Summary:An eight legged horse, Fomorians, Native American and … it's chaos! Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Not twenty minutes ago, the alarms at WAND and SHIELD went off, advising of an interdimensional breach. The groups were scrambled and sent on their way - some by portal and others by more … traditional means - like Quinjet.
It's your usual afternoon in Central Park. The sun is shining and people are hurrying on their way to wherever they're going. One father stops as the little girl tugs his hand, pointing to the Zoo that they're passing. The animals are restless, sending a chorus of sound out over the area and of course, the little girl wants to go visit.
As the father tugs on her hand to try to get them moving, he's confronted by a 'tear' in the air about 12 feet in front of him. It's 7 feet tall, starting as just a slash but slowly widens, showing the glimpse of a paradise beyond.
That's all there's time to see, as enormous horses with steam billowing from their nostrils charge through the breach and out onto the path - the father stands there frozen in place as they bear down on him and his girl. The riders are enormous with single eyes in their heads and deformed bodies - they're brandishing clubs and axes as they let out a bellow.
*Behind* those, three armoured knights appear - clearly intent on chasing those other down. Who are the good guys? It's hard to say - what is clear is that the public is in danger.
Jesana has hired her mercs to watch over her group in the disaster zone to take a much needed day off. She's so frustrated, her desire to wreak vengenace upon her father and those nazis is almost irresistable but she has a job to do and that freaky handed scumlord is proving hard to track down. She'll find him, but right now she needs a break. So of course she's drawn to central park, it's where it's about to go down and she's got a lot of engery to let out.
The demigod, dressed in a pair of jeans, hiking boots and an open blue flannel shirt over a black tank top, turns from the stand where she's just purchased a four scoop cone and stares. "What the fuck." She blurts and she tosses the cone and moves with supernatural speed to get the kid and her panic stricken father out of the way of whatever fresh hell she's found herself in at the moment. She has never regretted her decision to stop drinking on the job more. However, this is looking like a helluva fun fight. Her enraged glare turns into a grin mid attempt to toss the two humans aside.
Ford's work manages to take him some places, and somehow, whenever he gets there, wierd stuff always starts happening. Go fix up a hearse? Norse Halloween and dark elves. Fix up a food truck? Terrorism and bombs. Now, he's trying to get a truck broken down across the street from the zoo up and running, and as always, he's got it well in hand. No engine can resist the love in these mechanically inclined hands.
Aaaand that's about where Ford's normal day is ending. Ford looked up as he could smell magic in the air. Or… something. He smelled something. It smelled like farm animals, actually. Not like the ones in the zoo, this was much… warmer? Turning, Ford's sharp eyes caught sight of the slash in reality, before catching sight of the horses barrelling down on a girl and her father. Now, Ford was usually one to not get involved. It always brought trouble. But an innocent child about to lose her parent hit Ford a bit too close to the gut. "…aw hell…" Ford exhaled, before rushing with much less superhuman speed to the two humans being tossed aside. At least someone competant was on the case, for the moment. He'd do his civic duty and get the parent and child as far from danger as possible. "This way! To me! Come on!"
If there's one thing that Agent May has done far too many times, it's scramble on an alarm. Twenty minutes ago, the interdimensional breach was registered. Fifteen minutes ago, she was on the flight deck heading toward the quinjet she flies the most frequently. Seven minutes ago, the bird was in the air and en route to Central Park. Three minutes ago, the bird banks and uses its VTOL engines to hover just a few feet over a clearing a bit inside the park as the nearest clear space big enough to allow it to land while the rear loading ramp lowers and the combined WAND / SHIELD agents all hurriedly disembark. One minute ago the last of the agents clears the quinjet and notifies the pilot that everyone is clear, and May starts settling the bird on the grass. Manhattan Parks Department had better not complain, the lawn will grow back.
And behind the father and daughter… It's not a tear. A bright point appears in the air, extending downward into a line then over to one side, back up and over again to meet the original line, forming a rectangle. Or, more precisely, a doorway. There's the revving of an engine and then a black motorcycle roars through, coming to a halt as the rider sees what the alarm was about. "Oh, wonderful. Fomorians. And probably Sidhe knights." It's not just a narrative comment; Dylan's broadcasting on the SHIELD frequency.
