Fear in the Dark: Breaker of Gods: Worthies

[xp_dagger]

Greithoth is in Geneva.


"Thought my time walking into an LZ like this was over." Kevin said softly as the purple portal around them shimmered into non-existence and was replaced by a scene of carnage. Buildings lay shattered or on fire. Broken stretches of asphalt and cobble stone were punctuated by broken pipes and metal supports sticking up. In the centre of it all was Greithoth, hammer spinning in lethal circles and laying waste where ever it struck. Kevin hoisted his rifle, taking stock. "You... Falcon. Take Facade and flank left. Wildchild and Psylocke on the right. I'll uh," He cocked the underslung grenade launcher. "-get his attention while you get into position."

Kevin had been a gifted sniper in Korea. It was what had grabbed the attention of the Agency in the first place. That was before he could optimize his sight, triple his quick twitch muscle capacity and utterly kill any tremors from his body that could affect his aim. The 40mm HE grenade hit Greithoth flush in the back of his head, where the skull met his neck.

Greithoth grunted as something hit the back of his head with enough power to snap it forward and back again, and he screamed as the explosion rang in his ears like a bell. Shaking his head, Greithoth shrugged off the effects and turned back to where the projectile had come from. He’d gotten better at using his hammer since it had first sung to him and claimed him, and he smashed it down into the ground, watching the rippling waves spread outwards and toss debris and people around. They landed with satisfying little thunks on the ground, rolling around with the look of someone who had just been terribly winded. Greithoth laughed and turning back, continued to stride down the street, swinging his hammer in widening circles that didn’t quite touch anything, no matter how terrifying it looked.

"Hi." A flash of grey and brown and blond leapt over Greithoth, one clawed hand planting for a bare second on his armor, before a shaggy-haired man stood in front of him. "You're making a hell of a mess, my dude." Kyle skipped away from the hammer and debris, over a parked car, and then paused, looking up to the sky briefly. "You wanna talk about this? Man, I know a guy. I can give you his card." He made a show of patting down his jacket. "Maybe.”

Betsy crept through the rubble in her loaned uniform, closer to the hulking figure holding the hammer while probing his alien mind for traumatic memories. She was keeping open a channel to Artie to send him enough details to coordinate with his illusions. The memory she located was almost vivid enough to make her falter, but she gritted her teeth and yanked it to the surface of Greithoth's mind and over to Artie.

He winced as the pictures appeared in his mind, everything shot through with the emotions of a terrified child. He closed his eyes, focused. He knew what it was to be a scared child. The shadows deepened and began to move, shot through with greens and purples. Figures stepped out of them, scaled so that they towered over Greithoth, looking at him. One spat and turned, walking away. The others loomed, bodies warped and distorted, all eyes and teeth and mouths.

Greithoth roared. It wasn’t a sound Haruto would ever have made but he was a Worthy now. He remembered that again, rejecting the pictures in his head. He was Worthy. And with that, Greithoth turned back again, slammed his hammer down on the ground again, shaking the world beneath him.

A hail of bullets lashed over Greithoth, checking his current attack and providing some cover for the others. As he turned to face the new threat, Falcon was already streaking past, shuttering to brief stops to unload another fusillade, impossible to track.

Kevin stayed back, using a chunk of concrete for cover. The Worthy was largely resistant to bullets; they seemed to hurt him but do relatively little damage. However, thanks to his destructive spree, he'd torn up all kinds of utility conduits; water pipes, power lines, and currently lined up in Sydney's sights, a gas line. The shot pierced the pipe and Greithoth was momentarily engulfed in flame.

The fire seemed to fuel the armored man's confusion, but the smoke drifted through Artie's illusions, marking them as unreal - or it would have, if Greithoth had a chance to pay close attention to them, and not to the blur of claws and teeth that climbed him like a overpowered magical hammer-wielding tree. Kyle's skin stung with burns from the dwindling flames, but he ducked and swung his body around to plant a foot in Greithoth's face, an elbow in his eye, a clawed thumb in the possessed man's nose, anything to keep him from noticing the pair working silently to keep Greithoth emotionally off-balance.

Artie worked with the smoke and fire, shining strobe lights at Greithoth's eyes to muddy the illusion.

