[IC] Worlds Collide: A Merged Universe Superhero Roleplay

[Ezekiel]

New Orleans
New Orleans

Lousiana
Lousiana

---

“Som’thin’ going down in New York?”

“Seems it, you thinkin’ they’d have this on if tha’ happin’ here?” The bartender didn’t look up to the screen as he motioned with one cloth-covered hand in its direction as he continued to clean glasses, the small stack of returned drinks steadily diminishing as he worked. Not all of them matched the general design of the other glasses, a sign of New Orleans' unusual laissez-faire attitude towards allowing drinks to be brought in from different establishments. Eventually, they’d get back to their place of origin, the honour among bars.

“Mon Cher, if you t’ink the ratings care about if a disaster be in the South or the East Coast, I got an ad scheme to sell you.” Remy laughed, but without any cruelty as he took a sip of his drink, earning a somewhat derisive snort of dismissal from the bartender as he worked.

“This ain’t the South, Sugah, not even close.” The voice, in typical Southern drawl, sounded from behind him just a moment before Anna Marie slipped onto the stool beside him. Much like Remy she was dressed down from their usual work attire, although still suitable for a more casual night out. The long set of lace gloves adoring Anna’s arms the only hint to the nature of her mutation, while the ever-persistent sunglasses across Remy’s features his own means of hiding the impact of his X-Gene.

“What are you talkin’ ‘bout now chérie? Only thing more south than here is the ocean.” Remy laughed as Anna waived over for her own drink, Remy wordlessly noting in an amused way just how much faster the service was for her than him. What a kind smile and a tight set of jeans could do in this own.

“That’s south, not South Remy. My daddy used to say if the sweat you can smell is the ocean, not off a farmer’s brow, that ain’t the real South.” She looked over to him with a slight grin, and the deep black of the lipstick on her full smile imprinted into his mind. No wonder she was served so fast.

“Oh, you a hick, hick, chérie.” He laughed, longer this time, especially as she laughed alongside him.

“That’s me Remy, cornrow bred, cornbread fed.” Her eyes drifted away from him for a few moments, even as she still laughed, and even if they were ‘on the job’ he regretted it, losing the spark of her amused eyes. He didn’t have long to mourn though, as his attention was drawn to the entrance to the bar as an assortment of men entered. Armed men. Headed up by a face he unfortunately recognised.

“Remy LeBeau. I felt the implications of your return were made fairly clear.” The man spoke with the hint of a French accent, not a local, but of the founding naton across the sea. Those who flanked him were unfamiliar to Remy, no doubt newer additions of the Thieves’ Guild he had long left behind. The barman had made himself scarce a moment before, no doubt in on it.

“Friends of yours, darlin’?” Anna stood from the stool beside him, casually stretching in a manner which belied the obvious hostility from across the room.

“You’re going to want to leave this alone, girl.”

“Well, now I am definitely not going to do that.”

The tone in her words was suddenly deadly, even as Remy also stood to join her, rolling up his sleeves as he did so.

“If we’re going to do this, Monsieur, I just have one question for you.” The roll of his sleeves hid the sudden motion of the deck falling from his concealed place into his outstretched hand, a slight flick of his fingers heralding his next words. “Is this your card?”

[mattmanganon]

C A P T A I N M A R V E L
C A P T A I N M A R V E L

^{"Yeah, Hercules wasn't a slouch."}

As Bailey finished recounting the story once again, he looked at Sims. The old man stared back. "Certainly explains a few things." He groaned, getting up and arching his back, a quiet "Crick" rang out.

"Ok, but i don't get it. Why is he a Spider then? You get your DNA diddled with by a nutty monster-maker too?" Sims looked at her with his frown.

"Nope. I make my own power. A bunch of years back, i found a ritual for becoming a totem of the Web of Life. Got me the Spider-Powers and all the goodies that come with it. Of course, i also decided i needed to take these powers worldwide. But for that, i'd need money. Spent the next 30 years building me a business empire from which to launch my hero career from..." He sullenly looked down at his liver-spotted, wrinkled hands. "And then i was an old man... And my hero career was a no-show... Don't get me wrong, had a few tussles with some bad guys over the years. You ever read about that big warehouse fire down at the old docks about 15 years ago?" He asked. Bailey was a little surprised. That had also happened before the change. Sims had told him about this before. Christina, on the otherhand, had no idea, but politely nodded. "That was me taking down a Magia weapons shipment." Bailey noticed that Sims barely looked at him for more than a second at a time. Sims then noticed his noticing. "You know when there's a pile of clothes in the corner of the room that you wake up in the middle of the night to see and it looks like there's someone stood there, watching you and you freak-out for all of 2 seconds until you realize it's just clothes? That's what looking at you is like." Christina turned to Bailey, her mouth agape.

"Awww, Bail, you're The Hat Man." She tustled his hair. Bailey looked at Sims, inquisitively. Sims stared back for a second, before looking away again. Bailey shook his head.

"Sh-The Wizard said that i was erased from the Web of Life, somehow. Said it might have had something to do with something called The Speed Force." Sims looked around at his book-case and walked over to it. He then tutted.

"Damn..." He grunted under his breath. He then took his phone out and made a call. "Smith. I'm going to need the car. Can you pick us up in 20? I need to go to the lab... I'll have 2 guests with me, part of the outreach program. Have some refreshments ready..." He then looked at the pair of them. "Chocolate milk and cookies." He said. Christina looked at Bailey.

"You know, i should be offended, but honestly, it has been FOREVER since i had some of that and it sounds awesome." She sighed.

"Trust me, Mrs Hunkle makes THE BEST cookies." He replied. Ezekiel looked at them as he put the phone down.

"Who?" He asked. Before snapping his finger and pointing at him. "Yeah, different timeline or something."

General Techtronics Corporation Labs, New York

As a large door slid open, Ezekiel and the kids entered. the labs, the pair immediately looked around. Bailey already knew this room... At least, mostly, there was a number of small differences, but this is the room that Sims taught him how to fight like a Spider. As Bailey walked into the middle of the room, he pulled his jacket and shirt off to reveal his Spider-Costume. Sims looked at him.

"Definitely looks like one of mine." He grunted. "Alright, let's see what you've got. So, i imagine you need-"

"An open skylight or some kind of view to the skies." Sims walked over to a control panel and pressed a few buttons and a large skylight opened to reveal the sky above them.

"Alright, now, let's see what you've got." He said. Bailey quickly took the rest of the clothes covering his Spider-Costume underneath off and slipped the mask over his face. "What's with the mask if you're about to transform?" Sims asked.

"That was my idea." Christina said. "Let's him really Aurafarm." Sims shook his head, this generation really had left him behind.

"Also, i was thinking that if i accidentally say the magic word and turn back into Bailey, having a covering for my face will mean i'm not immediately identified." He said. "I've really been thinking a lot more clearly when i'm transformed. I think it's to do with the whole Wisdom of Solomon." Bailey centered himself and breathed out heavily.

"SHAZAM!!!"

They heard the clap of thunder and the lights seemed to glow brighter for a second, but Bailey didn't transform. Bailey looked around. "Oh no, not again!" Bailey almost began hyperventilating, before Sims waved him down.

"Wait, you need to be hit by a bolt of lighting?" He asked. Christina immediately was running over to him to calm him down.

"Y-Yeah!" Bailey looked up.

"Don't worry, then. We've got a Lightning Rod." He said. "That's why the lights went brighter for a second. You just gave the city... Wow, you just replaced the Hoover Dam for a day." Sims looked at him with a little fear in his eyes this time. "And that... That just goes into your body?" He then pressed a few other buttons. "Well, if you ever give up your life as a Superhero, you could make a great Power Plant." He shook his head. There was a loud noise from above them of metal scraping on metal. "Alright, no more Lightning Rod. Give her a whirl." Christina tustled Bailey's hair again before stepping away. She gave him the thumbs up, before making a few hand guestures to him.

"Alright..." He struck the pose that Christina had worked on him earlier. "WITH THE STRENGTH OF HER-"

"STOP!" Sims stroked his brow, growing increasingly annoyed at this kid. "Was it just me that trained you in this other universe or did a guy called Takuya Yamashiro work with us?" He growled.

"Who?" Bailey asked.

"Good, i can't stand that guy." He grunted. "Just say the word and let's see what you've got."

"Alright."

"SHAZAM!"

In a flash of lightning, Bailey stood there in his full glory as the Captain Marvel that had helped save New York. He stood up tall. Sims gave out an impressed whistle. "Just as impressive in person as on the news." He said. "So, since you've said you're not so good with the whole "Using those powers consciously" thing, so let's start with a simple thing." Bailey already began walking over to a part of the room as Sims pressed a button and a large hydrolic press appeared just above Bailey. "Alright, just stand under that and hold it-"

"Yeah, you ran me through these before." Bailey said. Holding his hand up. "Last time, we got to 20 tons before i had to give. Bailey braced himself, before raising his hand and allowed the press to push into his hand. Christina ran over to the computer, looking over his shoulder as he sat on the chair, watching the preasure rise. Bailey tutted a little as he stood holding it. "Is... Is it on? Is it working working?" He asked. Sims and Christina looked at each other in disbelief.

"Well... Let's say it's over 20 tons." She gasped.

"We're at 250 Tons, i need to stop there because the floor isn't going to hold much more." He said. Bailey looked down to see his feet were making dents in the floor. The pressure released and the press retreated back into the ceiling.

"Yeah, Hercules wasn't a slouch." Christina chimed in.

"No kidding... Well, time for the speed test. He said.

After a number of tests, Sims sat with his head in his hands.

"I... I can't..." Sims stammered. "Every single test... Not a single one capable of measuring you. The treadmill can't keep up and even if it could, i suspect you'll burn out the motor before you get tired. The floor can't hold you. My guys are gonna spend weeks scraping the carbon scoring off the target range. And i don't really have a test for Wisdom or Courage."

"So, he's some kind of... Super... Guy?" She asked. They both looked at her, annoyed.

"It means you're very dangerous." Sims replied. "If means an erent backhand and you're gonna vaporize someone." Christina scowled at Sims.

"HEY! YOU WRINKLY OLD FART!!!" She scolded him. "WE CAME TO YOU FOR HELP AND LOOK AT HIM!" She pointed at Bailey who looked terrified. "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE HIS MIYAGI! SO MIYAGI HIM!" She roared at him. She walked over to Bailey and slapped a hand on his shoulder. "Bailey-San." She said, doing her best Pat Morita voice. "Man who can't control power, will be controlled by power. But you one with power. You control it." Bailey looked at her, confused, Sims rolled his eyes.

"Ok, let's let the talking, from now on, be done by people who weren't raised by Uncle Television." He grunted at Christina. He then looked at Bailey. "But... In theory, she's right. What i mean is that i'm completely out of my element in training you." Bailey perked up.

"So-" Sims nodded to Bailey's question.

"So, i'm not saying that i'm going to be the best person for it. But i'm saying that i'm going to do the best job i can." Bailey got up and stepped towards Sims, picking him up in a hug.

"Thanks."

Meanwhile from the open roof, the compound eyes continued to stare at the trio. "Hahaha... Sims has no idea that he dances on the strings as a puppet. The more he spends around that gaping void in the Web, the more it will notice that void... And the more it will do its best to close that void..." He giggled.

Meanwhile, in a quiet corner of Queens, a series of webs seemed to fold into the city from seemingly no-where. A cocoon beginning to form as something began emerging into the world...

[Pacifista]

---

Ducking through the corridors of Dufeel, Wade had eyes and ears out, dodging all the recent college grads and strippers of all shapes and sizes. Though the scents of the illicit threatened to drag him to and fro, he kept his eyes straight forward, only bobbing to the beat of music drifting after him a little bit. Shuffling into the entrance, he ignored a pair of programmers staring from their spot on the couch out into the space of the window with vacant expressions. One was vibrating, arms tucked around his head with a low hum coming from his mouth, Wade understanding the feeling of being so high you believe you’re a spaceship quite intimately. Docking by the desks where a number of bags were jumbled together, Wade snatched up a beige one with a Labubu keychain suspended from it, ripping it open and rifling around until he pulled out a small black brick and a beer bottle with liquid sloshing around inside.

Back on the prowl, in moments he was ducking out of sight as a pair excitedly chatted about some ‘phase two’ as they left the office area. Charging in from the other direction, he muttered, “I’m a nice dude, with some nice dreams. See these ice cube fuck-” he gasped out as the door closed on his torso. Free to ignore the ID operated passlock, he grumbled, “I’ve got to stop using that song.”

Pulling out the black brick, he flipped it into the air with a grin, only for it to slip from his hand and clatter to the ground. Offering a few more choice swear words as he scooped it back up, he went up to the nearest computer, slapping it to the side and turning a knob on the side. The nearby pens and paperclips rattled alongside the computer's innards before he turned the knob back, moving on to the next one and the next until the room had been cleared. Flipping it once again, he caught it before blowing a breath of air as though he was cooling down his pistol (when in truth, it was currently feeling rather claustrophobic and neglected). Jamming back into his pocket, he had one more stop making it to the server room in due time. Kicking through the small window, he reached in and unlocked the door proper. Taking out the bottle, cracked open and stoppered with a sliver of sleeve ripped from the hoodie, the whole mess smelled of turpentine. With a click of the lighter he’d pilfered moments ago, he sent the molotov flying, heat bursting out as flames came to take the poor baby AI to its robot hell. Taking in the smell of hot metal and molten plastic, he sighed, “Fuck you, bunnies on a trampoline. You’ve hippity’ed your last hop.”

