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The sun has set not long ago, and the world of Midtown Manhattan has started to quiet as a result. Rather quickly, people have evacuated from the deepest parts of the city. Which is why it feels so incredibly quiet across the entire scope of the landscape. Even the demonic beasts that have invaded the city seem to have left for the day.
With the sun fading, the world has slowly begun to cool. Shadow encompasses the street with the last vestiges of sunlight, shining in bright colours overtop Central Park.
*
If there wasn't a literal portal to hell in the middle of Central Park, Danny would probably be stalking the bars in something tight or sparkly or otherwise attention getting.
But there's a literal portal to hell in the middle of Central Park.
So instead, Danny is in green silk pants and shirt, with a gold silk mask tied over her head, her hair in a braid down her back. Normally she'd try not to stand out like that, but…Well. She's not the weirdest thing in the streets these days.
*
It's dangerous to be near Central Park these days, but Violet Sabre is a little full of herself right now. The young woman is used to a life where she's told when to wake up, what she's having for breakfast, what she's doing that day, what she's having for lunch, virtually down to the smallest detail, in a way that's so regimented and routine that she still only wears certain sweaters on certain days of the week. Since arriving at the Xavier Institute, though… There's virtually no oversight. She can have an idea for what she wants to do and just — do it! No matter how reckless, dangerous, or stupid it is!
And that's why Violet and her trusty steed, Garf the sheepdog, have ended up on a hill overlooking the Hellmouth from… a fairly safe distance, she assumes. At least, nothing's bad happened to her yet. She brought a sandwich for herself (and one for Garf, and Garf ended up eating half of her sandwich anyway) and just watched the scenes.
Then, while on her stomach, chin propped up on her hands, she fell asleep. Garf has remained by her side to protect her, but eventually he got sleepy too. Violet stirs and starts to process how long she's been here. "Oh, damn it— wake up, Garf, we should go!"
So the two hurry, but a fresh English transplant in a hurried frenzy might not make the best decisions about what streets to take.
*
Noh-Varr is wearing a pair of sunglasses and a long brown trench coat as he seems to argue with a hotdog stand guy in Central Park, holding a hotdog. "Are you telling me that you cook and sell these things, and you cannot tell me the etymology of the name? Do you have no respect for your craft?" he asks, sounding -very- irritated.
*
Hell's Kitchen is disturbingly quiet and Duke doesn't trust quiet. Not a bit. That means, as far as he's concerned, that trouble has simple settled down to brew elsewhere. He's out to find it and Central Park is the best bet. Armed and behind Tex's wheel, with Coz in the backseat, he cruises slowly down a long, abandoned street that gives him a good view of Central Park. Coz whines in his ear.
"You keep asking for undead, you're gonna get 'em," Duke warns. Coz makes another unhappy noise and slumps in the backseat. "Yes, I threw that ghoul leg out because it was disgusting." Duke lights a cigarette and turns to glare at the dog as Tex hums to halt by the curb. "Seriously. It was moldy when you got it and then you drooled on it for a week."
*
Time has come and gone. Preparations have been made. The only thing that's left..is to wait. It's the part which Domino doesn't like. This is the kind of day where she's going stir-crazy, the sort of time where getting into her car and just driving somewhere, anywhere else, seems like a great idea. She has the time to kill. Black car, blacked out driver with skin as pale as the moon. Trunk full of weaponry. Yeah, what could possibly go wrong.
At least she's obeying the traffic laws so far. Little steps.
*
Only a block from the Park, the world seems to be transformed. Pained moans of people echo from somewhere. It starts quietly; like a single person calling out in pain. Soon, however, its joined by more and more voices in unison The noise grows in scope and number, echoing bluntly through the empty streets. But where it's coming from is far less clear.
While some adjust to the sound of the moaning, its musical crescendo is quickly joined by something equally alarming. The clang of a single manhole cover, trembling beneath the influence of something jumps irritable as someone or something pushes against it from the world below.
One manhole cover might be alarming, yet its joined in chorus by another just down the block. And then another.
One finally gives way, opening with a very long CLANG as the cover is tossed aside like nothing. A large weed-like beast leads the charge —made of seaweed and animated into a strong plant monster. Behind it, however, the moaning grows.
A flap of skin drops from the corpse's face, falling to the ground with a sloppy SLOOSH, as it ambles out of the manhole cover. It takes a staggering step forward, acting as the first, in what can only be, a crowd of many, below the concert of the street.
