1963-09-20 - The Hellmouth is Not Amused
Summary: The Hellmouth is a magnet for trouble.
Related: Once Upon A Hellmouth plot
Theme Song: None
marcus laura karolina liv 


Central Park, currently the unfortunate location of a yawning cross-dimensional rift, which those in the know have been referring to not-so-affectionately as a "Hellmouth". The descriptions is pretty apt, since demons and all manner of horrible things have been puring out of it whenever the mood takes them.

The park has been cordoned off by very official-looking people in an effort to contain the catastrophe, but the out-pouring of demons and vampires and whatnot (oh my) are a bit much to consistently contain. Especially since every so often the rift gets that little bit more active, or spews something unpredictable forth.

It would be a shame if that were to happen… oh, like any minute now.

*

Lucy is on her way to one of her least favourite soup kitchens. Sure, it's close to the horrorshow in Central Park. That means she's more likely to get fed there today, if it's open. Sure, she has to sing some hymns to get a sandwich but, honestly, maybe a hymn or two wouldn't go wrong today.

Lucy tries not to look toward Central Park as she hurries across a street, tugging her coat closer to her as though the worn leather would provide any protection. She came all this way, the last thing she wants is to die by — demon. Yes, those are real. She's still processing that.

*

In thanks to Dr. Strange superior use of the magical arts, Marcus' own new and still budding elemental prowess has been restrained, even if it's in a bit of flux. He hasn't shut them down per se, rather just got them into control. Marcus himself still doesn't know what to make of it. If anything, it leaves more questions than it answers. The reality is, it doesn't seem to answer much of anything. What was done to him and for what reason, and what exactly was branded on him. All he does know is that whatever primal forces he's been attuned to, for some inexplicable reason, it continues to draw him towards the park.

Maybe because the Hellmouth in of itself is a magical font, and Marcus is an untapped battery, a miasma of elemental power. One which he still doesn't have much of a clue about. Granted, he doesn't want a repeat of the last time he was here, creating a massive pillar of elemental fire that, were it not for the Sorceror Supreme's skill, would've gotten a lot worse. Still, being the homeless scavangy sort that he is, elluding the barricades and barriers is easy if you know where to go to get into the park. Maybe the Hellmouth has answers. Maybe it doesn't, but he can't deny the desire to get closer to it.

*

It's interesting, really, how one can track the movements of something that is Not Right by listening to the screams of passers-by. Of course, the echoing WHUD-WHUD-WHUD of massive footfalls that grows louder also helps… and the squealing tires of someone stomping on their brakes.

That's when what can only be described as a hellhound comes barrelling into the intersection, all six of its massively clawed paws scrabbling against the pavement like a gigantic cat on a hardwood floor as it skids around the corner. A pack of four smaller versions of itself come charging along after it, claws and teeth flashing at the annoyance upon the largest's back.

Clinging to the beast's back is a blonde woman who sticks out nearly as badly as the creature she's riding, thanks largely to the sword she's plunged into its hide that provides her handhold. "Would! You! STOP!" Liv snaps irritably, gripping her sword with both hands as she swings a boot at one of the smaller hounds as it gets too close. "BAD DOG!"

*

Laura has been away from Weapon X and it's environs for a week or two now, and her quest to discover what being an actual "person" is like has hit an… intersting snag. That is, this is the first time she's gone a full two weeks without killing (or even fighting) anything. This has never happened before. In her life. She was unprepared for how strong the urge todo so would get, assuming her killer instinct was just part of the X-23 programming. Which perhaps it is. It doesn't make it any less strong.

Fortunately, there's this Hellmouth thing in NYC. Surely noone will complain about doing lethal things to MONSTERS. So Laura is perched on one of the sections of wall ringing the park, wearing a dark, well-fit sleeveless top to keep her motion unrestricted, a pair of heavy black military pants, and… bare feet. Her head tilts to an fro as she scents the air and occassionally stops to listen. And then she hears something.

