This scene is rated Everybody |
Warning: | N/A |
2015-05-04 |
Players: | Black Widow, Echo, Impulse, Iron Man, Jade Fox, Phantasm, Tech Star |
GMed by | Doctor Strange |
Title: | Two Wongs don't make it right |
Logfile from FlameOfDarkness.
This is a typical downtown Domino's location. They all seem to look the same with little variation in the decor other than a few local bits to give it flair. At least the franchise has given up the Noid mascot, though the teenager in the chicken costume outside doesn't seem much better.
For Mike. It's been a shitty few days. Unexpected upgrade in powers in the middle of a crowded airport, getting clawed up by said powers, and finding out a friend is responsible for it is not a fun way to end the week. Since coming out of the hospital, Mike's been pretty much holed up in the mansion, when he can, securing what time he can in a training room to do his own little personal boot-camp.
That gets pretty old after a bit. And now, with him having more control over the ability, Mike is venturing outside! YAY! All the way to… across the street to get a pizza.
Hey. Babysteps.
It hard to keep a good sneak down. Jose despite having been recently grounded, is at it again. Soon the young mutant has made his way to dominos to feast on pizza! Jose was hardly notice despite the fact he didn't make a single sound as he steps into line to make his order. Though he is whistling a tune
There has never been a good explanation as to why Sam likes hanging around the city so much. Some believe it is due to his very nature, manifesting mutant powers that are intrinsically linked to modern society, that he seeks the city like a creature returns to its natural habitat. Some believe that he is still hunting for 'The Signal', a mysterious data stream he had been tracking for the better part of two years, ever elusive in its source. More yet believe that he simply wants to get as far away as possible from the school in his free time. A few think it's because of the availability of comic book stores and fast food places quite shockingly near entirely absent from semi-bucolic Bayville. Today, against the advice that he should be resting, Sam has just stepped into Domino's for a dinner pizza, ostensibly under the pretense of 'following up' on a report filed by a fellow student. In short, he's here, he's waiting in line for a pizza, and he's pretending not to know Jose.
One of his duties working at Nelson, Blake and Murdock is to go collect food for hungry lawyers and today they have a craving for Domino's Pizza, so armed with petty cash and a list Killian enters the pizza place focused on his mission, obtain food. Along the side of his face is a partly faded lichtenberg figure but other than that he's uneffected by the other night, as he spots two other Xers he frowns, they're not suposed to be there.
Trying to get away from a few camera people following him. Tony talked Nat and Adrea into meeting him at the pizza place. "Get the camera out of my face or Ill break it." he tells a guy opening the door and walking into Domino's leaving them all outside. Sometimes its just bad like that and today hasn't been his best day.
Adrea come through behind Tony, playing a bit of a screen and actually enjoying being in the cameras since she's not the actual focus of attention - just being in thier way. She wore her usual suit jacket over her green blouse and a comfortable if business-appropriate skirt. She's having a polite, if somewhat one-sided exchange with a camera person (not what they're saying much attention), before closing the door behind them. She shrugs to Tony, "Surprised we didn't get that kind of attention the other day, and glad…"
Hearing the familiar voice, Mike turns his head to look to Tony. Poor Tony. He hasn't learned how to dress to avoid the press. Tsk tsk. Lifting a hand up, the knitcapped musician gives a small wave of greeting to the newest batch of newcomers.
A commotion can be said to be fairly normal in this city, but it's the voice that catches Sam's attention. Looking over his shoulder, he spots Tony and Adrea, but it's the former that suddenly has his attention. How long has he been trying to talk to the man? And now he's just walking into the same pizza place? Man, what are the odds? Still, the young mutant fights the impulse to go straight over and start techno babbling, shifting the straps of his backpack absently. Pizza first, impressing the CEO of a multi-billion consortium and super genius next…
It doesn't take long for Jose to notice Killian and Samuel. Samuel may pretend not to notice and Killian frown he waves happily to the two. And then there Tony trying to avoid a camera. This was just -asking- for a good time for the young prankster. But for now he makes it to an avaible cashier and places his order "One large pepporobie and bacon pizza, a can of grape and skittles please!" he says cheerily
Tony puts an arm around Adrea a bit as they walks towards the counter. "Welcome to my world. I wouldn't have cared if they did get pictures the other day. They know nothing about my personal life and its none of their business. Now if they want to know about my business then that is different. Otherwords they can take the cameras an choke on them." no he hasn't noticed the others just yet.
