middleofsomewhere | Day 11 Catfish

"Lower your weap..." Rath didn't get very far before Fëanor moved. The moment he disarmed the leaders the other moved as well, moving to attack even as Curufin spoke.

His words seemed to strike them though, or perhaps whatever magic he was using to influence their decisions. Perhaps the two other psychics were helping as well.

The leader raised his arms in surrender, weapon at his chin. The others looked to him, weapons still raised, but paused now. Listening.

"We will come." The leaders voice was angry, as if he were aware that there was magic in play. But it was an agreement.

Tony's lip curled upwards when he heard Feanor react. He was impressed he was the one who had made the first move instead of Tony- though the self-appointed leader had been only a moment away from doing something very similar.

He lifted his hand, the whirling sound of electricity was heard as the glowing circle on his armed palm glowed. He didn't take the last step of firing, though, since the others began to surrender.

"Drop your weapons. I warn you if any of you try to sabotage this further or interfere with your children being saved, I promise you, you won't like what comes next. Trekkers, grab their weapons and lets get moving. We've already wasted enough time with these fools. Rath, lead us back out of here. Children go first. You're the slowest, so you set the pace. We're not letting anyone fall behind." He would've ordered the adults have their hands bound, but the journey back up to the surface was going to difficult enough without that extra burden.

It could have all gone to hell very quickly, but surprisingly it didn’t.

Before even Joscelin’s absurdly fast vampire reflexes could react, it was all over. The elves were barking magically-enhanced orders, Romeo was shielded (thank god) after doing something unspeakably stupid that Joss is going to yell at him for later, and the leader had capitulated.

Joss makes a point of confiscating the weapon of the woman who had threatened Romeo, and even though it looks comically large in his arms he handles it expertly. It’s more advanced than the rifles he’s become used to using, but the general principle of the thing is the same.

“Right then, you lot. Let’s get off this dying lump of rock. And if you threaten any of the children again, I will kill you.”

Somehow, the threat is made all the more real when the little boy giving it is holding a gun and smiling in an unnervingly cheerful way. Should his canines really be that long and pointy, or...?

'None of us want to hurt you or anyone else."

Elfnein felt powerless over what was going on and how Romeo was threatened by the people they were trying to help. But, she knew that given the situation anyone would act like that, they were strangers coming in saying that the world was ending.

"Please, just trust us for a little while?"

Ok, in Reigen's opinion Feanor's speech was a little much, but to be fair these cave people were being annoyingly stubborn. Thankfully Curufin had enough persuasion skills (or magic) to take care of that.

"Alright, let's get going. You! Hand it over." Reigen steps up to confiscate the weapon from a still-armed man, giving the head of the group a severe look as he does so.

"Honestly, you better knock off the whole 'never run away' deal, idiot. Your pride could have gotten a bunch of kids killed!"

"It has already started."

Fëanor does not posses the premonition or the prophetic dreams of his son but he was closely attuned to a world once. He spent enough time on this one to learn its ebbs and flows. To start to recognize the signs when its agony, slow at first but already advanced beyond repair, started to accelerate. What was but a loosening of the bonds, now is tearing the very core of this world apart.

The tremor they just felt was its harbinger. Destructing travels like a dark wave through the rocks. It will take hours to reach the surface but reach it it will and when it does nothing, not a living thing, not the sturdiest of structures made by the hand of man, will be able to withstand it. High above their heads, the world's star is in convulsions. A blazing arch is forming on its surface, growing heavy with every passing minute, threatening to release its cargo, to drown this world in a fiery torrent of radiation. A deadly flare.

Fire from below, fire from above. Only a couple of hours and there will be nothing left.

"Time for idle talk is over, we need to move now."

Edited 2019-11-25 01:05 (UTC)

Curufn was using his energy to maintain the vision spell he had cast, and so he didn't take on the task of getting the weapons away from the people. Instead, he came near to them and kept his face and voice calm and his eyes reassuring.

But he recognized his father's concern and knew where it came from. Fëanor had the most complete connection with the earth that any Elf could ever have, and if he said it was time to move, then it was.

"Come, all of you. We must get off this planet, as my father asserts. You will all be saved."

"Yes sir!" He called to Tony's orders. "Okay everybody hold hands!" Romeo dropped his borderline and encouraged the children to make a chain. There was still the purple shield but as soon as it was dropped he led the way. "It's not too far and then we will be outside."

Which was sort of more scary than inside, but it would be alright. As long as they all stuck together it would be fine! He glanced behind him, to check that Joss and Elfnein were alright, they both seemed to be. Joss had a big gun now.

Rath nodded at the order. They were sensible and so he didn't mind following Tony's lead. It was best to show a united force to these villagers after all. He began walking, checking that the children were following and that none of the villagers had tried anything stupid.

All was well. These voidtreckers were as good as their reputation. He led them once again through the tunnels, trusting that they would shield their wards from any crumbling rocks.

As he stepped out he was met with a wave of hot air. The sky was black and red, ash and smoke and the mountains were beginning to crack. There was a constant roar of sound as the ground shook and shook. The children gasped, one of them, the smallest one, began to cry.

