Molemen and Lindworms

Summary:
26 December, 2014: Molemen and Lindworms appear in Prospect Park. Fortunately four heroes are there!

Prospect Park


Characters

NPCs

  • None

Mood Music:
[*<http://insert.video.or.music.link.here>]


Bobby is a bit troubled. He hasn't heard back from the Titans about the status of the Brotherhood defector Riana, but the mere fact that the Brotherhood is most likely involved in the plot to blow up the Kinzua dam is bad, bad news. Partly because it means conflict with the X-Men is probably inevitable and partly because if anyone has the resources to actually succeed in blowing the dam up, it'd be them.

So he's not paying a whole lot of attention as he goes about his daily routine. Work brought him out to Prospect Park to meet with a couple of business prospects and, that done, he's on his way back. To his left there's a shaded grove wherein a small ley line runs. Bobby can't feel it but it's pulsing in that manner that usually means something interesting is about to happen.

***

Kate has been burning the candle at both ends lately, between training and patrolling. She's getting to the point where she's more than a little bit sore, but given the number of steps she's been running up and down lately, keeping up with cardio seems like a worthwhile thing to do. So despite the chill, she's jogging through the park, a fleece beanie pulled down over her ears. She's not going very fast - it looks like she's near the end of her run - and when she catches sight of Bobby? That's more than enough reason to slow down and take a break.

***

~ Pop ~

It's not a loud sound, but loud enough for anyone near by to detect it at least.

A young, dark haired, young woman appears, seemingly out of nowhere. Dressed in jeans, knee high boots, blouse and a blazer, Zee Zatara frowns as she paces around the grove. It looks like she's looking for, or perhaps, at something, but it's not obvious what. Finally she pauses, crosses her arms and rests her chin on hand, in thought.

***

Right, Energy Readings, be they science of mystical. Nyx isn't aware of either of those things but for some odd reason <cough hitchhiker cough> she finds herself drawn in the general direction of Prospect Park. The girl does pause and stare at down at the Lake. Then up at the sky. Parks in the City. Not this one but one of the other ones, that is where is all started.

***

Several months ago a society of molemen made front page news by sinking the UN building down a miles long hole in the Earth and trying to hold the assembly hostage. The situation was resolved by Wonder Woman with an assortment of others who happened to be nearby helping out. The mad scientist who had discovered them was taken into custody and his technology for the most part confiscated for study.

What most folks don't know is that the mole men have traditions more ancient than most things men can imagine, stretching back to a time when monsters truly not only roamed the earth but also the skies above and the deep places below. Traditions that have not entirely been forgotten among their people.

The ley line begins to pulse wildly with power, like a runner's heart rate. Then the tremors start. Just a rumble at first and then finally enough to disturb folks' balance as they walk along the paths. Bobby has to grip a park bench to stay upright. That's when he notices Kate.

"Oh. Hey there… er… bit of an earthquake?" He'd been in California long enough to have been in a few but they're usually a West Coast thing and not an East Coast one.

***

Kate shifts her step as the earth begins to shake, brows furrowing in concern. She reaches for the bench as well, bracing herself, and searches the area. "That'd be weird if it was?" she says slowly, trying to see if there are any obvious sources. "I don't think there's any subway expansion going on here…"

***

Zee stumbles as the earth tremors around her, bracing herself against a tree and then pushing off it to get out of the grove. passes. Her normal sunny disposition is replaced by something more closed and foreboding.

It's then she sees Bobby and Kate, and carefully but quickly, makes her way towards them. She's saving using her magic at the moment.

Bobbys comment causes her frown to deepen and she shakes her head as she approaches "Maybe an earthquake, but not a natural one. There's something" and she waggles her fingers in the air "energy wise, I guess, affecting it." Trying to maintain her balance she glances back at the grove "From in there, I would say."

***

Earthquake. Nyx nearly tumbles down the bank and into the Lake but she manages to get her footing. "What the hell…" she looks up and around and starts to walk towards the grove now brow furrowed. Hey look Bobby and Kate and some other woman. She speeds up a bit … wobbling a bit and trying to not fall on her ass.

