[Homeplot 2009] Secret Invasion

[forhawkeye]

Have you ever have a dream that was so vivid, so extraordinarily detailed that, despite the fact it was also so utterly absurd, it somehow didn't make it seem any less real? That's what Tabula Rasa was for me. Months of memories and experiences...all of it the result of a knock to the head.

I never left the invasion.

All around me is chaos. Skrulls and heroes and villains alike, all fighting for control of the planet, and the sound -- oh my God, the sound -- is deafening. I wince as I pull myself up from the ground, absently noting that I'm in full uniform. And why shouldn't I be? I never left the invasion. And so all those people I knew...they were all figments of my imagination. Nate, Serena, Alice, Mikal, Yorick, Remy... I always assumed Felix wasn't real, anyway, so he doesn't come as much of a surprise, but it makes perfect sense, now, how there could possibly be a Tony Stark who hadn't betrayed everyo--

"HAWKEYE, LOOK OUT!" yells Patriot -- Eli -- and he's already running towards me before I have a chance to react. In what feels like slow motion, I turn to see what I'm supposed to be looking out for, but I don't register what it is until after he's shoved me out of the way, and the ground behind us is engulfed in fire, courtesy of a Skrull Human Torch. "What the hell's wrong with you?!" he asks, though the edge of panic in his voice is all too clear, and he grabs me by the shoulders. "Now's not the time to get PTSD -- we haven't even gotten to the 'post' part yet!"

I nod mutely. A few seconds pass before I find my voice again. "I'm fine."

"You don't look it," he says.

A Skrull falls dead beside us. We both turn to see who's responsible, and we're greeted with a loud whoop as a grinning Bullseye pumps his fist in the air and dives back into the fray. I feel like I'm going to be sick. Instead I clear my throat and stand up straight, shoulders back. "I'm fine."

The corners of his mouth quirk upwards in a smile, and he nods approvingly. Well, at least one of us is convinced. I guess that's better than nothing, right? Giving my shoulders one last squeeze, he then takes a step back and nods towards the fight. "Let's get to work."

"Yeah," I say, reaching into my quiver to draw an arrow. "Let's."

Comments

Determining Who's All Here

[forhawkeye]

Although the Earth belongs to them as much as it does the heroes and villains, ground zero of the invasion isn't meant for civilians. Bedlam reigns supreme, and the fighting is an assault on the senses. The smell of burnt flesh. The flash of bright lights. The irregular percussion of weapons fire. And yet, there, amongst some of the most powerful beings in the whole of creation, a small but substantial group of people have suddenly found themselves in the midst of a battle, a battle with stakes so high as to defy exaggeration. Some of them are experienced in situations such as this, most of them are not. What they all share in common, however, is important but irrelevant -- none of them were there the second before.

[like-arrows.livejournal.com]

It's showtime.

I don't remember when I fall asleep back in my bed in that jungle treehouse, but I know I wasn't supposed to wake up here -- not in the middle of a battle royale. Rolling over on the pavement to push to my feet, I feel like it would be one thing if I found myself on the ground outside the 'frog, a Skrull descending -- like I'd never left, like time's just started up again. Instead I'm somewhere entirely else, catching a glimpse of Kate and Eli through the crowd.

There's no time to freak out, no time even to try and figure out what's happening. All I can do is bend down to try and find a piece of glass on the ground, because if there's one sure thing I feel running through me, it's that I'm back -- magic and all.

[forhawkeye]

As soon as I split from Patriot, an arrow nocked and ready to go, I spot someone who looks suspiciously like Nico snooping around the ground. Fighting my way through the crowd -- and I mean that literally -- I manage to get myself within shouting distance.

"I thought you were leaving!" I call out to her, and by now I have my bow in one hand and my sword in the other, trying to buy myself a little breathing room and failing pretty miserably. They're like locusts -- swinging your arms will only do so much to keep them away.

[like-arrows.livejournal.com]

"I thought I was, too!" I'm not a fighter, not the same way Kate and her crew are. I can do my fair share of damage, don't get me wrong, but when it's a question of fight or flight, I pick flight. My set? We run.

That said, I push through the crowd toward her. Landing back in the middle of this wasn't the plan and I'm going to need to get help to get out of here and back to the others. "Something brought me back. Cut me, I kind of need an exit strategy here."

It's getting a little close for comfort.

