El!
El has been with the site for nearly two years now and has continued to prove her value. Currently, she is heading up our site event, Battle for Liberterram, on top of keeping up with her own personal plots.
CHARACTER
SPOTLIGHT
Peggy Carter!
Lux's posts are all wonderful to read. She has done a wonderful job of grasping the new universe and incorporating Peggy into it.
CHARACTER
SPOTLIGHT
Peter Parker!
It's good to see Spidey back on the site. Watching him deal with the universe shift in his own snarky way has been nothing short of entertaining.
THREAD
SPOTLIGHT
Eight O'Clock on the Dot!
El and Lux are making magic in this thread. Straight up fireworks, and the way they've played with drawing out the reveal is top class.
PHASE 4: NY: Manhattan Greenwich Village/East Village
There's not much time to clean up. It's all of a day before the skies cloud over with even more of the attacking aliens, in larger bulk this time. Exhausted and worn as they are, the heroes of the city band together to fight yet again...
The SHIELD Agents on are armed with bullets that contain nanites that should be able to shut down both the biological and electronic systems of the Chitauri at once, they are more prepared for that threat than before, but the Chitauri have brought with them beasts that Earth has not seen before. These have been shared, at this point, with anyone else on the ground with weapons that can utilize them.
A thunderstorm has come in with the arrival of the Atlanteans, filling the air with rain and lightning. The unearthed Reaver ship is in orbit at this point, brought by the Svartalfar on Earth, and battling the enemy ships in orbit.
You are allowed to control as many enemies, allies, and civilians in your posts as you need to.
Event thread should take priority over other threads.
You will have three days to post once its your turn. If you are late, you automatically forfeit your turn that round. If you miss twice, your character may receive a more serious injury that will disqualify them from further phases. Please note:The Admin are keeping a close watch on this Phase, as it is a time-sensitive one.
Some of you will want to injure your characters too badly for them to continue fighting during this phase. Simply make note at the end of the post in which they do so that they're dropping from the line-up.
Available Enemies:
Chitauri: Garden-variety Chitauri soldiers; the weapon crafted by Tony Stark and Bobbi Morse will work to shut them down. They are hive-minded. Armed with Chitauri guns or spears. (Approx. 300)
Leviathan: Large, flying, whale-like creatures built for destruction, the nanites are not effective on them due to their size. Armed with teeth and size. (Approx. 3)
Chitlian: Bulked-up Chitauri soldiers that are more machine than biological. The nanites will take them down for brief periods, but they do reboot the system. Stronger than regular Chitauri and exempt from the hive-mind. Armed with Chitauri guns and spears. (Approx. 150)
Svartalfar: The Dark Elves are superhumanly strong and excellently trained. They will sometimes have various kinetic abilities in addition and carry weapons similar to the Chitauri. (Approx. 100)
Available Allies:
SHIELD Medics: Deployed to assist with the civilians more than anything, they are not particularly useful for fighting.
SHIELD Field Agents: Deployed to help take down the aliens, they are armed with the weapon in their favorite gun, in addition to a close-quarters weapon.
SHIELD Snipers: Deployed to buildings and surrounding areas or in choppers and planes above the battle with long-range weapons, they function as eyes in the sky and long-range gunmen.
Brotherhood Mutants: Morrigan brings with her some of the members of the Brotherhood, who jump into action as protection for their own kind.
New York Police: Armed only with their issued weapons, the police will mainly handle crowd control.
Atlantean Soldiers: Strong physical fighters, they are good at what they do. Atlanteans have ranged energy weapons.
Atlantean Elite: Armored, the Atlantean Elite represent the Empire's best, and they are skilled in a wide array of weapons, from several types of ranged energy weapons to melee weapons. Their armoring makes them considerably more durable than the average soldier, and their experience and skill is unmatched.
Asgardian Warriors: Superhumanly strong and with the occasional magical ability, these are highly-trained warriors with centuries of battle under their belt. Only a small group have made their way to Midgard for this battle, but they have spread throughout the city.
There's thunder in the sky that has been brought along by the arrival of the Atlantean army. Rain is coming at a steady beat, although not a heavy one. SHIELD is all over the area, and they've handed out their nanite-filled bullets to those in the area that prefer such weaponry. The NYPD is on-hand, helping to escort civilians to safety as people are still being dug out of the rubble of the first attack. The flash of the Bifrost was seen in the early pre-dawn hours over Manhattan, heralding the arrival of the Asgardians to the city, at their head travelling Thor and Baldr behind their Father, Odin, who many are in awe of though he does not seem pleased to be there.
It is still early when sirens breach the air, leviathans breaking through the clouds to deliver Chitauri to the ground in another attack, in larger numbers than before. With them are strange creatures of blue and purple skin; the Asgardians identify them as Svartalfar. There are occasional flashes in the sky that one would have to look closely at to discover they are not lightning; the Chitauri motherships are being fired upon by an ancient ship of Svartalfar make.
Behind these alien attackers, and not yet having reached the planet's surface, Thanos comes. His eminent arrival spreads a feeling of doom in the air that cannot quite be pinpointed by those on the ground - yet.
In Greenwich Village the attack has been focused on the area around Washington Square Park. The people here have mostly evacuated, but there are still many left who are hiding where they can.
God damned aliens pouring out of the God damned sky, and the God damned Gods coming to fight them; when the fighting stopped, Ben really thought it was over. Why not? The last battle against these aliens only lasted a day; even with all of them spread out like the news made it look, that just made Ben think their forces were more spread out this time. But that wasn't even the half of it, apparently - Ben had been helping to clear the rubble and find survivors when the rain started, and the sirens started blaring again. The attack wasn't even near being over, apparently...
