Summary:Did someone tear the veil between Earth and another dimension? Heroes have to fix it. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Early saturday evening at the Botanical Gardens is generally quiet, even as the weather turns warmer. There's still a number of people out and about as the sun slowly starts to dip below the horizon. It's a lovely place to just wander or even picnic.
About twenty minutes ago, magical senses and sensors all over New York just went off. It centered here, at the Gardens. WAND has notified its agents - with all who can respond being told to do so. It's *another* dimensional rift.
At the Gardens, it's chaos. There's horseman mounted on huge glowing beasts which blow smoke from their nostrils as they charge through the sheltered lanes and the riders are heedless of those in their path.
Of course, the public are panicking and it's hard to say what's worse - the 'cavalry charge' or the stampede of those trying to escape.
Zatanna Zatara can be seen arriving out of nowhere, perching atop a hedge wall. Not in her stage costume but leather trousers and jacket, the blue eyed magician speaks unintelligible words that form arcane symbols around a pair of children. Those children just disappear - only to appear on the hedge next to her.
Half an hour ago, Peter Parker arrived at the Botanical Gardens to help one of his reporter acquaintances with an upcoming article on the Botanical Gardens' arrangements for the season.
Twenty-one minutes ago, the murmur-level tingle in the back of Peter's mind - what had been a low-key 'something's up' from his spider-sense - became an impossible-to-ignore warning, prompting him to excuse himself, nudge said acquaintance towards the nearest exit, and find a good place to get out of sight for the seconds he might still have had.
And starting about nineteen minutes ago, Spider-Man has been swinging back and forth, *trying* to herd civilians away from cavalry and vice-versa, and attempting to get as much of a sense of how many horsemen (are those things even horses?!?) there actually are, in the hopes that intel will help when more of the good guys show up. It takes time to actually string up enough webbing to act as a serious barrier to these 'knights' or their horses, though - precious minutes in which he's not scooping a frightened New Yorker out of harm's way, or kicking a knight in the face (or the helmet) to stave off a charge, or …
You get the idea.
This particular moment sees Spider-Man plant both feet across the face of not a horseman, but his horse, trying to divert its rush towards a trio of shrieking college students (two boys, one girl, don't ask who has the higher-pitched voice). "Fastest way out is that way, get moving!" Spidey calls out to them - but he can't spare the time to break through their panic and make SURE they go.
It was just too much to ask, wasn't it?
Ford has set aside a nice afternoon for his little sister to try and spend a bit of time with her, or more accurately, let her out of the house to spend some time with her friends. The Botanical Gardens seemed like a good day trip. They were going to get dinner afterwards, once the girls tired of talking with each other. Ford himself was busy contemplating just how… peaceful it was here. He had always forsaken anything to ever do with his Japanese lineage, he wanted nothing to do with it. But he had to admit, staring quietly at the cherry blossoms, hearing the river (artificial or not) run by, feeling the fading glows of the evening sun, the huffing and shouting of a horseback rider— wait.
Ford was caught somewhat with his metaphorical pants down this time around. He was NOT prepared for these magical jackasses to make a return, especially not here while he was out with his sister! Immediately jumping from his seat on the bench, Ford snarled at the intrusion to what was for once just a nice peaceful afternoon. FOR ONCE! Hurrying to secure his sister's safety and wheel her out with her friends, Ford immediately rushed back to try and contain the flow of the crowd. By force, if needed. Trying to keep people from trampling each other or getting trampled, shoving people to safety as needed, Ford is playing crowd control at the moment. But all the while, he was keeping an eye out for the portal… it had to be somewhere… along with those dark elves…
See, this stuff has been really annoying the Lord of Lies, he's even sent out some feelers to Svartalfheim since the dark elves have been instrumental, indeed, last incursion Loki had a run in with a certain one armed half giant svartalf who he has a bone to pick with from another separate prior meeting.
Sadly, no word yet. STILL…the gateways have had a particular 'feel' to them that he's been keeping an eye out for. Today that intent pays off, and once he gets a fix he teleports himself to the near vicinity and then takes a mortal form whilst cloaking his aura and such with his magic.
Not being particularly picky about things like species or gender, he takes the shape of — a mutt, one who doesn't have anything resembling a pedigree other than 'Scruffy looking'.
For the moment he's trying to make his way to point the gate formed at, and try to get a read on it and a backtrace.
Hey! Not particularly a 'hero' in the conventional sense, he's a Trickster god, not a crusading paladin! He'll help, these people have been annoying him for one thing, but he'll help because that's the rightish thing to do as well.
