2019-03-31 - Stage Fright

Summary:

A nice evening out gets derailed by demonic possession. It could happen to you.

Log Info:

Storyteller: Zatanna Zatara
Date: Mon Apr 1 04:15:44 2019
Location: Central Stage NY

Related Logs

None

Theme Song

None

jean-greyianpeter-parkerscott-summerselmozatanna-zatara

Central Stage NY is a small club with a generic name and a generic look on a generic street. Most nights it has stand-up comedy or open mic nights or the occasional line-up of bands not yet popular or connected enough to get a gig at a trendier place. The admission is always cheap, and the well liquor always tastes pretty watered-down, but there are way worse clubs out there.

The bill tonight is 'Near Meth Experience feat. Gypsy Rose Copperfield,' which is the secret code for those in the know: Zatanna Zatara is working a secret show. (No photography, please.) She's tipped off a few friends, and of course the people plugged in to this sort of thing would have the connections necessary to know what they're in for. Most of her fans will sadly only find out about it once people start tweeting that she's taken the stage.

The night goes down smoothly. Zatanna has different stage personae that she uses for different shows. There's the Vegas-residency Zee, who's playing to the back rows, doing elaborate stunts, and making sure every tourist and VIP gambler gets the casino's money's worth. Tonight is closer to when Zee ends up doing a show as part of a burlesque night or a drag revue. The tuxedo-cutie outfit is a little skimpier, the jokes are a little more blue, and the tricks and illusions are ones tailored for a smaller crowd in a smaller space. She's made things disappear and reappear, sure. She brought back the old icepick-gargling trick that she hasn't done in years. (When it ends, she has a drink of water and it squirts out of the side of her bowtie.) For the most part, props are modest.

Now, at the end of the show, Zatanna takes her top hat off and rests it on the tall stool she's had next to her for most of the show. "Okay, so, this is gonna be my last one for the night, but… y'know, I don't know if I should do this one. Did you guys hear about the one I've been working on, the Dragon's Breath? No one's seen it yet. I was thinking, okay, you all have been a great crowd, maybe you deserve a preview, but I'd have to scale it down and… I dunno. Should I?" Zee is, of course, shamelessly milking the crowd for applause and affirmative response.

"Okay, okay. Let's see how this goes. Doing this without a net, here. First, though, I need some music. Alexa? Play me some mood music." The rim of Zatanna's hat lights up like an Alexa would, and the PA starts playing "Elegantly Wasted" by INXS. "Perfect! Great. Now I just need… well, normally I'd use a torch, but the fire code really would not like me doing that. Anyone got a lighter?" She steps out into the crowd to take one offered, and winks. "I'll give it right back. Now, the next step…"

Zee flips her hat over, and reaches down into it. REALLY down into it, to her shoulder. She roots around for something, and pulls up a jug of Crown Royal rum. "No, this is too much." She sets it on the floor, reaches back in, pulls out a full bottle of Stoli vodka. "Mmmaybe for later," and then finally, reaches in a third time and pulls out a fifth of Jack. "Ah! This'll do. Scuse me a sec." Zatanna breaks the seal on the bottle and then proceeds to… drink the entire thing down like it's water. She doesn't even seem to stop for air. She sets down the empty bottle, and then takes her hat up, and the lighter. "All right," she says to the crowd, grinning. "Here goes nothing." She holds the hat out from herself so that its opening is facing her, and the lighter between herself and the hat. She flicks the lighter on, close to her lips, and then takes a deep breath… and isn't just blowing a fireball (of whiskey she SWALLOWED), but being a full-on human flamethrower. Her hat seems to catch the flame, and after about five seconds of spitting fire, she sets the hat down on the stool, upside-down, still burning like a mini trash can fire. Cue applause.

"Thank you, thank you, I" Zatanna is cut off when the lights suddenly go out. She's illuminated only by the fire coming from her hat on stage. "huh?" Some of the crowd thinks it's part of the show, but people in the audience with, say, Spider-Sense would know that something Bad is happening. "Did you guys blow a fuse or something?" Zatanna says, before the fire in her hat suddenly gusts upward in a powerful flume. "What the fu—" she yelps, before she can be seen to be grabbed, harshly, by forces unseen, and pulled back into the darkness of the stage. The hat's fire extinguishes just as suddenly. Half the audience looks concerned, and half awkwardly applauds. The lights still aren't on.