More Chitauri were pouring out of the sky, and there were some new players that Ben could see. He didn't know what they were, with the purple skin and crap, but they weren't human, and the Chitauri weren't attacking them: that was all Ben needed to know to be sure that they weren't on Earth's side. There were flashes in the sky that weren't lightning, and more flashes coming to the ground that also weren't lightning, but all Ben knew for sure was that there were more aliens, and more flying whales, and he had to take them down.
But the people on the ground were the most important - Jubilee was fine, but she easily couldn't have been. Ben was going to make sure that the folks on the ground were good before he turned his attention on the Leviathans this time. To that end, Ben had ripped a tree out of the ground of the park, and started using it to bat Chitauri away and into whatever structures were closest. He felt like a pretty bad New York native when he got alien blood on the Arch, but he would be more than happy to take a sponge to the thing once this whole mess was over with.
As Ben brought his tree down on one of the Chitlians - which, despite taking the creep out, also broke the tree finally - he saw a familiar sight, but one that blew his mind even more than it had already been. Atlanteans - a ton of freaking Atlantean soldiers, all marching through Greenwich Village and helping them fight. Ben had never been so happy to see an Atlantean in his life - heck, it was just a shame that Namor wasn't with this group of the soldiers. Be good to fight with the guy, instead of against him, if only to even things out a bit.
They were a welcome sight, but even more welcome sights started showing up. Folks in gold armor were showing up - Ben wasn't sure where they were from, but they looked pretty human and they were killing Chitauri, so they were good in his book. As if that wasn't enough, even the city's mutants were coming out to play - Ben saw one guy with wings and talons swoop down and grab one of the Chitauri like it was a rat in a field. The Thing couldn't help but grin as all of a sudden, the numbers were starting to even out. "Alright, everbody's comin' ta' this party. Let's make it a good one!"
A shot came from behind Ben - taking another chunk out of his shoulder. At this point, his rocks had taken on a bit more of a jagged texture - he was pretty sure if he pulled a body slam on one of the aliens, they'd come out of it looking less like a pancake, and more like Swiss cheese. Still, the rocks were still thick enough to block a lot of physical damage, which sucked for the Chitauri that tried to stab him through the back with the spear. Instead of a Thing shishkebab, what he got was a rocky backhand that sent him - or it, maybe - flying into the fountain at the center of the plaza. The marble shattered at the top, and splashed into the water at the base. Just one more thing Reed would have to foot the bill for by the time Ben was done fighting aliens.
Assisting with the clean up the day before had been a relief after the initial fight, but Wanda had made sure to keep herself rested as well; she had wanted to regain the energy to utilize her powers to their fullest extent, just in case they became necessary again in the near future. This turned out to be a good thing, as it did not take long for the skies to open with more alien attackers coming down into the city.
Wanda took to the skies again, taking herself towards the nearest attack point. There were others converging on it as well; oddly-skinned people that she'd learned were Atlanteans and a variety of mutants that she was certain were Brotherhood-affiliated, as well as shining warriors of Asgard. Wanda mostly ignored these fellow combatants for the moment, instead putting her focus on the attackers. The Chitauri had brought with them new allies; ones that seemed far more independently intelligent than their almost insect-like friends. They, along with the leviathans, should be the first to go, she thought.
Targets decided, Wanda went into action, red bolts of her magic hitting some of these new opponents; more of a test of their durability than anything else as she varied the power with each blast until finding the correct version. She landed lightly on the ground near some people in SHIELD uniforms, hoping that one of them was more in-charge here and had more of a direction or strategy than she did. She caught sight of a large, rock-looking man in the field of battle, beating the aliens down with pure physical power.
"Do you have anything that can take out the flying beasts?" she questioned a nearby woman in SHIELD gear, who had an air of confidence and leadership about her; she was Chinese, perhaps? It was not important at the moment. Much as she was still wary of SHIELD and the Avengers, communicating with them was far better than some of the mutants in the area whom she recognized from her own brief time in the Brotherhood.
Wanda knew that her own powers could be quite useful in taking down the large monsters, but she wasn't sure that she could do it all herself; it would be useful to have someone by her side, like Asher had been in the previous attack. Perhaps the rock man's brute strength could be of use in this endeavor. If the SHIELD woman could not be of assistance, she would move to him next.
Post by Z inactive melindamay on Apr 1, 2016 23:29:01 GMT
The life of a SHIELD agent was never a dull one, especially in times of planet-spread violence. When reports began to trickle in that the Bifrost had opened up over the New York skyline, ushering in Asgardian warriors, Melinda had felt some sense of relief at the very least. Hearing of the Director’s meeting with Namor, the King of Atlantis, also helped settle some of the nerves that threatened to rattle inside the veteran agent. At least when the next attack hit, they would not be alone in the fight.
By the time the sirens began to blare throughout the city, Melinda was on her way from HQ to an outpost near the Avengers Tower, a landmark that had proven time and time again to be the center of chaos. Melinda swore beneath her breath, glancing down at the SHIELD standard SUV’s heads up display. They were still a few miles out from the Tower, and with the current state of the city, they’d be lucky to get there in half an hour. Making an executive decision, Melinda tugged hard on the steering wheel.
“Change of plans,” she called out over the sound of tires screeching, to the agents loaded up in the vehicle with her.
Coming to a stop near a small fortified area, Melinda motioned for the squad to load out. This would be where they made their stand, alongside these men and women. Some were SHIELD agents, but the barricade seemed mostly comprised of New York’s finest. While the men under her worked to arm the soldiers with the nanite rounds, Melinda went in search of the barricade’s current leader.
