Cheesetopia (IC)

[Fox]

"It isn't a restraint. It's a garnish," Tiamat announced, a mighty sweep of her wings supplementing a fearsome pounce that launched her scaled body straight into the aurochs' side, where she clawed her way onto its back and bit into its shoulder, tail lashing back and forth to help her keep her balance.

Given their relative sizes, the effect was rather like watching a cat assault a large dog...if the cat in question was nearly three times the size of a man at the shoulder and had a mouth full of broad, razor-sharp teeth.

[Fox]

Gaian Knight couldn't help but wince in sympathy a bit as Tiamat bit into the cow - he'd never been on the receiving end of those teeth, but he'd seen them up close - though he did notice with some appreciation that she'd gone for the shoulder and not the neck. He'd have to think of some way to show his appreciation of that without somehow insulting her pride.

For now, though, he swept his arms out, the broken ground under the cow's hooves forming giant earthen hands that wasted no time in grabbing hold, parts of the fore hands running up the creature's legs to form another pair of hands over its eyes. "Anyone else a little concerned by the 'we' in that boast? I am really hoping that was the royal 'we'!"

[horngeek]

Vector grinned, the grin faltering a bit as she listened to Gaian's question. "Um... not sure! I mean, he's certainly enough of an arrogant ass for it to be a royal we, but..."

The young woman shook her head, running over to the Auroch's leg and launching a vector-boosted spinning kick at the cow's leg... which again, did nothing. "Oh, for heaven's sake, how much damage can this guy take?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"I AM NO MAN, FOOL!" bellowed the giant cow in Vector's direction as great gobs of its spit flew in her direction, howling in rage as Tiamat's fangs bit deep. It took a step, staggering, as the rock around it crumbled, but whether through its own growing weakness or the strength of the earth, Gaian Knight's stony grasp held it tight. "Geld you all," it muttered weakly, though still with a voice like a roaring helicopter's motor, "Bring back the rule of the old gods..." It was weakening, and getting a sound thrashing, but it didn't sound like its intentions were lessening any. "When I turn enough, they will welcome us into their world as their divine handlers! It will all be...so very easy..."

[Electra]

"I'm afraid you won't have an opportunity to corrupt any more innocent people!" Fleur called out. "You've done quite enough damage already, and it's time you leave this world. Perhaps you'll find greener pastures elsewhere. Tiamat, back away!" Even as Fleur warned the dragon, the broken vines were braiding themselves back together and growing once more, this time with a massive red flower the size of a circus tent budding and blooming on the end. With one decisive move, oddly violent for a plant, the vine slumped forward, dropping the massive bloom over the cow, which suddenly was no more.

[Avenger Assembled]

With the cow gone, a great stillness seemed to fall over the corrupted town. For a moment the heroes thought the worst, at least until doors began opening and people began staggering out into the sunlight, rubbing their eyes as if they had just awakened from the most remarkable dream. From the growing crowd pouring out of homes and onto streets, as well as the deputies and sheriff sitting up and rubbing their heads on the street, it was as if the town was awakening from some bizarre dream. The heroes, though, who had seen the cost of this bovine nightmare firsthand, knew of course that it had been too terribly real. Whatever the cow had been, fallen divine messenger of the gods, warped alien, or some creature from beyond, it left behind no clues.

[horngeek]

Vector narrowly dodged the cow's spittle, an expression of disgust crossing her face momentarily before she watched Fleur send the cow... elsewhere. As doors opened, she let out the breath she was unconsciously holding, a sigh of relief escaping her mouth.

She smiled at the three other heroes. "...phew. Glad that seems to be over. Think we should explain what happened to the town now. And get the tourists out of... wherever you put them, Fleur."

[Fox]

"It's good to see people recovering," Gaian Knight agreed as he flew his platform back to join the others. "Good job, everyone. We'll still have to do something about the aurochs, though. Ah - preferably somewhere else," he added, looking thoughtfully at the awakening civilians. "We don't know what the range is on its...dairy-based mind-control."

Tiamat had pushed away from the aurochs when Fleur had shouted, landing with at least some level of grace on the broken street where she was now busy cleaning her teeth and claws. "If it turns out to have been some mindless cow that got possessed or transformed, I could take care of it for you," she rumbled, grinning toothily. "I could even save you some. We could have a barbeque."

[Electra]

"I'm afraid I already have a very nice chicken in the crockpot for tonight," Fleur demurred diplomatically, "but we'll check on the cow as soon as we get all these people settled down. In the meantime, we should probably call in a League disaster recover team," she suggested to GK, looking at the torn-up square of land, the overturned vehicles, and the masses of confused people. "I need to sort the refugees back on Sanctuary and get them to their homes or to a clinic. Vector can probably help me with the debriefings, if you want to oversee matters here?" She sighed, thinking of the work that lay ahead, even with the monster vanquished. "And to think it was supposed to be a nice little festival photo op."

[horngeek]

Vector nodded quickly. "I'll help with the people who were in the jailhouse."

She stood, walking over to Fleur. "I'm ready to go whenever you are. Um... you're more experienced than I am at this sort of thing, so I'll let you take the lead."

Privately, Catherine was also worried about her friend. Charlotte seemed okay when she last saw her, but still... Catherine had seen how the auroch had treated the prisoners.

