2013.06.08 - Night of the Living Monster Movie

The Majestic Theater

Built sometime back at the turn of the 20th century, the Majestic Theater started out life as a fashionable Edwardian stage. Its original architecture bespeaks a huge Art Nouveau influence. Much of that influence, however, is best seen in the viewing auditorium itself, since, when it was converted into a movie house sometime in the late thirties/early forties, an Art Deco veneer was introduced into the foyer and other public-facing areas. The result is a confusing contrast of fluid lines and soft curves that butt up against -- and sometimes break through -- sharp edges and rectilinear symmetry, thus making the whole place feel very much like a clash of eras suspended in time... because that's effectively what it is.

The place fell into disuse sometime shortly after the Second World War and has been largely abandoned ever since. Its once magnificent windows have long since been papered over and boarded up. Graffiti stains its exterior. Its interior is alternately dilapidated and peeling, or almost perfectly preserved beneath a layer of dust that's lain undisturbed for decades -- depending on just where in the building you are. All in all, the place should probably be officially condemned, but no one's gotten around to that, yet.

Regardless, there are very few access points in or out of the structure, thanks to all the boarding and chains on the doors. One or two of the lower windows have loose boards, however, and the hinges are broken on what was once the old stage door around the back of the building at the edge of the parking lot. The stage door, however, is blocked by the large scaffolding that's been erected against the back wall to hold up the movie screen for the Majestic Cult Film Festival.

As the spring wears on, fast approaching summer, the days are getting longer and the nights shorter. Thus, it's nearly 10pm at night when the Cult Film Festival finally truly kicks off. Movies have, technically, been running since at least 7pm -- beginning with Them! the 1954 giant, acid-spitting, radioactive ant menace that kicked off the super insect craze in the US, and the 1964 schlock The Flesh Eaters about water borne flesh-eating bacteria that was somehow allergic to blood. As the sun hadn't set when they were airing, they served more as a background for what was, until now, not much more than a horror-themed neighborhood block party.

Truthfully, people have been milling about the decorated parking lot of the old Majestic Theater at least since 6:30pm or so, mostly enjoying the food and displays set up at the far end of the parking lot. No vehicles are allowed in it, tonight, unless you count the generator truck by the projector setup and a handful of food trucks that are supplementing the catering booths serving concessions and light pub fare. Instead, most of the lot is filled with white plastic chairs of the variety easily procured through an event rentals company. Not so far from the food kiosks are some long folding tables, most with chairs surrounding them. Some are meant as convenient cafeteria-style seating for food patrons. Some, however, have been commandeered by collectibles vendors who are hawking their wares -- vintage movie memorabilia as well as various comic book, movie, and gaming related materials.

A lot of patrons are in various horror-themed costume get up, from classic movie monsters like Nosferatu, Frankenstein, and his Bride, to various incarnations of werewolves, Mars Attacks aliens, mad scientists, and zombies. In fact, there are a lot of zombies, since they were participants in a neighborhood 'zombie walk' staged to increase the camp factor of the evening.

As the credits on The Flesh Eaters roll, the white chairs in front of the screen fill up more completely. Now that night's fallen in earnest, it's time for the main feature of the evening: The 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead. The last streamers of dusk fade from behind the low rise buildings that surround the parking lot, the last few patrons shuffle in -- quite literally, given their zombie attire and desire to remain in character -- to take their seats.

A young couple, each in great special FX make-up, leap up onto a low stage created out of scaffolding at the base of the huge white screen setup against the back wall of the old cinema. The zombified girl mimes choking the apocalypse survivor guy, who looks appropriately horrified in a schlocky, over-the-top manner, to appreciative laughs and jeers from the rest of the audience. They break off their playful tableau, however, to pick up a megaphone and wave a greeting.

"Hey, everyone!" the young woman cries, waving her arm over her head in an enthusiastic greeting. "Kenn and I just wanna thank you all for coming tonight. You've made the first annual Majestic Cult Film Fest an incredible success and we couldn't be more excited about it!"

"Just wait'll you see what Julie and I got planned for next year," Kenn says, leaning over to steal the megaphone from her for a sec. There are roars of approval from the audience, and peals of laughter too. The couple has endeared themselves to many of the younger crowd out here, tonight, circulating amidst the revellers and taking a personal interest in the various costumes and overall patron experience.

Julie flashes Kenn a huge grin, readjusting the megaphone in her hand. "It'll be awesome!" she assures everyone, picking up on his thread. "But I think tonight has been pretty damned awesome so far, too, don't you?" Again, the crowd goes nuts, stomping feet and laughing and clapping. Some of the zombie types even call out "BRAAAAAINS!" in an enthusiastic groan of support.

The pair laugh appreciatively at the response. "You guys are the best!" Julie says again, grinning. "So, are you all set for tonight's big feature Night of the Living Dead?" she asks now.

"YES!" the crowd roars in reply, more cries of "BRAAAAAINS!" and hoots and whistles that are distinctly New York.

"I said," Julie repeats, grinning like a demon, "Are you guys ready for tonight's big feature?"

The crowd calls out even more enthusiastically, and Julie breaks down into a fit of giggles. Kenn grabs the megaphone from her, his grin just as wide. "Alright!" he shouts into it, bouncing up and down on his toes as he does. "Then you've got it! The Majestic Cult Film Festival proudly presents..." Dramatic pause (broken by hoots and whistles and "BRAAAAINS!", of course). "That 1968 classic..." Another dramatic pause. More hoots and whistles and groans. "The grandpappy of all zombie films!" The sound of the crowd is enough to wake the dead. "Night... Of the Living... DEEEEAAAAD!!! YEAHHHH!"

The huge white screen lights up with the flickering images of the film's opening credits and the crowd goes even wilder. They've been looking forward to this all night and their hosts for the evening are great at stoking their enthusiasm. It doesn't, however, take all that long for them to settle down and, before the first five minutes have passed, the only folks that aren't raptly staring up at the opening scenes of the movie are the stragglers at the food vendors and Julie and Kenn themselves who are standing at the back of the audience grinning like a pair of excited kids at an amusement park with their arms wrapped around each other in happy celebration of their success.

