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 Natalia Romanova on Apr 25, 2017 15:40:28 GMT
All things considered, she was impressed with the clone. He was taking charge of the situation. Somewhere deep inside, she knew Namor would be proud of Alexander as well. Thoughts of Namor sent a wave of guilt roiling through her, however, and the consciousness in control used that to shove her further down inside. “<A coward?...>” she chuckled, flickering into existence halfway down the hall from the two men. Although Alexander continued to speak in his native tongue, she slipped back into English so that both men could understand what she said next. “Oh, she put up a fight… but she was already so utterly broken, it wasn’t hard to find the chinks in her armor…”
Flashing a wicked grin over towards Clint, she returned her gaze to the clone, a hint of curiosity in her eyes. The son... She had almost forgotten about him. “Ilarion…” The name slipped off of her lips, but there was no venom as there had been ever since her arrival. Instead, it seemed more of a desperate whisper. A vicious snarl took over her features and whatever had surfaced for that moment disappeared. “We’ll deal with him in due time.”
While the clone continued to speak insulting things about her and her newfound deity, the ghostly form of Natalia paced back and forth across the hall. It wasn’t an anxious movement, but rather a more languid, bored sort of thing. She’d been a creature of patience before her revelation, and that certainly hadn’t changed. “Tell me - do your gods fight your wars for you? When the barbarian tribes and Lemuria would set upon Atlantis, did Poseidon intervene?” She chuckled, the sound harsh as she shook her head. “Egyptia was simply lucky to have been blessed by our god first.”
The plan concocted by the two men was foolish. Did they truly think her god would have blessed her with gifts that could be counteracted by something so simple? Grinning from ear to ear, she stopped her pacing and stood with one hip jutted as she watched the best friend change out his arrows. She knew his warning was to the clone, but she couldn’t help herself - she brought both hands up and pressed one finger into each of her spectral ears as if adhering to his warning her own self.
With that little spectacle over, she watched as he loosed the arrow and let her hands fall back to her sides. She could hear the whistling two seconds after it was released and fought back a wince as the sound accosted her ear drums. Gritting her teeth against the noise, she continued to stare down the two men and the arrow with confident anger in her eyes.
Pain lanced through her as the arrow connected with her shoulder, the blunt tip slamming into her with enough force and surprise to send her stumbling backwards. But how… “You...” Rage burned in her eyes as she finally caught herself. The shoulder was out of place, of that she was certain. “Clint!” she cried out, desperation causing her voice to crack. “Hit me again!” Her face shifted into rage again, and with a snarl, she barreled forward, apparently confident her enhanced speed would get her to the archer before another arrow could reach her.
Post by Alexander Cuvier on May 1, 2017 19:42:39 GMT
Probably to Clint’s benefit, Tigershark had no memories of this world’s Tigershark. So his attachment to Nat was non-existent. Had it been there, perhaps he would’ve been more compromised, emotionally. The fact that he was actually feeling sorrow about Namor dying (despite it being a goal of his to depose the Sea King) was strange. Tigershark didn’t know how to cope with large doses of sorrow, so it was easier to just channel it as rage.
It was easier to be angry than it was to be sad, and Tigershark also didn’t want to deal with the truth of things; that for as much as he said he wanted to rule Atlantis and depose Namor, it wasn’t true. Not really. Just like his boasting of his intelligence was a bit...less than he said it was. Even in these dark hourse, Tigershark would never admit, not even to himself, that he wasn’t smart.
The most anyone ever got was that he’d concede that people were smarter than him; it didn’t make him dumb, it just made them geniuses. Clint was largely ignored by Tigershark for the moment, aside from his request for the sonics. Tigershark’s commentary wasn’t having the effect he wanted. “Still a coward, if you can’t kill a man without resorting to cheap tricks.” Sure, powers were to be used effectively, but she’d never bother to try and physically fight them. “Not gonna happen.” Tigershark growled back.
