2013.03.26 - Dog Days of Spring

Afternoon, and Marissa Sometimes is wandering across Central Park munching on a hot dog. She seems quite relaxed. It's a pleasant enough afternoon, the last vestiges of winter lingering as a chill in the air, but far nicer a day than yesterday...which would explain why so many people are out and about, getting off work. Enjoying the park while it lasts...the forecast is for more rain tomorrow, possibly even sleet or other such unpleasantness.
For once Gabriel isn't doing something strange or eccentric. Instead he's got a pair of black warm-up pants and a olive green hoody on, and is jogging. Plain old jogging. As he catches sight of Marissa he deviates from his path to start running circles around her, "Well, hello there. Fancy seeing you around here. I heard you dropped by a load of clothes at the shelter a while ago. That was nice of you."
Ah, a nice day...and Jeremy is able to go out and enjoy it despite his coatless wandering on the very, very chilly and rather rainy previous night. Idiots don't catch colds, it's said. He's remembered a coat today--a big one borrowed from the shelter he's staying at, that's far too large for him but also looks nice and warm. As always, he's making himself somewhat useful--in this case, picking up trash in the park. Must not have been any jobs he could cajole Jonah into letting him do for the shelter today. He seems somewhat distracted and a bit distant, and doesn't notice Gabriel or Marissa.
"Most of them weren't mine. I asked around at work," Marissa admits. "Figured every little bit helps." She hasn't noticed Jeremy yet, most of her attention on Gabriel. Between, of course, bites of her hot dog. Ah. The one advantage of being in New York - best hot dogs in the world.
Gabriel keeps running in slow circles around Marissa, looking fresh enough one to have to be watching him to believe he's actually jogging. "Hah! You say that like it makes it less of a good deed when it actually makes it more of a good deed. You did the work of getting donations instead of just digging around in your closet. So what else have you been up to besides gathering donations and eating hot dogs?" Like Marissa, Gabriel misses Jeremy since his attention is on his antics and on Marissa herself. 
Jeremy seems to shake off whatever he was thinking about, blinking as he spots the two a short way off. "Oh! Mister Gabriel, Miss Marissa!" he calls, waving a flopping sleeve at them. He deposits the trash he's collected in a handy receptacle, and walks over. "Um, hi...um..." He definitely looks better than he did the last time Gabriel saw him. Talking with Fern did him good. "Um, Mister Gabriel, I..." he starts, but blinks, shivering a moment. "Umm..." he starts looking around, like he's trying to find the source of a sound. "D-Did you hear...um..."
 
"Hear what?" Marissa says, thus revealing that whatever it is she probably didn't hear it. The hot dog is finished and she tosses the wrapper, accurately, into the same trash can Jeremy just used. "Hello, Jeremy. And the usual - studying, working, avoiding being hit on by crazy mercenaries..." Yeah. That's usual for her, apparently.
Gabriel jogs a couple more circles around Marissa, "Avoiding being hit on by crazy mercenaries? Really? That's a story I'd like to hear." He then stops jogging when Jeremy joins them. He's breathing deep but not hard as he says hi to his younger friend, "Hello Jeremy. Ummm... We're in the middle of Central Park so I can hear a lot of things... Which one where you talking about specifically?"
"Um...I thought I heard..." Jeremy starts, and blinks. "Wait, mercenaries? That doesn't sound..." He seems to lose focus, and then wavers on his feet for a moment. The sharp-eyed might notice that for that moment, one can actually see through him--just barely, but enough to be noticeable. He returns to normal quickly, though. "Th-there it is again...can't you..." ...and then, they can hear it too. Barking. Lots and lots of barking. Not the pleasant kind, the kind that one might expect at a park where dogs come to play...no, this is the kind you never want to hear. The enraged, "get the heck away from my territory or I'll tear out vital pieces of your anatomy" kind of barking and snarling and growling. At first it's faint, almost echoing, but soon, it's loud and clear...and the source becomes visible, running into sight from every direction. 