***

"The hell could be going on there that-" Bobby never gets a chance to finish his question. There's a hideous cracking sound as an enormous scaly worm thirty feet around breaks the surface in the center of the grove and roars. Then another appears about a hundred feet away (closer to Kate, Bobby and Zee), and then another on the other side of them. Lindworms.

If people were panicking before, they're really panicking now. The plus side is that now that they're not burrowing the ground isn't shaking. The downside? Oh well there's three ravenous Lindworms looking around for something to eat, and who knows what beneath them in the tunnels they just made.

"Well crap." Bobby mutters as ice begins to cover him.

***

Kate stares at the things coming out of the ground, then looks to the others. "I got nothing," she says simply, holding her hands up and jogging back a couple steps. "Zee, can you hook us up on some communication? I'll take some high ground, call you some shots." She's good, but when it comes down to it, she's an unarmed human coming up against giant, angry worms.

***

As the worms erupt from the ground, Zee stares as well, momentarily stunned but shakes it off at Kates words and looks at her. Right, no weapon. "Where's your bow?" she calls out to the other woman "I might be able to retrieve it for you. Just give me a good idea of the location." And then she speaks:

~ gnikroW sehtolC ~

Gone are the jeans, blouse and jacket and in their place, Zee's costume. Thigh high boots, fishnet stockings, leotard, swallow coat and top hat.

Taking the top hat from her head, she reaches into it and concentrates before removing three communicator like devices. Tossing one to Kate and one to Bobby, she places the third on her jacket before replacing the hat. "There you go, Kate."

***

Right, Giant Worm Things. Just last night Nyx was expressing to Jamie that she was wishing there were targets in her fights that were big enough that she wouldn't miss blasting them and damage historic New York Tourist Sights "Woah…." this may be a bit too big, but it does probably qualify as Tokyo level giant monsters. She quickly fixes her mask…. stance wide so she doesn't fall over.. and then finishes her jog up to the others "Heeey Bobby should I shoot these things?" then she stops and stares at Zatanna "I need me one of those…" does she mean awesome mage, ability to summon a costume, or just a costume. Considering she is decked out in tastefully tattered jeans, a hoodie, and a half face mask, could be any of those things.

***

Bobby starts a ramp and offers a hand to Kate just to get her to high ground. There's a few, ahem, prospects around the park. The museum not too far away is probably the best bet. if Zee can't get Kate her bow he might be able to help her with… something.

***

"Nyx!" Bobby tosses her a communicator. He'll be high up enough that he can probably see the action. Well, most of it. Nyx will be on ground level. "Yeah. Definitely shoot them."

One of the Lindwurms disppears and within moments of it a band of thirty or so primitively armed mole men stumbles blinking into the sunlight.

***

"Trunk, purple mustang, two blocks west and one block north, third spot from the intersection," Kate calls back to Zatanna as she takes Bobby's hand to get a running start on the ramp. "Really need to talk to Fenris about some sort of bag of holding," she mutters as she makes for the roof to keep tabs on what's happening. "We've got mole men, people," she calls out. "Not sure if they're after the worms or controlling them."

***

Nodding as Kate takes off, Zees' brow furrows in concentration, visualising the car and it's location as she speaks

~ dneS setaK woB oT reH sdnaH ~

If that works, the bow will appear in the young archers hands.

Zee glances at the newcomer as the comms unit is activated "Maybe an enchantment to let you call it from anywhere. Mole men… right."

***

Nyx catches the communicator from Bobby and peers at it then tucks it over her ear. "Is this thing on?" she grins at Zee and then looks around. At least the ground isn't shaking so bad "Awesome, Molemen!" then she pivots and raises her hands and white light roils around her forearms and hands. It is very bright, but her arms seem to have changed underneath the glare somehow, she fires a two armed full strength blast at one the Lindworms, even as she starts to run right at the beast nary a concern for the fact it is huge and there are armed Mole Men!

***

Bobby drops Kate off on the roof of the building and circles back. Nyx is got him beat in terms of raw destructive power so his first move is to sweep in and errect an ice wall in front of the emerging mole men to keep them from going too far. Arrows and spears fly up at him as he weaves around one of the two remaining Lindwurms. And then a laser blast. Ooops. Seems like not all of the Docotor's tech was taken away.

