2012-07-07 The Need Sequence - Pt. 3

(Visual: S.T.A.R. Labs)

8:00 PM. S.T.A.R. Labs - Metropolis Research Center.

There is no nine-to-five at the Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Laboratories. Scientists work in shifts around the clock, at the cutting edge of tomorrow's breakthroughs. The privately-funded company, the brainchild of Garrison Slate, is at the top of their class, and boast facilities around the globe. They are contemporaries and rivals to the likes of WayneTech, Stark Industries, Oscorp, and Lexcorp. Along with their scientific research, they have also served as a temporary holding facility for powered criminals captured by local superheroes. They are world-renowned for electronics, technology, genetics research, medical research, weaponry, disease control, biology, chemical engineering, and psychology.

Tonight is no different than any other night -- at first. Fifty or so researchers are milling about like busy worker bees on the 8-midnight shift. Security guards are on duty, and there are off-duty Metropolis PD officers who serve as security in the holding cells area. Add in maintenance workers and visitors and, all in all, there are close to 100 people in the shiny, curving glass building.

Alarms begin shrieking throughout the building at two minutes after eight. Multiple emergency calls to the Metropolis 911 system indicate that several floors of the building have had explosions, metahumans or mutants may be on site, and there is some sort of army of people wearing black and yellow invading from an unknown egress point. Smoke billows from the top (36th), the 22nd, and the 14th floors where windows have been blown out by the force of the explosions. From the broken window frames of the top floor, scientists and maintenance workers scream for help. The elevators are offline and the stairs are blocked with burning debris. They are trapped.

The street down below becomes flooded with employees and security evacuating the lower floors.

--- Floor 36: Executive and Administrative Offices

It was a nice, quiet, routine patrol for Superman and Supergirl, with Kara just happy that matters between her and her cousin were resolved and things were returning to normal. Well, normal as a realtive term...But then the alarm at STAR Labs goes off and the Kryptonians fly to the scene. Kal directs Kara to check out the upper level, priority on rescuing civilians. With a nod, the Girl of Steel peels away from the flightpath of her cousin and goes up to the 36th floor, using her x-ray vision to check out the situation before flying in.

The alarms, loud enough to be more than noticeable to Kryptonian senses. And also to Martian ones. The green figure of the Manhunter descends at speed from the sky above. He is entirely aware of the presence of the blonde...but he does not enter straight away. Instead, he's going to do a telepathic scan, trying to establish how many people are in there and whether any of them are terrorists. He's no fool, after all.

Up on the 36th floor, the trapped executives and administrators are in a complete panic. They can't get down due to the stairs being blocked and the elevators being offline. They are also not alone. Terrorizing the 15 people trapped up here are two figures. The first is a masked man in dark purple and gold spandex. He is holding a three pronged, ornate trident, and the mask is a grey blank with no nose or mouth holes, and a three pronged gold "crown" on top. He levels the trident at one of administrative cubicles, and a jet of fire shoots out, lighting all the paperwork ablaze.

The other is a young man with dark skin, wearing a green and white costume, complete with a helmet that covers his eyes. Where his eyes should be, there is just one massive eye that is glowing green. That light is reflected in the eyes of the trapped employees, who seem to have relaxed and are standing still, looking dully forward at nothing. The youth giggles.

Supergirl can see all of this through her X-ray vision, and the Manhunter can sense nothing but a bland buzz of blankness from the hostages.

Well, that answers that question...Supergirl puts on a burst of speed, breakign through the window of room where the executives are trapped. She plants herself in front of the humans, ready to shield them. "I suggest you both surrender..." she says, then uses her super-breath to extinguish the flaming cubicle.

Meanwhile, J'onn, as Supergirl draws their attention, swoops in through a *different* window. He's hoping that they'll be noticing her and he can, thus, get behind them. It's basic tactics. It also makes sure *she* notices his entrance, which is generally rather wise. He doesn't want to get Kryptonian friendly fire.

Supergirl's cold breath extinguishes the small paper fire and her demands ring through the space. Trident and See-More, members of the H.I.V.E. Five, turn to look at her. The third prong of Trident's weapon shimmers a moment before he vanishes from sight. Invisibility seems to be one of the weapons powers.

See-More turns his gaze towards Supergirl and he seems full of glee at having some real opposition. He swipes fingers against the side of his visor and the eyeball goes from blue to red. Laser beams shoot from it, aimed at the Kryptonian. ||PEW! PEW! PEW!||

Still the executives and administrators stand stock still. They seem to be either paralyzed or perhaps hypnotized. J'onn manages to sneak in behind See-More but he can sense Trident's mind somewhere in the room, moving.

With protecting the executives being her first priority, Supergirl stands firm and takes the laser blast in the shoulder. Smoke rises off of the impact area and her costume is slightly chared. But other than that, Supergirl is unaffected. "You know...this 'S' isn't just for decoration..." And to prove it, she moves forward at super-speed, trying to give the cycloptic blaster a 'gentle' body check. Trident guy can wait, for now....

Martian Manhunter narrows his eyes...and vanishes himself before the terrorists likely become aware of him. Hopefully. His mind scans for Trident, trying to locate the invisible terrorist. He would love to do something about the hypnosis, but in some ways, it's keeping the executives safer for now. Better to take out the terrorists first...and he doesn't like the invisible guy.

Trident suddenly appears as he grabs one of the executives from behind, holding his forearm around her throat, pointing at her head with the first prong of his weapon. Her ID badge reads 'Elinore Stone.'

"Unless you would like to see Scientist Flambe, I suggest you go away. Now. Supergirl." His voice is gruff and commanding, but there is a slight uneasiness underlying it. He doesn't look like he's entirely on board with this H.I.V.E. mission. Or that he's confused about his orders. He also doesn't seem aware that the Manhunter is in there with him.

See-More grunts at his partner as he dodges amid cubicle desks. A gentle check from the Kryptonian sends him across the room. He smacks into a wall, groans as he slides down it, then his eye goes from Red to Blue. From it pops a large bubble which moves to try and entrap Supergirl within it, like a force sphere of some sort.

The energy bubble can be easily dodged with her speed, so Kara's main concern is for the hostage. She can't take the risk of attacking him, not with the trident pointed right next to the woman. "Alright," Supergirl says, with an angry scowl on her face and putting up her hands. "Just don't hurt her...." And SUpergirl flies out the way she came in, flying up, up, and somewhat awaybefore stopping. She's about at the limit for her heat vision, and she uses her x-ray vision to watch the scene unfold. Once Trident guy gives her an opening and eases up on the hostage a bit, he's going to find that trident too hot to hold...

As a cop, J'onn hates hostage situations. But he is not on Mars now. And he has many advantages over these people. Chief among them the fact that he's currently invisible. No. Chief among them...messing with people's heads. He senses that uncertainty in Trident, and he reaches out to the man's mind to strengthen it a little, not actual mind control, just a bit of empathy to make the doubts already there stronger. He doesn't really want to do this, right?

