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It is New Year's Eve and Time's Square is packed! The crowd is delighted and partying and probably decently intoxicated. So too…is the God of Mischief, such as some call him. He's on the roof of one of the buildings, no doubt with Kai nearby, and then he looks over at the man and grins verrrrry slowly, "Soooo, happy New Year…I have a bit of a present for you, Mr. Avenger and hero and all of that. I think you are going to love it." Kai's not gonna love it. This is a terrible gift.
Loki lifts his hand and makes a twisting motion, then a slice, and then he pushes forwards through the air, and just 40 yards away, across the street on the other roof, the sky air swirls into a pit of darkness. From that black maw comes a creature that is starkly in contrast to it, light blue, crystaline, with eyes that are bright silver. The beak of it is long and filled with jagged teeth, with a crest behind the eyes and a shaggy line of white hair down its spine. Huge wings, the span of a semi-truck each, stretch out. It has four legs and moves with catlike motions, but its weight cracks the bricks it steps on. It shakes and splinters of ice tinkle like chimes on their way to the ground. This beast from Jotunheim may not even be a terrible thing in its own environment, but it has been spilled into the heart of New York, and atop that rooftop, its roar sounds as clearly as a bell.
"Surprise! An actual challenge!" Loki chirps with a glint in his eyes.
*
Kai has just brought Loki a cup of hot chocolate he's acquired somewhere, and he's about to settle down beside his beloved when a gift is mentioned. He perks up. Presents? Yay! He's also suddenly quite alert, because presents from Loki? Oh no! Oh no, indeed. As the dragon manifests, his jaw drops. "Oh my god, Loki!" He clamps his hands over his mouth. "I can't defeat a dragon by myself!" He touches two fingertips to the pendant around his neck, and it splits into two, then unfolds into a pair of wicked looking daggers. Wild-eyed, he calls, "Oi! Over here!" He waves his arms. Its' all right, he didn't need to make it to 1965.
*
Gidget was just trying to make her way back to her apartment from some errands. Yes she knew it was New Year's Eve but she was still…kind of a homebody. Heck….she wasn't sure if she wasn't ringing in the new year alone or not but she was going to get out of the madness.
Bundled up in that fur coat of her, those heels clicking as she made her way down the street. "…excuse me…." The tall brunette would just try to get through as politely as she could. And just when she thought it couldn't get worse….it did. That roar is what got her attention and she just…stared. Her mouth parted as she came to a halt. "….what….the…..?" A dragon?! Is that a dragon?! Her brown eyes were wide as saucers as she took a stumbling step back then. "…oh my god…."
*
Vesper cannot be counted among the decently intoxicated or remotely intoxicated. She carries no beer bottle or illicit silver flask from the war, filled by a forbidden concoction. Forget cocoa. Hundreds of flashing lights and people wearing tinsel create a happy phantasmagoria of shattered reflections, though, and she drinks those up greedily. Voices laugh and catch, a shout becoming a ground-swell of vocalized terror. Caught in the middle of the mass of people in Times Square, the Gallic brunette tilts her head up, following the paths of pointed fingers. At least the Times will get excellent photographs given they are lens-to-eye with a huge icewyrm of sorts. A fact totally lost on her as her skin pales, gloved palm clapped over her mouth.
«Run.» A warning in French probably won't hurry them along. "Run," she repeats, and it won't matter if the nearest people jostle her because the shocked young woman is already shifting reflexively into something other.
*
Danny has been shifting from party to party all evening. At some point, Colleen had begged off and remained with some friends, leaving him on his own to hit the remainder of the places that were on his list of obligatory appearances. And then. Dragon. Danny just stops where he stands, in his tux with his party crown on, bits of tinsel and streamer still clinging to him here and there, and stares. Well. You don't see that every day.
*
Reno was out with pals and was on his way downtown when- oh god… and as soon as he saw it his voice went up two octaves screaming like a tv housewife on a chair because of a mouse. A very large firebreaking flapping mouse. "Eee- wait." And as abrupt as the terror started and he though oh god, he knew EXACTLY which god he was taking the name of. The crow man looked helpless at the sky and his shoulders slumped, "What is it with you Dude? See this? This is why it is hard for you to make any friends. This is not okay! Malo man. " He reamembered, you know that big thing? yeah it was still bearing down on them. He looked at time's square and back up and back to the shiny disco ball on a stick in the holiday holding pattern and whined a little. "Man, is always something. Why do you not love us New York?"
