Brief Title:
Heavy Metal Horde Finale 1: Washington, DC
Characters:
Black Panther, Nightcrawler, Ultragirl, Astraea, Arachne, Ares, NPCS: Doctor Strange, Ariel, Wong, Red Ronin, Iceman, Black Goliath, Wasp, Gargoyle, Falcon, Sunflower, Angel, Screaming Mimi
Scene Runner/Watcher:
IC Date:
08/06/12 12:00
Location:
The Mall, Washington, DC
Summary:
An ecclectic smattering of heroes are gathered in a time of need and sent to help stop the 100-foot behemoth of the Red Ronin under Ultron's control.
Social or Plot:
TS:
No
Log:
========================= IC News and Media Streams ==========================
Message: 7/143 Posted Author
Robots Invade World's Capitals! Jul 30 2012 NewsPaper Staff
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OOC Note: This news story does not take place until the morning of August 6th. I am posting it ahead of time so the people who are in the Heavy Metal Horde finale scenes understand what is going on.
"We interupt this program to bring you a special report," says the anchorman, "Giant robots have touched down in every capital city on the planet. I repeat, giant robots have touched down in every capital city on the planet Earth. Five of the robots, which touched down in Washington D.C., London, Paris, Moscow, and Bejing, are each unique in design and at least one hundred feet tall. The robots in the rest of the world's capitals seem to be Sentinels, a mutant hunting robot designed by Bolivar Trask. We're going live in the field to reporter Trish Tilby for an update."
The scene switches to a lovely woman with short, brunette hair holding a microphone, standing in front of a military cordone.
"Thanks, Michael. This robot, which I'm told is known as Red Ronin, touched down ten minutes ago. According to our sources, the Red Ronin was invented to fight giant monsters but has a history of going rogue."
The camera pans up to show a very large robot, mostly red in color, that looks vaguely like a stylized samurai. Then the picture changes to static and a new face appears. The face of Ultron.
"Humanity. You have been conquered. The age of war and violence is over. Give up your violent ways and you will be spared. My soldiers now watch over every capital city of every nation on the planet. They do not tire. They do not rest. They remain forever vigilant. If one of my soldiers detect violence, they will destroy the offender as well as one square mile around the offender. Turn away from violence. Embrace the path of peace or be destroyed. Be aware, I am monitoring all communication. All broadcasts. If the governments or so-called heroes of this world attempt to defy my will, I will leave this planet in ruin. Resistance is futile."
Static once more, and then the anchorman is back on screen.
"... I... I'm being told the President has ordered martial law in the nation's capital. He's asking everyone remain calm and in their homes. He will be holding a press conference within the hour. We'll bring you more as this situation develops."
==============================================================================
Several hours ago, giant robots landed in every capital city of every nation on the planet. Minutes later, every television, radio, computer, tablet, cell phone, and more on the planet carried a message from Ultron. The robot tyrant declared an end to the age of violence. Ultron's robotic servants would patrol the world, starting with the capitals. Should one of those robots detect violence, Ultron promised that the offender would be destroyed... along with the square mile of city around him or her. Since that time, the world has waited tensely for something to happen. For the governments and heroes of Earth to do SOMETHING.
Now, it seems, the battle is to begin. It started with a buzzing sound in your ear. A buzzing that became a full voice, soft but strong.
"Champion of Earth. You are required."
A silver light enveloped you and suddenly you were no longer where you were but instead in a study filled with strange objects. You were part of a small group of people, summoned to this place. Besides your group, three people were there. Sitting cross-legged and levitating, an older man wrapped in a red cloak seemed to be meditating. Mystic, silver energies crackled around him. Across the room, a teenage girl with miniature stars in her eyes, dressed in primo 80s fashion stood in front of a closet door. Next to you, a bald, Chinese man in simple but elegant clothing spoke.
"Welcome, champions. I am Wong, servant of the Sorcerer Supreme. The Ritual of Requirement has summoned you because you have the hearts and wills of heroes. Earth has need of you. Evil forces threaten the planet. A taskforce has been assembled to travel into space to stop Ultron but they cannot do so until they are assured that the giant robots here on Earth are engaged and unable to slaughter thousands of innocents in retaliation. All around the world, your fellow champions are engaged in battle. You are the last group being sent to Washington DC. All you must do to join the fight is step through that door. Disable or destroy the robot if you can. If you cannot, you must stop the robot from harming civilians until the space team stops Ultron and the robots shut down."
The 80s glam girl with the starburst eyes opened the closet door and on the other side you could see the national mall and evidence of a battle.
"Last stop for Washington DC!" the girl called cheerfully. Your group stepped through. What else could you do? The world needed you.
The other side is chaos. A robot, easily a hundred feet tall and armed with a shield and sword, is locked in battle. The man known as Black Goliath has somehow grown close to matching the robot in size and stature. Black Goliath has engaged the robot in hand to hand combat. The two grapple together, though it is dangerous for Goliath. If the giant robot can bring its sword to bear, it can easily slice the giant hero in half.
Fortunately, he has help. The incredible Iceman circles around and around the pair. He has already encased the robot's feet in a hill of ice to root it to the spot. On each pass, Iceman reinforces the ice hill to seal up cracks caused by the robot's movements.