*
Violet is dashing along in sight of that first corpse to appear, face falling off and everything. She's in the middle of rushing to cross a street when she sees it — and stops in her tracks and gasps, hands over her face. Garf is barking — she thinks at the… thing… — but maybe more because behind her, Domino in her all-black-everything car is coming up on her. Dare the albino run over an innocent teen?! Find out — later this round!
*
Noh-Varr hears something strange, something out of the ordinary for this planet… he thinks. Could this be a seasonal change?
He quickly runs away and tosses a dollar back at the stand guy, taking bites from his ketchup covered hotdog until he reaches the manhole cover, and the beast coming out of it. "Are you something out of the ordinary for this planet, or are you simply some form of seasonal creature that I should leave alone?"
*
Danny pauses at the first sound of moaning, looking for the source until the manhole covers start rattling. That? That's not…a good thing. No way that's a good thing. And once things actually come climbing out? "This is going to get so gross," she mutters, cracking her knuckles as she checks the area for potential problems. Aside from the undead army, that is.
But for a moment, there's a chance to try to catch them while they're bottle-necked by the exit from the sewers. Her hands come alight with the power of her chi, like golden flame, and she dives for the nearest creature, going for joints to immobilize.
*
Really? And Duke without his flame thrower. He does have explosives, though. Miracles of modern — and not so modern — chemistry. He pulls gets out of the car and pops the trunk.
"Don't even…" He says to Coz, as the dog starts sniffing toward the nearest manhole. "Don't you go down there." The dog may not have thumbs but he's capable of getting into trouble faster than Duke can blink. From the trunk, Duke opts for the home-made grenades, a shotgun, a sword, and his usual bag and bow. The bag matters most — healing gear. That's more important than the killing.
Kitted out, Duke sets out for the manhole at a lazy pace. Time to get dirty.
*
It may not look like it but Domino's mind is actually a very fragile place these days. Even one sighting out of the ordinary can trigger less than ideal reactions within her. When the manhole covers are launched away from the street and strange creatures start to emerge she -almost- doesn't notice Violet and Garf in the road.
As luck would have it her first reaction is to stand on the brakes, regardless. With an acute screech the front of her '62 Dodge Polara dips toward the street then jumps back, rocking upon its suspension just a few feet away from where the girl and dog stand.
Okay. She sees them both now. Though there's also the matter of the creatures, her own itching need to attack -something- in a bad way, and the fact that this evening is suddenly turning into another one of those bad experiences for a mind way too fragile…
She downshifts, cranks the wheel in order to avoid Violet and Garf, then stomps on the accelerator. Whatever that creature is, it's about to get a chromed bumper sandwich.
Sometimes life really is easier when one doesn't first stop to ask questions. Sometimes she doesn't want to know the answers, anyway.
*
The seaweed beast that pried open the manhole cover growls back at Noh-Varr's question. It angrily recoils, aiming to grasp at the closest body to shove it aside without any regard for damage or collateral damage. Whatever the plant-beast's goals, it seems to be bent on destruction.
The corpse Danny tackles fights back, clawing at her as she utterly destroys its joints. Meanwhile, one of its compatriots skulks behind her, tugging at Danny's mask. It may not be a bright army member, but it certainly acts with strength and pure instinct.
When Duke drops into the manhole, he finds himself calf-deep in sludge and water, and bodies clawing at him, aiming to pull him apart by tugging on each of his limbs. Water-logged eyes, sunken from decay and destruction, reflect the world around them rather than any semblance of life. Some eye sockets remain altogether empty. Rotten flesh peels form the corpses, and the white, water-filled skin indicates a layer of moisture tucked beneath the surface.
The creature that Domino hits with the car is taken out at the knees, and knocked onto her windshield. Rotting flesh clings to the windshield and the scent of death and dying, like rotten eggs and spoiled flesh wafts through the entire car. The woman's corpse, with wrinkled skin collapsed in on itself, seems to indicate a level of decay that impossibly doesn't effect her determination or movement. The corpse on the windshield claws fruitlessly at the window. The remains of the woman's legs are left in two distinct places: one on the ground where Domino hit her, and on the grill of the car — cycling through whatever vents are in place.
