Summary:An Asgardian rescue of kids taken by Nightfall runs into some fiery complications Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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WAND Agents have been watching the 'ether' looking for the disturbance that everyone knew was coming. The Nightfall are moving and they're moving en masse, if the readings are anything to go on to.
The call came in to the Asgardian Embassy and through various magical channels. Champions needed. Children in danger. WAND's got a lot of ways to get a hold of people, even some people it doesn't know. The grapevine can be a powerful thing.
The location is a ramshackle collection of demountables that are well guarded by about a dozen Denim Crows. As expected, the sentries are well armed and appear well trained.
What's going on in the building, is hard to tell. Heat signatures show another ten to twelve people in side. Two adult sized, the rest … small children.
From somewhere near the back, they can hear chanting. The magically inclined know it's a portal opening. They don't have much time to do … whatever they're going to do.
"This is Special Agent Michaels. Other teams are being despatched about the city. This is a major offensive." For this, a SHIELD Agent has been assigned to each team.
Loki creeps along with the other Asgardians, looking towards Brunnhilde, then Kai, then finally Sunny if she's visible. "Is everyone here…in..for this?" The tall man is clothed in his leather, but no cape, no helm, just something a bit sneakier in manner. Black. "I can bring us in, under cover…then first priority…stop the portal before this gets any worse…" The Prince starts weaving what is clearly a spell. Unless they protest, they will be cloaked in illusory invisibility.
Brunnhilde is normally more of a monster hunter….but she's quite happy to deal with monsters who'd prey on children if they're willing to come to her, too. She already has Dragonfang drawn, the gleaming bladea at her side as she frowns a bit, looking over to Loki. "Just get me to them." she says curtly. "And I will deal with the guards."
Kai was an enthusiastic volunteer when the call went out, and when Loki asks if everyone is in for this, he nods emphatically. He's in black jeans and a black long-sleeved tee, looking like quite the normal, modern guy if one ignores the tapered ears and luminous eyes. He follows Loki and Brunnhilde in full sneak mode, nice and quiet.
Sunny was no special agent, that she knew. She -was- an Asgardian…that she didn't know. Still, there was enough of a call to reach her ears and here she goes. Wrapped in her duster and wearing her gunbelt, the blonde woman looks like she'd stepped out of a western…which wasn't really all that far from the truth. As far as sneaking goes? Well…she'd left her hat behind and she'd walked up rather then ridden her bike. Given her bright locks and the faint light to her own eyes…sneaking probably wasn't her best skill.
Even if stealth is not someone's forte, Loki is quite good at compensating it. Mortal eyes are easy to fool after all and he can get them close. In fact so long as they're not hugely noisy, he can get them right up to the crows. It's not likely that any of them are carrying weapons that could hurt the likes of Brunnhilde or even the Lord of Mischief himself but the weapons fire might put the children at risk, so it's important that they get taken out.
By the time they've gotten close enough to the guards for Brunnhidle to be ready to do her thing, there's a surge of magic from the back of the facility for those with the senses to feel it and the building containing the children opens up. Two guards begin to lead them back toward the back, out of sight.
"This is Agent Michaels, the portal is open and two somethings REALLY big and REALLY REALLY hot just came out of it. You need to get those kids now."
To do that safely they need to take out the guards, which they are by this point close enough to start punching. Someone shouts something from the back.
Wait… was that… the language of Muspelhiem?
"Well, that is not good." Clips Loki's accented voice. When the heroes attack, they do become visible again, as then the person has a much easier time of seeing throuhg it once they know something is there. The trickster, though, comes up behind one, stabs him straight in the back, then turns sideways as he appears and slices another knife across another's throat. It is a brutal lethality on display with only two short blades. "I heard Muspelheim…we need to be ready for fire." A glance is cast to the others as they make their own attacks. Its Loki's LEAST favorite type of giant.
"Fire bad, right." Brunnhilde grunts, rolling her shoulders as she gets into a crouched position, then leaps, aiming at the two guards as she extends her arms to either side, trying to clothesline them right off their feet so she's landing by the children where she can act to defend them. It may not seem like a lot of finesse, but hitting two people with a flying clothesline with NO BUCKLER is harder than it looks!
