2013.06.28 - Born on a Monday

Superman: Born on a Monday (The Guede, Part 2)

''"In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight way was lost." - Dante's Inferno''

SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA - 4 YEARS AGO

The air is stale here in this medical facility and has been for the past 6 months since she was checked into rehab. Technically, she checked herself in because patients had to be there willingly. Of course, the technicality was that she 'chose' to be there instead of spending 3 months in jail for theft.

But after her stay, she'd gradually been warming to the idea of a life without heroin, coke, and on her worst days, methamphetamines. And by the time she reaches the desk to fill out the needed paperwork to check out, she's feeling the first excitement for her newfound freedom.

She takes the clipboard from the assistant behind the desk after getting some instructions, but when she goes to begin the paperwork, she finds a pen isn't attached.

A pen comes into her vision from her right.

"Here," a young man about her age says to her. He's got dark hair and tanned skin with a wide smile. "I got you."

"Thanks," Genevieve says as she takes the pen after taking the ear bud out of her ear.

"I'm Marc."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ORLEANS - NEAR JACKSON SQUARE - TODAY

"May I see the warrant?" Superman asks the officer. Behind them a full three squadrons of New Orleans SWAT officers are geared up. Superman nods to the assembled heroes and takes a quick read through. Nothing of note.

He looks at the building in front of them; a small white hut. "Well, we all need to be really careful here." He looks to the police captain who gives him a nod. "Okay, I'll go first." Taking point is something he normally does, considering he can take a great deal of damage. Though he's much more limited against magic, he can still pack a wallop.

Superman takes a step forward and comes to a stop. His hands come up as he pushes on what looks to be thin air. "I can't get in. There's something blocking it." Looking down upon the ground, he sees a scorch mark, just past where the 'field' is. The mark goes across the front and around the entirety of the hut.

Though Superman will not know what it is, Amanda surely does. It's a protection circle. And judging by the emanations it gives off, no one who isn't a magic user will be able to enter.

Captain America reads the warrant over Superman's shoulder. When the Kryptonian decides to take point he says nothing because despite magic it's still the obvious choice. "I'm on Superman's six. Vorpal and Iron Spider on the left and right flanks."

When the circle stops Superman, Captain America bangs his shield on it just for the heck of it. He looks at Daytripper. "Cam you do anything about this?"

"You know, Supes..." says the other time-displaced strapping blond guy with a star on his chest, aka Booster Gold, "No disrespect meant but... I mean, after what happened last time..." He lowers his voice into a quieter tone, since Superman can easily hear that. "You don't have to go in first all the time, especially not when there might be something that can..." Booster waves his hand vaguely. He does not want to spell it out. "I'm just saying, you have us here, and you don't have to take the brunt of it yourself."

Having been told of the rendezvous point, Orin decided to head there his own way rather than be flown, teleported, or otherwise arrived there without traveling through the sea. It might have been different if they were going to a landlocked place, but the King of Atlantis knows the Gulf quite well. He spent a good deal of time, effort, and frustation helping to clean it up after the most recent Oil Spill. He's spent brief bits of time in New Orleans, but hasn't really gotten to know the city or the history, but no doubt that will change rather quickly.

It doesn't take him any longer to swim than it might take most to fly, oddly enough. and he arrives only shortly after the SWAT team has gathered, dripping wet, as tends to be his usual state. He looks over as Superman says he can't get through the barrier and lifts the Trident of Neptune, aiming the tines in the direction of the house. A blast of energy then shoots from the magical, mystical weapon. He figured he might as well try.

So, Channel had been in New Orleans for something different at the time. She owed someone a favor from back in the day, and that marker had been called in. Of course, getting down to New Orleans when she was able to fly hadn't been a problem. She'd just made use of cloud cover and other means to avoid detection. She'd finished up that favor, whatever it may have been, and had been planning on taking off soon. She did want to see New Orleans a little bit while she was here, and it was summer. She'd brought her costumed gear, just in case it was necessary though.

Of course, that meant that Channel picked up on something weird. It was New Orleans. There was magic. And her energy sight let her pick up on there being something serious going on. And that was what brought her to this area and to meet up with the assembled heroes.

Channel had already slipped her mask on, covering her face, but she was otherwise dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Hardly the normal heroing costume, but it at least wasn't identifying. That was the important part. "That's a strong energy field," Channel says as she looks at the magical field, wrinkling her nose at it, her voice recognizable to at least a few people here. She hadn't expected to recognize so many heroes here. And wow, Superman and Captain America were here? It must be important. She then watches Orin take a shot at the field and prepares to be ready to absorb anything that might bursting out in case it doesn't go well. Channel had seen a few too many booms lately to be anything but cautious.

As Superman tries entering the warded space, Daytripper, who's been in town several hours already, checking out the lay of the land and meditating so as to shore up her strength, is already moving toward the small group of superheroes, holding up a hand to forestall him.

"It's warded against anyone that's not a magic user," she tells him, tells them all. She glances to Cap. "I believe I may be able to collapse it, but I'm not sure. Voudoun is as tricky a magic as any I've encountered and this circle is strong." She looks up at the ward-dome only she can see. "Be ready, though. As soon as they sense me trying, there's very likely going to be hell to pay."

She raises her hands, now, and begins chanting, trying to break the wards...

Practically bouncing on tiptoe, Daybreak is clearly excited to be here. She may have been seen around Los Angeles or New York in her sunrise-colored bodysuit, but she's hardly made any sort of impression as a heroine. She glances toward Captain America when he starts directing the others, unsurprised that he hasn't noted her. He probably doesn't even know her name, all things considered, but that's going to change today. Without being told, she moves to join the pack. Man, this is going to be a great day!

Not to mention the wonders it will do for her career.

Vorpal had taken the jet that Superman offered, of course. He is with the group of heroes at the outside of the Little Hut On The Hellside watching Superman take point. He advances behind him, preparing for anything when Superman stops. Natural curiosity makes him look at where Superman seems unable to advance...

"This is going to prove to be one hell of a bother," he growls. When his mentor, Daytripper, begins to chant, he prepares.

