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.
Fear laced the Liberterram soldier's voice as he skimmed the misty horizon. The bunker was well-hidden, far away from any real signs of civilization. They'd whisked the President and some of the more important cabinet members here days ago, under the cover of nightfall while missiles dropped from planes soaring high above.
For every one Liberterram soldier, there seemed to be no less than three of Egyptia’s own. Their ranks comprised not just of men, however, but of mutants as well. They weren't mercenaries, per se, but rather fanatics; their orders were not given by the Egyptian men in uniforms - instead, they seemed to follow the directions of an as yet unseen commander.
At least the sound of helicopters on approach was somewhat comforting to the officer in command of the bunker.
“They've breached the southern gate!”
“Close it up!”
There was a mad rush on the side of the bunker defense to cease any Egyptian forces from getting in. It didn't take long to stop them at that point of entry, but the toll was high. Between the stalwart walls, automated rail guns, and highly trained military personnel defending the bunker, it shouldn't have been a tough fight. But the Egyptians had brought with them an obscuring mist which had afforded them the element of surprise, in addition to weapons aside from guns.
“Sir! There are enemy forces inside!”
“What?!”
“Riley said he saw Black Widow with them, but he's lost sight of her to confirm.”
“Go get me confirmation, Lieutenant!”
“Sir, yes sir!”
“Teams Delta and Echo, go find the possible intruders and take them out. Be warned, the Black Widow may be with them. Keeping the President safe is top priority!” Mopping his sweaty brow with the back of one hand, the bunker commander shook his head. No amount of training could have prepared him for this. He was currently facing every conceivable disaster situation possible all at once, it seemed. Switching to an alternate comm system - one connected to the main forces (provided they were still up and alive) - he let out a breath and sent out a request to anyone in the area who might listen.
“This is Bunker 616, requesting immediate reinforcements. The spider is in the web. I repeat, the spider is in the web.”
--
Namor , Alexander Cuvier , Clint Barton is the posting order. Figured Clint could arrive via one of those helicopters. Left most of the scenery open in case y'all wanted the bunker to be close to the ocean (i.e. easy access for the two Atlanteans).
Remember you have 72 hours!
Last Edit: Mar 31, 2017 20:25:29 GMT by S.S.A. Aech
Thunderstorms raged with Namor's arrival and the sea rolled with massive waves that shed Atlantean troops across the islands of Liberterram. Those that were not simply birthed from the brine arrived in Atlantean war vessels; frilled and biomechanical constructs that looked as fantastic as the cool-hued, shark-eyed and exotically armored warriors of Atlantis' elite guard. The entirety of their ranks had been summoned for this assault, and though the initial deposit of forces was sizeable, it was only a third of their total numbers. The expansive geography of the ocean delayed the arrival of his most distantly stationed guard.
But it had not stalled the King. He had half a mind to set the entirety of his army loose upon the nation so that he could take his fill of dead Egyptians. But even in his state of roiling fury he was not foolish enough to leave his nation vulnerable. The overwhelming majority of his army was where they belonged; inside of his Kingdom, defending it. The elite, however, were his. His to destroy every enemy. To cripple the Egyptian army so that he could focus the might of his force against all of Egyptia itself. There would be no mercy. There would be no peace. He would take bloody satisfaction in watching the tide drown and corrode the lungs of every Egyptian.
Until he found her... in whatever state she might be.
That was the secondary purpose of his troops. Each one of them knew their queen and would serve as thousands of pairs of eyes across the island. If she was alive, they would find her. If she wasn't... Namor drove his trident through an Egyptian and watched them bleed like a stuck pig before he jerked out his weapon, leaving the soldier to collapse in a broken heap. If she wasn't, he didn't know how there could be peace until he had the Egyptian Sovereign's head mounted as some trophy upon the wall, his guts spilled for the sharks. Nothing else would satisfy.
[ Sire, we have a communication that's relevant. ] The voice resonated through his mind, his connection to his commanders bound by the magic of one of his more telepathically skilled mages.
[ Put it through. ] Flying up into the air and twisting around, Namor hit a group of soldiers with a downward impact that left a crater. The soldier he directly hit was all but a smear on his fist and the concrete that the King had cracked with the strike. Spinning around with his trident, Namor slashed those that had been buffeted but not decimated by the strike.
[ “This is Bunker 616, requesting immediate reinforcements. The spider is in the web. I repeat, the spider is in the web.” ]
Namor stilled completely for a moment, his breath catching with his heart. And then the moment passed. Anxiety cut into the rage, fueling his determination. He needed to get there so that he could remove her from the situation, secure her safety and then figure out what exactly had happened. Steven and Parker were still missing, and he needed to know if they were alive.
