5775/Astral Flux: Cooking in the Shadow King's kitchen

Astral Flux: Cooking in the Shadow King's kitchen
Date of Scene:	13 November 2018
Location:	Mexico
Synopsis:	A group of heroes take on some of the Shadow King's minions.
Cast of Characters:	Shadow King, Doctor Strange, Hellboy, Professor Zoom, Psylocke, Kid, Spider-Man, Phoenix
Tinyplot:	Astral Flux

---

Shadow King has posed:
    Word has gone out. Heroes are desperately needed. Avengers picked up word from SHIELD, and haven't been quiet in the invitations. The Shadow King's 'base' of operations has been found, they were biding some time to create defenses so that on arrival everyone was not just instantly mind-controlled. But an event has happened, and suddenly there's a rush to respond.

    SHIELD is first to get word about what is going down, as they have groups on-site. What site? A town in northeastern Mexico. Familiar to some, that fought massive fungus monsters there back in July. The place is open again. Open, for a leveled zone of massive damage. In theory. All reports up to today have said it was destroyed and slowly being rebuilt. Agents that go there find nothing. Yet today, everything has changed. A fight has broken out, and whatever spell of silence or illusion that was on the place has been destroyed.

    The town is full of a mixture of fungal monsters, humans, mercenaries: and they are now fighting a large group of perhaps fifty heavy soldier like robots that have invaded the site. They are about twice the height of a human, and are marching upon the town. It is much like an anthill was kicked; the town is full of minions that are responding (somewhat poorly) to the robotics.

Itsgents of SHIELD, such as Hellboy, are getting the first slice of all the information: All of the things hidden under illusion are being exposed by these robots. Let's use this window. Not to join the robots, no: but to hit the known stronghold of the Shadow King's personal lieutenants. Take them out, and his influence will take a massive hit.

    However, to do that at all? Mental defenses are required. That is where Dr. Strange and Psylocke come in. Stick close to one of the mental defenders, stay safe. The location is east of the town, a beautiful private resort. Time is short: use the distraction well, and shut down those minions in the resort!

Shadow King has posed:
    Agent Oscar has been the point of contact. He's a heavyset man, SHIELD proper stock, and is barking orders at anyone nearby. He's irritated that Tony Stark has sent him really RANDOM heroes, but is taking it well. Anyone who arrives in tights is directed his way, to his 'pleasure'. He is located in the center of the SHIELD temporary base, and has messangers running to and fro as they deal with trying to deal with the robots and the town. "I bet they ARE Stark's robots," grouses Oscar at his assistant. "No matter what they say---"

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "Would you like me to bring one here so you can examine the machine in person?" Strange says, his voice and tone not a happy one. The wizard looks at the soldier with the authority of not only the strongest sorcerer on the planet, but the coolest confidence of a surgeon that has seen some S that would turn most soldiers into blathering buffoons.

    The wizard looks over his shoulder towards the team of 'capes' that have appeared in Mexico either with him via his mystic gates, or whatever means they have, Strange's grey eyes are piercing today. "Stay close and stay on your toes team. We're going into the hornet's nest on this one."

Hellboy has posed:
    "Yeah, maybe."

    Hellboy was glad to be getting back to this, after a stint in Hungary had kept him occupied and trapped for the past while. Vampire politics, old world warlords waking up in the Nuclear age, it was always way more hassle than it was worth, but it was worth it in the end. Now here he was, smelling that sweet Mexican air, smoke hanging from the corner of his lip as he took in the situation.

    "So these robots have just been popping up wherever? Nobody in green tights or a metal mask has been taking credit for it in the news, demanding ransoms or anything like that? Huh."

Professor Zoom has posed:
    As the group continues forward, a trail of red lightning can be seen for a second (it's not hard to spot) going around the resort a few times... then disappears around the back.

It's a familiar sight for Doctor Strange, if not the rest.

Psylocke has posed:
    The key is to focus on the job at hand. While the robots that are attacking the town nearby have Psylocke hyper-aware of them, she cannot let herself be distracted. While she is part of the group with Doctor Strange, she used her own transportation by coming up from the shadows themselves with those who had chosen her particular version of transportation. Whoever may have should likely be checked by a qualified psychologist in the near future.

She's in her work clothes with a sheathed katana slung across her back. "Should we do this as a double prong assault?" she asks Strange, instead of the soldier. "I know your magic will likely protect better than my telepathic powers though I will do my best."

Kid has posed:
    Within the Villa, walking about the balcony was a large gorilla. He didn't exactly look enthralled being there and infact looks particularly pissed off as he paced back and forth. Tense as if waiting for someone or something to occure or perhaps feeling trapped and ready to fight his way out or keep someone else out. Regardless of the reasoning, he only stops every now and again to check out the robots, heedless of any other goons or other folks for the time being.

Spider-Man has posed:
No matter how many times Spider-Man was teleported, by Psylocke, by Madame Web, by anyone really, he never did quite get used to it. "Every time I do that, I remember how much Dr. McCoy hated it in the original Star Trek series." He shook his head, trying to get the cobwebs out, and was immediately faced with two very alarming situations from his spider-sense. He looked back and forth, moving his head emphatically, between the town, and the resort, town, and the resort. "Gee, I never once wondered what it would be like to visit a war zone, but nightmares really can come true." And with that, he decided to set out for the town, as he had a feeling he could do more good there.

Shadow King has posed:
    Agent Oscar is on his phone suddenly. "They are WHAT?" he sighs at his phone. "The robots are 'owned' by the Mexican government, but /not/ owned by them. Short version is, don't touch the robots. They're some kind of peacekeeping Sentinel program. Why wasn't I informed before /now/?" He diverts to Dr. Strange. "If one happens to fall over without us doing anything to it, I wouldn't mind," he says to the wizard.

    "But I want those robots to stay on the fungus, not turn on us," Agent Oscar explains. "Let's focus you and yours on the resort in the back? There's a nest of powered people, expecting about ten, and their various associates. We have dossier on a few."

    To his credit, Oscar doesn't seem to have any power struggle going on. He's just annoyed, but is willing to let the heroes lead their assault on the villa, and even give them help. "Let me know what you need from me. Right now, I have some snipers watching the east wings of the resort, but my other resources are thin. That's why you're here. But we have decent intel and eyes on it."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "There's a single focal point that the Astral King is using with what feels like army before us." The wizard explains, also ignoring the SHEILD agents, as is how he tends to do. The man isn't an Avenger technically, he's, unlike Tony, is legitimately a consultant. Strange considers all the options, before he shakes his head at Betsy, "I believe a single group would be the best course of action. I foresee us being more effective working together."

    Strange says with a frown as he looks over towards the Villa and spies the vaguely familiar red blur in the distance, eliciting a slight sigh. A sigh containing two meanings, but one is openly addressed. "I'm - let me see those dossier." The wizard commands, holding out his yellow gloved hand and without even looking up, he responds to Peter's quip, "I can assure you, my way of teleportation is much more humane than Gene Roddenberry's.-" Strange looks up at Peter's back and requests, "-We're going to need your help here Spider-man. Trust in us that we're solving the bigger picture here."