Having just completed his daily round of scrying, Loki is in his workroom at Cover Story. All seems to be well with Lieutenant Atherton, with Miss Snart, his son and his son's Raven, a peek only - but all seems well, oh, lets see what Agent May is up to! She's often quite entertaining, as is Miss Potts.
Pepper Potts seems to be okay, and the wardings she setup doing their work, they make it /hard/ to scry her, it is when he sees Agent May is battle armored and aboard one of those SHIELD vehicles, those 'Quinjets'. What does that even mean? Does it have five engines? Five modes of transit? Makes no sense, ah well, mortals will be mortals…anyway, it when he sees that Agent May is en route somewhere, and that might mean /fun/.
Rising, he dons his armor, slings his beloved flaming sword in a baldric sheath, loads up with several daggers, including exotic blades of cold iron and silver.
Ready enough for now, he peeks and watches as the jet disgorges its passengers, and the pilot relocates it to a grassy area near by. A smirk, and then he steps through his own portal, appearing outside the vehicle once Agent May finishes parking it, and then sort of wiggles his fingers at the pilot through the windshield. "Hello Agent May, looks like we're in for some fun."
A moment to shift into the form of his son Sleipner, and then he grins. "Need a lift?"
As Ford watches those two humans are whisked away in a flash - there one moment and then gone the other - but three other people stumble towards him as the hooves of the Fomorians horses - mounts - flash down on them. Ford will need to be quick to get those people clear and to avoid the beast riding giants himself.
He finds himself near the ferally grinning Jes, who manages to grab a couple of the others who weren't just … whisked away … With Jes and Fords arrival, they draw the attention of at least one Formorian - who decides to try playing polo with his axe.
In yet *another* flash of light, just as Dylan appears, Zatanna Zatara appears as well. Not dressed in her 'stage' costume but black leather trousers, biker boots and a cute white bustier style top - she's still more than recognisable. "Get the people clear and keep the Formorians away from us we work." She calls to the others who aren't spell casters. Dylan gets a nod and cheeky grin "We meet again, Agent Grey. Shall we?" beat "And that looks like Loki … I wonder if he's here to help and play pranks… And Agent Melinda May."
One of the Knights rides by and Dylan can tell that's not a Sidhe - but one of the Knights of the Round Table.
With the casters now in place, a small group of Formorians turn … intent on running the group down and disrupting their preparations.
Her charges clear, Jesana turns to the.. people are calling them Formorians?? she has no idea what the fuck that is. She also hears the word Agents a few times and mutters. "Fuck me, not again." She's sure she's on SHIELDS watchlist now. She's gonna gut her father. Gut him good when she has a chance to find him. "Nice bike!" She can't help but call out as she ducks past the agent and tucks and rolls between the horses hooves in a daring manuever that leaves her coming up just behind them, daggers drawn from both boots she'd attempted to stab the strange horses stomaches as she rolled beneath them. If her blades don't go through she'll abandom them and give leaping atop one of the horses and dragging it's rider down a go. Rodeo time, bitches!
Meanwhile her mind processes what she's seen going on around her. There's a sudden influx of a very familiar sort of feeling. Chaos. Only it isn't her Chaos. However there is so much stuff happenning she doesn't have time to figure it out. All of these people with their, doors in the air and crap. Meanwhile she rode a freakin taxi here, got overchared and the entire thing smelled reeked so strongly of pot she's pretty sure even she got a contact high and that's barely possible. Was that some kinda jet?! "Clearly I'm doing things wrong when the humans got jets and bikes and I'm over here ridin the reefer mobile." She mutters.
Sleipner-Loki is an exact duplicate of Odin's steed with a couple important differences - first off, he's armored in golden armor. Second, since Zatanna Zatara was kind enough to identify him, the helm of his scale barding has Loki's distinctive back swept horns. Next the left knee is sheathed a proud broadsword, Laevateinn, Loki's flaming sword, you know - in case May needs a magical sword to hack monsters up with. There's also a military style saddle.
Once she mounts up, he rears, careful not to dismount the woman, six of eight legs off the ground as he bellows a challenge and then charges. Luckily his illusions don't require him to cast, he'll happily add some confusion to the enemy by having every mortal victim suddenly split into several - three duplicates splitting off to scarper in different directions even as he carries May to the battle.
