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.
To say that Nadezhda was in a less than gracious mood would be an understatement. As per usual, everyone forgot about Staten Island. Oh sure, The Thing and a group of others had definitely taken down the forces of the Chitauri army, but did they stick around to clean up? Well, The Thing did, and so did several mutants. But SHIELD? Gone. Her lawn was littered with Alien bodies full of knives and bullets and did any of them volunteer to help clean it up? Nope, just left her and the other residents to their own devices. The trigger happy militia that Nadezhda had been aware of and trying to placate or, rather manipulate had definitely been an added bonus of a fight. But they had dead to take care of, and they’d already done quite a bit for Staten Island. Her animals were currently locked inside the house, as she didn’t need either dog getting underfoot and possibly hurting themselves on the strewn bodies on the ground
Cleaning up her own lawn and noticing others doing the same or having the first responders treating those who’d gotten caught in the crossfire or just people who’d survived the Chitauri attack in the first wave, before SHIELD had gotten here when the attacks had started. Pulling yet another kitchen knife out of Chitauri’s skull, Nadezhda sighed, tossing the now useless object into her pile of useless knives. Really, did they have to make her use all of her good kitchen ware? That was going to be annoying to replace, especially because warranties didn’t cover ‘needed to use for defense during alien invasion’ and also the whole ‘oh I used them because my mutant power makes them super sharp’ was not something she was super eager to let anyone know, even though several mutants had helped save New York before.
Ingrates. As she continued to remove knives and drag bodies into a pile, so that they could go into a much bigger pile of Chitauri bodies, Nadezhda noticed that SHIELD finally sent a team of people in to help with the clean up. She specifically noticed a man with a big, red mustache and bowler hat. One of the Howling Commandos, but she wasn’t able to recall his name or rank at the moment.
Still, she ought to give SHIELD a piece of her mind. Sticking the knife she’d been holding into the ground, she strode up to the the group of SHIELD Agents. “So, are you here to help, or are you just going to look around and then leave the rest of it to us, hmm?” Nadezhda asked, indicating the area and it’s decimation. “Do you even know how long it’s going to take to clean all of this up?” She asked, directing her ire at the Commando. It would be especially long, considering Manhattan was a primary consideration and Staten Island….well, everyone forgot about it.
Post by z inactive timothydugan on Apr 8, 2016 2:31:33 GMT
When SHIELD had rolled out for the first of the Chitauri invasions Dum Dum had been interested to see how their specialized weapons would work against these new foes. But he had always taken a much more light hearted view on the world than most. Yeah, the world was full of horrible things, and in his line of work he would be faced with more than most people would ever see. He had long since learned that the best way to keep his sanity was to find humor in even the smallest things - not that his fellow agents understood that. Many of them thought he had long since lost his marbles; but they all had their different coping mechanisms.
He had been stationed on the opposite end of the country when the waves of Chitauri had come rolling through, hitting strategic cities across the country. It been brutal and things hadn’t ended there. The monsters had rallied up once more to attack different cities this time. Everyone was on edge, no one knew if they would be back or if they had seen the last of the Chitauri. SHIELD was preparing as if earth was going to be invaded again. And soon. Always prepare for the worst and hope you never have to put it into effect.
During the cleanup efforts SHIELD had withdrawn the majority of it’s agents. They needed to debrief, discuss what had gone well, and what had gone horribly wrong. They needed to share the tips and tricks they had learned when it had come to defeating the Chitauri. They all had very different fighting styles and so the hope was someone would stumble upon a weak spot or something. Anything that would give them a leg up. And then there had been the weapon that Stark and Bobbi had created. This was the first time it had been field tested; they’d needed to go over everything that came with that.
If Dum Dum had had his way he would still have been out in the field helping with the clean up efforts. Many people had seen their lives destroyed and SHIELD had simply stepped aside. Not that there was much that they could do in the way of clean up. SHIELD wasn’t designed to rebuild or anything like that. The moment the all-clear had sounded organizations like the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and Catholic Charities, were taking to the streets, setting up temporary shelters for those who were displaced, and feeding the masses. Dum Dum had been sent back out into the field to help dispose of the dead aliens and to collect as much alien technology as he possibly could. It was going to be a long and nasty job.