*
"Oh, I think you will be fiiiiiine. They do like shiny things." Loki smiles, and sips the hot cocoa in a calm manner. "And this town is riddled with heroic sorts. Try to have /fun/." Loki answers as Kai goes into battle-mode.
As the crowd starts running, scattering, they are going to take some time to all get out of the way of the great beast. It puts all four claws on the edge of the building, glances at Kai's shiny daggers a moment, but then nothing is shiner and more attractive to the critter than the brightly lit ball…literally at the top of a stick in the air. The dragon bursts into the air and stretches its wings and begins its descent. It does seem headed straight for the crowd! SWOOOP!!
*
"That's good to know!" Kai says. He's laughing. Is it excited laughter? Neurotic laughter? Does it have to be either/or? "Not that!" he calls to the dragon. "Over here!" He starts to gleam. It's soft at first, but then a nimbus of silverblue light surrounds him, radiating pure moonlight. He's shiny, too, and right over here on this roof. So very shiny. "I won't allow you to destroy New Year's Eve in New York, fiend!" The 1964 elvish version of 'come at me bro.' He asides to Loki, "If I get eaten, I want you to know I love you."
*
Gidget would just back up against the wall then as she looked around. Taking a deep breath she would just back up against a building as she saw it starting to move. "…crap crap crap…." Okay she was a bit terrified. Not knowing what to do, she just stayed against the wall as the crowed started to run. Looking around, she was trying to see her best option now. And what the heck was that glowing up there?!
*
Swooping crystal wings and long glittering neck coming over the crowd induce fear reactions. No way around that. Vesper flinches and ducks, for all that her bodily outline takes on a hazy ephemeral glow at the outermost margins. Is she shrieking? Only at a wavelength audible to the strangest of creatures and radar dishes, her hands pressed to her ears. The scarf around her throat floats counter to gravity when she she stares up at the descending underbelly of terror. Forcing her back to uncurl and standing straight is not easy, especially as she sees a woman similarly looking around. A quick wave seeks Gidget's attention. "I can open a path if you move after?"
*
Danny really wasn't dressed for dragon fighting, but one can't always be prepared, can they? Instead of taking off away from the beast, he instead runs toward it as it swoops toward the crowd. In an impressive display of acrobatics, he manages to use the bumper, trunk, and roof of a car to then reach the roof of a nearby SUV, and then onto the back of a semi. And then he jumps for the dragon itself as soon as it gets low enough. There wasn't much of a plan involved in this entire sequence of events, which becomes evident as he manages to leap and grab onto to the back of the dragon and slides down near its tail, just barely hanging on. Whee!
*
Reno was not a man wiht a plan. He wasn't a bird with a plan either but after a moment in teh panic he folded withthe crowd and flew up. Ah HA! HE was away from the stampede of people and … awwww right in the path of the dragon. "Maaaaan a bird cannot catch a break this week!" Aaaah it was coming this way . TO the rest of the world there was a tremendous and baleful "Caaaw, KA-CRAAAAW!!!" that rang out like an omen in the night. What he was really saying in his mother tongue is 'Awwww don't eat meeeee! Eattingcrowisbadforyoooooou!' Thankfully no one will ever have to know that. He looked around jsut trying to get out of the way and man everyone was down here tonight. Shit they could get hurt. And so many people that were heroes for like just showing up to work with a sniffle and cutting crusts off bread, btu not swordfighting serpents summoned by psychos. Aww man. WHat was it's deal. And then he saw it. It was heading for the Holiday Holding pattern adn that glittering thing at the top. "Awww dragon you do NOT touch my ball! I did not get out of the cage to have you ruin this!" he flew AT the dragon yelling, "Shoo! home is thataway!"
*
The dragon is leapt upon and continues towards the pole of the glimmering ball. Its magnificent body makes the pole sway like a palm tree, though it cannot keep its purchase on the slick surface. Ice rains down off its scales, like snowflakes, but with more terror. MmmrrrOR…MWH…RAAAAAAA! It makes sounds of playful frustration, and manages to put a claw through the ball, and of course, it immediately has its power disrupted and blinks out. Which means that now Kai and Vesper…and that sign selling cigarettes in bright lights are the brightest things around. It shakes its claw, dislodging bits of broken bulbs. Its a dizzying amount of light, really! Its long neck swivels and turns to look at Kai, over there on the roof, and thats when it notices that there's something on its tail. A small…giant…what's this…a baby giant on its tail? It cocks its head and then tries to chomp Danny!