Killian gives a wave to Jose when he waves at him and is about to ask why he's there when he hears the commotion at the door and sees that Tony Stark guy, Ironman. Forgetting the pizzas for a second he calls over to Samuel, "Hey! Sam! Come over here", assuming Sam's going to follow him he wanders over to the billionaire, "Hi, sorry to interuppt but my friend over there…", he points to the twelve year old, "… is off the chart smart and has been building his owns stuff too, would you be up for talking to him?"
Adrea can't help but chuckle to herself as Tony puts an arm around her, but she doesn't move away or anything this time. She hmms, "Well, at least I got to be on camera. Do you think they got my good side?" she jests to Tony. She looks up at the menu and sighs, "I'm at a Dominos…looking at the menu…"
Over at the pickup counter, a dominos worker carries over two small boxes of the non pizza-sized. "Hannigan?" Mike lifts up a hand once more as he walks over to claim his food.
Nonononoooo! So much for playing it cool. Halfway mortified, Sam hurries over as quick as he can to Killian. He whispers furiously in the other mutant's ear, in a volume easily overheard by anyone not utterly deaf. "What are you going? That's Tony Stark! He's not gonna want to talk to me." And then he looks up to Tony, a self effacing smile on his face. "Sorry about that, Mister Stark. My friend's been out in the sun for too long…"
Jose chimes in waiting on his pizza "Samuel is real smart! Not like 5 minuts is going to kill you!" was his encouriging remark to Samuel and Killian. Unfortanly, that means no pranking Tony Stark! Oh well, friends first, pranks latter. He opens the bottle of grape soda and takes a sip of it in wonder
In walks another man with a nice suit on, nice enough to rival Tony's but it doesn't seem too flashy, in fact it looks mundane. Black with thin grey pin stripes and a dark blue shirt underneath with a bright yellow tie. The man has white hairs appearing under his hat, framing his ears nicely. This new comer approaches the counter behind Mike and whispers to the man from beneath his fedora. "I'm sorry, but it's time."
Tony is standing by Adrea as suddenly some of the younger crowd approach wanting to talk. "Sure we can talk. How about deciding what kind of pizza you all want? I'm hungry and won't talk to anyone without food. I want one of my usual, whatever the lady would like, and whatever they want." he motions to Killian, Sam, and Jose. "Plus drinks all around." his card is passed to the cashier.
Adrea snickers softly, "That's probably reasonably, I'm cranky when I'm hungry…so I'm cranky." she says, directing her attention to the younger crowd herself. She pauses, "You're asking me?" She blinks and then pauses, "Mushrooms, Mushrooms and sausages is fine, but both the sausages." she says. She rolls her eyes, "Are you ever going to let me pay for anything other than Chinese?"
"Really sorry to have both..er..ed… err…" Okay, so Sam was not expecting that response at all. Not only is he going to get to have the chance to talk to Tony, he's getting free pizza /and/ even gets to cut in line. Win. "BBQ hot with everything on it and a big coke." This is going to be awesome.
As Mike is handing over his money, the smile that was forming at the prospect of some nice OUTSIDE OF THE MANSION food fades as the familiar voice of the man behind him reaches his ears. He sighs, taking what's left of his change and flat out dumping all it in the charity box resting on the counter. "You have got to be kidding." He mutters, turning to look to Strange, for a moment before walking to the door. Dumping his newly aquired order on a table near Jose before walking towards a side exit door.
Killian frowns at Samuel, "I've not been in the sun, I've not even seen you today", he grins though when Tony responds positivly to talking with Samuel, "See Sam? If you don't ask you don't get and Mr. Stark is obviously a nice guy and he'll understand all that stuff you say", he smiles at Tony again, "Thanks but I've gotta get some pizzas for my bosses down at Nelson, Blake and Murdock, don't wanna keep hungry lawyers waiting but thanks for the offer".
Natasha's motorcycle is heard pulling up to the restaraunt outside, its engine sound is unique in that its power source is something other than conventional fuel. Said engine revs a pair of times before the bike deactivates and the woman disembarks from it, her hands going up she pulls her sleek black helmet off and shakes loose her short curly red locks. She looks up at the building and walks toward its main entrance, pulls the door open and steps inside to look around…
With a flick of the man's wrist, the doors to the place are magically locked. No one else can enter or leave. And even everyone outside seems to think the interior is happy go lucky still. "Eat Mike. You have time for that. I'm just here to get your help…" The wizard then trails off as he looks around the room and eyeing the crowd that he didn't pay attention to earlier. His mind probing those in the room. "This might go better than expected." Strange notes to himself. "Sit Mike." The master demands.
