Players:
Summary: A Young Avenger and a Corsair do battle with a very strange snake.
Date: May 29, 2009
Log Title: Sticky Snake
Rating: R
City Hall Park - New York City
It came from the water under the Brooklyn Bridge like a streak of lightning some say. Made it's way into City Hall Park, sending people screaming and calls ringing out for help. At around nine thirty PM tonight, an eleven foot long serpent…bright orange and with a glowing gem in its forehead…swings its tail and snaps a tree in two.
"Yeah. Ah'm gonna be late," Owen Folger, mutant and member of the Corsairs, sighs and hangs up his cellphone. In jeans and a t-shirt, he'd just been in the park for a walk when the serpent appeared. And now it's several feet in front of him biting a bench in half.
Elijah strolls through the park, getting used to being back in the city and taking in the sights. He sees the serpent and sighs, heading to an alley while everyone is distracted. He changes into his costume and gets his shield out from his oversized duffel bag. He stashes everything behind a dumpster and takes to the roof tops via fire escape. He then leaps down and surveys the situation.
"Oh, how do Ah get mahself intah this kinda stuff?" Owen asks, ducking behind a water fountain as the serpent tosses the destroyed bench into the air. It looks around, tongue flicking a few times, and then desroys another tree. There's a pause as it turns towards Owen's hiding space and hisses. "Oh…that ain' good," the mutant declares, neither he or the serpent noticing Patriot yet.
Patriot gets a grip on his shield and frowns as the serpent destroys more property. "Great…" He looks over and spots Owen. "You there, get to a safer place." He heads over to him when the serpent starts to spot him. "HEY! GET OUT NOW!" He looks at the serpent and waves his arms. "You wanna dance?! Come on, then!"
Owen looks up as Patriot yells to him, blinking a few times. He starts to says something but has to dive out of the way as the serpent dives down and bites the top of the water fountain off. Owen frowns and with s sweeping gesture, sends several pieces of debris at the beast. They don' do much. Owen shakes his head and looks over to Patriot. "Don' worry, Ah'm no helpless bystander," he calls. Meanwhile, the serpent turns slowly toward Patriot and rises up to stare at him.
Patriot blinks for a bit at the debris. He looks up at the serpent and glances back to the young man. "All right… good to know. Got any ideas what to do with this thing?" He grips his shield again and stares back at the creature. "Yeah, show me what you got!" He rushes at it, shield forward, in an attempt to leap on it and rush at its head.
Owen shrugs, standing and settling into a defensive stance. "Not a clue. Giant snakes haven' come up in mah homework yet," he says, stepping to the side.
As PAtriot rushes, the serpent's head quickly squerves out of the way. Letting out a hiss, the beast swings its tail for the teen hero's shield with about as much force as he himself can hit with.
Elijah jumps at the tail but gets slammed by the tail. He flies back and rolls on the ground, scrambling up to his feet. He shakes his head, trying to clear it. "Wow… OK, that's enough of playtime." He sets himself and rushes forward. He leaps into the air and slams his shield into the creature's side.
Owen cringes, starting towards Patriot. "Ya'll okay?" he calls, looking up as the serpent looks at him. It's mouth opens and a glob of thick orange slime is launched Owen's way. He deflects most of it with his telekinesis but some sticks to his hand. Doesn't seem to be doing anything though. "Eww…" he trails off.
As that shield hits scales, the snake rolls. Letting out a screech of some kind, the creature rears back up and lunges at Patriot for a headbutt.
Elijah times the strike. "Wait for it… WAIT FOR IT…" He looks over to Owen and shrugs. "Yeah, I'm not breaking a sweat." He looks back and then swings the shield at it right between the eyes. "NOW!"
KERRRRR-RAAAACK!
Not a nice sound as the shield strikes the serpent. It screeches againn and rears back, wobbling as if drunk. It's mouth opens and it starts spewing the orange gew all over both teens despite Owen's expression of disgust. It's scentless as it coats them and seems quite resistant to removal but doesn't appear to do much more than feel slimy and stick to them. Thankfully it avoids their faces.
