10068/Flecks of Energy

Flecks of Energy
Date of Scene:	10 February 2022
Location:	Bronx
Synopsis:	Odd animals flux with energy in the Bronx... what's going on? Heroes respond!
Cast of Characters:	Tony Stark, Singularity, Heather Danielson, Peggy Carter, Viola Fiore, Illyana Rasputina, Stephen Strange, Jan de Wit

---

Tony Stark has posed:
The streaks of energy through the Bronx come in several forms.

From above, skyward, there are flickers, like flame, that play upwards here and there near a housing development adjacent to the Tenements. Like odd, sad fireworks, they scorch up now and then, leaving sputters of energy trace.

On the street level nearby, little threads of energy move, like fireflies, circling back and then flitting towards hidden areas along the street. To behind a dumpster, to under a car, as if these energy fireflies were hiding away from sight.

More oddly - some have magical traces, yet others are not pure magic. What are these wisps?
--

Along the street, though, a crowd has gathered for another reason. Iron Man is present, standing in a lane near the sidewalk with two little hovering drones. Cars are very respectfully going around -- in the sense that they are stopping traffic entirely as they slooooowly move to pass him. So, really, no traffic is going anywhere due to the interest of the drivers to get a look at Iron Man, take their selfies, and so on, despite the ire of the people behind them that don't know what the traffic jam is due to.

"So, illusion seems more likely?" Iron Man is grumping to one of the drones, which is peering under a car. It makes a sort of 'Mmmmmphhh' sound. A few flickers of energy rise near the car, and cause the onlookers to applaud. It's so pleasant looking...

Down the block, a child in a yellow hoodie peers under a dumpster. "Come out," asks the child, hopefully, of the glitter source.

Singularity has posed:
Flying through the air in a flash of periwinkle and blue is a star-forged girl that would be merrily teleporting in and out of existence, drifting from cloud to cloud, and then diving down again. At the flash of things closer to the ground she would pick up.. Something. The sapient quantum universe would pause, and then go to flicker. Teleporting around quickly and in several different places to try and get a better 'feel' for them. A quick pling and another flicker, the blue girl moving about quickly. Glowing bright and alternating phases of coloration as small novas, spinning galaxies, and planetoids spiraling around stars in the near eternal dance of orbits erupting about her in interest as she would try and track the energy signatures!

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Well, this is not the sort of thing that Heather would be poking her nose into if she knew about it. The fact that she doesn't really know about it all, and the fact that she is in New York tonight rather than Metropolis at Titans Tower... I mean she was attending a museum gala here for a charity function.

    She was on her way to the function ... and yes, she was in a royal blue evening gown as she rode along in the back of her Uber.

    "Pull over and let me out please." she says to the driver as she authorizes full payment to the young man. And when the car pulls over, she steps out in that off one shoulder dress of hers. She does have a habit of keeping her costume on hand. Tonight, it's just under the dress and folded down to not be revealed.

    She looks skyward, and then over to Iron Man as she puts her Titans earbud into her ear. "Knockout, in New York on site. Iron Man is present. Can you connect me to Avengers comms?" A pause as the Titans comm room reaches out to the Avengers channels with a request to patch in.

    That done, she approaches Iron Man, still in her gown and waits for word of comms patching.

Peggy Carter has posed:
While Peggy wasn't planning on working tonight, just coming to meet her nephew to pick something up, it seems *he* is working tonight. So, now she is working as well. Deep down, Peggy never minds working and it was on her way back from the city towards the Triskelion. She's driving one of the SHIELD cars, which means she has government plates, gets through whatever lines there are, and can park pretty much like an asshole on the side of the street. Which she's done so.

Now, high heels carry her in Tony's direction. She's wrapped up in one of her winter pea coats and it still buttons across her frame but only just. The coat is definitely, noticably tight even as she's softer around the edges in her face. Has the Chief put on weight lately? It's no mind, she's looking rosy, happy, and gently concerned, "You know, one of these nights we could just get dinner." She calls out in Tony's direction. Then her dark eyes flicker over to the others arriving, "But, apparently, this is not the night."

Viola Fiore has posed:
A figure soars through the sky far up, wearing a black cloak which has been cut into tassels that billow about them. The hood is still fully intact, deep enough to hide the face of Viola Fiore from most prying eyes. Though she has on a domino mask just to be safe.

She travels on a ballistic arc, waiting until her height has crested and she's started to fall, before reaching out with her power to pull on the metal girders of a skyscraper. Even after her slice of cheesecake with dinner that her partner said she didn't need, the building still outweighs her a massive amount. Her pull acts not unlike a rope, or web, would connecting her to the building, and causes her course to arc around it instead of falling away.

"A little too hard," she mumbles to herself as she pulled with more than her bodyweight, and finds herself drifting towards the building as well. She gives a brief push, then waves her arms unsteadily in the air at her course correction.

Flying like this is not easy to master.

Up ahead she sees odd lights, both over the buildings at times, and down near the street. Viola hesitates a moment, plummeting forty feet before making up her mind and pushing off a metal sign down below to regain altitude. She reaches to her belt, pulling out a small vial and drinking the contents, before altering her airborn course to head towards the lights to see what they are.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Manhattan completely went to hell in a celestial handbasket what feels like a lifetime ago. The rest of New York probably smirks inwardly seeing the island get pushed around, a just comeuppance for lording it over the rest of the boroughs and smaller outlying communities. The Bronx should not be so quick to smirk and throw its proverbial or physical weight around, as karma has a nasty way of smacking a place around. Its turn then, full of snarled traffic and irritated influencers posting about how bitter the night's experience in the big bad Bronx is turning out.

