Summary:More Magical disturbances that affect the 'good' people of Staten Island. The Bats and a WAND agent respond. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It's been a couple of days since Dylan and Batgirl chased crystals around Staten Island. They found one more in location, Batgirls allies chasing others down.
Tonight, magical energies swirl strongly. A certain WAND agent will certainly have felt them. The Bats will be getting alerts about strange going ons in the south of island in Silver Lake. All of which are occuring between Victory Boulevard, Howard Avenue, Clove Road and Theresa Pl.
Foreboding. This is residential area with two private cemeteries in the midst.
Batgirl is currently dealing with a traffic altercation at the intersection of Grand Ave and Victoy Boulevard. Oracle is reporting. The reports filtering in, for the Bats at least, are that people seemed 'unsettled' and some are acting out on that.
Ahhhh human nature.
For Dylan, his phone shows as he draws nearer, a concentration of energies - magical and supernatural - at Highland Ave.
I could use some help. Batgirl speaks over the comms. This isn't normally something I would look at, but people are going … mad.
"Unless you have some way of knocking them all out en masse, I suggest you just ignore them and deal with the main threat." Dylan advises over the comm that Oracle supplied him with. "They're likely reacting to the influx of magical energy leaking into the area. Either that or an intentional effect by some from the Otherworld who can do that to humans. Either way, stopping the source will fix the problem." He's on his motorcycle, riding toward Highland.
One of the other locations on the lists was being checked by the main Bat. But that one may be a little harder to get access to than most - because it's in Ravencroft. Or rather, under it. At least that's where he thought he saw it on the map. He was puzzling over how to access it when Batgirl's call comes out over the radio and comms. With a frown, Batman turned his attention from the gates of Ravencroft to the screen in the Batmobile.
Mad? I have your location, Batgirl. En route.
There's a soft roar that turns into a rumble as the dark knight prepares to throw the car into gear, doing a U-turn near the gates, and engaging the turbos as he starts to race through the back alleys and streets towards the Grymes Hill neighborhood.
Helena Wayne is on break for the holidays, or as much of a break as academy students get, at least. Which means she has a modicum of free time, which of course means that she's suited up as Blackbird and roaming the streets at night with her very extended family. "Like charming tea party mad, or like soccer hooligans mad?" she says over the comms, already en route on her own motorcycle.
"I feel like those call for very different tactics."
"Soccer hooligan mad, Blackbird." Batgirl answers. Dylan can hear all the interactions and can put names to the modulated voices over the comms at least. "We have Agent Grey from WAND responding. I'm heading that way. The police are arriving in a few minutes, best if I'm not here. Oracle, display Agent Greys location so we can follow."
Her motorcycle roars to life and she heads in that direction. No, she doesn't spin tires as she takes off - that's a waste of energy.
On all the Bats huds, Dylans location appears, they'll all converge on him in moments.
Dylans phone guides him to The corner of Highland and Glenwood Avenues. Well, just opposite that, really. A cemetary - of course it is. The energy is coming from further in - the gates appear locked but that shouldn't be a problem, the Batmobile can just break them down. Property damage might be a minor consideration right about now.
They're lead through the area, no paved roads just dirt 'pathways' really, to the center of the cemetary. The energies all focus here. Thirteen individual ones and one that's growing in the center. A summoning perhaps.
"Do we just take them out, Agent Grey. Hello Blackbird, Batman."
Dyland just slices through the lock on the gate so it barely slows him down. Once he gets close enough, he leaves the bike in favor of making less noise so he can get close to listen and look. "Five supernatural beings. 8 human, possibly mages but not necessarily. We're in a cemetary. They have the torc of a king - probably - and the seal to a tomb. As curious as I am to see what or who they're resurrecting, I think the island would be better off if it doesn't happen."
