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.
Post by Alexander Cuvier on Apr 24, 2016 4:02:51 GMT
Tigershark merely shrugged; he didn’t understand what she was getting at anyway. He couldn’t miss a person he’d never had in his life, in any sense of the word. No mother figure existed for him, and he didn’t need it anyway. As far as he knew, having a mother must hold some people back, considering how great and smart he was. He was able to hear a lot of the comm chatter on SHIELD, but to him it was white noise. He didn’t particularly care and was only here because Namor dragged him to it and he kind of definitely enjoyed the fighting. When it went in his favor, anyway.
Another Leviathan popped into the area, only to be taken down by three different groups. It was too far away for him to fight anyhow. He tossed away all the other things, tuning into what Nat was saying to Asher. Ugh, electricity. Why did it always have to be electricity. Wasn’t Tori enough? Not that he understood the friendship she had with Namor and Dorma. At least he could praise Aquaria and her dislike of the other blonde. Or indifference, it was hard to tell, since he’d never met her personally, only observed things from afar. Fine by him.
It was then that Sofia, the idiot, got herself taken out. Well, it was her own damn fault for skipping training and feeling “sad” or “guilty” about the assignments HYDRA gave people. Aside from that, she probably wasn’t dead. She’d only hit her head, after all, how bad could that be? When he approached Asher, the kid reacted as if Alexander was coming for him. Good, Asher should fear him. As he continued fighting the Chitilian, he got the correct answer to his statement.
Leaving the kid behind, Tigershark continued to fight the footsoldiers of Thanos. Asher had become the secondary prime target as a lot of their focus was on Tigershark. Not that a lot of them stood much of a chance against him. The Chitilian had noticed that their energy weapons had the best effect on Tigershark, and were trying to pull him away from the majority of the soldiers in the field. He paid little attention to what the rest of the people were doing anyway.
Not until he could feel a familiar crackle of electricity emanating from around Asher and the Black Widow. Specifically crackly lad. Having his attention pulled away from the fight as Asher dared to threaten him, a retort already forming in his head before a different Chitilian took this opportunity to open fire on Alexander, another energy bolt striking him in the chest and knocking him back.
Looking around at the battlefield and seeing how badly things were going for his side of things and how much damage he’d taken just to help these people, Tigershark decided that it was time to bail. “Man, fuck this.” He muttered to himself, moving once again at a higher than normal speed over the ground. He wasn’t going to risk life and limb for these people, his life was surely more important than theirs were anyway. Rounding a corner, Tigershark came face to face with a Leviathan, and several Chitauri warriors, narrowly missing the first attack and then having one of them stab him with a tiny knife, the boy lost what little self-control was there.
All he could feel was rage. The feeling would reverberate about the telepathic link. He’d completely lost it. Ripping the knife (and subsequent hand holding it) from the Chitauri that held it, he slashed across it’s throat, killing it. The knife then went into the head of another one surrounding him. Several arrows were shot into the others around him, by Atlanteans who’d moved to his position quickly. They were only there to provide backup and to attempt to keep Tigershark in check.
With the only target in front of him being the Leviathan, Tigershark met it’s charge with his own, slamming into the beast with his fists...again. The Leviathan managed to push him back several hundred feet, and he was once again simply having to rely on his fists and brute strength to get through it’s armor. Being tossed back, Tigershark found a discarded spear from one of the not so lucky fighters on the battlefield, and grabbed it, racing forward once more. Stupid Chitauri and their stupid Leviathans and their stupid army. He’d show them what for.
Natalia Romanova TS tries to runaway...only to promptly fight a Leviathan.
Post by Natalia Romanova on Apr 26, 2016 15:58:40 GMT
Well, this was quite the interesting turn of events. Sofia she had brought with this regiment purposefully. The girl had special abilities, she knew, and was able to control electricity. But having two young people at her side who could wield lightning was quite the coincidence. Offering the young man a quick nod of thoughtful approval, she turned to begin gathering the supplies to hand out to her two electrical comrades. The discs were handy, but they may turn out more useful (and perhaps deadly) in the hands of Sofia and this kid.