Liv appears on the scene and Laura perks up. That looks… perfect. A whole pack of demonic hellbeasts to hunt. She breaks into a run along the top of the wall, X-23 whispering about trajectories and closing velocities in the back of her head, and at the appropriate point in time, launches herself into a flying leap, sailing through the air. Her aim is just about perfect, and she slams into the first of the smaller hellhounds, a SNKT dound in the air as her claws jam directly into its face. Oh, that feels so much better…

*

Lucy is having a hard time ignoring the Hellmouth. It makes her deeply uncomfortable and her bracelet stings so much she stops in the middle of the street to check and see if something is wrong with it. It's then that the hellhound comes bearing down on her.

First instinct: run. Second instinct: hide. Lucy goes two for two, bolting the rest of the way across the street like a jackrabbit and diving under a car. It's as she's peering out from her new-not-really-safe hiding place that she sees Laura go after a hellhound.

That's…that makes sense. Lucy also considering becoming a vegetarian because that meaty noise and the wailing of the dog make her want to never eat again.

*

Marcus shouldn't of come here. Another fight breaks out. The last time he was involved in a fight, in the Kitchen, some locked box opened. Maybe it was apart of whatever Hydra had done to him. Some kind of mental or magical trigger. He doesn't know, but it ties somehow whenever he uses weilds the elements far more than he should. And there's this…urge to do so again have quickly realized that you either can't control the elements or you can. But elements don't exactly have motives. They just are. They do what they're supposed to do.

He can feel the color starting to shift in his eyes. From blue to red to yellow to black, and then back again, shifting and swirling colors changing at random. He needs to get away, stop letting himself come back here. And again he feels some sort of odd sensation, like something building. The fact that there's a fight going on is, for the moment, ignored. He's staring at the Hellmouth, as if waiting for something, but perhaps not knowing what. He just stands there. He doesn't notice the elemental fire starting to lick at his arm, wanting to be unleashed.

*

A small, dark, and dangerous blur catches Liv's attention and she twists in place just in time to see Laura come down upon one of the smaller hellhounds. Her expression becomes positively radiant. "Much appreciated!" she calls back to her, her words a touch distracted as she struggles to maintain her balance on the larger one.

She just glimpses Lucy's retreat under a car up ahead and purses her lips. Alright. Liv has had quite enough of this.

Leaning forward, Liv seizes one of the beast's — ears? horns? cranial protrusions! — and yanks back hard, her other hand reversing its grip on the sword. With a practiced twist and an irritable grunt for the effort required, she drags the blade through armored hide and very unpleasant-smelling meat.

By the time the beast comes tumbling and skidding to a halt in the middle of the road, its head is no longer attached. Liv awkwardly staggers off of its back, nose wrinkling at the smell, and just whips the head projectile-like towards one of the smaller hounds. Marcus has yet to get her attention, but it is likely inevitable.

*

Laura comes up bloody… or.. whatever is in these things. It smells awful. She kicks the hellbeast in its ruined and very dead face for good measure, unconcerned about being barefoot or the gore involved. Glittering, bloded adamantium claws slide back into her hands as she takes a moment to enjoy the sense of… rightness with the world. How curious, that. Still, it's a pleasant sensa—

*

Lucy takes stock. Man on fire — not screaming, probably on purpose, do not touch. Lady ripping off dog head — cheerful, definitely on purpose, large sword, do not touch. Laura — stabby, definitely on purpose, do not touch. Everyone else — running screaming, very smart, avoid at all costs.

Blood. Hellhound blood. Widening pool, very black, greenish tinge. Burbling. No, buzzing. Getting closer, spreading, oozing, trickling, fluttering. Yes, fluttering. Glittering like beetles Lucy once saw pinned to a display. She backs up under the car, holding her breath. Do not touch.

The blood isn't blood anymore, it's something else. There's a tearing sound and the huge hellhound corpse splits open down the spine, rib ends emerging like jagged teeth. There's not flesh inside, it's black inside now, shining and roiling and buzzing louder and louder.

