|
    |
Laura dropped Claws.
The spiders have claimed a corner of Central Park, and this time it is the first … nest … that they have made. The silver-white webbing is spread over several trees, and though people are steadfastly avoiding the area— every so often a band strikes out from the foothold to go on a hunting expedition. Now is just one such time: three large spiders the size of a small pony are draging back struggling bound cacoons of victims. They are surrounded by half a dozen medium spiders the size of a dog.
The spiders themselves are crystal, milky white and opaque in places, clear in others. They have pulsing veins of black running through them. Instead of eight legs they have twelve.
High above on the edge of a building is perched Spawn in his battle suit. His eyes glow green, a smokey light trailing out from them as he watches below. Billowing grandly behind him is his deep red, high-necked cape: it moves as if the wind were playing upon it even though there is little wind in the sky. Also spinning slowly about him, protectively, are four chains which rise up from his belt, moving of their own volition like snakes through the air, circling around Spawn and keeping watch even without direction.
Central Park has been Laura's favorite lurking spot about the city, closest to nature, ample hiding in treetops and food to be snatched with ease. But then came the crystal spiders, and made it a far less hospitable surrounding. Every now and then Laura would move to other areas, but at times, she'd just want her favorite spot and no spider was going to make her move from her makeshift home in the park. She walks into Central Park without a semblance of stealth, out on the green, essentially inviting the spiders' attention.
Lorna had been out looking for Laura, and for Akihiro. Really anyone that might've proven useful in trying to track Logan's scent. She knew that she could find Laura at least around Central Park. So Central Park the green haired girl had gone, pockets filled with ball bearings of various sizes didn't seem to weight her down much as she inspected the park.
No, what really seemed to weigh her down was trying to wrestle a captive person from one of the cacoons and away from the dog sized horrifying monster spiders.
Metal lurched up around Lorna, even as she hurriedly levitated up and out of reach. A yelp of shock and fear escaping her as she tried to avoid meeting a similiar fate.
Central park is a large, spacious realm. Breathtaking mini gardens and tiny specified areas for activities, though a spider's nest was doubtful in Frederick Olmsted's original plans for the park.
Morbius is walking through the park, trailing the edges of the more popularly occupied areas for the more unlikely to be traversed ones, though no matter where you go, one can likely find a footpath. Hooded with his head down, jacket muted in colors and worn around the hemline, there's a quality of disheveledness about him as black, wavy hair hangs from his bowed hood in strangled, separated lengths as he shuffles along his path, hands shoved into his pockets. The scuffle is not, presumably, a silent one. The chittering of crystal legs as they scramble, the dragging of bodies along the lawn…a sound he's all too familiar with. Morbius halts a few yards from the action and lifts his hood enough that a pale jaw and ashen lips become visible beneath the oppressive shadow his face resides in. Voyeur. For this moment. His gaze lands on Laura as she strolls fearlessly into the yard, challenging the spider's domain. Compelled, Morbius' feet begin to move him forwards while Lorna removes herself from that dangerous space. "Girl!" His accented voice rolls on the 'r' lightly and rasps like sand against papyrus.
Stepping off the roof, Spawn falls deceptively slow through the air as his cape billows and twists around him, until the last moment he sweeps down fast to land with a crack on top of one of the large spiders. That crack is not the spider dying, though. Chains swirl suddenly into life and wrap around the creature, holding it — barely — but again not seeming able to crush the life out of it, even though the chains twist and tighten with a horrible screeching sound. Narrowing the green glow that is his eyes, he gathers a green infernal fire in his hand and smacks it down against the point where the two segments of the spider's body join. It burns and burns and burns and the spider shreiks. Suddenly it dissolves into sand and Spawn is crouched there, staring around, "You took my people." he says darkly, in a thick, deep voice that sounds like a jackhammer is being taken to a bag of nails. All around him his cape is alive with motion.
The larger spiders seem intent on getting their captives back into the nest, but several of the dog sized ones suddenly rush for Laura.
And a literal swarm of small, cat-sized spiders emerges from the nest area.
