13208/More Trick Than Treat
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| More Trick Than Treat | |
|---|---|
| Date of Scene: | 31 October 2022 |
| Location: | Midtown |
| Synopsis: | An attack by Executioner is a trap for the Avengers. Amora the Enchantress uses Norn stones to turn them into ten year olds who have to fight their way across town to retrieve a cure. |
| Cast of Characters: | Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Richard Rider, Diana Prince, Felicia Hardy, Greer Grant, Tony Stark, Karen Starr, Clea, Pepper Potts, Cecily Winters |
| Cast of NPCs: | Amora |
- Steve Rogers has posed:
Captain America is at the mansion in the Assembly Room on duty monitoring happenings in the city and around the world for signs of troubles that require the Avengers. He pours himself another cup of coffee in his mug and then returns to settle down into the chair before the monitoring station. "JARVIS, is there any score yet in the Dodgers game?" he inquires. Though the team may have left Brooklyn, he's never really been able to make himself get interested in the Yankees or Mets.
"There is not Captain," JARVIS responds. "But there is a disturbance in Lower Manhattan. Various calls into 911 as well as social media posts of a 'tremendously large man' wielding an axe. And laying about him, cutting cars, and worse, in half."
Steve sits up in the chair more alertly. "Alright, let's send out a full alert until we know more who they are," he says. Across the city, those connected into the Avenger's comms receive the alert, along with the location they should respond to.
"Avengers, assemble!"
The area already has a number of police cars in the area, though each of the cars has been dissected into one or more pieces, their red and blue lights sometimes still going to cast a lurid light on the scene. A tremendously large individual with a goatee and two stripes of hair one on either side of his head like dual racing stripes, is currently in the process of kicking a cop, sending him flying across the road. Another cop unloads a shotgun into him. The individual, known to some as Skurge, and others as The Executioner, swings a gigantic double-bladed axe into the pavement, sending a jolt of power rippling out through the ground to hit the cop and send him tumbling head of heels.
"Hah hah! I thought these Midgard mortals enjoyed All Hallow's Eve!" Skurge shouts.
- Natasha Romanoff has posed:
There's been a group that was attempting to do some jigsaw puzzles over in one of the rec rooms when the call to assemble assemble, not puzzle assemble goe sin. Natasha was one of those that had been getting ready to poison some cand.. Give children welcome when the alert had gone in. Rapidly going to grab her gear and deploy, while en route she would scan files and give a warning.
<<Skurge almost never goes anywhere without his ball and chain, so keep your eyes peeled. He works for Amora, the Asgardian Enchantress.>> OF all the times for Thor to be gone, but not forgotten.
But hopefully they had enough on hand to handle him. NOne o fher usual equipment would do much more than annoy Skurge, so her job would mostly be helping handle civilians and limit collateral damage. And taking the occasional shot of opportunity.
- Richard Rider has posed:
Now that was a rare occurence! Nova gets an "Avengers Assemble" alert. Heading to the location that he was closest to as fast as he can, Nova lands just outside the disturbance, and walks towards the middle of the street. All Hallow's Eve indeed.
Tapping the acknowledgement so that the Avengers know he was there, Nova heads towards the Executioner as fast as he can! "I'm here!" Richard says with a small measure of confidence.
- Diana Prince has posed:
Diana was out tonight to enjoy the festivities around the city, but she had a number of scheduled public events to make appearances at. One of them was at a park not too far away from where this alert was being sent out. Having spent 3 years as an active members of the Avengers, from 2017-- when she became a public figure in-general --to 2020 when she rejoined the reborn Superman to rebuild the Justice League, Diana was still on the Avengers team, and still on their comm systems too.
In costume, dressed up as the Pink Power Ranger, Diana is taking photos with some young children... dressed up as HER, and as Superman, Batman, and other famous heroes in this hero-obsessed culture! She gets pulled aside by her assistant and told of something happening not too far away.
Holding her pink Power Ranger helmet under her arm, Diana steps off to the side street to peer down the road that leads to where this Scurge is attacking...
- Felicia Hardy has posed:
Tapping her ear and the ear piece with in, Felicia turns away from Clea, the person who answered the door at the Sanctum. "I just showed up to the wizard doctor's place for something important is this all hands on deck Captain?" Felicia asks, and even before she gets a response she knows the answer. She's got work to do, and is still trying to earn her place on the team, properly. Even if she's the only one doubting her position. "Hey, wanna be an avenger for a night?" Felicia asks Clea before inviting her with a hand.
Quickly swinging through the air with Clea in tow, Felicia in full Black Cat garb and with a small backpack on with something heavy in it is swinging towards the mentioned Scurge, landing on a light post and waving to the folks and teammates below. "What's going on here?"
- Greer Grant has posed:
A manhole cover comes flying out of a side street towards Skurge. "Well your costume sucks!" calls Tigra, having thrown it like a frisbee, or inelegant imitation of Cap's shield. For her part, Tigra's costume is simple enough: red tunic and miniskirt combo, with a Starfleet insignia on it. Not quite as good for crime fighting as her bikini, but it's a holiday, after all. Too bad she can't just beam over to the sight of the attack, but she got there as quickly as she can, catching a ride on top of a police car, holding on to its light bar and trying to ignore the siren in her ears. Seeing the attack in progress she's looking to get Skurge's attention and then try very hard to keep that attention from landing on her.
- Tony Stark has posed:
"Just pull over. It'll be easy. I just hop out, grab the suit out of the trunk, and you can still make it to order appetizers," Tony assures Pepper smoothly, with a bright smile and thumbs up at Cecily -- also in the car with them, acting bodyguard for the event they were en route to. "Sometimes these 'Assemble' calls are quick. Just a 'Yep, you attracted the Avengers, sit down' and we'll still make the reservations."
Clearly, no problem at all. An in-and-out heroism item, this.
"On the left," Tony directs the driver, fiddling with his handheld device, pulling in his cameras and resources to get a better look at what's happening. He's currently in a suit -- one with a tie, that is, and while there is an Iron Man suit available, it is in the trunk, for the moment.
Then, into the commm, "Oh, magic, huh. Figures. And me without my invisibility cloak."
- Karen Starr has posed:
The all call has gone out, and Metropolis is... Well, safe, frankly, during Halloween. Sure, there's general hooliganery, but no /real/ crimes that the MCPD can't handle. Most people follow an unwritten rule or two in Metropolis- and that's that you don't mess with kids in Superman's city. Disrupting Halloween is therefore a rather... Dangerous task that doesn't entice the more wicked sort.
Hence, Power Girl is free to burn a trail straight to New York. Her senses, super as they are, give her the ability to hone in on the source of the disturbance, and dark as it is, the blur of her motion can't be seen too well in the sky. She slows down as she approaches the police cars and the man called Skurge- with whom she's entirely unfamiliar. <<"I'm on the scene.">> She remarks over the comms, going in before being given the order.
"You're gonna wanna put that down." the blonde explains as she calmly descends from the sky. "Or else this is going to go really, really bad for you."
- Clea has posed:
Clea, who has just gotten her hair dried after taking a long walk into the drink, greets Felicia with an easy enough smile. Even if it fades steadily faultering as it becomes clear by the Cats word that things are amiss in the city. "If it will help." She agrees, taking the offered hand. Her bathrobe becomes something more suitable for the occation and a portal carries the pair closer to the disturbance so that Felicia may make her heroic landing, while Clea settles down to the pavement from hovering flight.
"If I had to guess-" Clea says as she lands beside Felicia, "-That gentleman with the large axe is attempting foil the festivities." Pointing at the rather large individual with his double sided axe..
Her hands come together, palm flat to palm, both wrists twist and she pulls her hands apart with a lattice weave of energy connecting between her fingertips. She waves them forward towards the police to errect a protective field before them, in the event of any more energy blasts from the swung axe.
- Pepper Potts has posed:
Events. There are always events, and then there are "EVENTS". While not black tie per se, thanks to the holiday, there is an expectation that it'll at least be semi-formal, so she's in an evening dress; mid-level with at least enough layer for the cooler temperatures. Pepper is going through her purse for that last minute make-up; the lipstick with her little mirror when the call comes out in clear tones:
'Avengers, assemble'.
"I don't think it's a 'just pull over' Tony. Steve doesn't say that very of-" Pepper begins an reply in the face of Tony's logic, and there is the feeling of 'it's fine, it'll all be fine'.
The crunching of the cars just a short distance away doesn't quite reach her, but the fact that there are people running in the opposite direction //towards// them speaks to the fact that something is, indeed, going on.
"Magic?" Is that Pepper's voice rising slightly? Probably it is, as the lipstick is closed and dropped on the great sedan's floor. "Tony, I don't think it's.." a good idea?
Cecily, any help here? Green eyes turn towards their bodyguard of the evening, though there's not a lot that she could begin to do when Tony's got an idea in his head.
"What is it?"
- Cecily Winters has posed:
Cecily makes a good attachment at a fancy party. She might not be in an elegant dress or a costume, but the clean monochrome lines of her business-ish attire go well with her white fluffy foxy appedages with their black tips. Plus she has a knack for blending into the background and is professional enough to not take full advantage of an open bar! "Mister Stark, with all due respect, I know you are keen on making fashionably late entrances..." she trails off, seeing the panic ahead of the vehicle.
Her ears lay flat against her head and she fishes in her bookbag for something a little more solid than the concealed handgun under her skirt. She's checking her magazines, having brought a less-than-lethal loadout tonight and sighing. "I apologize, Ms. Potts, but you know how he is... the police bands are going wild. With any luck this will be a 'pull over and say some stern words' situation but if magic is involved..." she mumbles, loading the compact PDW she'd brought and chambering a round. She glances over at Pepper, meeting those greens with her own violets, a half-smile and a helpless expression on her face.
She knows Tony. They both know Tony. "Though I do admit I feel as if ... arcane dealings are somewhat above our pay grades. Magic tends to play severe havoc with technological devices, and your suit is... well, one of the most advanced things I'm familiar with.. wouldn't want it to get broken, Mister Stark.." she attempts to appeal to, well. She isn't sure. It made sense in her head.
- Steve Rogers has posed:
The thrown manhole cover hits Skurge harder than the shotgun blast did. He turns towards Tigra and growls out a curse, making a swing of his axe her direction. Though he's too far away for the axe to reach her, a concussive blast emits from it towards her, shattering the top of the police car she's on. Thankfully the officer saw it coming and hit the breaks as he ducked below the dashboard!
Skurge swings the axe again, back towards a group of three cops who have taken cover behind a taxi. A blast of fire is flung their direction, hitting the car, and scorching them enough their eyebrows singe even behind the car's cover.
Everywhere the Asgardian looks, he sees more heroes arriving. Black Cat and Clea swinging in together. Nova zooming in to land on the street nearby. A nice towncar pulling up, the figures inside of it looking out the windows. The Black Widow arriving, and a blond haired woman flying up in the air above Skurge.
