"Which way do we go?!", Waylon shouted as everyone kept moving. "Finding where it's getting colder would be a good start!", Alfred cried back.
"Only problem is we're gonna be in serious trouble with the elements.", Thomas said as they all took a left turn. "Odds are they've probably kept their winter equipment close to the exits. Hopefully, we can find them before this place starts blowing. I hope that explosion didn't send Dorji a signal to start things up just yet.", Bruce bit his lip.
"I saw him make his escape, is he seriously going to...", Alfred worried. "Trust me, Alfred, it's what he wanted. He'll give us the chance to escape.", Thomas told him.
She-Hulk growled, "That way.", after bashing two League assassins that leapt from the shadows with almost impossible speed of her hands, "Elevator platform exit.", remembering the memory of finding the place with Dorji.
Caroline gasped, "Oh, that's right! I watched over the family all last night, and she's right, this way!", and Bruce replied, "They gotta have snowmobiles or their winter outfits at least!".
"Let's just not wait around and try to weigh the options... Dorji isn't going to give us the chance.", Thomas said. As he said, Dorji had made his escape from the chamber while the other assassins were distracted and now with the place in total chaos, Dorji practically had a free hand since most of the assassins had little idea that he was a threat to them too.
He was busy making his way to the locations where the grenades were set, planning on starting their fuses that would bring the whole place to kingdom come.
He made it to the hallway where Talia and Ra's offices were, next to Ranbir's office and all, and he found the trigger to the grenades hidden in the rooms, and pushed the trigger that was hidden under the counter stand, detonating all of the first line of grenades off to smithereens, praying that the floors through this area would stop the assassins, while he went another way to the second line of grenades which was in the boiler room and the Pit and such.
However, due to the chaos caused by the explosion before rocking the palace a bit; the internal timers on one of the grenades was knocked slightly off; primed to go off sooner than anyone had wanted. It was a few moments after Dorji got a good distance away before they went off prematurely. It still had the accomplished goal; ripping a massive swath of destruction to the fortress but inadvertently caused some severe structural damage that just hit the right spot where the family was trying to escape.
She-Hulk was distracted, roaring as she killed off any hunting assassins, with Bruce and Thomas snapping out at other assassins with their martial moves, breaking bones and all, but Waylon kept listening, and then heard another noise above, and saw the ceiling and pillars of their floor about to fall, and he shouted, "The ceiling of the upper floor's about to go!", scooping his mother up in his arms as Caroline instinctively protected her baby bump, as Poppy went to help Alfred, following behind.
Suddenly, the pillars couldn't take the collapsing ceiling anymore, and one of the pillars fell, and Poppy saw it coming, and pushed Alfred away as she moved backwards, yelling as the other pillars and the ceiling came down, dust filling the air as the others froze in horror and shock, not seeing Poppy anywhere, not sure if any of the shadows were her dodging and using her gymnastics to duck and jump and such.
"POPPY!", Waylon screamed out as everyone was stunned for a few moments. "POPPY, ARE YOU ALIVE?!", he shouted. She-Hulk heard just barely heard some faint coughing from the direction Poppy vanished.
"She alive...", She-Hulk said as Waylon took a deep breath, "I think I can follow her scent... you all keep going, I'll go find her.".
Bruce, who had helped Alfred up, replied, "You sure?", as Waylon put down his mother who is looking over Alfred, and Waylon nodded, "Yes, now, go! We will find you soon, I promise!", giving his parents a look before turning around and sprinted into the billowing dust.
Thomas replied, "You heard him, come on!", as Bruce and he stood at the sides of Caroline and Alfred as Alfred kissed Caroline's temple, "It's going to be okay, Caroline...He will find Poppy, and they can handle themselves.", cradling her baby bump and resting his other hand on her back as they hurried, with Caroline replying, "I know...Being four months along would have been easier than being seven months along, but I'm okay, she's okay...", reassuring her fiancée, praying that Alfred is right.
Waylon's Croc instincts were screaming at him to find his future mate, and for once, Waylon agreed, trying to find her scent in the debris and billowing dust as it is still not getting settled down, calling out, "Poppy! Poppy, where are you?!".
A faint voice coughed and called out, "Wally?", and Waylon widened his eyes as he ran, "Poppy!", smelling her scent closer, as he tried to dodge around broken floor holes and such, and stopping just in time before a massive hole in the floor, "Poppy!", seeing broken pillars and such across the massive hole.
"Wally!", Poppy shouted as Waylon saw her scrambling over debris on the other side, and Waylon heaved in relief, "Are you okay?". Poppy replied, "Yeah, just scrapes!".
