|
     |
The night passed roughly for much of New York. There was an almost constant cry of sirens, wailing aloud the warning of alarm as the city's emergency services rushed from hot spot to hot spot. Police vehicles and ambulances rushing down the nearly empty streets of the city became a familiar sight to the people looking down from their apartments and homes, trying to make sense of the madness that has shaken up the city and to a lesser extent the world.
Giant creatures had assaulted Times Square, Central Park, the Museum of American History for some reason. Each time heroes clashed together with the invaders, trying to wrest the moment away from the giant monsters as they in turn sought to solidify their grip upon this land, this island… and in turn the world.
Currently fires still raged at points, smoky trails trickling up into the sky wending their way into the heavy grey clouds that hang low, threatening rain or snow… and hopefully some form of relief. But then along Broadway there came the tell-tale cry of screams, the crackle of ice and the shattering of asphalt as another manifestation of such dismissive disdain for the laws of physics takes place. A great shimmering icy gate smashing through the abrupt icing over of the ground, rising up and causing cars to flip over… and what civilians are there to scream and flee.
From inside the broken front room of a department store a haggard looking police officer scowls and calls over his shoulder, "Sarge, I think they're back!"
"Gimme a fuckin' break! I only got four bullets left." Behind the two officers a mass of civilians huddle close taking what shelter they can, apparently having endured such a siege not too entirely long ago.
*
Liv Sigrunsdottir has still not made it back to SHIELD headquarters.
Since the initial breach in Times Square, this is what she has been doing. Running from hotspot to hotspot with her sword in hand, joining the fray without any hesitation at all about putting herself between the civilians at risk and the invading ice giants.
And it shows. Her motorcycle's in pieces several blocks away. Her long coat is practically in tatters, and the suit beneath it isn't faring much better. Her hair, usually worn in a long braid, has clearly been shorn by a narrowly-avoided blade and now hangs loose, barely reaching her shoulders.
But still, the sound of screaming draws Liv in, and if she is tiring, she is doing a good job of hiding it. She just plants herself in front of the department store and grips her sword in both hands, glaring venomously out towards the flipping cars in the distance. "Keep the people away from the doors," she calls over her shoulder. "If there's a rear exit, they might be safer in the subway."
*
Westchester hadn't taken a hit yet but that didn't mean the residents from there couldn't get out and do something for the city. Scott is on his way through town to take a look at the damage so that he could give some accounting of it to the people back at the mansion. Doing nothing in the middle of a crisis this size felt indecent. The destruction was…the Hellmouth had been bad. This was catastrophic.
He's on the bus that passes through the Financial District when the next assault comes. The street bucks, the bus rocks, skids to a halt, and a few passengers scream. The rest are grim, silent, clinging to seat backs and straps, peering out the window at the gate rising into the air.
"Call the cops," the bus driver says to the dispatcher. "I got one of those things here on Broadway." He throws the bus into reverse, then shouts at the passengers. "Nobody move. We ain't goin' this route."
"This is my stop, actually," Scott says, taking a moment to trade the glasses for the visor.
"Son, did you see that thing?"
"That's why it's my stop."
The driver looks Scott over, takes in the visor, then pops the door for him. "You mutants are nuts," he mutters.
He's not wrong. Scott steps out on the street corner not half a block down from Liv. It's not just mutants who are nuts, apparently.
*
Anya has left.
*
Jeanne-Marie , known better by most as her professional persona, Rora, is out and about on her own usual business with little regard for the state of the city. Or, for that matter, regard for much of anything or anyone else. In that sense, it is just another day.
In the sense that ice is ripping down Broadway in a highly unnatural state… well… that is more unusual. Also unusual is the woman's complete sense of ennui about the whole affair, pausing only to roll her eyes, adjust her fur coat, and step a little higher over the edge of the ice flow as it coats her portion of the sidewalk.
"For fuck's sake," she mutters, mostly to herself. "It's getting to a point a lady can't go out for a poor excuse for coffee in this town anymore. I can't believe I promised I'd stick around after the show…"
*
The Asgardian is there standing in front of the department store, and she has seen how this magic has worked in the past. She has seen how the icicles reach upwards towards the sky, then reach out like crystalline limbs grasping for each other to form the elaborate and deceptively beautiful architecture of the gateway. She's seen how the mist forms together creating a mirror-like gleaming flash of imagery within it, and then has heard the heavy tread of great boot steps as the enemy of her people emerge.