“What’s your name, kid?” she asked suddenly, realizing that ‘kid’ probably wouldn’t help get his attention, and that ‘Sparky’ was probably akin to a racial slur. “I’m Agent Romanoff,” she continued, using the Americanized version of her name for his sake, “and this is Sofia,” she added as she handed the discs to the young woman. “Good. Useful is good.”
Natalia turned back towards the combat at hand, her attention zeroing in on the group of Chitauri swarming in. Without her guns in her hands, she opted for melee combat, meeting the first alien by rushing in and grabbing the spear in its hand to halt its swing. Gritting her teeth as she vied for control against a significantly stronger creature, she lost her momentum as the sound of Sofia’s cry hit her ears. Pain seared into her brain as the shaft of the spear clocked her in the side of the head, opening up a serious gash, but she pushed past it all.
Sofia was down.
Red slowly began to coat the world as the blood trickled into her eyes and her rage grew. Regaining her footing and her composure, Natalia dodged the Chitauri’s stab and darted up iside of its reach. Her fist flew forward, shoving the jagged chunk of concrete clutched tightly in that hand deep inside the alien’s throat. It crumpled without a sound and Natalia turned towards the Chitlian who’d been momentarily stunned by the disc Sofia managed to toss out before getting blindsided.
“You’re dead…” she whispered, standing still as a statue while the intelligent creature stalked closer. Spinning to meet a Chitauri attempting to flank her while the Chitlian had her attention, Natalia turned its spear on it and pulled the trigger twice, sending a pair of blasts into the beast’s abdomen. As it dropped, she turned the spear to point at the Chitlian and kept her finger steadily working at the trigger. Four blasts finally took the Chitlian down, but she stepped forward as it fell near her feet and stabbed the blade of her glaive deep into its skull for good measure.
The other remaining Chitauri in the area didn’t last much longer as the Russian spy funneled her rage. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew the kid had made it over to check on Sofia, giving her ample opportunity to put this sudden wave of adrenaline to good use. When Asher’s body nearly exploded with electricity, she barely turned to register it at first. There were still two Chitauri within range who needed to pay for what their hive brethren had done to Sofia.
Once they were properly dispatched, Natalia turned to the boy arcing with electricity. Her face was the mask of a stone cold killer as she sized him up, but she nodded her understanding to what he said. He’d be down shortly and would be in need of defending. She’d make sure he stayed upright if she could help it. Motioning to a pair of SHIELD agents who finally made it out to where they were, she bade them take the unconscious Sofia back to the relative safety. They looked like they wanted to argue - they were out here to help, after all - but the glare of the Black Widow seemed to halt any notions of voicing an opinion.
While the young man who reminded Natalia so much of Namor fled the scene, his metaphorical tail tucked between his legs, she turned back to the Chitauri he’d abandoned. If he wasn’t going to kill them, she would. Dropping the spear, she pulled out her batons and waded forward. Electricity arced from the blunt weapons, dealing more than enough damage with each swing. Enemies fell left and right as she approached them, both Chitauri and Chitlian alike.
A contingent of Asgardians saw the path of destruction she was creating and leapt in after Natalia, reveling in the fight. If she cared about the Aesir, she certainly didn’t show it, instead opting to focus on just how much damage she could do in as little time as possible. All who stepped into her line of sight were quickly dropped with lethal precision. Her batons disappeared from her hands at some point, replaced by the sword of a fallen Asgardian. She didn’t seem to mind the difference in weapon, maintaining a steady kill count while she kept half an eye on the electrified mutant who would need her help sooner or later.
Post by z inactive ashermaestas on Apr 29, 2016 6:55:53 GMT
ELECTRICKERY
It was true, "kid" definitely wasn't something he wanted to be called in the middle of battle, even if it was probably more accurate for him than most. He doubted there were too many combatants his age, here or anywhere else the battle was raging on, and Ash knew he was one of the least experienced. But it'd be quicker for him to realize he was being spoken to if someone else had his name. He briefly debated giving her his "code" name, but supposed there wasn't much point with an Avenger, who could probably just look him up on a whim.
"Asher," he offered, with a brief nod to both the women. "Sofia and I have already met, actually. Just the once." And having both of them here could probably prove exceptionally useful. With similar abilities, they'd be able to help each other out.
