1963-11-02 - Long Live The Queen
Summary: Akihiro, Tchalla, Mar-vell, and Xavier battle more giant ants following the plot in Grover's Mill! Anya was emitting.
Related: Them
Theme Song: None
akihiro tchalla mar-vell xavier 


It's late afternoon in the ruins of Grover's Mill, New Jersey, and things have gone from bad to worse. News stories went out after midday that not only has the entire town dropped six to eight feet down from where it started, but many places are much deeper than that, and the wreckage has been overrun by giant ants the size of horses and bigger. The stories were mocked at first, with the photos being so grainy and foggy, but story after story has poured in, and it can't be denied. Grover's Mill looks to be the frontline of some kind of insect invasion force.

The police and other emergency responders have pulled back in favor of letting the National Guard to their thing, but even their heavy firepower has proven problematic. Anything heavy enough to make a dent is eventually lost to sinkholes, but anything light enough to be portable doesn't seem to be that helpful. Add that to the dilemma of injured civilians scattered throughout the wreckage, and the unpowered humans are at an impasse.

All of that leads to our current battlefield: a drive-through town if there ever was one, no more than a few square miles, is now a crumbling disaster site. The waning evening light isn't able to do much with the thick fog rolling through either, which is also part marine layer and part smoke and concrete dust. The National Guard has managed to secure the perimeter of the former town, for the most part, but the heart of the town is largely unexplored.

One particularly conspicuous spot in the center of town is/was the site of Grover's Mill Credit Union building, along with a couple of other banks. While much of the town is collapsed from dropping a few feet straight down, the center of town is marked by a very deep hole. Peering down into it would reveal the tops of those buildings about twenty feet down. Since they were all two story buildings, that means the hole is about forty feet deep. It's around this hole that we find a number of superheroes starting to gather.

*

One of those superheroes isn't actually a superhero, it's Akihiro. And he didn't show up to help, which is pretty obvious considering anybody could follow a trail of SWAT gear clad corpses to him currently throwing a man into a sinkhole. He's dressed for this, forgoing his usual jacket and slack combination for a skintight black, demonic mempo, he even has a sword strapped to his back.

He freezes in place, tilting his head up to get a scent. "No, that can't be right." he mutters to himself, head turning so he can look in the direction of that particular smell.

*

Normally, an emergency in a place like Grover's Mill would not have drawn Dr. Walter Lawson's attention. It was, after all, a rural and unincorporated area some 50 miles south and west of New York City, his current location. NYC had plenty to keep him occupied, including access to rocketry and robotics research at the Goddard Space Flight Center where he worked, and his study of the Terran metahumans. He had been mistaken for such a being, and it afforded him a unique opportunity to interact with these beings as one of them in his guise of Captain Marvel.

But reports from the little hamlet were highly unusual, judging by all the conversation he'd heard from his NYC associates. Huge sink holes developed beneath the community overnight, swallowing up buildings and residents so that it appeared the region was too catacombed for standard human rescue and recovery efforts. Then Lawson researched the location and discovered its Terran fame from a radio hoax decades earlier which claimed that Grover's Mill was the landing site for an alien invasion from the planet Mars.

For a spy of the alien Kree Empire like Mar-Vell, that last detail made Grover's Mill noteworthy enough to seek out. Perhaps he could learn something of human psychology regarding extraterrestrials by interacting with the residents there. Could find out if they were simply insular as a community, or typical humans he was used to dealing with and a barometer for overall Terran response should the Kree ever reveal themselves to the inhabitants of Earth. Or decide to invade it.

The more news reports that came in about the state of emergency in Grover's Mill, the more Mar-Vell also believed that he might actually be of help to the emergency services trying to reach survivors. He couldn't say which compelled him more, but the combination was sufficient for him to take a few days off, drive to the area, and secure a motor lodge room for a few days. Those things accomplished and with a fresh dose of his breathing serum to cope with the Terran atmosphere, Mar-Vell had shed his identity of Dr. Lawson and taken to the sky as Captain Marvel, flying over the disaster area to see where he might be able to assist.

*

Having heard word of the events in this town, and how helpless the authorities seem to be, T'Challa has taken it upon herself to investigate on her own. She will not bring the resources of Wakanda into this unless she deems it necessary, but the least she can do is take a look. However, being T'Challa, she does not do so from a helicopter overhead, nor from the top of some van or truck outside the perimeter. No. She is the Black Panther. She skulks through the heart of all of this, seemingly unafraid.

