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Oh no!
It comes out of the blue and while it sounds funny at first, it's really not. The Upper West Side is being over run by apes with Russian accents. No, really. It sounds like something out of the funnies, until the first person dies. The radio is calling it a terrorist attack and the police are being beaten back towards the south. They are in desperate need of superhuman help, that much is to be sure.
*
Beast has his comically-oversized feet propped up on his desk, leaning back in his chair and perusing the latest data compilation through a pair of reading spectacles. He frowns slightly as he flicks a claw from page to page. The mutagens weren't synthesizing the way they should, he was beginning to think the whole sample was contaminated. Possibly by the corned beef sandwich he had for lunch. Damn you, Carnegie Deli!
He had the radio on in the background, listening to the idle tootings of a still-missing Glenn Miller, when the bulletin comes over. Well, he was intending to make more of a good impression for the mutant community. Fighting commie apes might be a little Sunday funnies to earn respect, but an ever-loving blue furred crimefighting machine had to start somewhere.
In this case, the somewhere was climbing out of his window wearing nothing but a pair of blue spandex briefs. It worked for wrestlers!
*
Sitting in the safehouse was boring. Sure those few times she's actually alluded her current keeper, it was all just wandering and looking about and figuring out how the city works. Television wasn't too much to shake a stick at, the radio was a bunch of crap that nearly eroded her brain into thinking like a simpleton American. It was all that she had to resort to getting a few glasses, fire, and maybe the bedsheets to burn over an open flame and solution to see what horrid residue that was left upon unclean sheets..
Until that mayday. The mayday that bounces Shuri clear into action. The black panther mantle that she keeps tugged upon mocha skin, zipped up and.. wait. Her hair. Her fucking hair. No time! The mask was tugged on, hair stuffed and tucked, pushed and pushed until the mask was down upon her face which makes her dome look irregularly big. So what. It wasn't a fashion contest.
Belt hung upon her hips, boots fitted to her feet, and Shuri was out the window as she would, zipline hugged to her hips as she runs -down- the side of the building, a yank and a tug to knock it free as she leaps forward to the other side, using claws, nails.. tips of boots to slide her way down and crack off into a run that turns heads and of course, that obvious New Yorker who calls out..
'Watch where you're going, asshole!'
*
Just after the Black Panther arrives, so does Captain America. By his count there are 20 large apes doing everything from throwing cars into windows, chasing bystanders, and being general nuisances. As one bull rushes him, Steve stands his ground and twists at the last moment, knocking one of the apes out of the way. "You ever seen anything like this?" he asks the Panther.
*
From the skies above comes a loud rumble, almost like a sonic boom, and a concussive blast knocks a group of apes all over the place. The source of the blast soars down in a red and blue blur, and it turns out to be Warbird. The blonde heroine moves down to hover by Black Panther and Captain America, "Well, at least they aren't Skrulls… um, are they?" If she's star struck by actually seeing THE Captain America, she's gonna wait to be silly until after the Russian Ape Craziness is settled.
*
Beast arrives last of all, in spite of getting an earlier start, in part because of his starting distance and, admittedly, because tumbling over rooftops is both inefficient and distracting. So many antennae! So many clotheslines! Really, who buys a dress in -that- color?
Digressions aside, he lands atop a nearby car, denting the roof just a little bit, "Ouch, going to have to leave a note there. Greetings and salutations! Like the rest of you, I am utterly perplexed as to the circumstances that could result in talking apes overrunning the city, much less those with a tendency towards Slavic or Sino-Caucasian accents! That would indicate they've mastered not only one, but TWO human languages! Astounding! I would suggest the time for study to their origins might, perhaps, be delayed until we've OOF!" he says, suddenly getting tackled by a large, gorilla-esque specimen.
Beast tumbles backwards and monkeyflips it, sending the creature careening end over end to land on the asphalt below, "In other words, friends - To action!"
