6460/Reel Big Killer Fish

Reel Big Killer Fish
Date of Scene:	05 June 2021
Location:	Baltimore National Aquarium
Synopsis:	Ash meets up with Hellboy, Morrigan MacIntyre, and Jessica Drew at the aquarium...none of them are allowed back inside again. Ever.
Cast of Characters:	Ash Williams, Hellboy, Jessica Drew, Morrigan MacIntyre

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Ash Williams has posed:
"An aquarium. Think you're gonna outsmart me huh? You gotta get up pretty early in the morning to outsmart Ash Williams you bastard demons," mutters Ash to himself as he leaves his car in a nearby parking garage and heads for the aquarium in the heart of Baltimore on foot. It was late of course, just past midnight with only a few lights on and he carries a large duffel by his side, being wary of any patrolling police in the area. Being Baltimore that was less of a concern than perhaps it would be in some other towns though as he soon reaches the sharply-roofed building https://d3t1qz3s2moybi.cloudfront.net/b4572db6-dcc0-4639-afe7-fc053c8e57bf.webp and heads around it looking for a side entrance.

The reason he was there was a simple threatening message that had literally formed on a bathroom mirror...which he'd wiped away and ignored. Then it had formed again on his windshield, shown up as a breaking news banner on TV that only he seemingly could see, and finally as alphabet soup noodles. The fact he'd been eating chili at the time annoyed him enough to make him finally respond. "Come to the Bay Aquarium, or death will rain down upon you." As far as mystical threats went he thought it was pretty ignorable.

Now hunkered down around the backside of the aquarium he opens his duffel. Shotgun, check, revolver, check, chainsaw, one old grenade, some holy knick-knacks, and the piece de resistance, an actual speargun. "Oh yea baby, I'm gonna punch you through something's heart. HEY! Big Red! You here or what? I'm not waiting around all night for you!" Ash calls out into the darkness, hoping his OTHER tool he'd called for would show up as planned.

Hellboy has posed:
A loud grunt answers Ash's call, the big guy in that almost-covers-all-of-him heavy jacket, Hellboy steps out of one of the shadows to grumble, "If yer trying to tell em we're here and ready, you're doin' a good job. Had to feed the cats." He sort of hunkers down in that coat as he cranes his head around, looking over the back of the aquarium building, "So where's this stuff supposed to go down? Abe caught wind about somethin doing somethin to fish and, well, anyway..."

Jessica Drew has posed:
The surreptitious meets in out-of-the-way places were getting old. Needs must, as a friend of hers would say. Until SHIELD was pried loose from the claws of HYDRA, life would continue this way for the agent.

This evening, Jessica is an Aquarium employee, her dark, loosely curled hair under a billed cap with National Aquarium emblazoned on it, and overalls that spell her out as one of the grunts that cleaned tanks and cut up meat for the sharks or tended the plankton tanks.

The exchange with the other agent had taken all of ten minutes - a smelly confab over bloody hunks of baitfish. Now, she needed to finish her shift and possibly take a night tour of the place. It had an excellent reputation, and what little she had seen of it, if you call lobbing dripping pieces of fish into a tank seeing much, whetted her appetite for more.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan's appearance is one of those one minute there is an empty spot next to Hellboy and then the space is taken up by a rather irritated looking Irish woman, "Oh don't think you're getting out of this whole situation without telling me WHERE you've been." she hisses out quietly as she points a pale finger at Hellboy. Then she smiles, "With that, I'm glad you're back. I'm here to help." the woman states with a dip of her head to HB and Ash. With that said, she folds her hands in front of herself loosely and waits to see who is going to go in first.

Ash Williams has posed:
Ash stares at Hellboy blankly for a moment, a 'click' as he exchanges his proshetic hand for a 22 inch chainsaw on the end of his stump though he leaves the motor off for now. "If I wanted to be stealthy about it I wouldn't have called the ten foot tall bright red goatman who has a boulder for a hand. Besides they called me here, they know I'm coming. Had a lot of stuff pissed at me since this dagger I...JESUS lady! Don't sneak up, in front of a guy like that," Ash having to amend the expression as he couldn't exactly say she swept up from behind. His eyes sweep over her and one can see him warring with saying something pig-headed, then looking at Hellboy who seems to know her. For once Ash seems to know better. Instead he points a finger at Hellboy and says, "Told you you suck at stealth, look who got followed. Lady, Ash Williams, I wanna get this done before dawn so leave it at that for now but, one last thing..." Ash pausing to reach in his duffel with his good hand. There's a familiar sounding snap and hiss before he pulls out a cheap National Bohemian beer and chugs it messily in front of them both before casually tossing it away on the ground with a clink.