Nyx's blast strikes the beast and it reels back, obviously in pain. How it senses her isn't certain but it definitely begins to focus in on her. There's a gurgling sound and a moment later it vomits a stream of acid out in Nyx's direction.

***

"Hey, there we go!" Kate exclaims in surprise as the gym bag of gear drops into her hands. "Thanks, Zee," she calls over the comm, tugging the zipper and pulling out bow and quiver. "Bobby, how fast can you ice those worms?" she asks. "My understanding is worms don't do so good at low temperatures. Nix, try not to target any Bobby's working on, no knowing if your stuff will heat them back up."

***

"Nyx is it?" Zee barely gives the other woman a glance as the stream of acid sprays out. "I going to try and divert that acid spray back to that worm…" then she speaks and pushes her hand forwar.

~ treviD dicA kcaB oT ehT mroW ~

That spell cast, Zee moves toward the mole men "I'll focus on getting rid of the mole men."

***

The young woman in question runs off to the side, really hoping that the acid can be redirected by a spell, and lookie there it works which is awesome "Go team!" she isn't sizzling, which she has no idea if she would recover from as easily as she has other issues. "Nyx right… thanks!" pauses a beat "I will focus on this one since it hasn't gone down yet."

That said Nyx raises her arms again and starts to unload a barrage of those blasts at the Lindworm.

***

Bobby grunts. "I can try. Hang on." The iceman picks the one that Nyx isn't unloading on just to not add the headache of trying to not hit him as he circles on ice ramps and directs a stream of ice down upon the other worm. It's… well it's slowing a little. Hard to say if it's because of the ice or because of something else. Another goup of mole men emerges and the tremors in the ground say that that third Lindwurm is still out there somewhere.

Nyx finds herself the subject of increasing rage as the worm begins to try to crush her bodily.

***

Kate rustles through the arrows in her quiver, pulling out some with unusual attachments. "Let's try some of this," she muses, firing one arrow after another into the ground around the other heroes and the worms. To the heroes, there's probably not much to catch. Be below? Those are sonic arrows, and they're blasting away through the dirt. If those worms are navigating by echolocation, they're going to have a pretty unpleasant time of it. "Keep moving, Nyx," she calls out. "Side to side's giving you more bang for your buck."

***

"Who's targetting the third worm and where is it?" Zee finally gets near to where the mole men are emerging "First things first" the raven haired magician sets her chin and moves her hand in a circular motion

~ esolC ehT slennuT ~

She's targetting all three tunnels, this will take a toll. "This should stop more of the mole men appearing. Kate, what's the layout where are the rest of the molemen?"

***

Nyx starts to move from side to side, weaving as she continues lay down a blistering barrage of deadly energy blasts on the Lindworm "These things.. are really strong." she notes as she keeps trying to not be crushed by the thing. Several arrows and spears hit her dead on since she is totally focused on the giant monster. they pretty much bounce off the girl thankfully right. "Hawkeye… does it look from your vantage like I am doing anything but piss this thing off!?" she doesn't stop yet though she almost gets crushed there, very dramatic.

***

The empty tunnel does shut. The other two… have Lindwurms in them. They do constrict though, like a horribly tight corset or a set of too-small jeans. And that doesn't look at all comfortable. In fact it's so not-comfortable that the two lindwurms visible begin ignoring everything else and thrashing wildly to get loose. Which causes a great deal of shaking on the ground. Well, one of them thrashes slowly. That freezing trick is apparently working.

"Where's the other one?" Bobby yells. Why did he have to ask? Kate's sonic arrows have thrown these things navigation off and a good thing too because the worm that bursts out right beside Zatanna had been aiming to burst out under her.

***

"Can't find the third, but it's gonna be coming out, I've got sonics in the gr- ZEE." Kate pulls out an explosive-tipped arrow, loosing it in a single, smooth motion at Nyx's worm. "Sorry, Nyx, not sure if it's hitting. Keep up the freeze, Bobby, it's working there." She flips down her glasses, grimacing. "Really need a better heads up display on these things. I'm losing the mole men from up here, watch your backs."

***

As the worm appears beside her, Zee jumps back slightly. "Oh goodie. One just for me. Freezing works…." Eyeing Bobby's ice ramps, she frowns "Bobby, going to use the ice you're creating, hope it doesn't backfire." and she sweeps her hand from the direction of Bobby's iceramps towards her very own worm:

~ ecI ezeerF sihT mroW ~

Her intent is for a blast of icy cold air will break over the worm that slow it down.

