2013.03.23 - Fading Urchins

Early evening in Harlem, NY. Shelters in this area of the city are no strangers to disruptions and altercations but most of them are usually centered around allegations of theft, staff trying to eject drug dealers, people trying to get in after curfew and other day to day considerations normal to street denizens. Today the disruption is a little stranger, as its centered around a young boy, no more than 10 or 11 years old, suddenly popping out of a dead sleep in the corner he's been sitting in almost without moving for days now. He wakes up yelling, "The Silence Zombies are coming! Wake up everyone, wake up or they'll take you away too! The Silence Zombies are coming!"

"Zombies?!" Deadpool dramatically swoops out of nowhere on a rope he's found somewhere. Somehow. And lands neatly next to the boy, and strikes a dramatic pose. Which is terrifying, because he's a giant, muscular guy in a red bodysuit and hauling around a heavy machine gun. "I am DEADPOOL! How can I help, common citizen?" he booms.

"Hang on, jerkwad!" With no apparent means of locomotion, a severed zombie's head swoops down out of nowhere, wearing a ragged mask similar to Deadpool's. "Man, you ask a head to make a cameo, and it's all 'dramatic entrances' without an invitation." The head strikes a dramatic pose as well. "I'm Headpool!" it adds brightly, clacking it's jaws at the kid. "How can The Deadpool Corps help?"

One young man in this shelter hasn't been asleep. Axiom, member of the Young Allies, is undercover tonight. Drawn in by the stories, he convinced his friend to come with him for a small mission. Both disguised as homeless teens, he's been staking out the shelter from within tonight. Faking sleep next to his teammate, his attention snaps up quickly when that boy starts yelling about silence zombies. He nudges his friend to make sure he's awake too and starts to say something only to stop when Deadpool suddenly appears. And a second severed head version. Eddie just stares, resisting the urge to facepalm.

Waking people up at a homeless shelter by suddenly waking up screaming? That, sadly, is normally Jeremy's department. But not today! Today Jeremy's one of the ones being disturbed. In this case, from his work of washing the shelter windows. "Huh?" He only arrived at the shelter today. He wasn't coming to investigate or anything, just to stay the night and help out a little. So, he hadn't even noticed the younger kid yet. But now that there's screaming about zombies or something? Yeah...that draws attention. You know what else draws attention? Big guys in red bodysuits with machine guns and zombie heads. Jeremy drops the cleaning supplies where he stands, staring in through the window at the commotion. "Uh..." Okay, guy with machine gun next to a kid. Jeremy may not know what's going on, but...that doesn't seem good at all. He rushes in through the door and stops several feet from Deadpool, pointing a finger at him. "Hey! Um, um...whatever you're doing, mister, I-I think you'd better step away from that kid now...um, okay?" It /started/ sounding tough, but all the fire was out of him by midway through. "...um...you're scarin' him...I think..."

It wasn't so long ago that Jocelyn herself had been a street rat living out in Detroit. She had enough contacts here in New York to hear of some rumors, however, about some kids disappearing. That's how she ended up 'just happening' to be in the neighborhood. The tall girl had taken it upon herself to dig out some of her rattier clothing. A pair of beaten up sneakers, a set of jeans that are worn and scattered with holes, and an, faded New York Mets t-shirt. She also had a grey duffle bag with her and had taken the time to dye her hair black and wrap it around head in a hair headband. Eddie would recognize the disguise, perhaps, from a certain car crash incident. She'd been chilling, just hanging out on a corner facing the kid, and 'resting' herself.

Then Deadpool shows up. What. The. Beep?

The ravenhaired young woman stands and walks over, looking around the place for any weird energies if only because of the fact that some crazy guy dressed in red. She doesn't immediately speak, however. Instead, she adopts a dazed, faraway look (not difficult for the energy absorber with her constantly active sight) as she meanders towards the scene, as though she herself had been on something maybe a little too strong.

No, no she doesn't trust the crazy guy in red, and is ready to intervene if necessary.

Then Jeremy steps in. Oh dear. Jocelyn knew Jeremy...under another identity. Well, this was awkward. She makes it a point to fully charge herself up, just in case bad things happen and she has to react much more quickly than she'd like.

The teenage hero known as Wiccan has exactly one contact in the world of the Homeless, and that is his best friend and team mate Axiom. When Axiom asked him to help with a bit of a steak out he said yes before asking any questions. Dressed in a slightly ratty red hoodie and jeans that have seen better days he has been faking sleep right up until the kid shot up and started yelling. He was about to say something...until the psychopath in red dropped in out of nowhere. "Oh....this is so not a good sign." He groans out seeing the severed head join in as well. As Jeremy steps in and starts to try and make Deadpool go away Wiccan groans to himself again and is already reaching for his powers and preparing to intervene in case things go bad...or at least in case they get worse than they already are.

Senri is in the kitchen in her uniform, having persuaded her boss to send her in the store's name with both pizza and a helping hand. Now, late in the evening, things are relatively calm... Until the calm is shattered by a boy screaming about zombies, of all things. "Take you away, too!" stood out in Senri's mind. This was the one she wanted to find. Now to see if she could help. She quickly exits the kitchen and beholds... Chaos. Helped chiefly along by a large man with a machine gun.

The small kid that has just come out of one nightmare is now faced with what to someone that size could easily be considered another nightmare, a huge muscular man in a mask dressed in red and black leather and Lycra, especially when its keeping company with a severed head. And like many young, small creatures it retreats to the safety of the closest cot, diving under it and huddling in a corner with his hands covering his head, gibbering about a demon.

Unlike Jeremy and some of the others the majority of the people in the room have retreated to give the kid and his sudden entourage some space. But recognizing a good piece of street theater and not seeing any outright violence break out most of the shelter's guests stick around to see what happens next.

The gathering of people in the large room, especially close to the main exit makes it so that Gabriel has to actually elbow people out of the way, "Make way, make way, open a hole, coming through! I'm looking for a kid... Oh, hey, I guess I found him..." Once he's through the crowd he starts to edge his way around to the rest of the group in the open space.

* whackchak* Deadpool's got a gun out and the barrel aimed at Jeremy's forehead as the youth closes on him. Of course, we do this at a point mutually agreeable for it to satisfy the requirements of his pose and still be comedic- figure right around that second set of ellipses. And this is why we're considerate writers. Well, also, it's powerposing. "Quiet, youse numbskulls," Deadpool quips to no one. He looks back down at the kid. "Ok kid, spill the beans. Where are the zombies, and how much killin' do they need?" He gives it a beat. "I mean, the zombies other than this one," he adds, tilting his head towards Headpool. "He's cool. He's with me."

He turns and looks over his shoulder. "Damn, we got ourselves a posse, here." He holsters the gun, and produces something much more useful- a chimichanga. "Hey, kid, c'mere," he says, hunkering down. Deadpool slaps the Head away as it zooms in to try and snake the snack. "I ain't gonna hurt ya. I'm Deadpool, Certified Plumber and Licensed Zombie Killer. Tell me where the deadheads are, an' I'll put 'em back in the ground." He waves the silver-wrapped snack back and forth tantalizingly.

Our precious chimichangas! We can sacrifice one, for the greater good. It's a Hero thing. Right?

"Right!"

Jeremy meeps as the gun ends up pointed at him, and backs up rapidly while a glowing blue light surrounds his body. "Um, um, um...don't sh--" And then the gun is holstered and a chimichanga is out instead, and he stops glowing and instead stares at Deadpool. That doesn't get him anywhere, so instead he looks about for an ally. Huh. Well, not much to go on--huh, that one girl looks kind of familiar--and there's... "Mister Gabriel!" He races over to Gabe, and points at Deadpool. "Iwaswashin'thewindowsandthenthiskidstartedscreamin'andthenthisbigredguycameinandstartedwavin'agunaroundandhe'sscarin'everybody! Help!"

Eddie jumps slightly when he spots Jeremy and Jocelyn, surprised to see them both here. He glances quickly at Wiccan to see what he's doing and starts to stand. When the gun is pointed Jeremy's way, Eddie curses under his breath and looks to Wiccan. Costumes, he whispers. His own hoodie up hiding his face, he scowls. "Put d-down the weapons and back off from the kid, Deadpool!"

