New York: Greenwich Village

	Since the era of World War I, the image of Greenwich Village has
been that of a bastion of urban bohemianism, a place where anything goes
in terms of music, clothing, thought, and behavior. Indeed, its reputation
for tolerance is well-established, having been a center of counterculture
activity since the Beat era of the late 1950s. But the Village defies easy
categorization, and a walk down Bleecker Street today, past the legendary
coffee houses where Bob Dylan used to play, will probably only kindle
nostalgia for a world not totally overrun with tourists.
	Once a magnet for every manner of starving artist, poet, and
anarchist, the Village is now such an in-demand place that most would-be
world-shakers simply can't afford to live there. Greenwich Village is the
center of New York's gay community, especially in the area around
Christopher Street, which, like San Francisco's Castro Street, has become
synonymous with gay life.

Night. A darkness blotting out the stars, as a creeping grey mists makes
its way along the street. There are too many people in New York City for
the stealthy approach; Death cannot hide what she is, here, and now she
walks slowly and deliberately down the center of the street, ignoring the
muffled screams surrounding her. She has a massive scythe in one webbed
hand. Crowds are fleeing. Those who are not fast enough are touched by the
mist... and they fall. Immediately, and without fanfare. The alarms have
gone out. Sirens are wailing, somewhere beyond the terrified cries. Death,
from the look of her, is not afraid. In fact, she has no expression at
all, except perhaps for a steady determination. She does not laugh, or
take joy in the bloodless carnage she steps over. She is relentless, and
the mist rises around her like a shroud, spreading out from street to
street.

The beings that follow her, however, take a great delight in the havoc
they wreak - some used to be human, it's obvious; corpses from all walks
of life, so to speak, who've died any number of ways and been dead any
number of weeks, comprise a great deal of the veritable army that trails
along in the wake of Death. Demons and monsters are among the ranks as
well, and creatures long thought extinct; mythological beasts and *things*
that the civilised world would have you believe were only created by the
twisted and drug-addled minds of the soothsayers and seers of legend. They
glory in the panic, the alarms, the sirens, the terrified screaming; they
add to it with a desperate clamor of voices long silenced and now set free
into a world that neither wants nor welcomes them. Wherever the mist
doesn't go, whatever corners Death neglects, these doom-bringing creations
and horrific parodies of humanity ferret out and infest.

Over the nearby Tenements. Booster Comes using his flight controls,
Carrying Green Arrow in a comfortable sitting position. He has is
forcefield forming a seat and he is heading there as fast as he can. "I
think we got this down to a science. You want me to drop you on the high
ground or what?"

Green Arrow nods. "If this winds up like last time, I definitly want to be
up away from the hordes of zombies or whatever the hell else is here this
time..." he says as the two Outsiders approach the rooftop of a five story
tenament.

Coming out of an alleyway and zipping up his fly, feeling about ten pounds
lighter, Mitch Shelley has a look of smug satisfaction on his face, until
he turns his head and looks down the street at the scene on its way
towards him. "Son of aaaaaaa bitch!" He exclaims, proving, despite his
appearance and smell that he isn't a zombie yet. But that's all he has
time to say before the cloud of mist reaches him, and collapses, dead in
the street.

Somewhere, not so far off in the distance of the New York city skyline,
comes a rumbling like the thunder of a far off storm. From that direction
flashs, for a few moments only, a brilliant green-white light before it
fades away to darkness. Or rather, as much darkness as ever comes about in
New York city. Seconds later comes a second booming rumble, too far off to
be truly determined. Those with a manner of detecting energy just had
their sensors spike painfully high and then drop dead silent a moment
later. Just moments later comes a flicker of light, several miles off, but
before an eye can blink the rumble can immediately be directed from that
source. Whatever it is, it has no more place on this planet than the
atrocity in the middle of the street. (Yes, that's Orion)

She is walking barefoot. Her long hair is still damp from the harbour
waters. Death's pale blue eyes rove the streets as she walks, and where
her gaze falls, still more people die. The odd rumbling causes a tilt of
her head, but no other reaction; grey mist flows and plays around her feet
as she walks. Superheroes, it would seem, are not her concern.

It's fairly easy to tell where the zombies are from above: everywhere,
just about. But the places they aren't, everything is still. Still and
grey, as Death has always been seen to be by the Western world.

Off to the right, people run screaming out of a coffeeshop - and then
moments later, figures come shuffling out after them, calling in croaking
voices, waving decrepit limbs. "Anna!" they cry. Or, "Sherer!" and "Joey!"
The names of the patrons, apparently, as the living turn to face the dead
in surprise. And their looks, as one, turn to looks of abject terror as
they -recognise- the figures for who they are. Ah yes - the dear departed.
Coming at them with nails like talons and jaws falling off!

"Hey, Dol!" calls a voice from within the mob - then from the edge - then
outside. "Think you could get me some that aren't falling to bits? I'm
sure there're people in the morgue that've only got shot...these folks, I
dunno, their heads are falling off and stuff." It's a vaguely familiar
blond man, seen often around New York, and more often than not in the
presence of known heroes. So what's he doing?

Down Christopher Street, a body crashes through a window, followed quickly
by a woman clothed in some rather...interesting underwear, and not much
else. Oh, and she's carrying - oh, god, she threw her head at a passerby!

