nextgenerationmarvel

"Definitely," Bruce agreed. "Be ready for anything."

By now Vincent should notice something about the Cask. It hasn't been changed but apparently someone placed a kind of luck entropy hex. Loki didn't do it.

Vincent would have had time to get a sense of Loki's flavor of magic when he ad tried to track Audhild down. It looks like Amora is trying to help screw Loki and the Frost Giants over.

Now though there is a snarl from the peak just above the cave. A large dragon carved from ice and snow is about to attack. Apparently it is the security system Loki has in place.

"If you think I'm going to set down these two to grab your legs, you're nuts, Amorason." Jay did not make a move to set down the Avengers he was carrying.

"And yes, jumping is-" He was interrupted by a snarling dragon. "-being redirected. Poopsticks. There's a dragon, and I'm armed with a knight. Where do you want to go, Erin?"

Roxie paused mid-flight, looking up at the dragon. She stared at it for a long moment before her lips curved into a generous, cold smile.

"Hello ugly," she said, raising her mace above her head. "Good-bye, ugly." And then she went to attack it.

Dragon-busting was definitely more Roxie's style than his, though he'd fought one during the dragon invasion of New York. Granted, he'd ended up being temporarily infected with the Bubonic Plague before his partially alien/super-human immune system had burned it out...

"Can you hold it off?" he shouted. "The others will be here soon! I'm going to try and get past it!"

Sometimes, as Uncle Steve had taught him, you had to focus on the goal of the mission, and trust everyone else to do their parts.

"Jay?" Erin's face looks very serious.

"Throw me at the dragon. I have a plan."

Erin has a plan. It's like with the Frost Giants. She just has to get next to the dragon.

"Blast. A dragon and I have no steed. This is the worst rescue ever." Yes, that was a knightly pout.

And then he blinked at Erin. "Throw you? I'm almost certain that's not a good idea..."

Vincent bites back another retort, and takes off after Roxanne and Bruce.

...an ice dragon.

OF COURSE there's an ice dragon, the way this day has been.

Fireball, big one, now. Lobbed far and overhand, to get the beast's (or construct's, he's not sure yet) hindquarters while Roxanne and their leader engage in frontal assault.

Of COURSE there is. Audhild is a princess. A pretty, pretty, princess.

The dragon blasts a wave of magical and icey breath at Roxie and at Vincent with his fire ball.

Bruce will have a small gap to go running into the cave entrance.

Jay looked at Erin, looked at Marcus, and then looked at Bruce going alone toward the cave. His mind was not ready for these snap decisions. Though so far he was doing a good job of keeping Erin and Marcus not iced or fired.

"I need better options than throwing a cute girl at a dragon!"

"I hate to say it, but she might be right." Marcus really, really hated to say it. He and Erin needed to get to the dragon sooner rather than later. Jay needed to back Bruce up.

"Aim for fluffy looking snow, would you? Then go after The Captain."

Roxie dodged the ice-breath - not minty fresh, she was saddened to find out - and dove below the dragon, circling around it's leg until she found the back of its knee.

She started hitting it with her mace.

Bruce poured on the speed, heading for the cave.

He activated his communicator. "I'm heading in. You guys deal with the dragon. Back each other up, head for the cave when you can."

Vincent raises a shield against the attack, but the sheer force of it sends him hurtling back several yards head over heels.

He has measures to deal with threats like this, but having someone catch and right him is going to speed things up a lot.

"Try landing us just behind the dragon," Erin advises. "I can soften our landing if I need to."

She pops her knuckles feeling a bit vicious. "I'm gonna boil that thing."

The dragon stumbles then lashes out at Roxie with one leg. It intends to knock her away from it's body.

What Bruce should find is that the cave isn't that hard to see in. The ice reflects light that is being used deeper in the cave pretty well. It shouldn't be hard to navigate this place.

The dragon catches Roxie unawares and sends her flying away from it.

Her mace, though, is happily lodged in it's leg.

Good luck getting that out, buddy.

Jay hoped Roxstar and Vincent had that dragon sufficiently distracted. He carefully lobbed Erin and then Marcus after shifting him to his right hand. He aimed for the fluffiest snow behind the dragon that hadn't been packed down by big feet and a bigger draconic butt.

Once both of his teammates were on their way, Jay ran through the snow toward the cave and being able to help Bruce.

Bruce landed in the mouth of the cave, taking just a moment to steel himself for whatever lay ahead. He trusted his teammates, and knew that with a little girl's life on the line, they couldn't risk waiting.

He headed deeper inside.

There was s sudden and powerful urge to cheer like a kid on a roller-coaster as he sailed through the air. Belatedly, he realized that the landing was going to be hell on his ribs. Nothing for it now.

He hit with a groan and rolled almost immediately to his feet, drawing his sword. Then he charged at the dragon. Hopefully the tail would miss him in all its flailing.

Vincent finally stabilizes, and heads back at the dragon. This time, he turns invisible first, and tries to get behind the beast's head. Once he's in position, he lets loose an acidic burst.

And Erin being very vicious aims a hot water lance at the center of the dragon's back after she recovers from landing.

She thinks after this she might pass out though. She is still very tired.

The dragon hisses. Then Vincent will feel something tugging at his senses. The dragon isn't fully real.

Something about it just isn't actualized. It is an illusion that can still hurt them. It has enough of the Trickster's power to use a kind of magic. It is limited but still painful.

The deeper Bruce goes the more he will be made aware of how bone chilling this place is. Thankfully he will have some light to see by. Somehow that keeps this place from being too creepy.

Jay made it through the snow easily with his big, snowshoe-like feet and to the mouth of the cave. He took a deep breath and plunged in after Bruce.

"Good thing you're a Glo-Bot, Bruce," Jay muttered to himself as he chased after the team leader. Hopefully there would be no walls to knock down between the two of them.

Marcus charged at the dragon, swinging his sword. It wouldn't cut the beast, but it should do some nice neural disruption. At least, he hoped so.

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