2013.09.26 - Sinister Motives

"You all know what to do -- Get to it."

In the darkness of the bio-base, even Sinister's henchmen have to squint to make out their bosses' face, but regardless, he's right. They do know what to do, and they all shuffle into the teleporter room to get to it.

"Scalphunter. A moment." The towering mutant known to most as Scalphunter slows to a stop, looking back to his boss as the last of his fellow mutants leave the room, "Sir?"

"Remember what we talked about. They're expendable. You are not. Whatever it takes, I need that information, Greycrow."

"Yessir."

Mutant Town, New York

All day the news -- every station -- has been running one pressing story, interrupting shows every few minutes to bring updates on the situation. Three and a half hours ago, someone called a bomb threat into the police. Naturally, it was taken incredibly seriously and went to the location provided in the anonymous tip -- an apartment building in the famous Mutant Town. They followed protocol, sweeped the building with all kinds of sensors and bomb sniffing robots, and when it came up empty, they breached and searched in person. That's when things went... wierd. When they arrived on the third floor, all communications died for nearly a minute. After the silence, a single voice spoke out over the radios, a cold, calculating voice. A sinister voice.

"Send your heroes."

The bodies of the police who went in were then thrown from the windows.

An hour later, every channel had picked up the story and the road was packed full of their news vans, every single one waiting to see the inevitable battle and broadcast it to the world. The only question is, how long will they have to wait?

The other Avengers are tied up with other situations and duties, but that doesn't stop Tigra from making her way to the scene. She travelled here in human form, changed to feline form in an out of the way alley, and approaches the building in her uniform, so to speak. She's trying to find a way to approach unseen if possible, stealth being one of her strengths. She's eager to crack some heads, though. The bodies of the police officers strike too close to home for the police widow.

Mutant Town. It has its good points and bad, of course. Even for other mutants. Some get free passage, others get harassed in good and bad ways. Sometimes for exactly the same reason!

That aside, the Wagners have found themselves in the 'famed' Mutant Town on a fact-finding mission, of a sort. Best venue for a garage band? Or at least what Kurt Wagner calls 'garage band'. Others (ahem) may insist that it is a form of art to be shared with the community at large! And what community would accept a blue, fuzzy, be-tailed front singer like TJ Wagner? Those in Mutant Town. (Duh!)

As the day wears on, however, there is the sound of commotion, and Kurt's immediate response is to reach out and grab TJ before teleporting onto the side of a wall to watch. When police are called in for Mutant problems, there is always some problem, some discrimination against the mutants just for the fact that they are, indeed, different.

"Herzchen.. shhh.." comes from the darkness along the side of a building. The Amazing Nightcrawler is almost impossible to see, but not quite. He wants to be seen by those who may have eyes to do so.

Sometimes all one needs to audition for a band is to show off some vocal chords. Talia might have gotten that very chance today until all of this went down. In another moment she's stuck to the side of a wall beside Kurt, the stick of a mostly eaten corndog still in one hand as the other adheres itself to the wall along with the rest of her limbs.

"Don't need to tell me, Dad."

Here lurks a pair, both able to stick to virtually any surface, both able to lurk within the shadows as if invisible, both able to see in most all but complete darkness. When it comes to being sneaky, these two have a fair amount of tricks.

Of course, they can also be brats more often than not. But that's what keeps life fun and exciting, right?

Thin-slit yellow eyes drift back over to Kurt. "We could handle this. Never see us coming. Take me to their leader, bamf out any survivors. Super easy!"

Pryce is not one for risking his own lives unduly, but even if he does not live in the area bad news for mutant town means bad news for mutants everywhere and he does not want that kind of thing getting in the way of his plans for the future. Which is why when the news of the attack going on there went our he decided to get involved, and maybe test out a few new toys he has been working on. A pair of whisper quiet black motorcycles roll up on the scene having managed to dodge every possible bit of traffic and roadblock set up only to drive off, on their own, the instant the two young men wearing black riding leathers get off of them. The two figures do not remove their helmets, or even speak to anyone at first as they look over the building. "This is going..." "...To be interesting."

A decaying theater rests in silent entropy across the street, beyond the police cordon around the entrances to that threatened tenement-- bring your heroes, they said. Standing atop the long-unlit marquee, that simple thought brings an almost devilish grin to one Jackie Estacado's face. "Wait'll they get a load of me." He muses, or one might say waxes most sinister. Green-glowing-eyed gremlins peer out from the shadows at the base of the building down the less-patrolled alleyways; conveniently perfectly visible to the fuzzy mutants lurking above.

The shocking part, perhaps, is how certainly the little fellers -also- look back up that wall, perhaps even locking green eyes with yellow ones before they all but fade back into the shadows, disappearing into the apartment building's superstructure... and peering inside, instead. Dim corners, ceilings, ductwork-- they know their trade, and ply it with salivating mouths full of needlepoint teeth.

For Jackie's part, shadows swirl about him, and deposit him on the rooftop, overlooking Nocturne and Nightcrawler's position... as his boyz scout the uppermost floors below.