Able to pick up all sorts of voice Jose has watches Mike and Dr. Strange with some interest wonder what time it is exactly. Though he is also somewhat easily distrated as he says "Well damn Lady. If you don't like the hall cut THAT much, just go to another barber". Blinking he shakes his head and looks to Tony saying "Uhhh,Thanks Tony" not being so formal as to go by Mr. Stark.
Tony looks over at Mike watching him try to leave and then Natasha enters. Then the door is blocked by magic? "Shit." he says with a shake of the head. Looking at Adrea get the young guys off to the side please." Now turning to look at Doctor Strange, "Well.. Seems the gang is all here? This a closed party now?"
Mike stops walking. Jaw clenching, the performer turns around, flashing Strange an annoyed look. A glance to the kids triggering a need to bite back his words. But with Strange picking up thoughts right now, he is very much welcome to read Mike's. They're not nice. It's either time, or not time. WHICH is it? Did Strange just ruin the mood to eat on purpose?
Growing mutants need their pizza, this is a well known fact of all mutant science, be they testudinoid or not. Sam is eagerly awaiting his pizza, ignoring all else around for the moment.
As the doors lock the hairs on the back of Killian's neck stand on end and again he gets that feeling that he can almost see something, "Whoa, that was weird", he's distracted as he tries to link that feeling back to where he's felt it before.
With nothing but his ears and his instincts to rely on, he can't help but hear and notice how Tony is acting towards strange, and the fact that strange stated he needed Mikes help. And there was also Tony warning to Adrea. He says to Killian "I have a feeling, we're in for the ice-cube treatment ourselves". Jose wasn't tense but merely waiting unsure of what might happen next. His headphones shifts as he simply listens and waits
Adrea turns her head slowly to look up at Tony, "Well, that sounds ominous…" she says a little bit seriously. She reaches inside her jacket to feel for her harness, the cold metal suddenly re-assuring. She hmms, and nods, looking to Sam and the others crowding around Tony, "Why don't we wait for the Pizza over here?" she asks, getting a table for them.
"Are you going to eat or are you going to moan some more?" Stephen asks, seemingly getting tired of his pupil's back and forth bipolar-ness, his voice firm and set. Then he turns his head and gives Tony an exaggerated nod with his hat. "We'll be leaving shortly Stark." Strange notes with a soft twitch of a smile to the technological master. Then he shakes his head slowly towards Mike, responding to some hidden thought the musician is thinking. "Pick an answer Mike."
It's the 'ice cube' comment that brings Sam back to the here and now, reluctantly giving up leaning up on the counter with just the tips of his sneakers touching the ground in an attempt to peer into the kitchen. The novelty of Tony paying his pizza still hasn't worn off, and likely won't for quite some time, but when his friends talk about ice cubes… there's trouble around. He just catches a glimpse of Adrea checking something inside her jacket, and a simple sense of the area makes him aware of what is hidden. "Oh. Sure, yeah…" He happily follows Adrea, or so it seems, dropping a comment on the way. "How's the Big Guy doing?"
Mike looks over to the kids and then back to Strange, "Leave the kids alone."
Killian tries to shake off the weird feeling he's getting and approaches the counter handing over the money and list of pizzas before stepping to one side and following the others, still he can't shake the feeling something is wrong, that feeling isn't ease when he hears the comment, 'Leave the kids alone', he looks around hoping for some other kids.
Tony walks over next to Mike facing Stephen, "I don't think that Mike wants to do with you. Strange Stranger. Why don't you be a good man and just leave by yourself. You may have locked the door but I'm pretty sure if I throw you hard enough the window will break."
Natasha steps up beside and behind Tony. She stares at Doctor Strange and gives him a stern look. She says nothing, only waits.
Qdrea watches Tony for a moment, wondering just what's going on, and mindful of the piece she keeps in the small of her back. Not that she feels comfortable drawing it now, a nervous as the younger crowd seems to be. She nods to Sam and then hmms, "Big guy?" she asks him. "What do you mean?"
Of course, Jose is the only 'kid' that does the opposit of what is sensible. He has silently gotton closer sipping on his grape soda. Though he does his best to not to draw attnetion to himself. But curiosity got the best of him and he ends up asking strange directly "So…what going on?". Killina did mention something about not being afraid to ask things or something like that earlier, so advice put to action!
Mike turns to look at Tony, shaking his head, he looks back to Strange, "I'll help. But none of this lack of choice shit for others."
"Big, metal, bad taste in music." Sam clarifies, giving Adrea his second most innocent smile. "And I'm not talking about Tony either. What's up?" He looks over his shoulder to see what's keeping Tony, and begins to get that same nagging sense of disquiet that's gripping his fellow mutants.