"Right, lets find a way in. STEALTHY I guess if we can. Try the backdoor here first," Ash grunts as he stands up straight, his weapons clinking as he walks to the plain metal employee door and gives the handle a tug. Surely it...but the door swings open smoothly, no alarm sounds. Ash looks surprised as anyone before he looks at the two and grins. "Hey, this sneaking around stuff is easy!" he states. Of course he'd probably be less smiles if he noticed the alarm box that should be attached to the door is shredded apart over his head as if by very large claws, or the fact the lock on the other side of the door is spattered with blood. Ash walks inside heedless though seeming to catch none of these details, soon stepping out into the main aquarium bottom floor through a similar nondescript employee door. https://www.flickr.com/photos/bgwilson89/1309547914/in/faves-57603844@N04/

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy jerks his head back and stops when Morrigan appears and chastizes him. A small smile spreads over his big face, "Hey, there you are..." melting into a look of feigned innocence, "I missed you too, Red. Just had to take a little side trip to take the friend home. She..." He trails off when Ash makes his comments and directs everyone's attention to the matter at hand. He grunts softly and mutters, "..or yeah, right, lets chat later."
Once the Deadite Warrior starts his way in, Big Red as well either doesnt notice, or might not care about the alarm system, because he doesn't react to it, "Yeah, easy until they turn the floodlights on ya...", but the blood on the door's inside lock has him rumbling, "What'd you say we were lookin for, again?"

Jessica Drew has posed:
Wondering how long the night supervisor was going to keep his job if he kept sneaking off as he had, Jessica snags a brochure with a map in it. Should she start in the Rain Forest exhibit? Or maybe take a look at the dolphins. She'd probably take a pass at the jellyfish.

Her spider senses send her straight to the bathroom to rewash her hands, just down the corridor from that open back door. Jessica hasn't smelled the blood yet. The sound of water running covers the sound of footsteps, though uncountably, she gets a faint tingle at the nape of her neck.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan looks all too amused by the follow up to her arrival, "My apologies. I tend to skip the car and travel when situations are dire." she tells Ash. "I'm Morrigan." she offers. Then she looks to Hellboy and there's a bit of a squint, "Later, Big Red. We've got business to attend to at the moment." she dips her head to that. She whispers something to the Cambian in Irish Gaelic as they walk. But after that she lifts her head and then there's a sigh, "Fresh blood..." she breathes out. "Or well...it might not be as fresh." she cringes as she follows after them.

Ash Williams has posed:
"I don't rightly know. Some jackhole keeps sending me magic prophecies of doom and told me to meet him here. You know the type right? Warlock, witch, witch doctor, maybe one of those scuzzy demo-uhh, spirits. Look, we find it, we shoot it a bunch, we all go home. I mean I've done this lots I just, it was kind of weird to ask me to an aquarium. If it'd been an old insane asylum I'd never have called but..." Ash trails off as he looks around some more and sees...nothing. It was starting to annoy him, was this thing trying to make him look bad? He steps out fully onto the platform that overlooks the aquarium viewing pool, if anyone was watching the cameras they'd see him now. Below him sea turtles, rays, nurse sharks, and various fish swim about while above him rampways lead up further into the aquarium, various displays hanging overhead including a huge blue whale skeleton.

"Hey! HEY asshole! You out there?! Get down here so we can finish this thing up!" he hollers upwards, his voice echoing in the cavernous building. There's seemingly no response as Ash starts to turn back to Hellboy and Morrigan. "I guess may..." before a body drops from above, followed by two more, each landing in the viewing pool with a splash and a cloud of blood. Two were dressed as guards, the other similarly to the hiding Jessica. The rest of the night shift. Ash looks down wide-eyed at the floating corpses for a bit before he announces triumphantly, "I knew I was right!"

