the two are too alike... [ Active // Open ]

[uselesscolonel]

Characters: Daniel Jackson, Roy Mustang, Thomas Kincaid, anyone else that wants to jump in
Content: Roy finds himself confronted with a bunch of crabs while on a walk.
Location: somewhere near the Strand
Time of day: Midday
Warnings: Killing crabs with fire, among other things. Possibly cursing.

Comments

[screw_askew]

This whole situation had quickly become a fiasco, a whirlwind of violence carried out by all manner of oddly dressed figments. Stein would not have guessed the other denizens of this realm would be so vigorous in the elimination of the parasite creatures; his own experiences so far had led him to believe that the vast majority of the inhabitants were incapable of defending themselves to any meaningful degree. Whether his observations were inaccurate or he had simply stumbled head-first into a statistical anomaly he did now know, but now was not the time to weigh the issue.

The creatures wasted little time in their approach, choosing from myriad targets until one, and only one, came upon Stein with a screeching lunge. Experience in this matter was something Stein did not lack; clear analysis of their patterns, movements, and ranges of ability had long since been ingrained upon his mind. With little fanfare and even less enthusiasm, he simply sidestepped the leap, and in a move made familiar with practice, grabbed an extended appendage of the creature and slammed it into the the pavement with strength and momentum combined.

It was an efficient, if dull technique, and simply a means to remove a threat. The regular breed had long since lost any entertainment for scientific or sparring purposes, and now, in the light of a truly superior subspecies mere meters away, perhaps he could experience a challenge. After all, to kill was easy; capture was the difficult result.

Wordlessly, the assault continued.

[justplainfolk]

Kincaid swung the rifle back around so it was firmly strapped to his back - good for distance fighting, but looked like things were going to get up close and personal real quick, and he only had one another grenade with him. Better leave that to chance. He quickly scanned the scene for the others who had now gathered, only raising an eyebrow when Dresden appeared. Figures - the kid was always in the midst of things.

He reached up to lower his baseball cap, and then pulled two semi-automatic handguns from the holster hidden by his jacket. It never hurt to be prepared, and he took off running, ducking and jumping around the parasites far faster than any human should have been able to move. Wasting bullets would have been a bad idea so with a skillful aim that was almost impossible, he used one or two bullets per crab, hitting them in the base of the neck (or what passed for a neck with them) where the nerve endings collected. The crabs he hit momentarily shuddered, their legs twitching sporadically - he trusted the others in the clearing could take care of the rest.

Well, at least he trusted that the kid would do it.

If not, well... that's what the grenade was for.

[uselesscolonel]

"Well, this has certainly turned into a party," Roy said, smirking. And one of the guests used fire, though not very well. Well, that could be fixed easily. He raised his right hand and snapped, manipulating the flames so they went flying at the crabs in a more controlled manner and exploded on contact.

That's how you use flame alchemy.

He watched as costumed kid appeared - what was that costume supposed to be? He managed to restrain his laugh to a mere chuckle; it looked ridiculous - and kicked the nearest crab into the wall. And then the guy with the screw in his head - he'd thought some of the people back home were strange, but this was beyond them - smash another crab.

Maybe it was a motley crew that had gathered, but they were certainly proving themselves useful, he decided with a small smile. They weren't quite as efficient as his men were, but they'd do just fine.

[geekofthegate]

Daniel was REALLY starting to envy all of these superhuman types. It didn't take much to realize that he was the only poor sap here who had to rely on a gun (and ONLY a gun). The grenade guy was zipping through the crabs like an olympian (sharpshooter) on a playground; Roy and Harry were shooting fire; Peter/Spider-Man was making dramatic entrances and super-kicking crabs into walls; and guy-with-a-screw-in-his-head was hurling them onto the ground with his bare hands.

Dang, I may have to step it up a notch, or I'm going to make all us mortal people look bad, he thought with a wry grin. Now that they had some more help, he was a lot less worried about winning the fight. Much easier to focus that way.

Daniel dropped as another crab came hurlting at him, laying himself flat on the ground. As it passed overhead, he fired two more shotgun blasts into its slightly weaker underplating, sending it to the ground dead. Years of necessary training and practice from working with a military group had the archeologist nimbly switching in new cartridges, for the moment opting for the deadlier blows of the rifle.