It might be a shock for the others who have not seen this before, though perhaps not to Aurora. The armored creatures, some a mere twelve feet tall in height, while others reaching almost to twenty and yet all so terribly massive. When they advance the fog wisps around their movements and the ice-covered asphalt crackles with each heavy step.
At first there are four of them, five, and then the great Queen Knorda steps forth. Tallest among giants, powerful in form, she stalks ahead of her minions as she glares with a terrible malice, a great oak tree serves as her stave and she smashes it down once upon the ground causing a burst of icy splinters to slash across the distance towards Liv.
"No Thunderer is here to save you this time, Asgardian." Her voice is chilled with murder even as another voice is heard from somewhere behind her.
"Yeah, Thor had to get a quick shampoo and rinse. He sent me to pick up the slack." And suddenly, there on the building behind the giant is your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. "Oh hey." He gives Liv a wave.
Turning to his partner one of the cops says, "Crap, it's the menace." But then he lifts his hands, "Everyone get back! Get back from the windows!" He's only marginally successful in getting them to step away.
*
The Empire State Building. Pressed lightly against the highest point on the tower, Eddie feels the cold wind through his hair. He wears the suit: he hasn't taken it off except to shower. It's black with the white spider on his chest, form fitting and looking like an outfit more then what it truly is. A part of Eddie knows its wrong, but its a very, very small part that is completely overwhelmed by the power that positively surges through him.
~ We are Venom. Let us take flight. ~ The thought is his, and not his: it speaks in his mind with two voices that are separate but perfectly attuned. Tendrils of black rise from his collar and quickly climb up and over his face, solidfying into his mask even as he presses off of the building with a massive leap.
He falls. He falls and he falls and he glories in it: the sky is his. Black webbing shoots out from his hand and suddenly he's swinging at speed, rancing down the city. The smudges of white that move… strangely, organically, that are his eyes notice much as he moves.
~ We hunt. ~ Every so often, Eddie — Venom — pauses, clinging to a building lightly, turning, looking. Soon enough they find themselves in the Financial District, and high above, it watches the coming of the giants. ~ Prey. ~ Black against the dark buildings, it isn't that Venom can camoflage, but he is likely to be missed from his vantage point high above.
They watch — and then they see Spider-Man, and from ear to ear the creature's mouth opens to hiss, an impossibly large mouth with an impossible number of teeth before the mouth closes and seems to be but a mask again. But for the moment, Venom watches.
*
The first few gates had been impressive to Liv — she's been limited to experiences on Midgard for a long time, and while Earth has its own displays of power, they are rarely quite as flashy as those from the other Realms tend to be. But at this point? She's honestly kinda tired of seeing it.
Liv just has to trust that the police will move people away from the windows and out of harm's way. She's busy trying not to become an icekebab, darting forward and ducking down to try and slip beneath the ice that comes for her. If the Queen's going to focus on her, she needs to get away from the store, now.
"Good to see you!" Liv shouts towards Spider-Man, and she means it. Never met him, never worked with him, doesn't matter. He's not a frost giant and that's good enough for her. "Give me a hand?"
*
Scott is nervous. Genuine nerves, the prickle of sweat following the crackle of nerves down his spine, dampness blossoming on his palms, his fingertips cold in spite of his gloves because it's the chill of capillaries pinching shut instead of the sting of the winter air. And then that massive giantess brings down the tree she holds and spikes of ice race toward Liv and … calm.
He taps the visor and sweeps an arc of force past Liv to intercept the ice wave — red meets white in a rush.
*
Jeanne-Marie picks her way over the ice. It's not so much that it isn't… well, weird as hell. But Aurora's mind, much like the rest of her, works quite quickly. So the surprise passes quickly enough that the facade of general disdain for all things inconvenient remains basically intact. Stupid giant slush door and its stupid giant snowmen. Ugh.
"Osti… sacre… marde!" she grumbles and then complains loudly, as one foot comes down in a not-entirely frozen patch and a fist comes up to shake at the queen. "These shoes are suede you bitch!"
