[4th July 2010]
[Embassy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Washington DC]
Well it was good news, bad news time my mind informed me I found as I unleashed the burst of electrical energy from my hand to lash out at the angry flying blue magic-man dodge-hovering a distance away. I, of course, was busily moving away from the spot I'd just cast the spell at the moment it was unleashed because even invisible standing still right now seemed a bad idea. In my experience it usually was. At the least the good news was I now knew who we were up again; the ancient crazy Scandinavian sorcerer Wotan. I should know I'd both read, and helped write up, his S.H.I.E.L.D file.
Bad News; I knew who he was and had read his file...and it wasn't exactly a great indicator of this lunatic being a pushover like we'd have preferred. Something confirmed by the fact of my lightning smashing into his magical shield and merely slamming it (with him inside) back a metre or two in the air as he seemed to snarl in unhappiness. Oh, and lash out in my direction...or what had been my location before running...with a clearly enraged magical bolt in retaliation. Somewhat of a mistake as my very helpful summons and the, normally less helpful, John connected with their own attacks upon the unhappy flying blue man's defence that staggered him once again...
...as what looked like thick strings of...paper or cloth maybe?...seemed to erupt from a small glowing circle in the air to reach for Wotan and slide around his body and grasp at his limbs. It seemed Ms. Snow had entered the fray as I glanced to the side as she seemed to playing with some paper cut-outs in her hand while chanting something Latin sounding. Good for her, best not to interfere with that spell I figured scrambling up the V shape of the roof from the walk way part, thumbed my lovely German made (and me-magically-enhanced) pistol and offered my next contribution as blue man sorcerer writhed and struggled in the air against the white strings seemingly attempting to wrap him up like a mummy...
Attempt be the operative word as I took aim and the nice happy crackcrackcrack retort echoed out alongside the sounds of others doing the exact same. Wotan was struggling frantically against his would be bonds that were flashing around him like an open ball of white coloured string that had suddenly come alive. An arm was covered as it transformed from gaudy robes to white bindings as mister blue sorcerer man started to lose height as he snarled what I assumed to be curses as he twisted this way and that in the air. Good news; while regular bullets failed to penetrate his outer shield it looked like mine had judging by the howl he admitted at what I assume was a...
'Bollocks' I thought as the howl of pain tuned into a roar of anger as he seemed to flex out, legs and arms slamming out from him as the white bandage wraps started to cover the rest of him...
...only to be disintegrated or incinerated away suddenly as Wotan roared out something angry Swedish chef sounding and a blast of...black flames?...seemed to erupt from like a pulse wave. I brought my arm up to cover my face instinctively despite the armoured mask. Really need to train myself out of that I noted with irritation as I lost sight of evil blue for a moment as the 'shock-wave' over took me.
A completely non-existent shock-wave actually our foe took our momentary distraction, and his own rage possibly, to slam a blast of fire into the roof near too me which elicited a brief scream from the soldier nearby as she and I were caught in the blast. Unfortunately for her I had a magic shield in place...and she did not. I focused on the mission at hand as I slid down the roof as my invisibility suddenly vanished combined with the attack staggering me...shit where;s the gun...
'Wait flying man, far off ground, magic used...fucking idiot' I mentally snarled as I caught my slide just as Wotan's attention was once again taken by another attack; Constantine this time as a fireball slammed into the flying man. Words spilled out of my mouth as I moved my hands through the incantation with as much speed and precision as I could muster. Mental Note: recover pistol upon completion!
'Fuck, there goes my summons!' my brain informed my less than clinically as 'I' over in the sky was smashed out of this plane of existence with a savage and powerful blast of mystic energy from Wotan that it failed to dodge this time. Still Blue's focus was momentarily off of myself as he hovered a distance away just up and away from the ledge of the roof as he managed to reorient himself from the attempt at mummifying him. That might have been a mistake on his part as I felt the wild power roar through me and my voice snarled out "Dispel!"
