Marvel, Rebirth:

[otter]

IC:

 

Erin stood and watched as Marlon played Galaga and tried to get everybody else to do everything else for him, such as get him chips and Gatorade. He didn't really feel like getting Marlon Gatorade - Erin could be lazy too - so instead, he did something completely different.

 

He opened his own Gatorade and took a sip from it.

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

He'd left the kid once before, when he was barely old enough to stand. Daken's personality had always been a gale force wind; when he had last taken his leave of his little brother, John Howlett could hardly stand in his wake without being bowled over. He'd given the kid [no longer his brother; simply the kid; the failure; The Scream] almost nineteen years to change things up.

 

The door was cold metal, unyielding and disappointed. Nothing could breach it. Nothing would be allowed.

 

"Show me what you got," he said quietly. "Put them up."

 

He had promised Asa lunch - Akihiro walked to the kitchen of his quarters and pulled some pretzel buns out of the cabinet. Leah said something; Angela yelled a quip. Daken was distracted with lunch. He had promised Asa lunch.

 

Daken would do anything for his team.

 

-Tyler

[Simulacrum]

-IC:-

 

The air seemed coagulated and acrimonious in the presence of Saint-Just, an amorphous presence that pervaded the tissue of the lungs and diffused its insidious phlegm into the bloodstream. One became self-conscious and miserable; dreams and hopes seemed inane, childish oneirism.

 

Pretzel buns, for example, tasted bitter, painfully saliferous.

 

Daken's eyes were as dynamic and alert as ever, but something seem subtly different. Not the presence of a sadness or a regret, but the unintended absence of emotional response. An empty space where one never previously perceived a sense of space or limit. Perhaps misguided and confused veneration for a mostly ignored enemy functions as a telling description.

Khalid's stare did not falter, despite its target. He did not speak, but stood soundlessly, posture intermediate between erect and slouch.

 

A long, cruelly mechanical device was held in Khalid's hands with a bizarre gentleness. Daken would recognise it as the illustrious hitman's Remington 11-87 shotgun, equipped with a suppressor of Khalid's own design.

 

The futility of a device trying to quiet the naturally thunderous was sickening to Daken. The saline bread within his mouth turned toxicant.

 

No words passed between them.

 

Khalid's head did not turn in a farcical parody of animal curiosity. No psychotic smile played on his lips. He barely breathed.

 

Granitic, tempered with dispassion.

 

He removed the firearm's safety, and walked to Daken's door, listening silently. His footfalls seemed impossibly silent; the ideal predator. Unboasting confidence of the apex. The vicious shotgun was fully prepared. No need for theatrical loading or trigger-cocking.

 

He waited.

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

Dallas looked over his shoulder at the retreating Lilliana, fingers weaving through the bills and counting their worth. The chronokinetic ran his tongue along his bottom row of teeth and then looked at Card with a wolfish grin.

 

"Hey, babe. Want a coffee?"

 

-Tyler

[AuRon the champion]

Ic:

 

"Uhm, sure?" She replied, taken aback by dal's behavior.

 

Particularly the fact she didn't think he'd ever called her "babe" before.

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

Rolling the money around his index finger, Dallas went up and ordered Card a simple iced coffee; his own specialized drink had taken much longer to prepare so Dal came walking back about four dollars poorer and a coffee richer. He sat it down on the table in front of Card and then straddled his own seat, looking up from his own drink and smiling that Dallas smile.

 

"So, what's got you and the teacher riled up?" he asked casually. "The anger radiating off you two was almost as hot as...well, you two. I could have cooked a pound of bacon with all those negative vibes."

 

-Tyler

[Eevee]

IC

 

Lilliana, on the other hand, had already caught a cab to... Somewhere, specifically somewhere with booze. It was with these instructions that the cab driver delivered her to Cockadelli, although Lilliana didn't really pay attention between holding back her tears and failing at it miserably.

 

She perched herself at the bar, ignoring the various tasteful pictures of nude men, and called out for something strong to the bartender. The man, going by the name of Maurice, delivered her some large, colorful, and decorated drink, which she then proceeded to down.

 

"Hmmm what's wrong, honey?" A man asked, sliding into the seat besides her. The girl looked up and was surprised to see a man looking very similar to Cinna from the hunger games.