*
Spidey's not exactly been idle over the course of the night. The tears in his costume, the smoke stains, and bits of smutz on his eyelets all attest to the long hours he's spent doing what he could for the city. Even the slightly haggard way he takes a deep breath as he answers her, "Well, I did have tickets to Brigadoon but… okay twist my arm."
Yet that is the last word he utters as that beam of energy lashes out, slicing across the distance and catching each of the viciously barbed icicles that had been sent hurtling at Liv. They are bathed in crimson light, and seem to slow in mid-air as the blazing power works its magic, melting them all in the space of a single moment.
A primal roar of utter rage comes from the Queen as she lifts her staff upwards and gestures towards the sky, causing the storm to roil and lightning to flash. It's enough of a signal to cause the giants to utter a howl in the same moment as their heavy double-handed blades are drawn and they /rush/ forward in a mass towards Liv, silvered swords cutting through the mist as they lash out towards her…
Only for Spider-Man to swing by one, firing a webline into the side of its iron helmet and /yanking/ to the side sharply as he passes, causing it to collide heavily with the one nearest it and sending the two tumbling to the ground with a crash of armor and gargantuan flesh.
And that Queen Knorda has the gall, the utter gall, to pay no mind to the complaints of Aurora even as the giant brings its staff around and now aims it towards Scott, the young X-Man who had dared to halt her attack. The end of the staff crackles viciously as the first glimmer of lightning begins to reach out like a grasping clawed talon, seeking to crash towards him and clench him in a lethal grip. Yet her ignoring the angry Canadian woman could grant the slimmest of openings.
*
Slowly, the black clad anti-spider stalks down the building, walking on hands and toes in utter defiance of gravity or friction. Always Venom's eyes, those white splotches that shift and move unnaturally, are upon Spider-Man and the giants. Still, it does not engage: it stalks slowly, closer. ~ Prey. ~ But its muscles tense, and seem to even enlarge as it draws nearer.
*
Between the beam of red that obliterates the ice and the specific manner with which Spider-Man takes out a pair of giants, Liv is hit by a rush of relief so strong she actually laughs. The night had been so long and difficult that it had begun to weigh rather heavily, but Scott and Spidey seem to have been all it took to bring some pep back to the battle-worn Asgardian's step.
She puts on a burst of speed as she charges directly into the remaining giants on the rush, springing over one blade and hacking at the elbow of the giant who weilds it on her way down. Before checking the effectiveness of the blow, Liv pivots on her heel and sends her blade for the back of another giant's leg.
Surely even a creature of ice has the equivalent of hamstrings. Surely.
She is so focused upon the obvious danger that the presence of Venom nearby has not even registered. She is utterly oblivious to the predator lurking nearby.
*
Scott is fast and still fresh for the moment, muscles twitching with the need to do something, anything, to make a difference here. He fires off a blast from the visor as he sprints across the street, inexplicably aiming at the ground and — for a moment it's as though he missed, striking ice and asphalt between the oncoming giants — then the blast ricochets upward toward Knorda like an uppercut.
But Scott isn't looking, hasn't bothered looking since he let that shot off. He knows where it's going. At full speed, he hits the icy ground deliberately, sliding like he's coming into home plate, passing under an abandoned car. He's been in the gutter before, it's safer there sometimes, literally and figuratively, and maybe — just maybe — Knorda's lightning will find the car more attractive than his flesh.
*
Rude. No one ignores Aurora. Twice. She honestly couldn't care less about the city getting trashed. An affront to her, personally, first in a ruined shoe, and then getting blanked… Nope. She doesn't just pass this kind of thing by. Her face darkens, eyes narrow and then light up incandescent.
It doesn't even really appear as if Aurora has moved, it happens so fast. One moment she's standing on the sidewalk, and the next she's floating in front of Knorda's face, one arm crossed over her chest and raised, eyes flashing. The intent is obvious for the split-second before Aurora lets the back of her hand fly. And that would probably be a laughable act, if it weren't for the sharp crack when her hand breaks the sound barrier on its way to the queen's face.
"Va chier," she hisses as a sort of punctuation to the act.