Gritting her teeth, Betsy delved further into Haruto’s memories. She’d heard the way the word ‘worthy’ had rung in his mind and kept searching for any memory that countered it, every moment in the past that Haruto had felt small and insignificant. None of them seemed painful enough to shake the conviction she had felt emanating from him earlier. She recalled the way some of the other patients in the hospitals before Muir had buried their trauma, but she didn't have the time to go that deep. Then she remembered the psychic dagger she had formed when training with Jean. The blade would give her the boost need to reach that core damage to beam to Artie. She snuck closer.

Artie took everything Betsy was giving him and fed it out into the space.

Greithoth roared, as he felt Haruto struggle inside him. His human was his, not whatever memories had come along with it. "No!" he roared and swung his hammer in a wide arc, trying to drive away these gnats who were biting at his human's skin. "Mine!" He was not called the Breaker of Wills for no reason and Greithoth shored up his human as best he could, helping Haruto fight back against the onslaught of weakness that was undermining him.

Kyle caught the lilac blade out of the corner of his eye as he clung to Greithoth. The man was throwing himself around and Kyle held on like he was riding a bull with a wasp under its tail. His fist caught Greithoth in the eye, and he felt his knuckles tear open on the man's face, leaving little else but a smear of blood. But he could take some pain, he could live with a mangled hand for half a day. He clung to the possessed-Worthy's shoulders and yelled nonsense profanity, making himself the most annoying target on the field. Because if freaky Asgardian Weirdos were throwing him around and trying to get him off their back, they weren't looking for little English telepaths sneaking up behind them with telepathic knives.

Sliding her psychic blade into Greithoth's flesh, Betsy felt Haruto's last defences crumble. She pulled out his deepest fears to feed to Artie and Kevin to exploit.

"What a disappointment." Kevin had scrambled from his cover, angling away when Betsy's telepathic signal hit him. So that was Haruto's fear. He tossed his gun to one side before quickly morphing and stepping out of the chaos to confront Haruto wearing the form of his father. "I knew it would come to this. A sad boy who never had it in him to become a man on his own.”

Greithoth felt Haruto’s will crumble beneath him, an onslaught of emotion that turned him from a human who was Worthy into a scared, abandoned little boy. And Greithoth roared denial inside Haruto’s head and tried, clutching at his power and trying to bring back the Worthy, trying to hold everything together. But it was like leaning on a suddenly open door and Greithoth fell, down and down into the dark.

Haruto’s hand opened and the Hammer of the Worthy dropped. By the time it would have reached the floor, it was only dust and nothingness.



Angrir is in New Delhi.


Amanda winced as her feet hit the ground. New Delhi was screaming, literally and metaphysically, fear the only thing she could sense for a moment until she got her powers under control. The air itself was filled with smoke and dust and the screams of panicked people and the rumble of thunder too close to be natural. "Sounds like our target's enjoying himself," she muttered. "Cap, what's your orders?"

"You're from London, right?" Clad in the costume, red, white and blue oozing from every pore and yet, there was something relatable about Cap. "I grew up poor in Brooklyn. A very different one from today. People always treated us like an afterthought. Didn't matter until they needed us for the next war. And you know what? It didn't matter. We turned out. We volunteered in droves, knowing that none of the kids of the politicians or the landlords or the Wall Street guys would be beside us."

He paused and gave her a tight smile. "That's what makes us great."

"Dazzler and Trance, you're on civilian duty. Bring the fight to him when you can but keep the civilians safe. Cloak, you and Daytripper are with me. We need to buy them some time to get people clear." He said, taking the lead behind his shield.

Ty fell into formation next to Amanda behind Cap. Shadows poured with the smoke, and he snatched every one for his own purposes, gathering them to his feet as he walked.

"Very well." As soon as the orders were finished, Hope twisted away and hurried towards a small family hiding behind a crushed car. "You have to get out of here!" She hurriedly explained, using gestures as well in case they were unable to understand English. Seeing Angrir being driven away, she pointed forcefully one final time and urged them on." Go that way now! Finally, the woman picked up the small boy in front of her and did what Hope had ordered.

Alison, meanwhile, had stepped somewhat out of the line of fire and around the corner of a nearby building. Despite having been away from all the fun and action so long, apparently some things were second nature and being right back in it was giving her ideas. All she'd need was some good music and Google translate.