Up above, heroes are also hard at work. Three people: a man in green and yellow (Iron Fist), a strange, white faced clown girl (Screaming Mimi), and what seems to be a humanoid sunflower are clinging to the robot's sword arm, just below the elbow. Three more heroes: a man with angel wings (Angel), a black man with red wings (Falcon), and an orange demonic being (Gargoyle) hover and fly nearby. When Iron Fist, Mimi, or the Sunflower slip and fall, one of the three flying heroes catches them and puts them back in place.
"Nightcrawler. T'Challa. Arachne." a female voice speaks into the ears of the Avengers and X-folk present, "This is Wasp. Here's the sitch. You're fighting Red Ronin, a SHIELD built robot designed to take on giant monsters like Godzilla. Iron Fist and Falcon have already tried to break in through the access hatch on the foot but Ronin's filled with some sort of acidic gelatin. Hank thinks its a new defense built into Ronin after the last time someone used that tactic. We fell back to plan B. Bill Foster grew as large as he could to go toe to toe with Red Ronin and keep it from firing on civilians. Iceman's making sure the fight stays where it is. A few hundred feet to the left or right and buildings start getting stepped on. Iron Fist, some guy named Sunflower from the midwest and, believe it or not, Screaming Mimi are ripping apart the elbow joint of the sword arm. It's slow going but they're hoping to do enough damage to render it inoperable before moving onto the other arm. Help however you can. Bill can't stay that size forever. Too long at that height and his heart will burst."
"Whoa!", Ultragirl says, eyes wide as she sees Ronin and all those fighting it. "That's /way/ bigger than any robot I've ever fought!", she adds. Her tone of voice, and the expression on her face make it clear she's at least a little scared. She's new to this 'hero' stuff, after all, and this is certainly the 'biggest' situation in which she's ever been involved.
Hovering, still, as she'd flown through the portal opened for her and the others, Ultragirl takes to the air, heading up to where there are other fliers. "How can I help?", she calls out to the nearest of them, once she's up there... and going into the action seems to have 'settled' her; even if she's still a bit intimidated by the whole situation, she's NOT letting that stop her from trying to find a way to help, after her moment of hesitation, before.
Answering the message sent from the Wasp, the Black Panther will touch his communicator and say, "We will do what we can.", in return.
The Panther's eyes indicate that he's already planning a strategy. He looks over the scene and then glances to his immediate companions. Just before he starts running toward the conflict, he will note, "Arachne, do what you can to support Iceman's endeavor. Ultragirl..." he notes she is already gone and will segue to the next on the list. "Nightcrawler, you are responsible for gathering materials to teleport into the various joints to limit movement. Now go!"
The Panther takes off in a bounding run toward the robot. He will address the Avengers channel, in hopes that Goliath, Falcon and anyone else that's in the area can here, "Tell everyone, that we are here to give aid. Organize your strikes on the joints of the robot, they are the weakest points."
Walking through the door and listening to Wasp's appraisal of the situation, which seems to be going super good with avengers and omega-level mutants having a hard time, Nightcrawler ponders his chances. Not good, but he can certainly make the best of it. Good news, someone's working at the elbow connected to that solar blade. "On it," he responds to Panther before he bounds off to help out. Good news is, national mall means plenty of artwork and muesums around to choose displays and artworks with metal bits for stuffing joints. Grabbing the nearest scuplutre he can teleport to ground central of the fighting for whoever to grab, he calls into X-Communications device, hopefully someone can relay it to Avengers to coordinate. "If there's another access panel inside that isn't shielded, I can try to port it away." Suggesting if they want to try alternate route to the inside, he'll help there too, but he sticks to destroying artwork in the name of saving lives.
It doesn't take Arachne long to assess the situation that the group has been sent to in DC. She stares up at the robot, remembering her past encounters with robots, and how her former team dealt with those threats. Various ways she can help go through her mind, amoung them the one that Panther is saying in her ear via the ear buds. With a plan in mind she dashes foward, using her forward momentum to aid in a giant leap upward, her hands flicking out and manfesting a psychic webbing to attach to Ronin above his knee which she uses to swing around both his legs in an attempt to wrap his legs together.
"Just a sec!" Falcon calls out as he comes to swoops near Ultragirl. On the Red Ronin's sword arm, Sunflower, Iron Fist, and Screaming Mimi have managed to rip open a good sizes hole in the elbow, revealing a nice bit of titanium endoskeleton and steel fiber "muscles". Falcon listens to his comm piece, then gives orders to Ultragirl. "Nightcrawler's bringing in stuff to jam into the hole we've made. You've got super strength, right? Go grab some and shove it into this hole. We need to disable the arm!"
Nightcrawler manages to find a piece of modern, welded art that's rather pointy, made of pipes. Perfect for the job. He teleports it to the base of the fight just in time to see the Red Ronin break one leg free.
Ice shatters as Red Ronin breaks that leg free, kicking Black Goliath in the shin. Goliath staggers back, giving Red Ronin enough space to put the shield between him and it. A gattling laser blast radiates from 360 points arond the rim of the circular shield, hitting Black Goliath square in the chest. He roars and falls backwards, crashing into the reflecting pool.
Iceman hurries to reinforce his ice snare. It isn't enough, though. Red Ronin takes a step forward... and tumbles down to its knees thanks to Julia's webbing. The webbing snaps in the process but it was enough to force the giant down.
Up above, Gargoyle, Falcon, and Angel catch Iron Fist, Sunflower, and Screaming Mimi as the sudden motion of Red Ronin going to its knees bucks them off the robot's arm.