*
There's a cascade of icy fragments as Liv's sword scores across the armored forearm of one of the giants, its own great sword /smashing/ into the concrete beside her and sending up chunks of sidewalk into the air, shaking the ground with force of the impact. It rounds on her quickly, blue eyes narrowing behind the rough iron helm, a buff of chill breath hazing the air between them as it growls and then abruptly lashes out with a vicious backhand straight at her waist.
A second giant menaces her from the side, a massive spiked mace coming up as if it were getting ready to crush her under its weight… only for a short /CRACK-BANG-BANG!/ to be heard as the two police officers open up on him. "Stay away from her, you cold ass bastards!"
Each round ricochets off the monster as its attention is drawn towards that storefront, its head turning slowly as it begins to trundle towards the cops.
As for Spidey the two giants he took down to the ground are both in pursuit of him, their weapons brandishing as they regain their feet and an over-sized dagger is thrown straight at the webbed hero. He executes a smooth backflip as he flees, but that knife slices his webline in twain, sending him skidding across the icy ground to /smash/ into an old Buick. "Ugh, and me without my ice skates." He rubs the back of his head roughly even as the two giants rush him.
Scott, on the other hand, makes that move gracefully. He darts across the way even as electrical power flashes out, dancing just inches behind him and seeking to close the distance with him… only for that blaze of crimson to /LASH/ up from the ground, rebounding precisely to crash into the bottom of her jaw and send her rocking back against that glowing and crystalline gate. The Queen braces herself with one hand, a trickle of blood tracing its way down the corner of her mouth as she screams again. "Slay that one!" She gestures and one of the tallest giants turns, unslinging a heavy curved blade. It pushes back its hood to reveal a criss-crossed lattice work of scars upon its face, a face adorned with dozens of small skulls from victims past.
For a bare moment a look of smug satisfaction might even mark Queen Knorda's grim features, her lip curling wryly. Only for suddenly there to be a beautiful albeit enraged Canadian heroine directly in front of her. She has the good manners to look confused, her brow furrowing and then suddenly what did the five fingers say to the face?
/SLAP!/
The great Queen's eyes widen in utter… unbridled… HATRED. She slams her staff down and there is a release of such energy that blasts forth, causing a great shockwave to lash out at everything near her and sending a half dozen abandoned cars near her to suddenly leap and fly into the air… crashing into the second floor windows of several buildings, smashing to the ground, falling into a bus stop bench and shattering it into thousands of wooden splinters.
*
All of this quiet, slow stalking can only last for so long: one moment Venom is a shadow upon the wall of a nearby building, the next he is leaping out towards his prey. He waits until the giants go down, for the perfect moment of distraction, then— One hand flings out a long strand of black webbing to keep him airborn, while the other shoots a blast of the sticky stuff at his quarry.
And as it happens, the predator does not have its eyes set upon the giants, though normally they would be worthy prey. No. Venom's white eyes narrow as he swings for the amazing Spider-Man. Its mouth opens and the nightmare of teeth and blood red slithering tongue hiss out a loud growl as the only warninig of its potential threat, but warning it is.
The creature attempts to both trap Spidey with its black webbing and then slam right into him, though in its fury that growl may very well foil its plan.
*
These giants seem to have a propensity for trying to cleave Liv in half. The good news is, it means that she's gotten an awful lot of practice in angling her own blade to parry blows that would otherwise bisect her. The bad news is, she's off-balance when she does it this time, and giants have nearly as wicked a backhand as the people of Quebec.
Liv is at least able to twist her blade so that the flat of her sword is what's forced into her gut when she catches the blow and sent flying off of her feet, sailing through the air in a graceful arc that ends far //less/ gracefully in a heap at the feet of the two officers that had tried to help her out.
With a giant bearing down on them, Liv doesn't really have time to offer thanks. Just hurriedly and somewhat clumsily haul herself back to her feet, and try not to lose her balance when Knorda's staff once again comes slamming down into the pavement. "…yikes. You two might want to consider a strategic retreat," she asides to them, taking a quick look around. There has gotta be a better way to do this than she's attempting.
*
That's disturbing. It should be. Scott is waiting to feel more distressed than this and…nah. The giant looks ponderous but it's fast once it's moving, closing the distance between them and swinging that huge sword like it's just going to behead him and be home in time for tea.
