White Wedding [IC]

[Ecalsneerg]

John reacted nigh-instantly, the John Fraser persona dissipating and the narrow-eyed glare of Arrowhawk sparking across his face. He pulled a small metal rod from his sporran, clicking a button to extend it to an aluminium staff with a ssssssssshink noise.

"Hey, arsehole! Did you plan on fighting a good quarter of the city's superheroes, or have you actually got the foresight of a dead ma... oph wait, you are a dead man. Run away with your tail between your legs, corpse boy."

[Heritage]

Lynn is happy her boyfriend was able to get in on the garter action; of course, things were still in the early stages, but she felt really good about this guy, and she wouldn't be a girl if she didn't think about-

"Jack Faretti, childe of Claudia! You stand accused of crimes before the Dragon's Law! What is your plea?"

Oh no, poor Taylor! This was supposed to be her day, and now these @##@ing bloodsuckers have turned her dream into a nightmare. At least Stesha was able to get almost everyone clear, God bless her.

The changeling quickly shifts into her 'working clothes' and scans their foes, looking to get a handle on any possible weaknesses; her stomach does a sickening flip-flop when she sees the 'golem'. :shock:

"I knew we should'a stayed in'a coat room!"

Grimalkin grips Colt's arm like a vice, and the very tips of her claws prick his skin through his coat; there is palpable fear in her voice as she whispers to him.

"Honey, that's an iron golem; it can kill me with a touch."

Realizing that she's on the verge of damaging both her lover and teammate, she releases her death grip and conjures a freakin' crossbow out of thin air; she pulls back the string and loads a wooden bolt, unsure if the damn thing will actually work.

"Hey, arsehole! Did you plan on fighting a good quarter of the city's superheroes, or have you actually got the foresight of a dead ma... oph wait, you are a dead man. Run away with your tail between your legs, corpse boy."

Hey, is that Arrowhawk? Wow, he really is Scottish! We just might have a chance here.

[Cyroa]

Derrick couldn't believe he had gotten in this situation. Reaching for a lady's, Taylor's specifically, garter as it flew through the air. Red as a beat, he still tried to grab it even as he pondered this horribly embarrassing situation. Just as his hand grabbed the lacy cloth, everything changed. He didn't quite whisper thank you, but a small part of him was probably thinking it. The rest however was reacting, not that he could do much. Within moments, he found himself out in a park with all of the other guest. Unlike them, he had a rather good idea of exactly what was going on.

He used the confusion, to duck into the bushes and he let the energy out. Within moments, Derrick was gone and Dark Star was released. In less time than it took to blink, Dark Star flew to the reception hall. He could sense the amassed heroes standing in front of the three uninvited guests. He might not know exactly who they are, but it wasn't hard to figure out the rough idea of the situation. He passed through the wall, stopping behind the 3.

"Forgive my tardiness." He looked around the heroes and then at the three. "You did not come here to fight. Nor do we wish to engage in one," he said firmly. Though, given who some of the guest were, that last part was probably not true at all. "Please, deliver your message and go. I believe party crashers are unwelcome."

[Geez3r]

A lot of things happened really really fast. Most of the names being brandied about meant nothing to Atlas, but he did know one thing; this idiots had just screwed up Jack and Taylor's wedding. They had to pay. Atlas stepped forward, making sure his friends where huddled around him. He knew he could take the hits, but wasn't sure how many of them could, though judging by their reactions, quite a few of them were heroes themselves. That was good.

"Yeah. I don't know vat zis "Dragon's Law" is. But if you try to do anyzing ozer zan go back from vhere ever you came from, I am going to tear you apart." spat Atlas menacingly.

[Avenger Assembled]

As Atlas' words echoed through the room, the three assassins fell dead silent as the assembled heroes rallied to arms. The few civilians left in the room, the unfortunate bachelors who'd been standing among the men trying to catch the garter, were doing their best to slink away from the superpowered juggernauts in their midst. After a moment's pause, Arcanix faced Jack squarely and said, "Jack Faretti. You defy the tribunal and consort with the living. You shall be taken from this place for trial before the Dragon's Court. As for the living, their suffering will be on your head."