Slowly, nay, inexorably, the Southern derelict named Mitch Shelley drags
his carcass from the pavement, pulling off his hat in one hand to slide
the other gloved hand back over his greasy mullet as he rises.
"Damn...what hit me...." He slowly turns, and locks brown eyes with
Death's baby blues, and collapses, dead in the street, hat falling from
his grasp and sliding across the asphalt through the mist in the night
wind. His trenchcoat is sprawled around him like a shroud.

The booming grows nearer and nearer with speed that belies a human eye's
ability to follow until it is so near that nothing but a shimmering red
and golden blur exists. Orion, in his harness, squeezes the trigger of his
weaponry which hums for a split second, causing a mild tremor to flicker
through the air. Then, like some incredible dinosaur roaring the blurred
figure breathes forth a white-yellow light of energy that defies human
description and can only be described as primal creation focused upon a
target; shaking buildings and windows as it thrums through the area guided
by some unknown intelligence of its own. The Astro-Force is fired into the
mob of zombies in a wide, heartless swath of devastation intent on ripping
down every moving thing on the street as it flies towards the Horseman of
Death.

They came from the sea, these creatures of the night, these undead that
now walk amongst the living. These people who were once from the proud
city of Atlantis. The citizens of Poseidonis now walk the land, but not as
their monarch and leader Aquaman, for these horrors need not breath the
air, or the water, for they do not breath at all. They are dead, yet not.
What once was so full of life had that taken from them, and now, now they
have the antithesis of life.

However, not all of Poseidonis' children perished in the attack that was
wrought upon it by Death herself. No, some survived, fleeing the city,
fearing for their lives. It was there that Orin, Lord of the Seven Seas
and King of Poseidonis found them, one by one, searching deep and shallow
for his people. He had been away when the attack had come, and the news
was like a stake through his heart. The devastation that was brought upon
Aquaman's home, his city, and his people has taken its toll and he has
been following the girl he once called Dolphin, hell-bent on solving this
problem on his own. He does not need the JLA to help him. This is
Poseidonis business. Together with the fifty or so stout Atlanteans that
he has managed to bring to him, he has followed, biding his time, hoping
that more would be found before he was forced to play his hand. Now it
would seem that Orin has waited too long. Another failure in a long line
of failures. Only this one threatens to consume them all.

Behind the zombies, after the last one has passed out of the water, the
surface churns once more before breaking and the blonde Atlantean,
standing atop the back of the largest manta ray that has ever been seen by
man comes into the air. Behind him, in suits designed to protect them from
the air and keep their skin moist are those fifty warriors that Orin has
managed to recruit. As his blue eyes scan the city on New York, a grim
determination comes to his eyes before he turns to the soldiers behind
him.

"People of Poseidonis," he begins, voice hard and cold and easily heard
over the screams. He would have it no other way. "With this city is the
woman who took our home, slew your friends, your family. Your wives and
your children. Although she was once a companion and ally of mine, she is
no longer. She has turned her back on the seas, and upon the rest of the
world. You should no longer look at her as Dolphin, but only the monster
she has become. She must be stopped. If that means only by death, then so
be it. She is the ultimate enemy. Take no quarter where she is concerned."
As his speech ends and he turns back to the city, Orin raises a hooked
hand and points inward. "Attack!"

With that one command the soldiers behind him charge forward, into the
city, protected from the fog by the suits they wear, hand-held harpoon
guns at the ready. They will follow Orin to the death, and they will shoot
to kill, just as he ordered. Only Aquaman must worry about the death fog
that is spreading about the area, so he holds back. For now.

Green Arrow jumps from the forcefield and makes a rolling land onto the
rooftop. He rolls to his feet and checks his quiver for oily rags and the
lighters... he brought even more this time than he did for the trip to
France. And he can't help but think, as he glances downward at the growing
party in the street, that he STILL didn't bring enough.

Booster Arcs around over the horizonin order to make a clearer run and
enter the action.

One step forward, and another. Such a loud city. So many screams, so many
distractions. A small furrow appears between Death's platinum brows as she
meets the gaze of the greasy vagrant down the street... a man who moves
within the deadly mist. But.. ah.. he falls again, and she pays it no more
mind, spreading her hands out to the sides as the mist rises more fully
around her. The blond man has requested more bodies. It seems that is a
request she can accomodate. Forward, and forward again she moves at her
deliberate pace - before the blast of light behind her rips through a
portion of her unnatural army and she whirls, blade of the scythe rising
to block the coming onslaught. Around her, a separate entity, the grey
death continues to spread.

"No - no! Phoebe! What are you doing! I-- *gaaauchk*"

"It's...*rasp*...for the best, Chandler...join us...!"

The scene at the coffeehouse has become too gruesome for contemplation, as
former friends and loved ones set at each other like madmen in the street,
killing or lashing out without regard for humanity, or compassion of any
kind. Soon enough, they're all dead - and the join the army of the undead,
trashing the city and killing anyone who stands in their way.

A gigantic slavering creature with tentacles and buggy eyes slithers out
of an alley through the grey mist, but the casual observer probably
wouldn't be able to tell if it smelled that way naturally or only after
months of decomposition. It leaves a trail of slug slime, and stopped when
it gets to Mitch. And yes - it starts poking at his prone body with
various appendages.

