A new alien menace has began infecting several citizens in Central City [Kansas] and it's sister city across the bridge Keystone City. The Superman hasn't been seen in weeks and is thought to be off world. Batman stays in Gotham and is only ever seen at night. And Wonder Woman was last seen in Europe after the new King and Queen were announced. Central City and Keystone City aren't the only towns infected either. After just three weeks, other large cities in America began seeing strange zombie like trances in several dozen people. Midway City [Michigan], Coast City [California], Star City [Washington], and St. Roch [Louisiana] have all been infected with what appears to be 'alien starfish'.

Batman has already come into contact with what the media is calling 'Starros'. He's tracked most of them to a temp service agency down near the Gotham Harbor.



Rules:

1.) No back-to-back posting.

2.) PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND SET-UPS!!

3.) Make sense. If we can't make heads or tails of your posts they're likely to get skipped over.

4.) Get permission before using another player's character in your posts if it involves changing the scene or making actions. Everybody will take beatings in this game in battle however, so don't get pissed if you get punched or blasted into a wall by the bad guys! Namely me controlling the badguys...

5.) Problems with the game or players should be sent directly to me through PM's. I don't want a bunch of bickering in the OOC.

6.) Abandoned characters will be used as NPC's or killed off within the context of the story.

7.) “I was waiting for [insert player/character] to make a move” is not how this game is played.

8.) There is no rule #8.

9.) My word is law.

10.) Obey the law.

11.) In the event that I'm offline for any period of time, the Co-GM (none ATM) will take control and HIS/HER word will then be law.



Coast City

The 'Starro' problem had only gotten worse over the course of the last three weeks. With no sign of Superman it wasn't sure if this zombie like trance and the spread of Starro spores could be stopped in the United States. It was clear that new heroes needed to rise, and for Scott Hendricks it had a different meaning. The young pilot had been in the air in the experimental plane the 'Redwing' half a dozen times now. However the plane wasn't too equipped for dog-fighting in the sky. Scott and his friend Judah had been working on something to deal with the issue, a small turret that pops out of the top of the plane. On the news, on a clunky old tv in the corner of the barn that doubled as a garage, was a news report. The community college where the small starfish like aliens were found on the spines of several students has been sealed off from the public with over four hundred students and faculty infected. The buildings themselves have an organic type of technology growing on them with a larger starfish looking piece of tech cracking out of the foundation of the top of the main building.

"Reports are now saying that the starfish like creatures the media is calling 'Starros' are growing and moving from the infected's spines to their faces. Single red eyes in the center have been reported to fire something like a blast of energy from them. It's only a matter of time before the infected make a move. The question on everyone's minds, 'where is the Superman?' And can we survive this invasion without him?" the reporter asked near the end of the update.

"You know you're gonna have to go in that building and see if these things have like a central nervous system, right?" asked Judah, a heavyset bearded young man with freckles and red-ish brown hair, as he continued wrenching a bolt into place on the turret.

"Yeah I suppose. Did you have time to get more rounds for my pistols?" Scott asked tinkering with the ammo container for the turret.

"Better than that. Put a switch on the bottom of the handles to make them a little more interesting." Judah continued saying with a grin.

"I let Kaley go home early today since I didn't have any customers to fly around, slow Tuesday. I'll try them out in a bit, making them automatics though or something is kinda pointless since they only carry..." Scott began saying before Judah interrupted.

"Let me stop ya there, Jimmy. I made the rounds a smaller caliber so you're gonna go from eight rounds to eighteen. It fires in three round bursts when in automatic. It's about four ounces lighter in weight too..." Judah continued finishing the turret, "You done with that ammo case yet?"

~KL~

Many months ago Donald & Bethany Gravestone were kidnapped by evil men bent on saving their boss from justice. Their father refused to cave in to their demands. This resulted in a gestalt being that could split into the heroes Hawk & Dove. Donald nor Bethany were happy with Donald being in charge of her body when they were not fighting evil. Bethany was constantly nagging him to act like a proper lady, telling how to lead her life, and not to act like a man. Donald was living a feminine hell, especially a certain time of the month.