Professor Zoom has posed:
    In the Villa itself, there's a very audible distorted groan as Eobard grabs his head. His latest attempt to shake free of the compulsion is easily seen and heard by those within. Red lightning sparks across his body as he tries to force himself to speed up his mental processes.... only to have that energy redirected back into watching the perimeter by the directive.

More red lightning can be seen flitting around the resort and town. Professor Zoom is making his presence no secret... and he's visibly incredibly fast.

Shadow King has posed:
    The Dossiers are, indeed, the ten people mentioned by the agent. Some are really flimsy.
    The red speedster streak has been puzzling, so there isn't as much on that one.
    A gorilla arrived recently, and there's more on him. He's been seen a lot in New York.
    There's a BIG folder on a 'Dr. Arnold', a powerful telepath and telekinetic, and two dozen lackeys associated with following him around everywhere. He is well known to control big groups of people. Two of the helicopters there at the resort are his.
    There's two additional illusionists (siblings, women), and two young telekinetics.
    Lastly, there is a mage, blonde and exotic, with a LOT of pictures of her in her dossier. She photographs well, apparently. Or her cleavage does, by whatever photographer was on that assignment.

Hellboy has posed:
    The Samaritan, reloaded. His belt was stocked and supplied. He was ready, no matter what the plan was. Still, every time he came down here to this town, he got a feeling that he couldn't ignore. The feeling that someone or something was letting them get this far.

    He glanced over with his yellow eyes at Psylocke as she dropped down, then at the red and blue New York mainstay. For his part, the red-skinned SHIELD agent couldn't help but nod in approval at who all was there with them.

    "Gotta say, this group ain't lacking for power. I say we hit the resort now, hit 'em loud and hard before they know what's happened. Assuming we can defend against the 'King', we should take out his lackeys easily enough, right?"

Psylocke has posed:
"Very well," Psylocke says to the Doctor Strange. She reaches out with her mind, to the heroes gathered, a gentle brush of telepathic power. "I'm going to shield all of us. Anything that is aimed for you telepathically, will then be diverted to my shields." Her personal shields will be stronger than anything she can build for them so this work-around is the best option in her mind. "Please pardon the intrusion," she says apologetically. The walls are built. The relays are put into place. She tilts her head over at Spider-Man, picking up some information through their shared telepathic link.

"I have to agree with Hellboy. Surprise is our advantage. With that..." She motions to the villa and the lightning effect that happens every so after. "I'm not sure knocking on the front door is for the best. If we can get me close enough to someone being controlled, I've learned my psi-blade is effective for severing their link. But Arnold is powerful." She glances to Hellboy. "Perhaps you should bring another chair with you since it worked well the last time. Maybe the agents could provide cover fire to distract the defenses away from our arrival?"

Shadow King has posed:
    ELSEWHERE?:

    Inside the resort, there's frustration from the illusionist sisters. "Why are we just LETTING this happen, we should just rip up that camp. I don't get this at all," snarls Pamela. She pauses, though, hearing inside her head, and shoots at LOOK at Dr. Arnold. "Fine," she smoulders, but stalks outside, smoking like a chimney. Her sister shrugs at the doctor and goes out to watch and flag down Zoom. Mentally, she throws out a question to him. Has he seen anything? They're bored.

    Kid is joined by one of the young telekinetics, the younger of the two boys. He's barely 11. He draws up near the ape and offers him part of his submarine sandwich. It's got a lot of mustard on it. "I'll hurl them at you, okay?" the kid suggests to the gorilla.

Professor Zoom has posed:
    The red lightning trail visibly goes back to the Villa and stays there when the illusionist flags him down. He might be mentally doing the equivalent of barely being held in a cage... but he is being held. Red glowing eyes and a blurred form stop right in front of her almost instantly, "There's a bunch of russian robotics attacking in the town, and a bunch of self professed heroes coming this way that way." A finger directs her toward the direction Strange and his group is at, "I've been waiting to see if they're coming this way or not." Zoom replies.

Kid has posed:
Amazingly enough, despite Kid's often times...brutish demineer, he was fine with kids. He may even be a bit defensive considering how he was cracking his knuckles. Kid signs "Yea, sure. Let make it more interesting." - his bracer speaks in his place as usual.

Kid goes to the edge of the balcony...and leaps over to a tall palm tree. The tree bends and wilts beneath his weight as he dangles there, hanging on with one hand. He points to the kid and than his own mouth clearly thinking the Kid ment throwing the sandwich. He liked sandwiches.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy is quick to respond to danger, but he'll never be as quick as a speedster. The discovery of the resort having a Flash has put a damper on Hellboy's whole "storm the castle" theory, because a Zipster was basically a one-man castle wall and heavy artillery all rolled into one.

    "Do we have anything to deal with a speedster? Doc, you got some sorta leadfoot spell, or Psylocke, think you can turn him back into a bedwetter, or anything like that?"

    The 'chair' comment got the Agent to look over at the purple-haired woman with that unreadable expression on his face, slack-jawed and ugly as ever. But with her linked up with his mind, she'd likely 'feel' the internal laughing.

    She'd also see an army base, on a bright sunny day.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange quickly glances at each dossier, and passes them back to the agent with a nod. "The lackeys-" Strange says mimicing Hellboy, as he brings his hands together, both palms pressing each other as he pushes a mental thought to his team through Betsy's connection, <<We're not going in the front door, but behind it.>> As he opens his palms apart, a mandala appearing beneath the team at the SHIELD camp before it rises up, and the whole team would be swallowed up by the spell and like an elevator of reality, they're moved to the villa with a second spell engulfing the team. A bright yellow sphere that is only visible because of the few mystic sigils and carved runes circling through reality and the masonry. It's a full mystical sphere, until Strange nods and opens it up allowing attacks to come in, and out.

Shadow King has posed:
    The teleportation lands the group in a storage facility for the pool area. There's a lot of floaties, some netting, various floating things that designate lanes. Some cleaner equipment. A golf cart for the area in the back of the resort where people can explore down by the water. The resort building itself is just across a shielded area poolside, which makes this spot logical.

    There ARE three guards by the pool area, two are chatting, the other being more vigilent. He is mostly looking out towards the town where the loud noises of robot war are coming from. Of course.

Spider-Man has posed:
Spider-Man's spider-sense was still bothering him, somehow, he felt that this was the diversion, but he didn't know why, and the others didn't seem terribly interested in following with his direction. It was usually his lot, to be the lone spider. He wanted to make sure everyone was okay, so he went along, leaping and firing some webbing to reach the teleportation area, only to land on the very edge of a diving board. "Something big is going on in the town," he fired off some webbing at the face, specifaially trying to cover the eyes of the guards, "but we'll get that second. Now, did everyone bring their water wings?" More webbing goes out, trying to jam the nozzle of any guns he can see. "Everybody remember where we parked."

Psylocke has posed:
Having worked with Spidey in patrolling the city for months now, Psylocke was already moving even as he started firing off webs and one-liners. One hopefully got a faceful and can't see, the others weapons may be offline.

She isn't waiting to find out.