Adrea ahs, "I forgot that you and he had met." She says. "He's fine, probably combing my iTunes now." she says, making a face for a moment. "He'd still have to get here though, and you know I have to call him…" she says. She nods to Sam, 'And how about your toy?"
With his attention drawn to Tony's words. "It's a tough and scary thing." Stephen begins, taking his hat off and looking incredibly melancholy, even has a few tears welling up in his eyes. "The future that is. I'm sorry." he says even as he wrings the hat between his two hands, until it pops from existence and he stands up slowly. The sleeve of his coat brushes the water from his face as he commands the eight people in this room to vanish and re-appear in a new, alien place. There's very little to be seen, a few fires keep the place visible but they're not very strong and it's incredibly dark, only faint colors illuminated by the candles. "I'm sorry everyone."
Killian is about to try and pull Jose back when s**t goes down, "Jose come ba…", and now they're in a dungeon and very much lost for word, he does however slip off one of his gloves, even he knows this is very wrong, he looks around for Samuel and Jose and then for some sort of power source.
The sound of soft foot steps can be heard coming closer, closer to the group of eight before a soft gentle man steps into the room in green clothes, apparently from the box art of some kung fu film as he's bald and smiling widely to every one present. He bows as he pulls his hand away from the light switch revealing the whole room. "Good afternoon everyone." Wong says with a smile which turns to a frown towards Stephen, to which he cuts off, "We're just getting supplies and allowing those to stay who want to."
Tony blinks as suddenly they are on another plane. "Help with that? what is going on?" he asks.
Adrea stands up slowly, and as she does, she steps in front of Sam and anyone else close enough (Killian?) if she can. She takes a breath and looks between Wong and Stephen, oddly calm. "Well, I think you'd better tell us what's going on."
Natasha sees the shift in plains, and feels it as well, it was always uncomfortable, like changing elevation too quickly. Natasha's right hand goes up into her jacket and a small click is heard. A moment later she pulls out a large handgun and lowers it down to the side of her right thigh. She stares at the man that has arrived to 'greet' them.
Jose blinks as all this happens. His hearring was on full alert as he listens for anything. And then Wong appears. He definitly finds this interesting and says out loud "This…is…awesome! Where are we anyways?" looks to the other eight people in the room wondering if any of them have an explanation. Though he does make sure Killian and Samuel are insight
"It's not a toy, it's…" Whatever it might be, the assertion dies on Sam's tongue when the lights go out. Any kid his age would have simply thought about a power failure, but Sam feels the familiar electrical signatures of the city vanish. Everything is suddenly… alien. "The heck?"
Mike lets a long drawn out sigh as they're now greeted by Wong.
Stephen steps towards the doorway ushering Wong back out of the room and then turns around to face the seven other heroes that fate has collected. "Sorry for the interruption, but time is of the essence." Stephen says, moving his hands behind his back and as he does so, the suit he was wearing fades into the flamboyant appearance of the Sorcerer Supreme. The wizard then looks to every one for a moment, making eye contact with each of them as he says, "Mr. Stark, Ms. Romanoff, Mr. Hannigan, Ms. Venoa, Mr. Morgan, Mr. Torres-Ortiz, and Mr. Rosen. We are in my sanctum sanctorum, specifically in the armory. I keep some of my most prized and dangerous possessions in the known world in this room. Tonight, you're all going to have a choice to stay with me and combat a great force, bent on humanities, even earth's destruction." The wizard begins with a monopoly on authority.
Killian clenches a fist as the lights turn on and looks round again and can now see the younger students more clearly, he can also see Stephen, he feels responcible for the younger kids and needs some answers. But then suddenly the old man leave and Stephen goes all Merlin, "You do know that those two are just kids right? What the hell are you doing?!"
immediatly responds loudly "Count me in! Save the world AND pizza, hell yes" and then he blinks at Killian "Hey, yer only a year older. Though…I guess it would be dangerous for Samuel" he says in agreement
Jose immediatly responds loudly "Count me in! Save the world AND pizza, hell yes" and then he blinks at Killian "Hey, yer only a year older. Though…I guess it would be dangerous for Samuel" he says in agreement (repose)
"Just Sam will do." Mr. Morgan? Pfff, right, maybe in twenty years. Even though the energy signatures might be different, the alien nature is starting to wear off already, and the mutant begins to regain his mental balance. "Armory? Prized and dangerous? Sweet" And now he's off to start looking around for these fabled weapons of Danger(tm) and Power(tm).