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?”

Wade turned to meet Richard Shodd’s panicked face with a wide, stiff smile. “Hey Rick~ Is it hot in here or is it just me?” Turning to the flames he gasped, “Oh darn! Oh gosh! How could this have happened? Stay away so the fumes don’t give you cancer.” Rick was already off to get the nearest fire extinguisher. As he was running back, Wade offered, “Don’t do that now!” Wrestling it from his hands, he swung it against the nearby wall, the nozzle cracking off. Throwing it aside, the pressure let loose and it shot off down the hallway into the dark. Rick gawked in abject horror. Wade started moving backwards. “Yeah a dude who looks like a car dragged him down a road of broken glass for eight miles in a pair pink hot pants burned down your server room that is not up to fire code while you and your buddies are doing every drug in a ten mile radius. Call me Bill Murray bitch, because no one will ever believe you!” Rick gawked as Wade ran out of sight, his weak legs collapsing under the weight of a huge backstabbing tool.

---

Slade didn’t even fucking flinch as Wade’s bare feet crossed the late evening pavement before a leap took him on a slide across the hood of some Craigslist ‘fixer upper’ of a sedan. Cracking open the door he jumped inside with a “Woo!”

“Could you try to be less conspicuous?” he moved to start the ignition, only for Wade to meet him dead in the eye, his stare unrelenting. He was quite sure cyclops glanced down to see his cobbled together outfit before shaking his silver haired head lightly. “Never mind.” Car starting up with the sounds of dying machinery, the two were on their way.

“How’d it go, little bro?”

“Glad you asked!” Clapping his hands together, he began, “As per the text message thread they accidentally let that New York Times journalist into-”

“Derek Day Richie, one of the good ones.”

“Interrupt me again and I will have you turn this car around old man! Anyway, Derek gave you a heads up that Jack Hammer and friends had developed something good enough to pass as true AI, a deal being struck with Dufeel to pass it around to the world at large and ruin everything forever. So, you hatched the plan: posing as Derek, you would interview Richie Bitch for the purpose of smuggling my severed finger in, cutting it to refresh my regeneration and hiding it on the premises before sending me a message to pulp myself so I could regenerate in Dufeel by the time night rolled around. A night that was going to be full of all the debauchery a bunch of horned up bisexual college kids could imagine. From the messages, you knew that, and also that Jack ‘joked’ about burning the building down with a molotov to keep what he’d created from the world. So, you got to one of the strippers who was hired and paid them a fat stack- money too, to have them smuggle me a molotov and a super magnet in their bag, marked by that stupid bunny thing.”

“The Labubu was your idea.”

“Damn right it was! But once I got my shit together, and the parts that hold the shit, I could use the magnet to fry all their work computers, use the molotov that only the people in that texting group knew about, and if anyone saw me it could be readily dismissed as drug induced hallucination. All in all, not complicated enough to warrant a big exposition dump sequence, but fuck it, we saved the fucking day, maybe the whole future. Your brains, my everything else, expect the car. That’s right! You know who the fuck we are? We’re-”

“THE WILSONS!” The two cried in unison.

“Fuck yeah!”

Slade shot him a side glance. “Can you keep it to yourself?”

Wade’s naked brow shot up. “What? I thought we were getting along great just now!”

Slade turned to face him, lines on his face run with disappointment. “You’ve been muttering to yourself for the last five minutes, I’ve been filtering it out. Did you take something while you were in there?”

Wade, insides tumbling down like the lives of Richard Shodd and those of Dufeel, slumped back in his seat, dejected. “No. I fucking wish though. I didn’t eat anything either, can we get some McDonalds? I grew back with an empty stomach and if I don’t get a Dr. Pepper in the next thirty seconds I will probably pass out.”

Face stony as he took an unwanted turn, Slade said, “Next time you go through a woodchipper, eat first.”

---

The smell of smoke hung in the air, red and white lights flashing outside of what was only for a short time longer the headquarters of Dufeel. A gaggle of scared looking tech bros ran the whole spectrum of terrified, confused, drowsy, or head fucking empty while a collection of strippers took their steady leave, firefighters and police popping in and out.

Jack sat with his head trying to coddle his pounding head. His thoughts swam, only starting to come back when a foot found his back. Turning to see a frantic Rick, he only then realized he tried to kick him, because his arms were out as he tried to regain balance. “This is your fault!”

“Yeah, it was. I trusted you. A mistake I won’t be making again.” Looking over the impotent raging little mad standing over him, Jack laughed, “God you’re so fucked. I fucking wish I had anything to do with this. You’re the one who didn’t want security cameras only to cry to the fucking cops the moment something went wrong.” Rick winced as the two glanced down the block, where Doug, their IT technician and peer at their school, was sitting on the curb and staring straight ahead while completely still. The cop questioning him stood over him with two others at his side, a few more buzzing about. Another cop cruiser parked on the other side of the street, because a dozen officers apparently wasn’t enough. One of them made a beeline for the group hovering around Doug. “Was the guy you said you saw black?”

Embarrassed, Rick admitted, “He was bald. Are you sure you didn’t see anything?” Jack shrugged, and Rick shook his head before storming off. Slipping his hand into his pockets, he heard a crinkle, carefully drawing a piece of paper out and giving it a quizzical look. In the light of the emergency vehicles, he could barely make out the message: ‘Call me if you ever need a hand, or if anything goes to shit. Don’t worry about me, I keep it clean ;)’. Accompanying the message was a phone number, a drawing of an asterisk within a circle with a small heart nearby, and a flood of memories Jack and no desire to share with anyone. Another look made him realize the circle did not contain the asterisk, but rather when viewed in its entirety it was a butthole.

[Cyrania]

@King Kindred

Phones rang loud and clearly throughout the Damage Control/Shield Metropolis HQ. A massive constantly updating worldwide map showed the locations of various superhero happenings and if someone was covering them or not up on the wall above the windows out into a currently clear day. And throughout, men and women bustled as teams were sent out, other teams debriefed, and dispatchers sought to keep track of which were which.

At the moment, Coulson was taking a coffee break at his desk, enjoying a few moments of just his coffee, his croissant, and nothing else. It wasn't going to last, but he could savor it for now. Things getting quieter only seemed to be the calm before the bigger storms.

Then as if on cue, the phone rang on his desk. Finishing up the croissant, the answered it. "Yes?"

"Mr. Coulson, Thor wants to speak with you."

His eyes widened, checking the recent news. Lionel Luthor's failed mayoral run should have kept Thor safe for the moment. Why would he need...? Ah, there was a very recent news report. And of course since it involved an alien, any information would have been flagged for SWORD instead of SHIELD. Someday they were going to need to revamp that system as it came to those times when the two jurisdictions tied together. Obviously though, that wasn't going to be today. "Get him on my line." Then he took a quick gulp of coffee. If Thor was actually calling, the situation was likely to be a doozy. As soon as he heard that they were connected, he called out. "Thor, this is Coulson. Are you alright?"

[King Kindred]

---

Metropolis
Donald Blake's Apartment
_{Collab with @Cyrania & @ThatDeercat}

Thor was glad to hear Coulson's voice on the other line. He was used to the transfer of calls to managers or different departments taking longer but there was barely any time at all between his request and hearing Coulson's question. He also appreciated that he got straight to the point.

“Yes, sir. Everything's alright. I just have a friend here. She's royalty and a refugee from space who needs help getting settled on Earth. I know you typically fix problems, but you were the only one I could call with help for this. Is there a way you could get her documentation and a place to stay?” He placed the phone on speaker after asking so Koriand'r would be aware of the conversation on both sides. He didn't want her thinking he was hiding anything from her given her earlier trust issues.

Coulson swallowed. SWORD really should be in charge of something like this. However, SWORD was unknown to Thor and given Thor’s past experiences. “...It can be arranged. We will need to work on a few things. Before we start things though, there are a few important questions. Are you willing to personally vouch for her and be her sponsor? Can she physically blend in with humans? And…” Oh what was the best way to word this? “...How much support would she want or need?”[/color]

Thor turned to look at Koriand'r before he answered. “I will personally vouch for her as her sponsor. And yeah, she's pretty much a redhead with a tan. I think for now she'll just need a civilian identity, the records to match, and an apartment of her own. She should be able to get a job on her own after that.”

“Alright. That should be good…I’ll just need to schedule an interview to talk with her personally.” And figure out what hoops he’d need to leap through and favors he’d need to call on to get this to work. “We have an office building in Metropolis. Should we talk there and fill out the paperwork or would you rather meet in a more, private location? You choose where.”

Thor didn't need to hesitate to think about it. He knew given her experiences Koriand'r wouldn't feel comfortable going to a government office to handle this. He glanced at her for confirmation before responding. [color=17dbcc]“My apartment should be fine. She's staying here for the time being. When do you think you'd be available to meet with her?”

He checked his calendar while scouring the database for the right forms. “I believe that lunchtime should work. Would you like to give me the address to your apartment?” He could probably figure it out with enough time, but they were in a rush and he’d rather give Thor that bit of privacy.

Thor wasn't expecting them to be meeting so soon, but the sooner the better. He did hesitate to give his address over the phone, but accepted that Coulson was trustworthy and could've found him on his own if he wanted to. “39 Kirby Lee Lane. I'll see you at lunchtime.”

Before the line could be cut, Kori leaned forward on her seat to interrupt, chiming in gratefully, “Thank you, Coulson. You have my gratitude.” Looking up at Donald, she nodded silently to express her thanks to him as well.

Coulson paused. Was that the new arrival? She sounded young! “...Just doing my job. See you around lunchtime.” Then he hung up, letting out a huge breath. What had he gotten himself into? No time to focus on that now, he needed to get all this set up and fast. And so he blocked off his lunch hour as ‘do not disturb’ time and started covertly gathering everything he should need. If SWORD found out about this…He’d burn that bridge when it came up. Right now, he had things to do.

That was easier than Thor thought it'd be. Well, they still had to wait to see how the lunchtime meeting would go, but he didn't foresee any difficulties there. He went to his recent calls and clicked on Jackee's name and called her to let her know that he'd be a little late getting back.

[mattmanganon]

T H E L A N T E R N S
T H E L A N T E R N S

^{"NO MAN ESCAPES THE MANHUNTERS!"}

As the red arm launched forwards, Hal instinctively threw up a shield, the hand smashing straight through it and wrapping around Hal's throat. Hal's hand created a large green fist and smashed it into the side of the Manhunter's head, the construct shattered and the Manhunter absorbed the green energy. As it did so, the broken arm's wires shot into the bulkhead, the wires grabbed the metal panels, the panels turning red as it continued repairing itself.

"GOLD! HOW DO I KILL IT!?!?!?"

"You can't, it runs on Willpower energy. But-" Hal, already got the idea. His eyes darted over to Dex, who was sat on one of the consoles, licking himself. "DEX!!! HELP!!!" He managed to rasp out as the fingers clawed tighter. Dex looked up.

"I cannot eat it, Human, why should i kill it?" He asked, nonchallantly.

"BE...CAUSE... I..." He rasped, his windpipe beginning to be crushed.

"BECAUSE I'LL PULL THE PLUG ON YOUR OWNER IF YOU DON'T!!!" Sinestro roared through the communicator. The room immediately exploded in red energies, Hal being sent flying through a door, sprawling on the floor, the arm completely severed. With the severing, the fingers began moving and fell off his neck. Hal coughed loudly as he gasped for air. It had crushed straight through his Green energy shield. He heard the sounds of Dex in the other room. Getting slowly to his feet, he stumbled back over to the door to see the Robot shaking and spluttering wildly. "N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-" It glitched over and over Finally, Dex burst through its chest cavity, turned to look it in the face and blasted its face with lava.

"REDFACED HUMAN IF YOU DO THAT TO MY CULTIST, YOU ARE GOING TO WISH YOU WERE THIS ROBOT!!! He then belched another torrent of lava onto the robot. The lava melted through the robots face and into the floor, before eating through the floor to the next deck. The cat breathed heavily, Hal watched him, terrified to get any closer.

"Your "Cultist" is fine. But you did as i wished. Thank you." Dex's tail went full bogbrush.

"TOY WITH ME AGAIN, HUMAN AND I WILL TOY WITH YOUR ENTRAILS!!!" The cat growled, before finally sitting down and beginning to clean himself again.

"Green Lantern, make sure that Manhunter is fully destroyed, It absorbed a lot of Will energy from you, meaning that if there's enough of it to move around, it can rebuild itself from almost nothing." Sinestro replied. Hal looked at the remains around the room. There was barely enough left to call it a robot.

