Owner	Pose
Tony Stark	"So, don't take this as me saying I'm overwhelmed," Tony comments into the Avengers communications. The location is provided, as well, in the message. "But a team effort might speed this up a little. I'm being chased, and it's not in a good way." Tony's voice continues into the comm... There's a bit of a strange mess that has begun in Morningside Heights. The news has picked up on it, from the video content of bystanders and onlookers. There is a monstrous creature present in the middle of the street, just south of Columbia University. It is in the form of a strange, bubbling reddish mass. It's almost see-through: a semi-transparent thing that is lurching along slowly, about the size of a small car. Bubbles form into odd eye-stalks, as it looks upwards and around, like a strange, unearthly red slug. It has something inside it-- possibly some poor bystander?-- hard to tell from afar. Iron Man is the current target of the creature, hovering overhead, out of reach, "luring" it physically away from the campus. It's somewhat slow, but methodically making efforts to head towards the hero. It starts to reach up with a weird gooey tendril, but drops it when Iron Man shifts back some. "Nope, not the day for tentacles, thanks, though." The odd ooze just continues to follow, with a hungry single-mindedness.
Natasha Romanova	Natasha Romanoff is currently piloting the Quinjet with anyone that was available at the mansion, after ensuring that the request for assistance went through on the comms. Having something simple as an Avengers mission as opposed to her current slate of SHIELD operations is a welcome change. Fighting monsters out trying to destroy things and eat people is much simpler to deal with and almost counts as a mental vacation for her. She would go to push some buttons, speaking over the team comms.     <<Linking up telemetry and getting sensor data. Whatever the thing is it seems like it has a partially liquid internal gel like structure. By the normal routine, hitting it with something to cause extremely low temperature might be effective.>> Of all the times that Clint is not present and does not have his ice arrows.
Carol Danvers	When the call goes out, Captain Marvel is already airborne, but flying the wrong direction as she is heading north out of the city towards upstate New York. <<Did you guys hear that? Tony is overwhelmed,>> she cracks into her comms even as she does a 180 degree turn that would be gut-wrenching for a normal person at the speed she does it. <<Tony Stark, asking for help? I definitely have to go see this,>> she says, keeping it light-hearted. She accelerates, keeping it subsonic to avoid shattering windows, but just barely, allowing her to return to the city rapidly. Carol tracks in on Iron Man's signal, until he can see her swooping in from further above him.
Sara Pezzini	With the call coming in, that permitted Sara to armor up without destroying her clothing, it was a rare treat for her. Having been in the middle of dinner with Artemis, and not knowing for certain who else would respond or what might be needed, she asked the Amazon along as another strong fighter. What this meant was a flight by the Witchblade, carrying Artemis in her arms, to arrive at Columbia University. <"In sight of the university, have back up in the form of an Amazon," she announces over the comm, then to Artemis says, "Where would you like me to put you down?"
Cael Becker	"Well, can't help with that," Cael remarks under her breath. She'd been on one of her routine visits to the Mansion when the call came in, prompting her to hitch a ride with Natasha. She was currently availing herself of the supplies neatly stored on the Quinjet to armor up, putting on a set of tactical armor, and adding plenty of weapons at her waist. She looks thoughtful, as she digs around in the jet's supplies. <<"Don't suppose we have any endothermic grenades?">> she asks, as she opens all the storage spaces on the jet. After all - that sounds like just the sort of things Stark would invent on a lark.
Artemis	It's certainly an unusual method for Artemis to travel, but she has to admit it has it's merits. Looking around the area she gestures to Sara, then when they approach her chosen site, she simply rolls free of Sara's grip and plummets the last 30 feet or so, landing in the classic superhero pose.     A girl's got to make an entrance, after all.     Rising to her full height, she reaches out to the side and calls "Mistress, to me!", which results in the haft of a ludicrously large battle axe filling her hand. She shoulders it with no real effort and starts towards the blobby thing that is currently undulating down the street.     Should any pseudopods or tentacles come her way, they will meet the sharp end of the axe.