"Zatanna. Fancy meeting you here." Dylan draws his sword and he's suddenly garbed much like the knights are, though he's not in plate. The Kingdom of Powys is clearly emblazoned on his surcoat. "Have anything specific in mind or just keep the bystanders safe? If I had to bet, I'd say the Knight and his retinue can handle this on their own." He leans forward a little to get a better look. "I'd swear that's Sir Tristan's escutcheon. What's he doing in this century?" There's a rev of the engine and suddenly he's sitting on a large black horse with bright green eyes that's snorting fire. Though Dylan seems momentarily surprised, he chuckles and pats the horse's shoulder.
Ford's eyes are locked on the civilians. Jesana seemed to have the Fomorian rider taken care of - whatever a "Formorian" was - so he'd let her focus on that and take care of the folks in… danger? Wait, which ones? Now there were nine of them? Great… he'd really have to step it up this time. But where did that magic come from? Truth be told, Ford wouldn't mind getting lessons from the man/woman casting those. If only to understand his limits better.
Focus, Ford! He needed speed… and as a disguised human, he couldn't muster that… but as an oni..!
Really about to regret what he was going to do, Ford's skin immediately darkened to a deep crimson, hair turning jet black and cascading behind him, and tusks and horns jutting from his jaw and head respectively. His clothing melted away into a tiger pelt tunic and to any magically inclined folks in the area (ie. pretty much everyone), he just lit up like the Northern Lights. But he really needed to do this.
Letting his fantastic sense of smell take over, Ford immediately began dashing to the real humans in the batch, trying to grab each one in an effort to haul them to safety. Of course, an angry, evil-looking red ogre probably isn't the image of safety right now, but better than the angry woman wrestling the horseman, right?
Having heard Grey's initial assessment of the goings on over her commlink, May offers him a curt reply. "Coordinate civilian evacuation with Lambda team," which unintentionally echoes Zatanna's suggestion. "But stay where you can call patterns without getting in the line of fire."
She stops abruptly at Loki's greeting and sudden shift into … an eight-legged horse. That seems familiar, but she doesn't have time to puzzle it out. Instead, she wants to be sure that the sorcerer's offer is truly genuine, because it would be helpful. "You sure? I need to run interference to give WAND and Zatara's people time to do their jobs."
But even as she's asking this of Sleip-Loki, she's stepped over quickly and without giving herself time to question, she jumps to put one foot in the stirrup and then they're off.
One perk to this, she's not having to remember typical horse riding rein commands. One downside, if Loki makes any abrupt changes in direction, she's not going to be ready for them. Also, her butterfly swords are decidedly too short for use from horseback. ALL of her weapons are too short to be used from horseback, except… no, that won't work either.
There is the broadsword there, which is very much not a style she's accustomed to, but she'll deal with it. Drawing that sword, she'll swing it at any of the Fomorians they get close to, mostly aiming to spook their own horses to divert them away from the WAND agents and the other mages Zatanna is organizing.
"Just waits till she sees what Hengroen can do." Zee eyes Jes as she goes into her … well, you could that a routine couldn't you? The blade absolutely does through the belly of the horse - with effort. It gets stuck there and as Jes rolls free, it rears up on its back legs, when she makes it back. Totally rodeo time with a supernatural horse and a rider trying to brain her with its club. It's just another day for the demi-goddess isn't it?
"Oh look… he decided to show himself." Zee gives Hengroen a pet on the muzzle as blue energy starts to dance about her fingers. "You and I are going to close that tear and stop anything more coming throu—- watch out." As they're talking, a Fomorian turns to take a swing at Dylan.
Loki's images cause a bit of a confusion, with a couple of Formorians scattering to chase them but May finds herself face to face to a *huge* mounted one. My, that's quite … big.
Fords transformation certainly hits a few buttons. Some of the WAND mages faltering as he comes on their radar. Zee quirks a brow in the Oni's direction but seeing him piled up by three of the things, thinks they've bought some time if they need to deal with that too.
There's an earth shattering thud some distance away - Hercules has arrived on the scene and is wrestling. And just over there, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman and Tigra are keeping things busy. The spell casters are going to have to work quickly.