The apartment building remains completely silent. Ever since the bodies were thrown out the windows, there hasn't been anymore news from inside, and the police have so far refrained from trying to breach again. Too many unknown factors, plus that message. 'Send your heroes.' Whatever was in there -- whoever was in there -- they were most likely above the paygrade of NYPD.

So far, none of the police have spotted the host of heroes approaching from every direction, but there's no telling who may have seen them from inside the building. Those responsible have clearly chosen not to reveal themselves until the time is right, and whoever they are, they're keeping that time a surprise.

Finally, one of the cops approaches Pryce and... Pryce, however, he doesn't so much order them to get back behind the line as he does nervously look them over, his eyes darting after the self-piloting pair of bikes as they drive off. "Finally... We were hoping some of... uh... you guys, would show up. Look, we ain't got much info, but... Far as we can tell, the whole place is silent. Ain't a hot spot anywhere. One of our guys caught sight of some wierd blue light up on the third floor where... Well where it happened, but that's it. It's a ghost zone." He glances back over his shoulder to the apartment building, eyes it warily for a moment, then looks back. "You can head in whenever, but this started as a bomb threat. May be trap, but you might wanna' keep that in mind. Might not have tons o' time." That said, the man shuffles back to his post where he resumes whatever tense conversation he was a part of before.

Tigra can hear the cop speaking to someone, though where she is she can't see who. Sounds like she's not alone, which is good. It might be prudent to go back and see who else is showing up, compare notes and plans, but she's already gotten herself into an alley next to the apartment building, and she doesn't want to reposition herself, and increase the chances of being seen. Carefully and quietly, she starts climbing the wall, heading up towards the third floor, and moving towards the back of the building to look for a window to try to slip in through. Failing that, she'll continue on to the roof to look for access. Her tail flicks about nervously as she stalks along the wall.

"Ja, true.." and Kurt narrows his eyes to peer into the darkened windows, looking perhaps more for a landing spot than to truly scout the area. His tail reaches out to take a wrap around his daughter's, just to mitigate her own teleportation 'illness'. "Ready--"

"Gott im Himmel," the elf whispers, looking down to spy the green eyes looking.. up at him? Them? "TJ," Kurt hisses softly, "Was sind--" Gremlins? "Who are you?" is stage-whispered down. He believes in gremlins.. the little creatures of mythology.

He'll give a moment, of course, for response, before- "I think we need to go in." Particularly when the slavering creatures make their moves.

BAMF!

Time to go in.. and the first stop is the second floor, clinging to the ceiling. It's a moment to listen before, in the next heartbeat, the blue wall-crawlers teleport up to the third floor, once again landing upon the ceiling, in a nice dark corner overlooking the blue-lit table.

Wait. Are those ..? What the heck are those..?! TJ's no stranger to Hell, or the Brimstone Dimension, or whatever sort of polite name one might choose to give to the place. Kurt's even more familiar with it! But those numerous green eyes that are staring back up at them from the shadows of the alley...

Heck. Talia's one quarter Neyaphem (that translates to demonic blood, thanks to Kurt being half infernal,) and she's a bit put off her game by the sight.

"..Then again, we could always catch the next sulfur cloud home," she mutters while inching that much closer to the Bamfer's shoulder. Yes, she sees them, too!

Still. Inside the darkened windows there's ..something. Something with a faint blue light. And no people? Blank golden eyes shift to and fro as tiny fangs pluck the last nibble of food off of the wooden stick, chewing slowly as though the very act might bring all of Hell down around them. (It just might, she doesn't know anymore!) "Maybe this isn't such a good idea. Do you see any people in there..? Any--"

BAMF!

"--thing that looks alive, even? If you are, then I'm missing it."

One empty corndog stick gets absently switched back to her tail, sticking low to the ceiling alongside the other Wagner like a pair that were cross-bred from a xenomorph and the oldschool Cookie Monster.

The twin figures in black nod at the police as they give them the size up on the situation. As they listen a small sound can be heard, something between a buzz and a hum as several small items fly into the area. Flying in formation are several small milk jug sized remote controlled helicopters lead by a flying black pyramid made of plastic with built in red LED lights that is about the same size.

The lights on the pyramid glow in patterns as it suddenly talks in, of all things, the voice of Kathleen Turner. "A bomb at least would be easy to deal with. There are others about, time to go boys." The machine all but purrs before it and the toy helicopters move to surround the building so that Pryce can get a good view of everything going on.

While JOAN, responds to the cops the twins nod and then reach out with their powers to try and find communications devices that are not police standard and not already inside the building. "Anyone else there? Because we are so not looking forwards to fighting someone with unknown abilities alone." While he reaches out to try and communicate with any heroes small heat sensors, powerful microphones, and cameras from the remote controlled helicopters transmit information back to HUD systems inside of the motorcycle helmets.

The Darkling pair below Kurt don't respond, as they slink back -through- the walls of the tenement-- but there's an almost unmistakeable, dark little giggle that punctuates his query, before it's cut off to darkness. Gremlins, indeed. Inside the apartment building, priority number one is the lights-- but all of those are out, already. One of the Darklings finds and gnaws through the main breaker -anyway-, just to make sure there are no bright, bright surprises waiting-- Jackie's had his share of those lately.

