2012-12-22 Escape From Latveria Part 1

Doomstadt, Latveria

By sight, it would seem as if nothing has happened to the peaceful Latverian capital. No wrecks, no ruins. Not even any broken windows. Only the people know the devestation brought about by the ill-fated attack on Castle Doom that occured only a few weeks ago. However, something has changed. The air is thick with tension, the voices of the populace lowered. They know something is coming.

A curfew has been put into effect, the edict delivered by Lord Doom himself from the balcony of the fortress. The previous day, weapons, soldiers, and the unrelenting hordes of Doom's robotic army paraded through the city, setting up checkpoints, command centers, and most frightening of all, a massive structure on the lawn of the Rathauz, which was closed for 'repairs.'

Now, as night draws in, lights blink into life all over the capital, and silence settles in save for the humming of energy that drifts through the streets. The energy of thousands, upon thousands of Doombots.

Tis the season for miserable weather. Storm has spent the last few days manipulating weather patterns approaching Latveria. By all accounts, the nasty storm due to hit is entirely normal, if unusually severe- but hey, climate change is a PITA like that.

Freezing winds are the first to hit, soon followed by heavy snowfall, with the wind blowing falling and fallen snow alike to make visability on the ground hazy at best. Flights in surrounding countries have been grounded, and there's no way that any air craft could stay safely in the sky right now-and flying /people/ would be knocked right down with the force of it. Unless, of course, those people (and those they carry) had their very own weather-witch to keep them safe and relatively comfortale in the eye of the storm.

Speaking of the eye of the storm... Storm's eyes glow bright white, and her face is nearly expressionless as the complex patterns she's controlling take most of her focus. She is silent, waiting for further orders from Wisdom as they approach their target location.

This, comics fans, THIS IS WHY HEROES WEAR LEATHER. Because 'relatively comfortable' is still pretty damned cold as far as people who aren't trained not to bitch and aren't accustomed to military-style operations are concerned.

People like Dazzler for example, who's dressed in a utilitarian if appropriately snug dark blue leather catsuit, a light blue starburst symbol on each shoulder and one centered on her chest. A hologram is making her hair look dark brown instead of blonde, and there's a color-coordinated domino mask.

Flying along too too far behind storm, Dazzler keeps herself aloft with a bit of pale white light - and Hellboy too, though she's got him just below her and a few feet 'ahead' so that she can concentrate on /not dropping him./

Absorbing all the sound of the rushing wind around them, it'll be easy enough for Hellboy to hear Dazzler repeating to herself, "There is no try, only do. There is no try, only do."

Invisible Girl follows the other flight-capable people toward Doom's castle, carefully maintaining force fields ahead of and underneath everyone so that their arrival hopefully goes unnoticed by things like visual, radar, and thermal scans. She had wanted to map out ground routes just in case they might be needed, but the Storm-induced snowfall is far thicker than she'd expected preventing her from seeing the ground. That's good, just surprising. Looking over toward Hellboy and the few other people in this group that she's familiar with, she hopes that her nervousness isn't showing through. She's become far too accustomed to working with Reed, Ben, and Johnny, and having none of them here is a little disconcerting.

Hellboy is a demon, so it makes sense that he doesn't worry about wearing anything warm because HE'S WARM ALL THE TIME. It's true. The envelope of pale white light keeps him from steaming between his core body temperature and the outside cold. His jaw is tensed, and he's looking straight ahead rather than up, down, or behind him at the gorgeous hero who's hauling him. He hears her repeating to herself, as he repeats to himself, "Please don't drop me, that'd hurt. Please don't drop me, that'd hurt."

Right then. FOr whatever reason, the SHIELD boys were apparently doing big explodey things. Well, however they were doing it, Roy Harper -could- do not-so-gooey kablooeys. Piece of cake, easy as pie. Especially armed with loads of explosive arrows, gas arrows, and -some- knowledge that anything that looked like Doom was probably safe to shoot, as the Real Doom was likely to be safe and sound in the castle. Right? Right?

In the meantime, he... wisely decides to not talk up the Invisible Girl, since she could well drop him. And he wasn't particularly immune to falling.