Or they could have, if the aliens hadn't taken Sofia out before they got a chance to try. He didn't know her well enough to fly off into a rage--like Agent Romanoff seemed to be doing--but it still ticked him off. That, and seeing how easily he could be taken out at any minute was all the motivation he'd needed to try the technique all his research and experimenting had helped him discover.
He'd never used it in actual combat, but the incredible boost it gave his body, however brief it was, reminded him why he'd chosen his nickname. "Zeus" seemed pretty appropriate, given all he was capable of doing for as long as the electricity coursed through his veins. It was only a shame it didn't last longer.
The Atlantean seemed to be taking care of the final Leviathan, and since he seemed able to take them down on his own--and because the guy clearly didn't like him--Asher figured he'd be better placed with the Black Widow, even if he hardly felt qualified to fight alongside her. No time to worry about that, though. For the next few minutes, every second counted.
Only glancing back to ensure the SHIELD agents were carrying Sofia to safety, Asher moved to rejoin the battle, picking out the nearest cluster of aliens that wasn't currently under assault by the Russian spy. The electricity crackling all around him, however, had indeed made him a bigger target--but it also alerted him to the metal spear flying toward him a few instants before it would've struck home, allowing him to twist out of the way and escape with a torn shirt and a thin, shallow gash across his chest.
Alarmed at how close to a fatal blow he'd just come, he pushed the fear down and crouched so he could grab the nearest car. His muscles screamed in protest as he lifted it over his head, but he ignored the pain and electrified the vehicle before sending it flying in the direction the spear had come from. Asher didn't wait to watch the result, already having put himself in the middle of the group he'd been aiming for by the time it exploded.
While they were still turning their spears and guns on him, Asher ducked and pressed a hand to the soaked pavement, electrocuting the aliens through the water puddled at their feet. Even as they crumpled, he grabbed one of their limp forms by its ankle, throwing it up and into the nearest chariot, sending it spiraling into the wall of a building.
Unfortunately, the abrupt increase in his destructive capabilities really painted a target on his back. He didn't have the time to move before a Chitlian was on top of him, still busy disentangling himself from the alien bodies at his feet. It didn't give him the chance to grab the spear or twist away, instead striking him with the shaft, knocking him back into the door of another abandoned vehicle, smacking his head on, and shattering the passenger-side window.
He groaned at the throbbing in his skull, but turned to rip the door from the vehicle before the Chitlian could find a fresh, non-electrified weapon, throwing it much like a frisbee into the alien's chest, grimacing at the crunch of metal from the car door and cybernetic body both.
Reaching back to rub at his head, Asher cursed as he felt the blood on his fingers. He could coax blood cells to rush to the wound and clot it more quickly, but it did little to help with the pain, or his dwindling time left in the battle. Already the electrical field surrounding his body was diminished, quickly fading. "Don't suppose you've got anymore of those electric discs?" He called over to the Black Widow. It might've been hell on his body, but even an extra couple minutes could mean a lot more dead aliens.
Post by Alexander Cuvier on May 2, 2016 5:51:24 GMT
Gripping the discarded spear he’d picked up, Tigershark ran forward at the Leviathan, that was dispatching even more Chitauri to the fight, but the Asgardians, Atlanteans and SHIELD agents were able to keep them at bay. Charging forward, the boy slammed his stolen weapon into the beast's head, shattering the armor once more on a Leviatan. Pulling back he repeated this move. The Leviathan roared, and tried to eat him, only to have Tigershark pull back and leap on to it, taking the spear and slamming down through the Leviathan’s skull and straight into the street.
The first sign that his rage was starting to slow down was the rather pungent, disgusting smell of the ichor that was covering him. Looking like he was positively sick, Tigershark moved forward.
His rage yet quelled, he attacked any enemy he could see, moving farther and farther away from the troops until a voice in his head commanded him to calm down. He knew that voice, it was...Namor? Regaining his persona that had more judgment than a mad animal (though not by much) Tigershark looked at the area around everyone and decided things were just fine. There seemed to be no more Leviathans in the area and he really wanted to get away from here in the first place.
He was injured, and despite being epically amazing, even he admitted that he could not fight an entire army forever. Plus the ichor was making him feel sick and dizzy. Time to ditch this fight, find some body of water or a bathtub to get cleaned up in and then avoid Namor. If he could.