Petesky needed a break. Harry knew this. He's heard a few jokesters singing, "Petey Doesn't Know," which started up after the New Girl was filmed kissing Captain America. In a way, it's something of a relief to Peter, as people realize that they were mistaken. However, instead of owning up to their misconceptions, they prefer to vocalize that they knew a girl like Kori wouldn't date a loser like Peter.

So, Harry has hit open a foolproof way to distract Petseky, and a showing of one of the best stage magicians seems to fit the bill entirely. One swipe of the black chrome credit card later, and they were in like Flynn, boi.
As they stepped into the main area in front of the stage, Peter had talked about the proper term: "ILLUSIONIST. Zatara, Copperfield, Houdini, they usually prefer being called illusionists. They don't do real magic."
"That actually seems pretty cool. She's got legs, though. And I'm not just talking about her career."
"HAR-ryyyyyy…" Peter rolled his eyes so hard his retinas nearly detached, but Harry chuckled softly. Just a little fantasy before Peter's reality rolled in again.

Hey had been at the front, near the stage, and Peter had relaxed when each new illusion had been brought out. It was amusing, and interesting, and Peter felt he'd be butched to figure out how the woman had done that.
And then the final act unfolded before them, and they'd made the requisite "oohs" and "ahhs" right up until the po "oohs" and "ahhs" right up until the point the star had been yanked backward into darkness. Harry had stood and applauded, but Peter stood still for a moment before clambering up onstage.
"Pete, it's an ACT! She'll appear in the audience somewhere…!"
But Pete was already rushing into the darkness. Harry sighed, then moved in after him. Pete

Thanks to the unconscious girl currently riding the subway to its last stop while 'asleep', Ian has a ticket to this smokin' show! He flips it round and round his fingers, smoothing out the edges. He's wearing jeans, sneakers, flannel, a hoodie over the flannel, and a knit hat, which smooshes down his short, dark hair. His eyes are on the small side, and he appears to be highly average, if below-average height for an adult male. He sat in his appointed seat for a while, then moved, then moved again until he's sitting with Peter Parker, whom…he /sorta knows, from that battle bot thing. He grins, totally missing that Peter is here with Harry, and they are friends, and the table is full. He keeps watching the show and generally enjoying himself, thirdy-McThirdwheel. Ian drinks with the casual calm of someone who has been drinking from a lower legal limit…cuz he has. When the woman disappears, he watches as the friends leap up into different actions, and just shifts his smallish eyes around alertly for the moment.

Jean is doing her best to be a friend. And Jean's best to be a friend is…well, it's pretty good. It helps that she literally knows how everyone feels and can feel it herself, so it's kind of hard to be a dick about things. She did at least dress up, given what she's seen of Zee's fashion sense. A secret show for the mistress of magic is probably a little bit fancier than the average outing. So she pulled out a dark green romper and a pair of slouchy brown boots, pulled up a few pieces of her hair, even put on some jewelry and makeup before she came out to the show.

Awkward or no, the show is enjoyable and the people around her are enjoying themselves, so she's in good spirits by the time the show comes to an end. When Zee disappears, though, she pauses, tensing in her seat. « Zee? You there? » She reaches out with her mind first, but she's slowly sliding out of her chair.

Elmo wasn't sure if he was going to come to this show, but here he is, because what the hell, you only live once, right? Social capital and all that kinda stuff. He's been told it's important. Plus it's an excuse he can dress up. Not that he ever needs a real excuse for that. It's convenient, though! So here he is, dressed to the nines in a slim cut electric-blue suit, three piece. This wonder is paired with a bright yellow shirt, matching tie, and glossy black Oxfords. He's, um, quite vibrant.

As the show gets started, and Zatanna does that thing she does so well, Elmo gets embarrassed. Like, a lot. She's so there and wearing so…not that much, and making those jokes, oy gevalt! …When the lights go out, he looks up sharpish, like everybody else, but unlike everybody else, he's trying to sense what happened. Zee vanishes with a curse and Elmo startles. Peter rushes after her, and Elmo stands up, suddenly very anxious. Is this a trick? Are he and Peter going to look really stupid in a second?

Scott Summers wasn't going to miss this show for the world. A few weeks ago, and he had never even heard of Zatanna, and now… Well, he doesn't want to miss a thing. So there he is, long before the show even started, sitting right up front at a table with one Jean Grey. As Jean had, Scott, too, had dressed up for the affair. A three piece suit. A windowpane pattern, black on navy blue, with a robin's egg blue shirt, button down, and a golden tie. Brown Italian leather shoes. It looks nice, but definitively bought off the rack, and not hand tailored. Which means that, with Scott Summer's long limbs and sheer height, the pants seem just a bit short, rising up like highwaters when he sits, and the cuffs of his sleeves are nearly fully exposed by the sleeves of his jacket.

