2013.10.14 - Satana Strikes!

The day is cool, in the lower sixties and only made to seem more so by the clouds that hang in the sky. They add an almost ominous feel, thick and dark grey, threatening to loosen their torrents of water upon the ground below. There's the occasional growl of distant thunder but lightning has yet to be seen.

Thus far, the day has been calm for the folks that make their way to and from lunch. However, that's all about to change. Why? Because perched upon one of the lamp posts in a young woman in pure black leather sans a cutout for her abdomen. Long, red hair spills down her back. Horns curl back her head and the smile she has shows off her fangs wonderfully. Her eyes glow a bright ruby red.

In no time at all, she has summoned two pinkish-purple flames around her hands and it flying at a passing couple. They drop immediately and their screams pierce the air. They aren't burning, despite the flames that surround them.

A gleeful laugh comes from the demoness as people start to scatter. "Run run as fast as you can..." Her eyes flare as she sends two more fireballs at two others and they, like the first, drop and begin to scream.

A moment and a chant later, the doorman for the hotel turns and steps out onto the sidewalk, taking a swing at the first person who walks by him. He looks absolutely horrified but it doesn't seem to stop him from the assault.

The ride from Brooklyn to Lower Metropolis had been full of traffic obstacles. Leaving the Ghana Consulate behind, Shift has had to pull on every secret spot and bypass he knows about, just in order to get to Lower Metropolis on time to get himself a hoagie before the shop runs out of his favorite meat.

It was a stupid decision, really. There were plenty of places near the Consulate to get a hoagie. But this spot? Best damned hoagies in the city, and that wasn't something Yelp or UrbanSpoon had thrown out there--no, this was hearsay, and it was true.

Weaving through the gridlock of the lunch rush is a Harley Davidson Iron 883. Sleek, all black, in perfect condition with a few personalized modifications that go unseen to the untrained eye. Upon it, Shift is wearing stylish skinny jeans, a pair of high top sneakers, and beneath the leather riding jacket, a fashionable shirt and tie. He's used to blending in among New York's fashionista's, and today was no different.

Right?

Wrong!

The motorcycle pulls into a blocked off area designated for bikes, and the kickstand hits pavement. Kwabena is off the bike before he hears the first of the screams, but from where he's parked, he can't see anything. Regardless, the African frowns, and though the rest of his expression is hidden by mirrored sunglasses (yeah, it's cloudy and ominous, but he also dislikes getting bugs in his eyes), he trots over to a bus stop and pounces upon the bench so that he might get a better look.

Three beats later...

"What... in... de... hell??"

"A seperable linear ordinary differential equation of the first order must be homogneous and has the general form . . ." Peter looks twice at his book and scratches his head. He's been in class for about a month now and he's found that when he gives it thought, he's doing alright. When he essentially takes a week off for his duties as Spider-Man and has to teach himself how to do the work, it comes somewhat easier. Perhaps it's just difficulty concentrating.

"?"

Peter turns his head as he sees people outside the diner window begin to scream. His books are forgotten and he's already heading back to the bathroom; bringing only his bag. He ducks into a bathroom stall, ensures that the door is locked and begins to change. Crap. Did this place have a security camera that could see him when he came in the hallway? Crap. He always forgets about that. He has to get into his suit and /then/ put his clothes back on to get back into the back alley unnoticed, but then has to get out of his civilian clothes and hopefully ther. . .Crap.

The whole thing takes Peter way too long; his distracted mind leaves distracted mistakes and makes him slow. He moves as fast as he can.

Finally after a few days of being grounded, Roxie is finally off the hook for her not being home all night. She is just wondering along, breathing the free air. The girl continues walking along just content to be doing her own thing.

And then... a disturbance. Is it the aliens? Nope. Demons. "Well this is different for me." She walks forward towards them being careful not to get trampled. She looks over at the demoness and then over to the man who happens to be starting fights. Picking her battle she moves towards him. As for the Vision -- hovering above the city nearly constantly like some crime spotting android blimp has it's uses. Especially when it comes to crime spotting. It doesn't take long before the synthezoid's sensitive mics pick up on the chaos erupting in Lower Metropolis and he angles his flight pattern towards the scene.