*
"Danny! Go for the soft underbelly!" Kai calls out. That thing up there, gleaming? It's moving like its got arms, waving them. Like a person. To Loki, he says, "I can't let him eat my coordinator. Not with the show coming up so soon." He purses his lips, surveys the dragon beneath him, and jumps. Shiny elf comin' down like a shooting star, aiming for the dragon's back, knives drawn to gain purchase the stabby way.
*
"…merde…." That French just rolled off her tongue as she was getting more frustrated. She as not cut out for this…at least not in her mind. Of course she saw Reno and just shook her head. Robbie would not be happy if she just watched his cousin get eaten.
About to take a step, she saw Vesper waving at her. Staring she would then look up then as she started to look around. "If you can…." Hesitation as she held that fur coat tight around her….it was cold after all. "…if you can clear a path towards it…I just need space to work without getting hit…." Why….did she bother even making a costume like Gwen told her? Every time she was in a situation like this? Never had it.
*
"I can. Use it to run," whispers the brunette, her French accent thick on every word. She has no idea Gidget won't run. Teamwork, then, will be an oddity. A dizzying amount of light, you say? Electric blue pools in Vesper's eyes, a fear sheen glittering in the narrowed corners. Heaving a shallow breath or two, she skims along the ground and treats thin air as solid, climbing to see above the bowed heads and backs of screaming, terrified New Yorkers. See, a clear, bright target for the dragon! But she needs sightlines to Times Square's countless bulbs, streetlamps, Christmas lights, camera flashes, and more.
Like to like, simple theory. The girl in her hard-light form pulls on every photon in reach, dimming tungsten coils to a weak glow and the famous ticker tape sign around the Times building into near invisibility. Lit line-waves everywhere converge in a primary net into her. She's the saint of the sun, and that umbrella hangs over Gidget to do what needs to be done mostly unseen, right?
*
Holding onto a dragon in motion is not nearly so easy as one might think. Okay, so one might not think it's easy at all — and they would be /right/. Danny tries to get purchase and work his way up the dragon's back, which is not easy given the ice and slickness and cols. When Kai shouts to go for the underbelly, Danny looks up, around, and finally spots the elf and shouts, "Are you kidding me? I can barely hold on on TOP of …. ohshit." And then there are teeth, so many teeth, and they're coming right at him. Danny holds on with one hand and reaches out and tries to drag himself over the dragon's back to the other side, which he only just barely manages before those jaws catch the leg of his tux pants and tears off the bottom of one leg.
*
Reno whiiiined which thankfully sounded like a rumble, except to the Defenders who were used to that sound of 'I'm too young to molt!' but While he was not brave, he was also not wanting to see Iron Fist just become… well… Iron? or maybe jsut a fist if the dragon ate most of him and left just a hand. Then again Reno supposed he wouldn't really need a cool name at that point. Either way he was not Gomez Addams and he didn't want his pal to become a fidgety hand. So what did he do? Something very stupid and likely ineffectual. He flew at it's eye. Head down head down, don't breathe! Maybe distract him a bit so Kai or Gidge, or Danny could do something cool like make it really tiny and cute or vegitarian or, ya know, not here.
*
"You did wish to be a part of my adventures!" Loki calls as Kai leaps off the roof. He really does not seeeem to be worried about Kai's survival. Though, he does look to make sure the elf /lands/ without splatting. Oh good. "Heroes abound! The world is saved. Hu-zah." he whispers and spreads his hands.
The Ice Dragon watches as Danny disappears, and of course it can still feel him on its body, but bleh, yuck, his skin tastes /terrible/. It shakes its head and the pants leg comes loose and falls to the ground like a sad little ticker tape. Kai landing on it causes a roar, and for it to push off the pole and land on the street, right in the middle, thankfully devoid of other people covered in yucky skin. Then it rocks its body back and forth, trying to dislodge the clingers. And that's when it notices the beacon that is Vesper. The lights dim and its her and Kai as bright lights. Gidget, costume or not, will be safely cloaked in relative anonymity of darkness and chaos if she intervenes. What? Reno flapping in its eye?! The icy silver eye tracks the bird and then it snaps, snaps like a dog snapping at bubbles. It bounds a few yards, then snaps again at him, before then rushing headlong at Vesper. This should prove distracting enough for the rest to do their thing!