But he's made that effort. Which is a lot for the "jeans and flannel" Scott Summers. That's saying something, right?

Scott sits with Jean during the show, just generally enjoying himself. Sure, the show is amazing, but he is, of course, far more enthralled with the performer than the performance, and that, too, shows. And just when the lights go out, Scott rises up to his feet ready to give a standing ovation, but then notes that that… that doesn't quite seem right. In the darkness of the sputtering flames, the lenses of Scott's glasses start to take on a menacing crimson glow.

"Jean? You have her?" Scott asks, as his hands ball up into fists.

The staff is working to try and get the power back on. Even the EXIT signs are dark. Finally some intrepid manager dredges up a flashlight. "Uh, if you'll excuse me, could I have everyone's attention…" He begins leading out a confused crowd, assuring them that this is NOT part of the show. It's the perfect opportunity for a couple people to slip up onto the stage in the dark and try to investigate.

Jean's attempt to reach out to Zatanna telepathically garners a response! It's not a good one! The magician's thoughts sound distorted and slowed down eight thousand percent, like music that's been put through so many filters that it resembles refrigerator buzz more than songcraft. Even trying to pick out words or phrases is just a lot of "MMMMmmmMMMM AAAAhhhhHHHHHHhhhhuuuuUUUUHHHhhhh" and so on.

When Elmo and Peter rush the stage, Peter's Spidey-Sense will only be going off harder. Past the curtains, a loud noise rings out, like heavy gear cases falling over… and then, from the darkness, Elmo gets grabbed. The gloved hands on his shoulders are one Zatanna Zatara's! That's a relief! Wait, maybe not, because it's not the good kind of grabbing, and as she gets close enough, Elmo would be able to see her eyes rolled completely back into her head. Her movements are herky-jerky like she's… not in control, somehow. That Spidey-Sense can kick up a few more notches, now. "Hhrrraaaahh—"

"Peter, I gotta bad FEELING about this…" Harry said uneasily.
"You and me both. I think you'd better get bck to our table and call the cops."
"What are you going to do?"
"Something…g'wan, Harry."
Harry sees Elmo and Zatanna, and is freaked out by the sight. He retreats, not needing any more urging. Peter rushes over to Elmo and the strange-acting Zatanna, and his Spidey-Sense is squalling in his head.
Peter grasps the hands holding Elmo, gradually applying that Spidey-Strength just enough to free Elmo from her clutches. "Miss Zatara! Snap out of it! Can you hear me?" he calls out.

Ian bursts out of his seat and says in rough words, ~"O?a o????i?a ???? ??i??a?o?!"~ then stuttering in English with a heavy Russian accent, "Its a…an…evil spirit…quick, someone must cut off her head with a silver blade and then bury the head and the body 2 meters down, 50 meters apart, facing downwards!!" His smallish eyes get slightly wider.

Ian bursts out of his seat and says in rough words, ~"Ona oderzhima zlym prizrakom!"~ then stuttering in English with a heavy Russian accent, "Its a…an…evil spirit…quick, someone must cut off her head with a silver blade and then bury the head and the body 2 meters down, 50 meters apart, facing downwards!!" His smallish eyes get slightly wider.

"I've got something." Jean casts a sidelong look toward Scott, establishing the link that they're so used to using in the field, adding her senses to his. "That's not normal." In case that much wasn't already obvious. She slips off of her chair the rest of the way, moving toward the stage for a closer look at what's going on back there. She does set a hand to Scott's chest in passing though, adding a warning look. "Head in the game, Slim."

She doesn't get in too close, just close enough to get a look at Peter trying to calm Zee down and Elmo in her grip. "Okay, let's try some intermediate steps before we go directly to head-chopping, yeah?" she replies to Ian's exclamation, eyes narrowing as she focuses her mental attention on Zee. Is this a stroke? Or is something interfering with her mind?

Elmo can't help it, he yelp-screeches when those hands land on his shoulders. *Crackle!* Static hisses in the folds of his fine suit, giving both Zatanna and Peter little love-pops. Ow, stingy! He jerks away from them both, teeth clenched, eyes going kinda wild. "D-d-don't touch me! Don't—Zee?"