"Just a quick note, I can create a fifteen-foot radius shield very quickly in case something gets thrown at us. So... if any of you don't have defenses against magic, get behind me and I'll try to ease the blast."

Iron Spider takes a second to look over the warrants from over Superman's other shoulder. Just a glance is enough to get a copy he can scan through to make sure he knows exactly what can and can not be done under the window of the law that they allow. That done he takes a second to test the barrier with one of the spider waldoes just to see if it will react to the tech or not. There is a nod to Captain America, but no comment. He came with Vorpal what ever way he arranged for the trip and has been silent almost the entire time, something that is most likely a little odd for anyone that knows almost any other person that has put on a Spider person costume.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

JACKSON SQUARE

After moving in together, it became abundantly clear that Marc and Ginny needed a new start. Old habits die hard and Ginny's old friends in Shreveport had a way of getting her into old habits.

When Marc got an offer to study music in grad school at Tulane, the pair took the opportunity to get out of the small town and head to a big city.

It took them a while to get settled, but once they did they found the change was fantastic for them. Marc graduated and taught Orchestra and Band at a school, while Ginny got a job at a gas station while she pursued her GED and, later, tech school. For the first time in her life, she was happy and looking forward to her prospects. She'd come a long way since her parents died, since she dropped out, since she got deep into drugs and got busted.

For fun, they both play in a band together that was some sort of cross between Ska and New Orleans jazz. He plays bass, and she sings.

After a long, hard life, she's begun to develop a sense of pride in herself.

At a cafe on Jackson Square, Marc slides over a plate with a large beignet on it. "You get first dibs," he says to her, flashing his familiar smile. She smiles back and pops out the earbud from her StarkPod that she has playing almost continually. "You want to go out after work tonight?" Genevieve ponders for a moment before responding. "Would you mind meeting down here? I have to work an extra two hours. I'm filling in for Janice who is at her granddaughter's birthday."

"Yeah," Marc says. "I'll pick you up when you get off. You ha-" Marc's face twists as he looks up over Ginny and sees commotion down the way. "What's going on down there?" he asks rhetorically.

MADAME LA MASQUE'S HUT

Superman nods to Cap and then looks to Booster as he offers to take his place on point. For a moment, his face falters and he's not sure how to respond. "I appreciate that, Booster."

*CRACKLE BOOM*

The bolt from Orin's trident smacks into the protection circle and a ripple of electricity spider-webs out a long it. For a brief moment, everyone gets a better idea of what it looks like, but unfortunately the blast does little to burst it open.

Amanda reaches her arms to the sky and does her best, but she's unable to crack the circle. Her attempt ripples over the shield much like Orin's does, but does not allow the rest of the team entry.

Though she warns of potential retribution, and despite Vorpal's offer of help, nothing seems to happen in response. Instead, all remains quiet. It may dawn on Amanda now, that the device is set to stall, and that she, being the only magic wielder in the party, will likely have to enter alone.

Superman does seem to notice Daybreak and gives her a nod and curt smile. "Daybreak. I think I've seen some of your work. Thank you for joining us."

When Iron Spider takes a look at the warrant, it notes that they're here to arrest Madame La Masque. Though they cannot prove she attacked Superman on Monday, they can move forward on the child endangerment and abuse charges. But as Iron Spider attacks the circle, he gets the same response everyone else does.

Superman is the first to turn around once he hears what's happening. Though he should have heard it before, he's been focused on what's in front of him. It's what's behind them that is truly worrisome.

A large, shuffling army roams down the streets of New Orleans. After using his telescopic vision, he can see that the army is made up of the dead. There are hundreds.

While Daytripper works her spell, Captain America gives the King of Atlantis a questioning look, silently waiting to see the trident ewffects, which turn out to be eye-catching.

When Daytripper is finished he says "Booster is right, Superman. We know the risks, you should let us take some of the burden, do our parts" Then he turns to face the group.

"Speaking of which. Vorpal makes a good point. I don't know some of you, but that doesn't mean anyone is less important than the rest. If you have an idea, speak up. Yes, I like to give -" Red gloved hands come up and make air-quotes - "orders, but I'm not anyone's boss. I can't make a good plan if I don't know what everyone can do, so feel free to tell me, and everyone. We are all on the same team."

And there it is, Captain America's real skill. Not the wonder metal disk, or the chemical miracle in his body, or the combat training. The ability to include everyone and inspire them to do their best.

He's about to go on when he catches sight of the mob behind them.

"God, mother, and country." Cap swears quietly."Right then, if Daytripper has to go in alone, then it's our job to keep that off her back. People who can, herd them away from the civilians. Everyone else, fight on!"

And then he's running toward the mob.

When Booster Gold sees the look on Superman's face, he turns his head to have a glance at what is going on behind them as well. When his goggles pick up the shuffling hordes, he turns around completely and ends up hovering a few feet in the air, to get a better vantage point. "Hokey smokes," he says. "Roger that, Captain." He flies towards the mob as well, although he takes a moment to wrench some exquisite wrought iron fencing from one of the buildings. "Sorry! Skeets, get the info of this place and have them bill me!"

With that, Booster takes off like a bullet, using the fencing as a cowcatcher on a train is used. Although one would hope that a train would not plow through a herd of cows; Booster actually is plowing through the undead in an attempt to knock them down en masse to keep them busy.

Orin arches an eyebrow as Captain America talks about giving orders and blue eyes glance to Superman as if to silently ask a question. No telepathy has been used in that look, however. It's then that he also hears the shuffling although it takes him a little longer to realize just what it is. Looking between the girl who is apparently to go in alone and the mob of zombies, he finally offers, "I'll stay here...be her backup for when she gets the thing down. I'll also take care of anything that gets through."

Amanda frowns as the strength of the circle becomes apparent. "It's no good," she says, lowering her arms. She glances over her shoulder at the others. "Okay," she says, taking in a deep breath of the humid Louisianan air. "I'm going in. I'll see if I can bust it from the inside." Even if it means taking out the witch that created it.