Scott taps the visor, slams a beam into the car he just ducked under, pops it like a pool cue hitting the cue ball, and it rockets up toward the executioner. A lazy swing of that sword and the car gets batted away into the fifth floor of an office building and the executioner doesn't miss a beat. Not good.
Backing up, Scott fires off one shot after another and the executioner parries like this is some kind of crazy tennis match before there's almost no distance left between them and it's down to Scott's reflexes to take him out of the path of the blade as it falls.
*
Jeanne-Marie makes a great show of examining her nails int he most insultingly bored manner she can muster, swaying gently in the shockwave. Or so it appears. In fact, it is quite difficult to accelerate herself counter to the blast so she doesn't go flying away… but the Queen has managed to earn her best efforts. Mark your calendars, folks— this is rare.
"Are you done?" She asks archly, raising an eyebrow. "Not that I don't love a really well-constructed tantrum— you could work on your presentation, by the way; raw power is really no substitute for a little artisty—" She pauses, makes a decidedly bored noise. "Nevermind. Look, there's only one rule that matters here." She points her index finger lazily at the upset giant, thumb cocked upward. Fingergun.
"Don't. Fuck. With Rora." Her thumb drops and a concussive light blast lances from the tip of her finger. Pew.
*
The Spectacular Spider-Man's already flipping back up and away from the charge of those two Jotun Warriors that are menacing him. He lands upon the cross bar of a lamp post, perching on one knee and bringing his hands up to fire a spray of webbing straight into their eyes and causing them to stagger back, grappling with the strangely strong web fluid and roaring their anger.
But that is the moment when Venom strikes, the swing downwards, the growl, the flicker of the shadow behind him. It might usually be enough to give him some heads up… except perhaps that he might rely entirely too much on his spider-sense of late. And when it fails to go off…
Venom crashes hard right into the side of Spidey, sending the wall-crawler flying across the street to crash with a /WHAM!/ into the brick wall above that department store's main display area. He manages to hang there with one splay-fingered hand supporting him as he shakes his head and tries to clear his vision. No ready quip coming to his lips, no response as he quickly scans the street trying to track whatever the heck that was that clocked him.
Then the way the building shakes as the aftershocks of Knorda's staff strike, it causes the two officers to look at Liv who just landed there beside them. "You ain't kiddin' lady," They turn and hollar to the huddle of civilians in the back of the Lady's Delicates area, "Alright people, we gotta move! Head to the back, past the cafeteria, go go go!"
And as the people start to make their departure, the large creatures that had smacked Liv with that backhand bursts through the wall with a blast of concrete and ice, then brings his sword up, getting ready to bring it crashing down upon her.
When the Executioner fights its way across the distance, closing on the victim his queen has so marked, a feral grin seems to grow upon those thin lips acros s the crackly parchment skin of its face. Each of the skulls clatter with the swing of his sword, then the blade rings heavily when it strikes. For a moment it stands so tall over Cyclops that it blots out all else from his crimson-hued vision. The gleaming two-handed sword slices downwards, cleanly carving the front off a sedan and imbedding heavily into the asphalt but a step away from the X-man.
Yet as battle rages around them, Knorda watches this… insect of a creature endure her great tumult, watches this… miniature contaminant distract her from her rightful conquest. Her response is to positively quiver with rage, her focus entirely locked upon the flying mutant woman. Her lips part, "You… shall know such suffe—-" /ZOT!/ the light blast stabs right into the giant Queen's face sending her staggering back on her off foot as she screams her outrage.
It's in that instant that the roar of his leader draws the Executioner's attention as he suddenly turns his head and shouts, "My Queen!"
*
"Spider-Man." hisses the creature loudly, though not with its nightmare mouth: the mask seems to be just a mask, for the moment. There's a war going on all around him, invaders from another dimension, but Venom doesn't care: they have eyes only for the prey they hunt. Leaping up and swinging upon webbing, it slams into the department store a few yards from Spidey, crouching and clinging on toes and fingertips. "Do you remember us? We remember you."
A snarl as ear to ear, its mouth opens and too many teeth snap in threatening, "You hurt us. We are Venom and we will kill you." Venom leaps forward, hands outstretched almost like claws and teeth wide.
*
The surprise of having a giant come bursting forth in a shower of concrete and ice does something very helpful for Liv: it turns her brain off, replaces her tendency to overthink with the years she spent under the Valkyrie's training. With the blade raised up over its head, Liv doesn't have time to analyze.