Well. So much for subtle. Channel, alias Annie, alias Jocelyn, along with a few more she really shouldn't be naming, sighs and stops the dazed walk, instead straightening up to her full height. "I think we're all here about the same thing". She glances around the room at the gawkers. "Now. Why doesn't everyone give us a little bit of privacy so we can sort this out. Then we can let everyone else get back to sleeping". A look is given to Deadpool as Jocelyn moves towards the man. "I don't know who you are. If you're here to help, then please back off and take that with you". She points at the severed head. Wiccan has gotten practiced with certain spells, one of them the one that gets him from civilian ID to hero one. "Costumes." He says in reply to Axiom and there is a pulse of blue light that starts at their heads and travles downt he two teens transforming them from apparent homeless kids into two of the Young Allies.

Wiccan is already starting to cast a second spell when the gun gets put away and a foil wrapped TexMex food product replaces it. He was going to go with something healthier, like a mango, but at least the weapon is gone and that leaves him with the talking severed head, traumatized kid, and what ever Deadpool is going to pull next to worry about. Maybe he should have packed a roll of Tums with him for this adventure.

As she watches the reactions to Deadpool's... antics is the only word she can find for it, she thinks, "(Well, at least he seems serious about helping. That's something, I guess. Y'know, I'm really starting to think I should have found a way to get in that didn't make me so identifiable. But I really wanted to help out, too!)" She slips into the crowd, worming her way expertly toward the cot that the boy has sheltered in, her eyes taking in and cataloging all that goes on around her. So it is that she notes the 'arrival' of the costumed Wiccan and Axiom, and... "(Channel? Good to have someone I know on my side here.)" As soon as she is sure Channel has clear line of sight on her, she deliberately glances over and meets her eyes with a nod, then continues moving, still alert, but not distracted. When she reaches the cot, she crouches down beside it and in as gentle and friendly a voice as she can manage, she speaks coaxingly to the boy. "Hi. I'm Senri. Don't be afraid, okay? Everything's going to be okay. You've got friends here."

The kid slowly starts to look out from under the cot. Then a hand flashes out, snatches the chimi from Deadpool's hand and disappears back under the cot. Eating sounds come out from under the cot but the kid does not.

Meanwhile Gabriel is listening to the rapid fire explanation Jeremy is sending towards him and with a nod he says to the group at large, "Hmmm... Maybe we should let the youngest of us talk with the kid. Jeremy here and..." Looking around he points at Eddie, "him might have the best chance of getting a story out of him without spooking him into a coma." Looking over at Deadpool with an arched eyebrow he adds, "And /he's/ definitely /not/ helping. Why are you carrying a severed head around and how come it can talk?"

"Aww man, those two nerds," Deadpool grouses as Axiom and Wiccan roll up. "I hate those guys. They're all 'Young Allies' this and 'Hey, I got your back' that and 'go team!'. It's sickening," he informs Headpool.

Headpool clacks its jaws. "Word up, bossman. This is why Team Deadpool rocks. Everyone's out to get one another. Hey, can we call me Morte for a while, and see if any nerds get the floating skull reference?"

Deadpool glances towards Senri, then narrows his eyemask holes at her. "Hey. Hey." He makes the eye-pointy gesture from him to her a few times. "I'm the only one around here who's authorized to have a vocalized internal monologue." Yeah, that's right! Pssh, she just rolls up and starts having a sidebar. She's stealing our shtick! Shoot her! No, stab her!

"I'm not maiming her!" Deadpool says loudly. He turns back to the kid, then sighs and stamps off a few paces. "I hate this game," he announces loudly, folding his arms and slouching petulantly against a convenient doorframe. "Stupid narrator, interjecting plot guidance into his own poses, grassum rassum frassum." He sighs. Loudly. "Well?" he tells Eddie. "What are you waiting for?" He gestures towards the cot. "Go get 'im. This scene's not going anywhere until you get the plot-critical NPC to talk. He even took my chimichanga." Grassum rassum frassum.

Axiom looks around at the assembled group, eyes lingering on Gabriel and Jeremy a moment. He frowns at the suggestion from Gabriel and sighs. He probably does have the best chance. Sighing a little, he glances to Wiccan with a quick 'watch my back?' look before making his way carefully to the cot. He offers Senri a quick look before crouching down as well.

"Hey, little guy? C'mon out, please. Don't worry, me and Wiccan will k-keep you safe. We're superheroes after all."

"M-Me?" Jeremy asks, blinking. He looks over at the still-very-much-too-Right-Over-There-for-comfort Deadpool and Headpool combo, then at the place the younger kid is hiding, and then at Gabriel again. "Um...okay, if you think so..." He looks over at Senri and Axiom as well, sighs, and trudges over to join them by the cot, kneeling down. "Um, so...hi..." He takes a deep breath, and speaks in as gentle a tone as he can while trying to keep himself from quaking with fear. "Um, yeah...look, I know you're scared, 'cause, um, I sure am--Imeanwouldbe--but, um..." He looks around the room. "There's a lot of people here and I think most of them are, um, heroes...so they're not gonna let the crazy guy hurt you, okay? Um, you don't /have/ to come out, though...but if you don't mind talkin', I think these people wanna know more about that stuff you were yellin' about."

Deadpool throws his hands up. "I /am/ a hero!" he declares to everyone.

Channel gives Senri a quick look and a nod. Yep, she'd identified the woman. When Deadpool backs down, the woman backs away from the bed to let Axiom and Jeremy work on getting the story out of the boy. She keeps near the crazy guy in red, however, mostly because she just doesn't have a clue what he's going to do next, and that doesn't make the young X-Man comfortable. "Wiccan. Looks like we we had same idea," she comments to the magic user. She gestures over to Senri to join them. Otherwise, the girl stays quiet and listens.

Wiccan does not hit Deadpool with a bolt of lightning, or make his mouth vanish, no matter how much he kind of wants to the instant he is called a nerd. Sure he wears the name with pride, but Deadpool using it with an insulting kind of tone makes him want to zot the guy even more than the last couple of times he has run across the Merc with the Mouth.

Wiccan gives Axiom a nod back when he gets that look. If he were in his civilian ID, or not too worried about the zombie head, he would probably have jumped forwards at the attempt to talk to the kid. Years of babysitting his little brothers have made him pretty good at talking down a terrified child. With Deadpool's outburst declaring himself a hero Wiccan slides between him and most everyone else. "No, you're an anti-hero at best. Gun play, killing people, kidnapping nuns and terrorizing small children just to prevent a kidnapping are all things that real heroes avoid." Wiccan does give a nod to Channel. "And apparently we were not the only ones with the idea."

Senri smiles as the kid takes the chimichanga. "(Well, that's a start.)" Her smile becomes a wry grin as Deadpool notices her, and she makes a mental note to think loudly from now on. "(A Planescape reference? Hee. Sad thing is that it works. And not being maimed is always nice, thank you.)" She looks over as Gabriel takes charge, nodding assent at the logic behind his suggestion/order. She shakes her head with a lingering grin at Deadpool's retreating monologue. As Jeremy comes to kneel by the cot, she gives him a friendly nod before standing and moving over by Channel.

Gabriel follows his own instructions and joins the group away from the cot. Just looking from one person to another before mumbling, "can't we all just get along?"

Between Jeremy and Axiom they manage to get the story out of the boy, what story he has to tell. "I was sleepin' in an alley an' then I needed to pee an' I was peein' an' then my pee stopped makin' noise. You couldn' hear nothin'. An' /then/ these gray bald guys come all smilin' into our alley an' they start givin' everyone creepy looks while they sleep. An' /then/ all'a the kids get up an' start walkin' away with the gray guys walkin' behind them. An' then one a them saw me an' I tried to throw a can at 'im an' the can bounced off'a 'im in this flash of light that was kinda gray an' kinda green an' kinda blue all at once. So I ran 'way. 'An I can't get them outta my dreams 'an in my dreams there's never no noise 'an I run 'an I run 'an I run but I never get nowhere..." *gasp* *gasp* the kid managed to get all that out in one breath and now he just gives Jeremy and Axiom a terrified look and finishes by asking, "Are you goin' to kill 'em all? Please?" Deadpool aims a stupidly enormous gun at Wiccan's forehead with all the speed of a striking cobra, squinting over the sights. "I didn't kidnap that nun, she just got dragged along for the ride," Deadpool grates. " 'the hell I do with a nun? Like I need the ruler bruises? And that scene's still in a hold," he adds, waggling the barrel a bit. "So you don't know my awesome and brilliant reasons, and haven't seen my totally heroic conclusion."

