16333/Young Avengers: Toy Drive

Young Avengers: Toy Drive
Date of Scene:	17 November 2023
Location:	Rockefeller Center
Synopsis:	The Young Avengers hold a toy drive, in the midsts of it, and an attack by Toyman they discover the magic of Santa Claus!
Cast of Characters:	Mark Grayson, Emiko Queen, Xiomara Rojas, Bunny Macleod, Gabby Kinney, Molly Hayes, Scott Lang, Billy Kaplan, Miles Morales

---

Mark Grayson has posed:
I don't want a lot for Christmas
There is just one thing I need (and I)
don't care about the presents
underneath the Christmas tree...

The poppy, upbeat tones of Mariah Carey sound out throughout the plaza, one of the harbingers of the holiday season. Around Rockefeller Plaza, there is all the signs that the season is in full swing. The scaffolding around the recently erected Christmas tree, the skating ring that just opened for holiday visitors - it's the perfect time to start to the holiday drives for various groups and charities.

And while there will be those larger drives - Toys for Tots, for example, it is good outreach for the younger hero groups to get their names out there, which is why the Young Avengers have their own set up. With the heroes dressed in their costumes, hocking to the crowd that has gathered to donate toys! And while they may not be as infamous as a Captain America or a Wonder Woman, there have been plenty of younger children that are excited to see heroes closer to their age and are eager for selfies and autographs.

A decent sized pile has built in the plaza, unopened toys, a few bicycles, a five foot tall teddy bear that looks like he has seen some things (tm), and a few ride ons that are being prepared for delivery to a local charity. The group is starting to enter that almost last hour, we may have gotten as much as we can and it's good work.

At the moment, however, the Young Avengers are drawing straws to figure out who will be making the coffee run, and it's Invincible, AKA Mark Grayson that is left holding the short straw. "Okay! Everyone give me your orders!" he calls out, grabbing his phone so that he can enter their drink orders. Once he has the orders and gets them entered into his phone, he grins, showing it to Prisma (also of the Young Avengers). "Going to have so many points, free Ventis for us both next time."

Emiko Queen has posed:
A charity drive doesn't seem like the kind of 'mission' you'd expect Red Arrow to be at. But expectations are for normies, and she has her reasons. Most of them boiling down to Emiko never really having a normal childhood, or having a proper Christmas until she rejoined the Queen family proper. Those were enough reasons for her to be here and help some unfortunate children have a better chance of holiday cheer.

At least with red being her primary color, and green being in abundance thanks to her older counterpart, a holiday version of her vigilante costume wasn't hard. It was mostly replacing the black bodysuit she wore under the red padding with green, and adding some of that white fluff lining to her hood and cape to make it look more like a winter cloak.

"Cappuchino is fine," Red Arrow replies to Invincible taking orders. She's not a hardcore coffee person but something on the warmer side to help with the cool seasonal weather wouldn't hurt, they're probably going to be out here for a while.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Ah the holiday season. It wasn't technically here yet, but the need for toys to give to children who would likely not get anything had gained the attention of one Xiomara Rojas, or as some might know her, Crush. Right now, somewhere in New York, was a Walmart Supercenter that no longer had a toy section. She has gone in with her last two paychecks and purchased one of everything.

Now the half-Czarnian, who always got stared at for looking like the intergalactic bounty hunter of renown, came to the donation center with eight black Hefty garbage bags filled to capacity with toys. She had been one of those children for whom Christmas meant no presents. She knew what it was to look out the window on Christmas day and see other children playing with their new toys. No child should have to endure that.

Dressed in her work clothes; a pair of thick brown work pants with a light blue button front shirt (the sleeves removed), and her combat boots, she wandered up to get in line with the others waiting to give their donations.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    PRISMA does not like that particular version of that song and she has VERY STRONG OPINIONS of it being played in fricking NOVEMBER.

    "OOOH TRENTA quadruple shot espresso four pumps caramel four pumps vanilla extra cream, whipped on top with chocolate!" she exclaims, skating over to Mark, ducking beneath Crush with a 'scuuuse me Miss Awesome' to sling a slightly munched-up tenner to Invincible. "For the tip jar, for my order." she gives an embarrassed grin.

    Her blonde hair was tucked up and pinned in place as she zips around.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Peppermint mocha with extra whip!" Calls out a familiar voice that should possibly NOT be here. Gabby wasn't in costume because... She wasn't a Young Avenger. She did know a few however, and hey it was a charity thing. Far be it for her to not try to help out an old flame and her new boy with a charity thing.

The scar-faced girl grins brightly while she holds up a LOT of shopping bags filled to the brim with toys. Not stuffed toys, or the like, but arts and craft kits. Nail polish stuff. Paint. Everything that slightly older kids might like as well as those who were crafty without necessraily being boy or girl related unless they chose to.

