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Coney Island. It's afternoon, and the park is festive and active. There's people out and about, eating Nathan's Famous Dogs, riding rides, socializing and just in general hanging out. There's nothing particularly notable about the day, at least to most people, except that there have been a number of disappearances lately. It's up to 3: people last being seen around the park and not being seen again. It has only mildly reduced the popularity of the place, though.
Al Simmons has heard from his contacts among the homeless that something strange is going on: but he doesn't know what, so he's investigating. The man is wearing a black hoodie that is pulled up over his head and gloves, with his head tucked forward to hide the hideous burn scars that cover every inch of his flesh: he looks like melted wax, as cliche as that comparison is. But even with his attempting to not draw attention to his deformity, he is not a man that blends in. Standing barely under seven feet tall, he's broad shouldered with thick muscle that no amount of baggy clothing can attempt to hide. People tend to step out of his way as he moves through the crowd.
Susie's there, enjoying the party atmosphere of Cony Island… and munching on one of the famous foot-long coney hot dogs, covered in chili and cheese. She's sitting on a bench while she eats, with a big soft drink sitting next to her, too, as she takes this little break from heroing as Ultragirl — after that near-disastrous outing with the Avengers that solidified her place as one of their newer recruits.
Roy's where archers like to be— up high, where he can watch from a high roost. He's staked out a little post and has been hiding behind a low lean-to that breaks up his profile, allowing him to watch most of the major boardwalk and some side streets fairly easily.
He unwraps some jerky and tears off a bite, chewing heavily. The archer's bow is stored with the strings and springs relaxed, and a quiver is at ready reach againt a corner of the roof's low balustrade.
He puts binoculars to his domino mask and surveys the boardwalk again. Nothing yet— just that weird hulking guy wearing a tent in the middle of the summer heat. Roy shakes his head, watching Al's path.
A slight figure makes his way through the sea of people and the noise that is such an integral part of the atmosphere at Coney Island. Bruce Banner, a new arrival to New York City had thought this a nice place to go in attempt at occupying his mind, an exercise he performs at each new location that he calls home. He is dressed in his worn out suit, the elbow patches quite real as they hold the fraying fabric of the sleeves together. He does not know anyone, and as such is not particularly looking for anyone. He simply is as he walks around, weaving a meandering line along and quite accidentally toward the seven foot man made of melted wax.
Ne was among the crowd, making her way through Coney Island with no particular destination nor cares. While a simple illusion had cloaked her unnatural colored hair and eyes in a more 'normal' black and green respectively, the short woman would still probably fall into 'odd' in appearence for her choice of attire. That, and the parasol she had open and resting over one shoulder, idly twirling its shade as she continued her path. Recent good fortune had left her with little to worry about lately, until the money of the most recent heist ran out she was going to enjoy not scraping by just to live.
From the ferris wheel, there's a loud sound of screeching metal as a strange shimmering appears. One moment it was spinning, the next it has ground to a halt— and there are odd, shining, silver threads that seem to criss-cross all along it.
From within the gift shop, a woman screams — loud and sharp and, after a few moments, wetly. There's other shouts and screams moments later and people begin rushing out. Moments later a creature leaps out from the door and lands on a fleeing man's back. It looks like a spider, vaguely: but it seems to be almost crystalline, its body oddly faceted like a cut gem and yet it moves fluidly, impossibly. It has twelve legs and two body segments, and is the size of a large dog. The crystal looks like quartz that has branching black veins throughout its body that pulse darkly. Silvery threads are extruded from the tips of its legs as it begins cacooning its screaming victim.
Al Simmons hears the scream, sees the running, and he… changes. His outfit seems to melt together and flow over him, and where once he was a weird giant, he becomes Spawn. A suit of black with white markings, a red flowing cape with high collars, and a belt of chains. He rises into the air, the cape flowing out from him unnaturally as it carries him up.
Susie's hot dog falls to the ground, forgotten, as she jumps to her feet… and runs for the nearest restroom facility… and then into the bushes around and behind it, out of sight. Back there, she superspeeds herself out of her street clothes so that her Ultragirl outfit, worn under her civvies, is what she's left wearing. Stashing her clothes, she affixes her mask in place on her face… and launches herself up into the air.
