2881/Ice Palace: Do you want to build a Skeleton

Ice Palace: Do you want to build a Skeleton
Date of Scene:	12 August 2020
Location:	Bronx
Synopsis:	Frost magic and skeletons erupt in the Bronx! A fight is waged between the minions of a necromancer and our heroes. Loki is kinda snarky.
Cast of Characters:	Loki, America Chavez, Nessa Donovan, Melinda May, Kyle Rayner, Thor, Siobhan Smythe, Kate Bishop

---

Loki has posed:
The Ice Palace, built by magical forces, over a month ago, still stands... somehow. Yet the palace, which once was beautiful, with elegant walls of stained glass of various hues of blue, chandeliers of icy crystals - all of it has sort of taken on haggard, exhausted look: it isn't melting, but it is growing strange long jagged icicles on every surface and overhang, long stabbing daggers that have a sense of misery.

There are skeletons still, and some other weird shapes: coiling icy snakes, perhaps, that twist amidst the stairs and lower 'grounds' of the palace. Still... that is not the area which is turbulent right now.

--

Several blocks away stands a closed elementary school. It has entirely frosted over, like a snow-globe encased the whole of the location. While it is a Saturday, and hopefully no children are present, all of it is entirely enclosed in a whirling mass of tundra and has cloaked visibility, through a clouded dome that blocks vision much like a freezing shower door....

And in the last ten minutes, the icy dome has leeched ice out further from it, making a carpet of snow, where snowy serpents coil and lurk.

America Chavez has posed:
America Chavez had somehow been talked into watching one of Kyle's favorite movies. Currently, the latina young woman is leaning over the sofa, while waiting for her microwave popcorn to finish popping while Kyle was - well, being Kyle and talking about how awesome Princess Mononoke was (she'd already forgotten the title) and how much she was going to enjoy it. So, as movie started up on the super-high definition movie-theatre surround-sound super set up, it seemed it was going to be possibly America's introduction into 'geekdom/nerdom', and possibly even a bonding moment between two potential teammates who were still seeking to get permenant purchase on the soil of Titans Tower and a secured position with the group of young heroes.

That's what it seemed like it was going to be. Then, suddenly, something tingles in the back of her neck hairs. She twists, sudden, sharp, and slams a fist into the air. A star-shaped portal appears directly in front of her, letting in the floodgates of light of dimensional portal. America grabs Kyle by the arm, and pulls him up from the couch, "Movies later, something to punch now," is all she says before she's moving through the star-portal, and carrying a (likely) very confused, and bewildered Kyle Rayner with her.

The opposite end of the star-portal appears just above the school in the air, and America - carrying Kyle still until he can fly under his own power and get his wits about him - pop out the otherside, and America looks around, "I knew we should've punched this Ice Palace sooner," she says in a low, serious tone. "This isn't going to be good."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
There's been a lot of anxiety building lately for Nessa. There'd certainly been a few changes in the information she had that changed the way she'd looked at things, leaving her puzzling over the situation at every opportunity. It's not the palace that has her attention right now, though. Standing far enough away from the serpents are that she thinks they won't come her direction, she's currently half lost in thought, half paying close attention to the progression of the snow and ice.

Dressed simply, she mostly looks like any other civilian, minus the long sleeves not quite fitting the weather. The dark blue long sleeved shirt that ends in a pair of gloves, a pair of faded jeans, and sturdy hiking boots. "Right, could use the book club right about now." Her gaze shifts down to her gloves. She hesitates for a long moment, then just takes the gloves off, shoving them into her pocket.

Melinda May has posed:
Really, WAND should be handling this. Not Agent May. But, she's been monitoring the situation and SHIELD has been on site ever since the skeletons first started harassing folks. That means, when things start to get dicy *again*, she has something of a vested interest in poking her nose in. *Again*.

"Yes," she's saying into her communicator. "Deploy perimeter units to the elementary school, too. We don't need civilians wandering in and getting swallowed by ice snakes or something. And for God's sake, someone get hold of WAND for me."

Still, she's sure enough there'll be mages on site that, should WAND be too busy hunting Nazi artifacts, she's pretty sure the magic side of this may... well *may* get handled. If the mages include someone she recognizes well enough to trust.

Thus, as she arrives at the school, loaded for bear with esoteric SHIELD tech, she starts looking around immediately for someone -- anyone -- she knows from before. Meanwhile, other SHIELD agents move in to secure the perimeter and keep civilians from wandering too close. (Heroes, of course, enter at their own risk.)

As one agent moves to intercept one Nessa Donovan, the Field Leader intervenes. "Ms Donovan," she says, esxpression serious, striding up to the mage. "Am I glad to see you."

Kyle Rayner has posed:
One moment, Kyle is sitting there watching some classic anime with America. The next minute, America is going all Ronda Rousey on the air. "Wait, wha...?" There's not time to argue or to ask what might be happening. Nope. He's getting pulled through a portal and towards some mysterious place.

"Ammmeeeeriiicccaaa..." He flails about as he feels her carrying him in a place that's got some... snow? Confused but sure that something important enough for him to costume up is about to happen, he uses his will to activate his Lantern costume and a handy green mask to hide his identity. He then takes to the air and hovers near America while looking over the sight of the frozen school building.

"Ice Palace? Oh, are we about to embark upon some kind of quest like in Legend of Zelda or something?" And with those words uttered he holds his arm out and summons forth an elaborately detailed green construct of the Master Sword from the Zelda games. "I'll leave the punching to you, America. I've got all my hearts so I can pew pew with my sword."

Thor has posed:
    With visibility so low, the frost level so high, and the grim magic that enchant the area so near to that elementary school, it might be difficult for those near to notice all of the details at a glance. For it is a situation of chaos, albeit a subdued grim icy chaos that has beset upon that place of learning turning it into that snowglobe simulacrum.
    Yet around it not all is as it normally may be. For near the edge of the Northern portion of the portal there is an area of earth and grass along the sidewalk leading to the school that is churned and seen what may well have been the heavy trod of boots. Yet beyond it is what may well draw attention.
    For there, in the middle of the street rests Mjolnir head down with its leather grip resting lax along the haft. Silent and still. With no evidence of Thor around at all.

Siobhan Smythe has posed:
A look over at Kate in the Main Room of the Tower and she calls out, "Hey, Kate, I'm heading to dat Ice Palace place, you should come along. I don't know why but I'm sure dat something is goin' wrong." She then looks forward, "And last time, well, I just prefer someone with some skills utter dan mine." She nods her head, "Plus you can probably take a jet or sometin', right?" She chuckles and nods before she looks ahead and nod heads out with Kate.

Once they arrive near the school, she stares at what is going on and shakes her head, "I don't know why I knew it but..." She sighs and shakes her head.

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate isn't one to really pass up someone in the tower saying they have a bad feeling about something. The people who hang out there have way to many reasons to have premonitions or other six or even seventh senses about these kind of things. "Okay sure Siobhan... let me grab my gear and then yes I think I can get away with taking the T-jet to get us in closer... been clocking a lot of hours in the danger room on it."

Which starts a madcap race to her room to get all her gear and get loaded up before meeting Sio on the roof. "Don't tell Vic and Donna though.. haven't really told them I have been planning to take it out." is she kidding. She may be kidding. Then again the grin, she may not be kidding. What's wrong with having someone in High School fly an insanely expensive jet that is Cyborg's baby. I mean not literally but near enough.

When they get to the school, Kate touches it down well clear of the rolling field of frost. "Thank the gods it is Saturday and not a school day... and thankfully you knew to come Sio.. lets roll" she snags her bow and slips her sunglasses on, jogging to the descending ramp already as she tries to take in a good lay of the land from the ground vs. the earlier one they got from the air.