The chaos below the Green Arrow is hard to sort out - very difficult to
tell who's alive and who's dead, since at this point everyone left alive
is smacking at everyone else, thinking everyone's out to get them. They're
not wrong, of course, but some of the dead people look so alive that it's
hard to tell. And every last one of them, it seems, is screaming like a
banshee.

The blond man in the midst of the zombies turns, hearing a report from one
of the zombie underlings, and sees the crowd of fishbowl-wearing Atlantean
warriors. He looks nonplussed, and yells out, cupping his hands around his
mouth, "Come on, are you yutzes the best the ocean has to offer? It-- Oh!
Heh!" He pauses, laughing, "Sorry, you're the -only- ones they have to
offer." Taking his fedora off, he gestures to the advancing undersea types
and yells, "Get 'em, Dead Guys!"

Mitch sits bolt upright, coming to again, and immediately a hand goes to
his head, "Hat's gone....what the..." And then he sees the zombie army
again. He sees flashes and hears booms, and it sounds like a war. But
that's not what's important here. What's important here is, these
sumbitches are invading America. That means its go time. And so, Mitch
rises to his feet, shrugging off his trenchcoat and shaking off his worn
gloves from his hands to reveal his scabby and sinewy arms, and just how
greasy that t-shirt really is. As a final precursor to battle he makes a
hocking sound, and then presses his right thumb to his right nostril,
snorting out some kind of vile corruption onto the ground from the left.
Ritual complete, he raises both arms, waving toward himself in the
direction of the zombies, particularly the blonde yelling one and saying,
"Alright you undead motherf___ers. Come get some."

The Astro-Force, derived from the huge Dog of War's consciousness and body
like an unending battery of raw energy. Once more, moving faster than
human eyes can follow, the harness, and the huge man inside, launch in a
rainbow arc over the scythe-bearing Death. Firing the entire travel as one
half-second the man is in front of the creature and then he is to where
her rear had been firing the energy from the fore, then above and then
behind. Orion fills the air with an almost electric feeling, you may feel
the hair on your body rise as the charges in the air waver and flicker
back and forth wildly. The nigh-deafening roaring of the Astro-Force is
the only sound that comes from the curious, lone figure of a godling.

The last soldiers of Poseidonis continue to pour forth, into the city,
skirting the legion of undead so as not to slow them in their attempt to
reach the leader. Although they are not sure where she is, they know she
is here somewhere. They will and do engage the zombies, should they be
attacked, but run as soon as they can and never engage them first. Their
target is death, not her minions.

As he watches, the blue eyes of Orin narrow before he looks to the sky.
This fog is on the ground, so he will take to the air as best he can.
Making his way further into the interior, the Lord of the Seas stops when
he reaches the edge of the fog and points his harpooned hand upwards and
out it flies, the cybernetic cable looping around a flagpole before it
pulls him up toward the roof. It will take a little acrobatics, and a bit
of swinging, and one sore shoulder, but eventually he is well above the
fog and the street below. Still he doesn't breath heard, even after the
strain, not wanting to show any weakness to this young upstart who has
taken so much from his people, and his kingdom.

Green Arrow start to slowly move down a fire escape, trying to watch the
crowd and pick out a big cluster of dead-heads to pick off. This isn't
nearly as easy as last time when they were all half-rotted and not in the
middle of the world's biggest population center. Still, there's go to be a
cluster... aha... yeah, looks like there's a group of them stumbling out
of that coffeehouse almost directly across from him. With a swift easy
motion, Ollie lights an arrow and sends it flying down into the crowd just
emerging from "Central Perk"

In a flash of blue and gold, Booster Gold arcs back toward Arrow. His
blasters blaze over the hordes of Zombies as he strafes them! He turns
arcing up and moving for a giant Red K Kola Sign. He fires his blaster's
left and right, shooting the moorings. Then he catches it. He flies up and
carries it as far as he can then he flies down with it attepting to
pisition it as an obstacle bgretten the crowd trying to enter the street.

The brilliant light of the Astro-Force strikes Death full-on; she has made
no move to avoid it, only raised the gleaming blade she weilds. And for
several instants more, as Orion makes his passes, there is only that:
brilliant light, nothing to be seen within but the occasional shadow. The
grey mist roils uneasily, violent waves coursing across the street and
edging up the sides of nearby buildings. But, as the light fades, and the
aftereffects are blinked from the eye... ah. Death. And she is Death on
her knees, yes, unbalanced, the scythe raised still above her head,
muscles shifting strong beneath the waxy skin of her arms... but her face
is expressionless. And, obscenely graceful, she rises again. Ignoring the
gibbering hordes around her, she turns her head to follow Orion's
progress... pale eyes pulling and draining at the energy she finds. So
very much life, there. That needs to be taken care of.

Some of the hordes do indeed gibber - saying things like 'Braaaaaains' and
'oooooogah' and 'glork', as zombies are wont to do. A good lot of them,
however - and also a non-negligible number of the recently living - aren't
saying anything, as they collapse into piles of ash on the asphalt, or
lose limbs or heads or whatevers, depending on how decomposed they are.
Looks like Orion's blasts are doing the trick, for the most part.

Above the zombie crowds and the monsters and the hideous undead, Orin was
right - the mist isn't getting him there. Give it time, though, and it
might; the higher up, the better. Some of the undead spot him, though, and
start throwing rotten fruit, debris, and body parts at him. "Get down
here, you hairband-wearin' pansy-fish-thing!" screeches one zombie - one
that's definitely wearing a hairnet and a polka-dotted dress.