She only has time to bring the point of her blade to bear and puts all of her Asgardian strength into launching herself forward and up, driving the blade into the giant's wide-open midsection through ice and armor. The momentum is hard enough to send them both back out onto the street, with Liv twisting around to plant her feet as she essentially rides the creature as it falls backwards to the pavement.
Sword still buried in the giant, Liv takes another quick look around, and now — now she spies Venom. She doesn't know them either, but she does recognize that Spider-Man is in some distress. So she does the only thing she can do.
Liv grabs a large fistful of concrete and launches it towards Venom as hard as she can, hoping to catch him before he can actually reach Spider-Man with his claws.
*
Scott only avoids the executioner's sword by accident. He skids in the ice and slush, nearly loses the visor when he hits the ground and slides partway under what's left of that car. He's spent his life holding back. Now is not the time. He can't get a clear shot from this angle but that sword, half-buried in the street, shines in what little light the winter day offers. Scott doesn't hesitate, doesn't try to get out of the slush, just flips his visor open to full and opens up a beam straight at the gleaming blade of the sword.
The brilliant red blast catches just on the edge of the sword and bends, spraying upward in a fountain of force that catches the executioner in the face, blinding it.
The damage has to be awful, from the crushing sound and the giant's howl. Scott doesn't look up to see but blood spatters the churned snow between them.
*
Jeanne-Marie 's chin tips up slightly, and she float foward slightly, as Knorda reels. "You people," she sniffs, and exactly who 'you people' refers to is unclear. "You think everything is and will be as it has always been. Well I have news for you— this place isn't your playground anymore and you don't get to come into our home and shit on the rug. Get out. And take your mongrels with you."
*
Peter Parker's eyes behind the mask widen with surprise as he watches the black-clad creature land so near to him. He quickly flips back, landing sideways on the wall and trying to keep his distance. For a time the normally verbose hero is rendered silent as he tries to make sense of what he's seeing. The suit, on someone else, why the hell isn't his spider-sense… what is going on!
But then he shakes his head almost frantically, "Right now, man… I don't /care/ who you are!" Peter's voice breaks sharply as he gestures towards the battle that rages all around them. "You got a beef with me, great. Like you're the first villain to want to ruin my day! But right now! I got stuff to do." He says sharply, as if trying to convince Venom through the pure force of his will to back off. Whether or not he's successful is another thing entire. Yet for now, Spider-Man /leaps/ over the charging reach of the creature trying to get a hold of him. He fires a flash of webbing behind him to try and catch the symbiote and its partner before he /drops/ down and _lands_ heavily upon the back of a giant, crashing down with a double fist into the back of its head and knocking it senseless to the ground.
And then suddenly Liv crashes back out onto the street to land heavily onto the chest of the falling backwards Jotun warrior, her sword /pinning/ it into the ground as if it were some great butterfly chosen for preservation. She has slain it, she can feel the puddle of its life's blood trickling upon the ground and spattering her features as it coughs the last of its breath at her, snarling even now.
Only for that snarl to be overwhelmed by a roar of pain that the Executioner lets free to cry out across the streets of the city. It brings up a heavy meaty palm to cover the wreckage of its eyes, wisps of smoke and vapor trailing up from its ruined features and the blackened skulls. Blindly it swings its weapon to the side, trying to find the creature that has so maimed it, its ragged voice finally able to grasp words as it roars. "Tear you. Rend you. Break you! Die. All of you die!"
Queen Knorda's focus, despite the wounding of her countrymen, despite the blinding of her champion… it is _locked_ on this Jeanne-Marie creature. She brings up a hand as a bright blue half-sphere of energy manifests and icy fingers of eldritch power reach out towards her, weaving like the shift and flow of a tree's branches in the middle of a storm. "You mortal pustule. I shall enjoy splintering each of your limbs while you live."
*
Venom snarls as Peter leaps out of the way, and he goes slamming into the wall, spinning around and making ready to leap after his prey once more. Just then the concrete Liv threw slams into with the full Asgardian force, and Venom's body crumples as it crashes through into the building, slamming into a wall inside.
