White Wedding [IC]

[Moira Morley]

Within what seemed like an eternity, a few scant seconds passed. After the magical vampire escaped Moira's stompy wrath, the rest played out like a play. A giant hunk of metal grabbed her and slammed her into Grim. Moira felt every bone in her body shatter at one time. If it weren't for the adrenaline and pure bloodlust running through her veins she would of died of shock right then and there. Moira didn't want to think about where she'd end up if she did die. Then as if an angel descended upon her, Stesha healed every bit of Moira's pain. Moira would have thanked her but there was a war going on at that very moment. Then it happened She saw it with her very own eyes. Ace Danger fell. Time got slow. Moira's rage flared up hotter. She reared up up and charged at the undead girl.

[Avenger Assembled]

The crowd of heroes closed around Patchwork Girl, the killing machine looking briefly confused to be the object of so much attention. Arrowhawk's blow caromed off her head with a thunk, leaving no marks on her dried flesh; while she returned Grimalkin's curses with a malevolent hiss of her own. It was Divine, finally, who broke the fiend's terrible luck, her massive blow sending her staggering back as black cord ties broke all along her cheek.

[quotemyname]

Colt was drowning out everything that happened around him. In the back of his mind, he knew his friends were being hurt. He was dimly aware of Ace Danger losing consciousness and fading away. But he also knew that the best way he could help them was to concentrate on making his shots count.

"Atlas, the head! It's not original to the golem!"

Even through all the concentration on the targets in front of him, Hellion's words broke through. Though directed at Atlas, Colt got the message. The golem seemed un-phased by the pounding that it took from Atlas, if he could only do some damage to that helmet...

Bringing the large revolver to bear, he tipped his cowboy hat forward to block out the glare from the lights above. He cupped the butt of the gun with his hand, stood still, and closed his right eye, "Reach fer the sky, partner." He fired. His left hand moved like lightning, repeated cocking the hammer and letting his bullets fly. Every last one of the futuristic ballistic projectiles collided with the golem's helmet.

[Avenger Assembled]

Colt's volley of gunfire tore through the golem's head like a hot knife through butter, tearing huge holes in the vulnerable metal and nearly ripping it free from the golem's body. All the heroes could hear the eerie screaming from inside, the half-audible voice just begging for release.

Pinned to the floor nearby, a cursing, wounded Arcanix spat something unspeakably blasphemous as the wall of black energy surrounding him suddenly began boiling in a way that looked truly unpleasant. And sure enough, that wave of terrible black energy suddenly erupted outward, sweeping over the assembled heroes in a cold tide that pulled at their very souls, the ones too slow to dodge watching in horror as their unwary flesh turned a sickening shade of grey.

"Golem! Capture the traitor and protect me!"

At that, the golem charged Jack, throwing a mighty blow that struck Jack squarely across the mid-section, driving an iron fist straight through Jack's midsection. He subsequently grabbed the battered groom and squeezed him to his chest, pulling him tight enough to crack bones.

[alderwitch]

As the wave of sickly magic washed through the room sucking the life from the living, Taylor twisted to the side, phasing into the void to avoid the brunt of the spell and flickering back into existence in time to see Jack's chest pierced by the fist of the monstrosity.

Her breath came out in a low hiss as the white glow of power in her eyes darkened to pure black. Clear over the din of battle, Taylor growled,

"Put - Down - My - HUSBAND!"

With fingertips curled into claws, Taylor grabbed the very fabric of reality and ripped screaming rents into it to allow the void to spill forth in pools of pure shadow and arcs of light that lanced out to strike at the enemy.

[Avenger Assembled]

Despite the waves of deadly energy washing out from the dark wizard, every single hero there somehow managed to avoid the terrible, icy chill of magically-empowered death. And a moment later, some remarkable things occurred as Taylor's rage-fueled magic swept across the battlefield. The golem stood unmarred, of course, with only its battered helmet showing any signs of damage at all from the terrible fight. The Patchwork Girl was scorched but not seriously hurt, a few of her stitches smoldering. But as for Arcanix, he gave a terrible scream, flared a brilliant magnesium white, and disappeared entirely.

[Geez3r]

"Jack!" shouted Atlas. He had had enough. Atlas barreled forward, rushing the creature. He got a meaty paw around the helmet and ripped it off the Golem's head. He followed up by grabbing the golem by the leg, and whirled it around him like a throwing hammer. He hurled it with every last bit of strength he could muster and sent it sailing far into the sky. It did not come back down. "One left."