If there's still power flowing to the structure (despite SWAT's likely efforts), the toothy little demon with the fedora and ratty longcoat will all but /explode/ into dusty ash, dissipating completely on the way to the floor. Sometimes, life is hard. His quartet of the scouting Darklings regroup in the corner of what used to be the third floor of apartments, taking up positions around that space and peering outwards. One points upwards at the pair of mutant elves, and impulsively intones, "Youz not what we ordered!!" It's a toothy, disappointed stare fixed on the pair, complete with persistent, clawed finger pointing at them, and no shortage of suppressed hostility. Like a very angry monkey, with very bad mange.

Behind the gremlins, a figure concealed by shadows that flow about him like a second skin, glimmering with armored points, steps into the room as if from the darkness itself. "They've prepared this battlefield for us." He notes, perhaps stating the obvious, to the other infiltrators. Jackie doesn't sound worried so much as... intrigued.

The police watch as the 'toy' armada of helicopters take off for the locked down building, some of them in awe, some of them clearly doubtful of who they just placed their hopes in... Was that... Kathleen Turner?

The third floor of the building has been completely torn apart. Where there were once walls, now there only remains a few supporting beams as destroyed dry wall litters the floor. The furniture and everything that you would find in a home is gone, not even a trace of what used to be there left for the arriving heroes. And right there, in the middle of the cleared out floor is table. On the table is a device, somewhat oblong with sides that slope into a dull point where a faint blue light pulsates, not even enough to light up the corners of the level.

And then the world goes a bit screwy.

Suddenly there's light everywhere. There doesn't even seem to be a source, it's just... There. Everywhere. Without warning, the entire place expands into a massive stage, a mile in each direction. The walls and ceiling become seamless and are quite suddenly coated in white paint, so glaringly sterile it almost hurts to look at them with all that damned light shining from everywhich way. Nocture and Nightcrawler suddenly seem to find that the ceiling is far too smooth to hang onto, and unless something is done quickly, they'll be flat on their backs on the floor. Then all at once, in the middle of the stage, the floor opens up and seven nefarious looking individuals rise up: A massive, bald headed man -- Blockbuster. A smaller, thin man, also bald but dressed in bright red -- Vanisher. A woman, with green and white hair, and a disturbingly hard to follow uniform to match -- Vertigo. A teenage girl, blonde and wearing black leather and black lipstick -- Lady Mastermind. Another woman, this time with purple hair, cut short and dressed in a skin-tight, off the shoulder metallic one-piece -- Arclight. A tall, gangly man with pure white hair that stands on end and an oddly large mouth -- Ruckus. And finally another tall man, though he's far from gangly. His long black hair falls to his shoulders and his uniform is made up of metallic modules attached to a plain white outfit, each one looking like it could be removed and replaced. He steps forward, muscular arms crossing over his chest. "Hi there. I'm Scalphunter. We're the Marauders. We kill mutants..." A grin stretches across his face.

"Who's next?"

The feline Avenger has made her way to a window that she's found to be unlocked, and has gently lifted it up, trying to be as quiet with it as she possibly can. She takes a moment to listen and sniff, trying to get a feel for what she might be facing inside, but before she makes entry, there's the flash of light and...okay, that is pretty messed up. She looks at the outside of the building, and then back in through the window, and then back outside. One might have seen the same dance done with certain companions and a large blue police box. "I do not have enough letters after my name for this," she thinks to herself. Now she does enter through the window, standing up as she does so, with there being no shadows to hide in.

Tigra's progress, unfortunately, isn't yet caught by the Indigo Bamfer. Not yet.

"We could, but where is the fun in that?" Going home when there's potential for some excitement? Mystery? Intrigue? Or some out and out hero-ing? (There is that word again, that may not be a word.) Regardless, the fuzzy blue elf simply doesn't consider it to be a viable option at the moment

"Nothing so far-- mein Gott.. them again."

Kurt points down from his corner at the gathered creatures. "Not what-- I am sure when this is done, you can find a good take-out around the corn--" Though when Jackie joins in, those featureless, glowing golden eyes turn up at the darkened figure, seen only by the dim lights that he can yet discern in such blue light.

"Battlefield.." Kurt sounds an acknowledgment of the growing 'fact', though he doesn't sound afraid. Not in the least. It's more that awareness of what may yet unfold, and he murmurs to TJ again, "Do you have another stuck from your corndog? That is the last time I'll let you yell at me about throwing things away. I could have had a perfectly good spear." Nightcrawler doesn't get a chance to get anything else out regarding the care and use of a pointed implement before his world is turned upside down. Rightside up?