<<Titans: Comm Check. Operation Frosticle.>>

Loki has posed:
The school's dome reacts to the arriving heroes, jet, and mages. As if it had an awareness of its own. Suddenly, the top area of the dome erupts into weird, twisting spires, that open, and begin to pump more of the freezing, horrible icy air out. It's not just ice, though: it's a cruel, weird smog that's unpleasant and particularly blinding. It's built up inside the icy dome, but is now being actively weaponized: to discourage heroes from messing with whatever is happening inside. A show of force that THIS time, the icy villains at work aren't going to underestimate the resistance.

There is a particular focus on the T-jet's area: after all, it's a nice big target to spew the foggy stuff at, and will make staying near the jet really rough on seeing much of anything than the growing 'snowstorm'.

--

A black raven, not exactly like one Nessa might recognize (that was a crow...), has appeared. It is flying overhead, past the flying heroes, directly over May and Nessa, then moves in a line directly to the north side of the school. It circles once and glides down to land on the top end of the handle of Mjolnir, checking it out. It unfurls glossy wings, talons fingering the strap on the handle, a sheen of magic glinting off of the dark feathers. It is quite apparent against the pure white of the nearby snow and the gray street.

America Chavez has posed:
America slams her closed fist into her open palm, and there's a powerful sound, there, a rush of air that comes from the force. "Don't have too much fun," she tells Kyle.

She seems about to dive down and start - literally - punching some snake-ice-things and spires, when Kate's voice comes over the Titan's channel.

<< America and Green Lantern are already on site. You're slow. >> The teasing in America's voice can clearly be heard. She's about to have a good time.

Her eyes catch the raven, and follow it, before she looks around further to assess her surroundings. << Someone tell me a plan. Quick. Or I'm just going to go start smashing things. >> Siobhan and Kate don't know her well enough - but Kyle's seen her in action, once, and can likely guess she's not bluffing. She's almost - eager - to fight, prove herself, and well, let out a little pent up energy.

For now, Nessa, and the SHIELD Agents are not considered - she's seen authority figures before. They hold the public back, while the heroes work, to keep them from endangering themselves and she's assuming that's what the others are here for, at least for now.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
As Nessa glances over to towards the agents, she does look a bit relieved upon seeing May. "Okay, good, I'm glad I've got at least one person here who knows what's going on. Nice to see you again, Agent May." There's a genuine smile there, though it doesn't hide the concern in her eyes. "I may have stumbled into some information that, uh, clarifies the situation a bit. I can't say I'm one hundred percent positive, because..." She decides to leave off that part. "Anyway, the pieces to the puzzle match up, so it's /definitely/ something more to work with." She gestures towards the general direction of America and Kyle as she saw them first, going with the assumption they're investigating. She turns to Agent May. "You know those two?"

But the flash of feathers overhead draws her attention away entirely, her gaze following the raven as she sees the direction it's flying in. "Oh hell," she mutters, glancing around for a moment. "I really have to go see a thing." She gestures towards the raven and Mjolnir before she's hurrying in that direction without another word. She glances over her shoulder as she moves, looking towards the two she saw earlier. There are a few more faces appearing nearby, so she directs her tone to those nearby as a whole.

"HEY! If you want to help, come here!" Better group up.

Melinda May has posed:
May glances to America and Kyle. "Eeeeh. No," she says, grimacing. "No, I do not." But, that's not the most pressing problem. As the bird soars overhead, it draws May's attention as much as Nessa's. When it lands on the handle of Mjolnir, May's brows knit faintly. "I'd love to hear your information," she says to Nessa, turning to trot towards it. "But... this is Thor's hammer." She's seen it before.

Her eyes narrow and she looks at the fog spewing out and the magical reactions all over the place to the growing heroic presence. And she eyes that black bird.

"Is this Loki's handiwork?" Because, if it is, she's upgrading this threat level. Significantly.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle taps his own Titans comm. << Frosticle? Sweet. >>

"Frosticle. Hah, hard for me -not- to have some fun with this at least. So many opportunities to be had." He grins and looks over at America. "Oh, America, do you know what this..." He trails off as the school begins growing spike and the frost is growning. He watches the bird for a moment and then bursts out into song. Yes, song.

"The snow glows white on the school roof tonight.
Not a footprint to be seeeeeen.
An empty street of isolation
And it looks like you're the punching queen."

He gestures towards America, grinning as he spins around in the air a little.

"The wind is howling like this swirling fog outside
Couldn't keep it back, heaven knows she's tried
Don't let them out, please let them see...
Be the badass fighter you always have to be..."

He trails off and grips his Master Sword construct tighter in hand as he points towards the school.

"Let it go! Let it go! Don't hold those punches back anymore!
Let it go! Let it go! Charge forward and punch down that door!
I don't care what anyone's going to say
Let those mighty punches rage on
The violence never bothered me anyway."

He stops his impromptu singing, "Now I really want to go and watch that movie. Disney movies have some really great artwork behind them, even if some of the animators and songwriters are, uh, a little messed up."

He presses his T-Comm again. << Yeah, so uh, I vote we let America go ham, though there seems to be some nice people over here. >>

"America, want to join up with those two and punchy-punch?" He gestures towards Nessa and May.

Siobhan Smythe has posed:
Getting quickly out of the T-Jet, Siobhan shakes her head as she gets out, "I don't tink it is a good idea to just rush." She calls out as she walks toward Nessa as she is the firs tperson she spots who has prior knowledge. She looks over at America and then stares at Kyle with a blink. She just shakes her head as she watches him before she looks toward Nessa, "I am sorry but I tink he might be broken." She states simply enough as she walks up and then looks back to Kate briefly, "You gotta be careful as there seems to be sometin' that freezes ya if you just attack or something." She nods her head, "Or at least I've seen that with a butterfly."

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate stops at the bottom of the ramp as the horrible blizzard starts to wreck havok towards the t-jet. Son of a bitch. It better not be wrecked of Vic will be both pissed and excited at the opportunity to rebuild it.

Honestly Kate wishes she had the spoons right now to enjoy Kyle's shennigans but this is cold for those who don't have climate controlled ring suits.



Kate twists putting her back to the cold winds reaching into a sling pack and pulling up a face covering that she wraps and velcros into place. The sunglasses aren't really sunglasses so that is fine but she needs to protect more exposed skin.

She also takes a moment before exciting to check a couple things before responding to the others on the comms. <<Hey America and GL good to have you here!>> she means it too, this is some heavy duty magical nonsense after all.

She turns back to the problems at hand and jogs off the ramp, sealing it automatically behind her. She is bee-lining towards Agent May and Nessa now bow in hand following Siobhan over there now. While some of her team may not zero in on the authority figures, Kate does. <<Keep paired up for certain, no solo acts if you can help it. The school had a soccer meetup today but I don't see cars in the parking lot so hopefully they all fled and we don't have a bunch of trapped soccer kids and moms here being messed up by whatever this is. If one of you can get close enough to check that the cars aren't just obscured under snow that would be great.>> pauses as she finishes her run over to the SHIELD agents and both on Comms and outloud for them "Does anyone know what this is? I have someone checking to make sure the Soccer Meetup isn't actually in session that was scheduled in there."

Loki has posed:
The big raven gives May a staredown as she comes over, but doesn't stick around. Instead, it continues to scout, flying over to the edge of the stormy ice barrier. It pauses, and then flutters inside a half-step. The barrier isn't /solid/; it's some kind of magical field holding the fog in.