Deadpool narrows his eyes at Wiccan. "And I ain't killed anyone in a while, but if you'd like to break my running record for zero body count missions, be my guest." He chews on a toothpick. Through his mask. Which he didn't have a minute ago? But whatever. It's a Dirty Harry thing.

Headpool bobs up and down behind Deadpool. "Yeah, what he said!" the disembodied head chimes in. Get it? Disembodied? Literally? Hah. I slay.

Deadpool holsters the pistol and goes back to slouching against the wall. Man, this Senri chick totally gets it. Hey! Hey! Can you hear me? How would she hear you? You're a figment of his imagination. Hi, Senri! Deadpool starts swatting at the air around his head at what are presumably thought bubbles attacking him. "More voices?! Two's not enough? Why do you mock me, MUSH gods?" he demands of the ceiling. "Stop thinking at me so loud!" he tells Senri sternly, waggling a finger at her. No, keep doing it! It's hilarious! We never get to talk to anyone! No one wants to talk to you, dummy. They come to /me/ for the witty repartee! Also, Deadpool, don't forget to pick up more chimichangas. "I will. Oh, we need milk." And beer. Good beer. Did we leave the gas on? Shuttup, both of you! The plot /thickens/.

Deadpool and his collective voices lean forward intently. Finally, exposition! "Ok, sweet!" Deadpool says, clapping his hands together. "Zombie grey guys! Morte!" he beckons Headpool over. "Start doing a recon. See if you can find out where these grey zombies are. Axiom, Wiccan, as much as it pains me to say it, you're officially deputized into The Deadpool Corps," he declares. "As are all of you heroic types. Because today, boys and girls, we're heroes!"

He turns and exits with a dramatic flourish, then sticks his head in. "Hey, kid/narrator. Real quick, before everyone else poses- where'd this happen, and how do we get there?"

AS if summoned by Deadpool's last strange question an old man that's been part of the spectating crowd up to now holds up his hand and says, "Ummm... I saw some strange gray guys in black suits walking into one of the sewers' tunnel a week or so ago. Thought they were going to have a drug deal or something in there so I didn't pay it any attention..."

Axiom glances at Jeremy when he comes over too. "Relax," he urges softly. When the boy comes out from under the cot, Axiom offers him a smile and listens quietly to his story. His smiles fades for a moment as he listens to what the boy has to say. Freaky silent monsters that make things quiet and kidnap the sleeping are not good. When the story finishes, Axiom gives a smile and reaches out to pat the boy's shoulder. "Well, we won't kill them because we're the good guys but we'll take care of them. You don't have to worry anymore, okay? And trying to help the others with that can was r-really brave," he's trying to be reassuring.

He shoots an annoyed look at Deadpool before glancing Wiccan's way. When the old man speaks up, Axiom smiles a bit. "Thanks, s-sir. Where is the tunnel?" he asks, choosing to ignore Deadpool's crazy for now.

Jeremy smiles at the scared kid, comfortingly. "There, um...thanks...that ought to help, I think. Um, I don't know about killin' them either but I bet they're gonna make sure this doesn't happen to anybody, okay? You'll be safe." He looks over at Axiom, worriedly, as Axiom reaches for the kid. "Um, he may not, um..." He shakes his head, spares a glance for Deadpool and goes back to trying very hard to ignore him, and looks back at the kid. "Um...look...I have bad dreams too, about lots of stuff...but, um...I think these are just dreams, okay? You got away and these guys are gonna stop the bad guys, so...next time the bad dreams come, um...picture these heroes punchin' the bad guys in the face and, um, I think they won't be bad dreams anymore, okay?"

"As Deadpool said, we're heroes, and heroes don't go killing people," Channel responds. She thought that ought to perhaps calm the kiddo down. A glance is given around the room. Gabriel, she didn't know, but she felt a bit of responsibility for the two she did know and weren't in costume. "Sen, Jeremy, we'll head up the rear guard," Channel suggests. As long as Deadpool isn't shooting anyone, Channel is alright with having him along, for the time being, though it was certainly making things interesting, to say the least. She'd have to report news of this crazy person in to the rest of the team at some point.

"Unless anyone else needs anything here, we should get moving," Channel adds after a brief moment's hesitation as she works through everything in her head.

Wiccan raises an eyebrow and does not so much as blink at the stupid big gun. He will freak out later, for now got to keep up the super hero face. That, and maybe as soon as he is out of ear shot make sure then next time Deadpool pulls a gun like that all he end up with is a salami, or maybe a foam sword. Hmm, moral quandary time, curses are bad karma but is it really that bad a karma to put one with mostly comedic effects on a guy like Deadpool?

Wiccan nods at the old man when he speaks up, and the kid when he gives them a location. At least now they have an idea where to go, and what the bad guys they are looking for look like. The mentions of them making everything silent though, that does have him a bit nervous and hoping that is a detail added in the nightmares and recollections and not a power they actually have. The teen mage nods at Channel. "I'm ready."

Senri favors Deadpool with an expression of angelic innocence as she thinks, "(You mean like this? I can try, but I doubt it'll work.)" The expression immediately slides off her face as she listens to the boy's account and the words sink in. Her mind immediately bends itself toward processing the information. "(Silence and a...barrier, it sounds like? So either mutant power, magic, tech, or some combination of those. I want to say mutant power, but if they all look the same, that might be an illusion, so magic...?)" Wishing once more that she was wearing street clothes, she gives a dry grin and thumbs up to Deadpool when she is 'deputized'. As the old man volunteers the information, she nods to herself. "(So we have a location now. Thanks... Deadpool.)"

When Channel addresses her and Jeremy, she nods firmly and simply says, "Got it." She looks herself over and, after a moment's thought, removes her nametag and pockets it. "(For all the good that will do.)"

"FINALLY." Deadpool starts marching along to the next plot point, whether or not everyone else keeps up. Headpool soars out and ahead, moving to scout out the alleyway, whistling "Froggy Goes A Courtin'", despite his lack of lips.

Deadpool turns and looks over his shoulder, waiting for the rest of Team Deadpool to catch up. "C'mon, Team Deadpool!" he says, waving everyone along. "We've got heroing to do!"

Hurrying things along at the narrator's request, he moves as quickly as the narrator permits to the alleyway, and then, finding a sewer, he spits into his palms and grabs the bars, setting his arms, and starts heaving and grunting.

Nothing. He glances over his shoulder, then snickers. "Hey. Hey, Booster Boy. Hey. I've been wanting to do this for /weeks/." He beckons Axiom over. "C'mere and give me a boost so I can pull this off. It's like, a Toughness 5 challenge, so if you boost me, I think I can wrestle it off. Unless anyone else here has tickets to this gun show?" he asks, flexing some pretty impressive arms. "No? I thought not. Ok, here we go!" He walks up to the grate, sets his feet, and starts heaving at the bars again, waiting for Axiom to boost him. "C'mon, superkid! Believe in me! Believe in the Pool! Believe in... The Corps!"

Following along next to Wiccan, Axiom gives his friend a supportive clap on the shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll d-do this no matter what they can do. I've got your back," he whispers. He glances back at Channel and Senri, giving Channel a quick 'is she good to come with us?' look in regards to Senri. He doesn't know her yet.

Arriving in the alley, he waits as Deadpool starts tugging on the bars. Being called over makes him frown. He just sighs and waits for Deadpool to start pulling again before glancing at Wiccan. Instead of boosting Deadpool, Axiom boosts and then mimics his friend. As soon as his costume finishes changing, Axiom chants a spell under his breath to pull the bars out of the way. He can't boost Deadpool but he can help. Sort of.

"It's ok, kid. I have thermite." Deadpool slaps something that looks like silly putty on the iron bars. "I just wanted to see if you'd go crazy if you boosted me. It'd be /hilarious/." He claps Axiom on the shoulder and lights the putty. Light flares, blinding, and the heavy iron bars fall to the ground. "After you," he gestures. "We now return you to your regularly scheduled pose order."

