2014.02.09 - Discord and Mischief

There is, quite conceivably, no busier place in Metropolis - or anywhere else in NYC, for that matter - than Times Square. It doesn't really matter what time of day it is, nor what day of the week it may be. The place is always crowded. True, it's worse during the holidays than it is now, but it's all a matter of perspective.

A young woman strolls down the street, looking for all the world like she owns it, despite the fact her stylishly torn and ragged clothes, with their mismatch of dark colors, chains, zippers, lace, and leather, suggest she's the one that put the punk in Gothic-Punk. There's an unexpectedly red-lipped smile on her pale face and a pair of stout steel-toed boots on her feet, which she uses to kick refuse and extra snow away.

She pauses in the middle of the Square, in the middle of a Scramble, and throws her arms out wide, laughing as she dances in a capricious circle. Her purple eyes sparkle with power for just a second, and lays her hands on the shoulders of the passersby as she dances, causing many of them to abruptly chance course and fan out away from her in surprise and consternation.

It's shortly after that, that the street riot begins, and the girl laughs joyously in the midst of the chaos.

Johnny Storm enters from: Queens.

Cue well dressed man in a tailored suit that pauses in the front of a shop, keen blue-green eyes watching the growing chaos, though his main attention is on the girl in the center of the Square- the location of a few of his more recent tricks.

Loki's smile ghosts as his eyes cast upwards, checking the sides of the buildings for those cameras that he knows were set up during the fuss regarding the Superbowl. Lowering his gaze again, he brings his cane around to tap upon the concrete of the sidewalk. That causes some in that burgeoning riot to cease their movements and stare in his general direction. That smile ghosts once again, and there is that ever so slight -nod- towards those who will be 'his' followers in this little game.

Lay on!

Now, the riot is truly ready to begin.

A small shadow blocks out the sun for just a moment as Superman floats down between two skyscrapers, trying to gather information about what's happening. He sees the woman, and notices a group of people all turned and noticing another.

Peculiar.

Superman's voice is loud. "Everyone calm down!" It's a feeble attempt, of course, but he has to try before he does what he tries next.

This why Sue normally hates going shopping. But, her phone kind of died a rather horrible fate, so she had to get a replacement. And OF COURSE, her model of phone was only available in the Times Square store. She dragged Johnny along with the promise of a new pair of headphones or some such. But then, this happens.

Clutching her just-replaced StarkPhone in one hand, Sue watches the growing chaos with wide eyes. "What in the world?" Superman's attempt to settle things did not seem to make any difference at all.

There was something in the air. He could feel it. Or rather, the fact that he felt his fur rising was a big giveaway. Chaos was nearby.

Vorpal had been just a block away, doing his regular patrol (and stopping for a moment at Nino's because their hot dogs were to die for, really, you should give them a try- just make sure you ask for them to hold the suspicious-looking onions) when he had gotten a whiff of something strange. Now, like Miss Clavel, he was going "Something is not right! Something is quite wrong!

Then he had gone out into the street and seen the beginnings of the riot. Superman's booming voice made his ears twitch and he looked upwards.

~Oh, thank goodness, Superman is here!~

The cat crouched, just as one of the rioters threw something at him-- a trash can, really? he jumps upwards and levitates, "Time to get a better view of things..." He waves towards Superman, hoping the Man of Steel can see him. Just in case he might be of assistance.

"What could have started this?" he mutters as he floats upwards, trying to get the full scope and size of the riot so he can have a better idea of how to help contain it.

Psh, Johnny doesn't need headphones. He could really use a nice new sound system for his room, though! Because that would make Borderlands 2 like, extra awesome. He isn't paying very much attention to the people on the streets, as he's busy examining a new 7.1 Bose model surround sound system. "Hey Sis, what do you think of--huh? Whoa, what's going on out there?"

There was a disturbance in the force.

Well, morelike - Zee was currently doing her shift aboard the watchtower in the Monitor Womb, feet crossed at the ankles and propped up on the dashboard, a desk of cards in her hand that she was shuffling - her top hat jauntily tipped forward over her face. Shuffle shuffle shuffle. A card is pulled out, and she checks it. The Queen of Hearts. Replace it. Shuffle shuffle shuffle. The Queen of Hearts again. A smile touches her lips, and she does the trick once more.