Thirty seconds later, a grinning Alison ran back out from where she'd hidden herself. Off one hip dangled a small bluetooth speaker (currently set to blast a four-hour playlist of all of her loudest, highest-tempo music), and in each hand she carried a foot-long piece of rebar she'd taken from some of the debris. A quick twist of her powers and the bars began glowing a bright, happy blue and a trail of blue light balls lit up, hovering an inch or so along the ground and outlining a path towards safety and away from the fighting. As she moved towards what looked like some of the better hiding spots around here (and likely towards scared civilians), she began calling out the Hindi words for "lights", "safe", and "follow". Hopefully people would get the idea.

Angrir collected himself from the onslaught of the group, annoyance clear as he took a step forward. The civilians who had previously been trapped by their terror were fleeing. His grip tightened on his hammer before he lifted and directed it at the three who seemed to be tasked with disrupting him. “Begone, you annoying little mites.” Lighting shot out as he spoke, racing towards them.

When she’d fought Gladiator in New Delhi, the whole city had been united behind her. She didn’t have that unity now, but the city was just as anxious as she was to protect the people. So, the shielding spell Amanda threw up to block the arc of lightning was stronger and larger than any she’d cast for a long time, absorbing the energy into its surface and visibly thickening. “Hey, fuckweasel! How about picking on someone your own size!” she yelled. It was comical to see the small blonde woman calling out the Asgardian warrior.

Ty wrapped shadow around himself like a shield, absorbing the lightning like an appetizer. His stride didn't falter as he moved forward, lances of darkness reaching out to snatch the lightning aimed at him out of the air. His eyebrows rose. "Got any more? That was delicious."

And so it went on - attack, counter, counter-attack, defend. The Worthy was showing signs of injury, but wasn't slowing down, and they were. Amanda grimaced at the smell of burnt leather coming from her jacket - one lightning bolt had been a little too close. "Let's shut this cockwomble down," she muttered to herself, and, drawing as much as she could from the city, cast her shielding spell again, this time in a bubble around Angrir himself. Stretching out both hands in front of her, she closed them into tight fists, the spell contracting abruptly around her foe. There was a squeal of metal armour being crushed and the meaty crunch of bones breaking before she dropped the spell. Angrir's body fell to the ground with a wet slap.

"Wait." Captain America held up his shield, blocking anyone from getting closer. "I think it is still alive."

Righting the body always came first - bones popped and snapped back together correctly, with the armor following suit. Then came the flesh knitting closed. Angrir slowly rose back up to his feet, what blood had pooled in his mouth splattering the ground as he swayed forward then back. He stood stock-still.

"Seriously?" Hope stared from where she had been directing another group of people away. "What is this man?" Searching support from a nearby wall, she tried something. Her aura sight she had only been able to access when ghosted out, but maybe when she toed the line, she would be able to gain some insight. And otherwise she'd just poke her head out.

As the flower unfolded in her mind she tried to find the exact moment where she was leaving her body, but it slipped past like sand through her hand and she just quickly poked her head outside her body. The Worthy was surrounded with deep yellow terror, dark orange vigilance and something that screamed despair at what might be coming. Just as quickly Hope popped back in her body and she hit her comm: "He is terrified to die again... or something when he revives. Act now while he is still weak!"

Ty pounced like a cat, wrapping him in seamless darkness, cutting off all sensation.

He wasn't quite sure when the source of delicious power changed from cocooned in shadow to being consumed by shadow, but such energy flowed through him in a near-blissful wave, he lost track of the world around him in favor of the world within.

Alison would never admit it, but Ty's powers scared her just a little bit. They were antithetical to hers in a way that the two of them still didn't quite understand, and just watching them in action left her with a chill. She shook herself; if her own powers had proven useless (even the cheap shots from half a city block away), then maybe this would be more effective.

It certainly seemed to have worked, at any rate. It looked like it would all be over soon. The people were out, and Ty was going to wrap up and they could all go home.

...Alison hoped.

The seconds seemed to lengthen as Hope kept an eye on the battle site while she assisted a young man with a leg wound. So many passed and still the Worthy had not returned. "Dazzler, can you take over here?" She called out to the girl and headed over to Ty. The dark need and hunger in his eyes made her slow her steps for a few moments, but as it clicked she rushed over.

"Ty, you cannot do this. Let him go." Hope grabbed his arm, giving him a quick shake. "This is against everything you ever told me you believe in. You were trained to be a warrior of Asgard! Is this what they do?" Seeing the need started to recede a little, she reached out and forced him to look at her. "You are hurting him. LET HIM GO!"

