2015.02.25 - The Dragon's Rage

The work day has just ended. The sun has set on the far zenith, and folks are starting to relax and go to plays and bars and enjoy things. A few street performers make music swing in the background and the sky is clear even if the weather is frosty. A few stars shine in the sky impossibly visible against the light pollution.

Kilroy is simply standing in Time's square, enjoying the ambiance and the city in general. He was told at one point it loved him. Does it still? He hasn't tried talking to it. Would Jack feel he was cheating on it somehow? COULD he still talk to it? Kilroy hasn't talked to a non human since....

Since... His reverie is interrupted by a tell tale hook ripping reality behind him. Kilroy reacts faster this time, but the hook does a new trick and instead cuts a second time in FRONT of him catching directly in his chest as the dragon enters from the first tear.

It roars and behind him there are four shades. One of whom is arrayed in fine robes etched with eldritch runes, wielding a staff with an onyx on the end. "Hello Kilroy...how have you been?" says his fathers haunted disembodied voice.

Moon Knight ...is having a -very- strange night. He's out on his rounds as he often is, but something's..something's very wrong. For one thing he seems to have metal skin, and an armored hood in place of his cowl which he can sort of get behind... Khonshu does want him to leave an impression on the people who cross him, after all.. but the greenish tinge and total lack of explanation...those are mildly troubling. And the others...something's off with them too-- he's still puzzling over it when he feels the tear in reality like heat on his skin-- his kind-of skin-- well. Little things like his own problems can wait for later-- he's fairly sure whatever might be causing that, that duty is calling.

It's been a slow day for Axiom. Mostly helping people avoid ice and snow related troubles and one attempted bank robbery. At the moment, he's just out as Eddie though. He's been planning on going to a certain candy store in Times Square to buy a present for a certain boyfriend. He doesn't notice Kilroy until that roar catches his attention. The teen tenses and looks around quickly. When he spots the trouble brewing, he goes a little pale. "Oh that's n-not good..." he trails off. He glances around and starts heading for an alley. Time to get changed for work.

Most of Miles' friends are likely having fun or doing homework around the Academy of Tomorrow dorms. Not Miles. He's finding his own fun as he travels along the Metropolis streets swinging from web to web, with an occasional pause to run along the walls of a building for a couple seconds before swinging again. There's not much to compare to life as a Spider. Unfortunately, as he swings his way through Times Square, he's distracted from that fun by screams and... a dragon? He stares a moment, almost causing him to crash into one of the screens that line the square.

"Hello Kilroy. I understand you have an upgrade now. Well, good for you, but you have some of my power....and I mean to get it back." He touches the Onyx staff on Kilroy's forehead.

The dragon is PISSED, and divides its attention between the crowd and keeping Kilroy onits Tail but it comes all the way out of the tear until there are a total of six. The dragon breathes fire and then people begin to panic. It is a crowded square and folks begin to move in all directions.

Kilroy controls their money to help keep the crowd somewhat organized, but between the tail and the power drain that's hard.

Moon Knight reaches the square... and even if he's feeling oddly scattered at the moment, he recognizes that dragon attacking Kilroy..he's seen this scene play out once before. "I thought you were banished!" he exclaims. He was nearly incinerated the last time he crossed this thing, but for some reason now more than ever he can't even consider backing down from a threat. He reaches for one of his crescent blades...though it might take a more impressive form than one usually would.

The chaos he hears gets Axiom moving faster. Once he's somewhere nice and out of sight, Eddie takes something out of his pocket. Just a little metal disc he etched a few mystic symbols into. A bit of quiet chanting under his breath and the object glows. He strikes a little pose and with a flash of light, changes from civilian clothes into his Axiom gear. Once he's sure everything is in place, the masked teen heads out of the alley and towards the trouble.

A couple of *thwips* later, and The Spider is swinging in at high speed towards the dragon, coming at the head from the side. At the last moment, trying to get the dragon to look up for a kick to the face, he calls, "What is this, Hobbit 4: Modern Times?"

The Lich is still pontificating about some garbage or another when he spots Marc with the glowing green swords, and the faint green mask like edge on his face, "My....God....." He smiles. Then he reaches, curiously, of all things, into Kilroy's pocket, pulling a small statue of a red dog from his pocket. The Lich looks at the Dragon and says, "You won't be able to kill him....but nothing says you can't maim him. Fly up over the crowd and drop him from two hundred..make it three hundred feet...oh, and watch out for the heroes....breath on the crowd, not them, it'll distract them."

He looks at the shades, "Distract them. I've got places to be."

And with that, he begins to move, running toward a subway entrance.

The four remaining shades all take out Cross bows and begin firing into the crowd at a fairly rapid rate. No one has died, but there are many many wounded.

Rai Stones appear between the crowd and the bolts, but only a few....less so as the Dragon flies up into the air, breathing fire towards Axiom as he takes off into the air.