However, suddenly a massive head of an axe comes screaming out of the fog from inside, entirely appearing to decapitate the raven, and slamming HARD into the concrete.

The raven is fine it appears, somehow, but insulted by the attack - by body language - and it bounds back out of the way with a flap of wings, watching the axe get withdrawn into the icy mess again. The raven then bounces in closer again, then out, as the axe comes and then a second one comes, held by something staying in the mass of cold. Axes that create massive crushed areas in the snowy ground. After this little game, the raven glides back over, but doesn't offer anything in particular, beyond it's returned presence.

Then, a soccer ball, lonely and strange, rolls out of the elementary school, a dozen yards from where the raven had his little episode. The ball rolls, rolls..... and then just stops, as the snow slows it down.

America Chavez has posed:
"I think you're my favorite," remarks America to Kyle, utterly delighted at his song, even though she doesn't get the reference. Perhaps that's why, at his offering, instead of shirking him off and going straight into the fray she gives him an exasperated look, "Fine."

She nods for him to follow, and with an impressive speed zooms down to hover in front of Nessa, "I'm America. He's Green Lantern." She gestures at the impending snow, "We going to talk all day, or we going to punch some goddamn snow-snakes and get this stuff out of here?" She's grinning while she's saying it, though. Apparently America isn't big on the 'planning' process, more on the execution side. And, probably not the most patient of people either by the way she's sizing up the ice-creations, and axes. She's clearly ready, and wanting to fight.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"I mean, I don't think /this/ is Loki's handiwork," Nessa gestures towards the ice and fog. "As for this," she now gestures towards Mjolnir. "I'm not entirely sure why Thor's leaving this laying around. That's not really a Thor thing, right? If I were Thor I wouldn't just /leave/ it and it's not like someone can just pick it up and lug it around." She's not sure she heard singing. There might have been singing, but she's choosing to ignore it. Nope, no singing.

Given that people are close enough to hear her, Nessa pipes up. "Right, okay, I'm going to give the abbreviated version, best as I can. There was a guy who we thought was good and it turns out he's an asshole necromancer who wants to use the lifeforce of mages as batteries to do some kind of ritual to summon something and I think it went wrong. His body's gone, his soul's still somewhere. As far as this goes, if it's like the last place I went to, there's some kind of magical object in there that we /don't/ want him to get and if we get it out the skeletons will 'power down' so to speak. There's a good chance there's one of his students around who doesn't realize he's an asshole that's draining their lifeforce might be around so be wary of that, they might believe you though based on all this going on. The skeletons aren't too hard to kill but they've got really nasty axes and ice breath. Snakes are new, don't know what they do. Punch skeletons and snakes all you want, they're just in the way and will try and stop us. Also cold doesn't really have an effect on me, so if there's something frozen that needs touched or whatever..."

She looks down at her hands, then over at the raven, noting its actions. "Uh, okay, if you have any questions, yell them at me because I'm going to make us a way in. I think." She's assuming it will work, or at least work approximately how she pictures it. Striding forward towards the 'snow globe', she holds her hands out, pushing a bubble of cold air out around her to try and shove the fog and snow out of the way to expose just where the creatures are hiding.

Loki has posed:
Nessa shoves the fog backwards, and the magical cold roils and shifts as the ice mage does her thing. There are... three skeletons there, standing in a row, execution style. They were ready to beat the hell out of anything that came in, ambush-ready.

They can't blink, but they do look confused.

Melinda May has posed:
"I seriously doubt he'd leave it laying around, no," May agrees with Nessa. "Which means he may be around here somewhere." And possibly in distress. And if the Asgardian is in distress then she's upping the threat level even if Loki's not involved.

May notes the bird's body language. Her eyes narrow as she watches it. "Ice Skeletons," she echoes Nessa needlessly, recognizing the weapon before the fog is cleared away. "Looks like they've gotten smarter." They brought their own snowstorm.

She arches a brow at America's impatience, but turns her attention to Kate, since she seems to be the more level-headed one of the bunch. (The singer hardly even merits an eye roll in acknowledgement. May isn't known for being warm and fuzzy.) "I'm Agent May, SHIELD. If there are civilians inside, we need to get in and get them out quickly. What we don't need, however, are a bunch of cowboys." A beat. She cants her head, thinking. "What we *may* need, though, is a distraction. There are 8' ice skeletons in there with *very* big axes. They can be isolated and will die if they're separated from the snow and ice for too long." Like by a serious upcut punch, right? "I don't yet know what surprises the snakes hold."

She turns, then, as Nessa steps forward to shove the fog out of the way. "Yeah. That helps."

She pulls out something akin to a portal gun from a video game. It's... one of Morse's 'melty guns'. Because why toss fire around when a heat gun works just as well. "I'm at your back, Ms. Donovan," she tells Nessa. "The rest of you," she points to Kate. "She's got the right idea." Pair up and move out.

She's a Field Leader. She can't help herself. There will be 'advice' like that periodically.

And it'll probably be ignored because... who ever listens to SHIELD... before it's too late?

Kyle Rayner has posed:
"Hey America, that fog bank is trying to axe you a question." Kyle flashes her a quick grin and follows her over to Nessa and May. "Hello!" He waves enthusiastically to them both. When Nessa starts to go into a pretty detailed explanation about what's going on he blinks, tilts his head, then asks, "Oh, so we're up against a Lich? Got it. We gotta smash his phylactery right? That kills liches in Dungeons & Dragons." He nods.

He turns then and watches as Nessa puts her hands out and the fog moves backwards. "Whoa, cool! We get to fight some Draugr like in Skyrim." He smiles at Nessa. "You're our party's mage, okay? Um, America you're the punchy monk. I'm going to respec into Retribution now." He lets the Master Sword construct fall apart, and then he summons a brand new construct, this one a giant two handed mace with spikes. For any familiar with World of Warcraft, it's a replica of Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros.

He gives a wave to Siobhan and Kate as they appear as well. "Hey. I think I go at them with my big hammer, and America goes in low with her One Punch Woman routine. Maybe we can throw them off just enough for others to come in to finish the job?" He asks and turns back towards the three skeletons. "Okay, let's kick some ice!"

He flies forward and attempts to engage the right most skeleton by swinging his hammer at it's head.

Thor has posed:
    In the middle of the street the magical hammer seems to take no notice of anyone or anything. It rests at peace with the others around it, though there is a brief moment when Nessa steps towards the area of ice and magic. It's when she exerts her powers, forcing it back to reveal those skeletons.
    For in that instant there's a low /whum/ that can be heard near the hammer. And it jostles, rocking back and forth upon the mallet-head skidding an inch, two toward the gigantic snow-globe effect.
    Then once again falls silent.

Siobhan Smythe has posed:
Looking at the situation, Siobhan shakes her head as she looks at what is here before she looks over to Nessa. The act with the fog makes her blink again and she shakes her haed, "I'm impressed." She states to Nessa before looking to the skeletons and pointing, "Dey have hearts. Just break dose out of dere and dey go down hard." She nods her head and looks over at Kate, "Hey, you focus on keepin' me covered and we'll 'ead over to where de soccer match might be and check." She shrugs, "Can't hurt."

She starts to head that way, hoping Kate will keep up and she looks over at America and Kyle before saying, "Give 'em hell. Punch 'em a few times for me." She nods her head. She looks to Kate again and states, "Do ye understand half of what the green guy was sayin'? Is he speakin' a foriegn language or somethin'? I speak most but I'm ratter confused to be honest." She nods again.