Mike looks over to Strange, tilting his head before shaking his head. Fine. Whatever.
"Doctor." Adrea mumbles. She looks to Tony from across the room, "How are you going to do?" she asks, and mouths quite a bit more quietly, "or are you staying?" She searches for Natasha, and finds that she is as prepared as Adrea might expect her to be. Adrea pauses for a moment, chilled by a distant memory, and then returns her attention to Tony.
"My mistake, Doctor." Stephen says, a faint smirk on his lips. He walks over towards a bench and picks up a few things before walking over towards Natasha and giving her two full clips of magazines, fully loaded and magically charged. "I have to half your supply." He notes before giving Adrea the second set. Then he looks over to the younger ones with a tilted head, "I know that you three are young, inexperienced, and wild cards. I expect to use that to our advantage, but I know that this is incredibly dangerous, but if we fail here there's no other outcome for the Earth regardless." Stephen says solemnly before looking towards Tony asking for forgiveness.
Tony listens to this, "I'll help but I need to obtain my suit. I'm part of the Avengers and its my job to protect it and the innocents on the spinning rock."
"Jose no! And Sam get your ass back over here!", Killian has no clue whats going on, even with Stephen's 'explaination', right now he's fighting the impulse just to drop this psycho. He uts a hand to his head as Stephen starts talking about the fate of the Earth and insane crap like that, "Will someone please tell me why I seem to be the only one NOT caught of guard by this? did I miss some sort of memo or message that said 'come to Dominos for some Legend of Zelda psychosis'?"
Natasha accepts the magazines and she looks down at them. After a moment she pops the one out of her gun she had in already and then slides a new one. "Not a lot of ammunition if we're about to hit an army." She mumbles very quietly, the other magazine is put into her jacket pocket on her right side. She looks over at Tony with a small measur eof concern that would be hard to see on her face, except he likely has learned her subtleties.
Mike grumbles before moving over to pick up some Escrima Sticks that bear similar markings to the one Strange gave him. He looks to Strange, before he moves over to a corner, growing quiet before quietly murmuring some words facing away from the others as he moves each of the sticks separate but in line with each other, making a circular motion before holding them still. A slight glow of light filters around the sticks before they seem sucked inwards, the carvings giving a slight glow before fading. He lowers the sticks before turning back around to face the group.
Jose looks to Killian "Well I could hear them talking…..so yea kind of figured something was up" and at that he too wanders off to look for one of these supposed weapons "Come on Killian, this is like, a once in a life time oppertunity!" Jose can heard Mike fairly well, but for now is just searching about
Okay, that got his attention. Usually flippant about these kinds of things, Sam is hit with the full gravity of the situation when his hero asks, almost pleads for his suit. And the answer was so simple, if only he could… ah well no more time to be shy. "Hey, Mister Stark…" the young mutant calls over, unzipping the sides of his backpack even as he still wear is. "Want to see something awesome?"
With no further explanation, Sam stands perfectly still, arms to the side. With a loud hiss and the hum of a starting miniature reactor, an armored carapace slides in place over his chest. Segmented plates follow, sliding up along his arms, down over his legs, unfolding and locking together as they begin to form the outlines of an armored suit. Within fifteen seconds, the kid is encased in a fully enclosed suit, making him stand half a foot taller. The helmet segments lock together, and the eye sockets of the suit begin to glow a bright blue. "Cool huh?"
Adrea nods at Tony's request, stepping forward a little bit, looking back to Killian. "If you tried to take them home, do you think they'd go with you?" She asks him. She looks back to Tony and Strange, and nods, "Me and Tony have package deals, we work better with our own equipment…as it were."
Tony glances over at Sam as he is enclosed in a suit. Too bad it won't fit him, "Looks good." he tells him before looking back to Strange.
Mike looks over to Strange with an I told you so look, "See what happens when jump people when they're not expecting it?"
Stephen shrugs to Natasha, "Bullets aren't you're only weapon." he says, knowing a thing or two about her stealth career and abilities, having probed her slightly. Stephen marches over to Jose and looks down at the young man before grabbing a shield off the wall made of up swirling patters, almost like a bunch of hurricanes carved out of metal with black empty holes in the center of each. "This is the shield of Echo." Notes the Sorcerer. "It can condense sound into a blunt force weapon." He explains. Stephen then nods to Adrea and Tony. "Outside is Greenwich." He says motioning towards the door. "How long before you're equipment arrives."