Laura is well aware of the others in the area, both those who made themselves apparent, as well as the more stealthy ones. The nose knows. But she's mostly concerned with the spider who physically declared a domain where she considers her 'home' to be. Her attention is stolen for a moment, when Morbius charges to her aid, but she only spares him a moment before focusing on the dog sized spiders charging at her. Hissing and baring are very human teeth, alas she has no fangs for the full effect, she *snikts* out her claws on each hand and prepares to whirl like a dervish, albeit with adamantium claws and killer intent.
Lorna spots Laura out of all the others that approached the spiders, the metal claws ringing in her senses just as loudly as the growled speech from the men that charged in. She touched down behind Laura, landing lightly. She knew that Laura at least would smell her before she clawd her face open. She hoped.
Her hands fling upwards and from her pockets several ball bearings come flying out around her. Green eyes narrow as she slammed her hands up and down in the air before her, directing the metal to plow toward the spiders.
She'd try to hit whatever she could, even if it wasn't as good as a knife. The force she pushed into those round metal projectiles was usually enough to cause some manner of damage.
The appearance of Spawn on the ground, with unscrupulous chains attacking mercilessly and that unearthly cloak floating around him, the figure in the jacket hesitates for a moment, one leg lagging behind to crouch in an immediately defensive stance, like a startled animal. His eyes leave Laura, returning only when she begins to hiss and bear down as if ready to attack. With…knives? The inclusion of the woman who fled previously has Morbius standing up straight once more, watching quietly as small spiders seem to explode from an unseen source at her gesture.
Morbius' concern evaporates suddenly as he straightens and watches with a curious tilt to his hood. His 'services' unneeded here insofar as the young ladies were concerned, but there were still the victims begin dragged toward the nest by enormous spiders. He rushes in the direction of the dragging sacks, hands dragged out from his pockets, his fingers long, spindled and covered by dry looking, pale skin. Vicious looking hooked claws extend from each fingertip, subtly extending like that of a cat. But first there are those dog-sized creatures in the way. He attempts to level a hard, slashing blow at the leg of a medium spider guarding the victims.
For every member of the swarm that Lorna's ball bearings hit shatters into sand, but the dog sized spiders are harder: they crack but it will either take many, many hits or a very precise strike. Either is possible, as Polaris is learning.
Against the dog sized spider, X-23's adamantium is deadly: they barely have the resistance of air. That draws the attention of one of the larger spiders, which suddenly charges towards her.
Against the webbing, although the people seem trapped, Morbius' claws are sufficient to tear the threads and free some: from the large that abandoned its charges to chase X-23, and against the large that Spawn spent precious, precious necroplasm to burn in two. Saving those people causes the remaining swarm to split in two: nearly a dozen go for Morbius, while almost the same number go for Spawn.
Speaking of Spawn, he rises up to his full height, and the other half of the swarm is upon him. Fortunately, the little ones? Regular people are more then a match for. Spawn has his guns in hand in a moment, and the BANG! BANG! BANG! is heard as he shoots a few that leaped at him out of the air. The chains work in tandum but on their own, striking out and shattering any that come near. But they miss one.. It leaps right for Spawn's face.
And the long collars of the hood stretch out and grab it and crush it between its… fabric? "Good." says the hellspawn to … the vampire? "Save my people."
Laura does indeed recognize Lorna's scent, and so doesn't even bother to look back at the offered assistance. Her focus is the spiders, and she hopes the men that charged in will provide some additional force, because she's not looking to help anyone at the moment. Perhaps with an exception of Lorna if push comes to shove.
In the meantime Laura relishes the fight, and as more spiders charge at her, she gladly shreds them apart, growling like a predator as she does. Seems like she's fearless, as she doesn't slow down even as the giant spider is charging her way. Once she's cleared the rest, she stands there and growls in a daring challenge at the large spider, waiting for it to reach her, before leaping at it only to find it doesn't split as easily as the smaller ones. Nevertheless, she continues to use all her strength to keep stabbing it with her claws wildly.
