Showdown at Slaughter Swamp

[newoutsiders]

Batgirl and Green Arrow have been riding for a few hours now, on their way to Slaughter Swamp: the last sighting of the mutated, truck driving zombie dubbed "Gingross." The red-tinged air pollution of Gotham fades behind you, giving way to the muted moonlight of a cloudy night sky. The swamp carries something of a supernatural reputation, as you're well aware- if the "hauntings" in Connor's building can be traced anywhere, Slaughter Swamp is as likely a point of origin as any.

Eventually, you run out of road and park the Batcycle. The nearest source of real light is coming through the window of a nearby, small wooden shack right on the edge of the swamp.

Comments

[not_easy_being_green]

Connor realizes too late. "No!"

Idiot. What had he been thinking? He'd given fair warning that he was going to raise the fortress, too, but he hadn't even though to check to make sure Professor Bravo sought cover. Nevermind that he was expecting the man to just meekly go back into the shack where he'd been held captive for weeks, with his only hope of rescue about to storm the fortress. Of course he'd run.

He pushes the guilt aside for now, moving to follow the others in.

[stephbrown]

"Crap," Steph mutters, but there's nothing she can do now. She needs to focus on the task at hand - hopefully she can take out a turret while Starfire's up there being a big glowy distraction. She takes out two explosive batarangs, aims at one of the turrets, and lets both fly.

[newoutsiders]

Maybe it's the shock of the professor's sudden disintegration, but both of your batarangs miss the mark of the turrets- but one does manage to blow open some of the other windows.

[glowymeatshield]

Starfire aims starbolts at the remaining turrets.

[newoutsiders]

Kori fire off two starbolts, disabling both the turrets trained on her.

Two of the remaining turrets continue to attempt to lock onto a target, but the two others find Connor and Stephanie, respectively.

Connor sees the turret gunning for him and moves out of the way before it even comes close- but as Steph attempts the same maneuver, a bolt goes right through the cape trailing behind her.

You all see four men in black pinstripe suits peer through the open windows, and all four start firing submachine guns.

[not_easy_being_green]

Oh, that's not good. Connor considers taking a shot at the turrets, but they look heavily armored, and so, trusting Starfire to take out the other two, he picks a man in the window and fires an arrow at his hand.

[newoutsiders]

Like some kind of superhero whose expertise is in shooting arrows, Connor hits his mark perfectly- maybe a little too perfectly, as the arrow penetrates the center of the gunner's palm.

He, uh. Drops the gun. Obviously.

[stephbrown]

"I need a jetpack," Steph decides, yanking the remains of her cape off. She flings it away from herself and hopes one of the turrets decides it makes a better target than she does now.

Connor's got the right idea; it'll be better for them to take out the people and Starfire to take out the turrets. She pulls a stingerang out and aims; it's full of a jellyfish toxin serum, so if it hits, it'll cause a lot of pain in short order. She aims at one of the gunmen and lets fly.

[newoutsiders]

The gunner to the left of the guy with an arrow in his hand looks over in a moment of concern- just enough time to get a face full of jelly.

It's not a pretty sight... let's just say he's out of the picture too.

[glowymeatshield]

Kory decides to go a little more up close and personal with the remaining two, flying at high-speed towards them, fists extended for a double-punch, fists glowing with just enough energy to really make it sting... though probably not as much as Steph's little invention there.

If she happens to be able to disarm them while she's at it, all the better.

[newoutsiders]

Blazing with righteous fury, Starfire rushes into the remaining two attackers, giving them only enough time to register abject terror. They're out cold, and Starfire is inside a perimeter hallway.

"SEND OUT THE TEST SUBJECTS, ASS!" she hears a low, growling voice shout. "Christ! Who's at our door, the freaking Justice League?"

Those top two turrets have been missing their mark since they started firing. You get the impression their targeting system might have a little too much swamp water in it.

Connor continues to elude the turret trained on him- and it seems the other turret has taken Steph's bait, for now.

[not_easy_being_green]

Connor takes a moment to assess the field. He's not really sure where the best place to make their stand is - with Starfire inside, they're splitting the team just by being here, but at the same time, forcing them to send the "subjects" out divides their forces as well. Not to mention that there could be any number of unknown traps inside - he'd already gotten more than his fill from that trap in front of the door.

Then again, he's also seen full well just what those turrets can do. The way they've been following him, though, makes him wonder if there isn't a way to gum up their targeting system.

"Batgirl!" he calls out. "Do you have anything that can take these out?" As he speaks, he looks over the turret nearest him as best as he can, trying to see if he can spot a camera. If he can, he'll try to put an arrow in it.

[newoutsiders]

You spot some mounts where cameras might have been at some point, but they might have rusted off. This place has clearly seen better days.

[stephbrown]

"I'll give it a try," Steph yells back. She's got a few kaboomerangs left. Now seems like the perfect chance, so she pulls one out and aims for the turret that got her poor cape.

Better her cape than her, though. She's glad Operation: Matador was a success.