The fire arrows Ollie shoots (oh wow, three for three o's so far) hit
their marks, spreading greasy flame through the streets and on the bodies
of the former occupants of Central Perk. One of them, in worse shape than
the others, cries out, "Monica!" and the addressed zombie looks deadly at
him. "I'll be there for you, Chandler."

Booster's strafing fire brings down a good lot of dead people, but the
problem with them is that they're dead - killing them won't make a lot of
difference. They get back up again and keep marching, killing, screaming,
and generally behaving like soldiers of the Apocalypse.

After the mob of dead folks go after the Posies -- I mean, the
Poseidonites - Sandy turns around, grinning, and puts his fedora back on.
"Jeez, it's like they thought they had a chance or something. He blinks at
the mulleted man running toward him, and draws a pistol - and fires at his
head. "Gloryosky! Stay dead, already!"

Booster Gold pulls back. He has sstarted to notice they do not stay dead.
He moves, moving away from them. "Dammit. Arrow, I'm open to suggestions,
short of dropping a building on them." He hovers back. "Man we need to ge
organized and fast." He turns looking at Aquaman, He sees Death, noting
that he can nearly feel the death in the air around her. "I'm open to
suggestions." He moves back and decides to use the high ground as an
advantage until he can think of a way to stop their mass, and starting a
fire int eh middle of the park is not a good idea.

Green Arrow watches as his targets start to burn. "Well, that's a shame...
I was just about to suggest dropping a building on them..." He spots
Arthur trying to make his way up to higher ground, and decides to asist by
firing another volley of fire arrows into the crowd of zombies throwing
things at him. "Hey! Leave my buddy the Fish-Man alone... you'll give him
a bad impression of New Yorkers..."

"Oh, you want some?" Mitch smacks a zombie in the head with the pointy bit
of his elbow, then raises his forearm and fist to punch it in a gesture he
saw in a movie, that doesn't do much in real life, unless you do it to a
mushy corpse. "Oh, you want some too?" He then sends a beautiful field
goal kick, laces first, right into the crotch of another zombie with a
wet, smacky kind of crunch. In the midst of this vaguely martial arts-like
glory, he turns his head to look at Sandy. The bullet enters right between
his eyes, blasting out the back of his head and splattering gore across a
bunch of zombies who could care less. He collapses to the ground, where a
couple zombies kick him, doing more damage to their mushy legs than him,
really.

An almost limitless source of force, Orion is. Being a god and having the
glory of immortality, in respect of aging in any case, the huge man
doesn't weaken or die as quickly or easily as the embodiment of death
tries to sap him of his vigor. However, the effect is noted immediately by
the *Bweep-Beep* of Mother Box, which is answered by a snarling growl of
acknowledgement from the Dog of War. Then, flickering briefly, the
Astro-Harness launchs him forth faster than lightning strikes so that for
nearly a second he appears to be wear he was after he is long gone. The
entire manuever takes about a tenth of of a second as Orion launchs
directly at Death in a 'fly-by' attack where he simply hangs his arm out
intent on delivering a clothesline that would rip the head off a blue
whale and not slow down while carrying him past and back down the
Village's street. A booming shockwave follows in his wake, of course,
deafening all who don't have well protected healing.

Following the horde, Orin begins to make his way inland, on the rooftops,
just as a teammate of his in the JLA is fond of doing. With all the speed
that he can muster, the King of the Seas comes up on the horde from above,
swinging across streets using his harpoon's cable to latch onto the
buildings across the way. As he is avoiding the zombies and not being
slowed by their advances, or their taunts, it takes no time for him to
reach the front lines and the form of Dolphin, arriving just in time to
see the Astro-Force hit the young woman, and for once he smiles. Perhaps
this Orion will do the work for him. However, the smile is short lived,
face becoming an emotionless mask, as the demon is not dead, only stunned.
Five simple words are spoken to Booster Gold in response, "Stay out of my
way."

On the edges of the horde, zombies begin to fall here and there as legs
are cut off by the advancing Atlanteans. Still they do not engage unless
attacked first, and then only long enough to put a harpoon through a leg,
maiming the zombie, before continuing on through the deadly fog.

All around, for streets upon streets, there are yells and screams and
hideous crunching sounds. They are becoming more subdued, however --
ominously so, as more zombies begin to arrive, staggering and stumbling
through the grey fog. The fog itself is most definitely beginning to rise,
creeping up the sides of the buildings. Slipping tendrils in through
windows. Death herself stands at the forefront of the battle. She is
faster than she has any right to be -- the scythe, already up, now twists
to the side, extending in a swift and vicious arc toward her attacker as
she turns herself to keep her deceptively-slender neck safe.

As Booster fails to act and Orin brushes by him, reinforcing his
inactivity with a growled warning, the zombies and monsters and god knows
what else are having a time of it. The ones that were throwing weird crap
at Orin on the rooftop are now in flames, some still marching and some
falling down, and others screaming in agony since their nerves haven't
decomposed yet.

The people staying above the mist had better rethink their positions,
since the mist is rising - slowly but surely, it's heading up towards
Green Arrow and Booster Gold.

