2014.03.09 - Death by Chocolate II

After the battle with chocolate golems after Valentine's Day, the Young Allies got information leading to the source of the attack. By the time they got to the apartment that they'd been sent to it was empty though. Some old fashioned detective work was able to get them more information though. Their target was a red-headed girl with a taste for purple and that worked at a pharmacy. So it's time for a stakeout. On top of a building across the street from the pharmacy the girl works at, Axiom's perched with a pair of binoculars. He's watching the store below and thankfully isn't alone for this job. "Still n-no sign of her."

Hulkling watches, chin on hand and elbow on knee. "I figured. Part of the stake-out business is the staking, per se. We never see the hours of boredom involved in private detective stories. Only the last five minutes when something really happens..." He stretches a little. "How long have we been doing this?"

"Umm...about an hour," Axiom replies, looking over at his teammate. He offers an apologetic smile before looking back through the binoculars. He's quiet for a few moments before biting his lip. "Umm...Hulkling?" he hesitates. "While w-w-we're waiting...could I ask you something? K-kind of personal?" Hulkling raises an eyebrow. "Go ahead. Is something the matter?"

Lowering the binoculars, Axiom shifts awkwardly. "Nothing's the m-matter but umm...you and Billy have b-b-been going out awhile, right?" he asks, for a moment thankful it was just him and Teddy. If anyone else was around he probably wouldn't have asked. "What k-kind of stuff do you guys do?" he asks.

This prompts an even higher raised eyebrow from the green teen. "Eddie... are you asking if Billy and I ... fool around?"

Axiom's about as red as Teddy is green at this point. "Umm...s-s-sort of," he replies.

Hulkling takes a deep breath. Okay, the question was sort of personal... but Eddie was like a little brother to him. "I'm not going to say it hasn't been a temptation, Eddie. We're flesh and blood. BUT--"

A raised finger. "... I can't take the risk of going too fast and ruin everything. Not with Billy's self-esteem the way it is right now. He already worries about things, adding the extra dimension before he's ready would just be bad for him. And then there's his mother..."

The young man chuckles, "I mean... there are things I'd prefer facing, like monsters from outer space, before facing Mrs. Kaplan finding out that Billy and I didn't wait."

Eddie listens quietly, a little concerned expression coming to his face at the mention of Billy's self-esteem. Of course the mention of Mrs. Kaplan makes him shudder. "Umm...well...h-how do you know when you're ready? I...I've b-b-b-been spending a lot of time with Fox and he gave me a k-key to his base and said I could come by whenever I w-w-wanted," Eddie babbles a little, still blushing red. Of course as he's about to say more, he notices something down below. A girl with bright red hair in a shocking purple outfit. Jumping a little, Axiom points. "It's her!"

Hulkling mutters "Red and purple... someone must be colorblind." And somewhere in the city, a cat-man had a pang, and didn't know why.

"Let's tail her... quietly." he says hushed.

Nodding, Axiom heads quickly for the fire escape to scramble his way down to the street. He's still blushing a little, thinking about what he was trying to ask Teddy. He'll probably apologize awkwardly after. But for now...villainess to track down.

The girl who's been identified as Violet is making her way out of the pharmacy with her paycheck and a bag. She seems pretty annoyed, bumping into people as she walks and just about biting the head off anyone that says anything to her. "MOVE IT!"

Hulkling mutters. SOMEONE seems to be in a bad mood. The teen remains in the rooftops while Eddie moves down. Two angles to keep an eye on her- and he had the ability to swoop down to assist at ground level. But if she tried to give Eddie the slip, he could see from a higher vantage point.

Sticking to alleys and only occasionally popping his head out, the costumed Axiom tailed Violet to the corner where she waits at the crosswalk. While waiting, the girl takes what appears to be a compact out of her purse and opens it. At first it looks like a normal mirror but then she murmurs something and a faint purple light comes from within. Her eyes go wide and she wheels around, the spell she cast alerting her to the fact that she's being followed. Spotting Axiom, Violet's expression becomes an enraged one. "YOU!" she exclaims, arcane energies gathering around her. "You're going to pay for getting in my way!"

Ok. Magic was not a good thing. But if there was one thing Hulkling had learned about magic users was that at least some of them needed mouths or eye contact to cast their spells. The teen jumps over the building and glides into the air-- careful not to enter her line of sight, he tries to fly so that he comes about behind her in the air, ready to dive at her from behind at the first sign of magic shooting towards Eddie.