Donald had to resort to wearing a Bluetooth headset at all times in public otherwise risking being locked up for being crazy, due to talking to his sister who had no corporeal form. At least she proved useful in the courtroom providing the legal counsel needed to maintain her job.

This whole Starro invasion had them both on edge. The first incident in Charm City was at her law firm. It was under quarantine, luckily they were in court at the time and were not forced into quarantine. Bethany wanted to take the fight to the Starros and eradicate the menace from the planet. Donald wanted none of that their abilities had only been used against human scumbags. They never tested their abilities fully and always held back to prevent themselves from accidentally killing someone even if they deserved it.

The ship tore through the emptiness of space, at a speed unimaginable to human minds. The sound of the powerful engines was strong enough to be well heard in the cargo bay, but in the cockpit, where Zod sat, it was near silent. The room was not bustling with activity, perhaps as a result of having only four individuals in it. The blue lights sent dark blue tint over the rest of the room, turning the nigh-white greys into deep blues. His pilot sat at the cockpit, playing with the buttons and levers with a great many clicks. Meanwhile, in the other corner of the room, two of Zod's guards had set up a table, and were comparing their weaponry. Beside him sat their head, Non, one of Rann's best, he wore the metallic mask of Zod's bodyguard corps, looking off into the distance with a red glint in the mask's one eye.

"My liege, we are approaching planetoid Sol 9, Sol 3 should be within sights shortly," the ship's pilot chimed in. Zod smiled at the revelation.

"Good, are there any Kryptonian signals?"

"Just one, my liege, on the southernmost landmass. Though... I'm scanning the planet currently, there seems to be a large amount of non-native organisms, I am unable to detect a Kryptonian in specific," he stated with a worried tone. Zod cringed, this wasn't good, he was hoping he would be able to find the Kryptonian immediately.

"Are there any transmitting satellites we can connect ourselves to? Perhaps these people have an organized media," Zod stated quickly. Immediately the pilot began playing with the dashboard, pulling a set of headphones from the table in front of him to his ear.

"I'm hearing... Starro? What in the king's name is a Starro? Ah, here we go, 'Superman', from what is heard, he seems to be a one-man protector of multiple cities, only a Kryptonian could perform such a feat." Zod beamed at these words, a perfect successor if it was all true.

"Perfect, is there any news as to his position?"

"No I'm afraid, he seems to have gone missing." Zod's smile shrank. Oh well, he supposed, a minor setback, even a weakened Kryptonian could easily find another under a yellow sun.

"Set us down at his last known position."

"Confirmed, my liege."

"Oh, finally, I was getting bored," The female Rannite stated from the back, one of his other guards, and perhaps the most... vocal.

"Am I being platitudinous? It is concrete that my weaponry, as worn by an expert of contiguous combat such as myself is simply superior to your own," the other guard stated in his usual mixture of mocking and showing of superiority. Zod had to purchase a thesaurus just to keep up with his 'Perfectly cromulant' language.

As the ship approached Metropolis, the thrusters at the bottom of the ship rumbled to life, sending paper and garbage flying into the air as it touched the ground. The pod bay opened, providing a ramp for Zod and his bodyguards to walk down, smoke pouring out of the interior and hiding them from the waist down. They struck ground soon after. Zod examined the city he had found himself in, disgusted by the backwardness of it all. However, the people were nigh-identical to Rannites or Kryptonians. Perhaps it was fate that Zod had found himself on this planet, whatever the case, he had to find himself his heir, it would be easy to a Kryptonian such as himself.

The woman created by Project Starfire entered the outer atmosphere, aerobraking over Australia as she shed her orbital velocity. While she could handle the infrared radiation created from her reentry, the heat itself reached uncomfortable levels before she was moving slow enough for the flames to start dying down. I'll need to get some form of reentry shielding if I'm going to make a habit of traveling through space like this. she thought as she took a deep breath. Indeed, it was the first breath she had taken while conscious, having only previously breathed through life support while unconscious and survived anaerobically while in space. The sensation was strange, but not unpleasant. Well, humans did evolve to breath Earth's atmosphere. she realized. If it was unpleasant, I doubt we would have survived long.

