2013.04.05 - Echos Through Time 3

Alternate London
In a city known for having old architecture, it's really saying something when it all just looks run down.
And that's exactly what's going on here in London. Historic sights like The London Eye, The London Bridge, and The Tower of London still exist, and appear to be intact, but they all just appear to be shabby and run down, just like every other building in the city.
But the buildings aren't the only things that appear shabby in this city. Even the roads, and the people themselves appear to be anything but at their best. The roads more often than not are cracked or have huge potholes, while the people tend to be in threadbare and old looking clothing. Or at least the few people who are out and about appear that way. Because if everything else weren't strange enough, it's almost as if there's few, if any people out in the open in this once bustling metropolis.
It is almost as if it doesn't matter where people were...
Or what they were doing...
It doesn't matter if you were home asleep in bed, walking in the park, going up an elevator, or in school.
Instead, no matter what people were doing, it's as if they were once somewhere else, and then they're here. In some cases they may even have ended up in their 'costumes' with no warning, making it so that there isn't just an apparent change of location, but also of clothing as well.
But where is here?
Well.... It's a street. Literally right outside an older looking three story building. Right next to a river. If one were to look around though, and see the 'sights', such as a certain iconic bridge in the distance, they may very well realize that the river is The River Thames, thus this city is the capitol (was?) of England.
But anyways, as people arrive, there are two others there, sitting on the steps. One may even look familiar to some by now, with how he is almost comedically thin, and has large, almost bug like eyes, while also wearing purple cover alls. And what about the other? Well... He just looks like a proper englishman, albeit a bald one. All though for some reason he is wearing an immaculate suit, almost like a perfect gentleman's gentleman.
But either way, these two guys are just sitting there, calmly sharing a pot of tea, despite who may be appearing around them.
"...might be a little late." Wiccan, teenaged mutant mystic of the Young Allies voice is heard as he suddenly finds himself in a decidedly different place than he was. "Or maybe more than a little late, Mom?" He checks the cell phone that he was talking on for a second even though he already knows that it is not going to be connected any more. "Alright, one second in New York and now in costume and in what looks like London." He says to himself as he looks around getting up to speed with what just happened. "I just hope Mom is not going to kill me." When he sees the others he waves to them with a small grin. "Ok, anyone see a madman with a blue box?"
Training in the new armor Scarlet Spider swings about the various training devices Reed Richards set up in the Baxter Building for the Fantastic Four. Light blue glows all around different parts of Scarlet's uniform from the spider symbol, the outlines of his eyes, various stylish lines all over the arms and legs Reed designed. Ever since Metropolis Scarlet has been training to work harder, faster and more efficiently hence training today.
Landing on a wall with a thud he cries out, "Crank it up Sue!" A stream of webbing leaves his wrist with a "thwp!"and swinging off Scarlet tries to land on a small platform when suddenly everything fades away. Landing on the ground Scarlet immediately leaps back onto a building trying to assess the situation. "What did Reed break now?" he cries out taking note of the bridge and the English chap and his extremely skinny friend sitting on a bench. Having watched enough Doctor Who, Scarlet cries out, "Oy! Oy! You two blokes down there? Where am I? Wales? London? Piccadilly?"
"...the side salad with that?" Fern stops and looks first to the left, then to the right, but the customers she was just waiting on appear to be missing. As does the entirety of the restaurant where she works. While others may have a costume of some sort, or street clothes, she is wearing her Anita Bella uniform, a button-front, dark mustard colored dress that looks like it's out of a 70s sitcom, pink and blue tights, and dingy white sneakers. She doesn't quite register where this is, her attention settling on the two men having tea on the steps. The young waitress takes one step toward them, and realizes that others are there are well, and still arriving. Some seem to understand this more than she herself does, and that shows in her puzzled frown.
One moment he's washing off after a mocha spill and the next, Axiom finds himself standing in the middle of a street. His first reaction is to turn bright red and look around frantically for something to hide behind. As he reaches down to cover up, he finds out there's thankfully no need to do so as he's in costume. It takes him a few moments to process this fact but once he does, he looks around until he finds Space Phantom and frowns at him. "Your m-master has time travel powers and he couldn't have waited a few minutes for me to get out of the shower?" he asks, still bright red. When he notices others, Axiom just groans and hangs his head.
*thump CRASH tinkle* Following the racket a loud complaint drifts out from behind a nearby Dumpster, "Awwww... Come ON! And I thought your timing couldn't get any worse!"
After a few moments of grumbling Gabriel comes out from behind the dumpster, orange peel sticking in his hair, hands busy doing up his belt. Ignoring everyone else he goes right to the Phantom and frowns at him, "Last time you pull me out midflight. Now you pull me out mid-wipe!? What gives man, are /trying/ to embarass me to death or something?"
Then it truly sinks in that there's other people here alread and he turns around giving everyone else a charinged little wave, "oh... hiiiii..."
Anole had been on 'watch' for the Young X-Men, hanging out in the bowels of Xavier's Mansion. Already in his costume, he finds himself rather suddenly somewhere else. Having been leaning back in a chair- well. Whatever Time-Travel took him here, kept him in that position. *THUD* "Ah! Sack of crap!" he groans, as he stands up, and looks around. "Uh. What?" he says, blinking slowly as he takes in where he's at- and who is there. "Axiom!" he says, moving over to the Young Ally quickly, looking towards the odd men in old clothes. "Alright. Let me guess- Joss told me something about a Space Ghost? Or some crap like that."
There's yet another arrival. One who's just standing there, looking like she's reading something. Or was reading something. Because what ever this person is (was?) reading is now gone. Which causes them to blink, and glance around. Especially as they hear certain familiar voices. All though as she places them, and then glances at what she's wearing (her costume), Kate Bishop, a.k.a. Hawkeye surpresses a groan, before she glances at one of her team mates and other 'arrivals'. One that sounds like he at least knows one of the people here.
"Should I even ask, Axiom?"
Of course as the two men on the steps hear the commotion caused by the arrivals, the one in purple just shrugs.
"I apologize. But my masters methods are his own." is said towards both Eddie and Gabriel by the man in purple, before he blinks and tilts his head at Anole. "And that's Space Phantom, thank you."
The proper english gentleman though just shakes his head at Wiccan, before offering Ben a slight, "London. Otherwise known as the last home of humanity." All though as he notices Fern he does offer a slight tilt of his head.
