15731/The Reins in Spain

The Reins in Spain
Date of Scene:	28 August 2023
Location:	Archaeolgical Dig, East Coast of Spain
Synopsis:	When the Justice League Dark arrives to look out for what's causing accidents and one death among the team at an archaeological dig, they find Estelle Badillo, the assistant professor, has a bag of mummified snake heads and is after what appears to be a bridle for a horse! Now what could possibly connect those?
Cast of Characters:	Nettie Crowe, Sara Pezzini, Belinda Gutierrez, Talia al Ghul, Patience Alperen, Hellboy

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Nettie Crowe has posed:
    EAST COAST OF SPAIN:

    It's a cliffside village that once wound down to the natural harbor below, where a small fishing settlement still stands. It crumbling walls of tawny stone and former fields that yielded grain for the ancient town were some of the few remains, crumbling as Time has worn them down with the beating of winds and rain.

    The dig was paused for the moment; last week someone had an accident and fallen from the cliffs. Many of the students had fallen ill the closer they dug to the central town well.

    There were too many accidents, too many sicknesses for it to simply be coincidence to the professor. Eduardo Avalrez waited, fanning himself with his hat as an old short bus rumbled up, full of The Justice League Dark.

    Nettie of course was at the wheel, relaying information about the dig, the site, and how they'd found Greek coins and ancient Greek soldiers in shallow graves outside the city walls at one point.

    And when she steps off, she's wearing sunglasses and jeans, her ever-present crow at her shoulder.

    "Professor Avalrez!" she calls out. "Eduardo, how *are* you sir?"

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara wasn't entirely certain why they let the oldest member of the team drive the bus, but she also wasn't going to say a single damned thing about it. If Nettie wanted to drive, Nettie got to drive, even if that made the NYPD Detective wish for seatbelts and a helmet.

She listened to the details bout the dig as they traveled, making note of the fact that the Professor was right, too much coincidence... something was definitely going on.

Dressed in a light weight mustard-yellow, cable-knight sweater and a pair of 'mom jeans' in light blue, that have a drawstring instead of a zipper fly, she looked like she had no idea about traveling in the summer to exotic places. She was wearing a pair of cheap looking sandals, so maybe she had a little idea? Really, there was only one person out there might understand her clothing choice, and the young woman would be getting a report on the success of failure when this was all over.

Stepping off the bus, she immediately starts looking around, but really she is letting Witchblade get a 'feel' of their surroundings. He would know more than she would, and would report it back to her in due time.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
It takes a few moments, but Belinda Gutierrez clambers out after, great straw hat on her head and dark sunglasses too wide for her eyes. Blink blearily, step aside.... Breathe deep, gaze inland, up at the ancient mountains. Out, across the endless wash of the Mediterranean. Scent of the ocean. Sand and shore and stone. Geting the lay of the land in classic fashion.

It is easy to see that tingle of excitement in shivery veins, the pleasure at being somewhere new for the first time!

"Dusty," she remarks absently, "But alive. Old and new!"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul is mostly relaxing on the way out. It's ruins, so that could mean any sort of number of things. Monsters, zombies, dragons, ancient crypts.. That's why they have Sara with them. To act over as th every, very stabby meatshield to take everything thrown at them. There was something to be said for having one's own heavy artillery along with them when facing the unknown and the barbaric. Talia is not paying too much attention to things as they go in to their arrival point.

Patience Alperen has posed:
Seated in the back of the bus, Patience listens as she stares absently out the window at the countryside passing by. The discovery of Greek soldiers and that the graves were shallow stands out but significance can't be determined without seeing the site and learning more.

As the bus comes to a stop, she lets the others climb down from the bus and instead closes her eyes to utter a silent prayer and to focus her thoughts. Breathing out a sigh she pulls herself up and turns to take the burlap wrapped staff she brought along on the trip.

Easing her way down and out of the bus, she lingers near the back of the group. She's wearing a black tee shirt with the faded cover art from AC/DC's Highway to Hell album. She wears tan canvas cargo pants and hiking boots. Hanging from her shoulder are the wrapped staff and a backpack.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Is this the group of investigators you were telling me about? Eduardo asks, using his hat to shield his mouth.

