Event | Satellite | Spectres!

[ironwood]

Characters: Any and all!
Date: May 23 - 26, 2013
Location: Keeliai, turtleside, ARSHEPHELIOS cluster remains
Situation: Repairs and salvage operations operating innocently have triggered an invasion of spectres that possess and wreak havoc upon all they see.
Warnings/Rating: Please put CW in your subject lines

Satellite Crash Event

Crash Landing | Salvage Party | Shocking Spectres


Questions | Keeliai | ARSHEPHELIOS


Salvage is sweet, but not all is well on board the ARSHEPHELIOS cluster. The seamless cylinders salvaged from debris and the cluster, now being frequently traded, turn out to be pods the first time one is penetrated or cracked open. Each breached pod releases a flood of energy-based apparitions hellbent on world domination -- or, more accurately, person domination (and it's not the fun kind).

These apparitions -- spectres, if you will -- are driven by a need to protect the technology of the satellite cluster that their pods are associated with. They will stop at nothing to see this through. Each is immune to physical attacks, but seem to be injured or dissipated entirely by things like electrical shock or other energy-based projections. If people touch them, there is also a brief window of vulnerability, but it acts also like a door that swings both way. Through contact, these spectres can and will invade one's psyche, take over their body and cause them to attack friend or foe alike! Should the possessed body be subjected to sufficient electrical shock, the possession should fade. Strong natural will can also drive the spectres out, but it is no walk in the park to do so. Possession is not the only tool in the arsenal, for these spectres use electricity as their main offensive weapon. They'll leave deep-tissue burns on anyone they fight, and show no degree of fatigue after constant use of it.

Ten thousand of these creatures will be freed from pods, resulting in a veritable flood of Keeliai, the turtleside, and the satellite cluster. With such a driven enemy, it comes down to killing or being killed.

Meanwhile, those taking shelter indoors may notice that the spectres will get into the biomechanical functions of Keeliai. Consoles will be malfunctioning during this time, with lines of mysterious code and strange, ghostly images. One might hear people screaming for help or hours of patchy radio static.

Comments

Open! Possessed older Bucky!

[trainwrecked]

[Bucky is not the kind of guy to even try to sit out a situation like this. Ever.]

[This kind of chaos? He's out on the streets, trying to protect anyone who may seem to need it. He's also open, in - still - pretty reasonable emotional turmoil, and he just... becomes easy prey to a spectre within about three or four hours of leaving his suite.]

[And this? Bucky is completely unprepared for something like this, even yet. He finds himself a prisoner inside his mind, beating at nonexistent walls, trying to break through them. Watching, dimly, as his body sets out to a sort of destruction that he's been training so hard to prevent.]

[tendnottoweep]

[ Natasha's been on the street for a while; the gauntlets are handling the spectres well enough, but she's starting to worry about how much power she's got left, and her breath's starting to get a little ragged in her throat. It's probably time to take cover, at least briefly. She's been slowly angling her path through the streets toward one of her safehouses, just a few streets away now... and then she spots Bucky.

For a moment, she freezes. She doesn't have to look in his eyes to know he's not himself anymore - she can see that from the way he's moving, the way the spectres flooding through the streets glide right by him, and this feels like some kind of retribution, penance for making him put a gun to her head before...

She almost misses a spectre lunging for her, but catches a flash of movement from the corner of her eye, and spins to meet it with a punch, triggering a zap of energy from her gauntlet as she does. It's enough to dissipate this particular apparition, and she does a quick scan of the area before turning her attention back to Bucky. ]

James! [ It's too low to be a shout, not enough to call any spectres that may be lurking near by, but pitched to catch attention. Even as she says it, she's shifting her weight, ready to move as soon as he does. Come on. Just follow my lead... and pray I know what I'm doing. ]

[trainwrecked]

[It takes a very long moment for him to react, because the spectre does not care about the name, the personality, the identity of the body it's using. It has goals. And Bucky is not nearly strong enough to push his will through it.]

[However, his reaction to the call - emotional reaction, as well as all the knowledge of what she can do, how good she is - makes the creature turn his body towards the woman, focusing on her with predatory (strange) eyes. Then it starts loping towards her, a strange gait. It means to hold her down until one of its brethren determines if her body is suitable for possession... and, if so, takes advantage of it.]

