The Color of Horror || Ambush
Nov. 4th, 2021 03:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsThe packing team is ambushed by some... disturbing monsters.
She heard the cacophony of hissing and clicking that sent shivers of unknown horror up her spine before they even appeared. Her body moved into a protective stance without conscious thought. "Blanquito, you hear that?" she asked nervously.
"The dying balloon noise, or the demonic rattlesnakes?" All the little hairs on Kyle's arms and neck were standing, and he had fought hard and not entirely succeeded to keep the growl out of his voice. "Yeah. Fuck our lives... " He crouched, and picked at the metal clips holding the laces to his boots, and then stood and kicked the boots off. "Fuck I hate magic. Hate it so much, I swear to God."
He barely had time to drop a third 'fuck' when a jittery thing that moved like glued together uncooked spaghetti in a sausage casing fell from somewhere above the pair, chattering and whistling and hissing. Kyle snapped a snarl, and grabbed the creature by the throat before it hit the ground.
America's fight instinct, because she completely lacked the flight one, kicked her in the pants. With an angry snarl, she launched herself at the first monstrosity she spotted, fists first.
The things smelled like old beer and freshly sliced parsnips. He snarled as he wrestled with one, glanced at America to make sure she wasn't looking and then sunk his teeth into the monster. It keened, high and sharp like a train whistle and Kyle spat something gooey and brown out of his mouth. They smelled of parsnips, and tasted of rotten parsnip, which he should have expected. He launched himself at another monster, tearing into it's rubbery skin with claw and tooth, and was rolled over for his trouble.
Her punch landed solidly against what felt like a two-ton block of adamantium. Pain vibrated up her arm through her shoulder joint and into her back teeth. That didn't stop her from launching the other fist, this time with a feral scream.
The marionette like creature rolled Kyle over and over until his head cracked against the floor. The quick shock of pain snapped away the dizziness just long enough for him to grab the thing's face and tear into it with his claws, pulling chunks of the same brown goo that he'd spat out earlier. "'Merica!" He yelled, as he slashed through it's unnecessarily spindly arm. "The little weird ones are squishy!"
"Squishy would be a very nice change," she panted in reply. "I don't think I'm making a dent!"
Kyle yelled something back, but it was cut off by a trio of monsters tackling him back down to the ground. He threw one, flinging it at America, and came up from the pile of things bleeding from several slashes to his face. "Fuck fuck fuck, how many the fuck are there?" He yelled, words broken up as he dodged the needle sharp claws of the creatures. "Less punch more throw!"
America got a grip on one of the small ones and spun it out in a hammer-throw style. The critter smashed into the group of them surrpounding Kyle and knocked them back, thereby combining track and bowling events.
"Thank you!" Kyle hauled himself out of the pile of creatures, and used the momentum from leapfrogging over one's shoulders to land on top of another, bigger monster's shoulders. He slashed at where it's eyes should be and swore. "More incoming! Way... way fucking more holy shit!" He dropped profanity and blood from his mouth in equal measure and twisted to snap the head off the thing and then rolled to the ground. "Time to go! Haul ass! Make me a path, I'll keep them off your face!"
"I KNEW THIS PLACE WAS CREEPY!"
Darcy's yell didn't harmonize with the sounds the portal had been making the past few days at all, but as the monsters hissed and click-clacked in her direction she focused on finding something she could keep them back with. A clatter came from the aisle on the right, and she snatched up the bit of wood protruding into the walkway, giving the staff an experimental twirl and nodding with approval. "This'll work," she muttered, taking a swipe at the clicking one on her left and knocking it back. The hissing one spit black at her, and she jumped back, bumping into something. She turned her head sharply, noticed Doug's profile, and sighed in relief. "Conveniently timed boyfriend," she quipped. "Remind me to kiss your brains out once we beat these things back."
Doug raised an eyebrow at Darcy. "I suppose that's one way to announce our relationship status to the world at large?" he asked teasingly. "Far be it from me to turn down makeouts, but maybe let's get back to the mansion before we explore that particular thought." He looked at the black sludge. "That looks...not good."
"Yeah, I'm trying not to get hit with it, but the hissy ones are like terrible cats. Fast and mean." She swiped at the knee of clicky, managing to get it on its back. More red gleamed in the shadowy light of the portal, and she winced. "Maybe more like subway rats? Fast, mean, and numerous."
Doug stared at the portal. "How about let's -not- go to the Elemental Plane of whatever the fuck these are," he decided, snapping out one of the extendable batons he habitually carried. "Here," he said to Darcy, reversing it and offering it over his arm like a knight giving his sword to an ally. As she took it, he flexed his nanite hand. "Let's make some noise, friendos," he told them, lashing out and grabbing the spindly leg of one of the wooden creatures.
"Thanks honey," Darcy replied absently, grabbing the baton and smacking a hissy one in the side. "Side by side or back to back?"