    Nettie gives a smile.

    "They're very good at what they do. This is Detective Pezzini, Miss Talia, Patience ALperen, and my granddaughter of sorts, Belinda, who's got a good head and better nose." she introduces the group.

    The winds shift. Something appears to have picked up on their presence. The temperature drops a couple degrees. The malicious energies seem to draw their attention to Patience and that spear, and Sara herself, like a drop of water from an icicle dripping down the back of a neck.

    "My assistant, Estelle Badillo, is working closer to the center of the town well and was in the necropolis when it collapsed in on James and Diego Juan -- she was the survivor." he explains as he motions and leads the group around.

    Closer into the ruins, the smells shift around. Rotting food has the undercurrent here. The buzzing of flies on a wall can be noted.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
A sensation runs up Sara's spine, one that she has learned means one of two things... Either she is about to have a flashback to something that happened in this area, or Witchblade himself is having a moment of 'borrowing' her senses. When her eyes glass over for only a few seconds of time, it is the later that takes place while he informs her that Dark Magic is settling over the area and he is not at all happy about that knowledge.

There is no specific threat but the sensation is awful, and honestly Sara is not accustomed to Witchblade /sharing/ the actual feelings. If she were a normal person (technically she is just a human) she would pack up and leave, that's the kind of ickiness that came with the feelings.

"Nettie," she mutters softly under her breath. "You feeling this?"

Without warning to anyone, including Sara, the thin tendrils of metal expand out from the bracelet on her right wrist, lightning fast they form the well known gauntlet with large red stone and small blue stone. From there the tendrils rip through the outfit she was wearing with one brief poof of smoke and then the armor wraps into place around her body. The last pieces of protection to form are the helmet over her chestnut colored hair, complete with a metal mask sliding into place over her face and the massive metal wings on her back that instantly spread to lift her off the ground a few inches.

"We got problems now," she warns the entire group and is already trying to ascertain the threat level and where it is coming from. "Be ready..."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda takes her glasses off, smiling brightly as she offers a quick wave to the Professor. Mostly focused-- the rest on stealing the scents, enjoying that odd flavor of scent from Professor Alvarez-- so much cologne! And the rest, the dirt-- freshly turned, marked by the stakes and boundary tape marking the areas where students had been working on locations, digging with tiny tools and brushes, to better preserve any fragments of history discovered.

She scents the changes among her companions before seeing it. The sudden sharpness, the rise in tension: nothing scented out of the ordinary, but if anyone trusts unusual senses...

Belinda steps to the side, closer to Mrs. Crowe and the Professor. "What is it?" she asks, glancing around cautously. "I do not smell anything yet..."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Best to not give her full name. Just to be on the safe side. Talia has decided to go full classic here. Machete on her back, fedora on her head,a nd whip at the other hip along with a small pistol. One doesn't get to do this too often, so it's best to be indulgent when one can. She goes to listen over to the discussion of 'Necropolis' and taps her arm.
    "Do you have any idea what triggered the collapse if anything? Was it purposeful or sudden?" She has no sense of magic but with something feeling so disquieting, one has to wonder if it was whatever dark energies there were erupting..
    Alternatively seh's being rather polite in not bringing up the possibility that they could have done somethign to unseal a great, ancient power and evil. That's not polite to say up front.

And then the group is going defensive as Talia goes to snap her hand down to her whip. I twon't do much, but it makes her feel better.

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen listens as the others talk. A small smile is offered as she is introduce. Curious brown eyes scan the surroundings of the site thoughtfully. Then that sensation brushes along her spine and it causes her to stiffen and frown.

As the Witchblade makes itself known, her eyes narrow and scan the area again. Around her neck, the icy blue gem set into the ancient amulet begins to glow as she kneels. Slipping the wrapped staff off of her shoulder, she works from muscle memory and keeps her gaze actively searching while her hands reach into the backpack to take out a smaller wrapped item. Unwrapping the staff and then the equally ancient tip that form the Spear of Destiny, they are soon secured together and she rises, the wrappings placed into the pack which is left on the ground near the bus.