Roy doesn't even need that long. The first scream has him alert and reaching for his bow. By the time the door breaks outwards, he's already got his strange, ultramodern compound bow tensioned, and is reaching for an arrow. He gauges the distance on the draw, checks the wind once, and in less than two seconds, flicks the arrow skywards. It goes up, arcs, and the wind catches the broadhead and sends it diving down at the back of the spider's thorax joint, sunlight glittering off the steel.
Roy throws a rope down the side of the building and vaults off of it with a carabiner already attached to his belt, rapelling facefirst down the four story gap.
Several things happening at once has Bruce blinking in surprise and turning on the spot as he first looks toward the Ferris Wheel and then in the direction of the scream. He begins stumbling in that direction as people begin to flee, several colliding with him and sending the thin man staggering left and right. He ducks as the large beast comes leaping from the gift shop, his hands coming up protectively over his head. Even as he cowers, another rages. Bruce looks at the dog as it begins cocooning it's victim and his look of shock turns into one of rage. He has the presence of mind to reach up and snatch the glasses from his face, even as his mouth opens in a human and then inhuman roar. Tanned flesh begins to tinge green as his body suddenly begins to change, muscles leaping in size as his body rockets upward. The ragged old suit is torn away for the most part, leaving only a tattered pair of shorts as the Hulk throws his arms wide and roars in challenge again.
|ROLL| Spawn +rolls 1d100 for: 57
Ne's appearence changes at the scream, but not in quite as much a dramatic manner as Simmons. A shimmer of the air, almost like a heat haze passing, and Ne's bright pink and brown hair is revealed, her heterochromic eyes of white and neon-like pink visible while she snaps shut her parasol and holds it at her side. There's a frown on the silent woman's features as she starts towards the source of the disturbance, a nearby window caking with a thin layer of frost as a faint glowing aura forms around her petite form.
Her path is somewhat halted a little as the man not all that far in front of her doubles over like he were in pain. Her passing by is slow, perhaps trying to look for injury until the man begins to turn green and get…rather large. Mute or not, the suprise is pretty plain on Ne's face.
You don't see that every day!
As Roy's arrow strikes into the spider's joint, it hits precisely enough to perfectly crack the spider in two. And then, moments later, the cracks spread and it dissolves into something that looks like sand. The man who was half cocooned struggles but seems unable to escape the silvery thread.
All hell breaks lose. The spider creatures pour out of the gift shop: there's six of them that look to be the size of a large dog, twice that many half that size, and twice that many the size of a cat. It's a swarm.
The chains around his waist split off from his belt buckle, and rise up into the air, lengthening and moving sinuously. The chains strike out to wrap around one of the large spiders, lifting it into the air as the chains twist around and try to crush and tear it apart.
The spider does not break. Spawn's glowing green eyes narrow. Apparently that is out of his class.
Ultragirl dives down out of the air and plows into one of the larger spiders, barreling it away from the group of them… singling it out, as it were, for her to deal with. Even as she bullrushes the spider aside, she hits it a few times, her fists blurring as she uses her superspeed… but she doesn't seem to be doing much to it, like that.
Roy hits the ground running, ditching his cloak and hood for freedom of movement. Bare arms flex with lines of corded tendon while he starts firing off arrows, while running, and even leaping over obstacles. There's clearly some heavy hitters on the field.
Roy moves gracefully over obstacles and barriers, barely slowing down or even stopping for anything. He gets on top of a low crabshack roof, clattering the metal rib roofing, and drops his quiver to his right hip to get to it faster.
Two heavy-barreled arrows fly through the air, in high, lobbing arcs. When they hit, instead of a spearpoint, they *popf* with a fast-growing green foam that spreads out over several square meters and starts thickening into a heavy adhesive almost instantly. His target? The onrushing mass of the smaller, faster scuttling spiderlings.
The Hulk's roar of challenge turns into one of frustration as the large spider dog turns into sand and disappears… and there is a terrible moment where the big green man's eyes shift toward Ne, his mouth twisting into an angry snarl. And then two of the larger spider creatures leap out at him. One clings to his back and begins to stab into him with it's large pincer like mandibles while the other crawls his chest. There is another deafening roar from Hulk as he slaps a huge hand to his chest, attempting to hold the monster to his barreled chest, even as a huge fist from his other arm comes punching with terrible force at the side of that same spider.
