Summary:An attempt on a boutique bank - and the dark elves get something 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.
Magical alarms sound. WAND agents respond. And the contentedly snuggling mocha-skinned dancer with one said WAND agent suddenly has to decide: is she staying home, or going to help? "Arg. OK, OK. I'm coming."
Priscilla bounds off the sofa, sprints - wow, she really can move incredibly fast when she wants to! - into her bedroom and grabs her gear. No need to dress, she just morphs into her costume, but she comes dashing back out while strapping on her weapons and activating the locator that will summon her hoverbike to their future location.
Best part about deploying with Voodoo is that alien-hunting stripper ninjas are sneaky, determined, unafraid, unphased by the weird, and sneaky. Voodoo is easy to spot in the moments when she comes blurring through the portal and onto the scene, but moments later? Woman honestly gives rise to the 'neenja vanish!' cliche. « Hello to one and all. This is your assistant ninja and telepath for this evening's festivities. With your permission, I will be helping coordinate communications. Of course, if you want me out of your head, just say so; I promise, I'm a polite telepathic ninja. Have a nice fight! »
Home at Cover Story, the Lord of Mischief is doing his best to drive Sigyn crazy. Why? He's just in a mood, so he keeps stealing things she's trying to use, he gets this way sometimes. Illusions, sleight of hand, distraction and misdirection. Thankfully — just before he gets stabbed — there's the feel of gateways forming.
In New York that's not generally a big deal, there's a ton of supers who teleport via portals. HOWEVER - these feel like Svartalfar magic, and /that/ gets Loki's attention. Mid trick he stops, and then looks to Sigyn. "Got your armor handy?" Even as he asks his own shimmers into being and he wraps them both in a cloaking field. "Teleport to the gates, if you would beloved wife, and I will keep us hidden to assess."
Sigyn says grimly, "It's always handy lately." As her own Asgardian armor appears about her. She moves to stand next to him as he hides them from sight. "Your illusions always were better. Let me just hold on to you until we arrive…" And thanks to the illusion, people can't see exactly where she has grabbed him, though she does release him as soon as they arrive. They can't see the smirk she has either, though that fades as her eyes narrow at the sight of the destruction being wrought.
As Pris, Sigyn and Loki arrive, so does Zatanna Zatara - this time in her stage costume. Top Hat perched jauntily on her head, swallow coat and … the trademark fishnet stockings. "I have a show to perform in a couple of hours, do you think we could make this quick?" She says, tipping her hat to those arriving with her.
Hello, friendly telepathic ninja. We need to stop them getting into that vault. Vault? What vault? There's a panel in the wall that is now revealed to the group - and one of the dark elves is starting to a weave a spell.
The third dark elf, the other one is dealing with another group of heroes who have arrived, snarls at Zatanna "You meddling, middle classed, magician." A bolt of pure magical energy shoots out from his hand, as Zee nimbly dodges to the side.
« Oh. How interesting! Alright, Ladies and Gentleman. Let's get on that. Do you need a distraction from that jerk? » Voodoo sends out to the 'network' she has created, inquiring whether Zatanna wants anyone to run interference on the jackass Svartlelf so she can concentrate. It is one of the many wonderful services the telepathic ninja offers freely.
But for now? First up is doing like already asked, which is why Voodoo sneeksneeksneekdashes around and then starts spreading blaster fire on minotaurs and vault-penetrating svartlelves alike. C'mon now, evil bastiches! Pay attention to the gold-accented purple ninja who showed up. No fair being all single-minded! Come and get some!
"Oh, that's fine, you're a better healer. Especially at home. We each hav—" An oomph at the grab. And then she teleports them, and he finishes up. "-e our strengths and weaknesses." Eyes of glacier-heart green fairly burn as he sees the minotaurs, they /literally/ do when he sees the Svartalfar. About to draw Laevateinn, he is given pause when a mortal touches his mind, still…she DID do so fairly politely. Vexing however to have his cloaking field so readily penetrated, ah well, he'll just need to develop a better and more comprehensive spell to do the job!
The prospect of a new spell to research does much to soothe any ire, and he replies to the mind voice, his own thoughts sent with literally millennia of practice at doing so. «Impressive, and thank you.»
Still cloaked from the non-telepaths, his gaze narrows at the dark elf — 'Svartalfar' — as he hurls a levinbolt at Zatanna. Leaving Sigyn cloaked, he steps through the field, and points his sword at the. "From hates heart I stab at thee." Yes, he quotes Melville and as he does, Loki sends a pulse of magic through the sword that starts as intolerable brightness at the cross guard, and then LEAPS down the length of the blade, fire erupting as it passes and then a stream of eldritch fire searing through the air at the very one who attacked Zatanna.
He trusts Sigyn will make good use of the cloak, no—he knows bone deep she will.
«My wife and I will see what we can do to assist.» Then in their native tongue, Loki insults the hell out of the dark elves, starting by implying diminished sexuality and going downhill from there in a head to toe scathing commentary.