That was not in the corpse before. That is coming from…somewhere else. Coming through the corpse, through the death of it and the hole its death leaves in the world.

The shoggoth beast made of blackness and glittering scarab beetles rises ponderously from the husk of the hound.

*

For a time, maybe a moment, Marcus just stares at the Hellmouth, as if some kind of answer will from it. Why is he here, why is drawn to it. What did Hydra do to him. What is he now? Why can't he remember. The combat going on nearby tugs at him, like there's something he should do or need to do or have to do. It's all so strange. And terrifying. Definately terrifying. When he finally looks back at the hellhound, it's not so much of a hellhound anymore and something…else entirely.

The man with the brands should be scared of it, he really should run, but considering what he saw in the war, what he saw done to him, he's reserved the line of thought for there are much stranger things in the world than he's aware of, so why should this be any different. Maybe it's just a soldier's conditioning. Or maybe something else Hydra gave to him that he's not even aware of. Maybe, just maybe it doesn't really matter. The fire, hell, all of the elements tug at him, as it wanting to tear away and go in different directions. He's losing control again. If he had just stayed away, Strange's counterspell may of had more of an effect. The fact that he's returned and continued to linger is not helping, all that good work the sorceror did is coming unraveled. The man's eyes have suddenly solidly remained on red. And an arm outstretches.

Whatever control remains, the only thing Marcus can do at this point is to at least try to direct it. So he directs it at the Lovecraftian horror. Elemental fire erupts from his, a white-hot lance, a fragment of primordial essence of magical fire races out from his hand, striking the back of the creature, causing an explosion when it strikes, wreathing the creature in flame. Marcus' eyes burn red, as if they were ignite on their own, something he has zero clue about.

*

Fluttering? Blood is not supposed to do that. With growing wariness, Liv begins backing away from the hellhound's remains, and watches with wide blue eyes as it is… replaced. Oh, that isn't nightmarish at all. She sets her jaw and adjusts her stance, bringing her sword up to be held in both hands —

— and blinks twice as the beast is engulfed in fire. Liv cocks her head to one side, eyes tracking the flame back to its source. Once again, her face breaks into a bright smile, and she pitches her voice to carry. "Thank you!"

*

There is a sharp, distressed, and altogether surprisingly un-demonic canine yelp of pain and panic as the hellhound savaging Laura's arm gives a little jolt right at the hips, and about an inch of the tip of a glittering blade sprouts from its lower back, just right of the spine. And then Laura kicks down with her toeclaw, shearing the now-very-alarmed beastie, which lets go of her and tries to drag its dysfunctional lower half(quarters?) away as fast as it can manage before it collapses from the damage.

Her arm is… in tatters, hanging limply at her side. Tooth-marked bone, a pair of undamaged claws visible alonside radius and ulna, scraps of muscle and fleshy bits. Well, the hound clearly knew what it was about. Laura raises her undamaged arm to sheild her eyes from the torrent of flame unleashed nearby. That… is pretty impressive, actually.

*

The beetles scream with agony when the fire begins to eat. Safety glass rains down around Lucy's hiding place when the car windows blow out all the way down the street. Mirrored glass rains down from buildings around her and everything is left sharp and glittering with the shards. She's shaking so hard she can barely breathe — the terror of watching her parents take part in human sacrifice is small compared to what she's feeling now. The horror of one person killing another…that's normal. This is not.

Still, Lucy wriggles forward again to see if Laura is all right and she sees Laura, her arm, her bones, her blood, and something black sprouting — countless wings and faceted eyes and antennae — from the hound she just killed. Lucy's stomach flips but she has no time to be sick.

The beetle mound flings a pseudopod of its own substance at Marcus, threatening to engulf him in it. More beetles scurry from the darkness up into the mound, even as it continues to wail, its outer layers turning to ash in the flames.

The smaller hounds spawn flies, swarms of them that rise, scattering chittering maggots in the street, to pursue Laura and Liv. The Hellmouth is not amused.