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate, aka Hawkeye, aka Hawkette, aka Hawkingbird. Well her gear looks a lot like a mix of Hawkeye and Mockingbirds to be honest and it looks high tech and honestly once the arrows fly it looks like she is using Barton's loadout with some unique twists. The bow is definitely unique. These would be easily spotted by someone like May whom has worked closely with Barton.

<<You heard the ladies. Go ham on the skeletons, try to knock them well clear of the snow. Also free to cut loose on ice snakes and be careful!>> Kate shouts over the comms to her team mates then adds a tiny bit more nuance. <<Operation Frosticle .. plan is get the magic dohickey out of the bad snowy place, go ham on the bad guys, may be a decieved wanna be wizard in the school. Also save any civilians though I am super skeptical there are any to save at this point>> it is a pretty concise recap over the comms. <<Don't die.>>

The last bit is the important part.

Also Kate seems inclined to listen to SHIELD experts.

She does though once Nessa shoves the fog back step in smooth and easy behind the ice mage that is on the side of good and draw and snap fire a termal explosive arrow right at one of the surprised ice skeletons centers without even pausing to think about it.

Then she looks to Siobhan and a bitconcerned they are splitting from the person who seems to have a handle on pushing back the obscuring fog. "I'll do my best." she notes.

Loki has posed:
The skeletons may not have expected to have their cover flung off of them, but they were absolutely ready to still fight: and it's Kyle that brings the first attack. Two of them move to meet him; they're faster than they look. One of them attempts to parry the hit to the face with Sulfuras, and while it does manage to stop the face attack, the ice axe spliters and breaks into pieces, unable to handle that force.

The skeleton to the right of him doesn't swing axe: instead, it unloads a massively freezing cone of cold magic at the incoming attacker. Behind them, the third skeleton moves to attempt to flank, with an axe swing from the side. All of the focus is on Kyle, lucky him-- until the explosive arrow enters the fray, hitting the skeleton that attempted to flank and making it spin and writhe!

--

The movement of Mjolnir makes the raven react and hop towards it to look closer, and then observe all of the people turning their back on both Mjolnir and the raven. A comment finally comes from the raven:

"The necromancer'll help with the death issue, I expect." Sassy bird.

America Chavez has posed:
Nobody needs to tell America to go punch something twice. Usually, not even once. The widely grinning latina woman is off as fast, or faster than Kyle, streaming low and fast along the ground, moving to focus her rocket-uppercut-flight punch straight into the second skeleton's jawbone with all her force to either obliterate it, or send it skyrocketing up into the air and take away the threat of the cold-magic directed at the man who just won her heart with his insanely silly song. At least, as much as a man can win America's heart.

Whether she is, or isn't listening to SHIELD isn't clear. But one thing is. She's going to be doing a lot of fighting now that their plan has been worked out.

And unlike the fight a week or so ago with Kyle? She doesn't have to hold back in this one.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
The 'force shield' is a new application and Nessa is certainly glad it's working as planned. She keeps it up, mostly because she's unsure if it'll go back to its foggy state once she brings it down. She glances over her shoulder to May with a grateful look--someone actually having her back is kind of nice. "Right, okay, I can hold this pretty well, so have at those things. They also respond well to distraction and will go 'dead' if we get whatever this object is, so if you'd rather someone draw them away and everyone else sneak in..." Somehow, she doubts that's the method they'll take.

She nods in Kyle's direction. "Yeah, I am /definitely/ the mage. I do magic stuff." Which, she's assuming, is pretty obvious at that point. She almost misses the movement of the hammer, but the sound and the slight movement catch her attention as she's still looking over her shoulder. "... oh. Oh I think I get it. I think Thor's nearby, but the magic's in the way. Not sure what direction to clear a path in, though. A game of hot and cold, no pun intended, I guess." She is more than happy to keep up the shield and block out the cold, but it does mean it's not likely she can be too combatative at the moment. Ice versus ice hasn't been the most affective so that suits her just fine.

The raven is talking, as Nessa's mildly expected would happen, and she glances in his direction. She doesn't reply, there's just a look, but not one of surprise.

Melinda May has posed:
The movement of Mjolnir really only reinforces May's suspicion that the Asgardian Thunderer is nearby... and likely in trouble. She just doesn't see any point trying to pick it up. Far finer folks than she have tried and failed. (Not to mention several far less fine folks.)

She eyes that raven as it speaks. The words are far too contextural to be some randomly repeated phrase. "Uh-huh." Not as funny a bird as it thinks. "Who are you?" She's expecting a Nevermore joke to pop up, canned and corney. She glances to Nessa. "Who's the bird?"

She glances at her watch. "I think we need to get this done. How do you want to play your game of hot and cold?" She adjusts the gun. "I've got hot covered..."

In a manner of speaking.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
<< Got it! >> Kyle calls over the comm in response to Kate. The speed of the skeletons catches him slightly off guard, but he still follows through with his swing, shattering the one's axe and continuing down the smash right into the skele's oversized skull. Though he's done significant amount of damage to the disarmed skeleton, his mighty swing left him wide open to the burst of cold that's sent right into him.

Sulfuras disappears and he goes flying backwards, tumbling head over heel several times though he catches Kate's arrow causing a boom and some more damage to another of the three skeletons. Crashing into the ground, he rolls a few time and lets out a breath. "Ugh. Did not see the Cone of Cold spell coming. Warriors shouldn't have that ability." Shaking his head, he gets to his feet and kicks off of the ground and into the sky once more.

<< Nice shot by the way! You used explosive arrow. It was very effective. >>

Surveying things quicky, he watches America charge forward and then he flies forward to join her. << Oh, have I ever told you how you guys are all the coolest to be around? >>

"On your left, America!" He comes swooping in to her other side and summons up a new construct. This one turns out to be a chibi version of Hulk. "Chibi-Hulk Smash!" He calls out, sending the construct forward to bash at whatever skeleton parts are still moving.

Thor has posed:
    Meanwhile...
    Inside the elementary school of frost in a chamber surrounded by what seem like glistening gleaming brilliance of such exquisite sculptures cast in ice there seems to be a Thor.
    It is a Thor bound in ice with his hands behind his back connected to a wall covered in ice and freezing tendrils in what seems to be a large open room perhaps meant for a gathering of some sort. Only within there are but two others, a spindly youth with a shock of bright red hair who is bound against the wall in a similar manner as Thor, and what looks to be a draconic snake-like being of white and frosty flesh. Both of whom have their attention fully on the thunderer who stands there in his red and black armor, sans cape.
    "So, let me get this straight." The Asgardian's voice is strong, though strained. A touch distracted, "This is /your/ place of power?"
    Though at those words the draconic creature seems to sway back and forth, its eyes wide as it just stares at Thor, and inside Thor's mind he'll hear.
    << SLEEEEEEEP! >>
    But Thor looks apologetically at the icy dragon and says, "Yes yes, quite. Sleep. I understand. Bide a moment please."
    And then it's back to the young man beside him, "Your place of power and you were saying what happened?"

Siobhan Smythe has posed:
Siobhan knows there's gotta be a gym or a soccer field around here somewhere. She's aware that there's a storm but she's ocnfident in Kate and she's...at least confident she can't easily die herself. So, she starts moving into the school. She looks back at Kate briefly as they near the storm and she looks at her directly. "Listen, if I tell ye to run or avoid me...it's for a reason. I've...used her a couple of times so far and tings went alright but..." She looks to the side, "If my other half starts to really get goin'...she don't care who gets hurt." She then moves forward a brief step and looks back to America and Kyle.

