The Speech

[middle-amazon.livejournal.com]

This plot is on bendy time

The procession was uneventful. The stone podium in front of the Regent and the Regent's family awaits the wayward princess of the Amazons. Flanked by an honor guard of Titans magically able to breathe the water like air and survive the pressures of the deep and a council of those still proclaiming and interest in a kingdom falling apart at the seams.

This better be good - and she's not half as good as Diana.

"Regent. Lady Dolphin. Honored Council."

"As you and your people are aware, there was a great war on the surface between two great nations, Themyscira and the United States. This conflict was caused in part by the villain Circe and the War God of our -"

Water carries sound even faster then air. All heads turn towards the sound of rubble as the earth and water shake around them.

Comments

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

If experience has taught him anything over the years, it's that sounds like that mean trouble. Bigtime. He draws closer to Donna, and pulls her back from the sound with him -- they're her honor guard, after all, and that means getting some distance between this and whatever's headed their way. It also has a tactical advantage of allowing him to see everyone else's reactions to what's going on.

Titans, form up! Stay close until we know what's going on!

[violeteyedmage.livejournal.com]

Tempest moves into position, preparing protection spells. No one will hurt his subjects as long as he draws breath.

He waits for the attacker to reveal himself.

[jla-atlantis.livejournal.com]

What's coming could not be hidden in form or in feverish dreams. A giant of mud and flesh even under water comes for the assembled Titans unencumbered by the water.

Antaeus (http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/herculespeople/p/antaeus.htm) is a being of nightmares. The bastard son of Gaia, champion of the deposed Hades, winner of the Pankration...

Murderer (http://community.livejournal.com/jla_watchtower/413474.html).

[jla-bellereve.livejournal.com]

And he is not alone. Another killer (http://www.titanstower.com/assets/whos%20who/aapanels/ntt/tuladies.jpg), mindless and nearly indestructible, follows and the crowd of civilians and dignitaries who came to see the Amazon speak collapse in heaps, unable to breathe in a horrific reflection of the worst moment of the Regent's life.

[jla-atlantis.livejournal.com]

The demigod rips up a gigantic pillar from the front of a house, causing it to collapse. He swings the support like a club towards the Amazon.

[middle-amazon.livejournal.com]

She owes this bastard. It's the one indulgent thought she'll allow before planting herself in his path, daring him to come forward.

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

Nightwing fits a rebreather over his face to hopefully avoid the contaminated waters, spread by Antaeus' erstwhile partner in crime. The boot thrusters allow him to soar up into the waters and twist to get a better vantage point of the scene.

Jesse! Let's get a funnel going around these guys!

If the speedster can work up enough velocity, maybe it'll serve a dual purpose - steer the pollution back in on itself, and perhaps help Donna lift that giant off the ground long enough to get a blow that'll count in.

Raven, Omen! Can you confuse Chemo long enough, make him move away? He isn't that smart, but we need to get him away from these people before they start dying!

[3x2-9yz-4a.livejournal.com]

"Can do." Jesse veers off from Antaeus and begins to build up speed around the two villains.

She's hoping to move fast enough to avoid the poison herself, but also to give the panicking crowd a chance to get out of the way.

[jla-bellereve.livejournal.com]

The mindless Chemo follows a step behind the other attacker. Crowds that came to see the Regent and council fall in a panic as the creature's aura of poison makes them unable to breathe.

[violeteyedmage.livejournal.com]

No.

Chemo will poison no one. He has killed enough. Stolen enough. He will not kill Tempest's citizens.

His hands glow, and the poisons oozing from Chemo refuse to spread through the water -- as if the water inherently is resisting his chemicals... which is exactly what it's doing.

Without a word, he also begins to boil the water immediately surrounding the monster.

[jla-bellereve.livejournal.com]

The water churns and boils like a cooking pot. The giant figure tries to step out of the whirlpool and begins to lose some balance.

[jla-extras.livejournal.com]

Dolphin, seeing the creature is weakened, takes a sword and tries to drive it into the shoulder joint of the creature.

[jla-bellereve.livejournal.com]

The water boils and chemicals that once oozed from the creature in a deadly aura now gush from its shoulder. The poisons do not touch the ground becuase of the female speedster's whirlwind. It is injured. It needs nutrients. It grabs for the red hooded woman and the stragglers around her.

[jla-atlantis.livejournal.com]

And some just don't know when to stay back. "Begone from this city, creature!" The councilman from the banking city cries out with a trident aimed at he creature's face.

