2019-05-04 - Nightfall On The Beach

Summary:

A call comes out to available heroes as the Nightfall launch yet another attack …

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Sat May 4 04:34:44 2019
Location: Pine Beach

Related Logs

None

Theme Song

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christopher-powellrose-wilsonpeter-parkerkeikonoh-varr

Somehow, Rose Wilson has made her way up to the rooftop of the Manhattan Hotel. And, furthermore, she has managed to smuggle a beach chair up here. Presently, the platinum haired teenage girl is relaxing on this beach chair. An open button up shirt is worn, beneath which a lace top is revealed, and a tight pair of jeans. Her feet are bare, but there's a pair of high heeled boots off to the side.

She's staring up at the moon, her silouette slightly recognizable by the sheer lights around Times Square. And, she appears to be smoking - the distinct smell of pot weaving it's way up through the air and at her side are few empty bottles of liquor, a twenty-four pack of beer, a few full bottles of liquor, and through her phone someone is playing some hard rock tunes, and a female singer singing about 'A New Pony'. The Dead Weather's cover of the Bob Dylan song.

At her other side? A pistol. A pair of hilts without blades. A pistol. And, a backpack, full.


Noh-Varr is just flying from point A to point B. After all, when you can fly, why call Lyft? Except maybe when you've had too much to drink. Friends don't let friends fly drunk. He'd need to drink a lot though to get to that point. Anyway, as he passes over Times Square, he spots someone on top of the hotel and swoops down for a closer look. Despite what some say, swooping is not necessarily bad. A closer look reveals a somewhat familiar face and he comes in for a landing. "You carry the beach chair?" He's in jeans and a tee-shirt, his Nega-Bands visible as is the fingerless gauntlet on his right hand.


Rose squints as the figure lands. The recognition is immediate, and she relaxes, "Noh-Varr. Kree Warrior. SWORD Agent." She sucks in a rather large drag from the joint, watching him with her singular eye, then holds the smoke for a long moment before slowly blowing it out in relaxed fashion. "Nah. Borrowed it. Some loser downstairs forgot it at the pool when he went to thejohn." She shrugs. "Come to do a strip search and make sure I didn't take any alien tech with me?"

Her tone doesn't carry any rancor, and it's hard to tell if she's being sarcastic, or flirtacious.


"Don't really care if you did." Noh-Varr answers. "I'm not customs. Though if you did and it explodes in your pocket, I get to say I told you so. Not that I told you so in the first place so maybe I don't get to say that." Walking over to the edge, he glances down then around. "Nice view."


Noh-Varr's statement gets a chuff of the barest amusement from Rose. "Unlikely." Of her having an alien weapon exlode in her pants.

"You can say anything you damn well want, it's a free country." And, clearly Rose has no qualms about taking her own advice. Ever. A brief shrug. "Came up here so nobody would bother me." But, the self-same girl who clearly says whatever is on her mind isn't asking Noh-Varr to leave. At least, not yet.

In fact …, "Want a drink? Got whiskey. Or beer. Sorry. No pansy-ass drinks."


"If it's good whiskey." Turning away from the edge, Noh-Varr walks back to the chair. "I like pansy ass drinks. They taste good. And since none of your alcohol has much effect on me, taste is the only point to it unless I drink a whole lot. A /whole/ lot. So what's with the bladeless hilts? Energy blades?"


The singular eye of the casually dressed girl narrows thoughtfully on Noh-Varr. She makes an affirmative sound that's not quite a grunt, but certainly not a word as she leans to snatch a bottle of the proposed whiskey and it's tossed lazily in Noh-Varr's direction. When the label can be read, it's a bottle of Glenlivet.

"Yeah. It takes a lot," she agrees, as if she really understood some of what Noh-Varr was getting at. A last toke on the joint is taken, and then she chases it with a few swigs from the whiskey bottle.

"Figured you'd still be pushing paperwork, after all that crap. Give you another bottle of that if you get my ride out of jail," she offers, casually, clearly referring to the skimmer that she is still very jaded about SHIELD confinscating.