As he arrives overhead, he comes to a slow halt and just... stares. First giant, tophat wearing robots, now cackling demon women. The world of humans is indeed an interesting one. No time to ogle, though. His computer-for-a-brain spins into action as he lines up his feet perfectly to drop onto the top most part of the lamp, connecting the evil-doer's perch to the rest of the post, and promptly gains something in the neighborhood of thirty tons of mass before plummeting like the worst coin dropped off the tallest building towards his target.

Two more people are caught with those odd fireballs just before Satana spots the man on the bench. A smile is given, fangs flashing just before she wiggles her fingers in a wave, making the talon like fingernails visible. Immediately, she sends one of the hellfire balls straight for him.

Spider-Man, as he makes his way out to the commotion gets a wink but before anything else can happen, the lamp post she was sitting on has been all but leveled. It's only a quick spell that makes sure she doesn't hit the ground.

Instead, she lifts into the air and arches a brow. "Were you never taught any manners?" All of a sudden, black begins to swirl on, or in front of...it's hard to tell, her abdomen and in mere seconds, a giant snake is making it's way out of the portal. "Time to play Basilisk..."

Roxie gets a snort. "Yes, child... attack the mortal... What a hero you'll be..." Of course, the doorman immediately turns on Roxie and swings at her. He's not a small man by any means either.

The demon makes it's appearance, venom dripping from huge fangs, and the portal closes behind it.

Beneath those shades, Shift's eyes go wide.

The hellfire comes within inches of striking. Some of it even gets tangled up in the clothing that used to adorn the African's body. However, the clothing falls to the bus stop bench in a heap, the hellfire spitting past and catching some poor sap full in the chest, sending him to the ground in a writhing heap.

In all the commotion, it might be easy to miss the cloud of roiling black smoke that now hovers beneath the bench. One girl nearby didn't miss it however, and she's led to believe that the purple fire has literally incinerated the man, pointing and screaming at the top of her voice.

The smoke ignores her. And it moves, because it is in fact alive. Curling up beneath the bench, the tendrils suddenly lash out against the pavement, skirting as low to the ground as it can get. It spreads around the stampeding feet of the mooks who run about, and spreads apart when tires run over it or around it, but it seems to be making a beeline toward the place where Kwabena had last seen Satana.

Near that collapsed pole, the smoke rises into a tower and with a sound of displaced air, the gas solidifies. It's the same man who'd stood on the bench, of course, but now he's clad in a gunmetal gray, skin-forming costume made of unstable molecules. An X-Man, complete with the insignia that designate him as such. Quickly, Kwabena pulls the mask over his face and looks around until he spots the demoness up in the air.

"Oh... Christ," he murmurs, looking on as the snake emerges from her. He's about to get in way over his head here.

Darting about, he grabs a few stray people who seem to be in shock, rustling them up. "Move it! Get to de subway!" He points them toward the nearest subway terminal, shouting loud to get their attention. "Go! Run!! Get to de subway!"

White webbing leaps from Spider-Man's wrists and adheres to the lamp with a sticky thump. It takes Spidey everything he's got to hold off on the banter with the redhead and focus on preventing that lamp post from falling and smashing a car-full of Girl Scouts preparing to sell cookies in the bustle of the New York weekend.

The webs are yanked upon by Spider-Man's mighty strength (he's a lot mightier than he looks, okay?) as he rips the lamp post back towards himself and away from the mini-van. The den mother's face looks relieved while the scouts hug and cheer. "Spidey is my favorite!" says one of the younger ones. "I like Booster Gold better!" says another.

FLASH! Violet light goes off right as the large man swings. "I came over here to help you not to fight!" Right behind the man is Roxie. immediately something begins glowing under her top and her eyes glow violet. The man lifts off the ground. He is promptly raised up to a Street light and left to hang. "Stick around."

She turns to the Demoness and smiles to her. "You thought I would hurt a civilian? Fat chance." Suddenly a surge of power errupts from the girl. a Violent blast goes sailing at one of the flaming imps. Roxie staggers. That took a bit out of her... Either that or she's never done it before. One or the other. Maybe both.