Sigyn keeps the illusion cloaking her tightly close as she weaves her way through the battle. She is careful to leave no footprint, make no loud noise, stand in no beam of sunlight where the dust-dance might give her away. Of course, that takes -time- and there is a limit to how close to the vault she can get. Still, she's fairly close to the heart of the fray when she sends through the link Voodoo has so kindly established, «Light-bolt coming! look away or close your eyes in 3 - 2 - 1 - NOW!»
On the now she drops the illusion sending out a burst of incredibly bright light around her. Daggers are thrown at the second and third closest enemies, the closest she draws a set of long daggers and charges.
It's a melee and a half behind this group. The Minotaurs have been distracted by another group and the noise that's being made is amazing.
A pack of Hounds of Hell have been summoned for a third group - though a huge black destrier seems to blink through a portal and behind one of the elf.
Sigyn finds her way close to the vault but finds her way blocked by a new arrival. A tall, part-dark elf with a war-club. Sigyn and Loki both know who this is - Grendell, one of Malekiths leuitenants.
The blinding flash of light from Sigyn affects an area around her, causing Grendell to stumble but not for long - that war-club swings in Sigyns direction and unless she's quick, it's going to connect and that Club is known to resist a blow from Mjolnir.
Priscilla finds herself facing a redheaded dark elf with a large dagger like blade. Her bolts of energy are reflected back to her and she finds herself the centre of his attention - that's what she wanted, wasn't it? She's tackled …
Zatanna rolls to her feet and casts a flat look at the dark elf that shot at her. He's left smoking but whole as Loki's bolt hits him. And he returns the favour by sending a blast just above Loki's head. The large chandelier fitting comes crashing down.
That is precisely what Voodoo wanted! « Hey! Thanks for the warning, that was really helpful! Glad I could help out! » Voodoo shares with the others in the network, as she is tackled! She rolls with the tackle, tucks tightly, and then twists and launches her tackler away from the vault and towards … well. Sorry about the windows! Pris is really glad she isn't blind and screaming right now.
Back up to her feet, Vooodoo's blaster is abandoned where it fell as her sword comes out. "Cute pigsticker, Red. C'mon, let's dance!" And oh, how this ninja can dance! Good thing her ribs can also reshape themselves after being half-crushed by the dark elf; damned heavy bastard.
Loki of course closes his eyes at the right moment, and is not happy when he sees that club coming at his wife, Grendell and he have met before — it didn't go so well for Loki the last time, this time he has high hopes of things going a bit differently.
Not terribly surprised at the fire attack's more or less failure, he 'ack' as the chandelier is dropped, and he gets driven to the ground. But Loki is a lot stronger than he looks, rising in a surge he hurls that chandelier at the Svartalf with enough force to wreck a tank. However, his attention is no longer on his first foe, nope, it is on Grendell. Crying challenge with a Jotun warcry, spins and as he does several images of him flow off and run to the attack from differing angles, hoping to distract and give Sigyn cover. Even as he does this, he cloaks the real him, and sheathes his sword as he leaps prodigiously counting on the sheer noise of the battle to cover his landing behind the half-giant, he waits then…hands empty as he tries to find an approach.
Sigyn is fast, whether she or Loki is faster sometimes comes down to who is having a better day. And she is almost as skilled as her husband, so when Grendell swings at her, she slides out of it's path, far to wise to try and parry. Of course, his attack attracted Loki's attention and Loki makes that very loud, multiple charge… She slides further out of the way of the fight.
While people are distracted, she drops her enchanted dagger Hjemmebund into a bit of rubble out of sight, then keeps moving, circling Grendell, weaving in and out of the duplicates of her husband in a pattern that confuses the eye and makes the battle harder to track.
Grendell bellows in rage as Sigyn slides from his hit. And bellows again as they're all covered in a shower of glass. With the multiple Lokis and the way Sigyn weaves, he just cuts loose with that club. That's a wall gone - but no Loki or Sigyn. And a decorative column crumbles - thank goodness it wasn't a load bearing one. But …. that one is and the Club swings towards it.
As all this is happening a wind is whipped up. Typhoon strength and it's coming from an Oni over there … an Oni who is fighting Hounds of Hell. Things are weird, ok?
"Not Red. Wormwood." The part-elf grunts to Priscilla as they dance. Because, Wormwood is totally a better name than Red. Mmmhmm. Metal rings on metal as his large dagger parries her sword. "I like psychics. They taste good with a touch of garlic and lemon juice …" He tells her. Fighing in that wind storm isn't easy though.
"Lady Sigyn." Zatanna calls, fighting the winds herself as she calls her magic to her. "Blast the elf from the vaults I'm going to try and banish these." //Friendly ninja telepath? Can you let the others know?"