With Supergirl gone, Trident shoves Elinore at See-More's bubble. She is trapped inside, and the giggling youth begins to bounce her around in it like a hamster caught in one of those clear balls. She screams.

Trident eyes him and shakes his head before turning to the non-responsive staff of the building. "This feels wrong, See-More. There is no benefit to us here," he mutters. He lowers his trident, which he then drops with a hiss as it becomes incredibly hot in his hand. That leave Trident, the man, powerless, as his powers are all in his weapon.

ZORCH! Supergirl unleashes her heat vision on the trident, burinign a hole through the walls and ceilings of the building to hit it. She doesn't let up until the weapon is molten slag, taking one villain out of this equation. In a red and blue blur, Kara flies back into the scene of the fight, appearing right in front of See-More. "You want to give up?" she asks, her eyes still glowing red from her heat vision. "Or do you just want to make me more angry?"

The screaming...would be the point at which the Martian appears, more or less where Supergirl was initially. "I strongly suggest letting her go, or you will find out exactly why I am not a being you mess with." It might look like he just teleported in there...and yes, he's doing just a bit in the way of making himself more intimidating now. It's worth a try.

See-More snarls at Supergirl, and with a wave of his hand, the bubble holding Dr. Elinore Stone bounces out the window, dangling her 36 stories up, then vanishes, dropping her. He has no intention of getting caught and he bolts in the opposite direction, towards the other side of the building. His eye goes yellow and he leaps out, as the eye slides out, attached to the helmet still, and enlarges into a hot-air balloon like thing, drifting away with him beneath it. Trident bolts after his partner, leaping out to lock wrists with the youth, looking back at his destroyed trident, now a puddle of slag, with a grimace.

Do the words 'faster than a speeding bullet' ring a bell?

The papers in the room swirl all around in the wake of Supergirl's flight. Dr. Stone has barely fallen a storey before Kara catches her. "It's alright, Dr. Stone...you'll be safe..." And Supergirl is as good as her word as she flies down to gently deposit the scientist near the EMT's that have arrived along with Met PD. She can catch up to the villains easily enough; and it seems like she has an impromptu partner here. So, back to her original priority: rescuing civilians.

Supergirl flies back up to the executive floor, a plan forming in her mind. "Everyone!" she says to the assembled executives and scientists. "Please climb onto the table here, I can take all of you down to safety at once."

J'onn hesitates only a moment to be sure which way the blonde is going, and then he launches himself at full speed after the fleeing terrorists. Nice misjudgment there. It would have worked very well had there only been ONE good guy present...as there are two and he trusts the young woman to do her part of the job, they will soon have a big Martian coming right after them.

The 36th floor staff hastily do as Supergirl says, trusting in that "S" on her chest to mean they will be all right. Superman's symbol holds a lot of weight for the citizens of Metropolis.

Meanwhile, outside, Trident is looking at the Martian coming their way and gulps. "FASTER SEE-MORE!" But the eye-guy is not built for speed. J'onn can catch up to them easily.

Fourteen grown adults and a boardroom table that probably weighs several hundred pounds by itself? Supergirl hardly strains herself as she goes under the table and slowly lifts it into the air. "Everyone hang on to the edges and remain still. You'll be safe in just a few moments." And Kara flies the impromptu evacuation device down to the ground, slowly and carefully. She sets down behind the police cordon, kneeling back down to step out from under the desk. And then, back to the chase! Kara flies back up, using her super-vision and senses to try and find the escaping villains and her erstwhile green ally.

J'onn flies past them, turns to face them, and still matches their speed. "Surrender. Now." At this point, it's clearly not a request.

J'onn flies past them, turns to face them, and still matches their speed. "Surrender. Now." At this point, it's clearly not a request. He seems perfectly relaxed. He can still hear what Supergirl is doing back there. Good move. She's clearly competent, even if she did look rather young. (Of course, most people are 'young' to J'onn...)

The executives and administrators are deposited safely on the ground, and they are quickly tended to by the large group of police, firefighters, and EMTs now crowding inside the barricades. Civilians watch from outside.

Trident and See-More surrender to the Manhunter, looking shaken for a moment there. As if they sensed something strange happening elsewhere.

--- Floor 22: Genetics and Chemical Engineering Labs

Piotr is in the diner with Warren across the street from the lab when all hell breaks loose. They'd finished talking to the father of a young mutant and he was having pie a la mode. It's hot. And pie is good. Fortunately, he's almost done when the explosions happen and he immediately stands and heads outside to see what's going on. Turning to Warren, he nods to the smoke billowing out the windows of the lab. "You can carry me, da?"

It's really the genetics research that Sophia's interested in the most. Or, more specifically, one of her friends from her internship. Who would have thought they'd both come to Metropolis? It's just that Sophia came as a LexCorp employee and her buddy came as a STAR Labs one.

And it's been a good life so far. A great life so far. Money, privilege, and amazing responsibilities. And what with pictures of Katie in front of her very own workstation and wild chat about their respective research, today *was* going really well until the explosions hit.

Katie's unconscious. She was hit hard and there's splinters of glass sticking out of her. Thankfully the windows were blown open, but Sophia is only crouching near them. It's time for terrified sobs and it's time for a lot of first aid, but she can't stop some of this bleeding without a hospital...

Oddly enough, Warren rather likes diners -- despite their 'seedy' nature, the food can be rather amazing. That and the pies are often unparalleled. This diner is no different and he has pretty much wolfed down his pie before the explosion. He turns to peer at the lab, "You have got to be kidding me." He looks at Piotr and gives a heavy sigh, "Yeah, meet me outside." He loses more jackets this way...it's a good thing he came 'prepared', at least since he doubted that Piotr really wanted to spend time with him.

The 22nd floor of the building is swarming with costumed assailants. H.I.V.E., the Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination, has a variety of personnel at their disposal. Their drones are the reported "army" swarming through the building, causing havoc. They're armed with clubs which are also stun sticks, their "stingers" and clad in black and yellow costumes with bug-like goggles. Bashing a path for them into the various labs is a giant of a man, easily 6'5" and built like a brick house. He has longish auburn hair and a thick, matching beard. His costume is a black suit with a studded gold harness over his shoulders, across his chest, and around his waist. He has gold gloves and boots on as well. He hauls the genetics lab door off its hinges like it's made of paper.

Piotr nods once and leaves the window he was looking out in favor of the door. Their rental is parked just a few spaces down so he strips off his own jacket - thankfully, since it's way too hot but they had to make a good impression - and tosses it in along with his phone and wallet. He doesn't advertise that he's a mutant but he doesn't go to great lengths to hide it either so changing in public works for him. Besides, most people should be looking at the lab.