"Roger!", replies Ultragirl to Falcon and turns to start down to where Kurt's brought some pointy metal stuff... but sees Goliath get taken down... and the giant robot knocked to its knees. She then changes her direction of flight and does other than what she was told to do, and dives down at Ronin's head, aiming her whole body into a flying tackle at the back of its head, trying to get it from 'on its knees' to 'on its face', with others still trying to immobilize its feet hopefully helping her with this thought.
Having working and applied knowledge of robotic design, the Panther is sure that the main power units are in the torso of Red Ronin. Further, it's more than likely that the plates of the torso (front and back) have little space between the shell and the interior workings; meaning less acidic gelatin to encounter. However, if there is that issue, he will confront it with alternatives.
The Panther lopes in a narrowing circle with the intent of engaging Red Ronin from the rear. When close enough, he will leap upon the gigantic right calf then bound from that point toward the mid back of the robot. There he will use his claws to latch on.
He's set the direction of his team. He hopes that they are following through with the attacks. Albeit, Falcon may be derailing the flow, Ultragirl has taken it upon herself to do other things, and now that Goliath is down there may be an issue regarding the civilians and collateral damage to Washington, DC proper. It will all be addressed in the end and hopefully people will have learned from the encounter.
Unlike others, Nightcrawler will stick to the game plan as best he can. Choosing a display near one of the 'science' type museum's, he hopefully gets some more long, slender, cylindrical type bits that are good for stuffing into joints. He may notice his last bit of scrap metal is going unused though and that the giant Robot is free to start making collateral damage in the nation's capital. He'll take a quick risk to port one of the sculptures into the opening on the sword arm before he bamf's again to find more metal for the team to use.
With her web snapping as Ronin goes down to his robotic knees Arachne is free falling for a few seconds before another webbing is cast and slung upwards to the robots sword arm to adhere there and prevent her from smacking on the pavement below.
With a moments thought she is slung upward, (web TK FTW), and flinging herself up onto the arm where she easily clings.
While Iceman once more begins to ice up the robots leg, Arachne goes for hindering weapon movement. Disappating the previous webbings she begins to manifest news ones creating a web from the Sword to the surronding surfaces, pavement, art works NC hasn't destroyed, anything near enough, hoping that it will prevent the use of the weapon, at least for awhile.
"Wait! What are you.. stick to the plan!" Falcon calls out after Ultragirl. To no avail. Instead, she rams into the back of Red Ronin's head. There's a heavy clanking sound and she does manage to buck to robot, causing it to sway for a moment. Once again, the flyers have to grab Iron Fist, Sunflower, and Mimi in order to keep them on the arm.
While Red Ronin sways, it does not fall down. Instead, it swings its shield upwards and back. Right into Ultragirl as she rebounds off of him. There's a very good chance she just got knocked a good ways across the city. Not to mention it should hurt like hell.
Even as that happens, sculpture appears, jammed into the crack in Red Ronin's elbow. The heroes balanced up there don't waste time. Sunflower, who is apparently a very STRONG plant guy, and Iron Fist take turns. Iron Fist uses the 'Peasant Hammers Stake' technique. Sunflower just uses blunt force. Together, they hammer the sculpture into the giant's arm until there's a crackling sound. Angel and Falcon grab Iron Fist and Screaming Mimi, pulling them away before flames explode out of the damaged elbow joint. Gargoyle and Sunflower aren't so lucky. They go plummeting about thirty feet to the ground, both aflame.
Apparently, some vital servos were hit in the explosion. Red Ronin's sword hand spasms and the sword goes flying. Luckily, Arachne's webs force the sword to go crashing to the ground. If they had not been there, it would have sliced clean through the Jefferson monument.
On the ground, Iceman keeps building the ice mountain over Red Ronin's lower legs but there's less and less ice each second. "Guys, I'm running out of moisture to pull from the atmosphere." He calls over the comm, looking tired. "I'm gonna have to pull from the reflecting pool..." But Goliath is in the way. The giant doesn't show any signs of moving and he's pretty much obscuring the entire pool.
Red Ronin doesn't even seem to notice Black Panther on its back.
On Red Ronin's back, the Panther will maintain a grip using his left clawed hand while using the right to gouge into the metal back of the robot. The plating is likely very thick but it is not his intent to dig through, but to mark a very large X on the robot's back. Over the com, he will state, "Nightcrawler, would you be so kind as to teleport something very large and metallic into and approximately 6 feet beneath the X I have placed on Ronin's back?"
Then without hesitation or acknowledgement, the Panther then bounds upward toward the upper back/neck of the robot. Thus leaving the attack for Nightcrawler to follow through with. Knowing that the generators/power source are behind that plate, the Panther is confident that it will do, at least some, damage to the colossus.
Ultragirl does at least part of what she wanted - she gets the robot's attention on her, instead of on getting to its feet or, worse, blasting at and destroying parts of the city around it. Still, as she comes away from its head, she's suddenly face-first with a really *big* shield and, after a loud CLANG, she goes flying off into the distance - not of her own accord. On her way, she slams right through one of a trio of 'water towers', sending water splashing out and about as the thing's destroyed by her passage. It's too far away for Iceman to use, of course.
Bringing in another sculpture, Kurt responds into the comsys, "I'm on it," then selects a suitable size piece of metal for himself to teleport with. It requires him to teleport first to a location where he can visibily see the X, then teleport to that spot. He'll have to use his last teleport to go to ground central for the scrap pile this time instead of gathering. He makes his last BAMF as quick as possible, in case it doesn't hold in the metal casing of the robot, so he doesn't get skewered.