He and another Agent had been assigned to drive around a section of the city and collect as many alien artifacts as they possibly could. It was slow work as they wanted to be a thorough as possible, the two of them driving around in a black, unmarked SUV that SHIELD was so fond of. Catching sight of a pile of Chitauri just waiting for them, the two agents pulled over. His partner radioed in to let the clean up crew know there were bodies to be collected as Dum Dum slid out of the car.
He had barely taken more than a few steps when this slip of a thing came striding up to him, fire flashing in her eyes. Without so much as a hello she began to lay into him. Telling him exactly what she thought about everything going on. It was all he could do to not crack a smile as she read him the riot act. ”It is going to take a while,” He agreed trying to placate the woman. He’d seen the aftermath of a number of wars and he could tell her it was going to take a lot longer than anyone would initially plan for. ”And I can assure you that we are here to help. Was there something in particular you were needing a hand with right at this moment?” Even if there wasn’t anything he could do he could certainly point her in the direction of one of the many groups who were working the disaster.
Before Dugan had stepped in to answer, the Agent assigned with him had started on the spiel given to all angry reactions; that SHIELD was doing what it could, but almost all Agents had to report back to HQ, go through debriefing, and so on. He only got out “Ma’am-” before he was cut off by Dugan. Nadezhda was also observing what they were doing and felt maybe a bit bad for snapping at them, not that bowler hat man seemed to mind all that much. Still.
“Sorry, all the nerves are frazzled. You think that we could be spared an alien invasion or two.” Nadezhda said. Why was it after intelligent life was confirmed elsewhere in the galaxy, the first thing to happen is that aliens invaded the earth. Though if one believed UFO sightings, at least believed all of them, including abduction stories, aliens had always been fascinated with Earth and apparently either wanted sperm or eggs from people. Heaven knew why. Perhaps they were x-gene carriers? Bio Studies by the aliens, but they why would they want those specific things?
Not that these questions were really something to ponder. But one did wonder where the mothmen were when you actually needed them? Nadezhda sighed. “Well, I could use some help dragging these...horrible things out of my yard.” She said, slightly sheepish. “Plus I’ll need my knives back so I can throw those away. Damn Chitauri, making me use all my good cutlery.” Nadezhda said, slightly grinning as it was somewhat of a joke. Though she really was serious about needing to replace them all. She sighed. “Also, I’m not sure how you’re disposing all of the bodies, but you might want to watch these guys; some of them are full of bullets.” Nadezhda added.
That loophole in law had been great for purchasing a gatling gun, which had come in handy with the second unforeseen invasion. Of course hauling had been tricky, considering it wasn’t mounted on anything. She just had to hope that no one got any footage of her powers in action; it wasn’t like she could control the telekinetic shield. She would like to think that people were too busy to record something like that, but sadly, that wasn’t the world they lived in.
If anything, she could hope that the potential distracted parties had gotten their karmic justice. Staten Island wasn’t known for that, and Nadezhda was sure that they would come to her if that was at all a possibility. “But if there are other people who need assistance more than me, well...do I just mark the bodies for SHIELD or what?” Nadezhda asked. Would they just be piled on the side of the street like garbage? And where in the world was Jason, anyway? She’d called him about two hours ago. She had to figure that he was out of commission at best, if that was truly the case. The worst case scenario had better not have happened, she would hate to have to rebuild her entire internal network in the NYPD.