Those little suctioncups on hands and feet give out, but the elf is somewhat adept at thinking on his feet. As he falls to the ground, Kurt does his best imitation of a cat and twists around such that he lands on all fours to the floor, his tail swishing as he rises to his feet slowly. Those featureless golden eyes narrow as he offers, "I am the Amazing Nightcrawler," Kurt begins, "Und I stop those who kill mutants." How's that for a witty retort?" Looking about the room, he does both a quick check for Nocturne, and an accounting of the other gent of shadows before he starts again. Tigra's entrance forestalls that, however, and Kurt moves such that he can get a line of sight for the 'girls' before he looks to the spokesman, Scalphunter. "I could ask you to sit down und talk about this civilly und rationally.." (But why is there the sneaking suspicion that it won't happen?)

And there's those blasted gremlins again. "Complimentary house special," Talia hisses back while bringing her hands away from the ceiling where thin wisps of pale blue energy arc across the three broad fingertips sprouting from each palm.

That energy disappears just as quickly when shadowy dust appears, then with it a man dressed in spiky bits. From their corner of the ceiling at least one pair of yellow eyes starts to widen. But, the first thing that Jackie has to say makes her think that he isn't part of the problem here, at all...

You really can't take the Hell out of the Demon. Or whatever the heck that thing is.

Seems that he's not the only thing that can transform, because -there goes the room.- And their perch. The two Wagners twist about and drop down in synchronized silence, even mimicking the same stances. TJ hunkers down low on all fours, her tail poised behind her not unlike a scorpion with its stinger arched.

Except that she's got a blunt wooden stick with a small hunk of fried batter adhered to it rather than a stinger. (Hey, you wanna go into battle with it, Kurt, then you go right ahead.)

Her best tactic here will be to find someone to try and possess. Thing is, she doesn't know any of these Marauders. Thus, the best she can do is wait and watch and figure out which one she wants to go after, which means it's time for a little kung-fu fighting.

"And -I'm- not even supposed to -be- here!"

As far as battle cries go, it could use a little help.

It is a little known fact, Kathleen Turner not only has one of the sexiest voices alive but is one of the most dangerous mastermind types ever. Her eyes are everywhere prepaid to intervene when she is really needed.

Once they have all the information that they are sure that they are going to get Pryce nods to himself and both bodies look up at JOAN. "Alright, lets go then." They say in unison while reaching into folds in their clothes to pull out what look like they might be weapons, or possibly childrens toys, or weapons that started off life as childrens toys. "Oh, officer if you see any changes or anyone else approaching just...radio the information. We will hear." They say tapping the side of their helmets. The police will probably assume that they are tapped into their communications but, easier than explaining the truth.

Once that is all done the twins head for the front of the building and heading in to start the climb up the stairs to the third floor where all the fun is going on. Note to JOAN, remind us to build hover boots, or a rocket skateboard or something for next time.

Instead of going with the twins the pyramid shaped thing zooms at the building and up wards looking for an open third floor window she can fly through. The boss can't get there fast but JOAN can, and she can at least make sure he knows what he is in for if and when he gets there.

If he had a dollar for every time he's all 'Hey, this looks like a trap', and then he's blinded by so much freaking light that he might as well be gatecrashing Heaven or some shit, well-- then Jackie Estacado would be even richer than he is, okay? A muscular, black-armored arm rises to guard his eyes, even as the Darkness adjusts for the unexpected lensflare... but that armor doesn't smoke, doesn't diminish, Jackie finds he doesn't have to fight that hopeless fight to hold onto the black amidst -so much white-.

"OH BALLS!!!" shouts one Darkling, as the entire quartet turn tail to run. Usually, that's about as far as they get.

"EVERY FUCKING TIME!!"

"I REGRET NOTHIII... wait. The fuck is /this/?!" One by one, little black gremlins poke at themselves, almost comically ignoring the Marauders' introductions and posturing in favor of marvelling at the fact that they're, well, still there.

"This place -sucks-."

".5 Stars! Would not visit again!!"

The Darkling chorus abates as Jackie recovers his own bearings, and just grins behind the yellow-eyed mask of the Darkness, the sleek armor about his form redoubling as armor plates and cruel edges surge into being, his hands becoming more metallic claw than human digit, extending into razor-sharp points of black. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I vote for /all of them/." He has kind of a thing about clearing out tenements filled with the indigent and disenfranchised, you see. Estacado showed -up- to this shindig pissed, and the set stage? Doesn't do anything to lessen his rage.

One clawed digit points, and the Darklings surge forward, suddenly doubling in numbers as four more drop from the ceilings-- one of them is tiny, even for a Darkling, sporting ample facial hair and claws snapping out of his fists. They fall forward in a frenzy of claws and gnashing teeth. Except for the one who pulls out a jackhammer, seemingly from his own ass, and leads with that. They're vicious, they'd tear apart an army of mooks in seconds (and they have), but they're out of their league here; and just a distraction, in the end.

At Jackie's feet, a tremendous maw attached to a serpentine body erupts and whips forward, its length scaled in shimmering blacks, crimsons, and purples; its draconic eyes a burning, brilliant green. That mouth? Filled with needlepoint, armor-rending teeth and a bite capable of crushing and devouring a skull in a single, quick chomp. Whilst the others have banter, mercy to offer their ambushers, Jackie starts by directing that dark serpent to devour the face right off of that big, burly bald guy. In a sense life on the street has the same rules as prison, right?