[ Those of you that are wrapping up your engagements, converge on Bunker 616. Flank them. ] Reaching out to a nearer and more familiar mind, Namor's consciousness traveled across the network to Alexander's specifically. In that same moment, he began his brief flight over to meet the boy. [ Natalia may be alive. You're coming with me. ] Looping his arms under the boy's, Namor lifted them both up into the air and quickly flew to the relayed location of this besieged bunker, the sky crackling with an electric charge as lightning flashed in the clouds above them. The clouds opened up over the bunker before Namor arrived, a fork of lightning flashing through the air and smashing into a friendly helicopter.
[ Alexander, save them! I'm going to continue on. ] Namor warned before he threw the boy toward the path of the rapidly descending bird. Flying down and ahead, Namor arrived outside of the bunker's entrance a hairsbreadth of a moment later. The Egyptian soldier that had been in the process of entering was grabbed by her throat and slammed against the concrete wall with enough force that there was a wet crunch of bone and brain.
Reaching out with a flick of his wrist, the King snatched the enemy's headset and buried it into his ear.
"Until you give me my wife, I am going to kill every one of you with more ferocity than the last." Crushing the headset in his palm, Namor continued on into the compound.
Post by Alexander Cuvier on Apr 3, 2017 4:00:52 GMT
From Tigershark’s perspective, he'd still sort of been getting used to this whole new universe and Atlantis and the fact that absolutely nothing he knew about had happened. Also apparently Nat and Namor were like, together and she wa Queen of Atlantis and there was a baby and all that stuff. This ‘Liberterrum’ place had been attacked and Widow had been on the island when said attack was launched.
So now they were supposed to be heading into battle, which was great! Well, in a way. Okay so he liked it, but then he liked fighting. Plus now he could exercise his skill set to a great degree and not have to feel bad about it.
They stormed the beaches on the islands of Liberterrum; a poor choice for a battleground, especially when Nat was the Queen of Atlantis. Tigershark admittedly did not know much about the situation at hand, not that he really needed to. He was already ill-suited to understanding more complex things about conflicts. He knew they were on the right side, though. As well as the fact that their side had a bit more of an advantage here.
So for Tigershark, the basics were: Nat was missing, Egyptians were bad, kill Egyptians and rescue Nat. Everyone goes home happy. It shouldn’t be too hard to do. He still didn’t like the whole ‘magical telepathic’ link thing, but he would admit it made it easier for lightning fast communication on the battlefield; he just found it weird. Tigershark arrived with the elite troops and their bio-ship, since he did not posses the ability of flight, and Namor got to look cool and all with the clouds and trident and stuff like that.
He’d only brought the minimal amount of armor; weapons would just slow him down, since he could crush most people with barely a thought. Unless they ran into someone stronger than him (Which aside from like, three people, there wasn’t any) Tigershark wasn’t going to have any sort of problem. After some rather brutal kills, Tigershark felt the prickling in his mind and heard Namor’s voice inside of it, telling him that they were changing course to the bunker. [Right.] Alex thought back in a moment, because it was hard to remember how to make your thoughts connect back, since they clearly couldn’t hear every thought.
It was a rather short flight over to the Bunker, and it would’ve been uneventful except for the lightning. The helicopter was apparently friendly, considering Namor’s command, and then Tigershark found himself being tossed toward the machine, which was quickly plummeting toward the earth. Time to look cool; too bad not enough people were around to see him do so.
Oh well, the people in the copter should thank him. These were Alexander’s thoughts as he pushed himself forward just a bit more, grabbing the tail part of the helicopter and pulling it up a bit so he could grab it by the central cavity.
When he had a good enough hold, Alex braced himself for a not so soft landing. He only staggered slightly, not used to catching these things out of the air, and made sure everyone was out of it, “Everyone get out!” He said, sounding impatient. He then grabbed the empty copter, and after asking the pilot if the other one in area was friendly or not….he tossed the damaged helicopter at the other one in the air, taking it down. Alex then made his way toward Namor, since he’d been chosen to help out with this mission.
As soon as he'd heard that shit was going down in Liberterram, Clint had started begging Fury to put him on the ground team for when they sent the inevitable reinforcements. He might not have been all that active of an agent anymore, but Rogers had based his team out of the place - a team which included Nat. And if there was even a small chance that his best friend was caught up in things, he was going to go help.
That was before the news came in that she was believed KIA.
Clint's rage was something that not many people saw, seeing as he was typically a fairly jovial guy, but the thought of something happening to Nat brought it to the forefront and he was given a wide berth unless absolutely necessary as he simmered in his anger. Nat had just had a kid. Neither of them deserved something like this happening so soon after that - and neither did Namor.
