4821/Mushroom PIcking

Mushroom PIcking
Date of Scene:	05 July 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Juggernaut, Hulk, Zod

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Juggernaut has posed:
    The Van Courtland Golf Course was once a place of incredible beauty, serenity and rolling green fields, well maintained woodlands and green hills out of some sort of idyllic fairy tale. For golfing of course.

Now it's something out of some sort of post apocalyptic nightmare. Under the canopy of large space mushrooms that have taken root, the soil is corrupted, the place abandoned and lifeless save for the growing masses of the strange squid like creatures that are becoming more and more common. The work of the local heroes has yet to reach this particular corner of NYC but that's not stopping the authorities from doing all they can to quarantine the area and direct bystanders and traffic as clear as possible in this perpetually worsening nightmare.

That is unless you're a bystander whose name happens to be Cain Marko, aka The Unstoppable Juggernaut.

His approach to the area is heralded by heavy rumblinmg *TOOOMS* that ripple through the earth with the impact of each footfall. By the time he's actually crested into view, lumbering like some monstrous steroided version of Mighty Joe Young clad in his traditional red armor, it's a full on seismic event with seismometers elsewhere in the city triggering due to the pounding impact of his steps.

"Halt! Stop!" an officer shouts through a bullhorn as the behemoth approaches the golf course entry.

"Sorry chum. I don't do 'Stop'." responds the brute, "See, I'm The Juggernaut!"

Gotta get that decleration in there. It's union rules.

Hulk has posed:
Stalks tend to get priority based on size, how fast they're growing, and what's around it. It's a quarantine war. The meta teams know it. The militaries of the world know it. The general populace knows it. A stalk just getting started is a local threat. A stalk as big as the Central Park one takes serious effort. It's one reason why this stalk has been left alone for a while. There are simply bigger stalks to fry right now.

That changes when local police phone in the Juggernaut is interested in a New York stalk. With all the other Avengers and Justice League busy with other issues, Bruce Banner is the only one at the Mansion.

Trying to get any biology work done with fires needing to be constantly put out makes it so he needs to constantly start and stop his work. But when Cain shows up out of nowhere, he's the only one available. Just as well. He's probably the only member of the team capable of actually going toe to toe with him.

Taking an autopiloting fast response car, Bruce Banner drives hard for the golf course. It's only a few minutes away.

Juggernaut has posed:
    By the time such a response is en route, Juggernaut has made his way deeper into the golf course as evidence by police squad cars flattened under foot as if they were at a monster truck rally. Huge footprints by the brute that lead into the park, erupting fire hydrants blocks away from the sheer pressure of his foot steps impacting the city blocks. Even a squad car embedded upside down in a building five stories up at the edge of the park.

To his credit, nobody is hurt though several officers look dazed and thrown off, as if caught in the wake of a sudden earthquake. Which, truthfully is somewhat accurate.

For his part, the goliath approaches the stalk which is, as noted, only moderate in size where the global stalk issue is concerned, but still damage inducing to the local eco system and dangerous to anyone who attempts to interact with it. The dangers to the flesh of those who draw near seem to hold no threat to the giant and he slows only upon taking note of the squid-spawn.

"What is this? Nobody told me about the Mini-Me's." he grunts just as they take note of him and begin to swarm his way.

He braces, cocking an arm and balling up a boulder of a fist. A bicep the size of a buick flexes, peaking towards his clenched fist as he twists and cocks back like a spring, "Out of th'way, Squidward!"

He then lunges forward and then down towards the earth, using little by way of restraint. The impact is like a bomb going off. Massive chunks of earth explode upwards and blast wildly as chasms splinter through the area from the thunderous earthquake punch. Multiples of the squid-monsters are crushed and others are flung up into the air, sailing towards the edges of the golf course, risking being scattered out into the neighborhood from the giants careless attack.

Hulk has posed:
Having arrived in the scene by the time those squidlings are being scattered, Bruce gets out of the fast response car just in time to watch the chaos. "Oh boy... one of these..." Bruce mutters to himself as he rubs at his glasses... which he places into the secure storage on the car as he starts to walk into the park proper. He's only had time to throw on a white sleeveless and some stretchy nanotech pants of Banners own design... but the skinny, very physically inept man just jogs right into the golf course.

Eventually, he gets within sight of Juggernaut. Within shouting distance, Bruce places his hands in his pockets, "Mr. Marko! I don't know what you're doing, but can you please calm down for a moment? You're doing serious damage to the city." Bruce asks.

Yes, Bruce Banner himself is there, not backing down from Juggernaut. It's a dare if ever there was one if Juggernaut has been keeping track of who transforms into the Hulk.

Zod has posed:
     Dru-Zod has been on this planet for less than a week learning the language, running across a green hued behemoth. Having made New York City his 'stomping grounds' so to speak Zod is not too far away when the 'earth-quake' can be felt along with the additional tremmors. Taking flight, his clothing now conspicuously terran starts to transform into the Kryptonian body armor the black and bronze outfit similar to what Superman wears. He quickly zooms in interposing himself between a group of police officers as one of the squid like 'things' comes flying out about to land and hit them. Taking the brunt of the blow across his back the Kryptonian speaks in a clear voice to what he conciders civilians. "Pull your men back as quickly as you can pull back to the edge of the campus." he orders before picking up a damaged squad car and bringing it down with predjudice on the squidling..

