DTL Season 5-Week 4 (Set 3)

[DTL Commish]

The rules:
This is one of four threads containing matches.
The threads will be in use for 7 days. Days 1-3 (Tuesday-Thursday) are strictly setup time for owners to plead their cases, tell us their team’s strategies, breakdown the match ups, and do whatever else they can/want to do to try and convince you that their team would pull out a victory. Please, let the owners do this on their own with no help from you, the fan.

Debates will open to everyone on Day 4 (Friday) once I post that they are open. On Day 6 (Sunday) I will post and tell everyone that voting may begin. Only after doing so will voting start. Any votes cast before I open voting will not count.

Look over the matchups and read the owners strategies and take into consideration how in-character each character is. Afterwards, use your best judgment to decide who you think has the best chance to win the match up. (Note: The length of a writeup is up to the owner. Do not punish owners just for having a shorter writeup.)

To vote, post the team names you think will prevail in each match. Remember, to vote for each match up or your vote will not count! The teams with the highest vote total at the end of the 7th day (Monday) will get a W while the other will get an L. (Equal votes will result in a tie.)

The battleground for this week is: The Blue Area of the Moon

The Authorititans
Zatanna (DU) -- Magic
Flash (Titans Tomorrow) (DU) -- Superspeed
Apollo (DM) -- Flight, superstrength, superspeed, solar vision
Elijah Snow (DR) -- heat subtraction
Batman (Titans Tomorrow) (DR) -- technological, tactical, martial arts genius

VS.

The Deadly Dozen
Zoom (Blitz) (DU) -- time-based superspeed
Doomsday-Brainiac (DU) -- super strength/speed/durability/intelligence
Magneto (Pre-Fatal Attractions) (MM) -- controls metals and electromagnetism
Darkchylde (Inferno) (MR) -- teleportational portals, soul sword, minor sorcery
Ambrose Chase (DR) -- physics-altering field

_______________________________

B'wana Bet?
Baron Helmut Zemo (with Moonstones)(MU)- The Moonstones grant Zemo his own version of Cosmic Awareness and powers, including the ability to teleport through time and space, in addition to his own natural skills and prodigious leadership ability.
Firestorm (Elemental) (DU) - Possessed all of Firestorm's original abilities (matter-transmutation, density alteration, some energy powers) to a somewhat higher level, as well as Elemental powers (creating new bodies out of fire?) and extensive scientific knowlege.
Lightray (DM) - Powers: Faster than light, superhuman strength and durability, energy conversion, and light manipulation. Lightray is highly-intelligent and possesses a Mother Box.
Reed Richards (MR) - Elastic supergenius. Again, perhaps the only point in need of highlighting here is his little used ability to alter his own mind through his powers.
Mister Miracle (DR)- An unrivaled escape-artist, Scott Free is highly intelligent, and employs a host of inventions, including a Mother Box he'd built himself as a child on Apokolips. Known to few, he was born with the Anti-Life Equation, though he is unwilling to use it.

VS.

(Owner - Who?)
Bloodstrike 1 - Combination of Thunderstrike and Bloodaxe.
Superhuman stats, teleportation, energy blasts, ability to project hot/fire and cold/ice blasts, flight, energy absorbtion, and the Bloodaxe itself can cut through just about anything.
Cyborg Superman (Hank Henshaw) - Superman stats, multiple Sinestro rings, and technopathy.
Doom 2099 - Superhuman stats(durability, strength, stamina, etc.), technopathy, energy blasts, force fields, invisibility, phasing, and flight.
Vandal Savage (One Million) - Various tech such as the Omicron knife suit.
Locus - Teleportation

 

[Aristotle]

PART 1—LOCKER ROOM

This is a purely narrative exercise. It's designed to show why my team can work together, despite their various and disparate backgrounds. If you like reading a little backstory and a big of a semi-lighthearted look at these games, read it. But there's no real strategy in here. It serves as a narrative bit, and as proof that my players will work together.

At -2445 hours, the twelve members of the newly renamed and restructured Authorititans assemble in the superpower-dampening locker room, awaiting their new matchup. After a tough battle last week, with all of the team's players, with the exception of Batman, failing to do much effective damage against their opponents, the team's ego was bruised as their record dropped to 1-2. A change in the front office was necessary, and Aristotle filled the shoes of his predecessor nicely. He immediately set about making major shifts to the team's roster. Only now, as they teleport in to the locker room, do the characters realize the full extent of the changes.

Zatanna surveys her team and it is a bittersweet experience. On the one hand, she had grown fond of her teammates in the Titans of Tomorrow, and of her potential capacity to mold them into better, more traditional heroes. It was a chance to redeem a dark future that had come about, in part, because of her magical meddlings. At the same time, however, Zatanna trusts the judgment of Tim Drake and Bart Allen, and she now sees a much more effective fighting machine than the one she was saddled with before, a group of 12 solid players who can take it hard to the competition in any combination. They need some work, without a doubt, and the idea of working with some of them is a bit unsavory; but it's not whether you win or lose ethically...it's how you play the game. And this team is ready to play a damn good game.

Superman-Prime has always been a misunderstood character, and he'll be the first to tell you that. He is a superhero. His archnemesis is the Anti-Monitor, like any good superhero's archnemesis should be. He may use extreme methods, but if he were aware of the nature of the Wildstorm Universe's heroes, he would point you to them. Superman-Prime has always wanted a better world. The Authority have always wanted a finer world. Interesting, isn't it, that those two most admirable of goals manifest in the minds of some of the most brutal and ruthless of superheroes. Prime knows that he's made mistakes, and whatever his bravado might suggest, the guilt of those mistakes haunts him. He looks around him, and while he does see the future faces of many who once battled him as Titans, he also sees older, wiser men who have come to realize that a hero must do what is necessary. Armed with his Qwardian power ring, Superman-Prime is prepared to go into battle with these troops.

Savitar, too, is a misunderstood hero. Years ago, he fought for his country as a fighter pilot for a third-world nation. He was as dedicated to his country and the service of what he thought was right as Hal Jordan ever was. When the Speed Force brought his plane down, Savitar made use of its energies by studying it tirelessly, always with the intention of using its power against the enemies of his nation, against the enemies of what was right. Savitar unlocked speed powers that no other speedster would ever come close to. Eventually, in his search for knowledge, he encountered Johnny Quick. Through no fault of either one, in a misunderstanding that Savitar would forever regret, the two engaged in combat, and Savitar ended up bouncing off the Speed Force, forward through time. Disoriented by his travel, and embittered by the fight with Quick, Savitar put a plan into motion that was rooted deeply in his search for power to use for good, but ended up being quite evil in nature. After years in the Speed Force, Savitar has had a chance to rethink his actions. He knows that Bart Allen is not happy to see him, but the players in this locker room are men and women he would be proud to fight alongside.

Bart Allen, Cyborg 2.0, Red Devil, and Batman are the only members of the team, aside from Zatanna, who were in this locker room a week ago. Batman is the only Titan who fought in the disastrous battle, and gave a good account of himself. His fellow Titans are itching to get into a fight as well. They're not 100% pleased with the additions of Superman-Prime and Savitar, but a lot of these other additions look quite promising, and as the players mill around the locker room, the Titans come to appreciate the addition of the two “villainous” heavy hitters.