"Well, good thing Dex was with me. He's pretty much confetti'd it." He said.

"Take no chances, those Manhunters are resourceful. Destroy anything else left." He replied.

"Trust me, nothing l-" The penny then dropped for Hal, turning around, he ran to the door and looked around to try and find the arm that had left indents on his windpipe. But it was gone. There was a skittering sound in the distance. "Oooooh, Shhhh-" He turned around to Dex. "We gotta get after it."

"I will not do the bidding of that human. Or you, cultist." Dex replied.

"No, i can't kill it." Hal groaned in frustration. "Only you can."

"This is useless. Green Lantern, look around for a large metal pole. It's the Manhunter's weapon, you should be able to finish off that last piece with that." Hal looked around, on the floor was a metal pipe looking thing. He picked it up, the ring in his hand immediately responded, siphoning off power into it.

"But if it's Willpowered, then won't it just grow stronger?" He asked.

"No, it's a failsafe built into it. In case one of them goes rogue or is reprogrammed, the others can kill it." Sinestro responded.

"Speaking from experience?" Hal asked.

"As you've said to me a few times, this isn't my first rodeo." Sinestro replied. Hal pointed it at the wall and pressed a button, a yellowish-green blast smashed into the wall, blowing a hole. Ok, so that would work. He nodded before walking back out into the hallway, beginning to stalk his way down it.

"So, what's the story of these things? Lemme guess, made to fight a war that's long forgotten and they forgot to stop fighting." He asked.

"Legends say that they were made by the Guardians of the Universe. The Guardians also created the rings, but they made the Manhunters first. The Manhunters were supposed to be an army of galactic peacekeepers. What went wrong is that they decided the only way to prevent crime eternally was to wipe out anything that could commit a crime." Sinistro explained. As Hal looked around the deserted corridor, he saw the carbon scoring of more battle.

"So, anything alive." He grunted.

"Exactly." He replied. "That's why the Guardians created these rings and founded the first Corps."

"Corps?" Hal asked.

"The Lantern Corps. That's the original name of the 8." Sinestro explained. "Of course, every race has their own name for us. Usually based around whichever Lantern they've encountered. We don't always work together. So, you may hear references to Green Lantern Corps or Red Lantern Corps. Some of them even refer to us as the Sinestro Corps."

"Bet that strokes your ego good." He replied.

"Focus on your hunting, Green Lantern.

Elsewhere in the ship, the arm was ripping into the circuitry, slowly pulling more as a shoulder began being formed, all the way up to the head, then a mouth, the green energy being siphoned from the ship.

"NO MAN ESCAPES THE MANHUNTERS!!!"

[King Kindred]

---

Gotham
Robinson Park

"Robin, stand down." Batman answered. "This goes beyond your training. I haven't prepared you to take on something like this, yet."

"No can do, Bats. I didn't come out all this way for nothing."

"I said, stand down. That's an order. I won't repeat myself again."

"You can ground me later. Right now you need help." Robin replied before charging forward back to the Mech.

The Mech turned around to face the annoying little bird that dared attack it with explosives. The explosions didn't do anything, but provide a momentary distraction. There was barely any sign of damage.

Batgirl turned to her uncle who was clearly pissed. "He's going to get himself killed."

"Not if I can help it. Stay back and round up any stragglers." Batman said before he charged in. He pressed the emblem on his chest, activating the homing beacon for the Batmobile.

The Mech began charging its laser to fry the bird while Batman reached into the Batmobile and grabbed his EMP Gun. "Please, don't be too late." He thought to himself, thinking back to when he lost Bruce in the alley. If he hadn't froze. If he hadn't hesitated. If he had acted sooner his son would still be alive and his wife wouldn't have gone insane. He would not let history repeat itself tonight.

The Mech was beginning to release another energy beam when something stopped it. The cannon was plugged by what appeared to be vines causing it to explode in the Mech's face. More vines were wrapping around the Mech itself like constrictor serpents. They squeezed and squeezed until the entire thing exploded and killing whoever was manning it. Smoke filled the area and both Batman and Robin stopped in their tracks.

When the smoke cleared they couldn't see who was responsible for taking out their trash. The trio ran up to where the Mech used to be and analyzed the scene. "Did you see anything, Robin?" Batman asked as he knelt down to look at the burnt vines.

Robin shook his head. "I saw the vines moving, but I didn't see who was controlling them."

Batman sighed in disappointment. "Alright. You're done for the night. Alfred will take you back to school."

"What? You're going to make me miss the investigation?"

"You disobeyed my orders, almost got yourself killed, and have nothing to show for it. I thought you were ready for this, Bruce, but you're not."

"... Bruce?"

"Uncle..."

"I meant Dick. Just go. We'll discuss your future as Robin later."

Dick couldn't believe that he called him Bruce. Was that really all he saw him as? As a replacement for his son? He dropped his head to hide the tears that were forming in his eyes and ran off to where Alfred was waiting.

"Did you see anything, Batgirl?" Batman asked as if the slip-up hadn't just happened.

"Uh... Sorta. One of the Purifiers was carried off into the woods by one of the vines."

"Given what this rally was about it's safe to assume that a mutant helped us out. One that can manipulate plant life." He took a sample of one of the vines and picked up one of the pieces of the Mech. "But right now I'm more interested in who provided the Purifiers with this kind of technology. Take the rest of the night off. I'm going to the Batcave to investigate."

Batgirl nodded and was about to walk away when she stopped. "Please go easy on the kid, okay? I know he almost got himself killed, but he's got a good head on his shoulders. He just wants to make you proud. You're the only dad he has left. He also wants you to see him and not as a replacement for Bruce."

He couldn't bring himself to turn and look at her. "I know and I don't see him as a replacement for Bruce. It was a Freudian slip. I was at Crime Alley tonight. I'll talk to him later."

"I miss him too, but you're not alone. You still have a family that loves you. One that'll keep you from drowning in the darkness. You just have to let us. Anyway, I'll hold you to that conversation with Dicky. I'll see you, Unc." Batgirl said before finally taking off into the night.

---

---

---

Gotham
Gotham Academy

"I can't believe you're real." Olive said as she waved her hand through the mist surrounding the Ghost of Greta Hayes.

"That tickles." Greta said with a giggle.

"Really? I'm sorry."

"Nah. I'm just messing with you."

"At least you still have your sense of humor in death." Colton said.

"This is so fricking cool. I can't believe Dick isn't here to see this." Pomeline exclaimed with glee with a hint of disappointment.

"Dick?" Greta asked with a very confused tone.

"Her boyfriend." Maps answered.

Greta was less confused, but still confused that someone would name their child that.

"He is not my boyfriend." Pomeline retorted with a blush.

"Who are you kidding?" Colton asked. "Even I know you two are in love with each other. I know that look of love anywhere."

"Oh yeah? Who made you an expert?" Kyle asked.

"Uh... Let's focus. So Greta. If you can be seen and can talk how come you haven't told anyone what happened to you?"

"I've been trying to." Greta answered with a solemn expression. "So far you guys have been the only ones able to see me."

"What exactly did happen to you?" Maps asked. "There's a rumor going around..."

"That my brother killed me? It's true..."

"But why?" Kyle couldn't ever fathom an older brother killing their little sister. He definitely wouldn't do that to Maps.

"He did it for power. He made a deal with some kind of demon that gave him supernatural powers including the ability to cast illusions."

Colton stepped back a bit after hearing that last part. "How do we know that you're not an illusion and Billy's not lying in wait to kill us?"

Greta was disappointed by the question, but understood the concern. "If he knew you were down here looking for me you'd be dead already. He wants to be the world's greatest serial killer."

Despite that last bit Colton was feeling a bit more reassured. "That guy definitely needs a hobby and some better dreams. What's stopping him? What's keeping him here in this school?"

"He's waiting for a sword to come to the Gotham Museum. The Sword of Beowulf. It'll make him more powerful and he won't need school anymore."

Something clicked in Maps' head. "I've heard about that sword. It's coming to the Gotham Museum next week. We have to stop him."

"We?" Kyle interjected. "Nope. I agreed to supervise the Detective Club. Not put my sister in danger by pursuing a murderer with powers who's after a supernatural sword. Why don't we just tell the Dean?"

"Babe, I love you, but what exactly are we going to tell them? That Billy has powers and is planning to steal a magical sword and we only know this because his ghost sister told us? They'd send us straight next door to Arkham."

"Olive's right. We're going to have to stop him ourselves."

"You guys don't have to do that. This isn't your problem."

"You heard her guys. It's not our problem."

"It is now." Maps retorted. "It's officially a Detective Club case and we're going to need the full team for this one. Want to help us take down your brother, Greta?"

Greta couldn't believe her ears. She couldn't form the words to say thank you. All she could do was smile and descend from the air to grab Maps' hands to show her gratitude.

[ThatDeercat]

ᛒ ᛟ ᚲ # 0 0 1
ᛒ ᛟ ᚲ # 0 0 1

^{_{____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________}}

Bing!

Vilhelm’s computer screen flashed to life with a new message. He quickly sat up straight in his desk chair and clicked the chat notification.

Antheron >> got a tip on another victim in the pnw

His chest tightened with a mix of excitement and sympathy. Another missing persons meant another body meant the thing he was tracking was still out there and active. With as many victims as he’d tied to it, he thought it would have slowed down by now, but it seemed like maybe this was less a hungry man-eater and more a revenge-seeking vigilante.

Antheron - a mod on the first paranormal phenomenon forum he joined five years ago - often ended up tracking the same cases he did, except Antheron couldn’t do anything about them so he handed the information over to Vilhelm to pursue on the ground. The username was actually quite fitting: Antheron was a knowledgeable elf in the Lord of the Rings who taught the other elves how to make the rings of power or something like that. Either way, any tip from him was already thoroughly researched and vetted; Antheron had never let him down before. Vilhelm quickly started typing up a reply.

Asg4rd1an >> same M.O.?

Antheron >> 28 years old, history of DV, 2 charges of assault and battery, and a restraining order.

Asg4rd1an >> Where?

Antheron >> Forks, WA

Asg4rd1an >> as in THE Forks, WA? The vamp town?

Antheron >> The very one.

Asg4rd1an >> How do you find this stuff??? You could make a living doing this.

Antheron >> What makes u think I don’t?

Asg4rd1an >> ominous…

Antheron >> Anyway… He’s been missing for three days. Called out of work n said he needed a break so his boss assumed he was just taking a day. Never showed up again. Boss went to check on him and no one was home.

Asg4rd1an >> ok you’re reaching with this one…

Antheron >> just wait there’s more - Cops did a cursory investigation and found security footage of him at~

Asg4rd1an >> One of the ranger stations in Olympic National Forest?

Antheron >> Ding ding ding!

Asg4rd1an >> Okay, still circumstantial. He could’ve just gone for a hike and gotten lost. It happens all the time. It’s not like these victims are the only people who visit the national forest

Antheron >> The report says he was seen with a woman with long blonde hair

Asg4rd1an >> Damn

Antheron >> Chances are he’s dead already, but you might be able to still catch whatever this thing is sucking the meat off his bones

Asg4rd1an >> You’re a freak

Antheron >> So…. You gonna check it out?

Asg4rd1an >> doesn’t seem like I have a choice. No one on the west coast is dealing with it

Antheron >> so what r u thinking? Vamps?

Asg4rd1an >> I don’t think so. Vamps don’t usually have such narrow victimology

Antheron >> so vampires are real?

Asg4rd1an >> …

Asg4rd1an >> No comment

Antheron >> fine fine I kno u hate when I pry. I’ll keep you posted if I find anything else

Asg4rd1an >> thanks

Pushing back from his desk, Vilhelm grabbed his phone and backpack as he hurried downstairs. Three days was a serious head start, so time was of the essence if he wanted to catch whatever had been luring violent young men into the forests of the Olympic peninsula and killing them. He had a hunch he knew exactly what he was dealing with, but if he was right, they’d seriously escalated from their usual antics.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” His grandmother asked, peeking her head out of the kitchen as he practically tumbled down the stairs in his haste.

“Just a walk,” he stated, flustered. For a moment he thought she might question him further, but his mom was blessedly at work so there was no one to catch him in the lie.

“Will you be back for dinner?” She asked cheerily.

“Uhhh… probably not. Don’t wait on me! I’ll eat out.”

Vilhelm shoved his feet into untied boots and dashed out the door, making a quick slashing gesture in the air to open a portal to Forks. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he stepped through and let the portal close behind him before he stooped to finally tie his shoelaces. Luckily it was a quiet evening and he’d dropped himself right into the middle of the empty high school football field.

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he looked up the police department and grinned - it was literally right around the corner. He tucked his phone away again and dug around in his bag for his fake-but-convincing press card and a digital recorder. The final touch was a bit of magic to change his face to disguise himself, and he was ready to fake his way through the door to shake down the cops for any possible leads.

[mattmanganon]

@ThatDeercat@King Kindred@Cyrania@Pacifista@Ezekiel@Azure Bubbles@Half Pint@Stormyx@Taka@Supermaxx@mickilennial@Mao Mao

T'was the night before christmas, and across the whole Earth
The Superheroes were stirring to protect us from dearth.