"Puny Midgardians! I deserve someone like Thor himself to challenge me! You are all beneath me!" he roars towards them all.
A woman's voice, sultry and self-assure can be heard, the worst soft yet seeming projected across the entire area. "That's because Thor has gone and gotten himself killed. Or that's what those in Asgard whisper even as they search for signs of him." The speaker suddenly shimmers into existence. An Asgardian woman of blond hair, with a green headdress and green bustier and black pants and boots. Those familiar with her would easily recognize Amora the Enchantress.
"I had so prepared for this night. When the magic of Midgaard is so accessible to me. If Thor did me the disservice of dying before I could deal with him myself, then his friends will have to pay in his place," Amora says.
She waves her arms in what Clea would recognize as the beginning of magic spell. In a half dozen places around the area, a sudden glow is given. Stones that have been hidden in a large perimeter around the area begin to glow white, the Nordic runes on each shining even brighter on each of the Norn stones.
Those familiar with magic will feel the terrible weight of the spell being enacted, strong enough even Doctor Strange would struggle to fend it off, with Amora's strength bolstered by those artifacts!
Tony's driver bales on the car, screaming as he hops out and runs from the area. He just makes it clear when the stones are connected by bolts of energy, and then everyone inside of the perimeter feels themselves affected. Shrinking. Growing shorter, their bodies shedding years with each passing second, until they end up looking like their ten year old selves!
- Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Before she can go to take up one of her Widow's Bites to aim a shot up and over at Amora, whatever the blonde is doing hits the Black Widow in a daze. She's dizzy, disoriented, and moves to stumble about while she goes to slowly trying to figure out what is giong on. Everything looks so much bigger now.. Wait. The sudden change in perspective..
Her wrists feel like they have on a set of nerf launchers and she has toys on her out of something from a toy store.
Wait.. What is.. She goes to open her voice to start to yell.. And hwat comes out is a voice far looser than something she had spoken with for decades.
She still starts up with the swearing at a volume a child of her age definitely shouldn't be able to pipe up with.
- Tony Stark has posed:
Tony gestures with both hands at Cecily, and stares at Pepper. "You heard her, Pepper. 'You know how he is,'" Tony repeats Cecily, in her same tone and cadence. "First.... only slightly rude, Winters. I am sitting two--no, --three feet away. I pay you, and I can clearly hear you mock me," Tony huffs at Cecily. He's not offended, but he does have to call such things out. Nobody plays Galaga without being pointed out, even if he doesn't //really// mind.
"Though I do hear your concern for the suit. It's expensive. But well worth any lives it can save out there," Tony clarifies to Cecily with a quick warm smile to her, then Pepper. Pepper gets a look that MIGHT be apologetic, but certainly not with any shame.
To the driver: "Seriously though, stop fully: I don't want to twist my ankle just getting out; I have to save an ankle for the baddie----" Tony swings open the door, then, but the driver is screaming and bailing out of the car!
Tony directly attempts to shield Pepper, who was immediately near him as he was getting out. But his feet go out from under him due to the magic slamming them full on, and he ends up just outside of the car on the curb, disoriented.
Whooooa dizzy. "Well, at least Widow's okay," Tony observes, of the stream of swearing on the comm from Natasha.
Tony's going to just inspect this curb for a minute. Urgh.
- Richard Rider has posed:
"Sorry Thor is away. We'll have to do. Nova at your service." A small bow towards Skurge. "Nice to meet you." Nova takes a few more steps closer. Then he hears the voice. A sultry, siren voice. Blonde. Beautiful. Rich is smitten from zero point. "Wow..."
Nova watches as she waves her arms, and then realises something was coming. "Oh boy." Raising his arms, and trying to summon a shield with the Nova Force, Rich was a split second too late. Then, his voice seems strange as he says, "Darnit." Wait. Didn't he want to say something more crass?
- Greer Grant has posed:
Tigra flips off the top of the car as the blast hits it, glad the officer within seems to be okay. She picks up some cuts from shrapnel, but nothing serious as she makes a three point landing. "You deserve the beat down you're gonna get," she snarls at the Executioner. Not that she's going to deliver it herself, of course, but Power Girl's here, and that ought to be fun to watch. For her part, she's already shifting attention to Amora, planning a scream and leap to try to distract her before she can get magic off, but the Enchantress was already in process. "Oh fuu---" she starts out, feeling magic starting to affect her, having experienced it before. This time, though, she stays female, but goes from woman to girl, a tunic that once fit flatteringly going to somewhat shapelessly, and red colored sneakers formin on once bare feet. "--uuuudge," she finishes in a much younger voice.
- Felicia Hardy has posed:
Felicia leaps from the top of the light post. "You want Thor? Too bad, you get Power Girl." She uses as a battle cry, trying to pump up her ex emotionally and hype her up. Give her good emotions and be a heroine herself. Felicia lands on the ground in a three point stance, the white hair landing in waves behind her shoulders and standing fully before spotting Amora, "W-who's that?" Felicia asks, pulling a hand back to build up the inertia to throw a grapple line at the blonde Asgardian, but as she does so, the metal line changes until it's a string of silly string landing in Amora's hair.
Felicia looks down at her wrist and frowns, "W-whut?" She asks, and places a hand on her much younger chest. "Noooo... no no no..."
- Diana Prince has posed:
"Wonder Woman!" A little girl dressed up in her own Themysciran ARmor, whilst wearing a jacket over it, rushes to where the Pink Ranger is standing. Diana looks down to her. "I must go, I will return swiftly though." She tells the child, who looks up at her. "Be careful." The kid says with clear concern.
Diana smiles, and hands her the Pink Ranger helmet, before she turns back to the street up ahead, and is quickly gone from where she'd been.
The child clutches the pink helmet and watches the horizon where Wonder Woman had gone.
Through the magical mayhem, the Pink Ranger arrives, landing with a crouch and rising back up to her impressive... four foot six inches of height.
What?
Diana raises her hands up, and looks at them from font to back, her dark hair waving gently around her shoulders as she catches a glimpse of her reflection in a nearby window. She gets a look at a face she hasn't seen in a very long time...
But there is no time to dwell, the young Diana looks back to the danger ahead and starts to run toward it.
- Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper worries, she does. She's most definitely conflicted; proud of the man he is, and concerned that now that their lives are looking up and moving forward, it seems that Tony is bringing himself more in line with the Avengers. Not that he wasn't one before, certainly. A few years ago proved that and cemented his role. But that was then, and this?
Turning herself slightly so she's facing both Cecily and Tony, she certainly doesn't miss the weaponry that Cecily brought with her. For a party? "I agree, the suit is much preferred. At least then he also has JARVIS and-"
The apologetic look is met with a softened, concerned look, tinged with the affection she feels for him. It's hard, it is, and as he turns to go out the door, she's moving towards that same open door, a hand on the armrest. She's ready to close it again when their driver decides that perhaps a different place to be is preferable, though //without// his passengers. (Pick up your check, not coming back to work!)
"What is ha-" Even as she speaks, she can feel the strange sensation, a tingling all over her body as she shrinks. De-ages, and down and down, green eyes wide with fear, and she calls out, "Tony! What is--" going on? He's on the curb, and she's also suffering from a bout of serious vertigo.
- Cecily Winters has posed:
A compact PDW for car-related incidents as a crew member, and a hidden sidearm on a thigh holster. It's perfectly reasonable to Cecily. Why wouldn't it be? "I do like to give as good as I get," she states in response to Tony calling her rude. She sends a light smile and a wink his way. She might be on the clock but she's quite happy to be a member of the 'Stark Family' as it were. Still, though, she's concerned. Especially when the driver screams and flees. "It's okay, I can drive us.." she winces, her ears ringing. So sensitive. Always so sensitive.
She starts to crawl over the seats to get to the wheel and finds herself... slipping. The magic rolls over and through her, from ears to toes to tail-tips. The weapon in her hand slips from her grasp and clatters to the floor by the pedals. Clatters? Like...plastic? Her bookbag tumbles with her, spare magazines falling and clattering. Plastic, too. Smoked plastic, full of water. Her MP7 with a kid-safe blaze-orange tip. A .. battery operated squirtgun?
She has bigger problems, though. Her body is shrinking but her tails... her tails aren't quite reducing at the same rate. "H-help!" she squeaks, the ten year old fox now more tail than girl as she's quite literally a tangled mass of limbs and fluff on the driver's seat, trying to figure out which way is what. "...what... what happened...?!"
- Clea has posed:
The Sorceress Supreme of the Dark Dimension knows well the tingle of magic, and had she knowledge of Amora's connection to this Skurge, she may have errect some defense against it. By the time the spell is summoned, she's in no position to ward off the amplified power of the runic stones hidden around them. There's a vain attempt to cast a defensive web, a series of intricate, but precise hand motions that she weaves quickly... but power does not exist in a vacuum.
As such, she finds the world growing around her.. but in closer observation she realizes that she is, in fact, shrinking. Childlike in her stature, she peers up at the much, much-much, taller Skurge. "How embarrassing it's going to be for you, when you are yet beaten, but by a host of Avenging Children."
She's every bit as aristocratic, but for the fact it's spoken in the squeaky voice of a 9 year old Princess. Rather than a milennia old Queen of the Dark Dimension. Fat lot of good telling her that though...
"Now, I'll just reverse this paultry spell..." Twisting her fingers, preforming her elegant, precise motions of hand to summon forth the magic necessary. Both hands glow with umbral darkness, abysmal lack of light creating an ethereal glow lacing between her fingers as she draws upon more and more power with each word spoken and motion waved..
Until, finally, with the necessary incantation wrote upon the sky with light from her waving fingers, she throws her hands out...
And a rabbit falls from her sleeve.
Gently hopping away towards the side of the street.
- Karen Starr has posed:
Power Girl had lowered herself to the ground, and had started approaching Skurge when another figure emerged. Talking wasn't really what she was here to do- banter was off the table as soon as Skurge kept on the attack. <<"Someone handle the sorceress, I'll deal with the ax-man.">>
So confident was she that she shot forward with a strong burst, aiming to take down Skurge quickly, and efficiently- but not blow out the windows of the surrounding neighborhood and cars.
Mid-surge, the magic hits, and all of that strength flinging a much, much smaller body leads to a white streak flying right over Skurge.
Landing some meters behind the pair of villains is a preteen girl, unkempt blonde hair ruffled around her facial features and body clad in a white singlet. Her cape only downsized so much, so it flips up over her head as she rolls to a tumble. "Ow." A short pause. "Wait. Ow? Wait. My /voice/?"
While it's difficult to see her from behind, she's reaching up to work at her face apparently.
"Why in the /FUCK/ do I have BRACES?!"
- Steve Rogers has posed:
Amora breaks out in laughter as she sees the result of her spell. "To be honest I wasn't quite sure what it would do to Midgaardian physiology. I wonder if you've managed to keep your minds intact or not," she wonders aloud between more laughs.
Skurge swings his axe at the air, but it only opens a portal beside Amora that he steps through, rejoining the side of the Enchantress.
