Infinite Justice 4 (IC)

[New Neros]

Entropy
Battle for New York

It was unthinkable.

Growing up on New Genesis, Titan, Invincible, and Damocles were indoctrinated at birth to fear Darkseid and his Parademons, that he serves no other purpose but to kill and to destroy everything they held dear. In fact, that scare tactic was so powerful, it drove the three New Gods to serve in Highfather's military forces - So that they could do what they could to stand against Darkseid. But that instinctive fear never subsided, and even as the Dark God stood before them, Titan and Damocles were awestruck and motionless, like deer in the headlights. Even as more and more heroes rose to challenge Darkseid, there was little that would budge the New Gods.

But, they watched closely, and as Zeke - The speedster they had just met moments ago - plunged his hand into Darkseid's eyes to put an end to one of his Omega Beams, Titan snapped back to the battle at hand. Rising up, and flaring his electrical energies, he goaded his team to do the same. "Damocles, Invincible!" Titan shouted, "These Earthmen are daring, they challenge the God and refuse to yield! We knew this day would come, but didn't expect it this soon. We all knew we would have to face Darkseid one day, and it seems like we have to do it now."

Damocles and Invincible seemed renewed in their confidence, standing proud and tall like the warriors of New Genesis that they were. As the battle raged and as more foes came to challenge almighty Darkseid, each one severely unprepared to face the Dark God, the stoney giant whipped his head, gazing at the three New Gods with a scowl with his single remaining eye. It glowed fiercely, Titan's own eyes widening at the realitization that the very last thing he would ever see... Should he be hit with the Omega Beams... Would be Darkseid's face. The single beam shot forth from his eye, making several needless turns and corners along the straight path to Titan. Almost faster than he could react, Titan tightened every muscle in his body to brace for the deadly impact.

Rather than a flash of bright light, Titan saw a beige bubble wrap itself over him entire body, and a horrible screaming sound. Leaping out of the impromptu shield, Titan looked on in horror as Invincible retracted into his humanoid shape, an agonizing scream escaping from his throat, his rubber-like body beginning to droop and melt. Invincible reached out a hand to Titan, a sad, scared look in his eyes, Titan's own eyes shaking in disbelief. "Invincible..." He muttered, grabbing his friends hand and squishing it like silly putty. "No. No, no, no, no!" He rapidly fired, "Why? Why did you do that?! You didn't - You didn't have to do that!"

"Titan..." Invincible said weakly, his words becoming gurgled and mixed up, the New God leaning in to comfort one of his best friends. "It hurts." At that moment, the goo form of Invincible just completely collapsed, turning into a skin-colored puddle, Titan holding on to the liquid that was once Invincible's hand. Tears began to stream down his face, Titan clenched his palm, Invincible's liquid self squeezing out between his knuckles and dripping onto the floor. Standing up, Titan glanced at the puddle, and up at Darkseid some distance away.

"You mother fucker..." Damocles softly said, briskly walking towards the Dark God, Darkseid having swatted away the most recent hero to try their luck. Putting more distance between himself and Titan, Damocles began to increase his speed. "I may not be that strong, but I'll tell you right now. I'm not that weak, either. I might lose, but I will make you hurt." Damocles began to surround himself with positrons, lifting himself into the sky and shooting toward Darkseid, when a bolt of pure lightning shot past the New God, slamming into the God of Apokolips and lifting him off his gigantic feet, sending him crashing several meters away. Raising his fist and delivering it upon Darkseid's body with a crack of lighting, Titan was the one to reach him first.

Straddling the conqueror of worlds near and far, Titan prepared to rail down more blows, but was grabbed by the Dark God's massive hand, and flung several blocks away. Leaping onto his feet, Darkseid cracked a slight smile, despite his obvious pain at losing one eye. Just as he returned to his feet, another bolt of lightning came roaring at him, but with hardly any effort, Darkseid caught the punch Titan intended to deliver before it could hit. Sending shockwaves from all around, Titan's eyes were wide at the sheer speed and durability of the Dark God. "Fall." He spoke, crushing Titan's hand, and forcing him to his knees, enveloping him a vast sea of darkness through his Omega Effect to tamper with the New God's mind.

"You are alone, child." The tyrant spoke, his words echoing, Titan looking around lazily for any sign of aid. "There is only darkness for you... And only death for your people." Titan was beginning to lose energy, and the calm demeanor in which Darkseid spoke threatened to lull him to sleep, but a painful dread kept sweeping over him, keeping him partially awake. A primal fear of death keeping him in the limbo between subconscious and reality. "This world is only the beginning. I will command a great and powerful army, and we will conquer a billion worlds... Until every light is extinguished." Darkseid continued, relaxing his grip on Titan's fist.

"You are strong, Titan... But I am beyond strength." The Dark God declared, his single eye beginning to glow with his fearsome Omega Beam. "I am the end, and I have come for you, my nephew." Just before the single Omega Beam fired, Darkseid's entire face exploded, the sea of unending darkness that only Titan could see rushed back to the Dark God's body. Darkseid's face steamed with singe marks, the defiant face of Damocles floating near him with an outstretched hand, his explosive force of positrons assaulting the Omega Beams and breaking the Dark God's concentration. Slapping his arm violently against Damocles before the hero could react, Darkseid sent the man flying far from the battlefield, leaving Darkseid and Titan.

---

Death

PING!

Gasping, the Rubber Man forced himself upright, jerking his head all around, taking in the destruction, but breathing deeply as his mind adjusted to the world once more. On the verge of death, Invincible was saved by his Mother Box, which steadily healed and combated the gruesome death at the hands of the Omega Beam. Invincible looked distraught, searching for the Dark God and his allies, seeing them far from where the battle initiated, and with Titan nearly crippled before Darkseid. "Ti-Titan..." Invincible forced himself to say, his voice deep and raspy. His clothing was torn to shreds, and his face was unconcealed, but none of that mattered at the moment.

He looked around, trying to find something he could do to help Titan. Invincible's eyes glossed over the Dark Knight, who was slumped against a wall some ways away. Stretching himself out, he was at the Chicago vigilante's side in an instant. "Dark Knight," Invincible said, his tone serious, "I need to help Titan. I need something to hit Darkseid's other eye. Pointy, sharp. Something. Anything!" He demanded, the vigilante looking the New God up and down, and handing him a retractable sword. Invincible gave the vigilante a smile, grabbing the sword tightly, and whispering, "Don't blink."

Acting like a rubber band, Invincible shot it arm out towards Darkseid, latching onto a large piece of rubble, and bringing his entire body with him like a slingshot effect. Darkseid had grabbed Titan with both of his hands and lifted the New God up in the air, slowly crushing the life out of the man as he wailed, the Dark God not noticing as Invincible got under him. Spontaneously, Invincible coiled himself up and around Darkseid, wrapping the dreaded tyrant in several layers of his own body parts until just a head, arm, and torso emerged from the coil on his neck, sword in hand. "I hope this hurts." Invincible said briefly, the Dark God straining to break out of his binds, opening his eye to use his Omega Beams - The exact moment Invincible was waiting for. Rearing back, stretching out, and using his downward momentum to accelerate the sword, he plunged the weapon down into Darkseid's eye socket all the way to the hilt.

The giant roared in agony, his lava-like blood spewing everywhere. "Titan! Zap his ugly ass!" Invincible yelled, the thunderous New God screaming in pain as he summoned a massive lightning bolt, striking the hilt of the sword and electrifying Darkseid - Using Invincible's electrical immunity to go as hard as he could, sending the God of Apokolips to his knees, releasing Titan as well. Invincible unwrapped himself and joined Titan's side, the two looking down at the Dark God, sure of his defeat. Much to their shock and horror, the ground began to crack and split apart, a rumbling sounding as Darkseid tightened his hands on pieces of rock, turning them to dust. In a sudden burst of rage, the Dark God leapt to his feet and roared, the real battle beginning.

[The Klausians]

Pessima grumbled. "I hate you. Are you aware of this? You choose to help your boyfriend instead of helping a god.." He then noticed that the sky had grown rather dark in the time he had been arguing with the girl. One could practically hear the smile creep along Pessima's face. "Your time is up Abigail. I think it is about time for me to join in on the fun.."

He slithered out of Abigail's shadow and stopped a few feet away from her. The 2D oval shaped shadow began to convulse, then appendages began to violently jut outward of the shadow as it began to become three dimensional. It grew as more and more appendages began to form, until what began to look like a head emerged. After a few minutes, the shape had grown to the size of bus. With a monstrous roar, the last thing to form was a set of shiny white teeth jutting out from out large, gaping maw.

A parademon swooped down at it, but the black beast grabbed it from the air with one of the limbs on its back and crushed it in one motion, then it tossed it to the ground. Its eyeless face looked toward the blackened, parademon filled sky, then it let out another loud, monstrous roar that could be heard from a mile away. In a single bound, it jumped onto the side of one of the many buildings and began to scale it; as the parademons flew by, it would grab them using its ventral arms and tear them in half. After reaching the top of a three story building, the beast let out another roar before it began watching the happenings of the many so called "heroes" around him.

There was Abigail, whom it needed to deal with, Michael, someone with a handheld device that easily disposed of the flying creatures, and many other people battling the swarms of parademons. In the distance, it could see a massive humanoid being standing above the city. He seemed to only have one, red eye full of hatred and death. He seemed to be made of stone.. The people below seemed to be handling the humanoid well enough, so the beast turned its focus on the many parademons that were now swarming it. They lunged at it all at once, but immediately phased through it and tackled each other to the ground. The beast let out a growl that resembled a chuckle, and it let out one last monstrous roar into the sky.