Alison Blair, aka Dazzler, has made a quiet walk in the gardens part of her pre-gig warm-up. Dressed casually for the late spring evening in boots, jeans, t-shirt (written on it is 'Dear Karma, I have a list of people you missd'), and leather jacket, she is at first oblivious to the commotion; walking around with earphones in and singing loudly to yourself can do that. But she soon becomes aware when jostled by a fleeing overweight man who is bustling at almost one mile an hour.
"Hey, watch…" Dazzler's admonition dies in her throat as she sees the horsemen behind the panic. "Oh…that's not the NYPD." There's a silver lining…it's very noisy. Not sure if she's a Young Avenger or an X-Man these days, and realising that action needs to be taken now rather than wait for help, she looks for a route of safety for people. There's a path between the hedges that the horsemen may find difficult so Dazzler sprints there, holds up one arm, and her hand becomes a bright beacon that's hard to miss. "This way! Through here!!" Is that Spider-Man? Cool.
BOOM.
The sound is like a thunderclap rolling across the gardens, accompanied by a rider and horse /flying/ through the air. Not in the way that a pegasus might, but more like the way a rider and horse might if they were punched by someone very, very strong. Yep. Guess who's come to play.
Hercules strides forward, his expression VERY irked. He's stripped to the waist, wearing only trousers and boots, and he tosses a towel to the side as he approaches. Behind him, part of the fence around the Gardens has been firmly removed, allowing civilians to flee behind him as he advances on another rider. "The Wild Hunt is not welcome here," he growls, anger flashing in his blue eyes. As two other riders charge, Herc feints towards one, and then just goes full Sunday uppercut on the other, not holding back at all.
Hanako was…unlucky, there was no real other way to decribe it. A day off, a chance to see the city and no rehersals to speak of, the native Japanese girl was simply enjoying the day…then there'd been panic, chaos and horsemen about.
A couple of soft curses in her native tongue, the girl had ducked behind one of the nearby trees, a flash of light obscured by foliage before she'd emerged in her 'armor', pulling her hood up over her head while arcane voltage still crackled around her. Little red 'lightning' hood as it were, the woman rushes towards the fleeing crowd, unable to take more than a fleeting moment to spot a walking tourist attraction she'd kept an eye out for earlier
"The Wild Hunt does not need to welcome." One of the riders turns their eyes to the Olympian Demi God who has just arrived. Even as Herc feints, the horse urged into a jump …. he knows better than to engage directly with the strong man. The horse sails over Hercules head, landing behind him and turning on a dime - which is kind of impressive.
The second horseman isn't quite as lucky as Hercules fist connects with the lower of the horses muzzle. The horse jerks up, onto its two rear feet, hooves flailing as it tries to keep its balance. Which gives the first horseman the opening he needs to just charge at the demi-gods exposed back.
Spider-Man manages to slow one horseman in a set of webs strung between hedges. The horse rears and flails, hooves flashing in the falling light. The horseman fixing their eyes on the Spider-Man. "Be ready to run. You'll be added to our Hunt when it rides in full one moonless night."
The three teens Spidey yells to just stand there still shrieking as a huge black hound bounds toward them. Alison can see them as a horseman aims for her. And yes, there's an awful lot of noise, isn't there?
The Hounds and Horses are riding!
That's not all Spider-Man has to deal with, as a Horseman tries to polo with the heroes head.
Loki as a mutt would make Zatanna smile but the magicians attention elsewhere at the moment. He can make his through the screaming and panicking people - though he gets trodden on several times. He and Ford find one rent in the dimension about the same time. Still open, there looks like a squad of flying … monkeys coming through.
Hanako emerges from her cover into a press of slathering hounds. These things are *huge* and they glow with a spectral light … and also like the look of the 'magical girl'. They leap at her, claws and fangs exposed.
"Keep telling yourself that, bunkie," Spider-Man replies to the horseman (horsewoman? that armor makes it *impossible* to tell, and the voice isn't that helpful either). "You haven't seen me run -"
And that's when the second horseman tries to butt in on the conversation. Spidey ain't having that, of course; he *likes* his head, thank you, and prefers to keep it firmly attached to his shoulders, so when he senses the incoming swing, he wastes no time at all in dodging out of the arc of the weapon's swing. "Do you MIND?!" he snaps, although his tone might be half-playful. "I was trying to talk to your friend here!"