Leaping across the distance, she goes for a side kick to the closest guard whose face was not covered. A spinning kick is aimed for the next then the Psi-Blade appears, blazing around her right fist. That is sent for the head of the third.

Kid has posed:
Kid drops off from the saddly now bent tree as he hears a comotion comming from the back. He looks up to the 11 year old and signals him to be careful, even though he deep down knee the kid would fight like he will.
    And with that Kid knuckle-runs towards the pool area, trying to put up an illusion to dissappear, unaware the other had telepathic shielding as it where. But when he can, he does try to get the drop on foes.

Professor Zoom has posed:
    It doesn't take long for the commotion to be noticed by Professor Zoom as he speeds his way around the area. A red lightning trail stops midway through the room on the opposite end, and a blurred form appears. There's a man in a yellow suit there, with red glowing eyes. A moment later, and red energy starts to arc over his body as his arms start to whirl at incredible speeds.

The entire pool and storage area gets caught up in a artificial air vortex as Zoom starts a localized hurricane force disturbance to try and push the group outside.... or at least into walls.

Shadow King has posed:
    The guards are webbed, and make some noise, just since one splashes into the pool. The others are taken out cleanly. There was only a splash, really. The man might be drowning, though.

    Then, something more. There is a deep, penetrating laugh. It resounds at a deep level in the minds of all intruders. It is not mocking, but truly: it is relaxed, fearless, enjoying a truly good joke. A joke like observing someone falling on their face after tripping. That kind of 'joke.' The humor is shared. And the strength of the laugh slips under and between shields very well. Because it isn't an attack. And it has power of some kind of infinite type behind it. To connect and broadcast.

    ~~ Welcome, new defenders,~~ says the mental voice. Regal and with strong bearing, it is a 'leader': a leader of the kind that gives orders while pressing a heel on a neck.

    ~~ Welcome to my Vanguard. We have common /goals/, do you not see? I ask ONLY ... Defend the fungus, kill those that threaten it. Otherwise... enjoy yourselves. ~~

    The directive is a lance, sharp and harsh. It is a planted suggestion of the highest order, from an expert in making unreasonable demands. It will echo like a drumming heartbeat.

    There is equal power behind the two directed planted thoughts: one, defend fungus. Two? ...Enjoy yourselves. And that does mean whatever it means to the target it lands on: kill, take a nap, go in the Jacuzzi, flirt, eat a sandwich, whatever.

    The directive does /not/ tell anyone to not fight. By all means, fight away. That voice just doesn't care, and doesn't linger. There's other things to pay attention to.

    Upstairs in the penthouse suites of the resort, Dr. Arnold nods at the illusionist girl near him. She fetches her sister, and both stand on the balcony. They've been signaled to enjoy themselves, too. In their way. They look around, not sure where to focus yet, except something by the pool. Then they see the vertex. One of the two puts illusionary cows spinning in the vertex. Pamela stares at her. "What?" she smirks to her sister. Arnold eats his delicious salmon dinner slowly.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange steps out of the storage room behind the actual heroes, and he spies the familiar-ish form of Eobard and curling one wrist as those he was holding an invisible bowling ball, Strange takes an invisible cloth and runs it around the non-sphere in his palm and polishes the ball with two full circle motions before a similar wind errupts from Stranges hands as he snaps them forwards to counter Zoom's, "Winds of Watoomb!" The man going so far as to name the spell he uses.

    Strange was once under the control of the Shadow King, and it is something he was more than prepared for, mental blocks and spells saving the eldritch wielder for the moment but Stephen's focus is on the pool, and the winds he cast, resume, but they seem to reach into the very waters to push the water away and if not remove the henchman at least give him air to breath.

Spider-Man has posed:
Spider-Man hadn't intended for any of the guards to drown, and so he shoots out a few quick weblines, creating a rudimentary spider-web for him to crawl out onto, and try and reach into the water to pull the guard out. The main reason he went that route was he didn't want to get his whole body wet, as in this humidity, it'd take hours to dry off. But one arm, that was doable. As he reaches to hoist the guy up, the water parts for him, and he hears the message, "Actually Mr. Wizard, that name is already trademarked, as are the Secret Defenders, regular Defenders, Marvel Knights, Knights of Pendragon, but the Lollipop Guild is fair use now." Pausing, "Thanks doc, you have no idea how much you just saved me on my dry cleaning bill, but not quite as much as I saved in fifteen minutes by switching to Geico."

Kid has posed:
    Well Kid enjoys folks he works with NOT dieing, so he was going to take a moment to get the guy out, but Spidey get him first. But other than that his eyes were on the Intruders. He cracks his knuckles and bares his teeth at them. His eyes dart to each as he figure out which one to try and take down and his eyes land on Spider-Man once more!
    And with that Kid runs forward goes to tackle Spider-man head on figuring he could use the moment of distraction to get the web-head off guard

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy was flicking his smoke across the room, to let it flicker against concrete harmlessly. He watched Psylocke and Spidey both move quickly and professionally, taking out the two goons with practiced ease and was halfway through some quip he thought up off the top of his head.

    But this was quickly forgotten, in the face of two things. One, being a booming voice in his head, a hypnotic command rattling in his brain and clashing with what was already there. Defend, kill, enjoy yourselves?

    Hellboy's left hand came up to pinch the bridge of his nose, eyes closed as he tried to grapple with this mental intrusion. Perhaps that was why he was caught so blatantly unawares by Thawn's blitzing attack. Instantly Hellboy went ass over teakettle, going horns over hooves until he was smashing into the nearby wall and collapsing to the ground in a heap.

    Unfortunately for the speedster, Red was made of tougher stuff, and was up to his hooves in record time. And considering those orders in his mind, his moral compass under direct psychic assault? It meant the second he saw the yellow-dressed speedster target, he'd be unholstering that Samaritan of his, and taking one powerful shot. These were big bullets. And in all likelihood, Thawn would see it coming.

    But if he didn't, if Hellboy somehow got in a lucky shot? One of the fastest men alive was going to get a very big hole punched right through his torso. These were rounds usually designed to punch through super tough supernatural monsters. It wasn't pretty what they could do to a human being.

Professor Zoom has posed:
    With both vortexes meeting in the middle, the air has to go somewhere... and it essentially creates a wall of wind right down the middle of the room for a few seconds. So much for an easy defense.

The vortex isn't enough to stop a gigantic caliber round from forcing it's way through. The lack of visual of the round through the wall though... that allowed it to nearly go through Hellboys intended target. Instead, it only slightly grazes the side of the suit as Zoom twists himself to one side to avoid it. The motion also deftly puts a stop to his air manipulation.

But it also put Hellboy square at top priority for Professor Zoom; a very unenviable position for anyone.

Red lightning trails around the room, over and over and over. There's a slight wind funnel effect where the speedster goes. Curiously... he isn't attacking anyone. Just /running/.... and in a moment, it becomes obvious why.