The Batmobile races down Victory, making the turn onto Glenwood as it pushes towards the cemetary gates. The wrought iron is illuminated in the headlights before the armored front of the car smashes into it, bending and then wrenching the gates off of their hinges, pushing them aside as the tires bite into the dirt, throwing up clods as Batman pushes the car towards the cemetary center.
Second highest point in Staten Island. reports the Bat as he approaches, the car sliding to a halt near the circle as the top of the car slides open and the caped figure ejects, high into the air, before the cape flutters and then opens to allow Batman to descend upon the group. "Agreed." comes his response as a pair of batarangs are immediately pulled out and flung towards one of the mages to try to disrupt the spell.
"Blackbird, if you have cold iron left from the Nightfall incident, it would be useful against the supernatural creatures."
Blackbird's motorcycle skids in after the Batmobile, the back wheel fishtailing across the pavement as she comes to a stop a short distance away. "Claws are still lined with it," she replies to Batman, flexing her fingers to extend them from her gauntlets as she draws one of the staves at her thighs.
"Eight humans might be mages, might be people under the influence, so to speak?" she asks, toggling her night vision on and starting toward the cemetary on foot.
Now they're all closer, the heroes can see there's a body laid out in the middle of the group. Light glints from something around it's neck - the torque that Dylan just mentioned and a small disc on its chest (the tomb seal perhaps).
The cemetary was marked as inactive several years ago. Oracle reports Though private burials still occur it seems. It was once part of the German Mission Church. I can't find anything that indicates any ties though.
Batmans batarangs spin out, hitting the mages nearest him. They stumble and collapse but keep chanting. The supernatural beings that Dylan's identified differ. One appears to be an elf, one of the Fae. Two seem to be Bulls of sorts. One appears fox like, with four tails. The last … a hare with antlers on its head, fangs protruding from its mouth and wings on its back and though smaller than the others it still radiates power.
In the center of the group the figure twitches, morphs and rises. Whatever the corpse was, it's now an emaciated, towering warrior bearing a crown of Antlers. The supernatural energy it emits is almost blinding. In its hand, a blade of tarnished iron appears - it's ancient.
"Too late!" Crows of the mages as they launch themselves at Blackbird, a cruel curved dagger aimed at her heart. "The Lord of the Feast has responded and will cleanse this island of its Guardians."
The emaciated warrior bellows and launches itself for Batman, as the five supernatural throw themselves at Dylan. Bolts of magic pepper at him, as the hare and the elf launch themselves bodily at the welshman.
Dylan uses his dagger to block the bolts of magic and sweeps the space in front of him with his sword to keep the two attackers back as his armor envelops him. "I have no wish to fight ones I would gladly call allies in another age but you are leaving me with little choice. Please leave this place and I promise to do what I can for you all. There is room for all of us."
It seems that talking is not the opinion of the emaciated warrior as the Lord of the Feast leaps at the Bat. Growling low in his throat as the armored crime-fighter immaediately plants his foot as he goes into a roll as he throws the creature off of him.
His attention turns towards the creature as he takes out a pair Batarangs, flinging them at the warrior. If the connect with flesh, the Batarang beeps for a couple of seconds, before exploding, attempting to knock the creature back as Batman attempts to regroup.
"As one of said Guardians, I would like to register an objection to this plan," Blackbird notes as she joins the others, striding toward the mage and his victory cry as if this wasn't about to be a battle. When she gets within reach, though, the motion is explosive and quicksilver, stave darting out in a feint before she strikes at his eyes with her clawed hand, pressing the attack.
At least The Guardians know who's being referred to however, Dylan is probably included in that group. Along with others who aren't present at this very moment.
"You leave us no option but to fight, human." The hare spits out. That's a distinct germanic accent it has. It bounces off the ground, hitting Dylan mid chest as his sword swipes. That's one solid little creature - it should make the mage stagger. The Kitsune chuckles and just 'blinks out', to appear behind Dylan, shooting another bolt of magic at his back. The Bulls just charge, supernaturally fast and strong. And the fairy fae calls the plant life to respond, tendrils of roots and branches grow along the ground to try and snag Dylans ankles and legs, one tries to snag his sword arm and pull it wide.