Kai isn't as lethal as Loki is — light elves, what can you do? — but he's efficient. He comes up behind one of the mortals and wraps a forearm around the guy's throat, slowly choking him out. He lowers him to the ground and starts toward another human to do the same, then winces as he hears the Muspelheim language. He takes hold of a pendant at his throat with both hands, gives it a tug, and they unfurl into a pair of knives. "All right," he says. I'll get the kids out." Let the heavy hitters deal with giants.
"Fire huh?" Sunny muses. "Fire ain't so bad…" she begins before moving forwards, but the other two are fairly quick to start their attack. Kai is choking a man out and Brunnhilde was clotheslining folks so… The blonde shrugs and steps forwards, kicking hard towards the man who was likely already down towards the ground.
The man being choked out? She'll leave him be. Instead the firearms on her hips come to her hands, a faint glowing light dancing along the lines of engraving worked into the metal of the weapons. "Never killed a giant before, that'll be a new one."
The cartel soldiers that are not killed or maimed by the attacking Asgardians (and part Asgardians) are scattered like, well, crows. Anyone who makes it out surely keeps running and won't be back. The sudden eruption of violence and death leaves the kids - none of whom can be older than seven or eight - crying and screaming, especially when Brunnhilde lands near them and cold cocks the their handlers. Mean lady is mean, even if she's being mean to people who were mean to them. Kai's gonna have a time getting them out safely. Mostly, he has to heard them, and there's like ten of them. Also… where is safe in a place like this?
One of the ramchackle buildings just kind of explodes near Loki as a flaming, fifteen foot tall man with something that is either a greatsword or the world's nastiest lawnmower blade takes a run at him. It's a lumbering, ponderous thing but Loki knows only too well just how much force they can build up on such charges.
Nearer to Brunnhilde and Sunny - and the kids - the other Giant, a woman, weaves through the clutter of buildings and huts with a pair of spears, one short, one long. The short one she hucks at Sunny with the force of a cannon, then turns to engage Brunnhilde, trying to gore her right off.
Kai might want to get those kinds moving. Now.
Brunnhilde hmmphs. "Go with the nice guy there kids…" she says, then spins around as the female giant comes rampaging out, the spear shooting past her, then the second stabbing forward as leaps to the side, rolling out of the way as it tears into the ground where she was standing, then kicks off, charging forward as she slashes out at the side of the giantess' knee. "
|ROLL| Loki +rolls 1d20 for: 9
Loki widens his eyes as the Fire Giant starts barrelling down on him. He waits until he can feel the heat, then dives to the right, rolling, then skidding and trying to avoid being smacked with that blade. When he comes up on the other side, he flicks his hair. A twist of his hand and the place sprouts 3 other illusions of himself, like path markers, distractions to help Kai get the kids herded out of there. His roll was not a perfect guess though, and he's terribly close to the giant male, who happens to be his big weakness.
Kai swallows his pride, reminds himself this is life or death, then leans down on the kids' level and smiles broadly. "Hey, kids. My name's Tinsel. I'm one of Santa's elves. I know it's not Christmastime yet, but he told me you guys needed some help!" If any other elves ever saw him doing this, he would never live it down. "Okay, everybody link up, grab hands. Don't let go of your buddy's hand, and Santa says we have to be very brave. Brave and quiet." He starts leading the kids away about as fast as he can get them going without leaving anyone behind.
A spear? Rude. Sunny lifts the gun in her right hand and fires off a shot, the glowing round from the revolver slamming into the spear head with enough force to shatter the head and send the weapon spiraling wildly away from her. Most people would probably have just gotten out of the way, but the blonde did love to show off a little despite herself.
Lifting her guns, she moves towards the giantess woman and takes aim. Punching and kicking was good and all but, the gunslinger takes aim and squeezes the trigger once more.
The one after Loki stays single mindedly so. Swiping at those doubles to no effect. Much like others the Liesmith might know, each ineffective swing only makes him more angry. Compromises his judgement that much more. People are a lot easier to deal with when they're angry and Loki probably knows every single one of those tricks. Also by this point, he's absolutely lost track of which Loki is the real one. The world's most annoying shell game played out here on the battlefield.
The molten spear that Sunny shatters sends hot spall everywhere, causing the kids near Kai to cry out in terror and run along behind him. Be quiet. Be brave.
"Can you ask Santa to make my mommy and daddy stop fighting and love each other again?" One little girl asks. Okay, not COMPLETELY quiet.
