2013.10.03 - Not the Destroyer

The weather's still strangely warm for this time of year. People are out and about enjoying the park and the warmer weather. One of those people out tonight is one Eddie Thorson. Dressed in jeans and a Captain America t-shirt, Eddie's waiting to meet with a friend. Not too far from the hidden entrance to the Terminal, he's sitting on a bench and checking a text that just came in on his phone. Backpack beside him, all seems well.

Of course that's just asking for something to go wrong. There's a whistling noise right before something impacts the bench and causes a small explosion that sends the teen seated there tumbling. A little burnt and a but bloody from various cuts, Eddie ends up on the grass nearby. Pushing himself up a little, he looks around for the source of the attack. Sticking into the ground among the wreckage of the bench is a spear...one that Axiom had previously ended up bringing home after a battle with angels. A few screams draw attention several feet away where people are fleeing what appears to be an armored figure. Those familiar with it will recognize the Dark Elf designed armor with an odd glowing red symbol on the breastplate. The armored figure has several swords and knives strapped to it and it's stomping slowly in Eddie's direction.

One of the friends that Eddie is probably waiting for is one Kate Bishop.

And let's be honest, Kate... Hasn't been spending a lot of time with Eddie as of late. Or a lot of her friends within the cape and cowl community. And yet that is something she is trying to make up for, or at least a behavior she's out to undo. Hence why Eddie isn't alone. At least not for long, because the out of costume archer does arrive wearing what looks like black jeans, a purple t-shirt, and a black designer jacket. One with no visible signs of weapons, or places where weapons can even be hidden.

Which probably sucks big time for right as Kate starts to say, "Hey Eddie!" there's that impact, and well... She snaps her head around, and all but glares at it.

"You have got to be kidding me..."

Billy Kaplan has been having...frankly it has not been one of his good days. Getting outside in the sun and warm weather has helped lighten his bood a bit but things are still not as good as they could be. He is on his way through the park wearing a shirt that reads "WWSD?" in white letters except for the S which is red and done as the S in the symbol Superman wears on his chest. Billy moves through the park at a fairly slow pace till he hears the whistling adn then the impact of the spear.

Like Kate he is over next to Eddie in very short order, "Eddie are you Ok, what...oh...thats...odd." He says finaly noticing the armor. "Ok, everyone up for a distraction and a costume change?" He asys before he takes a breath and starts to cast a spell that will change the three of them into thier preffered costumes with any assosiated accessories that they might be wanting. "Costumechange, Costumechange, Costumechange!" When he finishes with the spell it will create a nice bit of a light show and noise off about 100 feet from them designed to draw attentiona nd make people forget that 3 regular teens were standing right where Billy Eddie and Kate are if the two of them let the spell put them into costumes.

The Flash was in the park wearing a boys and girl's club T-shirt over his costume, as he was holding an even with some kids to play in the park. Wally is leading around a mass of kids that are chasing him in a game of reverse tag (where they are all it and the first one to tag him wins.) when he is stopped in his tracks by the sounds of screaming, clanging thuds and an explosion.

A few kids catch up to him and tag him as Wally stops and looks around to figure out what is going on and where that commotion is coming from. "Sorry kids kids I gotta run super hero business!" He tosses the t shirt off and throws it at one of the counselors as he goes to run off "get them back safe!"

The Flash arrives quickly on the scene and witnesses the lumbering armor coming towards the pair of teens. "Ok does anyone know what that heck that thing is!?"

Eddie's a little shocked at first. That tends to happen when you almost get exploded. "I...I'll be f-fine. Yeah, costumes," he agrees. As the spell washes over him, Eddie lets out a sigh and becomes Axiom. Costume and armor on, he starts to get up only to stop and fall back too one knee. Leg injury. "Ow...I r-recognize that spear. And the armor," he warns his friends. As the Flash appears on scene, Axiom stares. "I uh...think it might b-b-be a Dark Elf sorcerer?" he guesses.

THe armor meanwhile keeps walking. "Axiom," it groans out in a hollow voice. It slowly draws a pair of swords and starts moving faster. "DIE!"