Looking to Nettie and the others, she waits. For now. There was no direct source to focus in on yet.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "No, Sara not --" Nettie warns, d then she gives an extremely frustrated look at Witchblade's sudden appearance as she tilts her head back.

    "DIOS MIO!" Eduardo shouts out, scrambling back from the Witchblade as she shifts her weight.

    "Right. Witchblade, Patience, make a loop around the area and see if you can find what's emitting the bad karma. Belinda, Talia, with me.

    "Eduardo, answer the nice lady." she states, pointing to Talia.

    "Ah... no, no, we don't know what caused the collapse. The tunnels seemed secure, we had no reason tot think they may come down, we even shored up extra supports..."

    And that's when the ground erupts. Dusty skeletons dressed in ancient Greek style armor, cped and shielded with their worn shields dented, their clothes long since moth-eaten begin to arise from the ground, grunting in ancient tongues that have long since left their bodies.

    NEttie looks particulrly peturbed.

    " -- the overlying feeling of malaise -- it must be being used as a fog for other senses!" she calls out in warning, and draws her wand.

    ... which really seems to be the least dangerous of all the weapons here today.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Never once has Sara apologized for Witchblade appearing in the way he does, it was always to protect her and so she would never offer any words of apology, to anyone, ever. Sure, sometimes it was the most inopportune timing, but still...

As Eduardo reacts, she offers the briefest of nods to the man as she says, "He likes to show off, but you have nothing to fear from us sir. We're here to protect you and get some answers."

With that said, she lifts herself a higher in the air to get a better angle. Lifting the gauntlet up to her chest, the large red stone flickers to life as Witchblade opens his 'eye' and starts to look around. The search had begun, just as Nettie suggested, when a partial answer came exploding out of the earth. Sara had to fight Witchblade's nature desire to dive in and start hacking at the undead, argue with him for what felt like minutes when in fact was only milliseconds... and then the looping flight began as they sought out the source of the power, and not the symptom.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda sets her bag aside as the skeletons burst forth from the earth, dropping it to the ground; strapped over her shoulder, it bears more resemblance to a gymbag than a purse or suitcase. "Stay behind me!" she cautions Professor and Greywitch, watching the ancients of war with care as they shake free. Dust, earth, old soil still clinging to moldy bones-- she breathes more carefully, more deeply, brow furrowed as she grimaces.

"Still not smelling anything...!" she warns, complains, frowning. She bites down a helpless giggle of amusement; with quick movements, she grabs the hem of her shirt, heaving it off and tossing it back towards the bus. Unbuttoning her jeans, sliding them down, and stepping free-- as her warm-colored unitard appears, she looks for all the world as though preparing for a dance recital rather than facing the Dreadful Dead!

She places the domino mask of her costume over her eyes with grave, simple ceremony. The simple white eye-pieces betray the grin that rises from her face-- interspersed with a n apologetic glance for Prof. Alvarez. And then...

Forward. Step. Crunching bone. Quivering flesh. Muscle unravelling, frame shattering, hot flesh bursting free. Smoother for all its horror, swifter as flesh reknits and body reshapes, as scents crash in and hearing reaches the stratosphere! A lonmg and lusty breath and-- scents. /Scents/! No longer able to hide from keen nose, hot breath; she bares bright fangs as the wolf-creature rises to her full height.

Silverdane!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia knows dispassionately what exactly the Witchblade and the Spear of Destiny are. From research. Not exactly from eprsonal experience. So this is going to be a -very- eye opening thing. As the skeletons go to spring up, Talia goes to watch at them. "How uncouth." She goes to pull ou ther pistol and goes to aim over at the nearest skeleton. The magical ones will handle this threat, but it's still always good to see if more basic methods work. she goes to aim the pistol over at the skull of the nearest skeleton, and pulls the trigger. The bullet will be a low caliber one from the handgun, so it may not fully penetrate.