"I think I'm like, Platinum Reward Status at the craft store by now. No glitter though," she assures as if that might be a concern.

"Well, glitter GLUE pens at least that's not *as* bad."

Molly Hayes has posed:
Package based fundraisers and drives mean one thing: a lot of carrying. And nobody loves to carry things more than Molly. Her limitless might - okay, not entirely limitless, but, like, so much better guys, the stamina gains, wow, for real - lets her carry unexpectedly heavy things, to the delight of small children. The joy of their laughter and delight is such that Molly gets a little addicted to it, shoving in to volunteer to carry even slightly heavy things at the drop of a hat.

Finally, she comes back in from helping someone carry jumbo-sized dollhouse to the car, wiping her hands on her coat. She has a holiday-style stocking hat with elf ears on it. Surprise, Molly's one of those people who celebrates Christmas early and often. Duh.

"Who else needs some help?"

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott is among the Young Avengers. At first he said, "Well. I could dress as Santa, Christopher Massachusetts, or anyone like that. No? Just myself? Alright, guess I'll stick around. Does that make me the 'Den Mothe-Father?'," he corrects himself there. That's how Scott joins this mess Ant-Man is there waving to the heroes and he will hype up -each- member. "Look. I know Cap hit hard, but Invincible here can give cap a good run for his money. Invincible's just getting started, too!" he says and gestures to Invincible.

"A future Sorcerer Supreme right here. This Wiccan, say 'Hi' to the nice people," he gestures to Billy Kaplan. "Care to show the crowd some bright colors or something?" Scott knows -zero- about the inner workings of magic. However, spotlights are a man-made invention. He just presumes it's light on the magical cost scale to do something akin to a firework.

And Scott will continue his word, "This is Prisma. I'll let her show you her stuff, but be careful she can break your arm in three places before you can say 'Uncle.'" Moving through the group, Scott continues, "We've got Red Arrow. I've seen Hawkeye shoot and let me tell you," and he starts to point toward her, "He's got some stiff competition." Scott grins under his helmet, "-My- favorite Spider-Man s here!" he gestures to Miles Morales.

"We got the gal that will put all the Asgardians on notice with her strength, Princess Powerful!!" letting Molly pose or do something to garner the eye. "That hand shake is -firm- let me tell ya,"

Going up to the last two there's an audible pause. He would have done the homework on these two. Looking from Xio to Gabby, he just pauses for a moment. Very brief, "And what team is without a few good surprises. They'll show their stuff at the end!"

Scott takes a step back. Hopefully his plan can work. Any Avenger can cast a big shadow, especially guys like Cap, Thor and Tony. So, he wanted to shrink his shadow. Put the spotlight on the next generation. Even if he -embellished- some skills or powers, the crowd didn't need to know that. People just needed to have faith and feel protected by this group. In his view, people should start now because one day this group won't be "Young Avengers" just "Avengers." So, Scott is trying to plant seeds of trust in the crowd while giving everyone a moment to shine. Even the two interns? New recruits? Junor Junior Avengers? They're probably awesome by association any way.

Billy Kaplan has posed:
    In retrospect, maybe Yule wasn't the winter holiday Billy was supposed to theme his costume after. But he's been delving into his superhero namesake recently, and it seemed fitting. The traditional Yule colors are mostly just the same ones associated with Christmas anyway, so he hadn't really needed to change his base costume, though his headband has been swapped out for a wreath of evergreen boughs with flickering candles set into them. Real candles! It's very theatrical.

    It's also totally just a bit of illusion spell-work that, frankly, has been giving Billy a mild headache for the past thirty minutes trying to maintain while also levitating donations to and fro.

    "Pumpkin spice latte please!" he requests with a smile. Because it's still technically fall. He carefully, squinting just a bit, lowers a few more gifts into the pile before he stands back, and his smile broadens at Scott's introduction. At the prompting, though, his expression wobbles a bit (now's not the time for stage fright in front of your heroes!) before he takes a deep breath, nods, and sweeps his hand out in front of himself with a dramatic flourish.

    Sparkling lights fill the plaza for a few moments, like a thousand twinkling strands of fairy lights, and they swirl around in the air before dissipating. As they fade, Billy lets out a whoosh of a breath and blinks hard a few times. "Man, I really need to work on my spell stamina," he says to himself.

Miles Morales has posed:
"Can I have a caramel macchiato?"

Miles asks Mark with a smile behind his black mask with red webbing. Miles is the one (but not) and only Spider-Man! Even the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man needs to be friendly in the neighborhood. He's not doing this for a thank you or even for recognition.

Miles just loves people. Giving toys to people who want and or could seriously need one? What could be better than that?

And to see practically the whole team here? That's all Mikes really wanted for Christmas this year. This is his crew. His friends. Not his family though, his mother would have a few things to say!

