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

Hovering above...

[infinity-inc.livejournal.com]

The JLA's battle with the Filth King rages through the harbor, as Lexcorp's environmental response team start to clear the area of bystanders. Civilians are rushed out, and streets are taped off for a 4 block radius.

One of the workers holds up a walkie-talkie and speaks into it. "Area secured. Deploy Indigo 2, over."

In response, a black and magenta bolt tears into the sky, building up momentum and firing at a right angle towards the restricted zone, aiming right into the midst of the Filth King. The energy trail it leaves disappears upon contact almost immediately.

Then the reaction starts. The environmental nightmare begins to shake as a lump inside it starts to travel upwards, rocking from one side to the other before exploding out of the top of its head. That lump hovers above, and when the residue burns off, is revealed to be Infinity Inc.'s Miracleman.

"Get a Glad bag, handy JLA...this is going to get messy."

Re: Hovering above...

[nynecrymes.livejournal.com]

Catman responds to the radio message with a hand on his cowl. "Indigo 2 deployed. First Strike in three...two...contact."

He watches from a rooftop, focusing in on Miracleman's drilling into the target, before entering the fray himself. Blake bounds from one side to the next, trying to distract the Filth Knights and turn their focus on himself instead.

"First strike engaged. Tsunami maneuver in three...two...NOW!"

Re: Hovering above...

[infinity-inc.livejournal.com]

The Top's on the scene - inducing disorientation in the Filth Knights as he approaches, and then focusing his telekinetic powers on the pavement underneath the Filth King. It ripples, hurling itself against the creature, trying to maneuver him into the center of the evacuated zone.

"Nice work, Flasher. I think we can handle it from here.."

Re: Hovering above...

[metromarvel.livejournal.com]

"Tsunami manuver..." Superman can't help but deadpan, one of the perils of super hearing, as he jets towards the Metropolis public library. Skidding to a stop, Superman looks to the Flash. "Quick, Flash! I need to know the secret name of soap! It should be somewhere in the occult section..."

Superman then turns over to a man in a jumbo tanker truck, and knocks on the door. "Excuse me, sir? I need to borrow something..."

The Filth King takes a serious beating; The Bug's electric attack sizzles it, Obsidian's shadow knife carves a piece off of it, and Miracleman and the Top both manage to slam into the Filth King, sending the beast shuddering backwards...

...Wonder Woman's lasso causes the two captured Filth Knights to screech in supernatural pain, as the dirt around their eyes and minds starts to clear thanks to the blazing light of truth! But can Wonder Woman hold them long enough to free the Knights, when the three remaining Knights rise back up! Two make a charge for Wonder Woman, while the third sends a sizeable blast of immobalizing filth towards the Top! The King stumbles regardless, seeming to take a huge amount of damage from Infinity Inc's sudden attack...

...except that the big ol'hunk of Filth King Miracleman buzzed off struggles again...tentacles growing out of it and lashing forwards, trying to immobalize Miracleman and whipping at Killer Moth and Catman! The tentacles have grown terrible, grimy spikes, with the intent of piercing the flesh of Infinity Inc!

The main Filth King spins its gut around, then, its lower maw opening up and heaving, shaking, and finally spitting a building sized wave of filth that seems to move mid-air, aimed in an attempt to immobalize Green Lantern and Obsidian!

Re: Hovering above...

[azure-avenger.livejournal.com]

The Bug gains some altitude while the Filth King is distracted, and the hatch opens on the bottom - the Blue Beetle's robotic avatar gliding out from the vehicle with his retractable wings, to land on a nearby building. He opens his comm channel.

"I can use the Bug remotely to harass the thing, but we need some kind of more direct solution; we're not getting anywhere."

Re: Hovering above...

[infinity-inc.livejournal.com]

The Top deftly moves amongst the Filth Knights, using his mental powers to scramble their ability to aim effectively. The sizeable blast of filth is telekinetically pushed aside, and Dillon wags his finger.

"Ah-ah-ah. This costume is dry-clean only.."

Re: Hovering above...

[spirit-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Shaking the last of the goop from her arms and legs, Wonder Woman takes advantage of the mental disorientation to knock out both Filth Knights aimed in her direction. As the third wobbles in place trying to orient himself again at the Top, she wheels around and with one well-placed kick knocks the Knight off of his feet and sliding across the pavement to rest against a nearby lightpost.

