Environmental Awareness

[metromarvel.livejournal.com]

Warftown Harbor, around noon. A hunched, pudgy man sits on a bench, his back to what could charitably be called water, but Metropolitans called Hob's River. The worn old workhorse of the City of Tomorrow, Hob's River fought a continual battle with polution, filth, mutated fish, and Greenpeace activists trying to get the whole thing dammed up before it spreads. The city hustled and bustled without an ounce of shame as a hundred busniesses great and small tighten their iron grip on the time and attention of the average person, allowing a blessed few minutes of peace, relaxation, and needed sustinance, known to lesser mortals as lunch hour. Well, for regular workers, at least. Then there are the strangers, the freaks, the night people, criminals, police officers, prostitutes, delivery people...

...and reporters. The news never sleeps, and therefore a reporter has to catch what food and rest he or she can whenever possible. It's merely fortune that Clark Kent is able to enjoy a freshly purchased chili dog. Sure, no one to eat with except for the occasional snickering group of teenagers murmering the latest fat jokes, but that's one of the downsides to super hearing, Clark has told himself over the years. And, for once...Clark looks left. Clark looks right. Wow, no interuptions. The dog rises, slowly, Clark opening his mouth and closing his eyes in anticipation...

"What is that thing?!" Someone screams.

...it can wait for a bite, Clark thinks, squeezing his eyes shut and getting closer...

"It's unstoppable..." Another man shouts, "...some kind of watery collossus!"

...closer...

"Hasn't that allready been used?"

"You try coming up with a good name on the fly!"

...closer...

"Oh God!" A woman shouts, "Those arguing monster-namers have been grabbed by its terrible seaweed tentacles! Who will save them?!"

Damn it, Clark sighs, looks whistfully at his chili dog, and hands it to the little stray dog that always seems to find his way to Kent in situations like this. "This looks like a job for..." Adjusting his tie, Clark looks left, right, and seeing that chaos is reigning, turns around. "....golly."

Six stories tall, at least, the green-gray thing is vaguely humanoid in shape, a hunched beast with a small head, beady red eyes, iron hard slimy toad's skin, long, ropey limbs ending in clawed fingers, and covered by a hundred layers of thick...glowing seaweed, that move, no, slither with dread purpose, a pair of innocent bystanders getting closer and closer to...a cut runs out along the thing's gut, it hunches up a little, and a second mouth, a massive jaw, forms in its stomach! The Filth King's horrible tounge licks its teeth, gray gunk dripping from the maw as...

...it screams from its upper mouth, the smell of burning seaweed filling the air as a blue and red blur surges forward, blasting the set of seaweed tentacles into fried atoms and quickly grabbing the pair of bystanders! Landing on a nearby Stop-An-Shop, Superman looks over the sheepish pair and decides there's only one thing to do. "It's name is the Filth King, I think. Aquaman showed me a picture in an old Atlantean book of legends. Go! Get out of here! The Science Police should be here soon, I'll hold it off until then!" And with that, Superman kicks into the air, charging through the stratosphere...

...only to be blasted with a hunk of the gray goop, slamming into the ground, the Man of Steel groans, feeling his strength start to subtly ebb away as he's exposed to the toxic loogie from hell. Superman struggles, aiming his heat vision to try and melt through his prison, or at least weaken it enough to break out of, but even as it begins to work, the Man of Steel cannot escape one, overriding thought. 'I might need some help on this one...'

Comments

[blackest-knight.livejournal.com]

Obsidian's only reservist, but he's on the way regardless. The monster's massive enough to cast a huge shadow, so Todd has no shortage of space to appear from.

And even better, no shortage of things to pull from. The monster's own shadow leaps up and forms a wall, blocking it's path to the rest of the city.

[spirit-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Mere seconds later in a red and gold blur Wonder Woman appears next to Superman, attempting to extricate him from the slimy toxic mess.

Over comms she asks, "Any information on what this thing is and how best to be rid of it would be appreciated." One arm snaps up to deflect one clawed tentacle off of a bracelet, and then she's back to pulling Superman out.

[theotherlantern.livejournal.com]

Not far behind that blur is the Green Lantern she's currently living with.

He immediately gets to work on damage control, cleaning up the nasty goop before it can kill anyone.

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

The Flash is there, as his response time tends to be the fastest, as one might expect.

He's on bystander patrol, making sure no poor sap gets caught up in the damage, debris and icky sticky.

[metromarvel.livejournal.com]

"Thanks, Wonder Woman." Superman grunts, finishing escaping from the grime with the help of his friends. "But search me. I just remember the picture from one of Aquaman's books on Atlantean myths. I think they eat pollution or something..."

The Filth King screeches as the Bug's lasers burn into its greasy, grimy flesh; the stink the burning...stuff causes could be punishment enough for the Blue Beetle...especially since the green gas grows thicker, surging towards the Bug as if the Filth King was somehow aiming it! Ted can tell from inital contact that the stuff is corrosive-can he get away from the brunt of the blast in time?!

Obsidian's power binds the King, as the great creature struggles with its own shadow, as something strange happens...

...some of the bystanders aren't exactly evacuating like the average resident of Metropolis for more than a week knows how to. They're just...standing there, three, four, five people, professionals by the look of them, hunched, shaking...

One throws up, hurling the strange green goo where he thinks the Flash will run next-while a woman turns to leap throw the air at Green Lantern, swinging a set of hideous, grimy claws at the Emerald Gladiator! The third and fourth Filth Knight turn towards Obsidian, both spitting hocks of gunk the size of a human head at the reservist in an attempt to stop him from controling their master's shadow, while the fifth pulls back in reserve to see what happens.

As for Superman?