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy wiggles his free hand at Morrigan as they step through, grunting, "You meet int'resting folks on a 3am cat food run...he's good folks. Better if you let him mouth off at the bad guys first, too." At Ash' prnouncement of What Should Be Goin On, he reaches inside his jacket, taking a moment to pat the gun's grip as slows down, listening to Ash' challenge. There's quiet, and his attention and focus are gathering back on Ash's face when that first body hits the water, then the next, then the last. There's a muttered, "Sounds like we got the right party." Walking up to the edge of the pool with Ash, he studies the bodies for a moment, before looking up overhead, "Better not be what the rest of my evening's gonna be like.."

Jessica Drew has posed:
Voices. Nobody is supposed to be on duty unless the crooked supervisor has brought back a girlfriend to party - nothing like beer and dolphins. Straight out of the bathroom to the maintenance room, Jessica grabs a mop and bucket. A last-minute decision adds a spray can of ammonia to the little bag that swings on the side of the bucket. Pushing the bucket in front of her by the mop stuck in it, the agent follows the sound of voices, curious at what she will find. Just your local janitor here, folks, ignore the venom blasts. Her spider senses tingling have gotten her into trouble before.

Who needs spider senses when people start screaming? Jessica considers ditching the mop and bucket but holds on to it as she pushes through the swinging doors into the main hall. She arrives in time to find out what happened to the rest of the night shift, stepping back from the splash as the second body splooshes into the water.The blood she smells wasn't just on her hands.

Jessica's mouth opens and closes on an exclamation. Eyes darting from one person to the next, her senses tell her that they are not what is dangerous. She knows that oversized silhouette from SHIELD. The woman she only sees from the back is also familiar but can't place from where.

"I have a hunch this is not going to be a good evening, big guy," she says, strolling up to the trio.

"Good evening?" She half-wishes them, her very U British accent amused. "What's going on?" She lifts a chin at the lifeless form sinking to the sandy bottom of the tank.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan gives a look to Hellboy, "Well...I guess he's alright then." she tells him quietly. If HB trusted him, she was going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Or she was going to die because she trusted someone else. Slippery slope and all!

The sound of bodies hitting the water makes her senses reach out. Trying to locate just where things are coming from. She reaches up to take off her sunglasses and her eyes are glowing, "Blood probably not the best thing for me, but...I'll work through it." she gives a fanged smile to Hellboy. Then her hands come up and there's a tendril of neon violet energy swirled with black that spirals out. Then there's a Jessica and she looks to her, "It's raining men." she tells her with an amused chuckle.

Ash Williams has posed:
Ash is at least somewhat thrown off by the shocking possibility that there's someone else alive in the building as Jessica approaches. "Oh uh, hey there, we're just, inspectors for the City Water supply. You've got some issues you need to...wait you know this one too? Geeze big guy you been holding out on me. Hey there sweetheart, I'm Ash and let me tell you if you like cleaning I've got some dirty..." Ash's terrible line and terrible timing with three corpses still floating beside them brought to a halt by a voice that resonates all around them.

"ASH WILLIAMS! YOU WILL DIE AND SURRENDER THE KANDARIAN DAGGER TO US!" Morrigan would no doubt be sensing the source of that mystical voice. Of COURSE it was all the way at the topmost part of the building which would be the rainforest exhibit.

Ash seems nonplussed as he tilts his head back and hollers in return, "It's surrender OR die you yodeling cockbite!"

"NO. IT IS NOT," comes the simple but threatening response.