An important lesson when you're a flying wizard is that you really need to have a backup for when said spell ends rather abruptly. Nethoril had learned that, well the handful that survived, when their flying cities literally fell out of the sky when magic failed. Most wizards in my past life learned over a lifetime that trying to fly (often invisible) over armies with even a few wizards and clerics (regardless of lower levels) was a very bad idea. It'd be useful to learn if Ugly Blue Man here had a feather fall or parachute ready as a contingency i figured as the spell flew out from me and he turned towards me just as it slammed into him...
...and promptly fell from the sky out of my field of vision with a confused yelp, a muffled thump a moment later as he likely bounced off something, and then a more muffled thump and a scream a few more moments later as his journey came to an end. Hmm...evidently he did not have a contingency in place for such an event happening to him. That seemed somewhat short sighted really I figured as I rolled over and looked around for my dropped pistol, and still not able to see where it was.
In part also because the roof was evidently on fire now for some reason, not sure when that happened. I glanced around and saw that there wasn't any saving the young woman who'd been caught in the blast with me. Flinching a moment, I forced my eyes off the burned corpse and located the form of both John and Whitey McWhite-Mage in her somewhat ripped and turn now mostly-white dress. Reaffirming why dinner wear and flouncy dresses tended to be a poor choice to wear on the battlefield...
"That ain't gonna take that git down for good mate, need to get down there now before gets up and about again" he grunted out to at me striding past me towards the edge of the room at a determined pace. I nodded in agreement forcing myself to focus on the mission at hand; Wotan was old, said to be immortal, and it was unlikely a three or four story fall would have killed him. Though...it would be pretty hilarious if it had done him in after surviving hundreds of years through wars and battles! Or maybe...hmm, was I just feeling vindictive right now?
"Agreed" I managed to say before a massive explosion of dark power erupted from before us, slamming me and the others back as the front part of the roof where Wotan had fallen exploded as a beam of blackness slammed upwards into it.
'Okay...that's not good' I managed to form in my head as the slightly battered looking form of the Evil Blue Sorcerer rose back up into the sky with a roar that even I felt through the mask as a pillar of darkness seemed to frame Wotan's form. Oh, and he was angry judging by the snarling, badly accent english he was roaring at us, or me in particular, as he had that stupid pose like he was Superman...
"I AM THE POWER AND GLORY AND THE RAGE AND YOU WILL SUFFER FOR HARMING MY FLESH YOU PUNY LITTLE INSECTS! I AM WOTAN THE GLORIOUS AND POWERFUL AND I WILL HAVE THE BLOOD I NEED TO SHOW THIS PATHETIC WORLD MY POWER AND GLORY! ALL WILL BOW BEFORE ME, BUT NONE OF YOU SHALL NOT GE..."
Talking was not a free action I wanted to say as John managed to prove just that point before I did as his hands came up and he shouted at angry blue sorcerer man "FIAT BLOODY LUX ASSHOLE!"
And then there was LIGHT. Gods above was their light fucking everywhere as the power roared before me and into that pillar of darkness like the birth of a new sun. Thankfully I wasn't blinded due to the enchantments in my 'gem-eyes' of my armoured face mask filtered it out...somewhat. But it didn't protect Mr. Power and Glory and Rage as stood he hovering at the epic-centre of that temporary new sun clutching some weird old amulet thing in his hand.
Don't know, don't care...my hand shot up and the focused on his now unshielded and temporarily blinded face as the light bleed away after a few moments. Ah, silent casting aren't you a great thing. The arrow of acid materialised in front of my hand for but a fraction of a moment...before flying forward in the interval between the 'immortal' sorcerer's arms beginning to rise to shield his face and actually there to slammed and splash unto with a green gooey glow. Oh Melf, whoever you were, whenever you were, you were an wicked bastard did you know that?