Post by z inactive timothydugan on Apr 22, 2016 1:43:17 GMT
How he hated the ‘give them the party line repeatedly until the are placated’ unspoken rule of SHIELD. He got that there were things they couldn’t tell your average person just off the street but they could still converse with them without parroting back the party line. It just seemed so rehearsed and insincere. Besides he was old and no longer had the patience to stand there and repeat something over and over again until the person asking questions ceased asking questions. Who was he kidding? He didn’t have the patience for that kind of thing when he was younger. That was why when his partner started going on his spiel Dum Dum decided to jump in. From the look he was getting his partner didn’t quite appreciate Dum Dum’s interruption but the former strong man didn’t care. He had seniority over the kid after all. Hell, he had seniority over just about everyone at SHIELD. And his partner knew it, though going by the thin line his mouth was set in the kid didn’t exactly like it.
That was fine. What was he going to do? Report him to the powers that be for interrupting him? He had so much worse on his files that the powers that be wouldn’t so much as bat an eye.
He nodded his acceptance of her apology. The alien attacks had everyone on edge. Hell he was on edge and he had lived through more wars than any man should have to see. [mediumorchid]”If I ever see another alien invasion it will be to soon.”[/color] He sighed fidgeting with the hat perched on his head. ”You would think with a universe as vast as ours they’d find somewhere more interesting to go to than little old Earth.” Hell they could barely leave the planet let alone go visit other galaxies. What did aliens want with what they probably considered a primitive race? It made no sense to him.
”We can help with that. We’ve radioed in for a truck to come and cart it off for you.” He said nodding to his partner. For a moment he thought he had misunderstood her. ”You took down that?” He nodded at the dead leviathan ”With some cutlery?” Now that was impressive. Dum Dum whistled appreciatively. ”You’re gonna have to teach me that one.”
Dum Dum wasn’t entirely sure how exactly the bodies were going to be disposed of. Incinerated most likely. That would prevent the aliens from falling into the wrongs hands and there wasn’t really a big enough plot of to simply bury them all. Carting the leviathan off was going to be fun though. SHIELD had rigged up one of their vehicles to look much like the sort that carried beached whales. It wasn’t as if they could butcher up the leviathan into smaller pieces while people watched on. For all the public was upset about the attacks they took offense to dismembering the enemy. Even if it made disposal so much easier.
As for the others, Dum Dum produced a simple business card from one of his many pockets. It was a glossy black card with no info on it other than a number printed out in white lettering. ”If you find anything that needs our attention just call this number” He said passing the card over. ”Just let the operator know what’s going on and they’ll send someone out to tend to it.”
DumDum was pretty astute in knowing that people wanted answers, not to just be ignored. In the wake of a second invasion, this one on a much more massive scale, people were downright irate, demanding that SHIELD give them answers. They had a right to know, dammit! This was especially bad in the wake of the high profile Triji case, which was sparking either outrage or commenation of the Black Widow’s actions. Things were tense between a lot of the public and SHIELD at the moment.
DumDum’s partner could tell quite clearly when he was dealing with the strong personalities, and sighed, falling back and allowing the Howling Commando to take charge of this situation in particular. Agent Bryce was also infamously known for having a stick up his ass, so the obvious choice was to put him with DumDum. If the bowler hat man couldn’t loosen the kid up, nothing in the world could. Plus DumDum had seniority over him so he kind of had to follow the older man’s lead.
“I suppose there’s less truth to that Calvin and Hobbes strip than we previously thought.” Nadezhda said. Not her usual go to category, but it was one of the few pop culture things she was familiar with, on account of her brother. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like Earth, but you have a point there.” Nadezhda said, with a slight smile on her face at that statement.
“Oh, well. That’s good.” Nadezhda said in response, not sure where to go from there, before he drew attention to the dead Chitilian corpses on her lawn. She’d only gotten two of the lieutenant aliens before they decided that trying to go inside her home at this moment in time was not a good idea. The mutant power had helped with that.
“Oh no. Not that, definitely not.” Nadezhda said, referring to the Leviathan corpse that was down the street a ways. “Just these things. I have good aim.” Nadezhda said, leaving it at that. There was no way she was admitting that she was more than human to a SHIELD Agent of all people. “Plus being able to legally buy a gattling gun does wonders.” Nadezhda mentioned. She hadn’t really needed it when she’d bought the silly thing, it was more to be like ‘seriously, you’re telling me it’s legal for me to buy this? You..you are aware it's the basis for machine guns, right?’ to the law, before they changed it.
