Weekend At Tonys

September 22, 2018:

Demons have invaded Stark Tower and their mistress bids them bring Tony Stark to her, alive. Heroes show up to rescue Tony's body, hijinks ensue.

Stark Tower

Now with more demons! And a dragon.

Characters

NPCs: Dragon by Bucky, KING CLIPPY and various Stark NPCs by Tony

Mentions: Illyana Rasputin, Jane Foster, Red Robin

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

Stark Tower, once a beacon of technological marvel in the heart of Midtown Manhattan has been overrun. Atop the spire a dragon rests, coiled around the apex of the building. Inside it's halls, demons, imps and other less identifiable creatures run amok. The less secure areas were over run almost immediately to make the changes requested by the new ruler of Stark Tower, the Darkchylde. But Tony Stark is not without his tricks and the more secure areas have remained just so. This includes the area where Tony and a few dedicated staff are sequestered in the medical bays. Tony of course is still comatose after the incident with the Brotherhood.

Owen Mercer is not a hero. He's not even particularly a good guy. But he occasionally gets weird noble ideas about helping people or at the very least repaying owed debts. And of the many people on the cape side of this game that have been good to him, Tony Stark tops that list. So there is no debate involved when the demons descend on the city and take over Stark tower. Owen's going to do something about it. Please note that this doesn't mean Owen's going to solve anything or make the situation in anyway better, no it just means he's going to do 'something'. After watching the dragon eat an entire squadron of fighter planes for breakfast though, Owen decides that this might be more of a stealth mission than a blow up doors and run like hell mission.

Which brings us to now, late on a Friday night. The streets are still full of people, this is still Manhattan. It's just some of those people are getting harassed by angy mailboxes or carried off by swarms of furry demons intent on tickling them to death. Which is to say, it's just a slightly weirder than normal Friday. But more importantly for our intrepid heroes it seems that the dragon has caught some foul stench on the air. The wafting miasma of New Jersey, spray-tans, mispronounced Italian words, strip malls and hair-spray has invaded its senses and offended them. With a powerful downward push of it's wings it flies off to incinerate the source of this foul odor.

In the depths of the towers, a squad of demons has been assembled. A mish-mash of demons, some huge brutes with giant clubs, others spindly things with long wicked claws have been assembled with one mission in mind. Bring their queen the former ruler of this castle, the man called Tony Stank. There is some grumbling discussion about why it is Stark tower but his last name is Stank, but after a quick beheading of the most vocal protestor, things are back on track. They know he is in the building, and must be brought before her majesty, ALIVE! And so the group lead by three eyed bearded demon in a robe follows a glowing orb that leads them to Mr. Stank.

The would be rescuers having managed to slip into the building undetected have all made their way into the medical unit and are just into Tony's room when Team Demon enters. Seeing their target, the other 'humans' are ignored for the moment as cries of "HE'S DEAD!" "WE'RE DEAAD! SHE'S GONNA FLAY US ALIVE!" "I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!!!" rise up amongst them. Then one of the apparently more cunning demons, which is not saying much for this bunch declares: "But she doesn't know he's dead if we eat him."

"NO BURN HIM!"

"NO SLICE HIM INTO REALLY THIN SANDWICH MEAT!"

"Oooh, all of those things and then we eat him! And every other human in this terrible place!"

And thus it is agreed that the demons, will slice up, and burn and eat all the humans including the very much alive, but comatose Tony Stark.

*

One of the temporary residents of said medical bays was one Jessica Jones. But she hasn't actually needed to be there for several days.

Indeed, right around the time the giant dragon coiled around the roof she'd pulled off her PJs, put on her jeans and tank top and signature leather jacket, her boots and her holster, her Sig Sauer. "Near-death vacation now officially over," she'd said to nobody in particular. Was she going to check out with a doctor? Call Luke for a pick-up?

Hell no.

She had gone striding out into the halls only to find that the entire tower was overrun, vastly complicating her plans to "get out there" and do something. It is all about "being in here" and doing something at this point. And she's basically been in the med wing trying to figure out what for some time, in her room next door to Tony's with a frown on her face.

But hey, now there's this crowing about demons wanting to slice him into really thin sandwich meat. And some other stuff. And so she comes stomping into the room, cocks her head to one side, and says, "I'm gonna need you asshats to back off."

This is her plan.

Her whole plan.

Probably for the best that other people are showing up.

*

Grife. Grife. Griiiiife.

It's some spectactular irony or terrible timing that suddenly demons have exploded around the city and Stark Industries looks to be a major focal point for whatever reason. And as unlikely as one little sign written on the back of an envelope reading 'Demon Free' can have any sort of effect to have brought anything on, Impulse still feels terrible about it. He'd meant well! Raven had given Stark a clean bill of demon-free health!

Hisnd then New York turned upside-down.

Currently speeding straight-away from the Titans Tower, the young speedster has Raven in tow, having gotten it into his head that this is something that needed to be fixed. Or maybe not fixed so much as 'better make sure Tony and Pepper are all right.' He zigs and zags through the streets, a red and white blur with a swath of black. He sees the chaos happening in the streets. It's insane. It's like one of his video games come to life.

"Raven, can you do that thing again?" he asks his fellow Titan, carried princess-style as he makes a beeline for Stark tower. Because he can get them there fast, but even his fastest doesn't feel like it's getting them there in time.

*

"Something. Is not. Right."

That was the first thing Raven said to no one in particular after feeling the charge in the air, the shift in atmospheric presence. And she wasn't just imagining it. The prickling sensations ran over and underneath her skin, making her hair stand on end even if she wasn't visibly shaken by the turn of events.

But she has seen it. She's seen how everything took another turn for the worse, taking it in with a shock that still hasn't left her system. Demons. Many of them, although unseen at the moment, are wild, active. A strong force to contend with.

One she is too familiar with.

The energy fluctuates as emotions run high all around her, from both Impulse and the people who have been going about their business up until this point. It's like getting hit in the face with buckets of water, pail and all.

How she manages with the speeds in the arms of the young speedster running them both toward Stark Tower is a mystery, but she nods, catching onto Impulse's idea without hesitation. "Hang on," she says, concentrating her focus on the path ahead of them. Her hands and arms barely move, but they gesture, leaving a portal yards away for them to cut their approximated Tower arrival in half of the time. It opens up near the top, where the room should be, where the demons are hanging out and planning their next move.

*

New York City: the City that Never Sleeps, Because of All the Infernal Monstrosities.

New York City: The Big Apple, Because the Apple is a Metaphor for the Original Sin, Get It, Because New York City is Currently Hell on Earth??

New York City, the Modern Gomorrah.

… …

Honestly, that one just speaks for itself.

These are just some of the many different colorful euphemisms Peter Parker has been coming up with as a method of compensation while he navigates his way through the air ducts of Stark Tower, current property of: A BUNCH OF DEMONS, NOT RELATED TO TONY STARK (probably? will have to double check). It's helped. A little bit. As a temporary distraction, at least. His coping measure against insanity.

He's been here, from the beginning. He's been spending more and more time at Stark Tower since Tony's run in with the Brotherhood, making use of their labs for various Secret Projects as well as aggressively analyzing the data and samples of the antigen Tony had supplied to him, when not checking up on the man in question. And he was in those labs when the entire building was suddenly taken over — when everything, everything, went to hell. Literally.

And his only thought since then has been trying to get to the man he owes so much to before other, worser things than he manage.

… There are things worse than Spider-Man out there. Shut up.

And so this brings us to now, as Jessica Jones stares down those demons, and the ventilation system above begins to groan as if in subtle agreement —

(("Yeah! You heard her, asshats! Back off!"))

— in not so subtle agreement —

(("Aw man. I totally blew my big surprise moment, didn't I?"))

Which is about when the vent blows open, and Spider-Man comes barreling feet first, to crash into the demon nearest Tony Stark's not-dead debatably-delicious body.

"Ta-DA! Spider Hard 2: Spider Harder is here! … no wait, that doesn't sound right. Hold on. Ugh, this would have been so much better if it was a surprise! Can I go back into the vents and try again?"

A second passes by. White lenses whirl into a squint.

"Whoa. Other people." And then they widen. "Scary Lady! I mean Jessica! You're alive! And scary! Holy crap!"

That's the sound of relief you hear.

*

All these demons may be ready to slice, dice, and savor an unconscious Tony Stark, but one devil has little interest in either eating the playboy billionaire or saving him, to be perfectly honest.

The Devil of Hell's Kitchen has two reasons for storming the castle tonight: Jessica Jones and Foggy Nelson. And since they're in the same Med Bay as Stark, it makes the red-clad vigilante part of the rescue team. He's in his uniform sans horned-helmet — that replaced with a scarlet bandana tied around the top part of his head. His weapon is new too: a black-hilted katana. Normally Daredevil isn't one for bladed weapons — too easy to cross that bright line of his.

But demons? Those he can kill. And you don't even have to see the look in his eyes as he creeps in the shadows, listening to the demons, listening to Owen's approach, preparing for the perfect moment to ambush. It's all about timing, you see —

And then Spider-Man is falling out the air-vent and onto the demons, and Daredevil sighs. Here goes nothing. He jumps up, blade in hand, and goes for the one with the crazy orb. Two years into his very weird new life, he knows by now that you take the spellcasters out first.

*

It's literally raining demons.

It's great.

And now Owen Mercer wants to take a group of them into the focal point of WHERE ALL THE DEMONS are coming from.

It's an extremely insane thing to do, but it's going to happen whether she thinks its sane (it's not) or insane (it is).

For this particular adventure Moonstar is dressed to the nines -

Reinforced uniform, her SHIELD issued gun, a hunting knife at her waist, her pow and quiver full of arrows, and a few bottles of holy water tucked away.

Did we mention the arrows? There are just so many of them.

"I have such a bad feeling about this." Mutters the Cheyenne woman as she arrives within the medical unit of Stark Tower. The sight of her fellow heroes nearby gives Dani a faint feeling of relief, but not much. Not with the amount of demons they're going to have to plough through.

The sound of a *twhip* can be heard as Moonstar lets loose with a steel-headed arrow at the nearest demon.

She aims for the heart, intending to use kill shots for this whole raiding party.

*

Franklin Percy Nelson — Foggy, for those who have just joined us — is just about five steps behind Jessica Jones in the corridor of Stark Tower, and scrambling even closer when they get to Tony's room. Let's take a quick stock: rumpled suit from two days holed up with Jessica Jones in Stark Tower (check); star-dotted tie loosened about neck (check); messenger bag still slung on shoulder (check); fire extinguisher strapped to back (check).

When Spider-Man comes crashing out of the ceiling and onto the demon, Foggy drops the nozzle of the extinguisher to his side with a huff of breath. "Hell giveth, Spider-Man taketh away." He ticks a glance toward Jess, and shrugs a shoulder.

And then Matt arrives — ahem, Daredevil. He raises his nozzle again, and this time blasts the nearest demon with continuous spray of flame retardant chemicals.

*

Aliens are real. Space goats are real. Demons are now real. A Boston-born Catholic, she's going to have to head to a service after all this is over. When she arrived back in Manhattan, it was not long after all hell broke loose; abusing driving skills learned from both her best friend and SHIELD driving courses, Sloane L. Albright was able to make it close enough to the Triskelion to get the cliff notes on the situation; outposts and barricaded areas being just safe enough to relay field information, and —

Tony Stark needs some aid.

Meeting with other would-be rescuers was a bit of a chaotic mess; a badge flashed, a big frown thrown here and there, and then, eventually, joining with the others to sneak inside Stark Tower. Her suit is fitted and custom-designed, a matte-material wetsuit that leaves her arms bared but zips up tight to her neck with panels of neoprene and ballistic weave; ginger red hair is tied back and high.

Merrow stays low until they arrive at the medical suites, lifting a handgun and stacking up with her back to a wall at a corner— fiery orange eyes almost glow, pupils drawn into tight vertical slits. She's … worried. Angry. A little scared, even. Training still holds, however, and so Sloane is counting her exits, keeping track of how many demons she's seen so far, and trying to work out— at least roughly— how close they are to Tony versus how close she is to them.

And then so, so many other people show up, and it makes her feel better about this whole thing. Waiting for Dani's first shot, she squats down and aims out from around the corner to start firing — this is no ICER, either, these are live rounds.

*

Harley Quinn didn't exactly come to New York all the way from Gotham for the sake of the comatose billionaire in the middle floor med bay. She also didn't come for the assortment of heroes and one ex who happen to be occupying this building. No, Harley Quinn managed to sneak aboard one of the last semi-trailers to come into the city with a new messenger bag full of toys and her mallet for the sake of her sister in Brooklyn and the infant in her sister's care. She made sure both of them were on one of the evacuation routes safely before turning her eyes towards the sharp cut of Stark Tower, and then she started making her way in that direction.

And then, having learned her lesson the FIRST time she tried this, she does not try going into the lobby. This time, Quinn goes in through the loading doc and gets much further? Miraculously. Turns out demons are a great distraction. So, here she is. Up in the heart of Tony Stark's proverbial castle. Never you mind her tennis shoes and knee high socks; she absolutely …. in no way whatsoever looks like she belongs here. But she does look super cute in her pigtails, khaki delivery uniform, and baseball cap. So focus on that, and the fact that she manages to spit herself out of a stairwell onto the proper floor where the one directory she thinks said she should go to get to those med bays. And she swings that comically large mallet low down by her ankle along her good, right side. "SO!" she chirps brightly, her blue eyes maniacally wide as she starts skipping down the halls towards the sound of trouble. "Who called fer a game of croquet?!"

Because, of course, she was very needed in this whole scenario. Not.

*

Weirdly, Caitlin wasn't at Titan Tower when the call went out. In fact she wasn't anywhere near them. The tall ginger lass had returned 'home' to Earth only a few hours prior, disoriented by a God's dying scream and the altered flow of time that had returned her to Earth. So— beeline to Stark Industries, uncertain of what she'll find, and increasingly concerned by the demon infestation clearly originating in the facility. The Javelin drops her off on a landing platform not far from where Tony's body is kept.