"AAAAIIIIEEEEEE!" Wotan screamed back at us as hands now flew to the hissing and bubbling face of his...which was somewhat of a mistake I noted with horrified fascination as that just got his bare hands covered in the agonising stuff which caused him to drop his weird Ankh thing from one of them...
...and promptly fell from the sky with a continuing over the top "AAAAIIIEEEE!" as he fell...Thud... "EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"...THUD... "eeeeeeeeeeeeeee"
"No taking chances this time" I ground out as I pushed myself back up and forward toward the ledge. John nodded with a happy grin upon his face as he glanced back behind him "Heh heh heh, nope need to show that twat what fer right George love? Ya comin?...ah don't give us that look...he's not dead judgin' from all his screamin"
"John fuckin' focus..." I snapped as I turned back to Ms. Snow "...can you fly or featherfall or get down on yer own power Snow?"
That seemed to snap her out of that look upon her face, blinking, then shaking her head in the negative as I offered an arm as we were in a bit of a bloody hurry right now. I gripped her waist as she put her arm around my shoulder, before I stepped off the ledge and ignited the spell silently...to descend at a nice steady pace as John hopped off with a spell of his own. Needed to learn that one as wasn't quite flight, but not quite featherfall either, as it mimicked the effects of both to limited degrees also as the bastard shoved a battered looking cigarette back into his mouth...
"And what do you think you're grabbing for you fool?" I stated loudly pointing at the, still shrieking, form of the 'immortal' sorcerer below who was rapidly approaching as we descended...and was rolling around and blindly grabbing for somewhat around him. Likely the thing he had been holding. Levitating that thing up my hand as we descended seemed the best idea, one that would be followed by agonised blue man being captured as dirt and soot cover White Mage holding unto me used her free hand to pull out to a paper 'man' from her dress and mutter something to me to that effect.
"Looks like the...cavalry are here mate. BIT LATE YOU LOT! HAD TO DO YOUR JOB GIOVANNI!" he said then shouting out as I glanced up and saw several hovering figures in the air started to arrive into view, or perhaps had been already there, relative to ourselves as my feet touched the ground a few metres away from screaming man. He looked and felt like he'd live. Silence shut him up and Ms. Snow's magic bindy-things stopped him moving by turning him into a squirming and struggling mummy of sorts. I glanced at John and then at the potential problem above us as soldiers with assault rifles and pistols emerged from the Embassy entrance behind us. Gods was the car-park a mess of burning cars and a body here or there...
"Shut up John, we have work to do..." I told the laughing magician as I stared up at the figures hovering slowly closer. One with a rather...unhappy...expression upon his face as he glared back at the idiot beside me as he stood in a fancy performers suit atop a glowing metal circle. Idly I wondered when it had become evening or early night as I faced the Justice League. I waved, waving in a friendly manner is a good idea "...Hello! Thank you for arriving to our aid, but your assistance shall not be required this day for combat. We have secured the attacker as you can see and await the directions of our respective governments. I expect aid in regards clearing rubble would..."
A red blur seemed to fly through the car-park and appear before us all "Hey guys, sorry I was late, got held..." he looked around "...Oh Hey Skullsy! Wow, and everything's on fire this time!"
I frowned inside my mask and folded my arms across my chest at his tone, the laughing magician beside me, and glares of the other magician in the sky above "I am not a supervillain!"
Constantine laughed even louder kicking the squirming bandages "Fuckin' course ye are mate! You melted this dudes face of 'member?"
"Fuck you John I am not...and I'll heal him up nice and good later when we are interrogating him and need answers and everything isn't on fire" I stated turning my head towards that fucking idiot. He laughed and scratched at the back of his head.
"Heh, yeah sorry about that" he muttered, and I ignored, as I tried to focus on the task at hand. I was so fucking tired all of a sudden and facing very powerful problems. Like Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, a very much enraged Zatara...and that looked like one of the Green Lanterns with passengers in a scoop like transport-y green coloured thing as he flew. Did Batman not own a Bat Helicopter in this reality? Anyway how to...
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