He comes up from the almost-cartwheel he turned while dodging, shoots one webline at a light post and a second at the interrupter's weapon, then tries to yank the latter out of its wielder's grip while launching himself into another swing, seemingly retreating from that particular path.
But only seemingly. He comes back a moment later, having discarded the weapon, and lets go of his webline at just the right moment and angle to go flying at the horseback hunter, fists-first. "Look, bunkie," he calls out in between punches, "if you want - to visit the gardens - then you do it on foot!"
He follows up the barrage of punches with a jump and a kick, trying to knock the rider out of his saddle - and at the same time, trying to propel himself in an arc towards the hunter he was being threatened by before. "Didn't forget about you, big guy -"
His aim is to land BEHIND the rider, reaching over his (???) shoulders to spray webbing all over the visor.
Ford blinked as he heard a horse go flying, looking over to see… Hercules! Oh thank goodness, things were well in hand! After all, you can't expect to outmatch the God of Strength in a power contest, right? Hopefully this was more of a headbutt and not a rock-paper-scissors scenario, where they were hiding some dastardly demi-god killing trick up their sleeves. "—oh sh-! Herc! Behind you!" Ford only had just enough time to shout, before his attention was turned to the portal he'd located.
His eyes only briefly glance over to see Spider-Man. Oh lovely! First Spider Woman, now Spider Man. At this rate, he'd have the whole set under his belt.
Staring at the portal, Ford huffed a bit as he looked into the dimensional rift to spy a legion of… flying monkeys? Seriously?! "Jeebus criminy, what do these elves not have on their side?" Ford asked, before looking down and noticing the Lok-dog, trying to wave him away, clearly unaware of the dog's true nature. "Shoo, boy. Go on. Trust me, this is gonna get ugly…" Holding out his hand, Ford willed his kanabo into his grip, before snarling and transforming into his oni form and glaring angrily at the portal… and for anyone with the nose for black magic, everything about Ford just lit up like a 1000 watt bulb.
"Moshiwakearimasenga, nomi kamareta furiku. Ozu kara no fune wa shimatte imasu!" Ford snarled, before holding up his kanabo and testing his theory. This portal was using magic. Ford's club ate magical energy. Ergo, his club should be able to close this portal if he held it close enough. In theory.
But for those with magical senses, something else becomes painfully clear. The club smells the absolute glut of magical and divine energies within its proximity… and a low, ringing hum is probably catching their ears about now.
When you're acting like a beacon, of course the bad guys will see you too. Alison suddenly has a horseman charging at her and three teens who are stunned into immobility…but making a lot of noise. That silver lining again. Does she look after herself or those potential fans? There's not really a choice.
Dazzler runs towards the teens. "Move!!" As she runs, the beacon light dissipates and needle like lasers shoot from her fingertips to lacerate, hopefully, the horseman that is pursuing her. Is there more than four? She hopes there are more than four horsemen. No time for the Apocalypse yet. And Dazzler is pretty sure that there were no flying monkeys in Revelations.
Reaching the teens, she throws up a barrage of dazzling, almost hypnotic, lights around them to distract any attack from the simple mortals. Hopefully the horsemen, or their horses, have eyes to be dazzled.
Do they think him a fool? Probably. Even Hercules would admit he can be prone to foolishness at times. But this isn't really one of them. He drops to a knee, causing the first rider's charge to pass over his head. Then he's back up, and he grabs not the rider, but the saddle and harness of the horse — and picks it up as casually as a sack of potatoes. "Clearly, the Seelie and Unseelie Courts have forgotten my name," Hercules says in an almost gentle voice. "Allow me to refresh the memory."
And that's when he starts using the horse and rider as an improvised blugeoning weapon. Black hounds? Other riders? They're all getting beaten with an otherworldly horse and rider. It would be funny if it wasn't so terrifying.
Man, Loki forgot how much it sucks to be a smaller canid in a crowd! Sadly, he's really not all that tough in this form - it is a risk. Of course that's a big part of what makes it /fun/! Still, it behooves him to avoid getting kicked or stomped or overrun and that adds serious verisimilitude to his cover. He'll even yelp a couple times, very method is the Loki.
He does have time to marvel at the assembled heroes and heroines, even another God! "Only in New York." He mutters.
And then he gets to the gateway about the same time as another.
Brown doggy eyes study the rip in reality. A moment to cloak himself fully, he leaves an illusion of the mutt behind that runs off in a (rather sensible!) panic.