 

"Men." She said pitifully.

[AuRon the champion]

Ic:

 

As she took the coffee, she glanced back at the direction from whence they came.

 

"John," she said with a scowl as she prepared to take a sip of the simply delightful concoction, "he was with his older brother... Daken or whatever. Do you remember what happened to our version of him? Did we even meet him?"

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

"If there's a Daken back home, I never heard of him. Neither had John." Dal thought on that for a second. Could people really be just...totally missing like that? He knew most of the X-Men by sight if not personally, just because he'd known his versions of them, but there had been only one Angela Dean, and as far as he could tell the LeBeau twins were solely a product of this dimension, too. If there was anyone who would be lost in the dimensional shuffle, it was another one of Wolverine's kids. "Why's he still alive?"

 

"I don't know. I just saw him with John, who was pissing off Lilliana. From the looks of it, I'd say they're in cahoots... But I didn't really see much through the red murderous veil of hate that I get every time I see a John howlett."

 

"Oh, and Lilliana also kissed the Daken-guy. I think."

 

Dallas looked over Card's shoulder at the path Lilliana had blazed and raised an eyebrow. "I meant John. Why haven't I seen a clip on Vine of you holding his throat in your teeth like a hyena yet? I would've helped you hide him. Were you guys eating lunch? We could've turned him into lunch meat. Matt Summers worked at Firehouse Subs for a little bit before the Phalanx invaded. He once told me that you could saw your arm into pieces on that cleaver thing. Watch his healing factor slowly fail, watch the cuts stop sealing themselves slowly..." Dal sighed, caught in fantasy, and took a dreamy sip of his drink.

 

-Tyler

[Eevee]

IC

 

"Oh hon-E! It's always men." Another voice spoke up, a slighter higher one with a Hispanic accent of some sorts. Lilliana peeked to her right and saw a large, manly looking woman with a five o'clock shadow.

 

"Fuego, I'm not sure if now is the time." The Cinna looking man replied sharply, the Hispanic drag Queen ignoring his words and gently playing with the ice mutants hair.

 

"But Lamar! She's so saaaaad!" A blonde man said with a pout as he leaned against Lilliana's chair.

 

".... I don't know why I let you all in this bar." Lamar said with a roll of his eyes.

 

Lilliana, now sort of buzzed, sat in her chair, very confused.

[AuRon the champion]

Ic:

 

"I was trying not to commit murder in public. Speaking of which... I want you to help me find him."

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

"Trying to commit a murder in private?"

 

-Tyler

[AuRon the champion]

Ic:

 

"Partially. I also want my arm back, and John is the key to that..." She said, continuing to take small sips of the iced coffee.

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

Dallas considered the notion while he took a long drink of coffee. His electric blue eyes were sly and bored, but there was the predator's hunger in them now; an electric, surreal blue, they gave away his sudden, cruel interest in getting the Ultimates some payback.

 

"I'd need to bring Tali," he objected. "She won't like the idea of hunting him down, but if I leave her alone in the mall, she'll never forgive me - and I kind of like her...forgiveness."

 

He beamed at Card cutely.

 

-Tyler

[Eevee]

IC

 

Lamar rolled his eyes at the other man and Fuego gave Lilliana a comforting pat on the shoulder as she sat there dazed.

 

"Leroy, we know she is sad." Lamar said with a sigh before looking at Lilliana. "The question is, honey, why?"

 

Having been closed up about everything for so long, the words just seemed to burst from her lips. She told them everything, leaving out all details having to do with mutants, and even included that days events, even the angry and spiteful kiss she gave Daken (the trio of men snapped their fingers at that, almost as if it were some form of slam poetry).

 

"Lilliana," Lamar said seriously, "you need to be Sasha Fierce right now, not Beyoncé. You have to forget about that guy honey."

 

"I could set you up with some of my straight friends!" Leroy added happily.

[AuRon the champion]

Ic:

 

"I've noticed," she said with a bemused grin.

 

"So yeah, well get tali, run out for a pizza, maybe get a couple drinks, and murder the . Sound good?"