Don't worry, stalwart heroes. She won't kill anyone. She knows better.

She gives Cap's speech a bit of a wry smile, squares up, primes a couple of magic bolts around her fists (just in case), and steps through the warded barrier toward the building within.

Looking at the field, Channel considers for what might seem like an eternity. She doesn't like the idea of Daytripper going in alone. It wasn't the way she liked things to go. But she didn't really have a way in. She boosts up her physical abilities as she spots the incoming zombies and frowns. "I'll slow them down," the woman says. She reaches out to drain kinetic energy from them, focusing on the right side of the various members of the horde. She's trying to cause zombies to trip from a distance and cause some problems for them that way before the rest of the heroes whack them with their powers.

SUPERMAN KNOWS HER NAME!! Daybreak could simply go 'squee!' and collapse. Really, she could, but there are more important things at hand -- after all, they are here on a mission. So she simply beams at the Man of Steel, tips him a jaunty two-fingered salute, and then turns when she sees him do the same, silver eyes widening behind her mask at the sight of the zombie horde. A dozen scenes from as many films flash through her mind, none of them promising that this will go well. Her beaming smile is a thing of the past now. "Oh, ick," she says softly, sadly, but she is not going to screw this up.

In an instant the blonde girl is gone, a brief brilliant streak of light extending from where she stood a moment before to the top of a nearby building where she will be out of the way, not getting underfoot and undermining the efforts of the veteran heroes. From this position, though, she can rain down light upon the zombies, aiming, at first, for feet and legs -- helping to sow confusion (can zombies get confused, she wonders inwardly) and take the zombies off their feet.

"Take care of yourself, teach," Vorpal calls after Daytripper, and nods to Channel "Alright, slow them down for me... I've got an idea. Spidey, see if you can tangle some of them after I've passed through!"

ZAP! It's not a BAMF, but it'll do-- Vorpal Sidesteps and goes into a full run towards the mob, having used his ability to reach Captain America's run. As he sees Booster's rather ingenious use of random pieces of fence, he gets an idea to help out.

"Let me give you a little more clearance, Captain." Another Sidestep and he Zaps ahead, jumping into the air and landing... on a purple, glowing log that stretches fifteen feet across. He immediately starts backpedaling on it, causing it to carry him down the street faster and faster on the incline, until it is he who is struggling to keep up with the log rather than the other way around.

"Nothing like a little healthy spot of log rollin'!" he shouts, jumping off the log as it careens down towards the zombies that didn't take a ride on Booster's Magical Fence Of Pointy Death. He falls into a crouch as he lands, waiting to see whether he hits a strike...or a spare!

Iron Spider is not attacking the barrier, so much as poking it lightly with a big fake spider leg just to see if it would stop a non-living thing. As the real attacks on the barrier happen he steps back, watches, and records. A better understanding of what those around him can do is always a good thing. He is about to actually say something when the mob behind them gets spotted. Well, that is something he does not see every day. He takes a second to zoom in and get a good look at what the mob. He sets his suit to hacking into any CCTV system, Traffic Camera, or ATM Camera he can find in the area so he can keep an eye on the outer edges of the mob and if parts of it start to split off he can make sure people know. "Vorpal, you're magic, if you can get through the barrier with her act as back up." He says just before the cat takes off for another idea entierly, one that looks like it will probably work out pretty well. His first instinct is to hit the stealth, but it is not like that is going to have much effect on the undead so instead does a quick check of his web fluid levels before starting to use webbing to shoot not at feet or legs, since other people seem to be working to trip them up, but in short streams and lines to try and bind groups of them together and keep most of them corralled.

JACKSON SQUARE

"Run!" Marc yells as it becomes clear what's happening. Down at the far end, a large mass of slow moving, shambling corpses are making their way through the street.

With dead eyes (well, those who have eyes) and skin that slides over top their moving bones like a wire hanger under a heavy coat, the zombies shuffle about aimlessly, reaching up to grab anyone not fleet of foot enough to get out of their way.

Marc finally implores Ginny to get going, as they break for the north. As he looks over his shoulder, Marc sees the closest zombie tear into the cheek of an elderly woman who was too slow to get away. The zombie tears the cheek away before three more begin to devour the woman.

"GO!"

OUTSIDE OF MADAME LA MASQUE'S HUT

The door creaks open to the dark hut and Amanda strides in, unsure of what to expect.

The only light comes from sparse candles but she can make out a woman in a rocking chair, casually dipping back and forth with a cigarette between two of her fingers.

"Issa Daytrippa? Yes?" she asks and tilts her head to the side and smiles wickedly. "Ida figured youd be heah."

But rather than attack, she simply rocks back and forth and takes a drag from her cigarette.

Booster Gold makes like a zombie mower as he flies off and takes down a swath of zombies, knocking them straight down to the ground. It's sad almost, with as helpless as they are against the attack. Their rigor mortised bodies are certainly not very agile, and many of them go down in a large heap of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Well, it'd be sad if they weren't undead looking to eat hero brains.

In the distance, perhaps a quarter of the mile away, one zombie stands above the rest. Perhaps twice to three times as tall and four times as wide, the figure wears tattered black clothing and a cut noose hangs from his neck. He moans louder than the rest, looks stronger than the rest, and is bashing his smaller monsters out of his way as he tracks down towards the heroes at a brisker pace than the others.

Vorpal's attack works in a similar fashion to Booster (read: effectively). It's at the end of the run that things become worrisome, however. As he heads towards Grundy, Grundy is also heading towards him. The giant zombie reaches back with a giant hand and swats Vorpal away and off to the side. If that weren't bad enough, he gets pushed towards a group of zombies who've not been taken out yet.

Captain America is the first out of the gate, running right into battle. As he approaches Grundy, he realizes the giant is about three times his height. Cap is certainly not frightened, but many of the police men on the SWAT team are afraid for him.

As they approach, Solomon Grundy reaches way back and throws a thundering shot right towards Captain America, with a hand so big it'll be tough to get out of the way from.