Pressure. Pressure on Katie's arm, as hard as she can; she lifts it above the girl's heart and speaks gently: "Remember, girl. I'm a doctor, remember? You couldn't have been blown up with a better friend; you're going to be *fine*. There's gonna be..." She sniffs, looking up and down and all around. "There's gonna be Wonder Woman. Or Superman. Yeah," she says, leaning down over the quivering scientist's face, her eyes bright. "It's gonna be Superman busting through there, and he'll scoop you up in those big arms and hold you close and fly you straight to the hospital. We're in Metropolis, right? Any minute now. Any minute..."

That's more or less when the door bursts open. That's more or less when the auburn-haired brick bursts in. For a moment, Sophia's fired with hope: the man is huge, beyond reasonably huge. Was Sophia not speaking nonsense? Is this really their salvation? But saviors in Metropolis come wearing capes (or power armor, if you ask Dr. Flores), and this does not look promising.

"Above you...don't change yet..." is called as Angel, changed into his 'uniform', dives down to grab the other. "Hand..." is ordered so that he can carry the bigger man up to the upper floors. "Where are we going?" is asked as he just continues to climb, his eyes narrowd against the smoke coming from the building.

Mammoth, a member of the H.I.V.E. Five growls at the scientists inside the lab with a grin. "Well what have we here?" he sneers at Sophia and the unconscious Katie. "Didn't run like smart people? For scientists you sure aren't bright." He waves a group of HIVE drones inside, all armed with stun sticks.

Piotr raises his arms so Angel can grab them and lift him up. It's not the most comfortable position but it's short term. At the question, he thinks a moment. "Put us in the middle." he decides. "Then we can decide if we need to go up or down."

Sophia stands slowly, positioning herself over Katie's gasping form, clenching her fists. "Whatever it is you want," she says, "whatever informations or data or equipment or whatever it is, you can *have* it! Just leave these people alone. They have nothing to do with you! They're not going to hurt you!" She's trying to sound brave, but there's a quaver in her voice. She's not a superhero. She's no great power or vigilante or bareknuckle fighter. Just a scientist. Just a doctor. And that big brain of hers isn't finding any easy ways out.

"Tell me 'when', big guy," Angel says as he continues to rise around the building, trying to avoid the worse of the smoke if at all possible. "I'm not really counting floors right now..." but at some point, around the middle of the building, he'll find an open space that looks large enough for someone like Colossus to get through.

The rising smoke from the 16th floor does make it hard to see but he doesn't need to concentrate on flying. Letting Angel do that, he keeps his eyes on the 22nd and plays navigator. Left, left, down a little, straight! As they fly through the holes blown into the side of the building, Piotr shifts form and drops to the ground as Angel lets go.

The arrival of Colossus makes Mammoth turn his head to stare angrily at the metal man. "I hate it when my fun is interrupted." He snarls and throws the thick, steel door at the X-Man. H.I.V.E. Drones swarm through the door, one of them coming at Sophia. The other Lab personnel scream and run wild, trying to find places to hide or flee from the costumed terrorists.

Another scream, and Sophia is looking around herself frantically. She turns swiftly, looking across the table before grabbing the first reagent bottle she sees. It's undiluted hydrochloric acid, and it has a squirt top. She whirls around with it in her hands and pointed straight at the H.I.V.E. drone. "Stop or I'll shoot!"

Angel follows Colossus in and dive-bombs one of the drones swarming in. He'll happily let the metal guy take care of the Brick while he tries to help with the innocents. Or...seemingly innocent, "Please don't..." is directed at Sophia as he kicks at one of the drones.

Colossus parries the door with an arm and it goes sailing past him. And unfortunately out the window. Crap. Hopefully people realize that in explosions of large buildings, things fall off and to not stand nearby. "This is your chance to surrender." he tells them all. "I advise doing so." Anticipating being ignored, he advances on the large one.

The Drones Angel strikes prove to just be men with stun sticks, and he is able to batter them aside. A trio of them get the bright idea to rush him at once. Maybe they forgot about those wings.

Mammoth puts his head down and smirks. "Don't think so, Captain Shiny." He charges at Colossus in a bull rush, on a collision course with seemingly no fear of his metal opponent.

The Drone standing over Sophia and Katie raises its stun stick to strike her, unable to disobey his Queen's orders.

When Angel comes barreling in with a man made of metal... "Ay, Dios mio!" Sophia gasps. She continues with: "Un angel vino? Que milagro!" Apparently English has fled, because seriously look at that guy. "Y es guapo, tambien..." Her jaw works soundlessly for a moment, but as much damage as Angel's been able to do to these guys the one who's trying to kill HER is well within striking distance. Closing her eyes, she scrunches her face and turns it away as she squirts the highly-corrosive acid at the Drone.

The wings can be useful, especially for battering! Those wings do smack into the drones though, in the hopes of knocking them away so that he can try and get these guys away from these innocents. "You should listen to him," is offered as Angel smacks at anyone else who might be around. He's just hoping that he isn't in any splash-area of that acid.

"I'll be back." The exact meaning of that cryptic phrase becomes clear as Colossus waits to the last minute before stepping aside from the charging Mammoth. But far from just playing matador, he grabs hold of the other's arm and increases their momentum by charging them both out the window. Naturally, Colossus intends to be on top. When they land.

The Drone Sophia squirts gets doused on the arm holding the stun stick. He shrieks and drops the weapon, practically in her lap, and rolls around on the floor trying to get his sleeve off him before it eats through to the skin under.

angel clobbers anyone getting near the civilians, and soon the Drones begin trying to throw the stun sticks at the winged man, trying to taser him.

Colossus and Mammoth fly out through the broken windows, and hurtle towards the ground 22 stories below.

Holy shit that actually worked. "Didn't have a choice, handsome!" Sophia shouts. She hangs onto the HCl -- because she's a scientist, that's why, and it's bad form to leave open containers of reagent around the place -- but she stoops for the stun stick, and with a shout of rage she jabs the Drone with it. "Now this I know how to use," she says. "And you ain't nearly so big as a steer, precious."

Oh, this is going to hurt. Angel is trying to dodge the stun sticks as best he can, but he tends to take up a good deal of space, especially with the wings, and especially inside. Colossus has gone out the window...he finally shouts to the woman, "Get out! Get your people out!"


 * BZZZZT!|| The acid-burnt Drone gets hit with the stun stick and he collapses in front of Sophia. As if she did something more than that, the rest of the the Drones drop to the ground, prone. They all clutch their heads and roll around in pain for a moment, before they all begin trying to flee out of the building.

Sophia stares at the drone. Stares at her stun stick. Stares at the drone again. "Holy shit," she whispers, twirling it in her hand. Oh, she's keeping this. Figuring out how to turn it off on the third try, she looks up to Angel and hazards a manic smile: "This girl is *dying*. Katie is dying. If I carry her down twenty-two floors she's not going to be dying anymore. Please. PLEASE, help her."