"Hey!" The Man of Steel shouts, stepping back and grabbing the side of a buick. His knees buckle for a second, and Superman spins around once, twice, and hurtles the sensible family sedan right at the Filth King's upper maw! "We've got a littering law in this town, jerk! -Wonder Woman, we need to make a dam...this thing must be trying to get into the central harbor! I'm not sure what it wants, but I'll bet a dollar it isn't to shake hands and make a speech about serving the public good."

[spirit-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Wonder Woman nods and, picking up a nearby garbage can, hurls it at the creature leaping through the air at the Green Lantern.

"John and Obsidian, if you can, try to keep that thing from getting to the harbor. I'll keep these creatures from bothering you."

[blackest-knight.livejournal.com]

Shadow pools in the air in front of him, and the gook passes in, harmlessly making its way to the dimension from whence Obsidian pulls his power.

Obsidian takes to the skies, getting out of the way of the people on the ground spitting up gunk, and goes to make a position between the monster and the harbour.

[theotherlantern.livejournal.com]

John gives Diana a nod for the assist, as he didn't see it coming.

Then, he follows orders dutifully, setting up a giant green barrier to try and funnel the monster away from the harbor.

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

"Whoa, heads up, chunk-blowing 10:00!" Flash barks to nobody in particular, as a spin-move stutterstep takes him out of the path of the yuck.

"Uh, guys? People are turning into monsters and puking green goop. Why is that?"

Convulsing or not, getting them to safety is job one.

[blackest-knight.livejournal.com]

Todd's shadows flow down the Lantern construct, reinforcing it just in case the monster's stronger than they're giving it credit for. It may be unnecessary, but he isn't sure. He's used to fighting alongside Dad or Jenny, and their Lantern powers are a little different than John Stewart's.

[azure-avenger.livejournal.com]

Corrosive gas? Not a problem..

A few adjustment of the controls, and the Bug's maneuvering thrusters are re-angled, letting the vehicle float away from the gas, while simultaneously blowing the caustic vapors upward and outward, hopefully thinning them and moving them away from the citizens.

[metromarvel.livejournal.com]

CRUNCH.

Superman looks on in shock as the monster catches the car with its horible, rhemora-like upper maw, sucking and crunching the metal inside with a disgusting, soupy sound. He's downright abashed when the Filth King turns its upper head towards the Justice League; still struggling against the emerald and shadow energy, the Filth King spits hunks of metal, partially dissolved into a razor sharpness, at Obsidian, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman, each spitting noise giving a bullet-like crack into the air!

Meanwhile, the Filth Knight is smacked in the face with a garbage can, slamming into the ground with an alien groan. The other four Knights turn as one on Wonder Woman, moving with a bizarre, lizardlike quality, skuttering towards the Amazon Avenger; two play artillery, spitting immobalizing balls of grime at Diana while the other pair leap at her with frog-like swiftness, aiming those disgusting claw-fingernails in broad swipes at Wonder Woman, unconcerned about the hunk of metal roaring their way.

Okay, Superman thinks, fists aren't doing anything. God, I wish Bruce was here, he'd have come up with six crazy plans to stop this damn thing allready. How do we...

"...great scott." Superman says, as it hits him. "Guys, hold the thing off for as long as you can! Flash, you're with me! The only hope Metropolis has..." Superman pauses, both to aim the trajectory of his powerful leap and out of dramatic nessicity, "...is in the public library!"

The Filth King, enraged at its gas being outwitted by the flying Bug-thing, twists and stretches, actually sliding around Green lantern and Obsidian's barriers enough to free a single, greasy arm, which aims a dozen seaweed-like tentacles in an attempt to ensnare the bug!

[theotherlantern.livejournal.com]

Damn. Obsidian's help is welcome against this big bastard.

Reinforcing his own shields, he works to deflect the incoming barrage of molten spit from this ugly hunk of ugly.

He can barely spare an eye to keep on Diana.

[fleet-feet.livejournal.com]

"The library?! And me without my Dewey Decimal System flash cards!"

Still, as doubtful as he is about what there is in the library that might help them, he follows Big Blue's lead, taking moments to scoop more people out of harm's way as needed.

[azure-avenger.livejournal.com]

The tentacles lash around the Bug's extremities - the engines fighting the pull of the Filth King.

Inside, Blue Beetle flips a switch, activating the ship's external electrified hull.

"Fried Okra, anyone?"

[spirit-of-truth.livejournal.com]

As the razor-sharp shards of metal come flying at Diana, she quickly pushes off the ground and flies straight at the two Filth Knights, meeting them in mid-air with two well-placed fists.

A moment later she lands awkwardly, the acidic goop dripping off of her arms and legs and making it difficult to move. Attempting to free one hand, Diana reaches for her lasso and swings it free as the other two creatures scuttle towards her.

[blackest-knight.livejournal.com]

He considers letting the metal pass harmlessly through him, since he's intangible in his shadowform. No telling where it could end up if he does, though, or what this thing is made of. He'd never forgive himself if it ended up spawning a new one or contaminating the water or anything like that.

So instead, shadow hardens in front of him in a shield, deflecting the hunk of metal to the ground.

Next, he flies back up to the wall Green Lantern made, creating a large shadow blade to sever the electrified tendrils falling from the Bug.

[infinity-inc.livejournal.com]

Killer Moth's armor motors onto the scene, coming between a burst of sludge and Stewart's blind side.

"Keep it on Green Lantern! Those things aren't playing clean...wow, sorry about that one"

Van Cleer opens his mechanized gloves up, sending pulse bursts into the Filth King as well.

[theotherlantern.livejournal.com]

John's head turns sharply once he's being addressed.

Not sure who that is, but he's not going to turn down a helping hand in a pinch.

"Thanks for the backup, man," he says, about as cordial as he can be while exerting this much effort.