He looked down without seeing. Several blinks through barely felt tugs later, he saw Hope. "What?" he said vaguely. He turned his gaze toward the void, then reached into it. He pulled Hollis out by the hair. Ty dropped the man to the ground before he forcefully pushed the shadows back to their sources, dissipating the void.

Without a look back, he staggered away.

Angrir hadn't moved from where he'd fallen. He hadn’t even realized that he was back on Earth. His eyes were glazed over, lips moving wordlessly, sweat dripping down his brow as he shook from the experience. The hammer fell from his grip, handle hitting the ground before it began to dissolve. When it disappeared wholly Angrir went with it, leaving a visibly shaken Craig Hollis where the Asgardian had been, still dressed for his fight.





Nul is in Johannesburg.


Send the emotion-draining witch to deal with the thing powered by emotions. Yeah, Topaz understood the reasoning. That didn't make the sight of the Hulk - Nul - whatever - storming down the street destroying everything he could see any better. "Yeah, he's angry," she reported helpfully as she stepped back. "I'll do what I can to knock that down but if someone could make sure I don't get killed by a flying car in the process, I'd appreciate it."

"You got it," Jean said with a light smile, as much as she could muster under the circumstances. She'd already battled the Hulk before---and he was also mind controlled that time as well. It was beginning to become a theme.

She surveyed the area. "Spider-Man, can you please get to the top of that building?" she said, pointing to a nearby skyscraper.

"It'd be good to see if we can figure out where he'd headed, or if there's any obstacles we can use to keep the damage contained to one area."

Miles nodded, hopped onto a nearby wall, then shot a web-line at the skyscraper Jean had indicated to slingshot himself high up and give himself the necessary vantage. Once he got a good view of the area, he tapped the radio piece on his ear. "This thing on? Everyone can hear me? Test test. Okay, so, Hulk. He's, uh . . . he doesn't seem to be going anywhere in particular. He's just smashing everywhere he goes."

This was fun, way more fun than Nul had had in, well millennia, hammer in one hand, a chunk of concrete on the other as he span around and released, the slab flying into a wall, crumbling into dust as the wall shattered around it. "Eeeny Meeny Miny Mo, which wall shall stay and which shall go."

Wanda winced at the new destruction as she moved forward, making it a point to stay as near to the others as she could without making them a larger target. For once in her life, she was a little envious of those who could fly or shield themselves or, well, stick to buildings - her powers would be working overtime today to make sure she stayed out of danger. "It's actually worse that he doesn't have a particular destination," Wanda responded, leaping over a large hole in the ground. "He's not exactly hard to track but he is hard to predict. Especially now."

A beam of energy cut across the Hulk's non-existent path, cutting him off for a moment as he rampaged, and Vision landed in front of him. "Bruce-" Appealing the human side of the Hulk, rarely worked, but it was always the first thing to try before brute force. Vision phased as a large green fist flew at him, and the crystal in his forehead glowed, releasing another white hot beam and hitting the Hulk point blank, blasting him back. "I'll try to keep him contained," Vision said calmly as he took the air again, tracking where the Hulk had landed, ready to land and hit him again. "If you all could enact your plan quickly, however, it would limit the damage."

"I am going to regret this." In his five-ish years as Spider-Man, Miles had always held back his full strength from his punches and kicks. He knew he could kill a man with one blow. But even in the best of days, Hulk was not a man. And today certainly was not the best. "Jean, get me on a collision course with him, por favor," he kindly requested, ignoring the klaxon of his spider-sense, as he leaped off the skyscraper. Between his strength and his momentum, maybe he could stop Nul in his tracks. Maybe.

"On it," Jean said, using Miles's psi signature to get a read on where he was and guide him toward the Hulk.There was also the matter of trying to protect Miles when the Hulk got punchy. But she remained ready.

"Scarlet Witch, can you please use a hex bolt to distract him?"

"Kind of like waving a large, destructive flag at a large, destructive bull. I can do that." Wanda darted down a small alley and popped out right as a small motorcycle was sent tumbling a few feet beyond the entrance. Hulk stood at the end of the street, gripping a car that he'd ripped in two and as he raised it over his head, she sent a hex bolt straight into it.

The remaining glass in the windows on the car shattered as the metal in Hulk's hands broke down and crumbled into dust. His head turned in the direction the bolt came from and as he started to bellow in rage, Wanda spoke dryly into her earpiece. "Well, he's distracted. I'll just...start dodging."