Though the damn thing had been ridiculously heavy and hard to manage when she didn’t have her shield going. She wished she could figure out how to turn the thing on and off.
“It’s very easy, just toss and throw. Knives strong enough to take down invading aliens.” Nadezhda said, in an impression of trying to pitch them as a product. She didn’t know why she was joking around with SHIELD officers of all people, she should be much more composed. It was probably just the nerves and the high stress situation, and dammit where was Jason? She would be really unhappy if he’d died on her. She’d check in with him later. If she could.
SHIELD was taking care of disposal, so aside from the smell of rotting bodies, Nadezhda wrote it off as ‘not her problem’. Then the bowler hat Agent produced a very interesting business card and handed it over. All it was, was a phone number. Intriguing. And simple; you didn’t want to risk Civilians who weren’t trained having something like an obvious SHIELD business card, lest they be held hostage or something like that.
“I don’t believe I caught your name….Agent?” Nadezhda asked, hoping she’d at least get that other than knowing him just as ‘the other guy from WWII with Namor and Steve’.
Post by z inactive timothydugan on Apr 28, 2016 4:45:23 GMT
Dum Dum stared at the various dead aliens around the street still marveling how a handful of kitchen knives could take down one of the Leviathan. He had the sudden urge to discover the brand and not only snatch up as much stock in the company as he possibly could but also buy as many of the knives as he could get his hands on. Caught in quite the nice little day dream about super sharp knives his bubble was burst when the knife thrower mentioned she had only taken down the Chitilian’s closest to what was probably her home.
His moustache drooped in disappointment for a brief second before he realized that was still quite the feat. Having had to pump a few rounds into some of the creatures in order to get them to fall he was still ridiculously impressed. ”Gatling gun?” He asked, eyebrows raising in surprise. How in the world had she even managed to get a hold of one of those? Weren’t the popular during the Civil War? Also they were giant. ”Where do you keep it?” He asked curiously. It wasn’t as if they fit neatly under the bed. And the housing in New York City and its surrounding boroughs weren’t exactly known for their abundance of space.
”You don’t happen to make a livin’ by slinging knives around do you?” He asked curiously. Back when he was younger the circus would have paid her a pretty penny to come work for them. It was too bad that the golden age of the circus had long since come and gone before this woman was more than a twinkle in her mother’s eye. It was a shame really. She could have really drawn in some crowds with skills like that.
Agent Bryce cleared his throat letting Dum Dum know he didn’t appreciate the off topic subject. The older agent signed and somehow managed to keep from rolling his eyes in exasperation. The kid needed to learn to relax and live a little. Yes, there was still a lot that needed to be done but a little conversation never killed anyone. Besides all work and no play made Dum Dum very irritable. Where had this mentality of not having fun when working come from? It have never made any sense to Dum Dum and it wasn’t a particularly new concept either. As long as the work got done what did it matter?
”Dugan,” He supplied offering up one of his large hands to shake. ”It’s nice to meet you ma’am.”
“Oh yes. When I’ve got spare time I like to collect antiques.” Nadezhda replied. “Well usually in a display hall. I collect quite a few things.” Nadezhda answered. “It’s currently sitting in the upstairs window sill.” She said, indicating the open window area of her house. It had been heavy, and she’d used up a lot of ammo, but it had gotten the job done. He’d seemed disappointed she hadn’t taken out the Leviathan with her knives, but that was how it was. She was slightly amused by that. “Though feel free to tell people that I did. Might make ‘em think twice before picking a fight with me.” Nadezhda added, with a grin and a wink.
“Ah, no.” Nadezhda answered him, sounding bemused. “I am sadly just a business woman; I’m the current CEO of Volkov Coffee Inc.” She said. Because he’d seemed curious. “My grandfather taught me all of the knife throwing and gun-slinging tricks though; he was a vet and a hunter...so I know quite a few of them.” She explained, which was pretty much on the dot true. Her grandparents had both been in WWII, but on the Russian side. She highly doubted any of the other WWII survivors. Well the famous ones anyway, would’ve met them.
