Astrad would still be quite embarassed as they bathed, so much so that he wouldn't be seen to be moving much in the river. Rather, he was just there the whole time, his head being the only part of his body being visible above the water. It was a crazy thing, though, at how the water did not seem to become colder in his presence. Or on how the ice wall melted a while ago. It was really a blessing, though, that the Asgardian gave them all privacy, and them to each other.

He would find everything to be vaguely familiar, and yet so strange at the same time. This place was a thing of legend, the setting for the stories his grandparents told him as a kid. On how the gods of Asgard walked on the rainbow bridge, how Heimdall blew the horn and acted as watcher. And then they said it was all just a story.

Either way, he rolled his eyes as Amelia asked way too many questions; he didn't really like to be bugged a lot, and only imagine how much patience the goddess had.

Soon enough, they would meet Baldur, who called them adventurers... strange. "I think it's a very loose term for us... or me.", Astrad said to the Asgardian. "Adventurer is the last thing I could ever be..."

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Kwassi Asokho

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Location: Ellis Islanf
Skills: Anatomy, Acrobatics, Escrima Fighting, Mixed Martial Arts

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The fight between Kwassi and Bonnie had only gotten better as it went on. Able to match blow for blow, neither tiring from the combat as Kwassi almost gained a smile on his face. It was good to finally find an equal, a match worth fighting and with stakes worth fighting for. His ghost of a smile disappeared when some airhead billionaire stopped down, shrunk, and was shoo'd away by his own teammate. "Find your own fight." Kwassi blocked Bonnie's incoming barrage of attacks. Switching between his forearms, escrima, and shins to help deflect the attacks and land his own counter attacks. As she finally slipped up and started to fall, Kwassi got cocky and went in for a strike, something he'd remember to be more careful of in the future. This simple act gave her an opening and she knocked him down on his back.

Kwassi rolled up towards his neck, spin kicking to get himself up and immediately join back into the fight. The distraction from his kicks opened up her left side as his hand came crashing down with his Escrima and hit Bonnie upside her head. His hand retracted back as he went in for a right hook, his weight shifting and allowing Bonnie to flip him and having him wince. He was beginning to get irritated, sweep kicking her and getting her knocked down as well. "Didn't think you'd fall for me but here we are." He chuckled out before continuing "I have to say, you're an excellent fighter."

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Cassandra felt her hand being grabbed and turned to look at Elizabeth as she tried to use whatever power that she had to do something to her, but luckily whatever it was that Elizabeth was trying to do failed. Then she aimed her arm canon at her and fired it off, luckily she didnt feel anything as Elizabeth's plan backfired sending her flying and landing on her ass. "And this is why kids shouldnt be playing hero. I dont want to fight you, so stand down." Cass said calmly as Folly backflipped and landed behind her, feeling a sharp pain going through the back of her head and neck sending her onto her ground.

Cass started gasping for air as she tried to get back up to her feet when Folly wrapped her legs around her neck, she started to panic slightly, as Cass reached around fumbling for a moment before grabbing onto something. As Cass tried to pull Folly off of her, she heard and felt something snapping. Then the weight of the girl fell off of her, Cass stood up quickly stumbling back onto her feet seeing that she had snapped Folly's neck. She had killed other people before while on missions, but she didnt expect to end up killing someone who was just fighting for something that they believed in. She started to hope that the girl was actually okay, she had some kind of healing factor but she wasnt sure how far that healing extended to.

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Maria started to follow everyone else towards the large palace in the background looking over at everyone for a moment and then over towards Nanna mentioning she had a daughter. "Whats your daughter's name?" Maria asked mostly just out of curiosity, it felt a little bit to hot for her right now. "Why is it so hot here?" Maria asked as they got a bit closer towards the palace, as Amelia asked if there was anything that they could do. She was more just wanting to help out Sparky to find out where Raynor actually was more then anything and they could go back home.

Maria watched as the door opened and a man came walking over towards them and then Nanna introducing them, as she gave the man a slight wave. "Nice to meet you i'm Maria." Maria said introducing herself to the Asgardian God standing in front of them, and then over towards Sparky for a moment wondering what she was going to say.

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Niah took the clothing from Oliver. She removed her glove and considering she had just been touching a severed head she was glad she wore those. Her bare fingers came into contact with the cloth. It was odd. There wasn't much history. It was like the shirt had only existed for a few hours. Clothing had all sorts of memories usually. People who had made it, the store, so on. But this shirt just gave her one horrifying image. Niah didn't know how she contained the scream, but she dropped the shirt like it was on fire, and pulled her glove back on quickly. If she hadn't been afraid before she was now.

The power going out did not help. Even with her ability with Blindsense, she didn't care to be in the dark in a hospital. Especially this one. Out on the edges of her sense, she felt something huge, fast, and terrifying. It was the same thing she had seen when she touched the shirt. A massive bear. If she hadn't seen it in the vision she wouldn't be as afraid. But the fear gripped her tightly. She blindly grabbed Oliver's arm and dragged him away from the bear. She was running, dragging him behind her. "It is a murder bear, it is behind everything. I don't know how, but that shirt didn't exist more than an hour ago, and all it gave me was a giant murder bear. Now said murder bear is stalking us in this hospital." Thankfully Niah didn't need to see to lead them running at her full speed, she'd sense anything that was in their path before it could trip her...or bite her in half.

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Matt had started to aim at the woman on Cass's neck when Cass reached up and literally broke the girl's neck. He was surprised and had a feeling it was a case of Cass misjudging considering she looked as surprised as he was. With her out of the way that left the girl with the metal arm. Since Kwassi was occupied with Bonnie and the other guy was unconscious. He shrugged and took aim again. The first hit the girl's robot arm. The second hit her fleshy arm.

Matt observed her for a moment judging if the ICER would take or if the girl would be able to keep on her feet. She was swaying a bit sitting on the ground from her earlier fall. He guessed she could take another ICER and not die since he had no intention of killing her. He took the third shot, but just as she did her movement took her out of the line of the shot. Well hopefully the ICER bullet that had hit her would take her down.

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Sparky eventually got out of the water and dried off before getting back into her clothes, still not entirely sure about this situation, but she figured that they were better off being nice with the goddess, so what she asked them to do was probably nothing compared to what exactly could happen. A part of her wondered what exactly it was that Nanna was sad about in regards to her daughter, but her first instinct was to not intrude and say anything, of course Amelia being Ms. Talkative started asking if she wanted to talk about it and was kind of pushing it a little bit, at least in her mind. That was her thoughts on the subject anyway, she wasn't going to bug Nanna about it, considering the fact that it sounded like something bad had happened.

Instead, she remained silent as she followed after her and the others to the Hall of Baldur. The place really was beautiful, and she still was amazed at just even being on Asgard. Her attention was diverted as someone came up to them who was surrounded by an insane amount of sunlight, it was somewhat hard to look at him, but Nanna introduced him as her husband Baldur, so given that bit of knowledge, it wasn't too surprising. "It is a pleasure to meet you, my name is Theresa Sparks, apologies for appearing so suddenly like this," she said simply, not sure what else to really say.

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"I mean, the guy I was fighting got knocked out sadly within two seconds, like it was kind of pathetic, and I'm not typically one to say that about someone else," he responded to Bonnie as he watched the fighting somewhat between Kwassi and Bonnie, "And are you wanting to suggest I go shoot at the kid with the metal arm? Since I really have a problem with that one and I'm partially wondering why the hell that kid is even here at this point," he added, before shrugging slightly and doing what she asked and taking off away from where she was fighting Kwassi.