The Three of Clubs. Frowning at herself, Zatanna opens her lips and draws a breath as if to say something - when the image on one of the monitors catches her eyes. The frown only grows deeper.

Whipping off her hat, Zee throws it towards the wall... it goes /through/ it...

And down below, admist the middle of the riot, a little portal - hardly noticeable, appears in the middle of the air, only long enough to admit the passage of a top hat, floating leisurely towards the ground. But the top hat starts billowing out a lavender sort of smoke, and then the observant might catch the form of a woman in the smoke - a woman that reaches down to pluck the top hat off of the ground as the smoke disappates, Zee settling the hat atop her head and flicking her eyes admist the chaos. Nothing suspicious yet. Besides the mass violence.

There's a feel to the City one learns to detect over time. And while, technically, Diana of Themyscira isn't native to New York and hasn't been here all that long, she's beginning to get that sense of ebb and flow. That, and she's stepped up her patrols, thanks to the fact that a) her mother has come to town and b) Karastos is still a threat. So, as the riot begins to ferment in one of New York's most famous locations, Diana finds herself winging her way over Midtown... only to hear Kal's voice boom out commandingly - if futilely.

She pours on the speed and soars amidst the skyscrapers toward the source of the conflict. "Superman?" Her blue eyes meet his as she approaches, and then flick away to the riot below. "What set this off?"

And, indeed, as Loki's power whispers through the crowd, Chaosgirl turns purple eyes across the square to see his dapper form. A wide smile graces her lips, sharp and amused. She flicks her hand again, golden motes unseen by any insensitive to magic, sparkle through the air to be inhaled by those around. A faint apple scent lingers over the square... right before her pawns assault the Asgardian's.

All of which means Superman's command has no effect whatsoever, aside from the occasional eye that flicks upward to find its source. The big problem here, though? The people below are all regular human beings, frail and, despite appearances, innocent of the actions in which they now engage. The worst part? There are cops in that crowd... and they're as human as everyone else.

The traffic lights turn from pedestrian crossing to car direction, but there's no way the vehicles can move. The press of people is too much. And when some of those on the fringe start grabbing hoods and rocking vehicles just because they can?


 * KRASH*

There goes at least one shop window... You know once that starts, others aren't far behind.

Even as the cops move in to try and stop it, they're soon emmeshed in pitched battles, themselves. And some of them are none too gentle about how they retaliate, their eyes as crazed as anyone else's in the square.

Sue Storm reaches to take Johnny's new sound system from him and drops her phone in with the other electronics. "Whatever it is, it's not good. Can you get a bit higher up and see what's going on? I'm going to talk with Superman, let him know that we're here." She startles as a shop window shatters not too far away, and almost instinctively a flat plane force field appears in place over where that window used to be to keep people from getting sliced up by the glass. "Go, Johnny. Quickly." For her own part, she leaves the sidewalk via her force field to hover about twenty feet above everyone and look at all of their reactions. Okay, most people are being actively destructive, but... is that woman wearing a top hat?

Loki stands on the edge of the growing tide of discontent, not particularly hiding himself in shifted form. Simply a change of outfit from his regular green and gold to a tailored suit and woolen coat. Black leather gloves hold the cane in his hand, and he looks every inch a dandy. A toff. A Prince, though exiled. He has eyes everywhere, but the moment Superman appears, those keen eyes look back up, landing upon the Man of Steel. The smile grows a touch more, and he takes a step 'down' the sidewalk, the cane coming up to tap one, two.. three passersby that aren't involved with a whispered, "Would you look at that. Is that Superman?"

Those that are 'touched' begin to walk, their necks straining to catch a glimpse of the famous Kryptonian they'd only read about. One man begins to take off at a run, waving his hands at the superhero. "Superman! I want your autograph! I was there when--"

OOF!