*

The urge continues to grow, and it's something that Marcus finds himself, even with the look of fury etched on his face, how his eyes, now engulfed in red, no pupils or whites to be seen, are red and glow. But not with the same white hot elemental flame that licks, burns, and chars the body of the thing that has arisen. As if this is what the elements want, to do nothing but they are supposed to do. What they have always done. Not be restrained within some mortal shell.

And perhaps it's not entirely him that reacts, but a combination of what he is and who he is. The moment something dangerous comes toward him, the flame coming his hand stops. His eyes flash to black, causing an orb of brownish gold surronded him, the instant the pseudopod stikes him, or rather strikes the globe covering him, it makes the shell quiver a moment before it slides off onto the ground. Letting it down causes him to stumble back a step or two, shaking his head. That brand is taxing to use, even for a moment. But he still has something to do.

Now eyes shift to yellow, whisps of yellow elemental magic wafting away from them, causing the wind to pick up around his person. Outstretching his arm, he brings them together in clap, causing a gale force wind, so percise and intense, the air itself, moving away from him in a half-circle cuts the shredding beetles and flies to ribbons, as if the wind had become thousands of little sharpened razors.

*

As the windows begin to shatter along the street, Liv takes a moment to squeeze her eyes closed — not to keep the shards out, but in what looks almost like resignation. Damn. She'll hear no end of this now. When her eyes open, they seek out the girl hiding under the car, then follow her gaze to Laura… and what's left of her arm. Oh. Oh, that looks bad.

Liv breaks into a sprint for the girl with the claws, trusting the man with the fire to handle the swarms of smaller things far more effectively than she could. Her focus is on the remaining two hounds and, more importantly, the girl with the mangled arm who seems… surprisingly calm about her injury, if Liv stops to think about it. Peculiar.

The blonde comes skidding to a halt near Laura just in time to catch one of the two remaining hounds' heads with a swift kick, and apparently she's strong enough to literally send the beast flying across the street and right into the maelstrom Marcus is generating.

Did you know hellhounds could shriek? Because that one is shrieking as it is sliced into not as effectively as the flies, but surely enough to leave it a mangled mess when it finally hits the pavement.

*

Laura 's shredded arm is already beginning to reconstitute itself when she realizes that the most recent corpse she's created is spawning Yet More Awful Things. Laura does not have time to think about the likelihood that it's a bad idea— X-23 takes over and she reflexively pops her claws on her still-good right arm, swiping into the mass of… ah. Flies. yeah, that wasn't a great reflex.

Laura gives a long, pained hiss, eyes a little wild, and by the time she extracts her forearm from the cloud, she's now had two of them skeletonized. This time it's WAY more through, though. She eyes the resulting floppy skeleton hand, metallic claws still stuck at extension, and then her gaze flicks to Liv, and in a remarkably emotionless voice notes, "That was the extent of my plan. You?"

*

Sometimes, terrible things make you into a different person — literally or figuratively. Lucy can't keep hiding. She can't see Laura through the insects that fill the air but what she saw was bad enough.

Her coat catches on something under the car and she slithers out of it, abandoning her bag as well, as she crawls through the glass. Her skin is unmarked, though her clothes come apart on the shards everywhere she was in contact with the ground.

Marcus' razor wind shreds the flies and beetles in its path — they break down into a choking swarm of gnats that emits a high-pitched, ear-shattering whine of fury. The new corpse spawns another fly swarm that belches slowly out of the mangled hound. The hound that came to pieces in Marcus' storm, though, is too dispersed to breed anything.

Everyone else is doing something and Lucy. Lucy takes a breath, grabs her bracelet, and wrenches it off. She lights up in a corruscating spectrum and the glow of her makes the dark shrink back. She takes a breath as her feet come off the ground, holds her hands out, and pushes the beetle mound toward Marcus' storm, herding it into the air blades.