Doug took a quick look around to assess the tactical situation. "Side by side for now," he told her. "We're playing defense, basically, trying to keep between them and escaping any further from that portal thing." He twisted and flung the one he had caught back into the mass of others trying to come through. It landed heavily, limbs awkwardly twisted.
"Nice aim. Gonna shotput one of the little ones if I get a chance." The mass had slowed slightly, but was increasing as new creatures climbed over the few they'd flipped or damaged. "If I focus on getting the big ones knocked over, can you throw them into the small ones to slow them?" A swipe at the ankles of one accompanied Darcy's words, followed by a loud clatter it landed on its back.
"I wish I had my dang sword with me," Doug grumbled. But he couldn't complain, because this was possibly the first time he'd been able to cut loose like this in years. He moved fluidly in the space near Darcy, never staying still but wasting very little motion as he kicked and punched at the... "Do we know what the hell these things are?" he asked semi rhetorically.
Darcy's mind was still stuck on the idea of Doug with a sword. And a bit on watching him move. A solid smack against her knee had her swearing, staff dropping to the floor with a loud clatter and causing an angry hiss. "Ow, fuck, no idea but the little ones HURT." She slid the baton into her back pocket and reached down, gripping the sides of the stone mask and hurling it at the portal.
There were more circling around them, and Doug shifted to cover Darcy as she threw her target. "Too many, they're starting to close us in," he told her. "Fighting retreat, the door will make a better chokepoint."
"Well, they can keep the staff then," Darcy said with a wince. She hobbled backwards, the baton back in her hands. "I have my tazer, but I'm not sure if it would work on the little ones or just make them even meaner. And then I have to get back in hitting range."
Hobbling was not good. "No, we're just going to break for the door," Doug told Darcy. "Get ready." He unholstered the small pistol he kept at the small of his back, bringing it up smoothly. This wasn't the first time he'd fired it with the nanite hand, but it was the first time in a non-range moment. "Go," he told her, pulling the trigger in slow, steady fashion, picking targets that were at the head of a group or trying to jump to the walls to gain elevation. He wasn't sure how much effect the bullets had, but the kinetic energy did a good job of knocking the monsters down and over, at least.
"Going!" Darcy had her tazer in her free hand, ready to jab if necessary. She had a feeling her knee was going to bruise, but she'd ice it once they were safe. A few steps from the door she heard an angry hiss, and she jabbed into soft mass with her left hand while pressing the button, turning her head to see the effect. "Shit, I think I just made it angrier." She pulled her hand back, turning with a wince and smacking it back with the baton instead.
The moment the monster was backed up far enough that he wasn't in danger of hitting Darcy, Doug swung his pistol around and put two bullets in its...well, whatever passed for a face. He pushed Darcy ahead of him through the doorway, then threw his weight against the door to close it, hearing several thuds of angry impacts against it. He grunted as the door slid a tiny bit open before he managed to force it closed again. "Find me something heavy!" he told Darcy.
Darcy looked around... heavy, heavy but movable, there! Stack of boxes on a dolly would work to at least get them both free to move something heavier. She rolled it into place with a grunt. "That should work, but we could move a filing cabinet over too. Piles of paper, shockingly heavy."
Doug tipped the contents of the dolly off so that it couldn't roll away, then flipped the dolly on its side against the pile. "C'mon babe, time to execute the 'get the hell out of here' maneuver," he said to Darcy, getting her arm around his shoulder and helping her move faster.
Placeholder for log in progress
Of course, terrifying creatures that hissed and clicked and moved like apex predators would appear while they were finally getting into the swing of moving boxes out of the pocket dimension. Why wouldn't absolutely horrifying things appear? Despite the very real urge to drop the box she was holding, Alani instead held it tighter while also doing her best to not put her hands through the cardboard. "Bad news," she announced. "I am a glorified moving crew, in that I do not know how to fight."
"Oh and if I don't maintain concentration I'm afraid that I might be more of a risk to anything in this box than they are." She added as an afterthought.
A slow grin spread across Molly's face as she kept an eye on the scary creatures that skittered their way around them. They looked pretty awesome, even if they were trying to kill them.
"Stay behind us. We've totally got this. Right, Jubes?" she said, glancing over to Jubilee as she punched her own fist into her palm.
"Time for the big KO."
“I mean, like, Vale my boobs but sure.” Jubilee shrugged, like Eldritch horrors were no big deal but then she’d seen Doug in the morning before he had coffee. “Will Avalon be pissed if I just start burning these dudes to the ground?”
"Not from Avalon, burn away!" Topaz called from somewhere in the distance.
“You’re singing my song,” Jubilee noted, forming lines of multicolored light across her body as she fished for Semtex in a pants pocket. “Yo, Avalon? Think you could do some fight music? Something with base?”
Despite herself, Alani cracked a small, bordering on a manic smile. It was a bit of a relief to watch the lights appear and helped to regulate her breathing. "Oh, you glow too, huh? Alright, well, then I'll put my life and these artifacts in your capable hands."
"Me three!" Molly chimed in. "But mostly when I punch. My eyes glow purple...It's not as cool as fireworks, though."