*
The arrival of Captain America gives Shuri a bit of a pause. Her lips move beneath her mask, but whatever words were about to sound off were caught as she takes a step back to allow a wheel to bounce by without even looking in that general direction. "Yes." She says, looking towards Warbird as she lands, immediately jumping into action as another wheel bounces by, gripping it to give it a once twirl to hurl it into the crowd of apes. "In the jungles of Wakanda. But not like this. Not exactly."
As Beast makes his entrance, and declares his warcry, there was no choice but for her to act. "Do not let them grab you, heroes! They are strong! They will beat you with your own limbs after they tear them from your bodies!" Just as those final words leave her lips, she dashes into the fray, going against her own advice in getting caught up in the masses of apes in an ugly brawl that only T'Challa could be proud of.
*
Cap slams his shield into the head of one of the apes and he shakes his head at Warbird, "I haven't a clue. They look like normal apes to me." Talk about things he never thought he would say in public during a fight. That is definitely one of them. Steve points to Beast, "I think he's with us!"
Steve gives Black Panther a look and then looks at the others, "Well that's reassuring."
*
Carol blinks, "Oh, they think they're strong, wait till they get a load of me." She soars in after saying that, picking up one ape on the fly and hurling him towards a group of others, shouting in Russian, » Hey, you commie monkeys, time for your patriotic beating! «
Okay, so she's trying to get their attention… hopefully it works!
*
This isn't exactly the most productive use of Hank's intellectual capacity, but Beast has learned to enjoy the sheer, primal thrill of a good tussle! In this case, he's careening from ape to ape, throwing jabs and kicks, occasionally throwing in a judo throw or, in one case, a sleeper hold. Hey, it works for Gorgeous George.
"Is that a Wakandan accent? My goodness, a Black Panther in our midst, and of the feminine persuasion at that! Truly, the city overflows with exotic riches today. And hairy apes, but, well, we're in the process of handling that."
He careens over Cap's head for a moment, landing on an ape wielding a lead pipe that was trying to sneak up on him, "Beware, O Sentinel of Liberty! The bouncing Beast has your back!"
*
Annoyed. An ape takes a swipe at her middle which throws her off of her game, Shuri tumbling into the throes of an ape with both fists raised. As soon as those fists land, they meet concrete due to her sliding in between it's legs and back, both boots to the backside of the ape which sails forward into another that attempted to run her down. A backwards somesault has her leaping up, twirling with a roundhouse kick that draws another away, leaping up into a middair split to kick two, down again with a leap forward and a grasp of shoulders to another rushing ape that has her monkey'ing all over the place! It.. was kind of fun!
"Shut. Up!" She howls out towards Beast, and in a moment of irrationality, a double-round house kick to one ape, aimed at Beast, goes sailing in his direction.
*
A group of apes take to Carol calling to them. As smart as they are they cannot avoid their true calling as animals in this world. They turn towards her and start to run. Meanwhile, Cap is chuckling at Beast. "At least someone does." In his half turn, he sees one going for Beast's six, and he throws his shield hard. The BONG is audible.
"Whoa," Steve says as Panther attacks Beast, "Whose side is she on?"
*
What happens when you combine SHIELD field agent training with invulnerability and the ability to bench fifty tons? Well, nothing that the taunted apes like, that's for certain, as Warbird flies right into the onrushing horde, punching, throwing, and generally tossing apes around. All the while continuing the insults in Russian about their mothers, their poo-flinging, and probably one or two snide remarks about Stalin's *ahem* inadequacies, just for good measure.
*
Beast catches the incoming ape-kick, wincing, "I say! I find a bit of banter makes the battle pass more easily. If you find it so very distracting, might I suggest more time in the dojo, practicing your mindfulness?" he teases, before backflipping a bit more out of harm's way, harm in this case being Shuri's fearsome feat.
"Have no worries, O Captain, My Captain, while my Whitman allusions shall rain upon you unceasing, you need never fight alone whilst my big, furry self can throw a few fists in."