[Illica Falki]

*Snip*

*Snip*

Seeing a new person enter the fray surprises Eva but as she moves to take the initiative, and rush the two demons with her swords, they are both taken out by yet another new combatant. What surprised her more was the newest 'hero' stopped to talk to her. Not really Certain how to reply to The new fighters question, she replies with a simple "Welcome to fight... Well, not much of a fight any-" she gets interrupted noticing one of the parademons she threw getting up. Her first reaction is to quickly load a tranq-dart into her crossbow, and fire it at the demon before he can actually get up. "Okay, Now it's not much of a fight" she says folding the crossbow back up, and taking the time to readjust her scarf and turn back to the girl in red. "Anyways, I am 'Nightwave', and you are?"

[Charmera]

Door Antics

Rebecca glared at Marcus when he started to laugh. She did not like being made fun of. "You think this is funny!" She shouted at him angrily, the pressure in the room began to increase slightly due to Rebecca's emotional shift. "How's this for funny!" She shouted, in a rage now as she started to manipulate the pressure in the bank, the roof it's self began to shake violently, before in began to collapse. Glass shattered and started falling on Marcus, a warning of the unstable position of the ceiling. Rebecca was just trying to scare him, but suddenly a steel beam came loose and falling towards Marcus. Rebecca's anger began fade. She wanted to scare Marcus not kill him. "Wait! Get out of the way!"

Suddenly a blur of light came flashing through the bank, and Marcus was grabbed and move out of the way. The light slowed down and it was revealed to Alice. "You okay Marcus?" She asked with concern, offering him a hand to get back on his feet.

---

Lucas Baldwin
Lucas was standing in a World War II history museum in Washington DC. It was the middle of the night and he had silenced the alarms. People might wonder what he was doing there, but he had a very specific purpose. He approached the display of tank commander Erwin Rommel. Lucas had long admired Rommel, he would be the perfect subject for his plan to gain more power. He broke through the glass of the display, revealing Rommel's officer cap that he wore during service. Lucas grabbed it from its case and dropped it on the ground. He cast a silent spell and fire shot from Lucas' fingertips and sparked onto the hat. He then pulled a book from his bag and began reciting some kind of incantation as the hat began to be engulfed in flames. Lucas watched intently, not fully sure what to expect.

The flames pillared upwards, reaching the roof as they towered higher than Lucas. The fire would likely force him to back off, but ultimately it was heatless. It would persist for a moment, before a foot stepped out from the heatless flames. The foot was clad in a black boot, and so was the next one that came through. Surprisingly the figure was female, clad in what seemed to be a fur coat of orange with a stern look on her face. Her eyes moved to Lucas, surprisingly she was taller than him, or at least her presence was somehow making it seem that way. She seemed to occupy more space than she in reality did, being a larger than life figure.

She took a second to observe her surroundings and then herself. She frowned a little. “I did not expect that…” She remarked, but then turned to her summoner. “So you are to be my master then?” She asked. Her stern military eyes on Lucas. “I am Rider. I am a Heroic Servant of the Rider class, here to serve and protect you.”

[Tomia]

The flames pillared upwards, reaching the roof as they towered higher than Lucas. The fire would likely force him to back off, but ultimately it was heatless. It would persist for a moment, before a foot stepped out from the heatless flames. The foot was clad in a black boot, and so was the next one that came through. Surprisingly the figure was female, clad in what seemed to be a fur coat of orange with a stern look on her face. Her eyes moved to Lucas, surprisingly she was taller than him, or at least her presence was somehow making it seem that way. She seemed to occupy more space than she in reality did, being a larger than life figure.

She took a second to observe her surroundings and then herself. She frowned a little. “I did not expect that…” She remarked, but then turned to her summoner. “So you are to be my master then?” She asked. Her stern military eyes on Lucas. “I am Rider. I am a Heroic Servant of the Rider class, here to serve and protect you.”

Lucas stepped back quickly when the fire appeared, marveling at the sheer power of it. The strange thing was that it didn't seem like it was giving off heat at all. He watched attentively as a foot revealed itself from the flame. He was surprised however when he saw the figure clearly, frowning a bit. "You aren't who I suspected." Lucas said plainly. "But still, it worked. Yes, I am your master. My name is Lucas. So, this whole heroic spirit thing is real huh? Good, I was counting on it. So, what are you able to do?" He asked the heroic spirit. "I want to know what I'm getting."

[The Rebel Alliances]

Daniel Carter/Aqueduct-Gulf City

Snip

The rain pelted me relentlessly as I huddled myself about ten feet from the entrance of the bar, each individual drop of water giving the smallest sting as it collided with my face and hands. The storm showing no hint of letting up, and my bones were starting to ache from the cold. As my soggy clothes stuck to me as the only thing to warm me was a rising fever and the whisky pumping through my blood stream. My face red from both the cold and alcohol, I barely paid notice when a sedan whipped into the bar parking lot and a young african woman shot out from it. Rather my eyes simply returned to a dangerously dozed state as I was drawing closer and closer to passing out in the rain. Never noticing the arrival of the second blood soaked woman who likely paid me no more attention as she passed me by.

But before I could drift into dreams or freeze from exposure, a demonic shriek tore the sky. Grogilly blinking my eyes, I peered up from the gutter that I lay in as I saw her for the first time in person. The new 'hero' of Gulf City, the blue clad, white long pig tailed haired woman wielding an ancient spear as she leaped from a building top and impaled the monster.

"For Darkseid!" Was the monster's only final words. I watched the battle high above me, as it was evident from the way she moved. The expression of her face, that she was clearly an Atlantean. As she tore through the beast, swarm of additional parademons converged from every direction in the sky. As the battle between Atlantean and Parademon continued. Unable to actually fly, the young maiden known as Dolphin landed on the narrow streets below, now only several dozen feet away. The parademons were now snatching up civilians, as Dolphin continued to battle them.

It became clear however, that her focus was on killing the enemy, rather than saving tha captured. With myself tucked away, and Dolphin slaying yet another one by impaling the monster and surging lightning through it. Her strikes were powerful, but unwieldy. And her attention was ony ever on one target at a time. Her war cries rising out above the panicked screams of civilians and the death cries of parademons.

My own luck ran out as a Parademon had snatched me up, flailing wildly against it I, a shotgun blast had tore through one of its wings, sending it spiraling through the bar. Crashing into the middle of the pub, glass lay scattered all around me as the scene unfolded in front of the two new arrivals. Oblivious to the cuts on my body, I stumbled upwards to the bar as I doused the creature in alcohol, before casting my lighter upon it. Setting it ablaze as I cast a glance back to the scene in the streets beyond the knocked out wall.

Dolphin had slain another one, but two more had latched onto her. Then another and another, being overwhelmed by their numbers the young hero struggled against their combinec might, dropping the spear. As she cried out in now desperation.

"No! I must triumph! For Arissa!" With that one word. Everything slowed down. As me and the girl known as Dolphin locked eyes. "Osira..." I muttered under my drunken breath. Only for her to be dragged away. Through the sky to whatever staging area the monsters used.

Falling over myself as I emerged from the remains of the bar screaming Osira's name into the night as the last piece of my former life was stolen from me.

[The Templar High Council]

*Snip*

Seeing a new person enter the fray surprises Eva but as she moves to take the initiative, and rush the two demons with her swords, they are both taken out by yet another new combatant. What surprised her more was the newest 'hero' stopped to talk to her. Not really Certain how to reply to The new fighters question, she replies with a simple "Welcome to fight... Well, not much of a fight any-" she gets interrupted noticing one of the parademons she threw getting up. Her first reaction is to quickly load a tranq-dart into her crossbow, and fire it at the demon before he can actually get up. "Okay, Now it's not much of a fight" she says folding the crossbow back up, and taking the time to readjust her scarf and turn back to the girl in red. "Anyways, I am 'Nightwave', and you are?"

"Oli—Vira. I'm Vira. Totally a superhero name. Yep. Not my name. At all." Olivia stammered, avoiding revealing her real name. Virus mentally berated her, to which she shook her head and moaned. "Shut up! I didn't say that!" Olivia replied, looking away to the right whilst talking to Virus before realizing that Nightwave was still there. "Uh yeah. So these big creepy things. You know anything about 'em?" As one of the creatures came up behind the two girls, trying to surprise them, Olivia noticed just in time to dodge out of the path of its punch. Using her acrobatic prowess, she grabbed onto the arm and swung around onto the monster's back. With a quick THWIP, she covered his face in what could only be described as webbing, flipped off his shoulders, and threw him back from where he came.

"All I know is that they trashed my apartment. And my building. And my block. So... all I've got left is venting on them for losing everything I ever owned for myself. No biggie." Her face still stoically scary as she looked back at Nightwave. "What about you? Lose any good homes lately?"

[United Seasonal Osnilian Districts]

NYC
Shane collapsed to the ground after his battle with Harriet. He weakly pulled himself up after ten minutes, moaning the whole time. He knew he shouldn't have performed the burst of energy he hit her with. That, combined with the power surge had given him a lot of dents, which were his equivalent of bruises and cuts. He needed a slow, continuout circuit of electricity to heal him, but he had no time for that. This. . . Darksied was coming, and he was going to help stop him.

He began staggering towards the battle, but Amanda grabbed his arm and said, "You can't go out there. You are going to fall into a coma if you do. There are plenty of heroes out there to fight him." She pointed towards the heroes engaging Darksied, one of whom managed to take out his remaining eye, resulting in an angry roar from Darksied.

"They need me," replied Shane, putting his other hand on her shoulder, "and I'd rather have you tell Dawn that her father died a hero than for me to say I was there and hid while others did the hard work."

