Characters in Scene (in Order of Appearance):
- Phobia
- Supergirl
-----==[ Suicide Slum - Metropolis ]==----------------------------------------
Although the name of this district is officially Hobb's Bay, it has earned the unshakeable nickname of "Suicide Slum". This part of the South Side has always been known as a neighborhood for immigrants and the working class, and while the mixture of inhabitants changes over the decades, it is always ethnically diverse. Its older buildings -- some derelict -- hold much of the real character known in the history of Hobb's Bay as an ethnic and artistic mecca. These days, it is primarily known for having filthy streets and decaying, empty high-rises.
Despite this, there has been some resurgence in civic pride in the past few years, in the interests of making the Slum a more pleasant -- or at least less horrible -- place to live. Although limited in its impact, the gentrification may be encouraging to those who find themselves in this place, that there are some struggling to bring the area out of its seemingly interminable decline.
The dark of night is when the boogeyman is out. Tonight, that boogeyman is the green abd black clad Phobia. She's been on the prowl for an hour at least, finding Metropolis a much more difficult hunting ground than Gotham. She'd been fighting the urge for a day now, and finally, unable to sleep, here she is, standing over a poor homeless man. Caught sleeping in his cardboard box in an alley, he cries out in his sleep as Phobia's nightmares over take him.
The work of a Supergirl is never done, or something like that. Being a hero, especially Superman's cousin, means that she has to do things like occasionally patrol Metropolis at night. And Suicide Slum is always her least favorite part about keeping Metropolis safe. The general air of desperation is at odds with her normally happy outlook, and a reminder of the past tragedies in her life. While most people in the Slum would ignore the cry of the homeless man trapped in Phobia's nightmare projection, Kara's superhearing picks it up and she looks down to investigate. Her enhanced vision lets her see the scene, as well as the villianess causing the comotion. Supergirl did a bit of reading up on Phobia after their encounter in Centenial Park yesterday, so the costume is recognized. Swallowing hard, Kara swoops down to rooftop level and calls out. "Okay, that's enough there. Whatever you're doing to that man, stop it right now."
Phobia lifts her gaze at the voice, eyes glittering as she keeps her mind wrapped in her victim's. Frowning, Phobia snarls lightly as yet another costumed hero interupts. "Another one," she grumbles, accent turning dark. She turns from the man, who lays shivering in his nightmare, to face Supergirl. "Off with you, Hero. There is no crime in watching a man sleep," she hisses as her mind readies for use against her possible foe.
"It's a crime if you're causing him pain." Supergirl is standing,or rather, floating, firm. Her arms are crossed in a gesture of confidence and strength. Internally, she's trying to keep ehr mind calm so that she's not projecting any strong emotion or fear. "This poor man is homeless, he literally has nothing. Don't you think he's suffering enough already without taking away whatever comfort he gets from sleeping?"
"I cause no more pain than he could cause himself," Phobia hisses in reply. She steps to put herself between Supergirl and the homeless man, as if she is protecting him from the floating hero. "What he suffers is none of your concern," she retorts unhappily. "So I would leave, if I were you, unless you wish to learn of his suffering for yourself." Her mind brushes across Supergirl's, reading the surface fears and anxieties, noting how she works to keep calm.
[OOC] Supergirl says, "Of course, her two greatest fears right now are the Kents dying becasue her secret ID gets exposed, and Earth being destroyed becsue she failed to protect it."
Supergirl floats slowly downward. "Anyone suffering is of my concern. Especially in Metropolis. I know who you are, Phobia. And I know what you can do. You haven't been active as a villain and you don't exactly sound happy to be doing this. So maybe you've had a change of heart? Maybe you don't want to hurt people anymore?"
Phobia's eyes narrow sharply and she steps back, away from the man and the approaching Super. Fear spikes within her, darkening Phobia's expression further. "Quite so," Phobia retorts, mind starting to craft the fears she found on her first read of Supergirl's mind. "This man's suffering is the least of your concerns. Certainly, there are others, more important to you, that would suffer worse fates should you continue to interrupt." There's little physical change Phobia needs to make to herself at the moment that would assist the waking nightmare she's creating for Supergirl. What visuals Phobia could create are, ultimately, controlled by her victim.