Time to see if the skeletons took a headshot as something consequential or not. Which was always a good way to figure out the tier of enemies they were dealing with. But she's mostly staying out of the way to let what she presumes will be the Witchblade and the Magdalena handle it.

And also to see if Belinda's natural instincts towards playing 'fetch' would kick in.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy had been kind of hanging back and letting other people take point. Archaeology, scholarship, investigation - not his bag. He's been called an 'occult investigator' in the occasional bit of official documentation, but he always corrects that. "I ain't no gumshoe" he'll say and then get a baffled look from some twenty year old clerk who doesn't know what that means.

Hellboy is a monster hunter. And last he checked, skeletons count.

"Hot damn, some action," he grins. He leaves the Samaritan in its holster or now - skeletons are damned skinny which makes them shit targets. A big fat bastard sword, on the other hand, can do an awful lot of bone breaking. "Come get some, you scrawny sumbitches."

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen would prefer to have been in her proper armor but there was hardly time or place to change. It had been an investigation just moments ago, not a battle with long-dead Greek soldiers.

As the skeletons erupt from the ground, Nettie is simultaneously asking she and Witchblade to check the perimeter.

"It would appear we've gotten our answer, Nettie.."

Stepping away from the others, she spins the weapon around like a bo staff before setting herself to face off against the nearest skeleton. As it comes within three meters of her location, she lashes out with the spear, whipping it around so that the revered bronze tip slices through the neck vertibra and collarbone of the undead warrior.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    The skeletons rattle about, their vacant stares and missing jaws looking about the group of Justice League Darkers. THey raise their ancient swords, bronze gleaming dully and with ancient blood spilled in the light of the Iberian dusk.

    And they charge. Chaos becomes the digsite as the few workers are chased by skeletons out of their areas. One woman screams as she's followed up a winding stair to the top of one of the broken walls.

    The skeletons seem almost mindless, their approach to Patience and Hellboy are the same as they charge Belinda the Awoo and Talia's dispassionate stance.

    Nettie appears to be having a surprisingly difficult time. Her scelera have turned darker gray, and she appears to be trying to wrestle control of one coming near to her, Corvax cawing in concern.

    Hellboy clears a good chunk with a single blow of the sword, the skeletons plinkoplating to pieces, some of their bones turning to dust. The shock of the Spear of Destiny rattles the skeleton, and it explodes violently. Along with the skeletons to either side of it.

    Feeling out the 'source' may be difficult, but Sara and Witchblade would eventually come upon a woman, frantically digging near the center well, muttering in Spanish as she goes until she finds a box.

    She has what looks like a leather pouch tied to her belt.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Using the sense of feeling rather than eyes or hearing, its not exactly a precision sort of information gathering sense, well usually not anyway. For The Witchblade it was second nature to feel his way around, and with the assistance of his Wielder Sara, it went even more quickly than it would if he was alone.

Ending up in the city itself, Sara can see a woman finishing up some rapid digging as a box reveals itself. There is no doubt in the NYPD detective's mind that that box needs to not be found, so she shifts her position and dives toward it.

The sequence of following events are unlike anything Sara has experienced before... and Witchblade, well he hasn't been struck in this way in a very, very long time. Had he even suspected it was a possibility, he would have had his shields up, but seeing as he did not...

All at once the world around Sara explodes into the past as she is watching a massive cycloptic giant and a three-headed monstrous boar with wings just ripping through the Greek troops like their puppets. The New Yorker can /feel/ the terror and horror of the troops as blood pours out of their bodies, arms and legs ripped from them go flying and the gasping moments for breath. Sara's scream adds to their screams, before Witchblade can pull up slightly to keep his Wielder from slamming into the ground, only to be caught by a magical force and slung to the ground anyway.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Silverdane plays cover for Greywitch and Professor as she hunches down, arms spreading wider, eyes gleaming behind her domino mask. She strides forward, two steps; better to keep flying fury and savage violence away from the more fragile as werewolf and undead crash together. Rattly bones, the sound of crackling-- old armor and ancient bronze clashes against living frame and muscle and fur. Catching two of the charging skeletons in a bearhug, she snarls as she lifts the two into the air, heaving down against the earth again in smashing retort. Leaving the two shattered bodies to their momentary rest, she reaches for a third, its footsteps clattering as it tries to slide by to threaten Nettie and Alvarez.

