2012-09-08: Rise of the Zombots, Part 2

It is not unusual for Time Square to be taken over for major television events. New Years Eve being the most famous, but there are plenty of others throughout the year. Concerts, album releases, various morning show segments. Yeah, Time Square is the home of the ridicilous multimedia, multi-sensory spectacle.

But even by those standards, this is pretty ridiclous. The area has been transformed into an elevated catwalk, but that's not all. Bleachers on either side have been erected, each two stories high and filled with people. But that's not all. A large stage has been erected one side, where the band KISS is currently rocking through a rather blistering set of all their biggest hits, with some of the crowd chanting along with their facepaint make-up on, the KISS Army full represented. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

Okay, that's mostly all. One side of the catwalk juts out into the typical judge panel, with four chairs waiting to be filled. Above the catwalk in bright red letters is the word STRUTTERS in the internationally recognized typeface for the smash hit reality TV show. The crowd is anxious with anticipation for the show's grand finale, where the final three models will face off for the crown of World's Best Strutter, with the typical string of low-level contracts and endorsements that go along with it. But the reality of reality television is never it's real draw; it's the spectacle.

Of course, not everyone who is here is terribly excited about the program. Every party needs a pooper, right? So off to one side of the catwalk is a small collection of protesters. Some are protesting the general moral depravity of the event, while others are unhappy that Yolanda, one of the shows finalists, is a mutant. And one group clad in dark brown cloaks simply hold signs that read 'THE WORLD SHALL BURN.' A depressingly familiar sight in New York City, but still a stark contrast to the otherwise hedonistic proceedings.

Justin Hammer is backstage. Of /course/ Justin Hammer is backstage. He's carrying on a conversation with one of the show's producers while a pair of hair-and-makeup people make sure he's looking his best, which is in all fairness to them, not difficult. He's at least as good at this as Stark is. Better, arguably; he doesn't need a live-in babysitter to help him dress himself in the morning.

"...thrilled to have been asked," Hammer says with a big smile, absently taking his glasses off and leaning down so he can be given a final appraising look over. "Love the show. Love the music, man, KISS are just phenomenal, aren't they? You guys have very good taste, I like that."

Bunker's here and he's just as excited as the people in the bleachers though he's not in them. When he heard there was going to be the Strutters finale in Time Square he just /had/ to go see it. After all, when else is he going to get the chance to see a famous reality show in person. He and Axiom aren't in the bleachers though. They're on the roof of a building which is perhaps a bit too high to get a good look at everything but beats being cordoned off blocks away since they didn't have a ticket. "I watched an episode on the internet last night. It was really bad." Which makes this event all the more fun. Maybe it'll be a trainwreck.

The Cuckoos are here with Sebastian. Everyone else calls him Shaw, but they like his name a great deal. They also like him, enough that they've told Nate where they'll be because they're always happy to have their friends cross paths. Sebastian is someone they trust with what they are, so is Nate.

They're not hiding tonight and they look rather spectacular, if the reactions they're getting are any indication. Strapless silver snakeskin playsuits, white leather jackets, and white Docs look good on them, apparently. Glittery without being trashy, edgy without being sleazy. It's a fine line and not everyone can walk it. When there's three of you with figures like that, though, it's possible to pull it off.

Esme and Phoebe have claimed Sebastian for themselves and Sophie sails ahead, looking for Nate and making sure people magically step out of the way. |"Ooh, cameras,"| she says as a flash goes off. |"You don't mind, do you, Sebastian?"|

Just why is Kate Bishop here of all people? Sure she doesn't mind KISS, but she's not their biggest fan. And reality TV.... Well, all right, so that can be entertaining at times, but... Okay, lets not beat around the bush. Kate is a fan of STRUTTERS. So there!

The truth of the matter is that Kate is here, not as Kate Bishop, but as Hawkeye. Sure she has a trenchcoat on over her costume, and she isn't wearing her sunglasses, and she even has a collapsable bow and a small quiver of arrows tucked under said coat too.

But why is she hear, ready to throw off that coat and put her glasses on so she can act as Hawkeye? Simple. That way she can at least claim she was out as Hawkeye, while at the same time she can actually see the live finale of this tv show!

Among the crowd and looking quite amused is Nate. Less than a month since he got to this world, so even ridiculous spectacles seem awesome and original to him. He is rooting for Yolanda out of racial solidarity or something. All the music seems great to him and all the jokes sound new and funny. Besides, the three Cuckoos have just arrived; can the day get any better? He sends a telepathic greeting and tries to get through the crowd to meet them.

Sebastian Shaw really has little use for television beyond a useful platform for PR, so one might wonder what he's doing here, especially as part of the crowd. Or perhaps 'among the crowd'. Not really part of, however-- People tend to part like the red sea on the way to his VIP seats. He just has that kind of effect. Exactly what he is doing at this bastion of low-cost entertainment, then, is chiefly explained by the three girls he's holding court with.