"Odin's beard," Caitlin whispers, surveing the carnage. She pushes something against her temple, and a silvery extrusion wraps towards her eye and down to the back of her neck. Light glimmers against her eyes. "FRIDAY, are you online?" she ventures, trying to contact the brain of the tower.

"Miss Fairchild, I'm online," the AI whispers to her headset. Caitlin sighs in relief. "Okay. Uh… patch me into the security grid."

Which is why, just as the party starts for real with guns and ICERs and extinguishes blazing, a screaming ginger-haired Nordic beauty smashes through a wall and goes straight into the nearest demon, the biggest one out of the pack. She wears leather hunting clothing with what looks like salvaged scrap of steel sewn to it, her hair pulled back into a tight fighting braid.

Out one wall, through the flying bullets and energy discharges and spider-webbings, and she smashes through a second wall with the demon in front of her. Both tumble into an unoccupied side room, and Caitlin immediately goes to straddle the beast and savagely pummel it with her bare fists.

*

Amora heads out to West Side.

*

Owen meanwhile is in full on Captain Boomerang regalia complete with jaunty boomerang pattern scarf. He was actually on his way to the medical units when he ran into the band of demons, which half explains why he's carrying a potted plant in front of him as he walks. Somehow he got it in his head that it was a good stealth tactic? He probably shouldn't have been drinking so heavily waiting for the right time to rescue Tony but he got bored. And drunk. And so he's coming in, kind of with the demons .. as a plant. None of the demons seem to notice. But once there is people attacking demons and more people piling into the room, he drops the plant to the ground and calls out,

"WAIT! Tony's not dead!! NOOO… totally alive."

Matt's katana finds no purchase in the demon sorceror, though his instincts are quite correct. The orb that was leading them casts some sort of protective field about him, which flares to repulse Matt and any other attacker in the area.

Dani's arrow strikes the demonic beast directly in the heart. Or where a heart might be. It looks down at the arrow, frowns, breaks it off and picks it's teeth with it. "Does this mean we can't eat them?" At least it doesn't seem too perturbed that it was just shot, that's kind of good.

The extinguisher powder coats the nearest demon to Foggy who opens his mouth and asks, "MORE?" before sticking the nozzle directly into it's mouth.

There are a slew of smaller demons running about the halls. Some are apparently playing frisbee with ceiling tiles, while others do keg stands with the water cooler. But their playfulness ceases when the bullets start up. And what was once five, now looks more like fifty knee high demons coming down the hall, chanting "EAT THEM!" "BEAT THEM!" over. And over. The good news is that the bullets seem to take them out. The bad news is that their numbers keep growing.

Caitlin manages to take the largest demon out of the room and into another and start beating it. And the demon? It laughs. "YAY! I love wall-smash-face-beat! Best game!" And with that, it attempts to throw Caitlin off of his body, before hopping to it's feet and diving for her midsection, hoping to return the favor.

Inside the Medbay amidst all of the attacks, the sorcerer calls out. "WAAIIT! If Stark is alive, we need proof!"

"YEA?! WHY IS HE LYING THERE ALL DEAD LIKE?"

"IT'S A TRICK!"

Owen exchanges a few glances with folks in the room and shrugs, "Yea. He's just sleeping. Let's uhh, wake him up?" He looks at Jess and Spiderman who happen to be closer to Tony and gives them a look that hopefully persuades them to try and play along for the moment.

*

"Spider Hard 2. Spider Harder. Bug, anyone ever tell you that you got a serious phrasing problem?"

Despite Jessica's dry tone, there's warmth there. There's even amusement. And hey, she can deal with being alive and scary. Better than near dead and significantly less scary.

Abruptly, the rest of the rescue team is there, from Matt going for the spellcaster to Foggy…going all fire extinguisher on them. "I thought I told you to hide," she grumps at Foggy, even as she surges forward. Time to see about maybe throwing a demon who likes eating foam out a window or something. Because that, too, is one of those things that is on the list of Permissable Things to Do to Demons that is not really on the list of Permissable Things to Do to Humans.

Whether or not she is successful in this endeavor, here is Mercer trying to get her to play along in a con against demons involving waking up a comatose Tony. Her helpful contribution to this is a long, "Uhhhhhhhhhhh…"

That's her. Totally playing along.

*

Magic is awesome and as weird as it is getting teleported through whatever dark sort of shadow trickery Raven has at her beck and call, Impulse still finds the whole experience exhilarating. His grin is brief as he charges on through, and then it freezes there as they step into the medbay of Stark tower, only to find…that there's a party going on already.

"Whoa, um… wha…"

Impulse stands there stock still for all of a handful of seconds while he takes in everything, eyes sweeping the room, noting demons, familiar faces, very familiar faces, and the like. "Grife…" The future curse is sure getting its run today as he sets Raven down. Then he starts pointing.

"Demons, obviously bad. Owen- Hey!" He continues his sweep of the medbay, blinking. It's good to see Jess up on her feet again, but it seems hardly the time for exchanging pleasantries. Besides, there won't be anything left and he's hardly one to stand there for long.

"Goin' in," he says to Raven, right before he's just plain gone from her side, the jagged sole of a shoe finding itself embedded into the face of another demon as he kicks one not a second later.

*

What timing. As soon as they enter the scene, everything is already in motion. Chaotic motion. And she and Impulse pause to take in what's going down.

"…Well then."

Now set down, Raven…isn't sure what to make of the demons. The smaller ones, anyway. They get an arched brow hidden within the confines of her hood. Still, they are just as much of a threat as the large ones are, and the latter are being taken care of in one way or another. Like, she knows a few of the people involved right now, and registers Owen once Impulse calls out to him. But she nods wordlessly as the speedster goes to do his thing, shifting to try using more of her magics to keep the other demons away from the Tony-ridden bed. Flat-sided dark barriers are in and that's what she's going to work with.

*

Bug, anyone ever tell you that you got a serious phrasing problem?

"Look — I get it, okay?? It's not my proudest moment. That's why I'm calling a mulligan! Okay, so, unconscious guy, you can stay unconscious. Other demons? Just… forget I was here. I'll hop back in, you say something super ominous and then —"

Or maybe a bunch of other superheroes and Assorted Extras can come plowing in and engage the rest of the demons while Spider-Man is mid-negotiation. Spider-Man stands there in the midst of the wreckage, one finger raised skywards. Lenses shutter in a blink.

"-and then well maybe that could happen sure."

Spider-Man looks around him, with the approximation of a wince. And so he whispers, consolingly, to the fallen:

"Sorry, guys. Next time, okay??"

A second passes.

"I mean. Uh. For those of you who aren't dead. Obviously."

People going for killing blows would disturb him more. But, they're demons. He's not even sure demons can die. Where would they even go? Hell again? And Hell is already here, so would they just come here again? These thoughts are quickly dismissed before they can become even more confusing to the poor wall-crawler, shaking his head and taking an assessment of the people here as he ducks, weaves, and flips his way around scattering demons. Lots of people. Some familiar, some not, some recognizable by reputation or from the news. Some —

Hell giveth, Spider-Man taketh away.

instantly establish themselves as endearing.

"Wow, that's a good one!" exclaims the vigilante as he leaps over the large demon Caitlin drags into the adjacent room. "Can I borrow that? I'll credit you, I just-" he gestures widely here, mid-flip, "-think I'm gonna be getting a lotta mileage out of it. Just a guess. Whoops one sec-" And here, Spider-Man attempts to web the face of the demon assaulting Foggy's makeshift weapon with a mighty -=thwip=- "So, what do you go by? The Fireman? The Extraordinary Extinguisher??" Using a fire extinquisher to fight Hell honestly feels like sound tactics to him.

He's continue on — he has a WEALTH of things to say now that he's in the same room as THE DAREDEVIL and he's WIELDING A KATANA — but for right now, they're tabled (don't worry, he's definitely coming back to that) because there's something more pressing that steals his attention. Namely, the demands of those demons. And Owen's suggestion. Wake him up?

"Don't you think I've tri-" begins Spider-Man, helpfully. And then those lenses widen with realization. Oh. Ohhhhhhh. He pauses. Considers. And then, slowly, Spider-Man reaches out, to shake Tony Stark's shoulder.

"Mister Stark," he calls, a rousing wake up call that would stir anyone from their slumber, in what is definitely his previously-established voice. And then, seconds later, comes another voice:

"Yes! Hello, I am awake now! This is me, Tony Stark! I love scotch and women and robots and scotch! Now I have to go do important business things! My butler is Skynet!"

Which is definitely NOT Spider-Man speaking. Because it's deeper. Almost comically so. Which Spider-Man's voice is definitely not. As previously established.

Spider-Man shares a Spider-Wink with Jessica Jones, on the fly.

It's. Fool. Proof.

*

Demons here, demons there, demons swarming round and round. Atli, being an expert at such things, knew exactly what to do. Following the proud tradition learned from the Lord of Stars, the new saddle for her beast of burden has a most excellent boom box. This was the first step, you see. One must set the mood. It brings a siren's call, born of a master bard from an age past, where the hair was much better, the outfits were much better, and verily, the music did sound mighty.

Queen's 'Princes of the Universe' blares through the air, uninterrupted by the sound of an onery goat.

Because Atli is not flying on a goat.

No, her good friend had sadly gone missing, a temporary setback. Likely, the goat was doing a little soul searching after eating literally all of the ice cream in Tony Stark's immense kitchen.

So, Atli was on a bit of a loaner. Perhaps just as cantankerous, stubborn, and foolish, her 'loaner' mount cut through the sky and through swirling, flying demons with equal ease as the Girl of Thunder looked to her little tracking watch, tuned to a very specific Brightscale.

Tilting the beast downward, she pulls her spear from her back and raises it to the sky. Clouds gather. Lightning froths at the edges. Thunder rolls and tumbles and shakes the very windows of Stark Tower.

Woe be the demons near those windows, for a moment later, in a burst of rainbow light and unending teeth, the great, massive maw of SLOWJAW, SPACE SHARK, breaches through. It's roar is immense. It's hunger.. immense..er.

CHOMP.

Lasers fire from it's nostrils, sending demonflesh asunder as it chomps and chomps, Atli bucking back and forth atop the creature as her music plays. Unfortunately, without legs, the space shark must simply wiggle and bash it's way forward, which of course makes this all very awkward as it takes awhile.

On the other hand, the little demons are running.

"That's right, foolish demons! Cower before the might of SLOWJA-"

The shark smashes into a wall, and Atli winces, pulling on the reins.

"Verily shark, watch where you're going! We must leave enough of Lord Stark's tower intact that the hated Lannisters still know the bitter taste of jealousy. That way! Onward to Sloane Brightscale, Child of Wehrsweir! ONWARD, TO VICTORY!!"

A moment later the heroes will be greeted by the sound of a wall crumbling and the shark, exhausted, panting where it lay.

"Very well, stupid shark, I shall walk the rest of the way." And she does, stepping out to look at all those gathered, a big, bright smile fixed in there direction amidst an over-zealous wave to Sloane.

Of course, it's about that time that Spider-Man seems to rouse Tony Stark, and as she listens to 'Tony' speak calls in his direction. "So glad to hear you are alive Lord Stark!"

Atli, failing insight checks for days.

*

A disembodied voice with a tart Scottish accent warbles from a voicebox. "I'll thank you NOT to call me Skynet, sirrah," says FRIDAY in a smart retort.

From the direction of the disintegrated wall comes a long, pealing giggle of someone appreciating the reference.

*

Tony Stark arrives from West Side.

*

Everything's fine. Everything's fine.

A frown pulls Dani's expression downward as her arrow embeds into the creature's chest but doesn't kill it. Almost a second arrow is reached for, but at the sight of Sloane's bullets doing a better job Moonstar slips her bow over her shoulder and unholsters her gun.

"We're going to have to be conservative with our bullets." The Cheyenne woman states to Sloane, "Or we're going to be in trouble."

The arrival of more heroes drags Dani's eyes briefly away and when Harley Quinn is seen, and her uniform?, Dani can't help but frown slightly. Not that it stops her from saying, "They asked for a game. Aim for their heads."

OF COURSE, the discussion about whether Tony is dead or not pulls at Moonstar's attention, and the black-haired woman flicks a look over her shoulder. She listens to what Owen (ARE YOU DRUNK) says, then Spider-Man's add-ons and the Cheyenne can only mutter, "Dammit."

THEN the windows and wall implodes with the arrival of Atli (and shark) and that drags Moonstar's attention right back around.

While she reflexively ducks low from those explosions the woman still gets a good look at all the chaos and all she can do is stare. For a minute. Then, "Spirits help us."

*

The Med Bay is pandemonium, between busted windows and shark mounts and speedsters and spider-men and a small platoon of demons. Daredevil tries, amid all the many assaults on his senses, to focus on what is important. He can hear Jessica and Foggy, and they're alive.

Owen is making his gambit, Spider-Man is playing along. It's all so much background noise, and Daredevil uses the distraction to…

…kill some stuff. Without guilt, or handwringing, or fear. And while he'd never admit it, not in a million years: God, he kind of loves it. "You okay?" he has the presence of mind to shout at Foggy as he slashes.

*

When the demon grabs for the nozzle, Foggy stumbles forward a bit due to the pulling pressure on the nozzle. He blinks in surprise at being so up close and personal with the demonspawn, but it does give him the opportunity to do one thing:

He unslings the extinguisher off his back and slams the heavy bottom of the metal cylinder right into the demon's temple. Then he bodily slams the extinguisher across the top of its skull in a double-tap move that is entirely fear and adrenaline driven.

"All yours!"

He turns sharply toward Jess. "Tell me, Jones… where the hell am I going to hide? I've watched Supernatural. The demons always find the dude hiding in the closet, and I'm sorry… but there's not a Winchester in sight who is going to find me before I get my face eaten. Or worse: possessed."

Because there are things that are worse than death.

So, what do you go by?

"Foggy," Nelson says to Spider-Man. "I'm Mr. Stark's lawyer."