Do not ask why they know to be here. Not the influencers, the pair stepping forth from a circle of light sketched at a distance from the wisps enchanting and bothering the locals. Space folds on itself and reels back, almost shyly moving to the wings for the real celebrities to come through.

Unfortunate situation for a guy chewing the remains of a $1 slice of pizza and squatting on a box, jimmying the window to a dark ground-level flat (only $2,500 a month, believe it or not) with greasy fingers on cheap tools. He probably didn't notice the initial lick of LED-bright light strobing up the damp alley carved between two sorry buildings. Might not notice the footsteps, either, too busy trying to work a loose pane free so he can help himself to breaking in.

Except they coalesce -- first the Master of the Mystic Arts, rimmed in incandescent cobalt flame and the darkening whirlwind eagerly engulfing a young woman dressed in conspicuously dark leather pants and a long-sleeve t-shirt pierced by a trifork. The thief looks over his shoulder. His craw hangs open. Lurching off the box sends him a couple reeling steps to the alley mouth and there's some lady in heels calling out -- wasn't she on the news? And bloody Iron Man.

Who to face, the Iron Chef or Mr. Doctor and his celestial ride?

Stephen Strange has posed:
Odd lights could be several things. A street light that fell victim to a tagger, so the red circle looks like a floating eye. Burnt out neon turning an innocent advertisement to something more questionable. The flames so noted on the developments. And now, the bright flash of light from a portal that certainly was not there before. A footfall onto the tarmac...and the Sorcerer Supreme emerges. That would-be thief? Oh, he is noticed...a flicker of grey eyes and a slightly upturned smirk. One that widens slightly as the dilemma for the criminal. Just who to face?

Strange turns to speak to the blonde at his side. "Yes....the trail certainly leads to here. Right on out of this alley, if the energies are any indication. Shall we proceed?"

The eyes return forward....and again catch the criminal. And...Strange keeps on walking. Though, he does seem to offer the would-be thief a reprieve. A quick circle of his fingers and another strange light, a sparking golden ring, forms...then, with a flick, flies out and overtakes the hoodlum, disappearing from sight.

With that, Strange bows and offers Illyana to go first. "After you, my dear."

-----

Several miles away, a form drops into the Hudson River. His tools sink to the bottom as it is apparent Strange gave the thief the wish he wanted. To get out of there.

Tony Stark has posed:
"How do you feel about cheeseburgers after this is sorted out? I /can/ also adapt, if you had some other strong desire for something in particular," Tony calls in immediate deadpan to Peggy. It's probably not a joke, but harder to read with the helmet on. He gives a haphazard but welcoming wave to Peggy on her approach, as if he weren't in superhero armor. Iron Man lends to feeling very casual, despite the armor. "Should we eat /before/ I show you what I've got?" Playful, lightweight in tone, that.

Knockout's request into the comms takes a little bit, but ends up with a warm greeting from what is probably an unfamiliar voice -- HOMER in this case -- as if she just contacted a 1-800-HEROES number and he's there to help. "I have noticed you are interested in contacting the Avengers on site in the Bronx," supplies the AI. "I have connected your comms, should you wish to give a report or query!" Helpful helpful. The AI also gives Tony a notice on his interior HUD, which causes him to turn a bit towards Knockout and gives an upnod.

"More the merrier; there's a bunch of unidentified critters here, and some are elusive to my instruments," Tony observes, both verbally and into the comm channel. "Seems like Alice opened her rabbit hole to the ethereal pet store, and we've got some loose creatures. Non-combative so far, though; trying to keep it that way. --- While eveningwear might not be the right angle for catching magic squirrel--" That was at Knockout... "-- /I/ appreciate it, so, there's that." A distracted tease from Stark, as a drone starts to try to reach under the car more. Several flutters of bright blue energy flux out from underneath, as if in panic, as that happens.

Viola, high above, encounters one of the moving flashes of energy, that moves past Singularity. In the form of maybe a small bird, it almost collides with her and veers off in confusion, suddenly starting to plummet, as if it lost the ability to fly. As it does, the energy around it lessens, and it's very hard to see in the dark.

Dr. Strange and Illyana are closest to the child and the dumpster, and pull the child's attention with their arrival. The young one freezes, staring at them instead. Such magic here tonight!

Singularity has posed:
There's curiosity a-flare in the starry-hewn girl as her eyes would spiral over like twin nova at the rapidly approaching energy signatures. The bird-like thing that is going past her she would teleport out of the way of but would pay less attention to as many other things came up of greater interest. The bubble of Doctor Strange and Illyana Rasputina would have her full attention; even as she would take a moment to consider. A rare enough thing for the blue spectrum.
    But hesitation would pass, and Singularity would rapidly teleport over towards the duo, appearing several meters away to not crowd them out, "Hello!" she would chime in a bright voice and wave cheerfully. Then taking notice of Heather as the girl would head in the general direction, teleporting over towards her as well, this time upsides down in perspective shift. "Hello!" tone seemingly eternally cheerful and chipper as she would teleport along Peggy, give a happy wave and greeting, then to Viola, appearing parallel to her in the air.
    Then a quick flash of perwinkle and star back to the general area of the apartment where energy was coming from, seemingly spreading out.. The one by the apartment stands out to her spectrum. "It is giving out much." She would chirp, though anyone not nearby might not hear her say that. Then there would be another flash as she would teleport over to Tony while he was introducing himself to Peggy, a minute or so after at least so as to have not interrupted, the quantum universe teleporting all over in the timespan with the ease that a bird might in flying. "Hi! Nice to meet you!" this time looking over at Iron Man and helpfully pointing over in the direction of the apartment building. "There is something big coming from there. It is putting out more." she would explain as best she could. Then teleport back to the apartment.. And then back to Tony and Peggy.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "Critters? What a technical term." mutters Heather. She shakes her head and reaches to pull the upper hemline of her dress away from her torso... nothing slipped in an obscene way though. Her costume is there to protect decency. And she lifts the shoulder strap up and over before working the dress down and off.