"Would any of you care for some tea?"
Wiccan just blinks at some of the others and lifting just a few inches off the ground floats over towards Anole and Axiom. "Get out of the shower? You know what, I don't want to know. Axiom, Anole, you guys seem to know whats going on so...unless we are fighting Daleks any chance of an explanation?" He asks really wanting to know whats going on, and why he is no longer on the subway and if he is going to end up back in the tunnel sans subway car if he gets put back by whom ever brought him here. "I know the British despair over American culture, and after the Jersey Shore I am not sure I kind of agree, but its not that bad." He says commenting on London being called the last home of Humanity.
"Biscuits if you got any, hold the tea though," Scarlet says to the offering gent before leaping down toward the group. Nodding toward Hawkeye he says, with the other members of the team there, "Person we should vote to be Team leader, Scarlet reporting for duty." And yes sometimes Scarlet is far from subtle. The Allies did need to vote for a team leader. "Wiccan, Axiom. You two need to speak at me when this is done," he says casually. The whole comment about the last hope of humanity doesn't faze him much. Apparently working with Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four stunts one's alarm when phrases like, "End of the world," "End of the Universe," "Last Hope for Humanity," and "Humanity's last hope," are used.
Noting the different features of the two gentleman an eyebrow is quirked upward but it goes unseen. "What did I get pulled into?" he asks well...anyone willing to answer.
Fern sees exactly one familiar face and a lot of people in costumes. And she knows there's something unique about Gabriel, so he fits in with this scenario. Suddenly a not quite forgotten childhood song pops into her head; One of these things is not like the others... She edges toward the familiar, Gabriel, ignoring his comments about his predicament because ew. Finally it registers on her that the man said London. She's always wanted to come to London, but she had thought there would be more planning involved. And travel. Closer to Gabriel, she hisses at him, "What's going on?" She looks fairly calm, but it admittedly a little on the wired side at the moment.
Axiom glances up when his name is called. Seeing Anole, he smiles despite the blush. "Hey, Anole," he greets, nodding. "This is what she probably t-told you about," he says. Fern gets a concerned look from Eddie, Axiom concerned she's there. As he notices more of his team and Gabriel around, Axiom takes a deep breath. "No thanks," he replies to the offer for tea and then looks to the others. "Well umm...basically? We all j-just got plucked out of time to save the world. Like I texted y-y-you guys about the other two nights," he says. "We'll get sent b-b-back when we're done but right now we've got to help people," he says, smiling. He then glances to Space Phantom and the man on the steps. "Right?"
Gabriel looks around the group then does a double take when he sees Kate, "Well, you've lost some years..." After that cryptic comment he steps on the two gentlemen's toes to answer a majority of the questions being tossed around with a little more detail than Axiom handed out, but not much more, "If this is anything like that last two times here's the short of it: alternate timeline. Mutants and/or humanity are about to be wiped out. We're the last possible hope. Yadda, yadda, yadda... What are the details, Phantom ol' buddy, ol' pal?"
The he frowns slightly down at Fern and shakes his head a little bit, "And your song is right on the money but up to now they've proven to be pretty good about their choices so I'm sure we'll figure out someway for you to help the team out. Welcome to the world of superheroing."
"Honestly, I just got the skinny on some space phantom pulling people through time. That's /all/ I know." Anole says simply towards Wiccan. He looks then towards Fern, then again towards Gabriel- people he doesn't know. "So. What's the deal. We have to save a bunch of people?" he looks again to Axiom, smiling. There's something there, clearly.
Hawkeye can't help it. She just blinks at peers at Gabriel. "Lost some..." she mutters before she reaches up and massages her temples. "Never mind. This is strange enough as is."
Well, since people want an explanation...
The Space Phantom takes a deep breath, and glances at the English Gentleman, "Alfred, if you'd do the honors please?"
"Certainly my good man." is then said by the English Gentleman, before he offers tea to those willing to take it, as well as biscuits to those who want some. " Before you arrived, The Space Phantom told me about the rather miraculous journey's that some of you, or your friends and allies have had as of late. So I'll just keep it brief. Four years ago The Justice League fought Speed Demon, Obsession, and a few other villains in Times Square. They won. But right after the fight they all vanished. Over the next year every person who had a power or wore a costume vanished as well. No one knows why, or where they went. Then about two years ago The Walkers appeared. And well..."
He shrugs, and then motions towards the River, where it appears that there's some churning in the water. Correction. A /LOT/ of churning. That is before something... Correction, a /LOT/ of somethings start to climb out of the river and up onto the street above. Things that look human. Only they shamble. And have rotting flesh. And they smell a hell of a lot worse than just river water.
At which point the 'gentleman' shouts at the top of his lungs, "WALKER RISING FROM THE RIVER! WE HAVE WALKERS IN THE RIVER! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!"
Wiccan nods at Scarlet and smiles. "Scarlet. and what do you mean should vote? I thought she already was the leader?" He is genuinly a little confused at the idea that Hawkeye might not be totaly the leader because, well, who else could heard cats like the person he defaults to following in the group? "Yeah, I know I do, have this problem with my tablet computer after the last time I blew it up and fixed it. I have some extra parts and I am pretty sure it should not be working without them but it is...just not as well as it should."
When Axiom gives the explination Wiccan nods. "Ok, makes sense. So whose the bad guy, and do we get a clear explination of what needs to be done or criptic clues?" One might think he has done something like this before, or he is just really open to strange stuff happening to him. When the gentleman explains he nods and then stops half nod as a certain word catches his attention. "Wait, walkers...is that like..." Once the dead start to raise out of the river he sighs. "Yes it is. Iwantusbehindaforcefield, Iwantusbehindaforcefield, Iwantusbehindaforcefield!" He starts to chant trying to put a barrier up between them and the undead.