*
"Hands off!" Danny growls at the zombie behind her, kicking the one in front to the ground as she spins to snap the new one's hands at the wrist with a sharp downward blow. "Oh that's gross," she winces at the sound it makes. Bones snapping, that one she's a little more used to. But the squelching? Oh, god, the squelching.
*
When Domino's car veers around Violet, her skirt flutters, and Garf barks again, huddling close to his mistress as if to say 'Hey, you, car, knock it off!' When the car pastes the zombie, Violet can only watch in horror.
"Oh, God, Garf, we need to get out of here," Violet groans, and turns to run in the other direction — in the direction of the open manhole Duke has dropped into. Will she escape peril?! Or will she end up running right into zombies because she's a teenager in a zombie attack?!
*
Noh-Varr gets knocked back -hard- into a mailbox, which causes him to groan in surprise. He also takes note of other people attacking things. "Well then, I suppose this -is- out of the ordinary."
Golden tendrils slide from the arms of his coat, forming two ornate golden handguns with large barrels in his hands. Then he just begins firing green plasma blasts at the beast in front of him from one hand, and at the manhole itself with the other.
*
Duke expected nothing less. He clears the way in front of him with a blast from the shotgun. The shells are packed to kill undead, with a mix of pure elements like salt and silver and slivers of white oak in with the pellets. Flesh and bone spray the wall opposite him. He smashes his boot into the face of something clawing toward him, grunting with annoyance, and his heel goes right through soft bone to pulp what's left of the brain. He kicks the body back into the arms of the others and fires again with the shotgun. Coz leaps down into the empty space, holding the creatures at bay long enough for Duke to reload.
"Have I done this before?" Duke asks no one in particular. "I need a second ledger." Then he'd know what worked on these things.
*
ROLL: Violet +rolls 1d10 for a result of: 8
*
Aw..that's just..eww! Domino knows what death and decay are like, both in appearance and smell. Neither are pleasant things. But THIS..! Even her iron-clad stomach is having some difficulty coping!
Once more the brakes are struck like they're going out of style, trying to slide that disgusting corpse right off of the hood and back onto the road. Even better if she can slap the body up against the back of another car. Vehicular manslaughter, while often quite effective and, on occasion, hilarious, doesn't seem to be doing the trick for her this time.
"I'm gettin' real tired of you guys haunting me," the albino almost growls while freeing herself from behind the wheel, the Dodge's headlights keeping her target in sight as she draws a .380 pistol from behind herself. The sounds of other weapons going off aren't missed, though for the moment they are pushed aside in her thoughts. For once she doesn't even care if they're shooting at her.
"Everywhere I go, everything I do, there's always -something- messing with my head, and I've -had enough of it!-"
She comes to stand just a few feet away from the damaged body, arm raised. Two shots snap out of her sidearm, aimed right for the decaying woman's face.
"You wanna mess with me again then come on, let's get this over with!"
..Those pistols over there are shooting green shit. What the heck..?
*
The wrist of the zombie that Danny defends herself again easily moves underneath her influence, squidging pent up bodily fluids in hues of green, grey, and brown everywhere as it falls to a mess on the ground. It doesn't relent, however. Even with only one working arm, the zombie on the ground belly crawls forward, grasping at Danny's pant leg to pull her down.
The zombie in front of Danny ambles. It flails like a turtle on its back. It rolls over after a beat, and lunges towards Danny, fingers aiming to tear flesh with exposed phalanges were its fingers ought to be.
Violet's retreat is marred by a fresh horde as she rounds the corner. The amblers — five in number — seem to be alerted to the dog and the girl. They tread towards her, aiming to destroy anything in front of them, regardless of its status living status. Their jaws open and close to a chorus of teeth chatters that gnash towards anything they can get a hold of.
Noh-Varr's weapon shoots easily at the seaweed beast, and separate pieces of the plant monster in an array of black charred plant. The manhole cover rolls upwards with the green blast shot towards it. While Noh-Varr didn't aim at one of the zombies, the manhole cover, with its momentum, crashes against one of the corpses, squishing it with a large SQUELCH beneath the force. Bodily juices projectile from the corpse, shooting up and spraying everything within range.
The sound of feet in moisture shuffle through the sewer towards Duke. The sloshing sound of corpses trudging through the pipes is challenging to identify the location of the bodies, or where they're coming from, yet they have definite interest in whatever so easily dispensed of their comrades. Towards Duke's left, shadows seem to indicate some semblance of activity.
