2014.01.08 - Danger on the Dance Floor

In a city as big as New York City, there's a wide variety of clubs. Some for dancing, some for drinking. Some populated only by the rich and important, and some bottom of the barrel. There's also some clubs that cater specifically to the under 18 crowd. One such club is having a special 'winter night' for those that brave the chilly weather. No alchohol allowed in and a small cover charge let people in to a club full of people dancing to the DJ's music. Some are clad in winter gear still and fake snow falls onto the dance floor. Of course all is not well.

There's no line outside but there's something going on. The doorman is out cold and someone's pushed some heavy objects in front of the main entrance. Keen eyes might spot figures skittering about in the alleys, blocking and barricading doors. Figures that seem to disappear into the shadows. Up on the roof, that figure reappears...for only a few moments before shattering the glass and leaping down into the club. There's a few moments pause as the music stops and the creature stands. Six feet tall, slate grey skin, sharp claws and teeth, and glowing red eyes to match a pulsing red mark in it's chest, the creature lets out a bestial cry at the nearest person and the club erupts in screams. The creature leaps at a girl...only to be knocked back by a kick from someone clad in winter gear that hides their ID. "I think this is our c-cue!" the mysterious fighter calls out to someone else in the club even as the demonic creature gets back up and hisses at him.

It wasn't often that Jocelyn hit the clubs. She was just on her way over to this club, clad in a pair of jeans and a black jacket, with a grey scarf and winter cap on her head. She pauses about two hundred feet from the club. She sensed it with her energy sight before she'd ever actually physically see the creatures.

"Aw hell".

The teenager runs towards the club, drawing in some energy around her to boost her physical capabilities as she does so. Once the tall redhead reaches the barricaded door, she reaches out and attempts to remove the barricade, which unless it was blocked by fifty tons of debris, shouldn't be a problem. If she manages to clear the doorway, the woman's voice, one familiar to her friends though not heard much recently, rings out.

"Orderly fashion, out the door!" Because Jocelyn didn't think a club full of civilians would be a good thing to have hanging around if a fight was going to break out.

"Demons, in my city? Yeah I don't think so." A voice answers that of the mysterious person that just kicked the slate grey monster down form the other side of the dance floor behind the demon. As that is said one of the few people not already starting to obviously panic throws off his long coat swinging it around for a second while muttering to himself. "Costume, Costume, Costume!" With a flash of bluish light and the smell of ozone the random annonymous teenager is transformed into the costumed hero Wiccan!

With a silver circlet on his head with small wings ont he side and Norse runes across the front of it, a tattered red shawl like cape on his shoulders, a dark blackish blue shirt with armor like metal peices on the front and black pants with a constantly moving star pattern that moves up the side of his pants and shirt Wiccan throws the coat in his hands so that it moves to hopefully land over the Demon's head hopefully distracting it from any counter attack on the guy that kicked it. As the coat flys Wiccan, as if by magic, pulls out of it a long staff carved with glowing runes of all kinds. "Well, at least it is not an N'Garai. I guess we were right about this being the next spot it might hit."

Jon-El happened to be patrolling on this tuesday night, pausing on the corners of buildings and keeping a keen eye out for trouble. Without the keen senses his father has he uses the training batman afforded him, keeping a look out for the telltale signs of trouble. Upon coming across the club, he looks around. Unconcious Bouncer-check, barricaded doors keeping folks from being able to get out, then there's the crashing glass and the screams. "Yep that's trouble." he says he sees the other teen start working on the door and suddenly he's beside her. "Hi" He says as he works on the other half of the barricade ripping the door open, if not off it's hinges. "You heard the very tall nice lady, everyone, outside!" he calls out his S-Shield catching the light of the club and glittering.

At least one woman that was already in the club doesn't immediately bolt. With a blue mohawk and wearing in a large black puffy winter jacket over jeans and a black t-shirt, she's sitting at the bar facing the action as the grey monster smashes their way onto the dance floor. She breathes in a little sharply at the sudden snap of panic that rises in the room, causing her hand to tighten its grip on the bar's edge.

Blue eyes narrow as the monster makes the scene, and her other hand dips inside of her coat, but he first instinct seems to be to scan the room, hopping off the barstool and getting in a crouch.

That sudden kicker? He's revealed to be none other than the teen hero Axiom once Wiccan's spell takes effect, drawing his staff and extending it with a flick of his wrist. A few of the people nearby gasp in surprise as Wiccan and Axiom reveal themselves, some even recognizing them. Others are still panicked and trying to flee. Cries of blocked doors can be heard a few moments before Channel and Jon make their appearance. "You g-guys heard the lady! Head for an exit!" Axiom calls out. Several people do head for the exits but there are plenty of stragglers that seem content to hang back and watch.