With the cover of the winter weather, Tigra is certainly grateful that her fur keeps her relatively comfortable to begin with. Aside from the fact that, you know, they're flying into Grand Doomtral Station. This isn't like dusting crops back home, boy. This could go very bad very fast, and she knows it. She tries to hide how aware she is of it, but she can only do so much about the motions of her tail. To help steady herself, she's humming softly to herself. Even without the weather it'd be hard for anyone else to hear it, but if they did, they might recognize Men of Harlech.


 * "They're all of them robots. Focus on them, not the buildings, if it gets to that. Probable civilians inside them, given the look of the streets,"| Wisdom's voice comes over the comms. |"Rest of you lot, wait on my signal. Storm, I'd just like you to know I hate being wet."| He leaves the straight line hanging; it might distract Harper.

He was blitzed when the plane landed two tiny nations away. Thankfully, that was well over twelve hours ago. When he woke up, he'd immediately snapped to; for Sue's sake, he did shower first. Now, he's in a force bubble, his own eyes glowing, as they go low enough in the clouds to see. |"Dazzler, Hellboy. Take the streets four back from the mountain. Get a lot of attention and kick a lot of metal arse, then start drawing away the fight. Away from the castle. Storm, drop Tigra off with me and Harper; I-G, keep Harper and Tigs covered, I've got meself. Storm, once you're back upstairs here, get the party started and then do your thing, but keep an eye on Dazz and HB."|

There's a pause, and then, |"Ita missa est."| Code for 'let's get this party started.'

The storm was not forseen. Many things were, but the storm was not. It was also far too convenient.

"They're here, Commander. Find them."

"Of course, Lord Doom."

As one, the Doombots spring into action, their silent and vast numbers spreading throughout the city. Homes are knocked on. Alleys are checked, and the skies are scanned for heat signatures and other distortions in the norm, and as a result, it only takes about ten minutes before...

"We've found them." The report comes from one of the human captains in Doom's army as he salutes his commander. The much older man looks up from the reports on his desk and grimaces faintly, nodding. "Send in the first wave and inform Lord Doom. Prepare the device for activation, but wait for my signal. We want to surprise them."

It takes only a few more seconds before nearly twenty Doombots take off from their posts, rocketing into the air in pursuit of the intruders. The winds and the storm take out three of them before the rest receive the data from their fallen associates and correct their flight patterns. Once within range, they open fire with the plasma cannons embedded in their palms. The energy crackles through the night sky, before four break off in pursuit of Red and Dazzler, and the rest begin to descend on the bigger party, missing Storm completely.

"Surrender or die!"


 * "Land while they're firing. Take the fight to the streets. He cares about his subjects, so the robots should be unwilling to hurt them. And so are we, but it gives us the ability to split up some. Sue, Tigs, stay together. Harper, you're with me still."| Pete's voice is clipped and businesslike, emphasizing they stick with the plan.

"I was under the impression you knew where your towel was, Wisdom," Storm replies, cooly, with the barest hint that she might just be attempting some form of banter. Then, she's once again all business. Tigra is deposited at her drop point, and the weather witch once again takes to the skies, keeping her core temperature matched with the air around her, surrounded by fog and cloud as she ascends back to the sky. Is she abandoning her comrades so soon? No. She has another part to play here, before she joins the fight.

The sky flashes with multiple lighting stikes, none of which hit the ground. In fact, they're all coming from cloud to cloud, and meeting at one point. Again, and again. There are a few moments where the flashes light up the streets as if it were daylight. Each one being channeled into the body of Ororo Munroe, then to a device designed by Reed Richards. The MEMP.

Powered by the fury of Mother Nature at her worst, a pulse descends on Doomstadt. A massively powered electromagnetic pulse designed to wipe out any and all electronics. It hits before the first clap of thunder.

"Check and check," Ali responds over her comm, then looks down at Hellboy. "Looks like it's our gig, big man! Let's go make some noise!" - And then they pick up all kinds of speed as they drop out of formation and curve towards ... OH HEY, NEVER MIND! There are /evil robots/ in pursuit ALREADY!

"I can't carry us both AND shoot back without risking dropping us /both,/" Dazzler admits quickly. "How invulnerable did you say you were?"

No reason to like where this line of questioning is going.


 * "Acknowledged, Wisdom."| Sue keeps up with Pete, splitting her attention to keep Dazzler and Hellboy shielded until they're out of her line of sight, then she quickly sets Roy and herself down next to Tigra. Force fields are maintained to protect herself and the others on the ground as Doombots start arriving. Only problem with that currently: it might prevent Roy from being able to fire arrows out.