"But you defeated one of his lieutinants," argued Amanda, looking over at Harriet's unconscious body.

"That's like stopping at Hitler's second in command, and not going after him," retorted Shane, as he turned away and headed towards the battle.

[Syrixces]

Prometheus

Prometheus groaned, pulling himself to his knees. He stood slowly, muscles burning. He slowly pulled himself to his feet, glancing over at the downed Hexagon, seeing the light flicker on and off in his helmet's HUD, his breathing still transmitting into the communicator. Parademons, heroes, and civilians battled around them, as he stood there, panting, gulping for air, in the middle of the city, forearms bursting back into flame. Glancing to his left, he happily noticed that her clumps of lava had begun moving, slowly crawling towards a central lump. The magma had begun thankfully reforming, Demon surviving even being shattered.

Standing, Prometheus was suddenly awash in emotion, enraged at the attack. They, they did this to him! To his friends! His team mates! He roared, slamming a fist into the nearest Parademon, instantly scrambling its head, sending a spray of blood over him, its body, and the sidewalk. Somehow....after the fight with Mantis, he felt almost stronger. He grinned, tearing off the shredded remnants of his shirt, and tossed it to the wind, the blood splattered, black garment flying away. He grinned, and roaed, dashing forwards, and grabbing opposite ends of a Parademon, pulling down the middle, ripping it half with a wild grin. Peering through the shredded halves, he winked at the nearest Parademon, smiling wickedly.

"Oh, you fucked up, big time. "

Dark God

A shuddering, thunderous boom sent Prometheus to his knees, the sheer shockwave, tipping him over, already dizzy from his previous battle with Mantis. He felt the wave of air wash over him, but he steadied himself, and his resolve, only to see a massive, stony grey figure descend to the Earth, landing with a crackling thud. Prometheus groaned internally and externally, as the giant being gave his stereotypical villain's monologue, going on about his victory, and how he's a god. Prometheus steadied himself, about to launch himself at the creature, when suddenly, massive red beams arced out from its eyes, spiraling off towards any and all nearby, incinerating them on the spot. Prometheus' eyes went wide, as he saw the beams vaporize men where they stood, turning them to ash. A man to his left dashed away at super human speeds, while another desperately threw dozens of Parademons in his way, in an attempt to block the beams.

Instead of either of those options, Prometheus took option C, and stomped down hard into the concrete before him, causing a ripple effect to go up, waves of concrete flying up in front of him, directly in the face of the beams directed at him. He stomped again in immediate session, asphalt flying upwards in a wave of stone, the beams passing through, burning through them, as they charged straight for him, standing perfectly still. They scorched through wave after wave of concrete, burning through, but still they came. He gritted his teeth, as the beams converged on him, going far too fast for him to outrun, even as faster than light speeds. He roared, and slammed both fists into the ground, sending up one last throw of shrapnel at the beams, the beams splitting it in half, coming for him.

They hit.

Prometheus roared in pain, thrown back, slamming into a building directly behind him, steel, glass and concrete crunching under the sudden force of his mass and acceleration. He seethed, the Omega beams burning through him, looking down at his chest, seeing ash and fire spreading out form his gut, eating through his skin, but stopping before doing potentially fatal damage. He had diluted the beams just enough, to stop them from killing him. Spitting up chunks of blood and ash, he got to his feet slowly, cracking his knuckles. He grinned, smiling even with the pain in his gut, and took a step forward, settling on the dark, stony figure in his vision. Seeing a figure leap up, and pierce one of the great beings eyes, he grinned, settling on the Dark God's weakness.

Roaring, he dashed forward at lightning speeds, fists raised, fire consuming his arms, his torso, working up his body, as the flames consumed him, burning across his arms and chest. He grimaced, focusing the energy in his right hand, raising the temperature as fast as he possibly could, reaching temperatures of an astounding 6,991 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt tungsten. He roared, as he soared through the air at FTL speeds, arm raised, aimed for the face of Darkseid.

"YOU MAY BE A GOD, BUT I'M A TITAN, BITCH!"

And with that, he slammed his fist in a downwards arc, burning through the air, and connecting with a thunderous boom. Fist shattered jaw, jaw shattered fist, as his scalding hot hand met Darkseid's chin, not only smashing into it, but scorching flesh beneath his touch. He connected his fist with a mighty BOOM, stony flesh crunching, flying off. He thundered off, moving past Darkseid, and landing, rolling to his feet, while the mighty God bellowed behind him, Prometheus holding his crippled hand to his chest, fire still licking off of it, while Darkseid clutched his face, roaring with indignation, gravelly flesh spewing. However, the Dark God still stood tall.

Prometheus fell backwards, clutching his hand and panting, standing to his feet slowly, flames licking off his flesh, right hand glowing bright white in its heat. He shuddered, his hand aching, and groaned, stepping forward lightly, embracing the inevitable incoming blow.

"Ow. I hope that hurt you as much as it hurt me," he said, looking down at his very, very swollen hand. He looked back up at the advancing Dark God, and groaned. Looks like it hadn't.

[Altito Asmoro]

*Snip*

*Snip*

Seeing a new person enter the fray surprises Eva but as she moves to take the initiative, and rush the two demons with her swords, they are both taken out by yet another new combatant. What surprised her more was the newest 'hero' stopped to talk to her. Not really Certain how to reply to The new fighters question, she replies with a simple "Welcome to fight... Well, not much of a fight any-" she gets interrupted noticing one of the parademons she threw getting up. Her first reaction is to quickly load a tranq-dart into her crossbow, and fire it at the demon before he can actually get up. "Okay, Now it's not much of a fight" she says folding the crossbow back up, and taking the time to readjust her scarf and turn back to the girl in red. "Anyways, I am 'Nightwave', and you are?

[spoiler]Seeing a new person enter the fray surprises Eva but as she moves to take the initiative, and rush the two demons with her swords, they are both taken out by yet another new combatant. What surprised her more was the newest 'hero' stopped to talk to her. Not really Certain how to reply to The new fighters question, she replies with a simple "Welcome to fight... Well, not much of a fight any-" she gets interrupted noticing one of the parademons she threw getting up. Her first reaction is to quickly load a tranq-dart into her crossbow, and fire it at the demon before he can actually get up. "Okay, Now it's not much of a fight" she says folding the crossbow back up, and taking the time to readjust her scarf and turn back to the girl in red. "Anyways, I am 'Nightwave', and you are?"

"Oli—Vira. I'm Vira. Totally a superhero name. Yep. Not my name. At all." Olivia stammered, avoiding revealing her real name. Virus mentally berated her, to which she shook her head and moaned. "Shut up! I didn't say that!" Olivia replied, looking away to the right whilst talking to Virus before realizing that Nightwave was still there. "Uh yeah. So these big creepy things. You know anything about 'em?" As one of the creatures came up behind the two girls, trying to surprise them, Olivia noticed just in time to dodge out of the path of its punch. Using her acrobatic prowess, she grabbed onto the arm and swung around onto the monster's back. With a quick THWIP, she covered his face in what could only be described as webbing, flipped off his shoulders, and threw him back from where he came.

"All I know is that they trashed my apartment. And my building. And my block. So... all I've got left is venting on them for losing everything I ever owned for myself. No biggie." Her face still stoically scary as she looked back at Nightwave. "What about you? Lose any good homes lately?"

As Nightwave and the other girl in red, revealed to be named as Vira, talked to each other, Len turned his attention to the more central part. At the horizon, the sky was ripped open and came...Darkseid. Yep, totally not good at making a big event came up, what a bad, bad opening for this post. Of course, going there alone is suicide, even as a Kryptonian. So he approached both of the girls as they talked to each other, "Sorry if I interrupt you both, but..." as Len turned to the back again and then to both of them.

"The leader of these...Parademons is here right now. You want to cooperate with me? You two, of course." said Len, confident that they will accept the offer.

Right?

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

Lancer was genuinely confused at the fact that her Master seemed so reluctant to accept the idea that she was capable of using magic, and the pause that arose from this confusion caused her to be unable to respond to Susan's inquiries before the girl grabbed her hand and then began running through the hallways of Miskatonic University. Lancer was momentarily surprised at this, but in the end, she was easily able to keep up, being much faster and more agile than the human that had summoned her. Still, she was rather weirded out, not just by Susan's refusal to accept magic, but also by her surroundings, which were somewhat alien to her as a Heroic Spirit summoned from the distant past. In addition to that, she also felt somewhat disheartened when she heard her Master speak about how Servants weren't normal, how it would be hard for her to fit in with a Servant in tow, and how her presence could potentially cause trouble.

"I... I'm not a freak or a... mutant?" Lancer paused at the strange word, before continuing. "I'm a Servant. I apologize about any trouble my presence may cause you, but I'm afraid there isn't a way to undo the summoning. Not one that would not be unpleasant to me, anyway..." The girl trailed off, and then looked to her Master with a determined look. "But, I will do my best to make up for these issues, Master. I promise that!" She said resolutely. Then, at last, she looked around at the unfamiliar hallways, and doubt began to settle in her mind once more, although of a different kind this time. Glancing to Susan once more, she spoke. "Ah, also, if you don't mind me asking... where are we going?"