"Okay, seriously…this is just…OOF!" Owen never finishes his statement. He gets a tail to the stomache and gets sent flying at Eli. The mutant smacks into the back of the super soldier and knocks them both over. "Sorry…sorry about that. Wasn' watchin'…oh bugger," he sighs. Eli and Owen will be rather…well…probably annoyed to find out that Patriot now has Owen pretty stuck to him back-to-back. Could make this fight a bit more difficult.
Patriot gets up and turns around. He sighs as he gets stuck to Owen. "Well then… This is going to be kinda difficult." He sprints around the creature, trying to come up with a strategy. "OK, things aren't hopeless… yet… I think…" He looks over his shoulder. "Any ideas? What are your powers?"
Owen yelps and does his best to run backwards and nod trip Patriot up. "H-hey! Careful, Ah can' see where where's goin'," he mutters. Owen peers up at the Serpent as it wobbles around, occasionally belching up another glob of slime. "Ah got telekinesis right now. Name's Lurker by the way," he offers his codename, not yet aware who Patriot is. "Only thin' Ah can think of is hit it hard. Hey…how much ya weigh?"
Elijah pauses and watches the serpent. "Uh, all right. Call me Patriot." He frowns a moment and tries to find a weak spot. "Um, all told around 190…" He blinks. "How come?"
There's a pause from Owen as he blinks. "Patriot? Like the guy from the Young Avengers?" he asks. Pausing again to drag some more debris in the way of an incoming glob of goo, the mutant sighs. "Well, Ah got an idea. Think ya'll can hit the thing in the head again if Ah lift us intah the air?"
Patriot nods. "Well, um… yeah, that's me." He looks back at Owen. "Um… Yes I can…" He cocks his head. "What do you have planned?"
Owen smiles. "Well, glad Ah finally get tah meet ya. Ah'm a friend of Rebound an' Ah met Speed once too," he says. "We're gonna fly," he says, concentrating on lifting them both into the air. Slowly, they rise higher and higher much to the confusion of the serpent. Owen spins them about so that Patriot is facing the beast and Owen faces the sky. "Alright…gonna send us at that thin'. Give it all ya got. Three…two…ONE!" he says, sending the stuck teens falling right at the big orange snake.
Elijah grips the shield and puts all of his strength into one large slam. "Comin' atcha, triple ugly!"
There's another sickening CRACK as shield makes contact with serpent. The beast lets out a hiss that fades out before collapsing. There's a pause before the gem in its forehead suddenly shoots into the air and vanishes into the night sky. There's a flash of light and suddenly the huge snake is gone. In it's place is a dirty and damaged snakeshin coat. Weird. And Owen is still stuck to Eli.
Meanwhile, somewhere off is space, there is a room. In this room, a single orange candle with a matching flame suddenly goes out.
Elijah looks around for a moment and blinks. He chuckles. "Wow, I hit him harder than I thought…" He walks over to the fountain and tries to get cleaned off. "Ewww, this stuff is gross…" He looks back. "Thanks, by the way. I'll mention to the others I met you. Speed's a good guy, and I just met Rebound. Nice enough guy."
The water doesn't seem to be doing much but getting them wet and Owen ends up stumbling on the way over. "That was jus' weird," he says, nudging the coat with his TK. "He kept sayin'he was gonna brin' me by your hideout tah meet ya'll sometime but school got in both our ways," he pauses. "Now we jus' gotta figure out how we're gonna get unstuck."
Patriot shrugs. "I have no idea. I mean, I don't even know what this is…" He looks over. "Got any ideas?"
Owen frowns, trying to pull himself away and getting nowhere. He tries again with his TK and only manages to lift them both into the air. Sighing, the teen crosses his arms and looks up thoughtfully. "Lets see…could try freezin' it, heatin' it up, usin' some kinda solvent, or askin' someone stronger than us tah try breakin' it or cuttin' it," he shrugs. "Dunno much else."