    This reveals a blue skintight uniform. "Well, I don't have any sensors." she says aloud. "Just fists and muscles. Point me where you need some of that and I'll be happy to be of use. For any documents or records, I am the Titan codenamed Knockout. Or you could just call me Heather Danielson." She says that for HOMER and aloud for Tony at the same time.

    Then she turns to glance about, trying to find any critters that need catching.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"...critters. Unidentified critters." Peggy states flatly, looking from Tony to the general area around them all. She apparently agrees with Heather that it isn't the most helpful term. There's several more people on site now and she gives the group there a professional, quiet smile. "Good evening. It seems we are... critter wrangling." Then dark eyes return to Tony, her hands resting upon her hips.

"Yes. Before we eat, I would like you and merry band of friends here..." Peggy is staring at the blinking in and out Singularity, "Ah, hullo... and myself, to catch whatever these ephemeral creatures are before they run all around Manhattan which I was *JUST* in the process of helping put back together." She huffs a little. Her head then tilts curiously, trying to see exactly what he's got in her hands.

Viola Fiore has posed:
The sight of Singularity's colorful body catches Viola's attention, though she's not at all ready to have the being appear so near beside her. The cloaked figure gasps and Viola burns some of the pewter she swallowed to harden her body in case she's attacked. Only to receive that polite greeting before Singularity disappears in a flash.

It takes Viola a second to remember to focus on her 'flying' which amounts more to throwing or pulling herself into the air repeatedly. She's just zeroed in on a two-story rooftop she can head for when that bird-like shaped bit of light goes past. Viola's eyes widen behind her mask, and she pushes hard on the building below, slowing her to something nearer to a hover for a few seconds as she pivots to follow it. Flakes of tin in her stomach flare to fuel Viola's mutant power and her eyesight sharpens to try to get a better look at the... thingamabob. To use the technical term.

Jan de Wit has posed:
Well, the world was always odd. Angels attacking his city of residence, demonesses in night clubs, witches battling in the streets. Jan always felt that nothing could surprise him in his general day-to-day, yet every time he's proven wrong.

The man had been wandering about the streets, simply thinking to himself as he meandered the streets of the Bronx. He was dressed in a fine wool peacoat, with a comfy looking scarf as well. Even lost in thought as he had been, there's no way he'd miss the glowy bits randomly found along his walk - or Iron Man. That guy is famous!

Pausing where he is, a bit away from the armored Avenger, Jan takes a look around. "Should I clear the area?" He wonders to no one in particular.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Teleporting too close to Illyana is a fine way to discover the joys of freefalling through space. The good Doctor invariably chooses softer landings suitable to the action and the crime. She takes in the bouncing silhouette wrapped in sidereal radiance with the acute sharpness of posture and gaze to indicate a predator examining another likely hostile force.

"No one is naturally that happy," she mutters under her breath. Portals snapping shut and reopening after Singularity brings Viola into focus briefly. Before she can ask about that, the child staring at them earns a lengthy stare right back. "You came out the play?"

Her Russian gives her a deadpan tone drier than the average desert on Mars. Smiling to draw a child out? Not her forte. "Or is this our secret?"

Stephen Strange has posed:
The commentary about happiness is not quite out of Stephen's earshot. It earns Illyana a chuckle, as he offers a two word affirmation. "Most exuberant." Still, the teleporting blue form does not seem to phase Stephen much at all. At least it didn't seem to be an ice elemental or something. It was already cold enough. Therefore, Strange lets it go and focuses on the matter at hand.

Which, apparently, appears to be the child with the yellow hoodie. And, while his counterpart is not familiar quite with the power of a smile, Stephen is rather versed with it. The old doctor sensibilities come into play as he adopts his bedside manner, taking a moment to kneel down beside the hooded one, so that he is at the young one's level. "We are good at keeping secrets, Yana and I. We can trade. Would you like to help us?" A nod is given towards the dumpster. "We would like to help retrieve your little friend under there. If you help us, I promise to share one of our secrets. Would that be fun?"

Not that it matters if it will be or not. Stephen is on his knees to gain trust...and to get a look at what is hiding under the dumpster. A little reckless? Maybe...

Tony Stark has posed:
"D-8, open up shield A for a minute," Iron Man decides to the drone that was scaring the creature under the car. D-8, the drone, turns and adjusts, to pull back part of an armored shielding. Inside, a little hamster is visible. White, with weird wisps of energy coming off of it. "I'm not attached to 'critter' if you prefer something else," Tony teases, but his tone is open, welcoming to the assistance and arrival of other heroes. Iron Man lends to being approachable, particularly in a case where he's not under the pressure of trying to protect the population from giant monsters of some kid. Little hamsters? That is a bit de-escalated!