Jeremy gives one more smile to the scared kid, and follows--against his better judgment--the group of heroes. Still...this is the right thing to do, isn't it? He walks along quietly behind the rest of the group, hands in his pockets, until the lighting of the thermite. That gets a little yelp out of him, and he jumps back, the blue glow surrounding him again. It's barely noticeable with the light so blinding, but the light of the thermite reaction dims just a tad, from massively blinding to slightly-less-massively blinding. Once the bars are gone, Jeremy ceases glowing again, staring at the aftermath.

Giving Axiom a confirmation nod regarding Senri, Channel follows along. At the grate, the woman rolls her eyes at the display. Still, there was something going on, and the girl wanted to make sure it got off the streets. She'd just have to deal with this guy for awhile. "Things start getting bad, keep behind me. I make for pretty decent cover," Channel tells Senri and Jeremy, having taken note of their lack of defensive options.

The girl doesn't bother to shield her eyes from the thermite, but does notice Jeremy's reaction, if only because it's one she would have had herself not long ago. She gives him an understanding smile and will head down into the sewers with the rest of the group.

Channel pauses before entering. "It's hot down there. I can't tell what type of energy it is, since I've never seen it before, but we're close to them. The energy signatures are pretty faint, but they're definitely there. They're flickering along the tunnel, on and off it looks like".

Wiccan can not fight it, he has to roll his eyes at Deadpool's antics. Given the chance to set odds he would put it at a thousand to one that Axiom could not boost Deadpool enough to open the grate on his own. Even if the man thinks he is heroic, and almost comes close to nearly acting that way in a cynical nineties anti-hero kind of way, he knows that Axiom is not likely to have the kind of faith in the merc to pull it off.

When the thermite comes into play Wiccan backs up a little and mutters some under his breath, "Pleasedon'tletitbetoomuch, Pleasedon'tletitbetoomuch, Pleasedon'tletitbetoomuch." It is not like he does not trust Deadpool but... actually it is exactly like he does not trust Deadpool not to use too much thermite and get them all hurt. People that argue with, win or loose the argument, voices only they can hear should not be allowed to play with explosives.

Once the grate is opened Wiccan runs a hand over his rune covered staff chanting a little to himself. "Weneedenoughlihgttosee, Weneedenoughlihgttosee, Weneedenoughlihgttosee!" After a few seconds the runs on his staff start to glow bright enough to make it possible for him and anyone near him to see but not so bright as to totally kill people's low light and night vision.

Senri pauses for a half step before following the group to turn and flash the kid a thumbs up and smile of her own. Then she is off and out the door with the rest, staying tight with the rest of the rear guard, though a feeling of unease for the kid's safety stirs within her. Instead of putting the feeling aside, when Channel gives her advice, she nods and takes the opportunity to quietly ask, "Is it really okay to leave the kid like that? I mean, he can't come with us, but what if there's more than the ones the old man saw?" She had noticed the exchange between Axiom and Channel, but for once decided to hold her peace in spite of having a keen idea of what it was about. When they arrive at the sewer grate, she watches Deadpool's attempts to open it, first with muscle and then, successfully, with thermite. She grits her teeth and squints against the sudden flare of light, throwing her arm up and tucking her face into the crook of her arm until it dies down. She waits with Jeremy as

Senri enters the sewer, and listens carefully to Channel's report. Nodding again, she finds herself drawing on her new found awareness of the air around her in preparation for the confrontation to come, wasting no further time in entering.

Once the gate is open the trail is not hard to follow thanks to Channel's ability to see the energy residuals left behind by what the kid in the shelter called the Silence Zombies. The group continues to walk through muck, mud, and much worse, wending their way deeper and deeper into the sewers of New York City for almost an hour, twisting and turning enough that without a trail to fall back out, or a GPS, it would be almost impossible to find the original point of entry.

Gabriel walks near Jeremy, giving reassurance if needed. The only thing he says is at the beginning of the trek, when Channel suggests serving as a shield, "Believe me Miss. Big Red over there makes a better shield than you probably ever will."

After about an hour of walking something changes. The change is subtle, especially down here where the only sounds to be heard are those made by the group and the drip of water. But sooner or later everyone realizes that the sounds have all stopped. Utterly and completely.

Deadpool sniffs. "Amateurs," he says, fixing night vision goggles to himself and to Headpool, who had rejoined them at some point prior. Some of us came prepared! "Thanks, boss," the floating skull says.

Headpool clacks its jaws and floats over to Senri. "So, what's up, good lookin'? You're not really my type, I mean- being alive and all, but y'know if we don't make it outta here, and you turn into some kinda zombie, you, ah, wanna go ingest some food pointlessly or something?"

Deadpool gets his heavy MG resettled on his back, and produces a pair of extremely illegal sawed-off semi-automatic pistol-grip shotguns, each with extended magazines. One of them says Zombie Killer, and the other says Solution #2. "Headpool!" he says, beckoning the head over. "Stop hitting on the psychic chick until /after/ all these losers get infected. Go scout ahead and lemme know if thar be zombies ahead." He starts walking purposefully further into the sewers, humming happily to himself. "Man, I /never/ get to kill zombies. It's been, like, a week, at least. You guys ever hunted zombie? Zombie's the /best/. Easy to kill. Headshot, boom."

And then, it all goes silent.

Deadpool turns, and talks. And no one responds. He falls to the ground, screaming melodramatically, and gesturing obscenely at everyone, including Gabriel's typist.

Fortunately, thought bubbles are unaffected! Right? We can maintain a narrative discourse here! And Senri can hear us! Yeah, but this is gonna drive her nuts, eventually. +flaw Deadpool/Brain Games, remember? Oh, so we need to think /softly/. Exactly. What were we doing again? ~o/Sha-boopie, sha-boopie!/o~

For no reason, Deadpool starts doing a little song and dance in the middle of the sewer, kicking his legs up. Then, Headpool comes swinging back, jaw clacking soundlessly. We can't hear him! Hey, you guys still there? Oh, sweet, we can hear him! Awesome. Tell the psycho to stop singing ShaBoopie and that there's a forest ahead. Oh sweet! Hey! Deadpool! Suspicious forest ahead!

Deadpool abruptly stops dancing and holds a warning hand out to everyone. He draws a tree in the air, then points ahead with his two shotguns. Then does some interpretive dance about arbor day. Then starts walking again at a brisker pace.

Dropping his boosting and mimicry, Axiom returns to his normal appearance as he walks the tunnels. The darkness, muck, and smell don't faze him in the least. He's more than used to this kind of thing as the underground of NYC was his home turf for a decent amount of time. When sound stops, he pauses and glances to the others. Definitely not good! The antics from Deadpool just get a long stare from Axiom before letting out a silent sigh. He gives Wiccan and Channel a quick glance before following after Deadpool.

"Whoa, neat!" Jeremy says at seeing Wiccan's trick with the light. As they enter the sewers, though, he falls silent. He wonders about the kid's safety too, but...there's a lot of people at the shelter, aren't there? So, he follows the heroes, trying to keep himself from shaking. He's not making a lot of noise to begin with, so it actually takes him a little while to realize the sounds are gone. In fact, it isn't until he turns to Gabriel to ask why the crazy guy is acting even more like a maniac. He can't hear himself speak. That's...probably bad. Jeremy's reaction? That blue light surrounds him again, right away, and he starts looking about rapidly, looking for anything that seems like a threat. Other than Deadpool, of course. Realizing that he's in danger of being left behind, he starts following after the others once more.

Channel takes a moment to look around. Okay, nothing there...nothing here...no energy causing this weirdness. That, in and of itself, was weird. Channel gives Axiom a shrug and continues forward. There really wasn't much else she could do except for keep an eye on things and track those energy signatures, which was what remained for her to do at this point, aside from protecting others. Fortunately, her powers didn't rely on speaking, so she was in better shape than some people in the group. A glance is given to Wiccan as she considers this, her eyebrow raising slightly. She'd only ever heard him cast spells verbally. Could he silent-cast?