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---

---

"Plan? A magus of my stature has no need to prepare a plan." Came Alyssa's swift response to Lance, her more arrogant side clearly showing. After saying this, the blonde sorceress turned to Archer instead, noticing him staring at her questioningly and responding by crossing her arms and staring back, not with defiance, as that would have implied that Archer was somehow above his Master. No, her eyes were instead filled with a sort of regal dignity, the kind that sought to make it clear that she was her own ruler and the only one. But she did not do this for long, soon enough turning her attention back to the Parademon siege. Though both Lance's rampage and Archer's skirmish had made a small dent in their forces, alongside her own lightning dome of course, the sheer numbers that the Parademons sported made this almost a non-factor, and so, Alyssa began thinking of how to reduce said numbers without straining her body too much and without wasting one of her mana-bearing jewels, something she thought unnecessary at the moment.

When Lance returned to the dome, appearing somewhat frightened by the battle raging below, Alyssa listened to his inquiry and then looked down, seeing the leader of the invasion force displaying a strange power, a red beam shooting forth from its eyes. Swiftly, she performed a few insight-gathering spells, and frowned. "It appears to be some kind of divine power or mystery. The leader of these flying rats is a god. Of what sort, I have no idea; not from this Earth, that's all I know." She said as her red eyes continued to peer down at the battle taking place for several moments, before she turned her gaze from it, judging she had seen enough.

"Regardless, the fighters down there seem to be doing a well enough job at keeping it busy. They've already managed to handicap it to a degree." The heiress spoke, and indeed, Invincible and Titan had just finished blinding the Dark God, and though the act appeared to cause it to go berserk, it was still a noticeably less one-sided battle than before. "So instead of cluttering up the battlefield even more, I say you lot and I should keep the flying fire-breathing vermin off their backs." She stated, looking disdainfully at the Parademons who even now continued to smash against the lightning dome, only to be fried or vaporized by its thunder.

Focusing, Alyssa began chanting several words in rapid sucession, her lips moving at astounding speeds as she crafted verses of power in mere instants. At the same time, she began performing several hand gestures that progressively grew more and more complicated, though she did not seem hindered by their difficulty at all. As she continued the process of casting her spell, the dome of lightning began glowing, yellow light giving away its position. Then, when the blonde magus chanted the last few words and made the last few gestures, all of the light began gathering at the top of the dome, forming a sphere of swirling electricity. Suddenly and without warning, said lightning exploded in several large thunderbolts, each of them seeking out Parademons, and branching out in smaller bolts to strike others once they hit their mark. The process repeated itself a few times, resulting in the charred corpses of thousands of Parademons raining down upon the battlefield that was New York.

With the spell over, Alyssa, feeling slightly dizzy, took a few steps back and leaned on the roof access, taking a few deep breaths. Though the magnitude of the spell wasn't yet quite enough to cause her any harm, it did put some strain on her body, owing to her being out of shape due to being spoiled by a life of luxuries. Still, the spell had done its job.

Watching the remaining Parademons continue to ram into the dome, however, she frowned. "The barrier won't hold forever, by the way." She commented.

---

---

Noticing Rebecca's glare towards him, Marcus sincerely began to feel a little bad for making fun of her, especially since the circumstances that amused him had been brought by him and not by anyone else. He knew that what she was doing was wrong, and she did not intend to simply let her continue robbing the bank, but it still felt wrong to laugh like that. However, he was also still very amused, and so, it took a great effort for him to calm down his snickering. Not that it mattered, since the girl was already in a rage, her strange powers causing the atmosphere to feel more oppressive and also forcing the bank to begin quaking rather violently. While not necessarily scared, Marcus was a bit worried by this: the city didn't need any more damage caused by a bank robbery, considering how the Parademons were already wrecking most things they set their sights on.

Seeing the steel beam begin to descend towards him, the young man prepared to redirect it away from himself, but before he had the chance to do so, he was grabbed and brought to a safer location by an unseen force. He blinked several times beneath the mask, trying to process the situation, but all in all, what surprised him the most was not his sudden relocation, but the fact that the person who had just rescued him was none other than the artist girl he had met earlier today.

"Oh, fancy meeting you here, Alice." Marcus said as he took her hand and helped himself up, before dusting himself off a little and looking back at her. "Yes, yes, I'm fine, thanks for asking. Really, I wouldn't say I was particularly in danger back there, but still, you came here to save me and I really appreciate that, thank you." He said, politely bowing his head. He was ever so slightly disappointed that he didn't have the chance to redirect the steel beam and perhaps do some more door antics, but it was always nice to see that someone worried about him, even if it was a stranger or a brand new acqauintance.

Glancing towards Rebecca, the young man pointed towards her before speaking to Alice again. "Oh, by the way, you might want to talk to her. I was trying to convince her that robbing a bank is wrong even if nobody's there to stop her, but she doesn't seem very eager to listen to me. That, and she has a bit of a short fuse." He said, not really stopping to think that pointing out her temper might upset her even more.

[The Fallen Jedi]

50 Miles From Albany, New York
CADMUS Containment Facility

Although the battle was meant to be entirely one-sided, with the outcome being in the Dynasty's favor, Kazuko ordered all members of the Strike Force to maintain a barrier around the CADMUS Facility, which would serve to prevent stragglers from fleeing the Communication Jamming Signal and sending a warning to their superior officers. The Grand Warlord sat indian style on the ground, a cup of Yavini Wine in his hand as he stared at the tower of the CADMUS Facility, he could sense the sick entertainment that Asumar was having as he sliced through legions upon legions of CADMUS Soldiers with his Plasma Blade, but he could also sense something else emanating within the facility, a hellfire of emotions that Kazuko could only describe as a relentless storm of unwavering hatred, rage, anger, and insanity all bundled up in a single individual that was slicing through everything that it saw, this being was murdering everything that breathed within the facility, Soldiers, Scientists, and even other detainees. Kazuko's eyebrows rose up in curiosity, desiring to know more about who and what this individual was. Sadly, the hellstorm of emotions that resonated within Moros was so great that not even the Grand Warlord could peer into the deeper corners of her mind, it was as if a wall of fire had been put in place to protect her from any mental probing.

"How predictable, you are as late as ever Kazuko." The familiar voice of Asumar rang out through Kazuko's mind, reaching out to his brother telepathically as he casually tore through the blast door that separated The Defiler from The Keeper of Peace, the two brothers having finally reconnected their telepathic link with each other. As soon as Asumar emerged from the Blast Door, he would be greeted by a hellstorm of lead bullets that came flying towards him, and with relative ease, Asumar brought his hand up against the storm of lead, sending forth a wave of telekinetic energy that brought the bullets within inches of his hand, simply floating there and not moving a single inch forward "Weaklings..." Asumar darkly replied, his eyes glowing purple once more before the bullets were sent flying backwards in all directions, impacting the soldiers who had dared to open fire on him, sending them crashing to the ground by their own bullets. As if time was going slowly, Asumar grabbed hold of his Plasma Blade and ignited it, a steady stream of purple energy emerging from the emitter matrix "Now then..." Asumar stepped forward, a frown on his face and an empty expression within his eyes "It's time to repay you all for my weeks of imprisonment and experimentation in this hell hole of a facility."

[Tomia]

Marcus is a Knob

"What? How do you know who I am?" Alice asked in shock, then she suddenly recognized the voice from earlier that day. "Marcus? Is that you?" She asked in shock. "What are you doing here? And what do you mean you weren't in danger?" She asked, dozens of questions now flooding her mind. She then turned to see the person who almost killed Marcus, listening as he told her about him. "Hey! What gives trying to kill my friend?" Alice asked her, taking a step closer.

"Just leave me alone! It was an accident! I told him to go away. I'm not trying to hurt anyone!" Rebecca shouted at Alice. She was a little shaken by the fact that she lost control of her powers. Her crimes were always victim-less, but this felt differently, she could have killed that boy.

Alice saw that Rebecca seemed kind of shaken up and her tone softened. "Look, you don't have to do this. Does your family know your here? Aren't they worried about you?" Alice asked.

Rebecca stiffened at that, her mind filling with horrible flashbacks. "Don't talk about my FAMILY!" She shouted as the building began to shake once more. In her rage, Rebecca picked up a large chunk of debris and tossed it at Alice.

Alice was shocked, raising up a mirror to defend herself, reflecting the debris to fly harmlessly against the wall. "Look, I'm sorry just calm down!" Alice called out, as she continued to shield herself from flying debris. It seemed like Rebecca was barely in control at this point.

[New Rnclave]

Tabbis: Planet Zasha

Flicking red ruin off his arm, Tabbis quietly contemplated his next move. Letting energy flow freely through him. The second warrior had hardly been a challenge once they got down to it. Even with his ability to drain energy with a gaggle of clones, the Saiyan Warriors reserves were by no means exhausted by the time he'd gotten ahold of the bastard. Smirking devilishly at the memory from moments ago, the sky seemingly split open as a orange bolt lay need through the air.

'I shouldn't waste my time with any low-lives going forward. Whoever caused the Scouter to blow earlier is still out there.' Glancing at the plumes of smoke rising on the horizon, Tabbis's brow furrowed. Fear aside, it was more irritation then anything else. Irritation that he would have to become an Oozaru in order to put whatever wretch he met in its place. And irritation that he would have to replace his team once he returned.

Quickening his pace, the plumes of smoke grew closer on rapid fashion, until the ruins of what might have once been the capital of this world came into view, along with a massive battleship gray ship. Blinking, Tabbis catapulted himself towards the ground, worn black boots burrowing into the already ruined asphalt. Closing the distance between himself and the ship, he felt something akin to anxiety settle in his stomach.

Six huge spider like legs supported the vessel, huge chunks of stone and steel sticking up at odd angles from what must have been a rapid landing sequence. The ship was definetly familiar to Saiyan, reminding him of a race of Changelings that had once opposed Lord Cooler. Having created an advanced system of anti-gravity technology that prevented even Cooler from stepping foot in the world, it'd taken less than two minutes for Cooler to decide the fate of that world. Which made the presence of one of their ships more disconcerting then it had already been, given Tabbis had vocally supported the decision.