Ash lets out a low whistle and rubs at the back of his head. "OK yeah I really got on someone's list. Still those bodies ain't moving that I see, usually by now they've got Deadites running for me so that's a plus." It was every bit the equivalent of 'it could be worse' and has the same effect as a shudder runs through the building and there's a stirring from the water below. It was the bodies alright, only they weren't moving on their own. Instead the usually harmless turtles and fish kept in the open viewing pool are rapidly devouring them, in seconds nothing left but tatters of bone and cloth. That would be scary in its own regard but as the four look down they can see the fish, rays, turtles, and other life looking back at them, their eyes seemingly intelligent. The aquatic life all seeming to grin, their mouths now full of sharp teeth that don't belong on creatures like these. Ash can be heard giving an audible gulp. "OK, that, that is a new one. But so long as there are no more surp-" and he does it again. The blue whale skeleton that had been hanging overhead drops into the viewing pool as pool, and then continues to move, its ribs flexing and extending, acting as legs on a centipede as the skeletal giant crackles and flexes...and then smacks its bony tail into the tanks that surround the viewing pool. Water from the attached exhibits begins to rush in, the water in the pool beginning to rise...and bringing the grinning fanged fish up towards them at an alarming pace. "HIGHER! WE NEED TO GET HIGHER!" hollers Ash with real panic now, revving his chainsaw to life even as he starts to run up the ramp higher into the aquarium.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy mutters as he looks up, addressed to noone in particular, "Ash. You take somethin and not share with the class?" while his attention finally gravitates to the carnage going on in the very pool those bodies fell into.
There's a glance to the shells loaded inside his jacket, then a grunt and a louder, "I'm open to ideas." There's a glance at the newest arrival of the group, a grunt offered in Jessica's direction, "...any ideas..." while he focuses on the rising water and Big Fangy practically waiting for them, "...faster ideas are better ideas..."

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jessica's eye-rolled disbelief at the lousy pick-up line slides straight into ready mode at threat raining down on their heads. "Raining bodies, indeed," she says with an accusatory look at the woman who she recognizes now that she sees her head on.

What would be two toughs shouting it out on the street rapidly escalates into a real threat. With horrified fascination, she watches the normally placid fish and turtles turn into ravenous monsters.

"Not a one, except I didn't book this party, HB," calling him by the initials that she had heard other agents using.

"Up, we go. Lead on, whoever you are. Ash, is it? You've got someone who doesn't like you."

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
"He's a little unsocialized, you'll have to forgive him." Morrigan tells Jessica with a bit of a wrinkle of her nose as Ash was about to hit on the fellow SHIELD person. Mo's a consultant, but she's seen a lot of the SHIELD folks. "What Kardashian knife did he steal?!" Morrigan asks as she hears the voices booming around them. "You think you made someones list?" she looks a bit like she's not shocked at all.

Then the whale skeleton drops down and the woman closes her eyes, "Oh no...nonono...my love for aquariums and ocean life just vanished before my eyes." the woman states mournfully. She then gives a look to the others, "I can try to hold the water back while folks get to higher ground." she tells the gathered as she hops up on the side of the railing. "If anyone wants a lift I can port you to the highest floor as well." she calls as she lets her magic start to flow out of her fingers.

Ash Williams has posed:
"KANDARIAN! A dagger used to craft the Book of the Dead. I, may have gotten my hand on it. Look you rather I have it or this thing?" Ash points out as he keeps trotting up the ramp. Around them various other bits of sea life in other tanks has also shown signs of evil infection, various fish slamming themselves against their glass, their eyes creepily human and intelligent, their mouths all showing sharp teeth. Most were too small to do anything, their tanks reddening with their own blood, but the injuries don't seem to slow them any either. His chainsaw revving, Ash pulls his shotgun into his other hand and clicks the safety off.

Below them the skeleton whale has scrambled out of the water, too large to be easily contained and is scaling up towards Morrigan, its beak-like mouth snapping while the other sea-life watches waiting for the water to rise.

"DO NOT THINK YOU CAN BEST MY MAGIC!" roars the unseen voice and Morrigan's connection to the upper floors abruptly seems to cease as it casts up a warding shield, though it doesn't stop her from slowing the flow of water on the lower floors.

"Hellboy, you stay with your girl, keep the water down and see if you can't knock out skinny Shamu to buy us time. Janitor girl, you're with me!" Ash sounding momentarily commanding as he takes off higher into the aquarium.

The path naturally goes around and around, sidehalls leading to other exhibits that normally tourists would head into. Each of those sidehalls now coming with an array of crashes and dings of things trying to escape, Ash's blood curdling as he imagines what else might be waiting for them. He'd been here before, the rainforest was at the very top, a separate stairwell leading up into it. No fish at least waiting for them there, only birds and small lizards. And an evil magic wielding psychopath of some sort. It would be fine. He turns another corner to keep running, briefly out of Jessica's line of sight when something smashes and she can hear him scream in agony...only to dance back into view, a dozen or more crabs latched onto him with their claws, one dangling from his nose. "HAAAAAALP!"