Wait was Namor hearing his brilliant plan right now? Argh he hated this psychic link thing. How was he supposed to figure it out. Tori was hurt and so was Namor. Whatever, it wasn’t like they would find him.
He just wouldn’t think about where he was running to, yeah. That was it. It was the perfect plan. He figured the others would have an easy time now that the real threat was gone, and so continued on his stroll to find a place to get the disgusting tar off of him and collect his street stuff so he could be cool.
Natalia Romanova TS takes out the last Leviathan...and then runs away xD.
Post by Natalia Romanova on May 3, 2016 5:51:04 GMT
And the turn of events just kept coming…
Natalia glanced towards Sofia as the kid - Asher, his name was - claimed to have met her young… protege?... once before. Well, that was handy, she supposed. Quite the coincidence, but the world was currently on the brink of ending, so who was she to judge? “Well, it’s good to have you on the team, Asher,” she said, nodding as they all leapt back into action.
It wasn’t long before things took a turn for the worst. Natalia grimaced as she watched the small form of the young woman she’d recently come to care for hit the ground. Somewhere deep inside of her, a new kind of instinct took hold of the Russian and as it bubbled up to the surface, it was all Natalia could do to refrain from screaming. She was blinded by rage now, but had she been in her right mind, she might have considered the look in the Chitauri’s eyes standing in front of her to be one of fear.
And he should fear her. They should all fear her.
Somewhere nearby, Natalia vaguely noted the intense heat and crackling power of the electricity Asher was giving off currently. As a car flew past her position, she barely flinched, using the momentum of her instinctive dodge to slam her weapon into the throat of a Chitauri. It crumpled to the ground, lifeless, and she didn’t bother retrieving the small boot knife that had finally finished it off. There were more where that came from, and if she did run out, there were plenty of weapons scattered throughout the area to utilize anyways.
As the death rattle of the last Leviathan in the vicinity echoed down the street, Natalia tossed a glance in that direction. The young Namor look-alike was there, wading through the canon fodder swarming the murderer of their downed vessel. She contemplated running to his aid for half a beat, but the young man seemed to be having no issues cutting a path in the opposite direction. By the time Asher’s voice hit her ears, the Atlantean was too far away for her to truly be of any use to in a split second.
“No…” she called out, gritting her teeth as she impaled a Chitauri with her stolen sword. She’d used her only disc on a group a few yards to her left when they’d attempted to swarm in on her while she was already outnumbered three to one. “But…” With one last grunt, she let the sword go, still protruding from the face of a Chitlian and spun on the heel of her boot.
Her footsteps were light and quick as she picked her way across the space between herself and the electric mutant. There was more than a little rubble between them, which she used to push herself off the ground and onto the hood of a car. The thud of boots on metal echoed out with each step as she charged across the top of the Impala, making a beeline for the kid. “Head’s up!” she shouted, just as her feet left the edge of the trunk. They connected with the face of a Chitauri attempting to flank Asher, successfully knocking the alien off its feet before crushing his skull against the jagged edge of a rock.
Natalia didn’t stop moving, instead, making sure her bracelets were hot and ready. She could feel the hum of electricity against her wrists, a familiar sensation that usually brought her a sense of comfort. There was no such feeling now as she closed the last remaining feet between herself and Asher. Hopefully her warning had been enough because she didn’t stop to give him any idea of what she had planned before she leapt onto the young man’s back and shoved both bracelets down into his neck.
With most men and aliens, this kind of attack tended to render them down and out in no time. But Asher only seemed to grow stronger as each volt of electricity arced into him. After a few moments of blasting him with the Widow’s Bites, Natalia threw herself off of the mutant and rolled up into an approaching Chitlian. One blast straight to the left hip dropped the thing before it could take a swing. Fingers grasping its discarded weapon, she popped back up onto her toes and waded back into the fight.
They were all going to pay if she had anything to say about it - every.. last.. one of them.
Post by z inactive ashermaestas on May 6, 2016 5:26:47 GMT
ELECTRICKERY
He'd have to find time to inquire into that "team" comment later. Was the Avenger considering him a part of SHIELD? He supposed they were sort-of allies. Or was she using it more generally, with the "team" being basically everyone opposing the aliens? Maybe he'd ask after the battle.. if he was still alive, and conscious for that matter.