Civilly und rationally? Scalphunter snorts, his arms unfolding as he leisurely begins plucking modules off his uniform, slowly attaching them together piece by piece, "If I had a dollar for everytime I heard that... Well, I'd have a dollar. Most people just scream and run. Or try and fight." He glances up from his work to look at Nightcrawler and the rest of the heroes, just in time to see Jackie starting things off...

Instantly, he drops the languid approach to his project and in a few short seconds, the modules are slotted into place, creating one long, sleek looking assault rifle. Right before the darklings hit, he dodges out of the way, rolling off to the side to fire off a few shots of blistering plasma that slam into two of the gremlins, blasting them straight out of this reality. Three more are smashed into dust as Blockbuster swings his fist straight through the jackhammer-wielding darkling, barely flinching as it pulverizes his forearm, and into two more. However, just at that moment, the serpentine creation latches onto his face and he lets out a startled and muffled cry of pain. He thrashes a bit, yanking on it with several tons of force before he abruptly charges straight for Jackie, following the length of the darkness serpent to his foe.

At the exact same moment, Vanisher disappears in a red puff of smoke, reappearing directly behind Nightcrawler with a pipe in his hand, wound up and swinging straight for the blue mutant's head.

Arclight lifts her fists, turns towards the pair of Pryces, and slams them on the white ground. Purple energy arcs outwards, shaking the floor in it's path towards the pair.

Ruckus glances Tigra's way, flashes her a smile, and casually saunters over, completely silent... at least until he gets a few feet away, at which point he opens his mouth and lets out a tremendous screech, sonic energy directed straight at her.

Nocturne, for now, goes untouched... But not unwatched...

And now it's on. Demonic...ish things attack, shots get fired, people disappear, and Tigra drops into a crouch, tail lashing as she tenses and leaps towards Ruckus, deciding to wipe that smile off his face. She gets airborne before he lets out his screech, and her growled batle cry becomes a roar of pain. She twists in the air, hands coming up to cover her ears, now on a ballistic trajectory, rather less elegant than before.

Oh.. good lord!

Kurt crosses himself quickly as the darklings speed into action, not really aware if such a thing would counter creatures like them? (It did, after a fashion, in Limbo. Once. A long time ago.. sorta. At least that's the story he's sticking to!)

It doesn't take long to see what is going on, who is what, and what is what. The moment TJ begins to move for her own particular brand of fighting, Kurt leaps into the air to swing his feet around, aiming now in support of that-- Blessed Mother, what in the world is that?

Still, Kurt is on the move the moment Jackie's snake... thing moved, up and in the air, his leg taking a good bit brunt of the swing. A growl exits the elf, and his prehensile tail whips out to make a grab for the pipe before the full follow-through. Target, however, is acquired, and Kurt now knows there is a teleporter. Calling out, "Teleporter!", the elf is ready to truly go into combat mode. "Heads up!"

That sonic energy, however, gains a wince from the elf, even if not directed. Distracting, to say the least! "One can hardly think with that noise!"

Weapon construction. Super strength. Teleportation. (DAD!) Energy projection, possibly only through solid medium. Sonic projec--OW! OWOWOW!

"Damnit, -nobody- likes a screecher!" Talia yells in complaint while clamping hands over her long, tapered ears. (OW!)

Some have yet to move. Kurt knows teleporting, he should have Vanisher. The ..well, the Darkness seems to be a real tough opponent. There's the cat lady though, she's not liking the screeching any more than the rest of the corporeal beings present. TJ's target of choice may not be the most strategic but Ruckus is going to be a pain in the ass otherwise, plain and simple.

Without a word she lunges away from her spot on the floor, the four-point launch taking her diagonally right for Ruckus. Tigra's got him distracted, time to go for the home run!

That means possession.

Pryce shows up on scene, just as the fight is starting expecting to walk into the dark torn up third floor when suddenly...it is different. And the place should be different, because whatever it looked like form outside this is how it should look all white walls and ceiling and bright lights. Even if the images from JOAN keep showing something a little different. They shake their heads sending JOAN a command to do a diagnostic on her remote controlled interface while they look around.

The attack by Arclight almost goes unnoticed till too late, both of them diving to the sides away from each other as they see the purple energy headed towards them. Once they right themselves they open fire with their weapons...which shoot three of what look like mini-marshmallows at Arclight's hands. At least that is what they look like till they hit, then wherever they hit they stick like glue and start to expand till the size of basketballs.

As the blue guy goes into combat one of the two men in black reaces for a pocket and throws a small metal device that looks for all the world like a Star Trek issued combadge circa the Next Generation series in his direction. "Blue man, catch! Pin that on the teleporter!" The pair yells out as they wait to see how Arclight responds to their attack before doing anything else.

The Darkness tastes blood. Powerful blood. It leaks from where that serpent holds its visegrip on Blockbuster's skull, as that jaw clenches and releases, chewing and grinding at resilient flesh like an eager owl with a tootsie pop. It doesn't release despite the sudden burst of speed and power, coiling around and readjusting length and angle to follow its quarry with unnatural, oily grace. For a moment its prey does get the upper hand, rushing towards Estacado, but the Host barely shifts, instead swiping lazily with his opposite arm.