Once she was within a few miles off the ground she began controlling her movement through plasma jets, and started looking for a landing location. There was a military base nearby, but as a secret project she shouldn't reveal herself to them so easily. There was plenty of ocean in the area as well, if she wanted to just land and wait for the last of the radiation in her body to be absorbed. Or she could land on one of the beaches nearby and pretend to just be another metahuman that was in need of money. In fact, that wasn't far from the truth, and she kind of liked the idea of being a street performer.

She angled herself towards the boardwalk a mile away and started flying towards it when she saw a spaceship land in a park in town. I hope I don't have to deal with an alien invasion already. she thought, realizing how hungry and thirsty she was, having never really ate or drank, and having no nutrient input for several weeks. Maybe they were just tourists, though. She flew over to where an important looking man stood and landed twenty feet in front of him. Recognizing the ship design as Rannian, she addressed them in that language. "I hope you've come in peace," she said, speaking for the first time in her life, her throat a bit horse from dehydration. "I don't want to have to stop an alien invader already."

Metropolis

Sam was in Metropolis to attend a football game as an honored guest for a ceremony in honor to the men who served in the United States military. The ceremony had him dressed as Captain Freedom since he was the only military service man to have fought in all of the great wars that America has seen over it's two hundred year history. Through the many years his costume changed quiet a bit to fit more with the times in terms of military attire. Instead of the Minute Men style soldier of liberty from the 18th century, he was dressed in a modern Marine type uniform with a design of the American flag with darker shades of the iconic colors.

He stood on the field of the football stadium with his hands holding the folds of the giant American flag that was being displayed to the massive crowds of excited sports fans. Then the national anthem was sung and Samuel felt a sense of great pride inside himself. While the song played he was thankful for all of the rights and freedoms that were granted to him by his country. When the anthem was finished the flag was carefully rolled back up and Captain Freedom went around to shake the hands of the veterans who were being honored for their services.

All of them looked excited to meeting the legendary Captain face to face and he made sure to seem as normal as possible so that the troops knew he treated them like an equal. After the ceremony was finished Sam went to take his seat to watch the football. The game was a rivalry game between the Gotham Knights and the Metropolis Meteors. Sam was rooting for Metropolis and a win today would send them into the post season with the number 1 seed in the NFC.

He was about to see the Meteors get into action when someone approached him and he could tell by their attire that they were with the government.

"Is there something wrong?" Sam asked curious to hear the answer.

"A bad situation as grown inside the city and we believe that it is an alien invasion and your services are needed Captain" the man replied calmly. Sam guessed that the answer would be something like that. Even though he was disappointed to be missing the game, he knew that he had a duty to the American people to help defend them from all kinds of threats. He got out of his seat and followed the government agent to where he would have his weapons and equipment ready to go and combat this threat.

"It is time for Captain Freedom to go and unleash some justice upon whatever enemy is attacking this city" he thought to himself.

Gotham Slums, Night

Jax watched the streets, waiting for any movement that was uncalculated, uncalled for. He pulled out the police radio from his suit. "All units, to 95th avenue!" Jax rolled his eyes under his mask. "Another bank robbery? This is almost like a trend...They're trying to draw the Bat out." He shoved the radio back in his zip-up pocket, and began hopping buildings. 95th avenue was less than a mile away. He could make it before the police.

Once he arrived, Jax turned on his infrared vision. He was getting eleven, no, twelve heat signatures. Either they needed a big group to rob a bank, or they had hostages. Jax cursed. This was going to be tricky. He turned on the headset within his cowl. "Yes, son?" His father had become his mentor over the past couple of years. Turns out he was a strategic genius. "I'm gonna need some help with this one." He loaded his pistols as his father told him the plan. "Alright. Icicle out."

