Summary:Why are Dark Elves raiding a boutique bank? Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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The financial district of New York is always busy and today was no exception. It's getting very late though and aside from the few who are ultra diligent, the streets and buildings are nearly empty.
Which is why the big glowing slash that floods the front windows of Aspire Financial Inc. is a shock to anyone who can see it. Perhaps more of a shock is the dozen or so large bull like humanoid creatures that pour through the slash as it widens. Behind them, three tall dark skinned people step through - pointed ears so very, very obvious.
When one of the elves gestures with a staff, a panel in the back wall lights up. Half of the minotaurs turn their attention to that, tearing shelves away to get better access. The rest, fan out to provide them coverage.
Across the city, alarms sound and are felt. This hasn't just set off the standard alarms, those in the magical community can't help but notice.
Ford was not in the area for altruistic reasons. Since Spider Woman had busted up his old chop shop, he was in the market for some new work. Another chop shop that a "coworker" from the old one had suggested. Ford needed money, and went to go hear it out. It paid. That was about all the good things he could say about it. But as he cut through the Financial District to get back home, it was about when he was passing by that the portals opened, and something spilled out. The last time this had happened, it was at Central Park. That was across the city. He could at least ignore it if it was far enough from his home.
This might as well have been right down the street.
Fearing it was more of those Dark Ones that Herc had mentioned, Ford opted to come in quietly. Stealthily. If they couldn't see him, they couldn't stop him, and just maybe, he might get something out of them if one of them flapped their lips. Vanishing from sight, Ford moved in on the bank, trying to get a good look inside and see what exactly was going on… elves? That seemed familiar… hadn't he run into those before? In a graveyard? What in the world were they doing aiding a bunch of minotaurs? Come to think of it, where did they get so many to begin with? Hoping someone might flap their lips, Ford moved as close as he could get to the elves, hoping to perhaps eavesdrop on a conversation or quiet musing…
It seemed like it would be a fairly normal night. Well, a normal night for New York City, which isn't all that normal for almost anywhere else in the world. Alas, even for New York, it looks like things are going more of the Abby Normal way. Tigra's made her way to the site of the alarm, and watches from the top of a building for a moment to get a feel for what she's facing. oh great. Dozen minotaurs and some dark elves. Unseelie, she wonders? Fits with the fomorians, but minotaurs? Well, no reason one pantheon can't hire out to another, she guess. She sighs softly and drops down from the rooftop to try to approach stealthily. This may be too many to take on by herself, but she can try to see what they're after.
The nice thing about having an elemental in your phone is that he can monitor for magical activity and alert you when it suddenly lights up Google maps. So it's not long before a door shaped portal is outlined in the air just outside the building and an armored Dylan rides through on a very large, black destrier that has glowing green eyes and snorts fire from its nostrils. "Really?" the knight asks. "Minotaurs? Well, the ins and outs of the market are rather labyrinthian." Drawing his sword, he stands in his stirrups and points it at them. "… Look, forget the speeches. Just go home, will you? Now."
Scandal Savage used to very much *enjoy* tending to all the details of her own finances… but now, as a 'volunteer' for the Thunderbolts, she has to carefully drip-feed in money from her array of offshore and covert holdings, while trying to avoid giving so much as a hint of the existence of most of them. And for her on-shore life she now requires the aid of legitimate financiers to handle money in the sort of manner the federal government approves of. Consequently, by the time that she emerges from her appointment she is already in something of a bad mood - with life, the financial system, and the whole Thunderbolt situation in particular - even before that flash of light and the ensuing otherworldly invasion confirm that 'active service' is imminent. Cursing, the leather-clad former mercenary darts a glance around… then starts *towards* the trouble.
It was only a dozen minotaurs that had arrived to begin with but with the cities heroes on alert, the Dark Elves just draw in more assistance. Dylans sword pointing gets a 'tsk' from one of the elves "No need for speeches, Knight of Powis just a demonstration of what we are capable of."
It's the only warning that Dylan gets as she points a wand in the WAND agents direction. The ground beneath Hengroen becomes boggy and the horse begins to sink into the floor.
Fords approach isn't as quiet as he might like or … perhaps the dark elves are just paranoid. The Oni made Man hears a growl from behind him - a HUGE spectral white beast with red ears is hunting him. It lunges, teeth bared.