Noh-Varr catches the bottle, opens it and takes a swig. "Scotch." he notes then takes another swig, holding the bottle by the neck. "I made my report and that was that. There wasn't much I could tell them so it was short. Woke up in a cell, broke out, killed aliens, escaped, killed more aliens, SHIELD showed up. The rest is up to the science guys. Who almost certainly have dismantled everything by now."


"Idiots. Waste of a damn cool vehicle," Rose laments, bitterly, from her vantage on the beach chair on the roof. "Not that any of them could drive it. Was a bitch to control. Those assholes were strong. Not very good in battle, though. Their entire strategy was a poor combination of wait out their enemy and overcome with brute strength. If you can even call that a strategy." She snorts, deresively.

"But, I can't complain. If they'd had any real military experience, we likely would've had our asses handed to us by their numbers," she admits, honestly.


"It would have made it more difficult to win." Noh-Varr allows but isn't ready to concede defeat to the hypothetical. "We'd just have needed to really fight. But they probably weren't used to anyone who can fight back and just kidnapped them while they were sleeping and helpless. Cowards, all of them." He punctuates his condemnation with a large swig.


A sentiment Rose can agree with, and she nods her head. And, after a few moments she states something that everything Noh-Varr (or, for that matter, anyone else in that group) had done had not given her cause or reason, in her mind, to state. "Rose," she tells Noh-Varr, simply, matter-of-factly. But her last name is not shared. The statement of her name, synonomous with a flower of the same name (but just as thorny) might cause a moment's span of confusion.

"You know any of those others?" Meaning, those who could fight.


|ROLL| Maximus +rolls 1d20 for: 14


Speaking of a moment's span of confusion, there's another person up here. He seems to be wearing pajamas. His feet are bare, silky pants blow about in the wind up here, and a white robe with some black trim on it is loose. Its really only accomplishing protecting his arms, since his chest is bare. Black curls whip around too, and his grey eyes have a mercurial quality, like he might be a brilliant artist…or he might be on drugs. Its hard to tell. He puts his hands on his hips, and eyes the two people. "Huh…I didn't know this was up here."


Noh-Varr nods at the name. He gave his own then so doesn't bother again. "Not one. Which is a shame since many were quite attractive. The one named Peter is very cute and has a very nice body. Do you know any of them? Though I'd be surprised if anyone knew anyone else. The aliens probably took everyone from different locations." Looking over at Max, he asks Rose "Did you bring someone with you? I didn't. Who are you?" he asks Max.


"Not a damn one," admits Rose, to Noh-Varr, casually. Maximus' appearance has her sitting up in the beach chair she'd purloined from some fool who'd left it alone in the pool area for less than five minutes while she was walking by. And don't ask how she got several bottles of hard liquor, and a 24 pack of beer up here.

She pulls her backpack close, sits - in what Noh-Varr will reocognize as a subtle position of 'readiness' to respond to a threat.

She watches Maximus, but, doesn't admit to recognizing him. She was in costume, the one time they'd met in a garden. "Should go to Morocco, apparently," Rose says sarcastically, "If I want some peace and quiet, apparently."


Maximus dips down his chin and his eyes shift between the pair. He drops his arms down to his sides. "No no…you are supposed to let /me/ go first. Then, I say…'I know your future'" He wiggles his fingers "…you ask a question you don't get the answer to', THEN you ask who I am." He squints his eyes at Noh-Varr, in particular. An overbroad smile flits across his features. Its much the same effect as someone pretending to smile for a photo, and getting it wrong. "I'll go away if you call me in an order of Chinese food…to the penthouse suite."


"High." is Noh-Var's verdict. "I suggest you call room service." Looking back to Rose, though he shifted position enough to be able to keep an eye on Max, he says "Morocco. That's on Africa right? I still don't know your geography well or the names of all your countries. You have so many of them. You really need a unified world government before you start venturing into space. Who will make treaties for your planet? Or command its defenses if you get attacked?"


"Probably," agrees Rose in regards to Noh-Varr's assessment. The hotel staff, afterall, generally wouldn't let someone too mentally unstable into their domain. She watches Maximus, though, even though she talks to Noh-Varr. Almost as if she didn't trust the man.