Vision watches with a total lack of emotion as the Basilisk makes it's appearance straight out of Satana's stomach-portal. This is no time to get caught up in fear or hesitation, even if he /had/ nailed down those two emotions yet. Instead, he's simply... thinking.

"I'll take the basilisk," he declares to... Really anyone who cares or who can hear him, "Someone take /her/ down." With that incredibly detailed tactical plan out of the way, he simply crouches, shedding off a ton or two of mass in favor of a bit more mobility, and launches himself at the creature. As he flies, he sheds even more weight, until he's nothing but an insubstantial wraith that phases straight through the monster. Once he sees daylight again, he turns, phasing back into a solid state as he grabs the basilisk by whatever he can, even if he has to try and dig out a handhold from it's flesh, and /yank/ with all the force he can muster to try and toss it upwards and away from the civilians.

Satana isn't oblivious to the smoke and when it forms into Shift, she smirks. "Nice trick." She gives a laugh. "Such attention... A girl could get used to this." She lifts herself higher into the air. Watching the mayhem that unfolds below her and chanting quietly. Three more civilian turn on Roxie and attempt an attack.

Basilisk hisses and snaps those huge fangs towards Spider-Man. Three or four innocent by-standers make the mistake of looking at the things eyes before Vision manages to get a grip on it.

Even as the snake writhes and struggles in his grip (worse than a bull ride!), the people find themselves paralyzed and unable to get out of the way.

One, two, three heroes occupied... Satana herself turns her attention of Shift and smiles seductively while she floats over to him. Close but still out of arms reach. "Come now," she all but purrs. "Do you really want to hurt me?"

Once a couple of the braver citizens take up Shift's charge and begin rustling the people out, Shift turns his attention back upon the real problem. His eyes flash back and forth, noting how the others have been occupied. When Satana seems to square off against him? A decision has to be made.

At first, Shift seems to back down. His hands ball into fists, and a crackling sound seems to come from his body. However, nothing visible is yet taking place. Deep inside, his bones are hardening, his skin changing beneath the costume, but he's going for something a bit deeper.

Something he has a very difficult time harnessing on his own power.

However, something stalls him. Beneath the mask, he locks eyes with Satana, which proves to be a very big mistake. His will is strong, but for a moment, it is shaken. The silent growl on his lips begins to fade, and his lips part.

She's... fascinating. Alluring. Even... beautiful.

-Beautiful-??

Narrowing his eyes, he bends his will against it. It's not enough to simply resist... he's a man of action, and he's got a mouth on him to boot.

"Hurt you?" growls the Ghanaian, bending his deep internal anger against the seductive tones of the succubus. "I'll... do... worse."

If he can just muster the strength to change into his most powerful form... but no, it's not yet working. He's got to dig deeper.

The crackling sound grows louder. It's time for a little rage. With a snarl, he grabs the nearest newspaper dispenser with super-solid hands, and rips it free from its perch, throwing it into the air toward Satana.

''Dig deeper, Kwabena. Find the place. Rage and solace.''

Spider-Man gives a wave to the girls in the school bus, but when the Basilisk hisses, he straightens. Spidey sense tingling!

His knees move impossibly quick as he does a backwards flip just out of the reach of those large nasty fangs. The backflip takes him clear of the monster and as he lands, he's thwipping sticky fastballs as quick as he can to try and distract. "Hey, lil help? Lil HELP!?!?!?!"

Roxie now has 3 civilians coming at her. Immediately she begins looking around. "Ah ha!" She sees a tree. That would do it. It wouldn't stop them but it would buy her time. FLASH! Violet light goes off and she is suddenly sitting in the tree.

The girl in the tree closes her eyes and begins to focus. This was so much easier when she was just chatting with the cuckoos. Carefully she starts projecting her thoughts at one of the aggressive citizens. slowly she tries to tap into them and break Satana's hold.

Her face scrunches and her head starts to ache. It's not everyday she is trying to mind wrestle some sort of hell spawn. Then she hears a call for help from Spidey. She opens her eyes and focuses on a truck that is just sitting there. It begins to shake and rattle a little. "Spider-man! Duck!" She calls out as the truck finally lifts and goes flying at the snake. Then back to the civilians.

