(2014-05-24) Burned on a Saturday
Burned on a Saturday
Summary: Solomon Grundy, newly risen, pays a visit to Gotham. Too bad for him that he runs afoul of Supergirl, Mercury, and the Ghost Rider.
Date: 2014-05-24
Related:

None

NPCs: Solomon Grundy
Scene Runner:

Robin

Social/Plot: Plot

-----==[ Diamond District -- Gotham ]==---------------------------------------

When one thinks of the gothic architecture of Gotham city, the vision which occurs is usually a picture of the Diamond District. This is the true business district of Gotham, with numerous corporate headquarters and other businesses spaced along nearly symetric lines across the breadth of Gotham island. This area is the home of over two hundred major corporations. When many people envision a building in Gotham, it is not the standard structures of Metropolis they see. It is the ornate gargoyle looming structures, dark towers, and centerpiece of this section of Gotham.

==============================================================================
Contents:
Mercury
Supergirl
Ghost Rider
Obvious Exits:
[00] - Subway South -- Gotham [01] - Back Alley -- Diamond District
[02] - Wayne Tower -- Diamond Distric [03] - One Gotham Center -- Diamond D
[04] - Diamond Diner -- Diamond Distr [05] - Gemstone Lofts -- Diamond Dist
[06] - Club Noir -- Diamond District [E] - Fashion District -- Gotham
[N] - Robinson Park -- Gotham [S] - Old Gotham -- Gotham
[SS] - Sewer System -- Gotham [W] - West End and Chinatown -- Goth

-----==[ Diamond District -- Gotham ]==---------------------------------------

When one thinks of the gothic architecture of Gotham city, the vision which occurs is usually a picture of the Diamond District. This is the true business district of Gotham, with numerous corporate headquarters and other businesses spaced along nearly symetric lines across the breadth of Gotham island. This area is the home of over two hundred major corporations. When many people envision a building in Gotham, it is not the standard structures of Metropolis they see. It is the ornate gargoyle looming structures, dark towers, and centerpiece of this section of Gotham.

==============================================================================
Contents:
Mercury
Supergirl
Ghost Rider
Obvious Exits:
[00] - Subway South -- Gotham [01] - Back Alley -- Diamond District
[02] - Wayne Tower -- Diamond Distric [03] - One Gotham Center -- Diamond D
[04] - Diamond Diner -- Diamond Distr [05] - Gemstone Lofts -- Diamond Dist
[06] - Club Noir -- Diamond District [E] - Fashion District -- Gotham
[N] - Robinson Park -- Gotham [S] - Old Gotham -- Gotham
[SS] - Sewer System -- Gotham [W] - West End and Chinatown -- Goth


Gotham has been the site of a lot of weird things. Heck, the whole world has been for years now. So maybe what's happening now in the Diamond District isn't so odd. A rather massive man is slowly plodding down the middle of the street. He's over seven feet tall, wearing what looks like a tattered black suit. And his entire body is pale. Not the pale of an albino, or even somebody who doesn't get enough sun. He looks, well...dead. The vacant expression on his face, mouth hanging partially open, doesn't help much with that. If somebody didn't know any better they might think he was a zombie or something.
Of course, being ugly isn't a crime. So there's no real reason to interfere with him....until a car comes at him. The driver isn't paying enough attention to the road, which is the only way they could miss the sight of this figure standing in the middle of it. Solomon Grundy blinks slowly once, watching the vehicle approach, and raises his hand. And just as the vehicle is about to hit him, he backhands it, the front end crumpling and knocking it careening out of control on two wheels only to flip a few seconds later and go skidding into a second parked car. Not even glancing at the wreckage, he keeps on plodding.

So of course the day that Johnny Blaze goes to check on some investments is the day -Solomon Grundy- freaking visits. At least he got the business out of the way first, but... he feels a dryness in his mouth, that drop in his stomach, as Grundy comes plodding down the other side of the road and backhands a car aside. "Aw, no..." Johnny mumbles, pulling off the main road into a side street. "Come on, not during the daytime..." Already, he can feel his skin starting to heat up, a clawing inside his head and a hissing sound, like gasoline spattering on pavement... clutching the handlebars of his bike.