John Henry Irons, clad in his metal suit,
Thoroughly giving some Robbers the boot.
Frank Castle sat updating his journal just what he had done
About how he had forced fed some bastard the end of his gun.

Rogue and Gambit strolled through the Snow without Pro-Human harass,
While Nightcrawler sat in church, enjoying the Christmas Mass
Donald Blake introduced his new alien friend,
To the Earths traditional Mead, an Asgardian Blend

Starfire marvelled at the wonder Earth's "Christmas" granted
She wrote a letter to Santa, asking if he bring her back her planet.
Warbird, with her "Bonus" went on a festive shopping spree
Buying whozit's and whatsits with abandon and glee.

Bailey and Christine were in F.E.A.S.T. with the less fortunate
Christina lifted Bailey so that he could top the tree's Angel Ornament.
Robbie Reyes was tuning his Charger for more speed
Hoping he'd find Eli, and his plans he'd impede.

The Wilsons bickered, as rang out an explosion,
Slade didn't appreciate Wade's "Modified" Whoopie-cushion.
Virgil, Richie and Daisy took clothes, hot food and gifts,
To the local homeless shelter looking for spirits to lift.

Zatara was livestreaming his magics to a crowd,
People messaged, asking his admins, "Is his sexiness allowed?"
The Gotham criminals sat in the Ice Box, waiting Christmas to blow over.
They knew what would happen if they dared to blow cover

With Red Widow stalking the night, looking for her sons
A mothers grief made for justice the wasn't likely to just stun.
But the thing they feared the most was the bat shaped man who lurked in the remote
If they tried anything naughty, then great luck would make their only gift a fist to the throat.

Emma Frost pined for her laser shooting crush
Hoping Santa would bring him, with the greatest of rush.
While Scott thought of Emma, her lips he'd most remember
But he still helped out Kitty in the cold of December

The Fantastic Four enjoyed their first christmas together,
In the RV they partied as birds of a feather.
With Zatara magicing up gifts backwards and Alec growing the Tree
Ronnie and Martin cooked the Turkey while O'Brien made them tea.

Jordan and May introduced Sinestro to this planets premier holiday,
Of the merry man who would traverse the whole world in his sleigh.
The people of Genosha celebrated their own holiday cheer,
While Magneto sat reminiscing of his dreidel, the old music he could hear.

The Martians across earth all under the same sun and moon,
Celebrated the day of L'zoril, hoping the return home would be soon.
Meanwhile the Flash on this new earth he called a Paradise,
Smiled and celebrated with his family and cider with spice.

While the good heroes of the earth celebrated with joy
Villains plotted the vile deeds they're soon to deploy.
Some of conquest, some of science, some of their own perceived justice,
Some who veiled themselves as heroes who'd say "Trust us"

But the greatest hero of Earth, no man could deny
Travelled the whole world with reindeer who could fly.
To each Hero, he'd bring a special gift for a reward,
For keeping the peace, for staying onboard.

To John Henry a Toolbag and alloys for his suit,
To Frank Castle, he'd leave a new pair of comfortable boots.
For the X-Men they'd each get a coat with their team name,
For Thor he'd bring more mead, vintage much of the same.

Robbie got for his Car a new turbocharger
Though he'd need to rework the bonet to make it a little larger.
For Warbird, a new costume that complimented her power
The Heroes of F.E.A.S.T. would get toys like a shower.

Although he couldn't bring Starfire her world, he'd do all he could
By leaving a music box with her family inside, dancing to the old folk song "Pr'olm'ood"
To his surprise Scott turned on the news to check on Business
Only to see Godfrey go "Go on, give Mutants a chance. What the heck, it's Christmas!"

Static would get a new board on which to fly,
Slade would get a new sword, one which could hopefully make Wade die.
Wade would receive his long awaited gold Deagle Pistoleros,
Emma would get a new necklace, one fit for the Pharaoh's.

Zatara receieved a new wand, to make his magic grow,
Wanda got a photo of her boys, to make sure on she would go.
Thomas Wayne got tickets to a spa to help him to chill,
While the criminals of Gotham would hopefully get a day without Batman's ill will.

For Zatana, a new hat, that would help in her magics,
While Swamp-Thing got new seeds to help the RV look less Tragic.
Pat got a new MP3 Player to blast his tunes in,
While Firestorm both got headphones to tune out the din.

Hal got a new jacket with his callsign in a cool logo,
Sinestro got more of the beer he'd enjoyed in Saporo
May never let on exactly what she got,
All we know is she appreciated it a lot.

Magneto got a scarf, exactly like Babushka used to make,
While the Martians all got bags of Oreo's for their hunger to slake.
Barry got a photo of his old Justice League,
Then Santa returned to the north pole, to rest his Fatigue.

And as all the world heard, as Santa flew out of sight.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!!

[King Kindred]

---

Gotham
The Woods

Kate had other plans besides going home for the night. Her uncle may not have cared about who had saved them and vine-napped a Purifier, but she was. She remembered how much of a well-known and respected doctor he was before Bruce's death. Now he was completely indifferent to the lives of criminals. She was hoping that Dick would soften him, but nothing's changed. He still killed criminals and now he didn't care about what some mysterious plant manipulator was doing with one. She had no problem with the way that he fought crime at first. If she did she wouldn't have joined him but now she was starting to wonder if their actions were giving others the license to do the same, if not worse.

Organized crime no longer had the same hold on Gotham as it did before, but clearly people weren't that scared of death at the hand of Batman. The Purifiers were bold tonight and someone was backing them with technology that they should not have had their hands on. Kate could feel a war was coming to the city. One that had the potential to spread throughout the country. Metahumans and mutants were being targeted all around the country. Even forward thinking Metropolis hunted their very own superhero.

Batgirl followed the tracks left behind by the vine dragging someone into the woods until she reached a point where she saw a man being held by vines against a tree. The vines were being used to torture him by constriction. She moved closer to get a better look and see who was torturing him, but she stepped on a twig giving her location away. "Shit." She whispered to herself.

"Batgirl. I was wondering when you'd join us." A sweet and sultry voice said.

She was made. Thank God Batman wasn't here to see this. There was no use hiding and lurking now. She stepped out of the shadows and approached the scene to see a girl around her age with beautiful red hair. She would've thought she was looking at herself from behind.

The girl turned around to face Batgirl revealing her face and features. The right side of her face was mostly covered by her hair. She was wearing lipstick as red as her hair, a green choker around her neck, and a green dress that hung just above her knees. "I was hoping you'd come. I've been a fan of yours and the Batman. You can call me Ivy, like the climbing vines."

Thump-thump. Kate could hear her heart beating in her chest and it wasn't out of fear. "Focus. Focus." She thought to herself. "Very fitting considering your weapon of choice. Have you gotten the name of our friend here?"

"The vines aren't weapons." Ivy responded. "They're my friends. All plant-life is. They're alive, you know? They talk to me, too. They've been helping me for as long as I could remember. Now they're helping me bring justice to our city. As for this waste of life. His name's James. That's pretty much all I've been able to get out of him so far. He apparently doesn't know anything about who sponsored the Purifiers tonight. He's just a lowly grunt."

"Why are all the hot ones crazy?" Kate asked herself before responding to Ivy. "A shame. Batman's investigating that as well. I'm sure he'll find out who soon. What are you going to do with James?"

"I haven't decided yet. I want to kill him, but I feel like I'd just be justifying his hatred for mutants and it wouldn't do anything to stop his buddies from making things worse."

Batgirl paused to think for a second. It seemed like Ivy wanted her opinion on the matter. "You're right. This won't stop with a grunt. You should let him go maybe one day you'll find his leaders."

Ivy nodded with a sly grin. She dropped James from the tree. "Go before I change my mind."

James struggled to his feet and ran as fast as he could, which wasn't fast at all due to the damage to his legs from the torture.

Kate sighed with relief. "You placed a plant on him so you could track him, right?"

"Yep." Ivy answered gleefully. "I understood what you were hinting at. Maybe we could work together on this."

"Maybe. How will I find you?"

"I left a friend with you too. I'll find you."

A vine crawled up Batgirl's body before placing a flower in her hair and retreating back to the ground. Batgirl pulled the flower from her hair and smelt it. It smelt so sweet. She looked up and was about to tell Ivy just that, but she was already gone. "Wow. Is that how that feels?"

[King Kindred]

---

Earth
Christmas Eve

On the Night Before Christmas everything was sweet. A Jolly man in red had just left the Lord of Apokolips a coaly treat. He traveled through the stars delivering gifts to all the good boys and girls while giving the naughty their due. It was time for him to return home to finish up his work for the night before the sun began to rise in the east. Things were running smoothly until he made his way to London. He was dropping off a lump a coal at a devious man claiming to be the Toyman.

Santa and his reindeer landed on the roof of Winslow Schott's apartment building. "I'll show this naughty young man that there's only room for one, Toyman. Wait here, fellas." He pulled dust from a pouch on his waist and blew it into the cold winter air. His body transformed into the magical dust and maneuvered through the air before entering the Toyman's apartment. The moment that the dust entered the apartment it transformed into Santa Claus once again.

SNAP. The moment that Santa touched the ground a trap activated surrounding him in a makeshift cell of metal. "Ho, ho, ho. This can't contain me." The jolly old man said before trying to use his magic to escape, but then he realized that he couldn't feel the connection to his magic.

The lights turned on to reveal Winslow Schott staring down Santa Claus. "Well, you're not the magical freak I planned to capture, but this is an unexpectedly pleasant surprise. Hello, Santa. I bet you're wondering how I was able to make a trap that stops magic. An annoying little trickster gave me some precious and rare metals to make new toys with. Uru and Nth metal. He wanted me to use them against his brother, Thor and I still might, but I planned to use them on Loki when he returned. But with you being here tonight a wonderful opportunity has presented itself. I can finally get my revenge on the bastard who destroyed my wife. This is the greatest Christmas gift I've ever received."

Winslow skipped over to his bedroom to pick up a sack of toys of his own before heading towards his door. "Merry Christmas, Santa. Please do enjoy your stay."

---

Every TV Channel and Radio Station around the world was taken over by a Breaking News Broadcast urgently being put out.

"We have news that I never imagined I'd be reporting on in my life. An explosion destroyed the home of Arms Manufacturer Walter Dunhill. Walter was home at the time and has been announced dead on the scene. But that's not the shocking part and why we're taking over every broadcasting channel right now. Eyewitness statements report seeing a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer leaving the scene. After my parents told me Santa wasn't real I stopped believing in him, but Santa is real and he's on a rampage. Please everyone, remain safe and vigilant. Protect your kids. Santa Claus is coming to town and he's handing out more than just toys and coal this year."

After the reporter was done speaking a photo of the evidence of Santa's involvement in the attack on Walter Dunhill was shown on the screen.

---

Thor couldn't believe his eyes or his ears. Santa was real? That was a shocking revelation, but he didn't believe that he was the one responsible for Dunhill's death. There was one person that he knew loved toys and explosions and was one that had a hankering for revenge. But if he was flying Santa's sleigh, where was Santa?

Thor had a feeling that he'd be coming for him next. They had unfinished business to attend to. He was glad that he finally moved out of his parents' place. If the Toyman was able to track people by where they lived he didn't want them to be in any danger.

"Looks like Santa isn't the only one suiting up for the holiday." Thor walked over to his coat rack and picked up Mjolnir. "It's time to save Christmas."

---

Virgil, Daisy, and Richie were volunteering together at a homeless shelter's toy drive when they heard the news.

"You guys don't actually think Santa's responsible for this, do you?" Daisy asked.

"Nah. Good guys don't just go evil like that. But someone's out there trying to make Santa look bad. If he comes this way Static will be ready." Virgil said with a flash of electricity in his eyes.

---

Batman and Robin were in the Batmobile when the radio broadcast came on.

"I don't think the real Santa is doing this." Robin said, more hopeful, than sure.

"I doubt he is, Robin. But we have our own Santa troubles to worry about."

[Ezekiel]

Written with @Mao Mao
Relates to This Post

---

Patricia "Trish" Tilby listened in as the President of the United States spoke at the podium, an unusual sight for her colleagues. For her, it was astonishing to see someone so significant up close. As a correspondent for WNA, she was accustomed to reporting on the ground across the country. And no matter where, she often found herself in mutant affairs one way or another. Trish ensured her coverage of the issue was always fair and balanced, that it didn't feed into growing anti-mutant biases. Plenty in her field couldn't care less as long as there was a chance to gain prestige and notoriety from it. Even if it meant being morally dubious.

Of course, Trish wasn't a saint. How else was she able to be sitting here in the briefing room? It cost a lot of favours, but seeing the President walk in was definitely worth the price, and as was learning about the country's newest weapon, who single-handedly defeated an invasion force all on their own: Warbird. Based on footage of them in the field, they were quite powerful and distinct from other powered heroes through their light show. It was incredible but also an alarming development, one that could trigger a superhuman arms race, spark global tensions, and transform the military-industrial complex in its entirety.