Even as Ultragirl goes hurtling across the skyline, when she smashes through the water tower she could feasibly keep right on going. But then there's an abrupt /THUD!/ and out of seemingly nowhere a tall man is standing behind her having halted her flight by... catching her.
John Aaron squints at the young woman, then slowly sets her down. He looks terribly ordinary in his t-shirt and jeans, and almost annoyed in his expression at this small bit of possible coincidence, though what did he expect to happen when standing atop a building observing a giant robot battle from a distance.
"Be careful, girl." And as he sets her down black armor swirls around his form and begins to solidify, wisps of shadow turning to gleaming onyx as he gestures with a nod. "Fly me closer. We'll handle this robot of yours."
With the elbow joint exploding near where Archane is perched on the giant robots arm she stops clinging to said arm and allows herself to drop then uses another web to swing onto the torso. Clinging there she continues with her original objective, prevent Ronin from moving/getting up. To assit in that goal webbings burst up from the ground under Ronin's legs, and begin to cover them, hopefully anchoring him to the ground.
Iceman exhausts the last of his ice by sending a fine spray of snow over the smoldering Gargoyle and Sunflower. Its enough to prevent more damage but the two heroes are out of the fight. Iceman keeps running, heading for the reflecting pool.
BAMF! Nightcrawler teleports a piece of modern sculpture made of high tensile steel directly into Red Ronin's torso. The sound of metal shrieking and grinding is enough to be heard over the noise of battle. The million dollar sculpture is destroyed but, in the process, some damage is done inside Red Ronin's body. One of the main controls, it seems, has gone out. Red Ronin's sword arm, already damaged, goes completely limp. A small hole, about a foot across, is left behind in the back. Liquified acid gelatin begins waterfalling out, eating the concrete below.
Angel flies Iron Fist up to the Ronin's head, dropping him there. Iron Fist clings on, waiting for Black Panther to join him. Falcon, meanwhile, flies Screaming Mimi directly in front of Red Ronin's head. She unleashes her loudest sonic scream. That causes Red Ronin, who was in the process of trying to stand up, to stumble back down to its knees, where Arachne's webs form, trying to hold it down. The ice is now cracked and broken. Only those psionic webs are holding the giant robot down.
Red Ronin stretches out its shield arm and the giant disc goes flying, hurtling off toward downtown DC. At the speed its going, it will likely destroy at least three city blocks when it impacts. Assuming it doesn't explode when it hits.
Shaking her head, as if to clear it, and sending a little water shaking off the ends of her hair, Ultragirl gathers her wits about her after getting pong'd away from the fight off the face of Red Ronin's shield. "Yeah... sounds like a plan", she says, as she realizes she's /wet/, too... and looks up... and grins. "I have an idea, too... I'll fly us, you bring a giant water-balloon with us. That ice-guy's outta water!", she adds as she points at the remaining two water towers. That said, she moves to lift Ares from behind, hands on his waist, to carry him over to said 'giant water-balloon' -- then on back towards the on-going battle.
Voice muffled by the helmet, Ares is looking off past Ultragirl's shoulder as he says, "Ice guy?" The armor fully solidifies and then across the skyline that giant red shield flashes out, intent on mayhem and destroying a significant portion of the city.
Decision made, Ares says simply. "No time," Then without even a hint of hesitation he steps around, grabs the small woman and picks her up bodily. "Go be heroic and such." That having been said he hefts and then /throws/ her straight towards the hurtling weapon, calculating his aim for a suitable interception.
Once she's flying he drops off the side of the building and starts running to the mall, armored silhouette crushing concrete as he moves and murmurs to himself. "Wonder who that was."
The Panther manages the back of the giant robot's neck and is confronted by Iron Fist and is fully aware that Mimi is on the opposite side. "Iron Fist, good to see you. Could you focus your Ki energy strike onto the side of the robot's neck? I need a weak point. Or have you something other in mind?"
Ultragirl eeeps as she's picked up and thrown... but can't help but see the reason /why/ this is suddenly happening to her. She kicks on her ability to fly, to help gain more interception speed, trying her best to /get/ to, catch, and hold aloft the big shield -- BEFORE it slices through a fair portion of Washington DC and kills many innocent people. The flying girl manages the intercept, grabbing hold of the leading edge of the shield and trying to lift and drag it off its trajectory into the city itself! Her arms, while not overly muscled, clearly show her muscles bulging as she strains, having to, literally, put everything she has into trying to save people's lives.
Looking at the pile of sculpture, somewhat depleted with the arm and then the back piece, Nightcrawler moves to take another portion of the heap with him and tries to jam it into the elbow of the other arm. Because the casing hasn't been weakened, he gets away quickly incase the material resists the incoming metal and takes himself to the nearest museum he can see to replinish the stock piles of metal.
To Archane everything else is background noise, her focus and cocentration solely on the webbings that are keeping Ronin from getting up and fighting back. She stares down at the webbings from where she clings to Ronin's torso, manifesting more of the webs as others snap with Ronin struggles to get free of the bindings. She hopes Iceman gets water soon, because thse is taxing the limits of her abilities.
The drive down was hectic, and filled with adrenaline. The NYC Detective managed to do it in about half of the time one would normally expect to make the trek. Fortunately, she had a muscle car with a hell of an engine, and flickering sirens to announce her presence and get folks out of the way. Even so, she still had to park it and enter the city on foot. Though as she parked the camaro, she paused and figured... what the hell?