He flew up a bit higher from the others in order to try and figure out what was going on with everyone else scattered a bit around everywhere. The guy he had knocked out was still out cold, that much was obvious since he was still lying there on the ground, and one of the SHIELD agents was shooting at the kid (something he wasn't okay with, but not like he could probably stop him) and someone else was fighting another person and seemingly snapped their neck. He ended up flying down and landing by Cass, growing to normal size and looking at Folly, "Um, did that just happen?" he couldn't help but ask her somewhat, though from what he could tell, you couldn't always for certain know if someone was dead or not, so he was prepared to potentially shoot at her or something if Folly got up again or whatever.

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TO: jjj@dailybugle.com
FROM: jewel@thepulse.com
SUBJECT: [Pulse] Iron Man's Press Conference
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Jonah,

This isn't going to be pretty. I can cover this beat for you, but you need to promise no civvies will be out on reporter duty. I'm sure you've seen the conference - Captain America is public enemy number one. The Avengers are going to war.

Also, my usual fee will be doubled for this - let's call it hazard pay.

Keep it sleazy,
Jewel

P.S. I mean it. If I see a single civvie pounding pavement for this, I'll break your face in :-)

---

The lights in the hallway flickered back on, illuminating Fury's silhouette at the end. The lights then went out again and both Niah and Oliver would hear the sound of gunshots, followed by a feral growl. The ground shook and there was a gigantic crash. The lights flickered on in time for Niah and Oliver to see as a monstrous bear, easily the size of a school bus with glowing red eyes, swallowed Fury whole. The bear let out a howl, before charging after Niah and Oliver, easily closing the gap between them. With its teeth, it caught the fabric of Niah's shirt and lifted her up towards the ceiling, before shaking its head around like a dog with a cute animal it wanted to kill and devour. Oliver would have a choice to make - he could escape while the bear was distracted and leave Niah to die, or he could try to save her and risk getting himself killed.

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"Thanks, I kick ass," Bonnie told Kwassi matter of factly. She knew a lot of people underestimated her as she didn't have powers, she was just an ordinary human, and she had been recruited through Sci-Tech. To a certain extent, they were right. She couldn't throw around blasts of cosmic energy. She couldn't teleport or walk through walls. But she didn't need those feats, she just needed her mind and a bit of luck. "Today, it's yours," she then added on.

She got on up to her feet, before an idea occurred to her. She hadn't moved fast enough to make her next move before Kwassi would be able to get up, but she figured it would still work. She kicked at the ground as hard as she could, hoping that the grass and dirt were loose. Bits of dirt and grass flew up, hitting Kwassi in the eye and temporarily blinding him. A small part of Bonnie noted with interest that was probably one of the reasons why superheroes tended to wear masks. The rest of her followed through with her temporary advantage, punching him in the side of the head. It would hurt, but Kwassi wouldn't bleed from it - if anything, it would just add to his sensory disorientation.

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Folly Valeska was definitely dead. Her head was at an unnatural angle on the ground. Her heart had stopped beating and she wasn't breathing at all. By all appearances, Cass had just snapped the neck of a teenager - not very many people present knew that Woolf was about 22 years old in all actuality, with her exact age fuzzy due to some time traveling she had done a few years back. The Breacher would finally start coming to however, his vision blurry at first and the voices around him a bit distorted, until everything would come back into focus.

Around the field, various supers were locked in combat. Captain Marvel was fighting the Black Panther. The Invisible Woman and Mister Fantastic were in a two on two match against the Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The Wasp was rapidly changing her size, avoiding the arrows Hawkeye was sending her way. Iron Man and She Hulk were taking on both Captain America and Spider-Man at once. The Human Torch was up against Wolverine. Black Widow was up against Agent 13.

Suddenly, Folly gasped for breath and sat up, animated with life again. "I think I'd like to file a complaint about police brutality," she told Cass, narrowing her eyes. She went into a frenzy. She leapt up from the ground with deadly grace, slashing Cass wherever she saw an opening like a swarm of piranhas. The technique wasn't without its merits - she managed to stab Cass in her left eye - but at the same time, it left Folly incredibly vulnerable to attack.

Folly pulled her dagger out, the eyeball impaled on the tip. "Ha! An eye for an eye!" she declared, before biting the eyeball with her teeth and pulling it off of her blade.

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Baldur smiled kindly at Astrad, sending that he had somewhat low self esteem. "I wouldn't know about that, my boy. You're one of the first Midgardians to set foot on Asgard and in fact, this group today are the first ones ever to grace the halls of Breidablik," Baldur explained. Nanna hadn't answered Maria's question about her daughter, pretending not to have noticed it. "Oh, right!" Baldur then exclaimed, realizing the problem. He went inside before coming out with a wicker basket. Inside were tubes of sunscreen and sunglasses. "I always forget to leave these outside for any mortals coming by. It's SPF-5000, make sure to reapply every 30 minutes you are in our halls, otherwise you will burn to a crisp and go straight to Helheim for the dishonorable death."

Amelia blinked. "Come again?" she asked, her head swimming with all of the Norse names and figures. She grabbed a pair of sunglasses from the box and put them on, finding instant relief. She could look at Baldur without feeling like she was burning her eyes. She grabbed one of the tubes of sunscreen as well, feeling the heat on her skin and the immense amount of sweat she was putting out as her body attempted to cool her down. "What's a Helheim?" she then added, being more specific as to what was confusing her.

"Oh, the halls of the goddess of death," Baldur explained nonchalantly. "I would try to avoid it. Valhalla is a much better afterlife, although of course being tended to by Freya would be lovely. You spend eternity preparing for battle, but you are in the sweetest meadows with flowers from every color of the rainbow and several beyond it..."

Nanna shot her husband a disapproving look. "Dearest, remember our agreement? No talking about death outside of the Yuletide season," she said, whispering the D-word.

"Right, I'm sorry, petal," Baldur apologized, kissing his wife on the forehead. "Now, come inside friends! Let us feast and toast your arrival!" He opened the doors to the halls more fully, gesturing for them to follow him to the feast hall. Amelia quickly lathered herself up with sunscreen, not sure how it was going to stop her from burning up, but she wasn't about to question magic. She didn't question the science-y stuff Sci-Tech people put out, so she didn't want to start now.

Inside, the walls and floor were crafted out of gold. Prisms and flowers were placed as decorations and mistletoe dangled from every doorway. From a doorway to the left, there was the sound of a babbling brook. To the right an open door showed a sitting room of sorts, except instead of sofas and chairs there were giant flowers, flowers so big they seemed to be able to support a person. At the end of the hall was a large feast table with four chairs. One of the chairs was occupied by a stern young man. Three doors split off at the end of the hall, each with a different norse rune on the door. One of the doors stood out from all of the others, as it was silver instead of golden.

Astrad gave a nervous chuckle at the statement by Baldur that they were the first humans to ever go into the halls of Breidablik. First time for everything, mayhaps. Sensing that this alien was quite friendly, he smiled back at Baldur. "I guess I'm honored to be among the first?" He would then follow the Asgardians into the hallways, looking at every direction with awe at the splendor of the place of myth that they were currently in. Unlike Amelia, he was following the mythical places that Nanna and Baldur were mentioning, as those were also part of his grandparents' bedtime stories. Breidablik was the home of Baldur, while Helheim, was, as the Asgardian explained, the realm of Hel, the goddess of death. The sunscreen was a weird variable, though? Nevermind. It was still unbelievable that he was living out the myths of the Nordic people in the heavenly realm of Asgard itself!