Smirking, the Saiyan had already made a similar decision about the fate of this ship. Hell, this entire world could burn for all he cared. Opening his palm, azure energy flooded his hand, static filling the air as a pulsating orb appeared. Before it could appear however, a figure appeared out of nowhere in front of him. Staggering backwards, panic returned with a vengeance as Tabbis tried to assess the new element in the situation, that being the huge green Titan that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

" Who are you?" Tabbis demanded.

The question was simple as far as Tabbis was concerned, but the fighter didn't seem to think so. Grinning devilishly, the ground began quaking violently, the sounds of metal and asphalt waxing and waning filling the air.

" I am Lord Slug." The answer was given with the same disgustingly smug smirk as before, the entire planet seemingly shaking as Slug either powered up, or the planet began dying. Thirsting his gloved hand forward, the world slowed around them milliseconds before it was bathed in thundering energy, the heat of his own blast burning Tabbis's own arm.

Concrete and steel warped as the Death Impact bolt rocketed past them, abandoned vehicles being carried forward by the Saiyans attack. Fissures opened in the earth as a new landmark was created, the ground around them shifting and settling in the wake of the attack, inky smoke and sulfur filling the air.

But then the cloud of debris parted. Eyes widening in shock, Tabbis could only stare bleakly at the mountain of a man, that same smug, arrogant grin as before only growing as he closed the gap between himself and the Saiyan warrior.

[The Republic of Atria]

Zeke was busy keeping the parademons away from the evacuating civilians with his left arm, all the while cursing himself out for not hitting Darkseid with his left arm instead. Being right handed, Zeke was having minor difficulties keeping things calm. Tygan's magic cast kept the pain away so he could focus, but no amount of magic could make him left handed. At least he hoped there wasn't. Otherwise he'd never let Tygan live it down. "Dammit... You things are like freakin' bugs. Go away please. I hope those two are doing better than I am..."

Tygan and Cyrus were awestruck as the New Gods blitzed Darkseid, stabbed him in his remaining eye. Following up with a massive shock seemed to drop the evil god for good. No movement. "Hell yeah!" Cyrus shouted and flew over the body of the evil god. "That looked like it hurt like fuck- What? What do you mean he's not dead? Dude got his eye punched at the speed of light, the other got stabbed. AND THEN shocked. There's no way in hell- You know, we are going to have a serious talk about language, because-" He was cut off by Darkseid grabbing his leg and slamming him into the ground. "Don't... Say... A Goddamned thing." Cyrus muttered as he lie embedded under about ten feet of dirt and asphalt.

"HOW DARE YOU?! I AM DARKSEID!" The blind god shouted at the top of his lungs. Tygan was the only one out of his new group of friends left. And he wasn't going to just sit there and let Darkseid have his wave with the planet.

"We don't care." Tygan replied, summoning massive chains from around the god in an attempt to bind him. It was one of his most powerful and taxing spells, and Darkseid was seemingly held down for a good 30 seconds before the chains began to crack and break. "My word... If anyone else has a plan, I suggest they do it immediately! How can this be? We destroyed both of his eyes and yet he STILL stands..."

[Turmenista]

Saiyan dun goofed

Uprising - Part 3

Oboe, Planet Zasha
Sunset, Cool

No, no, no, NO, NO!!

Oboe's thoughts were filled with anger and frustration - The Saiyan of all people had got to slug before him! Presumably the lead Saiyan, this black-haired monkey brat, had managed not only to get to Slug before him, but had also managed to get the first attack out. From his current height, well above the battle, Oboe spotted the Saiyan beginning to charge up for his attack, ki engulfing one arm as the attack was suddenly launched at Slug himself.

I should probably move back... Oboe thought to himself. Good idea.

Judging by the pulsating amount of energy contained in this attack Oboe sensed, he had to assume that the explosion on this thing was going to be a big one- which it was. Upon its impact on Slug's chest, the sphere burst in a dramatic flash of red, white, and boom - a cloud of debris spewing forth from the base of the ship. The entire world went red for a second as the brightness suddenly cleared, the shockwave of the blast buffeting Oboe, albeit not as bad as what was closer to the impact site. Buildings, vehicles, and the earth of Zasha itself was torn from the ground and spewed all over the place, the end result looking like someone had flung a meteor into the place a few minutes earlier.

Oboe covered his eyes with his arms until the dust had cleared. When the cloud of dust and debris finally had dissipated, he was just as shocked as the Saiyan was to see Slug standing tall, practically unfazed by the attack, save for a few minor scars.

Slug then went on the offensive, to the Saiyan's surprise. Oboe could not let this happen- Slug would not be taking another life, again. No more, and not here. He'd been fed up from the start with Slug's methods of taking people over, so now was his chance to finally get revenge on his old mentor and show him how powerful he was.

Channeling the same Super Namek ki energy that he used in the fight against Angila before, Oboe let out a battle cry as his entire body was covered in its white-green aura. Oboe plummeted like a cruise missile, leg first as his yelling became audible to Slug for a second, who looked to see Oboe's boot coming down on him. However, Oboe's boot intentionally missed Slug's face, instead, landing on one of his arms, which was presumably preparing for a ki blast. In a twisted turn of events, Oboe used his one legged landing on the larger Namekian's arm as just a balancing platform, and smoothly transitioned to a backwards flip kick, right at Slug's chin.

The sickening soundof Oboe's powerful kick echoed through the silence of the air, breaking the calm, whistling noise for a split second. Slug himself was knocked back, dazed by this attack, giving Oboe just the right amount of time to quickly unsheath his sword from its hilt, and slash upwards near Slug's forearm, where he once stood.

Slug's cry of pain echoed just as loudly, if not louder than the sound of his kick from earlier. Oboe landed his backflip a few meters away from facing slug, the perfect range to point-blank Masenko the shit out of him. After quickly sheathing his sword, Oboe got into a forward firing position, bringing up his palms, one hand in front of the other and facing Slug, to his forehead, where he began slowly calling out the name of his attack.

"Ma... sen.. ko..." He said aloud the first few syllables of the attack. Most visible light was again blocked out as a blue-green mass of unstable, crackling ki energy gathered in front of his palms, which would later be used in the attack. Lord Slug only laughed, clenching his shoulder where his arm once was as he flexed his hand on his remaining arm. "You don't realize it, but I'm able to beat you with only one arm! Just watch!"

Ok.

"HA!" Oboe broke free of his own thoughts suddenly, the entirety of his train of thought focused on getting this beam to its target. The beam, like the Saiyan's attack, tore up bits and pieces of the ground as it traveled along its given path, straight into a point blank, seemingly no miss impact on Lord Slug. Like the previous attack, there was another explosion, albeit not as mild, but the attack still packed noteworthy power. A plume of dust and debris rose above the battle, to heights rivaling that of the nearby buildings, and Lord Slug's own ship.

The dust cleared, and just as before, Slug stood standing at the opposite side of the battlefield, yelling a battle cry. This time, he seemed to be getting larger-

BOOM

True to what he said, Slug slammed his fist into Oboe's stomach, the one armed Super Namek flinging the smaller and younger Super Namek into the air, giving him enough time to painfully regenerate his lost arm. Slug flew up into the air, straight towards the currently airborne Oboe. Stabilizing himself out, Oboe prepared himself for blocks and parries as Slug ran straight into him, flinging forth a storm of kicks and punches in close combat. One faulty block sent a punch barreling into Oboe's face, which he soon pushed against Slug's fist in an attempt to get a Mouth energy beam in on him. Before he could, however, Slug picked up the smaller Namekian by the head in an unknown move, and lobbed him down towards earth like a meteor.

Before he would hit the ground painfully, Oboe got in two ki sphere attacks on Slug, who batted away the balls effortlessly. Oboe stabilized himself once again, powering up his aura to assist in such a movement. Rolling to his feet, Oboe's power-up hit its maximum and he rocketed off like a missile, leaving behind a visible white trail of energy as he shouted out a battle cry, aiming for Slug's skull.

The larger Namekian simply moved out of the way, grabbing Oboe's forearm and extended leg, and using them as support as he drove his knee straight into his back. Oboe cried out in pain as Slug tossed him down angrily. This time, Oboe had no time to react as he crashed through several layers of rock, building, and eventually, more rock, forming a small tunnel as his body was driven into the ground like some sort of drill.

---

Season's Greetings - Quarter Final

Magnus, New York City
God Knows what time or Temperature

"Plan... Plan..?" Magnus recollected himself from the floor, bits of jagged rock, crystal, and other bits littering the battlefield. "I don't know if you call this a plan, but I have it!" His right arm, formerly a "very sharp" piece of cutting crystal, morphed back into its regular rocky form, in preparation for Magnus's big finale.

"OK- here's my plan:" An orange light suddenly shone in Magnus's fist as the rocks on his arm grew to a substantially large size, compared to the rest of his body. "I'm gonna punch the absolute shit out of this Blind guy! Say your prayers, my incest ridden cousin!" Magnus's feet went into motion, assisted by Geokinesis, propelling him across the ground along a rocky trail. He was moving faster than usual- at a very frightening speed, considering his size.

About 3 meters away from Darkseid, Magnus was launched into the air by one of his own rock constructs, springing him up to the New God's face level. Magnus's Geothermal Energy-packed fist transformed into a miniature volcano during this period, just waiting for some good little trigger to make it pop.

And Darkseid's face happened to be the right trigger.