[Electra]

Stesha watched in mute horror as the evil... thing that looked like a doll made of corpses savaged Ace, then turned to fight more of her friends. For a long moment she couldn't move at all, rooted to the spot by shock and fear. He had to be dead after an attack like that, and what could she do against death? But he was Ace Danger, and maybe he wasn't quite dead yet. She had to take the chance. Rising to a crouch, but staying as close to the ground as she could, Stesha scuttled into the fray, to where Ace's mutilated body lay. The sight of his chest made her gag, but she swallowed hard and dug through her pouch to find one paper-wrapped bundle. It contained the sticky ball of sap she'd made using the instructions for care and feeding of her baby magical plant. The one Ace had given her, ironically enough. She didn't know if there was even a prayer of it working, but she tried anyway. "Don't be dead, don't be dead," she murmured, using two fingers to poke the ball of sap as far down his throat as she could.

[Cyroa]

James dismissed the Black Blade; it had done it's work on the vampire quite well. And now that the vampire was dust and ash, there were other threads. He grinned, chuckling, as Atlas picked up the invulnerable and no long moving golem. There was a crash as the red giant threw the metal monstrosity straight through the rough and up...WAY WAY up.

His face soured right away as he vision panned over Ace's corpse. Growling he turned to look at the zombie. He had no problems fighting dirty, especially against something that had just killed Ace. Growling, he summoned fire to his hand. Without a moment's hesitation, he threw a steady barrage of fire right at the zombie's back.

[angrydurf]

Aces eye fluttered open and he smiled up at Stesha, "Well that is certainly a pleasant change of scenery." he uttered in an entirely inappropriate tone given the circumstances. He began reaching into his coat for something but did not stand seeming for the moment content to lounge with his head in Steshas Lap.

[Avenger Assembled]

The Patchwork Girl gave a terrible shriek as she burst into flames, stitches smoldering and skin blackening, as James' fiery blast washed over her. Keening, she kept her feet, in pain but obviously able to push past it despite her growing injuries. Meanwhile, the golem disappeared into space far above.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star sighed, such as it was, with relief as he saw Ace suddenly come back. The man was supposedly immortal of course and Dark Star had faith that Ace would return. But still, it was reassuring to see it actually happen. He almost blasted the zombie girl but thought better of it. If he hit (she was quick), she'd likely be blasted through the wall and across the city. He didn't want to risk her getting away. And she seemed rather strong, so pinning her... "Ah yes..." She might be strong enough to shrug off the weight, but if she were weightless and floating... He gestured, changing the gravity to force her up and hover in the air for the other heroes to deal with, hopefully.

[Dr Archeville]

"Hold her!," Archeville shouted to Dark Star as he trained his E.S. on the Frankenfemme and unleashed more laser pulses at the stitches on her major joints.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Repeating yourself?

Simple battle cries work best.

"Ace?," he called out, "still with us? Stesha, vas anyvon else injured?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Dr. Archeville's laser tore across the flaming, tumbling Patchwork Girl, who flexed painfully as more stitches tore, and then suddenly fell perfectly still. While the heroes were still recuperating, a badly-punctured Jack staggered to his feet. "Taylor," he said with great alacrity, "you need to counterspell this entire building right now." And sure enough, as he spoke, the dark shadows all around them seemed to be growing all the thicker, as if the very night itself was about to turn against those who had so effortlessly slain its champions.

[Electra]

Stesha laughed in relief as Ace opened his eyes, "You're not dead! Thank god!" She kissed him on the forehead in her exuberance, then turned to answer Doctor Archeville. "I don't know, I don't think so?" she replied, looking around to see who else might be hurt. As she watched, the shadows began deepening and lengthening throughout the room. "What's going on now?" she asked nervously.

[angrydurf]

Ace came to his feet shaking off the effects of his brief visit to the other side as the shadows sprung up. He glanced down at Stesha, "Thanks for the pick me up." and shot her a quick wink. Looked around at the spell forming then to Taylor giving her a quiet nod, "Take em down Phantom they don't have any idea who they are dealing with." Turning to the shadows at large he shouted, "You hear that you morons? You have just stepped up to the Chosen Of Heshem."