Shrouded in black, wearing a feline-aspect fully-cowled mask complete with 'ears' and lenses over the eyes, Black Panther is currently at the edge of the deepest sinkhole in the town, looking down at the buildings below. The lenses allow her to see in minimal light, and reduce refraction from the dust. Her instincts, and herb-beightened senses, tell her there is movement down there. Already she has seen some of those who have fallen to the depredations here. Instinct tells her people need help. And in spite of herself, though they are not her people, T'Challa cannot walk away from that.

The almost utterly silent black figure starts climbing down the loose earthen walls of the sinkhole, skidding along, slowing her descent, as she aims to land on one of those roofs and look for people still in need of help … or threats in need of being dealt with.

*

When the reports finally reached a certain select school in rural Westchester about the uncertain disaster in Grover's Mill, one particular meddler didn't take off for New Jersey to investigate— he went down to his basement. It does take a bit of time for Professor Charles Xavier to get the room-sized Cerebro powered up, but once he does it's in a matter of moments instead of nearly two hours that he's able to reach the afflicted town.

To any in the area sensitive to such things, there's the definite buzz on the air of a telepath scanning the area. But for T'Challa specifically a few moments later, a hazy blue form appears floating in the dim sinkhole, like some sort of ghost who died in a rather unfortunate argyle sweater.

"I'm very pleased to see I'm not the only one taking note of all this. You're here to help the besieged bank employees? Excellent, I can lead you to them." a ghost who also cuts right to the chase, it would seem.

*

It had been sprinkling earlier, and then quit. Now, close to sundown, the rain begins in earnest. It's not a total downpour, but it's not a wimpy sprinkle either. Rivulets begin to form, and tiny finger-thick waterfalls begin to dribble down into the big sinkhole.

Anyone with enhanced hearing will probably be able to confirm the Xavier-ghost's claim. A small number of people can be heard making panicky noises, as well as some strange scrabbling sounds that would be almost impossible to identify if one wasn't willing to accept the possibility of enormous insects.

*

Landing next to T'Challa and the ghost is the masked form of Akihiro, who Xavier would instantly recognize. "We need to get going, something's in there with them!" he warns, reaching up for his sword but stopping once he realizes just who the projection is. "Professor, if you're gonna send backup, I'd hurry. Something isn't right here."

*

Captain Marvel is completing his first fly-over and intent on seeking out one of the groups of rescue workers, to inquire where he might be of use. It seems a better tactic than beginning to dig or move debris blindly only to weaken the already unstable structures and do more harm than good.

Then he notices movement by a larger sinkhole near the center of the mess, and alters his flight path to hover over it, peering into the dark expanse below. A flick of his wrist, and the lenses of his unibeam bracer cast the equivalent of a broad, low-intensity spotlight into the shadowy recesses. Several figures are now more visible on the roof of a building twenty feet below, and he recognizes them, at least one of them, as being of the New York 'superhero' set he's been tracking through the media. He slowly descends, powering down his jetbelt until he lights among them on the rooftop. "Survivors in here?" he asks, overhearing part of the young man's remarks.

*

The Black Panther eyes the 'vision' that appears to her, and Xavier would be aware that she is already considering means of measuring telepathic activity so that she can find the means to construct a suitable barrier. He would also become aware that something about him apparently reminds her of a description she recently heard from a very close friend: Ororo Monroe. Her thoughts are largely in Wakandan, but she does know English quite well, and is capable fo thinking in it, so her intent to speak that language comes through, helpfully.

"The challenge will be getting those people up and out of here, and quickly." Black Panther offers in her accented voice. English is not her native tongue, but she makes herself understood. Suddenly a flying man lands nearby, and she turns to him. "You. How many can you carry aloft? If we get them to this roof, you must be ready to get them the rest of the way to safety."

That said, the Panther does not hesitate, nor does she explain. Instead, she leaps off the side of the building and inverts herself in mid-fall, vibranium-enhanced claw tips burying themselves in the wall to slow her descent to something less than bone-shattering as she rapidly drops all the way to the ruined and shattered 'ground' of what was the square between these buildings. And then starts tearing open the doorway, guessing that in a bank, people took refuge in the large central messanine after recovering from the fall.