The demon looks around slowly, teeth bared as it growls at the assembled heroes. Nostrils flare and the red spot on the creatures chest pulses brighter. It lets out another animalistic cry before starting to twist and contort until splitting...into four identical copies of itself. The quartet of monsters take a moment to crack joints before springing into action. One advances on Wiccan and Axiom each and two others leap past the heroes to chase after the civilians fleeing towards the exit Jocelyn and Jon made. The creatures haven't registered Lethe as a threat yet.

One of the people that remained in the club? The DJ. Seeing a perfect oppurtunity, he starts up some more music. There's a small delay before another song starts playing over the club's speakers...( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP8jgNkU5HE)

"Hey there," Jocelyn responds to Jon-El as she helps a couple people through the doorway, tilting her head as she takes in the boy's energy signature. "Mind being my date for this here event?" she comments with a light grin before that creature splits off four copies of itself. "Thing is magical, but alive," the woman says as she leaps up and flies over the civilians fleeing out the door. She drops down in front of the creature and attempts to feint a punch to it's face, letting a blast of kinetic energy off from the side of her fist as the actual strike to the head while following up with a full-force kick to the groin. She wanted this thing down and out as soon as possible.

As the battle music from one of the Final Fantasy games starts up Wiccan lets out a laugh and smiles as his eyes start to faintly glow with bluish white light. At the same time he gives his staff a couple of flourish like spins and moves into a deffensive stance while chanting. "Protectthecivilians, Protectthecivilians, Protectthecivilians!" He focuses mostly on creating a barrier that will stop the demons, at least for a little bit, but won't effect anyone that is not arguably evil from getting away. As he chants and weaves the spell the runes on his staff glow and pulse with the same light as his eyes. As one of the demons advances on him Wiccan holds back moving waiting for it to strike at him first before swinging his staff.

"Aww Shucks ma'am, would be my honor." Jon-el responds with a grin hearing other people screaming about blocked entrances, he calls out "Keep big ugly and his friends there busy for a minute" he calls out as he leaves at super speed the sound of crack and booms as the various other entrances of the club are opened the steel doors creaking as he forces any of them that are locked to open letting people escape.

As Lethe's cautious scan doesn't seem to be inducing her to bolt, although the demon splitting into pieces causes a frown to flick across her face. One, two, three taken, and then her eyes lock onto the fourth of them chasing after civilians. There's no flashy magic or loud words, but the hand on the bar tightens again as she focuses, mentally, on depriving the demon of its senses, sight first, and... getting a mind-first exposure to demonic brains. It's a new one on her.

Her other hand is still stashed in her coat as she tries to move a little to the side, to close the distance without being too obvious.

"Is this the m-music I think it is, Wiccan?" Axiom calls out, dodging under a few claw swipes. The creature he's fighting reaches out to grab him...only to jerk it's hand back quickly after grabbing Axiom's arm. The creature's hand is smoking as if burned and it hisses in pain only to get smacked with a staff-strike from Axiom and sent stumbling back. "Did you forget that's what happens already?" Axiom asks the creature, shooting it a scowl as he continues to dodge and swipe.

The demons that had been heading for the civilians crash into the barrier and pound on it angrily. One backs up a few times only to be stopped by Jocelyn. The kick to the groin doesn't do much but the energy blast sends it flying. It crashes into a table a few civilians were hiding under. They try to scramble away only for one to get grabbed, a young man that looks like he's more at home on a football field than anything. The creature growls and bites into his shoulder. Jocelyn's keen senses will be able to see what's going on...the creatures are after the life energy and this one's draining it with it's bite and hands.

The other demon that had been scratching at Wiccan's barrier finds itself without sight suddenly. It stumbles a few times before roaring in frustration as it scrubs at it's eyes. As the creature's anger grows, Lethe might find it harder to keep her hold on it.

As people flood past Jon, others still remain. The demon approaching Wiccan slashes at him only to get smacked with the staff. It stumbles a few steps before leaping to pounce at him.

Oh. That was a clue. That was a bit, giant, honking clue, what happened to that creature that tried to grab Axiom. Jocelyn frowns at the creature that goes to bite the civilian and drain it's life energy. "No, no. You don't need any life energy in your diet. Try a little bit of this instead," the mutant says, focusing on the energy that is being drained. As some of it passes from human to Thing, Jocelyn reaches out and converts the energy. Not into thermal or kinetic energy, which is her standard method, but instead into that pure faith energy she sees from her friend, letting the demon have a big old helping of Faith Energy.