TJ may be one of the most recent other-dimensional beings that decided to drop in for an unexpected and, apparently, extended vacation to this timeline, but she still tends to know a good time when she hears about one. Out in Metropolis this evening, this is one of those times.

"Movie Sign!"

She's got her braids wound up into a single tail this evening, though for a bit of fun she's added a cheap plastic hairband that places two molded devil horns atop her head. Heck, why not? She's already rocking a theme here, may as well run with it.

While other people are coming together for the big event she's claimed a perch for herself upon a street light, hunkered into a gargoyle-esque crouch with her tail wrapped around the pole and a cheeseburger in her hands. Real creepy, this lady. There might even be horseradish sauce on that bun!

All in all, her evening is pretty awesome. The only thing that's missing? That would be her 'father.' Next time, though. She made him promise!

Not too far away would be one of the other dimensionally misplaced daughters, this one going by the name of Merle. Or just Blue. "This, right here? This is how we catch up on the local history. Who knew research could be so fun?"

Billy Kaplan is not a super fan of the schlock gore fest kind of movies, but loves the classic horrors. A showing of Them! was more than enough to get him out and going out, especially if there is any chance that along with the classic black and white giant ant movie there was anything on the list of possible movies that had Vincent Price as well. In fact, because it is the perfect time to use some of his cosplaying skills the geeky teen hero is in costume. Dark hair combed neatly a small mustache drawn on his upper lip and a dark suit complete with black gloves make up his costume, a homage to one of the greatest of all horror actors. Billy has, of course, for the evening drug along his best friend because what is a night of horror movies without someone to share it with. "Hurry up man, the main event is about to start." He says with a grin before going for one of the most famous quotes out of the movie, "They are coming for you Eddie..."

Merle, balancing in a crouch on top of the street lamp TJ is clinging to, feet on the pole and one arm extended forward to give her three solid points of contact. She is wearing tights and a hoodie sweater this evening and has her hair pulled back into a ponytail. The MST3K refeence goes over her head but she is excited to see the original of a movie she's only sean remakes of... and with her sister too!

Merle grins down at TJ and says, "Better than just reading about them on the interwebs that's for sure!"

Miles Morales is there with a small group of kids from the Academy of Tomorrow, and a bald man with glasses who resembles him sits nearby: Jefferson Davis serving his parental duties as group supervision for the night's activity. Even though Miles isn't one of the ones in costume, (though, Ganke, sitting beside him, is in full Frankenstein's Monster getup), he's been having a blast, laughing and chatting between movies, and his voice is loud in the cheers when the final movie is announced.

Eddie Thorson is even less a fan of this kind of movie than most. He usually ends up a little uncomfortable or clinging to the nearest person when watching them. But Billy wanted him along so along he came. He really will do almost anything for his best friend. Including wearing black jeans and a plain black t-shirt. Eddie without a superhero logo...shocking. He's got his backpack though. He just frowns as Billy quotes at him. "Then they're g-g-going to be disappointed. I'm already taken."

Amanda Sefton chuckles softly, glancing over her shoulder at the antics on stage from her place at a food truck. The hosting couple are very cute. She pockets the change she's given, offers a quick word of thanks to the vendor, and steps around the anxious zombie behind her. He wants to get his stuff quickly so he can dart back to his place before the movie starts... He only just makes it.

The mutant sorceress, however, isn't quite so concerned about grabbing a seat. Originally, she figured on coming because it simply promised a good laugh or two. Then, Kurt's two daughters showed up and, well, it's fairly mandatory that she stick around, now. Thus, she makes her way over to them, catching a bit of their conversation. "History? Seriously?" She laughs at them. "You're funny. Really."

Inhaling slowly, however, she looks around, across the parking lot to the building itself. Distracted. This neighborhood had drawn her well before tonight -- it's how she found out about the festival in the first place. She's just not sure why the site is setting off her mystic meter. She can't see anything amiss at all...

...

But, indeed, although it takes a fairly robust and well-attuned magic-sense to be able to tell, there is the feel of magic about the place. Well. More so about the building itself than the parking lot. The closer someone sensitive to magic stands to the old cinema, the more likely they are to sense that undefinable something that signifies mystic mojo at work.

It doesn't seem to be a huge concern, however. It's not like it sets off any Spidey senses... or the equivalent thereof, after all. It's no more evident, really, than the scent of food on the wind.

Kenn gives Julie a big kiss, pulling back from her as the audience settles in to watch the show. He slips around behind her, so she can see the crowd, too, and places his chin atop her head, hands looped around her waist. "This is just awesome," he whispers softly to her.

She nods to him, glancing up with a smile. "It is," she agrees, laying her hands over top of his and leaning back against him in that comfortable way young couples in love will do.

Her beau gestures with is chin toward TJ and Merle, perched atop their lamp post. "Check them out. They really got into the spirit of things."

"They did," Julie agrees, grinning. "C'mon. Let's go say hi."

"We don't want to interrupt the movie for them,"

"Only for a second," Julie insists. She takes his hand and starts leading him around behind the food trucks, so they don't bump into the stragglers hurrying back to their seats.

"No kidding, and some of us don't type all that swell," TJ tells Merle while wiggling the three chunky fingers of one hand. That's one thing Merle doesn't have to worry about!

Three fingers do hold cheeseburgers like an absolute boss though, the next victim of the evening getting the four dainty fanged treatment as she takes a proper-sized bite out of it. Kurt would have been proud.

"Either history or local culture," she replies to Amanda around the mouthful of meat and bun, still managing to get a silly grin in there as she does. "I'm not going to be picky. C'mon! They're classics. Just ask anyone here, they can't all be wrong!"

Wiccan can't help but laugh a little at Eddie. "I know, I know, not a huge fan of horror, but this is the original zombie movie, hardly any gore just people shambling around in bad make-up. The whole thing is more social commentary anyway." He says while offering his friend the bag of popcorn he has. He got his fill of real food earlier in the evening and now is just ready to sit back and watch a classic with popcorn and a soda. "Speaking of being taken, shame Vic and Teddy couldn't make it."

