Summary:A large disturbance results in a showdown … Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Not so long ago the alert went out. There's a disturbance at Jones Beach. Blue glowing animals, flashes of light and the sound of a fight ensuing. That went out to SHIELD, the Young Avengers and across the police channels. For the arcanely inclined, they can sense the 'disturbance'.
When people arrive on the scene, there's a tall woman with tattooes on her heads and face. She's casting a spell, that much can be determined by the feel of the air. Near her, there's two mercenaries in the colours of the Denim Crows - they're *extremely* well armed and one of them is wearing a mask in the shape of a skull.
Brunnhilde wasn't expecting to be in a fight today, having been enjoying the warm weather on one of the public lounge chairs, a beer in he rhand and generally enjoying the sun. But the noise and such does draw her attention as she eventually sits up, peering over her shades, then sighing as she pushes herself up to her bare feet. She's not exactly dressed for battle, a snug fitting tank top and jean shorts, but she's got Dragonfang, which she idly leans against her shoulder as she moves over to see what's going on.
Doctor Strage was in the Sanctum Sanctorum, reading upon the Book of Cagliostro to have a better understanding of the study of time. Interesting read, really. and of course, this was before Cagliostro's descent into madness thanks to his obsession, so Strange had to translate some of it.
But then he turns his head at the feeling of the mystic disturbance. "Great, what now. I swear to the Vishanti, if it is Cyttorak again, I'm going to get more gray hairs. Wanda, you around?"
A few, moments, later.
A blazing portal opens up to Jones beach, and in walks the Sorcerer Supreme, likely with the Scarlet Witch at his side. He takes notice of the tattooed woman with two mercenaries, and Strange doesn't lift his arms quite yet. He approaches, and speaks. "My name is Doctor Stephen Strange. What is your intent here?" because he needs to approach this with that kind of authoritative finesse that these kinds of people NEVER listen to.
What about SHIELD Avenging arcanely inclined? It's a tripartite source of hell for the witch, resonating on countless fronts that interrupt her ability to enjoy a perfectly acceptable cup of tea. The cup is still with her, one of those steel-bodied canteens capped by a heavy plastic lid known to serve in a pinch as a hammer, a hockey puck or a projectile.
A good thing she comes armed, other than with the daggers scattered liberally about her person. Uniform is a pointless question; it's black, red, and nothing else. Stepping through space while the marigold sparks of the portal collapse behind her, displaced air snapping back into place. To heck with men wearing skull masks and extremely well-armed bits, her attention goes straight to the tattooed spellcaster. Any tremor of sensation bleeds away from her narrowed eyes, the bandwidth of the Sight torn open across spectra only known to mystics to better perceive what those fluctuations might be.
*
Always with an ear on the comms and on the channels, the sound of an arriving motorcycle can be heard. None other than Steve Rogers kills the engine as fast as he can manage before kicking out the stand. He's admittedly a sight in his suit, navy-blue with the chest-spanning white star-and-bars, and on his back, the vibranium shield sporting his spangled crest.
He's quick to cross the dunes from the parking lot and a distant flash of blue light has him slowing to a more sedate pace…for as 'sedate' a readied Captain Rogers can be. He narrows his eyes at the scene unfolding before him, especially at the weaponry on display. His steps come to a final stop with himself in plain view. A crackling oculus off to one side has him glancing over to see the arrival of the mystical ilk and then looking back at the fracas with thinned lips. Steve is visible enough and, as such, he remains quiet for now.
*
Stranges arrival with Wanda gets a derisive look from the mage. "I am an emissary of Lord Plokta, that's all you need to know." The portal opens and both the Sorcerer Supreme and Wanda will fill it, the dark energy that seeps through. "Stand back and make way for his forces…"
No, they never listen do they?
The skull face wearing mercenary sees Steve arrives and moves to intercept him. There's no words as he raises a automatic pistol and fires. Better be quick Capt. Amercia!
Hilde will see the mercenaries but the other one sees her as well. He moves to place himself between her and the portal. "Hello Pretty. That's a nice sword you have there."
"I like it." Hilde says easily. "Wanna see it up close?" She just keeps walking straight towards him as he puts himself in her way, then swings down the sword, feinting, before she lunges, attempting to put a straight kick into his chest. She doesn't really recognize him, and the portal over there looks way more interesting! Especially with other people arriving via portal.
*
No time for diplomacy, apparently. Steve's knee-jerk reaction is to drop to one knee in order to block the incoming spray of bullets. Sparks fly as the impacts ring out hollowly upon the vibranium surface. Pufts of sand rise as the bullets deflect — he attempts to aim them away from bystanders, after all.
With a roll to one side, the Captain disappears behind the crest of the sand dune. He darts quickly out from behind it, shield upraised, as he attempts to use the next natural wave of windblown sand as cover. It's a ultimately a move to flank and close distance. He vanishes yet again behind the natural cover for a few breathless seconds.