[Avenger Assembled]

On Sanctuary, Fleur and Vector found a badly-rattled, albeit somewhat recovered, population of tourists, out-of-town merchants, and the odd Pleasantvillian who for whatever reason hadn't had any cheese in the few days before the big Cheese Festival had driven everyone crazy. They were dehydrated and poorly fed, even those who had succumbed to the temptation to eat of the tainted dairy weren't in the best shape nutritionally. It was hard to tell from looking if any of them had any further contamination from the divinely-poisoned milk, but at least no one was shouting in ancient Greek or attacking anyone else as they milled about Fleur's big sanctuary for refugees. The first person to talk to them was Charlotte, who hadn't gone far from her roommates' side.

"I've been asking around, and I think it had something to do with that so-called meteor that crashed into town a couple of weeks ago. One of the people here is a secretary at the local parish; she said the priest came back really excited, talking about a new archaeological discovery, and how maybe it was good the League was already coming to town, but he was drinking the milk even then. By the time she could ask him, it was too late."

-

Gaian Knight knew most of the people who did disaster recovery for the League pretty well, given that his terrakinetic powers made him a natural ally for the team members who concentrated on recovering from disasters rather than supervillains. Some people with powers didn't want to fight, or weren't any good at it, and some specialists with flying power-loader suits preferred to use their equipment for its original purpose rather than refurbishing it for combat. This wasn't the kind of forest fire or tidal wave that really got the team moving, but after one look at the images beamed up from the town, the League was on its way to help. Team Red, named for Adair, was forming up at the Lighthouse and would be there within the hour. From the look of the dazed people still wandering the streets, taking stock of their brief, unsettling transformation, they would need all the help they could get!

Meanwhile, Tiamat was hearing voices. The golden, smiling sun painted on a nearby brick wall as part of some sort of seasonal commemoration, presiding smilingly over a field of painted cows amid oversized flowers, was speaking directly to her, its lips and teeth moving and eyes winking, the people around her and Gaian Knight (as well as the man himself) not reacting to the display.

"Greetings, child of Ladon," the sun said in a pleasant, jovial, dare she say sunny?, voice. "How are you today?"

[Fox]

Even before the recovery team showed up, Gaian Knight had set about fixing what he could and taking stock of what he couldn't - much of the torn up ground was put back into place, while other parts were actually cleared out to expose bits of broken infrastructure that would have to be repaired by someone with a better mind for civil engineering. Still, he wasn't so distracted by looking for underground voids shaped like broken pipes to not notice Tiamat's distraction.

"'scuse me," she rumbled, catching his questioning look. "Gotta go talk to a wall. Just keep in mind that I never ate anything here."

She padded over to the wall with surprising grace for a creature her size, taking a seat and curling her great tail around her legs. "Greetings," she replied, with an air of dignity that said there was nothing at all abnormal about a giant fire-breathing lizard talking to a painting. "I fought a monstrous cow, so the day wasn't a total loss, I suppose, and I might get to eat dragon-sized steaks for a few weeks yet. Yourself?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"I have a problem," admitted the Sun. "For some time I have been employed by my kinsman to watch over his cattle, but I fear one escaped our fence and jumped into the world of Men. And dragons," it added diplomatically. "You have successfully defeated the beast and prevented the conquest of your planet by divinely-empowered bovines, for which I am grateful. But would you do me the favor, sweet daughter of fang and flame, of keeping this...quiet?" Those big, painted eyes flicked back and forth nervously. "I, ah, I have very few worshipers these days, you see, only a small handful of young people who worship my avatar in a cycle of war and rebirth, and well...I have no place to go if Helios removes me from his shining halls," admitted the painted disk of the sun itself. "I know those of your blood and mine have often been enemies, but let us leave that to the stories told by others."

[Electra]

The scope of the civilian crisis was large enough that Fleur decided to call in some reinforcements. Now that Sanctuary was getting larger and more populated, it had seemed prudent to put some disaster plans into place for various eventualities. A mass-casualty event from Prime had actually been one of the first she'd thought of, and now she could pat herself on the back for her own foresight. A quick call to the monastery and an open portal quickly netted her a half-dozen of the brethren, including their doctor, all of whom were ready to help treat and triage the frightened, confused and hungry ex-prisoners.

Fleur took off her mask and pushed back her cowl as she moved quickly among the people, treating the wounded and sick, sending home the ones who just needed a shower and a meal. It seemed like most of the afflicted barely remembered what had happened, and it was probably better that way. Eventually she worked her way around to the dairy manager and his sons. "How are you doing?" she asked them all. "Did you get something to eat?"

[Fox]

"Well, that depends, now," Tiamat pondered aloud in front of the sun, feigning great sympathy and concern. "Your cow caused a little trouble, and it's pretty impressive - or suspicious - that it made it here at all, don't you think? A lot of poor, innocent humans got hurt, and I might not even get my steak. But I suppose you're going to be really careful from now on, aren't you?"

She hadn't really phrased that last part like a question, and at some point she'd started grinning - all teeth and superiority, the sort of thing that made hardened fairytale knights a little unsettled. Usually with good reason. "Besides, it might be useful to have someone in your position owe us a favor."