Dogs. Everywhere, there are dogs. Small dogs, big dogs, all different breeds...but there's something wrong. They're wild, every last one, and absolutely enraged. Those who really know their dogs might also note that every single one seems a tad /bigger/ than you'd expect from that breed. There are civilians all about, and most are staring in confusion...it hasn't hit anyone that the pack of crazed animals might actually spell danger, not yet.
"NOW I hear it." Marissa frowns and starts to rummage in her bag. "Cover me a moment?" Because she's got the perfect thing to deal with a pack of dogs...in the bottom of her bag. Of course. "I hate when these things happen and I'm not dressed for the occasion." Grumble.
Gabriel peers intently at Jeremy for a moment then he starts too is hearing the dogs. So now he's not looking at Jeremy or Marissa any more but rather around himself, "Where are all these dogs coming from?" As he starts realizing some people are beginning to run he starts calling out to the civilians, "Don't run! Dogs have a tendency to chase. Walk away slowly and if you're really scared climb a tree!" As he's trying to keep people from running he's doing a similar search to Marissa's but he's digging in his pocket trying to pull his wallet out.
Some people don't hear, and start fleeing as the dogs get close--and true to Gabriel's analysis, small packs of the dogs start to give chase. Others make it to trees, climbing up and hugging branches, with the dogs scrabbling against the trunks to try to get after them. Then there are those who haven't managed to move in any way at all in time, and are hemmed in by dogs on all sides. These things aren't just aiming to scare, either...they start biting at people, forcing men, women, and children to wildly dodge about to avoid getting a chunk taken out of them. Cries for help are starting to come from all over the area. A young mother dodges about, holding her baby out of the reach of dogs below, but one has her dress and is trying to pull her down. A man and his girlfriend have picked up sticks and are trying to fend off a particularly large and nasty Rottweiler. A young girl in pure panic is being chased by a pack of small dogs, nipping at her heels--she's small enough herself that even those could knock her down if they catch her. 
And Gabriel, Jeremy, and Marissa aren't left alone, either--no, a big Doberman is suddenly leaping straight for Gabriel to try to bear him to the ground with its body weight. Three mid-sized dogs start to go for Marissa, but Jeremy steps in the way, surrounding himself with blue light. The three leap at him, but come to a stop without any sign of force when they contact the light surrounding his body...though that doesn't stop them from trying again and again. "Miss Marissa...I-I hope you can hurry, 'cause...um...ohcrap!" A very big malamute suddenly comes charging in, launching itself at Jeremy, and the impact still seems dampened...but it isn't quite eliminated completely. That, and Jeremy stepping back involuntarily, let one of the medium-sized dogs now behind him trip him up, and he falls down. "Ohcrapohcrap!"
"Got it! Fire in the hole!" Marissa throws something into the mass of dogs. Something the dogs, she suspects, will like *even less than humans*. Yeah. It's a flashbang. As soon as it's away, she's moving to help Jeremy with the dogs actually on top of him, apparently unconcerned for her own safety. Then again, she carries flashbangs around...
Gabriel sees the dog coming at him at about the same time he gets his wallet out of his pocket. Instead of panicking he waits until the dog is fully in the air and then sidestep while hitting the dog alongside of the head with a big haymacker punch. Both the speed of his move and the power behind the punch would have done a world class boxer proud. expecting the dog to be dazed he opens his wallet, which is rather fat and stars flipping through pictures, that an attentive person might realize are pictures of superheroes of one kind or another. Only to have to duck his head under his arms to avoid the worse of Marissa's flashbang, "What the crap!? Flashbangs, really?"
The flashbang goes off, and to good effect...the humans near it are disoriented and stunned as you'd expect, but many of the dogs fare even worse, yipping and yelping and rolling around on the ground in pain. It doesn't cover everything, but a number of the threats have been neutralized...at least long enough for people, who are recovering faster than the dogs, to start getting out of the area. The young couple manage to stumble away from the Rottweiler, which is rolling around on the ground in a manner not unlike a person with a severe hangover, but the mother and infant and the little girl who is being chased were far enough away that the blast doesn't have its full effect--a couple of the dogs nearby are scared off by the noise, but none are actually taken down. 