Merle 'salutes' Amanda with a finger to the forehead, smirking at herself for the formality with her 'mother'. "Its a whole new world for us after all, we need to learn about it some how," she calls down to the other mutant sorceress.

"Sis, can you hand me a burger," she asks TJ and unwraps it after she is handed one shoving the wrapper into the belly pocket of her sweater before she begins eat.

The sense of building magical energy is distracting Merle from the opening scenes of the movie however. As she glances around to see if she can pinpoint anything more specific she frowns and, after swallowing the burger bite, she calls out, "Are you feeling that, 'Manda?" to her stand-in 'mom'.

Miles Morales, of course, is clueless about the magic, as is everybody he's with. Now that the movie's started, he's watching closely, occasionally talking softly with Ganke about the movie. Jefferson, meanwhile, has noticed TJ and Merle too, frowning a little as he glances towards them, but mostly he just watches the movie with occasional glances to make sure all his charges are still in their seats and safe.

Eddie doesn't seem that convinced but he does take some popcorn. He's grown to like the stuff a lot more since getting used to the taste of it not being stale and thrown away. "You p-promise there won't be a lot of gore?" he asks. The power booster nods when Billy brings up their respective boyfriends. "I think Vic s-said he had an important paper he had to write," Eddie murmurs. He's not mimicking anyone right now so he's not picking up on any magical mojo either.

Amanda rolls her eyes at the girls' responses. "You keep telling yourself that," she says lightly to them. She notes the movement of the young couple, but as they step into the shadows behind the food trucks and catering kiosks, she ceases to pay them any mind.

Merle's question, however, refocuses her. "The tingle?" she asks, referring to the magic. "Yeah. I wasn't sure if it was just me, or not." Her nose wrinkles slightly. "Wait here," she tells the two blue girls. "I'm gonna go nose around a little bit. I'll send up a flare, if I need help."

Flipping a jaunty salute not that dissimilar to Merle's greeting, she starts wandering along the outside of the parking lot, making her way toward the building proper.

...

The movie is well past its opening exposition, before there's the sense of anything truly amiss. Most in the crowd won't notice it. But, it's the sort of thing that might set spider senses to tingling. And it's nothing more than a bit of a vibration in the big screen, when something heavy enough to make a sound, but not heavy enough to dislodge anything, hits the scaffolding. It's kind of like the clunk of a steel door against a heavy piece of wood. Amanda's only about halfway down the parking lot when it sounds, so it's not her. And there's nothing about it that particularly suggests it's anything more than an echo of street noise.

The scream, however, that rips from behind the food kiosks (the opposite side of the parking lot from the screen, entirely), is something else again. The scream startles people in the audience, to be sure. Though, most that jump are more startled than anything else. And then, more annoyed than concerned by the shriek. After all. They're at a cult movie fest with a bunch of people dressed like monsters. The shriek just sounds like some sort of stupid prank... except that whomever it is that screamed once screams again and doesn't stop screaming. At least... not until there's the sound of something very wet and very heavy slapping into the back of the generator truck with enough force to cause it to shudder.

"And cheeseburgers for all that is indigo," TJ says while passing a second toward Merle.

She doesn't say it but it does seem odd being called sis like that, particularly with the emphasis. She can only imagine how strange it must be for Amanda and Kurt, having all of this dropped on top of them! Talia can't complain, and when the two are paired up like that? Seems kind of silly (and impossible) to say they aren't so closely related. Even though they aren't.

This extra-dimensional stuff gets rather confusing.

Where the other two can feel something in the air, TJ cannot. Blank yellow eyes turn to peer at one woman then the other, one eye notably wider than the other. "Everything alright? Yeah, we'll hold the crow's nest here."

The scream is enough to make her jump slightly from her perch, though she passes a broad grin toward Blue an instant later. "Man, they must have remastered the soundtrack on this one or something, that sounded so real!"

Also..it's not stopping. It's a gradual process which erases her grin. "Do you feel that maybe..something isn't right with this..?"

Billy Kaplan really needs to get some actual training. Sure, learning magic out of books in order to control the mutant gene powered magic in him has helped but he still is not so great at picking up things like mystic mojo going on around him till there are obvious effects. Like screams and things with more tentacles and eyes than should be found in a handful of spiders crawling out of holes in reality. Not that the last is likely to happen tonight, right?

"And Teddy has that whole mini-training camp thing. It's enough to make me hate sports all the more." Billy says with a small grin not meaning it, too much. He is about to say something else when the screaming happens and he is on his feet fast. Sure, probably a joke or something like that but that scream really did sound like it had more fear in it than most of the classic scream queens of Hollywood could ever muster. Then more screams, and Billy is looking worried. "Um...Eddie I really hope my promise about there not being too much gore is not about to be proven wrong. Think we should...yeah stupid question lets just sneak off to the side and go check it out?"

Merle, having grown up with stories of cross-dimensional capers, may have an advantage on TJ for adapting to the 'extra-dimensional stuff'.

"Thanks," she says in response to the burger being handed over to her. "There's something magical going on here, 'Manda and I are both feeling it, that's all."

Having unwrapped the burger, Merle's taking a bite of the second burger when the commotion starts. Initially thinking it is part of the show, Merle is about to comment on how great the atmosphere is when she realizes there is something wrong.

Merle is looking over her shoulder, contemplating heading down the pole immediately to investigate. Instead she answers the question. "I'm certain there is, just not certain exactly what we should do about it yet."

As soon as he gets that tingling sensation, Miles forgets the movie and starts to look around quickly. So, when most of the audience dismiss that first scream, he's on his feet. Jefferson says, "Relax, Miles, it's just some stunt..." He trails off as the scream comes again, and is on his feet when the generator truck shudders. "Special effects" he says, trying to sound calmer than he is, as he looks back, only to find Miles is gone.