Tony Stark	"Were I someone with low self-esteem, I might have had to defend against that cutting commentary, Marvel," Tony teases Carol lightly in return. He's not stung, of course. It's all in good fun. "As it is, I'm holding back because I think there's a hostage present in there; the goo is masking most of the read, but I want to be sure we can safely blast it to sludge." The creature continues to follow Tony, who backs off again in the air, while his own sensors try to make sense of the structure of the ooze-meba. "Without also blasting, say, little Timmy or whatever's in there," Tony clarifies. "Take care with the main body-- but maybe some organized force can cause it to pull apart. Evidently I'm the favorite, so I will be playing the role of shiny distraction..." Tony trails off a little, mostly because he's chatting with his AI and looking at HUD readouts, it isn't that he's /actually/ quiet. Below, the ooze doesn't seem to have taken in the women yet, even the ones with big axes. It really wants to hug Iron Man, and has sent out two rather rapid long tendrils to try to grasp for him! They seem reasonably solid, slug-like, not a liquid.
Natasha Romanova	Natasha Romanoff would stay up in the Quinjet, "I'm not going to have a lot on me that will necessarily be effective. I'll stay on here to run scans and coordinate." Short range high end electric blasts from her gauntltes aren't likely to do much against something so solidly built. "I'm reading two people in there. Young adults. One is suffocating. The other has a regular heartbeat and breathing from the scans but I wouldn't count on that for long. I'd suggest you prioritize extracting the hostages physically if at all possible so you can focus on that thing with full power. I'll try to take some scans of it's physical form." She would hover the Quinjet up high enough to stay out of firing range and then hte boarding ramp to let Cael deploy as soon a she was equipped.
Carol Danvers	Carol Danvers gets a look at the blob-like creature. As the tentacles snake out towards Iron Man, Captain Marvel zooms down to street level and rips the large metal pole of a street light out of the ground. "Sorry, Municipality of New York. Send Stark the bill," she says as she turns towards the thing and uses the light pole to intercept the tentacles. "Let's see how solid it is quick," she says. Carol tries to use the end of the light pole not unlike you use a fork to gather up strands of spaghetti. She isn't sure if it's going to pass right through, or if they are solid enough she can manipulate the end and wrap them around the tip. Maybe even lifting the blob off the ground by them if they are solid and don't break. "Call it a data point before we go try to yank them out, but lets be quick."
Sara Pezzini	One of the advantages of Witchblade's armor is that in it's construction around Sara's body, the metal it literally covered in sharp barbs and spikes. Anything or anyone that tries to touch it ends up cut from the contact, which makes her the perfect choice to zip in closer and try to see if there is in fact someone inside the red slug like alien thing. As she swoops in however, a long bastard sword forms in her right gauntleted hand, just in case some kind of tentacle decides to try and make a grab for her that the barbs might not be able to handle. <"I could probably dive into that thing, check for little Timmy," she offers, the armor modulating as the tendrils wrap more around her, covering more of her body in case she does decide to go ooze diving. "Witchblade really likes the idea of ooze diving.">
Tony Stark	"This isn't an open bar, you can pay for your own light bulbs," Tony retorts, distracted by dodging and adjusting location to the sudden change from the reddish ooze. The tendrils wrap quickly around the lightpole, spun in a tangled knotted mess, and it actually rolls over bodily before it adapts some and allows one of the tendrils to be ripped off. It doesn't seem injured by this, though the ooze has yet to reattach. It may mean that if it takes injury, they do have a short time before it collapses back together again. Still, it's very STRONG, and the lightpole is suddenly bent with a heave of metal sound!