The next 'touched' pushes the man out of the way; a native New York woman who won't be silent. "My husband still hasn't yet found a job, Superman! He was at the Trade Center, and he hasn't recovered! If you could--"

Zee's appearance does gain Loki's attention. After all, magic use? Could be useful to him at some later date- or, not. Simple teleportation spell. Nothing to see here on that end. Purple... though others might assign points to style.

It's the Goth Chick that brings his gaze back, and in the meeting of the eyes, he starts in a whisper, but ends with a yell at her, "I am your Prince! Your god!"

And the crowd, as they say, is going wild.

"Not sure, Diana," Superman responds with a hint of frustration.

His blue eyes meet her as he shakes his head. "I'm going to try something."

There's that whole bit about the Polar Vortex and everything and how it's completely cramped everyone's style of late. If he learned anything about the effect of cold on people, he found they were quick to shut down once a certain temperature was reached. Not physically shut down, but just refrain from really wanting to do much.

Perhaps the same could be said about a man made-or Kryptonian made Polar Vortex.

Taking a massive breath inward, Superman breathes out and bathes a large swath of the area with cool air, hoping that will slow down their movements. At the beckoning of the woman, his eyes grow a bit quizzical, but he keeps doing what he's doing for now.

Vorpal 's ears are twitching all over the place. People shouting, people talking--- prince?

Yellow-green eyes focus quickly on the source of the shout, and then they narrow.

"Loki" the Cheshire says. He's met the Trickster face to face. Heck, he helped him and his brother when they were switched. He teleports to him, angrily. "Loki... are you behind this?" he snarls, hands on his hips. When the Super Vortex hits, he shivers. "... cut it out this instant, please! At least remember that you owe me!"

Johnny nods, looking only slightly disappointed over the sound system. Oh well, it could wait. He has more exciting things to do, because the glass to a shop window just shattered.

Now if anyone has flashy powers, it's the Torch. His flames erupt out of his body and he soars into the air, leaving a trail of fire in his wake. Once he's reached about the same altitude as Superman, he peers down below, searching for what might be causing all of this.

Wait...is that Loki?

The vortex of cold snaps Zee's up from the mingling chaos around her - Zatanna's eyes fixing on Superman. Good. If this all goes bad - at least the magicienne could count on backup. Zatanna wasn't watching the skies so much, but she did see a familar figure. What did he call himself in his superhero name again? Ah, right, "Vorpal!" Zee calls to him, trying to track his eyes to see what he was looking at. While she does look in the direction of Loki - she does not pick him up out of the crowd. Especially when the police start...

"Oh no," whispers Zatanna, her eyes going to the cops. With a flick of her wrist, her wand drops into her hand, and she lifts it, waggling it in a circle as she fixes her gaze on those police. "Snug dna sbulc ot maof!"

If it worked according to how she was envisioning - the weapons the police were using to beat or - heaven forbid - shoot the crowd would turn into nerf weapons.

Diana notes the presence of the other heroes - the fiery Torch and floathing cat so very obvious. Zatanna's smoke, unique because of its color, assures her others of the JLA have come to join this fight... Such as it is?

"We need to prevent the citizens from hurting one another - and apprehend those that would control them." Because, blessed as she is by Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and War, it doesn't take the Amazon very long to determine that there are, indeed, two factions fighting here. And Loki cannot be the sole cause.

Her eyes settle upon the dancing Punk, whose capriciousness is far unlike that of those around her.

Nevertheless, Loki is indeed a Prince. And such a gallant one, at that, stealing all the focus of the mighty Metropolitan heroes away from her. Chaosgirl's smile remains wide and sharp, and highly amused. However, her eyes rise to the heroes above, and purple gaze meets that of the Themysciran. "You'll have to catch me first, Wonder Woman," she sing-songs, somehow turning the Amazon's name into a slur. Then, there is golden fire and purple smoke in the middle of the square and the girl covers her movement with a well directed surge of rioters interested solely in countering the Asgardian's mischief.

Superman's blast of cold air, however, does not leave the rioters unaffected. Cold is cold and human bodies are terribly susceptible to it - something neither Chaosgirl nor the Asgardian Prince likely care overly much about. Some shiver and slow... mostly those around the edges. Indeed, it's enough to shake them from their trance and make them pull back. But those in the thick of it are insulated by the bodies around them, and are not quite so easily stopped.