Angel also scoops a couple of those stun sticks but turns when Sophia speaks. He looks from her to the woman, Katie, and then back. He then scans the lab, "Do you have a knife then? Or a scalpel? Something sharp?" The sticks are held in one hand as he also goes to look about for something. If there's glass, he'll break that to get something with an edge and bring it over to the injured woman. He then kneels down beside her looks over the injuries, "You should still call the ambulance..." and then runs the glass along the palm of his hand to slice it up but good. He then makes sure to, well, bleed over what seems to be the worst of the injuries.

"I -- " Sophia does, in fact, and she passes him a scalpel with some confusion. "But the last thing she needs is more -- " She lets out a cry of fright and horror when Angel cuts his own hand, reaching out to grab that hand, horrified and confused when he tries to let his blood fall on Katie. She's even more astonished when it actually seems to help, when the horrible gash in Katie's arm begins to knit, when the worst of those wounds begins to heal. She looks down at her hand and back up at Angel, beginning "What kind of miracle are you?" But as the scientists begin to race downstairs, Sophia quickly wipes her hand on a handkerchief, shoves the stun stick in her belt, scoops Katie up in her arms, and starts making for the exit.

--- Floor 14: Weapons and Computer R&D

In New York, sitting on the roof of their apartment building, Thor has his eyes closed, still trying to puzzle out the faint tremors of unrest from Midgard that has called him out of his homeworld. In his armor, Mjolnir rests in his hands, dangling from his fingers as his forearms rest upon his knees.

Eight o'clock, Thor's eyes open. He leaps from the roof to hover at the balcony of the domicile he shares with Sif. He raps at the window and calls out.

"She calls. The trouble begineth yonder. Come," states the Thunderer, holding out his hand to the raven-haired woman within.

It doesn't take her long to collect her sword and step into her fiancee's embrace, but long enough that by eight-oh-two, when the alarms begin to sound, Thor is just starting from New York.

"Brace thyself, beloved," the Storm Lord orders. A hurricane wind kicks up about him and hurls him toward Metropolis at a speed to match the City's Champion. Thusly arriving, Thor awaits no one's permission or request, but flings the pair of them into the building at the 14th floor, through the destroyed windows, using an opposing buff of winds to slow him enough for his blood-granted gliding to bring he and Sif into a slight jog of a landing upon the floor.

On the fourteenth floor, chaos reigns. This is the Weapons and Computer research level and sparks are spitting from both. There are fifty or so men, all identical, smashing a baseball bat in anything they come across - equipment and scientists alike. They're all wearing matching white and red costumes which cover everything but their nose and mouth. Also, there is the insane cackling of what appears to be a bald dwarf, dressed in green, strafing scientists from above as he swoops over their heads thanks to the jetpack he's wearing. He has a remote in his hand, and is sending small RC helicopters which shoot little laser bolts at them.

The two dieties spare a moment's glance at each other before they move.

Sif charges those upon the ground, shrieking toward them, sword gleaming and reflecting the sparks being spewed by the smashed electronics. She knows better than to kill, and so it is their weapons she'll attack, to rob them of those items.

Thor, meanwhile, charges the jet-packing dwarf, his ground based running charge turning into a gliding bull rush half way to his target. If he can swat one of the small metal dragonflies that do spit bolts of tiny flame, he shall.

When Thor and Sif arrive, fifty-one sets of eyes turn to look at them. Fifty of those sets belong to Billy Numerous, the other set to Gizmo, both members of the H.I.V.E. Five.

"Hey, Captain Hammer!" shouts all the Billies at once, pointing at Thor. Then two dozen of them swarm at the God of Thunder, raising their bats to aim blows at any part of him they can see. Everything is a red and white blur, and very confusing, even though the young man and his duplicates don't seem to have any special abilities outside of making more of themselves.

Gizmo shrieks when some of his gadgets are demolished at Sif's hands and he triggers a few buttons on his remote. All the helicopters, clearly made from kitchen implements including egg beaters, flyswatter blades, and what might be parts of a microwave, zoom in her direction, ten in all, and begin firing tiny, but painful, laser beams at her. He zips up to land on top of a massive computer mainframe as a half dozen prototype laser weapons in the lab, damaged from the beginning of the attack, start shooting wildly at knee level.

His bull rush interrupted, Thor is forced to backstep as the red and white mob attack. It is quite confusing, and concerning too, as the Asgardian Prince is trying NOT to injur anyone beyond reason as he punches, kicks, and hammers at his various attackers. Their attacks cause the Lightning Bringer to sneer in annoyance, for the blows sting but do little lasting harm. A lucky strike to the back of Thor's knee does send the Storm Lord crashing to a knee. Poor floor.

Sif is forced to leap and twirl with her blade, slicing at the tiny metal constructs while hoping to dance out of the way of the laser bolts. A few slice into calf and thigh, grazing the goddess and leaving welting burn marks. "Any time you'd like to make with the thunder storms, Thor," she snips in her betrothed's direction.

"We're inside," Thor calls back, almost in a sing-song as he seeks to roll back into a more clear area and toward the open windows.

"Then get to a window!"

"Aye! I go!"

Ah! Lover's spat in battle. Gotta love it.

Red and white costumed villians get tossed this way and that by the Asgardian's blows. Beneath the mighty knee of the Mighty Thor, the flooring cracks and splinters. That's gonna leave a mark. The Billies take advantage of it to pile on him like a Rugby Scrum. They link elbows and knees with one another, 10, then twenty, then thirty of them, like a living, breathing, human cage, blocking out his vision, tripping him up, bogging him down.

Gizmo, meanwhile, begins using a homemade launcher that appears to be made with a pancake flipper, which tosses live crabs at the Goddess, which explode on impact.

Yes! Thor goes! Straight to the floor. Dogpiled, the Thunder God grumbles faintly, knuckles going white upon the haft of Mjolnir. He really didn't want to do this, but oh well. Focusing on the weather just beyond the building, Thor calls for a bolt of lightning to Mjolnir, knowing it's going to have to go THROUGH all those red and white bodies to do so. The god lays still to focus upon it, eyes closed. He'd not like for hte bolt to overwhelm the mortals upon him, nor miss and strike the building. His work causes the skies above to darken omniously.

Sif yelps with a growl at the explosions impact near her. Just hte fact that they explode on impact keeps her from considering using the flat of the blade of her sword as a bat to knock a crab back at him. The laser burns on her legs sting more than she'd care to admit. She seeks cover from the explosions for a moment to assess the situation and the best way to throw something at him. ((Anything near by for Sif to use as a projectile?))


 * KRAKATHOOM!|| A bolt of lightning slashes in from outside, through a few of the Billies, who vanish as if disintegrated. Two more take their places immediately, but the Hammer of Thor is now charged. Also, someone is trying to bite the Thunder God's ear. RUDE!

The bombardment of Sif continues as a fleet of balloon-like RC blimps, shaped like sharks, head for her at a tail-slashing speed. They explode above her, raining down what look like small flash-bang grenades as Gizmo squeals in delight.