Cessily is returning to her dorm, having been excused earlier than usual from her shift at the Coffee Shop since she has to study. On her way, though, a couple of blocks away, she hears the loud screech of a sudden full brake skid of a car, and the sound of it hitting not one, but two things, and hard, if the sounds are any indication. Driven by both morbid curiosity as to what happened, and a desire to help any way she can, she rushes in the direction the sounds came from, weaving around people both heading toward the accident area, and running from it.

There was a thing earlier today. An interaction with a fellow student. It left Linda Danvers in a bad mood. So, she flew. Away from New York and certainly not in the direction of Metropolis (who wants to deal with her cousin right now?). And so, she ended up over Gotham City. A Gotham City where a pasty faced giant just backhanded a car and caused a traffic jam. For a moment, Linda pauses. Should she give the guy a warning?
Nah. With the mood she's in? Supergirl decided that if he's big enough to be crumpling cars he's big enough to take a hit. And she desperately wants to hit something. So, faster than a speeding bullet, Supergirl races down, leading with her fists, with the intent of sending this jackass straight into the pavement.

Stupid cars. Stupid town. It was all so different from what he remembered, what little he did. His mind was...hazy after being asleep so long. But he remembered he needed... he needed... gold. Yes. He needed gold. Where? Solomon Grundy is glancing around, looking for any signs of what he's searching for. And then he's hit by a bolt from heaven. Or rather, a blonde from heaven. Pain flares though his shoulders as she hits, the pavement indeed crumpling under him and driving the undead creature halfway into the ground. Roaring, he grabs at her with both oversized hands, latching onto her relatively slender figure and slamming it down into the ground in front of him once, twice, then throwing her aside before starting to crawl out. "Stupid flying girl! You try to hurt Solomon Grundy? Grundy will smash if you no leave him alone!" Clambering to his feet, he starts lumbering forward again, apparently assuming that she's takenn care of. He doesn't realize who he's dealing with. Or that there's even more trouble on the way.

Blaze, for his part, is hurting. He's trying to bottle it up, but... and then Supergirl charges in and gets slammed. And at that point, he just mumbles, "Ah, screw it--". The rest is lost in a fiery detonation that belches out of the alley like Surtr's breath, the stink of brimstone strong in the hot breeze. And stalking out of the fireball is the Ghost Rider, his fires trailing greasy smoke in the daylight. His voice is hollow, crackling, as he rumbles, "Looking for your funeral pyre?"

"Ow." Supergirl climbs up out of the crushed car she was just thrown into. To be clear, the car was just fine right up until she ended up playing toss the ball with Grundy. With her as the ball. "That... actually... hurt." She mutters. That's a new sensation. Nothing's really hurt since she got her powers. "Alright. Let's go for.. round... that guy's head is a skull on fire."
Yeah. Ghost Rider just distracted Supergirl. Because, skull.

ON FIRE.

Cessily was almost at the accident spot when she hears another impact. But this one is not of a car or other metallic object hitting another. Nevertheless, she hears a gravely voice and... a girl? When finally arriving to the area, her eyes widen as she sees what is going on: a battle of titans, per se. And then there are wrecked cars. It seems the girl and the big guy are focused on one another. Someone needs to focus on the innocents. Cessily rushes to one of the wrecked cars, and starts helping the people out, breaking doors if needed, because she bets those two fighting won't stay in one stop.

The belching flames are enough to tug Grundy's attention towards the alleyway where the Ghost Rider is emerging from. Staring blankly for a few moments at the Spirit of Vengeance, he finally summons all of his eloquence to comment on the sight. "Him not have a face. Looks like it hurt." And that's all he has to say on that. "Grundy will smash bonehead man if he tries bother Grundy. Bonehead man should go dunk head in bucket." He glances at Supergirl then turns away. Yeah. He's definetly not smart, dismissing them like that. He also fails to notice the metal girl entirely.

"Dude! Your head. ITS ON FIRE!" Supergirl shouts out to Ghost Rider. But her main focus is on Grundy. He's wrecking cars. Therefore, he's a bad guy. He hit her. Therefore he's a bad guy. She's aching and sore now. Therefore... you get the idea. Supergirl rushes forward, about three feet off the ground and punches. Once. Twice. Three times. Jab. Jab. Downward falcon punch. Trying to put the zombie down.