"Burying bones is dog's work," comes the gruff, growly voice, her grip tightening on the skeletal warrior's femur. "But can except in your case," she adds, rising up, heaving the dead warrior up from the ground. Ears quiver to the source of the screaming; she glances, quick eyes chasing across to the student, the woman racing up the stairs nearby with a pair of the skeletons close on her heels. The decision is swift in coming: she turns, twists, an with a howl-- skeletal warrior becomes an impromptu discus, sailing through the air to shatter against the pursuers, the three tangled together before crashing to the wall behind.

"Grrfh. Refugiarse!" she howls out as another scream reaches her ears-- Sara. Pezzinni! She waves the student along, falling to all fours as she lunges forward. "Abuela, Professor-- take cover. Will deal with these!"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Well, this has a simple enough scheme to it. Man digging with things that which man was not meant to know, man unleashes ancient calamity out of desperation or unknowingness. Monsters come out. To Talia Al Ghul, this is a rather understandable thing. Cause and effect. She had long ago become rather blase to these sorts of things.

So, as things escalate, Talia Al Ghul is moer than content to let the specialists handle this. As Nettie seems to be struggling, Talia goes to take out her pistol, and goes to try and shoot at the skeleton approaching Nettie. Her shots are aimed over at the skull - a tight cluster of three bullets that hopefully would shatter it.

And then her reverie of casualness is broken over as the Witchblade screams. The host? Whatever it is the sound itself seems to echo about the chamber in terror as Talia goe sto rapidly shift in the direction of Sara with her weapon out and pointed at it. Anything which can actually off-balance the immortal -thing- is certainly going to slaughter them all with contemptuous ease, but she's not going to back down.

Hellboy has posed:
There's something particularly satisfying about headbutting a bare skull and seeing it splinter into pieces. Gruesome, yes, but viscerally pleasing to Hellboy's demonic sensibilities. One of the reasons he can keep himself on the side of...well, not the angels, angels are dicks, but the good guys...is that he can indulge his hellborn need for carnage on the wicked and the damned.

So it's hack and slash, hack and bash, stop and destroy. Yes, the skeletons are weak, almost beneath him. But that's part of the fun.

"Anybody who needs it, get behind me while I smash these fools."

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen clears her way though the nearest skeletons to work closer to Nettie. As the Witchblade dives toward the woman digging and the box she uncovers, Patience's attention is pulled that way.

"We need to reach her --" then the Witchblade and Sara scream and are thrown away.

"Sooner would be better I should think.." Her grip on the Spear tightens as she prepares to fight her way toward that woman and the box. A growing sense of displeasure at the implications so far.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Ther eis something very satisfying about headbutting skulls. And Hellboy has a very hard head with which to do it, smashing the skulls to peices as he goes through a very target-rich environment. Skeletons are not the smartest undead (on account of their lack of brains), and they still attempt to take him on.

    The skeleton harassing Nettie is both tackled and eliminated by pistol fire, falling to pieces, shattering.

    "These aren't being controlled in a normal way -- I can't wrestle control of any of them!" the woman cries out -- adn then the Witchblade and its bearer scream, echoing over the field of battle.

    There's laughter, evil, maniacal, as the woman rises above the field, holding an ancient wooden box under her arm, before alighting on the top of a wall.

    "FOOLS." she barks, "You stand in the way of my vengence! Here I have in my hand the very means of destruction for my enemies! I will lay waste to cities and towns!" she cackles madly.

    The ground rumbles again. And look, it's more skeletons!

    ... except these are joining together.

    A long... horrifying, bone wyrm, constructed of snapped ribs for teeth and deep holes of its skull burning with dark magic -- it's skull, MADE OF SKULLS.

    The massive new enemy attempts to bring down its great head on Hellboy, its maw opening wide!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Oh, she was somewhat close but not quite. It was a person specifically digging for that which man was not meant to recover. So while whomever the woman is that's making the.. Giant skeleton combiner robot/skeleton, Talia Al Ghul twists her attention over to the woman that is indulging in the theatrics.