After about five seconds of this, a large red lightning bolt comes out of the ether, striking Hellboy directly with enough force to stun most people, before Zoom comes directly at him and starts to superspeed pummel Hellboy. He's incredibly fast, too fast for the naked eye to keep up with, and Hellboy can feel him trying to do /something/ to the Samaritan in his grip... but he doesn't seem to be able to. Instead, he concentrates on superspeeding his way around the demon, the kinetic force of his superspeed being added to his punches as Olympian level strength punches at least a dozen times a second.

Shadow King has posed:
    Dr. Arnold finishes his salmon, and gets up from the table. He puts his napkin aside, and slowly walks towards the balcony. He joins the two illusionists there, and telekinetically bends the rail out of the way, sending shattered pieces of it raining down like knives. "This might not be safe," Pamela comments to him of the missing railing.

    A new mental message pours out. It isn't anywhere near as powerful as the other one. It has no directives in it. Just a simple statement. It goes to everyone: not just the intruders.

    ~~ Then I am finally free, to do this. ~~

    Dr. Arnold suddenly plummets from the railing. The illusionists gape at his disappearing shape, Pamela fails to grab him.

    He falls. He falls HARD.

    And there is a response immediately. The control over all of the people in the villa bends and warps. The controlled people, freed for the instant.. Attention is suddenly back, by the heavy mind of the Shadow King that mocked them before. What the hell is going on at the resort?!

    And Dr. Strange will sense a direction, where the Shadow King was looking from. In that instant where he put pressure, in his sudden rage, there was a thread to follow.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Turning his gaze to the nothingness, Strange projects to his team, <<Keep working.>> The surgeon however lifts off the ground and floats in the direction he was looking. He moves about three feet towards the wall and like a wisp, he simply vanishes. The wizard is gone, but his mind, and his wards remain, albiet in a weakened state, but he's no doubt doing what he thinks is best.

Hellboy has posed:
    "Well, shi-"

    A streak of lightning shot through the big red bruiser's torso, and the man screamed even as his right hand clenched painfully tight. In a second the Professor was on him and Hellboy didn't have much time to do anything else. Fist after fist after punch after punch was launched into him, and though the gun in his hand didn't break? It clattered to the ground and slid away as the SHIELD Agent was pummeled into the wall.

    However, Zoom might notice that Hellboy, was a bit harder than a slab of meat, it was kind of like punching a thick leathery bag of two dollar steak...if it was also mixed in with concrete. And though Hellboy was being rocked by these impacts, he wasn't succumbing to the onslaught like a normal person might. Instead, even as blood poured from his nose and mouth, in an instant HB shot his head down in a headbutt, one aimed right toward one incoming fist. His reflexes meant he'd never be able to catch this guy with an outright punch or attack. But just angling his head so that Zoom's fist collided with the reinforced skull of his forehead, and the impossibly hard 'stumps' where his former horns lay? That might be enough to do some real damage to the knuckles and intricate bones that existed in the human hand. Yeah, this was Hellboy's one real 'plan' against the speedster. If this didn't work, plan B was just 'get hit more'.

Spider-Man has posed:
It's been a busy day for our friendly resident Spider-Man, but it's far from over, as a huge, by his standards, really, by anyone's standards, but a huge hulking gorilla lunges at him, and he leaps up, trying to avoid the tackle. He almost manages to do it, except one foot gets caught by the unusually opposable thumbed hand, which shakes him like a maraca. His voice vibrates with the motion, "he-ey, ca-n't, w-ee, b-ee, f-rie-nds? Y-ou kn-ow, net-flix a-nd chi-ill? May-be, s-ome D-ea-th in Pa-ra-dise?"

Kid has posed:
Kid can be many many things. One of those thing is Brutal. With Spider-Man in his grasp he slams him into the ground multiple times going up and over several times snarling.

Untill the connection broke

He releases Spider-Man and looked to the Balcony, watched as Arnold felt....and felt his every emotion as he lept and died on the pavement. It seemed a good way to go, to escape all this crap going on. All it took was one... single... step.

Kid shakes his head pushing those emotions, those thoughts from his head - those of a man who suffered, but they were not him. And more importantly, his mind was his own. Of which...he looks down at Spidey and recognizes him

he gently picks spidey back up and onto his feet sighing a "....sorry bout that. So let go kill a prick" and by Prick he means whoever was behind Arnold, he didn't much care who.

Professor Zoom has posed:
    The thing about speedsters is they need to adjust on the fly. Reaction times. Speed. Positioning. It takes an active focus to channel the Speed Force in a useful way. It was instinctual... but it was a connection that had to be harnessed.

Professor Zoom was used to dealing with humans... and while he was a learned historian of his era, Hellboy was a more obscured subject. Demons were not a thing well studied. So he didn't have the first clue that the demons skull was /that/ hard. He might have been able to dodge out of the way even with that with his reflexes...

Might is the keyword, because that's the exact moment that Arnold suicided, and the Directive finally left him. It was just enough of a momentary distraction mentally that the speedster indeed /SLAMS/ his fist in a graze over the top of his head in an awkward angle. It was enough to break the bones easily... and a distorted scream of pain can be heard even as Zoom regains control of his mind.

He stands there for a moment, and Hellboy gets his first good look at the man in yellow; he isn't /a/ Flash.... but he can see the yellow, red, and black. This is a perfectly reversed Flash suit, and the red lightning flowing over his body is the exact opposite of the Flashes own yellow. A Reverse-Flash.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy was looking pretty rough, standing woozily on those hooves of his as he staggered forward half a step. It seemed he bled the same color as anyone else, plasma dripping from his nose and chin to splash along the ground. His eyes didn't have pupils, but even still it was easy to see those glowing yellow orbs widen in surprise and shock as he was able to see his opponent clearly for the first time, even as he heard the scream and saw the man's hand, broken and busted. Instantly his left hand shot out, grabbing at the side of the man's neck, trying to squeeze and keep him pinned just as his right, massive stone hand came up and started winding up. He didn't have very long, so he had to make this count.

    "You know I'm gonna enjoy thi-Oh, wait a minute. You're the Flash?"

    He let go instantly, looking down at the man's chest, then up at his face.

    "Wait. Are you the Flash? Why are you yellow?"

    Well, that was his chance to end this threat permanently. But in his dazed mind, the idea of punching the recognized hero and saint of Keystone City, that was unacceptable. He wasn't going to kill the Flash.

    He couldn't kill. He wasn't. He wouldn't.

    No.

Psylocke has posed:
The evasiveness of that command, snaking around anything she'd put in place, has Psylocke mentally cursing at the being and his enhanced power levels. She's not on par with the Shadow King even on a good day. So that suggestion is reflected through the shields and into her mind.

As everyone else is acting, Psylocke is frozen where she is. Her heart starts to beat faster, the adrenaline racing into her system. She reaches out with her mind, letting the tendrils of her psyche spread out to pick out everyone in the area. That's when she hears a mind cry out. Not the doctor. Not even the one controlling all of this. It was a surprised person witnessing a man stepping out to fall to his death. Psylocke looked up to see the pair of woman up above then she was heading for the fallen man to check him. Her mind would tell her first that he was already gone yet she went to be sure, as though perhaps his mind might be hidden yet still functioning.