The Enchantress is well used to dealing with the shadier sides of the human spectrum, but she's still surprised to see the scourge of the recent Crisis sitting in her locker room. She's calmed by the presence of Zatanna, however, and by the presence of Flash, Cyborg, and Batman, although she later realizes that they're slightly less familiar than they seem. Her initial uneasiness about Red Devil is soothed by the realization that he is an adult Kid Devil, although she remains suspicious. Others in the room, she simply doesn't recognize. On the whole, Enchantress is uneasy but cautiously optimistic about the roster of players she sees before her. She hasn't been a part of this league in awhile, and she's glad to have a solid group of players to go into a game with.

Although Apollo and Midnighter aren't exactly acquaintances of Elijah Snow, they're all from the same universe, and the sight of familiar faces that aren't Mr. Majestic is welcome for Apollo—particularly since one of them is rookie Post-Worldstorm Midnighter. The three of them stick closely together, reminiscing about Jenny Sparks and chuckling about Jenny Quarx. In general, from what they know of the other players on the team, this should be a solid group. Midnighter likes Batman's fashion sense, and all three appreciate the no-nonsense approach that the Titans take. They're happy to have some magiks around, in the absence of the doctor, and the speedsters and heavies don't hurt. These three are all business when it comes to these fights, and they like the idea of doing business with this squad.

Captain Boomerang is a bit put off by all of this. As the group mills around a bit, he gets a feel for the ruthless nature of a lot of these heroes. On one level, it's appealing to him. On another level, he knows that he's been a villain in the past, and he knows that Flash is uneasy around him. He and Tim Drake came to terms with each other awhile ago, though, and he feels that, on the whole, he can have a good working relationship with all of these people. Finally able to have a conversation with the “villainous” Superman-Prime, in a locker room equipped with power-dampening that disallows the possibility of an intra-team brawl, Boomer comes to realize that even Prime is an ally he's happy to have.

At -2410, Aristotle, the team's new owner, enters the locker room after a few White Russians at the Oblivion Bar. He gets right down to business. “I've got your lineup here for tomorrow's match,” he announces. “Sorry to call you all in like this, but it's a very different team than it was a week ago, and I wanted to get a little team chemistry going on. We can meet for workouts later, but I figured you should all get to know each other a little bit, considering your disparate, and occasionally checkered, backgrounds. I'm sure you're all as pleased as I am that nobody on this team hails from the “other” multiverse, so if we can all look past our various differences, let's get to work turning this squad around. We're tied for third right now, but there's no reason at all that we can't get ourselves back into contention by the end of this season. There's a lot of combat before this season's done, and if we play this right, we're just as able to win every damn one of those games as the next guy. Now let's get out there, take it to 'em right from the starting gun, and finish this season 10-2, huh?”

“This week's lineup,” Aristotle continues, “is Zatanna, Flash, Apollo, Elijah Snow, and Batman. The rest of you are free to go back to your home universes in your respective teleporters.” Midnighter and Apollo quickly embrace before Midnighter goes home. The Titans shake hands all around and wish each other luck. Savitar and Superman-Prime chat for a few moments before exiting. Enchantress and Zatanna, having talked a bit of shop, part ways as well.

“I'll leave you five to it. I know you can take these guys down. You'll find short dossiers on your opponents when you arrive at the battleground, which your teleporters should be set to, and I believe some of you know some of them from previous encounters. If you want to catch a beer down at the Oblivion after the game, me and Boomer and a couple of the guys from the Trenchcoat Brigade are gonna be there, and I'm sure Zatanna knows the way. I cleared it with Nightmaster, it's cool.”

 

[Aristotle]

PART 2—PREP TIME

If you want to see the differences between the strategy my team laid out and how things actually went down, read this bit. Again, it's not necessary, but it might help. It serves primarily as a demonstration of how even the most "perfect" plans get messed up by the organic reality of battle. My team still comes out ahead, but things don't go exactly as they were planned.

The locker room clears out. With 24 hours and two minutes remaining before the start of the game, the five teammates mentally prepare themselves. The last few seconds tick away from the clock, and they step into their respective teleporters.

Seconds later, the five grim teammates materialize at the North end of the Blue Area of the Moon. “What the hell's this place?” wonders Apollo. “Don't recognize it,” says Batman, “but the dossier indicates that it exists on the moon in the 'other' multiverse.” “Figures we'd draw one of their spots,” grumbles Zatanna.

“Enough. Let's get down to business,” Batman grunts. As usual, he assumes the position of team leader.

“First order of business is surveying the terrain. I need to know where I'm working. Flash, Apollo, I want you on a superspeed tour of this area. Map it out in as great detail as you can do. Flash, I know your intellect is up to that task at superspeed. Apollo, I'm not sure of your capabilities, but map it as well as you can from above. Zatanna, get me a magical picture of what we're looking at, so I can see this from all angles. I'll do a bit of surveying of the areas that look like key points to me. Snow, get a feel for this area as much as you can. Rendezvous back here at the harbor at -2300.”

An hour later, the team rendezvous to find Batman already perusing the dossiers. He immediately starts handing out assignments and orders.

“First priority in combat is dealing with these high-end people. Doomsday/Brainiac is a marvel of superscience in the fields of biology and technology. I want Zatanna to apply the force of magic, a fundamentally supernatural and irrational phenomenon, to him and see if he can handle it. If that doesn't work, then at the very least you should be able to keep him in check until someone else arrives to team up on him. Apollo, you're with her for support. Zatanna, at -0005 I want you to magically shield everyone's mind from telepathic invasion. We've got a Brainiac on our hands here, which means all of us need to be protected from intrusion, and you especially, since you'll be in charge of taking him down.”

“Flash, you're with me. We need to take care of your old Rogue Zoom. I've got a method that Bruce used on speedsters, and our files on all of the speedsters he or I encountered don't indicate that any of them are resistant to it. I'll execute the plan myself, but I'm going to need you as well. I'll need you to spawn one of your “speed scouts,” at about -0010. That scout will lend me all its kinetic energy, before being reabsorbed into your consciousness. This won't make me superfast or give me a connection to the Speed Force, but it will make me fast enough to at least follow Zoom with my eye. Then all I'll need from you is to lure him into my area, which I'll show you before the fight starts. After that, check on the Doomsday situation. As soon as that's under control, you're free to take on whoever you come across. I'll be doing the same.”

“Snow, I want you on Darkchylde. Your heat subtraction should be able to keep her in check long enough for someone else to get there and take her down. We mostly need to keep her magic disruption capabilities away from Zatanna. I can't be sure how powerful those abilities are, and I need her away from Zatanna.”

“From there, the plan will be to gang up. Zatanna and Apollo should have Doomsday under control. Snow will have Darkchylde under control. Zoom will be down in short order, which will leave me and Flash to deal with these Magneto and Chase characters. We'll first dispose of whatever bits of Doomsday Zatanna and Apollo haven't taken down, leaving the four of us free to get to the other two. Snow has informed me of some of Chase's capabilities—he's not to be underestimated. Flash, I'll need your kinetic energy and Speed Force powers to deal with him effectively. Zatanna, we can then move on to Magneto with your magical capabilities, but Flash and Apollo, you'll need to hit him hard and fast so he can't work offensively or defensively against Zatanna. That should leave us with the final problem of Darkchylde. It should be a simple matter for the speedsters to separate her from her Soulsword, and from there Zatanna should be more than capable of dispatching her quickly.”