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy grunts lightly at Ash, "...right." He works his jaw for a moment, as if forgetting he didnt have the cigar in it at that moment, then glances over at Morrigan, "You gotta way up, go ahead. I can handle Charlie here and be right up after ya."
With that little bit offered, he throws out his hands and steps up to the edge of the pool, even while water is already starting to surge past his ankles, "C'mere." Big red fingers flex and curl up, balling into a fist. Well, something's about to give way, one way or another, while he gives the rest of the group some cover.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jessica trots behind the man after a glance behind her to the others and a wave. She turns her head to look a question at the two left behind, then is on her way. As they climb, her head swivels side to side at the menace multiplying by the second. Affronted and amused, "Look, I'll have you know that I'm not..." She stops herself and shrugs, keeping up with the shot-gun-wielding mad man. She is about to ask him what he is about to do when he disappears from view then reappears howling.

Grining despite herself, Jessica lifts a hand in which green light coalesces, "Hold still! Hold still! Let me zap them." Palm out, she waves her hand over the crabs, which stiffen at the controlled venom blast and drop, letting go of their prey.

"No accounting for tastes! What /is/ going on?"

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
"I'm calling it the Kardashian dagger and no one can tell me different." Morrigan points out as she laughs. "We could always take it and give it to Doctor Strange?" she offers. Then her glowing gaze focuses on the water below them that's rushing up. "Hey, I'm not his girl." she snaps. Then she refocuses on the skele-whale that's scaling up towards her at an alarming speed.

"Oh look at the state of you..." she mutters. She steps off the side of the rail and while it might be fear that she'd drop into the water...she doesn't. She simply walks on the air before she gets the the center of the area and then she's slowly going up, "I've got it. Thanks though big guy." she tells him as she starts to focus on the water again. No one was drowning on her watch.

Ash Williams has posed:
The whale has no organs, no throat, and still it lets out a bellow that by all rights should be impossible, a deep thunderous deathrattle of a noise that burrows into the brain and causes more glass through the building to splinter and begin to leak. It was a warcry of sorts as the ribcage/legs dig into the ground and flutter before it charges straight at Hellboy, 80 feet of black magic infused skeleton.

At least he didn't have to worry about Morrigan it seemed as she floated safely over the rising viewing pool. Or, so it seemed at least. When the whale had shattered some of the other connected tanks it had let other creatures into the pool. One of which comes surging up at Morrigan even now as it rockets out of the water at blazing speed, a dolphin nipping for her ankles to try and drag her back down with it into the water.

Ash isn't worried about that though just now as the crabs drop off him, leaving him mostly with red welts and a few small trails of blood from cuts. He wiggles his nose and rubs it with one hand before nodding at Jessica. "Gods worst case of crabs I've had in at least eight years. Yeah thanks. Look I've had a target on my back since my teens with some undead demon cultist freaks, this is just them ramping up their game again. We find the guy, we shoot him, everything is fine again. That's how it works," Ash assures her as he starts moving again, albeit a BIT more slowly than before, glancing over the railing at the other two down below dealing with their own battles.

They were almost at the top floor now though, all that needed doing was finding the rainforest entrance. Ash moving up to a corner, he peeks around and then signals for Jessica to stop. With a 'HYAH!' then he spins around the corner with his gun, his shotgun barrels blasting with an emphatic boom. When Jessica follows after him she'll see a very dead penguin laying on the ground as Ash blows smoke off his barrels and reloads. "Got that one, it was waiting to ambush us," he explains cockily, his brow furrowing in confusion soon after as he takes notice of a few things. Like the open penguin enclosure with a feeding bucket. Or the other dozen penguins now milling in a panicked huddle inside the enclosure, showing no signs of demonic possession. "I uh, I...look it was coming right at me. Hey look, rainforest!" Ash abruptly changing topic as he points to a sign, a lit green arrow helpfully showing the way.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy probably has something to say about Morrigan stepping into the fray after THAT comment, but Undead Whalebeastie has made landing and is mashing the tanks as it passes, "A'giht then, we all put 'em' down first, then we go upstairs. Good plan."
Another step forward, sloshing through the water as he rears back and swings that one big fist at the ribcage, thinking that's the best place to try and slow this thing down. Probably also the best place to get himself mowed over by said beastie, but Red's not thinking that far forward, "Lead the way, folks. I didn't grab a map on m'way in..."