Wiccan is not typically squeamish about things, but he is so glad he can fly with all the concentration and thought it takes to walk because getting to avoid walking through what ever it is that everyone has to walk through is not on his list of things he wants to do. When they get far enough in that he starts to realize something is off Wiccan turns towards Axiom to ask him, "...?" Blink blink. "..." He tries to say to his friend before adding, "...!" Well, that answers that one worry he had about whomever they are up against. It also proves for Wiccans sake that most of his bag of tricks is out of the question for now. He just has to hope that the bad guys are like most people and not immune to damage from being hit by lightning bolts.

As Deadpool continues to showcase his toy collection, Senri grins and shakes her head. "(Oh, wow. This guy really is crazy prepared.)" When Headpool comes floating up to her and starts flirting, of all things, she has to stifle her giggles as she replies, "Oh, I don't know. I'll think about it, but somehow, I don't think I'll stay a zombie for long." Conveniently exhibiting her point, Deadpool proceeds to draw a very impressive pair of shotguns, to which she says, "There, see?" Amid the banter, she continues to extend mental feelers around her, paying close attention to the eddies in the air, even including the movement caused by their speech. This she filed away against future need. Which proves to be much sooner than she expected. After a time, everything falls silent. Others in the group try speaking, but the air doesn't move. Frowning, she experimentally tries to set the air in motion, but fails. "(Oh, goody.")

Following Channel, Deadpool and Headpool the group takes one more turn and they run into a short tunnel that has another turn right at the end of it, clearly visible. The only thing to distinguish this tunnel from all the other's they have trekked through is that right before the turn at the end of it some sort of arch has been erected, following the curving walls of the tunnel itself. The arch is clearly technological, made out of some kind of dark, slightly shimmery metal glowing with some inner energy that seems to be gray and green and blue all at the same time.

A little while ago Gabriel had given Jeremy a calm looking smile, since by then words were obviously useless then fallen behind, motioning the rear guard to go ahead of him. And that was the last anyone saw of him.

Deadpool cracks his neck inaudibly, readying his shotguns. With a soundless scream, "...!" Deadpool goes charging forward into the forest, guns up and ready to go. He runs right up to the arch, limp-wristing the shotguns and rubbing his wrist against his chin. Deadpool slings one of the shotguns and starts producing large, clay-like bricks from his never-ending gear satchel, slapping what looks suspiciously like plastic explosive onto the archway.

Oh, gentle readers. If only you knew that Deadpool's solution to everything is demolition. I think everyone knows that. Subtle, Deadpool ain't.

Deadpool casts around a bit, doing things here and there with bricks and wire and blinking red objects. He nods, satisfied at his work, then gestures for the team to go inspect the archway. He gets out a notepad and writes on it: What are we looking at?

Making sure to stay close to Wiccan, Axiom's worried about the lack of sound. He knows what that means for his best friend so he's going to be protective. Squinting at the arch, he frowns deeper. Deadpool's demolition set up just gets another annoyed look. He just shrugs when the note pad question is asked. No clue.

Jeremy continues walking behind the others, smiling up at Gabriel at his attempt at encouragement before turning his attention back to what's ahead. When he sees the arch, he blinks, and looks for Gabriel to attempt--uselessly--to ask something...only to notice he's gone. He looks around wildly, but without any success. And then, on turning back...Deadpool's setting up what even Jeremy recognizes as probably explosives? The kid rapidly backs away, not wanting to be anywhere nearby if the obviously unbalanced red-suited man suddenly decides to detonate the archway.

Channel looks over at the arch and considers for a moment. She pulls a pen out of her bag and scribbles down the words 'Homing Beacon. Don't blow it' on Deadpool's notepad. The woman walks over to the arch, looking it over quietly for a moment before she spots something over at the lower right leg. Walking over to it, she crouches down and starts looking at it more closely. It takes her a minute as she pulls out some lockpicking tools and pops open a hidden compartment. Messing with a few things inside the arch, she comes away with some very strange looking powerpack, of which the removal should shut the whole thing down, if she's got this figured out right. She really wasn't a technological wizard, but when you can see energy, you can darn well take the battery out! The power pack gets shoved inside her pack for future study, along with the panel cover.

Maybe, if they were lucky, it would fix this sound thing. That would be awesome, but she doubts they'll get that lucky.

Wiccan eyes the plastic explosives that Deadpool whips out to rig the archway to explode. Why? Why does it have to be something that takes just a little bitty electric charge to set off? He shakes his head a little and reaches out to touch the metal of the archway just to see if he can feel anything close to magic coming off of it once Deadpool uses the note pad to ask his question. After a second he looks at the others and shrugs shaking his head. Yup nothing he has any clue about.

Never one to be easily deterred, Senri shakes her head sharply and continues her efforts as the group walks. She starts up a silent chant of "Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3." and watches carefully. Slowly, she notices that the air is indeed moving as she speaks, in a distinct pattern entirely apart from her breathing. "(...Huh? But wasn't it still earlier? Maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough? I wonder...)" Once again, she tries pushing at the air, and surprises herself by creating a small breeze. "(Weird.... I guess my brain reacted to what I wanted to believe. I should tell the oth- Wait. Darnit.)" Before too long, the strange arch comes into view, its unique appearance shouting itself to her trained eye. "(Whoa, that's odd. It's glowing... graygreenblue? Same as the barrier thing the kid mentioned!)" She watches Deadpool's approach with approval. "(Maybe blowing it up will stop this silence thing?)" But then Channel writes something on Deadpool's notepad and proceeds to fiddle with the arch itself, drawing out what looks like a power pack. "(Well, hey! That works, too!)"

A couple of things happen all at once. Channel takes the powerpack out and the arch shuts down. Which does /not/ return sound to the area. And the lack of sound makes it impossible to hear what Jeremy sees when he looks for Gabriel. Which is a bellowing 15 foot bull gator coming down the sewer tunnel and calmly making its way by the group heading towards the turn that presumably leads to the groups quarry. As the gator makes its way past Headpool he takes a surprisingly fast swipe at him with its jaws, missing it by centimeters in what looks like an intentional way before continuing on.

Deadpool nods at Channel and starts dismantling some of the explosives- but not all of them. Not explaining any of his actions, he packs the bricks back up and for the sake of moving things along, starts hustling back down the hallway with the quick, practiced ease of a master assassin, guns up at shoulder level as if they don't weigh seven pounds each.

As he clears each corner, he nods at the person behind him, with Headpool flickering ahead around each corner ahead of the group. When the gator passes him, Deadpool eyes his shotguns- then jumps onto the gator's back, riding it enthusiastically as the gator goes clomping down the hallway, letting it take him for a ride wherever it's headed. We can check this one off the bucket list, boys.

Axiom stays standing by Wiccan, watching their allies work. He just stares as the gator goes plodding along, jaw dropping slightly. He looks around quickly for the others and things seem to click when there's no Gabriel. Shaking his head, he nods to Wiccan and heads down the tunnel after the Gatorpool Team.

Jeremy meeps, or would if he could emit sound. Upon spotting the gator, he races forward as fast as he can, waving his arms to try to catch people's attention and rapidly pointing over at the alligator, and gets the heck out of its way. He watches Deadpool's sudden gator ride with wide eyes, and looks around at the others...and as it did for Axiom, something seems to click. With a soundless sigh, he tucks his hands in his pockets again and trudges after the alligator and its rider.

Channel watches and sighs. Well, that was just lovely. The girl lifts off into the air and starts flying after Team Gatorpool, attempting to keep between the rider and the group to make sure everyone is heading in the right direction. If only Doug was here, she could tell him plenty with her body language. But, that mutant isn't around, and so she keeps on moving, keeping an eye out for anything weird.

Wiccan blinks, and then blinks again. He taps on Axiom's shoulder and points at the large reptile and then at Axiom while keeping a questioning expression on his face as if to ask if he just saw that too. Wiccan just shakes his head, this day is getting a little on the weird side for him, and for a guy that has chased pixies all over Brooklyn, faced demon realities, and had his phone stolen by an imp that had joined a street gang that is saying something.

As Jeremy comes running, Senri wheels around to see what the trouble is. As it turns out, it's a remarkably sedate gator. "(Huh. A gator in the NYC sewers. Go figure.)" To her immense amusement, she watches as Deadpool jumps onto the gator's back. "(Aw, now why didn't I think of that? Ride 'em, Deadpool!)" Since it seems the gator is heading in the right direction, she shrugs and follows, sticking close to Channel.