And then there's a familiar Oni demon attempting to close the gate with a blunt instrument. Turnabout though, a voice emerges from thin air. "Hitting it likely won't work, Oni…the field is being sustained by a potent magical source, however it might be possible to weave it closed." As he speaks Loki manifests an image of himself next to the gateway, of course he himself isn't there, just near.
It was reassuring to see other heroes, those she recognized and most she didn't stepping up to protect the bystanders and drive back this supernatual threat. Hanako would be positively inspired…if she wasn't surrounded by 'ghost mutts' that wanted to tear her to 'magical ribbons'. With a soft 'Oh crap' the young woman leaps, a crackle and crash of magical lightning that might almost make one wonder if Loki's hammer-happy relative was on-site slamming into the earth beneath her as she thrust both her hands downwards and let her enhanced physical form carry her upwards.
The lightning was magical, but apparently it splashed through the nearby earth as 'ground lightning' like a regular bolt. Hopefully the hounds weren't as quick to leap as she was!
Of course, she -did- notice the magical surge of Ford's club and Dazzler's light show, but the less-experienced heroine could spare little more than a glance as she kept up her 'run and blast' tactic, trying to stay ahead of teeth and claws!
"You wi—-" That's all the horseman gets out as Spider-Man flies, kicking, punching and sending sprays of web everywhere. It's a good thing the horse knows where its going - though the pull on the reigns sends it careening towards one of the oldest trees in New York.
Which means, that Spidey is now punching the blinded horseman as the horse cavorts wildly through the gardens. Is the blue and red clad hero a conservationist?
Fords theory doesn't hold up. The portal itself is not made from magic - it's a tear in the veil. If anything, the Kanabo makes matters worse, eating the magic that sustains the veil and causing the tear to widen slightly. And now he's accosted by those flying monkeys. And they ain't cute - with sharp claws and teeth that try to rend and scratch the Oni.
Loki is going to have his work cut out for him - as his doggie form is assaulted. The monkey's may want a pet. Or a feed. Take your pick.
Dazzlers beams of light pierce the horseman, sending him backwards off the horse. That leaves a riderless horse charging at her and the teens … rearing as the dazzling show of lights manifest in front of its face. They aren't of the woods (or the gardens) but Alison has bought herself and the teens some breathing space. "Hey, hey. I know you …" one of the girl says. "You're that singer. The dazzling one … you're you're … Ali … something, yeah?"
"You're hard to forget, Olympian. Just hard to admire." Comes the snarky response. Three horseman start to circle the demi-god, not drawing close. "Wrestled any lions lately? Gone on any quests? Or have your kin folk finally written you off as a joke?" They're needling him, proding his temper. It's known that Hercules is one of strong emotion and may misstep.
When Hanako's lightning strike goes out, the smell of burnt dog fills the air. The glowing, slavering hounds, are glowing even more now - and 'smoking' as the effects of that strike are visible. Two lay unconscious on the ground, but the rest fan out about her, several trying to get ahead of her - the pack will run their prey down.
Drat, attacked! Yewp, not a good form for that sort of thing - when Loki takes a shape he /beomes/ that sort of creature, granted, a bit tougher but not all that much really. As the Monkeys from Another World attack, he is swift resume his natural form - well, one of them - his humanoid guise, and while he's at it he's draw a pair of enchanted daggers, and see how blade soluable flying monkeys are. Between his strength, speed and his incredible skill with blades Loki is assuredly going to be a lot more than the things were expecting.
Hopefully they did not come flying out of anyone's butt!
Still, shifting shapes as a reaction, does put him at a disadvantage, and he gets gnawed on a fair amount before he can defend himself. His humanoid guise is bleeding, and his expression? Darker than intra-galactic space.
He mutters a curse in Jotun when the rip actually gets wider, and then is too busy for a few moments to do anything else.
Spider-Man's eyes usually look wide, thanks to the oversized lenses in his mask - but seeing the tree ahead of them makes his actual eyes go almost as wide behind them. "Oh, cr—"
He practically climbs *over* the rider as he scrambles and leaps, firing twin lines of webbing practically behind himself, trying to snag hold of the horse's bridle. He lands on his feet, thinking about how much this is about to hurt, and —
—*PULLS* with all he's worth —
— trying to wrestle the horse into a sharp enough turn to avoid hitting the famous old tree. If the rider gets thrown from his mount, all the better; maybe the fall will knock the fight out of him.
"If there's any justice in the world, the cops'll give *you* the ticket for reckless driving," Spidey mutters as he tries to knock the horse unconscious, then the rider, punching as hard as he dares without literally knocking either of their heads off. In the process, a tiny little gadget seems to be accidentally dropped … sticking in a crevice of the armor …
And then Spidey's back to work.