"How the hell should I know? I don't get paid nearly enough to care, let alone figure that out. Probably the asshats you work for, though," she tells Noh-Varr. "Isn't that the purpose of SWORD?"

Finally, she turns her singular eye away from Maximus to smirk at Noh-Varr.


"I would, but…I put eight more buttons on the phone in the room…and I don't recall what they do." Maximus makes a clicking sound with his tongue. "You do not seeeeeem to be from here. On Africa? That is a really weird way to say it." He looks to Rose. "Be careful with this one." He points at Noh-Varr. "He might be a crazy person. You have no way of really knowing who you meet up on a roof." Saaaage advice…


Really, it was a rhetorical questions. "Yes." Noh-Varr agrees. "And it's why I joined them. It makes my job of protecting your planet easier. But SWORD doen't stand a chance against a serious attack by the Kree, Skrulls or Shi'ar. Or even one of the smaller races." Who are barely worth mentioning, really. After taking another drink, he adds "It takes the combined resources of an entire world to fight off a global invasion." He could be discussing the weather by his tone. "I am not. I am a Kree warrior. And Africa is a continent on your planet." he then explains to Max. "There are lots of different countries on the continent." The comment about buttons is ignored.


Rose takes two weapon hilts lacking blades that had been set out, and stuffs them into her backpack. And, out of the backpack, she withraws a Glock 22, casually, as if she were about to clean it. "It's because scientists are nosey jerks and have to get up all in anyone else's business until they find out everything. So, ultimately, we'll piss on some space corn flakes, and a war will start. Then SWORD will rally. And, the Avengers will get off their asses. Whoever else will join up. There will be proaganda about doing your civic duty. Then, if the movies are right, we'll wind up on a gorilla planet. Something like that."

The platinum haired girl with one eye looks back to Maximus after she gives Noh-Varr her assessment, part honesty, part snark, of the eventuality. "Yeah," she agrees. "Let alone anywhere else. You want something?"


|ROLL| Maximus +rolls 1d20 for: 10


Maximus swallows when Noh-Varr reveals himself as a Kree Warrior. "Chinese…but…I'll get it." He says to Rose. Then he turns around and runs for the door that leads back down into the hotel.


Noh-Varr has to think a moment then shakes his head. "I don't know of any gorilla planet but I'm not really familiar with your galaxy." Reaching up, he runs a hand over his hair as Max runs off. "What a strange person."


"Magic Tattoo Dogs seem to like him. But, that's another story," Rose says, mildly. "He's weird enough, alright. Pretty well off, though. Or has a friend who is." She grunts, "It's a cheap Hollywood movie reference. Man. You need to get out more," she half-complains to Noh-Varr, and stuffs the gun back into her backpack.


Magic tattoo dogs? He's not going to ask. "You know him then." Something else Noh-Varr's not going to ask. Taking another drink, he offers the bottle back. "I'm late so will let you go back to being alone and drinking. If you run into more aliens, call SWORD. They can give me the message."


"Yeah. There's a orange-skinned one. Fires bolts of energy from her hands. Really odd," Rose half-jests to Noh-Varr, dryly. But she lifts her hand in a farewell wave. "Later, loser."

She leans back onto her beach chair, and grabs another bottle of beer, turning up the music, and watches the very pretty Kree alien boy head off.


"And loud." Noh-Varr agrees then flies off.


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 several denim crows and at least one more person - two with tattooes on their heads and face and one with tattooes on their arms and torso. Those last might be recognised as Nightfall.

There's also a blue glowing wolf fighting a blue tiger. They're *huge* creatures and they're snapping and snarling at each other. Off to the side a small dusky skin tattooed woman stands, protecting two children from the others.


Oh, we have been to this rodeo before, and we got out SPURS on. Or web-shooters. Whichever.

Ever since the last fight, Pete has made sure he has at least two specially-treated webfluid-cartridges just for these Nightfall jerkfaces, and this time, he is going to bag one. Bring one back for a little ten-minute "study." And when the alert showed up on his HUD, he wasted no time switching the left web-shooter while webslinging with the right. And he knows not to hold back when it comes to the magical constructs.