*
Kai lands on the dragon's back and crawls up its mane, up its neck, toward its head. "Go back to Jotunheim!" he yells at it. As it belines for Vesper, he jabs a dagger in its eye. Rather, that would be super cool if he did that, but he's small, and the best he can do is slide the blade between scales on its brow. It'll sting, and the blood that wells forth rolls into the dragon's eye, so it's now good and agitated.
"Hey, Danny? Mate? You wouldn't happen to have any super powers, would you?" He's still gleaming, a little animated slice of moonlight irritating a dragon. "Because now would be a great time!"
*
As Vesper started to glow she would shield her eyes slightly. Sighing a bit she would tilt her head as she slowly pulled off that coat. Dropping it to the ground she would sigh….standing there in her little black wrap dress from work. She was about to warm up once she started doing this a bit. Licking her lips look around and winced a bit. "….sorry….."
With that she would look to what looked like an abandoned car. Her hand would reach out to it as she frowned and slowly….it would raise into the air as she wince before looking to her right and that other hand would point at street light that would rip out of the ground. Panting heavily she would bring her left hand back slowly before quickly thrusting it in front of her in direction of that dragon's head….that car going the same motion. Right after that right hand would follow that same motion as that pointed end of that lamp post would fly towards the neck of the best.
Stepping back, there was a glow coming from beneath that dress on her chest…a golden light that would slowly start to fade as she looked up at Vesper. "….you might want to stop glowing! He seems to like light!"
*
Vesper floats above the ground, a terribly bright target. She does not float high, but far enough to be under assault under a great big scaly beast with great big teeth. The giddy rush blooms from the light she absorbs as greedily as a toddler downing forbidden orange juice. Extremities tingle. Awestruck far forces her to remain in place, even as the lightbulbs dim and cast palpable shadows in the far distance. It would be smart to flee. She does not. What are those great terrible claws and teeth going to do, shine a little brighter when snapping around her head?
Please don't bite her head, please don't bite her head…
She keeps her hands at her sides as the others spin around her, acting as the beacon so they can strike as best they will. The brave corvid, the man with a single pant-leg, the angry painter with his knives, and the girl wielding a car all need their moment. As she pulls in kilowatt hours that will leave horrible power bills in Times Square, she stays brighter and further. All that energy has to go somewhere. Just not yet…
*
Anyone know where a dragon keeps its kidneys? Danny has one applicable superpower for this dragon at the moment and he's not going to punch it in the tail. So he continues to keep scrambling upward while it is distracted and snapping at the bird. It isn't until he gets up near Kai at the thing's head that he says, "Working on it." Then his fist begins to glow, a bright golden light starting at his palm and extending out to his fingers and alaong his wrist. And then he punches the dragon right in the noggin' in an attempt to knock it unconscious. There is an audible crack as his fist connects with the dragon's skull. It might also have a concussion after that blow.
*
Reno noticed on hte upshot? It was working! On the down side? It was working well. Oh he was flapping and just avoiding teeth! sSo so many teeth! Danny saw the teeth, oh hun can he TELL you about some teeth! "Guuyyyyys! DO the thing!DO the thing!DO the thing!" Nope not proud, not proud at all. A hero? Not even in the slightest but he would be more than grateful for them to do that ya know hero thing. He paused noting one more thing, "Aaaaah don't bite people! We dirty! Even we dunno where we ben. Don't…bite…nice…lady… LOOKUPHERE, kaaaaaaaaaa!" He tried to go up up maybe it would follow him maybe it wouldn't. The idea was to buy time for the do-ers and the planners…and to save the ball. SHiny happy ball. Please make 64 go away.
*
They all do the thing!! Its magnificent!! The auto-timer on the broken Times Square ball starts it moving down the pole as a giant Ice Dragon tries to eat a crow and a girl made out of light. Also, it gets stabbed in the eye, punched in the face by a magic fist, clobbered with a car and a streetlamp, and if that wasn't bad enough, totally misses the bird snack on its last chomp attempt. There's a snarling few chomps at Vesper's light body, which are all that the beast gets before the brave heroes manage to put it down. Still /technically/ alive, though, also it looks like it might be melting, also, oddly enough. It is no longer conscious.
The pole shudders and makes a sad clank as the ball finally settles at the bottom. Then, after a silent breath, a creak, and the whole contraption falls over, just as a round of fireworks starts and confetti explodes out of cannons.
On his roof, Loki claps, though he's unlikely to be heard over the schwooping and booming of local pyrotecnics.
Happy New Year!