A second tendril, looking for all the world like the tail of that endless serpent, erupts from unseen space and lashes across its target at shin level with razor-edged spines leading the slash. It's on the return trip that that tendril, sharp edges turned inwards, slithers and constricts for Blockbuster's legs, from ankle to knee. Should it find purchase, the coiling motion only redoubles, crushing and tearing and looking to break something. Meanwhile, acidic saliva rolls from the biting maw, down onto its quarry, and sizzles into the 'floor', eating holes through the material in short order.

For the moment, Darkling numbers are diminished, leaving the clawed runt to rally the lingering demons, "Come on boyz! We's the best there is at what we does!" A long, sustained fart emits a noxious green cloud that hangs in the air behind him as they rush together at Scalphunter... as a second serpentine mouth erupts in the midst of the fray, hissing loudly and scanning the area.

"Whatever these fucks are doing, we're still actually -in- the tenement!" Estacado decides, and decides to share-- whatever mindfuckery this is, it's just that. At least, that's the story he's sticking with. In the dark, vacant depths beneath them, the floors below begin to swarm with emerging dark shapes, gathering in numbers clear of the fight. Larger, angrier beings with clawed wings to match their appendages-- and several with expansive, extended maws and larger carapaces that look like they'd be at home in the aforementioned Geiger featurette.

Ruckus' grin stretches even wider as Tigra careens off course mid-leap. With a simple hop to the side, he dodges her entirely, the main focus of sonic scream locked on her and only going up with intensity as the battle rages on around them.

As Kurt's tail wraps around Vanisher's pipe, the balding man releases the weapon and disappears with another BAMF. Moments later he's back and directly above Nightcrawler, this time armed with a machete which moves in an arc, straight for the fuzzy mutant's head. "You may be able to teleport, but you can't keep up with me, kid."

Just as Nocturne is about to reach her target for possession she's... blocked. Intercepted, may be a better word. It turns out, another incorporeal being -- a pale skinned girl, otherwise known as Malice -- emerges from Ruckus and grins. "Find your own body," she sneers, eyeing Nocturne, clearly waiting to see where she'll go and preparing to block her attempt at possession.

Pryce's... odd attack catches Arclight off guard. For a moment she just stares in slight shock at her hands, before she lifts them with an almighty shout and slams them on the ground, purple energy surging out of the marshmallows. Three times she bashes her hands against the floor before finally she's free of the sticky mess, at which point she charges straight for the nearest Pryce, arms outstretched in what is a clear attempt at a bear hug. Before she makes it though, the world for the pair of techno-masterminds will turn on it's head as massive amounts of Vertigo wash over them both, the source -- Vertigo -- standing behind Arclight with a smirk, arms stretched out towards them.

Blockbuster continues on his mad dash until suddenly, and abruptly, he's send tumbling in a mass of blood, pain, and darkness. With a loud roar, he slams his fists into the serpent about his legs, hammering home with massive force in an attempt to get the blasted thing to release him. At the same time, he does the ridiculous... He tries to bite the serpent back, clamping on with just as much power as his arms. Meanwhile, Scalphunter effortlessly dodges, rolls, and blasts his way through the hordes of darklings that have made him their target, looking almost bored as he breaks the rifle into a pair of pistols, each firing rapidly to carve darkling 'flesh' from their bodies.

"Scalphunter," the voice is so smooth... so cool, and confident as it fills the room. "I have what I need. Finish it."

"Sure thing boss. -- Marauders! Take 'em down!"

She's going to feel wretched about this later. Considering who she hangs out with, Tigra's performance so far is...underwhelming. Not that she thinks that right now, that is. What she is thinking is 'OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW' as the sonic attacks stays focused right on her. Reflexes war with each other, feet and toe claws slowing her sliding tumble, and hands want to come into the act, but they stay to protect her ears. Another loud cry of pain and frustration as Tigra fights against the sound. The cry turns into a roar now, as she tries to fill her ears with her own noise, and lashes out at the floor, hands and claws looking for purchase, desperate to lunge back at the source of her pain.

Now, with pipe in tail, Kurt is effectively armed. He's proficient with swords in three appendages, and one of those is his tail. The elf catches the sound of teleporting, "Hey, that's my sound! Get your own bamf!" is shouted before he, too, teleports out and to the side. The elf uses all dimensions.. up, down, side to side, and all axes in between. He's lived it, learned it.. and breathes it.

Before he moves, however, Kurt does get something of a haircut before he kicks it into high gear. It's something, perhaps, that the other teleporter may not be aware of.

Catching the .. whatever it is that is thrown to him, Kurt offers a salute with a free hand and begins what he describes as 'combat bamfing'. Rapid, heartbeat-long teleports that is meant to disorient the target and allow him to lay several blows before one can truly be delivered upon his person. And, with that pipe, the Amazing Nightcrawler is willing to defend as well as press an attack. And find an opportunity to lay the bit of technology on his opponent. (Could be a bomb? Who knows!)