Greer and Scandal aren't met by the Minotaurs - those have been distracted by the arrival of other heroes. Instead, Jotun step through the portal that's still glowing and one just reaches for Scandal to try and toss her at Tigra.
"I see we've met." Dylan notes, patting Hengroen's side to calm him as he draws his dagger. He quickly sketches out a doorway with the point so the horse can step onto firmer pavement ten feet away. "Were you with or against the queen? We have no need to fight depending on what it is you seek and why."
Ford blinked as he heard the growl from behind. His head slowly swiveled back to see the white beast… thing apparently hunting for him! Weird ears… they must be how it caught onto him! As the beast lunged, Ford's hands snap up to catch the monster's jowels, struggling to hold him back. Whatever this thing was, it was really strong! Stronger than he was, at the moment anyways! Not wanting to take chances, and with other magical backup arriving, Ford decided that, hate it as he might, this called for an oni, not a man.
As Ford comes out of his invisibility, he is no longer Ford Benett, but… hrm. Come to think of it, he had not thought of a name for this form. Granted, he called it his "Oni Form", but it didn't really have a catchy name for it. Whatever, he'd think of it later. Red skin, jet black hair, tiger pelt. He looked the part. And felt it too. Turning his immense strength against the white beast, Ford aimed to wrestle the monster to the ground before glancing over at the boggy ground Dylan had found himself trapped in. That could work! Struggling with the great monster, Ford put his immense strength to work and hurled the monster to the swampy mess. "(Let's see you wriggle out of that!)" Ford crowed in Japanese, before turning to the Jotun flinging ladies around… now that was something a gentleman could not abide!
Never having run into anything quite so outlandish as elves and minotaurs, Scandal is - for the first time in a good many years - surprised to the point of distraction by what she encounters within the bank. Even so, she every nearly manages to dodge when a blue giant steps out of a glowing hole in the world and makes a grab for her. Still, 'nearly' isn't quite good enough, and she's snared by the reinforced back of the biker jacket she wears, to be tossed at the Jotun's chosen target.
Right, so the rogue sneaks into the chamber and looks to surprise the bad guy, but then the paladin comes charging in. Isn't that how it always works? To be fair, Tigra usually was playing someone who'd interrupt the thief when she played D&D back in college. She draws herself up as the giants appear. "Oh great," and that's when she notices a new player getting picked up, and turned into a playing piece. "Uh-oh," she says as she braces herself to catch Scandal as carefully as she can, rolling with the impact if necessary. "Come here often?"
The wand the elf was holding is suddenly jerked from her hands. From his vantage, Dylan will get a glimpse of a red-and-blue suited figure - but that leaves the elf empty handed for now.
"Queen? I follow Malekith, Mortal." The dark elf snarls. Oh goodie another faction and a name the WAND agent is familiar with. He's heard that a couple of times lately. "What we want is to take what is rightfully ours. And we will …" Even sans wand, the woman is dangerous. A couple of daggers are thrown at Hengroen, designed to maim and slow the horse down. She'll deal with the midgardian in a moment.
Provide distraction so we can stop them getting into the vault That's a telepathic communication that filters over the area - someone is trying to coordinate … a bit.
Tigra can catch Scandal - but inertia is totally a thing and Scandal - well, she's not light. The cat woman and proto-human go down in a tangle of arms and legs as the Jotuns descend on the two of them. "Puny mortals…" Ooooh, that's a club that's being bought down on where they are.
As for the Oni, the Hound of Hell is not so easy to wrestle and it does manage to wriggle out from his hold. He soon finds himself circled by a pack of them - the ones behind him snapping at his ankles and legs keeping him 'off balance' as they watch for an opening.
Ooooooooooooh. "Ooooooh. You're after the Crown." Dylan says, shaking his head. "It's not there. And don't ask, I'm not telling you where it really is. But feel free to waste your time playing scavenger hunt while those of the Otherworld laugh at you." He lowers himself back down into his saddle and looks over at the Jotun. "I'd really rather not kill your people so if you just leave now, we can call it a day before you lose anyone. Assuming you even care about their lives." The daggers just glance off the enchanted shield surrounding the horse.