Moon Knight ..can't fly. Or at least if he can right now, he hasn't noticed yet.. but he has recognized the lich as the one that seems to be pulling the strings here. "You'll pay for every death you're responsible for!" he shouts, as if he's more concerned with avenging anyone who might be hurt rather than avoiding it. He rushes after the fleeing caster.. Any shades that get in his way he slices at, the usually knife size blades now somehow ridiculously huge glowing green swords that are so decorated and impractical looking with their moon motiefs that they look like they came from World of Warcraft. Wahtever the case, his first priority is barreling through anyone who gets between him and the lich, weather this leaves him open to attack himself or not.

Axiom is forming a plan as he goes, delayed by stopping to help anyone that's fallen and encouraging people to help one another. He glows faintly, the effects of his powers seeping into the crowd. Just that power he doesn't even know about, inspiring people to be better to stop and help one another, to not shove or trample one another. And to cut down on the panic. He also starts tapping into his self-boosting power, feeding off the faith and hope of the crowd. He doesn't recognize the dragon but he does recognize the lich. The fire coming his way gets a little yelp and Axiom jumps. He can't fly but aided by the boost he's getting, he does head a lot higher into the air. And he's trying to land on the dragon.

And... The Spider is completely ignored by the dragon. Which makes sense, he's about as tiny as a spider compared to the dragon's size. Momentum carries him right through where the dragon was, but he shoots out another web to reverse his direction to land on a wall above the crossbow-wielding shades. He shoots a web from each arm, each towards a different crossbow to try to snatch away. "I'll take those."

It wasn't so much as the Dragon ignoring the spider, so much as the strength of his flight and the turning of his head barely felt it. He also senses innately who Axiom works for and regards him as a target, justifiably so as Axiom is able to grab hold...not as cleanly as he planned, but do so nevertheless, as Axiom can get hold of a wing.

The crowd,between Kilroy and Axiom is remarkably ordered and leaving quite fast. The shades have less to shoot, though unfortunately that will mean less to boost Axiom shortly.

The Spider is able to stick two of the shades, two more missing. They're faster and more skilled than they look since Ascot had the pick of the underworld for his escort. They ignore the shade's orders and the other two shoot cross bows at him.

As Marc barrels past them, one of the shades is able to get a slash with his demonic blade but it just BOUNCES off him harmlessly. It should have cut, but it didn't. He looks shocked.

The Lich turns around and smiles. Well, this might be simpler than he thought, and he extends a hand, a spectral telekinetic hand reaching for the knight.

Moon Knight is focused on one thing; catching up with the lich and knocking him down. When his target turns and grins, Marc sends up warning bells, the armor and even weapons shifting to something more noir-practical and less completely fantastical, but only for a moment before Moon Knight launches himself forward again, the pommel of one of the again-ridiculous swords striking for the lich's head as his full armored weight tries to knock the caster to the ground.

The plan is going about half according to plan. Maybe. Close enough. Axiom grabs onto that wing and holds on tight, quietly wondering how mad the team will be at him for crazy plans like this. At least the crowd is clearing out as planned. The downside? That means not as many people to fuel his self boost. He can still draw from anyone watching from nearby buildings and if those fellow heroes have any faith in him but he won't be going full charge. "H-hey! Dragon!" Axiom calls. "It's time to land and go back where you came from! We can settle this peacefully!" he's the type that tends to offer that chance.

Miles's venom strike isn't alas very effective on the dead man, but the smell of burnt flesh causes smoke to fill the air. But the webs have caused full on frustration. One of them leaves through the tear in reality, unable to get the cross bow free. Another attempts to shoot Miles and misses...twice...

Their leader would chastise them but he cares FAR more about the mask that Moonknight wears, and grabs for it, folding down with him in a wrestle, with suprising strength, pulling the mask off his face, but it flies through the air onto another nearby....The Lich curses and now desperately tries to disengage a likely somewhat confused Moonknight (though less confused htan most who take it off)

The Dragon finally has had enough and has gained 150 feet, not enough to maim, but enough to hurt, and shakes Kilroy off his tail, and jabs at the hero. 5rKilroy falls, and while not able to fly yet thanks to the power drain, makes a nice soft pile of quarters to fall into.

The Dragon turns its head from Axiom and breaths down into the crowd of people. Two are caughtin the flames and instantly catch on fire, but the rest are pulled out of the way by others or protected by a single Rai stone.

Marc Spector blinks alert, disoriented for a moment, yes, but also somewhat used to waking up in the middle of fights or strange situations.. so even as he's trying to sort out what just happened he manages to keep fighting. If punches don't stun his emaciated opponent, he tries to pin his limbs to the ground with his knives instead, exclaiming, "What the hell was that??"