Dazed, Venom rises, and shakes its head, but already the symbiote sends threads of its matter into Eddie's body, holding broken ribs together and knitting torn flesh. With a growl, he flings his hands out and out of the hole in the building two long strands of webbing shoot out and across the other side of the building.
Venom comes flying out at speed, spinning over in the air and shooting another strand back the way he came, and another to attach to a lamppost. Right in the center where these four ropes of webbing meet, the creature perches, eerie white eyes scanning— seeking. But, for a moment, it doesn't attack.
*
Later, Liv might regret how hard she managed to hit Venom. Maybe. Right now, she's just relieved to see Spider-Man is mobile again.
"Find Doctor Strange!" the Asgardian shouts towards Spider-Man, planting a foot on her dying foe's chest for leverage as she wrests her sword free. Sorry, she needs it. "Greenwich Village! He needs to get Loki's wards back up, or these guys are just going to keep coming!"
*
Scott staggers to his feet, stumbles away from the executioner, and takes in the scene. The gate stands open, reflecting the ruined street, but it's changed. It's growing larger and more real by the minute. It's almost here but not quite. They have minutes, maybe only moments, before it finishes anchoring here in this world.
Then, some still part of his mind points out…he has a shot from here. The executioner. The queen. The gate. It's almost perfect, the street is clear enough that his widening blast won't catch anyone if he gets the right angle.
Almost perfect. Scott doesn't even know his eyes are closed, he just knows he can feel how close this is to right. And then the executioner stumbles forward a step, roaring furiously, straight into line.
"Kill you! Eat y—"
Scott pulls off the visor and opens his eyes.
The air rings like a bell when the other dimension is unleashed into this one. A massive pillar of red slams the executioner back, carrying him into Queen Knorda, carrying her clean off her feet. Both of them smash into the gate as though carried by a freight train, both are punched into the reflection of New York City…
Scott doesn't see much beyond hitting the executioner. Everything is red, then it's black.
*
Spinning around and going back to back with Liv, Spider-Man goes back to back with Liv and fires a web-line out to splat the webbing against the shin of one of the giants and then promptly /yanks/ the creature's legs out from under it and causing it to slam to the ground. Over his shoulder he shouts, "Yeah, like I know who that is!"
But, to be fair, he most likely will go find the good Doctor… the moment he has a moment of thought to spare for himself and to take a breath.
But then is the moment when Scott lets loose. Suddenly the conflict freezes. First that beam overwhelms and smashes into the Executioner, burning him away. Then the Queen is knocked back into that gateway even as the whole thing begins to shake, its 'reality' breaking down under the impact of that red beam. She's holding on for a moment, nails digging into the icey frame… only for her to be pushed back.
It all happens when she goes through the gate once again. The living giants are reclaimed, the corpses are left to rot.
And suddenly, silence. The ice remains, the damage, the blood, the bodies. But of Queen Knorda and her ilk there is naught else.
*
God damn, spell casting takes FOR. EV. ER. Rora is seriously contemplating just slapping the queen again when she casts her eyes around, checking on the tableau of the fight.
Which is precisely why she turns back to the Queen in time to see her sail away, flips her a very rude gesture, smiles, and quips.
"Au revoir, cherie. Enjoy your trip. I hear the skiing is just awful."
Then the raven-haired diva sets her feet back onto the street neatly, tugs her coat around her a little tighter, and sniffs disdainfully.
"Tourists."
*
The giants are gone, but as far as Venom is concerned, they were never of any interest. Oh, on a normal day, they might be interesting prey, but with Spider-Man around? The fury and hatred and hunger surge within the creature.
The black suit ripples, little black tendrils rising outof it from here or there before it settles back down to be a suit: it sees Spider-Man again. Venom flings itself from its purch, and as it flies through the air straight for its prey, its body seems to get thicker and more muscular.
At the last minute it opens its mouth of doom and snarls, trying to bite down on Peter's shoulder.
*
It is impossible to miss the way the giants are driven off. It is literally a red flash, and it very effectively snares Liv's attention away from the impending threat to the web-head.
Once she's yanked her sword free of the giant, Liv goes rushing to where Scott has fallen, dropping to her knees as she comes skidding to a halt. The reason for the rush: she practically dives to retrieve his visor and get it settled back over his eyes.