He lands on top of a nearby building to assess the situation. A lot of people here. A lot of combatants. But it's the tattooed ones he is here for.


Noh-Varr wasn't on the beach at the time but at Mach One, it takes him less than five minutes to fly here from Manhattan. Even from a couple hundred feet up, it's pretty obvious what's going on and he flies down toward the tattooed one. Well, flies down is a bit of an understatement; at several hundred miles an hour, he narrowly misses the humans and instead slams down into the ground between them instead of into them.


Ravager had a dealing with the nightfall, before. She knew that they would eventually be hunting her. She'd, afterall, hurt one of them. And their 'animal'. Badly. Therefore, when it came across her radar there was 'shit going down' she'd geared up and was on the scene as fast as fast could be.

The wolf is recognized, as is the woman. Allies are a good thing. And that's why Ravager sets to charge towards the wolf and the tiger sparring. As she does so, this time she does not pull out the pistols holstered at the sides of her light body armored costume. Instead, she pulls out two sword handles - missing their swords …

… but only for a brief moment as suddenly bright-orange energy crackles to life and form the 'missing' blades. She's fast, and covers the distance quickly, moving in to slice into the blue tiger with a double-swing of those blades. While they can cut nearly any physical object, she's not tried them against magical apparitions, yet.


Christopher Powell circles above, and seeing those tattooed figures again, he frowns. This is not the first time he's seen this sort of fighting and the last time he ended up covered in black goo. It was not pleasant. He swoops in and as he does, wicked claws extend from the gloves of the suit. He heads straight for the one with tattoos on their arms and torso, aiming to land on that one and knock them right over if possible.


As the heroes arrive, the denim crows start to close on Keiko. Bella, the glowing wolf, snaps at the tigers just as Ravagers swords slice it. The tiger yowls and dark icor spurts from its wounds. It's not quite out but it's not fighting at the moment. That does earn Rose the attention of two of the denim crows though.

Those two swing automatic weapons towards her, and let out short controlled bursts of fire.

Noh-Varr lands by one of the mages who immediately sends a gout of magic at him. It's crackles bright blue as it splits the air. It'll hurt if it hits the Kree warrior.

Chris's descent is not missed by the tattoo wielder, who touches a mark on his arm and summons a raptor just before Darkhawk impacts. He's down, but the raptor rakes at Chris's face as it screams in fury.

Spider-Man landing on the roof draws the attention of the other mage who mutters a spell and roof he's on turns molten.

Bella spins and puts herself between the asiatic woman - who's holding a metal quarterstaff of all things - and the remaining gangbangers. Gangbangers who appear to be very well trained but they're not attacking, because Keiko has kids with her.


"Haven't you killed all these assholes yet?" Rose shouts at Keiko, even as she's already using the wounded blue-magic tiger as a jumping board and slicing a parting shot into it as she seems to dodge those incoming bullets. It's not so much she's that fast, if one is -really- watching her. It's more that she almost seems to know where they're going to shoot before they pull the trigger.

The fact, however, they are automatic weapons doesn't bode well for her and she's forced to run at full speed and literally dive for cover.

She doesn't plan on being there long, however. The energy blades fizzle out and are sheathed, and she tosses a smoke grenade towards the two trigger happy denim crows before returning a few shots of her own with an automatic pistol at their last positions and ducking for cover back again, assessing the battlefield, taking into account everything she's seeing. Preparing her next manuever.


"Slow, too slow." Noh-Varr taunts as he dives to the side to avoid the blast of magic. "You're going to need to be a lot faster than that. Oh, wait. You can't. You're just a human with tattoos." The gauntlet on his right hand shshifts into his blaster and he blasts the ground at the man's feet, sending a geyser of sand into the air to blind him as he leaps closer and aims a punch at his head.


Fortunately, Chris' face is an avian mask in which his actual face is not encased, so the raptor gets a claw full of metal and little else. The avian mask is impassive even as Chris ignores the bird entirely and goes for the bearer of the tattoos. He'd been distracted the last time tangling with one of the tattoo animals. This time, he does not lose focus on the source, aiming to claw the man across the chest.