"You only h-hate it because you c-c-can't go watch," Eddie teases his friend a little, nudging him gently. The screaming gets Eddie on his feet quick enough to make a speedster jealous and one hand goes to one of his backpack straps. If it's a joke, he's going to be a little angry but the weird noises have him looking to Billy. "Let's g-go," he says quietly to his friend, starting to sneak off to the side with Billy.

Amanda pauses in her progress toward the building, looking between it and the screams. Is it a publicity stunt? Even she's not sure. She remains undecided for a moment, until a shadowy movement near the scaffolding behind the screen catches her eye. Then, she mutters a soft shielding spell, calling up her mage armour and, a heartbeat later, her invisibility spell, and disappears from view.

...

The screams that come from the food kiosk area, now, are coming from within the back of some of the kiosks. Presently, there's a snarl that sounds like a cross between a snake's hiss and a cat's spit, with a harmonic rumble underpinning it. Canvas tears and something dark and wet is thrown past a counter to smack into a startled zombie with the straw to his soda caught between his lips. He blinks, and looks down at the grume now at his feet... "omigod... that is so cool!" Apparently, it hasn't sunk, yet, that the flesh in the dirt is actually real.

When the dark thing with claws leaps over the counter to retrieve it -- and him -- however, it becomes a whole lot more clear.

It's not the only dark thing with claws, either. Two more leap atop the generator. They crouch in a manner not dissimilar to the Wagner girls, bent knees and elbows, with whip-like tails. Back lit by the parking lot lights, their glowing yellow eyes are far more malevolent than anything a Wagner in this dimension might come up with. Their skulls are elongated, a section at the very back pulsating lightly. One of them lifts its muzzle -- a sharp-toothed maw in a ghoulish face -- and lets out a hissing scream. Over its shoulder is Julie's limp body. Its partner holds Kenn... Well. Kenn's torso and legs, anyway. In two separate pieces.

Two more of the creatures alight on the top of a couple more food trucks. There's only a moment to register their presence, before they spring down on another pair of stragglers in line and grab hold of them. The zombie-kids let out screams that would make Jamie Lee Curtis proud.

(The Creatures:)

Something else that TJ can figure out pretty well? When something is horribly wrong (with emphasis on the horror!) She sees quite well in the dark. It isn't a necessary ability when the remains of the evening's hosts are brought forth, and ..pieces.. start to appear. Pieces can be faked fairly well. Even blood! Something that doesn't often get mimicked? The smell.

"Oh gees..oh what the hell..!"

The next piece of meat to go splat is her burger falling to the street below, springing upright upon her delicate overhead perch.

"Evac, everyone get out of here, this is not a drill!"

It can't be an act. She's willing to bet the security deposit on the apartment which she does not yet have that this is something real. Amanda and Merle felt something, too. Surely that couldn't be faked!

Once he knows that Eddie is following Billy starts to mutter under his breath, Somebodyelsesproblem, Somebodyelsesproblem, Somebodyelsesproblem." As he chants he wraps the two of them with his magic focusing it on making it sure that they are as good as invisible while they head in the direction of the screams. When things start coming through the screen though he decides there are better things than making sure no one notices them. Like protecting civilians. "Costumes!" He is practices enough in this use of his magic he hardly has to repeat it in order to instantly change not only his clothes but those of his friend into their costumes as heroes.

As Monsters start leaping out to land on the generators and off trucks two teenaged heroes appear amidst the chaos of panicking movie goers. Clad in red and black with a staff in one hand Wiccan appears in a flash of light a crack of thunder and a spike in magic energies that he has a really hard time hiding when in costume. He takes a second to find the best route out of the area where most people are, IE the one where there are no monsters, and with a wave of the staff and a few well chosen words creates a big glowing arrow for people to follow. "You heard the lady people! Anyone that has not trained to fight monsters get to safety!"

"I'm on evac duty," Merle says to TJ as she slides down the metal lamppost taking a spiral path to keep control of her descent. Once she hits the ground she waves her arms hula-like four times, twice in each direction, while chanting "Sicut vestem mutabis volo" in Latin (literally "I want to change as dress") and a wave of purple light passes over her changing her clothing back into her official -- albeit alternate future timeline -- X-Man uniform.

She turns away from the monsters and wades into the crowd. "Everyone, gather close, hold hands with your neighbors and close your eyes," she yells at the top of her lungs and then begins to dance, gathering her thoughts and concentrating on the memory of the roof of a nearby police station.

Since this ritual doesn't require an incantation she takes a moment to call out to her sister, "I'll be back soon!" and then...

***PAMPH*** ...Merle and a large segment of the crowd around her disappear in a room-sized cloud of brimstone smoke and they appear, blocks away on the rooftop she was aiming for.

Jefferson ushers the kids from the Academy towards safety, then looks around, "Miles!" Ganke pauses to say, "He's already safe, I saw him get away, come on sir, please!" Hesitantly, Jefferson follows, though still looking around for his son.

Meanwhile, a third young hero shows up. The Spider, in his as-homemade-as-you-can-get costume, appears in mid-air, leaping feet-first towards one of the monsters. No comments, for the moment, keeping his mouth closed to keep his stomach contents in after seeing the far-too-real gore.

Eddie sticks close to Billy when he chants the cloaking spell. The appearance of the creatures makes him jump and then start moving. He's got faith in Billy to costume them up. As soon as the spell finishes, Axiom's in costume and armor. While the others start evac, Axiom heads for the people in more immediate danger. He takes out his staff and extends it with a flick of his wrist. He uses the Eternal-forged weapon to launch himself up and towards one of the creatures that pounced on the poor zombie kids, trying to kick it hard enough to make it let go of the civillians.

From around, behind, and through the screen, more of the Giger-esque creatures swarm. They group in loose bunches of about three to six individuals, springing after fleeing movie-goers with a speed that's at least double that of a running, panicked human being. And a damned sight more coordination, too. The creatures appear to be working together, their groupings behaving like mini wolf packs, picking off the easy targets first.