Amora looks around the various heroes. As she sees Diana in the Pink Power Ranger costume, she can't help but break out in a grin. "Fancy catching you in my web too, little fly," she tells the Amazonian now pre-teen.
A haughty look is given towards Earth's "Mightiest Heroes". "I'm quite tempted to leave you all like this permanently," she says with a wicked smile. "But I'd intended to return Thor to his normal age after I'd had a bit of time to work his younger self around to a more reasonable point of view towards me. So already have the potion made that will cure you all," she says.
Amora seems to debate internally another moment. "Very well, I'll tell you. I've placed it in one of your places of worship. The Cathedral of someone named Saint Patrick," she says, naming a church in midtown, much further north in Manhattan.
"Oh but getting there won't be so easy. I've told a few of those you in Midgaard call 'villains' of what your plight would be, and to expect you at the church. Best of luck getting there. At the stroke of midnight the potion will evaporate. So you'd better not tarry, mortals."
She raises a hand and the Norn stones fly through the air to her. "Executioner, let us be away!" He swings the axe to open a portal, the pair of them stepping through.
And leaving behind a number of pre-teens who have blocks and blocks to go, and about 4 hours to make it.
- Richard Rider has posed:
Small hands. Small feet. "Grrrrrr." Stomach grumbling. Ok! Hot dog stand. It is New York. Or was it? No matter! Fewd! Rich Ryder takes his helmet off, and with his piercing eyes, looks for some street food. Tap Tap! Good. Money in the pocket! Who cares about super villains.
Noms are what is needed! Now! Tout suite! Not some Leprecaun St Patrick place. Unless there was Green DQ Blizzards!
There! A hot dog stand. Pushing the Nova Power he jumps, and lands 37 1/2 feet away with narry a tough word or effort. "Hot Dog Chef! Gimme three of your best with the works!" A cute grim affixes the face of the Scourge of Annihilus!
- Tony Stark has posed:
Tony's aware enough to notice that the enemy went in a portal. Mostly. So they have a minute to... sort out what happened?...
Hey! Tony still has his handheld device in his hand! "HOMER, I ..." Well that's a young voice. Things click fast, Tony's sharp. Also that the device in his hand is now a walkie-talkie in neon green with orange stripes. Oh, /great/. At least it's still STARK brand. Small help though.
Tony holds the 'TALK!' button down this time. It makes a charming beep. "HOMER. Report. Specifically on Arc Reactor power level." ... ... Tony pauses, then adds: "...Over."
"Reactor at seven percent. Biology compromised, unable to run diagnostic. Do not recommend arc reactor weapon discharge, as it---" HOMER answers, sounding tinny and far away in the walkie-talkie. Tony interrupts him. "Great. Yep. Got it. No blasting. Feels like two percent, but sure. Probably working with D batteries here. So. Lucky seven... percent." .... "...Over."
Tony stops examining the curb for 'evidence' using the car door for leverage, and trying to orient. He comes up to look in at Pepper. She gets a finger-wave. What else can he say, anyway?... The floofy tails get a stare. Is she going to drive?
"Anyone still hear me?" On the comms/walkie. "Anyone over five feet left on the channel?" Tony asks. His voice may be young, but his style of speech marks him clearly as Stark. "Source of my power has taken a hit." A pause. "The goatee." That's true, it's missing. Tony's on the lower end of ten years. Jokes are still a big defense mechanism though, clearly.
"...Over."
- Natasha Romanoff has posed:
And as Amora is getting ready to depart wiht a taunt over in the air, Natasha's eyes would narrow. The other woman is getting gone.. But that doesn't mean that Natasha can't get in one final bit of revenge (or the only bit). It's Halloween. Children will be merry. THere are treats.. And there are tricks. And what are some of the favorite old tricks when people don't give out the right candy?
She remembers those days. Sos he runs around quickly, even while Amora is busy monologuing over and playing pattycake with Skurge. She gets three things that are juggle din her hands. Large cream pie, stale. Rotten fruit almost bubbling. And over one final thing.. Large roll of TP.
Time to bad candy the blonde. All three are hurled through the air, hopefully hitting Amora right as she would depart over in the hair, the face.. And then with cream pie, rotten fruit, and TP going down her head stuck all of it as the group goes to get ready to bring the party on..
Natasha can at least get some sense of smugness for revenge, petty or not.
- Steve Rogers has posed:
Natasha's Halloween barrage does manage to hit Amora, right upside the head, as she's stepping into the portal. A cry of outrage goes up, and were it not for Skurge already stepping through the portal and blocking her way back, perhaps more would have come of it. Instead the portal winks out, leaving Amora to wipe her face clean wherever they went to.
- Felicia Hardy has posed:
"What is this Cinderella horse sh- crap?" Felicia grunts with a hard stomp of one of her feet. The force of her formerly enhanced physiology causes a silly string to spurt out onto the ground beside her. This causes the Black Kitten to growl angry and upet.
"I'm over five feet." Felicia reports, "But barely." The girl was an early bloomer, but dang if this wasn't some nonsense as she's all height and nothing else. She's scrawny and the acne, oh god the acne. "I hated being 12..." Felicia reports and sighs. Reaching up to push the large framed glasses back up her nose to rest on the bridge. "Fu--- crap. Of course the glasses too." She mumbles.
Turning back to the team of Pre-Vengers, Felicia's domino mask of card stock cut out and fit to her glasses gives her an idea. Turning to the smallest member of the group Felicia asks, "It might be time for you to start crying. Maybe we can get a ride to the church."
- Diana Prince has posed:
The taunt from Amora has Diana staring up at her, and the axe wielding lunatic that joins her to open that portal.
"None of us exist for your amusement, Enchantress." Diana says back, her Themysciran accent even thicker than it was before, lacing her English thickly enough to make it hard to even understand.
But soon the plot thickens, and Diana is sparing a quick look around to see Tony with his Walkie-Talkie, and the others looking as though they are struggling with the adjustment just as much.
Diana turns to the direction of the church in question, and she suddenly lunges up in to the air!
The 4 foot nothing Pink Ranger arches up over the NYC street, only to come right back down, her white boots splashing in a puddle.
Womp womp.
In confusion, Diana raises her white gloved hands up to push her sleeves up her forearms, there she wears golden bracelets, made of plastic? She flicks one with her finger and gets a dull clack in response.
"Plastic..." The Themysciran says as a gust of wind rushes over her. She looks back up and then shouts to the others. "We must move quickly!"
- Greer Grant has posed:
She's even got a toy tricorder now. Too bad it doesn't actually work, though Tigra pops it open and it makes a scanning noise, no scanning is actually performed. "Dangit dangit dangit," she grumbles, short tail flicking in irritation. Seeing Cecily in trouble, she goes to help her fellow tailed one with disentangling. "Lemme give you a hand, fox."
- Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper is still in the back seat, and her hands are pushed out in front of her, and she's looking at them. Small (though still manicured!). She looks in partial state of shock as she starts to look around rapidly, now checking out to see if everyone else is okay or have suffered the same basic fate as she. The closer one is the mass of floof that went over the top of the seat of the new model sedan to flop with the distinct intent to be able to drive. That whole thought process has her looking down at her own legs; not quite hitting the floor of the car. "Um.."
It's not more than a couple of heartbeats when Pepper's attention is pulled to outside the car once more, and the still open door. And there, on the other side, is... and she leans forward, peering, her brows creasing as she looks. "Tony? Is that.." Yes, yes it is. "Oh.. oh no. No.."
The words start to repeat over and over, her head shaking. Amora's words are heard, pulling her from her brief moment of meltdown. St Patrick's Cathedral? Oh..
"Oh no." What is the board going to do if they should find out about both she and Tony are .. children?
Pepper slides out of the backseat, more bouncing and gallumphing as she reaches the edge. "Are you okay?"
Pepper checks the fox pile of fluff, and exhales, her shoulders dropping in the breath, "You too."
- Clea has posed:
Clea huffs, blowing at a few white locks of hair that dangle across her brow with a effortless childlike comedy that belays her millennia of life. "Did I lose my mind, of course I didn't lose my mind. If anything you've made everything so much worse for you because I'm going to find you when I grow up and I'm going to rain down a fiery vengence! You will rue the day you messed with me! I'm telling my Uncle! You're gonna be in so much trouble, you don't even know!" The squeaky voice isn't intimidating. Waving a tiny pre-teen finger up at a full grown Sorceress probably does little other than amuse.
There's Natasha over there throwing cream pies, Clea gets a wonderful idea!
She waves her hand outward like she's sturring a large pot, then flicks her fingers in Amora's direction! Covering her in glitter. Will it be permanent? Yes... yes it will. I got glitter on me at the Pride Parade in 2012 and I'm still finding it to this day. This is a fate worse than death. "HAH! Take that you big dummy."
Her nose wrinkles as she looks around, falling upon the bunny still hopping away. "Come back here fluffers." She croons and darts after him to scoop him in both arms, gingerly stroking fingernails between his big foofy ears as she heads towards the, assumed gathering point of The Pre-Teengers. Blinking owlishly, since she's a wee-bit of a thing, at Felicia. "How about we just call an Uber?"
Glancing around, "I don't see anything in the magical spell that says we can't call an Uber."
- Cecily Winters has posed:
Cecily had intended to drive. At some point. Now she can't even figure out which way is up. Like she was caught in an avalanche of floof. An arm shoots out and bonks the steering wheel right where the horn is, making the honk blare loudly. She squeaks again, loud, girlish, panicked. "Ow ow ow ow ow...!" her ears, comically large compared to how they are when she's an adult, fold flat against her head and her hands immediately go over them.
"Ow..." she just about whimpers in pain, they catch sound even more acutely now and that horn went off *RIGHT* next to her head. "Hells... seven hells and purgatory..." she grumbles, and then help. There's help! "Thank you," she manages, the barely four-foot-four girl accepting Greer's aid in untangling her from, well, herself. She's really more four feet even but her ears are adding so much more. At least the poor thing isn't a fennec.
"My apologies, Ms. Potts, Mister Stark," she says, sounding as polite as ever, like a well-behaved child at a school function or a wedding. "This... really was above my pay grade..." she sighs, ears wilting again. "Nothing seems to be broken but it all has gone... kid.. safe.." she eyes her toy gun and ... egad is her artillery-carrying bookbag now literally a My Little Pony bag? At least it's Rainbow Dash and the text "YOU'RE AWESOME!" on it. Sky blue with a rainbow strap.
"I know New York like the back of my hand," she states, even if the back of her hand is now much smaller and unfamiliar, "...there should be some shortcuts if the bad guys aren't waiting in them already..." Then she offers said hand to Greer when she's untangled fully, sitting precariously on the edge of the driver's seat. "Cecily," she introduces, "We should all be off as swiftly as we can..."
- Karen Starr has posed:
Karen pushes her way to her feet, and flings her cape back over her. There is a scowl from the nine year old Kryptonian that might just make anyone shiver in their boots, should she ever return to her former age. She isn't fast enough to get to Amora- she knows that. She's nine. But she /does/ have powers. If she were older, she'd have, frankly, the best powers.