Because he is Spider-Man, he jumps off of the molten roof. Because he is ALSO Spider-Man, He fires from the right shooter and uses a webline to accelerate, and suddenly the spellcasting mage has a Spider-Man HURTLING towards him, and then Spidey cuts loose as he gets within 70 feet with the LEFT hand.

Because at 70 feet, Spider-Man might as well be in front of him.
The mage is suddenly COVERED from the neck down in specially-treated webbing, just in time for Spidey to hit him amidships and drive him to the ground.


Roses grenade bounces as it lands near the Crows. They look at it and start to dive. Two make it clear, rolling to come up in a kneeling position - and fire in Ravagers direction. Again, they're well trained - Rose has seen military tactics before and these rank right up there.

The not so luck crows, are hit by the full force of the explosion and thrown back. They're body armour absorbing a lot of the blow. But they're out for the count - as least for the moment.

No-Varr's geyser of sand is deflected with a gust of wind that sends it flying back towards to the Warrior. Another mutter and a wall of blue energy goes up, just in time to absorb No-Varr's punch… except now he's covered in webbing and being driven to the ground.

Chris finds himself with the raptor diving him again. This time his back, it's talons trying to find purchase to pull the man back. His claws make contact though, drawing blood as they guage. The tattooed man grunting in pain. The spirit tiger, bleeding dark ichor everywhere, rushes Chris, trying to knock him away.


Ravager, in fact, has seen military tactics before. The good, and the bad. The thing with Rose, with Ravager, is that longer the battle lasts, the fight endures, the more dangerous she gets. The more facts she can analyze. Structure tactics behind.

She uses the cover of smoke to dash sideways, the original way she'd dived into the cover, and then keeping bent low and running as fast as her legs will carry her she 'ignores' the rest of the battle, leaving it up to the other heroes, even as she's already extracting two very real, and very sharp katanas off her back, one for each hand.

She tracks the sound of the gunfire, the sparks of the gun through the smoke, and comes up on them like a madwoman, though she's far from that. Spinning, moving, she seeks to sink her katana into each of the denim crows that had targeted her and tried to kill her. No mercy on her part.


Distracting an enemy while an ally takes it down. Good tactics. He nods to the Spider-Man then looks up to where the Shi'ar Raptor is fighting the magic raptor. Waiting till there's a nice opening, Noh-Varr fires a blast of plasma into the underbelly of the glowing blue one.


Christopher Powell's claws drag through the tattooed man and seek to gain purchase. He entirely ignores the bird that is trying to grab onto the suit of armor, it's claws dragging at one shoulder and pulling him back a bit, but only a bit. He loses grip with one hand but then goes for the tattooed man again, reaching for his throat. The tiger isn't even noticed at first, since his entire focus is bringing down the source of the tattooed creatures rather than the creatures themselves.


"All right, Captain Cosmos, THAT was the premium to keep you from getting up to dickens." Spider-Man hits him with webbing from the right shooter, pinning him to the ground, his arms spread wide. "And a little of the ol' regular to keep you regular. Don't go away, laughing boy, because I got PLANS for your child-stealing butt!" A little thatch of webbing over the mouth, NOT the nose, and another for the eyes and ears. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, CAUSE no evil.

With one of them safely jugged, Spidey turned to the last rogue element, the other tattooed guy. Oh, he had PLANS for this jerkoff, too.

Without a sound other than the THWIPP of his webshooter, Spider-Man headed right for the other mage.


No mercy is probably warranted from Rose, though a certain caped Crusader may 'tut' at her for this. One crow falls and then another before another two fall on the white haired woman. They've ditched their firearms and have those wicked knives. One slices her armour, splitting it like butter. She can be sure that if one manages to slice her skin, it will hurts. A LOT. It shouldn't do that - but then, does she know what they're made of?

She's good though and it's not long before the remaining two are put down.

Noh-Varr's blast hits the glowing blue raptor, raining dark ichor down on those below. Yuck. It doesn't smell at least. Much. The creature dissipates to smoke, the tattooed man screams in pain … and his eyes roll back … as the smoke makes it way to his arm. Which makes it easier for Chris to grab him. "For you Lord Plokta. Take me to your realm …" The man draws a knife from his belt and plunges it into his heart. Way more easily than he should have been able to.

