evilbeej | Scene in progress #2 (Reply)

The skies are red and roiling, winds that can knock Superman out of the sky, earthquakes and natural disasters of all kinds throwing fits and kicking up a big fuss--

--people, missed and grieved over for years, appearing again; first it was by fits and starts, small anomalies, a hero here and a hero there, people who never /did/ come back to life--

--people no one had ever /heard/ of showing up, integrating themselves, leaving--

--people disappearing and no one, or everyone, missing them.

People, all.

This time it's a city, back from the dead, with every ounce of happiness and despair and squalor and opulence it ever had, living and breathing from its subway entrances, seeing through its windows, feeling through the skin of its streets and thinking through the minds of its people.

Coast City.

Above it all, more than a mile, nearly in the blood red clouds but not moving an inch, is a young man in purple and black. He's watching the city, hands extended.

When one thinks of Coast City, there are few things that come to mind.

First and foremost would probably be the fact that it 'housed' one of the greatest Green Lanterns of all time. After that, just a typical town in California with a heavy hand in the aerospace industry, not to mention home to one or two of the top military bases in the country. That aside, Coast City was quite the peaceful thriving town - that is of course until Mongul's warships decimated the entire area in an attempt to convert the area into one of two engines for a WarWorld conversion of Earth.

Of course the destruction of Coast City begat the downfall of Hal Jordan, begat the coming of Parallax, begat the 'Zero Hour', et cetera, et cetera.

So, understandably news of a place that has been mourned for ages suddenly reappearing spreads fast. Too fast. Panic level fast. When people panic, heroes stand up and listen. When heroes stand up and listen, investigations occur and 'specialists' are called in...well, more often than not. In the case of Coast City suddenly being where before it wasn't, Coast City's own champion was called in by those Earth heroes investigating the matter...the only champion Coast City has ever known - The Green Lantern. Hal Jordan.

Normally Hal would be pushing himself to arrive as quickly as possible, surpassing flight speeds that his fellow Lanterns are mostly wary of, but with his 'heroic passengers' in tow, he dares not get too far ahead. Emerald aura pulsing and shimmering as he approaches the airspace near Coast City, the emerald knight can't help but wonder if his eyes are deceiving him. Red skies or not, for all intents and purposes, even from the distance he and those in tow are at, it's clear that Coast City is where it should be...rather, is where it was but shouldn't still be.

"See, it was just funny when a flock of Stay Puff't Marshmallow Men appeared roaming the plains of Utah. That was comedy," Ralph muses, peering over the edge of his flying green cardboard box. "But this? Zombie cities? That's more creepy." He stretches his nose, nostrils flaring, and frowns. "They don't SMELL like zombies. This doesn't smell like a city full of zombies." The stretchable sleuth takes another sniff, and starts coughing. "Okay, that was the dump."

Ralph retracts his nose and peers around at the flying heroes. He indicates the city below with a broad gesture. "Anyone else creeped out here?" He continues to peer. "Even a little? No? Just me?" Ralph sighs and crosses his arms. "Fine. Be all macho. See if I care."

Batgirl looks at Ralph oddly for a moment from her simple green platform, and just shrugs. "Never... been here." she says simply, then turns her eyes back towards the city, taking in as much as she can. Batman, unfortunately, can not be everywhere at once, and so Batgirl, of all people, was brought in to stand in for him for now. Considering most heroes don't even know she exists, this is a little odd to say the least, but she doesn't really care about that. It's a job she has to do. That job mostly being, in this case, recording everything she sees with the cameras in her eyelets, relaying everything back to Oracle so she can get it back to Batman. She is, how you say, being Batman's eyes and ears. She spares Hal a short glance - is it wrong that people coming back from the dead is getting a little less weird to her? - then tries to focus on the task at hand.

"It's strange," Xiphos admits. She is crouched alertly within a flying green wagon, of the sort that little kids pull up and down the streets of sunny suburbs. Her eyes flit down briefly to watch the fat wheels, with little plastic caps on the hub, wind to a stop. She really must learn how these rings work.

"I don't recognize that target," she says to those present. She assumes that Ralph doesn't either - else, it should be in the JLI database she just searched through. But this strange tagalong... Xiphos takes a moment to study her. A lot of interesting devices on her person that she's already scanned, though not entirely figured out. "Do you?" she asks of the masked woman beside her.