Cael Becker	"Hostages, huh?" Cael mutters under her breath - while looking at the variety of entertaining grenades she's managed to aquire. Well - they still might come in handy. Securing them into place, she moves towards the ramp - pausing there a moment as gleaming, blue-ish silver armor suddenly encases part of her form, over her tactical gear. It covers her chest, forearms, and shins - with dark, nearly black metalic wings extending from her back, and a double-headed axe of the same blueish silver metal in her hands. She leaps out of the back of the Quinjet, wings tucked in for the moment.     Just short of the creature, her wings extend, bringing her to an abrupt halt - but not before some of her momentum is transfered into a swing of her axe aimed at the creature.
Artemis	Working on the concept that teamwork is a good thing, Artemis takes two steps and launches herself into the air in an arc that intercepts a tendril still on the lightpost. Metal flashes and Mistress' razor sharp blade scythes through it before she lands a little in front of Carol.     Looking over her shoulder at the lightpole wielding woman, she grins and says, "If you keep tangling them up, I'll keep cutting them off. It will have to run out of mass at some point!"     She brings Mistress back to a ready position, watching for the next bit she can lop off.
Tony Stark	Spotting an opportunity, Iron man suddenly unleases a blast of energy, that lances forwards and turns the little cut-off blob that Carol twisted off into a black smear on the street! The ooze reacts, jerking for the lightpole, as if trying to take it away from Carol, exerting a lot of force on it to swing it around, as if it could take out both Carol and Iron Man together like a toddler aiming wildly near a pair of pinatas. All of that activity means the others are able to strike; Artemis's axe forces it to drop the light pole, and Cael's assault cuts a deep wound in the front, separating off a substancial blob of the ooze. One of the people is much more obvious, as he is towards the front. 'Timmy' is wide-eyed there, gasping a bit like a fish, perhaps just a foot away from the front tendrils. He's approximately twenty or so, with long brown hair-- very college student. The other person is more just a general shape in the back - not obviously a person except for Natasha's scan results. It looks as much a person as a chair.
Natasha Romanova	Natasha Romanoff would go to call back <<Get the two of them out of there. They likely require immediate medical attention. Maneuver them carefully in the event they have internal injuries or spinal damage. EMT's will be on standby.>> She's going to quickly maneuver the Quinjet around, being ready over in position as the two hostages were extracted to offer support. Even as would spin the Quinjet around, going to kick in the thrusters to have it cover, but spinning the.. Engine.. From about a hundred meters up in the air to face the goo-thing.
Carol Danvers	Seeing that the others have good means for cutting into the creature, Captain Marvel calls out, "Can anyone get to the other person? I'll try to keep it occupied and off your back." She flies up and around the creature to the other side, trying to keep it distracted. The light pole is bent now, but that means she can use it like a hook on any more tentacles that come out. "I might be able to help in frying it once the people are free," she says, though doesn't try it out yet, not wanting a photon blast to hit either of the trapped people. If she sees any tentacles going for other heroes, or for anyone they manage to free, she tries to intercept them.
Sara Pezzini	Now that it was clear where little Timmy and his buddy were located inside the red slug thing, Sara was more certain of her next choice of action. While the others kept it distracted, front and back end, she gained some altitude while the armor adjusted even more. Full body covering, complete with helmet and full face protection, and of course many more sharp barbs over every inch. Folding her wings against her back, she aimed herself at the red slug, to the immediate right of little Timmy, intent on punching a passage through the creature and giving Timmy a way out. She couldn't really risk touching the kid herself, the barbs made that extremely difficult, but if she could make an armored human size hole through it, then perhaps little Timmy could get himself out.
Cael Becker	"We see you," Cael says to the man near her. "And we're getting you out. Stay as calm as possible to conserve your oxygen." While she's speaking to the man with a calm, but firm voice, she swings again with her axe - her temporarily augmented strength helping her cut a swath through the slug-like monster near the man's form.     She was going to miss the amulet when she returns it - and a part of her wonders if she should be concerned about that sentiment or not. That desire to hold onto it.     She'll have to visit that thought another time, though, as she tries to reach in to grasp the man, in an attempt to pull him out. "You've going to be fine," she promises.