Then Liv gives Scott a very worried looking over. "Mister Summers? Scott? Are you hurt?"
Sorry, Pete. She'll realize you need help in a minute. Probably 'cos of the yelling.
*
Scott is not hurt. Aside his pride. And his clothing. And his head. Someone fiddling with his visor brings him back to full consciousness with a start. When he clamps his hands over his face, he realizes someone — eventually it filters through that it was Liv — was putting the visor back on.
"Fine, I'm fine." He tries to wave her off. "Is it over?" It sounds like it's over. And all Scott really wants to do is go home and have a shower and take whatever earful he's going to get for scrapping in the street with frost giants.
*
With ice crystals still settling light upon the frosty landscape, Spider-Man slowly recovers from the abject terror of the situation as he straightens up, standing near by Liv. He takes a deep steadying breath and says quietly, "This isn't going well." Though those words are offered freely, it's hard to tell exactly who they're for.
He shakes his head, and in that instant luckily catches the reflection in the window of the hurtling black silhouette. A bare moment to reaction has him twisting, turning and able to bring his arms up in time to grab that large ogrish creature as it /lands/ hard onto him, slamming him back into the window with a crash of glass and a scattering of mannequins.
For a time the tongue, the fangs, they clasp and clamp in front of him, barely held off at arm's length by Spider-Man's hands on the creature's neck. Eyelets widening with a faint whir he shouts, "What the heck are you!"
*
With the giants on their way out and all that jazz, Aurora is free to turn back to what she'd been doing in the first place… which brings Venom and Spidey's predicament to her attention. Her reaction? Making a face and a distinct "Ugh, gross."
To be fair, this is a pretty reasonable response to encountering Venom on the whole.
*
"We are Venom." The horror mouth closes, and it continues, chin moving so there's a person-shaped face beneath that mask, even if that's impossible to reconcile with all the teeth. "We will have our vengeance." But, calmly, the creature reaches up to grasp Spider-Man's wrists, his grip tightening, and then exerting his full strength to try to pull Spidey's hands away and apart from him. Slow and steady, with the symbiote and Eddie's combined strength. "You hurt us, and we will hurt *you* back."
*
Judging by the expression on Liv's face, she is about to inform Scott that, no, it is not over. The frost giants will be back, and it won't be long at all. But then her train of thought is derailed by the crash of glass over her shoulder and she whips around, eyes wide.
Liv knew it wasn't over yet, but this is a lot more imminent than she was expecting.
She just shoves herself backwards to give Scott a clear line of sight. "Black suit!" she says crisply. "If you have any juice left, black suit!"
*
Juice? As if he ever runs out. It takes all of a hot second for Scott to work out the target. He doesn't even know what the target is on or what's going on. Black suit, says Liv.
Scott spins the aperture of the visor down even as he draws a bead on the black thing hanging in midair. It's line of sight, literally. A beam the width of a silver dollar punches out and nails the black target right in the center.
Accurate but incredibly painful. It's migraine o'clock.
*
Spider-Man's instinctively pulling his head back even as jaws snap and tongue lashes. His hands are slowly pressed back towards the ragged shards of glass, but then he turns his head to the side and says, "Yeah well, _Venom_…" And suddenly instead of resisting the push he pulls his own arms back and up while the same time lifting a heavy foot to /slam/ upwards towards the symbiote's gut to try and toss him right up into the air and away as he snaps, "Your breath stinks."
Just in time for Scott's blast.
*
Venom grunts as it is kicked, and it goes flying— and then Scott's blast hits him and sends him really flying. All hope that he wouldn't survive that, alas, are lost: within moments webbing shoots out and he's spinning and swinging off into the darkness, a chilling howl of fury echoing through the city. He's chased off… for now.
*
It's all become terribly boring, to be honest. Even the giant queen wasn't THAT interesting, when you got down to it. Just a pushy bitch that needed a bigger queen to shove her back. Rora's seen that kind of thing literally hundreds of times in the fashion industry. It's all a bit yawn.
Her eyes track Venom as he's flung through the air with a sort of half-interested air. In the end, she stuffs her hands in her fur coat, shrugs, and breezes past Peter, Scott, and Liv. She's leaving, bzzzz-zzz-zzz.
"I swear, there's nothing to do in this town anymore. Horrid."
*