She squinted, ducking a monster before clotheslining another. "Can you blow up a monster?" she said to Jubes.
"I mean...Can you delay a paff and then have it explode later?"
“Of course, what do you think the Semtex is for?” Jubilee replied with a somewhat smug grin. She pulled off a microscopic amount and formed a small plasma ball in her hand, surrounding it with the plastic explosive. “You can’t set this stuff off without a blasting cap, but since I am a blasting cap, I just use it to cut down on the number of calories I have to eat in a day. It’s either that or look like a Milan catwalk model.”
Alani snorted a laugh. "Alright, let's go glowing girl gang!" Hefting the box up a little higher, she turned back towards the door and started to move towards it as quickly as she could, mind telling her that getting the artifacts out was the most important thing she could do.
"I guess that'd make us the G3s?" Molly said. Tilting her head, she stared down the creature with the armor, then narrowed her eyes as they began to glow purple. "I want that," she said with a smile. It wasn't that she needed a giant shield, it was that it would look really cool on her wall.
Taking off toward the monster, she used another one that had just fallen as a boost before falling down on it with a haymaker.
"Stop!" she punched it in the stomach. "Killing!" Punch. "Stuff!"
“Nice anger management skills! Now, remember, picture the people you really hate first.”
Jubilee threw one of the small grenades she’d made and watched it blow the head off an extremely slow puppet. She’d been to a hell dimension when she was still a teen and done several very bad things in her life.
These things were just par for the course, honestly.
“Try to make a path out of here and whatever you do, keep moving toward the door. I got a feeling these things won’t stay down for long.”
Molly adjusted the new shield she just acquired rather grossly. "You got it, sparkle lady," she said, saluting. Turning toward Alani, she grinned. "Can you run? Cause It's about to get Friday Night Football in here."
That gave Alani pause, but she grinned rather widely. "I just had my shenanigans induced cardio allotment for the month, but, fuck, I'll try." Stupid box, who ran with boxes? Okay, not stupid, but dodging past a creep towards the door with a box made her feel like hell's pizza delivery guy.
"Just don't fall down, kid."
Jubilee launched a series of bright colorful explosions toward the creatures on either side of them, close enough to the monster's eyes to affect them but far enough away from the people with her that they wouldn't have to fear the same. Years of brutal fucking training certainly paid off for something, if Remy hadn't been dead she'd have sent him a novelty fruit basket.
"Alani, to your left!"
Break left? Turn left? Alani felt like her brains were scrambled eggs, as her focus on the door dropped and she turned instinctively. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a movement almost directly behind her that was definitely neither Jubilee nor Molly. She dropped her conscious control and flared pink as it moved through her, leaving her feeling oily and sick. "Oh my god, I'm gonna puke."
"If you're gonna ralph aim it at the monsters!" Molly said, using her newly acquired shield like a snow plow or something to try to mow down the monsters as she ran.
It might have surprised anyone who didn't know Jubilee well that she'd be calm in a crisis or act to protect the younger two so well but she hadn't grown up in the mansion and been trained by Remy to allow innocents to be taken out while she was around.
"Less puking, more running!" Jubilee grabbed Alani around the waist as she ran by and mushed the girl toward the door. They were so close, only a few more feet and they'd be out of Avalon and back in the church, only then would she pause and regroup. "Molly, get in front of me, I don't want either of you trapped in here."
“Right, don’t hurl — You can do that. I can do that.” Alani focused on keeping herself fully solid at Jubilee’s touch. That the shorter woman was guiding her movement allowed her sluggish mind to wake up a little more. The thing hadn’t felt right, not like anything she’d ever used her powers on and yes maybe that was somewhat due to Avalon, but that it felt wrong didn’t sit well with her. “Alright! We’re almost out, and then we can figure out what the fuck is going on.”
"Oh I know what's going on. It's just the weird shit of the month," Molly said, using her shield to smash a puppet monster in the face. "Dang that's satisfying!"
"Way to go, Mols!" Jubilee practically threw Alani the last few feet to the door and then reached around to blast several of the beasts that had been chasing after them. She waited till the last minute, allowing Molly to slip behind her and out the door. It didn't take her long to follow, backing her way out as she kept the bad guys away from the exit and looked around for the others. "Yo! Panda express is about to leave the station folks, anyone still in here better get the fuck out right now!"
"What the bloody fucking hell are those?" Amanda yelled at the top of her voice, even as she cast a shielding bubble around herself and Wanda. The appearance of several nightmare creatures, all disjointed limbs and weird, faceless masks had startled her.
"Interesting," Wanda said, in that type of tone that suggested she was actually intrigued but also would have rather been somewhere else, thank you very much. Especially as the larger one's arms bent forward in an unnatural angle as it ran towards them, hissing. The lines of chaos were, again, going completely insane - these creatures did not belong where they were.
"I do not know what they are but what I am seeing is very bad news," she told Amanda. "Stay clear."
