xp_logs | Darkness Within: Enter Magic Users

Brand, Ortiz, and Paulletz try to fight off the Shades, and the magic users (with Namor and Sue) turn up to give them a hand.

Those who were lucky enough to escape being changed screamed as they ran away from the black, humanoid creatures - and they weren't all lucky enough to get away. A dark miasma hung in the air, radiating from the portal over the Empire State Building.

Agent Ortiz squinted up at the sky. "Man, that's just not right," she muttered, and not for the first time that day. She turned her attention back to the task at hand. The moon wasn't giving her nearly enough tonight, but she tried to push any self-doubt out out of her mind as she focused on the dark figure closing in on her partner. She shouted out an incantation, and seconds later, a white ball-of-energy sent the creature to the ground.

"Watch your flank, Paulletz." She paused. "Flank? Side?" The distinction was lost on her.

"Best be sure to keep them off your back first, Ortiz." Agent Paulletz just managed to roll from under swipe from one of the Shades, quickly rolling up to his knees and letting of a shot in the middle of the creatures eyes. It screamed and faded away to the shadows it came from, soon joined by its mate who tried to get Ortiz' back.

Just taking one moment to observe the press of creatures, he shouted: "Not making much of a dent here."

"I don't—" Agent Ortiz stared at her partner for a second, then looked around. She could sense that something strong was nearby, but she couldn't pinpoint it. Damn lunar cycle. "We need to find the source, but I can't—I sense it, but I can't figure out where..."

Spite loved times like this, causing chaos and destruction, controlling it like she should. The magic coursed through her body making her feel strong, feel alive. It was Glorious! Stepping towards the Agents, eyes glowing in the darkness, she was pleased by their distraction as she tossed an energy ball towards them to explode. It wouldn't kill, but it would make them dance.

Paulletz dove to the ground as the energy exploded next to him, taking his partner with him to the ground. "I think we just your answer, Ortiz. You got any juice left or are we doing this the old fashioned way?" He fumbled, sliding another magazine into his weapon while still on the ground.

"Damn demons." Ortiz hopped to her feet, turning to face Spite. Her eyes narrowed. "Doubt old-fashioned is really going to work on this one, Paulletz."

A double flash of green energy bursts flew past them, striking Spite squarely in the chest and driving her back slightly. "On your feet, Agents," Brand ordered, fists outstretched and glowing with her energy signature, jaw set as she faced down the demon. "I don't pay you to sleep on the job. We're going to take this creature down so hard she's not getting back up again, and we're going to do it as a team."

"Regular ammunition ain't gonna cut it here, boss." Nevertheless Paulletz pulled his second side arm from the hidden holster and quickly checked the clip. "It'll have to do the job though."

"I'll mention it to R&D at our next meeting," grunted Brand, blasting Spite again. "Bullets work on those shadow creatures well enough, focus on them and cover our backs. Ortiz and I will take down the mama."

Suppressing a reaction to her partner and their [adj] boss, Ortiz merely grunted in assent. Her lips moved, forming voiceless words as she began forming a pulsing orb of light in her hands.

Across the street, a small group were joining in the fray, led by an extremely pissed-off blonde woman in a leather jacket. "Stay together and watch each other's backs!" Amanda instructed her students as the Shades swarmed them. "And focus on getting people out and clear!" While I figure out what the fuck to do with the Dweller and his brats, she added silently to herself. A major demon manifesting in Manhattan was bad enough, but the life of a student was bound to it, meaning she couldn't just cut loose and let New York have it for dinner.

A Shade reached for her with long shadowy tendrils, exuding a bitter cold and gut-wrenching fear. Amanda wasn't sure who reacted, herself or the city, but a moment later a traffic light came crashing down on it, crushing it into fragments of smoke. "Things are looking up, at least," she muttered, before raising her voice. "You can hit the shadows and they go down. Just don't let them touch you! And use light-based spells as much as you can - it's a bloody cliche, but light versus dark is a thing for a reason!"