The Feast Lord is *strong* and supernaturally quick as well. Batman finds himself well matched. Perhaps overmatched. It swipes at the God Damned Batman with the archaic sword as the batarangs explode, staggering back a few steps giving Batman a fraction of second respite.
Blackbirds motions aren't expected by the mage who relies far too much on their magic. Her claws swipe the eyes and draw blood, causing the man cry out in pain.
Batgirl has circled around the back of the group, a batarang taking out one more of the mages, a flying kick at a fourth. The remaining mages turn their attention to the redhead as she moves lithely, dodging spells flung at her, using her bola-rangs to tangle up hands to stop the casting.
As the Lord of the Feast recovers, it turns its attention to Blackbird, grabbing at the woman trying to drag her infront of him, clawed fingers closing around her throat.
Dylan staggers under the force of the blow though the armor distributes the impact so it does no damage. "You've not even given me the option." he counters as he dodges to the side to avoid the bolt. He's not really designed for acrobatic fighting, being more a hack and slasher like most knights. Slashing at the plants, he tries to get his back to a monument or something solid. "Hengroen!" he calls and whistles. A horse would neigh in response; the motorcycle revs its engine and speeds towards Dylan. "We can find you a place!"
Twisting backwards as the sword slices across his abdomen, cutting into the armor that's more used to absorbing blunt force or bullets. Batman growls low in his throat as he uses the momentary pause to throw his hands to his sides, pulling up a pair of armored knuckles. When the Lord of the Feast comes charging at him again, Batman swings into the side of the creature, activating the taser on the side of the knuckles to send a blast into the man.
Ripping backwards, the Batman hits a button on the side of his gauntlet, ad as he turns, he moves to try to get the Lord of the Feast turned away from the Batmobile - which just ignited to life. The lights come on, and the vehicle suddenly spins out and races forward, charging down on the pair. Raising a grapple gun, he fires a line to yank him to the top of a Mausoleum - pulling himself upwards as the car is about to slam into the creature.
If Helena learned anything from her last encounter with magic, it's that non-human magical things are one hundred percent fair game. So when the Lord of the Feast reaches for her, she doesn't hold back. Batman may notice the move as something she picked up from her mother, the way she tends to adopt bits and pieces of everyone's style. She drops the stave in one hand, flexing her fingers to extend the claws on that hand as well, then reaches out to wrap both hands around its arm, using it as a fulcrum to swing herself up with a leg hold around its neck. Once she has that hold, she digs her claws in and twists, raking across the flesh.
"We have found a place. This Island is stinking cess pit of humanity. Why do you care so much?" The accent is Japanese this time. The Kitsune, who appears in tree above and in front of Dylan. The vines and roots still grasp at him, shrinking back as sword severs and cuts them but then surging again. More bolts of magic, but only at Dylans front, as he presses against a taller headstone to protect his back.
They don't seem to appear to realise what his calling the motorcycle has done - and aren't paying attention to it.
Batman finds himself the focus of the Fae being when he settles on the roof of the Mauseleum, azure bolts hit the roof beside him, sizzling and popping. He gets a good view of the Lord of the Feast trying to twist Helena's head on her neck.
Not that the Feast Lord has much chance as the youngest Bats claws dig into its flesh. The Cold Iron built into them doesn't seem to affect the supernatural being, her leg wrapped about his neck has slightly more effect. He stumbles as grey ichor drips from the wounds her claws inflict.
The Batmobile roars, careening towards them. The Feast Lord, at this moment, is distracted.
"It's their stinking cess pit." Dylan answers. With his back protected, he can see what's coming at him and block the magic with his dagger while sweeping at the entangling vines with his sword. "There are places less populated than this one where we could work with you." He stresses the word 'with'. "We lived in peace before, we can again." Hengroen roars up and just slows enough for Dylan to grab a handlebar and swing into the seat, trusting to the bike to navigate the obstacles. Once he's seated securely, he steers toward the Feast Lord and points his sword at it; a flaming sword that alters and grows into a flaming lance.