Amanda grunted as the things hit her shield, bracing her feet to steady herself and push back. “Whatever they are, they’re here for the same reason we are - they’re after Avalon’s stockpile.” Behind the larger black creatures, several others, built like deranged puppets, were snatching up anything they could lay hands on. “Boss Lady, looks like you get to announce your presence.”
"With pleasure." Amanda was strong but her shields wouldn't hold them off forever, not with the aggressive assault. And when their side added their own attacks, it would make it that much harder for her to protect all of them and hold off the creatures from the magical items. Topaz had warned them to stay away from their attackers but Wanda had to close the space a little to lighten the load.
So she darted forward, using a phrase they'd used hundreds of times together to signal to Amanda to let her through the shielding, and when she was outside of the protective barrier, she conjured up hex blasts to distract the unnatural beings away from the group.
With Wanda going on the offensive, there was less need for the shielding spell, but Amanda didn't cancel it just yet. Instead she used it as a kind of wall, pushing the creatures back and away from the books they'd been sorting and packing. It was hard work - the witch had both hands flat against the neon-tined spell and her head down, pushing back as hard as she could - but it was effective. Slowly, she began gaining ground.
Wanda caught a glimpse of the larger creature turning and racing straight at her. Gathering speed, it leapt and Wanda threw herself backwards, a hastily formed hex blast tossed up as she rolled. It didn't hit but it was enough to stagger it off balance and it landed awkwardly, rolling away from her.
Getting to her feet, Wanda muttered something about being too old for this shit.
"You and me both, Boss Lady," replied Amanda through gritted teeth. "Step back - I'm going to make myself a creepy fucker sandwich." And with that she straightened and extended her hands to her sides before bringing them together in front of her with a loud clap. The shielding spell mimicked the movement, folding in on itself and crushing the creatures between with an audible crunch. Black goo dribbled down the walls of the spell, until Amanda dismissed it with another handclap. "Well, that was bloody disgusting," she remarked, but there was little time for quips as three of the puppet things leapt at her, apparently intent on avenging their masters.
Reality shifted around them mid-leap, causing one to stop cold as if it had hit a wall. It crashed into the other two, sending them bouncing across the floor of Avalon. They were stunned for a second, buying them time, but the effort hadn't been easy. Wanda's face was pale and Avalon's shaking intensified. Manipulating the unstable reality around them had put undue strain on both of them.
“I’m not sure which is going to go first, the walls in this place or my magic,” Amanda complained as she blasted another creature away that had managed to lay hold of her. Fortunately, the leather jacket had protected her from the razor-sharp claws, although it would need some repair later. “I hate to say it, Boss Lady, but there’s more of these things than us. Strategic retreat?”
A shimmer in the distance echoed Amanda’s words as Wanda spotted another wooden monster appear. “Agreed.” She glanced towards their exit and saw more creatures and Wanda’s eyes narrowed. “Moving shield bulldozer in the front front while I protect our backs?”
“Coming up.” Another shielding spell shimmered into life as a wall in front of Amanda, bending around her so their flanks would be covered but open at the back so Wanda could still use her powers. “Bulldozer away!” she called over her shoulder. Already more of the creatures were massing in front of her.
“Right behind you,” Wanda responded. She moved when she felt more than heard Amanda move. The only way to watch their backs was to move as quickly as she could backwards, using her powers to keep the creatures at bay and keep her from stumbling. But Avalon itself was shifting in subtle ways, causing her concentration to split just enough for one moment.
It was all it took for a blur of a creature to slam into her side, forcing her against the moving shield behind her.
“Fuck!”
At the sound, Amanda paused in her shoving their way out of the pocket dimension to glance back at Wanda. “You all right, Boss Lady?” she asked, but before the other woman could reply, the same creature had leapt up at her, managing to inflict a deep scratch to her forehead before she could push it away. A short burst of fire from the witch’s hand sent it tumbling off to the side. “C’mon, Boss Lady, no time to hang about,” she continued, wiping blood away from her eye before reaching out to grab Wanda’s hand and pull her into the safety of a full shield.
“You do not have to tell me twice.” The bulldozing trick had worked but they were going to need one more push to get out. “Don’t touch it when I’m done, just…” Wanda mimed pushing out with her fingers. Taking a deep breath, she winced as sharp pain shit across her ribs. A problem for later.
Carefully, Wanda pressed her fingers against the inside of the shield, doing her best to not put too much undue pressure on it. Not yet.
Red arcs like small bolts of lightning spread out from under earth her fingertips, blossoming and swelling until a large swath of the shield was infused with entropic energy.
The infusion of Wanda’s powers against her spell made Amanda’s hands tingle uncomfortably, but she nodded and instead of laying hands on the shield she gestured with her fingertips, ‘pushing’ the spell forward once more.
It was a wall of entropic energy. The creatures, it didn’t matter which ones, caught by it as Amanda pushed it forward had no chance. Parts that were wooden creatures harden and exploded while it’s fellows degraded into a boiling of mass.
When Amanda stopped, shaking out her hands, the way was…not exactly clear but safe as they headed towards the exit together.