"So!... there's a bunch of these here. D-9, help Knockout with locating the other batch," Iron Man instructs. "As I said, non-aggressive so far, but they match some energy that makes me... feel better about containing them before something bad happens." The crowd around looks very interested in all this. "So yeah, maybe getting the civilians out of direct contact would be a good move. I haven't done it yet, as I don't need a panic over nothing, either. So, calm," Tony asides to Jan's direction, and Peggy. And sort of to the crowd as a whole, with a heroic nod to them. Can he count on these onlookers to help? Maybe. Heroes CAN sometimes inspire.... hopefully.

The second drone, d-9, with a mission now, immediately flies towards Knockout with a beeping commentary that seems to suggest it is urgent in its new mission to help her. It starts to zoom away, expecting her to follow it towards the apartment structure.

"These aren't /your/ pets, are they?---annnnd she's gone," Iron Man started to ask of Singularity. His focus is definitely on her when she just popped up. Perhaps she's the cause, or related, due to the flashy energy. Some quick analysis brings other deductions, though. "Mmm, looks like unrelated, red herring. Big, she said... D-9, head that way." D-9 begins to lead Heather towards the apartment dutifully. Shreds of blue and green energy firework from that way, more aggressively, now.

Illyana just makes the kid freeze; Strange's help brings real response. The child sits back onto heels. "Secret? May... maybe. Are you a witch? I think my mom sent me this dog?" asks the child to Illyana. "I named her Pickle. But Pickle got magic, and.... glowed and ran outside today. I don't know what's wrong with her. Are you a witch... and wizard?" It's not negative in tone: more like the child enjoys Harry Potter and hopes Illyana is Hermione. Dr. Strange can see a faintly pulsing, glowing corgi under the dumpster.

Viola's little bird remembers how to fly and sort of flops onto a roof, resting there, disoriented.

Singularity has posed:
The rapid teleports of Singularity don't leave much time for her to get responses, but she does solidify after a few moments nearby Tony Stark and give a very wide wave to the rest of the group, turning her attention to listen. Then go, "Sorry." A little softer in apology for those she had startled. But hovering over in fascination as she would still try and track the energy that had been coming from the apartment and the birds. Expression thoughtful. Spiraling galaxies twirling about her faster, collapsing into black matter, being devoured as existence would end, then detonating as it would restart inevitably as the big bang struck in each once more. But more laid back so as to not disorient the others even as her body would be displaying entropy turning to the void turning to renewal and new beginnings. For the sake of Illyana, she was naturally that cheery as well as already being made of space! So there was no risk for the self-actualized quantum universe.
    Whatever Singularity is is -definitely- not something native to this dimension or even reality, if one could tell things. She was, however, seemingly -just- that cheerful. There would be a 'pop' as she would go to teleport into the air now, several dozen meters up to be in a better position to try and 'watch' for some of the smaller bursts of energy if they had it. Her motions radiating.. Literally!

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Glancing to Iron Man, and then to the drone.. what D9? "Don't you know, if this is a droid, it needs a couple more syllables in its name. Maybe D9-K9? Since it's going to be helping me sniff out these thingees, critters or whatever?" And that said, Knockout smiles. She turns to follow the drone and she's down on her knees, looking under a parked car before she gently reaches out and plucks a glowing animal, critter, thingamagoober in one hand and curls it to her torso. "It's okay little guy. I won't hurt you." she coos to the thing. Hoping that it doesn't transform into some monster and try to eat her.

Peggy Carter has posed:
There's already several people near the kid and, despite her current state, Peggy can't say she's very good with *other* people's children. So, she lets the mages deal with the child in that corner of things. That means she needs to help either with the civilians, or the gathering of critters. She reaches her comm unit ear bud that generally lives in her pocket and pops it into her ear, turning it on so she can talk to the group while she's doing this. "I've got the Civilians. They're used to being right pissed at me nowadays anyway." Peggy calls back.

Then she's moving towards the crowd of gathering people. Her shoulders are squared, chin up, expression dead serious, "Alright now, I know this is all quite fascinating, but we'd rather not your head be shot off or burned by cosmic hampsters. If you don't want arrested for being a lookie-lou, it's time to move on now. Move, move, we've got to clear this entire area!" Peggy's voice is that of someone who is used to taking command. People are also used to listening. So that's her job, clearning the scene.

Viola Fiore has posed:
Viola Fiore pushes with her power off metal in a distant building, moving her towards where the bird-like creature landed. She pushes on something else to adjust her path, taking her wide of the creature to hopefully not startle it, and then pulls a metal washer from a little dispenser on her belt, tossing it down onto the roof right where she's heading. A few little pushes on it slow her and allow her to land gently enough she didn't need to strengthen her legs for the landing, though she did.

The hooded young woman turns towards the little sparrow-like creature. "It's ok," she says softly, glancing down at the street, and seeing what Iron Man and the others are doing with the sources of light down there. "What has you glowing?" Viola says to the bird, crouching down but staying just a bit distant from it as she looks it over. She keeps looking between the bird, and the heroes down below. "Holy crap. That's that Doctor Strange guy," she gasps to herself as she recognizes him from the media reports. "What have I got myself into?" the girl who was just trying to learn how to use her powers asks herself.

Jan de Wit has posed:
Glowing critters. Weird. Jan looks to Iron Man, then Peggy. "I'm more than willing to help, if you have need of another set of hands in rounding up the luminous animals?" He offers, looking not-too-worried about such things. The fact that Knockout has a glowing penguin is noted, the man hrming.