The conflict was left to the others but that trigger had been set in her mind. She still has a pinpoint on everyone in the villa and she still has a command to have fun. She starts to draw her psionics into a focused charge but didn't release it.

Shadow King has posed:
    The illusionist sisters look at each other. They look at Psylocke looking at them. Each other. And they nod. Illusion starts to sweep through the resort as they retreat, back from the balcony. The whole place is going to be a funhouse of awful, as walls look like passages and passages look like walls, doors move, and so on. They do take the elevator, though. Stairs are for losers.

    Psylocke can find a lot of minds. Mostly confused; the general servants are puzzled but not alarmed. Arnold's mercenaries are starting to get picked up by the Shadow king into his control.

    Near the tree where Kid had been, there is an 11 year old telekinetic that has now become 'one' with a bush, and is watching the pool area quietly from inside his bush. He's staying out of it for the moment, just staring at where Dr. Arnold now is located, eyes huge.
    The other young telekinetic is out by the helicopters, trying to decide what to do amid the confused and milling mercenaries there. One of the mercenaries grabs him up, though, and takes him along with them towards the chopper. It pays to look young and scared.

    In the ballroom the Cleavage Wizard sits, eyes closed, listening to something distant. The rage of the Shadow King. She smiles a little. She gets up, and begins to walk towards the pool area. Tall, leggy, buxom, and totally magically amplified, she makes her way to the large glass doors, and observes the pool area quietly. She's dressed as if she were going to a cocktail party: little black dress, expensive gems on her jewelry. "Hi," she greets Psylocke, as she approaches Arnold's body, where the ninja is. Her nails are perfect, and tipped in silver. She avoids stepping in Arnold's blood, keeping her heels just out of his pooled liquids.

Spider-Man has posed:
"No, no, it's all right," Spider-Man said as he was picked up by the massive gorilla that had just been slamming him into the pavement around the pool. His costume had torned a few points, there was a little blood, but he didn't look terribly worse for wear. Spider-Man was one tough nut to crack. He also seemed to be coping rather well with the psionic influence, but then, he did have an incredible moral centre. Shaking his head, and trying to adjust his mask, which has torn a little, but not enough to show his face, he re-centred it.

Kid has posed:
Kid nods and looks around. He felt the confusion, the fear, the WTH moments in folks around. But it the sensation of someone young perhaps seeing death for the first time that catches his attention - and someone he half knew.

Kid looks around...and than slowly approches the bush where he thinks the much younger telekinietic is. He tries to broadcast a telepathic message to him. "Hey now....come on over here. It, not safe to stay here" he did just throw a man around so he didn't want to just snatch the Kid up.

Professor Zoom has posed:
    He hasn't been active much until recently, so not recognizing Eobard as Professor Zoom was very understandable. He only recently built up enough energy to reliably use his powers... but that doesn't mean he's very happy about being called the Flash. Zoom snarls at Hellboy, before he speeds his way back across the pool. His hand is right up, and red lightning starts to flow along it at greater speeds, visibly. Red glowing eyes then flit back to Hellboy, "I'm not the Flash at all." Zoom states in his distorted voice, "some would call me the reverse." The distortion sounds monstrous, and easily carries throughout the area. Then, Professor Zoom starts to superspeed his way around the resort. He's probably one of the few people capable of testing each and every illusion to see if he needs to vibrate through it, and have enough time to spare to get to the top of the elevator the sisters are in. Spider-Man and Kid easily see Zoom as he zips around.

When the two sisters reach their destination, Zoom is /right/ in front of them, and superspeeds right into Alana, his good hand gripping her by the throat as he uses his kinetic force to pin her to the wall instantly, and snarls into her face with that monstrous voice, "I am not a dog for you to call upon, by you, or that thing that got me in a moment of slowing down. Next time you order me around, I'll kill you both. Am I understood?"

Zoom is pissed.

Hellboy has posed:
    "Reverse Flash...wouldn't he be slow?"

    Hellboy spoke out loud to nobody, as with no enemies immediately here in this room, he could slump backwards against the wall and take a few moments. Wiping the blood from his nose, he looked over to Spider-Man, after sparing a glance to Psylocke to make sure she was ok.

    "Hey kid, you alright? Mighty Joe Young over there really went bananas on you."

    The joke was spat out almost without humor, and soon Red was glancing over at the Cleavage Wizard, giving her a once over before snorting in such a way, to allow the blood in his nose to spray out faster.

    "So, are you joining the punching party, toots? Or can we all just calm down and figure this out, now?"

Psylocke has posed:
As the woman arrives, Psylocke's mind is continuing to work through the villa. Minds are found and dismissed. A few are pinpointed and locked onto. Those who are enemies, who have attacked, merceneries, illusionists. She finds them all and reaches into minds without caring that they will feel it, without caring that it might be uncomfortable. She is looking for threads. The threads that she remembers from the other psychics Shadow King had controlled. Even if she doesn't find a thread, she keeps those who had worked for him.
    Kid is dismissed when he helps Spider-Man, his mind released. But the woman in front of her? Psylocke smiles, glancing the other woman up and down as she does so. "I believe we were given an order to have some fun. Would you be interested?" she asks as she steps closer to the woman, trying to bring a hand up to caress the other woman's cheek.

Spider-Man has posed:
Spider-Man looked up at Hellboy, "yeah, I'm fine, nothing that a good 8 hours sleeps won't cure," of course, he never gets to sleep eight hours. There's always too much to do. And at the emergence of the woman, his spider-sense goes nuts. "Psylocke, it's a trap..." he warns, and also references Admiral Ackbar, but he is too late, Psylocke has reached out for the woman's cheek. "Oh, fishsticks," yes, he actually said that out loud in front of company, and he runs, shooting a webline, trying to swing like Tarzan to take Betsy away after... Was it a trap by the lady that walked out, or one by Spider-Man and Psylocke?

Shadow King has posed:
    "You /are/ my dog if I choose," says Alana right into Zoom's face, deadpan. She also kisses at him, and then barks once. Her sister Pamela looks absolutely horrified by this. "My king - Please. We did what you said," Pamela says urgently to the thing speaking from Alana. She gives Zoom a look of wild, angry fear and lifts her hands up and back. She'll respect him for sure, but she's caught between two problems right now.

Psylocke can certainly feel some threads persisting: in fact, lots are reforming as Shadow King gets his house back in order. The illusionist sister Alana has a full open connection right now while he uses her to snicker at Zoom. He's angry, it's causing some bite!

    Kid approaches the bush containing the youngster, and promptly will walk into a telekinetic wall if he gets too close. The kid is pretty strong for his age: bit it IS just one invisible telekinetic barrier. He's just afraid, really, and huddles down more. "Don't make me toss you in the pool," the child's voice wavers. As if that were actually a threat to him.

    The Cleavage wizard winks back at Hellboy, fine with him it seems. She likes demons. Clearly. She stares at Betsy and lets her approach, and laughs softly. "I'm out of your league," she says with amusement. "But I could see if the Shadow King will accept you. We have a /great/ time," she purrs. Her hands spark with dark magic, it flutters up over her body, clouds into her eyes, as she attempts to magically hypnotize Psylocke, from close range. "A wonderful time," she says softly, deeply, coaxing... while diverting her left hand towards Mr. 'it's a trap' with a subtle little blast of almost-invisible dark magical energy, intending to shut him up.