“I’m gonna be real honest with ya, ma’am. I’m just a desk jockey nine days outta ten. I don’t know how your ranks in SHIELD work, but I’d be willin’ to bet you’re more qualified to make the orders ‘round here,” the middle-aged man drawled, his eyes flickering between Melinda and the storm clouds above. Melinda grit her teeth, but nodded her understanding to the officer before turning and beginning to bark out orders. The Chitauri would be on them in minutes - they needed to get their asses in gear if they were going to be ready.
As the battle started, Melinda forced herself to hang back, using the regular ammunition in her pistols to down approaching Chitauri. The basic aliens dropped from a single bullet, generally, and the Chitlian from two or three unless you hit them in the correct spot on their left hip (intel Tony Stark had been eager to provide SHIELD with after the East Coast attack). She was a damn fine marksman, but a part of her itched to jump into the fray all the same. There was a certain satisfaction to destroying an opponent with your bare hands.
The arrival of Ben Grimm was both a blessing and a curse. Covered in rock, he was easily capable of wading through the Chitauri throughout the area, laying waste to them and their burlier Chitlian brethren alike. Even the oddly-hued creatures Melinda assumed were the Dark Elves they’d been warned about suffered at the orange fists of Reed Richards’ best friend. “Fantastic…” she murmured, watching the fountain statue decimated by the force of the Chitauri flung into it.
Damage Control was going to have fun with this sector of the city.
Turning at the sound of a voice beside her, Melinda looked the young woman up and down appraisingly. She seemed normal, save for the reddish wisps emanating from the girl’s fingers. Mutant. Enhanced. Whatever you wanted to call them, this girl was clearly one. “Right now, I’d say Mr. Grimm over there is our best chance at reaching the Leviathans until we get some aerial support out this way…” she responded, motioning towards the rock clobbering aliens halfway down the block.
An idea struck the SHIELD agent as the first Leviathan reared its ugly head from the opposite direction as the Fantastic Four member. Motioning for the young mutant to wait for a moment, she scrambled up to the top of the barricade and set her sights on Grimm. The bullet ricocheted off his shoulder, and even from this distance, she swore she could see a small pebble fly off to one side. Once she had his attention, Melinda pointed one hand towards the incoming space whale.
One boot collided with a Chitauri attempting to reach her from just below her position at the top of the barrier, and with a single bullet into its skull to make sure it didn’t grab at her again, she turned and hopped back down. “How about you? You got any tricks up your sleeve that could help out with the enemy aircraft?” There was no telling what the young woman could do. Hopefully it was something useful. So long as Ben managed to keep the Leviathans entertained, they could possibly hold out against the chariots for now. Only a few had passed by, and half of them they’d managed to shoot down. If too many got close enough to assault this fortification, though, they could be in real danger.
This was all new. Pete was in uncharted territory. The final frontier as it were. This whole Alien invasion scenario was forcing him to take things to another level. He was mainly used to just dealing with your average thug or the occasional meta human of varying degree. But this was something else entirely. Sure he had been around during the last invasion but then he was mainly focused on evac. The big guns had that one handled pretty well. But these numbers? They needed bodies on the front line and the web head sure as hell wasn't going to sit this one out. The first wave had been hell. But sitting perched on the brick side of Chelsea Market, looking over the aftermath it was rough. It felt like they had barely held on and Pete had trouble keeping pace. This was a new game and he had a lot of catching up to do without a lot of time to do it. He had just seen gods arrive through a rainbow light show earlier in the day, and that's not something you see in Queens every day.
The clean up had given himself a chance to replenish on his supplies. He had to whip up a huge batch of fluid to keep up with the extra usage. He had to be careful to conserve his webbing. Though he had gotten rather generous with using his Medi-web to help temporarily patch up some of the injured before they could get some proper medical attention. Most of his day was spent helping civilians get into safety and the proper care they needed. It was different for him. Working so close with other vigilantes was different for him, he never did the whole team thing. But in the time of crisis it was like all those barriers were dropped. So many different groups of people. Most normally at each others throats during normal times all coming together to fight off a common enemy. Of course that didn't mean Pete was about to sign up for an internship with the Avengers any time soon. All the government spooks walking around made his skin crawl. Like a bad sequel to Men In Black.
Pete was at a makeshift clinic that had been set up in Chelsea Market when the second wave hit. As if the ominous clouds couldn't have been more appropriate as what seemed like doom seemed to be flying down towards them. From the main entrance of the clinic Pete quickly scaled the wall and climbed to the roof of the building. Already he could see the fighting starting further out, and it was only coming closer and closer as more waves came flying in.
"There would be an Independence Day joke here somewhere...but I got nothing." The web head watched as the ground troops approached. Meeting heavy fire from the mutants and SHIELD agents that had set up a fortified barrier around the clinic. The main problem was going to be the chariots. There were a couple of mutants...or at least he thought they were mutants, who can tell any more, had taken to the skies trying to draw fire from the air assault. A stray chariot broke their line though, heading towards the exposed line that was being held outside the clinic. Pete jumped off the wall, shooting out a web to catch the front of the chariot and launching himself towards the invaders.
There were three on the chariot. One driver and two gunners. Pete landed with his hand planted firmly on the head of the driver, tied into the harness controlling the craft. Bringing his legs in over him as he used the driver for leverage he launched off both gunners with a kick from both legs, leaving him to perch on the back of the driver who had taken to flying the chariot straight upwards into the sky...right at a leviathan.
"Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!"
With a heavy pull of the drivers shoulders Pete pushed him into steering out of the beasts path at the last moment. Narrowly avoiding its snout. Though apparently it didn't like the near miss because it seemed to take interest in the little red suited man flying around erratically in front of him. Pete tried desperately to gain control of the chariot. Barely keeping out of reach as he managed to get the chariot in a general direction of free fall towards what seemed like Washington Square park...and he was coming in hot.