At the mention of feast, Astrad's eyes sparkled. "Uuuuhm, thank you... uh... Sir Baldur?" Everything was so warm and good; hell, even the floor was made of gold! This was literally heaven. He will be glad to be in a feast; he was very famished from everything that happened in the last few hours.



It took him a while, but Nathaniel had finally come back to his senses. He had been shot between the eyes by Angstrom earlier, and had been incapacitated for a period of time that was totally unacceptable for Nathaniel and his inflated sense of work ethic. His head was still swimming from the pain that Angstrom had inflicted when he had fallen through his own portal, but now, Nath was absolutely livid at the concept of being shot at by a rich man in a suit. In this case, a rich man in a suit that could shift between big and small. It was an unholy aberration; a mad combination of Pym's shrinking technology and Tony Stark's suits. Now that he thought of it, both of those people hated Andrew Rossi with a burning passion; it was a surprise that Iron Man let that man inside his own team. Well, probably because he was desperate for more support in the fighting that was currently raging on Ellis Island.

Grumbling, he got up from the ground just in time to see the seemingly lifeless body of Folly Valeska in front of Cassandra Reed. By the looks of it, she had her neck snapped by the SHIELD agent. His vision was still blurry, and the pain was still acute in his head, so he only watched as Woolf seemed to be dead for a few moments.

And then, the unexpected happened; she sprung back to life, her injuries completely healed. Ah, right. She had a healing factor. Nathaniel struggled not to throw up at what occurred next as Folly bit her own eyeball off. "Uugggghhh..." He was physically uncomfortable at the sight, but that was besides the point. The thing he needed to do right now was to get back to the action, and his eyes glided towards Cassandra, whom he now disliked as she had snapped a teenager's neck.

Nathaniel would then attempt to send the woman into a portal of his own making, intending to throw her away from the battle by placing her into the same building from which he had tried to shoot at their foes earlier. However, whether because of the headache or the revulsion at the eyeball, he sent himself through the portal. He was back there. Again.

"No worries...", Nathaniel simply said to himself with a deep breath. This was still salvageable. Deciding to try to shoot again, Nathaniel tore open another breach, this time leading right towards his target, Ms. Reed. Beams of purple and blue would erupt from his hands in an unholy litany of hateful destruction, striking the ground several times before hitting Cass on the upper right shoulder. Finally! A hit!

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Oliver Sullivan

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Location:St. David's Hospital - Cardiff
Skills: Molecular Oscillation

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In a way, Oliver was glad that Fury didn't react to his impromptu security advice, but that was supplanted by descent of all things into darkness and fear. Everything Fury had said up to that point was incredibly ominous, why would something go to the trouble? Sadism? Evil? He didn't know, but he was scared to find out. Hoping Niah would have some kind of information on what in God's name was going on, but when she did, it was the furthest thing from reassurance. As his arm was grabbed, he ran with her, and shivered at the words "murder bear". He had no idea what that was, but it sounded bad.

Soon, he saw said murder bear, the size of a god damn bus. It ate Nick Fury, if that was Nick Fury, and charged at the two of them, grabbing Niah by her shirt, and waving her around like a ragdoll. He knew he could run or fight in this moment, but the words of himself echoed in his ears, and his expression emboldened. Today wouldn't be the day he stopped playing hero; he'd save Niah, even if that put him in danger. He tried to grab for Niah, but she was flailing around, so he redoubled his efforts, and got a good grip on her. Unfortunately, that meant he was along for the ride as well, as the two of them were tossed around. He still had a way out though, and he closed his eyes, and vibrated the two of them free, landing them squarely on the floor. Breaking heavy, he righted himself, ready for more.

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Picking herself off the ground, Elizabeth grumbled at Folly, it wasn't her fault this girl's skin was unbreakable. Just as she was about to come up with some kind of clever response to Folly's snark, she watched Cass snap the neck of the kid. "What the fuck?" She asked, getting ready to take a shot at her on principle alone, only to watch Folly get back up. Blinking for a moment, her anger started to subside, now more confused than anything. The girl was hearty if she could fix herself after something like that. As she thought that, something bounded off her metal arm, drawing her attention right before another one embedded itself in her real arm. Cursing under her breath, she cried out in surprise, as she felt a rush come over her head. She looked towards the shooter, ready to engage and find out what the hell she was shot with

She would have continued there, but she was dumbstruck by the emancipation of Cass's eye from her head, and the subsequent addition of it into Folly's stomach. She threw up a bit in her mouth, saying again, "What the fuck?" coughing onto the ground. "That's a bit overboard, don't you think?" She asked, thinking about keeping herself away from the action, as members of her team started to reign hellfire down on the Agent. "Hey! Lay off her, she's had enough yeah?" Elizabeth said, before struggling over, and interposing herself between the two of them, hoping whoever was shooting rainbow would stop it if a teammate was in the crossfire. She shivered though, unsure how long she could keep this up. She felt dizzy, as if she could pass out at any moment.

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Cassandra turned around to look at Andrew as he suddenly appeared right beside her, asking if what she really did happened she wasnt expecting to actually snap her neck at all. "I didnt mean to do it.." Cassandra said, hearing Elizabeth's words when Folly suddenly came back to life. She was about to apologize when Folly went into a frenzy and started to attack her again, blocking as best as she could when there was an opening. Cass cried out in pain feeling a hot searing pain going through the entire left side of her head, her vision suddenly going half.

Blood started going the side of her face as she saw Folly had her own eye stuck to the tip of her knife and suddenly eating it, covering where her left eye used to be to try and stop the bleeding. She started to try and use her season manipulation power to try and lower the temperature seeing some clouds appearing around the two of them. Cass stumbled forward slightly when she felt something hitting her right shoulder, she couldnt really see anything as she took out her ICER and fried off two shots one missed the second one hitting Folly but didnt do anything at all.

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Maria shrugged slightly when Nanna didnt answer her question as she looked up at Baldur who went back inside holding a wicker basket with a pair of sunglasses and some sunscreen as well. She started to apply it before putting on her glasses, looking at the two Norse Gods and smiled towards the two of them. "Thank you." Maria said as she started to follow the others deeper into the halls looking around the area was filled with flowers by the looks of it. "You guys really like your flowers." Maria said jokingly as they entered the feast hall itself, she didnt know anything about Norse Mythology other then Thor helping out with the Avengers and stuff like that.

She saw a blonde girl sitting at one of the chairs, and then a stern looking guy as well, she turned to look at Nanna and Baldur gesturing to the two of them. "So who are the two over there?" Maria asked mainly out of curiosity, she was a bit hungry at the moment and wanted to get something to eat but didnt want to be rude or anything.

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Nadia sat at the feast hall sitting across from Forseti who was always really grumpy and what not, she was kind of bored as she ate some of the food at the table. She had known him to be much more cheery like his parents were but up until recently he was more like he was really grumpy all the time she assumed that it had something to do with his sister Runa disappearing. "Why dont you cheer up do you have a stick up your ass or something?" Nadia asked teasingly as she threw a drumstick at Forseti's head.