Channel's attack causes a host of zombies to be even more stumbly than before. A good number trip, and others trip over those in a zombie domino. As one looks up at her, it hisses and screeches towards her. It crawls on its hands and knees, intermittently reaching up towards her head.

Daybreak's attack comes, by luck, towards the group of Zombies that surround Vorpal. When it looks like the evil undead are going to eat some cat brains, suddenly they're attacked with her light, and pushed back in our heroes own version of a circle of protection.

What Iron Spider will find by using his technology to get into cameras is that the Zombie horde is not just limited to this area. It's all over the city. When he fires his bonds, he's able to get a couple dozen to be corralled together. Confused, they begin trying to attack each other for a moment, and some even bit into the others, until they realize they are not what they're hungry for.

"Roger that, Aquaman," Captain America answers. "Let us know if you need help." When Vorpal appears he says "What the Spider said wasn't a bad sugges--" but then he's off again. Cap's eyes dart around the field, taking note of everyone's first strikes. Then he leaps, long jumping farther than a human being has any right to, into the thick of the zombie horde.

After there intial scattering, the shuffling mass of dead close up over Cap, swallowing his bright colors in a sea of pale. only to be hurled away again as he throws both arms out wide. Captain America punches and kicks like a dervish. He picks up zombies one handed by belt, the ankle, the sternum, and flings them into others.

As Vorpal flies past Cap turns, and a giant hand right out of some Nazi experiment grips him. BY. THE. FACE.

Cap is lifted up off the ground. He grabs the huge wrist with both his hands and scrambles to twist it with all his might. He plants both heels against the behemoth's chest and pushes. His left arm pulls back and he bashes the shield where the giant arm meets the shoulder - or at least he hopes since his vision is nothing but Grundy's palm.

"Man, that is gross," opines Booster Gold, as he tries to shake a few dead limbs from the much more battered fence he was using to mow down zombies. "Skeets! Keep me updated."

"Um..." Skeets, the little floating robot that stayed behind at the starting point, is hovering well above head height and turning in the air. "There are more zombies, sir. I'm unsure as to the extent of how many, but I would hazard to say 'a lot'."

"Thank you, Skeets, that is very helpful," Booster says over his comlink with the robot, in a dry and rather sardonic tone. "Please get back to me when you have better recon." He flies up higher to get his own survey, taking broad gold-light shots from his blasters at the shuffling undead that have been missed in the initial attack.

Orin stands guard outside the hut's barrier for the time being, but as zombies begin to get through the defense, the trident gets pointed at the fire hydrants within sight and within the path of the shambling corpses. It takes only a few seconds for the pressure to build up so that the hydrants burst, spewing water in between the horde and the hut. Can zombies cross water? There's only one way to find out!

Glancing back towards the hut, he calls out, "You all right in there, kid?" He has no idea if sound passes through that magic barrier. Just for good measure though, he levels another blast at the barrier to see if it might come down now that someone is inside.

Dodging backwards, because the zombie was too slow to catch her, Channel flies up into the air a little bit, away from the zombie horde. She focuses her sight and smile. "Oh. So that's how you're doing it. Very nice," she says. She speaks up. "They're being powered by some magic," she states to the group. Channel stretches her arms out and focuses on the magical energy she can see tied to the zombies, her eyes narrowing as she focuses on those specific bits of magical energy.

"Let us see how you do cut off from your source".

Channel starts trying to yoink the magical energy that is affecting the zombies. Trying to cut through them all at once was going to be too slow, even for all the heroes here. It was kind of like when she helped out with Giganto and cutting off the magical remote control that Namor had, except on a large individual scale instead of on a leviathan scale. Cut the remote, cut the power, and hopefully the zombies fall. As the energy is absorbed, Channel immediately discharges it harmlessly away from anybody else, not letting herself deliberately overcharge herself. She's hoping this makes the zombies just...stop. That was her hope at least. She couldn't really kill them with this, no matter what. They were, after all, already dead!

Amanda regards the priestess rocking in her chair. The sorceress can only hold her magic bolts for so long, with nothing immediate to attack. So, she relaxes her fists, though not her guard. In her experience, no magic user, no matter how friendly they are with each other, ever entirely trusts another. And, there's no pretense of friendliness here -- though Amanda is careful not to make any overtly threatening movements.

"What can I say?" she asks, giving a nonchalant shrug. "You engraved a pretty solid invitation." On Superman's back. "You must be Madame La Masque... There's a warrant for your arrest, you know." And for the first time, she may actually be duly deputized to carry it out. There's a new trick.

"This would be SO much easier if I could fly," Daybreak mutters to herself. But, if she can't fly, at least she can teleport. She zips back and forth in light form over the heads of the zombies, stopping on one rooftop to zap at a group, then on to another where she unleashes a massive burst of light to distract a gaggle of ghouls. It does not take long, though for her to notice the massive zombie tearing through the crowd -- and then grabbing Captain America (Captain Freaking AMERICA) by the head. He's a super soldier, maybe, but Daybreak suspects that his neck is still fragile on some level or other.

"I'm coming, Cap!" the young heroine cries, and then shifts to swirling light form and bounces herself as close as she dares get -- not into the midst of the zombies, but into a position from which she can start blasting Grundy with burst after burst of white-hot light. "You let him go, you undead jerkwad!" Pew pew!

"I owe you dinner!" Vorpal calls out to Daybreak, as it was her powers that saved him. Wiping the blood from his mouth (damn that thing could punch... he was hoping the BSA had dental...), the cat snarls and manifests a massive baseball bat which he swings in a wide circle, braining the zombies that were standing at the edge of the luminiscent circle with satisfying *Cracks*---

When the young mutant speaks, he contacts Iron Spider over the com as he starts running "Spidey, see if you can give Channel some help while she's trying to cut the strings from our puppets, alright?"

Daybreak is helping the Captain, and he looks over to where Booster is firing. It is imperative that more than one person be clearing out the monsters, and right now it was Booster by himself.