*

The astral projection is certainly recognizable to anyone who's seen it before, but there's something inherently indistinct, and difficult to remember about how the ghostly form looks or sounds. Though someone with the discipline of the Black Panther might be able to retain enough to notice the resemblance to what she was told…especially as Akihiro's form of address right in front of the Wakandan Queen is, unfortunately rather more definite. In any case Xavier is impressed T'Challa guessed his appearance was a trick of telepathy, he's generally happy to let strangers reach incorrect conclusions at times like this.

Floating down to the roof as well, Xavier replies to Akihiro, "Unfortunately there's another disturbance that's got our hands full in the city, but I'll do what I can."

When Captain Marvel bathes the roof in light and joins them, Xavier nods briskly. "Yes, there are. They're trapped in a bathroom just down there," he points at one section of the roof, "And there are what would seem to be giant insects trying to dig through the rubble trapping them, so our friend here is quite right; we'd best hurry." and so saying he dives right through the roof to get a better look at the scene, relaying whatever he finds there to the others.

*

With the waning light above, and the obvious power outage, the inside of the bank wreckage is completely dark aside from whatever lights the heroes can provide. The ground floor entrance has been smashed open from the outside in though, making ingress very simple. In the gloom inside the ground floor of the building can be seen two enormous red ants, which until now were methodically moving rubble around to gain access to a door with with the female restroom symbol on it. There's currently a big metal filing cabinet in front of it now, which probably wouldn't be that much trouble for ants the size of horses, but they have turned to focus on the heroes coming in.

Together, the ants rush at Tchalla, the only available target they can see. Their mandibles snap hungrily, loud and powerful like bear traps, and their saliva sizzles and burns the floor when it drips.

"Is someone out there?!" calls a frantic male voice from inside the bathroom. "Help us! We're in he-" his voice cuts off in a startled yelp when Xavier's ghostly form dips into the pitch black bathroom, lit only by a zippo lighter left on the sink basin. The people inside look too shocked to even process the ghost's presence.

*

"Fuck, I was really hoping that that wasn't what that was." The masked teen finishes drawing his blade before running to follow after the Panther, hitting the square in a cliche three-point landing. It's obvious from the pained noise he makes that his body didn't appreciate it, but he hops right up.

Snikt!

Once he catches sight of the ants, he wastes no time flipping over the lead ant, driving his claws down into it's head and making for the restroom. "We're coming!" he shouts back.

*

"I can carry up to four by hand, or, given a stable platform to put people on, perhaps six," Captain Marvel answers the ebon-clad female, adding to the space she occupied a moment before, "and I could vaporize an exit hole in the roof if we're certain exactly where they're located." But he's talking to air, as the woman in the felinoid uniform exhibits reflexes the like of which he's never witnessed in a human.

The ghostly form…some sort of holographic projection? Fascinating! Tech or natural ability, it's the sort of metahuman ability his Kree superiors would spend sleepless nights over, should they find out Terrans possessed it. Then the phantom figure passes through the roof and into the room below. Captain Marvel notices the sounds of the monsters mentioned, and of battle beginning where the Black Panther made access. The young swordsman joins that battle, and Mar-Vell almost accompanies him. But then he thinks of the people, only a few feet below, and decides quickly. He aims his unibeam projector at the section where he heard the voice and where the spectre vanished, adjusts the lens setting, and fires a broad swatch of energy into the roof material. It glows brightly for a few seconds, and then falls to wafting ash, leaving a ten foot square exit point. "This way!" he calls down, then sees if he can reach them or if he will have to descend into the room itself to begin airlifting the humans.

*

A male voice from the women's restroom? Check. Not asking questions right now. Black Panther has giant ants to deal with. "Help is coming!" she shouts, as she intercepts the ants, catching those mighty mandibles with her reinforced gloves, pushing outward against that force, then turning her hands to drag her claws bitingly through those mandibles, slicing through them just as she can Detroit steel. She moves swiftly, agilely, using one large insect - now wounded - to get in the way of the other, giving her the advantage and the opening to do yet more damage to both. It's going to be a mess, ant guts all over the place. She just has to hope her own guts don't join them.

*

Glowing ghosts appearing in a dark claustrophobic room may not be what most would consider a reassuring situation, but at least this one is smiling kindly, echoing the reassurances shouted by the others. "Yes, someone's out there, we're trying to clear a path to safety for you, so hold on a little longer," he assures. After a beat though he looks up and adds thoughtfully, "In fact I'm happy to say you won't have to wait very long at all." a moment before Mar-Vell disintegrates the roof, letting in cloud-dimmed light from above.