"--- Namor h--- arrived on loca--- ---th massive --- Atlantean troo---," Clint could hear through the static of the comm device that doubled as a hearing aid in his ear and he winced at the thought of the Hell that the King would reign down on the enemies that had put Nat in danger. (Clint wouldn't believe she was dead. He wouldn't.) The storm was interrupting communications with home base a bit, but Clint didn't really care all that much. He had people to bring his rage down on and he would focus on that.
Then another communication, this time from the bunker they were heading towards itself. "This is Bunker 616, requesting immediate reinforcements. The spider is in the web. Repeat, the spider is in the web."
Clint's heart nearly stopped. She was alive. He didn't know what else was going on, but Nat was alive. He turned on his comm unit to talk to the pilot. "We're getting down there. Now," he ordered and the man replied in the affirmative, the chopper's trajectory changing slightly to put them on a more direct route. Clint checked over his weapons carefully as he waited to get close enough to bail out to the battlefield.
The chopper was rocked by a lightning strike as they neared the bunker and Clint cursed as sparks flew through the air and the engines started to sputter. Going down in a chopper wasn't exactly his chosen route in life. It took only a few moments longer for the engines to explode and the chopper to start falling at the ground fast until it was jerked to a stop and slowly lowered instead.
An Atlantean, probably.
Clint jumped out as soon as he could, not liking staying in there a moment longer, and the rest of the agents inside followed suit. He vaguely recognized Alexander as the guy throw the chopper into the air. "Alex! Where's Namor?" he asked as he prepped his bow. If anyone was going to find Nat, it was likely her husband, and Clint didn't want to be far behind. He was already soaked to the bone, so he rolled his shoulders to make sure he still had proper movement. "I wanna help find Widow," he added to the other man, following after him as he started off.
Much to the commander’s relief, it didn’t take long for the reinforcements to begin arriving. It was difficult to see through the mist, but as a thunderstorm started to roll in off the coast, visibility outside the bunker became even more difficult. Each drop of rain sliced through the mist, slowly but surely ridding the area of that nuisance, but it brought on two other factors: darkness and sheet upon sheet of rain.
The battlefield was slowly turning into a disco - the flashes of lightning overhead every so often lighting the world up just before it was submerged into darkness again. High above, he could hear helicopters circling as they attempted to find a suitable place to either land or let their troops drop down to offer their assistance. A larger bolt of lightning than he’d ever seen in his lifetime seemed to burst not from the clouds, but from the damn heavens themselves. In the near daylight flash, he saw the Liberterram flag clearly on the side of the helicopter the bolt seared into the bird.
Counting the bird a lost cause, he refocused his attention on the battle at hand. There were still more than a few Egyptian forces coming in from all sides. And Riley still hadn’t got back to him on whether Black Widow was inside the bunker or not! He didn’t even know how the woman would get in without having made her way past one of the gates.
“Sir! I… I think you’d better see this…”
The commander turned after sending a hail of bullets into the center of a small squad of what - thank God - seemed to be simply Egyptian soldiers. Scowling at the shaky timbre in his Lieutenant’s voice, he waited expectantly for some form of bad news. The sight he was greeted with however, was a familiar man issuing threats into the comm of an extremely deceased Egyptian.
“Prince Namor!” he rasped, relief evident in his voice. Finally! The Defenders had arrived! Scanning the area behind the Atlantean, the Commander frowned slightly. Nomad was nowhere in sight. Nor were any of the other more notable figures. Instead, all he saw was a man of similar build to Namor hoisting what seemed to be the downed chopper so that the men and women inside could escape and join the fray. Shock filled his face as the man promptly rid himself of the helicopter by throwing it into a chopper boasting the flag of Egyptia.
Finally regaining his composure, the Commander motioned for his Lieutenant to fill in on the line for him so that he could move across the space to meet the super hero and whatever company he’d brought with him. “Thank you for coming so quickly, Prince Namor,” he began, ushering the Atlantean and the others into the bunker and out of the storm so that they could speak. “The President of Liberterram is two levels down. My men are stationed all throughout the facility, but I think the mutants may have slipped past our outer defenses somehow…”
His confidence seemed to waver as the next words caught on his tongue. It was no secret whom Namor was married to. And now that they were out of the storm, he recognized the face of Black Widow’s old partner, from before her days as a Defender. “One of my men claimed to have seen the Black Widow somewhere inside, but I haven’t heard back from anyone… I know this bunker inside and out and swear there’s only one other door inside, which is still fully defended as of forty-five seconds ago…”
“She’s here! Black Widow is -- agh! --”
The communication cut out, and the receiver filled the air with white noise until, a moment later, it finally turned to silence. A look of fear filled the Commander’s eyes as he looked back up at those gathered around him. “That was Captain Reyes… He was stationed outside the server room, two levels down…” He didn’t want to believe that Black Widow had been the one to kill Reyes, but it was hard to argue with what he’d just heard. Why was one of the Defenders fighting against them? It made no sense...