That might not have been Grundy's wisest move, as the Rider swiftly crosses the distance between them. And while some heroes might have qualms about hitting someone in the back? Ghost Rider doesn't. His chain glows a dull red, superheated, as he brings it across towards Grundy's back like a brutal, fiery lash. The small part of Blaze that's still more or less aware is hoping this will distract Grundy, leave him open for Supergirl to thrash him.

Cessily is helping the last of the people trapped in the wreckage to escape. At least the ones who are not too injured and can be moved. "Hurry, it's not safe here!" she tells the others, but then she feels a shadow advancing toward her, and she looks behind her to see that she is right in Grundy's path. "Aw, crud..." she grumbles, and then does her best to get out of the way.

Grundy marches forward irregardless of what's in front of him. Including Cessily. He's just starting to reach for her when Supergirl appears in front of him again, and starts throwing rapid blows. He grunts as her small fists impact into him, brought down to a knee as she delivers the downards strike. Roaring, he lashes out at her with his pale fists, broad powerful movements that would hurt even her if they connect, at least a bit. And then there's bright searing pain slashing into his back and he roars even louder, whirling in place towards Ghost Rider, lunging to foolishly try and grab his flaming head in one hand. If he manages to grab him the pain causes him to snarl, but he'll still squeeze.

Okay, the Ghost Rider may be a demonic entity but there are some things you don't plan for, and one is the supervillain grabbing you by your fiery head. His flames flare hotter, as Grundy's fist clamps onto his skull. Fortunately, the skull doesn't yield to the zombie's crushing grip, but this is NOT an ideal situation; too many ways it could go bad. The chain whirls, wrapping around the Rider's forearm, as he starts delivering repeated blows to Grundy's arm, aiming for wrist and elbow, trying to break the hold before Grundy gets any MORE bright ideas.

"Holy crap!" Supergirl says in a rather unsuper sort of way. She just got slammed through another car. Insurance rates in Gotham are going up. "I am getting really tired of this." She leaps up and comes down, seeking to put her fist into Grundy's wrist - the wrist of the hand holding Ghost Rider. "Let flaming skull guy go! I'm digging his design aesthetic!" Her goal's to break the wrist. Can't grab if your hand no work.

Cessily is saved from becoming part of the pavement by Supergirl as the girl interposes herself between Cessily and the Grundy. After slipping out of the way, she notices how the blonde flying girl is punched into the wrecked cars, Cessily wincing in sympathy before looking at Grundy again. Deciding to help now in the actual fight, she looks down at the big guy's legs, and the elongates her arms and torso, aiminig to wrap herself several times around Grundy's legs to try to bind them.

"Grah! Bonehead man burn Grundy's hand! Grundy will crush you into more bones!" Lifting the Ghost Rider off of his feet, he turns back towards the other two Heroes fighting him, swinging the Spirit of Vengeance like a very strange bludgeon. Which ends up meaning he leans INTO the punch she throws at his wrist. That, the angle of the strike, the way his arm is tensed up holding bonehead, and the fact it's Supergirl doing the punching mean that there's a loud cracking and then a bone can be seen jutting from his wrist. Oddly, there's not really much blood. It's almost like he WAS a zombie. Or a plant, but that would be just silly. He naturally lets Blaze go, grabbing for his wrist and stumbling forward...only to flat-out fall on his feet when some loops of liquid metal bind his ankles together. "RAAAAGH! WHY PEOPLE NO LEAVE GRUNDY ALONE!?! GRUNDY JUST WANT GOLD!"

Ghost Rider bounces once as he slams into the ground, lying there just for a second before rising to his feet again. Deliberately, the skull rolls on the neckbones with a popping sound, before Ghost Rider just walks over and aims a penalty kick right at Grundy's face where he's lying tripped by Cessily. The Rider reaches down, if that rattles Grundy's head enough, to go for the lank hair on Solomon's head, trying to drag him up by it.

Supergirl winces when she sees the bone. "Ouch." That drains some of the anger out of her. She flows backwards, "Look, maybe we should all talk this out." She says. "This guy wants gold. Maybe we can figure out a way he can earn some without destroying half the city." She glances around, realizing that there's already a good amount of devestation here. "What do you say, umm... Grundy... right? Skull guy?" She looks down at the wrapped up legs of Grundy. ".... whatever that's all about...."

