It's Elemental

April 02, 2016:

Four strange, scientifically augmented beings have come to New York, and they have come for Captain America!

Little Italy

Characters

NPCs: Carbon, Chlorine, Phosphorous, Radium, Nitrogen, Helium

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

LITTLE ITALY
8:43 AM

It's a sunny Saturday morning in the Big Apple and Steve Rogers has asked Sharon Carter out to this part of town for a little prima colazione. Get your head out of the gutter, it's an Italian breakfast. Because of the nice weather they're eating outside with a table full of espresso, rolls, jams, yogurt, and the like.

Steve is wearing a pair of aviator sunglasses and his blond hair is parted nicely on one side and back. Under his brown bomber jacket is a plain t-shirt. His jeans are a bit worn, as are his black boots, and it's clear this is something casual.

Who knows what they're talking about? A good guess is work.

Across the street a black van pulls up inconspicuously. Inside the vehicle, behind smoky tinted windows, a conversation is taking place. They're checking photographs and dossier's. One of the "men" in the back takes a look through his binoculars, his face shrouded under a fedora, high necked trenchcoat, and the shadows.

"That's them."

Of course they are taking about work, but it's relaxed work. "So… I met Ororo. Does she always do that 'looking through your soul' sort of gaze or is that just to the new recruits?" Sharon asks, over a good sip of her coffee. Despite the fact they are discussing work, she does actually seem to be relaxed. She's in a pair of jeans today tucked into knee high, soft leather boots. A button down white shirt and a gray casual vest, that was clearly made for a woman's frame because it buttons beneath her breasts and frames them rather nicely, finishes the outfit. She doesn't need to hide her ID quite so much as he does.

After a good sip of espresso, she goes back to one of the rolls and jam, taking small, savouring bites because damn, it was all good. Her blue eyes flicker down to the table with a small chuckle, "I…can't actually remember the last time I had a breakfast I enjoyed. I got pop tarts for the base. They're… Easy."

A nice long walk from Bristol, Gotham, has the mocha skinned girl heading up the side walk of Little Italy. It's hard to tell when she started, but, here she is, striding and weaving between early morning, human traffic, with her hands in the front pockets of her jeans. Her hair is partially braided up, onyx against her skull, and silver white against her floofy curls, that rest in an odd sort of mohawk type shape. Her own attire is simplistic; ratty jeans missing their knees, scuffed up boots, and a faded, printed tee that's a bit too large for her, its collar resting off one shoulder.

She serpent-eyed girl pauses briefly once she hears the name 'Ororo'. She glances at the pair, searchingly, before shrugging and heading into the cafe to order something for herself.

Peter Quill is still trying to get lay of New York. He's never been there. Never bothered going until the thought had occured to him, he's never been there. Sure, going to St. Louis as a kid was cool, but New York? Never had the chance. So the displaced spacer is exploring. Because that's what he does. And doing his best to stay out of trouble, because he said he would. No stealing or pilfering or all that other stuff that he's more than happy doing off-planet. If he could get off-planet. Which…he can't. Stuck here. On Earth. Miserable.

But he makes the best of it, coming across this Italian eatery, with a glance from across the street. Orange foamed-headphones stuck to his ears, he leans against the very black van to tie his boot. "Wonder if they got those…hrm, what're they called. Canoli? Way too early for pasta." he says to himself. Haven't had coffee in…years. Maybe he should try that again. Maybe it won't taste as horrible.

"Easy breakfast is about all I allow myself as well. Usually it's just toast and peanut butter for me. It was simple when I was a kid. On days off, sometimes I make eggs and Spam, but that's about as dangerous as I get." Steve shrugs a bit. "Eat out a bit though; easy to do in the city. Very convenient."

"As far as Ororo, she's a strong woman. Strong and intense."

Steve's eyes trail towards Lyn as she enters the cafe, but just in an observant people watching way. He never even notices Peter walking up with his headphones.

Unfortunately, he doesn't notice Carbon walking up either.

Just a moment before the attack comes, Steve and Sharon are shrouded in shadow as the behemoth blocks out the sun as he stands over them. In one motion the jacket comes off, revealing a graphite colored monster of some sort. It's body is all smooth edges, rounded and large. The fedora, as well, falls to the ground.