Hellboy reaches into his trenchcoat and pulls out a futuristic looking shotgun. The only SHIELD loadout he took for this particular mission, with his trusty old duffle bag looped through both shoulders carrying his preferred arsenal. Across his chest is a bandolier of what looks like glowing shotgun shells. Capacitor rounds, designed to produce a surge of electricity and short out electronics through brute force. He racks a round into place, and looks over his shoulder smiling confidently up at Dazzler, "Don't worry about it doll, I'm like a Timex. You fly. I'll shoot." he looks out ahead of them and to the sides as much as he can for targets. Time to see just how well Fury's toys work.

"Man, Wisdom, if you don't like water sports with the weather witch..." Roy begins, before the supreme -MEMP- sets in, accompanied by multiple thunderclaps.

There's a moment of awed silence before a soft voice says, "... uh, weather goddess. Dammit, Wisdom, don't even -think- anything sacrilegious, for cryin' out loud. Just tell us who we're blowing--- oh forget it!"

And Roy aims his explosive arrows at the densest concetrations of Doombots while following Pete. For all his talk, he could damn well shoot -and- follow at the same time... and, apparently, still run his mouth too.

"Our leader's a hoopy frood?" Tigra asks no one in particular, when Storm mentions Pete's towel. The growing lightning storm doesn't do anything to make her more comfortable, especially not as her fur starts to frizz a bit. That's probably not going to make her look much more intimidating. But soon they're on the ground, and Tigra's got a dance partner. A quick, steadying breath, and then a broad, toothy grin. Robots. No holding back. "You can open the garage door, Invisible Girl. I'm a hands on girl in a fight."

And when Sue drops them off, Pete and Roy and Tigra, and then Sue takes off into the fray with Tigger, Pete's already powering up-- he drops, ten brilliant beams of plasma cutting into the ground beneath him, burninating and pushing up a huge draght of superheated air, making his descent slow and his hair fly upward. He's underlit and grinning, sunglasses doing NOTHING to hide the glow of his eyes. "I'll take option three, mates," he says to the Doombots that face them.

Immediately upon landing on the scorched earth, he flings a handful of hotknives through one of the further bots' head and midsection; he turns so his back is to Roy in the same motion, other hand coming up with the extended shards of sun and slicing clear through the closest one's head. Two down, a gazillion to go. The flinging hand touches his ear, and he continues on to the next batch, lips moving as he speaks to Domino's team.

The remains of several destroyed Doombots plummet through the night sky, their cold metallic faces lit by the lightning summoned by Storm and channeled into the MEMP. However, even as one falls, three more rise through the air to take it's place, the sir soon filled with their demands to, 'Surrender or die!'

However, back at the castle, as the MEMP washes over the structure, the electronics in all but one suit of armor die out, several rooms suddenly lit only by the atmospheric candles.

Roughly thirty seconds later it all comes back online.

"Lord Doom, we believe we were just hit with an EMP. The pulse was off the charts, though. The only reason it shut us down at all."

"... Richards."

Suddenly the slight silence that remained is shattered as sirens blaze into light all over Doomstadt, followed by an announcement. "All units be advised: The Fantastic Four are believed to be amongst the intruders. Lord Doom has enacted policy 'nine five oh dash eff seven.' Sonic weapons are live."

And then the air is filled with powerful sonic blasts -- strong enough to break stone.

The severe weather soon calms somewhat, being needed less for cover now, and its source being fatigued by the effort it took to summon that much lightning to power THAT powerful of an EMP. She is able to sustain the winds keeping her aloft, but for at least a few minutes, that is all she'll be able to do, avoiding flying Doombots as best she can, rising higher and higher into the atmosphere. |"I will join the rest of you shortly. Dazzler, if you need more thunder, say the word. Though I'm sure there's no shortage of noise on the ground."|

Dazzler just sort of LOOKS at Hellboy, but shrugs - even as all freepin' Hell breaks loose and Doombots are friggin' everywhere. Which is... almost lucky for her, really. Especially because there's a lot of noise to grab and funnel directly towards maneuvering closer to the ground. Once they're at 'action movie jumps' height, Dazzler /stops/ flying and drops them both, right as she shouts "JUMP!" - not because they've jumped, but you know. Whatever.

