crossbow_bat:

Maria had gone undercover before to get dirt on some crimelord she was trying to bring down, but never like this. The Diamond Room was one of more upscale strip clubs in Gotham and it just happened to be owned by Carmine Gambino, one of the big mob bosses in Gotham. The Gambino crime family was a major player in the drug trade into Gotham and Huntress was going to bring them down.

Of course that meant proof and part of that proof that she needed was in the office in the back. She needed a way in and what better way to get into a strip club than as a stripper. Maria had applied and auditioned to be dancer a month and a half ago. On top of her day job at Wayne Industries and her night job as Huntress, she was Candy Star at the Diamond Room.

Maria worked six nights of each week as a stripper, watching and waiting to make her move. Candy Star quickly became a favorite of the customers and the favorite dancer of Tony "The Nose" Bucco, one of Carmine Gambino's lieutenants.

She watched and learned everything she could. She learned where Sal kept the important information and how to get to it. She made note of who came into the club and who had business with Gambino. Now it was time to make her move and get what she came here for. Tonight after the club was closed the Huntress would be paying a call.

Maria looked in the mirror and put on the green mask that Candy Star wore. She had insisted on the mask because she didn’t need anyone from Wayne Industries recognizing her and if it had been purple other costumes would recognize her. The whole purpose of being undercover was to not get recognized.

She heard the music start and she headed for the stage.

crossbow_bat:

Maria wasn't exactly sure what to get Marissa for her birthday, but she had to get something. It was Marissa's eighteenth birthday and that was a big one. Maria remembered hers quite fondly. It was the birthday that ended up sitting in jail cell for a few hours. The memory made her smile.

Maria had gone the safe route in terms of a gift. A certificate for the works at a great spa Maria recently found and the best Belgian truffles. The gifts were accompanied by a card and Maria urged Marissa to go raise some hell on her birthday and to have fun.

violettidemage:

Cerdian walked up the stairs to Lian's apartment with the box of chocolate, running through a breathing exercise in his head. Today, he would tell Lian that he loved her and apologize for treating her so poorly. He would find out if she had it in her heart to forgive him and then the would figure out what that meant in regard to her life now. He would tell her that he wasn't marrying anyone and that he only wanted to be with her.

Upon arriving at Lian's door, Cerdian knocks three times and waits for her to answer.

Suddenly, he realizes he forgot the flowers.
 

dc_holiday:

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. ~Irish Proverb

redarrowmia:

Mia had set up the entire living room as "official wedding planning headquarters". The coffee table was covered in various bridal magazines that Dinah had picked up, samplers of invitations, seating charts, lists of places that they should have the wedding and reception at, and a couple of long lists with all the people they knew written on it.

Mia was sitting on the sofa with a cup of coffee in one hand, and a calendar in the other, going over the dates in the months of May and June. She was waiting for her fiance to get his butt in from the kitchen so they could pick one, and then start on other planning things.

redarrowmia:

After much making out in the middle of the battlefield, followed by a night of intense passion back at their apartment (God, she'd missed being alive, not to mention Zach), Mia woke up early the following moment after her return from the grave and made her way to Star City General Hospital. Alive again or not, she was probably still HIV positive and would need to get back on her strict regimen of medication.

There was a lot of explaining to the doctors why someone who had been legally dead for the past few months was suddenly alive and kicking like nothing had happened. Mia filed out some forms for insurance, and then went through a series of various tests to see if everything was in order.

A couple of hours after her tests, the doctor came back into the room, a truly astounded look on his face as he stared at Mia's charts.

"Ms. Dearden, there were some...unusual results in your tests. We'd like to keep you under observation for a few days."

Mia nodded, wondering what could have possibly happened. Had something happened when she came back to trigger her HIV into full-blown AIDS? She didn't want to think about it.
( A few days later )

dc_misc:

The city of Star City looked deserted. The citizens had either fled or had been turned into black lanterns. At the heart of the city was the entity known as Nekron. Nekron used the city as his base as his black lanterns ravaged the Earth.

The black lanterns increased their numbers each day and the power levels of the black lantern battery increased with each person that died.

Soon Nekron would have enough power to obliterate all life on this planet.

jdoesmith:

Jane had been in a bar that night. Getting information for one of her cases. She had noted that she had been drinking harder stuff lately. Knowing her friend was gone had done a lot to Jane. She had been more willing to dance on the edge, more willing to take risks. It was hard trying to not be stupid.

But she was happy she got that information. She was going to shut down a gun runner who had been pressuring a mechanic to let him run his stuff out of her shop. She had all the intelligence she needed to make her move.

She stopped when she was outside near her car and shook her head.

