legionmissions | (no subject)

"Yeah. I'm not great for enclosed spaces, though." Energy blasts weren't great when you couldn't easily stay out of the way of the collateral damage, and the kinds of high-speed flight maneuvers he thrived on were useless here. "I know we don't want to get split up, but don't stick too close, either."

Jason frowned, processing this information and trying to come up with a strategy. "Me either, at least not the stuff that would cause major damage. I can't use the wind to fly but for some reason I can still direct it as a blast."

Before they could plan much more of their strategy there was a loud crash and a giant amalgamation of mannequins came tumbling around the corner on disjointed legs and mix-matched parts. It's hands and feet clattered on the floor like some kind of terrible spider and no less than three heads swiveled to look at Jason and Sam who were standing about 50 feet away from it in the middle of their conversation. Jason had seen a lot of horrors in his short life, but he was pretty sure this thing was going to give him new nightmares.

But right now he didn't have time to process it, he flipped the coin in his hand. One minute it was a normal looking coin but there was a flash of golden light and Jason was suddenly holding a six-foot long javelin. He didn't throw it though, instead he jabbed it towards the creature -- even though it was so far away -- and tried blasting it with lighting. The javelin conducted the blast further and more accurately than he would normally be able to. Unfortunately, Jason hadn't considered the fact that the monster was a mannequin. The lightning hit it, but the creature just blinked its eyes, tilting two of its heads like it was wondering what Jason thought that was supposed to do.

"Plastic...of course," Jason muttered.

The creature swiveled its heads and started crawling towards them down the hall.

"Oh my God."

That thing was hideous, and Sam had seen some pretty ugly aliens. This thing was the kind of freakishly grotesque that Chitauri only dreamed about.

And it was coming straight at them.

His hand started glowing bright blue, then brighter and brighter, and a few seconds later when it had reached the point of almost blinding, he fired down the hall.

His aim was fine. A few of the heads melted, dripping hot plastic onto the floor, features blurring into some kind of even uglier perfect storm of gross...and the creature hardly seemed to notice that parts of it were coming apart. It certainly wasn't stopping.

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod."

Well that was one way to try and hold the creature off. Unfortunately, it seemed to only have a cosmetic effect and didn't actually slow it down at all. Jason cursed in Latin of all things, his eyes flicking to an unobstructed corridor. The creature was gaining too quickly though to try for a quick retreat tactic. Jason would have to try his other super power.

Spinning the javelin he swept it down in an arc and sent a concentrated gust of wind howling down the hallway. He kept it concentrated and, like a punch, it sent the creature sprawling back several feet -- heads over torsos over arms. Jason then grabbed at Nova's hand and yanked him down the free corridor and shouted, "Run!" for emphasis. He didn't bother holding Nova's hand of course, after the initial tug in the right direction Jason was hauling butt and hoping that Nova was right behind him. He could try to fight it with the javelin, but Jason would rather try to avoid seeing if the thing was also immune to Imperial Gold on top of everything else.

There was nothing saying he HAD to fight the creature.

When he needed to move, Sam could move - they didn't call him the Human Rocket for nothing. It didn't take more than that one tug to get him booking it down the corridor without looking back.

- well, scratch that, he took a look back over his shoulder as they ran, because maybe that thing wouldn't follow them?

Okay, no luck there, but maybe it at least wouldn't follow too fast?

...this really wasn't their day. "Have you been down this way yet?" Sam hadn't, but he'd run into a lot of dead ends and rooms that might be more trouble than they were worth to try and escape through. If there was a good route to get out, they needed to find it, and fast.

"No," Jason called back, "But it doesn't have a monster down it for the moment so it's the better option." This place was basically a maze, so honestly he COULD have been down this way. But he was fairly certain he'd approached Sam from the opposite direction. Also, he couldn't be certain there weren't more of those creepy plastic things either. But the one was behind them and he could only hope it wasn't pushing them towards more.

Jason looked around while he ran, trying to find something that might block the creature's way after them. Even though their surroundings were rusted looking, they still looked fairly solid. At least solid enough that Jason couldn't just blast them to fall down and block the path behind them. He glanced ahead, they were quickly approaching some turns, "We can try losing it? I don't know the layout of this place so it's not like we can get any more lost right?"

"Can't be any worse than staying put and letting that thing...do...whatever it does." Sam had a few guesses, given that not all of those body parts looked like they'd come from the same source, originally. But he really, really didn't want to follow that train of thought into the station.