“I'll be supplying you all with comms equipment so we can stay in contact at all times. Even the best plans go awry. This won't go down the way I've drawn it up. I want us in contact constantly.”

“This leaves us with the possible event of being accidentally ejected from the area. Apollo, you can breathe in space. Zatanna, your magic should be able to take care of you. Flash, you should seal up your suit with Speed Force constructs. Snow, I can provide us with breathing apparatuses, and my suit is temperature regulated. You shouldn't need protection from the temperature.”

“Familiarize yourselves with the layout. Check out these maps, and take a few walks around the area to get comfortable with it. I don't want anybody unfamiliar with the layout. Be sure to get a little sleep, if you require it, but don't just be waking up an hour before the fight. I want us all at 100%. We'll rendezvous back here at the harbor at -0100.”

With an hour remaining, the group meets back up. Batman hands out comms earbud/mic equipment and breathing apparatuses. He also makes a few final strategic notes.

“Zatanna, get to the peak of the palace immediately so you can find Doomsday, and use magical scrying to find him quicker. Apollo, get as high in the air as you can without leaving the battlefield to see if you can locate him. As soon as you've located him, work together to bring him down.”

“Flash, find Zoom, wherever he goes. I'll be here in the East Fortress, so you know where to bring him.”

“Snow, keep to the shadows. You want to avoid direct confrontation with anyone until you're in a position to get the drop on Darkchylde.”

Batman loads his handgun with bullets he produces from the back of his utility belt. Flash seals his costume with Speed Force constructs. He then spawns a Speed Scout, which lends its Speed Force and kinetic energy to Batman and his gun. Flash then reabsorbs the scouts.

Meanwhile, on the South end of the Blue Area, outside the Spaceport, the five members of the Deadly Dozen have also laid out their strategy. Magneto is assigned to take out Batman, the superior intellect of the team. Darkchylde is assigned to take on Elijah Snow, hoping to magically disrupt his heat subtraction. Chase, because of his temporal powers' capacity to affect speed, is assigned to Flash or Apollo, whichever one he finds first, while Zoom will take whichever he finds first. Doomsday/Brainiac, the strategist and leader of the Dozen's squad, plans to work on Zatanna, hoping to use his science as an edge over magic.

Back up North, five minutes remain. Zatanna applies magical psionic shielding to her teammates, and to herself. The seconds tick off the clock.

Abruptly, Batman whispers, “it's time.”

 

[Aristotle]

PART 3—THE FIGHT, part 1
The fight is on. From both sides, the two speedsters hit the floor immediately. Batman, charged with kinetic energy and residual Speed Force lent him by the Speed Scout, dashes for his selected Fortress tower and pulls out his handgun. Loaded up with Bruce's old vibro-bullets, which he once developed for use against Wally West and Barry Allen, Batman's weapon is one of the only ways in which a non-metahuman can threaten a speedster.

The two squads break out into small groups and individuals. Zatanna and Apollo rocket upward to the high points, and Snow disappears into the shadowy streets of Attilan. At the other end of the Blue Area, Magneto strides purposefully into the proud but empty city, looking for his prey. Darkchylde and Snow break off as well. Doomsday/Brainiac rumbles forward, carefully surveying the ground, probing telepathically for opponents. Where are my enemies, Brainiac thinks, suspiciously. Something isn't right.

Darkchylde immediately begins teleporting around the Blue Area. At one point, she thinks she catches a glimpse of Batman inside a building...but that's not her quarry. She has an assignment to take care of. Moments later, she materializes just outside the Parliament building and takes another long, hard look around...and begins to feel a chill in the air.

Meanwhile, it was only a matter of time before Zoom and Flash found each other, in a space as small as the Blue Area. Zoom gets in a few good knocks on Bart before the Scarlet Speedster puts Batman's plan into action, getting just enough of a headstart on his mentor's archnemesis to stay ahead of him for a bit. Flash burns across the lunar territory, weaving between the power plant and the Tower of Genesis before swerving back around towards the Ancient Moorings, and is gone. Even with his temporary Speed Force energies, Flash appears incredibly fast to Batman, who watches from his sniper's nest. But the coming of the Flash is a signal to Batman that Zoom will be right behind. Carefully watching and timing everything, with the precision he is known for, Tim Drake squeezes the trigger.

Zoom hears the sound of a gun going off at Speed Force velocity, and instinctively attempts to vibrate through it. But, just as happened years ago to Wally West, he's doing exactly what the plan calls for him to do. The bullet, set to the same vibrational frequency, attaches to his spinal cord and immediately sends him into superspeed epileptic seizures. Zoom's body drops to the ground, appearing lifeless, but in fact undergoing tremors and pains unlike anything almost any human has ever been cursed to experience.

Flash doubles back and looks down at the insane speedster. Batman grimly stalks out of his sniper's nest and toward the body. “Make him one with the Speed Force, Tim,” snarls Bart. “Happy to,” replies Batman curtly. He's already unloaded the vibro-bullets and loaded good old-fashioned regular ammunition. He levels the gun at Zoom's head and pulls the trigger. Blood spatters across the ground. Into his headset, Batman mutters “Authorititans, Zoom is down.”

“That's good, Batman,” Zatanna's voice cuts through the static, “because we've spotted Doomsday, and he's moving differently than the last time I saw him.”

“He would be. He's got Brainiac-level intellect now. Be careful. And Zatanna: do WHATEVER IS NECESSARY. Do you understand me?”

“Understood, Batman.” Even as the last of the transmissions fades from his ears, Flash is off and running to find a new target.

Elsewhere, with a crunch, Elijah Snow's earbud comms piece is obliterated under his heel. Snow doesn't have time for distractions. He's focusing on subtracting all the heat he can from around his opponent, Darkchylde. He got the drop on her but good, but that doesn't mean he can let down his attack. Stepping from the shadows, he had the temperature well below freezing before she even knew he was there. Colder, colder, colder...the temperature now would be deadly to most people. Snow grimly stares down the erstwhile Sorceress Supreme as she frantically shunts her limited magical energies into staying warm and alive, unable to do anything else. Snow, too, finds himself unable to do anything but maintain the stalemate. So be it. He's doing exactly what he needs to do.

Zatanna floats down from her vantage point atop the palace, with Apollo remaining back in reserve. Brainiac is now quite sure that his efforts at telepathy are being frustrated through magic, making him all the more determined to find his opponent. Telepathic communication with his teammates tells him that Zoom is out of the picture and Darkchylde is caught up in something. No word yet from Chase, who moves too slowly to have found an opponent yet. Magneto hasn't found anything either.

It happens too fast for Brainiac to notice at first. But suddenly, he realizes that Doomsday is not moving as Brainiac had intended him to. Brainiac feels no connection to the limbs and flesh of the monster. And the monster is moving of its own accord. ZATANNA. It has to be her.