Elmo's quivering, ready to explode into action, like a greyhound behind a racing gate, but he stares into Zatanna's face. "Oh, man. It's…it's okay, Zee." It's not okay. Elmo glances at Pete, then out at the audience, and Scott and Jean in particular, in a silent plea for help. He doesn't know what the hell to do here. "…I don't think cuttin' her head off is the answer, pal." He's shaking, jittering in place.

Scott has NO idea what is going on, but when he hears that it's an evil spirit, his head snaps in the direction of Ian, and he reaches up, placing one finger on the rim of his reflective, ruby-quartz shades. A bit of crackling red energy sparks outward in the barest seam between Scott's flesh and those protective shades, and his deep voice states, very coldly and matter of factly:

"I don't recommend it."

The hand on his chest has Scott looking down, and following the wrist to the arm and finally to Jean's face. He releases a breath he hadn't realized he had held after speaking, and gives her a firm nod of his head. Head in the game. The problem is that this is some sort of magicky voodoo game and Scott? He doesn't deal with that kind of stuff. So, think it out, Scott. Look around. What is out of place, other than the girl you're dating acting like a zombie while a teenager fends her off from your painfully Jewish car buddy?

"Elmo! Kid! Group up! Decapitator! Stay with us, and you'll find that you won't have anything to worry about!"

Scott sound surprisingly confident and collected when he says that, though his heart is pounding against his ribcage like a rabid dog trying to escape a fence. Focus. Focus. There has to be some physical link, some sort of item or evidence that might give away the mystery.

«Jean, can you scan for anything… I don't know… hokey?»

Peter's radioactive spider-strength is good for many deeds, including prying Zatanna's hands off of Elmo before she can try to choke him. That SEEMS to be what she was going for. Elmo's little shock gives a jolt, too, and Zatanna stumbles backward, trying to pull free of Peter's grip. It seems like whatever is possessing the Mistress of Magic has not ever taken the time to get used to walking in her perilously tall showgirl heels.

"Huuuuhhhhh," Zatanna groans, making wet sounds like she's trying to cough something up. Or: re-learning how to speak. "Mmmmmmmuuuhhh." Stepping backward a pace, Zatanna lifts her hand and pushes her palm out at the group that's come up against her. The club is cleared, now, and even the management have found themselves mysteriously locked out from re-entering. Zatanna pushes her palm out again. It's like that adorable commercial of the little kid dressed as Darth Vader pretending to use the Force on things, except it's weird and creepy.

"Mmmmmooooove." Zatanna pushes her palm out a third time, and then seems to have a lightbulb go off above her head. "Oh. Ohhh. …evom." The palm goes out a fourth time when she says that backwards-sounding nonsense word, and then EVERYTHING moves. It's like a wind storm suddenly hitting the backstage area: everything not bolted down goes flying backwards, like it's being pulled on wires. This includes people, unless they grab hold of something or exert superpowers — and even then, suddenly there's a risk of flying objects for a second!

YIKES. This is NOT something science is going to explain away. No sleight-of-hand, no misdirection. And then she speaks, and his brain registers the word (*Hey, she just said 'move' backwards*) And then the gale-force hits him. If he uses his strength to hang on, he might just snap both wrists.
However, he can stick to her like glue. Literally.
His feet go out from under him, but his hands stay stuck to her wrists. Peter looks at her eyes and is unnerved by them. "Miss Zatara! Are you in there? Can you hear me?"

And then, because he can't think of anything else, he lets go with one hand and gives her a hard, sharp slap across the cheek. Which is about the only time he'd raise a hand to a lady, because Aunt May would have tanned his hide if he ever did that without a good reason.

Ian winces when things start flying around and he ducks down. "She says she wants hummus!! Are you sure about the head thing? Removing heads solves a lot of problems!" Then he crawls along thr ground trying to get backstage where he can at least get some rope to try to keep her from flying away.

"I've got an idea, but you're not gonna like it." Jean raises a hand just as Zee does, throwing up a telekinetic shield to protect herself and the others from flying objects. It's likely to still push them back - magic is a strange thing like that - but at least it should protect them from the mundane effects of the magic. "Pretty sure that's not Zee. Not super practiced at it, but I can go astral, see if I can knock whatever it is around on its own ground. Push it out. I'll try to keep a link to you, but I might lose it. Also, someone needs to keep an eye on my body." She gives Ian a look, then looks back to the others. "Preferably not him."

