Judgment Day

[dr_black_light]

( Fifteen minutes to the second after his first transmission ,the live feed from Guantanamo comes on.

The first image the nations that are viewing see is Brainwave, strapped to a tree in a manner that is meant to evoke images of the crucifixion of Christ.  He is by all appearances unconscious.  An off-camera voice speaks.)

"Henry King, Jr., also

Comments

[caleb_z]

Caleb has experienced the passing of hours, his real life having faded from memory in favor of his ideal life. Brainwave's jarring pulls Caleb out of his nirvana, and back into reality. And as painful an experience as that is, the worst of it is those first few seconds, when the fantasy world still feels more real than the dirt beneath him, and his memories re-align themselves.

He never married Kenna. She left him before he could propose, never even aware that it was coming. He never perused the career at the museums, opting instead to pursue the supernatural to heal his sister. Who, incidentally, was too busy with the coma he put her in to become a brilliant inventor.

He’s in Cuba. With the Outsiders. Corrine is lost, and Amelia is in a psych ward. Dying.

Maroon eyes settle onto Slyther, as even his inner incubus feels a lust for blood. Caleb ignores the throbbing ache in the back of his head as he picks himself up, and violently pushes Slyther’s magic away from her, siphoning it off faster than she can summon it to her command.

He advances with gritted teeth as the blood from his nose signals his body’s protest. Between the power given by Gemma and the power he is channeling away from Slyther, he’s pretty close to his tolerance. But as the glint of his knife racing for her shoulder can attest, he’s ignoring that as well.

[jla_kobra]

In an interesting moment of overlapping attacks leaning for the worse, the superheated air currently around Slyther causes the knife to start to slag.

What Caleb will find...to his alarm...is that the amount of magic at Slyther's disposal isn't DISSIPATING as he absorbs it.

A simple spell to ward off the heat allows Slyther to focus on Caleb for a moment. Siphon all you want...I'll make more. My ability allows me to duplicate the magical energy in my immediate vicinity perpetually. I'll never run out. In fact, as you absorb my energy, my overall energy increases!

The question is, Caleb, how much can you absorb before you reach YOUR breaking point?

And Caleb will find the rate he is absorbing magic tripled. Her intent is to overload him.

She then turns to Hotshot. I'll be with you in a moment, sweetheart. The tone is almost kind.

[gemma_masters]

"Stop absorbing Caleb, shove it down her throat instead." And knowing it probably won't help she takes a potshot at Slyther's head with the gun he gave her.

"Hey bitch I remember who your Daddy over there is now, he tends t'come out pear shaped against Constantines doesn't he?"

[caleb_z]

He stops absorbing magic from her, but doesn’t release the charge. She was right in recognizing that this isn’t a pace he can sustain indefinitely…

A glance at Gemma. So, she can only absorb magical energy? Fine, lets give her something that isn’t magical at all.

He pours all the magic he absorbed into a combustion spell …

And releases it against Hotshot.

[jla_kobra]

The bullet melts. A spare glance over to Gemma. "Just because I can't hurt you doesn't mean that I have to tolerate you."

And an opaque bubble immediately surrounds Gemma, blocking in light and sound and giving her a limited air supply.

That's when Hotshot goes kaboom. Yes, it hurts, getting even through the protection spells in place. Additionally, it sends her flying several feet away.

The protection spell flickers and resolidifies, but she's already preparing for a retaliation...

[jla_kobra]

...while Kobra, still engaged with Ibn and Sand, manages to spare a bolt of pure, concussive force straight at Caleb's back, while he's focused on Slyther.

The force of which would...and has...given the Martian Manhunter pause.

[caleb_z]

The force catches him by suprise, and sends him tumbling off of his feet. The wind being knocked out of him leaves him stunned.

His concentration broken, the combustion spell dissipates.

[green_shield]

"Caleb!" Tara, still with her arm still frozen in extension, stands between her teammate and the psychopath.

He won't miss. She may not live through it -

But that's when the cavalry arrives.