Both of which were continuing to seem less and less likely, as they lost allies every minute. Particularly the scary guy who hadn't liked him. Sure, he was.. gruesome and not too friendly, but he'd seemed exceptionally strong and was able to take down the Leviathans by himself. By the looks of things, he hadn't even been taken out, but rather, taken off. How the hell could someone with that sort of strength abandon them in the middle of a battle for the whole planet? Even if he was an Atlantean, the ocean was part of the damned planet!
Worse still, the Namor-look-alike's departure meant that much more extra-terrestrial attention was focused on him and the Black Widow. The two of them, Asher noticed, seemed to be a couple of the only heavy-hitters left.. or at least, the only secluded ones. There were the Asgardians, the other Atlanteans, and now even the Dark Elves, but only one Avenger and one mutant, now that Sofia had been taken down. He'd really never imagined his first big battle would be without the X-men at his side, much less that it'd be the odd mix of allies he did have today, instead.
At least it'd be a great story to tell if he made it out of this.
Figuring he'd put what charge he had to good use, Asher moved to retrieve a couple spears from the fallen Chitauri, able to wield two of them easily enough while he still had his electrically-enhanced strength. And with no more Leviathans to worry about, he turned the now crackling weapons back on their owners.. or, the ones that weren't already dead, anyways.
Not having much weapons training and lacking any sort of brutal fighting style, he used them more like dual staves than the glaives they were, knocking away spears and guns from the hands of the Chitauri, sweeping others off their feet and striking others still wherever he could land a hit, his electrified weapons not needing much accuracy to be effective. He was grateful to whoever had decided to make them as cybernetic as they were--it made his abilities deadly efficient, with a lot less mess than what came with tearing and stabbing.
But he was reminded that his enhanced physiology was not indefinite as the spears grew heavy in his hands, and Asher found himself breathing heavily, the hyperstimulation of his muscles beginning to take a major toll on his body, now the electricity was fading. Dang, a few minutes really wasn't very long in a battle, was it?
He was just beginning to debate on retreating or throwing all he had left into a final attack when Agent Romanoff's voice caught his attention again, and he grimaced at the sound of the Chitauri's skull crunching against a rock. Asher fully expected there to be another one behind him when she kept coming his way--and only became aware of the electricity running through her bracelets an instant before she was on his back, jamming them down against his neck.
The shock definitely would've taken out most anyone else. If it was any consolation, it didn't hurt quite as much as the first time with the electric discs, if only because the rest of his body ached enough that his mind could only focus on so much pain at once. It still hurt, but all the same it invigorated his relaxing muscles, restoring a good couple of minutes to his nearly depleted reserves. He had no choice but to retain his enhanced condition with the extra voltage--at this point, the electricity was the only thing keeping him standing.
So he simply nodded his thanks to the Russian agent before leaping back into battle, quite literally landing on top of the nearest Chitauri. Or on its back, more accurately, where a kick to the back of the head had it crumpling even before he could electrocute it. He remained close enough to assist the Black Widow if she needed it--though Asher doubted she would--but with enough distance between them both that he wouldn't shock her by mistake.
------
OOC: Unless anyone else pops up to zap Asher again, he'll be dropping out in his next post.
Post by Natalia Romanova on May 7, 2016 16:12:30 GMT
People were falling left and right. Slowly, Natalia’s field of vision widened to encompass more than just the enemies she was tackling currently, and those she intended to wade through next. Once back to her naturally paranoid self, she paused where she was and took a deep breath. There were still allies standing and fighting - Asgardians to her left, Dark Elves to her right, and Atlanteans behind (following the young man who looked like Namor, it seemed, much to her chagrin).
When Asher called out for her assistance, she was quick to respond, though it took a bit of time to pick her way across the battlefield to the young mutant’s side. With no abilities of her own to help sway the tide of battle, she had no qualms with utilizing one of her weapons in order to boost his. Saving the Earth wasn’t a one-man show by any means, after all.
