Marvel, Rebirth:

IC: Sierra

Seeing that her previous prey was already down, Sierra instead turned her attention on Nate. Non-human but crafty, she wouldn't fall for the same trick as Peter.

IC: Feral

John hadn't seen it coming. With his senses dulled thanks to the alcohol he hadn't even been able to get a sniff in and check for scents. John saw them descend upon him a moment too late. He saw the black and red suits of Hand ninjas as they moved at him with almost superhuman agility. John tensed up at the last second. His bone claws bursting from his knuckles. But it was too late. Terrible pain shot through John as he dropped to the floor.

He wasn't even sure what they did to him it was so fast; other then it really, really hurt.

Then John saw nothing but darkness.

IC: Scorcher, Miranda

"Maybe," she shrugged. "So I've been sitting in this dark bunker for like five hours now. Is there somewhere better we can go? Do I have to pass some sort of weird initiation to get into the Brotherhood?"

"It doesn't really work that way, we're putting you under our protection now but that doesn't mean your automatically in."

IC:

IC: Jordan, Zack

The van bumped along the Colorado road, its two occupants silent. Zack knew he had been careless; what he didn't know was whether or not HYDRA would pick up on his mistakes. Being a mutant, it hadn't been easy to get into that hotel (thankfully Denver cops were swayed easily by money), but now they were far, far away.

"Someone's tailing us," Jordan said.

Zack looked in the rear-view mirror and, sure enough, noticed a pair of headlights.

"Think it's them?" Zack asked, though he was afraid he knew the answer already. Jordan just looked at him.

Zack stepped on the accelerator pedal.

IC: Reptilian

"Sir, target is attempting to escape."

Reptilian chuckled.

"We are en route," he said into his radio. "weapons free, but keep him alive. I'd like to have a word with him."

Tracking the assassin had been a breeze. There were only a few major roads between the sight of the killing and Denver, and, as it turned out, one of the cops had confessed to one of the countless bribes their target had undoubtedly distributed, so he had law enforcement on his tail. The cops had been much closer to him as he left Denver, and embedded HYDRA forces merely had to intercept the closest pursuing party, claim the matter was being handled by higher authorities, and take up the chase.

Reptilian turned to Bootleg.

"They've got him."

IC: Conrad

The german still on Reptilian's tail pulled out his communicator with one hand and pressed the button. "What's the word? I can see that you're gaining speed, have we located the target?"

IC: Reptilian

"Affirmative," Reptilian answered. "A squad is in pursuit. Sending co-ords to you now."

IC: Zack, Jordan

"Oh, god, they're shooting at us."

Bullets kicked up asphalt along the road as they drove by. Zack heard one of the back windows shatter.

"There's a gun in the glove box," he shouted.

Jordan fumbled for the glove box's latch moments before a bullet went through his window and shattered the windshield. He found the handgun and aimed it out the window. He fired a few rounds in the general direction of their pursuers, but didn't have time to see if any of them hit. A hail of bullets peppered the door and the area around it, forcing him back into the relative safety of the van.

"We are so ."

OOC: I'll post for Alex a bit later; that one's going to take more effort, and I'm exhausted right now.

 

IC:

 

"Sounds like something Alaric would do." The ex-Weapon replied in amusement, chuckling quietly. "How ironic that he ended up becoming a history teacher himself."

IC:

"###### Ric. That's my man," Brook sighed, hugging Rebekah around the neck and groaning. "I have a stomachache. I think maybe drinking all the whipped cream I was gonna use to put out the kitchen fire might've backfired. A tad. A little. Just a hair."

IC:

Aleksandr stared after Matt for a couple seconds, biscuit still in his mouth, and sighed. He was dressed up in full regalia, raring to go for an X-Men reunion; the slow transition of determination and hope to a resigned look - like he had chores out in New York - had been tough to watch. He remembered Christine's words - Summers obviously has a thing for you or fancies you or somethin' - and groaned as he scarfed down his last few morsels of food and followed Matt out to the garage at a safe distance, licking butter and cheese off his fingers with a chagrined look. I feel dirty.

Pausing only for a few seconds at a hand sanitizer dispenser outside one of the bathrooms, he finally caught up to Matt, hands through his hair, frantically searching for his Mustang. Like he'd misplaced it or something. He can be a real clunker in the intellect department, this Romeo of mine.