One of the other eaters screams as two large arms wrap around Steve and pull him up and out of the chair. Struggle as he might, and even as strong as Captain America is, there's no way he can seem to break this beast's grip.

Another bite of roll and jam, Sharon's eyes shut for just a heartbeat or two, straight up savouring the home made flavor. She's going to learn not to savour and enjoy life, because that's the moment Carbon approaches. It means she doesn't have those vital two seconds of reaction time. She doesn't even realize something's going on until the light dims around them and her pale gaze jerks open just in time to see Steve being scooped out of his seat. She curses, loudly, roll dropping with a clatter to the table top and against utensils.

Immediately, Sharon's hand goes into the back of her vest and pulls out the thin ICER she was carrying on her person. As normal, it probably wouldn't work, but her training says non lethal first. So, she immediately coughs out two ICER rounds into the side of that shadowy being, "Stand down NOW and your punishment will be light! This is only assault, you do NOT want more charges levied against you!" She shouts, not running like the rest of the crowd. She's going to face this thing.

Audrey has some questionable habits. It comes from spending too much time watching her back. These days, sometimes, that extends to watching other people's backs. No one's assigned her to keep an eye on Steve. And whether or not he's dating this SHIELD agent probably isn't any of her business. But boundaries are less her strong point than collecting information, so.

Across the street, she'd been checking out a newsstand, flipping through the paper and spying when the attacker shows up. "Not gonna be awkward at all," she murmurs to herself as she sets the paper back down, blinking into invisibility as she runs across the street to lend a hand.

Lyn felt the kickback and hammer against her skull. Something /bad/ was going to happen. Before she can blink, or even speak up, the events already come to light. "Merde!" She grumbles and pushes herself out of the cafe, taking the time to yank up a knife and fork as she goes. "If de's a back down in here, take it!" She warns the rest of the patrons before pressing closer to a window, watching the blonde man and his lady friend.

"De van!" She calls out to them, her voice slightly muffled thanks to the glass. "DE. VAN!" She warns once more before taking up the fork and shoving its prongs into her arm at the elbow's joint. Hopefully, it would work against whatever it was holding Cap at bay. You never know till you try.

"I got that lovin feeeeeling…whooooah that loooovin feeeeling. Bring back that lovin feeeeling till it's gone gone gone…whooooooah…da do do da do do…" Peter is listening(and singing…poorly)to Kenny Loggins. Because he would find the Top Gun soundtrack on cassette, wouldn't he. Until around the time he's knocked down the by opening doors of the van that Carbon was apparently hiding in, not looking as he was tying his boots. Flat on his ass, he blinks, Walkman skittering to the ground. "What the…!"

A blink. Whoa, he wasn't there a minute, giving Steve an all-too friendly bearhug. Well, they obviously don't look like family and Steve probably doesn't have a bromance going on with the big guy. Not that Peter knows who Steve, but he knows a sucker attack when he sees one.

So, like in his classic fashion, he sticks his nose in someone else's business, he touches a finger behind his ear, helmet materializing over his face. And because he wears that damn red trenchcoat, it's a great way to hide his dual Spatori element blasters. Set to ice. A small burst of rocket boots carries him across the street.

"Heyo, big'un!" he calls out. He pulls both triggers. "Chill out!"

Oh that one was bad. Shame on you, Peter. You think you're so damn clever.

Sharon's two ICER rounds rip through Carbon's head, dramatically slowed and flattened as the exit wounds erupt out the back. But the foe does not go down, and does not even slow down. Instead, he simply turns towards Sharon with a wide, disgusting smile filled with jagged teeth. His eyes are white, hollow, and it seems certain he wants to take Captain America alive.

And just as Carbon is about ready to turn and run, something unseen strikes his arm down hard—hard enough to break the grip on the Star Spangled Sentinel. Cap falls to the ground on hands and knees, and his attacker tries to reach down to grab him, but the blonde is too quick as he scurries between the legs of his foe.

Cap rises to his feet, and as he does so, looks down the road to see a similar monster coming up the street. Where Carbon is graphite colored and extremely strong, Phosphorus looks as though he's made from yellow wax. His face looks as though it's been melted away mid horror scene. He reaches up and fires three wax projectiles towards the Captain.