"Technically, they're both him." Dylan points out. "Motorcycle or horse, they're both Hengroen." Having been keeping his attention on the obvious enemies, he calmly stands in his stirrups and lifts his blade to block the Fomorian's weapon. Then drawing his dagger, he stabs it at the Fomorian. It should disrupt any magic about him as well as piercing his soul. SOmething most uncomfortable. "Ho, Sir Tristan! Is that you?" He just has to ask though he's never met the man himself.
"Broke my knife you creepy one eyed bastard!" Jesana snarls as she grips the formian around the waist tight with one arm and tries to dodge it's flailing and punch it in the side of the head. Repeatedly and with feeling, and a strength capable of lifting fifteen tons. Maybe she should have just picked up on of these horses and thrown it at some of the others, rider and all but the demigod has no idea what the hell she's actually fighting here and she certainly doesn't look like she has that kinda strength so for all she knows, these things weigh even more.
Also that plan had the risk of taking out accidental bystanders and she'd really rather not do that. Hey where'd that bitchin' bike go?! She has time to wonder before the horse throws her clear, damn she shoula held on with her legs more, her ancestors are rolling in their in the graves now, an Indian that can't ride a friggin' horse! She's a coyote though, why the hell would she need to ride a.. "Oh shit another horse!" Slightly trampled, her clothes much the worse for wear and displaying a rather obvious…wardrobe malfunction.. Jesana gets to her feet and looks around for another target. She's covered in mud and horse shit and she's pretty sure someone's pee. Half her chest is exposed and these jeans are never gonna be worn again but otherwise she seems non the worse for ware and is laughing. This is fun!
(Quit squriming! The more you struggle, the harder you make this!) Ford barked at his human charges in Japanese as he began to gather them one by one. Granted, to anyone who can understand Japanese, his words probably don't do much to allay concerns. Typically, if an oni is gathering up humans, it's not for a tea party… not for the humans, anyways. Ford glanced about as the demi-goddess Jesana seemed to have the horse and rider they were dealing with under control… but not the others piling up on him. Why did this seem to be a running theme with Ford? Him against unfair numbers.
And it really didn't help that in the apparent commotion, Jesana's wardrobe just kinda gave up. That was immensely distracting for a demon who ran on passions and pleasures. About the only thing he wasn't keen on was the smell, and that alone was probably all that was keeping Ford from just up and abandoning all of this right about now. His yellow eyes traisped back to the WAND mages, who looked like they were up to… something? Ford hoped it was good. Lifting his hand in the air, Ford called his final trump card in: his kanabo.
Slamming it into the ground, Ford's weapon disgorged a disgustingly unnecessary amount of magic, before it "hardened" in the form of a wall of bamboo shoots springing up from the ground in from of the WAND agents, hoping to offer them some protection. "(Whatever you all plan to do, do it FAST!)" he shouted, before turning and shotuing at Jes. "(Hey! Topless! Heads up!)" he yelled, before doing something he was probably going to regret later: chucking his kanabo to the ground at Jes, landing with an earth-shattering THUD! near her feet. Ford's hands were tied up with humans - Jes could probably make better use of it.
"That is one tough Indian…" Oh…no, more than merely Indian. INnnnnnnnNNteresting. He'll have to look her up later, right now there's Fomorians to smite. Sleipner-Loki charges right into the fray watching as May draws his sword and it bursts into flame, hey…he's busted as Loki…why hide his weapon? Even as she attacks the rider, Loki attacks his the Fomorian's mount with hooves and gores at it with his horned helm. Illusory copies of the mortals having done a little to help, Loki abandons that seeming, and studies the battle field.
The Norse-Horse's lips curl in a VERY wicked and Loki fashion, and then he surrounds the WAND magi with another illusion, this of six meter tall fence of steel and razorwire, visibly sparking with electrical current. The best part? Loki can fool /all/ the senses, this protective barrier will feel solid, will seem to cut, and shock. It can't actually hurt anything, but it sure will FEEL like it does!
The Oni is concerning, but he -semms- benevolent, hopefully he's not just here for carry out luncheon. (To Serve Man - is a cookbook!!!!)
When one of the really not-human-looking riders gets in her and Loki's way, she doesn't hesitate to swipe the holy-crap-heavy and flaming broadsword at the rider, letting Sleipnir-Loki deal with the horse itself. She slashes at the Fomorian and follows that with a quick stab, making the sword look almost fluid. She knows she's going to suffer for it later. Why is this sword so ridiculously heavy? What's it made from? Iridium?