Artemis	Artemis blurs into action, sprinting around to the rear of the blob since multiple people seem to be dealing with the front. Judging about where the second figure is, she raises Mistress and chops into the gelatinous monstrosity hard enough for the blade to go right through it and even cut into the asphalt below. She's attempting to cut off part of the rear so the other hostage is reachable.     It worked on the tendrils, and she saw Cael cut into the body of the thing, so this seems like the best plan at the moment. A series of blows, well, not exactly ring out, more squelch unpleasantly, but anyway, she goes after the thing like a lumberjack at a tree chopping contest.
Tony Stark	The issue with having lots of Witchblade spikes is it is a lot like velcro-- all the hooks give lots of areas for the ooze slug to wrap little suckers onto, to try to grab onto. Without leverage it might be hard to get loose! Still, she can carve a path in towards the young man, and he's aware enough to reach and burst one hand out of the area in front, near where Cael's weapon cut. Between the two of them, they may be able to slide him free-- but if they pull too soon, they'll end up with PARTS of Timmy, since he's well anchored, and that won't be a good state for Timmy to end up in. "Yay, I'm not the favorite," Tony mildly celebrates, adding, "Watch out, Carol!" Tony isn't the focus, which means Carol is. From the back, eight grasping strands burst free, lashing in a tangle to try to hurl the attackers from that side. It seems less concerned about Timmy - maybe it doesn't have awareness? Tony is doing sniper duty now, vaporizing chunks that fall free from Artemis's lumberjacking approach. Artemis can now see the second person, clearly unconscious, a young woman in a white shirt and dark blue jeans. For the moment, the two hostages are clearly separated -- it may be possible to cut down the center without hitting either, but it will take quick aim to do so: the slug is rolling around and twisting under the attacks!
Natasha Romanova	The hostages are still in the center mass of the thing, not extracted. Natasha keeps the Quinjet roughly a hundred meters up in the air, rotating it around on the built in thrusters to keep it still and in a hover mode, like a VTOL jet. The point is to keep it out of the engageemnt range but ready to swoop on down if there's an opening. But for now, she's just on standby as the rest of the team dives in to prioritize getting the victims away.     Natasha is quickly pulling up chatter from police and emergency scanners for review after all this has been finished
Carol Danvers	Carol Danvers swings the light pole, only managing to hit a few of the tentacles. As she sees she's not going to stop them, she darts forward and slams her body into them, trying to take the brunt of the attack so Witchblade and the others don't get jarred as they free the captives. The mass of flailing tentacles knock Captain Marvel to the ground hard. She hits the pavement but only gives a soft grunt. Instead she grabs at the mass of tentacles, getting as many in her strong grip as she can before photonic energy sizzles around her hands and arms to try to burn those tentacles away.
Cael Becker	"I've got you," Cael reassures the man clinging to her. She keeps one hand around him - as he clutches to her with both of his arms. This makes it difficult for her to swing with that axe - especially since it's a double-handed affair. "Pezzini, can you help me cut him free?" she asks.     She drops her axe abruptly - which disappears as if it had never existed. Instead, she pulls from her waist a long metal utility knife, and continues hacking at the mass in a more controlled manner, while still trying to pull the man free. If she's not careful, this thing is going to try to pull her in, too... And that would be a real mess.
Sara Pezzini	Another great thing about the Witchblade is the armor is that it is constantly adapting, changing, adjusting. As the ooze tries to grasp hold of barbs in one place they simply merge back into the armor and appear in another place, allowing for Sara to use her superior strength to start twisting and turning inside the thing. "I got your back," she manages to say as she twists around inside the thing. The bastard sword remain in her right hand as well, a part of the artifact it can't be taken away, though it can be grabbed by the creature and she'll even permits that to happen to distract it, and to keep her left hand free. Recently, against the angels, she learned that Witchblade wasn't merely a melee combatant. His ranged attacks were pure fire, and that is what she used at the bits of the thing trying to keep hold of little Timmy. "A little fire should melt this thing nicely, watch out for the smell," she adds, trying to be exceedingly careful not to get Timmy with the fire and just the ooze.