There's no way that Kate is /not/ going to let Billy's spell not effect her. After all, as one of the powerless members of The Young Allies, she is hardly at her best without any of the little things that she usually has with her costume. Like her bow and arrows. Or a sword. Or her staves. Or....

Well, you get the point.

Sure she can probably still kick ass. Especially considering what that armor has with it, if she can get her hands on it, but atill...

Still, as the light fades, and Wally arrives, the bow is yanked out and a simple plain ordinary sharp is fired at the armor, or more specifically at a joint on the armor, possibly to 'test' it a little bit.

"Thanks Wiccan.. Axiom, do you think you can..." starts to come out of her mouth, before she blinks at the newcomers and smiles as she gets an idea. "Speed guy. How many times do you think you could hit the back of that things knee in a minute?"

With very little special effects, except the ones used to distract people from looking at them as the costume change happens, Billy Kaplan becomes the teenaged hero Wiccan. Starfield patterns run up the side of his costume as his cape gets caught in winds that no one around him feels and the runs on the staff that finds its way into the teen's hand glow just briefly.

When the Flash arrives Wiccan has to stop himself from making a noise that is halfway between a shriek and a fanboy squee. "Flash! It's a Dark Elf...or at lest someone wearing the armor of one." There is something...off aobut it but Wiccan can't quite put a finger on what yet even as it starts to threaten his friend.

Noticing Axiom's injury Wiccan nods and instead of flying straight into battle he lets Hawkeye and Flash start the fight off while he casts one more spell. "HealAxiom, HealAxiom, HealAxiom!" While he chants his spell to heal the other teen hero a small broach like clasp holding his cape on glows the same blue as Wiccan's eyes when he is reaching for his magic.

The Flash look at hawkeye "I can hit that thing too many times to count off the top off my head, what do you have in mind?"

Wally moves himself between the on coming armor and The 3 teenage heroes. "Ok dark elf armor? what that made of and how heavy is it?" Before anyone could answer him Wally had begun spinning his arms in a circluar motion at an amazing rate of speed to create a pair of high intensity air jets blowing at the Armor.

"I'll b-be okay, Hawkeye. I can boost you guys still and help from a distance," Axiom replies. He draws in a breath and gives Wiccan a thankful look when he feels his friend's power wash over him. Wounds heal and the power booster stands next to his friends. "Heavier than it looks and I d-d-don't know. I don't think it was Uru," Axiom answers, starting to draw his staff.

The arrow from Hawkeye finds it's mark, piercing through a joint and for a moment the armor stops. It's arm sags and he helmeted head turns to look at the arrow. With an unnatural noise, it flexes the pierced arm and the arrow starts glowing before bursting into flames. Once it's gone, the armor points an arrow at Kate. "Ally! Die!" it doesn't like her either. The jets of air slow the creature down but don't stop it for long. Swords are dug into the ground and the armor starts pulling itself forward. "Hero," it hisses in Flash's general direction.

"Just do it!" is all but shouted at Wally. After all, if he can't think about how joints like knees usually are the weakest bits of medieval armor, thus potentially weak points on this armor, then she can't pause to explain it. After all, every second counts!

The fact that Billy heals Eddie so quickly, and that Eddie is back on his feat as quickly is a good thing. But still...

"Then boost away!" is said as she starts to run, and jumps, hopefully getting clear of that arrow aimed at her, before she reaches for a trick arrow... A flare arrow, which she tries to fire at one of the elbow 'joints' of the armor.

"Wiccan, Axiom, you know this thing. Call the shots! otherwise, aim for the joints!"

Wiccan's eyes glow a little as he lifts off the ground once he is done healing Eddie. "Magic metals, and...do a lot of those swords and stuff it has look familer Axiom?" He asks while searching his brain really quick for everything he can remember abourt the dark elf armor.

"Aim for the joints and weak spots like any armor, tend to be magic resistant, if there is a..." He starts before the armor clad enemy makes the arrow burst into flames. "Yeah, mage inside. Surround, evade attacks, and try and take them down." That said he holds up his staff skywards for a second and his eyes glow bluish white before a bold of lighting bursts from the top of the staff at the armor. Even if there is a tendency to have magic resistince in most armor from the 9 realms, wearing metal when fighitng someone that can call down lightning is not the best of ideas.