But as intriguing as it was, there was a more pressing matter on her mind.

"Will there be any questions?"

Trish was quick to raise her hand, but among the sea of hands, it wasn't fast enough. Franklin Stern of the Daily Planet was the first one to be picked, a notable professional in the field. He cleared his throat and began to speak, "Thank you, Secretary. This revelation from the President himself is, quite frankly, astonishing for all of us to bear witness. And with the little time to process.. well, everything, we hardly know anything about this Warbird besides the fact that they're a powered individual. And that factor alone will undoubtedly contribute to the debate regarding masked vigilantes, whether you intended it or not. So, for the sake of transparency, will this administration divulge who is behind the mask? If not, why?"

"That is a good question, and this administration understands that the American people, at this time, have plenty of reason to fear the increasing number of 'powered individuals' that are appearing in this day and age." The Secretary responded with characteristic tempered optimism, a friendly face that could often hide an incoming barb. "However, we would stress that the Warbird is not a masked vigilante, but a unique and unprecedented member of the military's special forces, and as with many individuals within our great nation's security infrastructure, will remain anonymous to the wider public to protect both herself and our strategic interests. Unlike individuals working entirely outside the legal infrastructure of the nation, however, she is beholden to both the rule of law and the operating parameters applicable to any application of decisive force by the United States of America."

Trish wrote the answer down in her notebook quickly, but only did it out of obligation to her job. She wanted to ask about the administration's stance regarding Genosha and the recent developments in the island country. A country considered a rising star in AI research and development, which had only recently begun opening its market to the international community. Funny enough, it had signed separate multi-billion dollar investment pacts with the European Union, the People's Republic of China, and the United States hours before the Chippy scandal broke. And that ultimately culminated in the government's dissolution by its citizens, leaving the deals in limbo for the foreseeable future. Not to mention th-

"Thanks so much, Secretary. Staying on the topic of transparency, will they answer directly to the President or the military?"

She completely forgot to raise her hand.

"The Warbird will operate under the authority of the United States Air Force, although as the Commander-In-Chief of all branches of our military, the President, of course has final say on any matters."

"So, isn't it then, concerning for one singular person to suddenly have a power unprecedented in American history? There will be people who are going to be naturally afraid that such power could easily be abused in the future. What sort of safeguards have been put into place to prevent the President and, to a larger extent, future administrations from misusing Warbird?" The Daily Bugle's Washington correspondent asked derisively to provoke a more emotionally charged answer.

"The currency of our military is unprecedented power. Three of the top five largest air forces in the world sit within the branches of our military might. Our nuclear capability has remained unmatched since we first harnessed the power of the Atom and will continue to do so." The Secretary paused for a moment after evoking the dominance of recent years, before continuing.

"The US military, especially under this administration, takes the duty of remaining the world's premium warfighting force with the seriousness it deserves. You may ask what dangers this new power presents, but we ask instead of the greater danger we should face should our enemies, which we now know exist even beyond the confines of this planet, harness such a power before us. That would be an intolerable risk to the nation and people that we will not risk." This was more in line with the fire and fury of the administration's dealings with rivals, although it soon eased through the softening of the Secretary's words. "But to those with concerns, we say this: the President remains beholden to the rule of law, the American Constitution, and finally and most importantly, the judgment of the American people. This is the case with past administrations and our own, and we trust the people to continue to elect those who would take such duty seriously."

Trish raised her hand yet again, not expecting to get picked at all. But then the Press Secretary gestured at her.

"Thank you, Secretary." Trish flipped her notebook to the next page and then continued. "It's only been two days since protesters in Genosha elected a mutant to lead the country's interim government after overthrowing the previous government. The same one who led the militant group, Brotherhood, in the 1960s and now leads an entire nation, seemingly with the people's blessing. What's the administration's response to the recent developments? And secondly, there have been reports that the former president plans on forming a government in exile in the coming days. He also plans to seek out international support to facilitate his return to power. That includes the United States, where he and the remnants of his cabinet are currently residing."

“We are monitoring the situation in Genosha closely and believe this only further reinforces the need for this Administration’s current policy, of which the Warbird is but one, if a foundational part. We strongly condemn the previous actions of the Brotherhood and view this matter with great concern. The United States will continue to host the as of yet officially recognised Genoshan government with the hope of pursuing a lasting and peaceful solution to recent troubles. Our commitment to not risking the lives of American service men and women where possible means we will consider any direct involvement as a matter of last resort.”

With Trish’s final question answered, the briefing moved on into a cascade of far more trivial questioning, a constant buzz of back and forth around the room that lasted for a few further minutes. Everything of great value had already been said, however, and was no doubt spreading across the globe before she had even finished writing her short hand notes.

[ThatDeercat]

H O L I D A Y S P E C I A L #001
H O L I D A Y S P E C I A L #001

^{_{____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________}}

Now settled in her own apartment, Koriand’r was doing her level best to create a traditional American Christmas dinner on a small scale since it was just her. The pumpkin pie was easy enough, but the stuffed chicken was proving to be a little more complex. The kitchen was a mess of cutting boards and vegetable scraps, and her apron had seen better days. She cursed her desire for self-sufficiency and wished she’d invited Thor to join her - surely he would know how this was supposed to work.

In the background, the news played on the muted TV and a radio was filling the air with classic Christmas songs. Kori still didn’t have a solid grasp on the holiday’s meaning, but she was completely enamoured by the variety of warm beverages and twinkling lights that filled Metropolis; it truly was a magical season.

The music on the radio cut out suddenly, immediately drawing Kori’s attention as they broke through with an urgent news update: “Breaking news just in! We have received a report that Santa - or someone posing as the jolly red elf - has destroyed the home of notorious arms dealer Walter Dunhill. Dunhill has been pronounced dead at the scene. This vigilante is still out there, so close your chimney flue and stay safe, folks. We’ll share more when we have it.” The interruption ended just as abruptly as it had started, and the music quickly picked back up as if nothing had happened.

A frown tugged at the corner of her mouth as she looked at the undercooked chicken and the mess all around her. There was no use putting it back in the oven now; she had chickens to roast. Shoving it toward the end of the counter until it tipped over the edge and into the trash, she pulled off her apron and left it wadded up on the counter as she hurried to her room to change.

After having her face plastered across every TV, newspaper, and social media site on the planet for weeks after her unfortunate crash landing, there wasn’t much reason to be too careful with her identity. She was almost immediately recognisable to anyone who hadn’t been living under a rock, and she understood that it came with some risk to her safety even if she hadn’t chosen to join the heroes of Earth in protecting their planet from existential threats. Maybe it was a feeling of responsibility to use her powers for something good, or maybe it was a sense of gratitude and a way to pay back the debt she felt she owed to the planet that had taken her in at her time of need. Maybe it was both. Or neither. It didn’t matter either way - a problem had arisen that was beyond average law enforcement capabilities to handle.

Changing into her more durable costume - the upcycled and reworked combat suit she’d arrived on Earth wearing - she turned off her bedroom light and quickly slipped out the bedroom window and floated upward.

Her first stop was Donald’s to see if he’d heard the news and wished to join her in responding. Even flying below her top speed, it took her less than a minute to arrive at his apartment. Normally, the front door would be customary, but she was too recognisable in her current outfit to risk someone seeing where she entered; she understood the importance of keeping Donald’s identity as Thor as secret. So instead, she surveyed the area to ensure no one seemed to be watching before dropping discreetly onto the fire escape in the alley outside his window and knocking.

[mattmanganon]

C A P T A I N M A R V E L
C A P T A I N M A R V E L

^{"YO CAP! GRAB HIS DICK AND TWIST IT!"}

Bailey's initial training was much like before. Mostly of meditation. Although, wheras Ezekiel had previously made him hang upside down from the ceiling, this time, he had pretty much had to softly keep flying upwards to keep his feet pressed into the ceiling. Luckily his equilibrium was just as juiced up, or this probably would have caused him headache's.

Things were starting to break down in New York. Lots of dark forces on the move everywhere. And no matter where Bailey went, he felt like someone was watching him. It wasn't like with his Spider-Senses. Christina had just tried to convince him it was perfectly normal paranoia, everyone got that. But this felt different. It also felt like... Well, there's no two ways around it, he DIDN'T belong. Someone or something much grander in the scheme of the universe had decided he no longer needed to exist and if it hadn't been for the fate's hard-coding him back into reality, he'd still be non-existent. Was it really Paranoia if it was pretty obvious that something, somewhere absolutely was watching him?

It was the evening when Bailey and Christina made their way into a back alley, ready to have him say the word and take them over to GTC Labs. Bailey quickly wriggled out of his clothes, revealing the Spider-Boy suit beneath. As he put the mask on, he felt something akin to that twinge again. He quickly looked around, almost instinctively, he tried to grab on to the wall, only to remember he couldn't do that anymore.

"Hey, Bail. What's up?" Christina asked. "Those Spidey Senses kicking back in or what?" She asked. Bailey pulled off the mask and opened his mouth, his tongue scouting his enlarged fangs.

"M... Maybe..." He replied, looking down at the mask. "I mean, if my teeth are still like this-" He had tested them one of his first trips to the Lab. No, he absolutely wasn't secreting any kind of toxin whatsoever. Apparantly, his teeth didn't even have any kind of delivery system, it was purely cosmetic. As he suspected, they were a leftover from the memory Shazam had given The Fates. "When i'm a little more confident with my powers, i'm gonna have to go see the Fates again. Ask them what's going on." He grunted, pulling the mask back on. "It's not funny..." He sighed.

"SHAZAM!"

Instantly the bolt of lightning hit him and he was tall, dark and handsome again in his spandex costume. Honestly, the most jarring part of the transformation was the fact that he grew 3 clear feet so it was like he was on stilts for a second, until instincts took over. He reached an arm out for Christina to grab, when he looked down at her (Another jarring thing about the transformation) and saw her looking rather worried about something. "What?" He heard the gentle strumming of a guitar. No wait, not a guitar... He turned around and saw down the alleyway, a portly man in a green suit and a straw hat, slowly strumming and tuning what looked like a Banjo. Every strum of the strings causing green sparks to be shaved off, illuminating the mans leg somewhat. "Ummm... Excuse me, citizen." Bailey began. "Can i help you?" He asked.

"Nutt'n to worry about." The man replied in a thick southern drawl. "That big ol' Thunda Clap made a lotta noise. I've been given this fancy fiddle, a big pile o' doe and some orda's to make a lot more." He laughed, finishing his tuning and giving it one last strum.

"Oh... Ok... So, you're a bad guy and i've gotta stop you then?" He asked.

"If'n ya can?" The man replied. Bailey quickly moved his body between the man and Christina.

"Alright, i'm giving you fair warning, i'm not entirely done with my training now and i recently got a power boost of about 20+ times. I REALLY don't want to kill you, so, maybe we can make this another time when i'm a little more in control and i can fight without you dying? At least can you give me some medical info, like anything i should tell the guys down in Riker's not to give you after i possibly break every bone in your body?" Bailey was being half-serious about that. He really had no confidence in his ability not to vaporize this guy with his first punch. After all, what he had done to those Lava Golems and they were practically invincible.

"Funny..." He said, running his finger around the pot of the Banjo, golden runes lighting up across the head. "Was about ta ask the same thing." Bringing the pick in his fingers crashing down on the strings, a shockwave of energy seemed to race out from him, immediately smashing the bricks of surrounding alleyway, instantly, Bailey grabbed Christina as hard as he dared and rocketed up into the sky. The pair looked back to see the buildings they had been between previously collapse as the portly man walked out onto the street, still strumming the banjo merrily. People were already running. "COME ON DOWN, BOY. YA CANNA FLY AWAY FROM ME FOREVA. WHEREVA YOU GO AND SAY THOSE WORDS, THIS LIL' OL' THING WILL BRING ME STRAIGHT TO YA."" He called up. Pointing the frets at the big red dot in the sky, he strummed some more, green waves of energy lancing out and screaming straight for him.

"CRUD" They both yelled together, before he immediately dove straight back down to the ground in the next street, putting Christina down. "Christina, Supervillain time, find cover." He ordered. She REALLY wanted to argue with him, but knew he was correct about this one. If that guy had evicerated a building with one strum, her body wasn't going to fare any better.

"Protectin' the little girlfriend?" The voice behind him asked. Bailey turned to see the guy there immediately. "Cute, but don't worry, i'm not gonna hurt her." He sneared, before pointing the frets straight at her as she ran and strumming, sending more green energy bolts straight at her. Bailey throwing himself in the way, catching 3 in the chest and sending him smashing through a lamp-post and into a parked car in the streets. "But i am gonna do whatever it takes to make you catch these bolts i'm throwin'." He laughed long and loud. Bailey looked up at him with anger building in him. He knew he had to hit the guy hard enough to knock him down, but not enough to kill him. In an instant, he was up and charged full-force, straight at this guy, making sure to temper his power and drove his fist straight into the guys gut, just as the Banjo began glowing green again. As he did so, blood splattered everywhere. He realized that his fist had punctured straight through the mans gut and out the back, he stood trembling in disbelief, stumbling back a few steps, he looked down, bits of spinal column in his hand, gore splattered everywhere. The man groaned unintelligibly as he stumbled back, dropping onto the ground without a sound.