The Captain suddenly appears again, at the crest of the nearest dune, and it's in an explosion of sand to rain down upon the skull-masked individual, both a blind and a curtaining for his own thrown punch.
*
*
"Captain," Wanda says, tapping the device perennially slid into the collar of her coat. Advantages to wearing leather most times, it's easy to wire with minimal fuss. The messages conveyed across the link hold her usual silent crispness. "Dark magic. Be on your guard, and I will handle any cross-fire." Switching effortlessly out of English into Tibetan, attention to Strange in front of her. «Dark Dimension. She's yours and I can work point.»
There is absolutely nothing to see as she dashes for cover, using likely the nearest car or a low-slung wall for ducking behind. See, naught but a terrified bystander running for cover. Let the others be far more interesting, the man with the shield and the woman with the sword, or the gentleman with the telltale blue robes. But then, her form of magic is the equivalent of reaching a hand into the swirling morass and wrenching out the living heart of a spell. It may take time, but time she possesses for the moment. Her fingertips curl and flex, purposefully teasing out the unseen tension and knotwork holding together every creation as she amplifies her focus through the nature of the weave visible to her. And in doing so, the counterspell takes the equivalent of shears. Snip, snip, snip.
*
Stephen Strange then seems to grin. "Well, atl east your too the point, so I can save on the formalities." Clapping his hands together, Strange then forms some hand gestures before stretching out his hands, the Ruby Rings of Raggador spell being used as Strange enters the defensive for the moment. "You are impeding on this world with harmful intent. You have one last chance to leave, or you will be destroyed."
Strange does give a glance to Wanda, hoping she's ready for a fight that is no doubt coming. "and after I send you back to your dimension, tell Plotka I said to stay off my realm."
Of course, Strange notices Captain America himself, and a Valkyrie. This was just going to be a strange day.
….oh come on, it was witty! his eyes shift to Wanda, and he shifts just as easily to Tibetan. «good strategy.» So he focuses on the woman with the tattoos, using the Ruby Rings spell to send forth beams of magic energy at this mystery woman!
Hilde's kick impacts on the body armour, knocking the man backwards so he staggers. "Oh pretty thing, you don' wan' to do dat…" he tries to croon at the Valkyrie. "I'm sure there's another way we can do dis…" Charming? Probably not and even less so when the automatic pistol he's carrying rises and fires.
Taskmaster - the guy in the skull mask - laughs lowly as Steve starts to move. That skull mask hides his expression so well. As Steve explodes from the dune, the Avenger finds himself parried. It's *almost* an exact copy of his own fighting style. "Captain America. I've been looking forward to this. I can do this all day."
Wanda's tactic would be good if it wasn't for the man who exits the portal as she arrives there. "Uh uh, little witch…" the tall lean man waggles a finger at her as he begins to levitate. "Feel the power of the Darque …" This power is from the Dark Dimension but … it's also necromantic in feel. The Scarlet Witch can feel it pull at her, starting to drain her lifeforce.
As for Strange. It is … a Strange day. The mage ducks and rolls as the waves of magical energy come at her. He's met with an answering barrage of dark dimension energy as its sent in his direction.
%f Hilde snaps her sword up as the first shot is fire, ricocheting off the slab of metal as she lets the flat of the blade rest against her free hand, then keeps coming at him. Ranged weapon, after all….less effective in melee combat. She tries to prove this to him out of a desire to inform him of that fact, mostly by bashing the flat of the blade into his face. "I don't like to be shot on the first date…" Hilde says, almost cheerfully, baring her teeth as she falls into the rhythm of the combat.
*
A grimace flashes as well as Steve's eyes from within the eyeholes of his hooded helmet. He rotates his shoulder to take the next thrown punch and brings the shield around to block an incoming pistol whip. The gun rings off the metallic disc.
"At risk of sounding banal, so can I. You might want to consider your own name though." A grunt as he brings up a forearm to stymie another punch. "You sound like something off of late night TV." An attempt to punch forwards with the shield is deflected and the Captain huffs through his nose. Abruptly, he drops to try and take Taskmaster's legs out from underneath him with a sweep, holding the shield out as balance rather than defense.
*
*
Woe to the fool that awakens the midnight shadows laced throughout Wanda's warped DNA. One incandescent perch of infernal power is sure to meet another, crashing headlong into the girl rising from her crouch. "Wrong choice. I do not share." Let the floating man in all his arrogance try to leave it pouring down on her as she flings mental pinions into the very earth itself, calling its energy to her. "And neither does he." She takes no chances, no heroic standoffs when he levitates.