Xavier's projection smiles at Mar-Vell, though there is a puzzled tilt to his head. There's something decidedly odd about his mind, but that's a question for another time. "Very well done, I'll leave these people in your care. There's a broken off door just there, if it might help." he points out, since six is in fact how many Mar-Vell is being faced with.

That said there's a fight going on outside, and Xavier quickly flits out through the door and the cabinets to the room beyond, focusing on monitoring the impending fight. Should he spot anyone about to be blind sided by an ant or their acidic spit, he sends awareness of the danger directly to the person in question, rather like a poor man's spider-sense.

*

The lead ant snaps at Akihiro as he leaps up and over, severing the samurai's foot at the ankle, which falls in a sizzling lump as the saliva already begins to break down the bite. But it's a bite the ant will never get to enjoy. The ant's steel-hard carapace is nothing compared to Akihiro's claws, and the beast stands frozen for a moment, and then collapses, dead before it hits the ground.

Mar-vell's raygun easily makes an opening in the roof, and then the second floor, revealing the people in the ground floor bathroom. Already shocked by the appearance of the 'ghost', they peer up into the gloom at the jet-belted hero lowering himself to their rescue. They are too stunned for words.

Tchalla's ant is similarly vanquished, if more messily. It's mandibles are unbelievably strong, but they can't stand up to a vibranium onslaught. The ant is in pieces but acidic saliva sizzles wherever it lands, even if it doesn't seem to be eating all the way through her suit. It's last act is a death spasm, swinging what's left of it's head hard against Tchalla's body. It wouldn't do much damage by itself, but there's enough force to send anyone flying.

Anyway you cut it, telepathy is just damned helpful in so many situations. The panicked civilians are decidedly more calm and organized when making arrangements to be flown to safety. Up, up, and away!

Out in the lobby, things are eerily, suddenly quiet. The bodies of the ants are cooling, the sound of the rain outside remains steady. But a little bit further back in the gloom? Why, that's the vault, with the door hanging ajar. If this is just a natural disaster, well then that thing must still be full of cash!

*

Rather than running over to save the day, Akihiro hits the ground pretty hard, sword skittering away from him. "Motherfucker!" he hisses. He crawls over to recover his foot, which has already mostly disolved. "Well, there goes that." He crawls back over to where his sword landed, collecting it and sheathing it.

"Sounds like we should have waited for him." he says aside to Panther, taking his mask off and pushing up onto his foot, using the wall to make his way over to the vault. Interestingly enough, his foot seems to be growing back.

*

Seeing the smiling phantom and hearing his reassurances to the trapped people below, Mar-Vell jumps down into the room itself. "Door? Where-ah. Yes, that will do nicely," the captain of the Kree replies and wrenches it from the frame where it still hangs by one hinge.

Belatedly, he notices…some for of mental scan. Subtle, but not unlike some alien sensor sweeps he's been on the receiving end of before. Beneath the battle helmet his eyes narrow a bit as he concludes this man is not only creating a projected image from afar, but also has the raw mental ability to telepathically probe other minds…even alien ones. Still, the sweep did not feel overly invasive nor painful. For now, it's simply good intel to have access to.

The door is held before Mar-Vell, and he offers his most confent smile to the people seeking escape. "Take a seat, and hold to the edge of the door tightly," he instructs. "You'll be back home before you know it. Just relax, and enjoy the ride."

Captain Marvel holds the maekshift passenger platform, feeling as the six add to the doors weight and near his limits of his strength. He adjusts for the added weight, and then wills the propulsion studs from their indented compartments on the back of his jet belt through the cybernetic weave of his helmet circuitry. The belt fires as the Kree warrior jumps, straight up, easily clearing the twenty feet and the belt then carrying him across the evening sky to the safety zone surrounding the hamlet. He drops his passengers into the waiting arms of National Guardsmen below, then straightlines back to the sunken building to enter the ongoing fray as a Kree warrior, bred to expand the Empire and born for battle.