First step. Jax turned on his stealth mode, and his whole suit shifted until it reflected the surfaces around him. He smiled. Just another day at work. This was getting almost too easy. He turned his right wrist over and activated the device that clamped down on his arm. He holstered his pistols. Jax had heard about the Starro invasion. But right now he needed to focus on Gotham. Maybe he'd take a "vacation" tomorrow and go to the nearest city afflicted by it.

Gotham City, Gotham Museum of Antiquities

Katarina rappelled from on of the museums many skylights in absolute silence apart from a breathy sigh she let out as she considered though about why she was there. Despite going 'straight' she had found out real quickly that vigilantism did not pay the bills, and working a 9-5 just wasn't in her. As she touched the marble floor a timer began in the lower left of her vision. It was now counting down from 5:27. She had cased the place several times in the past month to get that operating window. It represented the time until Gary one of the museums night watchmen would reach the room she was in. Since he was doing his rounds the motion sensors had been deactivated, and since it was the third patrol of the night it meant that his partner who would usually be watching the cameras was off getting a bag of chips from the vending machine. Still, she had to be careful to not trip any of the still active security measures.

The timer had ticked down to 4:28 by the time she reached her quarry, a small jewel encrusted golden idol depicting a feline. After stepping over the velvet rope between her and it's case she pressed her right hands clawed fingertips against the glass and rotated her wrist, the reinforced glass made a faint irritating sound akin to removing tape from a hard surface as the prometheum claws cut into it. Once she finished she wasted no time flicking her middle finger against the glass forcing the circular piece of glass into the case, though her hand followed and caught it with a supernatural quickness before it could fall. Then in one swift motion she grabbed the idol and placed the reinforced piece of glass on the pedestal it had once stood upon.

With the idol in hand Katarina glanced down at the timer once more, 3:43 plenty of time. She took her time walking back to the rope hanging from the ceiling near the center of the room. And with one quick tug she was being pulled up. She looked down through the skylight as she replaced the glass panel and removed her winch, latching it to the hip of her suit. Noting the guard entering the room as she finished, while the temptation was there to watch his reaction when he got to the now empty case she knew she was better off putting distance between herself and it.

So Katarina rose to her feet and turned to set off, noting a police helicopter in the distance. She paused for a moment before glancing down at the idol in her left hand. "Curiosity killed the... Well you know." she spoke with her gaze still locked onto it before she began to sprint in the direction of the helicopter, she detached the tail from the suit and extended it's claws fully as she leapt from the museum roof. The mechanized whip found hold on a lighpost as she fell and wrapped around it before slinging her upwards towards the top of the adjacent building. Her claws dug into the masonry at the lip of the buildings roof before she pulled herself up onto it's roof.

She continued across the rooftops of downtown Gotham towards the helicopter, hoping it would be something worth her time, maybe even a chance for her to do some good. She didn't feel bad about her theft, but it would be nice to do some crime fighting to even the scales as it were.

The Gravestones were at court waiting for their case to come up when the court came under attack. Bethany if she was corporeal would roll her eyes. They ducked into a stairwell and made sure no one else was around. They each called out their code name and they split into two separate beings. "God it feels so good to be in my body." They said in unison. "Time to find out what moron is attacking now." Hawk ran up the stairs and leapt out of a window. Dove followed suit. "Kestrel why is he alw..." Dove had originally failed to notice Kestrel's change. "Wait there are two Kestrel's? Is this his sister?"

Hawk didn't care who this Kestrel was she just wanted to punch her till she was dealt with. During the fight Dove accidentally yanks off the face mask. They both were shaken. "Mayor Gunthry!? Why are you attacking the court?" Kestrel didn't respond just kept on talking but Kestrel, but it would be all over the news for a long time. Kestrel had the same powers as them but was easily as strong as Hawk & Dove combined. It was a long drawn out fight. The court was nearly destroyed.