"Yes please, keep making him angry," Topaz grumbled. "By all means, keep just - oh forget it."

She was doing her best to keep track of things while focusing on draining the giant at the same time, and it wasn't leaving her room for much else. To make it more fun for her, things were starting to bleed over. She took a deep breath, tuning out everyone else for a moment and focusing on the Hulk. Energy wound around his arms like ropes, freezing his swinging fists, and a new wave of fury added itself to the torrent. That was her own fault, she knew. It didn't make her feel any better. "Okay, that should hold for about twenty seconds, if someone wants to do something fancy to take him down. Possibly more, but I make no promises."

Telekinetically torpedoed by Jean on a collision course with the Hulk, Miles clenched his fists and charged them with every volt of bioelectricity he could conjure, an electromagnetic bomb set to denote in 3, 2, 1 . . .

"Maximum Spider!!"

A normal human probably would have been reduced to a fine mist under the ungodly might of Spider-Man's impact. Hulk was just sent reeling half a block, the green lightning of the venom blast coursing through his body and stiffening his muscles. Miles lay in the crater of the collision, cradling his right hand with his left. He was pretty sure it was broken, and all he had to show for it was a mildly dazed demigod.

"Fuck."

Not waiting a moment, Jean took the opportunity while the Hulk was distracted, reaching her mind out toward his, fully expecting interference. But sometimes you had to loosen the jar before you could fully get it open.

Topaz felt the slight shock of surprise at the hit, and figured that was about as distracted as he was going to get. She grabbed that surprised and poured into it, trying to make it bigger and distract him. "Yeah, if we can just keep him down..." More energy grabbed the Hulk's torso, binding him in. All the while she was still ins head trying to counter the anger and push it back.

Wanda glanced over at where Jean was and mentally crossed her fingers as she reached out towards the thin, swirling strands of pulsing red that came from the Hulk's head but were clearly not supposed to be there. Her powers could, and did, do subtle but messing with, or near, the brain was something she didn't do lightly but the only way Jean would have a shot would be if Wanda could break enough things without breaking him. She'd done this before, a handful of times, but it always felt like the first time.

She took a deep breath and drew the strings towards her as the world around her fell out of focus. Gently, gently, she tugged and yanked, standing still in the road, but busy in her mind. And when she had the ones she needed, she let out the breath she'd been holding and pulled them away from him, as hard as she could, as the world snapped back into focus. The Hulk screamed as those strings she'd been pulling on shattered and went limp and dark, no longer active - for the moment.

"Now!" Wanda called out.

And Jean pushed, launching her mind into the tangled mass that was the Hulk, Bruce Banner, and Nul. She focused on the intruder, erupting with a surge of psionic energy toward the malevolent presence. Her words were both spoken in the real world and the astral plane.

~" Get.Out. "~

It wasn't a scream, not really, but the sound Nul made echoed through the mindspace as he seemed to slew away, collapsing into dust, a gentle wind lifting him and carrying him away. The warrior who had stood for millennia dusted away by the force of the women's mind.

What fell over in the suddenly too large armor was not a monster or a warrior, but a man. A small, extremely unconscious man. Topaz sighed dazedly, leaning against an overturned car and rubbing her temples. “That was fun.” She was surprised to find her voice shaking, and took a moment to steady herself, trying to rebuild the barriers between her own mind and the overflow of emotions. “Let’s not do it again.”

"Seconded." Still holding his hand in place, as even lifting a finger sent waves of pain through his body, Miles approached the fallen body. Even if Banner was still possessed, he wasn't Hulk, anymore, so yay for that. The magic hammer that had started this mess, lay beside him, and Miles tapped it with his toe. It crumbled to dust at the touch. "Uh, I didn't do it?"



And Skadi is in Reykjavic.




When each Worthy attained their power, Skadi’s own powers lessened, so that now she’s only as powerful as any of the other Worthies. She is, however, also the Goddess of Winter, and so is able to blast her opponents with freezing sleet and snow as well as the usual lightning and energy waves. Garrison and Molly tag-team to keep Skadi active and moving; Nica meanwhile is channelling all the infrared radiation she can directly as Skadi, figuring a Winter Goddess won’t like sunburn, and glad that Garrison and Molly are largely immune to the damage. Between that and the constant punching, Skadi is on the ropes when her hammer dissolves.