Girding his loins (how the hell do you do that, anyways?) the cat summons a fifteen foot by fifteen foot anvil in the air, angled so that it is over the Mega-Zombie holding Captain America. He lets it fall, aiming to smash it on the head with the massive anvil. He'd never use this size of anvil on a living being... heck, even the joker only got a small one by comparison. But Cap needed help, and if Daybreak and Vorpal got him free, then he could help with the clearing as well as getting rid of the damned ugly Megazombie.

Iron Spider wants to say a few words that Superheroes should not say. He triggers his com system, and calls out loud enough that anyone near him at least will hear. "It is not just here, the mob has spread over the whole city. We need to find a way to shut down what is causing this, and now." Along with the com messages, he sends a copy of his information towards Skeets so he has all the info he has been able to gather. Of course the most likely place to do that is inside the barrier, and that means Amanda is going to need to act as Deus Ex Machina for this fight. As Cap gets grabbed the Iron Spider takes a second to take in the scene and plot out just the right path. He sprints, getting up to full speed quickly and preforming a leap much like Captain America's only aimed at the statue in the middle of the square. His intent was to bounce off the head of the statue and try and kick the giant zombie in the head, but seeing that Daybreak is already attacking him and hearing Vorpal he changes his angle at the last second. Instead he aims int he direction of Channel bouncing through the mobs taking a second to make attacks on zombies with webs, stabs from his 4 fake spider legs, and the occasional punch and kick till he can make it to her. "Keep doing what you're doing, I will keep them off you." He offers Channel. "And if you're firing off extra energies maybe try blasting into the mobs?"

JACKSON SQUARE

Ginny and Marc race as fast as they can, but every turn they try to make is met with a new swarm. The pair duck down an alleyway, but it's a dead end. "Go back!" Ginny exclaims, but when they turn around the zombies have cut them off.

"Shit!"

Marc looks around, back, and then up. A few paces to the back there's a low fire escape railing, but the zombies are approaching quickly.

"Here, I'll lift you," he says to Ginny as he holds his hands, laced together, down low to give her a boost. Her foot keeps slipping as the monsters approach closer and closer.

Finally, Ginny gets up enough to get a hold of the railing. Unable to pull herself up, she struggles for a moment before getting one last push from Marc.

Ginny pushes herself up and then turns reaching down as far as she can to try and help Marc up. Her arms just can't reach, so he leaps as high as he can. Time after time his arms barely miss hers until finally his hands grasp her wrists. "Pull!"

She leans back with all her might, but it's no use. Even if she'd had the strength, which she doesn't, by now the first zombie is munching on Marc's leg to Ginny's horror. The next approaches and sinks its teeth into Marc's arm before the third yanks him from Ginny's grasp down into a group of monsters. She loses sight of him before she hears the final of his screams, which match her own, and as tears stream down her face she breaks down on the lonely fire escape.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I dun answah to any law man on dis realm."

Madame La Masque flicks her cigarette into a smoldering kettle at her side and a split second later, a large plume of orange energy shoots straight upwards, blowing a hole in the roof, and shooting straight into the sky. Clouds in the immediate area begin to distort and turn orange, as the sky itself begins to turn brown in the immediate vicinity.

"Do you think you can take me, little blonde fille?" There's a crackle of energy from La Masque's hands as she shoots a wad of energy straight for Amanda!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grundy staggers back at Cap's mighty blow and seems as shocked as a dead giant can be before he roars loudly and comes towards Cap once more. Then, all of the sudden. Grundy is distracted by a young hero who shows a lot more meddle than she has experience. He begins to swat at her madly, knocking out his zombie allies as he does so, before it looks like he's about to reach the young heroine.

*CRACKATHOOM!*

Grundy is taken clear off his feet by a red and blue streak and pummeled into the ground with a Kryptonian fist. There's a follow up, and another, but at the third a gang of Zombies grab Superman around all parts, eager to bite into him. Suddenly, a grip of fear comes over Superman as he realizes he has no defense to their teeth.

What Booster sees as he climbs to a spot high above the trees and the buildings is enough to make even a man from a sad and desolate future cringe. The zombies are everywhere, spilling out from the cemeteries and hitting up the entire side of the town.

When Channel conjures up her mutant powers, she initially thinks that she's having an effect. However, the zombies don't seem to be slowing down any. And worse, her innards feel similar to what it is like when you take a sip out of a straw with no soda left in the glass.

Water spills across the area as Orin pops the waterplugs. Although it does not have the exact effect he intended, it does cause to confuse many of them greatly. Some just turn around. Others stop what they're doing entirely.

Meanwhile, after being pummeled by Superman, Grundy is trying to get up to his feet, but just as he does, he takes another massive shot from a falling anvil courtesy of everyone's favorite Kitty. Except for folks who really like Katherine Pryde. Then its' everyone's second favor---or for those who like Hank. Then he's everyone's thir-you get the idea.

Iron Spider's attacks to get closer to channel go off with a technological accuracy that is to be marveled upon. The splatter of black blood and the wet thuds of nasty decaying bodies as they hit the ground and wriggle angrily accompany him as he approaches her.

Kicking free as Grundy staggers, Captain America sommersaults backwards. Out of the corner of his eyes a giant anvil falling! For a minute he ducks behind is shield as it crashes on to Grundy. "Alrighty, then" he says.

Seeing Superman being swarmed, Cap jumps the Man of Steel's aid, hurling Zombies off him. The edge of the Shield of Freedom goes in a zombie's mouth, and it bites down on it instead of Superman, losing its jaw. some kicks swings and the edge of the shield cuts off zombie arms and legs, and heads. A trademark throw and Cap pinballs the disc around, to clear a new hole.

"The whole city!?" he exclaims. "Then we have to cut things off at the source, we need to get in that circle somehow, and that means this giant thing has to go!"

Superman, we arent going to beat into submission. We aren't going to hack it up. We need to put it to rest. Bury it and bury it deep!"

Skeets pauses as he gets the information update from Iron Spider, and he shoots the data to Booster directly, putting it into the heads-up display of his boss' goggles. "Sir, as you can see, the city is being overwhelmed. It is not limited to just this sector. I am patching into surveillance feeds as we speak."