Glancing in the direction of the wild noise and the bright lights, Sandy's
eyes narrow. Oh, dear. There they go, attacking Dolphin. Not a good idea,
in any case, but it has the added effect of really pissing off the
life-deficient Golden Ager. He takes out a second gun, and starts firing
both - at the Poseidonites and at Aquaman. Dolphin seems to be dealing
quite well with Orion on her own.

Booster Gold turns for a meoment. He decides to shrug it off. "You're
funeral Charlie Tuna." He narrows his eyes. In fact, he's really not in
the mood to deal with this. "You know if you work with us or at least give
us orders, maybe we could keep the Magnificet seven from becoming the
Corpulous Seven." He narrows his eyes and decides to look at Orin. "Bet
you I knock her off her horse before you do." He turns. "Go" He moves
toward the Pack going at it football style! He puts his forefield up and
decides to plow down as many as he can, trying to cut his way to the
rider!

Lobo is many miles overhead, hovering on his Spacebike looking down
admiring the various acts of violence.

Green Arrow watches as the mist approaches and decides a strategic retreat
is in order. He hurriedly begins to climb back up the fire escape, intent
on getting back up to the roof... and then hopping a few other roofs...
maybe a few other blocks

Oh, Sandy's pissed off, is he? Well, that's nothing compared with the
equally smelly, t-shirted redneck behind him, who now inexplicably has a
skull for a head. Behind him because Sandy turned around. Behind him and
flying through the air. Fast. At Sandy's back. Specifically the head and
shoulders region. And screaming really loud. From his skull head. "Lets
see how y'all like a hole in the head, needled___!" His intent is to latch
on somewhere behind Sandy's head, carry him over, and smash his face into
the pavement. What's left of his face, that is.

Not too incredibly worried for the scythe, and fighting in his typical
berserker style, Orion makes only minimal efforts to avoid it and is,
duly, partaking of one of the most painful experiences of his long, brutal
life. Briefly his soul is wrenched for his immortal shell, only returning
through such monstrouss ties as it has. Moving at the speed he was the Dog
of War's body tumbles limply through the air for a second before regaining
his senses. Lost when he awakens the pavement shreds beneath him as his
body tears through the ground for several hundred yards. Crushing dozens
of zombies as his size and speed rip through them (and just maybe their
golden haired leader, ha!) until the stunned New God lands at the end of
the line. The ground trembles as the body tears along the street with so
much velocity and force with its nigh invulnerable surface. The
Astro-Harness retracts at his mental command, folding up until it tucks
into his belt while he slowly begins to rise.

"You, Booster Gold, are not worth my concern. She," and Orin points to
Death, "is what I am concerned about. Now, if you want orders, I suggest
dealing with the zombies as best you can and leave the real problem to
those of us who can handle the situation." His words are gruff, of course,
and meant to bite, meant to make Booster angry so that later the man will
be able to do what it is he needs to do to stop this legion of undead.
Meant to angry him to the point he ignores his morals and just acts.

Pointing out his arm again at the far building, Aquaman propels himself
off the edge of the roof he is atop, swinging down toward Dolphin with all
the speed gravity can afford to him, the shot from Mister Hawkins missing
him by merely a few inches. His plan of attack is to swing in on Death and
pluck her right off the street, now while she is distracted, and subduing
her up close. He knows the energy attack from Orion failed, but he must
try. This is Atlantean business, and he will take care of it.

Lobo continues watching from afar. He's got some binoculars out, and seems
to be eating popcorn.

Death frequently sneaks up on mortals. It is, however, extremely difficult
for mortals to sneak up on Death. Even in the midst of the carnage, her
scythe still completing the arc that sliced at Orion's large form, her
hair is a banner in the mist as her head whips around, blue eyes
narrowing. A split-second's consideration, only that, and the blade which
could so easily meet Orin's swing is held aside. Not out of mercy. It is
held aside in favor of her other hand, the bare skin of her webbed
fingers, as she braces her legs and simply... reaches. Death catches at
Orin's arm even as he reaches for her, and she is thrown back a few steps
before she jerks him to a stop. Just.. hanging there. A heartbeat. His
hook at the end of a line on a building rooftop, his free arm held in the
grip of immortal doom. Death does not smile. For an instant, she holds
perfectly still. Then, decision made, she jerks Aquaman close -- for a
kiss.

The undead crowds and occasional towering monstrosity of Lovecraftian
proportions are duly ripped through, as Orion goes flying, half alive and
half, I'm sure, wishing he were dead. Limbs, chunks, and bone shards also
go flying, spattering the New God, the sidewalk, and the sides of the
buildings as they go. Not only does it LOOK bad, it smells atrocious. And
apparently, the sight of Orion being nearly defeated - at least close
enough to scare the bejeezus out of any living onlookers - was enough to
send Green Arrow packing. Discretion is the better part of valor; those
who stop and run away will live to fight another day. And all.

Still more atrocities and shambling, crooning, groaning zombies are cut
down brutally by Booster Gold, the former Justice Leaguer taking his anger
to heart and, no doubt, impressing the ladies. Well, any left alive, that
is. Unfortunately, Lobo's hoverbike is too far above to do anything or be
affected by anything. Maybe he didn't like New York.