Mark Grayson has posed:
"Cappuchino for the Christmas Elf archer, got it!" A grin shot from Mark over to Emiko as he works down the list of the group to gather their orders. "The good god I will never remember all because she likes to torture me for Prisma -- hey Gabby!" A wave to her and a smirk. "I guess I can get you something." he teases.

"Molly! Coffee run, got an order?!" he calls over to the young powerhouse that he'd probably lose an arm-wrestling contest to as he makes sure to at least secure her a hot chocolate with extra marshmallows.

When Scott calls him out, Mark's cheeks blossom into a blush as he clears his throat. He doesn't know about all that! "Hey Ant-Man, do you want just a coffee black, or something else?" he asks of him curiously. Even the chaperone (err Avenger liaison) is going to get something to drink. That's when his attention turns to Billy. Really, his illusions have been the biggest draw to the event - curious onlookers coming back with toys to 'pay admission' for the performance that is being put on. "If you need a break, Wiccan, make sure to take one! Prisma probably has a candybar on her if you need it." He grabs Miles' order last - and if he knew who it was under the mask, Mark would ask him how Eve is doing. She would make a good Young Avenger, in his mind. With the orders secure, Invincible rises into the air and with a wave, he rockets off towards the shop!

While this is all going on, an older gentleman just seems to be there. He was dressed in red fur, from his head to the foot, with white fur trim, black wide waist belt and boots. His clothes smell of ashes and soot, mixed with fresh snow and arctic trees. His eyes twinkle, his dimples are merry, his droll little mouth drawn into a bow. And beneath that, his beard white as snow. With his broad face, and round little belly, when he announced himself with a loud "HO HO HO!" that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

Someone hired a really nice Santa actor, apparently!

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko Queen may not have super strength or anything, but she is strong for her deceptively lithe appearance. People don't think about how much effort it takes to pull back the line on a full composite compound bow. Though right now it's mainly being used to help move and sort gifts an all that.

Invincible has her request. And when she's mentioned by Ant-Man, Red Arrow holds up two fingers in a salute.

There's a Santa arriving finally. Now the party was picking up. Though her attention is drawn elsewhere before she can get back to sorting toys as Ant-Man's hype has done it's job and she's got a couple of younger girls wanting to take a picture! While gushing about how they're glad superheroes isn't a 'boys only' thing and there's cool girls like Red Arrow and Prisma to keep those roudy guys in line.

After that kind of praise how can she say no? That's right, she can't.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Once Crush was able to get up close enough, she set the bags down and started pulling out the gifts to hand off to whom ever was loading and stacking. She doesn't immediately recognize anyone, save for those with huge social media accounts, but she wasn't there to socialize... at least not yet.

Looking around, she offers a slight glare to a guy staring at her, then pulled in her temper to get the job of being jolly and giving out the way first.

When Scott looks her way and draws more attention to her however, she freezes and stares at the man as if snakes just sprang out of his face. Slowly looking around to see who had actually had their attention drawn her way, she bites her own tongue to keep from saying what popped into her head and just offers an odd sort of grunt, a wave and she's right back to unloading toys.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Psh. Superherodom being boys only? Never. But you gotta remember -- well behaved women don't usually make waves. So sometimes we gotta be rowdy ourselves." Prisma gives a grin, and manifests one of her shields as a plane so she can hop up with one of the bags that Crush just dropped and she begins to sort the toys from over everyone's heads!

    And then -- SANTA!

    "Ho ho Hello yourself, sir!" she gives a bright grin and a quick salute to The Claus actor, and hops down from her overhead plane, and dismisses it.
R    "Seance Dog, Seance Dog, Ninja Wolf -- the Wolf that's a Ninja HIYA! o/`" Bunny sing-songs as she deposits other toys nearby, pausing to make faces and give Bunny Ears to one of the girls in the picture with Emiko

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney would fist pump when Mark agrees to snag her a drink too. It was worth a shot to ask right? Right! But her hands are full until she deposits the bag with toys galore next to the pile of other toys that were already there.

Then there's Scott Lang pausing attempting to give some pitch about her. She can only grin toothily at him. "Not associated, just visiting," she explains with a laugh. "Most of my 'tricks' are kind of gross anyway. You don't want to see them."

Her hands dust off on her side as she tips her head up to regard the light display by Wiccan as well with a little oooh of amusement. Shiny bright things were a bit distracting. Out of COMPLETE habit though she strides over to him after already fishing a Snicker's bar out of her pocket to offer over to him. "Here, sugar up. I've got a sneaking suspicion using magic drops blood sugar and this is as good a time to test it as any."

The familiar prismatic display of Bunny's shields draws her attention as well with a grin. "Hey Prisma! Lookin' good!"