***

Nyx says something unmentionable and unladylike as she nearly loses her legs. Well theoritically the worm in it's thrashing nearly trashes onto her and all that. "Okay… uhm.. other than it's mouth do you see any vulnerabilities…" she gets hit with another arrow and blasts a Mole Man sending him flying but it was a tinier blast then the one she is hitting the worms with. "Hum.. no eyes but maybe ears or nose parts…." hell if she knows.

Nyx leaps up onto the worm… digging in with one hand and starting to pull herself up climbing towards the head now. Blasting with one hand at very close range.

***

That close Nyx can finally break the skin but goodness is this stuff tough. Of course if they live down near the molemen their skin probably has to resist the temperature and pressure of magma amongst other things so that kind of makes sense. The flesh beneath the leathery skin is so hot it starts to steam. Nyx is getting up close to the maw now. What she'll do when she gets there….

Kate is finally starting to attract some attention and sadly it's from the mole men that still have those scavenged laser rifles. Their aim isn't good, but it's playing hell on the masonry around her and some of it's too close for comfort.

Like Bobby's ice, Zee's ice slows the worm. Unfortunately neither Bobby nor Zee seem to be stopping them. The one Bobby was icing off finally decides to start to pull back, but it may need some more encouragement. The one next to Zee just looks pissed… like it's getting ready to vomit on her.

***

"Found 'em," Kate says in regard to the mole men. "Bobby, you can go colder," she says as she targets the laser gun with an arrow. "Focus it. Science it. You know you can do it, now push it and turn that thing into ice cubes." Apparently that's what counts as a pep talk from Hawkeye mission command on the roof. "Keep at it, Nyx, you're putting a dent in them. Shooting you some help," she adds as she quickly ties an incendiary tip to another regular arrow, aiming it just ahead of the girl. "Rip a hole, shove that in, get out of the way, hit it with one of those energy blasts. Zee, how're you holding up?"

***

"'sok Hawkeye, there's are tough though." Zee keeps her eye on the worm in front of her. This time, Zee pulls on the air itself, drawing as much moisture as she can from it ans using the cold from Bobbys ice to start freezing it.

~ ezeerF sihT mroW woN ~

She channels power into the spell and the effort nearly drives her to knees. "That better have done something this time, Hawkeye." she mutters into her comms unit.

***

Well hell, Nyx isn't going to throw herself on the inside of the thing. It vomits acid for heavens sake. She stops firing and starts to try to rip off the leather skin and then she punches her hand into the exposed flesh on the head and starts to blast with arm as powerful as she can manage. "Bobby.. Lady I don't know… ice it's mouth.. the skin is really really tough but the insides are really hot and more vulnerable…." she prepares to hold on real tight with her one hand as she figures she is about to give it a real headache.

***

The insides are, in fact, scalding hot. But defintitely more vulnerable. Nyx isn't so much in danger of being attacked now as in danger of being bashed against something as her worm flails and flops. Bobby sweeps low to ice a few mole men to buy Kate some additional time. She's doing rather well and he'd rather have her keep doing what she's doing. Seeing Nyx miss Kate's arrow he ramps back to pick it up and toss it over to the worm riding heroine.

Zee's spell… seems to have done perhaps more than she intended. There's not a worm next to her anymore so much as there is a wormcicle. The good news is that it's not going to hurt anyone else. The bad news? It's still gonna be here when the cops and press show up.

As the ice nerd comes back around he hear's Kate's pep talk and grins. "I can do colder." And he can. A lot colder. That cold starts to focus on one area of the worm and the temperature begins to drop everywhere. It's getting actually kind of uncomfortably cold.

***

"Nice work, Zee!" Kate calls to the magician. "Get clear, I'm going to blow that thing and there's going to be shrapnel." She loads up a trio of the explosive tips, sighting along the length of the worm. "Keep going, Nyx, you're looking good over there," she adds as she draws. Once she's loosed, she can turn her attention to Bobby's worm, grin spreading as she starts to feel the chill. "Let it go, Elsa." Poor Bobby. He's never going to live that down.