"Got it, Skeets. Change of plans then, locate the sites in greatest need and dispatch me accordingly." Booster Gold responds, to the droid.

"Yes, sir. Feed incoming," reports Skeets, floating higher in order to stay out of everyone's way.

A vivid golden comet streaks overhead, only a few feet above the struggle with Grundy. Booster Gold is flying at top speed now, following the maps and data that hover ghost-like before his eyes, at least from his point of view. As a result, there are very close shaves occurring at different points around the city. A mother with one arm around her child and the other around a tree as she tries to escape the zombies clutching at her feet is suddenly plucked out of harms way; a young man already scratched and battered by clutching undead hands is suddenly dazzled by a burst of gold light and then is spirited away; even poor, sobbing Ginny is scooped up from her fire escape and whisked to safety.

Well, confusing and pausing the zombies is, at least, a start. Noting the energy shooting out from the hut and the darkening of the skies, he frowns and reaches out with his mind to see just who might be around to help. Prawns aren't likely to be much help, nor are catfish, but a grim sort of smirk forms as he manages to coerce some aquatic minds to come help.

All around the city, alligators start moving towards the more populated areas where zombies have attacked. They have their request to 'only eat zombies' and there are, at least, a multitude. Of course, gators do tend to like decayed flesh better than fresh...or so Crocodile Dundee says (or is that only crocodiles?) so Orin hopes that they go after the undead only. No doubt the humans should be able to avoid most of them.

Since some zombies are just standing there, he begins to pick them off with blasts from the Trident. Like shootin' fish in a barrel.

"No good; it's natural, so to speak, to them. Not something I can cut. We're going to have to hit the source," Channel calls out, grimacing at the 'taste' of the zombie energy as she discharges a bolt at a group of zombies. Magic was tricky to pin down, she'd found. Not impossible, but difficult. This was going to require a new strategy. Hopefully if the source is chased away or knocked out or something the rest of the undead would stop. But as the source was in that bubble, that wasn't going to be an option.

Then Channel processes Captain America's idea and decides to modify it, especially when she sees the incoming gators. Channel continues to fly around and fire down hard kinetic bursts at the level of the zombie's heads. The intent is to drive the zombies down into the ground like stakes, even just a little bit, so the gators can hopefully have non-moving targets to just plow through, kind of like mowing a lawn.

Mowing a lawn infested with zombie-weeds using a gator army as the lawnmowers. Eh. Channel had seen weirder.

As that ash falls into the kettle, and the energy explodes from it, Amanda automatically throws up a shield to protect herself. Good thing, too, given the burst that's aimed at her. She counters with a magic blast of her own, and the cottage lights up with discharge after discharge of mystical energy as the two witches engage.

A witches' duel is something to behold, in fact, though most people are no doubt too preoocupied with Grundy and his zombies to really notice. The magically sensitive among the heroes, however, can't help but feel the build up of serious arcane firepower, however.

The cottage's windows shatter. Fire breaks out within the magical circle. The sky roils and lightning flashes.

Daytripper takes several hits from the vindictive priestess, but she gives several hits in return. The blonde's real concern, however, is that she's not at full strength here, far away from her bastion in New York City. The swamp witch, however, most certainly is, here in the middle of her bastion in New Orleans. So, as Madame La Masque starts calling up the strength of the bayou, Daytripper reaches down deep into the city's infrastructure to start pulling on copper, iron, steel, electricity, and concrete to counter the fire, earth, and biomasses the Voudoun priestess's loa prefer.

But, because this isn't Daytripper's home turf, her efforts could have some very, very unexpected (and unwelcome) consequences.

When Grundy stomps through the other zombies toward her, Daybreak's eyes go wide once more, and she is on the verge of teleporting away again, tendrils of her hair already starting to gleam as they fade away from physical reality and into light, when Superman swoops out of the sky and smashes him into the ground. With Grundy smashed once more by Vorpal's anvil, she sees it only proper to assist Superman. From her hands erupt the fiercest beams of light she can conjure, knowing they can't possibly hurt him, but the zombies, those that Captain America hasn't already fended off with the edge of his shield... well, they will be cooked in their rotting skins.

Vorpal was about to hop in and help Superman, when Captain America does that dazzling display of his skill. Heck, he would have stopped right there and taken notes as if on a masterclass, except that they were knee-deep in the dead, and there was no sign of it assuaging.

As Patrick had joked, Vorpal *was* magic. Magic was woven into the very reason that he was even alive. So when the arcane duel began to mount, he felt a shiver running up and down his spine... and it was in the direction of the cottage that he looked.

Amanda was in there, alone, facing whatever ... and it was also clear that 'whatever' was the cause of all this. Would the barrier let him through because he was magical, even if he wasn't a magician?

There was only one way to find out. He started running towards the hut, wielding the massive bat and braining zombies along the way. "I'm going to see if I can help Daytripper! If I can't get through, I'll be right back!" As he approaches the barrier he takes a deep breath and jumps in the air, activating his Sidestep... hoping that, because of his magical nature and the fact that his teleportation seems to be some kidn of spell, the barrier will let him through. If not, he's going to bounce back towards the fray.

Iron Spider's combat skills were the best that the government of his home world could buy, which turns out to be a good thing for this fight. Anyone watching him now might realize that with all the thugs and small time hoods he has taken down since showing up on the scene he has been holding back, a scary enough notion considering how often the people he has fought have ended up with multiple broken bones. With two arms tow legs and four slider legs at his commant the clone has become a whirling dervis of destruction as he bounces his way towards, and around Channel to keep her safe while she tries to take down the zombies by sucking away the energy that keeps them running. That is until Channel says it can't be done. Once she is is moving and flying so that the zombies can not reach her THe Iron Spider moves along doing what he can.

Above the hut, the air continues to change. A black swirl that starts off rather small continues to grow and grow, revealing a glimpse of nothing behind it.

