[indent][b][u]December 25th, 1:58 AM Washington DC[/u][/b][/indent] The roll of persistent thunder echoed through the streets of America’s capital, rattling windows and causing the abandoned vehicles packed tightly together to jolt on their wheels. The attack had occurred without any foreshadowing, allowing no one to evacuate beforehand. Some had chosen to flee by any means possible, while others cowered in their homes in the naive hope that whatever was happening would pass them by. Flames painted the night in an orange hue as parts of the city were consumed by fire, a looming figure of impossible size standing above it all. His footsteps like earthquakes, his breathes akin to a hurricane...he was the Lord of the Titans, [url=https://imgur.com/CcMWnL8]Cronus.[/url] His snowy beard whipped about in the wind of his own destruction, massive scythe cutting a path through apartment complexes and office buildings alike on the harvest deity’s path towards the “White house”. He was to lead this invasion, to wipe away the seat of power of the strongest mortal kingdom as a show of their undeniable power. This was the task given to him by his…benefactor, a creature that seemed to only value chaos and disharmony. But he had [i]other[/i] plans. This world had become rotten under the uncaring eye of his children, its people deeply flawed and broken. He would play along with the one who freed him from captivity for now, but it would only be to facilitate the return of the Golden Age. “Ah,” his voice echoed across the city, being carried unnaturally on the wind to the unwilling ears of over half a million people. “The seat of decay, at last.” Stepping out of the urban sprawl, the King of the Titans set his eyes upon the “White House”, and the similarly colored structures adjacent to it. Though constructed of marble, no one had even bothered to paint it, instead leaving the rock’s drab and stale natural color for all to see! But it should be no surprise: these were increasingly flawed, broken creatures he was dealing with. Their leader had - in all likelihood - fled to safety when the attack first began, as humans are wont to do. Still, destroying the monuments of their political power will undoubtedly be a devastating blow to their morale. And he could rid the world of that dull, uncolored marble. Striding towards the diminutive house, a smile slid across Cronus’ face as tank shells and missiles impacted his body by the dozens, doing little more than giving him a mild itch here and there. Moving past them with little concern for whether or not he crushed them underfoot, his voice once more traveled through the air as his scythe was raised overhead. “Behold, humans! The destruction of your ruler’s throne!” Tank’s brow furrowed at the sight of the massive figure storming through DC making an absolute mess of the place. It wasn’t a surprise how much was being destroyed but nonetheless upset the big man knowing how people in and around the path were in a lot of trouble. From where him and Emerald Knight were it would only be moments before they could be on the titan but the sight certainly put things into perspective, it's one thing to be told what your going up against and another thing entirely to take in the scale. Not to mention the military blazing away with absolutely no effect on they’re target which reminded him of fighting the Arab Federation’s forces. He was growing more sure he would have to really let loose to make a dent let alone get the attention of a being that large and tough. [color=A9A9A9]“Got vision on him now and wow do we have our work cut out for us.”[/color] Girard said giving the other duo heads up on where him and his partner were, switching to Emerald Knight for the last bits before they got stuck in battle. [color=A9A9A9]“Lets give the big bastard his lumps for messing up the city, might try getting that scythe of his away from him while your up there since it looks like bad news, I’ll do the same if it comes my way down below.”[/color] At this point, it was almost in character for him to be fashionably late, zooming through the skies in a bright green blur. First it was North Springs, then Gotham, now this damn dam. One would think that a powerhouse like the Emerald Knight would be the first responder to something on this scale. Normally, they’d be right. However, due to the size and scope of the invasion, and who he was paired up with, Emerald Knight’s powers made him the obvious choice for damage control and civilian safety. He was the one to sweep through, take out straggling monsters, and help evacuate any remaining civilians. Not all of them could be saved, but he did what he could. It wasn’t even as if he could just walk in and walk out on this one. Before of his heavy hitter status and powerful set of abilities, it made him a prime candidate for going straight for the big man himself, Cronus. He was on the way to Washington D.C. to go and lure him out. Away from the important government buildings, away from any figureheads still in the area, and towards a stage that was rigged from the start in favor of the mortals. Making Cronus give chase wouldn’t be easy, though. Emerald Knight knew