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The Lincoln Tunnel, under control of the National Guard, is serving as one of the main evacuation channels for people looking to get the hell out of New York City. Inbound traffic has been completely shut down, and the National Guard have set up choke points to prevent citizens from scrambling into the tunnel on foot. Rather, pedestrian traffic is being loaded onto school busses, and cars are being permitted through at intervals designed to keep traffic from completely locking up along the entrances.
Two such chokepoints exists on the tunnel entrances at Galvin Ave, and another at Anthony Brizzi Place and 11th Ave.
Still, it's an absolute mess. There are so many people here that the Guard has brought in water and field rations, which they are handing out to people that are waiting in line. Guardsmen operating bullhorns at each site are directing people who need sustenance, while others on the street work to keep the chaos at bay.
Somewhere in the distance, an explosion rocks the city, causing the crowds to cry out with worry.
*
'Traffic' only exists for those used to operating in two dimensions. Scarlett naturally thinks in three, and she experiences little difficulty getting around the school buses and city lines pressganged into serving the evacuation of the city. The Norns have a redheaded instrument to employ for their revenge tonight, a girl dressed in forest green leathers under a simple peacoat. For the moment, though, she walks at a pace most would find difficult to keep up with. A bag over her shoulder contains the basics: gauze, bandages, thread and needle to tend tears in cloth or flesh. Live steel rides on her hip, a sword loosely worn, and probably a dagger somewhere else on her person.
When the explosion rattles windows and makes children sob or parents stare white-faced to the horizon, her gesture signals Gabriel. "Too slow and too much in the way. We need to go up for a better view." Her voice is cold and lyrically calculated to its natural Anglo-inspired accent, which is like being dressed down by Irene Adler in a very displeased mood.
*
If one could actually get away with taking up residence upon the rooftops, it's Raven. Though it really wasn't her.. is it ever? While her visage may change into something akin to a brickhouse of a woman, skin brown as the supposed earth and dark hair in near curls, one foot rests upon the top of the roof with a bend and a lean to look forward towards the chaos. She didn't come empty handed. Within her peacoat rests two blades at her back, daggers that line the thighs and pistols that hug the sides.
Briefcase that remains at her foot carries almost the same, and yet a stand is off to her left as she draws her hands into her coat to retrieve a pack of smokes. Nasty, nasty habit. Though who would dare tell a black woman to put that cigarette out? None. The woman upon that roof who used to the blue, could have easily been the creator of the columbian necktie. But nevermind that.
With a withdraw from the roof and down to one knee, the briefcase was soon opened, and the rifle assembled with an all too perfectly lined scope at the top. The explosion doesn't shake her, it was almost 1940's France. Music to her ears save for the scream of demons that linger within. With precision and quickness, it was assembled, rested upon the rack as she uses a brown eye to scan the crowds below.
*
While Pepper has taken some vacation from work to help out with the search for a certain someone, she's also decided to help out other places. Of course the city was hurting, panicked, confused. So many people have had their homes destroyed or evacuated, especially in the middle of winter. So, there is Pepper Potts, the second in command of Stark Industries, growing to be a public face herself these days, helping with volunteers giving out basic essentials to those who are being evacuated.
Her cheeks are rosy with the cold and she's worn a downplayed, ankle length cream wool coat. At least it's not fur? "…I am so sorry for everything, here, take this…it's toiletries, towels, a blanket, it will hold you over…" Pepper murmurs to a family she's helping load onto a bus. It's the same speech she's given twenty times now, but her heart is behind each word still. She's not been lost to the pain or carelessness of it all. She grins as a little boy passes with the family, "…and one of these." She produces a little Iron Man figure from her pocket, giving it to him. Heart driven marketing, right?
*
It was a far too round about way for how Gabriel ended up in the city at that time, but he was with his friend Scarlett when things began to take a turn and had found himself walking behind her through the streets. Being above average height he kept his eyes looking around beneath the brim of a baseball cap he had snagged, pulled low about his features, hands tugging occassionally at the somewhat small flannel shirt he wore, trying to get it to fit better into the worn blue jeans. The constant movement of the woman kept him bouncing at times to keep pace as she glided, he strode, when she seemed to float, he had to sink, all to get through the masses.