TJ does indeed stop short, frowning. Tilting her head to the side. Another possessor? As Malice tells her to try again Talia just grins and offers an "Okay" in response. Rather than try for another attempt at stealing another's body she leaps into a backflip and brings her hands around, that blue energy not even having a chance to flash upon her palms before a pair of hex bolts lance forward at both Malice and Ruckus with a -Skrak!- of energy that was sapped right out of Hell, itself.

Possession isn't the only trick up her sleeve! Pick the right weapon for the right attack, she'll save her one use in twelve hours power somewhere that it will do more good. And have a bit less competition.

Pryce is bringing his weapons up to start firing more of the glue pods at Arclight, intending to wrap up her legs and maybe glue her arms to her body when they get hit by vertigo. Both bodies go down, faster than they would if they were normal people in fact, ending up on the ground just as Arclight reaches one of them missing getting bear hugged. The fact that Vertigo might have saved him will not be lost on Pryce...later.

JOAN for her part has been watching the action and formulating a plant to help her creators, until they go down. Suddenly all the LEDs on the little black pyramid go on leaving it with a reddish glow and a hole in the front of the machine opens up. "Thats it bitch, no one hurts my boys." Kathleen Turner's voice growls out before a series of small darts get shot at Arclight and the woman behind her. If they hit, each one will light up with an electric charge on par with a commercial tazer.

Once the device thrown to Nightcrawler is clipped onto something it will turn on, what the device does is start emitting a ultra-high frequency noise that extends only a few feet from it that messes with human inner ears in pretty much the exact same way that Vertigo uses her psionic powers.

Fighting in revealing, full light without falling back on wits and firearms is a new experience for Jackie-- but the real shift is the ease with which his creations are observed by -others-. Punching those shadowy constructs may be an uphill battle... but Blockbuster can knock a foe heluva far up hills. Scales and blackened shadowflesh are reaved clear, dissipating into nothingness before they touch ground... even as those serpentine forms pulse with revitalizing energies, seeking to replace the mass they lose. They feel no pain, however, and whichever direction that erosion would end up, the Darkness is minimally inclined to wait and find out.

Deep within that toothy, acidic maw, a barbed and pitch-black tongue snakes forward, diving with seemingly endless length for the mouth of its prey... seeking Blockbuster's insides via his own angrily bitey mouth. It's worth noting that the bits he -does- chomp off just make this process all the more dangerous... those particles of Darkness devoured immediately reorient themselves and actively work against the Marauder, an invader in his own body.

Blockbuster's jaw -wants- to open, despite joints, tendons plastered with growing, shadowy muscle that pays no heed to the signals from the Marauder's own brain. The endgame here would become obvious in short order: upon reaching Blockbuster's gut, that serpentine tongue would -erupt- into a myriad of spikes, each driven outwards from the world's most invasive, shadowy sea urchin.


 * YooooOU!!! Jackie, THIS one! ** It's rather useless as a taunt, or warning, croaking only in Jackie's head... instants before that second, independent dark maw snaps for the blonde illusionist, coming in even with her midsection, teeth leading.

Even Scalphunter's arrogant boredom may be shortlived: the suicidal assault of the remnant Darklings tags the location perfectly for the muscular, clawed limbs that seem to reach up -through- the ground, moments before they're joined by ravenous, shadowy mouths chomping at the bit. "Already been... down." Jackie observes, grinning maliciously.

Ruckus shivers as Malice emerges from his shoulder, but otherwise stays focused on Tigra, his sonic attack colored by laughter as she claws up the floor. Then, suddenly, the sound stops. Nocturne's attack, while ineffectual against Malice who simply looks on in interest, slams right into Ruckus' back. With one last grunt of surprise, he collapses forward in a heap of unconcious limbs. Clearly someone can't take it as well as he can dish it out. Malice, for her part, just smirks, waves at Nocturne and floats weightlessly through the white wall, calling back, "Guess this is it. See ya' next time."

As Kurt goes on the offensive, it becomes painfully clear that Vanisher, whoever he is, seems to have better control over his teleportation. He barely even seems to solidfy before he's gone again, dodging this way and that as the two quickly fill their battleground with teleportation-smoke. Unfortunately for Vanisher, though, his combat ability isn't nearly as refined. He may have given Kurt a haircut, but the blue mutant has landed several hard blows on the bald teleporter already. Then, when the device is finally stuck to him, it goes from bad to hopeless. With one last BAMF, Vanisher goes from directly in front of Nightcrawler, to a foot away, his lower half suddenly seperated quite painfully from the rest of his body courtesty of a wall, his 'guidance system' effectively shorted out by whatever clever piece of tech the Pryces provided.

Vertigo may have unintentionally delayed the death of Pryce #1, but Arclight is already bringing her fists up to pulverize the downed inventor. At least until she feels a sting followed by a sudden burst of paralyzing electricity. Vertigo goes down almost instantly, but Arclight seems to be made of sterner stuff then the average human. With a growl and a burst of pure willpower, she stands, wavers, then lets out a grunt of anger and disappears. It's teleportation, yes, but not Vanishers. This is something entirely different. No bamf. Just black smoke, blue light, and she's gone.