With a growl, Thor seeks to fling off the Mike Tyson wannabe with his left arm while swinging his hammer at another two or three that are standing too near each other. He seeks to shift the battle closer to the windows. One sure gust of wind...

Glancing about for something, Sif spies an interesting little something, only to gasp and glance up as the blimps arrive. With their payload dropped, the War Goddess rolls forward, hopefully out of their way, seeking to put herself close enough to the interesting thing that she can grab it up and hurl it at Gizmo.

The object Sif hurls at Gizmo makes him yelp and press a button. Immediately around him springs a net made of spoons jointed together. They are both flexible and tough, so the object's velocity is slowed enough to only hit him slightly. He oofs and tumbles off the side of the mainframe. Scrambling to his feet, he triggers his jetpack and launches at Sif in an attempt to bowl her over.

Billes that get struck seem to vanish, one by one. Now they're down to 40, now 30, now there are only 20 of the red and clad youth left. They all try to hang onto Thor's hammer arm to pull it down and drag him back away from the window.

Upper lip pulled up in a bit of a sneer, Thor plants his weight and goes mulish on them, refusing to budge. This, while his eyes grow stormy and dark with the threat of a hurricane. Outside, the winds howl as Thor prepares to funnel tornado like winds into the area. Sif, had better sense this and be ready!

Sif does steady herself, sword held and the ready as Gizmo charges her. She'll wait, with a warrior's patience, until the last moment to duck, roll, and swipe her sword at what she's hoping is a vital part of the jet pack.


 * FIZZLE! BOOM!|| Gizmo's jetpack gets swatted by Sif's sword and something vital in it goes kaplooey. The dwarf lands face-first under one of the lab tables. Persistent though he is, he grabs a prototype rocket launcher off it, aims it at her, and fires. WHOOSH!

Thor manages to drag the Billies, foot by torturous foot, towards the blown out window. They start pulling hair, ears, anything they can to stop him.

Thor shakes his head as his hair is pulled, not liking it one bit. "Enough," he finally bellows, unleashing the cyclonic winds from outside into the building. Well, hopefully it'll sweep out any fires on this floor?

Sif watches the tiny man drop into a desk, then come on with a rocket launcher. Oh, that can't be good! Sif flings herself to the ground by a support pillar just as Thor shouts. She sinks the blade on her sword into the ground, keeping a grip on it with one hand, while using her other to grab onto said pillar.

The cyclonic winds whip into the floor, and all the fires extinguish. Work tables, filing cabinets, computer equipment, desks, chairs, and weapons all go flying around wildly. The rocket Gizmo fired at Sif is knocked off course by it, and instead flies out the window. Someone should probably catch it before it hits another building.

The Billies are ripped off of Thor by the winds, and they get slammed into walls and ceiling as they are thrown about in the vortex of air. Gizmo goes flying as well, without his backpack, right past where Sif is standing firm.

Catch it? Thor eyes the projectile for a heartbeat before he flings himself out of the building. What he's going to do with a fire-spurting crossbow bolt he has no idea... "Finish them or hold them," he calls over his shoulder.

To Sif, who reaches out to make a grab at the wee little dwarf.

Gizmo is snagged by Sif and easily subdued as most of his devices still on him were crushed, but the Billies all vanish suddenly. Clearly the main Billy Numerous was somewhere else, and letting his dupes do their thing here on their own. They've since been recalled and re-absorbed. There are containment cells in the basement for holding super-powered criminals. Surely they can hold the dwarf.

Meanwhile Thor catches a tiger by the tail, or a rocket by the exhaust pipe. He stops it the moment before it would have struck another office building across the street.

Thor eyes the projectile, before flying above the building and smashing it with Mjolnir. The resulting explosion tosses the god about a bit before he rights himself and heads back to the building, slightly more soot covered than before.

Meanwhile, inside, Sif withdraws her blade and starts on her way down to the containment area. Oh, great. Elevators no work. Guess she'll have to take the stairs... or wait for Thor... Did he drop ALL the red and white guys?

SubLevel 2: Maintenance and Containment Facility

Constantine was minding his own business, not even trying to get involved in the government dealings that have been saturating the television the last few days. It wasn't his cup of tea, all this heroing stuff So it took him a bit by surprised when he opened the door to his apartment and stepped out into one of the hallways of Starlab's Sub-levels

"Where the fu-" Glancing back over his shoulder, absolutely intent on not taking part in any of this nonsense, but it's just a broom closet

"Really?" Glancing up at the ceiling but intently meaning further up than that, at the heavens, maybe Even if that's not the exact direction where the keepers of Fate are located, he's cursing them with the wiggle of one balled fist.

Sighing nothing to do for it now. Stepping in to slam the door behind him, heavy handedly brought into the middle of this by the higher calling

"I'm writing a strongly worded letter But since I'm here." Maybe he can find something to stea- borrow. To pay his rent, of course. Nothing illegal or anything, nope.

The distress call came while Superman and Supergirl were out on patrols. Each went to different parts of the building in an attempt to handle the distress calls. As Superman walks through flames and wreckage, he comes upon a door. A jiggle of the handle shows it to be stuck. So instead his hand pierces right through it, and with a yank it's thrown down a long hallway, sparking as it hits the sides of the walls. Superman takes a look at Constantine with a furrowed brow. Kind of an odd looking researcher. He pays it no mind, and instead uses his hearing to try and hear the breaths and heartbeats of those trapped.

SubLevel 2 is where S.T.A.R. Labs maintains the equipment that runs and secures its building. It is also where the containment cells reside, used to hold dangerous powered criminals temporarily until they can be safely transported to a proper prison. Only one of the cells is occupied at the moment, and it is currently sliding open with the help of a dazed-looking security guard, at the behest of a beautiful, black-haired, blue-eyed woman dressed in a tight-fitting armored costume in black and yellow stripes. Her hair is swept up in a swirl that looks like a beehive. Beside her is another woman, wearing flowing white garments and elaborate gold trinkets. She is dark skinned, Eastern Indian from the looks of it, and she has bare feet which are currently toe-curled into the dirt beneath the floor of the basement, from which the concrete has been torn asunder. A white hood is pulled up over her head, from which emerges the horns of a gold headdress. A few dozen H.I.V.E. drones are also swarming the area, attacking the maintenance workers and security guards trying to stop the cell from being opened.

John glances over to the man in Blue and Red with a huffing snort laugh, "Oh hell no.. I am not being showed up by a man in armored pajamas.."

He's also not going to be punching any metal walls and tearing them out of the way either... So there's a couple decisions he really has to make. Leaning down and out to look at the mess of people all trying to either open or keep closed a Cell door. "Hey mate, you think we should let them sort this out themselves? It doesn't seem very neighborly of us to barge in and start tearing up the place, right?"

Pulling his sleeve back with his index finger, "Happy hour at McGuligans down on Fifth... First pints on me?"

"No?"

Glancing back down the hall... "Shite.."