He knew what was coming and braced for it, but he couldn’t very well plug both his ears without either dropping the trident or leaving himself in a compromised position to her. She spoke some more “Never heard of him; must not be a great god.” Tigershark quipped back, just as Clint loosed the arrow.
He tried to time it so that just as the arrow flew near her, he could plug his ears. He managed to get only one, and the pain was immense to the other one, to the point that he was partially deaf for a bit as Nat scowled and yelled at Clint. Oh ho, so it did work. Grinning in a malicious manner, Tigershark was all set to beat her into unconsciousness before something slammed into him from the wall, effectively cutting Nat off from reaching Clint for a moment as Tigershark, the wall, and the mutant built like a tank fell through the opposing side, clattering down stairs.
Tigershark had the wind knocked out of him, and the pressing weight on him was beginning to get through his durability, with the mutant pressing down on him. He heard a rib or two crack before he was able to get it together and fling the wall and man off of him. Scrambling up, Tigershark barely had time to look for the trident before he was tackled again.
Not holding back, Tigershark aimed to punch the man, whose skin seemed to be made of metal now; it shrieked and groaned under his haymaker fist, but while he was pretty sure the mutant’s jaw was broken, so was his hand.
Also, it looked like this man was armed. Fantastic. Clint was going to have to deal with Nat; he was going to hold off this idiot. His injuries were going to slow him down, but Tigershark wasn’t going to let that deter him.
Broken. Nat wasn’t broken. She was cracked and held together with glue, maybe, but she wasn’t broken. Whatever this was in Nat’s body, it didn’t know her at all. And it didn’t know that it was in trouble. If anyone could fight off a demon invasion - or whatever it was walking in his best friend’s skin - it was Nat. The thing wouldn’t know what hit it.
He shuddered at the mention of Ilarion. He’d seen pictures of the cute kid, though hadn’t met him yet, and everything in him tensed at the mention of dealing with him. Clint wouldn’t let that happen, and he knew that Namor’s people wouldn’t either. Whatever this creature was, it was about to be in for the shock of its life when its prey turned the tables on it. Clint’s protective instincts were surging under his skin, and if he felt that way then he knew that Nat was screaming and fighting for control from her captor to protect the precious baby.
A small smile twitched on his lips at Alex’s quip to whatever was taking a ride in Nat’s body. Things started happening quickly then, with Alex being tackled out of the way by something just as Nat seemed to break through whatever it was that was holding her hostage. “Alex!” he shouted after the kid, forgetting to call him by the name that he’d requested earlier in that instant. The guy could take care of himself, though, and Clint had to save his friend.
He nocked another arrow, taking aim for Nat’s other shoulder and loosing it into the air along with an apology for his friend as it embedded itself into the joint there. It was the kind of painful shot that sent most enemies down, but Nat was not most people and neither was the thing inside her, so Clint followed it up with an arrow to one of her knees, and then the other. He couldn’t risk this thing getting control back. He couldn’t. He needed to save his friend. Wrestling one hearing aid back into his ear, he watched Nat’s form. “Nat. Nat, can you hear me?”
Post by Natalia Romanova on May 5, 2017 16:55:06 GMT
“Cheap tricks?” Natalia scoffed, letting her gaze flit back to the clone. “You couldn’t afford the tricks up my sleeve.” He was too wild, too unruly. Even Namor had been forced to put a lot of effort into making the boy as polite as he was now - which, sadly, wouldn’t be enough to allow him access into any sort of establishment requiring class.
Clint seemed to take her verbal bait, at least, and Natalia smiled almost wickedly as he all but winced at her word usage. Yes, she had broken Natalia - but after doing so, she’d built herself back up into something worthy of the powers she’d been blessed with. There was no room for weakness or morality within her anymore.