Hearing the word "Walker," makes a certain theme from an AMC show on Sunday spring to Scarlet's mind. At first the whole scene just shocks him, which is hard to do being a super-hero and all. After a few moments pass Scarlet says simply, "CARL, GET IN THE HOUSE!" Hopefully someone would get the reference, Scarlet thinks to himself. Waiting for a few moments Scarlet says, "I'm Glenn. Hawkeye is totally Daryl. Ummm, Anyone wanna be Shane?" Seeing Wiccan go to work Scarlet decides to try a backup plan. For all he knows these two time weirdos could be just testing the group's mettle. Or maybe they did drop the group into a World War Z-Walking Dead world. Either way Scarlet doesn't want to find out so a "thwp," cuts through the moment of silence. The intended target is an arm of a walker. Scarlet Spider's plan is very simple. Walkers are dead so there's no limits to hurting them, so hopefully the hero would be able to rip off an arm, connected to the web line, pull the severed walker limb close then ball it up into some webbing to make a makeshift mace-like weapon. Wrecking Crew eat your heart out.
"Wait... what?" Fern questions Gabriel, shaking her head. "No, I'm a waitress. There's some mi..." She cuts the word off as the gentlemen speak, oblivious to the refreshments as she wraps her head around this. Each Superhero is studied in turn as she listens, none of them familiar, although that's not quite a SpiderMan suit but it's still distinctive enough to recognize.
The word Walkers snaps her attention back, and her head turns at his motion. She's still a moment, just watching, before she manages, "Nuh uh." She's been through enough weird stuff since coming to The Big City to not question, but to act first, despite her distinct lack of abilities. Her eyes cast around, quickly scanning for anything she can pick up as a makeshift weapon, but then they go to that almost SpiderDude and she says with an edge to her voice, "I do NOT want to be Sophia." Humor is familiar, as is playing a part. Who is she then? Maggie. Maggie would find something to bash some heads with, that girl got tough.
Axiom blinks at Scarlet Spider as well, leaning over to give Anole a quick side-hug. "Yeah," he says, glancing at Hawkeye. "And sure thing. I'll come see you whenever," he replies to the Spider. He's always happy to hang out with his teammates. He then glances at Gabriel. "She's the one from our t-time," he explains. He lets the Space Phantom and the dapper gentleman explain things, nodding along. That word catches his attention too and his eyes widen behind his mask.
"Oh man..." he squeaks out at the sight of the undead. "Should we b-b-be getting inside? There's way too many of them and we're a mostly close range group," he says. Yes, Billy's exposed him to zombie fiction so he knows some rules. When Wiccan casts his spell, Axiom starts to boost him. Seconds later, he's mimicking his friend and casting alongside him. "Iwantusbehindaforcefield, Iwantusbehindaforcefield, Iwantusbehindaforcefield."
Gabriel looks out to the river and goes, "Another army? Can't we fight like, Doc Doom, or Galactus, or any other single supervillian, at least once??" Pulling out a strangly thick wallet from his back pocket he flips it open and its almost like watching a cartoon as a long plastic strip of picture holders flops out and he starts going through them. Anyone paying attention might notice almost all the pictures are actually clippings from newpapers and magazines depicting superhumans of one stripe or another. "Orange, orange... I know that big orange is in here somewhere... *grumblegrumblegrumble*"
"What, wait? Zombies?" Anole asks, staring towards the water- frowning. Giving Axiom a little squeeze "It had to be zombies." Anole's one big arm just goes up, and out as he flexes his claw. "I hope my healing-factor protects against whatever zombie-plague this is." he mumbles to himself, as he looks back to Axiom. Then he looks towards the Englishman and his partner. "Quick, give us the details we need to fight this threat. What are we facing: What are their strengths? Do you know any weaknesses? Is there a way to make this stop? /Why/ are we here?" he asks, a frown across his green face as he looks toward the approaching horde of shambling dead people. He looks sick, "Oh, shit.. the smell is just /awful/."
Talk about something where it's not exactly the time, or the place...
"Guys... Ben..." is said towards The Spider and Wiccan as they talk about who's the leader.
"We should table this for now." is let out as Kate reaches for her bow, and starts to knock an arrow. "All though if you want to force the issue, I nominate her." is said as she jerks her head towards Fern.
Only before Kate can fire her arrow, a forcefield appears, as if summoned by not one, but /TWO/ magic users.. If only for a moment or two. Then well... It wobbles. And cracks as soon as the zombies get close enough to touch it. And then...
It shatters?!?
Yeap. And the zombies themselves just continue to move on forward.
The Space Phantom meanwhile is just gone. It's as if one moment here's there, and the next... He's gone.
Alfred though? He's up on his feet, and rushes towards the door of the building they're in front of.
"If anyone would like a gun, I'd suggest you get inside, /quickly/!"
Yeah. There's no answer to what caused this, or what their weakness is..
The Zombies as was said, just keep pressing forward, while more and more just come from the river. Some are webbed in place, and struggle to get free. Other zombies fall on their own, before getting up. Some even have entire limbs just up and fall off as they shamble ahead. But they don't stop.
Wiccan can't help himself. "Forget Carl! That kid's gotten almost as many people killed as the one in the video game." Once there is a forcefield up, Wiccan lets otu a breath glad it will give them some breathing room...right up utnil it does not. This, is not good. "Oh, bollox." The runes on Wiccans staff start to glow before he lets loose several streams of lightning at the oncomming zombies. Wiccan starts to fly upwards fast to make sure he is out of reach of the zombies while yelling, "Anyone that can't fly follow the British dude fast. I'll try and hold them back and meet you sinde." That is if there is a door on the roof of the building, or what ever magic proof thing the zombies have going on does not nock him out of the sky. Suddenly Wiccan is not sure this is the best idea.
"Follow what Hershel says!" Scarlet Spider quips to the group and turns to Fern, "You're not gonna die out here today Maggie! Now Move it!!" Snagging a fallen limb thanks to a web line Scarlet brings the limb in close then bundles it up quickly into a ball. With weapon in tow he starts to spin it like a sectional weapon, "Me and magic man have the rear! Everyone else to the building!!" Scarlet knows everyone here is capable but Wiccan could fly, and Scarlet is wearing body armor along with having various leaping, speed and strength powers to boot. He figures him and the magic man would cover everyone else with probably some well-placed shots by Hawkeye who may be pulling the two guys out of a jam.
Fern Fiddlehead, the leader of a bunch of Superheroes? Not hardly. Besides, she's busy hoping she'll find a wayward cricket bat. But then, there's news of better? She swings around immediately, calling out, "I'd like a gun, yes, please!" Then to Scarlet Spider, she adds, "Don't get hurt, Glenn!" It's a good thing she has her sneakers on, as they give her excellent traction to high-tail it after Alfred. She takes the stairs two at a time, on the man's heels, looking back to make sure the others are alright. And WHY is Gabriel looking through his wallet photos at a time like this??