Just as Spider-Man webs his mouth, Spider-Man can see the mage bite *down*. Foam forms at his mouth, the mages skin mottles … oh dear.

That leaves … Keiko and Bella and the kids …

Oh, there goes the other mage, through a portal … that closes. Sorry, Spider-Man, he's a coward.


Ravager surveys the area, the commotion, the casualties. She flicks the blood off her blades with a few motions, and then wipes them clean before sheathing them.

The split armor causes her to twist her mouth, knowing that had her pre-cognitive awareness not kicked in that would've been a far deeper blow, and might've cost her dearly. She'll kick herself later for failing to block it much harder than her father ever could if he had been watching.

Her monocular eye moves to study the others assembled. She gives a smirk to both Darkhawk and Noh-Varr, and Spider-Man simply gets a shake of her head for one reason or another. It's hard to tell with Rose.

She looks over at Keiko and Bella. "Just how many of these assholes are there?" Not 'are you safe', or 'are you okay', or 'good to see you again', because Rose can already see Keiko is as okay as she is, for the most part. And Bella? Well. Bella's just a magical creation. She grunts adds, dryly, "Maybe next time -you- should call -me-."


"If they keep killing themselves, they'll run out soon or later so it makes our job that much easier." Noh-Varr comments. He's not all that upset about some suicidal bad guys. Not at all in fact. His blaster melts down and flows back up his hand till it's covering his wrist and forearm. "Nice of them to pick a place where there wouldn't be much collateral damage. And we can go for a swim after the fight. All villains should be so considerate. The kids okay?"


Christopher Powell snarls when the man he was about to tear apart plunges a knife into his own chest and pushes the corpse away from him with a forceful shove, letting it hit the ground. He turns then, quickly, to find his next target, but then there don't seem to be any left. The claws don't retract quite yet, though, as he launches himself back into the air to circle once more, looking to see if there are any stragglers. He wasn't quite ready for the fight to be over.


Spider-Man sees the mage open up the portal and…gone.
He pivoted and turned to head back to the other mage…who is turning a funny color…CRAP IN A HAT!

He landed near the first man, and could smell the poison. He didn't have much time. This one might be too far gone, but…

He took out his do-it-yourself forensics kit from the backpack, then used a thin scalpel to cut the webbing away to open the mouth. Next came the sampler, a tiny device that functioned as a hand-held shop vacuum. He paid particular attention to the teeth and gums, withdrawing saliva, bacteria…and the residue of whatever poison this guy used. He was tired of being continually one step behind these scumbags, and the next time he would have an antidote to whatever poison this guy used.

He HOPED. But he was, as always, going to try to use science against this bad magic…


Keiko grunts and rubs her chest, there's a strange look in her eye. Anger. Rose hadn't seen that when she met her before. "Children are fine…" her accent is a mutts, nothing particularly dominant but hints of a number in there. Like someone who has spent a lot of time travelling. "Ravager, yes?" The others might see the scars of a brand above the collar of her shirt - that's new too.

She makes her way to the others, guiding the children. Bella limping at her side - the wolf is not in good shape. "I … didn't … have time. Who … are they?" she nods to the others. Spider-Man she recognises, of course.

"The Nightfall aren't many." That's in answer to Noh-Varr "They only commit suicide in the direst of circumstances. But with the children they're taking, they'll replenish their ranks quickly enough…" beat "… thank you… "


"Ravager," confirms Rose, matter-of-factly. "Noh-Var, and Darkhawk. I've worked with them before," she says, in that same tone. She stoops to pick up the strange knife that had cut through her light body armor so easily, looking at it to see exactly what it is. Few knives can cut her armor that cleanly, afterall, her initial thoughts are vibranium or admantium, or somesuch.

"Sounds like you need to plant a tracer one one of them and when they do their magic teleporter away bullshit, just follow them back to their headquarters. Then, wipe them out." Her opinion, only.

