The Skrull and the Kree

[evilst]

The console inside Xavin’s ship beeped in a certain pattern, indicating an incoming message. That was all the warning received before an explosion shook the Avengers’ Tower. Something had set off the Skrulls - maybe something had happened out there in space, or maybe they were just tired of waiting for Dorrek VIII to “come to the correct conclusion

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[magnetlips]

Cassie had been on her way to find Kate when the Tower was hit. She had been thrown against the wall, her right arm took most of the impact and beneath her skin burst blood vessels were forming the beginnings of a bruise.

Cassie pushed herself upright and took off her shirt and undid her jeans before pulling them off too. There was a reason she wore her uniform under her clothes, aside from if she accidentally changed size, and this was it. The blond put her mask on as she ran further down the hall to one of the windows.

Skrull and Kree warships.

Time for some Young Avenger assembling.

[vision_ya]

The Vision dropped the battered camera and sprinted into the hallway. There weren't any windows in his vicinity, but the explosion and and the alarms told him all that he really needed to know. The Avengers' Tower was under attack and someone might be hurt.

He caught sight of a familiar blond ponytail and red and black costume and sped up a little so that Stature wouldn't be facing the attackers alone when she reached them.

[magnetlips]

Cassie started when she heard someone else in the hall and turned. "Vision!"

Despite having focused on avoiding him or brooding over him, Cassie was pleased to see him. At least she had one Young Avenger to back him up, and she'd only seen more proof that he could more than hold his own in a fight.

"It's the Skrulls and Kree. Do you know where Teddy is?"

[vision_ya]

"[I haven't seen Teddy, no.]" the Vision replied, relieved that Cassie was willing to put aside her annoyance with him in the face of a common enemy. "[Didn't Captain America and Iron Man come to an agreement with the Skrull and the Kree? Or have we stepped over the time-limit?]"

The question was rendered moot as a Skrull raced around the corner at them. The Vision moved to meet him, phasing a hand through the alien's chest and zapping the other two who came along behind him. He picked up the Skrull's weapons and offered one to Stature. "[Do you want one of these or should I just break them?]"

[polyesterman]

Kevin nearly fell off of the roof, but managed to lean backward and land on his back. He looked up in shock to see a ship remain impossibly suspended in the air. He was frozen for an instant before scrabbling for purchase, trying to get to cover as fast as possible.

He ran to the nearest structure, and cowered underneath the Leapfrog. "What the hell is happening?"

[evilst]

In apparent response to Kevin's question, a humanoid shape clad in green armor appeared over the lip of the roof. He spotted Kevin and Chase and sneered, raising his weapon to fire.

Unfortunately for him, the two boys weren't alone. A blast of bio-electricity sent the armored soldier stumbling backwards before collapsing.

"We have aliens." Spider-Woman said in a tone of annoyance. "You gentlemen might want to take advantage of your giant frog there and get out of here. It's going to be messy."

[polyesterman]

Kevin darted forward and grabbed the alien's weapon. He rolled back to the relative safety of the 'Frog's underbelly. "Beggin' pardon, Spider-Woman, but what about everyone else in the tower?"

Kevin shot at another of the aliens, hoping to high heaven that this thing was only set to stun, not kill. Whatever that means. In the end, it didn't really matter, as his shot was two inches to the left of the alien's head. Still, it bought Chase a few more minutes to prep the Leapfrog. "We need to keep this escape route open!"

[getaway_man]

Chase pulled out his switchblade and headed for the leapfrog. He turned to see Spider woman take down another alien.

"See? This is why I hate people in costumes. When I get around them, only trouble happens."

He looked to Kevin who was underneath the leapfrog. He grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him towards the hangar.

"Leapfrog, jump start your system, we got martians!"

[billykaplan]

Billy and Tommy had been coming back to the Tower, full of fast food and sugar and carrying Starbucks (to better fuel their mad rebellion against the Avengers) when the attack began. Billy dropped his drink and stared up at the attacking warships for a moment before taking to the air, leaving a blue comet trail in his wake. He yelled one thing to his doppleganger as he took off. "Get the civilians!"

He knew Tommy would be able to handle things himself. He had to find Teddy.

[rowenamox]

Rowena had insisted on walking to the Tower, telling Amanda and TJ that it would be beyond rude to just teleport there. Besides, it would probably be a very bad idea to just appear in the middle of a bunch of super-heroes in their club house.

And Rowena had promised Captain Rogers that she would consult with him about William's teacher.

Okay, maybe it wasn't so much consulting as telling...

Rowena spent the walk more or less running circled around the two younger women and acting... a lot like a fourteen year old girl with too much energy and a need to stretch her legs.

They arrived at the Tower in time to see William take to the air to deal with the attack going on at the top.

"Eset's tits!" Rowena growled, casting a glance over her shoulder at Amanda and TJ. "DON'T follow the boy! Worry about the civilians first!" she barked.

[nocturnemagik]

Amanda strolled beside Rowena with an angry cantor, vexed that her fellow magi discarded even the idea of even employing a flight spell or conjuring some kind of land transportation. She had nearly forgotten how sparingly magic was used back in the non-magical public. In limbo, she would have at the very least enchanted a flying carpet... However, her grumbling ceased as an explosion rocked the Avengers Tower. High in the air, a skrull warship hovered by an gaping hole in the tower, rubble cascading down the side of the building.