Then he turns to Matt, shouting back. "Great! Hey… I brought a bible. Tell me how to use it on demonspawn!"

*

Do you ever get the feeling that you got the invitation to the wrong party? That's kiiiiinda how Harley's feeling as there are clearly a bunch of people who seem to be okay on a team-up. And then suddenly a laser shark and everything somehow gets… better?

Because why shouldn't it?

"YOU GUYS SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME THERE WAS A PARTY." Her mallet swipes at a demon that gets too close with a squeal of joy as - to Dani's suggestion - she aims for the head, although the room isn't quite spacious enough for her to feel like she can really open up. "Like, I feel I know enough of you in this room that I'm feelin' hurt that I had to sneak in like some common thief. I mean…" Swipe! "…not that there's anythin' wrong with thieves. …I really shouldn't have used the word 'common'. It's crass, I know. I mean…" BASH. "Is it really such a crime ta jes' be sufficient atcher job? HAHAHA. Crime! ANYWAY. Back ta the serious point: Jes' because ya ain't a superstar don't mean ya gotta have a complex! ….'Course, if ya can be a superstar, by all means, do be a superstar."

During this time, Quinn has managed to duck and sprint and bash things out of her way to cross the room to a gift basket on one of the side tables. And she sets her mallet down against the wall. Why? So that she can pick up a medium-sized bottle-shaped thing.

And point its mouth towards the ceiling. And pull a cord. And, to the tune of a loud POP, shower the room in confetti, glitter, curling string, and candy. She shrieks, overcome. "OH EM GEE, I SHOULDA BROUGHT A BOOMBOX! Best party in ages!"

*

Caitlin and the demon go down in a tumble of leather, claws, brimstone, and red hair. She's far from some crude brawler, though, and ends up behind the demon with an arm around its throat and her legs wrapped around its elbows, immobilizing it.

"FRIDAY! Tag all hostile nonhuman entities! Code: Intruder. Add to-" she grunts, twisting her arm as if trying to unscrew the demon's head. "Add to riot control, implement full lockdown, and flag clear exit paths for any Stark Employees still in the building!"

"EXECUTE!" she commands. Stark Industries starts going into lockdown mode, FRIDAY given permission to treat the demons as hostile armed intruders. Doors start sliding and locking into place. Elevators are offlined and security grids flicker into existence. Anyone except SI employees are going to have a hard time getting around quickly.

*

The demons all peer intently at Stark and then at Jessica who seems unsure about any of this. They confer amongst each other with grumbles and complaints, mostly about wanting t cook them or just eat them. But the fear of their mistress keeps them from starting in on the feasting of humans and metas assembled.

Bart's kicks confuse the demons more than anything, as they can't quite see what is causing the sudden pain in their faces. They keep their feet, even the tall spindly ones with long wicked looking claws and teeth. They swat at the air and one or two even at each other but it's little more than a distraction from the discussion of wether they should eat them all.

The demon trying to eat the fire extinguisher gets a face full of spider-webbing that sticks the end of the extinguisher in it's mouth in a messy sticky bit of business. Foggy is still able to use the base to get in a good solid couple whacks on it's head, but then it yanks it's head away only to yank the extinguisher base out of Foggy's hands and swing it wildly about smacking demons and anyone too close alike.

The katana that Daredevil wields does in fact have a much better effect on the beast now swinging an extinguisher by it's face like a jacked up elephant demon. It bellows in pain and lunges blindly at Foggy and Daredevil, It's clawed hands the size of dining chair, it's quite a force to be reckoned with.

Outside the medical unit, the demons are sorely routed by the appearance of space shark, screaming as they are sliced in half by nostril lasers. But then a wall appears and fells the noble beast. And mere moments after Atli's departure her once mount is encased in a steaming pile of demons trying to either ride it or eat it or eat it while riding. It's unclear both to the observer and the demons themselves.

Owen meanwhile has gone quiet and ducked off to the side, back behind the tall office plant. He is squatting down and has pulled off his mask, that he is fiddling with at high speed. "JARVIS, I could use a little help with some image files please a full 3d scan of Tony. I'm sure he's vain enough to have one handy." JARVIS responds quietly to Owen and a few moments later, with a casting off of his scarf he stands. But instead of Owen Mercer, there stands a reasonable Tony Stark. His mask was meant to obscure his face, but with a couple tweaks and healthy dose of Tony's ego in digital format, it doubles fairly well as an image inducer.

"Actually. I'm right here. And frankly, I'm a little annoyed that anyone mistook that sad sleeping beauty knock-off over there for me." Owen's mimicry for once comes in handy for more than cracking jokes. "Now then… take me to your mistress. So I can woo her with my witty jokes, dashing good looks and complete lack of awareness for when to stop hitting on a dangerous powerful woman." Sometimes it helps that Owen and Tony have a few things in common. Well, at least the last part.

And with that Owen is backing out of the room, slow enough that he knows he can be followed, but quick enough when needed to avoid being grabbed. Even wearing Tony's face, the look he gives the room is clearly one of *This is as far as I have thought this through*. It's a look many of them might know well.

He only pauses at the shower of glitter as if seeing for the first time, one hard to miss Clown Princess of Crime.

"HARLEY?! … Seriously?"

The demons in the medley, the largest and most wicked looking in the building all turn and follow after Owen. Their claws sharp, their minds … less so. But the shrewd sorcerer looks between the now speaking 'dead' Tony and the newly arrived alive 'Tony'. It's yellows eyes narrow and slowly it begins to speak a wicked spell, drawing in energies with words from long dead tongues. Oddly though it ends with an English incantation,

"Curse their shooting sticks, and tiny dicks and most importantly no. more. tricks!"

Besides being kind of mean spirited about size issues of the human race, the most important effect that flares out from the orb is that meta powers, mutant powers, magical powers and most technology suddenly becomes 'hexed'. Owen finds that trying to access his speed now slows him down. His image inducer of Tony's face? It keeps blinking in and out. Likewise others in the group might find that all does not go as they are used to it working. The elevators that were just locked down … now open. The security grid, randomly zaps heroes and demons alike.

*

A spider-wink tossed to Jessica Jones produces an increasingly skeptical look. One brow draws way up. The other brow draws way down. Her eye squints slightly and her lips press into an unimpressed line. "I guess it was inevitable someone was gonna try and Weekend at Bernies this bitch. I guess it was inevitable it would be Spidey."

Princes of the Universe is playing. Well, that's not a bad choice.

That's…that's a shark. And someone falling for the routine.

And then Foggy…kind of making valid points. Jessica's mouth draws down in a 'yeah okay, valid, gotcha' expression as her head tilts from one side to the other, eyebrows lifting upward to complete it and…

Oh hey, that's a demon club coming for her head. She leaps out of the way of the thing and skids backwards a bit, coming to a halt beside Foggy. She has a little holy water on her, she always does, but it's not enough for this.

But heeeere's Owen about to be in over his head. Jessica drop kicks a demon out the window the space shark came through, then mutters to Foggy and Daredevil, "I can't let that idiot go alone." She sprints in the direction of her friend, adding darkly, "Here I am, 'Stark.' Once again blown away by your…'Starkness.'"

*

Well, at least their gift basket surprises are being put to good use. Somewhat?

"Harley!" Impulse's exclamation while surprised seems more in a welcoming of a friend than Owen's shout. Oh hey bro. Kinda met your ex but didn't know how to broach that subject with you?

It's a fleeting thought as the speedster zips in and out between demons, sneaking in a punch or two amidst his kicks, but it doesn't look like they're quite as effective as other things. At least he can still keep some track of what's happening around Tony. Sort of? Seriously, what was Spider-Man doing there? And then suddenly- another Tony? Wait, no, that's—

Quite abruptly he finds himself being jerked out of his mad dash around the room, for a moment thinking that he'd gotten his foot caught on something. Instead he still finds himself crashing to the floor near Owen Stark's feet, stunned both from the landing and the realization. "Whu…"

It's like his energy's been suddenly sapped, his head swimming as it takes him a moment to come to grasp with what happened. Slow, everything's so slow- and when you're so used to processing everything so much faster it makes for a bit of lag to readjust.

Up. He should…get on his feet again. Because he's on the floor. Ow. At least he didn't run headlong into a wall?

*

"Ah, spirits, as you wish, fair archer. Asgard has much to spare. Also, do I know you? Have we met in exactly this place once before?" This, to Dani, as Atli offers her a flask of something not of this world. Something certainly fine to drink though. The way Atli's smile is just a little lopsided, the way she squints against the light, wellllll. Maybe that flask could be fuller.

Do not judge her, it has been a long few weeks.

Her gaze is drawn in short order, however, to the woman with the mallet, eyes wide as she watches Harley dance in confetti and declare her need for a boombox. "DO NOT WORRY!" She calls, over the growing crescendo of demons trying to rip into space-shark. "I HAVE ONE OVER HER-" She points with her spear.

The music cuts out.

The demons are eating her boombox.

One of Atli's hands comes to her chin to give a fitful rub, and then she gathers her power, gathers her rage, swirling and churning and focused, and then she unleashes it in the direction of the demons, intent on sending a rending chain of bolts through them all!!

…annnnnnd at the tip of her spear, there's a little static discharge.

Her hair puffs out, suddenly filled with static electricity,

In fact, everyone's hair will suffer in this way, and touching everything gives a tiny but joltsum little shock.

"What.. the Hel?"

Incredulous, Atli gives a bit of a huff, watching as a claw rakes across poor SLOWJAW's head, his lasers going up in a puff of choking smoke. "KNOW THIS, SPAWN OF SURTUR, YOU SHALL NOT HARM MY BELOVED SHARK, FOR I HAVE JUST FINISHED PAINTING SPEED-ANTENNA UPON HIS FOREHEAD! HE IS NOT FOR EATING!!"

And then Atli leaps at the furious creatures, sending Jarnbjorn reforged, made to cleave through Celestial armor and forged in Thor's own blood to the task of scattering the demons this way and that, wide swings meant to dislodge the creatures as much as rend them through. A forceful kick here, a punch there. Those powers she might call upon have failed her.

Her namesake and paradigm, betrayed her.

But she is still mighty.

Sortof.

Even here she finds herself sapped of much of her strength, but yet enough remains to let her wield a weapon that shall not lose her edge, and she sets it to good use, turning demonic attention from her beloved shark and too her.

They pile upon her, all save for one, who is snatched up in SLOWJAW's jaws the moment it turns it's back.

*

Foggy.

"Well, it's not quite the Extraordinary Extinguisher, but it's got a nice ring to it — Fabulous Foggy, maybe??"

I'm Mr. Stark's lawyer.

"You're a lawyer?? I could really use a lawyer! Do you work for free? Or close to free? Or for autographs? Or life advice? I'm pretty good at one of those."

He'll let Foggy decide which one. HINT: IT ABSOLUTELY ISN'T LIFE ADVICE NEVER COME TO SPIDER-MAN FOR LIFE ADVICE (most of the time)

But, there are more important things to worry about now. Like distractions. And the demons kind o trying to figure out whether or not they're buying it. Beneath his mask, Peter Parker frowns. Weekend at Bernie's this, Jessica mentions.

"Is that a new Netflix show or something??" Spider-Man whispers in response.

He's probably joking.

… Probably.

But. He needs to sell this. Quickly. And so, with a sly application of webbing, Spider-Man seeks to tug Tony upward into a lurching, seated position and a bold declaration of, "Sorry, I must go do something a rich person would do, such as buy the moon! Perhaps we could discuss this further over scotch served by my robot bartender sometime! Also, if one of you is a woman, I am honestly not sure, but assume I flirted with you and you found it deeply compelling!"

And with this, the webbed vigilante will seek to drag Tony upward…

… which is exactly when 'Tony' appears. Spider-Man pauses. He squints.

"Uhh. Yeah. There's Tony! And that's not confusing or suspicious at all! This is just… his twin… Brony?"

Sorry, Tony. It was the first thing that came to mind.

And thus, as the demons are distracted, Spider-Man drags Tony's body upward, intent to sling an arm over his shoulder to start dragging his mentor-slash-headache out of the rapidly overstuffed and extremely chaotic room. "'Scuse me, pardon me, nice mallet, Brony coming through here-"

When that spell starts to conjure. And Owen's disguise starts to flicker and fall.

"Oh crap," squeaks Spider-Man. And then he scrambles, in that deeper voice,

"Okay! Gotta go buy a moon and enjoy a nice almond smoothie! Brony Stark, OUT!"

At which point Spider-Man starts to drag Tony a little bit faster out the door.

"Hey… Daredevil, maybe not the best time, but — are you — is this like — a rebranding thing? Like — are you becoming Daresamurai? Or Dareninja? Because I was thinking like maybe — crossover?" A dragging that is becoming increasingly more draggy over time as his PROPORTIONATE SPIDER STRENGTH starts to wane and fluctuate wildly. He can juggle cars! Now he's kind of bumping Tony's ass into doorways as he struggles with both hands to carry him out the door.

"Nngh okay yeah maybe — not the — best time — we'll circle back — to that! Spider-Man — and — Dareninja — Demon Hunters-! One's a surly — curmudgeon who — follows the code of bushido — the other's a — wild card with — nothing to lose — except everything-! Think about it-! OH MY GOD MISTER STARK WHY ARE YOU SO HEAVY"

THUD

Sorry, Tony's ass.

*

Confetti. It's everywhere. Raven finds herself covered in glitter bits and string, thanks to Harley's enthusiasm, candy bites bouncing off of her as she tries to do another casting.

"…Azarath," she begins agains after a pause, hiding her annoyance as her hands held upward, eyes still glowing white. Her words are barely audible, but the resonance echoes off of the walls. "Mentrion-"

And then her body shudders. "-Hngh!" She doesn't even get to the third word once the hex is cast, the clash of energies draining her despite being half of what the rest of demons are. The color of her eyes return as she sees that Tony is getting moved - or, at least, an attempt to move him out of the way is being made.

And Spidey being Spidey.