"I've got all my shots and a healthy immune system... unless those are radioactive?" He looks to Iron Man. He'd know, right? Sensors and gizmos and whatchamacalits?

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
As far as mortal parents with unassuming jobs go, Illyana fits the archetype of Hermione decently well. Tiffany Aching she is not and the other option requires making Piotr into Anna. Weird energy vibes are enough to send her scouring their immediate whereabouts, suspicious of a child when the Sorcerer Supreme is already on his knees trying to convince a child to come out. As much suspicion lands on the uncertain girl, any other active power use just might get a distinct look from the arctic Russian blonde.

"Sorcerer," she explains. "Witch and wizard have special hat, da?" Dropping her voice, she tells the girl, "I have /crown/. Very stylish." Tapping her golden fringe, she winks. See? Secret. "I am Yana. Pickle ran away from you? Mm. Very lucky, the doctor here knows all about dogs. We can watch him find your friend. Iron Man will not be only shiny person here. You can be too." The shiver of a laugh touches her lips. It's been a damn long time since that sound crawled out from its imprisonment, but not that long ago, she was once a very precocious, seraphic child delighted by the world. Blame Singularity, who clearly poisoned her. "Did the other animals come out too?" Small talk with a child isn't as hard as it sounds. She's lived at mutant Hogwarts after all. Just disregard the whole 'Is a Hell Lord bargaining with a child' issue. Really.

Stephen Strange has posed:
The child is given a very serious nod from Strange. Well....not so serious, as he does point to his head. "Yana's right. Most wizards have special hats. I have a special cloak." Right on cue, the red cloak upon the sorcerer's shoulder picks up a corner, waving to the child as if they were all in some sort of animated movie. A sideward glance under reveals the glowing corgi (glorgi?). Attention back to the child before him, Stephen offers a smile as he waves a finger towards his young conversation partner. "You are a smart one. Most wouldn't even guess witch or wizard. We can certainly trust you to keep our secret."

Then....to the matter of Pickle. "You say you think your mom sent you Pickle. It's possible. Mothers are magical, too. And, as Yana said, I happen to know about magical dogs in particular. Let's see if we can coax Pickle out from there and see what prompted her to run outside. Tell me...does Pickle like any treats?"

As Strange talks, he draws a lazy circle in the air with his finger. No wand needed. And...as he does so, a small hole opens, just at the eye level between the child and him. And...on the other side of this hole? A selection of dog treats. "You go ahead and pick which one Pickle would like and then we can see why she decided to want to glow today. Okay?"

So what if Stephen opened a portal to a pet store to allow his little ward to pick a treat for the glowing canine. He will pay it forward. The object is to win the young one over...to trust, so that it will be easier to retrieve the bioluminescent pooch.

Tony Stark has posed:
D9-K9 seems entirely agreeable with the new name given by Heather! It pauses some to let her pick up a penguin, and then continues to urgently lead towards where those energy fireworks are going off. It glides into the lobby of the apartment building, and gets into the elevator. It pauses there, giving Heather a chance to catch up, before a little limb pushes the '3' button'. It then stares at Heather with big, drone eye, looking up at her. Blink blink. Beep. As if it were making elevator small talk. But then it opens a side panel, to give heather a spot to put the penguin, inside the drone's body. Drone can carry it!

From a third floor window, the energy-vision Singularity can actually see a lot of activity. There's something in there, spitting energy bolts all over like fireworks, lighting up the inside of the apartment. She'd need to get closer to see the source, though, as all the pulsing is very confusing, as if two types of energy were creating some strange effect that is making it hard to identify what the two other sources were originally.

But then.... Viola's little bird starts to pulse in a similar way. Sprays of energy start to waft off of the bird, as it remains collapsed. It isn't heat-- no, it's cold, but not cold enough to bite.

The hamster in Iron Man's possession starts to slowly show signs of this, which pulls most of his attention onto looking at it, and running analysis. If he's chatting with his AI on the scans, it isn't on any public comms, though. "I advise to ...Hurry up the clearing a little, Agent," suggests Iron Man with an ease in his tone. A tone Peggy may actually recall off of another Stark, that actually means 'well, shit'. The drone starts to lift away, clearly sent to a less populated spot with the hamster. "Can I leave the hamster with you a minute? If it turns into a gremlin, just shout. Thanks," Iron man 'asks' of Jan without waiting for a reply, before suddenly bursting airborne with a repulsor blast, and starting to do a scanning pan over the local area, from above. D-8 beeps at Jan in inquiry. Where-to??

"You're kind of creepy," the child says, to Illyana. It's not negative, but direct and honest. Kids. "But I like your crown." So, that's good enough. "Pickles is FEMALE, though." There's a scowl. That's very important. Priorities, Illyana. "I don't care about other animals, I care about Pickles being sick with magic germs. She needs to go to the wizard vet."

Not to worry, though, Strange helps massage the child's mood. "Yes. Mom didn't come home, but she sent Pickle. Pickle doesn't like ice cream." The child begins to look at the dog treats, uncertain. "I give her people food, I don't know...." but the child just picks a treat anyway, the most attractive looking dog treat available. While distracted, though, some energy begins to fan out from under the dumpster. It's as if something were /decaying/, though, not exploding. But Pickle is there, not moving, and can be grabbed, if someone's arms were long enough to reach under the deep dumpster (the child's were not).