Yelping slightly when jabbed at, Axiom evades as best he can and hopes the dragon ends up stabbing itself. He's about to comment when the dragon starts breathing fire again. And on civilians. "Fine, if you want it that way..." Axiom scowls. He pushes off and jumps, diving down. Along the way he focuses on Miles and applies his boosting powers to The Spider to increase his abilities. There's a flash of light as he mimics Miles too, costume shifting into a combo of his own and the Spider's. Weblines snap out as Axiom swings, headed for a fire hydrant to pull open so he can put out the fire.

The Spider wrinkles his nose under his mask, not that anybody can see, at the smell. "Ok, bad idea." But, he changes tactics back to webbing quickly, shooting another line of webbing at the shade still shooting at him, even as he jumps away from the bolts. Caught by surprise by the sudden boost of power, he pulls perhaps a little too hard on the line.

The hydrant puts out the fires rather easily. Though it is dragon fire, he isn't trying to burn the concrete, just the people. But the dragon turns his head at Miles, suddenly noticing him. It's like...he can SMELL him getting the power from Axiom and suddenly uses a gout of flame while swinging low in the crowd, tail dragging and cutting a few folks before a rai stone floats stopping it, but then is cut in two.

The dragon speaks, its voice a thundrous roar, "Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr,nice trrrrrrrrrry Kilroyyyyyyyyyyy....arrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...." And it breaths fire at Miles in a wide jet.

The punches do little but the knives in the concrete do. "You....stop that!" The lich mutters something, and then speaks a single word. It is a powerful yet temporary spell that might render Marc blind if he hears it.

The shade is not only pulled by the webbing but slams in front of the dragon, burned to a cinder. That is ONE shade that is NOT going back tot he underworld. Two more are retreating with his one shooting a bolt stubbornly at Axiom.

The mask is picked up by a small child with a propeller beanie...who runs off into the crowd.

Marc recoils when the unnatural word strikes him, blinking in sudden darkness. "Damnit..!" he doesn't know how to banish these creatures like Constantine did last time.. but he is pinning the lich down, knowing generally where he is even if he can't see, and with luck those blades will hold the creature's arms for now. Not sure what else to do he pulls out the ankh from under his costume and presses the holy symbol to the Lich's forehead, praying fervently to Khonshu to do something... he's charged with protecting travelers in the night in Khonshu's name, but a literally undying wizard is a bit beyond his ability to handle alone. He can never tell when Khonshu might decide it's actually worth his intervening or weather Marc can handle it on his own, but still able to hear the dragon shouting in the distance and having seen this guy come back from what may have been hell once already.. it's worth a try.

When the fires are out, Axiom quickly squeezes the hydrant closed. Borrowed spider sense goes off and Axiom bends back like he's doing the limbo, the bolt sailing over him and sticking into the nearby building instead. He scowls and turns a glare at the shade. "Hey. Get back to where you c-came from before I come over there!" he demands, still glowing with his faith power. The Dragon's roar gets the teen tensing and getting ready to jump once more. He gets an idea though, looking around quickly for Kilroy. He's pretty sure Kilroy should know what the dragon's deal is. The Spider leaps just barely in time, his powerful legs carrying him just out of the wide path of the dragon's fire. "Oh, sure, /now/ he notices me." Shooting out a web, he swings as fast as he can. If he can circle the dragon and get close enough to touch without getting blasted by fire, all the better, but if not he can at least lead it on a hopefully tiring chase around the square.

A lich is higher level than Marc can turn but it HURTS, oh God does it hurt and the holy symbol burns into the lich's forehead and he suddenly catches fire. "AAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiii!" He begins to dance the crazy I'm on fire dance still pinned to the knives.

Kilroy looks at Axiom and shrugs, "He's...a pirate, that got cursed by gold, and I tried to take it from him ...'twice' so he hates me? A lot."

The Dragon roars, and remembers indeed how much it hates Kilroy. Kilroy has recovered some at this point and stands but the fire is intercepted by a rai stone...then another stone, but the heat is maximimzed and red hot stone lava drops to the street below hissing....

The shades decide this is bad juju and take up Axiom on his offer.

Miles might have been in danger of being hooked by that highly dangerous tail if the dragon wasn't so busy trying to Kill Kilroy. He's on the thing but under its belly.

Moon Knight grits his teeth and presses on-- it's clear it's hurting the thing, and he himself doesn't know how to kill it-- maybe if he can hold it till Kilroy can suggest something...though even blinded as he is he does recall the strange figurine the lich stole... with his free hand he starts trying to find it.

"A pirate...man, n-never have a giant robot when I need one," Axiom murmurs, remembering one of the crazy Tokusatsu movies Billy had him watch. He shakes it off when the fire comes in, quickly shielding his face from the light. "Look out, Spider!" he calls, having faith Miles could avoid it even without the boost. With the boost, he's even more agile than normal. "Okay, I d-d-don't really have an anti-dragon powers right now...so d-do you have ideas?" he asks Kilroy.