Two floors down, blood trickled out from a thin slice across Captain Reyes’ throat while five sets of feet moved past. One of the pairs of boots was smaller than the rest, and left no crimson trail where the others did. The petite, transparent figure gave a silent command to the four mutants in the hall before disappearing through the door to the server room.
A scaled man stepped up to a door further down the hallway, a toothy grin spread across his face. Long talons slipped out from his fingertips, easily sharper than the teeth showing visibly in his maw, but instead of shredding at the door, he took a deep breath and let loose a bright gout of flame. His three companions stood around him, their own weapons and talents at the ready as he began to melt away the metal door between them and their destination. Just inside the door, the President waited anxiously, surrounded by four soldiers and his personal bodyguard.
Namor's eyes flashed as he opened his palm, shattered headset falling to the floor with a few skitters of broken plastic. Straightening his posture, he turned toward the foreign voice with an expression too severe to simply be 'cool'. Identifying the Commander's rank by his uniform and adornments, Namor waited with barely contained patience for the man to close the distance between them. The gratitude was not met with even the attempt of appreciative acknowledgement, but the next words had something of substance to them. Something that he knew had to be in relation to his wife from the way he seemed to be toeing around the subject before he at last came to the point.
Natalia was here, first suspected by the Commander and then verified by the truncated communications. Every other aspect of the situation was ignored, as instinct compelled him to find her. Not even bothering to thank the man for his information, the Atlantean took flight and moved through the facility with enough speed that the walls vibrated a little and an intense wind howled behind him.
Once he reached the floor two levels below, he heard the telltale signs of battle. There were repeated sprays of bullets along with shouts and bellows. Bursting toward the sound, he rounded a few corners and came to the heavily fortified command room, where he landed in the thick of the mutants and Liberterram's most elite soldiers. A stray bullet pinged off of his flesh and ricocheted, and before he could do a second sweep for Natalia, an electric arc split across the room and slammed into his chest.
His breath caught, heart stilling as every muscle in his body locked up. It would take him a few seconds to recover, time he didn't have if the mutant's gesturing was anything to go by. Behind and to the sides of the mutants, the Liberterran forces were quickly becoming overwhelmed. Though those defending the president were initially a considerably more numerous force, the sheer power of the mutants was pressing down on them. The president himself was all but backed into the wall of the room, a semi-circle of five men enveloping him.
Post by Alexander Cuvier on Apr 10, 2017 6:01:47 GMT
“Tigershark.” Alexander corrected. He had chosen Alex as his name, but since they were in battle he preferred to go by his code name; It sounded cooler and meaner, and he didn’t know Clint well enough to let himself be called Alex by the man. So far only three people were allowed to do that, one of which he still didn’t know all that well, considering he’d only met her once from his memories.
The agents spilled out of the plane, and the next senior one began issuing orders; they were to follow the Atlanteans and bring up the rear, keeping the bunker as secure as possible and to make sure they weren’t flanked by Egyptian soldiers. “.....Okay? I thought zat is vhy you came here?” Tigershark said in response to Clint’s statement about wanting to help find Nat.
Tigershark picked up the commander’s voice from the din of the battle, mainly because he was very close in proximity to the man; he was fidgeting, as Tigershark wanted to continue to fight some more; he was just getting started after all, and he wasn’t going to pass this up. Plus, he’d keep an eye and ear for Nat, but he figured Namor would probably find her first. He only half listened to the commander, getting the pertinent information.
Mutants. Server Room, 2 Levels Down. Compromised Defenses. Everything else was just more talk to Alexander. Namor zipped past, and Tigershark made to move. “Keep up.” He growled back to Clint; carrying the man would just add extra weight on to him and Namor was already far ahead of both of them. Tigershark left it to Clint to speak with the Commander, should he choose. He wasn’t much for talking and there was nothing left to say.
Tigershark sprinted at an inhuman clip; he was already aware of death in the air, smelling freshly spilled blood here and there, though it was mostly guns and blunt objects. Skidding to a halt at the sight of the busted in room, Tigershark felt his hairs stand on end; one of many of the signs of an electric discharge, seeming to have hit Namor.
Tigershark did not like two of these things, and even more mutants were combating the forces, who were will quickly being outmatched. Time to show everyone how great he was, and that would be by hitting lightning man, who’d just made himself a primary target. Zipping forward, Tigershark slammed into the mutant with more than enough force to kill the man, backing up the few men around the president. “Let’s go, Godzilla.” Tigershark said, grinning at the reptilian looking mutant next.
He kept a lookout for the petite Redhead, but he didn’t see her, and his main focus was cutting down the mutants. At least until Namor got up, anyway.