The adults went still, the shock of seeing what was happening hitting them even harder than the vision Curufin had put in their heads.

"Stick together." He called back. "The pod is not far."

There's an almost scorching wind coming a them though, in the direction they need to go. It's not far but it's going to be a difficult walk.

Joscelin, so brash and assertive moments before, goes quiet as they step outside and see the planet in its death throes. His jaw clenched and his grip on the gun tightens.

Vampires really don’t like fire. It’s one of the few things that can kill them.

“Quickly now,” he orders, voice pinched with fear for the first time since starting this mission.

Fëanor sees that change in Joss. He's not afraid of the fire even if he died by it but someone dear to him is. He can recognize the signs. He puts away both guns. They won't be needed now. The sights before them will work as a better deterrent to any stupid behavior than all of their stolen guns could.
Instead, he goes to scoop the little vampire from the ground, ignoring the inevitable protests. Vampires are stronger than men but so are the elves.

"You can hate me all you want later. Now, close your eyes and don't look, I'll carry you."

He won't deny that it made him pause when they emerged to the surface and saw with their own eyes the infernal landscape it has transformed into. It's worse then he thought... and not hard to imagine Balrogs with their fiery whips down there. They'd feel quite at home in this scenery.

But they are not there. It's different now.

Raven kept herself in the air, where she had a better vantage point of the group and could provide barriers if needed. This....the planet reminded her of a nightmare vision. One presided over by someone she never wanted to meet. Fighting down a shudder as the memories of her birthday, of him and his errand-boy were brought forward in her brain.

Then Raven was shaking her head--she could deal with it later. She had a job to do, and that meant keeping herself aware for everyone's safety. Too bad she couldn't get a private message to Danny--she'd welcome another set of eyes in the air right now.

Raven didn't need to say anything. Danny had been in enough ghost fights to know that it was always, always better to have the view from the sky.

But that wasn't something he could do as a human.

And this place wasn't like home, where he could disappear and then show up twenty minutes later with an excuse. If he transformed right now everyone would see. Even if they didn't see they would wonder and worry where Danny Fenton was.

So he had a choice to make. His secret identity? Or doing something that might help everyone survive for now, even if the consequences might involve dealing with ghost hunters later.

As always, it was no choice at all.

In a flash of light Danny Fenton disappears from the rear of the group, and a white-haired, glowing ghost joins Raven in the sky. He clenches his fists and summons up a pale blue energy that immediately chills the air.

He didn't know whether ghost ice would work against lava, but it was worth a try.

"Watch the back. I'm going to move to the front with the kids," he let his friends who were taking up the rear of the walk know. If Feanor hadn't picked Joss up, Tony would've. So instead, he gave the elf's shoulder a light squeeze for support and hurried forward to pick up the child that had started crying. He let his mask fall back in an attempt to keep the child from being afraid of him. "Shh, it's alright. It's making a lot of noise, but you're safe with us. My name's Tony. What's yours?" Despite the insanity going on around them, he kept his tone soft and soothing.

As he talked, he was keeping an eye carefully on everything around them- his shield ready to smack away and debris that might get too close to these kids. He urged them faster, but he let Romeo and the other younger members of this excursion decide what pace they could keep up with.

When they came to the cave exit, Curufin could see how very right his father was. The red and black sky, the cracking mountains, the air full of smoke and ash, the scorching wind blowing straight at them. Seeing that Fëanor was carrying Joss and Tony had picked up the crying child, he looked around to see if he could help the citizens in any way that he wasn't already. He used his shield more than once to deflect flying volcanic rocks from hitting anyone.

Raven was aloft already, and suddenly Danny vanished form the group and emerged in the sky in ghostly form. This did not actually surprise Curufin much, who had more than once existed in ghost form. He couldn't fly, so it wouldn't have been any advantage in this situation.

He placed himself between the wind and the others whenever he could. His was a spirit of fire, and that spirit charged up his body with protection. He would be less harmed by the heat than some of the others would.

Edited 2019-11-25 19:25 (UTC)

Romeo held on tightly to the child behind him's hand and focused on walking towards the pod. He could still see it. He wants to run. To go really fast and get everyone out of here but the littlest ones wouldn't be able to keep up and they can't leave anyone behind. The smoke stung his eyes and the heat hurt. He kept walking though, pulling his hoodie up to cover his face.

"Cover your mouths!" He called back to the children. "It will help!"

Rath has given up being surprised about these void warriors abilities so when Danny turns into some kind of spirit and flies into the air beside Raven he prides himself on not batting an eyelid.

The villagers are mostly too struck by the state of the world but some of the children look up at Raven and Danny with wide eyes and they pulled their clothes up to their mouths when Romeo shouted.

The little boy in Tony's arms looked at him with wide eyes. "Eli." He whispered before burying his face in Tony's shoulder as more rocks rained down upon them.

The pod was close now, the wind howled towards them as they began crossing to it and the ground lurched. Up and down, like walking on a wave. Some of the villagers stumbled, unable to keep their footing. Rath had stumbled himself but he recovered quickly and reached down to help one of the villagers up.