Agent Bryce hemmed and hawed, reminding them of the impending doom of the situation. It was like watching a comedy act, really. Straight man to the comedy man, she observed. She was tempted to mess with him, but this really wasn’t the time or place for it. She wasn’t sure how long SHIELD even had in this area, and she certainly didn’t need Bryce finding some sort of infraction to come sniffing around again.
At least Dugan seemed genial enough. Oh, Dugan! The loud one with red hair. Yeah, she could see the connection now. She shook his hand in what she hoped was a firm fashion. “It’s nice to meet you.I’d invite you both inside for coffee, but that might have to wait until later.” Nadezhda said, noting Bryce’s fidgeting getting worse.
“I know you’re a senior agent, sir, but I really must protest this. We have tons of people to help.” Bryce said, in an annoying bureaucratic fashion. “We need to regroup and evacuate areas; you should retreat to a safe distance, ma’am, not to mention all the debriefing and clean up.” Bryce continued.
“I do not think that I will. This is my home.” Nadezhda said, firmly and with a tight smile to Bryce. “Besides, I do not have enough time to move all of my Lizards safely. Better to stay here.” She said in response to Bryce. Though really, he was right in a sense; there was nothing more SHIELD could do for her now.
“Well, thank you for taking the time to come out here.” Nadezhda said to Dugan mostly. “But I do agree that there are more people who need your help. I’m sure the other members of SHIELD will take care of the rest of these matters.” Nadezhda said, mainly because Dugan had told her they would and SHIELD would get an earful if they didn’t address it soon.
Post by z inactive timothydugan on May 17, 2016 6:32:48 GMT
In her spare time she collected antiques and one of the just happened to be a Gatling gun. What were the odds? Dum Dum had to say he was just a little bit in love with this woman. ”Do you have any other antique weapons in that house of yours,” He asked the important question they were all thinking craning his head as if he could peer through the upper window she had motioned too. He shot her a toothy grin. ”That would be a good thing to get ‘round. No one would dare to touch your house.” Not if they knew what a gatling gun was anyways.
Dum Dum’s eyebrows rose up under his hat when he learned where his new friend worked. He loved Volkov coffee. He was starting to like this woman more and more. Yeah they might have just met but anyone who liked large weapons and had a love of coffee was okay in his books. Now he was just guessing on her love of coffee but if the CEO of a coffee company wasn’t fond of the life bringing brew she needed to rethink her life choices.
”You’re grandfather sounds like one hell of man,” He didn’t bother trying to figure out if the man had been someone he’d met or not. The draft had affected so many people that nearly everyone had a grandfather who had served in the war. Dum Dum had long since learned it was easier to keep his sanity in tact when he didn’t try to rack over 70 years of memory to try and remember a face. If he did fantastic, and if he didn’t well it wouldn’t change much would it?
Bryce was doing his best to be obnoxious and Dum Dum simply ignored him; something he knew the other man hated. There was no way the kid wasn’t going to his superior’s office and complain about Dum Dum; probably at great length. Not that Dum Dum cared. Bryce wouldn’t be the first, nor would he be the last. Dum Dum had been around a lot longer than the kid and probably would still be with SHIELD when the other man retired.
Dum Dum slowly turned to level a look at the younger man. He didn’t say anything but simply crossed his arms and regarded Bryce from under his bowler hat for a long moment. The kid had just done quite the faux pas. Normally that was something Dum Dum couldn’t have cared less about - goodness knows he had done more of his fair share - but the kid had been unhappy being paired with the unconventional agent and had been doing small things to undermine his authority throughout the day. For the most part Dum Dum had found it amusing, the kid was insecure and had was trying to make a name for himself yet couldn’t see he was doing nothing more than making those around him exasperated. But this was a completely different ball game. It was one thing to question his directives around other agents who were well aware of Dum Dum’s eccentricities (still a faux pas, but Bryce was in better company) but another entirely to do it in front of a civilian after a national disaster.