Singularity has posed:
The pulsing is very hard for Singularity to fathom. She would pop up and over into existence, going to teleport in over to get a close look at the things. Considering, head cocked to the side in more of an imitatory pose. What were these things? There were many of them coming out and two different ones.. She would teleport back over to Iron Man and go, "There are many things coming from up there!" She would teleport back to the third floor area and then to Iron Man to indicate. "There are two things putting out many smaller ones very actively." Then Singularity would go to try and do one thing..

First, teleport up and 'into' the place to try and get two of those separate bolts of energy.. Then trying to contain one of them over in her own energy bubble.. Presuming that she was able to do this at all she would teleport back with the energies contained to Iron Man to let him get a closer scan of them!

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Of course, the penguin is cradled against Heather's stomach as she follows the droid/drone. She smiles happily as she steps into the elevator. And when the drone looks her way, her blonde brows lift. "What?" she asks.

    And then she sees the offer. The open panel.. and she shies away from it for a moment. Give up her cuddly wuddly penguin? Why would she... oh okay.

    And sullenly, she deposits the penguin inside just before the elevator door opens. "Come on K-9, we got another cutesy to find and rescue." she claims before stepping out and gesturing for the droid to lead her to the next critter.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"I'm working on it. And that's Chief to you, Stark!" Peggy teasingly grumps across the comm unit she put in a few minutes ago. Now she's got her truly stern face on. A few local teenagers trying to get video for the internet catches her eye and she immediately marches up to them, "Home. NOW. Or you *will* be in jail and I will be calling your parents. GO!" And it's like that for more stragglers, Peggy's voice getting even more serious and urgent. She's got the whole local area cleared up fairly shortly.

Viola Fiore has posed:
Viola Fiore takes a tiny step back from the bird as the lights start up again. Her brows furrow within the deep hood, and after a moment she stretches out a hand. She consumes some of the tin that she swallowed, enhancing all of her senses slightly, and then flares the tin to make her sense of touch extremely sensitive. "That can't feel good," she says towards the bird as she easily senses the cold coming off of it.

The hooded figure looks down as Iron Man zooms up into the air. Viola swallows, not really wanting to draw his attention. Here she is in a costume consisting of some dark clothes, and a thick cloak she cut into tassel-like strips so it's almost like a poor ghillie suit, a hood and a mask. She knows she looks so utterly amateur, "He's going to think I'm trying to be a hero," she whispers to herself before sighing and calling out.

"There's one over here on the roof!" she calls, waving towards Iron Man. "A sparrow or bird of some sort. It's glowing and it feels cold!"

Jan de Wit has posed:
Hamster. Cold hamster? Jan nods to Iron Man, even as the latter jets away. "Sure thing..." The cold is concerning, of course. There's a quick glance around the area, looking for a suitably empty spot to bring the hamseter and D-8. Another glance at the hamster and a nod. "Should be good for now, let's just move over to where there might be a bit more clear area - where no one would get hurt in case the little fellow calls down a freak blizzard."

Is that a thing? Can miniature giant space hamsters do that?

There's a polite smile to Peggy and a tip of a non-existant hat. "Let me just move with this robotic friend and icicle hamster over to the left, ma'am."

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
The correction from the girl is taken with the flat aplomb of someone very much working on English as something other than a second-third-or-fourth language. "Sorry. Pickle is masculine word in Russian. Still learning English." Add atop that Russian tends to view corgis as masculine nouns too and she just has to stick that altogether with solemnity. "She is a nice girl dog and sick? Most important to fix her then."

The flicker-flash of something moving underneath her frosty gaze turns even more pensive when the pet store opens up. A few subtle steps carry her away in the event things continue to deteriorate as falling birds, galaxies, and metal-benders are wont to do sometimes. "How long has your mama been gone?" The question is light, the sort of things young adults tend to worry about a bit. Nothing to be roused in the taut lines of her figure. Poor Pickle is going to end up Strange's business to get out. He's in the way after all. Let the gentleman crawl around in the icky trash bits. Hell-Lords have /some/ standards. She can't very well betray a child's secrets to the other adults either. Rats.

Stephen Strange has posed:
"Well...if your mother sent Pickle to be with you, then we better make sure we have her feel better." Yes...speaking about the mother in the past tense certainly gives Strange an idea of just what may have happened in the past for this poor child. And he is damned if he is not going to at least try to help. Not that he is a vet by any stretch of the imagination...but he does know a thing or two about magic, so he has been told.

Question...should he bother with a little magical assistance or just retrieve the corgi through normal means? A quick debate...and Stephen decides to go the muggle route. He reaches under, gently curling a hand around Pickle and slowly pulling the good girl out. In doing so, that contact with the animal gives more insight into just exactly what may be going on. "Illyana, the dog has an enchantment placed on it. Slippery little thing, too. It doesn't wish to reveal what type it is...only that it is." As Strange extracts the dog, he places her down gently before him, between her young owner and Strange himself, as his hands gently examine the animal. It at least *looks* like he knows what he is doing. "And...the enchantment is losing strength."

A frown. "Odd. Why would someone want to hide the source?"