"Scarlett." He starts, his voice hesitating just a moment as he looks around. "I said I'd come with you, but I did not think that meant we were heading into the midst of crisis but rather to assess crisis." Even as he says it however, his steps do accelerate to pick up and keep pace, following the lead of the woman.
*
Thea is bundled in her nice, long black wool coat with a cheerful bright red scarf that had been knitted for her. She is /not/ wearing the hat that matches, because hat head is no bueno. Blond is loose, catching in the chilly air, curling over her shoulders, pale gold on black. The explosion startles her, even in this neighborhood. Her own tiny apartment is safe…for now. Her parents were just nagging her to leave this part of the city.. but this is when it might need her most.
*
THIRTY MINUTES AGO:
A National Guard truck trundles along toward the Lincoln Tunnel choke points, carrying a supply of drinking water and field rations. Little do the two soldiers aboard the truck realize, but their security has been compromised. A young mutant man, nearly frantic in his narcotic stupor, has utilized his power to turn invisible. Aboard the truck, he sneaks a bag from beneath his coat; the bag is filled with a blue powder, and within seconds, the entire supply of it has been dumped right into the water supply.
The soldiers aboard have no idea what's happened…
NOW:
All across the landscape, citizens begin reacting to the spoiled water. For some of them, the response is almost immediate. For others, it comes after a fit of dry heaving, but it all goes south in a matter of seconds. Those who are mutants suddenly find their powers amping up to a point that is pushing their control; normal humans will find themselves suddenly manifesting abilities that are not unlike mutant abilities. For all of them, the sheer high of it is intense; a rush of energy, a tingling in their lips and teeth, and an intense combination of exhilaration and paranoia.
It doesn't take long for the fights to break out. Five seconds, then ten, then twenty… punches become spikes made of fleshrock. Insults become headaches that threaten to cause permanent brain injury. A stare becomes bleeding of the eyes. You name it… the effects are rampant, many of them dangerously violent. Fire, smoke, and energy blasts begin shooting off at random intervals.
Hell's breaking loose in the Kitchen, again.
*
"Worried? Then stop people from being damn heroes," murmurs the redhead in a lustreless tone. Some people might argue with Gabriel, wheedle him or bat their eyelashes. She can't be bothered, and anyone double-taking at her appearance — peacoat and /sword/ — earns not so much a flicker of response out of Scarlett. Nimble fingers plucks open a button on the lower march of the coat, allowing an easier and faster draw. She removes her glove and extends her hand to Gabriel. "Lend me a hand if you will stay back. Otherwise I'm going in."
*
Oh? That was something different. People who seemed normal at first, break out into a frenzy the likes at which she's never seen. She wasn't about to start shooting them on sight, but this was the type of mayhem she could get behind. She was not chaos personafied, but.. this could be something. Something indeed.
The cigarette that hangs off the side of her lips is inhaled, her eyes rolling up towards the sky as she leans back, her arms lifting towards the sky in a languid stretch, her head tossing to the left and right to work out the kinks as she steps forward to -watch-. Just when you thought Raven was about to cut loose, she just sits there.
*
Gabriel looks at Scarlett and hesitates then shakes his head. "No, I'll follow you. I just…" He shakes it again. He wasn't supposed to do anything really. Much less be here, but alas this was the situation. Passing by someone, he nods a thank you to them and accepts the bottle of water, pulling off the top and drinking it down in several full gulps before putting it in a trash can, just as a fight nearby breaks out. Stepping aside from it he nudges the people away from Scarlett and nods to her, wiping his brow. "Let's…" A pause, cross look to his eyes then he resumes, "Let's go."