There's one zombie, at least, that Orion missed for certain - the one that
Mitch Shelley just attacked - the golden-haired leader. In fact, the
dripping-skulled Living Mullet tackled Sandy just in time for the both of
them to miss the hurtling New God by mere inches. Annoyed but
unfortunately not smashed, Sandy seems to have broken his fall by throwing
his arms out in front of him; he's only scraped up and bleeding a little.
And cold - so cold! "What the hell do you think you're doing, Skullhead?
You're supposed to attack the -alive- guys, not the -dead- guys. Dol's
gonna be pissed off, man," he protests, then surls, reaching back (while
on his knees) with his elbow to try and get Mitch off.

Oh snap! Booster is really friggen pissed. "Garr!" It's first and ten and
man he's going for a hail marry with one of the Zombie's heads! He's
moving to smash and smash them, thinking of faces of men like Orin who
once caused him to run numbers. Men who caused the death of his Sister.
Men who made him sweep floorins in museum. Fuck the city! He's piissed!
His forecfield is now, pulled to a tight radius around his body and his
fist go splating through a chest, He bends and breaks a few over his legs,
Snap! Spinal Column! He turns his head. The andrenaline rrush is high.
"Come get some. Come on!" He turns seeing Death go for the kiss. "Aquaman
look out!" He turns raising his right wrist to to make a clear shot at
Death! . o O (C'on!) He aims for her midsection. . o (Shoot little miss
big. Shoot Big, miss little)!

While Sandy is his knees trying to get Mitch off, Mitch, for his part, has
reached over and grabbed Sandy's nose and is twisting it as hard as he
can. Yes, his fighting style is gleaned entirely from bad television. But,
as he torque on the aging sidekicks nostrils, he also pays vague
attention, "Oh, so the bitch up there is the boss, huh Bogey?" Who else
wears a fedora and calls his lady a 'doll'? His black, empty, skull eyes
fix on the form of Death, with her scythe at ready, and his teeth grate
across one another with determination as he is elbowed in the kidney
repeatedly.

Slowly the Dog of War rises to his feet, shakey as a new born calf, at
first while his weakness shows after nearly having his soul wrenched free.
Coagulated blood clings to him in place, and sluffs off into a hideous
pool below him. People's arms, legs and torsos surround him in a mass of
gore and rotted skin that is plastered to one side of the Dog's face.
Turning his eyes back, several hundred yards, towards where Death was, and
still is, the New God frowns on his none to pleasant face when he doesn't
look unhappy. Then again, that's pretty much never happened in his two
thousand year existence. Moving carefully at first and then with more
assurance the huge man makes his way around the block, disappearing out of
sight from the primary visage of battle as he circles around the street to
the one paralleling the Greenwich Massacre of Friends. Listening to Mother
Box as she guides him to the proper placement, "Watch the one with the
scythe, I have a plan." he comments in a rumbling, growling voice to his
eternal companion.

As the kiss comes, Orin can do nothing against the greater strength of
Death than attempt to, unsuccessfully, push her away. As her lips touch
his, it looks as though his eyes roll back in his head, turning all white.
The line and hook are removed from the wall, snaking downwards and
returning to where they once were at the stub at the end of his arm and he
drops to his feet, his life force gone. Orin, King of Atlantis and Lord of
the Seas, is now one of the undead minions of Death herself. Standing
beside her, he raises his head to survey the army she has brought forth
once more, and again a smile comes to his lips. A very, very wicked smile.

Finally, as Aquaman is taken the first member of his army has arrived on
the scene, reaching the front lines. As he watches his monarch being
taken, the harpoon gun he holds comes up, aimed straight for Dolphin, as
ordered, and the trigger is pulled, even as Orin dives for Death to try to
push his mistress out of the way of both the harpoon, and the shot from
Booster Gold.

Allow her newest creation to take the punishment? Apparently Death has no
problem with that; Orin duly shoves her out of the way, and she plants the
heel of the scythe on the ground, holding it with both hands as she
regains her balance. No displeasure crosses her calm features, but her
webbed fingers tense on the smooth wood of the weapon's shaft. Raising her
head, she surveys the attacking Poseidonis forces that are just now
reaching her through the zombie horde. At the centre of her unnatural
eyes, an unholy light flickers to being as she attacks with gaze alone,
seeking to drain the life from any who dare to approach. One sharp glance
is spared elsewhere, for the skull-headed man on Sandy's back. Only one
look, a sucking dart of power across the roiling mist, before her
attention is demanded by her Atlantean foes.

More dead pieces-parts of zombies fly through the air as Booster Gold
makes a mess and takes zombies to bits (and no, the two are NOT mutually
exclusive) and screams bloody murder at them; more keep coming. They're
all over, honestly, they're -everywhere-. New York is a heavily populated
city, and a lot of them are dead, and a lot of them have been dead, and
there's also a bunch of dead Atlanteans, and there're quite a few dead
monsters and living demons (after all, Hell follows Death) also following.
And then he shoots for Dolphin...

...and the recently dead Aquaman dives in front of it, getting the blast
intended for Death across his side with a meaty, stinking sizzle. Eww. The
harpoon misses him completely, landing with a solid, squelchy *kerchunk*
in a zombie who'd been standing somewhere behind. Gross.

"Wow, Bogart? Hardly, but thanks, pal," enthuses the zombificated Golden
Boy as he pries Mitch's hand from his nose and smacks at his skull - but
then Death glares at Resurrection Man again, and that'll fell him better
than anything Sandy could do. He blows Dolphin a kiss. "Thanks, babe!"