With a grimace, Karen's eyes ignite a bright red, and she shines the light upon Skurge and Amora as they retreat.
Normally, the power of her heat vision is enough to cause great harm- at their full intensity, the beams of red hot light can strike with the fury of the sun- enough to destroy planets! Wreak havoc! Burn away enemies wholesale!
Right now, they're about as intense as the sun... Focused through a magnifying glass at some ants. Enough to make things catch fire, sure, but. You know. Not much more than that, and barely enough to do that as it is.
"Dammit!" she shouts, "Even this small I should be stronger than this!"
You can deage the girl, but you can't get rid of her foul mouth: And considering the decades she's learned to control her strength so effortlessly, she knows exactly where her limits are... And therefore how bad this situation is.
- Steve Rogers has posed:
Back at Avengers Mansion, Steve Rogers leans forward in his chair, tapping on the keyboard until finally JARVIS interrupts. "Do you want me to do that for you, Captain Rogers?"
"Yes!" Steve says. "Pull up a camera or something, show me what's going on. And try again Tony's frequency?" he says as he watches the monitors.
"Something is interfering with the cameras in the area. The ones I have connected to seem offline as if some sort of power surge happened in the area. And it seems like the comm channels are being overridden by... children's walkee talkees."
Steve raises an eyebrow. "How is that possible?"
The smooth voice of JARVIS answers, "I am working on an answer to that question, sir."
Meanwhile, the heroes find themselves with a good long distance to travel. The police fled the area when the glowing magic lights started up, and haven't come back yet, hiding behind corners blocks away.
- Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would glance around, "We need to travel there quickly." They can't fly, even if they get a car.. "Can anyone see over the windshield?" That's another factor that they'll have to consider. Maybe one of them can be on the ground to work the pedals, another can try and work the steering wheel, and athird can try and call out directions while the rest of them are crammed over into it like a clown car?
She goes to look around for a car. And of coures with all the magic going on tonight, they're going to only find something like Power Wheels or..
There it is. A bright, pink tricycle with rainbows and hearts on it and lots of glitter.
- Diana Prince has posed:
A lot of confusion, a lot of normalcy thrown out for chaotic disarray.
With the NYPD having fallen back, Diana appears beside some of them in hiding. she apologizes profusely two several of them who reach out to try and help the young Pink Ranger, only to get thrown aside by her unusually strong arm...
A second later, and down the concrete street come the familiar sound of horse hooves, Diana mounted atop a NYPD horse officer, her white boots in the sides of the saddle as she stands upon it's edges and rides as quickly as the wind. Her dark hair flows out behind her as she rushes past some of the others.
"Come, there's no time to waste!" The Princess says, the horse moving at full speed down the city street, rushing in and around parked vehicles taking up some of the way, weaving through them toward the direction that the distant cathedral resides.
- Felicia Hardy has posed:
Felicia pulls out her phone like someone suggested and "Are you kidding me?" She asks, and shows off her 'Barbie's iPhone'. Damnit. She tosses the phone into the street and looks away. "Guess we either walk or find a really helpful cabbie, cause I can't afford to get pulled over even if I was normal sized." Felicia reports.
Then The Wonder Ranger rides by on a stolen police horse.
"Oh my gosh." Felicia moans and puts her head in her hand, mindful of the large glasses. "Well, the rest of us have to stick together and ... Screw it. Move over." Felicia says, moving her boney butt into the driver seat of Tony's car. "I can reach and see." She says as she moves the seat up to the closest it can go.
"EVERYBODY IN!"
- Richard Rider has posed:
Handing over the money to the hot dog vendor, wide eyes and mouth agape, Richard smiles, and noms into the first Hot Dog. However, he has three. With a Nova jump, he moves closer to this St Patrick place, feeling compelled to make sure the girls don't get there first. Ewww. Girls
Spotting the man with the shiny armor, minus the goatee, Nova calls out, "Hey there! Iron Dude? If I give you a Hot Dog, will you help me race these girls?!?"
Rich holds out a hot dog towards Tony Stark with a cute 8 year old grin. "Got a way to beat them?" He motions towards the gurls all stealing Tony's car.
- Clea has posed:
Clea doesn't have a phone, even if she's adult sized, so she doesn't bother reaching in the pocket of her robes. Not when she's got a bunny in her arms to gingerly stroke while following the bigger kids around nodding and humming some tuneless song to herself. "All around the nation..." She murmurs as she climbs into the back seat and scoots over into the middle seat. "We're the new sensation..."
Bobbing her head to the music, puff beating from her popping lips. Her left foot kicks the back of the front seat, "Have you heard.
Have you heard.
Have you HEARD!"
"We're kids incorperated, K.I.D.S."
She kneels down to rub her nose between Fluffers big floppy ears. "Looks like we made it."
- Tony Stark has posed:
Tony fiddles with the Walkie again. "Anyone else? We're grouping up. Uhhh. By the thrown police car." His voice comes out of Tigra's device, now. Fuzzy-static. Then Tony repeats.... "Over."
Tony is doing some calculating. Even if the Iron Man suit in the car could work, he can't HOPE to power it. Unless maybe it takes batteries now. Sad day. "Can you pop the trunk?" Tony asks, tapping on the window between himself, Felicia and Cecily. Technically it's the inside of the rear door, since it's open. Then he realizes that's dumb, and goes AROUND the door to half-crawl under Cecily's feet to look for the trunk lever. That opened, he extracts around Felicia. He's probably one of the smaller ones as well now: as a young boy, he has had zero of his growth spurts compared to the girls, putting him just over 4 feet.
So a lot of this is a HASSLE! He gets the trunk open. Okay, Iron Man stuff is here. And.... not changed! Yay. ...Wait. No way on earth can he power ANY of it.
The child emotional track comes in heavily, and Tony tries to fight it. Stupid child tears, what is THIS garbage. Particularly not going to cry in front of girls. NOT HAPPENING! NOT TODAY.
Fortunately, there's another boy to save the day! Rich. Child Tony shuts the trunk as Felicia yells at everyone to get in. .... food?
"It's Tony. What toppings?" Tony asks, accepting the lifeline via Hot Dog from Rich. And following his point. "They're gonna leave US?--- Come on," he says, trying to drag Rich along, even as he senses his mental age in a weird tiltawhirl.
"That's MY car," Tony informs Felicia, in proper official Big Boy Tone.
- Greer Grant has posed:
"Tigger," Tigra says to Cecily as she helps her up. "I mean -Tigra-. It's Tigra." More tail lashing ensues at the damage to her dignity. And then her toy communicator starts talking and she flips it open. "What? Over." She messes with the pretend dials on it as if it had any more control than push-to-talk. And it's not like Tony isn't right there. In the car she's next to. Well, car that she's getting into. "What did you say? Over. No, not over. I'm in the car, over." Who's Orville?
- Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper does finally make it out of the car, and almost falls on the curb; the high heeled shoes have to go! Luckily even the young Virginia Potts is no stranger to stockinged feet, and she throws the shoes back into the car though she does still look like a little girl playing at being an adult. Taking a deep breath, she seems to have gotten over the worst part of her panic, and she's breathing a little easier, even if she still looks as if any little thing could send her right over again. Until then, however?
First on the agenda for her is to figure out who all is affected; if the Avengers assembled, then it would stand to reason that... "We have.." a car. Diana has a horse, and, of course! What did Pepper's parents spend all their money on for her? Riding lessons. Though that trick only works once...
Now, there is the thought of the subway; the trains are running. That, however, is thrown aside as Felicia arrives to jump into the front seat of the car. "Can you actually-" not so much //drive// as actually reach the pedals? "Wait! Don't leave- Tony's.." ..
Getting a spot in the back seat once more, Pepper is pulling her feet up to sit crosslegged, moving when Clea climbs in. "Watch out for.." her little purse that sits on the floor of the backseat. As he moves to the back of the car, the redhead (yes, a real redhead!) is twisting around to face the back, perched on her knees to look out the back window. Waving her hand at him, she's mouthing 'hurry up!'.
- Richard Rider has posed:
"All tha' toppings!" Rich hands over the hot dog with a grin from ear to ear. Then, he brings his right hand up to his forehead in a "not so bad" salute! "Yessir Iron sir!"
Rich finishes off his first hot dog with a "GULP!" as he gets dragged by Tony towards the car. "Are we going with them...?" Rich watches as the car is getting ready to speed towards the ST.P Church.
"Are they leaving without us?!?"
- Cecily Winters has posed:
"Adorable. You're cute!" the slightly-squeaky fox says to Tigra, happy to be able to bond with a, well, fellow fluff-tailed friend. She's hurriedly gathering up her fallen toys when she's suddenly invaded on the driver's seat by Felicia. "If you think you can reach the pedals, I can attempt to navigate... if the streets aren't crowded.." she hauls herself, fluff and all, into the passenger seat. She takes up all of it with her tails but there's still room for others to sit. "We need to keep level heads so we can get through this, and together," she says as she pulls out one of the squirt gun's magazines and... upturns it to she can suck the water out of it.
Her ears catch the sounds behind the car and she rolls the window down before standing on the seat and poking her head out. Her ears pin back and she pokes her tongue out at Rich and Tony. "Get in you dummies! We're not leaving without you! Stupid boys being stupid, it's not a competition! Anyone argues, you're getting shot!" she holds up her watergun and waves it at them. "You wanna be running around with soggy socks?! Nobody wants that!"
It's the grossest thing ever. Wet socks. Ew.
- Karen Starr has posed:
Karen leapt earlier- far past the thrown car and Tony's undamaged automobile. For a moment, she's wondering just how they're going to get to the Cathedral, but in the end, that doesn't matter. The others are resourceful, but she's not packing herself into a car with six other kids all elbows and knees- and fur.
Instead, as Diana passes, Karen starts leaping. They're short, controlled, someone ought to be proud! But they're not going to be as fast as the horse, each jump like a tiny blonde Hulk, only carrying her a house or two down the street. When Diana passes though, she lets out another mighty lurch and there's a thud on the back of Officer Carrots as Karen lands somewhat shakily.
Surely, Diana has the prowess enough to handle a nine year old Karen grabbing onto her to stabilize her landing. This definitely can't go wrong, it's a classic amazonian maneuver, leaping onto a moving horse as a secondary rider.
What's the worst that can happen?
- Steve Rogers has posed:
Eventually everyone is loaded up either into the car, or on the horse, and are moving down the streets. Before long the intrepid young heroes are past the area that had cleared out during the fight with The Executioner. There is only light traffic, but a lot of pedestrians on the sidewalks dressed in costumes.
There's a grinding of metal as Tony's car sideswipes a parked car, with a young voice yelling out, "Sorry!". Before the end of the block another car gets scraped and this time there's at least three voices that join in the "Sorry chorus".
From there, a spectator might wonder if they are intentionally trying to hit the parked cars, as the choruses of apology seem to almost become a group song.