"Shit, it really is a dybbuk!" Elmo ducks away. He looks at Scott, wanting to bail off stage, but Peter is still here. "Buddy," he urges Peter, "c'mon, get away from her!" Then the gale hits. Elmo squeaks. He really doesn't weigh much; the wind just scoops him right up and tosses him to the fashionably exposed rafters. He cusses furiously in Yiddish, left with no option but to hang the hell on.

«Jean! Shield!»

Scott barks off the mental order by instinct when Zee's magic power seems to kick in, while to her credit, Jean is already doing. Years of working together. It becomes second nature. What the hell even is magic? To Scott, this is typical ghostly power at work, right? Making gale force winds and stuff? That's what they do in movies where evil spirits possess people. As a rolling amp scoots across the floor, pushed by unseen forces and rumbling on its wheels like rolling thunder, Cyclops flicks down his glasses.

ZAKT!!!

From the interdimensional apertures that serve as Scott's pupils, twin beams of blindingly vibrant ruby light comes pouring out, bathing everything in a crimson glare. The twin beams meet, roiling into one condensed, flattened ray that crashes into the large amplifier, and sents it flying in the other direction, into a wall, with a hole punched halfway through it that smolders and sparks.

"Yeah, not him," Scott says aloud, as he gives a start seeing Peter go to slap Zee. Again his finger moves to those glasses, ready to flick them down and bathe the kid in his optic blast, but…

"Let go of her, kid!" Scott calls out. "We've got her covered! Help Elmo!! The guy in the rafters!"

The slap has two outcomes for Peter! One is that it ends the evil wind currently throwing around furniture and Elmo alike. Another is that it makes this unused-to-heels entity-in-a-Zee-skin tumble to the ground. This would be good except that if Peter is still stuck to her, he'll get pulled right down too.

"Hrrrr," the Zatanna-thing growls, trying to pull off her shoes. Sadly, they have straps and buckles and it's more complicated than just tugging them off. It might buy a second for someone to act, though! "All this… power… power enough to…" Zatanna is speaking in two voices, her own and someone else's layered atop hers with an effect like a broken reverb pedal. Giving up on the shoes, Zatanna rises shakily to her feet. Maybe the herky-jerky movements aren't so much a sign of zombie-ism, so much as they're signs of a spirit-creature not used to working a physical body, let alone a physical body wearing a tight bowtie and a thong bodysuit riding up and crazy heels and all the rest.

"You… will not… stop meeee. I wwwuuhhiiill be… FREE…" the Zatanna-Monster groans. Her eyes are still blank white, rolled back into her skull. Her hands lift in that same poorly-animated way as before. "Etaerc drows," she says. And just like that, a sword is created. Right. In. Front. Of. Ian. Tempting, isn't it?

Well…THIS is awkward.
Peter tumbles to the floor, looking at Zatanna and she gets up. She stands like she is unused to walking. Or moving.

Peter hears Scott, but his brain is operating. He doesn't pick up on the first strange word, but "drows" and the appearance of the sword lends credence to the sudden theory.

She speaks BACKWARD to makes things happen.
He looks back at her, and then raises his free hand to perform a magic trick of his own.
THWIPP!
A thatch of webbing suddenly covers Zatanna's chin and mouth. The nose is kept clear, except for a few strands. They might itch a bit.

Ian grabs hold of the sword, because its JUST WHAT HE NEEDS! However, unless he's stopped, he just uses it to chop at a length of rope that's being used to hoist backdrops and curtains. Or he might get zapped. If he doesn't get zapped though, he's totally going to make a lasso.

"I'm going in." Jean doesn't wait for anything else. Whatever is borrowing Zatanna is making some unpleasant uses of her powers, and Zee has way too many powers for that to be okay. She steps behind Scott, sits cross-legged on the floor, closes her eyes…

And then Jean is no longer home. She's astrally projected herself onto another plane, though there's a thin silver line connecting her to Scott for those who can see such things. It's enough to keep read in on how she's doing, but not much more.

On the plane of spirit and energy, Jean blazes large and bright, a fiery nimbus around her as she rushes toward Zee's body and the thing inside of her to…Well, it's basically a bullrush to push it out. She did say this wasn't something she'd done a whole lot of.

"DON'T CUT HER HEAD OFF!" Elmo hollers at Ian, alarmed, and also kind of strained, face bright red from being upside-down. Ian doesn't. "…Okay, GOOD JOB NOT CUTTING HER HEAD OFF!" He shakes his head at Scott, although probably Scott can't see it as he is busy zapping things with his laser eyes. "Help Zee!" He dares to let go with one arm so he can scrabble in a pocket and find a coin battery. This, he flings at the lighting rack. All the lights come back up, sputtering and sparking.