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

"If you mean drinks as in cola products, yeah, sounds ace. I'm not letting you drink before you kill a guy, though. Tends to lead to a botched murder. Lots of blood. Sometimes he names his killer before he croaks. You don't get those problems with a Cherry Pepsi in your system."

 

-Tyler

[AuRon the champion]

Ic:

 

"Dallas. When I kill someone properly, I only leave fingerprints. Which we could totally get rid of."

[Flex Lord Splash]

IC:

 

"What happened? Is she okay?" Jennifer said as she came after John into the next room.

 

IC:

 

As he rested against the cold, uncaring metal of Daken's door John heard a voice from behind him. It was one of Daken's Dark Avengers. Someone who could have been John's ally, maybe even his friend if Daken hadn't gone insane and thrown everything away. All Daken had done, all the torture he had put John through now was absolutely meaningless. Daken didn't understand the notion of family, that sometimes there are bumps in the road but you get over them, you forgive and you make up. John asked Daken to do something in the heat of anger and now his own older brother had sentenced him to death, it figured. John should have expected something like this all along.

 

When the heat burst towards John's temples he rolled across the floor, the flames instead impacting the metal door Daken was hiding behind so he didn't have to watch his own brother die. Some of the flames ignited the end of John's hood as he jumped to his feet now. He tossed the hoodie to the floor along with his sunglasses, revealing his silver-white machine eyes as they narrowed and he took in Leah.

 

He was breathing hard now. The time for begging for mercy was done. If John was to die here he'd do it on his feet and he'd go out fighting. He'd always loved fighting, the adrenaline it gave him, the feeling of defeating his enemies.

 

"You're the animal not me Daken," John shouted as he slowly stepped to the right waiting for Leah to make another move. "Killing you're own younger brother for no reason, doesn't it make sense that I'd have these violent tendencies? I looked up to you! I was trying to keep us together! You're letting her control you Daken! This is what she wanted!" so many emotions were running through John Howlett: anger, betrayal, sadness, and yes ever fear.

 

"You should have killed me a year ago at Weapon-X and saved me all that worthless torture! In fact you're a coward for hiding in you're room! Come out here and watch me die with your own eyes!" he shouted. He was trying to illicit a response out of his older brother, trying to get him to come out, to do something. If he was to die he wanted it to be in the presence of his family, even if Daken was insane and the reason he was about to die.

 

If John was going to die here, he'd do it as the son of Logan, as the son of Wolverine. He had no weapons, no hope, but he had to do something. John dove behind a counter to protect him from the flames for a moment and then he began to scream. He concentrated every fiber of his being, ever ounce of self control on his fists. I need my claws... I know they can grow back... please... whoever is up there... let me die with my dignity, let me die as myself and not the shell of who I once was Daken tried to turn me into.

 

Every muscle in John's body tensed and veins pulsated on his neck as he continued to yell.

 

SNIKT. Blood spurted from each of John's knuckles as three bone claws tore there way from his fists. He stopped screaming, and instead he began to laugh with joy. They were back, they'd grown back. John hurled himself over the counter now, his organic metal now coating the bone claws as he charged towards Leah with surprising speed and swiped his claws at her chest.

 

OOC:

 

If you try to fight his claws coming back, they've been gone for a long time, he's had plenty of time to grow them back, also see the newest Wolverine movie where they grow back against the Silver Samurai. Also I only ever let them be removed because I trusted Tyler and the plot he said was going to happen and now that he's betrayed me yet again I'd like if my character could die with dignity and how I wanted him to be not all the **** Tyler had done to him for no reason. 

 

Also I'd like a detailed description of the room John is in, furniture, windows, hallways etc.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Flex Till Death

[Eyru]

IC

 

Four seconds before the son of Wolverine hurled himself at the Dark Avengers, laughing like a deranged hyena, Angela spoke up.

 

"Look out, Fireball," she said, languidly examining her nails. "Claws. Three, two, one..."

[Relapse]

OOC: Wolverine's claws grew back as bone rather than metal, but from the context I'm assuming Howlett's skeleton is naturally metal. It's whatever, really.

 

IC: (Leah)

 

"I don't think Daken is listening to you," she said in response to John's rambling.