"Give 'em hell, you two!" She pumps a fist at Kyle and America as she calls out before pushing forward, "Besides, what if someone is trapped or hurt inside. We need to help if possible, right?" She asks of Kate as they move forward and hopes that, honestly, there's no one else in there and there's a worry for nothing.

Kate Bishop has posed:
<<GL, you are such a dork.>> though it isn't said with any malice.

There is a thougth <<Can you make a giant green lantern fan and blow the fog away.. like wind machine style maybe.. get us more clarity on what is going on in here before we get ambushed?>>She has two more arrows at hand as she follows Siobhan. Honestly she hopes to get off any snap shots on other skeletons as she lets her fellow Titan take the lead on a quick check towards the school now to make sure there aren't any kids trapped there. She really does think the families probably bailed as the unnatural snow rolled in, but it is worth making sure.

With a bit of time to think about it over the comms she notes <<Seems centered on the school proper if you were to measure outwards from it. I doubt they hid any magic artifacts under the bleachers. Should push towards that as soon as we can pivot to it.>>

She keeps on Siobhan's six though as she is ready to pop off fire at any snakes or skeletons. <<Got you... I won't stick around for your other half to beat me up if need be.>>

Loki has posed:
"Compared to you? A god," scoffs the raven at May simply, before spreading it's wings. The raven bursts into /flames/, exploding outwards in radiance and fire, as the black feathers spew in all directions at the sudden change as it becomes some sort of elemental phoenix.

It glides past Kate and Siobhan, the heat rolling off of it creating a small area of visibility. "The gym is /this/ way," adds the bird, and doesn't wait for them, it goes jetting into the school's yard to the right. Two serpents twist in that area, in the snow, orienting on the fiery construct.

Kyle and America are finding that they've got the attention of a small skeleton army; they clearly were formed up in ranks in front of the school, hidden by the storm, and are now going in as a group to challenge the two main hitters.

Their immediate targets, the one that America beheaded (the head flew away like a soccer ball) grapples blindly at her before falling apart into snowy bones. Chibi-Hulk gets slammed hard by the flat of an axe, as the skeleton didn't expect it there, but it throws the response time of the skeleton off, leaving it available for a follow up punch. A swift one, maybe, as other skeletons are, in fact, coming on. They are focused on the fighters for the most part, though May probably will notice a slippery shape of a snake coming in from an area the skeletons were not in: a stealthy, smart creature of ambush, really. <<Sleeeeeeeeeeep>> it feels as if it whispers to May. Nap in the snow. It will be great.

America Chavez has posed:
As the small army of skeletons move towards America and Kyle, the punchy Titan-to-be doesn't have time to watch her handiwork with the huge skeleton's skull, instead she's twisting in the air, and flying upwards, fast, and away before turning around again and dive-bombing towards the oncoming hoarde, if one can call it a hoarde.

Using momentum, and her fists, she begins a rapid-fire train-attack to pummel, punch, and obliterate as many of the skeletons as efficiently, and as effecitvely, as she can.

<< You two, get inside if that's where you want to go. Green Lantern and I will keep their attention off you. >>

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Who is the bird? It's a little hard to not to take a wild guess. "Sort of a temporary ally." Nessa figures that's an accurate enough statement. She looks back towards the school. "So given that it moved when I pushed this back it moved, I figure if I can just sort of... clear a path, maybe it'll help us locate him. If the hammer moves, we're going in the right direction. Thor may have figured out what is going on if he got stuck inside without it. If I've got to keep this shield up, I don't know that I can hit anything that gets in our way, and I'm not sure how far in this fog goes." Which is where the fire comes in.

The phoenix is leading the way, though, and she's inclined to follow it. "I'm going to move, so you're gonna lose visibility," she declares loudly towards the rest of the group. "Stick close if you want a clear shot at things." She has, however, noticed that there's a good cluster of skeletons so she takes a half-second to focus on that area. "Okay, so don't rush that building until we're ready, it's /definitely/ got something in there!" Really, she's keeping an eye on if Mjolnir is following them like a hammer-like puppy looking for its owner as she gets ready to head into the gym.

Melinda May has posed:
Oh, given that snark, May has a serious wild guess about it. Or, more accurately, an 'educated guess' based on full volumes of analysis reports and threat assessments. She keys her SHIELD com. "Heads up, people. Loki is almost definitely on site. I repeat. Loki is credibily believed to be active in the theatre of operations." Oh, yeah. That threat level just spiked.

May then stifles the first hint of a yawn and eyes the snake. One hand leaves her melty gun to fish out a sidearm. She aims at its head and pulls the trigger, fully intending to double-tap it between the eyes. "Snakes," she grumbles. "Why did it have to be snakes?"

She glances to Nessa. "We need to move. Now." Which means she is going to continue shooting any snakes that get in her way with any weapon that proves effective against them. Especially if it one-shots them. Because dead snakes are far better than living ones... made of snow or not.

"Just get us into the building. If Thor's anywhere, it'll be inside. Likely someplace large and central, if where you found the monster in the ice palace is any sort of indication."

Loki has posed:
May's snake hissed, did a little wavery dance of snow serpentine sexiness....

and got shot. It falls over into slush.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
<< Yeah, I agree with America. We'll hold down the fort, go and rescue anyone who needs help! >> Kyle says into his com as he winces and tries to focus on Chibi-Hulk fighting back against the axe. He perserveres and Chibi-Hulk does some more little smashing before he moves through and follows America to where the other skeletons are coming.

"Bard time!" He calls out, mostly to America since the others -should- be running towards the gym now.

"America, hell yeah! Punching bonebags to save the ever loving day, yeah!
America, hell yeah! Her clobberin skeletons is the only way, yeah!
Skeletons your game is through 'cause now you have to answer to America, hell yeah!"

With a wave of his hand, Chibi-Hulk disappears.

"Time to fight with someone their own size!" Closing his eyes, he begins to meld the light of his green lantern ring into a large shape that surrounds him. It begins to take form into an 8 foot tall mecha, specifically Evangelion Unit-01, with a spot for his head to poke out. "Right behind you, America!"

He begins to swing his arms back and forth, slamming the mecha's gauntleted fists into different skeletons as he backs his friend up.

Thor has posed:
    In the ice covered gymnasium, the Draconic Cobra seems /very/ insistent while staring at Thor, its eyes wide and gleaming as it sways slowly back and forth, though it might well seem rather annoyed in some way with the way the Asgardian is able to at least keep up with his side of the conversation. For he's listening to the redheaded youth embedded in the ice with him.
    "My master, The Grand Sorcerer Vega. He went missing you see. This was one of his focal points. I was trying to shut this place down, cut it off from the artifact before the power was eaten by this darkness. But..."
    The redheaded apprentice frowns, head drooping, "But I failed."
    "Here now, this battle is far from over."
    "You think so?"
    "Aye, indeed. Any moment now my friends will assuredly notice my absence, must to my aid, and then surge forth in here and well..."
    A pause as Thor nods his head then looks at the snake and frowns. "Resolve matters, yes?"
    But the apprentice... he does not look hopeful.
    Which is the moment when the Ice Dragon-Snake seems to hiss angrily and turns its attention upon the apprentice whose eyes blink several times, locking his gaze with the creature. And then /suddenly/ his mouth goes wide, gaping as he moans loudly and blood starts to surge from his eyes. A loud scream starts and likely heard by those near the gym.
    "No!" Thor shakes his head, his arms, "Stop it! STOP!"
    And distantly, out beyond the ice. The hammer on the ground suddenly twists, a loud /WHOM!/ is heard as abruptly it takes flight. It's barely a blur that registers with the senses of those in that brawl with the skeletons though the sound of its passing is strong. Particularly when it collides _heavily_ with the body of a giant skeleton, shattering it as it bursts straight through the sternum.