She opened the trunk and reached inside to grab not only her costume, but to grab her police tac-radio, and her shotgun complete with spare ammo in a rack alongside the weapon to suppliment the sidearm she tucked into her belt. Thus armed, she worked her way past the cordon, and into the town. It's really difficult to -miss- such a large robot from anywhere within the city limits and she's been approaching at her best speed for a while now.
So it is that Astraea comes sprinting out of an alleyway and ends up like, only a few feet off to one side from Ares just as he throws the young girl. Her eyes flit upwards as she tracks the girl's course and she murmurs softly, "Come on... come on... yes!" as she observes the intercept. "Nice arm there Black Knight." she remarks towards the Onyx armored figure as she moves to run alongside him on the way towards the robot. After all, she's not exactly in range -yet-.
Muscles stretch. Pain flares. While it has only been a short time since Ultragirl got her powers, this might be the most difficult thing the half-Kree heroine has had to do in her life. Slowly, the shield seems to move upwards. Slowly, the view over the horizon seems to be less about the city and more about the river beyond. The shield clips a few buildings on the way but no lives are lost. Thanks to Ultragirl's efforts the giant shield hits the river so hard a geyser is sent splashing into the air a good three hundred feet in height. The shield imbeds itself into the bottom of the Patomac River, much of it sticking up above the water's surface.
Iceman hits the reflecting pool. "YES!" He cries out. "That feels GOOD!" Then he unleashes a new fury of ice. It forms around the lower legs of Red Ronin, helping Arachne keep the giant robot down on the ground.
Screaming Mimi continues to shriek in the robot's face, pushing her vocal chords to the limits. Her sonic cry seems to disrupt the robot's sensors in some way. It raises its shield arm (now sans shield) and fires three times with the large canon built into the wrist. The first two blasts send electron beams wildly into the air. The third shot, however, heads straight for the Capitol Building... unless someone can intercept it in time.
Iron Fist bows to Black Panther, calm despite the circumstances. "Namasde." He says. "It would be an honor." He turns and faces the robot's neck. Slowly, the immortal weapon draws his breath and focuses not just his chi but the chi of the grand dragon whose power he won in battle. The Iron Fist's hand glows wth the might of a thousand men and he brings it down, hard, upon the robot's neck. There is a blinding flash of light and, when Iron Fist draws his fist away, there is a large dent in the robotic flesh, about half a foot deep. "Give me... a moment.... and I will try again." Iron Fist says to the Panther.
Unfortunately, the tensile strength of the robot's undamaged hull resists Nightcrawler's attempts to break it open. Teleporting yet another piece of modern metal sculpture into the robot's shield arm results in some cracks in the surface but no real damage.
The big shield, sticking up out of the river, rocks a bit, then settles back into place. Ultragirl, on its leading edge, found herself suddenly underwater and trapped under the thing. Thankfully, the real struggle she had a bit ago while the shield was flying was because of its interia in combination with its mass. Now that it's stopped, she only has to deal with the latter -- and she's strong enough to free herself. Using her flight to propel herself up through the water, she launches herself up into the air. Then, she just sort of sails haphazardly onto the nearby shore and tumbles when she lands, ending up in a heap on the ground, exhausted from her efforts and trying to catch her breath.
The dent is observed and the Panther states, "I'm sure your strike weakened the metal enough." He will then announce over the communicator, "Nightcrawler, you will find a metal sheet from the department of roads and bridges on the streets nearby. It will be approximately 10 feet wide and 1 inch thick. The left side of the Ronin's neck has been weakened. I wish for you to teleport that sheet, horizontally into the neck."
Then will direct his attention back to Iron Fist, "I suggest we move." Then the Panther will leap forward and down toward the free/functional arm of the robot.
Nightcrawler ports off along the roads of Washington DC in search of a road sign or road covering sheet to meet the requirements of Black Panther.
"C'mon, we gotta get clo.... oh shit!" remarks Astraea as she slings the shotgun over one shoulder and lifts her arms towards the sky, "This'll either push it away, or bring it to us." she remarks as lightning energy flows down her arms, her eyes crackling with said power before a stream of high power electricity fires up into the sky. Most times, lightning comes down -out- of the sky, right? Well, this time it's firing up into the path of the destructo-electron-beam.
Astraea's not a physicist, or an electrical engineer. She's going with basic high school physics here.... but the flow of her own electrical energy seems to have an effect on the stream of electrons heading for the capitol. The good news, it alters trajectory. The bad news, it's now heading right towards Astraea and Ares, and anything or anyone who may be near them. "Okay, so maybe I didn't think this entirely through." she mutters aside towards Ares as she cuts off the flow of her own power and braces for the impact.
In mid-stride, Ares' features contort into annoyance behind the helmet, his tone of voice sharp and grim as he growls low. "I am Ares," The ground crunches under his feet as he strides. "Black Knight is shorter." It's then that the beam lances out, firing across the sky and limning the world in its crimson hue. He pauses for a moment, instinctively a large silvered shield with a lambda symbol manifests upon his arm and he draws to a halt. Then his gaze narrows as Astraea makes the beam slice in her direction.
At the last moment he leaps in the way before the beam impacts, holding the shield in the way as crimson energy flickers and flashes slashing into his body. The civilians behind him gasp as they're narrowly saved from oblivion. He growls, roars, even as he snarls over his shoulder towards them. "Get to cover, fools!"
