Clockwork Soldiers

October 05, 2015:

Clockwork Soldiers attack Bobby in M-Town

M-Town - New York

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

Bobby's feeling pretty good right now. His visit with Jemma had proven fruitful and now he has no ice wounds at all. The solution may be temporary, but it is temporarily working. It's nice to be flesh and bone and not ice and… ice. He's back in M-Town and headed home. Maybe read a book before going to bed. They're making progress on the Reavers and the Purifiers have been quiet. So all is well. Everything is going well.

A little too well perhaps. As Bobby rounds the corner a pair of shadows loom before him. And a pair behind him.

Somewhere else, the X-Red alarms go off. Bobby's in trouble somewhere in M-Town. He's triggered the emergency signal.


Wanda, a week out of being shot but looking good for it, is currently trying to understand the concept of video games. Sitting on the couch at the X-Red HQ, controller in hand, she is trying to guide a medieval looking character over a barren landscape. "It says the mission is to kill witches." She peers over at Brinley. "Why am I being a witch murderer?" But Brinley is not there, probably tired of Wanda's complaints. She tosses the controller onto the couch before getting to her feet…just as the alarm starts sounding. "There is someone at the door!" she calls out to anyone who is around. A long pause. "No…that is not the door!" Currently dressed in an overlong t-shirt and shorts, Wanda runs for her room to change…or at least grab her uniform so she can change on the way. "Anyone here!?" she calls out before checking the location of the alarm.


Ulani is M-Town - she's been kept busy this last week or so with checking out the cult they've uncovered - but with a little spare time, she's come to visit Bobby … which is why she's currently walking down the street to his front door.


Bobby is not quite sure why these clockwork constructs were waiting for him. If they weren't trying to cut his head off it'd be amusing. They look like wind up soldiers but they're about ten feet tall and their swords? Well those are wickedly sharp. One of them gums up with ice in the workings but doesn't sieze. It starts to grind and crunch, trying to get rid of it. He hopes help comes soon.


Wanda tries to remember her instructions when dealing with the alarm system. If she hits the right buttons it'll show her who and where. It's just hard to hit the right buttons when you're trying to wriggle into latex pants. Though when she does see who is in trouble… "Bobby!!" In an instance she is rushing out the door onto the street as she throws on her jacket. Spotting Ulani she waves at her. "You…Bobby girlfriend…follow me. He is in trouble!" As fast as her legs can take her…along with some flying she doesn't realise she's doing…Wanda heads for Bobby.


As Wanda calls to her, Ulani's head snaps up and she follows. It's a good thing that she's faster than the average human, she might not have kept up with Wanda, otherwise.

"Bobby's in trouble?" The Blue calls and then see's what Wanda is talking about… he's surrounded by really tall metal looking soldiers.

Without slowing her pace, Ulani aims a wrist at one of the soldiers, sending a beam of energy shooting at it. Maybe it will buy them time to get to him…


Ulani's covering fire buys Bobby a moment to gain some space - toward Wanda and Ulani - but the four clockwork soldiers just pick themselves back up and start marching in lockstep over toward them. "So uh, these guys suck. Plans for dealing with them? I've tried to ice them up but I think I'd have to deep freeze them to lock them up… and at that point… why not just shatter them…"


"Is it the Clockwork King?" asks Wanda as her energy builds around her twitching fingers. She looks up at the giant figures and chews on her lower lip. "I could try to rust them?" she suggests, "Or maybe… Are you okay, Bobby?" She should ask even with death marching on them. "Do we want to keep one?" Feeling she needs to do something, Wanda throws up a barrier of warped reality in front of the four leviathans. If nothing else the distortion of time will slow them down…and maybe speed up some rust.


"Do you want to keep one?" Ulani echoes Wanda's words. "They are quite large. What exactly are they?" Considering the scene in front of them, the Blue female considers, as she activates her armour to cover her body.

Summoning a sword from water - there's sufficient moisture in the air - she looks to the pair "If you freeze them, Bobby, I'm sure I can shatter them." She is afterall quite strong. "Aim for the joints, I think, it will be easier."


"Hell if I know." Bobby puts both his hands out - it's worth noting again that they're both regular hands. He's not turning into ice at the moment - and lets the cold flow. Ice builds up on the two leads and they start slowing, but they keep coming on, grinding their gears. That cant' be good for them but…

The other two run past, charging. Their swords come up and as they do shields on the other arm sprout blades and begin spinning like saw blades. They're coming right for Ulani and Wanda.


Wanda's attempt to turn the air into a sticky morass doesn't seem to be working. The metal giants don't look to be slowing down at all - are they protected by her own magic. Unfortunately Wanda doesn't have much else to offer; she's no swordfighter. The sweat starts to drip from her forehead as she concentrates. If attacking them directly doesn't work… Wanda's energy slams into the earth beneath them, cracking it open and turning it into an abyss for them to fall into. It may ruin the sewerage system for M-Town but it's worth it…right?


