Rise, Rapture, Rise
The red glow that had overtaken the room was starting to hurt Teddy's eyes. It was bright, and pervasive, and it made his temples throb but there was no way in hell he was going to look away: That was Billy in the middle of it. Seeing him beside the Scarlet Witch, their eyes closed and their lips moving in concentration, they really looked like family. Which was good, that was what Billy had wanted, and Teddy wasn't about to nay-say it, only...
Well, only they were in a dungeon in Latveria and Doctor Doom was, at least in part, running the show. Which was concerning. Teddy had concerns. Eli was voicing most of them. As a team, they couldn't afford to be split on this. They had to trust Billy and get through it, and seeing as how 'it' was already going down, that wasn't the kind of thing you interrupted. At least not if you were thinking straight, which Patriot demonstrably was not.
"We can stop them."
"How?" Kate said, ever the voice of reason. Teddy appreciated not being the only one.
"How do you propose we stop the combined powers of Wiccan, the Scarlet Witch, and Doctor Doom?" Patriot was so tense he looked like he was vibrating head to toe, and it made Teddy nervous. Eli was a good leader- a great leader, or else he wouldn't have followed him down the block, let alone into battle, but Eli had a history of making... less than stellar choices when he was feeling especially passionate.
"I don't think we should," Cassie said over Teddy's shoulder, and he felt a sudden spike of relief through the anxiety. This was it, this was the team making a decision, if admittedly not a unanimous one.
"Neither do I," Teddy said, adding his vote, gaze slipping from Eli's distraught expression to Billy's serene one. His eyes were glowing white, he was lost in the magic- or hopefully not lost, exactly, but using it, and keeping anyone else present from taking it over. It was weird- Billy was playing with the A-Listers, now, and Teddy would have been proud if he wasn't so damn worried. Also, apparently, distracted.
"-an incendiary arrow might do the trick," Eli was saying, and Kate was looking practically livid behind the slick dark lenses of her shades as Teddy forced himself to look away from his boyfriend.
"It might also kill them," Kate pointed out, in her how-are-you-this-dumb-and-I-still-like-you tone that she only used with Eli, and then Teddy's heart fell into his stomach because Eli lunged for her bow.
"Then I'll be sure to aim it at Doom."
It was the strangest moment- and it was only a moment, Patriot being able to move as fast as he could. None of them had time to step forward, to grab the arrow back, to stop him. Teddy could feel himself staring in horror like a big, hulking idiot as Eli notched the arrow and let it fly. Billy's eyes, brown again though awash in the red light, slid sideways as it flew.
Toward Wanda.
"No-" Billy said, and Teddy heard the word working its way out of his own throat, even as the red light burst outward, brighter than it had yet been, to the point where it flashed a blinding white.
When it cleared, the room was dark- darker than it had been before the spell had started- and Teddy was alone. He took two halting steps forward, eyes widening, one pale arm outstretched-
Pale. Not green. No armor. Flesh. He had reverted forms- why?
"Billy?" he said, head whipping around.
"Kate? Where.... are.... am... I?" he whispered, as his eyes adjusted and the dilapidated art deco motif of the room came into focus. Not Castle von Doom, then. Probably not Latveria at all, which was a lot of thatched roofs and gothic stonework and tudor cottages. This place had, at one time, been sleek and as sophisticated as the '20s got. Actually, it all looked eerily like a level from Bioshock. He started across the room to a window, two stories high and looking out at what he had thought was a darkened night sky but upon closer examination proved to be dark blue waters. He stood dumbly in front of it, tracking silvery, flat fish as they moved in small schools past him. His gaze caught on a neon sign some distance off, the glow murky. It said FLEET HALL, and there were other signs around it, something for what he was pretty sure said tobacco, although a letter or two had broken and burnt out, but all of which told him he was, in fact, in Rapture.
Which, if he didn't know a mother-son team of magic using reality warpers, he would have said was impossible.
"Okay," he murmured to his ghostly half-reflection, which looked decidedly freaked out and not at all like the pillar of cool, nor calm, nor collectedness that Teddy felt he ought to be, "it's okay. I beat this game in one sitting. I didn't even use a walkthrough. Not a problem." A low metallic groan echoed from somewhere deep in the bowels of whatever building he was currently in, and the hairs on his arm stood up. He wasn't sure why he couldn't transform, and that threw him off, but then, Billy had thought his powers had been gone, too. It was just Doom messing with him. Teddy could handle being messed with. He was a high schooler, for crying out loud.
He just had to find his friends and get out of there, or get the hell out of there and find his friends. Either way, standing still wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he turned from the window and headed into the dark, feeling intensely, vulnerably human, which was something he hadn't really felt for a long time.
It seemed straightforward enough, until he realized he was in the Sander Cohen level, and then thoughts of people with lead pipes in rabbit masks spurred him on. He could hear voices, screams every now and then, but it was mostly quiet. He dug through one hallway's detritus into another's, and stopped when he saw what looked like a security office. He picked up a phone, which had no tone, then picked up the clunkiest, biggest radio he'd ever seen.
