Summary:The Spiders and indestructible people decide to run the bulls Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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.
Jessica Jones comes up out of the subway not that far away to encounter some straight up Lord of the Rings BS happening right in front of her. She'd just lit a smoke, the Marlboro tucked in the corner of her lips as she minotaurs start to pour into the bank.
About thirty percent of her says to just turn around, go back down the stairs, fuck this day, not worth the trouble, she's not a superhero anymore, nobody's paying her for this.
But she makes one step back and then sighs, taking off her jacket and laying it on a bench next to a rather shocked looking old woman, "Don't let anybody steal that, Miss Marple," she mutters, rolling her neck a bit and starting to stride forward to probably get her ass kicked by some Ringwraither looking motherfuckers.
One problem with being a business owner is dealing with the financials of the day to day. Some days that means having to put on the monkey suit and making the trek from Harlem over to where the money guys, and their churches of the all mighty dollar are in order to get a loan. It's not that Luke's is doing poorly, it isn't, but the owner/bouncer/bartender Luke Cage has some reinforcements he wants to make to the place now that it is attracting a different more super kind of clientele, and that one of his staff may or may not have a bunch of Asgardians coming by to kill him. Be prepared.
What Luke is not prepped for, however, is a bunch of minitours and dark elves flowing out through a rift in space. "Sweet Christmas," the large man exclaims with a sigh as he starts to stride forward towards the bank in question, hands balling into fists "Can't a guy just go to the bank in peace?"
Another day, another crisis. At least this one's only about one Earth …. okay, maybe two of them, but that's still pretty finite.
Spider-Man has been swinging around the financial district today on his patrols; he usually at least comes through the area a couple of times, principally when the armored cars tend to be making their rounds - prime time for the bad guys is prime time for Spidey, much to the paranoid fury of certain irascible journalists - but he had one of those niggling little hunches off of his spider-sense that this was where things would be hittnig the fan today, so this is where he's made himself … not exactly *visible* (except if you were a dozen or so stories up), but present.
And speaking of presents, like the man said, it's Christmas - except these jolly elves came out of a portal, not down the chimney. Plus Spidey has to get into the bank, although the flare of light at least tells him *which* bank. Sometimes the simple solutions are best; Spider-Man wastes no time in descending to the sidewalk, shedding his speed with a few well-placed webs off of windowsills, flagpoles, and one street lamp, and then just walks into the ban. "Don't mind me, I'm just here to work on the bank's web server …"
Cue two thwips, two weblines, and one good hard yank on the staff that the elf's waving around. "Might need this for some extra leverage," adds the red-and-blue-suited wall-crawler. "Don't worry, you'll get it back!"
… he notably doesn't say *how*, mind you.
<YOU'RE gonna work on the web server?>
Spider-Girl's voice comes over the Spider-Comm, for Spidey's ears only. <Listen, hombre, I know you're el smart-o and all, but if there's someone here who's really good with servers its - aw, shit. You were making a web joke.>
Spider-Girl isn't close, not at all. Odds are, if she kept it to the web-slinging, the mess would be cleaned up by the time she got there. So, why is it that she's riding atop one of the High Line trains, the train emptied of its passengers, the train barreling downtown at an alarming rate of speed?
Well, she's good with servers.
Perched atop the front car of the train, Spider-Girl's eyes widen behind the mask as an unassuming man in a station eyeballs his phone, far too close to the tracks. A glob of webbing thwips out and strikes him in the chest, causing him to stagger backward just in time to avoid being clobbered by the oncoming train.
"BEHIND THE YELLOW LINE!" she shouts as the train screams through the station, then turns her head back forward, fingers and toes gripping the train to keep from being thrown off.
<Seriously, dude,> she says over the Spider-Comm. <The web jokes. C'mon, man.>
There's more than one Spider about tonight who's got ideas of hitching a ride instead of webslinging in order to get around. Spiter-Woman is currently standing on top of a semi-truck trailer; one of those big ones with two trailers, probably full of something explosive like gas or nitroglycerin or who knows what.