Sebastian is used to smiling for cameras, and he does so graciously without allowing them to slow him or the girls down on their way to the section. It's enough of an answer to the Cuckoos' question to suffice. A tabloid reporter, attempting to ask his relation to the triplets, actually manages to get forcibly glared into silence. "Here we are, ladies, he says when they reach their little cordoned-off seats, and passes them off to the seats before he joins them.

Axiom has never seen this show before but since Bunker was excited, he went along. In costume next to his friend on the rooftop, he smiles. "What's this show about anyway?" he asks curiously, thinking they should have brought binoculars or something. "I've heard of it a lot before but this is the first time I've ever seen it."

As they round out their final song of their set, KISS then look at each other. "Alright everybody, who's ready for the shooooow?" Paul Stanley calls out, with the crowd at large giving off a large cheer of approval. "Oh I can't hear you, I said, are you ready for the show to begin?" More loud cheers, shaking the ground with their enthusiasm. Yes, this crowd is ready. "Okay, well lets here for these lovely girls. After all, they're some real...STRUTTERS!"

And with that the band tears into the shows titular theme song, causing the crowd to go even wilder. Backstage, the make-up and hair people do the final touches to make Hammer "TV ready". As one walks away, Justin is pretty sure he hears him say, "KISS is crap." No time for that though, as lead producer and show host Spike Freeman comes up and slaps Hammer, HARD, across the chest. "Hey there champ," he says with a wide grin. "Ready to scope out some hot babes?" Not waiting for an announcement, he steps through the stage and waves to the gathering crowd. "Hey everyone, lets. Get. STRUTTING!" he calls out just as KISS hits the final chord of there song. The crowd claps wildly as Freeman begins introducing each of the show's judges.

"First off, we have the talented and lovely Miss Kit Karlson, last years Strutters champion!" As Kit combs out, there is a mixture of cheers and jeers from the audience. Apparently not the most popular star "Next, we have celebrated designer and fashion critic, Paulie Glamour!" Paulie recieves a large round of applause, his razor wit often labeled as the show's best quality. "And of course, the ever-loving mega-model herself, Ms. Sandy Reaux!" Another loud pop, before the crowd dies down. This is always the fun part of the opening of the show.

"And finally, our special guest judge for this years finale. Industrialist, inventor, futurist and All-American Hero...MR. JUSTIN HAMMER!"

The slap from Spike actually sends Hammer's glasses askew, but he catches himself short of a stumble or /too/ audible a yelp. He rubs his chest and laughs, reaching up to fix his glasses. "Nice guy," he says to noone in particular. "Really." Uh-huh.

Hammer waits patiently near the entrance to the stage, offering cheerful smiles and quiet words of encouragement to his fellow judges as they're called out -- and then it's his turn. He emerges behind them with a smile on his face that can only possibly be so bright because of that introduction. Yeah, he was right -- Spike's OK in his books. He waves towards the bleachers with both arms before he drops into his waiting seat. No fuss, no muss... and sadly, no dancing. Not his show, kids!

"All these girls who don't eat enough walk up and down the stage in this really funny way that looks really uncomfortable and they get judged on it." Bunker tells Axiom, leaning over the edge a bit to try to get a better look. "But one of the finalists is a mutant which is a Big Deal and the show's forums have been having flamewars about it the entire season. If she wins, it'll be great." Down with discrimination!

The girls take their places with Sebastian and the gestalt traces a path through the crowd for Nate to follow. |"That friend of ours is joining us,"| they tell Sebastian. |"He's exceptionally useful."| |"We're very fond of him."|

When Hammer comes out on stage, the gestalt registers a certain bafflement. |"What an..."| |"...ODD..."| |"...little man,"| they share with Sebastian. |"They're all a little odd."| |"The judges, that is."| |"Does all this make them important?"| The girls go over what they think makes people important and none of it has to do with these things, fun as they are.

Yes, Kate Bishop could of done any number of things to separate herself from the crowd, but lets be honest. That would be /Kate/ doing things. not Hawkeye. Thus she's currently down in the crowd as the judges are announced.

And yet she's still paying attention to the show. Or at least she's trying considering how thick the crowd is. And no, she doesn't comment on Hammer as he's announced as a judge. After all, it's not like he'd pull something like certain millionaire playboys out there would...

Or even like certain like certain billionaire playboys out there would either...

Nate walks into the VIP area and somehow no one stops him. He waves at the blonde trio, noticing then the telepathic influence, |"ah, very nice. Always something new to learn when you are around."| He flops down on the seat closer to Esme. "Good to see you are still in town, got plans for the evening?"