And it is Zatanna. Carefully slicing into Doomsday's mind, she has severed the connection between Brainiac's mind and Doomsday's mind. Doomsday is now once again a virtually mindless killing machine. Zatanna and Brainiac are both surprised at the ease with which she conquered the connection, but the Doomsday/Brainiac hybrid has always proven unstable; Doomsday's will, while not fired by intellect, is simply too powerful to be superceded even by the telepathy of Brainiac. Now Brainiac finds himself trapped in a massive, violent meat puppet as it rampages through the city.

Meanwhile, Zatanna has altered the mind of Doomsday. It's not something she wanted to do—she finds it distasteful, after the events of recent years—but it is something she remains willing to do, when it's absolutely necessary. She recently displayed a reluctant willingness to mindwipe Selina Kyle, although Selina ended up deciding against it. Now, with Batman ordering her to take Doomsday out the only way that might be possible in this setting, Zatanna has gone ahead and magically influenced Doomsday to attack indiscriminately. With Apollo scouting ahead and Zatanna magically scrying to keep the beast away from the Authorititans, Doomsday eventually rips into the residential area.

Magneto whirls to see Doomsday tearing through buildings. This is not the Doomsday he started the match with. Brainiac employed precision and intellect. This is a mindless beast. Something's happened to the connection between the two. This is now a liability that will have to be removed. Magneto gives Doomsday one hard look and the beast roars in surprise as the metal components of Brainiac are ripped out of its body. While it doesn't feel pain, it does notice the damage to its hulk. Magneto frowns. The beast should have felt that. Yet the only effect seems to be that it's moving awkwardly as a result of the brutal trauma. Magneto shifts backwards as the beast stomps toward him.

Magneto begins pulling entire residential structures up from their foundations and slamming them into Doomsday, with little effect. The beast awkwardly lurches forward after Magneto, who keeps stepping slowly backwards, dragging larger and larger chunks of metal and throwing them at Doomsday, but the monster is unstoppable. Magneto feels himself cross the Avenue of Harmony and hopes to reach the prison, which he can use as both a hiding spot and a weapon—and Apollo slams into him from behind and rips his head off.

 

[Aristotle]

PART 4—THE FIGHT, part 2
Zatanna magically freezes Doomsday in place, but she's horrified. “What have you done? That was not necessary!” Apollo shrugs. “Was something else necessary?” The mage shudders, but knows that there are more pressing concerns. Behind Doomsday's frozen form, Apollo swoops down and trashes the metal components of Brainiac, beyond repair.

“Batman, Magneto is down and Doomsday is under my control. Should I bring him with us?”

“What's his operational status?”

“Poor. Magneto did a number on his anatomy.”

“Leave him. He'll only slow you down. We're currently trying to eliminate this Chase character. See if the two of you can't locate him.”

As it happens, that won't be necessary. The Flash has been searching high and low for enemies to battle, all over Attilan, but with Zoom, Doomsday, and Magneto all out of the picture, it's hard hunting. Soon enough, however, the Flash pauses near the Tomb of Ryvain to get a closer look—and Ambrose Chase walks around the corner of a building across the avenue. The two spot each other simultaneously, and both resort to their powers. Flash is the quicker draw, however, and has the more expansive power. He spawns five Speed Scouts, and at superspeed, they all tag Chase and sap him of all kinetic energy before delivering a series of powerful punches to the head that knock the helpless opponent cold.

“Batman, it's Flash. Chase is out cold. Next step?”

“Nothing. He's no villain. We'll leave him be. He'll wake up with his teammates dead and a tally mark in the loss column for his team. Authorititans,” Batman continues, “we somehow lost contact with Snow. I don't know what that means, because no one's made contact with his target, either, but we may have to assume that he is injured or dead. The last time the Flash saw him, he was approaching the Parliament building from the power plant. Let's start with that area and see what we find. Meet up at Agon's Tower immediately to regroup and plot strategy.”

Outside the Parliament building, Darkchylde and Snow stare into each other's souls. To the casual passerby, it would look a curious exchange of silence. On the steps of the Parliament building stands a slender, young-looking man with a shock of white hair and a dapper white suit. Opposite him, midway between the Parliament building and the power plant, stands a dark figure, clad in shimmering magical armor, carrying a powerful blade, yet standing almost completely still. The air is impossibly cold, but only the woman shivers, and even her tremors are almost imperceptible.

Darkchylde knows that her team is in serious disarray. Telepathic communications from Brainiac and Magneto told her that Zoom went down almost immediately, and that Brainiac/Doomsday and Magneto soon followed him. Unless Chase has managed to survive, she knows, she has almost no chance of getting out of this stalemate unless she starts taking action. Snow is showing no signs of weakening. Gritting her teeth, Darkchylde slowly takes a step toward her opponent. Her magic holds—for now.

At Agon's Tower, Batman surveys his squad and likes what he sees. “Good work, team. At most, we've lost one man and the rest of us are hardly scratched. Since the match hasn't been ended yet, I think we can assume that they still have their last player on the field, Darkchylde. Zatanna, have you assessed the situation?”

“I have, Batman. It appears that Snow and Darkchylde are in a stalemate, which may be the most we could have hoped for. He's kept her away from me and preoccupied, and she appears powerless to do anything but defend herself against the cold. Her sword seems to disrupt magic.”

Batman nods. “Our strategy is simple. Apollo, you rush in first from the West side and knock her Soulsword out of her hand at high speed. Flash, you're faster, so you double around the back of the power plant and come back into the target area to catch the weapon when she loses it, and deliver it to me. I'll be standing here,” he says as he points to a spot on his map, “between that building there and the plant. I'll then rush in with the Soulsword, which as I understand it, should be enough to disrupt her power, and Zatanna, that's when you set her down magically. My suit is sealed and temperature-regulated, Flash's suit is sealed, Zatanna can protect herself, and Apollo can survive at extreme temperatures, so Snow won't even have to dial down his heat subtraction.”

The plan is executed masterfully. The four approach the stalemate by hiding behind a jutting bit of the power plant. Batman wordlessly motions for the plan to go into motion. As Darkchylde struggles to take her fourth step forward, while maintaining her magical protections against heat, Apollo charges forward and slams into her hand, knocking the sword into the air, where it's snatched out of the air by Flash, who almost instantly passes it off to Batman, who rushes in to attack the still-stunned Darkchylde. Displaying the expert swordsmanship that one would expect from the finest student of the original Batman, Tim Drake deftly slices through his opponent's already-fading magical armor with the magic-disrupting blade, and as the armor fizzles out, Zatanna slams Darkchylde with a huge ray of magical energy, knocking her out.

The bell sounds, and the fight ends. The team barely has a chance to catch their breath before they are teleported back to the locker room.

“Anybody for a beer?” asks Snow.

References:
Map of Attilan: http://www.marvel.com/universe3zx/images/e/e1/Attilan.jpg

 

[XFanTim]

The Deadly Dozen

I'm just going to jump right into it. No need to summarize my team's prep-time -- all the strategizing and such will be apparent from the battles themselves.