The Invisible Girl's shield keeps the rioters from entering the store with the broken window. But there are other stores about and her shields will only extend so far. Collateral damage is likely unavoidable. Though, really... the crowd seems more about causing chaos and destruction than looting or stealing.

As Vorpal moves toward Loki and Johnny soars up to join Superman and Wonder Woman, Zatanna's spell causes bullets to transform into foam darts and metal pistol grips to transform into plastic. Not, mind, that a plastic nerf gun handle can't still do damage. It just might take more force on the officer's part. Force some of them are more than willing to use.

That cold breath of air may rattle a good number of people of the crowd, but there are a few hearty souls that are happily tossing things through store-front windows (including the one that is just now reopened after having a cross-town bus hurled through it courtesy of Molly Hayes). Everything ranging from TVs to Doughnuts is taken away as a prize, but the spoils belong to the strong.

When the sides truly clash, it's a matter of 'stuff' vs. 'have no stuff yet'. And those that whip out their cells for the pictures. And those who just take the opportunity to beat up on their fellow man (and the Trickster isn't telling them to do more, just.. that it's okay to do so. For him.).

Vorpal's appearance before him takes Loki aback, and his eyes narrow, his expression closed. Haughty. "Yes, you did. And I don't owe you. My brother does." After all, what's good for one brother is usually good for the other. Just have to know how and where to look is all. As for whether or not he's behind this?

Gesturing towards the street and GothGirl beyond, Loki murmurs, "Behold."

Now, of course the Flash garners attention whereever he goes. He's flaming, and in the dark, better than a flare pistol! Loki looks up and whistles softly, "Must be part Muspel." Not a bad thing, of course. Just something to watch.

Now, however, Loki narrows his eyes and lifts his cane to take a strike at a passerby that happens to be 'working for the other team'. A roundhouse *THWACK* to the side of a gents head brings the man down and onto the ground. It's a seemingly casual strike; not one borne of anger, but more in the sense of ... swatting a fly.

In all, Loki's threat assessment brings him back around to Superman, and it's with another swing of the cane, again a seemingly effortless gesture, that the Asgardian Prince hurls a ball of pure Telekenetic energy (very much like Iron Man's repulsors) at the Man of Steel's head. The moment that is set in motion, Loki turns around and begins to walk away, his step unhurried. Not before he takes note of someone named... Wonder Woman? What? But, it's not enough to keep him in location. His minions will fight until they're too tired, too cold. And when they're done, they'll search him out, one by one, and give him their fealty. Their loyalty. From there?

Loki continues to build his army.

Superman turns at the last moment, breaking off his super breath. He 's about to take that shot, right off the chest, thinking it is some sort of energy blast.

Boy is he wrong.

The blast hits him straight in the forehead. Having no extra defenses, it hits him like a safety coming over the middle and leading with his helmet.

Superman is knocked out cold and drops from the sky, right into the middle of a group of rioters.

There's ripping and gnashing as the rioters try to tear his cape and suit. Though he cannot really be hurt by their barbs, the unconscious Superman has his face slapped and his hair pulled as the rioters get nasty with him.

Vorpal watches Loki hurl his energy at Superman and sees the Man of Steel knocked out of the sky. And his eyes glow purple, with the stripes on his fur emitting the same light. Suddenly, he doesn't look like his usual, friendly self.

" You shouldn't have done that.."

Summoning his powers of illusion, the Cheshire cat summons a piercing, ear-splitting noise to hang around Loki's ears, accompanied with violent strobe lights, lasers and shimmers aimed at the god of Mischief's eyes. Hopefully it'll be enough to stun the Mischief Maker for only a split second. That's all he needs.

In the cat's right hand, an enormous mallet in the shape of a purple, glowing flamingo appears. This flamingo he swings, muscles tensing, bulging and releasing, in an aim to impact the Thunderer's brother and send him reeling, hopefully causing him to focus on the purple cat and giving the other heroes-- Hi Boss!(Zatanna)-- some time to rescue Superman and help calm the rioters.

" Towandaaaa!"