[3x2-9yz-4a.livejournal.com]

At the sound of the voice from below, Jesse quickly speaks.

"Nightwing -- some of the civilians are trying to help. I can either continue how I am, or try to get some of them out of the way."

[blackest-bird.livejournal.com]

Raven starts at the sound of her teammate's voice. "I have to go," she says, already gliding towards a few of the civilians that Jesse's talking about. "Jesse, keep on it," Raven says in her quiet, unhurried tone. "I've got the innocents."

[jla-atlantis.livejournal.com]

The Royal Avenue, once a procession of offices, elite housing, and public attractions, is now rubble. Dangerous chemical haze still lingers in the water. All around there is a sense of awe and fear at the surface dwellers and within that feeling there is sense, right or wrong, that the villains they fought were brought down to their kingdom and it lingers in the air, much as the poison does.

The Titans known as Raven and Omen can sense something else coming from the council seats - disappointment. Someone wished all of their deaths today and a handful of Atlantean lives were worth the effort of trying to kill this team.

[jla-forgotten.livejournal.com]

"Lady Tula." Arion turns to the ghost he knows is there. "I cannot stay long in this girl's body. My power even now is almost too much for her to bear and I must return to the other side. Listen well. A time of change is coming and the dawning of the Tenth Age holds much promise in correcting or destroying the fates of many. I knew of your plight when Garth was in my, charge but I could do nothing. I am sorry. Your heart shall know the way your soul is to go."

With that, the mage dissolves from Santana's body.

[santana-slade.livejournal.com]

Normally, when a ghost enters her body, Santana still has full control of her faculties, but with the entities powers and abilities. The fact that Arion overrode this, not through his machination, but through his sheer power, was shocking enough.

As he leaves, Santana looks at those around her...her eyes glazed.

"Oh snap..."

She then collapses in a heap.

[blackest-bird.livejournal.com]

Raven uses her empathy to seek out the source of the disappointment.

[blackest-bird.livejournal.com]

Aftermath.

It's never the part you think about, being a Titan. There's always such immediate danger, you do your best not to get hurt, you do your best to cover your teammate's backs.

Raven lightly glided over towards the civilians nearest to Chemo's destructive cloud. A ghost of a smile shaded across her lips as she recalled Garth's lessons on how to swim.

The smile was short lived, as she realized how many civilians were hurt due to the toxic water around them.

Refusing to let the promise of pain to come stop her, she swam towards a group of them.

"Harlot," an older man spat at her.

"I am here to heal you. If you don't wish my help, I can leave you as you are." Steel under the velvet of her voice.

The older man turned away, but did not decline her aid. Typical.

Raven opened herself then, to the poison, to the pain, to Chemo's disgusting amalgam of toxin and hate. She began to pull it into herself.

[jla-atlantis.livejournal.com]

There is more then one kind of poison.

There is the poison of the body. Several dozen here suffer not just from what Chemo and Antaeus have done, but from the drugs which brought the titans here in the first place. Rich and poor, young and old all strain under the effects of exotic hallucinogens, stimulants, and things which will dull any pain.

Then there is the poison of the mind. Politicking, misinformation, pride which has taken blow after blow, a desire to escape, tear down, live in the nostalgia of a past Atlantis which was never as free and stable as it was in the memories of the crowd. The xenophobia has not been so pervasive for the empath since she was home in Azarath and brought back not just her half-demon self, but the Titans to stand against Trigon.

There is much to absorb and release almost too much.

[blackest-bird.livejournal.com]

Oh Azarath. Why did she help these people, anyway? It's not as if they asked for her help. They shunned her, the way everyone did. They just took and took, and she had so little left of herself..

The pain rolled her emotions, seething and seeking expression. She wanted to hurt them for their weakness.. show them what true power was..

Blackness was a blessing.

[-nightwing-.livejournal.com]

The Titans have been effectively decimated. They came here with six members and -- for now, at least -- they're down to two.

And the injured councilman's confirmed that someone intended for this to happen and was involved in their setup. And with a list of suspects as long as his arm, finding out who is likely to be akin to diving into a haystack for a needle.

Convenient.

For now, all they can do is tend to their wounded, and hope the regrouping locals don't decide to take matters into their own hands.

Things just got a whole lot more complicated.

[duke-kostan.livejournal.com]

"When we have tended to our dead and injured," Kostan says acidly. "I call for a vote of no confidence."