There's reflexive pain as the sonic weapons come online - caught off-guard for a moment before her own natural defenses against sound start compensating by soaking up all that sweet, sweet sound.


 * "I'm good on juice mama, but I'll let you know if they twig what they just did for me,"| is Dazzler's response to Storm. There are still plasma bolts to contend with, but now she's got more than enough raw power to throw up some reflective photonic shields while she starts blasting anything that tells her to 'SURRENDER OR DIE.'

Hellboy unloads an entire complement and makes it rain Doombots. Some crash harmlessly to the ground, others land on other Doombots, taking them out. He's released in a controlled fall, not unlike the drops he takes out of the Hellicarrier at times. He reloads as he falls, taking half the bandolier to do so. When he lands, the sonic weapons assault his ears. It takes him a few moments to gain his bearings in the meantime he's swamed by five of the robotic minions ordering him to surrender. It would appear he's overwhelmed when two of them get blasted off him, and a third is impaled by Big Red's own Right Hand Of Doom, which he uses as a blunt object to beat the other two into pieces to shake it off. He racks the shotgun again, "How many times do I have to say it --- RED. MEANS. STOP!"

Sue nods to Tigra and drops all defensive force fields, giving both the catlady and Roy the freedom to start attacking the Doombots to their hearts' content. For her own part, she keeps half an eye on the two SHIELD agents while following Tigra and starting to do what does NOT come to her naturally: she starts using force fields to flatten, squash, crush, and otherwise make the Doombots unhappy. When they switch to sonic blasts she winces at the sound briefly before her personal force field kicks up a notch or six to filter that out. She's no longer invisible, and hoping to make her presence VERY obvious to Doom. |"They've switched to sonic attacks. Doom probably thinks Ben or Reed is with us."|

And while Pete's got everyone coordinated, Roy moves smoothly into position so that his back is to Pete's back. Not too close together, mind you, but enough that he can keep shooting these explosive arrows. The sonic noise, however, causes Roy to wince, dropping his bow to cover his ears. Someone shut that opera singer up!


 * "Crap. Head's up, I don't deal well with sonics,"| Tigra warns. Not that any of them would deal well with a direct blast, of course, but near misses can be trouble. Now, what she does deal well with is getting in close to people and messing them up. Especially when they're not really people. Released to go on the offensive, Tigra leaps out at the Doombots, clasws flashing as she slashes one here, leaps on th eback of another and rips its head off. She drops prone and sweeps out with her legs to send a couple more crashing to the ground.


 * "Sonics bad for everyone but me, then?"| Dazzler goes wide-com, then huhs thoughtfully. "Cover me, Big Red, gonna need some focus-time!" she calls over to Hellboy (of course while he's Hand-Deep in Doombots. When else?) "|There's gonna be a lot of silence for a bit. Hope everyone's up on their semaphore!


 * "Fffuuuuu--"| comes Pete's voice; for a long moment his face is a huge grimace as he momentarily, painfully loses his hearing-- and yes, yes sir, he almost hurls. But in managing not to pay homage to St. Ralph O'Rourke, he stumbles, actually *misses* shooting a doombot in the head, and takes a shot.

There is now a smoking hole in his shirt. He doesn't seem to notice. He also won't be hearing anything for a little bit, which means he has no idea what anyone just said. This is the part where trust in your team comes in. As soon as he can straigten himself up at /all/, he's firing hotknives off into the crowd of bots, splayed out in front of him and over Roy's shoulder with the other hand.

"Confirmed sighting of Sue Storm, Lord Doom, but Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm, and Reed Richards are all absent. Seven intruders, all humanoid, with two obvious mutations. Initial reports identify one as 'Hellboy.' Internet rumors are all we have to go on. An archer as well, possibly Arsenal. We think there are two members of 'Unidentified Operations Team Number Four' with them as well, possibly coming for the telepath. The weather manipulator and someone we believe to be manipulating sound. One unkown. Seems to use plasma. Permission to shut down sonic waves, Lord Doom?"

"Do it. Send in the heavy troopers and prepare to activate the device. I will be joining this pathetic attempt at a distraction. My operative is handling the true operation. Make sure things are going smoothly on her end."