Tony Stark has posed:
Viola may not know it, but Iron Man often comes across young heroes. So long as they aren't trying to do crazy things like leap onto jet engines, he's generally supportive. And he is now. He can make a guess about her status. "Good find!" Iron Man says approvingly, as he glides over and lands nearby Viola. "If you see more, just let me know," he adds. Then, the bird suddenly pops and seems to flux in scale, up to a foot across. As the bird does so, Iron Man immediately moves in front of Viola defensively, to protect her in case there's an explosion. His hand glows, attack ready if needed, aimed at the weirdly size-pulsing bird. "Whoa there, watch out. Head to a safe distance, yeah?" Meanwhile, Iron Man is looking skyward for his personal reinforcements in the tone of more drones to come house the animals. Or whatever they are. A new one is on the way towards him now, fortunately.

"I don't speak russian. Sorry," is what the child relays to Illyana when she explains her issue about languages. More kid logic. "How long? Lots of days. Daddy is worried, says they'll find her soon. Daddy is always right." Exact concept of time is hard for a child this age to estimate. But Pickle is glowing. "PICKLE!" worries the child, who starts to try to crawl under to the dog, but Dr. Strange is there, so instead she worriedly tugs on his sleeve. When Pickle comes out, she nearly pounces on the dog, only to release quick. "Why cold? So cold!" Pickle IS getting very cold, and settles to just lay there, soft but cold, as the energy shift causes temperature drop. Pickle's form starts to bend, to grow in size, weirdly.

With Heather, D9-K9 accepts the penguin with proper reverence, and then leads the way down to an apartment. It stops there, unwilling to break the door down. But if Heather does so (or just opens it, it isn't locked), there's a frog the size of an ottoman in the living room, supercharging the air with tendrils of weird energy. It looks zonked out - dizzy or unconscious, maybe. Electrical energy has burned long ruts in the floors and walls. The lay-z-boy reclining chair is ... unfortunate... in state, as if the frog had been there before it became mega-frog ottoman. Still, it's form is still in flux; is it going to shatter?

Jan's hamster still seems safe, fairly dormant, and moving around normally. D-8 attentively goes where guided by Jan and Peggy.

Singularity has posed:
The twinned energies are strange for Singularity and she's not having much luck with analysing them. The others are clearly focused on their own arcs and so she's going to go and lend her help, just like the heroes are doing! And she will tkae thier inspiration.
    Singularity would flicker and teleport over to just where in that third floor she had felt the strange combination of energies. Were they two things? Just a thing that felt strange? She would pop into existence closer, going to make a small pocket portal out of the nearest wall inside the apartment or zone hse was noticing the energy. Presuming she could..

From the wall the upper half of her body would plink on through from the portal and she would scan about, body percolating with rapidly fizzy'ing flashes of color with a flourish, "Hello!" she would call out cheerfully. Then going to teleport up to the 'ceiling' relatively and turn upsides down, teleporting quickly to if possible stand facing downwards.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    At first, Heather knocks on the door. When there is no immediate answer, she calls out, "Hello?! Anyone there?" And then she does try the handle.

    When the door opens, she grins back to D9-K9. "Manners, see?!" she exclaims before peering inside and spotting the frog. "Hey Look! I'm gonna call you Kermit!" she announces. But.. it's huge. "Shit." mutters Heather as she surges forward. "We need to get this thing out of here before it gets any bigger. D.K.... Go hold the elevator. I'll be along as soon as I get this thing in hand."

    And she crouches to heft said Froggoman ... Frottoman? Frottoadman? Oh skip it. She lifts the thing and mutters, "You need to cut some carbs Kermit." as she carries it towards the exit, moving as fast as she can keep it controlled towards the elevator. If things get dicey, she might switch to the stairs. "And D.K." she adds at the end, "I'd like to place a claim on the Penguin. When this is all over, I think I'll take Sigmund home if I can."

    Of course, she's being burned and surged with power... but she is healing as fast as she's being harmed. In essence, she just ignores the pain.. pain is nothing new. It's just life for her now.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Oh god, ma'am? She's not a ma'am, is she? Not to people who aren't her agents, at least! But, deep down, Peggy knows she gives that big ma'am energy, especially when she's bossing teenagers and nosy onlookers around the street. She's got her military command voice on, so Jan's ma'am'ing of her gets a momentarily awkward smile and then a dip of her head, "Yes, of course. I've cleared all of that area save anyone who is stupid enough to come BACK out." There's always one. But she nods D-8 and Jan in the direction of a clearer corner park, so there's some flat ground and the buildings are vaguely protected by trees.

Viola Fiore has posed:
Viola Fiore is glad she's got a domino mask and her face back within the depths of the hood, so maybe Iron Man doesn't see just how wide her eyes are to have him land right with her like that.

It's IRON MAN!

Though when he cautions her away from the growing bird, it doesn't require a second warning. The cloaked figure just suddenly launches backwards into the air and up and away from the building. Somewhere down below a man in an apartment swears as his toaster flies off the counter and into the wall, crumpling inwards on itself as if some great force suddenly was pressing against it.

Viola flies backwards - note to self, need to practice backward flight! - finding a car back behind her that she can push on to slow herself and gain more altitude once she's away from the building a safe distance.

Stephen Strange has posed:
Hmm...what to do, what to do? With the enchantment being elusive...and it suddenly having the adverse effect of growing the canine...removing or transferring said enchantment seems to be a good idea. But....just how to do that? "We can stabilize this...but I don't wish for it to remain on the dog any longer than necessary. And...I need more time to study it. Can....can we transfer it?" The questions are not to anyone in particular. Really, it is just Strange sounding out ideas in his head. "But...it seems to need to be a living object. So....what if?"