Ulani's eyes widen as the two come at them, and she spares a moment to check on Bobby and Wanda. In a fluid movement, the Blue female spins inside the reach of one of the robots, bringing the sword downand through, aiming at the shield arm - she's not particularly fussy she'll the arm off if she has to - and then sweeping for the legs… Even if it stumbles, it will help.


That… does work. The rift Wanda creates sends two of the creatures - the one attacking her and one of the ones Bobby had frozen - into the earth. She might be able to just close it up on them and call it good. Ulani engages but it's swordsmanship is perfect. It parries and counterattacks and she's dealing with something that has a much bigger sword than she does.

Bobby switches targets, trying to slow Ulani's up as the one left he'd been dealing with continues to stomp forward menacingly.


With no idea how far they've fallen but hopefully far enough, Wanda seals up the abyss and subconsciously tries to reconnect the sewerage…at least until she realises the danger is not over. Muttering to herself, Wanda casts her magic on the sword of the tin man that attacks Ulani. If it does not resist then she shrinks the heavy blade. If it does resist, she seeks out her magic within the metal. If it is there then this is the Clockwork King…and her…doing and she has to make it right. She has to draw it back out.


Falling back, Ulani continues to parry the monstrous clockwork robot, assessing it, looking for an opening - is there somewhere she hit that will disable it. Seeing Wanda focussing on hers, and missing the other one she raises her chin "Get the other one." She knows Bobby can look after himself, but she'd really rather he didn't get hurt - please.


The metal is indeed, full of her magic. The clockwork king might be trying to get rid of some competition. Ulani's dealing with, honestly, a master swordsman. There's a few places she could strike that'd probably disable it but it means a dangerous gambit, exposing herself or perhaps making use of her other abilities to strike from another angle. Wanda did just break the sewers…

Bobby has to duck and backpedal as Wanda concentrates on drawing her magic out. It's coming in a steam of red, eliminating the constructs protections from the cold. And then he lashes out, slamming it with a ton or more of ice. "Finish it Wanda!"


Poor Wanda. She's got two much more experienced superheroes yelling contradcitory orders at her. As she draws out her magic from the metal man that Ulani fights, which Bobby wants her to destroy, Ulani is yelling at her to take care of the other one. So she'll try to do both of course. Dropping to her knees with the effort, she starts trying to draw her magic from the other metal man while building up her power against the one that Bobby just slammed with ice. A scream of anger, and pain, from the young woman's lips as she blasts the cold, magicless metal into a million bits.


Ulani can see the openings now… and the water forms behind the clockwork man - nearly as tall and as big as the construct, with it's own watery sword. It's not autonomous though and every move that Ulani makes, the watery constructs echoes…. and it strikes the metal man … aiming to disable.

Ulani pales … she's done this twice today, and whilst she's good, it takes effort.


The one attacker explodes. The other is struck from multiple angles. It doesn't take long for Ulani to take it down, leaving Bobby, Wanda and Ulani standing amind the clockwork wreckage of what can only be described as a hit. "Thanks…" Bobby pants to both.


"Are you both okay?" Wanda asks, still on her knees and trying to catch her breath. She looks over the gears and cogs and frowns. If they were after Bobby then the reason my not just be because the Clockwork King doesn't like him. Dark Wanda may have contributed to that decision too. "We should get you back to the HQ" she pants, "Your girlfriend can look after you before Brinley gets back." Wanda pushes herself up to her feet. "I will clean this up."


The water construct and Ulani's sword falls away, forming puddles on the ground. Breathing deeply, she leaves her armour in place for the moment. "I am fine, thank you, Wanda. Just a little tired." Nothing a dip in the water won't fix. "And yourself?" Holding a hand out to help the woman up.

Casting a look to Bobby, Ulani pointedly looks at his hand "You found a cure?" Wanda's already asked how he is.


"I'm okay…" Bobby pants. "Just winded. Yes, we found, well a temporary cure. Better than nothing." He smiles. "Feels good actually. Someone trying to kill me… less good. Wanda are you sure you're going to be okay? We can all clean it up."


"I'll be fine" Wanda assures Bobby with a tired smile as she takes Ulani's hand and gets to her feet. "No. You go with your friend and talk…or whatever you do. I can clean this up by myself. I have a feeling that it is my fault anyway. Go. Go." She is quite insistent. Even shooing them away with her hands. "I will collect some bits too."


Ulani waits for Wanda to steady herself before letting her hand go. Moving to stand next to Bobby, she takes the now non-iced hand "It is good you have found something, Bobby." Looking at the other woman and then to Bobby "I'm happy to stay…" but she'll be guided.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License