[newoutsiders]

With aim straight and true, Steph pulls out her kaboomerang... which is... already... flashing.

Crap.

Thinking fast, Connor turns around and shoots an arrow right at the batarang- rappelling it with extreme speed towards Steph's turret, with is blown to smithereens.

Steph briefly appreciates how nearly that was her. Connor briefly appreciates the power of an explosive arrow.

As for the three remaining turrets, the two on top hit some tall trees. One crashes on top of the base, sinking it slightly back into the swamp- but not to window level- and one crashes on the remains of Professor Bravo's shack.

Distracted by his trick shot, the laser trained on Connor finally catches up to him- but it's been streaming for a while now, and the power seems to be ebbing. It gives him a nasty second degree burn and knocks him from his feet.

***

Meanwhile, inside the Hall of Doom, Starfire hears a trio of moans approaching her- ones which do not sound too dissimilar to the police sergeant who melted in her arms.

[glowymeatshield]

Starfire realizes she's gotten a little too far ahead of the group, and falls back, deciding that facing "test subjects" alone is probably not the best idea. Time to regroup, and make sure she's there to take any further shots aimed at her teammates. That burn Connor's sporting should have been deflected by her.

[newoutsiders]

Starfire moves into a defensive position to attract the Hall of Doom's fire, giving Connor time to get his bearings and up off the marshy ground.

But what's STEPH doing? Let's watch.

[stephbrown]

"There's gotta be a way to disable those things," Steph says, digging in her belt until she finds a taserang. Hopefully it'll be enough of a shock to short the turret out. She takes aim and hopes for better results than last time.

[newoutsiders]

The taserang makes its mark on the turret which was previously aiming for Connor, but a rapid angle shift from the turret as it follows Starfire ricochets it far off course, leaving only a small scorch mark.

Now that she's actively trying to get their attention, all three turrets lock onto Starfire at once.

Steeling herself with a coat of starbolts, Starfire gets directly in front of Connor and Steph, arms locked in an X. The light from all three turrets focusing on a single target is brilliant- but nowhere close to what happens when they make contact with her mighty aura.

Each laser is perfectly deflected back to its source. After a magnificent series of explosions, the constant whir of the laser turrets is finally silent.

[glowymeatshield]

"I'm sorry, I should have done that earlier," Starfire says, calmly, after the turrets exploded. She picks a few stray pieces of one out of her hair.

"Now, I'm fairly certain there's some sort of gooey zombie mob on its way. We should probably prepare for that." She looks between her two comrades. "For the record, zombies mean I'm allowed to use lethal force if I have to, right?"

[not_easy_being_green]

"They're being controlled. They're not mindless," Connor replies.

He glances cautiously back at the fortress, trying to see whether they're planning on sending the "subjects" out or trying to lure them in. He rolls his shoulders gingerly, and is surprised by how little the burns hurt, which is either a very good or a very bad sign.

[newoutsiders]

Your debate on the relative nature of sentience is halted as the subjects in question make their appearance. Connor recognizes them as all three disappearance cases from his street. One- Sal- shuffles like a zombie, but squashing and stretching like an early cartoon character. One moves like a daddy longlegs, his spindly arms and legs extending ten feet away from a compacted head and torso. The third pours out of an open window like a flood of flesh, eyes, hair and teeth all buried somewhere in her mass.

[MODERATION: Here's the initiative order for this encounter:

1. Starfire
2. Longlegs
3. Connor
4. Steph
5. Fleshflood
6. Toon Zombie]

[glowymeatshield]

Koriand'r gives Green Arrow a sad look before turning back to the approaching grotesque horde. "I don't think these subjects survived the testing process," she says. "But I'll do my best to simply incapacitate them."

She doesn't sound like she has much hope that will work before she starts in on Longlegs with a flying double-starbolt-charged-fist attack to his front limbs to try and throw him off balance like an AT-AT.

[newoutsiders]

The heat and impact of her starbolts sear off Longlegs' front right leg, which collapses to the ground like so much taffy- but his front left grabs her by the arm, just before she makes contact, squeezing hard enough to keep hold of her.

Crying out shrilly, Longlegs' mouth expands into an impossibly large, dark maw. He sticks the arm holding Starfire right into his mouth and bites down, swallowing her along with the end of his arm- which immediately grows back.

Notably, the front right arm has not, as a stump of what was once its arm ends in a blackened scorch mark.

[not_easy_being_green]

Every now and again, Connor really starts to think he's gotten the hang of this whole "superheroing" gig. Coming off some mission or another, he will decide that this, finally, is the point at which his path is clear and he is comfortable with his life.

The last time he'd felt this way, life had thrown him against a literal dragon.

This, somehow, is actually worse.

Connor clamps down on his initial "panic" response, trusting Starfire to be durable enough to handle herself. Instead, he elects to get some distance, circling around in the vague direction of the shack behind them, and fires an experimental shot aimed at the stomach of the one with the longer legs.