In the end Kestrel was defeated. Mayor Gunthry lie there unconscious. The Kestrel suit disappeared just like the Hawk & Dove suits. "Is Kestrel an agent of the Lords of Chaos and Order like us?" "Doesn't matter she is a criminal take the bitch to jail." A cop arrested the mayor and took her to the hospital to deal with any injuries received in battle. "We better investigate the Deputy Mayor as the male Kestrel?"

Gotham, two weeks ago...

The night stalker of the streets known as Batman had already fed on a mugger earlier in the night. His senses were at their peak, which made it much easier to notice something wrong with a few men down by the docks. The scent was like nothing Thomas Wayne had ever encountered. The men themselves didn't seem like much threats. Their odd zombie like state was nothing to the Bat. His sense of smell led him to try and lift one of the shirts of the men from behind, but before Batman could make out the starfish like creature on the men's spines they went into attack mode.

One week ago...

The vampire known as Batman went underwater to destroy what resembled organic starfish tech from under one of the larger boat docks. Finishing his mission he watched the water for any remaining Starros to try and swim away but there were none. Save for the one in his lab currently behind Plexiglas feeding on a cow. Upon returning to Wayne Manor, Thomas drove up the side of the property to a guest cottage, a nice cabin that also had a bunker under the surface. This served as his lab and research area, with his fortune from being a doctor as well as the son of a wealthy doctor backing any and all of his research. The Starro moved from the cow's spine to it's face once it tripled in size. Now it seems to be in complete control of the animal and watches Batman's every move in the bunker. After Batman removes his mask and approaches the Plexiglas, the eye of the Starro glows red and an energy blast hits the translucent wall of glass.

"So you feed on us, and we become a host? There's got to be something controlling all of you...."

Days go by and slowly Batman watches news reports as the Starros begin infesting other cities across the United States. With Superman off world and Wonder Woman making Europe her home, Batman would need to find new allies to combat the alien threat. On the screens of his massive computer there's news footage of a man with what appears to be future tech. Old footage of a semi retired thief who calls herself Catwoman also shows up in another window on screen as well as a red plane darting around Air Force jets in Coast City.

Coast City...

"I don't know about this, Judah. You sure I can land her on that building?" Scott asked from behind the controls of the plane Red Wing.

Scott Hendricks was hovering over the Coast City Community College, two buildings down from a building that was completely over run by Starro infected students and faculty. The tech growing on and around the building was also a sight to see with a starfish shaped control center like area busting through the upper floor walls.

"She's as light as a feather, Jimmy. Calm down." Judah replied from the barn on Scott's property, "Just put her down and see if you can make it to that building long enough to figure out what's growing in the top of it..."

"You really think these non-lethal rounds will protect me?" Scott asked.

"Just don't waste too many shots. If the infected already have the Starros on their faces aim for the Starro's eye. You can get by the ones with them on their spines easily enough by taking out their legs. The spores might still be on them, but you take out their means of transportation and they're as good as done." Judah explained.

"The students will be thankful enough to be alive, I'm sure they won't mind busted kneecaps here and there..." Scott replied.

~KL~

@TheUnknowable

Immediately two members of Zod's personal guard raised their weapons, one wielding a thinner, single barreled gun, the other wielding a thicker multi-barreled one. The third guard's gun was disassembled on her back, so she simply stomped angrily, balling her fists in as intimidating a fashion she could make.

"You dare approach the king of Rann?" Non said with heavy indignation. Zod chuckled and raised a hand to his guards, who lowered their weapons accordingly.

"How amusing, a Rannite on Earth... though..." he looked at her odd skin-tone and bright eyes. "Your appearance speaks otherwise," he said, fascinated.

Floating towards her, he landed cross-armed, his bright white gauntlets reflecting the sunlight, flaring like there was a miniature sun right there in front of them.

"You fly too, Rannites don't do that, at least not without help. What are you? Some Kryptonian half-breed? A fifth grade science experiment?" Zod's eyes briefly flared red before returning to their natural color. "I have no quarrel with you or your people, if that is what you assume. If we meet again, you will show me more respect," he responded venomously.

