[Homeplot 2009] Secret Invasion

[forhawkeye]

Have you ever have a dream that was so vivid, so extraordinarily detailed that, despite the fact it was also so utterly absurd, it somehow didn't make it seem any less real? That's what Tabula Rasa was for me. Months of memories and experiences...all of it the result of a knock to the head

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Determining Who's All Here

[forhawkeye]

Although the Earth belongs to them as much as it does the heroes and villains, ground zero of the invasion isn't meant for civilians. Bedlam reigns supreme, and the fighting is an assault on the senses. The smell of burnt flesh. The flash of bright lights. The irregular percussion of weapons fire. And yet, there, amongst some of the most powerful beings in the whole of creation, a small but substantial group of people have suddenly found themselves in the midst of a battle, a battle with stakes so high as to defy exaggeration. Some of them are experienced in situations such as this, most of them are not. What they all share in common, however, is important but irrelevant -- none of them were there the second before.

[stanleepresents]

In which our heroes arrive: Kate "HAWKEYE" Bishop, Nico "SISTER GRIMM" Minoru, Felix "THE ROCK WITH A HEART" Unger, Nathan "CABLE" Summers, Alice "THE SPARKLING VAMPIRE" Cullen, Yorick "THE INCREDIBLE ORTHODASH" Brown, Nate "PERFECTION" Archibald, Chase "TALKBALK" Stein, Karolina "LUCY IN THE SKY" Dean, and Mikal "WAS ONCE DEAD" Nonexistent-Surname.

[sink_nor_swim]

So maybe things haven't exactly been great lately. That doesn't mean Mikal is expecting to wake up anywhere other than curled up in bed with her boyfriend. Instead, she finds herself anywhere but. She's never been to New York, but it's easy enough to recognize, even if everything else isn't. Given that there's pretty quickly some kind of fucking war going on, she's on the verge of panicking until she realizes who all is there.

If this is what getting sent back is like, she definitely wishes she were back on the island.

[forhawkeye]

I've been running around like a headless chicken, trying to see if there's anyone else who's made the trip with me back to the real world, and I'm just about to say there isn't anyone else when I spot Mikal.

Rushing towards her, I grab her roughly by the arm. Manners will have to wait until this is all over; "Well, don't just stand there, come on!"

Divide and Conquer

[stanleepresents]

For all that they hide behind their religion, the Skrulls lack mercy. Whether or not these strangers were there before is of no concern to them. All that matters is that they're an easy target. Without warning, the ground around our heroes explodes, and it rains down rubble, creating a thick cloud of smoke and dust and debris. Scattered and disoriented, the question remains: will these intrepid travelers live to tell the tale?

[oscaroscaroscar]

Through it all, Felix had been holding together admirably. Sure, there was madness all about him, but Kate had done a positively bang-up job of putting his little corner of the chaos into at least some semblance of order. 'Run over here.' 'Stay put.' 'Wait while I get you teleported to safety.' Nice, orderly tasks, all. The one thing that never failed to strengthen his sometimes-tenuous grasp on sanity.

However, he wasn't dealing with Oscar dropping his jackets on the living room floor, anymore. He wasn't even dealing with a magic island throwing some new crisis at him every other week. He was in the middle of an alien invasion, which made that need for order all the more crucial. And with this recent explosive development throwing that out the window, something inside Felix snapped

[unseenstorm]

It wasn't a bad throw for a civilian, but no matter how worn and wild the man looked, there was no doubt in Sue's mind he wasn't supposed to be here. He certainly wasn't equipped to handle the Skrulls closing in on him, whatever his ridiculous battle cry.

Cutting through the people between them, she rushed over toward him, throwing a shield around the guy. "Unless your mutant power's not dying," she said, "I really wouldn't do that again."

[oscaroscaroscar]

Felix was so crazed, so focused on surviving all of the bloodshed, it took him a few moments to notice that his forward momentum had been interrupted. Interrupted by something solid, and encompassing, and... completely invisible. "Unless I- what? What?" he asked, vigorously shaking his head to come to his senses somewhat and finally noticing the blue-clad woman who was talking to him. "I can't, I don't have any more arrows!" he called to her, unsure if sound could permeate whatever was blocking him despite the fact that he could hear perfectly well.

Downgrading to Clooney

[forhawkeye]

It needs to be Iron Man. Knowing how this all pans out, with Norman Osborn practically crowned king of the castle, it needs to be Iron Man who makes the shot, and kills the Skrull Queen. It's not a perfect solution -- I know it's not a perfect solution -- but the status is definitely not quo if Osborn's in charge of the Avengers, and I'll take the evil I know any day of the week. Which brings me to my big problem: how do I go about making this happen? The others are, if not safe, then taken care of, so at the very least I can save my worry and WTFery for later but that doesn't answer my question.

The logical thing to do, I guess, is to get rid of Osborn before he can kill the Queen. Now, I'm arrogant but I'm not stupid -- there's not a chance in hell I can distract him and get to Clooney. It's time to delegate. Thing is, the YA are already plenty occupied. And even if they weren't, the Green Goblin's not exactly a Nazi made of bees. He's an A-Lister. Seriously, the guy's like Voldemort or something. He always comes back. So who can I

The Immediate Aftermath

[stanleepresents]

The battle in New York was fierce. The Skrull Empire had so many tricks up their sleeve. So many plans and contingency plans...they’d more than halfway won before it had even started. You can’t help but admire them. The plans. The execution. But for all their planning, it’s unclear if the Skrulls truly understand us. As humans. Because if they did, they’d know that whether or not a stunt like the invasion would have worked...whoever survived...whoever was left...would be insanely ticked off.

But only one person got the killshot. Tony Stark. All the networks were covering it live. Everyone on the planet saw it. He had another suit of armor, not tied to the StarkTech mainframe. It was enough to keep him going.

And those who could fly took to the sky. Ares took the warship that was hovering over the city proper all by himself. He dropped it right into the Atlantic. What was left of the armada was attempting to retreat. But without a proper leadership chain they were caught spinning their wheels when Thor whipped out the hammer.

[forhawkeye]

The dinosaurs don't look so bad in comparison. As strange as it sounds, that's the first thing that comes to mind once the battle comes to a close. The rest of it -- the scrapes and the bruises and the fact that my arm is $*!(ing killing me -- doesn't even faze me as I pick my way through the debris, trying (and hoping) to find everyone in one piece, but the fact that my first thought after all that is dinosaurs is enough to draw out a quiet, disbelieving laugh.

I really must be tired.

[oscaroscaroscar]

"Kate?" Felix called weakly from where he was lying against a small pile of rubble. Miraculously, he'd survived long enough to see the end, to see New York, the city he loved so very much, safe once more. Maybe it was a small thing, but he was glad he'd gotten to see it again before he died.

"Kate, is that you? Please come here, I want to see you one last time," he croaked out, every breath a struggle.

Alright, so technically, he didn't actually feel all that bad beyond being a little banged up, but that had to have just been the shock setting in. There was no way he'd made it through that fracas unscathed, even with assistance. No, this was surely the end.

[forhawkeye]

At first I'm not sure if I actually heard something or not, but then I see Felix looking like he's on his last legs. Rushing towards him, I drop into a crouch by his side, quickly looking him over for any visible damage and coming up with...well, nothing much, actually.

"What's wrong?" I ask quickly, looking over him again in case I missed something small, but not necessarily less lethal. "I don't...I don't see anything."