 

The pyrokinetic tilted her head as Howlett grew claws. This didn't worry her, however- she had a number of advantages, the least of which was not the powerful team of superhumans she had allied herself with. She threw an appreciative wink in Angela's direction but getting down to business.

 

John had a few factors in his favor as well. She just had to turn them around on him, something she could do and had done for years. His claws were his first advantage. She had no melee weapons, so she couldn't deflect or block them- all she could do was dodge. Bending her knees, she ducked under the swipe. Momentum was his second tool, his most powerful...but also his most easily turned on him. As she ducked, she darted hard into his knees with (slightly) superhuman strength.

 

Unless he had developed the ability to teleport, he would tumble over her, landing flat on his back.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Al the Chicken Man

[Flex Lord Splash]

OOC: His skeleton is natural bone (it at one point was coated with adamantium) but that's besides the point. He has a secondary natural power that allows him to coat his claws in organic metal much like colossus, its in his profile.

 

IC:

 

Daken had torn out John's beautiful blue natural eyes and had replaced them with cold metal ones wired to his brain. Yet these new eyes gave John one new advantage, they had improve his sight. Improved his reflexes as well and also allowed him to see in different vision modes. The minute Leah began to duck under his swipe John grounded his feet against the floor, stopping most of his momentum, her hit impacted his knee, hard too. Instead of falling flat John jumped backwards now, he felt pain as he landed on his knee, but it should heal soon.

 

John crouched low now as he stared her down. He then burst forward coming at her like an animal on all four before he threw himself at her trying to slash her leg.

 

"Angela, why are you helping them? Don't you remember me? We were both X-Men together." he growled. 

 

Thinking about the X-Men brought a ton of memories to the forefront of John's mind. He saw himself with Ashlynn Summers, he saw Beast, he saw Alex and Dallas and Ric. He missed those days, and he knew they were never coming back. Maybe he'd Join Ashlynn and Beast soon. Maybe he'd see his dad too. He knew now why his father had hated Daken. His brother had hated him back and had in turn took it out on John trying to steal everything from them that made him like his father, his eyes, his claws, his emotions.

[Relapse]

OOC: Yup, you're right. My mistake.

 

IC: (Leah)

 

As John lunged, she sidestepped gracefully, twirled, and aimed a rough kick at his lower spine, likely causing an incredible amount of pain if it hit. While he had his back to her, she channeled a tendrillic stream of flame to follow his head, wherever he moved it. Even if he dodged (which wasn't likely, as he literally couldn't see it coming), it would likely set fire to his hair, which, at its short length, would burn to his skull before he could put the flames out.

 

"Feel free to take a seat," she said to her comrades, "animal control is always simple with a little fire in the mix."

[Eyru]

IC

 

"You were an X-Man," Angela snapped, her facade cracking for the briefest second. "I was the weird precog who had to watch you and Summers make out for twice as long as everyone else. Go to ."

[Eevee]

IC

 

"Like?" Lamar asked, both he, Fuego, and Lilliana watching Leroy curiously.

 

"Jimmy! He'd be perfect! I could totally set them up! It'll be so fetch!"

 

"First off," Lamar said, sticking his pointer finger out, "Jimmy is still with that gold digger he met in Lagos. Second," he held his middle finger out now too. "Stop trying to make fetch happen. Fetch is not going to happen."

 

"Look," Lilliana cut in before another retort could be made, "thank you guys so much for all of this... but it's okay. Maybe I'll find someone eventually.., maybe even at the gala."

 

"Gala?" Lamar asked, obviously intrigued. "You were invited to the Hellfire Gala, too?"

 

"Yes... I guess that's unusual?"

 

"A bit. I mean I am a fabulous and famous photographer darling, it would be unheard of if I wasn't invited, but you... You said you're a teacher... Did you get a dress yet?"

 

"No. I was going to look today but, well you know what happened."

 

This time Feugo pipped up. "We should all go shopping sometime! Girl I know the best places for dresses!"

 

"Feugo, she does not need your cheap show dresses. We are going to see Betty. She always has the best." Lamar grabbed Lilliana's hand and smiled. "You are my new project."

[Snelly]

IC: Ashley

 

"Dallassss...." Ashley lay her feet on him, "...have you ever had the feelings that somethin amazzinnn is happpening somewheres else?" 