Cessily really had to strain to make the guy fall, as it becomes even more obvious that this guy's strength is off the charts. She almost couldn't bind Grundy's legs, but luckily the guy wasn't focusing too much on his walking after having his hand burned and wrist shattered. For now, though, she remains around the guy's legs to try to keep him from standing up. Supergirl's question surprises her, though, "What? You two duke it out with enough strength to shatter the pavement and cars... and NOW you want to talk!? I don't think he'll listen!"

Grundy pushes himself partially up with his uninjured hand, and starts to reach for the Cessily wrapped around his legs before remembering that his wrist is broken. He scowls at said wrist, then blinks when he hears the magic word, focusing on Supergirl. "Flying girl have gold for Grundy?" He peers at her, as though trying to figure out where she's hiding it in that outfit. Yeah...it's increasingly obvious he's not the brightest bulb in the knife drawer. And...then he's getting kicked in the face by a biker, and his hair is being grabbed. "Grah! You not trick Grundy!" And he hits Blaze. With the injured hand, which results in another loud roar.

The good news is that even Grundy's prodigious strength isn't enough to overcome the Rider's innate resistance to damage. The bad news is that Grundy's prodigious strength is MORE than enough to overcome certain issues regarding friction, inertia, and stability. The blow sends Ghost Rider -flying- -- we're talking the length of the block here -- and he smashes into a (thankfully) unoccupied car with the sound of metal rending.

Which of course, then explodes in a fiery detonation.

"I was having a bad day, okay!" Supergirl shouts to the seemingly speaking living metal. "I..." And then there goes Ghost Rider. And there goes someone's car. "Crap." That fire will spread. Quickly. Plus, who knows if skull guy can survive that sort of explosion. "See if you can slow Grundy down!" Supergirl shouts before rushing to the fire. She hovers above it, takes a deep breath and then blows hard, sending super cooled air downwards in an attempt to blow the fire out.

Cessily was about to reply to Supergirl's comment about being in a bad day when the flying flaming biker hits a car and it explodes, cutting off whatever retort Cessily had. Then the flying girl scout tells Cessily to keep Solomon Grundy bound, "... Easier said than done." she mutters after Supergirl goes to help Ghost Rider, and Cessily tries to tighten her hold on the giant's legs.

Grundy flops over onto his back, grunting as the josting hurts his wrist further, and sits up. He reaches for the liquid Mercury wrapped around his legs, trying to get a grip on it and tug. It's a bad angle and he's only using one hand, so he's not pulling as hard as he could. He IS pretty strong though. "Stupid bonehead guy... stupid flying lady... stupid silver thing... Grundy will beat you and get Grundy's gold..." He's taking some damage, and thinking even less clearly than he was before. Well, people are always a bit confuzzled after they've been sleeping a while, and Grundy was asleep for decades.

Supergirl's freeze breath washes over the flaming car, snuffing it out... only to reveal a frozen skeleton in leathers halfway out of it. Uh oh...

And then there's a terrible, flickering light in the Rider's empty sockets, and the fire within flashes to life, bursting out from the neck of his jacket to wreath his skull once again. The ice crumbles and melts as he shrugs out of it, before turning to give Supergirl a stare.. before shaking his head disapprovingly.

And then the Rider, apparently no worse for the wear, starts advancing on Grundy again. This could take all day between these two... and that doesn't even count Supergirl.

"... sorry." Supergirl says, wincing. This is all new to her. She obviously doesn't have the experience of her older, more famous cousin Power Woman. "Okay." She turns and takes in the situation. Flaming Skull is stalking towards Grundy who is wrestling with Lady Terminator. The battle's destroying a nice portion of Gotham City and has the potential for more. This needs to end before someone gets hurt.

But how?

Maybe a little sculpting is in order? "Hey! Metal chick! MOVE!"

Supergirl begins grabbing the broken cars and throwing them at Grundy. She's trying to bury the monster in metal. "Flame guy! Melt the cars together!"