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jessica's green eyes squeeze shut in pained disbelief at Ash's crack about crabs. The agent of SHIELD in hiding wants to return to doing just that. After a glance over the balcony, she decides that Hellboy and the woman floating in the air have it well in hand. Ah, yes, the name Morrigan surfaces in her memory as glass quakes and begins to crack from the whale scream.

The agent rounds the corner, the acrid smoke of the gun still filling the air, to be confronted at an open pen of terrified penguins. "Awww," she frowns, disapprovingly at Ash. "Maybe, it, whatever it is, doesn't work on birds? Let's hope so because the rainforest is full of them. Monkeys, too."

Secreted into the front of her overalls is a gun, SHIELD issue. The dual-chambered gun fires both ICER bullets and more explosive and deadly rounds. She pulls it out then motions for Ash to lead the way. "After you, mad man."

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan gives a shiver as the undead dolphin tries to latch onto her ankle and she jumps a little to the side, "Whoa, I'm not that hard up for action, jeez!" the woman shouts. Then she realizes her voice is echoing and that gets a moment of note taking before she looks to see where HB is. "Do you want floaties for your dip?" she calls out. Then there ear piercing call of the whale starts to crack glass and the woman figures she's going to need to do something big.

"Hey, don't let me drown if I black out...or be eaten by this rapist of the sea." she points at the dolphin below her that keeps trying to jump and bite at her. With that, her hands get pressed together in front of her and her eyes close as she mutters magical words out.

As she does this, wards start to form on the tanks that haven't crashed open. She was hoping she'd be able to hold them off as much as it would take for them to find the source of this atrocity.

Ash Williams has posed:
The whale takes the hit from Hellboy and absolutely shatters, whatever magics were holding it together no match for the demon fist. Bone flies about and crashes to the ground around the 'good' demon, one last sullenly haunted whalecry before it returns to just being a pile of bones. Now all he needed to worry about was the dolphin trying to turn Morrigan into a snack. Still it shouldn't be able to reach her now that she was higher up surely...except as Hellboy watches the dolphin rocket up out of the water again it's not alone. An octopus has latched onto its head like a hat, its tentacles reaching out giving it a bit more reach grasping for the vampiric witch's ankles. Teamwork makes the dreamwork.

Ash meanwhile puts his penguin-murdering shotgun away, exchanging it for the speargun he brought for just this task, the tip of it coated with a fine layer of silver. Evil things HATED silver he'd learned over the years, melt down an old half dollar and you were in business.

"Yeah, some sort of spell that only works on sea creatures or something. All these guys have a gimmick. I just don't get why he'd hide in the one place he doesn't have back-up is all," Ash muses as they reach the rainforest entrance, a sliding door supposed to be holding in the heat and humidity of the temperature controlled exhibit. But that door was broken off its hinges, a low fog rolling down the stairs, and the floor was soaked with water. SOMETHING had gotten loose and crawled its way upstairs already, and following the track of the water it wasn't hard to see where it came from, a dark hallway marked 'Shark Exhibit.'

"Oh crap. Crap crap crap," Ash reiterates as he looks from the hallway to up into the dark and foggy exhibit. He looks back at Jessica over his shoulder. "You wanna go fir-yeah sorry, no I'm going, I'm going," he quickly reverses course. Steeling himself with a deep breath, he revs his chainsaw and then with a holler charges up the stairs.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy braces himself a little as the big beastie shatters, leaning into the spray of water and bits, before shaking his arm off, slinging some of the ick away. He glances up at Morrigan, then over to make sure the others had already headed up. With that squared away he can latch onto one support and leap to keep up behind Jessica and Ash, keeping an eye on which way Morrigan is going. Dont interrupt the good casters when their waving fingers around, just pounce on the folks trying to interrupt them.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Crap, crap, crap doesn't bode well. On a positive note, the screaming below seems to have come to an end. Jessica follows Ash skirting the dissolute pile of feathers that was a penguin before they arrived.