« Naturally so, Ms. Zatara! » Because everyone just heard Zatanna in her own mind-voice. Networks are fun! « OK, Folks. Let's clear the vaults! » Good thing Priscilla isn't given to vanity in commbat! That wind is playing merry Hell with her hair, not to mention the rest of her. Voodoo can ground herself a bit against the force by actually yielding some under the strikes from Wormwood, allowing him to strike down at her with force which then counters the lift of the wind, but that's going to get dangerous in a hurry.
"You know, Wormy dear, I love being eaten as much as any woman. But you need better imagination in a culinary sense." Voodoo teases, pricking the dark elf's pride with sheer fearlessness and utter dismissal. She flips not up and over him, but twists and twirls around behind him and then suddenly lets her feet grow curved talons which drive into the floor as she drives her blode right through the stumbling opening she has created, aimed up through the ribcage in vicious fashion … assuming it hits. The guy does have hundreds if not thousands of years experience, so this may not work. All she can do is try!
Not willing to be buried alive, and hopefully unseen, Loki draws a cold-iron dagger…he waits until the most definitely not lumbering brute Grendell is about to hit a load bearing pillar, and he attempts to thrust it through back of one of Grendell's knees. The deity can lift fifty tons - a full body thrust, fifty tons of force, all concentrated at the needle sharp point of a dagger. That's a LOT of force focused on a tiny area. And Svartalfar are /not/ fond of cold iron.
Hopeflly this will spoil his aim! Leaving the dagger embedded there if there's any resistance (and if it hits) - either way after that attack he once more cloaks himself, and sends the faux-Loki's to attack the dark elf in the vault. He leaves an image of him next to Grendell though, literally leaving his own image behind and stepping out of it as he cloaks. More distraction!
Sigyn darts into the vault, trying to get the elf between her and the exit as she hits the elf with stinging slaps of levin-bolts. She knows they won't get through the shielding, they aren't supposed to… Once the elf has 'trapped' Sigyn in the vault and is between her and the exit, Sigyn will raise her right hand and throw a truly massive magical attack…
As her left hand reaches out, calling her dagger to it. Hjemmebund always returns to her hand, and it isn't always picky about the path it takes. In a battle like this, it will tend to fly in the straightest line to her, a line that goes directly through the elf she's confronting. That pairs a magical attack from the front with a purely physical one from the reare… hopefully one or the other gets through.
Lokis dagger stinks deep, blood pours down Grendells knee and leg. The club swing falters - nearly hitting Loki in the aftermath but it doesn't hit that column. Thankfully.
Wormwood brings the full force of a thrust down on Pris - staggering as the typhoon strength winds buffet him. Pris' blade hits home - but Wormwood is much denser than he acts (which is saying something) - blood flows but it doesn't bury deep. Deep enough to make him stumble away though - giving the telepath some room to breath.
"Got it." That's from the Dark Elve in the vault behind the wall. A vault that Loki and Sigyn can't help but notice was magically concealed in the bank. Interesting. "We're out of here…" Just as Sigyn and Loki get there, another portal opens and the dark elf slips through. Leaving Grendell and Wormwood to tumble through the one they came - it closes behind them.
What's left are Minotaurs and Hell hounds … an Oni and rather battered heroes. Slowly the minotaurs start to disappear as Zee's spell takes effect. The Hell hounds - well, they should run now their masters are gone.
And a building that's going to need a lot of repair.
What was in the vault? What's left behind is a flat box about 12 inches long and four inches wide … it's open and inside, a velvet inlay - that looks like it housed a … stick?
« Well, fudgesicles. Bastards got away with what they came for. » Voodoo comments to the network, as her dance partner is stolen away. Frustrated and annoyed, she lunches herself at the remaining opponents to prove useful, dancing this way and that with much more ninja-like means, slashing at ankles and stabbing at kidneys when openings provide themselves. Hell hounds, minotaurs, she's not picky. They all gotta go! Time to end this!
"By the All-Father's swinging sack, they got away!" Loki's invective flows, foul and in a shocking amount of languages. Goodness! The cold iron dagger is wiped clean, and then he concentrates, a spell cast to reinforce the building, it won't last for long, but it will hopefully give them time enough to repair it.
"A vault /hidden/ inside a -bank-, cloaked by some very effective illusions, it took a lot of skill to do this thing." He moves to where Sigyn stands, a hand offered the Goddess of Fidelity. "We needs must go, my wife." He turns his gaze to Zatanna. "It looks like there a stick inside, perhaps we might combine our efforts, my mystical library, yours at your ancestral seat, and see what it might have been?" He sends a swift thought to the telepath. «Thank you for your aid, you fought like a lioness. Know that Loki Laufeyson is not one to forget his debts.»
With that, he takes his wife and himself out of this reality and into a space between them as they return home.
Sigyn murmurs, "A wand perhaps? A bit cliche but things become cliche for a reason." She nods when Loki says they must go. Better to leave before they have to invoke diplomatic immunity… or worse, Loki gets -bored-.
As Loki and Sigyn leave, they 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."
"Let's clean up here and then regroup. Things are escalating and I don't like it …" Which is understatement.
"You fight well and your assistance is appreciated. 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.