4423/Off-Broadway weirdness

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Off-Broadway weirdness
Date of Scene: 17 December 2020
Location: Off-Broadway (duh), NYC
Synopsis: Like the proper big brother he is, Pietro helps his sister and Amanda take out another pocket of demons that were infesting the city.
Cast of Characters: Amanda Sefton, Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff




Amanda Sefton has posed:
The snow falls thickly tonight. It may not be a great night for hunting. But it is warm enough that ice buildup is minimal. Snow buildup might be an issue, mind. But snow is usually more manageable. Really, Amanda reflects as she stands hooded in the middle of a largely deserted street while letting her magical senses play out through the neighbourhood, she should be back at home, curled up by the gas fireplace with her Kindle and a glass of amaretto. But she's not. She's restless. There's a darkness rising in the city, and it's got her on edge. It's likely bothering Wanda, too, unless the German witch misses her guess.

She can feel the eyes on her in the dark. Invisible, perhaps. Blended in with the shadows. She throws a ball of light up into the air, expecting it to draw them to her... just a little closer.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Drawing them?

While not a creature of the darkness, though some may try to argue that, the magical illumination certainly draws Wanda like a siren's call.

She couldn't sleep. Restless. Her tossing and turning is not healthy for those around her unless she has a solid hold on her own realities, and she's very much aware of this. So, not sleeping and having a tentative hold is much better than sleeping and not having any hold on her magics. So, staring out the window from her suite in the Avengers' Mansion, she sees the light, as it were. Quickly pulling on a knee-length winter coat, she's rushing downstairs without really watching where she's going, her attention is fully at that front door. A hand glows with a soft, muted red, and with a swipe of her hand, the door opens to her, bringing in the wind and weather to the entry. Only a second later, the door is closing behind her, and she's on her way.

Pietro Maximoff has posed:
It is a habit really, one that he has since childhood. It is rare for Pietro Maximoff to sleep through an entire night interrupted, usually because he is all but compelled to check on his sister several times. It might not be quite so compulsive now that they're grown up, but it still tends to be an old habit that slips back into. Especially when they are under the same roof.

Even if that roof happens to be the Avengers Mansion, about as secure a place as they're likely to find themselves. Some things go well beyond logic or reason.

That is the reason why he notices that she is not in her room, and a quick check -- extremely quick check at that, lightning fast -- reveals the fact that she is not in the mansion. Though she has hardly left before the mutant speedster is racing up behind her.

"Strange night for a walk?" he comments as he falls in along side of her.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
There is a sense of foreboding in the darkness. Amanda's witchlight continues to burn in the sky, casting flickering shadows along the Christmas-bedecked street. But the bright lights are muted here. Something has cast a pall over them, dimming their light. And it's that pall that Amanda courts in the night. "C'mon, beastie," she murmurs, drifting slowly along the street. "Come out, come out, wherever you are?" Her feet leave no tracks because they do not touch the ground. An eldritch wind carries her along above the low drifts.

She can't really hear the growls in the night, the pitch is simply too low. But she can feel it in her chest and knows that it is being drawn closer by her light, as if it wants to consume it. So, she persists.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
It is a habit that Wanda is all too familiar with. She can count the times when she's asked him to remain behind on a single hand in their lives, and had fingers to spare. That hand, then, reaches out to take her brother's as she walks, a pleased yet unhappy smile gracing her face. She shakes her head, her gaze still set forward in her path, their currently shared path. "Not so strange." There is a pause in her speech, not her step, and she continues with her voice dropping, "Do you feel them, Pietro? The dark. Amanda and I were in same place in city. We both felt them."

As she walks now, Wanda pulls her attention away from her direction, looking at her brother. The smile grows warmer and fonder, "She told me she met you. Very handsome, she said." Did she? Uhhh... sisters. Still, her expression changes, and she's looking a great deal more serious now. "Is not my imagination." The words are softly intense as if to make sure Pietro understood that this is reality, not just 'hers'. "The darkness."

The magical light can be seen through the buildings, at least by Wanda, and she's quickening her pace, knowing full well that her twin can (obviously) keep up.

As the area is approached, the streetlights are dimmed, but it's not from the snow and wind. Wanda's free hand begins that red glow, and calling out to Amanda, who is still blocks away,

"Behind you!"

The shout is meant as double duty; to warn her of creatures that look to surround her, even as she floats above the snow, and to warn her that she is there and is ready to destroy the shadow creature, ready to consign it to the pits.