Re: Hovering above...

[infinity-inc.livejournal.com]

"Thanks for the assist. I got this from here."

Miracleman's eyes glow red as he turns his gaze upon two of the Knights, opening up a wide beam that burns the sludge off of the bystanders skin.

He shuts off the heat after his burst, but keeps the blazing effect in, looking up and focusing on the Filth King itself, giving a macabre smile.

Re: Hovering above...

[nynecrymes.livejournal.com]

Catman picks up the somewhat distressed signal on his own headset, looking up at the Filth King.

"A Direct Solution? Hang on troops...We've got just the thing." He speaks into thin air with "Maneuver: Goodnight Gracie...3...2..1..."

Re: Hovering above...

[bana-grace.livejournal.com]

"On it, boss." A tall figure vaults over a nearby car and run towards the Filth King, gathering up speed until she runs into his leg, arms outstretch to attempt to take out as much of it as possible.

She emerges on the other side, grinning and covered in goo.

"That was amazing." Grace starts looking up. "Hey, Miracleman -- give me a lift up?"

Re: Hovering above...

[infinity-inc.livejournal.com]

Miracleman swoops down, extending an arm to clasp her hand and go airborne, watching as the Filth King wobbles to keep its balance.

"Come on, nasty...lets see how much you can take."

He brings her up to skyscraper level, and focuses. "You know, this is one hell of a drop, right?..."

Re: Hovering above...

[infinity-inc.livejournal.com]

"I just love the little pet names we have for these 'maneuvers', by the way," adds the Top over the private Infinitor comm channel.

"After this is wrapped up, Blake, planning to initiate Operation : Prostitute, and Maneuver : Kitty Kitty Bang Bang? Or is it just Operation : Jim Beam and Maneuver : Skinemax this evening?"

Glaring through his mask

[nynecrymes.livejournal.com]

"Deadline that talk, Roscoe. Unless you want to share about Invasion: Fire Island next. Lexcorp still has a don't ask..." He leaps out of the way of a random shot of sludge, before blocking the next with a trashcan lid. "...don't tell policy."

Re: Glaring through his mask

[bana-grace.livejournal.com]

"I know how far it is. Just drop me on it, rather than on the ground, and I'll be just fine."

As he positions himself and lets go, Grace extends her arms and points her toes down, hoping to at least make as much of an impact on it as it was likely to have on her, and aims for the creature's shoulder.

Re: Glaring through his mask

[metromarvel.livejournal.com]

"What the..." Superman stumbles backwards, as if sensing something strange and mysterious. Wait. Problem at hand. "Wally, hurry! I'm going to get the rest ready!" The Man of Steel takes off in a massive single bound, headed towards...

...The Mister Soapy Clean-a-Factory?!(A Friendly Affiliate Of LexCorp!)

Between Wonder Woman, the Top, and Miracleman, the Filth Knights are outright routed, flying left, right, up, down, and...

...well, more /hissing/ than screaming as Miracleman's heat vision does its work, there's that. The smell still might not be worth the trip, though. The second Filth King is slammed into by Grace's manuver, falling to the ground with a pitiful groan even as the Prime Filth King continues its stare off with the Miracleman...

The Second Filth King screeches, its shoulder twisting and groaning as Grace struggles...and Grace will find the ground beneath her opening up, as the Second Filth King's secondary maw opens up from the shoulder, massive, disgusting teeth gleaming in anticipation!

The Prime Filth King, however, keeps staring at Miracleman. ...and, suddenly, /spits/ a flaming rubber tire at the Miracleman, aiming to entrap him in the reinforced rubber and send him slamming into Wonder Woman!

Re: Glaring through his mask

[bana-grace.livejournal.com]

"Whoa--" is the last thing out of Grace's mouth before being swallowed up whole into the secondary Filth King.

There is a brief silence before a tearing sound is heard, and Grace comes ripping out of the mouth, covered head to toe in toxic goop and prying back teeth as she goes.

Over comms, she says, between gasps, "This... shit is... ugh. Disgusting."

Re: Glaring through his mask

[spirit-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Diana barely has time to turn around before Miracleman comes flying at her. She braces to catch him.

[infinity-inc.livejournal.com]

Miracleman crashes right into Wonder Woman's grasp, the force knocking them bath out of the fray momentarily.