Molly Hayes has posed:
Molly Hayes calls out for coffee order, "Uh, I take it black! DON'T!" she says, turning to point a finger at a sniggering teenage boy just off to her right. "Just don't, okay? I've seen AIRPLANE!, I get it."

Being pointed out by Ant-Man has her standing up a little straighter and desperately wishing she had an actual costume and not an old coat she got at the castoff shop. Five bucks, with real faux fur from the 70s. It was older than her!

She offers a little wave and tries not to look self-conscious.

Scott Lang has posed:
"Mocha. Extra chocolate, no whip," Scott says his order and that does sound so very delicious. The warmth, the sweetness and that caffeinated rush. All of it sounds so good. "Please," Scott adds.

Lingering back Scott sees some of the seeds bare fruit. Watching Red Arrow with those kids means his plan is working. It's one of the few things an Avenger can give back to the next generation.

Seeing Xiomara freeze up reminds him of himself. The first time someone said, "You're an Avenger!" because in Scott's mind he's just an ex-con that got lucky. So, he remembers feeling so out of place when someone actually called him a "Hero."

Recognition runs across the parts of Ant-Man's face that shows from the helmet. Now it clicks. For now he'll hold back any additional comments.

Giving Molly a look, deadpan, Ant-Man says, "Golly!" It's a favorite of his.

Billy Kaplan has posed:
    "I'll be okay once I get some caffeine in me!" Billy says, hands up in front of him. He's about to turn away when he realizes something and, semi-frantic, turns back to call out, "Oh and can I get mine with oatmilk? Please-and-thank-you!"

    He does take that break, though, after Mark reminded him to do so. So no more gifts spinnning through the air or dancing lights, just one tired mage carting things back and forth the old-fashioned way: with his hands. Though a shiver runs down his spine at one point, and he pauses, half-bent to retrieve one of the bags Crush or maybe Gabby had brought to start unpacking and sorting.

    Eyebrows drawn together, Billy looks this way, then that way, before his gaze finally settles on the Santa actor that is milling about amongst the crowd.

    After a moment he goes, "Huh, that's weird," and then turns away to continue the task at hand. But anyone will be able to tell that his attention is split now, one eye kept on the jovial stranger. The offer of a sugary snack isn't one he can turn down even during his watch, though, so he turns with a smile to Gabby. "Oh, thank you! You've been so generous already," he says of Gabby's teenaged-focus toy haul, "Between your donations and hers," and here he nods towards Xiomara, "I feel like we've doubled the amount we've collected!"

    One bite into the gifted candy bar, and Billy can already feel himeslf perk up a bit. He twirls a finger through the air, and SEANCE DOG (or at least an illusion of him) flies through the air overhead, doing a couple of corkscrews around the big tree.

Mark Grayson has posed:
At the coffee shop, Invincible frowns as he tries to explain his order to the poor bileagured barista. "No, no, see, four pumps caramel, four pumps extra vanilla cream..."

She frowns. "Is this one of those Tik-Tok drinks?"

Invincible looks confused. "I don't know, it's for my girlfriend."

As Santa starts to make his round, he beams with pride at the gathering of the toys. "You are all doing a great job and a good service to the people of the world. The universe enjoys heroes with a giving heart." he offers to them with encouragement. Maybe he's been playing Santa for a while or just as a theatrical background.

While he is talking, in the sky above, there appears a large sleigh. It circles the plaza and as it comes closer to the ground, suddenly it opens up. Several metallic tendrils snake out and before Santa can react, the tendrils snag him up in a mechanical grip, his wrists, ankles and midsection held so he can't touch is finger to his nose.

And a voice sounds out as Santa is pulled into the sleigh. "I HAVE YOU NOW FAT MAN!" Toyman crows as he locks Santa away. "Even SUPERMAN can't break those tendrils! I'll have you making me toys FOREVER to make up for all the COAL you gave me when I was a kid!"

And as he was just about to fly off with the jolly old elf, he notices all the toys. "A few more for my collection!"

And with that, the sleigh starts to transform, converting and rearranging and unfolds into a large robotic Nutcracker, Santa trapped in the 'cracker' part as he starts to advance on the pile of loot, sending civilians scattering for cover as he stomps into the Plaza. "And all I have to do is take out some Junior League and their Small Chaperone!"

And as the robot raises his hand, he sends power surgining through Santa's body, causing him to shudder and then a ray gun appears in the robot's hand and he fires it down at the giant stuffed bear. The bear starts to move, rise and growls as his plushy paws gain sharp knife-like claws and too real sharp teeth grow in as it lunges at MOLLY, attempting to wrap up and smother her in his fluffy is suddenly scary embrace!

With Invincible out of the way, there's only one more possibly flying type to deal with, the webslinging MILES - the raygun fires again and strikes a set of toy airplanes. They come to life, taking to the sky and with their super-sharp propellors, start to swarm towards the Spider-Man of the Young Avengers (Because Every Group Should Have One), looking to make sure he never gets off the ground!

