December 18, 2016:
The story of Krampus comes to life thanks to Morgana and Star-Lord is the only one around willing to step in and stop it.
Midtown Manhattan - New York City
Situated between 14th and 59th Streets, Midtown Manhattan is *the* tourist destination in New York City. It is also the largest central business district in America. Most of the tallest skyscrapers in the city can be found here, from the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings to Stark Tower and the Baxter Building. It's also home to Times Square, Broadway, and Fifth Avenue.
In the day, the traffic is non-stop. In the evening, bright neon lights light up the street such that it looks as if the sun simply doesn't set on the city. But, then, there's a reason New York is called The City that Never Sleeps. This, right here, is it
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
Mood Music: None.
Fade In…
The city that never sleeps lives up to its name.
Peter Quill likes it, even if compared to the dozens of other planets he's seen in his travels across the galaxy it doesn't quite match up. Still, this is where he is from, and even if it doesn't have flying cars or floating cities its still a little part of him.
Plus. This is the first time he's actually seen it! So that's something.
He smiles as he strolls along the edge of Times Square. Over one shoulder is a black backpack. The grin on his face seems genuine enough. No obvious weapons. Just a human out for a evening stroll like everyone else.
Even though everyone else doesn't have alien tech in their backpack.
"Alright." He mutters to himself as he looks at the milling tourists taking pictures across the square. "…now how the hell do I get back to Gotham."
Aaah. Times Square. Lots of lights. Lots of people. Big big tree for the upcoming holiday! So much hustle and bustle. Chatter and music and all kinds of sounds filling the air. Such a wonderful, lovely sight, isn't it? Really pushes the 'holiday spirit' at you.
As parents with children pass the tree on their way to wherever, something begins to stir. At first, it's just that general feeling that something isn't right in the air. It settles over the adults, causing them to look around and then usher their children on, which is met with a great deal of resistance from about half of them.
Still, nothing out of the ordinary, right? Even the fog that starts to emit from the tree could be written off as part of some show. The bit of wind that blows through occasionally the reason for it curling about people and spreading along the ground.
And then there comes the first cry. "Sarah!? Sarah, where are you? Answer me!" A woman seems to have lost her daughter near the tree. It's only moments later that another call from a different parent joins, followed by a third and so on… Eventually, they'll be loud enough and cause enough of a ruckus that they'll be heard even over the noise of the area.
A lost child! That is a horrible thing! A terrible thing! There should be a hero there to help! A hero to save the day! Yup! That's what should happen!
Peter Quill? He's getting a hot dog at a nearly food cart. It smelled tasty and he was hungry after walking over here.
He happily chews on the tasty treat as he looks at the tree happily. It takes him nearly until its a full on ruckus. Even then the man just blinks as he chews slowly on the hotdog and blinks.
"Wait," Then he finishes his bite. "What the heck is going on." He mutters as he slowly approaches the base of the tree and the now panicking parents around it. "They all can't have disappeared at once…" A pause. "…Quill what the hell did you just walk into…"
Four more children go missing and by now over a dozen parents are panicked and screaming their children's names. Some passing by are stopping to help look, others ignore and others rush by with a look of complete disdain.
On the very top of the tree is a blackbird with emerald green eyes watching the scene unfold. Suddenly, there's a screech of pain followed by several small, high pitched and menacing sounding cackles. The bottom of the tree shakes, the boughs shifting and shimmying until about a dozen little Christmas elves come pouring out.
There's a sickening resemblance between all of them and the children that disappeared. Except, there's now wickedly sharp looking teeth, they're slightly hunch backed, their ears are pointed and the hands clawed. They wield sharp candy cane looking spears and are running towards the crowd of people.
Meanwhile, in the background and along the streets, the lights start to flicker and the sound of bells and dragging chains can be heard.
One screaming parent rushes by with a shout. Zigging and zagging across the area in front of the trees. Peter pops the last of his hot dog into his mouth as he contemplates the huge tree itself. "Whelp. That's not natural." He adds as he notes the fog and the screams and the thing perched on top of the tree.
Birds don't usually have green eyes do they?
He is just about to walk away from all of this madness when suddenly cannibal elves are tumbling out of the tree.
"Really!" He exclaims as he drops his backpack. "Really? Come on whoever you are! Its Christmas your gonna do something like this on Christmas?" He's reaching into his bag as the hunchbacked elves advance, and out comes a pair of holstered pistols. Strange high-tech looking pieces of work.
The holsters are strapped around his waist before he draws one of the weapons.
"Hey! Munchkins! Go back to Oz!"
The blackbird takes flight, lifting off into the trees with a call, that sounds eerily like a woman laughing, drifting along the wind.
Some parents were able to recognize their children and so fought to subdue them while others, not related, weren't quite so kind and were more than happy to reach out and grab whatever they could to defend themselves in any way they saw fit.
The sound of bells and chains draws closer until out of the fog and the shadows comes what looks like a beast from a horror movie. It stands at least seven feet tall and is covered in thick, dark matted fur. Cloven hooves and clawed hands. Teeth that are sharp and pointed. Long, pointed ears and horns that curl back its head like a goat. In one hand are the chains that were being drug. In the other, a thick, black velvet back with white trimmed fur.
It lets out a deep and sinister laugh, yellow-red eyes glinting dangerous and then charges into the crowd towards the tree, headed right for Peter. "Someone's been Naughty," it growls.