Taking a deep breath now that some of the pressure is off her, Arachne can focus stronger webs, "Iceman," she relays through the own com device, "Layer our bindings, incase my webs in your ice. The web being inside the ice layers should make your ice stronger and harder to break through." it works with glass, metal webbing in the glass making it more shatter proof, why wouldn't it work with psychic webbing and ice? Assuming Iceman is agreeable she goes about doing her part of the plan.
Iron Fist takes a moment to land one last blow, not quite as strong as the previous one, but still enough to dent the metal further. Then he runs and leaps, allowing himself to be caught by the Angel.
Iceman keeps both feet in the reflecting pool and continues to form ice. "Great idea!" he says over the comm, and he begins layering ice over the webs. A perfect marriage, making it impossible for Ronin to rise. It isn't as easy from this vantage point as it was when he was moving around the robot so instead he focuses on the knees, burying them straight to the upper thighs.
Red Ronin's working arm moves and it's hand swats at Mimi and Falcon as if it were trying to bring down a fly. Falcon doesn't move fast enough and the two are sent crashing towards the ground. Hard. Red Ronin's sensors clear.
Near the bridge. Nightcrawler finds a big sheet of metal on the ground. Its strong enough to handle hundreds of cars and trucks rolling over it each day. Hopefully, it will be strong enough for the job. Nightcrawler wiggles his fingers under the edges and begins the teleport back.
The Panther has landed on the shield arm of Red Ronin. He crouches and digs his claws in to gain stability and allow him to move toward the elbow where he will begin his attack into the crux of the elbow hoping to expose the internal structure - this will take two rounds before breaking the skin.
Ultragirl rolls off her side and onto her hands and knees, then gets to her feet - although it looks like she's still weary from before. This done, she runs forward three steps and jumps up, taking flight with one arm fully extended and the other pulled back to her chest. Climbing into the air, she turns about until she spots the big robot in the distance and zips off that way. She might not be /fully/ recovered from her exertions, but there's still a big, bad robot over there, bent on death and destruction.
She sees Mimi and Falcon, unconscious, falling out of the sky... and instead of continuing what looks like an attack run on Red Ronin, angles over to those two, reaching out her arms to catch them, one at a time, before they hit the ground. Of course, she's flying pretty well all-out at this point... so she and her rescues end up flying well out of the immediate area of the fight before she can land and set them down. At that point, she turns as if to launch herself back into the air and to the fight, but staggers and drops to one knee, her hands on the ground as she breathes heavily -- she's really been pushing herself, and it's showing.
Smoke rises from the armor, smouldering and hissing with little pops as the temperature changes. The tall man grimaces, frowning behind the helmet as in his other hand a reddish steel short blade flickers into view from out of nowhere. He hooks one thumb under the visor of the gladiatorial helm and flicks it up, letting him get a clear view. "I despise automata."
That having been said he takes a moment to clear his throat and /spit/ to the side, before he breaks into a run to close the final distance. His heavy boots crunch upon the ground until he reaches the park and then he barrels straight towards the robot.
He tries to time his approach just as the thing turns slightly. His aim straight for that hole in the back of the monster's armor. The blade draws back and he /leaps/ into the air.
For a moment he's silhouetted against the skyline, and then he slashes down with the weapon trying to impale the great robot in the back.
With Ronin being firmly anchored and unable to move his legs, thanks to her webbing and the ice powers of Iceman, Aracnhe is finally able to do something else, like shake the fatigue out of her brain. She is bound to have an overuse headache after this fight is over. She quickly scans the scene, and seeing that Panther is just above her hurries up to where he is to offer her assitantance in breaking through the armor there. She may not be able to punch as hard as Iron Fist but she is no weakling.
Mine Gott, en successerich ich heinzen dozennen razurstran - or translated: After having teleported around, Kurt found a piece of metal positioned in a road. He will touch it and teleport himself and the 10x10 feet sheet back into the scene where he can gather his bearings. Seeing his target and that everyone is clear, he will teleport himself and the sheet in the targeted area. Horizontally to attempt to merge the two metals or worse, do significant damage throughout the transitional plane of Red Ronin's neck.
Why did the Black Panther desire this attack. He is well aware that all the controls and sensors of the robot originate from the head and travel down to the torso - essentially obtaining the sensory and driving motor response.
The Greek god of war shoves his weapon through the hole in Red Ronin's back. It sticks there, like the sword of the stone, right until Astraea's lighting blast arcs down the giant robot's body and connects to the weapon. The metal of Mount Olympus conducts the electricity straight into the robot's guts. It shakes and trembles as internal systems go haywire. Each of the eyes explodes outward from the pressure. Then? Then the beeping starts. Slowly at first but building up quickly to a rapidfire signal that any experienced superhero would recognize - self-destruct sequence activated!
That's when Nightcrawler teleports in. The big slab of metal doesn't cut cleanly through the neck. Iron Fist weakened the metal around the neck enough that the attack was possible but even still, instead of cutting off the head like a French nobleman, it crunches and folds up inside of the robot like corragated cardboard crushed by the Hulk. Still, enough wires and cables are cut that the beeping stops. Red Ronin topples forward... defeated and offline.
Straightening up and standing tall over the fallen remains of the giant Robot, Ares surveys his surroundings and the mass of mayhem that has passed. Slowly, the black armor around him begins to fade, returning to the wispy shadow from whence it came. Eventually it leaves just a normal looking, albeit tall, man standing upon its crumpled back.