Pietro Maximoff has posed:
To put it mildly he can be a little over-protective at times. It has been pointed out to him on a number of occasions. It is, however, probably not something that is likely to cease anytime in the near future. Or the distant, distant future. Sometimes one can work at those sorts of little personality quirks. That's probably not something that Pietro would easily manage. Even if he were so inclined to try.

The cold does not unduly bother him, able to vibrate himself enough to generate enough internal heat to hold it at bay and so despite the cold New York evening he slips that hand regularly into his twin's, walking along at her side. "Perhaps not," he conceeds, walking along at her side, each step so very deliberate. It's not running that he ever has to focus on. It's slowing down. "If you're trying to embarass me..." he begins, shooting her an amused look before the mood shifts.

He does not see or hear the change. He has no gift for magic and the sense of it like her. But vibrations? That he is extremely familiar with and even here he can feel that low growl pitched too low to hear. But enough to make his flesh pebble with goosebumps, eyes narrowing, the amusement washed away in a flash as that serious veneer repleaces it.

"Trouble," he agrees, resisting the impulse to race ahead, to linger at his sister's side. At least until they come across that street. And suddenly he understands what she means by 'The Darkness'. There's no sign of anything obstructing the street lights, but they are dimmed all the same. Everything seems dimmed.

As soon as the threat is spotted he leaps ahead, spring out ahead and racing towards them where they try to surround Amanda, blurring towards the threat.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda can sense Wanda's magic on the wind, mixing with the darkness that surrounds her. She hears the warning cry. Spinning in the air, the witch throws up a sheild and then detonates it, turning it into a burst of eldritch energy that pushes the darkness away from her for precious seconds.

She won't say no to back up, that's certain.

She touches down into the snow, better able to use all her magical strength if she's not trying to keep herself aloft at the same time. Her hands come up in arcane gestures. A green glow surrounds them as she calls energy to them. The shadows around her coalesce into amorphorous shapes with glowing red eyes and gleaming teeth. Whether its one monster with dozens of heads or dozens of monsters working in concert, she can't say. But she is sure there's a single mind controlling them all.

She considers throwing Wanda a portal... but that, too, would require too much distracting energy.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
There's that ghost of a smirk in response to Pietro's veiled accusation before it drops completely. Pietro does see, and there is that moment of relief deep within Wanda in the knowledge that it is real, it is present, it is danger.

"Go," Wanda murmurs, and at the same time, the subtle red glow of the one hand seems to transfer some of its energy and color to the other when his hand is dropped. She's in the area, the lights are dimmed, shadowed by the darkness that is beginning to coalesce in order to press their attack. Only, Amanda is no longer alone, no longer the sole 'victim' of this terrible thing of darkness.

Wanda watches the path that her brother takes, though she'll never swear she can see him (she can't!), but the wake of the falling snow is telling as to his direction. It is there, then, that Wanda sends her first ball of red eldritch fire, protecting his path. The pair have worked together, fought together, and have a bond born of twins that science can not yet explain, and she is full in the knowledge of knowing his intent.

The glowing red eyes, then, become a target, and when one of her crimson burning bolts land, she's next setting up a strong, red-glowing shield for Amanda, her hand held out in a gesture of 'stop' to maintain the defensive magic; the blonde gypsy witch could probably use the aid there. After all, it's hard to defend //and// attack at the same time, and these creatures? These things? They need all the power than can be mustered.

"You have shield!" is called into the air, the magic creating little eddies in the snow's fall.

Pietro Maximoff has posed:
It certainly helps in these sorts of situations -- to be in synch with another individual, to be able to anticipate what they are going to do, how they are going to react. It is certainly one thing that the twins have in their favor. They don't need to speak -- at least not always -- and yet are still able to anticipate what the other will do more often then not.

It's one of the reasons why Pietro leaps into things so fast. Some of that is just how he sees the world compared to others. Things that seem quick to them might be painfully slow to his own perceptions. But he doesn't need to take a great deal of time to consider the right course of action here. Even if Wanda wasn't here to tell him that whatever these things are were a threat he would still know. First and most obviously, the way they try to close in around Amanda of course. But more then that, he can feel it. Right in his bones, right in his core. No magic sense required.