She looks up to both Noh-Varr, and Darkhawk. "Fought with Keiko before. Don't attack the wolf, if you see it again. It's name is Bella. She's told me before that if you ruin their tattoos, they're screwed." Her gaze strays to Spider-Man and his science-driven investigation. She says nothing to this, either for or against his methods.

She moves over to Keiko after a few moments, "That's two you owe me. Tell me about this, we'll call it even." She shows the curious knife to the one who seems to know the most about these Nightfall.


"Captain Noh-Varr of the Marvel, Kree warrior, agent of SWORD. A pleasure to meet you. And even more of a pleasure to stop these assholes. I know a sorceress who's working on trying to track them. You two should get together on that then call us all in once you do."


Christopher Powell eventually comes back for a landing in time for Ravager to introduce him to Keiko. The helmet of the suit nods, even though he doesn't take it off. Once again, black goo from the bird that Noh-Varr shot that was attacking him. He looks over to Noh-Varr and says, "Thanks," for that. Then he glances between Rose and Keiko, curious what the woman he hasn't met before has to say about the knife.


Spider-Man takes the vial from the device and puts it in the plastic case, closing it. "I…am getting TIRED…of being ONE…STEP…BEHIND…these…these JACKHOLES!" He puts the kit away, grimacing under his mask. "This Plotka bastard is sending his loyal footsoldiers to be captured and suicided…and NOTHING CHANGES!"

He is sounding pretty frustrated. This is his third fight with them and they keep rescuing these kids all so they can be harvested at another time and they…are…LOSING…
He clutched his head, as if trying to hold his brains together. The only answer is to keep fighting. Once you stay down, THAT is when you lose. So get back up, learn, change tactics and…just don't quit.

He sighed heavily, feeling very tired.


"Keiko Kurita…" the small asiatic looking woman answers. She glances to Rose. "I would have called Agent Turner…" it's a little sullen. Bella wanders around the group, sniffing each of them in turn, choosing to sit in front of Chris and raise a paw. "Bella … you traitor." the woman hisses.

Taking the knife, a Kabar - Rose should know what that is - Keiko frowns. "What about it? It looks like a knife to m—-" her eyes fall on Roses armour and she frowns, looking between the knife and the staff she carries. Both are metal, different alloys though. "The Nightfall have a compound that is blessed by Lord Plokta. Our… " the woman takes a deep breath as she corrects herself "… their Magi use it when weapons are formed. I imagine the compound has been used in the forging of these weapons. It is very strong and very hard to break." beat "We call it Gossamer."

"Who is this Sorceress you speak of?" That's to Noh-Varr. Her eyes slide to the frustrated Spider-Man "Things are changing. They're sending groups of three or more. They don't do that. Normally it's just one like me. You're hurting them."


"Her name's Illyana." Noh-Varr answers. "Short, blonde, goth dominatrix. You'll know her the moment you see her. She's looking to come up with a way to tracking them as soon as they open a portal to this dimension. You're obviously one of them, or you were. Do you have anything from there that she can use in her spells?"


Rose takes the knife back. "Interesting. I'll have to do some testing with it." For example, if the Gassamer knife is something that will last, and what, or how much it will cut through. It seems, for now, a reward enough for her efforts however. She does not seem insulted or disapointed when Bella does not seem to choose to befriend her, even if she had helped the wolf out of a tough fight twice now. She's not exactly an animal person. So it works out.

"I can get hold of some tracer technology. You seem to attract them. I'll call you when I have it." She adds, thoughtfully, "They haven't come after me directly yet. But, I'll look forward to when they try."

Now she turns her attention to the others, "Good fight," she tells the others who fought with her.

A glance is spared to Spider-Man. "He'll run out of soilders, soon. Deplete your opponents resources, and you make them desperate. The desperate man is one who will make a mistake. You just have to be prepared to take advantage of it."


"Always good advice." Noh-Varr agrees. "And now I'm going to take advantage of this beach." His Nega-Bands flash and his uniform turns into a pair of square cut, red swim trunks. "Everyone's welcome to join me!" Flying out over the water, he dives in from about twenty feet up.