However all good times must come to an end. Up in the center of an intersection ahead, a man stands. Red hair and thick glasses, with a jacket of striped purple and blue, and brighter purple pants.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/1/1b/Toyman.PNG.png
"Oh good!" he exclaims as he recognizes those on the horse in particular, and soon those in the car, at least some of them. "I rarely come to New York, but it seems the tip was right and it's well worth my time!" the Toyman cackles.
He rubs his hands together. "Tonight is going to raise my name in the annals for all time, as I wipe out the Avengers!" he declares. "And who better to do the dirty work... than the JUSTICE LEAGUE!"
What?
A bunch of short figures run out into the street standing before the Toyman. There's a half-sized Superman. A half-sized Wonder Woman. Batman is there, and Flash. And finally the Green Arrow. Each of their faces are stuck in one expression, a quick clue that they are robotic creations of the Toyman. "Justice League!" he shouts. "Destroy the Avengers!"
The pint-sized Justice Leaguers start forward, Superman flying, and not just in little leaps like Power Girl was able to. Wonder Woman pulls out her golden lasso and begins swinging it overhead, while Batman shoots a grapple forward and swings towards the approaching car, while Flash charges forward. A car that Green Arrow is starting to pepper with arrows from his toy-sized bow, yet those arrows look, and are, lethal!
- Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Going to slowly pop her way up and out of the car, Natasha goes to call out, "You didn't get all the points! It was five points for a mailbox and /three/ for a garbage bin!" While not going into what they had agreed were the exchange rates for pedestrians, other vehicles, and other random debris. She goes to look her way up and out of the car over while she goes to yelp. "HEy!"
She goes to move to take out a large gun that's modded to have one of those very large plungers over from it as the car zoomsalong, her leaning her way out of the window.. Then she goes to fire a large suctionc up dart.
Then another. Then another. Then another. TO the point that the nearest robot is going to look like a dad from a newspaper comic strip covered in the face up and over from them.
- Diana Prince has posed:
Diana's eyes are seemingly locked forward, her wavy dark hair flowing around her shoulders in that Pink Ranger costume as she rides atop the mighty Officer Carrets. She's aware of Karen lunging around her, landing close, further ahead, sometimes behind, and then landing right on the horse with her. The Princess looks over her shoulder. "Be ready for anything!" She shouts over the noises rushing past them, not phased by being joined by the young blonde girl now behind her.
Using her short legs, Diana compells the horse onward as she uses the reigns to help guide them through NYC traffic, even up on to a sidewalk causing people to jump out of the way of the horse as it runs right on down the s With the Toyman visibly waiting for them up ahead, Diana pulls back on the reigns and the horses hooves slide on the pavement until they come to a stop. Reering up on to its hind legs, Diana, Karen, and Officer Carrets are greeted to the onslaught of 'toy' Justice Leaguers.
With the horse back down on all fours, Diana glances back to Karen. "Get Kal. I'll get ... myself." She says before guiding the horse again, this time rushing over toward a Halloween decoration, she gathers up a metal pole holding up a selection of dangling pumpkins and ghost decorations, turning Officer Carrets around, she jousts with the lasso twirling Wonder Woman, aiming to slam that metal pole right in to her before that lasso can do any damages!
- Felicia Hardy has posed:
Slamming on the breaks as a Joker in a Joker costume stands in the street, Felicia screams and saws on the wheel, left and right rapidly, slowing the car as the tires lock up and screech loudly. The back end lowers back to normal with a weighty thud. Parked in the middle of the intersection the doors start to pop open and Felicia goes to vault up onto the top of the car like a gymnist.
Unlike any gymnist ever, including herself, she went through an ungrowth spurt and finds her body isn't where she expects it to be and she slaps herself onto the roof of the car with a groan. "Avengers! ... Screw that guy!" She complains and rolls down the wind shield onto the hood and then onto her feet to rush after the Toyman.
- Tony Stark has posed:
Tony spent most of the ride changing the music stations. Just constantly flipping them, trying to find a good song. It would be maddening to adults but kids are immune to such things, so it's likely just fine. FLIP FLIP FLIP FLIP.
"We're headed to the church now. Over," Tony adds into his device. Greer's parrots the voice, of course. Very helpful. With a screech of feedback. Ow.
The sudden stop sent the remaining half of the hot dog that Tony got from Rich into the front dashboard. "Five second rule," Tony reminds everyone, as he salvages it. It's fine! Priorities. He's moving across into the driver seat area as Felicia leaps out, and pulls ... the hood release, this time, after they stop. The hood pops open and upwards -- from the FRONT hinge since this is Fancy Stark Car <tm>, as a big shield to block... well, it also blocks vision, but hopefully also blocks arrows from tearing them up if shot from the front.
"I want the car battery," Tony announces to the car in general. No explanation. That's an Adult Tony habit, explaining. He was holding the TALK! button down on his Walkie, so he adds, "Over," as he gets out of the passenger side, staying low. It's easy, he's pretty short.
- Clea has posed:
"Sorry." Clea says from the back seat, quiet the first time they strike a car. "So Sorry." She says a little louder, with everyone starting to join in a few cars later. Then, like clockwork, Felicia is hitting cars and a smarter adult would realize she's got to be doing it on purpose, but it's funny because car crashes are funny and not at all traumatic!
There's even a song! Which Clea doesn't know the words to, unaware that this is some song that one of the child soldiers in the car made up on the spot, but dang'on is she going to scream the few words she does know! In her loud, squeaky voice! "SORRY- SOOOORE-EEEEE- SORRY SORRREEEE-EEEEEE!"
Then they've arrived.
Mostly intact.
With Toyman present to greet them with his army of toy League! "Lemme see!" She groans at Tony, literally trying to climb over him to peer out the window at the child sized toy figures moving around beyond the window. A window she crawls out from, because who needs doors when there's windows, and falls over ontot he concrete with a grunt. Dusting herself off as she pops up and starts running at the Fastest Toy Alive!
Where usually she'd would engage in some mystical hijinx, she inwardly knows her magic is remanded to lesser trickery and illusions, but that doesn't mean it can't be every bit as effective! With the right amount of creativity, anyways.
Now, it requires a great deal more effort to summon up even the most rudamentary of spells, but go through it she does. Wildly waving her hands, twisting the mystics around her in waves of smoke and light, only for her hands to shoot forward towards The Flash!
With a deck of cards fanned out, "Pick a card, any card."
- Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper looks out the window and winces every scrape of the car. It's their car! There's no thought of the fact they can just buy another darned car, mind.. but soon enough, with the giggling going on in the vehicle, it's not long before her own chorus of 'Sorry!' joins the rest.
With the car screeching to a halt, Pepper is thrown forward a little, and a hand is thrown out to brace herself or she was in direct danger of faceplanting onto the floor. (No seatbelts for her!)
Green eyes widen at the little JLA, however, and with a wild eye, she's looking around at her friends. Those really aren't...
Whew.
The doors unlock automatically, and Pepper pushes on the door to open it. Anything is better than being in the car that is being pelted with arrows! She can't help herself, though, and she screams as she runs to the sidewalk, looking searching for anything. A kid dressed as a baseball player (and undoubtedly plays ball himself) is carrying a Louisville slugger, and quickly the boy is accosted, robbed of his possession. And now? Pepper is armed, and is looking really fed up with everything! (And it's just the beginning?)
- Richard Rider has posed:
Somehow, someway, Tony forces him into the car, watches as Tony recovers the hot dog with the five second rule, and then finds himself in the rear middle, needing to pee really bad. "Um. Are we going to stop? I need too..."That was when the car does this and that, and makes it worse.
"Oh...um..." Clea. "Sorry..." She does her thing! And through it, somehow, Rich still has the third hot dog in his hand, all pristine, and looking very edible.
With all the chaos going on, Rich licks his lips and prepares to eat the hot dog. "Mmmmmmm...."
"Avengers! Screw that..." Nova ears are filled with a battle cry, but all's he can think about is the hot dog...and he needs to pee. Darnit!
- Greer Grant has posed:
There may be some damaged seats in Tony's car, as Tigra digs in with her claws to hold steady during Felicia's breaking maneuvers. Okay, let's be honest, there -is- seat damage, but it's not like it compares to the body damage on the outside. She's starting to really hate the communicator now. She hasn't quite figured out how to make it turn off and stay off. Tony's 'overs' keep coming in over it. She hops out of the car and does a weak approximation of a rolling dodge away from it, trying to avoid little arrows of outrageous fortune. And then an idea comes to her, and she flips open her communicator, sending it spinning across the ground towards the Batbot with his goofy bat ears. "Tony! Feedback, now!"
- Karen Starr has posed:
It is an incredible task to get a thirty-something year old Power Girl to do what you're telling her to. Getting an angry pre-teen Power Girl to do what she's told is tantamount to impossible.
"I've got a better idea, Di!" she declares, holding onto the woman as the horse continues forward towards the other Justice Leaguers. She's battled Toyman before. He's just some guy. Even in this form she should have just what she needs.
There is a leap from the horse!
That doesn't get her nearly as far as it needs to!
Landing again, Karen looks around for a moment, making sure that nobody saw her hit the ground, before running forward. She really ought to be going after tiny Kal-El, but Toyman is more important! He's behind all of the toys, and taking him out is the fastest way to victory, and fastest way to getting big again, barring a fortune telling machine.
Her eyes glow red again, and as she starts running- pretty quickly, for a nine year old- towards the villain, she shoots a pair of not especially harmful lasers right at his eyes. They won't do more than sting and blind, but that's all she needs, because her plan is to use that to her advantage to draw one fist back in a mighty punch!
Now, she's not tall enough to sock him in the jaw. She can't reach that high. She /is/ tall enough to fight /real/ dirty, though. Strong as she is, a blow to the groin won't feel all that great, even if she's ignoring the more present threats to do it.
Surely, the others can handle the toys. Surely, when she incapacitates Toyman, they'll all just fall over. Surely, even Toyman won't be able to live down a haymaker to the stones by a juvenile superheroine.
- Tony Stark has posed:
"I turned down the sensit--- OH." Tigra wants the opposite thing. Tony's quick to comply, and reverses back into the driver's seat. He adjusts the device, says a silent 'sorry' to everyone, and blasts the car horn into his Walkie.
<< BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHMMM -- SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE >> goes Greer's device, shrieking feedback and carn horn nose in a weird sonic pulse at the Bat-boy machine bot!
Tony adds, smugly, ears ringing, at the downed, baffled bot, "....Over."
- Felicia Hardy has posed:
Rolling down the windshield as Tony pops the hood, Felicia is dropped off the lifting hood in front of the car onto the road with a cry. Pushing herself off the ground, she reaches up to her face and feels the worst sinking feeling in the world. "My dad is going to kill me."
Her glasses have fallen and she can not see them. It's too dark, and they're black. Tears of guilt, shame and fear well up in the young woman's eyes before she opens her mouth and her voice breaks, "I lost my glass-*suck in air* glasses..." Felicia's voice is wavering and sharp. She can't fight like this.