The man known as John Aaron looks around slowly, then points with one hand distantly towards the fallen hilt of Red Ronin's blade and he declares loudly. "The sword is mine."
As soon as she sees the eyes explode, Astraea cuts the flow of her power and starts sprinting forward. She knows that there are some who need medical aid, and she's not a doctor or an EMT, but she has enough training to keep someone alive for a bit before the real medics can possibly get on scene. Her tac-radio is activated... and overloaded by accident as she forgets to control her power. "Damn, that's the tenth one this year." she mutters as she skids to a stop next to Falcon and leans to try to provide some aid.
The Panther leaps off the falling robot's arm onto dry land near the reflecting pool. He stands and surveys the damage and what they have accomplished. Over the com, he will report, "Wasp, Red Ronin is down. We need medivac teams to handle the injuries."
Ultragirl pushes herself to her feet, though she's still breathing heavily. She doesn't know much beyond the VERY basics of first aid, and she's really already done what she can for Falcon and Mimi, anyway.
She's about to take to the air, again, but Red Ronin's taken out before she can launch. With a release of breath, she drops to her knees all over again, but this time because she really /wants/ to, not because she hasn't got a choice. She's already looking considerably better than just a few moments ago, too, recovering quickly from the fight with the giant robot.
Hopping off of the machine's chest, Ares lands with a light thud into the churned up grass and mud that used to be some of the mall's prime park area. He looks around slowly, then starts to walk across the distance towards the fallen blade. A few steps carry him past Astraea and her tending to the injured. He pays no mind for now, apparently focused on the fallen weapon.
Once he reaches it he grimaces, nudging it with the toe of his workboot and frowning for some particular reason or another.
Hearing the beeping that signals immediate destruction, Arachne jumps clear of the violently decommisioned robot, though thankfully her concern at being blown to bits is shortlived as Nightcrawler's bit of teleporting disables the destruct sequence. Landing near the remains of a sculpture sacrificed to the good of the city, she leans against the pedestal, giving a breif handwave to dispell all her webbings.
Slightly off his game, having teleported the giant metal slap, Nightcrawler is wobbly when he reappears after teleporting off the behomoth for his own safetey. He ponders in his confusion, "One big sword ... hopefully Stark International doesn't want it back ..." Just a consideration, he's not up on his giant robot sponsorship and legal issues of who actually own's what. Then he continues to ponder, "I guess we won, hopefulyl no mystics send us off to another city to fight another giant robot." He lets himself collapse to the ground to stare up at the sky.
Making sure that the worst of the injuries are tended to, Astraea speaks softly to the wounded, "You're gonna be fine. Just hang in there." she says to one of them before she yells at the top of her lungs, "Someone call this in! We need paramedics!" And then she smiles and moves on to the next. Her focus is the people... not the story or glory.
"Yeah", chimes in Ultragirl in response to Nightcrawler's comment. "I'm gonna need a few minutes, first!" Getting back to her feet, and definitely looking better than before, she looks over to where Astraea's looking at the wounded. "... anyone need a hospital right away? I could fly 'em there...", she offers, then looks around before adding, "... if someone can tell me where the nearest hospital is. I don't know this city..."
"Unless you've got backboards and gurnies, I suggest we don't move these folks just yet. I can't be sure if there's internal injuries or whatnot that might make it bad to move'em. Hence... medics." offers Astraea with a bit of a smirk. Not like she's -trying- to sound preachy. It's just that she's used to being in charge and such.
As Ares nudges the sword, it fractures slightly along the curve of its hilt. Cabling and wires spill out somewhat with short hissing pops sounding from within. This only serves to make John Aaron shake his head as he murmurs low, "Computerized. Bah." He then turns away to face the other heroes even as Astraea moves from wounded to wounded. His gaze falls heavily upon one, then another, each hero in turn. Finally his attention alights upon Nightcrawler as he asks, "So you were summoned to do battle against this homunculous?" He steps forward, then says simply. "Hm." As if that made some sort of difference.
"Medteam is on the way." Arachne calls out to the concerned others "Black Panther called it in to Wasp." she glances around, finally seeing all the destruction that has been caused, but knowing it could have been much worse had these particular group not been brought together.
Responding to Ares, Nightcrawler says "Ya, someone summoned us, don't know who it was actually, but still ..." A shrug, he continues to lie down and recouperate before his stomach decides it was too much porting around. Then he throws out, "I got a modified laser sword, with hand still attached for an LMD, just no power source so doesn't quite work." Closing his eyes he forgets about white clouds and destruction of the National Mall for the moment.
"Well, that would've made things easier. I -drove- down from New York." mutters Astraea as she finishes doing what she can for the wounded, and then steps up and away from them so that she doesn't make things worse by accidentally electrocuting anyone. She eyes Nightcrawler and raises a brow, "No power eh?" There's a grin on her face then as she looks back towards Ares, "Hey, where'd the armor go?"
"That was a good throw, by the way", Ultragirl says to Ares. "If you hadn't been there, where you were, I think people would've died for /sure/", she adds. She looks almost... fresh... as if she hadn't, just a little bit ago, been looking completely worn out. Children and teenagers... neverending sources of energy.
Folding his arms over his broad chest, Ares furrows his brow as he looks towards Nightcrawler. Yet whatever he might have had to add to the subject is most likely lost to the ages as his attention is drawn away by the other words offered to him.