"Blackbird, incoming!" It's the only warning that Helena may get before the Batmobile reaches the pair. When the fae's blast hits next to him, the costumed vigilante growls low in his throat. "Return to your home dimension." comes the snarled remark as he yanks one of the iron tipped batarangs and sends it hurling towards the creature. And there's a second one that he throws after watching the fae's pattern, assuming the creature is going to pop up behind him.
Blackbird uses the momentum of her attack to swing around the Feast Lord's neck, ending up perched on his shoulders just in time for the Batmobile to come roaring in. She reaches for the grappling gun at her waist, firing up toward Batman and pulling herself free of the creature and the approaching vehicle. No snappy comeback now, just grim determination.
"I'm no' sure wha' ye did no' understand, Guardian." The Fae blinks as the batarang whirls at them. And reappears "This is our home … " To be hit by the second iron wrought batarang. This time the iron does have an effect, sizzling and popping as it makes contact. The Fae *screams*, a portal opens behind them. It and the remaining four fall through it.
Blackbird is engaged in a battle for her life. The Feast Lord is bleeding grey ichor but it doesn't seem to be slowing it. And the youngest Bat has problems on both sides - the Batmobile and the scion of a long dead Welsh King, roaring towards the Feast Lord. She pulls herself free as several things happen:
The flaming lance seems to make contact with the Feast Lords flesh just as the Bat Mobile makes contact. The Lord of the Feast dissolves to smoke and just … disappears. Was that Dylan that did that or did he escape?
The portal closes behind the five supernatural beings, leaving just the roaring of Hengroen's and the Batmobiles engines.
Batgirl appears from the shadows, dragging the bodies of the mages with her. Her suit is smoking from scorch marks, the yellow bat symbol a charred mess - testimony to the effectivness of the spells of the mages. It seems someone got a strike on her with a blade as well, it tearing through the kevlar protection to draw blood. It's unlikely that anyone but Batman will notice the hitch in her step as well - the suit supporting her well but she's hurt her back in this altercation.
"What the hell was that?" the redhead asks, dropping the inert forms of the mages and reaching for zipties to secure them. "And is everyone alright?"
Dylans phone, should he check it, show that the supernatural beings are nowhere within the 25 miles. Again.
"That was a ritual to incarnate the Feast Lord. The thing we just fought" Dylan explains, pulling his bike to a halt near the others and looking around. As the flames on his lance dies away, it shrinks back into a sword and he sheaths it and his dagger before pulling out his phone. "Which doesn't make sense. The Feast Lord is evil, plain and simple. These Otherworld creatures may be mischievous and dangerous but they they're not in the same league as it. It's not in their nature to call up something like that. Not unless they've been driven to it as a last resort. Or been convinced they have." Putting his phone away, he adds "There's nothing supernatural within a 25 mile radius at the moment. They're gone. But so is the Feast Lord. He's gone but not destroyed. We'll see him again."
There's a reason that SHIELD doesn't work with Batman much, and that's coming out as he comes down from the mausoleum and reaches to grab Dylan. "What's your connection to them? Why are you always at these situations?" comes the low growl from the Bat as he looms large over the SHIELD agent. "Why is WAND in Staten Island?"
"Maybe because there was a magic fairy summoning ritual happening in Staten Island?" Blackbird chimes in to answer the bat's question as she jumps back down from her perch, giving her wrists a flick to shake the ichor off of her claws before retracting them. "That one seemed kind of like Ivy," she muses, tipping her chin up in Batgirl's direction as she approaches with the mages. "What's a Lord of Feasts?" she asks in Dylan's direction, helping with the zip ties.
