Summary:Things boil from the sea on Staten Island. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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Staten Island is, as its name would suggest, surrounded by water. And mostly this is not the kind of water one wants to go swim in. Even away from the more confined parts of the Hudson river, the water around here is dirty and murky and there's funny stuff on the bottom of the river.
Except, oddly, tonight. It's not hard to tell that there's something happening in a two mile long stretch of water along the main road on the western stretch of the Island. The water is VISIBLY cleaner and there are odd lights in it. It seems to be centered around a now disused ferry dock. Thus far there hasn't been anything physically alarming. But there are odd almost musical tones drifting up from the sea.
Those tones are also quite audible underwater and audible for miles. What's more they're having an effect on the undersea wildlife, drawing fish slowly but inexorably inward, toward this little stretch of the Hudson. It's going to get packed in there shortly.
Tim Drake hadn't been rostered for patrols. He's only even on Staten Island to get some things from the family home. But… then he hears that strange pied-piper song. Well that merits some investigation. Fortunately, he always keeps a suit on-hand, and he's good at the quick-change.
So a few minutes later, Red Robin is up on the rooftop nearby. One hand touches his cowl from the side, triggering the zoom in his lenses so he can get a better look. Yep, that's an awful lot of fish, alright. "Cowl, record audio. Scan this music, and the nearby ultrasonic and infrasonic spectrum, for unusual wave forms." Occam's Razor says 'the music affects the fish like Ernie shouting fishy fishy fishy' is the best, least assumption-filled hypothesis. The question is: how?
Red Robin. I'm picking up strange emanations from the water on the western stretch of the Island. NOAA are picking up something as well. Comes Oracles voice in Tims cowl. Oracle has a connection to all of the Bat Family and provides Overwatch as best they can.
And they're best is very, very, good.
Batgirl is incoming. She'll be there in … now. The words are punctuated by the roar of a motorbike engine. A sleek, non-descript road bike pulls up in the shadows and Batgirl dismounts - clad in black leather and a helmet.
"What have we got, Red Robin?" she asks as she turns to that Ferry Dock, wisely choosing to watch for a moment before approaching.
Wonderful. The surface-dwellers have come up with yet another way of plundering the ocean to excess. Even when they clean up a bit of their mess, it's only to lure creatures to their deaths. It's not as if Mera doesn't have plenty to deal with at the moment - rebellious Atlanteans trying to blow up New York; strange goo infecting and controlling life; a monarch who has disappeared - now there is this to deal with.
The Atlantean noblewoman sticks to the water for now. Sliding through the dark depths, following the entranced fish as they swim blankly towards the lights. She is in her green 'armor', red hair trailing in the water as she swims to a stop before heading upwards to see what she can see; anger building once more at the surface-dwelling vandals.
Having recovered from getting her back clawed by a startled cat-like mutant, Shayera Hol is flying over Staten Island, following the water's edge where there are typically fewer annoying Grounder flying machines about. She already swatted one of the buzzing little drone things out of her way earlier, but doing that too often gets her yelled at.
Hearing the strange music, she circles around and flies over the oddly different section of river, likely easy to spot by anyone prone to rooftop hopping as her wings are brightly white with grey tips and probably reflecting light from streetlamps and such very nicely.
"That's new," she muses to herself as she banks to make another pass over the water. Most waterways she's seen near these Grounder cities are FILTHY.
"Analyizing." Red Robin's cowl responds. "There are both ultra and infrasonic tones present in this sound pattern. Matching. The pattern is similar to whale song, but pitch shifted up significantly." Exactly WHY or why that should be doing anything is a mystery.
To Mera's ears it no doubt sounds almost shrill.
Shayera can see patterns in the light. Sort of like crop circles though she might not have the background to make that connection. They move and spin and then blink, once, twice, three times. Then things start crawling out of the water.
Weird things. Large humanoids with webbed hands and turtle-shell like backs and… horses? Horses that seem to simply materialize out of the water and pull themselves onto shore.