There's a faint smirk for a moment as he looks at Ultragirl, but then he glances back towards Astraea and replies. "My armor?" He lightly pats his chest and looks down affecting a half-hearted look of surprise. "Somebody must have stolen it." He clucks his tongue as if in disappointment then he extends a hand towards Nightcrawler. "Come, rise. It is unseamly. You are their heroes."
He turns around to gesture towards the gathering crowd of citizens, of news people, of authorities as they draw closer now that the danger is over. "Accept your due."Hisnd almost as if on cue, the beginning of a cheer begins to go up.
Folding his arms over his broad chest, Ares furrows his brow as he looks towards Nightcrawler. Yet whatever he might have had to add to the subject is most likely lost to the ages as his attention is drawn away by the other words offered to him.
There's a faint smirk for a moment as he looks at Ultragirl, but then he glances back towards Astraea and replies. "My armor?" He lightly pats his chest and looks down affecting a half-hearted look of surprise. "Somebody must have stolen it." He clucks his tongue as if in disappointment then he extends a hand towards Nightcrawler. "Come, rise. It is unseamly. You are their heroes."
He turns around to gesture towards the gathering crowd of citizens, of news people, of authorities as they draw closer now that the danger is over. "Accept your due."
And almost as if on cue, the beginning of a cheer begins to go up.
Taking the hand and standing, Nightcrawler nods to the man, "The press won't include me, just so we're clear." But he stands all the same to do some crowd waving. One hand holding his stomach for the moment. "A quick bet, between you and the gorgeous ladies, I imagine it will be the ladies who get the headline." He nods to everyone all around now, seeing how was actually here as going to mystic, stepping through the door and rushing here was mostly a haze to the ceiling elf.
Ultragirl hadn't even /noticed/ the crowd, until Ares pointed them out and they began to cheer. Still, crowds are a thing with which she's not at all very uncomfortable, and she turns and floats up off the ground a bit, striking a pose as she hovers, flexing one arm as if to show off her muscle... then waves when the crowd reacts to it. Clearly, too, some of the media-people on-scene have recognized her, from the way cameras are turned her way and such. When the media, followed by civilians, starts to come closer, though, she holds both of her hands out in a 'stop' gesture and calls out, "Whoa! Whoa! This area could be dangerous... everyone stay back!" Of course, she's just a flying girl... and her voice doesn't carry /that/ far, with the din of noise the crowd makes.
Ladies... well Astraea is actually trying to avoid it. She's gotten plenty of press in New York recently, but just shakes her head as Ares calls for folks to take a bow. She simply steps aside and finds a place with some cover to look at her newly melted tac-com, "They're never gonna let me have another one of -these-." she mutters.
As the crowd comes closer, Ares gets a crooked grin. Having created the situation, the God of War feels free to let the other heroes settle it. And, to be fair, Ultragirl seems to be doing a decent job being the 'face' of the incident.
With the hub bub he turns away, stepping forward. It's only then that a swirl of energy manifests itself around him as there's a faint and subtle pop of displaced atmosphere. A tear in reality flickers into being, looking like little more than a heat shimmer in the background.
Moving near Ultragirl, Nightcrawler offers from behind, "Avengers will work on crowd control when they've gotten themselves together." As a simple means to suggest crowd control isn't an easy task, like he would know, being the master of bamfs. Still, she might find it helpful. He stands near her at least so she isn't alone as everyone tries to wander off and do their own thing, his tail flicking behind him lightly.
When the crowd doesn't seem to be listening to her as she tries to keep them back, Ultragirl pouts... then flies up a little ways, then down fast. She drives her fist into the ground. Literally. She leaves a little mini-crater where she punched the dirt, and the sound of the impact GETS people's attention, and the crowd stops moving, people looking her way.
The teen heroine floats back up into the air, and calls out, now that, with the crowd quieter, her voice is able to carry. "Everyone needs to STAND BACK!", Ultragirl calls out, lifting her hands and making a 'pushing' gesture in front of herself. "This area /just/ had a big fight in it and it could still be dangerous. We're expecting emergency rescue to come in, too, and we need the space to get hurt people out. Everyone, please, just step back and stay back, okay? We don't want anyone to get hurt, or get hurt worse than they already are."
Though it's, really, the first time Ultragirl's tried to use what little 'fame' she has to get a large group of people to listen to her, it seems that this time... it works. The media actually helps, by asking 'civilians' to stay back behind them... and, finally, the local police begin to arrive, and help even more with the crowd control.
Smiling, and still hovering, Ultragirl says to Nightcrawler, "Well, now the Avengers can take care of other things, besides the crowd."
"Nicely done kiddo." remarks Astraea as she comes out now, distinctly uncomfortable looking in the costume her partner helped design. Maybe it's the cape, maybe it's the way it conforms to and shows off the curves she never really cared about. "Seriously, well done with that crowd control trick. I'm guessing Department of Public Works won't like the extra crater, but with -this- battleground, I doubt they'll care much about the minor addition to their work." She steps closer to Ultragirl now and -wants- to reach a hand for the girl's shoulder... but she stops halfway there, afraid she'll *zot* the girl.
With everything wrapped up, the Panther will see that the situation is being handled by the local constabulary he will announce over the shared coms, "On behalf of the myself and the Avengers, I thank you for your participation in this matter. It was an honor. Avengers - Good work. Now please report to Wasp for your new assignment." His global communicator will then be turned off (tuned to isolated channels). The Panther will then fade into the shadows and move on to his next mission.