Lorna tried to at least help Laura clear a path around them, beating back the smaller spiders, and when she pointed at least two of the ball bearings at the medium spider's legs repeatedly, tackled those. It took up time however, and she was unprepared for the sight of the large spider coming their way. Especially as her gaze flitted toward the two men handling the captured people.
Her eyes went wide as she noticed that Laura's claws didn't seem to do as much damage for the large ones and she backed up several steps to keep space between them.
A glance around followed, how far was anything else else large and metal? She knew there would be street lamps, benches.. but they didn't seem large enough. Her lips thinned as she drew the ball bearings closer to her defensively as she tried to stretch her seneses further out to find anything larger.
People. Souls. Those are Morbius' goal. To hell with destroying the spiders. Webbing shreds beneath his fingers as he slashes at it, trying to get to the people inside that marvelously morbid kinder eggs when the swarm turns on him.
Morbius carries no guns. He carries no knives, no weapons on his person aside from his own body. Spiders turn on him and driving forward, Morbius moves with fantastic agility and power to bat away the smaller spiders with clawed hands and force, while a medium one pounces him square in the chest and drops him to the ground, flat on his back with a hard, bodily 'thud'. Hood fallen back, the man's sharp, pale features are twisted into a mask of crumpled fury, eyes swallowed up by a sickly red color as he grabs the head of the medium spider in both hands. Lips peel back from elongated, vicious fangs and Morbius growls at the creature as he tries to twist its head right off its body with his bare hands before it bites his face off.
The large spider does not die easily: it takes real strength to push the adamantium through the crystal. In fact, if the spider were much harder, it might be impervious to adamantium — and by now Laura has seen enough of these things in this fight to see the strength of the crystal is directly proportional to their size. They seem to harden as they grow, and the large ones are harder then any known earth metal. But still, her claws are enough. It will take her either finding that spot right between body segments, or several more cuts to tear its body up. But she is going to win: what is quickly obvious that her jumping on the spider was the good move. It can only buck, and not very effectively. It can't attack her on top of it.
Lorna certainly can find a car within her range, and perhaps that will better deal with the other large spider that has noticed its kin in need and stalks towards the ladies.
Against the swarm that approaches Morbius, he is fast and strong enough to obliterate them— they are a distraction, not a true threat. But they didn't nkow that when they attacked.
Spawn stands there for a moment once the swarm that assaulted him is done with, and he regards Morbius with a tilt of his head. Its impossible to read a hellspawn's expression through its suit, except when it shows rage, so this is a subtle look with narrowed, green-glowing eyes. The chains continue to turn around it, flowing smoothly, but the cape has fallen loose around his body. "What are you?" asks his horrid voice of the 'vampire'.
All that remains are the two large spiders. One, X-23 is cutting into bits, even if its with effort. The other? Will Polaris deal with it or will another? Spawn is not inclined to. It cost precious power to kill one, and he seems unwilling— or unable— to kill another.
Whether Laura appreciates Lorna's help or is distraught by Morbius' revealing of his nature, is hard to say, she's far too lost in her fury as she seems solely focused on destroying the giant spider no matter how long it takes.
Thankfully the position she gained by leaping atop it and rending incessantly gave her the edge she needed to sustain her attack, as she latches on, her ferocity eventually landing her a lucky strike on a weak spot, which she then focuses on in more direct efforts. When she does eventually defeats the giant spider, she stands over its part and screams in triumph. It was the first challenge she faced in quite some time, and she feels good. With any luck, her ferocity might intimidate the remaining giant spider.
In the moment of its death, its entire being is reduced to something like sand beneath Laura's feet.
Lorna was in the process of ripping up a car from the street, using both hands to direct it sailing into the air and then crushing it down on the other large spider that approached. Then she did what anyone with sense and a large spider did, as if she had a shoe in hand. She lifted the car up and down and up and down repeatedly on the large creature.
Not stopping until the car was a crushed mess of metal and glass. She stood there panting heavily, her arms sliding down to her sides as she stared at the car that was leveled nose first on the creature. It crashed down to the ground with a mighty sound, no longer held up by the magnokinetic.