<Sounds like we've got into a sticky situation with the puns,> she declares, tossing her two cents into the Spider-Comms conversation. <But let's not get tied up in it, yeah?>
While she's cruising along, she takes a moment to check her cellphone messages. "Nope, that ain't gonna work," she mutters to herself, responding to a text before tucking the phone away in her backpack. <I'll be there in about two minutes,> she adds, and starts doing some stretches on top of the semi trailer. <What are we looking at this time? Bank robbers again, or is this something weird?>
"Not Christmas…" A minotaur says as it squares off against Luke. On the peripheries, the group can see other heroes arriving and dealing with Elves and Dogs - huge spectral white ones with red ears.
Then there's a stampeded as the half dozen creatures close the distance between JJ and Luke. They're intent on keeping the two of them away from the wall. Spider-Man, Spider-Woman and Spider-Girl won't be able to get close - but they can create some distractions like ….
That wand is yanked from the dark elves hand - the elf had been focussing on another hero who had arrived, one on a big black destrier. Yes, it does get weirder - becareful what you ask for. Which sends a Minotaur leaping for the red and blue suited wall crawler. Anya and Gwen arrive just in time to see this.
Jessica Jones isn't quite the unstoppable tank of badassery that Luke is. Okay, she's not even close. But she is stronger than most by a longshot. And she's way meaner than anybody here, as demonstrated as she drops down and just punches the first minotaur square in the dick.
"Fuck you, beef jerky," she says, hefting him up and tossing him towards another approaching creature.
She looks over at Luke and somehow has managed not to lose her cigarette yet, "Aren't you a bartender?!?" she calls out while lowering her shoulder to charge into another.
<Weird,> Spider-Girl replies. She's already getting feeds on her mask; you know, the typical Facebook Live thing. She clicks off the comm and mutters to herself, "Siempre con la mierda rara."
The High Line happens to go reeeeeally close to this particular location. The train comes barreling down its track, and as the fighting comes into view, Anya is already preparing herself for the crazy. "This is gonna be fun," she quips, and grins wickedly before leaping from the speeding train.
A blur of black and white flies through the air, much faster than she's ever gone before. It's as exciting as it is terrifying, but at least she's got the wit to keep her arms and legs flat against her body, for aerodynamics and all. She goes flying past the Minotaur going after Spider-Man, and suddenly opens her arms and legs, blasting a pair of weblines at the Minotaur's neck and back. With how fast she's going, and how strong those webs are… well. There's a chance both she AND the Minotaur will get whiplash.
"You want a beef with me Toro? Get in line!" Luke quips as he slams his fist forward towards the jaw of the bull-man that steps up to him, not holding anything back. Casting a glance over towards Jessica, Luke Shrugs a shoulder, as he follows up with a second fist towards the breadbasket from the other side..the old one two punch, "Not just a bartender…" he calls out, "I own the place."
<What was I supposed to do, walk into the bank without saying *anything*?!> Spidey inquires of Spider-Girl. <Glad you're en route — whup, sec!>
The wand, or staff, or whatever it is Spider-Man just yoinked is pressed into impromptu service as a cudgel as the web-slinger leaps up out of the charging minotaur's path, twisting around in mid-air and trying to hook the staff across the minotaur's horns, followed by a good sharp yank to throw the beast off-balance. If that much works, Spider-Man follows up by a double-legged kick to the bullman's chest, trying to lay the minotaur out flat … which should be even easier with Anya's sudden, unexpected, and completely welcomed assistance.
And if the minotaur actually goes down, Spider-Man tries to web the bullish beast to the floor - mostly by the arms and legs - including one extra kick to the head, trying to leave the 'taur unconscious. "Man, these investors wouldn't know a real bull market …"
Right, eleven or so more of those. Plus three elves. Spidey twirls the purloined staff - if it's still intact after all that - and goes after another minotaur. <'Weird bank robbers,' three dark-skinned elf guys and a bunch of bull-headed thi— minotaurs, that's what they're called, right? Like the Greek myth.>
"It's a good place," Spider-Man chimes in on his way past Luke and Jessica. "And you have a *great* cook in that blind guy!"