*

Black Panther shakes herself, not unlike the giant cat she uses as her namesake, and casts off as much of the acid as she can, even as what there is of it manages to eat away at some of the fabric in the mesh of her costume. It won't disintegrate, but it's looking rough, and the metal will start scraping at skin, now, unshielded. She grimaces, hidden by her mask, and follows the de-footed swordsman as he makes for the vault. She isn't hearing anything moving around in there, so why is he headed that way?

"There are more of those ants about, and more people to be found." Black Panther comments, as she starts concentrating on her senses, tuning into things other than sight, which is so limited down here, even with her lenses' help. . o O (Professor. Perhaps you could point the way to the next knot of survivors, if you please?) T'Challa thinks as loudly and forcefully English as she can. Pardon the accent, the simultaneous echo in Wakandan.

*

As the two ants are dispatched, Xavier's projection floats back down to the floor, the spectre wincing at Akihiro's wound, even if it's a more trivial matter to the healer. At T'Challa's thought he startles a bit and blinks, much as someone might if they'd just been shouted at, but with a quiet laugh he crosses over to her. "Yes, there are." he agrees to her spoken words, even if he takes the drift of the mental ones. "I can lead you to the nearest group, they're alright for now, but trapped in another sinkhole just over—" he trails off, ghostly brow furrowing as he stares at the vault. "…There's something else back there." he says, a suddenly urgent tone to his voice.

*

With everyone back in the credit union's lobby, and attention paid to the half open vault, opening the vault door revealing a mostly raided room. Some loose cash flutters about which is strange. How can there be a breeze? OH. That giant hole in the back of the vault? You know, the one big enough for, let's say, horse-sized ants to tromp through? Yeah, it looks like it leads to a long tunnel of some kind.

*

"Go take care of them." Akihiro says, flesh forming on the skeleton that is his foot. "This can't end well." Back on two feet he starts running that way, tucking the sword onto his back. He makes it into the vault, looking around before turning his attention towards the tunnel.

*

The projection is still frowning as if concentrating, one ghostly hand drifting to his head in the memory of habit. "Something..or someone." for some reason his gaze flicks momentarily to the returned Mar-Vell before turning back towards the tunnel. "I think perhaps whoever is back there is controlling the insects. It may do more good in general to address it promptly."

*

Mar-Vell flies back to the sunken rooftop, then saves his jet belt energy by leaping down into the depths via the path he saw the Black Panther use before. Unibeam wrist weapon lighting his path, he follows the remains of battle and takes stock of the fallen creatures as he zeroes in on the voices ahead. Insectoid, well developed eyes, stinger or acidic ejection through the back of their exoskeletal bodies with sufficient torque to twist that bioweapon for release at targets before them. Subconsciously, Captain Marvel begins forming tactics should he have to combat these giant insects while he makes his way steadily to the group near the bank vault.

He arrives in time to see the gathered peering into the cavernous opening at the back of that vault, part of the tunnel system these behemoths have bored beneath the village. "Hala!" he mutters, taking his place with the group. "How many does this nest hold?" He listens as the projected man scans the source of the ant-festation, and then adjusts his unibeam manacle. "Without direction, these beings should not prove so driven, nor formidable. Sound tactics, to lop off the head before worrying after all the limbs."

*

Black Panther was just going to comment that the 'flying one' should be directed to the next batch of civilians in need of rescue, while she and the swordsman - who is apparently regrowing his lost foot at ludicrous speed - sought out the controller, when he appears behind them ready to help the fight instead. Well. So be it. "Lead the way." she comments to Xavier's ghostly form, as she pads along into the vault's darkness, pursuing this somewhat alien mind believed to be controlling the ants. There will be more of them, certainly, if that is true. What fun!

*

From the back of the vault, the tunnel is quite easy to traverse, even with a fairly steep downhill grade. About a hundred yards down though, the tunnel opens onto a massive cavern big enough to hold a football field, though not the stadium to go with it. It's a large, basically flat area, with a mostly domed ceiling about thirty feet high in the center. The cavern also features several exit tunnels around the edge.

Probably more interesting to our heroes though, is the two dozen giant ants milling about, doing odd jobs here and there, under the supervision of what must be the ant queen of some kind. However, she is not entirely ant-ish. She looks very much like an ant was halfway transformed into a human woman, and got stuck.

Regardless, she moves among her subjects with poise and grace. Given the context, it's clear she must be nearly 8 feet tall. She has only two legs which look fairly human, but two pairs of arms, one pair with awful antlike pincers, and one pair of human arms. Her facial features and body are a horror show out of nightmare. Her multifacted eyes are alert, and betray a cold, alien intelligence there.