“Amanda, remember to send me your dry cleaning bill.”
She heard the cacophony of hissing and clicking that sent shivers of unknown horror up her spine before they even appeared. Her body moved into a protective stance without conscious thought. "Blanquito, you hear that?" she asked nervously.
"The dying balloon noise, or the demonic rattlesnakes?" All the little hairs on Kyle's arms and neck were standing, and he had fought hard and not entirely succeeded to keep the growl out of his voice. "Yeah. Fuck our lives... " He crouched, and picked at the metal clips holding the laces to his boots, and then stood and kicked the boots off. "Fuck I hate magic. Hate it so much, I swear to God."
He barely had time to drop a third 'fuck' when a jittery thing that moved like glued together uncooked spaghetti in a sausage casing fell from somewhere above the pair, chattering and whistling and hissing. Kyle snapped a snarl, and grabbed the creature by the throat before it hit the ground.
America's fight instinct, because she completely lacked the flight one, kicked her in the pants. With an angry snarl, she launched herself at the first monstrosity she spotted, fists first.
The things smelled like old beer and freshly sliced parsnips. He snarled as he wrestled with one, glanced at America to make sure she wasn't looking and then sunk his teeth into the monster. It keened, high and sharp like a train whistle and Kyle spat something gooey and brown out of his mouth. They smelled of parsnips, and tasted of rotten parsnip, which he should have expected. He launched himself at another monster, tearing into it's rubbery skin with claw and tooth, and was rolled over for his trouble.
Her punch landed solidly against what felt like a two-ton block of adamantium. Pain vibrated up her arm through her shoulder joint and into her back teeth. That didn't stop her from launching the other fist, this time with a feral scream.
The marionette like creature rolled Kyle over and over until his head cracked against the floor. The quick shock of pain snapped away the dizziness just long enough for him to grab the thing's face and tear into it with his claws, pulling chunks of the same brown goo that he'd spat out earlier. "'Merica!" He yelled, as he slashed through it's unnecessarily spindly arm. "The little weird ones are squishy!"
"Squishy would be a very nice change," she panted in reply. "I don't think I'm making a dent!"
Kyle yelled something back, but it was cut off by a trio of monsters tackling him back down to the ground. He threw one, flinging it at America, and came up from the pile of things bleeding from several slashes to his face. "Fuck fuck fuck, how many the fuck are there?" He yelled, words broken up as he dodged the needle sharp claws of the creatures. "Less punch more throw!"
America got a grip on one of the small ones and spun it out in a hammer-throw style. The critter smashed into the group of them surrpounding Kyle and knocked them back, thereby combining track and bowling events.
"Thank you!" Kyle hauled himself out of the pile of creatures, and used the momentum from leapfrogging over one's shoulders to land on top of another, bigger monster's shoulders. He slashed at where it's eyes should be and swore. "More incoming! Way... way fucking more holy shit!" He dropped profanity and blood from his mouth in equal measure and twisted to snap the head off the thing and then rolled to the ground. "Time to go! Haul ass! Make me a path, I'll keep them off your face!"
"I KNEW THIS PLACE WAS CREEPY!"
Darcy's yell didn't harmonize with the sounds the portal had been making the past few days at all, but as the monsters hissed and click-clacked in her direction she focused on finding something she could keep them back with. A clatter came from the aisle on the right, and she snatched up the bit of wood protruding into the walkway, giving the staff an experimental twirl and nodding with approval. "This'll work," she muttered, taking a swipe at the clicking one on her left and knocking it back. The hissing one spit black at her, and she jumped back, bumping into something. She turned her head sharply, noticed Doug's profile, and sighed in relief. "Conveniently timed boyfriend," she quipped. "Remind me to kiss your brains out once we beat these things back."
Doug raised an eyebrow at Darcy. "I suppose that's one way to announce our relationship status to the world at large?" he asked teasingly. "Far be it from me to turn down makeouts, but maybe let's get back to the mansion before we explore that particular thought." He looked at the black sludge. "That looks...not good."
"Yeah, I'm trying not to get hit with it, but the hissy ones are like terrible cats. Fast and mean." She swiped at the knee of clicky, managing to get it on its back. More red gleamed in the shadowy light of the portal, and she winced. "Maybe more like subway rats? Fast, mean, and numerous."
Doug stared at the portal. "How about let's -not- go to the Elemental Plane of whatever the fuck these are," he decided, snapping out one of the extendable batons he habitually carried. "Here," he said to Darcy, reversing it and offering it over his arm like a knight giving his sword to an ally. As she took it, he flexed his nanite hand. "Let's make some noise, friendos," he told them, lashing out and grabbing the spindly leg of one of the wooden creatures.
"Thanks honey," Darcy replied absently, grabbing the baton and smacking a hissy one in the side. "Side by side or back to back?"
Doug took a quick look around to assess the tactical situation. "Side by side for now," he told her. "We're playing defense, basically, trying to keep between them and escaping any further from that portal thing." He twisted and flung the one he had caught back into the mass of others trying to come through. It landed heavily, limbs awkwardly twisted.