Shaw lets the girls get settled before re-taking his place between Esme and Phoebe. The poor chair, it creaks audibly under the strain of supporting the man. He nods at the girls, speaking quietly, if audibly. "He's quite welcome, girls. We have extra chairs." At the commentary in regards to Hammer, he chuckles. "Justin is not so bad. Though entirely odd, yes. More insecure than one would expect, but brilliant. And quite... steerable. But also both practical and good at what he does, which is at least respectable."

When Nate arrives, he waits, with a mildly exaggerated sort of patience, while the younger man engages the girls in greetings and small talk.

Leaning a little closer as welll, Axiom just blinks. "They judged for walking? Wow..." it seems crazy to him. He perks up slightly when he hears the name 'Hammer', surprised to hear he's judging this kind of thing. "She's a mutant? What're her powers?" he's curious now. "I hope she w-wins then," he adds, still unaware that he's not a mutant himself.

Once the applause for Hammer has died down to an acceptable level, Spike grins at the cameras and goes into his prepared spiel. "So this is it. The time you've all been waiting for, the finals for the most competitive season of Strutters ever." Applause break. "Which of these girls will get a contract with Jacob Jacobs Modeling, as well as an premiere contract with Chanvet Cosmetics? We'll find out tonight, but first? Lets see how they got there."

Spike takes a step to on side of the stage as the area above the shows iconographic title shimmers is revealed to be a giant jumbotron screen, which begins to show pre-packaged videos for each of the three finalists, exploring the highlights of the season.

While the videos play on, mesmerizing the crowd at large, some may notice that the protesters on the fringe of the show are starting to wander off. They've made their statement, and hey, it's dinner time. One group however doesn't wander away, but rather, wanders closer. Namely, the cloaked figures with their apocalyptic signs start to edge closer and closer the bleachers. For the moment, security isn't stopping them, though a few are edging together in such a way to create a human barricade.

Some might notice the protesters. Not Justin Hammer, though. He's being a very good guest judge and paying attention to the prepared footage of the evening's finalists, because That's How He Rolls. He does the job he's paid to do and looks sharp whilst doing so.

"She can change the length of her hair." Bunker answers, moving to the left slightly to get a better view of the video monitors. Not a great view since they're not positioned well to see from the rooftops. "Not do anything with it just make it grow in seconds so she can always have hair the length anyone wants. I wonder if she has to shave her legs?"

The girls do the introductions telepathically, acting as a buffer between Shaw's mind and Nate's. |"Sebastian Shaw, our escort."| |"Nate Grey, our friend."| |"Do say hello, Nate."| Esme leans back so that Nate can offer Shaw a proper greeting.

Phoebe is watching the event for all of them, Esme is overseeing Shaw and Nate, while Sophie is keeping lookout on the entire crowd. She doesn't like being out like this, it feels exposed being in such a large crowd that could be hiding anyone. But Sebastian is here, and Nate, and that's plenty of friends.

That video might mesmerize a lot of the people here, but as it plays those highlights, Kate takes the moment to glance around the crowd, and to even start to try and work her way through it again. After all, she might be able to take in some of the show, but she's still here to 'work'. Hence why she has to occasionally make sure things are all right. And a bunch of clips offers her a good chance to move around and do that, without missing much. Right?

Anyways, as the protesters get in sight, 'Hawkeye' does cast them a glance, if only to make sure they aren't causing any major issues.

Nate had noticed the protestors, certainly. But classified them as harmless nuts because that is what everyone else was thinking about them. Maybe he is getting careless. Seeing that Shaw is with the girls, he offers the older man his hand. "Pleased to meet you," he greets, not using telepathy since the man is not a telepath. His grip is firm.

Shaw's frostiness goes down considerably when the introductions get made. He still doesn't seem to feel like nate is a peer, exactly, but he seems to relax into accepting the other man's presence. Which is certainly good enough. Enough that Nate gets his hand shaken politely. It's a powerful hand, easily capable of crushing, but Shaw doesn't seem the sort for displays of power quite that petty in nature. He inclines his head. "A friend of the girls is welcome. I admit I am already being somewhat indulgant towards their wishes tonight, so do enjoy the seats."

"Wow. That sounds k-kind of cool," Axiom remarks. He shifts to get out of Bunker's way, wanting him to have a better view. The video doesn't get too much attention from the teen hero though. He's scanning the crowd and just taking in the sights.

The video packages roll on as the protesters get closer and closer, their movement jerky. One of the security guards for the event does eventually step forward. "Sir, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to step back if you plan to make a scene," he says, going through a speech he practiced all last night. "While your first amendment rights are protected, the producers of this show have paid this firm to confirm such demostrations at least 100 yards from the main sta-"

The speech is quickly cut off as the lead cloaked figure shoots out a hand with blinding speed, revealing a bony hand, yellow and near skeletal. It would appear to be the hand of a weaker man, but evidence would suggest otherwise as the long, thin finger wrap around the guards neck, his gun in his hand but shaking worthlessly. The man speaks, but his voice is distorted by static, sounding for all the world as if it were being pushed out of an old, busted speaker or from the sound chip from a 16-bit gaming console.