Spider-Woman's ride doesn't seem keen on getting near the bank — the driver must have a police scanner or something, or else that just isn't his route. Either way when he turns off, Gwen leaps off the top of the truck and resorts to webslinging, and arrives just in time to see Spidey getting attacked by a minotaur. <Careful what puns you make, next thing you know there'll be bears,> she suggests.
"It is a good place!" she agrees, swinging past Luke and Jessica and popping a thumbs up with one hand in passing. Well, you might argue that she's biased given that she works there, but she doesn't advertize the fact that she's, well, Spider-Woman. She keeps on going, eventually releasing the webline so she can go sailing through the air and deliver a two-foot kick to the minotaur coming after her friend.
"Okay, so what's this all about?" she inquires, as she bounces back to her feet on the sidewalk, pulling her fists up in front of her. "Greek Myth just suddenly decided to rob the bank? I know this is New York but what the heck."
"What is it with Kids these days?" One minotaur asks another. In the background now, there's dark elves, Jotun, Hounds of Hell and even more dark elves. "Don't know they there's such a thing a multi-culturism?" Is he *serious*? Whatever is going on, they expected a response and were prepared for it.
As Gwen puts her fists up, she's stampeded by one of the minotaurs. He doesn't stop, just dips his horns and goes to head butt her.
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. And that's just what this group is doing.
The minotaur that Spidey hooks is certainly tumbled, but it struggles back to its feet and tries to grab the Spider-Man. It's strong and if it gets it hands or horns on him, there's going to be trouble. Anya's weblines would hit except she's intercepted by another minotaur who saw her coming. Now she's captured another who is spinning around, making her fly. It's not really interested in trying to get free … yet.
The only two managing to go one on one are Luke and Jessica and those bull men don't seem to care that one of them is a woman. One is shouldered charged by JJ, sent grunting into a wall causing shelves to shake and contents to spill. It swings a massive fist at the side of her head - and LAUGHS. It's enjoying this.
Lukes punch sends the minotaur flying but that just makes room for another who charges him from the side. Right into a third one. They're enjoying this too but not taking any chances - that man hits like a mac truck.
Jessica Jones shakes her raven-tressed head, "Oh that's real funny, yeah, real funny, my kicking your ass is just hilarious, bring on the fucking laugh track," she says, throwing a sharp kick into the nose of the thing hard enough to make it snot blood.
"Oh, the owner?" she calls back to Luke, "Well, consider this me applying for a god damn tab, because I'm going to need about two gallons of JD to wash this dow—OOF!" she groans, taking a shot from one of the minotaurs and going flying a bit, skidding along the sidewalk enough to scrape her arm, adding a little blood and a nice case of road rash.
"Good thing I put aside my jacket," she mutters, pushing up to her feet. "Oh, look, Spider-People. Great. It's a fucking superhero fucking extrava-fucking-ganza."
"Oh, *seriously?!*" complains Spider-Man as he ducks away from the minotaur trying to grab him. "That's it, we need to build you all a nice labyrinth, or a hedge maze, or *something* and let you run around to your hearts' content!!"
Fortunately, the wall-crawler has plenty of experience fighting bigger and arguably-stronger foes. Being faster than a cat made of greased lightning certainly helps, as does his spider-sense, forewarning him of where things are about to try to hurt him. But he's never going to take down *one* of these minotaurs if he keeps playing defense; he might keep the bullish brute distracted, but that's about it, and that's not good enough.
He does still have that staff, though - and he's not shy about *using* it, jabbing or swinging as the opportunity presents itself in the middle of his own jumps, dives, dodges, and weaves. Spider-Man is fighting dirty, too, aiming for the nose or the eyes or the base of the horns, even one staff-jab betwixt the minotaur's legs.
"Look, Del Toro -" Aerial somersault. "- you *know* I love a good -" Toss staff up, web a flagpole, yank himself further up out of harm's way … "- monster movie -" … come back down to put all his weight into a two-footed kick under the minotaur's chin. "- but that doesn't mean *acting* in 'em!" Catch the staff when it descends and thwack the minotaur one more time.
"we get through this, I'll give you a bottle or two on the house," exclaims Luke as he shifts to try and literally take the bull by the horns as it pummels into him. He tries to pivot and plant his foot, but the leather soles of his dress shoes aren't able to get any traction and he ends up sandwiched between the two slabs of beef with an audible 'OAF!'