"Can you just DIE A THOUSAND DEATHS?!"
One of the kids, the one closest to Kai just CHANGES. It goes from little ragamuffin to squid faced, cthulhu like Faerie being with a knife in an instant and goes right for Kai's back. The kids squeal in horror and one of them shouts to the others. "Quick! Start Clapping. If an elf is hurt we have to clap so he gets better!"
"That's faeries, dumb-dumb!"
"Just clap, okay!"
All the kids start clapping as a True Faerie tries to murder Kai.
Brunnhilde scores a hit, sending the giantess down on one knee as Sunny shoots. She puts an arm up to ward off those powerful blasts and drags her spear around, trying to catch Hilde with the shaft and send her flying at Sunny. It's quite clear that they're hurting her, though. Although they might at this point wonder how Loki is doing. There's a lot of noise from back there.
Brunnhilde tries to roll with the hit, but its hard to miss a spear the side of a tree as it catches her with a *woof* of escaping air, sending the dusky ex-valkyrie spinning through the air towards Sunny as she tries to roll with the impact to bring herself back up on her feet.
Loki is dipping and diving and dodging all over the place, keeping in close while the monster rages. "Brunhilde…I am going to need an assist out of the water in a moment." he warns to her in English. He starts casting a spell, this one a little more complicated than the easier illusions. Then he rushes in and puts his bare hand to the giant's leg as he attempts to teleport them both about 40 feet above the ocean, just outside. It has the benefit of getting the giant out of the way, out of the fight, but it does endanger himself quite a bit, potentially.
Wait, that kid is starting to sound an awful lot like Kai's ex, what with the 'die die die' rhetoric. He's a lucky elf, though, because he's quick and hearty. The kind of attack that would slice through a human only does superficial damage to the elf. Who whips around, knives in his hands, and with more fighting skill than Santa's helpers would generally be known to show, he slashes at the True Faerie. "You are on Santa's NAUGHTY list!" he says. "Look away, children!" Yeah, kids, look away while Tinsel the Elf tries to slash open the Fae's throat.
Spears Sunny can shoot out of the air…Brunnhilde, not so much! There's an exclaimation, but she can't really catch Brunn with hands full of guns either. Instead, she drops a weapons and attempts to try and and brace for the other woman before the collision comes with an audible 'umpf'. Shoving the other woman off her, she attempts to roll onto her feet and rush forwards with a swing of her fist.
It wasn't that she was blind to Kai's plight and the kids, nor Loki's issues, but there was still a giant trying to turn her into a shiny kebab.
There is indeed a giant trying to Kabab them. One who takes up her spear and leaps, aiming to come down point first right on Hilde and Sunny. It's impressive. It's terrifying.
And both women probably know it's stupid. Sure, she'll pancake or skewer anyone she lands on. But she doesn't have wings. Which means if the situation changes between when she goes up and when she lands, she's screwed. And Hilde and Sunny are still very much in this fight, a point that is proven when Sunny connects with her leg as she comes down and sends her tumbling head over tail rather than landing smoothly. She's vulnerable now. Very much so.
Loki feels the heat - it may even burn him - when he slaps his hand on that Giant. But then they're suddenly dislocated in the air above the water and both plunge down. The giant screams as is fires are quenched and makes one last grab to try to drag Loki down with him. But either way he's done. He won't be coming back up.
And yes, he may need an assist from Hilde there. Hopefully she heard him.
Kai's slash hits face-tentacles rather than throat though he severs half a dozen of them and gets the hunched, hulking thing screaming. It decides it doesn't want to deal with the elf's bright knives and leaps skyward on insectoid wings, taking off inland and away from the others, but not before it hurls a parting knife at Kai's face.
The kids, they're clapping as if their life depended on it. Or Kai's did.
|ROLL| Loki +rolls 1d20 for: 18
Hilde grunts as she rolls back to her feet, shakijng her head to clear it, before the shadow falls over the pair as the flaming giantess leaps up, bringing down her spear. Sunny disables her as she comes down as Brunnhilde leaps to the side to avoid her as she slams to the ground, before, she's leaping up onto the down giant's back, sword spinning to come down piont first as she drives it into the area of the giantess' kidneys, trying to keep her in pain and on the ground.