"...dude, you told me to call you Alex last time make up your mind," Clint grumbled in response to the clone's correction. He was the most difficult person that Clint had ever met - and Clint lived with himself daily. Nonetheless, he supposed that he could call the guy 'Tigershark' even if it sounded ridiculous. "Yeah, exactly, but where's Namor?" he replied to the question, knowing that the King would be hot on the tails of any hint at Widow's presence. The guy was completely enamored with his former partner and Clint couldn't see him just standing by when there was the possibility of finding her.
Tigershark took off then and Clint rushed to follow after the faster man, coming to a halt near the commandor just as he was telling Namor where the president was. He listened attentively as the man gave a sitrep, filing all the information that he could away in his brain.
As soon as the words as to where Widow reportedly was were out of the commander's mouth, Namor was off. Clint wasn't surprised, but before he hauled ass after him and his wayward clone, he turned to the commander to give him his comm frequency. "Update me on the situation when you can," he said before rushing after the other two, visualizing the building's layout in his mind as he ran quickly towards where Nat had been spotted.
Tigershark was squaring off with a reptilian mutant by the time Clint reached the room and Clint nocked and fired an arrow into another of the mutants in the room as it rounded on him at his arrival, electricity shocking through him as it went off in his chest and downed him. His eyes sought out the President first, guarded by some of his men near Tigershark's location, then Namor, who looked to be shaking off the spasms that came from an electrical attack himself.
He approached the latter's side as he nocked an acid arrow and fired it at the mutant who was approaching the President's men, causing the guy to let out a high-pitched squeal of pain as the acid began to work down his body painfully, allowing the guards to easily take him out. "You good?" he asked Namor as the spasms seemed to dissipate, "Seen Widow yet? Where do you need me?" He wasn't usually one to deffer to another, but he knew when he had to and this was likely one of those moments. This was Namor's op, way he saw it, and even though it made tension thrum through him to think of it that way when his best friend needed him, he was here to support.
Post by Natalia Romanova on Apr 12, 2017 15:25:33 GMT
The arrival and Namor and his clone could not have come a moment too soon. As the mutants turned their attention to the visibly larger threats, the Liberterram forces protecting the President were able to scramble backwards and attempt to regroup. The Egyptians weren’t the only ones shocked by the sudden appearance of the two Atlanteans, however, and two of the five guards paid the price with their lives as teeth and claws buried into the flesh of their necks.
One of the mutants encroaching on the President’s slowly thinning circle of protection dropped in pain from the acid arrow shot by Clint, but two others lunged forward as the high-pitched squeal seemed to shake the humans. Their attacks were powerful and vicious, and it didn’t take long for them to kill two of the President’s guards and drop the final one to nurse a serious abdominal wound.
“Don’t touch him, you monsters!” the bodyguard shouted at the mutants lunging for the President. His blood-stained hands fumbled in front of him as he watched them slip ever closer to the man he’d sworn to defend with his life. Keeping one hand pressed down tightly against his midsection in an attempt to keep himself together he used the other to try and grasp the pistol tucked under his armpit. Before he had the chance to see if the mutants had killed his ward, the guard’s head whipped to one side, as if rocked by some invisible force.
“It’s so hard to find good help these days…”
The familiar lilt of Natalia’s voice drifted around the room, as if she were everywhere and yet nowhere all at once. When she finally materialized, she was more wispy and intangible than solid. Standing directly in front of Namor, she offered a tiny smirk - one she knew he loved. “Hello, lover…” she drawled as one ghost-like hand thrust into his pectoral. Elegant fingers wrapped securely around the Atlantean King’s heart. Even without her divine strength, crushing the organ would have been an easy feat. As it was, however, she didn't hold back, and only once she was certain it had been properly compacted did she release her hold on the monarch's heart.
Satisfied with the state of her late husband’s heart, Natalia turned to the remaining defensive forces in the room as his body sank to the floor. She flicked her wrist, depositing specks of crimson onto the floor in a Jackson Pollock fashion and wrinkled her intangible nose in distaste. “You know, they say the best torturers never get their hands dirty… but really, where’s the fun in that, hmm?”
"I'm functional." Namor replied, choosing his words well as he ground down on his molars and pushed himself to a stand, visions of red ebbing at his peripherals. To show that he was in good spirit, he was suddenly on the other side of the room. With one hand he secured the mutant, crushing down on their clavicle and the back of the tender joining between neck and shoulder. With the other, he had the arm one of the mutants. And then, a second later, there was the sound of a wet crunch and tearing as the soft tissue of the mutant's shoulder was wrenched, his arm not simply pulled out of place but torn off. Throwing the arm at one of the nearest other mutants, Namor struck again with his newly freed hand, this time jamming his fingertips through the back of the mutant, instantly dropping them.