One by one as the group makes its way around the corner past the arch they start appearing in Central Park. And they've always been in Central Park. Its a glorious summer day, perfect for playing Frisbee, an game the group has been enjoying for a while after having had a nice picnic of fried chicken and fresh tossed salad. Their pet gator is sunning itself near Jeremy at the edge of the Frisbee circle.

Suddenly, a woman runs out of the tree screaming for help only to be gunned down, shot through the back of her head from the tree line!

This? This is a problem Deadpool can deal with. He throws the winning Frisbee shot and turns. He's wearing board shorts and a Hawaiian shirt and a ball-cap.

On top of his bodysuit. And somehow, piles of guns.

"Someone here has made a really terrible mistake," Deadpool comments to no one in particular. He draws a pair of massively over-sized pistols, one at a time. "Either this isn't a dream, and I am still heavily armed. Or this is a dream, and you should all avert your eyes, because Deadpool gets his freak on when he dreams."

He racks one slide back, then the other, casually making sure both of his guns are loaded. "Also? Either way?"

Deadpool aims his guns at the treeline and starts running. "Deadpool don't go nowhere without his toys." Whatever comes out of the treeline next, Deadpool's gonna ruin its day.

What is up with this third person crap? Seriously, yeah. Don't do that. It sounds stupid.

"Stop ruining my dramatic moment!" Deadpool yells, mid-charge.

Central Park is familiar territory for Axiom. Even more so than the tunnels under New York City. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt patterned after his costume complete with wrap around sunglasses obscuring his face. Even while tossing the Frisbee, he's got the overwhelming sense something is wrong. Mostly because of Deadpool and the gator. Those don't make sense. And then the woman comes running and gets shot. Axiom jerks, holding his head a moment. Eyes go wide and he scowls. "Okay...now I'm m-mad."

Jeremy rounds the corner, chasing after a gator that might maybe possibly be one of his few friends and a crazy man with lots and lots of guns, and...suddenly he's playing Frisbee with his weird red-suited gun-toting friend and several others and standing by a pet alligator. Jeremy's memories were already pretty much toast...so whatever's going on with this memory rewrite, it's done a number on him. That blue light of his is no longer around him, and it doesn't come up as the woman rounds the corner, nor when she's shot in the head. Instead, the boy yelps and bolts away from the gunfire, sobbing, clearly lacking any of the limited heroic impulses he's been showing so far and in pure panic mode...reacting exactly as you'd expect a civilian kid to act when he witnesses the first major act of violence of his life.

As Senri follows Deadpool and his gator mount, she emerges in...Central Park? Oh, yeah. Central Park. Didn't she just have lunch not too long ago? Yeah, she's sure she did. And now she's tossing the Frisbee around to everyone else. That is, until Deadpool pulls out his pistols. Not particularly surprising. Maybe he mistook the Frisbee for a clay pigeon...Wait, what? Shaking her head, she has just enough time to get good and confused before a woman suddenly runs out of the treeline, only to be gunned down. She's suddenly very glad that Deadpool is loaded for bear, and finds herself grasping about in her mind for...what? She can't remember, but wasn't there something she knew how to do? She put that thought on the back burner, not discarding it, but rather devoting a small portion of her thoughts to analyzing it while the rest of her mind busied itself with facing whatever threat was heading their way. Her own calm surprised her, but only briefly before she simply accepted it. She found herself crouching, ready to charge and fight.

Wiccan enjoys hanging out in the park, some times it is just the best place to lay out and read comics without having to be worried about being bothered by little brothers or family members. Dressed in a black shirt and jeans with a red hipster scarf draped over his shoulders he watches and waits for the Frisbee to come his way. Deadpool and the gator are odd, but he has dealt with odder things while hanging out in the park. As the woman is sudden gunned down he lets out a totally masculine completely grown up battle yell, not a scared little girly yelp at all. "Oh, God, oh God, Thiscan'tbereal, thiscan'tbereal, thiscan'tbereal!."

Deadpool runs into the mugger almost immediately and shoots him into a reasonable facsimile of a sieve. As soon as the mugger is dead the group is on the seashore. There was never a picnic, or a Frisbee game, or a shooting in Central Park. They've always been on the seashore. Jeremy is no longer panicked, instead sitting in the sand making sandcastles with Axiom. Deadpool and the gator are sunning themselves on two big beach towels while Wiccan and Senri are playing paddleball.

Channel is in the water, frolicking with a few new friends the group has made since this morning. All of the sudden, she disappears under the water. A second later she surfaces screaming for help as the water around her starts turning red, a fin surfacing and cutting through the bloody liquid aiming back at Channel.

Deadpool gets to his feet. Again. And he's armed to the teeth. Still.

"I was just having this pleasant delusion about being in central park, and ventilating a mugger. And I was riding a crocodile!" He peers at the gator next to him. "Or is it a gator? What are you? I can't keep it straight. MORTE!" he bellows.

Headpool comes sweeping out of nowhere. "Where are we?" Deadpool demands. Headpool rolls its eyes in a shrug. "Beats me, boss," Headpool quips. "I think we're having an active hallucination. But if it's /our/ hallucinations... where's Bea?"

Deadpool growls and gets a running start, headed towards the water on an intercept course with the shark. He draws his swords and leaps into the air.

"WHERE IS BEA?!" he bellows, crashing into Channel's wake, and slamming both his swords towards the fin cutting through the ocean.

Stepping after Deadpool, Axiom holds his head again. Why did he say something so crazy? But why did thinking that was crazy sound even more wrong? Why was there such a strong pull in his chest to rush towards danger while other parts of him were saying 'run and hide'? What was the feeling of...it wasn't quite anger but it was anger. He couldn't figure it out. Before he can even react...

Axiom hums a little tune as he carefully works on carving a Norse rune into the castle over the door they put in. He's not sure what it means but it feels fitting. Royal and important. Board shorts and a loose beach shirt cover him for the most part along with more sunglasses. The sudden scream of a friend makes Eddie snap the stick he's holding and let out a squeak. Those same emotions as before rush forth and Axiom holds his head again. "Someone get the lifeguard," it doesn't sound right. "No..." his eyes look to Billy quickly. "We n-need a healing spell!" it sounds wrong but it feels right.

And once again...Jeremy isn't questioning a thing. So he was in central park playing Frisbee one moment and now he's on the beach in swimwear (that he hadn't owned and couldn't possibly afford in his current situation) making sandcastles. The boy's mind just doesn't seem to have any defense against something like this--his limited memories are just totally blasted away each time. And so, as he's seated on the beach happily making sandcastles, he's not trying to figure anything out--just trying to do a better job making sandcastles than his friend. And when the attack happens, he again reacts just like you might expect an utterly normal kid to react--staring, gasping, following by terrified screaming and sobbing. "Ohgodohgodohgodhelp!"

Wiccan bounces the shuttle cock back towards Senri when he hears Deadpool. Looking over his shoulder at the Merc with a Mouth he says, "Crocodile, you can tell because of the shape of the snout and the visible teeth." The sudden shark attack happens and Wiccan stops and shakes his head. "Ok, no that is wrong, just wrong. Sharks don't attack people like that! They hate the taste of humans and only attack surfers cause they look like seals from underneath." Wiccan is a nerd, his first instinct when seeing something is obviously completely wrong and out of cannon is to call BS on it. It is at that moment that Axiom's words hit him. "Healing spell...I...I do those...I DO THOSE!" Something in his mind keeps fighting against him remembering his powers but he does remember magic, helaing injured friends..or at least healing Axiom a lot. "Iwantherhealed, Iwantherhealed, Iwantherhealed!" He starts to chant running towards the waters edge holding onto the paddle form his game and pointing it at the shark attacked Channel like it should be a magic item of some sort.

Shark is dead, Channel is out of the water and Wiccan is casting a healing spell. Channel's leg slowly stops bleeding, her muscles and skin knit back together and she passes into a healing sleep. As everyone is focusing on the healing the beach fades out.

The group, minus Channel is taking a stroll along the Great Wall of China. Deadpool has a leash in one hand with the 15 foot gator at the other end of it and his other arm is crooked to accommodate Senri's arm, which he's gallantly supporting as they walk. Behind them Jeremy, Axiom, and Wiccan are enjoying ice cream cones as the sun shines gently down on the group, all memories of a beach, a shark attack, or Channel gone like mist under the morning sun.