Another one was coming at him from behind as he scrambled upright. He swung at it, decking it in the head with the barrel of the rifle, and then fired a staccato of P90 bullets into its eyes before it could recover. Two down, an annoying number to go. Backing warily away from another labrador-sized crab as it approached with hissing jaws, he yelled to the new arrivals, "Hey guys, nice of you to join us! Hope we're not ruining your afternoon or anything."

Another round of bullets shot at the crab, most unfortunately bouncing off of its hard shell this time as it half-turned away. "It's so hard to get a quiet-" THWACK!!!spakspakspak "-afternoon off these days, isn't it?"

[sexandahaircut]

Suddenly, a crab skittered by and collapsed, gushing blood from it's head region. Standing a few feet from it was Thomas, a short sword in his hand and a gun in the other. He was also lacking a shirt. Why was he without a shirt?

Well, aside from the fact that this was Thomas, who didn't like shirts. He had also just woken up from the nap because of the racket outside. At first he had ignored it but when he realized it was crabs...well...he had taken a stronger interest in helping.

So, eyes a lighter shade of gray than normal and the air probably a little cooler than it had been, Thomas joined the fight. He flicked his sword to get the strange colored blood off and tried to make sense of what the hell was going on out here. "This isn't a party, there are no girls or drinks," Thomas quipped. Still, he had to stay focused and keep himself in check. It was harder to feed on people these days what with getting out being so difficult. He couldn't just waste his energy.

For good measure he stabbed another crab...it didn't seem to do much damage though. "Empty night this is going to take awhile. Just how many of these things did you people bring," he growled as he started parrying the claws and teeth with the crab with his short sword.

[soulswordpixie]

As a crab was moving behind Thomas, a figure dropped fist first onto the crab's head, in a classic double fist to the top of the head. A simple and classic move for heavyweight X-Men. Cute petite little Megan would not do much to it normally this way, but since she put on her full armor, gift from Mr. Stark, this was a much more sizable impact. Add in she came down from a higher than normal point in the sky, gravity and weight did all the work there. Her metallic armor would be fierce and intimidating... but it was still covered with painted pink flowers.

She wasn't done yet, she removed her fists from the top of the creature's head, put herself in a handstand and kicked the thing up in the air, only to fly after it and kick the thing back down with a flip bringing her boot onto the same spot her fist was a moment ago.

With a final landing stomp on the crab's head it finally stopped moving, "I-I did it!" She was a little surprised, her armor does its job well, and it was a little battered to start, "So why with all the crabs out here? This isn't the kind of party I wanted today." Her eyes were constantly drawn to Thomas, his darkness chilled her soul just being near him, but the crabs were way more important than that feeling in her mind.

[crystalchamber]

There was an unmistakable series of shrieks echoing in the streets, followed by explosions. The crabs found something.

Kida sped forward, using her spear to vault ahead. If there was ever a time to test her armor, it was now that she had heard about the tougher parasites. However, what she did not expect was the sheer multitude of parasites, plus the fairly large group of people in the street... And one man dressed very strangely and a girl who could fly? To her amazement, one of them appeared to be Daniel.

All of Kida's weight came down hard on a parasite who rolled on its side. Quick to swing her spear around, she cobbered its jaw with the bludgeon end of her weapon. "What are you waiting for?! Move into a building!"

[timeinback]

Amongst all of the chaos of battle throughout the street, it would have been unfortunate if one of these new crabs had snuck behind them all and jumped at the original person that started this mess. So of course, the amassing group of heroes that there happened to be one crab that everyone missed. Without warning, it had already coiled its back leaps in preparation and with a single bound, leaped several feet into the air, its large maw opening wide to snap the back of Roy's head whole. everybody else were either too focused with their own lices or weren't position to intercept. Moments seemed to slow down as its giant shelled jaws began to close, ready to finish the colonel without any struggle.

Snhuck!

The crab shrieked in surprise as air seemed to lock its mouth open, for a complete second was left hanging there in the air, mystified at what just happened. A second later, the air behind Roy rippled and slowly revealed a completely armored stranger. Though it body was masked heavily through the purple and black motorcycle armor it wore, the wide hips and refined legs made it obvious the stranger was female. It also helped that the top half of her face was left uncovered, the lower half including the nose completely enclosed in a steel face guard. She held a small metal bar in the crab's mouth as it struggled and squirmed to pull away. The masked woman's brown eyes stared coldly at her xenomorphic victim before her forefinger tabbed the button on the bar. With a small whine of a piston, the bar forced itself to extend inside the crab's maw, leaving a wet crack and dying scream in its wake.

