(2014-10-29) The Four Headless Horsemen
The Four Headless Horsemen
Summary: A happenstance shift between realities unleashes four headless horsemen in New York
Date: (2014-10-29)
Related: None
NPCs: Headless Horsemen
Scene Runner: Black Knight.
Social/Plot: Plot
Players:
bombshell..hawkeye..black-knight..

Golden Troopers around the world, denied by SHIELD to prevent world panic, but the internet videos are doing a good job of it. Giant Toy Robots in Metropolis, no relation to Golden Troopers. Increased sightings of blue disappearing imps spreading havoc and mischief. The world seems to get a hint more of weird to it every day these days. As if it couldn't get weirder. Strange clouds appeared around NYC, over the boroughs. Simply, one white, one pale, one red and one black. Not overly strange aside from the red, and that only odd given the time of day and sun not right to set clouds to red, the strange comes in in sightings of tornadoes from each of these. They came, they went, they make internet videos no official word. That it is already dark gray, overcast, and raining doesn’t help the vibe of these videos and reported tornadoes.

With them, however, now there are sightings of horsemen in the city, of a headless variety. Some news on the up are going with Halloween Hoax. Needless to say some people may be taken an interest in this development along with the mists roaming the city streets. As it happens, the reports suggest movement, towards Midtown. One such follower of the increasing sightings this day is Dane Whitman, who has called for his Avalonian equipment and flies with Strider over Midtown now. He, like any others curious enough to investigate, or by happenstance be in the area, will notice several mist like fog clouds now moving through the city streets towards this convergence, one white, one pale, one red and one black. Unlike earlier sightings, these mists are taking more form, up to the point that four headless horsemen appear at the front of each. There is a stir among the pedestrian denizens and cars, as each seems to hold up boney hands to gather balls of mists, not unlike pumpkins, that form in said hands and are hurled at bystanders who fall over when struck.

It's really not hard to see that there is a problem brewing; not when one is several thousand feet above a city in a SHIELD owned and operated helicarrier. Eyes in the sky, as it were, and with a quick radio report, there are easily eyes on the ground. While SHIELD may not be obviously working, there are departments that have scrambled- PR, Civil Action which is liasoning with the various stations of NYPD in order to keep public panic to a minimum.

And Field Agents.

Hawkeye starts out on the rooftop of his own apartment building in Brooklyn, sunglasses on, bow in hand, arrows on his back to give the first of many status reports. From there, he's on the move, building to building (eat your heart out, Spiderman!), dropping down fire escapes and taking to the streets before he's atop one of the taller buildings in what can possibly prove to be the 'middle of the action'.

Bow up and at the ready, Clint's expression is quizzical behind those dark glasses. "Shooting at clouds- probably not gonna hit…"

But there!

Leading the clouds now, something forms out of the mists, and Hawkeye looks as if he's trying to determine if it's a lost arrow cause as he shifts his position on the building. Still- arrow is out; one of his electrical-field tips. The bow moves, following the path of one of the riders (we'll call it Red!), and the arrow is loosed, it's path well on the way to being where he fully believes the formation of 'Red' will be. "Let's see how solid you really are, shall we?"

With a half day of school and nothing to do at Xavier's Lana thought that a trip to the city may be in order. Technically she isn't supposed to be going out and about without a buddy, and she did have a few, but as soon as the hit GCT they split up. The delinquent does't need chaperones…or rather she feels she doesn't.

After hitting some shops in Midtown she is ready to head back home and is making her way to the subway entrance when the eerie clouds start to form. Having lived in the tri-city area all her life, she knows that this isn't kosher, "What the fuck?" she questions, well herself as the clouds form into riders on horses. When the said riders start throwing pumpkins that seem to knock people out her confused demeanor switches to more startled "Holy shit." she begins to run, strangly toward the riders and not away.

Dane is now descending as the riders form as well, circling with Strider but thinking this a good time to move in just the same.

The rapid response of Clint sends an arrow true. As it enters the fog, there is some distortion, it clips some of the rider, sailing through, tearing at tattered clothes and pulling some thicker mist out the back with it. This alerts the rider to Clint's position and it turns shoulders, sans head, in his direction, sending a red cloud pumpkin in his direction. One might notice, in observing after affects later, that the other riders send out pestiluence, plagues, some erupt with pests of flies and gnats and rats even. The Red Rider is sending out concussive/blunt force trauma that is knocking out, potentially killing people. Even though Clint can move faster than the pumpkin, it is still intercepted by the Black Knight, swooping down and shield blocking, swinging the sword to recast a similar force towards the Red Rider. The return red mist force from the Sword does little at all to that rider, compared to the arrow which seemed to disrrupt the very form of the being momentarily, perhaps because of the tips chosen by Clint.