Under the water Mera can see the lights now. They're being created by… actually that's a good question. They're not like anything she's likely to have seen before, and do indeed move in a pattern in time to the music. At the center of it there are a trio of figures. Not surface dwellers but far more aquatic looking. Not Atlantean either though.
From off to her right there is a terrific racket under the water. Something is approaching at a VERY high rate of speed.
"Like Pied Piper but for fish," Red Robin tells Batgirl. "Something between the lights and the song is attracting them. And— hold on." He adjusts the cowl slightly, the better to see into the water, including the less clear parts. "More than fish. There are humanoid shapes in there. Given the werewolves and other monsters coming out of the woodwork lately, my first guess would be sirens, or something like them."
Though he doesn't have Mera's perfect perspective on the racket, there's still a commotion. He swears under his breath. "Batgirl, please tell me you brought an aquatic suit?" He only had a standard one on him. He'll have to keep to dry land. For now, he sets a zipline to glide him down to the dock. There just isn't enough wind for his glider cape.
Batgirl watches as the water moves. Watches the swirls and the currents with interest. When Red Robin lands besides her, her hooded face turns towards him, the ears on the hood emphasising the movement. "Are you feeling tempted to join them?" She asks. Thankfully the modulation hides any amusement that might accompany that statement.
"Tread carefully. Preferably not water. And no, no aquatic suit and I'm not particularly keen to get wet in this outfit. It's a pain to remove when that happens."
Moving closer to the edge of the dock, the redhead peers down. "What do you have Oracle? Is NOAA saying anything? The fisheries? This has be creating a …. stir."
Mera winces at the corrupted 'whale song'. How could anything find that bewitching? She can understand how the lights may help. The Atlantean knows all too well the power they have over dwellers in the dark. Her attention is drawn to the shore where strange creatures rise. Nothing that she has seen before and that is not a good sign.
Mera readies herself to deal with the trio of figures that are obviously responsible for this abberation…until she is rather distracted by an incoming threat. She dives back under the water, turning to face the new arrival. The ocean around her succumbing to her will - to become a solid wall or a destructive blast - as she prepares for battle.
And now there are strange beings climbing out of that water. It's not guaranteed to devolve into a fight, but she's glad she thought to wear her armor and carry her mace nonetheless. She watches the weird trio for a moment, but then her circling takes her over another pair, who are almost as strange looking as the things that just emerged from the water.
And what the HELL is that approaching and kicking water up everywhere?
She's liking this less and less. "I hate this place sometimes." Her usual solution to things she doesn't like is to hit them. Repeatedly. Flapping a few times to gain some lost altitude, she circles around again ready to divebomb whomever seems the least friendly.
Another threat emerges, one more familiar to Mera than the rapidly approaching thing. Dark shapes start to move behind her. These she knows, though they're a long way from home. The Trench. Awful, corrupted things that live in only the deepest darkness. What foul power might have brought them here, an ocean away from their usual haunt? Good question. That's not immediately clear. Nothing decent, though.
And then the speedy one is here. Mera can feel whatever it is - or rather whomever it is - moving the water much as she does. An innate command that's as natural as breathing. She catches a glimpse as he - for it is a he - comes near. Human looking, or possibly Atlantean looking. Though if so, an unusual Atlantean. An Atlantean much like her and less like the blue skinned, gilled beings that make up much of Atlantis. She MAY recognize him. Though she may not. It's dark. And he's moving very quickly, aiming past her and at the island.
The creatures begin running inland in an uncoordinated but CERTAINLY threatening fashion. That's not good. Off this road there are tenements full of hundreds of people. And these things certainly don't look that friendly. The horses even manage to look menacing as they break into a gallop. And in the water those three figures aren't just singing. They're making something. Putting a pillar into place and seating it very firmly on the river bed.
"Nearby fisheries are recording disturbances, Batgirl." Oracle responds. "NOAA has not issued any public information yet. However I am detecting increased traffic with the Department of Defense."