Chao had to be blind and deaf not to hear this battle. The only reason she hadn't come sooner was because of the prep time it took to put everything on, not to mention the lengths she had to go to make sure her identity wasn't discovered. She was only glad Roy was far enough from Harry that her Cloaking belt could work without bursting into flames.

"I believe you should be more mindful of your surroundings." She remarked to Roy from over her armored shoulder, her voice garbled by the voice changer that was embedded in her face guard. Her eyes only flickering to his direction before having to focus on the next crab.

[stealtherose]

There was something about a skirmish against the crab parasites that seemed to attract everyone in the surrounding area. For some, it was the battle itself. The thrill of the kill, the excitement of dodging a blow only to deliver one. For others, it was to protect, to ensure that the enemy didn't get past to something more precious. Everyone had something they needed to protect, after all--a piece of themselves, whether it be person or thing.

Ashe's reason was to ensure safety. If people were to be hurt, she needed to be there to help. And if she happened to take out a few of the blasted parasites along the way, so be it.

"I hope I'm not so late, then."

An ice spell came down over the ground beneath three of the closest crabs. They skittered, slid and stumbled about as they tried to gain their footing. The queen burst through the center of them, sword coming up to slice through the nearest neck as she passed. She slid to a stop at the edge of the ice, and took the moment to watch the crab's corpse trip up the other two.

Judge the movement.

Go.

[inthephonebook]

Harry just sort of stared at all the people who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the battlefield, including several who literally appeared from nowhere.

"Look, not that I'm not grateful, but did everyone here just happen to be wandering around outside my house or are you people stalking us? Cause if it's the latter, we're not really that interesting."

Of course, to top it all off, one of the guys he'd come to rescue had just stole his fire! Well, Harry realized on an intellectual level that the other man should make use of whatever tools he had at hand, and Harry could make more, but that smug grin on the other guys face still left the wizard feeling a little grumpy.

Pushing aside his annoyance, Harry flung his hand out and channeled more flame into it. He waited for just the right moment, and suddenly a crab charged towards them, leading a pack of its brethren. Harry counted to four in his head, then thrust his hand forward shouting "Fuego!" Unleashing his power, the flames consumed the crab in front, melting and fusing it's joints together with the heat of the flame. It collapsed in a thrashing heap, setting several of it's kin ablaze as well and stalling the rest.

Of course, all of that was just to buy Harry enough time for his real spell. Focusing his will, gathering power from the very air in front of him, from the electrons in the sky and from the bio-electric processes of the lifeforms all around him, Harry took all that power and sent it down his makeshift staff, roaring, "Fulminas!"

A second later a bolt of blinding lightning launched itself from the tip of the hockey stick, and in the blink of an eye crossed the space between Harry and the mass of crabs, slamming into the beasts with searing heat, jumping from one to the next as it sliced through them, burning carapaces and frying neurons. It tore to the end of the group and ground out in the worn tires of a rusted out car.

A second later there was a deafening boom as the air rushed to fill the void where Harry's spell had passed.

Taking a deep breath Harry leaned on his staff and grinned savagely, feeling seriously worn. Of course, there were still a veritable army of crabs to fight, so he gathered himself, but it looked like the bastards had at least paused for a second.

"Nothing quite like shocking your audience to silence."

[screw_askew]

Only one of the "super" breed of parasite crabs remained in his sight, a brazen, almost tactless creature compared to its lesser brethren; they at least had the good sense to utilize both darkness and environment to secure an advantageous attack scenario. The larger, fiercer creature excelled in speed, power, and resilience, a raging composite of chitin and predatory malice. Exquisite. He would have it.

Charging past (and in many cases, through) numerous lesser parasites with a violent mixture of deft evasion and and potent single-strike techniques, he pierced the heart of the fray with only a single goal; To learn the sweet secrets within, to feel it with his hands. It was a new opponent, a new thing to dominate, flay, vivisect, studying every iota of its composition. There was a grander purpose behind his trespasses against common morality, so they were forgivable in the name of the greater good, were they not? It was not his fault that helping made him feel so damn good.

Calm had abandoned him; the chance to indulge beckoned, and he would oblige, a feral, screaming laugh his only herald.

[justplainfolk]

Kincaid didn't know where all these people had come from, but although their numbers finished off crabs more quickly, it did make his task a lot harder. Hell, he already knew that some people would have an issue with his view of collateral damage, but he always believed that whatever it took to get the job done...