"The world shall burn," it hisses, before cracking the man's neck with a subtle gesture. It doesn't take long for shots to be fired from the other guards.

So much for live finales.

See, this is what makes live television so great. You never know what's going to happen. It's the gunfire that gets Justin Hammer's attention, and suddenly, all humor on his face is gone. His expression is abruptly very attentive and businesslike.

"I think the show's been cancelled," Hammer notes as he slides out of his seat, beckoning to the other judges. "Keep your heads down, huh? Let the professionals handle this one."

"/What/ professionals?" another judge demands. "The ones getting their necks snapped?!"

"This is New York," Hammer replies confidently. "Just wait for it."

Bunker's paying attention to the video so he doesn't notice anything going on down below. Not till the shots ring out and then he quickly starts looking to see what's going on. People rushing AWAY from the protestors is a good indication of where the trouble lies and he leaps off the roof. "C'mon!" he says to Axiom as he lands on the translucent brick platform that he just created and which is hovering there waiting.

What's terrifying is not the guns, not the strange beings, not the crowds. It's that the girls -didn't see it coming-. Even with Sophie on lookout, even with all their training. There's nothing there. |"Not human."| |"Not living."| |"Remove the chaff,"| the gestalt demands. |"You others, go,"| they order Nate and Shaw. What they do is up to them, but the girls need to focus.

The girls scramble for cover and huddle out of sight. Mentally the gestalt is grasping for minds, spreading like an oil slick, moving people out and away by all the channels known the minds they touch. This mass of people is far too many for them to move with just three and no notice, but they can affect chokepoints, touch clusters of fear to bring some calm, using every trick they know to herd the massive flock.

Hopefully the fact that she's in the crowd means that she's been able to pass unrecognized. Because as Kate Bishop is glancing at the protesters, she actually has her eyes locked on the.... Thing lashes out and kills that guard. Heck, but the time the other guards are opening fire, her purple 'sunglasses' are on, her scarf is pulled up to hide her lower face, the trenchcoat is off, and she's even reaching for her bow, all while she's rushing towards the 'protesters'.

If she even gets a clear shot (which would be a nice trick considering how fast people probably are moving away from the area of the dead guard and the thing that killed him), Hawkeye would even draw a regular old arrow or two, and might even try to fire said arrows at the things shoulder. That is, if she gets close enough and can get a clear shot.

Indulgent? Nate smirks at Shaw. Oh well, since the Cuckoos seem to like him he will spare a sarcastic answer. "The company more than the seats," he replies, taking Esme's hand. His smirk vanishes suddenly, feeling a burst of panic and then a mind dying. Then gunshots.

He is on his feet in a second, his left eye glowing golden. |"What the...? Hey, be careful - gotta stop this, whatever it is."| So much for low profile, there are cameras everywhere. Too bad. He jumps into the air, flying over the crowd as his clothes reconfigure into a dark blue outfit with golden lines. Seeing what is going on from above, he flies towards the murderous 'protestors'. |"Must be robots,"| he sends to the Cuckoos.

Gunfire does not ruffle Shaw in the slightest. Nor does panic breaking out, or even the Cuckoos being terrfied and demanding. He takes his time standing and locating the source of the disruption, looking thoughtful for a long moment before he peels out of his rich, embroidered tailcoat. He folds it onto his seat neatly for safekeeping, followed by his vest and silk cravat, leaving the top button of his white dress shirt open. No need to get his favorite finery dirty doing dirty business, after all. He unbuttons and rolls the sleeves of his shirt, even as he starts to stomp off toward the ruckus, bemused. The crowd jostles Shaw on the way, but he doesn't seem to mind. In fact, he slowly develops a wide, wolfish grin as the myriad small impacts begin to charge his mutation.

Axiom frowns in the general direction of those protestors and the security. He can tell something is happening but not what from where he and Bunker are. The shots get his attntion quickly and he looks to Bunker in time to see his friend jumping off the roof. Letting out a little squeak, he jumps right after him. Squinting ahead, he smiles slightly when he sees someone flying. "Hey, that guy was at the stadium helping fight Loki," he remarks.

The crowd goes appropriately nuts, though it is far more organized nuts thanks to the girls silently directing the mob traffic, keeping an out and out stampede from occuring. Unfortunately, the protestors were not alone, as other members of the crowd with obscured faces turn and start to attack their closest fellow mob members. It is hard to tell which are the unpeople, but the chaos has just accelerated, with several civilians finding themselves violently attacked.