When she heard the door opening seeing Baldur and Nanna coming into the room, she also noticed four people with them as well wearing sunglasses. "So who are all of the midgardians and how did they even get here anyway?" Nadia asked looking at the group she had never seen before, as far as she knew Heimdall was the only one who used the Bifrost to allow anyone through.

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Kwassi Asokho

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Location: Ellis Islanf
Skills: Escrima Fighting, Mixed Martial Arts

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"You really do. Honestly it's made this all the more enjoyable, always hard to find good opponents." Kwassi turned his head, ready to use his skills to leap back up into action when he saw Agent Reed kill a teenager. Captain America's one request was that they do no killing, and here the other team was getting blood. Before he could even react a pillow of dirt got kicked into his face. His eyes immediately claiming shut, barely missing as some debris made its way in. His face was covered in soil and his mouth was dry as he licked the dirt off his teeth and spat a wad of saliva into the ground to help remove it from his mouth. "To think I was just complimenting you, that's dirty play. Really wish I had my mask fixed so that the eye wholes weren't exposed anymore. But what can you do?" As Kwassi spoke, his hands reached for the flash bomb in his hack pocket, sliding it out and then trying to get it to work. "But two can play at that game." Nothing happened. No sound nor flash, nothing.

He gave a scowl as he attempted it once more, having the device fail him due to his temporary blindness. "Apparently two can't play that game. Touché" He placed the bomb away as he slowly got up. Brushing the dirt and grass off his suit and face as best as he could. He didn't know exactly where she was, but he had a guess based on the last attack and the sounds that followed. She didn't seem to have moved, but he wouldn’t know until he tried. "You say only those vetted by the agency should be allowed out in the field. Then explain why Cassandra Reed just killed a teenager. We were ordered not to kill, only subdue because you're lives still matter. Are you telling me your side is willing to murder for your cause? Because that makes you no better than any villain willing to achieve their dreams." Kwassi gripped his escrima and swung a wild but tempered shot toward Bonnie, narrowly missing her.

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Sparky was just listening to the conversations going on around her, she was still trying to figure out what to do, or even really say considering she was right in front of literal gods. That was crazy to think about still, but she had to try to focus, she was on a mission to find Raynor wherever he was in Asgard. When Baldur offered them the sunglasses and sunscreen, she gladly took some, "Thank you..." she said somewhat quietly as she put the sunglasses on and applied the sunscreen. It stopped the intense feeling of heat that the area seemed to be causing to her, so she was grateful for that. However, she was still on a mission, and they seemed to be more then somewhat willing to help her.

An idea crossed her mind though, and it went back to what Doctor Strange had told her when he had been talking about the dagger. Aside from using it for a tracking spell, he had also mentioned that it could act as a compass or something. That intrigued her, a lot actually. She wondered if she was close enough for the dagger to actually do that more easily. "Sorry, just I'm looking for someone, and I was told that he was here, his name is Raynor, and he's from Asgard... Someone told me that this could act like a compass, so I think I'm going to try that..." she said to Nanna and Baldur, more or less ignoring the other two as she pulled Lyting out, the dagger spun around a little bit, before it seemingly started pointing towards a doorway off to the left. She moved the dagger around a bit, still just holding it in the palm of her hands making sure it was definitely pointed in that direction.

After a moment, she followed after the dagger into a different room.

Even though she knew that she was in a building, and not outside in those meadows again, it still felt like she was. She could even see the walls and ceilings of the palace, but there was an entire ecosystem in the room. This wasn't what she had expected, but considering the fact that she was on Asgard, literally the home of the gods, she probably shouldn't be as surprised. However, she wasn't too sure why the dagger had led her to this room, at least at first. That is, until she noticed a bed that looked like it was made of sunflowers, but it wasn't that that had stuck out to her, nope it was who was on the bed of sunflowers.

It was Raynor.

He looked like he had been badly injured by something, and had several scars all over his body. Of course, it was obvious how bad his injuries were, considering the fact that he wasn't wearing anything. He didn't seem to be doing all too well, that much was obvious, and she wasn't entirely sure what was wrong, or what had happened to him. The only info she had about it was that video, which she hadn't even seen him on the video for too long since there hadn't been one for seeing the inside of the quinjet. She was wondering still what had happened.

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So it seemed like the one guy who had been throwing the portals around was now once again awake. Yup, the guy was seriously bugging him a bit with that, especially since he clearly was wanting to deal with Agent Reed specifically for some reason. This was starting to get a bit weird and part of him wondered what was with the weird obsession or something like that. "I figured you didn't... Accidents happen..." Of course, Woolf seemingly snapped back up on her feet and ripped Agent Reed's eyes out. That was a bit disgusting, but sadly that wasn't the weirdest thing he had seen happen in his life. Which was beyond strange, and it was a bit gory, but nothing he could really do about that.

Of course, he could deal with the guy who was portaling around and targeting Cass. "Don't worry Agent Reed, I've got the guy on the rooftop," he said to her, before he fired a shot off at Nathaniel, and even from that distance he managed to land a hit on him. Andrew took off into the air and flew directly at Nathaniel. When he got closer and ended up on the rooftop with him, he fired off a few more shots. His first shot missed, but his second shot managed to hit him and knocked him backwards, "Do you have some strange obsession with Agent Reed, since for some reason you keep shooting at her even after she lost an eyeball, that is a bit weird you know." he commented, before he seemingly vanished from sight once again, shrinking down and flying around still, making it harder for him to really get hit.

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Niah had been running, and now she was being tossed around like a rag doll. A sound escaped from her, but it wasn't something someone would describe as a scream. It was more air and less noise. She was past scared at this point. Somehow she had rolled right on past that and was now accepting of her fate. It was like the stages of grief but for fear.

She didn't really understand how Oliver got her out of the bear's mouth, and honestly, it made her a little sick. It was like every atom in her body had vibrated at once. Her tongue felt a little numb. And briefly wondered what it would be like to do that when she had hyper sense touch on. "Thank you for saving me, Oliver."

She moved on from the thought though and pulled her pistol again. She was not going to bother trying to use the ICER this time. Niah's shot was perfect. It nailed the bear in the eye, but the bear only seemed a little stunned by the shot. "Pakshet." She cursed in Tagalog. "I don't know what to do." She braced herself to dodge any additional attacks the bear might throw at her, but she didn't know if she could keep it up. Running wasn't an option the bear was too fast. They needed to put it down, but how?

---

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---

What the actual hell? There was no way Cass would have killed the girl on purpose, but that didn't matter because the girl was on her feet again. What was she Wolverine's daughter? Did Wolverine have a daughter? The girl was attacking Cass again and got her in the one spot that was weak. Her eyeball. Matt remembered them having to take a fluid sample from her eye and Matt had paralyzed her for the procedure. Almost killing her in the process. He did see that Folly took the shot from the ICER unphased but that didn't mean his power couldn't still paralyze her, right?

He dashed forward and decked her right in the chin. Cass's eye was still in her mouth and when he hit Folly the eye popped out and hit the ground. It was...gruesome and if Matt hadn't been in a uniform of one kind or another for several years he might have barfed. He didn't know enough about medicine to know if Bonnie could fix the eye, he doubted it greatly though.