A violet shield sweeps forward over the crowd from the vicinity of the screen. Several of the creatures bounce against it and are repelled forcibly backward, yowling and gnashing their teeth as their prey escapes beneath the energy's protection.

Daytripper's voice echoes out over the crowds, magically amplified. The sorceress is visible again, dressed in combat leathers and a hood, and floating above the screen beyond the monsters' reach. "I'll protect the civilians," she calls to the other heroes, already noting Blue's effective efforts. Her shield has a better chance of enveloping the rest. "The rest of you take care of our uninvited guests!" And, indeed, her shield curves around and over them, shepherding the non-combatants out toward the street and away from the carnage in the parking lot. For the moment, it doesn't look as if any of the creatures have made the transition from parking lot to street. They're still focused on the easy pickings about the periphery.

So, yes. There are definitely monsters all over the place grabbing at the stragglers in those places Daytripper's shield hasn't covered. She can't, after all, cover the whole damned parking lot. Even with the extra magical juice she can sense in the area. It's not magic that will easily bend its will to her -- which is unusual, given her attunement to the city. But, she'll do her best to keep crowd safe.

The monsters that have managed to catch their prey do not, in fact, waste time eviscerating them if they don't have to. Only if they fight back too greatly. One of the monsters, however, takes exception when its terrified victim pokes it in the eye with a plastic knife handle. It hisses and spits at him. Green goo shoots into the young man's face. He shrieks. The goo begins melting his flesh.

The man doesn't flail for very long before he's unnaturally still. His head falls back and all that remains of his face is a hash of red meat and bone. The monster slings the body over its shoulders and turns to bound back toward the building, rather than further away. In fact, whenever a monster manages to gain its prey, it heads back toward the old cinema, scrambling up and around the walls toward broken and boarded up windows and doors.

This..is bad. For a high degree of bad. It's a good thing that help is nearby or they'd never clear the civilians out in time! TJ's got higher ground but with the way these creatures leap about it's not going to offer that much good for her.

Anchored by a tail she crouches then rolls beneath the lamp, lining an open palm toward the nearest of the uglies as it lunges through the air. With a flash of energy and an odd sort of -Braack!- she swats it off course, colliding with a hot dog vendor's cart before it can land teeth and talons into a scrambling bystander. (Byrunner? They aren't standing still!)

Whatever they want with the theater is going to have to wait, though it is noticed.

"I don't know if a standard beatdown is going to do the trick here, people!" TJ yells out while striking at another, complete with a shimmering distortion of air and a -Blamf!- "Now's a great time for ideas!"

Wiccan has seen this movie before, the first two in the series are classics and the rest...not so much. Spotting one of the creatures grabbing for a girl he takes to the air flying straight for the creature throwing lightning at it yelling out, "Stay away from her you...!" He does not finish the quote, instead he makes sure the intended victim is safe while throwing around more lightning at the other creatures that are nearby. That done he is quickly in the air again taking pot shots at monsters where he can. "We need to stop them at the source, anyone know where they are coming from?"

On the distant rooftop Merle yells out over the noise of the scores of nearly panicked civilians, "Stay calm and stay away from the edge of the roof top. Someone will be up here in a moment." Ignoring her own advice she runs to the edge of the roof and balances there. She repeats the dance-like motions she uses to cast her teleportation spell and...

***PAMPH*** ... she appears on the roof of a police car just parked and calls out to one of the nearby policemen. "Monsters at the Majestic. Just teleported some civilians to the roof, send someone up to help them into the building." Then more dancing and...

***PAMPH*** ...Blue reappears near the lamp post she and her sister had been atop and draws her staff out of its concealed pocket snapping it out to its full six foot length in the same motion as she looks around to assess the situation as it has developed since she departed. And of course hoping that the police take proper care of the people she took to them.

The Spider back-flips off of the monster he hit, ducking and then leaping over attacks from it. Finally, an uppercut knocks the creature back far enough to give him a moment, and he takes a quick look around. To Wiccan's question he answers, "I think the building, they're all going back there." Then he leaps to avoid a gob of acid spit.

Axiom's kick sends the creature rear over head and he lands between it and the person that had been incredibly close to becoming a real corpse rather than just being dressed as one. "Run," Axiom says simply as the creature's already getting back up. Taking a deep breath, Axiom starts glowing a bright white color as he lets the faith from his friend and from any civilians that put faith and hope into the heroes fuel his self-boosting power. The creature is in for a surprise as it comes charging at Axiom again, the teen hero swinging his staff with some super-strength. There's a THRACK noise as the blow sends the creature smashing over a counter. "Once we g-get the civilians to safety, we should head in there," he calls to the others.

Daytripper manages to herd the last of the civilians she can reach out into the street. She then flies toward the center of the parking lot and begins chanting a spell. Her eyes close and the few strands of blonde hair that have fallen out of her hood are whipped about in a mystical breeze as power swirls around her.

The trucks and kiosks, the metal stanchions and chains around the edge of the parking lot, the metal street lamp posts and cars off the street rise and unwrap themselves, their metal and fibreglass frames stretching and elongating, forming a spindly mesh that creates a dome over the entire property -- parking lot and building alike. The sidewalk concrete and road asphalt around the outside of the property buckles, as does the chip-and-seal of the parking lot itself. All of the stone material begins flowing in rivulets toward the meshing and begins running up and over it, creating a sort of concrete-reinforced, magic-laced chainlink fence that turns the whole place into one oversized cage match.

On the bright side, none of those drooling uglies are going to make it out onto the street to harass the neighborhood before the heroes are done their work. On the not-so-bright side, most of the heroes (with the possible exception of Blue) are now caught inside the cage with the monsters... and their victims.

It also becomes apparent to anyone trying to engage the monsters directly that if you face one of them, you face at least three. They work in small packs of three to six each and are not shy about helping their packmates out. Flanking and sneak attacks from behind are real threats.

What also becomes evident, however, is that the monsters engaging the heroes directly are actually working a delaying action, allowing their prey-encumbered brethren to slink back into the depths of the cinema -- thus making it really clear the source is somewhere inside the building.