"Okay, Jean… We're out of time. There is no Zatanna, there is only Zuul. Get in there and push that thing out!" Scott says, his voice holding just a hint of a snarl. He's really, really done with all of this. Zee's getting slapped by a high schooler and now he's…

Well. He's obviously Spider-Man.

"Good thinking, kid, but seriously, get out of there!"

The worst part about this? Scott, with the power to punch holes through mountains? Utterly useless here. He can't just blast her to unconsciousness. He can't blast the thing out of her. He doesn't have enough understanding of magical doings to formulate a great plan. All he can do is stand in front of Jean, and try to keep Spider-Man from leaving a mark, and make sure that the guy wanting to cut off her head doesn't get…

Oh. Great. He has a sword.

Thankfully, Ian only seems to be using it to cut a rope. Still, from what he's seen of Ian, he's a superstitious and scared man. So he does call out, in his best Robocop impersonation, "DROP IT!"

He's actually pretty good at that. He probably practices a lot in the mirror. You know, when you're forced to wear a sci-fi visor most of the time, you do what you do, okay?

Elmo's cry gets a sudden thrust of Scott's fist, with a thumb extended upwards. "Jean's on it. Spider kid should have cut off her magic. He cast silence on her. Jean's going in to play exorcist now! Are you going to be alright?"

|ROLL| Ian +rolls 1d20 for: 18

The lights come on and reveal just how much of a mess that 'evom' stunt made. A huge one! Good thing management is still locked out!

"MMMPH! MMMHHFHFPHHH!" Understandably, The Thing Wearing Zatanna's Face is not really happy about its vessel getting its mouth glued shut. She grabs at her mouth, but that just makes her hands stick to the webbing. So now she has to try to pull her hands out of her gloves. It's honestly kind of funny to watch, but maybe not in a ha-ha way. Actually, it's still really creepy.

On the Astral Plane: Zatanna is gagged and chained up, suspended upside down in a small glass case full of water, which is in another glass case full of water, which is in another glass case full of water, which is in another glass case full of water, and on and on like Russian nesting dolls. The thing that sits atop all these cages while Zatanna struggles is a brutish, ugly thing that may well be a demon. Its body is top-heavy and musclebound and its underbite is like a wash basin lined with crooked fangs. It's kind of purplish in color and everything about it is just gross in a way that it's hard to pinpoint. «NO! NO!» it's bellowing, astrally. «I WON'T BE TRAPPED HERE ANY LONGER!» Visions of its rage flicker across Astral-Jean's mind's eye: the building they're in being used as the home of a witches' coven centuries ago, back in the New Amsterdam days, until they summoned a demon that was so dangerous it has to be imprisoned deep below the Earth — exerting its will over the decades, convincing people the building was haunted by a poltergeist — until finally making its move and possessing Zatanna once her magickal power acted as a lighthouse beacon for his malicious intent. «NNNNNOOOOOOOO!!!»

Spider-Kid. WONDERFUL. He inadvertantly outs himself (it was for a good cause, God alone knew what was going to come out of her mouth next). He just hoped Harry was outside along with everyone else. With how Osborn is hunting Spidey…

Hey! FOCUS!

Peter looked at Zatanna, then not-quite-gently pushed her to the floor. In for a penny, in for a pound.

In the next moment, Zatanna is webbed to the floor, her hands doing the same thing Kevin from HOME ALONE was doing, except her open mouth is temporarily closed for business. Then he webs the feet to the floor as well, and now the great escape artist is pinned to the floor like a pinned bug.

"Try escaping THAT," he said under his breath. She was definitely not herself. He knew of possessing spirits from the Bible—he still went to church every Sunday. But reading about it and seeing it are two different things, and his desire to keep her from hurting anyone else is overriding the fear coiling at the base of his spine and rising upward…

Ian drops the sword and the rope in response to Scott's admirable authoratative vocal expression. He backs up a few paces, his shadow growing long in the sputtering lights. Soon he's disappeared completely from view. Possibly related, or unrelated, is that a few moments later, one of those lifts with the remote controls for up and down, for changing the lights, starts raising up, /achingly/ slowly. VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

« I can help you with that. » Jean does not actually mean 'help.'