*

"Hey." Akihiro shouts, dropping his mask to the side. "Suicide would have been a lot faster." He rolls his shoulders, before breaking into a full sprint ahead. It's like a day at the pier, and he's already learned to watch his limbs around the mandibles. Rather than fight head on, he darts to the side, taking the legs off one ant before beheading it.

"Want me to hold the ants attention?" he calls over to the two who are physically here, burying his claws into the head of another.

*

Gathering himself, the projection takes a breath and shoots up towards the ceiling of the cavern, preparing to aid the fight once more—until all at once the projection freezes, outline jittering with ghostly eyes staring off at nothing. "Oh no.." he breathes.

The only other words he utters are a terse, "Be careful," and then, between one moment and the next, he vanishes.

*

It's one thing to face an alien abomination on some frontier world, or even one engineered as a shock troop in a campaign against advanced, competing star- empires. It's another to suddenly witness something like this Queen on the planet Earth. Unexpected, yes, but not beyond creatures Mar-Vell's dealt with before, complete with the required nightmares in the aftermath.

He's more distubed by the sudden loss of their phantom companion. Still, there is battle to be joined. Captain Marvel calls to the young swordsman, "Keep them as busy as you can." He deploys the thrusters on the back of his jet belt again, and plots a course over the highest points of the ceiling for an intercept with the Queen, intent on following it unless he's misjudged and one of her minions can reach high enough to halt him. His futher plan? Blast either a minion if necessary, or the Queen if his maneuver is successful, with a witheringly bright beam from his unibeam weapon to blind, with a follow up energy charge to administer damage.

*

Ant Queen, meet Panther Queen. T'Challa would so love to get to strike that thing, but she has to cross the intervening space, and that's not going to happen quickly enough to beat the flyer. Instead, she has to carve her way through the ants. She knows what they can do, now, and she knows how to use them against one another. So she starts carving her way through, messily. But at least for now, it's up to the flyer, whomever he is. She hasn't time to worry about the disappearing Professor, sadly. She should, but she just hasn't time. Too many ants, not enough vibranium-clawed limbs to go around.

*

Ants fall to the wayside against skilled, experience opponents like Akihiro and Tchalla. Together, they begin to carve a path through the swarm, and soon find themselves within reasonable leaping distance of the Queen herself.

It seems the flying approach caught the queen off her guard. Her own wings unfurl, but too late. The blinding flash catches her full in the face, and screams a ululating sound of rage of frustration as she covers her face with her too human hands. Her horrible pincer limbs flail ineffectively.

Unfortunately for Mar-vell's follow up shot, one of the ants in her immediate vicinity throws itself in the path of his energy beam, exploding from the impact of it, a mass of acidic good spraying everywhere.

Given the time to recover, the squinting ant queen looks ready to retaliate. "To /me/!" she screeches, in English for some baffling reason, and the four ants nearest her close ranks, all grabbing and clawing at Mar-vell, even climbing on top of each other to try and reach him. "I will offer your heads to the Empress myself! The glory will be mine." The last part is almost a harsh whisper.

*

The acidic blood covers Akihiro, his flesh sizzling and starting to slaugh off. Something kicks off, and his own sound of rage echoes throughout the cavern. There are no more words, just feral noises coming from the young mutant. His attention falls onto the queen now, who appears to be the biggest threat to his animalistic mind.

He leaps towards her, clearly intent on burrowing his claws into the queen's face, fine with hitting any soldier that would try to protect her. He bares his teeth, growling angrily at her.

*

Captain Marvel's environmental suit takes an acidic splashing, and only the deflective nature of the armoring prevents the goo from penetrating it. As it is, the acid not diverted burns into sections of the outer layer. No operational obstructions yet, but with time, Mar-Vell will begin to notice malfunctions. He'd be more concerned about it, but the four closing minions could make the matter moot.

The Kree warrior replies, "Best to watch after your own head, Madam Mant, than make plans for ours. As for glory? You know nothing of it, sending out your loyal troops to face a fate you are too frightened to face yourself. That is not glory, that is simply cowardice." He realizes, in whatever hive culture these beings have established, it's likely an alien concept. But it hopefully distracts him long enough to adjust his unibeamand electrify his suit with a numbing, sizzling charge of current. If these ant-beings have regular nervous systems, the effect should be decimating.