For a brief moment TJ's caught up with the feeling of 'wow, that was really cool!' when the dome is constructed around them all. In just as brief of a moment that thought turns to one of 'this is not the place that I wish to be.'

Welcome to Thunderdome?

Axiom's voiced thought is replied to with "Good idea!"

These things attack in packs. They're focused on getting inside of the theater. They're intelligent enough to not attack each other. How's about a TJ in wolf's clothing?

"Hey creepy dude, over here!"

One quick lunge later and she launches herself away from the street light and straight into one of the baddies.

And disappears from sight.

The creature that TJ 'struck' suddenly abandons the fight, waggles its head as if gathering its bearings, then goes running inside of the building along with the rest of the pack.

Now what could possibly be so interesting in there..? She aims to find out while borrowing one of the guys responsible. They don't attack their own, so she should be safe! In theory.

In the air is a good place to be, even with leaping monsters it lets you see the whole battle field and catch details that are not always apparent. Like the monsters with prey trying to get to the theater. "Iwantthecaptivessafe, Iwantthecaptivessafe, Iwantthecaptivessafe!" He chants while waving his hands in a suitably mystic manner before unleashing a wave of bluish white energy at the retreating monsters. The energy, if it hits, has no effect on the monsters but any human being it touches will find themselves suddenly outside the big metal dome Daytripper created.

Merle runs ahead of the wave of concrete and metal as the lamp post is ripped up and woven into the cage helping create one of the lines in the protective wards built into it by Amanda's magical shaping.

As she encounters creatures she blasts one, then a second with full force eldritch blasts blowing the creatures in half with the strength of its impact. Then the third of the pack spits in her direction and she has to leap to the side to avoid being acid sprayed and takes a defensive posture as the mosnter stalks towards her.

The Spider knows next to nothing about tactics to realize what's going on, so he soon finds himself surrounded by three of the creatures. "Whoa, hi guys. How about this, you all run away and I don't beat you unconscious?" One swipes at him, and the boy launches into the air. He may be all instinct and no skill, but he's got great instincts. As he leaps over the claw he twists and lashes out, hitting one with a fist and the other two with his feet, then landing again in an acrobatic crouch. "Wow, that really worked." Then he leaps again, jumping to attack another monster grabbing for one of the few remaining civilians.

Strength isn't the only thing that increases when Axiom taps into FaithPower. He's more durable and faster too. So when the first set of claws rakes across his back, it leaves some light scratches rather than slicing him open. The next swipe misses it's mark entirely as Axiom dodges to the side. He pauses as the dome forms, raising his armored arm just in time to block a glob of acid. "I r-r-really have to thank Brynn again later," he murmurs, shaking the acid off the Eternal-forged armor and backing up to provide a defence for Wiccan in case any of the creatures come his way.

As Wiccan's spell ripples out across the battlefield, the monsters holding living prey quickly find themselves empty-handed. They hiss and growl and turn about in confused circles for several moments, their noses quivering as they search for their missing prey. Several go running toward the warded mesh encircling the property, only to be rebuffed by its magic.

The last of the non-combatants are now out on the street, the least injured among them trying to help the worst off -- though it's kinda hard to tell which is which, since so many of them are wearing fake gore still. A handful of the more cowardly of them, simply panic and flee to safety, now that they can.

Daytripper hovers overhead, chanting yet another spell, this one rooting as many of them as she can to the bare earth by liberating the pipes and storm drains that run under the neighborhood. Copper, iron, and stone streamers twist out of the ground and bind several of the creatures, their brethren turning tail and fleeing through a door behind where the scaffolding and screen once stood -- before the sorceress's mesh cannibalized it.

"Nice job," she tells Wiccan, heading swiftly toward that singular door, now. "We're not done, yet, folks!" And it's inside to see just where the hell those things are all going.

...

The inside of the theatre is dark, since there's no daylight to filter in through the cracks in the boarded windows. Its thick with the smell of 70 years of dust, decay, and... frankly, death. The door from the parking lot leads into a narrow hallway that passes by old dressing rooms and a kitchen to the wing space of the old stage behind the movie screen that was eventually erected when the theatre became a cinema. It's into that space that the monsters have fled.

And, Nocturne, inside her possessed critter, will be the first to see the elephant-sized hulk of grey and black flesh in the center of that stage. It looks something like a cross between the Alien Queen from the movie Aliens and... well... Cthulu.

And its most certainly female, given the eggs that surround it. Eggs... and bones. Lots of bones, blood stains, and the remains of viscera. Indeed, half a corpse is in its tentacles, in the process of being devoured.

Its remaining children form a wall of sharp-toothed bodies between it and any interlopers, their glowing yellow eyes narrow, malevolent slits promising death to any that dare approach.

It's probably for the best that Nocturne's borrowed body isn't real big on that whole 'talking' thing, because this... This is disgusting. And disturbing. And needs to be stopped, like, pronto.

So long as the wall of toothy, pointy guards aren't paying her any mind she's got a free ticket to get in there and land a surprise attack. Since they're guarding in a ring she's planning on taking the high road, they'll never expect one of their own to drop in from above! She hopes. But, why stop there? This place is falling apart from the inside out. Maybe she can drop some lights or scaffolding onto the queen before playing her hand in full.

Quickly now, it's a perfect chance to catch these guys off their guard! Nothing like the old one-two punch to an ugly cranium.

Engaging the creature who spit at her, Blue spins her staff around and attacks it with a solid *CRACK* to the skull with a follow up *SMACK* to its ribs -- or where its ribs would be if it doesn't actually have any. It reacts by leaping on her and raking its hind claws into her abdomen as it tries to bite down on her head.

With the weight of the creature on her Blue falls to the ground but she quickly reacts by hitting it point blank with an Eldritch Blast that causes it to explode upwards in a spray of acid-laden gore.

She struggles to her feet and does a poor but acceptable rendition of her teleportation ritual and...