As the hordes of Doombots swarm the Distraction Team, they'll notice something different, beside the sudden lack of sonic weaponry. They'll feel the slight tremors before they see their source -- five, fifteen foot tall robotic assault mechs armed to the teeth with every weapon, conventional or not, bristling along their metallic frames.

Then, of course, they'll see the storm of rockets as they hurtle towards their targets.

And here comes Ororo's second wind. Get it? Wind. Lightning flashes in the sky again, and soon, more Doombots rain down upon their robotic comrades, soon followed by Storm, who has donned one of her white and gold costumes tonight, all the better to blend in with the snow, which circles around her, the wind blowing back the 'wings' of her cape, ice crystals formed on her hair and skin (that don't seem to bother her at all), giving her the look of an icy, avenging angel. Her hands extend forward toward a swath of Doombots, blasting them with a focused, unholy wind. A wind that carries with it not snow, now. But water. Water that freezes on contact with their metal armour. It continues to plow into them, building layer upon layer. An ice storm in fast-forward.

And suddenly, rockets. Storm can feel the heat of them in the air, and the brunt of her icy wind-blast is quickly sent skyward, towards as many of the approaching missiles as she can manage.


 * "Sonics bad for everyone but me, then?"| Dazzler goes wide-com, then huhs thoughtfully. "Cover me, Big Red, gonna need some focus-time!" she calls over to Hellboy (of course while he's Hand-Deep in Doombots. When else?) |"There's gonna be a lot of silence for a b-- nevermind."| "That Doom, he changes gears fast, eh?" Dazzler dives back into 'active' mode, especially now that she's all keyed up and has a good store of power. A strobe burst here to disrupt a group of doombot aim, causing them to fire at the rockets and each other. A pulse of solid photons there to yank rockets off course and direct them towards banks of doombots. Lots of noise, lots of light - why the hell is this so fun, Blaire? You're going to have to have words with yourself later.

Speaking of words.... Dazzler gets a sudden idea. Sending up a few bursts of light like fireworks (minus the sound), a sentence blooms into glowing, saucy life right above the castle.

In hot pink cursive, DOOM SUCKS EGGS spells itself out in broad view over Doomstadt.

Invisible Girl notices Roy drop his bow out of the corner of her eye and immediately slams a force field down over both of him and Pete until the sonic attacks stop then lifts it again promptly. Tigra gets similar treatment, but the force field around her is more than big enough to have left a few Doombots in there with her. You know, to toy with like a cat plays with toy mice. She keeps that there also until the sonic attacks stop and resumes doing her best Ben imitation until the GIANT robots appear and launch rockets at them. Her eyes go wide and force fields slam down around Tigra and the two SHIELD agents again, but this time they're the strongest ones she can create, and their sky blue opacity is evidence of this. She's NOT taking any chances.

Hellboy has gotten the hang of kicking Doombot ass. Being a little more conservative with his ammo, he's switched to hand to hand tactics. Well, doom hand to hand tactics. Actually he's gotten to the point where he knocks one down, uses it to beat up a group of four or five before repeating. When Dazzler calls out for cover, he grins at her "I got your back, sweetheart!" he calls out. Then he sees he doesn't have to, before retorting "He sucks more than that!" he says as he continues to beat Doombot ass. That is until, the Doommechs start making their apperance. He sighs and shakes his head. He fishes out a cigar and lights it with the firey remains of a Doombat arm, then drops it. "Now ya know, that just ain't playing fair." he says, observing the mechs. He reloads the shotgun, sizing them up, "I'm gonna have to go climbin' ain't I?"


 * "Susan!"| Pete's voice comes sharp and ragged, but only to Roy and Sue and Tigra. Inside that bubble. |"You have to let me go! I can't *see* anything!"| And since his hearing's only ringing like tinnitus of the migraine anymore, |"I can't hear the others!"|

The forcefield buys Roy some time, as the blast is removed. It takes him a few to get re-oriented, though, steadying himself long enough to get his bow. Right. So how many weapons are being aimed at...

OH JESUS H. CHRIST ON A UNICYCLE.

"'C'mon, Harper, it'll be fun," Roy mutters as he aims at the rockets with his explosive arrows. "'Exploring Latervia! Blow up things! It'll be a piece of cake!' We're about to get buried in an avalanche of baked goods, Wisdom! What've you got to say about -that-?"