Kaydin had came to metropolis to learn more of the surface dwellers but the sound of combat draws him and his sword from it's sheathe. Seeing the situations he almost does a double take. Hearing the call for help, he turns to Spiderman and the basilisk and the truck before looking up to the woman who seems to be enjoying it. He then grunts, running atop a car and leaping up towards Satana with his sword drawn and to try and run her through as he comes up. "Do not know about him, but I know I want to, Witch." He says as he tries to drive that Atlantean blade into her, breath mask on his face.

As the truck comes hurtling towards the Basilisk, Vision phases back into intangibility, moving carefully through any metal or snake flesh that happens to swing his way before he becomes solid again. With the civilians petrifying, the clues line up for the android and his database on mythological creatures goes into action. The result is... less than ideal. Luckily! The android, while not yet managing to work out how fear plays into the human psyche for practical applications, also hasn't managed to simulate shame and begins to repeatedly play the crow of rooster as loud as he can from the speaker that serves as his mouth.

On the off chance that mythology has gotten it wrong, though, he also fires a blast of focused solar energy directly into the monster's face. Just for good measure.

That alluring, seductive smile stays in place as Satana watches Shift. "Are you certain? I haven't hurt anyone. Just scared them..." She seems to almost pout. "Please..."

Of course, then he's throwing things at her. She spins out of the way just in time and sighs. "Fine. Have it your way..." Another hellfire bolt is charged and sent flying at him, followed quickly by another. "You forced my hand."

Help? The Basilisk continues to thrash about, gnashing it's teeth together. It's tail is swung around, aimed directly for Spider-Man as he calls out, taking out several cars in the process.

The truck hits the basilisk, ushing it back some and enraging it further. That is... Until Vision... The monster screeches in pain and arches back, trying to throw the android from it's body as the blackness it had crawled from starts to swirl around it's body. It's retreating it seems.

Kaydin jumps at her and for a moment, Satana's eyes widen before she smirks, even as the blade cuts her side. She brings one of those wickedly taloned hands up, striking back at Kaydin. "You can try," is laughed before she murmurs something and teleports away, reappearing further up in the air.

On the ground, those caught in the hellfire seem to be screaming endlessly and yet... Their bodies are growing weaker... How long can they last like this? And the ones under Satana's control... one of the three begin climbing the tree... Another breaks off and is headed in Spider-Man's direction.

Shift is still digging for the inner strength to change, but it's too late. The hellfire comes at him, and he's simply too focused to dodge. When the purple flames hit, the African's body immediately sublimates into those swirling tendrils of black smoke. It roils violently against the flames, wrestling with their power. And yet, the suffering is -real-. He's blinded by it, and it attacks his psyche without mercy.

A few people back away from the spectacle, crying out with shock as the smoke wrestles with the fire. There's no telling how long Shift will last. But soon, the black tendrils begin moving more violently, their curls laced with thin lines of white energy.

Spider-Man squeals in victory as the Basilisk seems to be departing. "And stay out!" he yells. He gives a thumbs up over at Roxie for the nice assist. "I tell ya, Margaret, the south side of the island is really going to he-hey!" Bzzt-Bzzt. Spidey's eternal alarm clock gives him a quick heads up that he needs to get the heck out of Dodge like right away. He does a front somersault up in the air and onto a nearby wall of a ladies purse boutique. For once, Spidey's out of quips. "Whwhat can I do for you?" he pleads, wondering what might douse those flames that seem to be burning the person away. In desperation, he tries to cocoon the person, hoping that might work but assuming it won't. He searches for a fire hydrant of some sort, not sure that will work either.

Roxie continues to tries to fight the command that Satana gave the helpless citizens. She is definitely starting to feel the drain on herself at this point. This fight has to end. Looking over at the demoness she begins to focus.

FLASH! Roxie appears beside the demoness and gives a little smile to her. "First off, you're hot. Second, Release them." The young girl looks like she is ready to fight but doesn't really want to. "You are hurting people! This is crazy!"