According to a small light on the underside of her bracelet, they were running low on juice. Well, this was a battle, and weapons magazines ran empty all the time. She’d have to be sparing with the power left to her. Thankfully, she wasn’t a one trick pony - something she proved with ease as she wound her way around a Chitauri’s neck, hurling it to the ground with a mixture of momentum and powerful thighs, before using her pair of boot knives to end its life.
The shriek of men and women afraid for their lives hit Natalia’s ears and her red locks flew as she looked up towards the source. A large group of Chitauri and Chitlian were moving in towards a semi-collapsed building where some civilians seemed to be trapped. Gritting her teeth, Natalia stood and started on her way across the street towards them as fast as her petite frame could take her.
“Wing 5, you still with me up there?” she called out as she ran, an idea hitting her. As if in response, the large white crescent zipped around the corner, its guns raining death on the aliens below. “There you are… I was beginning to get a bit worried you’d gone and gotten yourself killed.”
Spector probably wouldn’t appreciate it if she broke his toy on her first day of playing with it.
“Civilians at my twelve o’clock - engage the enemy.” The VTOL’s response time was immaculate and in no time, the large glider was riddling Thanos’ forces with high caliber rounds. “Cease fire!” she yelled, anticipating an immediate response as she leapt at the last remaining alien’s back. No bullets accosted her backside, and her knives sunk deep into the thick hide of the creature’s skull.
As it fell, she tumbled back to her feet and continued moving forward to help clear rubble so that the civilians could escape. “Head for the barricade! And whatever you do, don’t stop!”. She didn’t have to tell them twice, and in no time, the group was racing across the street towards the relative safety of SHIELD’s cordon. “Wing 5, you’re on civilian duty. Make sure they get there safe and hold the lines at the barricade.” Natalia herself didn’t bother moving in that direction. She wouldn’t do so until she was certain Asher was alright.
Turning to check on the kid’s well-being, Natalia grunted from a sudden impact. She could feel herself flying through the air at a steady pace, and crumpled as she crashed into the ground a few yards away. “Son of a…” she groaned, noting the distinct emptiness of her hands. Slowly, she began to pick herself up, but stopped at a searing pain in her left shoulder. A strangled cry left her lips, the sound louder than she’d anticipated, especially with the way it echoed against the concrete jungle.
Instead of focusing on the Chitlian who’d sent her flying, Natalia turned to the one whose spear had just opened up a large gash in her arm. She was now certain the first attack had been meant solely to take her off her feet within range of the second alien, and was thankful for her quick reaction speed. Trying to catch her breath from the hard fall and the shoulder pain, she scrambled away from where the spear was heading next - towards her chest.
“Help…” she mumbled to anyone and no one in particular. “Shit… A little help would be good right now!”
Post by z inactive ashermaestas on May 10, 2016 14:53:31 GMT
ELECTRICKERY
By the time Agent Romanoff landed on his back, he'd been running low enough on electricity that at least he wouldn't zap her by mistake. She might've had some counter-measures to getting shocked, but he'd still sooner avoid tazing one of the Avengers if he could help it. By the time he was alight with what was probably a deadly amount of voltage to most, she'd returned to the battle, a safe distance away from him again.
Out of the corner of his eye, Asher remained vaguely aware of her and.. whatever sort of weapon she had that was now gunning down their enemies. He probably would've mistaken it for some kind of alien tech--and maybe it was--but she seemed to be in command of the thing, so at least it was on their side. As far as he could tell, she was using it to help out some of the civilians who hadn't evacuated yet. Good; in his current condition, Asher couldn't hope to do the same without giving them an unhealthy jolt by mistake. Better that he focus on the Chitauri.
Their numbers were dwindling, he noted, striking down aliens one after another with the lethal amounts of electricity crackling down the length of his stolen twin spears. But he couldn't have said exactly how many were left. If he didn't have mere minutes left, if he had more time, Asher might've attempted to gain access to the Chitauris' hive mind, but as it was, he couldn't touch one of them without electrocuting it. So that idea was out.
"Can't you guys give up already?" He grunted, driving the end of one spear through a Chitlian's chest when it started to rise again. Perhaps it was just how hard he was pushing his body, but he felt like the battle had been going on for ages. It really would've helped if they could just blow up their mothership again, and take them all out at once. Or most of them at least--Asher wasn't sure if it would effect the larger of the alien foot-soldiers, who seemed to have minds of their own.