"I don't use guns." Anole says, as he looks back. "But, we should regroup and see if we can't get some answers before we fight these zombies- keep the roof-tops." he says, as he begins to fall back towards the door. "There are too many to fight head on, fall back!" Anole uses his best leader voice- even if he's not so much a leader. He's heard Scott do it before, though- and thinks he can get the point across. "Come on!" he shouts, "I'll go in last. I got the feeling this arm of mine can turn rotting corpses into mush." If he doesn't vomit everywhere. The smell of rotting flesh is just. Well. Its something special.
"Clem didn't get anyone killed," Axiom comments to Wiccan automatically. Yes, the game is how he knows Walking Dead. He squeaks when the forcefield breaks. "What?!" he yelps. He tosses a few lightning bolts out too, just hoping to delay things. He glances back at Alfred, not surprised at all that Space Phantom is gone. When he hears Scarlet Spider and Wiccan, Axiom scowls. "Hey! We should all get inside, no one outside!" he calls, flying up to try to grab Wiccan by the back collar off his cape so he can drag him inside. "Spider! Gabe! Anole! Hawkeye! Let's go!" he calls, already seeing Fern running. The smell is terrible but Axiom's pushing it aside. He's smelled worse.
Gabriel keeps up with the conversation as he continues looking through his pictures. "Fern would make a great option as a tactical leader. REMFs, no offence, are usually out of the line of fire. Oh, and Spidey? That show sucks! It should be about zombie fighting and its all about people fighting with each other. Its a horror show for sure but not because of the scary monsters."
As he backsteps to keep up with the group he finaly finds what he's looking for. Taking a moment to focus on an old image of Ben 'Thing' Grimm, using a full-sized steel I beam as a bat he focuses on it for a moment. In the space of five steps Gabriel is no longer Gabriel but instead he's a flesh colored, human-sized amoeba. A second later where Gabriel used to stand The Thing has taken his place, blue Fantastic Four shorts and all. "Figures, damn shorts have no pockets..." Taking his wallet he folds up all the pictures right as he gets to the steps of the flat Alfred went into and stuffs the wallet down the front of his shorts.
"I'll stick with these, thank you!" is shouted by Hawkeye towards Alfred as she mostly takes up the rear as those that enter the building do so. All though as she falls back, she fires a couple of arrows into the zombie hordes. Arrows that when they land, they explode with the brute force of a couple of grenades. Even more zombies fall thgough due to the combination of lighting from Wiccan and The Spiders little stunt.
All though as Kate does that, and Gabriel transforms, Alfred pokes his head out the door for a second, at least after Fern and Anole get inside.
"Roof or inside... NOW!"
Meanwhile two other things start to happen. Each one of them odd. The first is there's a noise, some sort of rumble, mixed with a siren?!? Well, what ever it is, it's coming from behind the building, and it even sounds like it might be more than a bit distant.
The second thing is that despite the fact that the zombies just continue to come from the river non stop, the river itself starts to bubble and churn yet again, like something else may very well be on the verge of coming up from it in addition to the zombies.
Once everyone is inside Scarlet Spider holds the door shut jumps away from it then launches two small orbs from his web-shooter. Impact Webbing is a fickle thing. Usually meant to put criminals in their place with a cocoon of webbing or at the very least slow down some big super powered oaf, the two orbs explode coating the door with several inches of webbing to break through while instantaneously sealing the various hinges small openings, cracks and anything else that could be used to break the door down. In short that door, unless whacked a few times with a super powered brute or done away with some weird time magic, which is fairly possible given the weirdness of the situation, it should hold enough to regroup the team. "Everyone okay?!" Scarlet Spider screams out making sure everyone is fine and hopefully in one piece. Breathing the rotten air in and out didn't bother him. Having your first memories of freedom consisting of wading through the sewers makes the smell of rotten flesh somewhat more bearable than it would most.
A part of Fern's brain is still trying to figure out what she's doing here, as evidenced when she mutters to no one, "If this is about the whole Thor thing, I got his hat back as soon as I could." The smell, even the full horror of the Walkers approaching, is simply not registering on her brain, lest the poor little thing overload. She scoots past Alfred, then stops and turns immediately as he yells out at the others, pulling back out of the way against the wall and pausing. Thankfully, she can't see outside, but the noise, while faint, turns her head. "What's that noise?" Again, it's asked of no one specifically, but it's louder and meant to be heard.
"Next time don't try to do something in the zombie movies that always gets people killed!" Axiom would flail but it's running time now. He'd probably grab the others if he could too. He lets go once they're inside, looking around to make sure all the others got in. The rumbling makes him pause. "Oh what n-n-now?"
The Gabriel Thing has to turn sideways, duck, and suck everything in before he can fit through the doorway. And even then he scrapes the paint off the door frame. Once inside he hunches down in a corner, as out of the way as a big mass of orange rocks can be. "Ok Alfredo. So all the other times there's been like one specific, time-sensitive objective we've had to accomplish to save the day. Which one is it today? It can't be to clobber every last Wlaker, can it?"
Pale, Anole just leans against the door. "Zombies." he mumbles again to himself. "Those were people once!" he just shakes his head and wipes his face with that big ole hand of his. "Sonofa.. Please tell me there is a /cause/ for this that we can /beat the bejesus/ out of?" he says, looking towards Alfred. "Please." That's what Anole needs now. A target. An ending.
Once people are inside the building, they'll be treated to a nice surprise. The building is /LOADED/. There's a wood stove. Shelves and shelves of food and bottled water. Blankets. Toothpaste and other health and wellness needs. In other words, everything that a person would need to survive for years. Or a small army to survive for a few months.
And that's just the first floor. because as Alfred tries to usher people up to the second floor...
Well, the second floor is weapons galore. Swords. Knives. A SAM launcher. A couple of flamethrowers, and...
"If my late employer saw this collection he would probably of fired me." is said as Alfred moves over and grabs an AK-47, before motioning to the staircase that probably leads to the roof.
"And... If we're lucky, that noise is Captain Jack. And I don't know why you're here." is said to Gabriel. "All I know is that what that Space Phantom told me."