Opens with them coming out of Clarice's portal to a scene of destruction and mayhem Skadi's goal seems to be to scare as many people as possible, not kill them.

***

Molly felt the crunch of snow under her feet and her breath misted as she stepped out of the portal.

"Well that's new," she said, squinting at the snow in July before a piercing scream and the sounds of running made her quickly turn her head and she bounded up a small hill to see people running from a woman in the distance. Molly had always wanted to travel the world. Fighting people to do it? Bonus.

"Guess Elsa finally snapped."

"As long as no-one tells her to 'let it go'. I don't think she'll take it too well," remarked Nica, shivering a little in her still-new uniform. She shifted to her light form, which was temperature proof. "And not that I'm a fan of mass death and destruction, but shouldn't there be well, more death?"

"But you're right. She's driving them towards somewhere. We need to cut her off from her path and isolate her before taking her down. Or, you know, her freezing us all to death and then making the name Iceland a lot more fucking ironic." He nodded at Nica. "You're up. Get her attention while we close, and then back up and hit her from a distance."

"Yes, sir!" Nica took to the air, streaking through the sleety sky towards Skadi. "Hey! You!" It wasn't the most original diversionary tactic, but why mess with the classics? "Leave those people alone!"

The screams of the people running from Skadi was exactly what she needed to hear. Her father would be growing stronger the more the screams and fear roiled through the lands. This was only the beginning and once her father was at his full power again she would reign as his favored Worthy to remake the world in his vision. Annoyance filled her when the voice of someone who shouldn't be here called her attention away.

"You should leave well enough alone, child. This is none of your concern and troubling that your elders would lead you into a battle like this." Skadi's eyes glowed as she called upon more magic, intensifying the howling sleet and snow while lightning crackled over her body. The child passed through it all unaffected, which meant Skadi had to call upon more. She lifted her hammer quickly then touched it to the ground. The energy wave roared out from the point of impact like a massive ocean wave, growing in height and width exponentially.

That Nica felt. With a grunt as the wave hit her, she tumbled helplessly through the air.

Molly burst into a run to try to dodge the energy wave. Using her momentum and strength, her eyes glowed purple as she kicked off a wall and shot up into the air to try to catch Nica. It wasn't really flying but at least she could try to soften the blow.

"Dom, keep her busy!"

The blast had knocked Nica out of her intangible state and she crashed into Molly's outstretched arms. The momentum knocked the two of them into a fresh snowbank, scattering powdery snow in all directions.

"You know, you remind me a lot of Donna Reed. Especially around the eyes?" A blue skinned Kane popped up next to Skadi. He'd been adapting to her cold levels all the way in and as she turned the stream of icy wind on him, it was like a soft summer rain. His elbow caught her heavily across the eyebrow and sent her flying. "Spectrum, you alive back there?"

"Mostly," came the grumbled reply as the teen flew back into the fray. "Remind me to dodge those next time." Experimentally, she tried a blast of infra-red energy at the Asgardian. Cold didn't like heat, right?

Skadi landed quickly on her feet and shifted her grip on her hammer, keeping a close eye on the mutants. All she needed was to continue to hold these annoyances at bay and in combination with the others everything would succeed. She lifted her hammer high to call down more magic, more sleet, and snow. She shrugged at the tickle of warmth that hit her from the incorporeal one. She would deal with that one soon enough. The villagers were still screaming in fear, louder now, that these unknowns to them had arrived on the scene. More monsters to destroy their lives in their eyes, not rescuers.

She roared and ran at Molly first. The smaller of the group and the one Skadi presumed would be easier to take down, concerned with her friend's wellbeing more than the battle at hand it seemed. Father needed to wake up faster. Doing his work for him was getting tedious.

The snow and sleet blew past Molly but she barely felt it. That was kinda normal anyway. Clenching her fists, her eyes glowed purple as she dodged her hammer before it could strike her and she lashed out with a punch to Skadi's face that was strong enough to crater stone.

"Insert bad ice pun here," she said.

The blow should've been devastating but Skadi was inhabiting this body, not the glory obsessed Cindy, and all it did was anger her further. She roared and immediately swung her hammer in reverse, slamming it square into Molly's back. The direct hit allowed lightning to cascade over Molly's body, haloing her in the electric haze. The snow and sleet around them built into blizzard levels. One could hardly see in front of themselves.