Maybe it was the Chitauri trying to sabotage his unwanted hitch hiker or Pete really did need to suck it up and take that driving course because it seemed like no matter what Pete tried they were doomed to crash with the floating whale hot on their tales. As the approached the ground Pete climbed off the driver, moving to the back of the chariot and attaching two lines of webbing before diving off the back end just as they passed over the Washington Square Arch.
Pete landed heavy on the top of the monument, just barely landing on the edge overlooking the now destroyed fountain. Planting his grip he took hold of his webbing, bringing the Chitauri chariot to a halt. With a hefty pull from the Spider he swung the chariot in wide circles gaining more and more speed with each swing. With a final heave he launched the vehicle back at their pursuer, causing it to crash square into the face of the Leviathan as it came barreling towards him.
Panicking at the close proximity of the giant monster Pete quickly dove off the top of the moument into a full dive, catching a web to a lamp post right before hitting the ground to launch him into a high arch towards the fountain. As he flipped through the air he saw as the leviathan charged into the archway, tearing the stone structure apart like it was make of cardboard before taking back to the air and continuing its assault on the square.
The web clad hero landed gracefully, though in the middle of a war zone. Just off to his side there was a large man who seemed to be made out of hardened play-doh making easy work of the Chitauri soldiers and their new friends. Luckily he seemed to be on the same side, so Pete was happy with keeping near the 'thing' whatever he was. As more invaders approached Pete wrapped his fists in webbing, enforcing his fists. A useful trick to add a bit of a kick. Making quick work of the first Chitauri to come in his range.
Jay and Ali had just come from DC itself, arriving in New York to help with the full on invasion. Though once again, one had to wonder why everything converged on one city. Jay hated to think about it, but the first plan...would’ve probably still been smarter; it kind of stretched out all the people defending Earth at once. One had to wonder why New York seemed to be the city that all the villains converged on; Honestly, yeah it was important, but it wasn’t the only important city in the world. It wasn’t like New York equaled the entire world.
Ali had pretty much sped off to her apartment in New York to get something or check on Horace, when the Sirens started blaring again and Jay found himself being chased by Chitauri and unable to find or locate Ali in all the chaos. Seemed like they remembered him and kept trying to herd him places with their chariots, but he was beginning to outstrip them, having a much easier time maneuvering around the sky than either the chariots or the Leviathan that was in the sky itself, distracted now by a chariot flying too close to its face. The orange rock man know as the thing was swinging a tree around, and it looked like there were many more mutants in the area than there should be...but they weren’t the X-Men, Jay noted. His siblings and the other students and teachers must be elsewhere in the city. Jay surveyed the area from the sky, also noting that several humanoids were actually fighting with the Chitauri, slightly shimmering in their dark skin. They weren’t Atlanteans, that was for sure.
They had completely different armor, and Jay noted that Atlantean soldiers and some others had joined the fray, even seeing several Valkyries fly past him and dive at the Dark Elves, fighting them on their own. So...Asgardians, Atlanteans, mutants and a clear SHIELD operative, plus two well known heroes. Jay dived down as well, knowing full well that his powers in this situation mostly kept him alive. He was trying to evade the Chariots and the diving speed plus his natural precision meant that two of the chariots tailing him crashed straight into the ground. He still had four more on his tail and started moving in between the buildings, keeping an eye on where they were and looking for a hiding place.
Finding an oddly placed gargoyle, Jay landed on it and managed to blend in. “Over here!” Jay said, tossing his voice to an area where a mutant with a very nasty ability of corrosion was. The Chitauri took the bait and headed over there, and then Jay was off, trying to make his way to wherever Ali was in Manhattan. This was cut short but the arrival of more chariots on his tail. While he could crash them into the ground, without Ali to stick by Jay knew exactly what to do.
“That’s right, follow me!” Jay called back, as energy blasts were fired at him, one striking him but Jay kept going. At five thousand feet in the air, it was an impressive height, especially when one had to keep dodging energy weapon blasts. Managing to evade most of shots, and already healing damage from the ones that hit him (though they hurt quite a bit), Jay started to dive again, followed once more.
He was aiming, of course, for the Leviathan that was fixated on The Thing. While he could certainly stop his momentum easily, the Chitauri on their chariots probably couldn’t. Coming back down to a visible height by humans and getting closer and closer to the Leviathan, Jay pulled up short, catching an updraft with his wings and pulling away at the last second. The chariots and their riders were not so lucky, many of them crashing into the Leviathan, which hurt the large beast quite a bit.
Unfortunately for Jay, a Chitilian soldier managed to line up a shot at him, and Jay only noticed at the last second, instinctively blocking with his wing. The energy bolt shot straight through the wing...and his shoulder and extremely hurt. Jay let out an angry scream of pain, and managed to land on some rooftop...somewhere. His flight capability was severely compromised for the moment...and just waited to catch his breath. He’d be good in a second.
He wasn’t healing. Why wasn’t he healing? Jay inspected the damaged, and did note that while the wing itself was starting to heal, it was going at a much slower rate than normal. What the heck did that even mean?
More bad news, Jay noted, was that Chitauri were still heading for him. Not good.
Chaos was the word of the day in Washington Square park - as all the freaks in the city seemed to come out of the woodwork. Ben got shot in the shoulder - not by a Chitauri this time, but by one of their own, which... Okay, yeah, he didn't exactly look like a friendly at first glance, but he didn't exactly look like one of the invaders. He turned to see where the shot came from, and saw a pretty serious-looking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, along with a girl with red energy coming from her fingers. Yup, all the freaks in the city... The agent was pointing at something, and when Ben turned, his eyebrows - or the rocks where his eyebrows WOULD be if he'd never met Reed Richards - shot up.