Matt also knew he had hit the girl hard with his power. Anyone else would have been knocked on their ass. Hell, he had proved it worked on people with healing factors before when he had used it on Deadpool, the girl must have had some other resistance to his power. That'd be something to learn about later in a control situation. This was very much so not under control. And he was useless against this girl. Her abilities were just the right sort to make him unable to even temporarily take her off the playing field.

---

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TO: jjj@dailybugle.com
FROM: jewel@thepulse.com
SUBJECT: [Pulse] Iron Man's Press Conference
---
---

Jonah,

This isn't going to be pretty. I can cover this beat for you, but you need to promise no civvies will be out on reporter duty. I'm sure you've seen the conference - Captain America is public enemy number one. The Avengers are going to war.

Also, my usual fee will be doubled for this - let's call it hazard pay.

Keep it sleazy,
Jewel

P.S. I mean it. If I see a single civvie pounding pavement for this, I'll break your face in :-)

---

The demon bear was only growing more and more powerful - it wasn't weakening at all. Fury's words would perhaps come back to haunt them - that the demon bear was only playing with its food. The more afraid Oliver and Niah were, the more powerful it became. Niah's time with Doctor Strange gave her an edge though - she'd be able to realize that what they were dealing with was magic. They didn't have any magic users around though, perhaps they could have called Captain Britain for help but would he even arrive in time? What stuff usually was helpful in movies about witchcraft - salt and iron? Or was the key something more fundamental like cutting off the source of the demon bear's power?

The demon bear swiped at Oliver with its claws and missed him, and Niah luckily dodged a fatal blow that went her way. Had she not moved, the bear would have killed her instantly. It let out a roar, somehow growing larger in size. Its glowing red eyes were almost smoke like.

---

---

Captain Marvel was still coming to blows with the Black Panther. The Invisible Woman and Mister Fantastic hadn't made any significant progress against the Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Hawkeye had managed to hit the Wasp with an arrow, knocking her unconscious. Iron Man and She Hulk were fighting Captain America, Spider-Man, and now Hawkeye all at once. The Human Torch and Wolverine were at a stalemate so far. Agent 13 took the Black Widow down, taking a breath before joining in on the group ganging up on Iron Man and She Hulk. Poor Alchemy though, the ICER dart would finally cause her to slip into unconsciousness.

Kwassi's accusation that Cass had killed a teenager rattled Bonnie. Despite her better judgment feeling that it was an emotional ploy to get her to let her guard down, Bonnie turned her attention away from Kwassi and looked over at Cass. She saw the girl with a metal arm on the ground and from her vantage point, she couldn't tell whether or not she was living or alive. "This isn't over," she promised Kwassi, before Bonnie sprinted over towards Cass and the others, making a beeline for Elizabeth. She didn't have time to go through methodically all of the flaws in Kwassi's argument, not if he was right and there was a dead teenager, she had to know, she had to be certain.

Bonnie managed to weave around the active combatants, coming to a halt and kneeling on the field next to Elizabeth. She checked for a pulse first and she was incredibly relieved to find one, a strong one too. From what she could tell, it looked like the teenager had just been hit by an ICER blast. She let out a sigh of relief.

---

---

"Do you know what it means when you try something over and over again, expecting different results?" Folly asked with a giggle. "It means you're insane. And for an insane person to have to tell you that? It means you don't even know you're insane, which is an entirely new level of crazy!" It wasn't clear whether she was taunting Matt or Cass - probably both of them. Her mutant powers were a regenerative healing factor and toxin immunity. As long as she could move and had energy, she could keep on getting back up and attacking again and again.

"Also, is your blood type A+? Your eye had a certain sweetness to it, almost like soy sauce," Folly added, doing a cartwheel. This was all just a game to her. And since Cass had killed her, she didn't see any reason to hold back. She ignored the blonde Battle Nurse that came on by to check on Elizabeth, although she did wonder whether or not she would be considered an in-network provider. Insurance was such a scam like that.

Since she couldn't break Cass, she decided to try breaking the other person present - proof that she wasn't doing the same thing and expecting different results! She sliced at Matt with her dagger and he'd be able to narrowly dodge out of the way. She stabbed again and Matt would be able to block with his ICER. "Stay still, please?" she asked, batting her eyes as she sliced again and Matt would be able to dodge once more.

---

---

"Please, just call me Baldur - or if you are a bit formal, I've also gone by Baldur the Beautiful over the years," Baldur corrected Astrad with a soft smile. The temperature in the room went up several degrees just due to his smile. Amelia remembered something about gold being really hard to melt, so maybe that was why Baldur and Nanna appeared to have gone all out on gold for construction. She did wonder though how the flowers weren't bursting into flames, but she figured maybe Nanna's magic or something stopped it? It was a question waaaay above her paygrade at any rate.

Nanna nodded at Maria's comment. "Oh yes, I adore flowers. When you are as old as I, you learn to follow your bliss," she said kindly. "If you're interested in gardening, I could see if Idunn would be interested in meeting with you? She's the goddess of spring and youth, a goddess after my own heart."

Forseti glared slightly at Nadia, as the drumstick picked itself up from the table and then hit Nadia in the head. "My baby sister is in Helheim for all I know and you expect me to be merry?" he snapped at her. He got up from the table and headed to one of the rooms behind the feasting area with a golden door, slamming it shut behind him.

Amelia blinked, trying to take in what had just happened. She had no idea why the bloke had stormed off in such a fit. She didn't like the way the blonde girl talked about her and her companions, as if they couldn't answer for themselves, but Nanna's joy was infectious. The anger she felt quickly went away and she didn't even ponder whether or not this was emotional gaslighting on the part of the goddess. "Hi, I'm Amelia Baptiste, we're here like Sparky said looking for this gent named Raynor," she explained.

Speaking of Sparky, Amelia saw her going off into one of the side rooms. She didn't think splitting up was a great idea, so she followed along on after her, poking her head in. Her eyes widened a little bit as she stepped into the room, seeing a naked guy on a bed of flowers. The room itself didn't even make sense as a room, it was inside but really felt like she was outside. "... So do you know this bloke or are ya just staring at his dick, since that's creepy if you are," Amelia whispered to Sparky.

"Oh, that poor soul... I found him in the riverbed some months ago near death," Nanna said, coming into the room and sighing. "He's been in this state since then, never waking. He just sleeps."

"I guess I'll go with Baldur, then." Astrad then bowed to Baldur slightly before heading off with the rest to the hall of feasting. The sunglasses and suncream really helped, as he was not used to hot temperatures, being from a cold, northern nation. He did not seem to notice Forseti storming off from the room, as he was too busy doing something... else. Astrad was hungry.

And then, without warning, the dagger that Sparks carried around pointed towards elsewhere. Strange had told her that it was sufficient by itself to point towards Raynor, and he did also say that he was in Asgard as well. Could it be that the love of her life was in these very halls, awaiting for his wife to come unto his presence?

The answer to that question would soon be clear as the dagger pointed them in the right direction. Raynor was indeed in here, but he was not conscious to greet anyone. Rather, he was lying there in what seems to be a coma caused by damage sustained from battle, as the scars and injuries were quite obvious to the eye. Also he wasn't wearing anything... odd. He was apparently found in a riverbed, with no clear clue to his solution.

"He's comatose..." Astrad said to no one in particular. He then turned to Nanna to ask a question. "Did whoever is the deity of healing around here check on him? He seems to be in a coma."