"Nice aim. Gonna shotput one of the little ones if I get a chance." The mass had slowed slightly, but was increasing as new creatures climbed over the few they'd flipped or damaged. "If I focus on getting the big ones knocked over, can you throw them into the small ones to slow them?" A swipe at the ankles of one accompanied Darcy's words, followed by a loud clatter it landed on its back.
"I wish I had my dang sword with me," Doug grumbled. But he couldn't complain, because this was possibly the first time he'd been able to cut loose like this in years. He moved fluidly in the space near Darcy, never staying still but wasting very little motion as he kicked and punched at the... "Do we know what the hell these things are?" he asked semi rhetorically.
Darcy's mind was still stuck on the idea of Doug with a sword. And a bit on watching him move. A solid smack against her knee had her swearing, staff dropping to the floor with a loud clatter and causing an angry hiss. "Ow, fuck, no idea but the little ones HURT." She slid the baton into her back pocket and reached down, gripping the sides of the stone mask and hurling it at the portal.
There were more circling around them, and Doug shifted to cover Darcy as she threw her target. "Too many, they're starting to close us in," he told her. "Fighting retreat, the door will make a better chokepoint."
"Well, they can keep the staff then," Darcy said with a wince. She hobbled backwards, the baton back in her hands. "I have my tazer, but I'm not sure if it would work on the little ones or just make them even meaner. And then I have to get back in hitting range."
Hobbling was not good. "No, we're just going to break for the door," Doug told Darcy. "Get ready." He unholstered the small pistol he kept at the small of his back, bringing it up smoothly. This wasn't the first time he'd fired it with the nanite hand, but it was the first time in a non-range moment. "Go," he told her, pulling the trigger in slow, steady fashion, picking targets that were at the head of a group or trying to jump to the walls to gain elevation. He wasn't sure how much effect the bullets had, but the kinetic energy did a good job of knocking the monsters down and over, at least.
"Going!" Darcy had her tazer in her free hand, ready to jab if necessary. She had a feeling her knee was going to bruise, but she'd ice it once they were safe. A few steps from the door she heard an angry hiss, and she jabbed into soft mass with her left hand while pressing the button, turning her head to see the effect. "Shit, I think I just made it angrier." She pulled her hand back, turning with a wince and smacking it back with the baton instead.
The moment the monster was backed up far enough that he wasn't in danger of hitting Darcy, Doug swung his pistol around and put two bullets in its...well, whatever passed for a face. He pushed Darcy ahead of him through the doorway, then threw his weight against the door to close it, hearing several thuds of angry impacts against it. He grunted as the door slid a tiny bit open before he managed to force it closed again. "Find me something heavy!" he told Darcy.
Darcy looked around... heavy, heavy but movable, there! Stack of boxes on a dolly would work to at least get them both free to move something heavier. She rolled it into place with a grunt. "That should work, but we could move a filing cabinet over too. Piles of paper, shockingly heavy."
Doug tipped the contents of the dolly off so that it couldn't roll away, then flipped the dolly on its side against the pile. "C'mon babe, time to execute the 'get the hell out of here' maneuver," he said to Darcy, getting her arm around his shoulder and helping her move faster.
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Of course, terrifying creatures that hissed and clicked and moved like apex predators would appear while they were finally getting into the swing of moving boxes out of the pocket dimension. Why wouldn't absolutely horrifying things appear? Despite the very real urge to drop the box she was holding, Alani instead held it tighter while also doing her best to not put her hands through the cardboard. "Bad news," she announced. "I am a glorified moving crew, in that I do not know how to fight."
"Oh and if I don't maintain concentration I'm afraid that I might be more of a risk to anything in this box than they are." She added as an afterthought.
A slow grin spread across Molly's face as she kept an eye on the scary creatures that skittered their way around them. They looked pretty awesome, even if they were trying to kill them.
"Stay behind us. We've totally got this. Right, Jubes?" she said, glancing over to Jubilee as she punched her own fist into her palm.
"Time for the big KO."
“I mean, like, Vale my boobs but sure.” Jubilee shrugged, like Eldritch horrors were no big deal but then she’d seen Doug in the morning before he had coffee. “Will Avalon be pissed if I just start burning these dudes to the ground?”
"Not from Avalon, burn away!" Topaz called from somewhere in the distance.
“You’re singing my song,” Jubilee noted, forming lines of multicolored light across her body as she fished for Semtex in a pants pocket. “Yo, Avalon? Think you could do some fight music? Something with base?”
Despite herself, Alani cracked a small, bordering on a manic smile. It was a bit of a relief to watch the lights appear and helped to regulate her breathing. "Oh, you glow too, huh? Alright, well, then I'll put my life and these artifacts in your capable hands."
"Me three!" Molly chimed in. "But mostly when I punch. My eyes glow purple...It's not as cool as fireworks, though."
She squinted, ducking a monster before clotheslining another. "Can you blow up a monster?" she said to Jubes.