Having been focused on their opponent, she missed initially noticing the oni across the way, but at the sudden burst of bamboo and the kanabo being thrown at the vicious-seeming dark-haired woman she looks over and curses in Japanese. Why the hell is there an oni here all of a sudden? And no, she's not aware that the stereotypically hideous and evil demon has actually been helping thus far.
"Loki," she says in rapidfire Mandarin, probably revealing an idea of how not well she's dealing with seeing Ford-oni. "We could have a more serious problem in a moment."
Maybe Jes should have thrown the Formorian. It might have taken a couple of others out when she did. But she didn't and now she's wrestling with one - much like Hercules is. No, not like Hercules is …. he's one to five or is that six now? And he's still … dressed.
She doesn't have to look far for another target. There's one more horse and rider bearing down on her - their club swinging like a polo mallet. Good thing there's a Kanabo on the ground near her?
Dylans dagger blocks the Fomorians weapon, rendering it as useful as a lump of metal and wood. Zatanna can't take her attention from the spell she's holding - there's stands of arcane blue energy running between her fingers and the tear. As she manipulates them, the other casters literally 'sew' the rent in reality closed.
Dylan doesn't get an answer from the Knight. The Knight is attacked by Spider-Girl in her arcane carapace - across her back, there is a flare of white light in the shape of a spider, a magical incarnation in and of itself. The arcane forms a shell around her; a hideous, terrifying, armored monstrosity that seems likely to have found its home in an arachnophobe's worst nightmare. "Do you know these goons??" she calls out to Dylan from across the area - maybe they'll have something to talk about later.
Loki's horse tramples and rears as May swings that flaming broadsword. It sows confusion among the remaining Fomorians with the illusory mortals just seeking to add to that and then there's a wall of barbed wire around all but Dylan and Zatanna…. good job - it will help.
Both the god and the Agent find themselves clawed at or clubs and axes aimed in their direction - the question is, are they aiming at the right illusions? Or … Time will tell.
Ford has some, ok a lot of, difficulty getting the mortals to run in his direction and to safety. One Japanese man starts to invoke the spirits of his house as protection - or yes, he's very worried about being on the menu. And through all this, Ford has to worry about the Fomorian who has decided that Oni Head will make a good trophy.
"Agent Grey, Agent May. Agent Black is sending the Fomorians in her area through - we'll be sending home in a moment." Comes the update.
Having no idea what the hell the giant red thing is or why it's throwing weapons at her, Jesana simply pulls it up and is about to hurl it back when she finds a new Famorian to focus on. Hopefully those SHIELD agents see she's helping! She won't rest easy until she fixes her fathers clusterfuck of a loophole. Oh. This clothes thing isn't exactly gonna do her wonders in the image department, is it? After she clubs her foe down, Jesana ties the flannel into a knot over her midriff to cover the ripped tank top. It's better than nothing and she is not shifting here.
Too many strange elements at play. She'd rather not broadcast exactly what she is, even if it isn't likely most would guess. She finally gets a glimpse of a small asian woman riding a really weird looking horse and wielding a flaming sword and stops to stare. "I don't know if I'm more aroused or disturbed." She mumurs in awe. "What is with this day?! I just wanted some fresh air and ice cream." Well okay, she was totally spoiling for a fight but this is well beyond any expectations she'd had in that department and Jesana still has no idea what is actually happening. She's not remotely familiar with realms outside of Sky World, This World and Underworld of which is way more familiar than she'd like to be since she goes there every time she dies or is injured beyond her ability to heal. Jesana side eyes the man still wrestling. Sure, six to one and his clothes are just fine. Whatever, she's prettier.
"Sir Tristan of Lyonesse, Knight of the Round Table!" Dylan calls back. "Don't attack him!" With the Fomorian unarmed, he uses the flat of his blade to strike the giant repeatedly, going more for confusion than damage. Glancing over at Zatanna, he asks "When you close the rift, can you send the ones left on this side back to where and when they belong? What's with the red one? He doesn't seem to belong." Responding on the SHIELD frequency, he says "The rift will be closing soon. Drive as many back through as you can. Warn the knights and they may leave willingly."
