PoNK: Avarice Rising [Invited]

[Hal Jordan]

Players: Red Robin, Catwoman, Blue Beetle, Cyclone
Location(s): NYC
Plot Summary: Larfleeze's Orange construct forces have invaded Earth and are targeting New York.


Necks craned as nearly every person in the city stopped and looked upward to the morning sky as it began to turn orange. The clouds disappeared and the blue sky was nonexistent, replaced by what looked to be orange glass that shifted the hue of everything below into various shades of orange. Many people stood around debating what it could be and pitching ideas of why it was happening, some simply ignored it and kept on their business, while others were on their phones making calls to the police.

Before long cracks began to appear in the orange in the sky, and the usual blue could be seen once again, but as the people below looked closer they finally realized why. The clump of orange constructs began to spread out as they got closer and closer to the city of New York, their bodies no longer forming one giant wall in the sky. s the blue coloring returned to the sky and the clouds reappeared shouts could be heard on the streets as orange constructs landed and began driving claws and weapons into the helpless civilians. Blood splattered on the orange hardlight constructs as two of them yanked on the arms of a woman and ripped her violently in half.

"Get the President, the Army, the coast guard, somebody! Its a damn terrorist attack!!" One man shouted into his cellphone before a giant caterpillar-like construct sucked him into its maw and chomped down. A group of constructs landed on the side of one of New York's taller buildings and began to hack away at the structure, ripping and chewing away the material until the building collapsed at its middle and then fell in on itself; reducing the skyscraper to ruble in mere seconds. Larfleeze had given his loyal constructs direct instruction to exterminate all human life and then the entire planet would be all his, much New Krypton was now his.

{OOC: When everyone has responded that will determine the order of posting for this thread, also this will be my only post in this thread; each of you can handle the NPCing of the constructs in your posts. Any questions, just PM me!}

[Catwoman]

Had to love the toys that were in the Batcave. Or maybe it was the Justice League that had first picked up on the disturbance, and through Batman's relation with the League, that's how they knew beforehand? Selina couldn't have cared less, really, but their high-tech toys were what helped them be prepared. Or, rather, it's what helped Catwoman know that she was supposed to be in New York at the time things went down. Therefor, when the sky went orange, Selina was screeching at heart-stopping speeds over the Brooklyn Bridge atop one of the sleek motorcycles from the Batcave's arsenal, weaving through traffic without really focusing on the matter.

The ghastly tint that everything was changed to brought a wry quirk to one corner of Selina's red, glossed lips which didn't echo in her eyes. At least the color matched her motif. Catwoman knew - or, at least, she could predict closely enough - what was going to soon follow the sudden change in the world's color scheme. Selina spiraled down the off-ramp and into Manhattan's crowded streets, still bobbing through cars and pedestrians with apparent ease, when the sky fractured. Those bits that flaked off of the rest plunged closer and closer towards the city, growing form, definition and visible substance with every second.

The carnage started so abruptly that Catwoman was taken momentarily off guard. Civilians were dying, hundreds every moment, all around her. Selina's expression slackened at the sheer gravity of the situation, and then it condensed into something ferocious. Timothy was supposed to be her backup, but Catwoman didn't see him around, and was too pressed to check the fancy tracking system worked into the bike to mark his progress. The fact of the matter was that the Cat couldn't wait for assistance. The violence was happening now, and no matter how powerful the intergalactic freaks thought they were, Catwoman was not going down without a fight.

Even if it took all nine of her lives.

Initially, Selina moved through the turmoil trying to be tactical. Swerving around constructs to hack them in two with her claws, or whipping deep grooves in whatever vital part she could find. Catwoman turned down 6th Street and saw a massive creature crowding the intersection ahead, slicing passersby in two with several arms tipped with long, razor sharp fingers. Selina's jaw set. She pushed the bike as hard as it would go, and waited. At the last moment, Catwoman's whip lashed around a traffic light and she left the motorcycle, which spiraled, fell on its side, and skidded noisily into the beast.

BOOM!

The creature shrieked, more in outrage than in pain, but shattered nonetheless. Selina looked at the sea of constructs slaughtering innocents left, right and center. Catwoman pounced on a nearby centipede-shaped creature cornering a woman outfitted in jogging attire, shredding into it with her claws. Selina activated her comm. link - unsure if Oracle would link it up with other heroes on the scene, or if she'd just be talking to Tim. She was guess the latter or, at least, she was just going to go with the latter. "Red Robin," Catwoman muttered, "I may be new to this, but I thought the term "backup" was pretty universal."

[Red Robin]

"I'm almost there," Tim replied shortly. "Had to grab something first. Blue Beetle and Cyclone should be there in a minute if they aren't already." The Kryptonite ring sat safely in his belt pocket, a weapon he had taken to keeping in Gotham since his presence in San Francisco had been so limited until very recently... and because Superboy visited him in Gotham more often now anyway. Tim couldn't be sure if there would be any Kryptonians in New York, but as there had been reports of them in other cities, he wasn't taking any chances. Kryptonians on their own were bad. Kryptonians with power rings were worse. If there was any way he could gain some sort of advantage over them, he was going to take the detour to Gotham City on the flight from San Francisco to make sure he had it.

The good thing was that the jet he was currently flying laughed at breaking the sound barrier, so the flight wasn't very long to begin with. He had already paged the rest of the team to see who could lend a hand, and fortunately Jaime and Maxine were able to make it to New York to do what they could. They were going to need as much help as they could get. The city itself appeared to be orange as Tim approached, and his features morphed into a dark frown. They weren't prepared for this. They were horribly outnumbered, and even if they managed to fend off these constructs, it wouldn't do as much good as cutting them off at the source would. They needed a plan.

Something orange was flying at him. "Crap," Tim muttered to himself an instant before it collided. The jet shook as it latched onto the front of the jet, an unrecognizable beast that appeared to be made primarily of orange teeth. Its jaw clamped on to the windshield in an attempt to bite it off. Tim reached over and flipped several switches to unlock and open the windshield, sending the creature flying back with a loud screech. It would be back, he knew, which was why he then slammed down on the emergency eject button. An instant later he was propelled out of the jet and into the air, then plummeted for the city below. Tim looked over his shoulder to see if the construct was coming back, only to see that several more were heading his way along with the first. Mentally, he cursed. He was going to have to unleash his parachute sooner rather than later, but the second he did, he was more of a sitting duck than he was at that moment. That is, if he couldn't come up with a plan in the next five seconds and then time it out perfectly, which he basically always did. The three constructs were rocketing toward him as he released the parachute. Immediately his descent slowed, and as soon as the constructs were close enough, he unbuckled himself from the seat and jumped.

I've been hanging out with Dick too much, Tim decided in the moment of free fall before he latched on to the back of one of the constructs. It let out a squawk, then began to spiral like a crocodile to rid itself of the young man on its back. Tim grit his teeth as he held tightly to the construct, which was now flying rapidly back toward the city with the other two constructs on its tail. As it barreled down toward one of the buildings, Tim reached into his belt and retrieved a small explosive and attached it to the back of the construct. He released the creature and continued his free fall, and a second later the heat of the explosion above him could be felt on the back of his neck.

Tim retrieved his grappling gun and fired it quickly at the roof of the building. The explosion had taken out the three constructs, but he would still have to worry about the rest as he made his way into the heart of the city. The line tightened, and Tim swung safely down until he could drop down a few feet onto the sidewalk. "I'm here," he said to Selina after he activated his comm-link once more. "Where are you?"