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

As if the months spent on a magical tropical island hadn't been enough to convince him, Felix finally had a solid bit of confirmation on something he'd been suspecting for some time: Oscar had finally driven him insane. Either that, or he'd rolled out of bed sometime during the night and struck his head on the nightstand, resulting in some sort of bizarre fever dream as his skull slowly filled with blood. He wasn't entirely sure which was the less appealing prospect. Nor did he much care at the moment, seeing as he was sitting on the filthy, filthy ground in the midst of ABSOLUTE MADNESS. People were flying, and bleeding, and a few of them were the size of buildings! Who would have thought his hallucinations would be so... garish?

Something near him suddenly exploded, and Felix was instantly jumping to his feet in one large leap, galloping away from the source of it as quickly as he could. Unfortunately, this path seemed to take him directly into the middle of even more carnage, but how was he to anticipate that?

"Ground zero is not meant for civilians!" he cried out, more in frustration than anything else. Not only was he probably about to die, but it was going to be in some absolutely ridiculous fashion!

At least he seemed to be back in New York, though.

[forhawkeye]

It's hard enough to hear my own thoughts with all this noise, let alone pick a voice out from the crowd, so I see Felix before I hear him. Then I hear him and two things run through my mind. One: of all the people I expected to see right now, Felix Unger's about the last person on that list. Sure, Nico remembers what happened, meaning that the Island did, in some way, actually exist. But she's from this universe. Felix...definitely isn't. Which brings us to the second and more pressing thought: oh my holy God, he is going to die if I don't get the hell over there right now.

"FELIX!" I yell, dodging under the Skrull that Ms. Marvel just sent flying past. When I finally reach him, I'm slightly breathless, but I don't exactly have time to recover. "Look, explanations will have to wait -- we need to get you out of here before you get yourself killed."

[oscaroscaroscar.livejournal.com]

"Kate?" Felix cried in surprise when she suddenly showed up at his side. "This is all extremely dangerous, you probably shouldn't be here!" Especially since this was his hallucination, and all. Still, while he wasn't about to disagree with her rather accurate reaction to the severity of the situation, he did feel the need to point one thing out.

"Although, if I do find myself killed in the immediate future, I assure you I won't be doing it myself!" he called, cupping his hands around his mouth to make sure he was being heard over the din. A bullet (or possibly some sort of laser) whizzing by his head had him ducking to the ground before he could add anything else, however. Fortunately, with so much going on all around them, Felix was having a difficult time finding any one thing to focus on panicking over.

Re: Determining Who's All Here

[mutant-gi-jesus.livejournal.com]

Cable was annoyed.

Fortunately, there were no shortage of targets to vent that annoyance on so he was currently throttling an armored skrull with his left hand while firing a gun at another with his right arm. The surprise of being dropped into the middle of a Skrull battalion had seemed to work more in his favor than against it and, looking around, it wasn't as if he lacked back up if he needed it.

Still, he wasn't happy at all. Oh, he wasn't too upset about leaving the Island, there were still more things he could have gained there of course, but he had learned enough for it to not be a complete waste of his time and at least he could act on that information now. The problem was that it hadn't been his decision, which meant that he didn't know how long he had before they tried to drag him somewhere else. He hated having an enemy he couldn't reach.

More to the point, they'd thrown him into the middle of a battle against some alien invaders. Which obviously he couldn't let succeed, but if he had only a limited time he'd prefer not to have had a distraction like this to deal with. There were more long term plans he wanted to put into motion.

Oh well, he thought as the Skrull he was choking broke free of his grasp and forced him to shoot it several times, what is, is. If he was lucky he could at least get a hold of some of their spaceships.

[forhawkeye]

Nico, Felix, and now Cable. It's not a stretch for me to think that he wouldn't have been here anyway, and considering how many people are here, it's not impossible that I just hadn't seen him before now. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's that coincidences rarely turn out to be coincidental.

Fighting my way towards him -- again, literally -- it takes me a solid minute and a half before I manage to even get within yelling distance.

"This is really not the time to ask," I shout, elbowing a Skrull in the head before I kick it away, only to end up cutting off its hand when it comes towards me again. "But I need to know if you remember an island!"

[mutant-gi-jesus.livejournal.com]

"Hello Kate," Cable greeted her as he fired a gun over her head at a Skrull that had apparently shifted into Galactus. "I remember a lot of Islands."

He moved closer towards her so they they didn't have to shout and so that he could guard her back.

"I also remember training you to fight. I'm glad to see my time wasn't wasted."