Some sort of... Was that a teenager? In spandex was swinging one of the Chariots around on... The hell was that, a web? And throwing it into a Leviathan that was barreling towards him, only to have it crash through the arch - definitely dwarfing the damage Ben had done to the fountain - and keep on barreling towards them all. Ben snarled at the flying beast a bit, getting ready to catch it as he shot a look over at the... Oy vey, did this kid have a web pattern all over his morphsuit? The hell did he think he was..? "Grade A work, kid, ya' swung the red cape in front'a the bull. Got a follow-up plan, or ya' lettin' me be the rodeo clown for ya'?"
He looked back in the Leviathan's direction, only to be punched in the face by one of the Chitlians as a series of explosions came from chariots crashing into the Leviathan. For pity's sake, what the hell was this whole blasted week coming to?! Ben actually growled as he swung his hand down to grab the Chitlian by both of its legs, spinning it around like some sort of medieval mace as he used it to bat other Chitauri away.
"I..." Swing one, through a group of about five Chitarui trying to rush him with weapons. He was moving closer to the Leviathan, which was getting closer and closer to going through their forces. But there was an opening being made in the fighting - and that was his friggen' chance.
"HATE..." He threw the Chitlian like a bowling ball, but it didn't touch the ground before crashing through another group of Chitauri. His expression was one big, contorted rock of pure anger now, as he pushed off the ground and charged full-speed at the Leviathan.
"SPACE CRAP!" He pushed off the ground, leaping at the Leviathan and giving it a punch square on the nose like something out of a WWE prime-time, pay-per-view special. The force of the punch and Ben's own weight drove the Leviathan into the ground that it had almost reached on its own, but touched it down where there weren't any innocents to get hurt.
He wasn't done though - oh no, far from it. He was drumming his fists into the Leviathan like there was no tomorrow, or like there were a million bucks under that armor. He wanted to make sure this thing was down for the count, and honestly? He needed to express some Hulk-style rage. "REED RICHARDS AND HIS FRIGGEN' SPACE TRIP, FRIGGEN' COSMIC RAYS, FRIGGEN' ALIEN INVASIONS, ATLANTEAN KINGS, DICTATORS, AVENGERS, SUPERHERO, VIGILANTE, SUPER-TEAM, MUTANT, BULL CRAP!"
He slamed his fist down one last time, breaking through the armor and getting a decent way through the skin of the Leviathan thanks to the more jagged shape his knuckles had taken on. He ripped the fist back out, and hopped off the Leviathan, picking up an uprooted piece of pavement that had been knocked loose by the impact, tossing it and letting it roll through a group of Dark Elves, just to make his point absolutely clear. "AND ELVES. YER ON THAT LIST TOO, NOW, FELLA'S."
Wanda gave the woman a smile as she motioned to the human rock she called Mr. Grimm. She supposed that it was option two, after all, then. If this Grimm could weaken the armoring on the flying beast enough alongside Wanda's own magic, then she was sure that they could take it down. The man's strength would be more useful in that aspect than Wanda's powers, she thought. In lieu of electricity, a good stab would likely be enough.
The woman's action drew Wanda's attention and she couldn't help the smile spreading slightly more across her face. She liked this woman. "I believe I can be this 'aerial support' for now," she replied, gathering her power in order to propel herself into the air. The red of her magic hovered around her as she was lifted and she took to shooting blasts at the chariots as they came past while she moved towards the rock man. They would hopefully be able to take this leviathan creature down together even while she was assisting with the chariot-riders.
She recognized the red-and-blue figure that came into the fight then; the papers seemed to be obsessed with this 'Spider-Man', after all. Wanda was grateful that there was another powered individual to help in the area, even though she hadn't fought with them before; he wouldn't be the 'big gun' they'd need for the leviathan-creature, however.
Just as she was about to call out to the rock-man, some of the chariots crashed into the Leviathan above and Wanda's gaze was drawn to a mutant with wings swooping away from the impact. Interesting; however, there seemed to be more creatures moving in on him, and Wanda propelled herself in his direction before shooting down some of the creatures just as they shot out his wing. "You are alright?" she questioned the young man with a small nod and a smile, eyes sweeping over the damage to his wings.
Wanda's attention was pulled towards the rock man as he started yelling something or another while beating the leviathan and she raised an eyebrow at that before leaving him to it and touching down on the roof next to the mutant with wings, throwing some more blasts at approaching Chitauri. "Will it heal? What do you need?"
Post by Z inactive melindamay on Apr 11, 2016 3:15:46 GMT
Melinda nodded grimly to the woman beside her. She had some kind of red energy emanating off of her fingertips - there was no reason for Melinda to doubt the young woman had flight capabilities, too. Most mutants seemed to have only one major ability, she’d learned, but some possessed a small handful. If this girl was one of those mutants, all the better for them. Without any real air support in the area, they could use some solid muscle to combat these invaders. In no time at all, the woman was in the air, and on her way to helping take care of the chariots whizzing through the area.
It was a miracle Ben noticed the slight chip in his rock body, but one Melinda had no intention of questioning. He even seemed to catch her drift, and turned his gaze towards the monster gliding down the street towards their position. Turning her own attention back towards the Leviathan, she paused as she spied something peculiar happening. There seemed to be two new arrivals to the area - a winged mutant leading some chariots on a merry chase through the skies, and a familiar spider-themed vigilante decked out in blue and red.
First, the winged mutant forced his pursuers to crash into the Leviathan. That attack was quickly followed by the infamous Spider-Man, flinging a third chariot into the side of the beast just before it crashed through the Arch. “Dammit,” she murmured, watching the stone arch crumble a few hundred feet away from the barricade. This was war, and casualties were bound to happen, but it would have been nice to let a few historical landmarks remain standing.