Hercules casually lofts the now-senseless rider and horse in his grasp into the air, causing both to land in a -tree-. He regards the trio of riders with chilly disdain, before growling. "Cheap words, as you lot aren't even breaking even against the mortals here." At this point Spidey and his victim go riding by, with web-head pummelling the hapless hunter. Herc's lips quiver, and a funny choking sound comes out of him before he can compose himself.
"Ah… you were saying something about quests? I've got a perfectly good one right here." The Olympian gives the speaker a grin. "So come, dog. Bring your brothers. Bring an -army-. You might even have a chance." With that, he stalks towards the nearest rider, hands flexing open and closed.
A fan? "Just call me Dazzler. Where did you see me?" Alison grins to the girl. Focus! "You three really need to get out of here. Not sure how long I can hold off this horse." She could try to smite it but…but…it's a pretty(ish) horse. Dazzler can't hurt a pony. This is her dad's fault for never getting her one. "Run!!"
Dazzler takes a moment to take in the confusion around her. There are definitely more good guys present than Spider-Man and herself - this is good. Though she's not sure about the burly guy who can't be bothered wearing a shirt. Sheesh, showing off even in the heat of battle. Ego problems there. Thankfully, she is never afflicted in such a way.
With the teens behind her, and they better be running away, Dazzler directs a concussive wave of photons out from her body to at least knock the horse down…not put it down.
"…was that you?" Ford asked his club. He knew it could vaguely communicate with himself somehow through his emotions, but he had never actually had voices in his head before. And his first immediate thought was that his club was talking to him. It would not be the strangest thing that's happened today. Thankfully, Loki appeared nearby to sort out his confusion… but it didn't exactly help much. "<I'm not hitting it! My club eats magic! So the club should theoretically close the thing, right?>" Ford asked, but realized that Japanese was probably not on a Norse god's list of languages.
But to his dismay, and now very much his anger, the portal didn't just refuse to close. It began to widen. Of course it didn't work. This is why Ford so rarely stepped up to play hero. He always seemed to have a knack for making things patently worse. And now, he was being accosted by the cleaning staff of the Wicked Witch of the West! Thankfully, now fueled by his newfound frustration and his club freshly gorged on the magics of the veil, Ford was more than equipped to deal with these rats with wings!
Roaring angrily at the lashes to his body, claws scrapping, but luckily not cutting into his super dense demon skin, Ford began to pull a Hercules and began to fling monkeys left and right, slamming into the ground before smashing his club into the floor. "<Death's Grasp!>" Immediately, a large number of long, pale, emaciated arms sprang forth from the dirt, grappling furiously at the flying monkeys and immediately tugging them to the ground to hold them there. Conveniently placing them within clubbing range and pulling them off of Loki. "<Fine! You do it! Guess I'll start poaching wild animals then!>" Ford roared, before starting the process of violently introducing each of the pinned monkeys to his reluctant weapon of choice.
Well that worked…kinda. Some of the hounds were down, that was good, but many more were trying to circle her and she wasn't going be outrunning them forever, even with her enhanced abilities.
Her retreat had brought her towards the treeline and the battles with horsemen, but Hanako couldn't exactly expect aid from the others who had their hands full if the Spider-lasso riding by was anything to go by!
Landing down with her back to a tree and the hounds in front of her, Hanako's crackling aura glows brighter, more heat, less lightning, and begins to flow down past her gloved forearms to her fingers, forming a superheated 'spear' of energy she thrusts forwards and sweeps the haft of defencively. Reach seemed a good idea right now!
The yelling in Japanese drew her gaze to the monkey-swarm, but only a bare glance before she was engaged in the slashing, spearing and smacking with the divine-channeled weapon made of heated light, her form 'sparking' as one slips through and manages to rake claws against her back. The 'forcefield' that hugged her skin might take most of the force, but much like a bulletproof vest, getting hit still hurt!
Spider-Man looks like something from an old wild west show - well, he would, if he weren't dressed in a blue and red suit. It's a wild ride he takes as he tries to wrestle the horse and for a breath taking moment, it looks like he's going to fail.
The horse turns, brushing the bark with its shoulder and its riders leg. Spidey finds himself dragged in a circle as he holds his ground.
Just as Spidey drops his tracker in the armour, the rider slides off - out of it and probably with a terribly bruised face after all that.