"Sharks? Tell me no," she asks with a troubled look between the fog rolling out of the doorway and the sign marking the shark exhibit. Stretching the fingers of her offhand out in preparation for throwing more venom, she steels herself to face the rest of the evening, chainsaw noise and all.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan's focused on keeping herself out of the mouth of the dolphin, but the octopus manages to lash her ankle open and she hisses at it, "I will deep fry you and eat you for your insolence!" she shoots a bolt of neon violet energy, but this time it's tinged with black. That's odd! She pays it no mind as she skirts the water more and more. Trying to make sure nothing is going to burst open.

"You doing OKAY over there Anung?!" she shouts.

Ash Williams has posed:
The octopus takes the magic blast and shudders...but doesn't let go even as the energy seems to burn a hole through it. Rather it seems to get, well, worse as the tentacles lengthen, its body blackens, and more tentacles, thinner and more like tendrils erupt from its moist flesh and start to wrap around Morrigan. The thing's beak opens and it lets out a screech that was VERY unoctopus-like and begins to snap at her.

Meanwhile below the dolphin is laughing. Not the usual dolphin eee eee eee squeaks and cheeps. It was a disgustingly high-pitched human laugh that seemed directed at Hellboy. "She's going to die, you're all going to die-ie-ie-ie-ie!" the dolphin actually speaks, standing up in the water as it swims backwards with just its tail mocking the demon man.

Above Ash barrels up the stairs and into the rainforest exhibit. Overhead the glass ceiling provides a look at the stars and the lit cityscape. Beyond that there wasn't much light about, most of the exhibits' lighting system either turned off or destroyed. Birds and monkeys holler and squawk in a panic rather than sleeping, the commotion and whatever ELSE was lurking in the faux forest clearly putting them on edge. For a rare change of pace Ash actually uses his chainsaw for its ended purpose as he slices through a small tropical tree which topples over, speargun raised as he half expects a 'landshark' to be waiting behind it. No such luck.

"Alright, where are you jerkhole?! I ran...all the way...up here..." the middle-aged man with a beergut finally showing some wear as he pants for breath and casts glares around. In fact it was harder to breathe than it should be, the fog rolling around their ankles dense and heavy enough to leave their pantslegs soaked where it touches.

The voice from before is back. It's no longer a booming echo but something closer, more sinister, a hiss to it that brings to mind snakes and spiders and other creepy crawlies. "Ash. I knew trying to get you in the water might be difficult. But with enough humidity and the right magic, wet air is almost as good as water. Goodbye Ash," the voice laughs. One of the glass panels shatters, something dark flashing out of it.

"Get back here! I'm not done with you yet you sonuvabitch!" Ash hollers as he stomps over, his concerns about sharks momentarily forgotten as the Big Bad looks to make his escape. Or rather, to distract him, because as Jessica watches she can see a massive Bull Shark emerge from the foliage...swimming...in the air. Like the possessed creatures below though it's not just a NORMAL flying shark. Its eyes are keenly aware, almost human instead of the usual black beady shark eyes and its mouth, already a horrifying thing on a shark, seems twice as large, stretching its face to the breaking point, the teeth big as daggers. The mouth opens as it rapidly and silently approaches Ash from behind.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy takes a swipe at one of the mocking dolphins, succeeding only in sloshing thew water around when he misses them. Glancing back at who he can see, or in this case, who he CAN'T see, and raises his voice, "Where'd Ash run off to?" He's backing up a few steps, looking up to make sure Morrigan is holding her own. They probably don't see Ash's little problem with the shark, at least, not yet.

Jessica Drew has posed:
After the tree falls, a noise turns Jessica's head. The hardened agent steps back in surprise and loathing. "What the hell have you brought down on us?" she whispers, more to herself than to the pot-bellied man.

Jessica has collected shark teeth; she even has a prehistoric tooth that she thinks of as huge. Not so. This behemoth sears its image into her brain. The stuff of nightmares. Worse than the teeth is its sapient expression, the eyes not only intelligent but promising a death that it will enjoy. Just as it magically propels itself into taking a chunk out of Ash's behind, she shoots three rounds that ricochet off the shark's hide into the artificial forest around them. A monkey screams its disapproval.