"Man, this is my good suit!", the bartender yells as he drives an elbow down into the top of the head of one. "I'm gonna have Hod make ribs out of y'all. YO! SOMEONE GRAB ME THE BBQ SAUCE!"
"Shit!!" Anya is yanked as her weblines are intercepted; she'd planned for one thing, not this! She goes flying in a circle, her normally slender arms now bulging with musculature visible by the skin-tight costume she wears. She's holding on, and struggling against inertia to capture both weblines in one hand. She's unable to do it before being bashed into the third floor wall of the bank, and she disappears momentarily in a maelstrom of busted brick and broken glass, which goes scattering all around.
When she emerges, the young woman has left a gash of collateral damage, but she's still alive, and seems relatively unharmed. Plus, both of those weblines are in one hand now.
With a free hand, she grasps a large piece of rock that was torn free in her collision; the rock clings to her hand without even really needing to grapple it. With a mighty tug, she pulls on the webline and goes down toward the Minotaur, rearing her arm back with a scowl on her face. Down she goes, aiming for the beast's head with that piece of rock. If she's noticed Luke, or the foul mouthed woman who just might find a way straight to her own vulgar heart, she hasn't visibly acknowledged it yet. She's a little busy, okay!?
And now, Spider-Woman is being charged by a minotaur, and her danger-sense is busy informing her that this is a bad thing. "I'm not a bull-fighter!" she complains; but she sets her feet anyway, and as the big beast reaches her she snaps her hands forwards to grab hold of its horns. She immediately getes pushed backwards; and digging her heels in doesn't seem to be helping like she'd planned on.
<I second that sentiment!> she declares into the Spider-Comms, as she's being pushed rapidly towards… whatever happens to be behind her. So she changes tactics for the moment, pushing off and twisting her arms to catapult herself up onto the minoataur's back.
"Distraction… right…" she mutters to herself, as she fires a glob of webbing onto the minotaur's face, and then yanks on his horns to see if she can steer him that way. "Giddyup!" she yells, as she fires off another glob towards one of the bull men that Luke is fighting, and then another one at that one over there, not really bothering to check what he's up to. "Spider webs for everyone!" she declares.
"You need a better tailor." The Minotaur grunts, picking up Luke by his lapels and starting to spin like a discus thrower. Round and round they go, where they stop no one will know … Not quite - there's a huge dark skinned man flying through the air right at the moment - and a load bearing column in his way.
Now things get interesting as typhoon like winds start to howl. They seem to be coming from a demon like creature fighting Hounds of Hell … hard to tell who's on who side… But the upshot? People are buffeted around and detritus starts to swirl through the air. That incluldes the rock that Anya just launched at the beast - it hits, far more heavily than it should have, Spider-Girl got lucky.
With blood flowing down its temple, the minotaur roars and tries to charge the slight woman again. It's confused, alright?
Peters attacks are affected by the winds. His two-footed kick lands with a helluva impact but the staff misses completely. The minotaur gets lucky and gets a hand on a web - trying to pull the webslinger closer.
About the only one who isn't so unlucky - is Gwen. She's on the shoulders of a minotaur playing rodeo. Whether that's an improvement though? The minotaur veers as she tugs on his horns - the wind buffets them and sends them spiralling into a wall.
JJ lands her kick. She hears the satisfying crunch as the bovine nose just crumples. That creature is caught by the wind and sent barreling into her…. It just goes with the flow, trying to pummel the strong woman into a wall.
Be ready. Zatanna's trying to banish these guys. The unknown telepath transmits.
Letting out a yelp of surprise as he goes airborne, Luke sails through the air at breakneck speed right up until he slams into that load bearing column. What happens when you take a 450+ pound man and toss him at speed…he makes an impact. That is what happens. An impact that causes the support to buckle, spit in twain with the resulting load it was bearing collapsing down now that it is unsupported.
"All onto Luke's head. He is now burred under tons of rubble, stone, and steel.