The core group themselves are doing battle with the security detail for the event. As they are shot, they don't slow down save for the initial impact of the hit. A few are downed by a well placed shot, but get up quickly again. All except one, who takes a shot center mass to the chest and falls, twitching violently on the floor before a loud POP occurs. A moment later, a bright orange liquid starts to leak out of it's center chest, burning anything it makes contact with, including the cloak the protestor was wearing.

Thanks to the cuckoos seperating the crowd, Kate is able to get a shot off at the lead protestor. The placement of the shots cause him to spin around a few times, his attention drawn towards the archer. Who then finds herself being chased down by a extraordinary fast, extraordinarily strong...something that has already just worn several gun shots to the head and eck.

"See? Just keep your heads down," Hammer tells the other judges. As a /really good idea/ comes to his mind -- from the Cuckoos, not that he knows that -- he gestures for the others to join the crowd as it flees for safety. Yes. It would be a very smart thing to go that way.

So why is Hammer skulking off to try and find a higher vantage point, and why is he slipping a hand into his jacket?

"Cool!" Bunker's platform swoops doward toward the crowd. Gesturing, a brick walls forms between the judges and the attackers but what with all the other attackers mixed up in with the crowd, he can't do the same. Picking out one person who's obviously attacking and not trying to defend himself, a brick sails directly at the back of the guy's head, guided by Bunker's mind not his hand.

The girls can't do anything to stop the attacks, there are too many and to be able to fight well on their own, they'd need to stop helping. All they can do is use part of the gestalt to pick out the minds that are bravest and least afraid and share with each of them some of their awareness.

They are now without any physical protection at all, this work requires their complete focus on other planes. They have to let some of the crowd control go but each mind they have selected now shares a strange sixth sense of knowing where the worst of the chaos is happening, where people are being physically injured.

Okay, so as Hawkeye rushes towards where the chaos started, she's got a very fast, very strong killing machine running right towards her. this is probably where she should panic. Or at least say something like 'Crap'. But instead, without much of a thought, Kate reaches for one of the few 'trick arrows' she has in her quiver, and tries to fire it at the head of the oncoming 'killing machine', before she tries to jump to the side.

What kind of arrow is it? A 'fire extinguisher arrow'. One where if it connects, the 'head' of the arrows would suddenly explodes as a large burst of flame retardant foam is sprayed out. Foam that in theory could blind the... Thing.

And yet, as she jumps, the female archer does feel that extra 'sixth sense' (thanks Cuckoos!), but she doesn't think about it. After all, she's got more pressing things to worry about.

Nate curses loudly when more killer robots appear between the crowd. Still, the larger cluster is the one attacking the guards, so he falls on them, shooting golden force blasts and making himself a very large, very obvious target. If they start targeting him, he switches to defense and reinforces his body with telekinesis to become bullet-proof.

There is probably some novelty in being saved by Sebastian Shaw, on some level. Not that a random lady being assaulted by an undead cyborg ninja-thing would necessarily have any reason to reflect on the novelty. Or a wish to stick around when Shaw goes for the thing's neck. He's not at full strength just from getting jostled by a hundred or so paniced humans, but it's more then enough to clamp a steely hand down on the thing's neck and lift. Shaw swings the undead... thing around like a doll and slams it back into the ground, following up with a crushing stompy boot to the center of its chest. Brutal, but effective.

Axiom stays close to Bunker on the platform, scanning the crowd and trying to pick out the attackers. "What are these things?" he murmurs, seeing one get shot in the face and keep coming. Eyes drift to Nate as he feels that sixth sense and Axiom considers a moment. The guy seemed pretty powerful and his powers looked helpful. So Eddie reaches out and starts to boost Nate. A breath later and he begins mimicking as well, his costume shifting to a fusion of his own and Nate's. "Whoa..." Axiom breathes out, telepathy an incredibly new sensation for him. He shrugs it off quickly though. "Whatever these are, there are a lot of them," he remarks to Bunker, trying to telekinetically grab a pair of the attackers out of the crowd and slam them together. "We'be gotta get these people out of here," he adds, frowning slightly.

The casulaities have thus far been kept relatively minor, but the strange attackers still carry on. More shots are fire, more take damage to the chest that down them for good with twitchy convulsions. Some might notice the sound of whirring gears, or the hissing declaration--"The world shall burn"--being shouted out before another loud pop and more orange liquid, the substance now clearly napalm. It is becoming clearer that the explosion itself is house in the chest of the monsters, which also seem to be giving them whatever portion of unlife they have.

The zombot that Miguel tosses a brick at is caught off guard and downed. The citizen who is was attempting to attack growls down at it. "Die, you son of a bitch," he sneers before raising a boot high in the air and smashing down into the chest of the monster...causing the hem of his pants to be instantly caught by napalm, the legs beneath soon a victim as well.