Gabriel manages to nail the dog that was jumping at him right in the side of the head, and knocks it for a loop. It slowly starts to get its feet under it, but the flashbang goes off...but the effect seems dampened. The astute might notice why--Jeremy is between the blast and Gabriel's opponent, and the sound wave actually seems to dampen considerably as it passes him, as the blue light shimmers in reaction. 
The dogs atop Jeremy, though, are between him and the blast...and thus, they take the full effect, easily pulled off him by Marissa and ending up rolling around in pain. Jeremy gets up, breathing quickly, eyes wide. "Th-that was scary...um, um...thanks..." 
The Doberman that was attacking Gabriel gets back to its feet, and lunges again...not for Gabriel, but for Jeremy. "Ah!" the boy yelps, and instinctively fires a blue-light blast out, striking the dog in the chest and knocking it down again with quite a bit of force.
Okay. Jeremy can look after himself. Dropping the bag, Marissa sprints over to assist the civilians. Which Jeremy just...well, he lost that status when he started shooting dogs with energy beams. She moves to slam INTO one of the dogs, aiming to bowl it over, ideally into its buddy. She's not worrying about where they came from until they've been dealt with.
Gabriel shakes his head sharply a few times to clear himself from at least part of the effects of the flashbang then goes back to looking through pictures. All it takes is a second or two to find the one he's looking for and then he goes all wobbly. For about 3 seconds he looks like a giant, flesh-colored amoeba and then suddenly he's grown about 4 feet, become hugely muscled, and green! "HULK SMASH! Well, not really. More like uproots." That being said he takes one big jump towards the nearst clump of trees and starts pulling them up from the ground as if they were nothing but weeds.
"I-I'm sorry..." Jeremy says to the dog he hit, looking worried for it as it remains down. It /is/ still breathing, though. He turns to Gabriel, about to speak, and yelps as he sees what his buddy's turned into this time. "M-Mister Gabriel? That's..." He's relieved when Gabriel can still speak normally, to say the least. Last thing he needs is his friend turning into a big green monster and then smashing his skull in. With Gabriel clearly having a plan, Jeremy runs towards the little girl to try to help her out...but he's cut off by an astonishingly large Caucasian Shepherd, which slams into him full force and manages to actually bowl him over despite the shield. It's big...bigger than one would ever expect even from an already large breed. And it appears to be...getting bigger? As Jeremy quickly scoots away along the ground, the dog actually roars at him, getting larger by the moment...and more monstrous, eyes enlarging, fangs growing as it slowly loses resemblance of the breed it started as. 
Marissa's sudden attack on the dogs near the woman and baby comes just in time...the dogs were finally starting to get the woman off balance, and it's only thanks to Marissa slamming into one of the dogs pulling at her dress that she doesn't end up falling. The dog Marissa crashed into falls sideways and smacks into a second one, knocking both the ground and stunning them, but a third comes tearing out around the woman and baby and whips around Marissa to try to tear at her hamstrings while a fourth--a bigger one--leaps for her throat. 
The little girl is still running, but the dogs are getting close as she gets tired. She cries out as one gets a nip in at her leg, and almost falls, but manages to keep running--terror keeping her going more than anything else now.
Very clear...this girl knows what she's doing, twisting to one side as she brings her hand up to slam it into the dog's head, the one leaping for her throat. She mostly avoids the other...its teeth make marks in her leg, but don't get near the tendon. Okay. "Run!" she says, to the woman with the baby. She can keep them occupied long enough...although she is going to be *so* embarrassed if a pack of *dogs* takes her down.
Working as quick as possible, trusting Marissa and Jeremy to take care of the civilian's behing him Hulk-Gabriel starts taking the trees he's uprooting and ramming then back down into the ground. The idea behind his strange actions becomes quickly apparent as a large cage of trees starts taking form. His work only pauses for him to jump clear across to the pack following the little girl and using one huge hand to swap most of them almost 20 feet away. And unlike Jeremy, Gabriel is not being careful to avoid injury to the animals. He's not intentionally hurting or killing them but neither is he being gentle.