Zod had just reached the surface of this planet, and already he had met an alien being, or at least he assumed. Hopefully, this meant good things. It was at the very least a good omen, and it raised Zod's spirits substantially. A moment later and he had already examined her musculature and had discovered heavy evidence of genetic manipulation, this interested Zod more than he could have hoped to admit. Zod, however, had no more need of her, signalling his guards, who stared at her for a reason that Zod couldn't understand. Eyeing her oddly, Zod hid his mouth behind his hands as he realized something.

"Oh my, this planet has a nudity taboo, and yet you appear to lack garments, I assume that this causes embarrassment, in the words of this planet's internet culture 'I know that feel, bro.'" He chuckled, valiantly failing to keep himself from bursting into laughter. His guards, now less concerned with their King's well being, continued their gawking. Except for the group's lone female, who instead shook her head and muttered under her breath.

"Stare at the bald woman, why not, it's not like I'm right here."

@bluetommy2Starfire decided not to reveal her secret just yet, and instead answered with a half truth. "I'm a meta-human. There are a good number of us around, and some of us can fly on our own." The fact that he was a king, though, meant that she needed to show him proper respect to keep from angering a foreign dignitary. "I wasn't expecting royalty to show up here, though." She bowed slightly. "Is there something I can help you with, your majesty?"

When he commented on her nudity, though, she looked down and realized that, in fact, it was taboo in most human cultures. Not that it made sense to her, but she had to try to fit in at least. "Oh, I'm sorry if this offends you, sir. I was just orbiting the sun, absorbing it's radiation, and it's plasma emissions burned off my hair and clothing. I can go put on some clothes if you wish."

Jax dropped into the bank through a vent, his suit preventing the robbers from seeing him. There were two men in total guarding the hostages, who were locked up in the vault. He ran up to one and knocked him out using a pressure point. By then, his stealth had worn off. The other man tried to call out to his accomplices, but Jax had him silent and out cold before he could. "Alright. Step two."

He walked to the vault door, which had been blown open but was now crudely barricaded. As soon as he got there, he pulled the wooden boards away and opened the door. A couple people were shocked, but he put a finger to his lips. Not now. He motioned to the vent, and they began their slow escape from the bank. As soon as everybody was away, he smiled, and waltzed to where the other criminals were. One yelled. "Oh shit, it's the Bat!" Then Jax emerged from the shadows.

"What? Disappointed?" The ones that had guns drew them. "I know, I know. Freeze." He activated his freezing gauntlets and within seconds, the closest robbers were frozen. However, that didn't stop the others, and they kept shooting. Bullets whizzed off ice and walls, and Jax drew his own guns and loosed off a couple of shots. Most made their mark, but there were still three robbers, and Jax was under heavy fire. Jax had an idea. He picked up a grenade from a robber's body, and when he was ready, pulled the pin. He threw it into the general vicinity of the robbers, and dove through a window.

Jax heard the boom, and felt the heat, but he still climbed the building nonetheless, and fled the scene. Once he arrived at his apartment, he turned on the news, and was surprised to find him being one of the main subjects. "Holy hell." He quickly made some ramen, put in a bowl, and sat down to watch the show.

After defeating the mayor the Donald Gravestone in Bethany Gravestone's body went by he quarantined offices Donald needed to download some files off their computer. After logging into the wifi Donald began to download the files Bethany said to. "After the files finish downloading we should check on my coworkers from a nearby building." Bethany could tell Donald wasn't to thrilled with the idea. "Tabitha is in there. You might get to see her." Donald hating having his sister being able to read his thoughts she loved to use it against him. "Fine!"

Once the files were finished downloading Donald started to head towards the building adjacent to the law firm. Before they could get inside one of the Starro controlled people started firing at people passing by. Looks like you get your way. We have to fight those thing/people. Let's get to the roof and make our way down. Do try to remember they are people forcibly being used by those things, so go easy on the body." Bethany wanted to slap him upside the head, like Gibbs on NCIS. On the roof they transformed and flew over to the lawfirm. "Once we deal with them, assuming there is a way to do it without killing the victim. How do you propose we handle the unconscious ones?" "STAR Labs has been itching to get in here or any other quarantined place. Last time they tried at least according to the news, they all got infected or whatever. Let STAR labs handle the Starros."