Juggernaut has posed:
    Well, this is unexpected!

Juggernaut kicks over a large lopsided chunk of dirt and stone, sending it crashing to the side, only to hear Bruce's 'request' and he pauses in surprise and turns, swiveling completely around like some sort of tank turret and locking his ice blue gaze right onto Banner. His initial response isn't one of recognition but confusion and he quickly cuts his gaze to the left, right and even upwards, searching for signs of other superheroes and meta intervention before looking back at Banner.

"What're you hasslin' me for man? You got some sorta death wish or strange fetish fo gettin' hurt or bullied or something? Get outta here, I'm on the clock."

Indeed he -had- partially timed this based on given information that he could get in and get out before superhero intervention happened. Alas, not all things can be accounted for.

"Wait-a-sec.." rumbles Juggernaut as he leans forward now, looming over Bruce like some sort of one story home that decided to take notice of the people beneath it. He splays his fingers across the bottom of his helm by reflex, mimicing the act of rubbing ones jaw.

"Hey..I know you. You're BANNER! But what's with the nerd-rage? Where's the Jade Jaws at??"

Just yet, he doesn't notice the unique and unknown new arrival, his focus now fully locked onto Banner.

Hulk has posed:
"I'm hoping it doesn't come to that. I have a lot of work to do, and The Other Guy takes a while to revert. Perhaps we can come to some sort of compromise that doesn't end up with us tearing the city apart?" Bruce asks.

His face makes it very clear that he doesn't consider that a likely possibility, but it doesn't hurt to try, right? Especially with Juggernaut taking the squidling heat for now.

Zod has posed:
     With the seismic activity having come to a halt Zod lands and starts to calmly walk his way towards where the towering man stands, his angle keeping Banners presence obscured from him. "You are posing a threat to the civilians of this city." he calls out as he approaches from behind. "If you mean well, practice constraint, if you mean harm that ends now.." he says his voice clear an loud enough for the police force to hear as they start pulling back, helpping those that are dazed or minorly hurt..

Juggernaut has posed:
    "I'm on the clock here, Brucie. If you're gonna change, then change. Otherwise you're wasting my time. There's a big pay off and that.." he points at the stalk. "Is gonna cover my eating expenses for the next six months."

A sudden wild swing of his massive hand occurs as he swats out and slams it into another set of squid-creatures, pretty much resultin his hand being the fly-swatter and the creatures the fly. Ichor and squid-sparts splat everywhere from the giants casual dismissal of the beasts to the hereafter. Some likely spraying towards Bruce himself.

Then he hears Zod and Juggernaut frowns..and it's not a pleasent sight. Bruce provided some sort of amusement in his daring to approach him so unarmed. This newcomer though?

"You the local good-guy?" he asks of Zod, turning away from Bruce now to face him. "Great. Just great. Beat it. This guy got here first."

Hulk has posed:
When Zod arrives, Bruce frowns slightly. "You need to clear out of here. Mr. Marko here is already enough of a problem." Then, the squids are thrown practically directly into his face, probably intentionally by Juggernaut. The implication and unexpected violence already triggering Bruce into an out of control transformation. Green skin starts to show as Bruce grows, and his shirt rips off. The pants, being nanotech based, stretch with the Jade Giant as the Hulk emerges as he lays down.

Slamming two fists into the ground and creating a small crater in each, Hulk stands up and growls towards Juggernaut as he stands to his full ten feet, "Hulk been fighting mushroom things for weeks now, you might be interesting change of pace." Hulk states as he thumps his way over to Juggernaut. "You going to stop, or is Hulk going to have to smash you to make you stop?"

Zod has posed:
     Dru-Zod shakes his head "Concider me a concerned bystander." Zod replies to Juggernaught taking another couple of steps towards the brute as the squidlings seem to be concidering him the largest threat at the moment.

    When the earth shakes and Hulk makes his appearance Zod takes into the air. "Great, the walking monosyllabic disaster is here too.." he says with a resigned sigh. "PULL YOUR PERIMETER BACK ANOTHER TEN BLOCKS, AND EVACUATE ANY OTHER CIVILIANS." he calls out in a loud booming voice to the police hoping that they will actually listen to reason..

Juggernaut has posed:
    It was indeed somewhat deliberate although he may have timed it differently had he noticed Zod sooner. Bruce he knows. Hulk he knwos. This new third party is an unknown and he simply sneers as Zod makes his introduction. Still, a new super-powered being is hardly something that's given him concern or pause before so it doesn't bother him per se but as mentioned.. he's on the clock with a delivery to make and such things msut be timed appropriately.

Thus when Bruce does finally change, he's less interested. A brawl with Hulk he could have made time for. Double duty, well, he's not being paid for that. Yet, on the inside..Cyttorak demands violence..and Juggernaut loves him some violence.

Thus when Hulk stalks towards him, Juggernaut stretches slightly, shaking his monsterously huge arms and then stretching them upwards..seemingly..'bigger' then he was before?