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

"Mmm." Dallas ran a hand through his thick dirty blonde hair and shrugged nonchalantly. "Sometimes. When I wake up and find out I slept through first and second period, or when I can hear a fight going on through a classroom wall. Nothing like watching a fight." 

 

He looked over at the plant girl and his eyebrows rose. 

 

"Sorry. Forgot you didn't like fights."

 

-Tyler

Edited July 30, 2014 by Brooklyn Pace-Carlisle

[Snelly]

IC: Ashley

 

Ashley shrugged. "It's fiiiiine....I like...stopping fights...that's practicallyyyy the same thing...." 

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

"I think there's a difference or two. You...sure you don't want to sleep or something?"

 

-Tyler

Edited July 30, 2014 by Brooklyn Pace-Carlisle

[Snelly]

IC: Ashley

 

"I'll sleep when I'm dead!" 

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

"Don't...don't say that." Dallas grumbled something else to himself and then pushed his hair back over his eyes. "Well, I was nearly asleep."

 

-Tyler

[Snelly]

IC: Ashley

 

"Oh...sowwy..." Ashley pouted, before glancing at the nearby window, there were flashes of red and blue...and come to think of it there was a lot of noise coming from outside the suite, a lot of footsteps, and a lot of frantic talking about a 'crazy mutant riding a giant pumpkin'. Ashley thought that sounded absurd, who would ride a pumpkin? 

 

"I think they're having a party...maybe they have cake." 

Edited July 30, 2014 by Princess Anna of Arendelle

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

IC: Skylar's attempts at trying to rediscover the land of nod were, alas, doomed to failure. There was a most insistent knocking at the door to her apartment.

 

"Yeah yeah I'm coming, cut it out!"

 

She began the ritual of preparing to stand. Her leg braces went first, stacked up against her bed in easy reach. The snapping of each  support locking in place sounded as loud and doom-filled as the slamming of a crypt door. With those in place she had to twist and writhe as much of her lower body as she could to inch it off the bed before grabbing the crutc-

The knocking started up again.

 

"I said I was coming you ©*©%$⎵©%£®!" 

 

As though the heavens had taken issue with her profanity a shower of sparks flashed from her mouth with her curse. Skylar immediately clapped her hand to her lips, honed instincts and past experience combining to prevent her incinerating anything. Again. 

One of these days she was going to have to figure put how these powers worked. Especially the fire breath. She'd had to replace her bed and do her best to cover the scorch marks when it had activated in her sleep, and the burning spray from her deeper breaths had set the floor around her on fire.

Doing her best to stumble along to the door using one crutch and a useless pair of legs, and after much fumbling with the latch, she managed to open the door the merest crack possible, trying to make it look like she was yawning so covering her mouth wouldn't look so odd. 

 

"Hwwuh?"

 

The mailman looked at her oddly. She feverishly hoped it was a look of pity at the woman with crutches not a look of fear at the freakish mutant. "Package for Miss Vance?"

 

"Mmuh."

 

She wobbled a bit as her free hand went from holding her up to signing for the parcel, but managed it without falling completely. Or, you know, setting fire to the mailman. She too the parcel with as much a smile she could muster while holding her lips shut and shuffled back inside. 

God she was such a /⎵©%ing mess. Couldn't even pick up the mail with shambling like a godforsaken corpse. Well she wasn't dead yet so she wasn't going to give fate, or this disease or...or nosey /⎵©%ing postmen the satisfaction. 

She made her way back to her bed, dropping the remaining crutch as she tore open her parcel.

...what in the world was this? A...a mask? And the letter that went with it. What on earth could Hellfire want with her?

[Light]

IC: Nate had moved so he was behind John, nocking his bow with a type of arrow he almost hadn't wanted to make.

 

Well, not for the reason he made them, anyway.

 

They were anti-healing arrows, barbed on both ends so a healing factor would merely cocoon them in scar tissue.

 

Nate released the string, arrow sailing on a direct course for John's heart, aimed from where it couldn't hurt those who were past him.

