Artemis glances at where Wallace is encased in resin, appears to realise that she wouldn't be able to cut him out, then lunges at me!
Correctly calibrated sonic emitter just behind it and activate!
Well, not cut him out quickly, and if the resin can re-liquefy when it's cut away, she'd likely trap herself.
WzzzEEEEN!
And that arm is free, can I-? No, can't step out or transition-. Shield!
So the jamming effect is across the general area, rather than anything in the resin itself. Good to know.
Artemis stabs toward my face! I form the shield below her arm and try knocking it upwards, but she jumps and kicks off the shield into a flip to avoid getting caught, her left hand already going for her quiver-. And those crumbler arrows I made for her.
New sonic emitter, aim at my shoulder and activate!
A crumbler would probably be more effective against the resin for sure, shield or no shield. Goes to show how canny she is when she's motivated. Even if they're a bit
bad at the moment.
WzzzEEEEN!
Arm free! Point defence construct, shoot the arrowhead before she can hit my shield construct! Move the emitter!
Multi-tasking at the speed of thought. Classic OL.
WzzzEEEEN!
She alters the angle of her swing as the arrowhead fizzles, smashing it at full strength into my arm! My filament connections are severed by brute force, constructs failing-! She releases the shaft, grabbing a replacement and stabbing for my arm with her knife! Catchitcatchit-! Okay, thatNO!
Sounds like he didn't catch it the way he
wanted to...
AGH!
I caught her hand, but she flicked the knife forwards and it went through anyway! X-ionisation may not trump construct shields but it's a big strength multiplier! I've-. Barely got any connection to that ring and I don't have time to free my other arm. Pneumatic ram construct, aim for her stomach, she can take it.
...Ouch. Especially nasty considering she flicked that with Dannered strength, so it would hit like a thrown spear or something heavier.
I knock her back a little, but she grabs her crumbler arrow and hits it before it can exert its full force. But that buys me a little time. Sonic emitter aimed at my chest, fire!
WzzzEEEEN!
Ah, that Danner reaction speed enhancement at work. Not
quite 'faster than a speeding bullet' but dang close.
Point defence-!
She's drawing and loosing at full speed, but my point defences can keep up with it. She isn't running back in… Okay, good? I move the sonic emitter to my left arm and trigger it again-
Looks like she's realised with him pinned down, he's an easier target for ranged attacks than just stabbing and hacking. Or Sleez did. Depends on how much control he's exerting, especially with Donna after him.
WzzzEEEEN!
-leaving me with just my legs encased as she draws and looses more-.
And if he was
desperate, he could sever his lower half, fly off and rebuild before he bleeds out...
Behind her, Wallace's cocoon shatters! How did-? Arrows on the ground, she shot holes in his prison while I was focusing on me-.
Wallace materialises in front of me, a vial of Essence of Vitriol aimed at my face-!
Teamwork makes the dream work. Admittedly, a dream of murderising a friend, but...
He blinks, tension leaving his body. He takes a breath, looking at his hand in puzzlement and returning the vial to his belt. Then he makes eye contact with me, and he's himself again.
"Oh El? We fighting Trickster? Because.. I..." He looks around. "Don't remember exactly how we got here."
Donna made it, then. And probably for the best he can't remember anything that happened between encountering Sleez and now.
"One moment."
WzzzEEEEN!
I pull myself out of what's left of the resin, feeling decidedly better about the situation. "Orange Lantern to Troia. Get him?"
Presumably Artemis froze at the same moment, easing off on her bowstring in confusion.
"Knocked him out. He was trying to give me… Disturbing ideas."
"Good work. I'll-."
"Are we..? Calling this in? If he's.. working with… You know who…"
Well, you
do have two counts of mind-controlling a League Affiliate on the books now. Even if he claims to have panicked, that's enough to
hold him.
"Look, I don't know what everyone is expecting me to do here, but the situation with Nabu was a personal failure for me as well and I'm not trying to repeat it. Unless Robin objects, call it in as normal. If Batman is using his expertise then he can do it in the open with Scott Free watching. If he's not, there's no problem."
Now I wonder if Batman or other folks had a sudden moment of confused clarity just now.
"I-. I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to say that I thought you were planning on killing Batman."
"Of course I have a plan for killing Batman. I'm just not enacting it." Over to my right Artemis shakes her head, banging the heel of her right hand against her temple. "Unlike Nabu, I respect Batman, and I know this… Isn't his normal character. Ri-. Robin, has Arsenal found anything?"
I like that OL has sort of settled into the 'prep-time god' with Batman moving into more of a relaxed 'Bat-dad' position.
"He's breaking in now."
"Great. Artemis? Kid Flash? How are you feeling?"
No... Peculiar aches or pains in
private spots?
"Ah." Wallace shrugs. "Fine?"
Artemis winces. "Like I just got done with one of Dad's exercises. What happened?"
Not a
fun time, then. At least she has a standard for bad shit.
"It seems that there's been an Apokoliptian living on Earth for several decades. Not completely sure what he's been up to, but given that his occupation was sourcing actors for pornographic films I doubt-"
Wallace splutter-laughs. "Seriously?"
Oh, wait, KF, it gets
worse.
"-that it was anything beneficent. That's the legal work he was doing in his public identity, yes."
He meets my eyes for a moment, then he sharply sucks in a breath. "But if he could make us his minions in a few minutes… How many of them were actually…"
He nods to himself, and I nod back.
Yeee
uuuup. I'm just imaging the full-body cringe-and-shudder he may have suppressed there.
"And that was just his public identity. He's a New God whose powers relate to covert corrup-tion." Ooh. "Robin…"
"Yeah, I thought of that." He snorts with amusement. "Sure would be convenient, huh?"
Sadly, real life is rarely so
convenient. As much as I joked above, I doubt he had anything to do with Batman's current state.
Artemis frowns, looking at me. "Huh?"
"If Batman went looking for New God technology on Earth, ran into Sleez as he was doing the same and got his mind altered. We get Sleez, Mister Miracle shoves him into some sort of influence removing machine, and we can all stop worrying."
More likely Batman will tell them 'I tapped his expertise for certain parts of the Peace Agent systems. Nothing more.'
She nods. "Buuut you don't think that's gunna happen."
I hold up my right arm-. Repair it, then cross my fingers. She snorts.
Oh, right, the nearly-severed one. Surprised that wasn't repaired without comment. Besides a joke about her losing her x-Ionised blade.
Wallace looks around. "Are you good cleaning this place up? Because if that's Trickster's gunk I can't do anything with it."
"Yes, I've got this. Troia, what are you securing Sleez with?"
And is he likely to make snarky comments about it when he wakes up?
"My lasso, your magic suppression manacles and Big Barda's New God restraints."
I frown. "Do they all fit?"
At first I though 'Do the restraints actually fit someone that small', but Then I realised they're all on at once. I could definitely see the competing for space, especially on his true form.
"Kind of."
"Okay. I'll-" I recover Artemis's knife and pass it to her. "-deal with this, you go and help Troia, and then I.. guess we'll go and see Batman."
And then we get to see what, if any connection Sleez may have to all of it.