Wally rolls his eyes a bit at Hawkeye's shouting and then nods in the affirmative "alright!"

The Flash zips behind Hawkeye and snatches a couple arrows out of her quiver. "yoink!"

The Flash then speeds off runs clear past the armor. Sceonds later The Flash comes speeding back into view running as fasts as he can and when he get's close he throws the arrows he had previously snatched from hawkeye at the back of the armor's knees and continues running and as he gets to the back of the armor he jumps up and kicks the back of it."wwwhhhhaaatttaaahhh!"

"Y-yeah. It all looks familiar. Some of those aren't even Dark Elf w-w-weapons," Axiom replies to Wiccan. And it's true, there's some demonic blades, Earthly ones, and even a strange alien looking sword too. "On it!" he calls to Hawkeye though, reaching out with his powers to boost his bird-themed archer ally. This turns out to be a good thing.

As Hawkeye's arrow goes off and creates it's blinding flash, a dagger comes flying at her. Thankfully with that boost in effect, it's not sharp enough to break skin. Still will probably hurt though. With the jets of air stopped, the armor's moving at it's full speed again. Wiccan's lightning splashes across the armor and draws it's attention upwards. "Shield of Thurdheim!" it roars before letting loose a blast of flames from the glowing symbol in it's chest. These aren't normal flames given their deep blue coloring. No, they're more cold than hot but still burn and carry with them feelings of despair and hopelessness. It's aim might be a bit off since...well...insert overused Skyrim joke here. Those arrows and the kick connect and a few things will be noticed. The armor sounds pretty hollow as it drops to it's knees. And those arrows? Bursting into flames. The helmet turns around entirely to look at the Flash, the guard up to show there's no one inside. Just a blast of those same sinister flames shooting at the speedy hero. "DIE!"

Oh it's definitely a good thing that the boost helps protect Kate. But considering what Wally took as well...

Let's just say that it's probably a good thing that Hawkeye is more focused on this battle rather than what the speedster could of taken instead, or what he could be doing. Because if she were to think about that...

Heck...

"Flash, try to get one of those swords and use that on his knees!"

For crying out loud!

But as that dagger hits, and almost hurts her, there's a quick motion as the archer in purple tries to catch it before it can hit the ground, so she can throw it back at the suit of armor!

"Wiccan! Think you can get a spell /inside/ the armor?"

There is no surprise in Wiccan as he is called Shield of Thurdheim, anyone wearing Dark Elf armor has more than a good chance to have heard some of the stories about him helping Thor and earning that title. He moves quickly sliding sideways to get out of the way of the flame but he is not quite fast enough getting caught on his left arm by just a small amount of the flames.

Wiccan grabs for his slighlty singed arm and ends up falling out of the air unable to keep just a few feet int he air wit what he is feeling. "No, no no..." He mutters to himself as he feels the cold flames of dispair creep in aorund his mind. "No!" He says at last forcing the emotions invding his mind back at least for now while getting to his feet.

He hears Hawkeye as she gives him an idea. "I...yeah I think I might. Just need a way in..." He grins a little holding his hand palm open in front of him concentrating on something. "Hey! Bucket for brains! You couldn't hit the broad side of Volstagg with a shot like that!" He yells waiting for the armor to turn and face him. "FlashBang, FlashBang, FlashBang!" He chants making a ball of light form in his hand. If the armor turns to look at him he will throw it straight for the things face plate to try and get the spell into the armor.

Wally West dodges the flames and runs around and climbs it's front before and the helm can tunr to face him again. "Hold on bossy bow! I got an Idea!"

The Flash grabs hold or the helm and begins to vibrate it at highspeeds while trying to wrench it off the armor.

One thing Hawkeye might notice upon grabbing the blade? The handle is hot. Enough that it starts burning any part of her costume that it touches but thankfully not her hand. Go faith power boosting. Either way the blade gets sent back...and caught right out of mid air. The armor groans and starts standing. It doesn't get a chance to look Wiccan's way and the helmet's no longer there to toss a spell into. No, the Flash manages to pull the helmet off...but no one's in there. The armor's empty. And still moving judging by the blade cutting across the speedster's side as the armor stabs at him.