Kid has posed:
Kid looks to Hellboy when he says 'Kid' since that was his name - confusing, right? regardless it made him walk into the telekinetic wall. He shakes himself off and looks at it, and than the bush. He wasn't surprised the kid was afraid. He continues to speak telepathically towards the child "I doubt that. You did fail to throw me that sandwhich after all" an attempt at humor. He turns around and pats his back "Come on, I'll let you ride on my back. How many kids get to say they got a ride from a rilla?" goes the message.
    Meanwhile more privately to the rest of the heros here and not towards the child telekinetic comes the message "Alright...so the fella who was messing with us is dead...so we done here? Can we just go home or does anyone want to fill the rilla in on something?"

Psylocke has posed:
Magic. That is something Betsy doesn't have a way to protect against. All she knows is this woman revels in working for the Shadow King. She just knew it even before the woman spoke.

As the woman starts to do her magic, Betsy nods slowly as her hand begins to lower, hovering in the air a moment as though she is struggling to maintain control against what is happening.

A blaze of purple energy explodes around her fist and forms a blade directly into the head of the Cleavage Wizard.

At the same time, that gathered psionic energy in her brain /lashes/ out full power in a psionic blast aimed toward each of those threads that the Shadow King is trying to get back into place on his minions.

Professor Zoom has posed:
    It doesn't take a genius to realize what was going on. Zoom leans forward then into Alana's eyes. A few seconds of watching, and he gives a vicious grin, "All the crime and screwing with the world? I thought it was amusing. Then, you came after me." The grin fades, "I'm coming for you now, and it's not going to be pretty." Zoom tosses Alana right at Pamela. Not hard enough to break anything, but certainly enough to knock the wind out of their sails.

A few seconds later, and Zoom is back at the pool area... and sees the Wizard getting blasted. Almost as soon as the blade is in her head, she's gone... with Zoom having grabbed her and brought over the pool by one hand. Red lightning is heavily flowing over his body now... and into her, as his Negative Speed Force aura is extended over the woman, "I have other plans for you."

Hellboy has posed:
    It was true, Hellboy didn't have many tools that were effective against mind control, psionic influence, or psychic power. But what the woman was currently doing against Psylocke? That was something Hellboy could deal with. He saw that Betsy had her own tricks and tactics, but just in case she needed a bit of an edge, HB was staggering toward the scene as he pulled out a handful of...something from one of the pouches of his utility belt. Pure Consecrated salt, personally blessed by a nun who knew how to do the job right. He threw out that handful of salt into Cleavage Wizard's general area. If it was 'dark' magic, then maybe the influence of something higher would interfere with her ability. Just enough to count.

    "Yeah, that all sounds like crap."

Shadow King has posed:
    The dual smash has well overloaded the mage. She was trying to react to what Psylocke was doing, but was covered in SALT, and was barely hanging on, and then she's being hauled around by the 'minion' she SORT OF forgot about, Professor Zoom. She's not doing so hot, and is mostly unconscious. And salty. So she has no witty retorts for Zoom.

    Up in the building, the illusion girls are back to themselves, and Pamela drags her sister out of the elevator and tries to hurry her towards the helicopters. One of the birds is already taking off, mostly mercenaries and one of the telekinetics on board.

    Kid's new friend answers, "Nuh uh, I can WALK, I'm not five," in a haughty manner. He does start to slowly edge out of the bush. He has many twigs in his hair.

Spider-Man has posed:
Spider-Man swings in, and a swing is pretty fast, but he can't actually increase his speed during a swing without shooting out another webline, and he had to time this right. So naturally, the salt thrown through the air easily catches up and edges ahead of him. He was trying to say something, but a Matrix-style gag had been placed over him, merging the flesh of his mouth underneath the gag. He mumbled something incredibly witty, but alas, only the telapths will know what he intended to say. Thankfully, some of that salt got on him, and as he grabbed Betsy by the waist on the course of his swing, trying to pull her to safety, he could talk again, "I can talk, I can talk, oh, Dr. Zaius, Dr. Zaius... Dr. Zaius, Dr. Zaius.... oh, Dr. Zaius!"

Psylocke has posed:
As Spidey grabs her, Psylocke wraps her arm around him to maintain the support then lands easily at his side. She felt the psionic blast hit those threads. She felt them giving way. And she can also feel HIM. Right there. So very close.

And with that, she reaches for her other powers. Suddenly the world around her goes a little darker and the Crimson Dawn tattoo appears over her left eye. She opens the passage to the shadow realm...

Kid has posed:
Kid rolls his eyes and broadcast to the telekinetic "Than stop acting like your five!" he retorts back in a rather brotherly fashion "...and you may want to get some popcorn" he also broadcasts. Between Spidey slinging, Psylock stabbing, Hellboy salting and Zooms electrifying display...this was the definition overkill on an individual. "...we may be waiting awhile to get some answers."

Phoenix has posed:
With Psylocke opening a breach into the shadow realm, a figure seem to melt into existence out of the shadows, dark at first, before the portal closes behind her and she apparently ignites in flames which dance around her like a fiery aura. Taking to the air, Phoenix scans the area for traces of the Shadow King's, trying to find which of the minds in the vicinity is a target to lock on.

Shadow King has posed:
    The mind most obviously influenced by the Shadow King is the mage that Professor Zoom is holding onto, whom Psylocke just finished putting a psi-knife into the brain of. She's not actively connected to him, since Psylocke also tore all the threads away for the time being, and she's out of sorts, but she's the clear target as one of his people.

    The resort contains a bunch of mercenaries (most of them out by the helicopters, one of the helicopters recently started to take off), a child, two young women who are trying to get to helicopters in the back, and a mix of people that were quietly trying to do things like make dinner in the kitchens. Kid, Professor Zoom, Hellboy, and psylocke are nearby also.

    Of all of those, the thread that starts to form is on the child near Kid. The child actually seems to react to it, he stops walking and stares into space a little while.

    The main pulse of presence of the Shadow King comes from the town, though. A look towards the town will find hundreds of minds with his influence. It's just a terrifyingly thick blanket of it, a hub of his power. In between the town and the resort, Jean will also find a familiar mind that has a bit of the Shadow King's influence on it: Jeremy's. Perhaps he has fallen to the Shadow King's power.

Hellboy has posed:
    For the record, Hellboy's mind was indeed, touched by Shadow King. Compulsions were now in his mind, orders that went against his core were currently clashing with everything he valued. The battle was a supremely ugly one, Especially considering that if Jean(or any psychic here) pressed hard enough, they'd discover that there were some really deep, very locked closets. There were areas of this mind that weren't just closed off, but were barricaded and welded shut. This was a dangerous game, that the 'King' was playing.

    Elsewhere, out in the physical world, Hellboy had just found his side-arm and was holstering it again. He was just watching the room, keeping an eye on Zoom. Though really, what the big man was going to do if things went south, that was anyone's guess.