She then goes to fire several shots aimed over at the woman's head. And at her larynx. And at her stomach. And then at her kneecaps. Reloading so fast that her hands are a blur, the bullets targeted within a few centimeters of one another for each 'cluster' and fired in three round bursts. It's only -after- Talia has finished with all of her shootings that she goes to pipe up.

"Oh do shut up." Being shot in the throat, skull, stomach, and other joints required for flexibility will still hpoefully -hurt- even if the woman isn't injured. Talia, alas, does not adhere over to the etiquette of maho shojo combat.

She can and /will/ shoot her enemy repeatedly over their transformation sequence.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Witchblade wraps Sara's entire body in armor, leaving no part of her exposed. He had not been prepared for this level of magic being wielded by the woman with the box. Yes, there were powerful users of magic in the world and he had come across a few of them since being with Sara, but there weren't many who knew about him and how to manipulate the one ability even he had troubles with, as this woman had done. It meant that this woman with the box knew about him, and that was far more dangerous than he was prepared to admit was possible... until now.

Inside the protective shell of metal armor, wrapped carefully around every inch of her, Sara's mind is caught between the past and the reality. Forced to not only witness how the Greek army had lost their lives, but to also live the pain of those attacks, her mind shut down. She welcomed the darkness that washed over her, knowing that when she lost consciousness, Witchblade would be there to keep the living nightmare she just witnessed from becoming a sleeping one as well.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Silverdane snarls as the Snake of Skulls erupts, magnifies, assembles. Fangs glitter as she growls furiously, skittering to a halt as the creature rises, coils-- dives at Hellboy! A glance catches sight-- the Lady, Magdalena --moving, rescuing. Her own direction diverted!

With a howl of lusty challenge, the werewolf springs from the ground towards the gargantuan beast; leaping for the undead beast's bony hide, she scrabbles for purchase, claw securing grip in bone, clambering up the giant, sinuous side with fervent grip.

The idea of *what* to do, exactly, will be solved later. For now--

"--Dios!"

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy isn't the type to dodge.

He just lifts his sword as that big head comes towards him and gives it a mighty swing at that giant skull of skulls.

"YOU BIG BONY BITCH!"

He stands his ground. He may get smashed, but he's been smashed beore. He may get swallowed, he's been eaten before. Wyrms, dragons, sea monsters, serpents - living or dead or undead, scaly or furry or bony or covered in meat, he's killed 'em all and mounted the heads on his wall. This one might be a bit big, but Hellboy knows a really good taxidermist.

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen gawks for a moment at the massive bone-wyrm. Yeah, that really isn't something she's going to do a lot of damage to. Not easily. Instead, she follows the magic. The woman behind all of this and the leather pouch on her belt are the most revolting things here. The closer she gets the stronger that vile sense becomes. Still she focuses on getting within range of that pouch and when she finally is, she thrusts the Spear forward in an effort to stab that leather pouch and possibly tear it from the woman's belt.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    The Spear of Destiny peirces the pouch.

    Tumbling out of the pouch is... snake heads.

    So. Many. Mummified. Snake Heads. The woman's been shot, but isn't going down. She snarls, gritting her teeth, and she reaches to hold tighter to the box she's dug up, but her scream echoes as she's peirced through the thigh with the Spear of Destiny as well. She tumbles backwards, down and off the walls before Eduardo calles out "ESTELLA!" -- apparently, that was the addistant they were all heading down to see.

    The Big Bony Bitch (TM) rattles as it sbones strike against one another, and it attempts to grab a hold of Hellboy in its big boney jaw, lack of tongue not withstanding, and send hi mflying over the cliffside.

    It stail comes acround and tries to strike at Belinda, Nettie and Talia, with Patience juuuust out of its reach.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Clinging for dear life atop the bony beast, Silverdane snarls wordlesly. Time for intricate plans long past; now for action, as she draws back, riding the skull-formed spine of the monster precariously. Up, down-- a twost fisted strike to the back and base of the creature's head; again, she snarls, a second strike taking shape, falling in time to Hellboy's impacts. Fist and sword working together, she joins with Hellboy in striking down at the monstrous construct, a third blow sailing down--

A hard oof as the bony lash sweeps from the side, a writhing tail snapping like a tree-sized bullwhip!