*
Shuri sees all, hears all when focused. Captain's words along with Beast's banter draws a grin beneath the mask. He had a point, for look at the work that Carol was doing! The apes were piling up and Shuri took care of the fifty on the left. (Though fifty was an exaggerated number. Lets try ten!) Much like the name that she carries, metal claws soon retract from the gloves that she wears, and with both hands outstretched, she begins to mow through the remaining gathering of the apes, slashing and swiping at their chest and eyes, landing low to hamstring a few to keep from running. All non-lethal, for there is just a slight chance that she -may- want one for herself!
*
Captain America turns around to look at Beast with a smile and a nod, "Man's best friend, right?" But all the joking aside, a large red ship looking thing with a glass-like cockpit begins to hover ominously between the buildings. As it light sup, all of the apes begin to flee in unison, scattering like cockroaches.
"What is that thing," Captain America wonders aloud.
*
Warbird looks over at Captain America, catching what he said as the various apes scatter off and away. She frowns a bit, before saying, "Well, let's find out." With that, she takes off into the air, flying towards the large red ship.
*
Beast blinks for a moment as he peers up at the ship, "Hmmmmmmmmmm. Doesn't look like any of the standardized aerial crafts. I trust you, of all people, would recognize anything produced by the American military, mi capitan," he says.
"That would leave potential extraterrestrial origin or an invention crafted by the mind of a homegrown genius. Or perhaps a Russian one, given the peculiar cultural tendencies practiced by these aggressive primates," he says. "Hopefully, our ally there will quickly suss out the provenance and intention of the craft. In the meantime, barring a spontaneous avian mutation on any of our parts," he says, then punches another ape in the mouth.
*
Steve has partially disconnected.
*
The quiet hum of the ships hovering is what gives Shuri pause, as well as the running away of the apes which nearly knock her flat upon her face. The shoulder check allows one hand to snatch out, claws digging at the base of the apes neck to tug it back towards her as she leaps upon his back. Her pouch was rifled through with the tussel, her eyes lifting towards Carol as she flies off to investigate. "Panther Goddess watches over you!" She cries out, and soon the syringe was retrieved from her pouch and stabbed into the neck of the beast, which bucks as she holds on for dear life.
Whatever that thing was, the others would be sure to find out. For now? Shuri was focused on the smaller details.. evidence gathering. Ape apprehension. For science, of course.
*
For Shuri, the blood is easily drawn up into the syringe as she rides the ape like a jungle version of the Old West. Ride em, Cowgirl.
"I'm thinking you're right," Steve says to Beast as he watches Carol fly up towards it. "Come on." But as she zooms out ahead, Steve yells, "Wait, no!"
Three energy blasts emit from the red ship and head straight towards Carol!!!
*
Warbird doesn't have time to react before she's pummeled by the energy blasts, getting knocked back down to the ground by the force of them. There's a nice crater formed from her impact, not too far from Steve or the others. She picks herself up, then wrinkles her nose, "Alright, now I'm mad." There's a particularly reddish sparkling glow starting to form around her, almost as if her body's trying to figure out what hit her…
*
Beast winces as Warbird is blasted out of the sky, only to raise his bushy eyebrows when she seems to emerge relatively unscathed.
"That would go well into the realm of useful abilities. Sadly, I am far more prone to perforation, and so will keep my distance behind those with indestructible bodies and indestructible shields," he says warily.
He does, however, make his way over to where Shuri is subduing an ape, his head cocked, "What, praytell, have you injected him with? Apes require particularly potent sedatives, with their body weight being significantly greater than a comparably sized human," he says cheerfully.
*
Shit. There was no time for Shuri to disengage from the ape that she wrestles, and help Warbird out at the same time. Once she's hit with the beam, she turns away, waiting until the beast himself is subdued by the injection she put into his neck. As Beast approaches, she stands, allowing the ape to fall at his feet as she gestures towards him, handing the syringe off with a smack of it against the blue mans palm. "You'll figure it out."