A tree cracks when Hercules launches that horse and rider. The others circling … scattering and then returning as Spidey rides by.
It's then that the telepathic communication from Voodoo is heard by all in the area //This is your somewhat friendly psychotic telepath, here. Anyone who can get in some distracting shots over *yonder*, much appreciated. Invisible bitch keeping the rift open making this all worse. K, thanks! Anyone else, need to keep these jerks off of the adorable Brit gal, please. Thanks! //
That explains why the ones circling Herc start to draw back - they're needed elsewhere and the hero is going to get their attention again.
"Can can I get your autograph?" The girl says to Alison, eyes wide and very scared but not scared enough to not do that. Kids! "Bethany, come on…" the boy is tugging her arm, trying to get them away to safety. The concussive wave goes out from Dazzler, causing the horse to stumble and fall. The rider roars and launches himself at the performer - he doesn't care that they should be directing their attention elsewhere, he wants to kill her.
"Loki! Mend the rift." Zee calls out, sending magical missles into the monkeys that are attacking the god. It gives him enough room to work and he knows he has to work fast, when Sarah disables that other caster - it will all just happen. But until then, he has to work on stopping it get bigger.
Fords 'Deaths Grasp' works effectively, pinning several monkeys to the ground. The resulting mess from his clubbing isn't pretty but it is effective. Even if that means the others just redouble their attack on him.
Hanako finds herself bailed up by the pack. As all good packs know, they just need to wear her down. Which is what they set about doing. They hadn't counted on the spear of energy - and two are sizzled, dropping to the ground and twitching. She can see one of them trying to edge behind her. That might be a problem.
"I'll leave one at the gate, Bethany" Dazzler manages to reply before the teens are finally gone. The voice in her head catches her by surprise. "I was just thinking of a big distraction" she replies. "Can you her me? Who is the adorable Brit gal?" She would look around but that horseman is charging at her, with more steam coming from his nostrils than his horse had.
"Oh crap" Dazzler mutters to herself before a shield of photons forms around her body - that should keep him out. But she needs some peacee to do the distraction she has in mind. And what a distraction it will be!
"I was planning on it, Miss Zatarra, however…I'll step up my efforts, thank you for the assist." As it happens Loki not only has Allspeak, but speaks and is literate in most of the languages of the Nine Realms, so…yes, Japanese IS on his languages list. A broad grin to the Oni demon as he replies in that tongue. <If you would keep up your efforts in keeping these fetid beasts off me, that would be appreciated.>
And then he sighs at the size of the rift - and the time crunch. No time to be elegant about things, and the usual spells simply won't do in this circumstance. Using his painstakingly learned method of planar travel the Liesmith actually tries a brute force approach, growing to his full Jotun size, and 'grasping' both top and bottom of the rift, /pulling/ with powerful arms and (more importantly!) focused willpower and magical skill.
There is a lot going on - Heracles bouncing horses off trees, Spider-Man playing the part of a Cowboy in Rodeo Clown attire more or less, a younger girl hurling lightning and beset by hounds, and of course the unmistakable and unforgettable Dazzler doing her thing.
Oh, and a Telepath, again. «Thank you, Miss FriendlyMind, will do what I can.» He replies and then bends his considerable will to the task.
Distraction? Herc's on it. He leaps — really, it's a short hop for him, but it carries him right over the three riders to land neatly next to the rider menacing Dazzler. "May I cut in?" he inquires with a big grin — evidently he's still trying to bottle up the giggles from watching Spidey — before rabbit punching the rider and going for the grapple. If the rider doesn't get away, he's about to become an impromptu projectile yeeted into his three buddies.
"Don't forget your friend, lads! Otherwise we'll be putting him in the zoo next!" With Herc as cover, Alison's got all the time she needs for what she's doing.
Ford's a touch distracted by the animal abuse he is undoubtedly committing, but he does recognize that voice. That purple ninja woman. She seemed to be turning up a bit often as well. Perhaps something to dig into later. For now, Ford has a flock of monkeys to deal with, swinging and flailing about as much as they were. It wasn't elegant, like he enjoyed being, but it was decidedly effective. However, when Loki responded in Japanese, Ford blinked back for a moment. He vaguely recognized some of it, but recognizing it as probably Japanese was all he could do with it. "<I have no idea what you just said. But I hope it means you can get that thing closed.>"
It was about this point Ford started using his club as the bat that it resembled, and all of the monkeys were baseballs. One goes flying for the fences. One goes to the window. To the walls! Towards Spider Man! And Hanako! Sorry, gang. Baseball was not exactly Ford's sport of choice growing up… and his accuracy shows.