Nathaniel coughed profusedly, getting up from the ground with an annoyed expression written on his face. "She looks a bit familiar, if anything. I think we met in another life." Once he had stood up, he looked at the wizzing little blue dot that was Andrew Rossi in his shrinked state. Not this guy again. Angstrom had knocked him out earlier with a lucky shot between the eyes, and there was no telling if a second scuffle was a good idea. Nathaniel was, after all, just a guy who tears holes in the fabric of space and time and shoots beams of energy, while Angstrom was a rich pretty boy that could make himself bigger or smaller.

"You have been trouble for far too long, Pretty Boy." Nathaniel locked his sights at small Angstrom, focusing on the suited little man to ensure that his next action will go on without a hitch. And then, he tore open a breach and sent it forward, enclosing Angstrom in it before opening up in a downward direction towards another part of the rooftop, with the intention of causing him to crash, or to force a sudden trajectory change. Either way, with that done, Nath tried to open another portal, but the energy fizzled away before it could coalesce into a breach. He tried again... and miscalculated. The portal energy exploded, knocking him back and hitting his head against the ground. It was not a fatal blow, but he had been knocked out quite a few moments ago. This time, it really hurt. Should Angstrom bother to walk up on him, he would raise both hands in surrender; only time can tell if the Rossi bought it.

---

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---

All Cass could feel right now was the pain in her left eye socket, and the blood that was flowing down the side of her head, she turned to look at Andrew and nodded towards him slightly. "Thank you." She said, she didnt really feel like fighting the weird portal guy who kept wanting to attack her. Bonnie then came running in and went to check up on Elizabeth, watching her friend tending to the young teenager and knew that her friend would help her. Cass' attention turned back towards Folly who decided to try and attack her boyfriend Matt, she cared for him, and knew that he could handle his own. But he wasnt durable like she was, and felt like she needed to protect him, as Folly taunted the two of them, also ignoring her comment about how her eye tasted which was disgusting.

She was really annoyed with the girl as Cass charged forward and attempted to attack Folly. "Hey, pick on someone your own size!" Cass said, for only Folly to grab her, and judo flipped her on her back she laid there for a second before rolling back onto her feet again standing next to Matt. Matt's power didnt seem to have any kind of effect on Folly, and her ICER shots didnt even phase her at all either, looking at Folly. "Two on one match would be better I think." Cass suggested to Folly.

---

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Maria watched the blonde goddess throwing a drumstick at Forseti which somehow seemed to end up hitting her again before Forseti storming off to the next room. Before her attention turned back over towards Nanna offering her a meeting with the goddess Idunn who she had no idea who the goddess was. "Actually I grew up on a farm as a kid, before joining SHIELD so I know a thing or two about gardening and planting to, i'd like to meet her someday." Maria said giving the goddess a smile.

When Sparky took out Raynor's dagger and went towards the room with the silver rune on the top of it, she decided to follow the others over and leaned up slightly against the doorframe seeing Raynor laying there all beaten and bruised. She didnt really say or mention anything really just yet but remained pretty quiet before finally speaking. "Hey we found him thats good right?" Maria said looking over at Sparky.

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"I'm sure that Runa will show up eventually." Nadia said and blinked slightly when the drumstick hit her in the head again, and Forseti turned and left the room. She sighed slightly and shook her head slightly before standing up and stretched out again, grabbing a small handful of food and ate it before going over and joining the others. She turned to look over at Amelia who introduced herself and gave her a friendly smile and nod. "It's nice to meet you, i'm Nadia, Daughter of Freyr and Gerdr, Goddess of Creation." She decided to introduce herself as she looked over at Raynor laying on the bed of sunflowers.

"Whats that Midgardian movie, Sleeping Beauty right? Maybe kissing him would wake him up or something?" Nadia asked looking over at Sparky, she had been to Earth a couple of times in the past, and she did watch some movies which were pretty good as well to. She then looked over towards Nanna and Baldur to see what the wo of them wanted to do.

---

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Sparky glanced over at Amelia when she asked if she knew him, "Yeah, I know him, that's Raynor..." she responded simply, trying to think of something to do at this point. Since based on what Nanna was saying, he had been here for a very long time, and hasn't woken up at all. A part of her wanted to cry, but she fought back the urge as her mind was trying to think of something. Anything at this point would be a viable option for her, since at the moment all she wanted was for him to wake up. When Nadia commented about Sleeping Beauty, she glanced over at her, "...That's just a Fairy Tale, it's not real..." she responded, but then again, she didn't have any better ideas. She walked over to him, and kneeled down next to where he was, and gave him a kiss.

His eyes fluttered open, the universe deciding to humor Sparky. He couldn't see anything at first, just blurs - he blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to orient himself, to figure out where he was. His memory hadn't even kicked in yet fully, and he felt something soft underneath him as he struggled to sit up. His heart started beating quickly as he went into panic drive, remembering what had happened. Green humanoid aliens had attacked him, he had gotten into a ship bound for Asgard, trying to get help with M-Pox for her. For Sparky. His panic turned into rage. Where was he? Where was she? If someone had done anything to her, he'd rip out their spines and use them fence posts.

She almost jumped back when she saw him open his eyes and trying to sit up. Okay, that was not what she had expected, not what she had expected at all. After all, everything in her brain had been telling her that that shouldn't have happened, but yet somehow it did. "Ray are you okay?" she instantly said, not too sure if he was still badly hurt or even sure if he should really even be moving around right now after just waking up like that.

His ears felt like they had cotton balls shoved into them. The images in front of him were starting to come into focus, so he saw a vaguely humanoid blob with brown hair in front of him, and he was pretty sure he had heard his name. His tongue felt so twisted up, it was hard to form words, and he wasn't able to really hear himself when he talked. "What the hell did you do to me?" he half growled.

Well that was concerning, and now she wasn't sure what to even say in response to that. He was confused or something, that much was obvious, so the best she could really do was try and calm him down, or keep him calm. How to do that she had no idea. "Ray, it's me Sparky," she finally settled on, more then prepared in the off chance that he lashed out and tried to attack her or something.

Raynor blinked furiously, trying to get a better sense of his bearings. He moved himself to the side, and slowly stumbled up to his feet, having a hard time finding his balance. It was then that he realized he was completely naked. Whoever was holding him captive was fucked up. "Answer me, damn it!" he snapped. He stumbled to the side and hit the ground, feeling his butt pressed up against what he realized had to be grass.

"Ray calm down, it's okay..." she responded, not sure what else all to really say. He was clearly confused, and at this point she wouldn't be all that surprised if he actually attacked her at the moment. She hadn't expected him to jolt up like that, and doing that sort of thing for someone who had more or less been in a coma for several months. This was not good.

"...Lana?" Raynor asked, staring in her general direction. He was squinting his eyes, trying so hard to see who was standing there, but he couldn't make out more than a humanoid blur.

Hearing those words made her feel better, since he seemed to be getting less confused. Even though that wasn't her name, he has called her that more then once, and she still wonders who exactly Lana actually is and why she seems to remind him of her, "And how many times do I have to tell you that that is not my name?" she asked with a small laugh.

"One more time, apparently," he said softly. "I can't see you, so I'm going to ask why I'm naked and in what I'm guessing is a garden?"

"In all honesty I have no clue, you are on Asgard apparently and have been for a few months at this point so I don't have any sort of clue as to how you ended up here..."