*

Two of his brands are burning through Marcus' hoodie. Not physicall burn, but the glow from each of them are plain seen. Specifically, the two at each shoulder; one glowing red and one yellow. But now that he's given, the Hellmouth putting his powers into a state of flux, the raw and new elementalist, who is, to note, still doesn't have quite a solid control on what he can do, is quickly realizing whatever the Hellmouth is, it's making his abilities more wild, more powerful, and more willful. Because this isn't stuff on this level he can honestly do on his own. The color in his eyes begin to swirl, yellow mixing with red, the malestrom he's created, trying move and guide across these clouds of nastiness suddenly ignites. So if you've never seen a torrent of air that can mince demonics bugs before suddenly set on fire, you're in for a treat. This does at least give one a visual sight of what the air would do, little blades of air streaking through clouds now burn, each wrapped in elemental fire.

But this kind of expenditure, even if his abilities are suddenly thrust into an overdrive that he can't handle, only suggest is taking it's toll, and Marcus falls to one knee, gasping for air to keep concious, keeping his arms up, hands trying to guide and destroy everything that may be trying to kill the lot of them. Suffice to say, he can't do this for much longer, doesn't have the training for it. He's far out of league with what he can do.

*

"Honestly? I didn't have one," Liv confesses to Laura, her head tilting slowly to one side as her eyes watch the girl's arm repairing itself. It would be nauseating if it wasn't so interesting to see. As she looks around for the remaining hound, she points blindly towards Marcus with her sword. "But he seems to be having some luck."

Naturally, Liv says it just in time for the man to fall to one knee as the exertion takes its toll. Of course.

But Liv doesn't notice. The lightshow has captured her attention, her brow creasing as she squints towards the humanoid swirl of colors that has appeared through the darkness of the swarm.

Something about it has left Liv absolutely stunned — too stunned to realize the last hound is charging towards her back.

*

Laura bobs her head at the observation, and— as the lightshow distracts Liv, almost absently lashes out backwards with a sweeping roundhouse kick. Her feet are not as useless as her arms right now. Several inches of glittering toe-claw neatly beheads the remaining hound short of its target.

At which point, the scintillating girl catches her attention. Oh, Laura knows her! Sort of. Not the glowing part, obviously. "Oo, Lucy's pretty," she comments in an appreciative tone. "Like that square time place."

*

Marcus' elements turn the swarms of insects into seething, screeching fireballs. The sound and the smell are horrific. The dark around the insects struggles against the fire, the gnat clouds expand in the swirling winds. The Hellmouth's spawn are weakening but they surge toward Marcus one more time, trying to smother him.

Lucy is too busy to feel sick at the smell of the burning insects or the sight of Laura's shredded arms or the black hound blood spattered all over the street. When Marcus goes down she has a very bad feeling the rest of this might be on her. Her fear makes her aura flare and widen until she's radiant — unexpectedly, this chases the darkness back into the shadows under cars and sends it slithering down into the sewers.

This might be her only chance to stop this. Lucy pushes a muge wave of force out from her hands one more time, clumsy in her panic. She's never done this before.

The shimmering wall of force sweeps down the street, scattering the insects, sweeping away the dark, flipping cars, scattering glass, and knocking down anything else not fixed in place. Lucy goes flying back the other way and tumbles like a rag doll down the street toward Central Park.

*

Whatever Marcus may think, the elements will not let him go easily. Or at all. Whether or not they minds or desires or urges, he may likely never know. The elements do not do they simply are. It's question best left for the magical philosphers of the age. Something he definately is not. He's just a soldier, a man out of place and out of time with abilities he's barely able to under.

But again, they will not let him go, and just when it feels like he might be drowned out in cacaphony of buzzing 'things', his eyes flare red again. And he screams. Everything around him within a twenty foot radius simply explodes, bursting into fire. And a pillar, just like the one that Strange had to wrangle in a couple days ago, erupts, shooting high into the sky, pure angry undulating flame. The elements won't let him go. Flammable objects not within the pillar ignite on their own from the degree of heat given off, dirt and sand melt to molten glass lumps. This time, unlike last, with whatever willpower he has left, he guides the finger of the sun down, joining his apocalyptic-degree inferno with Lucy's massive wave of force, combining the effort to incinerate whatever demonic festering darkness happens to be left standing. Shards of glass melt, knocked over cars light on fire, and the brick of buildings is blackened and scorched, lampposts bend, glowing red, their metal softening and leaning to a side. Don't walk barefoot in that area for a bit, that would be wise.