== Zoom vs. Flash ==

In the first nanosecond of the fight, Flash and Zoom take off running, searching the battlefield for their foes. Unsurprisingly, they meet each other first, and the battle is on. With their teammates looking like statues by comparison, both speedsters know they're on their own. Zoom doesn't mind -- he's faster than Wally West, and from the looks of things, he's faster than this Flash, too.

But Flash has a few tricks up his sleeve, courtesy of Batman. He opens his hand to reveal a small grenade, and presses a button on the device. Zoom's eyes snap shut picoseconds after the burst of light hits his eyes, but even so, he's left seeing spots. Pressing his advantage, Flash hurls a razor sharp batarang straight for Zoom's neck.

But Zoom is no fool. The first attack was clearly meant to set him up for something, and with a leap to one side he makes sure he's not in position to find out what. He also made preparations of his own ... with help from Magneto. Whirling around, he releases a hundred tiny metal spikes, flying in all directions faster than any bullet. Flash has only a yoctosecond to react (okay, not a yoctosecond, but I'm having fun with metric prefixes here). He flings up a null-inertia field in front of him, dropping, most of the projectiles to the ground, but a couple slip through, gashing his arm and leg.

Flash's high-speed metabolism starts knitting the wounds shut as fast as they opens, but even as it does Zoom is on him, his vision already starting to clear. Flash backpedals, struggling to keep up as his faster foe rains down punches. Soon they’re both running side by side, but Flash is still eating more punches than he’s able to dish out. Suddenly, Zoom’s leg juts out in front of him, sending them both tumbling – right through a carefully concealed portal, created by Darkchylde at the moment the battle began.

And now, a few words about the Flash . . . Flash is able to accelerate himself by tapping into an extradimensional energy field known as the Speed Force. This energy can be felt throughout the DC Universe, but is normally unknown to the Marvel Universe, where this battle takes place. However, the cosmic powers that oversee this competition have chosen to extend the Speed Force to the present battlefield, so that the Flash will have full access to his powers. Still, there remain other realms within the Marvel multiverse untouched by the Speed Force . . . including Darkchylde’s own dimension of Limbo. Which is precisely where the too speedsters now find themselves.

Zoom’s power is different. Rather than accelerating himself, he manipulates time, altering his rate of progression along the timeline to generate effective superspeed. Only, in Limbo, there is no timeline . . . multiple times coexist at once, with people able to come face to face with their own past or future selves. In such an environment, Zoom’s power is useless. So he, like the Flash, finds himself suddenly powerless – just as he and Darkchylde realized would happen.

So both speedsters find themselves suddenly powerless . . . with one key difference. Zoom has no “true” speed, so take away his time-manipulation and he’s just an ordinary man running along at an ordinary pace. Flash is another matter. As Isaac Newton observed, momentum can’t just disappear on its own. “Objects in motion stay in motion…” and so forth. Which is why Flash goes crashing into a wall of rock at 300 million miles per hour, and Zoom simply turns around and jogs back through the portal.

== Zoom vs. Zatanna ==

Back on the moon, Zoom contacts his teammates (who’ve been fitted with radio-headsets whipped up by Magneto and Brainiac from some of the still functional Kree technology littering the battlefield). “The Flash has been dealt with as planned. Proceeding to next target.” Before their brains have even registered the words, Zoom is on the move again, speeding all across the battlefield in search of their most dangerous foe – Zatanna. Zoom has circled the planet faster than Superman can shrug, so locating her on this limited battlefield takes no time at all. In the space between seconds he charges towards her, readying a high-speed punch to take her down for the count – and slams directly into an invisible wall that Zatanna had erected around herself moments before the battle started. Zoom is knocked out cold by his own speed. With Zatanna’s power and Batman’s strategic mind, he should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

“Zoom should have reported locating Zatanna by now,” Darkchylde says a second later. “No second message – what could that mean?”

With Magneto’s electromagnetic senses, he can tell precisely where Zoom’s radio transmitter is – and that it’s stopped moving. “It means he’s found her.” He gives Darkchylde the coordinates, and she opens a portal for herself and Doomsday. Magneto stays behind to deal with another approaching foe.

== Magneto vs. Apollo ==
In another stratagem, Zatanna has used her magic to render Apollo invisible, in hopes that with his speed and strength he could ambush their lower-level opponents and take most of them down before they know what hit him. But what they don’t know is that Magneto not only controls electromagnetism, he can actually see the world in terms of electromagnetic energy. A living solar battery like Apollo stands out like a neon sign – which is why Magneto’s powerful protective forcefield is more than ready to meet Apollo’s blows.

Apollo rains down punches anyway, but Magneto’s shield holds. He fires back with a blast of magnetic energy, but his faster opponent dodges the attack and continues the assault. Feigning weakness, Magneto falls to the ground, and Apollo dives down to finish him off – just as Magneto topples one of the ruined Kree buildings on top of them both.

Since he knew what was coming, Magneto is the first to react, pushing the wreckage off him and flying away as fast as he can. Mere moments later, Apollo has freed himself and is baring down on Magneto in hot pursuit. It won’t take him long to catch up, but Magneto doesn’t need long to lure Apollo into position for his plan. He signals the concealed Ambrose Chase, who slows down time around Apollo as he flies overhead. At the same time, Magneto reaches out with his mutant power to activate an ancient Kree weapon – perhaps the very gun that killed Phoenix – and opens fire on Apollo. Still caught in Ambrose’s time-dilation effect, Apollo has no way to avoid the blast, and is finished.

== Ambrose Chase vs. Batman ==
As soon as Magneto has dispatched Apollo, he flies as fast as he can to assist his teammates with Zatanna. Ambrose turns to run in that same direction, but a shadowy figure drops into his path.

Batman hurls a razor sharp batarang straight for his opponent. With ease, Ambrose again slows time, this time to allow him to side-step the weapon. He’s surprised to see such a feeble attack from one who bears the name of Batman, whom his teammates described as almost legendary. A moment later Ambrose is unconscious on the ground, victim of a hypersonic pulse emitted by the batarang. Underneath the cowl of the Batman Tim almost permits himself a smile.

Meanwhile . . . .
== Doomsday-Brainiac and Darkchylde vs. Zatanna and Elijah Snow ==
Doomsday leaps through Darkchylde’s portal and straight for Zatanna. She barely has a chance to shout “!ytivarg esreveR” Doomsday finds himself “falling” straight up off the surface of the moon, and since he can’t fly, he has no way back down.

Of course, Darkchylde isn’t about to let her most powerful teammate go floating off into space. She ports above him and slashes him with her magic-disrupting Soul Sword. It passes right through Doomsday without touching him, but the enchantment Zatanna placed on him is severed. Doomsday comes crashing back to the Earth.

Zatanna is caught off guard – she didn’t know Darkchylde could do that – and with a blow Doomsday shatters the forcefield surrounding her. “!potS” she shouts, and he freezes, but again Darkchylde’s sword releases him.

“You won’t do that again,” says Elijah Snow, stepping out from behind Darkchylde and draining the heat from her. On the verge of blacking out from the cold, Darkchylde stumbles backwards through another of her portals.

Zatanna tries to speak another spell, but she’s reduced to a fit of coughs by a cloud of dust . . . metallic dust. Magneto has arrived.