"Oomig ohmig oh my oh my oh..." He jibbered, looking down at his blood-drenched hands. He had become everything he had hated, in one moment of anger. He was going to jail. He had failed everyone and everything, he wasn't focusing on anything else, but how badly he had just ruined everything... Which proved to be another real shame, because if he had been paying attention, he may have heard Christina yelling at him, before suddenly he felt extreme pain in the back of his head as he fell forwards onto the tarmac face-first.

"Don't worry, Big Cheese." The voice came from behind as Marvel slowly stumbled to his feet. He looked around for the body, the blood was all gone, as well as bits of other gore. He looked around and saw the man re-tuning the Banjo that he had clearly just brained him with. "Oh yeah, a little illusion magic built into this thing. I should tell you, then again, y'all got that Wisdom of Solomon, should be pretty obvious by now. Oh, by the way, the name's Filpot. Kurt Filpot and i'm gonna be the guy who beat's your sorry brains out today. Now, the more ya struggle, the more it's gonna hurt... So feel free to go nuts." He smiled, before driving the Banjo into Captain Marvel's side, making him double over. Clearly it was some kind of advanced magics that counteracted his natural defenses. Maybe blessed by one of Zeus' enemies. He never remembered anything about a Banjo blessed by Kronos. Before Solomon could impart anything else to him, he put his hands up to grab the Banjo as Filpot threw another swing at him, only for the Banjo to phase through his hands and him to get clocked in the back of the head again.

"You know, i'm finding i'm gonna find it very hard to keep to this No Killing thing, if you keep insisting on giving me a concussion." He growled in response. Filpot threw his hands up in faux fright.

"Oh no, not Captain Marvel!" He said in mock-fear. "Some ginger palooka threatens he's gonna kill me." He let out a long, hearty belly laugh. "Maybe if you were that Punisher guy, i probably would, but you're just a putz with a lightning bolt on his chest. Dime-A-Dozen." He strummed the Banjo again. He saw a number of Police Cars driving down the road towards them. "REMEMBER, BOYS, THE NAME IS MR BANJO!!!" He yelled, pointing the frets at the car and slamming the pic down on it again, sending more waves of energy towards the cars. In a flash, Captain Marvel intercepted and brought his bracelets up to block it, the wave smashing into him and sending him sprawling on his back. He then kipped up.

"THAT'S IT!" He yelled. "NO MORE NICE CAPTAIN!" He reached his hand up and a bolt of gold lightning appeared in it, throwing 5 in quick succession at Banjo, the musician simply played a few more chordes to create shockwaves that deflected the attacks. Bailey turned to look at the Police who were cordoning off the area. "BANJO, YOUR FIGHT IS WITH ME, LET'S ADJOURN TO SOMEWHERE LESS POPULATED!" He called.

"See, boy, as much as i'd love to..." He pretended to think for a second, before strumming again, sending another shockwave at Captain Marvel, knowing that if he moved, then the police behind him would bare the brunt. Planting his feet, Bailey instinctively threw his arms wide, as a web of lightning shot out, capturing all of the shockwave and directing it straight into his body. Bailey let out a scream of pain as the green energies assaulted his body. He dropped to his knee's.

"You..." He grunted.

"YOU CAN DO IT CAP!" A voice came from the evacuating people. "DON'T GIVE IN TO HIS GAME! YOU CAN TAKE HIM DOWN!" As Banjo looked at the fleeing crowd, he brought his arm up.

"Tell you what, boy, let's see what you're willing to put up with if i take out your R@&^%#£/=~ girlfriend." Christina stopepd dead in the crowd.

"Ok, wow, you really went there." She called. "YO! CAP! GRAB HIS DICK AND TWIST IT!!!" She screamed, when suddenly, the rest of the crowd joined in.

_{"TWIST HIS DICK!" "GO ON, CAP! GRAB HIS DICK AND TWIST IT!" "TWIST THE RACIST BASTARDS DICK!" "TWIST THE DICK!"}

Bailey was mildly proud of New York and also mildly disgusted. "Also, i don't know that girl, i just saved her." He then launched forward, trying to tackle Banjo, but the instrument glowed and Marvel went straight through Banjo, another illusion. As he landed, it occured to him. Banjo's guitar glowed whenever it turned out he was an illusion. Either that, or he was teleporting and leaving an illusion. Either way, he instantly turned around and put his hands up to grab the weapon as it swung for the back of his head. "You're getting predictable!" He growled. "And i've got you!" He grinned, before he rearing back a fist and throwing a punch straight at his gut. The banjo began glowing and instinctively kicked behind himself, feeling his foot make contact with the large gut and sending Banjo sprawling. Banjo got back up, winded.

"Ok, so you big boy got some moves." At that point, police started moving in around him, guns drawn. Banjo sighed. "Well, i think that's good for the first time. Made a lot of noise. Now excuse me." He began strumming quickly. before disappearing. Bailey threw his arms wide.

"What the heck?" He asked. "What was even the point?" He put his fists on his hips and shook his head. "Didn't even try to finish me off." As he stood, one of the officers approached him, he instinctively backed up, adopting a defensive stance.

"Umm, excuse me, sir, i don't suppose you'd be willing to come down to the station and make a statement about this guy?" The officer asked. Bailey was taken aback. Honestly, he was so used to police immediately trying to slap cuffs on him that this was rather new for him. He knew he needed to unlearn this stuff.

"Umm... No... Officer... He said his name was Kurt Filpot and he seems to have a Magic Banjo. That's all i know." He said. He looked around at Christina who gave him a thumbs up. He couldn't interact with her here, it would arouse suspicion. But now he was VERY worried. Flying up into the sky, he headed off for New Jersey, hopefully that would convince people that he lived over there. But instead of stopping, he just kept flying. Out and over to the wilderness of Montana, landing in Glacier Park. Nobody lived around here for hundreds of miles. "ALRIGHT, FILPOT! TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT! I'M WIDE OPEN!!!" He called. The guy was watching him, he had said so. "Ok, fine, you don't want to take Captain Marvel?" He asked.

"SHAZAM!"

As the bolt of lightning hit him, he stood in the middle of the wilderness in just his Spider-Boy outfit. "COME ON FATSO! I'M RIGHT HERE!" He yelled out. He stood for about 15 minutes. Every so often flinching as he heard something move near him. That feeling of being watched was back. Something deep down in him knew he was being watched by Banjo.

Meanwhile, somewhere dark and forboding, compound eyes sat watching him as his image swirled in the dark waters of a cauldron. "So, the simpleton wants to protect people. That's good. He will throw himself between danger and the innocent. The Wizard chose his cannonfodder well. Not like the other one..." The image quickly lined up, side-by-side with another boy on a street corner, selling newspapers to people passing by. The compound eyes let out a long, hearty laugh. "Yes, Billy, nice and poweless, exactly as you should be! No ability to prevent my ascension this time. I wonder why the others never thought to nip you in the bud? Is there a reason, or am i just that much superior to them?" The crackling voice pondered. In a flash of golden energy, Filpot appeared.

"You know Mista, I have to say, this Banjo is a beaut. Now, about mah fee-" Immediately the Banjo magiced its way out of his hands and clonked him lightly on the head, just enough to make the point, not enough to leave any lasting damage.

"Your fee, along with your deluded dreams of a world where your specific colour of monkeys, based on some random and environmentally prompted genetic sequences, being somehow superior to all others, will come all in good time. Once i have what i want, this world will mean as little to me as the other monkeys that don't share your genetic history on this planet mean to you. Leave the boy be for a moment. If we move too fast, other forces may get suspicious. The plan only succeeds if everyone thinks it is there idea to move in the first place." The eyes replied.

"Hey, buddy, i didn't get abandon the Silver Legion to told to be patient by a little w-!" The Banjo hit Filpot on the head again, slightly harder.

"Yes you did." The eyes replied, bluntly. "I have existed since before the concept of your language, monkey and i have been told by others of my kind that my lack of patience is something of a flaw. So, if i can wait this long, then you can wait a little more. Now, go do as you will, but stay out of the Champion's way until i order you back there. Or you can say goodbye to the illusion of power i have granted you." It growled. Filpot grabbed the banjo out of the air and rolled his eyes, before disappearing.

[King Kindred]

---

Metropolis
Christmas Eve
_{Collab with @ThatDeercat}

Thor hovered over to the window to make his escape into the night when he heard a knock coming from it. He looked and saw Koriand'r floating outside. He knew immediately why she was here. She must have heard about Santa's evil twin ruining the holiday. He opened the window to let her inside. “Hey, Kori! I was just about to head out and deal with Santa's imposter. If I'm correct about it actually being the Toyman I'm next on his list.”

Kori drifted backward slightly, giving Thor space to come outside, frowning at his explanation, “That is certainly not what I had hoped to learn from you, but perhaps we can use this to our advantage to draw the imposter away from harming people. So we are on equal footing, what can you tell me about this Toyman?”

Thor floated through the window and hovered in front of Kori. “He loves making things explode. He has friends in high places, literally. The last time I encountered him he claimed to be working with a god and had the armor to prove it. That's probably how he ended up being able to get the drop on Santa. Some kind of magic. I don't know what he looks like, though, but I'm guessing tonight he'll be easy to spot in a flying sleigh.”

Nodding along as Thor explained, Koriand’r made a mental note to read up on the existing troublemakers if she intended to continue on as one of Earth’s superheroes. It would be helpful to have some background knowledge on whoever she might encounter in the future.

“Ah, yes, the flying deer,” she commented offhandedly. “I assume he will be dressed in red like Santa, too. Perhaps we can lure him to the park? Surely it will be empty now that the children dance with sugarplums?”

Kori had no idea what a sugarplum was, but she assumed it was something pleasant since the story of Santa said the children would dance with them in their beds before he arrived. She assumed the story was some kind of traditional ritual for children meant to summon the Santa Claus to bless them with treasure. It seemed a bit far fetched given what she knew of Earth, but then again she was still learning so perhaps she was just misunderstanding.

Kori was mostly right and Thor decided not to correct her on the parts that she wasn't. It seemed she was getting well-adjusted to Earth already. “Kori, you're a genius. He better hope Rudolph's leading the sleigh tonight. Follow me.” He then sped off towards Centennial Park to summon a snowstorm the likes of Delaware had never seen.

Kori beamed at the compliment, and despite not quite understanding his reference she took off after him. She’d familiarized herself with the most well-known spots in Metropolis already, so it was easy to keep pace and follow Thor to the park.

---

Thor and Koriand'r landed softly in the center of Centennial Park. Thor looked around to make sure there weren't any civilians who'd get caught up in the storm he was about to conjure. He noticed a homeless encampment and flew over to them. It was already cold out because of the season, but he didn't want them to freeze and be stuck in snow.

He landed softly in front of their camp and spoke loud enough for them to hear, but not enough to startle them with a shout. “Hey, it's your favorite weatherman, Thor. I'm about to conjure up a snowstorm to lure a madman here, but I'm going to give you all your own personal biome. Merry Christmas!”

Thor wished that he could do more for them. He wished he could provide a place for them to stay, but he knew they weren't the only people without a home spending their nights in the winter's cold hair. He did have some settlement money left over. He'd see what he could do for everyone after he saved Christmas.

Thor went back to the center where he left Kori and lifted Mjolnir in the air. "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" He conjured a snowstorm that focused primarily on Centennial Park. He did this for two reasons. Toyman would be drawn to it knowing that only Thor could conjure up a random snowstorm and because he didn’t want to rain down snow on the whole city when there were so many people unprepared for it. He made sure that none of the cold wind or snow touched the encampment in the park. If they wanted to play in the snow they could, but he refused to force it on them when they just wanted to sleep and stay warm.

[Azure Bubbles]

The Christmas lights in Zachary Zatara’s bedroom blinked out of sync.

One strand flickered between red and green. Another stayed stubbornly blue. He’d meant to fix them earlier, but they’d joined the growing pile of things he was very deliberately ignoring. Along with the half-wrapped gifts on his bed, the open laptop still paused on his own stream replay, and the wand resting on his desk like it had opinions about him now.

He was watching the music video of All I Want For Christmas is You for the umpteenth time. Zach wasn’t paying that much attention, until every channel cut to the same thing.

BREAKING NEWS.

He froze. He wouldn’t have believed it if he didn’t know better.

Santa Claus.
Flying reindeer.
Explosions.
Deaths.

“…yeah, okay,” Zach muttered weakly, sinking onto the edge of his bed. “Sure. Of course. That tracks. Why not.”

Zach glanced at his phone without meaning to. Notifications stacked so fast they blurred together. Mentions. Tags. Messages from fans. Messages from strangers. Messages from people who were suddenly very, very serious about magic.

is this real like YOUR magic
you did this live last week right??
can u stop him
bro pls say this is fake

“I don’t even know how to stop a floating chair,” Zach whispered.

The wand on his desk glowed faintly while Zach looked back at the TV. More fear. Warnings. Advice. Stay indoors. Protect your children. Remain vigilant.