The Spider twists and dodges mid-air to avoid the tail as he comes in and grabs hold of the dragon. For lack of any other idea, and not wanting to hold onto the dragon for long, The Spider uses his (now boosted) venom strike again, leaping away before it can go off so he's not caught in it. "Thanks," he calls back to Axiom, as he swings around again.

The Venom strike hurts the thing soundly, as it shrieks in pain, now giving Mile's his full attention asthe wicked tail turns around to cut and strike with surprising accuracy...

"Duplicate my powers...hit him with Rocks...you know the right kind..."

As the dragon looks at Axiom and Kilroy he's not DUMB and roars with fear finally and begins to try to make another hole in the fabric of reality leaving him quite vulnerable....

Kilroy makes not one, not two but a machine gun blast of 25 Rai stones hitting him in the face one right after the other...

The priest, meanwhile, has had enough of this nonsense and grabs the staff, slowly phasinginto the ground, butnot before Marc is able to pull the small doglike figurine. It might not be divine, but he can sense it is VERY valuable.

Marc scrabbles in surprise when the lich priest just...vanishes into the rock. He snatches up one of the blades, raking it across the ground blindly as if to verify his opponent is really gone...and then curses under his breath. He scoots back until he can find a wall to put his back against, and only then does he rub a thumb over the figurine.. what is this? It feels.. important. But this whole night has been confusing, and he has no chance to seek out the boy who ran off with that mask either. He shouts, "How are we doing??" back in the direction of the square.. he remembers seeing Axiom before; they talked once before about the impersonater Wonder Woman.. he seemed like a level headed kid.

Nodding, Axiom takes a deep breath. "Heads up, Spider! Switching boosts!" he warns his fellow hero. He returns briefly to his usual appearance as he stops boosting and mimicking Spider and instead switching to Kilroy. There's a flash as his outfit becomes a combo of his costume and Kilroy's outfit and Axiom puts a hand to his forehead for a moment. "Like c-copying a telepath but worse," he mutters. He pushes past the headache though, raising his hands and starting to fire off Rai stones as well. Hearing Moon Knight, Axiom glances his way. "Still g-g-got a big dragon to deal with!"

The Spider makes a sound very similar to 'eep' as his spider sense goes off so suddenly and sharply, as the tail speeds towards him. Thankfully that spider sense is enough to keep him alive, as he twists into an acrobatic spin and tumble to avoid the tail, though it's a close enough call that the tail just catches his costume and rips down most of the length of one arm. Landing on a wall to catch his breath as the dragon starts getting pelted with stones, he calls, cheering Axiom and Kilroy on, "Get him!" He's done about all he can against the creature, so just watches now as he catches his breath.

A boosted Kilroy is a ridiculously dangerous thing as suddenly the Rai stones are hitting the dragon with the force of a Kryptonian and Kilroy finds that he has to actually PULL his strength a bit to keep from killing him. Down tumbles the dragon, which also has a danger of falling on top of him.

A distant crowd cheers.

A boosted Kilroy is a rediculously dangerous thing as suddenly the Rai stones are hitting the dragon with the force of a Kryptonian and Kilroy finds that he has to actually PULL his strength a bit to keep from killing him. Down tumbles the dragon, which also has a danger of falling on top of him.

A distant crowd cheers. Moon Knight ...huhs. So there's still a dragon. Great. But then he notes encouragingly, "Well, at least that means the archers are go--" he blinks in surprise as he can abruptly see again. What the..? He freezes up as there's a very tense internal dialogue, eyes darting around to see if there's any sign of the lich.. or alternatively the little boy with the mask...though he probably gets distracted by the dragon crashing down into the middle of Times Square. ..So. They can check off the dragon too, it looks like. He heads back to the Square as well, though looking far more hesitant in his actions than he had been to this point.

Moon Knight notes to Axiom, "Looks like you managed alright with the dragon."

Cheering helps. It keeps Axiom charged and in the fight. As the dragon starts falling, Axiom yelps. He stops firing stones and moves to create a large one to try to catch the beast so that it doesn't crush anyone or anything. "Still w-working on the dragon."

Now /that/, The Spider can help with. He starts shooting webs, using the last of his webfluid and weaving a large web between buildings under the falling dragon even as Axiom tries to slow the fall with the large rai stone. The webs alone won't stop the dragon, but together with the stone it might. Moon Knight just keeps back until it's clear weather there will be a dragon sized crater in the square or not...there's little he can do at this juncture, especially when he's not, strictly speaking, his usual self.

Moon Knight just keeps back until it's clear weather there will be a dragon sized crater in the square or not...there's little he can do at this juncture, especially when he's not, strictly speaking, his usual self.

Eventually, SHIELD comes and scoops the dragon into a giant crate before flying it off.