Melinda lost sight of the winged mutant, but her attention was quickly dragged away from the search by the group of aliens surrounding the Thing. Bullets flew out from the barrels of her guns, chipping away at the aliens on the outskirts of the group surrounding him. She stopped bothering after a few moments, as it seemed the orange rock’s rage got the better of him. One eyebrow lifted as she watched the Fantastic Four muscle proceed to beat the aliens with one of their own, a pleasantly impressed expression on her usually stoic face. Finally, he moved on to the big target, and Melinda let out an inaudible sound of relief.
Before she could finish exhaling, the roar of a second Leviathan echoed through the area, this one coming from the opposite end of the street.
Dropping down from the top of the barricade, Melinda motioned for one of the SHIELD agents to take her place. It had been a good vantage point, and easily defensible on the front and right sides. Checking the magazines in both pistols, she holstered the weapons and moved towards the communications area, which comprised of the back of the SUV she’d arrived in. Without a word, she slid in front of the radio and snagged the mouthpiece being offered by the rookie in charge of the device.
“This is Agent Melinda May, requesting aerial support in sector 1-4-2-Delta.”
The response was scratchy, but understandable.
“Copy that, Agent May. I’ve got three birds on their way to you. ETA three minutes.”
“Make it one.”
After a few moments of silence, another response came through. She could hear the hesitation in the communications agent’s voice, but all she cared about was their answer. “Yes ma’am.”
The familiar sound of jet engines broke through the air half a minute later, and fifteen seconds after that, Melinda made visual contact. Sure enough, there were three jets now soaring through the area, making a beeline for the new arrival. Melinda noticed the steady thrum of gatlings being fired as she leapt down into a small group of Chitauri, and knew the jets were clearing the street leading up to the monster. It was the move she would have made, too.
Her left fist connected with the jaw of a Chitauri, but she didn’t pull back. Continuing with the momentum, she sent a solid roundhouse into the temple of his buddy, before grabbing hold of the spear and yanking it free. With a weapon in hand, she only seemed to improve. Instead of dealing concussive blows, she lashed out with the blade of the spear, slicing through the group with practiced ease. One by one, the aliens dropped, until only the Chitlian leader remained. He didn’t last much longer than his Chitauri brethren, ending on the ground beneath one of Melinda’s boots. With one final grunt, she tugged the tip of the glaive out from the side of the creature’s neck and turned to watch the jets make their second pass with heavy artillery over the second Leviathan. It wasn’t dead, but she imagined the plating was more than a little cracked by this point. A few more passes with the heavy guns, or a solid attack from their enhanced allies could probably finish it off.
Okay so maybe pissing off the giant space worm wasn't the greatest plan. Admittedly he hadn't put much thought into what happened after he attacked the Leviathan. Probably best not to draw any more his way. He would have been squashed if it hadn't been for the big orange guy, nothing more than a red and blue puddle that would need to be mopped up after all this mess. Of course the rock guy didn't seem to happy about the bait and switch technique. Pete froze as he watched the brute take a Chitarui and use him like a club to beat at least a dozen more into submission. If that wasn't enough he then made short work of the Leviathan. Wailing on it like he was taking out some sort of suppressed childhood rage against Sci-Fi genres. Probably best not to get on that guys bad side.
I'm such a noob...
It was good to know at the very least that he was on the same side. Probably best to stick by the guy who knew what he was doing. The familiar tingle of his Spider Sense went off and he dropped to the ground just as an dark elf cleaved a sword where he had been a moment before. Peter rolled onto his back and kicked out propelling him into the off balance elf and knocking the creature back to the ground as he landed back on his feet.
"Cut me some slack. I'm a Dark Elf on World of Warcraft. Doesn't that count for something." He punctuated his sarcastic remark with a fist crashing into the elves jaw knocking it back motionless. He barely got out a sigh before the Spider Sense went of again. He barley rolled out of the way of a barrage of energy bolts being shot by an incoming Chitarui squad, half a dozen of the ugly buggers. Pete moved quickly, jumping at them in bounds, twisting through the air and pushing off the ground in turn to dodge the oncoming fire as he closed in on the enemy. He leaped high above them, giving who appeared to be the commander a double dose of spider sized boots to the face. Using the momentum he rolled back into the Squadron taking out two of them like a bowling ball before popping back to his feet.
"You guys seriously need to work on your accuracy." Pete pounced at the Chitarui to his right, a web packed fist knocking the weapon from its hand as it fired off. Placing both webbed hands on its shoulders he adhered to it before flipping back with Chitarui in tow and hurdling him into its ally. Both fell back into the concrete. Unconscious. Pete dusted off his hands proudly as he rose to his feet. "I mean you give Stormtroopers a-" A bellowing roar came from above and Pete turned to the sky. "...good...name..." Another Leviathan was heading their way, and Pete wasn't exactly excited at the concept of trying to take one on. He was more of a evil henchman kind of guy. Turning heel Pete sprinted towards the orange brute once more. He was more suited for this DPS kind of thing. As Pete approached the side of the hero he jumped.
"I'm sorry I swear I don't keep doing this on purpose." Flipping to gracefully land a hand on his massive orange shoulder he propelled himself to the other side. "I'll watch your back Pebbles." He turned to face a oncoming elf, twisting out of the way of the spear it plunged towards his chest. Firmly grabbing the spear he yanked it out of the elves hand and with a broad swing smacked the blunt end across his helmet. Pete dropped the spear next to the elf and tried to take a moment to catch his breath. Of course it was short lived as another squadron charged their way as the sound of heavy machine gun fire came from over head.
"I suddenly miss petty car thieves..." Pete sighed to himself before he ran to meet them head on.