Axiom meanwhile runs towards Wiccan when he starts falling, ready to catch him if need be. He crouches by his friend and ends up standing with him, eyes going wide behind his mask when he sees the reveal. "That's....oh m-man. I think I know what that is but n-n-not how or why it is."

"Is it alive?"

Yeah. That's the first thing that Kate has to ask as it's revealed that the armor is apparently empty. After all, if it isn't....

Yes, that burn is felt. There's a hiss as it happens. But the female archer tries not to let it slow her down any more than she has to. Especially since Eddie is takling care of Billy, and Wally is being... Wally.

Either way, another arrow, a sort of fire extinguishing arrow where the foam tens to grow and expand a lot on contact is fired.

And Kate tries to fire it /inside/ that apparently empty armor.

"If not, don't hold back!"

Wiccan puts a hand on Axiom to reassure him that he is ok, although going to have to heal himself later so that the slight burns on his arm don't get noticed by his Mom. She has only just lifted the ban on superheroics after the whole missing for a month cause he was possesed by evil thing. With out the helmet he tries to lob the preloaded ball of light and noise into the neck hole of the armor anyway. "I...oh man. I think I might too."

"Aim for that symbol on the chest! Dent it, break it, or wash it off!" If he is right then that is what is poweirng the armor, or binding whatever magic that is being used to keep it moving to the armor. If not, then worst comes to worst it won't be shooting any more of the cold fires of Nif...oh thats not a good thought and one he really hopes he is wrong about.

The Flash narrowly dodges the sword stabbing towards his side. "Hey it's empty! hey I took off it's head helmet...thing."

Wally's eyes widen as he get's and idea. He takes the helmet in hand and runs off heading north. In less than 3 seconds he is back "hey try to to take this thing apart! I'll scatter it's parts around the world!" Wally then climbs up on the the torse of the armor and starts to vibrated and pull at one of it's shoulder joints.

Getting that close to the armor's arm probably isn't the best idea. At such close range, it lets loose another blast of those sinister flames at point blank range right at the Flash's symbol before the arm even starts coming loose. Logo-to-logo attack! The arrow finds it's mark, bringing another roar from the monster. Foam and fire erupt from joins and openings. "Allies of Axiom will die!" it declares loudly, throwing a sword in Hawkeye's direction. Judging by the glowing edge to the blade, she'll want to dodge.

"Those things were in my apartment," Axiom stares at the armor a moment. Wiccan's call gets a nod and Axiom darts forward. Staff in hand, he uses the Eternal-forged weapon to block a sword strike and hold the arm there. "N-now would be a g-g-good opening!"

The symbol?

It's easier said than done to try and hit that when you're dodging a glowing sword! Heck, as that sword is sent flying, it cuts into, and possibly even through a section of Kate's costume!

Unfortunately, she's busy enough that she can't return the favor just yet. Especially not as she crashes into the ground from her trying to dive out of the way. But if she gets a chance, she will try to get her bow and a special arrow ready as she scrambles to get back onto her feet...

Wiccan waits just long enough to see how the Flahs handles the logo to logo flame blast before rushing in his feet leaving the ground as he finds it easier to move aobut the battle field without tripping over himself that way. He can't get more than a few inches off of the ground, but it is at least enough that he won't end up flat on his face.

Once Flahs has moved, either by dodging or getting blasted back, Wiccan raises his staff again and chants focusing his powers on a single effect. "Sandblaster, Sandblaster, Sandblaster!" He pours energy into the effect making sand spray from the end of his staff like out of the end of sandblaster set to try and etch a line right through the symbol hoping it might disrupt whatever is animating the armor.

The Flash is shot back by the blast. "ow!"

Wally gingerly backs his way back to his feet. He notices his suit is damaged. "Oh man these are a pain in the but to replace..."

Wally looks at the armor whilest clutching his torso. "ok you guys said that logo is causing the problem. Fine I'll take it out."

Takes a few deep breaths and yells out "HEY I'LL BE BACK IN A FEW SECONDS KEEP THAT THING HERE BUT TRY TO GET TO A SAFE DISTANCE STAND WELL BACK" then starts running off in the opposite direction.