Ford tries to shuffle more humans out of the way, glancing down at the Japanese human and growling. "(Get lost, all of you, before I find out what humans taste like!)" Ford yells, trying to just skip the notion of being benevolent and just hoping that scaring the humans off will coax them to scoot out of here. You'd be surprised how fast you can run when you believe something wants to eat you. That just left the rider bearing down on him. Punching his fists into his palm, Ford snarled and crouched. "(Alright, tough guy… let's wrestle!)"
Ford ditches any sense of subtlety and goes not for the rider, but the horse. Now, being a magical horse, it was probably stronger than a regular one. But Ford was willing to bet it didn't weigh more than 20 tons! So he opts for the inelegant method of just picking up the horse and rider all in one as it approachs, before spinning and hurling it at the now downed rider Jes was dealing with! That ought to take care of two nutjobs with one horse! Or… something!
Unfortunately for Ford, the longer Jes holds onto his club, the more problematic it becomes to do so. Given she is a demi-goddess, his club, noting the new source of divine energy so eagerly grasping on it, begins to feed off it, likely steadily sapping her power the longer she holds it. Even just a sip of the energy is enough to suddenly make that aggrivating humming stop, and that makes Ford suddenly realize what precisely he's done. "(—OH DAMMIT! Right!)" Ford shouted.
"Acknowledged," is May's immediate reply to the update about Black. "They're herding the last of these… opponents toward us," she informs Sleipnir-Loki, on the unlikely possibility that he hadn't heard her comm. It IS in her ear and is meant to be NOT heard, but she's pretty much resigned herself to the fact that the sorcerer has proven to be more resourceful than she's accustomed to. At least he's proven to be more helpful than she would have initially expected.
Keeping the sword up and ready to swipe at any other of the Fomorians who don't look ready to go back to where they came from. But, the dark-haired woman is still trying to wrestle them.
"Get them back toward that portal!" she shouts at Jesana, and can only hope that she's heard and heeded, and not just by the one individual but by everyone helping.
See, sometimes people forget that the Trickster, the Liesmith, is also both Jotun and a God of Fire. "Very well, Agent May, it seems we're up to the End Game." And though he's being helpful it is because in large part this is FUN. Plain and simple, he gets to do fun things, to unfun beings. What's not to like?
"Hang on." He says with a HUGE grin. With a surge of muscles, the eight legged horse leaps into motion, /really/ stretching its legs and then gathering himself into a prodigious leap. As they go air born May can feel the horse shifting forms and becoming…Jotun-Loki, about twelve feet tall, blue of skin and so cold the air about him visibly chills. The god is a master of changing shapes; as he shifts he sets May carefully to the ground. His contribution to the herding effort? He invokes his fire aspect and sends a wall of fire, crescent shaped and at lest 9 or 10 meters tall roaring at the Fomor, contracting and moving it to guide them the way they direct. Now, is this real fire? Is it illusion? That much is not obvious - not with Loki's puissant illusions anyway, the difference is moot in a lot of ways - it generates what feels like real, and there's smoke and the smell of burning things, the roar of the flames.
Hopefully it will be enough.
Jesana glares at the weapon she's holding as it tries to feed on her. Her whoreson father aside, nothing can effect her unless she allows it. She's a living embodiement of both chaos, and free will incarnate. She simply chucks the damned thing back at the ogre and snaps a very military salute at May. The demigod tears a parck bench free of the ground and uses that instead to begin beating any remaining horses and Femorians towards that portal.
Of course she really wonders what is on the other side of it. It's got to be interesting. Would she still come back if she died over there? It's an intriguing question but one she doesn't particularly care to find out the answer to just now. Perhaps, one day.. "I want a shower. And booze I can't have. And that eightlegged horse/suddenly turned giant's phone number." In about that order too. No flirting just now. She's covered in dirt and horseshit. "And my godsdamned icecream!" A snarl and another smack with the bench.
And like that … the Fomorians and Knights are gone. Sir Tristan is going to have a helluva headache. The other heroes are gathered together, offered refreshments and first aid, in whatever order.
Zee leans wearily against a truck, looking around at the carnage. "You all did well if I didn't notice what was going on. Thank you …" She says. Right now, she could do with a beer.