Hey, lay off him. He stayed up late last night watching Fried Green Tomatoes.

Johnny is sort of at a loss on what exactly he can do in this situation. That is, without actually hurting any of the mind-controlled people. See, the thing with his powers is that there are a limited number of things he can do to an ordinary person without severely injuring them or killing them.

Sighing, he flies down toward the crowd, searching for any weapons he can target and melt/burn without setting the people holding them on fire. He sees Superman go down, but isn't too concerned about the Kryptonian...these people won't really be able to do much to him.

That wasn't quite the effect Zee was hoping to have. But in the end - it would take a lot more effort to kill anyone with plastic guns. Or so she hoped. Zatanna purses her lips, her mind roiling madly - taking a step back in her shapely heels to avoid a swing by one of the rioters, Zee nearly stumbles on said heels, one of her ankles going out, quickly murmurs, "Ekam stoob erom lacitcarp won!" And with a spark of magic, the heels disappear from her boots, replaced by nice chunky, far more stable ones. "Right," she murmurs.

"Time for a little smoke and mirrors, hmm?"

"...etaerc ynam snoisulli fo snairtsedep gninnur koma!" If everything worked out like Zee wanted - illusions would flash into life amongst her, images of people - just everyday people, dashing here and there. The idea was to lower overall damage by providing false targets for rioters to try to chase - and hit!

In the corner of her eye, she saw Vorpal - and she also saw Superman go down. That... concerned her. What could knock out the man of steel? The source of all this?

Loki can -feel- Superman falling from the sky, and there's a pleased smile that ghosts. The ear-splitting noise does cause his step to pause before he whips around, eyes narrowed, and with the same push, pushes that 'flamingo' back with no little force. It's when he finally catches those brilliant lights that he simply...

Disappears. There one second, gone the next.

Across the street, then, is Loki in the same dapper suit. And another on another corner. And yet another now dotting the thoroughfare. Should anyone try to attack any one of them? Met with air. No resistance. Nothing but a flicker before it blinks out. As for the original?

Gone.

Sue Storm was actually on her way to where Superman was when Loki's attack knocks him clean out of the air. She gasps and zooms to where the hero lies, using her force fields (the one blocking the window disappears) to shove people away from him and gradually building a clear space around him. If she'd seen who did that, Loki would have totally gotten a force field to the face. Alas.

The Square is now in greater confusion than before. Between one illusion and another, it becomes nearly impossible to discern who's real and who isn't. (Except, of course, that all those Lokis can't be real... which likely means that none of them are.)

As Kal falls from the sky, Diana whips a fast glance towards him. Were Sue not moving to intercept, she'd very likely have broken off her pursuit of Little Miss Chaos. But, thanks to the blonde, doesn't have to. It's the scent of apples in the purple smoke, the golden flames, and shimmering magic, that tips her off. Always with the apples. "Eris!"

Chaosgirl, more properly - yes - Eris, laughs, clapping joyfully at the chaos and discord she and the Nordic Trickster have inspired. "Better luck next time, Diana!" she calls, at the edge of the Square. Another flash of fire and smoke and she disappears... though the effects of her magic remain. And they simply aren't pretty.

But, one thing's for sure. Not even magic-fooled humans are willing to cross fires, which might give Johnny and advantage. And the cops drop their plastic weapons pretty quickly when they start to melt in their hands. Foam clubs are useless, but fists still work. At least, they do until lingering cold reminds them who they are and, in confusion, they reel backwards only to find themselves assaulted by those they had assaulted.

Definitely very, very messy, all this.

Sue Storm stays where she is, a force field keeping everyone at bay while she drops her bag of electronics (gently, Johnny, your speakers are fine) then kneels down to check on Superman. This is really, really bad.

Vorpal growls as the mallet is pushed back. Loki's disappearing act does little to abate the cat's anger. The mallet disappears into thin air.

He had to act swiftly--- Zatanna was taking care of the weapons, Sue seemed to have Superman in a safe spot. But the rioters were now turning on the police. The most important thing was to get the rioters isolated. Wonder Woman is also on the scene, and Johnny is melting weapons... so his task now is to keep them off from killing the police.