«Necromancer, Doctor!» radiates in a warning when she darts away, emerging from behind the vehicle that serves very little purpose. So much for taking down the portal when forced onto the defensive. At a run, sand kicks up under her boots. The pivotal rotations of her wrists twist together the nested triangular formations common to the Mystic Arts, bleeding a holy citrine, the warding shield against the dark energies flung up against the siphoning effect.
*
Strange expands his spell to be like a front-facing barrier, blocking the dark dimensions energy, with only a little bit of strange. In response, Stephen summons powerful winds, the Winds of Watoomb, and he blasts a strong force of wind at the tattooed woman. Wanda's warning is taken and noted, and Strange mutters a curse. "Its moments like these where I hate that I gave that woman the book." a book of necromatic spells, which he gave to someone. But, oh well.
"Come now sweetheart. Dis ain' no way to … nnnnggghhhh…" The Crows head snaps round as Hilde hits him, eyes rolling so she can see the whites of his eyes. He grunts again, draw a kabar that gleams in the light, taking a swipe that might well cut Hildes torso.
If it does, it *will* cut - and it sting like hell. It *shouldn't* be able to do that, she's a Valkyrie after all, with Asgardian physiology - but it does. What the hell is that made of?
Steve's opponent just grins. Well, the skull mask does as the merc meets the super soldier blow for blow. He learns. He adapts. He mimicks every move. Steve might begin to feel like he's fighting himself. The sweep to the legs is unexpected and TaskMaster goes down with grunt. But not for long, he reaches out and tugs at Steve's ankles, trying to bring him down as the merc flips himself upright.
"Little witch …" Darque laughs as Wanda's ward come into being. "… I only want to share what Lord Plokta can offer you … " A mist starts to form, clouding Wanda's mind. She's assaulted with visions of a life - when everything went right. Her perfect life. It's a siren call … can she resist it?
The mage fighting Strange, is knocked backwards towards the portal. She laughs as she tumbles again. Another murmur and the sand behind the Sorcerer Supreme rise up and form a scorpion - a very, very large one. One that brings its stinger down on the man. "Master Darque…" the mage cries out. "… we must go …"
For various reasons, Hilde doesn't wear her Asgardian armor anymore. Part of it is that she's normally tough enough that she doesn't need it for most things; the other is, well, a long story. That said, she doesn't /let/ people hit her on principal generally, so when the knife clears, she's starting to leap back. The blade still carves a shallow slice along her ribs, drawing a faint gasp of pained suprise as she backs off, then narrows her eyes. "Enchanted blade? Well, aren't you interesting…" she purrs. "I guess I don't need to hold back as much then."
Dragonfang slices up in a graceful motion as she aims the slide at his face, mostly to try and make him flinch again, before it whirls down, in a sweeping motion, trying to catch that knife as it comes at her before she throws a elbow with her left arm, then follows it with a sharp headbutt.
*
It's shocking, how it's becoming a mirroring of his own motions, and Steve goes down with a surprised grunt as the last melee concept is turned against him. He kicks out at the mercenary, aiming for the side of the man's knee even as he brings his shield up to block a solid punch.
"Glad you've got my back, Wanda," he grunts belatedly into the comms as he rolls to one side in order to avoid bullets shot at his legs. Sand pufts up again in a few places before he's on his feet again, turtled behind the spangled shield. "You 'nd everyone here. This guy's got no sense of humor." Another bullrush at Taskmaster attempts to flatten him with sheer force of impact.
*
As there appears to be a scorpion about to strike him from behind, Strange senses the magic that brought it htere. With a swirling of his hand, a portal appears behind him, causing the stinger to go through and with a counterclockwise motion, Strange closes it, attempting to cut off the stinger of the giant scorpion, or even better, trick it into putting too much force into its sting and go through the portal entirely.
While that is happening, Strange looks over to Darque as he keeps attacking Wanda. So, Strange mutters an incantation. "gninthgil fo thgindim klab!" and emerging from the Sorcerer Supreme's hands is a dark-colored lightning, clearly intending to blast Darque with powerful mystic energy!
and help Wanda in the process. Stephen looks at Valkyurie, she's doing just fine, and Steve Rogers looks like he's keeping up with Taskmaster well enough. But he'll interfere if he needs to.
*
Wanda laughs, the sound radiant and defiant, a wild shadow rolling over her mind. Everything went right. Everything /is/ right. Everything in the moment right before she walked to the beach? The searing shadows that play upward against someone trying to erase her thoughts is a dangerous thing to play. "Everything I want, I have." She drops that shielding, for what need is there? Steve's voice cuts over the comm-link, shaking her back into the system. Strange is there moments later, rippling around her.
Her eyes go vibrant cerise, and the shivering, roiling wrath of reality shudders at the atomic level to her mouth tilting up oh so prettily. "Be silent."
That's not magic. It never was. Her genetic heritage radiates to the fore, scarlet light bleeding out of her blinking pupils. The focus behind the will is vicious: silence in lack of words, silence in the inability to form coherent thought. Language is the basis of power, of understanding, and if it's focused in babbled nothingness, scrambled sounds, then no harm be done. No words be done.