From side to air she sails, Silverdane tossed aside with a grunting howl of protest!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
And there rushes Talia Al Ghul. Rapidly doing calculations and coming at the appropriate conclusion that being in the path of the giant bone (and likely the dog chasing the giant bone) is a bad idea, she goes to leap and into a quick sommersault! Also yanking Nettie, that has not demonstrated the level of agility or shielding ot withstand an impact of several dozen tons of boney force to the face along with her in the process!

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy gets into that big bony mouth and starts to remove its teeth. Violently. Chaos, mayhem, violence, brutality. All that fun stuff. Hellboy's in his element. This is what he was born to do.

Break bones.

Kill monsters.

Raise hell.

"IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?!?"

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen hadn't intended to stab the woman in the thigh. But? If it interrupts what she is attempting to do and at the same time can dislodge that pouch er.. full of mummified snake heads? Well that is probably a value added benefit in this moment.

Rolling away from the tail's path, she pops up, trying to reach the woman and the box that she was still holding as while falling over the wall.

"You always take us on the nicest of trips, Nettie" she calls.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Is that all you got?

    /Punk/?

    The bone wyrm gives a roar, skulls and ribs and broken bones being ejected violently from its head by Hellboy. That lad is definitely not going to make it as a Kaiju dentist, with all those teeth falling out of that bone wyrm's mouth, as it attempts to dislodge Belinda, and then manages to lash hard enough to make her go sailing!

    The strike of the bone snake rattles the wall, and Talia grabs Nettie out of the way of not only the snake's strike, but also falling debris -- the two tumbling off to the side as Nettie gives a cough and calls back:

    "Nothing but the best for my favorite friends!" to Patience, "Next time, YOU pick!"

    The woman is caught. There's a SNAP, her arm's broken from the sudden jerking motion, and with pure hatred and wrath in her eyes as she glares back to Patience, she kicks off her shoe, and she -- and the box -- go tumbling into the sea below!

    Where a maelstrom forms, circling, and swallowing -- but Patience, from her vantage point may note: what fell out of the box looked strangely like a horse's bridle.

    Now... just what could that be used for?

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would go to land on her feet after having released Nettie and goes to quickly take her gun up to reload it. Not that it would do much - she had come here expecting skirmishing, not engaging enemy armored infantry backed by kaiju undead. There was a tier difference in loadout.

"Lovely, so if this is the type of scenario where we throw a rock in and see how long it takes for us to hear something, then we'll need to get some proper equipment." By that she means napalm. Lots and lot sof napalm.

Because sometimes you needed to be able to set even the water on fire.

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen tries to catch the woman but it's too late. Instead she watches as the woman plunges to her presumed death in the water. Brown eyes focus on the box as it opens.

"...a bridle.." she puzzles aloud before blinking and turning. She looks back toward Nettie and Talia, breaking into a run, Spear tightly in hand to help where needed. "..Nettie she fell into the ocean with the box.."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    With the control -- all those mummified snakeheads -- and the thematically appropriate bone wyrm dismantled, Nettie limbs to Talia and Patience. Her expression seems concerned.

    "Attacked an archaelogical dig, in Spain, on the sea, for a bridle. Ancient Greek dead. Snakes. It all must be connected. It feels too--" she frowns, and shakes her head.

    "This isn't over, duckies." she frowns. "Whatever she did deadened even my magical senses..." she frowns, "Belinda, I'll need your help poppet, getting a hotel for the evening. We cannot leave this... not yet..." she states, and she picks up one of the mummified snake heads.

    She turns it over in her hand.

    "Patience, dear, how *is* your Ancient Greek?" she questions.

    And at the bottom of the page, should this be a comic, it would show a close up of that mummified snake's head, and the word scrawl of... TO BE CONTINUED.