"Hold on, I am coming!", Waylon called out, and Poppy replied, "No, stay there! I know you can jump high, but you ain't a gymnastics athlete like me! Okay, let me see here...", looking around the hole, and up from the above wrecked floor, and saw part of the pipes acting like one of the jump poles, and from there, if with a double spin, she then will make it to Waylon.
"I run, jump, catch, do my double spin, let go, and you catch me, alright?", Poppy gestured to her plan, and Waylon nodded, moving to position, "Okay!".
Poppy found a narrow way back as she paced back, and then rolled her shoulders, and with a deep breath, pretending that it's one of her gymnastics practices, and then ran, and jumped off the most pointy hanging floorboard, and angled herself to grab the pipe, doing her first spin successfully, about to do her next spin, when suddenly, like a leopard from the treetops in hunting mode, Talia tackled Poppy from the wrecked above floor from the shadows as Waylon screamed, "Poppy!".
Poppy and Talia crashed into one of the laying pillars, shaking under the weight of the crash, looking to fall into the hole below, and Poppy groaned as she can feel bruised ribs and a growing pounding headache, shaking her head to recall what happened as her eyes opened, and widened in horror and shock to see Talia grinning wildly as she pinned her hard with her boots, "You know, I'm disappointed in you, Poppy Wayne...My father admittedly had a brilliant plan with that vision of your super advanced child, but oh, well, if I can't have that child of yours in my League, you and your dear lover will never know that child or any other children ever.", revealing a sword in a flash, aiming to kill Poppy in a gut slice from belly to chest.
Poppy thankfully was just quick enough to react in time to kick Talia just hard enough to throw her off a bit and then a quick shove to push her off her completely before Poppy got right back up and started to run across the shaking pillar into an intact hallway that was behind the pillar, barely hearing it crash into the massive hole of the floor.
"Another way, Wally!", Poppy screamed out as she started running down another tunnel away from where they were. There just had to be another way to get back to Waylon and the rest of the family. Poppy panted as she ran around a few corners, knowing she was in a maze but her memory strong enough to recall where she at least had been, so she wasn't getting too turned around.
"You think you can escape?", Talia's voice called out. "You know that I have these tunnels plotted out; I'll find you, dear Poppy...".
"Ignore her, Penelope...", Poppy said to herself as she turned another corner. She was panting as she was trying to keep speed and hopefully find her way out before she turned another corner... to find Talia standing right in front of her with her sword pointed forward... right into her belly.
"Tag.", Talia smirked as Poppy's blood ran cold for a moment before she blinked and looked down; her eyes suddenly widened which Talia would do the same when she looked down as well... to see that the blade had completely bended against Poppy's skin.
"No...", Talia whispered as Poppy looked back up towards Talia's eyes, who stood a few inches higher than her, and blinked once more before her irises began to glow.
Poppy then growled, "I'm gonna kill you, bitch!", as the whole impact of anger, shock, horror, and pure adrenaline hit her, becoming an enraged woman whose dream to have her beloved lover's child was threatened, her gamma instincts setting her into a change, a whole new changed form.
Talia honestly was stunned at the moment. She had never even thought to consider this outcome. Sure, Poppy's rapid aging some nights ago was a surprise but she thought that was the furthest it was going to go. Her turning into another gamma creature like her mother? Talia was certain if that was possible, it would've happened, but it clearly was a grave mistake on her part as she dropped the ruined sword and took a step back as Poppy fell to her knees.
"Woo...", Poppy gave a loud exhale as that cold chill in her blood suddenly started to get really hot. It was feeling almost practically euphoric and even a bit erotic in some ways as it felt like those times with Waylon the past few days. On a molecular level, Poppy's gamma genes were hijacking her normal ones; her DNA tearing and reforming as her body was doing the same as she was going through a similar metamorphous like her mother before her.
"Oooo!", Poppy cried out with pleasure. "I'm feeling good!", she exclaimed as her body began to expand, her skin and hair darkening into different shades of green emerald as her body was bulking up, straining the clothes around her body. The shoes she had for starters barely put on much of a challenge as a much larger foot exploded out of them. Her shirt and pants straining and tearing at the seams as she continued to expand. "Oh, feels like someone's lighting my fire!".
Poppy's body expanded greatly from her normal 5'7 height that still would have a bit more growing left to do over the next few years, to a much more imposing, from Talia's perspective, full 7 foot. The clothes Poppy was wearing really didn't last as her top gave away, leaving her completely exposed from the waist up while the pants were almost destroyed and left her more in a sort of ragged bikini bottom that tightly hugged her skin. Poppy took a few deep breaths before she looked at herself while Talia was still frozen on the spot.