Yum.

Wiccan answers Axiom while he smacks the demon attacking him. "It is, new favorite DJ!" When the demon takes a flying leap at him he steps sideways swinging his staff around holding it more like a baseball bat aiming to hit the monster in the side while it is in the air aiming to send it off course and into an area that has no citizens near it.

Jon-El can see the demon biting into a civilian, "No you don't ugly!" he says "Bite on someone your own size" he says moving onto the the room the demon that was sent flying earlier by Jocelyn he moves over to look at the demon "stay down." he says to the demon ready to punch the thing if he gets up.

As the demon struggles, Lethe lets go of the bar and advances on it at an angle, dipping her other hand under her coat as well. As she stalks towards it, lowly, she cross-draws a pair of daggers, one of them metallic and curved, the other red and straight. She grits her teeth as she steps in front of the demon, lining up her shot.

And then she lashes out with both hands, growling lowly, "Let me take that frustration from you", as she attempts to stab the demon in its currently plagued eyes. Hopefully he'll never see it coming!

The creature Wiccan strikes rolls a few feet but doesn't go far. It's back up on all fours pretty quickly and leaping again but this time going for his legs. Once contact is made, Wiccan will feel life energy start getting pulled from him. A feeling of physical and mental fatigue and a general 'pins and needles' feeling spreading from the points of contact.

When Jocelyn makes that change, the noise the creature lets out is like something out of a nightmare. The creature shoves the civilian away, smoke pouring from mouth and hands. It crashes back against another table, trying to hold itself up. It doesn't seem threatened by Jon, lashing out and grabbing his arm. He'll start to feel the same drain as Wiccan as the creature works to pull him in closer so it can bite him. It's stronger than a human but someone with Jon's strength shouldn't have trouble with it.

The blinded demon swipes at anything in range, scratching at Wiccan's barrier and destroying some furniture. It ends up stabbed and letting out a roar, shoving at Lethe just because she's in the direction the stabs came from.

When Channel makes her energy change, Axiom senses it. Rather unexpectedly. He was in the middle of rolling away from a pounce when the energy caused a flare up in him, a bright blue glow expanding from his body and knocking the demon...and him...flat on their asses. "Okay...wh-wh-what was that?" Axiom asks no one in particular.

"Axiom, your energy burns these guys. Open up on 'em. You got this," Jocelyn responds to her friend. "You need a kickstart and it looks like I can give you one," she adds. Though Jocelyn's success in burning the one creature with faith energy is noted by the tall girl, she doesn't go for the same move. She doesn't want to try that without Axiom being ready for the kickback that it apparently causes. Though that was weird.

Instead, Jocelyn reaches out and channels the energy around the body of the one grappling Wiccan, letting loose a series a thermal blasts at it's body and trying to knock it back while hopefully giving it some burns.

Wiccan trys to duck out of hte way again as the creature goes for him a second time but gets caught long enough for the creature to get a taste of him. Once he starts to feel his energy drain the mage will take a swipe at the creatures head with his staff and then somewhat annoyed say, "Fine buddy...Limit Break time." There is a moment where he gathers up energy before it can be drained away by the creature and chants, "Death Gigas, Live Wire!"

Wiccan's red cloak is suddenly caught in a wind felt by no one else as waves of bluish white energy wash off of him in tight concentric circles and he starts to change. In an instant he seems to become a steam punk Frankenstien monster version of himself that lets out a roar, and then a series of lighting bolts aimed right for the creature grappeling him. Jocelyn, and anyone with any kind of superhuman senses will notice that the monster verion of Wiccan that fades back to his normal self as soon as the lighting is shot out was just an illusion.

Jon-El grimaces at the drain, his hand starting to go numb, he tightens his fist and drags his grabbed arm towards him, bringing his other hand up to slam into the demon as it's dragged towards him. "I'm not a plate of Planet Krypton sliders, go down, and stay down." he grunts and grimaces bringing a knee up to slam into the demon in time with his blow on the head. For anyone with a martial background, the moves not just an untrained blow, but one of somebody trained to fight..

Being hilt-deep in a demon's eyes doesn't give Lethe anywhere to dodge, and she takes the shove in the chest, knocking her backwards with enough force to send her to the ground on her back, knives scraping against the floor. Bad balance, bad strength... good grip.

She groans as she gets up, no longer having to block the thing's sight at least, and snapping back at any of the civilians within earshot, "Get away, you idiots. Run from danger. It's smarter." She doesn't seem as concerned by the thing, really. Might have something to do with the chemicals on those two blades.