The patchwork girl behind the dark wizard looked at Ace, distinct awareness in her black, doll-like eyes, and said, her voice muffled by the thread binding her lips together: "Ace. Danger." And with that, she whipped out her sword, faster than anyone in the room could follow, and stabbed him through the torso, her massive blade sliding so deep that it plunged through the floor behind Ace.

[Ecalsneerg]

Arrowhawk was already moving as she darted forwards, lashing out with the staff too late to stop Ace getting skewered like a kebab. "Hey, buttercup. Little girls shouldn't play with swords." He spun and struck fast as a cobra, although he missed, adjusting movements instinctively to armour that wasn't there.

[Heritage]

Grim goes white as a sheet when the hideous creature impales Ace, its crudely-assembled face utterly devoid of expression.

"Oh my God, no!"

The shapeshifter brings her weapon up to bear and fires a bolt at the foul thing!

[Moira Morley]

Moira was watching the head vampire the whole time. If Arcanix or whatever his name was were to fall, then the rest of these creeps would have no direct. Then it hit, the battle had started and something welled up inside of her. Little did Moira know it was the bloodlust of her father, even though she thought it was just her adrenaline. Charging towards the head vampire she aim to put him on the floor and stomp him into oblivion. Rushing in, she...

(to be continued!)

[quotemyname]

It was situations like these that one must remain wary. Colt didn't rush headlong into the fray as his other companions did. He decided it would be best if he provided ranged support along with Grim. Though he seemed to be taking quite a lot longer to line up his shot. Perhaps he was trying not to hit his friends.

[Avenger Assembled]

Divine charged the dark wizard fearlessly, throwing a godly fist at the vampiric enforcer. She struck him cleanly, landing a powerful blow that exploded against a wall of pure black magic, with no effect on Arcanix himself. Divine did have Arcanix's attention now, the white and black-clad figure turning to look at her with a malevolent expression on his face.

[angrydurf]

Ace grunted in pain as the sword slid through his torso and into the ground behind him his eyes swimming for a moment. 'Fast zombie,' He thought, 'What ever happened to good old fashioned slow zombies.'

"Good try toots," Ace said managing a slight grin, "But you forget one thing."

Ace pulls a small vial from his coat pocket and quickly quaffs the Tears of Atlantis. His body shimmers for a moment taking on a translucent hue as he steps to the side the blade sliding harmlessly through his now liquid form.

"I'm Ace Danger." The immortal says with a wink.

[Avenger Assembled]

Arcanix began chanting, a low, malevolent curse instantly familiar to Phantom and the other mystics in the room: he was going to try and suck the life out of every living thing nearby! But Phantom's quick, desperate counter-spell made the curse misfire harmlessly in an eruption of black mystic energy. Muttering, the dark wizard rose in the air, his cloak rippling around him, and hissed, "Fool of a witch! See what pain your forbidden love brings your miserable friends! Golem! Punish them!"

And with that, the terrible iron golem began moving for the first time, its wrought-iron body screeching with metal against metal at every step. Hurling a massive fist larger than Divine's upper torso, it first smashed her in the face in a spray of divine blood, then wrapped its spiky fingers around her mid-section and charged into the crowd! Bearing down on the other insect that had dared attack its master, the Golem raised its prisoner high and brought her down towards Grimalkin with sudden, terrible force!

[alderwitch]

Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no, Taylor desperately flung her hands up, moving quickly and gracefully through the countering gestures and praying she'd be in time to stop the spell. She was - but barely. The margin she succeeded by was too small for her own comfort and as she flung her hand out to shatter the curse with a wave of pure white power, Taylor wasn't certain she'd be successful a second time.

"Jack, I can't hold him off for long!" Taylor whispered even as she raised her hands to try. "Stop him!"