Natalia’s lips opened at the quip offered to her by the clone and she let out a bark of laughter. What a fool. “Poseidon is your deity, you imbecile. Perhaps had you ever listened to what your late King had to say, you might have heard of him,” she growled. Somewhere inside of her, the original Natalia was growing steadily more angry, the more she insulted the members of her family, but the only thing showing on the redhead’s face now was cool confidence.
As the arrow began to do its job, Natalia’s face contorted into a look of pain and confusion. How was this possible? Her power was being defeated by something so simple as sound?? A low growl built up at the back of her throat, and she watched in a mixture of horror and relief as one of the Egyptian mutants burst through to handle Tigershark for a moment. Deep inside, Natalia screamed out in concern for her step-son, but the Natalia on the surface was happy to be rid of one thorn from her side while she dealt with the archer.
A second arrow connected with her opposite shoulder, just as she’d begged, and Natalia snarled as her forward momentum was affected again. She was not some weak mortal anymore, though, and he had not hit her metaphorical Achilles heel. Plowing onward, she summoned more inner strength as she moved forward. There was no returning to her intangible state right now - not as a third arrow was careening towards her again. It connected with her thigh, and she stumbled, but a quick spin had her back on her way, though at a considerably slower pace thanks to the injured leg.
The fourth arrow missed her knee as she stumbled forward, and instead slammed into her left hip. With a grunt, she dropped to the ground and rolled so that she was facing up. Bright eyes skimmed the ceiling for a few moments as she focused on her breathing. The world seemed different from down here. Her mind was racing nearly as fast as her heartbeat, but the sound of Clint’s voice finally dragged her out of the static that had been filling her ears. It was a moment or two before she moved her lips to respond.
“I… Yes…” she rasped, her naturally husky voice even more rough than usual as she fought to suck air into her lungs. The sound of violence finally broke into her ear drums and she turned her eyes to see Alexander fending off a rather intimidating brute. She made her decision in the blink of an eye, and her hand began to move quickly. Gritting her teeth, Natalia fought past the pain in her shoulder and pulled the Glock from its holster. Three bullets left the chamber, one finding the mutant’s hand to relieve it of its weapon while the other two slammed into its head.
Unable to hold her shoulder steady any longer, she let her arm fall back to the ground and resumed laying there in the middle of the floor. She let the silence of the hallway wash over her, knowing that outside the bunker walls, the combat was likely dying down thanks to the arrival of Atlantean forces. “I need to...” she murmured, her gaze fixed solidly upon the ceiling once again. Some part of her wanted to return to Atlantis with the people of her late husband, but she knew that would not be smart - not yet. “...debrief…”
Post by Alexander Cuvier on May 9, 2017 3:02:59 GMT
Time for a retort was lost, as an Egyptian mutant had slammed into him, taking him down into the stairwell where they were fighting. Tigershark had to trust Clint of all people to handle Nat until he could get back up there, and arrows seemed to be loosened from what he could pick out from the cacophony of sounds around him, and the emptying of bullets in the man’s head near him made him shake his own in similar pain, though the absorption ability was a nifty one, as even that attack didn't slow the man down, though it seemed to have caused him some pain, as he started jerking and twitching about.
It would be the best time to run the other guy through, and Tigershark went for the kill before stopping to think that he might not want to touch this guy with an Adamantium weapon. Sure enough, the power activated, making this guy as tough as possible. The mutant still, suddenly jerking upright, startling the younger boy.
That was weird, and he should definitely know weird at this point. The voice that came out was gravelly and unknown, but only two people called him by his full name, and there was only one person he knew that spoke like that. “Namor?” He managed to get out, almost not hearing the other parts. The first part was a given; Aquaria wasn’t going to take it well, but he’d come back to talk to them.
Surely that meant they could definitely use magic to bring him back, right? Still, Egyptia should be invaded, Nat’s not queen anymore and Dorma’s the judge of character about Illarion. He should remember all of that, it wasn’t difficult. It was hard to forget things Namor said, since no one he’d met talked like the old man did, exactly.