"Woah... I'm... all gamma'd out...", Poppy whispered. She certainly had some questions but for now, the answers were chalked down to the same ones with her recent growth spurt earlier this week. There was also the fact that she still felt completely clear in the head. No split personality like Kel and certainly no real loss of any of her intelligence; her head was like before, just a better body. Brains and brawn which would be a devastating combination to anyone that would get in the way. And it didn't take long for her to get her mind back on track to what was going on... starting with making sure to deal with Talia once and for all.
"So, Talia... want to try that again?", Poppy raised an eyebrow as Talia suddenly found herself able to move again. She knew it would be a great challenge, but she still had some surprises, and she was able to suppress Martha before, Poppy in this form, for the first time, could be possible.
Talia quickly threw some dust off the ground and into Poppy's face as she growled and tried to clear her eyes while Talia did a leaping double kick into her stomach. Of course, Talia was thinking that Newton's Laws of Motion would work but that turned out not to be the case as she practically was kicking a brick wall as she cried out in pain when she landed on the floor while Poppy stood firmly standing.
"Wow, now I know what Mama feels like... it's almost a rush to be... damn near invulnerable.", Poppy chuckled as she leaned down to grab Talia, her grip on her tight. Poppy took a deep breath as she stared eye to eye with Talia.
With one move, she easily could snap the woman's neck if she wanted to, but there was part of Poppy that was still being rational and thinking through things. She knew this place was doomed and that the League would be buried under this place, hopefully forever, thanks to Dorji's sacrifice. Poppy didn't even have to get her hands too dirty with that.
"You know, Talia... it's so tempting, I should just kill you for everything you, your father, your whole organization has done over these past days to me and my family. But I'm not like Mama when she turned the first time, I still have my mind and am not unthinking. I won't make you my Joe Chill, I'm going to prove that I'm better than you.", Poppy said lowly.
Talia blinked for a moment before Poppy tossed her over hard against the tunnel walls, shattering her left leg instantly and greatly injuring Talia. "I won't kill but really teaching you a lesson is fine in my book.", Poppy smirked as she took another breath before closing her eyes and listening to her senses. Like her mother, greatly heightened before she quickly picked up Waylon's voice not too far away.
"Poppy! Poppy!", Waylon shouted as he was rushing through the tunnels, desperate to find her as soon as possible and hopefully before Talia. Things had gotten way too quiet for his liking, and he feared that he might have been too late. He turned a corner and started to run before a figure blocked his way some yards down the tunnel.
Waylon came to a stop to look as the figure walked towards him, his eyes squinting as he tried to get a better look before they widened so much, they risked popping out of his head. "P-Poppy...?", he whispered before she was right in front of him.
"In the gamma flesh.", Poppy smirked before she leaned up to peck him on the lips. "So... turns out I had another serious growth spurt in me.".
"Yo-yo-you're...", Waylon stammered. "Hey, if Mom is incredible, does that make me sensational?", Poppy giggled.
Waylon's Croc instincts were roaring at him as Poppy was even more sexy and alluring, with her heat pulling him so hard to finally claim her, but he fought his instincts back barely as he argued that they are still in danger, and rumbled in arousal yet love, "Yes...You are perfect no matter what you are...I really want so badly to claim you, Poppy Wayne, but right now, we gotta go...".
Poppy can feel her arousal, and her Hulk instincts to claim him really badly as well, but she fought back with strong mental fists, and nodded, so glad that she can actually now almost match Waylon in his Croc form perfectly without hurting her neck or anything, "Right, let's go!".
The two of them moved fast as they tried to find the others. The could pick up the trail but it was still quite a mess as more of the place was rocking and coming undone. "Think Dorji set them off too early?", Waylon asked.
"Yeah, I think so... what Mama or... whoever is running around in that body right now, setting that machine off might have given him the wrong signal. Still, the place hasn't caved in on us completely yet, so I think we still have a little time left.", Poppy said.
Waylon nodded, "Yeah.", before they faintly heard roars and yells, and Poppy smirked, "That's our cue.", before running on.
The rest of the family went running through the temple on She-Hulk and Caroline's directions to the tunnel pathway to the secret platform elevator, hoping that they got snowmobiles or such as the family were blindfolded and all on the first day, with breaking spines off League members or injuring legs and such, by either She-Hulk or Bruce and Thomas who was somehow teaming up really well in their martial arts.
They ended up by the kitchen with more League members blocking the way to the tunnel pathway in the hallway, and as the others battled the first wave, Alfred and Caroline went into the kitchen, with Alfred grabbing a rolling pin to hit some League members, "Don't you dare touch us!", dodging their swords and such, with Caroline trying to duck and such from one incoming assassin, and saw a frying pan with a grin, grabbing it, and slammed it into the head of the assassin.
Caroline exhaled as she looked at her frying pan with a smirk, "Knew you'd come back, old friend.", before moving to join Alfred to bash more heads, and Alfred stared at Caroline, "Wha-?".