Hunching forward, swaying, and trying to stay on her feet, Raven moves, darting past some demons like a tangible shadow to get to where Spider-Man is. "What are you even doing," she says, a breadth of a decibel louder than normal, dropping onto her knees once she gets there. Pale hands reach over to try dragging the body as well, weak as they are, her grasp tightening around the unconscious man's arm.

*

Nelson blinks in bewilderment at Spider-Man, and then he looks over to Daredevil. "Um." He looks back to Spider-Man. "You know, I'm already on retainer for the Defenders, so what's one more. Sure. We can discuss, um… compensation for services then."

Asgardian Rubies, Teenage Vigilante Life Advice… he's starting to miss the cherry pies from Mrs. Ramirez. At least that was normal tender. Then he's starting to get himself all sorted out, and when Spider-Man complains about Tony's, um, bodily weight, the lawyer steps up to help lug the unconscious billionaire around.

How many people does it take to carry Iron Man out of his suit? Let's count…

*

Caitlin groans in complaint with everyone else. She feels weak— desperately weak— and the powerful demon roars as her arms go limp, tearing one limb free from her expert jointlock. If she hadn't relaxed at just that moment, it's possible it might have broken her shin in half with a sharp *snap*.

So she grabs the plasma pistol from her hip, jams it against the back of the demon's skull, and pulls the trigger. Zap. Blorp. No more demon.

She hauls to her feet, gasping in distress, and hobbles to the others.

A young woman about 5'5" staggers into the room, looking a little disoriented and wearing armor-plated fur at least ten sizes too big for her. "Wh- what's happening?" Caitlin squeaks, in an uncertain tone. She shifts her grip on the big gun to both hands, unable to hold it aloft single-handedly anymore. "I d-don't feel right."

She shakes it off, mustering her strength, and limps towards Raven and Spidey. A demon surges at them and Caitlin swings the gun up at it. She overcorrects, clipping it across the shoulder, and the recoil almost tears the gun out of her hands.

"I can't see!" she cries out, angry and uncertain. "Someone help, I think I'm going blind!" She starts tugging at her oversized clothing and shrugs out of it, the fur and armor clattering to the floor. She wears a dull grey bodysuit beneath it, and dear god someone get that girl a sandwich— Caitlin looks like she weighs maybe ninety-five pounds soaking wet, and fumbles along the wall with one hand on it for balance as she tries to get to where Spidey and Raven are, squinting heavily. "H-hey, we can get out through the service corrdiors," she says, patting Spidey's shoulder frantically to get his attention. "I can manually code us through them."

*

Glitter rains down and Moonstar's expression turns incredulous. How can it not? There's glitter and little streamers falling downward to intermingle with demons.

Sparkly Demons.

It's very surreal.

Atli's voice and question pulls at Moonstar's attention, and the adopted Valkyrie of Asgard can't quite stop the quirk of a wry smile that tilts a corner of her mouth up. "Not quite the spirits I meant." She says dryly, "And I think we have. There was a pigeon and you had a .. goat." Though clearly not today, as Moonstar's eyes twitch over to SLOWJAW.

And while more idle chitchat should be had this isn't exactly the time or place. Especially as the hex reaches outward to steal everyone's power. It's enough to cause the former Demon Bear herald to sway, as her senses swim with the magic that swarms all around the group.

When Atli reaches for her powers only to find static, Moonstar's hair tries to poof. It really does, but thanks to her braids it doesn't quite get there.

Hearing the others and seeing the changes, Moonstar figures the spell was bad and while she doesn't reach for her psychic powers, she does reach for an arrow and her bow. The arrow gets quickly nocked even as the Cheyenne steps toward Owen-Stark. "So, what's the plan exactly? I feel like we're going off book here."

*

As Rachel and Spidey and others begin to drag Tony away. There comes…a sound….

A horrible sound. Like a dozen voices all in the worst harmony imaginable. All…singing? Maybe you can call it that. There isn't any words involved…

It is just loud.

"DADA! DADADADA~DADA~! DADA~DADADADADADA~! DADA! DADADADADA~! DADADA! DADADA! DADA!"

And around the bend in the corridor in front of them comes…about a half dozen imps. Carrying a palanquin. Atop said carrier is an odd sight in a room full of odd sights.

A slightly larger Imp. One that seems to have looted quite possibly every desk in the tower at this point to make his fine raiment. A circlet, a long flowing shiny metal cape, a short scepter. Some cuffs. A pair of bootlets.

All made completely out of paperclips. Every inch of it out of shiny twisted bits of metal. He jingles with every step his minions make.

Of course the strange persession stops as they see the heroes. And Stark.

The 'song' falls silent.

And the imp points at Stark and his rescuers.

"KING CLIPPY DEMANDS THEIR SHINIES!!!"

This could be bad.

*

Daredevil ducks and weaves and slashes and impales, dispatching the larger demon after Foggy and himself, all with another rushing thrill. His world has gone //literally/ to hell, he's thrown aside all his usual fetters, and it's genuinely unsettling just how exhilarating, even cathartic it all is.

So much so that when Spider-Man starts talking at him a mile a minute, he actually smiles. "Yeah, have your agent call my agent," he throws back at that mountain of words, with a gesture towards Foggy as his designated representative.

If he was ever going to say anything more, it's lost, because right about then his 'world on fire' — the strange map he makes of existence around him — is doused by the magician's spell. He freezes, his whole body taking on a line of tension. He's a deer in the proverbial headlights. "Nelson," he says, somehow having the presence of mind to use Foggy's last name instead of anything more familiar. "I — I can't — " his voice drops a few notes, enough to carry but not be heard too much beyond the pair, and to convey an understated sort of panic. "I can't see. Anything."

Of course, it's so much worse than that. The whole vibrant, chaotic scene around him has dulled, billions of sensory data points disappearing like stars winking out of existence.

*

Also from a side corridor comes the sounds of…treads? And a whirring engine? But that isn't really the imeadeate problem.

*

The cockiness that comes with being able to dodge at superspeed when needed works very much against Owen in this moment. Just as he should be zipping out of the grasps of the foot long claws of a tall skinny demon with purple skin, he finds instead that he is grasped. "You aren't Tony Stank…?" It's still a question, despite the now malfunctioning mask that flashes between Tony and Owen and a blurred face that's hard to tell what it is. Owen tries to protest, but he's so thrown off his game that he only gets a half a word out before a long claw pierces his chest. "FUCK!" The eloquent yell, and the pain help Owen focus though and he pushes off the claw and draws a boomerang. No tricks. No flames. No gravity tech. Nope, just a sharp edge and the ability to throw. The boomerang slices through the arm of the would be TonyOwen groper, but sadly lodges in a wall instead of returning, he's going to need all of those tonight it seems. In answer to Dani's question, Owen calls out "We're goin' up!! Come get some.." and he heads for the stairs, hoping at least the main larger demons follow him.

The demons squabbling over the space shark are easily swatted away, even without Asgardian god level strength. But there are just an awful lot of them is the issue. And they have sharp pointy bits, like teeth and claws and tails and some other appendage that no one wants to question because it just gets super weird, really fast. Regardless they swarm and bite and are very numerous, but at least for now they are mostly interested in the shark. Poor shark.

One of the demons sees Bart fall and puts together the blurring kicks from earlier. It snarls and grabs at him. "You! Not so fast now are you blurry fast guy." These demons are terrible at nicknames. They should be ashamed, but they're too busy being evil and eating people.

Jessica for her part draws the attention of the sorcerer, who reaches out to grab her. He's not as fast, or as blood thirsty as the rest, but he's certainly wicked looking and just as ready to try and take a bite out of someone.

*

Powers are fizzling, and it takes Jessica a moment to notice. Namely because she is often very lazy, and rarely uses the full extent of hers. Hell, a lot of times she doesn't even so much as use a fraction of them.

She doesn't even notice on her own accord. It's everyone else's that slowly get her attention, arching her eyebrows as she lifts her very tiny, very feminine hands up to stare at them. "Aw, crap," she mutters, faced with the possibility of dealing with all this demon nonsense as a waif-like thing who probably can't even bench a toddler.

Good thing she's got the gun. She draws that. While recoil was never something she had to care about before, her tiny hands were. So the Sig Sauer P 227 she carries doesn't really have much of one. It is, after all, known for its slim, ergonomic grip.

But she hears the croak from Matt. The warning that he can't see anything. And she pales just a bit. Oh. Shit.

And it's right about then that she gets grabbed by a sorcerer who catches her soundly. She lets out a snarling list of curses in response. She is at the wrong angle to just throw him, something she's been taught to do regardless of strength, so she just tries to get the gun around to attempt to shoot him through the stomach. That probably means she's not going up with Owen and others on Team Distraction after all, because between this and Matt's sudden inability to function the way he normally functions she ends up missing the boat. Well. Stair procession, but same-same.

*

The imps, the palanquin, the splendor of King Clippy — it's all very impressive. Ridiculous, maybe, but still threatening when everyone has lost their powers. It could be a significant obstacle —

BLAM

That's about when the two imps carrying the front of the palanquin are blown the hell away, in a smear of red, by something that sounds a lot like .50 cal.

"What in the FUCK is going on here?!" Bucky Barnes wants to know, as he rolls out of an air vent close to the ceiling and drops to the floor, looking like he made his way here through 'most of the ventilation system,' really. He doesn't usually go all the way to the f-bomb, but 'hell' didn't seem like the right word at the moment.

*

There's a boombox! Atli has saved the party! "GREAT!" Harley cries, desperately affirming. Someone understands. Someone knows how important it is to have the right mood music that is PRESENTLY BEING EATEN BY DEMONS.

"HEY!" Harley bellows, her face contorting into an expression of outrage, disappointment, and horror. "WE WERE USING THAT."

With her right hand, Harley picks up her beloved Mister Smiley, and with a tap of her heel and swing of her mallet that would make Chaplin proud, sets it back up on her shoulder.

But… then Owen. "HEY," she continues, still in the heat of her irritation. Her off-hand points in his direction with heat. "Shut yer trap, B. Yer not the boss of me." The hand settles on her breastbone and her chin lifts indignantly. "I'm as free as the late summer slash mid-autumn breeze and I go where I please!"

As the parties begin to split, however, the harlequin is very split on the matter as to which way to go. With the Ex? With the !Ex that she actually came to check in on? …After a glower in Owen's direction, she shoves a couple of the popper bottles in her messenger bag - because Stark is CLEARLY not using them - and follows the actual Stark.

And to the demands of shinies? Her face once more lights back up as she snaps her way through emotions like a rubber band. "OOH! I HAVE THOSE!" And … yeah, she's definitely going to shoot another one of those poppers. Because now it's partying for a cause. Do any of you remember the theme song from the Banana Splits? Yeah, you might wanna look that up. Because that is exactly what Harley Quinn begins singing.

*

Okay, so this is bad. Impulse can see that plain as day as others around him start to have their own problems, even if some aren't as obvious as others. Raven's still cool as a cucumber. Spidey is still…Spidey. He glances towards the door as Caitlin comes in, staring a moment, perhaps in shock because, well, usually she's a lot taller?

So. Many. Things. Happening at once and it's hard to focus. He may not be speedy any more but he's still super distracted. Only problem with that is he can't actually keep track of even half as many things as he might have a moment ago.

For instance, the sudden attention of one of the demons. He'd only just started to push himself up when he finds his arm grabbed, and he flinches at the growly demon. "Ah…haha…guess I'm just having a bad day?" he says, forcing a sheepish smile before he attempts to swing his free fist into the demon's nose.

*

"Right — team up of the century-! Just — don't die, Dareninja-!!"

With Raven and Foggy on the assist, the burden is slightly eased from the now unreliable strength of Spider-Man's grip. It makes it easier to heft Tony upward towards a more secure position as they make their way out.

"I'm just trying to keep Mister Stark from becoming the demon equivalent of Beggin' Strips this is just how I get when I'm nervous it's a method of compensation when I'm feeling worried about my mentor figure becoming the demon equivalent of Beggin' Strips okay?!"

he explains, helpfully, for Raven.

"Just — make sure he doesn't hit his head, that's in bad enough shape as it is! And if anyone asks, this is Brony Stark, okay? You have to — ah surprise ginger!"

Spider-Man practically jumps as he feels the hand on his shoulder; it's strange and alarming, having a haywire spider-sense. White lenses wide, his gaze snaps to the side — at which point he sees the very tiny redheaded woman in oversized clothes with a gun way too large for her. Lenses blink. Squint. One can feel the pursing of Spider-Man's lips.

"… where did you come from, and why are you wearing Caitlin's cloooohhhhhhhh okay now I get it. … wait. No I don't! Caitlin?!"

But any additional questions about this are tabled; what's important is getting Tony out of here, and to that end he follows Caitlin's suggestion; he knows his way around, at least, which helps guiding the others further in… until he hears that horrible, shrill cacophony. Like he was listening to someone committing a murder on music, in real time. At which point, he sees a kingly imp, carried in on a palanquin, bedecked with the finest of paperclips.

King Clippy, he calls himself.

"… is this like a reference or something"

Oh, Peter. Don't read from the book.

King Clippy demands shinies. And Spider-Man, of course, retorts in the way of his people, by snapping up his hand, squeezing down ring and middle fingers against his palm —

"I'll give you shinies, King Clappy-!"

And then just kind of stands there, stock still, as his webshooters make a sad -=thworpllfff=- sound and sputter out a few pathetic, haphazard strands of webbing.

Five seconds pass of repeated palm pressing. -=thworpllfff=- -=thworpllfff=- -=thworpllfff=- -=thworpllfff=-

"Oh come on, seriously?? Give me a second here — I swear this isn't a normal problem for me-"

And then Harley comes bearing shinies. Spider-Man heaves a sigh of relief, not exactly knowing who Harley Quinn is, probably to his detriment, but he'll realize that soon enough, "Oh thank goOOHH MY GOD!"

And as the poppers go off, that's when Bucky blows up some imps, and also probably some paper clips. And there Spider-Man stands, covered in confetti, desperately holding on to Tony, looking just, just, aghast.