Cessily was doing her best to let the giant's fingers phase through her form, but she was starting to have trouble doing so. Thankfully, respite comes, in the form of Supergirl yelling at her to move, and just as the first car starts flying toward the undead giant, Cessily's metallic, amorphous form pulls away from Grundy's legs as one big, thick tendril of metallic goo that stretches away, pulling her mass and then slipping away, under a car that has survived the clash, so far, a few seconds later the humanoid Cessily rolls from under it and remains away from the rain of wrecked cars.

Good! The silver thing let him go! And now...it's raining cars? Grundy grunts irritably and begins pushing at the cars surrouding him. He can't do it fast enough to keep with Supergirl though, and soon is buried out of sight beneath him. He can muffledly be heard shouting under there, the pile quivering an shifting a bit. Still, it's primed for Grundy trapping. Or Grundy burning to death from molten metal and plastic. Even if it's the latter he'll be back by Monday.

It's a shame really, but... this is probably for the best. The Rider isn't even sure if Grundy qualifies as 'alive' let alone have a soul. As Cessily slithers free and away, the Ghost Rider roars, thrusting his hands at the pile. The air between him and the car-pile on top of Grundy seems to detonate, flames washing over it, the air becoming hot and stifling just from being nearby. Metal softens, starting to melt together, as the plastic and cloth burns...

Supergirl stares for a moment. "NO!" She shouts, as she realizes that Ghost Rider is taking her idea to the logical extension. "I just wanted you to weld the cars together!" This time, she doesn't use her superbreath but instead slams her foot through a fire hydrant and uses both hands to redirect the intense, powerful gushing of water towards the cars. Trying to save poor Grundy's life.

Cessily gah!'s as the heat becomes quite unbearable to even her! Already feeling her body softening, she launches herself away from that heat, falling on the ground on her back and only not splashing out thanks to her force of will. But she does have a hard time crawling away from it, but at least it gets slightly easier the more she pulls away from it.

The muffled roaring becomes louder, and the top of the pile of melting metal bulges upwards as the undead creature tries to get out. The shape of his hand can be seen emerging from the mass, then the shape of the fingers seems to soften as well and melt away. Then...no more movement, no more yelling. It's not hard to guess that Grundy isn't going to be coming out of that in one piece. Or breathing, if he ever really did that to begin with.

Richard Grayson pages: I figured burned up. Probably a skeleton and some seared flesh left
Thick steam coils around the semi-fused pile of cars, as the fire abruptly cuts out. Ghost Rider cocks his skull suspiciously at the silence, as things have gotten surprisingly... quiet. Then the demon stalks towards the pile of metal, peering in at where Grundy's hand had been reaching outward. Evidently this satisfies him, because the Rider straightens up again, unconcerned at this point.

"No. No! NO NO NO NO NO!" Supergirl rushes forward and begins ripping out huge hunks of cooling metal from the pile of death she helped create. "No! I'm sorry!" She babbles as she tries to free the surely already destroyed Grundy. "I'm sorry! I just wanted to trap you I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Tears stream from those powerful eyes of her's as she reaches the core... and twisted, melted, molten remains of the giant. "I'm sorry." She whispers again, bowing her head.

Cessily pulls herself to her feet, wobbling a bit, initially, after the head has passed, and she whew's softly, relieved. She picks up her bag before approaching the combat area, now that the fight seems to be over, as no more sounds of destruction come. She notices the Fire Skull guy just standing there, and the overly strong flying blonde... crying? She blinks softly. Shifting her shoulders a bit, shaking off the remaining of the unpleasantness of the heat, she approaches the group, "Hey... what happened? We won, right? ... Right?"

Dispassionately, the Rider watches. The guilt flowing from Supergirl vaguely impinges on him, but to Ghost Rider, it does not concern him. "It is destroyed," he rumbles. "Before you weep for it, consider the innocent blood it might have shed." A gloved hand points unerringly to the car Grundy smashed initially, as well as to the people Cessily herded out of harm's way. "It did not bleed. It did not care who it hurt."

"HE was a person!" Supergirl turns, snarling. "He could talk! He could want! He could... oh. FORGET IT." Those windows in the area that remain intact shake as Supergirl accelerates from zero to mach one in three seconds, taking off into the sky. Somewhere, miles away from here, a mountain is going to get a new crater as Supergirl vents her rage.

Her rage with Grundy.
With Ghost Rider.
And most importantly? With herself.

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