jla_watchtower | (no subject)

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Navigating through bleary signals and Constantine's direction, Hell really is a lovely place. Through what looked like the shallow outline of a town (minus anything that looked like people), and down and down, avoiding the locals, into desert.

Still, they haven't been turned wrong. Corrine can tell Caleb's signal is getting closer, there's maybe a few more miles between them. She's not quite sure why they're doing all this "shh!" moving, they could probably toss any stupid little thing they come across. One of them could just go ahead and retrieve him, and there wouldn't have to be all this walking.

Yeah, she's grouchy. It happens. And it looks like there's activity up ahead... there's certainly a lot of noise getting louder.

"That sounds like more of the 'not awesome'."

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The little flying demons are faster than they look and they can turn on a wingtip. Most of the missiles Sand throws back up miss their targets, although the shrill cries mean not all of them missed. The ones that didn't get to drop their rocks catapult up before letting go and swinging down for different missiles.

Small demons are carried now and dropped from above instead of rocks.

Ellie has decided that the Green Lantern is one of the bigger problems to deal with. The elemental will be next.

Travis is adaptable and has a lot of energy to deal with. But no matter what practice he's had playing with magic he's never taken on a full on demonic blast. She touches her 2nd in command on the shoulder and he sends volley after volley of dark and corrupting energy into the group.

Meanwhile the demons are surrounding them, and they stretch out from horizon to horizon.

Ellie’s quick predators take off, charging like a pack of cheetahs all the way around the Outsiders, and forming up in a semicircle behind them. They patiently await the order to attack, knowing that in the mean time, the Outsiders are completely surrounded. Other parts of the army begin to reposition behind them, adding depths of demonic infantry behind the thin line of cavalry.

Meanwhile, Corrine continues sewing chaos through the infernal ranks, turning hundreds of demons at a time against one another while she passes safely through. She’s almost to Caleb and Trevor when a demonic shaman approaches, and begins her own incantations. Corrine finds herself standing in the middle of a pack of battle-hardened monsters, all with a sudden personal investment in hers death.

A group of shamans stationed close to Ellie begin their own enchantments, and a dark glow comes over Trevor’s wall, eating away at a section between Trevor and Caleb, and the rest of the Outsiders.

After steady obscurity, view of everyone else is finally gone. The monsters in front of her scale at least twice as high but she knows it's just a few lines behind them between her and the group. She'd need a battering ram to--

First rule of D&D is always take the mage out first. You can bludgeon everything else. She focuses on the source of the monsters' manifestation, shielding around the opposing mage to create lightning in a bubble enough to give her a distraction. Next she turns on the monsters, reaching down into that fire and letting it rise and tint her skin white. An incantation creates a glowing aura of protection around her as white smoke begins to rise from her skin. She charges forward.

*Damnit!* comes the general curse as the first blast hits, causing Travis' shields to buckle, and forcing him to stagger back, smoking a little. He hates trying to take things head on, but he can't just 'tag' everyone.

He shifts tactics, taking advantage of the flying demons, grabbing one at a time and using each as a shield against the volleys of demonic energy. Its working for the moment, but really only defending him, and having the biggest guns focused his way keeps him from being able to help Corrine, or to do a lot to shore up Trevor's walls or any of the other defenses.

*Someone's going to need to take this to them, or buy me some time.*

Sadly, it doesn't appear like anyone else is in a lot better shape to do that.

There is no shoring up Hotshot's defenses at this point, though, and Hotshot knows it better than anyone. With that in mind the walls collapse in toward the Outsiders immediately around him and the civilians, but only to the point where they form a dome around them.

"Okay, this is officially a two-minute warning on our defenses going completely fucked, so if there's a plan, now would be a good time to let me in on it."

She's been doing her best but the anchor is gone from her mind.

"I...I can't I'm sorry." The longer this has gone on the less human she has looked, if she doesn't pull back now she might lose herself.

Hotshot feels that two-minute warning slip at least a minute as the Outsiders' biggest gun goes down, and reaches down deeper than he's ever gone before.

"Seat backs and tray tables upright and locked, people," Trevor mutters through clenched teeth. "We're preparing for lift-off."

Newton's first law of physics states that energy can be neither created nor destroyed. No one, even Trevor himself, knows where the energy comes from that he manipulates as fire, but he knows very well where the energy to manipulate that energy comes from. It comes from his will, and as he watches Caleb's attempts to stand upright and Tefe's struggle to stay human, he forces all of his will into the edges of the dome protecting them. Inch by inch and foot by foot he forces the circle of fire through the ground, completing the sphere as the demon's swarm over them. Finally the edges touch, trapping several feet of dirt to protect his teammates from the flames, and Hotshot grins in accomplishment.

"By the way, if you need to hold onto something, I'd recommend against choosing the walls."

With that as the only warning, Trevor fires the protective sphere straight up, hoping to throw at least a few of the demons off in the process.

Caleb just stands there as the group is lifted into the air, and begins floating towards the main body of the Outsiders. If he were at the top of his game, the sight of Ellie’s army would be rather intimidating, but he’s far from the top of his game.

A familiar feeling draws his attention to Corrine and Travis, alone in a mob of demons. “St-Stop!” Caleb calls to Hotshot. “Lantern and Merlynne are still down there!”

Travis senses the group lifting off, hoping they've got Caleb, and are headed out. The situation isn't good for the two stranded folks, but they have a way out, and if he wasn't dividing his attention so much, he'd be making headway.
Trying to protect people and still maintain any kind of offense, especially when he usually thinks more in terms of support is an issue though.

When he hears the exclamation, he frowns, expending the energy to try and make contact. *If you can get out of here, do it. We'll manage.*
He'd just take them to the group, but there's too much in the way, which seems pretty well coordinated by the demon bitch.

He doesn’t have the energy to reply telepathically, so he just hopes that Travis is still listening. “I don’t leave team-mates behind.” It doesn’t sound negotiable.

He returns his attention to Trevor. “Stay here!”

Corrine is as much a half-breed as Caleb is, though her inhuman piece is the essence of magic lending itself to her form. Magic is always what Caleb has been good at, being able to commune with it and feel it’s nature. He can even give it commands, which is how his powers work. He can’t give Corrine a command, though. She’s a sentient entity with a will of her own, not mindless magic. It doesn’t work like that. But he does believe he can communicate with her magical aspect, and give it a message: one he hopes will be taken directly to her conscious thoughts: We’re above you. Get Lantern, and phase into Hotshot’s bubble. Time is a factor.

His heart skips a beat while he examines her for any sighn that she ehard him.

Below Trevor the shamans redirect their efforts towards Trevor’s new construct, attempting to weaken the energy on the bottom of the sphere, hoping to drop the floor out from under them. At the same time, waves of flying demons descend on the sphere, ramming it time and time again, keeping up as much pressure as they can muster.

On the ground, Corrine is making her way almost effortlessly past the demons, who are utterly terrified of her divine aura. The shaman she is charging, however, seems less impressed, opting to reply with a weave of unholy power before she can get to her.

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