John slides up his sleeves and glances between the various combatants. "Hey! One of you bloks forgot to fill out form seventy two oh eight three one! Release and transfer of prisoners!"

Ducking back around the corner, hoping one of those bee-keeper wankers comes down to investigate... ya know, so he can arm himself.

"That's seriously the best you have?" Who is this goober? Manchester Black? Superman pays it no heed. If the Brit wants to play games, he can do so on his own terms. Superman acts and acts immediately. The drones are causing the immediate mayhem, and attacking workers and guards, so he resolves to take care of them first. His balled hands grit as his stomach and chest grows a few inches. There's a few seconds pause before an exhale of cool, not frozen, air which he hopes will knock the enemies to the ground and give them the upper hand. As soon as he finishes, he's bolting towards the drones using his superspeed, and trying to knock them away from the bystanders. . .if they're still standing.

Jinx, a member of the H.I.V.E. Five, turns when the heroes arrive. She crouches and touches her hand to the dirt of the floor and suddenly earth-quake-like jolts move through it, under the feet of the heroes. "Mistress! We are not alone!" she hisses.

Queen Bee turns her head and then levels an arm at Constantine, firing her stinger darts from her wrist at the mage. "Stop them! Drones! Attack!"

The Drones swarm down on Superman with their stun sticks swinging, but get blown back willy nilly by his breath weapon. Hopefully he had an Altoids before coming here.

The security guard, zombie-like finishes inputting the release code for the cell. The curtain of energy in front of it blinks out, revealing something massive huddled inside. Something green.

Two of the Drones turn the corner, chasing after John Constantine, probably not their brightest moment, but then, lacking free-will will do that to you.

"Yeah, well, when you face down Maphisto with nothing but a ball point pen and a jug of Jimmy Walker Black, I'll tak-" John starts to snark, but off goes superman to 'punch stuff' with his fists.

It'd be an eye rolling situation if, you know, there weren't coming around the corner after him.

He's got a few seconds, so he goes about producing a ritualistic knife from one of his pockets and slides it up his wrist.. flexing and unflexing his fist quickly to get the blood flowing. "Glah'dor.. Ugh'lah..." The words are horrible... filthy.

Demonic tongue.

When the pair come around after him, he throws his arm around like a baseball sidearm pitcher, flinging his ichorous black blood into their eyes.. Hopefully, if his spell worked, they'll both think the other is him. And take each other out for him..

And then he can grab a stun gun.

Because those things are bitchin'.

The immediate rumbling of the floor is not such a problem for Superman, who quickly levitates and continues to come towards them. The green being catches his attention as he floats forward, cape flapping as he does so. Everything in its own time. For right now, he's most interested in Queen Bee, and bursts through the air at speeds that break the sound barrier, trying to close the distance between them almost instantaneously.

Constantine's blood strikes the goggles of the HIVE Drones, but the magic doesn't care about silly things like goggles. They turn on one another, smack each other in the head with the stunsticks, and both keel over, twitching, as if tasered. Silly bees.

The Queen Bee, Zazzala, turns as Superman comes for her, and she sprays a fine pollen from her wrist bracers, flooding the room with it. It has mind-confusing properties when breathed in. "You do not want to harm us. You do not want to attack us. You wish to stand aside and let us go," she murmurs.

Jinx throws up her hands and an entire section of concrete on the floor vanishes, before she begins to glow, and throws out a magical bolt from the converted matter at the Man of Steel.

Inside the cell, the green thing lifts a blocky head, growls, and then rises, over 7 feet tall, and stretches. That...would be THE HULK. "HULK SMASH!" he roars, before leaping out of the cell and beginning to rip away walls nearby to make himself a path away from the people with the lights that stopped him from leaving before. At least he's not attacking the group.

John grabs one of the stun sticks, letting the blood roll down his arm across the handle and trigger of the weapon. "Gl'zh... Dh'vz..." Spinning out from behind the wall as he growls that hediously deep, gutteral, echoing language and hurls the first of the two weapons towards the woman throwing off those magical bolts.

The light coating of his blood giving it a little extra something on its path down the hallway. And keeping the power juicing while it flies.

Even if it doesn't hit her, hopefully it's a distraction. Giving him a moment to take stock of what's going on and reach down to grab the other baton... sparking it across the metal floor to send up those hypnotically blue-white sparks that assure him there's plenty of volts rushing through it.

His blood drips down from his fingers, spraying out in a slashing arch infront of him, lips murmuring words in a less unholysome tone.. putting up a magical barrier... Just incase he's gotten the woman's attention.

If not.

"Hey trollop... yeah, you with the daddy issues..." Flicking the stick towards himself, "Come play with someone your own psychological profile."

The pollen is breathed in and almost immediately it takes effect. Superman does not want to harm them. He does not want to attack them. He wants to. . .The Man of Steel can still sense when danger is coming to him regardless of the directions, so 'standing aside' is just what he does to Jinx' blast. But even after it passes, he just sort of stands there, almost not seeming to realize that it's THE HULK and that this is getting very serious very quickly.

The Hulk grunts at the pollen. It affects him to an extent, and keeps him from attacking the Queen Bee and her drones. He stomps over to stand behind her, chest heaving in and out with massive breaths. "Come nearer, good boy," she murmurs to the green giant as he leans down close to her. Her back is to John and Superman at the moment, so what happens next goes unseen, but the Hulk looks momentarily very confused.

Jinx gets struck with the stun stick and it throws her flat onto her back on the ground. She had her own wards up, but that HURT. The elemental sorceress rolls to her knees and she summons up a wall of stone between her and the other mage. "My Queen! Hurry!" she cries.

"Oh, I see what's going on here..." John's eyes bounce from person to person quietly, "We're playin' a jolly round of pass the mental potato..." Wiggling the stun staff expressively. "Well, let's see how you like this..."

His hands fling out forward towards the group... and nothing happens.

"THIS!"

Repeat... and rince...

"Fuck."

Eyes moving back and forth slowly, eventually he gets it and grunts at himself, "right..." He spins, whips out a quarter, and 'hurls' it towards Superman's back... "This is the best I've got!"

Hypnotism? John is doing a lot of things, moving speaking, making them think he's incompotent.

He's not. His eyes close and he focuses... reaches out towards the Superman with his hand extended up after throwing the quarter... Trying to break the effect of the pollen on the Man of Steel. 'Work with me here.. you brought me for a reason. If this isn't it, well you wankers can go toss yourself... I'm listening to you Fate.. don't make me regret it.'

The quarter bounces off the back of Superman's head with a thunk, but the response is almost immediate. Before the quarter even hits the ground, Superman's foot digs into the ground and he's propelling himself at both Hulk and the Queen Bee, trying to knock them both down.