Really the only flaw in the plan would be…also drowning with the giant, whom he assumes can't swim in the least, being from a realm full of fire and lava and…a real lack of /lakes/. The giant only manages to grab a bit of his outfit, but the Asgardian plunges under the water, dragged down by the weight. Displaced water ripples out in all directions, causing little waves to crash in against the docks. Bubbles surface, indications of the death throes of the giant, and the struggle of the sneaky prince. But, finally he's able to calm enough to slice through the bit of armor being held, and he swims to the surface. Wet, in the dark waters, he lives.
The knife hurtling at Kai's face causes him to yelp in alarm and he darts out of the way, only to have the blade slice down his cheek. It's a bleeder, but he'll live, with an interesting story to garner sympathy, even. "You did it, kids! I'm okay!" he says to the clapping munchkins. "Okay, grab your buddy's hand, let's go quickly now." He's studying the kids, though, as he leads them away, looking for anyone who might come over all tentacled and shrieky. "We're just going to keep going while the grownups work out some stuff. Remember, brave and quiet."
Robbed of her guns and lacking the sword that Hilde has, Sunny's left with a far less elegant option. She lifts her foot and stomps down, hard, trying to take the fight out of the female giant a little while the other woman nails her down with the sword. Okay, that brought them a moment! Time to go for her weapons. Diving to the ground where the nearest revolver lay, the blonde rolls over and lifts the weapon, pointing it towards the target's head. It wasn't a hammer harnessing lightning, but a bullet channeling the power of the sun would have to do!
BLAM!
Impaled and shot by Sunny, the Giantess's struggles cease. Kai finds himself with much more silent children and Loki pulls himself out of the water. Triumphant. Alive.
The Nightfall portals are closing. There's no one left in the area and the other teams are reporting success. Good job everyone. If you guys still do the songs around the table bit, this should be worth three or four I would think.
Yeah. The Song of Kai the Christmas Elf, rescuer of children.
It's over, looks like. Bring those kids home. We're sending resources for you. They'll be there shortly.
Brunnhilde mmphs, then grunts, jerking her blade out of the giantesses as the fiery woman starts to burn out like a dying cinder after Sunny finishes her, flicking her weapon to send flaming blood spattering off it to clear it, before she hops down from her back. "Nice shot." she says to Sunny simply, then glances over to see how the children are doing, nodding approving when she sees Kai seems to have things under control. "Mm….well. That ones less group children carried off."
Loki swims to the short, drags himself out of the water, then wetly jogs back towards the warehouse. Worried for a moment, he then looks relieved. "Oh…everyone made it." He flicks a grin, then moves towards Santa's elf. "Right before I…left…I saw something attack you. What was that?" He glances up and down the elf that seems familiar to him from another battle they were in!
"I'm not sure," Kai tells Loki. "Something with tentacles. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say it's something on the Faerie end of the spectrum." He takes out a handkerchief and dabs at the blood on his face. He inclines his head with respect to the Prince. "You look no worse for wear. Good." He looks around at the others, sizing them up now that the threat is gone.
"Nice stab," Sunny offers in reply to the Valkyrie, climbing to her feet and then bending to retrieve her second gun. The glow to both weapons fade and they're holstered without the usual twirl in favor of the gunslinger adjusting her hair out of her eyes and turning her gaze towards Loki and Kai. "Kids alright?" she questions before shaking her head lightly. "Giants kidnapping kids…crazy stuff…"
Brunnhilde is a bit bruised looking after being thwacked with a spear, but overall seems fine, other than some smoldering patches on her jeans from standing on the giantess briefly and her boot soles smalling faintly of scorched leather. "Thanks. You set it up perfectly." Brunnhilde says with a grin, giving Sunny a firm smack on the back. "Fancy guns there…" She flicks her gaze over to the pair of Kai and Loki, frowning faintly. I am always happy to hunt those who prey on children…but where did these come from? It seems those behind it are still at large…these were but lackeys and lickspittle."
"I have recently spoken with a represenative of the Olympians…which brings the suspects down to one. The Tuatha. They were bringing through an Asgardian enemy, though, as they have been doing over and over." Loki turns over his hand to look at it, blistered and red now that he's out of the water and the pain is starting to seep into it. "Who are you?" He asks of Sunny, giving her a highly thoughtful look. "Taking down a Fire Giant is no mortal task." Then he looks back over to Kai. "I have seen you before, but have we been properly introduced?"