Getting up, Axiom blinks Jocelyn's way. "I d-don't know how to do whatever that just was. You'll have to make it happen if you want another one!" Axiom calls, bracing himself. He's ready if Channel wants another super charge.

The blow to the head doesn't so much dislodge the demon as just stop it from biting into Wiccan's thigh. It growls at him but Jocelyn's thermal blasts knock it back a bit. Heat doesn't seem to damage that skin but the force does. And then Wiccan goes Final Fantastic. Repeated lightning strikes send the creature flying back, claws scratching at the mage's legs as it's forced to let go and eventually it smashes into a wall. The creature's still alive but seems stuck...or too dazed to move.

The now very blinded demon continues making angry noises, trying to wipe away blood. The creature sways a few times, trying to sniff at the air. All it gets though is some disgusting sounds as some unpleasant looking and foul smelling liquid starts dripping from it's nostrils. That may not be what the chemicals were intended to do but really, who's expecting demons when they mix poisons?

The creature draining Jon is perking up quite a bit. Seems he's a tasty treat to these beasts. Both blows connect and send the creature tumbling but it gets onto all fours almost as soon as Jon lets go, looking at him like a kid that was just left alone in a candystore overnight.

There's still lingering Faith energy kicking around, and so Jocelyn can convert it. She notices the one that looks like it's pleased to munch on Jon and darts around to grip Axiom's shoulders to give him some added support. "Here goes. See if you can't figure out how it works on your end". And she channels, converting the energy around the demon licking it's chops at Jon into Faith Energy and letting it blast the demon from all sides. Knowing that Axiom is likely to let off another boom, Jocelyn preps for two things.

First, she makes sher that some of that energy is pointed at the one Lethe is fighting. Secondly, she makes sure to be open to absorbing any excess faith energy so she can potentially use it as a weapon herself without having to convert energy nearby, because it's possible a full on Faith Blast might be necessary if this fight goes on much longer.

"Anybody got a spare weapon, or baseball bat or something? I'm not really liking touching these things." The long haired youth asks opening and closing his half asleep hand. It was times like these that he wished he had the heat vision of his father, super breath.. /something/ ranged. Picking up a nearby table he takes three steps towards the demon bringing the table up in an over head slam to bring the surface of the table down on the demon.

Wiccan manages to stand up straight for all of ten seconds after his illusion fades before he starts to sag visably. Bleeding from the cuts, scratches, and bite in his legs he has to use his staff to lean on just to keep on his feet for the second. "poison the well." THe thought comes to him jsut fast enough that he says it without thinking. "You can do it Axiom! You faced an Elder God, these things should be nothing! I have faith in you." One thing that Wiccan has noticed about his team mate's powers, when he does not have much faith in himself other people having faith in him tends to help kickstart his boost. Maybe if he is lucky Wiccan's faith in hism might be enough that combined with whatever Jocelyn is doing he can kick some demon backside.

Lethe turns around to see a casual blast of energy coming her (snotty bleedy demon's) way, and decides to just make sure it's got a clear path to get knocked around as she, first, flicks the gunk off of them, and secondly re-sheathes them inside her coat, looking back to scanning the room for more threats. The room seems just about as under control as a barfight gets, after all.

The demon fighting Jon is tougher than it used to be. When he swings the table, the creature leaps back and flips. It lands back on it's feet and charges with teeth bared. The blinded, oozing demon continues swiping and snapping blindly. It's trying to find Lethe, eager to get it's claws into her for revenge. The initial energy blasts from Jocelyn send the creatures stumbling back with smoking and burning wounds. And then things get bright.

Axiom appreciates the support from Jocelyn, collapsing his staff and reholstering it. He's got no idea how to do that blast thing at all but he closes his eyes and tries to focus on how it felt. All he manages to do is tap into his self boosting...lighting up bright white thanks to the faith power he feels from Billy, Jocelyn, and the civilians brave or stupid enough to remain. And then it hits again...that same surge from before...just a lot bigger. White and blue light wash over the entire club, lighting up part of the street outside. There are some bestial cries of pain as the demons are hit and they seem to just burn away into wisps of red smoke that float up and seem to phase right out of our dimension. Of course there's no property damage...but the others in the club will feel something. Jon, Billy, Jocelyn, Lethe...even the civilians. All of them will feel a surge of power like being boosted. Injuries heal quickly and stamina recharges. They'll also suddenly start feeling good. Like they just got a boost of happy along with power. When the light clears the feelings will linger for about 20 minutes and there's silence since the song ended. Axiom? Well he's out cold and sagging against Jocelyn.