"Oh this is so not happening," Peter growls as he draws the second weapon. A flick from a selector switch sets the pair of elemental guns to a 'less than lethal' mode as he eyes the munchkins who entirely ignored his taunts.
"Nap time." He finally decides as he raises both pistols and lets go with a flurry of stun bolts at the Cannibal Elves.
He can apologize later.
He really is feeling kind of proud of himself…at least he was right before freeking Krampus arrives.
"Terra reallyis weird." He grumbles as he eyes the giant cloven hooved form. "Santa. You got /really/ ugly. Aren't you supposed to bearded and jolly and eat milk and cookies? You really woke up on the wrong side of the bed didn't you?" A pause. "A least no one will get mad at me for this." He adds…
…right before he aims to shoot Krampus right between the eyes.
Thankfully, those stuns take the elven-children…child-elves?…whichever.. down rather easily. Parental reaction range from dismayed to terrified to thankful. Emergency services has, no doubt, already been called. Sadly, not all the elves made it thanks to none other than normal, everyday human fear, and their forms have already reverted back.
The blaster hits its mark and Krampus stumbles three steps before regaining balance and continuing to charge in, the chains being whipped out towards Quill's wrist. "Naughty naughty." If the chains land, they're given a hard yank.
"Hey hey hey! Are you guys idiots or something! Stop hitting them!!" The Reaver calls as he sees that people are trying to attack the elves. "Ah hell…" He growls as he sees the some of the little figures fall.
Of course then Krampus gives him something more to worry about.
A chain around his wrist.
"Hey now, don't get fresh. I'm not a jewelry kinda guy anyway." And with that he starts running.
Towards the trouble. Going with the yank. As he runs a faceplate unfolds over his features, his armor coming out to play. A few paces before he reaches the monster jets attached to his boots ignite, sending him into the air. Aiming to slap his now armored knee against the nasty face of the beast as he flips over him.
From the shadows across the street a feminine figure has been watching. That one, the 'hero', isn't the same as the others… Intriguing.
The knee to the face sends the monster to his back just as police and EMTs arrive. Police rush in to help Quill what they can while the EMTs race to frantically tend to the fallen children though they're wary of misshapen 'elves' despite the way people are begging them to help. It's a slow process.
Krampus hits and then yanks on the chains only to find they have fallen loose. With a snarl, he twists to send those chains out again just as the police open fire which temporarily draws the monsters attention.
Quill would be the last person to call himself a hero. Though he does occasionally have heroism forced on him. Since he is not one hundred percent a dick.
Just a bit of an ass.
"SHOOT THE MONSTER NOT THE MAN! SHOOT THE MONSTER NOT THE MAN!" He calls out to the officers as he lands behind the fallen Krampus and spins quickly. A second flick on his pistols sets them to electric and he raises both of them to open fire again, this time /at/ the chains themselves. Lets see if he can get Mister Claws to drop those damn things.
If he has a shot while the beast is distracted? Oh far be it for him to /not/ shoot it in the back. He'll light that sucker up while his head is turned.
Fair play? Nope. Not much of that here.
The fog that had covered the ground starts to recede back into the tree. As it does, the children that had been turned into elves are once more turning into children. This, after a moment's pause of 'wtf', has the EMTs calling for back up and kicking into high gear to get the little ones tended to all while getting cussed at and berated for waiting from the parents.
"Who is that guys?" One of the cops calls even as they adjust their shots to try to stay on target as Krampus moves about. "Hell if I know man but looks like he's on our side for now!" is the reply from another officer.
With the chains electrified, there's a howl of pain from the creature and then the scent of burnt flesh where it seared his hand before they're dropped. It's in that heartbeat that it takes the, now enraged, creature to turn around, that he goes up in flames. The scent of burning fur and hideous wails of pain filling the air of Time Square.
And that figure in the shadows? A blonde with bright green eyes, wearing a mini skirt of deep green with a black top and black boots, steps forward. Her eyes linger on Quill for a moment. Long enough to gain his attention and make eye contact, before she smiles, winks and dips into the now gathering crowd of people… and disappears.
Then its on fire.
…did he do that?
Quill just stares for a moment at the pyre of Krampus before he screws up his face behind his faceplate. Slowly the guns go away and the man seems to relax just slightly. At least nothing is being flung at him and no one is shooting at him. So he'll call that a win.
His eyes catch movement as he shifts slightly to look in the direction of the hot blonde in the miniskirt. Ruddy light reflects off the ruby red lenses of his optics as he contemplates the woman. He could be thinking just about anything behind those mysterious eyepieces.
What he's actually thinking is more along the lines of 'Dayum. Those are some nice legs.'
Peter is a simple man.
Then the woman is gone in a movement of the crowd and Quill is left holding the bag. A place that he doesn't quite like to be. So as curious eyes turn towards him, and frowning cops start to turn his attention his way he does what he's best at.
One pistol resting on his shoulder, the other one in his holster. His empty right hand rests with his thumb tucked slightly into his belt. The cocky, roguish pose is followed with nod in the direction of the cops.
"I'm Star-lord." His voice a confident drawl.
Then the jetboots ignite and off he goes into the night. Launching over the heads of the crowd as he…well…
…gets the hell out of dodge before the Avengers or SHIELD or someone with ethics shows up!!