The fire extinguishing arrow does indeed blind the charging zombot, causing his running to stutter and downing him at the feet of Kate Bishop. Easy target, just keep your distance.

Meanwhile, Nate's telekinetic blasts do indeed distract the main core of the attackers, especially as one well placed shot causes the torso of the target to shoot out from the rest of the body, causing the legs, arms, and head to all instantly revert to corpses, as well as have the seperated torso almost instantly burst into a wide shot of more--say it with me now-napalm. The damage to the area is increasing rapidly.

One more zombot falls as it becomes the target of an attack by the rather effecient Sebastian Shaw. The crunch to his chest causes his body to twitch and short out, and Shaw is uniquely suited to deal with the potential damge of the heated liquid fire.

And while the crowd continues to spread out, a pair of black helicopters appear on the horizon. On one stands a rather pensive looking man, dressed in his off-standard SHIELD field uniform, peering through a pair of long-distance binoculars and curling his nose. "Well shit," he mutters before touching the side of his hearing aid/com device. "This is Barton, Jiang Jixie have been confirmed. Repeat. I have visual of zombots. And a ton of them. Local heroes on the scene, will report as situation develops."

Higher vantage point safely located, Hammer makes sure he isn't about to be joined by any rampaging... whatever-they-ares, before he withdraws his hand from his jacket. Out comes... a phone. He dials quickly and brings it to his ear, his eyes drifting up towards the black helicopters arriving overhead. "Debbie? Tell Malcolm to send a retrieval truck to the taping," he says into the phone, his eyes moving back to the proceedings as he finds himself suddenly keenly aware of where /interesting/ things are happening. How fascinating. "...and drive quickly. We may have competition."

Bunker's not used to psychics and is just caught up in the adrenalin rush of the battle. Without even thinking about it, he turns toward one part of the crowd where two of the Things (thanks Kate!) have cornered four or five civilians against one edge of the stage. A brick girder shoots toward them, lined up to take them both out one after the other. "I don't know." he answers Axiom but then notices something new. "Fire? Where'd the fire come from?"

The fewer minds there are to deal with, the more effect the girls can have on the ones that remain. They move faster to clear the area, channeling people away from the worst of the fight and increasing the web of awareness that allows the others to locate and act on the intruders. |"We should help."| |"Cameras."| |"We are helping enough."| They brush Shaw's mind with theirs more strongly than the rest, letting him know what's going on beyond his immediate awareness so he can take the best action possible. They're tired already.

Right now, Kate is sure as heck going to keep her distance. Her problem is, how the heck can she keep this thing down, especially since she's so lightly armed. Sure later on she'll probably berate herself for only focusing on one of these, especially since there's so many, but...

But for now, all Kate can do is unleash a few more regular arrows into the guy that went 'down' near her, hoping it'll stay down, before she turns to find another target. It's then that Hawkeye notices the ones on fire, which causes her to curse under her breath. After all, she just used her only fire extinguisher arrow!

Nate's eyes narrow as he sees the weird corpse-robots have |"napalm inside"|. He relays the information to the Cuckoos, so they can use it to protect the crowd. Then his powers... go wild. Boosting him when his control is already poor might have been a bad idea. Fortunately the zombots are the closest moving beings to him. A wave of telekinetic force spreads around him, cracking the floor under him. Then he falls to the ground, stunned, trying to close his psychic shields as he is flooded with foreign thoughts.

Shaw's boot melts under the effects of the napalm, but it's of no concern-- the damage stops tehre as the sole of his foot leeches kinetic energy from the napalm, bottoming out the temperature quickly. "Curious," he rumbles as the abssorbed energy flows into him. Apparently he's having soem of the same thoughts Hammer is, because he selects his next target, and this time simply drives his fist into the thing's chest, rummaging around until he finds something that feels like a device and simply rips it out of the thing. He focuses the absorptive facet of his abilities on the device in an effort to smother the expected napalm explosion before it can begin.

Axiom lets out a little squeak that comes both verbally and telepathically at the sight of the fire. "I don't..." he frowns, looking around. The fires seem centered on the monsters so..."The fire is coming from inside them! Whatever blood they have is flammable! Be careful how you take these things down!" he calls out, hopig everyone gets the message. He's not aware of how bad an idea boosting Nate was, too busy focusing on the chaos and keeping the thoughts out of his own head. It's one of those time'd he be thankful for that little instinctive knowledge if he knew his powers did it. "Oh man, this is not good!"

"Right away sir," Debbie's typical cheery voice confirms, before shutting off the call with Hammer.

The line of zombots that Bunker attacks all easily fall, twitching in a wild, erratic manner for several seconds before eventually falling in a heap, leaking orange sludge, the victims giving a brief wave of thanks to their hero before jetting off.

The one that Kate has been locked in combat with goes down, and she's able to even catch it before it would pop off. A few twitches later, along with a dying utterance of their creed, the monster dies. Well, "dies".