Minds that, apparently, could figure out when he was distracted. The collar of his shirt tugging against his neck was all the warning he got when one grabbed him by the back of it and tossed him in the opposite direction. He struck the hood of a car, and Asher felt the glass of the windshield splinter beneath him as another of the aliens landed on top of him. Its weight knocked the breath from his lungs, but he still managed to move out of the way of the spear aimed for his head, yanking the Chitauri off of him by its ankle and electrocuting it in the process.
Trying to catch his breath again, Asher pulled himself back up by what of the spear was still sticking out of the hole in the windshield. He'd lost his own when the Chitlian had thrown him, so he grabbed the base of the one that'd been meant to kill him, yanking it out from where it'd impaled itself through the driver's seat instead.
Asher doubted he had much time left, so he hefted the glaive and slid off the hood of the vehicle, barely allowing himself time to catch his breath before he bolted for the nearest group of Chitauri. Rather than attack them head on, he only shoved them out of the way, purposely making as much noise and attracting as much attention from the aliens as possible as he ran from one cluster to another.
Only when he had a large enough group of the Chitauri and Chitlian following him did he bother to put a decent amount of distance between them, stopping and turning to face the enemies he'd gathered. With the electricity from the Black Widow's bracelets already dwindling, Asher decided he may as well throw it all into one final attack.
Ducking and twisting out of the way of the blasts from their guns, Asher lifted the spear above his head, channeling what voltage he had left into the Chitauri's weapon. Overcharging it, the glaive soon began to grow hot in his hands, though by the time he could no longer hold it, it was flowing with enough electricity for Asher to keep it aloft without having to touch it. And by the time the aliens drew near, the length of the spear was glowing cherry-red with electrical heat.
It allowed him enough influence over the weapon to spin it above his head, and send it flying towards the gathered aliens an instant before the minimal amount of electricity left in his body ran out. The heated metal sliced through the aliens like butter, while any that were lucky enough to avoid it were simply shocked and shorted out, their all being clustered together making them an easy target for the volume of electricity running through the spear.
Distantly, he heard the Avenger's call for help, but as the last dregs of his electricity fizzled out, Asher didn't even have the strength to keep himself from hitting the pavement, much less assisting the Black Widow. Without a charge left to stimulate his body, he could barely keep his eyes open, every movement sending fresh pain through his over-exerted muscles as he dragged himself over to the side of a building, just to put something at his back. Asher had expected the unfortunate after-effects, but this was.. somewhat worse than he was used to, having extended the technique with help from Agent Romanoff. He supposed it felt as if he'd crammed about a hundred hours of intense exercise into the space of a few minutes.
So he grimaced as he reached for the gun still tucked into his waistband--unsure if it would still work after having been subject to such high amounts of electricity, but still comforted by the feeling of a weapon in his hand when he was otherwise useless. Asher just hoped without any electricity left to draw attention to himself, the aliens would leave him alone until someone could help him away from the battlefield.
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OOC: Sorry Nat, but Asher's out of the fight. Good luck!
...it hit him harder than any attack had in centuries. Thanos grit his teeth as pain shot through him; pain he had not felt in so long. It was terrible and it gripped his core and ripped a scream from his throat.
Panting in the aftermath of the attack, Thanos gripped his chair tightly. He was injured. Midgard was not the easy target he had thought. He needed to regroup...
Sending out a call for his troops to withdraw home, Thanos' own throne also began an ascent to the skies and beyond. He would return to crush these creatures into submission, but first he needed to figure out how such a useless creature had been able to fight off his hold and injure him.
((Chitauri forces are now retreating, though the dark elves are not going with them, and are instead converging on Concourse. Players still in Ragnarok threads may choose to finish off the Chitauri before they retreat, or simply let them go. Whatever the choice, players should at least have one more round to wrap things up and react to this turn of events. When you're done, notify a member of staff. Thank you.))
Post by Natalia Romanova on May 13, 2016 3:12:56 GMT
Natalia heard the crash that signified Asher’s body connecting with a car, but she couldn’t take the time to help the kid out at the moment. Surrounded by enemies, she had her hands more than a little full, especially with those civilians in dire need of assistance off to one side. The continued sounds of thrashing trickling out from the area she’d heard Asher fly into suggested the mutant was down, but not yet out of the fight. That was good, at least.