By now the other 'supers' have caught Ne's gaze, the archer and the flying woman both, not to mention the man with his swarm of chains. However it's the green beast that she's the most cautious of in those first few moments before she turns her gaze and her attention towards the swarm of scuttling 'spider-things'. Those faintly glowing eyes of the young mutant pulse and she extends a hand, palm-open towards the horde, a bright flash of white-light later and the small things begin to shatter like glass from the extreme change in temperature, leaving Ne exhaling a frosted breath as she continues forwards, unbothered by her own frosty aura while a ball of that same seemingly impossible 'cold-light' energy begins to grow, intended for a larger target.
|ROLL| Spawn +rolls 1d100 for: 43
Spawn floats there amidst the impossible flowing of his cape, as it spreads wider and moves of its own volition, caring not for the privileges of wind or gravity. His glowing green eyes narrow further as the chains seem unable to crush the life from the creature still. Instead, one chain pulls up away and strikes down towards the joint, but as precise as his strike is, its not perfect, and it only cracks the creature. Just then a swarm of the smaller spiders streak towards a mother fleeing from her child, and the hellspawn makes a calculation.
The larger spider is released, and he spins around even as the chains withdraw and spin around him with slowness, almost seeming protective. He lifts a hand and a pure necroplasm forms in his hand, a green fire that he flings out at the swarm — they are annihiliated into dust. The cape snakes out while this is going on, and wraps around the woman and child and lifts them up into the air, even as Spawn flies over the edge of the pier and deposits the pair on the beach. The cape is meant to kill, it desires death, but Spawn maintains control to keep it… gentle.
Ultragirl realizes that punching this big, crystal spider-thing isn't working. Even as it's slashing and stabbing at her, putting rips and holes in her suit's arms and legs, but barely scratching her skin, she changes tactics… and grabs it by one leg as she floats up into the air. Hauling up on that leg she's got in her hands, she flips the spider up into the air and then, with herself as the pivot point, suddely back down onto the ground. She repeats this a few times, until the spider's leg snaps off from its body, going still in her hands. The spider, itself, now down to seven legs, scrambles to get back to an upright position. Ultragirl's slamming about of it put some cracks into its crystaline carapace… but wasn't enough to take it out! Ultragirl, feet touching down on the ground again, looks about to toss the leg aside… then stops and looks at it, and grins! Her grin turns into a look of surprise when her singled-out, seven-legged spider sprays her with webbing, ensnaring her and securing her to the ground! "Oh gross!", she complains at the stickiness of the webbing… which starts to immediately harden into more solid, crystal-like stuff.
Roy pauses. It's a strange thing for a hero to do— but it's the sort of thing few people have the presence of mind for. To stop and analyze a situation tactically, /while/ people are being attacked and all hell is breaking loose.
In deference to Spawn, something /hellish/, anyway.
"Keep them corraled!" Roy barks, suddenly, his voice cutting across the melee. He launches his last glue arrow at the shack— it flicks through a window pane and explodes inside, green foam filling the small building.
He flickers an arrow with an explosive head at the spiders flash-frozen by Ne's powers. On its own, the arrow might at best have broken one spider, but he seems to be willing to capitalize on their synergy.
The Hulk's left hand holds the large spider to his chest, while his right arcs in with a vicious hook that connects solidly with the crystalline beast. Under the impact of that incredible blow, the body of the beast cracks, the legs leaping out to the side in shock before redoubling their efforts to cut and injure the Hulk's chest. The second blow is enough to turn the big spider into dust which tumbles down across the green flesh of his chest. The second spider is still stabbing away at Hulk's back, shallow channels of bright red blood leaking across green flesh. Hulk reaches over his left shoulder… arm too short… he reaches over his right… arm too short. Letting out a bellow of rage, the big green beast crouches and leaps high into the air, coming back down to slam into the ground with enough force to send the spider scratching down his back. Up he goes and then down to slam and finally dislodge the big monster, Hulk tantrum style.
Ne's 'charged' blast slams into one of the large creatures, coating its cristaline surface with the frosty marking of flash-cooled oxygen, but not nearly enough to obliterate it like she had the smaller beings. A frown comes to her lips at the as her aura pulses a little. Well, that wasn't going to work. Thankfully, it seems the unnamed archer was making the most of her icey onslaught. Perhaps he'd be able to damage it better than she could alone. The Hulk seemed to be…handling himself and Spawn had rescued the civillians in immediate danger, so her gaze goes over to the webbing-bound Ultragirl. With a light movement of her free hand, she draws her fist back and advances towards the creature, throwing a thin-beam of that same shattering cold energy at the restraints. It might not be enough to break them, but its probably going to make it easier for Susie to do so herself.