Artemis	Seeing that Tony is disposing of what she removes from the thing's body, Artemis concentrates on chopping the blob down to size, being careful not to hit the woman as she removes more of the blob's rear. Once she's close to the unconscious woman, she dismisses the axe and pulls what appears to be a metal cylinder from her belt. Pressing a stud on it causes a blade to appear from the hilt.     No, it's not a lightsaber, just a magical blade of Amazon metalwork. The sword is a more precise instrument for freeing the woman without accidentally lopping off one or more major limbs. She tosses hunks of the thing out onto the street as she cuts them loose, getting them clear of the body so Tony can incinerate them more easily.
Tony Stark	"I.... lost control of it," says the man (formerly known as 'Timmy') quietly to Cael, as he twists a little, and is freed with the combined effort from the women, and the flame of Witchblade. His eyes roll back a little as he's separated from the ooze, and he suddenly goes unconscious, falling forward. The ooze twists and collapses as Carol shoots it as well in the back, with a huge missing part made by Artemis as she clears for the poor woman, and it falls downwards, perhaps stunned! Tony darts down to help as well, using repulsor to prod and knock dislodged parts and tentacles aside to get Artemis some space, as the group works to free the woman from the mass. Artemis is able to pull her loose, though, after she's cut free with the magical blade. "Clear back; Black Widow's got the big guns ready. Best to nuke the site from orbit, and all that," Tony observes.
Natasha Romanova	The hostages are out of the way, and Natasha goes to spin the Quinjet around, deftly controlling the repulsors on the craft as she moves to power up the engines. Then she goes to cut off the repulsors, going to dive down towards the creature. <<I'm going to be hitting it in the engine backwash. If you cannot take the heat, get out of the way. If you can.. Carol, please feel free to help out here. Witchblade, if you feel like this is wihtin your capabilities, anchor the thing in place. Tony, suppression please so the thing doesn't have a chance to maneuver itself.>> With that, she drops the Quinjet, having it dive almost like a stone. Then dipping it back several degrees, flipping the craft 'upwards' at a 45 degree angle, a few meters away from the thing.. Kicking the engine boosters to full power, the retros to keep the Quinjet giving it the full engine wash for as long as she could without the craft destabilizing under her guidance.. And managing to hopefully give it several seconds of the power of the engines that were designed to help take the Quinjet into escape velocity.
Carol Danvers	Once the civilians are clear, and Natasha has made her intent clear, Carol flies around to the back of the creature. As the jet angles itself down and begins sending that heated exhaust back the creature, and at Carol, the Avenger's entire body begins to glow with cosmic energy and her eyes light up with it, shining white. Captain Marvel begins burning away from her side, keeping the gelatinous creature from escaping to her side as it is caught between the Quinjet and a small measure of the form of Binary.
Tony Stark	"Well, since you said please," Tony smoothly deadpans to Natasha, moving to assist as she requested, despite his mild sass.
Sara Pezzini	"Ask and ye shall receive," Sara replies to Natasha. Taking a deep breath before numerous tendrils of metal expand out, through and around the creature to try and hold it in place. Numerous tendrils also drill down through the cement and deep into the earth, to use as leverage in keeping the thing from moving. As she is still completely encased in the armor, the heat of the backwash will flow right over her as if it were just air, Witchblade is highly resistant to fire and heat.
Cael Becker	Lost control of it?     There's only so much you can do to stabalize a spine while pulling someone out of blob monster - that is to say, almost nothing. Still, Cael tries not to jerk the man around too badly as she flaps her wings, pulling him up and clear, and veering towards emergency services for their assistance with the... victim?     <<"This guy may have had something to do with it,">> she announces into the comm. <<"He said he 'lost control of it.' Maybe that was hypoxia talking, or maybe...">> Maybe he created this thing? Or summoned it? Who knows.