Booster Gold turns as the hook misses him. He sees he's lost Aquaman!
"Dammit! Dammit" He turns and looks at the cybernetic hook! he turns
bacically smashing through several zombies on his way to what appears to
be the only sane and helpful man, the guy playing "The Curly Shuffle" He
moves smashing through them! He decides to help this guy out because maybe
he can tell him how he's immune to the death thing! He turns and takes
several shots straight at Sandy!

After his hand is pried away, Mitch stumbles back a step, only to get hit
by the shimmering whatsitthingie from Death. The last one dropped him
dead. This one hits him like an invisible blast, ripping away all the
muscle and flesh from the rest of his body. Oh, and his clothes. He's now
a walking skeleton. Don't ask how he moves without muscle tissue, he just
does. He also may have died in there for a minute, who can tell. Is he
even alive now? The skeleton, after having its body ripped free and
splattered through a zombie and all over the wall of a nearby shop like a
bloody shank of beef, is in motion again, running like some kind of
bizarre Harryhausen reject straight at Death herself. Well, it could be
worse. At least he's not on...then he runs through one of Ollie's
bonfires, and a screaming, flaming skeleton charges toward Death.

Forgetting about a god of war, a true mistake for anyone up to and
including these Horsemen who claim to herald the Apocalypse. Left to his
own devices Orion finds a build parallel to the Mistress Death and takes a
deep, heavy breath for a moment before squatting down near the base of the
building and running fingers slowly into the concrete of the foundation.
With a mighty "Urh!" from effort, thanks to his considerably weakened
condition, the man's corded biceps flex for a moment and the ground in the
entire area quivers anf groans as the building opposite of Death starts to
tilt perilously at first and then... topples under Orion's guidance. No
heed is given those beneath it the building but soon, hundreds of
thousands of tons of bricks, wood and steel are toppling down on the
Horseman's position. The sound is... undescribable, the building is,
assuredly, unsurvivable to all but the most powerful beings.

Poseidonis soldiers toppling around her, grey mist still spreading and
rising, Death spares barely a glance for the flaming skeleton. One cold
look, and she sweeps the scythe across in another brutal arc, timed for
the sole purpose of slicing through the fiery apparition's ribs and spine.
Of course, a few instants later, her eyes are drawn upward to the hideous,
squealing creak of a building dying its own death... she lunges forward,
dodging into the midst of the zombie horde as she races in an attempt to
get out of the way of the soon-to-be-cascading bricks. But the seconds
wasted on the skeleton were precious. She is so close to the edge of
safety when the building comes tumbling down... she has time only to raise
her scythe again -- seemingly, a solution to any threat -- before she
vanishes in a deluge of stone, mist and dust. The thundering of the
collapse fills the streets.

"DOLPHIN!" screams Sandy, face a very human mask of horror and loss as he
watches a building topple onto and bury his love - but the end of her name
is cut short as a bullet thumps into his chest with astonishing force,
heaving him back several feet and seriously annoying him. He crashes into
a couple of other zombies, who make no move to move, instead watching the
building that fell on Death. Zombies howl like monkeys all around, raising
cain and lending an unearthly sound of mourning to the already totally
messed up environment. Monsters set to the street with a vengeance, almost
as if they were throwing tantrums, ripping the faces off of buildings and
people alike.

A good lot of zombies and living Poseidonites and dead Poseidonites and,
well, Aquaman's mobile corpse, were in front of the building around the
mistress of death. Some of them try to run, some of them try to duck (god
knows why), and others just sort of lay there - but the building gets all
except the ones near the edges, who managed to make it out in time. Among
those buried were Death herself, Aquaman, all except three of the living
Atlantean warriors, and half of Mitch's skeleton.

Booster Gold blinks "CRap!" He turns and decides to let loose on as many
as he can, making his way toward Sand. . o O (Dammit, He took my idea.) He
turns and holds his blaster up still moving towards Sand. He turns from
the Mist trying definitely now to get him and shoots up and away! He keeps
ahead of it. He keeps pretty clear, and turns his forecfield on, getting a
little bit of air into it. He hods his other hand on his wrist as he moves
toward the undead, fallen hero. "Keep it right there Society Page!"

The Skeletal Resurrection Man is indeed bisected straight through the
chest by the scythe as he streaks in a screaming mass of flame toward
Death. His legs, lower spine, and a few ribs collapse to the ground
instantly, while his torso, arms, and head continue of their own momentum,
landing on her back, clawing at her garb, his upper half bobbling around
on the back of her body as she runs like some kind of freakish papoose as
he shrieks, "You're not getting off that easy, bit..." He then sees the
shadow of the building coming, "Oh...sh..." >SMASH!!!<

Shoulders heaving up and down heavily as Orion stands on the oppsoite side
of the building just a moment before teh harness unfurls around his frame
again and then he is in the sky. Rocketing up until he hovers nearly
fourhundred or slightly more feet in the air, looking down on the utter
carnage that he has, hopefully, put an end to, though he has wreaked some
fair amount of it himself. Eyes inside the helmet glow with tiny, red
pinpricks while he watchs the rubble for signs of movement and reads the
markings on Mother Box to determine precisely whether he has accomplished
his goal in all of this utter insanity. If not, then it will be time to
seek the aid of this planets protector. The Dog of War is silent as he
watchs the heroes and a few of the remaining villains within the vicinity.