Magnus's fist hit Darkseid's ugly face, exploding almost instantly on impact. He was safely knocked away to a nearby building from the resulting Geothermal energy-packed explosion, which leveled a few nearby buildings in Darkseid's proximity. The volcanic arm exploded as well, sending forth miniature bombs, volcanic rock shrapnel, and a shit ton of lava absolutely everywhere, along with a very nice ashy explosion. When the rubble from this blast cleared, most everything in Magnus's attack area was covered in a thick layer of volcanic ash, transforming the already wrecked city into a false wintery wonderland, complete with Parademon "snowmen", formed from casts of hardened volcanic ash which hardened over the incinerated bodies of the Parademons.

Magnus shifted up from his attack, a layer of ash sliding off of his body as he stared through the foggy environment. Holding up his arms, he forced the Volcanic ash to dissipate, so it did not hinder with anyone's aim. Expecting Darkseid to be at the end of the block by now, Magnus's jaw only dropped six feet in shock, as he saw Darkseid standing tall, right there, with only a few burns, scratches, and bruises.

"Can I at LEAST make this mother fucking guy flinch?!" He bellowed, pointing his hand at Darkseid. "What is this fuckery?!"

[Charmera]

---

Lancer was genuinely confused at the fact that her Master seemed so reluctant to accept the idea that she was capable of using magic, and the pause that arose from this confusion caused her to be unable to respond to Susan's inquiries before the girl grabbed her hand and then began running through the hallways of Miskatonic University. Lancer was momentarily surprised at this, but in the end, she was easily able to keep up, being much faster and more agile than the human that had summoned her. Still, she was rather weirded out, not just by Susan's refusal to accept magic, but also by her surroundings, which were somewhat alien to her as a Heroic Spirit summoned from the distant past. In addition to that, she also felt somewhat disheartened when she heard her Master speak about how Servants weren't normal, how it would be hard for her to fit in with a Servant in tow, and how her presence could potentially cause trouble.

"I... I'm not a freak or a... mutant?" Lancer paused at the strange word, before continuing. "I'm a Servant. I apologize about any trouble my presence may cause you, but I'm afraid there isn't a way to undo the summoning. Not one that would not be unpleasant to me, anyway..." The girl trailed off, and then looked to her Master with a determined look. "But, I will do my best to make up for these issues, Master. I promise that!" She said resolutely. Then, at last, she looked around at the unfamiliar hallways, and doubt began to settle in her mind once more, although of a different kind this time. Glancing to Susan once more, she spoke. "Ah, also, if you don't mind me asking... where are we going?"

---

Susan blushed again, sighing. She felt a bit guilty for upsetting her. "I didn't mean... I didn't mean to offend you or anything. I'm just too use to being picked on for... stuff," She nearly said her ears, a subject she rarely mentioned. "I'm not suggesting anything is your fault or saying you're a freak. We just need to have a plan... I guess. We'll just say you're my cousin or something or my sister..." She saw someone up ahead and quickly hid behind a wall. She turned to Lancer while waiting for the coast to be clear. "It's just easier if we lie for now to protect ourselves from unwanted troubles." She then smiled. "Plus, it'll make it easier to protect me." She paused, then looked to the door. "Right now I'm trying to get out of here with you so I can take you to my home. We need to get you a change of clothes, Armour after all is not exactly fashionable nowadays."

[Charmera]

The flames pillared upwards, reaching the roof as they towered higher than Lucas. The fire would likely force him to back off, but ultimately it was heatless. It would persist for a moment, before a foot stepped out from the heatless flames. The foot was clad in a black boot, and so was the next one that came through. Surprisingly the figure was female, clad in what seemed to be a fur coat of orange with a stern look on her face. Her eyes moved to Lucas, surprisingly she was taller than him, or at least her presence was somehow making it seem that way. She seemed to occupy more space than she in reality did, being a larger than life figure.

She took a second to observe her surroundings and then herself. She frowned a little. “I did not expect that…” She remarked, but then turned to her summoner. “So you are to be my master then?” She asked. Her stern military eyes on Lucas. “I am Rider. I am a Heroic Servant of the Rider class, here to serve and protect you.”

Lucas stepped back quickly when the fire appeared, marveling at the sheer power of it. The strange thing was that it didn't seem like it was giving off heat at all. He watched attentively as a foot revealed itself from the flame. He was surprised however when he saw the figure clearly, frowning a bit. "You aren't who I suspected." Lucas said plainly. "But still, it worked. Yes, I am your master. My name is Lucas. So, this whole heroic spirit thing is real huh? Good, I was counting on it. So, what are you able to do?" He asked the heroic spirit. "I want to know what I'm getting."

"You act like this is some sort of transaction... yet from the looks of things you've broken into a museum and burned my old hat." She remarked, then sighed. She then noticed two security guards comming their way. Before she could do anything, she noticed them running towards her. She frowned, then sighed. "Very well, I suppose I can give you a demonstration after all..." Rider remarked, blocking a swung baton with her arm, which seemed to have morphed into the barrel of a tank cannon. She then whipped her other hand around, which also turned into a cannon while the other returned to normal, slamming into the guard and knocking him out. The other guard slowly backed away, then attempted to run, however Rider's feet were suddenly replaced with mini tank treads as she accelerated towards him and slammed her foot into his lower leg, tripping him up and sending him sprawlling to the ground. She then grabbed his baton from nearby and dealt a swift knockout blow before he could return to his feet. Her legs and arms returned to normal and then she turned back to Lucas.

"I would advise we leave her Herr Master." She spoke. "There is little to be gained from remaining. After all, I'm guessing you summoned me for a reason?"

[The Fallen Jedi]

Breakout
Part 1: A Sense of Dread

Smoke Billowing

As soon as Asumar entered the battlefield, all fell silent, even the exchanging gunfire between the Masaki Strike Force and the remaining CADMUS Soldiers came to an end, with all attention being focused on The Defiler, whose blood stained Black Outfit was shown as a testament to the murders he had just committed, this even caused a sense of dread to manifest within the CADMUS Soldiers who were in his direct vicinity. Amongst all of this concern, Asumar stood silently, his eyes casually scanning the foes all around him "Hmph..." Asumar inwardly remarked, grabbing a hold of his holstered Plasma Blade and igniting it, causing a stream of dark purple energy to emerge from it's emitter matrix "Now show me your worth." Asumar said to the soldiers before him, his entire form disappearing for a moment before he appeared behind one of the many unfortunate soldiers to be within his path to freedom, beheading the soldier with relative ease, the man's headless body falling to the ground with an audible thud being heard throughout the battlefield.

As soon as the first soldier fell to the ground, all other CADMUS Soldiers began to open fire on their target, disregarding the now spectating Masaki Guardians, who were all reading the Defiler's movements with relative ease, who began deflecting the bullets with frightening accuracy as he began to stroll forward casually, before he began to run towards the soldiers that stood in his way, a cold glare being present within his eyes, entering his own zone of bliss: the pleasing feeling of his blood flowing through his veins in battle. Suddenly, Asumar disabled his Plasma Blade, jumping above the hellfire of bullets, spinning once before his foot connected with a nearby CADMUS Soldier, sending him hurtling backwards into a wall, The Defiler then telekinetically grabbing a hold of numerous CADMUS Soldiers, sending them flying into the air, who then proceeded to leap up into the air, punching and kicking his way through all of the airborne soldiers, before he came upon the last soldier, allowing Asumar to spin once, twice, and thrice before igniting his Plasma Blade once more before slicing downward through the man's heart, killing him instantly.

"You can't be serious Asumar?!" Kazuko stared in disbelief, watching as his brother quite literally danced through his opponents, cutting them down in a systematic style of destruction that was demonstrated only a handful of times throughout the lifetime of the Masaki "Why do you still cut down these people as if they are worthless, I know that you desire battle, but this isn't right!" Kazuko cried out telepathically to his brother, who began to chuckle through the other end.

"You make it sound as if what they did was right, Kazuko." Asumar casually replied, continuing his path of untold destruction "You are lucky I destroyed as much research they had on our species that I could find, they were planning on creating a clone of me to do whatever they desired with it, to use it as a weapon that they could control." Asumar brought his hand out, manipulating the molecules around him into creating a simple steel katana, grabbing hold of the weapon and using it to carve through his opponents "And besides, you think I am bad? You should see the bloodbath within the facility, your EMP let out other beings within there that cut their way through anything it could get it's hands on, these murders I am committing are merciful in comparison to disemboweling my foes and letting them drown in their own blood."

"That STILL doesn't justify your logic of murdering these people Asumar!" Kazuko retorted with an angered expression on his face, yet Asumar still had a point, whatever thing that CADMUS had imprisoned within the facility was still slicing and dicing it's way through Security Personnel, Scientists, Administrators, and even fellow Prisoners, leaving some alive while consuming the souls of those who were the center of the beings rage. "But I won't lie: whatever they had in the facility, It is tearing through everything it sees left and right-" Kazuko was thrown directly out of his thoughts, as a deafening scream of primal rage tore through the battlefield, gaining the attention of the Masaki Guardians and the Grand Warlord himself.