Red Robin shakes his head to Batgirl. "Not hypnotised into it, no. But underwater is where the problem" He adjusts his cowl, watching the shadow of the pillar under the water. "and that pillar, is. If they're setting it up, we need to tear it down." Because 'strange creepy antagonists trying to build a thing' is usually a good indication that the Good Guys don't want the thing to be built.
Of course, that part of the plan is a few steps away. First, there's the swarm of Trench coming inland. Trench and… Red Robin just has to give the mounts a Look. "Sea horses? Really?"
He doesn't have an aquatic suit on, but he does have plenty of projectiles. His first move is to throw a batarang with a flash-freeze payload at one of the lead horses, while he grapnels from the dock up to rooftop level, aiming to keep ahead of them where he can rain hell.
"Well that's something." Batgirl murmurs, knowing that Red Robin is hearing this as well. It does mean they have to be careful. They don't want to get mixed up with the Government - they take a dim view of the Bat Family and their antics.
"Heads up, here they come. And something coming in fast, can you see it…"
"Slow those ones, don't let them get to the civilians." The redhead is moving, first throwing out two flash bangs ahead of the herd, trying to turn them back. Then two bola-rangs to tangle the nearest ones up. Hopefully that will bring a small group down.
"Oracle, see if there's a frequency that will cancel their own 'song' out."
Mera may not be able to identify the figure that zooms past but it is now a lot less threatening that what is swarming up behind her. Why are The Trench here? So close to the shore. So close to the lights of the city, not to mention the hypnotizing lights not too far away. The lights! A possible weapon to use against them if she can draw them there. Or could they be used to fight the creatures that belong to the trio?
Leaving the pillar to the new arrival for now…and to the surface dwellers and flyer that she is unaware of…Mera sends a blast of water down into The Trench creatures. To attract their attention…and break a couple of limbs on some of them…before it is her turn to rocket through the water. Not too fast. Let them think they can catch up. But her direction is towards the shore to where other beasts seem to appear from nowhere.
Running toward local residences? Oh HELL no. That's enough of a threat for Shayera's point of view and with a couple of strong flaps she banks and prepares to dive at the lead creatures. But then, flashbangs.
"AGH!" She throws up a hand to shield her eyes, yelling plenty of VERY choice words at the person who those those damned things. Luckily for Batgirl, she's doing so in her native language and not in English. But, the inflection is likely enough to convey the meaning behind the words.
She loses her chance to dive at the creatures and has to circle around again for a second try. Damned Grounders.
The bright lights and loud bangs cause the rush of weird turtle things and horses to suddenly stop and mill about confusedly. The flash freeze that Robin tosses turns one of the horses from a seemingly normal black gelding into an ice sculpture. Yes the horses do seem to just be made out of water. The turtle things? Those seem to be made out of flesh and blood.
And the trench definitely so. While some swarm up onto the shore to be caught in the stampede Robin and Batgirl are causing, others dart toward Mera. Soon she has an entire school following her right toward those bright lights…
Which they JUST do not like. They seem drawn - much like the fish do - but at the same time repelled and the conflicting sensations confuse them.
And then one of the figures near the pillar, a mermaid like figure with the lower body of a fish and the upper body of a woman, hisses. "Kill the Sea Queen." The Trench sawrm on Mera. But they still don't like the light. It slows and dazzles them and that is to her benefit.
The rushing figure stops about ten feet from her and unleashes a 'lance' of water at one of the merfolk, knocking him over and pushing the pillar onto it's side, then he leaps up, out of the water and lands on the land. The Hudson, or bits of it, rise up all around him to form into spikes and swords which he hurls at the confused mass that Batgirl and Robin have corralled.
It looks rather impressive, especially as Shayera dives in to smack several on the head.
"I have a frequency, Batgirl." Oracle reports. "But what do you plan to use to broadcast it?"
For her part, Mera might be busy, but that… was NOT an Atlantean that just stopped by her. That has to be a surface dweller.
Strangers have arrived on the scene, including a winged woman with a great big mace. Around this point, at least two certain other bats would be growling and insisting I Work Alone.