Of course those last few lightning bolts that Wiccan tossed do another number on the zombies. They fall left and right. But more just keep coming. Heck, they're even starting to bang on that door that Ben webbed shut.
Hawkeye though doesn't even look at the weapons. She has her bow, and her arrows. Thus she's good. All though as she glances out a window facing the river, her jaw drops.
What does she see? Well... It's a zombie. One that flies and has a billowing cape. One that shouts. Only what comes out actually makes sense.
"Heroes! Costumes! Metahumans! Mutants! What ever you are, come out now! It has been too long since I have fed my curse your blood! So comes out now, and surrender yourself to me, and the city lives another day! Thus says The Zombie Lord!"
How's that for a cause?
Of course he does have a /HUGE/ zombie army below him, so...
Wiccan makes a face at Axiom. "Everything you do in a zombie movie leads to getting killed. The only way to survive one is to be Milla Jovovich." Wiccan can't help but pause and look at Hawkeye a second after saying that. "And I was not going to get in close or anything." Hearing Anole Wiccan turns to look at him while a little wave of light filters behind the runes on his staff and he looks at Axiom and tilts his head twords Anole in a gesture ment to convey that he should go comfort his boyfriend. When Alfred leads them up stairs Wiccan follows, floating away because when your neck deep in things you plan to repress later it is just easer than walking. Hearing the demand Wiccan torns to take a good look out the window. "Zombie Lord? Really? Really?!? Does nobody take the time to work out a decent name that does not sound silly anymore?"
Pulling back his costume a little Scarlet Spider swaps out one cartridge from one wrist into another. Both now hold two instead of three after that stunt. Then comes the speech from the supposed Zombie Lord. "At least it's not Zombie Supermannow THAT would be really spooky," he says trying to cut through the tension of the moment. "Now would be the time to grab anything high powered if you know how to use guns. In fact I'm gonna help myself to," taking a random broardsword Scarlet moves the blade around with total ineptness. "Just in case," he says to himself along with the group. "Plans of attack for the Lord?" the question is posed to the group. "Do we even know what he can do?"
"Captain Jack," is repeated softly, although it means nothing to Fern. No... wait. Isn't that a Billy Joel song? Maybe this is all a dream and her subconscious put that in there because she's been listening to too much Billy Joel lately. Again, that can wait until later to be pondered, as she looks around and finds herself a new thing to ponder. How long are they going to be here? This is a lot of stuff. She pads up the stairs softly with the others, eyes widening at the array of weapons. Ok, that's overwhelming. Spying something familiar, she moves to pick up a small pistol, but she stops as she spies a smallish machete, wickedly sharp and gleaming. She decides on both, taking up the pistol with her right hand, and hefting the machete in her left. Hopefully she won't drop both in the next five minutes. It's noted that the Zombie Lord says nothing about Waitresses, so she may indeed have crashed this party. Oops?
Axiom makes a face right back. "I am n-not watching any more of those movies," he says firmly. Hearing Anole, Axiom heads over as soon as that gesture is made. "Vic," he whispers, offering to pull his boyfriend into a hug. "We're g-gonna be okay. We just need to plan and find out more about what's going on before we can d-d-deal with it," he says, flashing a smile. "Let's get upstairs," he says, staying close even as they move. He frowns at the demand though, looking towards the window and then Alfred. "What c-can you tell us about that guy, sir?" he asks, picking up a sword for himself. Sif's been teaching him after all.
"Rassum frassum narrow British stairs..." Even going up sideways The Gabriel Thing leaves grooves in the plaster all the way up the stairs. Once on the second floor he catches sight of Scarlet changing cartridges, "Wait? Those are artificial? I have to say Spidey, that /is/ a disappointment." Then he looks around at all the weaponry then at his huge, three fingered hands, then back at the weaponry, "Well, I guess... ITS CLOBBERING TIME! Mostly 'cause all this stuff is too small all'a the sudden. Wait, what? Captain Jack? Someone's been watching too much Pirates of the Caribbean. And he got it wrong to boot, forgot all about the Sparrow."
Vic smiles quietly to Axiom- he hugs him tightly, before whispering. "He can die." Is what Anole says, as the young man's face seems to change. His body posture changes. This isn't the fun-loving Anole that Eddie, or Wiccan know. This is the Anole who saw friends die. This is the Anole who saw Sentinels vaporize his friends on an idyllic island. "I'm not letting anyone else I love get hurt." he offers, as he moves up the stairs and grabs a claymore with that giant arm of his. Its a thirty-pound blade, and he lifts it like it was nothing at all. Heftting it over his shoulder, he continues walking. "Where's the roof?" he asks over to Alfred, voice still quiet, and filled with malice.
There's a momentary pause before Hawkeye finally shakes her head and speaks up in regards to Ben asking about a plan, "Does it matter what his deal is? If he can make the zombies fall back, then he's a big target. I say we get to the roof, most of us try to keep the zombies busy. If anyone gets a clear shot on this... Zombie Lord, take it."
And with that said, she turns and starts towards the roof, trying to get past Ben/Gabriel.
Alfred meanwhile picks up a pair of desert eagles, before shaking his head at Axiom.
"Unfortunately this is the first I've heard of this... Gentleman." is said to Axiom, before he hrms at Ferns choice of weapons. "But if he did 'curse' the dead to rise, then I would imagine he can do magic."
Then as Anole asks that question, he motions to the staircase the female archer is heading up.
All though if/when people reach the roof, things will be getting interesting. For not only is the entire building surrounded, but the unending zombie horde keeps surging towards it. Even as there's a /CRASH/ down below as something, be it a door, or a window, or a wall gives way with enough force to actually shake the building, before the zombies start to stream into it as well.
The Zombie Lord meanwhile starts to slowly float from the river closer to the building.
Wiccan has his weapon already in the staff and in his magic. The forcefield may not have worked but that does not mean there are not other ways to use his powers. That, and he does not relaly like guns much, he gets the neccisaryness of them but not that comfortable with them.
Wiccan grins at Gabrial Thing and shrugs when he quips. "Maybe me means Captain Jack Harkness, he would make more sense except the Space Phantom said everyone with powers disapeared and being an immortal time travler he would count." He nods to Alfred when he says that he has not heard of the bad guy and grins a little when a theory is put forth. "Magic, good, my area. So glad I have been taking those lessons from Magik."