Siobhan Smythe has posed:
A look to the bird and Siobhan shakes her head, "I'm not gonna get used to any of dis." She states softly and starts in the direction of the bird only to blink as she spots the snakes that are in the way. She grinds her teeth a little and turns her hands into fists as she sighs, "Why can't it be simple?" She looks to Kate, "Just...keep your distance and run if I start...lookin' at ya like your time has come." And with that, she turns back to the snakes briefly.

"If ye were real...~ye'd have regrets.~" Her voice changed, her eyes began to glow and then light and shadow flares over Siobhan. Her face becomes a partial skull. Shadows flaring over her jaw and over parts of her body even as silvery designs swirl down her arms and legs, flowing up her torso and connecting. Her fingers release from their fists and she suddenly rushes forward with incredible speed.

She leaps up even as a snake strikes toward her, a hand going to the top and bottom of its jaw and then her mouth opens. The scream is deafening as she releases it into the mouth of the snake. The ripple travels down and through the snow of the snake, ripping it to shreds even as she lands, with just the head of the snake in her grip, as that is all that is left and she whips the head of the beast to the right before laughing softly.

"~We're headin' to the gym...right?~" She looks toward the distant building, "~I hear tings movin' inside.~"

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate... just takes in the flying flaming pheonix of a bird that sasses. "That bird just sassed us..." honestly she suddenly has a good deal of respect for the bird that can turn into a firebird and sass.

"Follow the bird!" she calls to Siobhan then blinks "And Thor's hammer!"

Signs are good the Gym is the right place. Which honestly makes sense. Thor always struck Kate as a jock after all.

The warning from her teammate .. it is the second warning. "Got it." she notes and then watches as Siobhan really cuts loose on that snake and goes all. Well whatever that is. It looks very effective htough and dangerous. Also fast. This will be a tricky thing to work into the training routines for the team later.

Well shoot also there is another snake.. Oh. Snakes. She has a target acquired and isn't afraid to shoot it with thermal explosive arrow she had in her hand still from earlier. Even as the fancy quiver cycling more heads onto arrow shafts as she jogs along after Siobhan and the bird. "Yup gym follow the bird and hammer!"

The arrow will explode with flaming glory and thermite in the snow snake.

Loki has posed:
The bright bird did not wait for anyone on the ground to muck with the snakes, not really: it streaked to the gym and lingered at the door before flying inside, a bright fiery creature beyond the large dragon-like serpent inside.

"You look like you're doing fine here? I'm not trying to interrupt your /moment/," observes the firebird at Thor. Waves of heat roll off of the firebird, which draws the snakelike dragon's attention - more properly, perhaps, a chinese dragon style creature of ice. The ice dragon, easily twenty to thirty feet in length, a chinese style dragon without wings, would be beautiful if it weren't also drenched with a sickly darkness to the ice. Scales are bright white, like the moon with a hint of glossy light blue... but scraped and pitted with something else. While it may or may not have been intentional, the firebird did pull attention from it off of Thor a small amount, but the drake begins to try to encircle the Thor-prey, to try to suck his life out, while hissing at the arriving threats (in the form of firebird and 'friends').

Okay, allies. ....okay, people who ran from the same area...?

--

Outdoors, the skeletons are not endless, and the army surges to try to pull away from the buildings. It is as if someone sent waves of expendable monsters to split the party, and draw America and Green Lantern into a mess of low visibility where snakes lurk to ambush, to try to catch them unawares into a very long, deathly nap: even at high cost, considering the destruction they are creating. Who is distracting who, though?

America Chavez has posed:
"Hey!" Calls America swinging up from her swathe of damage and destruction amongst the skeletons to fly near Kyle, and survey where her next attack would be -- she's battle eager, certainly, and often led by her emotions a lot - but she's not stupid. She has a team on the line, and a newfound friend here. And she's in a damn good mood, thanks to him.

"Don't dogs like bones? And wasn't there a big huge dog on that cover of the Princess Moa-noa-akke movie you and I were going to watch? Maybe an army of those?" Because, giant God-wolves against skeletons might help them finish up.

After all, friends help friends, right?

She dives back down, grabbing this time one of the skeletons twisting around in a tornado like circle throws it with her insane strength at the skeletons, even as she starts to draw back, telling Kyle, "Let's draw back - we can't get separated too much. Make them come to us, if they really want to get some more of this."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"I don't think he's actively trying to cause trouble," Nessa points out, but she's focusing on the immediate danger. "And there are certainly--" WHOOM. That's a hammer. "Okay, that's where we're going, right in there." There are bigger fish to fry. Probably. As soon as they safely get into the gym, she proceeds to assess the situation. And then she notices the dragon creature. "Oh crap. Okay, well I am one hundred percent certain Vega's a necromantic asshole now..." He's not even Sorcerer Vega anymore, he's just Vega. No cool titles for him.

Not needing to hold up her barrier anymore, she instead focuses on the creature. "Right, we're going to squash this thing. Any suggestions? Because I'm kind of..." Well, she's not sure how helpful she'll be in this case.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
"Princess Mononoke, Hayao Miyazaki's crowning achievement." Kyle says with a very serious nod. "One of the finest films ever created, but I see your point." He uses his mecha to smash one more skeleton and then lets it fade from existence, though he floats in mid-air as he calls for a large green version of Moro, the god wolf.

The giant wolf leaps forward and grabs a skeleton's rib cage and shakes it until she rips out several ribs. He's about to attack another, but America's call to draw back to prevent splitting the party earns a nod. "Good idea, rocks may fall and that'd be bad." He floats next to her and uses Moro to defend them while they head back in the direction they came, content to let the remaining skeletons follow them for now.

"Maybe after we finish watching that movie, we can watch Howl's Moving Castle."

Melinda May has posed:
It doesn't much matter to May if Loki's not immediately trying to cause trouble. Loki is still on SHIELD's most wanted list. Odin might be forgiving. SHIELD is a little more pragmatic. Their forgiveness is a helluva lot more conditional than a father's love for his son. Especially one so far removed from the devastation that was New York not so many years ago.

However, she is not fool enough to pick a fight with the rogue enchanter. She'll just notify her people to be on guard and continue on to that gym where the main action is.

She makes as quick a threat assessment as she can. "I'm thinking... melt the hell out of the ice holding Thor and let him get back in the action." When in doubt, assemble the Avengers! Or something like that.

She shoulders her heat gun and starts working on the ice that holds the Hammer Man... though Mjolnir like makes that a moot point fairly quickly. Still. There are more bad things that need melting here.

Thor has posed:
    "Loki!" Thor's voice is stern as the ice-drake turns away from the apprentice, leaving him bloodied and bleeding from the eyes, the poor youth perhaps alive, perhaps dead. Impossible to tell yet the Asgardian Prince bound against the wall says quickly, eyes flitting to his brother and Nessa, "Save him if you can. He may well have information to help us!"
    Even as that ice monstrosity turns to start to curl around him, a coil looping over his broad chest and starting to tighten while the Thunderer grimaces, voice becoming a bit constrained.
    "I have... this... well. In hand." As the monstrosity leers over him with its fangs bared and frozen breath wafting over the Odinson.
    And that is the moment that Mjolnir /smashes/ through the wall of the ice-covered gymnasium, slashing across the distance to crash into the coiled serpent, finding Thor's hand and continuing up with the momentum to _slam_ the hammer straight into the creature's face.