Red Robin instead winces with sympathy at Hawkgirl getting caught in the flashbang. "I'm Red Robin, this is Batgirl. We protect this city. Friendly?" At least extending a hand… or, well, not literally a hand, not while he's up on the rooftops, but he does call out to her and offer the team-up.
Speaking of, there's a certain other way to join forces right now. "Send the frequency info my way, Oracle. I'm on it." The ice disc did great against the horse, sure, but there's plenty more where that came from. Against a big group like this, you need to sow confusion. So he pulls some of his sonic discs from the utility belt, quickly tweaking each one to Oracle's specs, and throws them down. Not just into the group gathering on the land, but tossing a few into the water, too. He's going to be dry on sonic discs for a while after this.
"Watch your eyes." Calls Batgirl as Shayera dips and whirls. A little late for the first set, but not for the next one that she lobs at a group who have slipped up the side. "Uh uh uhhhhh, I don't thin so." She calls to the group as it turns and run. Wincing behind her mask as they run straight onto the water lances.
They're only injured, right? Not deaded.
"There's speakers all through the Ferry Dock, Oracle. I'm heading that way now to patch into them. Send to Red Robin as well and we'll have much of the waterfront covered." Her rappel gun fires, wrapping on the roof of the terminal. Yellow flashes as her cape billows behind.
Flipping herself up onto the roof, the black clad redhead sprints nimbly over the sheeting, sliding on her knees to the first speaker. "Give me a minute."
This is old school tech! So nice to get ones hands dirty occassionally.
It won't take her long to patch her phone headset in.
The Trech are as bewitched as the fish. Stupid animals! Mera has a bit of a superiority complex at the best of times. Yet, she also knows her place, and Mera is most definitely not a queen. It's natural that most would think she is but, alas, not yet. She would argue the point with the mermaid but she is rather busy. The redhead rushes closer to the lights, relying on the confusion it brings to deal with her attackers. Spears of solid water piercing some. Slamming pressure to crush others. She will even punch those that get too close and Mera, like many Atlanteans, packs quite the blow. At least Trench innards wash off under the water. Her powers causing the waters to churn and thrash as it is reshaped and moved to her will. Not something she can hide from those above.
"Well, I'm not beating these things away from those buildings back there so I can mess with civilians myself," Shayera retorts at Red Robin. At least the other Grounder calls out a warning this time before throwing those damned light pollution bombs, and she immediately takes advantage of their targets being discombobulated.
Water spears are bad? Then a frigging mace that looks like gold or very highly polished brass is likely going to flip Batgirl's lid, because Shayera is NOT doling out gentle little love taps over here.
At least she's slamming the water-horses first, then braining anyone or anything else that's come out of the water and looks to want a fight.
Well, except for the spear-thrower person. Clearly, he's a 'friendly' as well. And if not, well, Shay will beat him up last.
Spear thrower person is in a wetsuit, Robin and Batgirl can see that clearly with their optics. Which is an odd thing for a water person to be wearing. But the water seems to like him well enough. He gathers up all the water from the 'spears' around him into a curved, razor thin wave that he weaves around him like a dancer as he moves through the crowd from the back while Shayera works it from the front and Batgirl and Robin work on neutralizing that song.
When the speakers - Robins and Batgirls - go off Pandemonium erupts. The Trench turn on ANYTHING near them. Under the water that's less of an issue. It's only Mera that's near them, and those merfolk. Two of whom are attempting to make a sneaky exit while one desperately tries to right the pillar.
At this point what the mess on the land needs most is containment and Batgirl and Robin are perfectly placed to see little groups of stragglers in danger of making it off the dock and into the island proper. That's no good. Fortunately, they're there to stop it.
Underwater Mera has mostly cleared out the Trench though she can still feel that presence on land tugging at the water around her which is probably a bit disconcerting. Behind her, the lone remaining Merfolk rights the pillar and grabs a crystal which she tries to jam right on top of the thing.
She probably shouldn't be allowed to do that.