Nica poured on the power. It seemed that Skadi could at least feel it, which was more than anything else the teen had been able to achieve. Red light erupted from her hands, bathing the Asgardian in a pinkish glow. Maybe if she added UV, she could give the Asgardian a sunburn.

Iron Man came into position beside her. His armor suddenly changed, four big panels transforming from his back; complex technical ovoids fronted by some kind of crystalline array.

"Bring the heat? Yeah, I can do a little something about that." He spread his arms and the central hub in his chest armor hummed before the omni-blast lashed out. The four panels each fired as well, angled to merge with and enhance the omni-beam as it struck Skadi dead on.

Skadi felt the heat and sweat build on her forehead and under her nose. An inconvenience. Farther would defeat the others. She simply had to hold her position. Skadi flew toward the man in the suit of armor with a roar. The missiles slammed into her, throwing her backwards and the increasing heat making her armor pulse against her skin. Her grip on her hammer was slick, but she wouldn't be foolish enough to lose it. No, she regained her feet and raised her hammer then aimed it in a circle, scattering an inferno of lightning bolts at her opponents.

"Rude," Molly said, quickly dodging a couple of lightning bolts as she looked around for some ideas. Spotting something "handy" she could use, she grinned and grabbed a concrete trash can holder, whipping it at the hand Skadi was holding the hammer with to try to knock the hammer away. She ignored the fact that her body was trembling.

Skadi grimaced at the blow. She would feel that later and would take greater pleasure in watching her father squash these bugs they like rightly deserved. The blow knocked the hammer free from her hand but it didn't go far. The leather strap wrapped around her wrist prevented it from going far. She shook her hand and immediately regripped the hammer, twisting to face the next onslaught.

"Such a show off," Nica had muttered under her breath as Iron Man joined her in the sky. The lightning made her pull back for a moment to avoid the conflicting energies, but she was back an instant later, redoubling her efforts at pouring on the infra-red. Her whole body was glowing red with the power she was channeling.

"You know, I don't think this is going well for you." Skadi took another blow to the head. Under fire, her wintery aura was the only thing keeping her from being mobbed and with that being useless against him, Kane was taking full advantage of his speed to stay one step ahead of her hammer. He jabbed quickly, catching her twice on the chin before bailing out a split second ahead of a lightning blast. "I think she's slowing down!"

Skadi gritted her teeth as she endured the onslaught and the heat. It would be worth it in the end. All worth it. She swung her hammer hard at the next incoming salvo of missiles with lightning arcing from its head. The missiles disintegrated into pieces and were blown away by the furiously whipping winds. As she spun to face her next opponent, hammer whirling, it dissolved in her hand. She stared into the empty space it once held in disbelief. That meant only one thing.

Cul had failed.

And Skadi was---. For the first time in months, Cindy was able to look out of her own eyes and be in control of her own body. She was dressed in the light winter gear she'd worn when Skadi had taken over her body. She felt the sweat enveloping her as the last traces of winter cold evaporated. The people in front of her, in the air and on the ground, had been fighting the goddess possessing her, but what would they make of her? She raised her hands in surrender and dropped to her knees as the damage dealt to her body made itself felt. The injuries were faint echoes of what she should've been feeling, but despite that displacement she suddenly ached all over. She was simply a normal human again having played with things she shouldn't have and dealt the consequences.

Molly took a step forward toward the lady that was left once the hammer had disappeared.

"Alright...you....have some esplaining to..." she said, but found herself stumbling, even if there was nothing on the ground to trip over. Everything tingled. Sucking in a breath, she felt her lips chattering uncontrollably, then looked down at her hands. But when she looked back up, everything was blurry and she was oh, so very heavy.

So she tumbled, hitting the sidewalk. It was nap time anyway.

Nica came to a landing next to her, stumbling a little as she solidified and she felt just how much energy she had been expending. The first aid training she'd gotten through Gen X came to the fore and she quickly examined her friend. "It's hypothermia," she said over her shoulder to the two men. "We have to get her somewhere warm, quickly."

"Fuck!" Kane pulled off his X-Men jacket, pulling it around the young woman as he plucked her up as if she had no weight. "She's right. Come on, Molly, let’s get you out of here."

"Follow me. I'll get a med bay on priority for her. The hammer isn't coming back, right? Because I don't know if even my insurance would cover that." Iron Man turned and looked back at where Cindy had been, but there was only a muddy depression in the wet ground where she’d knelt. “Aw, fuck.”