Siobhan Smythe has posed:
Given that Kate seems to have the other snake handled and everyone is going to the gym, so does the Silver Banshee. "~Come along archer, we are behind and missing tings.~" She rushes into the gym and throws a door clear of its hinges as she comes in. Seems the hammer isn't the only thing that can smash into places. Once she takes in the scene, watching Thor hit the snake like creature, she glares at him.

"~Seems tings may already be in hand.~" She looks over at Nessa and Melinda before looking to the boy who is bleeding from the eyes and she stares at him. Her eyes going over his state even as she casually walks toward him. She seems to scan him, her incredibly sharp ears seeking the sounds of life as she examines him, "~What happened here?~"

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate follows the others into the gym really, giving them a good amount of distance since the Banshee she is with warned her to give space and all that. Also no need to bunch up and present a clump to a dragon that could have an icy breath weapon as far as Kate is concerned.

Yes there is some irony in her calling Kyle a dork earlier.

<<Guys I think you are being distracted out there. Ice dragon in the Gym with Thor and a bloody guy>> and well at this point she will fire a very small explosive thermite arrow at the ice dragon, because why not. It may not work but it is better than just standing there talking into her comms.

She is ready to dodge but .. this is a stupid dragon so who knows how well that will go after pissing it off if it even hits.

Speaking of which she was ready but not ready enough to get completely out of the way of a large Dragon Tail Slap... made of maybe ice as Mjolnir slams into the monstrousity and makes it thrash ... thrashing hammered dragons.

Some might say it is in hand, Kate would disagree.

She tries to roll out of the way but it catches her right in the midsection and tosses her like a doll over into yonder indoor bleachers... CRASH...She does keep a death grip on her bow though but does not just bounce right back up.

Hope it likes that explosive.

Jerk.

Loki has posed:
Kyle and America are the two left outside with the skeleton group; they fall back, as the school starts to softly rumble in the snow. With a lurch, those spines (remember them, from the start of all this?) jut higher, and something big moves in the snowy mess of the school. Soon enough, it starts to walk out.

Howl's moving Castle, indeed.

It's a structure made of ice, and icy... skeleton parts. Lurching along, the size of the self-contained art building perhaps (and involving pieces of it, maybe), it starts to proceed directly on it's way toward the Palace, towards the street, on strange bone-spidery legs, leaving all of the mess of ice behind. The big spines from the top blanket the area in a thin haze of the frost. In fact, behind it, things start to fall apart, as the weird ice-structure makes a weird rushing escape, while everyone is looking elsewhere or caught up in the frosty sludge.

Skeletons make a combined effort together to pressure, resorting to their cone ice weapons, to give as much cover as possible, to freeze Kyle and America if they can, keep their eyes on them, even as they start to weaken.

--

"Save him? Where you failed?" Loki-raven questions dryly, gliding to the downed mage, and reverting to his own form. That wasn't a 'no', in Loki-speech. Loki is in battle regalia, which might be slightly alarming to witness, standing beyond Thor. He eyes the downed mage, but does weave a spell of a warm, light orange hue, even if his expression is a little put-upon as he addresses the injured apprentice. (Well, it appears that he does; it's Loki.) "Same thing that happened to your friend over there?" Loki suggests with an upnod to indicate Kate to Siobhan's attention.

The wingless dragon is slammed hard by Thor's hammer; the coils of the beast lashed across the door, dangerous in mass and weight of snow and ice. It isn't down, but it was flung back by Thor. It snarls, hestitating, as if something were wrong with it, but it still manages to claw and bite at Thor, tail whipping at those arriving.

America Chavez has posed:
<< Stop the building. >> There's a distinct change of America's voice, now. The casual, but free-spirited effort in which she was heroing before is not gone, but overshadowed by a more serious, and grave tone.

She holds still in the air, assessing the situation. Not that it wasn't serious before, but -- before she was certain they were going to 'win'. Now there's something more ominous that's palpatable, and a skeletal ice-building running away. With, likely, her friends inside.

America seems to ignore the shambling skeletons and their cone weapons of cold, shunting off at blistering speed in the air to rocket towards one of those spidery legs which she slams a fist into as hard as she can at the joint.

The leg is then ripped off, and she uses it as a club and weapon, swinging it wide and hard to impact into the other legs, setting it up for Kyle for the coup de grace if the Bard is indeed in synch with the Barbarian.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"Okay, I can't exactly 'flame on' it, but..." Nessa's got her attention drawn to the apprentice. Thor doesn't have to ask twice, she's already edging her way closer as she puts a hand up. She can't melt the ice, but she can reshape it. So instead of just destroying the ice that's there, she shifts it from holding him to instead form in against the wall. Still there, just not shaped around him. She's not so great with healing, so there's little she can do otherwise but to glance over at the dragon with a frustrated expression.

"Just kill that thing!" She's not entirely certain, but she holds up a hand towards the dragon. Hard to just not do anything... so she puts a lesson into practice. Turn something you created into something else, less harmful. She's trying to take whatever energy of hers that might still be there and just turn it into water instead of ice.

Melinda May has posed:
May ducks the lashing tail, rolling with her 'melty gun'. She brings it to bear on the ice monster, firing it at an angle to avoid hitting assets or allies (and allies-of-the-moment), but still aiming for the bulk of the monster. It's fairly easy to do with a creature that big and coiled. And more reliable than trying to shoot out its eyes with her service automatic.

Having to explain to Fury how she shot Thor instead isn't high on her list of to-do's. Actually, it's not there at all.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
"-SICK!-" That's the first thing Kyle says and thinks when the building sprouts it's spiney bone legs and begins moving. He pauses for a moment to just take in what it is he's witnessing here. A moment that he could have been acting, but America's voice tears into his mind over the comm and he bursts forward into action.

Releasing the Moro construct, he begins to gather a new construct together. This is another weapon, a sword, a large sword. In fact it is the Draogn Slayer, the sword used by Guts in BERSERK. Raising it overhead, he comes swooping down from above and finds the first spot he can find that's good for an overhead strike. He didn't have the luxury of picking and choosing, it really is the first thing that looks like a 'hey swing big sword here'.

"Lantern will rise and conquer,
Skeleton knights downtrodden,
with the battle won!"

He lets the blade connect and tries to put in as much of his will into it as he can, even if he has to use up the rest of the energy in his ring to do it.

Thor has posed:
    The answer given to his brother is simply his name once again uttered, though this time the lack of patience displayed in that single utterance of the word is a monumental thing. "Looooki."
    Yet then claws are lashing out at him, slashing across the distance, being met with a rough /wham and clang!/ as the hammer smashes left and right while Thor yanks his leg out of the remaining ice, causing it to crackle and smash apart.
    Over his shoulder he shouts, "Ware its eyes!" And as he says that, he _rushes_ forward to try and smack one of those talons out of the way as he takes a long leap, then lands partially in front of the bleachers where Kate fell, trying to perhaps divert the monstrosity's attention from the downed archer.
    Spinning to the side and around he seems to gather power, lightning dancing across his skin, then he lashes out with Mjolnir again, letting it slice across the distance straight at the monstrosity.

Siobhan Smythe has posed:
As she is looking at the poor boy, she whips her head around when Kate is hit by the thrashing dragon only to turn in time to see a claw slash out at her. The Silver Banshee is sent flying back to slam into a wall and she looks up with eyes glaring, "~You dare!~" Her voice is warbling oddly and is far louder even as she clenches her fists and a screaming cry causes bleachers near Kate to shoot up and then she slams her hands together and piles of freshly snapped and cracked bleachers fly right for the thing's body. Right for the fire that May is firing into it.