"I have a Camaro," he offered, sitting on the hood of his car and rolling the keys around his finger. "If you don't mind a Chevy. I know you Americans get your tights in a twist about the badge on the front."

-Tyler

IC:

"It'll be okay."

Three, simple words. Words that, Tera reflected as she sat down next to Aella in the rubble of what was once lower Manhattan, had the potential to be a simple truth, the most horrendous lie, or somewhere in between. And there wasn't anyway of knowing which it would be, or even of knowing when the answer would be found. Idly, she glanced at her phone again.

Still no messages.

"Trinity, how about you go ask the GI Joe how the plane works? I'll talk to you in a bit, but right now, I need to talk to Aella." The tone was calm, sweet, just like it needed to be. Everything was bak under control, her own reaction locked away, pushed deep for now. Time enough for that later, when the others were fine, when there was no danger. The first thing that needed to be attended to was Aella. But how? Concussion, emotional breakdown, God knows what kind of psychological trauma... So many things that needed to be helped, to be patched up, to eventually be fixed. But there were only a handful of things she could do.

And ultimately, the simplest was what was needed. Carefully, slowly, she wrapped her arms around Aella in a hug, one meant both to keep her head steady and also to comfort.

"It'll be okay. Someone will stop them."

IC:

"How many times, Brook, do I have to remind you that you don't have narly the metabolism I do?" Rebekah asked teasingly, giving Brooklyn a gentle squeeze. "I mean really, that was far too much whipped cream."

"Even I'd be overstuffed."

IC: Triblade

Matt looked up at Aleks with surprize. He hadn't expected him to come along. "Someone stole my car." Matt said thinking about the movie with Asthon Kutcher.

"Your car sounds fine. I prefer Fords, but Camaros' are nice too."

IC:

"Get in the passenger's seat, then," Aleks laughed. "You already lost one car, if I'll allow you behind the wheel of mine."

Matt narrowed his eyes. "I didn't loose it someone took it. Let's see how fast you drive then Russian." he said as he climbed into the passenger seat and pulled down the strap.

"Don't get pouty, pretty boy. You act like I don't know how to track a car thief. You'll get it back," said the known car thief as he turned on the engine and pressed his foot lightly onto the gas, taking him and Matt away from Westchester and towards the chaos.

-Tyler

IC: Aella

Someone...will stop them?

It was hard to believe that...I would have scoffed if I hadn't been sobbing into Tera's shoulder. As far as my memory went back I'd been controlled by HYDRA, and no matter how much I'd fought them, lashed out, and made everything for them as difficult as possible, they still had me. Until yesterday that is, with the help of Trinity I had escaped them, they no longer controlled my life.

Or so I thought...this new revelation in New York...the destructive power and terror HYDRA had over the world had put a huge damper on my hopes. How could an organization as vast, far reaching, and powerful as HYDRA be stopped by a someone?

Or even a lot of someones.

The fact was, the organization I'd fought so hard to escape from was a lot bigger and badder than I had realized, and I was terrified. If they had enough power to level a chunk of this massive city. How simple would it be to recollect two runaway test subjects?

They weren't gonna just sit by and allow our freedom, I knew that.

So I continued to cry as Tera conformed me, like a little girl being comforted by their mother after they've scrapped their knee. I wondered if I'd ever been a little girl...I couldn't recall my childhood, if it existed at all.

After a few minutes my sobbing slowed down and turned into the occasional heave, I was latched onto Tera, and didn't have any intention of letting go. As embarrassing as it was I desperately needed someone to hold onto, or I wasn't sure what I'd do.

IC:

The jump from her surroundings to what Aella was thinking wasn't hard. Someone who finally escaped Hydra, only to be forced face to face with them on their second day free. She thought for a few moments, not about whether what she was going to say was true, but about whether she was prepared to keep her word.

"Aella, they won't capture you again." Tera said quietly, without letting go. "I promise. I won't let them."

IC: Aella

I opened my eyes to look at Tera, wiping away tears to get a better look at her. Had she really just...promised that?

I wanted to speak...to say something, anything...but I'd been crying so hard before that I found myself unable to produce the sounds.