Axiom lets out a little squeak when found out. A few people on the street turn to look and Axiom jumps again. "G-get to cover!" he warns, people starting to move. Others are taking out phones to snap pictures. Axiom's a little internet-famous thanks to his recent video. Violet meanwhile hasn't noticed Hulkling. No, she's taking something out of her bag...a small pack of M&Ms. She tears them open and there's a swirl of magic energy before those candies start growing and some fusing together until there's a trio of candy-coated golems facing down Axiom. "Kill him!"

Hulkling 's wings flap, then snap closed slightly as he adjusts his body for a dive as he swoops down- his attempt is to swoop in, scoop the sorceress up and throw her at her own creations. "I'm sorry, but we're not interested in tasting the rainbow today." That's Skittles, but he's got nothing for M&Ms that would be appropriate.

Violet yelps as she's grabbed, scratching at Hulkling reflexively. And those nails are pretty sharp too. Thankfully not poisoned though. "Catch me!" she screeches, two of the golems turning to catch their creator. The third meanwhile lumbers at Axiom. He gives it a swift kick...only to stumble backwards and hop a little. "Ow ow ow," he yelps. Candy armor. "There's nother one," Violet points up at Hulkling. "Destroy the Young Allies and then we'll finish what we started last month!"

"Sorry, Sabrina, I'm calling an end to your hocus-pocus." Hulkling's thick transformed absorbs most of the scratch damage, but he sweeps away and lands on the sidewalk. "Melts in your mouth but not in your hand? We'll see about that..." he reaches over to a fire hydrant and -wrenches- it, producing a stream of high-pressure water which he seeks to direct towards the golems. And the spellcaster, because she doesn't deserve any better treatment than that.

"It's Violet, you big green buffoon!" Violet yells, hiding behind one of her golems. Another keeps trying to catch Axiom who dodges around it. The third has turned it's attention towards Hulkling, lumbering at him. The water is slowing it down and washing the color off it's candy shell but not stopping it.

"Hey, I'm not the one sending out monsters after my ex. What kind of sad loser do you have to be to do that?" It becomes clear that the water isn't doing the trick. So he goes back to the simple pleasures of being a kid... cracking that delicious, chocolatey shell. He takes a few steps back and grabs one of those newspaper dispensing machines, muscles bulging. "Hey, Axiom- help me smash?" he calls out as he throws the machine at the golem approaching him, giving Axiom the cue to mimic an boost him.

"That bastard deserved it! And he still deserves to get crushed!" Violet protects, rumamging for something in her bag. Axiom meanwhile looks up from baseball-sliding under his golem. "Whatever he d-d-did to you doesn't justify attempted murder!" Axiom yelps. Hulkling then gets his attention and he nods. "Got it!" he calls, eyes lighting up bright blue. He boosts Hulkling. A few moments later and there's a flash of light. His costume shifts into a fusion of his own and Hulkling's and he ends up as green as his friend. He even ends up with some piercings in his ears. With the new strength, he turns to punch the golem he's been fighting and his fist crashes right through the shell...showering him in chocolate.

Meanwhile, Hulking's boost-enhanced strength is even more effective than it normally is. That metal and plastic machine crashes right through the golem and leaves a large hole. The beast staggers a few times and then collapses, oozing chocolate onto the pavement.

"Now I'm beginning to see why you were dumped." Hulkling ducks and, with his increased strength, picks up a manhole off the sewer cover as if it were the easiest thing in the world. He twirls like an olympian going for the disc toss and throws it at the remaining golem. "You're all rotten to the core, a real bitter piece of chocolate, aren't you?"

"You don't know anything!" Violet calls, more bright purple mystic energies swirling around her. She dives to the side as the manhole cover imbeds in the golem's chest and the beast falls over with a dull groan. As she goes, she flings something out...two bright yellow things. One splats onto the ground and the other slaps Hulking in the chest and sticks there. The one on the ground starts first...bubbling, growing and expanding into a humanoid shape. Seconds later the one on Hulkling's chest is starting to do the same...expanding and growing. It's sticky, sugary, and if investigated...it looks like it used to be a Peep. Now it's quickly growing larger while the other one becomes a Peep-golem. Seven feet tall...and sporting a pair of rabbit ears. Axiom meanwhile spits out some chocolate and punches the golem he's fighting again, knocking it over and shattering it.

Hulkling aghs, looking down at his chest. "Really?..." he shakes his head and runs over to the stream of water, leaning into it to subject the growing Peeplem to its natural enemy--- water.