Spawn turns his attention to Roy, and he inclines his head. He descends towards the ground, and his cape spreads out to become almost like a wall, covering one direction to keep the creatures from escaping beyond. A moment later he's reaching behind to pull out his pair of pistols, and shot after shot goes off, each one causing one of the small spiders to explode. More importantly, he's using it to corral them back towards the center, to contain. The chains are purely defensive at this point, slithering through the air and striking out if a spider comes near him. Leesha is on autopilot in that regard.
Covered in crystal-like webbing, Ultragirl throws her arms outwards… shattering the webbing and, easily it seems, freeing herself. She then rushes back towards the spider, letting it stab and slash at her, getting more cuts and holes in her costume here and there with no real harm done to her body… and grabs hold of another leg in one hand. Bracing her free hand against its body, she hauls back hard… and snaps the second leg free of the spider's body. A blur of motion on her part, and she's yanked another leg off the spider, leaving it wobbling and off-balance on only five legs — and emitting an eerie, high-pitched tone like that of a stone scratching glass… but louder. The spider clearly -felt- it as its legs were ripped off, too, and now it's trying to just run away from Ultragirl, although it's slowed by the fact that nearly half its legs are missing! Holding a spider-leg on one hand, she makes as if to toss it aside… then gets another 'Oh, hey! I have an idea!' look on her face!
Roy's not focusing on damage so much as controlling the spider horde. He looses one arrow loaded with a flammable liquid at a choke point Spawn creates, and then, spotting an opening, fires off a broadhead arrow at one of the larger spiders bearing down at the comparatively more vulnerable Ne.
He watches Green's near-berserker rage, and quickly dismisses any thought of trying to direct the Hulk. Guy's on a mission and looks happy with it.
"We've got the small ones in a circle," Roy shouts. "Don't let them overwhelm you!" he shouts at Ne. "Those fangs look nasty!"
"Can you get them near that fuel tank?" he bellows at Spawn, struggling to be heard over the ripping shadow winds around them.
The ground cracks and begins to give as the Hulk keeps leaping up and down and finally his two big green feet smash down on top of the bigger spider beneath him. As both feet connect with the crystal thing, there is enough force there to smash through the spider and turn it into dust which seeps away into the cracks in the ground. Hulk's eyes lift toward the remaining beasts and then he is off, stomping away and toward the mass of beasts coralled by the others. A hand lifts and slams down atop another of the larger ones, even as another scrabbles atop his left leg.
For all the good it might do against the crystaline creatures, Ne's parasol handle gets a twist and from within it she draws a long, thin hardened steel blade, discarding the rest of the sunshade for the moment. At this point? The spiders coming her way are swatted at here and there, but the petite woman stays one step ahead with graceful twists and acrobatic leaps like some murderous icecream-colored frost pixie. The larger creature, stunned by the broadhead arrow? Ne lands gracefully upon the critters back and presses a hand to its skin, another bright flash of temperature drops that would make liquid-nitrogen seem like a pleasently warm bath channeled directly into the creature before she slams the sword's point with what strength she can muster. Either the creature will break, or her sword will, but she's already attempting to leap away before she herself might be caught by webbing.
The hellspawn isn't exactly a teamwork kind of guy, but he knows sense when he hears it. Just then, though, two of the medium spiders leap on him— the chains catch one and while they were ineffective against the larger beast, against this it spins around and tightens and just shatters it. The other lands on his chest, and before he can reach forward to throw it away, its sharp legs stab into him. Green 'blood' seeps out, but then Spawn has his hands on it and pulls it away, handily ripping it in two. He moves forward then, using his extended, flapping cape to urge the swarm of smaller creatures towards the fuel tank. His gun shoots those at the edge from time to time to corral them as Roy suggests, and while he manages many, its not all that are moved. All the while he keeps a cautious look at the giant green rage-machine. That is one to never let out of your sight. The others seem to be holding their own.