Hand slick with blood, Namor moved to make good on his promise to kill the next even more savagely, all the while ignoring Clinton's rather imbecilic question. He was too incensed and driven to even point out the multitude of ways in which it was moronic.
Suddenly hearing Natalia's voice sound from the room, the Atlantean immediately began to survey his surroundings. His lavender eyes flickered with desperation, and then he suddenly got eyes on her. Right in front of him. Tensing and feeling that something was off, he reached out to grab her shoulders so that she couldn't simply disappear again. His palms had almost felt like they'd wrapped around her biceps when she reached out in kind to touch him with a flurry of motion.
The pain was intense. Overwhelming. Excruciating. At first it was a crushing puncture and then it was more like an implosion as everything, including his world seemed to crumble in around him. Eyes widening as realization dawned on him, Namor looked down to the space between them and saw her arm inserted into his chest. Instinctively, he attempted to draw a breath but blood welled up into the back of his mouth and flecked across his lips, forming brief-lived specks of crimson that smeared with his single attempt at speech.
"Na--" his body fell forward then, collapsing to the floor.
Post by Alexander Cuvier on Apr 12, 2017 18:24:58 GMT
The guards were being slaughtered, even as they drove back the mutant forces and with Tigershark’s assistance. More blood splattered on the ground, some of it his but most of it on the Egyptia side of things. However, five men weren’t enough to stop the onslaught. Killing Godzilla had been hard on Tigeshar and by the time the reptilian corpse lay upon the ground, only one man was left to guard the president.
Not on his watch. “Get down.” Tigershark said, shoving the man before grabbing the two mutants and slamming their heads together in a sickening motion, and then something hit him, before he saw the invisible force. He wouldn’t have noticed it if she weren’t so close.
And then the echo of her voice around the room. Tigershark quickly grabbed the president and drew him to a standing position. Then, she was there. Standing, striding. Nothing was right with her, he thought. It wasn’t just her fighting on the other side and killing a man she’d sworn to protect, something felt wrong about her. She had a stench about her that was familiar to the boy, ever since he’d killed his first man.
Death. Before he could react, before he could say something like ‘don’t trust her’, she’d appeared in front of Namor and thrust a ghostly looking hand into the King’s chest, and it seemed like time stood still for a moment before Namor collapsed. Namor. The man he was supposed to be like, the man he didn’t live up to, and in many ways, his father….just killed, like that.
Like it was nothing. Like it was easy as pie; but this was Namor! Namor, who was so threatening that HYDRA feared him more than the so-called gods of Asgard. And they were married, how could she so easily kill him?
Being more Namor than not, Tigershark also felt things intensely and his first instinct was to drop everything and kill her back for killing Namor and he almost did, lurching forward just slightly. But how could he hit something that wasn’t there? Despite not being the sharpest tool in the shed, on the battlefield?
This was his domain. He had seconds to decide. In a burst of speed, while gripping the president, he rushed past Nat to Clint, closing the distance in between them all. Grabbing Namor and the Trident and Clint he shoved them out of the opening, hoping to put enough distance between Nat and her friends and he kept moving, though it was bogged down by having to carry four people.
Distance mattered. Speaking as quickly as possible, Tigershark formed a plan. Turning to Clint, he started it up. “Get him to safety,” Tigershark said, jerking his head toward the president. “If not you, zhen your SHIELD friends. Unless you fink somehow you’ll get through to her.” Tigershark said, perhaps in a moment of dark humor. If Clint was prepared for her to kill him, though, that was fine. He didn't think he was going to talk sense into her anyway, and just wanted to hit her again and again.
How did this stupid link work again? Right, right. Just think. “Namor KIA. Queen gone Rogue, not much hope for her.” Now what? He really…wasn’t a commander, he was a fighter. He did better in the moment. “Make way to Bunker, we’re outnumbered here. Collect Body, I’ve got the Trident for now.” Tigershark said, Grabbing the thing. It might not do it’s magical thing with the sea, but it was heavy, and a weapon. Plus, it was symbolic.
Clint would still be here, and both back-ups should arrive shortly. For now, though, it had to be him against her. He was the best choice. What could Clint do? Unless. “Try to talk to her, I guess. If she kills you too, I’ll avenge you.” He stated to the Archer. Even if she could follow behind them, it should take her a while to catch up.
“<What a coward you are, Majesty.>” Tigershark spat the last word out like venom, speaking in his native language. “<You couldn’t even kill him in a straight up fight. Guess your puppeteer is afraid of some things.>” He didn’t know for sure, but he knew Nat wouldn’t have killed Namor of her own will. He waited, focused on where she might appear next, honing his senses to hopefully find her before she killed him as well.