Down below, the hut is lit up with a thousand different colors of light, letting the heroes know there's a battle going on within. The noise, is contained eerily, but there is no mistaking that something intense is going as cracks and fissures begin to pull the building apart.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ginny looks up to Booster, her eyes crimson with tears. "He's gone. They killed him. I can't believe they killed him!"

And when Booster leaves to go help other needy victims, Ginny grits her teeth and knows what she's going to do. She takes off running, but instead of running away, she's running towards the mayhem.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Superman gets to his feet and nods in gratitude to Cap. But they're still in the thick of it until Daybreak's light blows away the zombies in the immediate area. The young girl gets a nod of thanks to her, before turning to Captain America to discuss strategy.

"Thanks. I owe you one. And one for her too." As the Captain speaks though, Superman realizes he's right. "Bury him," he nods, echoing the words, before shooting up high into the air with one arm raised above his head.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All around the city, alligators begin to infiltrate and create a wall between the zombies and the people. Though frightened at first, the citizens find themselves thankful as the alligators begin to serve as their protectors.

With one fell swoop, an alligator takes out a zombie with a chomp right to the knee, while at another juncture, a zombie crouches to the ground and begins tearing at another gator in search for his small brain. Sometimes the gators win, other times the zombies, but in many places in the city, they seem to be worried about each other and not concerning themselves with the people.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Orin's trident sends blasts that clear space for Daybreak, Channel, Iron Spider, and Vorpal. Essentially the Atlantean King acts to cover them and give them room to maneuver.

Channel, for her efforts, pounds the freaks down into the ground with her concussive blasts, and just as she'd hoped, the gators are going for what they consider to be an easy snack.

Vorpal leaps into the air, but a funny thing happens as he approaches the shield. Instead of hitting it, as he hoped to, or bouncing back as he had for a back up plan, his body leaps at a weird angle as he begins to float upwards. The fur upon his whole body begins to stand on end as he continues upwards, heading straight for the black nebula

As Iron Spider clears a pathway, he gets the dirt and the cracks that Jocelyn's unable to. Gradually, the tide is being turned, and what turned out originally to be hundreds of zombies is now far less.

For only an instant Cap looks up at the magical borealis with a gauntlet raised to shield his eyes. "Whatever, you're doing, Vorpal," he mutters as the feline goes floating upwards, "I hope it works." Then he leaps back into the fray. "Keep at it people!" he yells, "We have them on the ropes I think, lets give Daytripper all the time we can!"

As he cannot really increase the speed at which he takes doen zombies, Cap shifts gears. For every zombie he engages, he sommersaults or cartwheels, or otherwise returns to Grundy, and feints the large beast. A fake punch, a shield throw at the knee, a snap kick - anything to keep in place. Then he tumbles away and takes care of a zombie. He repeats this while circling Grundy clockwise - all to keep in one place turning in circles, for Superman's eventual decent. He even skips from gator to gator like cobblestones when necessary. It's a combat ballet, poetry in motion with Cap as the moth and Grundy as the flame.

"I'm sorry," Booster quietly tells Ginny, before he sets her down. If he could, he would stay with her, and with all of the people he has been plucking out of danger at what was the very last second for some of them, but the information he is getting from Skeets tells him there are more people that need a rescue. At this point, the little robot is not just using surveillance cameras, he has breached some serious privacy protocols by utilizing phones, cameras on personal computers and game systems, and so on.

The alligators are helping a lot, which is not something one can typically say about alligators. It is allowing Booster to pull people to safety, even out of buildings where zombies broke in and had them cornered. At some point he ends up with a terrified, crying little girl who is about four years old who refuses to be put down in a safe place, and so he ends up having to punch and blast zombies with his one free arm.

The King of Atlantis is busy blasting zombies that get too close. As the horde begins to thin, he brings the water pressure down as New Orleans really doesn't need another flood. Ever. It's his gift to the city. You're welcome.

As Vorpal goes flying past him towards the barrier...and then continues to float up towards that magical cloud, he scowls and his attention...and Trident shift. Energy is blasted towards the dark cloud and other clouds form...these being very obvious storm clouds to try and dissipate this one with higher winds. He won't let it get to full on Hurricane level, however. You're welcome, New Orleans.

Smash! Smash! Feed the gators. That's Channel's plan, and so far, it seems to be working. She continues to fly around, picking up speed and starting to smash zombies all around the city that she can see. She can't move as fast as some, but she can lock the zombies down and knock them out for gator feeding time. Sometimes the zombies get shot at the gators, and sometimes they get smashed down into the ground. It really kind of varies with the location.

The cottage continues to crack and break apart, portions of it floating in mid air, revealing the battle within. Partly, its destruction is due to the magic being slung about between the two witches... but mostly it's because Daytripper's incantation is physically tearing the structure apart, turning it into a physical warding shield with which she intends to entrap Madame La Masque.

Metal and stone lace together, weaving complex wards that glow with power. It's a very near thing, however, since vines and roots and snakes made of earth and swampgrass are working equally to ensnare her. At the end of the day, it's all going to come down to who's faster...

Or who fights dirtier.

Even as she continues her chanting, concentration (mostly) unbroken despite the tendrils reaching for her throat, Daytripper manages to shove a hand deep into her bag of tricks at her side. She pulls out a small aerosol, of all things. Raising it in her fist and pointing it at the Voudoun priestess, chanting her weaving spell all the while, she depresses its top.

Good old fashioned mace sprays out of its nozzle, catching Madame La Masque in the face, setting her eyes, nose, mucous membranes, and soft tissue on fire and providing just the distraction the sorceress needed.

The biomatter threatening to choke her releases its hold as the Madame's spells falter. Daytripper's voice rings out all the clearer, though it's likely still blocked by that magical circle. She straightens, gesturing commandingly and the Louisianan witch is lifted into the air and bound up by the cannibalized material that was once the cottage. The pair should be clearly visible beneath the gathering dark, save for the dust from the cottage's collapse that still surrounds them.

When Daytripper's spell is complete, the priestess will be bound fast and blinded by the copper shield placed before her eyes. She can still hear. She can still talk. But she can't see and she can't move... which should mitigate the worst of any spells she might still want to cast. But, she's not going anywhere...