So instead, I just wrapped my arms around her and hugged her even tighter. It seemed silly to even think that one person could protect me from something like HYDRA, but I believed her.

IC: Triblade

"Thanks Aleks. Now let's get my car back and save a lot of people."

IC:

Tera sighed quietly, patting Aella on the back. It seems that she had been right about what was bothering the other woman, and that her attempt to help had been what was needed. It was a simple promise, but the magnitude of it was astronomical, tantamount to declaring war on an organization that could level a city with impunity. But at the same time, it was true. As long as she had any way to influence things, they wouldn't recapture their captives.

Trinity didn't seem very perturbed, but that was worrying on an entirely different level. One that she couldn't do anything about immediately. Mikhail seemed to have himself under control, though it was clear he was going through many of the same emotions that she had just a short time ago. Ironically, for all of her concern about the others, she refused to deal with her own issues. They remained locked away, forced aside.

But in the back of her mind, the same sinking realization kept resounding. No new messages.

"GI Joe," She said, glancing at the SHIELD agent from around Aella's shoulder. "What's the plan? Where are we going? Aella is going to need somewhere to rest, and sitting in a mess of rubble isn't exactly good for her head."

IC:

No one was coming.

After about ten minutes, that was clear. Anyone within the radius that he had tried to contact either wasn't coming, couldn't, or didn't exist anymore. That thought confirmed, the technopath stood, withdrew his phone, and called Julia.

There wasn't a point in staying at ground zero anymore.

IC: Lynae

While all the commotion was going on in the school, the vampire decided to look around a bit.

"They're bound to have a library somewhere in this place..." She muttered as she walked down the hall.

OOC: Mini-timeskip for Julia and Saphine

IC: Julia

Julia was on her way back to where Dallas had brought them when her phone rang. She answered it numbly.

"Hey."

IC: Alec led the interested parties of Tali and Kristen to 'his office' which in this case happened to be the nearest vacant classroom.

"I have called you all, er both, here because of our mutual distrust of a certain clawed compatriot of ours. We all know that, whether he means to or not, John is going to screw up. Its just in his nature. He doesn't think ahead to the consequences of his actions, or backwards to learn from his past mistakes. So I've arranged a thing with Ashley. she's stuck these hypersensory plants all around the school that can tell her about John's movement when she asks. He starts doing anything suspicious then we can know about it ASAP. Thought it was right to bring you in on this little plot since you're likely to try murder if you weren't given other options."

IC: "Yeah, despite what you might think looking at me and Scorcher, the Brotherhood does not just let anyone in," Magnitude joked sardonically

IC: Bootleg had grabbed a pair of binoculars and was using them to spy out the target car.

"Appears to be two of them," he told Reptilian, "The killer and a getaway driver or the killer and someone he coerced, do you think?"

Staff IC:

As expected, the entire world was in an uproar. The media was replaying clips of the Sleeper's attack 24/7, every channel had become dedicated to keeping the world up to date on the aftermath. The President's speech was replayed often.

Then there was static, it came in and out for a moment, and went away. Then it happened again, and again, and again. Each time was more frequent, keener eyes could almost make out some sort of symbol within the static.

Then the static became permanent, the symbol slowly became more and more clear...a red skull, with tentacles around the bottom. HYDRA. Something was interfering with every major television network, it was clear what was happening.

HYDRA was sending a message of their own.

Red Skull's face appeared moments later, staring into the camera with cold blue eyes, looking as malicious and cruel as he ever did. After years of being presumed dead, supposedly defeated by the great Captain America, Red Skull was announcing how very much alive he was. He was wearing what appeared to be an Iron Man suit, in the colors of red and black, it had a striking resemblance to Howard Stark's latest Iron Man armor, the one he had died in. They had never found the suit, nor the body. It was presumed to have been destroyed.

"People of the world..." He began, loud and clear, as if he was giving a victory speech. "...I give you this message to clear any doubts of who is responsible for the devastation that has ravaged your cities. We warned you of our return, we warned you that your continued defiance of HYDRA's sovereign rule over the world would not go unpunished. This is the result of your disobedience...."

"These attacks were demonstration of but a fraction HYDRA's power! If we had wanted to completely burn your cities to the ground, we could have done so. In my mercy I decided to give you one last chance for an unconditional surrender. Every nation, every tribe, every form of power and government on this earth must surrender and swear loyalty to HYDRA! Or I assure you, what comes after this will be uncomparable to the Sleepers."