As the words trail off, Stephen looks for a possible transference target. And....he might have found something. Not that there is a lot of greenery in the Bronx at this time of year...but...there are florists. And....a plant is still a living object. Would a transference work?

"Illyana. Would you be able to procure a plant for us? I need to prepare to transfer this enchantment as smoothly as I can. Pickle needs to be able to go home...and we just can't have her getting too big to do that."

Will this work? No clue. But at least Strange is going to try.

Tony Stark has posed:
Electricity pulses from the elevator, though it isn't enough to truly hurt Heather, not with her strength and physique. However, the frog itself has twisted into something strange, inhuman, electrical energy arcing out, losing control of form....!

D9-K9 dives for cover, protecting the penguin, as electricity gets fierce! Singularity should be able to pull Heather to safety, though.

On the roof, the bird writhes and startles the drone, who immediately .. shoots it with a tranq dart. Iron Man pauses, and comes out of combat stance, to stare at the drone.

".../REALLY/?"

The drone breeeps. Helping! It scoops up the semi-twisted bird, which seems to have relaxed or passed out. It's fluxing a bit, still, but nothing explosive. Iron Man turns to check on the alley, but blinks. Giant Corgi? Figures.

The corgi by the girl and Illyana continues to distort and pulse in form. In fact, the issue is less that the enchantment is fading... it's that whoever did this spell didn't bother to think about what happens at the end. This corgi's curse or enchantment is haphazardly falling apart, though skilled mages can quickly move to ease the transition. Without that? Yes, the corgi could suffer, or even die. But steadying the energy could be enough... or yes, transferring the spell to twist unsafely on a less important target, such as a plant of some kind.

The child ducks behind Dr. Strange, alarmed by what's happening to Pickles.

--

Pickles' energy spikes a bit more, and the shift becomes more obvious. Pickles seems to be part corgi... and part... human!

Peggy Carter has posed:
"I've got a SHIELD van on the way. Any of these creatures that are stable enough to transport, get into the van. Alright, D8, we can do that, right?" Peggy spends the rest of her night directing what 'critters' can be put into the SHIELD van and then transporting them back to the Triskelion for study. It seems like it's going to be a far longer night than she expected. "Tony, you owe me dinner..." She comms on her way out.

Singularity has posed:
There's a cry over of alarm from Singularity. The spike of energy and.. Seeing the state that Heather was in. She would go immediately to grab at Heather, and the large toad, and immediately teleport them out and over onto the street. Her cry being neough to hopefully alert the others in case that Heather needed medical attention. Or at least enough to keep her out of pain.

Then presuming that she -could- she would then immediately go to teleport the frog across the block -away- from Knockout. Of course, magic and whatever Singluarity was didn't necessarily cooperate as the psuedo physics of each foemented within didn't necessarily behave well together.

Her priority getting Heather to safety, and then the fantabulous Frogging-Man so that he could get help as well!

Viola Fiore has posed:
The young woman in the tasseled cloak has had enough in her brush with real heroes. Though she's a little curious what was up with the animals, she doesn't want to stick around to answer questions. Especially after recognizing Jan. She doesn't know if he saw her up on the roof there, but her cloak is unique enough it probably won't take him long to recognize the person he fought before, that he probably thinks is a thief.

Technically she was a thief, but just technically.

The hooded figure pushes hard on a car below her, launching her on a high, long arc across Brooklyn. She turns in the air to look back behind her at the hovering, armored Avenger and the drones that have joined him. "Yeah, so not ready for that," she says to herself, turning back to look at where she's going. If only that detective is able to find the man who helped her grandfather with his powers.

Stephen Strange has posed:
Well...that was exciting. And not at all what Stephen expected.

Fortunately, the man is also quick on his feet. Or...knees, as the case may be. He shifts his tactics, calling out to the blonde sorceress by his side. "Forget about the plant. This isn't what I thought it was." Without waiting for a response, he speaks to the child behind him. "Do you know how, in Harry Potter, some people can become animals? Well....someone did this to others without asking...and I am going to fix it. And...if I am right, we will find your mother when I am done."

It is a quick conversation, with little in way of comforting. But, it is more because the next part of Stephen's task takes concentration. His hands draw arcane symbols in the air, as thin lines of golden line trace out in the night air. The golden lines of power encircle the shifting were-corgi, enveloping about the growing form as the Sorcerer Supreme focuses on the task at hand. Fortunately, there are no interruptions as the circle brightens, almost too bright to watch. The circle has the effect of drawing the enchantment/curse out from the shifting form, giving the golden lines a silvery, almost icy tinge before evaporating into nothingness.

And...where a dog once laid....is now the form of a woman.

Tony Stark has posed:
With the high skill of the Sorceror, while the woman suffered, and is clearly unconscious.... the child peeks out, and as the woman appears, the youngster screams. "Mama!" The child hugs close to the woman, one arm looped over her chest, buring face into the mother's hair and hugging her shirt. The woman appears stable, though not awake. It was a stressful situation, being a corgi.

Singularity is able to separate Heather and the frog... which has, after being a big ball of electricity, collapsed unconscious. As it does so, the electricity fades, and it enters a weird half-human, half frog state, unevenly. It may survive if helped, but it could also be too weak to live through the stress of the situation. No explanation seems obvious for the electricity -- at least, not yet.

The other animals can be found and recovered. Many continue to lightly spark, and show signs of coming out of their enchantments: it seems to be just over a dozen of them, total.

Who did this, and why?

A question for another evening, when everyone has been safely found...