With a look up to check on Captain and Carol, Shuri actually reaches up to clap Beast upon the shoulder. "I'll be back." Instead of taking the route less traveled, she goes right into the open. Hoping to distract whatever was in that craft long enough for Carol to get closer. Or inside. Go get'um girl!
*
Once having bitten, the ship lacks shyness as it blasts at Carol once again. In turn there's a blast towards Shuri and a blast towards Captain America as well. All the while, the ship hovers ominiously, gaining altitude slowly and losing altitude slowly. At his feet, Beast will find an unconscious ape, sleeping soundly.
The energy blasts dissipates off of Captain America's shield, much to his thankfulness. With alien beings, or whatever this is, you can never be quite sure. "Be careful up there," he calls to Warbird, who has already been hit once.
*
Warbird gets hit again by the blast, and… nothing happens. It almost looks like the heroine absorbed the energy, as the brilliant red sparkles seem to dance all around her now. She smiles over at Cap as he talks to her, and she nods, "Will do." And then like a red bolt she launches herself into the air, flying at the ship as she fires an energy bolt of her own, fueled by the blast she just was hit with for an extra punch.
*
Beast kneels down to examine the ape a bit more closely, making sure its vital signs are stable, beginning to look for any signs of tampering - obvious cybernetic enhancement, antennae, exposed brain tissue. Unusual anatomy as well - he specifically examines the skull shape, looking for any cephallic swelling or overdevelopment.
He glances up again as a particularly bright bolt flashes at the edge of his vision, reminding the scientist that yes, he's still in the middle of a battle. They seem to have it in hand, though.
*
Shuri was running in circles, leaping over fallen debris, occasionally stopping to pick something up to hurl towards the machine that hovers in the air. It was all a distraction, despite the fact that she felt silly doing it. But she was just drawing fire until the right moment of attack.
*
The hit and fade attack that Shuri does towards the alien ship seems to work as it at least draws some of the fire away from Warbird. Speaking of, the blonde smashes straight through the underside, leaving a large hole in the hull. It must have hit something because the ship is going down straight for Captain America, and it's going down fast.
Meanwhile, Hank will find the Ape in pretty good condition, he just lies there and seems like he's sleeping. You could have just read him a lullaby he's sleeping so well. One thing Beast does notice, however, is odd scars around the head.
*
Well, it's a good thing Warbird was flying towards the ship in the first place. She tries to catch the ship, hands sinking into the metal as she tries to slow the descent, gritting her teeth as she tries to lower the ship /gently/… or at least, not-crashing-into-Cap-ly, onto the ground.
*
Beast examines the scarring carefully, frowning, "Surgery. I suppose that makes sense, although to have performed it on so many apes - it requires great patience, great planning and, perhaps, quite a few hands," he says.
"That or some form of automation. Henry Ford would be displeased to see the assembly line so abused. Well, perhaps not, he was something of a jerk by reputation," he mutters, leaving the ape for now and going to join the others in examining the ship.
*
Score! Carol does what she needed to but the ship itself was coming down. The angle was horrible, and someone was bound to get killed once it fell. Thankfully, the ruckus of the apes caused most to flee the area, and the only one that was left standing was Captain America, who probably couldn't do leaps and bounds like Beast could..
Disengaging from her circles and turns, Shuri heads straight for the Captain, ducking her head and tucking just enough to quite literally snatch him from the ground, and pushes off with her feet to send them both sailing in the air and hopefully to a safe spot.
*
With Warbird pushing one way and Panther pushing from the other, the Red ship crashes off to the side. Captain America is tackled and winces as he gets to his feet. "Thanks," he says faintly to Shuri. "I guess we found out whose side you were on."
In the wreckage, a small, white-haired scientists reaches up his hands to Warbird in surrender. "I would like to see my lawyer," he says in a heavily Russian accent. In due time he is led away. But that ape that sits at Hank's feet?
He is right there. Just sort of hanging out and still sleeping.