Star Lord makes his appearance and is only referred to after Carbon drops Cap. "Oh, is that right?" The greyish monster asks as he straightens, still holding his elbow. He's stalling though, because behind, Chlorine is lining up a poisonous gas attack.

The thin, green element-al raises his long, skinny fingers towards Star Lord, and right in front of the invisible Audrey.

Wrong place, wrong time. As it so often has, Tiny's appetite had seemingly brought him to the scene of disaster as he was in the process of digging int the pockets of his battered leather jacket, pulling a stack of crumpled ones and counting them out in his quest for a simple pastry to eat when those yellow waxy projectiles go flying past him, breaking his focus from the bills and bringing the clone's attention to the running people and hulking monsters. "Crap…"

Shrugging his jacket off for once and throwing it aside (this would be the -9th- he'd have to replace if it got destroyied after all) the Kryptonian hybrid begins barreling towards the action.

ICERs never work. Sharon's going to have a long talk with Jemma at some point, but she doesn't have time to worry about it right this moment. As a few other near by heroes seem to be a bit more effective against the actual attacker, Sharon worries about the other side of things — Steve and Civilians. The moment Steve goes down, she's about to run for him, but she sees him moving through the things legs and she dashes around the other side of this Monster, her hand reaching out quickly for him to give support should he need. He probably doesn't, but she wants to make certain he's clear of the scene.

"You alright?!" She asks quickly, giving him the two second study, before she's gazing back to the street corners and the fleeing civilians, "We need to get this space evacuated now! Stop cars from coming down this way!" And unless he seems more hurt, she's moving into action. Any civilians who AREN'T running, she puts to use, "Run in that shop, shut and lock the door, keep it locked down until we give the clear!" And she's quickly doing that up and down the block.

What…are these things? Audrey stops short of the fight itself, pausing long enough to try to figure out what's happening. And to get a good look at the van, because that's going to be useful later. Three enemies. Cap and Carter. Unknown dude with guns that shoot ice. Couple of other unknown elements. Okay.

Staying back, she goes for something a little simpler first. Like a video game on cheat mode, flashing words appear over the heads of the bad guys. "WATER HERE - DO NOT BREATHE" pops up over Chlorine in watery letters. "ICE HERE - DO NOT IGNITE" pops up over Phosphorus' head in frozen letters. And "FIRE HERE - WORTH A TRY" comes up over Carbon's head in flaming letters.

It worked! So that was a good thing. Giving the fork a twist against her flesh, she rips it out and then eyes the newly chaotic situation. There are players here, a few to speak of and even one unseen. Then, there's one she knows. "Tiny!" She yells out from the store, finally moving to its door and opening it, blocking its way so that another exit, hopefully not into the street, is used.

Eyeing that finger point, she grumbles and slips the cutlery into her pockets. Reaching for her own hand, she gives her own digit that mirrors the beasts own a quick bend to the side, her bones making a noisey 'pop'. If anything, she wanted it to know that those who were here /could/ hurt it.

"Oh hell, shut up. I thought it was good liner." Peter remarks, backing off, switching setting on his blasters to the lightning setting. He's about rais them both up to fire again at Carbon, when a slimy tendril slithers it way up and around Peter's neck, suddenly taught. "Gack!" he crocks, getting pulled back by Phophorus. Sure whatever gas is there doesn't really bother his breathing, but the tendril on his neck will probably do something about that.

Turning as he can, he comes into sight of the source of who's choking him. "Gargh…you..smell…horrible." he coughs. Then his helmet's sensors pick up Audrey's message above Phosphorus. It quickly makes him realize that shooting him with his lighting setting would be a bad idea. So he switches back to ice, trying to keep conciousness. He raises his weapons again, firing ice beams straight into Phosphorus' midsection, trying to get the hold to release on him.

It's funny. Even in New York, a place known for its independent spirit and Fuck You attitude, people listen pretty well when a pretty lady in a white blouse and knee high boots is telling to back up out of here. With a gun in her hand.

People begin running as fast as they can, and several call the authorities. Hopefully the message gets to the DEO instead of the police. The police can't handle this.