Lana can push through people easy enough, as they try to get around her and away. They all seem to be turning to converge at a specific intersection in Midtown. Each now about a block out.

"Oh hey, will you… oh crap!"

Even before this Black Knight intercepts the Red … is that a pumpkin?! thing, Clint is on the move to make sure he isn't where he last was. Leaping over HVAC systems, he lands and pulls another arrow, his expression a tight grin. "That got your attention, huh? Okay… how about we try—"

Setting the arrow on the string, it's loosed once again; this time, it's a timed incendiary arrow. He's got the lead, and once it's in the air, another arrow is pulled, but the archer begins to count down,

"Three…"

"Two…"

"One…"

"BANG."

BOOM! Hit or not, the explosive tip does its job, blowing up with just enough force that could do some damage.

"Thanks, by the way," is muttered to the other… flying horseman. Guy.

"Hey! That was my foot!" the girl complains loudly as the crowd surges around her trying to get away from the creepy menance. At this moment she is unsure what she can do about four horsemen, one looking like a Headless Horseman, she isn't sure about the others. Her mother didn't exactly drag her to church…ever. Probably worried she would burst into flames or something. "Where are all these horsedudes coming from?" she questions at the appearance of the fifth on a flying horse, but at least this one seems to not be associated with the other four. And then there is an explosion…and this time she DIDN'T do it. A calander marking event! That doesn't last though, bugs and rats, flowing through the streets. Not Cool! Her hands flash and another loud /BOOM!/ fills the air as a concussive blast, followed by another firey explosion lights the area to stem the flow of pestilant rats and insects.

"You're welcome" returns Dane, circling to see the explossive arrow landing near the Red Horseman. It tears some of his body and horse away on that side, revealing the horse to be more zombie like in that flesh tears away and leaves bones and rides on. In the blast, some of the clothes of the horseman catch fire, though he seems to relish that, his figure sans head burning and lightning the mist around him, reflecting in the dark puddles gathering under the dark grey skies today.

Lana has great affect on the plagues of pests coming from the White Horseman, he notices her and wings a white mist pumpkin in her direction, still making for the rally point of the horsemen.

Dane continues flying, "Looks like I can do little to him." The Red Horseman, leaving Clint to him and flying for the Black one instead, as the people dropping from him may be more permanent. Nearing the street, he blocks a Black Pumpkin and sends it back at the Black Rider - same as with the Red (the same color mist on rider has no effect).

And there's a hit. Hawkeye's actually encouraged, even if he's not doing a lot of damage. He's got arrows, he's doing some damage, and he is getting the thing's attention; all very good things. The SHIELD Field Agent is also quite good at adapting.

Swapping out the arrow he'd chosen and placed on the string for another, one arrow, two, three are loosed. "Okay, let's not go for fire…"

One arrow after the next in rapid succession are shot at the Red rider, swapping out heat and explosives for cold. Nothing like liquid nitrogen caps!

"Gotta give it to him.. the fire looked pretty cool."

"Oh fuck!" Lana lets out as Pestilence's attention is drawn to her. She is going to have to speak to Ms. Frost about more training in dealing with supernatural menances, because none of her training has to do with horseguys throwing pumpkins at her. Turning to run, she is just a teenage girl, she looks back over her shoulder and sends out another blast from her hand, aimed at the pumpkin barreling down on her. This is not going to go down well at her next meeting with her probation officer.

Dane at least is protecting people from Black Pumpkins from Death for the moment. Though returning death blasts from his sword remains ineffective he presses that fight for another moment.

As for War on his Red Horse, the nitrogen caps have some effect, catching and freezing bits of him where they hit. He moves and parts of him fall away into the mist around him. Clint finds an advantage with that attack, but might notice some reforming going on from that supernatural mist that trails him through the rain. Then again, Clint is quick enough he might be able to take him out faster than he reforms.

Over at Pestilence, the pumpkin sails true, it is the quick thinking of the teen to throw a bomb at the pumpkin that stops it from hitting home. Instead of right on her, a mob of spiders erupts from the explosion, raining down dead at least in her area.

Famine is causing people to become sickly pale, thinning even. Dane deflects a Black Pumpkin with his sword, it sails near White Famine and does more damage there, take some mist and Famine with it. He gets the attention of a second headless horseman.

A thin-lipped smirk graces Hawkeye's face, and a whispered, "Gotcha" comes. A button is pushed on the handle of his bow, and there's a soft *whrrrrrr* sound that comes from his quiver. He doesn't have an endless supply of arrows or tips, but it is nice to know he's got the tips for the job.