"I told you yokels." he rumbles..and then without any other warning he swings! A huge unrestrained upper cut hurtling around for Hulk with all the fury one associates with an annoyed Juggernaut.

"I DON'T STOP!"

Hulk has posed:
Even expecting the attack, Hulk is newly transformed, and the sheer force behind the hit as the Hulk blocks the attack has him flying backwards a good half mile, near to the edge of the golf course, roaring the entire time.

Out of sight for the moment, Hulk growls as he reorients himself... his frustration at being punched clear across the course like a ragdoll pushes him to eleven feet as he starts to stand.

Zod has posed:
     Dru-Zod doesn't engage up close and personal, the Kryptonian soldier keeping back his eyes start to glow a sullen red as twin beams of ruby energy course out to slam into Juggernaughts armor. "I will render you into ash if you do not stand down Behemoth.." he warns as the intensity of his heat vision grows..

Juggernaut has posed:
    Indeed, tis The Juggernaut. One of the few earthly beings powerful enough to make even these two individuals think about their life choices. He leans back out of the upper cut, body pumped even more massive and crimson energy crackling out of his eyes. He's every bit as big as Hulk if not more massive by means of his inhuman proportions which means..this is about to get messy if the fists get to flying between the two, Abd they will!

The heat vision from Zod blazes into his armor, splaying into a brilliant display of ricocheting rays that carve brilliant swatches of flame and score jagged grooves into the landscape while also burning into the squid-things caught up in the chaos of it all.

For his part, Juggernaut doesn't move. "Yeah, you must be new." he rumbles

He lifts a hand up to push back against the beams and then he sets into a thundering charge, barreling past Zod's position and instead charging for his original target. The mushroom stalk itself.

"I'll deal with you later!" he roars back at Zod.

Hulk has posed:
It's around the time Zod unintentionally zaps the squidlings that Hulk leaps back into the fray... and both Juggernaut and Zod will watch as a number of the squidlings grow incredibly fast, and huge. Even the collateral damage from the heat vision seems to have given them a ton of food... and each one of them turns towards Zod, throwing tentacles his way for an attempt at a grapple.

Hulk, meanwhile, saw Zod feeding the squids... and promptly leaps right at him, trying to get onto Zods back to grapple him from behind, especially trying to cover his eyes, "Black robe man not ruin city more!" Hulk partially shouts next to Zod. Juggernaut, it appears, is a lower priority to the Hulk.

Zod has posed:
     Dru-Zod promptly stops using heat vision when he sees how the squidlings and other alien fauna start to react, catching the tentacles as they come flying at him and ripping them off with sheer strength he doesn't see Hulk until it's too late, both men going down plowing into the ground. "Get off me, you green idiot!" Zod booms bringing his fist back to slam into Hulks stomach while his other elbow comes up to try and drive into his nose..

Juggernaut has posed:
"Hey..what the!?"

True to his name sake, Juggernaut is indeed unstoppable - and the squids, no matter their size, are thundered through or sent hurtling away from him like giant bowling pins..but that doesn't mean he hasn't noticed and that it's not a potential problem where getting to his prize is concerned. "Whose been feedin' these things!?"

Hulk refocusing on Zod to deal with the source of the heat is both..welcome as well as insulting. Is he not The Juggernaut, the physical embodiment and exemplar of physical power? The avatar of Cyttorak, the principality of power and destruction? The---oh they're fighting each other now. Okay fine.

A thunderous *BOOOOM* resounds as he slams a fist the size of a small car into one of the largest of the squid creatures as it wraps its tentacles around him. It's sent hurtling skywards, only to be abruptly halted in its flight as Juggernaut grabs the trailing tentacles and rears back with it.

He spins on his heels, whirling around like the hammer throw in the Olympic Games. It plows through smaller versions before he releases it and send it tumbling skywards once again .. straight towards the wrasslin' Hulk and Zod.

Hulk has posed:
The sound of a Kryptonian fist slamming into Hulk can be heard as the Hulk grunts, a small bruise forming from the sheer power... before it's instantly healed. The elbow to the face almost breaks the Hulks nose, before his healing factor instantly heals that as well. In response to the massive force, Zod can feel the Hulk grow on top of him to twelve feet as the Hulk gets angrier.

"BLACK ROBE MAN FEEDING MUSHROOM THINGS LIKE IDIOT, HULK STOPPING!" Hulk roars behind Zod as he starts to punch into Zods back right back. The force of his blows starts to create small shockwaves on impact as the Hulk gets stronger.

Then one of the huge squid monsters is tossed at the two, and on the ground, Hulk is knocked off of Zod and skids along the ground like so much roadkill for a few seconds from the unexpected toss.

Zod has posed:
     "They....can...be, /contained/" Zod replies as a blast of artic breath is forced from his super powerful lungs by the punch. When Hulk is peeled off him, Zod takes this moment to take into the air flying towards the large mushroo stalk driving his arms into the base of the fleshy mass he starts to lift up trying to uproot it from the ground. "If this is your ultimate goal, lets take it elsewhere.." he says as the ground around the base starts to buckle his feet starting to sink into the ground..