[(Inside, Bucky is panicking. He doesn't see it retribution. Just as another thing he was completely and thoroughly unprepared for. He doesn't know how to stop it, to bar it from using the skills she's trained into him against her.)]

[tendnottoweep]

[ Natasha doesn't move at first, just lets him approach, letting her eyes go wide as if just realizing he's not Bucky, as if it frightens her (and it does, though it's not because she's scared of him). She doesn't know how much these creatures can read human faces, or how much they care, but it can't hurt to try and convince it she's an easy target.

It's only as he gets within a yard or two that she starts to back away, toward an alley that will keep them out of sight of passing spectres, the close walls negating the advantage his longer reach would normally give him. And then, once they're safely isolated, she plants one foot and snaps a kick at his chest, angling to slam him into the wall. She wants him cornered or off his feet before she hits him with the gauntlets, to make absolutely certain he won't escape before she draws the spectre out of him. Or accidentally stops his heart. Natasha desperately hopes it won't be the latter. ]

[trainwrecked]

[The kick might have worked, more or less - if the creature in control of the body at the moment gave a fig about pain. Instead, it just bounces off the wall - and lines of electricity, pale and bright in the shadows, shoot out of his fingers at her.]

[It's had this body for a while now, see. It's getting used to him and what it can do with him. And that means... danger.]

[tendnottoweep]

[ The electricity crackles off her suit, safely insulated thanks to SHIELD foresight (or paranoia), but she does have to pause and take a step back to reevaluate the situation, eyes wide with real concern now. Most of her fighting technique relies on causing pain to larger, stronger opponents - the rest is leverage and speed and ruthlessness, but pain is a fairly large part of it, and she gets the feeling this creature... doesn't care. She can break the body, but she happens to care about this body, and...

She may be in real danger now.

The best thing she can do, it seems, is to end this before either of them causes more damage than she's willing to risk - and so she closes the distance between them once more, grabbing his wrist, wrenching his arm up behind his back, and using her hip and a quick leg sweep to try and send him to the ground. She needs proximity and a free hand to trigger the gauntlets. The first is easy. The latter... she'll have to work for, or get lucky. ]

[trainwrecked]

[He will be so, so sorry for putting her through this, later.]

[And for this. The spectre doesn't care about pain nearly as much as Bucky would. So it twists around, just about dislocating his shoulder, and hits against her solar plexus with the arm she's not holding. But it doesn't manage to move away or make her let go of Bucky's wrist, since that arm is no longer responding properly.]

[It's... probably as certain an opening as she'll get, before it realizes Bucky can kick, too.]

[tendnottoweep]

[ He knocks the breath out of her, but Natasha's too focused to let that shake her for more than a second, and-- there. Exactly the opening she needs - exactly the kind of opening Bucky wouldn't give her, she thinks with an odd mix of worry and pride, and she moves in an instant.

She presses the business end of the gauntlet to his neck, just where it meets his shoulder, pauses for just a breath half-praying she won't kill him - if she prayed, this would be the time - and triggers the shock. ]

CW: EWWWW and creature demise.

[trainwrecked]

[Bucky arches up, hard, and his throat opens up in a scream that sounds nothing like his own voice (he knows his voice when he's screaming). Because the pain exceeding anything he has ever experienced. There is the burn of the electricity (he knows it, knows even stronger than it), but that's not the whole of it. His inside (the thing inside him) is writhing in pain within his body, screaming on its own. His limbs start flailing in agony.]

[Then the sensation of pain shrivels inside him, leaving him weak, and then sick. He doubles over and starts throwing up. Bile, because the spectre hasn't thought about feeding him.]

[tendnottoweep]

[ Natasha grimaces at the scream, though there's a surge of quiet satisfaction at the fact that it doesn't sound like James - that the creature's in at least as much pain as he is.

She keeps hold of his arm, uses the weight of her body to keep him pinned against the wall as much as she can, free hand cocked to deliver another jolt if it seems like the creature might not be entirely gone... but then the struggle goes out of him, his body going nearly limp. Natasha relaxes and eases back a little - and then quickly sidesteps when she sees him lurch forward to vomit. Her hand settles on his back, between his shoulderblades, her eyes on the opening of the alleyway to keep an eye out for any more enemies. ]

I'm sorry. It's the only way I know to stop them. I'm sorry.