Those in the sky would see that the whole land was like this, up and down. More cracks were appearing, in the far distance a whole forest disappeared, swallowed by the land.

The pod was close.

"Take the high ground, I've got the earthshakes." Raven called to Danny, trusting him and those below with shields to worry about the rocks. Instead, Raven's eyes glowed white, hands in front of her and a silhouette formed around her of that same dark energy in the form of outstretched wings and a giant bird. Underneath the group's feet, and in a clear path to the pod, dark-energy coated the ground and provided what stability Raven could grant them and safe travel.

Once this was all over, and they were back on the train--she was absolutely going to go kidnap a quiet-room on the quiet car and hermit. Too many people, too many emotions, and while this wasn't different from what she'd done with the Titans in some ways... It was harder since she wasn't with the titans and this wasn't the same old familiar missions.

Edited 2019-11-26 14:27 (UTC)

Danny catches another large piece of debris, his hands shielded with ice, and tosses it away from the group.

"Got it!" he calls down. He flies up, and a moment of thought shifts his energy from the cold blue of his ice to a bright luminous of green. He stretches it out into a large energy shield and sets himself to blocking debris away from the group below.

Curufin gazes upwards for a moment to appreciate what Raven and Danny are doing, high in the sky. And then he minds what is happening on the ground. Raven has stabilized the roiling earth in a pathway to the pod, and Curufin just hopes the landscape on either side doesn't throw anything at them that can't be shielded against. It certainly looks like it's intending to do so. He keeps moving, and he keeps others moving.

He holds the vision in all the susceptible minds, and now he has altered it, taken out all the dire elements and replaced them with a picture of an inviting, welcoming shelter that is well-stocked with food and water and that can easily support all these people. A place where the children can learn and play and the adults can find useful lives for the duration. He adds a suggestion of a green planet located somewhere, sometime, that will more than support all of those who have fled from this place. He lets this part of the vision flicker as though it were a dream, in order to entice but not promise, since he doesn't know what the scientists are going to do about the rescuees, or if they actually have another planet to go to. The flickering dream is meant to oppose the horrible fiery ruin that surrounds them, to make it easier to cross the remaining ground and get safely to the pod.

The stabilising path definitely helped and the whole group sped up, able to tackle the ground and get closer to the pod. The vision helped too, the children calmed and the adults, though they didn't relax, became more focused.

Rath sped up as they arrived at the pod, getting ahead of the children but only so he could get the doors open, allowing the group to board immediately.

"Tony, Feanor are you alright to fly?" He gestured at the fighter craft that they had with them. They had both been in the group destroying debris in the week and so were the two best to protect the pod.

"Everyone else in the pod, that includes you two." He called up to Raven and Danny. "Let's get back to the hub, Quinn is waiting for us."

The ground shakes almost constantly now spitting poisonous fumes as it opens. Fëanor reviews his options for reacting if one would open under them and finds them sorely limited.
Then he has to worry no more as Raven casts her magic and a clear path unfolds under their feet. A stretch of ground solid enough to lead them to the pod.
Curufin's vision calms the children and lets the adults concentrate on something else than the inferno around them. It helps him to ignore the eerie similarity of this landscape with its fiery chasms, the foul air, ground cracking, and the deafening roar of the planet's core collapse from below, to that one scene from his past he'd rather not be reminded of.

In what seems like a century, they finally reach the pod and its accompanying fighter. Fëanor leaves Joss to get inside on his own. Somebody needs to pilot the fighter. So when Rath asks him and Tony to do it, he just smiles.

"Yes," he says "Perfectly alright."

Tony was really impressed with the magic Raven possessed. He had no idea she was so powerful. It was handy for this mission, certainly, but he wondered what other useful aid she could provide in other situations. They'd have to have another frank talk about her abilities when they got home.

As he was in the front of the crowd, he had missed when Danny had abruptly become a ghost and started flying. Once they're at the pod and he's helped Eli in, he looked back. He frowned in confusion at the white haired boy flying around using some kind of magic to fight debris. Was that.. Danny? He checked the group for trekkers and yes, Danny was missing.

Any further thought he had on the subject was interrupted by Rath asking Feanor and him to fly the craft. "Certainly." He followed the elf to the craft and boarded. "I'm surprised Joss didn't bite you," he remarked, jokingly.

Curufin unseals the door of the pod and then steps aside, allowing everyone else to get in before he does. He watches a little wistfully as his father and Tony board the fighter craft. He'd have liked to have flown one of those things, and he did have a little experience with flying an airship in a world called Arda Marred. Maybe another time. He certainly wasn't going to fly a fighter craft today.

He overhears Tony's joking remark to Fëanor, and wonders why Joss would bite anybody. But he doesn't have much attention for that thought. Right now, he continues to project the vision as strongly as he can, keeping everybody calm and oriented towards boarding the pod.

Romeo stood by the door and helped the kids scramble aboard, picking up the little ones so everyone got on safely! He rushed over to Fëanor and Joss and reached out for Joss' hand.

"Come on Joss, we are almost there!"

He helped his friend onto the pod, making sure Elfnein got on safely too!

Day 11 Catfish

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With permission from Danny's-mun too.

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