this. Tank should already be there, causing havoc and making a scene for the King of Titans to be drawn towards. After that, He just needed to step in and help Tank string him on for a bit to where the others were. Simple plan. He swooped in low as he arrived on D.C. “It’s so easy to be late when you’re the one stopping in every lefthand town to beat down a few harpies!” He complained over comms, arriving on the scene. “Might have taken longer for us to both do it, but at least we wouldn’t be disjointed. Sorry about my late appearance.” He knew it wasn’t anyone’s fault. That’s just how it was. Right now, he needed to watch Tank smash up stuff with his impossible strength to get the attention of a god. He closed in. He readied his ring and sent a few missiles at the titan. Omnidirectional combat was something that was hammered down during training on Oa. Because green lanterns could fly, it was important to learn to be aware of things coming from every direction, even if poor little earth guns didn’t even scratch his shields. The big guy started to relax the fine tuned control on his strength while ratcheting up his weight, trying to think of a total fit for smashing into a titan with that would definitely get his attention. He eventually settled on somewhere around 100,000 tons arbitrarily, it sounded good to him at the time, before dashing forward and with a powerful hop sending himself rocketing directly for the kneecap ready to make his presence felt. Tank was definitely worried about what might happen on impact to everything but his target as he hadn’t ever used this much force before but now seemed like the time to do it if any. This was going to be interesting. The impact of Tank slamming into Cronus’ kneecap created a thunderous crack that rose above even the sounds of the flames now engulfing Washington DC. Despite this, his leg had only budged slightly in response to the attack, with no apparent damage having been inflicted. Turning his head slightly, the Titan swept his broad gaze across the city in confusion. “Who dares to strike the King of the Titans?” Missiles homed in, they screamed and spun around one another as they closed in on their target. The booming voice of the titan reached Emerald Knight’s easily, and the Green Lantern replied in his humble tone. “Oh, you know,” He sent another fleet of missiles, swooping in and around like a green dart. “Just the protectors of earth. I’m not sure where magic fits into my jurisdiction, but you’re going down either way.” He knew he had to split up his missiles and keep his tactics different from the last. The third set, instead of being close together, spread quickly, intent on hitting the titan from all directions. “Brrnn…!” Cronus grunted, the bombardment of missiles from every side causing the immense deity to stagger back as he slashed wildly in the air, unable to properly see from the explosive impacts engulfing his vision. While Tank had shown too much restraint in his initial strike, the repaired Green Lantern Ring of Preston had proven capable of extracting pain from the Titan King. When the smoke at last cleared from his eyes, Cronus was quick to center his focus on the emerald glow above him. Moving with a speed and grace that should be most alien to a being of such immense size, he swung his scythe towards the Emerald Knight, hoping to annihilate him in a singular blow. “Insolent gnat!” And extra push of force was required for him to beat the speed of the swinging scythe. While blowing up the Titan, Emerald Knight was forced to remind him that the fight wasn’t here. Instead, he and Tank still needed to draw him away from the ruined capital. He could feel the displayed air behind him from the swing of the scythe, and a single gasp escaped his lips. Not a whole lot could make him worry like that anymore. Insurmountable power made that feeling almost nonexistent. In all honesty, he didn’t mind feeling such worry. Being hit probably wouldn’t be that bad, but Cronus wouldn’t be so slow next time. “You’re gonna have to be a little faster than that.” He began to fly away from Cronus, but only so far and fast enough to make him want to give chase. “You shall not escape my wrath,” Cronus promised him, his scythe continuing to swipe at the much smaller Emerald Knight. It was akin to an adult human attempting to swat a housefly, a situation the Titan quickly adapted to by twisting his weapon in his hands. His next series of strikes were instead made with the flat body of his scythe, attempting to pulverize the Green Lantern with it. The plan seemed to - ostensibly - be working, the behemoth God pursuing his opponent away from the burning city without a second thought. Despite his power, he clearly displayed the intellect of one who might mistake an infant for a stone. “I will smear your blood and entrails across this world!” He continued to roar. Had it not been for the heat of battle, Emerald Knight almost would have stopped at the comment. He was almost tempted to fire back a quippy reply, but he only responded with some smaller, less impactful missiles. Just enough to keep Cronus’ attention fixed on him and to keep drawing him to the dam. “Alright, Tank, time