Tigra is visibly relieved by the sonic filter provided by Sue's force field, and merrily plays with her toys, tearing them to pieces like any proper cat. She quickly move son to fresh ones when the field drops again, but pauses at the vibrations she feels, every bit of fur standing on end for a moment. |"Think we got trouble--Woops,"| she says at the sigh tof the giant robots. As the force field returns with full force just in time to protect her from a rocket blast, she can't help but stick her tongue out at the robots, and then take a look at them while she can. |"Invisigirl, make me a door! I'm gonna make like Luke Skywalker on them!"| Hellboy won't be the only climber.


 * "All right, Pete, dropping force field ... now."|


 * "Nova. Radio silence,"| Pete broadcasts to the team, giving the code that the comms are compromised. As he's speaking into the comm as Sue lifts the shield from him, he visibly reaches up with the hand not already shooting robots and touches his ear, then says something else-- "Radio silence, there's a compromise upstairs." No one's close enough and unshielded to hear him but Doombots.

Right?

Having given a couple seconds' warning to the rest of his team, Wisdom powers up enough to test even the strength of Edith Mote's suits from his own powers. The ground beneath him burns and melts, melts /stone/; he puts his fists out to his sides, then totally does that thing like Bruec Banner right before he turns into the Hulk, then does his best ever regeneration-of-the-Doctor impression:

Wide and splintering blades of plasma hot enough to burn air whip through the crossroads and up, as the English tac nuke lets go like he hasn't since the Factory. Ten thousand degree knives, controlled by his will alone. There's gonna be a LOT of slag in a second. And midair explosions sorry Storm.

Just as slag, fists, and all sorts of awful things begin to happen to the heavy Doom-Troopers, there comes a noise. It's nearly indistinguishable in this chaos, but it is the sound of approaching Doom.

While the distraction team is perfectly distracted with his own show, Doom descends through the clouds, sensors designed to work on Sue already picking up on the form of a certain Weather Goddess. A simple word spoken in a long dead language is enough to send a bolt of pure magical energy straight for his target's back -- enough to take her right out of the sky.

"Once again, you trespass on Latverian soil, causing chaos for chaos' sake. However, my dungeons are already full to capacity with the rest of your idiotic team." His eyes slide over the pink lettering in the sky, and slowly, he turns his mask back onto those below him. "Leave, or die. Though I warn you, if I need to continue to repulse SHIELD agents from my country, I will take it as an act of war, and trust me... You do not want Latveria's armies to march on the world, for it will end only one way. With your destruction."

He raises his gauntlet, pointing it towards the structure built upon the lawn of his Rathauz and nods once. Instantly, energy hums through the massive cube and it begins to shift, slowly but surely revealing it's true purpose. A cannon, one the size of small skyscraper. "And I will begin by firing on all SHIELD helicarriers and safehouses currently being monitored... Make your choice."

While Dazzler switches focus, the lettering vanishes in a shower of sparkles - the blinding brilliance of the hotknives of anti-doom don't actually blind her. Light powers for the win, huzzah. She points a finger at Doom, light radiating from her fingertip. "HEY! Threats? All /we/ did is flyover and /you/ aimed death-ray wielding robots at us! Sounds like your choice was already made."

Invisible Girl released the force field around Pete just in time for the man to re-enact Doctor Who, special effects and all. She gasps and shields her eyes from the brightness, recovering in time to spot Doom himself knocking Storm out of the air. She throws one hand up toward the falling weather goddess in an attempt to catch the woman in a bowl-shaped force field, and at the same time another flat force field rushes straight at Doom, as if trying to shove the man away. But, because her attention shifted so abruptly away from Tigra and Roy, their protective force fields disappear like popped soap bubbles.

Hellboy knows magic when he smells it.

Doom Prime? The Main Doom, the Doctor himself? He /reeks/ of it.

Hellboy smiles and slings the capacitor slug throwing shotgun into the hip holster. He unslings the duffle bag around his shoulders and unzips it. He doesn't have to rustle around in it to know what he's looking for. He pulls out the Big Baby, and checks the load on it. "Hey - magic man!" he flicks of the safety and racks it up. "Come get some!" tail swishing behind him angerly.