With all of that effort, the corpse slides slowly off the front of Domino's windshield — leaving an array of green, brown, and grey juices in its wake. When she leaves the car, the bullets meet their target hard and true. The woman's face explodes with juices, erupting from the force of the bullets. Another corpse ambles towards Domino, reaching out to grasp at her and pull her downwards, into one of the manhole covers.
*
"I really need a sword. Or a staff. Or literally anything that can-" Wait a minute. Danny is a living weapon. Or at least that's what the PR says. It's just that usually she's dealing with people, and taking the heads off of people is frowned upon. But these? Probably not still people. Even if they were once. The glow flows from her hands to her feet, and with a spin and a kick, she takes aim at each zombie head in turn, unleashing the full power of the Iron Fist on them.
*
"Stop talking to yourself, I can hear you and your mental instability is distracting." Noh-Varr casually shouts over at Domino as his body is covered in goo.
His left pistol liquifies and reforms into an even longer, wider cannon, and he fires one of those strange looking self-replicating grenades into the sewer.
Before they go off, he releases his weapons back up his sleeve, runs over to a nearby parked car, carefully lifts it above his head, then -tosses- it to the manhole.
Why?
Because covering the manhole will make the chain of explosions a hell of a lot worse for the things in the sewer. "Oh, right, I think someone went down there."
*
Duke pitches a grenade down that way toward the activity. It bursts not with a bang but a splatter — luminous white spatters everything in the vicinity. Behind Duke, Coz snarles and tackles one of the undead, dragging it back by one leg. Duke turns long enough to crush its skull so hard that the head disintegrates. Then he slogs toward what seems to be most active area, a different grenade in hand now, shotgun loaded and in the other. Let's see if he can find any kind of source for this mess.
*
Suddenly Domino's getting sprayed by something. Something very, very rotten, and foul in a way which she'd rather not think about. Probably a lot like the stuff now covering the hood of her car. It's ..incredibly awful. The Colt in her hand has served as a focal point for her sudden desire for revenge but the battlefield at large, and those inhabiting it, prove to be too much for her.
Like Noh-Varr calling out to her. "My mental instability is none of your damn busin—ack!"
Suddenly she's on the ground, landing hard into even more of the terrible mixture of fluids as something starts pulling her backward with surprising force. Mayyy-beee she shouldn't have yelled out that challenge…
In a heartbeat she's twisting around, yelling angrily, struggling to kick at whatever's got hold of her with her other foot. She's still got her gun, and another one just like it for Lefty. There's also a sudden and chilling reality check accompanying the moment.
If this was another trip then she wouldn't be -feeling- all of this. Not all of her senses lie to her.
A spark of panic instantly follows. Against all odds, this is really happening. Despite only having so many bullets in her guns she starts shooting at the creature before it can carry her into the sewers. Now the fear in her is also very real.
*
Violet S-C-R-E-A-M-S when she runs almost right smack into the gaggle of gross-o slop-zombies. Garf barks angrily and runs to bite, but Violet actually grabs her dog like she's trying to tackle him and pulls him back. "No, Garf!" she cries, apparently not wanting her dog to be attacked by these… things.
In a panic, Violet impulsively tries to use her powers, something she hasn't actually done outside of a classroom environment since arriving in America. She has no idea what will happen, if anything. Are these things aliens? Monsters? Do they even have brains? Will going into their brains make Violet sick? Will her powers even work? What if they bite her? Will she turn into one?!
*
The zombie heads that Danny assaults with the power of Iron Fist, causing her feet to literally go through each of the zombie heads. The zombies fall flat on the ground as the mess of zombie juices and corpse-brain-remains linger on her limbs. On the plus side, the zombies are down.
The chain of explosions that Noh-Varr unleashes in the sewer echo loudly as the corpses erupt one after another in a chain reaction that sees them bursting into corpse-water-balloons, leaking whatever fluids remain of the dead. The smell of decay wafts within the sewer below Midtown Manhattan, towards Duke.
The vibrations of the explosions from Noh-Varr's efforts ripple through the sewer, reaching Duke as it moves. But something on the other side of the sewer draws Duke further. Something strangely perfumed. Something warm, inviting, and rich. The feeling drives him further in.
Domino's bullets shoot true, taking out the corpse's brain and causing it to collapse flat against the pavement, lifeless. The child's corpse, cold and empty, lays flat on the concrete, mouth gaping.