Kaydin gets slashed and he falls back down to the ground. Course, Satana may notice that his skin was tougher then normal humans, infact while he bled, it was just skin deep. He studies his environment and he grunts as he begins to leap from cars to between buildings and their fire escapes, possessing dexterity definatly not human despite his appearance and once up on the roof runs hard again and leaps for the woman, intending this time to try and grab ahold of her. "Pathetic, even for a surface dweller." He says as he tries to bring his sword to cut at her.

Whatever it is that's working on the Basilisk, Vision keeps it up, both the face-laser and the rooster call, without any signs of ceasing. At least not until the giant snake portals the heck out of there. When it's entirely gone, Vision turns his attention back to Satana. Without much time to consider his options, he flies straight for her, body intangible yet again, and, if he catches up, he promptly attempts to shove his ghost-like arm straight through her mid-section and solidify it, but only fractionally. "I apologize for this."

Shift's best chance of escape? Something the fire can't cling to. Of course, if it's already got access to his mind... As the fire drains his energy, he's also being forced to live through his worst fear.

The citizen who went after Spider-Man looks at him pleadingly. "Please. Help me! I can't stop!" And doesn't he looks silly standing there, jumping up and down and trying to reach Spidey?

Roxie appears beside her, Kaydin jumps at her. Satana smirks and laughs, a dark and rich sound then teleports out of existance to appear a few feet away. Wonder if they'll collide. "Their minds? So be it." Immediately, those she controlling... Stop. Her influence withdrawn.

"The others... There's nothing I can do fo--" The sentence is cut off as Vision is in front of her, arm through her abdomen and those red eyes widen. "Why apologize? Are you sorry?"

Shift's worst fears have already been lived through. It gives him the will to fight, because he's been down that road, and come through in one piece. Within the roiling cloud of purple and black, the tendrils of white seem to begin overpowering the purple. A face appears within, grimacing, before a sudden -flash- of light explodes on the ground.

What happens when gas gets too excited?

A man-shaped figure of pure plasma energy.

The cement is scored a deep black as the figure launches into the air, flying straight at Satana. The nearly blinding plasma engulfing his figure reflects off the buildings, causing some to shield their eyes against it. Shift banks to the side, and seems to be on something of a collision course with Satana. His mind may still be plagued by the hellfire, but his soul is now burning, literally giving him the strength to keep going. For now.

"Let's see how you handle real pain," he calls out in a voice that is strangely altered. After all, it's not flesh and bone creating the tones, but super-heated gas.

This... could get ugly.

Roxie lets out an "EEP!" as suddenly Kaydin comes sailing in here direction. FLASH! She teleports herself back to the ground where at least she is safe. Her TK had held her in the air but she is really beginning to feel the weight of it. "THank you! Now send your pet back to wherever it came from before someone gets hurt. Why are you doing this? These people have done nothing to you!" The girl is putting up one heck of a front.

Webhead continues dousing the poor bystander-turned villain to the ground and laying more and more web-cocoon over him. Gradually, the flames around the body die down and the victim becomes stuck against the pavement. "Does it still hurt?" Spidey asks worriedly.

Kaydin moves his sword to keep from stabbing Roxie and her teleporting caused him to let out a sigh of relief before he crashes into a window, glass sticking to his skin as he rolls and climbs out. He looks up to watch Vision deal with Satana.

Even as multiple foes close on Satana, Vision nods to the Demoness, looking her right in the eye but lacking any sort of human mind to be seduced. "I am." Why? Probably because this particular attack has the ability to kill nearly any living creature if overused, and has in the past. A much darker past. However, as the android speaks, he picks up on the man-shaped cloud of plasma approaching both of them and frowns. This could get ugly, is right...

He doesn't back down though, instead, he allows his arm to gain substance until it's at just the right point for debilitating nerve pain, and not enough to cause... Well... Holes. Hopefully he can end this before anyone gets seriously plasma'd.

The victim in the webbing is still screaming but not nearly as loudly. It would seem putting the fire out helps lessen effects. Or makes it so they have a better chance of fighting through it.