"OW MY EARS, FIRST OF ALL. OW MY COSTUME, SECOND OF ALL. THIRD OF ALL, LANGUAGE. AND FOURTH OF ALL — OH THANK GOD BUCKY" honestly not a thing he ever thought he'd say "PLEASE HELP ME GET MISTER STARK OUT OF HERE HE WEIGHS SO MUCH."

*

The gunshot to the stomach is enough to get the demon to release Jessica from his grasp. The sorcerer seems more confused than mortally wounded though as it looks down at its stomach. It growls and raises it staff to start casting a spell of some sort. It's likely not a good thing since it's taking some time to actually get to the casting part.

The demon grasping Bart takes the punch to the nose and it draws blood, but doesn't slow it down much. It pulls Bart closer and attemps to bite him on the shoulder.

Owen seeing that he's alone in the stairwell, looks first up and then back at the door and grumbles to himself about stupid heroing decision and re-opens the door. A boomerang is launched at the demon biting at Bart hoping to catch it in the head. Sadly that means that the long clawed demon, now with only one arm is close enough to re-grab at Owen. It's claws dig in and pin Owen to the door of the stairwell. And somehow this gives him the right vantage point to watch Harley, gloriously shiny and unaffected by demon hexes Harley, skip in the other direction.

"Perfect. Great Owen day here."

The largest demon, that earlier had been playing the wall-smash-face-bash game with Caitlin, now reappears and is bounding for Atli, apparently mistaking her for his erstwhile playmate. He pounces to try and tackle Atli and resuming the super fun face punching game.

*

"It shouldn't have been an issue," Raven replies briskly as Spider-Man explains in his Spidey way. While she maintains her even tone and cool composure, her mind is beginning to race. "He has no connection to the demons. I checked him, I made sure he was okay. He only radiates positive energy- "

-Which can easily be a thing demons go for. She doesn't like that thought. She never likes that thought.

Shaking her head, she looks to Caitlin with an expression that looks like she's been holding her breath without realizing it. "Service corridors," she repeats, brow furrowing slightly despite the fact she's agreeing with this course of action. "Service corridors would be great…"

She then trails off because…singing? Who is even singing at a time like this??

The answer, of course, speaks for itself once she glances in the direction of the imps and the palanquin loaded with King Clippy.

And for a while, there are no words.

"…This is getting weirder and weirder," the goth Titan then says, frowning. "And I'm not sure if I prefer this to what I'm used to dealing with."

Either way, things get a lot more shiny. And stringy. And…and…stuff. Also, gun shots. It's Bucky, and Raven can only flinch once the man makes his immediate entrance out of the ventilation shaft. Again, her brow creases. "Let's go," she says through clenched teeth, pulling at Tony Stark with all of her might, simultaneously with the others. "Before we spend too much time here…!"

*

Well, this is where Jessica pulls out one of the vials of holy water she carries at her belt, courtesy of one John Constantine. She really does nearly always have some. "Oh, did you think we were finished with our conversation? Uh-uh. You grab me onto the floor, you finish the dance."

Which is to say she uncaps the vial and attempts to splash it right in the demon's face, then follows it up with another attempted gunshot to its throat. Maybe if it can't talk it can't cast.

So much chaos everywhere, but really it all comes down to the opponent before her now. She can really only deal with one thing at a time, and right now this is her chosen thing. Sorcerer McSpellyPants, Demon of Doom.

*

"Did you just… language?"

Foggy hasn't been chided for his language since he was fourteen and proclaimed to his mother he was, quote, 'Tired of this shit about becoming a butcher.' He was grounded for three weeks. The flashbacks are real.

He tightens his grip around Tony, hefting up the billionaire higher in his arms. His gaze turns slowly to King Clippy, only to hear the words from Matt. At first, they don't seem to register the way they should: he's spent seven years assuming Matt couldn't see anything. Then it sinks in.

"Shit."

Foggy whips his head around toward Jess — only to have her snatched by the sorcerer. He looks to Raven and Spider-Man. "You got him." Or at least they better got him, because Foggy is letting go and advancing immediately to Matt's side. He does what he's always done, and grabs Matt by the elbow, squeezing to let him know he's there. "I got you, man," he hisses out softly to Matt in a whisper. "I'm here."

*

Shouldering his weapon, Bucky wades through the demonic clusterfuck with the savvy of someone who is — well — used to wading through chaotic close-range firefights. He's obviously antsy — he just came from Jane's lab elsewhere in Stark Tower, where he left Jane furiously trying to secure her work and shooting mini-demons putting their sticky fingers in everything — and he's clearly keen to get back to her.

But you know, rescuing Tony is kind of important too. He guesses.

Spidey's relief to see him yields a raised brow, but no further comment other than: "Did you just call Tony fat?" Bucky wants to know.

A sigh follows, the man lapsing into that herding mode so instinctual to sergeants. "Give him here," Bucky says, and whatever that odd hex was, it either seems to have missed Bucky entirely due to him being out of range, OR else the serum doesn't really classify as a distinct 'power,' because he doesn't seem that much different from normal when he takes Tony from the combined efforts of Spidey and Raven. "I'll carry him, you kids clear the way."

Hefting Tony's comatose body over his left shoulder, he starts grimly trying to force a way out —

"Jesus Tony, lay off the dried mango!" But not without comment.

*

Somehow Tony's arm flops out of where its stowed. And it looks like he's flipping Bucky off. But it is totally an accident.

Totally.

*

By this point Dani fires off quite the number of arrows towards demons that are scattered nearby. All of them are attempted head shots, since chest wasn't the best last time.

Owen's description of his plan pulls a sour look from the Cheyenne as she races for the stairs upward, "This doesn't sound like a well thought out and executed plan."

Because it's NOT, but hey, she still follows up those stairs.

She only looks over her shoulder once when she hears BLAM and a familiar voice asking a very relevant question.

There's so many answers to that question, but for now Dani doesn't yell anything to it. Instead she steps into the stairwell to follow after Owen and arrives just in time to see him pinned by the long-armed demon.

So many swear words come to mind right now, but instead of saying them outloud, Moonstar simply grabs another arrow and aims to stab the steelhead of the arrow /into/ the neck of the demon that holds Owen.

"This is a great plan!"

*

As Atli realizes that she is not the only one weakened by this power, she turns to survey the field of battle, past the scrawny girl and the meandering former-Speed, who she takes a moment to wave at, despite the imp hanging onto her arm. A moment later, she punts it, right into the line of fire of one Noble Barnes.

"Noble Barnes! It is good to have you here on this field of battle, though I warn thee, a dire spell is about. Not that you have to worry." She gestures here to the runes on his arm, her smile bright.

"Would you mind clearing these tiresome creatures from my new shark? He's most loyal but lacks any meaningful limbs and his nose-lasers seem to be disabled. As does my lightning. Verily, I'm not sure what's going on here." She says, her hair a giant red puff of magnificence from all the static electricity.

"Oh I see, just a moment. I'll.. I'll…"

Her attention turns to down the way, her eyes go wide and she smacks her palm to her head.

"This explains EVERYTHING! Look, Noble Barnes, look, Sloane Brightscale!"

Atli points to Spider-Man.

"It's that terrible masked menace, the Man-Spider! I have read of his misdeeds in your Daily Scrolls! YOU THERE! I.. wait why does the Man-Spider seem glad to see you, Noble Barnes?!"

Confusion overtakes the Girl of Not So Much Thunder.

Thankfulkly, the situation is clarified for her post haste, as Caitlin's former friend comes at her with a playful fury.

Down in a heap she goes, waylayed by a powerful slam. Her spear goes flying, cartwheeling away, and lands in a skid next to Jessica's boot.

A punch lands on her face, turning her head sidelong and casting the hope from her eyes. Another punch sends her head in the other direction, the world blurring, and worse, her stomach churns.

No one hurts US.

A black miasma swirls in her eyes, as some other power far beyond the means of this sorcerer burgeons inside her. Another punch lands, black blood scatters sidelong. And another, her jaw cracking under the impact.

Then she shoves a hand through her playmate, grabbing for the object that seems to make it so impervious with a power not her own. Twisting. Grinding, her fist thrusts upwards and through, and then it is her turn.

Punch after savage punch will repay the demon in kind, cratering flesh and they go tumbling like an overweight, middle aged man and a giant chicken through a nearby wall.

*

"Noble Barnes?" Foggy glances to Bucky. "She doesn't know you very well, does she?" Then he's back to focusing on Matt.

*

Caitlin wipes tears of frustation from her eyes, nodding at Spider-Man. "It's me, I-I don't know what's wrong! Everything's blurry! I haven't had this problem since the—" she gasps, sharply, and puts a hand to her stomach, then pats herself frantically. Her eyes go wide, face paling as she realizes how her… dimensions have changed. "Oh no, since *it* happened," she wails. She turns her face towards Spidey, leaning too close and squinting to try and make his featurs clearer. "I used to wear glasses!" she explains, in frustration.

She starts to add more to this, but then King Clippy launches a thunderous demand from the hallway. Bucky's retort is much louder, and vastly more to-the-point. Combined with Harley's 'poppers', Caitlin is bowled over by the noise, clapping hands over her ears in a reflexive panic.

The sound ebbs and Caitlin tries to bring that big gun to bear, but it's just too heavy for her to hold steady.

So she holsters it for a moment and helps Bucky shoulder Tony, and then starts fiddling with the hand cannon. A few things are adjusted rapidly and crudely, while moving as fast as she can to keep up with Bucky.

Caitlin hands the gun to Spider-Man. "Here!" she says, breathlessly. Her voice weezes as well. "Too heavy for me. Plasma shotgun," she tells Pete, trying to keep the explanation as brief as possible.

She also starts mumbling furitively, barely audibly. She hurries ahead of the others, gets to the door, and leans in close to squint at the doorpad. Beep-beep-beep, and the door slides open. She starts mumbling under her breath to FRIDAY, trying to accomplish something, and when she sees Raven's black shadow coasting by, she reaches a hand out to the other woman. "Help me keep up," she begs, coughing with a booming, raspy exhalation. It seems someone's asthma is flaring up as well, and Caitlin's already struggling to stay moving.

*

Matt Murdock — Daredevil — is not in a good place right now. Sure, he's had his bell rung and his senses disrupted before. But his senses haven't been this well and truly deprived since he was laying in a hospital bed at the tender age of nine with bandages wrapped around his head. To be back there is like a shock of cold water that leaves him staggering and numb at first, and then spiking with anxiety.

All those endorphins from demon-slaughter are out the window, and paranoia builds. But he still has his instincts, right? And a katana splashed with varied hues of demon blood. He lifts that up, thinks he hears something — one of them — approaching. He strikes out! Nothing. Just air. God damnit.

No, there's something behind him. He can feel a warm air on the back of his neck, though it's absent all the signals and cues that would tell him who it was and what they had for breakfast last Thursday. It could be anyone. It could be a demon, it could be a rescuer. He grips his sword-hilt, makes to turn.

And then t here's a hand on his elbow, familiar, because it was always there when Foggy Nelson thought blind Matt Murdock needed it. I've got you, Foggy says, and Matt lets go of the breath that had been stuck in his chest for the last three minutes. "Okay," he mutters, straightening up, trying to play it cool, to not seem deprived or panicked in all this pandemonium. Daredevil wouldn't be, after all.

"Thanks," he tells Foggy, and means it. A beat. "Hey, was that Barnes blowing shit up?" He may be blind, but he's not deaf.

*

Eyes are wide behind his goggles as Impulse watches that demon come in with teeth bared. "WHOA! Are you seriously gonna try eating me?!" he yelps, trying to pull back from the demon, not that it works all that well when it's still holding onto him, a foot brought up and planted against the thing's chest. He sounds more disgusted than actually worried about getting eaten, as it goes.

Although right around then he's pretty sure that it's going to hurt a whole lot if he doesn't do something- but he did do something and punching it hadn't really worked so…

The boomerang that comes seemingly out of nowhere makes him jump, and the not-so-speedster gawks a moment before reaching out to fumble-grab it after it hits, whether or not it actually does the job of getting the demon to back off and let go or not. Because hey, a weapon! He has no idea how to throw a boomerang but he can still whack things with it, right? Like this thing that tried to chomp him!!

Someone tell him that it's not the same thing as a sword. But with everyone else with weapons and him without being speedy, he feels a whole lot better for having something in hand.

But hey! The cavalry's here! Or something. With all the shooting and the demon that had just got marched in all fancy-like, Impulse is still trying to put things together, but he's moving for the others that had gone into the stairwell. Oh, that's gonna be fun. (No. No it's not.)

*

And then everything goes mad.

The first two imps simply dissipear under the impact of a pair of .50 Cal rounds. The platform tips forwards sending King Clippy tumbling towards the struggling heroes.

Then the poppers go off, and his remaining minions…well…

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHH! SHINEY! FOR MEEEEEEE?!"

And they leap for the glitter and the streamers. Which is good news.

Bad news? They aren't really slowed down by glitter and streamers and they are leaping forwards. So incoming Imps Harley! And Peter! And Rachel! And Foggy! And Matt! And Caitlin! And Bucky!

King Clippy himself struggles up even as the door Caitlin is working on starts to slowly. Ever so slowly get himself up. In a rage. "MINIONS! GET DEEEEEEEEEEEEM!"

This is when imp faces start poking out from vents. And doors. And trash cans. And file cabinets. Big gremlin like eyes peeeeeeeeering in the direction of the little knot of heroes around the door.

"Get dem! Get dem! Get dem! SAVE THE SHINIES!"

And the sound of treads grows louder.

*

Did you just call Tony fat?

In the midst of all this glittery madness and demon-embroiled mayhem, Spider-Man pauses. He looks at Tony in his grasp. He uses his free hand to prod his midsection lightly. To see if there's any remote chance the man might wake up in the immediate future.

And only once he's confirmed does he say, "… Maybe a little?"