Megan jumped into the air as the traffic light fell and exploded into glass mixed with Shade-bits. Her dust had risen to the surface of her skin and glistened on the scales of her wings, although she wasn't planning on using it now. She wasn't sure what effect it'd have on magical enemies since she'd had a piece of her soul replaced with demon magic. So as planned, she summoned her were-light spell. "Will-O-Wisp!" The little ball of light grew in her hand and then lifted free, hovering before her. Her gaze then shifted from their intense focus on the were-light to the scene across the street. Two shadowy figures were embattled with more of the Shades, fiery green light spells arcing through the air and drawing silhouettes of the combatants, bullets exploding.

"Light, light, light," Billy muttered. The Patronus came quickly to mind, but Amanda's words of caution quickly followed. It was one thing to fool around during class, but for now..."stick to what you know," he muttered, then broke into a smile. "Pixie!" He called out, "remember this one?" A marble-sized ball of lightning appeared near one of the shadowy creatures and began to pulse brighter and brighter. It would take a moment to feed it enough energy, but he hoped she would recall their last encounter and drive some of the creatures into the flash zone.

Topaz took a step back as one of the creatures turned on her, looming over her. A small ball of light sparked to life above her palm as she lifted her hand up, and as the Shade dove at her the light darted forward, driving itself into the Shade's forehead, and it shrieked as it disintegrated. That had gone so much better than she'd thought it would. "Right? Who's next then?"

Right on cue another Shade jumped at her. Oh good.

Back with Amanda, there were two figures that did not immediately jump into the fray of shadow-beasts. Namor — who was still rough around the edges, but had regained his usual bearing — surveyed the chaos with a cold, clinical gaze. He was a stable contrast to the smaller blonde figure who leaned against him for support.

The noble focused on Amanda, "What do you need to us to do?"

From the debris of the traffic light, Amanda pulled a a length of pole and handed it to him. "You get to hit things, Your Grace. And keep an eye on Sue - she can shield herself, but turning invisible won't work with these beasties, and she's also kind of wrecked in terms of energy, so don't let her overdo things and wind up demon-bait." Another burst of green energy flashed from across the street and Amanda groaned. "Oh, bollocks. Gar's psychotic ex-partner's here too."

"I'm fine," Sue insisted pushing away from Namor and taking a few steps towards the glow, visible even through the miasma, from the top of the Empire State Building. "Don't worry about me, we just need to get up there." Sue stated as she surreptitiously leaned against the side of a nearby building. She wasn't in danger of collapsing anymore, but that didn't mean she was quite upto charging through a horde of shades to get to her quite at this minute. It might have been smarter for her to stay behind, but she'd already left Tandy behind once and she refused to do it again.

Nico had taken the time and patience to gather the brunt of the shadows around her, making sure the rest wasn't getting too much on their plates. "Just a regular walk in the park," she muttered as a couple of shadows tried to slice her to pieces. Tried being the functional word; no matter what those tendrils were made off, the Staff of One was made of something harder. Once she was sure she had enough of them around, Nico raised the Staff. "Solar Flare." Light filled every single space for a moment, and after it Nico stood alone. "Juuuust a walk in the park."

Topaz finished off the Shade that had been attacking her, turning her attention to the topic of Sue's words - the Empire State Building. On a whim, she dropped her shields a bit - almost instantly regretting it when the fear and panic of every single person within a fifty-foot radius slammed into her like ten tons of bricks. She shook her head to try and filter it out, focusing on the towering building. Her eyes narrowed when she felt a faint but familiar presence.

A bubble of neon light surrounded Topaz as she staggered under the weight of fear, Amanda by her student's side. "Got your back, kiddo," the older witch said, looking intently at Topaz. "You picking up something?"

Topaz shook her head, though not in a negative way - more like there was a bug buzzing around her ear and she was trying to shake it off. "It's...it's faint and it's being overpowered, but it feels like Tandy. She's bein' overpowered by somethin', but she's there."

"Where there's life..." Amanda half-murmured it to herself, looking up at the maelstrom on top of the Empire State Building, the beginnings of a strategy starting to come together in her head. "We need to get up there, and fast. Tandy doesn't have a lot of time. But we're going to need more firepower, especially since this might be needing all three of you." Her attention was drawn by the sound of gunfire - the SWORD agents were gaining ground against the Shades. "Billy, how many can you 'port in one go?"

"I'll fly," Megan said to Billy before he could answer. She was focusing on the nearby Shades, strategically hitting them her light spell, trying to drive them into range of Billy's crackling blue lightning. "Oh, and it's good to be on the other side of this spell of yours for a change."

Billy bit his lip, focusing his energy into the lightning. Megan's routing seemed to be working, causing just enough distraction to---CRACK. He pulled back his control, and the ball exploded, sending a flickering shockwave through the two of the nearby shades, shattering them instantly. "Same here!" he called back to Megan. "Nice work!" He took a moment, pondering Amanda's question as he inched his way back toward her. "Three should be ok, but I don't think I should try more than that," he said, gathering the focus he'd need for the more difficult spell.

"I can 'port as well, but we're still going to need cover - as soon as we get near Tandy, you can bet the two ugly demonsisters will be on our arses. And it's not like the Boss Lady or I can go up and ask Brand for a hand. We need someone else to be in charge, someone who can play Brand at her own game..." A sly grin crossed Amanda's face. "Your Grace, I have just the thing for you."

***

"You got to be kidding me..." Paulletz followed the girl with the fairy wings for a second, before he felt a Shade gripping his ankle. Flicking his wrist, a knife slid down from a forearm holster and he slashed its throat, the creature fading into nothing. "Hey boss, weren't those friends of yours?"

Brand grunted, blasting another Shade into fragments. "Not exactly 'friends'. More like 'pains in my butt'. We're better off with them gone." She paused. "Except my luck wouldn't be that good. Which way did they go?"

"You have eyes," Ortiz muttered as she sent disks of light flying in Spite's general direction. "Where do you think they went?" She lifted her head toward the Empire State Building then glanced at her co-workers. Her face fell. "Seriously, you don't sense that?" She shook her head.

"Watch the sass, Agent. I don't find it endearing." Brand glared at the top of the Empire State. "We need to get up there..." she muttered to herself. Too bad this demon woman-thing insisted on keeping them here.

This....wasn't going as well as Spite had hoped. They were being attacked and while their plan had some flexibility to it, they hadn't anticipated this. Heading up to the stop of the Empire State Building, she went to assist there for the battle. Let them come. Let them fear.

"Any chance you learned how to fly, boss? Running up 103 floors of steps is a pain in the ass and taking the elevator is gonna be a moving death trap, so I ain't very keen on trying that out either." Paulletz commented as he examined the building for a way to get up there.

Any chance for Brand to reply was interrupted as a figure approached the group. He was tall, straight-backed, and seemed to — wait, no, he did — casually glide across the pavement as if it was beneath his notice. A shade leapt to attack from from the side, but the ankle-winged young man casually swung what looked to be the remnants of a lightpole at it. He dispatched a few more shades before he made it to the SWORD agents, but did not seem like he had done more than merely saunter across the plaza. The man cleared his throat as his eyes locked on Agent Brand. His tone was crisp, almost bored, as he remarked, "We expected SWORD to send more."

Brand arched an eyebrow at him, then paused to blast another Shade into shreds. "And exactly who would 'we' be?" she asked - if the young man had hoped to impress her, she wasn't showing it. "You shouldn't be here - it's dangerous for civilians. Let the experts handle it."

"It would be more prudent to skip the power plays here, Director Brand," the ice that had crept into his tone was shockingly sober, "You know who we are and what we will accomplish when one of our own is in jeopardy. I am only here to propose that we work together to save New York. Cooperate." He shook his head at the agents as if their ragtag attire were somehow more disappointing than the remnants of the suit he had on. "We have a plan to stop this irregardless if you accept. All I am offering is an invitation."

"How gracious of you." Sarcasm dripped from her words, but Brand's mind was churning over the implications. "And what would this invitation be? Helping you clean up the mess I'm sure your people have made?"

Namor smiled primly. "Your quarry just ran as if you and your agents were merely a nuisance. You show her what kind of problem SWORD can be as we work. You get her head. SWORD gets the glory."

Brand paused in her retort. SWORD was hopelessly outnumbered here, and that was her fault - she had been confident she could keep the situation contained. But it wasn't contained - it was spiralling into a major PR disaster. And Xavier's people, while being responsible for most of the issues that had happened in the past, could at least make sure things stopped spiralling. Besides, the more involved, the less chance she had of losing an agent.

"All right then," she said at last, lowering her hands. "I think we can help each other." She turned to Ortiz. "Agent, teleport spell for four, if you please. To the top of the Empire State building."