***

"Mole men the other worm? Next target?" Zee pants a little "And thanks Hawkeye. I could teleport them to the bottom of the ocean or something, you know." But she's already moving away so Hawkeye can do her thing. As the temperature around her starts to drop she smirks a bit at the icenerd "I could have done with that about 5 minutes ago, Elsa" she'll pick up the nickname, no worries.

***

Nyx winces "Oo burn…" she says over the comms about the nickname. She does stop shooting and manages to catch the arrow tip tossed up to her "Crap why don't you end…" she isn't being scalded by the flesh at least. She stops shooting long enough to jam the device and her fist back into the hole she has been drilling with her blasts. Then she starts blasting again with the extra treat Hawkeye provided….. and then WHAM she is slammed into the ground by the worm as it flops backwards onto her in it's struggles.

***

"The cold doesn't bother me anyway." Bobby smirks back as the spot of cold suddenly crystalizes all of the water even remotely in the vecinity and drives a lance of near absolute-zero ice through the Lindworm. It thrashes and screams and then slumps. Quite dead.

The remaining Lindworm soon follows it. Nyx's sudden introduction to the ground actually saves her. As the worm rears back with Hawkeye's arrow burried in it's skull and Nyx's energy surging through it, the thing suddenly explodes, showring the area with… well let's not dwell on what it is.

Speaking of Hawkeye her arrow seems to cause some kind of odd cascade detonation in the worm itself as pockets of gas in it's stomachs ignite and shatter the frozen worm into penny sized pieces. The molemen seem to be out of the fight now, not willing to take on the people who just killed three Lindworms. They throw down their weapons and try to jump back into the one open hole. In the distance, sirens scream.

***

"That's how we do it, Iceman!" Kate cheers, pumping a fist as Bobby hits the zero point. "Sound off, everyone," she adds, scanning the area and keeping an eye on the fleeing mole men. "Let me know you're all okay, and we can wrap this place for the officials."

***

"Zee here" the young raven haired woman looks a little worn and is has bits of, well just ick from the exploding worm hanging from her. "Let me see if we can get these moleman, they're trying to run" Gesturing to the molemen with a flourish, Zee speaks again

~ esilabommI nemeloM ~

"That should hold them, if someone can secure them please."

***

Right, Nyx just lays there in a Lindworm indentation covered in.. exploded worm goo. "Right… I think I may have broke my nosth… " she reaches up tenderly feeling it. "Also that was .. one of the most awesome and disgusting things I have ever been a part of at the same time…." okay she lived through that, sturdy Nyx is sturdy.

***

Bobby grins as he lands and steps off the ramp, letting his ice armor fade from around him. "Iceman here. I'm alright. Cool as a cucumber, really." Yes with the temperature jokes. He can do them all day. As he walks toward Kate, Zee and Nyx he starts putting molemen in little ice cages. They'll have to be cut out of them with a hacksaw but they won't be going anywhere.

***

With the mole men contained, Kate starts to climb her way down from the roof, checking in on the others as she goes. "Good work, guys," she says with a grin, though even she's moving a little stiffly. It's possible she may need to actually take a day off at this point. "Gonna have to read people in on the fact that the mole people apparently aren't gone, though. Awkward."

***

Zee nods to the group. "It was a good job. Kate, are you ok, do you need healing?" the mage looks to the archer with concern. Then, looking down at her clothing, she grimaces and speaks

~ teertS setholC ~

"That fight took more out of me than expected." she murmurs before looking at Nyx. "Would you like me to see if I can heal that? I still have a little oomph left for the both of you."

***

Nyx wiggles her nose a little "No.. I think I was wrong it seems fine…." she stretches a bit in her indent and then cartefully gets up to her feet "That really stung…." she is moving a bit gamely but seems to be recovering just fine. She starts to wipe the goop off herself "So we got em all.. awesome…and I didn't shoot any landmarks Bobby."

***

"You didn't and I'd say that's a very good start. Have you met Kate and Zatanna before?" If she hasn't, well, now she has. Post heroism introductions for the win. Bobby's not as up on those as he could be but no time like the present.

"Glad you two were here, by the way." He says to Kate and Zee. "That might have gone badly."