"Help meee." She says fumbling around on the ground trying to find them. Then the horn of the car she's RIGHT IN FRONT OF blares out loudly and with a LONG press of the horn, her cries are overpowered.
- Cecily Winters has posed:
With every car impact, Cecily's ears droop a little more. A little more. And then her head dips along with them. She mumbles 'sorry' and it grows a little louder with each passing one. Eventually, though, her hands cover her ears, as do her tails, because there's a point where she needs to hold on to the door for stability. She growls as everything literally comes to a screeching halt--and an arrow punches through the door inches from her face before she shoves it open as hard as she can.
"Mister Stark!" she squeaks, "If de-aging and being shrunk down is not somewhere in my contract...!" She pulls open the glove compartment and rifles through it, yanking out a couple of road flares. "...then I am going to demand more mochi ice cream and matcha smoothies for all of this!" she pouts, her mind easily shifting gears to a more childlike desire than silly things such as money or insurance. Still, there's some speck of tactical training in her.
She's well on her way to fulfilling her job as she keeps herself between Green Arrow and Pepper, at the very least, or tries to. Her tails really are terribly good at obscuring *everything* behind her. Still, she stumbles some, her skinny legs and her balance way off from all the weight behind her. "Stupid... tiny twiggy..." she grumbles, a late bloomer herself. And then. It happens.
The horn. /THE HORN./
Like Calvin's mom in one particular comic, the fox's scream is louder than the car horn itself and falls to the pavement, face down and hands covering her head. "STUPID! BOY! BIG! DUMB!" she growls and seethes as she stares up at Tony in the car. "STUPID!" she shouts and throws the watergun *at* him as hard as she can. And she's still got a hell of an arm, even if she's not at full capacity.
- Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper looks around rapidly, and finding her target, a Green Arrow that is drawing a bead at the car once more, she pads back into the fray, maneuvering around the masses that are trying desperately to get out of the way. Who'd notice a 10yr old who is a 'nobody' in terms of Avengers?
Heh..
The timing couldn't have been better, not really. The blare of the carhorn distracts long enough for the young redhead to wind up right behind the little archer. "God, I hope you're not real, too.." before she swings her hardest right at the archer's mid-section.
*whoomph!*
- Clea has posed:
Usually this sort of manuever wouldn't work against a Toy, but this Samhain and, whether she realizes it or not, Clea is still innately using magic to manipulate things behind the scene. The Toy Flash cants his head at the cards fanned out before him. At first looking to the white haired teen, then the cards, then gingerly reaching out to pluck one of them. "That's it! Now remember it, do you remember it? Keep thinking about it really really hard, okay so much harder than you're thinking about it, how hard are you thinking? Are you thinking hard? Do have it in your mind?"
The Toy tenatively nods.
"Okay, good, now put it right up to your face! Right- no, closer. Hold on, like right here!" She moves his hand by the elbow, to put the card right up against his forehead. "Yeah, that's perfect, right there. Okay, now close your eyes and count to back from five."
He doesn't even make it to four.
She grabs one of the hub caps from Tony's car, that came off when Felicia slammed on breaks, and uses it like a blugeon to bash the side of the toys head with all the wrathful might of a half Faltine pre-teen.
Which isn't Kryptonian youth strong.
But it's gotta be pretty strong right?
She swings again, this time in the other direction. Shoulder slams into the disoriented toy and she stands over it to smash the hubcap over and over and over until it stops moving, or her arm hurts...
Por que no los dos?
She huffs and puffs and blows hair out of her face, tossing the hubcap off to the side.
"Abracadabra mother trucker."
- Diana Prince has posed:
The valiant charge of Officer Carrets, and his mounted rider the ten year old Pink Ranger Diana, ents abruptly, and arguably violently against the lasso swinging opponent modeled after adult Diana...
When it's all said and done, onlookers gasped, hands were put up to faces, and the sounds of horse hooves impacting against asphalt pick up in speed again...
On the horse, Diana raises her now free right hand up. She whips her head side to side to get her hair off her forehead, then slides the golden tiara-- claimed from the toy version of herself --and slides it on to her head. Riding quickly atop the horse, Diana turns sharply and then shouts something in Themysciran, which Officer Carrets responds to for some reason, and starts rushing back toward the fight...
Diana raises up the golden lasso she'd also claimed from 'herself' and is riding back toward the Toyman that Karen is battling.
The Pink Ranger starts twirling the lasso rapidly at the side of Officer Carrets....
- Natasha Romanoff has posed:
The situation is in chaos. Natasha goes to charge in over towards someone or something. It may be Toyman, it may be a henchman, it may be one of the robots.. It doesn't particularly matter. Even as a ten year old, Natasha is still one thing.
Russian.
And she goes to bite down hard over on it with her teeth. The girl's an ankle biter, and has a very good set of them. She's feral, and worst of all at her age, there's almost enough blood in her alcohol system to make her that most dreaded, dreaded thing over by Russian standards.
Sober.
So, all that rage that a redhead has combined with puberty is put out over into her biting down HARD over with sufficient force over to make one really wish they'd had a tetanus shot.
- Tony Stark has posed:
Tony yelps as the plastic gun impacts one raised forearm. It's a plastic gun, but Cecily has a good arm, so it smacks in his arm. Tony scowls at her, and her rant about how boys are big, dumb and mean. And very slowly, so she can watch him do it ....
Sets the device back into place, and LEANS ON THE HORN AGAIN.
- Richard Rider has posed:
Rich stands back, and watches as the fireworks begin. After all, he was not in a position to beat up on bad guys. All these fine heroes were better suited to do it! He only had a shiny helmet, and some sparkly energy thingys that happened when he wanted to punch somone. Oh! And his hot dog.
- Steve Rogers has posed:
The Green Arrow robot gets bent over as Pepper aims for the fences and swings right through his gut. There's a crunching sound at the impact, which leaves a hole in the robot, and springs pop out of it and a gear is seen hanging over.
Green Arrow starts just fitting arrows to his bow and firing, like he's stuck in a loop. The arrows are going random directions as he slowly turns circles, firing into buildings and windows, and causing any remaining pedestrians who stayed to watch, to scream and take cover!
Meanwhile, Toyman bends over too, letting out a girlish squeal as the undersized Power Girl clobbers him right in the family jewels. He slowly falls over, knees pressed together, hands on his groin. It'll be easy enough for Diana to bind and secure him!
- Felicia Hardy has posed:
Felicia is still fumbling about on the ground, on her hands and knees in front of the car. She's still rummaging around looking for her glasses and no luck. Thankfully none of the toys view her as a threat or an avenger, for some reason that will later offend Felicia. At the moment however, she's worried only about her glasses and her inability to see.
Felicia then jumps, as the horn is honked again. "GOSH DARN IT TONY!" She screams like a cougar in heat. A violent rageful scream.
The Black Kitten comes down onto her feet and there is that bottom of the stomach, black hole of a sound, of plastic and glass crunching against asphalt. "N-n-nooo..." Felicia cries as she puts her hand by her foot and then moves her shoe only when she's touching the ruined glasses, and in a fit of 'give up' Felicia sits on the ground in front of the car, crying silently ugly tears.
- Cecily Winters has posed:
The horn stopped, Cecily manages to haul herself to her feet, shaky but stable enough. "Thank--AAAAAAAAH!" Another loud screech and while the fox manages to not hit the pavement again, she's still covering her ears. Several things happen. She pulls her hands from her ears and scrambles inside of her Rainbow Dash bag to find something. Her earplugs. She stuffs them into her ears--but the damage is already done. Tears are streaming down her cheeks--and trickles of red are leaking from her ears.
"Stupid Tony!" she loses all semblance of sanity and replaces it with child-like impotent rage. Those two road flares she'd pilfered? She holds them up and manages to conjure up the barest amount of foxfire to ignite them. From purple-blue to angry red, raising them high like some grisly, blazing trophy. And then she runs, as hard and fast as her skinny little girl legs will carry her. Backed by the fluff behind her, she's got more mass to add to her momentum.
The flares are thrown to the side at the last moment before she dives into the car through the passenger side and tackles Tony out of the driver's seat--away from the horn. "Stupid boys and their stupid toys! Making loud noises! Hurting people you big dumb-dumb!" WHUMP! Right to the pavement! She's grabbing his shoulders and shaking him while angry tears stream down her face.
- Clea has posed:
With the work done and the Fast Toy Alive shown the most best magic trick ever, Clea tunes into another sound: That of the crying Felicia. With a frown of sympathy born of childlike empathy, she makes her way over to the sticky teen and lays a hand on her back. "Wanna see the most best magic trick ever?" She murmurs as she awkwardly rubs the kittens back. "Hold on, watch."
She holds her hands up and wiggles her fingers.
Then reaches up as if she's going to grab Felicia's ear, but instead pulls something from behind it. Then grabs her broken glasses and wiggly waves her hands off to the side where she can't see what she's doing. Then turns back to hold them out.
The plastic is fixed, as is one of the lenses. The other is been replaced with a diaphragm.
Which is not at all an inside joke.
Trust.
- Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper is mad and is just getting angrier. She's barefoot, the car is crashed up, but the horn? The loud sound is actually proving to be helpful to at least one person, and that's her. The *twaaaang* of a broken Green Arrow does sent the toy into random fire mode, and this? This is what jump rope actually prepared her for. Not just any jump rope, but DOUBLE DUTCH
It's all in the timing.
Pepper ducks around, the bat is still in her grasp, and she pops up to another side to wind up quickly and hit it again... and again... and once more.
"Just stop it!" is screamed at it. "Stop it!!"
- Tony Stark has posed:
Cecily forgot one thing!
...She armed Tony.
So though yes, she does tackle him, and he half-braces out of the car door trying to push her away and still get at the car horn, they end up tumbling out the driver side door. The Walkie falls out as well, onto the pavement with a light plastic thud. And as Cecily pummels at him with her flares, Tony brings up her water gun, and squirts it at her right in the front! With kid logic, this will be super effective - and both of them are WELL within kid-logic right now. "Take that!!"
- Steve Rogers has posed:
Green Arrow's random fire ends up becoming friendly fire, as one of the arrows goes right into the face of Superman, even as he's trying to shake Natasha's bite off! Smoke and sparks fly from his head and a very Kal-El like voice says, "Truth, Justice, and the American way," before he falls over with a thud.
And there isn't time for another arrow to be shot as Pepper stakes her claim that the Yankees should sign her to their farm system, beating the Green Arrow robot down until it's no longer functional.
Silence falls over the intersection. Silence except for the squabbling voices of pre-teens. And the high pitched cries of pain from the Toyman. A cop moves in, hesitantly looking at the young heroes. "Um, thanks, I can take him in from here," he says.