Violet's powers cause strange rumblings in the five minds that she touches. The vibration of the brain tissue as Violet touches them flip back towards her in a strange way. The energy that feeds back to her isn't that of an average mind, but instead a mystical compulsion that calls back to her, compelling her to do as they do. The call to join the army is strong, but not impossible to fight… but the woman's voice, soft and true speaks in Latin, "Excite milites dormientes. Certa enim regina!"
*
ROLL: Violet +rolls 1d10 for a result of: 8
*
ROLL: Violet +rolls 1d20 for a result of: 19
*
"Okay, so, go for the head." Danny might have already known that if she hadn't been raised without televisions or movies. If there's a zombie dragon, though, she's ready. At the moment, though, she's trying really hard not to think about her hands and just what's on them right now. With those two down, she has a moment to see what else is going on around herself, marking the cars and the guns first, followed by the vibrations of the explosion.
*
Violet is stricken by the effects of trying to touch the psychic void. She actually falls over, curling into a fetal position and clutching her head, trying to resist the compulsion to join these monsters. Garf stands over her, barking loudly, growling, and baring his teeth to try and ward these sludge-creatures away. This may be noticeable to any nearby hero attuned to the frequency of dog barks.
*
Noh-Varr starts walking over to Domino, as she seems to be in distress. He's already reformed his pistols again, and starts firing plasma at anything that gets at her flank, and allows her to shoot anything that she can actually see. "It's difficult to keep cover when strange things constantly happen on this planet. I doubt I even stand out."
*
Coz barks at Duke as Duke follows the scent — such as it is. Someone is in trouble! Another dog, granted, but someone.
"Waiting," Duke orders. More of the things come lumbering at him from the dark and he shoots into the mass of them, scattering them. The glow of his light-paint grenade is brighter here, he moves patiently, scanning for the source of that strange smell. If only he could places it.
*
That was just a -child- dragging her across the road—! Pale blue eyes stare at the disgusting body for a moment longer before Domino regains control of her legs enough to kick free of the blessedly lifeless grasp. The same motion has her crawling backward across the ground, bumping head-first into the side of her car.
"What the hell is going on here…"
That sudden desire she had to lash out and destroy before is now being replaced with the idea of getting right back in her car and leaving this accursed place. The decision isn't fully made before Noh-Varr is upon her, acting surprisingly casual about the entire situation. Also talking about 'this planet,' as if there's any other option out there! Maybe she really is experiencing a bad episode, it wouldn't be the first time she couldn't trust her own thoughts.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Or what the hell those things are. Or what I'm covered in. But this is really..really..messed up." The girl screaming her head off over there seems like she would agree.
(Stay focused, girl.) "What are those weapons you're using? I know guns. I've never seen anything like those."
*
Another ten corpses already amble about the street on which Danny, Noh-Varr, and Domino find themselves. Punches to the brain, bullets, strange guns, and grenades all seem to work to take down the walkers — which seem to have developed a greater interest in the people that line the sidewalk. Their jaws open and close, chattering away with aim to bite and claw at the people who defend themselves.
The compulsion in Violet's brain continues in that thrum of Latin. The woman's voice, sultry, warm, and inviting, calls the corpses to her — wherever she may be — and, thanks to wandering into their brains, calls Violet to join their forces. The mystic compulsion is strong, but not impossible to fight.
The smell seems even more reminiscent in Duke's senses as he nears it. It's not so familiar that it smells like home, yet not so foreign that its bothering in its scent. Its strange warmth — a combination of cinnamon, spices — could remind one of a heavenly blend, yet its not quite so lovely. A lie. A falsehood. Duke can almost feel it in his bones. The Latin rolls over his mind too, but not in a compelling way. Can he hear it? Does he tap into the sound of the woman's voice? The call stops. It ceases as he draws further into the sewer. A large flash of light encompasses the sewer, and the woman — wherever she was, seems to have vanished.
And as she vanishes, something else happens. The world turns silent. The corpses still along the street drop, as if nothing had ever compelled them back to life.
*
"It would be super helpful," Danny notes as she wades back into the crowd of zombies, fists aglow, "If people with ordinance would shoot these things in the head, thanks." She's fast, at least. Every strike is precise, every movement measured, every motion one born of years of practice and combat. For a relatively small woman, she does a lot of damage. But when it comes down to it, she's punching undead things.
