Rise, Rapture, Rise
Nov. 10th, 2011 01:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wasafreakThe red glow that had overtaken the room was starting to hurt Teddy's eyes. It was bright, and pervasive, and it made his temples throb but there was no way in hell he was going to look away: That was Billy in the middle of it. Seeing him beside the Scarlet Witch, their eyes closed and their lips moving in concentration, they really looked like family. Which was good, that was what Billy had wanted, and Teddy wasn't about to nay-say it, only...
Well, only they were in a dungeon in Latveria and Doctor Doom was, at least in part, running the show. Which was concerning. Teddy had concerns. Eli was voicing most of them. As a team, they couldn't afford to be split on this. They had to trust Billy and get through it, and seeing as how 'it' was already going down, that wasn't the kind of thing you interrupted. At least not if you were thinking straight, which Patriot demonstrably was not.
"We can stop them."
"How?" Kate said, ever the voice of reason. Teddy appreciated not being the only one.
"How do you propose we stop the combined powers of Wiccan, the Scarlet Witch, and Doctor Doom?" Patriot was so tense he looked like he was vibrating head to toe, and it made Teddy nervous. Eli was a good leader- a great leader, or else he wouldn't have followed him down the block, let alone into battle, but Eli had a history of making... less than stellar choices when he was feeling especially passionate.
"I don't think we should," Cassie said over Teddy's shoulder, and he felt a sudden spike of relief through the anxiety. This was it, this was the team making a decision, if admittedly not a unanimous one.
"Neither do I," Teddy said, adding his vote, gaze slipping from Eli's distraught expression to Billy's serene one. His eyes were glowing white, he was lost in the magic- or hopefully not lost, exactly, but using it, and keeping anyone else present from taking it over. It was weird- Billy was playing with the A-Listers, now, and Teddy would have been proud if he wasn't so damn worried. Also, apparently, distracted.
"-an incendiary arrow might do the trick," Eli was saying, and Kate was looking practically livid behind the slick dark lenses of her shades as Teddy forced himself to look away from his boyfriend.
"It might also kill them," Kate pointed out, in her how-are-you-this-dumb-and-I-still-like-you tone that she only used with Eli, and then Teddy's heart fell into his stomach because Eli lunged for her bow.
"Then I'll be sure to aim it at Doom."
It was the strangest moment- and it was only a moment, Patriot being able to move as fast as he could. None of them had time to step forward, to grab the arrow back, to stop him. Teddy could feel himself staring in horror like a big, hulking idiot as Eli notched the arrow and let it fly. Billy's eyes, brown again though awash in the red light, slid sideways as it flew.
Toward Wanda.
"No-" Billy said, and Teddy heard the word working its way out of his own throat, even as the red light burst outward, brighter than it had yet been, to the point where it flashed a blinding white.
When it cleared, the room was dark- darker than it had been before the spell had started- and Teddy was alone. He took two halting steps forward, eyes widening, one pale arm outstretched-
Pale. Not green. No armor. Flesh. He had reverted forms- why?
"Billy?" he said, head whipping around.
"Kate? Where.... are.... am... I?" he whispered, as his eyes adjusted and the dilapidated art deco motif of the room came into focus. Not Castle von Doom, then. Probably not Latveria at all, which was a lot of thatched roofs and gothic stonework and tudor cottages. This place had, at one time, been sleek and as sophisticated as the '20s got. Actually, it all looked eerily like a level from Bioshock. He started across the room to a window, two stories high and looking out at what he had thought was a darkened night sky but upon closer examination proved to be dark blue waters. He stood dumbly in front of it, tracking silvery, flat fish as they moved in small schools past him. His gaze caught on a neon sign some distance off, the glow murky. It said FLEET HALL, and there were other signs around it, something for what he was pretty sure said tobacco, although a letter or two had broken and burnt out, but all of which told him he was, in fact, in Rapture.
Which, if he didn't know a mother-son team of magic using reality warpers, he would have said was impossible.
"Okay," he murmured to his ghostly half-reflection, which looked decidedly freaked out and not at all like the pillar of cool, nor calm, nor collectedness that Teddy felt he ought to be, "it's okay. I beat this game in one sitting. I didn't even use a walkthrough. Not a problem." A low metallic groan echoed from somewhere deep in the bowels of whatever building he was currently in, and the hairs on his arm stood up. He wasn't sure why he couldn't transform, and that threw him off, but then, Billy had thought his powers had been gone, too. It was just Doom messing with him. Teddy could handle being messed with. He was a high schooler, for crying out loud.