Zach laughed once, sharp and humorless. “Protect your kids, he echoed. “From Santa Claus.” This wasn’t a joke anymore.

This wasn’t a livestream gone wrong or a stunt people could laugh off later. This was magic causing real problems. He thought of the moment on stream. The weightless feeling, the thrill, the terror. The way the chat had screamed like it was the coolest thing they’d ever seen. They wouldn’t have the same reaction now.

He stood abruptly, pacing the length of his room, dodging wrapping paper and extension cords. “Okay. Okay. Think,” he muttered, bravado creeping into his voice out of habit. “You don’t panic. Panicking is for people without plans.”

The problem was… he didn’t have a plan.

Zach reached out and picked up the wand. “…I didn’t ask for this,” he said quietly “Alright, if magic’s going to ruin Christmas… I should probably figure out how not to make things worse.”

He glanced once more at the TV. Then he grabbed his jacket, his phone, and shoved the wand into his pocket. Christmas, apparently, was cancelled, and Zach Zatara was officially out of his depth.

—-

Snow was not on the forecast.

Zach knew that because he’d checked three times already. Delaware winters were cold, sure, but this? This was what some would call supernatural…

He stood at the edge of Centennial Park, hands shoved deep into his jacket pockets, breath fogging the air as flakes spiraled down in thick, deliberate patterns.“…okay,” he muttered. “So either climate change finally snapped, or shit has hit the fan”

His phone buzzed nonstop.

LIVE UPDATES.
SNOWSTORM IN METROPOLIS???
IS THIS THOR??
ZATARA DO YOU SEE THIS

Zach didn’t acknowledge any of them.

He tilted his head back, watching lightning flicker faintly behind the clouds. Whoever was doing this knew exactly what they were doing. “Showoff,” Zach muttered.

He stepped farther into the park, boots crunching softly against fresh snow. The wand in his pocket pulsed faintly.

Zach froze. “Oh no,” he whispered. “Nope. Don’t you start. I am observing. I am a civilian. I am a guy who accidentally became a magical incident, not…”

The wand buzzed again.

Zach exhaled shakily, pressing a hand over the pocket. “Listen. I appreciate the enthusiasm. Truly. But if I die tonight, my parents will never let me hear the end of it.”

A gust of wind swept through the park, snow swirling upward dramatically. In the distance, Zach caught a glimpse of movement. Two figures hovering near the center of the storm. Zach swallowed. This was serious, and he was standing at the edge of it with a glowing wand and absolutely no idea what he was doing. He lifted his phone, thumb hovering over the screen, debating what to do next.

[Ezekiel]

New Orleans
New Orleans

Lousiana
Lousiana

---

“Forgive me father, for I have sinned.” Kurt breathed the words as he moved, shifting from one reality to the next in a blur of dimensional power. His blades were in his hands before he returned to the waking world, traversing the space-between as he leapt from one space to the next.

Things in New Orleans had already gone wrong, that was for sure, but the extent of which was still a mystery. Still, he had not expected to have encountered the need to commit violence within a house of the Lord, and that rankled him even if it had been in his own defence. Ambushing a man at prayer was a line even most of the local criminals would not cross, unless they were desperate, committed, or both. Given that they were supposed to be at the subtle stage of observation for the moment, being directly attacked only a couple of days into their stay in the city was certainly off schedule. Kurt has his suspicions why, but for now, resolution was more important.

He lingered for only a moment atop the current roof he had bounded across to, before diving back through the darkness, his destination in sight as a man was thrown clear from the doorway of a dingy looking bar with an explosive detonation of purple energy. No sooner had the man cleared the entry way than Kurt burst into the space he had been inhabiting with a BAMF of energy and sound.

“Ah, nice of you to join us, mon diable,” The Cajun spoke even as he weaved around a pair of combatants, treating the lethal edges of their bared knives without any hint of severity. A flick of his wrist and the larger of the two was sent sprawling, the clothing on his back smouldering with evaporating energy.

“This does not look like remaining clandestine, Gambit.” Kurt did not have his friend’s entire lack of concern towards danger, but he was still able to keep up with the conversation as he joined the fray, his lean frame a blur as he parried aside a strike aimed for him. These were not simple street thugs fighting with the brutal and instinctive nature of a brawl, but men trained, like Gambit, if not quite so well, for the intricate dance of a Guild duel.

“It ain’t our fault if we are easy to notice, you know a thing or two about that, don’t cha Kurt.” Rogue replied in Gambit’s stead as she landed between them, the heavier impact speaking of the greater raw power of her mutant abilities as the shockwave pushed back those seeking to encircle the trio. “Besides, we got what we came for, that’s how they knew where we were.”

“As the Lady says, my source was good. It’s just his loyalty that wasn’t.” Gambit spoke with only a hint of sourness. It wasn’t entirely unexpected, that those who would still speak with him within the Thieves’ Guild would still hold their loyalty to the Guild over his personal friendship when the chips were down.

“So, where are we going, once we deal with this little cleanup?” Kurt allowed his curiosity to direct his questioning, even as he dived in and out of the nightmare of darkness to appear behind a man who had briefly been attempting to divulge him of his organs.

“Hope you’ve packed your warmest jammies, Kurt, we’re headin’ up North, way North. Essex has got something up in Alaska the Guild have been tracking.” Rogue placed one hand on her hip as, with the full extent of one finger, she flicked the brutal assailant away, with Kurt out of the way, he sailed fast and hard into the far wall. A dramatic enough show of force that it brought a sudden halt to the chaos around them. “We done here folks? Cause I don’t think you’ve got half of what it takes to do any better than him. I promise not to chase you.” She smiled sweetly at the gathering of grimfaced foes, who’s venom soon turned on Gambit in her place.

“You’ve been warned before, LeBeau, come back again, and we will deal with you and your friends.”

“Till next time then, mes amis.”

As a goodbye it did little to calm their moods, but in with the sound of another BAMF the X-men were gone before any of them could think wiser of letting the trio go.

[ThatDeercat]

---

Metropolis
Christmas Eve
_{Collab with @Azure Bubbles @King Kindred}

Kori followed Thor through the city at a fast clip. As they neared Centennial Park, she started to get an idea for what Thor might be brewing in that pretty blonde head of his. He was tied to an ancient human god, or at the very least his name and powers seemed to indicate so based on the news articles about him, so perhaps a storm was brewing. Or about to be brewing.

They circled the park once, taking the time to make a cursory check for stragglers. It seemed to be mostly empty except for a small encampment that Thor made a beeline for. Kori touched down in the center, scanning heaven and earth for signs of civilians or the Toyman they were hoping to lure away from hurting anyone.

She couldn’t help a laugh at Thor’s cheesy “catch-phrase” for the moment. Kori was becoming familiar with the traditional winter holiday songs with “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow” being among them. As the wind whipped up and the storm formed above them, immediately beginning to dump fat, heavy snowflakes, Koriand’r noticed the temperature drop drastically. Her breath formed a cloud in front of her face as she shivered once. It took a moment for her body to adjust to the cold, adapting by raising her internal temperature to more comfortably endure harsh environments.

”It’s a shame this is all for a villain,” Kori commented offhandedly, lifting a hand to catch the falling snowflakes. ”It’s quite lovely.”

At the edge of her vision, she caught movement and whipped around to see a younger man. Certainly not who they were looking for, but he looked like he was hesitating between leaving and coming closer. Squinting slightly to try and pull him into focus better amidst the storm, she frowned.

Thor couldn't hide his smile as he listened to Kori's laugh. He doubted she was able to celebrate a holiday or time like Christmas or winter where she was in space so he loved that she was able to find joy here.

“Maybe we'll get to enjoy it after we capt—.” Thor started before he was cut off by Kori calling out to a civilian. He turned to where she was facing to see who it was.

”This is no place for civilians!” she called out.

Zach flinched when he heard the voice. He turned around to see an orange lady floating in the air with blazing red hair flowing behind her. “…Oh.” was his first response. His first instinct was to run, and leave this up to the professionals. He was a civilian, and way out of his depth.

Then the wand in his pocket glowed. He took it out, and took a step back. “Hi, yep totally fair point.” he called out, voice pitching a little higher than he meant it to. “crack. “You are one hundred percent correct. This is absolutely not a civilian-friendly park experience. Normally, I’d be home. Drinking Cocoa, avoiding my family, listening to Mariah Carey…” He continued. Words coming out faster. But long story short… “I’m already here, and the universe has made it very clear it would like my attention.”

He pointed the wand at the snow covered ground beneath his feet. “lriws wons!” Instantly, the snow beneath his feet started to glow violet. Then it swirled around him in a controlled deliberate motion. Circling his body without touching him, hovering just long enough to make it clear this wasn’t wind or luck or theatrics.

Zach’s eyes lit up, relieved that it worked the way that he intended it to… “Ok… cool… That worked…” He breathed a sigh of relief. “Anyway, I’m new at this… Real magic stuff… But, I am magic-adjacent now, and I’m pretty sure whatever’s going on out there” he gestured toward the storm. “Is also magic-adjacent, and I don’t love the idea of pretending that’s not my problem.”

Thor was amazed by the stranger's display. It wasn't a big display of magic, but this was his first time witnessing something like this, unless you counted the flaming skeleton in New York some months back. What really impressed Thor was the fact that someone was able to manipulate his snow. He didn't think anyone could manipulate the weather he conjured or controlled. He also could've sworn he heard him speak backwards. That was a talent in itself. He definitely wasn't an ordinary civilian.

Thor walked over to him. “We appreciate your help.” He said while reaching out his hand to shake his. “I'm Thor. Your magic will probably come in handy tonight. I don't know what kind of tricks Toyman may have up his sleeve, especially while parading around in Santa's sleigh.”

Zach blinked and stared at the offered hand longer than socially acceptable. “Wait…are you actually Thor? Like Thunder God, hammer all of that, or is that just an alias?” Zach took his hand and shook it. “You can never be too sure. I’m Zach. Zach Zatara. I saw you online. You were trending for a solid week! Plane rescue guy. Lightning aesthetic. Very ‘main character energy.’ Hard to miss.”
This was a question Thor was struggling himself to answer. He was afraid of asking his parents about it. His whole life he just thought he was a mutant or something, but if he really was the Asgardian god of Thunder his exceptional strength and durability would make a lot more sense. “I'm… I'm not entirely sure. At first it was just an alias, but when I received this…” He paused to flip Mjolnir. “I heard a voice calling me son and telling me to summon it. But after finding out Atlantis is real I wouldn't be surprised. It's a pleasure to meet and work with you, Zach. You may be trending next. We're up against the same man who caused the plane explosion. How good are you with your magic?”
Zach rubbed the back of his head nervously. “I’m not a fighter,” Zach admitted. “I’m a performer who accidentally unlocked real magic… But, I’m sure I can help with something!”
Kori could sense hesitation in the young man, but it seemed more a problem with confidence in his abilities than anything more sinister. She touched down lightly into the soft crunch of a thin layer of snow on the ground and followed Thor to greet him properly.
”Allies are always welcome, Zach.” Kori offered her own hand to shake. She opened her mouth to introduce herself, but closed it again for a moment. Thor and Coulson both had stressed the importance of a secret identity if she intended to join the ranks of Earth’s heroes. Granted, her costume didn’t exactly do much to provide a shield, but that was something she could address later ahead of a more openly public display. Even so, she realised she needed a name like Thor instead of giving out her own - or the Earth name she’d assumed with her identifying documents. Finally, after a few seconds, she smiled again, ”You may call me Starfire.

Turning more to Thor, she asked, ”Given Zach’s inexperience, perhaps we do our best to keep him as backup until we know more about what we face. The storm will certainly draw the Toyman in knowing you’re at the center of it, but we could gain the upper hand more easily if we lure him down to the ground. Flight makes for difficult targets, but I could fly up and taunt him down through the storm to shake him up a bit. What do you think?”

Thor liked the sound of Kori's new superhero name. Starfire seemed very fitting for her. He looked up into the sky when she asked what he thought and noticed the shadow of something flying overhead. Then something other than snow started falling above their heads. “Too late. Get down!” He yelled to the two as he slammed his mighty hammer into the ground to create an electric dome around them to shield them from the incoming Present Bombs.

Kori instinctively ducked, quickly crouching closer and putting an arm over Zach’s back to shield him as best she could. He seemed human, which, if true, meant he was comparatively fragile unlike Kori. She tipped her head to look up just in time to see the falling presents explode against the reflective field Thor had projected. That seemed like a very handy trick indeed.

She turned back to Zach, giving him a quick once over looking for injuries, ”Are you okay?”

Zach yelped when Thor shouted, instinctively ducking even though he was already being half-covered by Starfire’s arm. The flash of light reflected off the electric dome made everything feel unreal for half a second. When the last echo of the explosions faded, Zach blinked rapidly, gripping his wand like it was a stress toy.

[color=darkviolet]“I…I…I think so…” Zach stammered. “No missing limbs, no new holes… That’s a win in my book.” He sighed. “Thank you.”