He raised an eyebrow as Harry voiced his own opinion about the sudden calvary surge, but didn't wait for the wizard to start casting his spells. Instead, he ran back in the direction of the alley, timing his attack carefully. Two of those damn parasites had alread turned to give chase, one only about three feet ahead of the other, and he heard their claws scrapping along the concrete behind him. He listened to the telltale rhythm as he came within feet of one of the building's brick walls and then the sudden abrupt silence that followed it-

He spun around and dodged quickly - though not enough to completely take himself out of the path of the parasite - and then moved towards and under one of the crabs that had launched itself into the air in an attempt to clasp its jaws around his neck. In the same movement, he slammed the butt of one of the semi-automatic into its back, forsaking speed for sheer force. The crab slammed into the wall at an awkward angle, its jaw breaking with a sickening crunch upon meeting unmovable bricks instead of flesh.

As for the other crab, he had less than a second to react. So he simply shot it. Once. Twice. Third time was a charm, as the crab's jaw exploded. He slipped the guns back into the holsters underneath his jacket, readied the shotgun that had been strapped to his back, and finished off the job with two more shots for each of the crabs.

[geekofthegate]

Too many things going on at once to concentrate on. As Daniel ducked a swinging crab claw and hurridly reloaded his gun, he was able to catch glimpses of things going on around them. That girl with the wings - Megan, that was it - arrived in a set of armor(?!); Kida came barreling through with her spear; some woman in a suit of armor was over by Roy, and a shower of ice hit the ground not too far off. Too much to focus on at once, and so he kept his focus on fighting.

Where the HECK had all of these people come from? For that matter, where the heck has all of these CRABS come from? 'Good grief, did we kill the mafia crab boss or something?' This had quickly escalated from a simple attack-defend matter to an all-out brawl.

Oh well. At least they were less likely to get killed now.

Then a freaking lightning bolt ripped through the crabs only five feet away from him. Daniel startled so badly at the unexpected phenomenon that he let down his gaurd slightly. A crab claw came out of nowhere and grazed him on the upper arm, but the sonic boom that immediately followed the lightning bolt managed to throw the crab off gaurd as well, and Daniel had his wits about him just enough to shoot the thing. Never mind the fact that his ears were ringing right now.

"Holy CRAP, Harry!" he yelled - very loudly, as he could barely hear himself thanks to that sonic boom. The explorer rammed another crab in the mouth with the butt of his shotgun. "Can you please try not to cook the rest of us with the crabs?" Okay, yes, he knew that it was probably unlikely that Harry would have fried any of the people in the crowd. But he was a little bit irked. They were a large group of people fighting a larger group of crabs in a narrow street, and the superficial slice on his arm didn't help matters, either.

As his hearing came back, the extremely eerie sound of Stein's maniacal laughter, and the fact that he nearly slipped and fell on his rear when his foot encountered the ice the new lady had cast, made him decide that maybe it would be a good idea to shift over a little. He tried to stick by Roy - that felt right, since he and Daniel and Kincaid (wherever that guy had gone) were the original fighters. Plus Kida was over there.

And the crabs just kept coming. 'Well, at least we'll have made a dent in the population by the end of this,' he thought dryly.

[screw_askew]

A screeching hiss and preternaturally sharp appendages met the good doctor mid-lunge with equivalent ferocity, hedonistic rage clashing with base, predatory aggression. First blood had been drawn in a predictably mutual fashion: A scarlet trail bled across his left shoulder in a torn, jagged manner, but the creature itself was now sans an entire forelimb, an oozing stump all that remained after an explosively charged strike.

Remarkable. The lesser breeds were unable to lay naught but a single appendage upon him and lacked the fortitude and resilience this species demonstrated. The rumor of nefarious, guided design of these creatures could hardly be discounted in light of this; such changes were simply not natural, they were actively being improved upon by some malign force.

The creature thrashed in bestial frustration, the loss of a limb a dire handicap for any predator, natural or not. The parameters of the parasite were now known, speed, strength, agility, all of it. A single strike was all that he needed against such a simple opponent. Stein's own injury paled in comparison, and the brief smile given as he assessed the situation bode favorably.

The cuts could hardly be felt; flesh-wounds, more show than substance, and rendered by the decidedly less lethal claws of the creature, lacking the viral payload and venom sure to follow a successful bite. He was unhinged, but he was not stupid by any measure.

Warped, light giggling accompanied unfocused eyes that gazed at an object of simultaneous hate and affection, all the while slowly advancing forward step by rigid step, intent to retrieve such a fine sample regardless of cost.