Oof! No, Scandal is certainly not a waif. On the other hand, Tigra's no lightweight, herself. She catches the other woman and tumbles with her, curling a bit to protect who she thinks is only a bystander at first, though quickly realizes that's not the case, with how the other woman is bracing and tucking, herself. As Tigra comes up from the roll and starts to set Scandal on her feet, she sees the incoming club. "Go high!" she says quickly to Scandal, before grabbing her waist and tossing her up and at the Jotun, hopefully over the club, while she herself then tucks and rolls forward, hopefully -under- the club, to come up with a Dragon Uppercut to the giant's nads.
Ford blinked as not just one of these things was stalking him. A whole pack of them were! And as always, he was outnumbered. But in this instance, he was at least moderately free to let loose a bit. But at the mention of a "Crown", Ford's attention was immediately caught in Dylan's direction. A crown… that was one of those three things the pixies mentioned! "(Hey! Horse guy! You mentioned a Cro-!?)" Ford's attention distracted, one of the Hell Hounds managed to get a hold of his ankle, knocking him off balance and to the ground.
That was about all Ford was going to tolerate of this nonsense. Holding out his hand, Ford summoned his kanabo to his grasp in a flash of black fire, before slamming it to the ground and leaving a good dent in the floor. "(That does it! Typhoon Dance!)" Immediately, Ford began to spin in place, club out in an effort to strike all of the angry hellish dogs trying to gnaw at his body. Let's see how they like a club to the face at hurricane speeds! Of course, that does have the forgotten side effect of wipping up a storm inside a building, so… hopefully, that didn't have too many negative side effects.
*Oof*, indeed! Fortunately, however undignified her involuntary flight was, Scandal is accustomed to being on the receiving end of hostile attentions… and usually does not have a fuzzy landing pad trying to catch her. Tigra receives a momentary look of astonishment, silver blades flickering into view from beneath the cuffs of her leather jacket, before the Thunderbolt is pushing herself into motion - only to find herself interrupted and tossed into the air. Again.
"I feel like Gimli," she notes while in mid-air, as she pivots and twists with beyond-human grace and control of her body. Arcing over the path of the club, she extends one hand, intending to snare a grip on the Jotun so that she can use it to pivot around him… then flip and throw *him* with the aid of momentum as well as her own strength. Aiming for the glowing hole in the world he stepped out of seems appropriate as a target, should she be able to wrench him off his feet.
The woman elf looks at Dylan and laughs. "Not the cro——"
"Shut up, Evlyn." The elf behind her snaps before she can finish.
She snarls at her compatriot but turns that dire look on Dylan. "It's only a scavenger hunt if we don't know whe——"
"Shut up, Evlyn!"
The woman elf sighs and watches her dagger bounce of Hengroen. Two can play this game. Dylan finds a portal opening under him and he's relocated to the circle where Ford-Oni is fighting. "About as much as you care about your firends, I think…" She says.
Just as Ford decideds to Typhoon Dance. This should go well.
The Hell Hounds back off - stirred up by the resulting winds. Around the heroes, anything not nailed down is sent flying - that's a large glass paper weight that's about to connect with Scandals head. And those are folders and that's a … monitor.
Tigra's uppercut lands just before the storm hits. The Jotun doubles over and lets out a keen, even as he tries to grab for the cat woman. She'll find herself buffeted by those winds and the only place to hold on, is the Jotun.
Scandals move would be text book and a thing of glory to watch. She catches the Jotun and he goes over with her - sailing towards the portal … until the wind catches the pair of them and sends them careening into a wall, which starts to crumble. Let's hope that's not a load bearing wall.
Even Scandal probably won't recall whether it was the glass paper weight or the wall that knocked her senseless. Certainly, some of the crunching noises are likely to have come from her as well as the wall… and though there's some movement thereafter, it's much more a matter of the buffeting of wind and faling debris than of any remotely conscious control. It looks rather as if the Thunderbolt's intervention is at an end, at least for this round of otherworldly oddness.
Tigra feels quite smug at the success of her maneuver with Scandal, all the more so with how satisfying it was to rock the Jotun. She ducks under his hand, tucking and rolling between his legs…just as the winds start, drawing a started mrriao from her. She lashes out to find something to hold onto, and poor Mr Jotun, well, he's close to hand. Hope she doesn't grab someplace sensitive.