He flicked it on, then dropped to a crouch so he was hidden behind the table. Just in case.
"Hello? Is anyone on this frequency? Billy? Eli? Kate? Hello? ...Over?"
Well, only they were in a dungeon in Latveria and Doctor Doom was, at least in part, running the show. Which was concerning. Teddy had concerns. Eli was voicing most of them. As a team, they couldn't afford to be split on this. They had to trust Billy and get through it, and seeing as how 'it' was already going down, that wasn't the kind of thing you interrupted. At least not if you were thinking straight, which Patriot demonstrably was not.
"We can stop them."
"How?" Kate said, ever the voice of reason. Teddy appreciated not being the only one.
"How do you propose we stop the combined powers of Wiccan, the Scarlet Witch, and Doctor Doom?" Patriot was so tense he looked like he was vibrating head to toe, and it made Teddy nervous. Eli was a good leader- a great leader, or else he wouldn't have followed him down the block, let alone into battle, but Eli had a history of making... less than stellar choices when he was feeling especially passionate.
"I don't think we should," Cassie said over Teddy's shoulder, and he felt a sudden spike of relief through the anxiety. This was it, this was the team making a decision, if admittedly not a unanimous one.
"Neither do I," Teddy said, adding his vote, gaze slipping from Eli's distraught expression to Billy's serene one. His eyes were glowing white, he was lost in the magic- or hopefully not lost, exactly, but using it, and keeping anyone else present from taking it over. It was weird- Billy was playing with the A-Listers, now, and Teddy would have been proud if he wasn't so damn worried. Also, apparently, distracted.
"-an incendiary arrow might do the trick," Eli was saying, and Kate was looking practically livid behind the slick dark lenses of her shades as Teddy forced himself to look away from his boyfriend.
"It might also kill them," Kate pointed out, in her how-are-you-this-dumb-and-I-still-like-you tone that she only used with Eli, and then Teddy's heart fell into his stomach because Eli lunged for her bow.
"Then I'll be sure to aim it at Doom."
It was the strangest moment- and it was only a moment, Patriot being able to move as fast as he could. None of them had time to step forward, to grab the arrow back, to stop him. Teddy could feel himself staring in horror like a big, hulking idiot as Eli notched the arrow and let it fly. Billy's eyes, brown again though awash in the red light, slid sideways as it flew.
Toward Wanda.
"No-" Billy said, and Teddy heard the word working its way out of his own throat, even as the red light burst outward, brighter than it had yet been, to the point where it flashed a blinding white.
When it cleared, the room was dark- darker than it had been before the spell had started- and Teddy was alone. He took two halting steps forward, eyes widening, one pale arm outstretched-
Pale. Not green. No armor. Flesh. He had reverted forms- why?
"Billy?" he said, head whipping around.
"Kate? Where.... are.... am... I?" he whispered, as his eyes adjusted and the dilapidated art deco motif of the room came into focus. Not Castle von Doom, then. Probably not Latveria at all, which was a lot of thatched roofs and gothic stonework and tudor cottages. This place had, at one time, been sleek and as sophisticated as the '20s got. Actually, it all looked eerily like a level from Bioshock. He started across the room to a window, two stories high and looking out at what he had thought was a darkened night sky but upon closer examination proved to be dark blue waters. He stood dumbly in front of it, tracking silvery, flat fish as they moved in small schools past him. His gaze caught on a neon sign some distance off, the glow murky. It said FLEET HALL, and there were other signs around it, something for what he was pretty sure said tobacco, although a letter or two had broken and burnt out, but all of which told him he was, in fact, in Rapture.
Which, if he didn't know a mother-son team of magic using reality warpers, he would have said was impossible.
"Okay," he murmured to his ghostly half-reflection, which looked decidedly freaked out and not at all like the pillar of cool, nor calm, nor collectedness that Teddy felt he ought to be, "it's okay. I beat this game in one sitting. I didn't even use a walkthrough. Not a problem." A low metallic groan echoed from somewhere deep in the bowels of whatever building he was currently in, and the hairs on his arm stood up. He wasn't sure why he couldn't transform, and that threw him off, but then, Billy had thought his powers had been gone, too. It was just Doom messing with him. Teddy could handle being messed with. He was a high schooler, for crying out loud.
He just had to find his friends and get out of there, or get the hell out of there and find his friends. Either way, standing still wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he turned from the window and headed into the dark, feeling intensely, vulnerably human, which was something he hadn't really felt for a long time.
It seemed straightforward enough, until he realized he was in the Sander Cohen level, and then thoughts of people with lead pipes in rabbit masks spurred him on. He could hear voices, screams every now and then, but it was mostly quiet. He dug through one hallway's detritus into another's, and stopped when he saw what looked like a security office. He picked up a phone, which had no tone, then picked up the clunkiest, biggest radio he'd ever seen.
He flicked it on, then dropped to a crouch so he was hidden behind the table. Just in case.
"Hello? Is anyone on this frequency? Billy? Eli? Kate? Hello? ...Over?"