Axiom tries to hold his position but as Flash runs off, Axiom loses his footing. He ends up slashed across the chest and knocked away, just narrowly avoiding a worse wound. The armor takes it's focus off Hawkeye, Wiccan, and Flash now that it has it's main prey right in it's sights. It raises one of it's swords and....

Sandblasted. The armor stumbles backwards as the magically-enhanced sand wears a jagged slash across that symbol. The armor creature roars out it's rage again and takes a few shaky steps. Slowly the glow fades from it save for a small slit...that a rather unpleasant looking ball of glowing light emerges from. It's an angry red color and staring into it for too long might judge dredge up feelings of depression and worthlessness. One last roar and the ball rockets into the sky to vanish among the clouds. The armor and weapons scattered about meanwhile? Well they're melting into piles of slag. Eww...

And as the armor and weapons melt...

As that ball of light takes off...

It means one extra thing. Kate is /not/ going to be able to fire off that arrow.

Hence why as she returns it to her quiver, the female archer starts to glance around, taking stock of who's here and their condition. Her gaze of course lingers on Eddie for a little bit.

"Everyone, call out your condition."

"Hakeye. Been worse."

Wiccan lets out the breath he had not known he was holding before dropping to the ground. "I...Wiccan and...better than after the last real fight I had?" He is tired, and has a burn on one arm that is going to look ... just as bad as it is till he can make it go away but at least there are no dead people. The Flash comes speeding in a maximum speed then tried to stop suddenly when he see that his target is not there anymore. His injury and his surprise caus him to trip up and he goes tumbling.

After the tumbles and crashes down Wally in pain and a little embarrassed to have tripped like that asks "So what happen to the thing? did, did we win!"

"Axiom...bleeding and wondering how the things I kept in my closet c-c-came to life to try to kill me," Axiom calls from his spot on the grass. Nope, he hasn't gotten up yet. He stops boosting Hawkeye though, edging away from the melting armor. When Flash comes racing in and pulls a move more assotiated with Axiom, the power booster pushes himself up onto his elbows. "S-s-something came out of it and it melted."

"Wiccan, if you can't heal him and yourself, get Axiom to a hospital, or whatever Asgardian healers you think will help. And do it now /please/." is said as Kate just continues to look at her injured team mate. Yes she knows she has some issues. As does Billy. But Eddie has it the worst here.

Yeah, she doesn't really react to Wally falling.

"We won. We have injured. Thank you for your help." Wiccan shakes his head at Hawkeye. "I can do it...I think I can get us all too although if I pass out Axiom knows what to do." He says with a little smile. "Unless you think you can do a little of your thing Axiom without hurting yourself any more?" He asks waiting to see what Axiom does with a grin. If he gets boosted or not the teen move so that he is close to everyone starting to chant. "Iwanteverythinghealed, Iwanteverythinghealed, Iwanteverythinghealed!" When the spell goes off there is a flash of blue light that radiates form Wiccan healing injuries, fixing damage, and leaving things in the park as they were before the fight starts as it touches them. If he is boosted the teenaged hero just drops to his knees after sucking in air like he just ran a marathon, if not then after dropping to hte knees he just slups over to the side passing out.

The Flash still on the ground throws up a thumbs up sign "yeah we won, you crazy kids today with your magic and melting armors and such"

Wally slowly gets up to his feet feeling better and noticing his costume is like new again. "Yeah thanks" Wally snaps his finger and points at wiccan "W..Wiccan right? I heard her bark that name at you. thanks I owe you one!"

Wally address the 3 of them "Nice to meet you guys and it was my pleasure to help in anyway I could."

He then looks at Hawkeye "lighten up! we one no one died we got a little banged up but we got healed. It's a good day."

Axiom smiles and boosts Wiccan without getting up. He lets out a sigh as he's healed for a second time and finally starts to get to his feet. Collapsing his staff again, he attaches it to his belt and moves to provide a shoulder for Wiccan to lean on. "Thanks, Flash," he offers, turning attention to Hawkeye to see if she has orders.

"..."

Yeah. Hawkeye just /STARES/ at The Flash as he says that. She just seriously stares at him.