When it comes to the telepathic side of her powers, Jean has spent the majority of her life locked away from at least part of them. There's a part of her that's terrified of her full potential. There's probably a part of anyone who truly comprehends her full potential that's terrified of it, for that matter. But whatever this thing is that has Zatanna, that's trying to use her to enter the world, has messed with the wrong person.

Jean's relationship with Zee might be a little bit on the complicated side, but that's her friend. And lacking the skill to do anything clever to the demon, Jean doesn't waste time with that. Instead, she just…stops holding back. « LET. » She grows on the astral plane, swelling with the power. « HER. » She closes the distance to the demon, the fiery glow intensifying to white-hot flames. « GO! »

Hell hath no fury and all that. The demon can probably offer some comparison. But Jean - or her astral form - seems to simply burst into flame as she reaches out to wrap mental hands around its neck, using every ounce of strength she can summon to cause it to cease to exist.

"Yeah…fine…" Elmo grunts, probably not all that audible down in the chaos. Another coin battery falls out of his pocket and he snatches it out of midair, swaying precariously. A whimper escapes him; he's running out of strength and that didn't help. Panting, he's looking at where his satchel lies on the floor next to the chair he was in. That's…going to be a hell of a toss. He swallows, getting up the nerve to attempt it…when the lift begins to move. "Aw, buddy, you're a genius," he whispers, eyes lighting up. That, he can hit, and he fwings the battery at it. The little disc clatters as it lands in the frame and tinks its way downwards. And then the lift VROOMS, rising way faster than OSHA would approve of. Elmo laughs breathlessly. "C'mere, baby!" He half lets go, half just slips, and lands on the lift's platform with a thump.

Alright. Zee is pinned down. Jean is in her… Astral Danger Zone. Spider-Kid is working so that he won't be hitting Zee again. Superstitious Russian has dropped the sword and Elmo is no longer hanging on a ledge. So what does Scott do?

He's useless.

His upper lip curls, his nostrils flare. He should have had Jean drag him into the astral plane. The others had everything under control. He could have gone. He could be inside there, fighting off whatever it is that climbed inside of Zatanna and decided to make her into an Edgar Suit. But now, he's just standing here, impotent and forced to wait. Wait and pace. Which he does. Eyes focused solely on Zee, Scott Summers paces back and forth, radiating an agitated energy. One might even look at him and be reminded of that scene in one of those old movies where Darth Maul was waiting for the energy field to let up so he could kill Liam Neeson.

On the Astral Plane: The demon-thing is seized by the full fury of Jean's power. It's a terrifying thing to behold, even for a demon. Whatever power this thing has, it's trying to resist being utterly obliterated, which is like having a tug-of-war with a bus. Jean is going to win, no matter what. It's just taking time as his magical energy is burned up trying to stop her. There's a sound like rushing water. Is that the noise of an astral entity being completely destroyed?

Actually, it's not. As Jean continues to push for the complete eradication of the demon, another voice joins the fray. Zatanna soaking wet, chains sloughing off of her body like seaweed, using a key held between her teeth to undo the handcuffs on her wrists. When they're unlocked, she spits the key aside and says: "Teg eht kcuf tuo fo ym daeh."

There's a brilliant flash of light on the astral plane, blinding even Zee's spirit-self, as Jean succeeds in her task. The demon is no more. Not even a psychic imprint. She's rid Zatanna of a monster, but let's be real here: she's also taken a life. Not even that. REVOKED a life completely.

In the real world: Zatanna's body goes limp, and her eyes close. Her eyes re-open after a moment, lashes fluttering, and she looks… normal. And… surprised. Because her mouth is stuck shut. And her hands are stuck to her mouth. And, she realizes after a moment, her ankles are glued to the ground in a spread-eagle pose. "Mmmf!" she tries to say. "Mmfgf ghh hhfffh!" She's looking at Scott like he should be doing something, here.

Peter looks down. Okay. Eyes…normal. Face…hacked off at him, he knows that look well, but this looks different than what he saw before.

"Uhm, hang on…" he said uncomfortably, patting his pockets for the atomizer with the spidersilk solvent. He REALLY should set this up as a cartridge for the web-shooters. He sprays the webbing covering her mouth. It smells like an ammonia fart, but the webbing begins to deteriorate almost immediately, and Peter clears it from her mouth. He looks supremely apologetic. "Sorry…sorry…"
God, please don't let her be aware that I slapped her? Okay? Please?