After a few more moments of silence...the DJ turns on another song... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3suGfhnT2Sg)

That takes a bit out of Jocelyn too, but the boost clears that up right away. She notices everyone heal, and the boosting power of Eddie's that supercharges everyone. She takes Eddie up in her arms and smiles. "You'll get the hang of this soon enough, man". She looks over at Jon-El. "Think I'm going to have to take another guy with me out of this club, but we're just friends," she says as she surveys the scene. "Should get him back to a safe place to rest. He's fine," she assures him. "Everyone else alright? Or feeling a bit...charged?" Jocelyn asks.

As the boost of faith energy washes over him Wiccan ends up floating in air with his eyes glowing while the sped up healing fixes the injuries he sustained fighting off his ankle biter of a demon. As the music changes he can't help but laugh and ends up twirling his staff around above his head a couple of times just because he has to go with it. He does a quick circuit over the heads of people around hte club to see what all has been damaged before starting to chant. "Iwantitallwholeandnew, Iwantitallwholeandnew, Iwantitallwholeandnew!" When the spell goes off there is yet another wave of light, but this one fixes everything that has been torn or broken in the fight, and in a few cases with some of the older tables and chairs in the club actually turns them into brand new versions of themselves. "Awmanthisisincreadible." He says without taking a break coming to hover near Jocelyn. "AndIthink..." He takes a second to slow himself down. "Ok, I think I am getting an idea of hos Speed feels half the time. You want I can make sure Axiom gets home. The way I feel I could probably teleport us to the moon and back without any fatigue."

The table in Jon-el's hand shatters against the ground leaving him empty handed and cursing in ancient greek an explicitive that would make someone's ears burn. Then he's slammed by the alien letting out an oooph from getting hit then the energy pulses out and wipes away the demons into fine red mist. "That's gotta be what it feels like to fight Parasite" he says grunting and grinning. "Yea I feel great, what ever you did that was the ticket, took them out and feels like I've drank a case of Soder Energy fizz" he says seeming very pleased with the outcome of the fight.

Lethe closes her eyes at the wave of brightness, bracing herself against an impact that never comes. As she reopens her eyes she shivers a bit, and it's not from the cold. She lets go of the daggers inside of her coat and breathes out a soft, "D'keep that boy around all day," as she looks around the room one last time, already starting to walk backwards and away from the heroes gathering their wits.

As the heroes regroup, civilians also effected let out a cheer and suddenly the heroes are getting people asking for autographs and praising their efforts. Some are offering phone numbers and asking if they want to dance as well. Hey, crazy battle or not they're still a crowd of mostly teenagers. Looks like once again the day has been saved.

"Sure," Jocelyn offers to Wiccan, fully beliving it. "Just don't actually teleport to the moon. At least somewhere you can breathe," the teen says. There's a pause. "On second thought, take me with please. I don't fancy trying to slip out of here right now," she adds. It'd be kind of tricky, to be honest, without being flat out rude. Besides, she hadn't been teleported in a long time. "I'll make my way home from there".

Jon-El smiles to the adoring fans "Sorry, sorry, not right now, sorry, pardon me." he says trying to make his way through the crowd. At one point, one rather insistant fan he actually picks up and sets to the side to make his way through the crowd. "Think you could take me with you?" he calls out to Wiccan seeming at a loss for the massive rush of people scrambling and pulling on his cape and touching him.

Wiccan grins and laughs. "Oh I don't know, pretty sure I could whip up a pocket of air in time to stop explosive decompression too. But, let it never be said I denied a lady a fair request...except for that crazy Amora Fangirl..." Wiccan gives a little shudder and then shakes his head. "Alrighty, anyone else of the cape and tights crowd need a ride? Speak up before we poof." While he waits a second to see if any of the other heroes speak up Wiccan does the responsable hero faced with fans thing the quickest way possible. "Giveanythatwantitautographs, Giveanythatwantitautographs, Giveanythatwantitautographs." With a wave of his hand anyone that wants a Wiccan autograph gets one complete with a small special effect that will fade about the time the boost does. Once he knows every one that wants a ride he starts up the teleport. "Thereisnoplacelikehome, Thereisnoplacelikehome, Thereisnoplacelikehome!"

Lethe closes her eyes at the wave of brightness, bracing herself against an impact that never comes. As she reopens her eyes she shivers a bit, and it's not from the cold. She lets go of the daggers inside of her coat and breathes out a soft, "D'keep that boy around all day," as she looks around the room one last time, already starting to walk backwards and away from the heroes gathering their wits.

She doesn't respond to Wiccan's request, because, uh, weird magic people she has no control over? No thanks. That said, one particularly tall-looking boy seems to have caught her attention as she tries to slip out, a grin growing on her face from the energy the crowd is charged with.