    A final, perhaps unimportant detail, but Hellboy's blood was seeping into the cracks between the concrete, seeping into soil. And from this soil, white lillies were starting to grow.

Professor Zoom has posed:
    When it becomes clear the woman is basically out for the count from the psiblade, Zoom snarls in frustration. She's still held by him... and the protective aura is still visibly flowing over her, but he's turned back to regard the others now. "Interesting assortment the fools sent." Zoom comments, those red, glowing eyes sitting on Psylocke for a moment as she opens a portal. "This is getting old." The monstrous voice comments, still holding the wizard.

Kid has posed:
    Kid mind was oddly primal. He didn't really hide his thoughts or patterns...save for one very deep one he preferred to never surface again. But something more prominate caught his attention - the child in question wasn't responding.
    He turns back around and see's the vacant look on the child face. He broadcasts "...Kid? kid are you alright?" He goes to see if he can walk around the forcefield, pressing up agaist it as he walks and manages to do so at some point. He goes up and shakes the child shoulder broadcasting "Hey! Hello, earth to dumbo" now he was peeking into the mind...well the surface thoughts, deep dives arn't his forteh.

Phoenix has posed:
Phoenix's scanning of the vicinity is ended abruptly when out of everything she managed to read, she makes a quick decision, and flies towards the child by Kid. <<Leave the child be,>> she projects into the mind of the child, though not speaking to him, as she starts building up a telepathic barrier. It may not be enough to stop the Shadow King if he truly wanted to take over the child, but with all the town's people controlled as well, Jean imagines he would let go when given opposition in this case.

The town people she assumes will have to be released by undoing the Shadow King, but it is the traces on Jeremy and Hellboy that alarms her the most. The one, because Doctor Strange just might have been correct, the other, is because it feels so much like a trap, she dares not meddle with it in the middle of a battle.

To Psylocke she projects <<that Quicksilver wannabe...friend or foe?>>

Shadow King has posed:
    It's amazing how much force can be applied if the battlefield itself isn't something you care about. In this case, the battlefield is the telekinetic kid's mind; let's call him Korby. Force gets applied. ~~ Don't you want to /talk/?~~ comes the reply to Jean's intrusion, from the Shadow King. Kid will hear it too, as he's also listening to Korby's head, who has gone very dormant. No way can the child actually fight the Shadow King even remotely. It's not happening. The child may as well be mentally hiding under a bush again.

    ~~ Loose my pretty mage and I'll consider your /request/.~~

Psylocke has posed:
<<He was a foe on arrival. Hasn't attacked since ties were severed but rescued that one when I was trying to take her down so I lean toward foe still.>> Betsy's reply is mental and directed to Jean alone. <<He may have been controlled but that woman he has was helping Shadow King and liked it. We need her to question.>>

Now that she has psionic back-up, she doesn't have to try to do everything on her own. She is not on the same level as Jean but Betsy has the same sort of power set. She simply isn't as skilled at using some of it. She doesn't need anymore mure than brute force for what she is about to do. Finesse is not required.

Zoom made a barrier around the woman to protect her. Psylocke reaches out with the telekinesis and builds a box all the way around him, about four foot on each side and just tall enough to be about a fooot outside of the barrier is creating. "Give up the woman." She isn't aware what is going on in the mind of the child as she focuses on her TK alone.

Kid has posed:
Kid let out a very physical growl as he was listening in. Oh he was not happy. Needless to say he more or less butt in -and he wasn't exactly a gentle telepath, quite rough in some instances. ("It was not a damn Request whoever the frackin hell you are. Piss off") that was directed to Shadow King needless to say. His tone was beastial and aggressive, but protective above all. He eyes jean unsure if SHE was friend or Foe or whatever the hell was going on

Professor Zoom has posed:
    Once it becomes clear the newcomer isn't coming for Professor Zoom, he turns those red glowing eyes back to the woman in his hand. Then, Psylocke builds her barrier. "You don't give me orders. Not him, and not you." With that, his Negative Speed Force aura turns from protective... to destructive.

Zoom looks directly at Psylocke as the energy starts to create massive thermal damage where he stands.... and both electrocutes and burns the woman alive, almost immediately killing her. "You people think this matters to him. It's hilarious." There's a grin as he watches her. The woman is dropped, dead, into the pool... and the speedster tries to speed off in a direction, the red lightning trail appearing for a few moment as he tries to leave, bouncing off the barrier. With a mental grimace, he starts to spin in place. Faster and faster. He's creating beyond hurricane force speeds in there, and still ramping up.

Hellboy has posed:
    Even bruised, battered and tired, even though he wanted to be back at the Triskelion with a couple dozen six-packs, Hellboy recognized that this was a bad situation. He started approaching the man in yellow, though both of HB's hands were up and outstretched, in the sign of non-hostility.

    "Hey, listen, not The Flash. These people put the mind whammy on you, well we know who's behind it. He's been hurting our people, and we want him responsible. You want to question that woman, and so do we. Well listen, maybe if we"

    He killed her.

    "Well, shit."

Phoenix has posed:
When Kid bursts into the Shadow King's taunting words inside, Jean doesn't seem upset, rather she seems pleased <<you keep this child safe, I have to see to something.>>

The very offer to trade the child for the mage, tells Jean that it is the mage that the Shadow King wants, not the child, and so she turns her full attention to Zoom and the woman in his grasp.

But then, even as Psylocke creates a TK barrier around Zoom, he not only kills the woman, but trying to break through the barrier. Initially she planned to try and debilitate him with the mother of all psibolts, but his disregard to life, his disregard to the fabric of the Astral Plane, triggers that 'other' self to take over. Jean's eyes light up a searing white light, and she spreads her arms wide across, as suddenly a huge raptor made entirely of flames appears around her.

A deafening squawk is released as the flaming raptor erupts into existence.

She doesn't attack Zoom, rather she alters his clothing entirely, shifting it into heavy metal. Intending to stop his ability to build up speed by ruining his mobility.

Shadow King has posed:
    Jeremy (the mage Jean had found) notices Jean look at him mentally, or sensed her near, because there's a surprised little awareness responding to her. There is a pause as if he was checking something, and then a bit more of a reply: <<I'm close to it. Keep up whatever you're doing.>>

    The child, Korby, is not fully possessed, he was about to laugh at Kid's comments, but instead just observes what is going on. Both Korby and the Shadow King do, through Korby's eyes, interested in the show Jean is putting on. Because this IS quite a show of psychic power.

Kid has posed:
    Kid himself is momentarily distracted since like Korby and Shadow Fart, this was interesting to see. He was also kind of thankful for that barrier cause yea, he doesn't even want to know what that man was spinning up.
    But than he looking back to Korby and seeing as he seems...distracted, he decides to try something. It might scare korby a bit...but it may be for the best. He tries to drain a bit of psychic energy from Korby to enhance his own....and from there tries to sever the invading entities connection, yank it out, something to get it to leave Korby alone. He didn't even know if it was in his capabilities but he'll try.