Getting a bird's eye view (hah) and watching for stragglers is exactly why Red Robin went up to the rooftops in the first place. No more sonics left to dole out, but he has other projectiles. Here, he tosses another ice disc — either catching the enemy in an icy prison, or raising a wall which keeps it from escaping. There, a taser disc. Water makes a great conductor (which is part of why he hasn't used these things in the main fight; wouldn't want to hit Mera). And a few plain and simple solid projectiles. He may not brain them like Hawkgirl, but a good broken ankle or quick concussion should put a stop to any escaping into the city.
He's just getting dangerously low on projectiles. Man, he's going to have to spend a long while in manufacturing after tonight.
"Huh. I wasn't expecting that." Batgirl mutters to herself, wincing at the lethal techniques being used by both sides. Batman and Nightwing will probably be visiting her about this and asking for an explanation.
Not that she'll have a good one. Hopefully her red hair won't cause a problem.
"Contain them, Red Robin." Batgirl is the least … physical … of the bat family. Slower and not as skilled at fighting as the rest of them, she relies on her brains and her gadgets.
Taking a handful of salt from her utility - something she's begun to carry as standard lately - she sprinkles it on the group below. She's not sure it will do anything but it can't hurt, right?
Tasty fish?
Another two bola-rangs are sent hurtling along the ground. She too is going to have to replenish stash.
It can be annoying when two people are trying to control the same water. At least it's the ocean rather than a swimming pool. Mera is happy to see the fish broken form their spell and dashing off in all directions. Less happy to see The Trench going berserk. Even less happy about the mermaid with the crystal. It doesn't take long for her to decide that is the main danger and she shoots through the water like a hypersonic torpedo towards the unknown underwater dweller. Hopefully, The Trench won't follow too close to the lights.
As Mera nears the mermaid she pushes the ocean away and around her. Both to increase her speed even more and also to create an air bubble atop the pillar to contain herself and the crystal user. The woman with the fish tail may find standing on 'dry ground' a little more difficult. But Mera's target is still the crystal.
Shay doesn't know what the caped woman is fiddling with, but she can see the instant that the attackers seem to lose cohesion and start just doing things willy-nilly. They're still generally charging toward the nearby buildings, though, and that will NOT do. Divebombing them is too slow as she has to gain altitude every time, so on her last dive she instead opts to land and fight the things head on.
Well, mace-first might be more accurate.
Again, she's not being gentle about it, and she's battering them with her wings as much as bashing them with her mace and even kicking out at them from time to time. Medieval battle scene on the Staten Island shoreline? Yes, please.
"Get your lazy asses down here to help, Grounders," she yells vaguely at Red Robin and Batgirl. "Or are you gonna make me do all the work for you?"
Mera's strike hits the crystal with the force of an angry sea. It shatters into a thousand pieces and a shockwave of some kind of energy goes out in all directions. Strangely, it doesn't knock anything over. Just… passes over people, filling them with a sense of deja-vu and brief visions of a shining green land with castles and high towers.
The mer woman flops onto the dry floor, unable to move and quite clearly also impaired in breathing though not completely unable to do so.
As it turns out there isn't too much more to be done, fortunately for Shayera. The fighting on the shore doesn't last much longer after that. Batgirl and Red Robin turn back any attempts to get off the dock and Wing-Girl and Water-Guy finish off the ones milling about. Soon enough there's just a bunch of disabled (and quite a few dead) trench and monkey-turtle-things. Of the horses there's far fewer sign. When 'killed' they just dissolve into water.
Which leaves Batgirl, Robin, a guy in a wetsuit and a woman with wings and a mace on the docks. And oh yes…
The water around Mera vibrates to make sound. "Atlantean, is everything under control there? We're all topside if you'd like to join us up here."
"Well." The water-bender says to everyone about. "That was… interesting."
Red Robin tells Hawkgirl the same thing he told his comp sci rival back in France, when they denigrated his automation. "It's not lazy. It's efficient." Having someone in the thick of things and someone keeping an eye on things from above? It's a winning combination.