Jessica Jones tries to control the spin of the minotaur that collides with her, although her weak flying talent isn't much use against the force of the impact. Still, she grabs ahold of those convenient horns and tries to work her way up onto the minotaur's back, adding her own propulsion and just trying to ride the beefy bastard into the nearest obstruction with enough force to knock him the eff out.
"BARTENDER NO!" she calls out as Luke gets buried in rubble. "He was going to get me drinks, you fucks!"
"Luke!" Spider-Girl cries out as her friend goes flying. She spins around, ready to throw a pair of weblines his way, but it's too late; lacking the spidey sense, she ends up pummeled by the confused and bleeding pig, right in her side. A crack suggests more than one or two ribs just cracked, but she's not gonna go down without a fight.
"AUGH!" She throws her arms around the beast's midsection and goes tumbling with him, using his own momentum and body against him and letting his body prevent her own head from cracking into the pavement. "You stinky, pig bastard! she curses. She tumbles along with him, grappling and wrestling and trying to keep him moving… while quietly seeping webbing from her spinnerets. The goal here is to cocoon the poor bastard before he even really knows what's going on.
"Hey, pig-face!" Anya slips out from beneath him, planting her foot on the ground and tumbling over him like the gymnast she is. Her body twirls, webbing wrapping around his frame and pulling tightly. "It's like… bacon wrapped bacon, except this isn't bacon, and…" She pauses, then calls out, "THIS IS WHY I DON'T DO PUNS!"
If it weren't for the full face-covering mask, Spider-Man would grimace at the combination of the staff-thwack whiffing, and the minotaur actually managing to *pull him closer by his own webs*. "Spider-Woman, stick with it!" he calls out, lobbing the staff towards Gwen -
And then he leaps *straight at* the minotaur who's pulling on his webbing, leading with another of those both-footed kicks, and immediately following up with a merciless barrage of punches, leavened only by the occasional need to dodge or parry one of the minotaur's own attempts to wreck the wall-crawler.
Maybe it's desperation. Maybe it's hearing the crash of a body breaking through architecture, or seeing which body it was that did so. Maybe it's a burst of adrenaline, spurred by the hope that Zatanna can finish the banishing sooner rather than later.
Or maybe it's just wanting to see *one* of these burly brutes actually go down and *stay down*.
At least he laid off the quipping, which could possibly be a source of some relief to the inestimable Ms. Jones over there. But then, when Spider-Man stops running his mouth, it *tends* to be a bad sign for *somebody* …
"Figured it was time to branch out with my fighting skills!" Spider-Woman catches the staff with one hand, still holding onto the minotaur she's riding with the other. A minotaur who seems angry about the current arrangement, to be sure. "Now it's time to pl—OOMPH!" Gwen's next quip is lost as she and the minotaur get buffeted into the wall, knocking the wind out of the Spider and nearly disloding her from her spot. She does drop the staff, but a very rapid webline and a quick tug pull it back into her hand.
She sees Luke get knocked into a support and burried; but she's also seen him eat a missile and be fine, and there's nothing she can do about it just now anyway. "Don't worry he'll be fine!!" she yeslls back to Jessica, as she scrabbles to regain her perch on the minotaur's back. "Dig him out later!"
Once she's in position, she raises her hand holding the staff, and brings it down hard, bashing the bull man right in the noggin. "Sweet dreams!" she yells. And then hits him again. "No really, go to sleep!" And another. "Nighty-night!" Once more with the staff upside the head. "No really, do you ever fall unconscious?"
Luke is buried in the rubble, but so is that Minotaur. It's not moving and probably won't be for a while.
JJ can work herself onto the minotaurs back, grabbing its horns and using the winds to smash it into a wall. It tries to beat at her - landing several hits just before the wall cracks and crumbles about them.
Then, without warning, it blinks away from under JJ - leaving her … at least for the moment … in thin air.
Anya gets up close and personal, wrestling with her minotaur. It looks like an offering to Lloth by the time she admits she doesn't do puns. It's still struggling though, the cocoon a a wriggling mass … and then it stops. The cocoon starts to sag and deflate.
Spidey's minotaur didn't expect a direct attack - Spider-Man had been trying to avoid that until now. A punch breaks its snout. A kick breaks a horn - the wall crawler doesn't get off scott free though - he's punched in return and the bull-man throws himself against the wall, trying to squish the spider that's annoying him.