Pete's display dazzles Tigra's vision, even with his warning. Thus dazzled, she doesn't see the strike on Storm until she sees Sue's reaction to it, and then Tigra dashes into action. Seeing that the Invisible Girl's got the weather witch caught in a force field, she cries out, "Hand off!", waving an arm vigorously, hoping Sue can slide Storm down to her. "Could use some cover!" she invites over her shoulder in Harper's direction.

Of COURSE Wisdom had nothing to say about it... then again, it might have helped if it wasn't raining explosions. And loom, yet -another- Doombot approaching, and Roy reflexively fires yet another arrow at Doom... just a bit too late as the Doom Cannon makes its presence known.

Er... wait, that was the real Doom? Whoops. About to compound the mistake by, well, SHOOTING SOME MORE, Roy's attention is drawn by Tigra. Oh. A quick glance, and then Roy nods, moving to join Tigra and lay down some cover fire.

... Er, Doom's going to bill S.H.I.E.L.D. for whatever damage the explosive arrow did, right?

This is the point at which Pete's dead on his feet, and would be running on fumes if he didn't suddenly catch fire in his brainmeats with a rapidly growing manic anger that forces his focused attention, if not his powers-- he has just enough energy left to fuel his glowing eyes and fist, held up at Doom above. His voice booms out in the sudden lack of closeby robots, echoing off building walls and bouncing around. "The fuck have some government twats have to do with this?" he bellows in astonished, furious indignation. "You bloody SHOT US DOWN, you ass! Of COURSE we fought back!" Betsy Betsy Betsy-- annnger riiiising-- "Unless you've declared a fucking no-fly zone and not bothered to inform the BBC! Let us god-damned go on our way and we'll stop blowing up your bloody stupid robots!"

Doom looks to Dazzler first, then Pete, his voice smooth as he replies, "If that is the case, then you will have no problem leaving. Unless of course, you are here in a pathetic attempt to distract me from the team that is currently being dealt with within my castle. Perhaps I might believe you had just been... passing through, were it not for the fact that you imbeciles brought Sue Storm with you. Who, of course, knows that Latveria's airspace is a permanent, and harshly enforced no-fly zone, and you just happen to be traveling with an EMP that could only have been made by Richards." Of course, the talk is cut short as Doom comes under attack from Sue and threat from Hellboy. The forcefield pushes Doom backwards a few feet until he suddenly halts, sighing slightly. "Ah, Sue. Namor will be pleased to see you. Your drug addict friend, though I'm sure he somehow believed it would be a good idea, informed me of this operation and allowed me time to prepare a defence. A shame, really, for I would have returned your pathetic friends had you asked. Now, however, I see that I must break you utterly, otherwise you will continue to attack Latveria under the foolish belief that you can succeed in some way." His eyes turn to Hellboy as he pauses, gesturing slightly, once again to the building sized cannon several blocks away. That's all that needs to be said, really. At least until explosive arrows start to detonate on the forcefield surrounding him. "Apparently, even now discussion is beyond your capabilities. This is your last chance. Leave, or die."

Dazzler grits her teeth, "No." Flexing her fingertips, she bombards Doom with light. Swirling, pulsing, multicolored oscillating light. "We're not gonna die, and we're not leaving until you're done!"

Invisible Girl rapidly lowers Storm to where Tigra is, having had to catch the woman on the move as it was to avoid injuring her by letting her slam into a stationary surface. She has a lot of practice at ignoring Doom's speechifying, so she does so again, putting her concentration into protecting the retreating trio while at the same time hurrying over toward Pete. She stands close enough to the man to extend her personal force field around him if necessary. She doesn't do that immediately, though.

Hellboy smirks as Doom as nothing for him but to gesture at the cannon. "That?" Red scoffs "That's all you've got for me? Compensation issues? Doom," he says taking a long puff off his cigar, "I gotta say, you're a genuine disappointment. I think you're 'fraid of lil' ol' me." and starts advancing towards Doom. He's not looking back towards Dazzler, Sue, Roy, or Pete, either.

"No, wait!" calls Wisdom desperately, powering down. "Stand down!" he yells. And then he touches his ear and repeats himself. |"Stand down!"| But-- he went and fried his own comm. After all, it's not an Edith Mote original. It's just SHIELD. And then he coughs, wiping blood off his face. (When did he get hit again? And with what?) "Lord Doom! Will you give our friends back? I can possibly figure out a way to pay for the damages. Maybe."