The mother with the baby doesn't have to be told twice. She makes a break for it while the dogs are distracted by Marissa. Thankfully, many of the dogs are still down from the flashbang, with others occupied by the heroes...she's got a clear path. The little girl gets nipped again and finally falls down...but in the nick of time, Gabriel is there and smacks the dogs far, far away from her. She...isn't exactly calmed by his presence, of course--she screams at the sight of the big green monster, scrambles to her feet, and starts running even faster than before. On the bright side, she's running away from any dogs. 
Jeremy scrambles to his feet, staring up at the monster before him. "Wh-what the..." But he doesn't have time to think--the thing lunges at him again, and he instinctively jumps up and away--and finds himself still hanging in the air after his jump should've been done. "Wait, what did I...how did I...ohcrap!" The giant dog jumps at him again, colliding with him and smacking him back to the ground, but he slips out from beneath it, firing a kinetic blast for its side. The big thing--which has reached a good 7 feet tall by now--doesn't even react, and Jeremy meeps.
 
Marissa manages to catch the dog going for her throat with a hard blow, knocking it to the ground, where it lies stunned. The one going for her hamstrings whips around again, jumping up and trying to catch her by the arm with its teeth and pull her off balance. Worse, a Saint Bernard comes barreling in at a full run with its head aimed right for her gut.
"These have to be mirror universe dogs!" Marissa leaps again, bouncing off the top of the St. Bernard - hey, it's big enough. "Any way to send them back?" She's not even joking. She's never met an aggressive St. Bernard, so they HAVE to be from evilverse!
The faux-Hulk watching the little girl running away from him scratching his head with a confused expression on his wide face, "Was it something I said?" But all that lasts only a second before he leaps back to finish his arboreal cave, on the way asking, "Mirror universe? What /are/ you talking about? Its just a pack of rabid dogs... Really, really, mean rabid dogs with hyperactive growth hormones... OK, something's going on. But /really/? A mirror universe?" All of this talking goes on while he works on rammin the last few trees in place.
"Um, um," Jeremy says, dodging aside from a couple bites. The thing's big enough now that he's seriously uncertain whether he can just absorb a blow. And now, a bunch of the smaller dogs--well, in comparison--are running over at him as well, nipping at him and blocking his path through numbers and happenstance rather than any sort of plan. The giant dog is clearly in a total rage, even knocking aside or biting at the dogs that surround Jeremy. 
Jeremy takes a deep breath, eyes going distant for a moment, and realization comes to his face. "Wait, right! I-I could...could I...yeah!" He raises a hand, and the blue light fires out from him again...but there's something different this time. Rather than a nice solid beam, it's an odd, vibrating and trembling wave...sound. It strikes the giant dog in the head, and the huge thing yelps, backing away quickly and losing balance...rather like if a flashbang hit it. Jeremy brightens, smiling and trying again...but nothing happens. "Uh-oh." The big dog--nearly at 10 feet now--has recovered way too fast from the attack, and it lunges for him again. He dodges a bite, but the big thing swipes at him with a paw, and this time the blow seems to get through pretty solidly. Jeremy gets knocked back onto the ground, and looks stunned, the blue light flickering a bit. 
The Saint Bernard provides a great launching pad for Marissa, easily carrying her clear of the dog that was going for her arm. For a moment, the Saint Bernard is standing still and gives an almost quizzical look, wondering where the girl went, but soon it finds her, jumping at her to try to bear her to the ground with its sheer weight. The other dog comes in for another try at an arm, but the Bernard's jump knocks it aside momentarily. Crazed dogs don't work all that well together. 
Gabe's work, meanwhile, goes quite well. Crazed they may be, but the dogs still have an animal instinct that says "don't go anywhere near the giant green guy."
That gives Mend her chance to break free...but she knows better than to run from sane dogs, let alone crazy ones. "Never mind." Cage. He's making a cage...the question is how to get the dogs to go into it. She's backing towards it...maybe she can get them to chase her then leap aside, or up, at the last moment?
Gabriel turns around once the cage is finishes and sees Marissa beind chased by a Saint Bernard and Jeremy being attacked by what at this point can only be called a demon dog and he freezes for a moment unable to decide who to help. Finally he decides to take a risk. Grabbing whatever dog is closest he tosses it over the top of the trees into the cage but the real attempt to take care of both his friends come in the shape of him crouching down, opening his arms wide then growling as loud and as menacingly as Hulk's copied throat allows him to...