"He's helping me. Us." Comes the stern tones of Batgirl as she moves over to try and put herself between Batman and the WAND agent. "We needed help, he showed up, I recruited him for this." It's very Batgirl. Stern but not challenging - the eternal den mother of the Bats.
And recruited? Well. He was all in anyway and it made sense to work together.
"Batman, may I introduce Agent Dylan Grey." Oh yes, Batgirl immediately goes to civilities. "Agent Grey, this is Batman."
Hopefully, she can seperate the two as her masked face moves to Blackbird "And the foolhardy one over there is Blackbird. That was a nice move you pulled though, Blackbird. I'm glad it paid off. Oracle, what do we have on Feast Lord?"
Not a lot, Batgirl. Just a lot of Urban Myths that are … inconclusive on what or who it is. I am looking for more arcane texts for information. Maybe Dylan knows more.
Dylan doesn't try to avoid Batman and just says blandly "Don't make me turn you into a toad. But to answer your question, because there was a magic fairy summoning ritual happening here. I'm pretty sure that's in WAND's jurisdiction." Not that he'd really care all that much if it wasn't. "Think of the Lord of Feasts as a being of eternal hunger who works for a god - small 'g' - called the Devourer Worm. It's not hungry for hamburgers though but blood and slaughter. That would explain what you saw earlier." he says to Batgirl. "I don't know much more as it's not really part of any pantheon. Probably worshipped by cults all over the word who share similar beliefs. At the introduction, he just tilts his head forward slightly. Yeah, moving on.
When Batgirl gets between them, Batman gives her a pointed and narrowed look. There will be a talk later on all of this. "Then we need to break their summoning." he growls low in his throat, and listens to Oracle's information. "Consider the summoning circle. See if there is a Raven or Crow feather." Not that Batman has that deep of a tie to the occult, but there's a few things he may have some small information.
"Hey, foolhardy is a little strong," Blackbird objects. "I didn't pick him, I picked one of the puny ones." She points to the blinded mage indignantly in the process of applying zip ties. "But thanks anyhow," she adds with a wink in Batgirl's direction. She falls silent after that though, attentive to the information being shared. She's got a test on this after winter break. "So…" she muses, mostly to herself. "If you summon a creature of eternal hunger, even if it's supposed to be aimed at someone else, you've probably got the way to stop it up your sleeve, right? Unless you make some epically bad decisions."
Pointed, narrowed look? That's behind Batmans hud but Batgirl can guess. Not that it cows her particularly.
The summoning circle is a pentagram with a circle in the center. The iconography etched into the dirt at the 'points' is telling. Bulls, Celtic Ravens, Japanese Kanji's, Chinese stylized Dragons and what looks like a South American Eagle. None of this should make sense, at all.
"Perhaps a little, but I've been called worse." Batgirl asides to Blackbird as she returns to assist with the mages. "Can these go to SHIELD? I think SIPD would be hard pressed to keep them and a 'disturbing the peace' charge is likely the best they could muster."
"One would hope, Blackbird. One would hope." If they didn't, what the hell is the plan?
"They wouldn't have needed any. The torc they stole from the gallery was engraved with crows, the symbol of the Morrigan, goddess of battle." Dylan tells them. "She's an entirely different flavor of battle deity than the Feast Lord. If a way exists to stop it, and there has to be one since, as it needed to be summoned again, someone, sometime must have banished it, I don't know of it. And while it's possible this Gorgon might know how, I wouldn't depend on it." he cautions, looking at the three. "The Feast Lord will incite bloodshed and carnage among the people of State Island and once they're all dead, it'll move on to Brooklyn or New Jersey and the Fae who summoned him will live here happily ever after. Or so I'm guessing their thinking goes. It's not a bad plan, actually." He steps over to their prisoners to look them over then nods. "Tal, contact SHIELD please and ask them to send a transport for these prisoners. Warn them that they're mages so send the proper restraints and probably enough drugs to keep them sedated a while." Almost instantly, a second voice - a bit tinny and artificial sounding but with a Welsh accent - says 'Done."