One… another arrow flies, tipped with liquid nitrogen before another flies, this one an explosive tip. One, then the other… and a good archer can get a speed round off with virtually a quiver-full of arrows before a full 30 seconds clock.

It's at the end of ten seconds where Barton throws his hand back to pull another arrow, and there isn't one to be pulled. "Uh oh…"

Time to move!

Lana doesn't often shreik with terror, and if it was mentioned later she would vehemently deny it, but shreik she does as the pumpkin explodes with dead spider carcasses. The running stops and she turns to face the horseman of Pestilence. She lowers her hands angling them back, a flash of light and another /boom/ and she ia airborne. She is almost a one trick pony, but not quite. Angling herself she flies over Pestilance twisting a bit and aiming her hands down at him and letting another concuscive blast release from them and right out top of the horseman.

Dane Whitman, at least, will not let it out that Lana shreiked about the spiders. Especially if it kicks her into more badass mode and flying around to drop/throw bombs. Her bomb drops and blasts directly in the horseman, dropped down into the thing, it erupts sending mist and Pestilence in various directions. Some reforming, but not quite whole again. Some mist pumpkins fly after her, but she is far to fast for him to even try to lead her as she flies.

The cool tip and the explosion freezes and seems to be fast enough to spread some nitrogen over War. Though he is trying to push through it, half frozen in that, as all fire is extinguished on hime now.

Dane continues to use Black Pumpkins against Famine, sending him the way that Clint seems to be sending Red, or Lana seems to be sending Pestilince.

Chunks of shadowy, wispy bits of half-collected 'flesh' fall from the Red rider, the sounds a hiss as he keeps his attention on the annoying fly that continues to plague him (no pun intended!). One bitterly cold, followed by a concussive explosion tears at the thing's body, sending the flash-frozen parts exploding into a thousand pieces, only to drop as 'rain' down onto the street below. Two… yet another bitterly cold arrow is followed with explosions… and before 'War' can turn itself fully around to attack Hawkeye, it's that last series of arrows that strike that cause him to fully discorporate into nothingness with a *WHOOMP*.

There's nowhere that Barton can truly go, and as a result, the archer is standing upon the top of that building, watching as the thing wheels around… and explodes into nothingness. A slow grin emerges from the smirk and he looks pleased before he takes to the side of the building and slides down, on the move again to help out with crowd control.

Lana isn't equipped to fly, sure she can go fast but she isn't very manuevarable and landing is tricky, and in this case it's more like falling, but she wasn't all that high up thankfully so her impact with the ground doesn't do any serious damage, and puts another rip in her leggings. With two of the horsemen down she debates whether to run or stick it out. Death seems to have his handsful with Dane and Famine is probably causing a sudden outbreak of thiness in the area…well that will make some women happy.

A few more sword deflects of Black Pumpkins helps with Famine at least. This lets Dane settle to a direct confrontation with Death. Strider lands and he charges, headless Death forms and mist scythe and the lock into battle. As much as the Black Knight can block deflect and affectively attack Death, the problem is the Shield of Night is only absorbing Death's mist based attacks, to which Death is immune. As the two circle and the horses fidget - not so much, one is a mist creature, Dane's has centuries battle experience - he spots the bomb girl.

Good battlefield awareness may have made him aware of her dealing with Pestilince and the means she used, he calls out, "Your bombs … throw some at me …." He jiggles his shield momentarily, before having to fend an attack by Death. Perhaps meaning, he'll take the force of her blow to channel through his sword to see how Death can deal with that.

Did he just ask her to blow up his sheild? That's what it sounded like to Lana. Who is she to deny such a request…well she's Lana, she rarely ever does what she is asked, but in this instance she complies. It's not really bombs per say, more like concussive enegy that explodes things in firey way. Her hands flash as she points toward the shieild, another boom this one loud enough to shatter any remaining windows left intact and several garbage bins and newspaper dispeners go flying

As it explodes in all directions, that going towards Dane and the Shield are subsumed by the Shield of Night. He in turn swings at headless Death in that moment, that his sword is a fiery explosive arc that actually does do damage to the mist figure where his prior attacks did little other than to occupy him so he couldn't pick off more humans. Much like Pestilence, as the sword swings through, it starts to take him.

Not sure if that's enough yet or not, Death doesn't seem to be doing anything other than struggling with that affect. Dane turn Strider more towards Lana, "My thanks. Do any remain." Other than Death. They don't but he is perhaps playing it safe.