***PAMPH*** ...she reappears outside the dome and collapses on the ground. In her last moments of consciousness -- as she succumbs to the injury and the exertion of her mass teleport followed by strenuous activity -- she pulls out a vial and guzzles down the healing potion it contained to kick start the recovery process she expects to be undergoing.

Wiccan is going to be glad of Axiom standing near by soon as he drops out of the sky a little fast to be completely controlled but slower than if he had say passed out. His landing is a little heavy but not bad as he takes a second to catch his breath. "Ooph, over played that one a little." After a second he pulls some energy out of somewhere and is in the air again, only this time just hovering a few inches off the ground. "Right, lets go end this now." He says with a grin looking at all the monsters rooted to the ground. He quickly follows into the theater and when he gets to the birthing chamber can only say one thing. "R'lyeh ia ia ia."

The Spider jumps to land near Wiccan and the others, as they head in. Commenting to the older heroes on the way in, he says, "I'm Spider, by the way." Once inside the birthing chamber, he says, "Oh, man, I thought it was gross out there." Quickly, he jumps to a wall and starts climbing to try to get to a ceiling based position for what he assumes will be the group-attack.

Axiom's quick to provide a supportive shoulder to his friend as he turns a protective gaze his way. The only downside to the civilians before moved out of the area? Axiom loses some of that FaithPower. The glow fades from around him and he nods to Wiccan. Following along, he looks to the Spider as they go. "Nice costume. It looks cool," yes, he genuinely means it. Reaching the areas with all the monsters, Axiom collapses his staff and puts it back on his belt. "Wiccan," he knows his friend will know what it means. Seconds later, Axiom boosts Wiccan and mimics his powers. As soon as his costume finishes shifting into a fusion of his own and Billy's, Axiom lets energy crackle around his fingers. "So how d-do we end this? Portal?"

The lower portion of the walls in the hallway are sticky with... ick. (Trust me, you really don't want to know.) The higher portions have flaking paint, layers of dust, and... well, you probably don't want to know what that black mould-like stuff is, either. Not really. (Again, trust me.) The ceiling is discoloured and has lines of rust where wiring and fixtures have rotted.

Tiles on the floor are missing, the subflooring visible in places, burned by acid, scraped by claws, and... other things. There are bones and corpses littered in every room, but the stage is by far the worst.

Its curtains are tattered rags, with thick dust and worse clinging to it. (Is that a non-Spidey-made web way the hell up there in the top of the flytower? Oh, wait. Chances are the only people to see that high up are the Wagner sisters. Or one of them, anyway.) The stage boards are as burnt and torn up as the tiles in the hallway. Lighting bars hang askew and criss-cross the space, making for great leaping points for aerial attacks -- both for the acrobatically inclined hero and the more cunning of the agile creatures.

As Nocturn starts the smackdown on Fugly Queen Mum (a.k.a. Fugly) the remaining pack is put into confusion. Their natural genetic imperative is clear: Fugly must be protected at all costs. Even against one of their own. Consequently, by the time Daytripper and the other creep their way into the room, there's a serious roiling of bodies all over Fugly's nest.

A tentacle lashes out to grab hold of the body Nocturne possesses, starting to squeeze it in half, while its brethren rend at its legs and tail. It's probably not a safe place to stay for the possessive blue Bamfsdottir. At all.

Daytripper launches a magelight up into the air, creating an eldritch blue-white glow throughout the room. The advantage of that, of course, is those heroes without low-light vision can now see. The disadvantage of that, of course, is that everyone can also see the full impact of the creature's nesting -- the stacks of sucked-dry bones, smears of blood, and piles of monster guano. Oh, yeah. Fun place this.

(Fortunately, if you lose your lunch, it'll be no worse than anything else littering the space. Actually... it'll probably be nicer.)

But, the sudden light also blinds the nocturnal creatures, causing them to lose their ability to locate their prey easily... Now, they have to rely on hearing and smell, instead.

Yep, it's a good time to relocate! As the borrowed body starts to get mangled Nocturne is out of its skin, leaping and sticking herself to the ceiling.

"Ugh, God! As if I didn't have enough trouble sleeping already!"

The stage is looking rotten. Heck, this whole place really is in sad shape, and that's just from natural decay! Quick thinking gives her a battle plan, tail once more bracing her overhead while she sends out a pair of Hex Bolts right into the floor.

First part, drop 'em all into the basement.

With a backward twist TJ flips through the air, sending two more Bolts up into the ceiling where she had been a moment earlier.

Second part, bring the whole freaking roof down on top of them.

Then get the hell out of there. "Bombs away, people!" And she doesn't mean her dinner! So far.

Wiccan crackles with electricity even before he gets the look and the nod from his friend. Once he gets the power up he looks like he could give Electro and Thor both a run for the money. "Awesome work." He nods at The Spider complementing his costume as well. He is a cosplayer from way back, he can appreciate a good old fashioned home made costume. "And put us between the hive queen and the drones? Naw, I say you go left I go right, and while the others take the high road we keep them distracted." As the light goes up Wiccan gives a less than happy grin, one rather like the one that Sif had when she cut out Loki's heart but he does not want to think about that ever again, and then goes to his right floating just over the level of the seats in the theater before pointing hand and staff at the roiling mass of monster bodies and going full Palpatine. Hearing TJ Wiccan laughs, or maybe cackles is the right word, "This is still better than Limbo or Nifelheim!"

"Thanks," Spider offers to the compliments, bolstered some by it. When the light comes up, manages to keep his dinner in, (luckily, since he's wearing a face-covering mask), but only by the strongest effort of will and his spider-enhanced stamina. Crawling up the wall, he was about to jump to the roof when it comes crashing down. Instead he waits a moment, long enough for the worst of the debris to fall, and then jumps down to attack the mother-monster from above.

