It's kind of like home.

[avengeriniron]

Tony didn't spend an overly large amount of time at the Avenger's mansion these days. Not if he could help it. This was a special occasion, though. Today, he was going to introduce the kid to their new teacher. He suspected that many of them knew of her already, but proper introductions were only polite. Besides, he wanted to make sure They all knew to give her the proper respect. Anyone who gave her issues would answer to him and his primary methods of discipline were pay cuts and firing... nobody wanted that.

He waited with Kitty in the main living room at the mansion and waited for the kids to gather.

Comments

[the4thblackknight]

Marcus didn't have Jay's mobility, even on Aether, but he did his best to make sure none of the Wraiths came up on his friend from behind. What worried him more than anything was the static that answered Bruce's call to the mansion. Either something here was jamming their connection... or there was no one home. Neither option was a pleasant one.

[enduring_pryde]

There was no answer to Bruce's call over the comm from Kitty. Maybe something very troubling had happened. Or then again, maybe not.

There was, however, another Dire Wraith attempting to strike the back of Bruce with its pinchers as the Avenger was occupied with his comm call. If the strike was successful, Bruce would feel a jolt, as if he had been hit by electricity.

[comic_awareness]

Dammit! The jolt hit Bruce hard, though not as hard as if he wasn't semi-invulnerable. He hit the ground, knocked to his knees.

Got distracted. Dammit...

[wateronthebrain]

Erin finds herself having what amounts to a slap fight with a Dire Wraith. They fight back and fourth in the street and Erin is suddenly very glad the water sheath is protecting her from them.

[ngm_villains]

Dire Wraiths were being tossed around left and right wherever the jolly green giant touched down. A few finally got together enough to begin some spellwork to slow him down, the ground at his feet suddenly becoming soft. Hands of clay emerged, wrapping around the hulk's feet, ankles, and calves. Not far behind him, Aether was kicking and struggling against more grabbing hands while Marcus swung his sword at them from the saddle.

The Wraith Erin was trading slaps with charged at her, herding her backwards where a pair of Wraiths were chanting a spell to superheat the air around her and evaporate the water sheath.

Since Nicky and Roxie made such a convenient tandem target, while they were concentrating on their physical abilities, a bolt of mystical energy shot toward them courtesy of another small group of Wraiths.

Vincent's repulsor blasts knock several of the Wraiths to the ground. As they rise, the chanting changes and the Wraiths respond with a blast of mystic energy intended to knock the human from the battle.

[lil_hulk]

Jay cussed and fought against the ground instead of brain-sucking Wraiths. Stupid magic-users! They don't fight with the hitting all the time. He tried to pull his feet out to softer ground with an occasional arm flail.

He was just starting to make headway against the pull down when he heard Aether struggling against dirt hands. It took no thought on the hulk's part. He used his massive arms to smash the hands trying to grab the winged horse's feet. "And then Jay will disrupt them with his slappy hands! Yes, speak more of this evil-smashing duo!"

[asgardian_angel]

"Hnngh!" That blast hurt! And Nicky hadn't been expecting it.

He started a freefall down from where he was hovering in the air.

[avengingwarbird]

The red glow around Roxie intensified as the bolt of magic hit her. It shook off a good bit of the blast's intensity, but it still shook Roxie a little bit.

Her eyes started glowing in anger. Magic. She wasn't trained in any of it, but she had some limited scope for the stuff, given her Olympic heritage. She whirled around with her mace, careful not to hit Nicky.

"This. Means. War!" she yelled, grabbing Nicky by the edge of his bright red cape and flying straight for the Dire Wraiths.

[wateronthebrain]

"Shit.... shit.... shit!"

Erin is getting pushes back by the Dire Wraith. She can feel the heat so she starts to pull water from the snow because she has to get away fast.

She launches herself up and over the Dire Wraith with water and lands stumbling. "I'm in trouble here! They're using heat!"

[the4thblackknight]

The mud hands were little match for the power of slappy hands, apparently. As soon as the hands were squashed down, Aether took to the air to get out of their range.

"We need someone with a little more lifting ability than I have to help get Jay out of this mire." Marcus called over the comms. In the meantime, he slipped out of the saddle and dropped down onto Jay's back, hanging on with one arm while his sword sliced at some of the hands grabbing his squire's legs.