He just had to find his friends and get out of there, or get the hell out of there and find his friends. Either way, standing still wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he turned from the window and headed into the dark, feeling intensely, vulnerably human, which was something he hadn't really felt for a long time.
It seemed straightforward enough, until he realized he was in the Sander Cohen level, and then thoughts of people with lead pipes in rabbit masks spurred him on. He could hear voices, screams every now and then, but it was mostly quiet. He dug through one hallway's detritus into another's, and stopped when he saw what looked like a security office. He picked up a phone, which had no tone, then picked up the clunkiest, biggest radio he'd ever seen.
He flicked it on, then dropped to a crouch so he was hidden behind the table. Just in case.
"Hello? Is anyone on this frequency? Billy? Eli? Kate? Hello? ...Over?"
Well, only they were in a dungeon in Latveria and Doctor Doom was, at least in part, running the show. Which was concerning. Teddy had concerns. Eli was voicing most of them. As a team, they couldn't afford to be split on this. They had to trust Billy and get through it, and seeing as how 'it' was already going down, that wasn't the kind of thing you interrupted. At least not if you were thinking straight, which Patriot demonstrably was not.
"We can stop them."
"How?" Kate said, ever the voice of reason. Teddy appreciated not being the only one.
"How do you propose we stop the combined powers of Wiccan, the Scarlet Witch, and Doctor Doom?" Patriot was so tense he looked like he was vibrating head to toe, and it made Teddy nervous. Eli was a good leader- a great leader, or else he wouldn't have followed him down the block, let alone into battle, but Eli had a history of making... less than stellar choices when he was feeling especially passionate.
"I don't think we should," Cassie said over Teddy's shoulder, and he felt a sudden spike of relief through the anxiety. This was it, this was the team making a decision, if admittedly not a unanimous one.
"Neither do I," Teddy said, adding his vote, gaze slipping from Eli's distraught expression to Billy's serene one. His eyes were glowing white, he was lost in the magic- or hopefully not lost, exactly, but using it, and keeping anyone else present from taking it over. It was weird- Billy was playing with the A-Listers, now, and Teddy would have been proud if he wasn't so damn worried. Also, apparently, distracted.
"-an incendiary arrow might do the trick," Eli was saying, and Kate was looking practically livid behind the slick dark lenses of her shades as Teddy forced himself to look away from his boyfriend.
"It might also kill them," Kate pointed out, in her how-are-you-this-dumb-and-I-still-like-you tone that she only used with Eli, and then Teddy's heart fell into his stomach because Eli lunged for her bow.
"Then I'll be sure to aim it at Doom."
It was the strangest moment- and it was only a moment, Patriot being able to move as fast as he could. None of them had time to step forward, to grab the arrow back, to stop him. Teddy could feel himself staring in horror like a big, hulking idiot as Eli notched the arrow and let it fly. Billy's eyes, brown again though awash in the red light, slid sideways as it flew.
Toward Wanda.
"No-" Billy said, and Teddy heard the word working its way out of his own throat, even as the red light burst outward, brighter than it had yet been, to the point where it flashed a blinding white.
When it cleared, the room was dark- darker than it had been before the spell had started- and Teddy was alone. He took two halting steps forward, eyes widening, one pale arm outstretched-
Pale. Not green. No armor. Flesh. He had reverted forms- why?
"Billy?" he said, head whipping around.
"Kate? Where.... are.... am... I?" he whispered, as his eyes adjusted and the dilapidated art deco motif of the room came into focus. Not Castle von Doom, then. Probably not Latveria at all, which was a lot of thatched roofs and gothic stonework and tudor cottages. This place had, at one time, been sleek and as sophisticated as the '20s got. Actually, it all looked eerily like a level from Bioshock. He started across the room to a window, two stories high and looking out at what he had thought was a darkened night sky but upon closer examination proved to be dark blue waters. He stood dumbly in front of it, tracking silvery, flat fish as they moved in small schools past him. His gaze caught on a neon sign some distance off, the glow murky. It said FLEET HALL, and there were other signs around it, something for what he was pretty sure said tobacco, although a letter or two had broken and burnt out, but all of which told him he was, in fact, in Rapture.
Which, if he didn't know a mother-son team of magic using reality warpers, he would have said was impossible.