Kori nodded and flashed him a reassuring smile, ”Good, because this is when it gets interesting.”
Zach breathed a sigh of relief before turning his attention to the real problem. “Great, murder Santa is on the scene. Like I said, I’m not a fighter… I’m a performer. Illusions, misdirection are my specialty! Which means, I can make it difficult for Toyman to figure out where you actually are.”

He waved his wand. “Yoced a htiw meht loof!” Suddenly, ghostly duplicates of Starfire and Thor appeared in front of them. They weren’t perfect by any means. You could literally put your hand through them, but light bent around them just enough to sell the illusion from a distance. Especially in the swirling storm and flashing lightning.

Zach suddenly fell on one knee, and started panting. “Ok… projecting two superheroes at once… not beginner friendly...” He muttered, rubbing his temple with his free hand.

The illusions took off in different directions. Zach forced himself upright, steadied his breathing. “I can keep them active for a bit. But if I do too much, I am going to pass out dramatically. And that will just ruin the vibe.”

Kori started to jump in to pick Zach back up, but he righted himself quickly enough that she didn’t have to. One of them needed to get in the air and force Toyman Santa down to the ground, but Zach didn’t look like a confident flier and Thor could create a disruptive field that would protect Zach. That just left her.

”Stay here,” she instructed Zach. Turning so Thor could hear, ”I’m going up! You’re more help on the ground with Zach.”

Kicking her feet off the ground, Koriand’r darted up into the air, dipping her shoulders in to change her trajectory as she dodged the falling presents. The clouds made it difficult to see, but she could tell when she was above Toyman because there weren’t presents raining down explosions around her. She brought her hands up, energy charging in her palms and lighting up the sky around her. Bells jingled so aggressively they seemed like they were surrounding her, but she knew that couldn’t be true. If the clouds had been still, it would have been easy to track his place based on the displacement of the clouds. With the raging storm stirring them up, it was impossible to tell. A shadow caught her eye, a faint movement in her periphery, and she shot two bolts of energy hoping to hit the sleigh just enough to knock it off balance.

[Cyrania]

ARGOS vs SWORD

collab with @mattmanganon

Outside Metropolis-Near Starfire's Pod

As the news helicopter continued hover in the air as the last of Thor disappeared with the strange visitor, the cameras caught an armed uniformed squadron march to the scene. With strict precision, they immediately started to fan around the perimeter of the pod.

The pilot frowned. "Hey Diane, do you know what branch of the military these are? Because they don't look like the army, nor any other branch I recognize."

Before Diane could answer though, one of them, the squad commander by his pauldrons, spoke up with a speakerphone over the helicopter blades. "Citizens, you are commanded to leave the area immediately. This is now under the jurisdiction of the US Government. If you fail to comply, you will suffer the consequences."

The pilot frowned. "Yeah, that doesn't seem like a fight any of us would win." And so he started to fly the helicopter away. Meanwhile, the squadron continued their work with half guarding the perimeter while the other half scurried around the pod, covering it with a sheet then seeking to secure it for transportation.

---

The Bus, 40,000ft above Delaware.

Sinestro and May sat down, ready to talk Hal through his mission as he headed to orbit, the monitor turned on as the Director's silouhette appeared. "Taskforce Rainbow" He began, "While Agents Dexter and Jordan are away in orbit, we have other missions requiring your attention."

"One of the Rings has struck?" Sinestro asked, raising an eyebrow. The director shook his head.

"Normally, we wouldn't send you after it, but The Bus is currently our closest asset." He brought up the feed of Thor and Starfire leaving. "The new Alien arrival has left their craft behind. We would like you to secure this asset before any criminal element can."

"What about the US Government?" May asked. "There're a LOT of different organizations that would kill for some kind of Alien asset."

"Well, the US Government did sign the S.W.O.R.D. Charter. Which clearly states that any and all extraterrestrial materials discovered by member states are to be handed over to S.W.O.R.D. for study to assist all members. But plenty of governments and their organizations, both official and unofficial haven't always played ball in the past." The Director replied.

"Very well, Agent May can deal with that while i assist Green Lantern in his mission."

"Mr Sinestro, we are assisting you at considerable expense. That plane and staff you have working for you takes a considerable amount of resources. We expect returns." Sinestro raised his eyebrow at this.

"And me assisting your planet in not being destroyed by an intergalactic despot is not enough?" He asked.

"And that we are grateful for, but we expect every member of our organization to pull its weight." Sinestro scowled at the monitor, before looking at May, who was already getting up and walking to the door. She rolled her eyes at him. Sinestro took a deep breath and sighed.

"Alright, we're on our way." He pressed the off button as he decided it'd be easier and quicker to just do it. He then got up and followed May to the armoury as she and 7 other S.W.O.R.D. Commando's were kitting up. He watched the rest of the grabbing parachutes and oxygen tanks for the HALO jump, as well as assault rifles, side arms and grenades for anyone who tried anything funny.

"Alright, standard capture mission. We jump in and secure the area." She announced, grabbing a second pack that she strapped onto the front. "We secure the package and i'm going to attach this Fulton to it. The Bus is going to do turn around and is going to bring it up. Failing that, Sinestro, if something goes wrong, we'll need you to bring it up with your Lantern Powers." She replied.

"A glorified tugboat. I feel honoured to be here." He grunted. The team walked through The Bus to the back, the ramp lowering, the air immedately being sucked out, the team then took turns jumping out as the Bus flew over Metropolis. Falling towards the city, they got into formation as they did so. Sinestro, on the otherhand was merely descending at the same speed as them with his ring powers. It amazed him how these creatures ever got into space to have such an agency when they just threw themselves towards the ground with a polymer bag to prevent their horrible deaths. He might pitty them if he actually cared about their petty squabbles that necessitated such technologies. As they arrived at the top of the skyscrapers, the team pulled their chutes, descending towards the crash site. As they arrived, they spotted the ARGOS Team, the 8 Commando's raised their Rifles from their elevated positions to take cover and watch for the Argos Agents. May immediately shed her parachute while Sinestro landed next to her. She immediately pressed her comm, getting onto the Director

"Sir, looks like someone beat us to the punch." She replied. Sinestro rolled his eyes.

"I've had enough of these petty squabbles." He grunted, floating over towards the Ship as the ARGOS Agents threw the Tarp over it. "ATTENTION INTERLOPERS!" He yelled as he glowed brighter, holding up his ring towards the Agents gathering around the Ship. "THIS SHIP IS THE PROPERTY OF S.W.O.R.D. LEAVE THE AREA OR PREPARE TO FACE THE CONSEQUENCES." May immediately gritted her teeth. This was an extreme escalation. She pressed the comm again.

"Sir, Sinestro has gone off the reservation. Requesting support." She growled.

"Wait, let's see where this goes." The Director replied. "I am curious what use his Fear based powers will have here."

The agents around the pod swiftly leapt back as if struck by lightning.

"Get back to work!" The leader called out. "Do you want to explain to the commander that you lost the asset due to a guy with flashing yellow lights?!" Yet the men stood still as if struck.

Then squadron leader came forward to meet with Sinestro directly, flanked by those on the perimeter, who at his head nod raised their guns. "Pretty impressive display there. But how do I know that you're actually from SWORD? For all I know, you could be..." Then he frowned, as if in thought. "...Actually, why don't you all come and show your credentials. There's been, trouble, with people pretending to be SWORD agents in the past." With slight twitches of his hand, he started sending those with him to covertly surround the other SWORD agents.

Sinestro stared daggers at the humans pointing guns at him. He had several courses of action:

1) Deploy the full might of the Ring. They'll be so terrified of the constructs, that he could easily grab the ship and be back immediately.

Pro's: Gets the job done quick.
Con's: They could start shooting and this would cause a number of issues.
Conclusion: Ill advised.

2) Show them the credentials and hope they back off.

Pro's: Least likely to start a fight.
Con's: These are stupid creatures who are probably looking for a fight anyway. It may drop my element of surprise.
Conclusion: Relies too heavily on humans acting rationally.

3) Quickly incapacitate them with a surgical strike.

Pro's: Incapacitated humans can't fight back.
Con's: Could spark an incident. The humans lack of unity could come down on me and the entire operation.
Conclusion: Long term consequences could be too great to risk.

Sinestro sighed and rolled his eyes, before descending to the ground and pulling the S.W.O.R.D. ID badge and showed it to them. "I have been informed by my commander to remind you that the charter signed by your government officially gives jurisdiction to all extraplanetary threats, along with all offworld equipment found, to my... Organization." A near slip of the tongue. He then looked around at all of the guns pointed at him. "And do save your ammunition. This yellow aura isn't just for show. It stops a damnsight more than your crude chemically propelled, subsonic metal." He folded his arms.

May, in the meantime, was making her way down stealthily to street level, running to try and to get close to the action, ready to jump in and assist Sinestro if things went sideways.

The commander frowned at the ID then looked back up at Sinestro, frowning more. "It does appear legitimate-"

Suddenly, his walkie-talkie chirped at him. Immediately, he picked it up, face immediately blank. "Yes? Commander! We're in the middle of a-...But Commander, he could be-!...Understood. Over and out." Then he placed it back down and looked up at Sinestro, clearly visibly frustrated. "Your credentials check out. You're, free to take the spacecraft. Men, fall out!"

The rest of the men with him looked at him in confusion.

He sighed. "I said, fall out. Orders from the top."

Then finally, they obeyed, walking away from the pod.

He then looked back up at Sinestro. "Would you like assistance or would you rather we leave you to your own devices?"

Sinestro watched as the men safetied their weapons. Part of him was hoping for a fight. Anything to break up this dull monotony of serving this tedious, inferior species. "Thank you for your cooperation." He replied, before he pressed his ear piece "Stand down and prepare to take the pod into custody." turned and looked over the pod to make sure that nothing had been taken. Looking it over, his eyes went wide as he saw a familiar sign. "Well... That complicates matters." His eyebrow raised. He then looked at the commander "You had better report to your bosses that something vile... Something evil... Something you may not be prepared for. Is coming for its property back." He probably shouldn't have said that. But at least one of those agents felt that pang of fear rip through them as Sinestro's yellow aura brightened a little.

At this point, Mae finally made herself known, climbing up to the pod. She looked at the ARGOS captain and nodded a sign of "You win some, you lose some" before looking at Sinestro. "We good?" She asked.

"We are... Until the High Evolutionary finds out that something of his is loose on this planet."

"Another intergalactic nutcase?" She sighed.

"Oh no." Sinestro replied. "Your feeble human understandings of sanity do not BEGIN to describe the unbridled cruelty of that being. If we are in luck, it'll be something he no longer cares about." Mae looked him over, seeing the yellow aura grow brighter from what the others had heard.

"And if we're unlucky?" She asked. Sinestro looked over the pod.

"Then we may not survive long enough for Despero to be a problem. He replied. Mae simply rolled her eyes at this, before motioning the other agents to come on up and attach the fulton to the pod.

[Cyrania]

M A R T I A N M A N H U N T E R
M A R T I A N M A N H U N T E R

CENTENNIAL PARK
Manhattan, New York City
Christmas Eve
Mention: _{@ThatDeercat @Azure Bubbles @King Kindred}

J'onn stepped through Centennial Park, letting out a long sigh as he buried his hands further into his trench coat pockets. It was, fascinating, how humans could seem to value such a holiday like Christmas and yet crime didn't stop in it's tracks. It just, kept on. He supposed he should be glad that he was being allowed this breather, before going back into the office Christmas Day so that other detectives could celebrate their festivities and before he'd likely need to take over investigating the potential murder Santa committed (and no, he would not take off-work hours to even imagine if they could even legally arrest an international saint). And he was, it was peaceful in a sense. But he also couldn't shake the melancholy. Mars didn't really have a holiday like this (at least none that could be legally celebrated). The closest he could think of was the United Government's birthday and the New Year's celebration. And yet, watching people as they went, he could picture how it could have been...M'gann meticulously shaping the perfect Snow Martian, J'onat'onn preparing his snowball stashes for an 'epic showdown', M'yri'ah...M'yri'ah laughing at all their antics while she laid out the Christmas lights around the roof...Giggling as he let himself be overwhelmed by the snowballs then had to fix M'gann's sculpture after it got caught in the crossfire. Then they'd all go inside for hot cocoa and chicos and-

He bit his lip. He would not allow the thoughts to overwhelm him. He would enjoy this park, away from landladies that got too curious about their lonely renters. And the fresh snowfall was definitely something to enjoy-

Then he startled, narrowing his eyes. What were Thor and, the new arrival, what was she called...Starfire, doing out here? As he watched, he could see Thor's hammer causing the snowfall and a young man joining them as well. A young man who seemed to know a little about illusions...

Well, if they were about to be in the midst of something...Should he go ahead and change now or see if he could somehow act without changing forms? He'd gotten far too much attention the last time and he didn't really want to draw more. However...

He spread his mental awareness out, locating a place to keep a watch over the proceedings but not be seen until he wished to be. If there was trouble coming, it would be best if he could see what he was up against. Perhaps it would be something the other three could handle on their own. Or perhaps not...