Her eyes are drawn up briefly, taking in the skyline... and she quickly does a double-take as she spots that figure in the sky. "... Cosmic Boy." she says softly, then points upward for Hal (and everyone else's, but mostly Hal's) benefit.

It's a city in distress, zombies or not -- earthquakes! Floods! Red doom clouds! Lightning! And-- Cosmic Boy; he worked with the Justice League when Brimstone attacked. Cosmic Boy, who was the one leading the group of young heroes from the future who got stuck in the present, years ago. Years ago, when the sun went out in the Final Night. Cosmic Boy, who saw Hal Jordan's sacrifice.

That's why, when the other heroes approach, his eyes go wide-- "PARALLAX??" Unfortunately, the distraction also makes him lose his... grip? Balance? Whatever it was keeping him stationary, it's gone; he gets buffeted by the raging wind and slammed down toward the city.

The closer the Green Lantern Taxi Service (tm) gets to the city and airspace above it, the more turbulence they encounter, and while Hal's power ring is able to keep the ride mostly stable, that stability is eroding quickly - even moreso after witnessing the youth in purple plummet towards the city proper.

Reacting more on instinct than any sort of thought, Hal finally pushes forth that extra bit of willpower, unsure of whether the youth can survive such a fall he aims himself towards a point below the fall trajectory. Of course his 'companions' are still in tow, but likely not as fast, their transportation constructs wrapping around them to ensure that they don't end up plummeting to their dooms at this point. Closer and closer to the city, seconds feeling like minutes, the emerald knight's brow furrows as he extends a ringed fist forward and attempts to anticipate where the youth might fall, willing forth a gigantic emerald cushion in the hopes of both literally and figuratively cushioning his fall. Of course, the citizens, if one can call them that, of this Coast City do take note of what's going on, speaking in hushed tones but with excitement on their faces - the Green Lantern has come. 'He'll save us.' 'He'll know what's going on.' 'Where has he been?'. Sentiments echo amongst the city, bristling with the same sort of energy and life Hal clearly recalls from his past... one of his few memories that hasn't been clouded or tainted by his return - still, his focus isn't on the people below but on ensuring the safety of the youth in purple, and the safety of Batgirl, Xiphos and Ralph. His descent slowing, Hal begins to float as opposed to speed, the roofs of many of the buildings in Coast City now a mere few metres away.

"I must be getting old," Ralph replies. "All the hip young heroes have probably never heard of this place. Too busy seeing how low they can sling their jeans or how many thongs they can wear. You know how it is, I'm sure." He leans forward, cupping his chin in his hands, and begins to cogitate. "No, Xiphos. I don't recognise him. Not yet, at least." The detective taps his chin. "Hmm. Red sky. Random appearances. Random disappearances. Marshmallow men. And now Coast City, back from oblivion. The red sky is a tempting culprit, but is obviously a symptom and not the cause. Perhaps the resurrected metropolis will yield a clue." Despite his best efforts, a very small smile tugs at the corners of his mouth. And... yes. Yes, there it is. The nose twitch. "I smell a mystery."

Ralph looks up, bugging out his eyes towards the man that Batgirl has pointed out. "Cosmic Boy?" he repeats. "Huh. Cosmic Boy." A moment later, he brightens. "But doesn't Cosmic Boy wear pink? I distinctly remember pink spandex. It was very daring in those days. Much like George Michael." He spares a glance for Batgirl. "I guess you wouldn't know George Michael either. I mean, he's certainly no Fifty Cent."

Of course, at this juncture Cosmic Boy topples from the sky. Without a moment's hesitation, Ralph's entire torso goes streaming out into the air, stretching at a rather alarming rate. Seeing Hal take matters in hand, he relaxes a little, but stretches the rest of the way towards Cosmic Boy nonetheless. "Woah there, Cosmic Boy! You don't have to be THAT starstruck when you see Ralph Dibny, the world-famous Elongated Man!"

Batgirl takes a moment of her valuable time to stare at Ralph. What the heck is he babbling about? And why's he comparing people's worth to half a dollar? A headtilt and a shrug later, she watches him stretch out, stuck between awe at the rather new sight of it, and worry for Krinn as he plummets to the ground amidst the freakish occurance this city and what's going on in it represents.