probably the fire-controller) lit him on fire before. On the not-so-bright side (for the werewolf, anyway), it also knocks him back...and more importantly, slows him down as frost forms on his fur...then actual ice, slowly starting to cover his form. He whines and growls and struggles, but he can't seem to move well anymore.

A high-pitched hum of something powering up comes from inside the building where the armored figure was sent flying, and he comes rocketing back out again...electricity arcing over his entire form, glowing bright with power...and somehow, he's bigger. He's over 6'6" now, and climbing...the effect looks odd and unnatural, uneven and leaving his somewhat misshapen. "Die...die...die!" he yells, wildly, though still in mechanical tone, as he flies straight for Lor-Zod in a flying tackle.

Lor-Zod starts to turn, intending to get Jeremy out of the cloud, only to hear the bulky form approaching him and, given how easy he was to throw a moment ago, doesn't seem to think about dodging but again positions himself between it and Jeremy. Only, this time, he's caught by the tackle and has at least some of the breath knocked out of him.

He doesn't seem to be heavily armored...so Mend aims her next attack for the most sensitive part of his anatomy. At this point, she just wants him to go down, before he recovers his skill and kills her. Which he's clearly intending to do...and she is NOT in the mood today. Fern says a quick, silent prayer that she doesn't feel the rip of claws down the back of Laurel's kindly loaned jacket, but she doesn't stop moving once she starts. She's on track again in her aim of getting to Jeremy. While she doesn't have a clue what that cloud is, her only thought is to get to the boy and get him away from it. The redhead darts in as Lor-Zod gets tackled, attempting to grab on to Jeremy and pull.

Laurel lays the freeze-breath on thick, not stopping until the werewolf is unable to move - though she's kind enough to leave him able to breathe and see. And then she points at him, and says firmly: "Stay!" And then she turns again...

Two down.

Oh, no she didn't just see that! Well, TWO can play the flying tackle game! "HEY!" Laurel shouts as she leaps through the air towards the grown (growing?) armored figure, fists-first. "Pick on someone your own size, eh?"

Jeremy is starting to fade...another slight bolt of electricity flies from his hand, but it has little effect. The blue light flickers...but in this case, that's a good thing. With his shield failing as he starts to pass out, Fern is able to grab him. As she passes through the smokey area...she'd note that all the breathable air in the region is gone. But she's moving fast, not frozen in confusion like Jeremy was...and she gets in and out in time, Jeremy in tow. Outside the cloud, the boy collapses, gasping for air, and Fern would notice that he's...transparent. The cloud creature starts to drift towards them, but then...it is suddenly gone.

As is the swordsman. And the lizardman. The werewolf? He's beginning to fade, mostly transparent within the ice.

The cloaked man is recovering fast...but it isn't in time. He /almost/ manages to move in time, but the blow gets through, hard and to the best target Mend had. Even someone like him will go down from something like that, especially injured as he is. He collapses to the ground.

The armored monster raises an increasingly large and misshapen fist, aiming a strike for Lor-Zod...but then Laurel smashes into him, knocking him off his target. The impact knocks him off balance, but he recovers in an instant and launches a lightning fast electrically-charged uppercut for Laurel's chin. Something has seriously changed this thing...he's gone from the spitting image of a hero to a terribly fast and strong monster.

Lor-Zod's eyes are wide when the fist is raised over him, only to be rescued by Laurel again. He lets out a breath in relief, but then he's moving to help Laurel, punching up at the armoured monster and no longer holding back.

Mend takes a breath, checks a cut on her arm, glancing around to see what she needs to see, who might still be in danger. Jeremy's transparency is noted, but for all she knows it's a phasing power, so it doesn't make her any MORE tense...

Fern gets a few steps before tripping backwards, landing on her rear, still pulling Jeremy. The lack of oxygen had her holding her breath, and it's expelled in a gasp on her impact with the ground. Blue eyes stay on the cloud until it's suddenly simply not there, and she immediately looks down to Jeremy. And he's... transparent. "Jeremy!" Her first thought is that he's fading from the world, maybe like that cloud did, as the werewolf is trapped in the ice, and she attempts to keep her grip on him.

The help? Definitely appreciated - because an electro-fist to the chin doesn't feel all that great even when you're mostly invulnerable. The blow knocks her up, away, and upside-down - through Laurel doesn't stay out-of-control for long. A quick scan through visual frequencies - mostly X-Ray, but a little ultraviolet and infrared might help pinpoint any energy weirdness.

Of course, while Laurel is 'computing', she's also *punching* - super-strength jabs here and there, getting stronger as necessary as she bobs and weaves in the air, trying to suss out this dude's armor.

"Miss...Fern..." Jeremy gasps, lying on the ground and looking at Fern. "...thanks..." He's still transparent, but it doesn't look to be getting any /worse/. "I...I knew him...why did I know him? I..." He falls silent, eyes closing as he slowly breathes in and out. Fern /can/ still touch him, but there's something odd about it, like her hand is touching something but it isn't as solid as it should be.