If anything happened to survive that combined assualt, it's likely not very happy. Or at least, it's not going to be moving a whole heck of a lot But once that's done, once that last burst burns away anything in it's path, Marcus falls over backwards, apparently passed out.

*

Liv is dimly aware of a hellhound's head going sailing over her shoulder, but even as she asides another "Much obliged," to Laura, her eyes remain fixed on Lucy, her expression… odd. At least, until she anticipates the wave of force coming rushing down the street. That snaps her out of it real quick.

The blonde plunges her sword into the street and, without so much as a by-your-leave, throws her other arm around Laura's shoulders. Pulling the smaller woman against her front, she drops to a knee and hunkers down over her, using her grip on her sword to keep the both of them from being sent careening down the street.

It's probably a good thing that her back is towards Marcus. It puts Liv's body between the scorching heat and Laura. She just grits her teeth and squeezes her eyes closed as the force and heat send her hair whipping around in the resulting wind, ignoring the orange tinge that begins to form along the blade of her sword.

…and then it goes calm. Warily, Liv cracks an eye open.

*

Something is… very amiss, Laura— and X-23— realize. There's a lot of heat and force going on around her, and she's not feeling any of it. Well, not directly. It slowly dawns on her this is because Liv is sheilding her from the blasts. O-kay. That is a new one on her. People do not do that. Well, not to her. She's seen people try to sheild her targets or whatever before, but… huh, well. okay. Once the danger passes, the tiny girl stands up, eyes Liv a little oddly, and murmurs a vaguely-confused sounding "Thank you."

*

There's nothing but ash and bits of glass left, otherwise the street is blown clean. There's a distant groaning and complaining that might be coming from the sewers, might be coming from the Hellmouth. Everything else is weirdly quiet.

Lucy's coat and bag lie in the gutter on the block where the fight took place. The car shielded them until it flipped several yards away. Lucy herself is lying some distance from the scene, alarmingly close to the Hellmouth. She's dazed — more by exerting her power than anything else — but unhurt. She also has the distinct impression she may have killed someone. Maybe more than someone.

Lucy scrambles to her feet, which leave the ground immediately, and her impulse to run back to the scene turns into flight. She's a glowing figure trailing a rainbow streak all the way back to where the flight took place.

"Oh no!" Lucy zips toward Marcus, sparkling all the way. "Don't be dead, please don't be dead."

*

Marcus had indeed toppled over from an expenditure like that, in the center of a twenty foot circle of scorched earch, the ground kind crunchy from the bits of glass that were created from the dirt in the intense blase. Bits of grass are still smoking on the permiter of it. But he looks no worse for wear, even his clothing isn't burnt, though he his smoking, or rather steaming maybe, like a pressure release valve was just opened up. One of his sigils, the red one, is still glowing through his hoodie, in the process of simmering down, dimming slowly. However, when Lucy rushes over towards him, he groans, stirring. "Huh?" His eyes open, looking rather normal, no abnormal colors to be seen. "Oh. I'm still alive." He almost seems surprised by that personal revelation.

*

"You're welcome." Liv offers Laura a smile, casting a quick, worried look at the girl's arms before she also rises to her feet. Despite the incredible heat, she — and her armor — seem undamaged. "That seems to have been the last of them. You're alright?" she asks, briefly touching Laura's shoulder in concern.

Then the rainbow goes streaking past and she turns in place to follow it with her eyes. Lucy. Right. Liv's brow furrows and, after a quick look to Laura, she tugs her sword from the pavement and starts in Marcus' direction — though she stops when she reaches the pavement still affected by the heat.