The Nutcracker bot itself stands at almost four stories tall, and moves mechanically, a goose-stepped styled march with similarly stiff arms as it advances on the rest of the Young Avengers. "Who's saying HO HO HO now?" Toyman crows. "I say HA HA HA! Your magic is mine! Your toys are mine! And when we're done mopping up here, your workshop will be mine!"

Emiko Queen has posed:
Dammit, there just had to be one super villain deciding to be naughty didn't there? Though the way she tenses as she quickly scoots the girls back to their parents and strongly encouraging them to find somewhere safer to take cover, there's a good chance Red Arrow was anticipating -something- possibly happening.

The sleigh turning into a holiday themed robot, okay that was a little less anticipated.

"Gee," she deadpans at Toyman's monologuing, "I wonder why you got so much coal." Fortunately being a holiday version of her costume did not prevent her from bringing her trademark weapons with, and she's quickly got them in hand. "But the only nuts getting cracked tonight are yours."

She's not immeadiately firing though. Seeing as he's got Santa penned up in the thing, she's got to make sure she aims for something that's not going to hit Jolly Saint Nick.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
This was most definitely not something Crush expected, in fact she had no idea who or what the man talking was. Staring up as the sleigh grabs up the jolly elf from the north pole, it only takes her a moment to realize this wasn't some part of a show... Santa Claus was in trouble. Was he even real? That poor actor.

Dropping the toy in her hand, the black chain around her waist has already begun to unwrap itself and slip into her open right hand.

"What the fu..." the rest of Crush's word is drown out by someone screaming, and the Czarnian merely jumps into action... literally.

Unable to fly, she didn't need to. Bending her legs she bounds from her location into the air and straight for the robot's head. Soaring through the air, Obelus extends to an even longer length before Crush flings her at Santa caught in the Nutcracker's mouth.

"Protect him from the shocks!" she calls to the chain, as if she needed to. Obelus knew the Czarnian's though, and Crush knew what Obelus was doing.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Oh hey Gabatha!" Prisma gives a bright grin, side-skidding to a stop as she looks with a grin to the slightly-taller Gabby, and she gives a bright smile. "sorry I didn't come right up kinna in the zone, y'know?" she grins, motioning around "And we have like, Actual Avenger Support, and Crush here is so cool, and there's a Spiderman and he's cool and Wiccan of course we know is... cool..." she trails off as a sleigh appears.

    And she lowers her goggles.

    "... ah... hold that thought --" she squeaks out, and then she's airborne -- slowly, and she forms a platform-ladder as she begins to ascend.

    "Someone --" skate skate LEAP "Doesn't have --" skate skate JUMP -- "The GIving Spiri--- HEY GIVE THOSE BACK!" she yells out when TOyman goes for the toys meant for underserved kids!

    There's few bad habbits she tolerates, and bullies? Well that's about the worst!

    Bunny leaps out, and attempts to jump past one of the tendrils, trying to form her bubble-shield to cut a chunk of it away!

Molly Hayes has posed:
Molly Hayes feels the bear impact her as her eyes go wide, "What the sweet Christmas turkey?!?!" she cries out as she's bowled over. She may be super strong and sturdy, but her center of gravity and her mass are still not much to speak of. He's easy to knock around, just not easy to hurt.

She ends up tumbling end over end with the 'bear', feeling the claws of the thing slash at her clothes but unable to pierced her skin. When it goes for the bear hug, she grins, "Sucker," she says as she easily overpowers it, shoving those arms off and giving the mechanical (please tell me it's mechanical I don't want to splode a real bear it's a robot right it's gotta be a robot just do it just do it Molly it's fine) MECHANICAL head of the bear a stiff headbutt that would make the Thing raise an eyebrow.

Scott Lang has posed:
"There's always a grinch in the crowd," Scott laments, but instead of running toward the danger, he runs away from the danger. A second later he's gone. Only one person knows anything. Her name is Red Arrow, Scott speaks, "Barely miss him. I know you can hit a target. Today's is so close yet so far to this guy, and take a second to aim," it's words in the ear and then he's quickly toward the arm. Then he tries to hang on. He'll wait for Red Arrow to aim, then he'll jump onto the arrow and rush toward the arrowhead. Holding onto the arrow head, he waits to get released. This is gong to be a hell of a ride. Scott's plan, get close and hit Toyman like a bullet.

Billy Kaplan has posed:
    As it turns out, there's another Young Avenger who can fly! Though Billy only uses said ability to get out of range of that scary bear. No thanks! He's too old for stuffed animals anyway.