And that’s all the opening Doomsday needs to leave Zatanna splattered across the surface of the moon.

== Magneto vs. Elijah Snow ==
Magneto can be harmed by cold. Storm almost took him out with a combination of blizzard cold and 100 knot winds – only failed because she held back for fear of killing him – but as she discovered, the cold also strengthened his magnetic powers. Elijah Snow doesn’t hold back, but he attacks with cold alone. It’s not enough to put Magneto down before Snow is blasted into unconsciousness by a burst of magnetic force.

== Batman vs. Darkchylde ==
Elsewhere in the blue area, Darkchylde gasps. That attack from Snow almost finished her. Luckily, Doomsday-Brainiac and Magneto should be able to handle things from here. She can hide out and lick her wounds . . .

The pressure of a gun barrel against her temple interrupts her thoughts – as that sort of thing tends to do. She didn’t even hear the future Batman approaching.

“Listen very carefully,” Tim hisses. You are going to teleport us to your teammates, and then teleport them off this battlefield. Or I’m going to blow a hole in your head. Do you understand?”

“Go to hell!” Darkchylde answers, as a portal opens behind Batman – a portal that leads to the lunar surface, outside the atmosphere of the Blue Area. With atmosphere on one side and vacuum on the other, the air goes rushing out – carrying Batman along with it.

Before Darkchylde can close the portal, a grappling hook comes flying through, and wraps itself around her ankle. She tries to snap the portal shut, but she’s still slowed by the injuries she suffered from Snow. She’s dragged through an instant before it closes.

Darkchylde and Batman both find themselves on the surface of the moon, about a mile outside the Blue Area. Deprived of oxygen, Darkchylde collapses. Batman doesn’t care. He’s focused on making it back to the atmosphere of the Blue Area. A breathing mask provides him with air, and his suit is insulated – but not pressurized. He can feel his capillaries bursting. And insulation can only do so much. He’s going to have to hurry to make it back to the Blue Area before succumbing to the elements.

Some time later . . .
Batman stumbles into the Blue area. He made it. Too bad Doomsday was waiting for him. CRUNCH!

(I’ll let you fill in the details – you don’t really need me to convince you that Doomsday could beat Batman, do you?)

=== NOTES ===

Aristotle has no Marvel characters. That means my team has a huge knowledge advantage, both in terms of the battlefield and our opponents.

Specifically, this is the site where Phoenix died – a pivotal moment in X-Men history. As Magik, Darkchylde was a member of the junior X-Men team, the New Mutants. And when Magneto briefly reformed, he actually lead the New Mutants. Both would know quite a bit about the Blue Area.

Sure, Aristotle’s team could scope the battlefield out during prep time, but this is a complicated environment, with some features you’d be unlikely to discover unless you were looking for them. Like the fact that these ancient ruins actually conceal some still functional high-tech alien weaponry.

I incorporated this knowledge advantage into my writeup, for instance by having Magneto use the Phoenix-killing gun. But there’s also the fact that while my team would know every single one of our opponents (well, we’d only know the present-day Batman, but the future version is similar), our opponents wouldn’t know Magneto or Darkchylde at all. (Well, Elijah Snow was on Kaboom’s team that fought Darkchylde last week, but I was the only one who submitted a writeup for that match, and I didn’t have them meet.) The only info they get is what I gave them, and I was deliberately sparse on the details (as we’re supposed to be – otherwise, it’d nullify our own knowledge advantage.) Once again, here’s what I said:
Magneto: controls metals and electromagnetism
Darkchylde: teleportational portals, soul sword, minor sorcery

I used this advantage as well – e.g., they had no reason to know that Magneto had electromagnetic senses as well as being able to manipulate EM, and they had no reason to know that cold would strengthen him. While they could deduce Darkchylde’s “soul sword” is some kind of magical blade, they have no way of knowing it disrupts magic. They don’t even know that her portals can teleport inter-dimensionally.

As for the battles themselves: Zoom has a speed edge on the Flash. Of course both teams can try to give them additional advantages to tip the scales, but ultimately I see these canceling out, and Zoom winning. I could have just had him win on speed, but I wanted to be more creative, so I took them to a dimension where their powers wouldn’t work. Some might find this cheap, but I think it’s a reasonable tactic, and besides, I depowered both characters – I just took advantage of the fact that Flash would be a lot more screwed than Zoom if his power suddenly went away while he was running at top speed.

I not only have the fastest person on the battlefield, I have the third fastest in Doomsday. Once Flash is out of the picture, there’s nothing to stop him from taking out the oppositions biggest threat: Zatanna. Given my teams superior knowledge of the battlefield and the fact that we have a teleporter, it makes sense that he’d get the drop on her instead of vice versa. I was being very generous by assuming she’d have time to speak the words to stop him if he ported in right next to her. She can only react and speak at normal human speed – hell, Deathstroke was too fast for her. With Doomsday, it wouldn’t even be close. But I let her get those words in to make the battle a bit more competitive. Again, she wouldn’t know Darkchylde can cancel out magic, so that’s another thing working against her.

I tried to have Aristotle’s team using clever strategy (reflecting the presence of Batman), but as I think I showed, it just wouldn’t be enough. His attempt to force Darkchylde to fight her own team was of course a desperation move, but really, as the only member of his team left standing, and having to go against Doomsday, what choice did he have?

I’ll put up some comments on Aristotle’s writeup after I read it. Probably not until tomorrow morning, since it's already 1:00 here.

 

[Aristotle]

Dammit, Tim, I'm bored, give me something to argue with!

EDIT: Seven hours later, still bored...

 

[Aristotle]

Hey Tim, you'll notice the two Fight posts have been edited. First one was for grammar. I'm a stickler about that. Second one was to include a reference map.

Still boooooooooooored...

 

[XFanTim]

Yeah, I'm being slow. Sorry. It'll be up by this evening for sure.

 

[Aristotle]

Don't worry bout it, I was just bored yesterday. Shoulda been doin homework anyway. Just make sure to get it in before the deadline. There would be some sort of sad irony in my first match being against a no-show, given that I'm a replacement for a no-show.

Not really sad, though. Not sad like the Holocaust, or a botched C-section.

 

[Aristotle]

Soooooo...again, not meaning to be pushy, but it's getting up there in hours.

 

[XFanTim]

I'm just putting the finishing touches on my writeup now. Voting doesn't open until Sunday, so we have all weekend to debate if you want.

 

[Aristotle]

It's not that, just wanted to make sure you got it in.

 

[XFanTim]

Wieg has actually said it's fine if a writeup gets in slightly after the bell, so long as it's not a day late or something. The deadline is more just to discourage people from excessively procrastinating. What I'm doing is just a healthy amount of procrastinating.

 

[Aristotle]

Ah cool. In that case, no worries.

 

[XFanTim]

It's up. I'll read yours, give comments, and respond to any comments you have on mine tomorrow. For now, I'm off to bed.

 

[X]

Aristotle, you might want to think about using some bolt lettering or some such to highlight important parts of your battle, break up the paragraphs, something.

 

[Aristotle]

Would anybody care if I went back and rebolded certain phrases for the benefit of the voters?