*
The initial outbreak doesn't quite hit around Pepper at first. Most who drank the guards' water are already on the bus and she's trying to get the next crowd some things. But then someone rather violently shoves to the front of the pack, "I need my f*ckin' THINGS!" The man screams, his hands coming up and suddenly several of the pre-bundled emergency bags *fly* through the air in his direction. Pepper's eyes shoot wide and she dashes forward, putting her body between the man and another family (this one with smaller children) who had been at the top of the line. "Sir! Sir… just…take a breath, calm down! There will be enough for everyone, just…Just set those things down. Please…" Pepper states in her best calm but commanding voice.
But then, there is a cold sweat breaking out on the back of her neck too. Something strange and angry. Pepper doesn't really even KNOW the meaning of anger, but it threatens in her head. Especially as the man shows himself a danger to children. He's trying to drag another bag his direction using his mind alone and Pepper steps forward, hand casting out to him, "I told you to STOP!" And suddenly he ceases. He stops *everything*. He just stands there, dead-eyed, like some sort of zombie, waiting for the next command.
The crowd is now backing away from the redhead as well. Somewhere, someone screams: "MUTANTS!" at her and the man, terror in their voice.
*
It takes a moment to really… grasp what is going on. But suddenly people are angry, are moving.. and things are lighting up in whole new ways like Thea has never seen before. Brain chemicals are spiking to dangerous levels, and everyone… well, they're reacting. The blonde will put her back to a wall, brown eyes wide as she takes it all in. There's no way she can calm /all/ of them.
*
The fighting intensifies. Gabriel and Scarlett have a front row seat to the confusion that hits the National Guardsmen; some of them shout commands to the unwilling crowd, while others bark at each other, and officers get on their radios to call in reports and ask for direction. The fighting gets pretty bad near to them; one mutant has blossomed up to about three times his size, and is throwing punches to those around him. One of them, who used to be a normal human, finds her body turning to jelly when his fist strikes. Another curses, and his voice booms over the crowd in a painfully deafening way. Another simply takes the hit and falls onto the ground, body turning hard as a rock while she goes into a catatonic state.
On the other side of this melee, Thea will gather a pretty severe idea of what's happened. These people seem to be suffering from heightened chemicals in their brains, a foreign substance that is not only amping up their moods, but also, granting powers to the powerless, and ratcheting up the powers of those who have them.
She'll sense the same in Pepper, who finds that her voice stops the man in his tracks.
Amidst the pandemonium, people begin pouring in from the edges of the cordoned off block. Some of them are dressed like street thugs, and they are wielding semi-automatic weapons. These thugs hide well in the crowds, but once they're in position, they open fire… on the National Guardsmen. Raven will have a birds eye view of it all; she will see the horror as the Guardsmen turn and fire back into the crowd, aiming for the thugs but surely striking some innocents in the process. But her keen eye will notice something else.
Amidst the distractions… men in black suits slip in and begin snatching up some of the powered mutants, using chains and hoods to capture them and drag them off. They're intentionally going for those who don't seem to be heavy hitters… meaning, the ones they can wrestle to the ground and abduct.
*
Anyone making the mistake of getting too close to Scarlett won't likely make it twice. She simply nudges them aside, using a few simple aikido moves to direct them elsewhere. Sometimes people refuse to take the hint, and those failing to do so might just end up on the receiving end of a sigh and a nudge that shoves them back a block. Though not out to hurt, it isn't her style, either, to worry greatly about where they quite land. She glances at her hands and then up to the shocked woman on the ground, darting that way. "Evacuate those we can. Those we cannot, evade. Got it?" she calls to Gabriel. It doesn't make for much of a plan, but at the moment, she probably doesn't care.
*
It hurt, bluntly put. The pain was a new high across Gabriel's mind as he pushed the thoughts aside. It wasn't pain in the sense of suffering but rather the pain of feeling something that he hadn't before and noticing the absense therein. The exotic feeling of fulfillment. Of strength. The loss of confusion, the loss of self doubt melted away and was replaced with a growing sense of awe and wonderment.
It was a sense of power. A sense of Godliness.