"You honestly have no clue, don't you? You seriously have no clue at all?"

But /then/ rather than fill him in, she glances at Axiom and Wiccan, "Let's get out of here for now, especially in case that thing gets another body or has friends. Since it was after Ax, I'd suggest the two of you teleport back to Thor's place, eat something, and maybe catch a nap. I'll double check the park."

"And no, you're not grounded. But after all of that, do you really want to push yourself if there's more out here?"

Not that Kate really believes there are more out here right now. Odds are she's just playing it safe. Wiccan waves at Flash from his kneeling positiona nd gives him a thumbs up at the thank you. For now, he is not going to speak. Either that burn was hurting him worse than he let on or he is out of ptactice with the whole phenominal cosmic powers thing because he looks like that last bit of magic took a whole lot out of him.

When Hawkeye tells them to go to Axiom's place Wiccan shakes his head and waves a second then points athim self. He may not have strength at the moment but..."My place, warded up the backside...and whatever that was used stuff that was in Axiom's place." That, and he has a stockpile of emergancy snacks they can hit.

Wally responds "MMMeh 6 out of 10 the stare was nice, but you gotta squint in derision before you speak and you gotta get your voice in a whispering growl, and fewer words the better, allow me to demonstrate." Wally get in Kate's face and does his best batman impression as he stares down Kate and squints at her before doing his best batman voice "you have not clue at all, /Do You/?"

Wally steps back and smiles "that's how you do it. but you are getting there."

"Flash, please stop before Wiccan has to heal you again," Axiom speaks up when Wally gets in Kate's face. He gives the other hero a slightly disappointed look before offering Wiccan a hand up. "Let's g-g-get going."

"Nice try. Not impressive." is said directly towards Wally at his little impression, before she slowly reaches towards her quiver.

But then, as Eddie just mentions Flash having to be healed again, Kate grins slightly.

"Do it Wiccan. Both of you... Feel better soon."

And then she focuses more directly on the speedster.

"That thing was an assassin. Possibly a hold over from a previous attempt, or a new attempt on the life of son of Thor. It was magical, at least as we understand magic. And deadly in ways that you could not comprehend. If it had succeeded, we would have a majorly angry thunder god and war goddess out for blood, possibly including oursa for not stopping that thing. Worse.... Well, I won't fill you in on the details, since you obviously don't want to have a clue, but as I understand it, those things were part of a multi-dimensional /war/ that was recently fought, and may even still be ongoing."

"So /STOP/ acting like this was nothing. Stop acting like this is a joke. Grow a pair, and grow up."

Wiccan thinks Hawkeye is scarrier, but thats because he does not think that Batman is likely to stab anyone for getting in thier face. Hawkeye, depending on her mood, has given the distinct impression she might on occasion...which is one reason he does love the girl. That, and the fact that he knows any stabbing won't be lethal.

Wiccan takes the offered hand after a second getting to his feet. "Yeah, you want to borrow and do the honors or just walk?" Or maybe take the buss, Wiccan might be able to summon up his buss pass by they time they get to a stop and then they can just claim to be cosplayers. It is amazing how often that works.

The Flash takes the tongue lashing and doesn't loose his cool tries to speak from the heart when he speaks up "Listen, I get I do I have been doing this most of my life. It's always important it's always world threatening. I'm not immature nor clueless I just choose to have a lighter attitude about things because if you don't it kills you the weight of it all just kills you. When you become a hero you take on responsibility you can't even comprehend. Lives of people you may never even meet are in your hands. I /GET/ it. But I choose to have a light hearted view of things and enjoy life and the little things and be thankful for victories where everything goes back to normal after a spell. Maybe when you grow up you'll understand. Not everyone has to be deadly serious to be mature." Wally looks her in the eye with all seriousness and hopes that his message got through.

"Well I hope to see you guys around I gotta go play tag with some kids" The Flash speeds off to meet back up with the kids he was visiting before.

Axiom is silent for a long moment and then sighs. "I miss Speed," he says simply. Nodding to Wiccan, Axiom boosts and mimics him again. A little chanting and he and Billy are teleporting to Wiccan's room. There's also a little spell tossed in to distract people away from Hawkeye so she can head off unbothered.