There are indeed signs of movement in the rubble. Zombies who were not
quite buried enough, emerging with crushed arms and smashed skulls. A
single, groaning Poseidonis man, living but for a few more minutes before
the nearest undead breaks his neck, sinking its talons into the flesh of
its throat. Despite the din from the unearthly army, they are in no way
faltering. They do not fall where they stand. And, where their mistress
was buried, a new swirl of grey mist is making its way out of the cracks
in the broken stones. Rubble is shifting. Several of the zombies, under
some inaudible directive, move in to help clear the damage away as a
webbed hand emerges.

Sandy Hawkins coughs a couple times, for effect, but doesn't get up.
Instead, he reaches up and starts digging around in his chest with his
index finger, grimacing. "Where the hell did that thing go?" he mutters,
lifting his head a little to watch his progress. Finally, he brightens,
and the fingers pull out the slug from Booster's blaster - and he catches
sight of the mist coming up from the fallen building. He holds it up,
eyeing it critically, then stuffs it in his pocket. "Souvenir," he
explains, sitting up, looking up at Booster. He glances around for his
hat, then gives up on it and looks up again. "Now, I know you don't like
me, but honestly, that business when everyone was devolving really wasn't
my fault. I was worried and you were askin' some pretty dopey questions.
How about go away before Dol kills you for beating on me, huh?"

Booster Gold narrows his eyes. He shakes his head. "I was green that day.
You were right." He looks at him. "but I never said i didn't like you even
when you were flipping ciggarette buds at me, and the boy wonder was
poppin an attitude, hell i took worse from the big bat himself." He looks
at him, he turns his wrist, and there is a familiar *click* "But I don't
think i can let you walk. And well, i think if it is really end of days,
then maybe i can be forgiven. Seems to me you got control of your senses,
which tells me your special. Special enough to be taken for observation."
He looks at him. "You gonna come peacfully?" If Sandy says no, then
Booster is going to let loose with his blasters, in order to distract him
and catch him in his forecfield. "I'm betting i take you far enough from
the ice queen you snap back to normal."

Deep within the building, there are sounds of creaking, bending steel and
cracking panes of glass. Probably the last signs of the fallen building
settling under its own weight.

With a low rumble from the back of his throat the Dog of War surveys the
scene beneath him, New York city is all but lost. Anything alive in it
will be dead within a matter of minutes thanks to the ever expanding fog
so he feels no remorse for the dozens of living people he's killed, since
they would just be zombies had he not olibterated them. For now, its time
to cut losses and find one of Earth's presupposed protectors, particularly
the Man of Steel, and get some information on these Horsemen before he
attacks again. To this end the Astro-Harness lances through the skies of
Earth, at speeds exceeding the travel of light, to start his search.

A stone moves away. A steel girder is lifted and tossed to the side. Death
rises, graceful and unharmed, from the remnants of the destroyed building.
Even her platinum hair hangs loose and free of dust. One hand grips the
scythe; she carries it with her as she steps free, cold gaze taking in the
street. Focusing, almost instantly, on Sandy's whereabouts, and his
potential attacker. Her chin rises slighty, and those lights glimmer in
her eyes again, as Death moves away from the shattered stones and focuses
her power on Booster. Draining.

"I'm digging fucking bullets out of my chest, and you think I'm gonna snap
back to normal, big guy?" shoots back Sandy in utter disbelief.
"Seriously, it's not a good idea at all to...oh, you're gonna get it now."
The undead Golden Ager gets to his feet, brushing himself off and plugging
the hole in his chest with some nearby shirt tatters. Then he glances at
the building - something else is moving in that rubble? Is it - Orin? His
- gasp - competition?! Well, even if it is, he'll listen to Sandy and
probably fling himself in front of something else. As Dolphin starts in on
Booster with the death-whammy, Sand draws one of his guns again and digs a
clip from his belt, reloading it.

Booster Gold turns his head. He narrows his eyes and fires off shots
straight at Sandy! He also feels an immense pain in him. "Gaaaah!" He
whips his head and sees the Ice Queen looking at him. The pain is
excruciating. How much has been taken already. How much will be taken. He
growls. "So i was wrong! hasn't been the first time!" He unleashes several
blasts straight at Sandy and shoots away as far ashe can. The intense pain
in him now inspiring more fear than he can imagine but he's got no
defense! Absolutely none! Maybe it is the apocalypse! He pushes his
flightring to it's limit to get the hell away!

There's another shriek of glass and metal, and an eight foot, massive
figure composed of steel, glass, and other pre-fab construction materials
emerges from the building. It moves slowly, and looks around without a
glimmer of recognition in its cold, steely eyes. It reaches into the
wreckage and withdraws a black trenchcoat, which it dons, and then a
matching black hat, which it places atop its steely mullet. With a dull
scraping and scuffling, it moves away into a nearby alley, seeming unaware
of the situation.

The street is full of broken concrete, fog, and the remnants of the undead
army. Their numbers have been decreased. Considering the population of New
York City, this is not likely to be a problem. Death watches Booster's
retreat, then stands quite still for a moment save for the turn of her
head as she looks around. A glance to Sandy. Finally, turning, scythe in
hand, she continues her previous walk. One step, and another. Slow and
deliberate, as the grey poison whirls around her, and the undead shriek.