"For if a single nation fails to surrender to me, the entire world will burn, billions will die as the moon itself crashes down upon you! HYDRA will continue on with or without you! It is your choice whether or not you do as well."

"If HYDRA cannot have the world...no one will."

Everything went back to static. People across the world stared at the screen in disbelief. Had the Red Skull just threatened to send the moon crashing down upon them? That was ridiculous! Something like that was impossible!

Right?

IC: "Aw crud. So much for surprise."

Nate reached for his bow, knowing full well that the demon dog in front of him could get him at any instant.

"I'll just be retreating down the hallway toward this conveniently placed library."

IC: Mikhail

"It was fortunate," said the SHIELD agent quietly, his voice distant, "that my house was not close to the blast radius."

It was hard not to leave them and stew in his own grief somewhere by himself, but Mikhail knew that he had responsibilities. It would not be right to leave them all alone in the ruins, with nothing but the stench of death to keep them company. All he really wanted to do was to go back into the field and do everything possible and then some to find HYDRA, but they needed him. Aella and Tera were obviously distraught, although the latter was attempting to hold it together, and Trinity was completely ignorant.

He pulled out his phone, quickly texting something before pocketing it once more, and turned to face the trio of girls.

"It may be cramped, but do you three want to come?"

IC:

"You mean to tell me that we can get rid of John without killing him?" Kristen exclaimed, a mocking tone in her voice as she gasp for exaggerated affect. She obviously had utterly no clue that there was a solution that involved that.

"In seriousness, I'm one-hundred percent sure that killing John would solve a lot of problems."

-

"Yay!" Trinity cheered, "To The Mikhail's house!"

IC: Reptilian

"Hm...perhaps," Reptilian answered after a moment of consideration. "I suppose we'll just have to take them both in, then."

IC: Zack, Jordan

"We are so dead," Jordan whimpered. "So dead."

"Shut up!" Zack barked. "We are not gonna die today!"

Another hail of bullets pinged off the side of the van. Zack quite abruptly hit the brakes and spun the steering wheel around, turning the van around and sending two of its wheels into the air quite briefly. He hit the gas again as the heavier HYDRA truck went by. The van lurched forward after a second of tire-squealing hesitation. That little maneuver had just barely bought them some extra distance from the HYDRA convoy, and hopefully that was all they needed to...well, not get shot quite as much.

"Well, , what now?" Jordan muttered, his voice wavering.

"I have no idea," Zack answered.

IC:

"Hey."

The technopath replied quietly, his other hand in his coat pocket. After a momentary pause, he spoke again. "No one else is coming. Chances are, there isn't anyone else to answer. Come on back, unless you can't, because the government mooks will be showing up soon enough, and I'd rather not be here when they do."

"You okay?" He added, with distinctly more concern creeping into his voice.

IC:

"I'll come along, at least until I get my own stuff from..."

Tera's voice trailed off, leaving the rest of her statement unsaid. No one was likely to understand, unless they managed to make the connection from her handful of statements. Apartment didn't exist anymore, have to remember that.

"Hey, Aella, feel up to going to Mikhil's apartment?"

IC: Aella

"Yeah..." I croaked, my voice uneven and shaky, I cleared my throat. "Yeah...let's get out of here..." I sure as heck didn't want to hang around here anymore, in all the desolation.

IC:

 

"SHIELD is playing by big boy rules now," Daken said absently, taking a bite of his biscuit. "Mmm...good bacon. Anyway, yeah, I was expecting the Hilton or something, maybe a shrink to talk about my daddy issues and a complimentary spa treatment, but instead they whipped out Carbonadium and teal blue super-soldiers. To the U.S. government."

 

Akihiro toasted with his orange juice and took a heavy sip, setting it down again after a second and staring into his second biscuit, already half-eaten. He could go days - weeks without food - if he needed to. His healing factor would burn up the weight for him and he would sustain himself solely off willpower and an X-Gene. But it didn't make him any less hungry, and right now this cheap fast food was hitting a lot of spots Daken had forgotten could be hit by mere flour and greased pork.