A ‘god’ is what Not-Nat called their leader. Hulk had a saying for gods. Tigershark tried to process the rest of what he’d said as well. “<It’s not like I care. I mean-whatever.>” Tigershark said, caught off guard by that statement, before he found himself slammed three floors down by the previously possessed mutant, more of his ribs cracking from the impact.
Reaching the floor, Tigershark noticed some grenades. Well, that should slow this guy down, and as long as he was protected he should be fine. With hope, it should kill this asshole, and then he could get back to the fighting.
Throwing them turned out to be a mistake because even as he took cover, Tigershark was affected by the flashbang technique as well, though not nearly as badly as his ‘friend’ had been. It destabilized the man enough so that Tigershark was able to swiftly end him, but even trying to work through the pain, and climb upwards, a shock from something behind him left him in the dark.
All that was left was darkness for the moment; he’d blacked out.
Clint couldn't focus on Alex right now, and he could feel bad about that later. For now he was focused on getting through to Nat, though. There was nothing more important than fixing whatever was wrong with her. Alex was strong and stubborn - he could handle himself while Clint dealt with this slightly more delicate operation. And then afterwards, Clint would make sure that Alex was okay.
His heart constricted tightly in his chest each time an arrow connected with Nat, but he kept himself firing. Until she was back with him, fully so, he would keep hitting her. Keep providing distraction and pain for Nat to hold on to as she fought against whatever had invaded her mind. A harsh sob ripped through his throat as he watched her fall to the ground and while another arrow was already nocked and ready, he lowered his bow from its aim as he looked at her.
Something had changed.
He watched as she struggled with the gun, shooting the enemy that Alex had been fighting, and Clint's focus was torn between the two of them for a moment. Alex was forced through the floor at that point and Clint pushed thoughts of him from his mind. He'd be okay. Clint could check on him later. But first he needed to make sure that Nat was okay.
Falling to his knees next to Nat, Clint pulled a knife from his belt to cut off the shafts of the arrows, though he didn't make a move to remove them yet as he looked over her. "That can wait a little longer," he told her quietly, voice shaking as he spoke. He was pretty sure that he was crying, too. "What happened, Nat?"
The fletched ends of the shafts shorn off now, Clint carefully helped Nat into a sitting position, looking at the damage to her shoulders more thoroughly even as he spoke. "What was that thing in you? What's going on?" He had more questions, but he had to dress these wounds first. While Clint wasn't really in the habit of carrying extensive medical supplies around, there were some wrap bandages in one of the pouches on his belt.
Bracing her shoulder with one hand, he took careful hold of the arrow. "On three. One, two -" He shoved the arrow the rest of the way through her shoulder, grabbing one bandage as it clattered to the ground and beginning to wrap it around her shoulder. It would be easier for them to go after Alex with the arrows out.
Post by Natalia Romanova on May 15, 2017 17:16:07 GMT
Time seemed to stand still for a few moments as Natalia slumped to the floor, riddled with arrows show from her best friend. She would heal from the wounds, of that she was most certain. But the pain disappeared for the time being as something in the air seemed almost to ripple and drew her attention away from herself. Bright eyes swiveled around until they finally found the source of the disruption she could all but feel in her core - the mutant.
Sure enough, as soon as her eyes fell upon him, the mutant began to reach for his head, as if trying to claw the bullets she’d put into him back out. She’d seen him seemingly absorb the bullets already, however, and knew the metal coating had rendered such an attack moot. Perhaps he was under some kind of psychic attack. That would explain her physical discomfort if some kind of magic was at play here.
There was nothing in her own arsenal that would allow for such a feat, so she watched with patient curiosity as whatever was attacking the mutant finally won the battle after only a few heartbeats. The voice that emanated out from the mutant was not its own, but it was familiar nonetheless. A nearly violent shiver raced down Natalia’s spine as Namor’s words echoed around the room, directed first at his wounded son.