Chlorine let's out a blood curdling scream as his finger goes sideways. Rather than shoot poisonous gas at Star Lord, he now because the hunted as he desperately holds his hands between his legs. But Peter Quill has other worries because Phosphorus is all up in his business, wrapping around his throat, and about to get explosive and make a damn mess of Peter guts, all over the ground. StarLord's ice shot freezes Phosphorus' stomach in place. That's the good news. The other good news is that Peter's able to get out of its grasp. The bad news is now it's getting ready to fire some of those explosives at him.

"I'm fine," Steve says to Sharon. "Look out!" A new baddie, a figure in glowing red named Radium begins to stalk from the other side of the street. Trying to think quickly, Steve reaches for a plate and heaves it mightily down the way. The plate weaves between two running bystanders and around the head of another before it collides straight in Radium's neck, bringing him to the ground. Carbon, however, slams Cap in the back of the head, sending the latter sprawling onto the pavement. Ouch. When his hand pulls away, the parts that aren't dripping with blood look to be shimmering. Almost like a diamond.

By now, Chlorine has recuperated enough to try and attack Star Lord again, but Tiny is there to prevent an easy attack.

The scene is pandemonium and it's unclear what these guys want, who's attacking who, and what Mendeleev would have to say about all of this.

Hearing Lyn's call, Tiny's eyes fall on the familier face with a nod before he leaps into the air and tries to crashtackle Carbon. He can see the flaming text, he can even read it, but the Kryptonian clone was a bit of a one-trick pony as far as he knew. Throwing his weight and considerable strength behind the blows he brings back his arm and slams his fist into the attacking monster. Others have arrived, but his focus seems fixed for now of the creature that had attacked people first in the cafe.

"I want you to hit the end of this block and stop all traffic until the cops come. They'll be here any second. Don't let them come down here!" Sharon is corraling people as best possible, with her gun and her attitude which just SCREAMS authority. And the she hears Steve's warning and she turns around just in time to dive out of the way of an attack coming in her direction. Oh. Now she was angry. And, fortunately, the anger has a focus. Because someone has given some HELPFUL hints as to how to fight these guys.

Sharon doesn't have much in the way of weapons that will hurt any of them, but the 'FIRE HERE— WORTH A TRY' is enough to catch her attention. She rolls beneath the table of the breakfast place she and Steve had been out, snagging the oil fed glass candle off of the table and lobbing it HARD right at the 'feet' of Carbon. The point is for it to hit and shatter like an oil lamp molotov cocktail, hopefully catching the thing fire. Whether that's useful, she has no clue.

Having delivered the important, please don't explode the restaurant message, Audrey draws her gun to deal with the getaway car. BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! There go the tires. Hopefully people will just assume the sound is the tires going, rather than gunfire. And once that's taken care of, it's time to get into the fight.

Audrey heads for Phosphorous at a run, diving in with a sweeping kick at his legs that he…surely won't see coming.

After setting her own finger right again, and leaving the other in pain, she slips through the front door of the cafe and pulls it shut behind herself. Digging into her pocket, she pulls out a piece of calk and starts writing a few markings against the doorway. Locking it away, and forcing those inside to leave through the back, she looks at the scene before herself. Multiple-monsters, multiple fighters; good morning New York.

Slipping herself away, she starts heading for the figure who currently has its grip around Quill. She looks for a limb, something, anything, that links with the tendrils, and once found, she shoves a knife against her body in a position that most resymbols the monsters figure. Stop the choking; Save the Starlord.

Frozen. For the moment. And free too. Bonus. StarLord fires his jets, narrowing dodging the explosive meant for him, letting him sail overtop of Phorous, firing his blasters again, this time giving him a more suitable rain of frozen blasts to freeze him completely solid. And really, he cuts loose with blasters, firing off in rapid succession all the way he's sailing over, like some crazed gymnist vauling over a horse. But, y'know, with rocket boots.

A short burst buffets his landing and he fires again to make sure for good measure, trying to take one of them out of the fire. Sensors in the helmet pick up Chlorine as another viable threat, but he can only do so many things at one time. But well, looks like Tiny has a handle on that one.

Cap is freakin' lights out. Like knocked out like it was the movie Friday. He's bleeding from the back of the head and has likely suffered a concussion. For whatever reason, he was the subject of a hit with four seriously overpowered heroes.