And then her green eyes fell on teeth. Long. Sharp. Teeth. And red eyes. A scream ripped from behind her lips as she clamped her hands over them. Panic lanced down her spine. Her eyes went wide as she stumbled back. And of course her powers reacted to her fear and her panic. Utterly beyond her control, the ground rumbled. The street lamps swayed. A screech of metal on metal followed as cars jumped all along the road in her direction. Lights flickered. Then a great pop followed and sewer pipes burst up out of the ground, water spilling every where in great bursts.
And Polaris was fell on her butt, her arms wrapped around her knees as she shuddered.
Pulling the head separate from the rest of its crystal body, Morbius roughly shoves the crystal spider's body off himself and grasps it by its legs, using the body or whatever remnants he is able to /smash/ the other spiders which dare to attack him as he gets to his feet. Fangs beared, face contorted in a monsterous mask of feral fury, surrounded by shattered crystal bits just as the rest of the souls in the party happening upon this nest, he turns to the source of the wrecked voice directed toward him. Eyelids flutter slightly, suggesting he may be giving Spawn a once-over. "I could ask you the very same." His voice sounds dry, that soft trilling 'r' sounds nearly like a growl, adding an edge to what would normally be a cultured, Mediterranian accent.
The world turns upside down as the city around them sways and bends akin to how the illusory heat vapors in the middle of summer on the pavement make it seem. Only there is no heat here. There is no /end/ in sight to the illusion as metal screams out like a wounded animal throughout the park. Morbius' knees bend, crouching down to take a defensive position, sanguine eyes turn and focus on Lorna as the source of the scream, a shocked expression painted across his face as animalistic fury begins to drain away bit by bit. "Girl, stop." A taloned hand reaches out in Lorna's direction in an attempt to calm, but quite honestly, ir just looks like a bunch of sharp nails on spindled digits turned her way.
Apparently there are things that can calm down Laura from a berserker rage, all out, ferocious display of fighting. Something like what Lorna is just doing qualifies for the rare feat, as she suddenly retracts her claws, and turns to look at Lorna with intent interest, and surprising calmness, considering the chaos that is going on around Lorna. All Laura does is make sure to avoid any errant metalic projectiles headed her way, but she observes, and makes no attempt to stop Lorna.
"I am a hellspawn." says, well, Spawn, with that ragged voice of his, to the vampire's question. "I am the hellspawn. I am Spawn." And what explains him going around saving people? Hell's General's don't usually do that. Still, he tilts his head around and regards those nearby. The chains slow, shrink and steady, until they are like a belt wrapped around his waist. Calm, unmoving. The cape simply drapes about him as he strides forward, towards one of the last victims, and then the cape comes alive— it picks at each thread in turn with quick dexterity and precision, seeming to split apart into dozens of little torn strands of fabric as it picks, until there is nothing but an old hobo there. The cape settles into a solid form again. "You fought well." he says, his glowing green eyes focusing for a moment upon Laura, "The greatest of these are… costly for me to kill. You killed it with ease." There's compliment in his voice, before he looks to Lorna and her… not dealing. The burning green eyes focus, "Calm yourself. I will not permit the creature to hurt you. I am an enemy of hell." A hellspawn, an enemy of hell?
Lorna sat there breathing hard and shaking, huddled on the ground. Looking for all the world like she was in the middle of having a panic attack from the sight of fangs alone. She scooted back with a sharp yelp as Morbius turned his attention to her and she squeezed her eyes shut hard. "I'm not getting sucked in by your powers. Nope. Nope. Nope." She continued with the 'nopes' for several seconds more.
All the while metal that she had reflexively drawn to her shrieked and jumped another few feet closer. She was well on her way into making a nice neat nest of crumbled metal parts to encase herself in.
The other glowy guy's words had her cracking open her eyes to squint in his direction, still shuddering and breathing hard, as if she'd run a mile. "I-If h-he b-bites me I-I'll—" She was trembling too hard to get the words out. The lights in the area flashing dangerously in warning for her instead.