"Okay," he murmured to his ghostly half-reflection, which looked decidedly freaked out and not at all like the pillar of cool, nor calm, nor collectedness that Teddy felt he ought to be, "it's okay. I beat this game in one sitting. I didn't even use a walkthrough. Not a problem." A low metallic groan echoed from somewhere deep in the bowels of whatever building he was currently in, and the hairs on his arm stood up. He wasn't sure why he couldn't transform, and that threw him off, but then, Billy had thought his powers had been gone, too. It was just Doom messing with him. Teddy could handle being messed with. He was a high schooler, for crying out loud.
He just had to find his friends and get out of there, or get the hell out of there and find his friends. Either way, standing still wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he turned from the window and headed into the dark, feeling intensely, vulnerably human, which was something he hadn't really felt for a long time.
It seemed straightforward enough, until he realized he was in the Sander Cohen level, and then thoughts of people with lead pipes in rabbit masks spurred him on. He could hear voices, screams every now and then, but it was mostly quiet. He dug through one hallway's detritus into another's, and stopped when he saw what looked like a security office. He picked up a phone, which had no tone, then picked up the clunkiest, biggest radio he'd ever seen.
He flicked it on, then dropped to a crouch so he was hidden behind the table. Just in case.
"Hello? Is anyone on this frequency? Billy? Eli? Kate? Hello? ...Over?"
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-11-19 09:20 pm (UTC)Rounding the corner with Natalya, she breathes no easier for the sight of the boy hurtling towards them. Terror is plain on his face, and there's no way yet to tell if he's alone. "It's all right, Mr. Altman," she says regardless, halting with one gauntleted arm raised and pointing into the empty space behind him. "You're quite safe now."
no subject
Date: 2011-11-19 09:26 pm (UTC)"Oh my God," he blurts out, "the Black Widow?"
no subject
Date: 2011-11-19 09:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-19 09:42 pm (UTC)"In some circles," she replies, and has no doubt that the other woman would experience similar, should as many of her own people ever appear on the island. "Hulkling," she amends, holding out the hand not currently whining with a sudden charge of electricity, "hurry now, Rapture is no place for introductions."
no subject
Date: 2011-11-19 09:49 pm (UTC)"There's no one here except Sander Cohen, I don't think, which is weird, but he's insane and he's a Houdini splicer, so he could literally pop up anywhere, at any moment."
no subject
Date: 2011-11-19 09:51 pm (UTC)"You have been in contact with him?"
no subject
Date: 2011-11-20 01:22 am (UTC)"It is best not to engage Mr. Cohen." Not without a considerable amount of weaponry. "And there are people who will be extremely interested in your arrival outside these caves," she adds with a significant glance his way.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-21 03:50 am (UTC)"Billy?!" he asks. "What about Kate, or Eli? Do you know where they are, are they okay?"
no subject
Date: 2011-11-21 05:16 am (UTC)It just wasn't the right spot.
"Where do you think you're taking him?" Cohen demanded, his voice echoing live off the walls, not through any of the tinny old broadcast systems scattered around the buildings. Natalya whipped the muzzle of the dragunov in the direction it had to've originated from, but there was a sound, one she hated, the gasping dispersal of air and matter, that meant he'd teleported elsewhere.
"Leave him with me, leave the boy!" the voice cried, bouncing out of another darkened corner to their left.
"I can make something of him."
"Fucking shit," Natalya swore, running faster and pushing the boy along.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-23 07:25 pm (UTC)"Billy," she confirms as if they were not running for their lives. She would like nothing better than to turn and engage this Cohen at last, but there simply isn't time. "He's the only one from your team here, I'm afraid. He'll be very glad to see you."
no subject
Date: 2011-11-24 01:08 am (UTC)"Thank God," he mutters, almost smiling, running flat out and with a new single minded focus, which is why he doesn't notice that there's slick, discarded plates of corrugated meta half hidden under water on the floor. When he feels his foot go out from under him, his instinct is to grow wings, keep himself upright.
It doesn't happen, though, and he falls, like an idiot, as something explodes behind them and the only other guy down there makes a very pissed off sound before the sucking noise of a teleporter jumping locations happens again.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-26 09:20 pm (UTC)"The bathysphere, we are close," she said, turning to reach out a hand and help the teen up, "keep- Teddy-"
He was pulling himself up, wincing, on a balustrade that was well and thoroughly rotted through. He seemed to notice and was pulling away from it when another of Natasha's small explosives went off down a hallway, and another came flying out of the dark to strike the scrolling ironwork and light up the elevated walkway.
Because there were plasmids that made one telekinetic. To think, she'd almost forgotten.