    But airbone he does indeed go, and then, muttering a spell on repeat underneath his breath, Wiccan's hands begin to glow his signature cyan. Anchor-points made of magical energy appear in the ground surrounding the big tree in the center of the plaza and chain-links begin to form from them, rising in the air to try and surround the giant Nutcracker bot!

    "I don't know how long I can hold him!" he calls out to the rest of the Young Avengers and their allies, but for now he's doing his best to keep the giant Christmas-themed mecha from advancing any further.

Mark Grayson has posed:
When Emiko pulls out the bow and arrow, Toyman frowns. "Oh no! You don't get to play with sharp objects, child! You need something more your age!" he crows. That ray gun turns and fires.

And when it strikes RED ARROW, it doesn't harm /her/ but her gear? Suddenly she will find herself holding onto a NERF branded bow of bright yellow and orange, and her entire quiver of arrows turned into soft-squishy styrofoam like material. It's NERF or nothing for her!

With Crush rising up to attack, Toyman tries to turn his attention to the Czarnian. "Tsk! That chain is far too dangerous!" He fires -- and the ray gun does nothing. It doesn't work on things with an intelligence, artificial or otherwise. It gives CRUSH the chance to get in closer as Toyman brings up his robot's other arm to try to protect himself from the flying Czarnian and more importantly, try to keep Santa from getting one of his hands free!

But there's PRISMA coming in to offer her support, her shields and skating are providing her a great platform to get in close to him. And then as she goes for a tendril, Toyman shrieks. "No you don't! Coal for you!" Santa's power flows through the robot again and the eyes of the Nutcracker fire laser beams at Bunny, attempting to catch her in midflight and when the ray strikes her, Bunny will find herself instead of in her Art-custom made PRISMA costume, she's in a pair of bright pink Bunny pajamas, complete with ears, bunny tail and butt panel along with fuzzy Bunny slippers in pink that squeak when she walks on them and he tries to use the ray gun to knock her into the pile of toys on the ground. "You've been RECALLED!" he laughs manically. The bubble shield does work though, forming a crack in the tendril on Santa's left leg, which he is able to start moving around again.

MOLLY is able to get a hold of the bear and when she powerheadbutts it, the animatronic's head is dented it's eyes glow red as part of it's MECHANICAL skull is revealed, one eye sparking - he really did turn the giant bear into an animatronic and it opens up it's midsection revealing a selection of saw-blades and knives as it starts towards Molly again!

Scott will find that what he thought would be a really sharp arrow is far more plush and soft, but it's still an arrow, so he has that going for him?

And that's when Billy comes into play. The tree tendrils wrap up and snag onto the Nutcracker and Toyman screeches. "Naughty children! You are the ones that deserve the COAL!" he yells as he tries to turn those eye beams onto Billy, firing them but the tree prevents WICCAN from being hit, perhaps giving his team the opening they have been looking for!

Emiko Queen has posed:
One could argue it is more of a challenge to aim for intentionally missing a shot than it is to hit because it feels so counter-productive. But if there is anyone able to do it, it's one of the vigilante archers.

Having experienced many strange things in life Red barely flinches when the voice whispers in her ear and then the shrunken form makes its way onto the arrow she was already aiming. As is she only has to readjust slightly to fill Scott's request.

Though when he goes to grab onto the head he will find it a bit softer than expected. While Toyman's handiwork actually gets her to raise a brow briefly, not that it's visible behind her mask beneath the hood, and she quickly moves on from it. Other than a brief grunt. Just because she's short doesn't mean she's THAT young, it comes from being part Asian! But instead she keeps herself on doing the math in her head to accomidate for the arrows new foam composition and the toy bow having a mechanism different than a pulled compound bow. Not to mention it does nothing directly to her precision marksmanship. Just changes the variables a bit. If anything it might make the intended 'trick' shot easier.

"He thinks this is safer...." she lets the comment trail off at that as she refocuses, and fires.

It's going to look like the literally nerfed bow and arrow can't hit

But it's not the arrow that's dangerous now...

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
The mistake was made. If this Toyman had attacked Crush, then it would have been no problem at all, but he made the horrible, horrible mistake of attacking the one sentient being in the world that had always been there for the Czarnian... Obelus.

Growling out, "Oh you done messed up seriously toy hater!" as she lands on the shoulder of the large robotic Nutcraker, she pulls an arm back for a solid punch into the side of the things head. The temper and rage she inherited from her mother's male partner was starting to grab at her control, even as she was attempting to shove it back down.

Uneffected by the zap, Obelus merely finishes her toss to the mouth of the toy where Santa was hanging by unsentient chains, and she promptly wraps herself around the man to ensure she touches every chain holding him. This looked much like a snake slithering around it's prey, but in the end the black chain could hopefully now take the shocks intended for Mister Claus, and if the man were to be set free, protect him should be fall to the ground.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Bunny's hit! She gives a surprised cry as her Cyber-Ninja inspired pink outfit is converted to a pink monstrosity! A horror, a nightmare!