The group hasn't taken more than a few steps when people around them start pointing up at the sky and screaming in fear. The light of the sun seems to exponentially increase as the seconds go by until its clear to everyone that a meteor the size of a small house is heading straight for the Wall.

Deadpool cracks his neck and looks down. Fully armed, and in costume. "Hah!" he crows. This time, he's not wearing board shorts. But he does have a hat on. He charges straight to Jeremy before the kid can start gibbering and promptly slaps him in the face. "You're having a hallucination! You aren't crazy! Listen to me!" He grabs Jeremy by the shoulders. "I'm the crazy one! And I can say with almost total confidence, this is not my regularly scheduled evening hallucination!" He shakes Jeremy. "You hear me? YOU ARE NOT CRAZY!"

Deadpool turns back to the scene unfolding around them. "All right, you wanna dig in my brain?" he demands, even as Headpool materializes and swoops in next to him. "You wanna keep putting me in improbable scenarios? Where's Halle Berry?! Where's Bea? Where's my endless pile of guns and ammo?!" He shakes his fist at the meteor. "WHERE ARE MY CHIMICHANGAS?!"

He glances at Headpool, and the two nod at one another.

"WonderPool Powers, Activate!" they shout. "Form of PSYCHOTIC EPISODE!" Deadpool and Headpool promptly headbutt one another and start broadcasting their thoughts as loudly as possible in every direction at once.

To everyone else, the expression on Deadpool's facemask looks like he started to sneeze and froze that way.

"This is g-g-good," Axiom chimes to Billy and Jeremy. All the fear and screaming make him look up and drop the ice cream. His jaw drops and he takes a step back. He looks to Wiccan but before he can say anything, there's Deadpool shaking Jeremy. "What...how...what are you doing, we can't stand here!"

Jeremy doesn't even question this for a moment...of course he's at the Great Wall of China. But when Deadpool grabs him and slaps him, and then starts shaking him, tears come to his eyes, but something else seems to come to him as well. He stares up at the meteor, and this time the fear and horror are different. "Oh, God..." The bright light seems to hold him entranced, and suddenly the blue light surrounds him again...and he lifts off the ground. "No, no, no, no, no! Not like this! I-I won't let it...I won't let it!" He's suddenly flying--not fast, but flying--and headed straight for the meteor. The blue light shines brighter, as he places himself right in the path of the meteor. "I won't let you win!" he shouts, suddenly seeming enraged.

Wican is, having a nice walk on the Great Wall of China. This, is just the coolest of things. In between licks of his ice cream he rambles on facts and information about the wall. "The original wall was finished somewhere around 200 BCE, but has fallen down and been torn down and then rebuilt a half dozen times at least since then. The modern Wall was mostly built in the Ming Dynasty and one of the few man made things that is visible from the moon." Then, there is screaming, and yelling, and Deadpool is shaking Jeremy and death is falling on them from the sky. He has a moment of panic and then suddenly Jeremy is flying and...and rushing towards the meteor. "He's right, not like this this is wrong! Costumes!" He yells out the last summoning back his hero costume and raising into the sky. "I am...we are heroes we have to fight...this what ever is going on."

With Deadpool and Headpool and the gator brain invading the world and not conforming to the dream things start to shatter. Metaphorically speaking. Scenes start switching in rapid order: Disney World, a mountain retreat, skiing in the Alps, ziplining in Costa Ria, Mardi Gras, Carnivalle in Rio de Janeiro and more, going by faster and faster until its all just a blur and suddenly there's utter silence in an underground chamber. Along the walls are towers made of the same material as the arch the group disabled a while back, glowing in the same graygreenblue color. And all the way in the back another portal but this one leading into utter darkness.

Lined along the walls are bodies of kids ranging from 8 to probably 16 years of age. Some of them are breathing shallowly, many of them are clearly dead, some of them mummified to a point where its impossible to tell how long they've been there. And standing among them and around the heroes that are starting to stir where they lay on the floor, are... Humanoids. They look like men, but distorted. Gray of flesh, ever grinning grins of steel, and dressed in immaculate identical suits, all in black.

As soon as they realize the heroes are free of their 'spell' the gentlemen start to make their way towards the back portal, in complete silence, never loosing their smiles.

"See? This? This is better." Deadpool starts rummaging through his seemingly infinite piles of gear, sitting with his feet spread out. "This is something I'm trained and equipped to handle." He comes up with the heavy machine gun in hand.

"This is a problem I can shoot."

Deadpool holds the machine gun on his hip, braces himself, and activates a laser. And then, he pulls the trigger. With brutally efficient bursts of fire, he starts shooting at the steel-grinning men.

The Narrator smacks DP upside the head, "Total silence again!"

What makes you think that /now/, of all times, we're concerned about whether or not people are listening?

As his costume is magicked back onto him, Axiom feels the rush again. But this time it's different. Clearer. Stronger. And the memories make sense now. Especially when he hears Billy say they're heroes. Axiom takes a breath and starts to glow with white light, Wiccan's words triggering his self-boosting for a moment. The glow's faded by the time they arrive back in the strange chamber. Axiom looks around slowly, eyes going wide as he sees the dead kids around them. Turning a scowl towards those odd men, Axiom starts running their way only to skid to halt when he sees Deadpool pull out that gun and start shooting. As much as he wants a shot at the monsters, he's not running into the line of fire.

Even as he starts to stir, tears start falling from Jeremy's eyes. He's mumbling something that is hidden by the silence field, confused at first...looking himself over but clearly not truly seeing yet. He sits up, and the expression and silent words grow clearly more panicked...and then stop, as he finally notices the presence of the grey men. He gets shakily to his feet, and the blue light surrounds him, as he puts a hand to his forehead, quaking badly and looking about in confusion. Dead people...dead children. His memories...he falls to his knees, and raises a hand towards the grey men. He has no idea what's going on or even where he is right now, but...something is saying they need to be stopped. He doesn't know if he can...but...his hand glows a brighter blue, and then a beam of the blue light--a low-level kinetic energy blast--lances out towards one of the grey men.

For just a moment in the flashing of random sights and sounds there is Wiccan dressed in leiderhosen singing to someone about being 16, or possibly 17, and then reality breaks and what is really going on can be seen. Memories, real ones, slide into Wiccans head as his eyes start to glow. Seeing what is going on, and all the injured and dead people has made Wiccan angry. The villains should not have picked Earth, because they will not like Wiccan when he is angry. ".....!" He tries to yell out a spell that would have really depressed him if it actually worked. Since that does not work, about the time that Deadpool starts to shoot there is light, the smell of ozone, and lightning, lots and lots of lightning pouring from Wiccan's hands like a Sith Master. While the electricity from him pouring power into one of the few bits of magic he can do without hearing his voice arcs around him he appears to still be yelling, and anyone looking at him that can read lips is probably going to be shocked at just what he is yelling.

Grey men fall left and right. One skewered by Jeremy's beam, two others shot to pieces by Deadpool, another missing half a leg thanks to the gator, two others crisped by Wiccan's lightning. Until four of them stand in front of the portal and link hands. Then the carnage stops as Deadpool's bullets start bouncing off them as they provide cover for their brethren to escape, little flashes of graygreenblue light sparking every time a bullet 'hits' them.

In short order there is only three of the gentlemen, slowly backing away towards the portal behind them. Around them one of the original four forming the 'shield' lays crisped since Wiccan's lightning was able to get through their shields. A few of the living kids are moaning and writhing after being hit by ricochets, along with one bleeding gator who's been shot through a leg and is now glaring at Deadpool the way only a gator can glare.

The aliens make their retreat. Deadpool looks at the Gator, then slaps Gabriel on the back with a bare hand, passing on some DNA to the metamorph. He walks up to the one GabriGator had wounded, stomps on the alien's chest, and sticks a .45 pistol in the alien's eye.

He starts moving his mouth and points at his ears. To emphasize his point, he rather casually puts a bullet into the alien's un-wounded leg, and then makes talky gestures again. Ah, violence. The universal language. Right? Deadpool makes a 'hurry up' gesture.