Offended, Morbius' expression contorts into a very human one of indignance at he looks at Spawn. Eyes still stained red, they no longer burn with lustful need to attack, pupils slowly appearing, floating like a little black island in a sea of blood. Twisted fingers splay against his own chest, talons resting delicately against the worn fabric of his jacket. "I am not from /Hell/."
Wicked fingers pluck at his hood, dropping the fabric back over his head, hiding most of his face but for the lower half and the lengths of wavy, black hair which spill out from it, peering around, still alarmed by the screaming of metal around their vicinity and the shaking, panicked young woman on the ground. Anxiously, the tip of Morbius' tongue taps on his lower lipthough out of context the gesture may very well seem menacingly after mentioning being bittenhe does not move to rush Lorna, nor either of the other two. Another anxious glance around the park while everything metal seems to threaten, Morbius' skin crawls and hairs stand on end. Without another word, the creature flees the scene rather than try to advance and soothe, moving at breakneck speeds, in a couple moments, it is as if he were never there.
Given a compliment by the being who fought with the most impressive weapon she's seen to date, the young girl nods in appreciation, explaining, "I am a weapon, a weapon kills," and after a slight pause she gives a compliment in turn, "I like your weapon."
At Lorna's actions, and apparent fear of being bitten by Morbius, Laura takes steps to move closer to Lorna, quipping to her friend, "you don't really need my protection," as if accusing Lorna of misleading her, before setting a rather menacing gaze at Morbius as she asserts, "no biting Lorna."
When Morbius happens to flee the scene, Laura just takes it as if her warning was heeded, even if Morbius never heard her in the first place. Turning to look at Lorna, she mutters, "but I will still protect you."
Spawn eyes the vampire-thing for a long moment, "I am." is his only response, grated though it is. "And if you are not touched by Hell then I am an angel's favored son." But he adds after a moment, "But what is touched by Hell need not be ruled by it. Even the Demon Lords can not remove choice: of all the creatures in the cosmos they are bound by the truth of choice. They can trick and cajole, they can bribe and entice, but they can not force. You must choose." Then again, he likely got but a couple of those words in before the creature vanished at speed. Still he had to say. He looks back to Laura consideringly, green eyes still burning in their way, "I, too, am a weapon. Honed and crafted with precision, but even I could not defeat a large spider by martial skill alone." And a nod to Lorna then, "The creature will not bite you."
Lorna was up as soon as Morbius was out of sight and lurching toward Laura to throw her arms around the other young woman unless otherwise halted. "Tell me if you smell him. Please?" Her voice was small and brittle, as if she was going to cry at any moment. She was still trembling faintly, but at least now, the lights had come back on and everything metal seemed to settle.
The faint background buzz of magnetic forces going haywire settled and all that was left was the creak or groan of the metal that was now perched precariously around them.
"I got bit once. I don't wanna get bit again." She whimpered.
Morbius is miles away by now when he finally stops his fleeing. His scentconfusing as it may beis fading.
Laura seems confused at Lorna's response, and remains still while she winds up in an embrace, as if she's unsure how to respond to that kind of interaction. She does, however, follow through on Lorna's request, sniffing about, before announcing, "he is headed away from you, he is not in the vicinity, you are safe. He will not bite." She pauses a moment, and then adds, "you can make him not bite…you have great power, why be afraid?"
At Spawn's words, Laura offers a very simple, "more training, more focus, and you can achieve anything." She should know, she's been abused quite a bit before she out-performed Weapon X in trials.
"I can achieve anything…" agrees Spawn, "If I am willing to pay the price." And suddenly his cape billows out from him and captures the wind, and he rises up to the sky. This is clearly not a price he is willing to pay.
Lorna uncurled around Laura with a faint wince and sheepish smile. "Uhm.. because I.. I'm not so good at er.. combat.. hand to hand stuff. Supposed to learn it this week.." Another grimace and twist of her lips as she exhaled a breath.
"If someone grabs me.. I still kinda just freak out. Not always around metal things.." She bit her lower lip and colored.
"Laura, I was actually looking for you," A pause, and she glanced around at the wreckage. "And I think we need to get out of here. I'll buy you a something at the diner if you want?" She offered and fidgeted.