Jay was currently now one one tactic; stay alive. He could take a lot of damage and recover from it, but he didn’t know how much. His regenerative abilities had never been as thoroughly tested as Wolverine’s, and thank goodness for that. Or not, in this case. He was still healing, though it was at a ridiculously slower rate; upon inspection and test, he didn’t think he’d be able to fly...for hours. Not to mention he still didn’t know how his regeneration reset his bones, but hey, he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
While he’d been flying around, he’d noticed another flying person, though this one was doing it without the aid of wings either and had a dark red energy going along with her. No idea who she was, but if he were to guess, she was another mutant. Not sure if she belonged with SHIELD or the Brotherhood though.
“....Ah don’t know. Ah’m pretty sure it’ll heal. Jus’, mmm.” Jay said, struggling to explain how he knew it was slower than normal other than ‘it’s taking longer than normal.’ “Ah don’ think Ah’m gonna be able ta help ya’ll out fer this figh’.” Jay said. Not unless the Red gothic looking lady was packing a healing ability with her, as the Chitauri were approaching. She fired off energy blasts at them, picking off three of the seven.
He didn’t know if his Hypnotic ability would work on them, but hell he’d have to try and use it sometime. A voice appeared near Wanda’s ear, as he threw it.
“Cover yer ears, Ah’m gonna try somethin’ ‘ere, an Ah’m not sure if I can not affect you.” Jay said. He was pretty well versed in his other abilities, but this one was so rarely used he wasn’t sure if it would work. It did with Ali, but then one could count it as a sonic attack and she was immune to sound. He turned back, hoping the Wanda had her ears covered.
“Sleep.” Jay said, in a more commanding voice than normal, and a little more amplified so that the advancing group that remained could hear it over the sounds of battle. All of the advancing Chitauri just stopped in their tracks, most of them falling over into what counted as slumber for the aliens. That just left them with a single Chitilian moving toward the two of them, who seemed to pause and consider his targets, before aiming at Jay, who was the more heavily wounded party. Jay managed to sidestep the blast, but was dangerously close to the edge of the roof.
He had to hope that Wanda could handle what Jay assumed to be the officers of the Chitauri, or else it would be a ‘Do yah trust me?’ moment with the girl he’d just met. The Thing and Spiderman were concentrated on the ground troops for the moment, as was SHIELD. This was a pretty bad jam that he was currently in, and still he needed to go find Ali. He definitely knew she was probably still alive; the living light show was probably exploding Leviathans all over New York now.
As the battle rages on, a murmur starts up amongst the Dark Elves, spurred by the arrival of a lone warrior. The squadron retreats from combat with their current foe as the word spreads throughout the ranks. Just when it seems they’ve stopped fighting for good, one warrior bursts forward, sword raised “For the Princess!” he shouts, the Allspeak letting his words ring clearly for everyone in the area. “Down with the Mad Titan!” His voice is joined by others as the squadron charges back into the fray, viciously hacking down the Chitauri in the area.
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Ben was glad to have worked off his anger; he was calmer now, but not so calm that he didn't tear into the aliens with his strength. Any of them within arm's reach of the Thing soon found themselves flung through the air, either just to get them in the air or to throw them into some of their buddies in the park. He decided to go with his tried and true strategy from before, grabbing one of the Chitauri by the legs and swinging it into the others - they made pretty good weapons because of all the armor, and it was pretty much like killing two birds with one stone... Or one bird with another bird.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard Spider-Guy talking about World of Warcraft and Stormtroopers, but honestly, Ben had spent so much time around the Human Torch that he'd started tuning out mouthy kids on instinct. It wasn't until the red-and-blue bug flipped over Ben's shoulder that the Thing actually got a handle again on where the dude in spandex was. Whatever Ben thought of the guy's shtick, at least he was good in a fight - he was agile, a lot like Reed but with less of the stretching and scientific analyses. Ben could always do with less science interrupting his fights. "You got my back? Kid, my back's got my back - you jus' worry abou' not gettin' yer pretty little web-head cut off, alright? Uncle Ben's got these sons o' bitches handled..."
He threw his Chitauri-mace into another, just in time to hear the Dark Elves start to turn on the alien invaders. Heh, sure, 'for the princess' - more like so Ben would stop beating them all into the friggen' ground. But hey, any reason they had to give for why they were turning teams was fine by Ben, as long as it meant the fight was going their way. Which it actually seemed to be - the roar of the Leviathan caught his attention, but the roar of jet engines brought a smile to his face. He didn't recognize the kinds of jets that were making passes at the Leviathan, but the guns definitely sounded heavy - they would make short work of it. Still, Ben wished he could be up there with them - although, as he slammed his fist into a Chitauri and sent it flying over where the Arch would have been were it one piece, the Thing suddenly stopped caring about being grounded.
He kept his focus on fighting Chitauri, bu decided to coordinate with the web-head. Kid seemed to know at least a little bit about all of this superhero crap - and if he knew what he was doing, Ben and him could probably get a lot done. It'd be good to have at least a two-man team during all of this - Ben worked great on his own, but he always worked better on a team. "Alright, Webs, whaddya got? Ya' spit acid or somethin', because I could probably swing ya' 'round while ya' did it, get a nice circle goin'. Hey! Or we could go bowlin' fer Chitauri - you could be my ball, what d'ya say?"
He'd actually have to try that with Reed some time... Assuming they ever saw each other again. But Ben had to move passed that worry - the rest of the Four would be fine, especially if they were all together. They were a family, and they were a tough family, too. Cosmic rays couldn't tear 'em apart, so they'd be damned if something else from Space got the job done.