And then, just like the others … that Minotaur blinks out. Leaving Spider-Man somewhere in the air.
The wand that Spider-Woman catches, is used an effective club. Flying away from her as she's stunned but quickly snagged back. It's not a clean fight - it never is, is it? The Spider is tossed about, thrown against the wall and generally spun about. Until her mount just disappears as well.
All that's left is what's left of the winds - a pretty much destroyed bank building - and heroes.
Over by the vault, should the group choose to check in - 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?
Jessica Jones shakes some rubble out of her hair, pushing her way out, "What…the ever loving fuck…was that shit…?!?" she cries. She kicks a rock and starts to meander over to try and help pull Luke free of some of the rubble, starting to dig for him.
"Oh, great, you got a stick, congratu-fucking-lations, Dumbledore and friends, now there's a big strong bartender under here and we're going to fucking dig him out, ya got me?"
"I hate this fucking city," she mutters to herself.
"What the actual…" The next word likely would've made Jessica proud, but Anya tries to tone down her normal foul language when she's wearing the spandex. Her eyes are on the cocoon for a moment, before turning around to see that yes, indeed, all of the others have gone as well.
It's Jessica who pulls her out of WTF-land. She turns and rushes over, hands out. "Whoa whoa, hold up!" She points at the crushed pillar. "That's load bearing. We pull him out, the whole… well, half the building comes down, at least, maybe the whole thing." She turns to Luke's poor not-crushed head, and sighs. "That skull of his is keeping the building up right now. Before we move him, we gotta…"
She turns then, whistling. "Oy! Spider-Man, Spider-Woman! Get your asses over here, we got a building to web up!"
They're gonna have to literally web the building in place before pulling Luke out.
This is gonna suck.
Ow. That's probably at least two or three ribs cracked, certainly he's going to look like he's half bruise if anyone sees him shirtless … but Spider-Man has, in the grand scheme of things, had worse. And that's *before* he goes from being unsupported in mid-air to an untidy landing on the lately-abused pavement. Not half so abused, however, as the bank building.
Never mind staggering or trying to get the wind back in his lungs, Spider-Man is already taking stock of the bank's structure as he adjusts to the sudden absence of bad guys. There's also a bartender who needs rescuing. Some of that rubble can probably be used to shore up the building, too …
"On it," he says somewhat woozily to Spider-Girl, and starts laying webbing across damaged chunks of the wall. He can at least stop things from falling apart *faster*, especially while there are people inside. "It's going to take more than just three well-meaning web-slingers to glue this pillar back together," he assesses as he works. "We need a way to hold things *up* somehow …"
He does spare a wave to the magical types, and if there's a gesture of 'could you come over here?' in it, well, magic works too well for him to dismiss it out of hand. "So, you got a name, Tab Lady?" he asks Jessica, working around her as well as he can.
Gwen is right about to whallop the minotaur again, when he abruptly vanishes out from underneath her, and she lands on her back with a loud 'oomph!' "Are they supposed to do that?" She stands, and dusts herself off. "That wasn't really what I had in mind for tonight, I—" she stops as Anya makes her summons. She uses a short bit of webbing attached to either end of the staff so she can sling it across her back for now — she'll give it back to Spider-Man later — and rushes off in the direction of the building.
"Right then!" she replies, moving to stand beside Spider-Man and start lobbing globs of webbing at the worst parts of the building. "Some people have no respect for good architecture," she observes. "Don't worry, uhh, Bartender guy, we're coming to get you. We'll have you out of there momentarily." Well, as soon as they can pull it off without destroying half a building, anyway.
JJ will get help digging Luke out. Zatanna won't let the woman go without her tab.
All around can hear Dylan remark to Zee: "You didn't mention multiple items. They implied they knew where they were."
And her answer: "I didn't mention them, because I didn't know." looking worried. "We need to track this but we need to find out what the hell it was."
To the general group, the Magician adds "Let's clean up here and then regroup. Things are escalating and I don't like it …" Which is understatement. "When I've cleaned up here, I have a show to do and then I'm getting a drink…."
Things just got a whole heap worse.