"Whatever that thing is Kazuko..." Asumar replied, turning his attention to the entity in question, her visor glowing blood red, reflecting the color that her entire body was drenched in: the blood of her victims "It's standing right in front of us..." Asumar deviated from his combat position, turning his body to face the being before him "And it doesn't appear to be very friendly." Keeping his Plasma Blade activated, Asumar didn't dare to move forward, even he felt a sense of dread enter him. Moros was unlike anything that he faced, she was the perfect definition of a monster, a war driven monster who would cut down everything she saw "Now would be the best time to get the Guardians moving Kazuko." Asumar telepathically reached out to his brother, knowing that he received the message

[Confederation of imperial states]

Titannia - Dark Knight 3

Titannia recovered from the immense hit she'd taken from the God of Death, standing up int he storage room of the building she'd been punched into. She shook her head, looking around she could hear the Alien Deity growling and fighting outside. Titannia walked to the large hole her impact made, looking in the distance at the Figure fighting a few others. She then looked around for her friend, Dark Knight, who'd been previously separated at her attempt to hit Darkseid. She saw the vigilante, standing up, though partly slumped against the brick wall of Central Park, his armor looking beaten up from whatever happened. "christ..." She muttered jumped over to Dark Knight, landing infront of him, "Are you Okay?". The Vigilante held onto the wall with hsi right hand, hist left attempting to brace his chest, "I've been worse, You on the other hand...". He gestured to a large cut she'd gotten on the right side of her face, she sighed, "Screw this guy, I'm going after him again!". "Wait...", Dark Knight said, stopping her as she was about to jump off, "His eyes are gauged, Making the majority of his eyesight blinded, aswell his hits are too hard to take head on even for you". Titannia stood up straight turning back to him, "What do you suggest then?". Dark Knight leaned against the wall, using his right hand he activated the Gauntlet's holographic UI on his left hand, "Simply Hardhit, then quickly back off as he strikes, he's bloodlusted so expect a flurry of attacks". Titannia nodded, "Thanks", she turned back to the direction of the Embodiment of Death and Enthropy, jumping off.

'Alright Anna, just keep calm and hit 'em hard' She thought as she landed on the rooftop overlooking Darkseid, 'yeah this is gonna go about aswell as my first meeting with ol' Grimdark'. Titannia crouched, seeing the red bloodlike material oozing from Darkseid's wounds, he was attacking in a bloodlust savage, however messy fashion of attacks, none the less still tough. "God Help Me" she muttered as she jumped up high in the air, aiming down, she jetted downwards, aiming for his back as he faced a few other heroes. Titannia slammed down onto Darkseid's back with her fet, stomping him she backflipped off landing upright. Darkseid took a step forward from the unexpected impact, then turned to her with a murderous look on his face. "Hey stoneskin, Remember me!" she yelled, with hardly any time to react Darkseid lunged forward at her, Titannia jumped up nearly dodging the attack as Darkseid punched downwards onto the ground where she stood, crushing, churning, and destroying the ashpalt and concrete. Titannia landed on Darkseid's back, She wound up a few punches, punching Darkseid 3 times in the back of the head. Titannia quickly jumped off of him, landed 50ft from him, as Darkseid backhanded the area around in a 180 degree strike, taking out half a building's top floor to his right as he turned around. Titannia then powered up her eyes, gaining energy she fired her Heat vision at Darkseid's eyes, doing no real damage, just infuriating him as they struck his gauged out eyes. Darkseid qith hardly any time to spare jetted forward, straight at the spot Titannia stood as she quickly jumped up, then kicked off the wall of a building to gain more altitude. She barely got away from hi as He struck the building's corner, taking out a large chunk of the concrete.

Titannia the dropped down onto Darkseid's back again, the impact of the stomp caused him to growl with anger as he turned around throwing a strike. Titannia braced herself and blocked, catching part of the punch. Titannia quickly flew back, landing on the ground and sliding, standing upright. She looked as a man in Scarlet Alien Armor, and another one in some sort of Molten form as they struck Darkseid with a punch, the magnitude caused the area to be blanketed in VOlcanic ash as it snowed from the sky.

"Can I at LEAST make this mother fucking guy flinch?!" He yelled then gesturing to Darkseid, "What is this fuckery?!".
Titannia looked as the Ash cleared, Darkseid continuing to stand there, Menacing and still angry as all hell. "Anyone got any ideas, because we're running out of timer!" she yelled to them in response as she readied herself.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

Seeing the situation unfolding in front of himself, Marcus simply shook his head and then began walking forward, placing a hand on Alice's shoulder. "Bingo, I'm Marcus, and of course I know you're Alice. If I didn't I would really have a fish brain don't you think?" The young man stated, before continuing to walk towards Rebecca. "As for what I said about not being in danger, I'll just show you okay?" He said. A piece of debris flew straight towards him, but rather than hurt him or even touch him, it simply appeared to go into his body, as if his body was a puddle of water or as if it was not actually there. Then, instead of exiting through the other side, it simply disappeared and then reappeared outside the doors of the bank. Any and every piece of rubble that flew towards him as a result of Rebecca's rampant powers was treated in a similar manner, simply disappearing without ever hurting Marcus and harmlessly reappearing not far from where he stood.

Shielding himself in this peculiar fashion, Marcus soon arrived in front of Rebecca. But rather than attempt to attack her or restrain her or anything of the sort, he simply sat on a counter nearby.

"What were they like?" He asked the girl, his voice fairly calm despite what was going on around him. "Were they nice people? I bet you had a lot of fun with them." He continued. "Do they actually do those things people say they do? You know, like, telling you about the tooth fairy, or that if you ate too much candy your teeth would fall off, or something like that." The young man spoke, and then paused. "And in any case... If they saw you now, do you think they'd be happy?"

---

---

Lancer frowned when she heard that her Master had not been treated well in the past, and made a mental note not to allow that such situations repeated themselves ever again now that she was here to make sure of it. Swiftly hiding alongside Susan, her heightened agility allowing her to react near-instantly, she continued listening, scrunching her forehead in thought as the idea of making her pass as Susan's relative was brought up. She wasn't entirely sure how that would even work, considering they didn't look very alike or anything. But for the sake of her Master, she was willing to go through with it, even if it didn't make a lot of sense to her.

So far, despite her questions and comments, she hadn't had any real objection or complaint to her Master's wishes. But as the two darted towards the door in order to get to Susan's home, Lancer heard her Master's comment, and suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, also holding Susan back by virtue of holding hands with her, though she quickly let go and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Well, I think I look just fine in this!" She said with an annoyed tone of voice, clearly referring to her armor.

[Turmenista]

Season's Greetings - Quarterfinals #2

Magnus, NYC
Don't know and don't fuckin care at this point

"Alright, don't get your hopes up, folks!" Magnus announced once more, his right hand morphing and extending into what appeared to be a blade made of diamond. "I will come up with an idea.... In a minute..!"

While more Parademons came up from beside Darkseid, who was currently in combat in a blind (no pun intended), rage-powered state, Magnus had took it to himself to cutting down these shitbags, one by one with his improvised sword arm. When one Parademon came up to him, Magnus simply swiped to the left, unintentionally cutting down two more heading in to flank him from his wide slash.

The Guardian suddenly held his arms ahead of himself, making his arm turn into a sudden pole which another Parademon blindly charged into. Using his more mobile default form, Magnus punted the Parademon away- a perfect kick which resulted in a Parademon-sized cutout appearing on a nearby billboard as the monster was punted through the sign.

Another came up behind the rock man, which he simply flipped over his back and onto the ground with a bone-shattering CRACK, followed by an elbow to the chest. With a few other Parademons coming coming in from directly above him, Magnus shrank his shape and rolled to the side, onto his back, where he faced the fire breathing minions, with arms extended out towards them.

"Back up, fuckers!" He said. "I know how to manipulate Earth Aura and I'm not afraid to weaponize it!"

"For DARKSEID!" Was his only response. "Shut your brainwashed shark mouthed asses up!" Magnus yelled back.

In his split second of thought he had before the parademons came down on him, Magnus thought up some very nasty things in his head, about himself, mainly due to his stupidity of boasting about his "ability". You fucking idiot.. he told himself, sighing. You just HAD to go with the "i can manipulate Earth magic" trump card, huh? *Sigh* I hope this Gaia lady is listening up, because I kneed your fuckin magic and juice, lady! Are.... are you even fucking listening, Earth? ...Am I even doing this ri-

Right as the Parademon's spear was about to touch Magnus's forehead, a veil of golden, earthly energy suddenly flashed from Magnus's body, sending a wave of searing golden energy through the previous blast radius from Magnus's "Volcano arm kamikaze" thingy attack. Most of the Parademons recovered easily from this and were back at it again with the "FOR DARKSEID" chanting, diving for the rocky beast like anvils.

Magnus's fist shook, brimming with powerful earthly energy. "Fuck. Yes." He said, a sly grin appearing on his face as he extended his fist towards the cloud of incoming Parademons. As they approached earshot range, Magnus flashed a grin, opening wide to yell at the shock troopers. "Hey! Parademons!" He shouted. "You know what sound a volcano makes?" He paused for a dramatic effect, as he prepared his one liner among their "FOR DARKSEID" shouting.


"Bang."


Magnus grinned, flicking his thumb up and extending his fingers, in the fashion of one of those fancy "hand guns". Immediately the same burst of golden energy as before came from Magnus's fist, but this time, it was more controlled, but still packing in power. The wave of golden energy swept through the buildings and Darkseid himself, collapsing the last few remaining skeletons of the former but barely affecting the latter. It did, however, push away the army of Parademons, most likely killing all, if not a vast majority of them, from its sheer power it packed.

Judging by the way they screamed, Magnus assumed that it was not a pleasant way down, as most of the parademons were completely on fire from that burst of Earth Aura. Don't know why, but.. Just gonna roll with it.

"That.. was.. fucking awesome.." Magnus raised an eyebrow, smoke slowly rising from his fingers. "Ok, now, what were we doing?" He asked himself, as yet another group of Parademons came in seemingly from portals near the Dark God himself.