Water proves helpful this time. The growing peep-monster starts sliding off Hulkling and dissolving. Unfortunately it's also leaving a yellow stain on his costume. Oops. One is down but the fully formed golem isn't. It's arms stretch out and grab Hulkling's shoulders, dragging him back from the water and towards it.

"Hulkling!" Axiom exclaims. He starts to run to help his friend...only to fall flat on his face as something grabs his ankle. Looks like Axiom's got his hands full dealing with a golem made of Twizzlers. "Oh man...." he yelps, starting to hack at the sticky red rope that's grabbed onto him with his staff.

Hulkling tries to punch at the peep, but remembers how soft and mushy these things are. That's not going to work at all-- that's when the sharp claws come out. "It's way past Thanksgiving, Sabrina!" he calls out, and starts clawing at the sugary confection turned golem.

Claws aren't as helpful as might be hoped. Sure they cut into the marshmallowy body of the golem but they don't get all the way through. Hulkling's arms get stuck in the golem...and worse still, the sugary beast starts pulling him in slowly. Axiom meanwhile isn't doing much better. He's fighting still but can't seem to get free. Violent stands, discarding candy packages. "Who cares about the date? He was suppoed to die on Valentine's Day but you and those other little brats got in my way."

Hulkling grunts, and quickly begins to increase his density up to the highest amount he can, in order to try to topple the Peeplem and onto Violet. "I'm sorry... I can't hear you over the sound of how pathetic you are."

The golem keeps pulling on Hulkling, dragging him deeper into that marshmallowy mass. Hopefully he doesn't mind stickiness and powdered sugar. The golem topples but Violet moves out of the way, crouching down next to the golem as it starts expanding to engulf the boosted shapeshifter once they're both on the ground. "Should have stayed home, stupid kid," she taunts, maybe getting too close to Hulkling. Axiom is doing much worse, wrapped up in strawberry flavored golem even as he keeps trying to pull free. Hulkling nnngggrhs. He does not mind sticky and sugary- after all, he lived through Valentines' day. He does mind, however, getting pulled in. With one of his free legs, he tries to give Violet a good wallop as she leans closer to him.

Think quickly... what would the Hulk do?

Forget about the Hulk. You can change shapes!

Suddenly, Hulkling's boddy mass shifts drastically, trying to shift quickly enough that there's enough of a leeway to wiggle out of the Peep and jump back from it.

Violet gets knocked back clear off her feet by that leg. She starts getting up, enen more angry now that she's bleeding from the nose. Meanwhile, that shapeshifting trick proves very effective. It doesn't get him completely free but it does provide enough room to jump and put the golem back at arm's distance. It also lets Hulkling crash into Violet. She yells and goes flying again. Her head hits a mailbox...and she's out like a light. For a moment there's a pause and then the golems start melting into piles of sticky sugary liquid. Axiom emerges from melting twizzler goo, still green...but hard to tell with all the sticky red goo on him. He coughs a few times and looks around. "Wh-what happened?"

Hulkling starts cleaning himself off from the sugar and the stickiness. "Rule number one of fighting spellcasters: Knock them out and most spells break. I guess she decided to go and kiss the mailbox... why don't you get me some rope so we can tie and gag her? I don't need her casting a chocolate bunny golem when she gets to."

Trying to get clean as well, Axiom nods a little. He collapses his staff and attaches it back to his belt. "I n-need a shower..." he murmurs. Teddy probably will too. "I've g-got some zip ties," he says, fishing them from his belt and offering them to Hulkling. "I'll find a rope or something," he adds, scurrying off after handing his teammate the bindings. He's gone for a few moments before he comes back with a cheap scarf he had to buy. "This is all I c-c-could find."

Hulkling hehs. "Well... that's enough. Let me call the Scarlet Witch, she should be able to get her locked up somewhere where she can't use magic. I've got her number." That surprises Axiom. "You d-d-do?" he asks, staring at his friendn with fanboy mode active. "When did you get that?" he asks, quickly binding up Violet.

Hulkling grins, "A couple of days ago. Ask Billy, he'll tell you the story..." he digs into his unifor for his phone. It's covered in Peep.

Axiom nods quickly. He'll be asking Wiccan alright. When he sees Hulkling's phone, Axiom winces. "Looks like we'll have t-t-to ask him to clean the phones too..." Hulkling sighs, "Ah well, at least we've got this do-- hello? W-- Scarlet Witch?" Hulkling starts talking, trying to decide how to best introduce the topic of what has happened.

Fridays always were a little bit odd.