Kai looks over the children, doing a quick headcount, minus the one who exploded into tentacles and tried to kill him. "Yeah, they're okay. Just scar,bring them home once WAND gets a list to me." To Loki, he says, "My Prince, I am Hjuki Eyvindrson, from the Valley of the Moon Elves. A minor lord, surely not worthy of the notice of a Prince of Asgard. It's a genuine honor to make your acquaintance."
Loki glances over the children, though he seems suspicious, more than amused. He takes his time to look at each one of them, carefully, sensing their potential magic until he's certain they are only a bunch of mortals. He shakes his head a bit, then looks back to Kai. "Ah…Hjuki Eyvindrson…a smart prince knows that all allies are good to have, particularly when Odin's favor can come and go." he grins crookedly, then lifts his chin to Brunnhilde. "What do you think…are you ready for a fight with the Tuatha?"
"Prince?" Sunny repeats, tilting her head to the side. Yeah, she's about the one person in the room who didn't understand Asgardian politics to some degree. Still, The question of who she is has her shrugging her shoulders, fingers lazily hooking in her 'gunslinger belt'. "Concerned citizen," she adds with a wink. "Call me Sunny."
Hilde's question has her frowning, looking skywards. "Well, at least one of them got away."
Brunnhilde hmmphs, then spins her sword up, sheathing it on her back as it vanishes from view. "Tuatha? Is that the one with Brigit? Always liked her." she says absently, folding her arms across her chest. "And why would the Tuatha want to steal children like this? They've done it before, but…never this obviously. Or in large groups, right? ONly for their changlings?"
"If we are allies, my Prince, then by all means, call me Kai. Everyone else does." Kai grins, then cleans his knives off on his jeans before he artfully collapses them back into a pendant, which he hangs from his neck. How they could fold up that small is a very good question. Dwarvish artistry, there. "This does seem a rather more obvious than picking off one or two here and there." Raising his voice a little, he says to the children, "Which would never happen! You're all safe now."
There is an awful lot of words that Sunny doesn't understand, but the Earth-raised 'goddess' just tilts her head to oneside and chews her bottom lip. Still, she at least got the gist of Kai's comment. "Well, guess they're planning somethin' big?"
Loki makes a low humming sound as he tries to weave the pieces together. "The children are being used to create the magic. This is my theory. Fae are made stronger with the presence of children. We have been on the defensive for a long while. I believe I know a few of their old haunts, from many years ago. Time to…be a little offensive."
"If you want me on that team, I wouldn't mind giving a little visit to the Tuatha," Kai says. "It's not right, stealing children away like that. Look at the poor little things." He glances over at the children.
A little boy with a snotty nose says, "I thought your name was Tinsel."
Kai says, "Santa's helpers go by many names, child." He then tells the others, "I should get these little darlings home before they start asking me for stuff."
"You have evoked another pantheon, Kai. To not come through with their requests would be to do it dishonor." Loki says wryly.
Brunnhilde hmms. "Either way….I…agree with Loki." she says, frowning at the idea as she glances towards the other Asgardian prince, still a bit distrustful. "Taking the fight to them is better than reacting. They have an entire world to steal children from, but only one place they come from."
Kai eyes Loki dubiously. "I may just have to accept coal in my stocking," he says with a crooked grin. "I'm sure the old man at the North Pole would understand." He gathers the children around him as they start to ask questions about whether they're going to get stolen again. "You'll be fine, children. Lets go over to those nice agents over there and see what we can do about getting a really big Uber."
Loki nods to Kai, then to the others. "Then…we will meet soon. Though…you…" He points to Sunny, "I am going to need your number in my phone."
BRunnhilde hmmphs, then rummages in a pocket, pulling out a card with a number scribbled under it that she offers to Loki. "…take mine too. Prince." she says steadily. "And call me. When you know where to go. I will be there to end this."
Kai pauses to offer around his own card, with his name, number, and email. "You can also leave wordf or me at the Embassy, though this is faster." Then he herds the children away. Sure, he could be dancing in a hip new club or doing karaoke at a theme bar, but instead he's playing babysitter of the year. Alas.
Loki takes the cards, which means he has to enter these details on his own! UGH! Time to make Reno do it.
|ROLL| Loki +rolls 1d20 for: 13
Loki 's phone is on life support after the dunk in the ocean. It might not make it!