Ian continues to be hidden, thouogh he's definitely watching, particularly the whole…spiderman thing. That's worth some decent blackmail to be on his battlebot team, for later. Elmo arriving safely also has his approval and he hits the button for 'down', if it still works.

Jean does not feel particularly bad about that thing ceasing to exist. This might be one of the first times she's given in to the full extent of her powers and not felt bad about it afterwards. Zee didn't get destroyed in the process! This is a plus!

With Zee back in control of her own body, Jean's work here on the astral plane is done and she follows a thin silver thread back to her own body, slamming back in rather…well, awkwardly. The landings are always the worst.

She slumps forward for a moment, wincing, then falls on her side. That is the mother of all migraines. "'m fine," she mumbles from her side, eyes screwed tightly closed as she waves at, well, whoever is looking. "Just…nobody make any loud noises for a minute, 'kay?"

Not only does 'down' work, it works way too well. VVVVVMMM the lift accordions fast! Elmo's laughing a little crazily, hanging on. He clambers down it, and once he's back on terra firma, his shaking knees give out and land him on his skinny butt. "You're okay, pal," he says to Ian from the floor, grinning in a slightly lunatic fashion. "Zee, how's Zee? SCOTT HOW'S ZEE!" So much for no loud noises.

Yeah. That.

Scott, the very moment that Zee starts to struggle, and open her eyes to look at him with crystal clear blue ones, he starts towards her but pauses when he sees Peter coming to her aid. He takes that moment to reach down and slip an arm around Jean's midsection, bringing her other arm around his shoulder so that he can hoist her up onto her feet. He knows damned well the kind of disorientation that she feels after such a thing.

With Jean in tow, Scott moves to Zee just as Peter is finishing up dousing her in fart spray. He crinkles his nose and looks at Peter for a long moment, and even though his shades reveal not a hint of the eyes hidden behind them, it's clear that he's looking at Peter as if he had lost his damned mind. Sighing, Scott eases Jean down beside the Mistress of Magic, and then sinks down to his knees himself so that he can help the raven haired magician to sit up.

"You uh… You may want to get outta here, kid, before people start questioning you," he offers to Peter, quieter. Sincere, for what it's worth. It's clear that he's trying to look out for the kid before police start rolling up into this place.

Elmo's shouted query has Scott looking across the way to him, and just giving another thumbs up, because he's not going to shout right next to Jean right now.

Turning his attention back to Zee, Scott offers a faint, sympathetic smile, and strokes a few wisps of hair from her face. Quietly, he says, "Welcome back."

"Mmf—" Zatanna clams up as Peter uses his anti-webbing agent to dissolve the stuff on her face. Well, most of it. There are a few dots on her chin. "Oh my god, that SMELLS," she blurts out. Her eyes are watering. "Did you put EPOXY on my face? I feel like I've just been stucco'ed…"

Zatanna sits up, looking at the assembled group. Scott, Jean, Peter, Elmo off over on the lift… "Uh… thanks," she says, as she looks around at the destruction her powers caused. "That was… well. It wasn't my WORST show," she says, shrugging. She's still hamming it up, mere moments after being rid of a demonic possession. "So… you know, all of you might wanna bounce, actually. If I vanish, they'll call the cops and it'll be a whole thing. I can explain to the venue. Or, you know, tell the venue something they want to hear. They've got cape insurance, and the manager spent all day telling me his ghost stories about the place, so… I think it'll work out."

Zatanna pauses, and rubs her cheek. "Jesus, guy," she says, looking at Peter. "Remind me never to play the knockout game with you, okay?"

Peter looks at her. Crud. She remembered.

"Uhhh…yeah. I'm just gonna…go…" He points to the nearest exit. He looks to Scott, and gets the message loud and clear. He heads for the edge of the stage, his face BURNING with shame and embarrassment.

He gets outside and Sees Harry, who is flanked by two bodyguards. He spots Peter and runs over, leaving his guards behind. "PETER! OH my GOD you're all right! Is everything all right in there?"
Peter nods. "Yeah, just…it went weird. Had to hide in a corner until the insanity stopped…"

He is almost to the car when the enormity of what happened in there hits his hard, and he also falls into the limousine Harry had brought them to the show in.
A demon. An actual DEMON…
He shudders violently, the macaroni knees coming a moment before the screaming whim-whams. He curled up on the soft leather seat, the terror hitting him hard.
Harry looked at him with worry, then called to the driver, "Queens…and right NOW."
The limo pulls away a few seconds later.

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