[comic_awareness]

Bruce forced himself to spin around, blasting the Wraith in the face.

"We've gotta do something more..." he growled to himself. "Runecaster! We need a portal to Limbo! The rest of you, start herding them toward it!"

[enduring_pryde]

The dire wraith that had knocked down Bruce zipped away and moved to Erin, coming upon her from behind as she stumbled. It shot a blast of energy (that didn't look all that different from a repulsor ray) at her.

[vincent_amora]

Vincent barely hears Bruce. He wants to go to her. He wants to rescue her.

"Tighten your assault! The shield will start fading as soon as I work on the portal!" He begins a new incantation, taking out his ritual knife and beginning to fly in a spiral towards the ground, making little tears in the dimensional wall as he goes.

[avengingwarbird]

Limbo?

Roxie whirled and bashed in the head of a Dire Wraith.

"Someone send Sofia Strange advanced noticed so we aren't attacked when we enter!" she yelled out in Vincent's general direction.

He was the one opening the portal, anyway.

She hoped he heard her.

[asgardian_angel]

Nicky flung his axe towards the Dire Wraith that was making headway for Erin. His axe whistled through the air, spinning blade over handle, before slicing halfway through the Wraith. He held his hand out and telepathically commanded his axe to return to him.

Which it did...Dire Wraith in tow.

[lil_hulk]

"I got it! I got-plaugh!" Mouth full of mud digit did not make Jay a happy camper. He struggled to get free without knocking Marcus into the mire with him. Though with his legs less attacked, the young Hulk managed to get his feet on solid ground.

[wateronthebrain]

Erin feels the blast to her back and shudders. The water sheath was starting to come apart. She calls up more water and hardens it into a block of ice around a fist and punches one of the Dire Wraiths across the jaw.

She can tell her mental reserves are going down steadily.

[comic_awareness]

Limbo. The timeless land to which Rom had banished his Dire Wraith foes, because that stalwart warrior from beyond the stars could not bring himself to kill even foes like them.

He blasted a Dire Wraith, hard, entrapping it in a force field bubble.

"Keep up the perimeter! Nothing gets past, and they all go in!"

[the4thblackknight]

As soon as Jay was free, Marcus hopped down and swung back up into Aether's saddle. Once they were in the air again, he used the flying horse's kicking hooves and his sword to try and herd the nearest wraiths in the direction of Vincent's portal magic.

[enduring_pryde]

Nicky's ax did cut through the Dire Wraith and then it went clear to the other side, having seemingly passed right through the Dire Wraith. The Dire Wraith looked a little worse for wear because it suddenly was crackling with electricity.

Cripes! Really? Really?

Kitty clicked off the transmitter and suddenly the Dire Wraith was gone, with Kitty in its place. Her poor gauntlet was also sparking. It seemed that it didn't agree with getting phased.

"Looks like the game is over, Stark," Kitty said with a smirk over the comm.

[avengingwarbird]

Roxie was rounding up as many Wraiths as she could, stunned for a moment that Kitty was standing where a Dire Wraith had been a moment ago.

What just happened? she wondered. Also, I should look into getting a lasso for jobs like this.

[avengeriniron]

"It was fun while it lasted." Tony answered over the comm. A moment later, the area around them shimmered and the Wraiths, their ship, and their 'victims' vanished. "Thank you for keeping the property damage to a minimum. The city charged a pretty penny for the use of this park and I don't want to have to write them another check."

[comic_awareness]

Bruce hovered to a stop. "Wait... this was all a test?"

[lil_hulk]

Jay stopped swinging at air. He looked at his hands and then at the empty spots where his targets had been. He turned around and pointed at Kitty.

"Boo does not approve of such shenanigans. I-" he shrugged and lowered his hand. "-say eh. Whatever."

[vincent_amora]

Vincent, when he recovered from his shock, and closed the portal before anything could come through from Limbo, scowled intensely.

"You.. do you have any idea the forces we could have unleashed if we kept escalating our efforts? And what if a real emergency happened and we were exhausted from this because we were going all out?"

Slowly but surely, Vincent is learning to think beyond five seconds ahead of him.