"Sure does feel dark outside. Darker than normal for Gotham. What gives?"

allednis_arataz:

"Will you all please be quiet so that I can read, please?" Sindella said, grabbing a hold of her head, massaging her temples.

Ever since Superman's death, they had gotten louder. The dead. Over the years, Sindella had grown used to "hearing voices" in her head. She was normally pretty good at tuning them out when she wanted to, too. But lately...she was having a harder time with it.

"My wife...I never got to tell my wife how much she really meant to me. Do you think she knows that I love her?"

"We never found my son's teddy bear...he won't be able to sleep without it. Oh he must be so scared..."

"Please. Please stop!" Sindella's hands covered her ears, though she knew it wouldn't help much. "I can't think!"

There was still the roar of voices.

And then..suddenly it stopped.

Though something didn't feel quite right about it.

Sindella reached out for the one voice that she always knew that she could rely on.

"Grandpa John? Are you there? Can we talk?"

Nothing.

"Anyone? Hello?"

Something was wrong. She could feel it.

greengenes:

Mickey had roped off the living room in the JSA Brownstone for the afternoon. She had spent the entire morning getting the food ready and setting up. She had sent out invites to the JLA, Titans (both East and West Coast), Shadowpact, Outsiders, Birds of Prey, and of course, the JSA girls. She had also invited Cindy in case she wanted to come, and Angie, as she was basically a JSA brat herself. Mikey had built her a projection bot, and security bot that would alert her if any of the boys thought to try and see what the girls were up to.

Mickey finished setting up the projector. She had pictures of all the guys from the various teams that she had managed to get to her hands on. She made sure that there would be enough food and drinks for everyone, and waited for people to start arriving.

batdaughter:

The plan was simple--Marissa would go to a public event just crowded enough that the Artist would probably feel safe showing up and where security would appear to be busier than norm.  She'd get "captured" by the Artist, but with the aid of the Birds of Prey, the Artist would be the one who found himself captured.  Marissa had on her person a tracker so that the Birds could keep track and she was armed with only shuriken as they were small enough to hide.  Everything else would be her own training.

She showed up exactly as planned, making the expected Marissa Wayne appearance which involved the press, a lot of smiling, and mingling with other famous children of the wealthy, most of whom Marissa privately thought were stupid.  She made the requisite rounds before moving off to powder her nose.  She hoped the Artist followed.

redarrowmia:

Days that Mia took a day off from her day job were few and in-between.

Days that Mia took from both her day job and her night job were even rarer.

Today though, she was taking a day off and focusing on one of the most important people in her life.

She woke up before Zach and went into the kitchen to start making him breakfast in bed.

bloodred_robin:

Red Robin watches from the fire escape of the business across the street of Star City General Hospital, keeping an eye out for anyone who looks out of place. He sees Detective Falconeri of the Star City P.D. holding down the scene for the third night in a row, since Roy Harper was brought in with a gunshot wound. The shooting hadn't been publicized yet, hadn't hit any airwaves or made any headlines, according to the Detective. Someone high up in the government has called in favors to keep things under wraps. That was the first thing that caught Red Robin's attention.

( Read more... )

dc_titansofmyth:

Helios stood outside the LexOil oil refinery. Fire with the heat of the sun came to his hands and he threw it at the oil refinery. Fire and thick dark smoke filled the air along with the sounds of explosions.

dc_misc:

The young brunette girl sits bound to the chair, crying softly as she looks down the body of a petite blond girl, no younger than twenty-five. The blond woman wears a cowl or a hood, laying unmoving on the cold concrete. Her body is positioned in solemn rest as she lies on the floor, as though she were only sleeping rather than dead.

( Read more... )

young_swimmer:

Cait had called Jon and a meeting had been set once all the avatars had been located. It seemed like every god and goddess had chosen an avatar to act in their stead during this crisis. They would all be needed along with the rest of the teams. Their opponents weren't just supervillains, but were gods.

Cait along with Ty, Ruth and Dinah headed for the JLA headquarters. Dinah was Hephaestus' avatar, Cait was Poseidon's, Ruth was Hera's and Ty was excellent at coordinating and knowing things. They would be the representatives for the Teen Titans.

They arrived and took seats at the table.

dc_gods:

Apollo, the god of the sun and music, appeared on the rooftops of Star City along with his twin sister, Artemis, in front of Keith Queen and Mia Dearden.

"Keith Queen," his musical voice said, "I'm the God Apollo. You have been selected by to become my Avatar in this time of of troubles."