"TJ, rubble! I'll take care of crowd control!" Amanda quickly ordered. With a flash of her eyes and a mumbled magic word, Amanda suddenly donned her full magical armor, that gleamed silvery white in the brightness of the sun. She launched herself into the air, flying above the crowd as TJ bolted towards the tower.

Bright blasts of energy flew from TJ's fingers as they pulverized the falling rubble. I guess all that target practice comes in useful. TJ thought to herself with a slight grin as she aimed

[rowenamox]

The trick, Rowena knew, was not to get herself squashed. She had a deep, burning desire to not die again, even if it wouldn't make that much difference. She spotted Tommy, then quickly dismissed him as unimportant as a falling chunk of... something... came down hard on her shoulder. She let out a yelp of pain, and it blew up in a cloud of dust and atoms.

She needed to concentrate.

Throwing up her hands, she drew her magic around her like a cloak, enveloping herself in the darkness.

It shouldn't have been so hard, but she was still adjusting to the youthful body she now wore.

The problem wasn't actually pulling the energies. The problem was not pulling too much.

[runawaywitch]

"What the fuck?" Nico cried out as the explosion rocked the Tower, knocking her off her seat. She clamored to her feet quickly, but fell again as her foot hit the puddle of honey left when her plate had fallen too. "Dammit! Karolina? You alright?"

[burningpainting]

Fortunately, Karolina had been well away from the stove when a tremor jerked the Tower to its foundations. Unfortunately, she still had a healing bullet wound in her leg, and the sudden shock buckled it beneath her. Light exploded behind her eyes and pain blossomed where her jaw struck the edge of a counter. She bit the inside of her lip and ended up sprawled on her back in a mess of squashed pancakes, already scrabbling at her inhibitor bracelet. It came away with a soft 'tink', and Karolina levitated safely off the floor.

"Fine, I think," she grunted in response to Nico, gingerly touching the already swelling side of her jaw. That was going to leave a nice bruise. She reached a hand down to her friend, glancing around as though a threat might burst through the door at any second. "What the hell was that? Don't tell me the Avengers decided to tamper with the 'Frog..."

[runawaywitch]

Nico let Karolina pull her to her feet, searching for her knife. "Whatever it is, we need to find the others," she said. She found the knife in her skirt pocket and slid it quickly across the back of her hand in a shallow cut. "When blood is shed, let the Staff of One emerge..." she growled, the Staff coming out. It seemed to get easier and easier each time.

"Lets go," she said grimly.

[burningpainting]

Karolina nodded and darted out the door, gliding effortlessly along. The nice thing about flying meant being unaffected by the lurching of the floor.

"We should go back to the dorm!" She shouted over the klaxon wailing of an alarm system. "I left Molly asleep there! She might still be-"

It wouldn't be accurate to say that her concern for Molly was tossed aside by the sudden appearance of an armed and armored band of Skrulls, but it was certainly tabled. She had only a split second to wonder at their presence before the Skrull at the point of the group spotted her, snarled something in their gutteral language, and opened fire with his(her?) weapon. Karolina let out a startled yelp and reacted on pure reflex, firing a laser of her own directly at the blast. The two energies impacted with an explosion not unlike a flashbomb, leaving eyes dazzled and a spherical crater in the floor and ceiling of the hallway.

[rowenamox]

Eliza heard it coming before it came, and she hid under the bed before it actually started. And she had every intention of staying there. She was no hero. She wasn't about to go rushing in.

She just wished that they would all shut up and leave.

[ya_rpg_npc]

Cyrus at least had the presense of mind to remove his borrowed clothing before shifting into his battleform. He wanted to know that he could get Eliza out safely if something went wrong.

Hopefully nothing would go wrong. Hopefully, the Tower wouldn't collapse.

Cyrus curled up next to his cousin and whimpered.

[rowenamox]

Eliza shuddered and tried not to join in the screaming, since she knew that nobody but Cyrus could hear it. She left it right down in her bones.

Why couldn't that fucktard hear it? Why couldn't she feel the horror she housed in her soul?

Bloody tears ran down her face and spotted Cyrus's white fur as she buried her face against his flank and tried to shut out the screaming.

[ya_rpg_npc]

Cyrus had always been fairly useless at shielding spells. He could sheild his mind just fine, that came with the empathy, but spellwork to protect his body or the minds and bodies of other people had never come easily to him. It required a confidence, some form of self-assurance that you could protect yourself, to create a proper sheild. And a proper sheild is what Eliza needed.

Cyrus whimpered and tried to protect his cousin with his body. They had to get out of here, it wasn't safe to be here, but it wasn't safe to leave either. The Tower shook under his feet and he heard the sounds of boots outside the door.

Maybe they'd go past without looking in. Maybe, maybe they'd...

Fuck "maybe". If Cyrus Alphonse Xanathos was good at anything, it was hiding. And he could damn well hide his cousin too. Cyrus began to hum.

lookawaylookawaylookaway...