Easier said than done. Unlike the other heroes, his powers had a limited application in this instance. He thinks for a second... and then he teleports to the side of the policemen uner assault.

"It's time out for those who misbehave!"

Taking a deep breath, he summons a wide swath of impenetrable darkness with his illusory powers and lets it descend on the nearest group of rioters. As the darkness is illusory, it is not affected by sources of light.

Vorpal knows that it is common part of human nature to stop everything when swathed in darkness. He remembers suddenly stopping like a statue when a blackout happened at night, at least until his eyes accustomed to the darkness. He's counting on that instinctive reply now--- who knows if it will even happen because of the ... godly influences? At least he had to try.

Johnny keeps trying to think of things he can do in this situation. The weapon melting is helping, but people still have their fists and can't be relieved of them without severely injuring them or worse. Well...he could create a flash of light that would act like a giant stun grenade, blinding everyone in the vicinity. That might not go over so well with the other heroes and those who weren't affected by...whoever or whatever that was.

Hm. He watches the remaining rioters as they continue to assault the police. There's kind of a line between them, like between two sides of a battlefield. They're pretty tight up against each other, but maybe if he starts with just a little bit of flame down on the ground and slowly brings up it upward, it would drive them back, away from the police, without burning anyone too severely. So he attempts to do just that...

...Okay, some people might end up with singed hair or pants on fire.

Zatanna Zatara says, "ooc :sneeeerks. Okay, I'm gonna retype my pose all different. Johnny, you're amazing. XD"

Okay. Guess who was in the middle of that crowd of rioters? One Ms. Zatanna Zatara. It was really hard to miss the fire arcing towards her, pushing up - even in the crowd of rioters, Zee was kinda herded forward by the fire. Grasping her hat atop her head, Zee kinda pushs and mingles - someone giving her a bit of a sucker punch across the jaw as her eyes cross briefly.

One thing Zee was noticing, though? If the people were behaving like they should with fire, they should be bunching all up. Even if they weren't...

"Etativel enoyreve dnuor em!" If Zee manages to pull it off, she was /hoping/ to kinda just start gently levitating everyone off of the ground, dangling the crowd in midair. Hopefully unable to hit each other.

Diana lands in the spot Eris vacated, looking around sharply. In lieu of laying hands on the Goddess of Discord, or even the Prince of Asgard, by this time, however, she finds that her priorities must shift. The riots must be quelled. So, she looses her lasso from her belt and begins to uncoil it. Moving swiftly, she snares small groups at a time, using the Truth inherent in the rope to bring the rioters back to themselves, working slowly inward from one edge.

Meanwhile, Sue guards Superman, the Man of Steel quite unconscious. He breathes, at least. That's something. But, he shows no signs of waking, which is concerning.

Vorpal's darkness stuns several of the rioters and, when combined with Johnny's fire, creates a unique situation where people must, indeed, stop, for fear of running into flames they can only feel, not see. The sense of self-preservation is enough to bring several of them back to their senses. Then, they're levitating and...

Well, it takes a while, but between them, Zatanna, Torch, Vorpal, and Diana manage to bring some semblance of order to the crowd, while the Invisible Girl protects the fallen Man of Steel.

Vorpal lifts the veil of darkness once the rioters are safely levitating. At that point he allows himself a little smirk. "Hey, accidental teamwork, boss." He shoots Johnny a thumbs-up and says "Do I get any syngery points?"

Pfff. Johnny would -so- rather be kicking Loki's ass or something instead of trying to herd rioters. Because that's like, boring. He shrugs at Vorpal. "Eh, sure. But you're better at this crowd control thing than I am. Kinda hard to use fire and -not- hurt people with it." When all was said and settled, Zee kinda... draws a hand across her brow. A beat, and a little smile dances across her features as she looks back towards Vorpal. A beat, and she gives the catman a wink, and a thumbsup. "I do think we worked rather well together - all of us," says Zee, glancing past him to... tap her magic wand against her boots, "Ylepahs sleeh yoha!" she says, and with a 'puff' of magic, the once flat heels lift up to the pointier version that she started with.