Mental math time. Laura knows the rainbow's name. Laura's feet are currently bare. Without a word, Liv just drops into a crouch, looking over her shoulder at Laura and thumbing at her back. "Climb on. Let's check on your friend and the fellow with the fire."

*

"Yes," Laura replies simply to the question of whether she is alright— in fact, her arms are almost totally re-muscled, claws re-sheathed, and skin is starting to spread from the elbow. Even for an Asgardian… it's an impressive degree of regeneration.

She tilts her head, clearly not understanding why she would be offered a ride. When she gave one just like it to Kitty, it was because the girl had been unable to walk effectively for the situation. Clearly not the case here. "I am fine," she clarifies, and starts for Lucy. And oh, yes, her feet sizzle. But she doesn't show much hint of feeling the burns, and her feet keep healing in the time they're lifted from the pavement.

*

"Yes, you're alive!" Lucy clasps her hands together as though Marcus has said something brilliant. She shimmers happily and then looks around for Laura as she speaks. "I'm so sorry, I've never — Laura!" Now the rainbows flicker slightly with dismay.

"Laura, stop that!" Marcus is smouldering, Laura is burning her feet, meat turned into bugs Lucy is going to be a vegetarian forever and ever. She has the weirdest thought that, maybe, if she throws up, it'll come out rainbows. But she doesn't want to be sick when people are hurt around her.

*

"Lucky me, I guess." Marcus grunts, sitting up, looking at the burnt area around him. "Shit, I did it again." he mutters, ending in a resigned sigh. "Really shouldn't of come back here." A look at his hands, turning them over once or twice. Two of his fingers are still on fire, causing him to shake his hand, extinguishing it. "Can't really remember what happened. Some dogs. Some bugs. And that." he looks at the Hellmouth, goody, it's still there. "Sooo, uh…" he glances at Lucy, then towards the other two heading in their direction. "…hi?"

*

It is probably not that surprising that someone Laura actually knows holds a bit more authority to her. Once she figures out what Lucy wants her to stop, she shrugs, nods, and unceremoniously clambers onto Liv's back. What, she already offered, clearly it is all right. "Hello," she offers to Marcus. Because it is what one does.

Then her eyes slide back to Lucy. "Hello Lucy. I did not know you could do that." She sounds… maybe a touch interested? Delighted? Something. It's so hard to tell with her even when she's emoting more.

*

Clearly. Without fuss, Liv just sheathes her sword at her hip and hooks her arms under Laura's knees, rises, and calmly crosses the scalding pavement to join the others.

"Whatever you did again, we're lucky you did," Liv says to Marcus, offering him a lopsided smile once they're closer. "I think my new friend here and I would have been in a great deal of trouble if you hadn't shown up when you did. Both of you." She offers a smile to Lucy and again, there's something odd in her expression. Not unpleasant, just… strange.

*

"You are on fire… were on fire. And Laura is…" Lucy dares a glance over because she doesn't want to see burning flesh or bones or anything. "…not a skeleton anymore. That's. That's good. Is everyone okay?" She gives Liv a hopeful smile. Liv is not on fire that she can tell, this is great.

*

"I'm not in control." Marcus says, a hand rubbing at his head. "That…thing puts everything out of, ah, I don't even know the word for it." Another look at his hands. "Well, I guess if I helped, than I shouldn't complain. I just wish I knew what was going on. Because, yeah, I'm sorta clueless about whatever that thing is." Again, referring to the Hellmouth. "All I know is that it sets something off. And then things get a little crazy. Or intense. Or…something." A shrug is offered to Lucy. "Yeah, I guess?" Then he looks down the street, face falling a little. "Oh shit. Uh. Sorry about all that."

*

"Yes," Laura agrees with Lucy's assessment of her condition, holding her arms out past Liv's head and turning them as if to demonstrate their not-skeletal-ness. The last of her new skin is just closing up over her palms as she does. "See, all better. That was surprisingly unpleasant," she observes. HUGE pain tolerance, obviously.