Jose carefully take the shield "Whoa. Well Stranger Strange" assuming thats his name "How….how do I use it?" He looks over the shield carefully running a hand along it's surface. He didn't quite realize Stepehen is a mind reader so the question came naturally
Killian just shakes his head and removes the other glove slipping the two into his pocket, there's something very un-nerving about having his hand's exposed but he's got a feeling he may need a wider use of his powers here, "Whoever you are, if Sam and Jose are hurt in the slightest I don't know how but I will make you pay for it", other than that, Killian's on board.
Mike looks over to Killian, giving a bit of a smile at the mutant's words, giving a nod as he looks over to Strange. "You do realize we're not 100%, right?" Because well, cuts don't heal THAT quickly.
Inside his protective shell, Sam runs a system diagnostic on the suit, test spooling the flight impellers and flexing the flight surfaces and ballistic plates. His ears are still ringing from the 'Looks good' comment. He'd been meaning to show off his creation to the real Iron Man for so long, to be given even the slightest praise has him ready to take on the world itself. "I'll be fine, don't worry about me." Of course, the Mark Seven was brand new, so… who knew, really?
"I understand your concern Mr. Rosen." Stephen says as he moves in front of the mutant with a mirrored look of concern on his face. "But I will do my best. As will you." He says extending a hand with to his side and summoning a metal staff with a yellow crystal at the top wrapped in metallic flames or tendrils and holds it towards Killian. "I believe you can use this. It's the Staff of the Seraphim, able to fire bolts of pure magic and do the opposite. Create an impenetrable shield or bubble." Stephen says with a smirk as he passes it off before turning to Mike, frowning again. "I'm aware." His hands are still not quite fully healed from his last foray into this realm.
"Just a few blocks away." Adrea says to Stephen, looking back to Tony. She slips what looks like a modified Bluetooth headset out of her purse and slips it over her ear, and then slips on a pair of glasses from inside her jacket as well. She taps a few things here and there, and then nods to Tony, "Yours on the way, I trust…?"
Tony holds out his arms his suit coming to grab hold piece by piece until its fully connected. "I am ready." he says before the visor closes.
As he watches Tony's suit assemble, Sam's curiosity overwrites his sense of propriety for a moment, and he gives the fully assembled suit a poke with an armored finger. "Wow… how'd you do that? You have to tell me how you do that."
As Killian is offered the staff he pulls one of his gloves back out of his pocket and pulls it on before reaching out for the staff, he's not sure skin contact with the thing is the best idea, "So is this just like a 'will it' thing like my powers? or are there words I've gotta say?", he's not really come across magic before.
Jose stops looking over the Shield of Echo and says to Samuel "Now that is a cool suit! Built it yerself?" And then he looks to Killian "That whit I am wondering."
"Saying Shield of the Seraphim would likely help." Stephen says towards Killian before he moves to the center of the room, and with a sweeping gesture his hands meet out stretched in front of his chest. "Uuuta camiin gahnesh! Open this portal to the satannish." Speaks Stephen, his hand clenching slightly as the spell fires, a circle forming between each of the seven exterior heroes, and arching lines stretching out from their feet to each other. "Defenders!" Shouts Stephen over the torrent of wind flowing from the ground and the flap of his cloak. "The Earth shall not end this day!" And like that, they're gone from it.
The seven hear a soft popping in their ears like when landing at the end of a flight. Stephen recoils onto his knee falling back and catching his breath. Around them is a red and orange world of fire and smoke and ashen ground. It looks as hell envisioned by catholics for ages. The world is loud and burning, crackling with the fires of the horizons. Before them lays a long path towards some sort of great structure made over countless ages and guarded by hideous malformed entities of all colors and yet one stench. Death. Stephen gets to his feet. "Our goal is the throne room. Defeat their leader, and the demonic attacks on Earth will cease."
Adrea's robot Armalite seems to arrive in the nick of time, with her ballistic vest and some of her other equipment helpfully draped over one of it's shoulders. She moves to the robot, and takes a few moments to settle herself, leaving her suit jacket with Armalite and revealing her metallic spine-armor and force-harness before she puts the armor on over it. She readies her P-90 and pockets the extra pistol magazines on her vest. She takes a deep breath and looks to Tony, "Yeah, well, Armalite's a little more weighty." she says to no one in particular under her breath. Armalite, for his part, clunks in after Adrea with a, <SHE SAID I'M FAT.>, managing to actually sound like a forlorn and self-concious ED-209.