"Did... Superman go down?" asks she, giving Vorpal a worried look as she moves to approach... "Princess! Do you have any idea what that was all about? I felt magic - /strong/ magic - but beyond those odd shapes in the trenchcoat, I did not see anything."

Diana releases the last of the rioters, and coils her lasso. Her expression is concerned, nonetheless, as she makes her way through the crowd, emergency response from out of the area finally beginning to arrive. She shakes her head as she reaches the other heroes. "No," she says grimly in response to Zatanna. "But, I have a hunch it was about little more than what we saw - chaos and destruction. The girl was a disguise for Eris, Goddess of Discord. And Loki? I do not know much about him, but I know he is considered a trickster and has caused harm before now." She shakes her head. "I think what we saw here, today, is nothing more than the pair expressing their natures. But, we cannot allow that."

One more thing for her to add to her list of supernatural things to hunt down and stop. At least she can't say she'll be bored anytime soon.

"Or worse... prevent them from working together." Vorpal says, approaching Zatanna and Diana and patting out parts of his fur that had gotten singed a little due to proximity to the fire. "I apologize, I couldn't do much to Loki." he mutters, clearly displeased.

~This is why you don't fight gods.~

~And what, let him do as he please, willy-nilly?~

~You leave the gods to the heavy hitters.~

Heavy hitters. Oh crap. "Is Superman going to be alright?" he asks, concern on his face as he remembers that it was Loki who did... something to him.

Zee imagined that gods were a bit out of her paygrade, too. As powerful a sorceress as she was... well, she was of help here, and that's what counted. "It's... /Loki/ was here? /And/ Eris? No wonder I felt like I did," says Zee, bringing up her wand to push the brim of her top hat up higher unto her head. Then, with a twist of her wrist, her wand slides back into her sleeve.

"I suppose it could have been much, much worse, then. Or perhaps the worse is yet to come," says Zee, pursing her lips tightly as she looks between the remaining heroes. "Well, Di - if you need help at all, just let me know, alright? This gods thing is a little high dollar for me - but I might have a trick or two up my sleeve yet. A good magician always does."

"Yeah, I guess he was." Johnny answers Z's questions. "Too bad he ran off like a coward though, he really could've used a good whoopin'." He punches at the air at this. "Well you folks don't need any more fire on the scene I guess I'll get back to the Baxter Building."

And with that he zooms off, a flaming streak in the sky.

"We need to get Superman back to the Watchtower," Diana says, answering Vorpal and letting Zee know just what help is still required. This blow, so soon on the heels of the kryptonite bullet that nearly killed him, has the Amazon quite concerned. She reaches out to lay a hand on Vorpal's shoulder. "And you and I should have a conversation soon, my friend. Especially, if you're going to continue to challenge gods." She smiles, though there's still a seriousness to her eyes.

Releasing the cat's shoulder, she turns and watches Johnny streak off. Then, she moves towards Sue to collect Superman, lifting him easily and almost tenderly. "I'll meet you at the Watchtower, Zatanna," she says. Her gaze follows to Vorpal. "You may join us if you wish. Otherwise, come see me at the Embassy when you are next free."

That said, she activates her JLA communicator and a blue pulse of light surrounds her and Kal-El for half-a-second, before they both disappear as the light fades.

Vorpal blinks, and looks at Zatanna once Diana leaves. "Watchtower? Really? Can I?" He walks over to Zatanna and gives her the Puss In Boots Eye Treatment "Oh, boss, can I? I'll just take a peek!"

Screw feline decorum- he wants a peek at the fabled Watchtower. Hey, when is he going to get the chance again?

Zee pulls the hat off of her head, and with a snap of her hands - throws it down towards the ground. The hat never struck the ground. Nor was it in her hands, a certain sparkle in Zee's eye as she shows Vorpal her now-empty hands. "Of course you can. I ~am~ your boss, but that's only in my theater," a little smirk. "Unless you like being bossed around," she says.

Reaching out her hand, she clasps Vorpals shoulder, and says, "Ekat su ot ym tah!"

And the two of them vanish from sight, winking out of existance.

Leaving the street oddly silent, barring the slow murmur of people that had yet to be sorted.