In these moments afterwards, as Spider-Man helps hand off Tony to the Winter Soldier, Peter turns his attention briefly in the direction of Daredevil, Jessica and Foggy. Those lenses squint, like the best approximation of concern he can manage, falling silent for a few, rare seconds. He's faring much worse than most of them.

"… Keep him close, okay?" he requests, after that pensive pause, ejecting web compartments and replacing them methodically. Maybe none of them are exactly super at the moment. But that doesn't mean he can't still help keep the people who need it safe.

Caitlin, too, seems to be in bad shape — and as she leans in, white lenses widen, and the webslinger similarly leeeans back — until she hands off that gun.

"Huh? Uh — sure, right," mutters the young superhero as he hefts that weapon.

"It's gonna be okay. Okay? If we can — we just gotta get out of here, once we do, it'll be fine, I'm sure of it."

And with that, he wheels around, bigass 90splasma weapon in hand, lenses slit into dangerously narrowed strips of white.

"Okay, demons! I'm Lieutenant Spider-Cop, and I'm a man on the edge! I'm a loose cannon and I play by my own rules! Literally, I have a loose cannon!! So be warned — I'm here to make quips and kick asses."

Lenses narrow further. SOMEHOW.

"And I'm all out of asses."

"… Wait, is it the other way around, or- OH NO TINY ADORABLE DEMONS RUN"

And this is Spider-Man.

Bravely running as he fires a plasma weapon he has never once used before in his entire life.

Godspeed, Spider-Cop…!

*

Somewhere along the way, Bucky notices a small redhead helping him get Tony secured. He drops a vague noise of thanks as he gets Stark squared — then pauses, double-takes, looks again. "Caitlin?" he asks, incredulous, before he pans a look around at everyone else and one plus one adds up. "Shit."

Atli's greeting draws an acknowledging look from Bucky, but now he's hustling double time. "I'll explain later, Atli," he yells back about the whole Spider-Man deal, seeming — for whatever reason — cheered by the sight of her.

Ah, but there are other people acknowledging him too.

Bucky glances at Foggy. The levity he had to him, forced or not, drains out of him. He focuses back on moving Tony out. Having stowed his rifle now there's no room to use it, he pulls a sidearm instead, firing indiscriminately at demons to clear a path out.

Somewhere behind him, he hears Spider-Man talking about being out of asses. A sigh escapes him.

*

'You got him.' Raven looks up, then nods after Foggy speaks, saying nothing as she shifts her own weight to distribute the Tonyweight evenly between her and whoever is left. They can do this, they know they can.

…Maybe?

Fortunately for them, Bucky has joined in to take on the task of carrying the body out. Without another word, Raven relinquishes the arm she's been holding on to, giving the Winter Soldier space. As she follows, she stops mid-step, looking back at the asthmatic girl who can't see. The tension in her own body loosens, extending an arm out for Caitlin to take. "I'm right here," she says, recalling old lessons from her past, trying to be the calming force within the chaos as they go.

And they're swarmed by imps. Doing her best to ignore Spider-Man's one-liners, Raven steadies herself, kicking the closest ones away as hard as she can.

*

The last word is forming in the back of its throat when the vial's contents splashes across it's face and skin. The sizzling and burning is impressive, the weird screaming and thrashing however, less so.

"AIIAIAIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE"

Thankfully a quick shot to the throat silences that and the demon drops down to it's knees. The orb, it's floating magical companion, seems to dim, but still stays alit. And sadly, the spell that cost our heroes their powers and abilities remains in effect despite the apparent death of it's caster.

The boomerang sticks into the skull of the demon attempting to munch on Bart, but he's able to pull it out and use it like a stabby curved knife. A couple more stabs and the vile thing releases him to get to the stairwell.

The demon holding Owen lets out a gurgle of it's own as the arrow finds purchase in it's neck.

Owen released, looks at Dani and Bart and shrugs unapologetically. "Oh if you hate this plan so far… you're gonna really hate the part." Owen has an idea. One he is not yet willing to let Dani in on. But for now it involves hoofing it up the stairs as more demons come snapping and grabbing after them.

*

"Why would you think that? Barnes would never do that." Foggy delivers this in his usual dryness, but Matt would be hard-pressed to miss the little tremble of fear building in his voice. Nelson was not built for this — he's managed OK, but give him about ten more minutes and there's no telling what he's going to do about Hell On Earth 2018.

"Why can't you see, Matt?" He breathes Matt's name softly, whispering close to his friend as he starts to tug him forward, letting those learned instincts guide him. A friend of a blind man builds up his own separate skills: there's a subtle way he maneuvers with his hand on Matt's elbow that tells him directions without words, and the moment his own brain detects danger, it is first transmitted by squeezing hard on Matt's joint before his brain even gets the words out of his mouth.

And that is exactly what happens when the imps explode in their direction. Before Foggy can even say, 'IMPS, LEFT,' his fingers are tightening on Matt's arm, twisting slightly to send a directional output to Matt just before he says: "IMPS! LEFT!"

*

Jessica Jones picks up the orb thoughtfully. Everyone needs their powers back, but the thing she's learned about magic is that screwing with it can go wrong fast.

Still. She's got to do something.

None of the little hedge spells she learned from Zatanna's books will help here. She didn't pay enough attention to what the demon was muttering to try muttering it in reverse or anything like that. While John taught her magic was all about will she doesn't want to try pitting hers against his.

She raises the orb high, like she's going to smash it, then mutters, "Right, no strength."

Fine. No problem. She is going to see if she can't restore everyone's mojo by virtue of firing her gun into that orb three or four times in the hopes of breaking it and fouling the spell.

*

"It's Spider-MAN, not Man-SPIDER!" shouts Spider-Man back to the tussling form of Atli who is bleeding black blood in a way not even remotely ominous. "Man-Spider is completely different!"

And very quickly he appends, to anyone in earshot:

"Don'taskwedon'ttalkaboutMan-Spider"

Those were dark days.

*

There's been a sound sort of in the background, kind of far away, for the past minute or two. Indistinct, vast, and spaced out, it kind of calls to mind… maybe a harbor of days past, with all the big sails on the ships catching wind. It's been infrequent and low-key, so it's been easy to ignore, amidst all the demon ruckus, the generalized shouting and screaming, and the punching and gunfire. But it's been there.

It's starting to drown out the more immediate sounds of the fighting within the Tower, though, when it happens. It's also starting to come a little more steadily. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

It sounds like… wingbeats, in fact.

A look out of any of the nearest windows reveals a familiar draconic shape darkening the sky; far away for the moment, but making a leisurely beeline back towards Stark Tower from the west.

DRAGON has finished his business with New Jersey. New Jersey did not win.

*

The orb takes a shot. It even takes two. But the third manages to crack and then shatter it. And it releases a swirling mist that floats out along the floor, slowly the heroes powers begin to return. A bit of strength here, a spidey-tingle there. It's not complete, but it's a start. And none too soon by the sounds of it.

*

"Powerful closing argument, counselor," Daredevil quips back at Foggy on the matter of Barnes. The humor is a life raft in a sea of queasy anxiety. He hates being helpless, and as grateful as he is for his best friend's aid, hates relying on others for help.

But here he is, and here they are, and there's no time for stubborn obstinance. Why can't you see? Foggy Nelson asks, and Matt answers quietly: "The demon. The one with the thing. He cast some kind of spell and then it was all just —"

Just gone.

He can't dwell, won't dwell, certainly not when Foggy gives him an urgent, silent signal there at the elbow-joint of the arm that holds the bloodied katana. LEFT, Foggy tells him.

Good thing Matt Murdock's a southpaw. There's a lot to his left; it's terrain he can't discern and it's likely populated by friend and foe. He'll slash with that blade, but to some extent he'll be relying on puppet-master-Franklin-Nelson's guidance to make sure the swinging sword finds the right target. "Hope you know what you're doing!!!"

*

Up the stairs she goes then.

She takes the steps as quickly as she can, even skipping steps if she can.

And should any of the demons get close enough, Moonstar turns right on around and fires an arrow at them. Sure, most people would trip and fall when trying to go up stairs and shoot arrows, but Dani is a professional.

She can do this.

And while Moonstar is running up those steps something of that WHOOSH WHOOSH is heard and it brings a furrow to her brow and then a slap to her Valkyrie senses.

Specifically the Death Sense.

It's enough that the Cheyenne woman immediatelly looks to Owen, to Bart, really to everyone nearby and then looks right above their heads.

*

"HEY," Harley barks, as an imp tries to come at her, and she instinctively slides Mister Smiley out along the floor with a clatter towards a wall and flies to one side. She means to tuck into a roll, but she is loaded down and she has a bad shoulder. That is to say, it's not her most graceful follow-through ever. But it's functional, even if it draws a wince from Quinn. And then, once she's to her feet with her baseball cap lost somewhere along the way, she's reaching in that messenger bag of hers and hauling out some serious steel and firing in their direction. "I WAS SHARING. DON'T BE GREEDY."

*

And Jessica Jones flashes a grin. "Oh yeah. Bitch-ass demon sorcerer, -2, Jones, 1. And that's what you call gettin' back in the game."

Yeah okay, she's talking to herself at this point. She's aware of all her friends here. She's kind of gotten caught halfway between the debacles, but she is aware. She pauses and kicks the various pieces of the orb away from each other, then grinds a few of them under her heel. Last time a chaotic scene left her with the care and feeding of a magical object she thought she'd ruined she stuck it in a potted plant. And that didn't end well. It ended with a stolen artifact and a stolen soul and a whole sequence of events.

That would be a good thing to Not Repeat.

So for just one moment, instead of jumping into demon frays or even trying to do something clever about the dragon? Jessica Jones just stomps all over orb pieces like it's a particularly nasty bit of bubble wrap, grinding it all to dust. If someone can run off with dust and steal it and turn it into a big bad problem it's probably already above her paygrade.

*

Caitlin grabs Raven's forearm for balance with a grateful expression, and hustles to keep up as best she can. Truth be told, she leans on Raven more than someone might expect, her face growing pale and her breathing growing raspier by the step.

"SIRIN, are you still with me?" There's a beat, and her face brightens as her portable AI responds. "Oh, thank you merciful God," she mumbles, glancing skywards in relief. She coughs heavily.

"I need…" She stumbles to one knee, hand slipping from Raven's arm. Then she's on her hands and knees, coughing with deep, barking sounds and wheezing breaths.

"I…" she blinks, and cries out inarticulately. Then screams again, in pain. There's a sound of cracking bones and stretching tendons. It looks like it hurts. Hurts a lot, with bones and sinew stretching skin and bulging weirdly under the grey of her bodysuit as her entire musculature starts to revert itself. It's happening quickly enough, but for the moment Caitlin looks quite incapacitated.

*

From some hole in the wall or another, an enormous head makes an appearance. No, it doesn't look through. It's thrown through, bouncing here and there until it comes to rest, upside down, tongue lolled out and drooling blood, caught in one of Spider-Man's discarded webs. The rest of the body comes next, and behind it, the leaping form of Atli Wodendottir, her very presence heightened by an unnatural gleam to her eyes. Is that a new helmet she has? Perhaps she stole it from a demon.

Great, big, bendy horns curl skyward, jagged along their front edge, and once more she's reclaimed her spear. Black replaces silver across the whole of her outfit, and the spear in her grasp grows jagged and wicked, an electric crackle striking out with black lightning at any demon foolish enough to charge her.

"Foolish creatures! WE WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY THE LIKES OF THE MAN-SPIDER AND HIS INSIDIOUS SERVANTS, FOR I…"

There is a beatr of wings, and her hair whips around as she turns to look in the direction of the source.

Crackling with power Atli leaps upon the back of her shark and gives it her strength. Power blossoms behind it's dead eyes, and it's nostrils flare with laser-light once more!

"WOE STUPID SHARK, BRING ME TO OUR ENEMY!!"

The crash is thunderous, the shark powering through demons and walls alike as it carries it's rider towards it's new foe, towards this Mighty Dragon, Slayer of Jersey.

Somewhere along the way the Boom Box reforms.

'I am the one, the only one. I am the God of Kingdom come, gimme the prize!'

Queen leads this, the charge of Atli, Goddess of Thunder.

*

"Iiii'm not even sure what the first part of the plan was," Impulse admits as he follows Owen and Dani on up. At least he's got a better handle on moving now, but it's still a pain doing this at normal speed. It's one thing doing it because you're supposed to pretend to be normal, but it's another when you know you just can't go any faster because you suddenly are.

He throws a wary glance over his shoulder every time Dani lets loose with more arrows to cover them, still gripping the boomerang in hand. "You don't need this right away, do you? Cuz um…" he starts to tell Owen, although the more they climb up the stairs, he begins to feel it. Impulse blinks, an uncertain smile creeping across his face. The connection to the Speed Force, like a spark warming its way up. "Hey, do you…"

It's about then that he hears it, his smile fading as he catches Dani's look, brows lifting high. What is that? They can't really see much from here, but the speedster starts to move a little quicker up the stairs because he really wants to get to the top to see!!

*

Wait, where has Sloane been?

THEN

At the entrance to the medical wing, Sloane rounded the corner and cracked off a few shots from her handgun, with real live bullets flying. Having fired at least a few on the way in, before the stealth segment of their Solid Snake infiltration, she finds herself with the slide of her gun thrown straight back.

Stepping back around the corner to hide while Dani provides more arrow-fire, while everyone gets ready, the Agent turns her head to look down the hallway to the next intersection. "I'll flank from the side!"

Sliding the clip into the handgun and giving the butt a smack, the slide releases and snaps forward while the SHIELD agent rounds the corner, and then…

… nothing.

Wait, what?

THEN SOONER

A large, very angry demon looks down at Sloane, wearing a nurses' cap and frowning a big angry toothy frown. He has a tusk, and a third arm, and a lot of muscles and oh god is that acid drool?

Merrow frowns. Before the quip can get out, there's a lot of loud crashing, and a bit of smashing, and —

There's a hole blown straight through the floor to the level below the medical wing. Gunfire, roaring, a bit of yelling before a shriek and an angry, bone-snapping crunch happens, then a loud and weighty thud.