They were in agreement there. Jason did NOT want to find out where all those body parts came from or why it seemed so intent on catching them. He didn't hear the tell-tale signs of it chasing them any more though which was not the least bit reassuring. That thing had been creeping on the ceiling, right? Jason glanced up at the thought but saw nothing except metal beams and rusted pipes. The hallway lights flickered a bit and the hallway narrowed towards a single open doorway.

Jason slowed his pace and went through it, glancing around for any obvious traps. It was darker in this room and it must have been large because Jason couldn't see the other side. Jason kept his hand on his javelin but tried willing his eyes to adjust to the dark faster. Even so, the room felt...cavernous. It made him not want to walk much further for fear that the floor would just open up and drop into nothing.

Sure enough the room they had entered was not complete. There was a single walkway on their level that spanned several feet to the other side and, of course, it was extremely narrow and without guardrails. When Jason noticed this he glanced back the way they'd come, "You don't think that thing forced us down this route, do you?"

"Holy crap, I don't want to think these things might be smart on top of everything else." Sam glanced behind them. They had a little bit of time, but not much.

"Get across. I've got your back."

He wasn't expecting to be able to stop that thing when it caught up, but at the very least, he figured another blast would be enough to startle it or make it flinch or something that would get them a few more seconds.

Jason regretted making the suggestion. It was a possibility, but it wasn't a pleasant one to dwell on. Especially since there was so little they could do about it. On the other hand, what would happen if they didn't consider the possibility. It could end badly. Any other time Jason might have argued the point, but now didn't seem like the time.

"Right. I'll keep an eye out once I'm on the other side."

Normally heights didn't bother him, but seeing as his flight capabilities weren't working any more it would be best to err on the side of caution. Jason stepped out onto the platform, testing to make sure it could actually hold his weight. It creaked ominously, but didn't seem to budge at all. Jason took a deep breath and started across, moving quickly and trying to keep his footing steady as well.

Sam planted himself back to the platform, gathering up another burst of energy around one hand, ready to fire way before that thing got close enough for him to see the proverbial whites of its eyes. (There had to be a better saying for things that definitely didn't have eyes. Things that were unimportant, but much more pleasant to think about than the idea that those things might be smart.)

"I kind of want to take it down after we cross, but who am I kidding, what if those things can jump like the killer bunny in that one movie. We'd just be cornering ourselves worse."

...okay, now he was making himself think about more things he didn't want to think about, way to go.

The glow from Sam's powers helped a bit and Jason was grateful for it. He moved as quickly as he could, but the beam seemed to like to make ominous noises and creaks every couple of steps. It made Jason cautious and, as a price, slowed his pace considerably. He stayed focused on the other side, allowing his trust to fall on Sam to have his back -- he barely knew this guy but he didn't have much choice. Sam was certainly more reliable than no one at all and he'd certainly been a big help so far.

Jason didn't want one of those things popping up unexpectedly on the opposite side either which is why he kept his focus there. Somehow focusing on a hidden enemy was easier than focusing on the empty void just below his feet. Jason didn't look over his shoulder when Sam spoke to him, "It still wouldn't hurt, although I'm less concerned with its ability to jump and more with its climbing abilities." Jason glances up as he says this, but he can only see so far. It's dark in the chamber and past a certain point there is nothing but black and, presumably, more metal beams. If the creature is lurking above it isn't giving itself away -- which of course makes it even worse.

Finally, he made it to the other side. Jason moved to the wall, keeping his back to it so nothing could sneak up on him and turned to face Sam's direction finally. "Your turn," he called.

Turning his back when he knew those things had to still be coming after them was - uncomfortable, to make a vicious understatement of it. But Sam didn't really trust himself to get across the platform backwards, and without being able to use his powers to catch himself, he couldn't afford to take the chance. So he swallowed hard, took a deep breath and turned around to start making his own crossing. As quickly as he could manage without feeling like he was definitely about to slip.

The ambient noises did a good job of masking a lot of things - which meant that when he heard the skitter of too many feet behind him, he knew it had to be that much closer. No bueno.

He was close enough to jump forward, give himself a boost, and clear the last stretch in one rocket-assisted leap, landing on the opposite platform hard and dropping straight into a crouch. "Why don't I ever nail the superhero landing when anybody's watching?"

(There were much greater injustices in the universe to worry about at that moment, but sarcasm was a coping mechanism.)

Sam was moving across the divide at a pretty good pace, but Jason didn't let himself get too comfortable. He felt jumpy and figured that was because he was effectively useless over here. It wasn't like he could blast wind across to protect Sam without also blowing Sam off course. He could maybe use his javelin but then how would he get it back? Of course, while he was thinking all of this he catches movement beyond where he can see and, at just about that same time, heard the familiar skittering sound.