"Hey Big Guy." Sam greets Armalite just before the world goes… weird. Pistons hiss as they prepare to take the strain of a landing, but the inertial change from one world to the other is practically zero, not even registering on his dampers. He's not sure if that's a normal feature of magical travel, or if the Mysterious Stranger is just so good at it, but it gives him the opportunity to focus on his surroundings. Without giving it much thought, his flight pack engages and Tech Star takes flight, coming to a hover over the group, optics scanning for threats. "I'm so glad this thing as airconditioning…"
Killian could take Strange's word for it on the whole magic thing but it's still weird and new so he needs a back-up plan, reaching out for one of the flames he winces for a second before absorbing from the flames, his eyes glow bright orange and his hair turns a similar firey colour, it's not his usual electricity but if the magic thing goes south it'll do in a pinch, also bonus of absorbing fire? it's not so hot in here for him now.
Jose freezs as he ears are assulted with all sorts of new sounds. And the smell of death was everywhere. His eyes go wide suddenly seeing just how dangerous this was, and feeling scared. But he shakes himself off and says "Well….time to save the world" he gives a nervous smile to them all and takes a few nervous steps forward and jumping as he hears the monsters voices
Mike looks over to the staff being handed over to Killian for a moment, a brow raising before his glance moves towards Jose and the others. Hearing Strange's chant, Mike's inner musician groans at the absolutely horrible word pairings. Album easter egg material, definitely not. (Fortunately) Annd then they're here. Mike glimpses around at the scenery and for a moment wonders if dreams even occur here. As he steps forward, he shifts sideways a little to give Killian more space as he has enough heat to deal with in the environment.
"Here they come." Stephen says, as a veritable swarm seems to erupt out of the castle. Most of them flying out of the door like a swarm of flies breaking out of a small hole. The army begins to make they're way towards the Defenders, though they are forced to run along a wide but railless chasm, at least the ones that can't fly are forced to run. Run or be trampled by the hoard behind them hungry for flesh and glory. The castle and the ground upon which Stephen brought the group appear to be solid continents but with a land bridge between them and their destination. Stephen stands to his feet and then some as his cloak lifts him to the same height as Sam. "Hesitation will get you killed. Trust yourself and trust your allies!" Strange says before sending a single vibrant grenade of mystic energy to the middle of the bridge and watching a few dozen of the hell spawn get ejected from the land and fall into the fiery pits.
"That… is a whole lot of nasty." The sight of the swarm is giving Sam pause. In fact, if you would indulge, it gives him pause, skips to two other channels, browses the on demand and then returns to rewind the broadcast to get back to where it was. Luckily Steven is ready with some encouragement. "Trust… yeah…" Still, there's a lot of them. An awful lot. "I can't do this man…" Sam begins, looking at Strange, the face plate of his helmet utterly impassive. "Not without some battle music." And moments later 'Absolute Zero' begins to blare from his suit. Tech Star spools up the flight impellers, ballistic plates shift… and then he's rocketing towards the swarm, falling on them hammer and tongs, trusting in the integrity of his own invention.
Following close behind is Jose. He may not fly, but boy could he run, and was running right towards the beasties in tune to the battle music. Instinct takes over and Jose holds up his shield and yells into it "The Thunder Calls!", sending a sonic cannon comming out the other side of the shield, crashing into the horde of monsters. Some are blasted back or to the side by the force. There a pause "I always wanted to shout that"
"Oh that is some O P bulls**t right there!", still Killian points the stick thing he was given at the on coming hoard, pouring his will into it, willing the thing to work, "Come on Serephim thing, help me", he may not know magic but he knows how to ask something for help, weither it works or not is yet to be seen.
Stephen remains above, not quite diving in with gusto like the young bucks are. They are the future, and the future has a chance to ensure it's existence today. Strange remains the head of the unit, taking a moment to put two fingers to his temple as he creates a quick and simple link between all of them, acting as a sort of radio for the group to keep in contact with each other. He spots one of the minions doubling back to come assault Sam as he flies past and with a quick spell the beast is wrapped in several layers of red bands of some unknown substance, tying it up and causing it to smash face first into the ground and roll off the side.
The berserker rush was always a good tactic when small and overwhelmed. For one, the enemy tends not to expect it, and the sheer momentum behind the attack can unbalance even the mightiest of foes. But that only works if you keep attacking, a lesson Sam learned from training briefly with Wolverine. Creatures are knocked sprawling as Tech Star slams into them at full speed, and then the young mutant is among them. Dodging, weaving, kicking, punching, anything he needs to do to knock them away or evade blows and attacks. Tech Star lacks the grace of a Stark built suit, its center of aerodynamic balance in the torso rather than the limbs. This lets him use the spin of the thrusters to increase the sheer force of a kick, or drive both feet into a particularly large creature without losing velocity. All the while the music blares, heading into the first chorus ~Oh, I'm not afraid; I'm giving into grievances again; You're looking at Absolute Zero; I'm not the Devil but I won't be your Hero!~
Turning, Mike runs over and smacks a demon heading towards the staff weilding mutant. .oO(Try 'SHIELD OF THE SERAPHIM') Mike mentally shouts out to Killian as he jumps out of the line of sight of that staff. He starts running again, the back of his shirt exposing some red seeping through.