- Cecily Winters has posed:
Cecily has at least enough presence of mind to not try and smack Tony with the flares. Not enough to forget she threw a gun at him, though. So Tony will discover that her water gun is quite fancy! Battery operated with water cartridges! It sprays a steady burst of clean, clear water with a 'blatblatblatblatblatblat!' and a hum of a motor providing pressure! "ACK! Cut it -out!-" she sputters and tries to swat the toy from his grip, or at least aim it somewhere else.
At least the water cools her down slightly, and she's less interested in throttling him for literally making her ears bleed and more wanting to just swat him upside the head. "We don't have time for you to keep being a butt-head!" she squeaks out. She does give a solid attempt at five across the face with her small hand, though, as she's soaked and frustrated and still hurting.
- Steve Rogers has posed:
Eventually the group continues. Officer Carrot is happy to convey Diana and Karen Starr on his back. Tony's car is in much worse shape. There are scrapes along both sides of the car, a hub cap is missing, and the hood is peppered with arrows.
But it still runs.
Though perhaps the group are alert for more threats, there is no sign of one until they get near enough they can just see the tall spire of the church in the distance. At that point they come upon the scene of a battle.
There are boomerangs stuck in the doors of vehicles, and some large spears as well. Vision is standing holding Kraven the Hunter's wrists pinned behind his back, his great strength enough to restrain the villain. Captain Boomerang is lying on the ground, hands cuffed behind his back and Falcon kneeling on his back to keep him pinned down.
And there's a war glider such as the one that Green Goblin uses. Captain America is on the scene, pulling from it his shield which is lodged in it so deep it nearly broke it in half. While there are scorch marks and a few pumpkins with razor spikes sticking out, there is no other sign of Green Goblin though. He must have gotten away.
Cap just stands, blue eyes widening at the sight of the horse and the car driving with one wheel deformed like a clown car, containing pint-sized Avengers and their allies as they make their way towards the church.
- Diana Prince has posed:
As Diana had ridden off atop the horse, she'd passed by the skewered version of herself hanging from the side of the building with that metal Halloween tree pole sticking out of the toy's midsection.
Officer Carrets was getting a good ride today, even rushing past the car filled with crazy 'kids' inside it. The Princess controls the reigns, holding her claimed faux-lasso at her side now as they advance to the desired destination.
Officer Carrets slides up to where Steve is waiting. Ink her Pink Ranger costume, Little Diana looks down at him. "We have to find a potion to cure this magical effect that Amora the enchantress has placed upon all of us." She tells him in a surprisingly calm, but serious, tone of voice. She looks to the cathedral.
"We... were told it is here." She says in that very thick accented English, then lets out a heavy sigh.
- Tony Stark has posed:
Tony has suffered considerable indignity now and his own share of personal pain and stress that he's hiding... related to the battery problems he's facing as THAT runs down. "I'm getting my car battery now," Tony says, unnecessarily snippy and with no explanations, after the car stops. The damn thing in Tony's car is hot, though, so another car's ends up being the target.
And no, Tony won't go anywhere without getting it. That means he's not going into the church quickly, he's extracting a car battery instead.... or he WAS, until he sees Vision.
Oh look, a huge battery. "Viiiiision," Tony coaxes, instead, with the power cords from the back of the car ready. "I need a battery." Either Vision helps, or Vision IS a battery.
- Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Getting over in to the area comes Natasha, having taken the leg that she had bitten off the Superman robot as a trophy of war. She's now wielding it like a club, and if anyone gets too close she's quite, quite happy to hit them with it. Also she spends a momentw ith it moving to pick her teeth from it.
She would go to head over in towards the church, "If I'm not out shortly, burn the place down." That could very well be normal Natasha. As Officer Carrots talks and the others plan, Natasha moves to go in, large club in tow, and moves to simply try and kick the door in..
"Ow, ow, ow!" Okay, not strong enough to kick it. Fortunately, she has a club.
WHAM! Unfortunately, she's not strong enough to even with the club open the door. she moves to tug out some wires with her teeth, pointing the foot over at the door.
*BOOM* the foot is then launched over like a rocket, taking about three solid meters of door with it. Excellent! The foot-rocket returns to the leg from whence it came, and Natasha heads on inside.
- Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper is back in the car, and she's silently staring ahead, trying not to cry. She has her bat on her lap, and she's looked down at her evening dress. It's ruined; dirty and torn in some places, and she doesn't even want to look at her stockings. Her feet are bloody, having run over rocks, though she doesn't feel it. Not yet. Adrenaline is still running high, after all.
Once the car comes to a stop once more, she exhales in a centering breath before pushing the back door open once more and sliding out, bat in hand. One step is taken away from the car before she looks around, her face rising as she looks up at all the damage; the little 10 yr old redhead looking more than a little out of place. Still, she pushes a palm into the side of one of her eyes and slides it back. No tears. Never. Never cry.
It's when Tony reminds her that there's something else in play that she looks like she's about to lose it from the stress of it all. Still, she manages to keep it together, and she drags the bat with her towards where Tony is and his approach. She's not going in without him.
- Clea has posed:
"What's up dudes." Clea, usually so reserved, has fully regressed into that of a typical teenager! So while this is pretty unpleasant, she bounces back pretty quickly. Like a kid who thinks getting a shot is the end of the world until mom says she can have ice creamm afterwards. So, white hair and all and wearing the robes of her station, she skips up the steps of the church. Amora had left the potion there and while she's totally going to cast a spell on that Witch that forces her to live in an Episode of Barney for two weeks, right now her sole intent is to get growed back up.
There was something very important she had to do, even if she doesn't remember what it is right now.
Clea aint waiting around, she's going inside to grab that bottle! "So, like, do we just drink it from the bottle? Is there cups? What ratio do we use, magic is an exact in perportions, we drink the wrong amount we may end up being old people... like in our forties or something."
- Cecily Winters has posed:
For the entire ride further, Cecily is very much in kid mode. She's doing the sulking thing where she's staying as far away from Tony as possible, arms folded so tight she's probably cutting off some circulation, and staring out the window. For as still as stone as she is, her tail-tips are lashing about almost violently, making soft 'whupwhupwhupwhupwhup' noises when they flick against the car door. When they arrive, she huffs, "Finally..." and is among the first out the door to make sure that if someone decides to lay on the horn again, she's at a safe enough distance.
"Gentleman," she says with a sigh, trying her best to smooth out her attire. It's still wet. It's wrinkled all to hell. But she nods with respect towards the... still-adult Heroes in the area. Once she's sure that Tony is well away from the car horn, though, and trusting the others to get the potion... she moves to join Stark and Potts. As her own adrenaline wears off, she's made aware that she ever so much did not do a very good job of doing... well.. her job.
She approaches the battered, bat-wielding Pepper, hugging her bookbag to her front and looking all manner of sad and guilty, her ears wilted and her tails just about dragging behind her. "...we.. made it, at least..."
- Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers continues to stand wide-eyed as the Princess of Themyscira rides up on the horse and gives him that brief summary of what went on. "Ahhhh..." he says, filling the space that it takes for all of that to register and get processed by his brain. "Ah," he concludes finally at her comment they were told it was here. "We came across these three who it seemed like were waiting to ambush you," Steve comments with a motion of his head towards the two captured villains. "Well, those two, and Green Goblin, though he was slippery and managed to escape," he says.
Vision calls over, "Captain, will you please take my place while I assist Mister... er, young master Stark?"
Cap tips his head to Diana. "Let me know if I can help," he says, and then walks over towards Vision. Cap pulls out his phone and quietly dictates a text message to it. "JARVIS, text Lara and ask if she has any whiskey on hand. Going to need a drink after this."
He takes over for Vision, who goes to assist Tony, serving as, or getting for him, a battery.
- Felicia Hardy has posed:
The drive as a half blind, half crying, half diaphragm, all beat up young thief is not going as fun or as lovely as she expected it to be. Felicia knows her dad is long gone, but her body feels like it did when he wasn't even in jail yet and her mind is bouncing between the two and she's struggling to keep her cool.
It's been a weird fucking day. One she's ready to put behind herself and yet, she wants to help those around her first.
Felicia watches Cecily run out first and protects the wheel from anyone else who might honk it. She watches Clea and Pepper and Natasha take the church while she stays in the car. She watches Tony go and find a battery for his power requirements.
The thief stays behind and wonders what she's doing here. Captain America and Vision are talking with Diana, and Karen who never faultered or wavered. Felicia looks down at her own hands and feels a certainty that she's in the wrong place. Again.
As she climbs out of the car, and she looks towards the church, and all the people in there and in front of it, the white haired lanky girl looks at herself, the scars on her hands from her gymnist life style and then a look up and back to the way they came from. She could walk away. Start over. Disappear.
- Tony Stark has posed:
"Okay, Vision, so.... Hmmmmmm," Tony comments, slurring some, but trying to continue. He's suddenly out, and down, as the D batteries currently in his chest cannot handle the job any longer. Fortunately, Vision is there and well aware of what needs to be done -- so Tony's moved to the car's damaged backseat, to allow Vision to assist with restoring power to Tony's magic-slammed kid-sized 'arc reactor' toy.
Some devices can't be made into crappy kid versions....
Tony's out, for the moment, while Vision works to assist. It's quiet; Vision respects Tony's privacy about what is going on here with the arc reactor - most don't know about it. Cecily, despite being part of the Stark group, may not realize that it's an active medical device - until now, anyway.
- Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper is hot on Tony's trail, her bat still held tightly, ready to fend off anyone who even looks at him cross-eyed. She doesn't say anything; there's nothing to say, though she does cast a glance at the church. It's a lure, but there's no real decision to be made. At the whopping age of ten, the redhead still understands where her place is and should be.
Pepper watches Vision, and even has a word or two as to what had gone on in the relatively recent past; not that it means anything with the toy reactor, mind. But, it's all given in quiet tones, the all too real fear of a child that possibly understands more than she should.
She doesn't say anything to Cecily, not right now. There's a glance of an acknowledgment, a nod, but she's not happy. There's no joy, no satisfaction on her face for a job done.
- Cecily Winters has posed:
"Mister Stark?" comes Cecily's worried tones over the edge of her bookbag. She watches him hit the ground, eyes wide, ears up. She follows in step with Vision and Pepper, finally coming to realize a little more about Tony's chest rig. She sees Pepper still clutching the bat and she nods, mind finding a little more clarity now that she's no longer running on high. The church is there, as is the potion, but her place is right here beside Tony and Pepper.
She secures her bag across her shoulder and reaches under her skirt, checking what mockery of a handgun she's been given. High-end BB gun. CO2 cartridge propellant. It'll shoot an eye out, but that's it. Still, the weight of it feels at home in her hand, more appropriate than how heavy a full-weight metal sidearm would be with her reduced strength. The fox sighs, silent otherwise, and keeps the barrel angled towards the ground. This is where she belongs, after all.
Doing her job.
- Clea has posed:
While there are some who would delight in getting the chance to relive their youth, Clea distinctly remembers hers. The last few hours have been a pleasure cruise compared to the nightmare into which she was born and through which she survived. There's a hint of curiosity that, perhaps, a chance to re-do might leave her in a better position if that re-do were done here on Earth.