"I mean...Can you delay a paff and then have it explode later?"
“Of course, what do you think the Semtex is for?” Jubilee replied with a somewhat smug grin. She pulled off a microscopic amount and formed a small plasma ball in her hand, surrounding it with the plastic explosive. “You can’t set this stuff off without a blasting cap, but since I am a blasting cap, I just use it to cut down on the number of calories I have to eat in a day. It’s either that or look like a Milan catwalk model.”
Alani snorted a laugh. "Alright, let's go glowing girl gang!" Hefting the box up a little higher, she turned back towards the door and started to move towards it as quickly as she could, mind telling her that getting the artifacts out was the most important thing she could do.
"I guess that'd make us the G3s?" Molly said. Tilting her head, she stared down the creature with the armor, then narrowed her eyes as they began to glow purple. "I want that," she said with a smile. It wasn't that she needed a giant shield, it was that it would look really cool on her wall.
Taking off toward the monster, she used another one that had just fallen as a boost before falling down on it with a haymaker.
"Stop!" she punched it in the stomach. "Killing!" Punch. "Stuff!"
“Nice anger management skills! Now, remember, picture the people you really hate first.”
Jubilee threw one of the small grenades she’d made and watched it blow the head off an extremely slow puppet. She’d been to a hell dimension when she was still a teen and done several very bad things in her life.
These things were just par for the course, honestly.
“Try to make a path out of here and whatever you do, keep moving toward the door. I got a feeling these things won’t stay down for long.”
Molly adjusted the new shield she just acquired rather grossly. "You got it, sparkle lady," she said, saluting. Turning toward Alani, she grinned. "Can you run? Cause It's about to get Friday Night Football in here."
That gave Alani pause, but she grinned rather widely. "I just had my shenanigans induced cardio allotment for the month, but, fuck, I'll try." Stupid box, who ran with boxes? Okay, not stupid, but dodging past a creep towards the door with a box made her feel like hell's pizza delivery guy.
"Just don't fall down, kid."
Jubilee launched a series of bright colorful explosions toward the creatures on either side of them, close enough to the monster's eyes to affect them but far enough away from the people with her that they wouldn't have to fear the same. Years of brutal fucking training certainly paid off for something, if Remy hadn't been dead she'd have sent him a novelty fruit basket.
"Alani, to your left!"
Break left? Turn left? Alani felt like her brains were scrambled eggs, as her focus on the door dropped and she turned instinctively. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a movement almost directly behind her that was definitely neither Jubilee nor Molly. She dropped her conscious control and flared pink as it moved through her, leaving her feeling oily and sick. "Oh my god, I'm gonna puke."
"If you're gonna ralph aim it at the monsters!" Molly said, using her newly acquired shield like a snow plow or something to try to mow down the monsters as she ran.
It might have surprised anyone who didn't know Jubilee well that she'd be calm in a crisis or act to protect the younger two so well but she hadn't grown up in the mansion and been trained by Remy to allow innocents to be taken out while she was around.
"Less puking, more running!" Jubilee grabbed Alani around the waist as she ran by and mushed the girl toward the door. They were so close, only a few more feet and they'd be out of Avalon and back in the church, only then would she pause and regroup. "Molly, get in front of me, I don't want either of you trapped in here."
“Right, don’t hurl — You can do that. I can do that.” Alani focused on keeping herself fully solid at Jubilee’s touch. That the shorter woman was guiding her movement allowed her sluggish mind to wake up a little more. The thing hadn’t felt right, not like anything she’d ever used her powers on and yes maybe that was somewhat due to Avalon, but that it felt wrong didn’t sit well with her. “Alright! We’re almost out, and then we can figure out what the fuck is going on.”
"Oh I know what's going on. It's just the weird shit of the month," Molly said, using her shield to smash a puppet monster in the face. "Dang that's satisfying!"
"Way to go, Mols!" Jubilee practically threw Alani the last few feet to the door and then reached around to blast several of the beasts that had been chasing after them. She waited till the last minute, allowing Molly to slip behind her and out the door. It didn't take her long to follow, backing her way out as she kept the bad guys away from the exit and looked around for the others. "Yo! Panda express is about to leave the station folks, anyone still in here better get the fuck out right now!"
"What the bloody fucking hell are those?" Amanda yelled at the top of her voice, even as she cast a shielding bubble around herself and Wanda. The appearance of several nightmare creatures, all disjointed limbs and weird, faceless masks had startled her.
"Interesting," Wanda said, in that type of tone that suggested she was actually intrigued but also would have rather been somewhere else, thank you very much. Especially as the larger one's arms bent forward in an unnatural angle as it ran towards them, hissing. The lines of chaos were, again, going completely insane - these creatures did not belong where they were.
"I do not know what they are but what I am seeing is very bad news," she told Amanda. "Stay clear."