Then comes the shockwave, the wash of imagery. Red Robin screws his face up, holding onto the image as tightly as he can. He whispers to himself, recording his description in dictation to his cowl. "Batgirl, give my regards to these three? I have to get to the Cave while that image is still fresh." Not like you can take a photograph of an image that's entirely in your head. He grapnels away, back to where he'd left the Redbird, and flees the scene of the prevented crimes.
Batgirl nearly falls from the roof as that feeling washes over her, her head snapping in the direction of that crystal. "Was that … a crystal …" she says mostly to herself.
"Sometimes less is more." She tells Shayera as she tumbles adroitly from the roof. "Not everyone is built like a semi, after all. I'm Batgirl that was Red Robin and you are?" She asks Water Guy and Wing Girl.
"Oracle tells me that NOAA is liaising with Defense - probably about this. Some of us would prefer not to be around when they get here." beat "Thank you for your help, it is appreciated."
Though the piles of dead bodies aren't to be desired.
The visions have Mera scowling down at the mermaid. "A time past or your hope for the future? If you are trying to return to a mythical past, you should remember the world has changed far too much to be 'corrected' by a crystal. No matter the power." Mera considers the request to go topside before looking back to the other sea dweller. "I shall not give you to the surface-dwellers but you will be judged by the Atlantean Court. You can explain to them what you hoped to achieve."
The redhead forms bonds of water around the mermaids wrists stronger than any steel before moving the bubble of air towards the shore. The water walls of the sphere washing away once the surface is breached. "Thank you all for your assistance" Mera intones flatly to those on the shore. "I have one of the culprits and justice will be rendered upon her. I trust you wil be able to keep this secret from most surface dwellers?" She studies the corpses everywhere. "You may wish to dispose of them. Good night." Such politeness as she starts to lead the mermaid back into the ocean in a bubble of air.
Shayera pushes one corpse over with the toe of her shoe. Nope. Still truly hideous. She looks at Batgirl as she finally returns from the rooftops, then turns to look at the water-bender. Mera's brief appearance then departure only earns her a huff.
"I don't know of any fast way to clean up these corpses, do you?" She considers the remaining two other defenders, suspecting a whole lot of not much usefulness from them in this regard. No skin off her nose, though, as she couldn't care less what the local Grounder authorities think.
"As you wish, Lady Mera. And thank you for the assistance." The Water-Guy bows as Mera goes to leave, which may or may not surprise her depending on whether or not she recognizes his voice. This is the surfacer she met all those months ago. The one who claimed to have sea-goddess blood in his veins. Which would be why he knows her name, if she remembers.
"You may leave the corpses." He says turning to Shayera and Batgirl. "Koa Turner, WAND. Nice to meet you both." WAND. You know that Government that Batgirl was keen not to get involved with?
It's here.
"I don't think I quite caught your names, by the way."
The merwoman near Mera coughs. "You'll see. When the Gorgons vision comes to pass. You will see, Lady of the Seas. They fight for us all."
"Me? Batgirl. That was Red Robin." The black clad redhead - there's a lot of redheads tonight - mentions. "SHIELD hmmm? I'm in your systems, if you care to look me. Oracle and Batgirl, we're a double team." SHIELD isn't so bad, the NYPD though … and Defense….
"I'd like any details on the autopsies if I could, Agent Turner. I would say check your phone for my details, but I doubt you have one given you were just in the water. Oracle will leave our details on your work number."
Batgirls shoulders tense at the mermaids words and she hisses. The sound audible through the modulator she uses. "The Gorgon … again. Lady Mera, if you find anything, I would be obliged if you would tell me. We have … a problem with the Gorgon on the surface.
Mera squints at Kora for a moment. "Yes, I remember you" she states in her haughty way before a quirk of a brow at Batgirl. Were they formally introduced to have conversations? Though she is obviously a warrior, and polite, so Mera will deign to answer. "I shall do so" she states about the sharing of information. "I thought Gorgons worked in stone, not water. A polite nod of farewell to those who remain before she disappears under the waves with her captive.