Functional. Had Namor been anyone else, Clint certainly wouldn't have believed him. As it was he still had a bit of trouble, given the man still looked to be struggling. Of course two seconds later the guy was catapulting himself across the room, so Clint supposed that 'functional' was at least somewhat accurate.
Clint turned his attention to the mutants lunging in on the President instead, firing off arrows into necks. Kill shots. There was a twinge of guilt related to the action, but Clint knew that he needed to take down the mutants before they got to the president through the fallen bodyguards.
Nat's voice flickering through the air had him faltering, looking around himself to try to find where it was coming from, but it seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. He nocked an arrow preemptively as he tried to find her. He would never shoot to kill, not with Nat, but he could shoot to incapacitate.
He thought. He hoped.
He wasn't sure.
Turning towards a more solid sound of his ex-partner, his eyes widened as he watched Namor fall at her hands. His fingers twitched on the bowstring, but he couldn't bring himself to loose the arrow into his best friend. Not even with her husband's blood on her hands. He stared in shock, brain trying - and failing - to process what he'd just seen.
Then he was being grabbed and pulled from the room, along with Namor's... body and the President. He didn't really have the wherewithal to do anything but go along with Alex's motions. He was pulled back to the present by Alex's voice. "I can get through to her," he protested, "She's my best friend. I can get through to her." Or he would die trying.
He got on his comm unit, giving their location so that the others from SHIELD could come pick up the President and get him somewhere else - somewhere safer. They gave an affirmative, saying they'd be there in ninety, and Clint turned back to Alex.
"Gee, thanks Ale- Tigershark. Means a lot to me. I might tear up," Clint shot to the clone, shaking his head as he tried to clear his mind and focus on what he might need to do. He wanted to get through to Nat, but he knew that it might not be possible. He checked his weapons, half habit and half calming influence, and nodded to the SHIELD agents when they showed up to extract the President.
His gaze caught on Namor's body and held there. He had to get through to her. He just had to. "...Nat. If you're here... please. You gotta come back to me," he said quietly, looking around even though he knew that it was likely pointless after what he had just witnessed. Something had given her powers. He just hoped that it hadn't corrupted her completely.
Post by Natalia Romanova on Apr 18, 2017 16:18:24 GMT
Natalia screamed. She begged and pleaded and screamed some more, but it was futile. The entity who had control of her motor functions and the forefront of her mind seemed to care nothing for her pain and she was forced to watch in silence as her husband… the father of her child… the man she loved… crumpled to the ground, the beginnings of her name on his lips. There were memories locked away in her mind, but the feel of her husband’s heart in her hands was one she knew would haunt her til the end of her days.
Shoving the true Natalia down deeper, the Horseman turned, her bright eyes shining unnaturally as they skipped from the President - the target - to Alexander - the clone - and finally to Clint - the best friend. None of them were a threat to her, she knew, not with Apocalypse’s blessing. “Your hesitance will be the death of you,” she chided, her grin spreading as she watched the archer’s fingers twitching on his otherwise still bowstring. Before he could take a shot, however, Alexander began to move, and she shifted into a relaxed, but readied stance.
One eyebrow lifted as the young clone collected the humans, the corpse of his father figure, and the Trident of Atlantis. Pity - that might have been an interesting piece for her savior’s mantle. It was of no consequence, however. She did not think Alexander had the magical capacity nor the know how to put it to use - not for some time, at least. Letting out a sigh, she moved around the room, searching for a hidden panel on the eastern wall. Smiling as the hatch popped open, she pulled the disc out and secured it into a pouch at her waist.
That task done, she turned towards the door and began to slowly head after the others. Even if they regrouped, what hope did they have against her? She was blessed by a god. She hummed a light tune, as she made, the sound hollow and eerie as it echoed through the halls of the bunker. It seemed to drift further than it should have, and perhaps that was on purpose. The smirk on her lips certainly suggested as much.
Spying Alexander at the opposite end of the hall from her, she continued to hum for a few moments, until he opened his mouth to speak. A gentle chuckle brushed past her lips and she shook her head at his words, finally showing the faint image of her intangible self for him to see. “<I am not your Queen, Alexander…>” she drawled, matching his language with ease. “<She is with me, of course. She wants me to tell you something… but I think I’ll keep that little nugget to myself.>”
Her lips spread out into a predatory grin as the sound of footsteps neared the corner and she turned her gaze to the human archer. “Oh, Clint… You just don’t know when to give up on a lost cause, do you?” Letting out a seemingly exasperated sigh, she began to close the distance between them, her ghostly footsteps silent on the concrete floor. “Alright, then… Let’s see if together, the two of you can convince me to see the error of my ways…”
So far as she was concerned, she had done nothing wrong. Apocalypse had opened her mind, and she knew her actions thus far were necessary to help the world. If they knew what she did, they would lay down their weapons now and join her. Alas, she had not been blessed with the gift of offering others revelation. She couldn’t help but feel she was playing with her food at this point - there was nothing these two could say to sway her away from the magnificence of her new deity. She’d missed out on playtime as a child, though, so really she was just making up for lost time.