He waited for his sister to say her piece before continuing.

sonic_arrow:

Green Arrow was out on patrol, fully stocked with a mixture of trick arrows and regular arrows as always.  He'd been getting a lot better since the extra training started kicking in.  But the night was quiet, and it didn't seem like there was going to be much action.  He stopped in an alleyway and peered out of the corner, hoping to spot something.

dc_misc:

There was a low rumbling deep within the Earth near Taenarum, Greece. The rumbling grew louder and louder until it seemed like there was an earthquake. Local residents ran for doorframes. The Earth erupted and dirt, rocks and plants were sprayed into the air. A gaping maw formed in the Earth and the pit seemed bottomless.

The pit was not empty.

Beings and creatures that had not seen the light of day in over two thousands years climbed from the pit and stepped out onto the Earth.

in_a_snap:

(Timebendyed so anyone can be involved)

Jerry had heard that there was suppose to be an amazing meteor shower tonight and the best place to see it was in the Arches National Park in Utah. He had let dad knew he was going to spend the night there which his dad was totally fine with.

After teleporting in with some basic supplies he started looking for a good place to watch it from. Teleporting around the park he saw a mesa that looked like he could get a great view from. He snapped his fingers and appeared in a flash of green at the top of the mesa.

What he saw up there was something that he Jerry Carr had trouble believing. There was a organic looking machine with little robotic drones eating the rocks. And one charged right at him.

Quickly snapping both hands he teleported away and teleported a boulder right on top of the drone crushing it. Jerry let out a sigh of relief until he noticed that the drones were now eating the boulder and forming even more drones.

This was bad and Jerry knew he could not handle this by himself and felt that it would be smart to call in as much help as he could.

Teleporting back to his stuff away from the mesa he grabbed his cell phone and started calling all of the people he knew who were superheroes to get as much help as he could.

dc_holiday:

Mothers are the place that we call home.
On them we rest our heads and close our eyes.
There's no one else who grants the same soft peace,
Happiness, contentment, sweet release,
Erasing nighttime tears with lullabies,
Restoring the bright sun that makes us bloom. - Anonymous

jdoesmith:

Jane had been busy and absent for a long time. That was going to change. She had two large cardiac-arrest inducing pizza and a twelve pack of a good dark beer that should be pleasantly distracting for her friend. She was going to need advice and help coming up with a game plan.

Things were changing. She knew it. Honestly it left Jane shaking in her boots. She wasn't ready to admit just how much change was really leaving her unnerved.

Still. She wanted to see her friend anyways. Play catch up. Maybe get a little buzzed from some beer and feel gut bustingly full from the pizza. She rings the door bell to Mia's place and waits.

bloodred_robin:

He drives the bike into the alley and kicks the stand down, preparing himself mentally for what he'll find. He's been in town two weeks, and the killings have already started. He was hoping to see Mia, to talk to her before this got too far, but the fourth dead prostitute in as many weeks has pushed itself to the forefront of his priorities. Someone needed to understand why everything was happening the way it was, and, though he'd never admit it, Tim wants to talk to someone that will understand why he's going to kill the monster doing this when he finds him.

Someone who knows him has to be able to explain to Bruce and Dick why he broke their cardinal rule.

He steps off the bike, pulls a grappling gun from his utility belt, aiming it skyward. He fires, and the gas-powered line shoots straight up the side of the three-story building, catching itself on the the lip of the roof. He gives the line two good tugs, and finds it stable. The building he needs to get to is three blocks away, and crawling with reporters, police and gawkers, all wanting a piece of the story. His thoughts abruptly shift to someone else, and he forces them away, not wanting to follow the thoughts to their conclusion. He doesn't want to think of how he found The Artist's first victim, which is the same way he will find the current one.

He climbs the roof, thinking about each step in succession as he pulls himself upward, counting the steps so as not to think of how he's failed to save these women from a mad man. Each one is like a knife in his guts, and those are only the ones he knows of. Tim wonders how many more have been killed because he let this man escape him? 

Once he's on the rooftop, he begins his run toward the 8th Street Motel, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. This is not Gotham, not his city, but he respected Oliver Queen, Roy Harper, Connor Hawke and Mia Dearden. He still respects all of them, and this psycho came here to continue his work.

Red Robin will not let him finish it.

dc_misc:

AS different groups gathered together to put a stop to what was going to happen others assembled to make sure it happened. It was not an easy thing to break into the Warden's office. But it was easy to have him suddenly slip into madness and find that he didn't mind the idea of letting everyone have fun. Shouldn't everyone feel this free?

He giggled. Then started releasing the most dangerous in mates of Arkham. They struck attacking and fighting. One guard got his stun gun taken from him and they started to beat him to death.

Other guards tried to step in. Others tried to call for the cops. But then the lines went dead. They couldn't carry their cell phones on them while on the floor so there was very little they could do as suddenly the whole place erupted into a tapestry of violence.

dc_misc:

The actors for tonight's play were gathering.