to move!” Girard had at least gotten the attention of the Titan though not by much and it was Emerald Knight giving him more of a thrashing from above. Obviously what he did was nowhere near enough and honestly why should it have been? This was something he was having to size up on the fly and if that was what it took to make a mosquito bite then he was going to have to hammer the throttle, so to speak, on laying into this particular problem. He supposed it was going to come to it eventually at the rate but hey time to show what he could really do when pushed. The big guy did just that as he began barraging both of Cronus’ legs with everything he had in just about every way he could within his little zone. Honestly he wanted the big bastard to feel it and to know he could definitely be hurt because what would piss off an age old being more than being smacked around by someone so tiny on both fronts. “HRNGAAH!” Cronus roared in pain as his legs were knocked clean out from under him, his massive form toppling down onto the forest outside of the capital. Having cleared substantial distance in just a short time due to his immense size, he was now laying sprawled safely away from any civilians. Slamming a powerful hand down onto the ground with enough force to cause tremors for miles, the Titan King began pushing himself up. “Nnn...who [i]dares?”[/i] Tank leaped the distance in one bound determined to catch right back up because he wasn’t done yet. He landed with a shockwave, smaller but nonetheless, turning to face the angry giant who was attempting to push himself up. [color=A9A9A9]“That would be me!”[/color] He yelled out fully intent on getting the attention of the Titan. [color=A9A9A9]“The one who is about to feed you a whole humble pie!”[/color] He quickly dashed over to Cronus’ head building up some speed for a proper takeoff as launched himself like an angry comet angling back to headbutt his fallen enemy right between the eyes. He knew one way to get to the high and mighty that he favored most, strike the ego, and he couldn’t think of anything else at the moment that showed quite a much disrespect than a mortal like him going head to head. For an instant after their heads collided, there was no sound. The air in the immediate area had instantly burned away, and it was only when that momentary vacuum was filled that the ear-shattering soundwaves were at last heard. Windows in the next several states over shattered once it reached them, but this merely heralded the titanic earthquake that resulted from his head slamming back into the ground with enough force to instantly create a crater several miles in diameter, debris being ejected high into the atmosphere as a result. Blood fell from the point of impact on Cronus, literal rivers of blood streaming down his face as his eyes shot open. Veins the width of roads appeared in the milky lakes of his sclera as he unleashed a scream that once again made the very earth beneath them tremble. Rising to his feet in an instant, Cronus began to spin his scythe beneath and over his arms in an attempt to to hit his miniscule opponents. Each swing of his titanic blade rent the air, and hurricane force winds began to churn around him. “INSOLENCE!” [hr] [indent][b][u]December 25th, 2:03 AM Conowingo Dam, Maryland[/u][/b][/indent] The clouds hanging in the air high above the large reservoir of [url=https://i.imgur.com/WrcWdNs.jpg]Conowingo Dam[/url] broke, a slice along the white trailing the dark aircraft that plummeted down at an extraordinary rate. The Grim Jet cut up just feet above the water’s surface, almost skimming along the nine thousand acres of water as the magitech jets propelled it towards the barrier holding the water back. It was only coming up at this human-made wall that the jet slowed, drifting to stop beside the large building just beside the gushing waterfalls. [color=IndianRed]”Right, here we are. I’ve already warned emergency services in Maryland to prepare for a power outage. Give me ten minutes to work on the turbines.”[/color] The cockpit of the large jet opened, the metal clad Grim stepping out onto the nose without a backwards glance to her other passenger. The wings on the back of the Iron Fang armor spread, jets igniting as she hopped off. Landing before the turbine house she couldn’t help but mutter under her breath. [color=IndianRed]”I don’t have time for this.”[/color] With that one sentence the door hiding what she needed was ripped off its hinges, a metal clad hand tossing it to the side. As she stepped inside the lights came on, illuminating the eleven turbines housed within the large building. Without hesitation she moved to the back, where the higher power ones were, and far more delicately opened the panel on the large machine. On the visor that covered her eyes a small signal flashed with an unseen motion, her communicator turned on to broadcast across the line to the other three heroes she was connected to. [color=IndianRed]”This shouldn’t be too hard to modify, but we’re going to have to be careful not to overload it too much before Cronus is near, King Orin. The majority of your efforts are going to have to be minutes before he arrives.”