"I do not know what all of this is either," she puts in. "Except it is good for hunting."

*

The note about control (or lack thereof) has Liv frowning worriedly at Marcus. "Are you normally in control?" she asks carefully, adjusting her grip around Laura so that she can offer Marcus a hand back to his feet. "I don't know exactly what's going on out here the last few days, but it's definitely… off. I wouldn't be surprised to learn it was knocking some peoples' abilities for a loop." Well, she's taking this remarkably in stride, at least.

Liv offers Lucy a reassuring nod and another quick smile. "I'm fine. Thank you. Though we should probably not linger," she admits, casting a look around. "The authorities will have questions you two probably don't want to be here to answer."

*

"Some of it was me," Lucy reassures Marcus, as he's taking in the blasted, blackened disaster area. "I never did anything like that befo —" She doesn't finish the sentence before her condition dawns on her.

"Oh, no!" Lucy jumps to her feet, feeling in the pockets of her shredded clothes for her bracelet. It's not there. Her things are there — she runs to gather them — but the bracelet is nowhere to be seen. There are sirens coming, though, Liv is right. They have to get out of here and if Lucy can't find her bracelet, she needs to go.

*

"Usually?" Marcus says, not quite so sure. "I mean, there was this, er, thing that happened in the Kitchen a couple days ago that I was apart of. I hadn't really cut loose like that. Ever. Not since escaping Germany. Didn't want to draw attention to myself or anything. And now, suddenly everything is out of whack. I feel confused a lot. And then I started feeling a pull towards that." he points at the Hellmouth. "I haven't been doing this for long, alright. I still don't know what exactly I am. All I know is it was done to me. I don't have any really decent answers because I feel like my head has been in a fog lately."

Whatever else he might've said, and his personal frustration is apparent, he hears the sirens, slowly getting to his feet. "Guess it's back to the sewers."

*

Laura can do a certain amount of basic arithmetic when it comes to Normal People. Lucy's behavior isn't that hard to work out. She wrinkles her nose. "Whatever is missing, Lucy, I'll help you find it." A pause. "Later. Yes?" Off the street for now. Liv gets a little patpat on her shoulder.

*

Even the mention of escaping from Germany is something Liv seems to take in stride. She just frowns thinly and nods to Marcus. "With things like this, if you feel a pull towards it..? I advise moving in the opposite direction," she notes in a low, sincere voice. "Nothing good ever comes from it." As for the sewers, well. She just raises an eyebrow and nods slowly. "If that's where you're staying, that might be best."

Liv follows after Lucy with a tilt of her head, seemingly content to continue carrying Laura around like a very dangerous backpack. "Did you lose something?"

*

"I'm homeless. Anywhere is where I'm staying." Marcus shrugs a little, pulling his hood over his head. "Technically, I'm dead to the government, so my name doesn't mean anything. So…no where to go. I'll find somewhere to go." He starts moving away at that.

*

"My bracelet. It's silver, and shiny, and I dropped it and I can't…" Lucy pulls her coat on over her torn clothes to no avail. She still shines with the rainbow aura. "I look like this if I don't have it. I have to go. I have to hide." She catches Marcus' comment about the sewers. Maybe there. She can't work like this.

"I can't make it stop. They'll find me if anyone takes a picture of me." Lucy's babbling but with good reason. Clutching her bag, she casts about as if to pick a direction in which to run. For a moment, she's obviously considering the Hellmouth.

*

Laura listens to Lucy babble. Okay, so… she has not exactly said anything like this, but she understands the situation. Probably better than anyone else present. After a moment's thought, she nods, pats Liv on the head, and hops down. Nope, still doesn't care how warm the pavement is, but it's cooled somewhat.

The diminutive girl snags Lucy's wrist in a serious fashion, and pulls her along towards an alleyway, announcing "I will keep her safe." Because friends do that. It is a thing she's learned. And this is a thing she is good at.

*

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