Wiccan waits for everyone else to head to the roof taking up the rear. "Necromancy instead of virus, this changes things and makes parts of it easier. Steap one, protection..." Once everyone is up on the roof he will mutter some things to himself and pull some chalk out of a pocket to draw on the door. His forcefields they may have broken down but if they get into the house a decent ward on the door should keep the zombies out...or in...or whatever.
Looking at Gabriel, Scarlet just smiles underneath the mask, "My brother has a sword and I have my mind." Any science nerd would consider their brain the most dangerous thing about them and Scarlet Spider is no different. Hearing the loud boom he looks over the group on the second floor, "To the roof! All of you," he starts to head toward the first just in case. "Everyone take somethingthat includes you Maggie!" he didn't even know the woman's real name. Still Scarlet is too afraid at whatever thing broke through downstairs. Some of the tension is eased when Wiccan goes to work.
"Team MVP," the words are quiet but Scarlet Spider is grateful. Grabbing a gun that looks to work more on spray and pray, thanks to some time clocked on Call of Duty via Peter Parker, Scarlet nabs an automatic weapon something in the M-4 variety. "You got this?" he cries out to Wiccan before heading up to the roof trying not to disturb. Walking up the stairs with a sword in one hand, an automatic weapon in the other and no skill in either weapons whatsoever, Scarlet Spider just prepares for the worst as he sees the Lord of all Zombies float toward the building. "Whatever happens, it's been an honor," the words are meant for everyone.
Fern catches Alfred's look at her weapons, and she frowns. Her eyes scan around again, but she's trained in nothing, and is afraid she'd be more dangerous than helpful with anything else. And anything bigger than the pistol, and she'd probably be knocked over by the recoil. No, these are her best bet, and she holds them a little more tightly as she turns to go up again, actually managing a smile for 'Glenn', though it's a bit weak. She hears the downstairs door breaking and is only too happy to go up, where at least they won't be pinned in a hallway or something, and they'll have room to work. They'll just be stuck on a roof. Half empty, half full. Gaining the roof she takes a bit of distance from the door, trying to position herself to see both it and the Big Bad.
Axiom tenses slightly when he sees the shift in Anole. "Anole," he's worried about his boyfriend. Keeping the sword at his side, he looks at Alfred with a nod. "Right," he murmurs. He heads up the stairs with the others, still boosting and mimicking Wiccan. He grabs a police baton along the way, attaching it to his belt just in case. Getting to the roof, Axiom frowns. "No," he says simply to Scarlet Spider. "Whatever happens, we're t-taking that guy down and we're getting out of this alright," he says firmly. "Have faith in one another. And me," he says, hoping Sif was right about his powers since that boost would be needed right now.
Gabriel-Thing makes sure he's the last one up the stairs, among other things to serve as a living roadblock in case the zombies break down the door. Which they do. Any zombie that gets too close gets clobbered right back down the stairs, along with the two or three behind it. Once he's out the door he moves out of the way to let Wiccan do his thing and starts looking around, "OK, where's the BArrowman wannabe?" And something to throw at him or clobber him with, preferably one of those heavy, iron chimenys all British houses seem to have...
Anole comes to the roof, quiet, holding the massive blade over his shoulder as he looks back to Axiom. There's a distant look in the young man's eyes. Recognition sparks, and he smiles quietly to Eddie. "I won't let him hurt you." he says, quietly, "I won't let him hurt anyone. Ever again." He leans forward, kissing Axiom's cheek quietly. "I won't let him hurt anyone /ever/ again." That blade is lifted, pointed towards the Zombie Lord by the green-skinned Anole. "Hey, Ugly!" he then shouts, "You wanna dance the man dance?! I'm going to beat you into a grave you won't rise from /ever/ again!"
And as Hawkeye reaches the roof, she doesn't hesitate. She just grabs, and starts firing arrows like mad. Most of the time she doesn't even aim. Not with how thick the zombies are down below. It's more like all one has to fire in the direction of the zombies down below, and you'll hit one.
All though as she fights, she does try to keep track of where her team mates and allies are.
As Wiccan casts his spell though, things do sort of get easier. The zombies outside the building are stuck outside of it. But the ones inside of it, well... They're inside of it. And they're still moving. Up the stairs. Towards the roof. The moans they make, as well as the smell give away just how close they are on the stair case. heck, considering where she is, Fern may very well end up having to deal with these zombies before anyone else. That is if they get past Gabriel/Thing first.
"It has been an honor to know you as well." Alfred says back to Ben, as he just starts firing his pistols into the zombie crowd below. "All of you. I only wish we'd met back when I lived and worked in Gotham."
It's almost as if the Zombie Lord hears what Axiom says, or maybe what Anole says, or maybe he ends up feeling the effects of Wiccans spell. Because he actually starts to pick up speed, moving faster towards the building. Which does kind of put him in range sooner.
Meanwhile, in the distance, a tank with a flashing police light, which also sounds like it has a sien, can be seen. But at this rate it might not get here soon enough.
Wiccan makes sure that the wards he puts on the building go both ways, and are the nastiest ones that he learned form Illyana that won't blacken his soul. Or at least blaken it too much. "It's been an honor and a privlage, all of you, but we are not going down. Not today, not if the Shield of Thor or his Spear has anything to say about it. Right Axiom?" He asks looking over his friends, and everyone else on the roof with him. They are superheroes, and they will win. "Iwanthimhitwithsomethingbig, Iwanthimhitwithsomethingbig, Iwanthimhitwithsomethingbig!" Wiccan channels magic into his spell while reaching out to find a nice sized car abandoned on the streets below to make it come flying into the air intent on slamming it into the Zombie Lord.
"I didn't say we weren't going to win but just in case, I'm happy I met and went down with the lot of you. After we beat this thing, just find me at the Baxter Building for a round of drinks. My treat," Scarlet says dropping the sword and readying the M-4. "Rat-ta-tat," his gun boomed as bullets ran from his gun. All of the kickback from the gun went unnoticed as it stays firm against Scarlet Spider's body, but that didn't make up for not knowing how to aim the weapon properly. Bullets bite through zombies making their way up to the roof from inside the building. "I kind of like this!!!" he cries out never having fired a gun before.