*
ROLL: Violet +rolls 1d20 for a result of: 20
*
Violet clutches her temples, the world spinning around her as Garf continues to bark and growl at the advancing creatures. She feels like every blood vessel in her body is about to plump up and burst. Finally, she can't take it anymore — she screams, out loud, "GET — OUT — OF — MY — HEAD!!!"
Which actually does the trick, though it's more just a coincidence of timing than a causal relationship. Violet is dizzy still, groggy, but able to get up and run, just as things almost come to Garf vs. Zombies. Garf runs with her. Violet loses a shoe. She'll think about that later.
*
"I believe we're both covered in some form of decay. It's perfectly natural. Thankfully this planet is obsessed with having a wide variety of showers." Noh-Varr stares down at one of his guns, then over at Domino. "Gauntlets that are capable of transforming into multiple weapons. It's Kree technology, too advanced for a human to use without killing themselves. It also helps to have had various nanobots integrated with your body from birth."
"Well, I suppose I shot just the right things." he states when corpses begin to fall, and he allows his gauntlets to liquify and slide back up into his sleeves again. "You're welcome."
*
Gone? Duke turns to Coz. "Did you see that?" Coz barks at him furiously. "Well, I know she's gone. I mean did you see her before she left?" Apparently not.
Coz bounces off toward the manhole where they dropped in, barking like mad. He wants to go help the other dog. Hurry up, monkey.
"This is not right." Duke follows, slinging his gun over his back so he can boost Coz up and out the manhole. "It feels like something is testing us. I don't like it." He grabs the edge of the manhole and pulls himself up over the edge. He's dripping and slimy and, to be honest, looks a lot like a shambler himself at the moment. Coz isn't any better — he takes off like a shot to find the other dog and make sure it's not in trouble.
*
This strange guy standing beside Domino is saying words but that's not what she's hearing. 'Decay, natural, planet, showers, multiple weapons..yadda yadda something body birth what?'
Confused, disgusted, feeling outright violated, Dom brings one pistol back up and starts questing for another target just before the girl starts screaming about getting out of her head.
As it turns out, that's exactly the sort of thing the albino can relate to. For a lingering moment she even thinks of putting her next bullet into Violet's head in order to help the girl escape the voices. Luckily for them both, this proves to not be necessary. Violet runs off. Undead creatures fall to the ground.
This doesn't stop her from putting another bullet into the head of the next nearest creature, just to be certain. At least she hasn't lost her aim in all of this.
"Shower," she hazily agrees with Noh-Varr with a slow, rhythmic nod. "-All- of the damn showers."
Wait a minute, is that— "-Duke?-" she calls out, now even more confused. Somehow. Maybe it's an undead Duke, or something. Just LOOK at the guy, it's disgusting! She sucks in a breath and points a gun at him next, not sure if he's actually Duke or something gross that needs to be put down!
*
The world seems to come back to its normal reality. The corpses remain lifeless. But something in the air suggests that soon enough, more will come. The wind whistles across the now dead-laced landscape and the smells of death and dying saturate Midtown with the sheer number of bodies that have accumulated in such a short timeframe.
Some New Yorkers return to the streets to survey the scene.
*
"I need a shower." Noh-Varr decides, sliding his hands into his pockets as he starts to walk down the street. "My name is Noh-Varr, by the way." is all he offers to Domino, apparently already over the entire situation. "My hotdog was ruined."
Danny shakes her hands off, sighing. "That is extra gross," she says, looking back to the others. Domino and Duke she knows. They get a tip of her chin. The others? Not familiar. But she moves toward the group at large, trying to adjust her mask where it's been tugged askew. "Anyone have any idea what that was all about?"
*
Violet answers by falling to her knees and throwing up. Garf watches, concerned, until his ears prick up at the detection of another dog nearby. Sorry, Violet, but some things have priority.
*
"Dom!" That's Duke. And he seems…normal. For Duke. He's grinning in spite of the gun pointed at him and there's Coz, racing off toward Violet and Garf. "You okay?" Dom looks all right for the moment, so Duke heads in Coz's direction. "Any idea what's going on?"
Okay, throwing up. Well, Duke has something for that. He's got something for everything. In spite of being slimy.
*
Oh..oh god, no… That girl just threw up. In response, whether empathic or systemic, her own stomach suddenly lurches on her with enough persistence to momentarily upset her aim. Soon enough Domino lets her arm hang at her side altogether. Yeah, it's Duke. A quick glance shows her that this 'Noh-Varr' fella is already on his way out, too. So very, very weird.