Artemis	Once the woman can be pulled loose, Artemis picks her up and runs to the sidewalk, laying her down and checking her for breathing and a pulse. Given how the others are dealing with blobby, she doesn't bother returning to the battle, since the people with various energy based abilities (or jet exhaust) seem to be finishing the thing off. Given the situation, police and ambulances should be arriving about now, so she waves an ambulance crew over and leaves the young woman in the hands.     Pressing the stud on the hilt again, the blade vanishes and she replaces the hilt on her belt and watches the blob sizzle as jet exhaust flows over it, searing it's remaining body.
Tony Stark	"Well done, team -- and friends," Iron Man says, moving to hover just above the ground, near the rescued hostages. "Carol, take point here, all right, with the 'oozed'? I'm going to check the trail before it's too cold, to get more on what caused this." Tony gives a jaunty salute, giving the rescued people a look as he completes his own scans, and then blasts off down the trail the ooze left behind it, seeking the source. The man seems stable, the woman does need some additional help, to bring her to breathe again: she is an awful ashy shade of blue, with a lot of the reddish gel-stuff stuck to her and in her airway. Still, the group is able to stablize her enough that the ambulence crew can take over the revival as they get onto the site. Otherwise, there remains a blasted scorch mark where the ooze formerly was, and a few bits of it where it splattered. But it seems that the group managed to stop it, and save the lives of those it engulfed!
Natasha Romanova	Natasha Romanoff would call along the comm <<Quinjet is stable>> Evening out the flight path and going to take it down for a landing to let the engine cycle and cool and to pick up anyone else that would need a ride back. "Make sure to get some samples of whatever that was for analysis just in case it's an ongoing threat and we need to backtrack on it." Well, if there's anything left that wasn't mostly melted over by a combination of the swords, fire, axes, and more fire.
Carol Danvers	Captain Marvel gathers up some of the tentacles that were ripped free when she first used the light post, tearing off a small piece to analyze in her Starforce uniform's scanner. "Let's get the EMTs to them. Cael, do you want to liaison getting the tale from him on how he let it get away?" she suggests. Carol picks up the immense light pole, straightening it out as best she can. Probably not reusable, but who knows. She goes to check that there aren't any exposed electrical wires where she ripped it free, and then sets the light pole along the edge of the sidewalk for the city crew to be able to do with as they decide best.
Sara Pezzini	As part of the scorch mark, Sara is glad to have had the ooze cleaned off her through jet back wash. The tendrils withdraw back into the armor itself, even as part of the armor also retracts back to the more revealing style that Witchblade maintained in less threatening situations. This shifting and altering of the armor removes the ash from the creature, leaving the shiny metal once again. <"I can help with clean up around here,"> she comments as she picks herself up, leaving a Witchblade sized clean spot on the cement. Glancing around, and aware that Artemis doesn't have a comm unit, she walks over to the Amazon. "The kid said something to Becker, she's going to follow up with him and the woman. Thank you for your help Artemis," she extends her hand, no barbs presently visible, to shake. "I told you I'd find a way to introduce you to the powered persons I knew."
Cael Becker	<<"I'll follow-up,">> Cael promises.     Her FBI badge is put to good use, before Cael asks simply what hospital the man was to be taken to. The question was a mere formality - as she takes to the air once the ambulance leaves, easily following and keeping up with it as it weaves through the New York traffic, intent on making sure her target didn't somehow disappearce from the care of the EMTs.     Once at the hospital, she could hopefully learn his identity - and speak to him more at length once he was conscious once more.
Artemis	Once Sara has extricated herself from the remains of the blob, Artemis walks over to her and asks, "So was that something like this 'jello wrestling' I keep hearing about? I did not think it would be that good of a fight, but if it's anything like this was, it might be worth taking part in."     She watches Iron Man make his exit, then turns back to the gathered group and adds, "Well, another hideous beast dealt with, so that must mean it's time to celebrate our victory." She looks to Sara and shakes her hand, adding "Perhaps you should shower before whatever celebration we decide on. You have blob remnants in your hair."