"Holy hell!" At least she got its attention. One evil eye rolls toward her. She drops the gun. Lesson learned. Knees slightly bent, hands held in front of her, she braces for the thing to jump. This time she doesn't have to worry about burning off Ash's face with the bio-electric charge she produces. The fog reflects the green light she overhands at the monster. It fills its open mouth, encompassing the body in an electric storm.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Realization that using magic against magic /might/ not have been the greatest idea in the world. She is wrapped up by the tentacles and there's a moment taken to snap back at it, showing her fangs as she does. One bob and weave in the wrong direction and she feels the beak dig into her shoulder. Her concentration breaks as blood runs down her shoulder, "I'm not dying here tonight!" she shrieks as she's pulled down into the water.

There is a shift in the air as the blood from Morrigan's wound starts to spill into the water and there is a bubble of violet energy that pops into the air, but everything, even the water turns black underneath Hellboy and the others. There are shocks of violet that can be seen here and there, but after that there is a bubbling that starts and a few seconds later a rather drenched and bloody Morrigan exits the water with a dolphin that's been pierced through the body with a sword that looks to be made from shadows, "I'm going to take this back to school and show the kids why we don't trust dolphins." she breathes out. Then she slumps onto the side of the rail and coughs up some water. Because that had sucked big time.

Ash Williams has posed:
"What are you...HOLY HELL" Ash's exclamation ringing throughout the miniature rainforest as he turns and sees what had been coming straight for him, the shark now turning off towards Jessica instead. As her larger blast of energy catches it in the mouth it seems even the possessed beast can't simply ignore that as it starts to shudder and convulse, slowing but not stopping its approaches. The mouth was a start but the energy had to go deeper, if only it had...

THUNK. The spear strikes the shark in the side and burrows deep, the electrical energy that had been playing across its flesh now beelining for the metal rod and traveling deep inside the shark which begins to smoke, its eyes catching aflame while a momentarily delicious smell of cooked fish is soon replaced by that of charred. It doesn't stop Ash from turning it to filets though, as the electricity clears he doesn't give it a chance to show if its dead or undead, the chainsaw biting into where approximately the neck might be and tearing through until the head drops off like a trophy. Depending on where Jessica is standing she may or may not be in the splash zone but Ash certainly is, and seems used to being covered in viscera as he pulls his spear back out of the shark's side.

"That's a start but we still gotta find what's causing this curse before those things downstairs get...wait I've got an idea. So dumb it might work," Ash excitedly cries out as he drops his gun and digs into a pocket to come out with a tattered notebook. His other hand still a chainsaw, he thumbs through it awkwardly until he comes to a certain page and then starts speaking Latin of all things. Throughout the aquarium a screech of horrified and pained demons sounds out before suddenly what fish and creatures are left alive return to normal.

Ash looks up at Jessica and explains, "Blessing for holy water. I KNEW there was a reason you don't often see demons in water," closing the book as if it was all just that simple as he shoves it back in his pocket and looks around the wreckage of the aquarium. "We should leave," he declares as he grabs his stuff and starts heading for an exit, while sirens can be heard outside through the busted window and getting closer.

Hellboy has posed:
Really, Big Red knows that one of Ash's dangers is: If you havent heard from him in a few minutes, you better go see what he's up to, "Ash?? Spiderlady??"
Morrigan goes hunting and drags up one of the offending dolphins at the pool edge when Hellboy backs up from it, drawing one brow up on that big face, "Honey, you shouldn've...the cats will love you." The corpse os nudged with one booted foot before backing up further, heading for Jessica and Ash's section of the floor. Cause if there's going to be a Big Ugly, its going to be somewhere around Ash.

Jessica Drew has posed:
The spear trick gains a look of admiration from the spider-woman, but she keeps it to herself after a look at Ash. Wiping fish blood from her face, Jessica looks down at her splashed overalls. "I'm going to smell like fish for a week."

Shark flesh has a distinctive smell of ammonia when it gets old. This one already smells like it has been dead for three days. Breathing through her mouth, "We need to get out before the police come." Admiration creeps into her voice, as she looks from the spear back to the man, "Holy water, huh? I'll remember that about demons. I try to keep you magic types at arm's length. Well, most of you. Hellboy is a bit alright. Speaking of which, I hope they survived the whale. Come on!"

Jessica gives the shark a wide berth as she starts out the exhibit door and down the ramp. "HB? Morrigan? Are you alright?"