[Moira Morley]

Moira dropped out of the adrenaline fueled rage she was in. She hurt badly, but heard the plight of Jack and Ace's words of encouragement. "[divine]Taylor, I believe in you. We all believe in you. But you must believe in yourself! You will save us all! There is no question![/divine]" She yelled at the top of her voice, "[divine]YOU CAN DO IT![/divine]"

[quotemyname]

"Don't believe in yerself!" Called Colt as he lined up his next shot, "Believe'n me who believes in'ya!"

[alderwitch]

"You have got to be kidding me." Taylor muttered, shooting Jack a look of patent disbelief. Closing her eyes, she brought her hands forward infront of her as her friends cried out their encouragement. She slitted them open to admonish Ace through gritted teeth as she gathered all the power she could muster in a burning bright ball between her hands, "Ace, don't taunt the darkness. It's tacky."

"Jack, cover your eyes," When the light between her hands burned white hot and too bright to look at, she slammed her palms downward and the power mushroomed out with a concussive wave of brilliant energy that filled the room expanding outward through heroes until it burst out through the windows, shattering them outward in final defiance.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star moved, floating above Taylor. He trusted her implicitly of course. "Glad to have you back Ace. Now, everyone gather 'round. If they wish to send anything else at us, we'll have to teach them yet another lesson." He looked down at Taylor. "If you need something done, say the word." He readied his energies, preparing to create a large shield if necessary.

[Cyroa]

Hellion

James stood with the others, facing outward, waiting. He didn't know enough magic yet to help Taylor so all he could do was wait. Still, this was actually a pretty fun wedding really. Beautiful women, dancing, good food. And they got to thrash some bad guys. Seemed like a pretty good evening to him. So he stood there smiling, waiting for the next thing.

[Heritage]

When things had gone completely crazy for a few moments there, Grim had opted for the better part of valor and faded from view. But once Taylor had made with the whammy and atomized every piece of glass in the joint, she tentatively reappeared.

"Uh, Ace, do you have your checkbook handy? Because I think that's the superpower we really need right now."

Moving lightly across the broken glass and refuse, she joined Colt. "How you doin' there, big guy?" Barely waiting to hear his response, she turned and called out. "Any non-super people left in the place? Anyone need medical attention?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Jack threw up his hands against the flare of brilliant white light just in time as the eruption of magical energy from Phantom chased away the darkness all around them, a flare of pure celestial light that erupted from the powerful mage like the very embodiment of truth and goodness, blasting away all the monsters that lay hidden in the darkness around them in a rush of power. Within an instant, all the bad guys were gone, leaving the heroes alone in the big room. "You did it!"

[quotemyname]

When things had gone completely crazy for a few moments there, Grim had opted for the better part of valor and faded from view. But once Taylor had made with the whammy and atomized every piece of glass in the joint, she tentatively reappeared.

Moving lightly across the broken glass and refuse, she joined Colt. "How you doin' there, big guy?"

Picking a few of the pieces of shattered glass off the front of his tuxedo. With a shrug, he replied, "I reckon I'm holdin' it tagether." He acted like he did this sort of thing every day. Grim had a flash of insight, realizing that dealing with unexpected situations cropping up suddenly out of nowhere was something Colt was used to, if not unnervingly comfortable with.

One by one he withdrew a set of bullets from the pocket on the inside right pocket of his jacket and slipped them into the chamber of his revolver. He smiled as he gave her a sideways look, "An' how bout'cha?" he asked. Spinning the clip of his revolver and slapping it back into place, he quickly settled it back into place in the holster on the inside of his coat. Don't leave home without it, he thought.

Turning to face grim, he held the sides of her arms and gave her an appraising look. "I reckon ya had a pretty close call there," He drew closer and hugged her. Looking over her shoulder, he met Atlas' eyes. After kissing Grim on the head, he addressed the big red giant, "Thank ya, big guy. I reckon I owe ya one fer steppin' in like that."

[alderwitch]

Taylor picked her way over to Jack quickly enough over the debris and she examined him with concerned eyes, focusing on the gaping chest wound. She rested her fingertips lightly next to it, where he was still whole and solid and leaned in to ask in a quiet undertone, "Will you be able to heal that tonight?"

The offer of blood was unspoken but clear as she watched him with worried dark eyes. "Is that the last of it or a momentary reprieve do you think?"