They decided to split up on the top floor. "Don't let your thing for Tabitha get you possessed." Donald gave Bethany both middle fingers. Bethany just snickered in response.

Katarina came into view of the helicopter just in time to see a man crash through the cockpit and pull out the two pilots. She stuck back a bit towards the rooftop's center in an attempt to not draw any undue attention to herself as she watched the man swoop in and rescue the out of control helicopter. He seemed to be talking, but the distance combined with the helicopter's rotors meant there wasn't chance she could catch a word of it. Katarina silently cursed her former captor, he had grown paranoid near the time of his demise and deactivated the cowl's auditory sensors so she couldn't listen in on him from several rooms away.

Still she looked on hoping to get a good enough glance of his face for the facial recognition to work with. As if on cue the man decided to pose for pictures. She could feel her eyes almost involuntarily rolling out of a mix of disbelief and exasperation at the man's display of bravado. But still it served to give her cowl more than enough to work with for facial recognition. "Me-ow." She muttered as the recreated image of his face coalesced in the upper right of her vision as the cowl searched all known databases for a match. In the meantime she kept her gaze focused on him as he began to fly once more through downtown Gotham.

'No Matches Found' The message appeared over the mystery man's face as she swung to a neighboring rooftop to maintain visual contact with him. It was a message she had legitimately never seen before and it caught her by surprise to the point that she missed her her intended grab point. She quickly reacted however and the very end link of her whip expanded it's blades and dug into a stone window sill before she had fallen two stories, allowing her to recover quickly. As she climbed onto the roof Katarina decided to run the search again, this just didn't happen. She literally just watched the man pose for a damn picture, he was clearly not the kind of person that tried to hide their identity. It made no sense. Once again however she was met with disappointment and a 'No Matches Found'.

Katarina considered her options, as a career criminal and a good one at that, her instincts were telling her to just leave. It was obvious that this guy was going to come into conflict with GCPD again, possibly more than just them. And staying away from police related danger was rule number one of being a good thief. But she wasn't just a thief anymore. Katarina let out a deep sigh as that realization hit her. Just because he hadn't hurt anyone yet didn't mean he wouldn't eventually even unintentionally, and if she was gonna call herself one of the 'good guys' she couldn't just let a superpowered mystery man fly through the city unmonitored. Sure there were people leagues more qualified than her for this task she thought. She took a moment to scan the surrounding area for such a party. "Guess they're not here."

@TheUnknowable

Zod coughed and forced himself to stop laughing, a small snort being the last of it. The respect she has begun to show was commendable, and Zod found himself grinning.

"Your lack of garment is of no concern to me, my libido has unfortunately been lessened by age," he lied, age was not what had dulled that sword, but she need not know of his weapons. Turning to his guards, he snapped his fingers repeatedly until they closed their gaping maws, pulling them towards him with a wave of his hand.

"I do have something that requires... meta-human aid. I am looking for a man of my own race. it should come as no surprise to you that I am no Rannite, I am of the grand planet of Krypton, taken years ago by a massive explosion. As a result of genetic experimentation, when we Kryptonians are under a yellow sun we gain abilities much beyond most denizens of this galaxy. I have heard of one... Superman, who matches the abilities we Kryptonians possess," he explained slowly, floating slightly above the ground as a demonstration of his powers.

"The Rannite people lack the ability to peacefully reside on their planet, my arrival was the only factor that prevented planetary war. If your people understand the secrets of atomic fission, than you know the danger their race was in. I am aging, as is obvious, and with my death, I fear that the Rannite people will suffer a catastrophe that will likely wipe Rann from the map. I need this 'Superman' to come with me, as a successor. He seems to serve basically as a king on this planet, it shouldn't be a hard adjustment," he finished, his care for the Rannites obvious.