So he races towards them, feet barely touching the ground, each step carrying him towards the shadows impossibly fast. The first few in his path are cleared away by his sister, giving him more time to build momentum. And then that streak is on one of them, lashing out with all that energy built up behind him, seeking something solid to hit with the momentum of that speed.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
"Thanks!" Amanda calls out to Wanda as the red shield springs into existence and hex magic pushes a rank of creatures away. They tumble back into shadows to regroup. Amanda whips out eldritch energy, letting it lash across the bodies of the shadow creatures on the far flank, the one away from the twins. She trusts them to protect her back.

The creatures fall back, burned by the magical light, but coalesce again and muster for another push forward when the are out of its reach. The witch's eyes narrow at that.

The speedster's strike is equally effective, pushing them back and scattering them out of the circle press. Still, where there are shadows, there are places for them to retreat and relaunch their attack. But they are divided now, no longer a single cohesive group. And each smaller group has less power than the whole.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda has a pretty good sense of situational awareness when it comes to her brother; it helps keep her grounded. Helps her fight the rising well of sick and panic that she so often feels when matched against things like these. The fact that he is //here// and with her makes a world of difference. She's focussed, can concentrate, and with her hand still raised in that 'stop' position, her other hand is creating a magical pull, and she calls out, "Make light again!"

Push them to the light where they can't hide; it's what she'd done before. Exploded them with a brilliance, but it's something she //can't// do at the momment. They're strong, though, and she can feel it. Strong enough to dim streetlights, it's only a few heartbeats of breathing room before the dark creatures recover and recoup.

Pietro Maximoff has posed:
As soon as he is reassured that they have a physical presence that he can touch, as soon as he hears Wanda call out about the light he knows what to do. Really, it stands to reason. If you're dealing with creatures of shadow, chances are it is light that they dislike most. And while they appear to have had a negative effect on the ambient light, they don't seem to be able to banish it entirely. He could guess at the hows and whys, but that's really all it would be. Guesses. He's really more a man of action anyway.

Fortunately New York is filled with light, even at night. There are the ubiquitous street lights. But there are shop lights and house lights as well, on virtually every street, at every hour of the day. So instead of racing around striking at the shadows, Pietro begins to round them up, pushing them, herding them towards those pools of illumination in the night. He is perfect for helping to set them up. He's perfectly content to let others make them fall.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Make light. Amanda can do that. She springs upward again, letting the eldritch wind lift her above the shadows. As Pietro starts herding them, she raises her hands above her head and fills them with witchfire. Relying on Wanda to continue to shield her, the German witch pulls at the lights of the city, magically channelling their energy into creating a mini sun above the darkened streets. It floods the spaces between shops and houses, under eaves, flowing like a living thing, directed by her will.

The creatures begin to panic as the lights hit them. Those on the fringes squeal and begin to burn. The bone-deep growl rises into the range of human hearing. They snap and snarl, lunging towards whichever of the three heroes that face them may be closest, but they are burning.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda is always keeping one eye on her brother, and as he, too, takes the lead in herding the creatures towards the light once he had separated them to weaken them, she can concentrate on what is going on with her own magicks. Her expression is one of focus as she maintains that red, glowing magical shield on Amanda, watching that she's not overrun from one direction or another.

As green eyes move back to her brother as she pulls creatures, they widen as she catches a slavering creature of darkness looking as if it's actually going to land a cruel, deep, vicious bite on Pietro.

The sickness of the ground, the wrongness that Wanda can feel welling up from the cracks in the sidewalk, from the potholes in the road, all conspire to worm their disease into Wanda's head. As she works to concentrate, she's not listening, not paying attention to the dread, the darkness from below her. Trying not to. At times, wanting desperately to close her eyes to it, but she can't. Her emotions are written on her sleeve, however, and her descent plays upon her face.

What pulls her, however, is that attempt on her twin, her beloved brother, that brings immediate action from the witch. "Pietro!" The sound of the word sounds a warning sound tingeing on panic. Very much like the dumpster, the overreaction is undoubtedly unwarranted, but her hand pushes out, the red of her hand making it look as if it's burning, and she pushes her magic such that the black, demon matter explodes, a hole in the ground left behind as bits of concrete go flying.

Pietro Maximoff has posed:
It is one problem with fighting in a situation like this. Pietro might be fast, faster then just about anyone really. Just he can't see in the dark and it is fairly hard to react to something that you never see. Still, once a warning is given there is not much time needed at all for him to do something about the situation.

Most of the time at least.

The speedster takes a moment to try and find out where the threat is coming from. It does him no good to go darting in the wrong direction. It might make things worse in actual fact. And in this case it is a moment that he does not have, that shadowed form about to lash out at him.