[Geez3r]

"NO!" roared Atlas as the Iron Golem charged Divine. Atlas was too slow to stop the Golem's assault on Moira, but he wasn't too slow to stop it from hurting anyone else. Atlas scooped Grimlakin out of the way, and took the brunt of the Golem's attack himself. The ground splintered against the force of the assualt, and it looked like Atlas was laid low by the attack. But no! He had recoiled so that the impact would be less on Divine.

Before the Golem could cause any more damage, Altas needed to end it, and end it now. Atlas cocked back his fist, his suit tearing to shreds as his muscles tensed, and he let the Golem have it right in the chops. But Atlas wasn't done yet, he yanked the Golem back to him and nearly ripped its arm off before it let go of Divine.

Atlas wrestled with the creature, each jockeying for position before Atlas got a definitive upper hand. "Hey @#$%^**~!" roared Atlas to Arcanix as he lifted the Golem clear off the ground and over his head. "I'm done playing vith your little toy! Now I'm coming for YOU!" And Atlas hurled the Golem right back at Arcanix with all the strength he could muster.

[Heritage]

For a moment, Grim would later swear her heart stopped completely; the sight of the humanoid freight train bearing down on her, using her blood-spattered friend as a battering ram, was too much for her. She could feel the icy chill of iron inside her, twisting her guts and freezing the blood in her veins. But then she was in a strong pair of strange arms, floating through space, away to safety.

Thank you, Atlas; I owe you my life.

[Avenger Assembled]

Atlas' fist smashed into the Golem's face with an impressive klang, the very air vibrating from the sheer force of the punch. Despite this, though, the Golem was seemingly unaffected even by Atlas' incredible strength. On the other hand, the metallic creature was certainly not immune to the laws of physics: Atlas's throw flew straight and true, the Golem hitting head first on its swiveling helmet, richocheting off Arcanix's black force field with a terrible metallic squeal.

[Electra]

Stesha covered her mouth with her hands as the iron monster grabbed Moira, unable to look away as it swung her like a bat towards her own allies. She started breathing again when Atlas stepped in, but it was obvious that Moira was still in a pretty bad way. Kicking off her shoes, she ran across the dance floor in her stockings, pulling her seed pouch from her pocket and sorting through it as she went. She knelt next to Moira and cradled the fallen heroine's head in her lap, green leaves spilling over her hand and through her shaking fingers as she selected the appropriate seeds. "Here, try and swallow it, this will help," she told her friend, rolling up the leaves into a ball and sticking them in Moira's mouth.

Acutely conscious of their very vulnerable position, Stesha took a deep breath and reached into her bag again, tossing a seed into the middle of the floor between herself and the bad guys. It began growing immediately, though it found no purchase in the floor, and instead began spreading wide roots across the parquet floor to stabilize itself as it grew. In seconds, a large and extremely thorny tree had grown up in the middle of the dance floor, sporting pleasant-smelling flowers and spikes nearly a foot long.

[Cyroa]

James frowned as he saw the Golem begin to wreak some havok. "Atlas, the head! It's not original to the golem!" He'd leave to two titans alone for now. The wizard was the biggest threat in his mind. Especially since Phantom barely stopped the magic. He summoned the black black to his hand, and focused on the wizard. He wasn't even sure this would work...but what the heck. He blinked, vanishing from where he'd been standing to appear above and behind the wizard. Even as he began to fall, he swung his sword downward as hard as he could...

[Avenger Assembled]

"No, dammit!" Jack shouted, facing down Arcanix with shock and fury on his face as his friends suffered and bled for the whim of mad vampire dictators. "Fight me! Fight ME!" And with that he leapt, growling furiously as he popped massive fangs, sinking his teeth into his fellow vampire's neck to rip and tear, sending a spatter of black blood into the air as he landed nearby. Hissing, the vampire kept his place in the air, a look of rage on his face.