All of these people around him, swarming about him were like flies now. He could see it, he understood finally. It wasn't just that he was different then them. He was above them, a God above them. Like the one that was about to bump into his body. Reaching out, Gabriel spun the man and looked at the person. A laugh, cold and harsh escaped Gabriel's lips as he pulled energy from him, from everywhere around him. Sparks began to erupt from power locations and the ambient energies being let loose by all the mutants, all the powered individuals it flowed into his body like a continual wave of rejuvination. Like the voices of the choirs of angels singing his praise. The Messiah was among them.
His eyes glowed purple, spreading across his skin until an aura of brilliant purple energy surrounded Gabriel and with a deft push of his foot he floated up into the air like ascending to the clouds as a diety. Looking beneath him at all the small beings, all the creatures squabbling amongst each other and the ecstasy of the moment began to fade. They were all vying for his strength, vying for his position. Do they not understand who he was? He was the Alpha. He was the Omega.
Yes, Omega… that felt right. It felt familiar. He reached out with his very being as far as he could and pulled energy from any source he could find, drawing it into his body and growing stronger, every cell vibrating, dancing, rejoicing that their being was fulfilled.
As he floats now, about 20 feet above the ground he hears the distant whisper of a voice that sounds familiar and slowly he turns to look in Scarlett's direction, a small, taunting smile on his lips. "You speak to me? You speak to Vulcan?"
*
Birds eye view. One can attest to having such an advantage. Her hands immediately lift, tying off her long dark hair yet leaving a strand loose as she quickly sidesteps with a dragged foot of the case nearest to the stand in the meanwhile. Pandemonium hits the streets and while others may be the savior that the people wanted, she was going to give them what it needed. Hands were positioned along the sniper rifle, one upon the scope to zoom in.. and with a grit and bared teeth, she draws in a breath.. waiting for the wind to blow that strand..
AND GO!
One eye squints as she fires off the first shot; aimed towards those who seek to capture the weaker ones. Chains? Hoods? Drag into the truck? Nah-uh. Not today.
"Dragunov don't fail me now.." And more crack off. Lining them up all in a row, ten shots fired and the cartridge ejected, a quick kick-kip up to a second one which was snatched from the air with a deftness that she could only perform which was slammed back into it's home to go for broke.
*
The fact that Pepper isn't immediately on top of the situation, aware of the new thugs in the crowd and the incidious danger they represent, is proof alone of how crazed this drug is making her brain. One mug of water. She had a single mug in the break area before going back to it but, apparently, that was enough. Only now, she's staring back at the crowd she was trying to protect before, who are now shying away from her in fear. That's more heartbreaking than anything, "No! No…I'm not…it's… It's not me, I'm fine, I'm NICE!" She half yelps, half commands.
A woman steps forward then, eyes slightly glazed, giving Pepper a long look. "Yes, so nice. So, so nice…" She reaches for Pepper's hair, the power pouring off of Pepper just overwhelming the unsuspecting people. Pepper looks utterly sick, those heightened emotions now sparking tears in her eyes, the utter paranoia of what she could do to people is overwhelming. But then something hears the gun fire. GUNS. People were actually getting hurt. Pepper takes a breath and turns to actually do what she can — be useful.
"I want you all to get on the busses NOW. Move, move! Out of the way. On the buses and down, stay behind seats until you are TOLD it's safe!" And, save those with particularly strong will or protected mind, the people start suddenly moving like soldier ants, obeying that voice thoughtlessly. Pepper is no god, not like Gabriel, but she will use what power she can to help. She stares up at that almost too shining, powerful figure for a moment and his just basking in it pricks at some of her temper, "…IF YOU ARE SO STRONG, HELP THEM!" She tries to command. not that her puny, fresh new powers can command a god. But she can try!
*
Thea just watches everything around her, her mind spinning. It's a nightmare.. but who to try first? That attempt at command draws her attention to Pepper, and well.. Pepper will be the first one Thea will try to wrangle her brain chemicals under control. She's clearly the organized type.