Right now, Spider-Man has bigger concerns than the rights of flying monkeys; he's not going to do more damage to them than he *has* to, but he has to do *something* about them - whether keeping them off of Loki, or Dazzler, or Zatanna, or … well, anyone else at all, really.
Fortunately? Spidey has something useful: namely, a wide-angle spray of his webbing, the adhesive 'mist' coalescing into more of a mesh as the polymer reacts with the air. He loses some range that way, but when the monkeys are flying around at low altitude, he doesn't need to be a sniper with his web-lines - he just needs to catch as many monkeys in the 'net' as he can.
And then swings the bundle around like he's winding up for a hammer throw. If he collects even *more* monkeys like that, all the better for aerial crowd control.
… and yeah, he's still standing in a saddle to do that. Don't ask how he's steering. For that matter, don't ask IF he's steering.
A telepath? That was new! Hanako actually gives a little suprised gasp at the brain-voice, completely unsure if her «I'll try!» she willed back was 'heard' at all. Truth be told, Hanako thought her narrowly avoiding being a chew toy ment she was being a decent distraction, but there was more going on than she knew if talk of invisible women was anything to go by!
The sudden sailing of a monkey splunching down onto her spear had Hanako shrieking in suprise and 'dropping' the weapon, leaving it to fade away with a sizzle of energy and leave no trace save a smoking hole in the monkey. Gross.
Seeing herself close to surrounded once more, it was time to amp things up quite litterally. And hope she didn't roast any irreplaceable trees in the process!
Her arms come in, coiling and practically hugging herself before the arcane lightning she'd thrown before errupts out from her in a violent storm of burning voltage.
It made for quite the show…and did leave Hanako wondering if she should have thought of that as an opener!
Dazzler's initial display has … dazzled (ahem) a couple of horsemen. It's also dazzled the stragglers that are still vacating the area. Oops. Whatever she's going to do, she had better quick though. It seems like everyone man … errr elf and his monkey … is focussed on those trying to repair the rent.
Loki finds this isn't so easy. Fords blade has weakened part of the fabric, so to speak. What he can do is carefully stitch the ragged edges together loosely, ready to pull tight when he feels the counter spell drop. Any moment now. All he has to do is hold while the chaos goes on about him.
Then he feels it, the relief from the pressure on the tear and he can pull those threads to close it.
"Wha?" Comes the incredibly eloquent question from the horseman that Herc addresses. The rider becomes like a rag doll in the demi-gods hands. And yes. Yeeted. Sending the three others down in a sprawl of arm and legs. "This isn't over, Hercules …" one of the snarls as they crawl towards the tear as Loki works. They're trying to get back through and that's proving difficult. "There is one who seeks you …"
Ford batters up and gets a couple of foul balls. The monkeys flying - not of their own accord - at various angles. Still its effective. Just a little longer - that's all it should take.
And Spidey - gets a netful of monkeys. Which is only partially more useful than a barrelful.
And Hanako is surrounded by burning, smelly, twitching monkeys. Some … still alive. Some dead. That was incredibly effectively.
The tear is closing and it's time to clean up.
Hercules stands tall. Unbroken. As the riders retreat, he snorts. "Is that so, dog? Well, I'll be here. Waiting." And not alone, if the way the heroes swarmed this rift is any indication. He squares his shoulders, rolling them slightly, the muscles beneath the skin moving like tectonic plates. "Such impertinence…" Once Dazzler's finished her distraction, he glances back to her, and the kids, with a smile. "All is well, miss…?"
"So gross…so very gross…" Hanako squeeks as she steps over and around the burnt-out monkeys she'd nuked with her storm and the now-vanquished hounds. Moving closer, closer still to the others she actually, finally, can speak with the others as her eyes move over the proclaiming Herc, swinging Ford, spectacular Spidey and, of course, dazzlingly bright Dazzler.
"Is everyone okay?" she speaks, accented tones raising over the fading chaos as the veil begins to repair. "Who where those things?" Clearly, the sparking girl had just sort of…stumbled into the mix.
"Okay, distraction, you can do this" Dazzler whispers to herself after Egoman, aka Hercules, gives her some breathing room. "What would distract a bunch of horsemen. I know, a giant cube of sugar." There is a pause in her thoughts before she adds, "Seriously? That's what you came up with? They're hunters right. And there's hounds…and monkeys. Okay, I think I have a better idea. Couldn't come up with a worse one."