Just to be safe Lana sends another blast at the last horseman, totally disappating him as he struggles to pull himself together. Shaking her head she drops to sit on the curb looking around at the evidence of the battle, broken up pavement, shattered glass, rodent bodies and the smokey fire left by the explosions. "We're good." she tiredly lifts a hand into a thumbs up.

Giving a same look about, Dane then dismounts Strider who wanders away and phases out, probably to munch grasses in Avalon. "I'd say you're a bit young for this life," says the man moving towards the young lady, but then shrugs, "Yet, you seem effective at it." Then more of a turn, "You think you'd get used to random happenings like this, but its new every time. Almost cliche." Headless horsemen and so close to Halloween and all.

A comment about her age. That gets a laugh "It's a far cry better than what I was doing this time last year." Lana doesn't elaborate on what that was, but if it was worse than this, she probably wasn't doing anything good, "Yeah, a little far south for headless anything. I'd expect that to be something to happen in upper New York." like the Sleepy Hollow area…which is a real town in New York state

Moving to take a spot on the curb as well, he considers that thought. "Good point that, maybe they missed their mark." Dane doesn't dwell on age or doing far worse. Not worried or not taking that implication as any measure for the moment. "Besides, despite the appearance, this didn't quite have that mystical sense to it. I might of had more warning if it were." Turning more directly to her, "I'm the Black Knight, cliche the same … though if you've read about it, sort of the mantle - or my predecessor." Meaning more historical, or legendary, then again, if she really kept up with international news, the same one from England of late even.

"Never heard of you." she's a teen girl and while she doesn't seem to be the type to be keeping up with the Karsashians, she probably isn't glued to the news, local or international, either "I wouldn't know anything about mystical shit." she probably doesn't even beleive in magic outside of the Chis Angel stuff. "But at least you handled those horse dudes pretty well.

"Fair enough," grins the Dane in his helmet regarding not knowing him, "I'd rather not know the mystical shit myself." He does borrow the usage from her, though slightly odd at his lips. "But there is no escape sometimes and you handled them well yourself. I just wanted to say thanks Little Miss Explode." She didn't give a name, he supplies one. "Somewhere a voice in me says I should say a comment about staying in school or something." Offhandedly as if he figures well enough it doesn't matter at all.

"Bombshell." she offers when he makes up such a lame name for her as if she were one of those Mr. Men characters that were popular way before she was born "Oh sure, there is always an escape, if you are stupid or brave enough to take it." in this case it was just running, but that may not be waht the means. There is another chuckle "School? No worries there I plan to stick with that. Better than the alternative at least.

"Ah," sighs Dane with understanding, better name then the one he did lamely apply, but a grin at hearing the one she choose or prefers. "I was brave enough to accept the mantle when given to me. It was indeed a watery tart threw a sword at me, it is the basis of my law." Not that she might get the reference, but better than explaining Lady of the Lake being real at least. "Ya, way better then flipping fries for a living. Or if you're a nerd, like me, you can make a career of being in and around school. Bombshell." A repeat of her name, "I like that one. I didn't get the choice." For the codename thing.

"There wasn't some guy following you banging coconuts was there?" she does get the reference, she has hung around with a few geeks in her life, "Not much to base a code on though." she shakes her head "I'd rather not, twelve years is enough for me thanks." a shoulder lift "I did't get one either. There should be a club.

"Yes, lonely hearts club, or whoa is us club," grins Dane about the club, "And the movie was much more funny until it turned out it was real." Knights, mystical stuff, watery tarts. Well, its still funny, but he's more serious about his role in it is all. "What happened with you, someone yelled it out, and it stuck - can't shake it. I think the history of mine is the Green Knight, a mystical entity, named the first after Merlyn, a real guy mind you, made the first Ebony Blade out of a meteor. Mystical enough I can't shake it if I tried, like a family name just no legal means to go about doing it. But, I like it," as much as he might kid about being stuck with it.

The man gets a look "Speak for yourself man. I'm no lonely heart. I got boys lined up." okay its just one or two at most, but Lana isn't going to admit to less than a dozen "I only saw it once. My boyfriend at the time made me watch it." she seems less than thrilled about it. She stands up, "I'm sure." she doesn't debate Merlyn, she knows better than to argue with crazy "I think I am going to run before the uniforms show up.

Smiling a little, Dane shakes his head, "Too much information, I think I'm old enough to be your father almost." Though he leaves the size of the line all up to her to withhold, him not prying. "Boyfriends are jerks like that, at least you can say you watched it once, even it its a mental scar for you." Watching the movie, not the boyfriend, whether he was or not. Moving to stand slowly, "Best of luck Bombshell." A parting head nod, small hand wave, so she can run. He will stay to speak with the uniforms it seems.

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