Elijah nods. "Yeah, but where do we get heat, cold or a solvent for this? I could ask someone at the Avengers…"
Owen shrugs again. "Got any teammates will fire or ice powers? Or lots of steam or somethin'?" he asks. "Anyone ya think could help. Somehow Ah don' thin' ya'll could explain havin' me stuck tah your back tah where ever ya gotta go next."
Elijah ponders a moment. "No idea… I mean, Wiccan, maybe. No idea where he is, though…" He frowns a moment. "Magic users are so useful…"
Owen blinks. "Magic?" he asks. "Never seen magic before leee ya count Talli's rocks…" he trails off with a chuckle. "Err. Maybe we should get outta the open before the cameras get here. Ya'll got a mask…Ah'll jus' get in trouble."
Elijah nods. "We'll head back to the compound and think about it from there." He heads off to the rooftops. "Hang on…" He stops to grab his bag before taking to the skyline.
"Han' on? Tah what?" Owen yelps. He sticks tight, mostly because he's got no choice in the matter. Eventually, he relaxes and just lightens himnself with the TK so he's not as heavy for Patriot to jump with.
Elijah chuckles. "Relax, kid. I can lift you and a motorcycle and not break a sweat, even after running a marathon! Thanks, though." He finally lands outside of the compound. "Home sweet home, kinda…" He chuckles. "Welcome." He opens the door and heads in.
Owen smiles. "Well, Ah figured Ah'd help a bit and not make ya do all the work," he says. He's a bit jumbled by the ride so directions escapse him. When they arrive, Owen looks around and whistles. "Nice place."
Elijah smiles as he removes his mask. "Thanks." He frowns for a moment. "Um… I suppose I could remove the costume and just get myself into normal clothes… I can also see if we got anything that fits you…" He pauses. "I mean, if we're gonna get this stuff removed, it might be a good idea to not be wearing them if it gets dangerous…
Owen fidgits around a bit, trying to see if there's any stuck skin. Satified that it just seems to be clothing, Owen nods. "Sounds like a plan tah me. Lurker's jus' mah codename. Call me Owen," he offers. "Gonna jus' strip down in the middle of your livin' room?" he chuckles.
Elijah walks the 2 of them into his room. "Nah, here will be fine. I can get you a robe…" He says as he pulls one off of a hanger. he then takes his civilian clithes from the bag and sets it down. "You first."
Owen blinks a few times then blushes faintly but smiles. "Oh, Ah don'
min' hangin' 'round naked," he says with a laugh, half serious. Slowly and with much aid from his TK, he gets out of the jeans and t-shirt. There's a pause and sigh before he floats himself out of his boxers as well as the waistband was stuck to the back of Patriot's costume. Reaching for the robe, he covers up slowly. "Man…didn' think Ah was actually gettin' naked," he chuckles. "Sorry 'bout the costume…"
Elijah shrugs. "Not a problem." He gets into his regular clothes and looks at them, scratching the back of his head. "Call me Eli." He smiles at Owen before sitting on a chair. "Well, that's settled for now… Sorry about your clothes."
Owen smiles, looking around for a place to sit. "Don' worry 'bout it. Ah'm used tah havin' clothes desroyed and ruined. So…" he shrugs and looks around. "Now what?"
Elijah pauses for a moment. "Really? How come?" He shrugs. "No idea. Maybe the stuff wears off or something…"
Owen shrugs. "Mah old powers. Occasionally with 'em…Ah'd end up transformin' and burstin' right outta them," he admits. "Hm. Well. Whatcha wanna do till then?"
Elijah hrms. "Not sure… We got a TV and a couple of DVD's and video games. There's a workout area… Not too sure what you're up for."
Owen blinks a few times then grins. "Workin' out sounds great tah me," he says. Flexing a few times, he chuckles. "Ah do a lot of workin' out, playing football, basketball, wrestlin'," he explains. He pauses again. "Ya'll got like…a washer and drier? If ya'll do we can test the heat theory while we work."
Elijah nods and takes the clothes in a towel wrapped around them. "Works for me." He walks out of the room and throws the entire bundle into the laundry. "Gym's this way." He motions for Owen to follow.