Soon enough, she noticed the enemies around her beginning to thin out. She and the civilians were no longer a decent enough threat, it seemed, and more of the Chitauri were turning their attention towards the electrifying mutant. Natalia hoped he knew what he was getting himself into, but again, there was no time. Besides - if he was amping up for some kind of big attack, getting closer was precisely the opposite of a good idea.
She didn’t hear what happened, but she took a moment as the civilians were moving out to glance in the direction she’d last heard Asher. It took a moment to pick him out of the cluster. She’d expected him to still be standing, but he was crumpled in the center of a large group of dead Chitauri. “Dammit…” she murmured, just before the impact of a Chitlian sent her flying.
This wasn’t the best situation she’d ever been in, but she’d been in worse. Right? Honestly, nothing was coming to mind at the moment. Still, she had no intentions of giving up the fight - not now, not like this. Gritting her teeth, her palms continued to scrape against the rubble as the pair of Chitlians moved in, hissing and clicking their threats. Vaguely, she thought she heard the sound of the VTOL humming towards her, but she didn’t dare crane her neck to see. As she continued to move backwards, one hand found a loose chunk of rubble and before she had time enough to fully formulate a plan, she sprung into action.
The chunk of cement flew out of her hands, aimed at the thigh of the Chitlian on her left. It hissed more in displeasure as the rock did little more than scratch the surface of its thick skin, but when its attention dropped to see what she’d thrown, she lunged. Throwing her body forward, she dove inside of the Chitlian’s reach, quickly grabbing hold of the glaive’s shaft and wrenching it towards her. The second alien took a swing for the Russian, but she used its comrade’s spear to block the swipe with ease.
“You know…” she grunted, clambering elegantly onto the closest Chitlian’s back. “...at some point, you’re just going to have to accept…” Zzzt! The Chitlian crumpled as the last of her Widow’s Bite zapped it to kingdom come. “...that we’re not going to give up, and we’re not going to lose…” Panting from the exertion, Natalia yanked the dead alien’s spear from its hand before it hit the ground and twirled into a defensive stance to face off with its partner.
The sweet sound of a minigun filled the area as the VTOL finally made its way back over, sinking half a dozen rounds into the remaining Chitlian before pausing to hover over Natalia’s location. “See?” she quipped, stabbing the alien in the neck to make certain it wasn’t getting back up again. Glancing up at the pale white disc, Natalia clucked quietly and began to pick her way over to the downed mutant. “Took your time with that one, I see.” If the vessel could speak, she imagined it would have spat back some kind of equally snarky quip - it had been made by Marc Spector, after all. Thankfully for her, it remained silent, save the occasional blast of gunfire as Chitauri attempted to get close.
As they moved, Natalia couldn’t help but notice the distinct lack of more enemies trickling in. And in fact, as she scanned the area, all of the aliens in sight seemed to be doing the exact opposite. Were they…? Yes. They were! They were retreating! Part of her wanted to slump to the ground with relief right then and there, but the idea of Asher laying out alone in the middle of the battlefield spurred her forward.
By the time Natalia reached Asher, he seemed more like a normal teenager, not some electrical wunderkind who’d just wrecked a battalion of aliens. Sighing, she crouched beside the kid and brushed a few strands of blonde out of his face as he leaned against a wall, barely conscious (if at all), near to where he’d fallen. “You did good, Asher,” she murmured, offering him a small smile as her eyes raked over his body in search of visible wounds. Holding out a hand, she grunted under her breath as she helped him up, supporting his weight with her good shoulder. Were she any other member of the Avengers, she might have simply picked him up and carried the young man bridal style to the barricade, but unfortunately, she was severely lacking in both the strength and the height departments. At least he’d been smart enough to have a weapon out after his power was depleted.
“Wing 5, you’re on perimeter duty. Chitauri and Chitlian are still kill on sight.” As the VTOL lifted and began to sweep the area, Natalia finally began to ease forward, helping Asher along the way. “Come on, kid. Let’s go get you a medal of honor and some ice cream. It’s the least you deserve.”