Amanda grunted as the things hit her shield, bracing her feet to steady herself and push back. “Whatever they are, they’re here for the same reason we are - they’re after Avalon’s stockpile.” Behind the larger black creatures, several others, built like deranged puppets, were snatching up anything they could lay hands on. “Boss Lady, looks like you get to announce your presence.”
"With pleasure." Amanda was strong but her shields wouldn't hold them off forever, not with the aggressive assault. And when their side added their own attacks, it would make it that much harder for her to protect all of them and hold off the creatures from the magical items. Topaz had warned them to stay away from their attackers but Wanda had to close the space a little to lighten the load.
So she darted forward, using a phrase they'd used hundreds of times together to signal to Amanda to let her through the shielding, and when she was outside of the protective barrier, she conjured up hex blasts to distract the unnatural beings away from the group.
With Wanda going on the offensive, there was less need for the shielding spell, but Amanda didn't cancel it just yet. Instead she used it as a kind of wall, pushing the creatures back and away from the books they'd been sorting and packing. It was hard work - the witch had both hands flat against the neon-tined spell and her head down, pushing back as hard as she could - but it was effective. Slowly, she began gaining ground.
Wanda caught a glimpse of the larger creature turning and racing straight at her. Gathering speed, it leapt and Wanda threw herself backwards, a hastily formed hex blast tossed up as she rolled. It didn't hit but it was enough to stagger it off balance and it landed awkwardly, rolling away from her.
Getting to her feet, Wanda muttered something about being too old for this shit.
"You and me both, Boss Lady," replied Amanda through gritted teeth. "Step back - I'm going to make myself a creepy fucker sandwich." And with that she straightened and extended her hands to her sides before bringing them together in front of her with a loud clap. The shielding spell mimicked the movement, folding in on itself and crushing the creatures between with an audible crunch. Black goo dribbled down the walls of the spell, until Amanda dismissed it with another handclap. "Well, that was bloody disgusting," she remarked, but there was little time for quips as three of the puppet things leapt at her, apparently intent on avenging their masters.
Reality shifted around them mid-leap, causing one to stop cold as if it had hit a wall. It crashed into the other two, sending them bouncing across the floor of Avalon. They were stunned for a second, buying them time, but the effort hadn't been easy. Wanda's face was pale and Avalon's shaking intensified. Manipulating the unstable reality around them had put undue strain on both of them.
“I’m not sure which is going to go first, the walls in this place or my magic,” Amanda complained as she blasted another creature away that had managed to lay hold of her. Fortunately, the leather jacket had protected her from the razor-sharp claws, although it would need some repair later. “I hate to say it, Boss Lady, but there’s more of these things than us. Strategic retreat?”
A shimmer in the distance echoed Amanda’s words as Wanda spotted another wooden monster appear. “Agreed.” She glanced towards their exit and saw more creatures and Wanda’s eyes narrowed. “Moving shield bulldozer in the front front while I protect our backs?”
“Coming up.” Another shielding spell shimmered into life as a wall in front of Amanda, bending around her so their flanks would be covered but open at the back so Wanda could still use her powers. “Bulldozer away!” she called over her shoulder. Already more of the creatures were massing in front of her.
“Right behind you,” Wanda responded. She moved when she felt more than heard Amanda move. The only way to watch their backs was to move as quickly as she could backwards, using her powers to keep the creatures at bay and keep her from stumbling. But Avalon itself was shifting in subtle ways, causing her concentration to split just enough for one moment.
It was all it took for a blur of a creature to slam into her side, forcing her against the moving shield behind her.
“Fuck!”
At the sound, Amanda paused in her shoving their way out of the pocket dimension to glance back at Wanda. “You all right, Boss Lady?” she asked, but before the other woman could reply, the same creature had leapt up at her, managing to inflict a deep scratch to her forehead before she could push it away. A short burst of fire from the witch’s hand sent it tumbling off to the side. “C’mon, Boss Lady, no time to hang about,” she continued, wiping blood away from her eye before reaching out to grab Wanda’s hand and pull her into the safety of a full shield.
“You do not have to tell me twice.” The bulldozing trick had worked but they were going to need one more push to get out. “Don’t touch it when I’m done, just…” Wanda mimed pushing out with her fingers. Taking a deep breath, she winced as sharp pain shit across her ribs. A problem for later.
Carefully, Wanda pressed her fingers against the inside of the shield, doing her best to not put too much undue pressure on it. Not yet.
Red arcs like small bolts of lightning spread out from under earth her fingertips, blossoming and swelling until a large swath of the shield was infused with entropic energy.
The infusion of Wanda’s powers against her spell made Amanda’s hands tingle uncomfortably, but she nodded and instead of laying hands on the shield she gestured with her fingertips, ‘pushing’ the spell forward once more.
It was a wall of entropic energy. The creatures, it didn’t matter which ones, caught by it as Amanda pushed it forward had no chance. Parts that were wooden creatures harden and exploded while it’s fellows degraded into a boiling of mass.
When Amanda stopped, shaking out her hands, the way was…not exactly clear but safe as they headed towards the exit together.
“Amanda, remember to send me your dry cleaning bill.”