There's a few pictures taken of the summon circle by Batman's cowl cameras. There will be time to go over those later. Apparently they have one part. The torc. And he's already contacting Oracle to match the signatures in the circle with any recent thefts that may match up with the symbols. Since the crows is already covered. "Oracle." he rumbles. "Match Japanese, Chinese, and South American cultures and fables - search for creatures that may tie to the Devourer in other cultures."
"Joke's on him, it's not like he needs to do that much inciting," Blackbird mutters as she does up the last of the zip ties and straightens back up. "You'd think things that live forever would take a longer view of things that are going to devour things…forever," she sniffs, crossing her arms over her chest.
"There are several things we need to focus on." Batgirl answers. She's still moving gingerly though not enough that Dylan or Blackbird will notice. "There's the crystals that we need to watch out for. There's two more to retrieve, at the moment, but I suspect they aren't the full extent of what is happening here." Dylan and she managed to retrieve one more the other night.
"Agent Grey can furnish the locations and we know they can be destroyed with sufficient force, which means we don't have to trigger the field to do so." Triggering the field just means they'll forget who they are.
If Dylan is right, that's terrifying. If they lose Staten Island, New York is at risk. And if New York is at risk, what about anything else?
"We also need to visit the gang leaders and put the pressure on them to tell us what they know." That too, is something the Bats can do and do well. They might need to watch for magical interference, but the gang leaders are simply human. Right?
Blackbird and Batman, maybe Robin and Red Robin too, could certainly do without too much trouble.
Searching Batman. I'll send the results as I find them. That means that Oracle needs to deep dive on this information. There's nothing immediately obvious.
In the distance, they can hear Staten Island PD draw near. With the disappearance of the magical influence, the people have calmed and now the police are focussing on this disturbance. The Bats have a few minutes, but not many more.
Dylan Grey pulls out his phone and opens the Google Maps app. Swiping it up, he projects a 3-dimension image of it into the air. "The two remaining crystals are here and here." he says, pointing to 2 flashing dots. "The other three were here, here and here." Reaching out, he taps three locations which get marked but don't flash. One's near Wayne Manor and another near the old Clocktower. Gazing at the map, he says "I'm been thinking how strange it is that so many different pantheons are working together but something one of them said tonight explained it to me. It said this is their home. We're not looking at creatures from Britain or Greece or South American. We're looking at the American pantheon. America, especially New York, is a melting pot. People from all over the world come here and their bring their gods, their demons and their angels. The ones we're fighting live here and they're fighting for their homes and their lives. What would you do in the same situation?" he asks the three bats, who are indeed in the same situation. "It might not be too late to come to some sort of compromise but if we can't, it's going to be a war of extinction. One side or the other."
"Then it will be their demise." comes the comment from the oldest Bat after he's looked at the map. Apparently there's little in the way of compassion for these creaturesn that have invaded Staten Island. Even if they were there before he and his were there. But at the sound of the sirens, his head turns towards the gates and he grunts. And with that, he's turning to head to the car to prepare to depart. Darn Bats and their avoidance of paperwork.
"Or, you know. A compromise where we all come out ahead," Blackbird tacks on after the Bat's declaration, flicking a playful sort of salute in Dylan's direction. "We'll be in touch," she promises, striding off toward her bike. No need to get the authorities involved in all of this, after all.
"Thank you." Batgirl says to Dylan. She's grateful for the assistance. She'd been struggling to get ahead of this thing till he'd shown up. "As you can guess, we don't want to meet the police. I'll be in touch or Oracle will. And you know how to get in touch with us."
Turning to her bike, the redheaded Bat moves off. She's going to need to get some heat on her back and hopefully it won't take long for the pain recede or she hasn't done any permanent damage.
It's a moments before the engine on her bike roars and she peels off. Leaving Dylan, alone in the cemetery with the bound mages.