And in Kara's mind, she sees the Kents lying dead. Their farm, the entire town of Smallville, burning as Luthor leads a horde of villains upon the unsuspecting populace. Superman screams in pure rage as he kneels over his dead adoptive parents. And Kara knows it's all her fault. Supergirl falls to the cenment. on her hands and knees with tears streaming down her face. "Kal...I'm sorry...I couldn't...." Her voice is a cracked whisper.
Phobia seems startled at the reaction. She barely touched Supergirl's fears. She gave barely a spark and the fears exploded like a powderkeg. Phobia listens to the emotions rolling off her defeated foe, catching only catching bits and pieces. A farm family, dead. A man leading an army of metahumans into a city. The notable Superman turn over the death of the farmers. And the feeling of terrified guilt crippling Supergirl. Stunned, Phobia watches and feels what she has done without feeding more into it. After a moment, Phobia kicks the homeless man, and growls into his mind to run. He squeaks and scrambles away, leaving the two ladies alone in the darkness.
Supergirl struggles under the weight of the guilt she feels from the vision. Part of her realizes that this is Phobia's power, it's what she does. Kara clenches her fists, powering the cement from the sidewalk caught between her fingers. "You...you're nothing more....than a parasite." The words come slowly and with effort. She's fighting back with every mental defense technique that J'onn taught her. Gritting her teeth, she collects her focus. "You feed off of the suffering and guilt of others? Here! Have a five-star meal!" And all of a sudden, Kara pushes all her negative memories to the front. The agony of watching Argo die a slow death. The betrayal of a mind-controlled Superman. The violation of having her genetic material used to create a living weapon. And the heartbreak of finding true love in the future, only to have to return to the present. It all comes rushing through her mind like a torrent.
Phobia gasps, one hand coming to her face. As if that would block the images. Phobia stumbles backward, quivering at the guilt, at the loss, at the fear. The emotions echo her own dark childhood, merging with them and making them impossible to drowning out as she's used to doing. It's too much too fast. "St-st-stop...?...!... ."
"What's wrong?" Kara says as she slowly gets up to her feet. "I thought this is what you wanted." She keeps up the mental imagery in her mind, focusing in on the days of Argo where she and her family were the sole survivors on a dead world. "Why would you want me to stop?" She's almost shouting right now, and her eyes are glowing dangerously red.
This is not how Phobia likes it. Being force-fed is not the way to keep her own fears in check. Phobia struggles to fight back, mind lashing out and stabbing at a random fear. The feeling of loneliness, sole survivor, strikes a chord in Angela, and pulls strained words from her throat. "You should have left well enough alone! I was bothering no one of importance."
And it's that feelign of lonlieness that hits Supergirl, or rather her own feeling as Phobia hits that nerve. "You were forcing yourself on them. Forcing them to relive painful experiences. And that's wrong." Fueled by her own anger, Kara moves swiftly, body-checking Phobia towards one of the walls in the alleyway; not nearly her full speed, but hopefully enough to end this without serious injury to Phobia.
Phobia is a push-over when it comes to the physical things. Supergirl body-checks Phobia. Phobia thuds against the wall, then slides down it to land in an unconscious heap at Supergirl's feet. The exact moment Phobia lost consciousness, when the wall made contact with the back of her skull, is clearly felt for in that instant all the mental feedback Phobia was creating stops completely.
Panting, Supergirl walks over to Phobia's prone form, her head still reeling from the psionic assault. She picks up Phobia and taps the comlink in her ear. "Supergirl to Watchtower, two to beam up to a holding cell. Prepare for incoming psionic criminal. Also alert Martian Manhunter and Superman." In a flash of light, both women are caught in the teleportation beam and transported into the orbiting Watchtower. Supergirl sighs as she deposits Phobia in the holding cell: she's going to need a super-sized asprin to help her with the headache and to figure out what to do with Phobia and the potential knowledge she may have.