 

[X]

Nope.

 

[Aristotle]

== Zoom vs. Flash ==
Zoom doesn't mind -- he's faster than Wally West, and from the looks of things, he's faster than this Flash, too.

That much I'll grant you, and if I didn't explicitly acknowledge that in the writeup, I meant to. That's why I had Bart try and get a head start by ducking and running from the fight.

But Flash has a few tricks up his sleeve, courtesy of Batman. He opens his hand to reveal a small grenade, and presses a button on the device.Zoom's eyes snap shut picoseconds after the burst of light hits his eyes, but even so, he's left seeing spots. Pressing his advantage, Flash hurls a razor sharp batarang straight for Zoom's neck.

Here's where I take my first issue with your combat scenarios. Why would that be Batman's trick, when he knows there's a method proven to be more effective? The vibro-bullet would be the tool of the lethal, brutal, Titans Tomorrow Batman against a guy like Zoom. Furthermore, I'm not sure I believe that Flash, knowing he's slightly slower than Zoom, would allow himself to get into a stationary fight when he can just bring Zoom across Batman's line of fire.

While I prefer my method of teamwork, since these guys are Titans, and think Batman would be more able to use his own toys in tandem with Flash, and with the help of some borrowed speed, I can acknowledge your way of writing Bart as well. However, whichever method is used, Flash takes care of Zoom and not the other way around. Continued...

But Zoom is no fool. The first attack was clearly meant to set him up for something, and with a leap to one side he makes sure he's not in position to find out what.

You overestimate Zoom. Hunter Zolomon's a criminal profiler, not a fighter. He hasn't had the kind of training in fighting that a cloned Bart Allen, growing up under the tutelage of Tim Drake, has. Bart may not be an expert fighter, but Zoom's not going to have his combat reflexes--or any combat reflexes, really. He doesn't see that flash-bang coming, and doesn't know how to react to it. That flash-bang's going to do to him what it would do to most people--blind and disorient him. Which allows Flash to capitalize on his advantage and put Zoom six feet under with that razorang to the throat. Zoom is down. Remember, just because he's a bit faster, that doesn't mean he's smarter with his speed, or is a better speed-fighter. In fact, from his appearances, he most frequently falls prey to his own lack of knowledge of how to fight with superspeed. That's usually how he goes down.

He also made preparations of his own ... with help from Magneto. Whirling around, he releases a hundred tiny metal spikes, flying in all directions faster than any bullet.

Not bad, but Zoom never gets to those--he's already down by this point. Should have used them earlier. Furthermore, Flash has sealed his entire costume up with Speed Force construct, making it more durable. Doesn't matter anyway, though, because Zoom never gets there.

through a carefully concealed portal, created by Darkchylde at the moment the battle began.

Again, I want to stress that the fight never gets to this point, but how does Zoom guarantee that Flash will be at a pre-made portal? Flash isn't going to just stay in the right place. This kind of fight always moves.

Second: I was under the impression that combatants can't exit the battlefield unless it's the only way to win a fight? I'm not accepting that, if the fight gets to this point (which, again, it doesn't), the only way to win is to go to a different dimension.

In summary, while Zoom's method probably could work if the fight got that far, Flash takes him out much sooner than that, even in your scenario, and there are just too many glitches and faulty assumptions for the fight to get that far. Flash takes it either way.

 

[Aristotle]

== Zoom vs. Zatanna ==

Why send the same uber against both ubers? That's a bit blitzy. Long story short, I wouldn't have picked this matchup, and it's written with almost everybody out of character. Zoom doesn't plan ahead, Zatanna somehow knows that Zoom will come for her instead of trusting in Flash's ability to hold him off for awhile (those superspeed fights usually do end up taking quite a long time, even in normalspeed time), and Magneto and Brainiac somehow believe that Zoom's tracker stopping means he's anything but down? Zoom NEVER stops moving, and Brainy would know that. Regardless, Zoom is already down.

== Magneto vs. Apollo ==
In another stratagem, Zatanna has used her magic to render Apollo invisible

He moves superfast. He doesn't have to be invisible. No one can see him coming if he doesn't want them to. All Apollo has to do is go at top speed, and he'll rip Magneto's head off--exactly what he did in my scenario.

A living solar battery like Apollo stands out like a neon sign

Doesn't matter. Magneto can't see at superspeed.

Since he knew what was coming, Magneto is the first to react, pushing the wreckage off him and flying away as fast as he can.

Again, Apollo's faster. If that trick even works on him, he's out of there MUCH faster. But as with Zoom, Mags doesn't even survive this long.

Mere moments later, Apollo has freed himself and is baring down on Magneto in hot pursuit.

Again, the moment Apollo is in hot pursuit, that's the moment Magneto's dead as a doornail.

He signals the concealed Ambrose Chase, who slows down time around Apollo as he flies overhead.

Again, this might have been a workable plan, but Apollo would neutralize Magneto way too fast for Mags to even react. He's down before the fight even starts, just as it went in my fight.

To summarize, this plan might have worked, but Apollo is way too fast for Mags. He's a pretty high-end med.

So at this point Zoom and Mags are down, in your matchups.

 

[Aristotle]

== Ambrose Chase vs. Batman ==

Not the matchup I'd have chosen, but that's because my guys took things in a different order. I agree, Batman takes him out. But then, I'm not particularly impressed with Chase.

Meanwhile . . . .
== Doomsday-Brainiac and Darkchylde vs. Zatanna and Elijah Snow ==Darkchylde isn’t about to let her most powerful teammate go floating off into space. She ports above him and slashes him with her magic-disrupting Soul Sword. It passes right through Doomsday without touching him, but the enchantment Zatanna placed on him is severed. Doomsday comes crashing back to the Earth.

Zatanna's immediate second step should be to sever that Brainiac/Doomsday connection: Doomsday/Brainiac was never a stable connection. Why wasn't Zatanna's first order of business, after getting him off balance, to cut that connection and turn Doomsday loose? She doesn't even have to maintain it--it's not an enchantment to be cut by the Soulsword. Zee just cuts that connection, and we know she's good with mental magic, and it's over. We've determined that Brainiac was using every bit of his strength to control Doomsday--he doesn't have enough telepathic resources to also protect his telepathic connection. And once that connection is lost, Brainiac will have to work HARD to get it back, and my team won't give him the chance.

with a blow Doomsday shatters the forcefield surrounding her.

He does? If Zoom, moving at impossible speeds, didn't pop that, how's a brick gonna punch through it? Darkchylde should have slashed it immediately. Unfortunately, she didn't think to do that.

“You won’t do that again,” says Elijah Snow, stepping out from behind Darkchylde and draining the heat from her. On the verge of blacking out from the cold, Darkchylde stumbles backwards through another of her portals.

Snow can do that trick awful fast. I don't see her being able to do that and stay above freezing to a cube. Furthermore, I hate to be a stickler, but she's leaving the battlefield, and that really seems cheap to me. It's not part of a trick or a tactic, it's just a cheap escape. Still, I'll give it to you, since she apparently just jumped over to Batman. Not much of an escape.

Zatanna tries to speak another spell, but she’s reduced to a fit of coughs by a cloud of dust . . . metallic dust. Magneto has arrived.