Christopher Powell glances over toward Spider-Man, the mask having no expression, but there's a sort of tenseness about his stance that indicates that he may be feeling some frustration as well, though possibly for different reasons. When Bella sits in front of Chris, he tilts his head just a bit to one side, and then takes the extended paw and gives it a shake. "Hello, Bella." The voice that comes out of the mask is a strange dual-toned one, not quite Chris', not quite Razor's, sort of blended together. He then finally seems to relax a little and says, "Hello, Keiko." He listens as the knife is described with some curiosity, and then watches as Noh-Varr takes off and dives into the water. He doesn't follow, however, instead lingering behind. He gives a dip of his head to Ravager and says, "Good fight." It's reluctantly said, as though he had been hoping for.. more.. but instead he just mutters, "Next asshole that throws a bird at me is going to get it crammed down his throat."


Spidey looks to Keiko, and for a moment he just wants to YELL at her, "I DON'T WANT TO *HURT* THEM, I WANT TO *STOP* THEM!!!"

But he is, for once, able to cut off that thought before his Stupid Mouth gets a hold of it and sends it out to where it can do the most damage.
"I want these kids to be able to sleep at night again," he says, his voice heavy.


"Illyana … Rasputina…" Keiko growls, eyes turning stormy until she shakes her head. The brand beneath her shirt pulses a dull red colour - as evidenced by the bits that can be seen just over her collar. It takes a moment for her to recover before she answers again "We've met. She doesn't think much of me. Agent Turner might know how to contact her, though."

Clearly not something the woman wants to do.

Bella might sense Roses disappointment, she noses Chris, puts her nose in the air at Keiko and sticks her head under the white haired womans hand. "They want me back." Is all she says, handing the knife over. "They're hard to damage and last long time. I don't want to be bait, but … we'll work something out."

Keiko's head cants as she looks at Chris. "Your voice is strange…" She's incredibly blunt and doesn't seem to realise.

Spider-Man gets a look. "I know. So do I. I don't want them to end up like me. Let me call Agent Turner and he'll take care of them…"

"Do … you need to go before they come? WAND that is…" At least Keiko knows that some of the heroes don't like to stick around. "I'm a … WAND informant…"


Rose looks at Bella, and after a hesitant moment ruffles the great wolf's head. "You owe me too," she tells Bella, mildly. She ruffles the beasts head again, and then looks to Keiko. "You can tell them I was here. But, I think I'll be leaving before they arrive. I don't care much for them." Any SHIELD type. Not just WAND. But, likely with most SHIELD, save perhaps Noh_Varr, the feeling may be mutual with her history, and her lineage.

"I'm out of here. I've got your number," she tells Kieko. And then she starts walking away without so much as another word to anyone. Chris and Spider-Man each got a nod, however.


The mask of the suit looks impassively back at Keiko because it has no features, only that avian design. Darkhawk shrugs his shoulders slightly and says, "It's the only one I have." Which is true enough. When inhabiting the suit, he can neither speak solely with his own voice, nor ocan Razor take over, at the moment, and speak solely with it's own. He lets Bella go after she noses him and heads over toward Rose.

He looks over toward Spider-Man and says, "You will find a way. You have the poison now. You can figure out how to stop it?" He nods toward the vial that Spider-Man collected. He glances over at Rose when she seems ready to head out and gives her a nod of his head in return, watching her go for a moment before he looks back over to Keiko. "I have friends at SHIELD, but I think I'm going to take off, too. Be safe." That is said to all of those gathered before he launches into the air once more.


Spider-Man watches Darkhawk fly off, and says softly, "…I HOPE." Because it's all he has left.

Spider-Man looks to Keiko, then says, "Listen, the cops are inbound, so I have to run. Are you going to be okay?"


Keiko nods to Spider-Man and the others as they leave, rubbing her chest absently. "I'll be ok. WAND will be here and then I'll go. I won't the children alone and I have Bella."

The glowing wolf that seems to delight in ignoring her.

"Be safe. You know how to find me."

And then, they're all gone.


Spider-Man nods, then fires a webline from the right web-shooter. "I'll try to keep in touch." And then he is off again, one more troubled story of the eight million in the naked city.


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