Professor Zoom has posed:
    It works almost immediately. If he were a physically based speedster, he'd probably have whiplash by now. Lucky for Zoom, his Speed Force aura and his reflexes allow him to account for sudden changes fluidly.

Then doesn't negate that he's been trapped with transmutation, though.

"It's cute, you thinking this would hold me." Zoom replies.

Suddenly, the red lightning flows over the encasement as Zoom reaches out through the Negative Speed Force to find it's vibrational frequency. Soon, he's audibly vibrating his body, and little by little, he's visibly sliding through his old costume.

Shadow King has posed:
    Korby isn't exactly a heavyweight mentally to begin with. Kid touching him wasn't something either Korby or the Shadow King thought was an issue, until the siphon began. It pulls on Korby mentally, not Shadow King, but the grip was not strong enough to where the King can be present /without/ Korby. Korby folds like a house of cards, and with a surprised half-orient, the Shadow King loses his grip on Korby.

    Yes, Korby does immediately pass out, because he's a child with no real shielding, and will probably hit his head on the pavement if Kid doesn't catch him.

Hellboy has posed:
    For his part, Hellboy was staring at the dead woman in the pool, to the point that he wasn't paying attention to the other goings ons. HB was a killer of monsters, but humans were something different.

    "She didn't need to die. You just did that to throw a tantrum, and spit in our faces?"

    For the first time Hellboy was looking up to study the red-eyed blurred humanoid form, HB's own glowing yellow eyes narrowing as he spat out in disgust.

    "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Kid has posed:
Kid was thankfully right there. And Korby is quickly caught before completly falling. The child is lifted into Kid's arms and held carefully. He was a bit paranoid since whatever was in Korby might come for him next...but hopefully not. He backs up from the giant white light of death, the half angry reptilion goat and pretty much everyone else mostly because he wasnt sure who was on whose side at this point.

Phoenix has posed:
"Hellboy is right," Phoenix' voice booms, "you are a disgrace, Zoom." She smiles a rather haughty smile as he starts looking for a vibrational frequency to match, only he'll find it always just out of his reach, as the metal encasing him changes elements by the nanosecond, from earthly metals, to ones entirely alien and undiscovered on this planet. She is toying with him now everybit as much as he toyed with the mage's life. "I can end you Zoom. I would rather not, so why not just stand down...?" It's a peace offering, rather than a taunt, she normally doesn't involve herself with his sort, and would rather extend an olive branch.

Psylocke has posed:
When Jean goes full Phoenix, Psylocke frowns slightly. "That's not good." She doesn't try to intervene but honestly, she does realize that she's like someone throwing a glass of water at a blazing inferno. She drops her TK barrier that she had put up.

Shadow King has posed:
    In the background, the helicopters escape with the other people from the resort. They probably are being tracked by SHIELD, though, if anyone chose to check on that.

Professor Zoom has posed:
    "My name is Professor Zoom, to you." When Jean starts to transmute by the second, there's a /massive/ spike of red lightning that starts to flow over the material keeping him trapped. It's visibly channeling massive amounts of Negative Speed Force energy... and /keeping up/ with Jeans transmutation efforts. She can push the effort.... but she's trying to keep the fastest maniac alive in a cage, and he isn't having it.

It takes more than twenty seconds with the sheer amount of transmutation going on, but eventually the speedster is out. The red lightning crackles over him, and his body is blurred... but he's out, and his identity is still obscured.

"A for effort." The speedster replies, amused, before a red lightning trail speeds away, north.

Shadow King has posed:
    There are now two corpses in the area. Korby, the child, is very unconscious. The guards, who were knocked out before, are starting to revive by the poolside. One of them throws up into some grass; he was hit hard, but has managed to get some webbing off his eyes... sort of. Otherwise, the area is clear of obvious enemies, now.

    There is still a residual presence of the Shadow king, yet he can't possibly be everywhere at once. It's like he's close, but isn't. It is possibly disorienting to try to figure out exactly how it is happening.

Hellboy has posed:
    Idly, the red-skinned SHIELD Agent is staggering toward Kid and the kid, gingerly taking off his trenchcoat so that he could fold it up and place it under the child's head as a makeshift pillow. At this point he wasn't even questioning the whole 'talking gorilla angle', on account of even the ends of his hair hurting...turned out that speedsters could pack an infinite number of punches.

    But he looked down at the woman in the pool...then looked over at the two X-Women.

    "We can still question her...come by the Triskelion tomorrow night at midnight, I have a friend I can call."

    At least something could be salvaged. Maybe. If this worked.

Phoenix has posed:
"Your name is insignificant to me, mortal," Phoenix answers with laughter as Zoom proves quite the slippery eel, managing to evade hyper transmutation as well. "Be thankful to the gods you worship that Phoenix has better things to do than punish you for insolence," the Phoenix asserts at the fleeting Zoom, before turning to survey the scene. Some kocked out, some fleeting, she tries once more to find remanents of the Shadow King's control, which is when she finds Jeremy. He'll hear her voice in his mind, but very different from Jean's, <<Jeremy, are you Shadow King?>> It's an audacious question, but proves the Phoenix' ego, she doesn't expect anyone to lie to her because she esteems herself so far above all. It's a common weakness in beings of her sort.

She looks down at Hellboy when he suggests the woman can still be questioned, nodding at him, but rather than agreeing she will be at the Triselion at midnight, she very oddly states, "she will be there."

Kid has posed:
Kid instinctively growled at Hellboy - and not because he was a demon, but because he wasn't sure of the man's intentions. But as he see's the man removing and folding his trench coat the growling stops. Though as a note - Kid has yet to physically speak. But regardless he helps make sure the 'pillow' is where it needs to be. He broadcast to Hellboy if he is receptive to it "Thanks." and it is at this moment he realizes...he doesn't even know who thse Kid's parents are or anything. He got his work cut out for him

Shadow King has posed:
    Jeremy may not be what he appeared to be, but he isn't that. << Hardly. Check under your feet, >> is the reply from the mage, though he's VERY curious about the change in voice. But not stupid, or arrogant. Jeremy's sharp. << Stop poking me, he'll notice, you're blowing my cover. Thanks. >>

    Korby is easily tended for, he weighs little as he's probably barely eleven. He doesn't stir: he's done for the night. A lot of people are very done for the night. Except for the town. Screams, sounds of war. The explosions from the robots. Plumes of fungus into the air.

    This resort was perhaps a small piece. Yet it had some very powerful people in it. Was it a distraction, or was the town the distraction? Or Neither? The web of actions of the Shadow King has yet to be unraveled.

Phoenix has posed:
Jeremy proves smart, far smarter than the likes of Zoom who had much more of a hint than Jeremy in regards to what is being dealt with. His phrasing is taken for what it is, and there's no offense taken, instead the Phoenix actually follows on his advice and does a telepathic scan downwards into the ground.

Shadow King has posed:
    Yes, there is something there. Something that boils with the corruption of the shadow king. Like a tree of huge roots, it is running under the ground. It is hard to grasp, for it absorbs the energy, feeds. And senses. It is like a huge set of nerves, and it does pass under the resort. Quietly, out of sight, and deeply....