Being stripped of her titles was nothing to Natalia. She’d never considered herself worthy of such a title anyways, and obtaining it certainly hadn’t been the reason she’d married Namor. His next words hit her deep, though, and she nearly screamed out in agony at the mere thought. Not being Queen was fine, but not being allowed to touch her son was… That was more painful than these arrows by far.
When the mutant being temporarily possessed by the late monarch turned towards her, she lifted her chin so that he could not see any signs of weakness despite her current state. Tensing her jaw, she refrained from reciprocating the words of love, instead simply nodding. Just like that, it seemed, Namor was gone and the mutant resumed his attack on Alexander. The pair disappeared and as the crash of their bodies slamming through a wall hit her ears, time seemed to speed back up to its normal pace.
Clint was at her side before she even had time to register his movement and she silently cursed herself. What if he’d been coming in for a coup de grace? Would she have had enough time to stop the motion? Seeing the glint of metal as he pulled a knife, Natalia jerked away instinctively. Shit! He was going for a kill. Had she not been convincing enough? Did he not think she was truly back? Was this the doppelganger situation all over again?
Instead of aiming for her throat, Natalia was relieved to see Clint’s hands reaching for the arrow shaft sticking out of her left shoulder. Finally, she allowed herself to slump while he sliced off the fletching. Wait… That meant… “I’ll tell you in a minute,” she promised, nodding towards the arrow. Gritting her teeth, she shook her head and made quick work of removing one padded glove before folding it slightly and stuffing it into her mouth.
It hurt, having the arrow shoved through the rest of her shoulder, but she knew it was the best thing right now. She wouldn’t die from the pain. Granted, she also wouldn’t die from having four arrows sticking out of her, but if they were removed, she could at least move a little easier. Her breaths came in shallow bursts as Clint wrapped that wound quickly, and she spit the glove out while he moved on to the next. “I don’t know what happened. It was… not magic, I don’t think. Some kind of mutant parasite, maybe?” With the next arrow ready to be pushed out, she stuffed the glove back into her mouth and clenched her teeth securely around it as pain lanced through her.
“Could be alien, for all I know…” she panted, reaching forward and snapping the back end off one of the arrows in her leg so that Clint could remove it once he was done with the other. Sucking in a deep breath, she tucked the glove back into her mouth and let one out through her nose as she waited for the last two bouts of pain to come and go.
Clint was thoroughly confused by whatever psychic event had just transpired, but he chose to ignore it for the most part. He didn't need to know, he didn't think, and it would be easier to just focus on one confusing thing at a time. Whatever had happened to Nat was the more immediate, more relevant issue - at least for him.
He focused on his work. Removing the arrows and securing the bandages was top priority, as he needed her to be relatively mobile for the next part of the plan - however meager and weak it was. "Well, not magic is good," he replied with a frown, recalling vividly some of the horror stories that he'd heard from Thor and that weird little brother of his with the goofy smile. He focused on removing the second arrow and wrapping that wound for a moment.
"Is... whatever it is... is it still inside you?" he asked as he moved to the third arrow, "Is there a chance it takes control again? What even shook you out of it? Just the insanity of the past hour or... what?" It had to be some kind of compounded thing, since he wasn't sure that he could rip her from whatever it had been when the love of her life hadn't been able to.
The arrow in her thigh he saved for last, as it would be the easiest to remove, not passing through or near joints like the others had. Once that was done, he got to his feet, carefully leaning down to help her up as well. "We should go check on Alex," he said, looking towards where the Atlantean had disappeared below them.
Wrapping an arm carefully around Nat's waist, he secured his bow to his quiver and drew one of the short swords he'd brought with him instead. He didn't feel safe without some kind of weapon, but the bow was useless without both hands free.
"Or Tigershark. I guess. Whatever's up with that terrible idea for a name," he added with a shrug. Jokes were the only thing that he really had going for him when things got awkward, but he could feel that one falling a little flat in the face of everything that had happened.