Boys always have to yell a challenge at someone, Fern decides, immediately equating the young men here on the rooftop to her brothers. It's probably programmed into their DNA. Noting that there is ample attention on the Zombie Lord of the Dance, Fern's attention focuses on the rooftop door. She checks the safety on the gun, then holds it out, aimed for the webbed door. Shield of Thor? That draws her eyes for a moment, but it's a bare straying, attention back on the door. Her aim is surprisingly steady, all things considered, likely so by pure panic and blind luck. She's trembling like jello, inside, just some chick who wants to be an actress doing the best she can with the moment. But she's a big believer in living through something and falling apart later. It's much more productive.
Axiom squeezes Vic's non-spiked shoulder after the kiss. "And I'm not going to let him hurt you," he says. Nodding to Wiccan, Axiom smiles. "Right!" he says, looking around. He lets some lightning rain down onto the zombies around the building, keeping an eye on Wiccan attacking the Zombie Lord. "Magic...wait...he said curse, didn't he?" Axiom asks, eyes widening and gears turning away rapidly in his head. "Wiccan!" he exclaims as he gets an idea. "Do you think you c-c-can break a curse?" he calls, glancing to Gabe-thing as the plan forms in his mind.
Why can't real life be more like the movies? Not finding anything large and heavy enough to fit his purposes Gabriel-Thing jus waits on the roof, one eye on the door to make sure no zombies get past the wards and the other people with him. The other eye is on Captain Jack. As soon as the bad guy isover their roof he jumps towards him. One fist inside the other, both held over his head, he's obviously going for a double fisted overhead hit to slam Captain Jack onto the roof, where everyone can get at him without having to deal with his army of stinky zombies, "Its clobbering time!" Come on, you have to do justice to the person your copying.
Anole takes a few steps back. He looks over to Axiom and smiles quietly. Ensuring that everyone around him was far enough away for him to begin spinning, once. Twice. Three times like a hammer thrower before he flung that blade with such speed and strength with that huge arm of his it became a whirling silver buzz-saw of death. Then, Anole seemed to fade out from sight- his form wavering before he becomes little more than a shiver of light.
"Damn it..." Kate mutters, not even taking her eyes off the zombies below as she starts to pull out various trick arrows, including epoxy arrows and flare arrows, firing them into the zombie horde down below.
"You know what would probably stop these guys? Twilight. I mean if that book can utterly destroy vampires for people, just imagine what it could do for zombies."
Something big? Well... Ask and you shall receive Wiccan. Because first you have Gabriel/Thing who tries to grab The Zombie Lord, and then Anoles big ass sword goes flying into his chest, and /THEN/ well...
You know that tank? The one that's a good distance away and getting closer? It suddenly up hovers for a few moments. That is before it suddenly goes flying. Right above the building. Towards The Zombie Lord.
Who it smacks into. Before just as suddenly it's as if it's knocked away, and it goes flying into another, nearby building.
And as that tank falls, the Zombie Lord is gone?!?!
Yeah. In his place is what looks like to be just another generic zombie, or in this case a truly dead corpse, that crumples onto the roof bellow, landing in a heap, but not moving.
As the Scarlet Spider continues to fire, more and more zombies fall. But for every zombie that falls, it's almost as if ten more take its place.
And while Fern eyes that door, there's banging on it. before finally..
*CRACK!*
It splits in half, and zombies start to try and force their way through it.
And it's almost as if The Zombie Lord is still hearing Eddie. Because there's a laugh at the suggestion of 'breaking' the curse. Only it's unclear just where that laugh is coming from. At least for the moment.
Wiccan stops, looks at Axiom a long moment and then breaks into a grin. "Oh, yes, yes, yes, that sounds like such a good idea. I am going to need help with this one though..gimme just a sec." He moves quickly to a fairly empty part of the roof top and chants to himself, "Ineedacircleandstuff, Ineedacircleandstuff, Ineedacircleandstuff!" There is a flash of blue light and around him appears a white circle painted into the rooftop with a large number of arcane looking symbols and white candles sitting all around it.
The laughing gets a raised eyebrow and a small grin. "Laugh it up Deadboy. I've fought the rulers of three different hells, sealed off inter-dimensional gates, and faced down Loki more than once." Wiccan steps to the center of his circle and takes a deep breath. "Alright Axiom, a little help?" He asksof his friend waiting before he starts to chant. "Breakhiscurse, Breakhiscurse, Breakhiscurse, Breakhiscurse, Breakhiscurs!" Wiccans eyes glow, and his hair and cape are caught in winds that are not effecting anyone else while he continues to chant and focus the entirety of his magic on breaking the curse that the Zombie Lord had mentioned earlier.
Seeing more zombies rise than fall Scarlet Spider drops the gun. Grabbing the once discarded bastard sword he starts to hack off limbs, arms and legs to be exact. Anything that could slow the zombies down without having them pop up in more numbers is the desired effect. Hearing the door fold like paper Scarlet Spider doesn't panic. A new idea hits his head and he looks to Alfred, "Grenade!" When the british man tosses Scarlet the grenade the teenager replies, "The Queen would be proud."
Wrapping the grenade up in a little webbing then adding some slack at the end Scarlet screams, "Fire in the hole!" Pulling the pin Scarlet spins the slack turning the wrapped up grenade into a makeshift explosive sling except with an explosive flinging out toward the opposition instead of a stone. Seconds tick by and the explosive goes into the biggest horde of zombies and he ducks down for a second.
Fern is only barely aware of much of what's going on as the door cracks, and she takes aim at one of the first zombies pushing through. Her shot is off, it's been too long since she's gone out with her father, and she just hits a zombie in the shoulder. Muttering a low expletive she adjusts, and picks off the next with a lucky shot to the head. She's not fast, however, so is really very little in the way of defense. It looks so easy on television, jeez. She hears someone yell something about a grenade, and she turns to look, in time to see Scarlet Spider lob the little device with a big bang at zombies. Immediately she drops, knees hitting the roof as she folds, tights tearing and little drops of blood welling up to stain the ripped fabric. But she just wants to miss getting hit with shrapnel, including flying body parts.
Axiom stares as the tank goes flying. "Oh no..." he trails off. That doesn't look good at all. Attention turns to Wiccan quickly and Axiom grins. "You'll g-get it. Maybe more. Gabe!" he calls to the G-Thing, holding a hand out towards him. "Do you think you're up to help out? Just like we did with Channel d-d-during the Metalok fight!" he requests, discarding the sword and hoping Gabe follows the idea.