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

"It'll only take a minute." Ric's thin mouth quirked and he casually Frisbee tossed Lacey Marko's manilla folder onto Romulus' desk, skirting one of the mounds of paperwork and making one of the forms flutter at the corners. The Black King leaned back in his chair with a sideways, casual look at Cynegild Picker and then made a shrugging motion with his hands. "The sat images speak for themselves. Troop movements on Genosha reading hot and heavy on Monday. Come Wednesday, not a living soul on the island. Normally, I'd call it Pietro Maximoff's friendly ghost and move on with my life, but there's also the matter of the Terrigen theft from one of my planes around the same region last week. Anberlyn has gotten sulky since she surrendered her operations in Africa, and she's not taking this one by the horns with me. Lynae's busy with gala prep, so she won't either. Even if they would...well. Y'know. Troop movements. Superpower-enhancing mists. Who else would I have come to?"

 

-Tyler

Edited July 31, 2014 by Brooklyn Pace-Carlisle

[Havelock Vetinari]

IC (Romulus)

 

"Ah. I had assumed.." Romulus looked over the contents of the folder, running over each photo and document with a practiced and quick eye. He lingered on a few of the documents, mentally calling up the various mission plans, vehicles and personal related to the Genosha operation...as well as their objective. "I had assumed their lack of contact was related to the conflict within the Congo, but if the Brothers of Yellow Sign were active on that island, we'd know it by now." Romulus leaned forward. "I would rule out HYDRA, they're not subtle. Remus and her followers are a possibility, though she's been spotted in DC." The emperor rubbed his chin contemplatively. "Perhaps your sister attempted to make Africa her own little kingdom, she tried much the same with the local underworld, as I understand it. They could be targeting the Hellfire Club in general as a result." Romulus clasped his hands together. "How, if I may ask, was it stolen? It may illuminate the objective of this force, if it is, indeed, the same culprit." 

Edited July 31, 2014 by Basilisk

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

"Well, we're assuming it was stolen. Truth is, it kind of just...vanished. Trajectory suggest somewhere between Genosha proper and westward, out near the Congo." Ric Carlisle had an easy smile on his face; didn't look concerned as much as intrigued in his own right. His brushes with death and time as an X-Man had left him with some healthy skepticism for the more mystical, preferring to believe in what technology and mutations he knew worked. "Wasn't anything more than a single guy. The ship landed with the crew intact, and my guys are trained to recognize stowaways. I could have done it if I'd been onboard, but I mean, that means we're talking someone who moves and thinks faster than anyone on my payroll. And the Terrigen was worthless. To manipulate it, you'd need to have someone who could get close enough to it that their mutation didn't go haywire."

 

Alaric stopped, his hyperkinetic brain already paused and rewinding what he'd just said. Romulus knew the look by now; the facade had been cast away, and now that he knew what he was looking at he saw Ric's eyes, dancing between deep blue and harsh violet depending on the way the room's lighting cast his sharp face. 

 

"You didn't happen to have any mutants in your Genosha team...?"

 

-Tyler

Edited July 31, 2014 by Brooklyn Pace-Carlisle

[Havelock Vetinari]

IC (Romulus)

 

Now Romulus looked very serious indeed. "One, a pyrokinetic. Brazilian. Male. He went by the name of Angel Cortez. One of my Primi OIrdines. Though, I admit I am more concerned about the Congo being a possible destination for this mist. That alone is very concerning. If the Brothers are involved...well, I suppose this is as good a time as any. Mr. Picker was a great help during my operations within the Congo and it is my understanding he has assembled a full account of his actions during this time. The Brothers had certain...resources....at their disposal." For a moment the Emperor's mind seemed to be elsewhere.

 

Romulus and his personal escorts marched beneath a night sky filled with stars that seemed...wrong somehow. He couldn't say what was wrong with them exactly, they were the same stars that had always been suspended within the void but now there seemed to be a feeling of nameless malevolence to the celestial bodies. He called a stop to the column, they had just exited the jungle, following in the wake of their strike earlier in the day. Perhaps the Brothers had left behind an ambush. He could not know for certain, but his instincts, older then even the Immortal Emperor, were screaming within the ordered chambers of his mind. They could not name what they felt of course, being ancient mechanisms of the mind, but one thing was certain. They wanted him to run. Quickly.