Axiom scowls as he watches the monsters retreat, gritting his teeth. He can see the Gabrigator hit and innocents hit as well and he turns a glare towards Deadpool. "....!!!" voice still not working, he clenches his hands into fists and moves to check on the injured kids.

Jeremy gasps soundlessly as the one he hit falls, and seems to come back to himself fully at long last. He cries out, clearly in denial of what he just saw. He gets shakily to his feet, stumbling towards the fallen gray men, and stares at the carnage--and especially at the gray man he hit--with tears trickling down his cheeks. He's still glowing...broken up he may be, but not enough to drop his guard yet. But...is he slightly transparent? Intermittently, it's like parts of the world can be seen, ever-so-faintly, /through/ the kid. It's at a low level and hard to spot, but a sharp eye might notice...although there's quite a lot of distractions at present!

Still sparking with electricity Wiccan stops firing on the aliens as the last of the ones not injured escape. "...!" Nope, still not talking. Since he has lost enough of his anger that he would not fry any still injured aliens Wiccan turns his lightning on their equipment, firing blasts at the towers around the room hoping that the quiet is a technological effect more than a natural ability.

As the last Gray Men are either shot, as Deadpool does when the silence doesn't turn off, or disappear back into the portal sound returns to the chamber, which fills with the moans of the injured. Upon closer inspection none of the kids that were injured by bullet ricochets are anything but superficial cases and the Gray Man that Jeremy 'killed' was really killed by a bullet from Deadpool, who coincidentally shot it at the same time the energy bolt from Jeremy hit him. The Gator, needing more than just momentary contact to be able to turn into Deadpool and take advantage of his healing factor is still bleeding and now his growls can clearly be heard as a kind of thrumming that insinuates itself under all the other sudden noise.

Deadpool gets to his feet. "Well, this has been fun," he remarks, holstering the gun. He kicks the alien corpse in the face out of mostly spite, and starts examining the archway the aliens had vanished through. He thumps the archway thoughtfully.

"Anyone missing eyes or limbs? Well- anyone who doesn't have regeneration abilities," he adds. "Healing Factor ranked 10 ftw!" Deadpool starts doing something that involves a pair of tripwires and some HE and his last claymore mines, clearly rigging up the arc to explode if someone comes back out through it again.

"So, no one go over here. And I guess, make sure those kids are ok? I don't know. I'm not big into the parenting thing."

"Shut your damn mouth!" Axiom snaps, surprised that sound is back but still glaring at Deadpool. "These kids were hurt bad enough and you just made it worse and hurt someone on our side you psycho!" he scowls, still applying pressure to one of the wounds. "Wiccan!" he calls, boosting and mimicking his friend's powers. "We need to get these k-kids to a doctor, now. And get some police...no...SHIELD down here," he calls.

As the sound comes back, Jeremy's crying can finally be heard, and he also seems to be mumbling quietly. "...my fault...my fault...I..." He stares down at the dead gray man. "I-I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to..." The blue glow fades away, but then he notices it...the wound isn't what his admittedly limited knowledge of his own powers leads him to believe they would do to a person. No.../that's/ a gunshot wound. "I-It...it wasn't me? I..." He steps back a few steps, and his legs give out as he plops unceremoniously onto the floor. "I...wh-what's real...is...is it real now? Is it real now?" He stares down at the floor, going quiet and not paying attention to anything else.

"...Up Joss Whedon's Pretty Floral Bonnet!" Wiccan finishes off his tired as the sound returns ending with him blinking and then blushing a little. As soon as sound returns Wiccan yells out, "Axiom! Boost me!" That said he starts chanting waiting for the rush of power to hit him before casting his spell. "GettheinjuredkidstotheHospital, GettheinjuredkidstotheHospital, GettheinjuredkidstotheHospital!" Once the spell goes off there is a flash of light, and all of the children kidnapped by the evil aliens are gone.

Elsewhere in New York, an Emergency Room that was freshly restocked, having a slow night, and just ready for the next emergency is about to learn one of Muphy's Laws. When you you claim to be ready for anything the universe is going to turn around and test that claim.

Gabriel/Gator goes over to Jeremy and just lays his head in the boys lap, for all the world acting like an overgrown, scaly puppy.

Deadpool finishes setting the explosives in place, checking them with a professional's expert eye, and then wanders over to Jeremy and Gabriel. He reaches down with a bared hand and grabs the back of Gabriel's tail, giving the crocogator a few beats to absorb DNA as needed.

Without any visible effort, Deadpool picks Jeremy up by the front of his shirt and gives the kid a pair of none-to-gentle pats on the cheek. "Hey. Hey. Wake up, kid," Deadpool says. "Get with it." He gives Jeremy a shake. "We're all alive. You're fine. You totally suck at life for not /killing/ yours, but hey- that's what Uncle Wade's for." He grabs Jeremy's chin, forcing the kid to focus on his masked face. "Next time? /Kill/ him." He sets Jeremy up on his feet and then turns and jabs a finger at Axiom. "And you. Kid, I swear to Gork and Mork, keep it up and I will come over there and I will slap you so hard, your children will wake up with face pains," he warns the young superhero. He starts stomping towards the exit. "Rassum frassum damn kids, mouthy and /man/, no one has respect for their elders anymore. Head? HEADPOOL!" he bellows. He beckons over the disembodied zombie head. "A fat lotta good /you/ were," Deadpool snaps at the zombie, as the two of them start out.

Wibble-wobble amoeba time! Gabriel shifts from gator to Fleshpool in about two seconds and the bullet wound that now appears on his arm knits itself closed almost immediately. With plenty enough time for him to go, "Hey me! The kid doesn't have to grow up to be a killer if he doesn't want to. And besides, if there was one alive we could question it. These globs of slime won't tell us much." And indeed, as all the other things have been going on the gentlemen have slowly been turning into globs of slime, suits and all.

Axiom chants along with Wiccan, hoping to make the spell that much more effective. It finishes by the time Deadpool is putting down Jeremy. Eyes still glowing bright with his own power and mimicked magics, he just glares after Deadpool. Turning to Wiccan, Axiom sighs. "We've g-g-got more work to do."

Yes he does! He's got the skills! He could be a kickass killer! Or perhaps, a career in theater? What if he did a run as a killer theater guy? That's asking for a Lincoln assassination. What's that guy's name? Lee Harvey Oswald. No, the dude, from those movies. Oh! Matt Damon.

Jeremy sits there almost catatonic while Gabriel rests by him, and doesn't even respond when Deadpool picks him up and starts talking to him, though he does at least remain standing. It isn't until Deadpool's leaving that he finally seems to wake up a bit, and speaks again. "No." He looks around, sadly, but at least he isn't crying anymore. "Mister...Mister Gabriel...I-I'm gonna go. I-I gotta...get back to the shelter a-and check on that kid...or..." He leaves the rest unsaid, and starts walking towards what looks like the way out.

Wiccan is still riding high on channeling magics and being boosted by Axiom. "No. Therewillbenoexlosives, noexlosives, no explosives. " He says waving a hand in the general direction of where Deadpool set up the bombs. "Too dangerous, and too destructive. Where ever they came from these guys are not getting away with all evidence of their actions being blown to bits on accident." Wiccan is thinking ahead, and while he would be totally useless at trying to understand the tech left behind he knows there are people that could figure it out and even find ways to guard against it, like Tony Stark or Mister Fantastic. "Sealthisdoorway, Sealthisdoorway, Sealthisdoorway!" Wiccan chants the last while pointing at the portal that the aliens used to get to Earth. Odin knows how long the magic barrier will last, but anyone trying to get back in through that portal is going to be in for a surprise at least. As Jeremy stands up Wiccan watches and then moves to stop him for a second. He chants just low enough that only he, and anyone in the room with super hearing, is likely to hear him before he hands something to Jeremy. "Here, if your going back give this tot he kid. Tell him...it's magic and...as long as he has hope it will keep away the nightmares and the quiet men." What he hands to Jeremy is not much, it is about all he could think of off the top of his head that he could create with his powers and would not be an instant target for someone to steal off the kid. It is a little keychain toy, one that he does his best to hide from Axiom in the hand over because it is a little Superhero keychain toy based off of Axiom.

"Amateurs!" Deadpool shouts, disappearing back into the hallway.