"Alive. Whole. Disturbed. Confused. Disgusting. Some things are best left flushed," she declares then roughly paws some of the grime off the side of her face with one of her own pistols. "I don't know. I wish I knew less. This is the kind of smell that takes way too much time to clear out." Then to herself she mutters "Jeezus, I'm gonna be sick."
*
Violet tries and fails to regain composure and dignity. Garf, meanwhile, trots over towards the muck-covered Coz, woofing once and then pacing around in an attempt to circle this other dog and give him a righteous sniffing. Violet sits up, and just looks quietly disoriented, even as she takes in the non-zombie people around her.
*
"Oh, please let's not start the circle of puking," Danny winces, half turning away. Maybe if she concentrates really hard she won't join in. She swallows once, stopping herself from trying to cover her mouth because, well. Chi does not burn away the smell. "This is new, right? No one's come on these things yet?"
*
Coz romps happily at Garf. There's a lot of cheerful barking and play bowing and doggie discussion about how terrible their monkeys are. Duke crouches down next to Violet and inspects her carefully, eyes narrowed. Under the slime, he's pretty cute. He digs around in his bag without looking and pulls out a small tin, then offers it — open — to Violet.
"Mint," he explains. "And a couple other things. Trust me, it'll get the taste out of your mouth and the smell out of your head." Almost as an afterthought, he takes one for himself.
"New to me," he calls to Danny. "Then again," he adds, quieter, "What isn't these days?"
*
Violet starts to scream and then it catches in her throat when Muckman Duke crouches down next to her. She has to take a few deep breaths before processing what he just said. "Ch-cheers," Violet grimaces, and takes a mint-plus. This sets a dangerous precedent for young telepaths just taking whatever is handed to them.
*
Now there's a new dilemma, Dom eyeing the gook-coated gun still in her hand. Frankly, she doesn't want to holster that. With a look of pure disgust she gently tosses the two sidearms into the passenger footwell of her car as if they're just dirty scraps of laundry going into the hamper. "I think that one might need some checking over," she points over to Violet. Which Duke is already responding to.
To Danny, with a rather pained expression, she lightly shrugs. "New to me. I'm prepared for vampires, demons, and telemarketers. Not these things. Also hoping it's the last we see of 'em, too," she says with a wince, her attention turning right back to Violet as the girl screams. "Hey, take it down a few notches, huh? My head's already not very happy with me."
*
"Great. New things." Danny gives the gloppy bodies a long, dismayed look. "Personally, I think I like the vampires better. Ash is so much less disturbing. And it smells better. Building management is going to hate me so much when I get back." A pause, as she looks to the others. "Will they burn? Does one of you have something to see if one will burn? Because I feel like this is kind of leaving a mess."
*
"Here." Duke offers Danny what looks like a well-crafted home-made hand grenade. "It'll burn if you break it on them. Go ahead. I'm curious. Watch yourself, it'll be bright and hot." Once Danny takes it from him, he turns his attention back to Violet.
"Well, someone's sensitive," Duke says with some amusement. She's already slumping and he carefully picks her up as though she weighs nothing. Coz and Garf are chasing each other around in a circle. "At least they're happy."
*
Before Domino can look for a roadflare or a flamethrower in the trunk, Duke's got it covered. "Seriously, dude. You're like a walking Swiss Army knife."
She goes to try and rub the stench out of her nose then abruptly stops, reminded that her hands aren't exactly pristine any longer. "Okay, you know what, I'm just gonna go back to the yard and ..quietly die in the shower."
*
Danny blinks as she's handed a grenade, brows rising beneath her mask. "That was more than I expected." But when life hands you a hand grenade, you should go and blow up some rotted corpses. Picking out a pile of zombie goo, she sets the grenade down and then moves quickly away and out of range. "And three…two…one…"
The explosion is effective enough to demolish some of the bodies. They don't burn well, thanks to being, essentially, liquified remains, but they do, indeed burn — at least when they're on the pavement.
A few blocks away, a dark haired woman looks over her shoulder. Her lips quirk into a confident smile, and her tongue clucks. "Worry not." Her chin lifts, and her eyes hone on the stars above. The smile turns grim, and the near-pout that plays over her features shifts into something far more sinister.
"All is falling into place."