That would have worked if Mags wasn't dead. This is yet another example of a plan that would work, but requires just way too many steps to be executed. Simplify, simplify.

So instead, in this scenario, Zatanna has all the time in the world, protected by a force field, to magically stop the Brainiacless Doomsday, with Darkchylde taken out of the picture by Snow.

So Doomsday/Brainiac and Chase are out, in addition to Mags and Zoom, with Darkchylde severely weakened and at the mercy of Batman, as we see in the next post.

 

[Aristotle]

== Magneto vs. Elijah Snow ==

Fight doesn't happen because Mags is dead.

== Batman vs. Darkchylde ==...The pressure of a gun barrel against her temple interrupts her thoughts – as that sort of thing tends to do. She didn’t even hear the future Batman approaching.

“Listen very carefully,” Tim hisses. You are going to teleport us to your teammates, and then teleport them off this battlefield. Or I’m going to blow a hole in your head. Do you understand?”

“Go to hell!” Darkchylde answers, as a portal opens behind Batman – a portal that leads to the lunar surface, outside the atmosphere of the Blue Area. With atmosphere on one side and vacuum on the other, the air goes rushing out – carrying Batman along with it.

Tim's not that dumb. Furthermore, with no remaining teammates, he doesn't need her to do that. Bottom line, he knows what she can do. He's not going to give her a single chance. He just blows her to kingdom come right there. All my team's players remain standing, against none of yours. In either my scenario, or in yours, my time takes it 5-0.

General Mistakes on XFanTim's part:
1) A lot of good plans, but the setup is just way too much. There are too many steps in the plan, which means something IS going to go wrong. Plus, those steps are, in most cases, highly improbable, and at times ignore the realities of the characters.
2) This battle is NOT going to go as planned. Fights never do. It's important to take into account that organic aspect of a fight. My scenario is more organic, as is my interpretation of your scenario.
3) I think my characters are underwritten. While it's true that you make more concessions to my team than I do to yours, I write your characters as simply having been jumped by better players. You write my characters making fundamental mistakes that they wouldn't make. On the contrary, I can't think of a moment in my writing of Doomsday/Brainiac, Zoom, Magneto, or Chase, that had them act in a way that ran counter to the way they usually would. I'm not as sure about Darkchylde--you already know I don't know much about her. But given what I could find in a short time, I think I wrote her fair and square too.
4) Bottom line, my team takes either one of these matchup scenarios.

 

[Aristotle]

Aristotle has no Marvel characters. That means my team has a huge knowledge advantage, both in terms of the battlefield and our opponents.

In this situation, I don't think it makes a huge difference. Pre-Fatal Attractions Magneto and Darkchylde can both be counteracted with a base knowledge of what their powers are. Case in point: I basically knew jack-squat about Darkchylde when I developed a preliminary strategy against her. Then I went and researched her as well as I could, and as far as I can tell, that strategy--developed with no knowledge of the character--remained workable after research. If I can come up with it, so can Batman.

Sure, Aristotle’s team could scope the battlefield out during prep time, but this is a complicated environment, with some features you’d be unlikely to discover unless you were looking for them.

Superspeed. Bart Allen is the only DCU speedster who could retain knowledge gained at superspeed. You know how fast he moves--you referenced it in your writeup. He could find out pretty much anything you'd want to know about the Blue Area in 24 hours. That's practically an eternity to a full-speed Bart Allen.

Like the fact that these ancient ruins actually conceal some still functional high-tech alien weaponry.

My guys didn't use it because they didn't know for sure if they knew how, and didn't want to risk it. Better to end the fight before it gets to that point. I notice that you only have a Kree weapon being used once in your writeup, and then after a very dubious setup that I don't agree with. So apparently the knowledge of alien weaponry wasn't that big of a discrepancy.

The only info they get is what I gave them, and I was deliberately sparse on the details (as we’re supposed to be – otherwise, it’d nullify our own knowledge advantage.) Once again, here’s what I said:
Magneto: controls metals and electromagnetism
Darkchylde: teleportational portals, soul sword, minor sorcery

Why's that not enough for my guys to deal with them? Magneto controls metal and electromagnetism? In my writeup, we very quickly saw what extent of control he has. And the best way to deal with it was to sneak up behind him at superspeed and rip his head off. As for Darkchylde, what's to know? Zatanna's completely in touch with magic. She could figure out whatever minor details were left out. The glaring omission is what a soulsword is, but I'm confident that Zatanna could figure that out via magical scrying.

I used this advantage as well – e.g., they had no reason to know that Magneto had electromagnetic senses as well as being able to manipulate EM, and they had no reason to know that cold would strengthen him.

Just because they don't know his hidden strengths, that doesn't mean they'll play into them. Not when a superfast kill is all that's necessary.

While they could deduce Darkchylde’s “soul sword” is some kind of magical blade, they have no way of knowing it disrupts magic. They don’t even know that her portals can teleport inter-dimensionally.

Again, Zee could figure out the sword's properties, and the dimensional teleportation is only a factor in your very stilted, inorganic, too-set-up fight between Flash and Zoom. What we don't know really doesn't hurt us this time.

 

[Aristotle]

As for the battles themselves: Zoom has a speed edge on the Flash. Of course both teams can try to give them additional advantages to tip the scales, but ultimately I see these canceling out, and Zoom winning.

Doesn't matter. He always loses because he doesn't know what to do with his speed. That's how it goes down in the comics, and that's how it'll go down in my scenario, or in yours.

I could have just had him win on speed, but I wanted to be more creative, so I took them to a dimension where their powers wouldn’t work. Some might find this cheap, but I think it’s a reasonable tactic, and besides, I depowered both characters – I just took advantage of the fact that Flash would be a lot more screwed than Zoom if his power suddenly went away while he was running at top speed.

Creative, maybe, but also very stilted and unlikely. If Zoom tries to keep Flash in one place, Flash will pick up on it.

I not only have the fastest person on the battlefield, I have the third fastest in Doomsday. Once Flash is out of the picture, there’s nothing to stop him from taking out the oppositions biggest threat: Zatanna.

Except he can't fly, can he?

Given my teams superior knowledge of the battlefield and the fact that we have a teleporter, it makes sense that he’d get the drop on her instead of vice versa. I was being very generous by assuming she’d have time to speak the words to stop him if he ported in right next to her.

Aside from the forcefield that was still up, which withstood an object moving at impossible speeds? It could withstand Doomsday.

Again, she wouldn’t know Darkchylde can cancel out magic, so that’s another thing working against her.

She figures it out pretty damn quick I imagine. And in my scenario, she has time to get a feel for what's going on in the area, mystically.

I tried to have Aristotle’s team using clever strategy (reflecting the presence of Batman), but as I think I showed, it just wouldn’t be enough.

To the contrary. It wasn't enough because my characters were written as blundering idiots.

His attempt to force Darkchylde to fight her own team was of course a desperation move, but really, as the only member of his team left standing, and having to go against Doomsday, what choice did he have?

Problem being, of course, that the situation is in fact reversed: he's holding a gun to a lone survivor of the opposing team, with four other teammates coming to his aid any second. He pulls that trigger.