The blonde illusionist just smirks as a maw comes straight at her, only to slam into a wall of white that appeared in front of her, as if it had been there from the start -- then she too, is gone, the white stage falling away, turning instantly back into the apartment they were in only moments ago. The others, the ones either not fighting, or temporarily removed from the battle start disappearing as well. Blockbuster, unfortunately, is too focused on brawling with the Darkness that he doesn't even realize what's happening until it's too late. When the spikes emerge in a bloody mess from his stomach, shredding his insides and outsides equally, he merely grunts and continues to hammer away at the serpent gripping his legs -- for another second or two at least -- at which point his mind catches up with his body and with a surprised murmur of, "Shit... I'm dead," he collapses motionless.

Jackie does, finally manage to get Scalphunter to drop the bored expression, as it changes into focused tension. One pistol is chucked towards the oncoming swarm, at which point it explodes with tremendous light and noise-- a flashbang. At the same time, he leaps upwards, the second pistol getting a hastily attached bayonet to swipe through the few tentacles of darkness that manage to latch on before he too, is gone. And just as suddenly as it all began... Its over. The only traces of their fight the few casualties left behind...

And a ton of destroyed support beams. Is that a creaking sound?

Tigra is somewhat disappointed that she didn't get to take Ruckus down. She's much more relieved that -someone- took him down, though. She staggers up to her feet, looking around as the building returns to the way that it was before, no longer bigger on the inside. But with a very ominous sound coming loud and clear even to her damaged eardrums. "Everyone! Get out of here!" she calls out warningly, already heading for a window. "The place is gonna collapse like Leman Brothers!"

What? A teleporter that is, okay-- there are many teleporters that are as good as he is. However, Kurt doesn't rely upon sonic, or suffer from misfires with sonic disruptions! (He's more magnetism, actually..) As the fight comes to a screeching halt (see what I did there?), the Amazing Nightcrawler actually looks away at the fumble, wincing at the sound of crushing bone and squishing flesh.

Only to lay eyes upon.. the demons of hell? Were those there before? Mein Gott.. and Kurt crosses himself once again, almost instinctively brushing a hand across the crucifix he wears under the shirt. "TJ! Wo bist du?" Where is she?

The realization strikes that the place will be coming tumbling down and he calls out again, "TJ!" before he offers to anyone else, "I can get us out. Just take hold.."

And for those that do?

Bamf!

Well, one out of two isn't too bad, right? At least TJ got the hellaciously annoying Ruckus down, though Malice is ..well, she's a real bitch. But, she's -gone.- Now there's a Tigra left behind, which Talia's quick to hop on over toward to see if she's okay.

Turns out she's pretty well okay.

When the warning is given TJ's eyes snap wide open. She can hear it, and feel it, for herself. "Oh, bugger. Cat's right, time to bail, creepy people!"

Is it bad when a bipedal, sentient cat lady is the least bizarre creature in the immediate vicinity?

Two more quick leaps brings her back to Kurt, nearly hopping right onto the back of his shoulders. Only a moment later she notices what's left of Vanisher. "Right here! You okay?--Oh, God, he missed, didn't he.--C'mon, let's bamf!"

Pryce takes a second to reorient himselves once Vertigo is down and he is not under psychic assault. "I hate..." One of them starts. "...ing psychics." The other one finishes. His ability to pronounce a series of dashes without saying the word dash is a linguistic feat that may or may not have something to do with his mutation.

At the sound of things creaking the angry little robot floating protectively over the downed guys in the black leathers and motorcycle helmets speaks. "Boys, you need to get out fast. This whole building is about to come down."

The heads of the two snap up and then look around before speaking in unison. "Crap. Anyone got a fast way out? I haven't figured out how to get past the uncertainty principal in a way that makes teleporters work without turning people into soup." When Nightcrawler offers a way out both young men offer up a hand to take hold. "This is not going to hurt, is it?" They ask before looking at whats left of Vanisher. "Oww...did not mean for that to happen. JOAN, make a note not to use the vertigo bombs on teleporters anymore."

Luckily, everyone who stepped into this chaos seems to have their own method of stepping back -out-. Jackie's Darklings howl angry objection to the sudden abatement of hostilities-- before they fade back into the ether. One serpent head /snarls/ at the other-- the one that bonked its head, versus the one that's currently biting -off- and swallowing Blockbuster's head at the shoulders, if there was any doubt.

Expanding its maw like a boa constrictor, the second head swallows the -rest- of the Marauder's ample bulk, disappearing it back into the Darkness from whence both came... as Estacado steps back into more fully concealing shadow, draws a deep breath, and vanishes into the night. For all Kurt's devotion, for his faith in the power of the crucifix.. it doesn't sway the Darkness.

This lack of repulsion is ironic, in a sense, since there's a large faction of the Catholic Church that views Jackie as their ancient, hellspawned enemy. Someone should tell them.