With Jeremy dazed, his shield doesn't seem to be fully working...thus, while he's able to ward off attacks from the dogs surrounding him to an extent, a few nips do get through on his arms and legs. On the bright side, the pain helps him shake it off, and the blue light comes back stronger. The giant dog stalks towards him... 
Marissa manages to lead her attackers over towards the cage, and the medium-sized dog takes the bait, leaping straight for her...only to land inside the cage instead of on her throat, as she dodges aside. The Saint Bernard, unfortunately, charges in on foot...but that problem is solved by a huge green hand snagging it and flinging it into the cage. 
When the owner of that green hand gives a tremendous growl, everything stops. The dogs near Jeremy pause, and look towards the noise. The dogs around the area pause and look towards the noise--and several of those seem to be momentarily shaken from their madness by it, starting to flee. The giant dog...even it pauses, staring towards Gabriel's huge form. Which is when Jeremy focuses, raises a hand towards it, and smacks it hard in the head with a thunderous kinetic blast--much harder than he's hit in the past. The giant dog loses its balance and goes down, but even that is clearly not going to keep it there, as it growls and starts to get back to its paws. 
Around the area, though, the threat seems like it might be passing...as some of the dogs--more and more as the seconds pass--are just suddenly fading away, becoming ghostly and then disappearing altogether. It doesn't seem to matter if they're still active or if they've been knocked out or stunned...they're starting to fade away. Not all of them, not yet...but it is happening.
"Thanks!" Mend yells to the Hulk...or is it Gabriel? Gabriel's a Hulk? She'll worry about it later. He seems to be sane...and then the dogs start to disappear. She frowns...but moves to try and lure the next batch into the cage. If they can lock them up, they won't hurt anyone else before they vanish. Definitely the mirror universe.
Faux-Hulk takes another one of those big jumps and lands straddling the dazed demon-dog. "Hey! Its a pony! Yeehaw!" Two big green hands wrap around the around the dazed dog's huge maw, holding it shut as he yells at Jeremy and Mend, "Try and throw the ones you can up and over the top of the trees. I'll do like a cowboy and break this stallion in the mean time!" Yeah, they might be disappearing but until they all do it seems like Gabriel-Hulk is intending on treating them as if they were sticking around.
Fading they may be, but the dogs are still crazed and ready for a fight...and thus, it isn't hard for Marissa to get them to chase her. And crazed as they are, they're easy prey for some creative dodging...it takes a bit of work to get them to jump at her properly, but a lot of them can manage to clear the trees--and others can with a little helping push when they land on top. Others...well, a Shih-Tzu is never going to make it, but it's also easy enough to grab one and toss it over. Slowly, dogs start getting caged. 
Jeremy slowly gets to his feet, stumbling a bit, but manages to get his feet under him. He winces at the movement, but nods at the giant Gabriel. "Um...yeah...I-I don't think they need a lot of encouragement." Big green guy or no big green guy, most of the dogs that were around him before are starting to chase him already. Jeremy runs as fast as his legs can carry him straight for the cage. "Miss Marissa! I-I'm bringin' you more!" But as he approaches, she might notice something disturbing. Jeremy, too, is becoming transparent. Not to the same degree the dogs were, but she can see through him. 
The giant dog struggles and fights against Gabriel, dragging itself as best it can towards the fleeing Jeremy with a single-minded aggressiveness...but the Gabriel-Hulk manages to hold on and hold it back. It tries to claw at him, shake him off, anything to get free, but it isn't making it. And then, all of a sudden, it's like he's holding on to a cushion of air...and then, nothing. The giant dog is gone like it never existed.
Mend keeps working on caging dogs...well, one of them phases out right as she grabs it. "Okay..." And then she sees what's happening to Jeremy. "Crap." Now she's not happy. Friends phasing out? That's not good. That's worse than evil St. Bernards...and evil Shih Tzus...and even evil yellow labs. They've GOT to be from Evilverse.