Dong, dong dong goes Jose into his SHield, the send comming out to strike demon after demon. Unexperinced, he finds himself surrounded by the demons. "Okay okay, think think think" he has to block one demon with the shield bashing it into it mouth hard. But the horde kept comming, but able to think on his feet, and with a mix of crazy, he does the only thing he could think of. Stand on top of the shield, hang on, and scream. This rocket him high into the air, while the surrounding demons are blown away "Boo yea!!!" is what said first "Crap" is what comes next as he begins falling while the flying demons are assulting him
The stick thing worked! But it barely made a dent in the hoard coming at them, so Killian does something dumb and impusive and dumb, he runs after Jose at the hoard impaling a demon though the chest and blowing him up with the "Shield of Seraphim?", more of a question than an order but the thing does it's job destroying the demon from the inside out with the sticks barrier spell, grinning he doesn't get time to celebrate as a demon reaches for him and Killian reacts on instinct by grabbing it. After a second or two the demon his the floor as Killian has absorbed a massive chunk of the thing's life force, his hair bleaches white, his sclera turns black, his irises glow bright red, pupils turn white and the blood in his veins also glows showing the pattern of veins across his face, the shock makes him release some stored energy in the form of a firey shockwave blasting out from him in every direction.
Already aching and seeing the seemingly endless supply of Demons, Mike utters a curse (Oh that's it- EVERYONE WHO CAN'T FLY. COME OVER HERE AND GRAB ON. THOSE WHO CAN, KEEP THEM FROM GETTING BACK IN! WE'RE TAKING THE PHANTASM EXPRESS.)
Stephen watches with a bit of fear in his eyes. "They're brash. But effective." He mumbles to himself, watching Mike go into the fray with a bolt of magic streaking through the air taking sharp turns and angles though the path to avoid any friendly fire as it strikes the thigh of a demon before Mike, but below Jose, giving the kid a landing pad with a soft squishy center to break his fall. Strange mimics Mike's thought towards everyone else, and he quickly begins to soar through the air, giving the order a mental nudge to everyone to convince them to comply subconsciously. <Go Mike. Take everyone I'll do what I can out here for as long as I can before coming to take us all out of here when you're done.>
It's a half miracle that his strategy is working, but Sam is still in the fight. The pristine armor plate he took into the fight a few minutes ago is getting scratched, scored and dented, but so far the suit is holding, standing up against the blows and attacks he can't avoid or deflect. Another kick sends him spinning and skidding, increasing the throttle to make the flight back spool up even as he comes to a new bearing. Power limiters are disengaged, and Tech Star lands briefly next to Mike. "Race you there!" And then the flight pack rockets the suit forwards again. Flight surfaces tilt and displace with the sheer effort of keeping the flight level, and the mutant is now accelerating through the horde, fists first, quite literally rocket punching everything he can until he climbs up, and away… making straight for the castle.
Killian grins as he's got a good ten feets breathing room as the firey energy pulse knocks demons back, also knocking several right off the bridge, right if he remembers right fire works as propulsion, and Mike is a bit back, lets do something else stupid shall we? "Shield of Saraphim!", using the staff to generate the magical barrier before running towards the hoard and kicking off, using the fire to propel himself forward and the barrier for a way to punch through, the grand rocket Killian is on his way to the castle.
The flying demons bite and scratched at the falling creating some rather deep wounds. "Oh that's it!" and out comes a sonic shout from Jose that sends the flying demons running or rather flying away. Boy was he thankful for the landing Dr.Strange provided. Jose was stubborn but even he knew when not to take a risk. He quickly makes his way back to Mike screaming any demons he can. Soon he is at Mike side hanging on, he will have to try shield flying another time, cause those flying demons are MEAN "Don't know what yer doing, but best do it quick man!" booms his voice.
When all the non-flyers grab onto some part of Mike, "Don't let go til I say you can." He cautions as they grab the indicated parts. When ready, he Phantasms, extending the ability towards them before leaning forward. There's a splurge of nightmarish views all around for a blip of a second before they plunge out once more. Oh hey. They're in the castle.
~Fin to Two Wongs don't make it Right ~