*
Scarlett draws some ire from some of the ranting, rabid victims, primarily at her display of enhanced strength. The big dude turns her way, and claps his fist into a hand, hard enough to cause a shockwave to flow out and push a few people back. "You got a problem, girl?" he hollers, then laughs loudly. "We all just want to get off this fucking island, don't you…" But then, even he turns, no longer hell bent on beating Scarlett to a pulp, and stares up a the floating, glowing Vulcan, eyes wide. "Holy…. shit!"
Pepper's commanding words are more than effective! It would seem that, of those who were dosed, she's potentially having the best response. At least, where sudden, manifested powers are concerned. Her actions have drawn a great many people to her, which will make it difficult for Thea to get closer. Her biokinesis does begin to slowly reverse the effect the Vigor has had on Pepper, but… she'll have to get closer for it to be a great deal more effective.
As for Raven, she's a damn good shot, and she's got both a clear, non-dosed mind and a sniper rifle. One by one, she picks off the black-suited men who are using all of this as one big distraction, but she isn't able to get them all. Three of them manage to escape from view, with victims in tow.
Meanwhile, the National Guard make quick work of the thugs who had opened fire on them. It's… probably a bad idea to shoot at soldiers in uniform, but clearly, someone put them up to it.
Or paid them handsomely for it.
*
"If you're the Roman god, let's celebrate with a proper symposium with wine afterwards." Drinking parties for /everyone!/ No doubt that is precisely what people need in this moment, what with chaos dwelling in their presence. At least Gabriel knows precisely the depth and excitement of Scarlett's library and couches; there may just be remarkable liquor hidden away in her cabinets. (Note, there is. She keeps eclectic company.)
A shrug to her shoulders, Scarlett halts as another person approaches her, and performing a hip check with an unconscious mutant made of stone over her shoulder is a bit more difficult than it should be. For once her strength is off the leash, and she pivots sharply aside to assure no one else is inadvertently run over in their staggered desired to see the man wreathed in a grape moonshine aura. "If not? Enchanted." The sunny glimmer of her smile stands in utter contrast to the masses apparently fascinated by once Gabriel, now Vulcan, but those who aren't up to playing nice — the men in black, those who strike at others with chains and hoods, are going to eventually reach her notice. "Shall we go play?"
*
Vulcan continues to levitate in the air with his aura, looking around at how some seem to stare in awe, some seem to bicker amongst them. But the ears of the being hear the cries of his children, of his people. "You seek a way free from this?" He asks, almost in a laughing way. "A way to freedom? Then all you must do is bow."
The euphoric delusions in full effect, he turns and opens his hands calmly, beams of plasma like energy shooting out from them upwards into the sky to dissipate into the atmosphere with a rush and heat of light. Leaving the remnant auras of purple again behind as they float, carrying his laughter with them to the skies while watching below.
*
Raven manages to get off one crack shot before the three flee away within their vehicles. They leave trails, the fallen bodies were going to be examined as soon as she single handedly takes down those..
Oh-ho. What do we have here? How in the world did she miss that purple glow? While others mingle and stare up towards the self proclaimed God, Raven straightens her back in such a way that causes the long extending ash to fall from her cigarette. Her lips curl inward as teeth pinch off the butt, another inhale taken as she spits it out like a torpedo that follows the plume of smoke there after.
"Tsks."
One could consider her drugged for the most part, or working against her own people, who's to say what goes on in the mind of madness. For with a quick snatch and an ejection of the cartridge, another slammed back in with a hoist upon her shoulder, she takes aim towards Gabriel's head.. no.. not the head. Show some fucking mercy..
Down.. down.. down..
*POW*
A bullet was fired from the chamber directly towads Gabriel's lumbar vertibre. A good mutant is a dead mutant, but a paralyzed one?
"You're no fucking God!" In other words? Sitchoassdown!