A deep breath before she concentrates. Focusing her powers over light in all its forms - colour, movement, size. As if from nowhere a giant beast now towers over the parkland. Akin to a moose but with a few fantasy touches thrown in, it must be at least sixty feet tall at the shoulder. Dazzler can feel it draining her energy but she continues to concentrate, manipulate, as long as there is noise she can keep replenishing. The beast even opens it mouth as if to roar…but any sound is beyond her. It takes a step forward but not too close to the action. If anyone touches it, it will soon be found to be a sham, but it's designed to get the bad guys attention while the good guys do their work.
Hopefully it won't distract the good guys either. Once it is no longer needed, it will be dispelled in an instance, and a very sweaty, exhausted Dazzler will give a thumbs up to Hercules.
Ford was not faring so well. Not because he wasn't winning the fight physically, oh no. He was destroying the monkeys and monsters present. No, he was losing the fight in his mind. He was having a great deal of trouble staying focused. The lack of flying monkeys was now taking a toll on him. If he had a target, he could at least direct his senses that way. Now, his targets were his allies. It did not help that some were ladies, and one of them was making a very distracting light show. The overstimulation was starting to wear Ford down mentally.
Ford decided to get while the going was good. Besides, he needed to hide his club and find his sister and her friends before they wondered where he was. Taking his club, Ford chucked it into a nearby artificial lake, before following Loki's example and morphing into an innocuous stray dog, turning to run off for safety. He didn't want Hercules to see him like this anyways, lest one of his few actual positive relationships recognize him and now be obligated to pound the demon into the ground. Ford simply took off as fast as his new four legs could carry him, running for cover.
It truly baffles him that this Oni /speaks/ Japanese fluently but seems not to understand it very well, still, he's keeping the monkey squad from messing with him, so that's fine. Thankfully these haven't crapped in their hands to fling shite about - he's seen that, it is UGLY. Stinky too.
Regardless, with a groan of effort the Magus of Asgard pulls the 'lips' of the rip—but that doesn't seem to be workin. Instead he steps back a pace and then murmurs something in Jotun, threads of light forming and then moving as his hands direct, 'sewing' the edges together, and then pulling them tighter until such time as the spell drops, /then/ he surges his power into binding and sealing the rift in a flare of arcane energies.
Ancient words are invoked, this time in an eldritch tongue, not his native Jotun. A very old language of power indeed, and with that his hands trace nine runes of binding in the air, runes that are actinic glare, and magical thunder as he weaves a spell to strengthen the veil between worlds here, and tying it to the natural power raised by the living and ancient trees present to do so.
A deft snip of mystical threads, and the runes flare painfully bright, but leave no trace of the rip when they fade away. And then, still in his Jotun form - so about twelve feet tall, blue, and rather angry looking - Loki starts banishing any stragglers, more than a tad vexed the one thing he -wanted- here was to find out the source of the portal, and he never had a chance to do so being kept busy doing other things.
As his "borrowed" horse runs past the rift, Spider-Man dismounts with a simple jump, putting his back into the next twirl of his monkeynet webbing. "Heads-up, coming through!!" he calls out to the frost giant(?) pulling the rift closed(? - that's what it looks like, anyway) … and then he puts a little extra twist on the final swing, flinging the webful of flying monkeys through the rift while it can still fit.
He turns around once more - half shunting away his angular momentum, half looking for other stragglers who might need to be slung home, one way (through the rift) or another (the banishing act that Spidey saw at previous incidents). He may have one or two more monkeys to web down and chuck after their fellows … oh right, that horse he was just on "We need a portal on that one," he calls out, both pointing at the horse in question and thinking, very emphatically, about where the horse is and which way it's going, so that any of the telepaths on this operation can get a fix by reading Spidey's mind.
"Wonder if that tracer'll do any good after all …" muses Spider-Man.
The large patronus that appears over the setting has monkeys and elves alike staring at it. Good distraction. It gives the heroes the opening they need to finish the work and stops the attack on Alison as well..
As Loki closes the tear, monkeys and dark elves start disappearing. Zee, and the others, are getting rid of them. "Oh they will, when you're least expecting it." The elf says just before he disappears. Of course it's sans one net full of monkeys that are slung by Spider-Man … and just as the blue and red suited hero speaks, his horse disappears. Portalled.
Zee wanders over from the other group of heroes and offers a tired smile. "Thank you, all of you. That was very brave, what you did." There'll be time shortly for people to catch up … right now, they have some clean up to do and the police and paramedics are arriving.