"You shouldn't be." It's said so matter of factly just before her body arches as the pain shoots through her. To her credit, she doesn't scream. What kind of demon would be if she did?

Of course, what points she may have gained by not screaming are lost as soon as she passes out. In doing so, her form returns to normal. The fangs retreat, the talons return to regular nails and the horns disappear. She looks... human....

What happens to Vision and Swift... Good luck boys! Hope you can move quick!

Abort!

As soon as he sees that Satana has passed out, the plasma-man diverts. Shift hasn't had a lot of practice doing this, either, so his course sends him right smack dab into a billboard, blowing a smoking hole through it. Then, he's arcing back down toward the ground, out of control.

"Oh sshhhhhh-" he starts to curse, but before he can finish, the ball of plasma has struck the street between two overturned cars. The asphalt melts before he can muster the strength to quench his own flames, the plasma gradually dissipating until the gas can reform as a man again.

Falling to his knees, Shift looks... pretty ill. He's taken a beating, and plasma phase is one hell of a feat to accomplish. He's also experienced his worst fears thanks to that hellfire, and his body now has copious amounts of unwanted molecules absorbed from the billboard and the asphalt.

Without further adieu, the X-Man leans forward and loses his breakfast all over the smoking pavement.

Spidey finally finds the fire hydrant he has been looking for. With a stomp he busts off the end, spraying water everywhere. From there, he takes the bumper from a truck and rips it off with a massive screeeeeeeeeeeeeach!

With a simple bend, he diverts the deluge of water flow via the bumper to spray it upon the victim under stubborn flames.

Kaydin leaps out of the window, dusting the glass stuck to him off as he tries to help people though seeing Shift crash causes him to move to the man in time for the X-man to puke on his boots. An eyebrow raised, he tries to help the man up. "Remind me to not anger you." He says to Shift as he tries to help the man. "How many people are still alive?" he calls out to those present as if asking for a sound off.

As soon as the hellspawn vanishes, Roxie hits the ground herself. She is completely drained from the fight. "So much for protien shakes." Reaching into her pocket she pulls out a single piece of candy. She eats it quick but it only leaves her hungrier. "Ugh. Where is the nearest resturant?"

Vision stops only long enough to make sure Shift has careened out of control somewhere that isn't straight into his face, before he dives towards the ground, managing to snag Satana, or what used to be Satana, out of mid-air just in time. Slowly, he lowers himself the rest of the way to the ground and looks around to make sure the situation is at least mildly under control...

It isn't.

But! It doesn't look like he can actually do anything else to help... So, he launches from the ground again, hurtling through the air with Ex-Satana towards a hospital. He also pauses to raise the police on their own radios and let them know they may have a new resident in whatever serves as a superhuman prison.

And then, there are boots. Boots with his breakfast all over them.

Looking up, Shift is only relieved to see that the fellow helping him isn't about to go all Logan on him for the accident. He reaches a hand and takes the assistance, coming to his feet with a bit of effort. "Thanks," he offers glibly, before reaching a steadying hand toward the car nearby. "I just need a minute."

And lots of food. And some tylenol. And perhaps a week of detox to get the asphalt and billboard particles out of his system.

Still, he can't risk taking his mask off, even if it's pretty hot under all of those unstable molecules that make up his uniform. He's unregistered, after all, for good reasons. For the moment, he stays right where he is, regaining what strength he has left while Kaydin sounds the roll call, observing but doing nothing more for now.

Spider-Man whews in exaggerating fashion as the flames are finally put out. He looks over his shoulder at the other heroes in attendance and is about to say something, but then that pit grows in his stomach. With all the commotion, the fuzz will certainly be on their way.

And the fuzz don't really like ole Spidey, know what I mean?

With a twhip he pulls himself high upon a skyscraper, looking to make his exit before he can get busted by the 5-0.

Slowly Roxie stands and begins walking towards a nearby hotdog stand. The police don't scare her but she isn't ready to register either. So off she goes to go deal with her own issue.

Kaydin looks to the people as some leave and atleast the woman stays. "I will help you find a place to where you can order food and drink." He offers to Shift, and remains close incase the man needs help moving, going about to helping find someplace for him to rest and eat.