Ford steadily spun down, only to realize exactly how much damage his spell was causing. Great. Probably get blamed for that too. (To be fair, it WAS his fault.) He winced as he looked about at the damage he had caused. He… didn't think that one through. "(Oh hell. Sorry!)" He shouted, before turning to the elves. He seemed to have taken care of most of the trouble in the area. Intentionally or not. Time to address the real trouble. He a part of him was curious to see something… his club could eat magic. In theory, this portal was magic. Could he close these portals with his kanabo?
"(Dragon Rifle!)" Ford shouted, holding a hand up as a great silvery ethereal eastern dragon burst forth from it, zigzagging its way towards the dark elves in an effort to detonate on them. But that wasn't his goal. It was a distraction. Ford was making for the portal, hoping perhaps his club could feed of the energy and shut it down. Preferably before more reinforcements showed up.
Hengroen's shielding gives them some protection as the horse literally leaps away from the fury of the storm. If it wasn't impossible to overturn him, they'd surely have ended up sprawled on the ground. "We'll do this the hard way then." Dylan says and uses his heels to nudge Hengroen into a gallop. A slow gallop for him of only about sixty miles per hour as they charge the window, swinging at anything - jotun, minotaur, or svartalfar - that gets in his way.
Someone is going to have to see to Scandal in a moment. For now, the Jotun that Tigra grabs literally howls in pain. The woman is strong, ok?
Ford can see the other groups affected by his typhoon - people and creatures have been flung against and columns. The building is a total wreck and will need to be fixed - if it doesn't need to be demolished to begin with.
Hengroen charges, sending Jotuns flying, striking two down quite effectively with his sword. And there's a dark elf as well - he's cursing up a blue streak as the horse thunders by. Fairly soon, they start blinking out of sight - banished back to where they came.
As the dragon illusion flies across the area, the dark elves all fall back towards to the portal and disappear.
The 'vault' is open and should the group check in, gathered around it is Zatanna, Loki, Sigyn and Voodoo (a ninja telepath in eyecatching purple) and a flat box about 12 inches long and four inches wide. It's open and empty - inside, a velvet inlay - that looks like it housed a … stick?
Fortunately for the Jotun, as the wind dies down, Tigra lets go of him. later she'll feel guilty about, ahem, manhandling him so roughly. Maybe. Probably not. guy had it coming. As things look like they're starting to settle down, sort of, she does peek in to said vaultish area, just in case someone there needs help, and then after that, she'll go check on Scandal and see about arranging help for her.
Hengroen comes to a stop just outside the vault and Dylan sheathes his sword and dagger when he sees Zatanna inside it with the others. "They got it." Obviously, it's not a question. He curses the dark elf's parentage in Old Brythonic as he dismounts. "I can track it with the case." he tells Zatanna. Maybe. "You didn't mention multiple items. They implied they knew where they were." Not interested in being confined in a small space, Hengroen wanders outside and starts munching on some leaves on a tree on the sidewalk.
Ford cussed as the dark elves fell back. Looks like his theory about how his kanabo interacts with the portals will have to wait for another day, as the Dark Elves retreat. Dark Elves… Dark Ones… the light bulb in Ford's head just clicked. Could the Dark Ones looking for those three magical items be… Dark Elves? Literally? Ford huffed as he peering into the vault, blinking as he realized that he recognized that purple ninja! She had bailed him out of trouble on the way home once!
He'd have to address that later. He was about to go check on Scandal, considered he'd been the reason she got beaned in the head, but Greer seemed to be ahead of him. His sharp ears caught wind of Dylan being surprised at the multiple items… did they not know there were more? Perhaps he'd need to make a call… for now, before anybody got too mad at him for the damage he caused, he decided to bail, transforming into a crow and flapping furiously to get out of the area.
"I didn't mention them, because I didn't know." Zatanna answers, looking worried. "We need to track this but we need to find out what the hell it was."
"Let's clean up here and then regroup. Things are escalating and I don't like it …" Which is understatement. "Tigra, you fought well - from what I saw."
There's still work to be done … and things just got worse.