SIEGE TO THE PALACE

[andaway]

Characters: Everyone involved in the player missions
Date: 18th May
Location: The Palace
Situation: It's been too long since Malicant took over the palace, and it's time the foreigners did whatever they could to take it back. They might find out more than they had expected to find in the process.
Warnings/Rating: Fighting and shit? Please poke me if this needs to be changed.


Maybe you heard Superman suggesting they met up on the radio, trying to get as many people possible together for an attack that might prove unsuccessful, but would at least distract Malicant enough to get some information. Maybe you agreed to meet up and were talked into an open attack. Maybe you were talked into it by someone, dragged into a fight you wouldn't normally be part of otherwise Maybe your friends and you decided to take matters into your own hands, get together to try to attack the palace yourself and get something out of it.

Whichever the reason, there is no going back now. There's a yell, and suddenly... the attack begins.

[OOC: An open thread for the initial attack and threads for each mission will be added to this log. The idea is for a big battle to start with, and the teams to be divided naturally. Like I said, everyone gets a chance to fight! I added a questions thread just in case, if you aren't sure about something one of us will do our best to answer.]

Comments

[andaway]

[Superman would honestly rather not be involved into this. Not because he doesn't think the palace needs to be taken back, and he's fully aware they might get important information out of this- but fighting, as weird as it might be to some, really isn't his favorite past-time.

But it's not like they have many choices. So he's one of the first to attack, using his laser vision to test the barrier's defenses.]

[animosus]

[Hal glows green and flies, but that's about as far as anyone would go to say that is how he normally is in battle. For one thing, he's eschewed the gl uniform to fight in his own clothes.

He also wasn't avoiding Clark per se, but he also wasn't going out of his way to find him either. Unfortunately both of them had similar ideas and had decided to participate in the attack which brings them both in close proximity.

Hal tries ramming a construct train into the barrier before he glances at the man close by. His eyes flicker down to what he knows is a fake leg before looking away guiltily.]

...hey Clark.

[He's not good at the secret identity thing, okay?]

[andaway]

Hal. [There's no malice in the name, but there's definitely is a bit of sarcasm in his voice. Just because bitty versions of him have outed his secret identity doesn't mean he doesn't want to keep his own. Seeing him like this, in his own clothes reminds Superman of that one time the Green lantern gave Clark his own ring to try when he was powerless and instead of a green Superman, they got Green lantern Clark Kent.

It also reminds him of Hal standing above him, ready to kill him as Superman felt the pain of chunk of Kryptonite on his chest and Batman's body got cold besides him. He wonders if Hal remembers as much as he does, from their time in the bottle. Judging by how long it's been since he's seen him he'd say he does.

He goes back to using the laser vision. He'd punched the barrier once, it hadn't ended well.]

Long time no see. [He thinks he should say something more, reassure the man that he isn't angry... but he isn't quite sure how.]

[animosus]

[That terse response has Hal's imagination filling in the blanks. Definitely mad at him and the only reason he isn't getting a laser to the face was because Clark was that much better than them. He'd gotten distracted and stopped fighting Arthur, but with Clark, Hal had wanted to tear him apart and it was only because other people held him back that it didn't happen. How do you move on from that? There was no adequate apology he could ever make.]

I thought I'd try that low profile thing... [He's mumbling which is unusual because Hal isn't the type for uncertainties. But he really does value Superman's opinion while most of the time he doesn't care what other people think.]

[andaway]

This isn't working... [He mutters to himself, because the laser vision wasn't making any visible progress. Not surprising though, if Hal's own constructs couldn't get past the barrier they'd have to try something else.

So he turns to look at him, this time with a little sheepish smile as he runs a hand through his hair.] Helping attack the palace? Definitely low profile.

Not the best situation for us to catch up, but... how are you doing?

[animosus]

[Hal is thrown off by the question that he drops his construct to stare at him incredulously.]

I tried to kill you and I'm responsible for your leg, I think I should be asking you that.

[One benefit of having Hal around is that he isn't going to beat around the bush.]

[andaway]

...What? [It actually takes him a few seconds to reply, he had totally not seen that one coming. Once he's processed it... well. He spent weeks in prison because he felt he deserved it, so it's not like he doesn't get where Hal's coming from.

Still...] Hal, it wasn't you. Just like it wasn't me. We were both the victims, and we both have paid the price for it. But answering your question: I'm fine.

[animosus]

[Hal crosses his arms as he floats just above the ground. This argument doesn't hold any weight to him because he's already gone the supervillain path before.]

I can believe it for you, but I remember everything. Do you know what I remember from Parallax? Nothing. I missed years, but I remember every detail about this.

[He now knows the exact sound he makes when he's dying, what it feels like to cut through Atlantean bone and how it feels to successfully take down Superman.]

[andaway]

I remember every bit of it as well. I remember everyone I killed and hurt, I remember slicing a sword through my father's chest after he'd cut off my leg. And I remember you guys talking about killing me through the pain of having a shard of Kryptonite stabbed into my chest.

We could sit and share memories, if you'd like. But it'd still not have been us.

[animosus]

Then who was it! [In Hal's opinion if it's not possession then it's having something dug out of their subconscious and that's just as bad because that means it's something they've been suppressing about themselves.]

[andaway]

The corruption, Hal. [He speaks calmly, the voice of someone who's had the same conversation a hundred times before. But this is the first time he's been on the other side of it.]

The death plane got to us, somehow. It manipulated us, it turned us into things we're not.

[animosus]

Or it just brought out another side of us. [And he's mostly excusing Clark's behaviour with Batman brought kryptonite, it must have set something off.

Why are people so bent on not letting him self-flagellate.]

[andaway]

Are you suggesting there's a side of my father who wanted to cut my leg of? A side of me who wanted to stab him with a longsword right in the middle of his chest?

[animosus]

Bruce brought Kryptonite. [Somewhere in the multiverse, Batman wants to kill Hal Jordan, but at least there's no one listening to hear this.]

Who knows what that was doing to you guys with the death plane stuff.

[andaway]

Batman [Jesus, Hal] brought Kryptonite because I was already killing people. We both were. And not quick, painless deaths either- you should have seen what I did to poor Invincible. [His heart in his hand, still beating, blood dripping down-]

I spent weeks in prison to convince myself it wasn't me. You don't need to convince me of that. But if I'm not allowed to blame myself then you aren't allowed to blame yourself either.

[animosus]

[Hal falls under the category of supers who only have a secret identity through sheer luck and writer favouritism.]

I never got arrested.

[He means both times and while it supports Superman's claim that they weren't responsible, but to Hal it's starting to feel like he hasn't even begun to atone.]

[andaway]

I shouldn't have gotten arrested, is my point. Or at least- [He runs a hand down his face, groaning] Evandau had me and my father in a cell for a day to make sure it had been the corruption that had attacked people, not me. Once he knew that, he'd let us both go.

[Kal had decided to stay, but that wouldn't help his point.]

If you don't trust my word, trust the word of someone who's lost a lot to this war. Evandau knew, for sure, it hadn't been us.

[animosus]

I'm not trusting the word of someone who messed with your memory because that sure as hell wasn't one day.

[Hal knows exactly how many times he thought about visiting before chickening out every time. He'd come close more than a couple of times, but he'd never made it any further than just outside the building.]

[andaway]

[He shakes his head.] No, I spend weeks in there. But Evandau only kept me prisoner for a single day, for security reasons. He knew it hadn't been me- us. Any of us.

[animosus]

[...]

So you decided to stay in jail?

[That better not be true, mister.]

[andaway]

[A shrug.] Stupid, I know. But yes. For a few weeks.