Some things are a little crazy no matter when you show up. Other things are even more crazy when you show up late to the party. Some budding superheroes, like Demoniac herself, TRY to play it cool. But when you're months old, you fly in through a hole another Superhero ALREADY made, and then arrive to see a quarter bouncing off of MR. Superman himself... Well, the only thing to do is to strike a pose, stare at the chaos, and say,"Wu-uh... A quarter?" Heroic. The moment before Superman would have hit her, Queen Bee drops to the ground, unconscious. Her drones stagger, confused before they rush towards the Man of Steel to try and strike him off their Mistress. Meanwhile, Supes barrels into the immovable force that is the transformed Bruce Banner. ||THUD!|| The Hulk looks down at Kal, his eyes glinting with madness and pure rage, and then he grabs the hero's cape to try and FLING him against the wall like Bam Bam.

Meanwhile, Tamir gets greeted by a force bolt from Jinx. The sorceress begins converting more of the concrete chunks around her, building up for an Eldritch bolt. Constantine has a swarm of confused Hive Drones coming for him now. They are NOT happy.

A mob of men running after Constantine can /never/ mean someone in that crowd is happy...

Usually it's because one of their daughters is pregnant.. and John may or may not have been the culprit. So this is a pleasant change..

Still religious fanatics, though.

Damn you Heavenly Host.

John opens his eyes... and sighs. Eyes rolling upwards, "Turn around is fair play, eh?" Whatever.. Deal with them first, then curse the ground the Fates walk on. Priorities.

Constantine pulls up his sleeves and lets his arms hang down at his sides, feet planted and pointed forward, posture straight. The air around him picks up from an unknown source, driven by the movement of his lips. The tattooes on his wrist start to glow, draining the blood from the ground infront of him straight into the metalic floor...

Calling on the ward he'd laid out to reverse the protection and cast it forward with the thrust of his hands, fingers flaring out wide, hair rippling up and outward in uncontrolled wavy blonde.

Hopefully, it's not just a really awesome stage trick. And does shockwave as he intended for it too... otherwise.. Well, there's always reasoning with them, right?

Religious fanatics are always easy to reason with.

Superman's hands grasp at his neck trying to loosen the cape but to no avail, he's flung into the wall, breaking through the first one easily. And the second. And the third. And the fourth. The basement groans structurally and Superman has fallen into a heap, taking a moment to get up to one knee. "I don't know what you are." He pulls himself up more fully, wincing a bit for the first time in a long time. "But I'm going to ask you to stand down before you get hurt."

Arriving in the middle of a scene of battle is generally considered a pretty ridiculously stupid thing to do by most experienced heroes. Demoniac just commited 'Stupid Thing #1'. She barely gets a shield up in time to catch the brunt of the force, a crackling black disk of energy emanating from her palm... Though she does get 'pinballed' back against a wall with a sharp 'oof'. Shaking her head to clear it, she eyeballs Jink, the way she draws in matter, gathering power, and begins to hurl out twisted syllables in a string.

What's up with all those syllables? Well, they seem to be made entirely of consonants and they're from a dead language. Sooo... that's almost never a good thing. Mere moments later, bolt after bold of destructive energy makes the air between her and Jinx ripple as she hurls blasts wildly at the woman,"Crap-crap-crap-crap-crap-crap... HOLY CRAP. Is that GREEN guy who always breaks tons of shit!"

Constantine's force wave hits the Drones like the detonation of a bomb. They are hurled up and backwards, most of them winding up inside the open cells of the containment facility, unconscious.

Jinx gets slammed by one of Demoniac's bolts and she goes tumbling backwards, getting her own shield up in time to deflect the rest. She sends a powerful gust of wind at the girl and Constantine, trying to buy herself and Big Green some time.

The Hulk snarls and leaps out through the hole in the floor the H.I.V.E. created to break in at this level.. leaving the unconscious Queen Bee, the Drones, and the elemental sorceress behind. Jinx begins firing magic bolts at Superman, John, Tamir, the ceiling, the floors, anywhere! She's panicked.

"Oh bollocks..." Constantine just barely manages before the gust of wind hits him, flaps his coat backwards away from his slacks and t-shirt (which reads: I'm with stupid and an arrow pointing down towards his belt), then picks him up and sends him backrolling a few feet down the hallway.

His tattooed wards the only thing keeping him from being knocked breathless and the quick pressing of his palm forward to bundle the wind up and around the curved white glow coming off the callouses of his fingers.

Glancing over towards Tamir, the bolts smash against the shield... and he points his other hand out to grab her by the shoulder to extend the protection to her as well... Superman is on his own. "Do something spectacular or I'll let go!" Shouted at the girl... he probably wont, but she doesn't know that!

Superman gives his head a shake trying to lose the cobwebs one last moment before taking off after the Hulk. Whoever that is. . .whatever that is. It's powerful and needs to be stopped. He lifts up out of the hole and tries to follow that thing.

It takes a lot of careful work, throwing up Demoniac's energy shield just in time for each bolt, so when Jinx begins firing her magical barrage at... well... creation in general, she just sheathes her body in crackling black energy, wincing each time a bolt splatters against her shield, forcing herself to re-orient in the air,"UUUUUH... guys... He's escaping! That's... uh... bad... right?" She swoops to the side sharply as another especially nasty bolt clips the edge of her shield and sends her spinning. Taking a deep breath, she looks at Jinx and shouts,"STOP IT. Over here you bad excuse for an emo band. What happened? Were they all out of razors for you at Hot Topic? You accidentally broke your 'Death Cab For Cutie' cd? That why you so pissed?"

Okay, so she wanted to draw some fire, but how's she going to get enough of a breather to fire her blast on full- Oh. Well. That's nice. Now John's taking care of it. Now protected from that energy flying around everywhere... "You could've just asked. No threat necessary." Sweating, she licks her lips and begins a quick chant FULL of more consonants... Just need a few seconds to gather the power and then... From her hand, a large ripple fills the air between her and Jinx, as does a sharp, almost defeaning crackle of sound. More covertly, she twitches her hands ever so slightly, sending a couple of ripples through the air at the ceiling. Why? If she dodges/blocks those blasts... She'll see if Jinx has an 'anti-heavy-building-materials' ward to protect her from falling concrete and such. "Also, you have bad hygiene!"

Superman follows the Hulk out a long tunnel, emerging a half mile from the building. The not-jolly Green Giant leaps away in enormous bounds, and before the Man of Steel can follow, he hears screams from the ground around STAR Labs. From the 22nd floor, a large, thick metal security door comes flying, hurling down at people on the street, EMTs, firefighters, and police, as well as injured employees from the building.


 * WHAM!|| As John protects himself and Demoniac, the ceiling comes down on Jinx and the remaining drones. They're all knocked unconscious and laid out flat.

Outside - Hypersector - New Troy - Metropolis

With the group on the 14th floor handled, Thor sets Sif on the ground to finish securing Gizmo. Lifitng back into the air, the Storm Lord eyes the burning building, then brandishes Mjolnir. Hovering in the sky before the building, red cape whipping about him as the winds start to pick up, his blue-gray eyes grow dark and stormy. The sky grows overcast and dark, thick heavy clouds filled with rain rolling in on a sharp and chilly jet stream.