[asinglechange.livejournal.com]

It feels different.

It happens with such a rush, so unexpected she feels temporarily blown away. Images. Countless images of futures being made and unmade in split second actions. She gasps only to realise she no longer needs to breathe. The heartbeat she's grown accustomed to is gone as well. Alice knows what has happened. Holding out her forearm the once-tanned flesh catches the light reflecting off the buildings and any doubt is gone.

"Holy crap." The words barely leave her mouth when a crash shakes the ground she's standing on. A rumble in her stomach and she looks up and around. Chaos is unfolding and she smiles. She's always loved a good fight.

[mutant-gi-jesus.livejournal.com]

There was a Skrull firing flames and Cable caught one blow on his left arm before he ducked and rolled out of the way. When he resurfaced, gun ready, he saw Thor move in to take care of it and so he turned around to face the fight he vaguely perceived was happening behind him.

The woman fighting the Skrulls was sparkling in the sun, which was something, he thought, that he should probably find out about at some point, and she was also someone he recognized.

"This should keep you in practice," he told her as he fired his gun at something behind her. "For your next laser tag game."

[asinglechange.livejournal.com]

"My thoughts exactly," she chirps, moving faster than the nonhuman, not-quite-animal thing was. Speed's always helped and despite the fact that all of these things work like some sort of dark fuzzy blur in her vision, she can still outstep them.

Letting one take a swing at her head, she moves to the side before it makes contact, laughing merrily. "Oh, I missed this sort of thrill."

[forhawkeye]

Something catches my attention out of the corner of my eye. This is to be expected, seeing as I'm in the middle of a war and all. There's a lot of light being thrown around -- repulsor blasts and fireballs and flares -- but this...this is completely different. On my way to find out what the hell it is, I jump over the body of one of ours. By the time I turn back to see who it was, they're already gone. What's in front of me, though, is surprising enough that I forget about whoever it was almost immediately. There, looking all the world like a freaking vampiric disco ball is:

"Alice?!"

A Skrull takes advantage of my distraction, kicking me in the back, and I fall to the ground with a grunt. When it comes back to finish the job, I take the opportunity to run it through with my sword. It falls dead beside me, and again I find myself trying not to puke as its blood splatters in my hair.

[asinglechange.livejournal.com]

Wrinkling her nose, Alice focuses on what she does know. That even though these, well these things are well beyond her, giving her a headache and blurring the world around her she can still think faster than anyone else. Thank goodness for the small favour that is having humans around.

Swinging a roundhouse kick at the face of one, she grins in Kate's direction. "Hiya Kate. This is some trip, isn't it?"

It would be better if she could get some food. Of the non-human variety preferably.

[alas-yorick.livejournal.com]

Yorick knows it's real, really knows it's real, when shrapnel or something beams him right up-fucking-side the head.

"Ow! Fuck! What the fuck!?"

He looks around for a weapon or cover, or both, because seriously, he is no match for the Skrull. Fuck, he barely lived through some crazy chicks with one tit and homemade shivs.

"Fuck this," he exclaims, and runs toward a building ...is that a spaceship?... for cover.

[forhawkeye]

It's when the Skrull I'm fighting against gets eaten by Venom that I spot Yorick running across the street for cover. Alice, at least, can take care of herself -- same with Nico and Cable, obviously -- but the same really can't be said for Yorick, the Incredible Orthodash or not. He's as defenseless as Felix, which means I need to get my ass over to him stat before he gets hurt -- or dead.

There's a taxi propped up against a building not far from where he's running, and without so much as a hello, I grab his arm in an effort to redirect him and hopefully pull him under it.

[alas-yorick.livejournal.com]

Yorick moves with Kate, and goddamn he's never been happier to see her! He might have a hundred pounds on her, but she has weapons. And some mad skills, he bets.

"What the fuck is going on," he says when he can catch his breath. "Explain! Also, do you have a spare sword or something? I'd really like to at least have the opportunity to try and stab something before it kills me."

[like-arrows.livejournal.com]

I'm more than a little caught up in the struggle just to see a clear way out of this crap when I spot Yorick on the run. Kate I expected to see, but Yorick's an entirely different story, and stupid as it might be, I take off after him, gripping the Staff of One close. I know Kate confirmed that the whole island thing was real, but that doesn't make it any less of a shock for him to be here, and shock's not really something I can afford on a battlefield like this.