Moving over to the center of the circle with Wiccan, Axiom nods. Still boosting and mimicking him, he takes a deep breath and begins chanting along. "Breakhiscurse, Breakhiscurse, Breakhiscurse, Breakhiscurse, Breakhiscurse!" the wind kicks up around him as well.
Gabriel-Thing catches sight of the tank flying his and Captain Jack's way out of the corner of his eye, "oh crap..." Forgetting the big bad he instead does some aerial contortions to get out of the way of the tank. On his way down he whacks against the edge of the roof, pinwheels off of it and starts falling into the mass of zombies with an annoyed yell, "WIIIICCCCAAAANNNN!"
Normally, a big rocky body hitting the ground after a two story fall would go *THUMP*, or *WHACK*, or maybe even *CRUNCH* but this time, thanks to all the zombies, its just a loud, sickening *SQUISH*
Its the muck and gore that soon show where Anole is, Zombie parts start to fly this way and that as, Victor appears, gritting his teeth and smashing. Smashing. Smashing with that big arm, slicing with those claws. Muck. And Gore. And Anole without his towel.
And as that whole thing with the tank happens, Kate has to fight to not look impressed, or even a little frightened. Thus, even as Wiccan and Axiom chant, she just tries to focus on keeping the zombies at bay.
But how much can one person do? No matter how many arrows Hawkeye fires, it just isn't enough.
As The Scarlet Spider tosses that grenade, he does take out a large group of the zombies. But more are coming.
As Alfred keeps shooting, he destroys some. but there's still a lot more.
Anole keeps hacking and slashing. But more zombies keep on coming.
Gabriel/Thing lands on/crashes into zombies, destroying them, but they are quickly replaced by others.
But then though, one of the zombies trying to push his way in that door, towards Fern morphs into The Zombie Lord, just as...
*CRACK!*
It's as if reality itself shatters.
And at that moment that last shot by Fern is fired off...
And at that moment the Zombie in front of Fern starts to morph into The Zombie Lord...
And not only does The Zombie Lord fall as that bullet strikes, but as the breaking of that curse echos across the planet, every other zombie just becomes an unmoving corpse rotting in the streets (more or less).
And as he falls, The Zombie Lord just mutters, "You're... Not a hero..." as he looks directly at Fern. "I can't steal your powers... I..."
And then he just shrivels up, and turns to dust.
Wiccan would yell an appology at Gabe, and try and magic him back together or at least back onto the roof, if he knew what was going on. As it is, he is so absorbed in the magic stuff that the real Thing could do a pole dance ending with kissing him and he would not notice. When the shift in reality happens Wiccan feels it. Anyone with the slightest mystic skill on the planet left alive should feel it. He stumbles bakc and says, "I think it worked." Just before finding himself without the energy to stand anymore. After a second Wiccan looks over form where he ends up sitting down hard and lbinks at Fern. "Did she just kill the bad guy in time for us to break the curse, or vice versa?"
Catching the hate-filled and shocked glimpse Scarlet just smiles at the result, a fallen lord. Scarlet Spider walks up to Maggie and gives her a big hug. "You don't have powers but you're a hero in my book," he says to the girl softly. He looks at her, "Seriously. Give the costuming world a thought," the wink on his face for a moment emanates from his voice for much longer. Looking to the rest of the crew he asks, "Drinks? Sushi? Dancing? How should we celebrate?"
Anole continues to strike the corpses for a few moments after they've fallen. Once. Twice. Three times. Four. He slows, staring at the mash of guts and bone, then falls to his knees. Down the stairs all he sees are faces. A sea of corpses. The stench of death. Anole coughs, before he throws up. He closes his eyes, reaching up to wipe the gore from his face.
On her knees, Fern is eye to eye with the Zombie Lord as he speaks his last, and she looks a little insulted at his choice of words. "Good enough to shoot you," she says petulantly to the drift of dust. She pushes back onto her rear, looking at her knees sadly. "I really liked these tights." There's a big sigh before she looks to Wiccan, her smile crooked as she pushes to her feet. "I'm pretty sure it was you guys, and I just got lucky." But she looks pleased at the praise, returning the SpiderDude's hug with a soft laugh. "I'd have to give up all my spare time." And most of the rest of her sanity. "Do we get to go home now?" she asks, looking around hopefully.
Axiom's right behind Wiccan in the falling over front, no longer mimicking or boosting Wiccan. Back in his own costume, he shrugs. "I have n-no idea," he says simply. He looks to Gabe and lets out a sigh. "If this is anything like the last t-two times, we're about to be sent back to right where we got grabbed from," he says. He looks around for Anole, dragging himself over when he spots him. The throwing up makes him frown. "Vic?" he speaks up, trying to pull Victor into a hug while he can.
Gabriel_Thing jumps back up to the roof as covered in gore as Anole but for entirely different reasons. He's just in time to catch Spidey's last comment and, thinking its meant just for Fern, he gives her a rocky wink, "You wore the wrong shirt today Ferny, because it sounds like the Metahuman Magnet is still in action! Adding Spidey here to the list, huh?"
Looking around the rest of the roof he smiles widely, "Well, did we win? All the zombies downstairs look like plain ol' dead bodies now. Looks like you don't need my help anymore Axiom. Good idea thought."
"Look at all these poor people..." Vic whispers, as he wraps his arms around Axiom. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry." he whispers, a quiet mantra he repeats again and again.
"Does it matter?" Yeah, Kate just has to ask that of Wiccan as she lowers the arrow she was about to fire, and slips it back into her quiver. "I mean if he's really gone, does it really matter?"
Of course Axiom is right. Because it's almost as soon as Fern asks than, with no warning..... No word, or anything... No flash of light... No sound...
The scene changes for a moment. A moment. And the whole group is somewhere else. Alfred isn't there, but the group itself is on the roof of a building in London.
"Thank you." The Space Phantom says. "Yet again you've corrected time. If only you could, or would deal with the turning point. The very moment that these hellish futures, and ones that makes these look like utopias in compassion. Maybe that is why my master, Immortus, sent you here. And there. And to these."
Then with the same lack of any effect, people are sent back to the exact same moment they left, exactly as they left it. Yet again with no effects, or any warnings.
Category:Log