Slowed by Ne's ice, the wobbly five-legged spider hasn't a chance of getting away from Ultragirl, who flies in and, in a blur of motion, wields the leg she'd just pulled off it like a spear in two hands, stabbing down at the spider's head. The crystaline leg penetrates the crystal hide of the spider easily; the creature and all the legs previously torn from its body poof into clouds of dust. The blonde girl, smiling, who-hoo's happily and flips once in the air, before turning to start back towards where the rest of the fight's happening, now that she's got a game-plan for helping deal with the rest of the crystal spiders.
Roy draws two arrows, and puts one between his teeth. A heavy spear-point arrow whips through the air and punches a nice, half-inch sized hole in the fuel tank. Propane spits and hisses into the air with a sulferous reeking, condensation forming on the outside of the tank.
Roy primes the incendiary arrow and nocks it, holding it at full draw— but doesn't yet loose it. Spawn's doing a fine job shooing the spiders towards their trap.
"Get them as close to the tank as you can, then get clear!" Roy shouts, standing at perfect, flexed tension. "We only get one shot!"
For whatever reason, the Hulk's eyes shift as he smashes one of the spiders to the ground and turning it into dust. His eyes find that propane leaking tank and the way that Spawn is urging the horde of spiders toward it. He grunts and growls senselessly and reaches down to snatch the spider form his leg by one of it's legs. He hefts the beast over his head and slams it into the ground, then hurls the big spider through the air toward the tank. Snatching up another of the larger creatures, that gets the same treatment before it too goes through the air.
Ne wasn't exactly one for any plan that involved fire. Not that she was against it, but she certainly couldn't really contribute to it with her frosty aura. She was fireproof, but she certainly wasn't explosion-proof, so her plan is simple: get out of the way! Twirling through the air, the petite mutant has a rather startling smile on her lips as she lands into a slide assisted by the frost her steps are leaving and then plunges her blade into the decking to stop the motion before extending both her hands. Smaller, more precise bursts of that light are aimed at the stragglers, intending to destory or at least stop them from slipping out of the herding.
With most of the spiders herded towards the tank, Spawn sets Leesha lose. The chains strike and the cape does as well: apparently the fabric is actually more then strong enough all by itself to shatter the smaller spiders. Between that, his guns, and the effort of the others— including to Spawn's surprise the assistance of the Hulk— nearly all the spiders that are likely to be taken by this are herded there. So with a flap of his cape, the hellspawn flings himself back, and as he does so his cape wraps around his entire body protectively.
Unable but to see what Roy's making happen, Ultragirl flies in at her best speed and shoulder-tackles the last of the big spiders, knocking it over and back towards the fuel tank. She has her plan, but he's clearly got one of his own… and his plan looks like it'll take out more than one at a time, so she's helping as best she can. The flying tackle done, she flits up into the air and away from the fuel tank.
Roy steadies himself, exhales through his nose, and looses the arrow. Without bothering to see where it flies, he rolls backwards off the building and curls into a ball with his hands over his ears.
KKWWWUMMPPFFFF
The tank explodes with a tremendous blast of concussive force that blows out windows for a hundred yards and sends everyone— spiders, civilians, and some would-be heroes— scattering to the ground. The shockwave rolls skywards, leaving a deafening silence in its wake.
Roy staggers out from under a pile of debris and nocks another arrow, looking around for any spider still in the area, though he's clearly badly disoriented by his proximity to the blast.
The Hulk is standing within that hundred yard radius when the tank explodes showering him in debris and flames. Throwing his big arms upward defensively, the weathers the shower of debris, rubble flying down around him and all it seems to do is make him angrier. Huge muscles flex and a loud angry roar precedes the Hulk leaping upward out of the rubble and soaring through the air up and over the nearest buildings and surely away from the combat area.
Some shrapnel hit Spawn even with his protective cape, and it does slice through and into him: more glowing green blood leaks out of the suit, but even before their eyes the wounds begin closing. His guns are sheathed, and the chains withdraw to become just a belt around his waist. Even his cape, as cool capey as it is, seems to be just plain, regular fabric. Okay he looks like a demon out of hell and the glowing green eyes don't stop glowing, but Spawn isn't quite so freaky looking when his armor is passive. He looks from person to person, "Your assistance is… acceptable." He's just not a team player, naturally. He watches the Hulk go flying with an arched glowing eye.