*

Black Panther would agree with Mar-Vell's words wholeheartedly. She tears through the last line of the army, the swarm of giant ants protecting the knot that is the Queen herself and her bodyguards, and still T'Challa is moving. She sizzles, to be sure, and there's pain there; she is not unscathed. But vibranium claws, skill, agility and determination have made more progress than even T'Challa might have expected, if it were not for the fact that she always demands more of herself than any reasonable being could attain. And as she tears through the last, she scampers and leaps to try to clear the bodies of those clumped guardians, scampering over them to reach the Queen, if she dares still stand.

Queen to Queen. That's how it should be, says some romantic notion from the woman born to a culture that idolizes challenge by combat.

*

The Queen's guard are so focused on Mar-vell that they don't even see Akihiro and Tchalla coming. But the Queen is inhumanly fast, and a skilled combatant in her own right.

She turns and in a flurry puts a monstrous arm up to parry Akihiro, and it would have been a beautiful move if his attack wasn't able to slice through her carapace with ease. The whole ant arm on her right side comes off, and it doesn't look like it's growing back any time soon. At least their blood doesn't seem to be as acidic as their saliva is.

Mar-vell's tactical choice is spot on. The ants wrestling with him are instantly shocked into submission. It even seems like their carapaces aren't just hard /as/ steel, but may have partly become steel, the way the electricity arcs and bounces through the four of them. The collapsed soldier ants, and his mocking words seem to have enraged the maimed queen even further, goading her into hawking a wad of corrosive spit right toward Mar-vell's face. "You dare?! You dare-"

She doesn't get to finish her invective as Tchalla crashes into her. The back of her head cracks against the stone floor as she falls backwards. The ant queen is dazed, and even as she scrambles to her feet, squaring off with her fellow queen, it seems the blow to her head has short-circuited something in her abilities. The ant army still standing? It's frozen, staring, still alive, but motionless.

"Nevermind," the ant queen rasps. "There will be nothing left of you to present to my mistress." She leaps at Tchalla with singleminded rage.

*

The battle is raging in earnest when that ghostly blue form winks back into existence, both spectral hands held to his head as if in pain. Xavier is back, though his efforts to try and stop the Ant Queen are proving not only fruitless but grueling, her mind as dissonant as it is. But he is learning a few interesting things… "Someone else put her up to this, try not to kill her!" he calls, offering the reason mostly because he very much suspects some of those below might be the sort who need reasons not to kill their opponents.

He's about to elaborate when T'Challa knocks the Queen's head sharply to the floor, disrupting the projection again with a shout as he catches more of that vicariously than he'd like.

*

"We, Queen of Monstrosities. We dare," Mar-Vell manages as the shocked shock troops fall from him, his jet belt keeping him hovering but registering a decrease in power from the corrosive acid eating into the layer of circuits under the mesh. Hand still on the unibeam as she hurls both bitter words and a venting of bile his direction, Captain Marvel adjusts and fires on the wing, his target the airborne glob meant for his face. His aim is true, and a distortion wave intercepts it, dispersing it so that he again takes a light coating to the helmet and not a direct strike. A thin, clear seal snaps into place over the lower portion of his face before even the coating makes contact.

*

Turning away from a raging Howlett? Never a good idea. Akihiro is beyond reason, Professor Xavier may as well not have said anything. He attempts to tackle the Queen as she leaps for T'Challa, trying to drive his claws between her ribs. Regardless of if he hits her or not, he's launching an assault, driving his claws towards her form over and over again.

*

T'Challa is not a murderer; she need not kill to defeat. But the Queen leaps for her, and the Black Panther is not gentle in rebuffing the unwanted advances. She makes a point of letting herself 'go down' beneath the Queen, using the opening to drive her claws into the shoulder joint of the other claw arm, and then wrench her way around until she has completely severed the arm and cast it away. It's a vicious wound, but shouldn't be lethal.

You know. Except for her being gutted from behind by Howlett claws. Ew.

When the Queen hocks up a loogie to spit acid on T'Challa, she has had enough, and twists around to seize that head in a figure-four lock with her powerful legs, twisting to tear the damned head off and end this, if it isn't over already.

*

The queen is dead! Long live the queen! The ant queen lies in a heap, her body a ruin. The panther queen victorious. And the Howlett. And the Buck Rogers. And the Scooby Doo ghost too!