A single thunder clap booms and like that the rain begins to fall. It's a heavy cold rain, the kind with fat heavy raindrops that soak a man in a moment and seeks to leech all warmth from him. But the rain drops are not meant for the street below.

Thor, Weilder of Mjolnir, the Lord of Storms, spirals the clouds into a tight circle over the building on fire, pushing the rain drops into open windows with tiny gusts of wind. Should a fire appear behind a closed window, he'll sprial a tiny twister into the glass, shattering it, and sending the cold rain inside.

On the ground are hundreds of people, police, EMTs, fire companies, and employees of STAR, plus civvies watching from behind barricades.

Superman grits his teeth as the distraction almost certainly means that Green Hulking Mass is going to get away. He soars towards the immediate danger, however, intercepting the large metal security door before it can smoosh those innocents.

Twenty two floors up, two forms hurtle out a window. One shiny and seemingly made of metal, grapples a more normal if equally powerful looking guy dressed in black with a gold harness and accessories.

From right at the top of the building...a green figure can be seen pretty much snatching two of the AIM guys out of the air. Progress is being made, for right now...and J'onn is quite happy to have snagged these two, starting to descend, with them, towards the police cordon. Time for the cops to do their job.

Constantine rushes after the Superman and his flying green monster of a target. Climbing where necessary and finally coming out through the gaping hole left by the 'escape!'. Seeing the carnage on the ground floor, the collection of individuals all set up on the otherside of the baracade, the old warlock sighs quietly.

Sliding his calloused finger along his slightly dirty brow. Smudging the grease and other debrie across the wrinkles formed by the furrowing of his face.

The hand falls down to the open flap of his jacket and pulls it open so he can reachin with his other hand to come back out with a slightly creased, almost broken, bent cigarette to lay between his lips.

Chaos, fire... Explosions?

He starts to go for his lighter as well, but stops... reaching down to take a nice chunk of what was probably a security guards helmet, still with a bit of flame on it, to light his cigarette and toss the metal off to the side.

"So, any of you lads want to go for drinks?"

They're busy. Waving his hand back over his shoulder he starts towards the baracade, blowing out a cloud of steel gray smoke over his shoulder.

"Happy hour at McGuligans started fifteen minutes ago.." Looking at his watch, "If I get a cab I can still make last call..."

Hovering in the air, Thor spies the falling mortals, but can do nothing for them. His attention is upon the storm he conducts like an orchestra, the cold heavy rain drops falling, like a Charlie Brown cloud, onto the STAR Building and only the STAR Building.

Supergirl flies down from above too, escorting the green man with the two captured villains. Then, there's two bodies falling from the 22nd floor. Breaking away from Martian Manhunter, Kara flies over and catches both of them, bringing them back down to the ground and dropping them. "Now....you two want to stop this fight or would you rather we sort out whos on what team the hard way?"

Okay. So she cheers a little when Superman catches a big heavy metal door... But Demoniac gets the feeling that the only reason she's not buried in concrete is thanks to Constantine's much stronger shielding... As is evinced by the concrete piled everywhere. "Wow! That guy... is, like... Hella strong. I..." Then Constantine mentions going for drinks,"I don't suppose they're shoddy about carding? I don't really do the whole 'consume nutrients' thing, but everyone tells me beer is just fantastic." This said as she floats along following the guy who mostly looks like he knows what's going on,"I... don't think it's my bedtime for another couple of hours anyway and now I'm all fired up." Not that she sleeps either. But sitting in bed for eight or ten hours doing nothing is BORING. Oh, look, it's Thor! "Thor, Mjolnir, Sif! Hey! You came too? Wasn't it neat?" Totally out of place.

Two people with S-Shields on their chests? Mammoth isn't going to even try to fight his way out of this one. He lets go of Colossus, lifting his arms in the air in pure surrender. He looks very unhappy about it.

Colossus looks a bit surprised to be caught given that 1) no one was out here when he went into the building except civilians and 2) he weighs a lot. But seeing who it it does explain things nicely and once they're set down on the ground, he just says "I told you that you should just surrender." to Mammoth. "There are more of their agents on the twenty second floor and many scientists." This to Supergirl.

People falling could be a problem... It does have John glancing up with his fingers scissored around the filter of his cigarette, pulling it away from his mouth on a tail of blue gray smoke. "Heh... It's raining men.."

Motioning up, glancing around to see if anyone else is seeing this.. or if they are, drawing the same conclusions. "That's an inuendo if I ever seen one..." But nobodies listen, except for Tamir. He grins at her, almost cheerfully, but slightly sarcastically...

One of the falling mortals hits the ground infront of him and John steps wide over the crunch bits now laid out on the concrete like sidewalk art. It's not that he doesn't care... He doesn't... it's more that there is half priced drinks for another fourty five minutes...

Like you wouldn't make the same decision.

"We'll figure it out when we get there..."

Martian Manhunter touches down next to the cops. "I believe you might know what to do with these." Poor Trident and See-More...they really got more than they bargained for. Some of his attention is on those present, although it might not be obviously visible, especially as his eyes really don't reveal exactly where he is looking at any given time. Disconcerting, that.

Colossus' words ring in Superman's ears. 22nd floor. Even before the mutant is finished speaking, the Man of Steel is rocketing up ward and picking up 3 stranded civilians and returns them down to the Earth safely.

Thor spares a glance down at Demoniac as she calls his name, but little else. The Storm Lord doth direct the winds. Again and again gusts of wind are pushing sheets of rain into as many of hte fire-spewing windows as he can muster.

Nodding to the metal man, Supergirl takes flight and follows her cousin, evacuating more scientists and civilians as quickly and carefully as possible.

Look at that! She found a heroic mentor! "I sort of REALLY need to help them... There are... sort of people dying. You go on ahead. I'll catch up by the time you get there. You can teach me how to set drinks on fire before consuming them and how to participate in the extra-cool acting of smoking very stylishly." She wreathes herself in energy and darts up to the 22nd floor where the other heroes move. She can't carry much, but... Every little bit helps, right?

Martian Manhunter turns back to the building...but there's. Fire. Quite a bit of it. He's fortunate Supergirl got the one on the higher floor before it fully registered...but he can't go in there. Literally can't. He wants to, but he can't, and for a long moment, the green Martian just stands there, frozen, looking for something he can do that doesn't involve dealing with *that*. And hoping nobody actually notices his issues.

With the help of the various heroes, the HIVE Drones, HIVE five, and Queen Bee are all captured and put into containment cells until such time as they can go to trial and be placed in a prison that can handle them.

EPILOGUE: Somewhere Else

"All went according to plan?"

"Yes Master. As well as could be expected in Metropolis. We knew, going in, we would have heavy opposition. But we were successful. The operatives we employed are none the wiser for the deception, and are all in custody now."

"Good. Mobilize our people. we depart in 20 minutes. Time to point our new friend at our final destination."