The shaking floor beneath the group of zombots closest to Nate causes them to scatter far and wide, while Shaw soon finds himself the owner of a zombot's core "heart" engine. Everyone's favorite door prize. Meanwhile, Axiom's warning to the remaining civilians, along with their cuckoo sense, allows them to scatter more safely.

High above, in the SHIELD ghetto bird, Clint lifts an eyebrow at the scene below. "Y'know...they have this situation pretty well under control..." Clint muses to himself, before the pilot calls out to him. "Barton, you going to pop that charge or what? We're on a pretty serious time table here." Clint wrinkles his nose but nods, moving towards the back of the chopper to a large mechanical device. Punching in a series of security code before the face of the large engine boots up. "T-minus thirty seconds to blast, kids. Radio silence incoming, then twenty, thirty minutes top to disable as many of them as we can. Believe it or not, explosive damage is a secondary concern at this time." Just as his speech ends, the electro-bomb pops, sending out a wide range of microwave distrubance. The interruption causes the Zombots to jerk a few times, but then fall lifeless. Cellphone and various navigation systems on the choppers go haywire, but these are trained pilots who are able to bring themselves down, near the perimeter of the warzone.

Hammer likes Debbie. She's always so prompt and helpful. With a smile, he tucks his phone away and goes back to watching the show from his perch, his gaze moving from hotspot to hotspot as his mind highlights them for him. Oh, this /is/ cool. He should find a way to recreate this, this is very useful!

Especially when, as his eyes move from one spot to another, they breeze past someone familiar. Hammer stops short and darts his eyes back, squinting, and his face lights up. Sebastian. How did he miss seeing that mountain of a man in this mess?

With a broad smile, Hammer abandons his perch and starts rushing through the crowd -- zombot and otherwise -- and straight towards Sebastian Shaw. The one concession he makes to the danger is his hand returning to his jacket just long enough to retrieve his fully legal, licensed-to-carry handgun. Any freaky protesters getting in his way will learn that he can use guns just as effectively as he can create them.

Bunker directs the platform over to where he took out the first one and a series of small bricks start wrapping around the civilian's legs that are on fire. Soon every part that was on fire has been cut off from oxygen and though it does nothing for the pain, at least he's not still burning. "Does napalm stay out if you put it out?" he asks... anyone who might know the answer. Till he gets one, he's keeping the bricks where they are.

As soon as Nate goes down, the gestalt telepathically does the equivalent of tackling him to stifle and protect him at once. They put up shields around his mind to give him some peace and allow him to regain control of his telekinesis.

The girls feel the wash of relief as the creatures go down. The gestalt reaches up and out, searching for the source of the assistance, recognizes Clint's mind. |"Thank you."| The gestalt is exhausted but that doesn't make it any less complex and unnerving, especially when it accidentally lets Clint in on the 'whole picture' they've been holding up for those working below.

If they weren't so tired, they might notice Hammer headed for Shaw, but they have too much going on to stop that trainwreck.

Sorry Bunker, but Kate doesn't know the answer to that off of the top of her head. And if she heard the question, she /might/ try to grab her smart phone from its hiding place... If it weren't for the combat, followed by that SHIELD EMP, which probably renders it useless (hopefully just until it can be fixed!)

But anyways, as the Zombots fall (and hopefully stay down!), Hawkeye glances around at the other Heroes who're still standing, before she lets her gaze drift over to and lock onto the landing choppers. That is before she tries to slowly work her way out of here without drawing too much attention to herself.

Nate is trying to stand, and trying to bring his powers back under control. Actually, physically, he feels great, thanks to Axiom's boost, but his psychic powers are running wild. The Cuckoos telepathic presence helps immensely, insulating him long enough for him to build stronger mind-shields. Then he can concentrate into reigning his telekinesis, and using it to smother the fires. He is bleeding from nose, ears and eyes, but it is hard to see it, so much he is glowing.

Shaw is practically brimming with energy by the time the zombots drop from the EMP. Ever the practical man, he doesn't worry about fighting on, instead returning back to where he set aside his jacket. he can feel the Girls somewhere on the edge of his mind, still, so he frames a neat, distinct thought. |"We should depart before the cleanup has too much attention to spare us, ladies. Can you make it to the car?"| When Hammer catches up with him, he actually smiles at the man. "Justin. I am surprised you're still here," he muses. "Not really your preferred sort of risk, is it?"

Smiling at Bunker's skills, Axiom nods. "I have no idea but you just gave me a g-great idea," he says. His eye glowing like Nate's, Axiom joins in with telekinetically smothering the flames. The EMP and sudden zombot-drop make him blink but he quickly focuses on getting back to putting those fires out.