Axiom keeps his energy crackling around his hands, eyes blazing and expression grim. He's no stranger to seeing horrible sights but he still tenses up when just how bad things are gets brought to light. "Oh these things are so going down," he says no one in particular. His food isn't in danger of coming up but it's more things added to the nightmare bank. Nodding to Wiccan, Axiom lifts into the air at the same level as his friend and heads left. Where Wiccan goes lightning, Axiom chants a spell. "Magicblast, magicblast, magicblast, magicblast!" he calls out, firing off bolts of destructive magic force into the horde or creatures. Hadouken anyone? "Need more dropped?" he calls to TJ, eyes still on the creatures.

As Daytripper sees Nocturne destroying the floor, she launches airborn again, and adds her magebolts to the mix. "I like how you think!" she calls out to the timebamfer, flashing her a quick grin. (It's only then that she realizes Blue isn't in the fight any more... and hopes to high heaven the girl is helping the civilians Wiccan evacuated into the street.)

The stage, half rotted as it is, begins to crumble. Below it isn't so much a basement as it is a mess of steam-powered lifting mechanisms and trapdoor passages. (Think of this place as a rejected set from Bioshock I.) Back when there were live performances in this space, they would have helped shift scenery and allowed actors to escape through hidden doors in the floor to get off stage. (Typically "into hell", according to the scripts, ironically enough.) Thus, what Nocturne and Daytripper are blasting through isn't just simple floor or ceiling... it's masses of clever machinery just filled with iron and steel and other conductive surfaces that turn the whole tangled mess into an electrified weave as Wiccan pours on the force-lightning.

The ceiling caves in by virtue of further well-placed bolts and Daytripper breaks off her attack stretch out an arm to place a shield around Spider -- just to keep the lightning from leaping from the monster to him. It will at least give him a chance to deflect himself to a non-conductive surface from where he can continue his attack. Truth be told, however, his efforts are likely more effective at sending her twisted children tumbling after her into the fryer.

All around them, just to add to the chaos and confusion, the magic blasts and lightning strikes cause those eggs that haven't fallen into the pit with their mother to start exploding, sending razor sharp, rock hard shell pieces flying all over like giant shrapnel grenades. Fortunately, most of the eggs were actually smashed before the whole popcorn routine started. So, there's only about half a dozen of them that provide real threat.

Within the pit, however, with debris raining down, bolts and electricity ricochetting all over the place, and merry hell being raised all over her dying body, Fugly screams. It's a deranged, hissing, disharmonic yowl that sounds like a thousand nails on chalkboards underpinned by a dying herd of elephants trumpeting their arrival in Hell. It lasts for about two or three minutes... before it eventually *GURKS* to a stop.

In the comparative silence that follows, all that is heard is the crackling of fire and electricity, the sizzle of frying flesh, the cracking and popping of over-heated bone and building structure, and the harsh breathing of the remaining combatants. In the magelight and moonlight that streams in from a new hole in the roof, dust motes and ash mingle in a spiralling dance that would be almost pretty, were it not for the carnage that is still illuminated all around them.

Good Lord! It's..it's disgusting, and terrifying, and an absolute clusterfrack, but damn if it isn't something to watch from a bird's-eye view!

TJ dangles by her tail as a large portion of the building caves in and turns into a giant spark-plug, hands clamped onto long, tapered ears to cut out the horrific sound of screeching.

If she had a third hand free it would be covering her nose. She's really regretting that horseradish sauce. Luckily the altitude difference keeps her a safe distance away from those exploding eggs. From the shrapnel, anyway. Not the smell.

The theater was in pretty sad shape before. Now it's slightly more so, but at least there's some circulation now! Gods know the entire building could use it.

That still doesn't answer everything, though.

"What the Hell was that thing?!"

The Spider had fully intended to finish the creature off with one of his venom strikes, but it's obviously not needed. He jumps back out of the pit after landing, and says, "I don't know, but I don't ever, ever, want to see another one."

Wiccan can actually hear the first notes of the Imperial March playing in the back of his head. As the eggs start to pop he starts chanting, "Movetheseats, Movetheseats, Movetheseats!" While he chants he starts to gesture with his free hand and whole banks of what is left of the seats in the audience start to glow and get flung at the last of the eggs and down into the yawning pit where the monster queen and her brood fell. Really all he needs now is a Skrull with a light saber. The flying shards of egg shrapnel from the ones that popped get ignored, even as they whiz past Wiccan slicing through his cape and leaving a long gash along his left cheek that he is going to want to put a whole lot of disinfectant on...later...when he is thinking more.

"Ah!" Axiom yelps, quickly biting back any more noises as he's caught in the unarmored arm by some of the shrapnel. His leg takes a hit too and he quickly flies up and out of the way to avoid more. Holding up his unhurt arm, he starts raining lightning down on any straggling monsters even as he bleeds. He'll be joining Wiccan in the disinfectant use. "Monsters," he all he says in reply to TJ.

The last of the monsters die, slain by Thor's adopted son, and the quietude of the battle's aftermath settles heavily over the stinking, now smoky space.

"I... I don't know," Daytripper says to Nocturne, coming to hover a goodly distance over the pit, roughly in the center of the space. She has several of her own superficial scrapes and bruises from the shrapnel. Healing potions for all! "But, I suspect Hell is a good guess." And, God knows she'll be expending every effort she can to find out. Just in case there are more.

She looks at the others gathered around. "Boy, am I glad you guys were here," she says. She doesn't know any of them -- though she recognizes Spider from the fracas at the graduation. Wiccan, particularly, gets a look, since he's the one wielding the greater magic, though Axiom's not left out of her scrutiny, given the powers he also displayed. (How is she to know it's mimicry, not his own natural magic, after all?) There's no question they were all instrumental in this... victory. Such as it is.

She spins around slowly in the air, taking in the damage, destruction, and... generally disgusting vista. "Right. But, how about we continue this conversation outside?" Another spell, one she hopes is close to her last, given how low her energy reserves are now running. A glowing portal appears safely to one side of the carnage. Through it can be seen the street beyond the magical fence. "I, for one, could use a breath of fresh air." She wipes a bead of blood from her brow. "And a healing potion or two."

Drifting down toward the portal, she smiles to her companions and gestures lightly. "After you..."