Gabriel on the other hand doesn't notice it for the moment. That's because right in the middle of yelling, "Ride 'em cowboy! Hey, someone get me an 50-gallon haACK!" the huge dog under him disappears and he's doing a Hulk sized face plant into the the grass of Central Park.
Jeremy blinks, noticing Marissa's expression. "Wh-what? What's wrong?" He looks back at the angry pack of dogs behind him, to find that there is still an angry pack of dogs, if one with noticeably less dogs than before. He pulls back a now-tattered sleeve and reaches out to grab one of the smaller ones, and then notices his hand, and the see-through nature of it. "Ah!" He jumps back like the dogs are causing it, and stares at both his hands, ignoring small dogs throwing themselves against his shield and stopping dead without any force. "M-Miss Marissa! Mister Gabriel! Somethin's wrong! I-I..." 
The dogs that still exist, though, clearly won't for long...those few that are outside the cage are finally fading away, and the ones inside, well...there aren't any anymore. Soon enough, there aren't any dogs in the area other than the few terrified pooches that started out there to begin with. Civilians start climbing down from trees, checking over injuries, and looking around for those they got separated from, and Jeremy, trembling in fright, finally lets his shield fall.
"I...don't know what's going on," Marissa admits...tossing an evil Chihuahua over the fence. It kinda squeaks...and lands on the yellow lab. Which growls, not happy about this state of affairs...then phases out. But she doesn't. She really doesn't. And she's *really* wishing she could track down Magik. Somehow, she thinks this is her kind of thing.
Gabriel gets up from the ground, leaving an impression of the Hulk's face in the turf. Scrambbling over to Jeremy he squats in front of the kid, which makes it so that he's only about two feet taller than him now, and looks down at him, "Hmmm... Maybe its something new with your powers. Are you going through anything or are you just invisible? Or maybe its a protective stress reaction. Take some deep breaths and try to relax, see what happens..." Then he looks over at Marissa and adds, "I think all three of us might want to vamoose to somewhere quiet and talk. I mean, flashbangs? Who carries flashbangs in her purse?" He's carefully avoiding mentioning that he's turned into a 9 foot tall green monster...
Jeremy tries to get himself calmed down, but when you've just turned transparent and everything else that did that recently no longer seems to exist, it's a bit difficult. "Um, um...I-I don't know, I..." He reaches out to touch one of the trees, and his hand does indeed stop at it. "I-I can still feel stuff, but it's like...n-not quite normal, I don't know how to explain." He sniffles, eyes growing wet. "I-I'm not gonna disappear, am I? I don't wanna disappear!" He looks between the two, quaking...but if one watches, one can tell that he /is/ filling back in, so to speak. It's slow, but they can see through him less than they could moments ago.
"You're fading back," Marissa notes. "Ack...my purse." She retrieves it and some items that fell out of it (no flashbangs, mind) and slings it back over her shoulder. "And sure, we can talk." Yeah. Who carries flashbangs. Especially as they're not legal for purchase unless you're law enforcement or something.
Gabriel pokes Jeremy very gently with a big, green finger and chuckles,"She's right. You're coming back. So what'cha want to eat?" But the action of looking down at Jeremy has finally made him realizes something, which now has him frowning, "And I guess we have to find me something decent to wear..." Warm-up pants and hoody have become some very tattered, very tight shorts and nothing else...
Gabriel might notice when he pokes Jeremy that there's an odd sort of there and not there feeling to him--he did touch something, but it didn't feel as solid as he'd expect. Still, the kid is fading back in. "R-Really? You promise?" Jeremy asks, and hesitantly holds his hands up to look at them again, noting that yes, they do seem more solid than before. "OhthankGod. I-I don't know what that was b-but I guess...it's okay...maybe..." He looks up at Gabriel, then over at Mend. "Um...um, y-yeah...it's kind of cold. Plus, um...you're going to look funny." He's trying to cover up his worry with some humor, to partial success. "Um...um...but...I-I don't think I'm real hungry. I-I think...maybe I ought to lie down for a little...okay? 'cause...that was really...that was a lot of work."
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