Jason cursed under his breath in Latin and slid forward, electricity already lacing up the javelin. He knew it would be useless, but he can't just stand back and try nothing. Sam's already leaping the rest of the way to meet him and Jason thrust his weapon forward to distract the creature. The dark space lit up and while Jason could see the plastic monster pull back in surprise he also noticed something even more disturbing.

There's a second one perched on a ledge above the path they'd just crossed. How long had it been there? The whole time or just recently? Either way, the flash of light drew its attention and it dropped down as the light from his blast died down. So now they aren't dealing with just one plastic monster but two.

"Oh shit," he doesn't bother with holding his tongue now. Almost by instinct he can hear Coach Hedge's voice in his head saying 'Watch your language.' But Coach Hedge isn't here and Jason actually wished he was because a satyr versus plastic would be no match. That goat man could eat anything. But these are thoughts for another time. Jason has enough sense to make sure Sam is already running and he turned to join him.

Apparently he wasn't quite fast enough, as he felt a heavy hand clamp down on his shoulder. The plastic was sharper than you would think it had any right to be and it dug into his skin, drawing blood. Jason yelped as it yanked him back, but he recovered quickly and turned the pull into a spin. He stabbed the javelin into the creature's arm and followed through with a slicing movement. The creature fell back unbalanced and Jason was pleased to see at least one appendage taken care of, especially since that meant he could now get back to running.

He followed up with another blast of wind and drove the creature back a bit, its limbs splaying across the doorway in a very ungraceful maneuver that had the added bonus of blocking the second creature's path. Jason knew it wouldn't last, but it would buy him time to get some distance.

Sam had skidded to a stop when Jason was grabbed, looking for an opening to help him out. Maybe there was something he could blast down to knock in the creatures' way, bring down a landslide on them (buildingslide? collapse? there was probably a better word for that).

Or was something else already about to cave in? There was an odd rumble, as Jason pushed the mannequins back -

The wall next to them exploded into a shower of plaster and debris, a huge figure plowing through it with a roar and grabbing one of the monsters, then bringing it down to smash the other one flat. For half a second, Sam caught his breath and dared to think that maybe, this was going to turn out okay -

The cloud of dust began to settle, and the figure turned to look at them.

That was definitely not the Kool-Aid Man.

"Oh, sprock."

Jason was pretty focused on trying to get distance between himself and the creatures. However, he wasn't so focused that the sound of distant rumbling didn't immediately draw his attention.

Apparently it drew the attention of the creatures as well. They swiveled their doll-like heads towards the sound and had no time to react when the giant figure slammed through the wall and instantly snapped them up.

Jason, honestly, believed the existence of the creepy plastic dolls before he believed the appearance of the figure before them. He should have known better. He was in another dimension, in the future, so why WOULDN'T figures straight out of a movie exist.

"Is that..."

The figure was looking at them now and Jason realized that Titans, Giants, and gods weren't the only terrifying things he would have to face in his life.

"Uh...Sam?"

He reached forward to snatch Jason's wrist and pulled. Whatever was in the next room, there was no way it could be as bad as the Hulk on a bad day. (Or a day in general, because there was no way he was going to stick around to find out if it was good or bad, either.)

"Run. He's from home, he - you don't wanna fight that, trust me!"

Right, so this was just as bad as the two creatures then. Jason wasn't sure when his life had turned into so much running, but he was glad for quick reflexes and falls in line pretty quickly. You don't debate when someone tells you to run.

"Got it!" Jason shouts, and then notices they're approaching a cross roads. He's not sure if Sam realizes since the other is looking behind him for the Hulk. He makes a choice instead, "Take a right!" Jason slides practically slides around the corner in an effort to get away.

"Got it!" Sam, thankfully, is used to having to react fast, so he takes the corner without much trouble. (Whether he ought to thank being Nova or playing baseball for that kind of agility, well - probably doesn't matter because not dying, right.)

There's a steady series of crashing sounds behind them, although it doesn't seem to be getting louder just yet. He thinks. "Can't - really drag him into orbit here," he pants. "I dunno how else to stop him so let's just - hope he gets bored!"

Jason thinks one of those teleport things would be really helpful right about now. But he knows life is never that convenient for him. Jason's keeping his eyes peeled for any places to hide or get out of the building from, but so far they're in another long corridor of nothing.

Except he forgets to consider looking up and, when it does occur to him he calls out to Sam, "There's sometimes empty spaces in the ceiling--think we could hide or is running the better option here?"

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hope you don't mind if i go ahead and bring in the mannequins

it's cool! \o/

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