Fortunately looking out for one another is a two way street for the twins and before he even as to move that red power lashes it, striking out at the dark and shadow. In a flash he too is zipping away, becoming nothing more then a blur as he puts distance between himself and threat.

And then they don't have to worry too much about what may lurk in the darkness, not with the light that Amanda begins to flood through the street. That is good enough for Pietro and he retreats to his sister's side, there in less than a second as he quickly moves to support her, a hand at the small of her back to insure that she stays upright, his eyes darting first over her to make sure she is okay and then back out to the street towards the burning creatures, making sure that none approach. "Are you okay?" he asks lowly.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda sees the concrete explode, but her concentration remains on generating the light. She rises higher, away from the creatures so that Wanda will not have to shield her any more, so the other witch can concentrate on her brother and the fight remaining.

By now, Amanda's witchlight is bright enough that it's probably attracting attention from mundanes. But that means that the shadow creatures begin to melt faster, burn quicker, and become more aggressive.

"Light the charge," Amanda calls to Wanda, causing tendrils of witchlight to whip out and weave between the shadow creatures like a fisher's net. Wanda's magic can use the paths she creates... blow the demons all the way back to hell.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
With Pietro out of immediate danger once more, dodging what is left of the attack, wide green eyes are refocussing on Amanda; she can see the green magic, and her own hand is still held; it hadn't dropped in that brief moment of time, that breath that it took to utterly destroy that creature that threatened her brother. "'Light the..'" she softly repeats, and with a quick nod of her head, the red fire in her hand grows once more even as Pietro returns to her side.

Using the path that Amanda creates, her chaos created red lights the other magics like a fuse, and just before the eldritch 'blast', she creates a portal to the side (so Amanda doesn't accidently fall into it!) and whips the ready to burn creatures within. It's as the portal begins to close that the nature of the 'explosion' is revealed. Burning chaos created fire that generates light only, no heat, utterly destoys the creatures.

With a breath, it's gone. It's in the lowering of her hand that the red fades to nothingness in her hands, and she leans into the hand that helps hold her steady.

Wanda pulls her coat, tugs on it to close it as the cold is almost immediately felt. It's natural weather.. weather that she's more familiar with than the heat of summer in the city. Still, she's chilled, and she nods her answer to Pietro, following it with a soft, "Yes.."

It's time to go home. "Maybe I can sleep now tonight." Wanda looks at the pair of them, first her brother, then Amanda before she bobs her head quickly in the knowledge, this still isn't finished.

Pietro Maximoff has posed:
The situation is well in hand by all appearances and Pietro lingers by his sister's side, just in case she needs his support. Or if any of those shadowy creatures manage to get close. The later certainly does not appear to be very likely. As the glow increases, growing brighter and brighter the mutant speedster watches as the shadowy forms melt away faster and faster, few getting more then a few feet before they simply dissolve. Definitely not close enough to either of the twins to prove much of a threat.

Of course, that doesn't make the silver-haired man lower his defenses any. He has seen things turn quickly before, he has no doubt that they will again. And he doesn't take chances when it comes to his twin. Still, his vigilence is clearly not necessary this time.

Even with the light, the portal is difficult to make out -- at least for him and a small frown creases his expression as he watches what's going on. While he might not be able to make out everything, he can still feel it when things settle back to normal, those strange vibrations assaulting his senses fading away. Much better that. He doesn't care for these creatures at all.

"Nicely done," he says, both for Wanda and Amanda, nodding towards the sorceress, a slight incline of his head. He doesn't know all the details, does not know just what they're dealing with here and whether they will continue to be a problem. But calling it a night seems like an excellent idea again. "I certainly hope so. You need your rest," he chides gently.

Over-protective big brother alert. Even if only by a few minutes.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Weariness shows on Amanda's face as she settles back to the ground when that portal finally closes. She crosses two the twins. "I'm glad showed up," she admits. While she's still reasonably confident she could have taken care of business, she knows she's a lot better off now than she would have been, had they not shown up. It does occur to her, however, that taking backup from the start, next time, might be wise.

She'll need to touch baase with Kurt.

Seeing they are just as weary as she is, she smiles. "I think we all need rest, yes. Thank you. For everything." She reaches out her hand and conjures a portal back to her apartment by Central Park. "I'll call you, when I intend to go hunting again."

She lingers to ensure they can get safely home -- it won't be hard to open them a portal to the exterior of the Mansion, after all -- but once they are... she steps through into her own bedroom.

The darkness is quelled for another night, at least.