    BUNNY PAJAMAS! Oh she's never going to live this down.

    She reaches around and grabs at the air before she's sent crashing down into a bin of very, very soft stuffed animals, and temporarily buried with a Seance Dog over her face -- which is launched to the side with a squee-KAH!

    "Okay. Okay. He has a ray gun of... conversion?" she asks, wrinkling her nose before she hops back up, swinging herself onto another platform-shield that she uses to help guard the kids.

    "C'mon kiddos -- we've gotta get you someplace under cover. Let's go!" she cheers, motioning for the kids to stay under her generated platforms -- just in case the Big Man tumbles!

Molly Hayes has posed:
Molly Hayes quickly jerks back adn gets her coat off, pulling it away and tossing it aside. It's already got a few slices through it from the claws, her vintage coat. Darnit. DARNIT.

Molly stomps her foot in anger and the impact of it reverbrates around her in a shockwave as she stares down the approaching animatronic bear. "That's it. No more Missy Nice Princess," she says. She lets out a battle cry as she puts her head down and charges straight into the saws and blades. Unless that thing's got adamantium - gulp, but unlikely - she should be okay. But you know what you get when you assume?

HEY STOP LOOKING AT THAT.

Scott Lang has posed:
Hanging onto the arrow, Scott breathes hard. "You can do this. You're an Avenger and you can do this," he grips n hard. Quietly he says a prayer. Suddenly, "Flnk!" the arrow goes off n the air. Now t's just a matter of waiting. He'll jump off and grow back t normal large. Like a bullet that becomes larger. It's just the hope Toyman doesn't knock this thing off course. Typically, this is simple. Just all of the physics involved does complicate thngs.

Billy Kaplan has posed:
    The giant Christmas tree ends up being an excellent source of cover for Billy as he continues weaving his magic. If the eye beams end up singeing the tree, then... oops? Nothing a little repair spell can't fix later.

    If he can whip up the mystical energy for that, at least. Billy's already starting to drift downwards from where he's flying up in the air, as the concentration to maintain the spell of holding (yep, that's what he calls it in his head!) is pulling his focus in a big way. Apparently even he has his limits.

    "Who is this guy, anyway?" he asks no one in particular as he struggles to stay afloat.

Mark Grayson has posed:
As XIOMARA lands on the robot's shoulder, Toyman finds his arm unable to move to swat at the alien on his robot's shoulder. "Getitoff!" he yells, that tone of panic setting in that all villains get when they start to realize that they're scheme may be falling off it's wheels. He'd done so much better just to kidnap Santa and run away!

The electricity soars through the mechanical monter, frying circuits and forcing those tendrils around the hostage to loosen from around his body. Smoke rises from the head and shoulders of the robot, heavy damage done there.

The NERF arrow launched by EMIKO is ignored, as Toyman is unaware of the hidden danger in that spongy goodness. He should have paid more attention, because launching from within it, SCOTT's attack is lauched, the bullet ant effect slamming into a knee, causing the Nutcracker to collapse forward. It falls onto a knee, which wrenches it free from one of the wooden chains that Wiccan had locked around it.

With BUNNY herding the gawkers and onlookers away, it's a good thing that she is doing so, because it very much seems like the Nutcrackerbot is going to be taken down. Speaking of take downs, MOLLY slams into the bear head-first. There's nothing stronger than steel in here and the is a sickening whir and cry of metal on metal crime as the animatronic is forced to collapse in on itself and turns into a massacre of fur and metal as Molly comes out clean on the other side - but man, that jacket is /toast/.

With the arm free from the robot, it swings down, attempting to slam into Wiccan and send him flying into Prisma and all those plushes on the pile of toys on the ground! The robot is effectively neutralized, however, as Toyman is slightly fried and rises woozily from the ruins of his creation.

As the tendrils fall away, Santa strains - and then touches his nose. A blink of magic, a wift of snow, and he's standing next to Bunny. "WINSLOW PERCIVAL SCHOTT!" he declares loudly. "You have been on my naughty list since you were young. You have shown flashes of ... remorse in your time on this planet and it is for that reason I am willing to give you a chance." he decides as he approaches the older man in the ruins of the robot. "I will help you find the support you need, and you can spend your time at my shop to help learn what it means to give good cheer with the toys you create instead of fear and despair. But for now..."

He takes out a small snowglobe, and he gives it a shake. When the snow settles, Toyman is trapped inside the snowglobe, and Santa places it in his pocket before looking around. "What a mess..." he sighs, and then to the young heroes. His eyes gleam and he gives a wink. "Would you mind if I helped clean up?"

Emiko Queen has posed:
Uh oh, someone just got Full Named. That's a big ego blow, even to an adult. Especially an adult acting like a spoiled brat.