 

"We're headed out to Houston. The girl I need is working at a bar there. Assumed name, fake ID, runaway. You know the type."

 

-Tyler

IC: (Ripple)

"Well I'll keep that in mind, if I cross them again. Yeah, I'm still sorta one of those gals." Ripple chuckled, SHIELD wasn't pulling it's punches anymore, she wasn't completely surprised, she was sure this day would eventually, but now it seemed so sudden. She bought herself and Daken a few more sandwiches. He seemed to be enjoying himself she observed as much with her baby blue eyes. Daken took a bit longer, but soon he was finished and then they were back on the road. With a destination in mind, travel seemed to go a lot quicker, although it took most of the day for her to reach Houston, so by the time they got there it was already nightfall. The drive was pleasant enough, especially with a passenger like Daken, attractive, clever, someone who just had this aura about him.

-----

It was nightfall in Houston and Ripple's Ducati rolled to a stop at a red light. Her voice was soft and her eyes were warm as she looked back to Daken.

"So where might this bar be?" She smirked from beneath the helmet.

IC: Julia

"I'm...fine, just...still shocked, I guess. It's so unreal."

IC:

"Reality will sink in later." Alex replied, his tone neutral, but the simple comment carried the implication of familiarity. To call it such wouldn't be far from the mark. Decimated cities were not a new sight, they were only new to this reality. At least here they weren't crawling with hidden foes.

"Where are you?"

IC:

"Alright. Can you walk?" Tera asked, finally pulling back out of the hug to look her in the eye. "And don't answer "yes" out of pride, because if you do, I'll know."

IC: Lynae

The vampire, however, was already inside, a book about the history of bubblegum in her hands. She was seated comfortably in one of the sofas, a curious smile on her face.

IC: Aella

I wanted to say yes. I reallyyyyy wanted to say yes. But Tera would know if I was lying...so I thought about it.

"I....I don't know..." I answered honestly, afraid to do otherwise. "I can try..." I started to stand up, my legs were shaking uncontrollably as I did so.

I was struggling to keep my balance, but I was stubborn, and I did my best not to show it. I hated feeling helpless.

IC: Julia

"'Bout a block from where Dallas dropped us off. You?"

IC:

"Where Dallas left us." Alex responded, beginning to walk in the direction of Julia's phone signal. "I'm headed toward you. We might be able to find a car that still works near the edge of the blast."

IC:

"Aella, there's no shame in not being able to. The ground is very uneven between here and where we're going."

IC: Aella

Despite Tera's words I attempted to walk, I had to at least try. I took several, unsteady steps...so far so good.

Then my legs gave out, I yelped as I fell toward the earth...this was going to sting.

IC:

"C'MOOON LETS GOOO!" Trinity exclaimed, grabbing Mikhail's hands, trying to pull him along, "I'M SOOO BOOORED!"

IC:

In fact the impact most certainly would have stung, seeing as the ground was a mess of debris and concrete. However, a few moments later, she discovered that, for an unknown reason, the impact was decidedly softer than it would have been.

"Yeah, I don't think you can walk." Tera said, carefully standing from where she had caught Aella, and helping the other woman to her feet. "No arguments, hitting your head again while you have a concussion would be really, really bad."

IC: Aella

I just nodded as I stared at the concrete below me, no amount of pride was worth busting my head open...again.

"Yeah...."

IC:

Tera studied Aella thoughtfully for a moment, silent as she pondered what to do. Aella couldn't walk, which means she would need to be carried. The question was how best to carry her. The walk was probably going to be at least a few miles, so a fire men's carry would tire her too quickly, and most other methods didn't provide enough support for the head. Which left, arguably, the simplest.

Turning around she crouched down on one knee. "Alright, get on, and hang on. Let's get you out of here."

IC: Sierra

How nice. The monster's secondary quarry was heading straight towards her primary.

She chased after Nate in a lazy, almost playful manner.

IC: Aella

I did as Tera suggested and climbed onto her back, wrapping my arms around her shoulders in order to hang on. I felt my cheeks get hot, I couldn't help but feel my pride get taken down another notch.

Well, at least it couldn't get any worse from here on out. And on the bright side we were getting out of here, away from all this misery.

I rested my chin on Tera's shoulder, which felt nice and warm I noticed. "Ready."