The big, armored figure takes a few hard blows, driven back by the two heroes he's facing, and actual cracks appear in his armor as they catch some weaker areas. He's not going down yet, though...in fact, he's only grown larger, clearing 7 feet and with enlarged and lengthened arms and a misshapen head--even the armor seems to twist in this way. The big arms sweep in rapid sideswipes at the two heroes, and he roars.

Aside from the downed Jeremy, and his rescuer Fern, everyone else has gotten well clear of the area...it doesn't look like any more civilians are in immediate danger. The cloaked man is slowly starting to fade, but Mend might notice that one of those orbs he threw before is lying on the ground near him...not active.

Mend frowns, and moves to pick the orb up. Carefully. It's a grenade, after all, and she does need to make sure the pin is still in. It's also evidence!

Lor-Zod, when he sees cracks start in the armour, aims for those spots, but he continues punching, as hard as he can, trying to keep the monster on the defensive, only to get caught in one of the monster's sweeping attacks and knocked to the side, through the front of one of the buildings nearby.

Despite his not-quite-thereness, Fern keeps a grip on Jeremy, tightening it, afraid he'll just slip through her fingers. "C'mon, hon, just take some deep breaths, don't think, just breathe," she whispers urgently, oblivious to the fight still raging on. There will be plenty of time to wonder how he knew when things are more... stable.

"A love tap *here*," Laurel mutters, punching in one spot a second time, her blue-green eyes looking a littl glowy-blue as she uses her super-visions to guide her fists - "A little heat-vision *ther-- HEY!" A short blast of crimson eye beams to soften up some internal circuitry on the guy's armor, interrupted by the sudden need to duck a sweeping electro-attack and the resultant swat her partner in baddy-busting gets.

This only serves to get further on Laurel's nerves. "WHAT." *PUNCH* "Did I TELL YOU." *FREEZE-BREATH* "About dealing with people your OWN SIZE!" *HEAT VISION!* All focused on further damaging and short-circuiting the armor, though also punching is cathartic.

Lor-Zod's strikes cause further cracks in the armor, finally breaking through and letting him connect with the monstrous form beneath. Even as Lor-Zod is knocked through a building, the armored figure falls to one knee from the boy's strikes...and Laurel's assault doesn't help. The armor starts to spark, and his movements get twitchy...and then, something breaks entirely. Something very critical...his electrical shielding. The power streaming through the armor is now streaming into /him/, and he lets out a long, loud scream...and falls, as the armor shuts down.

The cloaked figure has fully faded, but the grenade that Mend is holding on to seems to stick around...though it doesn't seem to be any danger right now.

Jeremy follows Fern's instructions, just breathing in and out and trying to calm himself down and recover from his exhaustion. Slowly, this leads in the direction one might expect...and the worn-out young hero seems to have fallen asleep. It doesn't look like the dangerous sort of unconsciousness, at least...just the recovering kind. He's also slowly beginning to fade back in, as it becomes harder to see through him and there's more of a sensation of something /being/ there as Fern holds on to him. Looks like he won't be joining the others in vanishing today.

Even the big, armored form is slowly fading away, now, and his first opponent--the big guy he knocked out upon arriving on the scene--is gone, as are the gunmen who had surfaced with the smoke creature. Whatever was going on here...it would appear to be over.

Lor-Zod is pretty quick in picking himself up and coming out of the building, but he's still too late as he finds all the attackers gone. He blinks, looking around, and says, "What happened?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to get this..." She eyes the grenade. "...to Tony Stark, if he has the time to look at it. I would bet he can work it out."

Fern stays with Jeremy even as the shelter director hurries out now that the commotion has died down. She looks around, to Lor-Zod and Mend, her eyes grateful, and she waits for Jeremy to be taken inside before she shrugs off the jacket and moves toward Laurel. "Thank you. All of you." The jacket is offered back, "I don't live far, I can go get changed and I'll come back and check on Jeremy. It looks like everyone else is ok, but for the collateral damage." She glances around, wincing at the amount of said damage. Again, she looks to the three with a wan smile before she turns to trudge home, wringing the hem of her shirt out as she goes.

Once all of the bad-guys... fade out? What? Ugh, whatever... Laurel takes a moment to take her headband off, smooth back her hair and then put the headband back on. It's the little things, after all. She's visibly glad to see Lor-Zod is all right, granted she doesn't seem all that surprised either. He gets the Nod of 'Well Done!' while Laurel heads over towards Jeremy and the others.

She takes her jacket back from Fern with a friendly, "No problem!" and then moves on to a satisfied, "I /do/ love it when the bad guys save us on clean-up, though it /is/ obnoxious that they got away. Everyone okay here?"

With Jeremy taken in to the shelter--and losing his transparency as this happens--and the last of the threats gone, people start to return, coming out of their hiding spaces and searching around for anyone they're missing, while sirens can be heard approaching as the cops finally manage to get close to the area. Whatever was going on, it's over...but it looks like an explanation is going to be elusive, for now.