Post by Alexander Cuvier on Apr 22, 2017 1:28:40 GMT
“Doubt it.” Tigershark replied quickly. Clint was clearly no help in this sort of situation. Didn’t super spies have, like, training in this sort of thing? Maybe it was because he knew Nat? Maybe if Tigershark had the memories of this Tigershark from this universe, h’d have more pause to hurt Nat. But he didn’t. All he knew about her was that apparently being snappy to a little girl for being a jackass to him was all she was good for.
Though he ran like hell and got everyone alive (and not) out of there, it still wasn’t good enough. She was like a ghost, following them. She was playing with them. She enjoyed it, he thought. The serene smile on her face was how it was. He didn’t really hear Clint’s retort, except to sneer at the man. What he said was just based on faith; Clint was human, he was not. He had a better chance to survive than the others did.
The president was behind them, and to the man’s credit he was shaken but still had a sense of decorum about him. “Gentleman, what is your plan? What do you plan to do?”
“Vhatever is necessary.” If it meant making him a blood-traitor to Atlantis, so be it. What did they care? Namor was dead, the only man he’d ever aspired to be better than and now, he felt….well, sad but it was easier to turn his sorrow into rage. Namor was beaten with tricks and gimmicks, not in a no-holds-barred fight, man to man. That wasn’t the way he should’ve died.
“<Then it won’t pain me to kill you.>” Tigershark growled back. “<Besides, you’re still a coward, both of you. Her, because she bent her will to him.>” Tigershark paused, and decided to try. “<Well, are you a queen or aren’t you? Fight, damn you. If not for Namor, then for him. Or do you really want to see it when she kills your son?>” To the bitter end, fight. Give no quarter to your enemy.
Maybe the mention of his brother-nephew would jog something in Nat. People got protective over the kids, as far as the media had taught him. That would probably work.
“<And you, well you’re just a trick. If your backer really had any guts he would’ve fought for himself. Guess that’s the way of Egyptia, though.>” Tigershark was hoping her focus would drop; she had to maintain that ghostly form somehow, right? He knew all too well the problems of trying to think straight when you were angry.
Tigershark was guarded, though he was aware that she wouldn’t kill them immediately. No, she’d make them suffer and torment them and then kill them, when they were broken. But he was not Clint, not the president, not Namor. He was Tigershark, and he did not bow to anyone and certainly not to her.
It was a queer feeling to suddenly be freed from cowardice. To know that he was facing certain death; Perhaps living with Namor and then watching him be ripped away had more of an effect on the younger man than anyone had previously thought.
“Hey, Hawkeye. Do you haf a….sound-arrow? Sonics, you know?” That was his second best plan. If she was still physical in some way, that meant she still had to be able to hear, right? So sonic attacks should still affect her. It didn’t matter to him that it would also hurt his ears.
Clint was still shaken. His snap at Alex had been pure instinct and reaction; in reality he was full of doubt and confusion. He felt like the world had turned upside-down on him. It was supposed to be him and Nat against the world, ever since she'd come in to SHIELD. And then she'd gone and fallen in love and Clint's best friend had become less of a presence in his life.
That had hurt, but this hurt worse. He knew that it wasn't her and it couldn't be her. He knew that there had to be a way to fix it. There just had to be. Because he couldn't live in a world without Nat in it.
He heard her voice echoing in the air again and shivered at the sound of it; cold and heartless. Nothing like the woman that had become a wife and mother in recent years. His Nat was not this person that was currently approaching them from... somewhere. He needed to simply remember that so that he could do his job.
Then she was speaking of lost causes and the error of her ways and Clint wanted to scream in frustration. He couldn't tell where she was, and his raised bow wavered in direction for the first time in a long time. His claim to fame was never missing... but one needed a target in order to hit it, didn't they? And that was something that he simply didn't have at the moment.
Alex's voice broke into the fog that he was attempting to think through as his eyes searched the hallway for the source of Nat's voice. "Sonics... yeah," he replied with a frown before his brain caught up with what Tigershark was asking. "Might wanna plug your ears, though," he added, putting away the arrow that had been nocked in his bow and popping his hearing aids out - he wasn't making the mistake of setting off one of those close to his ears while having something to amplify the sound still inside them. At least, not again.
He carefully nocked a sonic arrow and took aim at the best approximation of where Nat was... or had been... or whatever, loosing it without much care for accuracy. It just needed to get close to her. That was all.