[trainwrecked]

[Between heavings, Bucky manages all of,]

Know any way to keep 'em out?

[This is so not experience he cares to repeat, after all.]

[tendnottoweep]

[ Natasha smiles and shrugs, tone dry to cover relief. ] Get the hell to somewhere secure?

Can you walk? I have a safe house a block and a half from here. [ And when they get there, she can make sure she hasn't caused any permanent damage. ]

[trainwrecked]

[Slowly, so slowly, Bucky straightens up. He's shaking, but his jaw is set (he's learned from the best) and his fists are clenched and..]

I can walk. But if there's any of that satellite thing tech there, we might wanna go somewhere else. Protecting what was on that thing is their... inescapable command.

Re: Open! Possessed older Bucky!

[magicalpadawan]

[Neither is Molly, especially when she see what exactly these spectres are up to. Thankfully with her sort of magic, she's got plenty of defenses built up. But she's pacing the streets, keeping an eye out for people to help -- and there's something that makes her heart catch in her throat.

It's not him, it's not the Bucky she's come to grow increasingly fond of, not right now, and she has to help him. So she grits her teeth a little and moves away from the wall, wands at the ready just in case--]

Bucky, hey.

[trainwrecked]

[Except it's not Bucky. He doesn't register the name, not really - but the voice catches at its host's attention, so it turns.]

[There is a tool in her hand. It's not one that interests it, though. So it turns back to lope further in search of stolen items. Stolen!]

[magicalpadawan]

No. [It's very nearly growled, and --well, now, here is a Molly that most of Keeliai hasn't had a chance to see yet. She is angry, desperate, eyes flashing and just wanting to hurt whatever these creatures are that have Bucky. No one is going to take someone she cares about away from her, not if she has anything to do with it.

So she glances around, fuming, a little desperate -- and hey, an illusion might distract it enough to turn around. So, with a little quick and dirty spellcasting -- there's what appears to be another piece of satellite, crashing down not too far from where Molly is. Hopefully that would do the trick, and if not, she's yelling:]

Hey ugly, I think I've got something of yours.

[trainwrecked]

[Well, it does stop and turn, but it doesn't try to move nearer to the wreck - it perceives more than just sight, which is how they can locate stolen technology that was their charge even when they can't see it.]

[So there is a disconnect, between sight and other spectral analysis, and it stands for a moment, head tilted to one side in confusion.]

[magicalpadawan]

Yeah, that's right, look over here. [She throws up another illusion -- nothing fancy, just lights and sounds, but hopefully its attention will remain caught and she can get closer to Bucky.]

[trainwrecked]

[Except now his attention zeroes in on her.]

You are unwise.

[magicalpadawan]

No, pal, that's you. No one messes with my friends. [She's stalking forward, reaching out with her magic to see if she can kick whatever it is out.]

[trainwrecked]

[That is an experience that Bucky will recall as singularly unpleasant (not that he won't be grateful for her trying!), and his back arches, his limbs flailing slightly at the sensation, but it doesn't budge the spectre.]

This one is useful. Leave.

[And there is more electricity channeled Molly's way.]

[magicalpadawan]

[To which she quickly pulls up a shield, staying right where she is.]

No. You get the hell out of him.

[trainwrecked]

[Bucky's expression creases into surprised annoyance as the electricity doesn't reach her. And the spectre ups the attack. There is no cruelty twisting the features - it is simply doing its job, and this human is in its way.]

There is no reason to.

[magicalpadawan]

[She's keeping the shield up, brushing again for a moment at the edges of Bucky's mind, tentative. She won't do anything else just yet, but her response is more thought, not really heard.]

I said get out.

[trainwrecked]

[Inside the mind, the creature is much more incomprehensible. A snag and snarl, and, under that (feeding that), is a wall of steel will. The kind of indomitable that is not very Bucky in any way. Uniform. Dull. Subjected to only few basic directives.]

[There is nowhere for Molly to get a foothold.]