Oh. Right. Finding a way to kill him. Uhh.... Magnus's eyes darted around the battlefield, assessing the situation at hand. Just as he did this, he saw yet another Parademon pop out of the portal, which gave him a strange idea... one that might just work, in the end.

Bringing up a spiked, rocky wall to protect everyone from the incoming Parademon Onslaught, Magnus executed an about face to the group, his voice rising up above many others. "HEY, EVERYONE!" He shouted. "I just got the greatest idea, ever. Listen here, and listen carefully, 'cause this shit is simple.

The rock wall behind Magnus slowly melted into the ground, where it formed several humanoid masses of rocks- short lived Golems, dealing out damage to deal with the parademons while Magnus discussed with the other supers.

"Alright, ok. Gather around." He said. "So, here's what we're gonna fuckin do. You know how Darkseid came in with that fancy portal of his?" He asked, pausing for answers. "Ok. Now here's where the simplicity of my plan comes in - the we punt that motherfucker back to whatever hell hole he came from. That, other than that really serious punch by Speedy Gonzales, wherever the hell he is, is the only thing that I think will faze him. Now, I don't know where it'll take him, and I don't know how, but anyone who's good with that whole interdimensional portal creation shit, I respectfully ask you to step the fuck up, right now. Okay?"

Another pause, for dramatic effect. "Ok." Magnus said, turning to face the Titanic figure of Darkseid. "Someone get one of those things that goes boom. I think he's getting bigger.." He muttered. "Oh, wait. He's getting closer.


Fuck."

[The Fallen Jedi]

Breakout
Part 2: The Inhuman Reaper

Blood

The Bloodied Inhuman, whose rage was unquenchable, stood before the CADMUS Soldiers as well as Asumar Masaki, all of whom had their attention on her, the CADMUS Soldiers primarily because her appearance put them on edge. The sudden realization of the situation finally hitting the soldiers like a ton of bricks, while Asumar stood, a sense of dread still prevalent within him but other than that, he was ready to engage Moros at any time while at the same time observed her stance and her appearance itself. This act elicited a primal growl from her throat, having lost what little of her sanity to the unspeakable rage that had bubbled within her for years at a time. The growl eventually evolved into a gurgle before she let out another scream, one that contained a far more predatory call as well as an energetic one, that caused many in close proximity to fall to the ground, except for The Defiler.

Asumar brought his arm up to shield his face from the sheer amount of energy that Moros was throwing about, but unlike normal energy, this type was far more potent than any other that he felt in his entire life ”Whatever this thing is, it is far too dangerous to be allowed to live…” Bringing his Plasma Blade up in anticipation of an attack, he took the opportunity to strike first, leaping high into the air with the same cold glare that he had before, suppressing his emotions within him as he brought the sword down onto Moros, hoping that with a single strike she would be slain.

However, responding instinctively to the oncoming attack, Moros’ scythe manifested itself on her right hand, gripping it tightly and extending it towards the Plasma Blade, the two weapons colliding with such an amount of force that the energy from the two weapons clashed and created orange sparks that splashed to the blood stained surface. The cold glance that Asumar exchanged with Moros paled in comparison to the Reaper’s burning gaze, a burning rage of such disproportionate size within her eyes that caused even Asumar’s eyes to slightly widen in astonishment of the rage his opponent had been keeping contained.

”What in the world…” Asumar remarked subconsciously, feeling the dread that he had suppressed bubbling up once more, the only time he had felt such raw emotion as this was when he clashed against his brother on Rhen Var! “What are you?” Asumar asked, his only answer being Moros raising her free hand up and then swiping it towards the Demigod’s jugular. Asumar responded in a defensive manner, removing his right hand from his Katana in an attempt to grab hold of his opponent’s palm.

As soon as Asumar’s hand made contact with the Inhuman Reaper’s own, a large chunk of energy was removed from the Demigod’s own palm, causing a burning pain to shoot through Asumar’s nerves, who then looked down towards his palm and then to his opponent, who devoured the mass of energy within moments ”Was that what I think it was?” Asumar wondered with astonishment. He could feel that a portion of his hand was now without any feeling, yet he could operate it without a problem.

His opponent began to gurgle as if trying to laugh, but not before a hellstorm of plasma energy impacted her in rapid succession, causing a roar of pain to rise up from her vocal cords, pushing herself away from Asumar and brought her attention to the armed transport that levitated in the sky, with Kazuko standing at the edge of the ship’s blast door.

“Asumar! We have got to go now, there are a large number of unidentified targets moving in from all over the state, they somehow know we’re here now!” Kazuko yelled, extending one hand towards his brother and grabbing hold of Moros with telekinesis, who let out a roar in response to the invisible restraints that prevented her from moving any closer to the gunship and her newfound target.

“Tch, I can take care of myself Kazuko, I don’t need your help!” Asumar spat, jumping onto the transport, sharing one more glance with his opponent before the shuttle took off at full speed, followed by the other transports that contained the remains of the strike force, which lost almost none of their people, with only a handful of Masaki Guardians suffering minor injuries that quickly regenerated.

[Tomia]

Marcus discusses Rebecca's Hard Knock Life.

Alice was shocked when Marcus turned into some kind of liquid material as he dodged the attack from Rebecca. "How... How did you do that?" Alice asked incredulously but Marcus had already disappeared and reappeared in front of Rebecca.

Rebecca was surprised when she saw Marcus, he didn't seem like he was interested in attacking and that confused her greatly. Then he started asking a bunch of questions about her family. Rebecca hated thinking about them, it was too hard. She started shaking a bit, the pressure returning to normal as she lost focus. "They were... wonderful." Rebecca said in a soft and shallow voice. "My parents, they were always there. They always took care of me..." Her voice trembled and trailed off. Images of the plane crash flooded her mind. The plane exploding, her parents lifeless bodies laying on the ground.

"No!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!" Rebecca shouted smashing the ground hard with her fists, the vibrations sending a wave of energy toward Marcus. Alice saw this and ran over.

"That's it, I'm tired of this!" She shouted, suddenly a large number of mirrors began to form around Rebecca, sealing her in like a prison cell.

"Let me out!" Rebecca shouted, smashing her fist against the wall, but the attack was only reverberated, sending Rebecca flying back toward the other wall.

Meanwhile Alice turned to Marcus outside. "So, what should we do with her? She's clearly upset and unstable, talking to her doesn't seem to be helping. Especially about her family."

---

---

Lucas couldn't help but smile at how his servant handled the guards, those tank arms looked quite deadly. "Nice, I like what I see, and yes. We should be off. The police have probably been alerted by now. Follow me." He ordered the servant as they made their way out of the museum and into Gotham. "You asked why I summoned you. Well, I need your help. I'm on a mission for revenge and to save my family, and the skills you provide will help me. Especially with the revenge part. Now, what should I call you anyway." Since the spirit wasn't exactly who he was expecting, he wasn't sure what to call her.

[New Neros]

-snip

"A Boom Tube." Damocles declared, returning to the battle, having been knocked halfway across Upstate New York by the Dark God. "He and his Parademons come through Boom Tubes to this world, and Boom Tubes are made by a Mother Box. They come from a hellish nightmare planet called Apokolips. Literally." The New God said calmly, explaining what he knew to the gathered heroes. "Darkseid isn't the only one with Mother Boxes, though, most New Gods have them. New Gods like me... And Titan." Damocles continued, holding up a glowing rectangular device.

"And me!" Invincible said with some hurt feelings, Damocles simply looking at his fellow New God, who was barely clothed at this point, remembering how he watched Invincible die. "Erm, Dame, you alright?"

"I... I'm fine. Are you fine?" Damocles asked back, stifling his emotions from showing.

"Yeah, I'm good. A bit breezy, but Darkseid is really about to beat our asses in. Just look at Titan, he's an absolute mess!" Invincible declared, gesturing toward their third musketeer, whose armor was badly damaged, burnt, and shattered in many places. Titan himself had some blood, scrapes, bruises, and some major injuries, but every now and again, little electrical arcs would flash as he regenerated himself. "If he was a race horse, I'd shoot him."

"Shut up." Titan mumbled, "Damocles, open a Boom Tube. Let's put him right into one of their fire pits." Titan said, stretching his muscles out once more, every inch of his body hurting and sore from the ass whoopings Darkseid was handing out, and even still from the fight with Steppenwolf. "Our goal from this moment on will be putting Darkseid through that Boom Tube." Titan said, cracks of electricity flowing from his body into the ground and the surrounding air. "Let's rock this party."

BOOOOM

A giant, whirling vortex tore it's way open behind the immense Darkseid, sucking in clouds of dust and debris. His loss of sight was a hindrance, but the unmistakable sound of a Boom Tube opening surprised Darkseid, causing him to stop his direct assault against the heroes as they gathered around Magnus. "You think this will stop me?" He asked, his calm voice eerily able to talk over the vortex. "It will only slow me down." In an instant, a man-sized object slammed into the New God's stomach hard, a definite CRACK! of a bone breaking heard.

Titan had tackled Darkseid, aided with his speed, and began to push the Dark God closer to the Boom Tube, his shoulder - still weak and recovering from the fight with Steppenwolf - breaking apart as he hit. Ignoring the pain, the New God pushed further, yet Darkseid was already about to rip the smaller New God away from his body when his hand was suddenly bound. Invincible wrapped himself around Darkseid's arm and pulled it back towards the Boom Tube, adding more force acting against the Dark God, causing his feet to barely slide backwards. Damocles, one hand holding the Mother Box, unleashed a continuous blast of explosive positrons against Darkseid's face, again putting more against the Dark God, waiting for the others to take the initiative.