*
Well, that seems to be working. People are organizing onto buses and staying low. Maybe Pepper could even direct traffic like this, but suddenly things aren't working quite so well and the headache is half sickening. As those beneath her sway seem to break free easier, the new powers woken up in her brain slightly surpressed by Thea's ministrations, the group looks towards the woman who has been controlling them and a touch more anger rises up, "No! You're TRAPPING US THERE!" And suddenly there is a mass of people moving to rush on Pepper and, most likely, Thea behind her.
Pepper looks back to the euphoria driven god-man for help, and he's laughing. Leaving them. Promising escape for service. It's not enough. And then something has SHOT him? The fight is getting worse. More tears trickle down her face as she tries to back up from the crowd and gain control once more, "NO! It…it's for your own good! The buses are SAFE! You'll get out of here! GO! GO!" She half begs them, half commands. Maybe these new gifts can kick back in enough to help people. She had been feeling good. Effective. Powerful. Now she's just feeling overwhelmed, more paranoid and with the start of the worst headache…
*
"Oh sweet…" There may be cursing in another language. Greek most likely, as Pepper's mind is let go of. Clearly trying to supress the wrong one, Thea you idjit. Then the god man who would be her most obvious target is /shot/, and the bio-kinetic is practically on overload. Too much crazy and commotion in the bodies around her, her powers on overdrive trying to just keep aware. But the god-man.. she'll try to twist her way through the crowd to go for him, next.
*
A lot of things suddenly happen at once.
Raven's bullet rings true, and strikes Vulcan exactly where it had intended. However, with his powers amped so, he's drawing from almost everyone in the crowd below, especially those weaker minded; the humans who have no experience with superhuman capabilities.
Almost at once, the majority of the crowd passes out, their bodies no longer capable of sustaining the amped up effects of vigor, paired with the draining of energy caused by Vulcan.
There's another factor to this strange course of events, and that is Althea Harman. Her biokinetic power, redirected toward Vulcan, was the other end of a spectrum to Raven's bullet that caused such a chain reaction of events.
The entire area suddenly goes eerily quiet. Left standing are Raven, Pepper (thanks to Thea, who'd reversed just enough of the vigor's effect to protect her from the backlash), Scarlett, Thea, and a handful of the more powerful mutants that weren't taken by the men in black. One National Guardsman remains standing, his eyes wide, hands trembling upon his rifle.
And of course, Vulcan, who receives a sudden burst of energy that he most likely was not expecting.
*
What does one do when standing in a sea of fallen people? Scarlett shakes her head, hissing between her clenched teeth. Her breath refuses to be taken in, and she gently puts the unconscious mutant back down to the ground. That will be the only vestige of kindness demonstrated in this turn, for she gives no trace of thought or ambition in this front. The air is her dominion soon enough, but for now there's a rapid pace carrying her away from the epicenter. One, get out of the way in case the godling under delusions of grandeur decides to detonate something. Two, she's got a bone to pick with… who knows what, but gods help whomever ends up on the receiving ends of her hand. There are whole suites of legends about deranged redheads, notably the likes of Boudicca of the Iceni, Queen Maeve (Medb!) of Connacht, Elizabeth I, Alexander the Great. Most of them were not fun to encounter when they were in high dudgeon.
*
Careening rather than gliding to the ground, Vulcan crashes downwards to strike upon his feet. The overloading of senses, emotions, and the sudden disipation of the energy around him leaves him startled however the energy surrounding him does not go. A quick, harsh look is given towards the direction from where he was shot and then, turning he leaps again, rocketing off into the sky, higher, further, looking to be flying into the stars themselves as he disappears from sight.
*
Satisfied.
Though when Gabriel casts a glance in her direction she'd no longer be there. Gone is the rifle and stand, kicked off to the side or possibly into the crowd below. Case collected and bullets policed to leave no trace of her ever being there save for a cigarette that was lit and now burning in the snow covered top..
Down upon the ground by way of fire escape, the dark woman emerging from the shadows with a new face, a taller seeming, shoulders stalwart and dressed in militant garb, case within his hands and clutched. Hat tucked beneath his arm, other smoothing through the salt and pepper beard upon his face as he approaches the lone guard that stands there, shocked.