Carbon is hit by the molotov cocktail milliseconds before Tiny buries him a foot down in the ground. Both metas are on fire, but only one is moving (Don't worry, this isn't a Snyder film, Carbon will live).

Audrey's kick hits Phosphorous straight away in the gut, but something worrying happens. Rather than knock him away, Phosphorus just sort of stands there as she sinks deeper and deeper into his massive wax-like body. By the time her momentum is stopped, she's waist deep halfway up the bad guy.

But, as soon as Audrey gets root, as it were, Phosphorous suddenly goes extremely rigid. No, he's not trying to crush her, but it's having a similar effect because Lyn's just 'stabbed him'.

Whatever she does, she'd better act fast because Peter Quill is about to light up Phosphorous like a Christmas tree, a frozen Christmas tree like on December 26 in the arctic circle, after being doused by a hose.

SITREP: Carbon is knocked the eff out, as is Captain America. Down, but not dead, the both of them. Phosphorous is in a bad way, but Chlorine pretty much just has a broken hand. Radium is still clutching his throat.

Well…Tiny is on fire. When he slowly stands from the fallen Carbon though, it's pretty clear it's not exactly doing him much harm. Batting at the flames on his shirt and skin the Kryptonian looks back over at the fight before he starts to move towards Audrey and then stops with a frown. He'd pull he free, but he's also currently a little ablaze…might not be the best mix.

Well, that worked. Sharon's eyes go wide as the thing goes up, but so does the other guy attacking him. "Your foot!" She calls, probably not that helpfully. It seems Tiny can handle it. But there is someone else who needs help. She catches sight of Steve — and Steve's blood — all across the sidewalk. Sharon swears, dashing double time in that direction before leaning down to scoop him up in her arms. It's not going to be an EASY carry, but she needs to get him out of the direct line of action. She manages to get him a few feet off to the side before sinking him gently back to the sidewalk and hitting her comm unit, "SHIELD, I need a med unit now. The Captain's down… head injury, at least, I'm still conducting triage." Her voice is steady, controlled, as she calls the situation in. Still, her hand shakes just a touch as she reaches for his throat to ensure that this wasn't actually an assassination. "Come on, Rogers… wake up…" She exhales beneath her breath.

"Son of a-" Audrey blinks into view when her leg gets stuck inside Phosphorous, but that isn't enough to entirely throw her off-balance. Granted, seeing her show up might throw someone else off-balance. Shifting her weight, she twists enough to wrap herself around the villain before pulling a gun and firing into the frozen bits. There's a solid chance that's going to hurt her leg, but so will getting it crushed, so. Sometimes you take your chances.

"Carter!" Audrey shouts. "Shielding you both, get to cover." From her perch on Phosphorous, she throws out a hand, weaving a web of light over the pair that renders them invisible from the outside as well.

"Roll, Tiny! Get dat fire out!" She offers toward the larger of the pair, her hand ripping away the knife and slipping it back into her pocket. Eyeing off Chlorine, she considers him before her serpent like eyes catch sight of something, hopefully, useful; a fire hydrant. Rushing toward it, out comes the chalk once more, and new symbols are set against red pain and concrete. Her hand against its top, she speaks in silence, her lips moving without sound. It's time for some luck, good luck, she hopes.

With a hiss and pop, the hydrant's opening starts to weaken itself, allowing water to escape and fire outward. Should her marks be right, or the Lwa be in her favor, it will find its target and eliminate a threat.

Peter seems proud of himself and the job he did on Phosphorus, freezing him solid like that. However, he did not take into consideration that Audrey was kicking him around the same time he was doing that, leaving leg half stuck in him. "Shit." he mutter, firing off his jets and screaming towards her, zooming right up to Audrey herself. "Hey, don't mind the hands." he remarks, wrapping one hand around her waist. "Here, hold this, please keep shooting the bad person." he says shoving one hif element blasters at her, while his other, both switched earth, fires around where her leg and foot are buried. Not for nothing, but he's a good shot, shooting a circle around and then pulling to get her out. At least without injury.

Pending getting her out, he'll get them both out of dodge and out of harm's way, a little far off to allow them to concentrate on those left standing. "Gonna be alright?"