As the choppers touch down, a plethora of SHIELD agents stream out and towards the various bodies around that strewn the landscape. One by one, the agents quickly cut out the core heart for each, a partner for each agent taking the heart and storing it in a safe compartment. Clint himself starts to extract hearts from various fallen members of the zombot army, only to find himself with a voice...or voices...in his head. Searching around the room for the source of the thanks, he notices one hero fleeing the scene. Hmmm. Will have to see if there is any security footage that survived the microwave-scramble.

He shakes it off and goes back to work...only to be cut off as the screen that previously displayed video packages for the finalists of Strutters (they got to safety, by the by) pops to life. An elderly asian man is displayed, deep cheeks, near skeletal features with long gray hair. He stares directly into the camera wherever he is and eventually begins to speak; unbeknownst to our heroes, this visage is being broadcast across the country.

"America. Today marks the beginning of a new age. This day, your country, your way of life has been tried and found guilty. Thus you shall be recieving just punishment in the form of execution. The Yellow Claw shall not be satisified until you all lie dead before his feet. But until that day, know you shall suffer for your transgressions and crimes. Know that you are to be the victims and cattle for a new breed of weapon. My execution shall not be swift and merciful, it shall be drawn out and just. And when you lie before me, a nation of corpses, you shall finally understand your fate fully. This world shall burn, America. But we shall still rise."

And with that decleration, the screen cuts back to black.

Hammer returns the much larger man's smile. "I came for a show," he explains simply, lifting his shoulders in a shrug. When it becomes clear that none of the attackers are getting back up, he returns his handgun to its place inside his jacket. "I think I'll skip the curtain call, though, just this once. You got plans?" he asks, and only then does he notice what Shaw is holding. Ohho. Interest piqued.

Of course, Hammer's intent to question Shaw about what he's managed to find is cut off by the video screen. He turns to watch with a slight furrow of his brow, curious more than frightened, and his lips move slightly as he commits the name 'Yellow Claw' to memory. He has some homework to do.

"No! YOUR execution shall be swift and merciful because that is what is right!" Bunker yells at the video screens as they cut out. Wait, is execution right even if it is swift and merciful and isn't part of a sacrifice to a little god? Or...? Shaking his head, he tables that debate for another time when he can ask the priest. "Doctor needed!" he calls out and kneels next to the man whose legs were on fire. "You'll be okay. They'll come and give you drugs."

The girls are aware of the declaration. They haven't the wherewithal to track his mind, though. The stadium was packed and they are only three. Controlling as much as they did was too much--making sure Nate didn't wipe anyone out by accident took the last of their ability. |"Come."| That's Sophie, speaking for all of them. She gets the last of the mental energy they retain. |"Let's find safety."|

Bodies cold and tired and cramped, the girls slowly unwind themselves from where they're jammed between a pillar and a wall, helping each other up as one unit. |"We are here,"| they tell Shaw. Holding hands to keep their balance, they let Sophie do most of the work as she guides them back down toward the floor.

Every fiber of Kates being is shouting at her to stay and help. But with the fighting done, the longer she stays...

Nope. She can't do it. There's still people here she can help. hence why even as she hears that message, even as she scowls, Hawkeye moves over to one of the civilians who's still here so she can do what she can to help them.

Nate is also staying, at least long enough to hear the message, and long enough to realize Axiom was the one responsible from his powers flaring like that. |"Next time warn me!"| Growls to Eddie. Then to the Cuckoos, |"take care, let me know where you are staying"|. He leaves flying, this time more to put some distance between himself and several millions New Yorkers than to avoid the authorities.

Shaw shakes some of the mess off of the bot heart he captured, considering his clothing before choosing the cravat as the most disposable item to wrap it up in. "I must see to my..." he pauses. He was going to say 'guests', but it's Justin, and while they do get along, he can't resist the urge to toy with the man anyway. "..date." Technically true, in the classic definition. It'll throw the man off, however little, and that's the point. "We'll definitely have to discuss the evening and its bounty at a later time. Have Debbie call Sheila about a lunch," he adds, draping his jacket and vest over an arm before he joins the triplets with an offer of supporting arms.

All those SHIELD agents get a wary and surprised look from Axiom. And then there's that video message. Axiom stares before scowling. "No way! Send all the flaming zombie monsters you way, we'll stop you every time! And other heroes too! Villains llike you don't stand a chance and we won't let you get away with threatening these innocent people!" he declares loudly, not caring whether or not the message is actually reaching the villain. Part of a hero's job is to bring hope to the people, right? So, have some hope, people. And then there's Nate's voice in his head. The growl has him letting out a little squeak and sending an apologetic look Nate's way. He really does feel bad now. Quickly dropping the boosting and mimicking, his costume reverts to normal. Shaking his head, he turns to Bunker. "We should stay and help," he says, glancing at the SHIELD teams and then smiling at the injured man. "They'll bandage you up t-too."