Oh they weren't quite into position just yet. New actors had to be auditioned for new parts. It would remain to be seen if one of them would take on the mask of a hero or a villain while the stage lights up in the dark painting itself with vivid violent colors. Is the city freeing itself or is it falling into a trap?

Questions will be answered soon.

But for now a car speeds through the dark. The driver is on their way. One of the heroes, shining bright enough for some of the more dangerous element to find. The stage is set for this act.

The sky opens up and it begins to rain. The street lights flicker as the car continues weaving in and out of traffic. The driver is hurrying for a very important reason.

dc_holiday:

The beginning of a New Year, a time for new hopes, new experiences to come. A time to reflect on times past, remembering fond memories happily and trying to put less pleasant thoughts and experiences in the past.

It is a time of renewal, a time of rebirth. And for much of the world, it is a time of celebration. This is no less true for the super hero set as anyone else. If anything, they just have that much bigger of things to look forward to.

jdoesmith:

She knew better. She should have known better. Now all the pieces were in her hands and she would rather throw them to the wind. She knew that knowing things could be useful and all she wanted to know is if she could trust Red Arrow the next time they worked together.

She hadn't meant to discover who everyone in the Arrow Family was. It made her feel ill knowing so much about them without knowing anything about herself. So she was angry at how noisy she had been and the fact if Mia, no Red Arrow, knew she might not get to have a friend.

It bothered her that it upset her so she went drinking. It was dumb and she could feel how easy it would be to start a fight. That was when a guy started trying to put the moves on her. His buddies had circled in and she knew that they were trouble.

So she got up off the bar stool and smiled sweetly before punching him across the jaw and whirling with so much danger to her movements to hit the other guys. She went fast and hard and they tried to hit her back. In five minutes they were all booted on their asses, Jane going more willingly because she wasn't going to hit people who didn't deserve it.

But she could feel them following her as she weaved to her car. So the fight started again when Jane got hit from behind and snarled, leaping at one of them with fire and anger to kick him in the teeth. Yeah this is going to be lovely. Someone should break this up before she does some real damage.

jdoesmith:

High speed chases and shoot outs sometimes were part of the job. So were dodging knives and flesh hitting flesh in a fight for her life. She had gotten so used to how rough things could get that she forgot what it was like to have an easy day on the job.

Today was not that day. Middle aged man married with kids disappeared from work one day. No lovers. No deep dark secrets. He was just gone like the wind. Except there was an unusual lack of evidence.

( It drags on )

jdoesmith:

Sweet old ladies didn't deserve to worry about their bank accounts because of scams. She thought she had the people tracked down and had noted that there were several other people in Mrs Olson's age bracket on the block that were facing similar problems. It was actually a very nice looking area if a little run down for Star City but still a decent area with an older crowd of people living here. She didn't notice too many people in their early years. It was a good thing to take stock of at least.

Well this turned from a way for the PI to pay the rent into something she felt she had to take care of to the best of her ability. So she put on a fresh jacket and combed her hair back neatly back and started talking to people. Older people often had trouble seeing things clearly so getting a good base of description helped. It put a smile on her face that one nosy old man had more than that.

Her eyes raked the flier for the so-called fund raiser. Gee, where had she seen this before? The cynic in her pounded at this pretty harshly. Time to go have a chat with Mrs O. She wanted to be sure the woman had put a halt on her account like she had suggested earlier yesterday.

So she approached the woman's home since she would be passing by anyways and noted oddly that the front door was cracked open. Frowning Jane pulled out a handkerchief and pushed the door open.

Her eyes went wide and she pulled out her cell phone right away. Shit. Maybe this wasn't a simple scam. She swore and stayed right outside as she called the cops. Being wrong about something was the worse part of being a PI. Looking in at the old woman as she talked to a dispatcher Jane decided that if anything she'd finish this investigation because little old ladies do not get killed and forgotten about.

So she clenches her jaw and waits.

redarrowmia:

"I'll take a large french vanilla coffee with an extra shot of expresso please."

It was one of the few days that Mia got off from the paper. And she was determined to enjoy it. No phones going off in the background, no one screaming to get their articles in by the deadline, and no one shoving a piece of paper and a red pen in her face, demanding for a quick spell check before they sent it to the editor for final approval.

Making her way out of the coffee shop, Mia Dearden took a long swig and put on her aviator sunglasses with her free hand.

Sighing happily, she made her way down the street where some of Star City's best shopping was.

Maybe she'd do some window shopping...or maybe she'd indulge and splurge on some desperately need new shoes...as the ones that she normally wore to work were looking just a tad worn out.