During times like this people expected agencies to work like a well oiled machine; doing their jobs with little issue and sooth the fears of those who felt powerless. They did not need to see that the organizations that were supposed to help them were arguing internally.
”Excuse us a moment,” He said politely to his new friend before placing a hand on Bryce’s elbow and dragging him back towards the vehicle. Once they were far enough out of earshot Dum Dum pulled himself up to his full height and looked down on the younger agent. He didn’t invade the kid’s space like he wanted to but instead spoke quietly, his voice hard.
”What do you think you’re doing Mr. Hotshot? If you have a problem with how I’m perform my work you pull me aside and discuss it with me, you not my mother to be questioning me in front of god and everybody. That’s not how this works as you well know. Our job is to make sure that not only are people safe, but that they feel safe. And you know as well add I do that we cannot enforce evacuation at any point in time. We can request it, we can strongly suggest it but we cannot demand it. Also why the hell are we trying to get people to evacuate once the attack is over? Are we never going to let them go home to try and piece their life back together? Go wait in the car, I'll deal with you even I'm done here.”
Now Dum Dum wasn't one to get angry often but he was wholly annoyed right now. The kid knew better, and that's what made it that much worse. “Sorry about that,” he said with a smile, returning to the conversation ”Any time,” He inclined his head accepting the thanks. ”Feel free the number on the card should you need assistance with anything,” He reiterated.
“Not many. I wanted to get Patton’s pearl-handled revolvers, but alas someone else has those. I have a couple of older engraved pistols, some more modern guns. Mostly those are hunting rifles, though.” Nadezhda answered. It was more of a side hobby than anything she seriously pursued. “And of course the gatling gun. But that was more for the novelty of being able to own it under the revolver clause than anything else.” It had proven very useful though, so she was going to be keeping it. “But that is as far as weapons go.” Naz said in response. She had at least one nice piece of art, but art was expensive. It was amazing that she even had one piece of Thomas Cole’s work in the first place. They were soothing and nice to look at, from her perspective anyway.
“He was.” Nadezhda answered. She missed him quite a bit, considering he was one of the more influential figures in her life. “Though my grandmother is also a veteran. That’s how they met.” Her grandfather had been mostly on the mechanic side of things for the war effort, but he’d picked up a gun and shot the enemies of the state when the time had called for it. She didn’t even bother asking DumDum if he met him. The chances were astronomical, especially considering her grandfather had not been with the American army at the time.
Apparently protocol had been breached or Dugan had finally had enough of Bryce, considering the look the senior agent was giving the guy, who in Nadezhda’s opinion, was more suited to being a desk jockey, not one of the field agent guys. While not aware of the inner workings of SHIELD, she’d figured out that Bryce did not like being paired with Dugan. She was more informed that things were not a well oiled machine, but from what Bryce had said, it looked like it was less organized than she’d previously suspected.
Still, Bryce was a lower level agent. Perhaps he simply didn’t have the same level of access to information that Dugan did. She didn’t know, and Dugan pulled the agent aside, far out of her hearing range. Part of her wondered how badly the younger agent was going to get it, but it wasn’t worth sneaking around. She wasn’t going to find any vital information doing that anyway.
Bryce was, of course, properly cowed and shoved into a car. Part of him was aware that Dugan was right, which he hated to admit. The senior agent was completely out of line, he was definitely telling his superior that. At the very least, after this debacle he probably wouldn’t get assigned with DumDum Dugan again anytime soon.
After Dugan had apparently sent off the younger agent to the car, he came back to speak with her. “It’s quite alright. Sometimes the people who work for or with you need to be reminded that they aren’t exactly the ones in charge.” Nadezhda said, speaking from experience. “I will, thanks for your help, Agent Dugan.” Nadezhda said, giving him a smile of her own and waving to him as she was sure he had to go visit another area with a less annoying but more grumpy Bryce.