Not without outside intervention, at any rate.

"You're good," Daytripper tells her, panting, a bit of curl to her lip. "But you're nothing compared to my mother."

There are an awful lot of zombies around here still, but the biggest, the baddest is clearly Grundy (not that Daybreak knows that this is the monster's name -- she thinks of him as 'Jason Voorhees in a better suit'), and Captain America is facing him solo. Now, Daybreak is far from stupid. She can see that the Captain doesn't need her help with Grundy. But he has to break off to handle zombies now and then, and that's something she can help with without interfering with his battle. The girl once again starts taking down zombies with waves of blistering light to distract swarms, or precision laser sniping to handle the ones that are getting to close to Cap and others.

Oh, hey, thinks Vorpal. I'm floating.

"When I said I wanted to fly, this wasn't exactly what I meant!"

Nevertheless, he narrows his eyes and, as he ascends, contracts his legs underneath him. Materializing a platform, he kicks off it with his strong leg muscles and shoots upwards towards the constellation. In the presence of this.. phenomenon, he himself begins to crackle with something.

The magic of the fifth dimension runs through Vorpal's metaphysical fiber. It is the magic of chaos, of unpredictability. He doesn't know this, he only knows himself to be the cheshire cat, and he knows that his nature is... strange.

"You're trying to swallow up everything you want for aid, aren't you, you miserable old hag?" Vorpal screams as he propels forward at greater speed, one hand held up in front of him like a fist as he crackles with purple energy. "... here comes dessert!"

Add a little flame and Iron Spider could be doing a fairly decent impression of Kali as he nearly dances his way through the zombies all limbs striking with precison. For every zombie that has a head removes by a kick, another gets stabbed by a metal spider leg that whips around throwing it at groups of zombies standing in close proximity to bowl them over, while a third gets tripped so that when it lands it is right in snapping range of an aligator. Hearing Vorpal the Iron Spider only pauses a moment to watch, and makes note to keep an eye on him because when whatever he is doing is over the Spider has the feeling someone is going to need to catch the cat and he does not want to assume someone else will do it and let him go splat.

In another part of the city, Ginny finally gets to the gas station she works at. Abandoned shortly after the news of the zombie attack hit the news, she walks in with little fanfare and heads straight for the back of the store, but stops to 'open' the pumps at the register and reaches across the back display to grab a set of matches.

A few moments later she's back outside, filling up as many containers of gasoline as she can hold.

She grimaces, and her dirty face looks around before she realizes the answer is right in front of her. An car sits at one of the pumps, there to be taken. She doesn't want to know what happened to the driver.

She pauses to put in her ear buds and sets it to one of her favorite songs. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgcc5V9Hu3g)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

VROOOOM!

The truck burns through a main thoroughfare, mowing down zombies in her wake. She also lets out can after can of gasoline through the open window, pouring it out upon the ground and zombies alike.

At the end of a long stretch of pavement the road ends at an old courthouse, she does a quick peel out and slides the car up some of the steps.

Ginny leaps out and empties the last canister of gasoline. Out in front of her there's a sea of zombies-moaning, gurgling, and suddenly taking a very keen interest in her.

And when she drops the match, there's no joy in it for her, even as the gas trails start catching flame, and move from zombie to zombie who are honestly too slow and unwieldy to get away from each other as the ones with gasoline help start their own friends on fire. Within moments, aided by the skin of the undead, a sea of fire begins to erupt in front of her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Booster won't be losing that kid anytime soon. But no matter, from his safety in the sky, he easily picks off zombies left and right while keeping little Callie, complete with blonde pigtails, out of harms way.

Daybreak's attack are very much akin to a cat and a laser pointer in some instances, as the confused Zombies mill about, momentarily distracted for their lust for grey matter. The more potent attacks, burn right through their skin. And set them on fire.

Aquaman's attempt to dissipate the black cloud is a valiant effort, but it continues to grow and now hangs like a giant shadow over the sky. Worse, Vorpal's ascent is not prevented and the poor Cheshire cat continues to be taken up towards its inky maw.

Channel's path of destruction leaves a trail of zombies nearly a quart mile long. What began as an overwhelming invasion in this part of the city has now been dissipated almost completely.

From Iron Spider's vantage point, he sees Vorpal continue to move upward. Then there's a purple flash, that dissipates quickly. But the cat continues to be pulled upwards!!!

Vorpal's attack and his words are well intentioned, but perhaps misinformed. The purple energy is released and heads towards the black maw, but envelopes into it as if there's an entire world behind that veil. A black tendril reaches out to caress the Kitty as it caresses his face. "No, mon chat. Non, non. Il n'est pas a hag, mon ami. You come to visit Samedi himself," whispers a sound that isn't really audible, but seems to sit within Vorpal's inner ear. With a dramatic pull, the cat is pulled inside.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Superman comes smashing down, just short of a sonic boom. The force when he hits Grundy sets out a shockwave to everyone nearby, knocking many to the ground.

Underneath the Earth, Superman and Grundy scratch and claw at each other, but the force of the Man of Steel's descent is carrying them further and further underground. Finally, some 100 feet deep, Superman stick his feet in Grundy's solar plexus and kicks down /hard/. From there, using his super speed, he begins to bury the beast as fast as he can pulling himself upwards little by little, to ensure Grundy is ensnared under the rock, mud, and soil.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Silly blonde woman," La Masque says, her eyes blood red and her nose vacating mucous all down the front of her face. Still, there's a steely quiet and resolve about her as she looks sky wards. "You've no idea what you're in for. I am joost a servant. Samedi will show you the true meaning of fear." She laughs evilly as the exposure in the roof shows Vorpal be taken into the maw.

Right away, Amanda knows what it is. La Masque has ripped open a portal to the netherworlds of hell.

One of two things is going to happen.

The heroes are going to go there. ..

. . . Or Baron Samedi is coming here.

Superman: Born on a Monday (The Guede, Part 2)