NOW

With a heavy, loud crunch of the emergency door on the floor just below everyone escaping and Sloane L. Albright storms right out. Her hair's a mess and skin dirty; scales are split and gouged out of her arms in criss-cross angles and some are missing from her shoulder. A few smudges of blood sit at the corner of her mouth, and some under her nose. There's a hell of a shiner marking her left eye, and her suit's bearing a few rips and tears.

Looking up at the state everyone is in, the frown she *wants* to give is hidden behind her being out of breath. "What happened to you guys?"

*

Up the stairs, leaving a trail of blood as he goes Owen frantically checks floor numbers. He finds the lucky number that he was looking for and busts the door down with a solid kick. A kick that moves faster than it did just a few minutes ago. With enough speed now, he can enter the lab and find the object of their salvation. It has to be here somewhere. He gave it to Dani and Jane months ago… After the bear.

Where is it?

"HOT DAMN!"

And Owen stands holding the much sought item triumphantly. And what exactly is this object that he so desperately needed to find in the middle of being chased by demons while a dragon approaches.

It's a flask

Insert reaction shot of Dani here.

Owen holds up a finger. "Now.. stay with me. It's not just whiskey. It's some magic crap, it will help. I promise."

And without further explanation Owen takes a sip. And nothing seems to happen for a moment. But by the time he has passed the flask to Bart another noise joins the fray of the beating wings, the boombox below, the treads approaching. It's soft at first, barely audible but it's clearly a beat of some sort. Then there are words … and Owen's taking off his shirt? What the heck is happening right now?

The flask contains the Elixir of Life. It grants the drinker near invulnerability and also a connection to a magical nature force. Unfortunately it also starts a party that if it grows uncheck summons an ancient Slavik god that will murder all the revelers to maintain his place in this world. But at least in the short term … it's a party in a bottle.

The demons are not lax however, they burst into the room just as Owen is handing off the bottle. There is a scant few moments of confusion though to take advantage of and Owen does so. He grabs the nearest demon dips it. Oh yes. But then he gives it a swift headbutt with a power far beyond what he should be able to do.

*

Finally the song becomes loud enough to hear

"POUR SOME SUGAR ON MEEEEEE! Oooh, in the name of love.."

*

Kicking away another Imp, Raven suddenly feels lighter. When she turns to look at her forearm, she doesn't see Caitlin there at her side. "Wait, where did she- " Turning fully, the goth gets to see her in the middle of growing back into her taller, more powerful form.

The pain is horrible to watch. But with the return of her own magical and empathic abilities, it becomes a whole lot worse. What Caitlin is going through shouldn't be like this. Raven makes it a point to try taking some of that pain from her, crouching down beside her and reaching over to place her hands on her shoulders.

"It will be all right," she says, monotone yet placating, eyes narrowing as she urges her powers to work the way they're supposed to. "Come on…"

The next surge from this experience is less than pleasant. Too much to notice anything else around her, too much that keeps her attention grounded here, on Caitlin. Hopefully things are still loud and distracting enough to give them a berth.

*

Imps are not hardy creatures. They are also inherently cowardly. And greedy. And have an inherent love of shinies. This all combined makes for a rather chaotic charge. Especially when you add in people shooting.

King Clippy however acts like a Proper Boss as Peter starts shooting. He grabs two of his minions and flings them in front of plasma blasts.

"CHARRGE!" He roars as he waves his clicking panoply. "THEY REQUIRE ASSISTANCE!" A beatpause. "IN BEING RELIEVED OF SHINIES!"

Then more bullets fly from Harley and the great king dives for cover. Behind more of his minions. Even as imps scramble forwards.

Matt's sword does it's job, guided by Foggy's hand and bisects one of the creatures. Rachel's striking out knocks a few back, giving Bucky time to toss Stark's unconscious form around like a sack of potatoes. Caitlin on the other hand? Well…the imps love a person that can't fight back, so she is nigh covered by fighting, biting, scratching imps.

And one of the imps goes chomping on Harley's hat.

…another one runs by chewing an envelope with a message on it. Seems like it says 'Demon Free'.

…Rachel might recognize it.

It is about this point that the treads? Resolve into the form of a robot. Not just any robot.

Dummy.

Rolling on at his relatively sedate pace of not fast the treaded friend of Tony Stark's is…well…festooned with fire extinguishers. And selser bottles. And little holy relics. And maybe some salt dispensers. Look someone was trying everything to see what worked ok.

"AHHHHHHH! SHINY DEMON HERE!" Screaches King Clibby as he scrambles away from the robo-arm. A robo arm that promptly turns the fire extinguisher on to send a jet of spray down the corridor. Of course his aim is bad, and he is more likely to hit well…everyone…than not. Everyone. But especially Bucky. And Stark.

BUT HE'S HELPING!

*

Impulse's admission of not knowing what the first part of the plan brings a look to Moonstar's features. "You aren't the only one." Then the small group continues up the stairs and for a few silent minutes the woman struggles to shunt some of those death images from her mind's eyes.

Thankfully, the kicking down of doors seems to help. And then when they step into the room and Owen retrieves that object of his - she just stares.
A flask.

A silver flask of what likely is vodka, or whiskey, or some other type of liquor. There's a reaction all right. It's mostly composed of anger. "YOU DID not just drag us all the way up here for THAT."

She gets that much out before Owen holds that finger up, trying to forestall the rest of what she wants to say. It works for a hot minute and then her expression turns mutinous.

"You expect us -" And before she can finish saying that he hands it to Bart - a kid in her eyes (sorry Bart!) - and Dani flicks a look straight back to Owen. "This is an insane plan! You don't just drink magical crap like it's nothing!"

There might be some deja vu here with that tone to her voice and the look on her face.

Still, while she'd like to yell more at Owen the room explodes with more demons and so, Moonstar brings forth her bow and arrows. She fires those arrows one by one at the nearest demons.

But let's be realistic here, Dani does know she's probably going to have to drink that stuff and take an Alice in Wonderland sort of trip. Otherwise they may not survive.

*

"I have no idea!"

But the sword does its job. An imp cut in two lies just at their feet, and he looks at it before he turns sharply toward yet another imp that comes bouncing their way.

Again, Foggy's grip on Matt's elbow conveys the action before the words. "Low! Right!" He starts to step, trying to make sure he's out of Matt's way when he turns to the lunging Imp that's coming for their shins.

And then there's Dummy. He's turning toward the sound of the fire extinguishers, and he ducks out of the way of incoming foam-based holy water. "What the…!"

*

And here Bart was ready to race clear on up to the rooftop. He's not up to full speed yet but he's about ready to hang another corner at the landing Owen stops at when he hears the door being busted open, and he backpedals and swings around to trail Dani and his brother on inside.

"What're we doing in here again?" he asks as he looks around. He's never been to this floor before, his eyes roving before his attention snaps back towards Owen as he holds up whatever it is. Squint.

And to be fair, Dani isn't wrong about Bart being a kid. Between the wondrous effects of super speed, metabolism and aging— weeeell that's a story for another time anyway…

"But-" he doesn't drink, Impulse is about to say even as he's handed off the flask, although Owen said it's magic so his curiosity's dangerously piqued. Okay, so something described as 'magic crap' doesn't sound all that appetizing but uh-oh look alive demons are here!

There's a hot second that he's staring as Owen just grabs one of the demons and headbutts it with force enough to make it look like its head caved in. Impulse glances at Dani and shrugs, then takes a quick gulp from the flask. And ends up coughing and sputtering a bit because he really doesn't drink oh gosh how do you guys drink stuff like that

And then eyes open and he's fixates upon the demons that continue to pour in just as Moonstar begins to unload more arrows. The flash is passed off to her, hopefully she has good reflexes to grab it because in the next second the Titans' token speedster is gone, but you can bet he's going to flatten some demons in his path.

*

Everyone knows that Matt Murdock and Franklin Nelson make a fantastic team in the courtroom. At least some of their victories, like the Barnes trial, are legitimately legendary. But it's a surprise even to Matt that this bit of teamwork isn't a complete and total clusterfuck. He feels the katana part skin and muscle and organ and bone, in one side of the demon and out the other.

"I really can't believe this is working," Daredevil says, but before he has too much more time to reflect on it Foggy's barking another order at him. Low! Right! Matt swings appropriately, slashing towards what would be the calf of an ordinary opponent.

Of course, without his 360-degree view of the world, all those little details, he doesn't have anything like the warning Foggy does before Dummy sends the holy water fire spray their way. And so, whatever the outcome of Daredevil's engagement with the ankle-biting demon, that hose will catch him full force in the chest, dousing him in holy water.

"Oh, sonofa…"

*

Sinking down, Raven takes a breath. Several breaths. In a daze, her eyes drift about the room, looking at the imps as they repopulate the area. It's like nothing can stop them.

Except that isn't the last thought she has. Not when there's the demon chewing on the envelope Impulse wrote on during their last visit. In fact, it makes her sort of mad in the way she can get mad.

"Don't," Raven hisses, half-crawling over to try yanking the 'Demon Free' envelope out of the imp's mouth. "Eat." Another yank. "That!" And the third yank is the one she pulls the hardest on. Whether she gets it or not is another story, but she does see Dummy. And all of the stuff he's carrying.

Demon-fighting things.

She stares from her place on the floor, eyes narrowing just a tad. "…Someone help the robot," she speaks hastily, trying to get to her feet again.

*

Bucky is definitely covered in holy water. Fortunately he is not a demon (right now).

"Dummy," he asks, incredulous, "where did you GET all that?!"

MEANWHILE:

The Dragon does not seem to have immediately noticed the commotion at Stark Tower. His pace is slow, almost self-satisfied. Perhaps even monsters can anticipate 'going home to roost after a nice day's work.'

Then Atli comes rocketing out of the Tower in a spray of lightning and debris, beelining straight towards his face on the back of a shark.

The Dragon… doesn't substantially alter his trajectory. Maybe he puts on a little speed, but it's hard to tell with how vast he is to begin with. He plays out the entire game of chicken…

And moments before any kind of impact, he opens his jaws with intention to snap Atli-and-shark up.

A brief, terrible, tentacle-fraught few moments pass.

Then the Dragon flicks his head again, parting his jaws to sling Atli right back where she came. Hopefully along with her shark, but that's a toss up.

The monster follows a few moments later. The entire Tower rattles as the Dragon lands on the building's face, digging in his claws to get a perch. One massive talon pierces through a wall and severs clear into the room where the Tony-rescuers do battle; another punches through into the floor where the Owen-party is getting started.

They don't seem like targeted attacks, fortunately. Especially judging by the way the thing shifts his mass about, peering from floor to floor in a lazy searching sort of way that indicates he doesn't really know where the rats are scurrying about — yet.

"Fools," crowns down from high overhead, a voice distant but still immense. It might take a moment to realize he is addressing the lesser demons. "Intruders in the Little Mistress' home, and you have not yet thrown them out? You will know PAIN if I must stir to destroy these insignifcant wretches myself."

*

Dancing along to the song, with a demon, without a shirt, Owen appears to be having the time of his life now. His wounds have stopped bleeding, and the demon that is currently trying to choke him into not dancing with him gets Owen's thumbs plunged into it's eyes with immense force. Owen doesn't seem to mind the screaming either as he continues to dance with his partner. He does turn to Dani with a slightly crazed look in his eye and remind her, at probably the weirdest moment in their bizarre short history, "You let me take you dancing. Once." The fact that the memory of their time in another world comes out now is fitting, considering how terrible this situation is.

The other demons attempt to stab and claw at Owen and he's pushed around, but it becomes some sort of weird part of the dance. And when he hits back, it too looks like an odd sort of dance. It's not quite break-dance fighting, but maybe a close cousin.

The shattering glass and giant dragon talent seem to penetrate Owen's drink addled brain.

"I think … I want go flying."

And with that Owen shrugs off the latest demon attempting to disembowel him and moves towards the wall of windows, shimmying all the way.

*

Imps swarm into Caitlin, burying her under a swarm of fiends. It looks bad— but just for a moment. And then a hand shoots out with an imp clutched tight, and squeezes the life from it with a white-knuckled grip until it *pops* and ichor flows.

Caitlin heaves to her feet like a whale breaching the surface, scattering imps that aren't fast enough to evade her. She looks… rather calm, actually, and wholly relieved as she grows the last inch or so and her muscles and curves start filling out to normal proportions. Dozens of tiny holes perforate the grey bodysuit, but it doesn't seem in danger of a major wardrobe malfunction.

"I /hate/ demons," she mutters, crushing the life from the two she'd caught. Caitlin spots the robot floundering and heads towards it, reconfiguring her headset and moving to intercept it.

"Dummy, I'm gonna de-grease and repack all your bearings, you wonderful robot," she mutters, examining it. Caitlin starts pulling down spare holy water and demon-killing equipment and tossing it underhanded to anyone nearby, and interfaces with Dummy with a touch of her fingers to the command module. "Mr… Arm-Guy!" she calls to Bucky. "I can set Dummy to guard Mr. Stark!" she informs him. Bucky's combat talents are a little wasted in his role as a walking gurney. And that's probably not good for Stark's comatose self, either.

*

This is the tale of Atli Wodendottir. Empress of-

Queen of-

Princess? Is that-

She cannot remember. Even as she sails towards this creature of scales and claws and tentacles, confusion tugs at her brain. Who is she?

Who are we?

"WE ARE-"

The bendy horns crumble in the midst of tentacles.

A spiraling form flies back towards Stark Tower, separating in mid air as a red-headed Asgardian and a space shark.

Mournfully, SLOWJAW gives a half hearted roar, right before he and then Atli crash into two different parts of the building, some floors below the rest of the heroes.

"But.. why would I pour sugar..nngh…"

And then Atli goes deeply into the Atlisleep.

*

The demons in Bart's way now bounce off of him like he's giant bowling ball picking up spares left and right. The music thrums in his ears even if there is no way he could hear it at the speed he's traveling.