"Stand down, soldier!" The man barks, stepping over towards one of the masked men who had fallen, admiring the work of the bullet that blew out the back of the mans head, and with a push and turn, he begins to search pockets. "Call your people and report what happened here.." He says with a grunt, case now placed upon the ground as he looks for any identifying marks. Raven, aka General Rothschild, aka the Pincher of B-Hinds makes his debut yet again as he spouts out orders like King Shit of the Highway. "..get on your radio, now Son." Voice gentle, yet carrying a harshness that suggests to get going before the going gets tough. "I'll keep watch." Sure.. sure he will..
Raven was about three seconds away from being on the move..
*
Breathing hard, Pepper finally seemed to get everyone just SLIGHTLY back under control when, all of the sudden, everyone is dropping like *flies*. Pepper's blue eyes shoot wide, momentarily worried she caused this as she was just focused on her little group, but then she spins around to realize it's the whole damn area around them. It looks like a slaughter house. Bodies everywhere, barely anyone left standing. "…God…god… no… shoot… God…" Pepper stammers out, droping to her knees next to one of the closest fallen and reaching for their throat. Please, please have a pulse.
She slumps in relief as she feels that beat against her fingertips, her other hand coming up to wipe away tears and a cold sweat from her face. She's shaky as she gets back up to her feet, but looks back over to the single Guardsman still up and the person shouting orders. "Listen to him… He…He's right… you need to call for back up. Something not local…medical unit." Pepper adds to Raven's words, nodding a thanks that someone else is speaking sense. "We… need to get these people out of the city. I…I'll call the local hospital, see if we can get any ambulances…" She says that last bit to both of them, trying to be helpful. That's Pepper, always working, even if her whole body feels shaky and weak from the overdose of energy and everything else that happened. She had to carry on so, she did as she always does — manage the crisis.
*
Thea can do nothing but watch as people crumple like so many marionettes with their strings cut. Sadly, it's a relief to the bio-kinetic, even as god-man soars out of sight and reach. She finally casts her power out around her, looking around.. people are just unconscious, not truly injured.. if someone is, she would help them… otherwise, she's going to do her best to fade out of the picture and hurry /home/.
*
The lone Guardsman turns toward General Rothschild, perking upright and going ramrod straight. "Sir!" he barks, then double takes, before fumbling for his radio. "Y… yes, yes sir! Right away sir, sorry General!" And then, he's on the horn, calling it in.
An unfamiliar voice comes up behind Pepper. It belongs to a man dressed entirely in red; a vigilante known as the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. What is exposed of his face is scruffy and unshaven, marred with two fresh wounds that are healing, and blood that… may not be his. Or it might. Hard to tell these days.
"It was vigor."
It doesn't take seeing his eyes to know that the vigilante is feeling worn. He's hunched slightly, favoring one side of his ribcage, and heaving with painful breaths. "They laced the damn water supply with it."
He turns suddenly and wings a billy club toward one of the thuggish gunmen, knocking the bastard right upside the head mere moments after stirring.
Vulcan is… gone. Eventually, he'll come down, in more ways than one.
Scarlett is out for blood.
So, likely, is Raven.
Thea will evade the nightmare, but she's had a taste of the epidemic. Fortunately, not so personal as Gabriel and Pepper, both of whom will be dealing with a particularly vicious addiction.
As for Daredevil, he looks back toward Pepper, mouth twisted into a frown.
"I'm… so sorry."
HELL'S KITCHEN: LOUIE'S SUBS
"Done?"
"Done, boss."
"How many we get?"
"Thirteen."
"Thirteen." The man wears a brimmed hat, one that casts his face in shadow, but there's no mistaking the thick cherry of an illegally imported Cuban cigar. He draws in deep, then lets loose with a smirk and a thick, Italian accent.
"Thirteen," he repeats. "That'll do."
*