God, this isn't what I'm cut out for. It was bad enough in 1907. It was easy to duck out when it was superhero against superhero, to say it wasn't our way; alien invasion is a little trickier. Catching up to Yorick, I stop to catch my breath, too. "What are you doing here?"

Re: Determining Who's All Here

[throw-it-off.livejournal.com]

Holy. Shit.

When Nate started dating a superhero, waking up to World War III had not even crossed his mind as a possibility. Spandex, kevlar and flexibility, great. A whole lot of pain if he hurt her, unlikely but manageable. Hell, even a villainous mastermind or two coming to the island, completely powerless but making themselves a pain in the ass would have been better than this.

This didn't even look like Earth. This was some nightmare Nate only knew was real because there was smoke burning his lungs and he was pretty sure he heard someone dying somewhere to his left. Weapons fire crackled above him and he immediately ducked, went for cover behind a chunk of concrete that might have one been a building.

Yeah, so "Band of Brothers" was one of his favorite mini-series. That didn't mean he wanted to live it.

[forhawkeye]

I don't see him at first. I'm too busy punching a Skrull in the face to see much of anything beyond green skin and the remains of what I think was meant to be an Iron Fist costume once upon a time. It's only when the Skrull falls to the ground that I spot Nate some fifty feet away.

I'm running before I even realize I'm running, and I shoot a rocket arrow through the crowd to temporarily clear the way. It detonates upon impact further down the street, hopefully taking out a few Skrulls along with it.

Skidding into a stop in front of him, still armed to the teeth and slightly breathless, I grab Nate by the arm. I can only imagine what I look like right now -- cut and bruised and splattered with blood -- but I'm too high on adrenaline to feel anything but relief at seeing he's alive and generally unharmed. Now to keep him that way.

"We need to get you out of here."

Re: Determining Who's All Here

[apoorupbringing.livejournal.com]

Chase yawned, stretched, and sat up, absently scratching Spongebob's face where it was printed on his boxers, and blinked through severely tousled and upward-and-outward-sticking hair at the absolute chaos that was going on on the other side of the car window.

Wait. What the fuck?

He jerked the car's door handle and rolled out of it, running into the street.

Okay, so it was like the nuclear fucking meltdown of all junkfood dreams. He turned, saw a Zappos, and ran into it.

Shoes first. Nobody seemed to care much when he snagged a pair of Nikes and ran back out, but the fuck if he was going to go this shit barefoot. Somebody on fire went sailing overhead.

It didn't look like the Human Torch.

"Dude, this is not gonna go well for me."

[like-arrows.livejournal.com]

I run into him before I even know he's there, and I really couldn't care less about the bumping into him part right now. Really it's just a relief to see Chase, to know that - at least for the moment - he's here and safe.

How much longer that's going to last, I have no clue.

"Chase!" I back off so I'm not standing on his feet or something, then throw my arms around him. Hey, at least I didn't kiss him this time, okay? "Have you seen the others?"

Re: Determining Who's All Here

[kaleidoscopeyed.livejournal.com]

When Karolina wakes up confused only begins to describe how she feels about waking up on a park bench in what she thinks is New York. She's had some weird dreams about home on the island, but this takes the cake because of how utterly normal it is.

That is until she gets a look around.

It's unbelievable that she's gone unmolested for this long. They must have thought she was dead. And are they noticing now that she isn't? Yeah, they are.

Karolina slowly slips off the bench onto bare feet and for some stupid reason it's that which tells her this is real, that she's back home. It's a good thing too, cause right about now, she needs to get her glow on.

"Okay guys, you're really picking on the wrong girl," she says and let's it all go, in one grateful outpouring of energy that leaves her hovering quite alone with skrulls hastily rethinking their strategy. It won't take them long so she guesses it's really time for plan B.

"Hate to run, but see you guys," she says and jets across the city, trailing rainbow light. She's made herself a beacon for them to come after her, but staying there hadn't exactly been an option. And besides, if she's going to find anyone who knows what's going on, her light show is the best way she knows to get their attention.

[like-arrows.livejournal.com]

It's not hard to spot Karolina, even in the midst of all that's happening here, and I make my way towards her as fast as I can. I lose Chase in the process, but it's only a matter of time before he catches up. He can't have missed her and I can't wait, more relieved to see her than there's cause to be. Why wouldn't she be here? Doesn't matter. All that does is we're here together.

"Karolina!" I call, waving my free hand, the other clutching the Staff of One. "Down here!"