Even to a childs mind, the realisation is far too complex to put so neatly into a box. If she doesn't return to her post in the Dark Dimension, the forces aliegned against her would easily regain control. Those inleague with her Uncle, Dormammu, would see him returned to the throne... and that's entirely too heavy a consolation for the prize of getting to be a teenager in a world where everyone isn't out to kill her.
So as tempting as it might be?
Clea reaches out to take the bottle and sips from it. Letting the potion return her to her own age, into her own skin, and feels the jubilation of youth replaced with the centuries of hardship.. It fades back into the darkness of her mind, hidden away behind walls construct for the singular purpose of protecting these precious gifts.
Then she sets the bottle back upon the table and walks back towards the exit where others have yet to decide their own futures. One amongst them, a young white haired girl with broken glasses, draws her full attention. It is to Felicia that Clea goes, smoothing out the long tails of her robes behind her as she settles down on the curb with her arms laid upon her raised knees. With her left hand partially wrapping her right wrist, she smiles in a completely understanding way.
"Rare is it that Fate gives you a second chance to make a first impression, I can understand the allure. But fate is rarely so easy as that and certainly not without pitfalls." She reaches up and takes the broken glasses, but this time she actually fixes them. They're replaced upon Felicia's face, hands returned to her own knees. "You rub elbows with a very impressive crowd, Felicia." Glancing around at all the Avengers, then back to Black Cat. "I suppose you could have done far worse, don't you?"
- Felicia Hardy has posed:
Felicia pauses and looks at her newest aquaintence, now friend and she looks back over her shoulder at the Avengers, young and old and, they're vaguely familiar faces. They talk often of family and friends and yet, Felicia looks at her glasses and lowers them from her thin face. "I might rub elbows, but I don't feel like I know any of them. Or like I have earned anyone's respect." Felicia whispers, her voice catching in her throat.
Putting the glasses back on and looking to Clea, "I don't feel like I'm a part of the crowd. I still feel very alone. Maybe that's where I really belong." She says. It's not the age of herself or her body, it's the relationships she's built, or hasn't built that weigh on the small thief.
- Diana Prince has posed:
As Diana dismounts Officer Carrets and returns him to the newly arriving NYPD officer that she claimed the horse from, The young woman tries to explain herself to the Cop, who doesn't seem to really be buying it...
A silver sedan arrives near to where Diana is then, and two Themysciran women step out from within it. The police observe as they approach Diana, and she accepts the offered lasso of Hestia from one of her taller sisters now. "Thank you, adra." The young Diana says, holding the real lasso in her left hand as she passes off the 'fake one' claimed from the Toyman's games.
The real lasso glows a bright golden hue, and Diana isbathed in the light, suddenly returning to her normal height, her normal appearance, and her normal age. She extinguishes the divine power within the golden twine, and exhales softly at seeing her face restored to how she knows it to be in the reflection of the silver vehicle's windows.
She looks to the horse mounted officer then and offers him a soft smile. "See?" She asks all cheekily. then before she turns to walk off and check on the other's, just incase they need the touch of the lasso to tell the truth about who they are as well...
- Tony Stark has posed:
It takes some time, but Tony is revived to being conscious. It's a little sudden, really, he's suddenly sitting up with a confused thrash. He doesn't question what happened or is happening, though -- which just may suggest this happens enough to where he comes out of these and can place quickly what caused it. The cables out the bottom of the dress shirt are obvious. The tie is now gone somewhere, it didn't survive all the activity anyway.
"Oh. Still this nightmare, then?" Tony asks, overly calmly. He eases up to a steady sit now, attached via cables to Vision. He scrubs his face with both hands, glances at the two girls - Pepper and Cecily, and says tiredly, "I'm fine, I'm fine." He scoots to start to get up. "Let's go drink the totally safe magic kool-aid." He doesn't actually get up yet, he sits there, rallying internally to get moving.
- Clea has posed:
"Trust is a difficult thing to quantify in someone looking for it lacking. You could spend ten thousand years amongst your closest friends and only remember that one time they scorned you. It's the fundamentals of what makes us... us. The good things? We don't remember those, we remember the the bad. We remember them because it isn't the good things that shape us. It's experiences, no matter how terrible, who shape us. So they stay clearest while we struggle to retain even a glimmer of memory to those times where things were... good." She smiles faultering, a flickering pale expression on her ghostly face.
"It's also why we remember, with such vivid contrast to reality, how amazing certain elements of our past actually were... Rose colored goggles, they call it." She snickers and waves a hand, "Sorry. I'm off on a tangent."
Rather than continue along that random thread, she holds up a finger. "Truth being what it is, you are not alone. Nor do I sense any distrust. Suffice that your decision, here and now, should be what you want.. and not what you think you deserve. Because I don't think the two things are the same." She points to the place where the Kitten had hidden away the tome she'd come to the Sanctum to turn over.
"Trust."
Then she stands, smooths her robes.
"If you decide to stay as you are and later feel the decision wasn't what you wanted, then I can fix it. But don't wait too long to decide. Because the witching hour approaches."
- Pepper Potts has posed:
They're a mess, really. The ten year old befreckled Pepper breathes a sigh of relief when Tony comes back around, and the momentary confusion is expected for some reason. Nodding her head in silent response to his question, she looks out at the church before looking back, and then to Vision, and back to Tony once more, the silent expression making a silent request to perhaps carry him. "Do you think you can make it?"
Pepper looks to Cecily and exhales in a breath, her words quiet, "You should go get that drink." 'Before it's too late' isn't actually spoken. "We're coming."
- Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff simply walks forwards and goes to take the drink and moves to take a swig of it. She has few memories of her childhood. Those few she has are ones that she does not hold dear. Some of the others may hve grown up in idyllic childhoods. Others were traumatized. Some suffered. Some were abandoned. Natasha?
She simply has no attachment to that period. Nothing came from it but survival despite the circumstances. Those lessons stayed with her and infected her.
And brought the rest of her life crashing down upon her in the seventy or so years since. Natasha Romanoff is back to normal.
Others might have learned a lesson. Had a reminder of whimsy. Of something abandoned that they had back for just a moment. Natasha..
Natasha merely is.
- Cecily Winters has posed:
There's a soft sigh of relief when Tony's back up. Not so much on his feet, but awake. "Good morning, Mister Stark," she says as politely as she can. They're all messes. Every one of them. She looks around the battlefield, as well as at their allies. The gentle urging of Pepper reaches her ears, muffled, and she pulls out the plugs that are tinted with dried blood. There's a wince, but she nods. Ever polite, every ladylike, that Pepper. Even when small. "I trust you all have this in hand, I'll be right back."
She adjusts the weight of her bag and keeps her sidearm held low, making her way into the church at a steady but not running pace. It's there inside. So obvious. Waiting. And clearly it works, considering the others that had taken a sip. The bottle is taken into her free hand, but she resists the sip. Just in case there's not enough left for everyone else. Her sense of duty remains. First feet on the ground, last feet off.
So she turns, holding it carefully, and moves with more urgency back towards the door. She's jogging, passing through the threshold, and heading towards the car and her companions. The sound that fills her ears, however, is sudden and nearly makes her topple over. Not a car horn. Not something loud and painful. But it still makes her blood run cold, her spine tingling and adrenaline spiking.
The cathedral's bell tower. The clock strikes midnight.
Gong. Gong. Gong. She's frozen in place, feet feeling heavy. Before her eyes, the remaining liquid in the bottle starts to unravel like yarn, wisps of blue rising up and out of the mouth of it. From liquid to dust to vapor, the fluid fades and dissipates as she's left trying to feebly catch it with the bottle. "...no..." comes a tiny voice.
- Tony Stark has posed:
Tony spots the silent request and lifts a finger at Vision, "Don't even think about picking me up," he declares firmly! "I'm not a child." A pause. "Well, I mean -- I am right now. But you know what I mean," Tony says, getting to his feet, and pulling at Vision via the cords -- which is probably just outright dangerous, but. That's Tony. They start to proceed up to the church, with Tony gaining some momentum just to get this done, though he is quite pale from stress.
Tony has no interest in returning to being a child, really. It won't come with the lost things of childhood.
It won't come with his _FAMILY_.
Tony hurries up, to meet Cecily as she comes out. Vision is assisting a little, subtly.
"Is --- that the potion?" Tony asks.
- Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper brings up the back, a decidedly audible sigh rising from the redhead at the protestations. Still, moving forward is a good thing, and she carefully picks her way across the divide. She can feel the stones and insults against her bare feet now, and it hurts. The bat doesn't seem to be as needed as before, but it's still brought along, just in case.
Pepper can see the fox's outline in the night, highlighted by the lights of the city. The sound of the tolling of the bell brings her up short, however, and she stops, she freezes in her tracks. 'Midnight', the voice had said. Who was it, she didn't know at the time and still doesn't. But, 'midnight'.
Her own childhood wasn't bad; parents, school activities, and friends. But life truly didn't find its meaning until after she came to work, and it's not something she wants to leave behind to repeat something that already had been.
But now, the decision might be made for her.
"Oh, tell me.." is whispered.
- Cecily Winters has posed:
"N-no.. is.. is it?" Cecily's ears start to flatten as she looks between Tony, Pepper, and the bottle in her hands. She turns around, trying to do a full one-eighty and run back into the church to check. "It was the only--" she only gets about a quarter of the way around before her foot hitches on her own ankle. The fox tumbles sideways, bottle slipping from her grasp. She prioritizes catching it, hitting the concrete harder than any ten year old has the right to.
She manages to snag the bottle just in time for the last drop of glowing blue liquid to drip free of the lip. It doesn't even hit the ground, instead simply dissipates and fades, leaving the bottle completely empty. The vixen's tails curl inwardly as she curls up into a ball, groaning softly, whimpering out a soft "Ow..."
When she looks up at Tony and Pepper, her eyes are full of tears, "I.. I'm sorry... Mister Stark... Ms. Potts.. I should've.. I wasn't fast enough.." she stammers, voice so small and distraught, taking full responsibility. The weight is the same as a harshly scolded child, or one who may have done something like break a window or dent a car completely by accident and is awaiting the worst punishment imaginable. Her own status as being stuck in this form is miles away.
In her mind, she failed her friends, and that's all that matters.
- Tony Stark has posed:
Tony stares at the loss of the droplet. He couldn't have lunged forward to help, he just wouldn't have been close enough -- and it's vapor.
The reality is going to slam in on all of them. Still, Tony's never let something defeat him, and he's not starting this day.
"Well, no kool-aid for us," Tony observes, smoothly. "We'll get another way. We always do. We know a cavalcade of wizards with rings and rods and robes," he says, in his self-assured way, even if exhausted. "And better, we have /me/. So, no worries. Not MY first curse."
Tony offers a hand to Cecily, and also Pepper, though it's Vision that supports Tony himself. "Sleepover at my place," Tony adds. "I have ice cream."