... Wait, this is the real Santa Claus?... Then again, much more unusual things have happened. That he offers to help despite just going through all that certainly makes him all the more credible as the real deal though.

"We will not complain for assistance... but if you have other matters needing dealt with," Red nods vagely towards the Toyman Snowglobe, "we would also understand."

A pause. "We will double check the remaining toys to make sure there are no leftover surprises before giving them out." She's impressed, but also still thinking of the kids first and foremost.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
As the robot starts to go down, Crush leaps from the shoulder toward the ground. On her way down, Obelus freed from protecting Santa, snakes out and latches onto the Czarnian as she falls by. Neither of them believed Santa was real, but clearly there are some things Crush needs to learn.

Landing with a solid thud on the ground, bending her knees to absorb some of the pressure, she stands up to look toward where Santa was now schooling this Winslow Percival Schott. This was one really messed up situation, and yet there he stood in red.

"Well I'll be," she mutters, realizing too late she's actually in Santa's hearing range. "He's real." she then adds, and shrugs off how it was that a magical Christmas elf was real, and she never got presents.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Bunny skids to a stop on her plane, and allows the gawkers to pause as well before she catches a Billy to her mid-section, though she wraps her arms around him, bubbles and drops down, rolling dizzily to the wall as the dawkers might be encouraged to make a swift and disorderly exit from the arena of chaos, debubbling and dropping down, and tripping over Billy, sending one squeaky slipper flying.

    She's laying on the ground, about to stand when -- Suddenly SANTA FREAKING CLAUS is standing next to her.

    "... I didn't hit my head that hard, did I?" she questions quietly, and she then squeaks out, and covers her mouth, looking to Santa, and then up to the Toyman, and then she zips her lips.

    Santa is ALWAYS watching and she's gonna say *nothin'*.

Molly Hayes has posed:
Molly Hayes shakes the remnants of robo-bear off of her, "Up yours, Freddy Fazbear!" she says, turning around and giving it another stomp on its remaining animatronic carcass. "Jerk.

She looks down at her jacket and makes as pouty face, "Aw man. I'm not sure if there's enough left of it to count as a jacket. I can't chock this up to 'character'. Fudge," she says. With it seeming like the bad guy(s) are going down, she lets herself feel her feelings and drops down to side criss-cross applesauce and has herself a good little cry over her nice vintage jacket.

Scott Lang has posed:
The nerf arrow isn't as true as the real thing. But it's nothing that can't be corrected. None of it is Emiko's fault, the spongey arrow caused issues. Pushing off the arrow, Scott suddenly grows full size and strikes with the impact of a bullet. "WHAM!" And Scott is too focused on Toyman to notice the rest of everything else If it takes more than one shot, Scott will shrink down and strike back again and again. He's trying to help and it keeps attention on Ant-man. Scott doesn't mind being the distraction.

. It's not until everything stops that his gaze rests on Santa Clause.

"He's real!?" Scott declares. It doesn't seem farfetched because one of his teammates is a God.

"I have a list," it's ninety five percent for Cassie. Every good parent wants to give their daughter a good Christmas.

Mark Grayson has posed:
"I am always willing to help those that protect the world when I have the chance, RED ARROW." Kriss Kringle, Sinterklaas, Christkind, Julemanden responds. There are many names, but when it comes to it, it all comes to it - he's Santa Claus. Or someone powerful enough to be.

"Only if you believe." he says quietly to BUNNY, before he reaches up and touches the side of his nose with the broadside of his pointer finger. And around the plaza, it's as if time is reversed.

The tree returns to normal. Bunny's Cyber-Ninja garb is returned, her chin strapped modified as she has asked someone to do before someone else's dad showed up.

Molly's jacket is made whole and new again. Emiko will find her bow and arrow returned to their original state. The gian robot? That's shrunken down into a regular side nutcracker that is presented to Emiko. "In case your team has a trophy room for their triumphs." he comments to her. Even the bear is made back into it's large plush form, the planes returned to where they were.

A glance is given to SCOTT, "You can reach me through my many associates." he teases with a cheeky wink at the adult before he finishes his reversal of the damage. When he's done, the old man smiles as he looks between them all, "Thank you all for helping me." And he starts to walk away. He passes by an advertisement for Miracle on 34th Street on Broadway and on the other side... a swirl of snow.

Which starts to fall in the plaza. A light snow flurry that will dust everyone and everything.

And when those present that helped awake in the morning, they will find a small wrapped package on their table, nightstand or desk. A gift, wrapped in red with a white ribbon. Inside? Something never asked for but wanted. Something wished for but never recieved. It's small - it's not world changing. It could be a gift that a younger person asked for and never got. Something lost and never found. Whatever it may be, it touches the heart, because that's where it came from.

The heart's wish.