"These green things, they attacked me. I was trying to get here to steal some of Idunn's apples, so that way you'd be safe from M-Pox," he explained, still not really able to see her. "Are you okay? If we're here, I can still steal you those apples. And then once I find some clothes, I'm going to go fucking kill whatever those green things were."

Okay, so now what he had been doing that resulted in him getting attacked by the Skrulls made some sense, and now she had to essentially fill him in on the past several months. "...Um, those aliens were called Skrulls and they are shape shifters. M-Pox got cured a few months back after we dealt with the Inhumans having sent a bomb made of the Terrigen Mists down to Earth in an attempt to stop someone named Thanos... And that's kind of a whole short version of what's been going on since you kind of disappeared a few months ago..."

He frowned. He had heard the name Thanos before. Of course, he knew that Thanos in this universe was different from the Thanos back home. Still, it wasn't comforting to know that he hadn't been there to help protect Sparky. She could have been hurt or worse, killed. "Glad to know you missed me, honey," he quipped.

"You have no idea," she said with a slight smile, before she went right up to him and hugged him. She also was trying really hard not to cry at this point, and was seriously just glad that he seemed to be alright, even if he was probably a bit disoriented still and confused or something.

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Andrew wasn't too sure what to think about finding himself flying back towards the ground suddenly, but he reversed course and shot right back up away from the ground. It wasn't too difficult for him to do that, and he heard the first words that Nathaniel responded to him with. "Um, that's not an excuse? If anything that kind of makes it even more creepy and weird and you should probably just leave her alone if you don't want her to file a restraining order or something," he said to him simply as he then heard the other thing he said and shook his head slightly. "Honestly you probably should just stand down or whatever, since you were knocked out once, you shouldn't do anything more to hurt yourself."

Of course, Nathaniel then proceeded to do just that and cause his portal or whatever it was that he had for his powers as he blasted himself backwards or something like that and hit the ground. Andrew took the opportunity to send a blast from his blasters directly at him, and managed to hit him square in the head again, but this time it seemed like he was going to more of be down for the count as he once again knocked Nathaniel out. "Now stay down..." he muttered, before he flew off and headed straight for Kwassi, seeing that Bonnie wasn't fighting him anymore or something like that. He started sending several blasts of energy at Kwassi, his first one was almost a perfect hit, but at the last moment Kwassi just moving seemed to have prevented it from hitting, instead just grazing him. His other shot at him managed to hit him pretty solidly in the right arm with a decent amount of force. This was certainly going to be an interesting fight.

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Oliver Sullivan

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Location:St. David's Hospital - Cardiff
Skills: Molecular Oscillation

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This was bad. Very very bad. The bear was inches away from killing Niah, and not that far from ending him either. They needed to get out of here, not fight and die. That was the only chance they had; he wasn't a fighter, he wasn't built for this kind of combat, not when he had no idea what he was facing or how to kill it. Grabbing Niah by the arm, he used his new favorite trick once more, and phased the two of them through the floor, away from the beast. They landed safely on the ground of the first floor, but Oli wasted no time; they needed to find an exit and get out of there as soon as possible.

Picking a direction, he took Niah's hand and said, "We gotta get out of here, we should be on ground level, I have an idea." Before leading them off, and quickly finding a window, albeit a tiny, almost skylight one on near where the ceiling and the wall met. It was too tiny for any of them to fit through, but that didn't matter. Windows meant there was just a bit of wall between them and the outside, and he knew he could get the two of them through that. Taking her hand again, he drew breath and said, "Let's get out of here." Before phasing the two of them through, only to be met with despair.

It didn't make sense, but phasing through the wall sent them back through the same side, as if they'd been turned around mid-phase. "Fuck this is bad" Oli said, starting to feel the inevitability of the situation sink in. It was kill the monster bear or die, and he had no idea how to do that. It felt like the seconds on his life were ticking down, that every moment he wasted was locking in his fate more and more. He closed his eyes and thought; whatever this thing was, it wasn't playing by the regular rules, it could make things happen, grow in size, and generally change the world however it wanted, logic wasn't going to sav him here.

He considered, there was no point being afraid, given everything. He was either going to die or fight his way out, and being scared would only hurt his chances of being able to fight. Still, it was hard to make himself believe that that meant there was nothing to be scared of. Steeling himself, he said, "Alright, looks like flight isn't an option, time to fight. No point in being afraid of the inevitable, right?" He said, looking over his shoulder, "We could have bought ourselves a little bit of time with that phasing trick, get ready Niah, whatever happens... I'm glad you here with me, sorry it got so fucked."

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Kwassi Asokho

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Location: Ellis Islanf
Skills: Escrima Fighting, Mixed Martial Arts

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Having rubbed away the dirt, streaks of mudd down his cheeks from the impulsive tears that came from the discomfort, he saw Bonnie leaving their fight to check on an unconscious girl. He blinked once, twice, and realised it was a different one from who he was talking about. The other having apparently gone ferral and ripped out one of Cass's eyes for revenge. As he stood there catching his breath, he wondered where the wild child even came from and how she managed to be allowed to fight given her grotesque habits. Kwassi looked away from the eye chewing woman only to watch the fights unfold before him. It appeared they were gaining the upper hand but anything could change in an instant. A large blast came from his left as he turned and saw the breacher blast himself back into a pole. With the exception of him and Bonnie it almost felt like amateur hour for a few of them.

Kwassi stood up, and saw just in time as a blast flew towards him. Narrowly missing a hard shot as it skimmed his side. The jolt was enough to cause a twitch in which his right arm jersey forward and was hit by the second blast. "Oh great, now I have to fight Jeff Goldblums The Fly." He gripped his escrima with both hands and took a hard swing, the small target nimbly ducking beneath the metal. Kwassi tried once more on the return swing, getting irritated at the small target as he missed again. This time he waited, watched his flight pattern and aimed where he would be. Kwassi coiled back and swung as hard as he could, knocking the pesky person far far away from him as he heard the satisfying sound of metal clanking on tiny metal and he watched the small spec go off.

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She let herself be dragged along through the floor and even the wall, but they were back in the Hospital. There was something very wrong with this place. It was dreamlike if she was honest with herself. She frowned and focused on her blindsense looking beyond the walls of the place, she suddenly felt a little nauseous as she did. It was like being in a fun mirror room.

She looked at Oliver, "Hey if we die here just know that I don't think you're evil. You're not your father or any of that shit. You're who you want to be, and who I've seen so far has been a hero. I'm glad I'm here with you too." Niah didn't mention anything about how he didn't get a chance to say goodbye to his mother or any of that other stuff. She hadn't known Oliver that well, she hadn't been with the team on the moon but she was proud of him.

Niah raised her chin and checked her pistol. Her heart was pounding and she was probably more scared then she had ever been in her life, which was saying something since she had literally watched friend's hearts be ripped out of their chest in front of her. Niah had changed the world with a single letter, she had brought her sister back from the dead. She had saved countless lives. She was proud of what she had accomplished.

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"I shot her with an ICER. She's a kid and shouldn't be here. I didn't want her to get actually hurt." Matt told Bonnie. He was glad that the dart had taken effect and the girl was alright from the look of relief on Bonnie's face. Now the crazy girl who had literally put Cass's eye in her mouth was trying to hit him. He was able to doge, thankful for his hand-to-hand combat training. His power didn't work on her, and neither had an ICER dart...nor had literally breaking her neck.