***

"I'm good, actually," Kate assures Zatanna with a small smile. Granted, she's got a few days old bruise on her jaw, and she looks exhausted, but she's not actually injured. Just pushing herself too hard. "Well done, Nyx," she adds with an encouraging smile for the other girl. "Nyx, this is Zatanna. She's one of the Titans I wanted to introduce you to. I was looking for a convenient time, but since we're here…"

***

Zee, who's now dressed in the same clothes she originally arrived in, nods to Bobby "It might have." Then looking to Nyx she smiles warmly and holds out her hand "Zatanna Zatara, or Zee to my friends. That was nice work you did there." A questioning look is sent to Kate "Is she joining the Titans?"

***

Nyx has most of the goo off and then steps up to Zee and shakes her hand "Nyx… leasure to meet you Zatanna." she smiles brightly and looks back at the scene "I am just glad this one won't go viral in a bad way for once."

***

Bobby had heard that idea bandied about. It wasn't the only one though. He's introduced her to X-ers as well though not too anyone else so far. SHIELD and there's always Nan's crew. And Kate. If anyone knows how to the play the 'member of none, friend of all' game and make it work, it's Kate. Plus Kate's good people. So there's that.

"Probably not Nyx but it's a good thing you had a mask, eh?" Kate and Zee don't have masks, but then they don't hide in the same ways.

***

"That's up to her and you guys, I think," Kate says with a small smile. "I think it wouldn't be a bad fit, though. Either way, it's always good to meet new people, right?" She brushes her hands off on her thighs, letting out a slow breath. "That went…pretty smooth, actually. Good instincts, Nyx. And that was impressive stuff at the end there, Bobby," she grins to the mutant. "Seriously."

***

"Oh I don't know, going viral is often good for business… well my line of business anyway." Zee laughs brightly. "I heard you could be cold Bobby, but not quite that cold. It was good work all round, nice team work." Looking between Nyx and Kat, Zee shrugs "If you do join the team, that's cool. If not, I hope we can still catch up… I'd like that."

***

Nyx grins and shrugs "Hey… I said I was glad it didn't go viral in the bad way for once… and I had my mask on the last two times as well Iceman.. it didn't help but yeah thankfully my parents didn't see it on Fox News … well okay they saw it but they didn't realize it was me.. thank god." her smile is genuine as she nods to Zee "Sure I'd love to catch up. I really need to meet everyone I can and … well that stuff you did was really cool." the comm isn't on her ear anymore though.

***

"Most things are cool when I'm around. And thanks. I'm still kind of testing the limits of my abilities." Bobby winks. He doesn't know how cold he can make things other than 'very'. Being really really cold can be all kinds of dangerous.

"I'll stick around to give a statement since I don't need to be worried about being brought in for questioning. If any of you guys need to make a quick exit, I'd do it now. It sounds like those cops are close." And they do seem to be judging by the sound of sirens.

***

"I should go home. Try out this sleep thing that people keep telling me about," Kate smiles ruefully to Bobby. "And a security system. I really need something better on the windows," she mutters to herself as she turns away and starts heading out. It's been a long week for Hawkeye…

***

"Sure Nyx, here's my card and Kate and Bobby know how to find me." With a flourish, Zee produces her card out of thin air and passes it to the young woman. "Don't be a stranger! I'll be off too, after expending that much energy I won't have any trouble sleeping." Zee begins to walk away, throwing a wave to Bobby and Nyx before saying

~ tropeleT eM emoH ~

And in a blink of an eye, the young woman is gone.

***

Nyx waves to Kate "Catch you later Hawkeye…." and then she accepts the card "Cool I'll call you and yeah they know how to get a hold of me too." she tucks the card away "Is she talking backwards?" Nyx asks Bobby then shakes her head "I'll scoot.. I dont have answers to their questions…" she smiles to Bobby and takes off at a jog through the park, stripping her mask and flipping her hood down once clear.

***

Bobby cants his head and nods to Kate. "Give me a call later and we'll see about a security system. I know the folks that install it for the lab I work at and I'm pretty sure we can get them to do something pretty airtight." He's guessing that Kate's got some unusual needs and ordinary home alarm systems won't cut it.

"Yeah Nyx, she was. Catch you later!" He waves as the three women clear out and he waits for the police. The paperwork on this one should be fun.


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