[/color] King Orin unbuckled the harness keeping him restrained in his seat and stood up, leaping out of the jet a moment after Grim. Landing atop the dam Orin surveyed the manmade lake and turned to look at the artificial waterfalls tumbling down below. For a moment he thought to be offended by this taming of the wild forces of water, but he reminded himself that Atlantis had similar hydroelectric generators on a smaller scale. Stepping up onto the iron railing designed to keep unfortunate idiots from falling into the lake, Orin keyed his communicator on to respond to Grim. [color=LightSeaGreen]”I’ll use the time to scout below the surface. Try and see where to direct the currents for their best effect. Just let me know when you’re ready.”[/color] Orin said before stepping off the railing and landing on the surface of the water. The Atlantean king took a few steps out on the surface, making distance between himself and the dam. Aquaman could feel the strength of the currents below, the water being divided into channels as it was forced through the turbines. A moment later, Orin allowed himself to sink, taking his first breath of cold, fresh water. It was a strange sensation, somehow harsher than the salty brine he was used to, but oddly refreshing. Ignoring the pull of the currents, Orin sank lower as he peered through the darkness at the mostly drab wall of the dam. He could see the turbine channels now, and he could feel the currents sweeping through them. The dam was impressive, but not entirely efficient. Whorls and eddies caught at the edges of the channels, slowing the water and creating drag. Aquaman could fix that. Add in a large rush of water thanks to his control over the Trident, and Orin imagined he could supercharge the dam to its new capacity (Thanks to Grim’s tinkering) in just a couple minutes. Eight minutes after the duo had set down the first of the high powered turbines had its safety protocols disabled, along with a few modifications to allow it to pump extra energy from the falling water. To be honest, it wasn’t safe at all and the turbine was likely to be fried after all was said and done. Yet here Grim was, repeating the same modifications to the second of four high powered turbines. It took considerably less time now that she knew what she was doing. Then again, they weren’t exactly looking to wear kid gloves when faced with a Titan. [color=IndianRed]”King Orin,”[/color] The deep rumble of the modified voice came on over the comms once more a few minutes later, as two of the turbines were now ready to go. It was really a good thing these magitech communicators worked underwater. [color=IndianRed]”Start increasing the flow - slowly. I’ve set two of the more powerful ones so far to start storing the extra charge, working on the third now. We’ll get them up to nearly full and then overload all eleven when Cronus is near.”[/color] Aquaman had nearly finished clearing the silt from the bottom of the dam channels when Grim’s message came through. He grinned to himself as he scanned the expansive concrete wall in front of him. This was it. If Grim had done everything on his end correctly, the dam would begin building up energy, and then it was just up to Tank and Emerald Knight to bait Cronus to their location. [color=LightSeaGreen]”Affirmative, Grim. May luck be with us all tonight.”[/color] Aquaman said, before tightening his grip on the Trident of Neptune and backing away from the dam. Once he got a better viewpoint, Aquaman pointed the trident in the direction of the dam and began to channel power. The currents around him began to speed up, and Orin made sure to spend special care on the channels themselves. Eliminate drag, speed the currents, faster and faster and the electricity would begin to build. [color=LightSeaGreen]”I’m starting, Grim. Currents are moving, you should be seeing a spike in power now.”[/color] [color=IndianRed]”You’re correct,”[/color] Grim rumbled over the comms, taking one last glance at the fourth high powered turbine. The storage levels were building slowly but surely, which meant she had to move quickly to modify the low powered turbines now. All in all, their side was working out as planned. Now just to get the main player in position, then the sparks would fly. [hr] The distance between Washington DC and Maryland might be a distance worthy of an automobile for humans, but for a Titan such as Cronus, it was but a short jaunt. In barely any time at all, he had chased Emerald Knight and Tank all the way to the Conowingo dam, neither noticing or caring. With his immense size and speed, he could return to the human’s capital in an instant once he had squashed the insignificant gnats tormenting him so. They had even had the audacity to [i]injure[/i] him! Him, King of the Titans! Of course, he could heal from these wounds near-instantaneously, but it was nevertheless a blasphemy that couldn’t be tolerated. Much of the surrounding forest had been hacked down just from the aftershocks of his immense scythe missing its targets, and it would only require one of those errant swings to completely obliterate the dam as well. “Your death is imminent, human