Phosphorous is attacked by every which side and is easily done for. Aside from maybe Carbon, he's taken the worst of the attack, being pelted with freezing from every angle. StarLord and Audrey are free of his clutches as the pair get to safety with relative ease.

Carbon is still out. He's on fire, so he's not out like that, but he's sleeping like a baby.

Chlorine, meanwhile, is hit with a gigantic splash of water that would make summertime municipal pools jealous as to the mixture. Nevertheless, Lyn has found Chlorine's weakness and the blast forces the member of the Element of Doom to his knees before he passes out due to the pain.

Radium. Still there. Throat shots are disconcerting.

Out from behind a skyscraper comes a band of helicopters run by the government forces. They land and men in containment suits begin shooing the heroes away from the scene. It looks as if these dudes are pretty toxic, no pun intended.

Steve's head looks worse than it really is. He's got a severe concussion, but his pulse and vitals are all good to go. Even know he's drifting in and out of consciousness. And he has quite the killer headache.

Since Steve's vitals are steady (Sharon hasn't used his full code name yet because the last thing she needs is civilians panicking at the fact Captain America is bleeding on the ground), Sharon lets out a half breath she was holding. She doesn't move, though, remaining near some fierce blonde guard dog. She'll stay there until the med evac unit comes or she's told to transport him elsewhere. Still, now that he's out of the fight, she hesitates to move him, incase the head injury is actually a neck injury. So, she remains body guard. Pale eyes look up across the scene, surveying a few of the others as she calls, "I have a medical unit on the way, is there anyone else injured? They can come back with us. My name is Agent 13, I'm with SHIELD." She finally reaches into her wallet, flashing the badge she should have ages ago.

Get that fire out, right…" Tiny never quite learned 'stop drop and roll' like most did. Improvisation then. As Chlorine passes out from the tide Tiny steps into the blasting water, smoothering out the flames for a moment before he reaches out, grasping the lid of a nearby trashcan. He might not be Captain America…but Captain America is laying bleeding on a cafe floor, so the Kryptonian clone will have to do. Hurling the lid like a frisbee at the remaining 'Radium' the slightly fire blackened man looks up in suprise as the containment folks arrive.

Lyn stalls her actions, putting her 'weapons' away, as she makes to remove the markings with her hand or toe of her boot. Watching Tiny carefully, and the action around herself, she glances toward the cafe and nibbles a thought against her lower lip. Thinking it's too far away to clean up, she shrugs and then turns, making to move away from the scene now that suits and choppers have arrived.

Audrey doesn't seem to mind the hands. She's juggling a few things, after all, and the man's giving her a gun, so. Clearly he's decent people. She takes the element gun, shooting ice at the downed Radium while the keeps the cloak of illusion over Cap and Sharon to let them get to safety. Once emergency personnel are on the scene, she drops the cloak to let the help get to them, and only then does she look to Peter, offering back the gun with a brief, crooked smile. "Nice piece."

Peter, for his part, is acting on enough good behaviour today, tapping a portion of his helmet, letting it materialize back into the earpiece he keeps wrapped around it. A smirk at Audrey. "Nice light show." he remarks in kind, taking the element blaster back, holstering them both in his thigh holsters. There's a look around. "Soo..I was just going to get a…what do you call those pastries? Canolis? I was going to get some and I ran into…" he waves a hand. "…this." Then a glance at Sharon and Steve. "You know them? Sorry, I haven't been back to his planet in a couple decades, pretty sure I missed a lot. You all know each other?"

THUNK!

Radium, who never got an opportunity to get into the foray is knocked down and out by Tiny's shot.

And from there things seem to be cleaning up nicely. The four elements are knocked down and out. Hopefully SHIELD will be able to get their hands on them for questioning and to figure out why they attacked Captain America. The police have cordoned off the area, but people are looking down from their windows on all sides. Aside from some broken glass, even the Italian restaurant looks like it will be just fine.

High above, shimmering in and out of view only when the light catches just right, Helium turns to Nitrogen and despite her high and comedic voice, she says to her mentor, "Send a man to do a woman's job."

"Look where it gets them," Nitrogen finishes her proteges sentence. "We'll get the Avengers. Don't worry. One by one." Helium seems to give a nod before they both seem to rise and dissipate from view, becoming one with the air, and heading off wherever it is these sorts of people go.

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