Lifting off the ground and leaving the SHIELD woman on the ground below, Wanda was quite sure that she would be fine. The woman seemed tough; the type of person used to giving orders and having people scramble to obey them. Organizations that encouraged such things weren't Wanda's cup of tea, but she could certainly see their use in situations like this one. With her boots off the ground, Wanda focused on the air, trusting that the woman below and her fellow SHIELD agents would manage to keep any of the beasties on the ground from attempting to take her down from there. She was a powerful mutant in her own right, but she wasn't invincible by any stretch.
With Spider-Man and Mr. Grimm seeming to have the Leviathan situation under control for the moment - or as much as something like that could be under control, at least - Wanda focused her attention on the winged mutant that had just fallen into her area. She would need to make sure that he was okay before moving on, as she didn't much like the idea of leaving him on a rooftop with an injured wing.
She frowned as the mutant revealed that he wouldn't be much more use in this fight, but she covered her ears at his suggestion, supposing that he might have a secondary mutation that he wanted to protect her from if he was about to use it on the aliens still coming for them.
Her eyes widened slightly with amazement as the Chitauri in front of them dropped to the ground as if suddenly forced into unconsciousness. The larger one, however, was not halted by whatever it was the other mutant had done, so Wanda removed her hands from her ears, gathering energy around her fingertips before throwing it at the beast that was coming towards them. She wished that she knew more refined attacks, but that had yet to be integrated into her training with Stephen, so all she could do was toss blasts into the beast until it crumbled into a heap on the roof. Turning back to the young man, she motioned to his wing. "Do you need help getting to the ground? I can take you to the SHIELD medics," she offered.
There was a shout from the area below them at that moment and Wanda rushed to the edge of the roof to see what was going on; it appeared that some of the creatures that had joined the Chitauri in this invasion were turning on them. She was sure this would mark a turn in the battle as a whole, and she turned back to the other mutant. "It seems like the worst has passed. You should get medical assistance," she suggested, holding a hand out to him in offering to help him to the ground.
Post by Z inactive melindamay on Apr 25, 2016 15:15:20 GMT
A part of Melinda was concerned when none of the enhanced moved in to finish off the Leviathan, but perhaps they were afraid the jets would hit them in their next pass. With a mental shrug, she watched her air cavalry turn through the air and carpet the large space whale in one last blanket of destruction. She could hear its death rattle over the sound of the jets hitting their thrusters - probably heading back up for a refuel and restock on supplies. Her hands twitched around the shaft of the spear in her hands, her jaw clenched tightly.
She should have been up there with them. Her skills as a pilot were superior to more than a few of SHIELD’s agents. She’d been kept on the ground because of her skills as a leader, though. SHIELD had plenty of pilots competent enough to make strafing runs - they needed people willing and able to lead others into the fray, and despite her naturally quiet demeanor (or perhaps because of it), Fury never missed a chance to put her in charge of others.
Her attention returned to the men and women under her command now and Melinda let out a quiet sigh as she clambered back up to the “safe” side of the barricade. “Higgins, how are we looking on nanite ammo?” she inquired, glancing to the young woman standing over three duffel bags.
“One bag empty, Ma’am. One almost half empty, and one full. Everyone has at least two clips, and some have already refreshed their supply. At this rate, we’ll be out within fifteen minutes.”
Melinda grimaced at the news, but she wasn’t entirely surprised. So long as the shooters were hitting their mark - even if they only clipped the knee - enemies were dropping. The Chitlian seemed to require more of the bullets, but they, too, went down after a few of the nanite bullets. Of course, they also seemed weak against superior melee combat skills, which Melinda was more than capable of using against them for now.
“Keep me updated. Percy - how are you on medical?”
“So far, so good, Ma’am.”
“Good. Keep lines of communication open. You need anything, you let me know,” she ordered, turning her gaze to both agents.
“Yes, Ma’am.” “Yes, Ma’am.”
With that taken care of, Melinda took a quick moment to breathe before returning to the front lines. A group of Chitauri was making its way towards their position, but something stopped them before they got much closer. One eyebrow arched curiously as the shouts of the Dark Elves hit her ears. For the Princess, hmm? Was this the same Princess, she wondered, who’d taken up the mantle of Black Widow for a few months about a year ago? According to the report, it had been a Svartalf Princess that had kidnapped Agent Romanova - but who knew just how many there were.
The tide of battle seemed to change instantly as the Dark Elves turned on their one-time allies. Their swords sliced through the thick hide of Chitauri and Chitlian alike, while some of them used mutant-like abilities on the creatures. Some turned their sights towards another Leviathan approaching the area by way of a nearby skyscraper. Rubble fell from the middle of the building, huge chunks of metal and concrete slamming into the street below. A splash of pink caught Melinda’s attention and without hesitation, she dropped the glaive and rushed in.
Her arms wrapped around the little girl, whose mother was screaming bloody murder and clawing at the police officer trying to usher her out of the area. Hugging the child close to her, Melinda kept pushing herself forward, barely dodging the first of many hunks of rock. A few smaller pebbles crashed into her, one of them easily large enough to dislocate her shoulder, judging by the familiar burning sensation. She pushed past the pain, but it was quickly becoming apparent she wasn’t going to make it out safely.
A strong, armored arm locked into place around Melinda’s shoulder and she let out a strangled cry of surprise and rage. She wanted to fight against whatever had grabbed her, but before she could even so much as blink, her entire world went black. When her vision returned half a heartbeat later, she was no longer anywhere near the crumbling building. The girl was still clutched tightly in her arms, and the arm that she thought had been attacking her released its hold on her. Turning, she found herself face to face with one of the Dark Elves. He (or, at least, she thought it was a he) bowed his head before whirling away from Melinda and disappearing in the blink of an eye. She knew how she’d escaped the falling concrete now, and let out a large sigh of relief before letting the child squirm free to race into the open arms of her mother just a few feet away.