filth!” Cronus thundered, eyes scanning sky and ground alike. “End this futile game and accept your fate!” Girard turned his head back to get the view of the Titan hunting them down and true to form the huge being was wrecking everything in his path while trying to get a decent swing to connect into them. He had been having to adjust his weight and mass on the fly to keep the massive scythe from being able to find proper purchase. There was the feeling that maybe they might have done the job of angering Cronus just a bit too well but it also was kind of a point of pride in having done it. After all it was going to plan for the moment with them being practically on top of the dam now quick as anything. [color=A9A9A9]”I hope you have the dam ready because we brought a special guest, a very pissed off special guest!”[/color] Tank said confirming as if they weren’t aware of the huge being probably casting a shadow over the place. [color=A9A9A9]“We should have him in position momentarily, just need to get him to move a little more!”[/color] In a similar train of thought, Emerald Knight figured that while making Cronus angry enough to give chase, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to continue spurring him on, only making him angrier and more likely to kill them. However, He refused to back down. Every few moments he would give Cronus a new reason to hate the green suited mortal. He wanted to make sure, just in case, that Cronus’ attention was dead set on them. “We’re getting there!” Emerald Knight called back to Tank. “Just a little more, almost there!” Other than lead him on and make sure that the Titan ended up in the right spot, there was little else for the Emerald Knight to do. He could create constructs to ensure that Cronus would be unable to escape the trap, but it was up to the others to make sure that the plan was carried through to the end. So it was time. The shadow of the great being had fallen over the dam before the three had arrived, giving signal to the two heroes already busy at work within. By now, the turbines had been released from any safety measures, and were nearing full capacity with King Orin’s gentle efforts. Yet, it wasn’t just the sting of full capacity they were looking for, now that Cronus was near. It was a [i]storm[/i]. [color=IndianRed]”Your Majesty,”[/color] Grim rumbled over the comms in her modulator’s flat way. She stood apart from the turbines now, hovering to gaze upon them from above. Their efforts were coming to a head, now all it took was just that little bit more, and to spring the trap. [color=IndianRed]”The turbines are ready and Cronus approaches. Unleash the flood.”[/color] Orin cracked a smile and chuckled at Grim’s approval, spreading his arms as he began to channel more power through the Trident. [color=LightSeaGreen]”Your wish is my command, Grim!”[/color] He affirmed before twisting to point the Trident at the dam itself and focusing his powers. Water began to rush around him, the currents speeding up and up, past flash-flood speeds, surpassing the strengths of a waterfall, the magically enhanced currents roared and bellowed as the water forced its way through the channels and past the turbines. Hundreds and thousands of gallons of water overflowed and overcharged the dam, relying only on Grim’s tinkering and the promise of nearby release. [color=LightSeaGreen]”And Grim, we’ve worked closely enough by now; please don’t call me Your Majesty. Orin is fine, or Aquaman if you insist.”[/color] [color=IndianRed]”As you wish, King Orin.”[/color] As the cascade of water worked its way through the dam, the fail safes that were once put in place began to fail. Inside the building that housed the turbines, the machines began to let off sparks of warning as the energy climbed. As soon as those sparks began to manifest the wrenching of metal filled the room. The power of the Iron Fang armor showed as the metal slides against the wall were already twisted to connect to one another, and with the power building Grim forcefully pulled one end of the metal lining to the largest of the turbines. Just like that, electricity began coursing through the walls of the building - turning the building lethal as the drab grey metal heated up to fluorescent whites and reds. When the immense foot of the Titan at last came crashing down onto the dam, the darkness of the night was instantly sundered. Countless billions of volts coursed up through the behemoth deity, the power of the dam augmented far beyond its natural capacity by Orin’s trident. Almost immediately, lights began to switch off throughout the state of Maryland as the dam that powered so many businesses and households was overloaded. So intense was the luminous current of power that surged through Cronus, that his own thunderous screams of agony could barely be heard. Finally, as his body fell forward onto Conowingo Dam, the darkness reasserted itself fully. Collapsing beneath his immense weight, the Titan found himself sprawled out onto his back amidst the ruins of the once proud hydroelectric facility. Pillars of smoke slowly trailed from the burnt flesh that now covered his body, his eyes rolled back into his head.