 

Then he heard it, it sounded like wings, though there his mind ceased it's normally clockwork process of identification. A call...of some sort floated over the breeze. It was not the call of a bird, it was a foul, bitter thing, that seemed to poison the very air it touched. He could only identify a few of the sounds it spoke of, his vocabulary simply refused to conjure up a complete description. It was shrill, screeching, sharp....and much more then that. Then, as if summoned by the cry, the stench of raw, rotting meat filled the air, but beneath this smell was something else. Something cold, something unspeakably ancient. For a bizarre moment, he thought of it as a yellow smell. It was a festering, gangrenous yellow smell. 

 

"Ready weapons."

 

His legionnaires reacted with commendable speed, fanning out into cover, bringing up their assault rifles and various other bits of weaponry. He would have felt better with some armored trucks within the column, but the terrain in this area was simply too rough. As that thought crossed his mind, another one of those damnable calls filled the air and that diseased stink seemed to grow yet stronger...

 

Romulus shook his head, clearing his thoughts.

 

"I did not personally encounter any Terrigen Gas...and my contact with the brothers was limited to combat engagements. Mr. Picker's forces infiltrated the enemy lines quite a few times. Perhaps his account can shed some light on this...?"

Edited July 31, 2014 by Basilisk

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

IC (Cynegild Picker):

 

Mr. Picker shifted uncomfortably in his chair, and cleared his throat softly.

 

"I must admit that the actions of my hired operatives were somewhat limited in scope, focused on preventing the end-game the Brothers had planned, rather than broad military action against the Yellow Sign. As you are aware, I was able to secure the services of a Swiss private military contractor - highly recommended in our circles - to disrupt activities at what sat images indicated as a major temple site. They reported no teratogenic substances matching the description you gave."

 

---

 

After giving a press conference in the ruins of Blackpool, detailing his plans for helping the victims of the still-fresh damage dealt to the United Kingdom by HYDRA, Cynegild had quickly boarded another of his planes, this time heading for mainland Europe. HYDRA's efforts to unite the world against them were concerning, of course, but the briefing he had received from the Imperator regarding events in the Congo was closer to the forefront of his mind - shadowy organizations with ominous names like Cleaners were troublesome enough without one of their operatives going rogue and starting a cult.

 

Touching down at a private airfield in Switzerland, he hurried to a nondescript black sedan that would take him, in short order, to an equally unremarkable meeting room maintained by a notoriously secretive Swiss bank, where he would meet with a representative from Drache und Dolch, Fehlerbehebung und Beratung, a firm known, among the wealthy and secretive, for their discreet and efficient handling of unusual problems.

 

OOC: To be fair to those poor souls who only speak one language, the PMC's name translates as "Dragon and Dagger Troubleshooting and Consulting"

Edited July 31, 2014 by Ymper Trymon

[Flex Lord Splash]

IC:

 

While Leah twirled rather flashily after dodging John's attack she attempted to unleash a kick to his spine, which was deflected by John's fist. The kick hurt as it met his hand, but he'd get over it.

 

He jumped to his feet now, covering his face with his arms as the tendril of flame flew at his head. He then threw his arms forward his claws splashing the flame away from him as he jumped to the right now in case she shot more flame at him, Nate's arrow missing since he moved, instead it grazed his right side, leaving a small cut as it flew past before sticking into the wall.

 

John threw himself onto the floor rolling quickly and putting out the flames on the burns on his arm before jumping to his feet.

 

"You're overly cocky," he said to Leah. "This isn't really that fair of a fight, and Angela... I didn't really make out with Ashlynn that much you're thinking of Ric."

 

John would of loved to stick around and keep fighting but he was quite unmatched. He turned and then sprinted as fast as he could away from his opponents, John slashed outwards with his claws as he neared the window, shattering it instantly. He then stepped off the sill and began to fall. Since John was falling rather close to the side of the Oscorp building he turned and then dug his claws into the side of the building, slowing his descent until he slid to a stop.

 

He then began to quickly climb down using his claws. He glanced up as he climbed down ready to jump to another part of the building if his would be murderers attempted to follow him or send him some nasty surprises. He could feel the burns on his arms slowly fading as he dropped lower a bit, the cut on his side however didn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon.