The Thralls Of Asgard || Ravens and Ruined Vacations

[x-firestar.livejournal.com]

Marie-Ange’s and Wade’s quiet day is interrupted by ravens.



Wade had taken pictures of everything - including the pizza delivery number - that Marie-Ange had scrawled and drawn on the walls of the small house in New Orleans. And then he'd started cleaning them. He'd finished up the night before... and was not at all surprised to walk into the kitchen to find half the butcher's paper he'd taped to the walls filled. His ladybird was standing there, charcoal in hand, and he wasn't sure if she was finished or not. So he skirted the kitchen table and headed for the fridge. The least he could do was make sure she had food if she was hungry.

"Out of paper." Marie-Ange set down her chalks and followed Wade around to the refrigerator, poking her head under his arm to look at it. "Also out of cheese. And eggs. Do you want to go get beignets?" She didn't wait for an answer - Wade Wilson plus donuts - even fancy french ones - was a sure combination. "Oh but I need shoes, if it is wet. Yuck."

"More paper's easy," Wade said, nodding along with everything Marie-Ange was saying. He had a roll of butcher's paper in the hall closet - it'd seemed like a good investment at the time. "You go get shoes. I'll grab my keys and we can go to Cafe Du Monde for beignets. Mm... powdered sugar. We can stop off at the store on the way back for eggs and other stuff."

Shoes were produced - the same ribbon-and-cloth sandals Marie-Ange had been wearing on and off for days. "Is other stuff going to be you trying to teach me to grill again?" She asked, slightly dubiously. "It is just less difficult if you grill and I bring you drinks." The fire was really distracting, she kept seeing things in it. It was no wonder food got burned.

"Other stuff is like, actual vegetables and cheese and probably some of those steamer pack things with cheese and broccoli and rice," Wade said, eyeing the drawings on the walls as she put on her shoes. Vegas had a pretty distinctive skyline - he wondered if she'd just drawn it for the pyramid or if there was something else going on there. Shrugging, he snagged the car keys from the table near the front door before opening it and doing a cursory check outside. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary, really, just a couple large, black birds, but they didn't register as a threat, so he gestured Marie-Ange outside before him.

Wade may not have considered them a threat, but Marie-Ange's reaction made it obvious that she considered them something. Her relaxed and calm demeanor slipped off before she was through the doorway, and she pulled Wade back into the little cottage and slammed the door shut.

And then opened it again only to assault the birds with a burst of profane words in a language Wade had never heard.

"Er." Wade watched Marie-Ange curse at the birds. He might not know all the words, but he did know at least one of them. He'd heard both Doug and his ladybird use it enough to know it meant 'fuck.' The rest of it was a mystery to him, but... well. "So... you want to use the other door?" He wasn't sure what the birds had done except exist, but since she was obviously very unhappy about them, he was willing to figure out a way around them.

"I want to shut up the house until those damned birds go away and then sneak off to somewhere I can get you to safely torch them and cook them for dinner." Marie-Ange said, slumping against the wall after slamming the door shut again. "Except ravens are not edible. They are horrid carrion birds that eat eyeballs." She leaned forward and peered through the shades on the windows. "Still there. I hate those awful birds. Nothing good ever comes of those birds. The last time, it was Thor and Garrison fighting."

"I could shoot them, but somehow I don't think that'll be very helpful," Wade said. He tilted his head to the side a bit and bent his knees so he could peer through the slit in the shades. "So they're portents or something. Have anything to do with what you've been drawing? Any headaches?"

"They are direct portents, and no, no headaches. Which is worse, because it means they are very specific." Marie-Ange explained. "Also yes, shooting them is a bad idea. I hate them, but the loan of them was a gift, from someone I do not want to anger." She slid down until she was seated on the floor and then let her head thud against the wall. "Ravens plus no headaches means Asgard."

"Awesome," Wade said, hunkering down to sit on his heels in front of her. "So, who'm I calling? Amanda? Wanda? Summers?"

"Yes, and also Garrison and also Doug." Marie-Ange suggested. "I think Scott first..." She pointed at the charcoal drawings on the wall, where the Vegas skyline was shot through with streaks of red chalk. "I do not believe in coincidences where those stupid birds are concerned."

"You got it," Wade said, pulling his mobile out of its pouch on his belt and dialing Scott's number.



The vacationing X-Men team is distraught when their trip is rudely interrupted by a Frost Giant storming the hotel.



"Wade?" Scott shook his head at a nearby waitress and retreated outside where the noise was thankfully a little less overwhelming, "That's better, what's happened. Is everything ok?"

"You guys are in Vegas this week right? Marie-Ange has had some visions of things and there were two ravens outside the house this morning. She says that means Asgard and Vegas was in the drawings with a lot of red. Just wanted to let you know to be on the lookout," Wade said.

"Asgard..." Scott fell silent, "It never stops does it?" he asked with a sigh raking his fingers through his hair. "All I wanted was just one weekend without gods or demons an things that go bump in the night. The field-trip curse strikes again, and we don't even have any of the students," he noted wryly, "Thanks for the warning Wade, I'll let the others know to keep their eyes open, you know if I can get them out of the casinos."

“Good luck with that," Wade said, a rueful smile quirking his lips. "And keep us posted. We're not that far away here in NOLA. Though Marie-Ange is a frog at the moment, so I'm not sure how much help she'll be beyond the whole 'oh look, ravens, Asgard, make sure they don't eat me' thing she did. Talk to you later, Slick."

Scott stared at his phone in amazement, "She's a frog?!" He glanced around guiltily but no-one seemed to take any notice of him, this was Vegas and he was hardly the most unique person on the street. Even so he hurried back into the casino, Wade was definitely going to have to tell him all about that particular adventure when they got back to New York. "Girls, we have a problem."

"Seriously," Clarice agreed, "this image inducer is making me itch," actually, she was running out of money, stupid house odds. "Why aren't we at the beach again?"

"Oh but why go to the beach when you have so much money to waste?" Angel asked happily as she pushed another button. She was still have the opinion that they should've brought Arthur. Luck dude in a casino? Yes please. But she was doing well enough on her own. She was actually five dollars up. That was a win in her book.

Rogue was pleasantly buzzed. The amount of free alcohol was much appreciated, and even though she wasn't really a gambler, she liked pushing buttons. And bright lights. That was fun.

"What's up, fearless leader," she asked, turning around in her seat, pina colada in one hand. She took a sip and frowned when she realized it was empty. When did that happen?

"MA saw something, we need to keep our eye out for," Scott didn't have a chance to finish before a club of solid ice came hurtling through a nearby window. "For that," the X-man noted with a sigh.

"Fuck," Clarice stated, "are we sober enough for this?" It didn't matter, this was happening regardless. She was already in a defensive stance as people ran screaming around them for the exits.

Rogue gave a sigh of relief as she chucked her empty glass to the floor. "Oh good, someone else is seeing this."

The last of Angel's winnings were abandoned as she jumped up, helping up someone who tripped on his way out. Not even a thank you for her troubles, but she had bigger worries. "Isn't there an age limit on the field trip curse?"

"Apparently not," Scott sighed, "you'd think we'd all be old enough to avoid it. I'm pretty sure there is a separate curse saying no-one is allowed to go and have any fun without giant storms of doom and destruction just appearing near them," he complained as he started pointing people towards the nearest entrance.

Less than sixty seconds later a solitary frost giant burst through the entrance to the hotel, shattering the domed, glass ceiling with a single thrust of his ice-covered hand. He roared, unsettled by the unfamiliar, warmer environment in which he found himself - these small beings, these humans, were just as vulnerable and weak as his forefathers had said they were when recounting their exploits in Midgard.

His leader, the wielder of magic, had told him to cause a distraction. That's precisely what he did when he began laying about himself with his icy fists, frost spreading in rapidly forming fractals from his feet. Each step he took deepened the chill in the air around him as he tossed men and women away from him to either side.

Well this was just fantastic. Angel kicked off into the air, unaware of the increasing chill in the air. Of them all, she stood the best chance, at least as far as not getting frostbite went. She held out her hands, shooting off a fireball at one of the icy fists.

Fire plus ice meant Angel had a shot. "Can you shoot that thing?" Clarice asked Scott, her portals wouldn't do much good against that much ice, though she could at least get everyone in better positions.

"I can try," Scott answered, putting action to his words as he lashed out with his force beams letting them slam into the Frost Giant. The impact swayed the giant for the second before he shook his head and stepped forward brushing aside the attack as if it was nothing but a gnat bite.

A flame flew circles around him, a small man zapped him with a heat beam - the frost giant paused to reevaluate his opinion of the humans, but he still seemed insignificant to him, not at all like the Asgardians. Kneeling, he placed his hand flat against the floor and willed the ice to grow faster. This place was too warm for him, he could feel the heat nagging at him. It was dark outside, which was good. Dark and cold, but inside it was hotter and the tiny flame flew on.

Suddenly, the ice beneath his hands burst forward, fracturing into chips lick ice cubes that went spinning off in all directions, pelting the tiny people trying to run away from him as well as the ones trying to stop him. He couldn't freeze any of them where they stood like the magic wielder, but he could scare them all away, take over this place, make it suitable for living.

Rogue was not sober enough for this. She'd heard of people sobering up instantly in the face of danger, but clearly, this wasn't her first rodeo so she happily floated in the air, doing her best to avoid the ice cubes. It was like a game. Zig here, zag there, duck here. The civilians seemed to have taken the hint, and ran out of the room which meant they didn't need to worry about them anymore. Not that Rogue was really worrying about them.

Trying to figure out how best to approach these ice giants was taking up too much brain energy. Looking around, she saw a discarded jacket, and zipped over there. Ripping it up effortlessly, she wrapped her hands with the fabric, and hoped that would be good enough. "Hey Angel, melt me some space, will ya," she called out, "Ah may be strong, but Ah don't think Ah can punch all the way through."

"On it!" Angel dropped back down, the air already super heating around her as she touched down and melting all the snow and ice within ten feet of her. Walking heater to the rescue.

Scott had taken up a position by the door, his optical beams flashing out to redirect the chunks of ice and debris that were flying around. Luckily there weren't any civilian's around to spot their use of their powers, and one of the first things Scott had done was destroy the remaining cameras. We should be safe using their powers with impunity, he thought to himself as his optical beam lashed out, clipping the ice giant's head.

The giant growled in aggravated pain - the beams of light hurt like tiny cuts for the most part, but the one that had hit his head stung mightily. Dropping to sit on his heels, the giant managed to dodge another optical blast while simultaneously shoving more and more ice at the tiny woman bashing through the frosty walls he was attempting to create. The one who turned to flame worried him more than the others, but he focused on attempting to stall the strong one for the moment and hoped he'd given the wielder of magic enough time to do what must be done.

"Angel!" Clarice yelled, porting herself over to the other girl, "Chill out for a second and let's get you closer," she opened another portal to bring the flaming girl into the barrier the frost giant was creating, that would make heating it and getting through it much easier for Rogue and Scott. Teamwork!

Angel stopped long enough for Clarice to open her portal before shooting through. As soon as she was in she super heated, the temperature around her shooting up as flames consumed her body. There's a heat kitchen joke here somewhere, she thought with a sigh. No one was ever around to appreciate her wit.

Rogue tried her best to follow what was happening. Once she saw a certain section of the barrier heat up, she smiled. "Come on, Cyke," Rogue called out, scooping Scott whether he liked it or not. "You blast, I'll push." Between the two of them, they'd be able to smash properly, and if Scott needed to shoot somewhere else, well, she'd just fly him there.

It wasn't something Scott had been expecting, to be grabbed and dragged to his feet like that, not that he was complaining the vantage was pretty much unmatchable."Watch out for the ice, it can get sharp when blasted," he warned slamming force beam after force beam into the area of the barrier Angel was weakening, watching in satisfaction as the ice started to crack under the assault."

Clarice opened a wide portal trying to catch the flying ice shards and chunks before it could hurt anyone or cause more damage. It wasn't often that they could try to prevent collateral damage, so that was nice. "It's working!" She called.

It was working! Angel grinned as she turned up the heat a bit more, watching as the ice fractured. She raised her hands, firing off a flame ball at the frost giant to distract it further.

The frost giant could feel the air getting hotter, its melting ice turning to steam and making things humid. Humidity wasn't something he was accustomed to. The air grew thick, rather than crisp, weighing him down. He couldn't think as clearly as he should have been able to. The small girl made of fire threw fire at him and he wasn't able to dodge it entirely, it hit his shoulder, singing his hair and blistering his skin.

The cracks were a good thing. The holes were even better. "This is mah cue," she exclaimed to Scott, putting him down and zipping over to the barrier. With a solid punch, she heard the satisfying crunch of weakened ice. Once the barrier was shattered, she waited until Angel flew by again, taking the giant's attention with her.

Getting up to his neck, she saw it was considerably bigger than her, but she only needed to put pressure on the windpipe, so she did, looking to others like she was hugging the front of his neck.

Struggling, the frost giant attempted to pluck the small human off of his front, but between the increasing heat, humidity, and lack of air, he stumbled against his own wall of ice. Already weakened by the mutants' efforts, it collapsed in a cascade of hazy white. He fell to the floor of the building in which he stood, still moving weakly as he tried to get away, but it was futile.

"Whooooooooa big guy!" Angel yelled as she watched the thing tip - and fall right into a building. Ouch. She flew in closer, bringing the heat with her and singing, "Go to sleeeeeep..."

The giant exhaled hard, his breath frosting the heated air, before going limp in Rogue's grasp.

Silence lingered, broken only by the sound of shards of glass hitting the ground as well as ice. Then the noises outside began filtering through the broken walls - people were still screaming and, through the din of feet pounding on the ground, faint voices could be heard calling back and forth to one another as they coordinated what was obviously another fight.

It was true what people said: while the adrenaline was pumping, it was like an instant sobering up. Rogue did what she had to do, and she was thankful for her trainng. And then she relaxed, tripped over a piece of ice and landed in a most undignified position. "Really?," she whined as she heard the voices. "Do we gotta help them too? Ah jus' took down this big 'un! An' Ah really don't think it's fair." She crossed her arms and tried to pout towards Scott.

"It's what we do," Scott replied wryly as he reached out a hand to help her up, "lets get out there and take a look what's going on. If there's another one of these guys out there I'm betting whoever that is they'd be happy for the assist."