@bluetommy2"Your lack of garment is of no concern to me, my libido has unfortunately been lessened by age,"

Shame, she thought, you aren't bad looking. She was startled that she thought that, not knowing where it came from, but managed to keep her composure and listen to him.

After he finished speaking, she responded, continuing in Rannian, as Star Lab had deciphered little Kryptonian. "Our nuclear threat ended due to a concept called "mutually assured destruction." Essentially, both major powers had enough weapons that if the one side used them, they would be completely annihilated in retaliation. Superman's existence may have played a part in stopping the war as well, as did the existence of metahumans and other super-humans."

"I wouldn't call Superman a king, though. He's more of a guardian or a general. He protects this planet's people with the help of two others, a mutated human known as "Batman" and a woman called "Wonder Woman" that uses advanced technology. I'm not sure where he is, though, as I've been off-world and out of comunication for the last fifteen days. I know they have a base here in Metropolis, called the Justice Tower, and have heard rumors of a base somewhere in the Arctic circle, though he must be using Kryptonian tech to hide it if it's there, because no one has been able to locate it."

Hawk & Dove split up to deal with the Starros attacking ordinary citizens from inside this building. Hawk being the less rational one, if she had guns they would have been blazing. Dove chose a more tactical approach, stealth, when available.

Hawk was the first find one of the infected. Not as far along, she hit him in the head knocking him out, avoidng the face. Her next opponent had a Starro on her face. It tried shooting her but she dodged. She responded by ripping a light sconce off the wall and whipped it at the attacker's head.

Dove studied two Starros interacting, at least he thought they were interacting. They weren't moving at all. No sound could be heard beyond. Apparrently something caught their attention outside. They both turned to whatever it was. Dove could see a light building up around the single eye of each. He rushed them both and smacked their head together hard knocking them out. He tried ripping off a Starro but it clung tight and he could tell by the sound of their heart that trying to do so was killing the victim.

Coast City...

"Judah... I'm picking up static in the comm-link in the helmet. Are you seeing any of this?" Hawkman asked seemingly to the air around him, as he was outside of his plane and making his way inside of a tech'ed out community college building.

"I'm getting static too Jimmy! Gimme just a sec and lemme see if I can pull footage from the security cameras closer to you..." said the hefty young man at a computer desk back at the barn/airstrip.

He worked at the keyboard feverishly, doing whatever he could to get eyes on his friend. Several cameras blinked in and out, some closer to Hawkman did in fact have static as well. However Judah wasn't worried about what was right beside his friend, it was a the group of face hugging Starros gather outside of the building. Judah began yelling back in his headset for Scott Hendricks to get out of there.

Back at the community college, Scott tried taking it all in. The organic technology all around, baby Starro's seemingly growing within the walls, it was like something out of an Alien sequel. A purple and green oozing substance was riddled all over the place like snot. The control panel looked very basic on what appeared to be the central hub. A face hugger turned and caught sight of Scott before being hit in the eye and blinded, and then kneecapped with a swift kick to his legs.

"Sorry buddy, but if I'm gonna save everybody a few of ya gotta take some lumps." he said laughing a bit, trying to see through the humidity now in his helmet. That's when Judah finally broke through the static.

"JIMMY! GET....... 'F THER... THEY'RE... THERING... DAMNIT JIMMY THEY'RE...." Scott looked puzzled, but nobody could see the look on his face, "...AT SHOULD DO IT! Finally, Jimmy there's a little over a dozen outside the front entrance to the building. Another two dozen or so are on their way. YOU GOTTA GET OUT OF THERE NOW!"

"$#!+!" Scott yelled running out of the building with both pistols drawn now.

"Gotta make it back to the plane, COME ON!" he exclaimed dropping a few facehuggers on his way through the second floor of the building.

Gotham...

"So... is your tech as good as that guy's," asked Batman stepping from the shadows and approaching, "... Kat?"

The two of them stared at each other from behind their goggles and armored headgear.

~KL~