*
The Denim Crow is well trained. Brunnhilde will recognise that. This is no common street thug despite the way that he speaks. Fighting against a Valkyrie and her sword, puts him at a disadvantage and his methods reflect that. He adapts and adapts well, dodging the Valkyrs aim at his face, as she intended. He ducks in, slicing again with the Kabar, and taking an elbow in the head. That stuns him - Asgardians are *strong* - he grunts, falling back as he shakes his head trying to clear it. Hilde will see he's angling towards that portal.
Darque laughs as his scorpion disappears in a puff of portal and laughs again as Wanda's power assaults him. "Little Witch … please… " No that's not supplication. That's condescending. A master mage with the power of a Splinter Lord behind him. He draws deep on the Dark Dimension and a bubble of pure black energy appears, swallowing Stranges bolts of mystic energy and engulfing Darque. "You are right. Gather the others …" That's the mage who is already diving through the portal. "It is time to go … "
Taskmaster is good. He watches, he studies, he … not mimicks. He learns his opponents moves and makes them his own. How do you fight yourself? You need to surprise yourself. Can Steve do that? Or is his fighting style too ingrained? As the Super Soldier bullrushes Taskmaster, the merc rolls to the side - he can draw on a number of styles, after all. "Like I said, I can do this all day." It leaves him open for a fraction of a moment as he turns, and takes off at a run to the portal. Can Steve use that?
Brunnhilde grins toothily, a wolfish smile at the man. "Hmmmmmm, think you can make it?" she murmurs, shifting as she alters course to start trying to cut him off. "Not going to bring me to the dance then run out on me, are you?" She plants a foot and tries to dart to get between him and the portal. "And here I am, thinking you might need to answer a few questions…but if you think you can make it?" Dragonfang hums through the air as she slashes idly. "Come and see, hmm?" Her eyes glitter slightly.
*
It's too easy for Taskmaster to land a blow as the Captain whiffs past — the shield's edging drags at the mercenary's suit while the man himself manages to slam a solid fist into the meat of Steve's already-crooked nose. It sends the spangled Avenger into a sandy tumble that he arights through to his feet once more, but it's a very wet sniff to follow.
"Coward," Steve spits even as he sets himself and brings back the shield. Then, with a teeth-bared growl, he hucks the vibranium disc at Taskmaster's unguarded back!
*
Strange will allow these evildoers to leave through the portal, lowering his hands as his magic dissipates. Using the Cloak of Levitation, he does glide after the intruders however, if but to make sure that Taskmaster doesn't do something crazy like stay and fight back. But, nonetheless, Strange would eventually find Wanda. «Wanda, are you unharmed?» He slips into Tibetan rather easily, checking on her, before he makes sure that no further evils emerge from that portal.
He doesn't want to send anything else to the seventh circle of hell, after all.
Sorry Scorpion.
The Crow is fast. Hilde is faster and she manages to cut him off before he reaches the portal. He growls and snarls at her, eyes darting over her shoulder. "Pretty lady, you don't want to do dat. Trust me…" Is that true? His "friends" are leaving. Making a decision, he dives the Valkyrie, slashing hard again with that knife. She'll probably have to knock him out.
"Not a coward. Clever." Comes the reply from Taskmaster as he's about to enter the portal. "I'll see you another day, Captain Americ—-" Steves shield whistles through the air - a perfect throw from the Super Soldier - and hits the merc in back. Knocking him apex over base into the yawning occulus.
That leaves Strange, Steve, Wanda and Brunnhilde with a captive Denim Crow, an interesting knife and probably lots of questions.
The thing about knife fighting, Brunnhilde finds, is it's all about slashing and going for vulnerable areas to weaken and make your enemy bleed out. Rare to stab, because you might lose the knife if it gets caught on bone. So she's expecting the slash…and aware that she's going to take a hit here as she brings up an arm to catch the slash across her muscular bicep, leaving another red line of crimson that starts to run down her arm. However, this leaves her other arm free…but she doesn't go for the sword hilt to the head. Concussions and all that.
Instead she brings up a knee between his legs. Which she finds just as debilitating and less likely to cause brain damage.
*
Taskmaster must be sturdily-built indeed. The shield flies back to Steve's hand though he stoops to catch it and he clicks it into place on his back. Another hard sniff and he grimaces. Mmm, bloody noses. The blow landed by the female fighter is a stunning one and despite himself, the Captain winces as he tramps across the sand and over to them.
"That'll do," he comments to Brunnhidle even as he's reaching behind his back for a set of sturdy cuffs. "I'll take him for now, m'am. He belongs in a cell and I've got one waiting for him."
Click. Nowhere to go now for the Crow after the handcuffs engage about his wrists.
*