"~Burn and fry you wild beast!~" The Silver Banshee calls out even as she turns her gaze to Loki and glares at him balefully before she turns again to face the dragon, her eyes dancing upon its form. She clenches and unclenches her fists with a slowly growing grin as she watches the chaos and violence.

//Yes, Siobhan...//

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate doesn't get up from the sprawl in the bleachers. In not on, one of the benches is wrapped around her thankfully it wasn't heavy duty steel. Also she is very quietly glad that she has some military grade armor weave in her costume too. <<Fuck that hurt...>> she groans over the comms, which was meant to just be under her breath not to the whole onsite team like that.

Thankfully She doesn't have to get up and do anything right away for that arrow she embedded in the serpent to go off in an explosive burst of heat and flame.

She does groan agin and mutters <<Booom... heheheh...>> yup still on comms.

Of course then the bleachers explode with the cry... which well Kate goes down in a pile of bleachers now.... it isn't like they are made really well and all. Okay this is not her finest day. Still she got the team moving in the right direction and she also got a very good shot in on the dragon right.

Loki has posed:
America's assault on the legs of the scurrying building hamper it greatly, it's forced to stumble and try to fix itself, twisting and collapsing partially into the street. It's gotten far enough to where there's /people/ around now: after all, giant snow globe doesn't go unnoticed for all that long in New York City. There are now people in the way, screaming, the usual for a giant moving monster walking about.

America's blow, though, sets up Kyle for hitting the house-pinata REALLY hard, and he's able to cleave an enormous gash in it. It does not bleed, but it does begin to just leak that ice everywhere, in spouts similar to icy blood, collapsed in the street. Stopped, yes; dripping evil magical ice-blood, also yes. But walking? No.

--

"I hear you taking that /tone/, even though I'm helping," Loki parries back vocally with his brother. It's probably strange to hear this brotherly exchange, which clashes to a degree with all of Loki's previous villainous regalia and speeches of city domination.

"Mage girl," Loki adds. That's at Nessa. "Align veins of water, since you have electricity here," Loki suggests, stepping towards her, and curving a hand out, willing to guide her magic a little.

Thor's electricity channels quickly through the dragon, making it ripple with paralysis and pain, as it starts to come apart!

The fire and explosions begun by Kate's explosive arrows and followed with May's heat have made additional holes in the monster. Siobhan's projectiles stick into the burned holes, puncturing the creature, and with an exhausted heave, it collapses under the assault.

"Your /mage/," Loki comments dryly of the healed apprentice collapsed near his foot, as if bringing Thor's attention to an ale that was brought. "And your cleanup." Tee hee.

...Loki vanishes.

America Chavez has posed:
America watches Kyle finish the running away monstrosity off, then she turns around to assess their situation. Dead or vanishing skeletons, magic-goo bleeding all over the street but no more running spider-house, everything good on the outside.

<< Alright. Skeletons smashed, spider-house down. How's it going in there? Did you find what you were looking for? >>

She flies over to Kyle and gives him a highfive, telling him, "You kicked some -ass-, man," as that savage grin slowly climbs its way back across her features. "Let's go regroup. Things look clear here."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa isn't sure how to feel about the title of 'mage girl', but it's not really something that she'll scoff at. There are certainly worse things to be called. But there's Loki with his assistance. It's not a fight for the magic, she's paying attention to the /instruction/. Water and electricity certainly make for a good combination to help destroy things. When the creature's down, she returns her hand to her side. With Loki gone, her attention moves to check on the apprentice. There's definitely some relief that they seem to at least be saving the people involved. There's a heavy sigh. It's a lot.

Melinda May has posed:
As the creature collapses and Loki disappears, May slings her heat weapon back behind her and touches her com. "Loki's gone," she tells her squads -- all of whom are likely out on the streets trying to clean up the mess from the frozen Baba Yaga hut. But the message will need to be relayed to HQ. Not, mind, that she actually thinks he really is 'gone'. Although not even the high falutin' SHIELD analysts can agree, her reading of all their opinions suggests he's just as likely to be lurking and smirking as gone back into hiding.

Not that it matters. Those self-same analysts also conclude that trying to detect him using normal means is damned near impossible, even for most SHIELD tech. Nevertheless, she makes a mental note to see if Stark's come up with anything to help fix that problem at all.

She looks around the shambles of a gym, lets out a sigh, and begins the long process of directing the ultimate clean-up.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle's ring sputters out, it's energy gone until he has a chance to recharge it later. Unfortunately he's still up in the air. Fortunately it's not -that- far of a drop. So he falls, rolls to the side and lets out a few groans, now back in a Fantastic 4 t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of sneakers.

Getting to his feet, he looks around for America, and when seeing her he points at the moving building thing.

"Dude. DUDE. DID YOU SEE THIS THING? THIS THING IS -AWESOME-!" He gestures wildly at it, almost flailing his arms at this point. "Oh yeah, we're watching Howl's Moving Castle now. All of us. I'll drag people all to a movie night where we watch it because... DUDE. DUDE!!!" He laughs and claps his hands together, then walks over to America and highfives. "Thanks, but really, you should be praising yourself. When you put your dukes up, whoooo, those skeletons were totally -boned-."

He grins and nods, "Alright, sounds good."

He walks with her for a time and then asks, "Hey, America? Can I make a comic of you called One Punch Woman? It'd just be for the team, but it'd be really fun!"

Thor has posed:
    Inside the gymnasium, standing before the ruined bleachers and the melting ice, it is toward the fading form of Loki that Thor's attention turns to next, but he says naught after him knowing likely full well that he'd be around to catch whatever might be said about him after his parting. It's just how he is.
    But then the Thunderer turns away from the fallen and dissolving monstrosity. He sweeps his gaze around the surroundings, the downed mage being tended to, the broken bleachers, the archer? He hooks Mjolnir to his hip and moves to clear some of the rubble that might be inhibiting Kate...
    But after that he's then heading back to the fallen apprentice. Toward Nessa and May he nods and murmurs, "Good work, you and yours. This young man needs medical aid. He is the apprentice of the sorcerer involved in this matter and may of be use. Please see to him."

Siobhan Smythe has posed:
And then it is over. The rush is finished and all the violence seems to be fading away. Siobhan seems almost upset by the fact that everyone is just going about clean up. She wanted more. Wanted it to not end. She glares at Thor as he walks over to help Kate but then...she realizes that Kate is down and hurt. There's a flare up in her eyes as something within her becomes angry that Kate dare be hurt and draw Siobhan's attention only for that to be suppressed.

"Kate." Siobhan is back to normal, just like that and walking over to her and looking carefully at Thor as she approaches, "Are ye ok?" She asks and looks her over, "I saw ya get hit by dat dragon but I was...distracted." She nods her head as she offers a hand to her as well.

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate appreciates Thor right now. Really she does. She sits up... wobbles and manages through sheer stubborn determination to stay upright. "It's cool Sio... you did good." she will extend one arm up for a hand up that Sio offers.
<<Okay.. Operation .. Frosticle is a success. I hate dragons.>> she spits a bit of bloody phelegm on the floor there and then using her bow levers herself up unsteadily to her feet with Sio's help.

<<I'm headed back to the T-Jet... hey America can you transport all of us and the jet back to the tower or is it purely just a couple people worth of transport?>> she looks around the gym for a long moment and then starts the trudge out towards the Jet "Thanks Thor... good seeing you again... next time... dragons.. your brother is kinda snarky." just is just rambling probably lightly concussed there as she marches determined.

To the SHIELD Agents "Good working with you too.... tell Hawkeye hi for me if you see him before I do just don't tell him a dragon bitch slapped me." that is mostly directed to Agent May.