[Cyroa]

It was a chaotic melee within seconds. The heroes threw themselves at the creatures once the intentions were made clear. He was going to shoot the wizard, but Hellion and Avenger were too close. The golem...The golem took a solid hit from Atlas without a scratch. That was a bad sign. "Surrender, please! There no need for this violence. You can't beat us despite what you were told." He doubt it would help, but he felt compelled to say it anyway. Of course, since they started it and seemed quite deadly, he wasn't just going to sit and do nothing. He gestured, increasing the gravity around the 3 attackers by a factor several hundred. He hoped it would pin at least on of the villains for a moment, buying the heroes time to put one or two of them down.

[Avenger Assembled]

The ground groaned beneath the Patchwork Girl's feet, the animated corpse staggering briefly before she kept her feet. As for the Golem, there was a crack as the wood shattered beneath its feet, but with a scream of tortured metal it pulled itself free. As for Arcanix, the dark wizard hovered briefly before slamming cruelly into the ground beneath his feet with a loud bang. Murder was on his mind.

[Dr Archeville]

Doktor Archeville

As the battle raged, Archeville remained behind the bar, making adjustments to his Electromagnetic Screwdriver.

That gal with them really is something...

Oh... is that all you can think about? Wait, this is you, of course it is!

What? She's hot!

She may have been, once, but... look at her now!

I was! Those curse... and the stitch work on her! Quite nice indeed.

... you are a freak! And we cannot be thinking of that now, our friends are in trouble!

Friends... bah! You think we really need any of these people?

Yes! For friendship, for camaraderie, for.... fine, to put it in terms you would understand: Ace Danger to help push through the government okays on our space station. Dark Star for tales of his extrasolar activities. Phantom and Colt, and Grim and Fleur, for what aid they can give in our extradimensional research. Avenger for-

Okay, okay! Gimme that laser scalpel...

Archeville suddenly popped up from behind the bar, holding his E.S. like a laser pointer. Aiming it at the Patchwork Girl, he fired several short blasts at her, or, more precisely, at the sutures holding her together. "Pew! Pew! Pew!"

Yes, the great Doktor Archeville actually said "pew! pew! pew!" while shooting someone with a laser.

He hoped his supposition was right, and that undoing some of those sutures on her would cause sections of her skin and musculature to loosen and buckle (if not fall completely off), making her a softer target for his allies. If his supposition was wrong... well, at least Dark Star was there to hold her.

[Avenger Assembled]

Archeville's lasers whipped across the room, slicing dead flesh in a hiss of light and smoke without actually doing any appreciable damage. Patchwork Girl met his eyes across the room, the black, doll-like orbs staring right into his soul as she waved a too-florid index finger, sewn together at the second knuckle. Uh-uh. With the inhuman patience of the dead, she ignored Arrowhawk's swipe in her general direction, instead focusing on the human she'd chosen first.

"Ace. Danger." She reached down with a burst of blinding speed and tore her sword out of the ground, flipping it around one-handed and driving it deep into Ace's stomach. It took Ace a moment to realize that she'd targeted his bulletproof vest, casually driving the blade through the straps beneath and sending it tumbling to the floor even as she cut it, and him, away. A moment later, she flipped the blade around and tore out Ace's heart.

[Ecalsneerg]

Arrowhawk watched in horror as Ace was impaled on the sword. "OK, you just had to go too far." With a growl and fury blazing in his eyes, he swung his staff in a wide arc to strike the girl's neck.

[Heritage]

At first, Grim is too stunned to speak; the sight of Ace's brutal murder hits her like a sledgehammer. But then, her mother's temper flares up like a supernova.

"You bitch!"

In a flash, she leaps towards Lil' Miss Patches, fully intending to rip her face off her skull, but then reason sets in.

Hawk is already fighting her; help Hawk!

The changeling feels the glamour boil through her body, powered by rage, and she screams, "You disgusting skanky piece of crap! I'm gonna kill you, stick your ass back together with duct tape, then kill you again!" She fires a spin kick right at her revolting head, shooting just to one side of it at the last second, hoping to give Hawk an opening.