"I think it is a little unfair they have a kid and someone who would give Deadpool a hard time here. You say you're for freedom but if your freedom means bringing actual teenagers into the battlefield like child soldiers I think you should reevaluate your ideas." Matt said loudly hoping the other fighters would hear his admonishments of their decisions and rethink their life choices. He could pull his actual pistol and shoot this girl till she dropped again, but considering how quickly she had healed from the broken neck that did seem like insanity. For any extended fight he would lose against her there was no doubt in his mind. He also knew he didn't want to abandon Cass, especially now that she was short an eye.

What would be good is getting that knife out of her hand. He reached out trying to grab her arm and twist it to take away her dagger, but she pulled away before he could get her. Son-of-a-gun.

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Breacher v Angstrom
Hawkeye v Wasp
Agent 13 v Black Widow
Alchemy v Paralyzer
Kwassi v Bonnie (forfeit)
Breacher v Angstrom (rematch)
Black Panther v Captain Marvel
Falcon v Invisible Woman
Captain America v Iron Man
Spider-Man v She-Hulk
Wolverine v Human-Torch

Team Cap: +4
Team Iron Man: +7

Rogue Superheroes:

• Black Panther/T'Challa, super soldier - unconscious, in custody
• Captain America/Steve Rogers, super soldier - unconscious, in custody
• Spider-Man/Identity Unknown, mutate - unconscious, in custody
• Wolverine/Logan, mutant - MIA
• Winter Soldier/Identity Unknown, super soldier - active combatant - apprehend
• Falcon/Sam Wilson - active combatant - apprehend
• Hawkeye/Clint Barton - active combatant - apprehend
• Agent 13/Identity Unknown - active combatant - apprehend
• Woolf/Identity Unknown, mutant - active combatant - apprehend
• Sparrow/Kwassi Asokho - active combatant - apprehend
• Breacher/Identity Unknown, mutate - unconscious, in custody
• Alchemy/Elizabeth Flame, mutant - unconscious, in custody

---

Things really were looking bleak for Niah and Oliver, yet they had everything they needed in order to defeat the Demon Bear. They couldn't overpower it, not physically. The more afraid they became, the stronger the Demon Bear was. It fed off of their fear. How do you defeat your fear? Everyone has different strategies for this. Some are more practical - say, using salt and iron against a creature that is clearly magic. Others are more psychological, calming oneself down and finding peace in the situation.

There was a gigantic roar as the Demon Bear formed a massive hole in the ceiling and climbed on through, coming face to face with Niah and Oliver in the hallway. Oliver had already released his fear. It paid no attention to him, instead growling as it stared at Niah directly. It swiped at her with its paws, but somehow missed.

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Somehow, the sound of Captain America's shield hitting the ground was audible over all of the fighting. Iron Man stood above the First Avenger, his expression hidden by the faceplate of his armor. He bent down and picked up the shield, feeling its weight in his hands experimentally. The Pro-Registration forces had won - so many members of Captain America's team were unconscious or heavily injured. Alchemy and Breacher weren't the only ones catching z's. Spider-Man and Black Panther had both been knocked out and Wolverine was nowhere to be seen, having been thrown across the sky by the Human Torch, only to land in the waters surrounding Ellis Island.

Iron Man whistled and the Iron Legion zoomed down to the island, surrounding all of the superheroes. There were easily fifty or so of them, all crafted in Iron Man's likeness. There was no easy way to escape from this. Some members of the Iron Legion were picking up the unconscious bodies and loading them onto Iron Man's quinjet and restraining them.

"Last chance to surrender, everyone," Tony Stark announced, his voice booming around the field. The Iron Legion must have been acting as speakers for him more or less, so there would be no one for him to not be heard. Tony tossed Captain America's shield in his hands. "If you surrender, I'll put in a good word for you - community service and whatnot rather than rotting in the Raft. All you have to do is put down your weapons and unclench those butt cheeks and register."

"Amran," Folly cursed in Anglo-Romani under her breath. She wasn't going to surrender. There was no chance of that. She took in those still standing on the battle field, twirling her knives as she thought of her best chance of escape. No one else was making a move to surrender. She wasn't going out without a fight. She held up her hands, walking slowly towards Iron Man. "Forgive me, baulo, but my English is not very good," she said, purposefully playing up her slight accent.

Bonnie frowned ever so slightly, feeling the tension. Why was Iron Man letting Woolf get so close to him? She was within twenty feet of the Avenger now, more than close enough. She knew that Iron Man had been fighting Captain America during this conflict, but something wasn't right here. Maybe it was the Iron Legion playing on her nerves after all of the reports she had read from the Age of Ultron nonsense. Or maybe she was just feeling jumpy after the realization that Flynn had been a skrull earlier today. Or maybe it was from their new teammate betraying them so quickly to join the anti-registration team.

"No problem, kiddo. All you have to do is stand down and agree to register - and since you look like you're what, fifteen? You'll have to give up crime fighting until you're a bit older," Tony explained a bit patronizingly, popping up his faceplate so she could read his expression.

Folly smiled unnaturally wide and she nodded. With unnatural quickness, she threw her adamantium daggers at Tony Stark. "Farmečiv House Stark." Iron Man should've been able to stop her attack. He should have been prepared. The daggers never should have gotten that close to them. Bonnie yelped in horror as the daggers hit Tony in each of his eyes and his head slumped to the side, dead. His suit was still firing off so his corpse was grotesquely suspended up in the air.

AND IT WAS GREEN.

"... He's a skrull. Iron Man is a skrull," Bonnie whispered. Before she could even process what was going on, the other prominent members of Team Iron Man decided it was time to show their true colors. Iron Man hadn't been the only skrull. With the exception of the Angstrom and her fellow agents, they all were.

"Leave no witnesses," the skrull-She Hulk ordered.

"Yes, your highness," the other skrulls confirmed, before going in for the attack.

---

---

Most Asgardians would have been offended at Astrad's question. "Yes, several in fact," Nanna confirmed. She decided to give the mortal the benefit of the doubt, having sensed that his social skills were not quite up to par. It was almost cute seeing the mortal act as if no one had considered to consult a healer as to the man's condition. Nanna smiled softly, seeing that the young woman was reunited with her true love.

"Oh, hullo there, I'm Amelia, erm, Flyer of Planes and Cool Shit?" Amelia replied to Nadia, rubbing the back of her neck slightly. She wasn't really sure what the formal modes of address were here and all. She was trying to give Sparky and Raynor their space, especially since Raynor was completely nude and Amelia wasn't comfortable with that. She didn't find him attractive or anything, she just didn't like seeing other people naked. It was a bit weird.

Raynor's vision finally cleared and his heart broke into two pieces as he saw Nanna. He knew that she wouldn't know him - that she couldn't know him. But it had been eons since he had seen his mother, far too long since she killed herself to join his father in Helheim. His chin wobbled and he burst into tears, not that attractive a sight as he was, of course, naked. "I.... uh..." he stammered, trying to excuse his behavior, but he couldn't through the tears.

"Is everything alright, child?" Nanna asked Raynor curiously.

"I...." was all Raynor could muster. He couldn't bear this. It was like torture. His mother, Nanna, was dead. This Nanna was still alive, only she didn't have a son named Raynor. And even if she did, she wouldn't have been his mother. She was a stranger, he tried to tell himself, but he just couldn't. It was a cruel cosmic joke.