At the moment of her decapitation the rest of the soldier ants in the room immediately set upon each other, rending and tearing until there's nothing left. Presumably any above ground are doing the same thing. Xavier certainly picks up that note of exultant triumph from the human soldiers up there.

*

It may be over, but Akihiro still isn't himself. Xavier may recognize it as something that happens from time to time with his father as well. His humanity has taken a back seat to the rage. Surprisingly enough, most of it seems aimed at them. At Jean, Logan, Director Colcord, but mostly himself. He just continues to work over the corpse of the Ant Queen, claws punching through her and digging into the stone at this point.

*

It's hard to tell at first, because the effect is quite slow to begin, but a cascade of crackling noises heralds a very strange event. All of the dead ants are slowly, slowly, beginning to shrink.

*

Xavier is only barely able to exit the Queen's mind before those claws land, though he still winces when Akihiro and T'Challa make short work of the Queen, now an armless and headless corpse being ground bloodily into the stone. <Akihiro, that's enough.> he sends quietly to the one-time resident of the school. But behind it there is a sensation like ice water being spilled over the mindless rage, an attempt to snap Akihiro back to his (relatively) rational self.

But up above at least there's relief and exultation, as the rampaging ants seem more intent on attacking one another than the humans struggling to safety, and Charles can only sigh, "Well… I suppose Orson Welles would be proud, at the least." he turns another regretful look on the fallen Queen, but whatever her story might have been, it's too late to learn it from her now. Besides, there are still trapped people to help find..

*

As the Queen reaps her eternal reward, followed closely by her savage minions no longer held to a common purpose beneath her thrall, Captain Marvel shuts down his jet belt before it ceases to function. Landing lightly on the floor of the vault-cavern, he switches the unibeam weapon back to common illumination mode and takes That Moment. That moment shared by all warriors who survive contact with an unknown enemy, a moment of tranquil lucidity too often denied their fallen comrades. He regrets that the phantom ally's wish could not be granted; delving into the psyche of the Queen might have been a key to less casualties in future conflict. But looking down on the thing's remains, he feels no regret that her threat is ended, at any cost.

"Time, I think, for a new uniform," he muses, at last smiling behind the mouth shield of his finned helmet. Which means a trip to the shuttle by car and on foot rather than under his own flght power, but it's a small price to pay for the lives they've safeguarded this night. He takes note of the damage to both TChalla's and Akihiro's vestments, and adds, "For you, as well, it would seem." He pauses to consider, almost as if accessing the proper procedure for polite protocol, then continues, "I'm called Captain Marvel. Belated introductions are better than none at all, and I would be honored to know who I have shared the peril of battle with this day."

*

Battle over, T'Challa takes some refuge beneath the Queen's corpse while Akihiro vents his rage, until she can manage an opening to roll herself out of the way, clear of the corpse's ruin and the raging monster of a young man. Then she shakes herself a bit, disgusted at her appearance. "Spectral one, perhaps you can show us where the other civilians can be found. Let us see them to safety." she offers, before turning to regard Mar-Vell. "I am the Black Panther." She explains no more, but it isn't too terribly difficult, given recent news accounts, to put that together and know more. (A friend to the Storm.) O o . she thinks loudly, looking at Xavier intently

*

When T'Challa rolls out of the way,, his attention turns onto her. He lunges forward, only to freeze, hands coming up to grip at the side of his head as his claws retract. One moment passes. Two moments. Then he straightens up slightly, the focus coming back to his gaze.

"Sorry. Everyone alright?" he asks, looking around in time to catch introductions. "Akihiro. Daken. Whichever." His attention turns down to his clothes. Well, basically underwear at this point.

*

"And I am..simply a Professor." Xavier offers with a tired smile, echoing what Akihiro called him before. Speaking of Akihiro he sends a quiet thought now that he's calmed; <You know, you don't have to do this alone, Akihiro.>

"Though it's my pleasure to meet all of you." he continues, only to turn another daunted look on T'Challa at the second ringing thought. He projects to her alone, <A friend of Storm's is a friend of mine, your highness.> and then with a note of amusement, he gives her the same gentle disclaimer he often has to give new students who learn of his abilities, <But really now, you needn't shout.>

"Now then.." the projection says, clapping spectral hands, "Let's help these people."

*

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