*

The song's too slow for Bart's tastes, but even though he can't quite hear it, he somehow manages to keep his hits in time, even if it's like throwing sixteenth notes into 4/4 time. On high speed.

He's no dancer, he's not even trying. No, he's looking for targets, clotheslinging, ramming them full speed- some might end up flying out through the windows. And then something else comes through the walls, effectively bringing the speedster to a screeching halt. His foot continues to tap, even as his eyes stare as he lifts his head up and up at the massive claws that puncture the lab. There's a sort of wild look to his eyes, and a sliiightly unhealthy grin- no wait, that's his usual grin when he's thinking that something is awesome when other people would probably not agree.

He's only vaguely aware of Owen's announcement, not quite clicking into his head what the guy's going on about, but then that's because Impulse is zooming. For the door.

You can bet he's headed for the roof.

*

The flask is passed to her and Dani manages to grab a hold of it. And while she opens her mouth to say something to Impulse all that hears her is air, as he speeds on off.

It's not until the talon pierces right on through to their room that causes her to react again, "Fuck!"

And it only get worse.

"This is not the time for nostalgia!" Snaps Moonstar aware of just what Owen is talking about. "This is /serious/."

Not that her words will likely break through, not with the magic elixir having been consumed. Then Impulse is off like a bat and the Agent of SHIELD closes her eyes for a very tiny-brief-half-a-second moment. There might be a sigh there too.

Then her eyes open and she snarls at Owen, "No! That is not the answer to this problem! No Flying. Get back over here. /We/ all have to leave. We cannot finish this fight today."

"NOW we leave now!"

And Dani will try to pull Owen along, but if he resists all she can do is let him go thanks to his strength, and for herself it's back to those stairs.

"It is time to go."

*

A sigh of relief is wasted here, right when the building shakes and trembles under the weight of the Dragon. Raven gasps when the talons closest to their escape route come through the walls like a hot knife through butter.

No. No nononono no. No. Demons are one kind of problem. And the last thing they need is a whole tower collapsing with them in it.

Stuffing the envelope into who-knows-where-and-how-deep the folds of her cloak are, Raven draws herself up, arms spread wide to either side of her. The words whispered on her lips form and vanish, leaving her with a portal wide enough for people to get through. "Hurry," she says to those within range, the clarity within the vocal resonance present. "We can't waste any more time!"

An easier escape route is better than taking the long way down, and she will close it off as soon as everyone is accounted for.

*

When Matt gets chest-slammed with the fire extinguisher, Foggy loses his grip on his friend's elbow. He staggers, slipping on some of the extinguisher foam before he manages to get his footing once more. He unslings his messenger bag, slamming it into one of the nearest-bouncing imps that hasn't tasted the glory of Dummy.

Then he scrambles forward to grab Matt by his elbow once more, trying to get him back to his feet. "Alright, we're moving now!" He's not sure where they are moving to, but they are definitely moving trying to catch up with their friends, particularly when Raven presses for haste.

*

Owen continues to dance about the lab, even if the demons are trying more and more desperate measures to bite, impale or kill him. And Dani trying to harsh his vibe is just shrugged off. He shakes his head and says, "No.. This is serious." With a weird high smile that doesn't really match the words.

And so Owen moves to the window which is currently impaled with a giant dragon claw. He tries to dance with the claw. It doesn't work, he's all one way and it's just giant and grabbing the building. It's awkward. But it does move enough to provide Owen the opening he's looking for. He's always wanted to do this.

And that's how Owen Mercer, shirtless, drunk, hopped up on magical liquor finds himself falling through the air out of Stark Tower.

Thankfully the small silver disk that he picked up on his way out? Is a jet pack. Because Stark is the kind of guy to have extra jetpacks on hand. And Owen? Well, he's the type to put them to good use.

Which is not to say that Owen is any good at navigating a jetpack sober, much less in his current state. He bounces off a building, veers back towards the dragon, does a loop or two and then manages to fire himself away toward Central Park. There's probably a soft place to land there … maybe.

*

As Atli is thrown back into the side of Stark Tower with a great deal of fire and fury and building shaking, Sloane fires a glance toward Dani— the only other agent she knows well enough to tell— "I'll get Atli, just — hold things here!"

Grabbing a bottle of water from Dummy as she bolts down the stairs, she moves fast and frenzied; the holy water is stripped from the bottle as the Agent of SHIELD quickly turns it into a spinning, furious disk of water that lashes out like a whip every time an imp or a fiend or a smaller demon gets close, cutting and thrusting and hitting hard enough to break the bones of the sturdiest humans alive.

"Atli!!"

Rushing to the redheaded Asgardian— and her trusty new shark (?!?) — the Inhuman checks on her friend, taking the relief of knowing she's okay, if unconscious. Roaring, threats, and — the ringing call for evacuation leads this to the only conclusion that Sloane can muster with the remaining strength that she has left, with the remaining amount of water she has left.

The doors to the stairs burst open again, this time with Atli Wodendottir slung over her shoulder and dragging the shark— with a slick of moving water underneath it like a conveyor— by it's massive tail, charging straight toward Raven's portal like a fish-dragon girl out of hell.

"LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

*

Caitlin's call draws Bucky's attention, and he starts to answer, except then the Tower shakes as something crashes into it. He looks up, beyond her — and pales.

"No time," he answers. "Help get Dummy out, he'll get absolutely murdered in here. I have a Steve idea." Which is, really, shorthand for 'stupid.'

The flow of battle has cut him off from the others, blocking his line of sight to see that there's an actual portal available, though really — once Bucky has a Steve Idea there's rarely any kind of stopping it. The Winter Soldier hefts Tony more securely over his shoulder, and starts a run for the opposite side of the floor. The side that has some floor to ceiling windows.

The side that is NOT covered by dragon.

"Spider-Kid gonna need you in a second!!" is about all the warning Peter gets as a supersoldier tears past him, blows out the window in a rain of sparkling shards, and jumps clear out — to start bodily sliding down the side of the Tower, using his impervious left hand as an anchor to keep himself from being flung off entirely.

This is about when he expects to have a certain Spider to throw Tony to.

*

A sodden Matt Murdock, who somehow managed not to impale himself or anyone else with his own katana when he fell, clambers to his feet with his friend's help. Foggy is all urgency: Alright, we're moving now!

He doesn't need to tell Matt twice. The vigilante doesn't need his customary super-hearing to be able to surmise whose booming voice that is threatening above them, or the sound of those talons further battering Tony Stark's poor beleaguered tower.

If he were at one-hundred-percent, he might balk at the idea of running. He's fought a dragon before! But the loss of his powers is enough to activate his rarely-relied-upon survival instinct. "Yeah, yeah, fine…" Daredevil says, holding his sword point down as he follows Foggy's lead towards the portal.

*

Caitlin provides covedring fire for anyone who needs it, holding a ten-gallon sprayer in each hand and laying down a thick cross-spray of water between the portal and any demons nearby. She nods shortly at Bucky's command, sensing the fellow's superior tactical reasoning. Bucky looks like a competent and wise individual, beyond his years, with the eyes of someone accustomed to making brilliant decisions under pressure and

and "what the HECKIN'—!" Caitlin's words are cut off as Bucky goes *away* from the portal, and *towards* the glass, and launches himself into nothing.

"Oh my gosh! Can he fly?" She looks at Raven. "He can fly, right?!"

Caitlin grabs the fire suppression kit off Dummy, easily handling the hundred-pound canister of holy water. The robot gets shoved into the portal with a casual toss of her arm. She lays down heavy holy-water cover for anyone moving to the portal. Caitlin then gives Raven a distressed look. "All I can think is, 'I hope Starr Labs will hire me back'. Does that make me a bad person?"

*

After watching Sloane practically FLY through the portal on a giant SHARK with a KO'd Atli, all Raven can do at this point is shrug at Caitlin. And shrug again, because she isn't sure what Bucky is capable of.

"Just…that's another thing to worry about later, just go on," she adds, trying to keep a straight face all the while.

*

Foggy gets Matt to the portal, pulling him inside with that blind (no joke) trust that he hopes his friend has in him.

The saddest thing about this? Foggy doesn't even hesitate at the mere idea of a portal opening up.

His normal is seriously redefined. Thanks, guys.

*

Caitlin shakes her head at Raven. "I'll get out my own way," she tells the woman. "I've got to make sure the main security systems weren't knocked offline. There's stuff in the R&D vaults that…" she makes a distressed face. "/Someone/ has to make sure that they don't end up in the wrong hands, and I can handle any of these little imps that show up."

She swallows. "Hopefully. If not, well…" she shrugs awkwardly at Raven, and tries a smile. "It was nice seeing you again, anyway." With the last of the crew out of the building, Caitlin turns back to the chaos of fire and bedlam, and jogs right back out into it.

She's got a job to do.

*

Something happened. He feels a little lighter. A little stronger. He's got that tingle in the back of his skull that warns him, weakly, of a runaway imp seconds before it can firmly affix itself to his face.

His powers are coming back. Like a slow dribble. And that means…

Spider-Man considers the rate at which he can feel himself getting stronger. He tests his webbing, casting a line to ensnare and -=thwip!=- an imp to a nearby wall. He looks towards a window. He considers the plasma shotgun, one he can now heft with a single hand.

"Heeeeeey Bucky, I've got an id-" begins the young vigilante, ever-so-tentatively, as he slides forward underneath a soaring demon — only to hear Bucky's words. A Steve idea. Hands press into the ground, flipping Spider-Man back onto his feet.

"Wait what? A Steve Idea?" He looks where the soldier's attention is directed. Towards the window. Lenses widen, -right- as that talon SLICES through the ceiling, inspiring him to -lunge- backwards and just out of the way. "Oh my god are we sharing a wavelength?? Are we spider-bro'ing it??? I — honestly don't know how to feel about that and hey why are you running so fast I'm not done with my heartfelt speech oh crap YOU'RE REALLY RUNNING FAST!"

And this is the sound of Spider-Man, wide-eyed (for a given value), breaking off into a dead run after Bucky that sees him bounding over demons, rebounding off walls, and spinning through wreckage in a dizzying feat of acrobatics that sends him bulleting towards that shattering window.

"THIS ISN'T FAIR, I'M SUPPOSED TO BE THE RIGGS OF THIS BUDDY COP DUO! AND IT'S SPIDER-"

WHOOSH

"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN"

And this? This is the sound of Spider-Man rocketing out of that opened window at high velocities, going into freefall at speeds that would strip most any normal person of air and consciousness. He can feel his powers coming back. This has to work. Please let this work. Please let this work. Please let this work —

"That — Spider-Cop — keeps living life too close — to the razor's edge — but dammit — !!"

Tony is thrown. Tony goes airborne. The — and we have to mention, helplessly comatose — body of a billionaire hero goes soaring —

— only to be snatched within the waiting grasp of Spider-Man as he simultaneously spins a web that sends him careening past just barely above the surface of the street beneath them.

" — HE GETS RESUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULTS!"

See? He knew it would be fine. He wouldn't voluntarily put his mentor's life in danger without being absolutely certain and oh my god he thought he was going to die

*

Caitlin Fairchild says, "King of Lumbo. Which is to Limbo as New Jersey is to Manhattan."

*

Bart makes it to the roof easily enough. Most of the demons seem to be focused on other things, or just running around in an impotent panic, because they are all terrified of being devoured for their abysmal failure.

Thus it is that the young speedster is quite alone when he reaches the roof. It's completely empty… except for the monstrous head of the Dragon, arched high up over it, looking this way and that —

— and then down. All the way down.

Two flaming yellow eyes fix on Bart Allen. The monster leans down, close enough Bart can feel his sulfurous breathing, and stares him full in the face. Those jaws part slightly, fangs the length of eighteen-wheelers baring not like the slow unsheathing of a thousand swords.

And then the Dragon starts laughing uproariously.

"Child," says the Dragon, "I have not had meat come to me to look upon me in a thousand years! You amuse me. You will know my mercy — " his voice slants sly, " — such as it is."

The stink of magic floods the air. The Dragon's eyes burn a sickly yellow. His jaws part in a single word of Demonic that cracks the concrete of the ceiling. And Bart is — sent away, with a warp of demonic energy.

He'll end up somewhere safe. It's just the 'in between' that might be a trip.

*

As soon as Demons happened Pepper and Tony had 'Anti Demon Plans' that went into action. One of them involved Dummy with lots of extra anti demon things. Another involved some very serious anti-demon wards going online around the servers. To keep them clear. Because THAT EVIL AI CRAP WASN'T HAPPENING AGAIN!

Which is how Dummy and many of the drones got armed.

But right now the important thing is that /powered/ people find imps a whole lot less scary.

They are squished, smashed, shot, kicked, and frightened off fairly easily. No matter King Clippy's ranting from the back.

Dummy though /does/ give Caitlin a horrified and aghast look at the suggestion of leaving for Star Labs.

HERESY!

…I mean it is hard to give emotes when you're just a claw with a fire-extinguisher but hey. He manages somehow.

At Bucky's cry though he looks towards the window tossed Stark, then towards the portal, then towards the Imps.

There is a moment of thought before he jsust rumbles forwards into the portal. Letting off a very concerned series of bleeps and burbles as he simply falls though. He really hopes there is something soft to land on!

As for Stark Himself.

…well he is a bundle of arms and legs in freefall for a long moment. Looking like he might just pancake when…

Spidey snatches him from the jaws of gravity. Stark just half flops there. Arm awkwardly around Spidey's shoulders. Head lolled off to the side.

And he snores. Loudly.

Yeah. He's fine.

*

It's only when he steps out onto the roof that Impulse wonders if he should have second thoughts about all this. Granted even if he hadn't been slightly hopped up on magical whiskey he would have been curious about what belonged to those giant talons.

And now he knows.

He stares up and up at the dragon, for once, speechless, in awe. Holds up his cellphone.

Click.

His thumb's hitting 'Send' to Red Robin even as magic begins to surge around him.

And then, he disappears.

*

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